Clive wasn't sure what happened after the fact, but after he heard the cry of a little girl calling for her ma' his legs burnt as he sprinted towards the tree some scary looking Halloween decorations were gathering, seemed they were apt to try to hurt the young girl.

They weren't gonna lay no stinking boney finger on the little lady, before he even thought about what he was doing or the danger he was putting himself in, he swung his shovel at the head of one of the skeletons with a loud crack, shattering it's skull.

He felt the force of something hitting him as one of the bag of bones swung a nasty looking sword haft at him but it oddly didn't kill him, he swung his fist at the thing then followed up with a hay-maker crunching the ribs of his attacker.

It was definitely a sight, seeing a man fighting monsters with his bare fists, a shovel and nothing but the clothes on his back. But he wasn't trying to impress nobody, he was trying to save a mother's child.

Fenna was just behind Clive, her mind racing as she moved to the nearest skeleton. Armed with a bow and daggers, how was she supposed to fight a living skeleton? There was nothing to stab or pierce to make it bleed out. How was it even alive? She ducked when one of them swung its sword at her and it stumbled as the speed of the sword pulled it off balance. She grabbed the ribcage, pulled the skeleton back as she put her leg forward to trip it and threw it on the ground. She stomped on the skull with her boot and shattered the bone.

One of the skeletons got close the tree and the girl screamed. Fenna ran to it from behind, thrust her dagger between the neck and skull, snapped off the skull and threw it at one of the other skeletons.
"It's okay," she said to the girl. "We'll get you out of here."

Her eyes moved over the scene to take it in. The swords these creatures wielded were larger than her daggers and that was a disadvantage, nor could she use her bow. She glanced up the tree again. Maybe...
"I'll shoot them from above," she announced as she sheathed her dagger and grabbed the tree to climb in. Maybe she'd see a good way out from above as well. If her work in the normal world had taught her anything it was that trees could be great allies.

James threw himself violently to the side to avoid the approaching blade, muttering curses all the way even as he prepared the same spell again. He had known the Armored Ogre was likely to react like this once it was blinded and wounded but even so, the sheer speed of his swing caught him off guard, and had it not attacked one of the guards first he wouldn't have been prepared to dodge. The only upside of this was that it was dealing more damage to the skeletons entering the blade's range before whatever they had for intelligence told them to wait.

Once the blade had missed his body by mere inches he started looking around, desperately searching for something that could give his little group an advantage in the fight, preferably one of the weirdos with the crystal in their hands (the irony was not lost to him) but they all were too busy to help. It was at that exact moment that James' vision found itself on the wall, specifically on the party swordsman who seemed to be dispatching any approaching skeleton with ease that nobody else seemed to have, all the while directing a suave smile to the blonde ranger at his side, he even seemed to laugh from time to time!

James' bemused face turned into an irritated (and perpetually angry) scowl as he felt his brow start trembling at the sight.

'Is that asshole seriously FLIRTING right now!?'

He felt his anger reach a rare level between 'murderous' and 'boiling', he gathered a deep breath and then roared.

"Zell! Stop fucking Flirting and help!"

There were many, many things he wanted to yell but he would keep those safe until the fight ended first he needed Zell to come down the... wall, wait, this was good, Zell was in a perfect position for an ambush from above, all they would have to do was lure the Armored Ogre close to the wall for Zell to go for a lethal strike, however before he could shout again a thought occurred to him that made him stop in his tracks, the Armored Ogre could understand his taunts enough to get angry so there was no guessing how smart it was, maybe shouting his plans to kill it was not a good idea, focusing once more on the swordsman he raised a fist in a common gesture Wait, then a pointed finger towards himself Me, then behind him Armored Ogre, the hand moved to the wall Lure towards, pointed at Zell directly You, one hand flat and the other mimiking a man jumping from it Jump, a hand pointing towards the Armored Ogre again and the other dagged across his throat Kill it. Waiting for any kind of affirmative he gave a nod in return then turned back towards his Guards.

Seeing one of their own die had really spooked them, they all stopped attacking and were focusing on keeping themselves alive, this was good any damage they could have done would have made the Ogre focus on killing them, he draw yet another breath before yelling at his (temporary) allies once more.

"Retreat we can't defeat it! To the wall, To the wall!"

His message was met with looks of despair and anger, which quickly turned to confusion once they saw the thumb-ups he was giving them before pointing to the left in a gesture for them to circle rather than going directly for the wall as he was, letting them follow him was just asking them to die to a stray swing from its sword (he pointedly didn't look in the fallen man's direction or rather what remained of him, nor did he acknowledge the waves of crushing guilt) and he couldn't allow that.

Message sent as best as he could he redirected his attention to the Armored Ogre again, he needed to lure it to the walls so Zell could take it down, he lashed out with the beam spell again as he continued to taunt the Armored Ogre while starting the small treck back to the wall.

"Hey asshole! It was me who blinded you! What? You are not going to do anything about it!? Attack damnit! Attack me!"

Now everything was in Zell's hands.

Zell double-checked over his shoulder and MacKensie's the length of wall he would have to suicide-plow through to reach the ladder and get down to ground level. It would not be easy and he certainly wouldn't be able to do it without the marksmen at his back.


"Zell!............ "!!!" ..........Stop fucking Flirting and help!"

Zell looked about incredulously for the recognizable voice of James and found him, seeing the fury on his face even from this distance. Then his robed, staff-wielding comrade started doing a whole bunch of hand gestures that had Zell wondering for a second if he was casting some kind of spell. Maybe there'd be a lightning bolt whizzing by his ear this time. But no, he was trying to communicate something. What though?

