4523/The Slug Moor

The Slug Moor
Date of Scene:	07 September 2016
Location:	Bayern Region
Synopsis:	An exploration of the swamp turns terrifying.
Cast of Characters:	Athela Valemore, 984, 1010, Count Kord, 262

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Athela Valemore has posed:
It doesn't take long travelling into the Slug Moor to realize why the marshland surrounding much of Bugen is one of the more readily avoided areas of Bayern. The land beneath your feet is soggy and spongy, making it difficult to gauge what is just muddy turf or could be a dangerous sinkhole. Best to tread lightly. Trees loom overhead, draped in thorny vines and humidity drenched branches that despite sagging still somehow manage to obscure much of the sky above. If that wasn't enough, clouds of mist occasionally drift through as they are want to do in swamplands, smelling of damp peat moss and sulfur from the plethora of Grass and Poison types that call the mires home. Bug types are also pretty prevailant, but fortunately they've only been heard scuttling around in the overgrowth. Nothing has come out to harass the exploration. Yet.

Thankfully the trek isn't a blind wandering. Athela has been into the Moor more times than she would like to remember. About the only good memory is finding the Goomy that sits upon her shoulder, and even that was not without it's troubles. It's little surprise she already has her divine sword out and at the ready. Her Samurott trudges at her side, constantly on wary guard, as the damp ground at least doesn't hinder his movement too much.

It was Athela's Eevee that was in the lead, her sharp nose and ears following the faint trail they had found before, despite the difficulty of the damp surroundings. There are other signs of someone being out here though, with the occasional broken branch or scraping of muck off against a stone.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
"So not only are the cultists completely twisted in the head by their patron's desires, but they call a place this foul home... hah. Somehow fitting. Rotten on the inside, rotten home." Karal Rei Lin chimes in from next to and just behind Athela. Odd as it seems, very few of her steps are actually sinking into the boggy soil. Her pace is even yet footing choices are impeccable, somehow always managing to step where balance and support's best.

    Just how she's managing to keep from sinking down to her knees in gunk and yuck while wearing a heavy set of robes, one might have to wonder..

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Stomping through the muck, Reinhardt seems to be rather focused more on the task at hand than with his armor. He's gone through similar environments before, but that was back in the days when he was just a regular soldier in the Bundeswehr, not smashing villains with a hammer in rocket powered armor.

    That said, he's alert and ready for combat, as he tries to knock a fallen log out of the way with a swift kick. "Nngh! This is getting irritating. How much further, Athela?" He's glad to be able to work alongside the fellow knight and her Pokemon, despite the less than pleasant surroundings.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord was with the group, travelling at the rear of the group. His steps were so silent that one might forget he was even following them if it wasn't for the forboding aura that permeated the air around him. He didn't even make sound through the boggiest of ground as if his body held no weight at all. The lack of encounters with hostile Pokemon might be attributed to his presence, especially because it's readily visible that the local wildlife are afraid of even going near him.

    "Do not mistake the cultists for a foolish caricature of evil. They are cunning beyond measure and every move they make is carefully and coldly calculated far in advance. They have been at this for longer than anyone here has been alive." His voice cuts through his earlier silence as he speaks to Karal. "They make their home everywhere. It is simply easier to see them against the backdrop of the wilderness where they can't hide among innocents and city walls."

    Isn't he just a ray of sunshine--

    Squish. Kord starts complaining when a Goomy actually tries to attack his leg because he smells like a threat. "Not /this/ again, get off...!" He doesn't seem angry, he seems to find it funny, but it does get in the way nonetheless. He shakes the brave little goo ball off his leg and continues to follow, his attitude akin to a proud cat the way he just smoothly lets his aura of silent menace return.

Athela Valemore has posed:
With the Count of Dragoni along, who needs Repels? His forboding presence does a fine job of it. That must of been a pretty brave Goomy.

Unlike the one that prefers to cower in the hood of Athela's cloak when frightened.

"One would hope not far," Athela replies with a mutter. "We did not risk following the path fully before gathering backup. But we are not far from the fringe of the deepest bogs of the Moor, where only Poison types and those resiliate to it would be able to survive for long." A pause. "And The Count is correct. Some of them may seem the be only weird.. but that's because the most obnoxious fools tend to be the loudest. The ones pulling their strings tend to hide behind them.."

