Fire Emblem: Soul of Heaven [IC/PG-16]

[Sethera 290]

Yue couldn't really blame the others for not wanting to eat the bear. It was...not the most appetizing. Bear in general was not really something Yue had eaten before, and now she knew why. Apparently they were poisonous too if they were active at death. The archer had never heard of this before, but she would take Ada's word for it. Though it seemed fine when they ate it.

Before she knew it, Alexis had sidled up next to her. "You know, if you're cold, I'm sure you could convince Rona to sit near you. You know, the old 'share body heat and get close to the girl you like' trick? Worth a shot ain't it?"

Yue froze. "Wh-wh-what do you mean?" she stammered, before comprehension hit her. She shook her head vigorously. "N-no! Never! I would never do that...it wouldn't be right," she poked her fingers together. "And I d-don't," she paused, blushing, "like...Rona."

The archer barely heard Edda's reply. Mumbling something incomprehensible in response, she sat there without saying anything more for the rest of the meal.

As the day drew to a close and Yue was about to head to bed, she heard Leon shout out in alarm. It seemed that a large shadowy hound had appeared, with several regular hounds and zombies accompanying it. Upset at the idea of fighting more monsters, the girl nonetheless lifted her iron bow with a heavy heart. She would fight as well.

Rona moved first, attacking one of the zombies, Alexis on her way to attack as well. Gritting her teeth, Yue walked up as well, standing alongside the pegasus knight and aiming her bow at the zombie holding an axe on the other side of the tree. Drawing her bow back into a bent curve, she shot the arrow from it with more force. While this would be harder on the bow, she knew that the force would be that much more.

Spoiler

Yue walks up three squares and uses Recursive Shot on Zombie 12.

 

[Blake 312]

Ada's growling stomach soon became the least of her issues. With the appearance of that unnerving beast, Ada produced her book from her pack, opening the tome. Once it slipped back into the wood line, she let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't gone, but at least it wasn't coming in for a head-on attack.

"I'll clear a path, just stay behind me!" 

And Rona was off as soon as the battle began. However, when Ada's eyes followed the wyvern rider, it seemed as if... She had taken up a great defensive location? Dumb luck or otherwise, Ada quickly followed after Rona, preparing her spell. As soon as Rona's axe tore into the undead flesh, Ada was finishing her chant and blasting the undead creature. As the zombie returned to the dust, Ada eyed the other zombies on either side of Rona, though the one to the west wasn't as close. Maybe she should have tried to kill that one, instead...

"You can hold off the monster on the right, right, Rona?" Ada turned so her back was to the tree, eyes locked on the zombie to the west, "If you can, I think I can handle this other zombie."

Ada moves up 4 times, right 1 time, attacking Zombie 11 with Shade. She designates Zombie 1 as a counterattack target.

[Kay Faraday 23]

---

"What a waste of a perfectly good bear," the shaman puffed her cheeks out and crossed her arms, "Though it's probably fine for the mounts..."

"Eh, I'm starving. I'm not about to let a chance to eat go to waste. It's probably fine." He waved his hand in the air lazily as he mumbled to himself, a little sigh escaping him as he tilted his head up to look to the sky. The quiet evening was at least almost over, and he could get himself ready to drag down towards that river once everyone else had gone to bed for the night.

"everyone, get yourself ready!"

Layne flinched as he heard Leon call out, quickly turning towards the call to get a good look at what was there. The monstrous creature caused him to scowl a tiny bit, this was supposed to be a quiet evening, not one where they had to fight for their lives yet again. He scooped up the healing staff propped against the log beside him as he stood up, preparing to dash off after Rona once her change had begun. He started to run after her, making sure to stay relatively in the middle of everyone as best as he could, while it seemed things were quickly accelerating. Yue had started to run towards the combat to attack herself as well, they were going at least. It wasn't going to do any good for him to stay in one place.

He quickly took up a spot where he felt mostly safe. There was one stray enemy that might get to him from here... But the fact that he could run to pretty much anyone from here would have to make up for it if he was attacked. Plus, they could easily get back to him too.

---

[Spoiler Title]

Layne moved to the right two spaces and up three. Positioning!

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Ralsei

[Saikazo 241]

Raynor barely had time to slip on his eye patch back on before something happened. Some sort of monstrous hound that looked like it came from hell itself eyed the group, and he could see it was looking directly at Rona, himself, and their mounts. Did it wanna eat Gojira? If that was the case, how did they link the rider to the mount? This wasn't good, not good at all.

More monsters rose from the ground... once again, the Iron Falcons were facing an undead horde. They would make their names as zombie slayers at this rate.

"Everyone, get yourself ready!" Leon called out. Raynor nodded and whistled for Gojira, who broke out into a run to be reunited with his master. The lizard barreled past Raynor and hastily spun itself around to redirect itself back to Raynor. In a practiced maneuver, Raynor jumped on his steed's back, getting himself positioned as he grabbed his lance out of its place on Gojira's saddle. He could see the others began attacking the monsters, but it seemed there was a hound that the others just couldn't attack yet. Raynor spun his lance as the two charged ahead, covering the distance quickly.

When they got to the hound, Gojira skidded to a stop, and Raynor thrust his lance out at the monster, aiming for the head. He wasn't convinced it would die right away though, so he kept his eye on it, ready to counter anything it might do.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Raynor moved up 7 spaces and attack Zombie(? I can't tell if it's red or brown) 1 and picked it as his counter target.

