Level: 2 Day/Time: Day One; Evening Location: Demon Lord’s Castle - Exterior; Forest -> En route to the Abandoned Castle Tag: Naija @DracoLunaris Mention: Mario @Holy Soldier Word Count: 936
The ground shook beneath Fox’s quick feet as he raced hastily to Mario’s location, the sudden tremor threatening to throw him off-balance before he stopped himself in place. He was hit unusually hard by this, but in a extrasensory manner rather than a physical one. As he resumed his pace, Fox looked up to catch sight of the flock of banshee kin swarming overhead, vaguely registering from context that something was wrong. He had hoped he would make it in time to lend his assistance, but he would find his hopes quickly dashed when he made his way on scene. He was greeted with the site of their leader collapsed to her knees watching helplessly as the Demon Lord took off after his minions, his good work here completed.
“Oh, no…” He whispered forebodingly to himself.
The Cornerian arrived just too late to witness it, but it was clear what had transpired. All the better that he was spared the details; it would save him the trouble and grief of having to describe it to anyone else… specifically Mario’s loved ones. He felt sorry for Naija, though, since he couldn’t say the same for her. She visibly despaired at the very fact that 'The Legend Himself' could be done in by something like this, let alone seeing it happen firsthand, and as someone who was at least somewhat loosely acquainted with him, Fox couldn’t blame her. That said, he wasn’t one to submit, even in the face of bleak adversity, and now damn sure wasn’t the time to do so.
“We have to go,” he urged in his default tone - not too stern or commanding. “There’s nothing we can do here; not for him or anyone else. We have to see this through… for everyone’s sakes,” he followed with after a second-long pause, hoping to convey a sense of understanding as well as objectivity while showing no signs of compromise in his mental/emotional integrity or resolve. Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t upset, but he certainly wasn’t going to show it. After all, someone would have to keep their composure, and if not him, then who else?
Naija rose to reassert what Fox had already told her, as if she had only half heard him (if that). Regardless, they shared the same sentiment, and, as it would turn out, the same idea. She disappeared into the woods and brought back a favorably shaped log with which to carry him, instructing him to board the makeshift platform. He stepped upward onto the improvised airlift and knelt for stability during the initial takeoff, but he would hardly have to “hold on to” it. Once they got going he positioned himself upright to stand ready for their opposition as they passed them by.
“Get us as far ahead of them as you can. I’ll keep you covered. On your mark,” the pilot dictated, slightly raising the inflection of his voice so he could be heard over the rushing air. He drew his out blaster midway through his last sentence and kept it at his side until they were in position, ready to make good on his intentions.
It was almost convenient, really, as he had actually done something similar to this twice before; once on Falco’s wing,and then again on Wolf’s. If only he was armed as heavily. He would have to make do with what he had, but maybe that would be just enough. Despite being in its lesser state, it seemed apparent that his blaster still did sufficient damage to dispatch the corrupted soldiers (perhaps moreso), and unlike before, he had his reflector on him in case he had to send anything back. He would especially be on the lookout for magic vials now that he knew what to expect from them (for the most part, anyways).
Once Naija gave the order, Fox raised his sidearm and let fly a light rain of laser fire. He maintained his deliberate aim as he transitioned fluidly, seamlessly between every target in sight (excepting Odin on account of redundancy), but he would spare little to no break in his firing rhythm save for the need to respond to any incoming attacks, which were to be expected. If any of them pulled out a vial, Fox would respond in one of two ways depending on how quickly he could ascertain it. He would either shoot at the jars directly in an attempt to shatter them before they could leave their users' hands, or he would simply try to reflect them back into the crowd, failing the former. They were both risky prospects for sure, but success would ideally yield optimal results by taking out at least a good majority of the pursuing force. If nothing else, it would at least slow them down. Of course, he would have to be similarly wary of thrown spears as well, should their enemies become desperate.
Fox was every bit intent on dwindling the enemy numbers and making this as difficult as he could for them. In doing so, he hoped to inversely diminish some of the pressure that him and Naija were regrettably forced to put on their allies by bringing the fight to them. He already wasn’t happy about having to retreat and call for backup, let alone the loss of such a major player being the reason for it. Until they arrived, he would do his part to bring down as many of the accursed maiden vultures as he possibly could before then, and given the now moderately personal nature of the situation, he was more than eager to.
Level: 1 Day/Time: Day One; Evening Location: Kingdom of Erion - Abandoned Castle Tag: Luigi @Bright_Ops, Oswald @Holy Soldier Mention: General Brigan @Holy Soldier
WC: 411 Hapu's heart sank a little when Mudsdale's swift kick did naught but infuriate Brigan; he called them traitors, but what did he expect?
"Mudsdale, come back!" Hapu called, thrusting out her Poké Ball as the rounds launched upon Brigan did nothing. The horse disappeared in a flash of light, and Hapu turned towards Luigi, who, after giving the orders to not harm Oswald, was struck down by the Shadow Knight himself. Hapu ran to help Luigi, but Oswald threatened to destroy the entire team if they continued to pursue the Pooka.
Hapu skidded to a halt.
As expected, Luigi stood down, and directed the team to unleash their force upon Brigan, as soon as the fire was out, at least. Hapu looked around; surrounded by flames, the team was on its way to being fried to a crisp or choked to death if nothing was done. There was little in the way of ventilation in the chamber; Hapu had to think quickly.
"Forgive me for the intrusion, Luigi," she said, struggling to maintain her composure in the perilous situation. "I do not think we are equipped for firefighting at the moment; perhaps if we ventilated the building, we would stave off the threat of oxygen deprivation for a little while longer." Hapu turned towards Brigan and narrowed her eyes. "All his talk of betrayal," she continued, "and yet his treachery brought this upon him. Suffice it to say, we will need more opportunity to formulate strategy, I believe."
Hapu turned towards Oswald. "Venerable Knight, I dare not take action involving your beloved spouse without your express permission. However, I believe it is possible for Mudsdale to rescue the princess from the burning castle, for surely the flames put her in grave danger as well." She held up her Poké Ball. I can release my horse to the upper balcony, putting him at a higher position than Brigan; if possible, he will gladly escort your wife out of the chamber, unharmed. Brigan's attention will need to be diverted."
Hapu turned back towards the roaring flames; there wasn't time.
"I understand if you are not willing to allow me this; we have been unwittingly sent here and turned against you by that vicious hulk of a man Brigan, and thus, I do not expect your trust. Luigi, however, has called us off, and on my honor as kahuna I intend to make sure your beloved is safe from the hands of that ogre."
Velvet knocked the arrow away as she would have any way and watched Quina stab the fairy in the chest. The fairy’s eyes went wide as blood gushed from her lips, but to Quina’s disappointment, the fairy exploded into purple stars that Velvet gathered with her meteor hammer. The red crystals glowed briefly as the phozons rushed into them and the light faded. Peering down at Quina, Velvet rolled her eyes.
“Did you really think you could eat them? You might be able to eat them while they’re alive, but if you kill them, then well…they die.” She didn’t know how to explain death to Quina for the phozons were a normal occurrence to her. There was nothing unusual about there being no corpses left behind. If a body was left behind then that only meant the person was still alive.
“There are six others. What will you do, Toad? I’m the only one here keeping you and your simple mind alive. If you want my opinion, you shouldn’t pursue them. You are too stupid and they will kill you. Don’t you have a family? Someone has to love you in this wretched world. Why throw your life away?”
Total Enemies: 6 Minions: 6 – Ringford Fairies Location: Retreating away from Quina Quin and Velvet. New Companion: Velvet
Team Two
Oswald studied Luigi after he had given the command to his team to change targets. The man was a coward, and he wondered how he acquired the position of leader. Had he backstabbed someone? Cowards were unheard of in Erion. Every warrior desired to die in a blaze of glory. A strange floating eyeball materialized near the shadow knight and the threatening shout from the orange armor wearing woman made him press the blade firmer against Luigi’s throat. What surprised him more was that the eyeball spoke. It told him that the band of gullible idiots were here to help Erion, but moments ago, it seemed like they wanted to support its destruction. When the eyeball suggested he allow some strangers to touch his wife, Oswald growled:
“You will not touch my wife.”
The shadow knight removed his sword from Luigi’s throat and stood over him, staring down at the pathetic man.
I…don’t think I’ll be much use fighting right now.
“It’s only a flesh wound that you blubber about,” said Oswald insensitively. “Get up! If you’re leading this gaggle, then be a leader and not a child. A leader stands on his feet!”
He then answered Luigi’s inquiry: “There is no water here. This castle will be our burning grave, and I intend to get my wife out of here before then. If your band of fools hadn’t sided with General Brigan, then his betrayal might not have been so sharp.”
A young girl spoke to him next, and her respect earned her his ear. As much as she tried to offer like Luigi a method for moving Gwendolyn, he had to turn her down. They did not know of her circumstances, and he didn’t intend to tell them.
“No one will go near my wife,” Oswald said stubbornly. “I am leaving, and I am taking her with me out of this burning place. I suggest you do the same. Brigan will make the stones of this castle your fiery grave. If you want to beat him, then you will all have to concentrate your efforts on his shields. You must focus your offense on the same shield or they will never fall off. If he learns that you know this weakness, then he will become even more difficult. I want to help you. I would help any army kill that bastard, but right now, Gwendolyn needs me.”
The shadow knight thrust out his arm and from his feet up, his body dispersed in black flames.
General Brigan roared with laughter at the heroes useless attempts at injuring him. His red eyes peered down his barreled chest at the vampire that slammed his fist against his upper rightmost shield. The shield didn’t even quiver as it absorbed the impact of the strike and Brigan countered with a mighty swing of the fist that was gripping his hammer. He violently backhanded the vampire, sending him careening across the castle.
