Difference between revisions of "Hare Today, Gone to Vector"

Latest revision as of 09:28, 13 October 2013

Maira has posed:
Maira is very, very lost. Its like something out of a story; a young woman, lost and alone in a twisty, dark forest of skelletal trees, all reaching boney fingers and rustling of dead leaves in the wind. She has been in this area before. Those are not good memories. Despite vague familiarity, she has no real idea where she is.

Despite this terrible situation, most of Maira's worry is not for herself. Vespa had been hurt badly fighting against Maleficent. She'd taken off on her red chocobo alone in order to find them and tend to her friends. Unfortunately, she'd gotten lost. Without Uist, her directional senses were not exactly keen. Maira stops, sighing heavily as she dismounts Mao. "Lets have a bit of a rest Mao. I'll try the radio, see if someone might be able to come help us," she says, taking out her ma belle and trying the radio. "Heyy...I'm um...lost," she says into the device, then waits for a response while she digs into her saddle bags for a snack.

Queegmaa has posed:
If Maira had distasteful memories regarding past visits to the Phantom Forest, her most recent trek through the wood wasn't liable to surrender better results than usual-- on the contrary, this day might've had yet to bring more ruin upon her, if fortune wasn't of the persuasion to befriend her. Besides fortune being against her, there was yet another fellow who had uncouth designs in store for the distressed princess.... Queegmaa!

A kappa with two cybernetic arms and a leg, beyond the mechanical framework that served as a prerequisite to support these limbs which stretched across a fair fraction of his body, was one who'd obviously seen better days in his life, if he hadn't been born deformed; this being the case, Que'd suffered many a mishap in his travels, possibly adding to his disgruntled attitude. Ever enthusiastic to comply with the wishes of his Shadow Lord matron, Rakassa, the reptilian techno-mage skulked and slunk through the trees as he neared Maira, seeking to subdue the woman... if, and only if she was the desired target; he never had encountered his quarry, even if he'd been bequeathed a decent description, and seen a picture in a newspaper provided by his master.

Obviously, when he began to emerge from the bushes which surrounded the clearing where Maira had situated herself, a rustle was hear preceding his cordial hand-wave, ergo, he stopped dead in his tracks so as not to spook her like a deer being caught by a pair of headlights in the night. "Hail, miss whomever ya're. I'm Queegmaa, explorer exterdenare, 'n I hafta say I'm kinna su'prised to be seeing somebody else treasure-huntin' in this dangerous patch o' malgiand greenery! You ain't been stealin' my stuff, has ya?" He cackles a little, "What I mean ta say is.... ya dint go finding it all before me, didja? I'd feel awfully d'pressed if dere's nothin' left fer me....." He flashes a toothy grin.

Maira has posed:
"Meep!" Maira exclaims quickly and surprise, turning to face the one who spoke. She blinks, having never seen anything like him before, though a friendly smile quickly follows. "Oh! Hello. No, no, I'm not treasure hunting. I'm actually kind of lost...this forest is really dense and twisty," she replies, sighing lightly. Mao meanwhile examines Queegmaa warily, pawing the ground with his talons as he eyes the stranger. Mao is quite protective, and as a red chocobo, not a mount to be messed with! "Could you perhaps lead me out of the forest? I could give you a potion or two from my stash as payment?"

Queegmaa has posed:
Queegmaa shakes his head a little bit when she proposes he accept a potion in exchange for his services, which is accompanied by a verbal negation, to clarify, "Can't say I ken be acceptin' payments fer a favor so paltry as me just leadin' ya outta this cesspool. 'Sides that, I'd say we're 'bout hafadaway in, so ta get to where I'm goin', I gotta go da other haf to get m'self outta here.... So I woudn't really be expendin' any extra sweat ta letcha follow me, since I'm goin' there nohow...."

