4256/P:WtWM - The Dashing Herald of Bad News

P:WtWM - The Dashing Herald of Bad News
Date of Scene:	26 June 2016
Location:	Alberichstadt <P:WTWM>
Synopsis:	Die Reisenden and friends travel into the Forest to rescue a rumormonger from the Shadows within.
Cast of Characters:	Janine Liberi, 999, Staren, 513, 385, 908, August Kohler, Kotone Yamakawa, 151
Tinyplot:	Persona: Were the World Mine-1

---

Janine Liberi has posed:
    It had been some time.

    Again, in the eyes of those who had succeeded at the Persona Game, mirrors become dark, twisted and writhing, the Shadows in the cruel Forest beyond dancing in some mad glee. Another has fallen into their clutches, no doubt a death sentence without intervention.

    And so, it is time once more for Die Reisenden to intervene.

                     ==PERSONA: WERE THE WORLD MINE==                      
                                ==BOOK 2==                                
                    ==THE DASHING HERALD OF BAD NEWS==                    

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Night's chill has befallen that crumbling little cabin in the woods. The moon is obscured by light cloud, casting ghostly shadows upon the land. However, a single solitary point of light shines in the darkness, a lantern hanging upon the door to guide Travellers to it.

    Awaiting them is the Faithful Butler, a new face to all but one involved. No doubt, she greets the Travellers with all the grace and poise her station demands, introducing herself as the servant of the Lame Marquis, who waits within.

    And indeed she is, for despite the Marquis' sour ways, none can doubt her punctuality. Her blade lies on the table before her, as she chews upon a slab of oats. Any questions regarding the Faithful Butler are answered with the traditional curtness that she is known for.

    "She's my butler."

    "She knows about the Multiverse."

    "She's coming along."

    No more explanation is given, for the Marquis is only a shade less ignorant than the others as to the Butler's affairs.

    Eventually, all the Travellers who will embark into the Forest arrive. It is time to step through the mirror glass, rippling like stillwater to arrive in the Forest of Mirrors. A familiar face awaits them, in the form of the White Pig, for Pigs are cleverer than most give them credit for. It snuffles and snorts excitedly at their arrival, running among ankles and legs before slipping away between the trees.

    The Travellers must start somewhere, no? The Pig's path is as good as any other.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    Grace and poise indeed. "Emily Branford, a pleasure," the butler greets, each person receiving a warm smile and a formal bow at the door. She will take, fold and set aside any coats as necessary or desired, bring around snacks as people want them, and generally just be there as a constant presence.

    Whenever Janine gives a response to questions about her, Emily will simply develop a faint, mysterious smile.

    At least she shows no hesitation, stepping into the mirror. She'll remain close by Janine's side at all times, but apparently has neither questions nor advice to offer up right yet. The White Pig does garner a curious look from the butler, however. That's an interesting little creature.

Staren has posed:
    Night's chill doesn't bother Staren. As usual, he's wearing environmentally sealed armor. A bit much for protection against the German night, perhaps, but it's just sensible wear in the monster-filled wilderness outside his home... or when he has to go to an enchanted forest to fight the shadows of the id.

    He has no particular comment about the butler. She wouldn't be coming if she couldn't handle herself.

    There's a pig this time. "Um... well hello there..." he comments, crouching to pet it if it allows.

Finna (513) has posed:
A snowy owl comes swooping into the cabin through the open door, of all things. Unless one's looking right at the door this is likely to go unnoticed, for owls are all but silent fliers...

    And the Lunar Exalted quieter still.

    But the owl doesn't remain quiet for long. She's half-changed into fox form upon swooping through the mirror... and when she lands she's all fox, the last vestiges of feathers melting away into fur.

    As such, she's in prime position to make an excited, screechy bark right back at the pig... and sets her nose to the ground to sniff out whatever he was sniffing out.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
While it's her first trip into the Shadows' Forest, Yuna still makes reasonable haste to the cabin where they all meet up - thanks in large part to Elner helping guide her through the warpgates, and then through the woods to the cabin. Yuna's still in her Beacon Academy uniform, for good measure, which probably helps her look like she belongs among students.

Not that the uniform is going to match. And for that matter, having a sleek little supertech robo-faerie floating by her left shoulder is likely to throw appearances of normalcy to the wind.

"I'm Yuna Kagurazaka," she introduces herself - mostly for those she hasn't met, in general, although Emily's poise and position as a butler certainly seems to warrant the introduction nonetheless. "And this is Elner of Wisdom, my ... ah, guide, I guess." The robo-faerie bobs briefly as though bowing.

Yuna looks briefly at the mirror, watching a couple of others go through it ... and before she follows their lead, she transforms - a ripple of wind and light starting at her feet and swirling up and around her body, replacing her school uniform with the sleek, shining armor and fabric of her Light Suit. Once she's finished her transformation, Yuna steps through the mirror with no further hesitation, Elner flitting through beside her.

If either of them just bounce *off* of the mirror for whatever reason, hilarious awkwardness is bound to ensue (although severely downplayed if Elner gets blocked, compared to Yuna).

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    It's a mystery what Gudako has been up to the last few months. Guesses include: drowned in mobage event (a real problem the player faces), went to meddle in a minor Grail War and wished for new clothes (which you won't be seeing today if she did), conquered and subsequently lost a nation (we all need this on our resume), and killed an alien species with a strain of the common cold.

    Only half of those statements are true.

    Nonetheless, the teenager with her permanent 8D face arrives, in her usual white and black attire. She does not appear to be accompanied, or armed, but the spiritually-inclined can definitely feel the watchful gazes of two very powerful spirits, which orbit the teen.

    Also she's holding a very large bag of popcorn, already helping herself to scoops of it. "Hi hi! So let's go find our new friend! I'm already bored just standing here, and you know how I get when I'm bored in your world! I still kind of want to find out if we can just chuck people through mirrors and mass produce Shadows and heroes."

August Kohler has posed:
August Kohler is here. He hasn't been in the Multiversal spotlight in a while; he's been busy with EXAMS. Which obviously he did well on, otherwise he'd be kicked out of school and sent back to Dresden and then everything would be bett- I mean horrible. Luckily, the redhead still has a Persona, and is therefore of marginal use tonight.

