Outside 40: It's all downhill from here

[Solidarity]

[The Monster Marsh]

The werewolf swipes at the undead around her with her claws, trying to shatter or destroy as many as she can with one strike, before charging forwards at the light, using her bulk to blast through any remaining zombies in her way.

Hawthorn is entirely immobilized; he can only go so long before the skeletons start weakening his wooden body...luckily, his master, the Hoplite will be there by next round. On the other hand, the undead may turn to face Zander, for the man calls out in a surprisingly deep voice. It is I, The Mourning Hoplite, and I am a foe to the Undead, and a friend to those who seek their timely demise! The Athenian continues to use his weapons to deadly effect, but his more skeletal enemies are proving more challenging, what with their greater dexterity.

Bones turn to shrapnel and flesh is minced as a brutal werewolf claw shears through the ranks of zombies around her. The Hoplite might notice a werewolf barreling toward his direction, stroboscopically illuminated by the constant and very close explosions.

Hawthorn can find that the skeletons can't do much against his wooden frame, being made only of bone, but attempt to nonetheless. Biting and smashing their own limbs against the golem. The Hoplite ought to be able to make out a robed figure approach Hawthorn, in between striking the undead on its way there. It's possible he'd hear its response to the Hoplite's proclamation, now that he's made it closer to Hawthorn.

"Glorious!" the figure shouts, raspy and wheezing. "Allies are most welcome. Taste destruction, vile creatures!"

Suddenly a sweeping fan-shaped wave of pure white light pulsates from the hooded figure next to Hawthorn. The pile of undead melt away, their bodies becoming molten if not sublimating completely. Those that escaped the blast flee in the Hoplite's direction.

[Morcleon]

Sophia nods, and goes to sleep!

[Fields of Mock Battle]

Yuki smiles and lies down to sleep as well.

((Timeskip to morning? ))

[Arkhosia]

[Fields of Mock Battle]

Yuki smiles and lies down to sleep as well.

((Timeskip to morning? ))

((sure!)))

[Morcleon]

((sure!)))

[Fields of Mock Battle]

Assuming nothing of note happens during the night, Yuki will wake up rather well rested. He stretches and yawns. "Mm... good morning, Sophia..."

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

Thormoses' remains consist of a hunting shotgun, a tiny single-shot pincap pistol, a set of black silk robes enchanted to turn blades (but not blunt weaponry; an oversight that cost him dearly), twenty four shotgun shells- eight incendiary, ten buckshot, and six flechettes, three rounds for the pistol and a silver morningstar enchanted to create a small sonic boom when it lands a blow.

Inside the sarcophagus is a book of magic; inscribed upon the cover are some runes that will wipe the contents clean if somebody reads them without first speaking the password. There's also a submachine gun loaded with a magazine of bullets enchanted with supernatural cold and a sword made of bone and antler that arcs with electricity.

Hidden in a false bottom to the sarcophagus are one hundred coins carved from marble, a gold amulet and a pair of ruby-studded gold sandals.

[Ionbound]

[Monster Marsh]

The werewolf stops her charge when the figure in the light seems to melt the undead, and shifts back to human form and calls out, "Who are you? Are these undead yours?"

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield Skull]

But no key for the armory. How troubling.

Then, she shakes the lich's dust off of the robe and slips it on. The book, she takes and slips into an overlarge pocket. The lich might be slightly troubled by its loss. The coins and jeweled treasures into a small bag. The staff, she dismisses with a wave of her hand, and finally, she arms herself with the lich's weapons: shotgun mainly, loaded with buckshot, the reloaded pistol tucked into the robe, the sword and mace tied and slung over a shoulder with her coil of wire.

With that done, she rifles through the wardrobe, and then checks in the bathroom, for anything of interest.

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

The wardrobe has a variety of high-quality clothing in it, and a shoe box at the bottom has three of the magical grenade-orbs Thormoses used earlier. There's also the Skull's Command Crown, which fell off when his head was whacked in. Wearing it will let her reanimate the workers in the engine room, but not the helmsman, and tell them to fix the engine.

