Scene #5194: Here Comes Easter Rabbit!

Owner	Pose
Nagato	It's in the afternoon, at least in Alfheim Time, and Tana's waiting in a clearing a ways from the Cait Sith zone. She waves off a couple of people and sits her rear end down near a tree, waiting for a few people to show up. She opens her menu and checks her messages. They should be here soon, she thought. One last equipment check... one last skill sets checked and magic. Healing equipment set and the like. She hoped this quest didn't end up like the /last/ time she dragged people out... with her unconcious in a tree. She goes over her log once more, nodding. "Shouldn't be too hard, right? Especially if /he/ comes." she looks back around, sitting and waiting, the Cait Sith's tail twitching behind her happily. "Jeeze, it's good to get away from the fleet work. With all the abyssal inactivity... it's made our jobs easier." she pokes the log once more, "Okay, the quest itmes are... oh, I have them. Lucky. Well, this should be easy. Go there... summon it... and... something. I hate non specific quests." Once everyone arrives, she smiles, offering hugs to everyone around, "Thanks for coming on a bit of weird notice. Check your equipment everyone, I wanna make sure that everyone's set for this." a bright smile encompasses the Cait Sith's face, ears perked, tail swishing and all in general, you wouldn't know it was the Admiral behind that avatar.
Yuna Kagurazaka	One of Kagura's most frequent characteristics - and one of the points she has in common with her player - is a big, bright, sunny smile. That smile is NOT in evidence when she arrives at the meeting point Tana designated, greeting the Cait Sith with a wave and a quiet, "Hey." She looks, not to put too fine a point on it, like something the cat dragged in ... which is more or less exactly what happened, at least metaphorically speaking. She's geared up, though - harp, buckler, short sword, light armor. She'll accept a hug, though. And return it like she badly needs it.
Dorian Pavus	IMP! IMP IN THE CAIT SITH ZONE! Just thought you'd like to know... More seriously... yes, that is indeed Melsanthos, the creepy-looking Imp that did a violence to the people looking to do a violence to the Gatecrasher's Union way back. He hangs back, out of hugging range. He's still a newbie here, so it feels weird to be that friendly with people he doesn't know very well. Besides that, he's a tall, skinny, creepy-looking dude with long, pointy ears. Who wants to hug THAT? That said, he does offer a bow in Tana's direction. The thanks gets a smile, and he notes, "It sounds interesting, and I never was one to pass up a good mystery." He does seem to note Kagura's low morale, but he doesn't comment on it. Perhaps the quest will cheer her up. That's what games are for, right? Playing, for fun.
Tomoe	So it was afternoon for all intents and here was Tomoe looking to fly in and catch up with Tana. After all there'd been talk of a quest and she was a bit later than the otehrs as she came down for a langing from thge skis with a big old grin on her face. "Why not I needed to take some time off working on the castle. So here I am!"
Kirito	In swoops Kirito! The Spriggan's a few minutes late, and the reason why is obvious from lighthearted banter he and Yui are sharing. "Really, papa! You should have sent a message..." "I didn't expect a newbie quest boss would have a second form... it couldn't be helped." He's looking a bit apologetic as he touches down amidst the clearing and checks over his equipment... and other people who've come. Yui does a figure eight in the air while waving at everyone in greeting meanwhile! "Sooooo... sorry I'm a bit late. Hope not TOO late!"
Nagato	OH god, Kagura isn't in a good mood... so what does the Cait Sith do? She hugs and doesn't let her go at all, at least for a good while. The hugs will continue until morale improves. Or until more people show up. That said, she bows back towards Dorian, quirking her head slightly at the imp. No hugs for that one, he /was/ in a PK group for a bit. "Hello there, Melsanthos. Good to see you here, hopefully I can see more of your capabilities... that don't involve stabbing other people in the back." this is said quite lightheartedly too. Tomoe gets a smile and a hug herself too, "I can still send people over to help and resupply that castle if you want. Just give me the word." a smile upon the Cait's face should help brighten the dour and the not so happy . "Glad you could make it, I'm... honestly not sure what this quest is gonna throw at us. I mean, the last time..." a pause, "We don't talk about the last time..." And theres Mr. Back in Black and Rocking It. Kirito gets a smile and Yui gets a wave. "You're not late, in fact, you were about a few minutes early. But since everyone's here, I guess you're right on time!" She doesn't hug Kirito, she isn't even sure how he would react... so she gives him a thumbs up instead. "So, the clearing isn't too far from here. I keep getting mixed reports from it being a fetch quest to an escort quest to a 'beat up the big bad' quest. So, let's get going, can't complete things when idle, y'know."
