VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Arkhosia]

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.

The first hound strikes true, knocking its quarry over the edge and sending Blanche tumbling down. The instincts of her feline heritage kick in and she turns her body and bends her limbs to brace for the fall. The sides of her left shoulder and thigh absorb the impact as she strikes the earth with a curse, letting momentum roll her onto her back.

She springs back to her feet and turns to face the hound in one swift movement, raising her shotgun and aiming for the head as she fires. If it doesn't look like a killing blow, she'll eject the casing and fire once more.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

This fiend is covered in a heavy armor. The same way human knights are. Even its legs and tail are covered and it appears it even has amputated its wings to not leave any weak spots exposed.
But all that armor does make it slower and while the snakes fail to do any damage she does manage to break free even if her clothes get torn. It reaches out with it's other hand however, attempting to grab her by the legs this time.

By now though, Natharia can hear strange whispers. They sound like her mothers voice but she's speaking in a language she can't understand. Whatever Shanti is saying though, only she seem to be able to hear it.

---

The hound is getting up again, though not as quick as Blanche managed to.
The first shot does seem to make it stop moving. Though if she does wait a moment she can start to see the wounds starting to close. It's body somehow repairing itself despite the fact it appears to be dead. Firing a second shot does seem to stop the process however.
But now the other two hounds are leaping down the tree trunk. It will take a moment for them to steady themselves so Blanche has now a choice. Attack them as they landed or run and protect Natharia. The demons are sure to follow though.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

Natharia's sleeve partially tears and she wrenches away, tearing it right off and bending her arm awkwardly in the process. "Let me go!" She kicks at his hands, just enough to scramble away and to her feet. She breaks out into a run toward the thicker trees where her small frame can slip between the trunks easier than the hulking thing pursuing her. She pushes forward despite branches whipping her and grabbing her clothing, but admittedly she can't move as quickly here.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche does wait long enough to notice the regeneration starting to kick in, but not a second more before finishing the creature off. She turns to spot the other hounds as they leap... and it's at this moment that Natharia's terrified shrieks and yells reach her ears.

"Agh, I don't have time for this!" she growls, mind racing to weigh her options before swiftly firing two quick shots at each hound as they land, pivoting and sprinting towards the sounds of the fleeing gorgon. The aim is to slay the hounds before they can pursue, but the haste in her movements might ruin Blanche's accuracy enough to briefly incapacitate.

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

The fiend grunts in annoyance as Natharia manages to slip out of its grip once again. Suddenly, it pauses. Seemingly reconsidering its current course of actions while the gorgon is forcing her way through the thicker part of the grove.

This is how Blanche finds it as she flees from the perusing hounds. Her haste to kill the two remaining demons sadly meant she didn't manage to down either. The increased distance as well as the lack of time to take proper aim caused the spread of shots to get too thin. While both the demons got gravely injured it doesn't seem she managed to put either of them down.

But she still can't hear them so it looks like she managed to slow them down at least.

As she comes across the pit knight it turns to her and Blanche will find that its sword that it had dropped to grab Natharia is suddenly lifted off the ground by an invisible forced and is launched right at her with terrifying force.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

Natharia runs a ways into the trees, but she soon realizes she's not being chased anymore. She turns to look back for a moment, watching Blanche face off against the demon. But she doesn't linger. She starts picking her way through the trees in the the direction of Vigil. She runs as fast as she can, cutting back onto the more clear path back if she's not going to be chased anymore.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche is barely given time to process her surprise that the crew after Natharia is more than just a bunch of hellhounds before the pit fiend sends their massive blade slicing through the air, forcing her to swerve and drop into a slide. She shifts to a crouch as the last of her momentum fades, narrowed eyes studying the looming figure before her. Heavily-armored, probably too heavy for her weaponry to punch through - but maybe not cushioned enough to stop their momentum.

"You must be real tough, trying to kill a [Caress]in' child." Her words exude fury as she shoves new rounds into her shotgun, loading the weapon with slugs.

[Morty]

[Approaching the Moonwell]

A group of people is approaching the moonwell grove rapidly from the direction of Vigil. It appears to be Wenomir, leading a posse of four others - a very short person with a staff, a massive horned cat-person with a rifle, an armor-clad person with a sword and shield and someone who seems to be wearing an armored robe and a scythe. They're still a ways out, but proceeding quickly and clearly visible if anyone happens to look there.

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

The fiend seems to have little interest in exchanging words with the catgirl. It holds up its hand and suddenly the sword that was just launched against Blanche materializes in its hand and changes form into a whip.
With a lash it strikes out against the chest of the catgirl. If the whip do touches her, it will try to ensnare her and wraps itself around her arms and chest like a metal rope.

[Approaching the Moonwell]

Far above the approaching group is a pair of metallic bird-like creatures. The telescope-like instruments they have instead of eyes zooming in on the group for a moment before they turn and fly off.

