1189/Krampus Kapers

Krampus Kapers
Date of Scene:	21 December 2014
Location:	Winter
Synopsis:	Raven gets hired to stop the Krampus! She winds up needing to recruit some help.
Cast of Characters:	41, Staren, 119, Mortimer Balman, 513, 622, 647

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Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    The coordinates given over the frequencies leads people to a large stone well just outside a village in Winter; a quaint village, midievil in time-frame. It's evening, and the stars are overhead. A seasonable inter storm is already brewing, with snow flying in the air and the temperature dipping low. In the village, the sounds of screams can be heard; at the outskirt at least one building is on fire, and more smoke is rising from deeper in the village itself.

    IN the well, of course is Raven DeVanos, trying to climb her way up using the rope from the well bucket. It really does not look like she's very happy. Possibly because she's -SOAKING WET-, has several bruises on her face already, and seems to have lost one of her boots in the water below. Not to mention she's also somewhat, well, singed. And from the look of blood on her face her nose has at least suffered another break.

    Amused, her Pokemon sort of stand around the well; Aries is peering in over the edge, while a large Pangoro in a really ugly Christmas Sweater leans on a candy-cane colored crook.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     The wind howls and swirls as a dark figure appears from the raging snowstorm, already caked in snow during the brief trek through the storm. The figure is quadrupedal in nature, with great, wicked looking horns on it's head, and as it moves it jingles! Is this some sort of hellish, demonic reindeer, emerging from the cold grasp of winter to devour the innocent?

     No, it's just Jinxel, wearing what amounts to a reindeer costume (complete with a jingling sleigh harness), come to help Raven with this Krampus thingy.

Staren has posed:
    Staren teleports in from the warpgate, suited up in his usual armor. He looks around, arm raised with particle cannons ready -- but when he doesn't see the Krampus and he /does/ see the well, he manifests his energy wings and flies down it to give Raven a lift up.

    His next stop is by the building with the fire. He reaches into his bag, pulls out what looks like an alien handgun of some sort, which reconfigures into a staff, and then the head reconfigures into a nozzle. He points it dramatically at the fire and casts what Raven would probably recognize as Hydro Pump.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Having already worked overtime to save Christmas, Finna's now certain this time of the year is more cursed than blessed by any kinds of gods, be they bearded and jolly or not. So much trouble over this silly idea of naughty or nice is like a nightmare scenario of what SHE learned as a kid - that kids who wander away or throw tantrums anger the Winter Folk, and nobody wants to be taken away by them, do they?

    Even those tales were mostly in jest, for the Winter Folk are quite real and ARE fearsome and fickle. Hearing of a man-eating monster who hunts down misbehaving children?

    BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGHCH.

    And so she scampers into the humble village as a white-furred fox with strange silvery tattoos shining through its fur, the mark of the crescent moon aglow on its forehead. The cold weather does not bother it, but the screams and the distant fire are easily getting her unsettled. Spotting the Pokemon and EASILY hearing and smelling the singed woman coming up the well...

    A glance left, a glimpse right as others are also arriving... and scampers down the well. yes.

    She walks STRAIGHT DOWN the cold, half-frozen, and otherwise wet walls as if she were walking on solid ground and not a 90 degree angle... and SPEAKS once she's down to get a good look at Raven's situation.

    "Hooooold onto that rope, you'll be out in a few!"

    And just as she arrived she's gone, zipping back up the wall and... shapeshifting into a HORSE upon hitting enough space.

    A horse with more than enough strength to grab the rope in its teeth and - assuming Raven is amenable to the plan - HAUL her straight up out with pure... well, horsepower.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Padding calmly, quietly, but nonetheless visibly seething beneath that veneer of cool-headedness is Falstaff, as opposed to Mortimer himself. Perhaps Mort was unable to show up himself and instead told the hulking brute to follow after Jinxel. Given how little the Absol approves of people who abuse children, he is an appropriate choice out of all of Mortimer's collection of mentally unstable violence-for-pleasure-seeking monsters. Granted he can't talk too much so all he does is keep a steady pace with Jinxel- as much to make sure the cold doesn't overwhelm her as anything else- until he catches Raven's scent, then he starts padding up to the well and sits on his haunches, waiting for Finna and Staren to fish the nice short lady who sends giant yummy bones out of the well.

     And then he start breathing markedly warm air on said nice short lady. like a living blow-dryer without all the noise, carefully controlling the heat of his breath (don't worry, he's recently had one of those chewy bones to make sure it doesn't stink like week old carrion) so that he can help dry her off without burning her.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simon seems to be doing a lot of marching through the snow. Though this time he at least managed to get ahold of some transportation for part of the way. Some kind of terrifying carnivorous horse, who Simon was under the impression were extinct, and which approached him and Marcy on the way to the village. Initially seeming hostile, one growl from Marcy had the horse BACKING THE BREADBALLS UP. Possibly out of respect for her similar terrifying teeth, and those of her companion (the white-haired, blue-skinned guy who is supposed to be in charge), the horse accepted the pair as one of its own kind and gave them a ride.

They were let off just outside the village's border, such as it is. Marcy and Simon waved as the horse departed. Marcy called out, "Thanks horse!" and the horse responded with an ultra-menacing 'neigh' that belongs only to horses who eat people's faces, and then trotted off into the distance. Now, here they are, gazing upon burning buildings, hearing screams, and observing a bunch of people gathering around a well.

"Hmmm..." Simon 'hmms' as he strokes his beard and then starts that march mentioned earlier. Marcy, the little half-demon girl, strokes her chin in mimickry of Simon, goes, "Hmmmm!" and then follows after him. She is not wearing her usual clothes. Simon managed to get her a cute red and white sweater, with a white skirt, and some warm black pants. He really doesn't have much in the way of money, and what he manages to get goes towards taking care of Marcy. Hopefully things will change soon, and he'll have enough money to care for them both.

Last thing he needs is child-services coming after him.

When the two of them finally arrive where everyone else is, Simon raises a hand and waves. "Hey, guys, what's going on? I mean, you know." He holds his hands out helplessly as he nervously chuckles, "Aside from this whole KRAMPUS thing! Right?" He lowers his hands. "Heh heh... Hehhh..." Marcy is focused on something else. She points at Jinxel, and says, "Look, Simon! A weird deer!" Simon looks over and says, "A what now?" He sees Jinxel. The wheels in his head turn. And then he just smiles and says, "Oh, yeah! So it is!" Marcy asks excitedly, "Are we going to eat this one too?"

Simon pats her on the head, and without losing his smile, answers, "Probably not, no. We don't want you getting sick again." Then he focuses on the matter at hand. He thinks he recognizes Staren over there, doing his fire-fighting, but the rest of these people have unknown faced - even if he will recognize their voices, likely, once they speak.

Of note, the Crown is not at Simon's side.

Noiela (647) has posed:
Eschewing all holiday spirit like the Grinch, minus the furry coat, materialises a coated figure in from the raging blizzard; sagging heavily under the sodden patches where the snowflakes have begun to melt. One can assume the person known as Noiela aka the least powered Elite has dropped in from the warpgate, outfitted with her usual tome and sword to swashbuckle and fling mystic energy when required.

Sighting the rescue of the battered Raven by several others simultaneously, the tactician opts to surge full steam ahead and leap with only a slight wobble onto the stone lip of the well itself, bending down to rest on her haunches. Alertly dark eyes like two tarnished coins, glaring hard into the depths.

Hand creeping down to grip her tome tight. Quietly "Is she thawed out?" Addressed over her shoulder to the rather large and imposing beast, deliberately not looking in his direction for the time being as she quells a tremour at what is to arrive. Any minute now.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    Between Staren and Finna, Raven's trip back to the 'surface world' is really short and fast. Honestly, Raven looks like a wet cat once she's hauled up and out of the well; standing there with dripping plastered hair and clothes sticking to her like glue. Thankfully Falstaff has that in order! Raven grumbles as she works on wringing out her hair, and watches Staren pull a Squirtle, and Hydro Pump the water out of the largely burning building. Raven wrinkles a lip over her metal fangs, then huffs. Sitrep time? Bluh.

    "Long story short. This town called me this morning after this fucker went rampent the next town over. We're talking about a monster about, yae high," she elbows the Pangoro ner her, and the seven foot tall bear raises one of his paw-arms high over his head to just about ten foot mark, "Built with more bloody muscle than Bubbles here," Another jerk-nod toward the bear who huffs a bit and snorts, and then Raven grumbles, and turns to look down in the well, before she squints, and gives a sharp loud whistle. Her shadow whips away from her, and dashes down into the darkness, before it comes bouncing its way up carrying a sopping soaking boot with it-- and then reforms into a black shuck at Raven's feet, smugly holding the boot in it's jaws. Aww, good undead puppy. Raven yanks the boot away in annoyance, and flops down to begin trying to pull the soaking thing back onto her foot.

