[Cherry Heart] Cave of Lost Treasures

[Yui]

---

"Plague Dogs, nasty bastards. Stronger than they look too, best be careful wolfie, they might look like your cousins but they're eat you just as happily as me."

 

Plague Dogs, was it? They were...actually not creatures Reshifu was familiar with. She'd heard the name brought up once or twice since arriving in Arbolia, but they weren't creatures native to the Jade Isles. Evidently, they were nasty creatures that were very strong. However, she didn't know much else about them. As they began approaching, however, Reshifu quickly got acquainted with how they got their names. A queasy and dizzying feeling washed over her. First the mushroom, now these. What was it with these cave monsters and sickening feelings?

 

"If these guys are the ones taking all the things...I don't think they're particularly harmful.  That little girl from the beginning didn't have a scratch on her...if we don't have to, I don't want to kill them. Let's see if we can get through this without bloodshed..."

 

"Neru, Leo, stay back. Use your powers to stop us getting overwhelmed. Gabriel, you and I will take the lead monster. I dare say it'll die swiftly. Basia, Reshifu, you two should be able to kill at least one of the others by working together. The third dog will go down quickly after that."

 

A battle plan...from the corpse. Quaint. As much as she wasn't willing to listen to something like him, his battle plan was pretty solid, even if this Basia didn't seem one for working together by any means. She made everything on the mind known with her response, taking her hand off her sword's hilt as well. "I really don't like taking orders, least of all from the undead, but you haven't been wrong so far. Consider my dog dead, and...try not to become a chew toy, okay?" With that, Reshifu charged forth, seemingly to attack the Plague Hounds...only to stop a few steps short of them before very firmly planting her feet into the ground beneath her, arms extended before her in a roughly-V-shaped manner, with her hands open and her fingers spread apart.

 

Reshifu still hadn't made up for her poor conduct against the mushroom from earlier. She wasn't about to rush headfirst into this battle. She'd have somebody besides her make the first attack, as she was taught back home.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

Gabriel smirked as the group decided to fight...and yet didn't attack. Though at least they actually did something unlike a certain someone. "Cat got your tongue?" He said with a laugh, hoping to provoke Basia into joining the fight. "Well gramps, I think we've got ourselves a plan, let's take this pup down and show these whippersnappers how it's done eh?" Gabriel said with a wink towards Solomon.

The boar girl seemed to be going off to the side, preparing for battle with the dog in towards the southwest passage. Or he thought she was going to battle, it almost looked like she intended to wrestle with the thing.

 

Leo's attempt to ensnare the dogs didn't go quite as smoothly as he'd hope. The one near the treasure horde jumped to the side as soon as it heard the roots begin to form and then, taking it as a sign of hostility, started charging forward. It seemed to be trying to locate the source of the attack but instead went right for Reshifu, taking aim for her calf, having sensed her movements somehow, and intending to bite into her leg and drag her down. The dog by the southwest entrance started forward as its companion attacked but found its back legs ensnared by the roots. It turned its head and opened its mouth, letting out a spray of some kind of acid that began to eat away at the roots.

 

Meanwhile the closest beast had leaped to avoid the magical trap, and was currently in mid-air heading for them. Gabriel grinned and went forward, sword extended to his side as he ran straight towards the dog.

At nearly the last moment he gracefully, almost looking as though he were showing off, side-stepped and brought his sword in an arc, using the dog's own momentum to cut a gash across the creatures side.

As the dog passed by, unable to stop its leap, Gabriel raised his free hand and a magic chain launched out and wrapped around the dog's hind legs. With a yank, Gabriel halted the dog's forward leap, leaving it hovering in midair for a few moments before falling to the ground. "There's a time and place for everything Leo, don't think peace and love is gonna work on these things now."

Despite his confident tone, Gabriel was feeling the effects of the dog being so close, a moment of haziness in his head and a churning in his gut nearly made him lose grip on the chain, but he held firm, determined to not show weakness.

[spoiler=OOC]Remember you can message me to clarify positions and find out what the result of actions will be.

 

[Alaina]

After the plan was made to move out, Neru started looking around to see just how the fight was going to go for everyone else. While getting through this with as little incident as possible would have been good, it was pretty evident that Leo's plan wasn't going to work out so smoothly. And even had they been able to subdue the dogs without killing them, it would most likely only be after a large amount of injuries were suffered on their side. That being said, Neru wasn't quite sure if the dogs were even that much alive to begin with. 