Zell's reflexes barely managed to save himself from a lunging skeleton and he fought off his assailant as he angrily shouted into the air. "I can't read sign language bro! What the fuck are you saying!?"

Zell was never the smartest person in the room. His wits were reserved for flashy talking at frat party full of drunks. It didn't occur to him that James maybe couldn't shout his plans across the battlefield if they were to be successful. But when he heard James commanding the soldiers to retreat to the wall and he looked, it finally dawned on him what James might have been trying to communicate.

"Change of plan, doll." He step forward away from MacKensie's back and kicked a skeleton to the floor before U-turning and flying past her. "We're gonna double-up on the stupidity."

Running and fighting was so scary but so cool at the same time. Zell even threw in a twirl here and there. To have such strength and skill. To be in such a dangerous situation where one wrong move would be the end of you. To fight to the death in the defence of innocent people. It was intoxicating. No winning any football cup final could even compare to this. Nothing in his world could.

His heart was threatening to burst from his chest as he swayed right to avoid an oncoming attack, letting the skeleton stumble past him into the path of MacKensie. He rushed into the flank of an enemy who was engaged with a townguard, driving his sword into the skeleton, pushing it up against the battlements while the townguard finished it off.


"Hey asshole! It was me who blinded you! What? You are not going to do anything about it!? Attack damnit! Attack me!"

Zell laughed at James' suicidal taunts. "He's as stupid as he is genius, that's for sure."

Closing in on the Armoured Ogre's position, he caught the sword-hand of a skelly and ran his blade through it's mouth, letting it fall dead while stealing it's sword for himself. Now dual-wielding he changed his swords to reverse grip, sprinted a couple of yards and without thinking just dove from the top of the wall.

High up. Directly above the the Ogre. Both hands raised with both swords pointing down and aiming for ogre skull. He hoped for the best.

As she and Zell rotated around in some kind of back-to-back dance, MacKensie was engrossed in seeing just how far she could push these new limits of hers. A battle against living nightmares was hardly the time for experimentation (especially with so many innocent lives on the line) but with the swordsman covering her back, she found she simply could not help herself.

First, after sheathing her dagger, she grabbed a fistful of bolts and attempted to rapid-fire six or seven bolts in a row, her free hand over her one-handed crossbow like some kind of gunslinger from a spaghetti western. She managed to drop three skeletons in the blink of an eye, but the speed she'd tried to push it to made her fumble and drop the rest of the bolts. "Zut!" she swore, deciding against picking them up and going back to firing regularly again, which was fast enough considering she needed to reload after every shot.

She was considering tossing a bolt into the air and trying to catch it in the firing mechanism of her crossbow, when Zell spoke up and they rotated again. Cover him? Oh dear, what was this idiot about to do now?

"I imagine you specialize in stupidity but I'd rather not die again, so whatever you are going to do it, do it well."

From her position, she was able to take in the whole battlefield in all it's metal and chaos; The Beserker Ogre that Arthur seemed to be dealing with handily - impressive but not super surprising on account of everyone's powers and the fact that Arthur's body and his weapon was almost as gargantuan as the ogre's. Adam was... Adam was...! Was that really him controlling those plants!? Wow, she thought. Considering how numerous and available plant life is, and the strength of their roots, he might be the most powerful of all of us before long. And then she saw James who was surprisingly looking right back, and he was none too pleased.


"Zell! Stop fucking Flirting and help!"

"Sacre bleu, this is the impression?" MacKensie said annoyed, pinging two more headshots. She looked back down to James again, her sharp eyes following his hand signals. She blinked twice dumbly. "He cannot be serious."

This was about to get crazy. She quickly placed bolts in the spaces between her fingers on both hands, then drew dagger. She was ready for whatever came next. As Zell flew past her, she jumped onto the battlements and skipped smartly along at pace, letting off shots and thinning the crowd ahead. As Zell let the skeleton stumble past him, MacKensie pounced on it, sinking her dagger into skull before running past the swordsman and firing a barrage of bolts to somewhat clear the path.

"Be careful James!" she shouted down to the man as he taunted the Armoured Ogre.

When Zell jumped off the wall, MacKensie almost went with him, pulling herself back the edge. More skeletons closed in. She jumped backwards to avoid an overhand strike, reloaded in a flash and fired close range into the back of the skeleton's skull. A townguard rushed in to reinforce her and together they quickly took down three more skeletons. Pressure on the wall appeared to be easing off.

Arthur didn't have time to admire his newfound strength as he could feel it start to fade rapidly. He quickly doged out of the way of the first swing, then dived out of the way for the next causing it to take out three skeletons who Arthur hadn't seen approaching from behind. He watched as the oger continued it's assulte without a care as to if it hit it's allies. 'Well a bit of a hot head huh. Let's see if I can use that.' He dived out of the way of yet another strike that could probably of pasted him and rolled to his feet. "And here I couldn't think you could get worse!" He yelled at the rampaging oger as he barely ducked under another swing. "Not only are you stupid and ugly but you couldn't hit a target if it was standing still." He taunted the beast as he tried to move towards the thickest batches of skeletons.

With every strike he doged the big guy took out more of his own side but Arthur couldn't get in close enough to strike him with how wildly the oger was swinging. "Lets hope my aim holds up." He mummbled to himself as he jumped out of the way of a swing he knew would've flatten him. He pulled out a harpoon a launched it towards the ogers gut, unfortunately this led to him not quite dodging the coming blow. He was lucky enough to move away enough for it to only be a glancing blow. That was still enough to send him a few feet, and through a few skeletons, before he skidded to a stop. As he slowly tried to stand he thought. 'I wonder how the others are doing.'