She trails off as Sprite comes to a stop by some thorny bushes and starts barking, ears splaying back against her head. But it's not the brush she's barking at, but something snared in it. Athela squats down next to the yapping fox to tug a torn piece of cloth free of a branch. "Someone has definately been here..."

Bushes, the bane of travelling trainers when the obstruct the path. Unless one has the means to clear them quickly. "Lancer, Cut us a path please?" Athela steps back so the larger Samurott can get close, and with a few quick swings of his head slices apart the brush with his helmet blade.

On the other side lies an alcove of some kind, up against a formation of rock for a backside boundry. An awning is strung up over a stack of barrels and crates, for what good it would do against the mucky humidity of the marsh. Several tables sit around the clearing, covered in the plethora of alchemistry vials and tools.

"Luck of the ancient legends, this may be where they were making those poisons." Cautiously the young knight and her pokemon edge into the clearing, leaving room for the others to get past the chopped brush without crowding. "Seems no one is here now... but that is no reason to not remain wary."

Sprite scurries over to sniff at the stack of materials, making a cute face of disgust afterwards. "Vreeee." Whatever it is, in those barrels, it must be nasty.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    "I hadn't the illusion they were nothing but such curs, Count." Reinhardt remarks. He's obsessed with the knight thing, not stupid! Not entirely anyways, in any case the armored knight approaches the torn cloth curiously.

    He peers into the alcove, before trying to fit his way into the opening. "Curse my size, were I a foot shorter this would've been no problem!" He grumbles to himself, but he's gracious enough to try and make a wide opening for his buddies! "Lady Athela, some assistance please if you can spare it?" He requests politely enough, offering a grin beneath his helmet to the knight. Her pokemon have to have something useful they can do to help him with his predicament.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
"I suppose I wouldn't want people willing to blow themselves up hanging around me constantly either." Lin retorts, tone dripping with sarcasm. She frowns at the discovery of cloth, a hand going towards her sword. Plenty of her focus is poured into her senses now, filtering for the smallest trace of anything that might signal there being anyone ELSE here...

    She approaches the awning and the barrels cautiously, taking a roundabout approach while scanning in every direction....

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord keeps away from where the cultists had been brewing their toxins, instead watching their surroundings and keeping his eyes, ears and nose ready to detect anything that might be waiting for them. He is the natural predator of these golem freaks, and so he knows it's best to leave the details of that hideout to the others. It also feels like a good place to get ambushed, so he DEFINITELY isn't going near the alcove as long as he's not certain it's safe to do so, not when a few heroic souls are interested in checking it out. "I'll keep an eye out," he tells them. So far he hasn't seen anything that warrants getting his weapon out.

Athela Valemore has posed:
Athela glances at over at Reinhardt for a moment, and runs a hand through her red hair. "Uh.. sorry? I failed to realize it would be that cramped for your size." She's not exactly tall, even most of her Samurott's size is down on all four limbs, so limited space really didn't cross her mind. "Mayhaps Slurry could grease you with some slime..." Athela muses, even as she steps over to inspect one of the tables. Though she's not inclined to actually mess with anything without knowing better. "Prehaps it would be best to take some samples to be compared to the others... and simply destroy the rest as a precausion."

Her Eevee pads around the stack of barrels, though her interest seems to turn towards the wall behind it instead.

The worrisome thing is that when Karal expands her senses, she starts to get a feeling not unlike being watched from multiple directions...

Probably not a bad thing Kord did not enter as well, it's fairly crowded inside the limited space. There doesn't seem to be much to see outside, though one might occasionally hear a sound not unlike rock being ground together. Definately not the most typical of sounds in a swamp of bugs and poison... unless it's Crustle mating season, but that's an entirely different matter.

But if he squints hard enough, he might see the flicker of a light now and again. It comes and goes, like a lantern swaying as it moves behind other objects in the dank mists.

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    "I'll manage, think nothing of it." Reinhardt shrugs, before he crouches down to try and fit in the interior. He might accidentally bonk his head against the ceiling and walls, so he doesn't care move until samples have been taken and evidence is collected before he moves any further.

