World Tree MUSH

    Bleakburn is a large town with a population of about 3000 people of various races and creeds. Annnnd they have a problem.
    See, a hero of local renown seems to have something of a face-heel turn recently and has turned to very blade that he swore to protect the innocent with? Upon the innocent. This is definitely a problem, because the local populace is now living in fear of a paladin that had sworn to protect them.
    Anna can be found in the local tavern. Her axes is already good and sharp, so she's quietly plinking at the screen of her smartphone to kill time while waiting for other adventurers to come responding to the call.

    For once, Yumi is not arriving late. This time, she had some forewarning; this time, she's there waiting with Anna.

    The senshi is dressed in what can best be described as 'rugged street clothes', but that doesn't really say much given her ability to transform. And she's chosen to busy herself with a meal and a book, doing some summer homework reading while feeding her prodigious appetite prior to battle.

After the run-in with the Wendigo a week or two ago, Neviah started to reconsider the merits of wandering into dangerous situations without bodyguards. She even applied for more funding to cover someone big and muscular to stand in front of her.

She came away empty-handed and forgot about her concerns a few days later. Or more accurately, she buried them behind curiosity. The remnants of the world she seeks are still out there. They will not find themselves.

For lack of an axe to sharpen, she's picked out a seat across from Anna, quietly sorting through the extra ammo she brought with her. As much as a mere pistol did the job last time, she's not leaving anything to chance this time around: She brought her Snider-Enfield rifle, not loaded just yet but already out of the case and resting beside her.

Neviah looks up, pensive and frowning. "I wonder," she murmurs. "Paladins are also necessarily invested in divine magic... if one has turned to darkness, surely that would mean either losing part of that power, or... finding another patron."

    This kind of thing drew particular attention from Magilou, curious if her own world's problems might be starting to poison other places, or if there were just similar but distinct issues everywhere. Not that she planned to put it so plainly, of course!

    No, she's making her way into the tavern with glitter and confetti in her wake, hands raised up as she approaches Anna. "Aah, no need to despair, Miss Magilou have arrived to convince this fallen hero to surrender through the power of a good performance. What else could convince a corrupted conquerer of his need to repent?"

    Admittedly the despairing looked more like having food and playing on the phone, but Magilou is allowed creative liberties. Also, the glitter and confetti are illusory, but will still stick to anyone who touches the glitter for a while.

    Claire doesn't know about the problem. She's brought a wagonload of blueberry wine, and she's entering the tavern with the look of someone trying to sell someone on her work. She stops when she sees a few familiar faces looking ready for trouble, and diverts. "Let me guess." She starts, claiming a seat at the table. "Town's in need of a hard working adventurer."

 
 "HRAAAAA!!!" A dwarf just up an ERUPTS from the ground just outside the town and yep, you guessed it. "HONEEEEEEY!!" 
 
 "Yes, we got lost again, my Lord." Sighed the tiny person perched on his head. 
 
 "Bloody bother! Why does this keep happening!!? Oh hey, a town! I bet they got a good bar in there." Per usual, Muradin would saunter off inside into the tavern, and wouldn't you know it, there's Anna again. 
 
 "Eeey! If it ain't me favorite Berserker Princess! Wot ye up to this time, me lass??" 

    A paladin that's turned against those he swore to protect? That sounds like a templar to one certain assassin.

    The white-clad rogue-type enters the tavern, doffing her hood and glancing around for anyone she might know... that turns out to be Claire, who gets a nod of her head. The others are new, except that dwarf looks familiar... might have run across him once or twice before.

    Aquila sits on the human's shoulder, a holographic screen open to one side... is she playing tetris?