 

[Skaia 578]

With the group having moved out, Leon followed suit and went to follow up on Raynor's attack. As the draytter's lance buried deep in the sword wielding zombie, the boy followed up with a swift slash of his own, cleaving through the rotting neck of the creature. As it fell to the ground, this victory was short lived as the monstrous forces charged them almost immediately. The eyes of a nearby hound lit up towards Ada as she destroyed one of the zombies with her magic, immediately charging towards the dark mage. Rushing past the rest of the group the hound leaped towards the shaman, sinking its fangs into the girl's arm.  Now that it was much closer, the group would be able to notice a faint aura of shadow that covered the hounds body with a faint trace of red in its otherwise vacant eyes. 

The rest of the monsters began to make their move as well. As if being told to clear away, the zombie that Yue had shot had shambled away and instead moved towards Raynor. As it lifted its axe up, the draytter found himself in a situation none too conducive to avoiding the attack, as he was blindsided by another hound charging and biting into him as the axe was swung, striking him as well. Rona as well was beset by a hound and another zombie, both striking at her with fang and sword alike. All the while, the rest of the monstrous creatures began to shamble and make their way closer to the group. 

[Sethera 290]

It looked like everybody was gathering on them. Glancing around, the girl felt...well, not very comfy actually. Very much not comfy. They were packed together like a herd of baby bunnies, except they weren't actually baby bunnies, so it wasn't as cute. She wrinkled her nose. We don't smell like baby bunnies either. Well, not that baby bunnies didn't smell, but people definitely smelled differently. And right now, none of them smelled very nice.

She shook her head. No, concentrate Yue. Gulping, the archer held steady. She hit the last one, and it was gone now, attacking Raynor, but now there was a dog in front of her. A cute, adorable dog. Her grip on the bow shook. No, she thought. I can't...attack. But I have to. A pained expression on her face, she held the bow out, about to shoot...but could not. "I can't, I'm sorry..." she muttered, lowering her bow. She was so useless.

And then, with a growl, the hound leapt for Rona, fangs slavering. There was a zombie as well, who had already attacked the girl. Watching the sight with wide eyes, the archer started to shake again. No, nonononono! Her eyes darkened. "How dare you..." she growled. "How dare you!" her voice grew in strength at the repeat. She raised her bow. "Listen here, mister. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you get to be a bully!" She notched an arrow to the string. "You may have huge teeth, and sharp claws, and long fur, and a cute nose. But you do not—" she aimed right at its beady yellow eye, "I repeat—" she pulled back on the string, "you do not! Hurt! My! Friends!" she released the arrow. "You got that?"

Unfortunately, the hound would never be able to tell her whether it got that or not. The arrow struck true, piercing right into its eye socket, and the creature fell over, dead.

Spoiler

Yue stays in place and shoots the hound befour her. It will bark nevermour.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Sethera

[LordCowCow 839]

Rona gritted her teeth. Both she and Cormag had suffered minor injuries from these monsters. It wasn't much, surely not enough to worry, but Cormag seemed to struggle with having so many people around him. He let out a screech at those nearest, and Rona had to keep a restraining hand to keep him from snapping towards them out of frustration.

She couldn't blame them. She wanted nothing more than to break from the ranks and continue on towards the apparent leader of this pack. But she couldn't let this swarm get past her and to the others so she knew she just had to bear it.

There were monsters on all sides. Two of which that had attacked her and one that was focusing on her ally. As she considered her options she heard a surprising voice shouting nearby.

you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that?"

Was that...Yue? Rona trembled slightly at the sight of the arrow piercing the hound and slaying it on the spot. She was glad she hadn't given Yue reason to be upset with her if the girl was capable of that....

Glancing to the side she noticed that Raynor was struggling with two opponents near him as well. She started to have Cormag turn move she could more easily attack the axe wielder trying to kill the man but she hesitated. Worried that Cormag's thrashing tail might hit one of her allies as he gets into position. So instead she moved in her saddle and jumped from Cormag's back. Swinging her axe down and cleaving through the zombie before it was able to attack again. The moment she hit the ground she pulled the axe from the corpse and got back onto Cormag's back. The Wyvern letting out a roar of triumph. Feeling somewhat more confident, Rona shouted back towards Yue. "Nice shot by the way!"

---

Alexis scanned the field with a frown. This wasn't good for her. No place to actually position herself that didn't put her at risk. From either the archer, axe wielder, or both. She noticed a gap in their defenses she could enter but, unless she force Leon to protect her, she could be easily blindsided as she did.

"You're all pretty reckless ain't ya?" Alexis shouted, laughing as she saw how the entire group rushed into battle. "I'm going around the side to flank them. See if I can cut them off before we get too pinned down. C'mon Tana, let's get us some breathing room."

Flashing a smile, she called out to Yue before she left. "Told you, master archer."

In a blur Tana shot off and away from the group. Circling around to the other side of the treeline. She didn't get too far out, not wanting to run into a swarm by herself, and settled again near the treeline to plan her next move.

Spoiler

Rona attacked and defeated Zombie 12. Zombie 3 counter target.
Alexis moved 5 right and 1 up

 

[Skaia 578]

As the monsters began to swarm them, Edda stood there, still in shock at the creatures she was looking at. It wasn't as though she had never seen a monster before, but something about them caused a chill to go through her blood. Monsters were inherently unnatural beings, but the young girl felt something even more instinctually wrong about these creatures, even more so with the supposed leader of the pack. The hounds it commanded as well sent the same feeling down her spine, and that their leader seemed to be preparing something soon did nothing to calm her. 

