Cuttersbury - Trail towards Drych Lake
Now that was a test of endurance. Not so much physically, but mentally for them all. Moira for one didn't know how much more she could take, the vein in her forehead becoming all the more pronounced. She had already threatened Jett a couple of times to get him to zip it. However, as they finally approached the edge of what looked like a small valley, they knew they were close. The hint of a lake visible over the edge of the road, the telltale signs of carriage wheel marks in the road. The summit of the road revealed the spa itself - situated right on the edge of the large lake, and surrounded by trees much like the path they walked on. Quite noteably, they could see many potholes in it's vicinity as well.



Quite suddenly Marcus seemed to slow, tilting his head by the slightest fraction. To the newcomers of the group, this probably wasn't particularly noteworthy. But to those who knew, especially when Trixie similarly began twitching her nose...

click, click, click

The sound became audible to the rest of them one by one. A rhythmic clicking noise, although it sounded like more than one thing was making the sound. In fact, it sounded like many. Moira exchanged looks with the others, before slowly withdrawing her greatsword. Syed quite clearly swallowed nervously.

Wait, was the ground rumbling under them all? "What-?!" He stepped back, a small spark of electricity jumping from his temples. He looked around his eyes wide. They're here!

And just like that, the ground suddenly gave away from under the group entirely. While the drop was only a foot or two at most, their aggressors simultaniously leapt up from their underground tunnels, clicking their long, razor-sharp claws much like a human would click their fingers. And strangely enough many were wearing quite fashionable items of men's clothing, although their rocky spikes had ripped many holes in them. The monsters all simultaniously span on the spot and threw a pose. What on Ddeaer?!



The Varren quite easily outnumbered the Guilders, even in their larger group. They clashed their claws together and gnashed their teeth, before some of them jumped back into the ground through their newly formed tunnels. The others moved to attack, to slash, bite or throw rocks at the group.

Little did the Pride know, the area was littered with potholes and molehills. Those underground Varren could pop up anywhere.

Battle Theme - Final Fantasy II Battle Theme

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

Lute had corrected Jett on assuming his age before Aria needed to. Instead the illusionist stuck her tongue out at Moira in reply. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She then blinked at Lulu's own reply, hiding a snort of laughter. "No, I don't think the loss of clothing's going to be happening. Maybe." With the Pride, it was hard to make assumptions.

When Jett started his enthusiastic repetition of his simple question, Aria's smile never wavered. This was most likely due to the fact that she had sidled up next to Lute and was walking shoulder to shoulder with him, a small tug on his sleeve being a silent request for him to extend his little barrier of quietness to her as well. The threats and shouting were very nicely muffled, allowing her to enjoy the fresh air in peace while ignoring the hullabaloo around the two.

Due to the sound barrier, howeber. it wasn't until she realized that the group had stopped and was slowly drawing their weapons that she realized something was wrong. Lute noticed the same time she did, lowering the shield until they could both hear clicking. The sound was unfortunately a familiar one and she twitched,not having expected them to pop up already. It must really be a severe infestation if they were showing up this far from the spa!

She had barely drawn her weapons when the ground gave away under them. Somehow the woman managed to keep her footing and as the dust settled she gaped at the Varrens. When had they started wearing clothing? Or posing? Were Varrens bros?

The guilders were outnumbered and surrounded, and Aria block a slash with her fan, slicing at the creature with the other only for it to kick off of her weapon and dodging. She wasn't sure if they would be able to fend this many off, mind whirring instead for any alternative possible options while dodging rocks and trying not to get hit by any of the beast's attacks.

Think, think!

Cuttersbury: Off to Drych Lake Spa!

During the walk to the spa, there were multiple times Nani grimaced and covered her ears. "Bloody- Wouldja stop asking that! Sheesh I'm gonna send you to Davy Jones the next time-" She turned completely, this time frowning at her bird. "Don't you dare start mister." He stopped thankfully and flew back to Nani's shoulder. In the time they weren't being annoyed, she did get to see some cool weapons like Estelle's fire blade. She even got to show off her own sword, and explain that she also used her fists when the time called for it. When it finally got silent on their trip, she looked around and scratched her head.

"So what's a Varren anyway-" As soon as she asked, the ground escaped from under her and she ended up on her butt, looking up at Cap who was flying over the collapsed group. She maneuvered to her feet and dusted herself off. Her attention immediately went to the creatures in shredded clothing. "So that's a Varren, eh? Don't see those during sea travel... Then again there isn't much earth around. Alright, so get rid of these vermin? Got it!" She pulled her cutlass out and deflected a few rocks that were thrown their way.