Yuna Kagurazaka	The sustained hug does in fact deliver a modest amount of damage-over-time to Kagura's doldrums; she does in fact muster a smile - not big, but it's there - when released from it. "I'll be okay," she states. "Just ..." That faint hint of a smile wavers like a candle in a cold draft. "... I'll be okay," she repeats, probably unconvincingly. "So, quest. I hope it isn't an 'escort the noncombatant while the big bad keeps taking pot shots at your whole party' quest, I don't think any of us have that kind of defensive buff skills." Okay, so the smiles are still tentative, but at least she can make jokes. Sort of.
Dorian Pavus	Tomoe's arrival gets a bow of the Tevinter-controlled Imp's head. "Greetings," he offers. And then Kirito's there too. This is one he hasn't bet before, but given Tana's warm greeting of him, someone that she expected. He's not sure what's going on with the fairy; he assumes she's one of those pets like the Cait Sith have, so he pays her no mind. Though he's never seen any OTHER players able to converse with their pets... Dorian is used to people thinking he's going to betray them. That's a thing Tevinter does. So he offers a smirk at Tana's words. "At least it wasn't YOUR back," he points out, also with a lighthearted tone. He doesn't seem offended. In fact he seems more amused then anything else. Speaking of that situation, is he still flagged orange? Surely the flag would have faded by now, wouldn't it? Kagura's very specifically unspecific words draw Dorian's attention. No, he's not going to call her out on it. Instead he answers the concern about defense buffs, "I do have some Earth magic, but I'm still rather new at this, and I'm not confident in my gear just yet." He has reasonably good armor, but it's not anything super-rare or powerful. He's has been relying on Earth magic and the mobility offered him as an Imp to not get splattered!
Kirito	Kirito's not as clueless as he sometimes actually TRIES to appear. As his gaze flickers over Kagura, he notices her depressed mood. Yui, however, has one-upped him in this department. The little AI's exprssion turned worried a moment before Nagato went to give her a hug. But once that happens she shows a hopeful smile! The little Navigation Pixie floats up and out of Kirito's pocket and swoops around to settle on Kagura's shoulder instead. "Miss Kagura? Why the sad face? Is it anything we can help with?" Asks the child AI, voice flooding with concern. Kirito raises a hand up to briefly grip his sword comfortingly as Tana explains the quest details. "If even info brokers like Argo don't have the details... we're in for something special." He mumbles aloud in a thoughtful voice.
Tomoe	Tomoe Says "I'll take you up on it, we have some najourn refugees looking to set up shop there. I can't see a reason to say no once we get the power online. I'll hit you up once we get that working. I was going to corner Staren for help with getting water wheels set up. Anyhow that's enoug real life talk isn't it? Let's get on with the quest and see what it's going it's going to throw at us." She works for Yamir but she's on quality of /life/ not in quest design. She gives Dorian a grin now as he greets her. 5R "Good to see you again and I see Kirito finally came out of his cave for once, without Asuna pulling by the ear." She grins widly at the flak she's giving her friend.
Nagato	Argo... ARgo, where has she heard that name... "I don't think I checked with them. Oh well." she watches the Navi-Pixie float over towards Kagura and she gives a brief smile before turning around and walking towards the clearing. "It won't take more than a couple minutes to walk." she looks towards Dorian and gives a brief nod. "True. Though, I'm used to people doing that... still hasn't changed my wariness of people who just... turn their backs to someone. But hey, it's time for new beginnings right?" Tana stretches on her way towards the clearing, reading the quest log some more. "On a bright side, I don't think this would need a full raiding party. Just us five should do it." and in comes the party requests... and once everyone accepts... "I should have enough healing items just in case but try not to get hurt /too/ bad. I'm no Undine." she chuckles slightly and wanders into the clearing. It's a nice open area, unassuming... with a stump in the middle of it. All in all... it's almost like any other clearing. "Well, this is kinda ... eh." the Cait Sith mutters a bit, looking back towards her group, before facing the stump. A light shrug and she moves to stand upon it. What happens next, there's a minor rumbling, the trees parting in front of Tana. She goes into Sword and Board mode with some light weight armor from a few menu taps. "Tomoe... I think we need to tank this." The rumbling becomes greater as a large, black rabbit, standing on two legs and the height of a tree comes in to view with four health bars quickly filling up. Retsae fills the top name bar for the mob. "Welp. Let's do this!" and off goes the Cait Sith, charging in first and moving to bash the thing with her shield to get its attention on her!