Even with the group being able to break through the swarming beasts as they were, she still couldn't help but be worried as there were still more around them, and likely even more than they could currently see. While the girl wished to fight, and wished to grow stronger, seeing both the archer and wyvern rider in action, she knew that she didn't match up to them. What they could do in one or two slashes and  shot, would take forever for her to even come close. And so, gripping onto her sword, the girl gulped down as she attempted to do all she could to help them break the ranks of the beasts. 

Walking forward, past Ada and the Hound, standing instead next to Rona now, over the corpse of the beast she had just felled. Seeing her brimming with the confidence and vigor that was expected of the flying juggernauts, Edda took a deep breath and looked towards her. With words that echoed through the forest, Edda simply shouted, "trykk videre!" Though the words were unfamiliar to the girl, Rona would simply feel a surge of energy run through her, allowing her to take on yet another foe. 

[LordCowCow 839]

"trykk videre!"

What...was this? Rona felt strangely energized. As if her previous action never even happened. She felt strange about this clearly unnatural state, and had no idea how it came to be, but she wasn't about to waste this chance that she had been given.

The monster to either side of her have been killed. Leaving only one in front of her. She sorely wished to take off and go deeper into the fight. Yet if she did that it left Ada open to be assaulted from multiple sides. She wasn't about to cause someone's death. So she readjusted her grip on her axe and took aim at the zombie before her. She lunged to the side, from atop Cormag, and scored a strong hit into the zombie's chest. As she pulled away the creature, evidently not even flinching from the wound, scored a cut across her arm.

Pulling back she warily watched the creature as it moved. Hoping to finish it off soon.

But what was that strange chant?

Spoiler

Rona Focus Strike hit Zombo 3 and still has them as counter target.

 

[Saikazo 241]

With the help of Leon, the zombie was defeated, and Raynor was free to focus on the two enemies that came to attack him. However, the two attacked in such a formation that Raynor couldn't possibly dodge, and he took a bit of damage from the combined assault. Man, he couldn't have such a poor showing this early in the battle, they literally just started!

A sudden yell cut through the night. "you do not! Hurt! My! Friends!"

Was that the snow fairy? Was that what she sounded like? That was neat, but more importantly, it informed Raynor of something. She would step up to protect her friends, which was a good thing, but it also meant he shouldn't count on her help, since after all, that was reserved for her friends. That didn't really change anything though, because he was sure that he could get out of this pickle, and hey, he was sure that Leon would back him up... right?

Man, he must have let his guard down a little too much today, because he was getting some weird thoughts, ones unbecoming of a future legend. He spun his lance around and stabbed at the hound that attacked him, but to his surprise, the hound bounded away from him, and then with a cry that sounded as if it came from hell itself, the monster launched itself at Raynor, the monster sinking its teeth into his arm.

Raynor let out a cry of pain, and tried to pry the creature off. but it hung on tight. He was saved by Gojira using its tail to slap the hound off of him, although the action seemed not to do any damage to the hound itself. Raynor gritted his teeth and kept his eye on the hound. He refused to be caught off guard like that again.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Raynor got his ass handed to him by the hound and is now targeting it as his counter target.

 

[Blake 312]

As Rona began her offensive once more, Ada was caught off guard by the hound sinking its fangs into her arm. With a yell, she pushed the canine away and gripped at her arm, gritting her teeth. shadowy aura and red glow didn't help, either, though her wound did not appear to have any damage beyond a bite... Unlike that bear.

Shaking her head, Ada began to prepare her counter, only to be stopped by what could only be described as a bunny's war cry.

"you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that?"

"I didn't know she had that in her," Ada spoke breathlessly as she looked back to the archer, quickly regaining her composure. At least, until Edda's strange words seemed to re-energize Rona. She didn't have time to question the words, quickly shooting her magic at the zombie that Rona had damaged. It wasn't the original plan, but it would do.

"You feeling alright, Rona?"

Ada attacks Zombie 3 with Shade. It dies. Hound 2 for counterattack.

[Kay Faraday 23]

---

"you do not! Hurt! My! Friends! You got that?"

Layne could only blink as he heard that... Well, it could only be described as an outburst. Yue was so quiet normally, it was kind of a relief to hear her actually refer to someone in the group as a friend, even if it might not be the best time to think about it. With that creature falling without a fight, the rest of the battle going on around him seemed to be progressing fairly well. Raynor was a bit bruised and could use some patch up, Rona had taken down one zombie and one was left standing in front of her...

"trykk videre!"

Things were just getting stranger and stranger. He had no idea what that chant was or why Rona was able to almost immediately take down that next zombie, but he wasn't going to complain about it. But what he was going to complain about was that strange, annoying hound that was within striking distance of Ada... And himself. He winced for a moment as he glanced around, everyone else had their hands full... But this wasn't a person who could be easily distracted by someone who shouldn't be fighting taking a swing at them, the chances of him being able to get a good hit on a wolf was pretty low, it wasn't weakened at all, it was best if he left it for someone else to try and take care of, sadly.

Instead, he lifted up the Heal staff once more as he started to run forward, making his way past the hound as quickly as possible, dashing towards Raynor as the light of the staff started to surround the injury, soothing the pain at least enough to keep it from distracting him as Layne whistled, "One hell of a bite on these things, yeah? Don't let it get to you, looks like I might be next on the menu." He grinned for a moment, his eyes nervously shifting towards the not-so-far hound as he tried to keep that grin on his face.