The Skeleton Leader looked left and right as the two large roots closed in around him, then hacked away. Just before they could encircle it, the large sword of the undead creature chipped enough away that one root snapped with a crack, giving the skeleton enough room to step out of the crab-claw formation and give one final power swing of it's sword down to cut through the second root and destroy it.

But the third root, it did not see coming.

The skeleton leader was slammed to the ground, it's mouth opening wide to hiss in pain as it's body broke under the sheer force of nature. The root's weight shook as it pressed the bones and metal into the ground before the skeleton's body caved in and broke the Leader completely apart, the plate armour and ribcage inside coming apart also.

On the floor, amidst the bone and metal, something was there. Some kind of cube of metal.


A powerful purple light burst forth from all six sides of the cube, beams bright enough for everyone in the battle to see. When the skeletons saw this, they faltered for a moment, then started running for the gate.



Thanks to Arthur's taunts, The Beserker Ogre had worked itself up into such a rage, that it could no longer fight effectively. Not only had it killed more skeletons than defenders in it's latest flurry of blows, but it failed to defend itself against the harpoon attack.

Arthur's harpoon, it's point blessed with Undaya the Sea God's powerful magic, landed squarely on the ogre and lodged into the great brute's gut. The Beserker Ogre didn't even register the damage at first, but then it exploded with water elemental splash damage, the power of which tore open the massive creature's stomach and sent it reeling back with arms flailing.

The explosion of water blew away any nearby skeletons that the Ogre hadn't already smashed, but the true damage was quite clearly the Ogre. It staggered to the side as it tried to remain standing. It's guts and intestines were hanging halfway down it's stomach. Blood was dripping in large amounts onto the floor under it.

With a roar, it summoned the last of it's strength for one final charge against Arthur.



When the blindness began to wear off, the Armoured Ogre looked around with one eye closed and one massive arm shielding it's gaze from further attacks. It killed another townsguard with a precise swing as they retreated to the wall.

When it saw James and another light beam came it's way, it managed turn it's head away and block the beam with it's arm, but it heard the taunts of the man and understood them well enough to be angry. It snarled as the man retreated with the rest of the townsguard, then charged after him.

But it was careful and cautious, not wanting to be blinded again, so when it got James, it began methodically moving toward him. It's massive fist fidgetted around the handle of it's huge sword as it closed in, snarling, and it watched for any counter attack from the men around. One twitch from the few defenders nearby, one slight movement from James, it would strike.

It was not watching for attacks from above.

Zell's blades landed not in ogre skull but deep into meat where neck meets shoulder. The Armoured ogre roared in agony. It twisted and shook, trying to dislodge the attacker on it's back, then started charging, swing it's sword wildly. First it tried to bulldoze James, hoping to swat the unarmoured man and kill him in one swing, but it didn't stop running and swinging, and ended up charging all the way to middle of the battlefield, in front of the eastern gate.

It's sword swings were so wild and wide-arcing that the blade managed to reach around it's back. When it came to a sudden halt, it bucked, and if Zell was still on it's back, then this would surely throw him off. It saw that it's Ogre brother was on it's last legs and the skeletons were started to flee.



Once Fenna got up in the tree, Selica reached out and held the ranger for comfort and balance. "I want my mommy," she balled, crying into Fenna's cloak.

One of the skeletons climbed up the tree trunk. It got quickly within reach of the woman and girl, and just as it was about to swing...

With a loud and long screech, a falcon suddenly swooped in out of nowhere and attacked the climbing skeleton with it's talons, messing it up enough that the skeleton fell back down onto the grass. For a second, the falcon stared at Fenna, it's intelligent eyes on the woman for long enough that it almost seemed like it recognized her personally. Then with a screech it flew off into the sky and away from town.

When the purple light beams blasted out for all to see, the skeletons suddenly wavered. For a moment they looked like they were malfunctioning. Those who were met with the resistance of Fenna and Clive, looked behind them and up at the light beams above the houses, then, after a moment they started fleeing.



As the remaining skeletons fled, a shadow fell upon a large group of them, just outside town gate.

Hurtling from the sky, another stone sarcophagus rocketed down to the ground. Before any skeleton could move, it crashed on top of the them with devastating impact. After a moment, the lid of the sarcophagus popped open and the man inside awoke, skeletons fleeing all around him.



Vadim watched the events on the battlefield and gained a second wind. Only the ogres had any fighting spirit left and he shot out commands to adjust to the situation. "Cut down the monsters, chase them out!" he ordered one group. And to another group; "You, help with the ogres!"

Seeing that Arthur was in trouble, he was about to run to the man's aid, but his attention was drawn by the charging Armoured Ogre.

He had no time to move out of the way and tried to block a vicious swing. Block it he did, but the mighty sword of the ogre swung right through it, breaking Vadim's sword and striking him off his feet.

Vadim hit the floor, armour torn. The cut was deep and he'd broken many bones.

"Commander!"

A few men ran to him and fell to his side. They went pale with worry when the saw the wound. Their commander was quickly bleeding to death.

The Armoured Ogre did not finish the job. Instead it went to stand with the Beserker Ogre who was also bleeding profusely. Both ogres stood roared one last battle cry before they lashed out and attacked. The Beserker charged at Arthur, hoping for some revenge, it's charge slowed by it's mangled leg and grievious open gash across the belly. It was uncanny that it was still standing, let alone charging.

The Armoured Ogre's gaze locked onto Adam, who happened to be the closest man to him, and rushed the druid with a series of strikes.

The fight was not yet over.

He missed!

But not completely, thank fuck.

