Standard Mission: Terror from the Skies

Traveling to Slane Ruins (Amira, Cleo, Scarlet, Vayu)

Everything whisked by like a blur, it was the morning right after their celebrations when a loud ping emitted from their gauntlets with a red urgent message appearing on the screen.

“URGENT! Important caravan train is trapped in the Slane ruins to the north, please report to transport hub A3 for deployment.”

Already the fresh-faced vanguards were called away for their first mission, not given even enough time to say their goodbyes.  The tension in the air was thick as they were quickly ushered onto a caravan face to face with their fellow vanguards that they had just finished the mastery exam yesterday.  Cleo, Amira, Vayu, and Scarlet all sat face to face across from each other in the caravan.  Only being able to look at the walls and each other for the short journey.

What seemed like an hour went by when a loud command voice shouted out from the front of the caravan.

“We’re here, quickly get out!” The man at the head of the wagon yelled, as they quickly hopped outside the back of the wagon to be face to face the man who shouted and was driving the wagon.

Spoiler:

“Sanctuary!” The man stated holding out his palm, as the light around them began to crystallize and slightly distort their surroundings, “The Caravan train already has a vanguard with them she’ll signal you… until then do not leave my spell, it'll will stop the demons from noticing you.”

The man quickly jumped back inside his wagon grabbing onto the reins to the two bicorn as he gave the group one last glance stated in a gruff voice, “God damn higher-ups send a bunch of fresh faced kids… Just make sure you get out of this alive whether that caravan makes it or not, you’re more important in the end.”

The man quickly snapped the reins, and ran off in an instant, leaving the group to look around at the empty abandoned city.  The only moment being the occasional winged shadow of one of the various demons who were perched on the top of the buildings.

Spoiler:

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Underground Subway (Nihility)

Spoiler:

They had been in this tunnel for almost a day now, they could feel the morale of the caravan workers dropping by the hour, as the sound of a hammer hitting some of the makeshift pillars to stabilize the area and the sound of dirt pilling on the ground with each smack.  The only light coming from a ramp leading towards the surface that they used to get down here, while further into the tunnel was blocked a ton of dirt and rock.

“This is impossible….” A women uttered from within the darkness, as she slapped a hooded man across the face with a loud reverberating smack, “You wasted our funds hiring MORE vanguards and they’re not even here yet, Nihility is enough Aseop!  We should of just left hours ago, now who knows how many demons are waiting outside for us!”

Aseop let out a loud exasperated sigh, as he turned his head in what appeared to be shame?  Or maybe it was anger?  In the darkness it was impossible to tell.  However, as if on cue, Nihility’s gauntlet pinged and everyone turned towards the new light source with hopeful eyes.

“You got the coordinates right?”  Aseop stated quickly running over to Nihility his thin overly burdened figure now clear to see his grim face now beginning to light up with joy

Spoiler:

“See this was useful after all, Allison!” Aseopp commented with a bit spite, as he turned his head towards her with a condensing smile forming across his face.

“I don’t see how you know that when we haven’t even left yet, you could have easily just wasted our money!  Something we are low on if you recall…” Allison stated shaking her head in disapproval, but she also had a slight smile on her face despite her attempts to appear frustrated.

Spoiler:

Regardless, Nihility, bring them here and we can plan our escape at once!” The man quickly commanded, but was silenced as Allison pushed him to the side away from Nihility so that the vanguard was staring at he instead

“We can’t risk it, the demons probably have this place covered because of how long we waited… the moment we leave it’s compromised… we’ll depart now and meet up with them on the way out before those flying bastards can gather again.”  The women quickly demanded, as she signaled the workers with a quick hand gesture to begin preparing for departure.

“No way in hell do any of us want to stay here a second longer either, it would drive us mad.”  Allison quickly slipped in to further her point.

Both of the merchants looked at Nihility waiting for her professional vanguard opinion on the matter.

Travelling to Slane Ruins

- Vayu -

After his cold shower, Vayu had felt much better. A warm meal and some fresh clothes later, he was just considering what to do with the rest of his day. Maybe it would be a good idea to improve the teamwork with his new demon. Suddenly his gauntlet started glowing.

“URGENT! Important caravan train is trapped in the Slane ruins to the north, please report to transport hub A3 for deployment.”

It took Vayu a couple seconds to read the message. When he grasped the importance, a sudden hurry befell him. With a few practiced moves, he grabbed his gear and headed to A3.

Upon arrival he found that Scarlet, Cleo and Amira were also there. Quickly they were given the barely essential information and then left at the Slane ruins with a Sanctuary spell.

Vayu sighed and started to feed a steady stream to maga into the spell to keep it active.

“I really hope we don’t have to wait too long for that signal,” he said and tapped his gauntlet impatiently. “Otherwise we’re sitting ducks out here.”

His eyes travelled around the ruins, looking at the looming shadows of demons around them.