He turned a bit towards Edda, that strange chant lingering in the back of his mind, but at the moment... He had to get ready to dash, Rona needed healing too, once he caught his breath, he could run over and get her patched up next...

---

Trusty Heal Staff 1 Healed Raynor for a good 23 Health, maybe the overheal could give him some shields?

Unfortunately, the heal staff is now at 1 use remaining. It was a good staff.

[Skaia 578]

Leon assessed the situation as the falcons were being beset by the monsters on either flank. To their left there was only one zombie coming towards them, and to their right, Alexis was already ready to assist on that end. As such, that just left the cluster that had amassed against them and the single hound within their lines to break through. However, it was a singular hound, and Leon had faith that both Ada and Yue would be able to handle it, especially in light of the archer's prior performance. As such, the boy went on to help their front, drawing his steel sword and slashing at the hound in front of Raynor. 

While his blade had managed to tear through a good portion of the creature's flesh, it still seemed to ignore the mercenary. Instead, both it and the axe zombie to their flank had begun to strike at Raynor once more. As the hound jump and bit down on Gojira's neck, causing pain through the mount, Raynor had managed to deal a fatal blow with his lance, ending the creature's life. This, however, left him open for the axe wielding zombie to get in a good swing into Raynor's side. The zombie didn't care to bury his axe further and instead just lazily took it out of the Jouran's side before seeming ready to go for round two. 

Though Ada had managed to fell the zombie in front of her and Rona, the Hound didn't take too kindly to being ignored. Instead, it simply  leaped forward and continued to bite down, snarling  and raking its teeth through the girl's already injured arm. Meanwhile, ahead  of her, both zombies had taken notice to Edda as they started to shamble towards the girl after her strange chant. The first one brought up his axe, attempting to swing towards the girl, only for Edda to stumble to the side and avoid the clumsy axe swing. Then, with sword in hand the girl stabbed into the rotting flesh of the zombie, her face showing anxiety as her attack seemed to hardly be effective.

The second zombie, however, had been compelled by an old instinct engraved within it. While Edda seemed to be a beacon for it to strike at, there was yet another living being that it felt compelled to strike at. Coupled with that it was flying, and the archer knew where to go. As the zombie made its way over to Rona, the wyvern rider was soon attacked by a Hound. And while the beastly creature had missed its first bite at the girl, the second one had landed, its fangs sinking through Cormag's scales. This, however, caused the hardly dexterous zombie to miss its shot, the arrow just sailing by Rona's face. 

When the monsters had finished their assault, though, the phantom hound in the back hardly seemed to want to give the group any rest. Letting out an unearthly howl, echoing through the woods, the group would be able to see more beasts rise from the ground, seeming ready to fight as well. Leon grimaced at this sudden turn, and with steel sword in hand looked towards the zombie that had struck Raynor. With a deft slash, the boy hacked off a limb of the beast followed by yet another to decapitate it. As he did, he turned back to the rest of the group shouting, "everyone, press forward. It doesn't look like this'll end as long as the beast back there is still alive." 

[LordCowCow 839]

"You feeling alright, Rona?"

"Always!" Rona called back. Unable to say more as she had to keep Cormag steady despite the attacking hound. The arrow whistling past her face caused her to freeze for a moment. It had been close. Too close. A memory surfaced. Her and Cormag. Covered in arrows. Falling from the sky....

The hound growled in front of her and brought her back to reality. She saw it crouch down and prepare to attack again. Without hesitation she urged Cormag forward and, passing by the hound as it began to attack, she cut a clean slice through its head and slayed the beast before returning to her original position.

"everyone, press forward. It doesn't look like this'll end as long as the beast back there is still alive." 

That's right. She had to keep going. The beast ahead was the target. She had to break from this formation and take it down. She wasn't being of any use back here. Her mobility wasted like this.

"On it!" She responded. Regardless of what happened next she had to advance forward.

---

Alexis glanced over at the main group. They had stalled for a moment but it seemed they were pressing onward. Oddly it looked like some had some extra energy. She didn't know where it had come from but she was glad for it. After all her actions here would only work out if they could break out of the wall of monsters they were facing.

There were two zombies ahead. One with a sword. The other a lance. They didn't seem to be paying much attention to her as their focus was on the mass of combat going on in the other direction.

Past them there were a couple other zombies with much less advantageous weapons for her to face but...if she did this right she shouldn't have to worry about them. She could get in and if it got dangerous get out.

"Alright Tana, time to show em what we're made of. Can't let them hog all the action."

Tana whinnied in agreement. She didn't like this whole standing around doing nothing deal.

Flying forward at high speed Alexis pierced the sword wielding zombie before it even knew she was there. Tearing the lance upward and ripping through the monsters rotten flesh she brought it back around to thrust into the zombie's skull. The creature dropped and only then did the lance holder notice she was there.

With a grin Alexis adjusted her lance in a two handed grip as she focused in on the zombie. "You want some next?" She taunted, well aware the dull-witted beast couldn't understand.

Spoiler

Rona murdered the hound

Alexis moved to the space one to the right of zombie 4, killed it, and designated 5 as counter target.

 

[Blake 312]

Ada cried out as the beast's fangs sunk into her arm again, gritting her teeth. She punched the beast to get it off, before breaking away as Rona slayed another hound. She couldn't handle the close quarters with a monster like that... But passing Rona by was perfect for taking out the Zombie before her. Opening Shade up, Ada shot the bow-wielding monstrosity, utterly destroying it in two quick shots.

