VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Arkhosia]

Maneuvering VIGIL

Blanche will indeed follow, waiting at the door by way of leaning against the wall and probably checking her phone or something.

[Shadowcaller]

Maneuvering VIGIL

Blanche gets to wait. More than just the promised few moments in fact.
If she knocks, no one replies.

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

Finally, a familiar person shows up. In the distance Natharia can see her mother flying towards her in her wind serpent form. It's only about the same length as a viper, but has the wing-span of an albatross.
The serpent will land near the well and take the form of Shanti who will run of to Natharia and give her a hug as she kneels down before her. "Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche will show up a brief while later, irritated and a little out-of-breath. "Okay, your sister's a prick," she comments to Anika. "Decided she had to lose me, apparently."

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

"Mom!" Natharia rushes over to Shanti and throws her arms around her. "No. I told them to stay away. They killed some of the snakes and were gonna do something to the moon well, so I stopped them." The girl buries her face into Shanti's shoulder, pushing her blindfold up onto her forehead in the process. Shanti will feel the wetness of her daughter's tears. "I think they're still trying, though. They had some weird bird watching me."

[Recaiden]

Halae blinks a moment, confused, though she follows Arlem, "Oh! You mean the souls in the soulsteel?" The fire aspect shakes her head, "It's not sapient, or even sentient. It's not made out of human or animal souls. The soulsteel was mined from the underworld, on a spot where the blood of the Gods' enemies was spilled and formed into it; as a result, it doesn't follow the being of any particular soul or another."

Oh, it's just the dying gasp of some primordial superbeing. A metal made from the terror of the betrayed as their very essence was cleaved from their body.

No big deal.

"A soulsteel weapon?" Calm Reed actually sounds surprised, forgetting to respond to the bunk comment. "I have heard of them, but never seen a Dragon-Blooded actually wield one."

Arlem shakes her head.
"No, that's not a proper soul. I mean the spirits of the arms and armor themselves."
She looks between the two Dragon-blooded. A strong reaction from Calm Reed? But then she doesn't see the stuff on a daily basis.
"But it does tend to remind one of the last Deathknight to come through the Nexus."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

Shanti just continues hugging Natharia for a while, gently moving her fingers soothingly over her back and over the snakes on top of her head. "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here now. Everything is going to be alright." She coos.

Eventually, she will hold back a bit and gently attempt to wipe away one of her daughters tears with the wrist of her robe. Smiling gently at her. "You've made me very proud, Natharia. And your father too." She assures as she wipes away another tear from the gorgons other cheek. "But I should have been here for you. Why didn't you tell me they were sneaking off like that? I was looking all over for you. For a moment..." She can feel her mother shudder. "Just don't do that again, okay? If anything would happen to you, I don't know what I would do."

She pauses, holding her daughter tightly as if afraid to let go. "...but what was that about a weird bird?"

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

"They woulda got away if I didn't follow them. I had to." Natharia explains, a bit of a defensive edge creeping into her voice. "I stopped them right before they were gonna finish." She wipes her nose with the back of her hand. "There were weird, metal looking birds watching me before you came. I think they were machines."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

Shanti nods. "And that was very brave of you. I just wished you would have told me instead, but done is done." She dares to look away from her daughter for just a moment to see if she could spot these supposed birds, but she can't see any traces of them.

"Machines? Anika might be a bird-brain, but she can't control any kind of birds as far as I know. Especially not bird-machines." She slowly stands up and takes a hold of Natharia's hand. "Let's go down there and I will make sure that-" She is interrupted when a snake which must have just returned to the well suddenly let's out a loud hiss. If they turn in the direction of the sound, it looks like it's trying to warn off something invisible near the well. "Natharia, get behind me." Her mom orders.

Moonwell Grove

Blanche will find Anika had roughly the same spot, but now she has climbed down to the tree. Or whatever method she used to get up there in the first place. It looks like she had been busy doing push-ups.
She quickly gets up and frowns as the catgirl comes jogging. "Told you! She's a huge bitch! She decides if someone isn't worth her attention just like that." The druid snaps her fingers.
A flock of birds suddenly decide to fly off. As if something just startled them.