Nihility was minding her business by looking out at the sky viewable from the entrance of the mine, when one of the merchant who she was hired to take care of approached her right at the very second when her gauntlet sent out a ping, revealing the coordinates of a close by Vanguard team. Apparently her employer had hired a backup team to meet up with them for the return home. Was it a calculated decision or just on pure intuition or a spur of the moment purchase, Nihility didn't think much on the subject. Clearly the other half of her employer was against the purchase but what was done cannot be broken out off and it did appear that demons had started to congregate outside, or maybe it was just the one or two that kept circling the area outside. It was hard to tell from just standing in the mineshaft. Sooner or later they had to make a move and with the added Vanguards waiting for them, it was best to leave the area straight away.


"It is as Allison says, we move now." Nihility responded in a less than energetic voice, mainly in a deadpan manner that didn't give her any favours in the overall friendly looks department.

Speaking of sunken eyes, ghastly pale skin and near skeletal body figure, the lady Vanguard approached the two merchants, gave them a good look for a second or two and then asked them of a favour.


"Before we depart, would either of you be so kind as to punch me while I block your attacks." She asked like it was a normal everyday request.

Lifting her skinny arms up to her face she nodded to signal that she was ready. "Just six times is enough to activate a special ability of mine."


Nihility motioned with her hands the come-on signal while looking straight at the two merchants with minimal blinking.


"We'll head out right after this and stick to the buildings while sneaking beside our caravans which would be shielding us from one side and the buildings doing the same from the other. If any demon attacks ensues, then all non fighters should scuttle inside the buildings for cover while my Demon and I will try to subdue them or if we are quick enough in doing that, then we simply rush along to the coordinates of the other Vanguard team and then it ought to be a much safer trip."


Nihility nodded again and tightened her hands into fists, prepared for the physical blows.

Scarlet

Chaldea Dormitories

Scarlet woke up with a groan, wincing at the light streaming through the window. She had a slight headache, a consquence of the previous night's revelries. Ugh... maybe I shouldn't have drunk as much as I did.

She felt better after her morning routine, and was making her way to the mess hall when her gauntlet notified her of a mission. She quickly grabbed someting to eat and headed to the transport hub. She waved at the other Vanguards who had been assigned to the mission.

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Travelling to Slane Ruins

Upon being dropped off by their transport, Scarlet looked around at the delapidated buildings.

"I really hope we don't have to wait too long for that signal. Otherwise we're sitting ducks out here", Vayu said.

"Hmm... I think we should be okay while we're in this spell zone", she answered, gesturing at the bubble. "Maybe I could get higher, see if I can see the caravan?"

Following her words with action, Scarlet scaled a nearby wall within the Sanctuary zone. She looked around, attempting to spot anything out of the ordinary, taking care to avoid sticking any part of her outside the bubble.

Amira

She remained unmoving as Bastion ran off. Only when he disappeared did she raise her head. Oh god, did that really just happened?! She remembers entering his room and being told to sleep with him.

Luckily it seems she only fell asleep right after and nothing happened... The hell it didn't!? She slept with a guy! That's not good! She has to talk to him immediately!

As she got up she finally noticed the glow in her gauntlet... I can't ignore it? Ok, begrudgingly she accepted the glow and walk towards the hub.

___________________________

As their transport left them, Amira looked around their surroundings. Her teammates for this mission were Vayu and Scarlet. She doesn't know Vayu that much aside from last night. Immediately Amira looks at Scarlet and follows her with her eyes.

- Cleo -

In the back of the coach, Cleo rolled his shoulders, feeling the scabs there stretch against his skin. Maybe he shouldn’t have finished the night in such an animated way, but who expected to get called out on mission their first day? At least he was in pleasant company for the journey. Normally, he would at least talk to the girls, but considering this was his first mission on active duty, Cleo found himself strangely nervous.

As the group piled out of the coach, Cleo rested his hand on the hilt of his katana, producing a single, soft jingle. Within the confines of the Sanctuary, they would be safe, but as soon as they ventured forth, the demons would come. The report had made it clear that this area was practically swarming with them.

During the ride, Cleo had considered his teammates for this mission. None of them were very durable on the front lines. So, that would need to be his job. Raising his gauntlet, he forced his energy into it, and Nekomata appeared, much like the Cheshire Cat.

“Time for round three already?” She purred, sending him a coy glance.

“Unfortunately not.” Cleo gestured to the crumbling city around them. “I have a feeling things are about to get interesting though.”

“How about it, Kitten? Are you up for a little fun?”

Nekomata’s tail swished as she surveyed the area. “I'm always up for sharpening my claws.”

Slane Ruins

- Vayu -

Vayu nodded and his eyes followed Scarlet as she climbed up a nearby wall.

When Cleo summoned his Nekomata, it gave him an idea.

“I'll send my Zhen demon out to scout,” he suggested to the others. “Maybe it can spot the caravan train. And being a demon, it won’t be as noticeable as humans…”


With a swift move he summoned the Zhen demon and gave it instruction. With a cold nod it took off.