"Alright, I've got Zombies on either side... But I can tough it out," She spoke under her breath, "And this makes everyone's survival a bit more likely..."

As Ada gripped her wounded arm, Edda moved past her, standing where the bow-wielding zombie had once stood. Before Ada could ask her why she stopped there, those strange words filled the air again.

"trykk videre!"

As a strange sense of being reinvigorated filled Ada, she realized Edda was the source of that mysterious power. While she wanted to understand what it was, this was hardly the time.

"Thanks, Edda," Ada flashed her a smile and a thumbs-up with her uninjured arm, then headed a bit northwest, taking aim at the zombie that had been besides her moments earlier. Another two shots of the dark mist, and another zombie bit the dust.

"It looks like we're beginning to make some headway, guys!"

Ada moves up 2, killing Zombie 7.

Edda moves right 1, up 3 times, and reinvigorates Ada.

Ada moves up 1, left 2, and kills Zombie 6.

There are no counterattack targets in range.

[Kay Faraday 23]

 

---

 

It was hard to tell if Raynor was going to be alright here, honestly. Right after getting him patched up, he was immediately attacked by a zombie and a hound. The hound, thankfully, was decimated without any trouble, but that zombie was still up and kicking right up until Leon had taken the initiative to slice it into dust. It was hard to tell if ANY of them were going to be alright. Layne was thankfully saved from the horror of being munched on by the hound, but that was only because it decided that Ada had looked like a tastier snack. If things had been slightly different, it was equally likely that he wouldn't have gotten off so easily this time.

Layne whistled lightly as he started to duck and dodge his way between the others, passing Raynor with a quick wave, "I'll be back to patch you up soon, don't go too far!"

Ada needed to be healed soon, but it wasn't critical enough to the point where he had to deviate from his original plan. There was someone here that, if he didn't get to them now, he might not get a chance later. The Heal Staff was hefted up into the air one final time as the glow of light from it began to surround Rona, seeping into her body to patch up the worst of her wounds and reinvigorate her for the next wave of oncoming enemies. He was about to start speaking, but the heal staff in his hands began to disintegrate into the wind, dust flowing towards the ground a bit as he shook his head. He gave a sad look towards the staff briefly, but quickly started to speak, his voice going a mile a minute as he did, "Phew, just made it... We've got more coming in from both sides Rona, it looks like the new girl there got separated from us, maybe try to get her to come back over towards the main group so we're together. Gotta run!"

He gave her a grin and a thumbs up, before promptly rushing back towards Leon and Raynor, "Alright, ready for the next wave!"

 

---

 

 

Layne moves up 1 and to the right 1, uses Heal Staff 1 to heal Rona for 23, back to full health.

Heal Staff 1 disintegrates into the Aether, having fulfilled it's purpose. It only regrets that it didn't get more blood.

Layne then EXIT STAGE's up 1 and to the left 1, winding up on the other side of Raynor and next to Leon.

Edited September 27, 2019 by Ralsei

[Sethera 290]

The way things were, the group had pretty much surrounded a couple of the hounds. Or had the hounds snuck into their group? Either way, they needed to go now. Yue loved hounds, she loved animals of all types, and monsters were cute too, but after seeing what they did to Rona...well, she couldn't stand that.

"Nice shot by the way!" the wyvern rider shouted back as she hit a zombie, causing the archer to freeze.

Rona thought that was a nice shot... she thought. Rona thought... Her mind blanked out.

When the girl finally came back down to earth, Rona was already attacking another zombie. She blinked. "Wh-what...?" Wow, had she been out of it for that long? But no, everybody else was mostly in the same positions. Rona just seemed to have moved at lightning speed. "Wow...she's amazing," she breathed. Yue had felt some pride at the shot she had just made, but compared to Rona, who had cleaved through two zombies in the same time, she was nothing. Well, she would never be as amazing as Rona, but she would still try her best.

Looking around for a possible target, the girl saw that Ada had attacked one of the zombies with her dark magic. Flinching back a little, the girl decided to avoid that area for now. She heard Edda shout something, but she couldn't make out exactly what was said. Standing behind this tree as she was, it was a little hard to see what was going on with the others, but from what she could tell, Ada seemed to be filled with a similar vigor to Rona, attacking and killing two zombies in the blink of an eye. She's amazing too, she thought. Maybe she was inspired after seeing Rona in action. That made sense. Yue always felt inspired whenever she watched Rona in battle, so it was only natural that others would be too.

Layne had come forward to heal Rona, and soon after, Yue decided to make her move as well. Edging out carefully from behind the tree, she looked at the hound that had attacked Raynor. Gulping, she fit an arrow to her bow and fired it. She wasn't expecting a perfect shot like before, or to be inspired like Ada had, but she could still fight.

Spoiler

Yue moves left one square and attacks Hound 2.

[Saikazo 241]

Raynor was so focused on fighting that the sudden surge of healing energy flowing through his body startled him, "One hell of a bite on these things, yeah? Don't let it get to you, looks like I might be next on the menu." Layne called out to him. Raynor gave a quick thumbs up, one that the hound tried to capitalize on. It leapt at him, teeth bared as it swiped at him. The claw caught Raynor's arm, but Raynor stabbed it in the stomach as retaliation, and the creature died. A zombie then went for an attack, and with the help of Leon, the zombie was killed. "I'll be back to patch you up soon, don't go too far!" Layne called out as he left.

