Scene #5191: Code Red: Echidna

Owner	Pose
Velvet Crowe	Galles Lake is a pretty nice place. Narrow roads circle the vast lake, sometimes cut through by small streams where the only recourse is to brave the shallow water or hop on what rocks are sticking out. It's easy to see smaller trade cavarans employing this road just to enjoy the view, and if it weren't for rumors of daemons it'd be a great vacation spot for a picnic. Grass covers the ground here where there's no road or shore, and the wildlife is, today at least, pretty tranquil. The sun is up high, not one trace of clouds in the sky. The weather's humid, with a mild breeze. It's not too hot or too cold, just right. People who came here following Velvet's call arrive from a northern path, while those following the Abbey's directions are coming in from the south. While Velvet's group has no instructiions-- just 'find the daemon'-- the Abbey's group does have instructions. Rather than praetor Oscar, their orders actually come from one 'High Priest' Gideon. One of his shipment's gone missing, and for the good of the people it must be retrieved, as it contains highly valuable ingredients used to make medicine. Up north, the view ahead is pretty clear. There's a clearing off to the left, past a large stream that cuts the road and can only be accessed by jumping on a lot of rocks and small 'isles'. To the right, the road continues and eventually heads south, towards Loegres. Down south, the Abbey's group immediatly finds traces of a small caravan that was assaulted. The caravan itself, horseless and escortless, contains boxes of food covering up smaller crates bearing the Loegres cathedral seal. Wood lay scattered everywhere, the caravan in no state to go anywhere. Claw marks all over make it pretty easy to guess who did it, but there's no blood or corpses.
Shin Tokuyama	Shin is here. He has a Playstation Vita in his hands and is playing a video game on it as he heads along with Velvet and her group. The martial artist is seeming pretty relaxed about the continuing adventures into illegality that Velvet is roping him into. And now that he moved into Charity's house, the commute to and from these missions is a breeze. It's hard to tell what game he's playing, but it looks pretty engrossing and pretty RPG-ish as he walks, "Hey Velvet, does this count as a date? I'm counting this as a date. If it doesn't count as a date, you owe me something for the whole drunken boxing incident. I was curled up in bed drinking Powerade the entire next day."
Samantha Middleton	Find the daemon, huh? Well, Fido has some 'sensors' in some sense, though they are pretty simple. Sight into infrared and other visual bands, but don't expect any targeting or analysis from the clockwork and steam contraption that Samantha uses for armor. "We sure this is the right place? It looks pretty uh... dull." Naturally, she doesn't see the remnants of the caravan to the south. Much sadness, for this means she's not treating it as seriously as she should. Seeing the clunky armor hopping up and trying to balance as it clonks along and tries to jump from rock to rock without falling into the stream. "You mean you were really drunk? I couldn't tell the difference."
Xiaomu	For all that Xiaomu has her doubts about the Abbey's position and information about daemons, finding a shipment of medical supplies is the kind of request that the sage fox isn't prepared to ignore out of hand. Somebody needs those, after all, and ... .... well, most Daemons apparently wouldn't be intelligent enough to make much use of the basic ingredients, probably, if you buy the Abbey's party line about Daemons being unretrievably bloodthirsty, or what have you. So it should be a simple matter of finding the shipment and figuring out how to either get it to its destination, or back to a city which can get another caravan together. Should be. Which almost always means it isn't. Xiaomu's taking advantage of the staff she typically carries, leaning on it a little as she walks along the road coming from the south. "So I'm thinking that unless it was actually a pack of bandits or something," she says to Maya, "we'll probably find the caravan itself somewhat intact ... oh hey, is that it?" She quickens her pace, the rings on her staff jingling with something like an out-of-place merriment before she comes to a halt, starting to examine the wagons. "No bodies, no blood, just wrecked wagons and abandoned crates ..." Xiaomu trails off, frowning. "Unless the horses and party were all afflicted by Daemonblight simultaneously, there should be signs of violence that aren't claw marks. Wild animals wouldn't have been nearly this tidy, neither would actual bandits. What didn't Gideon tell us? Stupid secretive monks ..." Her grumbling trails off as the sage fox tries using her nose. Not that she expects to pick up much, but you never know which sense will provide a useful clue.
Maya	Xiaomu and Maya already ahd a bit of a history of working together and after the incident with the prison?Maya hads been pretty set on helping the Abby stop further outbreaks. She looks to Xiaomu for a moment nodding to her for a moment. "Sounds like and that does look like it." Maya picks up her pace a bit and unslings her rifle as she moves after the Shinra Agent. "Sounds about right to me, I suspect we'll find out the hardway Xiaomucome on we need to look aorund and see what we can do here and, now right?"
Gawain	Sir Gawain, Paladin Warden, has pledged himself to fight with the Abbey several times. Therefore, when the Abbey requested assistance, the Warden tossed it to the Paladins and went to investigate himself. Which is why he's now at the wrecked caravan, poking around briefly. "Hmm...looks like we have a daemon! Or a very big grizzly bear! Alright, everyone, stick together. Only split up if it's necessary." The Knight's trying to see if he can't find more clues, or another path, glancing off to the distance every so often.