He smirks, pointing towards the other side of the clearing opposite to his position, remarking, "I'mma be haulin' through dere, butcha better b'lieve dat it's easier said then done, 'less ya know da way like I'da." He folds his arms over his chest, as a small plume of soot spews from one of the exhaust pipes protruding from his shoulder, being that his bionic appendages, as well as his entirety of mechanical add-ons are steam-punk in nature. The water-imp narrows his eyes a little at Mao, and scratches his chin, "But if yer gonna be followin' me.... ya ken do me jus' one favor by muzzlin' that sharp beak of his.... thar pecker looks like it'd be able ta punch a hole droo me wi'out much problem.... 'n it looks mighty inclined ta do it, besides bein' able to!"

The kappa appears uncomfortable with this nasty looking red chocobo, who is apprehensive about the new arrival, "Dun mind if you ride 'im, just.... I gots no trust fer chocobos, never rid em even where I come from, and they was da best way ta get 'round, back in the World o' Balance, ya'know?"

Maira has posed:
Maira looks to Mao, reaching over to ruffle his feather gently. The bird kweh's happily, then gives Qeegmaa a sharp look Maira doesn't catch. "Oh Mao wouldn't hurt you, he's a sweet boy! Besides, I don't have a muzzle...I would never do that to Mao," she says, frowning gently. "I promise he will behave himself."

Queegmaa has posed:
Queegmaa squints at her, closing one eye tightly while widening the other as he looks at he scrutinizingly, tossing a riposte her way, "Yeh, well you might reckon dat he ain't gonna be fixin' to beak me ta death.... but I can't speak no chocobo, so how's he gonna promise me thet he'll hold to his end of da deal? I'll giv'em one chance ta show he's got da makin's of an honor'ble beast, but da second he turns foul...."

He pauses, and holds his stomach as he lets out a mirthful laugh, "Har! Get it? I said if he dere turns foul, and he's already a fowl! HyuckHyuck!" Sounding every bit the innocent, backwater, country bumpkin, the green demon then scratches his flank-side for a second in a crude manner, while remarking, "A'ight. He ken come.... but first sign of trouble, 'n I'mma get a lil' tougher with enforcin' the rules....." With that, he begins to move towards the other end of the perimeter, giving Maira a wide berth so as not to raise any of her internal alarms, in a totally non-invasive fashion, hoping to fly way under the radar. "Fig' dat it might be praydent fer me ta do da leadin', since I'm knowin' the way... n' you isn't...."

There's an irony for you; one of the first time he actually uses the contraction -isn't-, and the kappa uses it while lacking any proper grammatical etiquette! "Follow da.... well, I ain't yer leader, we bein' equals.... so jus' follow the kappa, which's what Mister Queegmaa is!" he smiles, in a goofy fashion, while he begins to push aside vines and small, bendable branches that can give way without actually snapping clean from the trunks of their respective trees.

Maira has posed:
"Yes...hehe...clever..." she says in reply to his little pun, starting to seem a little uneasy. She is starting to sense something is just...off about this guy. It isn't even that he looks so strange, or that he talks weird. But something...something seems /off/ and it is beginning to put her a little on edge.

She does follow though, for now, leading Mao by the reigns to give him a break from being ridden. "Oh, nice to meet you Mr. Queegmaa. I'm Maira," she replies, keeping a wary eye out.

Queegmaa has posed:
Queegmaa gives a little bow, and responds, "Thankee, fer da flattree, Miss Maira...." After this , he continues, "...Nice ta make yer 'quaintance tuh." In all fairness, his elemental affinity was closely tied to that of poison, in particular, so maybe his presence in itself put her on edge because of that-- or by happenstance, it was the fact that he actually had the nerve to issue a very mild threat if her chocobo misbehaved, in which case he declared that he'd 'get tough' on them. Nevertheless, he began to push aside vegetation, as he went into the thicket, and within only a few minutes, some of the soil became a sliver moister, which wasn't absolutely unheard of, since there were lakes in the Phantom Forest-- some of which actually rejuvenated travelers if they crossed paths with one of the more magical springs. Simultaneous to the density of dampness increasing, so did the plant-life itself, so Que saw fit to reassure her.