    Aries (The Umbreon) takes over: <The Krampus is a German demon. It's supposed to punish children. This one has apparently gone rogue of Hell and is enjoying an all you can eat buffet of bad children, their siblings, their parents.. you get the idea. It's somewhere in the middle of town. As far as we know, it's impervious to silver, doesn't seem to give a hoot about holy water, and fire doesn't do a darn thing, buuut, it SHOULD be killable if you can stake it through the heart with a branch from a holy fir tree. We were TRYING to chase it toward the church, but GUESS WHAT.> Raven snaps sharply, "SOMEONE sold all the fudgers in this town -fake christmas trees- this year. FAKE CHRISTMAS TREES. We get it to the Church and what do we find? MOTHER FUDGING PINK SHINY PLASTIC ABOMINATION." She SHUNKS the boot onto her foot with a squelch of water. "That's when it threw me through the stone walls, and while I was stunned, the fucker stomped my ass out here and dropped me in the well." She gesture to the large cloven foottracks in the snow leading back into the village. Both of thm eye Marceline warily, but Raven finally passes judgement: "Kiddo, you refrain from eating anything but the Krampus, and when we're done I got a bag of chocolates in my kit sack, and a couple of home jars of chocobo noodle soup for both of ya." She nods to Simon before she slowly stands, and grumbles. Then looks about those around her. "So there's the scoop. I'll pay ya each a five hun'red bag of credits out of what the mayor was offering me, although I should warn ya I offered ta do this pro-bono.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     After taking a moment to shake all the snow out of her fur, the bad luck pony feel a chill go up her spine as she overhears talk about eating the 'strange deer' and turns her head, shaking her hooves wildly, "No no no! I'm not a deer! I'm a pony! I'm just wearing this outfit because I was gonna help out with Christmas stuff and I didn't have time to change out of this outfit before I got here!"

     Just to be on the safe side, she edges toward Falstaff, hoping that the big scary Absol will keep the other people from eating her!

     "So, um... if we don't have any firs on hand, how do we go about stopping this Krimple thingy?"

Finna (513) has posed:
    "ehhhh... money. I'm more interested in keeping kids out of this thing's maw. About twice the height of a full-grown man?! Yeeeesh... well it looks like some of us should try to run damage control and distract this demon, but we also need a branch... I know the difference between a fir and the other evergreens, but can't be in two places at once..."

    She answers Jinxel, "Well... MOST things, if you don't have their wekness, enough brute force'll do. But I can buy time. We just need to get it away from here or too busy to bite heads off."

    Finna shifts from horse form to human, though her fox features are on full display amidst this strange group... as are her tattoos, where her rather coverin huntress attire doesn't keep it from sight, anyways. "Better pick fast!"

Staren has posed:
    "No eating talking ponies!" Staren calls back at Marceline's question.

    Staren turns to listen after he finishes putting out the building. He nods slightly here and there, expression hardening slightly at the fake christmas tree problem. He can't bless things without more info on what he's blessing them /against/, anyway. At Jinxel's question, the staff collapses back into its compact form and he stuffs it back in the bag, immediately pulling out an oversized revolver. "We put a holy bullet through its brain. We tear it apart until it can no longer function." He nods to Finna. "We have plenty of brute force..." He turns to Raven. "Obviously, finding a fir branch won't be hard. But how long will it take to get it blessed here?"

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Once Raven has been dried off, Falstaff will sniff and look over the others- if anyone else is shaking too much he'll give them a quick blow-drying too. Peering down curiously at Marceline for a moment he snuffles at her with a low, deep "whurf" sort of sound and then turns his attention back to Raven and her.. Bear. Huh. The prey is big. That doesn't matter- or if it does matter, Falstaff's decrepit face demonstrates no care nor fear of an opponent that can throw people through walls and into wells. Then again this may be because he himself has been thrown through at least half as many walls, buildings, and other ostensibly solid immobile structures as Mortimer has been. You just kinda get used to that after a while. Huffing a bit, neither apparently accepting or rejecting Raven's terms- he gives Jinxel a comforting nuzzle and then begins padding in the direction of the broken church wall. Nose twitching furiously as he tries to pick up a scent.

     The prey will not get away.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simon quickly moves to cover Marcy's ears when Raven starts dropping f-bombs. Angrily he protests, "Hey! Do you mind watching the language, lady? We've got kids here! The kind that don't need to be repeating -certain words-!" Marcy just puts her hands overtop of Simon's and looks apalled. Once it seems like Raven is done being a potty-mouth, he takes his hands off those pointy little ears just in time for Marcy to hear she shouldn't eat anything the Krampus gives her. "Don't take candy from strangers. Got it," Marcy affirms with a super-serious expression and a nod. Then her attention strays to the pangoro, and the shadow dog, and the other strange people around, distracted by the sheer variety. Most of the people she has seen so far since leaving her own world have been human or human-ish at least. She just wasn't expecting to run into so many different kinds of people on her first outing.

Well, she did meet a talking dog already, so it's not TOO much of a shock.

Simon sighs and rubs his forehead. "Is there a way to get rid of it without killing it? Like, I don't know... Open a portal to-" he pauses and glances at Marcy. "-its plane of origin? I've been reading this book that's given me some insight, but I'm not sure if I could pull any of it off." Marcy is leaning over the edge of the well, peering down into it, her feet kicking in the air behind her. Simon picks her up and puts her back down on the ground. "Ooo! A pony!" Marcy replies when Jinxel clarifies her true nature. She looks in Staren's distraction as he calls out warnings, but then she sticks a finger to her mouth in thought, furrowing her brow.

Simon says, "This sounds like it's going to be dangerous. Uh, maybe one of you should stay here with Marcy." Marcy protests, "No, Simon! I can fight too!" Then she holds up a noodly little-girl arm and pats her bicep to illustrate. Simon remembers what happened the last time he didn't let her try. And he remembers he didn't bring the Crown with him this time. Neither he nor Marceline are suited for combat. They should try to think this through.

"Hey!" Marcy calls out. "It's a demon right?" She waits for confirmation or at least for everyone's attention, and then says, "My dad's kind of a big deal demon himself, I think. Maybe this Crumpet will listen to me!" Simon pauses. He didn't realize Marcy's father was a demon. It makes sense, though, now that he thinks of it. "I'm not sure if any sort of... Infernal heirarchy from our world would apply here, but... It might be worth a shot. You know, at least as a distraction? Maybe?" he turns his attention on the others, as Marceline is distracted by the fox-lady who was once a horse. The attention span of small children.

For his part, at least, Simon is just trying not to be distracted by all the glaring magical symbols he can see all over Finna with his Wizard Eyes.

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Simon. "While I am all for redeeming foes instead of killing them when practical, we're talking about a demon that is so evil it's abandoned its job so it can /eat more children/. I highly doubt there's anything worth saving, and even if there is, the lives to be saved by killing it swiftly are worth more."

    Staren: Totally A Heroic Good Guy, right?

    Then he reaches into that magic bag of his and pulls out a potion, holding it out to Marcy. "Drink this, and a magical forcefield will protect you from attacks for awhile." It tastes yucky, but is indeed magical.

Noiela (647) has posed:
Shaking her head as if to refute the alarming shadow show, the coated mystery person pivots round sharply on a heel to listen intently to the rather colourful discourse and subsequent appearance of the carrot on a stick in form of payment.

Altruism never paid bills, but the girl knows even as she shivers in the rather frosty weather. Eventually, her cue comes up to provide input, courtesy of Jinxel. A talking animal. "Miss...Finna, was it? I suggest we keep the search party light on members. Less chance of attracting notice. Certainly, we can...rip it apart, last ditch choice." A wry smile and hop off the well, landing gracelessly onto her feet. "I guess...it remains to delegate? We may have to adjust on the fly."

Addressing Simon and his charge, the woman is despite the unusual eye colour and hair is possibly from what can be seen a wholly human person. Chapped, little ungainly and almost decidedly out her depth in the situation with so many exhuberant personalities vying for attention. "What might you require for such a casting? I...have a little training myself in the eldritch arts." Demurring at the last minute with open gratitude from offering herself up as the babysitter for tonight.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     With an irritated grumbling HUFF, Falstaff pauses long enough to tiresomely pad back to the ground and stand before Simon. Bipeds talk too freakin' much. Putting his head down low to the ground, the brutish Absol shoves his head between Simon's legs and, demonstrating that he is hella strong despite his age, very simply tosses Simon up onto his back. There. Now the nervous biped has a war steed to provide him some degree of mobility and protection for the inevitable battle, and hopefully that means they can get back to work. Grunt. "Whuff." He does not seem to mind Simon's natural cold. Probably that coat of fur and thick layer of tissue.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    "Half of you should go into the woods with fox-face here," Raven gestures at Finna, "And find a fir. There's bound to be one somewhere out there," Raven says, gesturing to the woods around the village. "Blessing it should just be a matter of getting the coward of a bishop out of the basement of the church wher ehe ran as soon as he saw me leading that thing toward it. That's up to you blokes," she says, before turning to eye Simon, "And I'm sorry about usin' coarse language around th' kidlet, but I just got flung through two houses, one stone and mortar church wall, and dumped in a well, so I'm a little worked th'... heck, up," She heistates a moment, then adds: "And language filterin' ain't in my normal retinue." She watches Falstaff take off, and calls, "Oi, Falstaff old man, you be careful an' see if you can rouse that blighter out of where th' heather he's hiding," she calls, after the Absol, before she turns to consider Simon's other ideas.

