Expedition to Autunno Keep [PLOT] Day 1 - Hard Landing

((Sorry for the lack of posts. Someone thought bringing someone infected with an early flu around a guy on immuno-suppressive treatment was a good idea, and I'm paying the price for their stupidity. Also, things are going to start hitting the fan.))

"I concur... The Grimm are as always... the common and greater foe..."

Leo raised his arms to the two Beowolves flanking Kirkka, projecting cones of force to try knocking them into the firewall, before glancing at the forest and trusting Kirkka to be able to handle the first. He looked around for Viola, finally catching sight of her riding a burning nevermore to the ground.

As she hit the ground, Leonius growled. "Well... there goes my... rangefinder... But I can simply... eyeball the close targets..." He moved toward her, clenching his fist. "Modus: Iudicium." He casually walked past the nevermore on his way to Viola, unloading a barrage of Cast Repeater shots into the bird's head.

As his bunker shields came up, the giant positioning himself to protect the unconscious girl whom he was very quickly developing feeling for, his cannons swung up and forward, spreading to engage multiple hostiles.

It was a look at the Beowolves swarming Isabelle, glimpsed through the flames, that confirmed his first target, his guns turning and coughing forth a barrage of fragmentation shells.

Within four feet of their targets, the shells burst, an effect like a shotgun at close range making the world scream in the Beowolves', and Isabelle's, ears. Only too late did Leonius see El Taladro charging in.


The Beowolf Yin engaged roared as the swords bit into its flesh, quickly slumping to its knees. Its roar slowly becomming a gurgling whimper, the Beowolf merely looked at Yin.

... Then it exploded.

The remaining two Beowolves are barely fazed by the explosion, quickly leaping in as a faint red glow begins to crawl across their skin from the "mask" on their faces.


If the Beowolves realized Isabelle's growing panic they didn't show it, the pack's tongues continuing to assail the 'pup' in an attempt to calm her down.

What they did notice was the result of Leo's assault, several in the direction of the booms just in time to have their heads and upper bodies fragmented and scattered by the assault...

What they did notice was El Taladro from the other direction, his slam turning several Beowolves' upper bodies to paste, and forcing the rest to weather Leo's assault and covering him from much of the storm of fragments.

... The rest of the wolves, that is to say what remained of the ones felled by the surprise pincer attack, fell on top of Isabelle. She was no longer their focus however, and with several roars and howls, they began throwing their number over the firewall, one at a time as five Beowolves turned to face El Taladro to protect the little one.


As Melissa cut down the first two Beowolves, her naginata parting their throats like water, the third charged.

She would have been able to make out the barest red glow under its skin as it impaled itself on her weapon, its skin cracking and splitting as light poured out.

She had only two seconds to react before the beowolf exploded.


When Nigrum pointed his blades at the wolves, they stared at him.

Then they looked at each other.

Three of the wolves' snouts pointed at one of their number. The fourth pointed at another. Democracy apparently being what it was, two of the beowolves picked up the third, throwing it at Nigrum as the three retreated, making a large amount of noise to cover a fifth Beowolf creeping behind Nigrum, only charging when there was sufficient noise to take the young man by surprise.

Nobody said the beowolves of Autunno were smart, but they were clever.


As Aoife cut the Beowolf's arm, it flinched, allowing her to drive White Dragon into the beast's throat.

To someone who was not aware of the other explosions, it would have come as a complete surprise when the Beowolf detonated, the other Beowolves stopping at Aoife's wall of fire to snarl at the explosion victim.


The Beowolf Aphelion threw hit the two approaching like a ton of bricks, and his followup assault was like adding a semi truck to the metaphor pile.

The force was so great, the head of one of the two was torn off, and faint red sparkles could be seen glinting in the fading evening sunlight filtering through the leaves as it left the Beowolf's neck.

... Was that... Dust!?

Had Aphelion time to contemplate it, perhaps he would have. As it stood, an explosion rocked the forest where three Beowolves once had been, the bones adding a deadly shrapnel to the mix.

Yin flew back as the explosion knocked him into the air. He managed to raise a weak shield before he slammed into a tree. He looked up, dazed and incredibly confused. This thing just exploded... He thought as he saw the mangled wreck that was the beast's corpse.

