Scene #743:

Owner	Pose
Faruja	The Yagudo Woods are normally a rather peaceful place. Strangely, it's filled with many pits and valleys even as it has its share of massive trees that constantly casts it in a dim light. But for all that, it's normally a simple wooded area. Until a month ago. Stories of the undead and local woodsmen ran off their shacks came to the Inquisition, and it's promptly landed on Faruja's desk. With hardly the time to go himself? He's pawned it off on a certain tricky Exalted, and a shapeshifting agent of his. "Find the undead. Destroy them. Loudly. Then bring me the source. Alive, if possible." The pair would need to travel deep into the winding forests to find the greater infestation; a massive central lake, teeming with eerie fog. All around, zombie wolves, skeletons, and more human bodies shuffle. Strangely? There's signs as if some of them have dug /up/ from the ground rather than just wandered in. There's at least thirty undead in all. The sheer number is no doubt why he insisted on an Exalted coming along for the ride.
Finna	Finna's sword is bloodied. She's already engaged in several weaker animals and one human zombie on the way into the forests alongside Allyn. The lithe woman doesn't seem so suited for swordplay - at least, not the kind of weapon she's been using - but through sheer strength and nimble handling she's handled herself just fine. And instead of using her animal form, she's in human form. Moonsilver tattoos are on full display and so is the glittering Caste Mark of the crescent moon on her forehead. A faint film of silvery light surrounds her body, leaving contrails with every motion. Faruja wants 'loud?' She'll give him loud. She'll give him so loud that this area will remember how Luna's chosen purged the undead for centuries to come. "Well, Allyn. I hope you know how dangerous this is. The undead won't go down if you just bite through arteries and hope they'll bleed out. Only crushing them and decapitation usually does the trick. What've you got that can give us a show?" Though bloodied herself, Finna doesn't pay this any mind. The huntress is in her element, and even bloodstains will not mar her image or advance. The blood is sticky and old and congealed though, and reeks, so she doesn't like this one bit. Faruja will owe her one later.
Allyn	Well, he was asked to help out with the problem of the undead in the woods and it is true, though both he and Finna are trouble, the pair of shapeshifters are also good at solving any trouble that Faruja finds himself faced with. He wouldn't tell his friend no of course, not with something like this needing to be done. He wanders through the woods, looking for the place they were asked to go and see about. "Hmmm, something that can give us a show hmm? lets see, I've got a few tricks I guess. Unless you want me to fight as a human too anyway. Actually that might be a good idea, I haven't in a while, but I'm not bad." He shifts into his human form and draws his long-knife from its sheath, well it's more like a short sword really with as long as it is and he peers at Finna a moment, "Besides, I can't let you show me up too much, can I?" he gives her a wink and then goes to work on a zombie wolf, "Foul corrupted beast1 It's time to die again!" yeah, he can be loud too.
Faruja	The undead are as mindless as ever. The Lunar's presence hardly seems to give them pause, as undead man and wolf turn as one. Almost too perfectly so. They start to spread out, to surround the pair as they make their presence known. Several wolves make to tear into Allyn in his human form, even as rotting-armor clad human zombies advance on Finna. Longspears are aimed for vital points with strength far beyond what should be possible for their rotting forms. The first wolf loses a leg as Allyn swings, the creature flopping down to the ground and struggling up. Out near the lake, something shimmers amidst the nearly impenetrable fog.
Finna	Sparks fly into the nighttime forest as Finna's sword clashes against spears. She moves with beast-like agility back and forth, dancing, ducking, and weaving, and occasionally deflecting strikes with her sword. There's no FORM to her motions, and little reason. Instinct and sheer talent guides her over skill. But she manages to still overpower a few mere zombies. These are stronger than she's used to, but they're still fighting stupidly... but even so... "Since when did zombies start using weapons?! It happens sometimes, but this many of them?!" That is worrisome. Still, she DUCKs under a spear strike and turns it aside with a circling motion from her sword, then LUNGES in to deliver a powerful elbow strike and off-balance her enemy... then spins about to strike away another spear and plunge her weapon towards another zombie's heart. Her attention flicks towarsd the distant lake barely visible through the trees. "... if we put our backs to the water we can get a better picture of what's happening here... and show me up if you can! I'd like to see it!"
Allyn	Allyn growls as he's set on by a couple of the zombie wolves, gettin bit by them and such. "Hey! I'm not a chew toy! So chew on this you mangy mutts!" He dances back some, he's not too slow for being a big guy, but he's not as lithe and graceful as Finna either. He glares at the wolves, and slashes at the nearest one's throat with his knife. He nods towards Finna and ponders, "Do you think that is a good idea? What if something were to come from that direction? Maybe we should fight back to back, so we can keep our eyes in all directions?" he's not sure which would be the best idea here, but well, Finna's opinion will determain. "Show you up, hmmm? I'm not sure if right now is the time to be flashy, though I may start feeling a little crabby soon."