It probably wasn't Anika snapping her fingers.
The druid continues however. "You're not the only one of my friends she decided to just **** with for little to no reason." She shows her sharp canines like an agitated animal.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

Natharia does what her mom orders and steps behind her. "What is it?" She looks past Shanti, not able to see anything but the angry snake. While her uncovered eyes look at that spot, her snakes are looking all around them for whatever danger might be lurking.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

The woman's ears perk up as the birds flee and she glances up at them a second after, a degree of concern affecting her brow. That was odd... but Anika gets her attention back fairly easily. "What did she do last time?" Even as she listens, however, Blanche remains alert.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

Natharia can't see anything and after a moment Shanti slowly takes a step forward and waves her hand in the air at the spot the snake is hissing at. "There... seem to be some kind of magic here that wasn't here before." She seems to hesitate. "Do you think you can get back to VIGIL on your own? This isn't Anika's doing and I don't want you around it. Could be dangerous."

Moonwell Grove

"Oh you know, left a guy I know in a dungeon to find his own way out. Pretty sure he would have died if I hadn't come along." Anika explains and then spends a moment looking around. "Did you hear something? Pretty sure I heard- no. It's the lack of sound. Weird. Everything in the forest went really quiet all of sudden." Blanche can hear it to, the sudden lack of sound that is.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

"Oh you know, left a guy I know in a dungeon to find his own way out. Pretty sure he would have died if I hadn't come along." Anika explains and then spends a moment looking around. "Did you hear something? Pretty sure I heard- no. It's the lack of sound. Weird. Everything in the forest went really quiet all of sudden." Blanche can hear it to, the sudden lack of sound that is.

"Geez, really? That's [Nixon]ery of the highest order." Perhaps it's thanks to her background, but Blanche takes a very critical eye towards abandoning your comrades to fend for themselves. A rather ironic view for someone who could technically be labeled as a deserter. It looks as if she has another thing to add, before she registers the silence around them. A curt nod is all the response she gives as her posture tenses like a feline ready to pounce, her eyes scanning the area before her as a hand creeps to rest on her holstered pistol.

"Let's get back to the well. I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to leave the kid or her mother alone with whatever's responsible."

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

"No, I don't wanna leave you here either." Natharia protests. What would she do if Shanti got hurt? "And and, isn't it more dangerous to walk back by myself?" She tries to counter Shanti before she can start arguing with her.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove - Natharia]

Shanti turns to her. "Maybe you could ask..." She hesitates as it seems she is about to suggest talking with Blanche and Anika.

Thankfully, she is saved from such difficult choices by a sudden burst of orange light centered on the location the snake was hissing at.
In its place now a giant hulking creature seemingly armored from top to toe in the same metal the birds were made up of. A black helmet covers its vaguely bovine head, seemingly blocking out its sight. Yet its movements does not suggest that its blind.

This is followed by more flashes of orange light around them as creatures smaller in stature (roughly the size of horses) but almost as menacing.

The hulking creature takes a moment to scan its surroundings as Shanti can only stare at it and its minions in sheer terror before it speaks. "Resist and we will take the child, don't and we will take you both."

Moonwell Grove

Anika waves dismissively. "Eh, it's probably nothing."

She is almost instantly proven wrong however as a series of orange flashes illuminates the sky. The druids amber eyes widening as those familiar bursts of light can almost be be seen reflected in her amber-colored eyes.

The invasion...

Anika utters something most foul in her native tongue and starts running towards the well. "Cover me! Shot anything that moves that isn't them!" She orders as the very next moment she has turned into a hawk, likely leaving Blanche behind as she focuses all her energy on reaching the well. Those bastard...

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

The catgirl will swiftly follow, giving a swift check of the shotgun's breach and ensuring that it's fully loaded. She curses under her breath as Anika rushes ahead of her; it was clear that she knew what the hell was attacking, surely that tactical advice would be more than handy! But there's no reason to make a fuss over it when there were lives to protect.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

When the monsters appear out of nowhere, Natharia screams. Instinct kicks in and she immediately tries to meet one of the beast's eyes... And it has none. None of them do. Natharia continues to scream.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Shanti her hand on top of Natharia's head and kneels down besides her, trying to comfort the child let's out a 'hush now', her screaming only making it harder to not start screaming herself.
Then she finally turns to the pit knight. "Why do you want us? There must have been a misunderstanding. We don't have anything you want."

