World Tree MUSH

    Trying to get the lay of the land - or the Tree itself - has been rough for Aloy, but she hasn't forgotten the Scrappers that she tracked out of her world to begin with. A strange attack on the outskirts of Kaipo has drawn her back to this world, and in little time she confirmed that the broken fence was a result of a machine, not a native animal. Putting the word out to others in the town to be careful was her intent... but it likely got her attention she didn't necessarily expect.

    It isn't unwanted though. Not if it's her previous allies. Aloy had to go back into town to gear up, but she's now at the demolished fence, the poor herder trying to put it back together while she examines the tracks. Whatever hit this place, it was pretty big and fierce. At least the size of a large wolf, probably more horse-sized. And there were definitely more than one, from the trampled brush. Even here in the desert it's obvious.

    "She says 'We've gotta HOLD ON. TO WHAT WE GOT. DOESN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF WE MAKE IT OR NOT. WE GOT EACHOTHER AND THAT'S A LOT. FOR LOVE WE'LL GIVE IT A SHOT.'" Shin walks up to where Aloy is with iPod earphones in his ears blaring some song that Aloy will never have heard in her life, but that Shin is belting out at the top of his voice. In fact, he even stops to give her double-fingerguns as a greeting and sing at her, "WOAH-OH. WE'RE HALFWAY THERE. WOAH-OH. LIVIN' ON A PRAYER. TAKE MY HAND, WE'LL MAKE IT I SWEAR. WOAH-OH LIVIN' ON A PRAYER!" 

    Stopping a moment later, Shin takes one of the earbuds out of his ear and inspects the destruction around Aloy, "Seems like this place got hit by a herd of ass-kickin'. You need some help? I'm pretty good at counter-ass-kicking. It's a specialty of the Wandering Martial Arts Sage, Shin Tokuyama."

    That's... a song all right. Cecil tromps over, having heard of the disturbance. It's not part of his main quest, but as a knight he does want to help people, and the description of the Scrappers that Aloy gave is kind of worrisome. The fact that they're loose on his world means he's going to want to figure out what sort of threats are incoming.

    "Shin. Aloy," he greets, approaching. "I'd like to at least see these beasts. And help, if I am able and you are willing." He's... still dressed in that armor. Isn't he ROASTING in there?

    It's only natural that passing word along like that will attract the most charitable and helpful heroes in all of the land, those willing to sacrifice everything in the line of saving others, true champions of light and justice!

    Also, Magilou is here.

    It wouldn't seem like she'd be very interested in helping out with things like this, and she won't really offer any helpful suggestions as she approaches the fence. "Oh, deary me. It looks like they needed to make that fence out of stronger materials, doesn't it?" That would have been a helpful suggestion... many, many moons ago, when the fence was built.

    Cecil isn't alone. Because right alongside him is a MASSIVE yellow bird. It's a long necked beast, similar to an ostrich but more robust and with a crest of bright yellow feathers atop its head and a razor sharp beak. 
    "Kweh!" It chirrups before TALKING. "You know, if you're going to head out into the desert you should really get yourself a ride." That voice sounds awfully familiar... Almost like Rydia's. Probably because it IS Rydia's voice as the small summoner peeks out from around the chocobo's neck. She most notably did not call a ride for Cecil though. "And if you thought you were going anywhere without me you're sure as heck wrong."
    Shin she recognizes. 
    Aloy she recognizes. 
    "Who are you?" That's to Magilou.

    Magilou isn't a new face to Aloy, but she does give the witch a funny look. More like a 'why are you here?' look than anything worrying. Even if Magilou is an escaped prisoner, that's unlikely to have anything to do with Scrappers. And the others... "I don't mind the help," she says. "It looks like there are a lot of them. I could maybe take them if I were careful, but with the rest of you we can make it a clean sweep pretty quickly. Scrappers are dangerous if you aren't careful, but keep your distance and keep moving and they can be managed by anyone here." Well, she hasn't seen Magilou but she assumes the woman isn't helpless.

    Unlimbering her bow, she sighs at Shin, placing a hand on her face. At least he isn't Nils. "Also, if you startle them and then hide, they do have a radar, so don't rely on that. I'd like to try to sneak up on them and take them out as fast as possible. It looks like we're dealing with a half-dozen, not the three I originally thought." She glances at the chocobo before starting to trudge after the trail. "That thing is probably faster than they are, though. The rest of you feel up to it?"

