Outside 40: It's all downhill from here

[Morcleon]

Sophia nods.
HALO and WATCH are supposedly merging.
She explains, putting her blades away and storing the handles in pockets of her jacket.

Deep Forest

"...interesting." Yuki nods slowly. He places the few mushrooms that he did manage to collect in a small box in his bag. "Let's hope everything goes well with this merger then."

[Solidarity]

[Foggy Marsh]

((Perfectly happy with more characters. Makes room for more dialogue and better fight scenes.))

Depending on where the Hoplite and his mechanism are in the marsh, they too might be privy to the vibrations in the ground as well as the flashing light in the distance. The woman's outstanding sense of smell awards her with rotting flesh mixed with the lovely smell of the swamp invading her nose. She might also smell the scent of a man, and something...with which she might not be familiar. Damp wood, maybe? These would be slightly harder to identify, with the other scents so overwhelming all around her. The Hoplite and the woman would probably see the shapes become much clearer if they close in on the groaning. They'd be met with the sight of numerous shambling carcasses and a few skeletons—some still climbing out from beneath the ground—headed towards the source of the light in the distance.

[Ionbound]

[Foggy Marsh]

The woman gags at the scent of the rotting flesh, forcing herself not to vomit. She then squints to see the undead forms, loads an explosive arrow into her bow, and fires at the largest mass of the shambling corpses, trying to destroy as many as she can with a single shot.

[Arkhosia]

Deep Forest

"...interesting." Yuki nods slowly. He places the few mushrooms that he did manage to collect in a small box in his bag. "Let's hope everything goes well with this merger then."

Sophia nods.
If you ever want, I can teach you how to fight, y'know.

[Aric Kale]

Foggy Marsh

Hawthorn...Charge towards the light and kill as many of the dead as you can...aim for the heads. The obedient wooden construct rushes forward with surprising silence, the only distinguishable noise being the squelch of mud on wooden feet.
For those of you who don't know, Hawthorn is a five foot tall wooden golem with complete resistance to fire and arms himself with pointy fingers...he can also use a sword when necessary, but this isn't one of those times. When dealing with this particular group of undead he'll attempt to break their kneecaps so as to bring them down to a more reasonable height before shattering their skulls and destroying the grey matter within.

The Mourning Hoplite, for his part, with faintly glimpse the archer in the dim lighting and try to make his way towards her, his steel xiphos raised and at the ready in case one of the fleshy beasties wants a snack. If he runs across any zombies then he'll either slice through their skulls, or bash in their heads with the rim of his shield.

[Solidarity]

[Foggy Marsh]

((The light is about a mile off, so if I'm describing what Hawthorn sees, let me know))

The woman looses the arrow and it's explosion rends the zombies limb from limb, in a rather violent burst. It would seem that this fog bolsters the effects of explosives, being barely flammable due to the fumes from the swamp. The sky rains zombie appendages. She might hear the sloshing of someone cautiously approaching her. She likely would be able to smell the man as he neared albeit the sweet scents of the marsh now accompanied by smoke.

The Hoplite might see a large explosion in the distance and a disembodied rotting arm fly directly toward his head, right after ordering Hawthorn to go charging into the masses. The golem is able to literally knock them off their collective feet before splintering the skulls. The zombies seem very slow to react with the golem's approach being as quiet as it is.

The lights and the rumbling continue, but does appear to be moving. The lights stop, and the ground calms for a moment as the explosion takes place, and both start back up with the lights flashing a bit closer and the vibrations a bit stronger.

[Ionbound]

[Foggy Marsh]

The young woman turns, her bow morphing into a longsword as she turns and levels it at the Hoplite and asks, "Who the hell are you?"

[Daemonwood Shrine]

Elereshur smiles at the chatting, but says, "Babette, I'm afraid we really must be going," before turning to Liache and saying, "Is there an easier way I can summon you? I can't just come out here and waste seven slaves that could go to a better purpose just for a progress report."

[Aric Kale]

Foggy Marsh

)(I suppose you're describing for what both of them see, since Hawthorn is rushing off ahead and The Hoplite is heading for the huntress.)(

Hawthorn will continue to wreck bloody havoc...as soon as he picks himself up off the ground. He's immune to flames, but an explosion still has plenty of force behind it.