 

Regardless of that, as the man continued to evaluate the situation, it seemed that the dogs weren't all that hampered by Leo's offense to begin with, save for one. Though the two others seemed to be already on the offensive. As he saw them split up, each going for a different person, Neru decided to help out the person who his own walls would probably obstruct less, and given their fighting style, the more flexible barriers could aid in the fight. Motioning to Leo he said, "go cover for the chain guy, I've got Reshifu."

 

If there were one downside to Neru's barriers, among the numerous other limitations behind it, it was that he had to actually be close to where he was creating the walls. As such, he started to take off, closing the distance between him and Reshifu, the slightly encumbered Neru stopped and created his circular wall at her leg, attempting to have the dog slam into it and at least deter its progress on the white boar's leg. 

[Yui]

---

One of the Plague Hounds was headed her way! Reshifu braced herself for the incoming attack, waiting until the hound was within her arms' reach. Once the dog came close enough, Reshifu lifted her back leg just slightly before quickly spinning on her other foot, sending her body in a quick circle to sweep her plague hound up from under its feet. However, that plan didn't fully work. She hadn't managed to trip the hound over entirely, but she did get it to lurch forward. Not entirely what she'd wanted, but it would work. The sweeping kick was just a setup move anyway; the real attack was what followed.

 

As Reshifu returned to facing the plague hound, she raised her hand up before slamming it downwards, on a collision course with the plague hound's neck. Just like she'd been taught. Sweep them up then slam them down, to assert dominance over the fight quickly and efficiently. That was the White Boar Temple's style of combat at its finest.

[Mr. Hyde]

 

It seemed his snare had only worked on one of the dogs, but unfortunately the beasts had a type of acid that started eating away at his ironbark's tendrils.  Gabriel had landed a good hit on one of the Plague Hounds that hopped at the group, and now it lay on the ground.

 

"go cover for the chain guy, I've got Reshifu."

 

The voice brought Leo back onto the battlefield.  However much he didn't like the cocky Gabriel, he would still have to protect a fellow Cherry Heart wizard.  He stood next to the man, twiddling his small fingers.  He wondered if he would be of any help.  

 

"There's a time and place for everything Leo, don't think peace and love is gonna work on these things now."

 

Leo was pushed aback by the statement.  Violence wasn't what made a mage...yet that's what all of them were capable of.  He thought being a mage meant more than killing.  He shook his head and nodded.  

 

"You're wrong Gabriel!"  Leo swashed some spit in his mouth, as he infused it with his magic.  He spat a giant glob of his sticky sap towards the motionless plague hound.  "That's how you might see the world, but my world isn't so black and white!"  

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The dog had very much wanted to grab a taste of the girl's leg. However it found itself suddenly stopping as its head collided with some strange object. It paused in confusion as it tried to smell out the source of the obstruction and thus was just standing around as Reshifu tried to sweep its legs. It stumbled, lurched forward, and got a fist to its neck. It slammed down into the ground, unable to protect itself from the blunt force.

The sickening aura coming from it would now be at full force, and Reshifu's proximity to the dog would cause the sickness it causes to increase rapidly for her. The dog, from its position on the ground, could only just barely move its head up and spray acidic spit at her legs.

 

 

"You're wrong Gabriel! That's how you might see the world, but my world isn't so black and white!" 

 

Gabriel paused, releasing the chain as the bee's sap struck the dog and pinned it to the ground. His eyes glazed over a moment as Leo's words brought out some kind of memory from him. Wrong? Hmm...Blinking, Gabriel grinned. "Such confidence for such a young bee, well I suppose we'll have to see how long you can keep that hope up eh?"

He looked towards the dog, which was struggling to get out of the sap. It seemed that his head was pinned in a way that made it difficult for it to aim it spit at either of them. Still it pulled and stretched at the sap, while Gabriel approached it, spinning his sword theatrically in his hand. He pulled back to thrust into the dog, and his eyes caught Leo standing there. He paused for the briefest moment before going in for the kill.

And then the dog Leo trapped earlier, which had pulled itself out of the roots, barreled into him, biting onto his shoulder and driving Gabriel forward.

 

Gabriel and the dog rolled forward, and the dog lost its grip on Gabriel. The young man stood, panting, glaring at the creature. "You dare strike me?" He roared. He raised his hand and a torrent of black flames shot out, enveloping the dog. While it seemed not to do any external damage the dog let out a loud yelp as it went through seemingly intense pain.

