Turning to Diamond, Oswald frowned. "Looks like you were right, Rice really screwed these people over. There's some...ancient Grimm here. It's what controls those damned bugs, apparently. Spoke to the Faunus' leader, she wants us to kill it, and the jammer goes off. Then we can talk about how we settle this. You wanna go after Rice?"
Dissolving the shadow wrench she's been using to tighten the replacement tire on, Diamond turned around. "Damn straight I want to go after the fatso, but this is more important." she shrugged, "It's a danger to both the people here and gods know how many others if we leave it and it goes loose. Or follows us home."
"Besides, the man is a coward. He would have gone straight to the local Schnee HQ or the docks to offload the cargo, depending on whether he's more afraid of us or his boss. Either way, he can't hide in the city form me." Diamond thought out loud, popping her fingers nastily. "Any idea where that thing is, or what's it look like for that matter?"
Letting out a sigh, Oswald hopped off of the Unsubtle and handed Diamond the map he'd gotten. "I think Marcus has gone haywire again. Here, they gave me a map. Said the thing has no real shape or form. It's some kind of liquid-like creature. They're not certain of where it is, but they put down a few places it might be."
"And you're probably right about Rice. This thing's the bigger threat right now. That jackass ain't going anywhere any time soon. We kill this thing, get this hellhouse sorted out, and we can find him later. Maybe Schnee will give us a bonus for exposing a corrupt executive. They're not exactly good people, but I doubt they'll just let something like this go."
"Marcus needs to hold the fort down here anyway. It's not the Faunus I'm worried about, but the guards looked ready to kill everything that moves. And Aurelius should probably go slap some sense into the truckies and drive outside of the jamming and radio for backup too." Diamond said, not feeling really comfortable making any decision.
"Liquid like? Well that's great. I suppose these could come in handy then..." she said, fishing one of the ice dust capsules she picked up earlier form her pocket and tossing one over to Oswald, keeping the other. "No clue how to set those off but I vaguely remember one chick doing so by sneezing, so it doesn't seem to need that much. Let's go find the thing first."
Carefully catching the dust capsule, Oswald frowned again. "Damn. Powder dust always makes me nervous. Too fragile, too unstable. For this thing, though...I'll take that risk. Whatever it takes. Guess Marcus can hold the fort. You think the two of us can handle a horde of those bugs? Worst comes to worst, I can try and find that Grimm and kill it before we get reduced to pulp." Turning to the Unsubtle, Oswald shook his head. "Sorry, Marcus, think you can hold down the fort here, while we take care of that thing? Much as I'd love to have that tank along for the ride...I can't trust these people. You, I do trust. Make sure they stay put."
"We don't have much choice. It's still bugs though. I saw some makeshift torches over there-" she pointed to a remnant of a supply shed, "-Fire gotta keep them at arms length." I bloody hope so. she added for herself.
Oswald nodded to Diamond before making his way over to the shed. "I'll grab the torches, then." As he walked, Oswald checked over his equipment, making sure everything was affixed properly. Now that things were about to heat up, it would be disastrous for some of his armor to fall off halfway through the fight. After seeing what the bugs were capable of, he wasn't sure how much protection his armor would offer, but it was better than nothing.
Returning from the shed with a few "torches", Oswald handed one to Diamond, keeping a pair of torches for himself. "Strategy? How are we gonna tackle this thing?"
"I'd try to stay hidden until we find it - avoid any bugs as much as possible. If we get the drop on it let's try to hit it without it knowing we're even there. Failing that, improvise. The first week of classes wasn't exactly clear on how to fight something that isn't made of solids. So unless you have an idea, shall we move out?" the thug thought out loud, fishing the lighter from under her hat and lighting the torch.
Following the map given to him by the elder fauna, Oswald and Diamond set out into the plains. Most of the grass near the camp had been flattened or obliterated from the recent explosion, with nothing but insignificant bug life scurrying about. Stealth largely consisted of being able to lay low and not disturb the grass, at least not too much to send all the insects flying. And there were many insects, not all of them freakish mutants, but there were a few. The first flew locations marked off on the map showed no signs of life; too close to the camp. There were other locations further out, but the crudely drawn map had no accurate indicator of distance and only vague land marks in the form of some sort of quartz formation. It only took the two about ten minutes of walking to find one of the possible locations of the BB.