Faruja	Between their strength, and the pure feeling of /wrongness/ in the area, it might quickly become clear there's more to these undead than simple spirits. To Finna's Lunar skills, it might sense as being somewhat centered around each and every undead. The human ones in particular seem doused in some kind of horrible magic. The savage slash of knives to the throats of wolves and the pure bestial strength behind the blows of Finna quickly seem to reduce the encroaching undead's numbers. Hearts are torn out, limbs fly, and soon enough, the zombies are down about a third of their number. One might wish to watch their heels, however, as the twitching remains still try to chew and nip at ankles. Suddenly, the ranks of the undead stop. They slowly back away, and the spear-wielding humans of the remainder of the undead close ranks. Shield-toshield, it's a classic phalanx. They start to advance, even as a good half dozen of the remaining undead-wolves menace the pair of Allyn and Finna. The fog shifts over the lake, and an eerie chanting floats over the water. Movement can vaguely be seen by the sharpest of eyes should they look. The twitching bodies of the fallen undead begin to twitch more, and slide along the ground towards the lake as if being pulled by some force...
Finna	"Whoah--" When the zombies start getting coordinated, Finna leaps back and over to Allyn, at his back as he suggested. "... Admit it, you just can't get over having me up close and personal." The girl teases lightly, though her eyes are locked in on the phalanx formation with a deadly serious gaze. "... They're coordinated..." She was feeling pretty arrogantly confident about this matter before. Cleaning out some zombies? Pshaw, give her a real mission. (not that she'd tell Faruja that, and these do need to be dealt with.) But some of that confidence dwindles. She doesn't like this at all. "... Not good... this isn't some random outbreak from the underworld or whatever. Zombies this tenacious and coordinated... have to be working for a necromancer or something!" Stowing her sword away in Elsewhere, she instead draws a bow and quiver full of arrows from the mysterious pocket. "Hrmph! You do that if you like. I'm not getting near that formation. they'll make anything that gets near into a shish-ka-bob! So..." Somehow she draws four arrows SIMULTANEOUSLY. unlike her sworsdmanship, her archery seems to be quite practiced! Silvery light flows along the arrows and bowstring... and... "Skewer this, rotters!~" The arrows all fly... but not in the same direction. They bounce and zip about, ricocheting off trees and changing angles several times apiece. each bounce is heralded with another little flicker of Lunar essence... but when they make their last course correction? They home in on knees, coming in from weird angles that aren't gonna be easily defended against. She hopes to disrupt the formation by making zombies topple over and trip other zombies!
Allyn	Allyn chuckles some as Finna teases him, "Well, if you really want me to. Yeah, I like having you up close and personal." he teases back, "You're warm and you smell good." He tosses a wink Finna's way. But then there's half a dozen zombie wolves coming at him, no time to flirt with the fox! don't get distracted. He mutters and then grins a little, "Ok, that does it, you undead currs have made me mad! I think it's time to give you all a bath!" he steps away enough from Finna though, and shifts forms, becoming a large, eight foot tall crab, ok not just any crab a Megalocrab, he snaps his pincers at the zombie wolves menacingly and then lets out a stream of acidic bubbles at the zombies! "Join the rest of your pack! its way past time you did so!" He's not going to get shish-ka-bob'd and he's not going to let that happen to Finna either, though she's handling herself well!"
Faruja	The arrows' paths take them straight through the front ranks, cutting out the knees from the advancing minor horde. The second ranks predictably tumble over, several skewered by the flailings of their companions! Cue a gigantic crab-Allyn spewing acid! The fallen ranks melt into sludge that similarly is pulled into the lake. The two might want to watch their feet! The small horde has all but stopped right now. What might be more worrying as how the lake behind them starts to bubble and seemingly boil as the eerie chanting over the other side of the lake grows louder.
Finna	"W-wuh?!" What kind of compliment is 'you smell good?' Not one she'd be getting from most people, that's for sure. Finna subdues a momentary blush. Allyn's insanely simpleminded honesty is something she's still getting used to. With the zombie phalanx toppling though, she brushes some hair over a shoulder as if to say 'that was TOO easy' - and pauses mid-motion. ".... Oh...? Allyn, trouble!" He's been taking care of himself pretty impressively. One day she'll show off her own Megalocrab form, but for now... for now, her ears draw back along her head. Her tail goes stiff. The claws come out too, as she stuffs the bow and quiver away. "Aaaaallyn, by the lake! Quickly! Something's happening!" And she's about ready to go Warform, if it's as bad as it seems.