Twirling a silver spoon around in his fingers, August tips his head in greeting to Emily, as he glances down briefly at the pig. "Kohler. Has Liberi told you the situation? I don't really care if you're coming along, but I hope you're able to fight. This place isn't very pleasant." August then waves to the others, before moving along with the pig, spoon spinning even faster. "So, is anyone missing from school? If we can figure out who it is, that'll make things way easier."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has never forgot about this place or just what was troubling the young people of this german city anbd so here she was when the butler is said to know and is in on it? She grins slightly and nods to them, and she's clealry not going to raise an issue but she does introduce herself.

"I'm Kotone Yamakawa."

She is clad in a light suit of armour which is black and dark grey and she tilt she rhead to yuna fort a moment and eyes Finna for a moment and gives her a tild of the head.

"Hhaven't seen you in a while."

She'd recovered from the use of the mirror but it still always chilled her a bit, even as she moves to deploy some drones to help scout out the forest.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Many Travellers are returning, for the Forest holds something they want. For most, it is the one trapped inside. As for others, they consider the Forest mere sport. The Wunderkind is the first to arrive, taciturn and focussed on doing Heroism, as usual. The Pig is happy to accept his light strokes, snuffling happy at his feet. He enters the Forest, in spite of the many issues he takes with the Marquis. Next is the Moon's Chosen, in the guise of a fox. It may be for this reason that the Pig sprints away under the glass trees, for a fox is a predator, and a Pig is prey.

    The newest Traveller, the Shining Idol makes her Forest debut. However, it does not seem a fine place to put on a performance. A sense of creeping dread pervades this place, and the trees make for poor acoustics. Thankfully, the Marquis is keeping the Mirror open for everyone to enter before slipping through herself.

    The Playful Fox is also here, seemingly alone but not so. She is the sort who sees the Forest the same as she sees all other things. As something entertaining, which has brought her into conflict with Travellers past. And yet she returns, for it is only a game, little to get worked up over. The Puppet Woman is the last foreign Traveller to arrive, happy to help as usual.

    However, it seems that the only natives are the Marquis and the Tin Soldier. And so the party sets off, the Marquis at the rear, the Butler at her side. The glass soil crunches underfoot, reflections upon reflections of the Travellers in the trees, the leaves, the branches, the roots. The Darkness spies their arrival and watches, coiling around them as the shadows of the hills, the trees, the clouds.

    And then, from somewhere distant, the sound of a pipe. The Piper begins to sing.

    "None can match the speed of bad news.

    Save one lad with muck as his muse.

    He sprints! Like the screaming wind

    Spreading tales of those who sinned.

    Are they true or false? Do any care?

    Seemingly no, based on how they glare.

    So be pious, be forthright, be pure.

    Avoid the rumours spread by this cur."

    A fine musician, but it seems a lyricist the Piper is not. His path however is not yours, for the Pig leads the Travellers away from the source of his song. For those with evolved senses, what the Pig is sniffing about starts to become clear. A sharp, acrid stench, fouler than anything, from deeper in the Forest.

    Going towards it would bring you to a strange destination. For who makes crossroads their destination? It is typically something you pass through on the way. But her the Pig plops down, happily rolling in the foul grime that permeates the four paths. A collapsed signpost lies among the translucent roots, and great footprints suggest this path sees plenty of traffic.

    But all from the same feet.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    The answer Emily gives to August is probably not the most reassuring. "I haven't the foggiest what we're up against, beyond 'the supernatural'," she replies matter-of-factly. "But don't worry about me. I'll be no dead weight here, I can assure you that much." Her voice is crisp and calm, the perfect received pronunciation one would expect of a proper Englishwoman, but she doesn't seem to be blithely ignoring the situation. Her eyes are almost constantly on the move, taking in the trees, the grass, the rest of the group, every little detail. Only the sound of the pipe and the voice of the piper seem to give her any sort of pause, and that's only to assess for a moment whether it's of concern. And to file away the lyrics.

    And their destination turns out to be... a crossroad? "What a curious place this forest is," she muses idly. She'll crouch down close to the ground to get a better look at one footprint, adjusting her glasses slightly. The movement includes one hand sweeping behind her almost by reflex, drawing the tails of her coat out of the way so they don't droop into the muck.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    "Hi, Yuna! Looking sharp! August! I forgot to bring cake this time, want popcorn?" Gudako offers the bag to August, sharing her wealth of delicious buttery corn. She makes no fuss about the location, much less the stench or the lyrics, humming along to the song of the Piper until it's too far away to hear. Really, the only thing that brings pause to the Playful Fox, if we can really call her a fox, is the collapsed signpost. Crossroads are no concern of hers, as long as a signpost says where to go. And so she advances towards it, to pick it up and see what it says.

    "If it doesn't say anything useful, I say we split up! I call Yuna, we're totally besties by now." Though Gudako shows her ever 8D face, the slightest groan from one of the two spirits following her can be heard, evidently disagreeing with the assessment. That's probably Caster, and she's probably still sour Yuna denied her divine right to name her attacks however she pleases.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Gudako's initial arrival prompts a faintly annoyed 'oh, it's you' look from Yuna, but she suppresses any further reaction (positive or negative) to the game-obsessed Master. Neither does she react to the stench that the Pig is following - either Yuna doesn't notice it, or she's stifling outward reactions to that as well.

She does follow the Pig, though, and the sound of the Piper's song causes her to tilt her head a bit, listening to it, and trying to make sense of the lyrics. "So do you know the young man who went missing through the mirror?" she asks the Drachenblatt students. "Was he spreading rumors or gossip about people, or something?" Admittedly it seems VERY obvious, but ... it's worth seeing if the missing student had a reputation as a gossip-monger; it would at least be information.

By the time the group reaches the crossroads, Yuna may be noticing the stench a little more than before (she wouldn't exactly call her sense of smell all that "evolved"). What gets her attention is those footprints - and she takes a moment to kneel next to one of them, trying to estimate how big the being that made them is. "Elner, see if you can narrow down which roads those signs pointed towards?" she asks, and the robo-faerie flits over to see if anything can be sorted out from the fallen sign.

