World Tree MUSH

    It's been a few days and Rittersburg... Has not been having the best of times.
    People have gone missing. Children at first. Then adults. And now, members of the various search parties that go out into the forests to find them. It's gotten worse.
    Princess Anna Primrose is seated in the tavern, and from the looks of it, the town guard, now a skeleton crew of their former selves after members of their number have gone missing, are slogging in. They look exhausted. Spent. Stretched thin.
    A sobbing mother, an elven woman wanders the tavern showing anyone that will look pictures of her missing half-elf daughter.
    "Please... If you see her- please let me know, she has a coral hairpin that she never takes off, you can't miss her."
    Anna sighs and approaches the guards.
    "No luck?"
    The men and women of the local constabulary shake their heads glumly.
    "Get some rest. I'll ... I'll try and get a party together and have another look in the woods. The trail's probably cold, but..." But there's still some hope for finding the lost people, right?

On the one hand, the thought of turning back has occurred to Professor Neviah Younger more than once. She's not a fighter by nature, and she's probably ill-equipped to gallivant around the fragments of this world for the sake of rescuing kids. And the demons they encountered had already hurt her, even if only a little.

The other argument in her thoughts was more convincing. Demons mean there's more afoot here than a simple lost girl. The remnants of this world are hard to dig up, and even harder under perfectly peaceful circumstances.

She made the call. It's why she's sitting at a table in the tavern, trying to look like she's sipping liquor like the rest of the travellers. She isn't - she asked for a tall frosty mug of water. She's in the process of lifting it to her lips when the woman comes bawling back through the door.

Neviah catches her lower lip between her teeth, looking up after Anna with a soft rush of breath through her nose.

Leaving the mug behind, she tenses, then lets it out in a huff and moves from the table towards the tiny princess, the crying mother and the guards. She steps up to one side of Anna with a low clearing of her throat. "What we encountered last time was quite serious," she points out, her voice low to try and keep it from carrying. "Creatures such as the ones that attacked us do not just appear without cause, and when they do, they are a match for most civil authorities. They will need help."

 
 "GRAAAAH!!!" A certain Mountain King just freaking -erupted- from the ground in the middle of town, mining pick in hand and miner helmet a top his nogging. "Bloody hell! I got lost again! Honey! Where are we!?" 
 
 He appeared to ask.. no one in particular, for no one came from the hole that he had dug. The reason for that being was because this 'Honey' character was already riding with him. 
 
 A tiny person poked out from Muradin's beard and looked at her wrist panel. "Rittesburg, my Lord." She said. 
 
 "Oh! Rittesburg!? There's a great tavern 'round 'ere! Let's go catch a break!" Cackled the dwarf as he just sorta.. kicked some dirt and rocks at the hole he made so no one accidentally fell on it and he sauntered over to the tavern- and, wouldn't you know it! That's where Anna happened to be. 
 
 "Oi!! If it ain't me main lass Anna! What's up?? Oi.. wot's with everyone 'ere? Mood feels pretty heavy." Was that elven lady over there crying? What was going on here?? 

    Claire's brought no oversized melons today. She has brought a cartload of explosives. Bombs ranging from the size of a tennis ball to the size of a yoga ball, all clearly handmade. "I propose we lay an ambush." She suggests, "And then..." Her hands which were put next to eachother rapidly spread apart, "Boom."

    "But if I have to cut down every tree in that forest to find them, I will," Yumi says, picking up the sentence where Anna left off - even if it might not have been the ending the younger girl had in mind.

    The redhead's expression is troubled. Not quite desperate, but exceptionally determined. They didn't find the missing people last time, and now it's gotten worse. And they know that infernal forces are involved. "People are disappearing in the nearby forest," she explains to Muradin. "Children, adults... we found demons last time we went out there, but we didn't find the missing people. It's getting down to the wire. If we can't find them soon..."

