World Tree MUSH

    Though Gryphon's Feast is a trading town, in the cosmopolitane melange of the World Tree, it's relatively rare for entire trade caravans to roll into town - all the rarer still that they're willing to put on a street festival! But put one on this caravan has, under the auspices of the Hausen family from a (relatively) nearby land called Arashi-no-Moto. The noble family has decided to send an envoy out to showcase not just their own status, but all that Arashi-no-Moto in general and the Duchy of Bran in specific have to offer.

    Booths offering unique goods of all sorts, games set up to offer prizes or just for fun, food stalls offering various Bran dishes and delicacies (most of which are uncannily German-esque, but there's some Japanese-ish influence in there too), and everyone working them is more than willing to give more info about their homeland if asked. They largely just seem happy to make sales or share in their culture - when they're not hustling back and forth between their booths and the magitech caravan cargo vehicles, of course!

    But the centerpiece of it all is a plaza on the far end of the street fair, where not only have a number of tables been set up for eating, but a curious artifact has been placed on a pedestal. Looking for all the world like a large emerald, wrapped in gold worked into the form of vines, leaves and flowers, the artifact glows softly - as does a ring surrounding a wide swathe of the plaza around it. A live band nearby plays music, and any time someone steps into the circle, as if from nowhere, a phantom sidhe appears, offering a warm smile and a hand to dance with them. A number of guests have taken up on this phantasmal offer, and dance merrily to the music with their illusory partners.

    And near the dancing ring, a raised stage stands, with a number of personnel seated - the foremost which is a very noble, very well-dressed young woman with blonde hair, clad in shades of ostentatious red. At this particular moment, she's in the middle of giving an address to the plaza, beaming warmly at those present. "-again thank you all for your generosity in welcoming the Hausen caravan. Our time on other worlds has never been anything less than splendid, and I bid you all enjoy yourselves to your hearts' content."

    There's some strumming on a purple, demonic looking guitar as Dante performs. He's gotten a nice gig playing at this event, blasting away with Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood as he croons on the microphone. Why is he doing an impromptu heavy metal concert here? Does he even need the money that badly? Nah, he's doing it for the love of the game first and a quick paycheck...third?

    He's the one they call Dr. Feelgood
    He's the one that makes you feel alright
    He's the one they call Dr. Feelgood

    Cops on the corner always ignore
    Somebody's getting paid
    Jimmy's got it wired, law's for hire
    Got it made in the shade

    There's a band of kobolds that are acting as roadies, weird dragon-dog people skittering about, and Dante's got orcs and dwarves as part of the band! Seems their frontman and lead guitarist had a case of the squirts, thus Dante's filling in for him tonight. Dante himself is having a lot of fun, his guitar letting out sparks and electric bats with every strum as he seems to rock harder every passing moment. Hell, the rock star life just suits Dante perfectly, he's in his element as if he were driving his greatsword through a demon's heart.

    Since the death of the Demon Lord, Mau has been... Pretty lazy. Technically she has enough money and reward for that to sit on for a VERY long time but Suvdaa has likely been prodding her to go out and do adventurer stuff.
    Yeah well MAu soon enough finds herself at Gryphon's Feast. The catgirl hero is... Soon enough swept up in the festivities. A few beers here, a grilled fish there-- because grilled fish is the best-- and she's carousing easily enough.
    That's when a particular carnival game catches her attention.
    Men swing their swords to cut bamboo set standing on a pedestal. Some cut through three... Some cut through four...
    Mau steps up to the pedestal.
    "... Hey can I get a shot?" She asks. Earning chuckles and dismissive looks from the men at the bamboo cutting stand.
    "Sure, kitten, go for it." One says and steps aside to let her get a try as men are already taking bets and wagers on how good this is about to be.
    Mau steps up to the plate, and slowly, almost reverently she draws the her sword and raises it poised to strike... Slowing her breath she closes her eyes for a beat. Her ears twitch... She opens her eyes...
    "HAH!"

    X X L1 X X L1 X!