And yes, Yuna is indeed kneeling (well, on one knee) in the muck along one of the paths. She seems to be willing to get her armor dirty for the sake of a rescue mission. Complaining about the smell won't do any good, though.

The one thing that seems to get to her is when Gudako claims to be 'besties' with Yuna. *That* makes her look up, and around, and straight at Gudako. "We are? Really? I'm glad we've put that whole incident in Lucrelia behind us ..." Said with JUST enough sarcasm to slip a tiny little question mark in at the end. She certainly hasn't forgotten about it - although Yuna doesn't usually seem the sort to hold a grudge.

Staren has posed:
    "Aww. I didn't know the forest had friendly animals." Staren comments as he pets the pig.

    And then it runs off, and they follow. "So... we're following the pig then? Is this like chasing the white rabbit?" Someone sings about rumormongers. "Hm. Is the person we're looking for someone who spread dirty rumors to hurt people?" Staren wonders.

    He tries to get a look at that signpost, straightening it if need be.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
The Puppet Woman is alsohereonce more and she's on her guard though she wonders about just how things are going to go this time. She's not sure what the are going to face this time but she's keeping an eye on Emily, not because she thinks that she can't handle herself, more that she's dealing with a new enviorment and they should watch eachother's backs right? That's what she's going to do and she now turns to the signpost for a moment as her drones fan out into the forest.

Finna (513) has posed:
This time Finna focuses her power through her body, easing her presence and slipping into the rhythms of the wild. With any luck, animals in the region will pay her little mind unless directly hreatened... perhaps the Pig won't flee. Or, this place being no normal forest at all, perhaps her harmonious passage is meaningless.

    Her ears perk up though, catching the pipes and the song and... "... Strangest forest I've ever seen... but why is it dark? What's the trouble?"

    And another question when they rummage over to the crossroads...

    And her eyes go WIDE at the SIZE of those footprints. "And who made THOSE? The axeman?!"

August Kohler has posed:
"Sure." August accepts the popcorn, taking a large handful, which tends to be payment for not being too hard on Gudako's heavily mercenary nature. And then, he pays attention to the Piper, listening to his song with a slight frown, but looking to toss him some coin nonetheless. But he's not there! Well, that lets August save some money, atleast.

When they get up to the crossroads, August takes a minute to walk around, before standing in between them. "Well, we have two options. Take the time to analyze all the paths to find the most recent tracks and where they go, or split up. Since we have time constraints, in that this place is deadly, I suggest the latter. Suggested split is Liberi and her butler, myself and Finna, Staren and Yamakawa, and as she asked, Ordria and Kagurazaka. Any arguments?" August takes another handful of popcorn to pay for him advising what seems to be an awful matchup. "No?"

Janine Liberi has posed:
    Now at the crossroads, the Marquis can get around to asking questions posed to her about their quarry. "Yeah, that song reminded me," she says grimly to the Idol. "Johnny Bridgeston. Real dirtbag. I remember when I had to go get this looked at," she says, gesturing at her enslinged arm. "When I got back, he had tried to spread a rumour that I got knocked up. Didn't really get any traction, but what a shit right?"

    Rumours of pregnancy aside, the signpost is beyond any use. The effluvial grime has coated it, marring any words upon it beyond comprehension. Furthermore, it seems to be rotting... no. Those gaps and holes seem more consistent with it being dissolved by something acidic.

    The mud suddenly seems more suspect.

    "We're not splitting up. That's how horror movies happen," The Marquis says firmly to the Fox and the Solider. "Besides, the Pig doesn't want to go on. Whatever we're here for will probably come to us." She seems quite content to wait and carefully unsheathe her sabre, handing the sheath to the Faithful Butler, for it is her duty to do as the Marquis asks.

    "Dunno if it is friendly. One of these days, I think it's gonna lead us into a trap," the Marquis says to the Wunderkind, for she is not the trusting sort. Traps are not in the Piggish Way, not that she could understand. "Not the Woodsman," she growls, staring hard at the Chosen. "He's even bigger."

    But now, footsteps approach from... a direction. It is easy to lose oneself in the Forest, but they do not come from a direction the Travellers arrived from. A giant figure looms from the mist, jogging briskly towards them.

    A strange fellow indeed. A tricorn sits upon his head, filthy and torn, pulled low to hide his face. A great banner has been secured to his back, but whatever heraldry it bears has been lost, the threads long since gone bare. His tabard, a coat that should display the coat of arms of his master, is much the same. Clearly, this is a herald, and the many messenger bags, pouches and sacks he wears upon his person support that. But there are no letters and decorations within. Instead, each one bubbles with boiling pitch, foul tar and other substances of equally vicious nastiness.

    He stands before the group, a good ten feet... and bows his head. "Hail, travellers!" he says, in a curiously wobbly, yet friendly voice. "I spread the Word! Here, look!" His hands, awful gnarled pitch-black things, dip into one of those backs, and emerge with two handfuls of filth which he presents, an even fouler reek filling the air. "Is it not glorious?!"

    In presenting this Word, he bends down. And in doing so, something lying in the folds of his tricorn rolls. A pale human arm lolls over the brim, shuddering faintly with signs of life.

    Here lies Johnny Bridgeston.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    Ainsley is quiet sometimes. Having been the last one into the mirror and someone that stuck to the back of the group, maybe she was overlooked, or maybe she was noticed and her silence meant no one was worried about talking to her. Her eyes remained locked on the Pig as only one whose whole personality is molded from stories can do, a woman that fixates on the strange sight and only looks away when it becomes clear she might step into something gross and flesh-eating. And then--

    Ainsley frowned toward the Herald, but stood with confidence before it. She didn't respond verbally to the mad creature. "I wonder if he will remember all of this, after we save his life," she says, pulling a longsword out of its scabbard in preparation of a fight. She stays to the rear of the group, and uses her Arcane Sight to scan the creature for Communicative aspects, because she feels that... perhaps, this being's roots in the spread of toxic rumors would mean she could disrupt it. She digs in real deep. "I apologize in advance if anything I do backfires in the same way as last time."

