2547/FATE: Below his Station

FATE: Below his Station
Date of Scene:	28 June 2015
Location:	Hydaelyn Reborn <ARR>
Synopsis:	Aulus Rem Vulso of the Garlean Empire seeks to test war machines in the East Shroud.
Cast of Characters:	336, 560, 627, 666, Starbound Flotilla, 756, 760, 815, N'raha Tia

---

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Welcome to the Black Shroud, if you've never been here before! This massive forest grows thicker and thicker on its eastern edges, as Eorzean presence becomes scarcer overall. The trees here are larger, more magical and alive than elsewhere. The air is abuzz with great energy, the magic of the land of Eorzea practically at one's fingertips. It feels pretty good, overall.

    The designated rendez-vous for those who answered the FATE's call is Hawthorne Hut, a small slightly fortified village belonging to the Order of the Twin Adder, from Gridania. A male Elezen (think elf) in the full yellow raincoat uniform of the Twin Adder is waiting by the Aetheryte Crystal, holding a map in one hand.

    A Warp Gate is present by the Aetheryte Crystal, but people who choose to arrive through it (the crystal) will, if they don't already know, realize that these massive crystals allow transportation across all of Eorzea. At least, between crystals.

    ALWYN HIGHWIND has already arrived, in an idle blue and white glow as he teleports in through the crystal's magic. His rusty old Gae Bolg is on his back, and his whelpling Kain is on his shoulder.

    Guards appear to have reinforced the northern section of the village/outpost, even if no threat is visible from here.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    And right next to Alwyn is N'raha, looking fairly agitated. He's carrying a pair of daggers today, strapped to his hips, and a heavy cotton shirt seems to be the armor the catman is wearing.

    And by agitated, that means his tail is poofed out and swishin,g his ears are flicking back and forth as he fidgets. It's the perfect picture of Hurry Up and Wait, emphasis on the Hurry.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Shin has left his bike in a parking garage in order to be here today without there being any trouble or weird looks. Despite this, he has changed nothing about his clothing, his demeanor, or the way he looks. So he's hanging out around the rendevous point with his backpack across his back and wearing a leisure suit.
    He had jumped on the chance to take a bounty job. He'd been pretty torn up after using that Kublai Khan (Kaioken) power that he borrowed from Cory for a short period. He'd filed that away as something to only use in the most extreme scenarios.
    "Waddap!" He waves to people, "I'm here to kick ass and continue taking names as I log the many people I come across in my journey. What's the hizzy-haps today, cool kids?" He inquires as he adjusts the backpack across his back and looks around.

Mirielle Edelweiss (666) has posed:
    The Aetheryte cystals are fascinating structures of light and magic. It's a shame Mirielle hasn't figured out how they work! Instead, she's forced to take the 'long' way, across the great span, through the warpgate, down through the forest, and across the various pathways that lead her deep into the Black Shroud. Thankfully, on chocoboback, she doesn't get terribly molested by the fun, friendly forest inhabitants (like DIREMITES, ugh ugh ugh).

    Instead, she rides up to N'raha and Alwyn, gives a moody, dark little smile that, while it looks like she's planning to murder them all, is merely just a genuine smile from the shady Calculator.

    "Hello. I heard you required, ah, aid?"

    Shin speaks, and Mirielle just looks at the 'monk'.

    "Um... ... what?"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Going out on the hunt for Garleans isn't Emiya Shirou's idea of what a hero does, normally. But if they're causing trouble he intends to nudges them away from the Shroud - the place has seen way more than enough in his experiences.R
    So although reluctant, the young man's arrived with amny of the other adventurers. Hands in his jean pockets and little to say, he instead seems to be lost in thought and thinking pretty hard...

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft is the Starbounder who has responded to this call. She has a teleportation beacon, something to enable the other Starbounders to rapidly jump in and begin fighting if it's something she might want. For now, it's just her. She hasn't gotten her armor on yet, but presumably that Matter Manipulator at her side will make that easy to deal with. For now, her pseudo-noble dress suffices, looking entirely like a medieval robot.

    She's heading right for the Elezen, with robotic and elegant movements, giving him a brief respectful greeting in simple machine-like gestures of noble respect. "Professional. Greetings, I am told you require assistance in routing a martial group." She makes a few synthetic beeps. "Professional. Please provide all relevant data gathered by reconnoissance and establish relevant terms of engagement, and I will begin my territory defense measures."

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Shin is regarded with a robotic head-turn. Seft doesn't reply to what he said, but her eye-visor does briefly display a 'processing' sort of spinny wheel thing, and then the words 'PARSE ERROR', before going to a confused sort of '=_o' emote. "Confused. What." It's pretty much the same as Mirielle's response and may, in fact, be synchronous.

    Mirielle, Shirou, N'raha, and Alwyn get their own polite gestures of greeting, in the similarly robotic fashion.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Once again, the Widow of Starless Night has shown up somewhere. In this case, she's not going to try to infiltrate as a native... but neither does she look normal. When does she ever show up as her true self? Not tonight, that's for sure.

    Starless has instead decided to show up with a face that looks a little more western than her normal one, though her hair is its natural flowing black. She's also wearing some more casual clothing, a t-shirt over her top with a vest to go with it, and a sword at her side. Her natural sword, at least, but she's wearing it in such a manner that it doesn't look like she knows how to use it.

    Also, in order to avert suspicion further, she is avoiding any items which may be super rare in this world. Thus, she is wearing a skirt, as she's heard rumors that pants are extremely difficult to find here.

    If anyone asks, she's going by the name of 'Bella.'

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    ALLENBY BEARDSLEY, GUNDAM FIGHTER OF NEO SWEDEN...!

    ...was really confused. She hears Gaius talk on the Confederate frequency all the time and had a Garlean operation been going on, she probably would have heard about it somehow. So why was word eventually trickling out that Garlean Problems were happening Here? Was this a matter of impersonation? Then again, Allenby had never been to the other Hydaelyn before either and had not yet come to understand that there were two of them. Since she herself comes alone and apparently on foot, it's hard to pin Confederate interest in this event on her.

    "Oh hey Shin!" Allenby cheerfully greets her Fighty Guy Buddy. "What's up? I heard there were guys here. Causing trouble." Of those that have gathered here in Hawthorne Hut so far, only Shin is really recognized so naturally Allenby gravitates to him. "I suspect they need punching."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "The hizzy-haps! The downlow! The biznasty!" Shin says to both Seft and Mirielle, "What's goin down? What's the news? The happenings! That kind of thing!" Shin explains, throwing three more buzzwords at the two before grinning and says, "Oh right! Introductions! Ah..."
    He looks around, "Shin Tokuyama! Combat Vagrant! Nice to meet everyone!" He waves around a bit before giving Allenby a light jab in the shoulder as greeting, "Yo Ally. How you been?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The Miqo'te waves to people who great him, though the young man gets possibly a little more confused as more people whom he's never met before show up. Something he's slowly getting used to, hopefully. A robot and a bunch of ladies and a dude in a sweet outfit and...

    The robot. N'raha blinks, and leans foward a bit, that nose of his sniffing the air faintly as he blinks a few times at Seft. He's not going to push it just now, they were on this side of the defenses and therefore must be good, right?

    Then someone mentions punching Garleans. "Oh very much so!" The miq turns to look at Allenby and huffs. The tail poofs out again. "They wrecked our world once already and they're not going to get another chance, not ever."

    He's very adamant about this.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
The peace and harmony of the Shroud is palpable. Everyhting within it is to live in balance with the Elementals in a harmony that most people could never understand.

Souji doesn't. He believes firmly in making use of the environment to suit one's needs, not the other way around.

Regardless, he seems calm and collected, simply waiting for everyone to make themselves known, the full situation given, and the gameplan to handle it proposed. He doesn't move to greet or deal with anyone in particular despite sitting in the middle of a sea of employees and familiar faces, content at the moment to remain a cloud on the horizon.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    The slang causes the Twin Adder scout to... just kind of blankly stare between people. He just looks very, very confused. Despite Seft probably being the weirdest looking of the bunch, she's also the one who makes the most sense, right off the bat. So she gets the briefing started.

    "R... right. To make a long story short, northeast of here is a region known as the Larkscall. It's full of the worst the Shroud has to offer. Think plants the size of a house that have evolved the ability to wander around, grown giant mouths with a hundred teeth in them, and breathe acid at people, and you're starting to get the right idea. They don't usually venture out of there, and we're content letting them have that section of the Shroud, but..."

    The scout unrolls the map, showing the Larkscall in highlight, with advancing forces pictured coming in from the east.