As for Zander The Mourning Hoplite, he raises his shield to block the airborne arm attack, lowering it as he walks forward, only to be met by a longsword.
I'm a friend...all I seek is to return these undead to their underground beds. I see you share the same goal, assuming that the shaking was caused by you..and the body parts. He adds, indicating the gore smeared across his shield, the weeping owl covered in blood.
Hawthorn is going to investigate the light, I'm going to ask that you keep me covered as I follow him. He'll wait but a moment for a reply or some form off confirmation before advancing towards the distant light, the cold steel in his hand eager to cleave flesh.
I should mention that an identical blade hangs at his hip, however, it's made of silver.

[Ionbound]

[Foggy Marsh]

The huntress eyes the silver blade with barely concealed apprehesion, and says, "Sure...Go for it. I'll keep an eye on you from a good ways back."

[Earl of Purple]

Daemonwood Shrine

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Babette nods and hops up to follow Elereshur. She frowns at the state of her attire, but forgot to bring fresh clothes so doesn't have anything to change into. She does pull a hairbrush from her clothes and uses it to remove the tangles, blood, and bits of gore from her hair as she gets ready to leave.

[Recaiden]

Peacefield Skull

The skull follows, floating ominously behind the ghost-girl as its cannon continue to fire at her. They're attempting to lead their shots to improve their accuracy, but they still aren't very accurate.

The holdfast, a stout stone keep in the centre of Peacefield, is launching its own rockets at the skull, though they're far cruder- more like Chinese fire-arrows than anything more modern. Five hit the skull and explode, doing little -if any- damage; the return fire, however, blasts a gaping hole in the holdfast's crenellations, the roof and the upper floor. No more fire-arrows are launched from the keep.

The girl disregards the cannons, seeing as they can't do anything to her so long as she's careful, pausing to dodge and change her course only when the rocket's fire can be heard.

Needs to get into the skull to do anything, Peacefield clearly is out of it. She looks at the buildings of the town as she arrives, seeing if any will put her in a reasonable height-distance of the skull, or it has particularly tall trees or anything. Some watchtower would be ideal, but they seem to only have the central keep, and that's already out of the fight. By the time the skull gets there it would be too late.
How frustrating. She will need to acquire some mobility or ranged weapons when she returns to the keep. But now, ah, what to do?
Besides jumping out of the way of a rocket there. Oh! Yes, it's very frustrating. Frustrating enough that, well...
The ghostly girl pauses for a moment, standing still, letting a cannon round fly through her, and then jumps into the air, free hand out to hold...something.

A dark shape materializes underneath her, just off the ground, wings beating frantically. A large, textureless, bird-shaped thing that she's now riding up into the air, starting and weaving to make a less predictable target. The hope is to get above where the skull can easily fire, forcing it to at least choose between firing at her and at the village.

[Earl of Purple]

Peacefield Skull

Enough of the keep stands that it could be used, and as it's stopped shooting at the skull it hasn't directed any further rockets at the structure. The skull also floats low enough that it's just above the roof of the village inn, which is mostly intact- a shell has cratered the beer garden, shattered the windows and knocked over the outside toilets. The keep is taller, but comes only halfway up the skull, at just the right height to be hit by the nose-cannon. It directs the rockets at the ghost-girl, whilst the cannons have stopped firing to conserve ammunition.

It's designed to assault ground targets, so will prefer to continue attacking the village and in fact cannot get any higher than it currently floats unless it devotes all the energy its engines produce.

In the top of the skull is a slight depression and a hatch in the roof.

[Morcleon]

Sophia nods.
If you ever want, I can teach you how to fight, y'know.

Deep Forest

"I might take you up on that offer, actually." Yuki chuckles sheepishly. "I've been attacked more times than I'd like. Luckily, I've always managed to escape them or had a companion who could fight..."

[Arkhosia]

Deep Forest

"I might take you up on that offer, actually." Yuki chuckles sheepishly. "I've been attacked more times than I'd like. Luckily, I've always managed to escape them or had a companion who could fight..."

Alrighty, when do you want to train?
Sophia inquires, smiling

[Solidarity]

[Foggy Marsh]

Hawthorn is continually met with zombies and now a few skeletons who seem to begin noticing his advance. Those he misses tend to stray toward the Hoplite and the woman, now that their attention is forced away from the flashing light. The explosion has seemingly drawn in a lot more undead to the area as well. The strays shamble threateningly toward Zander. Two crumbling corpses swing and lunge at the Hoplite should they close in without issue, biting and aiming to grab hold of whatever they can. To the woman, the smell of the undead becomes far more apparent all around her. She might hear groaning now behind her as zombies emerge from the fog heading toward where she'd shot the first arrow. The lights in the distance seems to start flashing a lot brighter, as if they're much closer. The trembling ground can now be credited to a small booming that resonates through the foggy air in the direction of the occasional lights.

