Dragon Sign [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

[Tiamat's Circus 136]

In truth, Marshall had known this fight was over from the moment both she and Sabrina had landed their initial strikes; and she had already laid out a plan in her mind for how she would go about ending the one which had set off towards her. She still had her original Arts after all, and she could close the distance with the technique she had dubbed “Full Steam Ahead” with… Little effort. Then, it would simply be a matter of bashing the Drengr’s skull in with the butt of her rifle, given it had already sustained severe injuries. Apply pressure to the right side, and the head would pop off with ease…

Which made the fact that Sabrina had finished them off before Marshall had even had the chance to close the distance all the more… Helpful. It meant she could keep her energy up, and use it on other arts, to close out the larger group. Marshall adjusted her cap with a small, almost imperceptible smile to her face, as she nodded towards Sabrina. “...You did well. Yes, we should aid the others,” she turned then, moving towards the edge of the platform, as she moved to take stock of how the others were doing… And being pleasantly surprised to see none of her allies dead.

They were, of course, more skilled than the Drengr-- She knew that, but the issue of numbers grew to be a bit more worrisome when it was more than a 2:1 ratio-- And even more so when they hadn’t been so swift as to take one of them out in the initial hit (even if that changed before her very eyes)… So it was, she decided it might be best to even things out in their favor a little faster, pulling her rifle back into a firing stance as she once again began to scan the Drengr, and took to selecting her target. For a moment, she considered assisting Gene and Abby with the Drengr closest to them, but instead, found her aim shifting away from them, for a few reasons. The largest, being that she only had so much time to aim this time, rather than being able to take her time. She needed to take a shot before they moved, and that meant being a little less careful. Being a little less careful, meant there was a chance that she might not hit her mark exactly, and… Well, when it came to firing at a Drengr surrounded by her allies, and one surrounded by their allies, she could be reasonably sure that if she missed the latter, she’d still hit something that wasn’t friendly.

So it was, that after she had shifted her aim to the furthest Drengr back then, she fired. She was getting used to the recoil of the rifle by now, steady even as her arms tensed with an assurance that her arms would surely be bruised - and sore - by the end of all of this. Still, the ‘bullet’ tore from the barrel with the same resounding sound, and though she didn’t hit her target square in the head as she had hoped - for he was further away than was optimal and was moving at an angle that made it difficult to tell where she’d hit - and impacted the Drengr directly in the shoulder. A small smile came to her face, then, as he visibly recoiled from the impact, before turning and pointing upwards towards her… A gesture she returned with a nod of her cap, and a visible, active smile. “...That got their attention.”

[Chaos Sonic 467]

So where was Gene... OH right, dealing with a retaliating strike by a Drengr with a sword.

...shit...

However, he felt himself being yanked backwards by a strong gust of wind...Abby no doubt. However, while she was dealing with this, apparently throwing the hammer she had at the Drengr he had crippled before...who then got jumped on top of by the Worg creature...that was a turn of events for sure. Same time, Gene watched that the Drengr was caught by the hammer's return to it's master's hand and she immediately dispatched it...it was a swift motion...almost too impressive for words.

Aside from that, Marshal had joined the fray from afar in shooting the farthest one...that definitely would help too...considering the Overcharged Water Wall was now gone...perfect...

"T-Thanks..." he finally mustered out the strength to say, before noticing another Drengr preparing to strike at him. Gene immediately parried the strike, both of them seeming to be on equal footing in terms of strength, which benefited him greatly. "Weapon Art - Quick Strike!" he said, recovering as quickly as he could in order to strike at the Drengr. Try as the creature might, it couldn't recover fast enough to guard it. The strike hit the creatures neck and it fell over...eliminated.

"T-There we go...that's two down..." he said with a huff, looking over at the crippled Drengr with a Worg atop it, a perfectly healthy one and the one that now had a gunshot wound. "...four more to go..."

[Skaia 626]

With the two in front of Gene and Abby having been dealt with, there was now nothing between them and the large coyote-like monster. This wasn't something that the beast would've even been cognizant of in the first place as it seemed to be fine with its large paw planted on the fallen drengr as things stood already. The beast snarled for a moment before letting out a loud roar at the two, a blast of sound striking the both of them. Aside from the slight discomfort of the magic passing over her Abby would feel fine from it and Gene, while not stunned, was briefly staggered from the attack. With its magic having been let loose, the beast then leaped forward, intending to bite down on Gene. 

One of the Drengr that had been behind the coyote beast decided that he did not want to deal with getting between the monster and its prey, so it chose to hang back. The other remaining Drengr, however, did not care for such precautions. Running along the side of the staircase, the Drengr moved with its sword drawn, clearly not caring about either of the Exalted on the staircase and instead moving to ascend the staircase. 

The one had previously been crippled had since been knocked unconscious. Between the Coyote landing on it and then leaping off of it, as well as its fellow Drengr trampling it, it could no longer stay conscious. 

[LordCowCow 888]

“...You did well. Yes, we should aid the others,”

Sabrina smiled at the praise and mentally pat herself on the back. She DID do well didn't she?

She couldn't focus on the happy feeling for long though as the other two were having trouble with their side. Especially Gene who seemed to have a beast barring down on him in a moment of weakness.

The creature was much like the one that they had let run off before with the very important difference of this one being actively attacking. But maybe if she hit it a few times it would run off like the other one had?

She started forward as quickly as she could. There was quite some ground to cover before she could actually reach them so she thought it best to attack from afar with magic instead. She could have gone with a fire spell like before but she realized she hadn't tried using a basic wind spell yet. Perhaps it would be like Soren and she would send a blade of wind slicing through the air? She pictured it cutting across next to Gene and striking the beast before it could hit him.

But when she cast the spell she was disappointed to find that the basic level magic was similar to the fire one, and a ball of compressed air was shot past Gene to strike the face of the coyote creature. It did seem to have a good effect at least. The coyote's leap was knocked off course by the blast of wind and Sabrina doubled her effort in rushing in to catch up. Once she was close enough she swung her scythe around horizontally towards the beast's head.

The blade buried into the shoulder of the beast but the beast kept going and rammed into her torso with its body. A wild idea came to mind and as soon as she felt her feet dig into the ground and felt the weight of the beast on her she gathered up wind at her feet in order to leap up into the air despite the coyote making contact with her body.

It wasn't strong enough to launch the beast up with her but she did slam into its head on the way up and, while she didn't leap as high as normal, she was still above the creature.

And she then decided to roll with it. Literally. Sabrina attempted to rotate her body mid-air and spin on the way back down to bury her scythe into the base of the coyote's neck. Her weapon hit true and the blade sunk into the beast's neck.

And Sabrina proceeded to land with a heavy flop. It took her a moment to recover and she scrambled to her feet, the high of her spin move working cut by the awkward landing. No Olympics for her yet...

The beast was down, and dying, but it still wasn't quite dead yet. She looked at her weapon but couldn't bring herself to pull it out of the beast's body to finish it off like an executioner. So instead she raised a hand and shot out another ball of wind at the back of the creature's head. She winced as it struck and the beast thrashed in its death throes. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the moment the creature died, and nearly forgot that there were other enemies all around her.

