Eisenhorn

Falling Skies

Lieutenant Commander Johann "Rhino" Von Brandt

---

"See that Sab? Your excuse to hassle people has been ruined once again."

Johann smirked over the rim of his coffee cup, finishing the last of it before pouring himself another cup. Leave it to the Commander to be thinking several steps ahead on the rip-gel situation and supply, though from what he knew about Sab it wasn't the supplies but the principle of the matter. Her theatrics pretty much confirmed that, exaggerated accent and excessive gestures added to the comedy of the situation as far as he was concerned. As she rolled into the status report, he glanced out the window at the well timed bursts of AA fire visible even in this hidden little camp. Lot of them relied on speed and bursts of flight to make do where they insisted on abandoning armor. Yes, he might preach that the best defense is to never need the armor, but he also didn't like the idea of removing armor for the sake of speed. Still, as she wrapped up her own status report, Johann chimed in.

"Nothing that could get through the Secutor's armor, additional or standard, made contact so she'll be ready once they replace the plates, unsurprising I know. Even if they did, the FRS would work wonders in getting everything back online. Might want to give up a few ticks of speed for at least standard plating Sab. I'd suggest Kilmer get some too, but that's even less likely to stick as far as suggestions go."

Johann snorted as Sab once again complained about a whole month of not getting to make people's lives difficult. What a tragedy.

"Give it a few hours and I am sure Command will have all sorts of opportunities for you vent your frustrations on the Coalition. Far more constructive, and who knows, maybe you can pick something up besides a bruised ego from getting swat out of the sky?"

---

If there was one thing Sab was good at, Johann had to concede, it was complaining. At least that eventually came to a merciful end once they were called into a free supply vehicle with the comms officer to start filtering through situations and assistance requests. Ensign Dole, a nervous wreck of a comm officer if he ever met one, began stuttering through three of the first options available to them currently. The first one was most suited to Secutor in its current configuration, and would help alleviate the problem of not being able to properly maneuver for long distances in the air. Not useful to him, but immensely so to both others in the squad as well as the war effort as a whole. No direct links to the nanoforge, but freedom of mobility would make future strikes far easier to carry out. Plus paying back the Helldogs was a nice bonus, on top of it all, so that was the option he currently favored.

Option two was practically absurd to suggest, but Johann at least considered it. UEE spook wanted a bunch of MAS pilots to go in on foot to tap a network, steal as much information as they can and get out, all without raising an alarm ideally. Sure, compared to most pilots they were a lot better on foot, and if he remembered it right Hex used to be a boots on ground type anyways, but that didn't exactly leave them a lot of room to work with. Project Forge seemed a bit blatant, even for the Coalition, so he was willing to call that bait. Let Command find some actual infantry spooks to handle the situation and let the MAS pilots continue doing what they actually were good at, piloting. Even if cracking the odd Coalition skull on foot was a tempting thought in isolation.

Option three was an odd one, since the suggestion was to try and sneak behind lines while Helldogs hit a facility as cover, jammer included. Tricky thing those, especially ones that just drowned out everything, though a solution was in place for them at least. Get in, ideally unnoticed, take out the power generator and fight out of the counterattack. Not a bad option, especially since robbing the Coalition of power had good return on investment, but again came back to the fact that he was about as subtle as an orbital strike. He would mostly be in reserve, letting the others slip forward and create openings for Secutor to fit through, metaphorically speaking, before they hit the core and bring the grid down. 170mm should work wonders on that, even if the recommendation was plasma or missiles. Yeah he could throw a PG-01 haymaker at the thing, but being in huffing distance of the core when it went up would be unwise. Still, at least it wasn't going in on foot.