    It looks like Anna doesn't have to search for a party very long. They come right to her.
    A glance is exchanged with Yumi and the senshi gets a quiet nod from the berserker princess as several familiar faces file into the tavern.
    "You guessed right." Anna says matter of factly to Claire as she settles in, before looking to Neviah.
    "Some are... They're not exactly my field of study but from what I hear some paladins can draw power from nature itself. Or their own wrath and desire for righteous vengeance... I don't know what this one's deal is."
    Then. Enter the Magilou.
    "Erm. I'm not despairing? I'm planning?" The girl says with a flutter of a confused look on her face. "I think it might take more than a performance to deal with this issue though."
    Muradin enters the bar and Anna flusters slightly, pausing to sip on the tea she had ordered. "Paladin problems." She explains to the mountain king as Piera enter.
    "Oh."
    She actually recognizes the Assassin. From that one time, at the secret demon crystal dig. The very same place Anna had picked up her beloved chainsaw.
    Well it looks like this is a party alright as Anna sets her phone on the table.
    On the phone is a picture of a knight in shining armor... Carrying a wicked looking sword that is very out of place on his person. The blade is jagged and menacing in every sense of the word.
    "This is Fulbright Dawnward. He's a local paladin. He's turned on his oath to protect the people of Bleakburn from the undead that harass them constantly and has been... Well. Killing locals and been seen leading the dead around. He's likely not in his right mind, which means we probably shouldn't kill him if we can avoid it. I think we should destroy the sword and hopefully that will fix the problem?"
    She doesn't sound too sure of herself as--
    A ruckus can be heard outside the tavern. People's voices rising to shouts, doors and windows slamming.
    "He's here! He's back!" Cries a local that busts into the bar and quickly rushes into the basement to hide with the other locals.
    "Ah." Anna murmurs. "Sounds like the problem came to us."

'HRAAAAA'

Neviah nearly falls out of her chair in surprise as Muradin explodes into the tavern. She composes herself with a scramble and a blush.

Somehow the confetti is similarly surprising, but Neviah spent time with Magilou back in Minnesota and remembers her antics more than she remembers the dwarf's. The professor clears her throat and sits up straighter, folding her hands in her lap. "I do not know if I would count on performance alone to help," she opines. "A paladin of any power, much as a cleric of any power, necessarily draws on a divine power source. That places faith much closer to their method of reasoning and decision-making."

Her eyes dip for just a second. She draws a slight breath and lets it out.

"...Some can do that," she concedes to Anna with a small dip of her head, her voice a little more muted.

The Assassin isn't recognized, simply acknowledged with a tilt of her head before she leans in to take a look at the phone. Her eyebrows shoot up at the sight of the giant sword. "The weapon does seem out of place... it may have some curse all its own--"

There's a ruckus. Voices are raised. Neviah snaps her eyes up from the phone.

As villagers rush to safety, the Cambridge professor pushes her case to the side and snaps her rifle up. She fumbles with the breech a little before feeding a bullet into the weapon, heading for the nearest window to try and peek out.

Maybe if she can catch sight of him, she reasons, they can shoot him before one of their number gets stabbed in the face.

    "Are you sure? You seem like you're having a despair problem. And a paladin problem, I guess, too." Oh well, best not to dwell on it too much.

    "..Yes, I definitely would know nothing about drawing on a divine power source." Magilou decides to say, grinning wildly and holding her hands up under her chin. "I am a witch, after all, purely powered by my dark arts alone!"

    Bienfu is loudly complaining about the various lies involved in this, but right now it's solely in Magilou's soul, so noone else has to hear any of it and they should count themselves lucky.

    "Still, if you think that his undead holy powers might be resistant to the dark arts of fire and water, then I can stay back a little bit. I dislike getting zombie on my performing clothing, after all."

    "I would object to that 'necessarily'," Yumi says, raising a hand in responce to Neviah. "Personally, I think the attitude and the armor is more important. But in this case, it's relevant enough I guess." She glances at Magilou, then shakes her head. "Like Anna said, there might not be any 'convincing' to do. That said..." She glances up at the arriving local, then frowns, and slides out of her seat.

    "I'll say one thing I already said to Anna. If I were in his shoes, my wishes would be, first and foremost... 'stop me'. We should try and get that sword away from him, but if we can't..."

    And then, quietly, she turns to start heading outside. As she does, her armored magical girl outfit flares to life around her, replacing her clothes entirely.

 
 "Paladin Problems??" Well.. -that- would grab Muradin's attention right quick. "What... kind of Paladin problems exactly?" The dwarf's face went a little pale, the golden color fading a little from his beard. 
 
 'You lied to yer men and the mercenaries that fought for ye! What's happening to ye Arthas?' 
 