    In a movement as smooth as flowing water she brings her sword down with the force of a small typhoon.
    Nothing seems to happen for a beat, and someone starts to chuckle...
    Before SIX of the seven pieces of bamboo are cut neatly through.
    A seventh goes FLYING UPWARD and Mau's pupils dilate. To the catgirl, time seems to slow and...

    O O!!!

    Mau neatly clips the flying bamboo in half right out of the air, to the stunning silence and amazement of onlookers, prompting men to gawp, drop their swords and bet money changes hands as Mau sheathes her sword with a catty little look on her face.
    "So how'd I do?"

>> SUMMARY[Mau] >> Mau's spirit has been maxed out.

As nicely as Trollskull was starting to come along, Joanna had definitely found herself in need of taking at least a good day or two's break by this point. Sure, it was mostly peaceful enough, no one was getting shot at besides that fireball delivered to their doorstep, but between woodwork and finding yet another somewhat alarming section of structural support no longer supporting anything to add to the increasing list she really had to go and do something different. 

 This festival, well, it would probably qualify well enough. 

 She had found herself at what passed for one of those little rifle carnival games in this part of the tree, though, the "weapon" itself was certainly odd, its propellant not coming from a tank or powder but instead as far as she could tell a single glowing crystal. 

 Weird. 

 "So, which end goes bang?" She asked, her tone as genuine as she could muster, a few stifled chuckles and bets already happening behind her similar to Mau at the sword stall, even as she shouldered the rifle and took aim. 

 KLANG!... KLANG!... KLANG!... KLANG!... KLANG!... 

 Five shots, five steel plates hit perfectly dead centre, one smug looking Jolteon, and one carnival game operator desperately trying to raise the stakes so she didn't just take her prize and run.

    This strange new style of music is a tad baffling to the Branian folk at first, but it doesn't take long at all for a lot of those nearby to start bobbing their heads. Those booths nearest Dante's performance are definitely having a good time while they work! He's probably making some tips.

    Meanwhile, Mau has found one of the more Japanese-looking attractions, labeled 'Seiryuuan Swordsmanship - Test Your Might!' The man running the booth is an older, mustached gent with brown hair dashed with silver around his temples, and looks like he's seen his share of battle despite the expensive kimono he wears. He's a touch stern of face, but surprisingly gentle and welcoming to his customers... but the moment he sets eyes on Mau, something hardens in his gaze, and he gives her a bare, respectful nod of acknowledgement, as though he sees something in her that everyone else has missed. There's a twinkle in his eye, a brief glance at those around Mau as they scoff...

    And then a rapid pair of strikes put them all to shame. It's only now that the grizzled old bamboo stand manager breaks into a true, warm smile. "Splendidly done. It has been a very long time since these old eyes have beheld such peerless swordsmanship."

    Meanwhile, a very similar performance is being given with a much more traditional Branian pastime - sport shooting. The carnie in question is utterly flabbergasted at Joanna's seemingly effortless precision; while he scrambles to find a way to not lose his money, one of the many workers hauling supplies gives a low whistle as he passes by. "She'd give the Archduchess herself a run for her money, eh? Fine shooting, miss."

    Yes, things are going wonderfully, so of course that's about when things go a bit pear-shaped.

    From the far end of the pavillion where the Lady Hausen is overseeing things, there's a sharp krakTHOOM of thunder, rattling windows. One of the smaller magitech craft has been pulled up to the edge of the square, and a group of five... thugs? Mercenaries? Are standing there while the crowd rapidly disperses. The mage responsible for the thunderbolt lowers his hand, carefully adjusting the ratty cloak. "I'll kindly have your attention, please! Lady Shine Hausen, if you'd be so kind as to hand over the Fairy Dance Ring, we'll be on our way and out of your hair. I do assure you we can be done before your security will be able to stop us." Another of the unknown warriors, a tall man armed with a sword and shield, clangs the former against the latter, a warning that already has the crowd dispersing further.

