Nanaya

Iris Ascendis

@ERode@AThousandCurses@Psyker Landshark

NORTHERN NERO ROAD

"...Gotcha," was all Rio would respond with, eyes locked on the duo as he returned to his feet. Rio would dash forward alongside Iraleth, punching and kicking at the limbs that would eventually overwhelm the paladin were they to all focus on her alone. His movements were sluggish and clumsy, perhaps from fatigue - though certainly not as precise or confident as his strikes from prior days. Nevertheless, it was enough to repel skeletal swings at the cost of bruising and cutting his limbs as he did so. This wasn't a time to be concerned about superficial injuries, however.

As they advanced, the assault Chunji had begun was also in motion. Ferg took a half-step forward upon witnessing the storm of scalpels, and with his swordstaff sheathed but now held in both hands, parried them away in an instant as they clattered to the ground around him with a trail of green mist following the easterner's swings; his and Kirn's Personal Barriers swirling about them to deflect any strays to make it through. A scoff escaped Ferg as he returned his gaze towards closer combatants. "Rudimentary."

That was until he heard a brief, "Shit," escape from Kirn's lips as the attempted to kick away the vial that smashed at their feet, but it was already too late. Kirn's exposed leg would seem to rapidly dehydrate and distort, as he visibly shouted, "What did you do to me?! WHAT IS THIS?" He would fall to one knee as his Personal Barrier began to coat his entire body, seeming to stop the effects from spreading - and yet, the damage to his left leg was already done as he knelt there growling. Ferg appeared untouched, maintaining a potent barrier against the effects, the fumes seeming to disperse outwards upon making contact with the swirling protective winds coating him. He looked down at his partner in crime with disdain, running a hand along the dragon head pommel of his swordstaff. "There is more to you than such idiocy, is there not? Allow not the power advantage to cloud your judgment."

Just as Ferg had finished musing such things, a crack rang out that widened his eyes. In one blink, his construct had been fine, and in the next, the skull mounted atop its peak tumbled to the ground with a hole clean through its center. His gaze turned towards the location that the bullet had been fired from, as if realizing that perhaps the real danger lay at the back of this crowd of opponents rather than in front. He grit his teeth as he once more began to unsheathe his swordstaff, the mist wandering towards the skull as if to reattach it; yet as that transpired...

"Professor, switch!"

And it was as if the man's world had crashed down for a moment. The skeletal abomination had grown even less accurate after the damage to its 'head', and the fumes from Chunji's concoction had dissipated enough that it had formed a path, and that path was clear as Alto dashed ahead to finally close the gap. There was murder in his eyes, and Kirn was still recovering from his decaying leg of seconds prior; Ferg was all alone for that second, as even though the brute moved to intercept, he was much too slow in the heat of the moment.

It was a decisive interaction, a dance in three steps. Ferg, in an essence-enhanced movement of desperation, crouched low and fully unsheathed his blade which trailed with an acidic coating, bringing it high just in time to meet the downward swing of the professor's longsword.

Chk.

Repositioning his sword, Alto skid the flat of his blade along his opponent's, before breaking the clash and stabbing towards the man's torso, which Ferg answered with a parry to the side.

Chk.

Not to be discouraged, Alto stepped to avoid a counter-slash, aimed for another swing high, and then when Ferg raised his weapon to once more block, the professor pivoted once more towards Ferg's flank with a feint - aiming dead for the villain's neck with full force. The bandit's eyes grew wide as if his life were flashing before his eyes. A vibration rang out as Alto's sword swiftly moved for the killing blow, a flash of emerald, and then...

SNAP.

In the blink of an eye, the final trade of blows had ended. Alto's sword had pierced through the barrier by the man's head, and... his longsword's blade lay in two pieces - one half partially embedded in Ferg's shoulder drawing forth a trickle of blood, and the other on the ground, broken off from the impact of mundane steel against a refined wall of essence. The bandit's own sword was at a diagonal downward, fresh blood dripping off the tip that seemed to steam and burn away with the acid coating. An open slash caused blood to flow freely from Alto's chest, with the edges of the wound seeming to fester with the substance that dwelled upon Ferg's swordstaff. It was fast enough that even Alto was still piecing together what had just happened, stumbling a step backwards with his half-broken sword. "What did you do...? That wasn't you..." Alto would trail off in confusion, grasping at his wound with one hand and raising up what now amounted to a dagger in his other.