As excitable and as reckless as she could be, Nani did have sense when it came to serious matters. One jumped in her direction with claws at the ready, but she managed to block that as well. She was stuck at a stand still for a moment, holding her blade in order to block the various quick clawed attacks. "You know, you're pretty tough." Nani kept her footing and so did the Varren, both now attempting to push the other back with their weapons. "Heh, but I'm a pirate. We tend to cheat- just a little." Not like the Varren knew what she was saying, it only tried to knock her down and attack then attack.

What it didn't expect was Nani to move her head and talons to scratch its eyes. "Good job Cap! Now go up there and stay safe. Don't need an injured bird." The bird squawked and flew up to a nearby tree in order to watch. Just as Nani was about to end the creature, it scrambled into the ground for safety. "Blimey! These things are fast. What? Do they have some type of vendetta against people?" She asked loud enough for someone to answer, not really caring who did.

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

Estelle’s brow twitched in irritation, her temple almost fit to burst, first from Jett’s relentlessly annoying question and then from the sudden tremor that surrounded her, a tremor that saved the hapless rookie from a punch in the face and one that almost dislodged Estelle from her feet and onto her rear. She managed to catch herself and stop that from happening in time, but her frustration only began to magnify greater and greater once the Varren in question made their appearance.

“What… what on Ddaear are they wearing?” Estelle asked, her face taut in a deadpan expression. The Varren, decked in stylish clothing made of printed tshirts, vests, jeans and jackets, all did a little spinning twirl and pose, before setting out to attack them. Some plunged back into the burrowed earth to attack from underground, as others charged atop in a two pronged attack.

“Those things they’re wearing…” Estelle backtracked, unsheathing her fireblade and readying it in front of her as she stepped close to Marcus, whose eyes were knitted closed in concentration, his robes glowing a magical emerald glow as he focused on delivering an agility enhancing spell to each of his allies. “They’re not what I think they are, are they?”



“Hahaha,” Marcus laughed. “You know what he always used to say. ‘The clothes make the man’, or something like that.”

“This is ridiculous,” Estelle sighed. She then jumped backwards in the air at the second the ground beneath her feet popped open, two Varren claws shooting up from the ground, but the rest of the Varren remaining hidden below. As Estelle’s feet skidded on the ground, she smiled to Marcus, telling him thanks for the spell, and returned her focus to the attacking Varren. “Oh no, I’m not falling for that same trick aga-!”

To Estelle’s surprise, another pair of Varren claws popped up and grabbed her ankles. Estelle’s cheeks grew red.

Jett took a deep breath. He felt a little hurt when Estelle yelled back. The poor rookie wondered why she sounded so annoyed. All he wanted was to be friendly. Out of nervousness he accidentally blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Wait, so does that mean we’re there yet?"

The ground rumbled under his feet, and the young man threw one leg back to steady himself, but it didn't do him any good. He swayed a little before landing on his bum. He groaned loudly.

"W-what are those?"

The H-rank guilder stared at the strangest creatures he had ever seen. Well the strangest creatures dressed in clothes. Jett was still staring dumbly when the earth moles attacked. His jaw dropped in disbelief as he saw a few began hurling stones at the group. A large pebble struck him on the forehead, and Jett fell screaming backwards. He lay prone on the ground as the initial shock began to wear off. A large reddish patch was spreading rapidly across his forehead. The pain barely begun fading away when the newbie sat up abruptly! Woah! What next?

Cuttersbury - Trail towards Drych Lake

Despite her best intentions, Moira ended up joining many of the others in losing her balance as they fell. As did Syed, except Syed falling over was nothing noteworthy whatsoever.

He blinked rapidly as the pair scrambled back to their feet, his gaze darting to Trixie and back as he remembered her words. "...No way. This is just... this is rediculous!" he exclaimed. "I... I don't know!" he added in response to Nani. "I've never met a friendly one though!" He shook his head a little to clear his mind, before making a couple of rapidfire gestures and throwing an arm out towards a Varren as it went to shoot towards him.

Of course, his electricity simply dissipated on it's scales. Welp. He dived out of the way and decided he had to reevaluate the situation, glancing towards the others and gauging how he could be of use without either his bolts or shields.