It would be somewhat risky. If the Zhen demon got attack, he would have no way of knowing and he wouldn't be able to call it back. Also if it did spot the caravan train and they felt it was a threat, it might get attacked by them as well.

Also, what if they had to leave before his demon returned?

Vayu shook his head. They had to know what was out there. None of their plans would be risk-free.

Slane Ruins (Main Group)

Vayu’s Zhen flew up into the air getting a view of all the rooftops in front of him. At first glance, Zhen could see the top of these buildings now as he glanced around the green rooftops noticing various mischievous imps playing practical jokes on each other.  One of the imps were laughing manically pouring what appeared to be a potion on a sleeping imp twisted in a strange position on the ground like he passed out while in midflight, his wings still flapping as he slept.  The others imps drew incoherent scribbles on his face using a bunch of old markers that didn’t completely work.

Spoiler:

“We need more Caravans!  This stuff is great!”  One of the imps stated with a hearty laugh, as a meeker and quiet one looked at the other imps with a look of concern “We’re supposed to give them to the boss… remember?  He’ll get mad if we use it all up.”

The other imp turned look at the imp when Zhen came into his view, as his carefree smile turned into a look of annoyance, as he began emitting incoherent noises with all the other imps looking at the Zhen with a look of disgust.

“HEY!  BIRDBRAIN!  GET YOUR POISONOUS BUTT OUT OF HERE.” All the imps began to yelling extremely loud in unison that could be heard in a mile radius, as all the imps began hurling all sorts of rocks, pebbles, and debris at the Zhen, “You’ll give away our position by wilting all the plants.  So, screw off!  Or, we’ll call our friends and take you down!”

The largest of the imps who was carrying a large leather tan bag began rummaging through it and pulled out a strange vial full of some kind of red dust and quickly tossed it at the Zhen and began laughing manically, as the other imps quickly flew away covering their heads.
Down below, everyone could see the imps flying away and hear their ear piercing annoying yells, but Scarlet who had climbed higher on the wall thought they saw a glimpse of a few other owl like demons, who were watching the Zhen curiously from a nearby building with one flying off in the opposite direction.

Spoiler:

Slane Ruins (Caravan)

“See!  Glad you agree!” Allison stated with a proud smile her hands grabbing onto her hips and her chest sticking out like she won some sort of major victory.  She shot a ‘told you so’ glance to Aesop with him avoiding her gaze and looking down towards the ground.  Aesop gave what appeared to be a confirmation signal, as the various legit ‘bicorns’ who weren’t just horses with horns attached began to slowly pull the caravans into a line in front of the exit ramp.

When Nihility mentioned punching her and blocking it the two glance at each other with a confused look until a younger girl around 16 ran up to Nihility with a big smile on her face, as she began punching Nihility with the vanguard blocking each strike.

Spoiler:

“So I’ll finally see a vanguard in action!  I can’t wait to meet your friends Nihility!  Are there a lot of female vanguards?!” the girl bombarded Nihility with one question for each of the punches, all the while having a big smile on her face.  The girl glanced over at the caravans once her punches were done, “Let’s go!  We have to get these supplies of Chaldea after all!  Feel free to use some of it to defend us!”

“Not if she wants that stock coming out of her pay!” Allison quickly yelled at the girl, and shot Nihility a stern look.

The Caravans quickly exited the mine shaft, as light poured into everyone’s eye that was incredibly blinding as the long waited view of the city came into vision.  Though, it sounded a lot louder than they excepted as various imps were flying around frantically yelling at what appeared to be a Zhen in the direction of the coordinates that was received, so much so that most of them didn’t even notice the caravans that were exiting.

A few imps glanced down directly at the caravan smiling with a wicked grin, as they flew off in the opposite direction while a large imp holding a leather bag began to hurl various vials full of various colors of dust.  Three other imps bolted down towards the group and began to sing a distorted song, which made merchants and horses who were attempting to flee into the building begin to trip over their feet and move sluggishly.  The ones singing didn't seem interested in the merchants though, as they flew towards the Caravan in the back of the line.

“Annoying bastards are using the stock from the caravan they raided!  Careful!  The dust has the potency of a low grade spell!” Allison yelled, as she pulled out a bow and arrow and let go an arrow towards the imps flying overhead, while running towards the building for cover as well.

Slane Ruins

- Vayu -

The Zhen flew over the rooftops, perusing the imps perched on top of them. It kept its distance, just like Vayu had instructed.

It dodged the pebbles and the debris with ease, looping around in a wide arc. Unfazed by the imps, the Zhen continued its round across the rooftops of the ruins, seeking for signs of life.

Finally, on the second round, it spotted the caravan train. Almost at the same time some of the imps started noticing the caravan train as well. They began their attack, causing the humans and horses to slow down.

Quickly, Zhen turned around and flew back to the sanctuary spell.

