Scene #1262:

Owner	Pose
Thranduil	It isn't often that the Elvenking Thranduil finds himself in hot water, but with his guards dead on the ground, pierced by Morgul arrows, he is in an unusually tight bind, literally. The Orcs that ambushed their party are also dead on the ground, having been attacked by the giant spiders inhabiting this section of the forest. Thranduil had escaped the Orcs but finds himself bound to a tree, wrapped in thick sticky spider webbing as the foul creatures skitter across the ground, wrapping up the Orcs and Elves alike for their next meals. One might be able to follow the trail of bodies and spider goop to the web covered tree.
Gaius Van Baelsar	The Truce is still on! And many of the XIVth Legion is on leave. While many are spending time with their families or are enjoying the luxuries of Costa Del Sol out in La Noscea. There are some who have stayed armored up to aid in Mor Dhona and others who just don't know how to take a vacation. Though for a group of three, they have found themselves going out for an adventure across the Multiverse. Learning of the different cities and places, until well-- their trip lead them here in Third Earth and needless to say. Its a bit more then what they were expecting. It first started out normal, then being chased by orcs into a dark forest and now-- now they are being chased by spiders. Giant.. ass.. spiders. They don't even looking like Gaius' men at first sight. One of them though looked like a male elf, while the other two looked human-- a male and a female. They all had one assorted cloths that may remind one brown leather pants to blue jeans, and shirts of either white or black in color. Then the female had a tan leather vest to match her brown leather pants and dark brown boots. She was actually the quickest of the group with her short, messy blonde hair and aqua blue eyes. "Keep running!" She shouts back to the two as she jumps over a massive root. "Why did we even have to come here again?!" A male human asks as he slides under a fallen tree and keeps running. His jeans getting muddied up, while his steel toed boots carrying him over the land. He has a holster at his hip with some type of hand gun in it. He has black hair and blue eyes, there is white 'gem' in the center of his forehead-- though in truth, its the Garlean third eye. The Elf spins around in quick step and takes aim with his gunblade, "Because we wanted to go on an adventure! So here you have it!" He has silver hair that is pulled back into a pony tail, dark brown skin, and sharp emerald green eyes. He is mostly wearing black in color, beyond the dark brown leather pants and dark brown duster. The Elf pulls the trigger and the shot fires across the distance. The 'kapow' of the shot echoes in the forest. The blue spark coming off the barrel. Though even as he fires, he spins around to keep running. Not carrying if his shot makes it or not. Though they would be soon up on the sight of the Elf King and his men at this rate-- which is-- probably not good, or is, depending on how you look at it.
Finna	How lucky it may be for some that not long ago, Fina had finally decided to brave the woods and made her kill of one of the Giant Spiders. A clean assault from above, driving her sword into the creature's innards and bleeding it out. Or well... ichor. Spider-goo is not the same thing as blood, but it will do. Even though it tastes awful. And that's why there's another Giant spider follwing up on the current mess and towards the bigger mess of spiders. The form is far less comfortable than she'd anticipated. The thing just rubs her the wrong way! But for now it's useful enough. For she smells and hears something that is NOT Giant Spider in all of this. The enormous arachnid descends down, down from the treetops, dangling on a thickly-reinforced silken cord spun from its spinnerets. It might be thicker than he's seen before - especially dependent on whether the Giant Spiders normally do that manuever. But she has dangled down a good ten feet before the Elvenking, a hideous sight to behold. The crazy thing though is she speaks, and not in anything like a hideous voice. "In a bind, your Kingliness?" A smooth, perky female voice! One he might remember. In moments, and likely in full view of all the Giant Spiders... her carapace melts away and shrinks, becoming leather clothing and girl-flesh. A teenager with fox ears and a tail dressed in hunters' leathers - if skimpily - dangles on the spider silk now. It sprouts from her hands as naturally as before. She's grinning. It's an awful, predatory grin! A trickster's grin. Good thing there's no malice directed at HIM, right? The approaching shots and all that do make her spin about and look though, eyes narrowing! "They couldn't be here this quick, could they?!" Oh well. Chances are the Giant Spiders may take offense at free ANYTHING being so near their special captive. Finna doesn't seem too worried about THAT though.