Charity Whiteheart	Despite her dry wit at times, Charity has relented and fallen into th role of one of the straight men. This means no hopping about or playing games. Instead, she's hanging back in her cloak, considering the options and watching Fido/Samantha hop off, while Shin is... being Shin. If the man weren't an excellent fighter when he tried to be, she'd have much less tolerance for him. "Right," she murmurs. "You look that way, then. I'll just slip on ahead." Scouting out the road, discreetly, seems like the best way for her to look for this daemon. Surely they couldn't hide too well?
Kotone Shiomi	Kotone Shiomi looks a little nervous, she's got her Naginata in hand and a gun-shaped object in a holster on her hip, and she's hanging a little behind Gawain for the time being, eager to let someone else take charge into this unfamiliar territory for the time being. When he orders people to stick together, she releases a breath she didn't previously realize she was holding.
Velvet Crowe	NORTH/VELVET: "Uuuuh... sure?" Velvet wasn't sure what else to answer Shin, so... sure? As long as he isn't expecting cuddles and kisses, she'll let him pretend whatever he wants in his narrative to avoid having to deal with it. It's rather confusing. To Samantha, she shrugs. "Daemons don't really care about where they are. It's not like everything we touch dies. Daemonblight makes daemons, doesn't make places look special. This place is pretty unassuming, if I was going to lay in wait and ambush Abbey caravans it wouldn't be a bad spot. Wonder what they're shipping that absolutely has to come through here, though. Danann Highway is safer and more direct." With Charity heading south, sees the mark of horses and cart wheels along the road, heading south with her, and coming from... north? The split Samantha, Velvet and Shin are going towards, hopping stones or braving water to reach. There must have been three people with the caravan, plus whoever was onboard and the horses. Not a lot. Far to the south, she can clearly see the wrecked caravan, and a stretch of land that cuts into the lake like a small peninsula off to the side. Also the Paladins. Samantha's sensors don't pick up much of interest. Once the three cross the small stream and walk for a bit, they only need their eyes to see what there is to see here. It looks like a small digsite. Cut off from the area, deserted, but only recently given some traces of food and work. Lots of paperwork secured to tables, digging tools left behind, crates half-packed full of brilliant red ore.
Velvet Crowe	SOUTH/ABBEY: Xiaomu's suspicions are not entirely correct. Many of the crates were torn open, and obviously on purpose. Now to be fair, wild animals, even domestic ones, can learn to get to things they want. Bears who live near human camps are especially smart! That doesn't change the facts much though, the daemons looted the caravan. Some of it, anyway. Some food's missing. Some of the Abbey's crates are missing, too. Not all of them. Maybe they didn't have enough daemons to carry everything away in one go, or didn't care for the whole shipment. Xiaomu's nose picks up a distinct set of smells-- something scaly, a bunch of wolves or dogs. Came in, headed out, towards that stretch of land cutting into the lake with small hills and rocky sections preventing a good view. There's also a very peculiar smell coming from the Abbey's crates, not bad, just... weird. Not something a normal person would pick up on. Judging by the tracks of the caravan, it came from the north. You have the option of heading there to trace where it shipped from, or to follow the prints left by the daemons. Wolves. Big wolves. One, single snake. Very big. They all headed off into that hilly section off the road. More footprints left the caravan than came to it, too. Looks like there were two, three of those wolf-like prints that came, and about eight that left with the snake.
Shin Tokuyama	"Sweet. First date. Awesome," Shin does notice the growing annoyance of Charity, so as she heads off to scout, he shouts after her, "Charity! You don't need to be jealous! I can take you out some time too!" It's unclear if he's asking her out, trying to get a rise out of her, or trying to get a rise out of Velvet. Once they're done crossing the river, Shin actually puts away the PS Vita and looks around a bit. He stretches himself out and sighs tiredly, taking a bottle of Pocari Sweat out of his backpack and drinking from it tiredly. It slips back into his backpack moments later as he looks towards the dig site. "Gonna go check that out!" Shin calls, hopping down into the digging area by sliding down one side of it. He grabs the remnants of a sandwich off a table and starts eating it as he sorts through paper to figure out what the deal with this place was.
Samantha Middleton	While Shin is looking at the papers, Samantha gets more curious about something else. This is her kryptonite, really... and finding the daemon has taken second place to figuring out what this stuff is. "What's this red ore, anyway?" Fido hops down to wander over so that Samantha can rummage in, lifting a piece to examine it. Who knows, maybe it's something she can integrate into her own suit or equipment? "So this place isn't all that safe? Wonder if they were transporting something secret or something. Or there's something else we don't know," Samantha reasons. "Miss Whiteheart, maybe you should look at the caravan."
