Homelands (Guan Yu) GMed by Hafnium - Page 6

Guan Yu · #**151** 25th June 2012

(Yes, do not maintain the blessing after the previous battle. I knew I forgot something in the last post >_<)

Having taken care of business at the early entry point, Tomoe and her two accompanying fey fellows left the scene and moved nearer, slowly advancing towards the walls of the encampment. It was another somewhat tenuous task when one had to do all kinds of dashes and crawling with the moderately increased frontal load, but the miko was not an unfit person, so she was remarkably skilled at the task even with the burden. The huge weeds that grew in large patches were good too.

But it was not all flowers and easiness. Just a few dozen feet away from the walls, there was a sneaky patrol that the trio had failed to notice until they were yelling at them for surrender. These guys were likely not as skilled as the knightly types, so there was no real need to use any boosts this time around, or so the priestess hoped. Quickly getting up, Tomoe went for them right away, hoping to end things with in a simple manner. The ability of these two wouldn't be a match for her own, so the miko was confident in her blade being able to deal with them fast.

(An attack swipe slash sword maneuver thingy at their faces, with Death from the Draw and some Supreme Might. Reducing 11 points for damage gives them mikos a +70 swing with 2d6+78 damage. All the possible afterwards thingies as well.)

Hafnium · #**152** 27th June 2012

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The two turned out to have very little going for them other than their voices, which they had been foolish enough not to raise as soon as they spotted the trio. With a quick few steps forward and a quicker few swipes of her sword, they had been slain by the shrine maiden. The two really had been no match for her skill with the sword. She could loot them and hide the bodies if such was her wish, it would take a little bit of extra time, which would be more danger that she would be caught. Still, if they spotted bodies, a patrol would quickly raise the alarm.

The satyr and nymph rushed up to the wall of wood between them and the human encampment proper shortly after the shrine maiden had dispatched the patrol near it. "They've repaired it! We'd managed to work a small gap in here from our last attempt, they must have found it and fixed it," the satyr grunted in frustration. A cursory inspection showed that three of the sharpened logs that made up the wall looked newer and shorter than the rest. "We'll need to climb it. But that will take some time and they might spot us."

"Maybe not," the naked nymph announced in a hurried whisper. "I know enough magic to loosen the ground's hold on this wall. You would be able to knock them down with your horns. It would be faster."
"But they would definitely spot us."
The nymph nodded in return. The fey folk both looked at Tomoe, as if to silently ask her opinion on the matter.

Guan Yu · #**153** 27th June 2012

"How did you two even become soldiers with such bad form? Now I feel about killing you in such an overwhelming manner..." Tomoe thought as she once more cut into another pair of humans with her ancestral blade. One man fell to a slash that cut into his body diagonally, taking his arms along as well. "Maybe these ones were pushed into this by the leaders. Maybe they had to feed their families somehow..." the priestess continued her ponderings as the other fellow too was sent to his death at the sword she wielded. And as perhaps expected, it was over all too quickly.

Again, there was a need to hide the dead people, which the shrine maiden did after taking a look at their belongings. She also urged at the satyr to help with it, maybe sparing them a bit of time and effort for herself. Once that had been dealt with, another dilemma presented itself to them. The previous escape hole had been covered up, in a somewhat loose but still firm enough manner to keep them from forcing them down without magical aid. "Getting caught is not something I'm willing to have happen here. I can't fight them off infinately, so we need to be careful." she told the two, getting ready to scale the wall with her physical strenght even if it took a bit more time. Having to fight patrols was not something she could deal with too many times, so the more sheltered options would likely be the ones to go for.

Hafnium · #**154** 29th June 2012

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(Tomoe gains 2 exp and 20 denarii for them soldiers)

The warrior-priestess managed to hide one of the bodies in the weeds. The satyr aided her with the second as per her urging. The two handled their burdens easily and quickly enough that the nymph's aid wasn't necessary. With any luck, the slain patrol wouldn't be found or noticed until it was much too late. Tomoe ended up discovering a total of twenty denarii on the bodies.

At Tomoe's choice, the two fae-folk gave her a boost, since she was the strongest of the three. Once she had a grip on the shortest pointed logs that made up the palisade, she was able to peek over and determine that, when they dropped, they would be directly behind an over-sized shed of sorts that hadn't been visible from outside of the wall. It would offer them some concealment and, if the gap from the goatman's last attempt had still been in the wall, would have easily allowed them to slip in past the palisade undetected, even in the daylight.

The rest of the encampment looked almost normal, for the amount of evil she expected to find. There were numerous regular-looking log houses. A barracks, or what appeared to be one, accompanied by a training field, complete with practice dummies and archery targets, was visible. There was a blacksmith's forge, a few other places of business. A tavern was tucked away near one side of the palisade. The only real evidence that these humans had been the same to commit such atrocities as the ones found on the road were the cages, left in the open, and crammed with faeries—Tomoe's rescue target. There was also the main hall, obvious by its size and presence in the center of the encampment-slash-town, where the sidhe had been taken.

The pseudo town was almost empty of soldiers, Kei and Shenron had apparently done their job well. Countless trainees were at the barracks, instructed by a man in heavy armor, but they looked unskilled and fresh to fighting. Four moderately armored men manned the gate and were similarly led by a heavily armored man. There were townspeople aplenty, though, and they would surely raise an alarm once she started freeing the nymphs. Still, they had come this far, it was time to get moving.

Tomoe was able, with her impressive might, to go over the palisade without issue from the wooden spikes at the top intended dissuade such attempts. As a bonus, she managed to get enough of a grip on the other side, between a hand wrapped around one of the shorter stakes and feet planted firmly on it, to offer her hand to the satyr. He jumped, grabbing her hand, and she managed to hoist him up enough to get his own grip and swing over. Between the two of them, hoisting up the light nymph was no issue.