    "Garleans are making a move in. It's fine if they want to kill that specific wildlife, honestly, but they aren't going to stop there and we know it. So as much as I hate to ask... we need you folks to go team up with the Malboros and Ochus and kick them out. I say team up very loosely, that plantlife isn't actually going to spare you or help you."

    "We've gotten reports the Garleans brought a few of their war machines, but otherwise it's just a small squad of soldiers. Nothing that can't be handled, or so we hope. Questions?"

Mirielle Edelweiss (666) has posed:
    Mirielle continues to stare at Shin, utterly floored by his wordcabulation. She tries, in vain, to connect his words together into a meaningful order. "Ignoring every word you conjugated with a z at all, the 'haps' and or down-low and or 'nasty'... Is..."

    She looks helplessy at Seft, giving him a little palm-wave, much preferring the leading-intent-of-his-words just declared by the robot man. It's refreshing, really. She doesn't have to think about interpreting his motive when his 'tone' is very clear.

    Then, the briefing begins!

    "Oh. Malboros? The similarities continue. I assume that their halitosis is lethally debilitating?" She wonders academically, as she pulls out one of her journals from a book-bag and starting to flip through it.

    "Garleans, mmm? I'm interested in documenting the wildlife, obviously, but if an extermination is in order, ah..."

    "What sort of creature is a 'Garlean'? We don't have those on Galianda."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha gets Miri on that. "Not what, but /who/. They're a bunch of assholes from across the ocean that wanted to conquer Eorzea and wreck everything. They were the ones that caused the Calamity by dropping Dalamud on us. That used to be one of the moons."
    Swish flick swish goes the tail. "But yeah, don't let the ochos or to marls burp on you. That'll kill you good and dead-like."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "They're people, not animals!" Shirou asides to Mirielle,s tartled anyone would come to the conclusion he just heard. Well he's also startled at the description of the actual wildlife. Whatever a malboro is, it does NOT sound very friendly...

    Which N'raha confirms quickly.

    Shirou shudders. "So if they get close, keep our distance."

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Pretty great, actually. Been getting ready for that huge martial arts tournament. I'm /so/ hype." The blue-haired teenager bounces from foot to foot as she energetically replies to Shin. That being said, she turns to the others here, looking at each one in turn, but at Seft and N'raha especially since, well, they're obviously not human and Allenby's never seen a Glitch or a Miqo'te before. "...ooh." Fortunately, she doesn't do something so UNCIVLIZED like grabbing N'raha's tail or ears.

    "Huh." Allenby tilts her head at N'raha as he rages against the Garlean Machine. "Have they? Well, all the more reason to punch them! Sorry, fill me in here, what exactly did they do last time?" And boy does N'raha supply. It only helps a little bit, though, since Allenby has trouble fathoming dropping a moon on anyone.


Twin Adder steps in with the exposition assist at least for today's mission. Allenby nods along knowing that, yeah, this does not seem like something the Gaius and Garleans in the Confederacy were involved with since they were absorbed with some kind of traitor business. "-wait, war machines? How big are their machines, exactly?" Allenby's eyes shine dangerously at the thought of pitting herself against some 'enemy' hardware.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    "Sounds... terrifying," Bella says nervously, fingering her vest. She looks at all the others gathered here, and after assessing them, she scootches over to slide next to... Shirou. Yes, he will do nicely. "Right, right. Be careful of the plants and then fight the Garleans off. Maybe I'm not in the right place," she mumbles, fidgeting.

    Then she sidles closer to Shirou. "Um, I'm not that great of a fighter, you'll protect me, right? I'm just... good at distracting things. That's all." She blushes, biting her knuckle in embarrassment. "If you can get me close enough maybe I can help."

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "People?" The Twin Adder scout glares at Shirou. "These 'people' think that any and all users of magic are savage barbarians to be enslaved and put down. These 'people' unleashed the Elder Primal Bahamut upon Eorzea, killing thousands during the Calamity. These 'people' don't think of us as people. Why should we return the favor in any way? If you find a Garlean who can be reasoned with, count your blessings and try to talk them out of it, because most of them aren't like that at all. They'll kill you because they're afraid of the things you can do, and jealous they can't do it themselves."

    The Shroud might look nice now, after all, but a few years back the ashes of the Calamity were still falling, and it wasn't all wildlife and green nature.

    To Allenby, he explains: "It depends. Some are no taller than you or I, but others are gigantic men of steel. If it's a challenge you want, one of their Magitek Colossi would definitely give it to you. Vanguards vary in size, anywhere between six to twenty feet. Reapers, those armors they ride around, are about twelve to fourteen."

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "OOOOOOH, you're a boooookwoooorm, okay," Shin decides, looking at Mirielle. It's not said in an offensive way so much as a sort of 'okay, now I know how to parse what I was saying'. He looks at her and clarifies in an overly formal tone, "I was wishing to inquire as to the situation at hand and how I may best be suited to aide in its resolution," He pauses for a few moments before adding, "Indubitably."
    He smiles a bit and then says, "That better~?" He asks before adjusting the loose tie around his neck and cracking his knuckles. He flexes a bit, joints popping as he seems to warm up while adjusting his stance, "Boy who drops a moon on someone? They sound like douchebags. I'm all for putting boots to asses on those guys," Shin confirms to the cat-man not too far away.
    "A tournament! Right! I'm debating if I should enter that or not," He admits as he rubs his chin, milling that over while considering the thing for the moment, "I'll decide on it later. I doubt we'd be in the same bracket, but at least I'll come cheer you on to trip flags along your path," He says as he gives her a thumbs up.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft sort of hangs for a moment, stuck on that 'processing' spinny again, until she seems to give up. "Sheepish. I do not understand, but it is good to meet you, Shin. I am Seft, Core Fleet Captain." She makes an upbeat beepy noise as if trying to shore up her certainty.

    She smells, well, robotish. Thermal pastes, motor byproducts, that sort of thing. No organic scents. Her eyes flicker to an eyebrow-raised sort of 'o_6' emote at his sniffing, but otherwise she doesn't seem offended or anything. Souji is noted as well; that's her boss! She knows what he's like, he'll say things if he needs to and pleasantries are extraneous.

    Seft notes the Garlean threat, and the threat of the Malboros, her eyes clearly scanning up and down the map with a shimmering blue line of light. "Thoughtful. I understand, thank you." Then she notes their anti-magic prejudice, and seems to have made her decision. "Firm. If there is no further data that requires communication, we should begin our attack." With a few buttons pressed on her Matter Manipulator, she then equips the SPELLSWORD ARMOR in a brief flash of light. Normally it might be a bit overkill, but she's not got her Core Fleet backup, so this seems like another good time to put it to work against armored threats. The set of heavy powered armor that takes her meager height up to eight and covers her in gleaming silver and black. The whole suit is designed like medieval plate armor, so at least she looks mostly local, but the jets of purple steam that scream out of the ports in her armor's back every so often, and the heavy holography-like plates of light that are projected over her armor give her a distinctly futuristic look. There's a heavy eye-visor at the front of the faceplate, hidden under the grilled front panel, displaying two shining, friendly blue eye-dots just like her own. At her hip still sits the well-stocked Matter Manipulator, the strange orange-colored industrial-looking tool.

    The armor isn't clumsy or heavy. In fact, despite being rather robotic in motions when she begins her approach, her march onward is surprisingly dextrous, light, and graceful, and swift. She should make good time getting where they need to go.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "You should enter it." Allenby says immediately before drooping an arm over Shin's shoulders. "C'mon, it'll be fun!" The arm drops away to slap him on the back.

    Listening intently as Twin Adder describes the various Magitek armors that Garleans use, Allenby nods along. "I'd definitely take that challenge! I'll get my team to prep the Gundam in case we run into some of the larger models out there. Then again I bet your call for help would be a lot more urgent if a Vanguard or Reaper were stomping around out there, huh?" Casually, Allenby flips out her cell phone to make such arrangements ahead of time. These things are super important since those extra dramatic 'RISE, GUNDAM' entrances need to be preparewd in advance.

    That squared away, she edges over to investigate Seft a little more closely, incidentally just as Seft gets equipped with SPELLSWORD ARMOR. Again, she doesn't touch, but she does let out a low, impressed whistle at the Glitch.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Finally, Souji stirs. "... I am familiar with the Garleans. I am looking forward to testing them." He looks down at the map, and then nods, likely either memorizing the location or, more likely, using his glasses to store the information.

He looks to the other present, quietly considering what he knows of present forces.

"It would be best to avoid any unnecessary encounters. The fresher we are for the confrontation with the Garlean detatchment, the better." He states.

