World Tree MUSH

    Peacely is seemingly at peace. Though the well issue still needs to be resolved, the locals have at least for now managed to keep animals from getting at the water supply and turning into monsters from the demonic influence, so there's been less attacks on the little hamlet. But today is the day. Today is the day Anna Primrose has decided this shall be settled for good. The portal beneath the town needs to be closed in order to stem the abysall taint spreading over the land.
    Thankfully due to Bryllu Zibhu MLDVII the paths under the well have been opened for people to traverse the cave systems beneath Peacely, and reaching the portal room is a matter of simply jumping down the well and taking the path that the miner had opened up previously.
    Anna is already in the portal room, staring down the gaping hole in reality that leads into the Abyss itself; the home of demonkind, her axe in one hand, a cloth-wrapped length held lightly in the grasp of her other hand as she murmurs to herself a song in the goblin tongue. While she watches the roiling land beyond the gate; sky blazing blood red and the land teeming with monstrosities, a fortress visible in the distance as her voice echoes softly in the cave.

    "Lock up the rage 
    It rattles the cage 
    The fury it never leaves me...

    Always within
    To lurk in the skin 
    The wounds ever aching so deeply...

    Pour out the anger and hide it away
    Lest it spill to the blameless and lead them to pain
    In the steel and the rags I will cover the shame
    So the innocent need not be judged in my name..."

    Of course Shirou is already here. He came on this particular adventure in the first place because he promised to not let Anna do it alone, and he's not backing out of it quite yet, no, even if she most assuredly is guaranteed to not have to go it alone, now. So he came here with Anna, so he's here waiting with her for anyone else that might come...

    And he's holding a pipe in his hand. He managed to find one left over from some halfling merchant who didn't have a need for it anymore. He got it just for a few copper!

    But he's looking curiously at Anna, now, eyeing that cloth-wrapped... something in her other hand. "Hey, I've been wondering this for a while..." He says to her. "But what do you have there, anyway? You had that since I first saw you this morning..."

Today, Bryllu is not playing around. She's heard enough to know that, as much as she may regret it, this one of those cares where in fact, Violence IS the answer. She is four feet tall excluding her weaponry. Her body is a densely packed armored form, thick plates cover her body, down to the central thruster which keeps her aloft. Six secondary thrusters out of her back provide her with additional mobility, themselves still quite sturdy and hefty.

Both her arms end in two hands, and she has two pairs of weapons in those hands. Two four feet long spikes and two four feet long blades. Hanging from beneath her main thruster is another four feet long blade, this one is independently articulated and ends in a one foot long hook, in case she needs to jank someone or something up violently.

"Hello, Emiya Shirou. Anna Primrose." She greets those already there. "I'm ready whenever you are."

    A staticky portal opens up and turns black from the inside out, and out comes Emily, in the form of a lavender-skinned demoness with six glowing purple eyes in two vertical rows and hair so black it looks like a rip in space or a graphical glitch, wearing a pink tank top with the text "I'll Stop Wearing Pink When They Invent A Darker Color", red booty shorts with some evil AI's rant about hating humanity on the backside, and blue running shoes. "I'm guessing it's swords," she answers Shirou, basing this on nothing whatsoever. She peers at it a moment. "A sword," she corrects herself.

    Out from behind her comes Double-A in her usual form of a red-haired woman in a black dress, frowning and looking slightly jumpy. She doesn't say anything at first; she simply nods in greeting to no one in particular.

    Emily brightens when she sees Bryllu. "Oh, hey, Bryllu!" she says. "Fabulous design you got there! Is it standard, or did you design it yourself?"

     Having heard that there was a demon problem the last time she was in Peacely, Miwa is back to lend a flipper to help put that to an end. She floats her way down the well in one of her bubbles, being very careful not to crash into a wall and pop it as she goes. Though once she's made it to the portal room, she intentionally directs the bubble into the floor of the room where it pops and leaves her resting normally on her tail and flippers before she lifts one to wave at everyone. "Hello." She greets warmly with a smile despite the serious nature of why they're here.

 
 A dwarf always honors his oaths. Muradin had promised Anna that he would assist her with this journey of hers and Muradin does intend to follow through! This... seems almost familiar to him, a young human driven mad with vengeance, fire and fury and pain guiding them through a path of blood against a hated foe. Muradin could see it in Anna's determined eyes, the pain that the demons had caused her, the desire for revenge. 
 
 This could be Arthas all over again if he wasn't careful. 
 
 But there would be no Frostmourne to ruin everything this day. No accursed powers that would suck the soul of his friend and cast them into deeper darkness that the one they initially sought to destroy. No! Today they solve this the right proper way. With hammers singing across the air as they crush demon skulls, axes whistling as their blades tear through fiendish skin. He was ready! Muradin Bronzebeard was always ready for a fight but this almost felt personal to him. This almost felt like a chance to redeem himself for how he failed Arthas so long ago. 
 
 Rushing as fast as his short legs can take him, a stout dwarven fighter approaches the group from behind, waving his hand up in the air to hail the party. 
 
 "Oi there lads and lasses!!" He cackles, caring not for the grim, hellish visage of the portal before him. He'd gladly march into hell itself if it meant saving a soul, and indeed, how different could these demons be from those of the Burning Legion? 
 
 "Who's ready to give these blighters a good hammerin' aye!?" 

    Uni is here. How she got here, noone can really tell. The black-clad Goddess just kind of melts out of the shadows near the entrance. She remains quiet save for the clnk of a gun mechanism cycling. Bravette remains seated on her shoulder, cradling her Gattling with a holographic screen open to one side of her head.