“Didn’t I say you can’t win? You will regret betraying me!” General Brigan bellowed.
The giant leapt from the staircase down to the second floor. Rocking the burning castle, he landed in a crouch, a ring of air blasting out from beneath his feet. Stretching out his tree trunk arms, he charged forward, slamming them against two pillars that had been supporting the castle's roof. The pillars snapped like twigs, folding and crumpling to the floor as large stones started to rain from the collapsing ceiling. The general planned to bring the entire castle down on the heroes.
Warning: The castle is crumbling.
Boss: General Brigan
Shields Up: 4
Injured Teammates: Luigi and Slayer
Team Three
The sidearm fire Fox laid down on the Valkyries successfully took out three soldiers who had attempted to chase him and Naija without taking into consideration the speed and distance. The Valkyrie wearing Mario’s hat bore her fang-filled teeth and hissed in anger. With a scream, she shouted a command to the dark unit and the Valkyries converged on Demon Lord Odin. They clung to his body like armor, riding the god and using him as a barrier. They knew of Demon Lord Odin’s power and grinned wickedly at the fleeing team, hoping they were stupid enough to provoke him in their retreat.
Demon Lord Odin’s Arrival in 2 turns
Team Three should arrive at the Abandoned Castle this turn.
Phozons Present for the Team: None.
Phozons stolen by Odin: 6
Total Phozons stolen by Odin: 14
Total Enemies: 13 Minions: 13 – Black Valkyries Location: Airborne 1 - grounded; 12 with Odin.
Boss: Demon Lord Odin Location: Airborne
Lost Teammate: Mario
This GM post reveals the results of team decisions/consequences.
XP Initiated!
Keep track of your word count XP. Overall XP will be awarded at the end of every battle. This does not include Battle XP. That will be totaled at the end of the mission and gifted out.
Naija 3
Fox 2
Luigi 1
James 2
Samus 2
Hapu 1
Slayer 2
Quina 1
Try to write your posts without quoting other characters. When I put people's posts in the word counter, I erase the quotes of other characters, and that seems to lower the word count depriving players of XP. So try to write without it. When XP isn't initiated, then using other character quotes doesn't matter.
Use your CSes to keep track of your XP points!
P.O.
If a player is inactive for more than 3 days, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day.
Team One Order: Slayer, Quina
Team Two Order: Luigi, James, Samus, Hapu
Team Three Order: Naija, Fox
Be sure to re-read the scenario rules found here. Good luck!
Given his prediction, Slayer had not expected that his fist would cannon straight through Brigan's body, though under ordinary circumstances such an outcome would not have been completely out the question. Nor did he imagine that the magical protection would shatter in an instant beneath the vigorous strength of Dead on Time. However, he failed to anticipate that the killer technique would have glanced off the barbarian's silver buckler as though his sinews were stringbeans, leaving the gentleman in a precarious spot. Not burdened by overbearing recovery time on his chosen move, Slayer thought to immediately disengage with a Dandy Step and perhaps follow up with a Pile Bunker. His plans did not come to fruition. ”What!?” Before he could even begin to act, Brigand's hand slammed into his torso with the force of a steam roller, smashing the breath out of him and giving him a one-way ticket to the opposite side of the burning hall...with no return ticket.
For a handful of moments after his tumbling ceased, Slayer floundered like a bird that crashed into a glass window. As his breath returned, he steadied himself, and at a careful pace picked himself back up. With an annoying expression he fished the crushed remnants of his pipe out of his breast pocket and discarded the litter into a nearby patch of fire. A quick look around, during which he coughed more than once, helped him make up his mind. ”Blast...what a blow. Rattled me teeth to toenails, I'll admit.” The smoke made his eyes water, and Slayer produced a hankerchief to hold over his mouth. From this distance at which he now stood, none of his allies could hear him, but nevertheless he remarked. ”An instant, unblockable, undodgeable counter to melee attacks...rough indeed. Range would be the way to go, but alas, I have none.” He watched Brigan flounce around the room, knocking down columns with ease. One after another, the load-bearing pillars fell, the the entire castle rocked dangerously. ”What I wouldn't give for young miss Elphelt right now. A steady barrage from her rifle would chip away those shields. With any luck, the soldiers will figure it out. I, however, elect to get while the getting's good, as they say.”
Slayer, his back somewhat bent and a hand across his aching chest, huffed and turned to leave. He made his way to the castle door, and worked as he did to remember any advantageous terrain surrounding the place. Crash after crash resounded through the hall as increasingly large chunks of the upstairs rained down. One such hunk of stonework plummeted straight for Slayer, who was alerted by the disturbance of wind. After breathing a light sigh, he tensed up and then let loose a flame-wreathed uppercut that sent chunks flying and redirected the rubble's force to his left. Without pausing to admired the handiwork, Slayer brushed some of the stone dust from his suit and hurried toward the exist, both hands now throbbing. ”What a pain...a nice glass of red would be just the ticket to patching me up, yet I imagine that vendors would be hard to come by in this 'neck of the woods'.” He glanced over his shoulder as he crossed the threshold. ”Were I not ejected so suddenly, I would have liked to advise the others to depart as well. That mess will be a tomb in only a few minutes.”
Outside, the dusk lay solemn and pleasant, lit by the inferno that was consuming the abandoned castle. Not for the first time, Slayer wondered what had become of his own teammates. More manpower would go a long way to rectifying this situation. Of course, Slayer did not pretend that the fight couldn't shift outside in a speedy manner once his comrades realized the peril of their surroundings and, upon hoofing it, drew Brigan along as well. Out in the open, though, the brute would have a disadvantage. Numbers would wear him down and divide his attention. Actually, Slayer found himself wishing that the General would come out. Possessed by a sudden competitive spirit, Slayer wanted to try ducking and dodging around him. The thought of reducing the giant to a wrathful tantrum by being a hard-to-hit annoyance brought a subtle mischievous smirk to the gentleman's face.
Lvl: 2 Day: 1 Location: Arriving at the abandoned castle Speaking with: Fox McCloud@Etherean Fire Shouting at: everyone outside the castle @Hylozoist@Holy Soldier Word Count: 572 Seeds deployed: none
It looked like the Valkyries were not just going to sit there and take the shots, nor were they going to retaliate but instead the fearless warriors hid behind their leaders hulking body. Still, the vast flock had taken massive casualties between the battle on the ground and the subsequent pelting and was now at less than half strength.
”Looks like we aren't getting any more of them Fox, so we are going to go get the others. Take a few parting shots at the big bastard, see if you can find any weak spots or at least see how her protects himself before we go”
Naija then accelerated up to full speed, leaving the demon lord and his hiding minions in their wake as she soared through the air with Fox in tow.
Now that the immediate danger was left behind them naija took a moment to take in her surroundings. Despite her feelings of rage and regret she marveled at the size of the world below her, the visible wonders only increasing as they crossed the mountain range that surrounded the demon lord's castle and cleared the oppressive eternal night. To the south she saw a massive ocean, across it there looked to be the stump of what had once been a continent spanning tree, now filled with its lesser brethren. To the east of that was an enormous city with a castle at the center, all looking to be made sandstone and home to potentially a million or more souls. Breaking from the oppressive night into the light of day, seeing the world they had been sent to save, Naija’s resolve was strengthened and while revenge still burned in her heart she was reminded that they had been sent here for a reason. They had to save this world and its people, she would not let another civilisation be consumed by the madness of gods or demons.
Off in the distance, to the north of the great city and surrounded by a lush forest she could see their destination, the abandoned castle rising from the forest. It was kind of hard to miss, as it was currently in the process of being engulfed in fire. Not that Naija knew what fire was, having lived underwater her entire life, but considering the damage the inferno was doing to the structure she got that it was dangerous. Worse, as they got closer it was apparent that their allies were nowhere to be seen and thus were presumably within the crumbling structure that looked like it was about to fall on top of them any second.
She flew close to the tops of the trees, keeping an eye out for any dangers and making sure fox had an exit if they came under fire, as she speed towards the castle entrance.
”please be ok, please be ok” she whispered to herself, her eyes fixed on the castle, just waiting for it to come crashing down and seal all their fates. Then, after taking a deep breath and filling her lungs to brim she yelled to anyone who could hear her.
”He’s coming! The corrupted Demon King Odin is coming to destroy the world! Drop whatever you're doing and come help fight his madness!”
She hoped her waring would arrive before she did, though it would probably not pierce the burning cacophony of the castles depths, anyone outside might hear and be warned.
Closing his eyes Luigi panted shallow breaths; Partly because of the noticeable speed in which the fire was eating up the breathable air in the room, but mostly it was because he didn't want to risk his neck moving just a little too much and having a whole new reason to have difficulty breathing. He could feel the judgemental glare upon him as his cowardliness showed for all to see, unable to hide it as he shivered. Considering how badly events had played out since the start, he couldn't help but feel that being made the team leader had been a horrible mistake. He found it hard to think of how Mario would have let things get this bad had he been present... Held at sword point by an enemy turned... well, not exactly ally but hopefully neutral while the giant who should have been their ally had set fire to everything and had just bitch slapped the guy who had been a part of team one a fair distance away while his team attempted to talk Oswald into a more... agreeable position that didn't result in his throat being slit. Mario wouldn't have messed things up this badly... With a great flood of relief, Luigi felt the metal pressure of the blade against his neck disappear... only for that relief to be short lived as Oswald made his intentions clear before disappearing in a burst of black fire. On one hand, he could understand his reasons for doing so and it felt less like he was abandoning them to fight his battles for him because he was a backstabbing bastard and more because he wanted to save his wife before the whole castle burned down. On the other it did throw out any plans that he had of possibly fighting Brigan while some of the team attempted to deal with the fires... and the chunks of castle that were raining down on them because of said giant going completely insane in his arrogance.