He doesn't seem to ask questions about the actual forces. Maybe he expects them to line up with certain other Garleans he know. He gestures. "Come, we should get moving. The sooner get there, the sooner we can resolve this issue." At that, he leaves the officer, and begins heading towards the area that was marked on the map, leaping from the hill the Hawthorne Hut sits upon and beginning to walk through the rough and twisting forwat towards Larkscall.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    "Bwahaaahaaaa!" That from N'raha as Seft turns into Magitech armor and rumbles off. His hands are halfway to a stabbing position before he remembers that he's not about to try and stop someone like that, and that more over she's friendly at least.

    Consider the poor newbie still agistated as hell then. He does move and truck along though, subtly starting to shift into the background as if by a trick of the aether. Something about him makes your eyes slide off of his form.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    The scout's snarly response leaves Shirou frowning and returning a sour look, increasingly disapproving. All I said is that they're people, not animals." He contests. It's a stance he won't be budging on either, but instead of arguing he looks around at the others.

Mirielle Edelweiss (666) has posed:
    Mirielle nods to Shin, looking affirmative. "Oh. I see." She nods, not really taking offense to be calling a nerd. Worm is, perhaps, a bit much, but she does fit bookish to a T.

    The high-energy martial artist is given a wider berth, as Mirielle takes some notes as N'raha exposits. "I see. They dropped a moon on you. That's fourth, or even fifth-order magic. Fascinating. Thank you." She mumbles, taking some notes and speculative jottings before closing her book.

    "I suppose we are off, then?" Mirielle wonders, cracking her chocobo into action following Seft and Souji. She actually had a clear, uncompeting chain of command this time! Nobody here to make her life hard.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Though, before he goes, N'raha casts a look to Shin and murmurs. "Please, do. Boots to asses is the least they deserve for what they did to us."

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Well, nobody seems to suspect Bella. Good. She'll tag along behind Shirou like an adoring puppy, keeping close in case someone dies when they are killed.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "We saw a couple of Vanguards, but didn't have the luxury of staying to watch them haul their full regiment in. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a Reaper or a Colossus with them too. Our spy on the inside reports this outing is for testing purposes, so they might be fielding some prototype for something new or better. That's all we have."

    Due to distrust, he doesn't disclose the spy's name, but that'd be Hummingway. The scout frowns, eyes inspecting everyone. That sure is an odd crowd today.

    "Fancy armor. Looks like Magitek, but doesn't feel the same. Well, that's all fine with me. Long as your armor isn't desecrating the magic of our land, there's no reason to get up in arms over some technology." Most Eorzeans would rather stick to what they're good with, though. A gunblade is nice, but so's a bow.

    Shirou won't get barked at again, but it's obvious the scout isn't too happy about his words. People or not, the Garleans exist to kill and enslave all magic-users, and that's pretty much 'everyone except Garleans'. Calling them people is absurd; they're the enemy.

    "Right, right. Let's get going. We've got a walk ahead of us, but I know this part of the Shroud like the back of my hand. And past a point, the sound of gunfire'll be a sure guide."

    If nobody has further questions, the Twin Adder scout will walk ahead of the group to leave the outpost through its eastern gate. The walk will take people east first, to another small outpost known as Little Solace. There, small, plant-like fairies and assorted Eorzeans will welcome the adventurers, warning them of the dangers of continuing further east. Naturally, this'll be ignored, since the danger is why you're here in the first place.

    Going further and further east, trees cluster tighter and tighter together, to the point sometimes it's hard to tell if what's blocking your path is a large stony hill or just a wall of trees. But paths through do exist, and the further in they go, one can make out the sound of gunfire and machinery in the distance. Through the trees, hostile plantlife can be seen, but none of it attacks the adventurers. Some of it, even, seems to be fleeing in the opposite direction.

    Ever seen a twenty foot tall Malboro run for its life?
    Now you have.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    While walking, 'Bella' does have one question. "The forest... would it take offense to fire used in attack, so long as the intent isn't to burn down the forest? Can it control a small blaze?" She hastily adds, "I just want to make sure we're all on the right side here and don't accidentally mess things up."

    As the creatures get skittish, though, she nervously drifts toward the middle of the group, safe and protected by the meat shi- heroes. She is basically being useless at the moment, waiting for a good distraction she can slip out to work with. Judging from the gunfire, she won't have long to wait.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "I guess I'll look into it," Shin says to Allenby contemplatively, adding, "Gotta trip those relationship flags and all." He muses before placing both hands into the pockets of his leisure suit. He pulls a cell phone out of one and begins typing at the keys. True to his nature, he is updating his twitter account with a couple quick posts before putting the phone back into his pocket.
    He doesn't make a motion to pursue Mirielle when she gives him a wide berth, instead just contenting himself to hoof it on foot as they travel along. He hums to himself, singing a little tune as they go, "It's the moment of truth you're giving it all, Standing alone, willing to fall. If you can do it get up and prove it. Get up and show them who you are." He continues on with the rest of this song as they walk.
    To 'Bella', Shin eventually looks and gives her a thumbs up as she migrates to a safe position, "Don't worry. You've got a ton of cool guy heroes here to watch your back. Try to unwind and have a little fun, yeah?"
    He looks out over the fleeing wildlife and adjusts the backpack on his back, "Oh sweet. If the monsters are fleeing, these guys must have some sick loot for me to heroically acquire." Loot. He's going to beat up bad guys and loot them, in true hero fashion.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "It'll be fun! Dooo iiiit." Allenby continues to hassle Shin, "Besides, tournaments like those are the perfect place to pick up a nemesis, right? Maybe you'll find a nemesis there."

    When Souji speaks, Allenby realizes she does recognize him. However she doesn't say or do a damn thing to acknowledge this, knowing his particular situation. Spoiling /that/ would no doubt result in punishment.

    She doesn't seem to be too broken up when Twin Adder explains that he wouldn't be surprised if the Garleans had brought along some of their heavy machinery. "Well if they do, I'll be more than happy to handle them."

    The journey through the forest is a sort of distracting one for Allenby since she's never seen a forest this old or 'alive' before. Something about it gave her the impression that the land itself had a personality. "So was that one of those bits of dangerous plant life?" Allenby asks as she points at a malboro fleeing through the underbrush a little off their path. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Allenby picks up the pace and it becomes pretty clear that she's one of 'those types' that likes to just rush headfirst into combat.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    "Unless you plan to burn the whole of the Twelveswood, the elementals won't lift a finger. The Garleans' Magitek is different. It's technology that forces the magic of the world and land to do what they say. Eorzeans live with that force; when we use magic, we are not forcing its hand, and we use our own reserves. The Garleans, on the other hand, just use technology to do it. It upsets the elements, but even then, not so much they manifest and crush the threat. Many of us think they may not have the strength left to do that anymore, anyway," comes the scout's answer to 'Bella'. The more sensitive people would likely feel the truth behind his words. The forest is protected by great elemental spirits, but they're not... "present" so to speak. And the lesser spirits are angry due to the Calamity. That's why some regions of the Shroud have to deal with rampaging elementals.

    Eventually, the group finds a larger clearing through the trees. The forest is darkened here, unhealthy. Shirou'd recognize the blackening the Calamity caused; the outer edges of the forest still haven't healed.

    No light shines through the canopies here; only the eerie lights of the forest and a bare few holes in the trees provide ambience.

    And, and the constant flashes of light from the Garleans. There's a dozen soldiers, just about, in uniforms of black and red metal. Ring shirts and pants, mostly, but not of steel. It's 'Cermet', which is a fancy word for 'slightly better steel'. One in particular, at the far back of the group, has a helmet, officer stripes on his uniform, and a gunblade sheathed. The others are armed with a variety of weapons; staves, swords and shields, halberds, bows, another gunblade user. Only those with a mark on their forehead, a white-ish third eye, just a dot really, seem to be carrying Magitek weapons. Those are completely human in appearance, no exceptions. The others vary; there's a Miqo'te, an Elezen, but the others are human too. Conscripts, most likely.

    With them are two Magitek Vanguards, which are kind of steampunky fifteen foot tall walkers with massive drill arms. They're chansing the wildlife around, stomping loudly, drilling them and spilling 'blood' every which way.

    In the far back of the squad is a Magitek Colossus, an armored, twenty foot tall humanoid. It seems incomplete in parts, with inner machinery exposed, and is unarmed. Its red glowing eyes indicate it is active, but an engineer is still hammering away at it.

    The Twin Adder scout gestures ahead. "There's your mark, adventurers. Good luck. If we make it back to the hut, I'll shower you folks in riches and recognition. Mostly the latter."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    You ever see an entire Bad Idea in one go? Like all of it at once? Every single moment of a bad idea take place in one long motion? Welcome to that.