R    "How long do you think they were using this place? A month? Two months?" It's curious, seeing this lab out here. There could only be nefarious purposes here.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord draws his weapon from its holster, the scythe unfolding with a few gentle clicking noises. The metal hums gently in the foggy air. He does little to warn the others, because the moment he does, the ones near him will leap into action. The Count instead waits for the fight to begin, his inhuman eyes following the unusual lights, his trained hearing listening for the oddities in the air, his supernatural nose seeking the smell of tainted souls that always follows those cultists and tells him who deserves to feel the sting of a blade.

    He has patience. Once they attack, they'll be open for a counter-attack. And then he can eviscerate the threat.

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"Long enough to learn the lay of the land, I'm sure," Fiera's voice emerges quietly from behind Kord. "Long enough to shape some things to their liking, too ..."

How long she's been there is probably not clear, but there's no denying her presence now. She doesn't look *quite* like she's been slugging through the bog and brush along with the others - she's not unmussed or pristine, but she seems less worn down by the trek than some members of the party are. She wastes little time in sliding past Kord and making her way into the alcove, her eyes narrowing a little as she does so.

"Plenty of wild Pokemon," she murmurs, "but ..." She shakes her head slightly, trying to concentrate. "They may already know we're here."

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
KAral slows briefly upon noticing all the different sounds and sensations.. she knows that feeling, and she angles herself to pass by Reinhardt. "They're still here." She hisses under her breath at him, whilst trying to not reveal that she's onto their stalkers. Best to let them think their prey is unawares, yes?

    Then, a sudden realization hits. "Could be a trap. A big one. Stay away from the barrels." Having realized this, she begins to swiftly back away from the alcove and turns to scanning the surroundings instead!

Athela Valemore has posed:
Even the mire and moisture of the poisonous Moor cannot completely hide that unnatural stench from those that can smell it. Kord wisely makes no warning, which would only tip off the approaching figure as well.

Not long after Fiera slips in after the others does the form finally emerge from the swamp mists like a spectre, entirely clad in dark and tattered robes. Which do not hide his stank of corruption from the inhuman senses of the Count. Instead of the Regi inspired dot-maskes most cultists have been seen wearing, this creature bears a mask with heavy alchemical lenses over where the eyes would be and a elongated almost beak-like protrusion.

He must of not noticed the woman because it's not until seeing the dark form standing in front of his hideaway that he stops abruptly. Though the mask makes it impossible to tell if the surprise is at someone being there, or -who- it is. Who would expect the ruler of Dragoni out here?! The surprise fades sharply though, and with a unnatural hiss he rattles his lantern on a stick towards Kord, which lobs a few sinister looking globs of burning poison at the dark Count.

Athela looks up from the table she was poking about when Fiera appears and speaks. Something in the way the woman says that makes her tense even more, and she steps back from the apparatus as she clenches her sword. "How close?"

Perhaps closer than the young woman realizes.

Behind the crates Sprite sniffs at a break in the wall formation... only to scuttle backwards with a yelp of surprise as part of the rock uncurls into a stony taloned hand to try and grab her! "Vree vree vree!" yowls the small fox as she comes running back into view in a panic!

That's when it becomes more clear why it was hard to distinguish a certain number, as the alcove around them breaks apart. Not into a cave-in, but rather a disengaging of multiple locked limbs to seperate and slide apart to the ground. Then the 'chunks' stand up like bipedal creatures upon fiberous legs while gangly limbs ending in rocky clawed hands dangle off the jagged stone torsos. While another pair of arms jut off the top shoulders. And even their -heads- are shaped like large hands. Though the creepy part is that even the palms of those hands have eyes imbedded in them.

Athela looks a bit surprised at what they are, more so than them being there thanks to other's suspicions. "Barbarnacles? They shouldn't be this far inla--" She pause mid-sentance, realizing that all those eyes, in heads and hands alike, are empty and soulless, and her words turn into a cry of holy rage. "HOLLOWED!"

Though at least Reinhardt isn't so crowded now? On the down side, several of the creatures tried to drop directly onto his back since he was so close to the 'wall' they were making.