    The young lady Shine Hausen, on the other hand, is standing firm, staring them down without flinching. "If you know my name, then you most assuredly know what my answer will be. I will protect my family's treasure myself if I have to."

    Dante, shirtless and prancing about like Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger's lovechild, absolutely absorbs the applause as he finds a pause between songs. "You guys might not be ready for this, but your kids'll love it. THANK YOU BRAN!!" He throws out the horns just as someone tosses him a beer, which he shotguns in moments. But once he hears the thunderclap, Dante perks up. "Uhhh, sorry folks, we need to cut this short! Looks like there's a bit of trouble, I'll be back in...let's say twenty minutes?"

    Dante dons his crimson coat, grabs his guns and greatsword, and rushes over to investigate the situation, catching Mau on the way. "Hey kitty cat, been a minute."

    He counts five mercenaries, five douchebags who decided to crash the party. Not even in a fun way either.

    "Gonna stop you guys right there, the big shiny ring ain't goin' anywhere. Neither's the lady." Dante calls out, drawing Ebony and Ivory. "But if you came here to tussle, I'm more than happy to oblige!"

    There's nothing else to say, as Dante unloads his pistols at the mage first.

    Mau sees the old man's nod, and she meets it as she steps up to show off.
    The bamboo is cut and the catgirl sheathes her blade. No flourish, no fanfare, just a polite bow to the old man as he congratulates her on her sword skill.
    "You honor me." She says, surprisingly humbly.
    She knows she's ESSENTIALLY a walking sword god, and she doesn't need to flaunt it more than she already has, as she accepts her prize... An ornately carved oni mask.
    So. With that out of the way, get goes to get herself another grilled fish and decides to maybe see what this Fairy Dance Ring is all about, on her way to where all the dancing is, she passes by Dante's concert.
    "Oh huh. Hey it's been hot minute." She says recognizing the demon hunter and--
    krakTHOOM
    That doesn't sound good.
    In fact, Mau is soon enough following Dante *ver* quickly to the origin of the problem and finds...
    "Oh. Sorry." She says. "But what I'm seeing is a young girl standing up against five bullies." She says, setting her hands on her hips with a flick of her feline tail.
    "So I'm going to give you guys a *chance* to turn around." She says as she dons her new mask.
    And then she says in a suddenly much deeper and almost silly sounding voice: "I am gravely disappointed... You're selfish... You will not listen to reason... Now this princess says you plan to take the ring out of the wasteland... What a puny plan. Just walk away... You can put a stop to all this. Just walk away and we will spare your lives. Just walk away."

>> SUMMARY[Mau] >> Walk away from the gasoli-- Fairy Dance Ring.

Joanna was fully intending to rinse this man for all he was worth. Sure, she didn't need or truly even want the impractically gigantic teddy bear that much, but she was in for the love of the game more than anything else at this stage. Another five shots rang out, this time shot at further away targets rigged to move as irratically as the carnie could make them, and another five craters punched dead centre into the steel. 

 Smug. 

 Fox thing.

 She was about to say something, most likely along the lines of accepting her winnings but she barely got through a smile and a nod to the worker she had managed to impress with her marksmanship before that thunder cracked out. Her eyes scanned the scene. The crowd was big, potential for this to get nasty, fortunately they didn't seem to be the target though a crowd crush could be just as bad. Her search for cover wasn't exactly too fruitful either, the best she could manage being a large ale barrel. Probably wouldn't stop much given it was likely already most of the way empty, though at least it'd serve as some concealment. 

 "here. Have this back." 

 She said, her tone surprisingly plain and casual as she placed the rifle back on the counter that the stall operator was already cowering beneath, and ducked behind that ale barrel. 

 Five targets. Mage is probably the biggest threat. She let the lightning build in her arm, arcs flying and dancing between her fingers, and lined up her shot. 

 Only to see Dante rushing out there. Shirtless. What the heck was he doing. 