The three of them landed behind the shed without issue. No alarms were raised at their crossing, even in the broad daylight, another nod to the distraction being provided for them. The big question now seemed to be which group of nymphs to attempt to free from their cages first. There were two groups of cages right in front of the shed, as Tomoe had determined from her view of the encampment at the top of the wall, which held a total of four nymphs. It wouldn't be too difficult to get to them, but on the off chance that they were caught by the civilians during the freeing of the faeries, or the more likely chance that they were spotted afterward with their increased party, those four would be their only aid in freeing the rest.

Her other apparent options were a group of eight or so fey-folk near the tavern. It was nearly on the opposite side of the encampment, but the group could stick close to the walls and the buildings near it, making the trip a little bit easier. Or, she could go for the big prize first, and attempt to free the fifteen she had spotted near the main hall, which would be an incredibly risky proposition, but grant her the biggest initial force with which to free the others if she were caught. She would run into the same risk of detection during or after the faeries were freed regardless, so much came down to what kind of risk she was willing to put into the trip to those fae. With a bit of cleverness, though, the warrior-priestess could try to find a way to negate some of that risk.

Guan Yu · #**155** 29th June 2012

With a little help from the fey, Tomoe had no problem reaching the top of the relatively low wood barricade. From her spot, she scanned the surroundings before making any rash moves over the walls, wanting them to have at least some security before the crossing. It was somewhat surprising to see that the area beyond looked almost peaceful and normal for being the base of some militant, xenophobic scum of the earth. It was more like a frontier town, but maybe that was just the absence of the soldiers that produced the peaceful milieu. But there were scratches in the shimmer, so to speak. The imprisoned fey were pretty boldly held in the open, more than enough of them forced into cages than was humanly comfortable. There was a lot of newbie soldiers being trained in one area as well, most likely similar or worse in skill level as the ones the shrine maiden had just cut down in cold blood. Maybe this place could be turned into a decent farming village if the wrong-minded people were wiped away with their nasty thoughts and deeds.

Deciding it was time to move on, Tomoe hoisted herself over to the other side, still clinging to the upper portion of the wall afterwards. This way, both her and the fey could get across without too much hassle, getting into position behind the shack and safe from spying eyes at least up to now. There were some new decisions to be made, mainly the order of the group's rescue plans. Deciding to go for the closest ones first, the miko would tell them to not do anything suspicious until they had gotten the second unit of eight out from their spots as well. Assuming that she would get there without a hassle, she would do that while setting the locks loose for the lady fey, giving them the opportunity to leave when trouble was afoot. Assuming that endeavor would succeed, the next group was the somewhat larger one, which they could reach with the way of going closer near the walls and buildings. If there was less of them moving, the chances of geting caught were less as well.

Hafnium · #**156** 2nd July 2012

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As far as dangerous trips through the middle of an enemy encampment full of people who might want to enslave her went, Tomoe's short walk to the nearest cages was fairly peaceful. They crept around the front of the shed and discovered four nymphs of four different skin tones; one dark, one pale, one green, and one blue, but all shared brunette hair. All were naked and of slim, gorgeous builds despite their captivity and abuse. They were crammed into two cages, both of which appeared to be intended for perhaps half a nymph apiece.

The satyr hushed the four as the trio approached. The mechanisms to open the cages were easy enough to spot and to utilize. There hadn't been a lock to speak of, simply a means of opening the door that was out of reach of the cage's occupants. The freed fey-folk spoke in whispered tones with the goatman and the other nymph before turning to regard Tomoe. Without warning, the miko was crushed in the mother of all group hugs and lost amidst a sea of multicolored nymph flesh.

"Hi! Thanks for helping us!" One whispered cheerfully. "I'm Jeni," the green one started before extricating herself from the hug. "Or, I mean, that's what the last friendly mortal who met me called me."
"I'm Jenny!" The blue one noted as she pulled herself away from the miko.
"I'm Jiny!" The dark-skinned one explained as she followed the others.
"I'm Jinnie!" The pale-skinned one offered, becoming the last to let go of the warrior-priestess.

The freed nymphs set themselves to the task of not doing anything suspicious until the others were freed, as per Tomoe's request, before their trio of rescuers set out for the next group. Unfortunately, they didn't make it more than half way to the target before they realized that they had been spotted by a peasant boy.

"Heeey," he started with a heavy dose of suspicion in his tone. The other two tensed and seemed ready to attack, but stopped when they looked at him. He seemed barely a man grown, and perhaps not the cleverest bulb in the box. "What're you doing creeping around near the walls with a goat and a slave?" He addressed Tomoe. It seemed possible that the shrine maiden might talk her way out of the predicament, or she might choose to smack the boy down. Judging by the way the satyr and nymph were looking at her, it was her call.

Guan Yu · #**157** 2nd July 2012

With the closest cage right there, it was easy to get to the smallest group of fey ladies. These were somewhat odd of a bunch, each sporting a different skin color. "Hmmm... I thought they all maintained a unified coloration..." Tomoe couldn't help herself from thinking about that as she saw the rainbow of females in the cages. The release process itself was hardly anything difficult, given the simplicity of it all. It was almost like there was no effort spent on the making, just put together a hasty contraption and hope it works. It did work, but if there was such an easy way to open the thing, it was certainly not something that should be used in this kind of enviroment. Throwing open the lock, the miko was quickly assaulted by the captives, who had apparently decided to try and crush her before she could do anything else to help the rest. Thankfully, they decided to break away soon enough so there wouldn't be problem. "Nice to meet you too. Unfortunately, this is not the time for pleasantries. Let's hope this all goes well."