    The mood is pretty heavy yeah.
    Anna for the most part seems calm, but no sooner than Neviah brings up the topic of the demons in the woods, the Professor might catch a glimpse of the fact that the young princess is not' calm at all.
    A soft growl builds in the blonde's throat as her eyes turn a shade of pink at the corners, threatening to go bloodshot. But Anna holds her fury in check for the time being.
    The guards however go pale at the revelation that there are demons in the woods, quickly making the signs of whatever various deities they worship with their hands or uttering a quick prayer.
    "She'll do it, too." Anna manages to say on the topic of Lumberjack Yumi chopping down trees for the sake of finding people, as she peers over at Claire's cart.
    "That's... A lot of boom..."
    Then. Enter the Mountain King.
    "I think I found my search party." Anna mutters "Sit down and have a drink on me, Lord Muradin, I'll explain everything and then we need to go..."
    So yeah, a lot of people have gone missing in town and it's not looking good.
    Once again the group soon enough finds themselves heading into the forest on the outskirts of town where the missing people have supposedly disappeared to...
    A cold, thick, fog and mist hang in the air, and the rustle of something in the bushes says that the party is probably being watched as soon as they pass the tree line.

Neviah fishes a small leather-bound book from her overcoat and flips it open. Tightly-typed notes fill its pages, interspersed with drawings of various beings and creatures. "There is not a lot known about the creatures we encountered," she explains with a glance at Claire. "They are mostly reported as carrying out attacks. If there is anything specific that attracts them, it may be unknowable right now..."

It doesn't occur to her until she looks up that Anna's unhappy. She trails off at the sight of the girl seething, pressing her lips together with a slight hunch of her shoulders.

That is about when a dwarf comes cackling in. Neviah blinks, then takes a step back with a shake of her head. "...It will take some time to explain."

She helps do so. Her field guide helps, somewhat.

Soon enough, the group's back out in the wilderness. Neviah has traded her field guide in for her Snider-Enfield rifle. Tense at the fog in the air and the rustling among the trees, she feeds a bullet into the breech and looks out into the fog, trying to isolate the source of the sound. She squints through her glasses, in vain.

Saying something seems like a bad idea - at least, if she's being loud about it. Neviah pauses a moment, then sniffs a little, then again.

"...Mind your noses," she whispers. "Others who have seen bulezau report the smell of carrion."

 
 So much for a having a wee bit of a break. 
 
 "Ah bollocks! I sure know how to pick 'em!" Cried Muradin and slapped his forehead as Yumi informed him of the situation. "Wellp, it sure looks like ye blokes could use me help! Uh, Tachibana right? I think we've worked together before." He's almost positive anyway! Muradin wanders and gets lost a lot so it was a possibility. 
 
 The dwarf quickly switched his miner helmet and put on his battle helmet before joining the group and listening to Anna's explanation. "Och! Demons! AGAIN!? Man, here I thought I've seen the worst when the Burning Legion invaded Loraderon." He would accept the drink from Anna though! Now properly fueled with beer and filled with the details of the mission, Muradin -and Honey- were ready to go! 
 
 Per usual, Muradin took the lead when entering the forest. Anna was the berserker yeah, but he always wore full plate armor and was ready to do his job and tank. His axe and hammer, Troggbane and Mirithos, were out and at the ready and he looked about the forest, weapons resting on his shoulders. Honey, the little Shinki, was standing a top the dwarf's head and looking about, very small machine gun at the ready as well. 
 
 "Stay sharp, lassies. If anybody sees a demon screaming outta the woods just get behind me and I'll cover ye." He offered to his party members. 

    "We did, yeah," Yumi confirms, nodding. "The barbarian tribe." And on the briefing goes.

    This time, Yumi is in armor long before they reach the forest. She walks straight into the fog with her massive runeblade over her shoulder, and as soon as they step into the mist, the weapon begins to glow. It's not any particular automatic effect; the senshi is merely infusing it with a modest amount of magic, lighting up the weapon with elemental Sunlight as a stopgap against what is almost certain to be a supernatural mist. "Everyone stick nice and close. I can cover you if something happens, I'm pretty fast."