Moira remained on the spot, holding her greatsword out to deflect any incoming projectiles. "Oi oi oi, you ain't gonna be any use sitting on the floor like that," she added to Jett, spitting to one side. In one swift movement she shot one hand forward, grabbing hold of a Varren as it leapt towards Aria from behind and using her vast strength to throw it back to it's brethren. Her actions did little more than daze it, but it could help Aria get a bit of a breather at least.

"Estelle!"

Moira's head span around at her partner's shout, spotting Estelle with a complexion to match her hair. Heh. Some things never change. She twisted on one foot as she went to run towards her leader, lifting her greatsword in the air in a stabbing movement...

...And was sent flying as a Varren bodily collided into her side. The creature had curled up into a spikey ball and span, launching itself into the air at her. The blow caused a horrible screaching noise as it ground against the metal plating of her armor, before Moira hit the floor hard a few feet away with a loud curse. Of course, as always Syed was sent flying after like he was attached to a rubber band.

Meanwhile the Varren continued to attack - one popping up behind Quentin for a suprise attack, another rolling straight towards Jett. A third burrowed underneath Lute with the intent to once more make the earth beneath him unstable. And another leapt out of a hole close to Amy, aiming a swipe at that beautiful, bitchy face.

Cuttersbury - Trail towards Drych Lake

When Trixie ran between the electricity and water mages to grab Quentin's hands, Quentin started laughing. She seemed a bit small to be a Guilder, but what she lacked in height, she had more than double in enthusiasm.

"Hi Cutie! I'm Pixie--I mean Trixie! I shoot stuff and make things go boom! I'm sure you know that we're all actually super special awesome superheroes. You gotta be a superhero to join us too, yaknow."

"Of course. I'm one too, you know," Quentin said, winking at her over his sunglasses. "I'm Hydroman. Maybe when we get to the spa, I can show you my moves."

That little conversation ordinarily would have been the last thing on most men's minds when confronted by a pack of poser Varrens with assault on their minds, but Quentin was not most men. His mind rolled back to thinking of himself as Hydroman when a Varren popped up behind him and pounced on him with a take down. Quentin grunted as he hit the ground, enjoying an all-expenses paid dirt nap. It occurred to him at that moment that he had forgotten to pack a canteen with him for the trip from the Guild to the spa. A water mage without water was a surfer without a board.

He gave a low cry when a Varren pelted him in the back with a rock. He scrambled on hands and knees to the side of the trail and stood on unsteady feet. A Varren in a gaudy purple shirt made a strange, hostile chittering sound at him. Quentin backed away slowly at first, but when the Varren dove underground, the mage turned and ran into the grassy growth. His first thought was to climb a tree and hope for the best, but as soon as the Varren sprang out of the earth right in front of him, that thought fell by the wayside. Quentin put his left hand on the tree and then looked at it. Green moss was growing along the trunk. Behind his shades, he glanced at the Varren, which betrayed no emotion. Quentin's right hand rested on his hip.

"So sorry, dude, but...Bulli!"

With a swift, fluid motion, Quentin's left hand drew an arc from the mossy tree to the Varren. A stream of bubbles followed the trail of his digits and got in the creature's eyes. The Varren made another unpleasant sound and flailed in irritation. Had Quentin been a more talented water mage, he probably could have sucked water right out of the grass and turned it on these foes, but drawing water from a large tree was a start. The mage backpedaled, hoping the distraction to the Varren would give him enough time to rejoin his comrades. He hoped they were more prepared for this battle than he was.

Cuttersbury – Trail towards Drych Lake

The varren, asides from the occasional raking, also had the ingenuity to throw rocks at the Pride. As expected, Lute wasn’t taking that well. He had his free arm draped over his face as a shield of sorts, while he swung his sword above the suspicious patches of soil where the creatures might pop out. It goes without saying that sound attacks were pretty useless against their current enemies.

The flat of his blade struck against something hard, and when he turned to look, Lute realized that he had just knocked a fedora off the top of a random varren’s head. The creature turned to cast a baleful glare at him before burrowing deep into the ground, disappearing in a spray of pebbles and earth. “All right, this isn’t good,” Lute snapped as a few bits of sand got into his eyes, courtesy of a flying boulder thrown by a couple of their enemies, and he stepped back. As his foot sunk into the earth, the soil itself seemed to collapse and the virtuoso tumbled back. The very same varren he hit earlier was now snickering at him with its upper half exposed out of the underground tunnel. “Why you-,” Lute grabbed his sword and whacked the varren on its head like it was one of those arcade hit games, and since it was too busy sniggering it barely had any time to react to the virtuoso’s onslaught. “HA! Who’s laughing now, punk!?” He snarled and got up after the varren was forcibly pummeled back underground.