    "HOLY SHIT." Shin abruptly blurts out with little warning, "Is your entire dress made of books?!" He asks, having spotted Magilou. He immediately rushes over towards her, wide-eyed in amazement, "That is some next-level JRPG bullshit. Like... on par with wearing three-fourths of a pair of overalls. Or a chainmail bikini. Or a combat kimono and high heels." 

    "That is AWESOME," He adds as a final note, clapping his hands together a couple times in amusement. He was only half-listening to Aloy's explanation of plans and tactics, but he doesn't let her know that. He turns to Aloy and says, "Sneak attack. 3d6 damage. Someone who took Mounted Combat is finally useful in a campaign. Got it. You lead the way, champ." 

    He cracks his knuckles in anticipation.

    Shin seems to be as normal as ever... for him. Cecil eyes Rydia, but doesn't complain about her grabbing a mount for herself. He'll suffer through this. "... right," he agrees. "I tend to rely on my sword, but I'll see what I can do. At least I can be a distraction while the rest of you take them out, it sounds like."

    Then he stops to reconsider. "Do these things eat metal?" Wearing armor like he is, that's an important question! Asidely, to Rydia, "Did you hear that? Don't hestiate to run away if things turn for the worse."

    Magilou will give Rydia a smile. Well, it's technically a smile, at least. Her teeth are showing and everything. She'll raise a hand up, pointing at the child on the chocobo, and speak up in a quite loud voice. "Who am I, you ask? I am a witch, for whom the universe is but a plaything! One who banishes dragons, and drives daemons and exorcists alike away in fear! I am.." And then Shin interrupts her speech, preventing her from actually giving a proper introduction, or something that could pass for it.

    She'll lower her finger, looking over to Shin, and then add. "No, there's just books over the skirt. Except for the one in the front. That one's actually layer cake, just in case."

    Rydia's chocobo ruffles his feathers. If it were possible for a bird to look proud... Well this one sure looks smug at Aloy's comment. Magilou, on the other hand, gets a long and silent stare from Rydia, though she quietly reserves her judgment in either direction after the long-winded albeit interrupted introduction. An introduction that didn't even get her a name to go with the face.
    "I'm not running away." She asides firmly to Cecil, fingers curling into the fluff of her feathered steed's neck as the chocobo clucks and begins following after Aloy.

    Looks like she has help. "A lot of sand here," Aloy mutters, nocking an arrow but not drawing it. She walks at a slow but steady pace, tilting her head now and then while she tracks the small pack. "And a lot of Scrappers in one place... everyone just be careful they don't gang up on you."

    Cecil's question gets an amused smile. "They do, but it takes them a while. Unless you're downed, I wouldn't worry. I think their purpose is to recycle downed or damaged machines, but these six are rogue and probably just grabbing and chewing whatever. Not a lot of machines in this area. They need to be put down."

    It isn't all that far either. Maybe twenty minutes of walking is all it takes before the humming and tromping of mechanical feet can be heard over the next dune, leading into a more rocky badlands area.

The group that is checking out the Scrappers will find someone ELSE was looking for them, too. A person who... found them. The steady tromping is going to turn into a more alert noise about the time Aloy and the others approach, with the alert noise coming from all the Scrappers.

Looking over the dune will find why. A collection of rocks was hiding her, but now there's a young woman with flowing hair, wearing loose Japanese-style robes, taking a few steps back from the half dozen machines facing her. In her hands is a naginata, the long polearm heald at the ready. Two horns sprout from her head, though the look more decorative than battleready, and she's eying the threat approaching with a frown.

    "That's so stylish! And practical too." Shin says, giving Magilou a huge thumbs up before looking at the others and spotting Cecil, "Oh. It's you. The /black/ knight. You know, I really don't hate your kind, it's just the whole culture that I have a problem with." Shin tells Cecil in a pretty even tone. 

    "Are we there yet?" Shin asks after five, ten, and fifteen minutes of walking. At the twenty minute mark, they've arrived. 

    "Hey! That girl!" Shin points, "That looks like a recruitment cutscene. She's gonna take out like three of them with a single strike and then we'll handle the other three to demonstrate that she is clearly superior to us in ability. And then when she joins the party, she'll only be as strong as the rest of us are so we're gonna be kinda confused as to how she did that a few minutes ago."