Zell felt both blades sink deep into the ogre. One would think it'd be enough to bring it down. At least to it's knees. Instead Zell was left to play 'Ride the Bucking Bronco' for the time being.

"W-woaahhh! Oh shiiyyyiiiyyyiiiyyyiit!" Zell yelled out as he swung this way and that from the hilts of the swords, trying but failing miserably to get his feet planted on the back of the Armoured Ogre and gain some stability. In his dynamic positioning, he caught a glimpse of James and realised the ogre was running toward his new friend. "James watch out!"

He didn't even get a chance to see if the man was dead or dodged as the Armoured Ogre stomped it's way across the battlefield while Zell hung on for dear life. When he finally got a single foothold on it's back, the massive sword came arcing around and Zell was forced to swing out of the way. The constant bounce of the rampaging ogre didn't stop but the frat-boy-turned-swordsman gained his footing once more - this time with two feet firmly planted on the ogre's back.

Zell yanked his own sword free of the ogre's flesh, leaving the other in there so he could hold on. The ogre's masive sword came around again, this time from the other side, and Zell managed to parry away what would have been instant death. With one hand he pulled himself higher up the ogre's back to see what was going on - and what that purple light show was - and (unfortunately) the ogre chose that time to come to a sudden halt, sending Zell flying overhead.

"Waaaaah!"

The sheer velocity of his flight knocked over two fleeing skeletons like bowling pins and then he smashed, upside down, into the wooden beams of the eastern gateway, smacking his head against solid wood. As he struggled to get to one knee, his vision blurred and swayed, but his attention was captured by the sound of another stone coffin hitting the ground just outside the town gates. He smirked as he realised that it'd just splattered a bunch of skellies when it landed, then he struggled the rest of the way to his feet.

"Oh nice, we've got reinforcements," he commented to no one in particular. He looked over at the ogres, then took a step towards them before pausing due to a really bad dizzy spell.

Two seconds. Three seconds. Four. Five...

"Alright... I'm okay," he said to himself.

Then he took another step and fell unconcious. Flat on his face.

Adam watched as his plan succeeded; not only did the larger skeleton have to spend its time fighting his vines, it actually got crushed by one of them! Fantastic, he thought, but as he saw the fancy cube appear within the remains of his opponent, the man's happiness turned to wary curiosity. Is this a trap? Maybe I should-

The nature manipulator was interrupted by a flash of purple light which seemed to be scaring off the skeletons. Something that helped his side could be trusted for now, right? Maybe it could even stop the ogres. Adam examined the object, looking for clues, but got exactly nowhere with his search. And with his allies fighting as the seconds passed, the man knew he couldn't sit on the sidelines forever, so he hid the cube in his pocket. Maybe this interesting item could help later, but for now, whatever function it served would have to wait.

Adam wanted to help, but what was the best way of doing so? It wasn't an answer, but seemingly in response he did hear the roar of pain coming from the armored ogre. The plant controller wasn't sure how someone - the guy's name was Zell, right? - got on its shoulder, but Adam hoped the guy would be okay after the swordsman got removed from the brute's body. Another noise commanded the man's attention immediately after this; the sound of another coffin crashing beyond what was left of the walls. Since he lacked x-ray vision, Adam had no way of knowing what was inside it, but he guessed it was someone like himself and everyone else who showed up in this strange world today.

Can't think about the coffin. I need to be sure everyone's okay first.

But no, everyone was not okay. In fact, the ogre had just struck the "commander" to near-death. Not good, even if this so-called authority figure wasn't his favorite person. The man had no clue what to do, but seeing as the ogre was charging at him, he'd have to do something!

Adam was able to dodge the creature's first attack, but the second one struck successfully, sending him flying a ways back. Being hit by a creature more than twice his size was something the man had never experienced, and with any luck, he'd never have to do so again. It was painful. But upon reflection, it could've been much worse. It didn't feel like anything was broken and the nature magic user could breathe normally. Was this the "hocus pocus" James had talked about earlier? He'd have to thank him later.

The ogre was charging at him again though. This time, Adam would need a plan, and fortunately for him he had one. The man waited for the monster to get closer, them timed his magic so a large group of vines rose from the ground right as the ogre was on top of it. Ideally, this would trap the enemy in a group of powerful plants. If so, Adam would focus on using the vines to crush the ogre like a snake would its next meal, particularly around the creature's neck.

Whatever happened, Adam hoped everyone else was alright.

@xenon

Joji Yamazaki

Joji didn’t know where he was or what happened. The last thing he remembered was having dinner alone and then suddenly darkness. The only possibility he could think of was he had been popped by some other hitman. At first, he was in heaven or some sort of purgatory. But judging from his surrounding he assumed he was in hell. Turning his head around wondering where he was. His surrounding looked like something out of an 80s RPG. Noticing the gear he was wearing as well as the katana at his side. He was glad he still had his bracelet. Stumbling out of the large sarcophagus, falling flat onto his face before standing beside the coffin.

Slowly pulling out the katana from the saya. Having a feeling that he would need to defend himself. Fighting the skeletons would be no different than fighting a random street thug. Or so he thought. From the sight of things, With these monsters attacking the humans, it looked like they would need some assistance. Perhaps one of them knew what the hell was going on.

The tough looking man started running towards the fleeing skeleton. Quickly caught up to them and started slicing the few slow ones into pieces. Turning his attention toward the large ogres that were attacking the other humans. Making his way toward them at breakneck speed. Yelling as loud as he could. Using his speed to try and attack the ogre. Swinging his sword towards the torso of the ogre's body.

