[ORP] From the Woods - The Monster Revealed!

[Smerdle]

Was that thing... laughing? Well, that wasn't very nice. First it had come to destroy their new homes and now it was laughing?

Mmur trailed after the behemoth, listening to its otherwordly chuckling. Maybe it was just happy? He kicked ineffectually at its foot, hoping to slow it down if it was actually planning on razing the compound. He still didn't own much more than his ever-present helm, but it would be a shame to see all of the hard work his fellows had done go to waste.

HP: 40
Damage: 0  

[Grey Dragon]

Attacks whizzed past the creature, some striking mud and earth from it's body, others merely grazing the foliage. The laugh continued, it seemed every failed attack brought renewed mirth from whatever it was, and every success merely broke pieces off it.

Invictus' second arrow sank deep, all but disappearing into the earthy flesh, but the scythe from the Death protector sliced a swath of mud off the creature to reveal a thick weave of... roots? The seemingly ineffective attacks from the clan had begun to take their toll, earth had begun to reveal roots, and where it's bulk met the ground, one could begin to catch glimpses of heavy black hooves under the blanket of vegetation.

Unburdened was perhaps the most accurate observation. The heavy hoofbeats came on faster, the creature otherwise unaffected by the wounds that graced it's hide. Was it's goal to simply trample the horsemen, before moving on to the village they had worked so hard to build?

((BOSS HP: ???-44/???

New round! Show that creature what the lost clan is made of!))  

[Blade Kuroda]

That laugh was rather unnerving. Tseng took in a deep breath and look towards the others who were attacking. The fact that this beast was picking up speed due to them knocking stuff off was not particularly a good sign.

"Flying pebble!" he called out as he kicked up a rock before kicking it again to send it right at the creature.

It hit. But he had a feeling it didn't really do all too much.

HP: 40
Damage: 1  

[Smerdle]

Through it all, the creature continued its strange laughter. Mmur would be the first to admit he was a pretty happy fellow, but this amount of mirth for no clear reason was kind of excessive, even for him. He stopped, watching the thing drop pound after pound of dirt all over the forest. Weird.

HP: 40
Damage: 0  

[ramenli]

This thing was no quick vaisel, to have time to dodge when he attacked. Faced by something like this he managed to hit, punching into the filth, not sure if he was doing any real damage, but hopefully he could slow it down for more reinforcements to arrive.

HP: 40
Damage: 4  

[santime]

Wait a moment. Why was this thing laughing? And what were those roots they all could see now?

Eisheth stopped in the middle of the battle, and tried to think. She wasn't as experienced with plants, as Faiyum, for example, but she worked with crops, as all the alchemists did, and from what she was seeing, she would say.. she would say...

It was a complete mess of roots, mud, ground and fresh soil. Could be an animated mass of ground itself, with the bushes, grass, probably some trees hidden inside? And if it was an animated ground, how did it appear, in the first place? Was it a random fluctuation of free Fear energy, was it a spirit of the forest (or its certain part), or was it somehow created by someone on purpose? And that also led to a practical question, since Eisheth always tried to be on the practical side: could the thing be controlled?...

May be... may be, we could tame it, like we do with the minipets, the alchemist thought. Beat it to unconsciousness, and tame it. The thought of the beast doing some works for the horsemen, like fertilizing the beds, was amusing.

All right, she decided. Right now we just have attack, sine it already begun.

HP: 40 / 40
Damage: MISS  

[Boozver]

Everyone was fighting now - and the priestess nowever inapt in battle, joined forces with other horsemen. If only she were more powerful.... If only her hand was stronger....

It's not that she didn't like the battle, but she felt so helpless. All her previous battles were fought in dreams. She remembered herself shrunk in fear when hearing about the battles with the hunters for the first time, That was terrifying enough even when told, not acted out. Since that times she witnessed countless battles from the safety of the trance mist, and even then it always left her with an awkward frozen feeling. She was not by nature kind, a feature quite common among her kind, and the glee of killing sang in her veins whenever she saw massacres in other people's dreams. Yet, wielding her own weapon filled her with awe and fear. With a desperate scream, Heidla attacked the creature.

Wasn't she a powerful and proud horseman after all? Why should she be so hesitant in attacking a creature her Heir was attacking? Why did she feel so awkward, and her hand failing to make the fatal blow? Why should she end up with barely scratching the wretched creature?

Damage: 1
HP: 40/40  

[medigel]

"You took your time," Shik greeted Shaheen gruffly. "Too busy preening for Prom?" While banter was normal between them, the horseman sounded more stressed than usual - to the point that it was actually evident how annoyed he was with her belated arrival, rather than implied behind his characteristic flat affect. The creature was moving faster now, and while some of the others were beginning to cut through its hide it didn't seem to do much else in the way of stopping the thing . . .

Well, there was one simple way to fix that.

Shik fixated her with a stare for several seconds before, dagger in hand, the executioner dove towards the creature's hooves, channeling his anger into a fury of cuts and stabs through the vegetation to get at what lied beneath.

HP: 40
Damage: 8  

[Seussi]

Shaheen was forced to bite her tongue before she could reply. Now was not the time nor the place for childish bickering, even if it was Shikoba. Still, he seemed an awful lot more..testy..then usual. She gave him a pointed look, one that she hoped conveyed her feelings of how much she didn't appreciate his snide comment, before she decided to turn her attention back to the battle at hand.