Velvet Crowe	NORTH/VELVET: The paperwork Shin goes through seems to describe a process for refining ore in such a way that it produces a drinkable liquid. It doesn't look too complicated, just involved, and some of the equipment at the dig site looks like it could be used for it. There's plenty of bright red ore around too. It's actually very pretty. Fiery patterns within the red crystals make it look like the ore is basically crystalized fire. Looks like this digsite is sitting on a pretty nice deposit of it. The way everything is built, though, implies this was meant to stay hidden. Nothing's visible from the lake side. You HAVE to get this close to see this place at all. Some more paperwork details shipping schedules, which seem to mostly be 'when shit is ready, yo'. Processed ore and 'Nectar' is being shipped to an unknown, unmarked location. Unprocessed ore goes to the nearby port city. Are these guys doublecrossing the Abbey and selling the stuff to someone else? What Samantha can tell, at a glance, is that the ore is highly, HIGHLY flammable. Possibly explosive. Its structure is unusual, it couldn't have been formed naturally. If she can tell as much, it resonates with fire magic on some level. Velvet, after taking a look, just shrugs it off. "No idea. Never seen it. More importantly, looks like our daemon isn't here. Probably ate everyone, or they ran. That much's not our problem."
Shin Tokuyama	"Hey Sam!" Shin shouts over towards her, "You're an egghead type. Come take a loot at this science shit." Shin says, picking up a stack of the paperwork, as much of it as he can gather, and heading over towards Samantha Middleton, "Look at all this stuff. I can't make heads or tails of most of the technical specifics, but it looks like you can make... a drink out of this stone. Can you tell what it would do?" He asks her curiously, holding out the papers.
Xiaomu	"Y'know," Xiaomu remarks after a few moments, "this seems like fewer crates than they needed this many wagons for ... and I think I may have a trail for our 'thieves." She sniffs a bit more, then starts examining the tracks. Not much point in going north at the moment, except maybe to let somebody know how far the caravan got and how much is left. Which, well ... that can keep. The extra footprints make a LOT of sense of the lack of blood, though. "Gawain, if this were a grizzly attack or something, somebody would have bled. Bears don't take live prisoners - and I'm not totally sure if these were 'prisoners' in the first place. And ..." She goes back over to the remaing crates, sniffing deliberately at them, and from the look on her face - mostly the way her nose scrunches up and her ears flatten against the sides of her head - she regrets it. "Okay, next time the Abbey asks us to do something, we poke a gun under someone's chin and demand the undiluted truth. If these are really just medical supplies ... anyway, let's see what we can find out about our 'bandits'." She hops back off the wagon, collects her staff again, and starts following the trail off past the side of the road. "Keep an eye out for anyone else, too!" she calls out to her allies. "I doubt we're alone out here, so don't go getting ambushed!"
Charity Whiteheart	Well, the others seem to have found something. Charity abruptly wishes she had her crossbow with her. It isn't as useful as her knives, but it's nice in a pinch for threatening. Either way, she darts off to the side, approaching from another angle to try to keep her distance. Xiaomu fears an ambush, but Charity would just as rather not fight any of them. "Hm... no sign of the daemon yet, though..." she muses, before phasing through a tree to end up in a nice little nest.
Kotone Shiomi	"We don't know what the medicine in this place is like, right? Maybe it's just something unfamiliar to you?" Kotone suggests helpfully to Xiaomu, ever the soul of sincerity who trusts others as much as they can trust her. She follows along, and at the warning, takes the gun-like object out of her holster and grips it tight, "So what are these daemons like?" She asks.
Samantha Middleton	The ore looks useful, especially as an explosive. Chemical engineering with a speciality in propulsion and rocketry just happens to be in Samantha's skillset, too, so she wonders if she could use this. Actual ore refining is a bit outside of her skills, but if there are instructions maybe... "Right, be right there." Samantha packs up several chunks of ore and notes the location, before trundling over to where Shin is to take a look at the papers. "I'm not seeing any sign of daemons... hey, Velvet, you think maybe they were after this or something? Why would this be so well-hidden and abandoned?"
Gawain	Gawain just shrugs about the bears with a grin, before frowning heavily at Xiaomu as she speaks about the abbey. "We do not poke a gun under /anyone's/ chin! We do not threaten people for information like that, Chevalier Xiaomu, and the Abbey has given us no reason to mistrust them. Please do not allow your feelings on the Daemons to color your perceptions!" The knight sighs, not quite used to scolding people, before cracking a smile back onto his face. "But, good work on the scent-tracking! Everyone, follow Xiaomu. Remember, stick together!" And then, Kotone asks about the daemons. "There's an indepth report on it, but the daemons are basically people, creatures, or things infected with 'daemonblight'. It turns them into obsessive, negative creatures, with not many being reasonable. The Abbey locks them away, attempting to find a cure. Our first goal in any interaction is to see if we can negotiate with a daemon - if we cannot, capture is preferable, followed by putting it down if we must." Gawain explains, sort of quickly, shortly, and not very precisely what demons are to Kotone.
