Player Plot: Winter Isn't Coming, it's Already Here

[sassafrisk]

Who: Everybody who signed up for the event.
When: November 23rd-30th
Where: The Uncharted Territories
What: Frisk leads an expedition into the North to try and find Hades. It doesn't go well.
Warnings/Notes: Post a toplevel to each of the segments below if you want. Encounters will be posted under the appropriate toplevel. For combat, I'd appreciate it if you put where your putting your passive job stat boosts in the subject line of your first post, plus any other boosts your character may have. Thank you!


THE STAGING GROUND (DAY ONE)
The directions that the volunteers have been sent over mail lead to a chocobo ranch just a day away from Armstrong Fort. For a groundbreaking journey into the unknown, the staging ground for Frisk’s expedition isn’t all that impressive. A quaint, if run-down, farmhouse lies next to the chocobos’ grazing patch, where Frisk can be seen arguing with a surly-looking Elezen. White chocobos coo at the new arrivals next to a mound of barely organized high-quality camping gear, staring at them curiously (or blankly, depending on how much intelligence to ascribe to chocobos). It’s a brisk November morning, and the cold bites into marrow of one’s bones as frost-encrusted dead grass crunches beneath the chocobos’ feet. Bleak grey clouds block out the sun, threatening snow but never quite delivering. Resignation and bleakness permeate the air. This certainly isn’t an auspicious start to an already dubious quest.

INTO THE VAST (DAY ONE)
The first day of the expedition is, in a word, boring. Dreary, depressing, monotonous, and several other words of similar caliber would also be apt descriptors. The moody weather doesn’t change through the long hours of plodding towards Armstrong Fort, the clouds oscillating between grey and sullen, and black and intimidating; but always refusing to actually burst and bring down snow on the party’s head. Not even random encounters deign to make an appearance to spice up the day, due to the extensive efforts of Tark Varentain’s military. Perhaps the only redeeming factor of this first day is that the flat terrain and docile chocobos make the actual riding of the birds a breeze, with only the most inept of chocobo riders--such as Frisk--falling off or bruising their rumps through other means. With MogNet reception growing spottier as the team approaches the Claus Snowfields, the only way to pass the time is with conversation.

ARMSTRONG FORT (NIGHT ONE)
When Armstrong Fort appears on the horizon near sundown, it brings a sudden change in weather. Snowflakes begin falling from the sky, increasing in numbers and force as the expedition party makes its way towards the imposing fortress. After just thirty minutes, it’s nearly impossible to see ten feet past your chocobo’s beak. Thankfully, the white chocobos are used to such conditions, so the expedition party still makes good time. The party arrives at Armstrong Fort an hour after the inclement weather begins, and they’re greeted by grim guards who refuse to let them in after a solid fifteen minutes of arguing with Frisk, despite the permit for lodging that they display.

Inside, the fort is just as bleak as the outside, although in a significantly different way. Primarily elezen and human soldiers huddle around sputtering fires on the walls, peering through the snowstorm looking for any signs of monsters. The cries of the wounded echo from the medical hall, although all of the soldiers remain stoic even to their comrades’ pain. If pressed, one of the guards will begrudgingly explain that without a regular shipment of mana potions, their healers often can’t use magic on every wounded soldier, forcing them to do it the old-fashioned way.

The empty bunks that the volunteers are escorted to are uncomfortable, cold, and barren, but it’s marginally better than sleeping on the floor. Marginally. But whatever slumber the party gets is interrupted at one in the morning, when a pack of ferocious yetis attacks the walls. The soldiers stationed at Armstrong Fort are used to such assaults and don’t need any help fending off the monsters, but if any of the adventurers give their assistance anyways, they’ll earn the guards’ grudging respect and perhaps a little something for their trouble.

CLAUS SNOWFIELDS (DAYS TWO AND THREE)
The volunteers are awoken just before the crack of dawn, dragged (by force if need be) to a breakfast of heated ration block and hustled out the door before the sun would even peek over the horizon if it wasn’t completely obscured by the endless snowstorm. From there, a boring journey becomes downright miserable.

