[center][h3]Tora & Poppi[/h3]
[b]Level 8[/b] Tora (68/80) and [b]Level 8[/b] Poppi (41/80)
[b]Location:[/b] Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse
Primrose's [@Yankee], Fox's [@Dawnrider], Sectonia's [@Archmage MC] Midna's [@DracoLunaris], Yoshitsune's [@Rockin Strings], Red’s [@TheDemonHound], Laharl’s [@Dark Cloud]
[b]Word Count:[/b] 889[/center]

When it came to closing the distance between the heroes and the guardian machines, Yoshitsune with his wheels proved far speedier than Tora. Leaving the party’s tank in his sugar dust, the swordsman sped toward one of the enemies, jumped, and struck it with his sword. In doing so he overestimated both his physical strength and the ability of a historical katana to cut through solid, factory-processed metal armor. The blade slightly dented and bounced off the outer surface of the Goliath’s leg with enough force to seriously jar Yoshitsune’s hand, and despite his plans to continue his onslaught, the machine behaved as if it didn’t feel a thing. Instead it joints creaked angrily, and it turned away from the caved-in roof of one of the Parnasse houses to backhand him with the ruthless power of its slide-rail arm.

On Yoshitsune’s heels came Red, eager for a scrap despite having just joined the heroes and also faster on her feet than Tora. “Hold on, let Tora get in front to protect!” he protested, but the mercenary did not hesitate to attack. She went for the same machine that Yoshitsune targeted, and though her pistol was old-fashioned, it fared a lot better than the samurai’s weapon had. Her bullets punched through its shell without too much difficulty and fragmented among the mechanisms inside, dealing real but localized damage given the goliath’s size. It raised its arm with a chorus of clanking to let Red know how it felt about that.

Panting, Tora arrived. “Poppi, switch QT!” he called, and his companion dutifully changed to her second form. The Mech Arms materialized on Tora’s wings, and he slid in to take the hit. A tremendous [i]CLANG[/i] rang out as the goliath’s fist struck his defense. Its strength pushed him back a few feet and bumped him into Poppi, but it did not break his guard. “Hah! Tora foresee no problem!” So saying, he jogged forward again. Poppi channeled power into the Mech Arms as he punched the machine’s legs, his weapons’ wide, blunt edges leaving craters in the metal shell. Almost as if it were surprised, the machine took a half-step back and readied its limbs to pound Tora once again.

With the Nopon occupying its full attention, the others could take their time attacking. Knowing his knife would be useless against the machine’s armor unless he could cut a critical wire or something, Joker happily kept his distance. Red’s gunshots told him that his own pistol would be effective, but unlike her the Phantom Thief aimed for the head. His modern firearm sounded out a quick, polished beat as eight shots plugged the Goliath’s little head, but even then the machine didn’t go down. “No weak spot…?”

Necronomicon, hovering above the fight, called out to those below. “It has those heads all over its body! Almost like a lot of smaller machines put together. No main processing center!”

But Joker’s eyes lay on its knees, rather than its heads. Maybe Yoshitsune saw the same thing, he reflected, and put his all into a reckless attack to take advantage--for all of the machine’s weight lay on those two hinged joints. “Target its knees with blunt force!” Joker called. He motioned his friends toward the remaining enemy. “You guys take that one. Cover Skull while he gets close!” Arsene appeared behind him, and he moved in.

Meanwhile, the other machine had been making a mess. After getting beaned by a teapot it went after Midna with a vengeance, and rather than bothering to go through the alley it went through the neighboring building instead. Its enormous fists bulldozed through the walls of the candy house, shattering the edible furniture within as it waded through the destruction. Exercising no discretion, it even smashed through the amber crystals inside, and inadvertently freed both a [url=http://nippon1.jp/psstore_contents/news/disgaead2_campain/img/about_img_chr.png]boy[/url] and a chocolate tiger trapped within.