The grass was still tall, all the way up to Diamond's chest. The ground was damp and some parts muddy, and there were five quartz crystals sticking out of the ground. One of them had strange branch-like protrusions making it look something like a tree, which was the landmark on Oswald's map. Initially there was nothing. And then there were buzzing.
Mentally cursing as the buzzing started, Diamond ducked in the grass. The mud on the ground didn't make moving silently any easier, especially in shoes meant for pavement. The girl made a mental note that there would be shopping to do once - if - they returned from here.
Taking her hat off, she carefully poked her head above the grass to get a look at what was heading for them, hoping for their target rather than a cloud of random insects. Hah. Wishing for a grimm to find us. Oh sweet Irony. she thought bitterly.
Ducking down next to Diamond, Oswald took a slow, deep breath, and held it for a few moments before releasing it. He wasn't going to let his own breathing get them caught, not after they'd come this far. If the bugs attacked them, they might be able to fend them off with Dust, but there was no guarantee that they wouldn't be seriously weakened or wounded.
Trying to look between blades of grass, Oswald rolled his eyes when he realized that it was still too thick for him to see through. Trying to ignore the buzzing, Oswald decided to rely on Diamond to tell him if anything happened. There was no point in both of them sticking their heads out and risking detection.
The buzzing intensified. Soon an entire swarm of mutant insects were flying above Diamond and Oswald, searching for them. It wasn't particularly hard since Oswald's black/red armor meshed poorly to the beige colored grass stalks. There was little warning as the swarm began to spread out, and than converge into the grass to latch onto the two hunters. Stingers, claws, pincers, mandibles, all sorts of small yet powerful jaws and limbs tore at the hunters, latching onto any exposed flesh, trying to undo the latches and buttons of their armor and clothing to create more exposed flesh to attack. Individually it was slow work, but thousands upon thousands worked together to consume their foe.
Cursing loudly, Oswald stood up and drew his sword, slashing in front of him as he advanced, his Aura defenses trying to repel the insects from his body. Grabbing a yellow Dust crystal from his pouch and quickly putting it into his blade, Oswald transformed his blade into katar form and continued slashing, trying to move forward. "Diamond, anything you can do with that shadow of yours? Maybe make a big-ass flyswatter?!"
Answering with a feral growl, Diamond continued to seemingly flail her arms around. Closer inspection would have revealed the ice dust capsule with the lid opened ever so slightly spewing it's contents evenly around the duo. When she thought the amount of dust in the air was just about right to encase the insects in ice but leave them more or less intact, Diamond reached for her lighter again and stuck it, the sparks setting the dust off.
The dust exploded, causing the swarm around Diamond and Oswald to freeze solid. but that was just thousands out of hundred thousands, and it didn't even stop them. They simply came in at greater force now that they knew were Diamond and Oswald were. Oswald's swiped killed a few droves, but not nearly enough to do any meaningful damage, and after his first few attacks the insects were able to dodge out of the way of his swings. That wasn't the worse of it; as the swarm continued to cover Oswald and Diamond, one of the quartz formation was getting shifted. And slowly, lifted.
"WHAT" was all Oswald could say as I saw the quartz slowly lifting from the ground. Turning to Diamond, he pointed at it. "Run, there. The dust didn't help. We have to find that Grimm and end this before these bugs end us. Take the map, you're faster than me." Grunting as he felt his Aura diminishing, Oswald reached into his pouch and pulled out a red Dust crystal. "I'll see what this does." Activating the crystal, Oswald grunted and pitched it into a group of the bugs, hoping that it would at least thin the herd.
"I'm not in the business of noble sacrifices, mine or anyone else's!" diamond grinned back as she thought of a slightly crazy course of action, seeing what just happened. A bit of a firestorm surrounded her teammate and briefly cleared the area around him. Well, if he wasn't coming, he could at least get behind cover. And cover she could provide.
Making a quick circle around Oswald before the bugs could get back in, she left a trail of the ice dust behind her. With a flick of the lighter she set it off, erecting a wall of ice around Oswald. "Plug the top yourself!" she hollered over, noticing her own supply was down to third of the capsule.