There was no time to see if Zell and James were okay. She had to keep fighting. But she couldn't help but glimpse down at the battlefield as she reloaded between shots. The swordsman and wizard's antics were beyond dumb. Ridiculous. But she couldn't deny their bravery. Those two. All of the group, in fact. They'd all been whisked away from their own world, through death or other means, and now they were stuck in a horror show. But they were dealing with it. Forging forward without looking back.

Qui n’avance pas, recule: The words of warriors. Of visionaries. Of heroes. In this world, the last world or the next.

The fighting atop the wall became easier as she supported the townguards who had turned the momentum against the skeletons and were now applying their own pressure. Her body responded automatically. In her mind, she was feeling a sense of kinship to those like her - the ones who came from the coffins. Even the buffoon, Zell, she counted among them. Something instinctual told her that they should all stay together, no matter what happens. That the bonds they were forging should not be broken, if they were to get through this ordeal.

Stick together. Adam had told them all this very thing, before the fighting had begun. Funny how the youngest of them had immediately pried out this jewel of wisdom from the chaos. James was already strategizing combat plans in real time, out thinking the enemy to become proactive instead of reactive. Arthur was weilding such strength that he could single-handedly hold off a monster. All of their group had strengths that they contributed. But what was her own strength? Perhaps she would find out in due time. Now was simply not the time for doubts or misgivings. Not the time to mourn the friends and family that was lost to her.

Let's just get through this and I'll have a cry about it later, she thought to herself as she jumped for a good angle and shot a skeleton over the shoulder of a townguard. The defender looked back at her and gave a thumbs up in gratitude. She nodded briskly with a 'hmph' and reloaded for another.

When the purple beams shot out in all directions, everyone on the wall paused to see it. Even the skeletons stopped to take notice. And then the undead creatures started fleeing - clambering over the battlements to get out of the settlement or running away, along the wall to the town gate. This made the townguard surge with triumphant roars and a new breath of life as they cut down the raiders. Mackensie took the breather to look out onto the battlefield and see that the ogres were still fighting back. Time to support.

MacKensie ran and fell from the wall, nosediving towards the ground and flipping at the last second to land in a three-point stance. From there she burst into a sprint towards the action. She came upon the Armoured Ogre who'd just struck Adam...

"Adam, no!"

...but he appeared to be fine. A little shaken and pained, but hale and ready to fight back. As the vines started to come up out of the ground, MacKensie took the opportunity to attack herself, skidding to halt next to her plant-wielding comrade, and firing off a barrage of shots, aimed at the Armoured Ogres eyes.

"Fucking hell- Is that a light show?!"

"James watch out!"

Fun fact, getting hit by a giant armored and insanely strong humanoid creature is extremely painful. Okay maybe it's not a fun fact perse but it is something that he was now intimately aware of and he was thankful for the opportunity to obtain such obscure knowledge. Maybe the next time he saw his cousins he could brag of the fact, be all tough and say with a straight face 'Hey you know that once I was punted by an ogre and almost become half the man I used to be? Real story that one, only survived thanks to a teammate, his shout made me block with my staff in time' Oh man he bet their faces would be amusing but his mother would likely be upset that he got into a fight again and he promised that he wouldn't-

Slowly and groggily he got to his feet and shook his head from side to side, okay that was enough rambling, damn he hated getting a concussion, whenever it happened it made his mind go to really strange places. Refocusing he took on the battlefield again and then let out a curse, things were quickly turning even more chaotic, the skeletons were fleeing, the ogres were rampaging again, and there was a suspicious lack of presence from Zell and the town's guard commander.

Okay first one of the Ogres needed to go and the Armored one had wisened up to his spell after the second use so that left the Berserker one which seemed to be making a beeline for Arthur, it looked in its last legs but way no skewer things in Arthur's favor? Casting the spell one more time he proceeded to aim and fire at the Berserker Ogre, but he didn't bother looking if it hit, trusting that Arthur could manage on his own like before. What he needed was to locate Zell, guy was on top of the Armored Ogre the last time he saw him and unless he managed to climb down he must have taken a big fall, aaaand there! face first into the dirt was the unconscious swordsman, he had the luck of the devil seeing how no skeleton had tried to get a quick swing at his slumped form while fleeing.

Once he reached the fallen fighter (and swung his staff at a few skeletons) he tried and failed to sling the taller man over his shoulder, fuck the guy was heavy and all the equipment only made things worse so he settled on awkwardly hugging him below the armpits and dragging him towards the defense perimeter where a few guards were nervously defending something.

"Hey I need help!"

The guards looked at each other but refused to move, their backs turned to where another seemed to be doing... something to someone laying on the dirt. With a start, he realized that the guy bleeding in the dirt was the leader of the guards, and the guy above him was likely a field medic doing first aid or whatever equivalent they had here.

"That guy is your leader right?" They seemed to tense even more at that "Relax I don't want to hurt him, I can even help him in fact but I can't let my friend here where a skeleton could hurt him"

A few more glances were shared among them before one hesitantly broke formation and grabbed Zell's legs to help carry him.

"Thank you, now let's see"

He looked inside of himself, to the same corner of his mind where the Light Beam spell resided but rather than taking it for a spin again he directed his attention to the other spell on his mind, Increased healing speed only worked on treated injuries but the medic had made a halfway decent job at turning the commander into a mummy. Focusing he started to chant before emitting a soft light from his hands which seemed to be absorbed by the bandages.

"There, I can't guarantee he will survive but he is more likely to pull through, now can someone help me wake up that idiot over there" Saying so he pointed at Zell, he had no idea how to wake the other man but with some luck someone else would.

