Heroes from the Future [Solo | Celestial Arms II Part VI]

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

As each of them regained their bearings after being horrifically impaled by huge hornet stingers, they first noticed that the glowing light they saw was still there, and cool air seemed to be spreading from there. It was possible that the light would lead them to the place they had seen, assuming they all saw the same thing.

The Pebble vibrated furiously for some reason, anxious to do whatever it was tasked to do.

For the time being, they ignored the light, and the pebble, and quickly discussed what they had felt. Apparently, all of them experienced the same thing: An invasion of insects, and them being part of the guard. Icyferno asked some basic questions about their visions, in particular to find out where they were and if they were in the same vision. A few awkward exchanges later, they all discovered that they were humorously placed in the bodies of someone of the opposite gender, and despite the tense situation, they laughed at each other, and went to confirm who they were.

Apparently, all of them were guards, and Frigo was the guard whom he had met up with before the attack. They spent a minute more on joking with each other about it, despite him never meeting them before, then moved on to the serious bit.

"Those hornets look tough to kill. I'm not sure we could make much of a difference being there."

"Indeed, the guards seemed to be ineffective at containing the hornet threat."

"All of us are using melee weapons. How are we going to take out the hornets?"

"Do you think we could protect the ranged guards instead? And see if they could leech off the Pebble and do some serious spell slinging. Might be worth a shot."

They knew they had very little time, so they quickly discussed possible options, and debated on the plan they should initiate. In the end, it was decided that the moment they entered, they would sprint for the location of the portal. Four dangerously armed individuals would attract guards, and if they started before the event, it could give the guards some time to form up at the location. That meant that the first wave would be better repelled, and if they saw fit to evacuate the area, even better. They would try to talk to the guards and explain the situation, if possible, but their main priority would be to bottleneck the portal as much as possible. They would leave the hornets that got past to the guards, and should the pebble give them strength as well, then they would switch roles since most of the guards would be weighted down by heavy armor and chasing after stray hornets may not exactly be their forte. It was noted that the portal only released hornets in the direction of the fountain, so there was no need for them to encircle it. A semicircle should be sufficient, with a small group directly behind to catch strays.

Their plan formulated, they quickly got ready as the pebble vibrated with ever increasing urgency.

"Any final words?" the Cleric asked, his face completely obscured by his metal helmet.

"Hope we don't get stinged too many times."

"...Agreed."

With that final exchange, the four of them stepped into the light, and entered the city which no longer exists on their maps.

~

Word count: 560
Total word count (Swashbuckler):  560 x 1.1 = 616
Notes: Post 1 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

As they walked forward towards the light, the white rays of photon energy engulfed them, forcing them to cover their eyes as they proceeded. When the light faded to daylight levels, they found themselves in a strangely good position. One could even say it might have all been a ploy by the Trickster who understood the mechanisms of the Pebble better than he did.

They appeared right in front of the fountain where the portal appeared, though sans portal. Judging by the people milling about and the odd stares probably stemming from 'where the heck did these guys come from?', it was safe to assume they had appeared before the event, or perhaps a timeline where the town did not need to be saved, which was highly unlikely.

"I don't remember us being here though... maybe our presence can change something?" Icyferno asked hopefully. If they were going to have to go through stinger hell, they had better be saving the city.

Pisapio's helmet gave no indication of his facial expression underneath, but he simply said, "Stick to the plan. Jeraun, weapons free."

At his own words, he brandished his mace and raised it high up in the air, shouting a battle cry as Jeraun did the same. Icyferno and Frigo followed in their own, weak battle cry versions, while Skuggi just lurked in the shadow of the nearest stall, watching the strange sight unfold.

At their shouts, the guards rushed forward, ready to stop the dangerously armed individuals. The Swashbuckler noted that one of the guards wore a robe, had black hair, and a wand at her waist. She had a fairly slim figure, and an attractive face which would definitely be out of his league. Man, he was a woman like that? He should have chosen the female option on character creation. Uh, then again, he was probably not ready for getting hit on by guys. Maybe he could stomach the idea if he were bisexual. He wondered if the other three were silently checking out the women whose bodies they were in. He wondered whether Skuggi was in someone as well. He would ask later.

Pisapio, as according to plan, demanded to... see more guards. The way he phrased it was comical, though. It was like he sounded disappointed that there so few guards, and demanded more to challenge him.

Wait, it might have been a good plan on his part. Either way brings more guards, though this way, they had better hope that the portal appears soon. Their lives might actually be depending on it now.

~

Word count: 430
Total word count (Swashbuckler): ( 560 + 430 ) x 1.1 = 1089
Notes: Post 2 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

A young guard who looked like a recruit sprinted off to get the reinforced Pisapio had asked for like a good boy, while the rest of the guard tensely surrounded them, as though they could feel that they would get slaughtered in a serious fight. Then again, considering that they should be able to see their level and a mysterious 'Adventurer' tag, they might be too cautious to risk a blow without outnumbering them. However, if they knew the truth, it was not whether the guards could outnumber them. It was whether the guards could outnumber the hornets, which all of them doubted was the case. They did, however, need as many guards as possible to help suppress the hornets while they dealt with it in any way they could, given that hornets can fly and their melee weapons could not. Pisapio had some ranged Cleric skills, Icyferno had throwing knives, Frigo had a bow and some arrows while Jeraun had his taunts to get them to fly low. They could probably manage the fight somehow.