A quick look at his surroundings informed him that while the skirmish wasn’t very fair, at least nobody was bleeding out or anything. “Oi! You going to keep like that until later or what?” Lute rushed towards Jett, swinging his sword downwards at the rolling varren as if they were in a golf competition. Unfortunately, he didn’t expect that it was quite heavy and only managed to move its trajectory by a few inches, not to mention that he staggered back when its spikes pretty much clashed with his blade.

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

As usual, Amy hung around the back of the group as the fight brewed. She too lost her footing like everyone else when the ground gave way though, being completely unfit for these types of movements. It wasn't too bad considering no one had gotten themselves too injured yet, and she was too far to be targeted by the rocks thrown, but she was still a target as much as everyone else. A varren had sprung up behind her. As she turned to face it, it let out a devilish cry and aimed to swipe her face right off.

Amy grimaced. There was no time for her whip, so she had to fight fire with fire. Unlike the varren, she didn't need the extra time to reel back her own deadly weapon - and before the beast could unleash its attack, Amy did hers first.

A loud smack sounded off, and the varren was sent pummeling back down into its own hole with a shrill. It still had more than enough strength to roam around, but now there was a large red pattern etched along its face, soreness numbing its nose and mouth. After a brief pause, Amy too let out a grunt as she soothed her right hand. Her slaps were deadly, but against hard surfaces as opposed to human skin... ouch.

She shook out the throbbing in her wrist and refocused on the battlefield before her. At once her body began to glow a lush green as she murmured to herself. One by one the front-liners felt warmth engulf their bodies as Amy's spell empowered them - a defensive buff. She sacrificed efficiency for speed this time, but it was still strong enough to shrug off a neutral hit or two.



By the time the ground ruptured, Trixie would have been caught off guard if not for her smelling the varrens' scent on time. Hydroman was such a cool name. Seeing as most others dove into the fray, Trixie couldn't help but watch Quentin make for some tree instead. Was he gonna climb it or...? Oh. Oh. He used bubbles to blind the baddie! That was pretty neat.

Before that varren could get a grasp on its surroundings again, it felt a barrage of pellets slamming against its back. Unfortunately its hard shells shrugged off the nuisance entirely. Trixie gasped, with loud exaggeration of course, before pocketing her uzis and charging straight at the rocky rodent. "Yaaaahh!"

It turned around in time to see little Trixie pouncing. She gripped onto its back, using the cloth-covered spines as handles ("Ooh! What a fabulous shirt! Superbro would like this one.") - and the beast took off immediately. With Trixie clinging on and letting out obnoxious compliments, the varren was much too distracted to dive back underground. Instead it charged off towards some of the other guilders - namely in Nani's and Aria's direction.

Trixie shrieked as they drew nearer. "Waahh! Watch out! Comin' through, comin' through!"

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

“Ahahaha, this is awesome!”

As his gunblade swung through the air, parrying against the three Varrens surrounding him, all jumping up and down and swiping at him with their long sharp claws in tow, Tobi looked to be absolutely oblivious to the danger he was in, and more then anything else, was simply laughing. He had a very unusual sense of humor, finding great joy and mirth in the situations that were most dangerous, and this… this was a lot of fun.

He turned and spun, swinging his gunblade up to parry and knock back an attacking Varren, as he spun his body around to deflect another attack from behind him. As the second Varren was sent recoiling off, a third hopped and bounced in the air, jumping at him with both dangerously sharp claws reeled behind its back, shooting forwards directly at the marauder’s chest… before being sent flying backwards with incredible force, rolling backwards and falling into one of the several holes made by the Varren that led to their underground tunnels.

“This is great fun, eh Nani?” Tobi smirked as he glanced to the pirate over his shoulder. Smoke wisped up into the air from the barrel of his gunblade, the force of the shotgun implement having done a considerable amount of pain to that third Varren, pain it would surely remember. It would have one hell of a bruise, although it was a shame about the new hole the Varren’s shirt would sport on its chest. “How are you doing? Do you need any help?” He cocked the gunblade, a spent shell flying out and bouncing off the ground.

His victory was shortlived, however. In his overconfidence, one of the two Varren from earlier had gotten back up and charged at him again, this time curling into a spiked ball, and bowling Tobi over from behind. He was sent flying backwards just like the third Varren from before, and straight towards one of the holes as well! Except this time…

This time, Tobi fell into one head first, and became stuck halfway at the waist. After a second of remaining motionless, exasperated muffles and moans came from him, and his legs thrashed about wildly in the air.