 "Snap out of it, my Lord!" The Shinki bent over and slapped the dwarf on the nose as he was beginning to go in a trance. Muradin shook his head rapidly and tried to staid focused on task. "Hm!? Aye.. s'what I said! Wot kind a problems??" He looked around and well, the tavern had gotten full quickly. He recognized a few folk and waved at them. "Ey, Tachinbana, Peitra, long time no see, Signorita." The dwarf had been practicing his Italian apparently. 
 
 "Ah, madam Neviah, sorry about the entrance." Honey apologized to Neviah on behalf of her Master. 
 
 But there was hardly any time to make small talk. Anna went and showed them all the kind of Paladin Problem they were having and, yep, tall, armor clad, and jagged, curved, evil looking sword. 
 
 "Bollocks..." And no time to even consider what to do too! The problem was right at their doorsteps. 
 
 And Muradin was almost already out the door! Axe and Hammer out and the ready. 
 
 "I'LL HOLD HIM DOWN! YE ALL TAKE THE SWORD AWAY FROM HIM!!" 
 
 Maybe the dwarf had been in this kind of situation before... 

    "The most dangerous faith of all is money, but I don't think there's many paladins of coin. I hope not anyway." Claire opines, drawing her own magical sword as the problem apparently shows up, and rushes outside, ready to place herself in between the guy and any innocent bystanders.

    Piera nods quietly to the explanation... "I have seen this kind of shift before... when certain Pieces of Eden are held by those of weak, or vulnerable will. Be careful if handling the sword. It may have a presence of its own." she says, her lilting itallian a stark contrast to many here. Muradin does get a slight smile, "Piera, signore. Il tuo italiano sta migliorando.(Your Italian is improving.)"

    And then its go time. A civilian comes bursting in the doors, just before Muradin goes rushing out and in a flash the Assassin is on the Dwarf's heels. "Distract his attention. I will attempt to disable his weapon arm so he drops the sword." she says as a dagger flashes into her grip from somewhere in her robes. She sounds a sharp whistle as she runs, which prompts Aquila to summon her armour, and rocket straight upwards, taking a position to come diving down when the signal is given.

    "I'm not having a despair problem." Anna says mildly to Magilou.
    But then just about everyone rushes for the door. Or a window. This is all fine and good but there's a slight problem.
    Fulbright Dawnward isn't exactly alone.
    The paladin, resplendant in his glorious shining platemail armor is mounted upon a great and noble steed, a horse in equally glorious plate barding. And surrounding them...
    Is an army of undead.
    "Go! Go forth my brave soldiers!" The armored knight calls out to the shambling zombies and skeletons. "Cleanse this town of evil and rot!"
    Oh dear, he's fully immersed in whatever fantasy the sword has put him in as he raises the blade over his head and causes his horse to rear dramatically.
    Anna pauses for a moment, looking at the various undead.
    She puts her axe away and unslings her chainsaw.
    That should make things easier as she lunges into the fray and starts cutting a path towards the mounted knight.
    "Remember- we're not out to kill him." She says, reining in her rage for the moment to hack down a few skeletons.
    Just as the knight urges his steed into a charge, raising his blade high. Thunder cracks in the sky overhead as he brings the glowing sword down-- intending to cleave Yumi with a blow that is INHUMANLY powerful and backed by something Other than just the knight's sword arm behind it.

"We can argue the exact mechanics of divine magic later," Neviah mutters with a glance at Yumi, shoulders coming up slightly. "Right now we should try to be discre--"

Muradin goes stomping straight for the door. Neviah stares at him as if he'd grown a second head.

Rushing out to fight immediately didn't even occur to her. She doesn't know nearly enough about the threat yet - and even if she did, she'd rather stand back and shoot. Muradin and the Assassin hardly seem about to give her the luxury of a nice safe standoff battle.

Not that an army of undead was going to make that any easier. Neviah, peeking out through the window, opens her mouth in momentary horror before snapping it closed and swallowing her gorge. She keeps out of sight a moment longer. She is exactly the wrong person to jump out and try to fight a zombie hand to hand.

People less squishy than Neviah take point as the professor finds herself once again reconsidering her career choices and wishing she had a god to pray to. A momentary self-reproving thought hits her:

    /If I had a god, I might be of some use here. Aren't clerics supposed to be of great effect against the living dead?!/

Trying to shoulder past the moment of self-consciousness, Neviah finally scoots out into the clear, at the back of the group. She tumbles awkwardly and comes up behind a horse trough, balancing her rifle on it and squeezing off a shot at one of the accompanying zombies. A puff of smoke bursts from her rifle barrel as she fires, then reloads as quickly as her awkward fingers can.