Having secured the co-operation of the first batch of nymphs, Tomoe moved onwards to see if they could advance and get into the next set without a hassle. But even the longest of good luck streaks had to end somewhere, this time leading to an encounter with a member of the peasantry, a pretty young lad by the looks of him. The manling was quick to accost her, but if the priestess' estimation was correct, she just might be able to get help from this person if she played her cards right. "Sorry about that. I'm new to the place, and somewhat lost in these kinds of foreign places. And my sense of direction is terrible." she told the boy, approaching him in a somewhat subservient mannerism and figure of speech. There might be a gender differentiation going on at the place, women being inferior to their men even on a civilian level, so she decided to try it out and see if her play was beneficial. "The captain sir was telling me to take these two into the cages. The nymph I found in the wilderness, and this goat is an escapee who managed to sneak away earlier." she told the civilian, throwing in a bit of performance as she hit the satyr in the gut, apologizing to him mentally for the shot. "I need to shove them into the cages near that big building in the middle. Can you help?" she finished the performance, keeping ready in case the fellow human tried to do something drastic. If that did happen, she would silence him with a quick smack to the head.

Hafnium · #**158** 7th July 2012

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The satyr doubled over from the blow. Even as he straightened up, he looked at Tomoe incredulously, but seemed to understand enough of what she was trying to accomplish not to say anything. Sadly, the goatman's pain didn't seem to buy much belief from the young man. "That's weird. My pa always told me that women should never join the army or carry a sword. He said their battle was in the birthing bed," he stated dumbly. "And I'm preeetty sure that one of the captains would never have some foreign-looking woman carry out his orders."

His expression of idiocy became one of low cunning as his mouth parted into an evil grin. Unfortunately, the expression of subservience and confusion seemed to have sparked something other than kindness in the unintelligent lad. "Well, I can help you, but in these parts it's customary for us men-types to be allowed to touch you women-folk in greeting...and departing...and whenever we like," he announced, staring directly at her inflated chest. "So, uh, why don't you let me help you with the local customs? And we can forget all about this you not having a mark of authority stuff." There was a certain base cunning present in his eyes. He was obviously clever enough to try to con and/or blackmail the woman but not clever enough to remember that she had a sword.

As nobody else had seen them, it wouldn't be hard for the miko to take down the peasant and hide him with the help of the other three. Or she might take her chances by allowing him to do what he had in mind and see if he couldn't lead her to the middle building successfully. Or some other plan, if she had one.

Guan Yu · #**159** 7th July 2012

"Hmm, somehow I knew this would be the case..." the miko thought as she heard the young man's explanations about the places of man and woman here. It was all the more a reason to get the place cleared of these fools, but the idea of their ideologies having tainted the normal people as well was not something she was comfortable with. In such an event, it might not serve any real purpose to try and help the human population, leaving only the fey to be rescued.

But there was some success to found from the performance, for the lad quickly moved onto another subject matter. It was quite obvious that he was not being all honest about this thing being a custom of the place. It was still astounding that he was trying this route against Tomoe, given that she had Kuchinawa still on her quite safely, and it was not hard for her in any way to get it out. Again, it was a situation where her personal rules were tested. It was almost like the place had been designed to stretch her as thin as possible with all of things that had to be dealt with, down to the fact that she was a woman being a major part of making things difficult. But maybe if she agreed to let this boy touch her, she wouldn't have to hurt him. But still, the fact that she was deceiving him and basically using her body to get some degree of safety was not a thing the priestess like either.

But in the end, she decided to risk it. Maybe this one would help her if she agreed to do a bit of touching with him. "Well... I suppose... we could try that..." she remarked at the youth, moving towards a less visible spot just to be safe. While she would allow the lad freedom to paw her, if there was a suspicious movement that attempted to go further than she felt comfortable with, restrain or disarm her, then she would smack him down without any mercy.

Hafnium · #**160** 11th July 2012

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The young man's response came in the form of a smile. The nymph and the satyr looked on incredulously as Tomoe acquiesced to the foolish youth, but went along with it. He followed her eagerly—like a puppy, almost. When they had ducked behind one of the log buildings, he wasted little time. His hand trembled as it reached forward, speaking of his inexperience, but with a burst of courage it latched onto one of the miko's mounds of soft flesh through her robes, its counterpart grabbing at her other breast moments later. He gave a few experimental and clumsy squeezes and his face flushed with pleasure.

"So soft..." He murmured as he began to squeeze and grope at the miko's orbs. The shrine maiden could see a tent forming in his pants as he tested the pliability of her bosom through her clothing. He fondled and circled his hands to play with her tits. His ministrations were anything but skilled, they brought the miko only the slightest traces of pleasure, but at least they weren't painful. He began to pinch and rub her nipples between his thumb and forefinger.

It was getting to be a little concerning as his erect manhood, the size of it indicating that it was some sort of gift in return for his general stupidity, strained at his trousers, and he began to breathe heavily. But it wasn't long after that he stopped. "You and I are going to get along real nice, lady," the lad suggested, more than a little bit hinting that he intended on trying to get much more from the woman he believed to be a naive foreigner. "So where're you goin'? I'll get you there," He stepped back, offering Tomoe some space. It seemed that the miko could either use her guide in an attempt to go for the big prize or go for the faeries near the inn. Assuming he intended to be as helpful as he suggested, the youth would likely know his way to either location better and might be able to get them there with less danger of being caught on the way.

Guan Yu · #**161** 11th July 2012

Looked like the "seduction" that Tomoe was doing had success written all over it. It was uncomfortable as all hell for the normally chaste maiden to do things like this. But there she was, willingly luring a younger man to a less visible spot in order for him to feel her up, practically leading him around like a pet. The looks that her two "captives" gave made the whole thing even harder to bear than it was to begin with, but they seemed to understand that it was to their benefit. Even if they did understand, they were right with the bad looks. It was something that the miko should not be doing, using her shameful new form like that.