"Good ears kid, picked out some interesting choices. I'd recommend Options one or three personally, ideally one. Hard to hide Secutor from anything frankly, so a lot of the trouble in Blackout would be us getting in all subtle like. Strike is probably my choice, free up not just aerial movement, but more support from air and orbital assets. Plus with some clever spotting from Hex, I can send some half charged shots at the convoy with the 170mm, put some plunging proxy fuse on them to hit em at the starting line."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Rolan

---

Rolan was quietly wishing that the Queen's sister had not been brought up, though she was quick to dismiss her as a possible suspect in this thievery. Good, that was not an angle he wanted to have to consider given they still had a standing agreement with the Queen's sister to return a trinket to uphold their end of the bargain. He was not inclined to renege on a deal, doubly so with a Fae, so that was a quiet relief even if he would have to consider mentioning name dropping unknowns was typically unwise without a good reason. Gertrude could learn to reign in that damned ego of hers, though it benefited no one to say anything about it at the moment. They could argue later over intelligent decisions and knowing when to keep one's mouth firmly shut. Of course his thoughts were thoroughly disrupted when the Queen revealed what had gone missing from her collection.

A shard of Angroron, of all the damned things, collecting metaphorical dust in a Queen's trophy collection. He didn't waste time considering how it got here, while Tyaethe was quite furious about it ending up here, Rolan could see some sense in it being here. Who would even think to come this far out of the way looking for it, in the clutches of a powerful Fae who ruled over her own little realm in the woods? If the goal was to keep the shards from being gathered, letting it sit idle in a pocket world like this seemed to have some reason to it. It gave him a concerning thought that this thief was using the Order as a distraction, swiping the shards while more overtly pressing matters held everyone's attention. Even if the interested party was not capable of reassembling Angroron, which he would not dismiss without good reason, that many parts in one place would do no one any good. He considered saying something to the Captain, but given they were still in front of the Moonlit Queen and there was a time and place for such things. Now was not it, instead focusing on planning ahead, which was something he could do at least.

Rolan had to wonder if there was some way to track these little 'shards of nothing', as the Queen had called them. They were distinctly unique, as far as he was aware, and had quite the detrimental effect to put it simply. If Gertrude were more reliable and less prone to flights of ego driven fancy he might have considered challenging her to come up with a way to test that aforementioned ego, but beyond nudging her useful directions with compliments and flattery he was hesitant to bring it up at all. Next time they were back in Candaeln he might have to dig into the library beyond his usual studies to try and figure out a method, even a fragment of one, to try and detect these shards before they get stolen from under their noses. Again. If it were easy some enterprising mage would have puzzled it out already, so while he didn't have high hopes, he might get lucky, so it was worth a shot.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Rolan

---

If Rolan was feeling more generous he might have just thought Gertrude was a greedy idiot at this point in time, but trying to strike up a contract with the Moonlit Queen for...fortune knows what reasons baffled him. He also didn't like the idea of being beholden to a supernatural power like the fae when he already had an oath to fulfill, too many agreements would lead to the inevitable 'you have to break one to satisfy the other' and that was just too much to have to worry about at any given time. A terrible decision to even attempt, as far as Rolan was concerned, but he could not hope to influence the apprentice, let alone even attempt to try to have some vague sense of control over her actions. Sure enough the Moonlit Queen seemed to want a good answer for why she should even consider such a thing, and Rolan felt himself silently tense, continuing to watch not just her but her subjects and how they responded to her behavior. Fortune willing whatever retribution visited on Gertrude would be contained to just her, and could be reversed later.

Of course, the laughter and questioning was all discarded by a shouted, clear response to some whispered words from the servant who had been summoned before. Something of significant enough value was missing to elicit a response like that, and that concerned Rolan, though he kept still and his mouth shut as he considered their surroundings again. The worst case scenario came to mind, that being the Duke's wits had gone missing from her possession, as ridiculous a concept as that was at a normal thought, though when dealing with the Fae anything was possible. That would mean the Moonlit Queen could not uphold her end of the bargain, not fully, which would put her in a very poor position indeed, though that would not necessarily benefit the knights much either since restoring the Duke's mind had been their entire goal and purpose for being here.