    The bushes behind one of the Staff-Wielding Constripts, one of the ones that looks like they might concievably be a healy type, rustles and shivers a bit, and the faint whispy form of Totally Not N'raha edges into reality, as he readies himself. There's a subtle flash of dark energy as he draws both of those daggers, sets his feet, his ears fold back...

    And with a swiftness born of horrible teenager rage, the Miqo'te dashes the 10 yalms towards his target, dagers flashing, and swiftly aims to gut the Elezen from behind.

    That's great and all, but the other dude with the Gunblade is right there. Like, right the crap there, along with one of the Drillbots. So. 10/10 for eagerness, -10000 for foresight.

    He is being shot at now, as he keeps stabbing the guy.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    There's no complaints fromEmiya SHirou. He's listening to everyone's commentary but more focused on the woods and the tactical information being given. So much around him's still scorched... "Amazing that the woods healed as well as they did, but..."

    A Malboro running past, terrified, doesn't fill him with confidence. Not with its sheer size and... unpleasant appearance. The boy's on edge instantly. "Trace on."

    Without ceremony or flashy displays, a little bit of magic spreads from his palms like a foggy miasma, and swiftly coaelsces into his favored chinese short swords, kanshou and Bakuya.

    though he doubts either would have much of an effect on the Garlean Magitek, he'd rather target those than people wich such weapons.

    Killing is not his thing.

    With that in mind... he changes his mind, and banishes the twin swords. Instead a black longbow of some odd material forms in his hand instead and he goes to find some tree to hide behind.

    The only way he'll be able to pierce those mechs is with heavy sieging, that's for sure.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Fine! Fine! Just get off my back, sheesh!" Shin says in mock exasperation as he sticks an elbow into Allenby's side playfully. There's no actual hostility to the gesture, it's just ribbing (literally in this case) between two friends. His elbow isn't even that hard.
    Normally, Bella would have to worry about having someone dedicating himself to watching over her like a true kung fu protagonist should be doing. Fortunately for her, this isn't the case due to Shin being easily distracted and pretty interested the enemies that are immediately at hand. Owing to this, as the rogue goes forward and begins the fight, Shin has a faint flicker of red surround himself and he dashes forward.
    Ki works its way through his body, gently enhancing his speed and strength as he tries to come right up on one of the Garleans, "Hey! Hey guy! Hey!" Shin waves his hand a bit. He's approaching a Garlean with a staff, since that's the weapon he's most familiar with, "Got a great joke! Great joke!"
    "So a Kung Fu master walks into a bar, right?" Shin bounces on his feet a bit, trying to use the joke to approach the guy, "And he gets to the bar and the bartender goes 'Lemme guess. You want a glass of hard punch, right? Or something with kick?' with a big smile on his face."
    Shin grins, "Kung Fu master says 'Nah, I'll just have a...'"
    He leaps up and tries to deliver a spinning heel kick to the face of the guy he's telling the joke to, "WATA!"

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    Allenby rounds the corner to the clearing where the Garleans are making a mess and slows, staring at the bloody, environment-destroying, animal-killing tableau arrayed before them. A slow frown forms on her face for a few seconds and in those seconds N'raha totally flips out and knifes a dude. "Way to be over the top jackasses, you guys!" she finally manages to exclaim as she rushes in at way too fast speeds.

    She rushes herself right on up to one of the drill-equipped Vanguards, unbothered by the deadly, piercing mounted drill weapons. A normal-looking gloved fist pulls back and punches slightly downward towards the crease where the Vanguard's pointy chest plate meets its torso armor.

    To most this would mean a hand filled with broken bones. But a combination of enhanced strength and a calloused, fight-conditioned body like she has, punching uber fantasy world 'steel' is not going to have that effect.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Well that will work for Bella. As soon as Tia charges in and the others are forced to move, the ninja-in-hiding will shriek and dive behind a tree. The entire point is to be lost in the foliage, to get away from people... because she's tumbling right after, and going to ground to sneak around the scarred area and make a move toward the Garleans in her own way.

    She doesn't care about all this, and is mostly out for herself. Knowing what she knows about Garleans, she's aiming to use her Path of the Falling Leaf to pick out some likely commanders, and pick the second in command. The leader will probably be busy getting killed by all the others. Then she's going to try sneaking as close to whomever she identified as possible.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Distressed. My armor is not magical at all." Seft says, over external speakers, to the commentary, albeit belatedly. She seems particularly focused on that part. Though Allenby may find that certain elements of it are physically impossible, presumably supported by... Psionics? Well, in any case, the group's heading on. She'll follow the group leader, their scout, but she'll be quite polite to the Eorzeans. Then proressing on, she'll actually be pretty considerate of the environment, and give a wide berth to the wildlife as it flees.

    And then they get to the clearing! Seft's eight-foot-tall armor isn't going to match the enemies for size, though. There's a quick nod to the scout, and then she crouches. With one tremendous burst, and a flash of brilliant blue when energy boosters, she leaps several dozen feet into the air and then slams brutally down onto the ground, her back ports screaming purple steam into the air behind her. Her speakers blare loudly. "AGGRESSIVE. LAY DOWN ARMS AND LEAVE THE LARKSCALL AREA IMMEDIATELY. LETHAL FORCE IS AUTHORIZED AND WILL BE USED." She draws from her back a tremendous SPELLSWORD-TYPE POWER BATTLEAXE, which is a tremendous weapon designed for the armor's size and strength. First one to go after? The giant drillbot next to N'raha Tia. And with a tremendous swing, she goes right for the legs, trying to catch it off guard as soon as she can and prevent it from charging the catman down. The ICE alignment to the element-swapping weapon can hopefully release a tremendous burst of ice-aligned psionic energy and severely reduce the target's mobility and speed.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    N'raha charges in and stabs the Elezen conscript in the guts. This is as nasty as it sounds, until one of the pure-blood Garleans waves his Magitek staff around, and bright blue magic shoots from it into the conscript! The fake cure spell closes his wounds, and the conscript, now furious (and still hurting), manages to get his act together. His shield attempts to slam N'raha in the face, while the sword tries to return the favor.

    Shirou's keen eye will have no trouble finding joints and exposed machine parts on the Vanguards. An arrow could do some devastating damage, if it was aimed right. Clogging a walking pile of steampunk-level technology up is usually a good idea. Otherwise there's always the Garleans themselves. Cermet isn't as good as advertized, many Eorzean adventurers find out. A bow and some arrows will do the trick, just like any other armor.

    Shin approaches one of the pure-bloods with humor, but that isn't going to cut it. The man is hostile the moment Shin is in view, and his Magitek staff clicks, as it gathers up a wave of blue fire and energy. Though he can't stop Shin's blow from connecting, and sending him flying back, the false fire spell still threatens the martial artist!

    'Bella' will find that the engineer currently working on the Colossus has similar markings to the officer. AULUS REM VULSO, the officer, shouts for the engineer to finish his job, all the same. "Get that working! If the Tribunus finds out we jammed one of his prototypes and lost it we're going to be executed on the spot!"

    Allenby straight up punches a Vanguard, crushing the metal plating under the strength of her blow. It's resistant enough to withstand the first hit, but she'd have a very clear idea that a second hit would spell bad news for the machine. Its drills whirr loudly and it turns onto the girl, trying to 'punch' her back.

    Seft goes straight for the other Vanguard, attacking it with ice. The frigid strike does find purchase, not cutting through the armor but rather forming layers of ice here and there on the machine. It strains to break them, but the damage and effect is obvious. It'll take a bit more focus to REALLY dig in, though! Its twin drills are raised, and blue streaks of energy fire out towards Seft. Why have drills if they're not also laser cannons?

Current situation:

12x Garleans (6 pureblood, 6 conscripts)
- Aurus Rem Vulso w/ engineer (2nd in command) @ Colossus.
- 1x sword/shield 1x healer @ N'raha.
- 1x caster @ Shin.
- Assorted gunfire/blue energy blasts @ everyone.

2x Vanguards
- 1x attacking Allenby.
- 1x attacking Seft.

1x Colossus (being repaired?)

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
What with some travel through these woods, you'd think it would be sedate and peaceful. Not so Larkscall, the place is full of evil, nasty wildlife that would love to eat a wandering Hume or Hyur or whatever the hell you are, really.

But that's not why he's here. Souji looks upon the Garlean detatchment with narrowed eyes, and emotes the faintest of smiles. "Perhaps we will see if they are wqorthy of their reputation." Souji says. Some might believe that he speaks of their reputation as conquerers and despoilers, but...