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    "Yep! Totally behind! What's the point in holding grudges anyway? It'll just distract me from other stuff. I lost the God power fair and square! Oh and it made me puke a lot of blood, so, maybe it wasn't that healthy for me to begin with." How nonchalant Gudako's answer to Yuna is. It's not like she murdered anyone for it. Anyone who mattered. Anyone people cared about. There we go.

    The sorry state of the signpost doesn't take Gudako's grin away; instead, she turns her baleful 8D towards Janine. "That's silly. If I wanted a horror movie to happen, I'd tell Berserker I hid a pouch of catnip in one of you guys' clothes and tell her to get to unwrapping."

    A spiritual, disembodied voice goes: "NYA?! MASTER, DID YOU JUST SAY--"

    Gudako, still 8D, goes: "Nah, I was kidding."

    The tricorned man appears, looking suspicious. His clothes torn, his satchel full of boiling black liquids that have mostly made Gudako curious, not worried. He offers the group words, and Gudako points at him.

    "I meant I hid it in his satchel. Berserker~!"

    "NYYYYAAAAAA!!"

    One of the two spirits takes form, the red-robed, pink-haired foxgirl with cat claws and boots leaping for the Messenger. Or, rather, his bag. Unfortunately it's attached to his body, so those claws might see use to try to separate the bag from the man, with enough strength to tear a car in two. Well, that's Berserkers for you.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    From where she crouches, Emily turns her head slightly to listen to Janine describe the person they're here to save. Sounds thoroughly distasteful, perhaps the sort of person who wouldn't be missed... but no, he's still a human being, and worth saving. She stands back up as her mistress declares they won't be splitting, and adds a simple, "I have to concur. Splitting off here would only divide our strength." The sheath is taken without question, held in one gloved hand to keep the other free.

    The Herald's arrival draws the barest show of revulsion out of her, but only just that. It quickly passes in favor of a calm entirely different than she's shown thus far. A businesslike cold somewhere in the vicinity of liquid nitrogen. "What a thoroughly vile creature," she murmurs, before adding, "Janine. There's our abductee, atop the giant."

    The empty hand that had been slipping under her coat suddenly whips back outward, flinging something that glints in the feeble light as it flies. It's a smallish, unstoppered vial, filled with what appears to be a clear liquid, and flung right at his face.

    That's the only holy water she has on her, of course, but it's more an experiment to test the waters for future reference. And a distraction, to give her a moment to reach *into* her coat.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Says "Sounds like some of the bullshit I recall from highschool myself."
DE She doesn't like the sound of this Johnny at all, she tkes a deep breath in as she looks at the sign post some more she sighs as she attempts to looks at the state of it.

"That's the wiest idea, splitting up generall isn't the best idea, I agree."

She's not splitting up but the nature of teh sign and the muck? Well that makes her ask a few odd questions internally but that doesn't last as they are greted by someone.

"..."

She looks at the man? The thing?She's not sure but she sees the flith for a moment she stares she gags, and she's cursing her improved senses right now, she really is.

"Why do you think such things are so valuable?"

She doesn't make for her weapon yet, sure others are moving in but maybe she'll get an answer but she's not certian she will be joining in shortly though given she suspect this is going to not go well for someone.

Staren has posed:
    Janine confirms their target is a rumormonger. "Geeze. Why are kids so awful to eachother? Maybe it's because they have nothing better to do. If we made this mirror stuff public, maybe the threat of /actual monsters kidnapping them/ would make them band together. Or they'd just kill eachother out of tragic stupidity." Staren shakes his head.

    And here comes a messenger! A messenger of filth. "Eugh! Ick!" Staren switches to internal air so he doesn't have to deal with the smell.

    And then he activates his wings and flies up to get a look at Johnny. If it /is/ Johnny."How did he get all the way up here...?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Split up? Paired with Gudako?

Yuna gives some serious thoughts to objecting to that arrangement; she does have a couple of possible issues with being off on her own with not only Gudako, but the two Servants at the gamer girl's beck and call. Still, it'd also mean she could keep an eye on her ...

But the idea of splitting up at all gets shot down by the genre-savvy Marquis, and in any case, it does look like whatever they're looking for has just arrived, towering before them. Yuna goes pale just from seeing the full size of the being which planted those footprints ... and then he brings out a couple of handfuls of the Word. And the Word is, apparently ...

Well, unprintable by Yuna's standards. "Urp ... um, Elner, this would be a good time -"

"Most likely," the robo-faerie interjects. "Do we need to fight this -" Elner's question is cut short by Berserker and Emily indicating that they do, in fact, feel it necessary to fight the giant. And while they launch the opening strikes, Yuna takes a few steps back, with a green-and-white armored figure (one who came in with Yuna and the others, possibly slipping in just behind Ainsley) approaches the group. Jiina of the Earth goes translucent, her form 'phasing' to overlap Yuna's figure - and then Jiina vanishes entirely, as a large wireframe shape forms around Yuna. In the next instant, pieces of armor and machinery begin to materialize, attaching to the Light Suit, interconnecting with each other, and filling in that wireframe with the bulky exoskeletal battlesuit that comprises Yuna's Powered Form.

Her secondary transformation complete, Yuna calls out, "Shugoseiheki!!" and even as she steps forward, a large kite shield materializes on her suit's left exo-arm. Yuna's own arms, sheathed in armor but still visible and usable, then take hold of a high-tech sword/rifle hybrid that materializes with its own flash - but she holds off on attacking, instead advancing to the front 'line' and getting ready to try and intercept whatever attacks the giant may unleash at the party. She can't protect Staren while he's in the air, but anyone who's stuck on the ground, she'll do her best to cover.

August Kohler has posed:
August pauses to recollect, before nodding to Janine. "I remember that. It was pretty obviously bullshit, though; the rumor relies on you actually having a relationship." August glances towards the sign. The acid seems...wrong. This all seems wrong, and dangerous. As Janine speaks, August suddenly changes his mind, despite the bribery. "I have to agree. It looks like whatever we're up against is pretty damn causti-. Oh. OH. Well, that makes sense, now."