    She rubs her hand on her chin. "Lil' Lady, iffen y'all can get that thing's attention, we MIGHT have a chance I don't know if it'll listen to you as far as you tellin' it to STOP, but it might catch yer scent and figure you're prey, which gives us an advantage if y'all can run fast." She looks to Simon "I won't let nothin' happen to her I can assure ya. IN fact," She turns, and points at the Pangoro. "Sparklebear. You watch th' kiddo, an' if that thing gets too close to her, you give it a good punch in the jaw to reassert your tastyness to it." The Pangoro arches a brow, looking from Raven to Marceline and back before it shrugs and turns, cracking it's pawknuckles a moment, and then bows to Marceline. "Goro," he says, simply, translating to: <At your service, squirt.>

    Raven then considers. "Can't say as I know where th' hoot n' hollar this thing hails from, so I don't know about sending it back. I CAN say though that I figure I could find it a new home if we can subdue it. Honestly though I have to admit I think might be safer ta just stake it, for the fact that it -eats people-," she shrugs. Then says, "Th' resta ya come with me an' we'll go wrassle this blighter into some form of 'subdued', be it dead an' turned t' ash, or chained up in a net," she hns. "Who'll go where?"

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     Hmmm, to go back out into the woods in search of a fir tree, try and drag a priest out of his hidey hole, or go stare down a giant monster.

     "Um, I think I'll go help find that tree, if it's all the same to you guys. How big and thick of a stake would you need miss Raven?" Jinxel asks as she takes a seat on the snowy ground, "Would something as thick and log as my foreleg do, or are you gonna need something bigger and thicker for this crumple thingy?"

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simon squints at Staren somewhat annoyedly. "I'm not talking about saving or redeeming it, Staren. Where'd you get that from anything I said? I'm talking about avoiding the fight entirely. If it's so dangerous, just banishing it seems less likely to get US or INNOCENT BYSTANDERS hurt! Those able to do so might need to employ force, but that should be a back-up, not the first response." He taps his head. "Fight smarter, not harder!" Then he turns to Noiela and says, "Uhh... Bug milk, I think. I'm not sure how easy it would be to find it our here, but the Enchiridion mentioned it as an ingredient for accessing the Nightosphere. Which is, uh..." He shrugs awkwardly. "Roughly equivalent to you-know-where."

Suddenly, Simon is being forced to mount some kind of creature!?-Oh, it's that cat-looking thing with the head-sword. Glad THAT part didn't make contact. "Err... ...Thanks?" Simon asks hesitantly of Falstaff. Then he focuses on Raven and her explanation as Action Team Leader. "Totally," he acknowledges. "We should do what causes the least amount of danger to us and the people of this village. If... Staking it is that, then we should do what we have to. I just wanted to consider other options as well." If only he had the Crown, he could try to just bury the damn thing in snow. He can almost hear it in his head even now, showing him all the ways he could be protecting everyone - how IT could be protecting HIM.

But he shakes his head to clear it. "I'll head into the woods, assuming this... This... Guy here-" he pats Falstaff. "-is open to that. Otherwise, I guess I'll try to find this Bishop. I'm trusting Marceline with you and your panda friend either way!"

Marceline giggles a bit and then curtsies when she is bowed to by Sparklebear. "I'll tooootally distract him! Maybe we can set up an elaborate pulley system that dumps buckets of tar and NAILS on him when he triggers them!"

Someone has been watching old Christmas movies on Netflix.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Falstaff chuffs at being patted- a pleasant noise, not one of irritation. Seeing as how others are already volunteering to go back into the woods to hunt for trees- bipeds have strange ideas but the beast does not begrudge them this, it's not their fault, it's just a quirk of being a biped, or so he supposes- the idea of finding the 'bishop' human seems like a better idea. Perhaps the human cleric will be trying to cast out the demon, bipedal holymen and women often try to do things like that, bless their hearts. The trouble of course will be finding the right scent. The air is still- at least to his nose- thick with fear. It is difficult to discern the individual smells from that. But.. Ah, the stink should stick to the monster that harms the young. That should make it easier to follow.

     Falstaff puts his nose to the snow and begins meandering off, following the trail of fear and demon. If he can get a good trail he should be able to find either bishop or demon quickly enough, hopefully.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Uhhhhh.... look, nothing elaborate. I'll head with the heroic pony here out into the forests... and if you can't move quickly and tank the cold, don't follow. I've got no time to haul people where it's warm. Now, we're looking for a nice branch that can pierce a good hide if sharpened a bit... the branch will have green needles that look like they're stuck to the branches by little round nubs. I don't care if we have to rip a tree out of the ground - which I'll do in a pinch - we need this wood!"

    Seems in a pinch, Finna has gotten this part under control. She glances at Raven. "Hope you folk know what you're doing for keeping it busy..."

    She honestly doesn't really have much care to wait for people. If they can't keep up? Oh well. She's off across the snow - immediately back into her fox form and stepping lightly enough she doesn't even sink into the snow....

Staren has posed:
    Staren tilts his head a bit at Simon. "If you can cast a banishing spell faster than we can fight it or find a fir tree, please do. You made it sound like you weren't prepared though, and right now," he points at the smoking village, "Any time where we're /not/ fighting it is more time for it to find and eat... children."

    Staren considers which way to to go... Finding the tree and bishop /will/ help put an end to this, but... the fact is, he has protections up the wazoo. It's true that his armor has limits, but rare is the foe that can completely breach it before a fight is over. So, he will have to try and tank it until they can find the fir. He nods to himself, states "I'm going after it," and then flies off towards the smoking parts of the village.

    Every moment they wait is more time for it to eat children. He should distract it as soon as possible.

Noiela (647) has posed:
"Bug milk?" Noiela smothers a bout of laughter at the usual mount portrayal performed in reverse, the blue skinned fellow magnus tipped up easily. Wizards are not exactly known for their sturdy, immovable physiques of hewn granite. Neither is she, so Raven's suggestion of waking the vicar from his terror bound state by hounding the poor man seems about up her alley next to such wildly varied people.

"Hm...cannot say I am versed in...your cant, but the principle-bloodless expulsion of the monster into a dark, dimensional hole does seem like a sound plan." A pause ensures, mouth quirking upwards into a rather humourless smile. "If we could attempt it. Either way, we..." Forcing herself not to get sidetracked by the child and her intricate plans to rain down rusty pain upon the...was it a Krumple?

She quietly and discreetly muses what it would be like to enjoy childhood romping about as this skinny little waif does, cutting herself short when it appears she is beginning to mumble about birds again.
"I'll help coax the bishop out his box. Since I possess not speedy means of travel and do not desire to hinder anyone. Is our meeting point to be the well if we locate the fir and priest before the Kr...Krampus?"

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    FOREST GROUP>>>>
    In the forest, the winter storm is not as bad; in fact it seems centralized aroud the village from within the trees. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but oh, they have promises to keep! The trees are heavy with snow, so knocking the snow off branches will probably help in finding a Fir. Most of the evergreen are spruce or pine. Something, also, seems to have come this way, through the woods, big, and large. They're also in luck though! Because the tracks lead straight to what should be a FIR TREE!

    .. Except it's already been uprooted, and by the tracks, dragged away. The same goes for the next what should be Fir tree several steps away.. Looks like Jinxel and Finna will have to follow the trail...

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    KRAMPUS HUNT>>>>
    In the village, the frightened village, the Krampus stalks tonight! In fact, another building is on fire, and an elderly woman is standing outside the home screaming. Crashing noises are coming from inside, and then the door is KICKED open as a giant BEAST with cloven hooves, shaggy red and brown fur, LONG, CURLING HORNS OF BLACK ON IT'S HEAD, and FANGS to beat a SNAGGLETOOTHED TROLL, comes stomping out, carrying a sack slung over it's back that's stained with blood, and is wiggling and writhing. The creature SNARLS at the approach of STAREN, RAVEN, and MARCELINE, but it's eyes rake to the little demon girl with a lusty growling hunger. It roats, and starts to lumber toward them.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
FIND THE PREIST>>>>
    Falstaff, Simon, and Noiela would be able to follow Falstaff's nose back to the somewhat damaged stone, motor, and wood church near the back of the town, and through that toward the basement, through a staircase just behind the pew and the organ. Down at the bottom though, what SHOULD be a basement has the door slammed shut and possibly boarded up too. Behind the door the sounds of a man hastily saying every prayer he can can be made out.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     Jinxel takes off in pursuit of Finna, and while she is not nearly as fast as the much smaller, nimbler fox, her natural Earth Pony strength and endurance allows her to keep pace even through the snow as she plows on through!

     Only to find that someone has already beaten them both to the punch and hauled away the fir tree before they could get to it.

     Typical luck for Jinx actually.

     Witha bit of a puff of her cheeks and a scrunchyface, Jinxel looks vaguely vexed as she looks down the trail leading away, "Who could be out getting a christmas tree at this hour with a monster attack just across the way?"