Yuna Kagurazaka	Kagura manages a wan smile at Yui. "It's ... someone I couldn't protect ..." Even that flicker of a smile doesn't outlast the rest of the sentence, but the Puca forces herself to perk back up and stay focused, accepting the party invitation from Tana, then unslinging her harp and starting to play a couple of buffing tunes as they're en route to the quest location. And no, Kagura is not saying anything more than that. Yui probably picked up better than anyone else that just thinking about it is still deeply, terribly painful to Kagura - and even if Yui doesn't have the 'insight' that she did back in SAO, it's not hard to read the less direct signs. Fortunately, they don't have a whole lot of time for Kagura to (try not to) dwell on her thoughts; they reach the clearing, Tana stands on the stump, and Usagira comes out of hiding. Kagura immediately starts playing debuff riffs instead - trying to drop a Confusion status on Retsae, as well as attempting to degrade its combat attributes. At least her funk isn't impacting on her ALO skills.
Dorian Pavus	Dorian is unfamiliar with the name 'Argo' as well, but he's not going to ask about it. It doesn't seem that Tana knows the name either, so he's fairly certain that Kirito will explain if it's important. Tana's mention of people turning their backs to others gets a bit of a wry look. "Well, they did say right from the off they were going to act like vultures," he points out as he follows the group. "Hardly becoming of an honorable player." Which might be funny considering his response to it. He does look in Kagura's direction and offers a nod. "I'm sorry to hear that," he offers. That's all he's going to say on it, though. No sense in making her feel worse. And he's not going to hug her; even if he had no intention of doing anything untoward, it would still be weird. And then the massive black rabbit appears. As it does, Melsanthos says something that people who know him outside the game would recognize. "''Fasta vass''! Look at the size of that rabbit!" He's not sure whether he thinks that's a good idea or not -- meat for days, but THOSE TEETH! But HEY! It's literally impossible for Melsanthos to be working with the monsters, so there's that. And this is possibly illustrated well when he starts using Earth magic to protect the others. Tanks first, they need to stay up.
Kirito	THUMP THUMP THUMP. Kirito turns to squint suspiciously towards the trees. At first... not taking this development too seriously. He's got the same lazy expression he often has for quests these days. Laid back... but certainly not slacking! His eyes narrow noticeably as the GIANT BLACK BUNNY comes charging out. ... Then they widen with a little shock. Because... "I've never fought a giant rabbit before... what kind of attacks does it use?!" The Black Swordsman draws his weapon, but without having seen this creature in action before... he's not yet sure what approach is best. "We're counting on you two!" He yells Tana and Tomoe's way. He circle-strafes out to flank the creature, but he'll wait before actually moving in to strike... Yui, meanwhile, does her best to hug Kagura! ... Which mostly amounts to squeezing a cheek with both arms and then clutching down to Kagura's outfit by the shoulder. "We'll talk about it later if you like. Everyone else needs you right now. Good luck, Miss Kagura!"
Tomoe	Tomoe wasn't sure what to expect out of this qust and she was glad for it. It's hard forosmeone who works in the quest department of the plot department to ever be able to enjoy the story like a player could. She was lucky in that at the mention if Argo. "Might have been an idea but that talks out half of the fun." She moves to pull up front with her friensds behind her she's going to be hte tank abnd she looks at the strange thing before them she takes a deep breth and pops off her opening taunts and moves in rapidly. "Time's up lets do this!" she speeds in with her sword in hand and sheild at the ready as she goes to meet it head on!
Nagato	The twin tanks move in, spamming all sorts of taunts and such to make sure that Retsae doesn't go anywhere close ot the DPS and healer. Kagura's confusion song works, Retsae's health bar dropping slightly from Tomoe and Tana's own capabilities. Tana, herself, backs off slightly, letting the more experienced tank do things as she moves in position to hit it with a standard Rage Spike, sending her right around. The sudden use of a Sword Skill causes Retsae's eyes to glow red and hop up... only to land down back where it was and send a rippling shockwave of rocks in every direction! Tana's pummeled with the rocks, her shield blocking only some of it as her own bar goes from Green to Yellow /real/ quick. "Okay... tha... that was a bad move. Maybe it's just because I'm tanking?" she goes back and starts a shield bash on the rear flank of the rabbit. "Kirito, Melsanthos, hit it with a sword skill, see if it does it again!"