The bathroom has a silver-plated human skeleton in the bath, a mirror hanging above the sink, a medicine cabinet under the sink containing some potions containing negative energy, designed to heal undead or hurt living creatures and the key to the armoury, hanging behind the mirror on the same hook. Thormoses wasn't wearing it because I'd forgotten he should have it.

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield Skull]

Those grenades could be useful later; the girl takes them. She starts a bit at the skeleton in the bath. Is it alive? Whose is it? Why is it there? The command crown, after being dusted off, goes onto her head. A minute or so of figuring out how to work it has the engineer skeletons working again.
Fix the engine. We need to take this thing away.

Once over that and the fright, she drinks one of the potions, feeling the magic restore the deathly energy in her. They burn a bit going down, simply because they contain liquid, but it's worth it. Finally, the key, which she carefully takes back towards the armory door. Insert, turn, pull, shotgun ready to be grasped and fired at whoever's inside. Assuming that she doesn't get interrupted on the way there.

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

The skeletal goblins repair themselves using nearby detritus, and get to work.

The skeleton is not alive, but each bone has been independently covered with a thin layer of silver.

Inside there are three hundred bolt-action 5.53 rifles, an equal amount of 9mm automatic pistols, and two hundred ordinary steel swords. There's also several large crates towards the back, most labelled as ammunition for the weaponry. Six of the boxes are unmarked, however, and could contain anything.

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield Skull - Armory]

The girl has no idea why anyone would do that. It will bear checking out eventually though.

What a find! Most of the people brought their own armaments, but in disasters like the one with the lasers, the ability to arm people will be important. She approaches the unmarked boxes, and attempts to open one of them. Surely within all those safegaurds, there won't be anything traplike in its danger.

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

Inside the box is a black missile launcher with three shiny silver missiles. Flames are painted around the muzzle of the weapon's barrel, and the trigger is made of polished brass. The missile launcher has been built with aluminium and other light materials, and possess an internal gyro-stabiliser to make it very light and keep it pointed where it's aimed.

The other five boxes contain different things; namely, a greatsword made of Valyrian Steel with a black marble pommel carved into the shape of a cat's skull, a minigun with gold-plated barrels, a red-painted body and the words 'Bullet Time!' stencilled on the shoulder strap, a pair of yellow gauntlets with built-in 12-gauge shotguns that go off when the wearer punches something, a suit of khaki power armour with a Union Jack painted onto the right pauldron and a pair of scimitars with serpents etched into the blades and copper pommels shaped like the heads of vipers.

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield Skull - Armory]

An interesting and eclectic collection. Something about the armor resonates with her stolen memories, but the girl can tell it doesn't really matter.

There are enough special weapons here to outfit the whole organization. She heads out into the hallway, locking the door to the armory behind her, and tries to puzzle out the crown; can it do anything else? Does it put her in contact with the crews that were trying to kill her earlier? Either way, it seems the only way left to go is towards the hold and the mouth of the skull.

[Aric Kale]

[The Monster Marsh]

Bones turn to shrapnel and flesh is minced as a brutal werewolf claw shears through the ranks of zombies around her. The Hoplite might notice a werewolf barreling toward his direction, stroboscopically illuminated by the constant and very close explosions.

Hawthorn can find that the skeletons can't do much against his wooden frame, being made only of bone, but attempt to nonetheless. Biting and smashing their own limbs against the golem. The Hoplite ought to be able to make out a robed figure approach Hawthorn, in between striking the undead on its way there. It's possible he'd hear its response to the Hoplite's proclamation, now that he's made it closer to Hawthorn.

"Glorious!" the figure shouts, raspy and wheezing. "Allies are most welcome. Taste destruction, vile creatures!"

Suddenly a sweeping fan-shaped wave of pure white light pulsates from the hooded figure next to Hawthorn. The pile of undead melt away, their bodies becoming molten if not sublimating completely. Those that escaped the blast flee in the Hoplite's direction.

[Monster Marsh]

The werewolf stops her charge when the figure in the light seems to melt the undead, and shifts back to human form and calls out, "Who are you? Are these undead yours?"