[Chaos Sonic 467]

So Sabrina took out the Worg...which honestly, impressed Gene quite a bit, almost leaving him motionless and speechless at the sight. Eventually, he did snap out of it in order to assess the situation right now. Currently there was one with a halberd and one with a sword. Between the two, the sword was his best bet. Guess that m-makes it a bit easier on me... he thought, before making a move.

He went around Abby, who was near the Drengr with the sword and proceeded to make a simple basic attack. The Drengr, however, noticed his movement and had...electricity course through it's sword. A quick parry was done and it then proceeded to lunge forward to strike at Gene.

In this moment, the young man looked at the creature's posture... ...it's...l-leading with it's right hand...it's right handed...meaning all the weight i-is on that front right foot. Gene thought, doing his best to dodge to his right...the creature's left. But the forceful and electrified parry left Gene a bit delayed on the dodge. The young man felt the electrified blade cutting him, right at the edge of the rib area. He winced in pain, but kept moving forward as he delivered a slash right on the creature's Achilles tendon.

The plan there worked, the Drengr had an issue putting pressure on the leg due to the injury. Gene let out a sigh of relief, preparing for the next movement...which came immediately after the Drengr brought his leg forward and while gripping it's sword with both hands, swung the sword in a slash.

Crap crap crap crap!! Gene quickly moved, trying to parry the strike, which was broken through and caused the young man to be a little off balance. The attack was diverted, however, but not for long as the creature went in for a horizontal slash this time. "I-I can do this a-all d-..."

He parried again, but complete with him being off balance from the previous strike, the Drengr ended up knocking him down the stairs. The blade did find it's mark and cut Gene's side again, it hurt...but it wasn't deep and he was thankful for that. He groaned slightly, watching the Drengr near him and prepare a vertical slash at him. Though Gene did notice: it was straining with that injury it had, this plus the stairs. He decided to bide his time to find the right opening. He eventually gained his footing again and dodged to his left, missing the strike. Once again, the Drengr was determined and went for another side strike.

"Now!" Gene moved forward, dodging the strike and immediately striking at the tendon once more. It was losing footing slightly, leaning ever so slightly. He took this opportunity and immediately shoulder checked the creature and watched as it tumbled down the remainder of the stairs. At first, Gene thought it was dead...either that or it was doing a good impression of it. "B-Better make sure..." he muttered, moving himself down the stairs, got right behind it and immediately stabbed it in the neck. If it wasn't dead before...it sure as hell was now. "T-T-There we go...j-jeez..."

[yui 602]

Stairs, the Exalted, and a few Drengr. It kinda felt like something out of an action movie. Abby, for her part, found herself squared off with a beastman who wielded a halberd. Fascinating weapon, but it was no warhammer. Abby eyed up her opponent. She wanted to try something she hadn't done up until now. Abby took up the hammer - or took down, rather - and made a sweeping swing at the Drengr's legs. A sweeping swing that completely missed its mark, as the damned thing took a good step back, then immediately used the reach of the halberd to its advantage, shoving the pointy end straight into Abby.

"Ow!"

Well, that was a painful experience she didn't want to repeat. Leg sweeps didn't work with hammers then, apparently. While she couldn't just ignore the wound in her chest, she could at least patch it up some. Abby put a hand up to her wound, and channeled a healing spell into it, at least partially closing up the wound. Enough to not be an immediate concern, if nothing else. The Drengr, although bewildered by this display of magical rejuvenation, didn't waste any time pressing the attack now that it had the upper hand. Swinging the axe-like end of the halberd at Abby, the shortest of the Exalted took this as an opportunity for a counterattack. She swung her hammer again, but rather than aiming at the legs, she swung directly at the halberd itself. Mass was in her favor, the clash of weapons concluding with Abby having the advantage, with her hammer not only deflecting the attack, but stumbling the Drengr off-balance as well. Now it was her turn to press the attack.

Using the momentum from her previous swing, Abby spun around, using centrifugal force as her weapon's greatest asset as she delivered a nasty swing directly into the side of the Drengr. An attack that kept him staggered long enough for a second spinning swing, which sent him over the edge of the stairs, on a long fall down to the ground below. A fall that certainly left him much worse for wear. Abby stopped herself from spinning further, lest she find herself taking a similar fall. As it was, she had already nearly fallen off the stairs, and she wasn't about to turn "nearly falling" into "falling" if she could help it. After taking a quick second to regain her balance, Abby peered down at the Drengr below. He was probably dead, right?

Just in case...

Abby leaned over the edge of the stairs, and raised up her hammer. Then she let it go, causing it to fall down, and land business-end-first on the downed Drengr. If he wasn't already dead before the hammer drop, he certainly was now. With that wrapped up, Abby put her hand over where she was stabbed, trying not to pay it any mind.

"Good work, everyone," she smiled.

[Skaia 626]

With all of the enemies having been felled by the exalted and the bodies on the ground being plenty, they had found themselves once more no worse for the wear. With a brief respite allotted by no more enemies seeming to be immediately in their area, their focus was restored and any damage their bodies had sustained had once more been restored to normal. It was evident that, unless they felt like torching all of the bodies and waiting for them to be reduced to ash or simply hide them away, that if they stayed here the scene that they had caused would certainly alert the other drengr to their presence. So time was of the essence. Not as though the common drengr had proved to be any match for the exalted so really it was a matter of courtesy to not kill all of them and simply make their way for their destination - the tower in the center of this castle town. 

They would have their choice in route, going left, right or center. They would know that right would lead them back to the original entrance of the castle - the one that had been heavily guarded by a large cluster of drengr and the large captain like one. To the left, from their vantage point they were given from their second floor exit that I the narrator omitted for the sake of expedience, they would know that it eventually branches off into something of a large courtyard next to the tower. They could barely make out what was in said courtyard but a rather large beast was seen there, not seeming to move at all, in addition to some smaller moving dots, likely other monsters. And finally, the path of least resistance, straight ahead. This path was mostly just road that connected to what appeared to be houses of some sort, and while there were certainly some drengr patrols there they had, once more, proved so ineffective at their job of stopping the exalted that if they were to run into them at all it wouldn't even be worth writing a whole combat about it. 

Such were the three directions the exalted could choose to walk. 

Edited August 30, 2024 by Skaia

[Tiamat's Circus 136]

…And once again, everything was quiet. In truth, Marshall had expected to need to fire another shot; she had even begun to take aim at the one who had pointed at her, but… With her comrades down on the field, it quickly became clear she wouldn’t be in any danger; and so, before the last one had even been felled, Marshall had begun descending the steps with the same, calm demeanor she had executed most tasks. She dusted the palms of her hands as she let her weapon dissipate into thin strips of light, and then air, and glanced around taking stock of the group for a moment. 