Yuna Kagurazaka	The sudden ground-pound shockwave leaves Kagura scrambling not to get knocked over - and failing, going down with a yelp. Fortunately, her harp doesn't get damaged in the tumble, and while her medley of magical music is briefly interrupted, she picks up again in short order, focusing on buffs for her allies. And for herself. At least she's out of her funk enough to focus on her support music, and there's some additional life and verve in her playing at this point. There's also a hint of rekindled determination, not just in her music, but in her eyes - a decision not to let anyone else down. She may not be a front-line fighter in ALO, but she can still help her friends, and she WILL.
Kirito	That timing isn't missed on Kirito. A Sword Skill activation... and the enemy reacts with split-second timing?! The Black Swordsman tenses where he stands, a sense of worry striking him. He's rarely encountered anything that's so aggressive about responding to Sword Skills... especially early on in a fight. "We might need to stun it then lay in..." The hot-blooded young man grinds his teeth, hoists his weapon... and goes on a RAGING CHARGE. Kirito kicks off the ground with blinding speed. There's almost no time to even see him sliding his blade into the pulled back horizontal position for Sonic Leap - and the exact instant the Skill's ready to fire off-- WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHH!!! Kirito launches like a glint of light across the battlefield in a moment frozen in time, reappearing around the other side of the creature at the end of a brilliant line cut through everyone's vision!
Dorian Pavus	Holy crap, rocks! Thankfully Melsanthos is still working with protect magic when this happens, so he's more or less out of range, only taking some chip damage from being on the outer perimeter of it. Though when Nagato makes her request, Dorian pauses, blinking. Does he even know any of those? The game sort of has him being more of a spellcaster than a fighter. Though he can do some damage in melee, so he's not totally useless. "...''Kaffas'', how does this work again?" he mutters. "Oh, yes." The pose. It violates everything that his melee training says should work, leaving him wide open from his chin down. But that's the starting pose for the Skill. And he also dislikes how he has no real control over the Skill. Anything where he loses control of things is bad! But this is a test! So he uses his wings for a burst of speed, to try and flank the giant black rabbit, hoping to minimize the punishment he's liable to get. Also trying to stay out of the way of Kirito's Sword Skill. Then he closes in to melee range with the rabbit, and then slides a foot back, into a crouch, the weapon angled back to almost touch that foot. The weapon glows, the telltale sign of a Sword Skill beginning. It's a simple one. Though that makes sense, Dorian hasn't been playing long enough to learn any of the higher-level Skills. A strike from the left, a strike from the right, then the hand he holds his weapon with extends, and the staff inexplicably spins in a propellor-like motion in his hand. If it IS Sword Skills that prompt this thing to do that AoE, Melsanthos is going to get caught in its effect radius. Because that damnable second of movement lockdown after a Sword Skill is going to prevent him from moving.
Tomoe	Tomoe is now getting the attention of the beast along with her co tank. Good they should be able to play ping pong. She will keep using her abuilities to get the beasts attention and otherwise do her best to keep the thing under control and Tanna's doing all right with things. She looks the beast down and attempts to do what she can to keep the thing under control as she she sees Tana is learning quite well to puzzel out the boss' mechanics and she'll let her take lead. It will be good to have another regular tank with the GU after all, she doesn't mind this at all. "Your catching on Tana."
Nagato	Two more Sword Skills happen and that same red flash catches on and another hop and slam and rock splash. "K..kyaa!" her health bar goes down a bit more but Retsae's health bar is going down even more with the two DPS at it along with Tana's and Tomoe's strikes. She goes through a few things in her head... "Front.... Side..." a pause, "Tomoe, I'm taking over tanking. Everyone, hit it from the rear, let's see if it does that again!" She reaches to /slam/ the shield back into the Rabbit to take its attention from Tomoe for a bit! Tana runs around slightly, moving to face her back towards the wall as a flurry of punches from the rabbit slam into her shield. "I wonder if it's vision based!" she reaches in her armor to try and pull out a healing crystal to suppliment Kagura's buffing and healing. "Okay... strike together you guys!" she lets another punch come in and parries it with her sword to stagger the giant killer bunny, "Opening!"