Monster Marsh

The Athenian has almost no time to respond to the cloaked man before there's another ear-ringing explosion. Not only that, but there are suddenly more beasties heading his way. In all the confusion, he misses Therlynn's wolf form, only noticing her as a human. Don't be stupid! If these mindless creatures were his, why would he be killing them? Use your brain while you still have it and continue the slaughter.
Fortunately, it would seem Hawthorn is the perfect undead slaying construct, having suffered no damage thus far. Furthermore, with the skeletons around him either melted or shattered, the wooden golem is back in business and no longer trying to be subtle with its kills.

On the downside, Zander is finding it harder to fight the closer he gets to the sorcerer's explosions.

[Solidarity]

[Monster Marsh]

The werewolf stops her charge when the figure in the light seems to melt the undead, and shifts back to human form and calls out, "Who are you? Are these undead yours?"

The Athenian has almost no time to respond to the cloaked man before there's another ear-ringing explosion. Not only that, but there are suddenly more beasties heading his way. In all the confusion, he misses Therlynn's wolf form, only noticing her as a human. Don't be stupid! If these mindless creatures were his, why would he be killing them? Use your brain while you still have it and continue the slaughter.
Fortunately, it would seem Hawthorn is the perfect undead slaying construct, having suffered no damage thus far. Furthermore, with the skeletons around him either melted or shattered, the wooden golem is back in business and no longer trying to be subtle with its kills.

On the downside, Zander is finding it harder to fight the closer he gets to the sorcerer's explosions.

As countless zombies and skeletons alike find their permanent end at either the claws of a werewolf, the vengeful swings of a wooden golem, sharp and fun toys from the Hoplite's arsenal, or decimating bursts of light, the horde thins out significantly. Stragglers are eradicated with prejudice.

In the fog, the cloaked figure walks up to the rag-tag party of adventurers. The fog makes it difficult to make out anybody's face, though two very dim white, piercing dots can be seen from under its hood. The figure's voice is strained and thin, like metal scraping across parchment.

"My greetings to you fellow hunters. I am an exterminator of the damned. I make assumptions that you have already slain the progenitor?" it says, using its scythe as a walking stick as it nears everyone else.

[Ionbound]

[Monster Marsh]

The woman shakes her head and says, "No...I believed that you were their creator. Do you know where he might be, then?"

[happyturtle]

Melody's Island

Spoiler: What has gone before...

Show

Melody's Island - On the Beach

Quinn winces as Happy yells!

She's managed to collect herself JUST enough that being addressed by Tobias doesn't send her into a fresh round of bawling, so that's something, at least...

"I was called by Neirian," she whispers, her eyes closed and head bowed as she shivers. "Had to rescue her. But...psychically attacked," she murmurs. "Shown....everyone I love hating me."

Academically, she can recognise what happened.
She finds it really doesn't make it hurt less.

Melody's Island


"Oh hon, Melody's in the barn. She's fine," Happy says to Estia. Then to Tobias, "Quinn went to rescue Estia. She came back just a few minutes ago... like this." She tries to hand Quinn over to Tobias.

Magtok sighs, find something to lean against, and puts his phone away. The one and only time he hears that spiel from Tobias, from someone putting real effort into their dramatic entrance and monologue, he has nothing to match it. Oh well, back to waiting around while everyone frets over the mysteriously injured strangers, I suppose. Blargh.

Melody's Island- Inside the Barn

Don't worry about it. Melody says with a nervous chuckle, when Derek promises to mend her clothes. I needed to buy something new anyhow.

Melody physically tenses when she senses Derek beginning to place the needles, but soon relaxes as she notices a severe lack of pain, and soon she starts nodding off, once again.

Melody's Island- Inside the Barn



As Derek places the needles into her back the healing energy slowly builds up and starts to work to repair any broken bones or torn muscles. Then as he starts to take them out the whole process should be complete. He will work quietly letting her sleep, figuring she could use it. This nap should be extremely restful and rejuvenating.

Leaving Quinn to Tobias, and Estia to Jezebelle, Magtok and Happy enter the barn. They actually came here for a purpose other than dealing with cave-ins and abductions, after all.

