Scene #5755: An Excess of Humanity

Owner	Pose
Welisse	The air is thin up here, in the buildings and along the roads of what's known as the High Wall of Lothric. All but abandoned by those who yet retain a shred of sanity, the streets are literred with long-hollowed undead. Among the more prominent features are trees that are growing into men along with the occassional dead pilgrim, collapsed on the path towards the castle off in the distance. Each pilgrim covered in rags, with a heavy stone shell on their backs and a staff with a long-burnt out incense burner at the end. It's off on one tower's parapets that Welisse is sitting at a bonfire, the roaring and firebreathing of an angry wyvern faintly to be heard in the distance. A warpgate in the tower's basement, beneath a creaky old elevator. She's staring at a mass of shambling hollows, no more apparently dangerous than the many others. She's been at this for a while, died a few times trying to cross, and finally decided she needed some help and asked the concord for some assistance. Beyond this mass of hollows lies what appears to be a church or temple, and behind it the castle that looms over the high wall. If she wishes to reach it, she has to get past these undead. Alas, she knows what corruption they harbour.
Carna	Even if a call for aid had not come in, Enark, last survivor of the Order of the Blue Scholars, would have been intrigued. He has already noted countless similarities between Lumiere and Lordran. To be called to yet another world of death like it, where beings like Lanterns walk about, returning from death over and over, and fighting hollow shells of people while feasting on spiritual energy, would be enough to draw his interest. And now it might bear some immediate relevant on his objective of rescuing comrades. So coming here to help as best he can grips him thrice over. The hook-nosed man, black hair hanging loosely about his head, his dark-blue robes adorning him, with little decoration beyond a belt with pouches containing vials, jars, collection tools, and other scientific instruments, has made his way to the Bonfire as best he is able without knowing the layout of the place, cautious not to draw attention in the process. He makes sure to announce himself, at this point trained to expect undead people to respond with violence first to being surprised after his experiences with Carna. "I am Enark. I am not much of a fighter, but I am a capable healer. If necessary, I can lend aid in battle, of course. I will be most useful at a distance." He squints around, expecting a seething black river of ooze that warps reality around it, based on the descriptor of 'corruption' and what that means where he comes from. "So, where is our target?"
Lemeza Kosugi	Lemeza Kosugi, keen to figure out just what this world holds, confidently steps through the warpgate. He certainly looks the part of an archaeologist: fedora, khaki shirt and pants, with a whip and pistol holstered to his hip. He takes a deep breath and a look around, and then sighs as he processes the situation he's been called in to deal with. "First new world I visit, and it's grim and eerie. Well, I suppose we should get to work." He approaches the others near the bonfire, and extends his hand in greeting to each of them in turn. "Lemeza Kosugi, famed archaeologist. I'm a pretty good fighter as well, so Enark, you can stay behind me. As for our host..." He turns to Welisse. "Think you've got enough left in you to contribute?"
Welisse	The masked pyromancer rises when others arrive, and makes a formal bow to the two of them. "Welisse of the Great Swamp, Unkindled Lordseeker and Pyromancer. I can explain what those things mean in more detail at another occassion." She then turns around and towards the stairs down to a lower level, so they can reach the mass of shambling hollows that is home to this corruption. "I would encourage the use of fire, and try to avoid getting too close if you can. This corruption behaves in a rather erratic manner." Her left hands opens up a palm to reveal a flame covering most of it as she peeks around the corner and onto the plaza that leads towards them, "Getting too close will have the same effect as doing this will, so as to better demonstrate what we're dealing with." She flings a ball of flame into the crowd, killing one of the hollows. Immediately a handful of others react, bending over as their flesh tears open and a massive bulk of oily black corruption spills forth, each of them gaining a pair of red eyes at the end of one bunch of this corruption, and they rapidly begin swatting at anything near them that isn't another one of these corrupted beings, flattening most of the remaining hollows.
Carna	Enark narrows his eyes at one of the terms used. 'Lordseeker'. Given Lumiere's Lords of Silence and the purported need to claim their souls to save their world... "An honor, Lady Welisse. Yes. I would very much like to hear more at another time." He accepts the hand offered by the archaeologist that joins them, and says, "A pleasure to meet you, Sir Lemeza. Were it that we had met under less troublesome circumstances." He then moves to follow after the local guide as she leads the way down some stairs and towards the Unlit--no, rather, the Hollows. "Sadly," he says quietly. "my element is Water, not Fire. However, I can wash away corruption, heal wounds, inflict and cure poison, and create barriers, among other applications. Nothing that burns as flame does, but maybe this will suffice." He begins muttering in a rush of echoing discordant voices, dissonant chanting that is not entirely his own, and shells of water form around Welisse, Lemeza, and then Enark himself. It should absorb damage and reduce anything that gets through, at least until the shield is depleted. In the mean time, he hangs back behind Lemeza as suggested and acts as ranged support.