[Morcleon]

Alrighty, when do you want to train?
Sophia inquires, smiling

Deep Forest

Yuki pauses, then shrugs. "Anytime is fine, actually. I'm not on assignment right now, so I have quite a bit of free time. Would tomorrow work for you?"

[Recaiden]

[Peacefield]

The ghost-girl and her bird spiral up over the skull, and she laughs at the last rocket goes past before she's above the thing. This is so much simpler than the attack on the Inside Council was. No lasers at all, and nothing to remind her of home. She turns the frustration-bird into a dive, down towards the hatch on the top of the skull, to hop off and hover just over the entrance to the war machine.

[Arkhosia]

Deep Forest

Yuki pauses, then shrugs. "Anytime is fine, actually. I'm not on assignment right now, so I have quite a bit of free time. Would tomorrow work for you?"

Sophia nods.
Alright, wanna meet at [Field in Outside] then?

[Morcleon]

Sophia nods.
Alright, wanna meet at [Field in Outside] then?

Deep Forest

"Sure! That'll work." Yuki smiles at her and gives a small bow. "Thank you for agreeing to teach me."

((Timeskip? ))

[Arkhosia]

Deep Forest

"Sure! That'll work." Yuki smiles at her and gives a small bow. "Thank you for agreeing to teach me."

((Timeskip? ))

TIMESKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

Field of Mock Battle

Sophia waits in a field of green for Yuki, sitting upon a horse.
She's clad in her combat gear, and has a large bag on her back.

[Morcleon]

TIMESKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

Field of Mock Battle

Sophia waits in a field of green for Yuki, sitting upon a horse.
She's clad in her combat gear, and has a large bag on her back.

Field of Mock Battle

Yuki walks into the field in his usual white jacket and pants. He spots Sophia and waves cheerily. "Hello Sophia~!"

[Arkhosia]

Field of Mock Battle

Yuki walks into the field in his usual white jacket and pants. He spots Sophia and waves cheerily. "Hello Sophia~!"

Sophia waves back before dismounting.
She plops the bag down next to the horse (who's name is Clyde), who is tethered to a post.
Hey Yuki. So, which would you like to learn first: Martial Arts, or Swordfighting?
She inquires as she walks up to him.

[FireFox]

"Alright, hold on. Okay, so it's blue, with this yellow thing in the middle. It has five...no, six petal things on the flower, and-Oh **** this, hold on. MagComputer says it's Thelymitra crinita. It's about two feet away from some crabgrass. Thelymitra crinita, also known as Blue Lady Orchid. Melody has a goofy sense of humor. Oh, right, and compass direction, southeast." Magtok squats down next to the flower, before suddenly shooting up and backing away nervously. He's just genre-savvy enough to realize staying there and looking at the flower was going to get him accidentally kicked in the face.

Melody's Island

Toby hangs up and uses a Druidic spell to travel from a plant near GLoG to one on the island. It's not instantaneous, taking at least a minute and possibly more than five, depending on the distance. Nor does he come from the flower the cyborg had specified, because that would be too obvious. So when he steps out of a plant 50 feet behind Magtok, at an unpredicted time, he feels confident that he has successfully claimed the element of surprise. So the famous Lord Magtok thinks he can set a trap for me, the Goddamned Tobias, and bait it with my wife! An interesting site for a battle, certainly, but I can see what you're aiming for and I approve. Traumatic tragedy juxtaposed with tropical tranquility. You intend to turn this paradise into an infernal landscape through our combat! Perhaps you think you can hurt me by forcing me to choose between collateral damage and the life of one woman. Maybe you think a druid will avoid natural destruction at all costs. Whatever your plan, know this: When it comes to hell on earth, I was born and raised in the briar patch! While he monologues, storm clouds appear out of nowhere and ominously rumble overhead. The ground tremors under his boots in an attempt to set off any mines or other traps buried nearby. Wind currents form and coalesce into a shielding torus around him and the hastily painted runes on his bare chest create a magnetic field strong enough to deflect bullets. At long last, the clash of Nexus titans! The two greatest minds, preeminent and peerless experts in our own fields, engaged in an inevitable and much anticipated war. Don't disappoint me, Magtok!