He managed to stand as the two remaining Beowolves came towards him, their faces starting to glow. Yin focused his aura in his legs and flew forward at startling speed, aiming a slash at each of the creatures as he whipped by. (Light-Medium due to speed)

80/78

Kirkka, concentrating on maintaining the barrier of flame, only barely noticed the Beowolf falling on her head. She turned just enough to get her staff between them, and the force of the jumping creature knocked her down. The two tumble forward, stopping just short of the fires, with the beowolf closer. Regaining her senses, she swiftly kicks herself off the ground, strengthened by her aura, and a blast of wind smashes into the ground and the beowolf, sliding him into the flames and adding to the pile of delicious, flame-charred wolf meat. Upon landing, she steps closer to the skyboat. I can't fight and maintain this. They are throwing each other over the walls... and I swear I saw one explode. Just what is going on here...As her focus wavered just slightly, a visible change in the height and strength of the flames could be noticed.

"Get the cargo off the ship, now!! We can protect crates a lot easier!" She shouts through the open door of the airship, then turns and directs her attention to the flames. The walls are shorter now by several feet, and the flames are less intense. The beowolves may be able to rush through them now and survive.. this is getting out of hand very quickly.

[100 HP/82 Aura]

El Taladro roared as he felt the soft bodies of the beowolves give under his superior strength and will. He felt more than saw the hot shrapnel rain down with great force upon the group, the majority of the pieces tearing into the wolves. Some of them, however, caught the luchador in the back, lighting his torn, blood-stained training hoodie on fire. He stood as the explosions rang out around him, the fire burned hot and bright next to him and the blood of his enemies dripped from his merciless hands.
He loved it.
Adrenaline coursed through his veins, more so than before, and El Taladro reached to his chest and tore the burning garment in half, leaving him bare chested with one burning piece gripped in each fist. He arched his back and let out another roar that shook him to the bones, before looking at the five beowolves in front of him and calling out to them,
"WICKED CREATURES. YOUR BODIES ARE SOFT AND YOUR MINDS ARE DULL. I WILL STAMP YOU OUT."
His feet dug into the earth as he took off running, quickly gaining momentum. With a grunt, he launches himself into the air, spinning gracefully as he makes a grab at one of the beowolves being tossed over the wall of fire.

100/45

Flying back as well from the explosion, she would jam the spear into the ground and stop herself from any major damage. Despite this she would be bleeding from her right arm, shrapnel having cut the fat next to her shoulder.  Shaking from rage at it, she would sheath Shadow Dragon and activate swap the dust in White before activating its hottest form, the flames what before were a rich orange, now white with the spear roaring as animalistically as its targets. Targeting the two what were by the wall of flame, Aoife throws the spear for the closest ones neck, aiming to take it out and impale the one behind it while the spear is on fire. [Heavy, Fast ]

90 / 100

Taking a cruel satisfaction in slaughtering the three Beowolfs, Melissa smiled, already pulling Soothing Mayhem out of the last Beowolf, preparing to continue killing more. Pulling her weapon out with well-practised ease, she noticed the Beowolf had some sort of red glow? Uh oh.

Too late, she realized something bad was going to happen. The Beowolf exploded. She managed to react to the explosion and instant after it begun, but it was too late. The sheer force and proximity to the corpse sent her flying back several meters, the blast easily tearing apart her weak aura defenses. She collapsed on the ground, in heavy pain, but not unconscious just yet, her aura just barely holding off the blast.

100 Health/0 Aura

Aphelion flew out of the centre of explosion. Although it hurt terribly, he managed to bring up his bodylock barrier just as he flew into the airship. It helped, but didn't stop the full force as it broke, Aphelion falling to the ground.

...they just blew up...how cowardly...well, at least my back... hurts less now... maybe it was a shifted bone thought Aphelion. He exhaled loudly and heaved himself back onto his feet.

Might as well... drive through as many as I can... before I'm knocked out...if they're just gonna explode like that.

He dropped his bags and pulled out two energy drinks. He opened both and filled his mouth.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" shouted Aphelion after swallowing, feeling the return of energy into his body. He suddenly hunched over and coughed up a bit of blood, but he quickly wiped his mouth.