The flames sputtered and vanished moments later and Gabriel moved forward while the dog was still stunned by the pain, bringing his sword across and cutting into the thing's mouth, spraying blood and wounding the beast.

 

That's when a splashing noise from the water sounded. Gabriel turned in time to see another dog. This one larger than the others, with spines covering its back. It had a savage demeanor, much more than the others had even at the height of their aggression. He recognized what it was immediately. "So there was a female here, of course..."

As the creature left the water's edge it launched several six inch spines forward. Two heading for Solomon, and another heading for Reshifu.

 

[spoiler=OOC]The female has joined the fray. Meanwhile one dog is pinned, the other is wounded by a blow to the neck and struggling, and the third is somewhat dazed, in pain, and with a pretty deep wound in its mouth.

Strikes: 1.5. Decided to count the last strike as just half of one due to circumstance.

Next post will be, most likely, Thursday.

 

[Alaina]

Seeing the dog strike its head against the barrier, Neru knew that he had been successful in his attempts of blocking the dog's attacks. Furthermore, as it seemed incredibly confused by what just happened, it seemed to try to figure out what stood in its path, seeming to be unable to see the ornate circular wall in front of it, only driving in the creature's apparent blindness. He was then a bit impressed at seeing Reshifu's actual combat prowess, being the actual first time he had seen it within this cave, and couldn't help but whistle a bit as she drove the creature into near submission with a series of blows. However, even were she to try and hide it, the effects of the sickness aura of the dog would only became apparent to the onlooker, and so of course, Neru brought himself in closer to make sure that things didn't go out of hand for her. 

 

As he was doing this, the dog seemed to still be able to fight, even if downed, and Neru recognized what it was starting to do as what one from before had done to break free from Leo's roots. Not entirely sure if his barrier would be quite enough to stop it, Neru took a far more hands on approach to making sure the white haired girl didn't die. Being unsure if she would be able to get out of the way herself, Neru instinctively ran towards her and shoved into her, attempting to knock them both out of the way. Looking to the girl he said, "sorry about that, are you alright?" Soon afterwards, a fourth dog made itself known, firing off a spike in their general direction, prompting Neru to bring up a barrier to stop it, only for the wall to gain a large crack in it as the spike slammed in it. Dismissing it Neru looked to the larger creature, sweat forming across his brow, though not from any kind of fear. With his breathing feeling heavier and his skin feeling clammier, it was becoming readily apparent that being around these dogs for much longer was not something he wanted to do. 

[cardgameking]

---

If later asked why he wasn't in the thick of combat at the start with his companions, Solomon had a very good excuse. He was busy finding out what the view was like from behind and head lower. In other words, Solomon's head had finally fallen backwards, muscles giving way under the strain of supporting a head without the hunk of flesh a demon had taken earlier. So while Gabriel was doing battle with the hound he and Solomon were to deal with, Solomon was trying to right his head. 

It was more difficult than one would expect, as his viewpoint was going crazy, as well as having a spear in one hand. For some reason, it was like his eyes were in two different places at once- falling backwards at his back and in the head's original position. Due to this, he wasn't able to wrench it back into position for a while- and when he did, some bastard plague dog's spike got him the chest.

"Bloody menace!" Solomon muttered angrily. His armor proved too tough for the spike to get through, and the spike was buried in it. Ripping the spike out from when it dug into his chest armor with his shield hand, a second one struck his arm.

Cursing, he examined the field of battle. It seemed that the spikes came from a dog which was larger and more dangerous looking, as well as, according to Gabriel, female. Speaking of Gabriel, he seemed to be doing well enough at dealing with one of the hounds on his own, despite the lack of aid. Another hound was stuck in some kind of... sap? Solomon suspected Leo's doing. Reshifu was handling herself as well, while Neru was staying back. 

Deciding to get his plan back on course and aid Gabriel in finishing the nearest monsters before attacking the female, Solomon felt his head tilt alarmingly again. Grabbing it again, he noticed he still hadn't dropped the spike and had another jammed in his arm. The spike was foul looking, exuding a faintly attractive aroma, and was sharp as a needle. 

Needle...

Something about this gave Solomon an idea that was undoubtedly insane. Spurring caution, he raised the hand with the needle near his neck, and paused.

"I can't believe I'm something like this twice in under a day."