>> SUMMARY[Yumi Tachibana] >> Radiating soft sunlight from her greatsword. Urging everyone to stay within Cover(tm) range.

    Claire brings the cart along, fuse read to be lit the moment she thinks it's the right time for some boom. She keeps a distance from the others, "Everyone stay a good distance from my cart." She warns, despite Yumi's insistence. She's got her slingshot ready, along with a simple lighter.

    Into the forest, with the inexplicable, inescapable feeling of being watched the whole way. Though whatever is watching the group is much more wary about revealing itself this time, for the time being there's no smell of death or decay, which means the Bulezau are either in hiding or biding their time...
    Yumi's magical sunlight holds the mist at bay, but that doesn't change what happens next. See, after searching for at few hours, Anna clears her throat.
    "We have a problem." The berserker princess announces matter of factly: "We're lost."
    She doesn't sound panicked or troubled by this though.
    "I know this is a problem because my tribe taught me how to never get lost in a forest." Pause. "Which means this isn't natural at all. My guess is... We're 'next' to go missing'." The princess says blandly as she unslings her axe from her back.
    "Stay on your toes..."
    Yumi will likely feel it. It's her specialty after all-- feeling that sense of reality distorting magic in the area, as the party progresses through the forest and only gets more lost as time passes... Until...
    With no warning the trees open up to a wide clearing. It's dark by now, with the sun set well over the horizon beyond the trees, but at least there's succor in sight... Because in the middle of the clearing is a small cathedral, torches lit on either side of the door and lights shining from the stained glass windows within. As a single figure emergesm clad in the garb of a nun and waves for the party to come inside.
    "... Huh."

Neviah is not the least bit shy about staying behind Muradin. Dwarf or not, he's probably twice her weight even before the heavy weapons and equipment. She smiles tensely, but the expression is gone within a couple of seconds, vanishing behind outward focus as she tries to balance the twin tasks of watching the fog and mining her memories and research for useful information.

She keeps clear of the cart. Getting blown up is not her idea of a good time. Really, fights in general are not her idea of a good time.

Neviah pays attention to her sense of smell the further in they go. There's no impending attack, if nothing else. In fact, the lack of one makes her even more anxious. Last time they got jumped pretty early into the affair. The fact that there's no assault coming gets her mind churning.

    /Maybe we're the ones wandering into the ambush...?/

Finally, the trees give way. The cathedral appears so suddenly that Neviah almost doesn't believe it's there until everyone else stops. She presses her lips firmly together and squints, trying to take stock of the cathedral's design and the nun's garments. She's seen more than enough churches - Christian ones, of course, and others - that her eye's trained enough to pick out elements like distinctive architecture and symbolism that might give her a clue.

"...I am not sure I like this," she murmurs with a glance at Anna. "We should be alert."

    As they go, Yumi begins to tense up slightly. It's not the result of them being 'next to go missing', though. It doesn't start until a bit later.

    There's a glance over her shoulder at the group, and then she begins to explain softly. "Everyone, be on your guard. I have... I've got limited magical senses. Extremely specialized. There's only one thing I can sense - 'magic that warps reality'. Not in the general sense that all magic does, but magic that specifically does that as its effect." Pause. "...doubt I need to say it after that whole spiel, but I'm sensing some of that."

    It takes a while before what she's sensing becomes an immediate problem. Prominence comes off her shoulder almost immediately, brought up into a guarded position. She only relaxes slightly when the nun beckons them. "Whatever it is I'm sensing, it's in there. We're walking right into a trap." This last part, she says loudly - while deliberately looking the nun right in the eyes. Assuming any eyes can be seen.

    She wants them to know she knows she's walking into a trap.

    Claire gets the warnings, and so she puts the lighter aside to draw her slingshot and a red grenade-sized orb with a button on the seam. When the nun appears, she aims the weapon for the apparent clergywoman, "If this is a trap, then I pray Yoba will forgive you." She tells the woman, letting 'because I won't' go unsaid.