Velvet Crowe	NORTH/VELVET: Samantha bags the research and some of the ore. Velvet looks around before answering: "Don't know. Don't really care, either. Might be they wanted to avoid being seen by daemons or bandits, or something else." Sadly, the party members who know about this stuff are not here right now. "Let's go, I'm hungry and I don't want to miss my meal because we lagged behind to loot some pretty rocks and nerdpapers about the pretty rocks. Paladins'll probably kill the damn daemon again." SOUTH/ABBEY: Charity perches herself high enough to see past the hills covering up that peninsula-isle the Paladins are now headed to. There's a small camp there, with a fire and some pots. Large, bulky werewolves in tattered clothes and exorcist armor are tending to the fire, dumping... ore in the pots? Bright red ore. That's a terrible soup ingredient. And probably not how you refine ore, either. This is the same sight that the Paladins will come to when they actually follow the prints. This isn't as simple as walking; there's a bit of climbing large rocks involved and some moving through thick vines forming walls, but nothing that'll slow them down very much. Not unless Charity opts to slow them, anyhow. If they aren't slowed, and don't make too much noise getting past the natural obstacles, they'll have the drop on the camp of daemons. There's about ten inhuman werewolves in all, glowing with that black, purple and red mist indicative of daemons. Some are tending to a big pot over a fire.
Shin Tokuyama	"Hey shut up! Maybe these papers can make something you can actually eat so you don't have to risk a felony every time you have a meal," Shin shouts back to Velvet, "I dunno how this dumb nerd smart shit works. God." Shin doesn't actually seemed all that bothered. He mostly packs up the research into his backpack to give to Sam later once Velvet decides they should get moving again, "I wonder what these potions are supposed to do. Or the liquid. I dunno." Shin shrugs a bit and then goes to follow after Velvet.
Samantha Middleton	"I think it's explosive," Sam replies. Hard to say. "I'll have to try a few things out later if we want to know for sure. Chemistry isn't my speciality but I know a little bit. I'll see what I can do." She perks up at the sound that there are other daemons about, and starts heading that way, following Velvet as well for her backup.
Maya	Maya pauses as she finds the crates and tilts her head to Xiaomu "Looks like they were looting things that much is forsure. She takes a moment to look things over for a moment longer. "See the tracks?" Maya will takes another moment to check over some of the crates. "They were after something, but I don't know what. They took some things and left the rest. They didn't mindlessly smash everything. Right shall we?" WIth that Maya follows Xiaomu and keeps on going. She seems ot be in a fairly decent mood all things considered as she presses on towards the demon camp. She keeps quiet as she looks ove the camp anf whispers to Xiaomu. "Not the behaviour I expected out of them...they almost seem normal watching them like this." Normal as in things not consumedby utter rage. Still there's something unsettling aout thse thing to her, and she herself? The thing behind it tried to take her and that makes it somewhat personal.
Charity Whiteheart	Charity could try a few things to slow the Paladins... but there aren't a whole lot. She ponders as the Paladins approach, then hits upon something, at least. Something to delay while the others arrive. It's not much, but... A subtle breeze, that's all she can manage. Fine control was... not really her forte, but this much she can do. What's a breeze to anyone? Well it wafts toward the direction of the werewolves, roughly. An downwind breeze that seems a bit counter to the normal winds, perhaps, but any trackers would know... approaching by the swiftest route, if that breeze returns, would warn the werewolves if they have any sense of scent.
Xiaomu	Xiaomu hasn't entirely forgotten being soaked in the Daemonblight, but she was doing a pretty good job of not dwelling on it. The immediate concerns related to dealing with the Daemons are of more importance right now. Werewolves, she thinks, looking them over. According to the legends she knows from back home, werewolves can normally assume a human form. Maybe they were the drivers - maybe clawing up the wagons and wrecking them was part of a ploy to throw off investigators or pursuers. It would certainly make more sense that the wagons were driven by werewolves who were in on the plot somehow ... but that throws another grenade into the Abbey's 'Daemons are uncontrollably violent' claim. This was a conscious plan - very deliberate, methodical, not what you'd expect from a bunch of berserk monsters. The sage fox gives Gawain another look - not really apologizing for her earlier comment (although he was right to call her out, when you get right down to it - not that Xiaomu was TOTALLY serious about the threatening part), but kind of a non-verbal 'you know reality keeps making holes in what the Abbey tells us' told-you-so sort of look. Threats or no threats, they REALLY need to get better information out of the Abbey in the future. ... And then the wind changes. "Benzaiten's broken lute strings," Xiaomu growls under her breath as she feels the change in the breeze blowing from her towards the werewolves. She stays hunkered down for the moment, but her ears are perked up so she can at least hear the initial reactions. Maybe the werewolves will ignore it ... And maybe she's Queen Himiko, she snarks internally. Well, if the werewolves - or any of their allies whom haven't been spotted yet - attack first and don't ask questions, self-defense covereth a multitude of sins. If they're more cagey about it, then maybe talking it out will do some good.