"If ya don't mind tao much.... I'm gon' do a leetle hiss sound.... Dere's a snek that's got some funny name given it by some silly hum'n, called da lemmadofil.... epin... well, it's sum'fin compliacetted, 'n dey's immen ta the pie-sen dert frog...." He nods, pushing aside some vines that gradually thicken as they venture through the foliage, which look as though the density could easily entangle the chocobo sporadically for brief periods of time, if the trend persists, as he proceeds with his story, "....Anyway.... Dem pie-sen dert frohgs is real bad biz. Touch 'em, 'n ya is gun be headin' a lil' further down dis forest ta Hades, see...." The kappa sneers, amused, apparently, yet, perhaps he's just entertained by the concept of such a complex eco-system with so many defenses and counter-measures that'll allow him an opportunity to guide Maira to freedom, sweet freedom! "Dem's small critters, and ya might acciden'ly touch one, ya won't prolly have no time ta be conjurin' magics to do healin', specially since yer looking so wern-down."

The reptilian cyborg bobs his head side to side, dismissively, "Dough.... I got a way o' keeping those varmints from gettin' anywhere nee us." He chuckles, finally revealing(allegedly) why he was so humored at his own tale, "I ken mimyik dat der coily snek's kull.... make da frogs disperse, 'n we'll be good. This route's a h*lla lot better'n going some other ways, cuz dey gots more wick't folk..... yanno, undyeds... er whytever ya call 'em." A small snicker, and the maritime demon started to give a hiss sound, fully expecting to hear, in response, shortly thereafter, some croaking of frogs.

Rakassa has posed:
~~Shortly out of sight~~

Two bunny ears twitch as the sound of a snake can be heard. They don't belong to an actual rabbit, but rather to a viera archer. It wasn't hard to convince her to sign up; munny talks even to those from the Wood, when they've been turned out of it. She's dressed in the typical green of her calling. Beside her, hiding as well, is a man in chain mail. He's dressed in matching green, the pair looking like partners to all who would observe them. The Viera puts her hand to her mouth.

Croak! Croak! The sounds of frogs fill the air as the viera imitates their call. Shortly after, she quietly unslings her bow even as the male soldier pulls out a dart gun in addition to his sword. An odd pair of weapons, the viera in the treetops, and the male on the ground, but both are deadly enough.

Maira has posed:
The young woman, blinks several times, looking puzzled as Queegmaa speaks. She can barely understand him sometimes! His accent is so very thick. There was something about dangerous frogs though, and scaring them away with snake noised. Alright, sure, that makes sense. Maira gives him an uneasy smile, nodding to him as she follows along, glancing back towaed Mao.

The chocobo catches a scent. The scent of strangers and metal. Danger senses trigger and Mao suddenly stops, refusing to move. He lets out a "Wark!" of warning and nudges Maira meaningfully. Unlike most people you see in stories who don't trust the instincts of their animals, Maira is put on edge, stepping closer to her chocobo.

"What's going on," she asks Queegmaa. "Something isn't right."

Queegmaa has posed:
Maira isn't alone in her inability to translate Que's speech, for he is a bit wordy, and even worse than that, half the things he says are slurred or have such slack that they drag along such that their proper origins barely bleed into his own versions. Pausing as she comes to a halt, showing that she trusts her animal adamantly, the kappa blinks at her, tilting his head to the side, "That bird ain' gon start up a ruckuss, is he?" He shakes his head, and starts towards the creature timidly, "Mayb' he's smellin' some kinna pred'tor lurkin' around somewhere yonder thicket...", with that, the water-imp cranes his neck to the side, as if to insist that Mao is over-reacting, "Der's undyeeds up dat way, ya know.... dey give offa rale nahstay odur...."