 
 "Man, that's a lot of explosives ye got there, lassie." Muradin noted to Clarie as she specifically told everyone to steer clear of her- something that he certainly did not usually hear as the tank. He's much more used to people doing what Neviah is doing and hiding behind him. Hey, he's got top notch dwarven crafted plate armor and weapons, people better put them to good use and use him as a shield. 
 
 Whilst usually very loud and boisterous, Muradin kept his cool and staid quiet as they walked deeper into the forest, not wanting to attract the attention of more demons. They were going to come out eventually, why give them a head start. "Oh, right, the barbarian tribe! That was some mission." He commented to Yumi as she mentioned the last time they worked together, always the chatter box that dwarf even when he was trying to stay quiet. 
 
 Only when Anna announced that they were good and lost did he grew serious. "Huh? Seriously? Honey." He looked up to the Shinki standing on his helmet. 
 
 "My scanners are being jammed, My Lord." She announced as she looked at her wrist panel. 
 
 "Wellp, sounds like we're going on the right track then, heh!" Chuckled the dwarf and boldly kept going forward, sticking to the front lines. 
 
 He gave a bit a snort when they got to the church and Yumi let everyone know this was a very obvious trap. "Is it nae? Well, why make 'em wait?" He began walking towards the church, happy to take the lead and even already addressing the maid. "Oi! Sister! Kind of an odd place to build a church, don't ye think!?" 

    Anna has precisely zero doubts of Yumi's skills and abilities. When the senshi says they are likely walking into a trap... Chances are high that it's a trap.
    "I couldn't agree more." Anna mutters in reply to Neviah's warning. "Stay on your toes, get behind me or Muradin at the first sign of trouble."
    The nun, for the most part, is all smiles as the party files into the cathedral, she says nothing however and gently shuts the door behind the group as they enter.
    The cathedral is brightly lit on the inside at least; and there are a few people settled into the pews already, quietly conversing or reading from a prayerbook but...
    It feels so generic. There's almost no actual religious iconography of any deity to be found.
    This is as the priest makes his way to the party.
    "Welcome, welcome... Please come in, make yourselves at home. Many have gotten lost in the woods of late, and to all the lost and weary we offer rest and succour." He says, motioning with his good hand for the cathedral at large while keepin his other hand hidden in the folds of his robes.
    He's smiling.
    But his smile is niether kind, nor warm.

    "My sentiments exactly," Yumi replies to Muradin, walking right alongside the dwarf.

    As the priest greets them, she looks him right in the eye - and levels Prominence, one-handed, such that the huge blade is keeping the unsettling smile at more than arm's length. "Unfortunately, we're not lost. This is exactly what we were looking for." The runes along the blade begin to glow, a soft but steady gold-white that bathes the surrounding pews.

    "My name is Yumi Tachibana, Sunlight Senshi of Natsuto City. It is my solemn duty to enter into the darkest places and shine a light on the evils there, root out and destroy those creatures that distort the natural world. I can feel my natural enemy here, and I can see the evil in your eyes."

    She steps back, taking a blatant combat stance. "I don't know who or what you are, but you can either give us back the missing people, unharmed and unchanged, or I will carve my way through every creature, minion or nightmare between me and them."

    Claire's gaze goes over the place, and she narrows her eyes after a moment before pressing the button to activate the bomb, and shooting at the 'nun.' "Your deceit has failed." She states. "I recognize that hairpin, pray to Yoba the girl yet lives. You will regret it if she doesn't."

>> SUMMARY[Yumi Tachibana] >> Paladin's Challenge

>> SUMMARY[Claire] >> Newsflash: Farmer explodes 'nun'

Neviah glances at Yumi as the other woman indicates what she expected. They /are/ walking into the ambush. "Is that why this church looks so featureless," she murmurs. "I cannot make out what denomination it is. There are no identifiers at all... as if it is somehow just someone's idea of a generic church. If such a thing existed."