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna spots the strange uprooting and has to come to a halt just as Jinxel starts pondering. She sniffs at a few broken twigs and branches, peers... "More importantly they grabbed the only fir around. Fresh enough trail, if we move now we can make it... but better question, who UPROOTED a whole tree? They didn't just CHOP it down, they UPROOTED it..."

    Which is kind of scary.

    Oh well. With a nod towards Jinxel, Finna's following the trail. Kind of hard to miss this one, give the big drag marks...

Noiela (647) has posed:
Pinching her nose at the overpowering smell of damp that issues from the smashed wood left to rot in the water, Noiela gingerly approaches the door to give a smart rap with her gloved knuckles. That it feels spongy and yields slightly beneath even her brushing glance causes her to squirm, an action hidden by the coats bulky layers.

It also seems to elevate the diminutive mage several inches above her actual height; one perplexing illusion.

Turnin round, her index finger begins to tap lightly against her rather pointy chin.
"Hm. Does anyone know what prayers he chants? I think we could distract and placate him by following along; alternaitvely jolt him into responding with his mind and not panic." A downward flick of the eyes darkened by thought, to stare assiduously at the ground and the nearby walls. "Hm...the door definitely would not stand a chance against a solid few thumps." Adding, "Any magic to hand?"

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Falstaff is a creature of simple thoughts most of the time, he prefers things that way. There is a door between his group and the bishop. Unless that door is made of solid adamantium or something it should be virtually zero trouble for him to simply create several invisible blades- though I guess Simon might see them- with his mind and raw psychic energy and simply cut the damn door to shreds, allowing the other, more talkative people to go down there and help the poor sodding dope out of his stupor. If this is sufficient enough to take the door out, Falstaff will- almost nonchalantly- turn around and begin padding back out to find Krampus. If Simon wants to get off and go be diplomatic, he will grant the odd blue-skinned human time to do that. But he'd best be quick about it lest he end up getting carried off into what will inevitably be a fierce fight.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
KRAMPUS

Marcy is running along with Raven and Sparklebear. She has no idea where Staren is, but presumably he'll be with them very shortly since he was already on the look-out, and had an aerial view. Maybe he's even already there ahead of them! The fire, the screams, the ruined buildings... Though Marcy was acting brave around Simon, this is all too much a reminder of what things were like before he found her. She saw the results of the War. She was there, in the burning, abandoned cities. With Simon around, she could handle the eerieness, and focus on just him. She's a tough little girl, and her home being a place of chaos and horror means she's a bit desensitized. But she mostly relies upon others to keep her safe.

She looks up at Raven, and reaches out to grab hold of the older girl's hand along the way. Once they finally encounter the Krampus, and he looks at her with such an awful gaze, she takes a step back... Before frowning and causing her eyebrows to come down in a >:o expression. Then she points at the monster and calls out, "Hey, you! I'm the daughter of the Lord of the Nightosphere! That's almost the same as your boss! Cut out all this stuff you're doing and get back home, before my servants take care of you!" She then triple-snaps in a z-formation while bobbing her head from side-to-side.

Operation: Marceline Distraction is go.

PRIEST

Staren just TAKES OFF suddenly. Simon understands. Really he does. Not wanting kids to get eaten is a noble goal. But recklessness isn't going to help anyone. Oh, well. He's not experienced at this sort of thing. Maybe Staren is completely right. Time is of the essence and all. He just hopes the armored-youth doesn't get himself hurt in his eagerness. The old man sighs and looks down for a bit, before steeling himself for what lies ahead. Convincing some shakey priest to help them out. And then Simon is being taken away on Absol-back! And he doesn't have much time to do anything else!

When they eventually make their way down to the basement, Simon pauses and shakes his head to Noiela. "Not much of a focus on that kind of thing in my studies. Sorry." Then he looks around, and then down at Falstaff. "Think you could just sword the door open with your head-blade? We might not have time for-" then Falstaff tears the door apart at point-blank range with mind bullets. Simon winces. "Eeesh." He slides off Falstaff's back and attempts to enter the Priest's sanctuary. "Hey, uh, Mister Bishop? We're here to help with the Krampus. We'll protect you, we just need you to bless a stake." Then he hangs out awkwardly as he peers past the remains of the door, and waits to see if the priest is even going to come out or answer, or just keep hiding and praying.

Staren has posed:
    Staren sees the elderly woman and starts to pull out his staff again -- when THE KRAMPUS appears! Staren frowns slightly... then sees an opportunity: That monster may be supernaturally tough, but he bets that sack isn't! He dives in, focusing on trying to grab the sack and cut it free at the neck with his beam saber -- he might not be able to carry the children, but at least they could run for it! Or, he can work out a solution to that problem next!

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    FOREST GROUP>>>>
    Follow the broken tree road! Follow the Broken tree... Uh. Hm. Well, following the snow and the occasional scrap of fir branch, as well as the other uprooted spots, would bring Finna and Jinxel to a large clearing in the middle of the woods.
     A clearing where a bunch of fir trees lay in a large clumpy pile, on which curls and rests, of all things, a large snow dragon, who's snoring away peacefully but seems to be using a cluster of fir trees as his bed. Or hers, rather, for she lays curled around a festive-looking red and green and white colored egg.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    KRAMPUS HUNT>>>>
    The Krampus snarls at Marcy; then gives pause as she snaps off her orders. He looks between her and Raven (who had taken Marcy's hand when the little girl seemed afraid, but who was now standing back, left-hand sword at ready, and giving the Krampus a grouchy look!) before he starts a deep rumbling growl of a laugh, and points: "You're not the boss of me, you're barely the boss of yourself! I fear no Nightsphere! And you certainly do not scare me! Though you are quite delicious looking!"
    The Krampus starts to lash out with a hand- but is distracted when Staren goes for the sack slung over his back, cutting through it with his beam sword. The Krampus snarls and whirls around to try and grab Staren by the neck, allowing the sack to fall and a pair of really scare-looking twin boys to limb out and run to th old woman nearby-- who quickly ushers them AWAY and down the street toward someone else's home.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    FIND THE PREIST>>>>
    Simon and Noiela, now without a door between them and the priest thanks to Falstaff, are met with a slightly balding man who's staring at them from behind a couple of large wine barrels stored in the basement for the sacrement days, holding a rosary in one hand, and a shoddy looking book of prayer in the other. Te stares, goggleyed, at them, and then squeaks, "MORE MONSTERS! I swear! If I'd known drinking all of the wine before the sabbath was going to come back and haunt me I wouldn't have, honest!" he gulps.
    Hearing their words though, he nods warily, "How do I know you two aren't going to eat me too?" he asks warily, "That thing already ate the bellfry boy!"

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     ... Aaaaaaaaaw horse apples.

     Stopping at the edge of the clearing, Jinxel just staaaaaares up at the dragon nesting atop the pile of trees and sweatdrops a little bit. Juuuuust her luck.

     And wouldn't you know it, no Fluttershy anywhere to be found. She could reeeeaaaaaally use that Stare right about now.

     "Um... well, I suppose now we know why everyone is using fake trees instead of real ones..."

Finna (513) has posed:
    And Finna halts next to Jinxel, jaw gaping open wide at this discovery. "Awww... shit. if they wake up with us nearby they'll go ape on us thinking we're after the young. Mother animals, never piss them off. Uhh... I could try talking with them if they wake up but..."

    Yeah this isn't good.

    Finna's back ripples weirdly as she finally comes up with an idea. Flesh-covered bone erupts from her back into the vivid, shimmery emerald of hummingird wings... scaled up to her current size. They thrum up to speed and carry the little fox over towards the nest towards any sizable exposed branches. Finna hopes to find one, snap it off with Essence-empowered jaws and PRAY the dragon doesn't wake up...

    "If they wake up, I'll buy you time. Get a branch and hoof it back..."

Noiela (647) has posed:
Quick, applying logic. Stepping forward and more than slightly abashed her rather lengthy plan was in the conclusion rather more than useless, Noiela takes charge at once to point out in rather brusque tones her companion.

"Do we look capable of chowing down upon you, sir?" An emphatic flap of her overlong sleeves at the priest and she explains shortly their mission all whilst she inches carefully closer towards the priest, aiming to strain up and execute a rather limp pat if he becomes more agitated.

"We need your blessing for the one weapon that may permanently silence the beast. A holy..." Pause, to let it sink in. "Fir branch." Her pointed silence on how it sounds aloud says it all. Miles ahead in eloquence. "We can keep watch over you during any ritual you have to perform."

Back into place, expelling air loudly in relief. Assuming Simon did not manage ahead of her to play diplomat or the priest break down into wine soaked tears, her last remark would be directed at him, accompanied by a lopsided smile. "Sorry. I uh...you ready? I'm not much in battle directly, Sir...but we can rely on the others. Most likely."

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
KRAMPUS

Marcy is just dismissed like that! Well, she may not be educated in the ways of Chaotic Evil quite yet, but she has an inkling of how to get another demon to serve you. And it doesn't have to do with words. It has to do with force! The Krampus is talking about eating her. To dissuade him, Marcy has to show that it's not him who is in danger of being eaten. So, she rushes forward unexpectedly, and - unless stopped by Raven or Sparklebear - attempts to latch onto the Krampus's leg while he is distracted, bear her mouth full of REALLY SHARP TEETH, and bite into HIM!