They are likely to run into Natharia running from the fiend however.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

The fiend seems to have little interest in exchanging words with the catgirl. It holds up its hand and suddenly the sword that was just launched against Blanche materializes in its hand and changes form into a whip.
With a lash it strikes out against the chest of the catgirl. If the whip do touches her, it will try to ensnare her and wraps itself around her arms and chest like a metal rope.

Blanche tries to incapacitate the fiend by firing at its head before it swings for her, making an attempt to dart right and out of the way. But while she avoids a strike to the chest, the whip still manages to cut into the side of her left arm, wrapping around it and drawing out a pained grimace as it cuts the evasive motion short. In response, she makes another shot at the creature's forearm, hoping to disrupt its hold on the weapon and maybe even damage the tendons that link to the hand. Being forced to shoot one-handed hampers the accuracy of her shot, however - it might be more likely to graze than hit the mark.

[Gullara]

[Approaching the Moonwell]

As the Vigil group approaches the moon well, they'll see Natharia running as fast as she can coming the opposite direction. From a distance it might not be immediately apparent it's her, however. Any on the group looking at her will feel something wrong. Their extremities start to feel stiff, heavy. A deep, animal fear might start to well up inside them.

As quickly as it came, the feeling recedes. They can make out Natharia by now and the girl is running with her eyes squeezed closed. "Help! Help!" Her foot catches on the ground and she hits the ground hard. She was already scraped and bruised before this point, so she's looking rough. She pushes herself up with one arm and looks directly at the group despite having her eyes squeezed closed. "There's monsters at the moon well! My mom's still there!"

[Morty]

[Approaching the Moonwell]

Before Wenomir can tell everyone to shut their eyes, the feeling is gone. He has no time to dwell on it. With a quick flash of his sword, he cuts a strip off his surcoat and goes to help Natharia up before handing the strip to her.

"We know. We'll help your mom You..." He pauses, then turns to the other Vigil fighters. "Gwaeria. Escort her back to the island. We'll kill any demon coming from the moonwell, but we're not taking any chances."

"Yes, sir," comes a woman's voice from behind the helmet, belonging to the person in heavy armor and with a shield. The armor has a distinct leafy pattern to it and it doesn't seem to be made of metal. "Come. I'll keep you safe on the way back."

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

The demon grunts in pain as Blanche hits it in the forearm. Grazing or not, that still hurt. It's hand move stiffly and seem to be forced to support it with its other hand just to manage to hold onto the whip. It switches arms, taking the whip in the right hand which doesn't appear to be its preferred one. Yet it does not make any more hostile actions. Instead it just takes a step back and says something in a tongue Blanche can't understand.

She can feel the whip growing hotter however. It's not burning hot, but it's quite uncomfortable and it seem to be connected to the fact that pit knight now is glowing faintly red and seem to be fading out of sight. Like if you're staring at a setting sun, watching someone disappear over the horizon.
The whip is glowing in the same way and seem to be fading too, alongside her. Unless she can get it off of course.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

The demon grunts in pain as Blanche hits it in the forearm. Grazing or not, that still hurt. It's hand move stiffly and seem to be forced to support it with its other hand just to manage to hold onto the whip. It switches arms, taking the whip in the right hand which doesn't appear to be its preferred one. Yet it does not make any more hostile actions. Instead it just takes a step back and says something in a tongue Blanche can't understand.

She can feel the whip growing hotter however. It's not burning hot, but it's quite uncomfortable and it seem to be connected to the fact that pit knight now is glowing faintly red and seem to be fading out of sight. Like if you're staring at a setting sun, watching someone disappear over the horizon.
The whip is glowing in the same way and seem to be fading too, alongside her. Unless she can get it off of course.

Blanche winces, pulling against the whip before she seems to recognize just what the pit knight is trying to do. Eyes widening, she shifts her hold on the shotgun and fires twice into the creature's right arm, yanking back as soon as the shots land and crying out in pain as the action digs the coiled metal deeper into her arm. She couldn't cut through the whip, so her best chance was to break its hold.

[Gullara]

[Approaching the Moonwell]

Natharia takes the strip of cloth and gets to her feet. She's holding her right arm against her side with her left. It hangs limp and is quite noticeably bruised and swollen. It looks really bad, actually. "I can't tie it." She says to Gwaeria. Tears flow from the corners of her closed eyes. "My arm's hurt."

[Morty]

[Approaching the Moonwell]

Wenomir looks back to Gwaeria but leaves this for her to handle. He can't lose more time. The Sylvari knight kneels next to Natharia and touches her arm, blue glow surrounding her hand. It won't heal Natharia's arm, but it should ease her pain and reduce the bleeding from her other injuries a bit. Then she takes the blindfold in her gauntleted hands and ties it around the gorgon's eyes.