Raynor took a look around, looking for some targets. Two zombies were shambling their way to the group. He couldn't let them get too close, in case they ignored him and went for Layne, or the others. Urging Gojira forwards, he charged, stabbing one right in the chest. The zombie looked down at its chest and then back up to Raynor. It began to shamble forwards one more, ignoring the lance lodged in its chest as it stabbed Raynor with its own lance. The two stared each other down unflinchingly before Raynor dislodged his weapon from the zombie.

He could hold out against these two. He knew he could.

---

OOC

Spoiler

Raynor attacked Zombie 9 and made it his counter target.

 

[Skaia 578]

As she chanted her verse yet again, allowing Ada to move yet again, Edda looked to the girl as she thanked her. Seeming uncomfortable by it, but still returning a thumbs up with a weaker smile all the same she said, "um...yeah. Don't uh, mention it, yeah." With most of the monsters either being not immediately within striking distance, or having just come up from the ground but seeming like they've missed their cue and simply decided to stand there, the group seemed to earn a somewhat respite. Or, at least that is how the group thought things were going. 

Alexis was quite correct in assuming the monster didn't quite understand her taunting. In fact, it didn't even seem to pay any mind to her provocation nor the fact that she had just slain one of the zombies near it. Instead, with lance in hand, it charged the young Jouran girl in the thickets. Stabbing at the girl, Edda had no way to really dodge the attack and simply put her arms up to defend against it. The lance, while striking true, didn't so much as pierce the girl's arm as it simply pressed against it and the point of the spear dragged itself along her forearm, creating a long cut. Gritting her teeth in pain, the girl swung her blade forth in retaliation, though quite like her last foe, the strike only seemed to tear off a small amount of rotted flesh without really slowing the creature down at all. 

Further to the west of the battlefield, Raynor and the lance wielding zombie were in the midst of their showdown. Pulling its lance out of Raynor as the man dislodged his lance from the zombie. As if a mirror of their last clash, the two then stabbed at each other yet again. As both attacks struck true yet again, the two had suffered stab wounds, and while they had managed to dislodge their weapons again from their target, this time it had resulted in a different  ending. The zombie, letting go of his weapon, slumped down onto the ground as it fell to the grass, lifeless once again. While Raynor had been victorious, his victory was short lived. While the man was rightly confident to believe that he could take two of the zombies, the tree and darkness had served to obstruct his view. 

As such, he would be surprised as the from beyond the corner a zombie wielding an axe came into view. Groaning, and walking past the sword wielding zombie, the newcomer raised his blade as he struck down on both of the rider and his mount, sending them both to the ground. Motionless. 

Staring at them, wide eyed, Leon simply shouted, "Raynor!" Looking at both the Jouran and the his mount, Leon couldn't quite tell what their condition was but "bad" was a perfectly suitable word for it. As the sword wielding zombie walked passed the now downed Jouran, not at all interested in him, it then went to strike at the only thing in its path it could. Raising up his shield, Leon blocked the sword swing of the zombie, though winced in pain as the heavy swing of the creature pushed through his guard and slashed into his torso. Still standing fine on his feet, the young falcon leader retaliated and cleaved through part of the zombie's flesh, taking a large chunk of it away. While it was still standing, it was now the least of Leon's worries. Looking back to Layne he said, "don't worry, I'll handle the zombie over there and keep him safe. Make  sure to keep everyone else healthy." Looking to the rest of the group he said, "keeping pressing forward to the phantom!" 

Spoiler

Okay, so to clear things up, Raynor is down. His HP was reduced to 0 or further and so now he's just kind of lying there on the ground. What this does mean is that Raynor is out of this map. However, we're playing on casual here, so he's not dead dead and will be able to come back at the end of the map once the party is no longer in mortal peril. So yeah. 

 

[LordCowCow 839]

"Phew, just made it... We've got more coming in from both sides Rona, it looks like the new girl there got separated from us, maybe try to get her to come back over towards the main group so we're together. Gotta run!"

Why was Layne giving her orders? She only took orders from Leon. And those orders didn't include bringing Alexis back to the rest of them. In fact from what Rona saw the girl was showing her up. Forging ahead of the rest of them while she was stuck back here being useless.

Her head whipped to the side as she heard Leon shout for Raynor. Seeing the man go down shocked her for a moment but after that it was back to business. Warriors fell all the time. They had to keep going. If he fell it just meant he wasn't strong enough. But then what was this cold feeling?

"keeping pressing forward to the phantom!" 

There it was. The order. Good. She could focus on that. It was all that mattered.

She didn't like leaving Leon behind but going against his order would be even worse. She flew Cormag over Edda's head and made a quick turn into a dive bomb. Swinging down her axe to take the head off the zombie attacking Edda. "We can't stop!" She said. "If anyone falls behind they just have to push forward."

---

"Huh, well that was rude." Alexis said as the zombie ignored her to go off after Edda. That girl...she was doing something she hadn't seen before. Was that what the energy of the group was coming from?

Either way it meant that Alexis was freed up to continue. She considered going back to help the others but that would leave her in a bad spot to be counter attacked.

While it was risky she had to take down that archer before either her or that Wyvern girl was shot down. "Alright Tana, you ready for a risky one? We gotta make this quick girl."

Tana flew along the treeline and shot forward until suddenly taking a sharp turn and darting to the left. Lance at her side Alexis thrust forward and pinned the archer to the tree behind it. The creature squirmed and thrashed, trying to reach Alexis, and was clearly still alive. So Alexis yanked her lance back and drove it back into the zombie's chest. Then finally the archer stopped moving.