[Morcleon]

Sophia waves back before dismounting.
She plops the bag down next to the horse (who's name is Clyde), who is tethered to a post.
Hey Yuki. So, which would you like to learn first: Martial Arts, or Swordfighting?
She inquires as she walks up to him.

Field of Mock Battle

"Um, martial arts. I don't really have a sword." Yuki chuckles sheepishly. "I mean, I have my medical scalpel, and it's very durable, but it's not really a sword."

"Oh, and before we get started, I should probably tell you that I have a number of, well, grafts. I keep them hidden most of the time, but if you're gonna teach me how to fight, you should probably know about them." He slips off his jacket, displaying a set of white wings speckled with grey dots and what appears to be a long prehensile tail. He scratches his head in embarrassment. "Um, it's not too weird, is it...?"

[Aric Kale]

[Foggy Marsh]

The huntress eyes the silver blade with barely concealed apprehesion, and says, "Sure...Go for it. I'll keep an eye on you from a good ways back."

[Foggy Marsh]

Hawthorn is continually met with zombies and now a few skeletons who seem to begin noticing his advance. Those he misses tend to stray toward the Hoplite and the woman, now that their attention is forced away from the flashing light. The explosion has seemingly drawn in a lot more undead to the area as well. The straws shamble threateningly toward Zander. Two crumbling corpses swing and lunge at the Hoplite should they close in without issue, biting and aiming to grab hold of whatever they can. To the woman, the smell of the undead becomes far more apparent all around her. She might hear groaning now behind her as zombies emerge from the fog heading toward where she'd shot the first arrow. The lights in the distance seems to start flashing a lot brighter, as if they're much closer. The trembling ground can now be credited to a small booming that resonates through the foggy air in the direction of the occasional lights.

Foggy Marsh - The Monster Marsh

Hawthorn continues to slay the Zombies as effectively as he can, unarmed and alone though he may be. Still, the overwhelming numbers make his task difficult enough, fortunately he does not tire like a human would. For now, his advance continues, though slower than before.
The Hoplite, on the other hand, is finding things a tad more interesting. Luckily, he's too quick for the zombies to get a bite on him, but after a struggle against three undead simultaneously, he loses his shield in the fog. After swinging his leg around in attempt to knock one of the brain-dead monsters aside, Zander draws his second play and unleashes his twin whirlwinds of cold metal, each strike aimed solely for arms and heads. When necessary he ducks under wide grabs and lops off limbs, jutting up quickly to bash in the jaws of the zombies with his bronze helmet.

[Beans]

Daemonwood Shrine

"Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Babette nods and hops up to follow Elereshur. She frowns at the state of her attire, but forgot to bring fresh clothes so doesn't have anything to change into. She does pull a hairbrush from her clothes and uses it to remove the tangles, blood, and bits of gore from her hair as she gets ready to leave.

Liache flicks a little cleaning spell at the girl by way of a farewell, chittering softly as she waves to her.

[Arkhosia]

Field of Mock Battle

"Um, martial arts. I don't really have a sword." Yuki chuckles sheepishly. "I mean, I have my medical scalpel, and it's very durable, but it's not really a sword."

"Oh, and before we get started, I should probably tell you that I have a number of, well, grafts. I keep them hidden most of the time, but if you're gonna teach me how to fight, you should probably know about them." He slips off his jacket, displaying a set of white wings speckled with grey dots and what appears to be a long prehensile tail. He scratches his head in embarrassment. "Um, it's not too weird, is it...?"

Sophia shakes her head, smiling.
Not at all. I'm actually not exactly normal either. Alright, so ready to begin?

[Morcleon]

Sophia shakes her head, smiling.
Not at all. I'm actually not exactly normal either. Alright, so ready to begin?

Field of Mock Battles

Yuki smiles in relief. "Ah, good..."

"And yes, I'm ready. Well, not really, but no one's every really ready." He smirks.

[Arkhosia]

Field of Mock Battles

Yuki smiles in relief. "Ah, good..."

"And yes, I'm ready. Well, not really, but no one's every really ready." He smirks.

Sophia smiles, and adopts a boxing stance.
Copy my stance.

[Ionbound]

[Daemonwood Shrine]

Elereshur smiles, and says to Babette as she walks away, "So, Babette. I believe that you deserve to have your abilities augmented...What do you think?"