[Team 2] Sea, Air, and Land [Fibi, Eero, Aranea, Stefan, & Mia]

With Aranea scouting through the branches and her harpy sisters flying overhead, Leona felt reasonably certain that any threats to the group would be spotted in time for the trio to stop them. The West Fiore Trading Company mage moved so nimbly and so quickly through the trees that it was hard to keep track of her. Leona could sense her magic signature through the dense canopy, so the Silver Wolf Guild Mistress knew that the mage was still alive and had not fallen prey to any virus-infected creatures... yet. The blonde mage decided to keep an eye on the forest floor so that Aranea was not surprised from below by hostile creatures.

"I'm going into the forest to look for samples on the forest floor. Follow me!" Leona said to Ike while walking slowly towards the forest with Rafale trailing just behind her. She made sure to walk slowly so that her fellow Silver Wolf mage could catch up to her without undue difficulty. Aside from possibly finding more samples for research, Leona's plan was aimed at helping the group in another way. If any hostile creatures did find them, Leona would be in a prime position to stop them before they got through to Aranea or Ike. As the leader of the team and its strongest mage, it was her responsibility to be the first to confront any threats.

Leona walked under the dense canopy of trees and instantly recalled the experience she had in Beanstalk Forest several months ago. She had been hired to retrieve strange plant samples that were suspected to have a role in slowly killing the forest and making it dangerous to the people of Beanstalk Village. Leona later discovered that a cult had been deliberately spreading the strange plants as part of their scheme to destroy Earthland for whatever reason. She was still working on defeating the cult before their plans could come to fruition, but that would take time, time that was being diverted to other missions. Leona cut short her trip down Memory Lane to focus on the present and began scanning the forest floor for samples but briefly got back onto the lane to recall easy ways to find plant samples.

From her experience in Beanstalk Forest, plant samples were located near the roots of trees or in small clusters of similar plants found in meadows. Leona did not see either plants growing near tree roots or small clusters in a meadow, so she would need to go deeper into the forest and keep looking for something worthy of collecting for the alliance to study. All the trees she had spotted so far looked to be normal with no distinguishing characteristics like odd coloration or strange plants growing off of them. However, when she looked up she spotted some unusual fungi growing higher in the branches of the trees.

"Do you see that?" Rafale asked her, pointing a white-gloved hand towards a tree branch.

"Yeah." Leona answered laconically, focusing all her attention on the round fungi that had been pointed out to her.

Leona was no plant expert, but she did not know any trees that grew fungi in their branches. The fungi she had encountered in the past tended to grow lower on the trunks of trees or on their roots. Leona was tempted to try and climb the tree to collect some but was stopped for three reasons. First, she did not know how to really climb a tree because deserts were not known for being havens for trees. Second, she was afraid of heights and had not worked through that problem or found a magic item to suppress the fear.

The third and most compelling was the fact that someone had to stay on the forest floor and keep it safe for Aranea and Ike if the latter chose to take to the trees as well. Leona would keep her feet on the ground and let her bolder teammates explore the trees. The blonde was glad she did because soon word from Sylvia and her sisters came to her.

"Hey Leona, we just saw something moving in the woods!" Sylvia warned her.

"We didn't get a good look at it, but it, like, moved the tree tops and all, so there's something down there!" Daphne chimed in.

"It looks big, so get ready for a fight." Sandy calmly advised Leona. The blonde drew her Nightshade Machete and looked for the "something" that her harpies had spotted. She needed to warn Aranea and Ike about the incoming threat, but there was no way to do it without breaking silence. However, that did not matter.

"Aranea, Ike, something's coming this way!" Leona called out to them while trying to find the threat so that she could tell them its direction. Rafale, who had said very little up to this point, drew and brandished his purple energy blades. So far she was seeing nothing, but just because she did not see it did not mean that there was no threat nearby. What virus-infected abomination could be after them now?

[Word Count: 863]
[Total Word Count: 5,595]

Leona Jarnefeldt rolls one Monster Die.

The member 'Leona Jarnefeldt' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

Leaving Ike to his own devices might have not been the best. Though his bag was full and he'd used all his glass containers, that wasn't stopping the young man. He'd moved on to capturing anything that looked weird in blobs of jello. A trail of rainbow blobs followed behind him with leaves, mud, sticks, grass, bones, and even a small rodent suspended inside. Before long he was literally shooting blobs haphazardly around and collecting whatever they landed on, making a sort of game out of it. Ike laughed and spun, nearly dancing as he struck goofy poses just before blasting fruity smelling globs at whatever he felt like. If only the sugary delicious scent of his magic could mask the overwhelming stench of rot and filth, but alas. It just smelled like rotting fruit, which was slightly an improvement?

The trail behind him had grown so lengthy, he was afraid some of his precious goops would get lost in the formidable undergrowth bred from the harshest of environments. If only he could collect them together safely somehow...Ike snapped his fingers in a stunning "Aha!" moment. In the next instant a large jello mold monster was summoned, vaguely bowing to his whim. Okay, maybe it was a bit too big for the surroundings, since it sounded like he'd set off a bomb what with all the snapping of entire trees and the mass absorption of the gross terrain. Perhaps a 20 foot tall and wide glob wasn't the best thing to call, but whatever. It was already here, its googly eyes aiming down at him while those reliably angry eyebrows angled over them. Might as well make the best of it. "Gather all these little guys up, won't ya? I don't want them getting lost..." he said, and his faithful summon obeyed immediately. Before he knew it, his usually pristine mold of translucent green dessert was murky and peppered with chunks of plague samples. "Hm...you're so big, I suppose I don't need to shoot anything else....you just following me is collecting plenty," Ike laughed nervously, observing the path of utter destruction in his monster's wake. "Leona! Is there such a thing as too many samples?" he hollered an inquiry, though perhaps she was closer than he thought.