    And so the party gathers. Anna's song trails off as she glances over her shoulder at the arrivals. "Mmh..."
    "I will not lie, a trip into the Abyss will be more than dangerous. It's near suicide to the unprepared." She warns. "I'll hold it against none of you that choose to back out now." She says softly- before Emily appears and announces just what it is Anna is holding.
    Emily gets a look.
    It is a look of concentrated murder as the girl begins to slowly start drawing in deeper breaths bordering on hyperventilating as her knuckles go white in the grip on her axe.
    Someone might want to explain that this is a Eudaemon she's looking at and not a demon.
    The girl only moderately keeps her cool when Emily seems to know Bryllu.
    "Friend or foe...?" She nearly growls, eyes slowly turning from emerald green to a shade of bloodshot pink.
    Enter Miwa, Muradin, and Uni. This pulls Anna back from her incessant fury long enough to draw a slower breath.
    "Thank you all for coming..."
    As for what she's carrying, she decides to focus on that, unwrapping the cloth and tossing it aside to hold it out to Shirou.
    "A gift, for you, Sir Emiya." She says.
    It is a longsword, decently well crafted from the look of it, even in the scabbard. But the keener eye will notice that when drawn from the sheath the blade glimmers with a bright shine-- the blade is coated in silver. Perfect for hunting demons."
    With this gift given, the young princess approaches the portal, drawing a steeling breath- before she steps through onto the blood red soil of the other side.
    "My guess is that we'll find our answers there..." She mutters, motioning for the lonely fortress standing in the distance.

"I designed it myself." Bryllu answers Emily, "My people last went to war before the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies merged." She notices Anna's rage, "Emily is an Eudaemon, not a demon. I know it sounds similar, and she kind of looks similar right now, but she's an engineered intelligence rather than hellspawn." She follows Anna inside the portal.

 
 "HAHA!! Near suicide for the unprepared!? Well, that's the best kinna adventure, am I right lads!?" Muradin cackles in his usual overconfidence and tries to slap someone on the back to inspire some courage on all of them. The person that feels a heavy dwarven hand on their back here being more than likely Shirou! He just seems to be a magnet for these kind of things. 
 
 "Sod me! Would ye look at that!" Exclaims Muradin, speaking of Shirou, the dwarf happens to get a good look at the sword Anna gave him since he's in close proximity. "That's some right proper silver forged into the blade of that sword there. Perfect for some demon slaying! Bloody hell! That's some good craftmanship there, must have cost a ton. I'd treasure that forever if I were ye, laddie!" 
 
 Muradin blinks slightly as Anna begins to growl at Emily, as confused as everyone else more than likely, though as Bryllu explains the nature of the woman now it all makes sense. "Ah, a what? Eudaemon..?" What's an Eudaemon? Is what Muradin thinks. A kind of Pokemon? He'd have to ask his friend when he gets the chance. Though on that note introductions do appear to be in order. 
 
 "Ello there, Muradin Bronzebeard. Nice to meet'cha." Says the dwarf as he goes to shake everyone's hand if they'd let him. A burly dwarven hand shake is given to Shirou, Emily, Bryllu, Uni and- "Oh hey! Miwa!! I dinnae expect to see ye here, lassie! Wot were the odds!?" 

    Emily smiles in greeting to Muradin. "AYE!" she shouts back, raising a fist. There's no fire in her eyes, no vengeance; to a dwarf's eyes, she's clearly here for nothing short of the joy of battle -- in other words, to have fun.

    ... She does a double-take at Anna, looking honestly confused. "Wait, what?"

    "Emily," says Double-A, who looks like there's only one reason she's here, and that reason is not related to having fun, "you're in the form of the kind of thing we're fighting here."

    "Oh right!" says Emily. She glances around at the others present. "Uhhh, releasing Capacitor Seals ... 3 and 2!" She's surrounded by three distinct auras, one silver, one gold, and one pearlescent; the first two shatter and the third one fades, and then as she and Double-A follow Anna through the portal ...

    ... in a swirl of what appears to be silvery glitter, she transforms into a large hovering orb of black metal with a large glowing robotic purple eye surrounded by smaller eyes; in another swirl of nanomachines, four large clawed arms appear as well. "Let's go-go-go!" she says, the central eye flickering in time to her words. "Anyway, I'm Nyx-model MLE0, Emily, and this is Erebus-model AA23, Double-A."

    "We're machines created to serve mankind," Double-A answers Muradin, "made up of a bunch of smaller machines. Except, those who match our programmed definition of 'mankind' are extinct, so we just do what we want. Especially Emily," she adds under her breath.

    "I am always prepared." replies Uni, glancing at Emily as she walks up to the Eudaemon. "Don't pay her any mind, Princess. She's not a demon." confirming what the pair say.

    She steps through the portal after the others, cycling her weapon so its piping glows a brilliant white, "Skyeye, topside, give me eyes on a swivel." she says, sending the Shinki upwards on her jetpack. The Zelnogrard folds down her visor and starts looking around at the area.

     Miwa offers a flipper to Muradin as he goes around for handshakes. It was definitely a gesture she's gotten used to after living among people. "Nice to see you again Muradin. I came to help with the demon problem, so I guess you'll get to see how I can fight now." She says with a small grin. "Looking forward to seeing your hammers in action myself." Emily's chosen form does seem questionable, though after she heads through the portal with everyone else, she finds the new form Emily takes even more unsettling, at least they're on the same side. She looks around for any signs of demons as she continues past the portal, and stays close to Muradin.