Archer of Brown	Archer has no idea whose forest this is, or who lives in it. He's exploring, on his employer's behalf, searching for potential allies in his Grail War. In fact, he hasn't even the faintest idea that anything is amiss here, until his horse, a Kentucky Saddler, starts to get spooked. The creature seems hesitant to venture further into the woods, nickering and tramping its hooves in place despite the Servant's attempts to get it to venture nearer. Archer plays it by ear for a bit, until something causes the animal to rear up in fright. Having been summoned as an Archer, it's all the Servant can do to keep his mount from bucking him off, but eventually he reins it in, only to discover the source of the animal's terror. "Hell and Jesus," he mutters, staring at the corpse of a spider. The Servant pats his steed reassuringly, rubbing its withers and shushing it. He dismounts, then retrieves from the saddlebags a lever-action rifle--a Winchester, to be specific. It's not his Noble Phantasm, but he shouldn't need the revolvers for spiders, even if they are as big as Buicks. As for his horse, well... he can always dematerialize! The gunfighter stops. Gunshots. Someone else is here, too. No time to decide friend or foe--these spiders look like they could eat a man alive. One half-eaten orc near a tree confirms this. He listens, then turns towards the source of the hurried footsteps. There, off in the distance. The Servant brings the Model 1876 to bear. There's gunfire from another part of the forest now, from a man practically bursting with Essence and most assuredly not a part of the troops, however much he's helping them by picking spiders off. He snaps a glance towards Finnaspider, adjusts his stance and... Whoa. Well, guess she's not looking to make that fellow into dinner. Archer advances, working the lever with superhuman speed.
Kyra Hyral	In retrospect...Kyra should have waited for a party before coming into this forest. Or maybe listened to Finna's warnings a bit more though she has noticed that the Lunar can be pretty mischevious and playful. At the very least maybe she should have dragged Ryu along with her as she went to catch up with Finna. Kyra's not an official tracker but she can definitely follow carnage. After a while it's hard to determine who exactly the carnage belongs to. A green-feathered chocobo darts through the thick forest with ease, the creature adept at navigating the environment. It wasn't Kyra's usual summon matrix but knowing where to go did help. Knowing this place was hostile also helped, meaning Kyra already has her newest gun, the Luna's Resolve (a quite fancy-looking revolver forged by Lloyed Irving), out when she starts to near the more overt signs of giant spiders. Her smooth riding, however, becomes abruptly interrupted when the Chocobo snags on spider silk and sends the white mage flying forward onto the ground. Rather than remain tangled in the webbing, the chocobo actually disappears in a flash of green light shortly afterwards.
Gaius Van Baelsar	The gun shot was replied with another, which causes the male human to glance over his shoulder, "Looks like we got someone else having a bad day as well!" The tall elf tsks gently, "Be glad that I believe they were not aiming at /us/." The woman jumps up and shoves off a downed log, before impacting the ground with a roll, only to almost come face to face with a dead orc corpse, "Hells gates!" She barks out, almost falling over backwards. The two others catch up with her about then. The Elf holds the gunblade at ready while the other male pulls out his holstered weapon. The female then backs up into them and tightens her fists up. Though the elf looks back over his shoulder at her, "See.. you should have been like us and brought a weapon." "Hush." She snaps back, before her eyes are drawn to the shadows that play in what little light makes it through the branches, before her aqua blue eyes have her looking up at Finna hanging there along with some of the elves of this very woods. "..Guys? Um.." Though the flash of green causes the man to quickly slide his foot around and take aim. Only to find some woman on the ground. "..what the..?" He then tsks softly, before he carefully starts to step toward her. Though he scans the grounds with his hand-gun ready to aim if something so much creeps out like a spider-- or leaps-- or whatever. If it has eight eyes and more then four limbs.. he is shooting it! "Hey.. hey you. Get up." He says to the white mage. "Cause trust me, you don't want to be on that ground for long." The female of the group is looking at both Finna and the elf king still. Her eyes darting between the two. "Guys.. I.. need to borrow a knife. Maybe." The elf in the group looks over at what the female scout is looking at, before he just stares at Finna hanging around up there on silk, "..Seriously?" Though his attention snaps back to the downed white mage. "...this place is crazy."
