VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

The probing magic seem to hit a hard wall as it comes close to the waters. While there is great power here, anyone could tell that, someone and something is using that to stop anyone to interfere or probe into whatever Shanti is doing.

Meanwhile, as Blanche is patting Anika, the bear suddenly seem to be getting up. It appears like its taking a lot of effort, and probably is pretty painful, but finally she manages to get back on all four and let's out a pained growl.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell

”I have no idea, sir,” Blanche answers. “Anika and I were going to try and clear the well of all the snake stuff, but Shanti’s kid decided to get in the way so we left and were trying to decide what to do next when the demons showed up at the well, attacked Shanti and went after the kid - no clue why or how. Anika stayed to fight them and I ran after the kid to try and keep her safe.” it wasn’t entirely the full and detailed story, but it was a summary that would suffice for now. She saves the minutiae for the report she’ll presumably have to write.

Blanche takes a surprised step back as Anika gets up, watching her in case any of those wounds reopen or other problems occur. “You, uh, need any help?” she asks a little awkwardly. It’s a lot easier to ask someone you can actually lift if they need help getting up, let alone a massive quadrupled she has no idea how she would help stay up.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

"I can't... discern anything, commander. Some force is entirely obstructing this well."

Wenomir takes a deep breath. Between this and Blanche's explanation, it doesn't sound promising.

"Clear it of all the snake stuff, you say."

Any further probing is interrupted by Anika getting up. He finally turns around, walks over to her and puts his hand on her neck reassuringly.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

The bear let's out a huff and shakes her head a bit but doesn't dare to move around in her current state.

Shanti suddenly opens her eyes. "They were looking for a 'staff', the creature called it a 'legion hub'." Her silver eyes look over the gathered group. Still maintaining the exact same position as she did before. "So if you're done throwing hateful looks and words at me, perhaps you should explain what that is?" She inclines her head ever so slightly as she meets Wenomir's gaze. "And why these monsters though we had it."

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

Blanche nods and steps away, letting Anika stand on her own but still keeping an eye on her. She holds her tongue as Shanti speaks, but still views the night elf with distrust as she waits for Wenomir to answer.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

Wenomir meets Shanti's gaze. Things are making a bit more sense now, on the demon front. Not so much on the rest... but he'll get there in time.

"They must mean a staff fragment we'd seized. What they don't seem to know is that we don't have it anymore. When we attempted to destroy it, or at least contain it, some kind of... failsafe must have triggered and the piece vanished. The full staff is able to control their kind."

[Village Walk]

Arinema shrugs and shakes her head.

"Sorry. I know you're trying to help her, but it just feels like an extreme thing to do for someone," she says. "Carry spider-babies for nine months and then give birth to them? But if it's to save someone's life... that's a hero's task, isn't it? I guess I could at least talk to her and find out more."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Shanti raises an eyebrow. "Well, that explains a thing or two. Like always, it's the things you don't see that are the most dangerous. That brute and its minions were little more than a distraction. The real threat was the presence that herald their arrival. Unseen for your eyes, but I saw beyond that." Shanti raises from the wells waters. "I believe has looked through your minds, presumably for this staff, but seems to have found little but disappointment." She claims as she shakes her arm, her robe dripping with the energy of the well which now has resumed its normal colors. "So to you it might look like they failed, but I suspect they accomplished exactly what they set out here to do as they now know you don't have the staff, or are pretty sure at least." She smiles confidentially. "Tell me more about this staff though, Wenomir. You owe me that much after me and my daughter nearly died for it."

[Reinholdt]

[Village Walk]

What? Reinholdt looks a little confused. He just said it was alright, he'd find someone else. Was this one of those things where someone says something, but wants you to talk them into it anyways? "S-sure. Though no one said it'd be nine months." Rein has no idea how long it'll take.

"Anyways, meet me at Black Dragon's Den in [number of days] and I'll introduce you to her." Just in case, Rein's probably still going to ask around for someone else. A maybe is a risky way to hold up his end of the deal.