And then shake her and tear like a heckhound worrying a condemned soul's bones! She even growls!

Simon probably didn't teach her that.

PRIEST

Simon's gaze goes from Noiela, to Falstaff, to the Priest, to Noiela again, as she speaks. He keeps his mouth closed when she asks the priest if they look like they are capable of chowing down on him. Marcy is not the only one with sharp teeth.

Eventually, he says, "Look, man, I feel you. I've got a little girl out there in that village too. I don't want her to get eaten either!" Simon runs a hand through his white hair, and says, "I shouldn't have brought her here. I hope the others are protecting her."

KRAMPUS

"OBEEYYYYY!" Marceline yells before trying to bite the Krampus deep again.

PRIEST

"Poor defenseless Marceline," Simon continues obliviously. Then he focuses on the priest and says, "It's like Miss... Noiela, was it? It's like she said, we're here to help! Now let's get going so you can bless some trees!"

Staren has posed:
    Staren was too focused on rescuing the kids to pay attention to Marcy! A bunch of things happen at once:

    He flies over the krampus, grabs the sack by the neck and cuts it -- it starts to slip out of his hand -- he grabs for it, pulling him down by the kids' weight and distracting him -- and the Krampus grabs him while he's distracted, the bag falling open. "RUN, KIDS!" Staren shouts -- he starts to grab for the demon's arm, then thinks better of it and just FIRES EVERYTHING.

    His right arm tries to stab it with the beamsaber and fires both beam cannons mounted on the forearm. His left arm thrusts out to the side -- four magic marker-sized missiles fire out, fly in a big loop to gather speed, then come down at the Krampus from above, trying to ram into its flesh at supersonic speed and explode inside!

    Yeah, Staren's not trying diplomacy. This thing needs to die.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    FOREST GROUP>>>>
    Finna isn'treally much of a problem. She's tiny, and not making too much noise, so she doesn't really wake the dragon up by transforming. Jinxel, too, is quiet pony, so.
    There are branches where Jinxel COULD grab them! And many are sizeable, though they really could use a nice, THICK branch. Thankfully there are some smaller trees that could be strpped of branches and the trunk itself could be used! They'remostly under the Dragon's tail, though. Hmm!

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Falstaff is long gone from the priest's scene, he's passing through the village at a steady pace.. Why is he moving so slowly? Because the blizzard around the village is getting worse at an incremental pace. The Absol is calling upon his own natural magical powers to worsen the storm to both put out the fires and isolate the demon, whose scent he has most definitely caught by now. Hopping atop one of the buildings, the beast looks down and scans the area.. Until he sees the prey. And there is Staren, already opening fire on it with everything he has. Why couldn't bipeds be this smart all the time? No matter. The prey is caught now.

     Time for the kill.

     With a terrible, hellish baying- the sort that would set most reasonable creatures to fleeing for their lives (which is intentional, best the helpless bipeds and their young get out of the way) Falstaff descends from a rooftop with acidic saliva dripping from his gaping maw, bearing down on the Krampus in the hopes of tearing off a good section of its face. Or at least hanging onto its head and gnawing with those big, sharp teeth.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     Jinxel swallows hard as she looks at the massive dragon, then slowly creeps up towards it's nest, particularly around the tail region where some promising looking branches are located.

     Then as quickly as possible, she summons up her Nightmare Armor and the huge serrated warfan gifted to her by the Mare in the Moon, then ever so slowly starts to saw away at one of the larger branches, all while cringing at the sound the fan makes as it saws through wood.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    PREIST GROUP>>>>
    Noiela and Simon, now minus Falstaff (for their better, trust me) are once again looked upon. The Priest's features soften a little when Simon mentions Marcy, and he frowns, then says softly, "I uhm. I guess, I could do some blessings, yes. But I don't know what GOOD it will do. We couldn't find any fir trees in the forest this year! It was quite adventagious though that a travelling merchant brought us the other trees which look quite festive!" He frowns. "I suppose though we should have thought that odd. Anyway. If you can find a tree, I'll bless it. Just, keep that THING away from me!" He gulps, and he stands up, shaking in his knickers.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Seeing that Jinxel's made her choice, Finna zips over to grip the branch and hold it steady using her rapidly flapping wings to provide counter-force. "Careful. Don't want mommy waking up!"

    foxes really should not have hummingbird wings.

    And if those were on a normal fox, Finna'd be rapidly losing manueverability from the CHILL. Hummingbird wings don't operate well at these temperatures, not for long... but somehow, she's ignoring the cold.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    KRAMPUS HBUNT>>>>
    Diplomacy. Diplomacy went WAY OUT THE FRIGGING WINDOW the moment Marceline decided to be Demon Princess. That is to say.

    OMNOMNOMNOMDEMONLEG.

    The Krampus HOWLS indignantly at the MANY SHARP TEETH crunching into his skin but hardly making much of a dent; he's built to withstand ANGRY CHILDREN BITING after all, as most demons are, though wow, Marcy's got a good hold on his leg and the Krampus starts to stagger about, flailing the limb, trying to shake her free.
    And then the CATBOY he was holding onto starts trying to STAB HIM IN THE ARM and there are BEAM CANNONS GOING OFF EVERYWHERE and MISSILES AND EXPLOSIONS. The Krampus is looking much less HAPPY and much more PISSED OFF about being bitten and stabbed and fired upon. He starts to swing Staren up to use him as a bludgeon against Marcy-
    -When Falstaff lunges from above and latches onto the opposite shoulder. The Krampus bellows! "@#&*(^#3338" ... Wow, "(**&)&(@#)(&#!" ... Just WOW. And then begins trying to swing Staren for Marcy AND Falstaff.
    Raven stands back, watching, sort of surprised at all of this, before she sort of facepalms, and then yells, "COME ON, YOU YUTZES, WE GOTTA GET HIM TO THE WELL!" Before she points back the way they came, "AT LEAST GET SOME OF THIS FIREPOWER -OUT- OF THE MIDDLE OF BLOOMIN' TOWN!"

Noiela (647) has posed:
Noiela rubs the tip of her nose roughly with a sleeve, contemplative frown as she quickly adds up the odds of another third party having been the deliberate catalyst. Quite high, as it transpires.
"I...don't suppose after we kill the demon, you might be able to provide a description of this merchant?" Noticing him cower, the girls mouth turns up into a pinched smile, diverted from their own imminent predicament. "Courage! A priest must lead his flock? Uh...the children must be saved...would you suggest he stay in the basement, or join us? Either way, let us not tarry." Though her ears are resolutely ordinary in shape, size and pointyness, even a humdrum ear probably catches the uproar outside. A muffled version, but enough to prompt the slight hastening of her steps back upstairs. Unless Simon wants to linger some more or the priest impedes them.

Diplomats always get a pass on the fun factor.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
KRAMPUS

Marcy maintains her lockjaw-like bite on the Krampus even when shaken, and even when heat radiates from the beam weapons, and the explosions make her ears ring. But it's when the beast attempts to slam Staren into her and Falstaff that she lets go and backs off a little bit (whether the demon is successful with his attempt or not)... Just to call out, "Nightmaaaaare KICK!" And attempting to kick the Krampus in the shin right where she has been biting. Her toenails are even sharper than her teeth. Then she turns and runs, heeding Raven's advice, as she attempts to lure the fearsome monster towards the well, away from all the houses and the people in them!

She takes the time to eye the potion she was given as she pulls it out of her pocket. Simon seemed to know Staren. That means he's not a stranger right? So gulps it down. It was supposed to protect her. She might need that.

PRIEST

Simon looks upwards upon hearing all the ruckus above. "Let's hurry," he says shortly, and then moves to head up the stairs. "We'll do everything we can to protect you, and we have friends who are way better at fighting than we are keeping that thing busy as we speak. The sooner you do your part, the sooner they can do theirs!" he calls back to the priest. That strange merchant certainly seems like someone to investigate later, and he definitely shared a knowing look with Noiela, but for the moment they have to focus on the current crisis.

Staren has posed:
    @#&* indeed... more like @#&*ing SUPERNATURAL CREATURES. Staren doesn't see a SCRATCH on this guy! He drops the beam saber since it's useless -- he'll pick it up later.

    He's raised up, flung about, and is oh so glad for the hard armor protecting his neck -- Otherwise he'd likely have died in an instant.

    When Falstaff distracts the Krampus, Staren has a moment to draw a new weapon -- boy is he glad he had the foresign to fasten his bag to the side of his armor or he'd /never/ be able to reach it now -- It's time for the big guns: out comes an oversized Colt Peacemaker with a triple-M monogram engraved on the barrel.

    He inwardly rolls his eyes at Raven's request. How is he supposed to LEAD it anywhere? And besides, that's why he used the little missiles in the arms instead of firing the big missiles from the shoulder packs.