Everybody has to huddle uncomfortably close together on their chocobos to keep from losing each other in the oppressive whiteness of the storm. Even the high-end survival gear that the volunteers are wearing only slightly blunts the biting edge of the cold, the raw frigidity of the environment digging deep into the marrow of the bones and nestling there like some twisted parasite. The white chocobos, as surefooted as they are in this environment, struggle against the howling gales, each step forward seeming like a monumental accomplishment.

It isn’t long before all sense of direction is lost. Compasses stop working just a few hours in, their only use being pointing a way vaguely forward to venture towards. The only reliable way to tell the time is the frequency and strength of monster attacks; as the day inches towards night at an agonizingly slow pace, more and more monsters bound out of the snow to savage the party. At the start of this leg of the journey, packs of roving monsters only came once or twice every hour. But as the hours grind past it begins seeming like the party can’t have five minutes of peace before being interrupted by some manner of beast. It’s not just yetis and ice elementals, either: there are strange, exotic animals, all the apex of physical perfection that comes with the ability to survive in such a harsh environment. Magical constructs such as ice golems and undead dressed in the clothes of other explorers also sometimes come charging out of the snow at the party, forcing a confrontation.

Comments

Stat Boosts: M. Def - C, Speed - A

[modelcivilian]

Adrien hadn't planned on moving as the darkness encroached, but he did shift a little closer to the fire. There was something unnerving about it, but the deep pitchness of it just meant they had to be on guard all the more.

Klonoa spoke up first when the armor came into sight, but he was more on Corrin's side. He didn't draw his sword yet, but his hand was itching to do so. He would just be ready to counter if necessary.

[doodlebuginette]

This was never going to be her favorite thing in the world, but if she tried to tell herself it was almost like going on patrol back home, it made it a little easier to deal with. The fact that she was here with Adrien and a few others was obviously different, but that was fine.

And while she was just thinking that it might be better with more people, the approaching suits of armor weren't at all what she had in mind. She remained silent and seated, even as Klonoa and Corrin moved to address them. There was no need to rush in blindly, and she saw no reason to play the aggressor in this situation.

Boost: M. Power to S

[rivieran]

When the armor emerges from the darkness, Ena almost feels like she's imagining things at first - she'd been so used to staring into nothingness for so long, she thought it was an illusion. But it wasn't. She's suddenly bewildered by the two opposing responses to the thing. Though she's more inclined to attack it, it still could be...friendly? On the off chance?

So she waits to see what it does. But she's ready to attack if it does.

[sassafrisk]

The Wights certainly aren't friendly, as evidenced by how they charge the group and start tearing into them with Frost Moon Strikes. Two of them flank Corrin, although she somehow manages to perfectly dodge two of the attacks the other six hit her head-on. Corrin is blinded for three rounds! The third wight goes directly at Adrien, getting all four hits in.

Corrin: 91/113
Adrien: 202/214
Ena: 150/150
Marinette: 64/64
Klonoa: 105/105

[bladeofconquest]

Although she manages to avoid the first couple blows (it feels good to have Shadow Yato in her hand again), she's not so lucky regarding the other six, and her world-which was already pretty dim, save the light of the campfire-goes completely dark. She stumbles back, holding her sword out. "Damn it, they did something to me, I...I can't see!" Nevertheless, she knows before she was blinded there were two of them flanking her, so she targets where she thinks the one on her right might be, and attacks with a [Syphon Strike] to try and regain some of the strength those attacks took. "Everyone, watch out!"

She saw the third going for Adrien, but they're too far away for her to help him right now, and even if she did, she might end up hitting him instead.

[modelcivilian]

When the third wight comes for him, Adrien is fortunately up. After all, they decided to charge and its not much of an ambush when they already had them in their sight. Because of this, after the Wight finishes it's attack, Adrien automatically responded with a counter, similarly feeling a slight burst of strength.

However, adjusting his sword, he doesn't use it to strike back. Instead, his team's fairly vulnerable unlike him - heck, some people don't have so much experience with their asterisks. So he braces himself, watching the Wights, ready to counter further - just Eye for an Eye.

[doodlebuginette]

Marinette frowns. She wasn't expecting friendly, but this was something else entirely. Somehow, she's fortunate enough to avoid becoming a target.

And so she's going to use this to her advantage by aiming a Brasier at the one bothering Adrien. It's not entirely her bias showing, but that's the closest one and she's going to take advantage of the thing being distracted.