    "Demons already?!" Comes Shirou's reaction with the way Emily makes her appearance, even taking one step just ahead of Anna, with his Pipe +1 brought up at the ready. His eyes narrow-- and he at least waits, since Anna's at least taken the time to ask the 'friend or foe' question. He keeps his guard up eitherway, just in case, all the way until...

    Emily turns into a hovering robot-orb.

    "...Whuh."

    And he stares. With not-so-narrowed eyes this time, amber orbs full of utter confusion. "But that's... I mean...?" He casts a look aside to Bryllu, as if just to remind himself that this is hardly the first mechanical being he's gotten acquintanced with. The pipe is lowered down then, and he shakes his head with the decision that he frankly does not have the kind of mental bandwith left unreserved to be able to fully process all this. Better to move on now.

    But wait. That thing Anna has been carrying is... for him? Before he even gets to say anything, his jaw drops a bit when he sees what it is. A gift of a sword.

    He's not entirely sure what to think of this, no, not even while he's reaching to take the longsword from her with an akward murmur of "Um, thank you...?" Not just because of the fact that people don't usually give *swords* as gifts like it was no big deal where he comes from, but also because the gift is from... well. A girl. A girl roughly five years his junior, but still.

    The sword is quickly unsheathed after to examine it-- and turned over in Shirou's hand to feel out the weight. He already recognized the silver coated on it, but Muradin's exclamations bring color to draining away from his face.

    "A-- a ton?!" He echoes the dwarf's words, suddenly stammering. "And y-y-you're just giving this away?! I don't know if you should--" Nevermind that Anna *is* royalty and may or may not still have a weighty budget with her. But he's not taking that into account.

    "...It'll be useful here at least, so I guess I should hold on to it for a little bit if you're okay with the axe..." He manages to reason out eventually. Though he might still have words with her about wether or not he should *keep* it.

    Either way, with the two activation words of "Trace on" whispered out - that Anna would probably be getting kind of familiar with by now - he pours mana into the sword to Reinforce it. ...Come to think of it, doing that felt even easier than Reinforcing objects he could merely *swing* as if though they were swords. Like it was a perfectly natural thing for him to do. What a stark contrast to those countless failures he's had before.

    And thus, he steps up towards the portal with Anna, clutching the sword in one hand for now (with the pipe discarded). "Whatever it'll be-- I'm with you."

>> SUMMARY[Shirou Emiya] >> Receive Silver Sword, cast Magic Weapon and receive Silver Sword +1

 
 Muradin stares somewhat dumbfounded at Emily and even finds himself taking a step back when she decides to transform again. Rare form indeed for the normally fearless dwarf, but this is indeed a strange new world and it doesn't hurt to be cautious. "Whoa, uh... I see!" He says now that Emily has adopted another form. Frankly, he liked the lass's enthusiasm but like Miwa he finds these unique forms rather disturbing. It'll take some time to get used to his new allies, although Emily and her companion seem like a good sort, and they do appear to be on his side, so likely the adjustment period won't be too long. "I see! Well that just explains everything don't it? HAH! I reckon I'm gonna stick to Emily and Double-A if ye two donna mind." Laughs the dwarf again as Double-A explains their nature and purpose. Muradin only understood the gist of it, but that's all that truly matters to the stout dwarf who is ready to get the show in the road. 
 
 "Right ye are. I intend to impress, lassie!" The Mountain King gave cocky grin at Miwa when she mentions being eager to see him in action. The dwarf raises his hands up in the air and opens his palms. "Mirthos! Troggbane!!" Two bolts of lighting come from the sky and hit Muradin's palms appearing a giant warhammer and a battle axe in each hand. Honestly.. Muradin didn't need to do any of that, he could just will his magic weapons to his hands in a flash- but he can't help to show off in front of people, particularly Miwa. "Let's put on a good show aye, mate?" He winked again at Miwa and took point in front of the Pokemon lass, walking towards the portal with weapons at the ready.

    A Eudaemon... A Eudaemon not a demon... That... That changes things. Anna is fairly certain she's even heard the term somewhere before. --She has in fact, fromy Holly Winn. This... This calms her by a degree, though she does balk at Emily's transformation.
    She knows ABOUT artificial life but Bryllu and Emily still baffle her to a degree as she nods to the 'young' space miner's explanation.
    Muradin however commenting upon the sword she had forged for Shirou causes some color to flush to the girl's cheeks.
    It's a sword.
    It's a weapon.
    But it's still a gift.
    A gift for a boy.
    AHEM.
    "I am certain you will put it to good use, Sir Emiya." Is all she says on the matter.
    So. On through the portal, the march begins towards the fortress in the distance and...
    Bravette will get pings from above almost immediately. Something swoops down-- and grabs Anna! Lifting her into the air with a screech it--
    Is immediately brought back down when the girl snarls and rips its wings off with her bare hands, landing hard atop the Vrock as she lays into it with her fists in its face.
    It is one of a SWARM of Vrocks though that descends on the group, trying to swoop and grab party members into the sky!

    <MASTER!> calls Bravette, lighting up the Vrocks as they swarm in. The Shinki spins up her Gattling, and starts raking it across the flying demons as they swoop down on the rest of the party.

    Uni brings her bullpup rifle up and starts staggering bursts at the swooping monsters, ducking aside to evade being scooped with a practiced grace that belies her young looks. "Don't get separated, keep each other covered!" she calls out, dropping into a marksman's kneel to stabilize her firing position.