Thranduil	Thranduil's dark brow stands out against his pale complexion as he scowls at Finna. "Amusing you are not." He says dourly, struggling against the spider webbing. "Perhaps you would be so kind as to free me." The Grey Elf flinches when the unfamiliar sound of gunshots echos through the forest, causing his ears to ring. The large spiders may be hidden from sight for the moment, but their clicking can be heard as they communicate with one another. If one were in posession of the One Ring, they might be able to understand them speaking, but to everyone else, it is just a bunch of clicks and squeaks. "Why are you all standing around as though you are not in the tainted forest?" He asks, shifting his shoulders.
Finna	"Me?" Finna pauses momentarily, forcing Essence through her perceptions and spirit into that section of her soul dedicated to Understanding and bridging gaps. her exaltation thrums, gifting her with the ability to speak to and understand animals. Perhaps this will let her understand the spiders and their strange, NOT very natural clicks and hisses. Perhaps it will not. Creation and Middle Earth have very little in common. "Had some unfinished business to take care of. Not anymore, so we're operating on favor time!" Well maybe not really. She might not be audacious enough to try and pull one on Thranduil. A glance over her shoulder at the approaching scouts. "Yep!" She answers the one staring at her. next thing anyone knows Finna's pulling a weapon out from behind her back. It's a practically-designed short sword with a keen edge. She can't spare much attention for the others approaching, given the Giant Spiders ight attack anytime. She focuses on Thranduil! And dices. And hacks. And slashes. In under two seconds! While that might be somewhat intimidating to anyone in Thranduil's situation, he is completely untouched by the edge! Much of the webbing however... is not so lucky. It's hacked through easily. Then she reverse grips on the sword and offers it to Thranduil. Should he take it, the next thing she tosses his way is a shortbow and quiver. It's litle more than a well-made hunting bow, but it's probably better off in his hands than hers. The only question is where she's PULLING THIS STUFF FROM. She doesn't have any way to hide it! Finally, letting go of the silk she spins about, rights herself... and lands, now bringing out her own dagger. "Fight or flee?" Only now does all the teasing die down because she's honestly not so sure about this number of 'em, or who exactly's come to help.
Kyra Hyral	"Ow." Kyra mutters from her faceplanted spot on the ground, prone for only about a second before she pushes herself up onto her feet, mostly manuvering with her right hand as her left remains firmly clutched around her gun. As she looks up, she hears some guy shouting at her to get up. "What do you think I'm doing!!" she shouts back, only the slightest bit of panic in her voice. She's seen the spider carcasses. They're huge. She hears the arachnids clicking in the trees above them. There are clearly more live ones out there and Kyra clearly doesn't want to be around for any of it seeing as seh's now up on her feet and closing the gap between her and the gun-wielding man. "I'm trying to find my friend. Have you seen a tiger around here?" She looks beyond the man to where the female scout is staring and...smiles. "Oh, good. Hi Finna! Wait...Finna, you're not a tiger!" Kyra almost seems disappointed by this. Catching up, she moves ahead of the gun-carrying man just as Finna cuts the elf king free of the webbing. "I thought you were a tiger right now. Doesn't seem we're alone anyway, there are those people-" she waves at the elf, female scout, and the guy who yelled at her to get up with her free hand. Then that free hand suddenly becomes less free as she arms herself with an additional weapon. Specifically, she pulls out some kind of flask containing green liquid from beneath her hoodie.