The main problem, however, is whether the guards could. They could only hope that the additional guards would serve to defend each other better.

They had to admit that the guards were efficient, though. Which may be a bad thing, if someone ever caused a distraction to attack another area of the city. Not even five minutes in, the sound of many boots could be heard, as over two dozen guards jogged onto the scene from where the recruit guard guy fled, weapons at the ready. Without a word, they bolstered the ranks of the now smiling guards who had already surrounded them, and a guard which looked like a senior, or probably a captain, with greying hair, a rough face and sporting a thick rectangular sword on his back, stepped forward to address the four of them.

"Sirs, please drop your weapons and come with us peacefully." The guards behind him raised their weapons menacingly, as if to reinforce that resistance was futile.

That was the most cliche thing he had ever heard, Icyferno was about to say, then he realized that it was probably standard protocol. Standard protocol was often dull and, well, cliche! Not much he could do about it then.

Pisapio, their de facto leader, rose to the challenge. "Greetings, fellow warriors. I have come with dire news. This city is about to be invaded!"

At his words, the guards stiffened evidently. He wondered how many of them thought that this might be a distraction. "Pretty words, knight, but where is this invasion of yours coming from?"

No sooner had the words come out of the guard captain's mouth, did the booming earthquake arrived, forcing the guards to the ground. The Adventurers recovered much more quickly than the guards, and stared at the dark chasm of incoming hornets with their own eyes. The low buzzing came as the guards quickly recovered, directly their weapons in fear of the unknown portal which they might have believed the knight caused somehow. Icyferno wondered if they would be crowned heroes or labelled as criminals after this. He hoped for the former.

"Right there."

~

Word count: 530
Total word count (Swashbuckler): ( 560 + 430 + 530 ) x 1.1 = 1672
Notes: Post 3 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

The hornets came in droves, as expected, their shiny stingers primed to inject deadly venom into soft, human bodies. The two pebbles glowed and vibrated strongly, granting power to the four Adventurers. Energy flowed like an electric current as their strength rose to the limit, allowing them to face the oncoming threat.

Jeraun activated [Denkosekka] and flung himself into the midst of the hornets, drawing them in with a [Bushi Chousen] before falling back down to the earth, with the first six hornets that escaped plunging down after him. Pisapio raised his mace, and shouting a war cry to rally the guards, charged in to help Jeraun.

First phase completed: Stop the initial wave of hornets and get the guards to form up.

"Hey! Stop daydreaming! Get ready to engage!" Icyferno shouted at the stunned guards, whom he noticed had also received some of the energy of the two pebbles. he did note, however, that their boost was not inferior to their own. He doubted that they could use their levels as effectively as them, though. It was enough to let them fight on equal grounds with the hornets, though, assuming that it was simply a wave of level fifty hornets. Fireballs begin to rain down as the next few hornets popped out of the portal, and he noticed a few spells lobbed at the chasm, only to get sucked in like a ship getting dragged into a whirlpool. He made a mental note to stay away from the dark portal.

The guard captain organized his men, barking orders at them to approach defensively towards the portal. At least the old man had guts. His men were the opposite, but with their raised levels, they should be able to hold off the opposition and gain some courage.

In the mean time, Jeraun and Pisapio were right in front of the portal, drawing the bulk of the hornets erupting out with Jeraun drawing the hate and Pisapio supporting. Frigo and Icyferno were to support the guards in picking off the hornets while they got into position to take the brunt of the stinger's assault. He estimated that they were likely to need at least sixty seconds: It was not that the guards could not reach them in ten seconds, but he had to factor in the guards stopping to engage every hornet that went near them, which could drag the time to well over sixty seconds. Judging by the current status of Pisapio and Jeraun, it was safe to say that they could hold on with a decent amount remaining to continue supporting the guards.

All they had to do now was wait, and he was unfortunately never good at waiting.

~

Word count: 450
Total word count (Swashbuckler): ( 560 + 430 + 530 + 450 ) x 1.1 = 2167
Notes: Post 4 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.

[Icyferno]

Status: Fine / Tired

~

A sword swung down, cutting a hornet clean into two. A mace smashed some poor hornet's face in, and magic missles burned through the horde of hornets rushing through the portal. The guards had got into position at the front of the portal and helf off the brunt of the hornet invasion, allowing the Adventurers more leeway in running around containing the threat. Pisapio had the most difficult job, as he had to consistently rotate between the two moblie Adventurers and Jeraun, who went around attempting to draw the hornets back into the area with taunts. Their mana was steadily depleting, so they attempted to slow their skill usage, doing more running around than he would have hoped he would have to do. Mana was as finite as health, and the guard clerics were too preoccupied with saving their own to help them much. It was a battle of attrition where they were unsure of when to expend all their might.