    The instant Anna is scooped up Shirou's already yelling out "NO!" and pushing into a sprint-- perhaps trying to gather enough speed to desperately leap up after...

    The Vrock that has suddenly crashed right back down to the ground in a bloody mess?

    Er, nevermind then.

    Shirou skids to a stop just besides the beast as Anna savagely beats down upon it. "Er... I think it's dead..." He notes, as if though that might *somehow* get Anna to stop focusing on it in her rage. The accompanying swarm doesnt give him time to make any further attempts on it anyway-- so instead, he clutches the sword tightly in both hands, and watches above. A vrock comes swooping down straight for him, managing to slip past Uni's firing barrage, and--

    "Hhhaaah--!!"

    Shirou steps forward to carry a heavy overhead swing through one of the vrock's reaching claws, the silver-coated and magically-reinforced weapon easily cutting through the demonic being's limb and carrying further though it's torso. Shirou has gotten practice in both Kendo with Kiritsugu and western swordsmanship with Saber, but he's not exactly a very skilled swordsman in spite of it - likely barely able to put up a defense against anyone here - but the silver and the magic both sure make up for it in the face of these things specifically.

"Nice to meet you, mister Bronzebeard." Bryllu's hands are full so she can't shake Muradin's hands. She awkwardly offers one of the metal spikes as a substitute. When the Vrocks arrive, she takes to the skies, aiming to get above the flock before cutting power to her main thruster and getting the maneuvering thrusters to guide her trajectory. She's aiming to try to hit a vrock with each spike and one with her hookblade. Moments before crashing into the ground, thrusters reactivate to prevent that contact.

    Giant Orb Emily turns to face Miwa. "What's the matter?" she says, a little too innocently.

    Double-A walks up to Emily and lightly bonks the side of her chassis. "I don't mind," she answers Muradin. "I'm ... not as good in a fight as Emily." She looks like she's about to say more, but stops herself.

    Emily snickers. "And as for me," she says, leaning towards Muradin, "I like the way you think, you're hired!"

    She watches the byplay between Anna and Shirou. "Dang," she says. "That's a pretty damn good gift, I tell you what! If I wasn't -- whoop!"

    Suddenly, they have Vrocks to deal with -- and Anna's getting grabbed! "-- shit!" In another swirl of nanomachines, the main metal orb transforms into a four-armed gray robot with silver hair and glowing purple eyes, made of black armor from the neck down -- and wearing a signet ring on its upper-left middle finger, glowing with flickering and glitching runes ...

    ... but in the time it took for Emily to change into a form which could use the Timekeeper, Anna has already started killing it with her bare hands. "... Huh." Emily shrugs. "That works!" She floats up further off the ground, and the four larger clawed arms, now attached to her back, start slashing and stabbing at the demons. "Now let's rock!"

    Double-A freezes up for a second ... then she nods in Uni's general direction, and hovers closer to Muradin, conjuring golden bolts of light around herself and firing them at any Vrocks that draw near. She's clearly not that experienced, and she's struggling to keep track of every enemy that might be a threat.

     Miwa laughs and shakes her head at Emily. "Well, this form of yours maybe creeps me out a bit, but if it intimidates the enemy at all, or is better for fighting them, then don't let me stop you." She offers before turning back in time to see Anna get picked up. She reacts similarly to Shirou when Anna is picked up and is about to fire an attack to help when Anna slows to have things more than under control herself. Shortly after she lets out a cry of surprise as one of the Vrocks swoops down and grabs her from behind. She acts quickly though, an explosion of pink light illuminates the area as she turns her head and fires a Moonblast at point-blank range, and is suddenly thrown from the grasp of the Vrock who soon crashes hard into the ground. Miwa uses a blast of Hydro Pump to slow her descent and thus soften her landing. She then begins aiming at other Vrocks and trying to hit them with Ice Beam, it's super-effective on flying types in her world, maybe it would work here too?

 
 "HAHAHAHA!! Ye two are adorable!" Muradin couldn't help but notice the stammers from Shirou and Anna blushing. Ah, young love! Actually, Muradin obviously doesn't know those two's relationship, but it's clear that they know each other, and he sees no harm in ribbing them a little. Again.. it all kind of reminds him of.. 
 
 Arthas and Jaina.. 
 
 Pangs of guilt wrack his dwarven body again, but he pushes those feelings down as he walks fiercely on. He will savor this fight far more than one can imagine, it's almost going to be cathartic for him. Every smashed demon face will have Malganis face in it, and every cloven skull will be Kelthuzad. This one's for you, Arthas. You bastard.. 
 
 "Hm??" Muradin is pulled out of his thoughts as Emily leans towards him, and suddenly its his turn to blush lightly. "Sure! I could use a steady jig!" Once again he has -no- idea what Emily is talking about, but he likes her style and seems like someone he would benefit from having business relations in the future. Muradin makes a mental note to keep Emily in his contact list when Anna literally gets picked up by some bird creature right off the bat, only for the girl to free herself with berserker fury. It's a taste of what's coming right at them. A swarm of hellish beasts descending upon them like locusts. 
 
 "These blighters don't waste any time, aye!?! Let's do this!" 
 
  BLOOD AND THUNDER!!!!!" 
 
  The dwarf surges forth, bouncing his hammer in his hand, strategically positioning himself right in front of Miwa and Double-A who he perceives are counting on him for protection. That's all fine for him, as he will happily play tank for both of them. 
 