Forcing himself to his feet now that he was free to and holding up a hand to try and shield his airways from the smoke and bad air as much as he could, he shook his head at Hapu's suggestion "Dangerous idea. Opening an airway right now would only fan the flames into an inferno." When you used fire a lot and had a major enemy who was a fire breathing turtle/dragon thing, you learned a thing or two about fire safety if you wanted to or not.
With Oswald's departure to hopefully get their target out of harm's way, Luigi weighed up his options before coming to the conclusion that all things considered this was the closest thing to a success that the team could hopefully achieve under the current conditions and it was time to get the hell out of there while they still could! They could track Oswald and his wife down another time provided that Brigan and Odin didn't get them.
Rallying what breath he could to be heard over the fire and the falling rubble, Luigi cried out "It’s time to leave! If you've got something that'll blind or daze Brigan on the way out use it! Samus, James cover everyone else!" Both of them had ranged weapons and suits that had a mask that he was fairly certain would help protect them from the smoke and lack of breathable air for a little while (at least he knew for certain in Samus's case) so they were best suited to cover a withdrawal.
Keeping his gaze as upwards as he good to try and get some kind of heads up through the smoke of any falling rubble, Luigi followed his own order to get out of dodge as quickly as he could without running into anything from solid objects to fire. The smoke made it difficult to see and his head was already starting to get light as he discovered that the fire was eating through the air in the room quicker then he would have liked... but with a hacking cough he managed to stumble outside into the relatively fresh air, falling to his knees for a moment as he fought to get his breath back.
He trusted that the rest of his team would be able to get out just fine. After all, they all had the skill and ability to get out of a tough situation or they wouldn't have been recruited in the first place. He even went so far as to make a mental note to tell Hapu to break open a wall to allow the air to flow into the castle properly once the team was clear; While it would result in fuelling the fire to new heights, catching Brigan in such a thing might just bypass his shield. After all while it might protect him from the flames themselves, he doubted that it would offer much help against the indirect threats of the heat or the dangerous gases that the fire was giving off. Even if it did somehow provide the giant with a bubble of safe air to breath in around his body... Brigan was a big man and he was doing a lot of physical activity, so he would be breathing a lot. He would run out of breathable air sooner or later...
It was something of a shame that the seed that he had planted had more or less been abandoned; He didn't know if it would survive the fire and the falling castle and honestly he doubted if they would be able to go in after it even if it did. Not only would they have to locate where in the wreckage they would need to start looking, but removing the rubble itself without damaging the plant with their current equipment didn't seem all that possible. Besides, they didn't know how much time they had until Odin showed up; While he trusted that Mario and the rest of his team would give the so called 'Demon Lord' a run for his coins, they were only meant to slow him down. One had to lean on the side of caution.
Glancing up as he heard a shout of warning at the rapidly approaching frog girl Naija, be blinked a little as it quickly became clear that he had been right to be concerned.
Level: 1 Dayime/T: Day 1 Location: Kingdom of Erion, Raganival Forest Mentions: Velvet (@Holy Soldier) Word Count: 305
Quina twisted about to try and look up at Velvet as she tried to hammer some information about just how the world worked through the fortress that was Quina's mind. Sometimes the impenetrability of it was a benefit, but this was not one of those times, and Quina cast a glance back down to where the Fairy once lay. Just to be sure, Quina gave the patch of grass a gentle poke with her (or his) oversized fork. Unsurprisingly to anyone, save for Quina, nothing happened.
"Not from wretched world. Quina is..." Quina paused, trying to think of the words that most closely resembled the situation that he, or she, found him, or herself, in. "...from swamp. Outside, yes? Quina here to help stop virus, and be hero. Friends gone. Just Quina now, to save world. Just Qui-"
Quina stopped talking again, interrupted by the low, rumbling sound of a castle that was in the process of collapsing. Quina could feel it through her feet, as if the whole area was an empty stomach complaining audibly, and it probably signalled that the mission was almost over. For better or for worse, Quina couldn't really tell. Without thinking to run it by Velvet, Quina broke into a rather ungainly run towards the castle, perhaps confident that her (or his) passenger would be able to keep her balance, or perhaps simply forgetting that Velvet was up there in the first place.
"Quina is hero. Here to help. Save world. Quina is hero. Here to help. Save world. Quina is hero..." Quina repeated, over and over, as she (or he) ran, eyes narrowed with determination, focused on an imagined future that only Quina could see. A future of parades held in Quina's honour. Endless feasting. One of those funny little plays. And friends, to share it all with.
James, following the advice of the now vanished Shadow Knight, drew the Imago Loop and fired on the same shield that the guy in the business style suit had just hit, though if there was any kind of visible effect, the Nightstalker couldn't see it. He considered putting a round through that giant drinking horn that the hulking giant was carrying, but decided that it was likely a waste of both time and ammo, something he'd need to find some more standard level enemies to down to get more of. Luigi called for the group to evacuate the building with Samus and James providing cover and the Guardian did just that, summoning another VoidWall Grenade and tossing it at the same shield he'd been shooting at in hopes that the explosion would both stagger Brigan briefly and maybe cause heavy damage to the plate he'd been attacking. {Focus fire on the same plate I'm shooting, the Shadow Knight said it's the only way to take down his protection so we can take him down.} He backed up as he fired, reloading only once before he had found the same exit that Luigi had just stumbled out and took up a position on one side, continuing to fire at the large man.
"So, Brigan's the easier of the two to take down, huh?" Charger huffed in annoyance as another grenade sailed towards Brigan's plate before James took cover just outside the doorway to reload again, running a scan of the giant's body to try and speed up the process of beating him, not overly happy with the amount of sarcasm present in his partner's voice.
"Don't be a jack ass, Guardian. It's not like I KNEW he'd be able to ignore everything we threw at him like nothing was hitting him." James didn't respond, instead holstering the Imago Loop and pulling the Stillpiercer free of it's place on his back and scoping up. Firing the last shot in the current magazine, the Nightstalker smoothly reloaded and fired again, once more at the same plate as the opportunity presented itself. It was only once everyone was out of the castle that James put some distance between himself and it, hearing the yell from the fish girl and cursing. It had been their job to slow down the Demon Lord, but if they were already in retreat...Something went wrong. That's the only reason they'd be hightailing it towards us and yelling the warning. Something went horribly wrong.
Still, it didn't change the fact that they couldn't hope to down both powerful enemies, especially since they hadn't yet actually started putting a dent in Brigan just yet. They needed to come up with a plan and they needed to do it quickly before the Demon Lord arrived and they all had to scatter to avoid ending up dead. And then James remembered that Brigan was technically going against Odin's wishes, who was the leader of the army Brigan was the general of. That provided an opportunity that always made for the best outcome. "Why don't we pit the pair against each other? Would save us both lives and time."
Forced to hold the rampaging mad general, Samus and the others tried desperately to continue holding him off. Yet as she continues defending the rest of her team, she overhears Oswald explaining on how to defeat the hulking general, before simply vanishing into thin air to save his wife. There may be no water, but at least its been confirmed that Brigan does have shielding and that the only way to break them was to simply concentrate all of their firepower on it. It was their only hope.
But shielding... shields.
Of course!
Samus has absolutely no idea how effective they will be, but her missiles have been known for breaking various shielded doors back in her universe. Usually, several shots of regular missiles, or about a duo super missiles, can knock their shields down and allow for her to open said doors. Could this be true for Brigan's shield? It seemed doubtful, but perhaps it could be worth a shot. The only problem was that she only had three regular missiles left, the other two wasted earlier. One was wasted in the Food Fight back in their "hub" world, and the other was here while trying to stop the poor pooka before changing sides. Samus must use these missiles carefully if they were going to succeed in knocking down the shields. If they didn't work? Then perhaps a retreat is needed after all.
But before Samus could have a chance in reloading her missile pod, Brigan's massive hulking hammer smashed into Slayer's body, sending him flying towards the wall. That power must've been equivalent to that of a bus', hell even more. It was going to take him a hot minute if he was going to get back into the fight, if he does go back in that is. The General then crashes down to the ground floor of the castle, issuing a shockwave that almost made Samus' loose her balance. But as they see their comrade get whacked like a ragdoll, Luigi cries out for everyone to fall back and leave the falling castle. She and Varrock were also tasked in providing cover as they all escape. Yet Samus had no plans in backing away yet, despite the unreasonable odds
"You guys get out of here!" she exclaims as she begins firing at the same place as her partner was shooting, "I aint' leaving this place now. Not until I bring this damn bastard down!"
She was already being rather stubborn herself. Yet she also realizes her current position. Was it a loosing battle? It's almost certain. Yet she isn't going to back down from this yet. She will fight till the death... even if it means having to sacrifice herself for the greater cause.
But then came Naija. And the fish-person looked terrified. She yelled about Demon King Odin coming towards their position and for further back up.
Well... shit.
Even now, Samus considered that retreating may be a bit more admirable than putting up such a fight with two giant figures. However, just before her moral was to be extinguished, Varrock had an idea. Why not lure Brigan into fighting Odin? After all, that will keep both figures occupied and ultimately save some much needed time. The stakes just got higher, but anything to keep fighting didn't mind the bounty hunter one bit.
"Not a bad idea, Varrock." she replies to the soldier, just as she puts her hands on her cannon, "I can also use my remaining missiles to hopefully deplete Brigan's shields down by a substantial bit. I have three at the ready. If you can bear the heat, follow me. If not... then I'll finish this operation myself."
Switching her arm cannon from pellets to missiles, she rushes out of the fiery inferno opposite of where Naija came from. In an attempt to grab the General's attention, she fires her first missile at the general's shield plate that should be weaker due to their combined firepower. Once she would capture his attention, she begins to run outside the castle, luring him towards the fast approaching Odin. Hopefully this plan will work... or will she die trying.