That in and of itself would be enough to make her suspicious. Neviah's spent her professional career among dig sites and in temples and churches both ruined and whole. She's learned to recognize things like designs, symbols and architectural styles. Not being able to place even the basics would, in itself, set her mind to churning. Yumi's warnings send her thoughts down a puzzle-solving road.

She lowers her gun nevertheless. It goes against her better judgment.

Her heels are just high enough to generate soft clicks on the floor as she follows along. It feels louder to her than it really is. Maybe it's the tension doing it. Keeping track of the others out of the corner of her eye, Neviah keeps herself back a little ways - certainly enough that the people in actual armour would be the first in trouble if things go south.

The approaching priest is met with a simple nod. She can read that expression clearly enough. Her gaze drifts downward.

"We would hate to impose upon you, Pastor," she says politely with a nod, her tone restrained. "I understand that you must have much on your hands."

She lets that hang for a second before cupping one hand to her cheek. "Oh-- oh, forgive me," she says, briefly feigning embarrassment. "I did not mean to insult you. Please pardon my expression. Ah, tell me, was that a recent injury? Your missing hand, that is. I recall seeing someone lose a hand in this forest rece--"

Claire cuts her off by trying to blast the nun.

"--I was /solving/ the /puzzle!/" Neviah splutters as she fumbles with her gun. "He's one of the bloody bulezau!"

 
 "Aye, mate." Muradin responded to Yumi whilst entering the church once the nun ushered them in. 
 
 "Huh, not much of a talker, ey?" He mused as the nun simply said nothing and closed the door behind them. Well, if that wasn't an obvious trap he didn't know what it was, even if he had no Paladin powers even he could tell this place was not a secure place to be. 
 
 What he didn't know was that they were apparently surrounded by enemies already. Yumi got into a fighting stance, which was telling enough to get to it, but if that didn't tell Muradin to get started it was Clarie throwing a bomb to the nun! 
 
 "I think that's our cue! Give these basterds a good hammerin'!!" Muradin raised his hammer which began crackling with electric power and he sent it spinning towards the Priest's face to crash it against his skull! "HRAAAAH!!" 
 
 "I feel your pain, Miss." Said Honey towards Neviah as she clung to Muradin's helmet for dear life. She also shared on the frustration of wanting to solve the puzzle when everyone around her was all too eager to blow everything up. 

    To his credit the priest meets Yumi's blade with silence for a moment. Still smiling that cold, unkind, smile. "If you can see the evil in my eyes, good paladin, then I suppose you have me- have us all- at a disadvantage." He says, raising his (good) hand. People begin to rise from their seats in the pews and uh...
    Hah hah hah that didn't go as planned did it?
    For the demons.
    Indeed, as soon as Claire notices the coral hairpin on the floor, seemingly lost and forgotten, Anna's axe is in her hand and her eyes are bloodshot red.
    The princess promptly embeds it in the skull of one of the people sitting in the pews without so much as a question, earning a screech as the demon she just cleaved dies a messy death.
    The priest scowls- especially as Neviah calls him out on his recent injury.
    "Grahhh! Capture them! Put them in the basement with the rest, the blood moon is tonight! They will join the sacrifices for our Lord!" He growls; shedding his disguise, the one-handed bulezau lashes out at Neviah only to be dropped by Muradin bashing his skull in.
    The nun doesn't have time to react at first, Claire's bomb catching her dead in the center of mass, the fiery eruption staggering the demon and causing it to drop its glamour, revealing a woman's upper body with a snake's lower body- now very scorched- lunging for the farmer with a hiss.
    This is about when the people in the pews, drop their disguises, demons of various shapes and sizes that come snarling and clawing their way at the party!

    Claire steps back out of the church and comes back in with one of her biggest bombs, she lights the fuse nd then gives it a good shove, rolling the explosive towards a group of demons; fuse carefully cut to explode once it's far away that the blast won't hurt anyone she doesn't want to hurt. "Bomb's Away!" She yells as further warning.