The fiend just looks at the two for a moment until it suddenly takes a step forward. "Where is the staff piece, the legion hub? We know you have it. You took it from us." It speaks in its dark menacing voice.
Shanti shakes her head. "We'll help you in any way you want, but I don't of any staff. I'm sorry."

The fiend makes a grumbling sound as the demon seem to consider something.
But whatever train of thoughts it had are interrupted.

"Anu'denah'thelore, mother****er!" Anika manages to shout in between changing from a hawk to a humanoid and blasts the beast closest to Natharia and Shanti with a sunblast.

In the moment of surprise she winks at Natharia, somehow not turning into stone even after meeting her gaze, before taking the form of a massive bear. She does not manage to do much else else though as she is immediately jumped by the rest of the beasts who all dig into her with their claws and teeth.
"The child and the bear, the rest are useless!" The fiend commands as it raises its massive sword and approaches Anika as she battles the demonic beasts.

"You're going to have to run, Natharia. I'll distract them." Her mother remarks quietly as she backs away from the battle. One of the beasts appear to have noticed that they are currently unguarded however and turns to them. It's movement suggesting that, despite its size, it got the agility of a jungle cat.

Blanche, who is forced to take the ground route, will be forced to climb the giant tree stub if she wants to get in close.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

With her mother's words, Natharia manages to get a hold of herself and stop screaming. And then everything starts happening. The girl doesn't even process why Anika isn't a statue right now. Instead this time she actually listens to her mom. She nods once and then breaks away from Shanti to sprint toward the steps down to the ground.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche doubles her pace as she nears the well and the sounds of battle reach her ears, charging up the stairs only to pause as she crosses paths with Natharia again. She hesitates for a second, unsure whether to escort the child or continue upwards, but the sounds of conflict force her to conclude the latter. "Run to VIGIL, they should keep you safe!" Unless held back, she will rush up the rest of stairs, moving to place herself between Anika's relatives and the approaching hound.

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

The beast following Natharia with its eyeless gaze suddenly bursts into a run, but before it can get to her its ensnared by powerful animated vines and roots which suddenly has burst out from the dead tree. Shanti holding up her now glowing hands and the plants follow suit, holding the creature further up into the air. Meanwhile the snakes from before has started to gather around her, apparently ready to fight for the druid.

Meanwhile, Anika is fighting against what must be a dozen hounds. She seem to be stronger and more resilient than them but their sheer numbers are overwhelming her. She is wading through a metaphorical sea of bites and claws as the hounds attack her from all sides.

This is the scene Blanche sees once she reaches the top.
But something is missing, the pit fiend. It's suddenly no where in sight. Of course, Blanche just arrived so she probably never saw in it the first place.

---

Natharia will eventually reach the ground with the sound of the battle still ringing in the air. But even here on the ground things don't feel right. Nothing has actually changed but every shadow and every sound now feels like it could belong to a new monster.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

Natharia says nothing to Blanche, but has the presence of mind to not look her in the eye and accidentally kill her. So that's good.

When the girl reaches the base of the stump, she looks around wildly, half expecting something to jump out at her. It only takes her a second longer to start running as fast as she can int he direction of Vigil.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche snarls as she spots the mob swarming her ally, swapping to her pistol and firing into the edges of the crowd to avoid the bear. "Get the hell away from her!" she commands, attempting to draw their ire away from Anika.

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

As Natharia is looking around she gets a glimpse of a towering figure coming towards her from around the ancient tree stump and as she runs she can hear it following her, heavy steps which quickly are picking up speed. She is unlikely to be able to outrun her pursuer no matter how fast she runs.

---

As soon as Shanti spots Blanche screaming and shouting she realizes that the dumb cat-eared gal wasn't down there protecting her child. She would be down there herself but she knew exactly how to eliminate this threat and she would have to be up here to do that.
Anika would manage during the time it would take for her to finish up, but if there was even one of these creatures down there...