Any other thinking August might have done is stopped by the arrival of the Herald. He's not sure if they should attack, but Gudako forces them to, siccing Berserker on the creature. Therefore, August will have to follow. Tossing the spoon into the air, blue energy surges around the redhead, as he points his finger at the spoon, shouting.

"PERSONA!"

In a flash of magic, a strange man of tin, covered in burn scars and wearing a military dress uniform, is summoned, floating above August. One of his legs is missing, replaced by an assault rifle, which suddenly surges up to aim at the Herald. "Battle positions! Try not to hurt Johnny!"

August follows this wise cry with an unwise decision, as the Tin Soldier's gun spouts a gout of fire, aiming straight for the Herald's face. He's trying to knock the hat off and get a good glance at whatever he looks like. Luckily, it seems August's aim is a bit better, in that this isn't a massive flamethrower: as long as the Herald doesn't move too much, the fire will likely only hit his face. Though, if he /does/ move to dodge...who knows what'll happen?

Finna (513) has posed:
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKAY!

    That wasn't at all what Finna was expecting. She brushes off Janine's hostility, for she had felt deeply impressed and respectful towards the great spirit that was the Woodsman, what he seemed to be.

    "HAIL, GIANT!" The SMELL is foul, but the words are at least... well he seems... intent on speaking, unlike most things in the forest? Finna gives him the benefit of the doubt...

    At least, up until the FOUL-SMELLING TOXIC YUCK!

    The white fox RETCHES right there, coughing and hacking and behaving as though terribly dizzy, she pads blindly off to the side and rams headfirst into the rotting signpost with a WHUNK. Still coughing and hacking and sneezing.

    The downside of super-sharpening your senses, seriously.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    The Verbose Lizard works her strange witchcraft upon the Herald, a courageous act, considering what happened the last time she did such a thing upon a Shadow. She obtains the barest glimpses of fragmented words, a barely fleeting consciousness, unlike the previous encounter. This creature is not as 'whole' as the Apprentice was, it seems. But the rumours are merely something to contruct upon. It's link truly lies with the young man in its hat... and something else, Not Here But Elsewhere.

    The Playful Fox sics the Rabid Fox upon the Herald, who was merely only trying to spread the Word. "Bah! Get away from there, creature!" She claws and scratches at the worn bag, causing it to come free... and for it to burst, showing the Rabid Fox in the sludge inside. Not only is it foul to smell, but it burns on contact also.

    The Faithful Butler tests her own skillset, flinging a vial of blessed water at the Herald. It strikes, cracking and splashing him, to no effect other than a cry of surprise and outrage. However, some splashed upon the arm hanging from the hat, causing fingers to twitch. He still lives.

    "... you think it is not valuable? Have you no eyes girl?! LOOK AT IT!" the Herald shrieks at the Doll. "Now I see... you are here to impede my spreading of the Word..." he mutters darkly. The idol's baring of a shield, the Wunderkind's sudden flight and the Soldier's fiery blast only confirm his suspicions. The flames come close, but the Herald tilts his head to the side, the flames barely marring his face, but not touching the hat, nor whomever lies within.

    The Herald snarls. The Darkness smirks.

================================THE CHARIOT================================

------------------------MANIFESTATION OF REFLECTION------------------------

                      THE DASHING HERALD OF BAD NEWS                      
                   HE WHO SPREADS THE WORD OF THE QUEEN                    

----------------------------PREPARE FOR BATTLE-----------------------------

===================================VIII====================================

    And then the Herald moves, faster than the eye can track. Suddenly, he is to the side of the Idol, where her defence is weaker. His leg flashes, coming up, then down, ankle first towards the Wunderkind, aiming to smash him into the ground. Even should he miss, the impact will send the muck upon the ground crashing up like a wave upon everyone in the crossroads. The Pig squeals and flees, for it is only a Pig, not a Boar, and little use in a fight. The smell only intensifies, likely not helping the Chosen in the slightest.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    It only takes a heartbeat's length of watching to tell that the Holy Water has no effect on this... fine gent. Information that Emily files away. "Well, filthy as can be, perhaps, but not unclean. Live and learn, I suppose." The hand in her coat snaps out (briefly ruffling her cravat in passing), bringing with it a compact but powerful pistol, which she snaps up into firing position - only to see her target no longer there.

    And a tide of muck descending on her.

    The leap Emily takes backwards is impressive, throwing her into a back-skid through the mud that digs up twin furrows thanks to her shoes. Coattails whipping around her, she brings her Sig Sauer up and levels it, taking calm aim and squeezing off three shots. One, two, three. Her aim, curiously, is not for the head, but rather exactly where the heart would be on a human.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    "HSSSSSS!"

    Berserker tears the satchel and gets splashed with terrible, corrosive tar and mud. This is kind of familiar, but unfortunately, this is not the Black Mud. Things would be very different if it was.

    Luckily the Servant isn't so easily killed by a bit of acidic splash. She hisses and grumbles and backs away, crouched and on all fours next to Gudako once she's shaken the terrible susbstance off her.

    "Master, that's not catnip. And it tastes terrible, I checked, nya!"
    "That's too bad, huh?" 8D
    "Can I still play with him?"
    "Sure! But share with your friends!" 8D

    Berserker nyas, and produces a set of paper slips. The ofuda glow a dull red and orange, and she hurls them with incredible precision despite her massive cat mittens. They attempt to latch onto the Shadow... and if they hit, inflict no damage. The ofuda contain curses, a generic vulnerability curse and one that makes the Shadow more flammable.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Wha - ?!" Did he actually *move* or did he teleport? Yuna didn't even see the Herald transition between point A and point B - and then Staren gets stomped into the ground, and the muck splashes ALL OVER EVERYBODY.

There's no NOT smelling that now - and it's enough to make Yuna stagger, even with her armor's support. "Nnngh ... eeuuuugh ... !!" she groans, sounding like she's on the edge of being sick. Thankfully she didn't get any of the muck in her mouth, but the stench alone makes her spit a few times.