Having gotten to a good enough position to avoid unnecessary detection, the priestess could see the youngster's expression go all weird as he reached for the chest he had been permitted to touch. This was going to be his first time touching a woman, it looked like. Even in Tomoe's eyes, the inexperience was clear as day from the tremble in his hands. But there was enough daring in him despite that, and soon said hands were all over her boobs, feeling them from one place to another. While it wasn't very pleasant, there was some feeling to be had there, probably due to the recently increased size of the miko's bosom. The idea was still enough of a shame for the Easterner, who decided to keep her eyes closed and let the event go past her as the lad's fingers sought out her nipples and had some fun with them too.

There was a degree of alarm when the large tent began to form on the manling's crotch, but he seemed a decent enough person and stopped before anything really happened with that. But the words he uttered were a good confirmation to the fact that he was likely going to attempt getting more than that later. Gathering herself, Tomoe spoke up once more. "As I said, these two were supposed to go into the cages near the big building a further ways in. I think that is some sort of a community center?" she reminded the lad about her earlier words, which the male had apparently already forgotten in his joyous activities. While it seemed the pervert was going to be honest, the miko still maintained absolute alertness towards suspicious activities.

Hafnium · #**162** 13th July 2012

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"Riiight," he replied, still staring at her breasts. "Wait, what'd you say?" The satyr, exasperated beyond silence, finally spoke up. "The hall, lad! She's taking us to the hall where most of the faeries are kept!" The youth looked at him with an odd expression for a few moments before announcing; "Oh, you should have just said so! Okay, I can get us there easily."

It was a claim that had some truth to it, apparently, as the group weaved their way through mostly vacant parts of the encampment in order to reach the hall. It was easy to find it. The hall appeared to have utilized one-quarter of the logs used in the entire frontier town's construction. The group made it all the way to the cages without alerting anyone. In doing so, they found themselves in an open clearing, which seemed to serve as the town square. Instead of a fountain or any sort of more conventional decoration, however, there were cages filled with faeries. Some were collared, some were chained in other ways, all were naked. Many seemed crestfallen to see the satyr and the nymph being brought to them by a human man and woman, apparently assuming that they had been captured.

Despite that they appeared to be in the town square, the place was empty of townspeople. With the soldiers gone, it seemed that it was a place that most avoided. The miko's next step was obviously to free the captive faeries, the mechanisms were the same as the ones on the last cages and would be easily opened. Before she could do that, though, there was the matter of what she would do with their 'guide', or if she would simply leave him conscious and aware as she freed the group.

Guan Yu · #**163** 13th July 2012

"I did say so..." Tomoe remarked, still keeping herself quiet and reserved, it would be better for her to keep the act up for now. While she had almost startled herself with the sudden outburst from the satyr, the miko kept herself in control and simply went along towards their target.

The group went around the various places to reach their destination, encountering no-one else along the way, which was good even though they were escorted. Any smarter individual would have been on them instantly, and the young guy surely wouldn't be of much help in such a situation. Thankfully, they were soon in the open square, in front of the cages. It was a depressing sight in Tomoe's eyes, all the captive fairies and their gloomy expressions. But that would surely be fixed in a hurry. It looked like a similar mechanism to the last one, so easy openings. But before any of that could happen, she needed to get rid of the witness hovering over her, the perverted young lad. Not wanting any further staring at herself, the priestess took her best shot at the lad, intending on knocking him out cold before moving on to rescuing the captive fey.

Hafnium · #**164** 18th July 2012

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"Yep! Here they are. Now about th-" The lad's sentence was cut short as Tomoe whacked him, causing him to crumple into a heap on the ground. A quick investigation would show that he was still breathing, but there was little time to waste on thoroughly checking his well-being. The three were able to quickly free the faeries, unlocking the mechanisms and loosing nearly a score of naked fae-folk from captivity, at least once the supernatural women had realized that was, indeed, why the group had come.

Unfortunately, it was as the last nymph came free of the cages that a frantic clanging sounded from the direction of the gates. A few shouts carrying the word "intruders" echoed from the encampment. Yet, as they stood there, nothing came for them. The shouts moved further and further away, toward the main entrance to the encampment.

They still wouldn't get out of the alarm completely free, though. The doors of the hall opened in response to the racket, with three armored knights emerging from within. One look at the nearly two-dozen potential combatants arrayed against them had them thinking twice. "Enemies inside the town! Alert the commander!" One called out before all three retreated through the doors, closing them to hinder any efforts to halt their escape.

"We could chase them and try to stop them," the satyr suggest hurriedly. "But we'd be going into the lion's den." Other reasons not to pursue them might count the still-imprisoned nymphs near the tavern and the emergence of intruders at the front gate among them. The nymph they had rescued from the farmer was in the middle of explaining the situation at large to her kin and the satyr obviously wanted her opinion, so the decision on their next step seemed to be up to the shrine maiden.

Guan Yu · #**165** 18th July 2012

"Sounds like we are not the only intruders... could that be Shenron and Kei...?" Tomoe thought as she had finished the releasing of nymphs and was now looking around in a mode of alertness. Since the guards had not come for them, they were still in a surprisingly good position, even if they were in a heavily exposed opening near what was the lair of the beast, the main house of the enemy.

But it wasn't going to be that easy for them as the doors of the main building opened just then, revealing a trio of armored personnel on the doorway. They took a brief glance at the possible opposition, then retreated back, going into alert mode upon sight of the miko and her just-released group of many fey. There were a few options there for them, which Tomoe was going to be the deciding mind of, yet again. While she thought that catching the men before they could raise a bigger alert might be the better thing to do, she decided to go for the remaining fairies and grant them freedom. "Let's get the last ones. Once there is freedom, we are more equipped to deal with the menace here."