So much for Neviah's efforts to solve the mystery through deduction and cleverness. Such is the life of the lady who made STR her dump stat.

Standing behind Muradin at least helps her not die instantly. The bulezau lashes out, and she's quick to throw her arm up to try and deflect the attack. It helps only in that the stocky dwarf gets in the way and turns what would be a crippling hit into a staggering glance to her shoulder, sending her spinning off her feet to hit the floor with a gasp. The dwarf ensures that the hit is the last she'll take from that particular foe.

"Th-thank you," she breathes as she scrambles to one knee. Her reaction time isn't nearly as quick as the others' - it takes her a few seconds to fumble with her gun, her eyes widening with horror at the sheer number of demons dropping their disguises and descending on them. She tries to load the rifle before realizing a second later that there's still a bullet in the chamber.

Her rational mind puts together the faces she's seeing - tries to match them to identities of creatures she's studied. She doesn't have time. One of them is hurtling straight at her, Anna and Muredin in her path or not. Hoisting her rifle, Neviah doesn't even have time to aim as perfectly as she wants to. She's so close that it hardly matters. Her finger hooks the trigger and --

    /--Wait, his LORD? A god from THIS world?! But--/

The thought hits her like an out-of-control carriage even as she jams the trigger and attempts to just shoot the closest demon square in the chest. The bark of the rifle rings through the alleged church.

    Yumi had been prepared to clash with the priest; judging by Neviah's observation, he- it- probably had a score to settle with her. But Muradin neatly solves that problem with a hammer throw. So the Senshi of Sunlight turns herself and takes quick stock of the rest of the church, its occupants.

    Her decision is made in half a heartbeat.

    The scorched lamia never gets as far as her target. There is an armored magical girl suddenly in the way, stalling her with a sudden, forceful punch. Yumi's gauntlet-clad fist engulfs itself in bright, shining solar fire, and she drives her fist into the demon just as hard as she can; and Yumi Tachibana is a strong enough magical girl to go blow-for-blow with some of the most powerful supernatural creatures out there.

    She doesn't stop there, either. What follows after is a wide, sweeping, almost spinning slash at the demons around her, which is followed in a circle by a sudden eruption of flames as the magical girl 'draws' an explosive circle of sunfire around herself in the wake of her strike.

>> SUMMARY[Yumi Tachibana] >> Sun-punching the lamia attacking Claire, then following up with a spin-slash and sunfire at surrounding demons.

 
 The Mountain King gave a soft scoff when his hammer crashed into the demon's face, exploding his head out of his body just as he was about to lash out at Neviah. "No problem!" He chuckled and kept standing in front of the woman, his hammer magically appearing back in his hand. 
 
 Now they were well and truly in the melee though, and it wasn't just the priest and the nun though, it was everybody in the church. 
 
 "Ah, I like them odds. Honey!" 
 
 "Yes, Lord!" Honey knew that cue well. She jumped right off Muradin's helmet and stood on Neviah's shoulder. "Allow me to assist you." Said the Shinki as she began firing along with her mini-mini machine gun at the demon Neviah was shooting. 
 
 "It's best we step slightly back. Lord Muradin is about to provide a lot more cover." Said the Shinki. 
 
 "KHAAAAAZ MOOOODAAAAAN!!!" Muradin was taking 0 chances with these guys, more so because they had them surrounded. Tapping into the powers of the dwarves, Muradin grew in tremendous size, fifteen feet tall, nearly hitting his head on the church's ceiling. His skin, armor -and even his beard and hair- turning into stone as he became a giant. 
 
 "DIE!!!" Came the dwarf thane turned stone giant's cry as he SLAMMED his axe and hammer on a group of demons, electric energy exploding out of the point of impact, essentially catching all the demons in the church in a shockwave of electricity. 