"Melody?" Happy asks. "Oh, she's asleep."

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

The Command Crown lets her fire the skull's weaponry, supervise the three workers in the engine room, pilot the skull remotely, open the jaw and also activate a crate of bones containing more of the worker-constructs in the engine room, sending them off to repair any damage or, in a pinch, fight off intruders- though that's not their primary purpose and they fight poorly; it's better to direct them to either lead other defenders to areas at risk or set up booby traps and fortifications to assist the defenders. The assault squad, and any other potential undead aboard, are not controlled via the crown.

The Power Armour is Fallout-style armour, only British rather than American.

The hold is stacked high with many crates, though what's inside may vary from crate to crate. There's a maze of narrow passages amongst the crates, through which the assault squad stalk. None are in sight yet, but that may change.

[Arkhosia]

[Fields of Mock Battle]

Assuming nothing of note happens during the night, Yuki will wake up rather well rested. He stretches and yawns. "Mm... good morning, Sophia..."

He'll find Sophia busy cleaning her maneuver gear and blades, and she looks up from the task towards Yuki.
Oh, hello. morning.

[Aric Kale]

[Monster Marsh]



As countless zombies and skeletons alike find their permanent end at either the claws of a werewolf, the vengeful swings of a wooden golem, sharp and fun toys from the Hoplite's arsenal, or decimating bursts of light, the horde thins out significantly. Stragglers are eradicated with prejudice.

In the fog, the cloaked figure walks up to the rag-tag party of adventurers. The fog makes it difficult to make out anybody's face, though two very dim white, piercing dots can be seen from under its hood. The figure's voice is strained and thin, like metal scraping across parchment.

"My greetings to you fellow hunters. I am an exterminator of the damned. I make assumptions that you have already slain the progenitor?" it says, using its scythe as a walking stick as it nears everyone else.

[Monster Marsh]

The woman shakes her head and says, "No...I believed that you were their creator. Do you know where he might be, then?"

The Monster Marsh

Fantastic, the Mourning Hoplite wouldn't have lived to see the morning if the swarm of undead had been much larger...
Surprisingly, he's breathing lighter than one might expect after the fight, possibly due to his steel and silver weapons being significantly lighter than their bronze ancestors. However, he is still exhausted, and is content to sit upon the hard ground beside his golem.
Hawthorn stands ridged, having no need to move.
As she said, the necromancer lives on. Though I do not know why she would believe you were the source of our troubles...you fought harder than the two of us combined. He both praises and admonishes. You can guess which sentiment is delivered to each of the two other warriors...

[Solidarity]

[Monster Marsh]

The woman shakes her head and says, "No...I believed that you were their creator. Do you know where he might be, then?"

Fantastic, the Mourning Hoplite wouldn't have lived to see the morning if the swarm of undead had been much larger...
Surprisingly, he's breathing lighter than one might expect after the fight, possibly due to his steel and silver weapons being significantly lighter than their bronze ancestors. However, he is still exhausted, and is content to sit upon the hard ground beside his golem.
Hawthorn stands ridged, having no need to move.
As she said, the necromancer lives on. Though I do not know why she would believe you were the source of our troubles...you fought harder than the two of us combined. He both praises and admonishes. You can guess which sentiment is delivered to each of the two other warriors...

Now face to face, the swirling halo above the figure's head ought to be visible to the rest.
((If anybody can detect any kind of magic let me know. Like auras and whatnot.))

"...Oh..." the figure starts, backing up slowly. "Oh sweet merciful gods, no...."

THUD......................THUD....................

"No, friends..."


THUD......................THUD....................

"The progenitor of these creatures was no necromancer. I have been hunting a Soulless One. A Cemetery Titan."


THUD...THUD...THUD...THUD...THUD...THUD...

The group might turn to see a monstrosity charging straight toward them with an earsplitting roar. A fleshy congregation of undead, interwoven to form one, immense abomination.

((Imagine the size of a house))

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield Skull]

The girl takes a moment to direct the skull away from Peacefield, back towards her headquarters in the flower fields, far off.

Then, shotgun ready, she stalks through the hold, looking for any sign of movement. The undead might be commandable, but they might remain loyal to the lich's hidden essence.