[Morty]

[Village Walk]

Arinema nods.

"Alright. That's enough about it for now, then. What was the other thing you came here with? It sounded like something I'll need to get one of the commanders for."

[Moonwell Grove]

Wenomir gives Shanti a glare that might wither another person, but probably not her. He considers what he can tell her, but then decides he'll be honest and then demand the same from her.

"It's one of a pair of artifacts created by ancient gnolls to control the demons. As dumb an idea as it sounds, and their empire paid the price. The other staff was destroyed in the battle that claimed our old tower. This one was broken into pieces and we, the demons and opportunistic parties have been playing snatch and grab with them for a long time now."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Shanti strokes her chin thoughtfully. "So that's how it is..." Then after a moment of thought she gets up from the well and heads straight over to Anika and eyes the bandages Blanche has applied. "And you really shouldn't waste your resources, just let me take care of everything." She puts her hand on the bear and swirl of teal energies envelop Anika, causing her wounds to slowly mend before their eyes while the bear is giving her a hateful stare.

Shanti places her hand on her chest, looking hurt. "Don't give me that look. You weren't dying, Raven. And I am grateful, I truly am. So please just tell me where Natharia went. I need to make sure she's alright now."

Once her wounds have been mended, Anika finally changes back into her humanoid form. Her first choice of action is to address her sister though. "Aren't you forgetting something?" She raises her eyebrow and inclines her head towards Blanche.
"Oh yes. Of course. Forgive me. I just figured she must have broken the enchantment as she's here and not with my daughter." With a wave of her hand, Shanti undoes the mental compulsion that Blanche was under. "There we are, and do you need healing too? It looks like you might have helped my daughter after all, so good work." The druid smiles at Blanche.

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

"A bit late for that," Blanche responds, looking slightly annoyed about the waste of medical supplies. She could have used those to treat her own wounds instead of having to ruin a shirt! She looks puzzled as Shanti speaks of and undoes the mental compulsion, mistaking the comment as a critique of her decisions.

"She's with one of the others Wenomir arrived with. She's safe, but I wasn't fast enough to stop that big bastard with the sword from hurting her arm." The catgirl mentions that last part with a simmer of bitter irritation, frustrated with herself for not being able to do more. "And, er, I dunno if I really earned the praise, but some healing would be appreciated, if it's not too much trouble." She rubs the bruises around her neck subconsciously.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

"I'm going to assume that you were drawing power from the moonwell to do that," Wenomir says, with poorly-faked sincerity, but then Shanti says something much worse. "Did you cast a mental compulsion on one of my people?" He asks quietly. The other Vigil members recognize that tone and look at each other nervously.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Shanti reaches out to touch Blanche, who will be healed just like Anika. Then she gives Wenomir a skeptical look. "Well, yes. Of course. My daughters life was in danger and there wasn't a second to waste on arguments so I gave her a compulsion to save her life. If I hadn't, Blanche might not have distracted that armored beast in time and my daughter could have been laying lifeless on the forest floor right now. Unless you're arguing that I should have taken the argument at that time?" She smiles, but this time it looks false. "In which case, we don't have anything to discuss."

Anika looks between Shanti and Wenomir. "Guys, are you seriously going to discuss that 'morally justified' **** right now? We just kicked some demons ass, let's focus on that part. Shanti isn't even a member of VIGIL anyway." She turns to Blanche and gives her a friendly pat on the back. "So how many of them did you kill? Did you get the big guy? I got at least three, but probably more. Was kinda hard to keep track at the end." The druid grins confidently.

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

Shanti reaches out to touch Blanche, who will be healed just like Anika. Then she gives Wenomir a skeptical look. "Well, yes. Of course. My daughters life was in danger and there wasn't a second to waste on arguments so I gave her a compulsion to save her life. If I hadn't, Blanche might not have distracted that armored beast in time and my daughter could have been laying lifeless on the forest floor right now. Unless you're arguing that I should have taken the argument at that time?" She smiles, but this time it looks false. "In which case, we don't have anything to discuss."