Then the Matrix Divider comes up, crackling and flaring as Yuna pivots to take aim at the Herald. She's tempted to stick with melee - it would be more satisfying in some ways - but the Herald's size makes that impractical, even for the target she has in mind. And the building charge in her weapon's blade/barrel is visible, if not outright palpable: while holy water might not be worth much, her weaponry still channels Holy/Light elemental force - and it's less a bolt, more a beam, of pure concussive radiance which erupts from the Divider's tip when the Shining Idol pulls the trigger.

A short-lived beam, to be sure - but a beam nonetheless, aimed for the Herald's closer knee. If her aim comes closer to the hamstring or the kneecap, she certainly won't complain - but she does NOT want the Herald to retain enough footing to stomp like that again.

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    "It's still incomplete!" Ainsley speaks aloud to the party, urgency in her voice as she tracks the beings movements. Oh hell...!!! She takes flight when she realizes this thing moves extra fast, and it immediately becomes apparent that there's no way she could catch Johnny out of that hat if this thing can move this fast. "There's still time to stop the Shadow's growth..." The reason she trails off is that she's caught a thread. Something else is fueling this, some other entity, the fragment of Something Else's name in the muddied, incomplete structure she's staring at.

    Ainsley begins gathering the scraps of Names and forming a spell. She thinks on what is forming this creature... what he's said to the group.

    She forms a spell to try to cut off the communication of rumors to the Herald. He is spreading the word of the Queen, he said, so she wants to nullify his connection to her as much as she can. She points the sword at the Herald and a flicker of light jumps across the blade and fires down as a bolt of harmless lightning, trying to strike the Herald in the center mass, and create a magical scrawl that would climb across his body seeking out connections and squelching them as best purely word, emotion and meaning based magic can manage.

Staren has posed:
    Staren just wanted a look at the guy inside the hat, why's the giant got to take offense? :( Staren's smashed into the ground. He groans, "Ugh..." As the giant's foot lifts back up, one can see Staren, forcefield up, in a spherical depression in the muck. The forcefield is spiderwebbed with cracks, then fades from visibility as Staren wuickly flies up and away, trying to maintain his distance from the giant. He'll focus on using the beam cannons for the moment. He's watching his allies' fighting too, looking for an opportunity to use a micromissile without hurting them -- If he sees a chance, he'll take it, the miniature HEAT round lancing through in hopes of hitting a vital organ. Wait, do magic monsters even /have/ vital organs?

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna continues retching and spluttering violently. She can't TAKE the smell. Not when she has these kinds of lungs and that sort of digestive system. Every bit of her body's screaming 'GET AWAY FROM THAT YUCK.'

    Thankfully, Lunars have a quick way of dealing with a problem like that.

    The fox holds her breath and bounds for the Herald. But soon her legs melt up into her body, fur flattens and melds, shifting brown and dark brown... and her body elongates...elongates and INFLATES TREMENDOUSLY.

    She hits the ground as an ENORMOUS snake, easily forty feet long and a little over a foot in diameter. Light brown with dark brown mottling, snake experts might quickly guess that it's a common, fairly harmless Boa Constrictor...

    ... that has grown to the size of an ANACONDA.

    The foul smell is no longer a concern for this creature. It slithers and slides across the ground with motions that may nauseate and alarm others, for snakes are just plain CREEPY...

    But it's got one thing in mind.

    COIL AROUND THE HERALD'S LEGS and trip it up like a living lasso!

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
The Doll looks at them for a moment.

"If that is as you wish it so be it."

she backs off a bit, and is going for her weapon now the fith it underway. She as her weapon ready and opens fire with the sub machine guna nd she breaks into a run before bouncing about and taking shots at the Herald of Bad News with her weapon.

"Look what it's done to you, look at what you are now!"

August Kohler has posed:
As the Herald casually cocks his head out of the way of a fireblast, August nods his head. This is Johnny's Shadow. Therefore, there's no use debating it. It's not going to listen. Instead, August just breathes, before tossing his arms forward, the Soldier with them. The Persona dashes forward, moving to catch up to the Herald, before trying to /leap/ over him. Half way through the air, it changes its course above the Herald, dashing downwards as it moves to grab Johnny and pry him away from the Shadow, trying to fire a round of bullets into the back of the Herald's head to assist this. "Guys, don't waste your breath. The only place for a Shadow is in the ground: we need to kill it, and get Johnny out of here, now!"

Janine Liberi has posed:
    The Butler's reliable firearm cracks, one, two, three times. Each one finds its mark in the Herald's chest, causing it to begin bleeding more slime, the foulest yet. He squirms in an inhuman manner, but doesn't go down. It seems that Shadows have no major organs to destroy.

    The Rabid Fox's ofuda cling true, hanging on the Herald's form. It's quivering slows somewhat as weakness takes hold. "You foul beings... how dare you stop me in my duties?..." It would seem that after a sudden burst of movement, the Herald must remain still for a period. A Herald is not constantly on the move after all, it must wait on replies.

    The Idol's pure, divine energy blast strikes the Herald's knee, with enough force to knock the whole leg out from under it, causing it to slump. "Ergh!" he cries out, taking a knee, the sudden fall making the form in his hat roll dangerously close to the edge of the brim. But thankfully, he does not fall.

    The Lizard zaps the Herald while he is prone, script crawling across his form, in an attempt to counteract whatever Other is fuelling him. She gets a glimpse of a court, a throne... and a pair of terrible eyes.

    GET AWAY

    That flow of power only intensifies now, the Herald vibrating awfully. It starts trying to get up, tilting its head to give the Wunderkind clearance to fire a missile at his side, where the liver should be. The explosion causes him to go prone again, allowing the Chose to coil about his legs, pinning him in place!

    But his hands are still free, and he intends to use him.

    They blur, dipping into every container he has on his body, hurling putrid mixes at the party with the force of bullets. A majority are concentrated at Ainsley, but there's more than enough for everyone. The spray of bullets form the doll strikes his arms as they blur, bringing the barrage to an end. This leaves him wide open for the Tin Soldier to fly down, and snag the body in his hat. It is indeed Johnny, and he is still alive!