With his speed boost still active, he started using The Blazing Crane rapidly to gain even more momentum. He pushed both of his palms forward, at first slowly, but constantly getting faster. He decided to run straight at the remaining Beowolves and drive his palms into as many as he could [Medium, but I'm hoping for a pileup]

40/60

Nigrum watched as the Beowolves in front of him voted in swift manner, if only democracy worked that fast in real life. The loser looked a little dismayed by the fact that it lost. It then shut down the entire thread until it's vote was made to be the sacrifice. Two of it's allies insuring that justice and the beowolf way was preserved picked up by it's peers and thrown towards Nigrum before they started retreating and creating a cacophony of noise as they did so.

Nigrum ran towards the beowolves "not so fast" He stepped to the side of the beowolf as if flew towards him. He spun towards it and slashed at it as it passed. He sheathed his blade as he followed through with the strike. As a result of his turn he caught sight of a Beowolf charing towards him out of the corner of his eye. It's approach had been hidden by the sounds the others had been making.

He clicked the ear of the Panther and shifted his right hand on the panther. The fifth beowolf jumped towards him attacking to tackle him. He swung the panther forward spinning it in his hand as he did so, the yellow glow of the eyes creating a spiral like pattern with one turn in the air. The swing launched a wave of electricity towards the escaping wolves.[medium] As Nigrum went through the spin he dropped towards the ground and panther tucked under his arm, his left hand had moved to be on top of the panther's head. His drop putting had put him under the beowolf that leaped at him. He slammed on the head of the panther pushing spike of the cane up at the beowolf [medium].

_________
health: 95
Aura: 91

Chiu rolled away as the Beowolf fell. Climbing to her feet, she approached cautiously. It wasn't dead, not yet, but a couple more rounds should remedy that situation. Stopping just out of arm's reach she locked her gaze on the Grimm's ruined face.

"I want to tell you this isn't personal." She said as she leveled her weapon at it's head. The back of her head tickled in anticipation of the kill. "It is though. It really-"

"Behind!" Ce's voice roared through her head half a second before the sound of heavy feet reached her ears.

Spinning around, she intercepted the Beowolf's swipe with her left before locking it's wrist into the sword's hook. From there it just took a simple rotation of her wrist to gain leverage and hyper extend it arm as her right switched back to sword. It that position it wouldn't take much to sever the arm. She already had one wounded Beowolf on her hands, best not add to it. Instead, she dropped her right blade into it's neck, just below it c2 vertebra. [m]


98/18

NOTES:
Ammo: r- 4/7x3 l-7/7x3
Status: r-sword l-sword

Isabelle held her eyes shut tight, praying that someone would stop these god damn Beowolves.  Moments later, everything went silent in her ears, only to be replaced by loud ringing.  She wasn't sure if it was gunfire or explosives, but whatever happened had stopped the Beowolves.  Opening her eyes, she felt something fall on her and looked to see...  Beowolf remains.  Quickly pushing them off and staggering to her feet, she picks up her swords and looks around at the battle field.  As the ringing in her ears subsided, she witnessed Beowolves exploding when they were attacked by her comrades.

... Suicidal bombers?

As she slips in to unconsciousness, Viola's thoughts seem to be a massive jumble of questions.

How am I going to tell him? How am I going to tell any of them? When do I do it? Why did I accept this assignment? Is any of it worth it? Do I do it sometime in the Keep, or before we get on the airship... I wish it was possible to contact ****** to let *** know that I can't complete the assignment as planned...

It's all about esteem
It's all about dreams
It's all about making the best out of everything
You'll know when you're fine
Cause you'll talk like a mime


100/50

((OOC: *'s refer to a name/gender that isn't revealed yet.))

"OH DREK," came Leo's response when, the flames having died down enough for him to see the result of his onslaught, he saw El Taladro burning. He fought to keep his mind on the here and now, sighing with relief when his friend did a very El Taladro thing.

His attention was quickly on Kirkka as she barked that order, however, glaring at her.