With this, he draws out a knife as if to instill confidence in the woman, "Ya wan', I ken cut 'em up rale gud, they come ta getting near us..... Yeah?" It's at this point that an arrow zings through the air, plunking right into the fore-arm of Queegmaa's that had just equipped an eastern-style blade, which was rather exotic, and seemingly fitting for a weird, foreign creature such as the kappa. Everything about the aquatic-anthro /looked/ visually congruent, in a holistic sense, up to the very weapon he held. However, if the weapon gave any solace to Maira, that would no longer be the case, since the shaft that pierced his brachioradialis now caused him to wail as he dropped the weapon, now bleeding, "Crikey.... Yer right dat sumthin' int right!"

At which point, the two usurpers came into plain view, with weapons drawn. Que quickly back-peddled, tripping over a vine which just happened to be taut, to begin with.... and creating a chain-reaction which could very easily cause a nearby clump of strands to possibly ensnare some, or all of Mao!... though, bearing far less girth, it would be wholly unlikely that any of them could entrap Maira, or the interlopers. "Dernit.... What're these folks doin' here.... you git some kinda boun'y on ya?" he barks at Maira. Promptly, he uses a spell with his empty, uninjured hand, since he can still cast with it!

Rakassa has posed:
The archer, perhaps the leader of the pair, points out the woman of the trio. "Take the Princess, kill the bird! The bodyguard's useless." A swift nod comes from her compatriot, who quickly aims his dartgun at Mao! Poomf! Out flies the tiny poisoned dart towards the creature, before the man draws his blade.

The archer, however, seems more focused on Maira. Nocking another arrow, she aims to hamstring the fire magess, before firing another arrow at Queegmaa with all the speed of a trained Vieran archer. Her hands blurr as she works, two ears twitching as she climbs back up into the trees with her long legs for cover.

Maira has posed:
Maira gasps as her guide takes an arrow to the arm and the two come out from hiding. They know who she is! Maira's day has just taken a very dire turn. "NO!" she yells when they say to kill Mao, jumping in the way of the poisoned dart to save her chocobo. She could climb on him, run, and hope for the best, but she couldn't leave her guide behind! "Hurry!" she calls to Queegmaa, beginning to quickly climb into the saddle only to take an arrow right through her left hamstring. That poor leg is really getting a beating lately! Maira lets out a strangled cry, clinging to Mao's saddle. Mao's only idea is to get Maira out of there, and begins to run.

"Hurry!" she cries to Queegmaa, reaching her hand out toward him as she passes. "Get on!"

Queegmaa has posed:
Another arrow sails as it becomes airborne, eventually finding a home by embedding itself in Que's body and invoking a yelp from him-- he's unable to dodge because he's still caught by some of the vines that he tripped over; though, upon closer inspection, it hits the same arm, puncturing it, and instead of 'blood' spurting out, something else oozes instead, bearing a different color. Well, his 'brachioradialias', is, so to speak, not 'technically' a muscle, and didn't actually spew blood-- it was merely a cylinder that resembled the same muscle, and performed a similar function, however.... whatever fluids were flowing through the hydraulic systems of his body evidently had different types of liquids with different levels of coagulation, for increased power, or speed, depending on what Que wanted to do.

Quite a complex cyborg, this fellow.... Nonetheless, the machine was so well-developed that it had ways of emulating pain by sending minor shocks to Que's brain upon being struck, so that damage could be acknowledged when it registered, -AND- moreover, so that Rakassa still had a way to hurt him quite thoroughly, allowing her to exert sway over the kappa, whether or not half of him would ordinarily be immune to physical anguish! Rakassa was in a league of her own, almost, in terms of desiring control, and power.... to the extent that she was willing to implant into her minions, ways of causing suffering, even if to reduce some efficiency. The poison doesn't set in, or.... if it does, the effect is so minuscule, that it makes no difference, seeing that Que was long ago inoculated against such things; yet another gift of his lord and master, Arch Admiral Rakassa! "I ain' useless.... Once I git on m' legs, I'll be puttin' 'em to real good use!" And, not having ever made himself out to be any type of paragon of virtue, he promptly rips the vines with the (seemingly)only functional arm, which has immense might behind it, being sturdy as steel, which is its very molecular composition, at which point he hops to his feet, and calls to Maira, "Dey said I's worthless. Thanks fer not agreein' wid'em!"