 She raised her hand, the demon hunter moving in guns blazing meant that she'd have to act faster! *FLASH!* *K R A K*! Her own lightning flew out at the mage, a double flash, then should it hit, a small explosion on target followed by an earsplitting bang!

    "Oh? And what's the bard got to-" The mage's words fall flat when he lays eyes on Ebony and Ivory. He's worldly enough to know firearms when he sees them, and in a heartbeat he's hastily constructing a barrier spell. It... partly works. The first couple shots are deflected off, and the shots that finally penetrate the barrier are slowed and redirected enough that they 'only' hit him in the shoulder and outer thigh. Those alone are almost enough to incapacitate him, but he miraculously stays on his feet... until Joanna follows up and knocks him cleanly out.

    Almost immediately, one of the others pulls a wand from under his cloak, and begins weaving and waving it, resulting in ribbons of healing green magic flowing into the downed magus. He's still out cold for now, but his wounds are closing fast. The remaining two each raise a rifle, moving into defensive positions... but holding their fire, not escalating.

    Meanwhile, Mau opens dialogue, and the gent with the sword and shield meets her gaze steadily. "Bullies? Hardly. Bullies are in it for the ego boost. Pathetic sods who can only feel big by making others feel small. We're here for a payday, lass. Can't speak for the others, but I've no malice for the girl, and it's not as if the Lady Hausen's going to have a hard life without that artifact." He clangs his sword against his shield again, but very notably does not advance. All of them are holding steady. "Besides," he adds, scarred cheeks pulling into a grin. "We don't have to brute force anything or throw our weight arond more than we have."

    "We're just the distraction."

    Within the crowd, a man dressed in the clothes of a local suddenly vaults out of the crowd with inhuman speed, straight into the dancing area. Sapphire blue ponytail streaming behind him, a fierce grin on his face, he skids to a stop near the pedestal the Fairy Dance Ring rests on, and holding his left hand out, an ornate spear seems to appear within his hand from nowhere. His right reaches out for the artifact, with a declaration of, "Sorry, missy. Adler de Koch sends his regards-"

    His fingers pass through empty air.

    A crimson-and-white blur skids to a stop on the other end of the arena, the Fairy Dance Ring in hand. As the girl stands, she casually lobs the artifact towards the Lady Hausen, before resting her right hand on the katana at her left hip. "Oi, oi. That's a funny name you just dropped there. I suppose that'd make you Traitor Inumaru, wouldn't it?" The blue-haired man looks grim, but nevertheless settles into a deep ready stance, facing the new red-haired aggressor. "That red hair and that speed... If the rumors are true, that makes you the Crimson Wind, huh? You're pretty far from home."

    The red-haired girl grins, dropping into her own ready stance. But she doesn't address his question, instead turning her eyes to Joanna, Dante and Mau. "Hey, you lot. You wanna wrap up his buddies? I'll have this one sorted."

    All that bravado falls apart when a hailstorm of .45s starts hammering you, and Dante looks satisfied with how he and Joanna take down that mage. He gives the pokemorph a nod before training his guns upon the rest of the bunch. It's when a new challenger approaches and steals the blue-haired fella's thunder. Dante is pretty sure he, Mau, and Jo just bumped into some beef.

    "With pleasure." He grins at the red-haired samurai, stowing his guns in favor of drawing Rebellion from his back, the greatsword moving with effortless skill as he locks eyes with one of the remaining mercs, leveling his sword at the thug.

    Then Dante rushes him, his sword lunging out like a knight's lance as he propels himself across the ground in a very sudden jump.

    Well the mage goes down.
    "Oh." Mau says as she turns to see Dante guns smoking and a Jolteon-lady who just zapped that poor schmoe.
    "... Are we doing this? I guess we're doing this." She says as she turns to...
    'The distraction'.
    "Oh that's even worse than a bully." She points out. "It means you lot aren't gonna live to SEE that payday." She notes as...
    Ah there's the guy who's *really* going to take the ring. And she's nowhere near close enough to close the distance to stop him.
    She doesn't have to. Someone else does.
    Mau's eyes linger on the red-haired girl, before the catgirl pops her neck.
    "Alright. We'll tie this up neatly." She says turning back to the guy with the shield. Mau hurriedly rummages through a hundred lives worth of memories for the best countermeasure for this situation.