 
 "Aye, that's wot I said! Molto bene and all that rot!" Muradin yelled over to Piera as she complemented his Italian. The dwarf still good for a chat even when staring down at the face of death itself- because Muradin Bronzebeard knew well where he was heading. The truth was that he had been here before! A story that changed his life forever. Arthas Merethil, his apprentice and good friend, corrupted by Frostmourne. This was too similar not to be the same- and if it was the same.. 
 
 He knew how to stop it. 
 
 "Set 'em up and execute! Sounds like a plan!" The Mountain King yelled over to the Hashshashin again and ran head long into the enemy. The army of undead awaiting them hardly gave him pause, in fact, Muradin would have been surprised if Arthas- I mean- Fulbright had come here by himself. Oh look, he's even riding a horse, sheesh. 
 
 "OI!! Come fight me, ye bastard!!" Muradin jumped high and tried to drop kick Fulbright's horse on the flank, trying to mess up his swing at Yumi and perhaps even knock him off the saddle. If he could just draw the aggro he was certain they would succeed. 
 
 On that note, Honey jumps off Muradin's head and lands on Neviah's shoulder again, hopping that she won't mind. The Shinki never did share her Master's love for being in the thick of melee. 

    "..Sure seems like you are." Magilou will say, glancing at the knight and the horde of undead. Maybe not Anna's despair, but somebody's. She's not totally certain she's in agreement with the no killing rule for the moment, but there are plenty of undead who she can do work on, and hopefully that'll leave the knight focusing on people who aren't her.

    "It would be really awful if there were to be an explosion here in the middle of this town right now, don't you think?" She'll call over to the others, magical circles appearing on the ground around her, lines tracing and energy glowing in her hands as she dances in place, part of her personal method of casting and also just living. The girl never seems to be able to be still for even a second.

    Looks like whatever she's winding up is quite a big one. The spell keeps growing, light and circles getting larger, as she plans to try and make the fire spell she's winding up take out as many undead as possible. Assuming they let her; she might just be making herself a target by swinging for the fences like this.

    An army of undead. An army that the paladin refers to as 'brave soldiers' charged with 'cleansing' the town.

    Yumi's gloved hands clench into fists. Her lips draw into a thin line. He's not corrupted... he's deluded. Or charmed. Fooled into thinking he's doing good.

    "Fulbright Dawnward," the redhead calls out, stepping forward. "You are being-" Before she can utter another word, he starts into a mounted charge. Without skipping a beat, Yumi slides one foot back, settling into an unarmed ready stance that leaves her well-placed for what he's doing. But when she sees what he's winding up, rather than shift her weight for a dodge, or call forth Prominence for a block, or anything resembling a defensive action...

    She sets her stance against the charge.

    That shining unholy blade swings down, and she doesn't evade. She doesn't block. She takes it right on the shoulder.

    There is a tremendous impact. The ground beneath Yumi Tachibana's feet cracks as the senshi takes not just the full might of the smite, but the full momentum of the charge as well. With her right arm, she catches the horse across its chest, halting it. With her left, she reaches up, grabbing for his sword-arm at the wrist. The blade has dented and cracked her shoulder. It's bitten down far enough to draw blood, which steadily drips down ot the ground. But she yet stands, and she has halted the charge.

    "FULBRIGHT DAWNWARD. YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED." She looks up to meet him, suffusing her armor with enough sunlight to start it glowing. "YOUR SWORD IS TELLING YOU THAT EVIL IS GOOD. YOU'RE HARMING INNOCENCTS!"

    And then she attempts to haul the paladin off the horse, one-handed, while at the same time lunging upward - to give him a tremendous headbutt straight to the face.

    Claire is gonna let the bright and shiny lady and the short dude with the hammer handle the main guy. She knows she's less experienced and less skilled. That leaves the army of the undead, and she has some experience fighting the undead. She lowers her sword and gets out the slingshot and starts firing bombs, aiming to destroy the undead so thoroughly there's nothing left to re-animate.