Archer of Brown	Archer approaches the king, then takes a look around. His eyes dart from person to person, eyeing their weapons. His gaze is equal parts appraising and cautious. Is anyone here going to try and shoot him in the back? No... looks like they're too concerned about the spiders. Speaking of spiders, is everyone here okay? Looks like it. Wait--hm. That lady doesn't have one. The gunfighter nods to the trooper. "Catch," he says. Archer tosses the rifle to her. "Winchester Model 1876. Lever-action, won't shoot if you don't press the lever all the way down." Ammo's $4 a shot these days, but with United States senator bankrolling him, it's pocket change. Kyra's inquiry gets a tip of the hat and a brief introduction. "Call me Archer," he says. "Haven't seen any tigers here, and I'm fairly certain I'd remember if I had." "We ought to flee, unless we got enough ammo between us to squash every bug this side of Dodge." Well, maybe he does--but even Heroic Spirits have their limits.
Gaius Van Baelsar	The blond hair female watches as Finna works and then hops down. "We need to get these people free if more are still alive. We are probably," she pauses as she hears the clicking above them. Even her elf comrade is tracking up in the trees for any movement. "Nevermind," she says softly. "..I think we are in the thick of it." The elf cuts a glance over to her, before he looks to Finna, "I wold give introductions, but doesn't matter right now. The sooner we can get everyone out of here. The better." Those emerald green eyes look over to the elf king. "As for why we are here-- just traveling by. Seems to be the case for many." He goes to toss his female comrade a knife, but it seems one of the mysterious party members beats him to the weapon deal. The female scout catches the weapon when its thrown to her by Archer and then checks it over, getting a feel for the weapon and a quick overview inspection by her own eyes. "Thanks. Never heard of the model before, but I'll make sure to give it back to you once we are in the clear-- and do my homework back in the capitol." Meanwhile, the Garlean tsks as Kyra seems to yell back and has a bit of a panic state, even if being maybe calm-ish about it. "Kids." He huffs out, before he takes aim up in the trees and then yells up at it. "Will you spider's SHUTUP!" The elf cuts the other man a glance over as his voice takes a rather deadpan tone. "Oh yes. Yell at the creatures that could make us their next meal. Sounds like a splendid idea." The woman then glances over at them both about then, "Will you both knock it off and help me get who-ever else is a alive down?" She huffs her bangs to the side. Then taking aim, making sure to hold down that lever before opening fire. Though as she does, she realized that the others are well-- dead. "Tsk.." The woman then lowers the weapon and furrows her brows, before she looks over to the Elf King, "You are the only one whom survived? ..." silence falls her for a moment. "I am sorry for the loss of your comrades.." The Elf looks over to Finna, "Do you know the way out of here. We need to make sure your friend there can move and we can get going as well. Standing around like this is just asking for them to drop down on us. Armred or not-- this is their forest and we are simply prey." The Garlean during this then turns to look over to Kyra, "..some kind of poison?" he decides to ask her before his eyes go back up to the treetops once more. Yeah, he has a twitchy trigger finger. He really wants to get out of here and it is easy to read by his body language.
Thranduil	The spiders begin to fan out and take on one or two people each, with more coming down from the trees but not yet willing to leave their meals until someone starts cutting them down, then they're chasing after. Thranduil takes the blade and draws his other dagger, starting to slash at one of the spiders nearest to him. "You should avoid letting them bite you, for their bite is quite deadly. If it does not kill you the first time, it will paralyze you and you then have the pleasure of being awake and aware as they drain the life from your body."
Finna	"Spiiiiiiiiders!" Finna gurgles out uinhappily after Thranduil goes through his explanation. And with them closing in she pulls out yet another weapon! ... A Smith and Wesson revolver of some make. "Hello! Of course I'm not a tiger!" She waves with her tail over at Kyra, then explains to the Garleans, "MY answer is 'straight up.' Won't help most of you! I'm sure His Majesty Pointyears knows this place like the back of his hand though." She gets a good look at some of the approahcing spiders and takes aim, expression turning a bit grim. "...Augh, these things're ugly. Only thing they're good for is the spinnerets!" Speaking of which! She thrusts a hand up towards a nearby tree and simultaneously leaps. White sticky spider silk launches from her palm from thin slits that weren't there before and quickly solidifies. Grinning, she goes swinging with that one arm in a wide arc around the field and unloads her gun with shot after shot, only to swipe the weapon across her leg and impossibly reload it with that motion and start firing again! Bullets RIROCHET OFF THE TREES and approach the spiders from all kinds of weird angles. A bullet or two probably wont' kill them but she's firing over a dozen and they will sting something awful and help pin them down or distract them!