Rolan kept his mouth firmly shut for now, instead continuing to keep a wary watch on what was going on while listening. There was nothing he could say, that he could think of at least, that would be helpful or conducive to the current situation. Asking the Moonlit Queen what she was missing could be misconstrued as an offer to help, or worse, a mockery of her sudden misfortune. One of those better suited to negotiations could more diplomatically inquire as to what was missing, and if that could be put to the knight's collective advantage, all the better. Otherwise, let her wallow in missing some trinket as long as it didn't keep her from upholding her end of the agreement that had been reached between the knights and the queen.

Falling Skies

Lieutenant Commander Johann "Rhino" Von Brandt

---

"Taking this pot with me, see if the others want a cup or if I am getting lucky this time."

Johann strolled out of the mess tent with several empty mugs, one full one he was drinking from, and a full pot of reasonably fresh coffee. At this point it was purely a comfort thing, something to relax him after a mission, the caffeine did nothing at all to help wake him up given how much he went through on a regular basis. Still, it was leaps and bounds better then that Rip-Gel the others went for on longer missions. Sure, he had to use the crap every now and again, but that didn't mean he liked it. He kept his rationed packs in the Secutor, and routinely caught naps and hours whenever he could instead to put off using the stuff. As he was heading back towards their barracks tent, he turned his train of thought to how everyone was faring, as far as both pilot and MAS was concerned.

As far as the pilots were doing, he had to tangle with the fact the other pilots had strained themselves a lot harder than he had, the situation had favored being able to just march forward and let the enemies wear themselves out on his defenses a lot more than it had the others. Commie was always pushing himself in that prototype frame, reminded him of some of the configurations light frames back at the Proving Grounds had fielded. Granted, those instances were not in live combat exercises, so it was a far cry from the years shaved off the life span from stress. Rabbit had taken a nasty hit, though her frame was slightly better at taking hits than the prototype light was. Slightly, since he was reminded those two had deliberately stripped armor, something he flat out never agreed with, no matter the edge in mobility.

Hex also took a nasty hit, having comms and IFF go down was never ideal under any circumstances, but otherwise had taken the encounter reasonably well. Her frame, beyond that damage, had also gotten out reasonably undamaged otherwise. Boss was in good shape as far as he could gather, at least in terms of physical and frame condition, and other than expended munitions was probably the one closest to being able to redeploy immediately in a pinch. Overall not a terrible outcome, especially for an orbital assault, and he wasn't going to look that gift horse in the metaphorical mouth. They were a known quality to the Coalition forces at this point, something that would make further operations trickier, at least a little bit, but if they were lucky overall operations would go smoothly enough.

It was about this point that Johann reached the barracks tent, and he put on his usual confident smile as he stepped in, catching the tail end of Rabbit mentioning fleecing the support staff of their supplies gambling. A snort of amusement announced that he arrived, setting down the pot and empty mugs nearest the center of the tent, on a flat surface, as he found a bunk to sit on, taking another sip of his coffee before chiming in himself.

"Support staff knows better than to take those kinds of bets with either you or I at the table, Sabine. Brought some coffee if anyone wants to put off that Rip-Gel crap a bit longer."

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Rolan

---

"It would be quite difficult to miss your performance, even if I wasn't graced with the up close display. I am sure things would have been far more pitched without someone in the sky."

Rolan continued to humor Gertrude's fishing for compliments, even as they finally touched down and he hopped off the broom and, fortunately, back on solid ground. While the advantages were undeniable, he doubted he would ever be completely comfortable sailing around the skies like they were just as readily accessible as anything else. He was already about to take off at a brisk jog when Gertrude brought attention to the fact that Dame Tyaethe would likely want to tell him off for interfering, and that this was an attempt to keep her from telling him off. No, that had nothing to do with it, and he could weather any lecture she deemed fit to give him. His entire purpose was to interfere in fights and tip the scale in the knight's favor, and she was one of the knights, which meant he was going to interfere. Especially with the stakes that had been at play.