    "... Ah." the zombies and skeletons are a hitch, and he's mounted too, that could be a problem. She jukes out wide as the horse charges, Muradin goes to just straight up boot the animal in the flank.

    And then Yumi just straight up tanks a Smite and Charge combo. "... okay, out of my power level. Crowd control." she muses to herself... there's no way she could do anything in that particular melee, so she shifts attention to the army of undead. The dagger goes away, and out comes the sword. She moves in to engage those that get too close to Neviah's position, trying to give the markswoman some room to aim and shoot with.

    A sharp whistle sounds, and Aquila dives in on the Paladin, her Bident aimed like an eagles talons to pierce into his sword-arm shoulder... hoping to loosen his grasp on the cursed weapon and help out Yumi and Muradin incapacitate him.

    There sure are a lot of dead guys to handle.
    Though Anna takes her chainsaw to a swathe of them, more pour in from around the corners of buildings, causing the berserker princess to pause.
    "Dammit."
    This finds her putting herself on a course to stop the dead from reaching Magilou while she CLEARLY works on a spell of some form, while Claire reduces skeletons and zombies to mulch and bits with her explosive slingshot ammo, Piera draws her blad and wades into the undead, and Neviah pops a zombie in the head causing it to drop.
    But what of the paladin himself.
    His eyes dance, mad and wild through the visor of his helmet as he strikes such a tremendous blow on the force of evil that is Yumi Tachibana.
    Before he has to deal with a shinki prodding him in the shoulder through the gaps in his armor, drawing blood-- and a mountain king slamming into his horse and Yumi HAULING him off his steed.
    But if anything his eyes only grow wilder as he recognizes the senshi for what she truly is. At least to his corrupted vision. 
    "... Fallen hero! Blackguard! Do not think I will be deceived by your lies, OATHBREAKER!"
    WHAM.
    He uh. Kind of eats a headbutt there, and staggers backwards, stunned for a moment, the visor of his helmet dented as he staggers. But this is where people might realize a new problem arises.
    He's wearing chained gauntlets. The kind that chain a weapon into one's hands to keep them from dropping their blade in the heat of a fight, as he raises his blade again. And again it glows as he tries to cut down Muradin this time; and as he does the resounding force, fury, and storm of sheer thundrous energy that erupts from his blade will hit with the force of a truck and resound with a loud clap that can be heard all through the town.

Neviah /absolutely/ doesn't mind. Honey may be small, but Neviah's probably somehow squishier.

As others stride to the front, Neviah seems in no hurry to try and fight the paladin herself - her against Fulbright would be a mismatch of epic proportions. She leaves frontlining to Muradin, the Assassin and - and Anna, much to her private horror. The little girl with the chainsaw seems somehow terrifyingly wrong, despite being on her side.

Then again, this entire situation seems terrifyingly wrong.

A zombie goes down. Neviah can, at least, feel good about that. With the Assassin seemingly doing her best to help, Neviah scampers out from behind the horse trough and slinks her way towards the left, cramming another round into the rifle breech.

Her eyes, however, are on the paladin. Neviah opens her mouth, then snaps it closed, before the thunder of that blade roars through the village like an earthquake. The shock of it knocks her to her feet with a gasp, but she stumbles forward and holds her hand out, gun forgotten for a moment. "No, stop!" she cries out, extending her hand.

She clenches her teeth. She has to /focus./ There is, for a second, a rush of power - oddly hollow. Something she has to squeeze out through raw will.

It manifests anyway - a ripple of light that manifests around Muradin, subtle, yet visible. Sanctuary is a simple enough spell that she can manage it through her own devices. Even with no real deity behind it, it'll make the Paladin's strike on Muradin a test of will - or at least dampen the impact.

 
 Getting off the horse was the easy part. Step One as you might. 
 
 Now came the hard part. Step Two. Put him in the grapple. 
 
 "Oathbreaker!?" Muradin caught that insult flung at Yumi, but it angered him on her behalf. "Listen to wot yer saying, lad!! Yer mind's telling ye things that ain't there! Listen to yer heart!" And there it was. Muradin wanted to fight him and he was going to get the fight that he wanted. 
 
 The dreaded sword was raised, thunder and fury and storm. 
 