The swordsman walks forward, looking over the assembled, and raises his blad, holding it before him horizontally. "Murasame hungers." He states, before he grips the hilt. The crimson ribbon on the weapon unties itself, and the black blade goes free, the crimson etching telling tales of hunger and woe.

With a sudden motion, he drives forward. He does not negotiate. He does not show mercy. He spins, sliding below the lance of a Garlean and slashing through and past in a single motion, the blade leaving a crimson trail in the air as it passes, and he stands again, turning to slash into the guard of a man with a blade and shield, letting the horrible blade echo in the air as he scrapes it across the cermet before suddenly breaking back and cutting forward, driving at an outstretched arm. with the hungry blade.

Blood, when freed, begins to be drawn towards the blade as if called. Gunfire flashes around him, the conscripts striking several glancing blows and ruining the purity of his suit. He grunts in mild irritation, but pushes forward despite the pain of his wounds. Such is the nature of battle... Though his wounds begin to close as his blade drinks in the blood around him.

There will be much blood today.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    Fire is not a fun thing! And despite kicking his opponent right in the head, Shin gets menaced with a blast of that false-fire as he backflips away. It washes over him and he lets out a surprised, "ACK!" before turning the backflip into a roll to try to extinguish the flames. He hops to his feet and pats at himself, trying to extinguish the flames all over his body before he scowls, "Dude! Watch the threads! Jerk."
    Shin darts in towards him again, moving with speed and precision, "Bah, you have a magic staff, not a cool one. Boring," He comments to the mage as he tries to whirl around him and end up behind the caster.
    Both of his hands go flat and he tries to drive the tips of his fingers into the 'Kidneys' of his opponent to incapacitate them in an incredibly painful fashion, "Hey. Where can I get one of the cool weapons? Not a lame one. I want a COOL one. C-O-O-L. You owe me that much for burning the crap out of me a second ago, guy."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    See, that's why N'raha went all out. That's the reason why he knew he had to strike hard. It's hard to Cure a dead person. In fact, that Not-Cure spell gets him to turn his head earning him a smack with the shield. The lowbie eats dirt, and ducks in time to see Seft's AXE fly over head and chunk the Vanguard in the hip. Good, okay.

    There's a terrible, awful look in the Adventurer's eyes as the Miqo'te kicks up and out of his dirt-break, light and aether arcing off his knifes and limbs as he dives in, stabbing and slashing at the Hoplomachus in front of him. The knives drip blood and aether-made poisons, leeching into the Hyur with horrible slashing. What he lacks in skill right now, he's trying to make up with horrible fury.

    And every so often, when he can, he whips a knife at the False Conjuror, trying to foul up his Curing.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shots splatter all over the tree Shirou's picked for cover and he's swiftly glad he picked a big thick one. The bark's shredded and he takes a few grazing shots to his arm and side before taking full shelter from the barrage. But he saw what he needed to see.

    Sucking down the pain, the young man chooses his ammunition. Joyeuse forms in his empty hand. As he draws it back across the bow as he would an arrow it dons a shape closer to one. His Alterations are simple and straightforward, simply improving the balance and aerodynamics, but...

    A single sidestep and twirl puts one of the Vanguards right in his sights. A second or so to steady his aim and... "Let's see it move after THIS!"

    The thousand-colored blade is unleashed! It flies through the air leaving a gaudy rainbow trail, but when it STIKES... there'll be a small explosion like a grenade.

    His aim? Cripple those joints. Mobility or weaponry, it matters little either way!

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    Spying her target, Bella moves as fast as she feels she can safely move. That's pretty fast, with her ninja arts. She'll lead off with a shuriken hurled just past the engineer's head in an obvious warning shot, and scoot close enough to hide in the bulk of the Colossus. If anyone gets in her way... well, that's what the hidden talonfang claws in her wrists are for.

    "You cannot win this fight," she states plainly. "And your commander will likely be killed or captured. So I am approaching you. I can't give you your victory against this attack tonight, but I can delay them enough to withdraw your men with fewer losses. What will you give me for this service?"

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    "Hmm!" Metal that doesn't crumple under one of her blows! Allenby's suitably impressed by Garlean engineering. But at the same time, these guys were /total jerks/ and she didn't want to give them a lick of credit for anything so she doesn't comment beyond her first noise. Another hit to the machine would help, she reasons, her finely tuned battle senses telling her this based on what crumpling she could see, as little as there was.

    But the second blow will have to come a bit later because Allenby does not want to be 'punched' with a giant drill arm. As it swings at her, Allenby ducks underneath it and slips around so she's behind the machine, forcing it to waste time turning around if it still wants to get at her. While back there, she gives a stomping kick to its back, attempting to send it falling face-forward, off balance. There are no attempts from her to call on the Gundam quite yet thoug she's fully aware of the Collosi hanging around in the back, not yet moving.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    UH OH! While Seft is in SPELLSWORD equipment, she lacks ranged firepower! Thankfully, she's not lacking for heavy armor. The smaller shots from the soldiers are going to ping off her, draining her shields. The heavier shot slams through and sheds many armor layers, first on her torso and then on her arms as she properly blocks, and her foe succeeds in keeping her pushed back for a moment. A low rumble builds as mobility-enhancing sytems charge their capacitors with a gradual buildup...

    She need only wait for SHIROU'S strike, ideally; she intends to let that hit her foe and interrupt his fire long enough to rush in! Ideally, he'll be FROZEN and STUNNED, and that stack of status effects will let her go straight in for a strike square on the head! With a mechanical scream, a burst of purple steam washes off her back in waves; she makes nother huge leap, and this time an EARTH-ALIGNED elemental swap turns the weapon incredibly forceful; she intends to bury the entire mech, with another heavy slam, this time augmented by the POWER SLAM mobility alongside all that, swinging the weapon in a downwards arc! She's also tried to aim it such that the downward strike will create a shockwave liable to disorient the remaining soldiers near SOUJI, such that they will be made easier prey for his blade.

    "AGGRESSIVE. You were provided appropriate warning, and will now be provided appropriate violent measures until surrender or retreat." Seft's voice remains calmly monotoned, but much louder than before; her eye-visor displays a simple stern face, the eye dots having been replaced by half-circles in an aggressive expression.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    It isn't difficult for someone of Souji's talents to get up close and personal with these Garleans. A Miqo'te spearman falls, and a pure-blood shield-bearer is torn up pretty badly when even the Magitek within his shield can't produce a protect spell strong enough to repel the Murasame. He isn't dead, though-- and that's where the same healer who backed N'raha's target up kicks in, healbombing the man Souji cut into. It isn't perfect, but it's enough to get the soldier back on his feet. His shield hums and glows bright blue as the man knees and hides himself behind it.

    A blast of 'magic' lashes out of the shield, as though reflecting the damage caused to its user! All the while he shouts something or another about uncivilized barbarian filth.

    Shin makes the pure-blood caster scream in pain. "I don't know what you want, savage! Magitek is all we have!" His staff is... it's not lame, but it's not really magical or high-grade either. It's a big mage staff with a tech-y metal design, glowing blue streaks, and a trigger. Not really a martial artist's staff, but a staff that can shoot fire could come in handy?

    Shin won't get to contemplate that too long, though, as gunfire suddenly streaks his way! AURUS has left the engineer's side, unsheathed his gunblade, and is striding towards the martial artist, taking shot after shot towards him. "Crawl back into your forest, barbarian, or at least have the decency to die quickly and cleanly!"

    N'raha continues attacking the tanky Garlean; fortunately for him, the healer had to turn his attention to Souji's target, and gets a knife to the throat. Flop, dead. The shield-bearing Elezen fares only barely better, getting torn up again and falling onto his back, bloodied. The catman could execute his target, but he'd best do so before that axe-wielding Garlean reaches him! Blue flames cover his axe, a telltale sign of Magitek.

    Shirou hurls a Noble Phantasm at one of the Vanguards; the blade clips its arm, exploding, and taking the whole limb with it. SEFT'S Vanguard now has one arm less! Also it's leaking... blue-green-ish liquid. Smells kind of like fuel. Doesn't seem to be freezing easily, either.

    Allenby's own maneuver causes the Vanguard to slam into the ground. It clicks, struggling to raise again; failing that, a booster on its side shoots blue flames out, causing it to suddenly spin from its front to its back. Its left drill arm is aimed at Allenby and shot like a rocket, while the right one fires a stream of blue energy in the opposite direction. It is insanely vulnerable, now.

    'Bella' surprises the lone engineer, who suddenly stutters. "W-What? That's ridiculous, once this is functional it'll just kill everything in its path. Reveal yourself, deceiver, and state whom you serve! We've been warned not to accept vague gifts in these lands!" The engineer has a gunblade, which he nervously unsheathes. He can't find his conversation partner, though.