With any luck the swarm would be busy trying to break through to Oswald for a while and less bugs would focus on her as she ran towards the hovering structure, her shadow flowing over her, slashing at anything close to her skin. The constant shift was tiring her somewhat, but the adrenaline rush was helping a great deal.
Grunting angrily, Oswald pulled out the ice dust capsule and worked to form a ceiling for his little shelter. He wasn't sure exactly how to do it, since he was unfamiliar with powder dust, but he poured some on the edges of the wall, trying to direct the dust to form a top over him before he was overwhelmed with bugs again. "Diamond, if you get more than fifty feet from me, I can't get out of here without busting out. If you've got any more ideas, now's the time!"
"You'll thaw out eventually, as long as you left a hole for air!" Diamond laughed of all things. Combat high, that was a new feeling. She picked up the pace, charging towards the hovering quartz block to cut the distance in shortest time.
Oswald's fiery explosion caused the bugs to scatter, giving them just a few seconds of reprieve. But as the swarm rallied, the two hunters might have noticed that some of the insects who were caught flame were still flying. Like the bugs from before, these insects were highly resistant to fire, but very flammable. They rallied together with similar bugs and turned into a mass of flame, charging strait towards Oswald right after the wall of ice was erected around him. They used a combination of their mandibles and flaming bodies to chew through the ice, and would get through in less than a minute with their combined efforts. The rest of the swarm hung near by, getting ready to charge through the opening when it was made.
Mean while the quartz rose into the air a good five feet, and showed no signs of stopping. not only that but it was moving towards Oswald to. But Diamond's movements weren't missed either. As she was charging towards the quartz, something grabbed both her feet and gripped tightly. If she could see through the grass that would cover her face, she may see skeletal hands. More of them began to rise out from the ground, latching onto Diamond. Underneath her were a murky black substance, and not too far from her, a white mask...
Groaning as he saw the ice above him thinning, Oswald turned to the side of his shelter and reached back into his pouch, pulling out his last red dust crystal. "I'm gonna need to stock up on more than two of each type...I'm almost empty as is." Removing the unused yellow crystal from his weapon, he replaced it with the red crystal, then pointed the blade of his sword at the wall, pulling its trigger.
Within seconds, the layer of ice had a hole melted through it, and the edges were still in excess of a hundred degrees, quickly melting the ice at the edge of the hole. Jumping through the hole, Oswald cursed yet again as he saw the quartz crystal flying towards, him. "Diamond, where the HELL did you go?!"
Splat! Diamond went face first into the mud. She'd never clean that off of the coat again. That made her as livid as she could get. Getting up to a crouch, she noticed the mud didn't exactly stick. In fact, it was the mud that grabbed her by the ankles.
Wait, the heck?
Gears spun in her head and finally clicked into place. Right, fluid grimm. She already had a plan of attack in mind, but attack where? She needed to see dammit!
Taking a hold of her shadow, she turned it into a bigass scythe and spun around, mowing the grass around her. As she spun around, she caught a glimpse of a speck of white. Turning, she spotted it.
There, a grimm mask.
Turning the scythe into a dagger, she cut through the hands holding her legs. Plopping the case of dust open she tossed it towards the mask. The container left a trail behind it, serving as a fuze cord to the container that landed near the mask. With a sadistic smile, Diamond set it off and followed.
Aside from the ice, she didn't really have any idea how to tackle this thing. It was a risky bet, but she put faith in putting her aura on the offensive. During the initiation, several people were able to severely damage large grimm with aura alone at the very least. If she could just grab a hold of the Grimm's head, then she could try to blow it clean off.
The creature, the Black Beast, recoiled as Diamond cut the hands from her. It didn't hurt him so much as make him weary, as she managed to escape his grasp. It beat a hasty retreat, hiding back in the tall grass. Mean while the quartz crystal diverted it's path from Oswald to Diamond, since she was closer. The ground beneath her gave her very little traction as the mixture of slick mud and loose grass threaten to make her slip, and if she fell the quartz was ready to fall on top of her. The rest of the swarm went after Oswald as soon as he emerged from his icy prison and resumed their tireless assault.
Diamond's ice dust did do something however. It froze a part of the black beast, forcing him to shrink down towards the base of the ice. Still, thanks to it's naturally fluid body, it was able to become miniscule, and work it's way to free itself from the ice. The bugs continued to attack the two hunters, with the quartz moving in to crush Diamond.