Kotone Shiomi	When Xiaomu tenses and seems to prepare fot trouble, Kotone Shiomi puts the gun like object to her head and takes a few breaths before she pulls the trigger. "Persona!" She calls out as softly as she can manage, and the energy that streams out of her head coalesces into a metal figure holding a heart-shaped harp that hunkers down between Xiaomu and Kotone. At the same time, the teenage girl that summoned Orpheus holds on tight to her polearm.
Gawain	As the small breeze picks up, Gawain is already looking over the werewolves. It's a lot of them! But they might be friendly, or misunderstood...and if so, Gawain should try and speak to them. "You three, find a different route. I'll go up there and talk to them!" And then, with a burst of Servant speed and strength, the knight is leaping into the air. Sir Gawain lands a distance from the wolves, noisily getting past the obstacles, as he moves to draw their attention. "Hello there! Don't be startled, I don't have any intention of fighting you. Would you happen to know what happened to that caravan nearby?" His tone indicates that Gawain isn't actually assuming it was them - innocent until proven guilty - and is simply asking questions. The werewolves can probably also tell that he's some manner of spirit, even if he just seems like a cheerful knightly man.
Velvet Crowe	NORTH/VELVET: "I can eat normal people food, you know," Velvet responds to Shin, now annoyed. "I'm not eating people and daemons for fun. I'm eating them because it makes me stronger. I eat stronger people, I get even stronger. I need all the strength I can get if I want to knock on the Abbey's front door, because I don't see Artorius calmly opening the door for me and letting me walk up to him." As nice as that would be. With everything packed up, Velvet, Shin and Samantha head south! It will take them a round of walking to reach Charity and get behind the Paladins, though. Walking is not a free action! SOUTH/ABBEY: When Maya checked the crates, she saw the daemons took a bit of everything. Some of the supply crates, some of the Abbey's crates. Seeing the werewolf daemons, though... no, they're certainly not consumed by rage. They do seem rather obsessed by the pot they're brewing, though, and the few crates they're guarding. A few of the werewolves even fight among themselves for ownership of the crates. They're grunting, not speaking. As people ponder going around, they do see multiple paths. They could swim, jump over the rocky formations, or even climb the trees. There's no shortage of options to pincer these daemons. This might not be necessary though, because... Well, Gawain's presence does what you'd expect it to. The daemons all turn to face him, growling, howling, and letting go of their current occupations to start encircling him. HE might have no intention to harm them, but two of the daemons immediatly leap for him, claws out and ready. They seem protective. A few are even backing away towards the crates and their cooking pot. Is that all they care about anymore?
Xiaomu	"I hate being right sometimes," Xiaomu mutters. She doesn't even bother trying to take an alternative approach route, she just vaults over the rocks she was hiding behind, suppressing the desire to bust out a Xiaomu Surfing. "My wolfspeak is awfully rusty, so I apologize for sticking with human language ... how many of you guys were actually driving those wagons, and was this a conspiracy to steal from the caravan to begin with, or did something else happen?" She's not drawing handguns, not tossing grenades, not even bringing her staff to bear for a physical or magical attack. The question she just asked out loud is probably going to be enough of a bombshell. Hopefully it also surprises the werewolves into not carrying through their attack on Gawain. That'd be really nice.
Shin Tokuyama	"You never know. He let me drunkenly throw a whiskey bottle at him and call him a pussy. Maybe if you called his secretary and made an appointment under Anna Linjection, he'd let you in to see him," Shin rubs the underside of his chin, "Have you TRIED making an appointment? Do you want me to make an appointment and see what happens?" Shin adjusts the backpack on his back and heads south with the others. He sighs a bit at the hike, but seems to take it pretty well in stride, "I'm just saying. It might work."
Kotone Shiomi	To aid Gawain and Xiaomu, Kotone also heads past the rocs, not quite as swift as Xiaomu, nor likely as impressive, but she makes her way over there. Orpheus however, is the faster of the two, and the Persona moves in front of Gawain to tank some of the attacks that might come his way while the field commander of SEES catches up. "Can we talk this out instead of fighting it out?"
Samantha Middleton	"Well he knows you're out there," Samantha agrees. "Making an appointment might, at least, make him off guard or something? Psyche him out, as the city folk say." Yeah, despite being an 'egghead' Samantha is mostly a country girl. She's not offering a lot of talk though, beyond that much. There's a lot to think about here. A secret dig site. No sign of the big demon. Paladins poking around. "I have a bad feeling about this," is all she can manage for now. "I'm going to take a look at that ore when we get back. Let's hurry and see the Paladins draw out the big one."