    The shift in Seft's weaponry allows her to smash into the partially frozen Vanguard and break it into pieces. A quick look through a looter's eyes shows the inside to be deceptively technological; though there's a lot of locomotive-era aesthetics at play here, the Vanguard runs on a bright blue and white crystaline core of some sort. The Magitek equivalent of a computer. Advanced enough to run war machine AIs, but that's about it.

    Ceruleum leaks from the remains of the Vanguard. The slightest spark would set it off into one mighty fireball. For now, though, Seft finds herself aggressed by a spear-wielding Garlean, who is getting support from another behind him. That one uses a wooden staff, and is casting proper white magic. Protect, shell, haste. That lancer is looking a bit deadlier now.

Current situation:

8x Garleans (4 pureblood, 4 conscripts)
- Engineer @ Colossus/Bella.
- 1x sword/shield (almost dead) 1x axe @ N'raha.
- Aurus Rem Vulso @ Shin.
- 1x sword/shield @ Souji.
- 1x lancer @ Alwyn.
- 1x lancer 1x healer @ Seft.

1x Vanguards
- 1x attacking Allenby.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    "Will it? I see," Bella notes. "In that case, all the better for you to accept my offer. I could care less. I've been offered a reward for helping them, but I have little interest in fame or money. Make me a more interesting offer, and you get out of here alive. I have doubts your Colossus could do what you say."

    Saying this, Starless tosses down an effigy paper doll, which blossoms into a duplicate of herself. It turns and walks into plain sight, one hand on the hilt of her sword. The duplicate speaks mildly, "Or you can refuse, and I can kill you. This will keep the Colossus out of the battle, ensuring their victory. I would be a hero. Now. A more interesting offer. Make it quickly."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha lets out a warning about the Ceruleum, before hopping off his downed foe with a flip, letting the conscript bleed out. Let him die. He's forsaken his people.

    As the maurauder approaches though, the miqo'te flips his blood soaked knives into the air in a slight grin. A vibrant green aura starts to build around the blades and that blood seeps away, his own wounds closing slowly. "Come at me, traitor. There's more than just the Eorzeans here now! WE'RE NOT BACKING DOWN. NOT AGAIN!" A burst of aether, and the miqo'te's feet dig into the dirt as he makes a low charge in at the Axeman, flickering forward to try and jam both of those knives into the chinks in that cermet armor.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "DUDE. RACIST." Shin shouts down at the guy, scowling, "You don't just call someone a savage. Not cool, jerk. First off, I'm not a savage, I'm clearly wearing a very nice suit. Secondly, I'm trying to be nice here, but," Shin trails off, delivering a punch to the back of the caster's head to try to render him unconscious.
    As AURUS comes in on him, Shin scowls a bit, "Seriously, Barbarian? Isn't that a bit European?" He frowns and then hooks a foot under the stave, kicking it up into his hands as he faces down with the gunblade wielding man, "Cool sword, though. I think I'll take it and the staff. Maybe keep one and auction the other."
    He shrugs a bit and then starts jiving from side to side, carefully weaving himself between the shots that the advancing figure is taking. And while a lot of the shots miss, a couple still split open his shoulder and stain his white suit with red blotches from where the shots lance across him.
    Twirling the staff in his hands, Shin takes a couple body jabs with one end of it before going for an overhead swing, a jab at Aurus' face, and a pull of the trigger to hit him point-blank in the face with a blast of not-flame.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji's opponent raises a shield and prepares to defend against further attack. But the problem with that is that the highly trained heir knows how to deal with squad tactics. Now that the Medicus has made itself apparent, Souji simply turns towards the soldier, to see N'raha dealing with the problem, and nods towards the Miqo'te. As most of the forces appear to be engaged properly, he sweeps his gaze towards how his allies are doing. He considers for a moment, and then stabs his blade into the ground, which is becoming ever more soaked with the remains of battle.

    SAMURAI
        BUSHIDO

    > TEMPEST

There is a low pause as he focuseses, looking at the shieldman. Perhaps he thinks he is the target, as the air around him gathers, his demeanor crackling with building tension like the moment before the air is shattered with a thunderclap.

And then he moves with a blurred strike, four deadly slashes carving through the air, the crimson arcs shearing with deadly intent. The swordsman appears completely unscathed.

Because he was not the target. As Souji finishes the last movement, he comes to a halt, his sword held out to one side, standing behind the Medicus near Seft. He's decided to help his Glitch associate out.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    Insanely vulnerable but, at the moment, that Vanguard was also insanely armed. Between a laser and a drill arm, Allenby is not looking forward to getting hit by either but she realizes she must make a choice since dodging both would not be possible. In the split second of decision, she goes for taking a hit from the drill. It's not a direct hit which would have speared her body to something but a redirected hit. She does the redirecting with her forearm meaning the grazing from the spinning drill bit rips through skin and flesh alike without mercy. Allenby's forearm quickly turns into a wrecked and bloocdy mess.

    A squeal of pain escapes her before she forces herself forward to take advantage of the vulnerability.

    With her non-damaged arm, she aims another punch at the Vanguard in the same one as earlier to solidify the massive damage that would no doubt do.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft's Matter Manipulator is set to AUTO-LOOT MODE, which means it automatically sucks up whatever free objects of value she can be standing just next to, so standing on top of the leaking corpse ought to allow her to loot this thing of its valuable CERULEUM quickly! Of course... Here comes a lancer, full of support magicks. "Concerned. Oh dear." Her eyes go from ">:(" to "<:(" in a moment, those little half-circles rotating a clean 90 degrees.

    This will likely hurt! The Lancer can close the distance swiftly; so enhanced, it's likely that he'll even be able to straight-up impale Seft through many layers of armor, likely wounding her a fair bit under that! But she has disabled her ability to feel pain in preparation for this, so he can't use tactics you'd use on a normal human to keep themm from lodging an axe in your midsection. She has activated her ENERGY DASH to meet him midway! And, thankfully... She had some faith in Souji. While she might not agree with his demands that even surrendering Garleans ought to be killed, she does think he's reliable. She lets him take the support; she intends to take the lancer with a heavy strike square to the chest from a FIRE-ALIGNED power-battleaxe. Any support-type could extinguish him, but if the support type is disabled, BEING ON FIRE is a devastating sort of status effect in most circumstances.

Mirielle Edelweiss (666) has posed:
    Some may question, in the heat of battle...

    "Where did Mirielle get to?"

    Well, there's an answer to that. So curious and 'bookworm'-y was the Calculator that, obviously, she had to discover the differences in wildlife between Galianda and Eorzea.

    She, in fact, got quite close to the wildlife in question.

    And now, hightailing it into the group, is Mirielle, covered in leaves and Shroud detritus, riding her black chocobo which warks with agitation. "Hellopleasedon'tmindme!" She calls, zipping through the area.

    Behind her is probably... bad... things.

    "I have made some unfortunate acquiantances!"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Emiya Shirou did NOT come here to brutally murder Garleans. Stopping them from wrecking everything is his goal, and this is why he's not raining swords down on the fallen. But with Souji and others screaming for blood he frowns swiftly.

    Yet interfering with the ongoing operation could get his allies killed.

    An angry, cold feeling churns in his gut. What can he possibly do to keep people from just getting CUT DOWN?

    Well, unless he sees anyone being slain in cold blood... he won't do anything.

    However, Shirou raises his hands. Power flows outwards from them into the surrounding air, congealing into various swords. If he sees anything like THAT about to happen...

    Well, he's got his eye on Souji, in particular.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    The engineer becomes more and more agitated; it isn't difficult to tell 'Bella' is pushing his buttons. Paranoia, utter loyalty to Garlemald, and xenophobia. Oh, yes, HELLA xenophobia. The Garleans aren't just evil for kicks, after all. They're legitimately terrified of people with powers after the crazy stuff that's happened, and have taken it upon themselves to fix this problem the best way they can. Purge, conquer, unify. For Starless Night to reveal she has powers is to give the Garlean even more reason to fear her.

    "Quiet, you Eikon worshipper! You think I can't see through your game? I would sooner die in service to my lord than take an offer of power from one who consorts with Eikons!" He must think her a native. Either way, the gunblade suddenly strikes out of its sheath, as the engineer attempts to impale the duplicate! Blue fire and energy covers the blade, too.

    N'raha has good aim, finding chinks in the chain armor of the Garlean marauder and grounding him that quickly. Though not dead, he too would bleed until he died if we isn't tended to.

    Shin knocks the caster out. That's easy.