Athela swings her sword and hacks the arm off one... except for the arm to keep wiggling and grabbing onto her leg. Her resulting curse is cut short as a rocky fist catchs her afterwards and sends her sprawling into the muck. Forgot each of those hands had a brain. Or now, it's own controlling bit of the corruption. One launches itself at her Samurott after forming two of it's hands into Stone Edge blades, keeping the large Pokemon occupied with parrying the strikes. Goomy tries to slip away, but gets grabbed by all four hands of one, squishing together too tightly for it to ooze between the fingers.

They lost their element of surprise thanks to supernatural senses of others, but they still have the group pretty much surrounded...

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
R    "SCHE-" Reinhardt stops himself just short of exclaiming something not entirely polite in front of the company of ladies, but only just. He yelps in surprise at the Hallowed creature, before he begins to try and smash his way to form a vanguard with hammer in hand.

    "What is this thing!?" he asks aloud, but he focuses more on smashing it really hard with a swift hammer blow, his hammer swinging at the Hallowed abomination.

    He's not exactly keen on finding out despite his words, all that matters is just crushing this thing right now.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord is already well aware of the 'plague doctor' that approaches them. Little did the good alchemist know that such symbology is actually common to the Mausoleum's attendants, reminding Kord of the bird-like masks and anonymous status of anyone that worked in there. It rankled him instantly to see such a guise on someone trying to create death in the name of an unholy cause. He waited only until the enemy tried to attack him, and quickly darted forward with no intention of letting the attack land a solid hit. Some of it hits his cloak, burning through to his skin but resulting in him throwing his cape off and at his target to obscure himself.

    Expecting that his target will try to attack the cloak in anticipation of him going through it, Kord ducks around in the confusion with absolute silence in his steps and gives one huge vicious swing at the alchemist with his scythe. He doesn't hold back at all, trying to mortally wound his opponent from behind. Very few people couple keep up with how quickly and decisively he moves.

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
There's a soft rasp of metal against leather as Fiera draws her sword - but she doesn't QUITE look focused for combat. Rather the opposite, at the moment - like her attention isn't all here.

A moment later, the reason becomes clear: a hole opens in the ground, close enough behind one of the Barbarnacles to potentially steal the creature's footing. A faintly mocking "Dugtrio" floats up from the hole, and then the triple-mole Pokemon attempts to collapse the hole on top of the monster.

Fiera's attention snaps back to her surroundings in the next instant, and hopefully she didn't get killed or maimed in the meantime. She doesn't even *throw* a Pokeball in order to release her Ninetales, and Foxfire unleashes a Fire Spin on the nearest Barbarnacle to Fiera's position. Fiera's sword does lash through the flames as they're unleashed, and she attempts to move to Goomy's assistance - a burning sword *ought* to be at least somewhat effective in slicing a hand or two off this thing, right?

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
Moving in harmony with the reveal of terrific enemies, Karal Rei Lin drops back into a combat stance with a smooth and confident motion. Sizzling golden light crackles in her palms, then LANCES out into the form of a large curved blade not unlike a katana. A Reaper Daiklave, if any knew. Forged of solidified sunfire and blazing like a torch. A few people here have seen this fearsome weapon before...

    "Considering how far OUT here they are, I have to wonder... did they know we were coming far ahead of time and prepare this welcoming party, or are this many guardians ALWAYS here?"

    Creeeeeeepy guardians at that. But no creepier than some demons she's seen. "So I take it you guys have NO interest in just surrendering before I cleave half of you in twain?" She asks of the gathering forces...

Athela Valemore has posed:
While now it was clear the aclove had been a trap in itself, it doesn't fair entirely as planned for the Hollowed monsters. The lack of intended surprise takes some of the stock out of their ambush. Although their forms are still quite terrifying in their own right.

Up until smashed with a giant hammer by an equally giant man. Break the body and the limbs still move, but crush the hands as well and that's the end of that. If the Swords cared much about outsiders Terrikon would possibly be impressed by the display of smashing power of PRECISION GERMAN ENGINEERING.

Being of Rock and Water types, the Fire Spin doesn't do much in the way of harm, but it does do its job of trapping the targets within the flames, keeping them from swarming so easily. On the other hand, the combination is easily victim to the Dugtrio's ambush of the ambusher, dropped into a hole and appropriately buried for a thing technically no longer living.

Karal gets her answer when several of the inhuman eyes just stare at her and her weapon, and then rush her anyways. They don't have the mind left to register the power in that daiklaive, they only know to attack and destroy. Or drag away to become new victims of the corruption.