Charity Whiteheart	Hmm. Charity COULD help the Paladins, or she could just watch. She'll... jockey for a better position, actually. The werewolves seem to cluster around that pot, and are trying to do something. Might as well see if she can't get a good look while the others are fighting. She'll zip up closer, but still linger behind... she might be spotted now, but she's hanging back away at least, to assess how many are guarding the quarry. THAT is probably what she wants. It's kind of scummy, maybe, but so far the Paladins have gotten in the way of everything, in her mind. Let them handle the pack, it's not like it'll be a danger to the ones here.
Gawain	The werewolves approach Gawain, but their actions are defensive, not offensive. The knight skids backwards on his feet, refusing to take a combat stance as he keeps speaking. "Hold on, we'd just like to speak with you! We have no intention of stealing anything from you, if that's what you're worried about. Please, just communicate peacefully."
Maya	the Demons took a bit of everything that much is certain. Maya guess they were moving to stock up on supplies she's going to move to back up Xiaomu she does her best to keep stelthy and she doesn't go for her weapons as she moves to follow Xiaomu out of the underbush an to stand here. "Yes we're looking into the Caravana nd it's fate. Did somehing else happen or was this simply a supply raid?" Maya trusts the Fox Woman going against nearly two decades of experiance here on this. She's also wide open for Velvent and friends to jump her from behind.
Velvet Crowe	NORTH/VELVET: "No. We'll get to him when we get to him," Velvet replies, missing the joke entirely. "I hate to agree with Charity but Loegres is too well-guarded. They've got hundreds of exorcists around that castle and probably even more inside. It wouldn't end well. He'll have to move. I know him. He'll have to take to the field eventually, and he's not the sort to accept protection in those circumstances. That's when we'll get him." As the party finally reaches the peninsula-isle (I'm sure there's a more technical term for a stretch of land that extends into a lake), they see the fight breaking out. Velvet begins running, not bothering to hide her intent to jump in from behind. SOUTH/ABBEY/TECHNICALLY EVERYONE NOW: Charity sees that one werewolf is guarding the cooking pot, and two the crates they stole. The other seven are currently engaged with Gawain. The cooking pot seems to mostly consist of boiling water and red crystals. Nothing special is happening in there. Charity doesn't need to be a chemist to tell they have no idea what they're doing. Xiaomu finds the werewolves don't reply. They just growl. It's not even communication, it's angry wolf noises. If anyone could sense it, or reach into their minds, all they'd find is single-minded aggression. They only have one desire and it's to turn those crates into something they really want. It's unclear what. They don't seem to know, either, they're just trying to replicate what they saw once. Sadly for the lot of Paladins, there really is no reasoning with these daemons, and the Abbey isn't lying to you when they say the average daemon just wants to eat you. They redouble their attacks-- against everyone, this time. Two werewolves are still focusing on Gawain with their claws. One attempts to land ON Kotone and bite her face. Two make for Xiaomu, one on all fours to dash-tackle her down, another to chew on her legs the moment it can. The last two leap up onto the rocks, using the high ground to pincer Maya as they leap down towards her. Also, why is there really loud snake hissing?
Xiaomu	"Well, if you're going to be like THAT about it - XIAOMU SURFING!!" An abrupt wave of intense ice magic meets the charging werewolves, trying to encase both of them in large blocks of ice - and if the freezing succeeds, Xiaomu leaps onto one of the blocks (preferably the one that was in the lead, trying to tackle her to the ground), using the ice magic from her staff (and its concealed sword) to propel the werewolfcicle across the ground at high speed. Running one of the other werewolves down with it seems like a really good idea, and she's aiming it for one of Gawain's aggressors. On the downside, if the werewolfcicle-sled stops, the werewolf will be able to break free in a hurry - and if that happens too close to Gawain, he'll have three werewolves trying to maul him instead of two. But just engaging in combat is always a risk. The hissing is not entirely lost on Xiaomu, either. "Watch out for the snakes!!" she calls out to her allies, doing it verbally this time instead of on the radio. Fortunately, she's pretty sure her ice magic will be an even bigger advantage against snakes ... those tend to be cold-blooded, right?
Shin Tokuyama	"At the very least, we can work on your public im- Oh, she's gone." Shin sighs a bit. Velvet had drive, ambition, and a goal. But she had no sense of style! If she wanted to be a hero, she had to get a public image. So Shin will not be fighting at the moment. Instead, he takes out his phone and swaps it over to the Camera. He pans it over the Paladins fighting, taking some pictures, and then eventually starts following Velvet. He's got a long-term plan for this, don't you worry.
Charity Whiteheart	Hmm. Well, truthfully Charity doesn't want any of the Paladins /killed/ but she doesn't see any reason to help them, either. At least, not yet. Sadly, she's going to be pretty boring right now and just whip out her knives and... watch. If any of the Paladins seem to be in trouble, she'll give them a hand. In the meantime... where is that hissing coming from?