Allyn	Allyn turns towards the lake when Finna draws his attention that way and he makes a gurgling crab noise. Well, if something is going on, this might not be that great of a form for it. Sure, it's good for some major defense and such, but its slow and slugish. "I guess we should go and investigate it then." he responds to Finna. Though he ponders for a few moments, "Or should we wait for it to come to us, maybe we shouldn't charge into the unknown though, might be a little foolish." then again, Allyn usually is a little foolish about such things, but he's trying. If Finna's going to go warform, well, he will too, so he shifts to his wolfman form, but this time gives himself sharp feline-like claws and yeah, even that long, scorpion tail he uses in his crocdilian 'warform' since he doesn't really have a better word for it. "Ready?" he growls to Finna and then sniffs the air.
Faruja	By now, that zombie horde behind them has all but faded away, either into the lake, or farther into the woods. The lake itself boils away as what's beneath is revealed! A massive, quivering ball of flesh, shaped with dozens of maws both human and animal! The mass rises up, forming a pair of vaguely arm-like appendages, the entire thing sliding up out of the once-lake. It's at least ten feet tall, and twice as much wide, even as the hands attempt to slam down and squish the two! The chanting grows louder, and something shines in the slightly gelantinous undead flesh-blob. Rather than light, there seems to be a core of anti-light within! As the fog starts to fade, one might spy three robed figures on the riverbank, kneeling as they chant.
Finna	"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Lakes shouldn't just boil away. This entire occurence screams BAD NEWS to Finna. She executes a terrific backflip, hoping Allyn has the sense to get away as well. The hand comes down and smashes the soft ground, probably leaving a nasty print... But Finna, now an anthropomorphic fox woman with claws that trail silvery light and mighty teeth, Moonsilver tattoos on full display, just goes skidding across the ground with claws dug in. She dodged by just ten feet, but daaaaaaang. She glances about every which... and that turns out to be to her benefit. "Weeeeeeeell... first piece of advice, stay away from the horror from the black lagoon!" Instead she's circling around at high speed, bearing down on the robed ones and snarling the whole way. She's almost on all fours, and probably looks quite fearsome all things considered. Still, she doesn't just attack when she reaches them! Instead... "Is this whole mess YOUR doing?!"
Allyn	Allyn growls and snarls at the fleshy-blobby thing that appears from the lake, but when Finna jumps out of the way, he does as well, in the opposite direction! he manages to dodge barely as well. He growls loudly again, "Finnnnna! What is that!" Well, they did sign up for this mission, but can the two of them actually take out this thing? Though he thinks Finna's got the right idea by going after those robed figures down by where the lake was, well if she is going to do that, he guesses he'll just have to distract the blob, but how to do that? He darts in to slash with his claws and string with his tail at one of the blob's arms, it'll probably take a few moments for it to lift them again anyway.
Faruja	The trio's looks are pretty much universally 'oh crap' as they're stared down by the massive warform of an Exalted. They're either really cowardly, or smart, as they instantly fall to their knees. The lead woman, likely a woman, lets out a shakey voice. "Y..no! Wasn't us! I mean...yeah, we summoned it! But we were told to! We'd be killed if we didn't and thrown into /that/!" Quivers the woman. Allyn's slashes and tail-strikes remove one arm, and the other goes flying over to its other side...only to tear off! Where does it land? Why right on top of one of the mages. Squish! Ewww. For now, as the chanting stops, the blob remains inert.
Finna	"... Oho. So you're controlling it too! Good work, Allyn! Aside from the...um..." She makes a face at the squashed mage. That probably won't go over with the two summoners, but... "You two have an important appointment with a certain inquisitor. Don't give me that excuse. Only people who get pretty deep into a cult even have the skills to summon stuff like this!" She reaches out with both clawed hands and HOISTS them up by their middles. Tries to, anyways! "Allyn, watch out! That thing's probably not dead! If it keeps moving, we'll have to stop it here before it leaves the forest!"
Allyn	Allyn lets out a howl as the arm goes flying and he follows it with his eyes and then winces as it squishes a mage. Well, Finna seems to have them under control then, "Alright!" he calls out and then eyes the inert blob for a few moments, "Think you can keep them quiet, I'll see what I can do to handle this thing, it's rather squishy it seems!" Yeah he might have said that, but what is he going to do to 'handle' it. That's one problem, he doesn't think that far in advance, besides they don't know what the blob can do if anything more. "Ah, I got it! Let's try this!" he shifts again, using another form he's learned while in the other world, he shifts into a Wyrmhound and takes off into the air, then turns around and flys back towards the blood, breathing chunks of ice at it as he goes. "Back to where you came from!"
Faruja	The two remaining cultists are by now scared silent, quivering in Finna's grasp. They nod obediently, not seeming to care about their companion. Hoist! They go like sacks of scared potatos over Finna's bi warshoulders. The ice seems to do the trick; not only does the blob seem to hate ice, but it actively moves away...and back into the empty lake! By now the falling ice has lightly frosted over its topside, and its left marginally frozen into the lake by now. There's just a quivering mass left. It'll take a /lot/ to deal with it, but at least it's cowed.