"There we go. We'll have people at the island take a proper look at your arm."

Meanwhile, Wenomir leads the rest of the party towards the moonwell. The warrior leads the others up a familiar route up the tree, ready to attack any demons they see with overpowering violence. Soon enough, they'll see the pit fiend and Blanche, but there's no time to approach in melee. However, the Charr with the sniper rifle hangs back while Wenomir and the others keep running. He kneels and aims a careful shot with a silver bullet at the inside of the creature's right elbow, to compound on what Blanche is already doing. The other two will close in to engage with the pit fiend in case it's still needed, while Wenomir takes off at breakneck speed towards the top of the tree.

[Reinholdt]

[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."

[Village Walk]

"Ah," Reinholdt says, shifting uncomfortably. "I thought you might be interested since you asked. That's ok. I'll find someone, I'm sure."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove==> ??? ==> Moonwell Grove]

The pit fiend is hit with multiple blasts in the right arm, let's go of the whip, and then disappears in a flash.
Similar bursts of light shortly follow and suddenly there isn't a single demon left in the grove. Even the demon that Blanche killed at the foot of the ancient tree stump appears to have been gated out, leaving only the traces of battle behind.

One important thing of notice though, the whip is also still fading away though for Blanche something seems to have gone wrong.
In one moment she is standing on a platform overlooking what appears to be a strip mine in some arctic region of the world and the next she is back at the moon well again.

But before she has as much as a chance to breath out she is back at the platform.

Now she can see things in a bit more details. The pit fiend is right next to her and in the middle of the strip mine stands a blue colored construct, its design probably reminding her of a gigantic pit fiend. At least 50 feet tall in length though probably a lot more. Large chunks of this monster seems to have blown off and signs point to that it has been severely damaged in a battle of some sort. It seems like the demons that are working the strip mine are repairing it. If she described this goliath to anyone that partook in the Riverside invasion they would probably recognize it as the so-called chthonian that destroyed large chunks of southside before finally being destroyed by Felandria and several others working together against it.

But the next moment she can feel the pit fiend trying to grip her by the throat and squeezing as if trying to crush it...

And she's back at the groove again, likely falling on the ground and gasping for air as the fiend was actually lifting her off the ground. Things seem more stable now however, Wenomir or anyone else observing her would have seen her fading in and out of existence before suddenly being lifted into the air by an invisible force and finally fully materialize within the grove.

As for Wenomir, he would have to slow down quite a bit as some of the steps leading up to the stub seem to have been destroyed in the battle. The ancient tree stump itself having suffered quite some damage.

[Gullara]

[Approaching the Moonwell]

Natharia nods and looks to be able to cope a bit better with the pain being dimmed. She'll let Gwaeria escort her toward Vigil now.

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove==> ??? ==> Moonwell Grove]

For a brief moment, Blanche feels a sweeping sigh of relief as it seems she's escaped the demon's clutches - but then things go wrong, and she briefly blinks out of existence and into another plane. Confusion gives way to terror as she realizes that she's trapped within a foreign land teeming with even more of the things she was fighting - and then to mortal terror as she feels the pit fiend seize her and suffocate her, clutching in vain at its massive hand(s?) to try and stop it from crushing her windpipe like a drained beer can.

And then she's falling back to the ground by the moonwell, gasping for air and clutching at her throat as rough bruising already begins to form. "W-where... where's Anika? S-Shanti? Is everyone okay?" She gasps out, coughing as she tries to get back to her feet. If she's not given an answer straight away, she'll likely rush off back to the moonwell, clambering up the damaged steps.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

"The commander went up to the top of this... tree?" The dark-skinned woman holding a scythe and wearing an armored robe looks up. "But if this demon vanished- oh well."

The two will follow Blanche upwards.

The damaged terrain gives even Wenomir's improbable acrobatics pause, so it takes him some time to arrive at the top. Once there, he looks around for Shanti, Anika or anyone else.

"Anika? Shanti?"

[Approaching the Moonwell ==> Back to Vigil]

Gwaeria will let Natharia run a little ahead of her and holds her shield up behind the girl's back to deflect anything coming from behind. If they arrive at the island without incident, she'll hurry to the clinic.

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

It's a tree stump, not a full tree. If it had still been alive, the full tree must have been massive. Far larger than any other tree in the grove and likely taller than even the flying VIGIL base.
Though considering how flat the top of the tree stump is, it must have been made that way by a intelligent hand. Though there are no signs of the rest of the tree. If it had fallen nearby, it would surely still be signs of it considering its sheer size.