The playful man suddenly grew serious as he heard his guild master's call of alarm. The trees ahead of them crackled and seemed to part ahead of them as a shadow became larger and larger, but was swift moving enough to blur any details about its body. Ike paused to watch it, unsure where it would end up. Things happened fast, and before he could really understand what was happening his jello monster was in front of him instead of behind, jiggling ominously. Normally Ike would be able to see through it and make more sense of the action, but with all the muck inside it, the summon might as well be a brick wall. A high-pitched screech vibrated the gelatinous form, followed by a flurry of agitated clicks. The man walked around the mold, taking in an odd sight with widened eyes.

A giant mutant crab! Clearly aquatic, this one must have gotten separated from the rest of its kind. The body of water they'd been at before entering the wooded section seemed more suitable for this disturbing mutant crap, yet here it was, in the forest. What was more alarming to a creature already out of its element? Intruders making all sorts of noise nearby. It was a sickly gunmetal gray and freakishly large. The legs and claws seemed normal enough, but the distance between the bottom and top of the shelled body was elongated and had an almost human torso making the creatures profile more vertical the horizontal like a traditional crustacean. The jagged spikes sticking out all over was alarming as well. Apparently it'd been launching an attack that would have seen a sharp claw ripping through his chest if his summon had not intervened! For now the monster was trapped, its claw sunk into the sticky jello form and trying to pierce any eardrum in a 50 meter radius with its horrible screams.

Before Ike could ready a proper attack to the stuck monster, it lurched itself backward with such power that it ripped its own claw off, letting the jello mold monster slurp it up into its goopy insides. It fled from Ike and his summon, looking to take out the other two intruders instead despite its injury.


[3695/3500 || It's a Bone Crab, btw]

OOC: Arcadia has sent me a DM expressing her wish to be skipped for this round. Therefore, it is my turn to post.

BIC:

Leona watched and listened as Ike did his thing with the jello blobs that he could create at will. He left a rainbow-colored trail of them as he went. At first Leona thought that Ike was not playing with a full deck of cards, but a closer look showed her that Ike was forming them over research samples so that he could preserve them and collect them. The blonde thought that was a smart way to use one's magic outside of combat and advance the goal of the job, which was to collect samples that would be of interest to the Alliance.

Ike employed one of his interesting jello summons to suck up and collect the samples for him. It arrived in a dramatic fashion... its appearance and sheer size caused a cluster of trees to break and emit a noise of trees breaking that was certain to attract anything within earshot. Leona watched as the 20-foot-tall and wide glob that he had called forth began to move into action and collect the samples, acting as a mobile storage facility. The blonde was genuinely impressed with Ike's ingenuity and ability to use his magic for something other than combat. Leona's summons could transport her and passengers to where they needed to go, but their primary purpose was still combat.

Ike suddenly asked her if there was such a thing as too many samples. She did not think so, especially when there were so many things around that could be gathered, like the water, chunks of earth dotted with glowing green flakes of something that was obviously not natural, or the strange spores growing in the trees. There was plenty to harvest and testing would burn through a good portion of the samples, so Leona felt that Ike was justified in grabbing as many of them as he could.

"I don't think there's such a thing as too many samples in this... case..." Leona trailed off when she spotted something that was heading their way and not very happy with their presence.

Leona spotted a giant mutated crab and was surprised by it. She thought that crabs were aquatic and could spend only short periods of time on land, but this one was obviously a mutant. It must have mutated a means to survive for great lengths of time outside of water. What that means was would have to wait. Right now the three mages were going to have to fight for their lives before they could dissect its chitinous body for science.

Leona knew that her weapons would be next to useless against its chitin armor, but her magic would not be. Facing down the mutated crustacean, Leona readied and fired a Wind Bullet that struck it in the chest and sent it staggering, its four legs preventing it from falling over. It snapped upright, screeched an ear-splitting crustacean war cry and charged at her with snapping pincers held high.

Leona stood her ground and ducked its snapping pincers before they could give her an unwanted haircut. She then tried to retaliate with a Silver Blade spell and swung her fingers through the air, but the enemy skittered back at the last moment and made her waste the magic energy that went into it. The blonde clenched her teeth and tried to ready a Silver Tempest spell. The crab went on the offensive and scuttled towards her with snapping pincers.  Leona withdrew her right hand before it could be cut off at the wrist and jumped back to avoid a body slam attempt by the angry crab.

The blonde had to end this fight quickly, so she opted to try again with a Silver Tempest. She pointed her fingers at it and focused magic, then fired the silver horizontal tornado just as it scurried at her with its pincers raised. The silver tornado hit it in the chest and made it wobble around before collapsing to the ground with a screeching cry. Leona kept her fingers pointed at the downed Bone Crab because she did not know if she had really killed it or had only knocked it unconscious.

"Do you think they'll be interested in a sample of giant crab?" Leona asked Ike in a manner that was only half-joking. Maybe this would be the end of the enemies for the time being. However, the broken trees made by Ike's jello summon had likely drawn a lot of attention, attention that Leona would have to deal with to keep her team safe.

[Word Count: 753]
[Total Word Count: 6,348]
Bone Crab's HP: 0/200
Leona's Spell Damage: 150 HP (Wind Bullet) + 140 HP (Silver Tempest)= 290 HP
The Bone Crab has been defeated.