 It is easy to think that Muradin has no ranged options whatsoever, but in reality he's quite a versatile adventurer and if he doesn't want to he doesn't even need to let those hell birds get close. The dwarf cranks his arm back, lighting surging all over his magic hammer as it glows bright blue.  
 
 "Ey ye bloody critters! EAT HAMMER!" 
 
 Muradin snarls in a warcry as he throws his hammer with so much power than one might think Thor himself threw it. The hammer spins in the air and collides into the flock of Vrocks, exploding into a brilliant blue orb of energy that sure as rain would consume any Vrock that manages to get caught in its path. This dwarf.. has done this before... 
 

    No sooner than the Vrock that had swooped her up cries its last, Anna is on the move, axe in hand. Because the killer swarm is the least of the party's worries. "Kill while on the move, follow me!" Anna says taking the lead of the party while Bravette, Uni, and even Double-A pelt Vrocks out of the sky with their combined fire. Shirou cleaves another and Bryllu enacts her newfound violence upon another, dropping it out of the skies while Emily tears through the horde and Miwa pelts more with her chillingly cold Ice Beam, freezing several and causing them to drop.
    Before Muradin drops the hammer. Or in this case throws it, pummeling more of the demon bird creatures from the sky.
    Anna has barely any time to react to Muradin's ribbing, she's too busy trying to clear a path through smaller maw demons and ghoul-looking creatures in the path to the fortress. The party does, in fact, have a hell of a time on their way before stopping at the gates to the large fortress, guarded by two large demons...
    Tanarukk demons are made when orcs turn to demonic powers to strengthen their warriors, the corruption takes hold of orc warriors and makes them into monstrous hulking brutes, and these two wield greatswords and stand guard at the gates, and bellow their challenge, raising their greatswords and rushing at the group snarling for blood.

    Shirou does... not have the kind of firepower or magnificient skill in close combat that would let him take things down wholesale like the others in the party are showing themselves capable of. So instead, he resorts to slipping between the others -- trying to find whatever vrock might manage to slip past the sheer wall of violence that is being put forth, and picking them off before they can either escape or, worse, conduct some kind of sneak attack. Though he does end up hovering mostly near Anna-- she is *surely* able to take care of herself better than he is able to take care of her, but... well. She's still a young girl who happened to pick up an axe. And that's what Shirou ends up seeing more than "berserking whirlwind of death", because logic is evidently not a very strong aspect of Shirou's thought process when it comes to these things.

    He keeps up well enough with the princess -- though the sight of the massive Tanarukk demons causes visible pause in him.

    "...I don't think my sword is gonna block *those*..."

    And yet, he keeps advancing with, cutting into smaller demons on the way. He can at least try to lessen the burden of numbers on everyone else.

 
 Orcs!! Why this isn't even familiar territory anymore- this is straight up Muradin relieving his past in some strange, twisted memory sequence of Azeroth where everything is oh so slightly different and yet the same. 
 
 For a moment, it's almost Muradin's turn to go incomprehensibly mad with rage. His eyes burn blue, crackling with lightning, his hammer appears back in his hand, and even as he runs after Anna his body starts hardening into stone. A blood frenzy of hatred against orcs threatens to overcome him, it feels like he's about to call upon his greatest weapon and simply barrel into these Fel Orcs. 
 
 But they're not worth it. He can't waste his Ultimate on this trash, not when there may be greater foes ahead. 
 
 But he can, however, simply slam into them with all the fury he can bring to bear without calling into his Ultimate weapon. 
 
 "FOR THE ALLIANCE!!!!" A familiar warcry, it is fitting in this case, Muradin takes point this time and jumps clear over Anna, spinning in the air is he tucks himself into a ball to land in the mob of orcs. 
 
 "RUAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" This dwarf has just gone totally crazy, mad with anger. He brings his axe and hammer down on the ground to slam with such power that it causes a seismic blast around the orcs to blast them into pieces. He then moves in and starts swinging his axe and hammer at them in a frenzy, uncaring of whatever hit he takes as a counter attack. Muradin wants these orcs dead yesterday, and he'll happily draw all their fire if it means his allies get to mow them down while he's locking them all up in melee. 

Bryllu swoops in front of Shirou, using both her spikes and her body to try to block incoming blows for him, while giving him enough space to maneuver around her to get in hits of his own. Regular swipes with her bottom hook are made to try to get some attacks in.

    "Figure of speech, figure of speech!" Emily calls out to Muradin. She pauses at the pink burst of light from Miwa. "Oh right!" she exclaims, firing a few golden bolts of her own into the fray. "Fairy-type beats Dark-type, I ... forget where I saw that! Uhh ..."

    She floats still higher, pelting the smaller demons from above with energy-bolts of her won. She's clearly able to fire multiple energy-bolts at once, compared to Double-A's one at a time, but she's still limited to no more than five at once.

    Double-A, for her part, is visibly relieved at Muradin's tanking. "Damn," she mutters. "Thanks a million, Muradin! ... uh ... Muradin?" Her eyes widen as the dwarven warrior starts glowing, and he charges the Tanarukks. "Uh ... okay, that just happened ..." She backs away, taking potshots from a distance.

    Emily grins. "Heads-up, guys, it's a couple o' dudes!" she exclaims, and in each of her four hands, a silvery falchion sword appears. She swoops down and starts slashing wildly at the other Tanarukk, with both her swords and the larger claw-arms.

    "Why do you keep saying 'dudes'!?" Double-A calls back to her.

    >You heard her, Mobile Overwatch, sweep and clear to the fortress.< radios Uni to her Shinki, shifting to a quick jog, and firing her rifle on the move, gunning down lesser spawn as the group moves closer. There's so many, and Uni is glad she doesn't rely on physical ammunition as she works her way through the throng.