Vayu allowed the Zhen to pass through when he saw it return.

“What did you see?” he asked and put hand on its shoulder. He closed his eyes as the Zhen moved closer to his ear, whispering.

Vayu nodded a couple times.

“It seems the Caravan train started moving, they are not too far from here, just south of our position,” he relayed to the others. “They are being attack by a bunch of idiotic imps.”

He looked up where Scarlet was.

“Did you see anything else, Scarlet?” he asked.

He looked down at his gauntlet. That other Vanguard still hadn’t sent them any kind of signal.

- Cleo -

Cleo nodded at Vayu’s assessment of the situation. The fact that the caravan was already under attack was troublesome, but under attack was preferable to annihilated.

“Kitten, keep your distance between the rest of the group and me for supporting fire. I’m going to draw their attention. When they turn on me, the rest of you can safely unload on them.”

Nekomata nodded before slipping from the Sanctuary and into the shadow of the nearest building.

Cleo chanced a glance at the others before turning to walk towards the caravan, hand still resting on the hilt of his katana. With each step he took, the bell chimed, echoing through the abandoned streets with an eerie ring.

It wouldn’t take long for them to notice him, but that’s exactly what he wanted.

Amira

Amira waited for Vayu's Zhen and Scarlet's report. Of course, when Zhen arrived and Vayu told that the caravan was under attack, Amira immediately wanted to spring to action.

However, Cleo's words made her hesitate. He already had a plan before they even encountered their enemies, amazing! She thought back to the last time when she immediately sprung into action. It didn't work well.

Haita manifests from Amira's body. It's large body towering Amira's. She would wait for Cleo's plan, but she would also prepare to strike like a hammer. "Accelerate" she casted on Haita.

Scarlet - Slane Ruins

Scarlet watched as the imps attacked Vayu's Zhen, readying her bow as a precaution, before some movement caught her attention. She saw the owl-like demons perched on top of a ruin, with one of them leaving.

Her attention returned to the imps as something attracted them, watching a group of them dive down. She hastily got down from the wall and returned to the others.

"There's a load of imps, I saw some of them dive on something! There were also these bird-like demons just watching", she reported, pointing in the direction of the owl demons.

She watched as Cleo began to advance. As Amira summoned her demon, Scarlet raised her gauntlet and summoned her own, Warg materialising into existence in front of her.

"RARR! WHERE PREY!", it roared.

Scarlet lifted herself onto its back. "There's some imps attacking civilians, I need you to take us there." She turned and looked at Amira and Vayu. "There's space for one of you to ride with me, we should hurry to the convoy!"

Slane Ruins

- Vayu -

Vayu raised his eyebrows when Cleo headed off first.

“Either he has immense trust in our abilities or he’s crazy to think he can take a group of imps on by himself…” Vayu muttered.

He sighed. With a flick of his wrist, he released the maga connection he had to the Sanctuary spell. Slowly it dissipated.

“Let’s go then,” he agreed. “Amira you can ride with Scarlet if you want.”

He climbed onto the back of his Zhen.

“I’ll move in from above.”

Nihility

The Vanguard defended against all the punches from the young girl who was happy to full fill her request while also firing off her own set of questions. Once Nihility had powered up her defensive spell for at least two releases, she turned around and led the group of the mine.

"I haven't been around many Vanguards but from what I saw there ought to be a balance in the men and women ratio overall." Nihility replied to the young fighter.


With the Imps being distracted by the random Zhen in the sky, Nihility thought that this was a just the opportunity they needed to sneak past the flying demons and make their silent getaway, but alas it didn't go as planned. A few of the pesky imps spotted them and made a beeline towards one of the caravans at the back while emitting some annoying noises that mostly sounded like awful singing, if you could even call that a song.


As the Imp's song had a large area of effect, Nihility was able to be in its range and be able to initiate her spell absorb ability to learn the Imp's Lullaby. Before the three demons could reach their targeted caravan, the thief vanguard fired off the spell right back at them, but not before summoning her partner demon to further subdue them.


"Shoggoth!! Wrap them up!!" She shouted through her mental link established with her demon.


Running after the three menaces, Nihility opened her mouth and emitted the Imp Lullaby at their backs while at the same time the large purple monstrosity emerged out of thin air next to the caravan, and smiled wickedly. The tendrils shot out from the portal to grab and coil around two of the imps. Nihility would then call out to the imps.


"Hey, hold on a minute, I heard that imps under the influence of nightmares do some kind of extremely amusing sleep dance, but only the most talented can pull it off. I wonder if any one of you got what it takes to do the perfect Dance. Someone also mentioned that sometimes it is the larger ones who's groovy moves give you a real good belly laugh." Nihility raised her thumb and pointed at the large imp with the bag who was some distance behind them.


If the Imps were to try to fly off towards the larger demon to play the practical joke on it, then Nihility would send off a ping via her gauntlet to give off her location to the other vanguard and motion to the merchants to keep moving ahead and away from the imps.