Heeding Oswald's concerns, Hapu nodded in understanding. One does not simply allot a stranger's horse to whisk away their dearly beloved. As the Shadow Knight disappeared, Hapu looked around at the collapsing castle around her. "Indeed, we need to evacuate as soon as possible," she agreed. She was unequipped to strike Brigan's armor, for attempting to do so would likely result in Brigan breaking every collective bone in her and Mudsdale's body. She turned towards Samus and James, who were firing rounds at Brigan's armor to cause as much damage to his defenses as possible.
"We ned to evacuate!" she warned, before hurling her Poké Ball and jumping on the flash, riding Mudsdale towards the exit of the castle. Mudsdale skirted around crumbling rubble and burning tapestry, stamping out any flames under its clay-caked hooves. She doubted that Samus and James would survive such a destructive fire at its core, so she would not break down the walls with High Horsepower until Luigi said to.
Mudsdale grunted as it galloped through the foyer; the horse spun around and with a swift kick it broke the door down, and Hapu and her horse escaped.
Hapu and Mudsdale skidded to a halt as Naija arrived, warning the group of Demon Lord Odin's approach.
Meanwhile, Samus and James exited the castle. Hapu had heard Luigi's call that the fire would make the interior of the castle more dangerous; therefore, with Brigan still stuck inside, it would behoove the team to make him as uncomfortably warm in there as possible. Hapu slid off her horse, and pointed towards the wall of the castle. "Mudsdale, High Horsepower on the wall."
Mudsdale reared, whinnied, and galloped towards the spot in the wall of the crumbling castle. The horse swung around and with a mighty buck smashed the wall in an attempt to feed more fresh air to the flaming castle, and thus help the blaze braise Brigan into a baked barbarian barbecue.
"Mudsdale, return," Hapu said, calling her horse back before it could get too licked by the flames. Fire wasn't overly dangerous for the Ground-type (while it did not resist fire, attacks of its type were quite effective against flames and flaming Pokémon), but the horse would not appreciate getting burned.
The feral flock of demonic raven-like were quick to retreat to their master for safety after three of their sisters fell. Fox was banking on them futilely overextending their reach, but they instead came to terms with their immediate limitations and fell back, which was the smartest thing they could have done. Though, whether their actions were determined by some remaining vestige tactic or just a matter of mere instinct was anyone’s guess, but it made little difference in this case. Clown car-ing behind Odin as they did would slow them to his pace, but it also kept them out of Fox’s sight. He wasn’t going to be able to whittle away at them as they had hoped; a fact Naija was sure to remind him of as she commanded that he redirect his fire to Odin himself. He had no illusions about doing any real harm to him, but he couldn’t argue with her thinking. If there’s anything they should know regarding potential defense mechanisms he might have, they would do well to figure that out ahead of time. The vulpine was mildly skeptical of yielding anything conclusive at this rate, but he wagered that it was better than doing nothing.
Naija was making good on putting fast distance between them and the Demon Lord, so Fox would be putting his marksmanship to the test. The Demon King’s image shrank exponentially as the seconds passed, and it was already difficult finding anything on him that wasn’t armored, save for his disproportionately sized wings and a pair of glowing yellow eyes leering at (or through) them through the small slit in his helmet. Starting with the latter, these would be his targets. Even the powerful and seemingly impenetrable still had to see and function - his experiences with Andross told him as much - but his marks would be harder to hit this time. He steadied his aim and took three seconds to himself to concentrate, breathing deeply before letting loose four five-round bursts meant for Odin’s eyes and the joints of his wings - in that order. The entire stream of laser fire would clear muzzle in no more than two seconds.
Chances were that the King would be largely unfazed, if Naija’s theory (or a simple guess) was anything to go by, but Fox took a gamble on the off chance that he could potentially affect him in any way. Assuming he did, this would naturally come with aggravating the monstrous berserker, which seemed to be a pattern with every action he’s taken throughout the battle. If there were any effects to be noticed, he would have scarce little time to pick up on them as they left the boss and his unit behind. It wouldn’t be long before he touched down after them, however, so they hadn’t time to waste assembling the others once they arrived.
The encroaching sight of the immolated keep where the other teams were assigned made clear the fact that they couldn’t have been doing much better on their ends. The sirenic aqualass took this opportunity to loudly, preemptively broadcast warning to anyone within earshot. Her announcement was a tad bit melodramatic for his liking, but she got the point across much quicker than he could have. Her voice carried farther than his, after all. As the two closed in, Fox would spring off the log, diving forward over Naija, tumbling into a reverse sault, and landing on both feet in a lowered position facing opposite to where he was before. He slid backwards to a stop between the group as he made his two-point landing. He then motioned to offer Luigi a helping hand up before restating the matter.
“You heard her. Odin’s on his way… with help. Be ready!”
There was a restrained tone of urgency in his voice; no signs of panic or fear, but enough to appropriately stress the serious nature of the impending threat. Under any other circumstances, he would have requested a status report, but he didn’t have time to hear them out. As dire as things looked, Fox felt slightly more confident that they would all be able to pull through together, but they would all but certainly have their work cut out for them. He redrew his blaster, holding it to with both hands, and stood poised for what was to come.
When Quina would peer up at Velvet, she would only manage to peer up her skirt. The scarlet wanderer listened to Quina’s defense. S/he didn’t seem to have friends or a family. The sad creature. Just as the toad heard the rumbling of what sounded like destruction in the distance, Velvet’s gaze narrowed in the direction of the Abandoned Castle. What was going on there? Suddenly, the toad took off again, causing her to gasp. She crouched, sitting upon Quina’s chef hat and scrunching it down to her/his skull. She clutched Quina’s cheeks, gripping them as the crazy tongue creature charged in the castle’s direction.
“It’s the Abandoned Castle!” Velvet informed the thing. Her heart raced a little in worry. She knew her sister Gwendolyn had been resting there and couldn’t help but wonder what evil befell the place. “Go to the Abandoned Castle, Toad, if you wish to save the world.”
It wasn’t false advice for it was Gwendolyn who held the key to Erion’s salvation.
Quina should join the group on this turn.
Total Enemies: 0 Minions: Location: N/A New Companion: Velvet
Team Two and Three
After Brigan took down the pillars, he turned toward James who had been pelting him with rounds. He whacked aside the void grenade he had lobbed at him and peered down at the shield the guardian had been targeting before he covered it with his meaty arm. Brigan bore his teeth in a malicious scowl. They had learned of his secret, and seeing that there were only two fighters trying to shoot his shield, it made it very easy for him to figure out that they knew his weakness. Had Oswald told them? They shouldn’t had been able to figure it out so soon.
“Heh, you think it’ll be that easy,” he scoffed. “You all will be dead before the last shield falls.”
Brigan remained guarding his shield until Team Two managed to evacuate and Mudsdale use High Horse Power. As the wall collapsed and the cooler air rushed in, Brigan felt the flames escalate, but due to his magical shields, he hadn’t been effected as much as they had hoped. The giant crouched and leapt out of the fire and blaze, rising out of the collapsed ceiling as fire danced across his skin and the edges of his orange lengthy mustache. He landed outside in the cool air with a rumbling thoom, his arm still cradling his shield while his other hand gripping his hammer posted on the ground. Hissing furiously, Brigan raised his head in time to see the one enemy he had hoped wouldn’t arrive to the castle...
Fox’s barrage was met with rapid-fire orbs of plasma sputtering from the boss’s eyes. Odin then cranked back his fist and thrust it forward, the godly strength alone creating a sonic boom as he swiftly closed the distance between him and the overconfident heroes. The air rushed and clouds flickered about his fist until the momentum of his attack deteriorated. Just as Fox had dismounted from the log Naija carried, Odin again cranked back his fist and thrusted it down in the vulpine’s direction. The Demon Lord’s fist struck the earth just behind the pilot with enough force to send soil, grass, and stone erupting from the ground into tall hills. The aftershock of the impact was powerful enough to send both him and Luigi flying, even if they had dodged the direct assault.
When the two would recover, hovering several feet above Luigi, but close enough for him to see every detail of the foe, was a dark Valkyrie. It was the dark Valkyrie who donned a familiar red cap with a familiar red M on it. She was watching Luigi through sanguine-red orbs, clutching her red psypher spear. She was eying his green cap, and how similar it was to the one she wore. If Luigi took notice of her, her lips would spread about vicious chain-chomp rows of teeth. She then wickedly started to laugh at the pathetic man, pointing the tip of her psypher at him in challenge. She wanted a second hat to add to her collection.
Odin rose to his feet, ripping his massive fist from the earth. His 12 Valkyries descended like screaming banshees. Three Valkyries sought to overwhelm Naija @DracoLunaris while she was still in the skies. Two zigzagging Valkyries (two per hero) launched at both Samus @Lmpkio and James @Zarkun. Three went after Hapu and Mudsdale @ToadRopes and two charged the vampire @Lugubrious.
The most noticeable target was General Brigan who Demon Lord Odin immediately regarded. General Brigan growled at his former king and rose from his hunched over position. Demon Lord Odin reached behind his back to draw the giant Mario-slaying meteor hammer, Balor into existence. Holding the ball and gripping the chain, Odin launched the ball at General Brigan with the speed of a comet. Brigan spread his arms to catch it and managed to do so, but the godly force behind the strike had lifted even a colossus like the general off his feet. Balor drove General Brigan through the stone wall of the castle and back into the burning ruin. Stone and fire erupted about the collision site, sending weighted blocks hammering into the grass outside the castle. With a yank of his chain, Demon Lord Odin retracted Balor as the ball sailed like a planet, arching into the air as it returned to its master.