    The Marquis had been overcome by the stench, but now has the wherewithal to do something about it. Biancabella rises and conjures a stiff breeze to blow through the crossroads, clearing the air. "He's clear! Finish it!" she calls.

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    "Foul? Psht, I'm not foul, I'm ~fun~." Gudako protests, with a smile. Berserker seems ready to pounce again, especially as the Herald prepares to hurl that corrosive tar everywhere again. Gudako raises a hand, shaking her head.

    "Nuh-uh, this one's for Caster, Berserker."
    "Nya?"
    "Caster~." 8D

    As Berserker remains by Gudako's side, Caster appears at her opposite, the blue-robed pink-haired foxgirl an identical twin of the Berserker in every way save the lack of cat mittens and boots, a different hair style, and some patterns on her robes which are different.

    "Gotcha, master~."

    A ring of ofuda appears in front of the blue-robed Servant, and the wind in the area picks up. It compresses into a vacuum, with for goal to catch the incoming black liquid (what's aimed at Gudako, at any rate) in a bubble of wind. And then, seal it in crystal, so it can be safely carried.

    The drawback of this defense (and of trying to acquire a sample of the Shadow's mixture) is that neither of Gudako's Servants attack the Herald, despite the Marquis requesting it.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Taking out one of the Herald's knees seems to have helped; the Shining Idol quickly speeds away, not wanting to get pinned underneath the Herald if he shoujld topple over on top of her. And Finna helps bring the Herald down the rest of the way, freeing Johnny to be scooped up by the 'Tin Soldier'.

On the other hand, the Herald - while down - is decidedly not out, and Yuna stays on the evasive as well as she can, keeping Shugoseiheki up to make sure none of that gunk hits her face or torso. Acrid fumes rise from where the goop hits her shield or armor, as it is, and crackling arcs of light trail from those impacts; that alone makes Yuna wince noticeably, to those who can see her behind the kite shield.

But what the shield DOESN'T hide is the big lenses set into the exo-arms' shoulders. Fortunately, in the course of Yuna's dodging about, those lenses remain un-struck, and when there seems to be a lull in the Herald's assault, Yuna comes to a halt, peeking out from behind the shield to make sure of her aim.

The Herald is in front of her. Her allies are not. That's all she really needs.

Yuna digs her heels in as the 'lenses' slide open, bits of machinery revealed and emerging as they crackle with energy. "HEADS UP!!" Yuna calls out as an added warning to her allies ... and then her beam cannons go off, both emitters simultaneously releasing torrents of radiant power, aimed squarely for the Herald with freight-train levels of force - and as if the physical impact weren't enough, a full dose of the same Holy/Light element as the shot with which Yuna took out the Herald's knee.

Staren has posed:
    Giant balls of muck should not be as fast as bullets! They slam into Staren's forcefield, shattering it and sending him flying with the discs on his chestplate cracking and smoking. "Augh seriously what the hell?! What fairy tale is this guy even /from/?!"

    It seems the fight may be coming to an end before the giant can do much more to him, though... after crashing to the ground and tumbling for a moment, Staren starts to get up. And now, the boy is safe, allowing them to go all-out on the giant. "Hmph." For his part, Staren launches five more of the micromissiles -- they arc into the sky and rain down on the giant from above, shaped charges spearing him with lances of light, unless they're shot down by muck or something!

Finna (513) has posed:
As ALMOST HER ENTIRE BODY's sort of tangled up in the job of keeping this big guy DOWN, there's little Finna can do beyond PUT ON THE SQUEEZE to agonize those legs and... adding insult to injury, bring her head around and --

    Damn, but snakes can strike fast!

    JUST TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY and get revenge for that AWFUL STENCH, she BURIES her fangs (unfortunately non-venemous) into the Herald's left buttock. CHOMP!

Ainsley (151) has posed:
    The sound of the toxic gunk impacting Ainsley is punctuated by her saying "Oh no--" right before the violent intent shone like a lighthouse in her direction. She tried to avoid it, but soon she was struck by several of the awful, stinking attacks, and sent flying backward in the air, violently spinning until she struck the ground and the only thing keeping her from breaking her bones or getting melted into a puddle was her own, innate, magical resistance to harm. Just enough to prevent her death, not enough to keep her from ...

    Ainsley pushes herself up into her hands and knees and shakes. She won't be of any further use during this fight. She can't even choke out the words that she might need a little help, since one of the hits bruised her ribs really badly.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    The very instant those arms become blusrs of motion, Emily is readying herself to evade. This time her reaction doesn't seem to be fast enough, though. A bullet-like projectile of sludge splashes across Emily's leg, drawing a hiss of sudden pain from the Butler, and causing her to tumble into a roll that does her outfit no favors... but somehow manages to keep Janine's sheath perfectly pristine? But she comes out of that roll in a shooting stance, and her finger squeezes rapidly again. This time it's six shots, the entire rest of her magazine; having emptied it, she drops it into her waiting hand and then pockets it, before standing up to dash over to her mistress with hurried steps. "Ma'am, are you alright?" She doesn't seem to be acknowledging her own injury in the least.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa does stop the barrage and as the Doll keeps mocving she's not sure but then she sees that The Tin Soldier has an opening to get the guy. Even if Johnny is an bastard he does not deserve to go out this way. She keeps moving and she darts about for a moment. She's going to hold her fire, until August gets Johnny free and once he is? She'll open fire again as she flips away agains he does not want to sit still, oh she soe does not want to sit still and she then lobs a grenade of some sort, where did she hide that thing on her anyway?!

August Kohler has posed:
Once he has a grip on Johnny, the Tin Soldier is leaping downwards with him, moving to bring him back behind August, who shields his fellow student behind him. Once the boy's safe, he shunts the Tin Soldier back forwards, moving to put him directly in front of the Herald. "Alright, let's see how he burns."

Followed by a massive gout of flame to join everyone else's attacks, attempting to incinerate the Shadow. The Tin Soldier just mimes rage, a scream made of fire and death. August, meanwhile, moves to check on Johnny, mostly to see if he's injured. "He's alive!"