    To defeat a shield wielding enemy you must use the KUSARIGAMA.

    May pauses and frowns.
    She never fucking learned to use a kusarigama, she only knows how to sword guys real good. Check those memories again, girl.

    Shit, was it water stance for shields? Or uh... Moon? Wind?

    "Fuck it. Stone Smasher." Mau declares, channeling magic into her sword as stone and earth itself rise from the ground to cover her blade in rock and...
    Her sword becomes more stone than sword, which she uses to blunt force SMASH into the shield guy's defenses with the force of a bus.

>> SUMMARY[Mau] >> Ghost of Meowtei???

Joanna returned the nod, her back still pressed up against the half full ale barrel. She managed to catch a glimpse of the weapons those mercs were carrying out of the corner of her eye. Anything rifle caliber wouldn't have any problem punching through by her reckoning, or, if it did, the holes it would blow would leave any followup shots with nothing to block their path. "Yeah. Sure. Great. Never a dull day." She said, building up another charge in her arm. Her fuzz had fluffed up by this point, sparks once again dancing between her fingertips. "Who even are these pricks?" 

 She took a deep breath, steadying herself before calling out to the mercs. "Drop your weapons, or I pop you like an egg in a god damn microwave!" 

 She waited. One second. Two seconds. 

 The thought occurred to her that these guys might not know what a microwave was. 

 All the same and not hearing rifles being dropped to the floor, she whipped around and unleashed another fully built up lightning blast from her palm at the first rifleman, followed by a second if she could manage it before it looked like she was about to get shot at in reply!

    When the Son of Sparda goes on the attack, one of the mercs shifts his magitech rifle to point at Dante - but it's far, far too late, and all the man can do is try and shift himself out of a mortal wound. It turns out the tradeoff for this is 'losing his left arm instead'. But he's most assuredly out.

    Interestingly, even with Dante in close range, the healer does not falter. He's eyeing Dante with extreme trepidation, and he's sure not attacking, but he's still healing.

    Meanwhile, the look on the swordsman's face suggests he's well aware things may be going sideways. But he settles a little more behind his shield, and squares off with Mau warily, determined to do his job. Indeed, while Mau prepares, he's slowly advancing... until the Heroine's sword is enveloped in stone. He seems to realize that this is VERY bad, but it's not soon enough to save him. All he can do is bring up his shield, and the end result is that he's knocked flying, and then knocked unconscious when he slams into the getaway vehicle, dropping a bent sword and a badly dented shield. That's gonna be a good number of broken bones.

    Meanwhile, Joanna prompts a tense standoff. The remaining gunman has his rifle pointed right at her, and it's very clear he's torn. On the one hand, they've been very careful so far not to escalate, not to turn things into a bloodbath. On the other, the lighting lady is threatening to cook him on the spot holy crap. He seems to finally come to a decision, finger starting to shift towards the trigger, but before he can do anything, the lighting blast hits him square in the chest. Joanna won't even have a chance for the second hit; the first one is enough to lay him out solidly.

    Meanwhile, redhead and bluehair face off, a distance between them. Inumaru tenses his grip on his spear, while the Crimson Wind simply curls her fingers more tightly around the grip of her blade. A second passes, two-

    Inumaru's weight shifts. He tilts forward. It's a movement so fast human eyes can barely follow it, the man starting his lunge at full speed.

    And in the next heartbeat, Kanna is already on the other side of him.

    Most eyes in the crowd probably can't follow it at all. It's a burst of speed so great that the red-haired ronin seems to disappear from human sight. The superhuman eyes among the crowd might be able to see her move, so fast as to be a blur, closing the distance in the time it takes her opponent to take a single step, but even to the fastest eyes, her sudden quickdraw seems to vanish from view.