Diamond didn't spot the approaching quartz until it eclipsed the sun, it's shadow looming over her ominously. Just how powerful was this thing? Were they dealing with yet another bloody riesen here? Well, at least it didn't seem capable of taking over her mind or body.
Well, she could hardly do anything other than dodge it. The only way she saw herself being safe from it was to stay close to the monochromatic bastard and hope it wouldn't crush itself. It wasn't like she didn't intend on doing that anyhow.
The ice slowed it down for long enough for her to get close. Her aura flared up, covering her person in a foul looking black tendrils. "Let us see who's dark side is greater, shall we?" the thief grinned. Using her shadow to get some traction on the strange surface, she made a jump and grab for the mask.
As Oswald sprinted towards Diamond, he sheathed his sword and replaced his shield on his back, reaching into his pouch to grab his second, and last, freeze dust crystal. Grinning as he reached the point at which his Semblance was usable, he suddenly appeared next to Diamond and turned towards the strange Grimm, realizing what Diamond was doing. Appearing behind it, Oswald's similarly dark Aura surrounded him as he dove into the shadowy creature's body to distract it.
"Kill it, quick! I can handle the beating, but a multi-ton crystal is where I end up a splatter on the ground!"
The Black Beast was not going to go out without a fight. The bug swarm went to it's aid, converging onto Diamond and Oswald. At the same time it produced bone-like appendages to flail and smash the two hunters with great strength. It would very well knock them off their feet and into the ground if they weren't careful. And lastly, the flying quartz crystal was merely seconds away from touching down, like a four ton guided missile. The Black Beast screeched loudly, it's defiant and possibly last war cry.
"Kill it quick - HOW THE FUCK?" Diamond barked back after third unsuccessful attempt to get close enough to strike with her aura. She never fought on long range and lacked the ability to project it too far. It looked like the only option was the most risky one, and even then - could the fluid bastard even be crushed?
It wasn't like anyone was giving her any better ideas though. It better work then. the crawlers that were starting to swarm her again now that Oswald was no longer providing distraction were adding extra difficulties. This needed to end fast. Fortunately the large quartz mass seemed only couple dozen seconds away, and it showed no signs of slowing down, even though it was headed for them and by proxy to the head of the grimm itself, being well in the range of the impact.
"No other way, stick around until the last possible moment, then jump away and hope it's caught under the thing and we aren't!"
Sighing, Oswald turned to Diamond, grabbing at one of the Grimm's bone appendages with his hand not holding the dust crystal, which was starting to become awkward. "Diamond, just run. Stay about forty feet away, if you could, please?" Confident that as long as he kept an eye on his teammate, he'd be able to get the hell out of dodge.
"Done!" Diamond said, bolting without hesitation. She had an idea of what Oswald had in mind and made for the area where she cleared the grass to be seen more easily. while her own aura was lashing againsst the bugs swarming her, the girl put her hand on the ground and sent her shadow towards Oswald, surrounding him with a sheet of shadow as thick as she could manage to make the bugs travel around, hoping to buy a little bit of time.
Smirking as Diamond's shadow covered her, Oswald awkwardly put the dust crystal he was carrying back in his pouch, grabbing for another one of the bone appendages with his hands, and pulled as hard as he could, trying to snap the limbs with brute force as the crystal barreled onwards.
As the massive crystal closed in on Oswald and the Black Beast, one of the Grimm's boney appendages snapped in Oswald's hand, causing the monster to let out a shrill, pained scream as it thrashed about in agony.
Making sure to get a good look at Diamond, Oswald willed himself away from where he was, appearing near Diamond, his breath heavy. Backing away, he watched as the multi-ton crystal crashed into the bellowing Grimm, annihilating the beast under its immense mass as the quartz shattered into thousands upon thousands of pieces at the impact.
The rampaging, infuriated bugs stopped their stampede as the Black Beast perished, returning to a more normal behavioral pattern, swarming down into the grass to feed.
"Diamond....let's get the fuck out of here. I'm done with this bullshit."
Nodding weakly and brushing the sweat away form her forehead, Diamond agreed in part. "Yeah. Let's gather our pieces and call for backup, let someone else handle this. But I still have a corrupt coward to catch. Not particularly mission specific, but it would make me feel reaaaaaal nice on the inside." she said with a frown.