>> GAME >> Muradin spends an Edge for: AVATAR MODE

    It's chaos in an instant.
    A gunshot rings through the cathedral as Neviah squeezes the trigger of her trusty rifle, the bullet tearing into the chest of a demon and dropping it like a sack of potatos on a farm that doesn't belong to Claire.
    Speaking of Claire, the lamia is stopped in her tracks heading for the farmer- the brilliant light of Yumi's fist caving the demon's chest before the solar senshi blade sweeps the chamber, her brilliant sunfire scorching a number of the damned dead in an instant.
    Then.
    Then Claire rolls the mother of all bombs into the church.
    The explosion that rocks the cathedral causes dust to fall from the ceiling, leaving quite a few of the demons dead or dying, before Muradin takes the ceiling off by growing so large. Falling debris and a falling axe and hammer deal with the majority of the rest, and for any stragglers...

    Vvrrm... Chk chk chk... Vvrrm! Chk chk... VRRRRRREEEEE!

    That is the sound of a chainsaw.
    Lo and behold, Anna is holding said chainsaw and as the last of the demons turn to flee she-...
    Well. It's very graphic and best not described in civil and polite company.
    When everything settles down after that Anna plops into a seat in a wrecked pew and heaves a sigh. She'll take a moment to catch her breath as...
    A little imp starts trying to flee out the nearest shattered window.
    "D-don't think this will be forgotten! Lord Xaxugor will have this world for himself!" It squawks before trying to flee.

"Th-thank you," Neviah manages with a glance at the tiny Honey on her shoulder. It helps. She's not a fighter in her own right - she's relying on the kindness of effective strangers here.

Neviah doesn't like to rely on strangers.

Tensely, Neviah feeds another bullet into the breech, readying to try and shoot another demon. By this point, Honey's helping out, and big Muradin is between her and the fray. Before she can squeeze another shot off, the shriek of a chainsaw wails in Neviah's ears, and she recoils instinctively, diverting her eyes from the butchery.

It passes soon enough. By the time it has, Neviah has slumped to the ground, her weight on one hip and her rifle by her side. Her face is pale and her eyes wide. She's walked into danger before, but not the kind that solves itself with a chainsaw massacre on the part of a tiny girl.

The imp flees with a squeak. Neviah looks up with a quick blink.

She pulls her notepad out with quick but shaky hands and jots the name 'Xaxugor' down.

    Claire isn't inclined to let it flee, the slingshot's already loaded back up with another bomb aimed at the imp. "Lord Exes can come and complain in person if he has a problem." She lets the bomb loose.

 
 "DOWN. WITH. YE!" Muradin slammed his axe and hammer a couple more times on the ground, rocking the whole building and sending shockwaves of electricity through the ground until the demons were little more than writhing mangled masses on the ground. And for those that managed to avoid the worst. Well, that's what Anna was for. 
 
 "Hahaha! That really oughta show them!" Cackled the dwarf, always thrilled to see Anna's creative butchery. He thrived on the bloody gory of hand to hand combat as any proper dwarf did. After a good cackle or two, Muradin shrank down to his normal size and glanced around. "Everyone ok??" 
 
 Honey, for her part, also spotted the tiny imp trying to flee and aimed a burst of fire from her mini UMP 45 to riddle it with bullets. 

    Yumi swings her weapon back into a low, defensive ready stance, but by the time she's prepared for her next attack, a combination of bullets, bombing and GIANT DWARVES have laid waste to the church and most of the demons in it. And even Yumi doesn't quite have the wherewithall to watch the chainsaw work.

    'Lord Xaxugor' is not a name the redhead recognizes; she watches the retreating imp with a frown, before finally dismissing her runeblade. Her next step?

    Walking straight over to Neviah, actually. She can see from halfway across the church the woman's not doing so well. "Hey, you okay?" the magical girl asks in a worried tone, coming into range and crouching down a little. "First time in a fight, or something else...?"