“...Good. No serious injuries,” Marshall gave an incredibly small, but approving, smile as she took a few steps in front of the group, and began to take stock of their potential pathways. There would be no time to sit, wait, and debate-- So the conductor-turned-markswoman had determined she would be making a decision here and now on which path to take. Of course, the one to the right would lead to unnecessary combat, and the one to the left would lead to… Well, what she could only assume was one of the few things here that they could get stronger from killing, in all actuality, but…  Well, if they could explore a bit, they could at least likely learn a bit more about what was going on.

So it was, that she moved forwards with a slight adjustment of her cap, that she sallied forth in the general direction forwards, to examine the houses. They were… Fairly well put together, all things considered; definitely had some inhabitants even, before the rain and Drengr and time got to them, but… There was at least some form of community. A curiosity welled within Marshall, then, that… She wondered, perhaps, what the people who came before were like-- A curiosity, that was pushed to the back of her mind, as she heard a patrol nearby.

Lucky for her, the houses had no shortage of small crevices and spots-between them to slip into, so it was that she decided it was best to avoid unnecessary combat; any wounds they sustained now would likely still slow them down in the future, one way or another, and with the corpses they had left behind… It was likely that they were best off keeping their time spent here to a minimum…

Which is why she really wished she hadn’t heard that rustling, from one of the houses, as they got ever closer to the tower at the center of it all. You see, as long as she was simply poking around at the peripherals, or they were hiding from patrols-- Marshall was fairly confident she could keep the others out of trouble. But with something actively making noise in one of the houses… She knew all too well that it was only a matter of time before someone went to check it out. So it was, that the Conductor took a deep breath… And sallied forth, towards the house, doing her best to - somewhat stealthily - get as close as she could to try and hear what was going on inside, rather than risk being seen by poking her head through a window or doorway.

…Feet or… Knowing the Drengr, Paws shuffled about inside. There’s no change in that sound, but… There’s also someone mumbling, or perhaps growling, to themselves? It was hard to tell… Marshall furrowed her brow. Perhaps a commander, of sorts, pacing about? Annoying-- Troublesome, even, as if they moved on, they might not be able to get clear away from here without getting spotted, and then a commander would be sending troops after them, naturally. Which meant the best bet would be to take them out, but…

Marshall brought her hand to pinch the bridge of her nose, as she glanced towards the others, and… First, held a finger to her mouth, in a shushing motion, before waving them closer. If they were careful, they might be able to hear what was going on; and if they were then coordinated, and fast enough, they could likely take out all threats before… Well, they became threats. It was just going to take a bit of finesse.

[LordCowCow 888]

All this sneaking made Sabrina feel itchy. She wanted to break the silence and just charge in so bad that she was visibly shaking. She had never liked these kind of segments in games. Never saw the point when it was much more fun to fail and get to beat up the bad guys.

But she held it in for the rest of them. She hoped they understood the great struggle she was going through.

When they stopped by a building she thought that this was the time that they'd be able to stop skulking around but no, Marshall used the universal "shut your trap" sign and she had to stop herself from sighing.

She got closer to listen in as well but couldn't hear much more than shuffling about. So she decided to inch her way towards the old wooden door nearby and listen from there.

“no no no filthy - dusty - unacceptable. I must - this must be perfect. No no when did that - ah the king will never…” The shuffling stopped at mention of a king and then a bit later picked up again as did the rambling which sounded like more of the same.

The actual words didn't shock her nearly as much as the fact...that they were using words at all.

In her shock she forgot all pretense of stealth and quickly opened the door and burst into the room. It was a small, somewhat rundown, looking home. Furnished with a few chairs, a table, and some shelves. Another door was at the opposite end of the small building. Near the table, fidgeting with some candles, was a buffalo man. He wore ratty clothing, no armor, and didn't look armed.

The creature gave a look of alarm and fright and let out a snorting sort of shout at her entrance.

She wanted to say something cool and heroic but instead she just pointed at him and blurted out "You can talk!?"

BGM

“Ah! So they’ve finally come - you’ve come for me I see! Well I’ll - I won’t,” he grabbed a nearby candle holder and pointed at Sabrina menacingly. “I won’t have a hairless heretic get the best of me!”

The makeshift weapon hardly registered to hr. Neither did the strange claim that she had come here for her. What really got her attention was something in the latter half. Pouting, Sabrina put her hands on her hips and said, "I am NOT hairless. I have just enough hair thank you very much!"

The buffalo was hyperventilating for a few moments before his breathing began to slow and he sized Sabrina up with his eyes. "...So you do...." then a look of realization hit him as he shouted, “y-you speak!?”

"That's what I'm saying!" She replied. "Can you all speak? All this time?"

“Of course I can - I haven’t lost my mind yet - no no I am quite sane. More than the traitors - the heretics the,” he started to breathe heavier and angrier before slowing down and looking at Sabrina more curiously, “does that mean some yet still live? The blood of royals still exists after all, ahaha,” his rage turned to elation as he began to laugh, and then looked at her again. “Though you seem awfully lacking as one of Storm’s descendants.”

While this buffalo could talk he was very clearly bad at manners. And had poor taste to boot. "Lacking? I don't lack anything! I'm the legendary hero Dracona! The one who will save the entire world! Maybe your eyesight is lacking did you think of that?"

“Legend? Legend…I have heard of no such Dracona before…” the man mulled this over, and then glanced at Sabrina. And then really squinted, looking side to side at her head. “My eyesight is quite fine! I see now, Storms blessing yes…you have four ears.”

"That's right I....huh?" Four ears? She moved her hands up to her normal ears and then began to feel around for any other ears that might have popped up. Then she looked behind her to see if any of the others had followed and could confirm that she only had two ears.

It seemed that she had completely forgotten that they were still in enemy territory.

[yui 602]

Abby liked to think she was pretty alright at sneaking around. Her small stature gave her access to little gaps too low to the ground for her peers, but that advantage ultimately didn't end up mattering very much. As far as the topology of this little town went, she was on equal footing with the rest of the Exalted, which effectively meant she was at a disadvantage. Fortunately this disadvantage wasn't so great that she wound up risking everyone else's cover being blown. The fact that there was some kind of town here was actually rather surprising to Abby. Even more surprising was when Sabrina had burst into one of the houses, which itself led to a conversation that was a lot of things. Full of surprises, and quite frankly, pretty damn funny.

Though she didn't exactly appreciate being called a hairless heretic.

"Lacking? I don't lack anything! I'm the legendary hero Dracona! The one who will save the entire world! Maybe your eyesight is lacking did you think of that?"

“Legend? Legend…I have heard of no such Dracona before… My eyesight is quite fine! I see now, Storms blessing yes…you have four ears.”

"That's right I....huh?"

Hopefully the legendary hero wouldn't mind a bit of friendly intervention.

"It's, uhh, mostly a foreign legend," Abby interjected, stepping into the house. "The name's been getting around lately, but I guess it hasn't reached you yet."

"Ah! Another of you!" The buffalo squinted in Abby's direction, brandishing the candle holder at her warily. "Are you...also a Dracona?"

"No, that, that's just her. She's the only Dracona. The rest of us are..." We're... uh-oh. The question was so out of nowhere that it had thrown Abby off her game. Her wits were failing her. So it was that she thought to rely on Sabrina's instead, giving the supposed legendary hero a quick nudge with her elbow.