Hafnium · #**166** 19th July 2012

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Since the freed fae-folk wouldn't exactly be safe in front of the main hall of the town, they followed Tomoe and her companions. Acting on her plan, the large group made for the remaining caged faeries. The group, unsurprisingly, raised much alarm as they went past, with villagers shouting and crying about invaders in the streets. The townspeople could neither say nor do anything to stop them, in the end, and their cries were ignored for the sounds of alarmed clanging coming from the front gate.

About halfway to their destination, the sounds of the gong died out. A bell sounding out from the main hall left little time before that racket was replaced. The entire frontier town was devolving into chaos. But nothing arrived to stop them from their task. They arrived at the tavern in a timely manner to find that it had been abandoned as townspeople fled from the group of faeries to their homes and barred the doors behind them. The satyr quickly freed the remaining nymphs from their cages, leaving Tomoe with a formidable force in the form of nearly one and one-half score of fey women at her command.

Her primary objective had almost been achieved, the fae-folk were freed from their captivity. All that laid ahead of her were the choices of how to proceed from there. The obvious options were to either make for the gate then, potentially re-linking with her companions, assuming it was them assaulting the town, or she could make for the main hall and attempt to strike the heart of the threat while the town was still fresh in the building sense of chaos and disorientation. There was also the matter of what she wanted to do with her small army of faeries, whether she wanted to see them escape as quickly as possible or would bring them into battle with her.

Guan Yu · #**167** 19th July 2012

Amidst the chaos of the alarmed city, the group made theit way towards the remaining imprisoned fairies to achieve total freedom for all the fey folk. All the peasant humans simply retreated into their homes in the face of the moderately large group of forest dwellers, preferring not to risk things by standing in their way. It was some distance into the middle-size cages, but they made it in due time, the atmosphere changing somewhat as the previous gonging turned into a tolling of a bell that came from the town hall. The satyr was quick on the locks as they got to their target, setting the remaining prisoners free.

Now, there were further decisions to make. Since the main objective had been the release of the fairies, they would likely get to the gate and see what was happening. Also, they should get the colorful foursome from earlier away from their unlocked cage, unless they had already left on their own. Then, it was time to head towards the gates.

Hafnium · #**168** 21st July 2012

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The running of the faeries continued toward the gate. It was an event that might have been amusing, or even enjoyable, for the townspeople if they hadn't been all deathly afraid that the fey would take bloody vengeance on them for their misdeeds. Nothing stood in the large group's way as they pierced through the streets of the frontier town in order to gain the faeries' freedom, all of the human men and women of the town having hidden from it. If such a revenge was going to come, though, it wouldn't be at that juncture.

They couldn't find the four nymphs, apparently having gone elsewhere, so their path ultimately took them to the gate, where Tomoe discovered that Kei had been very, very busy. The crimson-haired woman was now simply the crimson woman. She was covered in gore and standing amidst a group of dying recruits, easily a dozen of them, the very same ones that the shrine maiden had seen training early. Shenron had apparently amassed his own kill count in the time since she had last seen him, as he wasn't without his own stains. The two were fighting off a group of the remaining Dreslin soldiers, counting, in total, two knights, three medium-armored swordsmen, and eight more recruit spearmen.

If the shrine maiden were to attack the entangled group from the back with all her faeries, they likely wouldn't stand a chance. Or she might enact some other plan, if she so desired.

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Guan Yu · #**169** 21st July 2012

"Hmm, hopefully they are alright..." Tomoe thought about the previously-met, rather colorful fey ladies as they came across the empty cage. They had taken up on her words at least, and sought their way out as the hassle began. So, towards the gate it was, to see what the happenings were over there.

Going through the remaining town and eventually reaching the gates, the decently big group arrived to find a scene of brutal battle. Both of her companions had amassed a formidable tally of kills, Kei actually being as red as her hair all over. While it was a relief to see her companions being alright still, the whole scene was not a thing the miko liked. All the killing might have been avoided, but nothing could be done about it anymore. Not getting out her sword yet, the priestess decided to charge into the combat herself as well. "Now is the time to fight for your freedom. After this, it should be over." she told the fey group before making a beeline towards the enemy group. If possible, she would draw and strike at a knight or swordsman if possible since those were probably harder for the released captives to strike at.

Hafnium · #**170** 22nd July 2012

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The knights were the closest to the group of charging faeries and the shrine maiden and were the first to go down. Tomoe easily landed a wound on her distracted opponent, which the satyr followed up for the kill. The second knight was overtaken by vines as the first nymph they had rescued cast a spell, at which point he was summarily set upon by several of the nymphs, who beat him into unconsciousness. Kei and Shenron slew a swordsman apiece in the chaos of the flank attack, while the third swordsman was overtaken by faeries and also left unconscious.

The spearmen, green and seeing the odds stacked very much against them, broke and fled, attempting to escape through the gates and leaving the town entirely. Tomoe could pursue them, if she liked, but her objective regarding the faeries was completed, they had a way out now. There wouldn't be any other prisoners to interrogate, if she wanted to for whatever reason, as, freed from the engagement, Kei casually strolled over to the unconscious knight and swordsman and remorselessly slit their throats with her jian, likely doing little to ease the miko's troubled conscience.

Still, all that was left now was to dismiss the faeries, if she so desired, and determine whether or not she would brave the main hall in an attempt to save the missing sidhe and potentially put an end to the group's bigotry. They had probably seen most of the humans' military slain, the way was as clear as it would ever be.