“I know, honey,” Fenna soothed the girl. “We will go to her as soon as we can.” When she noticed the skeleton climing the tree she pulled her dagger and tensed the muscles in her leg to give a good kick, when suddenly a falcon swooped in and attacked the skeleton. She locked eyes with the falcon feeling a sense of familiarity as the moment seemed to last an eternity. As the falcon flew away, Fenna turned her attention back to the child. "It's okay, we'll go down once it's safe."

She pulled the child closer when the purple beams emitted from, whatever it was. Selica asked with a high-pitched voice what that was and Fenna couldn't explain it. Much to her delight, it seemed to frighten the skeletons.
"I don't know what it was, but it's getting rid of the monsters. Can you climb?" When the child nodded, Fenna put her foot on a lower branch. "I'll climb down first, you'll follow me."

Selica gasped and pointed, Fenna turned her head just in time to see another sarcophagus fall. "That's okay honey, there are no monsters in those." It looked like the one she and the others had arrived in, she was fairly confident she wasn't lying to the child.

Once they stood on the soil once more, it was evident the skeletons didn't pay any attention to them. "I'll take her to her mother," she told the two that were with her and she grabbed Selica's hand. "Quick, we can catch up with your mother."
The child ran as fast as she could and Fenna made sure to match her speed. When they reached the gate, only two people were still in the village: Segreant Harold and Selica's mother.

As soon as the girl laid eyes on her mother she let go and ran towards her.
"Thank you," the mother said as she picked up the girl. "I don't know how to repay you."
"Just leave," Fenna urged. "It's not over yet."
She turned around and headed back into the village to see where she could be of assistance.

Arthur struggled to his feet and leaning heavily on his anchor as he did. He shook his head as the rushing of water and the smell of salt came once again, only this time there was also a burning sensation across his back that came with it. "That fuking sucked." He watched as the oger clumsily charged towards him, it's guts tailing behind. "Well looks like I gave as good as I got. Lets finish this." He said as he gripped his weapon with both hands and sprung forward. He meet the oger's charge with one of his own a primal roar broke from him as his face split into a feral grin.

Arthur had been in a few fights back home and he couldn't lie, there was a certain rush that came with it, something savage, primal, and wild, but this was different. It was as if every cell in his body was buzzing with excitement and he felt more alive now running head first into the waiting jaws of a creature much larger than himself. It was with this feeling that he surged towards the oger with reackless abandon and simple planned to hit it before it could hit him. Unnoticed by him the symbols carved into his anchor started to glow softly blue and frost grew rapidly and covered his weapon and even creeping on to his hands and partially up his forarms. As he got within range he swung aiming for the gapping wound in it's gut.

The vines curling up and around the Armoured Ogre took hold, first around one leg, forcing it to halt. Ordinarily the great monster would have enough strength to quickly power out, but it was starting to feel the effects of the sword buried deep in it's shoulder and lung, aswell as the multitude of stab wounds on it's legs courtesy of the townsguard. Then it's second leg was ensnared.

MacKensie's bolts landed next, and the relatively stationary target was easy pickings for the ranger. Bolts thudding in and around the ogres eyes caused it to roar in pain.

The townsguard who'd found themselves under direct command of James earlier had actually chased the Armoured Ogre the whole way across the field, and at this point caught up to the raging beast. They charged in with spears and shouts, driving their weapons into their target. One spear snapped the clasp of the ogres iron chestplate - Zell's sword having severed another - causing the chestplate to fall away and reveal a previous injury on the monster. On it's breast was a horrid mess of scar tissue, an 'X marks the spot' for it's heart, if ever there was one.

Adam's vines crushed it's arms by it's sides as the not-so Armoured Ogre's strength began to fail. More vines cut off it's air supply via strangulation. MacKensie's bolts had blinded it permanently. It was then Joji Yamazaki arrived with such speed, his sword attack landing with such momentum, that the former-hitman's blade sliced right into the scar tissue and pierced the heart of the monster.

The Armoured Ogre was no more. Only held up by the vines that secured it's fate.



On a mangled leg and with it's entrails dangling out of it's body, the Beserker Ogre was simply not fast enough to win the collision with Arthur. It swung it's club at Arthur's head, once in range, but just before it could cave in the Reaver's skull, the ogre's hand let go of it's weapon. The club spun in the air, over Arthur's head, from the momentum. The reason for this was that the anchor's curved spike, covered in frost, hit the Beserker Ogre right in the gut, tearing through it's already open wound and burying itself inside the monster.

The Beserker Ogre stumbled a few more steps as ice began to spread rapidly around the gaping wound, covering a sizable section of it's torso. Anchor still inside the monster, it fell to the ground dead.



James' swift intervention had indeed saved Vadim's life. The Cleric's magic was applied just in the nick of time to slow the blood flow to a stop and the Commander was no longer bleeding out. Though it would be hard to tell with how pale the man was, not to mention the red-soaked bandages that dressed him. The townsguard were still skeptical of their leader's recovery, but one did go over to Zell to check him over.

"He doesn't appear to have any serious injuries," the guardsman told James loudly over the roars of the ogres. "Just a nasty bump on the back of his head." He gave Zell a couple of stiff slaps across the face. "Wake up, adventurer. The battle isn't yet done."



By the time that Fenna and Clive returned to the others, the battle was over and the rest of the skeletons had been chased out of the town. Hommas was safe once again. Vadim was barely conscious but weakly ordered one of his men to help him sit up. "You..." he said, looking at Adam. "Druid... come here."

One of his men echoed the command louder at Adam and beckoned him over.

Vadim still wasn't sure himself that he'd live, and so he pointed at the other adventurers and waved them over before addressing Adam. "That thing you picked up... the heart of the Skeleton Leader..." he wasn't even sure what it was. "The purple light that came from it... caused... the other skeletons to flee..."