 "Master! Get out of the way!!" Honey's cry came as the Shinki saw the blade coming down for Muradin's head, but the dwarf paid her no heed. He was going to do what he couldn't do last time with Arthas. He was going to tank it! 
 Mighty dwarven weapons were raised upwards to meet the blade, Troggbane the axe and Mirithos the warhammer. The dwarf raised them over his head and crossed them in a X shape to catch the blade between the handles. 
 
 *KLANK!!!* 
 
 Like lighting had struck his blades, but the plucky dwarf held his grounds and tightened the grip around the cursed blade. The hook portions of his axe and his hammer clenching against the sword to essentially lock weapons with the Death Knight and grapple him via his weapons. 
 
 "I GOT 'IM! TAKE HIS BLADE!!" 
 
 All through it, searing light from Neviah's sanctuary swirled around him, his hair and beard glowing with holy energy that somehow still crackled with electricity. If Fulbright wanted his blade back he was going to have to kill Muradin, because there was no way the dwarf was going to let go. 

    That light around Magilou is starting to glow almost drastically bright, mana flowing through her from Bienfu.

    "Fire, conflaguration, doom to all who dare to stand against the might that I bring to bear! Explode!" Magilou will call out. None of the incantation is strictly necessary for the spell to work. She's just like that.

    At least she's aiming for a patch of undead who aren't really in the middle of any people, but there's still a good chance that she's going to shatter some windows and cause some complaints; an explosion of pure flame and force blasts out, a cloud of smoke and debris rising out from where she brings down the might of a spellcaster given an incredible amount of time to just freely cast.

    She's just going to cackle wildly after that, so hopefully noone was expecting more 'help' than that out of the witch today, unless something decides to actually attack her at this point.

    Claire just keeps mulching undead with her bombs. The innocent townspeople need protection and there's no guarantee the undead will fall when the corrupted Paladin does.

    Piera aims to remove the heads of any zombie that comes close. The skeletons are harder for her to grok, but a strong boot to the center of mass seems to disrupt them enough that it acts as a functional stop-gap. At least until someone can come dust some parts so they don't reassemble. A sharp whistle, higher pitched and desperate sounding draws the Assassin's attention. And then she sees the gauntlet. "... Fanculo." She swings a wide arc with her sword and takes off another zombie head before sprinting toward the Paladin, Yumi, Muradin and especially Aquila.

    The Shinki, for her part, yanks her Bident out of the hold she just made. She jinks backward and as Yumi and Muradin grapple with the sword and the arm holding it... she does something. Bident is dismissed, and laser blasters summoned. The Shinki hovers and fires at the chains on the gauntlet, attempting to shatter them so they become useless.

    After such a forceful hit, Yumi stumbles back a step or two herself; but even with the injury to her shoulder, she's able to recover her footing and stand up straight. "My oaths are unbroken, Dawnward. I am Yumi Tachibana, and I am a knight of the sun. I am a Senshi. It is my solemn charge to bring the light of the sun into the darkest places!"

    She clenches her right fist, and her sunlight magic begins to suffuse it - heat shimmers around the closed fingers, light radiates. "My blade Prominence exists to protect good and to cleave evil. I don't want to wield it against a good man being led astray like you, but if we can't snap you out of it..."

    As the paladin lunges to attack Muradin, Yumi launches into a charge. Her fist shines with elemental Sun, and her feet carry her as fast as the horse's charge. "So please, OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES TO THE EVILS YOU'RE BEING TRICKED INTO!" At the very last second, the Senshi hops, adding just that bit of vertical movement to her attack, turning it into a downward punch straight to the paladin's head yet again.

    A lot happens. Anna, Piera, and Claire thin the horde out-- and then Magilou happens.
    Magilou's 'performance' is certainly one to remember as she incinerates a huge swathe of the horde.
    And blows out multiple building windows.
    Hopefully no one will expect her to pay for the damages to that.
    Dawnward grapples with Muradin with everything he has, growling as the dwarf locks that jagged blade in his own axe and hammer, it is not an EASY task to strike the dwarf, either, with Sanctuary cast upon him, and then...
    Aquila shoots out the chains on the paladin's gauntlets.
    "No! I will strike you all down! For the honor and glory of Lord Xaxugor!" He cries out as--
    Yumi swings in; her blazing fist careening into the paladin's helmet, crumpling metal and causing the helmet to shatter apart as Fulbright Dawnward is sent tumbling away, landing in a dazed heap some distance from his blade now.
    "SMASH THE SWORD!" Anna cries out as she skids to the downed paladin's side, a healing potion in her hand.
    HE looks fine, mostly just SERIOUSLY disoriented after a headbutt and punch like that, but Anna shoves the potion down his throat anyway.