Maya	Whelp they tried and it does nowhere as they come at them. Maya is not having a good time her they come after her and she pulls her rifle, the weapon powers up and she opens fire trying to takeone of the werewolves down in the air as they come for her. She shifts trying to make her self lessof a target but even if she takesthe wolf down there's a chance it may land on her. "I don't like the sound of that!" If the watch wants to strike? Now is the perfect time to royally screw Maya over.
Samantha Middleton	A really loud snake hissing? Samantha doesn't like that! She does like Velvet thinking it through though! "Yeah, I was just kind of wondering. You know him better than I do, but we'll figure something out... hey are those...?" The snake hissing is forgotten for a moment! The Paladins seem to be doing pretty well though, so she doesn't need to intervene. Best to... be prepared though. "FIDO, launch two turrets and prepare for combat," she says. A loud 'whump' sends two of the globe-turrets that she's been using thud down near the camp and embed, prepping for crossfire if need be.
Gawain	Well, negotiation failed. In a flash, Gawain's sword is in his hands, and he's trying to parry one of the werewolves! The other, however, gets a nasty gash in on his armor, knocking him back, though as Xiaomu moves for it, he's moving for the other one, trying to stab it in the arm with his blade so that it'll stop attacking and that he can subdue it. The sword ignites while impaled, trying to burn the werewolf from inside to neutralize it. "Capture first! Kill them as a last resort! Let's go!"
Velvet Crowe	What Xiaomu finds out is that freezing daemons isn't hard but keeping them frozen is another matter. It doesn't take the werewolves long to muscle their way out of the ice, and that's before they smash into anything. Oh, it was probably still very painful, but she's about to have worse to worry about now that the daemon she was riding is free to open its jaw and try to snap it around a limb again. The other doesn't fare quite as well, tumbling down into the lake. Maya opens fire on one of the werewolves! Depending on the intended lethality of her aim it is either unconscious or dead, but either way she has to deal with a falling body, and a second werewolf following up to bite, because it couldn't care less its buddy just got shot. Capture first, Gawain says, as he stabs a werewolf in the arm and sets it on fire. In his defense that's not totally lethal, but geez. The remaining one is about to exploit the opening created by this, but Samantha's turrets come online in time to gun it down. Now, about that hissing. Charity can clearly see a very large daemon emerging from cracks within the stones. It's not a snake exactly. It's serpentine, for sure. A ten foot tall snake lady of a sort-- a naga, if you will, but also not entirely. Bottom half snake, top half scaly woman, she has a belt of bright yellow feathers around her waist, her hair is made of yellow feathers too, and two small wings extend to either side of her head. Echidna slithers, and laughs, it's definitely feminine, but like the werewolves, doesn't convey words. Velvet, who was about to come up behind Maya and Literally Stab Her as her sword popped out of that bracer, clicks her tongue in annoyance and, instance of stabbing someone, leaps, kicking off Maya's shoulder to pounce at Naga and drive the sword through the serpentlady. This does not seem to be enough, though, because Echidna's response is to yell. Specifically, she yells a sonic boom. At everyone.
Samantha Middleton	Hey, the good news is Samantha is in the fight! Her turrets start into overtime, targeting and gunning at the various remaining werewolves. Taking care of the small fry to keep them from being a distraction suddenly seems like a great idea! So she'll get right on that! The bad news? Samantha isn't knocked flat by the sonic scream, but that's only because of Fido's weight. The armor rocks, and the girl inside is rattled enough to make her ears ring, which makes talking to everyone... tough.
Shin Tokuyama	Shin was out of Melee! That means that while the Sonic Boom is incredibly unpleasant and nearly blows him off his feet, he's able to withstand it better than most. The intrepid protagonist-to-be is hanging around on the fringes of the battle. He drops to the ground to brace himself agains the force of it. And then he goes back to taking pictures of Velvet doing heroic and acrobatic things. Because he has Plans(tm).
Xiaomu	If Xiaomu wasn't trying not to become werewolf chow, she would probably be snarking OH SO HARD at Gawain at this particular moment. And she's still tempted enough about it to try talking to him over the radio ... even as she exerts herself not to get chomped on. Mostly, she's dodging a lot - she doesn't use 'High Speed Xiaomu!' for a catchphrase just because it's cool; she actually lives up to that level of alacrity with some regularity. It's kept her alive for 765 years, after all, and she plans to keep THAT record up for a good long time. So when the werewolf tries to close its (his?) jaws on her arm, Xiaomu makes sure her arm isn't in between those impressive teeth ... and that's the vast majority of her strategy at this point, basically playing keepaway. Not that she's worried about lycanthropy, per se, but she doesn't want to lose a few decades trying to regrow a lost limb. Plus, it would piss Reiji off, which doesn't usually make life much better. If she gets the chance to launch a counter-attack, she's trying to force-feed some magically-conjured ice into her main opponent's mouth - just conjure a chunk too big for the werewolf's mouth to close around. If she makes THAT much of an advance on the offense, she can worry about how to follow-up.