Dorian Pavus	Melsanthos's movement is locked down, and so when that rock splash happens, he gets nailed by it. Damage + knockback. His healthbar takes a big hit too, dropping down into the yellow with frightening quickness. "Ouch!" he complains, finally getting up off the ground. "Can't take many more of those..." he mutters. Mind, he doesn't speak up JUST yet about being low on health. It'll be fine for a bit longer. Tana seems to be trying to distract the thing. As she calls out 'opening', Dorian rushes in towards the beast's back. This time he doesn't rely on the Sword Skill. He just goes for a low strike, hoping to trip it. Either way, after a second attack, this one an overhead attack, Dorian retreats back from the bunny monster. He's going to have to start dealing out the heals himself in a moment. Not having SOME healing magic is suicide for a solo player. Particularly one who's made enemies...
Yuna Kagurazaka	Well, if Retsae was targeting them based on its hearing, Kagura would probably be drawing a lot more attention than she has been. But when Tana calls for 'everyone' to hit it from the rear, the Puca plays one more riff of attack-boost music, glances at the buff time remaining, then slips her harp across her back and darts around to join in the backstabbing. Well. Technically her attacks are slashes rather than stabs, but same difference, right? If it doesn't seem like they're doing enough damage fast enough, she'll back out of melee range and get back to playing up a storm ...
Kirito	Kirito's lucky the tanks are doing such a good job - he wouldn't be able to take a blow from this thing head-on! "What an annoying mechanic... who programmed this one...?!" Comically frustrated, the boy scrunches his forehead slightly... then re-devotes to the fight. "It keeps hopping... but we're outdoors!" With flute-like noise his wings sprout into existence and vibrate to full power. He swoops up, around, and DOWN towards the creature... aiming to slam it right in the spine with a blade sizzling with violet lightning power!
Tomoe	Tomoe hp bar isn't too bad off but it's still enough for her to keep her eye on it. It's just a matter of surival to not have a lose eye on how well your hp is. It used tobe a matter of life and death for herand honestly? It still issue after all and even playing she treats it as such. She now moves in tandem with Tana and seems to be having un none the left. "I got it." The opening is made andshe launches a simple but useful sword skill, beatcrack. The attack launches as she piles on with everyone else.
Nagato	The parry helped, the Sword Skills are launched from the four behind and the eyes don't flash, there's no danger of the counter attack from the giant rabbit monster, and three of the health bars from it are down! Tana goes in for another strike to keep the bunny upon her but she's met with resistance. The mob turns passive and the health bars dissapear before it shrinks down to a more... human size and the coat of black slowly fades to a coat of white. THere's a large "Congradulations" message above it briefly as Easter themed rewards are doled out. Speaking of Easter, the name of the bunny scrambles... before setting itself proper to Easter. The now NPC looks at everyone... and runs away. Tana drops to a knee and blinks... "W... well that was a thing. Visual range counters? What the heck was up with that?" she pants out, cracking a healing crystal to help a bit. "HOpefully everyone's okay, that was a really... interesting quest mob there."
Yuna Kagurazaka	Kagura finishes her battle support music with a festive-sounding little victory riff and a flourish, and tucks the harp away once again so she can work through the reward windows. "I got off pretty lucky as these things go ..." Her HP bar is just barely down to yellow, and that's without using extra healing. Then again, she largely stayed back and let the others do the heavy lifting.
Dorian Pavus	The teamwork seems to pay off, and the giant black bunny goes down. Dorian watches, confused slightly, as the bunny becomes a normal bunny and hops away. Looking at Tana, he asks, "Would that be considered an a-bun-mination?" ...Yes. Yes he does know that was bad. Regardless, rewards are doled out! And Melsanthos casts a party HoT -- the immediate effect won't be much, but it'll help people get their HP back up to full. "Everyone all right?" he asks, once he's done with the casting. Hopefully nothing else will ambush them. Including other players...
Tomoe	Tomoe visably twitches seeing Congradulations, she however keeps control for a moment she watches as the bunny changes she stares for a moment blinks and stares. "How did a relgious holiday get all the way to this?" She's not mad just wondering outloud she doesn't seem to be mad just a bit tunned. "Whelp enough of that that was a fun fight and everyons' all right, I hope?"
Kirito	Kirito does a pretty good job of hiding a twitch at the 'congratulations' pop-up. As the monster goes down... and then runs off he swings his sword through the air as though casting blood from it, then sheathes it soundly across his back. A gesture that by now everyone who's seen him knows he does after EVERY fight. Habits. They just don't go away. He lowers to the ground, looking a bit disappointed at how quickly the fight was over.. but he heaves a sigh nonetheless. "... odd for a boss fight... I wonder if we'll see him again later?"