    It is now that Yumi Tachibana finally calls forth Prominence. The blade immediately begins to shine with vibrant sunlight, the ambient temperature rising noticeably. "MURADIN!" She doesn't have time to charge up much at all - but she can still swing the massive runeblade as hard as she's able, and push all the solar fire through the blade she can manage... and, of course, she's not alone here, either.

One thing's clear, at least: Neviah isn't that powerful a cleric. Divine magic usually requires a god. She doesn't have one of those to help her. She's powering her spells entirely through her own hopes and desires, and it only works in the most basic ways.

But it helps. A little.

Neviah's attention is somewhere else all of a sudden as--

    'Lord Xaxugor'

The young professor straightens and blinks with a sharp flicker of surprise. She picks up her rifle and stumbles forward, struggling to reconcile academic curiosity with the need to do something right in the midst of a battle that seems like it's at least gone their way but has still been heated and horrifying. She at least isn't shooting - she's got the rifle by the barrel because she's practically tumbling in to drop to a knee beside Anna.

"You'll gag him," she says quickly as she holds out a hand. "Let me try something." Her fingers come to rest on the paladin's forehead, around where Muradin hit him.

As with her Sanctuary spell, Neviah's healing touch isn't all that impressive, on the grand scale of things. She tenses visibly and focuses, trying to force the spell into existence without the help of what it really *needs* to do anything. She manages to pull out the basics: Her fingers take on a subtle white glow that suffuses into Fulbright's forehead.

It's a simple spell of Cure Wounds. Not powerful, but surely enough to help a bop on the head.

    Aquila dismisses her blasters, and summons a rocket-assisted hammer. The engine ignites and if Muradin can hold the blade steady, she brings the pick-like impact head of the hammer down onto the jagged blade. She's likely to bounce off from whatever malific magic haunts the weapon, but the intent is there.

    Piera, on the other hand, turns her attention back to the undead, should they prove to sustain beyond the sword, or the paladin's disallusion.

 
 You know what they say about grappling with a dwarf? 
 
 Don't! 
 
 Muradin was like the mountain, unmoving and unyielding, and of course, with Sanctuary cast on him there was no way that the Mountain King was going to give an inch where he stood. He didn't even need to stand there for long as Fullbright got pummeled from all sides by his allies, and the chains on his gauntlet were finally broken. The cursed sword free. 
 
 "I hear ye, lass!!" When Yumi yelled out at him, he already knew what to do. He flung the sword upwards into the air and charged up electric power on both his axe and his hammer. 
 
 "HRAAAAAAA!!!" The Mountain King SLAMMED Troggbane and Mirithos with all the might of titan, sandwiching the sword between his weapons and Yumi's Prominence for a hammer and anvil tactic. Alone they might not have enough power to destroy the cursed sword, but with their powers combined, and maybe anyone else that wanted to get in on this, they could. 

    Magilou will sigh and give a twirl, looking up at the sky as she walks back towards the tavern, even with the fight not quite wrapped up. "Guess they got it. Don't think the damage is much beyond what they would have had happen if they'd just killed him, but it doesn't seem like it's the same anyways. I should probably get a drink or a reward before someone thinks to ask about those windows." It wouldn't be the first town that Magilou'd had to flee after leaving it in flames, and it probably wouldn't be the last, either, but hopefully she can get something from the work before the running. She's quite clearly done helping, though.

"Lord Xaxugor, isn't he the one the demonuns and congregation were worshipping?" Claire asks, now that the business is over. She's about to say more when she notices the state of her cart and slowly, carefully walks up to Magilou, a dark look on her face, sword drawn. "You will work." She states, "Until you have paid for every last bottle you just destroyed." A pause, "I don't care whether hard labour will ruin your magic. You should've thought of than before destroying fifty thousand G worth of wine."