The Commander coughed weakly. "Commander, please, rest."

"Quiet... you nitwit..." even in this state, the leader of Hommas could still be obnoxious. "That thing is important... It could... change the war... Please... it must be taken... delivered to the right hands. The entirety... of the free peoples of The Empire... of Mytheria... might rest on the knowledge that that thing might hold."

He gave a command for a soldier to retrieve 1000 silver pieces from the town treasury. This was, perhaps, half the town's wealth and an exorbitant amount, but he had to be sure that the adventurers would be persuaded to do one final task. A task more important than any he'd commissioned in his life.

"We are losing this war... The Witch Queen's Undead Armies have crippled our armies... we haven't won a single battle as of yet... and our dead join her ranks as undead... if nothing changes... she will destroy all life in our world... we cannot win... unless something changes." Slowly but surely, the increased healing speed was taking more of an effect. While he still could not sit up without help, his breathing and speech started to improve. "I don't know how you came to be here... Stone coffins do not simply fall from the sky. That is out of the oridnary, even for your kind. But I am a man of action and so... I hold others to the standards of theirs... and you helped us, at a moments notice, without a second thought. At first I thought that; Perhaps the Quinity had blessed our humble little town with your arrival. But now I see clearly... that the Quinity blessed the world." His pointed finger turned on each of them. "You were destined to be here... To earn a victory where The Witch Queen least expected there to be resistance... arriving so instantly that her scouts could not have calculated such push-back... and now we have this thing... this cube... a key to the secrets that might save us."

The guard came sprinting back, huffing and puffing, carrying the satchel full of jangling coins. Much of the 1000 silver was actually made up of more valuable gold pieces, making it easier to carry.

"1000 silver pieces... It's all yours... just please... take that cube - that thing - to the city of Valhiem. North of here... two days travel if you head off the road and into the wild. I trust in your ability to defend it, should the Witch Queen's forces give chase. But you must be swift. You must leave now. There is no time to spare. Our mages and scientists must see that cube. It must reach Capitol City."

"Adam, no!"

As Adam heard that, a part of him wasn't surprised that MacKensie was the first person to react to him being struck like that. He didn't really any of these people, but so far she seemed like the nicest one there, and the man admired her aim with those arrows at that particular moment. "Thank you," he said with a smile, appreciative despite his current pain. Maybe after the battle he could talk to her more and- not now, focus, Adam…

The townsguards were giving it their all, helping to strike and remove the ogre's armor, and the vines seemed to be serving their intended purpose. The final attack from who Adam guessed was the guy in the newest coffin to arrive was an impressive way to end the fight. It was a violent battle, especially towards the end, but the man was happy it was all over.

The nature magic user wanted to talk to the others who arrived here like he did to be sure they were alright, but Vadim seemed to have other plans.

"You… Druid... come here."

Adam had heard him fine, but didn't know that he meant him until a guardsman had directed him to do so more loudly. A "Druid" - is that what he was now in this new world? Something to think about later, the man supposed. At least the "commander" was okay enough.

"That thing you picked up... the heart of the Skeleton Leader..." he wasn't even sure what it was. "The purple light that came from it... caused... the other skeletons to flee…"

A heart? It's made of metal, but then again I can't really make assumptions about a place I've been in for maybe an hour. Adam just barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the last sentence. I was there, yes. An understatement, considering his role in getting the object, but it wasn't like anyone could read his mind to point it out to him.

The stuff about a war, a Witch Queen and something called a "Quinity" was definitely new information though. This "commander" did not impress Adam in the slightest, but at least now he seemed to be serious instead of threatening random people for no reason, so that made the nature manipulator believe him. An honest fool was still honest, he supposed. And the stuff about the undead and destroying the world? That made Adam think about his brother and the fantasy games he'd like to play. His brother that, for all he knew, he'd never see again. A miserable thought, just like the one of countless families in this world losing who they cared about because of this Witch Queen.

And that was why when the "commander" offered 1,000 silver pieces to get the cube to Valheim, the Druid knew his answer already.

"I can't speak for everyone else, but I'll do it. There's too much at stake to do anything else. But I want to be sure everyone's okay first." Saying this, Adam glanced at his fellow crystal bearers. A few looked like they could perhaps need some rest, so leaving now might not be realistic, even if they all agreed to this mission. Again though, the man wouldn't speak for anyone else. "And we'll need supplies. A map, compass, food, water, that sort of thing so we don't get lost or die." Adam had a feeling this wouldn't be as simple as getting in the car and driving to the grocery store, so he wanted to be prepared. A two day's hike right after a huge battle (one that he could still feel the pain from) was not something to be taken lightly.

Fenna had joined the fallen commander, but it looked like the fighting was over. She stayed silent when he called over the druid and listened to his words, even though they weren't directed at her. The skeleton's heart? Was that what had emitted the purple beams?

She frowned as the commander explained about the war. She had to agree with him, stone coffins indeed didn't simply fall from the sky in normal situations and how they had gotten here was a mystery to her as well.

An army of the undead was unlikely to be the good guys, especially since they attacked a village like this. They would have killed that girl if they hadn't intervened. Fenna cast her eyes to the ground as she thought about it. War was something she only read about or saw on the news, never had she experienced fear or death as closely as now. And having to see your fallen comrades be resurrected and fight against you, that had to be awful. Fenna wasn't sure how she felt about being destined to do something in this strange world, it all sounded very important and there wasn't much reason to believe she could make a difference, but these villagers seemed even less capable of doing so.