Despite not being the most effective element, being a -sword- still does wonders for smashing rock appendages, and the blow breaks apart enough of the hands for Goomy to ooze out. Splating on the ground it wibbles back to its usual blobby form... Only to open it's mouth wide and spew out a gout of indigo Dragonbreath flames at the monster to drive it away.

Outside... well there's not really an inside anymore... the unholy hissing and snarling turns into a yelp of surprise as the cloak is thrown over the fiend. He thrashes around in trying to get it off, finally managing to do so just in time to turn and take the scythe gouging across his chest. Another yowl follows as he staggers back, clenching an arm against his chest. He's heavily wounded, only kept together by the Hollowed corruption barely. As he drops to a knee he braces with the staff and rattles it. A couple of the Barbaracles break off from the swarm and turn to charge towards the Count... But how are they going to fair any better?

Athela Valemore has posed:
Overlooked in the fracas for a few moments due to how small and unthreatening the Eevee looks Sprite has huddled back against the stack of barrels. She's not really a frontline fighter, not being very strong, and there's a lot of enemies even with them being smashed and sliced apart at every turn.

Lancer lives up to his name and spears his horn-blade through one of the monsters, then swings around to whip it aside and slam his tail into another. But the fighting has dragged him away from Athela's side, unable to do more than try and fight his way through his own foes.

The Knight of Keldeo spits muck as she gets back up, but the severed arm wraps around her ankles while two of the Barbaracles grab onto her with their various arms to pin her arms and weapon down. One even grabs her head with it's head-hand and pulls back, Athela snarling in pain as her neck is bent backwards.

Sprite's ears splay down with a himper as she minces her paws. She wants to help her master, but what can she do? If only she was stronger. If only...

One of the Barbaracle's digs into Athela's pack with a hand, clawing open a pouch and pulling out a glowing blue stone. Sprite's eyes widen as she reconizes the stone..

And in a burst of motion the Eevee flies across the mucky fight, leaping to chomp down on the searching arm and then grabbing the stone out of it and leaping away. The stone's glow flares brightly from her mouth as she jumps, then falls inert as the glow engulfs the Eevee herself. Fiera probably realizes what's happening, as the glowing form shifts with longer legs and more solid body, ears spreading out into broad angles and tail lengthing out into a mermaid-like shape. Athela can barely see what happens out of the corner of her eye, but it's enough to let out a gasp of amazement of her own.

"VAAAPOREOOOON!" Sprite skids a bit as she lands, which turns her back in the direction she came. An outright massive spout of water erupts from her mouth with the cry, the pressure alone enough to smash the Barbaracles away from Athela and into tiny pieces unthreatening pieces.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
"Have it your way!" The redhead spouts, seemingly QUITE HAPPY to have an opportunity to test her mettle against something that looks like a challenge. Or at least... interesting. The dregs of ancient combat experience flowing through her these days aren't scared yet!

    "Alright, come at me with everything you've got!" One can't help but wonder if she's holding back the urge to go 'wheeeeee' like a litle kid, given the manic JOY on her face. She isn't really a person who does things by halves. Nor is she the kind of person who'll trudge through life as though it were a sequence of drudgery.

    A good adrenaline rush is something to enjoy!

    So she takes a moment to spin her weapon around with swift flourish. Sizzling golden light trails her every motion in adjusting her stance... then...

    "Haaaiyai!" Faster than a blink, she's off! A wake of gunk and yuck thrown up in her wake. The Barbarnacles are her target. ALL of them. Because she skids in low and slashes mightily, body whirling over the swampy ground and blade moving so quickly that only golden streaks can be seen as it passes. She's roaring like a maniac, leaping from creature to creature and aiming to slash one from one shoulder to another, whirl around and cleave lengthwise into offending arms and then backflip off the thing and use the momentum to DRIVE the burning daiklave straight through another of the unfortunate Hollowed creatures...

    Or well, that kind of manuever's what she has planned...

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
Fiera hadn't had time to sort out which type mix the group's ambushers consisted of, but between the high effectiveness of Chika's Dig attack and the limited impact of the Fire Spin, she's able to start piecing things together pretty quickly. Her first thought, honestly, is that an Earthquake technique might be best for wrapping this fight up in a hurry - but that would hit her allies as much as their enemies. Still, type advantages don't mean much against Confuse Ray, and the Hollowed *should* be reasonably vulnerable to Psychic-type attacks.