Lemeza Kosugi	Lemeza follows Welisse down the stairs, whip in hand ready to get to work, but he lurches back involuntarily as the corruption spews forth. "Well then. That is certainly troublesome." Getting straight to business, he exchanges his whip for his pistol, sizing up the crowd. "I may not have fire, but I do have a firearm. That'll have to do." He takes a few moments to identify features on the Hollows and corruption, planning a sequence of shots and hoping maybe a clean hit on a vital area will have the same effect as the pyromancer's fireball. He looks to Welisse and is about to say something, but before he can speak, Enark's water shield surrounds him, and he turns back to the crowd of enemies. "All right! Let's get started!" He opens fire on several of the corruption creatures, taking aim at the glowing eyes of each in turn and moving quickly to get in as many shots as he can before they turn their aggression on the party.
Welisse	The corruption recoils at being shot in the eyes, taking large swathes of that strange substance out of the creature, but this also further draws the attention of these strange beings. They shuffle towards the source of the shooting at surprising speed considering they are still bound by the feet of the hollow undead they spawned from. As they finish their approach, their aggressive flailing bludgeons the shields Enark was so helpful to provide, making it somewhat easier to back off and retreat to a save distance if so required. Welisse's shield is not enough to prevent meaningful damage, having drawn the bulk of their ire with her initial fire, and she gets a dislocated and broken arm for her trouble. As she backs off up the tower, she pulls out a flask of some orange liquid and takes a quick sip, the wounds soon fading as the estus does its job. Even with her back there, the corrupted hollows keep advancing and bludgeoning their way through.
Carna	Enark is startled by the amount of damage that slips through Welisse's shield. That implies a tremendous force that he would fare far less well being subjected to. Encouragement to continue keeping his distance. It definitely gets him scurrying up the stairs, and dumping healing magic upon Welisse. A water dragon flows around the Undead's wounds, mending them gradually. That will have to do as Enark needs a little bit more time for an 'instant' heal sufficient to repair broken bones, and he divided his efforts between a Heal Over Time and a Barrier. "Err, do we have a plan if backing up slowly while shooting and throwing things doesn't pan out for us?" Enark asks concernedly. He is mentally kicking himself for not setting out wards around the bonfire so that if they need to retreat they can do so without having to run too far. Lemeza's gun and Welisse's fire bmbs seem quite effective, even if aggro-drawing. Picking them off from behind a line of wards would have been ideal. Something to keep in mind for the future, he supposes. Assuming they make it out of this fight.
Lemeza Kosugi	A quick glance away from his target tells Lemeza that his new friend isn't doing too well, as she scurries away from the incoming threat. He quickly throws his backpack off one shoulder, swings it in front of him to gain space between himself and the corruption, and off his other shoulder, launching it up the stairwell toward Welisse and Enark as he keeps moving back slightly. "Get my laptop out of there! It'll help us even the odds. I'll stall these things for now." He manages to complete all of this right as one of the corrupted beings broadsides him into a wall, away from the stairs. Between the water shield and his innate durability, Lemeza manages to pull himself together without significant injury... although his grimace betrays that he doesn't expect to endure those indefinitely. He holsters his pistol, draws his whip, and starts countering the corruption's further attacks with lashes of his own. "By the way, Mr. Enark, the backup plan is to take them head on!"
Welisse	"The other backup plan is to retreat and try another time. They'll give up and return to their more docile state if they lose track of us for long enough." Welisse adds to that, catching the backpack and handing it to Enark to figure out what to do with. She's in a much better shape thanks to her healing drought and especially Enark's healing, and advances towards the closest corrupted hollow. It falls to the whip before she can get close enough. Three remain. Welisse decides to pull out a close combat weapon of her own, a lengthy slender blade that she immediately wreathes in flame, advancing a little more to get a quick stab at one of the two just jostling around the entrance to the tower. It recoils from the flame, with the side effect of letting the other bash its way through. This time, Welisse is prepared for it and so the damage isn't quite as bad. Still, it clearly hurt, and it's rampaging on towards Lemeza and Enark.
Carna	Unlike either Welisse or Lemeza, Enark is only dead, not undead, and does not possess superhuman durability or physical abilities in general. He even gets tired like a living person under physical exertion. The backpack tossed to him is caught awkwardly, making him 'oof!' and leaving him distracted and open when the corruption creature comes barreling through, swinging its gross appendages. Enark ducks desperately under a tentacle solely by reflex only to be lashed in the side and sent skidding across the ground towards the bonfire. He rolls away from the fire quickly enough, more due to instinctive concern about being burned than due to any real threat from it with the water shield (not that bonfires tend to hurt people regardless). He tries to get the laptop out of the backpack, not understanding why and thinking maybe this isn't the most productive use of his time, so he stops at 'getting it out' and leaves it near the relative safety of the bonfire as he sorely gets up, and shakily says, "A-alright. Head-on then. I suppose I should become involved as well." He then begins chanting, reciting a Murmur, calling upon a dead spell, cast long ago by many others before him, reanimated endlessly by the reincarnation mechanism of Lumiere in order to be cast again. He completes his 'undead spell' working, and then releases the gathered energies. A healing rain begins to pour down on the corruption, a purifying deluge that tries to wash the corruption away and eradicate it from the world. It is small indeed compared to the enormous storm he unleashed in Ariamis with the gathered power and support of several Elites and multiple local elements magnifying his power. But it's highly unlikely to be received graciously by beings for whom the rain is likely the equivalent of napalm. It is focused on the stairs, and anyone still fighting on, alongside, or near them will be getting continuous healing at the same time as it renders the steps truly unpleasant for creations of filth and infestation.