"I'm not going to hide from her displeasure, should she care to pursue it. Interfering is my entire skillset, and if anyone should bear the brunt of her irritation it should be me. You just flew, and I was already planning to metaphorically the moment we knew our target. By all means, direct her to me if she approaches you to scold you first."

With a nod farewell, for the moment, Rolan turned his attention to the rest of the Knights present. Nothing too dire, fortune favored them in that regard, but there was a few things to look into. Ser Urgoven had a nasty arrow to the shield arm that had forced him to discard defense, in favor of offense that clearly had worked out for the better. Still, he had a poultice that would reduce the pain and promote healing, plus help keep the arrow from wriggling around with each movement until a proper healer could look into it. He knew all too well how much damage an arrow, or in his case a bolt, could case if not treated properly. He'd been clipped by enough bandit arrows and bolts to know that, so making sure the arrow didn't move too much would help make healing go smoothly. He would move to anyone else needing patched up, noting that Dame Alisaie and Lord Arken were both unharmed but had collected a bloody toll, literally in one case, from the routed Midnight Hunt. Until they were called to return to the court of the Moonlit Queen to collect their reward, which would be promptly surrendered to her sister. Such was the cost of aid, but better than a lost wager and still owing the sister for her aid.

---

Rolan was quiet initially as the Captain reported their success, the Moonlit Queen practically giddy in her celebrations. Were she not capable of cursing them all to lifetimes of madness, at the least dangerous, some of their number might find it almost endearing to see. He would rather be gone before a mercurial nature shifted against them, though Dame Tyaethe elaborated on the fate of the Bloody Lord. Good riddance, and he did make a remark reinforcing her statement of fact.

"It was certainly a drawn out spectacle, neither a quick nor easy way to go. It was, however, quite excruciating for every moment it did last for the deposed Bloody Lord."

The agreement to keep her end of the deal was a silent relief as far as Rolan was concerned, he was quite spent on resources on hand and he would rather not entertain what would transpire if she tried to renegade against the agreement. She would apparently pick from one of three of her treasures to give them, likely an effort to flaunt what they could have before giving over the least valuable, to her at least, of the three. Not that it mattered, it would not be in their ownership for particularly long so he would not want to give it much thought beyond that as repayment owed to the sister of the Moonlit Queen. For now he said nothing else, keeping to his place in the group and waiting for things to play out.

Moonlight and Witch's Work: An anime and JRPG-inspired Witch RP

Carina Rodericka

---

The numerous eyes of her fellow Witches were not lost in Carina, as she could practically feel the stares as she marched on, continuing to make no real effort to conceal herself, perhaps in a deliberate manner if one was feeling less than charitable. Fae smuggling was not the kind of crime you just quietly resolved, that was the kind of thing you made an example of. Even if they were not the most experienced or seasoned, if they couldn't handle some smugglers and their tricks then they were hardly worth their place in the Society. Still, before long one of the others at least spoke up, asking that they at least try to be stealthy. Glancing back, the one who spoke up was practically silent as she moved, a quite respectable hat and practical attire for striking out. She was dressed for the night, Carina noted, and shrugged idly in response to the suggestion.

"Won't tell you what to do, be as sneaky as you want. I'll kick in the door when that stops being useful."

Continuing to stay at the lead of the group and waiting on the Lantern to narrow down where they were going, another one chimed in, one who had a familiar out scouting ahead of them. That suited her fine as well, she never had much interest nor care for having any sort of familiar, she'd rather focus on herself. Apparently they were already known to the neighborhood already knew they were around, a snort of amusement from Carina in response to the information. Practically speaking it would be a shock if they weren't known, even if none of them stood out a gaggle of witches on the hunt would stick out like a sore thumb, regardless of how subtle some of them wanted to be. Too many people in a group at this late at night to not stand out at least a little bit. The next one to speak up also confirmed what was painfully obvious, that they were well known to any sort of troublesome element interested in a late night band of women wandering about.

"Not like we don't stand out even without me being the most obvious, one hell of a group we got here."