"S-she's also a hero! A, um, slightly less legendary type!"

"A hero...Dracona eh?" The man looked Sabrina up and down again and said, "foreigner...well there are many dragons out there...but a foreign hero? Well, what do you want?! Here to finish off the rest of Accard Kingdom? Well ha! I'm all that's left and I won't go down without a fight no I won't."

"No! We're not here to fight you... I think. Those Drengr out there aren't your friends, are they?"

"Like I'd have fun with those heretic lunatics! They don't know how to be grateful for what they were given I tell you!"

"Well, that makes this way easier. We're here to kill their boss. I don't know about any Accard Kingdom, but we'll at least take out the guys walking around in your turf like they own the place."

"Oh, a proper group of heroes are you? Well, good! Slaughter any of them that looks at you funny!" The man's posture relaxed as he starts to say, "but Beryn ey? Good. The 'Pride and Joy of the Accard Kingdom', ha! Nothing more than a savage beast who holes himself up in a tower. He should get what's coming to him."

"Glad we're on the same page!"

[Chaos Sonic 467]

With the group of Drengr defeated, Gene was thinking they were going to sneak for the next part... but was immediately proven wrong when Sabrina walked right into one of the buildings... He wanted to bash his head against a wall, but that would've defeated the purpose of the whole "stealth" thing. But nevertheless, she did it, and now they had to own up to it. He sighed and just went in too... and well, he was surprised.

"Lacking? I don't lack anything! I'm the legendary hero Dracona! The one who will save the entire world! Maybe your eyesight is lacking did you think of that?"
“Legend? Legend…I have heard of no such Dracona before… My eyesight is quite fine! I see now, Storms blessing yes…you have four ears.”

What, or rather who, Sabrina and now Abby were talking to was a buffalo man in ratty and tattered clothing... clearly not like the others for sure. But then, who or what was this individual?

"Uh... e-excuse me..." Gene finally spoke up, kind of shuffling in. "S-Since you already know we're not going to harm you... w-w-would you be willing to answer some questions for us, uhh... I-I don't think we ever got your name either..." How did no one ask this guy's name prior? That's the basics to the whole party questioning thing... least in his mind.

“Ah! A third! I see you have a whole army of lesser well known heroes…” the man mumbled for a moment before straightening his posture. “As for me, I am Enzo. Royal Advisor to the king. Or I was- am- is!”

A royal a-advisor?? Gene thought, before clearing his throat a bit. "Y-You've already met them... I-I'm Gene... uh, no i-interesting title to that c-c-currently..." he rubbed the back of his neck some. "A-Anyway... w-why would a royal a-advisor be here instead of... well... with the king?"

His expression turned to a glare as he said, “do you foreigners all live under rocks? Or perhaps all your hair is stuffed in your ears!” After grumbling to himself for a moment he said, “our king was betrayed by these heretics -savages all of them! None more so than that accursed knight Beryn…oh they want me to believe he was killed, that that rabid animal did him in but I know there’s no force on this world that could stop him!”

"M-More like... we're just... not aware of c-current events..." Gene trailed off a bit with his answer to Enzo's first question. But nevertheless, he did take all this information before nodding slowly. "M-Maybe you can tell us about that a-accursed knight... Beryn? A-After all, we are h-here to take d-down the boss... m-maybe you might be able to help us too... y-ya know... if you wanted to. S-Since it sounds like you have some issues with them anyway..." Gene was trying his hardest right now. The buffalo was a bit of an imposing figure here, but with his mind on his many gaming adventures was working in overtime. Perhaps, since they shared a bit of a common enemy and goal, they could enlist Enzo in assisting them...like an NPC joining a party for a specific mission. Least, he hoped that's what this would turn into.

“Issues - oh yes issues is a word to use - why I oughta…” trailing off again he remembered what he was responding to. “Beryn is beast among beasts - all of my misgivings with him do not change the fact that in body he was closest to Storm - a squandering of perfection. Thunder is his roar and Lightning are his fangs. His skill with his weapon, the sturdiness of his armor, the ferocity of his attacks…these rapid Drengr may as well be mice in the face of a lion.” Begrudging respect could be heard in his voice as he said, “that you supposed heroes know nothing of him must speak to how backwards your home must be for there is no nation that would dare to have fought Aersinn when he was loyal.”

"...w-well..." Gene started, but paused, realizing what Enzo had spoken. He could hear the respect in his voice and the way he spoke highly of this accursed knight. The knight was the closest to Storm...the god of thunder and lightning... the Aeon Storm. This caused him to swallow hard, but after a moment... he finally spoke up again. "T-That may be true... b-but... that was when he was loyal, r-right? If t-this Beryn is no longer loyal to y-your king or even this nation... but stuck being an accursed knight... then... while he may be this figurehead in the physical sense... h-he's not the same hero you or these people once held in high regards... right? P-Perhaps the one that was the closest to Storm... has fallen from his pedestal..."

“Pah! I see you have little sense in that hairless head of yours…but I can’t imagine Storm would look favorably on such a traitor, after all the king is closest in spirit to an Aeon. That’s what makes him king! Naturally the spirit would take precedence over the body yes, yes…” the man grumbled to himself, with it not being entirely clear if he was speaking literally or in metaphor. “But his body, all bodies of the Drengr, are from Storm’s blessing…yes yes, so it is up to all of you heroes to avenge the spirit and excise the blessing from these traitors!” His tone turned chipper as his demand was spoken.

"S-Seems l-like that's a our job thus far for sure..." Gene chuckled nervously. He was hoping Enzo would say yes he'd join in the fight, but he figured this was as good as it was going to get.

[Tiamat's Circus 136]

If looks could kill, Marshall would have hardly needed the rifle with which she had domed the previous Drengr, as the others of her group… Without any thought, or hesitancy… Walked into the house, and began conversing with the person within. It took her longer than she would have liked to follow them, even as she pressed a hand into the space between her eyes, and wondered to herself whether they were stupid, or suicidal. She only paused then, as she realized the irony in her musings, and… Shook her head, as she paused at the doorway, and took a deep breath.

Before materializing her rifle in her off-hand, and striding into the house with an impassive expression upon her face, as she ran through the bits and pieces of the conversation she had heard, as well as that which was still going on. Of course, the others handled much of the questioning, and yet… There were still a few lingering questions that she hardly wanted to leave open ended. “...And why haven’t they killed you yet?” she asked calmly. “The heretics, I mean.”

The Buffalo man looked curiously at the metal rod in Marshall’s hand, now less surprised that there was a fourth person after the previous three. “Aha! They couldn’t kill me if they tried!…no they could very easily kill me, no but I’m clever and when the slaughtering began I fled- hid - soundly escaped! Yes yes…they couldn’t find me because they’ve all lost their wits about them.” As he said this he started to cackle saying, “oh yes the fools don’t realize that I’ve been preparing a base for when my king returns, right under their noses. And so long as the door remains closed they’ll never find me!”