But there would be no answer. Ferg readied his blade once more with a smirk and a restored Personal Barrier, and Kirn limped to his feet - one leg now looking as if it were crushed by a boulder - and readied his axes towards the remainder of the frontliners with renewed rage.

From inside of the boys' carriage, Fianchetto would grumble to himself and look at Otis, as only mere seconds had passed in all that time; yet not enough seconds for the spell to have finished. "Just a little longer, I'm afraid... one more good push, yes, just one more!"

Kann, meanwhile, would continue cowering beneath the benches, muttering, "We're cooked," this or, "Should've taken the Strigari internship," that. Davil, for his part, could only listen in frustration from his wheelchair, spectating. The spores that the dragon skull had emitted from before its end had seemed to begin entering the carriages now.

Iris Ascendis

She would not be able to hear him, nope.

Iris Ascendis

I wanna apologize for being a bit later on this one, life's been exhausting. But I do really want to keep this going and be more consistent about it, so I'll push through more! ^.^

Iris Ascendis

@ERode@AThousandCurses@Psyker Landshark

NORTHERN NERO ROAD

Weapons were shattered or blasted astray, and it wouldn't be long before the offense of the enhanced bandits was rendered toothless. While Chunji's scalpel was insufficient to penetrate the defenses of the bandits, the poison applied would eventually eat its way through and onto the flesh of those he struck. So, too, would barriers collapse on repeated hits in the same areas - whether from bullets fired, swords swung, punches delivered, or the diligent strikes of the security mannekin who were all too eager to advance on defenseless targets. It wouldn't be long before the once-fallen criminals fell once more, their bodies seeming to rapidly dehydrate as they spasmed on the ground.

With a click of his tongue, Ferg scoffed at his fallen comrades as he overlooked the area. "I suppose the standard to be met was higher than scavengers. Wastes of copper," he would muse as his sword once more unsheathed briefly with a flick of his thumb, extended slightly farther this time, and the trail of green mist lashed outward rapidly in all directions as if forming into semi-solid tendrils. They jabbed into the bodies of the bandits and pulled them backwards, violently tossing them all at the swordstaff wielder's feet. "Let us skip to the natural conclusion of this farce, then, and see what I can make of these E-tier materials."

Once more sheathing his sword as Kirn stood on guard with his axes in case of any surprise attacks or attempts at interruption, Ferg would slam the hooked pommel of the swordstaff onto the pile of dehydrated spasming flesh before him. In a flash of green light, emerging from the pile in front of him would be a mass of the bandits' bodies, now skeletal, their arms and legs flailing about in a tower of remains. At the top of this skeletal tower was a dragon's skull, from which dark spores escaped and floated towards the carriages. The arms and legs of the skeletons, meanwhile, extended outwards as if elastic, and began to swat and swipe haphazardly in all directions. This included Kirn and Ferg, who deflected the strikes on their side with their weapons while doing their best not to harm their new 'ally'. The security mannekin, who stood on guard to defend the students, were not so lucky - and after a brief exchange, were slammed and shoved across the road and off the road by the extending and rubbery yet altogether durable arms striking out from the corpse tower.

Alto pushed forward to compensate for the lack of mannekin, doing his best to parry and deflect as many limbs as he could, looking across his students that were already on the field with him. He said nothing, but made a motion with his eyes as if to indicate that now would be the time to aim for the duo. Rio wasted no time in attempting to make a break for the bigger one, though in a moment that would surprise very few, unarmed combat without the enhancement of essence proved to be a terrible method of blocking the swipes of freakish monsters, and the boy was sent tumbling backwards after a few successful - if painful - blocks.

From within the boys' carriage, Fianchetto finally flipped to a page that loosened his shoulders in relief. "Found it. For this to work, I will require both of those bandits out there to be occupied for at least... six seconds, perhaps, would do. If that can be managed, this should work!"