    Bravette fires her thrusters, swapping her Gattling for a pair of SMGs, firing at anything that moves, and shifting into a semi-flight mode, dogfighting with a Vrock before cutting its wings off with concentrated fire from her SMGs.

    Uni comes up short as those corrupted orcs come charging in. She takes aim, dropping to a knee, and fires a shot that crackles with electricity. "You're not going anywhere!" she states, the electric shot meant to disrupt nerves and temporarily paralyze.

     Being most likely the slowest of the group, at least on land, Miwa does her best to keep up and also fight back at the swarm of smaller demons, by enveloping herself in water and barreling through them like a rocket as she uses Aqua Jet. The sight of those Tanarukk and their weapons that could easily cleave her in two does make her swallow hard, but with the help of everyone, she feels that they will go down. Everyone certainly has been doing their share of demonslaying so far. 

     Muradin will soon hear Miwa begin to sing behind him as she forms a large water balloon over her head. With a sudden rise in pitch, she sends the orb flying toward one of the demonic orcs, and if it manages to strike its target it will explode quite forcefully.

    "Then don't block, dodge!" Anna snaps at Shirou as the tumbles aside from a blow that would have taken her head. It's sound tactical advice really as Shirou does his best to play the supporting fighter and Bryllu swoops in front of him to act as his tank. One of the Tanarukk takes a swipe that way but....
    As the Tanarukks charge... Muradin meets them.
    It's like a typoon meeting a whirlwind in sheer levels of force as the mountain king sunders the very earth to stagger the orcish demon brutes, their focus entirely on the dwarf, much to their detriment.
    It leaves them vulnerable.
    Uni pelts one with a stun round, and he's going nowhere- it's perfect timing and teamwork as the stunned Tanarruk is blown clean off the bridge leading to the fortress thanks to Miwa's explosive singing, while Emily wails on the other with her blades... Anna swoops in behind it, a dark and menacing shadow shrouding the girl's face. It does nothing to hide the murder in her eyes as she hacks into the demon orc from behind until the two guards are down.
    The gates stand looming and ominous over the party and there's a lull in demon attacks as they stand before the massive doors...
    Anna slams them open with a forceful kick, opening the way to a large courtyard... Where a single halfling in dark robes stands waiting for the party.
    "Oh... You all survived. I thought the Marilith would have been a better guard than that, but it looks like even a hellish horde couldn't stop you, hm..."
    He tugs his hood back revealing a smug grin and a neatly trimmed goatee under blue eyes brimming with malice.
    "My name is Osnan Glassheart. I'm the humble reason for the demonic infestation of Peacely, at your service." He says dipping into a bow. Before he snaps his fingers.
    An absolutely massive demon appears before him, with a greatshield in one hand and a flail in the other.
    A flail that it rapidly starts swinging with intent to brain anyone in the group in its way.

 
 A tank gotta do what a tank gotta do. Thanks aren't necessary to Muradin, but they are certainly appreciated it! Even in the midst of his rage he can't help but grin whilst blood surges out of the orcs' bodies as he digs deep into them with the blade of his axe, black liquid splashing across his helmet, face and beard. This is a dwarf's place to be! Surrounded by orcs, smashing them with his hammer and his axe, and letting his allies finish them off. "AAAAHAHAHA!! IS THAT ALL YE GOT!!? BLOODY GREENSKINS!!!" Cackles the dwarven warrior, blades dancing in hs hand, his axe making wide arcs as he slices through an orc's midsection, and its followed up by a short hop and a downwards smash of his hammer on an orc's skull. All while he can feel the fire from Uni, Emily and even Double-A felling orcs all around him, a lovely dance of slaughter and chaos and war! 
 
 It's just like he's back home! 
 
 It all ends when he hears that friendly song of the Primarina and a giant orb of water splashes right in front of him to obliterate the remaining orcs that hadn't fell victim to the fury of Anna and her allies. 
 
 After Miwa's blast, Muradin is left standing in a pile of corpses, as the remaining orcs hesitate and begin to pull back slightly. He is wet, battered, bloodied... grinning. "Seems like they're thinking better of it" He chuckles as he wipes some blood from his mouth with his forearm, his or the orcs', he's not really sure... 
 
 He doubts that these orcs are going to surrender, which begs the question, why are they stopping? The Mountain King ponders a moment longer until the small robed figure makes his appearance. "WOT!? A halfling!?" Color Muradin surprised.. and disappointed at that! The halflings of Peacely had been nothing but cheerful and welcoming, it is a shame that the villain behind all this is one of them. Even before Muradin can ponder if he really wants to bash the halfling's skull in or if he's gonna let Anna do the honors, the MASSIVE demon is already making an appearance and attacking his allies. 
 
 "Sod!! LOOK OUT!" 
 
 This is it. Time to use it. 
 
 "KHAAAZ MOOODAAAAAAN!!!!" Muradin charges straight at the demon and goes from being a small, but respectable, five feet tall, to an a GIANT, well over 15 feet and matching the height of the demon with the flail and shield. The now Stone Giant turned Mountain King brings his axe and hammer upwards in an X block to stop the incoming flail and protect his allies. 
 
 A tank gotta tank... 

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

    "I wasn't just planning on standing still!" Shirou yells back to Anna -- right before he does, in fact, end up needing to leap aside with a yelp so he's not caught in the swing of the same attack that Anna tumbled away from, too. At least Bryllu's there to make sure no one demon gets at his delicate fleshy bits. Her particular form and the defense she puts up, too, does let him move around behind her, and stab the silver-coated sword just past her at anything that gets *much* too close.