But something about the way he was looking back at her made her pause. Was he trying to tell her something? When he looked away, she could instantly see what he was focusing on. Of course, the legs! If they wanted to stop this creature, that would be the best place to attempt to take it out. Following his lead, she flew down to add her own attack to his, though the hit she landed with her blade wasn't nearly as successful.


HP: 40
Damage: 2  

[xoxomenai]

Roots?? ... Kiwi turned to stare puzzled to the beast. Fai would probably love to dissect it's massive carcass, if they could ever manage to defeat the creature before it trampled the entire reserve. He gritted his teeth, rising back atop his mount as he hurried for his charging enemy. His scythe swirled on it's chain, hooking into the earthen creature's flesh as he tore a new scratch along it's side. A firm yank snatched his weapon free as the horseman circled round again.

This was their homeland now. He wouldn't see his home destroyed a second time.

Kiwi's HP: 40/40
Damage: 3  

[Grey Dragon]

The kicked rock merely disappeared into the creature's foliage, adding to it's cloak of earth, the fierce punch sinking into dirt. The blow loosened up more earth above that dense root weave, but the cry from the Death priestess brought on only more laughter.

The fierce slices from the executioner were the first that seemed to jar the creature. Massive hooves lifted as the creature reared with a shriek, revealing dark shadow under the curtain of foliage. The legs were long, lean, heavyset bones and knobbly joints clearly visible above the black fetlocks. The view disappeared as the great hooves crashed back down to earth, stomping fiercely and dangerously as the second blade approached.

The creature let out an odd hum, the deep noise seeming to echo inside it's body before escaping from under it's earthen cloak. It was a noise of speculation.

And then it resumed it's bold approach.

((BOSS HP: ???-63/200-ish... maybe?

This is a new round, and it looks like you have quite the ways to go! Is this thing... playing with the Lost Clan?))  

[Smerdle]

For a moment, Mmur thought he saw something approaching conscious thought out of the thing. It was like when he used to fight camels. Right before they went down for the count, there was that spark... that acknowledgement in their eyes of the fact that it had been a fight well fought.

It was too bad this thing actually didn't seem to be going down. And that speculative sound seemed thoroughly sarcastic. Mmur sighed. What did it want?

At least, if it turned out to be harmless they weren't hurting it much? Once again, the soldier bemoaned the lack of proper FEAR in Halloween. It made them all so... weak.

He approached it again, his whip lashing out and striking the creature on a hoof.

HP: 40
Damage: 2  

[ramenli]

The punch had done just about nothing, merely loosening up a bit of dirt, the results of his attempt raining down on him. This creature was unusually strong, and its defenses were almost something that Soren was jealous of. He raked at it with his gauntlet, trying to drag more dirt away. Perhaps if they all targeted one point on the creature's body?

"Focus your attacks," he called to no one in particular. "If it has no weak spot we will create one."

HP: 40/40
Damage: 4  

[Seussi]

Well, something Shikoba had done had seemed to cause a reaction, and Shaheen only too happily combined her efforts with his, aiming for the same area he was attacking, wings flapping behind her to keep her aloft. A voice rang out, telling them they should maybe focus on one place. Well, that's what she was already doing!

Rolling her eyes to herself, she struck out with her blade again, the edge of her dagger glancing off of..whatever it was. Bone?


HP: 40
Damage: 1  

[Grey Dragon]

The hooves stomped threateningly, creating deep potholes in the earth, but they didn't turn back. The mass of clumped earth and thick roots trod onwards like the finest trained warhorse.

And then... It seemed to collapse in on itself.

The huge humped back of the creature dropped by several feet, it's earthen hide pooling on the ground like a skirt around it's body. And then a giant bony nose appeared, sliding out from under it's skin, jaws gaping, long, pointed teeth bared in a skeletal grin. But the laughter that echoed from within that great, timeworn skull was now eerily familiar, higher pitched now that it had emerged from it's protective dirt covering. A flash of gold. More laughter. And then it became clear that it wasn't a giant beast after all. Under that huge draconic skull, a clan form. And as a wide ribcage followed, it followed with gold bangles and dark feathers. And another giggle.

"NICE SHOT CAPTAIN~" Came the loud cry, resounding inside that skull to give it a monstrously deep overtone. The former Famine Heir lifted the huge skull off her shoulders, and lay it down next to the ribcage like a little ghoul showing off a new drawing. Her grin was ear to ear. "You all won't believe the things I found!"

She lifted the hem of the earth skin, and gave it a huge shake as though it were bedsheets being freed of wrinkles. "THE PLANTS, not the real plants, the structure and phenotypes are different, yes... But similar... Reminiscent of four clans. All the plants!"

And sure enough, not only had she brought home half a dragon skeleton, but the Protector had woven a literal cloak of useful vegetation. At first what looked like unfamiliar plants began to reveal themselves, the one with white flowers held a water-plentiful root, the long stalks like the leaves burned in some Death clan rituals. The heavy moss, when ground, made a bright ochre war paint. And there were others, plants that could be cultivated and raised.

She might have been missing completely for countless days, but when Cymbeline was told to go forage, she FORAGED.