    It's only clear what happened when Inumaru's spear falls into three pieces, and a spray of blood arcs out of a shallow slice in his right bicep.

    The girl brings herself back up to a casual standing position, and with an elaborate flourish, resheathes her blade.

    Dante squares off with a guy, and the rifleman is down an arm and probably down a gun too. The Son of Sparda chops through that magitech rifle with contemptuous ease, and he glances down at the severed appendage. "Oof. Hope they can make a new one."

    At least the guy has a healer, but Dante gives him a look that says 'you raise a hand against me or anybody else, and you're next.' It's a piercing, ice-cold glare too, nothing like the carefree himbo attitude Dante's known for.

    As for the rest of the fighting, Dante just enjoys the show. Kanna's skill is very impressive, just as good as Mau even, and she's a delight to watch. Dante's eyes follow the fight fine, and he's taking notes of Kanna's technique as well as Inumaru's. It's when Inumaru's spear falls apart and blood hits the ground that Dante knows the fight's over.

    Honestly, Dante doesn't feel a desire to really end any of these thugs's lives.

Joanna's muscles were screaming at her at this point. The lack of any more violent sounds were indication enough that the fighting was over, though, she still wasn't too keen on poking her head out of cover just yet. She rubbed her shoulder, cursing under her breath and her lips curling into a snarl. The plate holding it together was giving her grief again. 

 nOt SeRvIcE rElAtEd. 

 She peered out from behind the barrel for a moment, then, realising the coast was indeed clear stepped out to join the others pistol in hand, albeit lowered, rather than preparing another round of lightning bolts. She made sure to kick the remaining intact rifle away, just to make completely sure any of the downed mercenaries wouldn't get any funny ideas regarding a second wind and a bullet sent to her or any of her friend's backs. "Some god damn festival this was."

    Mau could have used more finesse there but the fact of the matter is...
    Mau is cat.
    Cats are lazy.
    Mau is lazy.
    Shaking the stone off her sword as she releases the magic she poured into the blade, she watches the shield guy go flying. Yeah he's gonna be sleeping for a while. So let's see.
    Dante disarmed a guy (literally) and Joanna zapped down another. Mau nods sagely as she sheathes her sword and turns just in time to see the blue haired guy versus this so called Crimson Wind.
    Thing is...

    Mau is one of the people who CAN follow what just happened.

    That blur of motion, the speed of that quickdraw. Mau whistles low and appreciative of a spectacle of swordsmanship that can actually impress her.
    "Yeah. Brosky boy blue hair there had no chance." She says matter of factly.

    The healer is, impressively enough, able to meet Dante's ice-cold gaze directly. Even if his wand might be shaking a little. He's loyal enough to his teammates to keep right on healing. And unless Dante stops him, he'll start attending to his other injured allies soon enough. That includes Joanna's target - he's out cold, and thanks to her kick, his rifle is no longer an option to anyone else in the group.

    When Mau speaks, though, the redhead's eyes track right to her, and there's a slightly disappointed huff. "Traitor Inumaru had a reputation for bein' the fastest spearman alive, so I was hoping for more. Well, whatever." Her eyes sweep around to Joanna next, and there's a snort. "The hell are you talking about? Everyone's still here, no one's hurt other than the thugs. Where I stand, it looks like you can pick right up where you left off. Isn't that right, Shine?"

    It's such a casual address that it's unsurprising when Lady Shine Hausen looks surprised... right? "Eh? U-um... That's, er... Well, yes, but..." The young noblewoman looks as if she's trying to place something. Before she can say anything else, however, the redhead looks over her shoulder. "I'm sure the town guard will be here pretty soon, so I'm leaving. I bet the Archduchess will wanna meet these guys, though."

    Her eyes briefly sweep away from Lady Hausen, to Mau, then Joanna, then Dante. And then, the Crimson Wind darts towards the nearest wall... only to run vertically up it, as if gravity were a mere suggestion. And once she reaches the roof, she's over the edge and off into the night.