Marshall paused, for a moment, and though she contemplated saving them the trouble - for something about his mannerisms irked her - she instead simply took a deep breath, and... Closed the door behind her with her main-hand. "...Right," she murmured, with a quiet sigh. "What's keeping you here, then? If you've been here for some time, you could have easily learned their routes and timings, couldn't you?" she relaxed then for a moment, tilting her head to the side in an almost nonchalant manner. "...So why didn't you escape, run to one of the nearby settlements, and join up with them, until your king's fabled return?"

Enzo stared at Marshall in silence for a moment, a blank expression as if none of this had ever occurred to him. “That’s right, if there are foreign heroes then perhaps there are those still loyal, perhaps there still areas that support my king and the world out the walls is no longer filled with those savages and then I could - oh but no no no someone must stay here for when he returns and allow him entry and someone must memorize the patterns and faces of each of these traitors and…” his voice turned to a mumble as he continued to ramble on and on.

"...Many of these traitors have already been culled," Marshall would state plainly, and firmly; a firm edge to her voice as she spoke. "I've only two questions left, for now," she continued, taking a deep breath before speaking. "What should we expect between here and the traitor-knight? What Resistance will we meet, and are there any traps we should be aware of?"

Looking back getting snapped out of his rambling he said, “oh yes, no, no traps to be aware of. We are a country of might, strength! If we are to defeat our foes it is through pure strength! With that said you are likely only to run into more of the heretics if you are to find him in the tower…tower…tower….oh yes! Disloyal to the last you will probably find another powerful heretic inside the tower. A failure - failures! who could not handle the blessing of Storm my king bequeathed to them and lost both their minds and form. Or perhaps they gained each others form? Hm, hm…It sits now as that traitorous champions guard dog.”

Marshall paused at that, and nodded, taking the information in. "More Drengr, but also some sort of beast... Given the wording used, we can assume multiple entities forming into one-- With Guard Dog likely being a bit more literal..." she mused to herself idly, before nodding. "...Hm. That mention of you being a country of might..." she trailed off, bringing a hand to her chin. "Brings me perfectly to my last question," she adjusted her hat, then, with her free hand; and then tucked her arm behind her, as she spoke. "During our travels, we've heard... Many, many tales. Many of the varied peoples we've seen have had their own stories, but there is one I've heard from a few of the settlements we've come across, so I'm curious as to if it has passed your register as well," she spoke calmly, with a slight nod, as she lied, voice as impassive as ever. "...That tale, and legend, being that of the 'Exalted'. Do you too have an account, or knowledge of this?"

Curiously the man blinked at her. “What sort of tale is that? No no, I can’t say I’ve heard of anything of the sort.”

Marshall was surprised, to say the least; but this worked in her favor, as she had no intention of revealing their true nature. “Ah, it’s just a legend detailing a group that some of the settlements see as being capable of slaying the heretical champions,” she explained with a slight nod, adjusting her cap. “I was simply curious as to if you had heard anything, for as much as that legend is likely untrue, little pieces of truth are often found hidden within such legends; truth I was hoping we could use as we traveled across the land hunting down these traitorous champions.”

“There are more such champions? Of course with falling of our empire it only makes sense no other could keep peace. Well well my luck - my patience has finally turned around! If slaying heretics is your profession then I shan’t keep you from your work!”

"Indeed," Marshall gave a slight bow, as she readied herself to leave. "Once we've slain the heretic here, then..." she trailed off. "Would you prefer we return to inform you here, or shall you wait for us elsewhere? In safer company?"

“Oh I shall be quite alright here.”
 

[Skaia 626]

With the group having gotten their questions answered by the buffalo man Enzo, they were free to leave and continue their exploration of the enormous castle town area. Enzo himself closed the door immediately as soon as they had all left and if they were to stay by the door they would hear the same kind of muttering and shuffling, now mixed with gleeful laughter, that they had heard when they first made their way into the house. 

The path to take was clear, as it was simply a straight road to an incredibly large tower that was visible no matter where one was standing. As the group had made their way through the streets, dealing or not with the drengr however they pleased, they eventually came to a tall and wide collection of stone steps that lead into the tower. The tower itself was unguarded, at least on the outside, and was incredibly simple in design. A giant stone slab of a door stood between them and entering the building, the door itself was largely plain in design though this didn't seem intentional and more of a side effect of whatever adornments or garish design choices merely having worn off with time and weathering of the rough conditions near the building. And hanging above the large stone door was what appeared to be a stone wolf head, half of it seemingly missing from being broken off either intentionally or from similar weathering. 

All of this, however, was simple flourishing that made no difference to the task ahead. That was opening the door. To the side of the door were two glass orbs that seemed to have a carving in the flooring around them running up to the door, however one of these orbs had long since been shattered and the functions of them were unknown to the party, though perhaps a logical guess could reach them to the proper conclusion. The only answer they had available to them otherwise was to open the door with pure brute force. Thankfully, though they did not have the physique to back this, the party was stronger than the average person with two in particularly being closer to the average bear. And so with some effort they would be able to push the door open. Once they walked inside they would be met with nothing but darkness and the sound of some kind of low growling, the doors behind them closing as soon as they had all crossed the threshold and leaving the room entirely lightless. 

This did not last long, however. Electricity began to crackle from ahead of them and lines across the room started to glow as if in response to this, revealing all that would be able to be seen. Corpses of long past were strewn across the stone floor, the ground itself being relatively flat. While it looked like this might have been some kind of meeting greeting room or main hall in times long past, most of the furniture had long since been destroyed with the only thing still being intact being several stone columns that supported the ceiling above, and several stone tables and wooden chairs strewn about. And on the other side of the room there seemed to be a door, torn banners overhead it and with a similar wolf headed statue protruding out, likely leading to a staircase to take them higher up. But, beyond everything else the most noticeable room was the nightmarish creature that lied in the center. 

It's body was easily twice the size of the bear that they had met prior in the plains, coated in fur, yet what specific animal this belonged to would not be known to them. Looking at its tail for confirmation did little to help either, as it simply had five tails each belonging to a different breeds of animals flowing behind it. It had two pawed feet supporting it in the back, and in the front two sets of hooves. To one side was a large bear like arm, far too large even when taking into account the proportion of this monster's body. And to the other, three smaller fur covered arms each equipped with a lightning infused sword. And as if to make cartoonish mockery of this strange chimera's form its head belonged to that of the black tusked elephant that they had seen in the plains. And its second head, growing from out of the neck going into a second neck, was that of the large tusked, lion-maned giraffe like creatures. 

BGM

The giraffe head let out a roar as the elephant's trunk trumpeted, seeing the invaders in the room with it now. It stood motionless where it was, the chimeric giraffe's tusks generating a ball of lightning between them before firing the blast at the entire party. 

Edited October 6, 2024 by Skaia

[LordCowCow 888]

By the time that Sabrina had confirmed that she still only had the two ears it seemed that the conversation with the buffalo man had ended and they were getting ready to go. She told him, "I shall return to tell you all about our grand victory!" on the way out.

The place they entered felt incredibly boss-like to her. The corpses gave her a start and she did her best to ignore that they were there, and when she noticed them try and not think about what they truly were, as they made their way into the room.