    And then he's used as a bludgeon against Marcy and Falstaff. Various grunts and oofs come out of him -- that's uncomfortable and painful, yes, but thanks to the armor his bones don't break every time he hits something. He attempts to aim his new weapon at his wielder and pulls the trigger. POW, POW, POW! Whenever he gets something remotely resembling a clear shot, the divinely-crafted Annihilator fires two bullets from the same barrel, each empowered by mad science that designed and built this weapon for the express purpose of killing supernatural creatures such as this!

    "GO BACK TO HELL, BEAST!"

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
FOREST GROUP>>>>
    The branches are stripped away, and then branch Jinxel had been cutting at comes away cleanly! ... Well, so they think, because a moment or so later there's a low growl, as a single icy eye has opened and is leveling on Jinxel and Finna, watching them warily. Slowly, the wyrm raises her head off her large clawed forelimbs, and then appraises them.
    ~Just what do you think you're doing?~ The Wyrm asks, slightly bemused but obviously in that dangerous 'I am mom, give me a good explaination or else' tone.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     ... eep.

     Staring into that big, icy eye pretty much paralyzes Jinxel in fear for several lingering moments as she contemplates her death.

     Then like a coward, she spills her guts.

     "OhgodI'msosorrybutthere'sthisKrampusthinginatownnearbywhoeatschildrenandtheonolywaywecankillitiswithastakemadeoutofafirtreeandtheonlyfirtreeswecouldfindaretheonesyouusedforyournestsowewerehopingwecouldtakeabranchtouseasastakesowecansavethekidsandOHGODPLEASEDON'TEATME!"

     And yes, she did blurt that out in one long, rambling breath.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Falstaff does not like being hit with Staren. Staren is heavily armored, and thus makes a really good truncheon. Ow. Dammit, why do you squishy humans have to put yourselves in thick shells? It hurts when you hit him in those. Ow. Ow ow ow. Stop that. Stop that /now/. Okay. New plan. The beast releases the Krampus and falls to the ground, snatching Marceline up by the shirt in his teeth and rolling away from the demon back up onto his feet. Marcy might be fast and small but best if the little girl is safe with a proper meatshield. And then he's... Gone? No wait he's not gone.

     No, there's two of him in different places. No wait, now there's three. Four. What?

     The quartet of Falstaffs (holding angry little Marcelines in their teeth still, at least until they flip the kid up onto their backs). The circling is at a slightly ovular elipses- despite being half mad he is not yet in a proper /rage/, and thus hears Raven, and understands what she is trying to do. He's trying to goad the beast back toward the well using mirror images and threatening illusions.

Finna (513) has posed:
    Finna's brave! ... but not quite THAT brave. Much of her courage is an act, coupled with the knowledge that very few things could EVER hope to catch her if she really wanted to bail from any given situation.

    But there is a rather deer in headlightsy expression in the fox's eyes before she sprouts a strange, not-quite-possibly cheshire grin and comes to rest on the ground a few hops away from the nearest tree branches. She's silent all through Jinxel's explanation but cannot help but grin MORE at how amusingly terrified Jinxel sounds!

    "Mhm! Monster in the human town, eating all the kids. Fir branches ccan kill it! You have a lovely nest, I hope you can spare a branch, mother dragon? We're in a hurry!"

    A hurry and Finna's not quite resisting the urge to bolt. That tone. THAT TONE. It's making her take half-steps back away...

    She knows that tone. It is terrifying to someone who's not quite out of their teens.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    KRAMPUS HUNT>>>>
    Raven facepalms further at Staren, "WHAT BLOODY PART O' SEEMED IMPERVIOUS TA FIRE DID YOU NOT GET, CAT-MAN-DERP?" She bellows, but luckly, Marcy seems to be better at following orders than Staren, because the little demon girl lays off the Krampus, leaving bleeding teeth wounds behind. But that KICK, Oh my LAWDIE. Raven stares, shakes her head, and mutters something about 'gotta get that girl some proper trainin, before she pushes her Pangoro to follow after Marcy, and charges in to try and rescue Staren.
    The Krampus seems to have a different idea from this 'Go Back To Hell' thing, because when Staren begins firing at it, one of said bullets rips through it's arm and it ROOOARS. It's bleeding now but more than certainly not going to be dead any time soon. It snarls, and then reports by.. flinging Staren for the nearest house angrilly. Well, there's probably a reason why it was throwing Raven around instead of just eating her, too. Likely the use of Materia. The beast snarls, takes a great breath, and then ROARS loudly, unleashing a gout of flaming breath after Staren toward the building.
    Panting and snorting it turns then-- and is distracted by sight of Falstaff and Marceline running. It snarls, and charges after them.
    Leaving Raven to try and follow after Staren. "Gord-dangit, you bloody -git-," she's cussing as she goes.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    PRIEST GROUP>>>>
    The Priest gulps, and nods, then follows Noiela and Simon upwards to the snow outside; the blizzard has gotten worse with Falstaff's helf, and as well with the anger of the Krampus, which seems to cover its tracks with the horrible weather. Since Staren, Marceline, Falstaff, and Raven seem to have it distracted, their path back to the well is somewhat free and open! Yay!

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    FOREST GROUP>>>> The dragon eyes Finna and Jinxel thoughtfully, before she hoooms softly, and nods, then reaches one great claw out, sizes up the branch in Jinxel's hooves, and then rifles through the branches she lays upon, before pulling out a sizeable bbay fir, breaking the larger branches off, and then uses her claws to sharpen the denuded thing into a sizeable stake of wood. This she then offers to Jinxel and Finna:
    ~Here, take this. I would be protecting the village as is my duty, but this year is the first I have had chance to lay a clutch that didn't turn up completely rotten, and I am not going to pass up a chance to groom and train an heir to replace me.~ With that she curls tighter about her egg, leaving them to have off.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     Beat.

     "Really?" Jinxel replies, suddenly not longer in 'oh god hyperventilate' mode that she was previously, "Thank you!" She accepts the stake and hugs it against her chest, before taking a moment to stuff it into the jingling sleight bell harness she's still wearing for safekeeping, "I really appreciate this miss dragon, but I need to get going. My friends are already probably fighting the Krampus, and I need to get this stake back to them as fast as possible!"

     She starts back towards the town, but not before stopping at the edge of the clearing and waving back, "Good luck with your egg!"

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
PRIEST AND KRAMPUS

Simon, Noiela, and the Priest are all on their way to the well. At the same time, a quartet of Falstaffs and Marcelines are headed towards the same place. Marceline shrieks a little at first when she is snagged in the teeth of some big creature, but realizes what's going on when she is flipped up onto Falstaff's back. Then she just watches behind them as the monster comes after her. Despite her heritage, her teeth, and her toenails, she is not a fighter and was probably in a lot of danger being all close like that. It took courage to try.

But there's a time for courage, and there's a time for running away.

Simon taught her that. And right now is the time to run away.

Hopefully with Staren's magic potion, she can handle a hit or two, but she isn't sure what the potion did exactly. She has tasted worse, following what amounted to the end of the world, but it still wasn't very tasty. And the worse something tastes the better it is for you, right?

Except pine needles and deer guts.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "Would've woken you up to ask," Finna begins in a bemused - and somewhat intimidated voice as the dragon does far more than she expected while revealing things she hadn't considered, "But I didn't know you were no simple beast of the woods! Hooray for the mother dragon! Many children will be happy! May yours grow strong!" GRATITUDE! That's what she's full of now.

    Landing in the snow near Jinxel, Finna banishes her wings. They simply melt back into her back just as quickly as they appeared. "Go go go! Next stop is the priest... shaman... whatever the wise man or woman of the parts is called!" DETAILS!

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
FOREST GROUP>>>>
    The dragon waves as nicely after them as she can, then recoils about her egg with a soft siiigh of noise. Hey, oddly enough, Finna and Jinxel would also find their way back far less entrenched in snow and trees; as said trees seem to leap rght out of their way! .. Of course as soon as they leave the trees, the forest SHOOMPFS back in on itself, obscuring the way they had come. Hmm.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     Wow, the way back was a lot easier and a lot faster than going into the woods! It's almost like the trees themselves kindly moved out of the way!

     Wait...

     Pausing just outside of the forest, Jinxel looks back at the tree line, then gives a shrug of her shoulders before galloping into town! Probably just her mind playing tricks on her. After all, trees don't really move on their own!

     "Guuuuuuuys! We got the staaaaake!" Jinxy calls ahead as she arrives with the stake still wedged in her reindeer harness.

Noiela (647) has posed:
Unhooking the tome from her belt, Noiela wiggles her fingers experimentally, spare hand cupping the spine of the leatherbound book as it falls open of its own accord. A blue spark playfully jumps from her fingertips and across her knuckles, the barest rustling of pages drowned out by the dark fury of schlurping horror they are set to meet probably in a few minutes.

"Snapping her fingers, she conjures up a small orb of bright, white energy in a crackled pop and sharp tang of spent ozone. "Krumplesnack incoming?" She ventures, increasing her pace as a sudden, omnious sensation prickles the sensitive skin on the back of her left hand. Known as 'leaving a girl out there to brave a monster who targets young children'.
"I...I'm going to travel on a few paces ahead. Bring up the rear?"