Anika looks between Shanti and Wenomir. "Guys, are you seriously going to discuss that 'morally justified' **** right now? We just kicked some demons ass, let's focus on that part. Shanti isn't even a member of VIGIL anyway." She turns to Blanche and gives her a friendly pat on the back. "So how many of them did you kill? Did you get the big guy? I got at least three, but probably more. Was kinda hard to keep track at the end." The druid grins confidentially.

Moonwell Grove

Blanche's brow furrows somewhat. "You didn't need to cast a magical compulsion on me. I would have gone after her without it, and would have stayed with her in the first place if I had know the kid was one of their targets." She folds her arms, shrugging. "I'm not to broken up about it and I get why you did it, but I'd appreciate at least a little bit of trust."

The catgirl can't help but chuckle at the other druid's enthusiasm. "Didn't get the big guy, I wasn't packing anything with enough armor penetration. He almost killed me, matter-of-fact, but I think I managed to leave a couple marks." She gestures to her newly-healed throat. "I did get at least one of the hounds, though. Maybe two others, but I didn't have the time to stick around and finish them off."

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

A low, menacing growl comes from Wenomir's direction, but he sees he's outnumbered on this one.

"Why was Natharia here in the first place?" he simply asks.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Anika pats Blanche on the shoulder. "Aw, too bad. But pretty good for your first run though! We're going to have to start a kill count as we're going to encounter these bastards a lot, trust me."

But Shanti is trying to address the catgirl at the same time. "It seemed to me like your wanted to help my sister, since you're friends right? And at the time, we didn't even know if there were monsters down there at the time. As for Natharia, you'd have to ask them. I was looking for her all over until Blanche came to me..."

"She followed us here and then she refused to leave since she wanted to protect the snakes from us." Anika says with a shrug. "I mean, I didn't want to kill them, but they attacked us when we approached the well."

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

”Oh, you’ve run into these guys before? Any advice for dealing with em? I might have to upgrade my arsenal.” There’s a beat, and she adds, ”Who knows, maybe there’ll be something new for you to try too.”

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

Wenomir rubs his face. He'd say that the hounds are just cannon fodder and that any they kill will be replaced in short order, but Blanche has been through enough crap for one day.

"We should probably head back to check on her. Then you can both explain what you were trying to do with this well."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

"Yes, they should." And with those words, Shanti shifts into her wind serpent form and flies back to VIGIL, the infirmary in VIGIl specifically.

Anika looks after Shanti for a moment before turning back to her friend. "Silver, apparently. Not that I ever bothered using it much. Explosions work just as well really. Just hit them hard enough and they're not getting back up."

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

"Works for me, sir," Blanche responds, happy to follow the commander off to the infirmary. Turning towards Anika, she makes a face. "Ugh, of course it has to be silver. Would be nice if these things didn't require precious metals to kill, makes ammunition so much more expensive." She pauses for a second, thinking. "Hm, wonder if filling some hollow-point rounds with silver dust will work just as well...."

Looking towards Anika again, there's a moment of concern. "If they can only really be put down by silver or excessive force, it doesn't sound like your animal forms must be highly effective against them. Maybe we could look into, like, pimping out your claws or something." There's humor in her voice, but it is a serious suggestion.

[Gullara]

[Surface Clinic]

Shanti won't get to the infirmary too long after Natharia gets there. A direct flying route makes a huge difference. When she arrives there, she'll see Natharia sitting while some NPC grunt (presumably) examines her. It seems her cuts have been cleaned and sealed with liquid bandage for the moment. She's holding a cold pack against her arm while waiting for further treatment the moment Shanti arrives.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

Wenomir looks after Shanti as she departs.

"She is really starting to get on my nerves," he says to no one in particular, before reaching for his communicator and letting the Vigil personnel know she'll be coming. Then he turns to the moonwell and shakes his head. He's getting really sick of this thing, which vexes him, because he also has some very pleasant memories involving it. "Let's get going," he says to the other assembles Vigilantes.