The new member of Silver Wolf watched intently as his guild master fought off the horrific mutant crab, slightly awestruck by her skill in combat. He may be considered an S rank wizard, but sometimes he considered that a fluke. Jello magic had its surprisingly potent uses as did his...other magic, but his movements were clumsy and he didn't think things all the way through before he did them. Most of the time it just seemed he was very, very lucky. Even when bad luck got him into some insane situations, good luck often got him out of it. The young man clapped for Leona once she felled the murderous native. Wind magic and summoning, it seemed. Very nice!

"I sure hope they want a sample," Ike chuckled, gesturing toward his giant blob that had absorbed one of the crab's claws. "Even if they don't, they're getting one anyway. I ain't trying to pull that hunk of diseased crustacean out of my Jello Mold Monster."

Aranea/Lucy spotted another cluster of round puffy fungi well above her. She glanced down toward her teammates, pondering if it was worth venturing that far after a sample of something she already had. Leona and Ike were already starting to get ahead of her. In a fateful snap judgment, the celestial spider thought she could collect it if she just hurried enough. Besides one more sample of that puffball with its glowing spores could be helpful.

She fluttered up fluttered up further into the understory. It was the highest she had gone, and farthest she had allowed herself to wander from her team. She briefly wondered if Leona's harpies were just above through the canopy. That would have been reassuring, but she did not see sign of them either. They were probably scouting further ahead. The sooner she collected this sample, the sooner she could catch back up.

Sadly, Lucy was in such a hurry, she failed to notice the branch close to land on to collect her sample from was rotted through and through. The gnarled branch immediately below It was not. The surprised celestial spirit's left foot slipped between a fork in the more solid branch in the short distance she fell. When her wings reflexively caught her fall, and she tried to flutter higher again, she ended up getting her foot caught. Her ankle twisted with the branch's forked junction refusing to let go. The spirit winced and grunted in pain.

She could hear the faint sounds of battle ahead and below on the forest floor. She had wandered too far, and now she was stuck when her teammates needed her most. Trying to rush to their aid was not going to get her free though. To free her ankle without further injury, she had to keep her foot relaxed, and to gently hover lower to let her foot swing more easily out to the side before she could move upward again.

Glancing back up at the fungi she had flown up here to collect, she decided one specimen would have to do. Getting back to her teammates was more important right now. Tending to her twisted ankle would have to wait too. She readied her wand, and flew ahead, desperately trying to catch up with her teammates.

The branches she had to dodge and navigate her way around kept her pace frustratingly shy of the full out flying sprint she wanted to keep. Whatever was attacking her friends down on the forest floor would make the perfect target to vent her frustrations on., even if they were frustrations mostly with herself.

By the time she maneuvered her way down to the forest floor though, Leona and Ike had things under control. A disturbingly out of place crab had even had part of it harvested for sample. Ike's jello monster with all those samples suspended inside it was an eye opener, even for the spirit with eight limbs and glowing eyes. ”I'm sorry guys. I should stay closer. I got stuck and couldn't get here in time to help. I'm glad you all alright.”

Lucy tried to land, grimacing and stumbling upon trying to put any weight on her ankle. She hobbled a step and took wing again. She wished there was a way to use her normal magic without giving herself away or dipping into the magic of dreams that held her from fading away. Without knowing when she'd be able to feed on more, the celestial spider would still only rely on her wand. If she started dipping into reserve of mortal dreams, she had no idea how far into them she need to go to use her normal magic through the rest of the mission.

She could stay off her feet easily enough, so she hovered a couple inches off the ground. She slipped her wand back away. ”Does that thing have any friends?”

WC: 650
Aranea WC: 4376/3500

Leona was still trying to come down from the adrenaline rush of the last fight when Aranea appeared. The Celestial Spider explained that her foot had gotten caught in the branch of a tree and that mishap was what delayed her arrival. Leona felt bad about that because she was so busy fighting the crab creature that Aranea could have fallen prey to something else while the blonde was busy with her battle. Leona had to take more responsibility in keeping up with the people assigned to her team, but she also had to trust her teammates to take care of themselves in her absence. The blonde stood still and let the last of the rush wear off before speaking to Aranea.

"I'm pretty sure that there will be more of them soon. Ike's summon made a loud noise when it appeared, so I'm sure that we'll have company shortly." Leona said to Aranea in response to her query of whether the crab creature Leona had just defeated had friends. Moments after making the statement a shrill screech sounded from within the woods. A chorus of shrill screeches picked up the cry, which sounded a lot like a cry for vengeance. Leona looked towards where the shrill cries had originated and called upon her harpies to investigate.

"I'm hearing some screeching coming from the forest..." Leona started to talk to her winged summons before Sylvia interrupted her.

"We see them. There's six in the group and they're heading your way! They look pissed!" Sylvia alerted her mistress to the threat that was approaching. Leona had spent quite a bit of magical power to get rid of the last crab creature and now there were six more approaching. She had enough magic power to deal with them, but she had to save her big-ticket spells for situations where she knew that she would make the shot.

Leona looked towards the woods in front of her and saw the first of six stroll through the trees. It sighted the blonde and clacked its pincers together, then screeched. The remaining five crabs scuttled towards her with violence on their minds.

"Get ready!" Leona called to her companions. She took careful aim and fired a Wind Bullet spell at the first of the crabs. The silver marble-sized projectile hit it squarely in the chest and knocked it onto its back while the others scuttled past. The affected crab did not move again, but there were still five of them left to menace the trio.