She also doesn't need to worry about all of them on her own, which is particularly welcome news. Fiera didn't bring the best set of Pokemon for this type match-up; she was expecting, well, more swamp-adapted types. And probably Poison-types as well.

For the moment, Foxfire launches Confuse Ray at one or two of the remaining Barbarnacles, while Chika hollows out the ground under another of them. If the best Fiera and her team can do is tilt the odds further in her allies' favor, she's happy to let them finish the job. Still, the flare of Sprite evolving on the spot into a Vaporeon keeps Fiera from completely syncing up with either of her active Pokemon - which MIGHT be for the best in some regards: getting too deep into sync could leave her unprepared for something that she could see coming with her attention all in her own head ...

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Using a hammer, it's easy to say that Reinhardt has no problem making as much damage as he possibly can, the gigantic knight grabbing his next opponent by the arm, tossing them outside where he can maneuver a bit easier.

    "Yaaaaah! Time to finish this!" His rockets boost him right out of the alcove, leading him to collide with the stone creature with maximum force. On top of a rocket powered shoulder-check from hell, impacting with the force of a freight train, Reinhardt follows it up with a hoist of his hammer. The end of his hammer begins to let off a roar as the boost kicks in, and he brings it down on top of the rocky one. "HAMMER-DOWN-!"

    Needless to say, there might be a small crater wherever the creature may have stood before, once Reinhardt is done with this thing.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord begins to laugh as the Barbarnacles are sent after him even as they get mobbed by skilled warriors, and makes no attempt to stop his own assault, even as his arm hisses from the toxic goo clinging to his skin. He lunges forward with his mad laughter echoing through the bog, his legs propelling him with superhuman speed toward his prey. His scythe is released and whips through the air as if suspended by an invisible force behind him, his clawed gauntlets grasping for the alchemist. He tries to get a firm grip of an arm or the alchemist's neck, and then he does something pretty dramatic.

    Provided he got a good handhold, he manifests his strange red and black wings and rockets up into the air with one firm wingbeat -- complete with a noticeable blast of air where he was standing a moment ago -- where he can't be struck by the Barbarnacles no matter how hard they throw their stones or blast jets of water up there, carrying the alchemist the whole way. The only things that could hit him are truly rare abilities that are unlikely to be found in this battle. And then he would release the alchemist and grab his scythe again out of the air, and just watch his prey drop toward the jagged stones he picked as the inconvenient landing zone.

Athela Valemore has posed:
The numbers are really thinning out, but that doesn't stop one of the remaining Barbaracles from lunging at the newly evolved pokemon and trying to smash a fist into her... only for said fist to slam down into the muck as the Vaporeon disappears! Or more accurately, uses her new ability to become like water to blend into the wet, swampy terrain. Without the mental functions to realize what happened, it just keeps punching the muck with it's various fists trying to find her.

"In the name of Justice, your corruption be purged from this land!" Only to look up as Athela steps in and swings her blessed weapon. "SACRED SWORD!" Resolute Blade glows almost blindingly with energy as it takes off the head-shaped hand of the monster. The rest of the creature doesn't just collapse, it breaks apart with glowing cracks and crumbles away as the Hollow corruption is tore away by the divine weapon. Keldeo may not have the following to sit with the big names of the Bayern patheon again, but it makes his power through his Chosen One no less a bane upon these unholy creatures.

Athela looks down to her side as Sprite reforms from the swampy water next to her. "Seems leaving the choice to you was most fortunate in the long run." "Vaap!" Sprite barks back, bobbing her finned head in agreement.

Most part Rock-types aren't exactly fast, and even unholy corrupted Barbaracles aren't much different. Karal's blitzing assault through them is so fast that she leaves a trail of muck and a glowing aftertrail of her weapon... and the monsters don't actually shatter and collapse until after she's stopped on the other end of her maneuver.

The combination of confusion and pitfalls works well enough despite being improvising with the pokemon Fiera has at hand. The ones that aren't crushed by Dugtrio holes are left trapped partway in the ground make them easy targets for Samurott and Goomy to finish off.