    Between Claire and Honey, that imp explodes. There's a tiny wet splat and the deed is done.
    Anna frowns though as she rummages through her backpack and pulls out a protein bar. The kind that has like a bajillion calories and a metric ton of grams of protein, and she starts wolfing it down like she hasn't eaten in a week.
    "I've heard that name before... Xaxugor..." She murmurs between scarfing down the energy bar.
    "I think it has something to do with the demons that attacked my tribe. The ones that are always hunting me." Mutterd a little glumly as she picks herself up and pops her spine out. "Nngh... I'm fine, I'm fine." She replies to Muradin. "It's our Professor I'm worried about."
    Neviah's not looking so hot, after all.
    She starts heading that way but pauses when Yumi beats her to the professor, and thus opts to not crowd her-- as she stumbles over a key dropped by the priest.
    "Oh huh."
    That should unlock the basement. Where most of the adults and all of the missing children were being kept for a sacrifice that the party has just averted. A good end, all in all.

Neviah presses her lips firmly together, suppressing the urge to protest the continued butchery. She sincerely doubts anyone would entertain her desire to ask questions.

As Yumi circles around, Neviah adjusts her glasses with an unsteady hand and a wan smile, glancing aside. "N-no, just... usually there are fewer demons and, ah, motor tools," she admits a bit lamely. "I am a scholar more than a warrior, I must confess...."

She takes a moment to collect herself before looking down at her notebook, then up towards where Anna's wolfing down her energy bar. Raising her free hand, she manages, "Y-you've heard this name before, then...?"

    Claire pulls a plastic container out of her bag, it contains some delicious fresh slices of melon. She thrusts the box towards Neviah, "Eat." She commands, other hand on a hip.

    "Ah, that's... yeah," Yumi says, briefly glancing over her shoulder at Anna's choice in implements. "I won't say 'you get used to it', but... at least she only does that when they deserve it." Claire has the food covered, so Yumi leaves Neviah to recover some energy via snack; instead, she turns to look around - and spots Anna practically tripping over something. "A key? Might be the kidnapping victims. I'll come with you, let's see if we can find them."

 
 "Scratch one." Honey snapped her fingers as she successfully hit the imp before it exploded by Claire's follow up. Satisfied with her work, the Shinki dutifully jumps back on the broad shoulder of her Master dwarf. 
 
 "Aye!? The ones that attacked yer tribe ye say?" Muradin perked up at that, kicking the decapitated head of a demon out of the way like a soccer ball. "Hm, it'll be good to put an end to that grudge at last." He stroked his beard before glancing at Neviah. "Och! Ye alright, lassie? Honey, I thought ye were watching over her!" 
 
 "She's not injured, the battle stress was just too much for her is all." The Shinki tried to defend herself. 
 
 "Ah, alright." Oh and look, they even found the survivors of the village. "Alright! Well, if anyone needs carrying I can help with that. Or we can put 'em on Claire's cart-- oh wait, no that blew up didn't it?" 

    Finishing off the last of her protein bar, Anna wipes her mouth.
    This kind of smears some blood on her face and she hardly even notices.
    "Yeah. In a town called Glenmouth. It was infested with Maurezhi. Wherever I go, demons tend to follow or show up before I get there." She replies to Neviah before pursing her lips.
    "Sorry... I get... I get so mad, and then I just kind of lose all control... It's..."
    It's a thing.
    It's why she has a chainsaw.
    "A-anyway. Let's get the people back to town. I'm sure their families will be more than delighted to see them again."
    That sure was a quick change of topic from the berserker princess.

"Oh, um, thank you," Neviah manages with a lopsided smile, accepting the box and nipping down one of the melon slices. Sweet or not, it helps. Fruit always does.

She looks up after a few bites, still pale, but nodding. "I will be alright. Thank you," she assures, voice a little more clear.

She nods up to Anna, beginning to pull herself up again. "...We should talk about that later," she murmurs before following along to help get the people back to town.

Study can wait.

 
 "It's alright, lassie." Said Muradin to the berserker princess. "Them demons have been hounding ye fer a while. It's high time we put the hurtin' on 'em." Cracking his neck, Muradin nodded and followed along to herd the villagers back to their homes.