Nonetheless, as Wenomir reaches the top of the stump he will find Anika the bear there with dozens of wounds and scratches all over her body. She is breathing heavily, her massive body not even having the energy to stand up anymore and thus she's just laying there breathing it seems. She let's out a weak growl as Wenomir reaches the top and moves her paw up and down in some kind of gesture.
Shanti on the other hand is sitting in the middle of the moon well, meditating. Making no response as Wenomir call out her name or approaches. Stranger still, she doesn't seem to have suffered a single scratch in sharp contrast to her gravely wounded sister.

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

Blanche will reach the top perhaps a minute after Wenomir, and Anika's state certainly doesn't ease her worries. "****, Anika, are you-" no, you idiot, she's not okay, don't ask that! There's probably not time for that! "What the hell happened? Can you change back?" The last question seems a little out-of-place, but it might be explained from the actions she takes while asking as she rushes over, kneeling down beside the bear and rummaging in her satchel for bandages and other medical supplies.

Shanti earns a brief but suspicious glare as the catgirl does so; the duo's combat styles are probably fine explanations for why one is unscathed and the other badly wounded, but it doesn't stop her knee-jerk suspicions, nor does the complete lack of care that she seems to show afterwards.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

Wenomir's focus is also on Anika, rushing to her and probably making it there before Blanche does.

"By the Riddle, Anika!"

He calms down once the druid is being taken care of by an actual medical professional and instead glares daggers at Shanti.

"What the hell is she doing... unless it's something to help Anika, she and I are going to have words."

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Shanti still has no reaction to either of them. She seems to be within her own peaceful place.
Though should either of them get closer to the well itself, they can see that it's glow has changed. Having turned a shade of teal, like Shanti's own magic.

As for Anika, they can see a lot of snakes, dead and alive, all around her. Their spread suggests they fought the demons rather than her however.
She growls again, but it carries no real meaning. Twitching as Blanche is attending to her wounds. It thankfully doesn't appear that any of them are very deep, her fur seem to have some kind of supernatural quality which has protected her from any currently life-threatening injuries. Though considering her state and the sheer number of injuries she's suffered it seems clear that she wouldn't have lasted for too long. However, considering that she can heal herself, or have Shanti heal her(?) she might not have been in as much danger as it first appeared.

Then again, the fact she hasn't changed back into her humanoid form yet is probably a bad sign.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

The cause of Blanche's previous question will be further clarified by the fact that she does not have enough supplies to care for the breadth of every injury Anika's bear form has sustained, forcing her to prioritize only the relatively deeper and more serious injuries. The lack of transformation is quite enough to keep her worry from fading completely, but she doesn't know any way to try and help with it.

"I have no clue sir, but I'd quite like to know," she spitefully states, before asking, "Er, anything you want me to do, sir?" Were Wenomir not here, she probably wouldn't be so reserved and much more outwardly confrontational towards Shanti... but professionalism seems to hold her back.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

"Just keep her stable." Wenomir's voice is quiet but tense with worry. "If she doesn't shift back into her elf form, we're going to need to call for an airship. We can't carry her all the way back to the island."

He gets up and approaches the moonwell, sheathing his sword. If Shanti hasn't heard them or reacted by now, she won't. But what is she doing? Should he interrupt?

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Grove]

Nothing happens as Wenomir approaches the moonwell. Shanti is still in some kind of meditative trace, being half-way submerged in the "waters" of the well.

Anika doesn't make any more growls but seem more relaxed now and isn't as twitchy. Her breathing seem calmer too. Otherwise there is no apparent change yet.

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

Nothing happens as Wenomir approaches the moonwell. Shanti is still in some kind of meditative trace, being half-way submerged in the "waters" of the well.

Anika doesn't make any more growls but seem more relaxed now and isn't as twitchy. Her breathing seem calmer too. Otherwise there is no apparent change yet.

Blanche will probably not do much besides watching Anika for any signs of change, perhaps giving the shifted Druid a reassuring pat before deciding to remove her jacket and tend to her own wounds. The whip left quite a few nasty bruises and bleeding punctures in her upper arm, and though it’s nothing terribly serious it’ll probably take some time to fade - perhaps leave some faint scarring, even. With a sigh of irritation, she’ll slip off the shirt she’s wearing to tear up and repurpose as a tourniquet before throwing her jacket back on and closing it to preserve some modesty.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Grove]

It's around that time the other Vigil members arrive. It would have been faster, but the Asura mesmer is rather unsuited to climbing this sort of terrain. The dervish had to all but carry him during the last stretch. Sadly, Wenomir is disinclined to let him catch a breath.

"Dirvak, be so kind as to try and tell me what the hell she's doing."

The mesmer walks over to the moonwell and sends a little bit of probing magic ahead, to try and see just what Shanti is doing with it. It's cautious and not very precise or in-depth, because he doesn't have much of a clue what he's dealing with. As he's doing that, Wenomir addresses Blanche, but without looking away from Shanti.

"What the hell happened, Blanche? Geneva suddenly came running to warn me and Cessie of demons gating in here."