[Ionbound]

[Monster Marsh]

The woman looks at the thing as it charges, and says as she fires an explosive arrow at it and then trying to jump out of the way, "Well...That's a turn-up for the books."

[Morcleon]

He'll find Sophia busy cleaning her maneuver gear and blades, and she looks up from the task towards Yuki.
Oh, hello. morning.

[Fields of Mock Battle]

Yuki waves and smiles. "So how long have you been up?"

[ImpSyndrome]

[DISPLACED SPIRITS INCIDENT, STAGE 1]

Sophia grins. Skillfully dodging the shots as she uses small jets of gas to do so, continuing flying towards Sasha and then firing a grappling hook at a tree to the left up ahead, using her gas jets to swing around the tree as she retracts the cord, aiming to slam into Sasha from behind and grab her, restraining her arms.

That maneuver gear is much more versatile than Sasha ((or her player)) expects. Sophia's gambit works, and the yokai is restrained...for all of about five seconds. At that point, she dissolves into ash and floats a short distance away, where she reforms into her human body. Looks like being a dust yokai has its benefits after all. All jokes aside, things start to get serious as she removes a paper talisman from her pocket and invokes its magic by name, declaring, "Cloud Sign [Particle Shroud]!!" A sandstorm of some magical variety suddenly blots out the world around the combatants, while a fine mist of dust and dirt swirls around Sasha and lights up with bullet energy, forming a weaponized barrier around her. Obviously, grappling her in such a state would be discouraged, so Sophia may need to switch tactics...and she'd better do it fast, because the yokai is flying right at her at high speed, threatening to ram into her with that barrier!

((Just to be clear: the sandstorm is completely cosmetic, used to define the outer edges of the battleground as they move. It's similar to the games, where the background changes when an enemy Spell Card is in effect.))

[MEANWHILE...]

Hiizumi nods and says, "Mmhmm...Well, there's not much we can do about that, sadly. We let it get out of control, and they took over. Ah well, at least we're still here," as she touches down beside Sanji and, seeing his apprehension, also keeps a careful eye out for anything...dangerous.

"Yeah, don't I know it...Alright, keep your eyes peeled. There's definitely someone here, and I don't think it's Midori..." Sanji seems certain now that there's someone or something hostile present in the glade, and his tension is evident in his posture as he slowly walks along, his gaze constantly darting from one place to the next. He won't pick up on it right away, but at some point, Hiizumi may hear someone talking not too far from their position. It's hard to make out what exactly is being said without getting closer, though...

[Ionbound]

[Darkened Glade]

As soon as Hiizumi hears the voices, she stops, and silently projects to Sanji, Stop. There's someone up ahead...I'm going to try to see what's going on. With that, she manipulates her own memory so she remembers what's happening in the glade at this time.

[Arkhosia]

Battleground

Combat Theme!
Sophia drops down to the earth, skidding to a stop from her momentum and facing towards Sasha as she does so, biting down on her right hand during these actions.
She then transforms into a tall, skinless humanoid with blue eyes and long brown hair, standing at 15 meters tall.
She takes a kneeling stance, bracing for impact, with a crystalline diamondlike coating appearing upon her arms and legs to shield her from impact.

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

The skull floats away from the battered town. The surviving townspeople are glad to see it go, and hope it doesn't come back any time soon. They won't come out yet, in case it changes its mind.

The undead assault squad have split up, and just ahead of the ghost-girl is the minigun-wielding creature. Its back is turned for now, and it is unaware of the ghost-girl's presence.

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield Skull]

So long as they're safe, she doesn't mind that they're cautious.

The ghost girl stalks closer, gun aimed just below the monster's head. This one is harmless to her if she needs it to be, but the gun is useful. So it needs to be destroyed. She approaches until it starts to move or she's within a few feet, and then 'bang!'.

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

The shotgun blows the undead minigun-thing's head off. Unfortunately, this proves less than fatal to it and it immediately starts shooting wildly. Fortunately, the barrels of the weapon it wields are pointing away and it can't see where the ghost-girl is.