At that point the Lantern indicated an alleyway, and Carina's hand was halfway up to her sword as her gaze adjusted to the dark. All wrong, as far as someone should be if they were just some lookout. Long arms, short legs, couldn't make out a proper neck and head, had to be some sort of homonculi the smugglers got their hands on. She didn't quite draw her weapon yet, glancing at the other Witches since they were a team, regardless of how she felt about the situation, and since none of them had particularly gotten on her nerves yet she could at least play nice still.

"So, shall we get that out of our way, or maybe one of you sneaky girls want to find a place to watch the show first?"

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Rolan

---

"What, no eleventh hour desperate gambits? I expected another one at the current rate of things." Rolan had a neutral tone, quietly grateful that the Houndmaster had elected to finally run out of hounds to consume and collapse from the sheer focus of violent attention it was getting. Still, the hedge knight reloaded and kept a steady hand and eye on the battlefield, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Was it paranoid to expect something more to come barreling out of the woods, what with Rozenalt dead and the various champions bested or dead? Certainly, but paranoia wasn't exactly unhealthy when dealing with unnatural forces in the world, so while he didn't show any overt shock as the carcass of the Houndmaster began laughing, he did snap his crossbow to take aim in case it did anything more. He wasn't going to even try and guess as to its laughter, applauding, and eventual collapse. One of the more socially gifted could puzzle that one out, and another sweep showed any remaining members of the Hunt that were not already dead surrendering and departing. Well, that was one for the legends, the Hunt bested by the Iron Roses, and he even got a front row seat and at least a little bit of involvement.

"Seems like even the best of regenerations couldn't stand up to a fraction of your efforts, Gertrude, well done." A token gesture, but Rolan had gathered the easiest way to keep goading her into being useful was to at least play along with the praise. A few kind words could be spared if it meant keeping her from being quite as much of an overt nuisance as she could be, at least while he was working with her. How the others chose to handle cooperation was strictly up to them, though he cast an eye not on the Captain and the other knights of her immediate retinue, but on the others who had accompanied them and aided in providing the numbers and flank coverage to allow each of them to act at what they did best. Though immediate names escaped him, he still had much of his more curative supplies intact and could get most of any injured back into a walking state to seek out healers proper, and not overtax their limited supply of the magically inclined, doubly so after sufficient strain of a combat encounter with such a dangerous foe.

"If you would, please drop me off with the knights over there, the largest number who held the flanks. I'm not much of one for celebrating necessary victories and need to see to the injured, get them walking again at least." That would also leave discussion with the helping Nithyr to one of the others, which suited him even more, he supported the discussions and negotiations when able, but was far from a diplomatic soul, and saw it better to leave that to those more experienced with Fae dealings. Or partners with one, in a particular case, but he didn't judge when it came to who one chose to spend their time with. Once back on the ground, Rolan would begin looking for those he could aid the most, putting the more natural and curative nature of his alchemical skillset to use. Staunching bleeding, treating wounds, getting any injured into a walking state, now that the fight was done, without further orders Rolan focused on keeping himself busy in a way he knew how, that would at least be helpful.

Falling Skies

Lieutenant Commander Johann "Rhino" Von Brandt

---

<<Here I thought I wasn't going to need that extra credit after all. Good copy Vulture, recommend letting the more battered take center, taking up rearguard position.>>

Rhino kept to the 7ths private comms when replying to Vulture, monitoring their surroundings as the rest of the group filtered in. Rabbit complaining like normal, Hex had made it back in spite of the damaged comms, and with everyone falling into formation, Rhino stayed true to his word and brought up the rear. Compared to those who had taken damage, he could basically confirm that nothing had gotten through the multiple layers of defenses and armor, though replacing armor would still take time and effort. Fortunately the Field Repair Suite would make short work of that, odds were his frame would be one of the last to go through refit and repair since it was practically designed to be rebuilt from near total failure conditions. All that being considered, it was going to be a long, boring march, but at least they weren't slogging it on foot like the infantry had to. He didn't envy them one bit, especially since he got to sit behind thick, sturdy layers of armor, reflex shielding, and some of the biggest weapons MAS units could typically deploy with.