General Brigan laid in a pile of stone. The imprint of his hulking body was embedded in the wall behind him as he peeled off to drop to his knees. He hadn’t felt a thing and for the moment, he grinned in relief until the clatter of two shields falling from his chest caused him to shiver in fear. General Brigan peered down at the shields that revolved like plates beneath him, his eyes growing wide in alarm. Odin was much more powerful being possessed by the virus than he was before, but he shouldn't have lost two in that assault. It only meant the heroes had softened up the second one.
“Shit!” General Brigan hissed and quickly rose to his feet. Promptly, the general fled opposite of where Odin stood with his witch-like Valkyries, fleeing into the woods. They were all fucked! The entire world was going to go to shit. He should have known that such weaklings wouldn’t have been able to kill the Demon Lord!
Oswald was standing with Myris in the woods, gazing upon the burning castle in the distance. In his arms was a platinum-haired woman, her eyes sealed by sleep. She was wearing a blue gown and had her hands folded against her chest. The Pooka who the heroes had tried to slay was standing next to him holding a blue psypher spear. Shadow Knight Oswald heard the screams of the Valkyries in the distance and knew that Demon Lord Odin wasn’t going to stop until someone stopped him. He was handicapped by Gwendolyn, and as much as he didn’t wish to wake her, he couldn’t think of any other solution to the problem. There was no saving Odin. Odin knew this when he had decided to hide his daughter with the Ring Titrel. Oswald stroked Gwendolyn’s cheek and gazed upon her angelic face with a frustrated scowl. The whole ordeal was annoying…
“Forgive me for waking you, but we need you,” Oswald told her before he cupped her cheek and brought his lips to her own.
Gwendolyn’s sapphire eyes fluttered open as she stared sleepily up at her husband.
“Oswald…” she breathed.
Oswald brushed some curls from her face and slowly lowered her feet to the grass. “I’m sorry, Gwendolyn, but Erion is in danger.”
Gwendolyn rubbed her eyes and as she brought her hand to her face, her heart leapt in her chest when she noticed the Ring Titrel about her finger.
“Oswald, the ring…” she said in surprise.
“Yes, you have it. Odin gave it to you. Your father is no more. An evil has taken him and his spirit won’t find rest until we put it there.”
Gwendolyn closed her eyes sadly as she brought her fist to her chest, clutching the emotional pain she felt for her father.
“Mistress,” said Myris, offering her the psypher. “Please return safely.”
Gwendolyn lowered her hand from her chest to take her spear from the Pooka. General Brigan had just broken through the woods to stop abruptly before the pair. Oswald stared the general down as Gwendolyn grasped her skirts, twirling them aside to transform into her Valkyrie armor. She frowned up at General Brigan and growled:
“I know you had something to do with this…”
General Brigan frowned. He had Demon Lord Odin and the heroes at his back and now his two worst enemies at his front.
“What if I did? So what…it was bound to take all of us. I just gave it someone to focus on. I just didn’t expect Odin to be so strong afterwards.”
Shadow Knight Oswald’s eyes shrank ferally. “So you were the one to lure the virus to Ragnanival! Look at what you’ve done!”
General Brigan snarled, “I wanted the crown, so what? I was more fit to rule than that old sympathizing relic. Ragnanival would have been the strongest army in all of Erion if Odin had only used The Cauldron to wipe out all of his enemies! He is truly to blame why the virus is here. If he had truly been strong, then he would have wiped it out, but he was weak!”
“Fool!” Gwendolyn hissed. “The only one who should have ever been infected by the virus is a coward like you. My father will bring Armageddon to this world now if he is not stopped. I will see that you are executed for your treachery!”
General Brigan laughed. “Execute me? You need me. You need all the help you can get now. You wouldn’t be able to defeat Odin without me.”
Shadow Knight Oswald snarled, “I would like to try!”
Gwendolyn held out her arm to calm her husband as she stared down General Brigan. “Wait. We will let him carryout his last service.” She then pointed her spear at Brigan. “You will fight my father to your last breath, and if you manage to kill him, then I will see that you are not executed but banished instead. Do you agree to these terms?”
Shadow Knight Oswald boiled on the inside. He would have rather seen the general ripped to shreds by dragons than being granted a second chance. General Brigan chuckled and crossed his arm before his waist in a bow.
“O merciful princess, I do,” General Brigan answered.
Gwendolyn then ordered, “Return to the field then. Do not run or I will kill you myself.”
General Brigan wrinkled his nose a little and turned back toward the Abandoned ruins. Gwendolyn looked to her husband and said, “Let us do battle.”
She then looked to Myris and brushed her caretaker’s fuzzy cheek. “Do not worry. I will return. We will save this world just please be careful. You are my closest friend.”
Myris closed her eyes as a few tears ran down her cheeks. She nodded her head and prayed for the princess’s safety.
General Brigan, Shadow Knight Oswald, and Valkyrie Princess Gwendolyn have now entered the battle against Odin.
Injured Teammates: Luigi and Slayer
Phozons Present for the Team: None.
Phozons stolen by Odin: 6
Total Phozons stolen by Odin: 14
Total Enemies: 13 Minions: 13 – Black Valkyries Location: Airborne 1 - grounded; 12 with Odin.
Boss: Demon Lord Odin Location: Airborne
Duel Boss: Valkyrie Mario Location: Hovering over Luigi and Fox Challenged Hero: Luigi
Lost Teammate: Mario
This GM post reveals the results of team decisions/consequences.
XP Initiated!
Keep track of your word count XP. Overall XP will be awarded at the end of every battle. This does not include Battle XP. That will be totaled at the end of the mission and gifted out.
Naija 2
Fox 2
Luigi 3
James 2
Samus 2
Hapu 1
Slayer 2
Quina 1
Try to write your posts without quoting other characters. When I put people's posts in the word counter, I erase the quotes of other characters, and that seems to lower the word count depriving players of XP. So try to write without it. When XP isn't initiated, then using other character quotes doesn't matter.
Use your CSes to keep track of your XP points!
P.O.
If a player is inactive for more than 3 days, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day.
Team One Order: Slayer, Quina
Team Two Order: Luigi, James, Samus, Hapu
Team Three Order: Naija, Fox
Be sure to re-read the scenario rules found here. Good luck!
Lvl: 2 Day: 1 Location: Outside the abandoned castle Interacting with: Fox McCloud@Etherean Fire, Luigi@Bright_Ops, Slayer@Lugubrious Word Count: 526 Seed deployed: none
Fox dismounted and they both approached the burning ruins as the rest of the team emerged from it in response too her shouting. Some of them looked severely beat up, but their objective was nowhere to be seen. Despite Mario’s sacrifice it seemed they had not managed to buy nearly enough time.
”What have you been doing?! you're supposed to save the princess, not burn her house down!”
Everything was going badly, so very badly. The fact that she had not managed to put anywhere near as much ground as she had hoped between them and Odin the final nail in the whole awful situation.
Naija turned to see the arriving flock and their unholy master descending upon their ranks, Odin putting on a sudden immense burst of speed and flying towards them, slamming his fist into the ground and sending a shock-wave rippling through the earth that struck fox and Luigi. the hulking demon then drew his murder weapon, turning to attack Brigan who was flanked by a sapphire Valkyrie and a dark armored warrior. She didn’t have much time to take in the rest of the situation or check who was still with them as 3 Valkyries began to fly towards her, clearly looking to strike her down. Oddly the Valkyries were focusing their efforts on the two smallest members of the party, perhaps trying to take them out quickly before joining the others for the more armored/muscular targets. In that case she was definitely going to prove that objective false and give them a run for their money. Literally in this case, because so far Naija’s successes in combat had come from having the element of surprise or ranged advantage, and with the 3 hot on her heels she would have neither.
She took off away from them and would try and use her agility to duck and weave among the combatants, first flying for Slayer, retrieving one of the Napples and tossing it to the suave gentleman.
”eat this for your wounds”
Her first fly-by delivery completed she swooped around, trying to pass close enough to the other engaging Valkyries that the ones chasing her couldn't take a shot at here without hurting them, while at the same time not getting in the way of her allies or getting noticed, she headed towards her second delivery target. Her anger flashed as she saw who was confronting Luigi, the Valkyrie captain, with a smug look on her face as she flaunted Mario's cap in front of his brother.
Naija put on another burst of speed, coming up behind the captain Valkyrie. She would accelerate as hard ash she could, then at the last second flipped herself around so she was traveling feet first, ramming her winged boot into the back of the Valkyries head with a flying kick. The momentum would slam the Valkyrie forwards and launch Naija up and over her, during this launch she would throw the second Napple to Luigi.
”Healing incoming!”
Righting herself she would fly onward, yelling at Fox something that might remind the pilot of another flying amphibian he knew.
”Fox! get these guys off my back!”
She then would fly on, trying to outrun the Valkyries once more, but with her loss of momentum at the attack it was likely that unless her allies did something she would be in a whole heap of trouble.
Level: 2 Day/Time: Day One - Evening Location: Kingdom of Erion - Outside the Abandoned Castle Tag: The many faces of @Holy Soldier, Naija @DracoLunaris, Fox @Etherean Fire Word Count: 1019 Napple Seed planted? Shoulder healed!
"Brigan turned out to be a two faced, traitorous rat." Luigi answered bluntly to Naija and Fox, hoping to explain exactly why things on his side of the mission had gone to hell in a hand-basket to such a degree. He didn't want to make it look like he was just making excuses for his poor leadership but having their local contact actively setting them up and being prepared to abandon them to die was just unfair.
Blinking a little, Luigi looked around as he asked "Where's Mario?"
The question wouldn't have enough time to be answered however because the world around him proved that just when one believed it was as bad as it could get, it took the time to show him that the pit that they had found themselves in could in fact be dug deeper as not only did Brigan himself decide that now was a wonderful time to burst through the roof of the castle, but another giant pulsing with dark power that he could only assume was the Demon King Odin that they had originally been sent here to safe the world and whom Naija's team had been sent to delay not only arrived but did so with a flock of battle ready warrior women at his beck and call.