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
PRIEST GROUP>>>>
    Simon and Noiela arrive at the well just about the same time as Jinxel and Finna; thus leaving both groups a chance to commence with BLESSING A STAKE OF FIR WOOD. Yay? Yay. The Priest is confused by seeing Jinxel, and what looks like a Fox, but after having seen that GIANTARSE MONSTER THING IN THE VILLAGE earlier today? Yeah, no, this is definetly not th weirdest thing he's seen lately. Ruffled and unnerves by the whole mess, he gulps, and looks among them, laughing nervously: "Anyone have uh, have a drink of rum I could splash down my throat before we get going?" he asks, smiling weakly.

Staren has posed:
    Staren smiles. IT CAN BLEED!

    And then he's flung into a house. The forcefield flickers on and takes the impact as he crashes through the wall and tumbles to a stop inside. "Ugh..." He gets to his feet. "Out the back door, out the back door!" He motions for any occupants to leave, then reloads the Annihilator. Hooray for convenient moon clips! He looks over at Raven as she arrives. "Hey, I didn't USE fire, and I helped keep it busy and MADE it BLEED, right?" He flicks his hand to close the cylinder. "And hey, /now/ I can lead it to the well! I know how to make it mad!"

    He heads out the back door himself, then flies up to see the Krampus chasing Falstaff and Marcy. Well, that works. He flies back down. "They're leading it to the well. I'll shoot it more once it gets there." And then he starts running off after it.

Jinxel (119) has posed:
     Jinxel pauses as she reaches the group, then pulls the stake out of her harness and hands it over, before rubbing the back of her head, "Um... nope, sorry. The strongest drink I've ever had was some non-alcoholic apple cider..."

Finna (513) has posed:
    "... Suuuuurely that can wait unti you've time to enjoy it, priest?" Finna jubles out hopefully and hurriedly. Then... shapeshifts again back to her humnan form. "The dragon of the woods is to thank for this weapon! Now bless it! Hurry!" Just as a sign of her impatience, she clenches up her fists and waves her arms around low near her waist!

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Yes, Staren, the damn demon can bleed. There is something WRONG with that boy. But it is not Falstaff's place- or even ability really- to question the oddities of bipeds, much less /humans/ of all things. The hairless primapes have always been odd. No matter. Follow the bouncing Absols, mutton-head. C'mon. What's the matter? Are you too slow to catch one old Absol and a tiny child? Are you so weak? Stupid stupid stupid. Flail and rage and gnash your teeth without thought. Your only threat is in your bluster. Against a real killer you're nothing. Once in front of the well the group of Falstaff's fade away until there's just the old 'mon, who calmly stands up straight and tall and issues out a low, long, gutteral howl- a challenge to Krampus.

     Come, fool. Come and learn the cold embrace of the Dusknoir's grasp. Falstaff can teach you.

Noiela (647) has posed:
Now to execute hastily dreamt up plans, that is mostly to frazzle the beast with one, precisely aimed cannonball that squirms and arcs between her splayed fingertips. Noiela throws it far and high, swinging it like a shot putter might do, albeit with far less flexing of muscle. It looked spongy. Gooey. Perfect conduction material.

"T...Thunder!" She yells out, watching the illuminated letters flow and encircle her wrists, converging and becoming another, second blast to follow on the first.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    The family in the house waste no time evacuating at Staren's insistance, but also seem more afraid of the catboy than the Krampus.
    "Of COURSE it can BLEED ya ruddy moron, but the MORE PISSED OFF YA MAKE IT the more LIKELY it is to-" And Raven is cut off mid-yell by another BLAST OF FLAMES issuing from the Krampus' mouth in retort to the howl from Falstaff. She winces, then points. "TO DO THAT. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOODY VILLAGE. YA AINT'T GOT TH' SENSE MORG'S BLOODY -DEMON- HAD." She snaps at Staren, before taking off after the Krampus.

    Who makes for a good target, sure. But does Staren REALLY want that thing roaring when it's breathing flames?

    The preist gulps when he's told he can hold off, then catches up the staff-stake of fir as it's offered to him, and looks at Finna with stark fear for a moment, before nodding. Then he takes out his rosary again, and begins to make motions and gestures over the staff of fir while mumbling at it.

    Falstaff and Marceline, meanwhile, decidedly have the Krampus' attention. It charges right for them.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
PRIEST AND KRAMPUS

Simon nods to Noiela's instructions and falls back a bit to make sure the priest has someone there incase he falls or something. It's cold and snowy. You never know!

He thinks he hears a pony yelling that she has the stake, however, and turns his attention on the incoming reindeerpony. And then they are all convened at the well. At the priest's question, Simon just squints at him. Eventually he says, completely deadpand, "No, sorry. Do you want me to go loot those houses for you in search of some?" He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. "I'm sure the Krampus will wait for you to be ready before eating anyone else. Take your time."

Thankfully he seems to get the message from the more diplomatically-offered words of Finna, and gets to work.

Marceline, meanwhile, is also now at the well, and still on Falstaff's back. She is considering getting off though, in order to A) Not get caught in the fight that's coming, and B) To stick close to Simon, who she still expects to protect her. She doesn't now where Mister Staren is, or Miss Raven is, but-Oh, there they are! Running up behind the monster! Still a ways off, but coming closer!

Cool, maybe they will do a secret maneuver and tackle the Krampus into the well or something! ...That's the plan, right? She didn't really understand what steaks have to do with hearts. Maybe they're going to feed it lots of steaks after it falls in the well, and it will become so fat it can't come back out again.

How should she know!?

She ducks down as flames are breathed out at them, and decides to avoid getting off of the Absol for now. Instead she lies flat on the pokemon's back and tries to get demonic goat wolf man thing fur out from between her teeth, as she asks, "Is this gonna' work?"

Let's just hope the priest doesn't look at Marcy right now.

Staren has posed:
    Raven said FLUFFY was more sensible than him?! OUCH. Staren glares at her. "It was already DOING that, if you didn't notice!" But he chases the Krampus with her. "It's been killing children, I'm not gonna LET it keep doing that while I WAIT for our MAGIC BULLET! Also, if you didn't NOTICE, I saved those KIDS first, then it GRABBED me and FORCED my HAND! You want me to just let it BEAT on me?"

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    Raven growls. "No, but I asked ya here ta -help- me on -MY- mission which kind of implys I'm -SORT OF IN CHARGE- so instead of saying 'HUR HUR I'MMO BLOW IT UP, WHO THE FECK NEEDS TO LEAD IT TO A WELL' why don't ya go, "OKAY, WE HAVE A PLAN WORKED OUT, I'LL TRY TO FOLLOW IT AND NOT MAKE IT ANGRIER". Ya coulda SAVED TH' KIDS an' then GOT THE FECK AWAY FROM THERE." Raven snaps, as she keeps running. Not to mention: "AN THIS AIN'T THE TIME OR PLACE TO BE ARGUIN' THIS SHITE OUT NONE!" She sneers as she suddenly surges ahead, to pass the Krampus, and dash toward the well. "GET THE STAKE READY!"

    The Priest keeps mumbling and chanting and for some reason the stave of fir starts to glow, and then a flash of light occurs; before the stave rests humming in his hand, cold and icy like a giant-ass icecicle, and even looks quite frosted over. He movesto hand the stake to Finna. "here!" he yelps! Before he grabs his robes and -dashes- away to the other side of the well, to hide behind a large rock, peering out at the mess.

    The Krampus roooooars again, and lunges, trying to grab for Falstaff and Marceline in the same swing of both great hairy hands and arms.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Falstaff, perhaps surprisingly, does not move. His hackles rise up but the fur becomes.. Solid, somehow, instead of soft. It's like he's making a shield of sorts for Marceline, using own body to do so. But that is just happy side benefit. The Absol is focusing on other things, though, because he already knows that even if this does not work, Marcy will be protected by his bulk. No, what he is actually focusing on is his magic. Absols command terrible powers, and even the Damned are not safe from those. The beast's mouth opens and he begins howling a terrible song, waving his head from side to side. His voice is joined by many others.. The wailing of the Dead.

     Wraithly hands stretch out from the snow and grasp at Krampus's body. They are of course, not physical, but the demon can still feel them. They do not seek to harm his body but rather sap at his essence, at his vital energies that keep him going, to weaken and tire him. If he were to look closely perhaps he would see the faces of those he had wrong, crying up at him, demanding retribution and respite. Or perhaps he would see- and feel- the icy grip of those who come to the Reaper's domain, trying to drag him down with them.

Staren has posed:
    Staren glares at Raven, but yeah, this isn't the time. He pours on the speed and flies ahead.

    So he sees the Krampus swiping at Marceline, and that Finna has the stake ready. He flies over it and readies the Annihilator, but... it looks like Falstaff has the distracting handled, so he waits. For now.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simon sees Marceline being attacked and tries to lunge forward, instinctively, calling out, "MARCY!" Marceline, for her part, shrieks and hugs Falstaff's back as tightly as she can, eyes closed. Simon's eyes see the forces being called upon, and they merely make him panic more. He turns to Finna, with her blessed christmas tree stake, and says, "If you're gonna' do something, do it fast!" He feels so helpless. He's a survivor, but he's also a scholar. And he is not a warrior. He has lived by avoiding conflict... By thinking things through... And by using the Crown. He has been doing a lot of stuff he probably shouldn't be since being found by these people from the Multiverse.