She glanced over towards the axe wielder that was near the archer. She could only hope that this one decided to ignore her too. Moving across from it and settling near the edge of the treeline.

Spoiler

Rona moves above 5 and kills it with Steel Axe, 13 is counter target.

Alexis kills 14 and settles in position one above where it was standing.

 

[Sethera 290]

"Wh-what's going on...?" Yue squeaked, watching Raynor go down. Her eyes were wide and fearful in disbelief. "No!" she rushed forward, voice audible in her panic, and then skidded to a stop at the sight of a sword-wielding zombie in the way, though it looked distracted and injured by Leon. The archer quickly set an arrow to her bowstring and aimed it at the zombie. Her hand trembled slightly, mind revisiting the scene of Raynor being felled by the other zombie. She could only hope that Layne could get to him in time. If not...if not...

No, she couldn't think like that. She had to just...take down this zombie. And then that would be one less enemy for them to worry about over here. She would help. Though...she might die too, which was scary, but... She had to try. She had to. For the Iron Falcons. Because she was a falcon. And so was Raynor. At that thought, the girl glanced over, once more laying eyes on the draytter's prone form, as well as that of his mount. At that moment, memories rushed through her.

Raynor nudged his mount, who looked at him, tilting his head. The rider held out his hand, one charm presented to Gojira. "Give," he said. Though it was a simple command, it seemed like Gojira knew exactly what it meant. The lizard carefully took the charm in its teeth and made its way over to Yue, nudging her side and proudly presenting the charm.

The girl blinked, the landscape in front of her starting to blur.

"Oh...for me, thank you!" Yue smiled at Gojira, then turned to Raynor as well, bowing slightly with a red face. "Th-thank you!"

Yue didn't normally get mad. After all, the world was such a scary place, that getting mad...well she didn't have the time to be mad with all the scary things in the world that she had to watch out for. But right now, she felt like she was starting to get very, very mad. It started in her belly, a fire that licked its way up to her chest, and sending tongues of flame to her throat and setting it afire.

Fury.

"Get away from there!" she screamed, releasing the arrow from the string. Her shot aimed true, and the zombie collapsed in a heap, a shaft embedded right in the center of its skull. She panted for breath, limbs trembling. Whether from rage or fear, or something else, she wasn't certain. As she began to catch her breath, she turned her gaze to the axe-wielding undead nearby. It was as if she was possessed. All she could think about was punishing the one who dared kill her friend. Or maybe friends, if she could count Raynor as a friend as well.

In the next moment, Edda was alongside her and saying something, and then suddenly she was filled with renewed energy.

"W-what...happened? Did Rona inspire me?" the archer shook her head and glanced at the dark-haired girl beside her. "Or...was it you?"

The girl looked nervous and simply gave a small nod at Yue's question.

"O-oh...okay, thank you," the silver-haired girl wasn't sure how to react to that. She had thought Rona the source of the inspiration, but maybe Edda had gotten inspired by Rona? So inspired she was able to inspire others? That made sense. Nodding to herself, the archer then moved forward, eyes on the zombie that had killed--or hopefully just injured--Gojira and Raynor.

The girl lifted her bow once more, letting her arm pull back, elbow aligned perfectly straight. Her eyes narrowed, their normal washed-out hue gone. Instead, they blazed like twin coals as she stared the zombie down.

Thwack.

The first shot hit the abdomen. The zombie looked injured but it wasn't enough. No, it had to pay. Lifting her bow, she shot once more, the energy that Edda had transferred to her still singing through her veins. "You'll pay for this!" she shouted.

Splat.

The archer watched impassively as the zombie staggered to a stop, hands attempting to tug what looked like a bundle of feathers from its eye. The shaft was barely visible, so deeply had the arrow buried itself into the zombie's skull. With a final groan, the zombie staggered and fell to the ground, dead once and for all.

Yue continued to stare at the monster for a few seconds, chest heaving. "Now...you can't hurt my friends anymore," she mumbled. "Thank goodness." The girl blinked, eyes watering with unshed tears as she turned to look at where Gojira, and his rider, Raynor, lay. "B-but...it's too late for them. I was...too late." Forgetting where she was, the girl curled up into a fetal position, arms wrapped around her head. "I'm s-so useless, I couldn't even save y-you," she hiccupped. "I'm sorry."

Spoiler

Yue moves to the square to the left of Rona and takes down zombie 8. She then gets versed by Edda and moves three squares to the left, taking down zombie 10.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Sethera

[Blake 312]

The charge seemed to be going well. Ad even had a spare moment to think that Edda's awkward thumbs-up back to her was kinda cute. But it all came crashing down in an instant.

"Raynor!" 

She whipped around to see what was happening, but other than a glimpse of the man's slumped body, she realized her attention was needed to press onward. That damn, idiot... She knew someone was bound to get hurt one day, but she didn't expect him! Gritting her teeth, she followed after Rona, heeding Leon's words. Quickly chanting, she shot at the first monster to cross her vision, managing only to knock it from its feet, the second shot missing entirely.

"Dammit!" She spat, preparing herself for the zombie's counterattack, barely cognizant of Rona next to her, much less the blood still flowing from her wounded arm, "You better not be dead back there...!"

Ada moved up twice, right three times, and attacked Zombie 13, hitting once and missing the second. Designating 13 for the counter.

[Kay Faraday 23]

 

---

 

Raynor fell. He had thought he could make it back in time and heal him, get things going on towards the rest of the fight, but no. He was too late to properly patch up Raynor. While he was here, he could at least take the time to patch up the worst of those wounds to keep the fallen ally from bleeding out during the rest of the combat, but...