Tobi was now stuck, just like Estelle, and both in need of help.

Cuttersbury: About a quarter mile from Drych Lake Spa!

This was more difficult than the pirate thought. Twice, those vermin tried to sneak up on her, and twice did Cap swoop down and go for scratching the soft parts of the creatures in order to be effective. She saluted the bird and then jumped out of the way when another one leapt out of the hole. "You know what would be nice? Cannons. Shoot them down these holes in the ground. Quick and easy." She spoke to know one in particular, but she did end up near Aria. She blocked an oncoming Varren on Aria's left side, only to pause hearing someone yelling to 'watch out'. "Uh, yeah, kinda have to watch out every-" Nani realized Trixie was riding one of the creatures in their direction.

In an attempt to move away, another of the creature pushed her in the direction of the one barreling towards her and Aria. "Oi Trixie, try to cover its eyes! I'm sure you can hit it with that fan of yours right?" There were other varren still trying to attack from the sides, so she figured she could at least block a few of them while Aria aided Trixie. "What would be more fun is if we actually won this battle." She retorted to Tobi...only for him to be stuck in a hole moments later.

"Man oh man if we weren't in danger right now..." Nani could've tauntes him forever about this, but now was not the time. She went over to help him, but unexpectedly took a hit to the side by none other than a ball of spiked armor. Nani got the wind knocked out of her, only for her to have to wrestle one of the Varrens off her. "Get off me you mangy heathen!" The pirate was then stuck tumbling and wrestling a Varren, preventing it from trying to hack her into pieces. Had anyone managed to get anywhere with these creatures?!

Cuttersbury - Near Drych Lake Spa
Tch! Moira clenched her fist as she began to push herself up, only for her to have to suddenly roll to one side to avoid another Varren's slash. Damnit this lot were persistant - although she knew they were like that already. They'd already trapped two of their number! Thankfully, she felt the warm glow of Amy's buff wash over her to join Marcus's pre-existing agility one. Ah. She could always count on those two.

"Come at me then," she hissed. Why were these monsters reminding her so much of a certain Bro? She couldn't put her finger on it.

Another Varren shot at her, curled up in a ball and flying at what would ordinarily be an alarming velocity. At least, it would be if Moira hadn't, along with the others, faced the foes she had since the last time. Instead she simply ducked out of it's way and gave out an angry yell she hauled her greatsword around, slamming the flat of it into the Varren which was menacing Nani and sending it absolutely flying and out of sight.

"Learnt that off an old friend," she huffed. Sure, that was one out of the way, but with the sheer number of them...!

She didn't notice the previous spinning Varren return from behind, although Nani would have.

---

Meanwhile - although of course as always quite close to Moira - Syed had wordlessly scrambled up once more, electricity jumping from his feet as he leapt back towards Estelle, coming to a crouching stop... next to two holes. Two holes where a pair of Varren claws had attempted to snatch her mere seconds ago.

"Tobi!" he shouted, his hands moving with swift and precise movements as electricity began to swarm his body. He didn't know how far it would travel, but... "Don't look!"

He thrust his hands into the gap, electricity exploding from his fingertips. Sure, Varren may be resistant to electricity. But they sure as hell weren't resistant to blinding light. A blueish-white buzzing light shone out from the holes nearest to him, and most importantly...

...the claws gripping Estelle's ankles loosened. The combination of brilliant light and the electricity striking it's prone unprotected belly was enough to cause the thing to recoil entirely.

Just a shame that something grabbed a hold of one of his wrists underground, pulling him harshly downwards so he struck the ground. He cried out in pain from the blow. That sure backfired.

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

The antics of the varren were so distracting, Jett had to force himself to concentrate. The young man scrambled to his feet as fast as he could, or rather, faster than he intended to after hearing Moira. Awkwardly the rookie tried to scan the area for something, but he still wasn't sure what to...

... Crap!

The creature was barreling towards him. Jett took several steps backwards after glancing behind briefly to make sure no one was behind. He swallowed hard, as all the bravado he showed earlierdisappeared was gone. Surely this can't be real!

The rookie stared in awe as Lute brought his sword down. The man was staggered back, but the force was enough to send the earth mole tumbling away. The mole threw out its legs to break its momentum. Still it continued to skid and slide until it was a good distance away, but with its speed, the varren could close the gap within seconds.