The blonde engaged the second crab with a Silver Tempest because it was scuttling at her in a straight line. She raised her fingers, focused magic into them, and fired the silver horizontal tornado at the beast, which screeched as the tornado made contact and disoriented it. It fell forward onto its chest and did not move again.

A third crab clacked its pincers and rushed at her. Leona stood her ground and hit back with a Mach Straight that left a fist-sized indentation in what would be the abdomen on a human being. It reared back from the impact but regained its footing and lunged at her with a claw aimed at her head. Leona ducked it and stood up straight, then retaliated with a Mach Uppercut that slammed into its abdomen and knocked it into its back. It kicked its legs to try and right itself before ceasing to move after a short time.

A fourth crab seized Leona around the left forearm with its claw and lifted her into the air with a triumphant cry. She could feel the immense pressure being exerted on her arm by the claw... the Argent Glove was the only reason she still had a left forearm attached to her instead of lying on the ground. A fifth crab saw the blonde's vulnerability and moved in for an easy kill.

Leona was just far enough away where a Storm Impact would not hurt her allies, but she was hanging in the air and could not use the technique. Instead she opted to fire a Gale Cannon at point-blank range to free herself. With considerable effort she aimed the palm of her right hand at her captor's face and fired the basketball-sized projectile at it. It hit the crab squarely in the face, giving her just enough time to drop to the ground and roll away from the fifth crab before it could cut off a leg with its pincers.

Leona gripped her aching left arm and hurried away from her teammates, hoping to draw at least one of them away from her companions. Those crabs had a pinch that really hurt. It was a good thing that she had worn armor on this job.

[Word Count: 810]
[Leona's Word Count: 7,158]

Bone Crab 1's HP: 0/200
Leona's Spell Damage: 150 HP (Wind Bullet)+ 90 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 240 HP

Bone Crab 2's HP: 0/200
Leona's Spell Damage: 140 HP (Silver Tempest)+ 84 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus= 224 HP

Bone Crab 3's HP: 0/200
Leona's Spell Damage: 80 HP (Mach Straight)+ 48 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 128 HP,
100 HP (Mach Uppercut) + 60 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 160 HP
128+160= 288 HP

Bone Crab 4's HP: 80 HP (Gale Cannon)+ 48 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 128 HP
200 HP- 128 HP= 72 HP

Bone Crab 5's HP: 200/200

Bone Crab 6's HP: 200/200

Leona has defeated three of the six Bone Crabs.

Lucy frowned when there turned out to be quite a few more friends coming to greet them. One crash in a forest was unusual enough that she didn't really expect more. If anything, she would have bet on any other trouble but more crabs.

She was glad to have Leona and Ike around. By herself, the only option soups be retreat against such odds. Though she was on wing, her injured ankle gave her pause. A forest crowded with trees meant things had to be taken slow to avoid collisions. Full combat speed was anything but slow. With her ankle healthy, she could land of needed to slip through spaces to tight to fly through. If she went into melee, she would have less room for error.

The Celestial Spider lost her first opening of attack in her hesitation. She watched Leona draw the mutated crabs off, her glowing gaze searching for another convenient avenue of attack to wood her team.  Being on the same side of the crabs as Leona did not seem promising.  The possibilities of friendly fire or ruining Leona's efforts to draw the crabs' attention were too great.

Instinct took her rushing away, and banking around a few trees to come back around at the left side of that mutant crabs. Flying over a low branch, Lucy swept in gym the side at an elevated angle. The spirit turned her wand to weapon form, specifically a mace.  Always her favorite, and best for crushing bone and shell.  Lightning crackled furiously all around the head of the mace.

Lucy targeted the crab closest to closing in on Leona next.  Her mace fractured one side of its shell and the discharged lightning arced all over its body. The wound left by the mace and wherever the lightning had spread was left charred. The spirit was impressed by how much more recruits the lightning had been than expected. There was no time to study the effects, but she noted it was worth putting jumping lighting staff in the natural cycles of elements in her mace/wand.

The electrical blow was also more effective in drawing off attention from Leona than she intended. Lucy meant to draw off and take on only one of the mutated creatures. She found herself with a second bony crustacean closing in. She flew up to avoid the first crab's counterattack, flying right on over the top of it to its other side to keep it between herself and the other crab. With mace recharged, this time with fire, she struck down over the top of the first crab. She was aiming for where she assumed its brain was. While the fire did not seem as effective as the lightning had been, only roasting where the mace struck, it was more than enough to provide the finishing blow. The first crab collapsed to the ground, dead. Hopefully it would stay that way, since she still didn't know with this plague.

The second crab proved to be more nimble than she had thought as it had already made its way around it fallen comrade. Aranea made the mistake of reacting with a quick blow of her mace to its bony face. With the tight torrent of wind around the mace head driving it to greater force than the spirit could achieve unaided, the mace struck with a very satisfying crunch.  The mistake was not giving up that good opportunity to hit, to maneuver around to find a better one.

If she had, Lucy would have easily avoided the massive claw that struck her into the trunk of the nearest tree. She fell straight from the trunk to the ground. Bruised and stunned, it felt as if she may have cracked a rib. She rolled over onto her back and wings to try and sit up, only to find a crab leg stepping down on her chest to pin her to the forest floor. Bracing four of her arms against the leg the spirit returned her mace to its default wand form, aimed straight up into the crab's equally bony underbelly. "Lightning Bug Jubilation!"

A swarm of what looked like fireflies floated up around the crab standing over her.  When the crab was fully surrounded by the swarm, ever 'firefly' dispersed into massive electrical discharge that arced around and through the crab. It fell to the ground, as still as the first. Lucy pushed the the now limo leg off of her, and slowly got up. After limping a couple steps, she took to her wings once more.