    Well... Shin's not wrong, but Cecil isn't going to trust him on that. "I'd rather not take that chance. I suppose I'll need to get their attention, as I said." He ignores Shin's little jab for now... mostly because he knows the martial artist is still pissed at him, with good reason. He can only redeem himself by deeds, not words.

    That's why the Dark Knight crests the ridge and slides down without waiting for the others. He'll draw their attention, like he said! And hopefully get some to leave the girl alone. On his way down, he whips his blade out and brings it downward in a deadly arc... nowhere near his target. The black wave of power that erupts outward /is/ on target though, tearing through the desert air and toward the Scrappers, trying to distract them from the girl.

    It seems to take a lot out of him, though. The knight is already panting heavily after that wave.

    Surely Magilou, after the claims she'd been making, will move in to help the girl facing off against the Scrappers, or her loyal companion of a few minutes Cecil! In fact, she dramatically will stretch her arms over her head, moving them behind her neck, watching out over the encounter.

    "...They've got this, I think, right?" Magilou will ask, but whether the answer in response is yes or no she won't be budging herself to join. Still, at least she's offers looks of.. encouragement? Maybe?

    And there they are. Though it looks like someone beat the group to the scrappers in question, Cecil charges right on ahead and unleashes that wave of darkness. Rydia sucks on her teeth softly. Briefly, she wonders if Shin is speaking some kind of foriegn language, and she sort of looks at him very blankly.
    But if the Dark Knight is going to rush on in like that, the girk draws a small rod from her equipment, topped with a shard of what looks like ice, in spite of the arid desert climate it has not melted. She remains right where she is atop her chocobo, and it looks like she's sticking to the back row as she begins chanting under her breath, before unleashing a bolt of frosty air, from a distance, at the first machine that looks like it's going to approach Cecil.
    He can't make it up to her for Mist if he's dead, after all.

    Magilou gets a glower this time, from Aloy. "I don't want to find out. Come on, Shin. I'll get you an opening to take." Like Cecil, Aloy skids down the slope, but instead of tossing out waves of darkness she simply uses her bow. An arrow is let fly toward one of the Scrappers approaching the girl... an arrow that explodes into a crackle of electricity, sparking and crawling all over to stun the Scrapper.

    It's a move that works, staggering the one. Another is hit by Cecil's wave of darkness, tearing armor plates off and making it tumble over. It turns, damaged and sparking, to pounce toward the knight! A blast of frost hits it in the face, though, causing it to crash down before it reaches the winded knight.

    The remaining Scrapper going after the spear-wielding girl pounces that way, robotic 'jaws' spinning like a buzzsaw. The three that hadn't picked up on a target are now alerted, making a loud alarm noise as their eyes shift from yellow to red in color, to match those of the other three. One of them begins to bound toward Aloy, another up toward the dune where Rydia and Magilou and possibly Shin remain. The third joins its cohort in the first trio and bounds toward the horned girl.

    "Heh. I suppose it's unavoidable." Shin says, striking a coolguy pose as he loosens his tie and takes off his sunglasses. Gotta turn the style up to 11, since Girls Are Watching and all, "I'll show you the ferocity of the Dragon of the East. The Sage of the Mountain. The Fist That Shatters God." 

    Shin rolls his neck to crack it dramatically and then skids down the side of the hill towards the approaching, looking relaxed as he does so, "Just so you know..." Shin begins, before dropping into a slide and trying to skid right between the legs of the charging Dcrapper. Once he's underneath it, Shin finishes, "It's nothing personnel, kid." 

    And then Shin's eyes shine, "Geiha Genkou Ryu! Sky-Sundering Fist!" 

    Shin pops up under the Scrapper and tries to uppercut it in the stomach with a ki-infused fist and an explosive amount of force to keep it away from Rydia and Magilou.

    Cecil braces... but then the blast of ice interrupts. "Thank you, Rydia!" He shouts that out as he recovers his breath... and then takes the opening she provided, dashing forward to bring a deadly slash down with his sword toward the frozen Scrapper to try to take it down.

    This still leaves Kiyohime in danger though. "We're outnumbered, Aloy. Do you have a plan?" He's hoping she does, because it looks like Magilou is less help than a traumatized preteen girl.

The Scrapper leaps toward Kiyohime while others rush in. She's a little too busy to greet them. Also she seems to be a little... distracted by her own thoughts. Or something.

"BURN BURN BURN BURN BURN!"