Lemeza Kosugi	"Um, maybe you should keep standing back, both of you..." Watching the other two get practically ragdolled around, Lemeza speaks with a second-guessing tone as he hops onto the stairs and lands himself between the corruption and his allies; he ends up having to perform a mid-air jump to evade a tentacle swipe. He gets up, and is about to resume meeting the enemy's attacks with those of his whip when a weird rain starts to fall. Taking note that the corruption doesn't seem to like it, he takes the opportunity to make his way up the stairs to the bonfire and opens up the newly-extracted laptop, keeping one eye on the stairs to make sure he actually has time for this. One hand on the mousepad, other hand on his pistol, Lemeza starts clicking with a bit of haste and starts muttering to himself, "okay load this, and that, and set arguments to Enark and Welisse and GOT IT!" After one final click, a brief flash of light engulfs those two, who would definitely notice feeling sturdier in some manner, and Lemeza then turns his full attention to the stairs. "There. That should keep your limbs attached."
Welisse	"I'll be fine. I've got plenty estus left, and worst case I end up having to recover a few days." Welisse answers Lemeza right as the rain starts coming down. The corruption really doesn't like that, the rain hissing gaps into them, helping deal with this semi-liquid, semi-sapient darkness. The laptop makes them all tougher, and so when Welisse is next hit by some flailing it merely hurts a lot rather than break anything. The ones still outside take the brunt of the rain, inside all the obstacles make it a little rougher to get it to connect, and so that one maintains the pursuit. For the time being, that means they're down to one. Welisse stabs at it as she retreats back upstairs, hoping to draw it into the rain. It's smart enough not to follow that far, but it still blocks the path.
Carna	The rain will likely continue for a minute at least. Maybe a little longer. However, with the corruption creature not taking the bait, that just means they have to bring the fight to it. While remaining out of range. Enark feels his body reinforced by whatever Lemeza did, and is grateful for that given hims relative flimsiness. But he doesn't want to test it at all, so he begins a new chant, a much shorter one, and then sends out a barrage of purple crystal needles from his palm at the end. If they hit, they begin to dissolve and release virulent poison inside of the monster so that it is sizzling and melting both from without and within. Enark feels no pity for the thing. It is clearly a hostile monstrosity that wants to kill them. The lives (or reasonable facsimiles thereof) for him and his allies take priority over random sludge monsters any day of the week. "Do we have many more to get through beyond these?" Enark inquires as he readies another barrage.
Lemeza Kosugi	"Let's find out, shall we Enark?" Lemeza, having accomplished what he needed with his laptop, sets it down and draws both whip and pistol in preparation. He fires a couple shots alongside Enark's poison needles, not wanting to get caught in the attack by stepping in front. Once the needles stop, Lemeza gets closer and starts slashing at any remaining corruption creatures with his whip. With everything on the backline sorted out, and buffs aplenty on the entire party, Lemeza focuses his attention on the enemy in front, and seems hellbent on continuing this assault until either the enemy falls or he does.
Welisse	The rain outside seems to have done most of the work to take care of those, weakened enough they can be beaten through with relative ease by Lemeza's whipping. That leaves the one inside, and the poison crystal needles take good care of it. Thus, the path is cleared, what little corruption remains retreating within the corpses of the hollow undead they occupy. "Thank you for helping me deal with these Pus of Man." Welisse says with a sigh of relief now that the path forwards is open to her. "I am in your debt. Should you need assistance, please do not hesitate to call upon my sign."
Carna	The battle winds down amidst stabbing and whipping, until the remainder retreat, leaving a path clear. "...Ah, so there is no large door covered in this substance? Hm. Well, in addition to aiding one of our newer allies and getting to fight alongside an even newer one, I have learned from this experience and have ideas that might help moving forward. Though, I may actually request your aid rather quickly, I am afraid. Some of our allies are still trapped in a prison dimension that was recently closed off from us by the gods that rule it. One of them, Lady Carna, is much like you. In a multitude of ways. Though less quick to offer thanks when service is rendered, sadly." The scholar rubs at his sore arm, the rain gradually ceasing as the energies put into it are expended. "If you are willing to offer aid, either of you, we intend to clear a gate covered in corruption somewhat similar to this in a few days, in an effort to rescue these few and bring our wrath upon their jailors. All assistance would be appreciated."
Lemeza Kosugi	As the last of the corruption gives way to his attacks, Lemeza puts his weapons up, collects his backpack and laptop from upstairs, and returns to the other two. "That was a good workout. Thanks for the tipoff, Welisse, and for some insight into your world." He stretches rather thoroughly, wincing slightly as he gets to the abdominal stretch but otherwise no worse for wear. "And Enark, I'd like to know more about this 'prison dimension' of yours. We should talk in depth about this another time. And, um..." He rubs the back of his head sheepishly, a thought having just occured to him. "...in return I'll explain that laptop thing. Heh."