First Contact
"What happened out there?" The Meric asked, healing Aichmire's deep wounds. "It's like you got hit by a Riptor."
"Fought more of those black n' white wolves, and two black n' white bears. Those guys don't screw around," Arcusan said. "Hey, doc, what's your name anyway?"
"My name is Elena," the Meric replied, "and I overheard all of your names from the shouting." She finished up her magecraft by applying light bandages to Aichmire's chest. "Try not to get hit by those again, yeah?"
"Yeah, doc, I'll be more careful next time.." Aichmire picked his sword up from the ground. "Hey, where's our Spearton and wizard?"
"I'm not sure, Ekrixir went for a walk and Frounus found a note with a location," she said. "He's presumably out investigating, but he never told me the place on the note."
Arcusan called out to the resident arbalist, saying, "Stavros! Get out there and start looking, he'll need some backup if there are even more of those bears." Stavros saluted in acknowledgement, and started flying across the forest, scanning for their spear and shield wielder.
His eyes didn't catch the pair talking under a tree.
Two hours ago, Frounus was cleaving through foliage to reach the marked location. His spear was swapped out for his kopis, the short blade being far more effective for cutting vines and leaves. He wasn't sure why the note had appeared inside his tent, nor why someone would want him to come alone. This was the classic setup for a trap, but he was sure he could win a small fight if it came to that.
The wildlife was exceedingly hostile, any of the wolves he found on the way immediately went for him. They fell against the spear quickly enough, though their blood did seem strange. It quickly disintegrated into dust, seemingly no different than charcoal dust. They were no creature of Chaos, nor some of any rebels. Strange.
Aside from the unusual wildlife, the flora was the most generic he had seen in years. Lush green grass, emerald leaves, the land seemed devoid of any elemental influence. No flaming bushes, no electrifying leaves, and certainly no bloodsucking plants. A stark contrast to the battlefields he had been on before, but it was a welcome change.
"Where three trees cross above, there we shall meet." He recounted the note's message, looking around for the place he was told about. "He could've at least made it rhyme." He spotted three trees in the distance, with their leaves and branches having grown into each other. "Bingo."
He walked over to the crossing, his spear held vertically as a support for his legs. His anonymous messenger hadn't arrived yet, leaving Frounus with his own thoughts. He considered the party's situation; they were obviously away far from the Order capital, as the castle was nowhere in the distance. Furthermore, the wildlife was definitely not of any nation or land that the Order Empire had explored.
Puzzling, as the Order Empire had explored nearly the whole of Inamorta to defeat the rebels and Chaos. Maybe they were in a forest that none had touched? An island would make sense, if there was any water around. Frounus frowned, unable to make sense of the predicament the party found themselves in.
Perhaps they could re-create the event that sent them here. As long as their resident mage didn't die, they had a way home. But, how would they control the spell? No Magikill had ever attempted teleportation, let alone with 5 other sticks-
Cough. Frounus spun around to find a beige white creature holding a strange stick. Grey fur at the top of its head, with green garments covering its body. He pointed his spear at the thing, saying, "What are you?"
Ozpin chuckled slightly. "I'm sure you have more important questions than that," he said, a calming smile appearing on his face.
Frounus took a step backwards, but kept his threatening position. Ozpin continued, "I'm a human, something similar to you and your crew, just with minor differences here and there. No worries, I'm just here to talk."
Frounus lowered his spear, but kept his shield in position. "Your name?"
Ozpin replied, "Ozpin, headmaster of the local school." He sipped from his cup. "You?"
The Spearton responded, "Frounus. Why did you ask to meet here?"
Ozpin gestured to the cliff side, saying, "My students are scheduled to arrive here soon for an activity. I ask that you either leave or refrain from interruption." His words carried sincerity, and a sense of urgency. Evidently, this had come up on short notice.
After a short moment of deliberation, Frounus nodded. "I will move our party away from the cliff. Which parts of the forest are you going to be using?"
"It depends on the students, so I can't give exact details," Ozpin said, "so I can only ask that you all do your best to avoid detection."
Frounus agreed, and was left with one more question. "How did you know we were here?"
Ozpin replied, "Since the forest is also school grounds, we have cameras installed for the safety of the students. Don't worry, you're allowed here until we have the time to sort you all out."
The Spearton took note of this, just in case they had to explore more of the forest. Deciding that he did all he needed to do, Fronous turned around to leave.
A sharp feather interrupted his stride.
Ozpin and Frounus looked toward where the shot had come from, and spotted a massive flying bird. "Nevermore!" Ozpin shouted. Immediately, Frounus tackled Ozpin down to the ground as the Nevermore swooped down to attack them. The crossed trees were tossed across the forest as the Spearton got up to run.