Hurt, she hovered just of the ground. It was nothing she couldn't fight through. "I think I'm alright. Not hurt too bad. What about you all?"

WC: 787
Aranea WC: 5163/3500

Bone Crab 1's HP: 0/200

Bone Crab 2's HP: 0/200

Bone Crab 3's HP: 0/200

Bone Crab 4's HP: 72/200
(Left to Leona)

Bone Crab 5's HP: 0/200
Aranea's Artifact Damage: 103.5 HP (Dream Bash [Mutlitarget + Melee]) + 45 HP (Bone Crab takes double damage from lightning) = 148.5 HP
103.5 HP (Dream Bash) [Multitarget + Melee]) = 103.5 HP
148.5 HP + 103.5 HP = 252 HP

Bone Crab 6's HP: 0/200
Aranea's Artifact Damage: 103.5 HP (Dream Bash [Multitarget + Melee]) = 103.5 HP
60 HP (Dreamblast) + 60 HP (Bone Crab takes double damage from lightning) = 120 HP
103.5 HP + 120 HP = 223.5 HP

Aranea has eliminated two of the six Bone Crabs

Leona hung back and let Aranea take care of two of the Bone Crabs with spell and mace, leaving the blonde mage with the one she had not yet defeated. It was still wounded from the earlier fight, so finishing it would be a simple proposition. Getting close enough to it to finish the job would be slightly more challenging, but Leona did not have to get close to kill it. She had an arsenal of spells that could do the job without having to get within range of its snapping pincers.

The Silver Wolf mage would not risk herself in close combat when she did not have to. Leona used a Wind Blast and the spell hit it squarely in the body, knocking it off of its feet and sending it rolling back into a tree. It screeched and flailed its pincers in the air, then slumped over and died without any further trouble.

"Well, that looks like the last of the crabs." Leona commented aloud as she shook out her left arm. Her left forearm was still hurting from where the crab had grabbed it and lifted her off the ground by the Argent Glove. The only reason she still had a left arm was due to the protection of the Argent Glove. Without that piece of armor the blonde would now be a one-armed mage and fighting with one arm would be unimaginably difficult since Wind Strike Magic depended on having both arms for the best usage.

Leona took a deep breath and wondered if any more infected lifeforms were heading their way. Moments later she spotted eight humanoid figures shuffling towards them and regretted ever thinking what she did. They were all wearing only tattered pants and followed the lead of one with its head hanging limply and a hand pointing towards her. Leona quickly concluded that humans were not immune from the pathogen that had contaminated the island.

The unarmored humans had bite marks on some part of their bodies. The bite marks looked to be the size of a human's mouth, indicating that biting was the method by which they were infected. The mages would have to be careful in order to avoid the same fate. There was no known cure for the pathogen, so once one of the mages was bitten it would only be a matter of time before they become plague-riddled walking corpses. Leona's experience fighting the undead in Silent Cemetery and Fulci Cemetery would come in handy here because the principle was the same... destroy the head and avoid getting bitten.

"Keep away from them if you can!" Leona warned her companions. The blonde mage hurried to put some distance between her and the walking corpses before she would begin casting spells. Once she had put enough distance between her and the corpses emerging from the woods she readied and threw a Fast Ball at the leader's head. The silver ball of wind hit and its head exploded like a ripe watermelon.

It went down and the rest continued to shamble towards the mages without concern for their fallen friend. Their moans filled the air, each one moaning when it saw fit. Leona formed her fingers into a gun and fired a Wind Bullet at the next zombie in line, bursting its head with the silver marble-sized projectile. It flopped to the side and into the path of a fellow zombie who almost fell over the corpse of its friend in its blind desire to get to Leona. Leona mentally cycled through her spell repertoire and wondered what she should use next.

She did not need to use Silver Tempest because it would spend valuable magic reserves that she would need in case a bigger threat popped up after the zombies were dealt with. Instead she would use another distance spell, one she had not used in awhile.

Leona went through the motions and cast a Smashing Crescent at the closest zombie. The spell had unexpected results because instead of just knocking the zombie down the impact of the spell ripped its torso off of its lower half, something that caused the blonde to involuntarily recoil. There were five zombies left and they were pretty spread out because each zombie arrived to the battle at its own shuffling pace. Leona aimed and fired a Gale Cannon at the head of another zombie; the basketball-sized projectile detonated its head upon impact and the headless body crumpled to the ground.

Leona had defeated four of the eight zombies with enough magic reserves to power a big-ticket spell or two. The other four were still a good distance away but were closing fast. The blonde considered passing the baton to Aranea but did not want to stop just yet... she could take the rest of these zombies with ease and keep her colleagues from having to deal with the threat.
However, Leona's left arm was beginning to hurt again and it hurt so badly that her concentration was thrown off at a time where she needed to focus. Maybe it would be a good idea to let someone else finish the fight on her behalf.

Leona pushed the pain aside long enough to focus on one last spell. Leona went through the motions and cast a Crescent Cutter spell. The sharp wind blade cut through a zombie whose pants had deteriorated into what could be called short shorts. The zombie paused in place and split in half after being cut down the middle of its body. Leona's concentration then lapsed. It would not return fast enough, so she needed to swallow her pride and call for help.

"Ike, Aranea, can you finish these guys?" Leona requested of her colleagues while clutching her left arm.

