[@Zarkun][@Lmpkio][@Lugubrious]

The distressed researcher bit her thumb nervously as she watched the fight unfolding below, having pulled her vanishing act the moment the monsters had appeared. Samantha clung tightly to a tree branch some distance away from the melee, her camouflage keeping her out of the monsters’ sights.

And her teammates’, for that matter, which became somewhat worrisome when the half-demon Gideon pulled out his firearms. No amount of hazard pay would make up for being hit by a stray bullet or bolt of magic.

So Samantha thought, but this was already a touch better than her old solo expeditions. No armed escorts then, never mind hazard pay. 

“Not to say,” she whispered to herself, a hint of giddiness mixing into her voice, “where else am I going to see a Nephilim in action?”

Indeed, the tall warrior had torn into the group of Assaults with an ease fitting the scraps of information she had found regarding the dead race. To their credit, Gideon and even Souta were not far behind. “In fact, this fight is going so well I wonder if I could convince them to take one alive… well, as alive as an undead monstrosity could be.” She doubted they would listen to her, though, particularly if they had to carry the squirming beast while they looked for the spiders’ den. It already was hard enough to simply try to ask questions about the Council given the company without mixing in bizarre vivisection related favors.

She would have to content herself with gathering samples from the corpses. The largest and most twisted of which, she noted, was slowly stumbling towards the brawl. A brawl which, while she had been too busy staring, had moved closer until the Frankenstein’s monster of a demon was marching uncomfortably close to her hiding spot.

Samantha, shifted against the branch, trying to reposition herself to see if she could move somewhere farther away—when a shuddering tremor made her stomach sink.

The branch splintered, and she fell with a surprised yelp, her camouflage broken. She landed unceremoniously on her back, letting out a dizzied groan as she propped herself up to took a look at her surroundings. 

Her gaze quickly found the team she had been sent with, noting with some embarrassment that they were all staring in her direction. “Come now,” she half-slurred, “is this really the first time you see a scientist fall from the sky?”

It took Samantha a moment to realize they were not in fact focused on her, but on something past her. She felt a tremor on the ground, and blinked. Swinging her head back, she came face to disfigured face with the abomination she had been keeping tabs on moments earlier.

[i]Ah, of course. How could I forget?[/i]

The creature lifted a maimed arm, its mouths opening to let their keening wails. But no wail was louder than the scientist’s as she stood and dove away with terrified briskness. The blow missed her by inches. At the same time the flap on her knapsack flew open, and pages of parchment flew out as though carried by a strong wind, flapping onto the creature’s face while Samantha fled into the bushes.

[hr]

[@ConteAmarula]

By the time Fenn left the forest, the flames had already reached the tree line. The fires danced phantasmagorically behind his black silhouette as he lumbered towards the city’s walls. 

He noted that they remained largely in the same state he had left them, proof that he had not overestimated the Crone’s ability. Humans milled above the ramparts, some facing the flames while others ran to and fro on tasks of their own. 

When the hound came into view, some of the weapons mounted atop the wall turned to face him. Fenn sneered at them. He almost wished for them to open fire, if only to give him an excuse to vent his frustration. The snake had eluded him. Had set puppets against him in the face of his challenge. Had remained hidden even as the hound proceeded to turn the surroundings to cinders. The seething rage had bolstered his flames, and even with the flames no longer dancing over his fur, the air was heavy with the hound’s restrained anger.

He clambered onto the ramparts. Truthfully, he had little interest in what the humans had to say. Even when he first approached the walls, his intent had been only to kill time while prey came to him. The pretext of defending the settlement from the horde of demons had been all but abandoned when he had caught a whiff of the snake. He did, however, have a reputation to uphold. If not for himself, then for his warlord. Had another demon not been at the wall, he may not have had such freedom to act.

The Crone was already waiting above the ramparts, along with the man who had sought their aid at the wall. Fenn approached, ignoring the tension among the observers. Then ignoring the man’s stuttering thanks, until he finally saw fit to leave. He was not the only one to do so. After the display, the wall’s occupants had decided to give the two demons a wide berth.

“This is the second time this snake eludes me,” he remarked gruffly, glaring at the burning forest. “The first time, my quarry struck a blow while I was weakened and preoccupied with another foe, then left before I had a chance to recover. This time, it avoided me entirely. Even alone, it ignored my challenge. What does this tell you, Crone?”