With those words, he stabbed himself through the back of the neck, the spike cutting through old flesh like an axe through butter. He gasped at the pain, and his knees buckled, dropping Solomon into a kneeling position. Gingerly raising a hand to his neck, he was satisfied to see he had done it correctly. The spike had burrowed through the back of the neck, gone through the empty space where Solomon had been bitten, and reached the bottom of the neck. Here it stuck, holding Solomon's head up.

Gingerly standing up, Solomon winced from a mixture of the pain and the intoxicating smell from earlier coming back stronger. 

Dammit, I'm better than this! I refuse to be distracted by my own weakness.

Straightening up and tightening the grip on his spear, Solomon turned to face the hounds. Seeing an opportunity, he rushed towards the Plague Dog stuck in sap. A good spear stab through an eye would be the best way to do things, he decided.

---

[Yui]

---

Reshifu, put simply, felt like sheet. Her breathing was growing heavy, her skin felt just unclean in general, and she felt dizzy and feverish. What was it with this cave and making people feel sick? It was easy to conclude that the dogs were the source of this feeling; that explained why they were called plague hounds. If she let a woozy head and upset stomach stop her, though, she'd prove herself as nothing more than a giant pushover. If there was one thing Reshifu wasn't, it was a pushover. She was more accustomed to being the one doing the pushing. However, she wouldn't be able to transform in this state; she knew that much at least. She wasn't particularly eager to stain her sword with plague hound blood either, but so far she saw no reason to need it anyway.

 

As Reshifu was about to stomp down upon the nearby hound's head with all her might, Neru suddenly pushed her out of the way from an acid spray she hadn't  noticed. He was fast, she had to give him that one, and he was able to catch her off-guard and bring her down with him, out of the attack's path.

 

"Sorry about that, are you alright?"

 

"Remind me to take a hit for you in the future," Reshifu replied as she got back up to her feet, pressing the end of her sheathed sword into the ground and using it as a crutch to get back to her feet before returning to the stance she'd been in earlier. However, just as she got to her feet, a fourth dog appeared, this one capable of shooting spikes. Neru's barrier was able to take the hit, but the spike had landed a pretty good hit on that barrier. The dog responsible for it looked like it wouldn't go down peacefully, by any means.

 

So much for the dead man's battle plan.

 

Although the sick feeling filling her body told her to stop, Reshifu determined it best to deal with the smaller hounds first. "Ignore her, and handle the small ones first!" Reshifu called out, directing her attention back to the dog that just moments ago had tried to spray her leg with some sort of acid. Punching it wouldn't do. She could tell it wouldn't be as effective as she'd like, with this ill feeling. Reshifu reached for the hilt of her sword, drawing the weapon out before raising it above her head, then swinging down with all her might with both hands, aiming for the hound's neck.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

 

"That's funking hardcore." Gabriel muttered, looking towards Solomon. There was a dog before him but he didn't particularly care anymore, this female was the more important target in his mind. He heard Reshifu call out to attack the smaller ones and Gabriel grinned. "Sorry not interested in taking orders, I'm taking that beastie's head as a trophy."

He went around Solomon and headed for the female, which was now fully emerged from the water and seemed to be smelling around to get an idea of the battlefield.

 

Solomon's spear managed to pierce the prone dog's eye, but just barely, for the other dog reacted soon after. It lunged and bit down on Solomon's spear, holding it near the end and keeping him from pushing it farther. A loud growl ripped from its throat, as the other dog yelled and attempted to pull free more aggressively than before.

 

The dog facing Reshifu lunged forward as it heard the sound of the sword swinging through the air. And thus the attack, aimed for the neck, bit into its back instead. The wound, given the momentum of the swing, was deep, though the dog was clearly still raring to go as it reached up and latched onto Reshifu's arm.

 

The female dog heard Gabriel coming and launched spikes again. He side-stepped multiple times to avoid each spike, which continued past him, one each heading for Reshifu, Neru, and Leo. Once Gabriel reached the female, he swung his sword at her. She ducked under the swing and spit acid at Gabriel, who had been moving forward for the swing and unable to move away, sent out a chain to take the brunt of the acid, and only a bit came through and burned across his cheek. He hissed in pain and tightened his grip on the sword, preparing for the next strike.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Dog facing Reshifu is majorly wounded, trapped dog is pulling free and now wounded in one eye, and the other dog is still bleeding but not overly wounded. Female not wounded at all.

Strikes: 2. Which means I will have to fail this quest if everyone, except Stalfos for computer issues, doesn't post within the time limits. Next one will be Monday or Tuesday most likely.