The mage would begin to mutter incantations under his breath, the chosen page of his grimoire running alight with magical energy.

Iris Ascendis

@ERode@AThousandCurses@Psyker Landshark

NORTHERN NERO ROAD

Quick work was made of the advancing horde on either side. A flurry of blows and bullets alike ensured that short work was made of the largely untrained brigands. They tried their best to react, but bullets to normal people proved far faster, as was the rush of a trained paladin. Rio dashed to the opposite carriage to assist Alto, who had already cut down several by himself before parrying away arrows loosed his way after drawing his sword and moving forward. The security mannekin promptly saw to the archers on either side with a rush of spears and durable bodies fit to endure the mundanity of arrows, and Rio had made sure to double tap any who seemed to attempt to recover from Alto's blows - weaker as they were, from a lack of magical or essence-based enhancement. Chloe, meanwhile, dove back inside the girls' carriage and took cover. It had been a decisive few seconds of combat, and the victory had gone to Wingram without question.

Kirn clicked his tongue as he bore witness to the farce, and nudged the eastern man he had called Ferg. "I said they weren't worth bringin', I did. Get 'em up, or I'll have to-"

The bandit leader didn't get to finish his sentence or take a step forward before being halted by Ferg's hand, whose eyes strayed between Alto and his students. "Patience, they endured rank zero. Fundamental principles have remained, but not forever... For Pittance, My Heart Yearns."

As Ferg spoke, his thumb flicked the guard of his sword and allowed it to push open for but a half-second. In that half-second, the brief showing of blade glowed a sickly green with a faint trail of emerald mist escaping. This would last until gravity covered the blade once more with its sheath, and as that happened, the fallen bandits would immediately stand in the blink of an eye - wounds healed, veins pulsing across their flesh, Personal Barriers raised. The grass around them had rotted, leaving nothing but charred soil beneath. They would instantly begin rushing with enhanced speeds towards those that had felled them seconds prior, as if charged with a grudge. In that respect, Alto, Otis and Iraleth appeared to be the primary targets of the newfound energy emanating from these fallen brigands.

"Now begins rank one," Ferg would muse, lightly punching Kirn on the shoulder as they stood back and continued to watch. "I am afraid, dear paladin, that there will be no burning this day. You will dance to the tune of your superior, and fall when your strings are cut. As will your allies."

Rio would dash forward towards one of the raised crooks with a punch raised, aiming to intercept their attack on Alto, but would find his strike unable to puncture the Personal Barrier raised. The man seemed to care not for the attack, and ignored the boy in favor of pursuing Alto, who was stepping backwards and parrying strikes from mid-range, aiming to get a read on this new dilemma. "Healthy dose of caution, Compact 3. We've entered the territory of an Ethos," Alto would spit as he dashed another step backwards, allowing the security mannekin to clash against the newly raised. On the opposite side, Otis and Iraleth would similarly find the mannekin pushing for a defensive line to the best of their ability near the boys' carriage - but without aid, it was clear they would be overwhelmed before long by pure, unrelenting aggression with no trace of humanity remaining.

Any inside the boys' carriage at that time would also see Davil trying his best to turn his wheelchair towards the doors, frustration and fear mixed on his face. Michael seemed to remain snoring, and Kann was huddled under the window, shivering and shaking, muttering, "I don't wanna die," on repeat. Fianchetto, on the other hand, perked up upon hearing word of an Ethos. He flipped more furiously through his tome as he stood out of his seat, looking towards Chunji and Otis in between page skims. "If you or any of the rest can keep the Ethos user and the vulgar one busy for long enough, I suspect I can launch a counterattack," he would state with confidence and clarity. He would then glance towards Kann and the sleeping janitor, and then entirely disregard the idea before looking once more at the two boys. "Every second counts."

Iris Ascendis

Sorry for the delay, next round tomorrow!