"Agreed. I'd like to talk to the Faunus again before I leave, though. You think you can take care of Rice on your own?" Oswald was deadset on making good on his word to the Faunus' leader. Whatever had happened through all this, he had to make sure the responsible parties suffered for their crimes. "But first...let's get back to the camp."
In the end, Rice ended up hiding exactly where Diamond predicted. Getting into the building took some shouting and photographic evidence, but once the thug threatened to send the pictures of the maimed Faunus right next to the SDC logo to the media, suddenly the desk clerk was very accommodating in showing her to Mr. Rice's office. After reciting what Marcus told her before - specifically about how leaving fellow humans and faunus to the Grimm was a valid ground for capital punishment in the field - the man was all too happy to 'just' accompany her to the Vale PD station. Diamond was happy to leave the rest to them.
As he returned to the base camp, the guards had rushed up to Oswald, the Unsubtle's turret pivoting to ensure they kept a respectable distance. The first words the huntsman-in-training uttered were, "You are all under arrest. Any attempt to resist will be met with an extreme over-reaction, limbs potentially being broken, and lots of pain. Do not forget that I can teleport."
Pushing through the stunned guards, Oswald entered the mine once again, accepting the escort to the leader of the Faunus. "The Black Beast...is dead. It wasn't easy, and I'm fairly certain that I'm running on less than a fifth of my Aura reserves after what those bugs did, but...it's done. We've got the guards on a temporary arrest until someone figures this out, my teammate is hunting down that fat bastard, Rice, and on the off chance that you'd like...we're willing to escort you to Vale. But I have a feeling that you'd prefer to stay on your own land, now that you won't be threatened again."
Sighing, Oswald moved onto the most important topic. "As for the Schnee Dust Company at large, you won't be seeing them again. We'll be taking evidence of what happened her. They'll back off."
Lucius, Forsythe and I are working on finishing the mission. We don't have a set schedule or anything, but we're gonna try to get it done before the deadline tomorrow. Lucius is MIA at the moment, though, so I'm basically just waiting for him and for Forsythe to return.
You could watch Fate/Zero and then play the VN. That's what I did and it was pretty enjoyable. If you wanna be true to the series, though, I guess it would be better to play the VN first.
Be warned, @harinezumikouken Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night will spoil each other.
A lovely collab post- MULTI and Lucius. Oswald Connolly- Convoy Escort
Making sure that he had everything Marcus had given him comfortably in his arms, Oswald followed the Faunus man into the cave, keeping his eyes carefully roaming around. "I know you probably don't understand me...but for how little it's worth, I'm sorry this was allowed to happen to you." His voice was somewhat distant, yet mournfulness was clearly present.
The faunas man ignored Oswald if only because he didn't know what he was saying. It was both too quiet and also in a language he didn't know. Soon, despite Oslwald being human, even he could see in the faint shadows other faunas. At first it were men, wounded men, armed and ready to beat him to a pulp if he showed any sign of hostility. But as they moved in deeper Oswald would find children and women, all still quite hostile, but defenceless. While there certainly wasn't 500 people stuffed into the mines, it was painfully obvious that there were far too many to be safe. Eventually it got to the point were people had to move out of the way to make sure Oswald didn't step on them, and he would have gotten a close look at them. Aside from the fear and anger in their eyes, he could smell the pain and squalor. Like the worse waste of humanity had been left to stagnant in a hole, and these faunas had been forced to live in it.
Eventually Oswald would be stopped at the end of the mine, which hard only barely enough room for an old, one-armed woman. It was still very crowded and the only person with leg space was the old woman. Various faunas had little choice but to be pressed against Oswald, their eyes weary.
"My dni nordih irdihm dni tir yw dni piemd..."
The old woman chuckled. She was a wizen woman, likely a wolf faunas. Behind her was some sort of ramshackled generator. The device that was jamming the signal. Despite it's crude apperance it was highly effective for various reasons. But what Oswald could likely gleam is that this old woman is responsible for jamming the signal around the camp.
"You are either a fool or willing to give up your life to come here, hunter. Or have you shed your arms and armor to deliver death to us, hidden in gifts?"
The woman spoke with an odd elegence that suggested that someone taught her how to speak through flowerly texts. Or maybe it was just a personal quirk of hers. Either way the woman continued.