And he left the Crown behind to avoid adding on to that list.

And now he is able to do almost nothing as a result.

Nothing to protect the little girl he is in charge of protecting.

He grits his sharp teeth and watches, silently cursing his weakness.

Finna (513) has posed:
    "O-ooooooh! This god responds promptly! I'm impressed!" Although er commentary is likely of no help to the priest, Finna's smile is mischevious enough to frighten even a monster. Because a feral ferocity gleams behind those icy-blue eyes and the impish smile.

    Then, her nose BALLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONS outward into a brown, furry trunk. Which wraps around the stake easily. "Thank you! Prepare for one Kramp-kabob!"

    Someone needs to ge this Lunar to get her references straight, pronto.

    That transformation? It's not limited to her nose. The brown hair spreads across the rest of her body, rolling out in shaggy waves. She gains mass at a trendous rate as she bounds into a charge down the street. Finding the Krampus? That is... not really so hard.

    What might the Krampus make of an ANGRY WOOLY MAMMOTH charging down the middle of the street with a sharpened tree trunk, blessed for maximum power clutched in its trunk, BUGLING violently into the skies?!

    WHUMPF WHUMPF WHUMPF--

    Oh yes. it's also like four times faster in its charge than your typical mammoth might be and a hundred times nimbler. It's a Mammoth on the WARPATH!

Noiela (647) has posed:
Noiela sends a bright flare of lightning down upon the Krampus, teeth gritted and eyes waxing a feral yellow as she throws herself quite literally at the monster, running jump and twist to bring the hard sole of her boot and lightning encased hand into contact with any substantial bit of exposed flesh the others concentrated aggression can purchase as she sharply drops down, fingers reaching out in vain to grasp the suppurating mass of whatever it is Krampuses are composed from, it feels sticky and highly unpleasant.

To think, all it took was a helpless fury of one blue skinned, funny looking old man and his adopted daughter to wind her up. Not that it will not help their cause. Possibly.

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    First comes Noiela, slamming the Krampus hard in the bleeding shoulder with her LIGHTENING FIST, causing it to roar. Then there's Falstaff, who seems almost like he's doing the ANGRY CAT THING by trying to look bigger, except, oh dear god, the noises and the voices. The Krampus looks briefly confused and beleagered by this, but this is choked off by suddenl ELLALUNT ANGER ROAR and he's suddenly IMPALED THROUGH on a HOLY BRANCH OF FIR TREE. They didn't QUITE get his heart, but yeah, no, combined HOLY POWER and DRAINY POWERS and Staren's BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF IT and Noiela's PUNCH and whatever Raven had been doing before? Yeah. It suddenly rears back and HOWLS A LOUD, NOISY, PAINFUL ROAR! And then explodes! IN a smokey ball of ashes and dust, which litters the ground.

    ... The Storm around them starts to fade, and subside, leaving the band of heroes in piles of snow. All is calm, all is bright.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Falstaff looks up, his fur ceases to be solid, and he gently slides Marceline off of his back and onto the ground, plopping down himself and putting a paw around her so he can snuffle at her face and hair and make sure she's okay. As if trying to help calm her- since she's probably scared- he starts licking at her face with a big, somewhat rough tongue. Being pulled in against the beast also has the additional benefit of making sure she is nice and warm, because even with all the snow Falstaff is as warm as a good hearth-flame- which is probably part of how their species survives in its native enviroment, thinking about it. The monstrous 'mon seems to be ignoring everyone else at the moment, focusing on the small demon child first.

     Everything is okay now small one. See?

Noiela (647) has posed:
Noiela gets blown back in the sheer force mere chaff in its violent, ashy explosion that leaves a grey patina of itself over everyone, the girl no exception as she hits the stony mouth of the well shoulderblade first, acid sharp pain lancing through her frame and out for the count for the moment, crumpled in an undignified heap at its base.

Woozily, her thumb and fingers reach up to rub at the clumped, sticky mass of dusty gunge welding her eyes shut, enduring the faint sting that comes with smearing a mass of dirt into your tear ducts during the process. Staggering up, the girl looks a raggedy mess. A raggedy, greyed out mess where her pale colouration blends in all too neatly. "Nugh. We all survived?" She questions the air blearily.

Staren has posed:
    KA-POOF! Demonsplosion.

    After Staren's realized what happens, he relaxes slightly. "Huh. Not what I expected." After a moment, he turns to Raven. "The PLAN was that we fight it to keep it busy and /maybe/ see if we could kill it, while THEY sought out a holy tree branch! I FREED the kids, it GRABBED me, and by the time you said to LEAD IT AWAY, it was hitting people with me and I couldn't lead /shit/!" He turns and stomps his feet, then turns his hands palms-up towards her. "How could you not SEE that!?"

Finna (513) has posed:
    The Krampus goes KABOOM! And the Mammoth bugles triumphantly, victoriously, and pretty loudly... only to shift back, moments later. The grand curved tusks and other features all melt away, leaving Finna with her hair waving in the wind. "A year and a day! Maybe more if we're lucky in these parts. No more Krumpus! For now."

    She's suspecting he is like some kind of demon or spirit, so killing him that easily doesn't seem too plausible. "Whew..."

    ANd she drops the heavy tree trunk which, outside the mammoth shape or Warform, she simply cannot really hold onto. "Whew...."

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Marcy is being comforted by Falstaff after the Krampus literally goes up in smoke. That was a pretty gruesome death! But she is already grinning and giggling by the time that Falstaff is licking her face, and Simon is crouched down next to her, making sure she's okay. He looks up with a frown, however, at Staren's angry words. He opens his mouth, but Marceline stands up with a frown of her own, one hand on her hip and points at Staren. "Hey! Watch your language! There could be kids present!"

Then she folds her arms across her chest.

Simon heaves a weary sigh, and just says, "Good work, everyone. We did what we came here for. Let's just be satisfied with that." Then Marcy's eyebrows go back up and she lowers her hands to her sides as she looks at Noiela, with her lightning magic, Finna with her foxy magic, Staren with his... Shooting magic, Raven with her BEAST MASTER magic, Falstaff with his ghost magic, Jinxel with her pony magic (because ponies need to be magic to talk, of course!), and then brightly calls out, "Hey, let's do this again tomorrow!"

Then the carnivorous horse from the woods sticks its head into frame and neighs loudly and terrifyingly right above Simon's head in agreement.

Simon ducks and yells, "WHAA-!?"

Raven DeVanos (41) has posed:
    "... You're a -cat-," Raven says, giving him a LOOK like he's grown two heads or something. "What's more, you're a -robot cat boy thing-. Aren't you supposed to, I don't bloody know, have SCIENTIFIC TELEPORTER THINGS ON YOU?" she waves her hands about a little, "Or had some sort of ROCKET SHOES or some shit?" She shakes her head. "No teleport ANYTHING? not even for EMERGENCIES? Man, Morg really left you -underprepared-." She shakes her head, and grunts, before she rubs her chin and sighs, looking to Finna, Simon Marcy, and Noiela, as well as Falstaff. She siiiiiighs.

    Then she pulls around her jacket and pulls out a roll of credit slips, which she un-rubber bands, and begins to sort through, handing out five bills each (of 100c denomination of course) to Noiela, Finna, Staren, Jinxel.. and then Marcy AND Simon both get 500c, but she pauses to say, to Marcy, "You keep an eye on that and only spend about a hun'red of it on candy, cutie." With a wink, before she turns to Falstaff and sighs. Slipping the Cs back into her pocket, she goes to another one (She has a CRAPTON OF POCKETS man,) and pulls out... a baggy of Poketreats, which she offers to him.

Mortimer Balman has posed:
     Once Marceline is back in Simon's care- and giving Simon some calming face-licks too- Falstaff would stand up and look between Raven and Staren as they both yelled at each other. Chuffing in an annoyed fashion the beast is about to DO something about it when Raven, FINALLY, breaks off the annoying yelling. He just grunts at them instead, and then.. Ooh, poketreats. Falstaff /loves/ macaroons! Nomnomnom.

Staren has posed:
    Staren just sort of stares, confused and a bit embarassed, at Marceline. "Ah... sorry..." but Raven's ready with more arguments. "I have boosters and wings but IT GRABBED ME and swung me around! The teleporter ISN'T INSTANT and doesn't work with disruptions like that! I'm kinda weak against grappling, but I risked it to get those kids away from him!" He crosses his arms and looks away, muttering, "...Yeah... I do need to be more prepared."

    He takes the money and starts walking off. "You're one of the first to get that. Sorry for yelling at you..." he stops and looks back. "I'll try to be more prepared, but in the future, we gotta... communicate better, or be more aware of eachother's capabilities, or not /assume/ stuff, or something. Alright?"