Thankfully, though perhaps it wasn't something to be thankful of, the giant horrific beast in the middle of the room was enough of a distraction that her mind didn't linger too much on the dead bodies.

"What the heck is that!" she instinctively called out, rather un-heroically, then she coughed and followed up with, "is what I would say if I were an average person. No mere beast will get the better of me!" Under her breath she muttered, "even if it IS really, really, big and creepy."

The ball of lightning coming towards them was the immediate threat. And Sabrina immediately hurried forward to intercept it. Without much thought on how it would go she put her arms up and shouted, "witness the power of dragon breath, Flamethrower!" A gout of fire came from her hands and struck the ball. While it didn't get rid of it the flames did stop it from advancing. However her fire was not overtaking it even when she shouted to try and raise her power level.

So she started moving forward, holding the ball in place as best she could. At the same time she noticed that the creature itself was starting to come towards her so she quickened her pace. And, when she thought she was close enough, she released the fire and ducked under the ball of lightning to avoid it.

The beast was right there before her and Sabrina didn't give herself time to panic. She summoned her scythe and charged it head on. Specifically the elephant head as she wanted to avoid the three armed side of it. It was a large target so she wasn't worried about missing as she took a wide swing at it and cut across its face. It howled with pain and swung its trunk at her. Catching her in the side and sending her across the floor with the powerful impact.

Somewhat dazed Sabrina still managed to steady herself. Not wanting to rush in again and take another swat like that she instead flung a ball of flames at the creature's side. It struck true and the giraffe head let out a roar before it turned to focus on her.

Which...was a good thing, right?

[yui 602]

Well, Enzo seemed like a pretty swell guy. Abby was looking forward to his reaction when the crew inevitably came back with news that they'd dealt with the problem. The road forward was more or less uneventful, with nothing Abby or the rest of the gang hadn't seen before, save for some new scenery. There was of course, the question of the missing glass orb. But with one of them missing, that was a mystery that would have to remain unsolved for the time being. The next mystery was one Abby never thought would come up.

The mystery of "what kind of sick fuck did the Accursed have to be, to create the abomination in front of her?"

Up until now, Abby was well aware that she was taking this whole "save an alternate world" thing quite casually. That was just the kind of person she was, and the only thing that shook her up at all was the initial shock of dying right before arriving here. Up until now. All life was sacred. That was why she was a med student before coming here. That was why when she went for a killing blow against a drengr up to this point, she made absolutely certain it was one that WOULD kill them. And that was why the... thing in front of her, was completely unacceptable. It was an affront to life itself. Before coming here, Abby would have absolutely called the authorities to put this abomination down, and give it the mercy of not needing to exist in such a horrible form.

But there were no authorities to call. Instead, she was the authorities. Her and her teammates. And she was damn well going to do her duty. What came after could be thought about after.

For now, Abby was stone-cold focus, eyes locked on the monster before her. Not even willing to wait to close the distance with the thing, Abby threw her trusty hammer at one of its frontmost legs, boosting its momentum by propelling it further with a gust of wind. The strike hit true, and while its leg did buckle at the hit, there were still five other legs the beast could use to hold itself up. Abby had a plan though. As fast as she could manage, Abby ran up to the monster, re-summoning her hammer to take a swing at its hind leg on the same side. And for her trouble, Abby gave the beast pause. While the giraffe head swiveled around to keep a bead on Sabrina, the rest of the monster turned to face Abby, sweeping and swiping with its array of swords.

Abby's response was to try and swing at the swords with her hammer. For the most part, it worked out quite well! She couldn't avoid getting pushed back, but all that got through her defense was one of its electrified swords, and even that didn't cut terribly deep. A minimal price to pay for closing distance and getting a couple hits in.

[Chaos Sonic 467]

"...y-you've got to be kidding!!!" Gene shouted, bracing somewhat at the creature standing before them. It was a chimera, though one not like one he had ever seen before. Normally, chimeras were always depicted as having the head of a lion, body of a goat, a goat's head... whether on the back or beside the lion's head, a serpent tail... and sometimes they were shown being fire-breathing too. There were even some that were depicted as having dragon wings as well, though this was the Greek interpretation. And yet... this one was...

Size of a bear... maybe larger than even that! A strange coat of fur, possibly from VARIOUS creatures... total of five tails, two pawed feet for the rear, hooves for the front... various arms with lightning weapons being held... and... a mixture of a black tusked elephant with a lion-manned giraffe... Gene ran through it all in his head, shaking his head slightly. This wasn't like the other chimeras he had seen in the various games and stories he had enjoyed. If it was like a normal Greek chimera, they'd have to deal with it's fire-breath and it's venom from the serpent tail mouth, which means they'd be perfectly fine with fighting it as long as they were far away and strike from a distance.

But this? It was a lightning based one. And he was at a huge disadvantage for one reason: an elemental typing. By all accounts, in every game he played, electricity had higher power and damage situations than one with a water based element. His speed was also an issue here. While he could be as speedy as most, it didn't mean he could outrun lightning. He could run and try and slice underneath, but there was a problem... he wouldn't be able to properly get under neath it to strike at the stomach. He could attempt to use the Water Wall Art to knock it over or launch it upward, but with the bulk of it's size, he figured that would be a bad idea. Maybe the knocking over attempt? No dice there either... considering it had six legs... or arms... whatever they were. It was a well-balanced creature to an extent...

C'mon Eric... Gene thought as he started biting the inside of his cheek slightly. ...this is a problem... you can do this. His eyes glanced around, looking at the room around him. There were about... four columns that were still fully intact, while four others were broken. The four that were intact stretched all the way to the ceiling, and he got a bit of an idea. It was stupid, incredibly stupid... but at the same time, weirder things in this world had happened that made him question if stupid plans would indeed work. "...I-I must be completely insane if I do this..." he exhaled slowly, before rushing forth onto this battlefield that the chimera had claimed as theirs.

Weighing the options on the two sides he could go for, he figured he'd take his chances with the bear arm. Gene rushed in to the creature's left side, his plan in mind as watched the chimera closely. It's trunk was about ready to swing at Abby, but it still noticed the young man. That's when the bear arm moved and made it's attack clear: it was an upward swat. No room underneath it to slide under, so he went wide, missing the swat's arc. There was delay and end lag on the upswing, however. Gene took notice of this and delivered a slash at the bear arm once he made it close to it again. Once he slashed, Gene rushed again, towards his goal: the creature's tails. Ordinarily, a chimera... or at least a Greek one, is supposed to have a serpent head for it. Could also be said for a Cockatrice... but, since this one simply has five tails, we should be good. I cut them, it'll be in pain... potentially bleed out. A little morbid, but it'll have it's attention on me for the most part. he thought, making it to the tails, though it seemed to react and swung it's array of tails at him. "O-Okay, didn't anticipate that!" Gene muttered, slashing at the tails... only managing to cut one off, while the other four knocked him back. "O-Okay... see if you guys can get it to run into the columns..." he said loud enough for the others to hear.