Lute just saved him! Literally! Emboldened, the H-ranker ran over to the Virtuso's side. There was no way he was gonna let the guy face that thing alone. "Hey Lute, thanks man!"

Jett beamed as he reached into his pocket a fished out his weapon. The novice Guilder held the red plastic yo-yo in the palm of his hand as he slipped his index finger through the loop. He wiggled his fingers to warm up before before bouncing the toy playfully. He continued releasing and recalling the yo-yo while staring at his opponent. The varren flexed its claws menacingly as it eyed the duo. Having decided to have another go at the pair, the earth mole curled into a ball once more and sped towards them.

The yo-yo totting Guilder squeezed his hands tightly round the smooth plastic surface of his weapon. He could feel his shoulders tensing slightly in anticipation, but he became distracted, when a violent rumble nearly caused Jett to fall over for the second time in less than ten minutes.Jett threw out his hands to break his fall, and he landed up with most of his weight being supported by his left arm. The rookie readjusted himself before he craned his head till he was able to look over his shoulder. He hoped he imagined he heard bits of soil and pebbles jostling against each other.

He wasn't. The surface of the earth was shaking crazily as tiny hairline fissures began to appear. The man bet it was another one of those hedgehog-mole creatures. Great!

Jett turned to Lute. "So.. err... we've got more company..."

He allowed his voice to trail off. He secretly hoped the other man had a plan, because his mind was blank. They were cutting it close.Very close. That spikey ball was only a couple of feet away now. Failing to hear an immediate response, Jett breathed in loudly. He watched the varren spring into the air. It continued spinning for several seconds then it unfurled itself. The mole extended its claws as it aimed for the closer target - Lute. Guess they will just have to wing it.

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

One of the reasons she hated dealing with Varrens was that they were so notoriously stupid that she couldn't deal with them like she could with any other pest and scare them away with illusions of their predator. These pests, however, wouldn't know a slime from a wyvern. She ducked as one dove for her face, giving another good kick as it scrambled by her.

"Waahh! Watch out! Comin' through, comin' through!"

"Oi Trixie, try to cover its eyes! I'm sure you can hit it with that fan of yours right?"

"Yeah, leave it to me!" Aria whipped around to face the bucking Varren with the girl on its back. She was quite impressed by how the girl was managing to stay on while avoiding getting skewered. The beast's eyes were covered with some effort and as it came close, bucking and rearing up, she took the chance to aim at the softer underbelly.

"Jump, Trixie!"

The Varren was sent tumbling as Trixie landed safely thanks to the buffs Amy and Marcus had given them. Still, the sheer amount of numbers had them overwhelmed and from the shouts only more were coming.

"Don't these guys have any weaknesses we know? Ow!" A rock thrown by a Varren in a snazzy hat smacked her in the head. Luckily it was rather small and only stung, but she growled at it. "Why you little-"

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

As the ground beneath her became enveloped in light, Estelle could feel the terrible grasp of the Varren clutching her ankles below weaken and let go, Syed’s blinding attack throwing the unseen Varren into a fit of panic and relinquish its hold upon the Pride’s leader. She stepped away from the two holes, warily raising her fireblade before her, for when she’d need it. “T-thanks Syed!”

“You’re wel-!” Syed’s body suddenly lunged forwards, the hand he had thrust into the hole in order to discharge his blinding spell being dragged forward by yet another dangerous Varren aiming to incapacitate Syed, dragging his whole arm in to almost his shoulder. He cried out in pain, as Estelle watched in horror.

“Syed!” She yelled, racing to him. “Don’t worry, I’ll…!” Interrupting her speech, the ground around the pair rumbled and shook once more, as two fresh holes exploded either side of Estelle and Syed, with two new, smartly dressed Varren both jumping out, curling into balls and preparing to spin charge at them. “Crap!” The Pride’s leader swore.

An emerald glow surrounded Estelle’s body, buffing her speed up just in the nick of time. She dashed forward, grabbing the back of Syed’s robes and pulling him out of the two Varrens’ path as she jumped out of their way, the two spinning monsters narrowly missing them and skidding along the ground, continually rolling in a wide arc as they aimed to try yet another charge again.

“Ow ow ow!” Syed winced, his arm shooting fresh jolts of stabbing pain from the way his body had just been moved. He was lucky he didn’t have it dislocate.

“Sorry, Syed, sorry!” Estelle bit her lower lip. She raised her sword up, ready and determined to stop the Varren’s next charge at them. However, she would only be able to defend against one of them at a time, and Syed’s arm was still forciably trapped by another Varren below ground. How could she free him…?