---

Rhino was humming to himself, having silenced the comms as to not annoy the rest of the 7th, as their collective MAS units marched along. It was an old song that commemorated an ancient wreck from before humanity crossed the stars, if his family was to be believed, but regardless of how exaggerated that was it was damned catchy. Kept him alert, too, since that meant he wasn't just idling as the 7th continued to march. Though once they had eyes on the hidden encampment deep in the not quite megafauna forest, room for the lighter frames to fly and maneuver if need be. Secutor, though? That'd be the monster tearing through the underbrush, relatively speaking, though given the amount of effort going into keeping everything from being detected that should not be necessary for the immediate future. Unsurprisingly Rabbit and Hex had first go at the repair trailers, and he crouched Secutor low to allow the netting to be put into place. As the systems dropped into standby, he made sure to keep the Field Repair Suite warm and exhaled, allowing himself a few moments of quiet to relax before putting on his usual face and dismounting.

Lowering down to the ground, Johann dropped down onto the ground proper, stretching and giving the tech beginning to survey and log what needed changed and altered.

"Revenant FRS is warmed up when Secutor is next for the shop, munitions are the main concern by my estimate. Especially the CIWS, Coalition was determined to get their money worth out of their missile systems today."

Johann let the technicians and support crew do their work, instead noting that the other pilots were already disembarked. Boss was waylaid by the lead technician, probably getting an ETA on when they should be ready to deploy again. Given the nasty beating that Rabbit and Hex took, they had time to get some rest in. Still, the teasing from Sabine had already started in earnest, about Leah being bailed out by their ranking FNG. He chimed in as he walked over, already eying up the supply tent, mainly for its purpose as a mess tent, and he had every plan to go get himself a cup of coffee before trying to catch a few hours sleep. Not like he would get the luxury that easily, but he could at least try.

"Talking a lot of shit for having clipped wings Sab, found the most recent gimmick the hard way out there. Going to go grab a cup of coffee and kick my feet up, someone give me a shout if something comes up, yeah?"

Johann would make good on his word, turning and making a beeline for the mess tent. One would think coffee wouldn't be the most conducive to getting some rest, but the Secutor's pilot would disagree. At this point the stuff didn't even get his pulse going at all, a near constant preference for the stuff made the levels of caffeine in the coffee practically a non concern, it was a minor comfort at this point. He would know the war effort was well and truly fucked if coffee became unavailable, everything ran on coffee whether folks admitted it or not after all. It was never good, mind you, but it was there and that was all that mattered to Johann as he went to hunt down a cup, hell he'd brew it himself if he had to. After that, well, the one thing that everyone learned how to do eventually. Get in some rest where he could, at least before someone decided 'something coming up' meant literally anything and interrupted every few minutes.

Moonlight and Witch's Work: An anime and JRPG-inspired Witch RP

Carina Rodericka

---

Why did criminals always have to go stomping about at night?

It was a rhetorical thought, mind, but it kept Carina's mind entertained for a moment while the hastily assembled group was walking along, following their lantern to the location of their goal. Some idiots playing at fae poachers, tempting the wrath of both Witch and Wild, lucky them the former chose to get involved first. Trying to trade in fae dust by exploiting the smallest of their kind, which would have been reason enough to go make some heads roll without even considering the breach of diplomatic gestures between those of a civilized nature. It didn't make her terribly happy to be stomping about as the sun set, and the insects began swarming even more than usual, the humidity practically sinking in between the gaps of her armor and making her painfully aware that her current attire would serve her very poorly in a sufficiently warm environment, a quiet huff of annoyance at the feel of a trickle of sweat down the back of her neck as she walked with the vanguard of the group.