Watching as Odin pulled his fist back and started to throw it at the ground right at Fox's feet! Fearful for the pilot's life, Luigi threw himself at Fox to tackle him out of the way of the blow, hissing with pain as the action messed with the gunshot wound in his shoulder but it was a penitence compared to what might have happened if either of them were struck by the blow directly. Even if both of them dodged, both of them were thrown through the air because of the shockwave sent out from the blow! Landing on the ground and rolling a bit, Luigi grunted in pain as he turned to see if Odin was planing a follow up attack...
Watching the 'fight' between Odin and Brigan was highly informative (as well as a small degree of cathartic); Having seen the lack of damage that his team had been doing in their brief engagement with Brigan, watching Odin send him flying into a wall with one solid blow from a massive ball and chain and actually shatter two of the plates that made up the shield that covered him was an awe inspiring degree of power... and freaking terrifying in that they were going to have to go up against it. Brigan of course showed his true colors and fled into the forest like the coward that he was and with completely honestly Luigi couldn't actually blame him for it this time... Well, he could and would curse the bastards name with what was likely to be his final breaths, but the sheer raw power that Odin seemed to process was something worthy of fleeing from.
As Naija flew past, throwing healing fruit with some of the Valkyries on her tail and requesting assistance from Fox, Luigi quickly took a bite of the fruit and sighed with relief as the wound on his shoulder seemed to heal practically instantly. Pulling his power hammer out, he was about to go and assist Naija alongside Fox (having no order to really give his own team other then stay alive and he trusted that they would have worked that out for themselves) when one of the other Valkyrie's caught his eye. This one was different from her sisters because this one wore a very familiar red hat with an M on the front...
Luigi was an intelligent coward; This often meant that his mind could think up plenty of nerve wrecking, horrible little things on a day to day basis that would hammer away at what little nerve that he had... but seeing that hat on that winged woman's head filled him with such overwhelming dread that it made him go numb to the world around him. He didn't know what had happened to Mario... he didn't know what state Mario was currently in or even if he was alive or dead... but he was going to get that hat back if he had to crush that winged bitches skull into paste to do it.
A part of him wanted to ask Fox to help him; To try and get the woman to focus her attention solely on him and then have Fox shoot her in the back because they didn't have the time to waste on an honor duel right now but Naija clearly needed the assistance badly. "Go help Naija... then try and help the rest of my team. Odin's going to be hard enough without the support of a flock of winged vermin." He muttered surprisingly calmly, loud enough for Fox to hear, giving him the list of priorities that he needed to focus on right now.
Luigi himself started to walk towards his hat wearing enemy... before picking up speed as he started to run towards her, hammer held back as if he was winding up a large blow towards her middle/right leg... until he was barely two meters away from her, where he reveled the feint as he launched himself upwards in a jump, intent on driving his full weight (plus the weight of his hammer) down on the winged bat's head with a stomp that had ended many an enemy before. Regardless of what happened, his plan for this fight was simply; Play defensively while taunting her into a rage to not just tire her out, but create openings to slam his hammer into her.
Speaking of insults, with a pure, vile hatred to his words he challenged "Nice hat. Tell me, were you just the lucky one out of the cowardly swarm to snatch it or did you scavenge it after your master did all the hard work like the diseased vulture that you are?!" Despite the rage that coursed through his body, Luigi felt... strangely in control. Like the calm at the center of a cyclone.
When the fish girl spoke up about how they were supposed to save the princess, not burn down the castle, James growled in annoyance. "And you were supposed to keep Odin from reaching the castle, but you don't see us complaining." His attention, however, was then diverted by the arrival of of the afore mentioned Demon Lord, who made his presence known by slamming his fist into the ground near Fox and Luigi and movement had even the Guardian diving for cover just to avoid the debris from the blow. "Son of a bitch! It's like this guy is some alternate version of Oryx, only he just uses his brute force to win a fight versus his soldiers and stupid freaking Taken powers." Charger growled in agreement, appearing in the top right corner of James' HUD.
"This will indeed be a dangerous fight. Do you mind actually thinking a little bit before acting or am I going to have to provide the usual last minute warnings that you're so used to hearing by now?" Grinning, the Nightstalker peeked up over the debris he had hidden behind, a witty retort on the tip of his tongue, in time to see two of the black winged Valkyries charging at him in a zigzag pattern.
"Shit!" Was all he managed to get out instead as he was forced to dodge their first pass, rolling underneath them as one of the psypher tips brushed against his shielding and depleted it slightly. Noting the loss, with some amount of chagrin, James wasted no time in drawing the Imago Loop and firing in a predictive pattern against their zigzag with an intent to take out at least one of the Valkyries before they reached him. When the survivor would reach him, he'd holster the hand cannon and draw his knife in the same motion before jumping up and catching the Valkyrie's foot. Using the momentum of the jump and the swing he would get from catching said foot to swing up and on to the Valkyrie's back and ram his knife into her neck and slicing out to the right, ensuring her death. Upon hitting the ground, his shield, which had recharged the small amount he'd lost, would take another hit as he took to cover once more to allow it to recharge to full again.
While he waited, the Nightstalker decides to take a peak around him and sighs, realizing that they were caught well within the middle of the mayhem that had ensued since Luigi had called the turn on Brigan. Drawing his hand cannon once more, he'd take aim at the Valkyries attacking Hapu and Mudsdale, he'd fire off a shot at each of their wings, hoping that putting them on the ground would take away their maneuverability enough to close with them and finish them off in one quick blow. Charger, meanwhile, was still gathering data and scan on Odin, hoping to identify a weakness so that they could more quickly defeat the virus empowered villain. As James shifted targets from wings to center mass on the enemy units, he saw Brigan return to the field of battle with Oswald and an unfamiliar young woman that, if he decided to make an educated guess about, was likely Princess Gwendolyn. Three more in the fight can't hurt, and we know for certain that Oswald is a powerhouse just like Brigan, much as I hate the giant bastard. Let's hope they make the difference we need them to make.
Just as Slayer began to enjoy the twilit scenery, a shape appeared in the sky that caught his attention. Before he could make out its exact contour and character, a despairing shout bombarded him, and like a cockroach in a spotlight the vampire's improved mood skittered away. No matter how many world-threatening monstrosities he'd seen or heard of, to treat the onset of a new one with anything less than grave seriousness would be beyond foolhardy. Now, according to this winged messenger, the very demon lord poised to annihilate this place would be arriving in only moments. Slayer did not need to make any internal calculations to figure out that his allies lacked the firepower necessary to take Brigan down, let alone Odin, and he doubted that the barbaric brute would be so courteous as to stand by while they tried their luck with the bigger bad. Even as the other heroes streamed from the crumbling castle, all alive and intact, he felt as though he'd been flung out of the frying pan and into hell itself.
From the direction of the approaching messenger a furry blur shot toward the group. Slayer did not immediately recall Fox as an ally, but he figured as much, and so merely stepped to the side to ensure that the vulpid had enough space to execute his impressive landing. Fox's confirmation served to bring a sigh to the gentleman's lips, and in anticipation of the coming strife he plucked a brand-new pipe from a side pocket. He snapped his fingers with undue force, the friction creating a purple spark, and with it he lit the pipe before taking a puff. ”Well then. Ready as I'll ever be, I suppose.”
He cut a determined look, but the shaking ground and resounding crash that heralded Brigan's arrival robbed him of his focus. Only after sending a no-nonsense glare the lout's way did he turn his attention back to the sky and find, to his mild dismay, a great dark shape incoming. Fox opened fire, but his barrage seemed to have no effect but to suddenly cause the ominous figure to zoom forward, headed straight for the group fast as a freight train and with far more force. The heroes around Slayer scattered to avoid the impact, but he stood still, counting in his head. At the last moment, he executed a Dandy Step, and the momentary lapse of presence characteristic to the move allowed him to completely avoid the initial shockwave of the predictable strike. Even still, the aftershock jarred his bones, and he knew that if he had been the dive punch's primary target, he would not have gotten off so easily.
Before Odin even rose back to his full height, his entourage began its assault. For a split second Slayer was shocked by the sheer, feral tenacity of the valkyries' shrieks, but his heart hardened when two of the twelve veered toward him. ”Is that all? How rude. One does not play billiards with a matchstick!” As they approached, he sucked in a deep breath from his pipe, then exhaled the smoke in a blast at his feet. It splashed upon impact, becoming a thick cloud, and into it the valkuries dove with spears extended. As one, they thrust their spears at the dark, dapper shape in the cloud's center, only for the vampire to disappear before their eyes. The next instant, he dashed in from below, ramming a pile bunker into the foremost valkyrie's exposed belly. He felt it connect, though with the haze he couldn't quite tell exactly what he hit However, he could be sure that the power of the blow carried him forward just enough to be almost behind the second valkyrie, and with the unflappable momentum of a veteran boxer he turned on the dime to deliver a crushing backhand to the back of the little monster's neck. Given he resurgence of strength, he felt certain that it would be an instant kill, but he didn't stop there. With his other hand, he reached out to try to grab and yank down the valkyrie he'd Pile Bunkered, his goal to slam her against the ground and stun her. As the cloud cleared, he attempted to place his heel upon her cheek to pin her beneath his weight. ”Though I do generally find this act unbecoming in public, I feel as though some of your blood would fully restore my health. Hold still, young miss, and I assure you it will be -almost- painless.” He flexed his fingers as he smiled, his fangs ever so slightly bared.