And promptly, he gets onto the bird, pulling himself aloft. However, while pretending to be a total fool, he knows very well that as he weighs nearly three hundred pounds, they will /not/ outmatch the pace of the viera, even if they might lose the soldier shortly. Not having a fully darkened heart as his evil matron, Queegmaa intends to keep up the ruse long after Maira gets knocked off the chocobo, which he hopes will happen by way of the viera's inevitable attacks- especially since she can much more easily maneuver through the heavily intensified greenery, whereas a chocobo with two riders need have a lot more labor involved to evade; what is meant by his intent to 'keep up the ruse' is that he'll play the part of the coward, save the bird from being killed by riding off without Maira, claiming he'll get help, and then, whether omniscient onlookers might believe it or not, follow through with his promise to find help and alert others to Maira's plight! Truth be told, he doesn't really think anyone can infiltrate where Maira will ultimately be taken..... the impregnable fortress of Vector City! But the reality was.... Que -IS- spineless, metaphorically speaking, and if these hunters /were/ after him, that is probably the exact thing he would do, if his companion were to plummet from the steed! But, as though to perpetuate the myth that he's on Maira's side.... he launches a thin wire like a bola, whose objective is to wrap around the soldier's legs like twine, and detain him, so that they'll only be pursued by the viera.... who Que knows very well, is the only one who can follow them, anyway!

Rakassa has posed:
The bolas hits perfectly, the soldier falling with a pronounced thud. The viera laughs, blowing a kiss to her compatriot. "See you back home!" She taunts, the male huffing in irritation. Then, she's back to work; rushing off towards Maira, Mao, and Que who more than allows her to keep up with the bird. Even moving, she's quite accurate with her bow, leaping and bounding through the trees, firing as she peaks in the air.

Queegmaa has posed:
Continuing to feign interest in sabotaging the attempt on capturing Maira, Que fires off another surujin-like cord, hoping to have it entwine the viera like it had the soldier, or even Rosemarie, about a month ago.... but knows very well with his incredible penchant for accuracy, what angle he needs to fire at in order to make it /appear/ as though he tried, while foreseeing its unavoidable failure, lest the viera pull some really indolent stunt. Queegmaa has no urge to do anything but flee, and he allows Maira to keep driving Mao forward, to the best of the chocobo's ability, which is probably hindered from an already enduring journey, coupled with the ferrying of a cumbersome machine-monster.

Maira has posed:
Avira says to light something on fire so she can find her. CAN DO! Maira looks back and shoots a fireball behind her, setting the dead trees and hopefully one of her would be captors aflame.

"Just keep holding on! Mao is fast and strong!" she cries, praying Avira is well enough to take this on!

Avira has posed:
Hours ago, Avira had been lying asleep in her bed at the VALKYRI headquarters. Given the recent events in Manhattan, she had seldom ventured forth from Traverse Town. She had become, in fact, afraid of leaving and haunted by the nightmares of what had happened days ago. Traveling alone had become entirely too risky. Or foolish.

The later two sensibilities are thrown entirely to the wind when, upon the VALKYRI band, she heard Maira crying out in distress. She left the base in a whirlwind of activity, grabbing what gear she could and hopping astride her mount. Unlike Maira, she does not ride a chocobo but a creature known as a steelclaw beetle. Native to the Golmore Jungle, the car-sized beetle typically travels in swarms, devouring anything in its wake. Typically herbivores, they are extremely dangerous when alarmed or angered. As far as travelling speed went, they were slower than chocobos, due to their greater weight.

Those in the woods would know of Avira's approach. Unlike the huntress herself, the beetle make quite a lot of noise with its passage, trampling underbrush and fallen trees as if they were blades of grass. Avira stares skywards, looking for the signal she warned Maira to use for her location. Her nostrils also flare open, searching for that telltale sign of burning wood or flesh.