    The resounding clash of metal on metal rings clarion through the town. Between Yumi's runeblade, Muradin's twin hammer and axe-- and even little Aquila's rocket propelled hammer, the jagged blade shatters into pieces and clatters to the ground. With a hiss the broken blade seems to release... SOMETHING from its pieces-- a demonic soul exhaled from the metal itself that rises into the air with a pained wail as it's released and evaporates into nothingness.
    But there's that name again.
    Anna relents to let Neviah tend to the stunned paladin, a look of fury contorting her face as she hears that name and looks right at Yumi.
    "That makes three times." Is all she says to the senshi as she corks the potion in her hand to save for later.
    This leaves a few things unfinished though.
    The undead, now without a demonic blade and wielder to rally them sort of... Shamble around aimlessly and wander back off, while Claire and Magilou now need to tend to their dispute... The paladin- a half-elf now that his helmet is off sits up and holds his head with a wince.
    "... What have I done...?"

    "Of course! And naturally, my charge for having saved your life from a horde of undead abominations is five thousand gald per head. I know I got at least fifteen there, so we'll give you a discount based on your damaged goods and you can just give me the twenty-five thousand gald at your convenience!" Magilou says, agreeably, and glancing at that sword. "But if you don't put that sword down, somebody might mistake you for attacking an innocent witch who just defended the town from an attack. In fact, I think maybe the curse moved to your sword from his. You, short guy! Another evil sword problem here!" She'll call over towards Muradin, hopefully distracting Claire long enough from the goal to make her getaway, literally sprinting away if Claire takes her eyes off her for even an instant. Magilou is not someone who believes in an honest day's work, and certainly not however many honest days are involved in a cartful of wine.

"Yes... it's the same one," Neviah murmurs with a glance towards Claire, before she cants her head and makes a face as the other woman tries to give Magilou of all people a lecture. She crinkles her nose and scratches her temple with a fingernail.

But there's healing to be done, no matter how crap she is at it. She leaves her hand in place, quietly tending to the stunned paladin. She almost forgets there are zombies until they've all shambled off, at which point she glances up with a moue of her lips before her attention is dragged back to her stirring charge.

"Rest," she urges, voice quiet, yet tinged with interest. "You had an unsettling experience. We should get you some rest... we can talk about what happened when you are better."

Neviah Younger cannot claim altruism here. She can't even entirely claim a desire to help Anna. She wants to know more for her own professional curiosity.

    As the sword finally shatters, Yumi relaxes, finally letting the pain of her injury weigh her down; but she still manages to stand more or less straight, and there is little but a faint nod to Anna. She remembers exactly what they discussed last time.

    It's the paladin to whom she speaks, however, turning to look at him with a sympathetic look, equal parts smile and chagrined wince. "I'm sorry about the head trauma. I... I figured you'd forgive me for roughing you up a little." She'll have to get some healing, but she definitely wants to be there to talk with him when he's more recovered.

 
 IT IS DONE! 
 
 The sword broken, Muradin fell to his knees and leaned on his twin weapons, beads of sweat running down his sweat and his beard. "That was fer ye, Arthas, ye bloody basterd.." He muttered to himself under his breath. The heavy weight of his past failure never too far away from his mind. This was but a small victory, a small price to pay for what he had failed to do in the past. 
 
 "Master! Are you alright!" Honey hopped onto her dwarf's helmet and looked at him upside down. 
 
 "Aye, Honey.. I.. HM!?" Muradin perked up as he heard Maligou told him that it wasn't over yet, that there was still an evil sword afoot. "Wot! Where!?" But she was already making a run for it and Muradin would definitely recognize a carpetbagger like Mailigou when he saw one, even if she was just showing him her back while running away. Actually -specially- because of that. 
 
 "OI! YE BLOODY BRAT! DONNA EVEN JOKE ABOUT STUFF LIKE THAT!!"

    "You did not save my life, I was here saving the lives of innocent people. That argument might work on them, but not on me." Claire does not lower the sword but also doesn't carry through with that threat, instead she settles on a far more nefarious plan.

    It is done. What little Aquila actually contributed to shattering the sword, she seems content with. The hammer, unfotunately, seems to have failed structurally, the pointed striking cap bent askew and the haft splintered. The shinki seems saddened, as she discards the broken weapon then floats over to Piera.

    The Assassin listens. That name seems to stir something in the others. "Three times..." she muses, then starts to walk away.