Hello there, hello there. If you follow my blog normally, there's a chance you'll see this right after I post a couple more entries because I got a couple done and ready to go all at once. But unless something stupid happens between me typing this sentence and tomorrow, I should officially be caught up in time for my next session. Thanks for sticking with me.
Speaking of which, I'm not gonna keep harping on about it after this post, but here's another call for a response or some other feedback regarding my plans for this blog.
So where we left off, the group -- our primary Circle of three, plus Stray Dog's honor guard, plus Wandering Dawn's giant wolverine familiar Mollie (whom Wandering Dawn is riding), plus a Bone Lion that Lecht summoned, plus a couple of Hounds of the Five Winds that Stray Dog summoned (pause for breath) -- had just burst into a large auditorium-like chamber in the retired salt mine that the Liczka family uses as a crypt.
Before them stand a mob of townsfolk who are part of the Leaves gang/possible cult, mixed in with a group of materialized Liczka family ghosts who look like well-fed noncombatant nobles brandishing spectral canes (possible spectral copies of the same cane). In front of them are Lana, a muscular woman with a glaive, and Wanaasan Kaga, a mercenary exorcist allegedly helping out this local rebellion pro bono with an oddly-impassive look on her face.
Stray Dog tells them this doesn't have to be a fight -- that they can stand down, and talk about this.
"What is there to talk about?" Lana asks. "What are you here for?"
Of course, what the group is here for is to get some answers from their leader, Anica, who may have arranged for her father's death and began a dangerous revolution in the wake of it.
Stray Dog realizes he doesn't have a good answer to her question, at least not one that'll prevent a fight. "I guess there is nothing to talk about, but I had to try."
Wandering Dawn quickly speaks up. "She is the only one we want. If she is that worth dying over, then ready your weapons. But if you value your lives at all, you will throw them to the ground and stand aside!" His voice echoes off the walls of the chamber, which has the perfect acoustics for this sort of thing.
Unfortunately, despite his efforts, the gang opts to ready their weapons. So he does what he can do -- he activates Glorious Solar Arsenal, generating an armor and shield of sunlight to serve as a banner inspiring everyone to move forward. Then he and Mollie charge forward into the gang, whipping around the red and white jade spear while the wolverine helps knocking them over and menacing them.
Stray Dog's flunkies and the magical Hounds he conjured charge forward at the ghosts while he himself begins building will for his magic. Lecht does something similar, readying their staff and holding their hands like a puppeteer pulling strings as they start summoning however many corpses they can reach to come to their aid as zombies. As the zombies emerge -- many from the family crypt, resembling some of the ghosts they now face, they call out "That's it, fine your other half and let's have a party!" Those zombies are joined by others who come out of the walls and floor elsewhere, the bodies of miners apparently interred in the hidden pockets of the mine.
Lecht begins to point at Kaga, attempting to direct the Bone Lion at her, but she's too fast and whips her hands around to unleash a blast of Essence at them. The bolt is wreathed in the fog, and Lecht tries to pull the zombies in to block the blast but a wave of cold -- the cold of the grave -- washes over them, chilling even them to the bone. But the Bone Lion still rushes forward, snapping at her arm and trying to bite it.
The other combatants surge forth at this point, the gang of the living attacking Wandering Dawn with Lana in front, but he manages to keep them back with the shield and sweeps of the spear and the assistance of Mollie rearing up to drive them back. The ghosts, directed by Kaga, attack in turn, defending themselves from Stray Dog's honor guard and Hounds. And the zombies just swarm over any enemies they can see.
Once Kaga's got a little bit of breathing room, she channels more power, the mist surrounding her going from fog into thick, miniature storm clouds. They rumble with thunder that echoes loudly in the room as sparks form and then become lightning that arcs across most of the room! It jumps from person to person, striking and blasting almost everyone opposing her, as Mollie presses herself down while Dawn uses shield to try and take the blunt of the force.
Stray Dog tries to keep his peoples' spirits up with a rallying cry, urging them onward as they and the Hounds tear into the ghosts.
Meanwhile, Wandering Dawn's anima flares up, but some of it channels flows into the spear's red jade blade as he sweeps it around and keeps the gang as managed as best he can. He puts his power into another strike, directing Mollie into a good position where he can just start driving his spear into the maddened mob over and over again, anima blazing now as he tears through them. The wolverine, similarly urged on, comes at them with teeth and claws in a near-mirror of her Solar master's fury.
Elsewhere, Lecht stumbles a bit -- it's been a while since they've felt proper pain, and they shoot a glare at Kaga. With a snappy gesture, they cast Flying Guillotine, sending a bone chain whipping at her. She partially deflects it with a cushion of conjured wind but it still tears into her shoulder with a spray of blood and a shriek of pain.
The Bone Lion charges at her to try and take advantage, as do the zombies, but she manages to keep ahead of them with her natural agility and command of the air between them. She aims the ghosts at the Bone Lion to try and fight it off, but it's stronger than they are.
Elsewhere, the mortal mob focuses on Wandering Dawn, coming at him with cudgels and dedication, but neither is enough to get through the Solar's defenses. Lana keeps their spirits up with a display of her own dedication, coming at him with her glaive -- but he raises his shield to test her and see how hard she can slam into him. And she hits hard, but not hard enough.
But now, with everyone else's attention diverted, the zombies strike. They surge forward, overwhelming everyone -- and I mean everyone, they got a hell of a roll -- bringing down every living thing with bone claws and teeth. In the process they shun their own spirits, who are demoralized into discorporation (especially since the necromancer who summoned them is also brought to the ground). But soon enough, the corpses vastly outnumber the living as the mob are destroyed by their dead fellows and former masters.
The only one from the Leaves' side of the battle still alive is Kaga, gasping and twitching with that impassive look still on her face. But then her body begins to jerk around, and the group can see something twitching and thrashing beneath her clothing like there's something else weird going on.
And we leave off there!
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