Guan Yu · #**171** 22nd July 2012

Charging in, Tomoe's draw cut found it's target easily, wounding one knight harshly but not taking him out from the battle. Still, the satyr fellow had her covered, managing to smack the man down before he could put up any resistance. The remaining participants on her side took out the remaining higher-rank opponents, leaving behind the spearmen, who were still pretty much new to battles. They had good enough reason to not try and fight, fleeing into the woods instead. The miko had no desire to pursue them, they had given up on the battle and probably wouldn't attempt anything stupid against her group, so they were free to go. Again, the battles had ended in remarkably quick manner, which was always a good thing. Less death and suffering that way.

Joining up with her companions, Tomoe quickly looked if there was need to heal with them, then turned to the group of fairies. "Me and my companions here will go and deal with the remaining leaders, in order to find your remaining kin and hopefully end this reign of terror. No-one benefits from such tyranny and violence. We will appriciate any aid given in this effort, but I am not going to try and force you into coming with us, since I wouldn't really be any better than them if I did." she told them, deciding to make for the main hall regardless of what happened with them. She would have her companions still, but had doubts as to how much they could achieve in such a small party.

Hafnium · #**172** 22nd July 2012

Spoiler

A chorus of mutters broke out at Tomoe's proclamation. The siren that the busty miko had first saved stepped in to assert some order. It was difficult to make out anything over it all. A majority seemed to want to stay, but the greater siren denied their words. Finally, when it all stopped, she was the one that spoke up. "There are many among us who are wounded as a result of our captors' abuses, some still have sealing collars on and are incapable of aiding in any great way to a fight, still others have no meaningful way to contribute to the fight, and of those that do, the rest will need an escort. I will not allow them to venture into the hall with you."

She paused for a moment, looking back to the other faeries for a signal that they were okay with her decision, then returned her gaze to the warrior-priestess. "I, however, will stay, as will these two," she waved her hand, gesturing behind her, and two of the faerie women stepped forward.
"The last mortal I met called me Aine," one said. She had the 'average' beautiful, sculpted features of the fae-folk. She was light of complexion, tall, slender, and graceful. Curly hair the color of burnished copper fell to her shoulders.[/i]"I am a sorceress."
"I'm Lynette," the second introduced herself. The last faerie woman to speak was tan and incredibly skinny. Wavy black hair fell to her shoulderblades. She had a heart-shaped face, upon which rested a button nose and thin lips. "I, too, am a sorceress."
"I intend on seeing this through," the satyr proclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, and you have my sword," the gore-covered woman finally spoke up, sardonically. "You already knew that. Time is wasting. Let's get going, miss miko."
Shenron shot a glance at the haori-wearing woman, but let it drop in favor of stoicism as he offered Tomoe a nod, not that there really ever any doubt that her closest companion would accompany her.

With that figured out, the rest of the faeries departed. "They will return to the nearest enclave and see that some help is sent for us," the unnamed siren noted. After the sorceresses took the time to heal up a few minor injuries on Kei and Shenron, all that was left was to move for the hall and nothing seemed ready to stand in the way of that. The only evidence as they traveled that the town wasn't deserted was the movement of curtains as wary townspeople peeped out at the passing group who had so handily destroyed their militia and even then moved with impunity toward the center of their town. With so many of their fathers, husbands, sons, and brothers already dead, none could muster the courage to try to stop them.

It was only when they arrived in the very heart of the frontier town that they found a group still willing to fight. Between the opened double doors of the hall, stood four riflemen, armored in nothing but padded cloth and kettle helmets, guns trained on them. In front of the riflemen stood three of the heavily-armored warriors, covered from head to toe in full plate and wielding morningstars and kite shields, barring easy access to the gunners. The three were obviously knights, if only for the emblems painted on their shields. And in front of all of them stood an imposing figure, face masked by a great grey topfhelm and body covered in plate wrapped in boiled leather. The head knight's hand rested atop the other on the pommel of a hand-and-a-half sword, the tip of which was buried in the ground. His legs were slightly spread, placing his feet at shoulder-width apart, but otherwise his posture was straight as he regarded the group.

"Intruders," the head-knight shouted toward them, voice echoing and booming from the metal encasement of the topfhelm. "As the sword-arm of the king, I order you to yield now or die here!" Unless the sudden desire to see what the human bigots would do to women had overcome Tomoe, it seemed her only options were to fight or flee.

Spoiler

Guan Yu · #**173** 22nd July 2012

"I wouldn't do that even if you didn't prevent them. If you clearly can't use the full extent of your ability, you shouldn't be on the battlefield." Tomoe replied, holding no grudge against any of the fey. While she could have used a bigger group probably, they would have to do with what they had for now. Quickly acknowledgeing the two that had joined them, she was somewhat relieved to have magical aid along for the battle, not really feeling decent if she was the only one to have any that ability on their side. Seeing that the retreating group got a good enough distance away, the miko soon sought to move her remaining allies forward. They still had the main hall to clean up and hopefully end the threat to the nearby non-humans. Such behaviours wouldn't help humanity's recovery in any manner, only serve to further dissuade others from considering their help.

Across the town, nothing sought to prevent them, the civilians being too scared to come out from their homes after seeing the armed forces defeated in such an easy manner. All in all, good for them both, Tomoe thought. Behind the doors, a barricade of men were waiting for them, neatly formationed and preventing any easy access. Honestly, it was to be expected that the defenders had arranged themselves for a more solid formation for harder resistance. The leader called to them with an ultimatum, which the shrine maiden had no desire to oblige. Bringing out her spirit power, she aimed to protect the group with her powers and grant them some combat ability, even though it was probably not needed with the magician types. "As if I would give myself over to soulless monsters like you people." she called back at the threat, not having any fear towards such words. The man himself would probably be a decent threat, given that he seemed a strong and disciplined type.