One probably would wish it had just fallen into a hole, as instead it gets the full blunt of Reinhardt's righteous German wrath. It's like getting tackled by a Steelix but a lot faster than any steel serpent could move. Getting bowled over makes it easy for the hammer to catch, heave into the air, only to catch again and SLAM into the ground that a brief circle of mud and mire radiates outward from the impact before settling down. The remains of the now destroyed monster are swiftly buried as the muck flows back in fill the crater left by the attack.

The scythe spinning through the air is more than enough to knock the Barbaracles away from their master and give Kord to oppritunity to grab the alchemist, whom even with mask seems to express some amount of surprise and terror at the massive black and red wings spawned by the Count to launch into the air. Already mortally wounded he can do little but struggle, the deviant laughter of the emissary of Yveltal ringing in his ears.

Until he's let go.

The results are gruesome to say the least. A body, corrupted but still mostly made of flesh, dropped upon them. A very real display of why the master of Dragoni is not a man to be trifled with lightly.

Fiera Kitsun (262) has posed:
"I think we got them."

Fiera's voice is quiet but crisp now, and she wipes her sword off before sheathing it again. Chika finally breaks the surface next to her feet, with Foxfire padding over to stand next to her; Fiera spends a moment or so petting her Pokemon and appreciating their efforts, feeding a Pokeblock to each of them before recalling the Dugtrio and the Ninetales to their Pokeballs. She doesn't need them out at the moment, and the swamp still feels less than friendly even with the major 'trap' dealt with.

"What else do we need to do here? Just destroy their equipment and supplies, and be on our way?"

Reinhardt Wilhelm (1010) has posed:
    Reinhardt looks down at the remains of the Barbaracle at his feet, before he slings his hammer across his shoulder. "Well fought, all of you!" He grins, removing his helm to reveal a bright smile, a blind eye, and a GREAT BUSHY BEARD that looks more like a lion's mane than someone's facial hair. He giddily wanders over to Athela, giving the fellow knight a firm but careful clap on the shoulder. "I feel like I am missing something here, didn't your...err...Sprite look different before?" He asks, eyebrow cocked as he inspects Sprite for a moment. Pokemon are still kind of an alien concept to him, sadly.

Karal Rei Lin (984) has posed:
Karal Rei Lin eventually comes skidding to a halt - carefully - as the sounds of battle die down. She's frowning. I was a hell of a workout... but the creatures were too slow. TOUGH, but too slow to be a threat...

    Another disappointment. She's hoping so much that one day she'll come across a creature that's actually a good CHALLENGE..... without it being an insanely troublesome creature like the Wall of Lumiere...

    "Putting quantity over quality with their guardians was a big mistake when it has to deal with a group like ours," She murmurs, dissatisfied in as many ways as she is happy this place is has just been neutralized.

Athela Valemore has posed:
"Good job, all of you." Athela is not quite so forward with her affection as Fiera is, trying to maintain some amount of a proper knightly demeanor. But the appreciation is audible in her voice. She does give Sprite a brief scritch behind the headfin though. "We shall have to test your new abilities more thoroughly. After a good rest."

She stands back up, only to get nearly knocked over by Reinhardt. "Ah.. yes," she replies as she stands back up and uses one hand to straighten out her headpiece. "Most pokemon are capable of evolving into a stronger form at some point in their life. Or some, like Eevee, evolve due to a special rare item." Probably best to not get into more detailed terms than that. Eevees are a special and somewhat confusing case that could take an entire scene on its own to explain.

It's not until the aftermath that Athela even realized Kord was fighting someone other than the Hollowed pokemon. Until she notices the lantern staff, dropped when the alchemist was hoisted into the air in a chokehold, which she walks over to pick up. Then pauses as she peers at it.

True Justice to be served. Let the maker's tool undo his work.

Athela blinks twice, and shakes her head a little. She wasn't expecting that at this point... But it doesn't take much thought to realize what her patron means. "Everyone stand back!" Once it's clear she flings the staff into what had been the aclove, shattering the lantern and in turn setting the work ablaze, the strange chemicals and supplies easily overcoming the damp environment to ignite.

Eventually, once everything has burned to nothing useful, she and her pokemon can use their water abilities to put the flames out before it harms any of the natural marshland.