"I see that your leader has yet another message for me. Tis a shame that they chose communication now of all times. But healing is only for wounds I suppose."
Disturbed by the horrors he'd seen on the journey through the cave, Oswald had kept silent the entire time, only hanging his head slightly as he made his way through, making sure not to step on any of the people he was walking past. He was Team MODA's diplomat for this operation, and it would not behoove him to make such a terrible impression.
As he reached the one-armed woman, Oswald awkwardly lowered his body so that he was resting on his knees, before adjusting the food and medical supplies he'd been given by Marcus. After the woman spoke, Oswald sighed, clearly weary from what he'd witnessed.
"I'm more likely to be a fool, but if my death will be the last on this day, I'm willing to accept such a resolution. My leader has decided that the death ends now. Or, more accurately, a few minutes ago. As you can probably see, I have food and medical supplies. We brought three weeks of rations for four people. Four hunters in training, as well as medical supplies. It likely won't be enough for everybody here, but after everything we've seen today, giving you our excess supplies is the least we could do without hating ourselves for it."
Taking a deep breath before he continued, Oswald paused a moment to think on his choice of words before speaking again. "It's quite the twist of fate that I would be the one to come down here. I came from....a place few people know of. A relatively small village, of only a few thousand people, about two hundred miles from the Kingdom of Vale. I won't lie to you, it's been a hard life for us there, though we don't face anything near what you've been forced to contend with."
Calming his trembling voice for a moment, Oswald continued. "We weren't perfect. Racism, persecution and hatred against Faunus exists there, too. But seeing as we're beset on all sides by humanity's greatest enemy-and mark my words, for the Grimm are the greatest threat we shall ever face, no matter what you may have seen by the hands of man-everybody is forced to coexist, like it or not. I fall into the former category. I see all people as just that: people. You don't have to believe me, that's fine. But you will likely have to leave this place. It's not fit for anybody but Grimm to live in. This was my leader's message. Take it, and read his terms."
The old woman chuckled at Oswalds words. "You certainly are a fool. But... What was the saying you people have... A broken clock is right twice a day? There's a truth in your words that you haven't realized. A truth that even we haven't discovered until recently." The old woman motioned for one of the men to take Oswalds letter and hand it to her. As she read, she gave them orders to pass out the supplies. A big burly faunas took the supplies and went strait towards most critically injuried. A few of the men squabbled over some supplies they were suppose to pass out, but a bolt of eletricity from the old woman made them scramble to hand out what they had.
However when the old woman was done reading she burnt the note to a crisp. "I do not trust you humans, or even you hunters. How do I know that you and your leader can truly put an end to the insects? Do you even realize what controls them? I'm certain those humans have told you that we are responsible, but I know the truth."
The woman took a pickaxe near her and began to draw in the space near Oswald. First she drew a circle with three holes near it's center, than a rough, irregular round shape around that circlre. "The grimm truly is our opponent here. My people have stories about this creature, but I thought of it as nothing more than fantasy meant to make us fear our shadows. But this creature is known as the Ehegori, in our tongue. For you, it is only known as the Black Beast."
Letting Oswald look at the crude drawing of the Black Beast, the old woman than erased the image and started drawing a square, than marking various points on the square. "My people lived in these plains for as long as our history remembers. Grimm were always our enemies, if we did not fued amongst ourselves. The Black Beast is one such creature that challenges us as a community. A vile monster with no shape or form, and could corrupt and control the insects of our land. While on it's own the Black Beast is a threat to only a lone hunter, it's control over the vast swarms that live in these lands have made it more of a threat then any natural disaster. It is said that it challenged our people to work together as a community, as the insects do, or be eaten alive by those who can cooperate with one another. I always thought this tale was just apocryphal. But a few days ago, one of my people told me that the beast is real."
Eventually the woman stopped drawing. The square now had various holes scattered about it, connected by lines. There were other shapes as well, such as triangles and X's. It was a map. "He spotted the monster after it sent yet another swarm to harass us. We noted that it seemed to only attack the humans, so when they came we try to send a few out to gather whatever supplies we could forage. That was when one of the foragers noticed a strange figure within the grass. At first he thought it was a cloaked figure, but the way it moved... Like it had no legs, no limbs, but flowed like water. And it wore a simple mask; white and perfectly round, with three holes at it's center. It had to be the Black Beast. It was the creature who had been tormenting us so."