Or maybe she's screeching about how she wants the monsters to burn, even whilst one of them slices along her arm and opens up a bloody gash, tearing through the cloth. Her naginata haft slams into the side to push the Scrapper away, and then another is coming toward her. Another joining the fight.

An eruption of blazing blue fire rolls out from Kiyohime's mouth, the wave washing over both Scrappers attacking her with a fevered glower from the slender woman currently having some sort of fit.

    Magilou will smirk approvingly as Shin moves in the way, attacking the scrapper. Then, several seconds delayed, she seems to realize she's not playing her part very well. "Oh, no! We're under terrible attack, by horrible monsters!" She'll wave her arms wildly, and then move over to the other side of Rydia from the scrapper if she can.

    "Save us! The giant chicken, too!" By which she probably means the chocobo, not the figurative giant chicken of herself. Though the act of seeming fearful probably falls a little flat when she immediately goes back to standing placidly, right after those high-pitched and dramatic lines.

    Right, this isn't going so badly. Rydia peeks out from around her chocobo's neck surveying the skirmish. Her spell had the intented effect of keeping Cecil from being gutted, and that's all well and good. So long as Shin is keeping her safe from another approaching Scrapper, Rydia can focus on where she an be most helpful next. "Mm."
    She readies her rod again taking aim for the machine that Shin just whalloped to make sure the job is finished and opens her mouth to speak when-...
    Burn?
    It's an instant distraction, the words of another spell dying on Rydia's lips. "Huh?"
    Then Kiyohime opens her mouth. Even from a distance, just the sight of that inferno breath makes the Summoner stop dead in what she's doing, green eyes widening.
    "A-ah..."
    Rydia's rod slips out of her fingers as she buries her face in golden feathers, arms hugging around the chocobo's neck, earning a confused "Wark?!" As she hides behind her feathered steed.

    Aloy yells to Cecil, "I HAD a plan, now we just fight for our lives!" At least she has a relatively helpless one she can handle, the spear thrusting into it to finish off the stunned one. That is all she can manage in this chaos before she has to roll aside though, tucking her spear into position again when... all hell breaks loose. She's diving aside, so she can bring her spear into position to fight the one on her one on one, keeping her busy.

    Cecil manages to plunge his blade into the injured one and finish it off. Darkness, ice, and a blade all add up to take it down once and for all, the light in the Scrapper's eyes fading. This leaves him a little breathing room, but not much, with the chaos still going on around them.

    Shin is valiantly defending the others! He'll have to deal with a scrambling claw swipe, but going underneath the Scrapper is a good tactic. It didn't expect that, and the ki-enhanced punch crumples armor and causes sparks to fly. It tumbles, comes to all fours, and pounces at Shin directly again. He's hurt it, surprisingly so for 'just a punch' but... the machine has no experience with ki.

    The two on Kiyohime snarl robotically, but that doesn't last long before they're blasted into flames. One of them collapses, burning, right away. The other is on fire and staggering aside, then bolts away toward Cecil instead.

    The scrambling claw strike isn't so much evaded as it is defended against. Channeling ki into his forearms, he takes the blow by crossing them in front of himself. The claw slices through the sleeve of his suit and shirt, opening up a wound but not taking the arm clean off, thankfully. 

    After upper-cutting the machine in the gut, Shin hops back up to his feet in time to see that girl he predicted earlier breath out a huge wave of fire. It's exactly like he predicted. Cutscene character debut! She's doing great on her own. That last move was pretty spicy! It seems to be causing the green girl to freak out, though. He can kinda understand why, since that trauma is still fresh. 

    He eyes up the Scrapper. Time to go for a kill shot. Usually, he holds back against humans. But monsters (or monster robots) he can cut loose against. Flattening one hand to prepare a karate chop, he exhales slowly and lets the ki flow into the flat hand. Then he step-dashes forward rapidly, "Geiha Genkou-Ryu. Earth Splitter." 

    As he steps in towards the robot, the hand lashes out towards its neckline, trying to karate-chop clean through its neck as if it were a wooden board he was practicing karate on.

    "Rydia?" Cecil is hoping for some support, but a glance says... that's not happening. Oh right. Her village was burned. Too soon, man! It looks like the woman he was valiantly defending wasn't so helpless after all, though... and now has him worried.

    A little more to worry about now, though. "Guess we need to make do!" He's worried about Rydia, but has to handle the flaming Scrapper heading his way. He's going to need to tank it... letting the thing barrel into him with a grunt and crunch of armor. He feels his ribs flare with pain, much like when Shin punched him but without cracking... and then his sword uses the opportunity to drive in deep, thrusting into the neck of the burning machine.