It was a fitting place for Carina, given she was the only one of their number to have any sort of armor, though she was not the only one armed with more than a wand and a broom. Her armor, a black that settled into the night nicely, matched her robes well, giving her an uncanny ability to blend into the shadows should she stop stomping along for a few moments. Of course, the amount of black steel, the heaviness of her footfalls, and large sword slung across her back all indicated that she would be about as stealthy as a beast of burden turned loose in a shop of fine wares. Her thoughts were interrupted by the ramblings of one of her fellow witches, one dressed even more heavily than she was, though rather than armor it was all thick cloth and woven headwear. How could she stand to be running around in something like that with how humid it was right now? Whoever had trained her hadn't thought to train her how to speak plainly, though, even if she didn't seem to be wrong.

"They damn well better be close, wouldn't call anything the daft bastards are doing as stagnant though. Rotten sure, but didn't sound the kind to just sit around sucking on their thumbs."

Carina was impatient at this point, sure she had been put through an accelerated training regiment to catch up compared to some of her peers that had been proper Witches their entire lives, but that just made her that much more eager to actually do something beyond study and train. Hard to see how much she improved if all she had to beat up on was a training dummy or the off hand comments of spectators and teachers. Now was about damn time to prove she could be just as useful in the field as anyone else, even if she was among peers of similar experience. Whether they had the drive or not was another matter completely, but if nothing else they could attest to her own capabilities. More importantly, they had fae to rescue, so the fact it was taking this long to find the criminals was even more frustrating. Worst of all it was boring stumbling around in the mounting night, so the sooner they could get to doing something the better.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Rolan

---

"Cowering is, at the moment, a fast way to a long drop and sudden stop. Besides, would you rather have a half considered praise now, or more thought out praise at a later point?" Rolan wasn't looking at Gertrude as she shot him that displeased look, operating at a level of compartmentalization that left him fairly deadpan, given the generally unpleasant nature of everything going on with the Wild Hunt currently. While he couldn't exactly pay attention to every fight going on, given the need to focus on putting down hound after hound, the literal light show that started from the duel between Tyaethe and Rozenalt forcing his attention due to the almost blinding amount of light, even from this distance. Wincing briefly as the column of light and deafening screeching finally faded, only to be replaced by the paladin's laughter.

"At least she is having a good time, and to think I wasted quality poison on him..." Glancing back down in time to see the Houndmaster drench himself in the blood of his own pack, and begin to come apart at the damned seams. Oh, great, more wretched abominations that the forsaken woods seemed determined to spit out at them, he was getting quite tired of each nightmarish amalgamation of flesh, shadow, and sinew trying to outdo the last in an effort to take its place in his impending nightmares. Continuing to stitch its own wounds together, or ignore them completely, as previous wounds showed no signs of even impeding its newfound grotesque power. Being relatively safe from on high was cold comfort, reaching towards his alchemical bag as the Captain shouted her orders, confirming what he intended to do. Cripple the beast, slow it down, and open it up for the killing blow. Suited him fine, if the thing wanted to keep healing, he would just have to use something he had been saving for armor but should work just as well on flesh.

"...As you order, Captain. Shall we, then?" A pointless question, but his voice carried between the noise enough to alert the Captain her orders had been heard, and gave him a few moments to prepare. A flask of acid, an evolution on the experiments he had been conducting before they departed after seeing the effects of aqua regia on metal, and while it was intended for armor, flesh would likely feed the reaction just as well. Regenerating flesh? Well this was a rare luxury he supposed, since testing on meat was not something he could casually carry out. Aiming and watching for a moment that the beast was in no position to evade, he launched a bolt at one of its hind legs, aiming to shatter the flask across its joint and embed the bolt, at least until the bolt was eaten away by the acidic payload it carried. Once loosed, he resumed his steady rate of fire from before, making a mental note that he was running increasingly low on crossbow bolts, and pretty much entirely out of offensive alchemical mixtures, with the lengthening conflict only making the issue that much more dire. Each shot was aimed at joints, tracking the erratic and hurried movements, confident that while he couldn't kill it, a joint locked up with a crossbow bolt would slow it for however long it took to break the bolt loose.