Meanwhile, Tobi’s wild thrashing of legs grew even more frantic. With his torso trapped under the ground, he hadn’t heard Syed’s warning at all… and so had been blinded.

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

Trixie cackled as she rolled over, having fallen off the varren with Aria's command. Her bull-ying of the varren (cuz she was riding it like a bull) was a success! While it wasn't down and out for good, it was enough to weaken at least one of the spiny beasts. She ran out to hug Aria - "Thank you, thank you, thank you--huh?" - only to catch Tobias' frantic legs in her peripherals. It was like that guy was being sucked into a black hole under the earth. Kinda scary to think about it that way.

"Don't worry, I'll get you!" she called out as she ran towards the marauder. At once she began tugging on one of his legs, though that only caused his other leg to stiffen up. She heard some muffled cries from underground and stopped tugging for a moment. "Huh? Whatchu say, Tobi?"

"Mmmm! MmmmMMMm!!"

"What's that? Pull harder? Okay, I can do that!"

So Trixie began to pull harder on the poor guy, causing him to keep crying out from underground. Then, something sounded off from nearby - some weird high pitched noise of something small and round soaring through the skies. The prankster looked up in time to see a balled varren flying right at them, as one had done to Moira earlier. Except Trixie was nowhere near strong enough to stop it on time.

She did, however, manage to duck, along with bending Tobi's legs with her (in a way that wouldn't cause him to snap his bones) so they wouldn't get hit as well. The varren flew right over both of them, spinning onwards and onwards, towards Jett and Lute.



Amy remained where she was, out of the way of those that had surfaced. Keeping close tabs on the sword users, she quickly casted another spell - this time for Nani, seeing as she was being targeted by more and more varrens. "Nani, watch out!" she cried out mid-spell. During this, the pirate glowed a warm gold; a feeling of rejuvenation overcame her despite the previous hits she had taken, and the one coming on.

Cuttersbury: Trail towards Drych Lake

Quentin hurried back to the fracas, which was growing more chaotic by the second. Trixie cantered past the mage, riding a Varren like a bucking bronco, and Quentin would surely have laughed if the situation were not so grim. As it was, the Pride looked like it was getting pushed around by these bad-ass bulldozer things. The one red head and the other dude were already grounded.

Man, grounded. Quentin made a note to tell that joke later when this was over. If it was ever over. Although Moira knocked one out of the park with such perfection, that still was like grains of sand from the shore. Wherever one looked, there was always more. Wherever the eye went, another Varren was popping up or popping in, to the frustration of nearly everyone. Quentin was about to join in again when a rock hit him in the back of the shoulder. He spun around; the Varren he had disoriented with a bubble blast to the eyes was now indiscriminately pitching rocks in all directions. The water mage backed away in a hurry, almost twisting his ankle in a hole. He did not stop moving until he nearly collided with Marcus.

Right, Marcus. The dude was a wind mage, so probably he couldn't be of a whole lotta use in pitched combat like this. Well, he seemed to be chanting something, so he was doing what he could. And that was the way of it, wasn't it? Even without water, Quentin had to be doing what he could, too. He snapped his fingers and then reached for the leaves of a low-hanging tree branch. Another rock whizzed by and hit him in the side. He winced and grunted, "Marky, I don't have enough water to make this hurt, so I need a little air on this one. You feelin' me?"

The leaves of the tree shrank from a full, vital verdant to a lovely crimson to a paling gold and finally to a withered, dead brown. Quentin released the branch. Between his hands was a floating pool of water, maybe enough to fill a small bucket. The mage hunkered down in a pose, poised to strike.

Cuttersbury: About a quarter mile from Drych Lake Spa!

Just as claws reeled back, the Varren was sent flying off. "Whoa." She hopped up and grinned at Moria. "Sweet! Thanks!" Before she could say much else, she slid past the woman and flipped her sword backwards and jabbed the hilt of the blade into the spiky thing. As fast as it was going, the hit sent it backwards and knocked it unconscious. "Oh yeah, knockout!" She smirked and looked over at Moria. "Learned that one myself. I like your sword by the way."

But of course, there was no time for showing off or playing around. She noticed Trixie managed to safely avoid being tossed off the Varren, only to have one flying towards her. "Hit the-!" She planned to yell 'Hit the deck' but Nani was yelled at, causing a split second of confusion. Seeing the glow made her a little confused too. What was she suppose to be focusing on exactly? Deciding the Varrens were a little more important, than the sudden glow and coincidental rejuvenation, she hopped onto one as it launched forward. Her foot sent the Varren's face into the dirt.