Grabbing Ozpin's hand, Frounus started sprinting back to the cliff. He threw Ozpin out of the way as he raised his shield to block a barrage of feather shots. "Get out of here!" Frounus exclaimed, and Ozpin did not hesitate to leave. The Spearton continued running over to the cliff side, trying to avoid the dives of the massive bird.
While dodging and weaving through the attacks of the beast, he spotted someone in the sky.
"Shoot, shoot, shoot!" Stavros fumbled with his bag of bolts, trying to load one into his crossbow. "C'mon, why'd a giant bird have to appear while our Spearton's MIA?!"
The crossbowman fired off a shot at the Nevermore, but it didn't seem to care. Another shot, nothing. He flew over to the bird, firing off bolts, each one bouncing off the Nevermore's feathers like nothing. "Can't get a good shot," he said as another bolt failed to pierce. Stavros decided to forsake his crossbow in favor of flying back to base, unable to do real damage to the massive bird.
He noticed how it swooped down every once in a while; a signal that it was chasing something. He looked to the land, searching for something, anything unusual. Scanning across the woods, he found the bird's target. A stick with a gladiator's helmet, complete with red fittings at the top. 'Probably should've expected that,' he thought. Stavros got an idea, and swooped down with the Nevermore.
Soaring under the bird, he got directly in its line of sight to divert its attention to himself. Drawing his crossbow, he fired off a shot at its face to further distract it. While it didn't do jack to the Nevermore, it quickly shifted its attention to the flying stickman before it. Winking at Frounus, Stavros flew off towards the base for backup.
Down below, Frounus breathed a sigh of relief at the save by the flying arbalist. He continued sprinting to the cliffside, and started climbing the cliff wall with his spear and sword. He shouted to the sticks above, "Prepare a defense! The Albowtross needs support!" He looked behind, seeing the flying beast chasing Stavros through the air.
Up above, the trio of sticks immediately got to work. Arcusan perched atop a tree, nocking an arrow in anticipation. Elena and Aichmire stuck together, just in case the swordsman managed to mount the monster. Stavros shouted out in the distance, "Get ready to get on this thing!" Arcusan pulled back his bow string as Aichmire and Elena stood nearby for the bird's landing.
Swooping in, the Nevermore attempted to dive into Stavros as he dodged to the side. The bird tried shifting towards the Albowtross, until it had its right eye pierced by an arrow. Alive but partly blinded, the Nevermore screeched and flew far above the cliff to fire its feathers. Unfortunately for the black bird, Aichmire had hitched a ride.
It started falling down to the cliffside with a well placed slice to its left wing. Aichmire stabbed into its back to anchor himself as he fell with the bird. Landing with a heavy thud, Stavros and Arcusan fired at the fallen bird while Aichmire hopped off of it. Unable to fly, the bird launched its sharp feathers at the ranged duo, striking them both in the chest. Aichmire Raged in response, rushing to the bird's side and slicing it open.
Smacking the Swordwrath into a nearby tree, the Nevermore turned to escape into the forest, until something stopped it dead in its tracks. An electric wall shocked back into place, as a stream of poison acid covered its body.
"Fulminate!" The Magikill emerged from behind a tree, stunning the Nevermore with an explosion.
The other ranged units got back to work, having been quickly healed by Elena. Under a hail of arrows, bolts and magic, the Nevermore launched a circle of its feathers in all directions to interrupt the party's attacks. The bird turned to leave, but saw Frounus atop the cliff, having made it to the fight proper.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have left," he said, readying his spear and shield. The Nevermore charged at Frounus, but was blocked dead in its tracks by the Spearton's shield. Jumping back to dodge a stab by Frounus, it launched a hail of feathers towards him, each one bouncing off his shield. Aichmire, recovered from the earlier attack, rushed in with Rage, stabbing the beast in the back while it was distracted. This combination knocked it back down, allowing for Frounus to finish it off by throwing his spear into its head.
Pulling his spear out, Frounus checked if it had died. Its blood quickly dried into dust, and the rest of the bird was too. Turning to the rest of the team, Frounus raised his spear high into the air as the others waved their weapons in celebration. "Even here, we manage victory!"
The ranged duo chuckled in joy, as the wizards of the pack nodded thoughtfully. Aichmire was the first to say something else, however. "So uh, where were you?"
I wonder if Ozpin would've fought or fled in that scenario, even if he did flee in my scenario.
Patch Notes - 9/5/2024
Small changes to the dialogue to make it easier to read.