[Tiamat's Circus 136]

Marshall had been satisfied enough with their interrogation, and given the things they had seen thus far… There was little that could actually be within the tower that would truly, and utterly, shock her. In fact, based on what he had said, she had already come to many conclusions about what they would see. There was no reason for him to specify that they had ‘gained each others form’ if they hadn’t fused into one, abominable being. Grotesque, for sure; but given the nature of this world, that was hardly new.

Of course, the same couldn’t be said about her companions.

Sabrina, as with most things, was the first one to comment on the creature; dawning horror giving way to a quick excuse, followed shortly by a yelping shout from Gene. A light exhale escaped Marshall’s lips as she adjusted her hat, and took stock of the creature in those few short moments. It was an abomination, by all accounts, but it was the sort of abomination one might expect; and luckily, they had cover to use and abuse against it - provided those that needed to do so could keep their distance.

Still, there was a lot to unpack about how it would fight from its design alone; for even if it wasn’t made from any intelligent method of creation, the sheer brutality shone through. For example, there was the fact that by having multiple active heads, it would be able to keep track of multiple entities; though, by that same nature, Marshall had to wonder if the heads ever fought each other. There was also the swath of limbs, which gave the general impression of this creature as a sort of… Anti-personnel weapon. It was to be released against multiple combatants, and would take care of them hard and fast.

But, even if it was meant to and used to taking on multiple combatants, didn’t mean it would be infallible at such. In fact, the fact that it only had two heads confirmed as much; for while it could survey the land and keep watch from all sides, its focus could only ever truly be on two, maybe three close combatants. 

That would be the crux of her strategy, then; after they had all gone about their own methods of beginning this fight. 

As it let out a bellowing roar and trumpet, Marshall found her legs already moving as she calmly began to walk to the side; slowly and methodically, as she kept an eye on it. It generated a ball of lightning which, for a moment, she wondered if she would need to temporarily slow down with a wall of flames… But Sabrina, as always, beat her to it, and also drew its attention - with the help of Gene and Abby, of course.

Perfect.

Marshall let her slow walk increase into a sprint as the ball of lightning blew past, and as the others closed the distance to confront the beast; while she focused on closing the distance between herself, and the in-tact pillar to her left. Her goal, of course, was to cut off the line of sight the creature had on herself; for as she held out her arm, allowing her rifle to materialize, she had a clear, important goal: to overload its senses, and confuse the creature’s multiple heads.

Taking a deep breath, the conductor braced herself against the pillar as she pointed her rifle wide of her target, concealing herself as much as she could behind the pillar. Her heart slowed down, for a moment, and in her mind, she visualized the path the bullet would take. This was not a shot to be aimed directly at it, but one which would need to be redirected for this to work. Hands tightening around the stock, she felt as that symbol across the back of her hand grew warm, and as energy drained from her palms… That small incantation echoing through her mind.

Durch die Wälder.

It was muted, compared to normal; different, as it had been the last time she had used this art. There was no muzzle flash, and no bullet came from the barrel, but rather, a small bead of water which condensed, and then, like a hardened bullet, shot outwards straight ahead. It streaked through the area, nigh silently as it passed her foe and allies both…

Durch die Auen.

She threw her hand forwards, as she dropped her barrel, still tucked neatly beside the pillar, and in an instant, just as it would have hit the broken column on the opposite side of the arena… She flexed her wrist, and let out a sharp exhalation of breath, as the small bead of water curved, and turned around to strike the beast in it’s rear, near the tails; impacting with the same, or even perhaps more force than if she had simply shot a normal shot at the creature. It let out a howl of resentment - though, how much of that was at the shot, and how much of that was at the thought of being attacked at all, she didn’t know - as… It kept its heads forwards, trained on those it was still aware of, as the tails began to lash out towards Gene, as if blaming him for her strike.

A small smile crept across Marshall’s lips, as she let her weapon fade; doing everything she could to make her profile as small as possible. Perhaps, they really could overwhelm its senses.

[Skaia 626]

Frustrated by the assault it was suddenly suffering on every side the Chimera began to thrash about, launching an attack in several different directions at once. As Gene had observed its front facing elephant head had been rearing to strike at Abby. And so with the girl in close proximity she would soon find the trunk of the creature coming towards her and whipping at high speeds to strike her.

Meanwhile, Gene had yet another problem with these tails to deal with. While it hadn't pieced together the attack from the sniper just yet, it knew that there was something behind and so it began to move its backside in his direction, aiming to strike him with yet another barrage of tail strikes.

And for Sabrina, as the bear arm had come back down from the attack it had just launched on Gene, the giraffe head had stayed focused on her. Charging up lightning into its horns, at a much faster rate than it had before, rather than shoot her with yet another charged ball of lightning it had seen fit to just fire a bolt of lightning in her direction. 

Edited October 29, 2024 by Skaia

[LordCowCow 888]

Gene wanted them to make it run into the columns. Which would be much easier if she didn't have to worry about it firing a bolt of lightning at her. "Maybe next time!" She called out as she gathered wind at her feet and leaped over the lightning and headed straight for the giraffe head. She pulled her scythe back; wanting to swing it right at the creature's head.

Even if giraffes were kind of cute ones that shot lightning at her were a bit less so.

However as she got close enough to swing she also was close enough to be swung at. The giraffe reared back and swung its long neck towards her to headbutt her right out of the sky. In an awkward position Sabrina twisted to swing the blunt end of her scythe at the head to intercept. She felt the weapon strike its face, smacking it hard in the process, but she was flung back to the ground anyway.

"Okay, maybe ground attacks aren't so bad after all." She said as she charged forward. It still was recovering from the big bonk to its noggin and was pulling its head back up so she was able to freely spin and swing her scythe. Cutting across the large bear arm on its side.

"Take tha- Oh shoot!" She said as the arm immediately swung to swat her away. It backhanded her and flung HER into a column instead.

She took a moment to compose herself and then took a deep breath and clutched her weapon. She crouched down and narrowed her eye and got ready to go right in again.

[yui 602]

Gene's plan wasn't without its flaws. Use the environment against the beast. However, when a beast was this large, had so many methods of attack, and could shoot lightning at people, the flaws of the plan began to show. Leading it into the pillars was a nice idea, and certainly one Abby would try to employ as long as it at least seemed plausible, but for the time being, not dying took priority. Sure, it was established that death was just a temporary setback, but that didn't mean Abby was willing to throw her life away if she could help it. Dying hurt, after all, having experienced it before. Then the elephant head retaliated, swinging its massive trunk at Abby. That wasn't a sword. She had no hope of parrying it as she had other attacks before, but that didn't mean she couldn't do something.

Something, in this case, being grabbing onto the monster's trunk as it swung out at her. As the beast swung her to and fro, Abby didn't let go, trying to climb up the trunk as a warning. Then, the trunk swung upward. This was her moment. Abby released her grip, letting the elephant head's attempts to rid itself of her come to fruition, sending her high into the air. A height from which she summoned to her hand her trusty hammer on the way back down. With the power of gravity and her own strength, Abby waited for the right time, then brought the full weight of her hammer down to bear upon the beast's face. It visibly recoiled in pain as Abby stumbled on the landing, skidding to an unsteady halt and nearly failing to stick the landing at all.