[wind_in_my_ears]

"OKAY, NOT FRIENDLY!" Klonoa calls out, diving to one side as the others clash, rolling up onto his feet again as he holds the Wind Ring out in his hand, ready for spellcasting.

Corrin is blind, is she?

Klonoa grins, hurling a ball of cleansing light that flows into her body and clears her eyes. Not after Esuna, she's not!

[rivieran]

Ena leaps up when the attack comes in, simultaneously not surprised but also startled. She watches in brief panic as Corrin and Adrien are hit. Oh, lord. Thankfully, she's untouched here on the other side of the fire.

So with her long legs she takes a wide step backwards and casts Maelstrom on the group of Wights. Hopefully, that'll do some damage.

[sassafrisk]

Adrien's blade cuts deep into the Wight's armor when he counters it combo with one of its own, although the Wight Marinette fired at deftly dodges her spell. Corrin's Syphon Strike hits home despite her temporary impairment, drawing dark crimson energy from the Wight and healing herself slightly. Ena's Maelstrom blasts the Wights with tendrils of starry gravity, dealing significant damage to each.

In an attempt to stabilize, the Wights mobile and in unison begin fighting with fire: extending their hands, each casts Leechra, with two targeting Corrin and one targeting Ena. They all manage to hit, drawing dark crimson energy out of the party and into the Wights.

Irony, however, is a cruel mistress, and in trying to recover the Wights end up dealing damage to themselves. In a flash, Adrien cuts the Wights into pieces with his Eye for an Eye, leaving them all reeling and severely wounded!

As if to back them up, five skeletons can be seen coming out of the storm, but they're not here quite yet...

Corrin: 74/113
Klonoa: 105/105
Marinette: 64/64
Adrien: 202/214
Ena: 142/150

[wind_in_my_ears]

Klonoa isn't liking how this is turning out, but he can tell that everyone isn't doing too terribly so far. The perfect time has come to throw up a shield to keep them that way.

"Keep it up everyone, we can take them!"

Klonoa holds his hands out as a Protective barrier forms over the party before vanishing from view.

[bladeofconquest]

Cured of her temporary blindness, Corrin sees the skeletons coming through the snow and curses under her breath. However, at least the Wights look to be on their last legs. "We've got company coming!" She calls out to the others. "Press the assault, we've got to finish these armours off before their friends arrive!" She leaps forward to attack the Wight she already struck with her Syphon Strike with a [Delirium] combo.

[modelcivilian]

That worked better than he anticipated, but his brow furrows at the skeletons incoming. Klonoa's Protect means he probably doesn't have to immediately use the same ability again, and it leaves him able to try helping Corrin wipe out the Wights.

Grip adjusting, legs shifting, he's going after all of the Wights again to try clearing them out with Eclipse.

[doodlebuginette]

She can't even be mad that her spell missed its mark because the end result was still favorable. She smiles as the familiar wave of Protect washes over her and then immediately redirects her attention to the threat.

It hadn't worked before, but she's going to try again with another Brasier because there's no way it could miss twice in a row. Right?

[rivieran]

Despite the lovely defensive Protect, Ena has barely any time to appreciate it when she sees the skeletons approaching on the horizon. Ugh. More? She quickly draws a small knife from her belt and uses Telekinesis to send it flying at one of the Wights, just for good measure. Hopefully that'll take care of them so they're not totally overwhelmed by uninvited guests.

[sassafrisk]

The combined assault of the party's attacks manages to finish the Wights off, although the skeleton Ena aimed at manages to deftly parry her dagger out of the air before it can do any damage. The party has one more turn to prepare before the second wave arrives!

[modelcivilian]

That was one wave dealt with, but the skeletons were incoming. Adrien still counts five, but who could say if more might come to join the battle. Protect is still in effect he thinks, but he doesn't know how long it lasts - fortunately, he's prepared to counter for himself, and he prepares to counter for the others again, activating Eye for an Eye with his blade ready.

[wind_in_my_ears]

Klonoa isn't going to let the skeletons get Corrin. Well, obviously he's not going to let the skeletons get anyone else, either, but Corrin seems like she's being a good 'big target', and that's just perfect for what he has in mind. Klonoa steps up to Corrin and places a hand on her back.