The loss of the haze, however, allowed him to witness that same winged messenger from before headed his way, a pack of valkyries on her tail. It was Naija, who he had been unable to recognize thanks to a striking alteration in her body. As she passed, the fishwoman tossed him a fruit, telling him it would help his wounds. With an indifferent shrug, Slayer took a bite, and unsurprisingly the fruit healed him just as Naija implied. ”Fancy that,” he murmured, taking a look around. He felt as though in the heat of the moment he'd missed something important. After a second he spotted it: Oswald and Brigan, as well as a valkurie who looked different from the others, standing side by side against the Demon Lord. Without skipping a beat, Slayer was able to intuit from their positioning and body language more or less what had happened. ”Desperate times make for odd bedfellows, I expect. Or am I mixing my metaphors?” He asked the harpy who he expected to be beneath his foot, still squirming feebly. ”Oh! My apologies,” the vampire fretted, as though surprised. He removed his foot and attempted to reach down to pick the creature up. ”It would appear that I do not require your blood anymore. Allow me to let you go.”
A second later, the wailing valkyrie, her wings torn out of their sockets, would hurtle as a living projectile toward the trio in pursuit of Naija if Slayer's attack succeeded.
Expecting the Giant to follow her, the Bounty Hunter ran several meters towards the exit of the massive castle, thinking that her plan is going accordingly. But before she exits the collapsing building, she turns back to see if the General was going with her little plan. Unfortunately for her however, the General didn't go for the bait as he swiped aside the void grenade that was thrown by Varrock. The general taunts the two that they'll be long dead before his shield finally falters. With a hiss of displeasure, she sneers with a silent curse, feeling almost like a fool for looking as if she was cowarding out of the fight.
"Shit..." she sneers silently to herself.
Obviously her plan didn't work. Soon the fire begins to intensify the surrounding area, yet like Brigan Samus' Varia Suit protects her from the intense heat and ash choking the air around them. Thankfully, it seems that all of Team 2 had finally evacuated the premises. And it was just in time as the walls finally began to break way and collapse. The giant made a sudden leap into the air as he escaped the scene, followed by Samus and Varrock close behind. Yet as he looked beyond, she thought she could see a face of pure disgust, as if he spotted his worst enemy. Indeed, it looks like Samus and Varrock's plan actually worked, as Odin reared his ugly head and rose to his feet. The daunting figure lifted his fist as it crashed into the ground and unleashed a massive shockwave that almost made the bounty hunter loose her balance. Several pieces of fast-paced projectile dirt and soot clanged with her armor, but no sufficient leaks or damages have been detected. Samus kneels onto one knee for additional support as she looks up to see the dark menacing figure.
And Odin wasn't alone. As he rips his massive fist from the ground, twelve of his lackeys sped towards them. The Valkyries have finally come, twelve of them in total, with one looking VERY much like Mario. He must've perished during battle and turned into this thing. She sighed in pity as she readies her weapon against the incoming valkyries. Mario may have been a jerk, wanting her attention and everything, but she still respected him for his overall fame and accomplishments. But now isn't the time to reflect on past experiences. The Valkyries swept into battle as they divided up in an attempt to eliminate the heroes below. Four descended upon she and Varrock, with two aiming directly at her personally.
"Get down!"
With no time to spare, Samus attempts to dodge the incoming dive bombers as she was barely able to escape getting hit. Yet these creatures were both small and rather fast. She jerks her cannon rapidly as she attempts to fire her pellets at one of the incoming warriors who seemed to be ready for another pass. Then without any hesitation, she makes a running dash towards the approaching Valkyrie. But just as it began to go for her own dive bomb, Samus would make an incredibly high jump at her, curling up into a ball in mid-air for a brief second until emerging from her shell. Her hand violently grabs the creature's throat, gripping it tightly with pent up rage, as it attempt to stall its flight pattern. This is followed by a direct blow to her head by Samus' arm cannon, ensuring that her head was blown to bits as she quickly hops off the screeching corpse. She rolls to the ground and gets back up to combat the other incoming valkyries.
While Varrock dealt with those attacking Hapu and Mudsdale, and with everyone else either helping one another with relative ease and efficiency, Samus turned to where Odin is. However, she suddenly notices the devilish Brigan returning to battle, but this he was accompanied by Shadow Knight Oswald and an unknown girl, but with the name Gwendolyn flashing for a brief instances in her mind. It seems as if they joined forces to combat Odin directly. Despite her incredible distaste for Brigan, and even Oswald himself, they really needed their help in such dire situations. Perhaps the saying "The Enemy of My Enemy is my Friend" is the most appropriate saying in this situation. They'll deal with the more personal issues later.
Samus can already feel her arm cannon humming steadily, signifying that her charged shot is almost completely charged and ready. She smirks as she returns to assist her comrades in need.
As expected, Odin wasn’t too happy about being the intended target for a face-full of laser fire, no matter how otherwise inconsequential it might have been for him. Though, the fact that he bothered countering it stood to suggest otherwise, and as per intentions, they now had a slightly better idea of what he was capable of. With fist drawn back, the Demon Lord peered out over the treeline and shot down directly at Fox, aiming to make an example of him. Fortunately, him and Luigi had just enough time to evade the incoming attack. Fox was fast enough on his own to dive out of the way, but he had some added help from Luigi. Even if it was unnecessary, it could never be said that Luigi didn’t mean well. And people call him a coward...
The earth rippled beneath the two as they scattered, throwing them both with more force than either had actually intended. They may have been out of the way, but they were both sure to feel it. Fox was sent into an uncontrolled tumble that put him sliding on his back, to which he popped up backwards onto the balls of his feet and came skidding to a halt. The lead valkyrie, undeservedly donning the headwear of a fallen legend, came into proximity, providing Fox with a much wanted momentary distraction from answering the green plumber’s question as he trained his sights on her. Suddenly, Naija barrels in to (literally) knock her down a level and pass the younger brother replenishment before resuming flight to flee from the three bogeys she had tailing her. As is usual of most cases, Fox was specifically called on to take care of it. Some things just never change.
Luigi seconded Naija’s command with an unusually subdued tone as the valkyrie leader got back up. Again, the order was obvious to the point of redundancy, as the anthro was already on the same mind track. However, it made all the clearer the fact that Luigi wanted to deal with her personally, which Fox understood all too well, so he thought the better of it to leave him to his devices. With an affirmative nod, Fox spun his blaster back into its holster and bolted off to assist his team leader.
On his way to intercept as Naija made another round, out of nowhere came a maimed, wingless valkyrie flying haplessly overhead in the same direction. He would need the extra boost to put himself at level with Naija and her pursuers, so this was oddly convenient. The pilot leapt to catch her by the head with an upward sault kick. In the same motion, he would leverage himself up onto the back of her neck to violently footstool off of her, gracefully propelling himself higher as he stomped her down. At the apex of his ascent, he brought both arms in at his sides and began to build up energy, and a loud flanging swell hummed as the air around him flared and ignited. After a two-second charge, Fox shot forward headfirst with furious force into the side of the trio chasing the siren.
With success, he would effectively blindside the entire group, killing the first one he made contact with. He would then attempt to capitalize on this with a reverse roundhouse kick to both of their heads; the maneuver cutting a motion trail of fire through the air. Provided this wouldn’t be enough, he would follow through on the front-most valkyrie with a flurry of roundhouse kicks to drag her down with him as he descended, and as she bounced from the impact of hitting the ground, Fox would finish the series of strikes with a reverse tornado kick to send her through a smoldering, crumbling remainder of an erect wall segment. That would just leave the third one, which was as simple as two shots to the head, so he casually whipped out his blaster as he turned in her direction to see to that. With that taken care of, Naija would be free to assist the rest of the squad however she needed to.
The vulpine had landed a couple of yards adjacent to Samus, who he noticed just after firing his last shots. He turned his head slightly in his resumed direction and passed an approving, friendly smirk her way. Though they had a few particularities and a loosely shared history in common, they weren’t so familiar as to be on a close friendship basis, but enough that he respected her and considered her an ever honored comrade. After the brief, implicit salutation, Fox quickly made off back into the fray to rejoin the others in their efforts.
WC: 344 As it turned out, Brigan was unfazed by the fire, for the great giant general burst from the collapsing castle, eyes flaming in rage. Hapu shook her head, before turning towards the others.
It was then that she discovered that their problems were only growing, for the Demon Lord himself, Odin, was arriving with his hellish murder of Valkyries. Hapu saw how swiftly Odin’s strikes upended Fox McCloud and Luigi. Like vultures, the Valkyries circled around and fell towards them, one of them wearing that red cap that Mario was so famous for. Hapu narrowed her eyes. This was a foul omen, but she had more pressing issues to take care of.
For instance, the Valkyries heading straight towards her. Three of them, to be exact. Hapu backpedaled and expanded Mudsdale’s Poké Ball. She saw James firing his weapon towards the Valkyries headed towards her. She gave James a quick nod, then calculated the time it would take to release her Pokémon.
“Mudsdale, now! Come out with a High Horsepower!” Hapu ordered, tossing the Poké Ball into the air. The capsule burst open, and Mudsdale began falling towards the Valkyries. The horse maneuvered slightly, its legs out ready to kick towards the leftmost Valkyrie’s gut. Mudsdale let out a furious whinny, glaring down at the Valkyries as it prepared to strike.
She turned back to James. “With all due respect, James, I would appreciate any further help in keeping these wights from destroying us, for Mudsdale is not exactly the most agile Pokémon on Alola,” she requested. She turned back towards the other Valkyries, and faked right, before diving out of the way in an attempt to dodge the screaming warriors.
The situation seemed quite bad, but Hapu took comfort in the fact that Oswald knew that the teams shared the goal of saving the world from this virus, or at the very least in defeating the infested Demon Lord. Hapu assessed the situation; Brigan may have been a coward and a sneak, but Gwendolyn’s commanding air effectively roped him into this unsteady alliance.