She nodded to Adam when he said he'd do it. "I'm in," she said. "I understand there is haste, but I agree that if we're going to travel for two days on foot we'll need to have some supplies with us, food and water at the very least. And a small rest for the injured." She glanced at the satchel the guard carried, 1000 silver? They'd have to split that, the satchel seemed rather heavy and would definitely hinder if they were going off-road.

Clive dusted the bone powder from his overalls, clapped his hands together as he stood by Fenna. After they'd helped the young lass he had kept a tight lip, something about knocking those glorified halloween decorations was irking him something fierce; like how he'd dusted them with his bare knuckles and they didn't even hurt.

"No good man can accept money from a man in yer' condition there capt'n." when offered a sum of coin the cowpoke declined, he was just helping cause he felt it was what any decent man would do.

"Give my share back to whatever the people here need, they seem like decent folk. Like the people back where I'm from, they need this more than me." Clive wasn't selfish but also he didn't know what in the heck kinda money these people used but it definitely weren't paper like they used back home.

Clive didn't know what or where he was so when the idea of figuring out what all this nonsense was definitely made sense to him. But he wasn't no hero, he was just a farmer. Everyone else had some weird sorta fantasy stuff going on for them but Clive? He just seemed to not break his knuckles beating up skeletons which was odd but he was gonna just be ignorant to that for now.

It felt to Vadim like his prayers were being answered when the first two adventurers spoke up. He nodded at their words, then looked at one of a soldier named Lewis and gave him the nod of approval to fetch the things that Adam and Fenna were asking for. Lewis had taken soldiers with him to prepare bedrolls and provisions for each adventurer. They made sure to include a compass and a map for Adam.

"You are a noble man," Vadim said to Clive in response to his words. "If there are more like you, where you are from, then those people are fortunate indeed." Vadim felt, when he looked in the eyes of Clive, that this was truly an honest-eyed and simple farm man - just as he had said - and Vadim could relate to a man like that. Perhaps if they'd had more time, he would've come to like him, just as he'd come to respect him now. "But I insist on your reward," he continued assertively. "My people will take refuge in Bridgeton where we will shore up the defenses and weather the storm with strength in numbers. If this silver will help save the world, then it is silver that could not be better off anywhere else but in possession of your party."

When the soldier handed over the adventurers' reward, he chose to hand it over to the closest one to him that had a backpack - MacKensie. Once she put it away in her backpack, she would feel it's weight and bulk magically minimize. This was just one of many gifts from the power of Source Crystal in each adventurers hand - a power that connected them to the very Wellsprings of Existence, where even the laws of time and space were created.

All of the adventurers would be able to carry a considerable amount in their belt satchels and backpacks, weight and bulk minimized in a similar way. There was though, a limit to this power, in it's raw base level. But such enchantments and magic had been researched and developed over the centuries to create expensive Magical Haversacks that a person - adventurer or not - could wear to enjoy seemingly limitless carry weight, provided they had a considerable amount of wealth to purchase one.

The man with the samurai sword appeared in sight within a flash. Literally. The light of the sun bounced off his sword into MacKensie's eyes before she had even seen him properly, then after that the ogre was dead and he was just... there. Yet another display of remarkable powers.

She mentally dispeled the shock of this and aimed her one-handed crossbow sharply left and right around the battlefield, looking for enemy targets. What she saw was townguards chasing skeletons out of the gate and out of sight, and the Beserker Ogre falling into the dirt, inpart covered with ice and hoarfrost. She put her away her crossbow, clipping it onto her belt at the small of her back. It was over.

"We did it," she said exuberantly, almost bouncing in excitement, beaming a smile at Adam with a hand on his shoulder. She walked forward, sharing a smile and a handshake with a townguard. Then she clasped forearms and a pat on the shoulder with another.

"Thank you, Ranger," said one of them.

"And you, sir," she replied. She wasn't sure why he called her 'Ranger' but... "I'm glad we could help."

Eventually she got to the man with the samurai sword. MacKensie could tell by his clothes that he was one of them. He stood out a mile away. "I'm MacKensie Trydant," she said, offering her hand to shake. "Thanks for the assist."

When she saw the American man and the Dutch woman who had gone off in the other direction before the battle, MacKensie was overjoyed. She realised that they must have been helping the evacuation and she was glad that they were back. She went over to them, wanting to offer handshakes and goodwill, also to ask if everyone got out safely, but she fell into silence when she saw the Commander. He looked on the edge of death.

She stood in audience as the town's leader called everyone over and explained the situation. Of course, this only brought more questions - she didn't realise Adam had picked up an artifact from the Skeleton Leader - but the Commander at least provided some answers in his speech too. MacKensie didn't need telling twice, and chose to digest the information later - she was ready to go. Although she was glad she didn't speak up first, because when Adam and the dutch woman spoke, they sounded far more sensible and knowledgeable about the things they would need before they just went out into the wild for two days. MacKensie pursed her lips in a solemn smile to the American who showed his manners and his heart when he refused the reward. It seemed she had a good group around her.

"Oh, ummm..." MacKensie was surprised when she was the one who was given the satchel of silver to carry. It felt a little scary to be charged with everyone's money. Awkwardly, she looked around to see if anyone disapproved, then took her backpack off and put the reward away. "Huh?" was another note of surprise when she put the backpack back on and could barely feel the change in weight. It was clearly a heavy satchel she'd had in her hand just a moment ago, but her backpack felt just as light as it always had. "Strange," she muttered.

"I'm with you," she said to the woman with the longbow next to her, then looked over to Adam and nodded inclusively. If this task was really so important, then she would do anything necessary to see it done.