[Reinholdt]

[Village Walk]

Arinema nods.

"Alright. That's enough about it for now, then. What was the other thing you came here with? It sounded like something I'll need to get one of the commanders for."

[Village walk]

"The possible transfer of assets, plus an inspection of my security," Reinholdt reminds her. Above her pay grade most likely.

"I usually just wander around until I find one of them." It's most inefficient. "I find exploring relaxing."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

"She gets on everyone's nerves eventually. She takes after my grandmother that way. Well, one of them." Anika shrugs and turns to Blanche. "Anyway, I can't just shapechange like that. I mean, where do you think my clothes go when I change forms? They go poff with the rest of my stuff. I can't just paint my nails with silver or whatever." She looks at said nails as she flexes her fingers. "Even though that'd be pretty cool." But she isn't letting the notion of nail-painting distract her too long, turning back to the catgirl. "The point is that I'm better at drawing fire than doing damage. Everyone pays attention to the giant bear, its natural instincts. If I'd be able to talk, I'd be a great teacher." Few would disrespect her at the very least.

[Surface Clinic]

Shanti sits down on a chair neat Natharia. "I'm sorry I took so long. They were holding me back to discuss a few things." She sigh yet smiles. "But don't worry though, I've made sure the monsters won't bother you again."

[Gullara]

[Surface Clinic]

"Mom, you're okay!" Natharia is mindful enough not to jump on and hug her mom. "The monsters are gone? What were they?"

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

Blanche tilts her head quizzically as she processes that for a second. "Wait, how does it work exactly? Do you just sorta, like, swap bodies? If we put something on your bear form would it still be there after shapechanging?" The science of magical powers is clearly something that the catgirl lacks proper education on. "That is a good point though, I hadn't thought about the more tactical implications outside of dealing damage. Definitely would be easier for someone like me to pick those things off, especially with how well you seemed to have sustained all those wounds." It is clear that Blanche's combat experience never really involved tanking.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

Wenomir sighs.

"This has been an enormous waste of time. Let's go home, everyone."

The three other Vigil members fall in line behind him.

[Village Walk]

"This shouldn't be necessary. Let me see if I can raise one of them."

Arinema uses her communicator to try and get in touch with the commanders. Now to wait and see if one of them has a moment...

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Anika shrugs. "I dunno. But yeah, it would. I think. Depends on what it is I guess. Metals are a bit of a no-no though. Don't ask me why." Seems like she hasn't experimented with it much.

Then she bumps her hips into Wenomir's and throws her arm around him as they walk. "Aw, come on. Cheer up. We found out some things, didn't we? Like that the demons don't know we lost that staff piece. Or whatever Shanti was ranting about. Then, uh, maybe we can make the snake-god-thing and the demons fight one another? They did try to kidnap his... daughter?" Anika seems unusure what their relationship is. "Natharia I mean. Might have pissed them off or something."

[Surface Clinic]

Shanti nods. "They're all gone now. We scared them away." She gently places her hand on Natharia's knee. "Glad that you're asking though. Those things were called 'demons'. They're creatures from another dimension that wish to destroy all other forms of life since they think everything but them are corrupted." She explains, nodding again as she talks. "You were so brave fighting back against that thing. I could see you while I was in my astral form but I couldn't do anything." Shanti smiles encouragingly. "Just don't try to sneak off like that again, though. It was so close taking you from me."

[Gullara]

[Surface Clinic]

Natharia gives Shanti a small nod. "They really won't come back? Why did they try to get me?" What if they decide to try again..?

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

Blanche will stay a step or two behind the pair, following on Anika's side. The serpent vs demon idea didn't really sound very likely to her, but she doesn't offer her two cents on that matter.

"Oh, er, I wanted to ask, sir... I caught a glimpse of wherever it is that those things came from when the big guy with the whip left." She rubs the back of her neck. "It looked like they were building a giant statue of some sort, but I didn't get the impression that the demons were really into that sort of thing from what little I'd heard. Any idea what that could've been about?"