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, the time to use said might was fast approaching. As the hornets surged forth in greater numbers with every passing moment, the morale of the guards begin to fall as even their slightly enhanced abilities begin to fail them due to sheer number of opponents. For every hornet they strike down, another two or three took its place, each as eager to kill them as the other. Their mana reserves were even lower than that of the Adventurers, making it difficult for them to continue to hold back the hornets without switching out.

To make matters worst, the hornets have been gathering above the portal, and seemed to be surrounding a red energy core.

The name of the hornet swarm was no longer [Praesepe Sentinel]. It was now the [Praesepe Hive], and out for blood..

~

Word count: 300
Total word count (Swashbuckler): ( 560 + 430 + 530 + 450 + 300 ) x 1.1 = 2497
Notes: Post 5 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.

[Icyferno]

Status: Fine / Tired

~

As soon as he had taken note of the monstrous red light known as the [Praesepe Hive]. Where the other mobs were weak, this one matched them in level, and probably overpowered them in might.

"Submit."

As soon as it spoke that word, a red light split off from the main body, and washed over all of those present, Adventurer and Guard alike. The Adventurers quickly checked for status debuffs, and noted that they were caught under the effects of some taunt skill. That did not sound good in the slightest. It meant that they were forced to abandon the outlying hornets and focus on the boss directly. While it would be good to take out the root cause of the problem first, the collateral damage in terms of infrastructure costs and civilian casulaties may be huge later on. Not like they had a choice in this cause, though.

The guards, being closer to the boss threat, engaged it first, a shower of white light covering them as their healers sent out a pulse of healing energy to restore some health to the guards whose health were barely above the yellow halfway mark. And it was not a moment too soon.

"Despair."

The voice, whose overtones made Icyferno cringe, spoke another word, and in doing so, a hornet engulfed in red energy launched itself at a guard, whose shield broke upon impact as the hornet smashed itself into him, killing itself and taking the guard into the red zone. Said guard was unfortunately swarmed by a few hornets, and by the time his companions jabbed and hacked them to death, all that was left was an unidentifiable corpse full of holes.

The first death in the guard squad sent waves of despair amongst them, as they had believed in the strange power of the Pebble, that it would guide them to victory. That death symbolized their mortality against a very real threat which could and would kill them, and all they cared about, should it be given the chance.

And thus, the dreadful battle for the city of Lune raged.

~

Word count: 350
Total word count (Swashbuckler): ( 560 + 430 + 530 + 450 + 300 + 350 ) x 1.1 = 2882
Notes: Post 6 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.

[Icyferno]

Status: Wounded / Exhausted

~

Pisapio quickly healed up the party, despite being the first to warn of careful mana consumption. "So, any final words before we take on the boss?" The Cleric asked nonchalantly, as though they were only about to fight a goblin.

The three of him looked at him pointedly. "What?" He asked, "I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"Now's not the time for fun and games, the People of the Land cannot revive, and their numbers are falling with every passing moment. If that thing wants a fight, let's bring it to him and finish this off once and for all. Then you can have fun and games." Icyferno gave his equipment a once over to ensure that it was not about to fall off of him, then looked to the [Praesepe Hive]. "That thing looks really tough though..."

"I know. That's why we have to beat it before the guards lose all hope and give up."

As they faced the swarm of hornets, only one thought came to mind: Why had they not thought of bringing pesticide? Even if they did not know they were going to be fighting a boss literally crawling with insects, the thought of insects such as cockroaches should have at least urked them enough to encourage them to bring some pesticides. Well, it mattered not now. They had a hornet hive to clear.

Engaging in combat with the nightmare of a genius was tedious as best, horrifying difficult at worst. To start off, the hive was floating, just like every other hornet, forcing them to rely on their weaker, secondary ranged attacks. That, and Pisapio, their healer, relied on his mana to heal them as well. All in all, they started with a huge disadvantage.

But fortunately for them, since there were many guards around, and the fight sequence would be too long to write in the span on one post, the only thing that could be said was that it was a difficult fight, and that was all. One could complain that they were being deprived of the juicy action, but there was so much going on in that fight which lasted over fifteen minutes that killed at least ten guards, the details too gruesome to share, that the details had to be omitted. Jeraun, being the main tank, even died once, which drained Pisapio's mana empty to revive him. It was a dangerous moment then, with no healer for a full minute as Pisapio went to the back row to recover mana through potions as the rest fended the hornets off. But all in all, it looked like a regular field boss run, except this one was tough and they had huge disadvantages, making them rely heavily on mage guards.

As the last of the red orb faded, the hornets begin to fall out of the sky, one by one, and the portal slowly begin to fade away. The Adventurers, exhausted after the battle, collapsed on the ground, panting hard as the surge of energy from the Pebbles faded away, signalling the end of the battle.

They did it, they fought off the [Praesepe Hive] saved the city! He wondered if they would be hailed as heroes by the townsfolk now.

~

Word count: 540
Total word count (Swashbuckler): ( 560 + 430 + 530 + 450 + 300 + 350 + 540 ) x 1.1 = 3476
Notes: Post 7 of 7 for part 6 of the Celestial Arms II Questline.