    Though he does run past Bryllu, too, when Anna kicks her way through the doors, and...

    He stares at the halfling. "...They always had goatees in the videogames too. Why...?" Apparently that is more surprising to him than the fact that hte mastermind is a halfling?!

    And cue an enormous demon reminiscent of something from a *completely different* videogame he knows. For a few seconds, Shirou actually feels cold chills -- for the stature of this demonic beast briefly reminds him of a certain Berserker he met in his world.

    "Oh cra--"

    A quick sideward leap gets him *just barely* out of the way of the flying, spiked flail, and he can feel color draining from his face again over the realization that he probably just got awful close to death just then. "Why are you doing this?!" He yells at the halfling while he pusehs himself back up, instead of charging with Muradin - or anyone else for that matter - straight for the demon that is *significantly* out of his league. "Do you have any idea how dangerous these things are to Peacely?!"

    Uni cycles her rifle, ejecting an actual physical shell casing, which lands with a clink as the last guard falls... as if to punctuate the transition.

    Bravette drops down and hovers near the Goddess, the pair following Anna into the fortress itself. She tells the others. "I can't pull that trick I did last time off again yet." before she dives aside from that flail, trying to flank around to the side, to get around that shield. Even if she can't get around, she fires shots that she holds in the chamber for a second or two, the barrel sucking in lines of energy and discharging a slightly more powerful shot, trying to chip away at the things defenses.

    Bravette jukes the opposite direction, circling around to get on the other flank... though she disn't going for the Demon with a Shield... the Shinki is going for the halfling instead, her SMGs spitting lead at the diminuative creature.

Bryllu doesn't know what to do about the giant demon. So she goes for option B, as the others engage the demon she tries to fly past the demon and smack the flat sides of her blades against the sides of the halfling demonist so she can get the spikes to go between his armpit to lift him. If that works out as intended, she's going to carry him up and off. "No more demon summoning."

    Emily lets go of one of her swords, and it floats in place as she gives Anna a thumbs-up. She grabs her sword again, and floats forward when Anna kicks down the door.

    And here, they have the culprit. Emily grins at Osnan. "Any particular reason you were doing this in the first place?" she says. "Cuz, I mean. The entire reason I play the hero is because the consequences of being a bad guy are just a pain!" She does a shrug with all four of her arms. "Like, bad things happen when you do evil stuff. Like they're just about to!"

    "Oh god," mutters Double-A.

    But first, they have a huge demon to deal with. Emily raises her eyebrows -- both at the demon itself, and Muradin's response. Emily and Double-A both shoot into the air to avoid the swing.

    "Hey, uh ..." Emily clears her throat, her flippancy gone for a moment. She gingerly fires five energy-bolts at the large demon. "Should I, uh ... should I ...?"

    "Should you what!?" says Double-A, hanging back and firing energy-bolts from a distance.

    Emily doesn't respond right away.

     Miwa is also surprised to see that a halfling is behind all this, surprised and a bit angry. Though taking out everyone's anger on this halfling will have to wait till after they deal with the demon he just summoned. She blinks and her jaw hangs open a moment at the sheer size of the thing, and as that flail starts swinging she decides it's time to get out of the way. She quickly fires an ice beam at the floor, creating a narrow path of ice which she leaps onto and slides across the room, quickly ending up behind the massive demon.

     She doesn't want to waste her opportunity to hit this thing hard, so she turns around and prepares to use her strongest attack. Drawing from every bit of water she can muster, a large glowing orb of water forms in front of her mouth, and once it's fully formed, she fires it at the demon's backside. After the attack is off, she slumps a bit lower, putting more weight on her front flippers and looking like that drained a lot out of her. It'll take a few moments for the Primarina to recover.

>> GAME >> Miwa spends an Edge for: Hydro Cannon!

    They always have goatees, Shirou. They just always do. That's the rule for demon summoners.
    Nevertheless, things happen! A lot of things at once as the shield-bearing demon charges the group-- only to be met by the largest dwarf anyone has ever seen, suddenly blocking its momentum. The demon locks its shield with Muradin, snapping fangs and headbutting the stone giant dwarf, snarling as Uni's fire pelts into its wide open side.
    "Why am I doing this?" Glassheart replies to Shirou, shoulders lifting into a shrug. "Peacely was a little too peaceful for my taste. And the power my infernal lord promised me was just too tempting." He says chuckling-- before Bravette and Bryllu are upon him.
    "Argh! Argh stop that!" He growls, a magical shield spreading from his fingers to absorb the shinki's fire-- but it leaves him distracted-- and flailing as the miner hooks him under the arms and hoists. "What!? WHAT!?"
    He's... Uh. Handled. That just leaves the demon while Muradin holds it in place and Emily nd Double-A fling their energy bolts into the thing with stunning force... It is Miwa that opens it up for the Glory Kill, the sheer force of her Hydro Cannon slamming the shieldbearer demon hard enought to bring it to a knee.
    Anna skids to the primarina's side, a hand gently resting on Miwa as though to check if she were okay... Before the princess growls.
    Eyes turning a violent bloodshot red, she rushes into the fray, leaping up Muradin's leg, clambering the giant dwarf's back in an instant and leaping off his shoulder, silver axe gleaming- as she brings it down into the stunned demon's forehead.
    With a flash of light erupting from the wound, the shield demon cries out in agony as it begins to disintegrate; killed on its own home plane of existence, leaving the fortress defenseless and its master captured.
    Breathless and leaning on ehr axe for a moment, Anna picks herself up. "... We should bring him back. He can close the gate from the other side."
    Glassheart looks ready to protest, until he realizes...
    He's surrounded by a boy with a sword, the biggest dwarf he's ever seen, a pokemon, two Eudaemon, a space miner, a goddess, and a very angry young lady.
    Glassheart raises his hands in surrender from where Bryllu has him.