(Use Blessing 10)

Hafnium · #**174** 23rd July 2012

Spoiler

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"Then you perish here!" The words boomed from the head knight and everything dissolved into a blur of action. Tomoe acted first, empowering her allies with her own spirit. Kei seized upon the energy granted to her by the miko, charging forward to engage the warrior with a gleeful abandon. She swung once, which her armored opponent ducked with a grace belying the heavy plate they wore. The redhead's blade came back with such a swift and beautiful motion that would have seen any less experienced opponent would have been quickly decapitated, but the other fighter was not so inexperienced. The knight's blade was pulled free of the ground and caught the weapon before it could hit home.

Kei's assault wasn't at an end, though. The parry which had caught her second attack left the knight in an awkward stance, which she capitalized on. She danced away from the parry with ease only to swing again before the plated warrior could adjust themselves. Unfortunately, while the heavy armor might have made it harder to dodge the easterner's graceful style, it served its purpose as armor. The haori-wearing woman's sword clanged almost fruitlessly against her opponent's helmet. Noticing this, the knight used the opportunity to attack rather than defend. A great light encompassed his bastard sword as he lashed out at the carmine swordsman, giving her a painful wound across her ribs. He followed up with what initially appeared to be a wide unarmed strike from his mailed fist, but that too burst into a great, golden light in the shape of a sword as it closed, and might have killed the woman outright if not for a successful rebuff from her wind shroud.

Seeing the danger of the head-knight, Shenron charged into the fray and swung with his razor sharp claws. The muscled lizard didn't manage to land any blows on the warrior, but his sudden appearance in the fight forced his target to back off and bought the red-eyed easterner valuable breathing room. Lynette followed up by casting a spell aimed at the knight, but it had no noticeable effect. Seeing this, the as-of-yet unnamed siren halted Aine from making a similar attempt and pointed out the clustered group of seven as targets. The knights had, by that point, taking up a defensive shield wall in front of the riflemen, who were even then trying to get clean shots into the melee.

The siren launched a bolt of green energy at one of the knights, striking him and causing some of his plate armor to rust. Tomoe could even spot the knight grimacing as reddish-brown liquid seeped out from underneath the damaged armor, but his discipline held. Aine cast something more devastating on the group, violently ripping the air from the small area that their enemies were clustered in. The riflemen began to gasp and wheeze and panic. They took aim on the sorceresses, hoping to end the hellish effect, and fired, but the sudden panic which had overtaken them only saw the bullets whizzing harmlessly past Tomoe's companions. The knights, on the other hand, seemed to have no issues at all, and simply endured the decrease of oxygen levels. In the midst of all this, the satyr disappeared.

Spoiler

Guan Yu · #**175** 23rd July 2012

While she would have wanted to be right there to begin with, the completion of her power invocation was holding Tomoe back for a bit as she had properly focus her mind until the power was in place totally. All she could do for that brief moment was looking, and it did seem the party would have to push harder than ever before to win against this man as he was decidedly skilled and strong, easily able to handle himself with Kei and Shenron on his own. The fey representives remained busy with magic, better for them really to not get involved in the combat, at least for now.

Having completed her powering, the miko thought of moving towards the battle herself, but still lacked the conviction that her blade would be strong enough to defeat this potent man. "Not yet... still need to even this..." she thought as the melee swirled, but eventually decided to throw in her lot regardless. It was not a good moment to be conjuring up any further powers anyway, since her reserves of spirit energy were limited. Dashing in to join her two companions against this terrible threat, she would begin the battle like pretty much all the battles recently, by drawing out her sword with that trusty offensive maneuver that she had developed a liking towards.

(Death from the draw, slay, blah, things. +91 for the hittans, 2d12+132 for damage as usual. Or something.)

Hafnium · #**176** 24th July 2012

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Tomoe entered the fray using her favorite tactic, like so many times before. And, like all those times before, her blade leaped into her hand, cleaving a straight line for the enemy's vitals. Unlike all the times before, Kuchinawa never met its mark. The warrior-priestess instead clashed against the two blades, one of energy-wrapped steel and the second simply of energy. The two offending items barely gave even an inch to her empowered attack.

Kei and Shenron were quick to follow up, though. While the warrior was distracted by the miko, the two took more swings at the disciplined fighter, but only the easterner managed a blow. She connected a two-hand strike with her target's shoulder, but still couldn't manage to bypass the armor enough to do any real damage. The satyr came out of hiding in an attempt to surprise the group's major opponent with a sneak attack, but was spotted at the last moment and the already engaged knight dodged without issue.

The sorceresses had more luck, but not by much. Lynette's spell backfired, knocking her onto her bony backside. The knight's shield caught the greater siren's second barrage on him, causing the paint to fade away and the wood beneath it to rot, but doing no damage to the warrior behind it. Aine cast a new spell and a globe of water appeared around the group. The riflemen, already having difficulties breathing, ended up falling to the ground in a heap. They hadn't survived. Two of the knights were surprised by the onslaught as well, but the previously injured one held his ground, and his breath, admirably and without terror at the sudden onslaught of water, managing to avoid any difficulties with it until the globe of water had burst and left the three able to breathe again.

The head-knight, however, apparently felt that they were losing the fight. Given that his side had already suffered four casualties, he might have been right. The sword-arm of the king backed away, before raising his weapons high into the air and crashing them together in one swift motion. The action resulted in a flash of light so white hot that it burned everyone it touched. Tomoe and Kei barely managed to bring their arms up in time to shield their eyes from the blinding flare, Shenron and the satyr were not so lucky. The goatman was not so lucky on any front, as the pain from the light actually caused him to drop to the ground, convulsing in pain.