Slane Ruins (Nihility)

The Tentacles from Shoggoth erupted towards the imps and darted after them and their sporadic movements. The three imps looked at this new monster with the utmost terror , as their wings back to flap faster and faster in a fit of panic.

"Look out!" One of the three imps yelled before being kicked in the back by one of their fellow imps into the tentacles slamming into them and pushing them away from the other imps.  The trapped imp began to scream out in rage, as the arrow Allison shot collided into another imps back as it dropped from the sky and slammed into the ground lifeless.

"Nice.. now...." Allison said glancing at Shoggoth for a second with a look of unease, staring at it a bit longer than she should before...

"SHUSH!  I want the goods to play pranks!  You think we can put big bro to sleep with our song alone... NO." The one yelled yelled at Nihility still struggling to get out of the tentacles grasp, as he said no a few more times before his wings began to slump and calm down, as the lullaby took effect.

"Give me the goods, then we talk business!  Not all of us like big bros choices, I can talk to them..." The grasped imp said now in an overly formal and stuck up manner, as struggled to pull a single coin out of a tiny pouch on his side and held it out in front of him.  He gave a slight smile like he was the talk of the town before throwing it at the vanguard to catch.

"There....  One liquid please!"  The imp said giving Nihility puppy dog eyes before his eyes slowly began to open and close like he was struggling to stay awake.

"Just kill him and let's move before reinforcements come... besides this isn't enough to cover it"  Allison stated in a rush while pocketing the coin before Aesop quickly retorted with "That's your first thought really?"

With the imps under control, the caravan began moving down an old street west away from the imps as Nihility sent out a ping to the rest of the group to where their new path would lead them.  The merchants all sheepishly looking at Shoggoth and back to Nihility.
----

Slane Ruins (Main Group)

A few imps who were originally fleeing turned around to gaze at the noise being giving off before a look of rage and terror appeared in their eyes, they began to make loud high pitched wails as various other imps joined them screaming at Cleo with all their might.

The large imps began to glance back and forth at Cleo, Nihility, Vayu, and Scarlet again and again as his face twisted into a look of annoyance.

"WHAT!  MORE VANGUARDS!  We need to..." The large imp began to yell until...

CRACK

The red vial the imp had thrown collided with a building behind the sanctuary spell, as the dust began to glow a bright ominous red color before exploding and engulfing the building and the plants on it in a fierce red flame as the old building shuttered and began to collapse under the explosion.

A large torrent of dust and debris began flying from the collapsing withered building obstructing the view of the group and all the imps, as everyone could only hear the sound of spreading crackling fire in the distance and the smell of smoke suffocating their sense of smell before a resounding ping was given off by everyone's gauntlets of the Caravan's current location.

Vayu and Scarlet burst out of the dust cloud quickly, running after the Caravan as the larger imp hovered above them with a few lackeys in pursuit, throwing more vials in front of them this time they were a strange green dust.

Cleo and Amira on the other hand were surrounded by the dust, though Amira noticed that all the fire, debris, and some confused imps simply slammed off the sanctuary spell.  However, Cleo wasn't as lucky as the sound of imps flying past him could be heard, as one flew right past hit right arm, barely missing Cleo's arm.

"Hold on.  I'll help you."  A unknown but calming woman's voice called out from above, as two owls swooped down and let out an ear piercing scream that pushed the dust away for a brief second revealing four imps that currently surrounded Cleo, sinister grins covering their faces.

- Cleo -

To his surprise, one of the buildings in front of Cleo suddenly exploded, throwing dust and debris into the air around him. Muttering a curse, he dug his toes into the ground to keep his footing and covered his eyes with his left arm, keeping his right hand on the hilt of his katana. As the heat and rubble washed over him, Cleo felt the disturbances of larger shapes shifting around him. Lovely. Nothing like fighting an opponent that you can’t see.

Pulling his arm from over his face, Cleo cracked open his eyes. There was still a lot of dust swirling in the air, but at least the wave of heat had passed.

Hold on. I’ll help you.

The voice called out from somewhere beyond his vision, and a moment later, the dust cleared enough for him to see the imps surrounding him. While he wasn’t sure how he felt about accepting help from disembodied voices, Cleo couldn’t really afford to look a gift horse in the mouth right now.

Gripping the sheathe of his blade, Cleo struck the hilt, producing a single eerie chime that would make the imps’ skin crawl. The three that could see the accompanying look in Cleo’s eyes would be struck with a terror they couldn’t explain, but the one behind him would need to be dealt with. Still one on one was far preferable to them attacking him as a mob.

Pivoting to look in the direction of his one remaining opponent, Cleo leaned towards the imp. His right foot moved to impact the ground, and he launched from it, drawing his katana in the same motion. If the imp wasn’t swift, it would lose its head to the sudden, jarring motion that almost instantly closed the gap between them.