She sends the serpents fourth to attack the beasts swarming Anika while making a gesture towards Blanche, her eyes turning into green hypnotic circles. "Natharia will die unless you go down there and protect her, Blanche. Anika will be fine."
Blanche will, unless she can resist the mental effect through some effort of will, be under the compulsion to protect Natharia with her life. It wasn't perfect mind-control. It would only work with a reasonable suggestion and she hoped that Blanche wouldn't want her child to die.

Sure, she could just tell the cat-eared minion to do what she wished, but she might argue against it and waste time up here and even a second could be the difference between saving and losing her child right now. Shanti simply didn't care what Blanche might think of her once this was over.

It wasn't like Anika could argue against this as she was busy roaring and fighting off a dozen demons at the same time.

Still, only so many of the hollow hounds could attack the bear at the same time and as this weird chimera started shooting at them a trio of nearby hounds turn as she hits them with bullets. She can see that the bullets are doing damage, and their limbs go limp if she hits them. However, they seemed to be able to heal their injuries at a unnaturally fast rate.
Her bullets will slow them down significantly, but she isn't sure she will be able to kill them at this rate, especially as three of them starts moving at her at the same time.

Meanwhile, regardless if the compulsion works or not, Shanti will head for the moon well.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove - Fleeing]

Natharia runs as fast as she can, but she can hear the thing gaining on her. When it's clear she's not going to get away and stops suddenly an turns to face it. "Stay back! I can kill you!" She screams.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove - Flight of the Snekbab

Blanche's eyes widen as she realizes that the child is not just an innocent bystander but the monsters' quarry. There's a second where Shanti might doubt her power's effectiveness as Blanche briefly wavers, unsure how well she can trust Shanti to make sure of Anika's safety, but the compulsion, combined with her own morals, is far greater than such a concern.

"She better be," the woman harshly states, before turning around and darting after Natharia.

[Morty]

[Village Walk]

Reinholdt clears his throat and forces a smile. He's nervous, but not because she's so tall. He's actually quite used to people being taller than him.

"Well, I'm here to see if anyone was interested in saving a life by having spider babies. I'm also in negotiations with your leaders about the possibility of the transfer of an object in your vaults. And I wanted to inform them about our vault nearing completion and offer the chance for inspection, particularly by the magically attuned. If they'd like." Reinholdt doesn't know how much others know about what he's asking for. And the less who do, the better. If people think VIGIL still has the soul, that'd just be another layer of security.

"But I think that's all jumping ahead. My name is Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire. Who might you be?" Reinholdt says, performing his flourish.

The norn looks somewhat perplexed, but shrugs.

"My name is Arinema, daughter of Naruda, one of the newer Vigil recruits," she says. "I don't know anything about vaults. This seems to be above my paygrade. And you're really going to need to elaborate on the spider babies topic."

[Reinholdt]

[Village Walk]

"Nice to meet you Arinema," Reinholdt assures with a smile.

"A drider friend of mine - that's a human and a spider crossbreed - has a genetic disorder condition thing. If she doesn't mate with another woman and make some babies, her brain will start to kill itself. She'll go crazy in a bad way and then die." Friend is a strong word. And he didn't really check if it had to be with a woman.

"I'm seeing her in a few days at the local tavern if you'd like to meet her. No pressure. And you'd be able to back out at any time."

[Morty]

[Village Walk]

Arinema frowns, perplexed and really unsure what to say.

"That's, uh... normally I wouldn't let a lady's need go unanswered, or hesitate to save someone's life, but this is just a few shades too weird for me."

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove - Flight of the Snekbab

Behind Natharia is the pit fiend which now reaches out with its free hand, attempting to grab her by the waist. It makes no attempt at replying to her threat, it's just focusing on grabbing her.

---

One of the hounds jumps as soon as Blanche turns her back at them. If it connects, it will likely push her over the edge of the tree stump, making them both plummet to the ground underneath.

The other two are just running along, they would attack Blanche if she somehow dodges the first hounds attack, but going for bite and claw attacks rather than attempting to push her off the trunk.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

Natharia screams and tries to twist away from the pit fiend. He'll likely be able to get a grip on her clothes, at least. With the speed one would expect, her snakes strike at once, biting the beast as much as possible. Natharia tries to tear herself free from its grip with all her strength.