Rakassa has posed:
There is indeed the smell of burning flesh, as the Viera is caught mid-leap by the burning rose of fire that blossoms towards her. She's brave, however, and quite simply tucks her arms and legs, plowing straight through the elemental attack. She comes out clearly wounded, but still able to give chase.

Her quickens as familiar sounds reach her ears. Her eyes go wide in terror, old childhood and adulthood memories before her exile flooding back. The fear seems to give the woman wings, leaping all the higher and farther up. Chanting as she does so, her arrows glow green, sickening poison magicks based off of the most horrible of toxins from the Wood infusing her weapons. Spying both would-be rescuer, the mounted beetle, and Maira alike, she unleashes a flurry of arrows in both directions.

Her partner isn't quite as smart to flee. Ripping his way free of the bolas, the agile man leaps upwards! Someone's had some dragoon training, as he too lands atop the beetle. "Quite enough, girlie! Off with ye!" A sword lashes out at Avira!

Queegmaa has posed:
"I dun like all dis rustlin', but if we're gonna git, then I better slow 'em down some!" No sooner is that said, than does Queegmaa draw out his retractable staff, twirling it with his operable hand, trying to perform a flashy feat with it, so as to impress Maira-- but in the process, the thing spins out of his singular hand, landing in the mud, only to discharge right then and there! As mentioned previously, the whole vicinity has wet ground, almost like mud, and there is a small stream not far off to indicate just how approximate they are to a small body of water, in the boggier area of the forest. The electricity reveres the liquidy soil as a conduit, and through the immediate region surges a pulse of energy that could very well electrocute Maira, Mao, Queegmaa, and the viera. The bird, being so large, may be shocked, and if that happens, it would ripple through the chocobo's body and feasibly has a chance of sizzling both occupants of the steed. Then again.... everyone mentioned might escape its wrath, if they should be so lucky!

Maira has posed:
Maira had lit a large enough blaze that Avira was sure to see her. The trees in this area went up quickly, being of the dried and spooky variety despite the wet ground.

Ah, that wet ground...the electricity discharged surges through Mao, catching Maira as well. The bird takes the brunt of it thought, shrieking and coming to an abrupt halt, sending Maira flying from the saddle and into some bushes up ahead. Mao falls, not dead but very injured. He isn't running anymore.

Maira is still conscious, but she can't seem to move. The poison she took from the dart has hit her in full, making her limbs feel extremely heavy. Tears flow freely from her eyes as she looks toward Mao. "Mao...oh no..." she says, then lets her magic free and her body catches flame. This whole forest is going to be burning before long if they are not careful. Maira isn't sure how much longer she can stay conscious, but she has to try. Buy time, at least...for Avira...

She can't hold on. The poison is strong. To seal her fate, she then takes another arrow to the leg. Oh, her poor, poor legs. It's too much. Maira slips into unconsciousness, her fire snuffed out--though the forest continues to burn.

Avira has posed:
Burning flesh! This is a smell that Avira knows well, unfortunately, not only having suffered burns herself but having previously been a "visitor" in the Underworld. Incidentally, Avira has never spoken of what she's seen in the Underworld before. Not even to Maira.

Avira's eyes scan the forest and her hands tightly grip the handles to the specially-made saddle the Steelclaw beetle has strapped to its back. Every now and then a murmured word changes the path of the beetle, but never the speed. The smell of burned flesh goes stronger and she starts to hear other noises admist the crashing of her mount. She hears the whistling of a projectile moments before a small hail of arrows reaches her.

For the beetle, they simply bounce off its extremely thick carpace or stick lightly in the leather of the harness. For Avira one pieces through her right upper arm, digging through into the muscle and eliciting a yelp of pain. Right away, she reaches over to snap off the far end of the shaft.

She feels the weight of someone landing atop the beetle behind her and immediately turns to see. An unidentified man behind her swinging a sword. Instinct takes over.