Nihility|Shoggoth

Nihility narrowed her eyes at the imp with the business sense. If fighting could be avoided, especially with packs that can become quite a hindrance when trying to protect civilians at the same time, then diplomacy is the better option to take.


"The first one is at a special discount for you, if you want more, then you can tell your friends that we can sell it to them but at a fair price. We are merchants who wouldn't mind selling our wares but won't also hold back in defending them."

Nihility took a random liquid filled vial out of a crate from the back of the caravan and tossed it into the Imps lap.


Turning to Allison, the Vanguard confronted her, "Killing shouldn't always be the first option. We can benefit from making some allies on long journeys. You can put whatever price you want on your wares to sell to travelling customers as you see fit." Nihility nodded her head towards her demon partner who was lustfully eyeing the sleeping imps. "If they pose any hostility then Shoggoth here will deal with them without holding back."

"On the contrary I agree with Allison, I could just eat these precious babies up now and then do the same with any that follow." The purple demon smacked her lips while slowly sliding towards the imps.


Nihility gave the demon a dreadful stare before moving on.

~~~~
~~~~~~~


With the imps dealt with the caravan shifted to heading west, when a loud boom was heard from behind. Following the explosion, a cloud of red dust was vaguely visible in the distance from where Nihility stood watching. Sensing danger, the Vanguard quickly sent the location ping through her gauntlet and commanded her demon to check out and aid the other Vanguards if they were in trouble.

Using the Vanguard Gauntlet's communication feature, Nihility contacted the team over the air, "This is the Caravan Vanguard unit, in response of the explosion we just heard, I am sending my cute purple demon to aid you."


Shoggoth nodded and then shifted her slime body for fast travel. The previously spread out purple goo began to collect as the humanoid upper half submerged itself forming a condensed blob. Multitude of yellow eyes popped onto the surface followed by a protruding face with sharp Ivory teeth. The blob shrunk even further and angled itself towards the location of the dissipating dust. And then akin to the mechanics of a spring, the purple goo leaped forwards into the air with a huge force and landed quite the distance but maintaining the blob like shape and in a fluid motion, it once again pressed itself low and sprung out to cover another distance.


Not too many jumps later, Shoggoth spotted in the distance, two humans, one riding a giant Warg and the other flying a Zhen. They were being chased by a pack of large imps. Making one final leap, the slime demon expanded her body into a spread-out pizza-dough like shape with yellow glowing eyes that cast a huge shadow over the vanguard below. The green cloud that was quickly engulfing the human riding the warg seemed to get vacuumed towards the spinning mass and get absorbed into the body. As the Purple goo landed onto the ground into a massive puddle, it began collecting itself to reform into her massive shape with multiple heads and a single humanoid body.


"Ah, that was delicious. Had a nice taste of poison in it. Do you perchance have some more?" Shoggoth licked her lips and hungrily stared down the imps in the air. "My Vanguard partner isn't here right now so there's no holding me back in eating all of you flying morsels." She smacked her lips and the monstrous heads craned their neck while snapping their mouths and baring their sharp fangs.


An orb made from the same goo-like properties floated out of the demon's body and started to form sharp ridges in fluid motion all around. It was as if pointed spear heads could be shot out at any second from it.

Spoiler:

Slane Ruins

- Vayu -

Just as he managed to gain some height, there was a huge explosion behind him. The Zhen managed to escape from the dust and the debris.

Vayu stopped the Zhen, just hovering in the air. He could see his gauntlet light up with the ping, showing the location of the caravan train. A moment later he heard Nihility’s voice, informing him that she had sent her demon. His eyes drifted around.

He could Scarlet had made it out of the debris. Meanwhile Cleo was still trapped in it as Imps began to attack him.

And where the hell was Amira?

The large imp that was pursuing them, threw more vials. This time they contained a strange green dust. As soon as the vials burst on the ground, green smoke began to form. It rose up in a plume. As soon as the edges reached Vayu, he felt his eyes water. Quickly he directed the Zhen to rise out of reach. What ever that green dust formed, it couldn’t be good.

Then it appeared. A gooey mass that shifted into a demon form and seemed to absorb all the poisonous smoke. Vayu shuddered and suddenly he was glad he was far out of reach in the air.

“Your demon is here alright,” he replied through the gauntlet. His voice couldn’t hide that he was a little disturbed by it. “I’m moving towards your location now to provide additional protection for the caravans.”

He didn’t hesitate and turned his Zhen around to meet the caravan train, leaving the other three Vanguards and Shoggoth to fend off the rest of the imps.

------------------

It didn’t take him long to reach the caravan train. The Zhen sailed down, throwing up a light cloud of dust. Vayu jumped off and recalled the demon into his gauntlet.

He looked around until he recognized the other person with a Vanguard gauntlet. He strode up to her.

“I’m Vayu,” he said and looked around. The caravan train was moving at a decent speed. That didn’t mean the imps wouldn’t return soon.