Janine Liberi has posed:
    The Fox, as usual, is purely self-interested, conjuring the Sorcerous Fox to capture one of the grime bullets for her own personal research, while also defending herself. The Shining Idol lives up to her title by firing concussive radiant blasts that push the Herald back, smashing through several trees with the awful crack of breaking glass.

    The Wunderkind's missile barrage follows up, blowing several gaping holes in the Herald's form. Weak cries begin to escape his throat, followed by a louder scream as the Chosen bites his bottom, the awful fluids inside him filling her throat. Hopefully she has also been taking care to not be caught in these attacks.

    The Lizard takes the brunt of the attack with no one to defend her. The Marquis is tended to by the Butler, having conjured a barrier of wind to defend herself from the shots. A few drops got through, having had enough force to open up some cuts, but she only commands, "I'm fine! Help Ainsley, the lizard!"

    The Doll peppers the Herald with gunfire and grenades, pushing him back down as he tries to recover, allowing the Soldier to open fire. Flames lick at his form as he goes prone. Is it over?

    NO

    Ainsley may feel that power again, as the Herald's form begins to swell. Disgusting fluids give off powerful fumes that inflate his form. And so near to open flames...

    It may be time to run.

Emily Branford (999) has posed:
    Janine gives a command. No sooner have the words left her mouth than Emily is off at a run, somehow managing to achieve full sprinting speed despite the muck they tread on. The empty sidearm is returned to her coat by the time she's at Ainsley's side, freeing a hand to help the lizard up as best she can. "Come on, then, up you go." She looks around to the others, particularly Yuna, and calls out, "If you can carry her without slowing down overmuch, I can provide cover."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
There's not much more Yuna can do than to blast the Herald with her beam cannons - which she just did, and the cannons need time to recharge after firing as it is. Ainsley's condition is of much greater concern, though, when she sees the lizard girl go down; Emily barely needs to ask Yuna to do anything before the Shining Idol turns and races towards Emily and Ainsley - not simply slogging through the muck (thankfully), but lifted and propelled by her hover-thrusters.

The exo-arm which holds the shield rotates it (awkwardly) to help provide marginally better cover against attacks from behind, and Yuna slows down enough to scoop Ainsley up gently, dismissing the Matrix Divider so her regular arms can support the woman's weight. "Hang on tight, things are about go boom!"

She throttles up again, carefully, to put more distance between herself and the soon-to-explode Herald. Yuna doesn't want to get totally separated from the others, since she's not sure how to get back through the Mirror without the locals who know that kind of thing ...

Gudako Ordria (908) has posed:
    Gudako pockets the crystal containing the grime bullet. Will it pay off? Who knows! But you don't find these things out if you don't try. It's an interesting form of attack for sure, and might reveal more about the Shadows. Or this particular Shadow, maybe. There'll be time to play with their acquisition later.

    For now, Gudako snaps her fingers, and Caster disappears again, no longer needed. Berserker observers the swelling form of the downed Herald, before Gudako simply says, with her usual smile and energy: "Oooh, a self-destructing boss! We hadn't crossed one of those before! Berserker!"

    The 'catgirl' picks her master up, a quick and efficient princess carry. "Nya, let's go!" There'll be no delay waiting for the others; they seem to be handling themselves just fine, and Caster can get them in and out of the Forest even if they were to become separated. Besides, it looks like it's over. They got the guy they wanted, the Shadow's down. This place never fails to entertain her, she muses.

Finna (513) has posed:
BLEEEECH. The only good thing about this situation is that Finna's not endangered by the Herald. On the other hand... MICROMISSILES and some other things are trouble, so she disengages in a HURRY while being pelted by shrapnel and heat and PAAAAAAIN.

    Bleeding, the snake releases its DEATHGRIP and collapses to the ground, slithering off...

    Just in time too, it seems....

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
they have Johnny that's the big thing they are taking the Herald down hard and the combined effort seems to be the end of it? Nope it's worse it's time to run, it's very much time to do so. Kotone picks up speed and starts to run not holding back as they need to get out of here and there's no time to waste. With Ainsley already aided she knows she's get in the way so run she does.

Staren has posed:
    Staren winces as Finna gets caught in some of the peripheral explosion from his missiles. Still the giant gets the far worst of it. And now Ainsley's in trouble, but Yuna's on it.

    They have a new problem.

    The fire is making smoke that's... /absorbed/ by the giant somehow, making him bigger. Staren has an idea for that, though! <<I have a dangerous idea, can anyone make dust?> he asks. Janine says she can whip some up with wind powers. Perfect!

    Once people are clear, Staren shouts <<Now!>> into the radio and fires his plasma missiles, a half-dozen raining down around the giant and going off simultaneously. Instead of a conventional explosive, these produce intense heat, which usually causes a fireball and burns things within a few meters to ash.

    With dust in the air, it will cause a dust explosion -- not only adding injury to more injury on the giant's part, but also sucking all the oxygen out of nearby air, suffocating the fires. And maybe the giant, if he even needs to breathe...

August Kohler has posed:
August steps back as the giant is about to explode. "Everyone, run!" He dashes for the exit, as the Tin Soldier moves quickly to scoop up Johnny, before following after him. Once they get back to the shack, they'll need to make sure how bad Johnny is, and if he needs medical attention. And equally importantly, what he remembers.

And then dump him off somewhere while he's asleep so he can't trace back the shack and spread rumors, of course.

Janine Liberi has posed:
    The Herald swells, more and more, starting to come apart at the seams. He groans. "The Word... it was good, wasn't it?" And then a tongue of flame makes contact, and he explodes, the Darkness dispersing violently. The Wunderkind and the Marquis' combined gambit whips up a dust explosion just in time, immediately smothering the flames, but doing nothing to prevent the concussive blast. So while some might get bowled over, at least they are not incinerated.

    Their quarry is unresponsive, but alive. The Marquis would order the Butler to deliver him to his home and place him upon his bed to be discovered later. She also insists that someone deliver the Lizard to be treated, for she is easily the most grievously wounded of the Travellers.

    And that is the tale of the Dashing Herald of Bad News.