[Word Count: 971]
[Leona's Word Count: 8,129]

Bone Crab 4's HP: 0/200
Leona's Spell Damage: 90 HP (Wind Blast) + 54 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 144 HP

Pathogen Walker 1's HP: 0/80
Leona's Spell Damage: 60 HP (Fast Ball) + 36 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 96 HP

Pathogen Walker 2's HP: 0/80
Leona's Spell Damage: 150 (Wind Bullet) + 90 (60% Sky Command Bonus0= 240 HP

Pathogen Walker 3's HP: 0/80
Leona's Spell Damage: 90 HP (Smashing Crescent) + 54 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 144 HP

Pathogen Walker 4's HP: 0/80
Leona's Spell Damage: 80 HP (Gale Cannon) + 48 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 128 HP

Pathogen Walker 5's HP: 0/80
Leona's Spell Damage: 60 HP (Crescent Cutter) + 36 HP (60% Sky Command Bonus)= 96 HP

All of the Bone Crabs have been defeated. Three of the eight Pathogen Walkers remain.

Aranea flew up and held back at first sign a little way above the lowest branches. Already injured herself, she could not afford to exchange blows with another of the creatures. Especially these ones.  The spirit would hope her teammates could handle them, but also wait for an opening to strike a couple of them from surprise.   For the first time since arriving in this quarantined area, the Celestial Spider was feeling somewhat back in her element. Ambush was more her style. It felt better to be the predator than the unsuspecting prey.

She watched as Leona dealt quite impressively with most of the poor infected souls without  getting bit that she could see. Noting their team leader nursing her arm, and finally seeing an opening, the Celestial Spider sprung into action. These plague creatures were a shape and size she was more familiar in hunting. The celestial predator narrowed her glowing pink gaze attacking the remaining three from above an behind.

Having surprise on her side, she swung her wand-turned-mace into the back of of one plague walker's skull unleashing fiery charge. Her follow up swing carried straight into the side of the next plague walker's skull, discharging with lightning.  They dropped, having not time to even know what hit them. The third and final plague walker turned and forced  the spider to dart back and hover out of range, but only for a moment. Soon as the walker started to recover to swipe again, Aranea swooped back in to bash her mace square in its face, discharging a burst of arctic frost with the blow. The last of the walkers, it joined its fellows in final rest on the forest floor.

The spirit kept silent and alert for a moment more, hoping no more had been drawn by the on going commotion. ”Maybe we should keep moving before more of those show up.”

WC: 315
Aranea WC: 5478/3500


Pathogen Walker 6's HP: 0/80
Aranea's Artifact Damage: 103.5 HP (Dream Bash [Multitarget + Melee]) = 103.5 HP

Pathogen Walker 7's HP: 0/80
Aranea's Artifact Damage: 103.5 HP (Dream Bash [Multitarget + Melee]) = 103.5 HP

Pathogen Walker 8's HP: 0/80
Aranea's Artifact Damage: 103.5 HP (Dream Bash [Multitarget + Melee]) = 103.5 HP

Last three Pathogen Walkers eleminated.

Leona's left arm was hurting so badly that she could not focus to cast spells even if she wanted to. She was concerned that Ike and Aranea would need her help to defeat the last three plague zombies, but happily that was not the case. Aranea defeated the last three walking dead on her own and with flair, using mace and magic to end the threat for good. Leona would have to learn to stop worrying so much and learn to trust in her teammates to handle themselves.

"Good work, Aranea." Leona complimented the West Fiore Trading Company mage for her swift disposal of the undead. Leona's attention was drawn away from the mage and towards her own left arm, specifically the left forearm covered by her Argent Glove. She removed the glove and examined the area... it was badly bruised from the crab's powerful pincers clamping down on it. The rest of her arm hurt from being lifted into the air by it when the crab lifted her up to set her up for another attack.

Now she had a choice to make. Did she press on into the island's interior in search of more samples or did she quit while she was ahead and withdraw her team with what samples they had already obtained? She would have to think this matter through.

Leona was in favor of staying and continuing the search for samples, but two major problems held her back. One, her hurting left arm seriously interfered with her focus. Two, she did not know what plague-riddled creatures roamed the interior of the island and she did not want to get her small group in over its head by catching the attention of a beast taller than a Capital Crocus office building.

If her arm were not in such pain and her group was larger, she might consider pushing on to collect more samples and defeat more of the island's mutated residents. However, the pain prevented Leona from concentrating for long periods of time and her group was only three people strong. She was by far the strongest mage in the group and constituted most of their fighting strength... if she lost focus at a critical time Ike and Aranea could pay with their lives. It might be time to get out of here while the going was good.

Despite all the compelling reasons for them to leave, Leona hesitated in giving the order to leave. Why was she holding back? She could not put a finger on the cause, but if she had to guess she would say that her pride was making her hesitate.

Leona was the Wizard Saint of Courage and one of the most powerful mages alive. She routinely pulled off difficult missions and came through no matter how badly the odds were stacked against her. She had completed difficult missions against odds that were more daunting than these. Part of her felt like she would be disappointing West Fiore Trading Company and Fairy Tail if she withdrew now. They were counting on her to complete her end of the mission.

Leona wanted badly to stay and bring home a sample that was really worth talking about, but she had to swallow her pride and learn that there were some times that it was best to leave while the going was good. Now was one of those times. Her left arm was hurting badly and it kept her from focusing for long periods of time. Her team was only three people strong with herself included. Leona weighed all of her options and closed her eyes for a moment.

It was time to ask Ike and Aranea how they felt about leaving with their samples while they could still leave.

"Guys, I'm saying that we should leave while we still can. My left arm's hurting badly and it's distracting me. I don't think that I can focus for very long if we get into a fight with something really big. How do you feel about us withdrawing with what we already have?" Leona asked Ike and Aranea. Even though she was the official group leader, Leona did not want to leave without them being on board with the decision. It helped group cohesion and morale if they all agreed with the decision.