“Amira, Scarlet, Cleo?” he asked into his gauntlet. “Can I get a status update from you?”

Amira

The red dust and heat engulfed Amira's body. It burns. Amira's body felt her body being lifted and soon found herself above the cloud of dust. Haita jumped high thanks to Amira's acceleration spell. And unlike Amira, Haita's body withstood the force, likely because he controlled the amount of force. Now above the cloud she could see the caravan and the group of imps as it flew after the train.
"That's..."

Haita could send her flying pass the imps and towards the train, but would that even work? The chances that the imps intercept is high. And even if she goes past, how would she land? Sure Haita would heal her back, but that would likely put him out for a while.
Haita's feet land on top of a nearby building. With the imps chasing the train it would be difficult to get pass them too.

"Haita keep your distance and follow the imps group."

Perhaps not the smartest decision she could do, should any of the imps notice, she would definitely be in hot waters. But she was confident that should worst come to happen she would be able to escape.

Slane Ruins

Scarlet shielded her eyes as Warg burst through the dust cloud caused by the collapsing building. She looked up at the imps in time to see the larger one making a throwing gesture.

"Warg! Left!" she shouted, tracking the object until it hit the ground in front of her and Bayu, emitting a cloud of green dust.

Warg scrabbled at the ground, changing their direction as they hit the edge of the cloud, avoiding plunging into it, but not before Scarlet got a lungful of the dust and began coughing.

By the time she had recovered, the cloud had disappeared. In its place was a massive demon. Scarlet reached for an arrow before pausing as the demon mentioned having a Vanguard partner.

Warg had stopped moving, baring its fangs at the imps above. Scarlet followed suit by loosing an arrow at the larger imp. "Sapping Shot!" she cried, imbuing the arrow with Maga as it flew towards the imp.

“Amira, Scarlet, Cleo? Can I get a status update from you?” Scarlet's gauntlet crackled as Vayu sent a message.

"I'm fighting some imps. There's also this demon that says it has a Vanguard partner," she replied.

Slanes Ruins - Near the Caravan (Nihility and Vayu)

"I don't see how people who try to kill us could be allies, but if you insist take this one instead."  Allison stated as she quickly pulled the vial out of the imps hand and turned so that  her back was towards the imp.

"Fool's Gold..." Allison muttered, as another identical vial was created one in both hands.

She briskly walked towards the caravan putting the original back in the caravan, and handed the imp the new vial that she just created.  The imp looked a little taken aback at first, but a kid like smile soon crossed his face, as he tossed the vial in the air and caught it in his wings.

"I like these ones, they make people act like they're drunk!" The imp said ecstatically, as he shook the water a bit and watched it swirl.  Though he looked puzzled for a few seconds and glanced over at Nihility with a big smile.

"You're a rare case, most people kill us like that angel"  The imp uttered before turning his head towards the caravan, his face changing to a look of concern, "You should leave, Dantès will be showing up soon, and he's scarier than you."

Suddenly, The imp jumped up in the air after that looking down at the two as he pulled out a familiar shiny gold coin snickering to himself a bit and then quickly flew towards the bigger imp.

"Annoying imps, always trying to trick you out of something..."  Allison uttered in annoyance, as she turned to face the girl who was rubbing her eyes like she had just woken up from a nap, "Mom, why are you talking about yourself?"

Aesop slipped a laugh in response, as Allison shot him a piercing glare in response with them both jumping when Vayu began talking with them both quickly turning around both looking more relieved.

"Thank heavens you're here Vanguard! apperently there's reinforcement coming and I don't think we can outrun them" The man stated, as he turned to Nihility and began commanding "Call the rest of your team here, we shouldn't stay much longer and we need to come up with a plan."

---

Middle Grounds (Scarlet and Shoggoth)

All the imps came to a grinding halt at the sight of Shoggoth, the smaller ones glancing around frantically while nervously playing with their hands.  Though, out of the corner of scarlet's eye another imp with a vial flew past the group who gave a quick glance at the larger imp with some smaller imps in tow.

"Oh look another hotshot demon boys!  Our favorite target to prank then kill!"  The large imp stated while the lesser imps looked around a little startled when the word kill was mentioned. The large imp pulled out a vial of light yellow dust and chucked it towards the arrow when the arrow connected with the dust and ignited a crystallize barrier popped out that rebounded the arrow back at Scarlet, as the imp gave him a passing glance.

"We're killing this demon vanguard, how about you run along and protect your caravan, while we deal with this nightmare!"  the imp yelled when suddenly two humans wearing horrible ragged clothing covered in bruises and marks burst through the windows of nearby buildings.  They quickly ran up to the Shogoth frantically swinging their blades around as two imps bolted down towards Shoggoth's side, grinding their claws across its side as they launched themselves back into the air behind the demon, swooping around for another attack.