    Aulus on the other hand is a bit tougher an opponent. "You wouldn't know how to use our Magitek if you tried, savage!" Haughty, kind of an asshole. The 'officer' isn't exactly an endearing person. His gunblade intercepts the staff's multiple strikes, showing a decent amount of skill, but he is caught by surprise when Shin pulls the trigger and uses the staff. The blast of energy singes his face badly and he snarls in fury.

    "Don't desecrate our Empire's tools with your hands!"

    His own sword suddenly flares bright blue, trailing fire and energy and he goes in for a flurry of blows, flash-stepping into Shin's face.

    Souji target-switches to the Medicus aiding Seft's opponent, carving him up. RIP healer, could not handle the aggro.

    Allenby's blow to the already damaged Vanguard causes its chest compartment to crack wide open. Ceruleum leaks out, and the sparks from the damage cause it to ignite. The Vanguard goes up in a fireball, complete with large shrapnel.

    (RE: LOOT) Assuming people do not run away before this ends, there will be 2x Magitek gunblades, 2x Magitek staves (one healer, one offensive), 1x Magitek axe and 1x Magitek tower shield, plus the scrap from the one Vanguard that didn't explode, plus the Cermet armor on each soldier, and finally the half-Colossus, if it doesn't get destroyed.

    Seft's target may impale her, but he was trained to fight opponents that, when impaled, go down. Seft does not. And locked with his spear inside her, he is struck (and likely slain, if that was her intent) by her axe. That healer would have been great if it hadn't died!

    The remaining Garlean, who isn't Aulus or the engineer, attempts to run away, now that Souji isn't carving him up. That's about when things get very awful and Mirielle just pulls in a large quantity of Malboros and Ochus, many of which are already injured, straight towards the party. They're semi-intelligent plantlife, so they COULD probably get scared off with more fire or a show of force.

Current situation:

3x Garleans (pure-blood)
- Engineer @ Colossus/Bella.
- Aurus Rem Vulso @ Shin.
- 1x sword/shield @ RUNNING AWAY.

1x Colossus (being repaired?)

YESx Malboro & Ochu @ chasing Mirielle.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Of course no sooner has Shirou projected a dozen or so blades ready to 'fire' than he gets a sight of Mirielle going CHASE SCENE across the battlefield. His amber eyes widen in dumbfounded SHOCK, but quickly...

    "How did anyone manage to... sheesh. Freeze off, CONTINUOUS FIRE!"

    Instead of being ready to defend any fallen, Shirou launches swords like bullets for the ground in front of the Ochus and Malboros. A few might clip them but he's not really aiming to skewer them, just scare them off.

    Witht he first volley, anyways.

    A bunch of these weapons just slam into the ground and impale themselves like a rain of arrows!

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Wow, guy. No consistency here. 'You can't use our weapons' and then being all 'Oh, don't desecrate our weapons by using them'. Whateeeeever." Shin notes, stepping back and away as he twirls the staff in his hands and then sticks his tongue out childishly, "Your tech isn't all that secret. Point object, pull trigger. Man has had that mastered since before he learned to stop shitting in his water supply," Shin chides.
    Still, there's a glow of a gunblade and a step in towards him and the martial artist has to step back and go on the defensive. The staff whips up to parry a few strikes, but others sneak in past his guard and open wounds along his sides, arms, and across his front. He braces himself on the staff and pants a bit, "You're good, though."
    He grips the staff in both hands and then steps in again. Only the staff is a faint, since Shin actually tries to rush inside of Aulus's guard and come in with a palm strike, "RYUHADO!" He shouts, his palm wreathing in red aura as he tries to strike his opponent square in the chest.
    There's a long moment on impact where nothing happens. Then Shin rotates his palm clockwise against the armor and there's a BURST of energy as a dragon's head explodes out the back of his opponent, a wave of ki passing through him powerfully without ever even scorching his armor.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    N'raha's knives slide out of his target, even as he hears Miri come running pell mell out of the underbrush carrying... Ah crap, plantkin. "Crap crap crap crap." He kicks the downed Garlean in the side, right in a stab wound, and then turns, another burst of energy carrying him. The miq looks winded but still highly motivated. Like, highly motivated.

    The knives slide into his sheathes, and he rolls his neck as he runs in, pulling an axe from the aether. It's not a particularly good looking axe. Sorta weathered and crappy. But it's got an edge, and it's made for hacking up plants and wood, after all. He looks behind him as Shirou starts the sword rain, and continues on his day of doing stupid crap.

    He plants his feet, readies his axe, and unleashes a wave of raw fire and energy with a downstroke at two of the nearest ochos, trying to peel them off the Calculator.

Mirielle Edelweiss (666) has posed:
    Benny Hill music would play, or perhaps amusing 'rapid feet' sounds as Mirielle makes tracks deeper into the party. "The differences were mostly matters of academia and natural aspects! Truly fascinating!" Mirielle cries as her chocobo clears a bit of underbrush. "And now, I suggest killzone tactics!" She announces, clutching the neck of her mount.

    Shirou and N'raha step into line to bombard them with fire and swords, and, at the Miq'ote's urging, she keeps going on. Then, she realizes. N'raha is going up against Ochu and Malboro.

    She skids her mount to a halt, extending a hand out as she incants, a hazy barrier of pyramidal force lays itself over the Miq'ote. "Don't engage them too close! We don't have a dedicated healer to clear their debilitations before they affect your pattern!" She calls, finishing her Astra cast.

Starless Night (336) has posed:
    He's just an engineer... but he's fighting a weak duplicate of Starless Night who is in disguise. A weak duplicate is still competent, however. A kunai appears in the copy's hand, the sword blade skittering off of it at an angle. Instead of making it a killing strike, it slices into the duplicate's shoulder and side, opening up what looks like a long gash that starts to blossom red. That alone nearly took her down, by all appearances... but she doesn't look worried. "Zealous of you, I'm sure your commander might be proud. Very stupid, though. Fine, I'll be taking that, I think."

    The real Starless darts out of hiding, her sword sweeping up and then lashing out to impale the engineer through the gut. "Instead," the real one continues, "You'll feed me, and I will take that interesting blade."

    Latching onto the man, she lets her duplicate strike at his arm, while the real one, the much more SKILLED one, grapples him and bites down hard on his neck. The pricking of fangs sinking into skin naturally leads to a deep suction... and combined with the shock, she's going to keep drinking until the engineer collapses.

    That's right, she's going to leave him alive and with the memory of having his blood drank, while she swipes his blade, and tosses a Thunder Ball into the maintenance hatch of the Colossus. The Thunder Ball just makes a loud noise and a flash, but also sets fire to anything flammable inside, and it will certainly look impressive while she makes her escape back into the forest, before the malboros and the like overrun her position she hopes.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft stumbles back, but only a moment; her precisely-calculated robotic movements steady herself near instantly. There is a big spear sticking out the front of her chest, but not the back. Looks like that armor still helps. It also makes it a lot easier for her to lodge her battleaxe in the ground long enough to YANK the spear out and focus on something else to help with! Shin continues his fight against the commander, and so Seft intends to help! When he rushes in with that feint, Seft attacks in synch; she LOBS the spear, like a javelin, intending to occupy any other defensive gestures the man can do. She figures Shin has the Finishing Blow handled, all she can do is try to cover. She'll handle more looting later, now that she's fully scavenged the Vanguard.

    A heavy swing of the battleaxe slams into the ground, creating a gushing wave of fire. It's not going to do a lot of direct damage, but if people work around it, it'll hopefully be productive area denial, and maybe these plants will get scared off by enough of it!

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    Success! A little...too much success since the Vanguard blows up in Allenby's face, charring her and further adding to her need to find some healing once all of this has settled down. She grits her teeth and braces herself, strangely enough not blown back several feet by the blast. Once it has passed, she reaches down into the wreckage and hauls up each of the drill arms, wrenching them off the Vanguard's frame.

    She balances them, one on each shoulder, and trots off to where Shin is tangling with a Garlean, watching him fight with some admiration. Though the magitek will no doubt be incompatible with her world's technology, she felt she had to loot /something/. Maybe she could get the drills mounted as a trophy.

    "Woo! Good job, Shin! You-oh, hm." spying the immobile Colossus, Allenby wanders away from Shin to inspect it a little closer.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji turns away from the Medicus as the Garlean finds themselves alpha-struck. "Is this their best?" Souji says to himself, as he looks to the fleeing Garlean. "Surely this man was not ranked highly enough to draw Garlemald's finest. I suppose I will have to inquire more deeply elsewhere." But there is the matter of the fleeing man, as well as the horde of plant creatures. Souji straightens, and sheathes his blade. "You have fed enough for today, Murasame." The blade seems almost reluctant, and the crimson ribbon reties itself.