The old woman stopped speaking for a moment to let all the information sink in. The machine behind her began to sputter and die, but she simply struck it with her hand and it buzzed to life once more. "Even if your leader could kill the insects that come near the camp, more are made by the hour. Under the control of the Black Beast it can create swarms far faster than any mortal can kill. If you wish to stop the swarm, you must stop the Black Beast first. Take this to him. Let him understand what he needs to do."
Taking the pen and paper given to her, the old woman wrote a responds for Marcus as well as a map of where she thinks the black beast was at. Various X marks showed different areas she thinks the creature could be hiding, since she hasn't exactly be around to track the monster herself.
Written much more cleanly was a curt note for Marcus. On the back was also a map, more or less a copy of the one Oswald saw the old woman draw.
There are too many bugs to kill. Find the Black Beast and slay it to stop the bugs. The jammer will remain active until it is slain. It is the only thing keeping the insects away from the mine. When it is slain and we are safe, I will turn off the jammers and we may speak.
However, there was a certain... Uncertaincly from the woman. Like there were so many other things she wanted to say, but she felt she had very little time to explain it all. As much as she didn't trust the hunters, they were their only hopes in defeating the Black Beast now. Once it was dealt with, than she could tell them everything.
Oswald frowned at the descriptions of the Black Beast that the woman gave. The major takeaway was two things: this Grimm controlled the bugs, and it possessed some sort of liquid-like body. The latter fact was by far the worse of the two. If only Team MODA went against this monster, the Unsubtle would be more than enough to defeat the bugs, with its loads of high-explosive and incendiary shells.
"I am absolutely certain that we will be able to kill this creature. If what you say is true, and its greatest weapon is the bugs...we've already won. My team leader operates a heavily-armored tank that he can project his Aura around. My sword, which I left outside, is capable of firing a beam of highly-concentrated energy that can utilize the elemental properties of Dust, and my other two teammates come packaged with rather impressive area-suppression abilities. We encountered a large group of the bugs on our way here, and although they were able to heavily damage the trucks we were escorting, they had the element of surprise on their side. We know what weapons to use against them, and what to expect from them."
Standing, Oswald took the letter and turned away from her, ready to leave. "We'll kill that damned Grimm, then come back and figure out the rest from there."
Spitting onto the floor before her the old woman looked discontent. "If surprise was the only advantage you had, than you will lose. I'm certain you noticed some insects amongst the swarm which were... Unlike anything you've seen before. That is the Black Beast's doing. It can... make them stronger, in ways to best suit it's enemies. I should know. It will not take it long for the monster to adapt it's insects and strategies. And that's why you must attack it now, before it can create a new swarm suited to counter your abilities. Or worse, simply send it's whole swarm here to drown us all in corpses. Now go! There is little time left, and I will not spend it debating."
Nodding, Oswald quckly made his way out of the cave, barely avoiding a multitude of the Faunus still inside. He could sense the hostility, the trauma and the hopelessness in the air as he ran past the weakened people who'd been trapped for so long, mining for the Schnee Dust Company.
As he crossed the threshold to the outside, Oswald broke into a sprint, grabbing his equipment and hastily reattaching it to his body. "Marcus, we have to move out NOW! Found out what's controlling the bugs, and we need to hit it quick and hit it hard!" Once all his gear was more or less on his body, Oswald teleported to the top of the Unsubtle, which his Semblance conveniently detected as a single large living creature thanks to Marcus's own Semblance, and banged on the hatch. "Note and a map for ya, boss!"
I'd prefer not to portray him as more of a country bumpkin than he's already proven to be. Between his naivete, his lack of general knowledge, and his wholly unrefined fighting style, Oswald is quite possibly the most ignorant student at Beacon. He's not necessarily dumb, he's just forsaken years of education. But I'm sure that when he gets to have a bit of more IC interaction with the guys (especially Gren with that dirty mind of his) we'll see more of his...odd side.
But as for the accent, I think I'll keep it on the backburner. Maybe have him slip into weird colloquialisms now and then, but probably won't make it into anything huge.
@Agent B52, does Marcus's Semblance allow him to protect the Unsubtle with his Aura?