"I question... the tactics involved in your request... Unloading the cargo will take time... and expose noncombatants to this battle... during the unloading." He turned, and his cannons belched forth fire and death as another six fragmentation rounds mowed down Beowolves trying to... was that a bridge!? Did they just try to knock down a tree to walk over the flames!? Leonius shook his head, focusing on the situation. "We can better protect cargo... but only by putting noncombatants... in harms way..." He looked down at Viola's unconscious form, growling. "If putting up an effective... defense is beyond your capability... might I suggest relaying relative coordinates... so I can call down the sky?"


Yin flashed between the two Beowolves, his blades cutting deep into them. This, unfortunately, meant he was close to them when the glow became blindingly intense, and the two beowolves exploded like the first.


When El Taladro grabbed one of the flying beowolves, it could be heard making a loud yelp, which was quickly interrupted by a wet crack.

The remaining five Beowolves, looking at Isabelle, then again at El Taladro, decided that the pup was on its own and retreated.

One, however, inexplicably exploded. The other four didn't seem to care.


The two Beowolves well to Aoife's spear, their bodies igniting under the heat before it set off the dust in their necks, another large explosion sounding in the forest.


As the smoke cleared around Melissa, glowing eyes were visible in the foliage. The Beowolves were watching, but they kept their distance...


Two beowolves looked surprised as Aphelion burst through them. Contrary to expectations, they did not explode.

The third?

Did.


Had Nigrum been an omniscient observer who had seen what had been happening, perhaps the two beowolves exploding wouldn't have come as a surprise.

As it stood, it didn't particularly matter.

Because the two beowolves had exploded.


As Chiu's sword pierced the Beowolf's neck...

... Do I even have to say it?

Boom.


"One in the pipe..."

A scream echoed through the forest. Not a human, or even inhuman scream.

The scream of a rocket as it impacted a cluster of beowolves.

The scream of a stream of bullets as it began thinning the herd.

Through the trees, a massive man with short-cropped white hair, and a small pair of bear ears strolled forward, the rapidly rotating barrels of his gun spewing lethal bits of metal before stopping, as the large hole in the center belched forth another rocket.

Help had, apparently, arrived.

OOC:

Tssh. As if they will be safe when our defenses fall and the ship is overwhelmed? "Its either that, or they leave now and we maybe get the cargo later. If the Grimm are all the way out here from the Ruins, we won't find a better place to collect it!" She retorts, without even looking toward Leonius. "You want me to call your targets from here? If everyone wasn't outside dying, maybe you could just rain death on everything around us!? So go collect them! I'm not your target caller." How Irritating. There's too much risk in providing stronger defenses from myself. Everyone rushed out and are fighting alone instead of together. This isn't going as planned. I can't be delayed forever...

A massive explosion, followed by streams of metallic death cross the battlefield, taking down a score of Beowolves.  In the distance, a hulking form is present, providing sufficient assistance against the Grimm. Kirkka watches for only a moment, before checking her surroundings and seeing the remaining Grimm in the area dispersing or collapsing. When the immediate threat is gone, she takes a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment, as the flames fade away.

Calm. Support allies. Kirkka again surveys her surroundings, taking note of the top of the skyboat, in case some beowolves were hiding or some such. She speaks aloud, again without looking directly to Leonius. "It all worked out in the end. We should gather everyone and and get this cargo to the camp before it gets too dark. Unless injuries are severe enough to require immediate attention, that is." She begins walking away from the skyboat, toward the largest gathering of students. Her staff remains out and fully built as she walks, keeping her eyes on the surroundings.



100 HP/80 Aura

Quickly retrieving the spear, she would spot Melissa on the floor and instantly run to her, quickly setting up a fire wall around them in case of attackers despite the fight being over, "Hey! You okay Mell?"

Still a little dazed from the explosion and subsequent force, Melissa replied, though it took her a few moments to recognize someone was talking, "Blehhhh... Beowolf... explosion.... Not fun... "

Staggering to her feet, she suddenly remembered something rather important, "My weapon?!" She said, startled, looking around the area, no longer staggering or dazed. If an inanimate object could be her friend, Soothing Mayhem would be her best friend. It had been with her for many years, losing it would be... disastrous, especially with how dangerous this 'field trip' was beginning to look.