The three Valkyries who were chasing Naija @DracoLunaris were startled when she suddenly whirled on them to dart in the opposite direction. The three winged women crashed into each other and with snarls and hisses pushed each other away. They quickly flew after her, three black jet fighters chasing down…a flying fish.
Valkyrie Mario was too engrossed with seeing the look of dread on Luigi’s @Bright_Ops face when he noticed her hat that she hadn’t seen Naija swoop by and deliver a kick to the back of her head that sent her near flipping to the grassy turf. The red cap flew from the Valkyrie’s head and just feeling the cool air touch her black mane made the creature’s red eyes grow in disturbance. The hat was her trophy! Her lips rolled back, presenting her jagged teeth as she lunged for the red cap on a hiss.
Luigi met her in a leap that made whatever cold, corrupted heart in her chest jump. Her once sinister scowl twisted uncomfortably as she retracted her would-have-been-successful attempt to reclaim the cap to spin out from under Luigi and his hammer to the ground. The Valkyrie landed a few feet from the brother. She landed like a wild beast on her hands and what would have been armored boots with heels but was actually black beak-like feet. The wings at her hips splayed in a threat as she hissed at Luigi, the red Mario hat rested in the grass between them.
Nice hat. Tell me, were you just the lucky one out of the cowardly swarm to snatch it or did you scavenge it after your master did all the hard work like the diseased vulture that you are?!
The Valkyrie gripped the red psypher spear in her hand, her fingers curling about its shaft before she returned a venomous scream. The scream was shrill and no comprehensible or humane words had left her dripping mouth. She screeched like an enraged banshee before she sprung at Luigi, whipping the end of her psypher in an upwards arc up his middle.
Over yonder, Valkyries plunged into an unexpected smokescreen. They hovered in the screen, wings blowing the smog and herb ashes about until a fist appeared, burying into one of the creature’s stomachs. The Valkyrie folded over Slayer’s @Lugubrious fist as spittle erupted from her mouth on a noise that could only be pain and surprise. The second Valkyrie was in the process of turning her head to witness the ambush when the back of the vampire’s hand slammed against her neck. Her eyes went white having rolled back into her head. Poof! The Valkyrie burst into phozons as the first was slammed on the ground. When the vampire’s heel planted on her cheek, he’d find holding the creature down was like trying to hold a cat underwater. Her bottom was in the air as she remained on her knees with her face smashed beneath the earth and his foot. Her fingers curled like daggers as she clawed at his finely-pressed pants legs. The Valkyrie screamed ferociously and continued to do so in her vile incomprehensible language. Had it truly been a language or had it been the sound of anguish; rage; emotion? Pure dark emotion escaping her.
The rejuvenated vampire quickly disposed of her in time to give Fox @Etherean Fire the leverage he needed. Fox‘s kick sent the Valkyrie nearly flipping backwards if it hadn’t been for the grab that followed. The black Valkyrie burst into phozons seconds after Fox launched into the three remaining Valkyries that pursued Naija. Like a rocket, he sent the Valkyries spinning as scorched black feathers whirled about them. The first who had taken the brunt of the strike turned into phozons like the stepping stool had. Fox managed to drill the second one down to the ground and dispose of her on a plume of cinders before the third recovered and lashed out at the fox with a furious shriek. The Valkyrie caught two shots to the head and struck the ground in purple phozons.
When Fox thought the little bout was over and done with, a chaotic wormhole of a shadows blossomed behind him while he was distracted by Samus. The Shadow Knight stepped from the hole and regarded Fox in silence, mostly because he hadn’t seen a walking fox before…he knew about Pookas but those were bunnies. Could he have been a different type of Pooka?
He waited for the warrior to notice him before he gave his name curtly, “Oswald.” He then added, “If you are here to kill Odin, then we are allies.” He hadn’t recognized Fox as one of Team Two’s party members (because he wasn’t).
Meanwhile, a blue and white Valkyrie intercepted Naija @DracoLunaris. She was a young woman with her platinum hair braided into a bun on her head and decorated with blue feathers. She had swooped close enough to get a glance at the strange blue-skinned woman…and she wore Valkyrie armor! The princess flapped backwards with a powerful gust from her wings and directed her blue psypher at Naija.
“Who are you? How are you wearing the armor of my sisters?” Gwendolyn demanded.
Behind Gwendolyn, Naija would notice General Brigan glaring intensely at the Valkyrie Princess’s back.
If I just crush her, then the ring will be all that’s left in my hand, Brigan mused as his gargantuan hand made a swift reach for Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn felt the air shift violently behind her and turned an amethyst eye over her shoulder in growing surprise.
The black Valkyries that attacked James @Zarkun were vicious, but no matter how fast they thought they could evade his attacks, the guardian’s rapid-fire assault was beyond their celerity. The first Valk went down, bursting in phozons that the second burst through like harmless confetti. At the same time, slightly blinded by the bright purple lights of the phozon spirit fragments, the Valkyrie had missed her swing for the guardian, or she thought she had when her psypher’s damage had merely been absorbed by his unusual defense.
The Valkyrie peered down at her foot with a screech before James acrobatically flipped onto her back and buried his knife into her neck. The warrioress went down like a magic carpet, landing in the grass to explode into sparkles beneath the guardian’s feet.
The other Valkyrie duo, on the other hand, attempted to swoop in a disorganized pattern about Samus @Lmpkio. The bounty hunter and her methods for defying all laws with her compact armor caught the Valkyrie by surprise. She had only seen an orange orb whirling toward her before it immediately expanded into the form of an armored champion. The Valkyrie’s mouth opened in what would have been a snarl perhaps in protest to being grabbed by the throat, but it was never heard. The creature’s head was disintegrated in a blast from Samus’s cannon and body went up in phozons. The second Valkyrie descended on Samus from behind, hoping to use the bright dissolving spirit particles of her comrade as a distraction to get the drop on the bounty hunter.
As the guardian assisted Hapu @ToadRopes and Mudsdale, one of the Valkyries was caught off guard by the equine’s sudden emergence and caught two hooves to the face that sent the warrior flipping backwards into her dark partner. The two Valks crashed together. The third dodged around the gaggle and around the large horse Pokemon to dangerously go after Hapu. Wildly, she swung her spear, hoping to catch the trainer slipping or tripping in a struggle not to get mutilated. As James attempted to shoot at the Valkyries to distract them from Hapu, he would realize that their wings weren’t organic to their being. The wings were a part of the armor alone, and though they smoked and sizzled as the rounds singed their feathers, the attack only drew their attention to him.
The third Valkyrie continued to slash at Hapu, while one of the two others removed a mysterious vial from her inventory. The two Valkyries charged James much like the two before them had, but the first Valkyrie was covering the second, trying to allow her to get close enough to the guardian so that she could lob the vial at him. Whether the Valkyrie made it or died in her efforts, if the vial shattered on the ground, it would carry something disastrous.
Demon Lord Odin’s hand rose to his face, molding about the dark helm that hid it. He removed the shielding, presenting his dark mug. His once stark-white beard had shriveled and tumbled in clumps as though inflicted with disease from his chin and lips. He bore teeth that weren’t of man, black knives that parted on a sigh as every phozon that hovered the battlefield was sucked not into Balor, but into his throat. He inhaled all the phozons as they rushed down his esophagus, his venous neck as thick as the trunk of Yggdrasil. Once he consumed every phozon, his armor shifted as muscle expanded beneath it. Black flames rose about his body in a power that had just thickened palpably. It lingered on the battlefield like a sickness, making the air feel like oil. His hand returned to his face and his fingers parted about his blood-red eyes. His eyes gleamed a bright, vibrant yellow—a color Fox had seen before—and from his eyes fired a long, rapid-fire beam of fireballs. The fireballs rose and fell like a whip, lashing at the heroes while they were engrossed fighting his Valkyries. The Demon Lord did not seem to care for his servants’ existence for even if they were caught in the assault, then he would no offer no sympathy. When the barrage touched the ground, multiple domes of fire broke out across the grass like blisters, swelling and bursting to throw fire about the forest—and the heroes thought they were finished with fire. Birds fled by the thousand from the forest as the battle for Erion; for the entire world; began.
Injured Teammates: None.
Phozons Present for the Group: None.
Phozons stolen by Odin: 14
Total Phozons stolen by Odin: 28
Total Enemies: 9 (including bosses) Minions: 5 – Black Valkyries Location: 3 fighting Hapu/Mudsdale and James; 1 attacking Samus; 1 dueling Luigi Outlier: 1 - grounded in another map
Boss: Demon Lord Odin Location: Grounded
Boss: General Brigan Location: Behind Gwendolyn
Duel Boss: Valkyrie Mario Location: Fighting Luigi Challenged Hero: Luigi
Lost Teammate: Mario
This GM post reveals the results of team decisions/consequences.
XP Initiated!
Keep track of your word count XP. Overall XP will be awarded at the end of every battle. This does not include Battle XP. That will be totaled at the end of the mission and gifted out.
Naija 2
Fox 2
Luigi 3 (+5 from Napple) = 8 XP (you also got a Napple Seed for your inventory - used to lob at enemies)
James 2
Samus 2
Hapu 1
Slayer 3 (+5 from Napple) = 8 XP (you also got a Napple Seed for your inventory - used to lob at enemies)
Quina 0
Try to write your posts without quoting other characters. When I put people's posts in the word counter, I erase the quotes of other characters, and that seems to lower the word count depriving players of XP. So try to write without it. When XP isn't initiated, then using other character quotes doesn't matter.
Use your CSes to keep track of your XP points!
P.O.
If a player is inactive for more than 3 days, then the player can be skipped over on the 4th day.
Team One Order: Slayer, Quina
Team Two Order: Luigi, James, Samus, Hapu
Team Three Order: Naija, Fox
Be sure to re-read the scenario rules found here. Good luck!