Kiyohime is still on her 'burn everything' idea, but with her targets fleeing or dead, she's left realizing that there are more, and she has allies. Well, she can still try to take down the machines, and allies are good... but she isn't thinking clearly about that.

All that matters right now is a threat is there.

The long-haired girl blurs, dashing forward at incredible speed to sweep a deadly slashing blow with her naginata along another Scrapper's side. This one is the one on Aloy, intending to slice down the plating between front and rear legs. It might not destroy it, but she isn't thinking about that. Nor does she consider how likely it is that this would at least open it up for Aloy to finish. At least she isn't viewing Aloy as an enemy.

    Rydia is... Not quite in any state to be giving support, this moment, still clinging and huddled against the neck of her mount, which decides to pull her even farther back, away from the conflict until she can regain her composure.

    Magilou will give Rydia what's almost a pitying look, but the witch doesn't seem like she's actually going to offer too much in the way of emotional encouragement. Possibly because she had no idea why Rydia had reacted so badly. "There weren't any back the way we came, if you need to leave, kiddo." That's sort of encouraging! "I don't think they'll judge you too harshly."

    Magilou's arms are back behind her neck as she watches the end of the conflict. "Or you could just wait. They seemed to have it in hand the whole time. I don't really understand how she can breath it like that without doing a lot of damage to her mouth and lips, really. A proper witch would use her hands for flinging fire." That's not going to help, but Magilou's not doing it intentionally! Probably.

    Cecil's Scrapper is again, already injured, so aside from being ON FIRE there's not a whole lot aside from weight that it manages to slam into him with, before the blade sinks in and disrupts its core. Smoke billows out as sparks fly, and the light fades from its eyes all at once.

    Shin manages to connect, and the damaged Scrapper, though tough, is no match for an experienced martial artist either! These are not heavy combat machines, so the ki-enhanced chop causes a wrenching noise, and then the head pops off and causes the body to shudder, before it collapses to the ground, sparking.

    The slash along the other Scrapper's side is indeed well-timed. That's all it takes for Aloy to stab inward, the experienced machine hunter stroking unerringly at the power coupling leading to the main power plant and severing it.

    As that one collapses, she turns a wary eye to Kiyohime, then calls for the others, "I think that's it! Is everyone all right? I'm going to salvage these and see who our new... friend... is." Kiyohime's screaming makes her a little hesitant to be sure she's harmless.

    "I'm... I'm fine." That's Rydia. She sounds a little shakey, but now that the Scrappers are handled, she dares to venture out from her hiding place against her chocobo's neck. The bird coos and nudges at her with it's beak, earning it a stroke along the crest as the Summoner shoots Magilou a petulant look.

    Shin exhales heavily and then flexes his hand a bit, slowly reverting out of Martial Artist mode and back into his Slacker Mode, "Hoo-boy. What a fight. That felt like a few hundred XP, at least. But we gotta split it across the party, so probably more like a hundred per person." 

    He flexes and unflexes the hand some more and then looks down at the destroyed Scrapper on the ground, "And THAT, bucko, is why you never try to hit the back-line squishies. There's always an off-tank to pick up the adds."

    Sheathing his blade, after making certain there are no lingering oils, Cecil eyes the carnage and sighs. "It looks like we have no physical damage. Someone had best see to Rydia..." He'll wander up that way, but is not the best for comforting the girl, he knows.

    As for Kiyohime, she gets a long look, but unless she moves to attack, he's going to assume she is one more strange person. "Cecil Harvey, formerly in service to Baron. I apologize for being late to your aid."

Kiyohime dismisses her naginata, letting it vanish into mana, and looks upon the others. Her rage is cooling, as these are obviously not enemies... and her mission dictates she find allies. She bows, politely, and smiles to everyone.

"Kiyohime," she introduces. "Please, it was good to fight alongside you all. Perhaps we can speak later in a more pleasant locale? I'm afraid these machines were not what I was seeking, but I would like to speak with all of you further when things are calmer."

    Aloy nods, but her concern is more on Rydia at this time. "Right... we should definitely head back to town and get this all sorted out. We have wounds to look after, too," she glances at Shin and Kiyohime in particular. Thanks to Kiyohime's interference, she managed to escape relatively uninjured herself.