[Word Count: 728]
[Leona's Word Count: 8,857]

Aranea let her wand return to normal from it's mace warform. The celestial spirit was glad it seemed the plauge creatures seemed to have been dealt with for now. She stayed on wing though, hovering just above the ground, knowing her ankle was in no shape to support weight.

It was not a problem she could not deal with though, she would just have to hover through the rest of this mission. A little extra exertion, if that's what it took to do her part. The daunting part was not knowing how much further they had to go, nor how long it would take to go. So when Leona asked for input from her and Ike on whether to call the mission , Celestial Spider was greatly surprised. She was also tremendously relieved.

There was little doubt in her mind she could have gone on, but now that that pressure was off she quickly grabbed onto that idea. She could practically feel the soft bed and pillow she would be hitting and lazing around in while her ankle and other bruises and contusions recuperated away. Aranea/Lucy felt one little twinge, hoping they had collected enough samples to be of use. She took comfort in knowing they had been quite thorough in the samples taken in the distance they did cover. A couple more could always be taken on the way out too.

Nodding to Leona, Lucy voiced her agreement, ”I'm sure I could go n, but I think you're right. My ankle's not feeling too good, and I can still feel where that bone crab got me. Another lucky hit like that from another ugly like that or worse, and I might not be able to fly out of here on my own. Though I was ready to stay, I think we got a lot of samples already, and no reason we cannot get a couple more on the way out. If we see any that aren't too much trouble.”

With that, Lucy willed her wand into the shape of a dagger, and nabbed one of her remaining jars from her pack. Ready to collect another sample of fungus or leaves or even just sample of the air higher above the forest. Otherwise she could fly under her own power, following alongside Leona's harpies.

WC: 384
Aranea WC: 5862/3500

Leona was relieved to hear that Aranea had no objections to leaving while they could. Aranea had said that a Bone Crab had hurt her ankle badly, so Leona would not be the only one returning home with an injury. They had no medical experts or medical mages on their team, so staying in the field with injuries like they had was not a good idea. Part of the Silver Wolf Guild Mistress was still disappointed in herself and felt like she was letting down the allied guilds by leaving so soon. However, she felt that most of the disappointment her allies might feel would dissipate when she and her team returned with an abundance of samples to conduct research on.

Ruvel would also want Aranea back in one piece. In fact, he would want the mage who was part of his guild back safely much more than he would want the samples from the island. Samples were plentiful and literally grew on trees. Mages like Aranea were much harder to find. Therefore it was prudent to leave now and bring back both samples and the mage.

"OK, Aranea. Now that that's decided, here's what I'm thinking. We'll make our way back to the coast and gather a couple more samples on the way out. Once we're ready, I can fly out on my Winged Lion while my harpies provide air cover in case some of those things can fly. If you need help, let me know and you can ride on the back of my lion or one of my harpies can carry you." Leona said to Aranea. Ike probably had his own method of transport off the island, but there was room for a passenger on her Winged Lion and she could carry him if needed. The most important thing was that everyone made it off the island safely.

Leona thought about trying to find a way to carry back one of the plague zombies for research, but as soon as the idea came to mind she ran into a couple of problems. First, there was the issue of carrying the zombie corpse safely. Second, there was the issue of openly carrying a corpse and that might raise questions from authorities. Third, she did not know if carrying the zombie corpse would spread the plague wherever it was carried, including over lands which had not been infected. Fourth, there was the not-so-small issue of the heads of the zombies being destroyed... the allied scientists might need brain tissue from a reasonably intact zombie corpse to study the effects of the virus on the human body.

Leona and Aranea did not leave any intact zombies because destroying the head was the quickest way to put them down for good. However, that was a minor loss. There were plenty of zombies shuffling about and the trio might encounter another zombie to take as a sample. Then again, it might be a smart idea to just kill the zombies now and come back later with a special container just for zombies instead of trying to haul back a virus-ridden corpse to the alliance meeting point.

Putting on her left Argent Glove, Leona walked slowly so that she did not lose Ike and Aranea on the way out. She also lingered so that if any more enemies showed up she could be the first to confront them. Leona's left arm hurt, but she could bear it long enough to get off of the island with her teammates. She was also consoled by the fact that this expedition would likely be only the first of many visits that she would make to Tsak Ordahic.

[Word Count: 620]
[Leona's Word Count: 9,477]

Aranea hung close to Ike and Leona. The celestial spirit did not want the others to be caught by any more plague creatures workout her ale to help again or worse getting caught by plague creators where they could not help her. With the team banged up like it was, a surprise encounter could be extra dangerous.

She did share similar thoughts to her leader, that a live creature might contain the most promising sample of all. If she could cocoon one in enough webbing, that should make it safe enough to transport. Only strands touching the creatures would become contaminated, so a thick enough cocoon should keep the plague from finding new footholds. There was someway the danger of it spreading once opened back in a lab, but that could be said of any of their samples.

The way her ankle was starting to complain, without putting weight on it even, she quickly dipped any hope of finding a lone plague zombie on the way back. No doubt, even banged up her team was more than capable of dealing with just one. It just did not seem worth the risk. She was sure if fate brought them one, it would almost definitely have friends. Fate never let anything be simple.

Fate could also have a very twisted sense of humor. If Aranea had held onto her hope of finding a creature to capture, than surely none would have been found. The instant her hope returned tho is original state of wanting no new creatures, Fate would find it in its heart to provide one to capture.