"Keep going, I'll give you continual healing!" He says as Regenerative magic suffuses her body.

[bladeofconquest]

"Thanks, Klonoa." Now under the Protection and Regen spells, Corrin can really let loose. Placing herself between the skeletons and her comrades, Corrin begins to channel her vitality through her sword, suffusing it with power. She then leaps toward the first skeleton and strike it with a [Soul Eater] attack.

[rivieran]

Ena huffs in frustration when her knife is just brushed away like that. How rude!

So she tries again, telekinetically sending the knife in the direction of the skeleton next to it, hopefully taking it by surprise.

[doodlebuginette]

Just as she hoped, her spell was successful this time. Marinette breathes a sigh of relief as the Wights are defeated, but there's no time to dawdle because the skeletons are still incoming. She's only spotted five but there's no telling how many more are on the way.

Either way, she's not helpless and she doesn't intend to sit around twiddling her thumbs. Instead, she aims a Sacre at the group.

[sassafrisk]

When the skeletons finally reach the party, they're greeted by Corrin's Shadow Yato, seething with crimson and black energy and slicing through the air almost too fast to track. The skeleton that Corrin targets is acrobatic enough to avoid most of the strikes, but is still almost torn apart by the attack. It's finished off by Ena's telekinetic dagger. The skeleton that Marinette targets likewise easily avoids her Sacre.

Each of the remaining skeletons descends upon the Party, Rending them apart with their blades. Corrin manages to avoid one of the blows aimed at her, but the rest hit home. Thankfully, thanks to the boost from her Shadow Yato and her heavy armor, it does minimal damage--although due to her Soul Eater, even some damage is dangerous. Klonoa, likewise, avoids one of the blows, but Marinette doesn't fair nearly as well. She takes all of the hits, even getting struck by two critical hits, and the cuts are deep enough to cause bleeding. Adrien also can't avoid the skeletons' attacks, but he isn't hurt nearly as badly as Marinette. Ena's reflexes kick in, allowing her to avoid most of the skeleton's attacks, and what few hits the monster gets in are glancing blows.

In response to the assault, Adrien's own blade flies through the air at dizzying speeds, slicing three of the skeletons into pieces. Only the one currently attacking Adrien remains, as the blows from his Counter weren't enough to destroy it.

Corrin: 31/113
Klonoa: 95/105
Marinette: 41/64 (BLEEDING!)
Adrien: 189/214
Ena: 138/150

[modelcivilian]

His ability does just as intended and he's pretty grateful to have it, but while he's dealing damage back unto the skeletons attacking his group, there's some red. That's not hard to have stand out in snow, but when he looked over, he blinked.

Marinette was bleeding.

He already destroyed the skeleton that caused that to happen, but that didn't stop his eyes from narrowing on the last skeleton before him. Again, one of these monsters made his friend from home bleed. His counter hadn't been enough to take it out since it only targeted him, but he was more than ready to finish it off from the enhancement of said counter. Was Midare Setsugekka potentially overkill? If it hits, yeah, maybe...

Cue the victory fanfare

[sassafrisk]

For a moment, all is still, like the world is holding its breath. Then the skeleton crumbles to dust. Nothing is left.

The howling of the wind is more distant now, as it the night has reluctantly retreated... for now. The skeleton Adrien annihilated drops a particularly high-quality blade with serrated edges, it could do some major damage if used in the right hands. The monsters also dropped a total of 10,000 gil.

Skeleton's Sawblade: The longsword's edges are cruelly cut into saws designed to inflict as much damage as possible with each strike. Whoever wields this weapon gains an additional rank in Physical Power, and all of their attacks gain a 25% chance of inflicting the Bleed status.

Woohoooo

[modelcivilian]

That took care of that...

Putting his sword back into its sheath, that also took care of what little damage he sustained really. Looked like they'd gotten some loot too, but that could wait a second.

Turning, he walked over to Marinette, frowning.

First thing to mind was to ask if she was okay, but no, she was still bleeding. He wished he got rid of them before this happened at all. "Here, let me help..." Pressure would help stop some of the bleeding, right? Maybe Klonoa could cure this? Did they have bandages if Esuna didn't work? He looked to the others. "I can go stand guard if everyone wants to patch up around the fire."

Speaking of the fire, they should probably feed it.