I screwed up, my priorities were all wrong. 

He winced for a moment as he looked at the crumpled body on the ground in front of them, this was the first time someone from the group had actually gone down like this in front of him. There had been close calls, there had been accidents, but to see him be hit to ground like that was...

"don't worry, I'll handle the zombie over there and keep him safe. Make  sure to keep everyone else healthy. keeping pressing forward to the phantom!" 

Layne shook his head a tiny bit as he glanced back to Leon, giving him a quick look as he nodded his head, "Stay safe. If things get bad, call for us. We have people who can get to you quick for backup. We'll try to get this done quick."

With the way things were right now, it wasn't safe for them to start running forward to try and attack... Or for him to run forward to heal the others, in this case. Right now, the best he could do was heft a new heal staff up into the air, letting light shine from it onto Ada as he mumbled, closing his eyes as he did, "You heard the man, let's keep going."

Layne quickly turned to where Yue was standing, the sight of their archer on the ground making him wince as he did. He called out before he started to make his running start after Ada, "Yue. He's going to be fine, I promise. I'll make sure of it as soon as we clear this area of monsters. We're all going to make it out of this, like hell will I let him die. The sooner we get through this, the sooner he'll be on his feet. Keep going!"

He really didn't have room to be talking this confidently. There was nothing to say that he could bring Raynor back from the brink at this point, there was nothing to say that Raynor wasn't dead, he wasn't close enough to get a good look at the man, but... He'd deal with that another time. Hopefully. Hopefully Raynor would be fine.

He took off after Ada next, it wasn't much of a pep talk, but he didn't have enough time to stop and comfort her properly. The light from the staff was fading as Ada ran off, but once he was back into range, the heal took place and patched her up, hopefully getting the worst of the wounds...

---

 

 

Layne runs after Ada, moving Up 3 and to the right 2, heals Ada for 23 to full. Heal Staff 2 is at 39 uses.

Edited October 8, 2019 by Kay Faraday

[Saikazo 241]

It was going fine at first. Raynor knew he could take the two zombies on, that was easy enough. In fact, he defeated one on his own. However, as he basked in the victory of his defeating strike, something unexpected came his way. A horrible sight, one that made him freeze in place and realize he had made a terrible mistake. An axe wielding zombie shambled towards him. Before Raynor could get his lance up to attack the zombie,  the monster swung down with a merciless chop, sent both the rider and the mount to the ground.

A familiar feeling overcame Raynor's chest. Pain... and his shirt was being soaked. Still, it was warm, if not sticky. His vision blurred as he tried to move, but his limbs refused to move. He couldn't fall he, the others needed him, he had to do his best to protect them!! No matter how much he fought, his body refused to move, instead forcing him to cough, blooding splattering across his face. No matter how much he tried to stubbornly get up, he couldn't move.

He wasn't afraid. He always knew he could die in the battlefield, in fact, that's how he wanted to go out... in a great fight, etching his name in history. Death didn't scare him... but losing the others did... what if the others fell because he couldn't get up right now? What if Ada got close to death once more because he wasn't there? What if the Snow Fairy was left wide open because Rona ran too far away? What if Rona fell because she went too far away? What if Layne was swarmed because the two zombies he let slip by swarmed him? The Commander, Edda, they were all in trouble. He knew they didn't want to die in the battlefield... but he couldn't protect them... his body just refused to move.

There was some voices... he couldn't make them out though... he thought they were calling out his name, but he wasn't too sure. Some sort of command? He couldn't tell. Finally though, his stubbornness got him to move... one single hand, which reached out, touching a familiar scaly hide. His vision was fading... The others had to have left by now, cleaning up the mess he left behind... all he could do now... was rest...

[Skaia 578]

While Leon was ready to go take on the axe zombie to go to help Raynor out, he was slightly stunned as Yue moved past him and shot the zombie down in one shot. He had always known she was a talented archer, but seeing her fury up close and in person was something different. All the same, the boy was not only impressed by the archer's precision, but looking to his side, he was fairly certain the zombie next to him had just been alive. But, with an arrow in its skull, it was clear how it had died.

Looking over at the girl, he then looked to Edda, who had just been next to Yue. Edda, to her part, didn't meet the eyes of Leon as he did, still seeming to be both unnerved and overwhelmed by everything that was going. Well, it didn't matter anyway. If Edda was doing something, it was only to their benefit, and so the boy didn't feel like now was the time to press. As such, Leon made his way over to Yue and Raynor. With nothing immediately threatening them, Leon crouched down and checked Raynor's condition. Thankfully, he looked worse than he actually was. The man still seemed to be breathing and he still had a pulse, and he didn't seem to be in pressing threat of dying just yet. However, that was about where the good news ended. Looking to Yue he said, "he's alive, still." Looking further into the forest, Leon sighed as the zombies started making their way closer to them. "But we're not safe yet. Don't worry, though," with sword in hand, Leon got ready to take on monsters.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Alexis's hopes were rightly placed in the zombie. As the dark magic both missed and tore into the creature, it looked towards Ada. Letting out a pained groan, the creature began to shamble towards Ada, completely ignoring the pieces of it that were missing from her last attack. Raising its axe, the creature brought down the weapon into Ada, dealing a heavy blow to the girl in the process. However, Ada's response was even more powerful, as her dark magic had pulverized the shambling corpse, leaving the creature in many pieces. With that, the group was in a pocket of safety for the moment, but the creatures continued to make their way forward.