But he is not done. Souji's hands draw together, and he begins channelling his MP into a spell. It looks much like it would were he drawing upon Aether, as his hands are held before him, forming into a powerful spell pattern.

Perhaps the man thinks he is going to escape.

A hand cuts through the air, holding it out towards the horde of plants and the fleeing Garlean.

He was wrong.

"Thunder-3." Souji's voice is tense with the strain of building that powerful pattern and the sheer MP it costs... But while there is no strain... There is also no mercy.

The air rips open and a massive cascade of lightning blossoms in the middle of the plant formation, surging outwards and crackling in a lambent detonation of electeical doom. It is timed for the Garlean to run straight into it, of course.

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Shirou unleashes SWORD SPAM on the incoming wildlife. Predictably, the swords plunge into the already wounded creatures, felling a number of them, while those that aren't killed get pinned to the ground, slowed, or otherwise get heavily discouraged from pursuing Mirielle. If all else fails, swords never have.

    Shin is causing the Garlean officer to grit his teeth more tightly with every word he says, anger practically radiating off him. This causes him to slip in his skill and technique, and Shin's strike connects. The ki magically goes right through, knocking Aulus off his feet and onto his back, on the ground. He rumbles in pain, but finds his ability to get back up lacking.

    N'raha produces an axe and attempts to overpower the wildlife; wounded and aimed at Shirou as it is, this isn't difficult. A few more Ochus and Malboros fall, and the threat they were posing a moment ago is diminishing quickly.

    Thanks to Mirielle's magic, any and all mis-steps on N'raha's parts RE: bad breath will be evened out. Remember to commend your healer.

    Starless Night categorically outclasses that poor engineer; tricked by the duplicate, he's run through by a sword, has his arm badly injured, and then he becomes her meal. If such matters to Starless at all, this man has not even the slightest trace of magic within him. His blood is just that, blood. For a world that seems so magical, it's probably an oddity.

    Then the Colossus blows the hell up, as the Thunder Ball ignites the exposed Ceruleum tank. Chunks of the machine in various states are thrown in every direction.

    Seft adds to the Wildlife Discouragement effort; the flames ward off against the injures plants and creatures that are left, what few of them are left.

    Allenby could certainly claim the drills as trophies! They're big drills, after all. As she wanders towards the Colossus, it EXPLODES. Just her luck, two exploding large robots in a row.

    Thunder strikes; the final Garlean falls. A few are left on the ground, bleeding to death. Aulus himself is probably not mortally wounded, but he's disabled from Shin's strike. Ominously, the weather of the Shroud shifts and changes, gathering clouds and rolling, repeating thunder echoing through the forest. Nothing comes off it, but for a brief moment the forest seemed aware of all the power gathered here. And what's left of the wildlife flees.

Allenby Beardsley (760) has posed:
    In retrospect, she should have asked for a moment to look at the Colosus beforehand to avoid a situation like this-in which the robot is exploded right in front of her by the overzealous Murasame heir. This time the much bigger explosion does catch her a little off guard and sends her falling backwards. The drill bits stick in the ground next to her as she does and she spends a few moments on her back, regaining her barings. When she does, she leaps back onto her feet and picks up her prizes again.

    "Hey!" she yells at Souji, "Could that have waited? Really? The thing wasn't even moving yet." Allenby grouses, kicking aside a stray malboro tentacle.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    OH RIGHT BAD BREATH. N'raha's sudden efforts to PROTECT SQUISHIES are rewarded by him not dying of multiple horrible poisonous diseases and toxins and infections and and and...

    And he actually manages to drop a few of the ochos in the process. The Marlboros, at least, ran off on their own. That's good, he had no chance against those on his own like this. More over as the rest of the party starts laying in to everything... the catman just sorta flops on his butt.
    He's even slightly inured to the AWESOME EXPLOSIONS behind him as the Colossus cooks off. But that's because his ears and tail prickle at the sudden shift in the aether, the subtle awareness of the Larkscall, of the Shroud, of what's happening here in this place, of the...

    The miq's head suddenly throbs as he leans forward and plants a hand over one ear, a thunderously quiet voice commanding... something. Another shudder as the voice repeats itself...

    To the outsidee world though, he might just be having seizures over there. Maybe some of that Bad Breath affecting him?

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Yeah, you was talkin' all that big shit till you got a dragon to your fuckin' chest. Savage that, bitch," Shin says as he twirls the staff around and then tiredly leans on it. He steps in and lifts the staff up again, trying to bring it down onto the man's hand in a powerful strike, "I want your sword. It's mine by right of combat. Shit's gotta be at least a blue, if not purp, yeah?" He brings the staff down again, trying to get the guy to drop his gunblade.
    "Really, if you drop it and run, you might get away. These guys seem tired and I bet you'd be fun to fight again. In fact..." Shin rubs his chin, "I'm giving you a new name. Didn't know the old one. From now on I'm going to call you Recurring Villain. Until you die, that is." He leans on the staff again and watches <s>Aulus</S> Recurring Villain for a response.
    He does also wave to Allenby, "I'm fine! Just tired! Bit beat up. The usual."

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Power swirls and fades away from the Heir in the aftermath of his spell. He looks upon the battlefield and finds the results.... suitable. "We have spent too much time on this already." Souji replies to Allenby.

He looks to Shin. "Put an end to this!" He barks at the combat vagrant. Kill him or capture him, he doesn't care at this point. This was a complete debacle for the local Garlean forces.

He casts his gaze into the distance. At the same time... There are things that have to be handled carefully...

Alwyn Highwind (815) has posed:
    Aulus frowns, managing to collect the last of his energy into an insulted response. "It's Aulus Rem Vulso, you imbecile! You should kill me now; the legion will come for me, and they will burn all in its path." Spoiler: they won't. This guy's not high enough on the food chain for that.

    The group, at least those who do bother going back to town, will be paid in gil and thanks; a rather hefty sum, to go along whatever loot they've brought back. Starless has her meal, if she wants to make off with him, and the group has anywhere between zero and five prisoners depending on if they want to let them bleed to death or bring them back to town with them.

    Overall, a successful outing.

    ------

    Away from the group, through the thick trees, one could almost catch a glimpse of a purple void, black and violet tendrils of magic marking a black-robed man's appearance out of thin air, a red mask hiding the upper half of his face under the hood. He holds a smartphone up, camera angled between the trees towards the 'heroes' as he muses.

    "So the two powers have finally arrived. Identify them."
    "I can identify -- one -- Confederate -- amidst their ranks, La-ha-breh-ha. Would you like to see their profile?" answers a slow, monotonous, automated female voi<span class=" bold_fg_x bg_n ++ e.
    chx">"No, that's quite alright. Thank you, Siri. I do believe our timetables are about to undergo some very dramatic changes."</span>
    "Would you like me to schedule an event for you?"
    "Not yet. But let's keep our eyes on the prize."

    With the same display of magic, the masked mage warps out of existence, leaving residue of void-tainted magic behind.

Shin Tokuyama (756) has posed:
    "Hey. Don't tell me how to do my schtick, dawg," Shin says to Souji, leaning on the staff again as he looks down at Aulus, "Aulus Recurring Villain. That's the middle-ground," Shin says before bopping him hard in the head to knock him out (or try to). If he succeeds, he'll be taking that Gunblade with him as his second piece of loot. It and the staff are both lashed to his backpack before making his way back towards town with a prisoner.

Mirielle Edelweiss (666) has posed:
    Mirielle's pre-cast of Astra on N'raha stops some of the effects, but not all of the effects of the Bad Breath - turns out, horrible halitosis is kind of equal-opportunity 'screw you'. She pauses, as the Malboros are driven back, to start and spam Esunas on N'raha and anyone else who got some of the stinky stuff on them.

    "Next time, you should try to not be a spaztic mess. It's unondusive to treatment." She notes, crouching over him and pressing pattern-restoring magic into Hero Catman.

    "Once your paralysis clears, please remain still."

    Let's all ignore the fact that Mirielle is directly responsible for his status. Yes. This is good.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Blam. N'raha's body rocks with the blast of an Esuna, which has the usual reaction for the Miq. He sneezes. Like hard, his whole body getting into it. Like one of those chest clearer sneezes.

    That said, he just looks up at Miri as she approaches, holding still for the Doc. "Hahahaaha! I'm fine, everything's fine, it's all good just, yeah, must have got a lungfull of the bad stuff is all. Thanks,though, by the way. You did a great job backing me up!"

    There's a slightly haggard look in his eyes though. He did just kill a bunch of dudes and expend a lot of energy doing so.