Its rampage came to an abrupt end when an entire slab of chocolate, molded into a fine piece of furniture, hammered it in the chest. The weight of the drawers just about knocked it down, but before it could falter the rocket on its back burst with flame, giving the goliath enough height to regain its composure. It faced Midna, killing intent glaring from its eyes, but moment later the Phantom Thieves arrived, sprinting in over the creme brulee their enemy inadvertently made to strike it in the back. 

Panther pelted it with flame while Skull summoned Captain Kidd to ram his ship into its knees. As staggered for the second time, fighting to stay upright, the blonde had an idea. Her whip flashed forward to wrap around the machine’s legs, and with both her enhanced strength and a little help from Skull she gave a mighty tug. The legs crumpled together, and the goliath rocked perilously, but again the engine on its back flared to life. This time it belched forth a fusillade of purple orbs, just like those fired by the fliers earlier. Skull and Panther suddenly found their tug-of-war interrupted by a rainstorm of pain. As they cried out Mona sprinted up, scimitar at the ready. “Zorro, Diorama!” At his command the masked swordsman manifested and began to heal his friends, but Mona knew they didn’t need to be suffering this. “Hey, we’ve bound this one! Someone help us out!”

[center][h3]Western Coast – the Courtyard[/h3]
[@Zavazggg][/center]

Even as she administered a skillful slash, Sephiroth’s abundant ego couldn’t fathom the idea that the reprehensible bloodsucker before her possessed any measure of strength. Yet even as the Masamune bit deeply into the swollen insect body in a spray of ruby-red blood, the Supplicant did not perish. It gurgled in a loathsome manner and fell away to gush into the thirsty marsh soil, and believing it to be dead Sephiroth did not spare it another moment.

Ahead, the ladies and gentleman gathered among the ruins tittered with laughter. Sephiroth’s assailant evidently had no friends among them, being a creature so far removed from the noble class that the elite looked upon its visceral injury as no more than a entertaining diversion. Certainly none intended to do anything about it, but as Sephiroth took off down the hundreds and hundreds of feet that central garden lane spanned, a great many eyes turned her way. Had she remained inconspicuous the guests of the Courtyard might not have noticed how she stuck out, but as magic gathered in her hand none could fail to observe the stranger who was certainly not one of them.

Even so, Sephiroth might have reached the esteemed nobles if the crowd didn’t part to make way for a distinguished gentleman of [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/images/4/40/Baron.png]hideous mutation[/url]. With the hindquarters of a bloated louse and a suitably large hairpiece, he carried the air of a monster in charge, and his dark eyes glittered with rage at the site of the unwelcome intruder. In the nick of time he recognized the spell building up in her palm to be one of great power, clacked his teeth in annoyance, and extended his fleshy scythes. His arms metamorphosed in [url=https://64.media.tumblr.com/78418756179fdb821960bb7501501dd0/tumblr_inline_ph009nelKa1rqrjnu_1280.png]nightmarish fashion[/url] as they lunged across the remaining distance, clashing with the Gigaflare a moment after it left Sephiroth’s clutches and detonating it early.  The Courtyard shook from the thunder of the explosion, and its colors eclipsed the Bloodlight of the fog. As the noise trailed away and the blacked ends of his arms retracted the Baron’s bellow of pain trailed off into a grumble, but by the time his arms reached a more or less normal size he held them up like a showman. “Ladies and gentlemen!” he announced. “I present to you...tonight’s entertainment! There’s only one rule to this game: drain this feisty lass dry!”

Like a swarm on the move, the partygoers fanned out and began to approach. There were a lot of them, at least fifty. Sephiroth observed three varieties: [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/images/b/b6/Esquire.png]esquires[/url], [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/images/5/59/Courtesan.png]courtesans[/url], and the monstrous [url=https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/thumb/6/68/Chevalier.png/472px-Chevalier.png]chevaliers[/url]. From behind and to the sides, emerging from the murky branching pathways, came sycophants, supplicants, and [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/images/8/81/Manservant.png]manservants[/url]. And here and there, shunned by the partygoers, were [url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/bloodborne/images/f/f8/Bloodlicker_concept_art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180728094037]bloodsuckers[/url] still more vile.