She fluttered along with her teammates, having almost forgotten the whole idea. Fate would wait until they were almost clear of the forest until it would spring is surprise. A corpse on the forest floor, easily dismissed by the spirit as another of the plague's long dead victims. As she's passed it by, it rose up in an ambush that if she had been on foot, surely would have been her end. On wing, her reflex to turn and see movement caught only or of the corner of her eye kept her drifting back. Her wings kept her just out of the creature's outstretched arms and claws.

Hopefully against all odds, this one was alone. If the creature did have friends, she would have to let her teammates take care of them. This one needed to be collected. She fluttered up above the plague walker, and leveled her wand. Unfortunately, she did not see a way to subdue the creature without harming it. Not without risking further injury to herself and possible infection. A properly timed blast from her wand should give her the opening she needs to swoop in and start wrapping it up in a silken cocoon. "Sticky Acid Silly String!"

Strings of acidic goo sprayed wildly over the plague walker. It was not really phased by the caustic go burning at its dead flesh, but it lost track of Aranea just long enough for her to swoop down behind it. With the same preternatural speed a normal spider wraps up a fly, she deftly spun and wrapped this human-sized prey in the same purplish spider silk she wrapped the bone crab up in. The cocoon wiggled about, but the plague walker was not going anywhere.

She flew it easily enough back to the original rendezvous point for the team. It was there she shifted back to her human form after setting the cocoon down. So exhausted, she forgot the entire pretense of dismissing her 'summoned' celestial spirit.

Shifted Appearance:

The very human looking spirit realized her goof, and tried to think quickly. "Uh.. I guess Aranea ran low on magic power and had to return to the celestial realm to rest. That means I could take up any help getting home and keep help carrying this prize bundle too."

WC: 648
Aranea WC: 6510/3500

Leona continued to lead the way back to the point at which the team had arrived, being sure to occasionally hang back so that Ike and Aranea did not have to fight alone if trouble reared its ugly head. The blonde thought of how to capture a plague zombie "alive" and intact for the alliance to study the effects of the virus on the human body. She was not sure if bringing one back would be the smartest idea because the facilities that would hold it might not be equipped to safely contain it. Leona herself might have to be on standby in case it got loose and threatened everyone. Since it was her idea to try and bring back a zombie for study, she should be the one to stand watch over it during the research.

Leona could only watch as what she had thought to be just another long-dead human corpse came to life and went after Aranea. Leona was worried that it was too late to help the West Fiore Trading Company mage due to the short distance between the plague zombie and her, but the mage did not need any help in dealing with her adversary. The winged mage deftly avoided the clumsy grapple attempt by the zombie and proceeded to deal with it, though not in the way that the Silver Wolf Guild Mistress had expected.

Aranea started off by using her wings to fly above the grapple and dodge it. She then retaliated with a spell called "Stick Acid Silly String", which manifested as strings of acidic goo that sprayed over the plague zombie with random directions, just like its sticky but harmless civilian counterpart. The acid did not have much noticeable effect on the walking corpse, but the spell was just a distraction for the real finishing move. Aranea sped up considerably and applied layer after layer of purple silk to the corpse, wrapping it tightly and securely like she had done to the bone crab earlier.

"Good job Aran...ea..." Leona started to congratulate the mage before she flew off with her cargo to the original meeting point. Leona did not take offense. She shrugged her shoulders and sent two of the harpies to keep watch over the mage until the rest of the team got there.

"Daphne, Sandy, follow Aranea and make sure she stays safe until we get there!" Leona telepathically instructed them. The black-haired and brown-haired harpies flew off to accompany the mage and watch over her. It was probably not necessary since Aranea was more than able to handle herself, but Leona did not want to have to report to Ruvel that one of his mages died on her watch. The blonde mage then stopped for a moment to let Ike catch up to her. While she waited she began to think about her earlier decision to leave the island with the samples the trio had already collected instead of pushing deeper into the island's interior.

Leona had worried that she had made herself look weak by bowing out with a bruised left arm. She had worried that once word got back to the other members and Guild Masters of the alliance they would lose confidence in her abilities. However, Aranea's fight with the zombie had convinced Leona that her decision to leave the island was the right one to make. The blonde's focus was so far gone that she was unable to help Aranea before the fight started. Aranea's speed and reflexes were the only things that saved her from becoming just another plague zombie shambling around the island... or flying around it, if Zombie Aranea still had enough brainpower to use her wings.

That led to another nightmarish possibility. If Aranea become a plague zombie and could still use her wings, she could spread the virus beyond Tsak Ordahic and cause a disaster of untold proportions. Whatever happened would be Leona's fault, all because she lost focus at the wrong time. Thankfully events did not transpire that way and Aranea was still human and the plague was still contained within the borders of Tsak Ordahic... for now.

Leona proceeded to the meeting point to find the silk cocoon containing the zombie that Aranea had wrapped up for transport... and a short blonde girl in an aqua dress with a yellow star purse. What had happened to Aranea? The shorter blonde's explanation soon helped things make sense.

"So you're Aranea's human form? What's your name?" Leona asked the mage. She did not know that Celestial Spirits could take over people, if that was the relationship between Aranea and the blonde. Then again, Leona was not the smartest mage alive and had a lot to learn about the world of magic and how mages interacted with it.

"I'd be glad to help you get back to the mainland. Would you like to fly with me on my Winged Lion summon?" Leona asked "Aranea." She did not know what the girl's name was yet, so she still thought of the shorter girl as Aranea.

[Word Count: 861]
[Leona's Word Count: 10,338/8,000]