And then she saw it. Nearby, inside the fire wall. Broken. In half. She picked it up, and stared at it, emotionlessly piecing together the story of how it broke. Judging by the location of the break, cracks and what had happened, she deduced that a design oversight had lead to part of the heat and force of the explosion entering the dust chamber, setting off an internal explosion that broke the weapon in half. It was definitely repairable, but she would need a workshop, tools and materials. Things that were available in beacon, but not here.

"...It broke." She stated, dumbly staring at the two pieces.

Walking to her side, Aoife would sympathetically put her hand on Melissa's shoulder. Looking over the broken weapon, she tries to console her, "It doesn't look too bad. Duct tape could easily repair that."

"No... Structural integrity compromised with destruction of center, breaking of several parts, cracks in other parts. Would more likely just fall apart again or break even further upon encountering any sort of force." Melissa said, shaking her head slowly, her voice having changed to one devoid of emotion.

Despite what she was saying though, her hands unconsciously attempted to put Soothing Mayhem back together, shoving the two parts against each other to no avail.

Trying to give her a Christian side hug to try and comfort her, she looks at her and puts her other hand out, "Then we will make it better and stronger, so that it never breaks again."

Melissa gave Aoife a small smile, "Of course... But I don't have the time, materials or tools to do that right now. For now though..." She said, before looking back down at the two broken pieces, analyzing the damage, going over possible repair scenarios in her head, with many flying through her head in an instant.

"...I need rope and a lot of bandages." She said dully, continuing to look at the damage and study the interior more carefully.

"...I have neither." Says the pink haired girl, taking her hand off Melissa and going to reach for the bag around her waist, taking it off and opening it for her, "We can store it in here until we are in a safer area, as we are sitting ducks currently."

"The battle appears to be over..." Melissa said, having noticed the lack of sounds of conflict after the few explosions earlier, "I'll have to ask around I guess."

She stood up and walked up to the fire wall, "And... Thanks... It's not often that someone actually cares about what happens to me..." She said, stopping and turning around at the wall.

"Why wouldn't I care? You are one of the few people I actually like on this trip." After commenting, Aoife kneels down and splits the spear in two, taking out one of the canisters of dust and replenishing its supplies before zipping it back up and sheathing her weapons.

Luckily, Yin had already managed to put some distance in between himself and the last two Beowolves. Enough so that, when they exploded, he was thrown to the ground, but otherwise unhurt. He quickly regained his footing and looked around for more enemies. All he heard was the rattle of gunfire and numerous explosions off to his right.

Realizing that he had been badly separated from the rest of the group during the fight, he went towards the gunfire, hoping that the gunfire wasn't directed at the rest of the students.

So only some explode... It doesn't seem to be relevant to the force of the attack. thought Aphelion as he jumped right through the Beowolf explosion with a very enhanced jump. He stopped and skidded out of it, his skin steaming slightly from the heat he just flew through.

He scanned the battlefield only to notice that the fight was being overtaken by bullets and rockets.

Clearly not somewhere I want to be.

Aphelion jumped up and, using his aura, leapt through the air back to the group. Upon landing, he coughed up a bit of blood, while his legs also folded neatly underneath him. He was exhausted and thirsty.

Not even caring about being subtle, Aphelion pulled out two bottles of cider and gulped them down, one after the other. Exhaling from delight, he put them back into the bag and started massaging his legs so that he was able to get up as fast as possible and look for ingredients to make a burn cream.

"I guess I'm just used to... nevermind... Thanks!" Melissa said, and she looked noticeably happier and energetic than before.

"I think it's safe now, could you..." She said, gesturing towards the wall of fire in front of her.

Rolling her eyes, she withdraws White Dragon briefly, Launching it at a far end of the wall to literally explode a hole in the wall of flames, dirt flying around as she comments, "Couldn't you just go through it? It's not that hot."

"Heh... Well I kinda completely depleted my aura when I got hit by the explosion and I wasn't sure how hot the fire would be... Would you walk into random fire if you didn't know how hot it was?" Melissa said a little sheepishly as she stepped out and looked around to see what they had missed while surrounded by the wall of fire, still holding the two pieces of Soothing Mayhem in her hands.