She snickered as it ate the dirt it used as an advantage, and for a moment it's head was even stuck in the ground like the others. Nani managed to disorient it enough to get out of the way of a barreling Varrens. She let out a 'nyeh' sound before jumping over them in order to not get ran over. "I vote cannons. We should find cannons and blow this place down. That's always been a useful tactic-... not that I've used it or anything." Which, obviously was a lie... But it was not like anyone was asking.

Cuttersbury - Trail towards Drych Lake
Syed gasped shuddering breaths as he attempted to control his pain to the best of his ability. He wasn't good with this sort of thing. He was only a mage after all. And a boney one at that. "It's okay," he spluttered, his voice a good two octaves higher than it should be. He was never a very good liar. "Th-"

He froze. Oh. Estelle's choice of words a moment ago had summed it up quite nicely. He struggled some more, feeling the claws of the Varren which gripped his arm tighten and dig into his flesh. Oh Vayu this hurt this seriously hurt. Was if it was doing serious damage? His mind immediately began spiralling into panicing thoughts, complete with involuntary sparks..

So he allowed the arcs of electricity to grow, larger and larger. They would sometimes almost wither a little as another spasm of pain shot up his trapped arm, but he persisted. All he had left when one-handed was his bolts. His annoyingly useless bolts. None-the-less, he had an idea. He took his supporting hand away from the ground to make a few gestures, before aiming towards the Varren. He closed one eye to help him aim, gasping as the Varren underground pulled him a little deeper...

And fired. As expected, the Varren was unaffected. However, it was still a little spooked by the very flashy attack. The Varren uncurled itself in midair, flying towards them with claws at the ready. Which made it quite prone to a panicky electrified boot to the snout before it could even attempt a slash. Please let him never have to do that again please.

Varren really were quite stupid.

---

Moira growled, her temple throbbing once more at the sight of the yoyo toting newbie. Really? A yoyo? Was this guy fucking with them all? What was he supposed to do with that?!

"I vote cannons."

Moira raised an eyebrow at Nani. She didn't think much of the statement, being the somewhat straight-forward woman she was. She tended to take people at face-value, even if this one seemed a bit... exccentric. Instead she gave out a laugh, sheathing her greatsword over her back.

"You don't need cannons, love," she smirked, that grin somewhat terrifying as always thanks to it not spreading as far as her cold grey eyes. "You've got me!"

She span, and in one fluid movement brought her fist around and punched the Varren Nani had disorientated. The sheer force of the blow was enough to send the thing tumbling back, punching it clear out of it's shirt and sending crashing into one of the other Varren. Neither were getting up anytime soon.

The other Varren clicked their claws and hissed, adjusting their fabulous hats and eyewear. Oh dear, these people were tougher than they had perhaps thought they would be.

Cuttersbury – Trail towards Drych Lake

"So.. err... we've got more company..."

“Wonderful. It’s like a party!” Lute quipped as the other Guilder warned him. He stepped back and brandished his sword once again, waiting for the varren to lunge at them. Like what he did earlier, the virtuoso shifted to a loose stance with his blade at the ready in the same way someone playing baseball would look. Jett withdrew his weapon too, and to be honest Lute expected something flashy and magical. The newbie didn’t disappoint by showing off a bright scarlet… yo-yo? Ohhhhhh… kay? Whatever swings your boat, I guess? It was unusual, but maybe a bit impractical concerning their current situation? Ah, whatever.

“A party where drunk guests show up uninvited and wearing nothing but their smallclothes, that is,” he added as the little beastie jumped up in the air, its vulnerable belly exposed as it extended its claws to rake at his face. Lute drove the pommel of his sword into the creature’s stomach and it fell down with a comical squeal, landing flat on the ground with its spikes stuck through the soil. It seemed pretty upset… But hey, anybody would be upset if you slapped them on the tummy. However, the virtuoso wasn’t fast enough to avoid getting hit by another flying varren. Poor Lute was bowled a few steps back, tripping backwards over Jett, and he ended up falling on his butt as more of the creatures appeared from underground.

“Whatever you were about to do with that yo-yo, do it now!” Lute screeched as two new attackers pounced upon him and began slashing. With his sword held out in front of him, his face was safe from gashes and wounds (at least for now) but he still needed some time to get up to his feet.