Iris Ascendis

That's fair! Get well. ^.^

Iris Ascendis

@ERode@AThousandCurses@Psyker Landshark

NORTHERN NERO ROAD

"I oughta knock your teeth out right now," Rio would remark as he finished the last of his soda, crushing the can and tossing it out the window behind him. Before anything could continue, however, the sound of breaking wood could be heard, as well as laughter. In the boys' carriage, Fianchetto took to rummaging through his bags as if looking for something important, while Kann tried to peer out one of the windows to see what was transpiring. Michael, of all things, remained asleep. Even with Davil's best efforts, he failed to so much as turn himself towards the doors, instead grumbling to passersby to, "Be careful," as Rio also took to the exit. From the girls' carriage, Chloe cautiously stepped outside after Alto, feeling all too vulnerable in her current state were danger to rear its head.

And to those who left, security mannekin included, danger would indeed be apparent. The mannekin drivers assigned to each carriage were smashed to pieces on the ground, with a burly horned man out in front, his dual axes glistening in the sunlight. Next to him, a man of eastern dress withdrew a towel and began wiping the mannekin splinters off the horned man's axes with a satisfied smirk. All around the sides of the road stood rugged men in unwashed leather and torn fur garb - axes, swords and bows drawn as they stood at the ready.

The horned man would slam his axes to the ground, cracking it as his laughter ceased, and with it, the chuckles of the dozen or so men that surrounded the Wingram travelers. "A bit soon for the kids to be gettin' out of school," his voice would boom as he looked towards Alto, whose hand remained on his scabbard. "Goin' somewhere in a hurry? The heroes of tomorrow, playing hooky, mayhaps?"

Alto still did not answer, his eyes scanning from the man to his assistant, to the various brigands that surrounded not just himself, but any who would exit the carriages. He made sure, in particular, that any kids who exited wouldn't act rashly, and was prepared to move suddenly should any do so. The horned man, noting this anxious silence from Alto, continued. "Expensive thing, the training that goes into... Ethos, was it? Lotsa protection, and no doubt lots of rich kiddies who've never met the business end of a blade," he would chuckle while raising one of his axes to rest over his shoulder. "Lots of brats who don't know struggle. Ferg, what did you say an Ethos goes for, again?"

He would turn to the eastern-dressed man, who nodded as he tossed his towel onto the scraps of the carriage drivers and reached for his sheathed sword with an odd handle design. "For one who possesses an Ethos of even passing usefulness, a thousand gold would draw a roll of the eyes, my lord. I hear Rekordia is especially generous this time of year."

With a cackle, the horned man would spin both axes and point them in a wide, spanning motion across those who had stepped outside, including the security mannekin who had readied their weapons near the carriage doors. Alto's other hand slowly reached towards the handle of his sword as he glanced at the actions of his allies to ascertain how soon he should make his next move. His expression deepened upon hearing a mention of Ethos - clearly concerned as to how informed random highwaymen could be.

"And ol' Boss Kirn is in the mood for a payday. You fancy folk shouldn'a stepped outta bounds this time of year - it's OUR time! Toss away your weapons an' this'll be an easy life transition for y'all."

Chloe slowly stepped back towards the carriage doors, while Rio cracked his knuckles and looked towards his classmates as if curious who would be first to act among them. Some of the bandits slowly closed in with their axes and swords, while others stayed back and readied arrows or bolts. They seemed evenly divided on each side, with each group possessing four melee combatants and two ranged combatants, while the horned and eastern man remained in front of the carriages. Despite obliterating the driver mannekin, the horses pulling each carriage would appear unharmed.

Iris Ascendis

@ERode Makes sense, and I think that's something that could be on the table as a plot turn. It's also your turn to post, at the moment!

Iris Ascendis

Thanks for the good times, Est, I'll miss having ya around. Hope everything works out for you with whatever's going on, and you're always welcome to come back if at any point things improve!

As for the current situation IC, I'm not sure. It's too significant a plot to roll back or ignore, but I also won't control a player character. My initial thought is to continue on the current course, and focus the upcoming arc more on adventures in Vaal Nero itself with Otis, Chunji and Iraleth while the trial with Ciara is more of an offscreen affair? It's unfortunate it had to go this way, but that's the way forward I could see.