    Uni lets out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. She stands, and with a spin of an upheld finger, turning into pointing at herself, Bravette floats over and lands on the Goddess' shoulder. "Glad to assist... good work, everyone." says Uni, in her best 'Boss' voice... though that tone coming from a seeming teenager might seem weird.

     When Anna comes to check on her, Miwa nods. "I'm fine, just a little drained." Pun not intended. By the time Anna is finished killing the demon, she is looking mostly recovered. She still would rather continue to rest a bit rather than fight some more, so the fact that the halfling doesn't put up a struggle is welcome. She beams a smile at Anna as she moves closer to the berserk princess. "We did it!"

    Emily rolls her eyes. "Oh, an offer of power from something even more evil," she says sardonically.

    ... The demon goes down, and Emily relaxes now in a manner which only now calls attention to the fact that she'd been tense. "Right, then!" she says. She gestures, and a large staticky portal opens up, leading right back to the demonic portal. "Uh, reapplying ... all Capacitor Seals. Both ones, I mean." The pearlescent aura reappears around her, the gold and silver ones rematerialize, and her limbs all disappear. "Anyway, let's head out. Who's up for ice cream?"

    Double-A gives Emily a look, but doesn't comment.

Bryllu carries the demonologist out of the portal and back into the well. "What do you want an eye scream for?" She asks Emily, "And how does that even work?"

 
 Hey, the demon wants to headbutt a dwarf? That's his bad. 
 
 "HAAAH!!" The Stone Giant Muradin snarls as he rears his own head backwards and SLAMS the horns of his horns into the demon, headbutting him right back. He is more than willing to play this game and will happily play the headbutting game until one of them cracks. Fortunately -for the demon- Muradin doesn't have to. As he's slamming his head over and over against him, Miwa slips behind the giant demon to flank him and give him a good solid ice blast that leaves him stunned. Muradin's eyes flash slightly, seeing an opening, but it's one that Anna takes and honestly, the dwarf would be remiss to steal the girl her vengeance. "Go lass!" Says the dwarf in a booming voice now that he is turned into a stone giant. 
 
 "Finish him!!" 
 
 And she does indeed, with gusto. Even Muradin cringes slightly as Anna vaults from his leg and splits the demon's head clean in half. Thankfully there's not too much gore here as he flashes in light and turns to dust, a fitting end for a hellish creature. 
 
 With the halfling captured, Muradin breathes out in relief and returns to his normal form. His hammer and axe vanished from view. Hopefully Anna got her fill of demon blood for the night, and with the mastermind behind all this captured, perhaps she can be stirred away from darker paths. "Aye, good job everyone!" Agrees the dwarf as he walks over to Miwa and Anna, wrapping muscled arms around both their shoulders. "Yes indeed! VICTORY!!" 
 
 As he's cackling, Muradin's eyes boogle at Emily and her offer. "Ice cream!!? We're having some bloody ale!! Let's hit a pub!!" 

    Emily snickers. "You need to design a chassis that can eat and taste, Bryllu!"

    ... And then she side-eyes Muradin, and says, "Eudaemons can't get drunk." Beat. "I checked," she adds under her breath.

     Miwa smiles at Emily and chuckles at her exchange with Muradin. "Well, I could go for some ice cream, it's actually been a while since I've had any, though on the other hand, I don't think I've ever had ale."

    "For that kind of reason--?!" That's as much of an angered retort as Shirou has time to give the halfling, anyhow, before he is handled up along with his demon.

    Shirou might feel... a little useless, all things considered, but at least things turned out well enough, in the end.

    And at least he has the sense ot not get in anyone's way.

    After the demon has been slain, and Glassheart properly captured and surrendered, Shirou does come approaching the group. To come check up on Miwa, first, with a faint smile and a nod offered to the Pokemon for her cheerful words. "Yeah... you sure did." And he's soon giving a pat to Anna's shoudler with his free hand. "Didn't overwork yourself, did you?"

 
 "That doesn't mean we canna try!" Counters Muradin to Emily. It doesn't matter to him that someone can't seemingly get drunk, after all, it takes -a lot- of ale to get a dwarf like him drunk, its the fact that they went to the pub and tossed a couple down with friends that counts. When Miwa states that she's never had ale before, that's what settles it. "Alright, we're definitely going to the pub now. Let's go! Peacely's tavern is as good as any!" 

    Panting, sweat beading on her brow, Anna's rage recedes quietly, for now, back into the secret place where it lurks behind her heart. There's a girlish squeak as she's swept up in Muradin's powerful arm, and the girl offers a sheepish grin as the party takes the quick route of Emily's portal back to the hell portal.
    And once on the other side, Glassheart is easily coerced into closing what he started.
    "Mmh..." She murmurs to Shirou. "I am a little..."
    GROWL.
    "..." That was Anna's stomach.
    "In the mood for ice cream. ... Can you have food at all, Bryllu?" She does ask curiously before noting: "The inn at Peacely has food. I'm sure they have ice cream as well." As well as ale of course.
    And the inn's wifi is free, too.