---

In the sky (Amira)

Amira noticed as a few a imps flew towards her, they appeared to be cackling to each other but out of the corner of Amira's eyes she could see a imp with a vial give them a gesture and their expression grew more serious but excited.

"Hey, Vanguard chick.  Need a ride, your friend's scary demon is fighting big bro, might want to help." One of the imps called out, as the multiple imps approached Amira and latched onto her with their hands and began carrying her towards the fight so that she would find herself above the others.

----

Near Drop-off point (Cleo)

The three imps around Cleo were over come with terror, as they paused for a few seconds their smiles turning into a look of concern.  Their faces soon turned into absolute terror as the imps behind Cleo's head came clean off with a shriek, as the three began darting away from the Vanguard as quickly as possible.

The owl's above cleo were flapping their wings pushing away the rest of the burning debris, as Cleo could now see the fight unfolding between Shoggoth and the larger imp group along with some humans who were helping the imps.

"We can take you to the caravan, we only ask you wait a bit for our contact to show up."  The female sounding owl stated, ignoring the fight that was happening in front of them, as the other owl chimed in a more gruff and masculine voice, "The rest of your group is almost there as well, you shouldn't concern yourself with those imps.  They won't pose a threat to our contact, and will be purged like the filth they are when he comes.."

- Cleo -

Cleo flicked his katana in the open air, throwing the imp’s blood from the blade. The hilt issued another harsh chime as it came to a sudden halt, and the dark liquid splattered on the ground, leaving the edge pristine once more.

As the other three imps fled in fear, Cleo flipped the katana over and slid it back into its sheath. “I’m dealing with a minor pest problem.” He responded to Vayu’s message before turning in the direction of the caravan.

All around them, chaos seemed to have ensued. It hadn’t been his intention to abandon the group completely, but none of them seemed to have stuck together amidst the explosion. Muttering a curse under his breath, he scanned the horizon for Scarlet, who mentioned fighting off a pack of imps.

Again, a female voice called out to him, and Cleo worked out the source, now that the dust had settled somewhat. This “contact” sounded ominous, but getting back to the group was the priority.

“I’ll keep my feet on the ground, if you don’t mind.” Cleo responded as he moved towards where Scarlet and the amorphous demon seemed to be taking on a pack of imps. “But your assistance was appreciated.” He continued, referring to the clearing of the dust so that he could deal with the imps.

Nihility|Shoggoth



"That sounds like somewhat useful information, I mean we don't really know who this Dante character is, and if he will be a friend or foe, but still, best be on our guard." The pale skin lady replied to the merchant Allison's remark.



Upon the arrival of the new Vanguard, Nihility returned Vayu's greeting and informed him about the imp's warning, "Glad you could make it. Nihility is the name, and I was hoping for my demon to escort all of you here." The Vanguard looked over the guy's shoulder in the direction he had arrived from. "Well, it is fine, Shoggoth can take care of herself, plus there should still be a few others with her."

The two Vanguards continued to lead the Caravan into a hiding enclosure in the distance ahead. "One of the imps we managed to converse with, informed us of the imminent arrival of someone named Dante. It felt quite worried or concerned, scared even, so we should be on the lookout and really hope we have all Vanguards regrouped by the time and prepared for anything."


~~~~
~~~~~~~


As the two human bandits rushed towards the slime demon, Shoggoth grew even more excited. "Isn't this just splendid? Food keeps throwing itself at me."


The bandit's bladed weapons sunk into Shoggoth's body and in return their wrists got caught in the goo as tendrils coiled around, snaking their way up the arms, pulling them closer in like quick sand in a muddy swamp "Yes my precious desert, keep struggling."

Shoggoth activated her Gluttony and began feeding on the bandits and the imps that got close, healing herself in the process. Because of their high agility and only skimming at her sides, she couldn't properly latch onto the pesky imps but that didn't stop her from firing of volleys of shots at their wings and bodies with her bio-tool, aiming to maim their wings.


Shoggoth shouted out a suggestion loudly towards the other vanguards. "We need to get those bags away from the imps and returned to the Merchants before they can waste all the stuff inside.'

Without access to the vials, the Vanguards needn't worry about random stuff being thrown at them and focus mainly on taking out the imps.

Slane Ruins

- Vayu -

Vayu watched the Imp fly away, more concerned with its words than actions. “Agreed. I’d rather avoid an encounter with this Dante character,” he replied to Nihility.

A man and woman approached them, clearly relieved to see him and then proceeded to tell Nihility to call in the rest of the team. Vayu shrugged.

“At any rate, I suggest you keep moving,” Vayu said to them nonchalantly. “I don’t understand why you stopped in the first place. Hiding isn’t going to solve your problems. You’re just wasting time and daylight.”

“I’ll keep sending out location to you,” he relayed to the other Vanguards. “Just re-group and get over here. It doesn’t sound like the Imps are our main problem. Apparently, reinforcements are on the way.”

Despite his calm demeanor, he frequently glanced around. Better safe than sorry.