Maya	Maya senswe Velvet far too late, but she's lucky she gets off lucky this time. Velvet just pulls a trick an old commander of her did a long time ago. She just got stepped on more or lkes thankfully Maya's going to focus on the echidna. Maya is caught by the falling body due to Velvet distracting her and she has now bit hard too. She's now locked in melee and attemps to brteka free, or at least get her rifle about to fire off a beam blast from. Though the bite's rpetty nasty and she's got some trouble to deal with now.
Charity Whiteheart	The sonic boom was new. Unexpected. Charity, settling on a perch, is knocked right off with a grunt as she impacts the ground. Shaking her head, the assassin/thief tries to focus on the newcomer... snake? That's something to worry about. The Paladins and Samantha are cleaning up the werewolves, and Velvet's already going for Echidna. That makes Charity's course clear. Shaking her aching body, the woman leaps up to her feet, then springs forward and up... passing /through/ Echidna. No, theis doesn't actually hurt the creature. It does hopefully put her behind it to whip about and do some very powerful impaling stabs with the pair of daggers on hand, her body still shimmering with the purple aura from her Nightmare Phase. "Mind a hand with this one?"
Gawain	Hey, it's a werewolf! And it's still alive! And once it's down, the flames are turned off anyways, as Gawain restrains it. He's about to be struck by the other...when Samantha's turrents take it down, causing him to blink, look in their direction, and give them a wave. "Hey, try and be non-lethal, whoever you are!" And Gawain's distraction while shouting at a turret perfectly allows Echidna to rise up and shout him backwards, the knight flying backwards and impacting against the ground. Gawain slowly brings himself back up to his feet, and turns to the Echidna. And there he spots Velvet Crowe. There's a momentary thought, but only for a moment, on what to do. "Paladins! Assist them in taking out the beast!"
Velvet Crowe	Luckily for those bitten, there's no lycanthropy being transmitted. Daemons don't work like that! Their bites might need cleaning like any other bite, but you're not at risk of anything weird. Samantha's turrets have no trouble thinning the werewolf pack, gunning down a pair of the idle ones. That way they won't be joining the fight! With some ice, Xiaomu shuts her opponent's maw closed and causes him (it?) to stumble back, smack into a rock, and succumb (not die) to the stress on its body for the time being. Maya likewise can easily dispatch her remaining opponent, even with a body on top of her for a moment there. This leaves two werewolves in all! One guarding the pot over the fire, the other flailing in the corner with Kotone. Probably getting its ass kicked, really. Gawain orders the Paladins to assist Velvet. We can presume that this probably happens, and people nail Echidna with what they have, because by gods we're running out of time. Charity phases through her, too, to plant knives in the woman(?)'s back. Velvet uses the opportunity to leap back in (after a momentary pause caused by getting sonic boom yelled at straight into a tree), her left arm bursting out of its bandages to assume that massive, werewolfy-ish glowing black and red arm form. "The only hand I need is THIS ONE!" Now she's just being contrary to get that in. Contrary or not, though, when she slams into Echidna with her daemonic arm, it immediatly starts eating. Veins pulse along the arm as she squeezes. Echidna screams, and suddenly blasts apart into a fine purple mist, Velvet's arm closing tightly where the daemon used to be. Then she lands, and glares towards the Paladins. "Your stupid daemon's dead. Take what you came here to get and go. I don't care one bit for the shipments."
Shin Tokuyama	Shin gets exactly the shot he wants in the Paladins collaborating with the Watch to save the day. And Velvet finishing off the monster. He snaps picture after picture with his phone. He grins to himself and mostly seems content to be doing that right now and staying out of trouble.
Maya	Maya duid not get stabbed in the back, she's going to be fine with letting Velvet go today. It may be a mistake but turning a good turn with a frak you isn't the best idea in her mind i one ever wnats to try and settle something without shooting. She dumps the corpse off her now she's got a chance to do so and make sure it's dead before she'll move to aid the other Paladins in clean up but the ore? That /is/ odd, she hwas to wonder what's up with that.
Xiaomu	That really does seem to be that, as far as Xiaomu can tell. All of the werewolves are down in short order, the serpentine Daemon gets gobbled down by Velvet's hand (there should be a joke about 'finger food' one of these times, but Xiaomu's not in a position to make it at this point) ... Really, the only thing left that Xiaomu takes a particular interest in is trying to encase the cooking fire, the pot, and the ore in a nice big chunk of ice, to put the fire out and start drawing heat back out of the pot and the ore. Whatever the werewolves were TRYING to do, the sage fox sees no reason to let it progress any further at all.
Samantha Middleton	For the first time in a LONG time, Samantha has FULLY FUNCTIONING Turrets to pick up! As Echidna gets downed - with a few shots from her autocannon to help things along - Samantha trots over to collect the turrets. She stops at the pot's side and points out, "That ore is really flammable, that's a good idea. Be careful transporting it." She isn't going to hang around to put the Paladins good graces to the test though!