Kyra Hyral	"Hello Archer." Kyra greets with almost uncharacteristic politeness to the man skilled enough to ride a Madpony. Though tamer versions of the monsters were apparently common on other worlds, witnessing one used as a mount would continue to be impressive to Kyra for a while yet. "Fight and flee might be the best option since we don't have a good count of numbers right now." Kyra makes a face at the Garlean over his comment. "It's /Kyra/, damnit." Not even bothering with her last name at the moment as she gives the man something other than 'kid' to call her by. "Oh, this stuff? No, better than poison. It's high-grade insecticide. Don't go to Mirkwood without it." Seems like someone informed Kyra beforehand that this place had GIANT SPIDERS in it since she clearly came prepared. Her eyes peer upwards, watching the trees carefully, the Lunar's resolve aimed in case one of the spiders tries to actually jump down on her-a prudent move, in fact, since one most certainly does make such an attempt. For its efforts, the creature is shot multiple times from beneath it before Kyra rolls away from the beast. Although she did get three solid shots off, she follows up with a fourth to it's head segment the second the creature lands with no hesitation on Kyra's part. Always double tap. Especially the big ones. She would admire Finna or press the tiger point a little bit more but a second spider drops down, nearly cutting her off from the rest of the group in the process. Focusing on preventing that, Kyra unleashes the flasks contents upon the spider. The effect is immediate and the liquid behaves more like an acid against the creature rather than just insecticide.
Gaius Van Baelsar	As the spiders start to come down, the Garlean suddenly barks over, "Get ready!" though when the Elf King explains the bite part and waking up, it makes him cringe, even as he pulls the trigger of his hand-gun. "That sounds-- wonderful. Delightful. Great with damn tea I'm sure." Yep, all the sarcasm in the world right now. He then glances over to Kyra as she introduces herself and what she has, "Kyra huh? Not a bad name.. and hope that stuff is powerful enough. We are going to probably need a ton of it!" The woman goes to take a few steps back and opens fire. Her aim almost like a sniper of the group. Highly accurate and adjusting for the weapons odd recoil. She also keeps an eye on everyone's position as she moves. The Elf of the group opens fire with his gunblade and cuts down any spider that gets past his own bullets. He does watch as Finna goes to town and whistles in appreciation. "Impressive." He says calmly, before spinning around and popping a few more shots to give some cover fire. The garlean takes a few steps back, "Lets move people! Sir," He looks over to the Elf King, "If you know the way out of here. Lets go. We got this covered!" The woman smirks faintly as she looks over at her comrade, "Oh, so now he gains a pair." "Hey!" He snaps back, though turns his focus quickly on firing at another set of spiders. Yeah, they will be in the back. Trying to give cover fire and makes sure they stick as a group. Time to get serious and do what they do best. Shooting things! Shooting things /hard/.
Archer of Brown	In one fluid motion, devoid of panic or urgency yet unthinkably fast, Archer draws his pistols. They appear to be Colt Navy pistols, converted to use cartridges. The silver sixguns gleam in the light before spitting fire. Concentrated prana, rather than bullets, zips through the spiders with a sound of thunder. Finna's fine trick shots catch his eye, as a spider at ten o'clock is felled by her unpredictable storm of lead. Each revolver covers a part of his field of vision, and he backs up with the rest of the group. Archer breaks out a few trick shots of his own, shooting at strung up corpses and using the weight of the bodies to crush or hinder approaching spiders.