Turning, her hand lashes out, flat-palmed, slamming the bony ridge of her wrist into the wrist of the soldier's sword-hand, halting the blow before it can cut her. "HERBIE!" Avira calls out, her tone taking on an oddly commanding bent: "HALT!"

The beetle abruptly comes to a complete stop. Avira is ready and holding on. BUT IS THE SOLDIER?

Probably not. And if that soldier does go flying, Avira follows up with another command that propels the beetle forward to run the poor bastard over.

Rakassa has posed:
Down goes the bird, and forward goes the Bunny! Landing deftly, utterly ignoring bird and kappa, she scoops up the downed fire magess. Without another word, she speeds off, imminent victory in hand. Even if she's leaving her ally in the dust! Soon enough, there's neither hide nor hare of the leaping viera to be found.

The 'mercenary' soldier clearly doesn't get paid enough for this, as he's soon thrown from a beetle. Landing with a thud and an 'augh!' of pain, followed by expletives and more cries of anguish, he's deftly trampled by dear Herbie. Add to that, comes the swat of a pommel to the wrist. Insult to injury.

But he still has a sword, and in pained delirium, he tries to throw the weapon at Avira and/or her mount.

Queegmaa has posed:
Queegmaa knows very well that the viera is now by herself, and has to contend with carrying Maira off, whilst possessing little time of leisure to do so, which means that the rabbit-person isn't going to spend a second in waste on dispatching an incapacitated bird. Nor will the viera want to fritter her precious minutes on Que, who has managed to preserve the illusion of neutrality this entire time, in defiance of actually being the principle orchestrator of this whole charade-- yes, he's a whole world smarter than he looks, but does a great job presenting himself as some kind of dullard from a nameless, one-horse-town. On the other hand.... his cowardice is /quite/ genuine, and although he knows he's in no real danger, being the wimp that he is, he chooses to retreat quickly into the depths of the trees, intent on getting his wounds healed.

No.... he decidedly leaves his staff behind, because in an earnest strife to take flight, one would not be bothered to trifle with reclaiming their weapon, which meant that in the wake of his 'retreat', he needed to exhibit every sign of the truly frightened coward. "I'll go 'n find some others for ye, Mair. Aren't one ta scuffle wi' peeps who ken do the stuff dey're doin.... but somebody out dere will!" And.... with that, he takes off, for parts unknown.

Avira has posed:
Herbie continues forwards, trampling over the soldier as if he were just another bush or fallen tree. Spoiler: it hurts quite a bit. Avira herself climbs around on her saddle to peer behind her, still perched on the beetle on all fours. She rises to her knees, balancing easily on the beetle, and makes a sound of surprise when the soldier hurls his weapon at her.

With her left arm, she bats it away at the cost of incurring a deep slash down the length of her forearm. Hissing out a swear, she pulls her arms back as if holding a bow and produces a blue shaft of ice magic where an arrow would normally be held. This projectile is fired upon the soldier and, upon hitting, immediately solidifies into a thick coating of ice that pastes him to the forest floor.

"Stick around." Avira growls after him, "I'LL BE BACK FOR YOU!"

Continuing onward, she goes to search for where Maira has gotten off to, locating more of those arrows, the fallen Mao, and the strange staff left behind. Any remaining fires she coes across, she quickly extinguishes with her ice magic so the woods do not burn down.

"MAIRAAAAA!" she calls out.

Avira has posed:
While Avira searches, she procures herself a small rubber hose from a first aid kit she carries in one of her many pouches. She's quick to tie this around her right upper arm just above her arrow wound because she can easily recognize that the arrow she was shot with contained poison of some kind. Her numbing arm is a great indication of that.

As the Junior Woodchuck Guide says: always be prepared!

Rakassa has posed:
The soldier is quite well pinned down, with a comically pained expression on his face. Ow. /Definitely/ doesn't get paid enough for this.

Silence answers Avira. The Viera is long gone, swift and agile, happily leaving her compatriot to rot. Mission accomplished.