Even with their quick thinking, by the time they could lower their arms the only thing they managed to catch was the retreat of the head-knight. He and two of the other knights clapped one on the shoulder, the latter two transferring some energy into the previously injured knight and patching up his wounds, before retreating beyond the doors and closing them, probably barring them in the process. The healed knight remained behind in a fighting stance, obviously as a rearguard action to buy the others time.

Spoiler

Guan Yu · #**177** 25th July 2012

While the usual entry into the melee was the one that she usually had success with, this time there was a dissappointment, but not a surprising one. The leader knight had his wits about himself as he fought against three and then four opponents at once, catching Tomoe's blade with his own two in a scissor defense maneuver. The others too brought their own respective weights into the fore, but only Kei really managed to cause any effect against the highly skilled knight and his formidable defense. Even so, it seemed to be pretty minor effects that the red-haired swordswoman acchieved with her blow.

The fey representives of the group were having better success against the more numerous enemies, their combined spells managing to fell the riflemen altogether and cause some hurt on the lesser knights as well, though they all survived the magical combinations. One of the fey ladies failed her spell and tripped, but it seemed to have no real harm on her. For some reason, this seemed to have a concerning effect on the leader, who launched off a quick spell to distract the assaulters on him. There was a brief flash of light and infernal heat, causing some pain in the shrine maiden, but she managed to prevent being blinded by the sudden flare by blocking it out with a hand. Some of the others were not as lucky, especially the satyr, who got the worst of it and went down in agony.

By the time she recovered, the miko saw that their enemies had retreated towards the hall, a singular knight still remaining behind to face the group and to buy some additional time to his comrades. Pushing aside the pain in her form, Tomoe sought to attack this singular remaining target, with a little less force now that her blade was out.

(Repeat, without the DFTD bonuses. +85 and 2d12+122)

Hafnium · #**178** 29th July 2012

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Spoiler

The knight, for whatever valor he had mustered in facing the group alone, did not stand up to Tomoe's attack. His stance was fully defensive, obviously intent on keeping the group's focus off of the door for as long as possible. It did him little good as Kuchinawa cleaved through him, armor, and flesh beneath it. The kite shield fell away from his arm in two pieces, his hand, severed by the swing, dropped to the ground, and he followed shortly after, an angry red line visible through a lengthy slash directly through his plate. Blood pooled in the dirt where he laid.

The sorceresses immediately set about healing the entire group, calling forth an aura which eased the pain of the flash and allowed the others to see again. The satyr shakily returned to his feet, groaning. "That was a rough one." But he didn't seem interested in spending any time nursing his wounds that wasn't absolutely necessary. "We should break down the door," Kei recommended, apparently sharing the goatman's sentiment, "before they have time to set any nasty traps for us."

Shenron, for his part, moved up to the door and slammed an elbow into it. A small amount of damage was visible, but it didn't give way immediately. "Strong... Need others."
"I didn't see any, but we might search for a window."
"Might be faster..."
"It might be too narrow for anymore than one at a time, if they were waiting it would be bad. And that's if we do. If we don't it's time wasted. Your call, Tomoe."

From what she could tell, the double doors were only wide enough for four abreast to smash into them at the same time. There was a tall belfry above the doors, too, which was open enough for defenders to dump rocks or attack those smashing into the door in other ways. A few capable of picking off potential defenders would likely need to be assigned as well. An alternative might be to try to find a window, of which Tomoe had spotted none on her initial survey in the building, but whether an unbarred one would be found on the first floor or not was uncertain.

Guan Yu · #**179** 29th July 2012

"You will not stand in our way..." Tomoe thought as she pretty much effortlessly tore down the remaining knight. For all of his dedication, there was little he could achieve against the miko and her blade, equipment and limb falling to the ground as a bloody line formed into his armor. There was no questioning it, he was nothing but dead. Shutting off her blessing, the priestess relaxed a bit and turned to the others.

Thankfully, Tomoe didn't have to be the one healing the group as the other casters took some effort to fix the wounds and revive the satyr from his painful struggles. There was no stopping him though, as the goatman was already planning their next moves along with Kei. Shenron's smack against the door proved to have little impact, so they would need to tackle en masse or it would be a long operation to get through. Once more, the decision would fall on the shrine maiden's shoulders, since there was uncertainty among the others. For their part, the other fey didn't seem to bother making their mind known. An overlooking belfry allowed the defenders to make life nasty for them, so that direction might not be worth the effort, the chance of rocks or other unpleasant things like hot water or fouler fluids dropping on them not really appealing to the miko. Deciding to go for the windows instead, she suggested the idea about looking for one that was accesible to the rest of the team.

Hafnium · #**180** 2nd August 2012

Spoiler

(Not sure if you wanted to maintain blessing or not. If you did, I'll add it and the upkeep next post.)

The group made a quick loop around the building and found a window hidden behind a small tree that was not only easily accessible from the ground floor, but on which the bar wasn't properly set. With a bit of ramming and pushing, the satyr managed to get it to fall off and opened the glass portal. Upon climbing inside, the team discovered what appeared to be a communal changing and washroom.

It was a very long room, made entirely of wood. The side that the window was located on was lined with towels and bowls filled with water. The opposite side was lined with open lockers, at least fifty of them, each one with a silken red robe in it. There was only one door and it led out into a relatively short entry hall, which they would discover was home to the double doors that they had just attempted to fight their way into, judging by the corpses of the four gunners on the ground. There were two more doors on the same wall as the one they had just exited. In addition, there were a few crates stacked in the far corner of the little foyer.

Tomoe had found herself in the lead, so it became her decision as to which door they would check next or what strategy they would pursue. The faeries were obviously comfortable enough with her handle on the things to let her choose without their direct input, as was Kei and Shenron.

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