Establish that it can't get rid of me like that. Good, good.

[Tiamat's Circus 136]

Keep up the assault, and keep it overwhelmed. 

As it stood, at this moment, the creature in front of them - while adept at fighting multiple foes - still had its limits, and to take advantage of those limits would be their best bet. However, it also seemed to be dimwitted, which was not something Marshall had completely expected this time. With a slight huff, then, she acknowledged that if she wanted to continue to overwhelm it, it would have to become aware of her presence - aware of the fact that there was something distantly attacking it - if she wanted to try and take some of the heat away from her comrades.

That, is why after taking a deep breath, Marshall took a few steps out from the column, placing it at her back, and once again took up a firing position. Her heart thundered in her chest, but she knew this would be the best way to get its attention. Naturally, though, she had to choose her target carefully. The Giraffe head, were it shot, would simply fire back. In truth, if she fired at any head, it was liable to do so - but she’d want to see if she could frustrate it into making a mistake by attacking the other head, which had just been struck by Abby from the air.

So that’s what she did, as she lined up a shot at the Elephant head, and fired; this time forgoing any magic, so as to make the shot as loud as possible. An explosion of force as the butt of the rifle rammed into her shoulder, the shot whizzed forth from the barrel, and slammed into the creature’s thick skull… And though it met it’s mark, it made no initial reaction as it continued to reel from Abby’s hit. 

That is, until it regained its senses, and rather than continue to focus on Abby, turned towards Marshall. With a sinking feeling falling into the pit of her stomach, Marshall braced herself as it began to inhale with its trunk, before firing out a massive, deafening trumpet of sonic energy… And briefly, Marshall felt nostalgic, for the rush of inertia one felt when a train began to shift and move; only to be brought back to reality as she skidded backwards to meet the pillar again, the wind being punched from her as the rest of the train caught up with her. 

Regardless, however, she kept standing, eyes trained on the beast, as if goading it. “...Is that all you’ve got?!” she shouted, a tinge of annoyance, or even a little bit of anger, entering into her voice for what may have been the first time since she arrived.

Edited November 25, 2024 by Tiamat's Circus

[Chaos Sonic 467]

Sooooo about that tail Gene thought he cut off... it was still there. Bleeding like crazy for sure, but it was still hanging there, swinging around. Speaking of swinging around, the five tails were coming back his direction for another strike.

"Crap!!!" he shouted, diving to his right in an attempt of a dodge roll... though it wasn't the best direction for him to roll into. Rather than going opposite of the tails, he went towards them. Luckily, he got under them just barely, however on the back swing, he was struck and knocked over to the right. "D-Damnit... okay, n-not cool..." Gene groaned, as he got back up.

He watched the tails and in the moment where he could get a chance, he made his move. He rushed towards the wounded tail and this time for sure... severed the tail. With that tail out the way, he immediately backed away, avoiding the flailing tails. Gene let out a heavy sigh of relief, trying to catch his breath. This was going in a direction he wasn't expecting, namely cause the using his environment idea was... well, wasn't going as great as he expected. That was on him, namely due to the size of this creature.

In any case, after taking another breath, Gene activated his Weapon Art - Quick Strike and rushed forward again, hoping to slash through the remainder of the tails... however, try as he might, he couldn't get through the remainder of the four tails, but... he did slice another tail off. "A-And then there were three!" Gene said triumphantly, having just enough time to retreat back away from the remainder of the flailing tails.

[Skaia 626]

The Storm Wracked Chimera was starting to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of attacks it was receiving from every which angle. It had two heads which allowed it to both track more things than normal as well as control each independent body part more accurately, however it was still only two heads and it was being beset on by all four sides. Though it had done a relatively good job at keeping everyone at bay, and the party was certainly starting to feel their own injuries accumulate against the might of this beast, it had decided to do away with this overwhelmed feeling. It had decided to reset its attention, both heads focusing on one target and putting very little thought into their next action. 

First it would do away with what was behind it, having been thoroughly annoyed by losing two of its tails to the nuisance that was the swordsman. And so it bucked its large pawed feet backwards towards Gene. 

Then, it would move its body straight ahead towards the target that had just come out of hiding and attacked from a range. Letting out a roar from both heads, the creature charged straight forward; the swords on its left side scraping against the ground and the claw on its right dragging across as well. Abby for her part was not the target, however she had landed in front of the beast she had just jump attacked and was in prime trampling range and would have to do something about that or be forced straight through. 

Marshall, on the other hand, was the object of this creature's ire. And so she would to deal with this stampeding behemoth of a creature bulldozing its way towards her, its bear paw in front and ready crash into and smash whatever was in its way. 

[LordCowCow 888]

While preparing to attack Sabrina saw as the others began to chip away, literally in some cases, at the beast. She at first intended to charge in to contribute with some more slashes from her scythe but she decided not to as she saw it begin to focus on the other three entirely.

She was a bit offended that it was ignoring her but perhaps she could make use of that.

Instead of just running up to it she decided to get the high ground. Sabrina looked around for something she could get on top of and she noticed the pillar near Marshall. Hanging from it was a banner of some sort that was hanging low enough that she could reach it.

Nodding to herself the girl took off towards it and dismissed her scythe so she could jump up and grab onto it with both hands and climb her way up the tattered banner. Once she reached the top she found that there wasn't anywhere up there for her to stand and so she had to grab hold of the rope that connected the pillar and banner and looked down at the creature who was still in the midst of its attack.

"Ignore me at your peril...Heavens above and hell below, I call upon both to strengthened my power....and...uhhh.....fill my flames with energy! The heart of a dragon dwells within and so does its breath! And, uh....so I call upon a, ummm, a Super Flamethrower!"

The girl felt the magic building up as she charged it. And then continued to charge it. And for good measure charge it some more. Trying to built her attack to the highest it could go before releasing the gout of fire onto the beast below.

Spoiler

Because of timing me and Skaia thought best I just stop there, when exactly she releases her attack will have to be determined yet.

 

[yui 602]

Was it mad? Both heads of the thing Abby was helping beat to a much-needed death were laser-focused on Marshall, so Abby liked to think they were making it mad. Which was a sign of definite progress! Just one problem. Abby was right in front of it. She didn't trust her own agility enough to think she could step to the side and avoid the hooves, so she did the next best thing. If going to the side was out of the question, and moving in the same direction as the abomination was definitely not going to work, the only way left was to try and slide beneath it! Which Abby made a valiant and more or less successful effort at. One of the hind paws got a good stomp on her as she was passing through, but that was better than being trampled by the entirety of this thing's limbs and weight.

More importantly, she was behind it. And it was focused on Marshall. Who, last Abby checked, was not Abby. In other words, it totally wasn't paying attention to her, which was good in this case! It meant Abby had a moment to take aim, then throw her hammer at the giraffe head sticking up above everything else, pushing the hammer along its way with a gusty tailwind in addition to her own mighty throw! That would show it.