Standard Mission: Tainted Oasis of Rostol

Oasis – Island Caverns
- Vayu -

Vayu was in the process of carrying out a freed villager into the tunnel they came from when the water suddenly began to stir. Two claws slowly emerged from the water and another elemental creature rose from it.

The Vodyanik and the villagers began to react to the creature and Vayu heeded Zephyr’s warning and jumped up on the altar to avoid the water.

When Zephyr asked for it, he cast his Synchro Gift, wondering how many more times Zephyr could take being buffed into overdrive in one day.

He kept his eyes on the newly emerged spirit, who demanded the core and suddenly shrank when a flame erupted.

“Jack Frost, follow that up with another Frost Bite,” Vayu ordered in light of Zephyr’s last attack and with an oddly cheery “Hee-ho” despite the grueling scene, the demon jumped into action.

Meanwhile Vayu continued to carry out more villagers.

Scarlet - Island Caverns

Scarlet noted the presence of the elfen woman from earlier, but focused on helping the villagers since she appeared to be unconscious. Zephyr's shout and the sound of moving water drew her attention to a form rising out of the water. She scrambled out of the water, carrying the villager she was helping with her.

Zephyr began his attack, with Vayu buffing him. Lacking direct methods of buffing her allies, Scarlet continued to pull villagers out of the water, Warg standing guard with hackles raised, ready to pounce at the elemental should it make a move towards the Vanguards rescuing the villagers.

Oasis - Island Caverns

The strange elemental creature's bizarre and fluid limbs began contorting in a rage, growing and shrinking with each instant, less stable by the second. More and more of these eldritch limbs began to sprout out of the creature's body, as it finally looked more like some kind of deep sea horror that had crawled its way to the surface.

With a menacing roar bellowing out of the creatures mouth, a surge of maga as dense as fog erupted from its body slamming into each of the vanguards, as Zeyphr felt him lose his breath for a moment from the sheer force emitted from the creature.

"Rolling tides!" The creature yelled, as the unstable form of the crazed creature suddenly dispersed into a fearsome tidal wave that erupted towards the vanguards. The ice spells that was fired slammed into the water stopping the waves for a a split-second, a moment of relief, but the ice quickly crumbled beneath the vast amount of water and pressure pouring from where the creature once stood.

Zeyphr felt some of the water seeping into his weapon with his swing, as the waves flowed into it like a raging current being pulled into a drain that just opened up. That drain quickly flooded though, as he felt his arms give out and the waves slam into him, dragging him towards the other vanguards and villagers.

But strangely, The waves slowed for a moment, as another flame shot through the water causing some of it to evaporate, causing the waves to recede slightly. Zeyphr was freed for a moment, however, he felt the flame hit him, as it felt like a searing flame just torn into his body and his mind began to ache in pain and his guard falter but half of the flame seeped into his weapon....

"Oh mighty spirit, save us..." Scarlet heard muttered from a middle aged woman she was pulling out of the remnants of water, as a surge of maga erupted inside the waves, causing them to recover and began flowing towards the vanguards again.

Oasis – Island Caverns
- Vayu -

Vayu watched with growing fascination how the creature began to grow and contort until it finally released a burst of maga towards them.

He staggered a few steps back before regaining his bearing, just in time to see the tidal wave race towards them.

“Arcane Barrier” he cast, preventing the wave from reaching him, Scarlet and some of the villagers. Unfortunately, Zephyr and Jack Frost were too far away to be covered by the spell.

“Jack Frost!” he called his demon to attention, who was still upset that his ice spell had been obliterated by the water.

“Yes?” he asked, jumping up and down in the water, seemingly unaffected by it.

“Get in there with your Ice Bullet,” Vayu ordered when he saw that the water was swelling again. Luckily, the barrier spell would outlast it.

Jack Frost immediately began to aim his spells at the flame.

Scarlet - Island Caverns

Scarlet stumbled as the wave of Maga hit her, but she managed to keep her footing, keeping the villager she was helping from falling. She looked back to see a tidal wave rush towards them, only to be intercepted by Vayu's barrier.

"Thanks!" she shouted, continuing to help the villager up towards the rest of the group.

"Oh mighty spirit, save us..." the villager muttered something as they got out of the water.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet asked, turning to look at her. "Do you know what thing is? How can we beat it?"

Seeing the water pooling up again, Warg leapt forward, landing next to Jack Frost. With a roar, he cast Frosty Breath at the oncoming wave in an attempt to keep the pair from being hit.

Zephyr Arc - Island Caverns

The creature swelled like some mutant balloon, and then erupted in a wave before his spear could reach, pushing Zephyr back. Quickly holding his breath, he stabbed his spear into the ground to brace himself until the water passed.

As he felt Devourer swallow some of the water, a strange flame appeared, evaporating much of the rest. He found it odd that his Spell Eater activated considering the power of the beast, but it provided him with information on how each of the spells that just hit him worked, though it seemed he didn't get a charge for either.

"I think it's incomplete, this thing's getting weaker! Spirit, Ludo, keep that core safe. We can do this." He called to his companions as he steadied himself on his feet. Cherry hovered over and cast her Protection of the Fae on him before rushing off to tend to the villagers again. Seeing as Zephyr had only one buff on him, she'd decided he couldn't overload himself even with her buff.

"Thanks." He commented before leaping back up to the ceiling and lunging for the creature while using his weapons to dig into it.

Oasis - Island Caverns

The sharp ice bullets and chilling icy breath impacting with the flood as Vayu and Scarlet saw the water freezing under the chilling aura of their spells just like before, however this time the ice seemed to work! Instead of being crushed under the force of the waves the water simply flowed over the block of ice leaving it behind as the creature seemed to grow even smaller.

"Enough!" The creature yelled with an almighty roar that erupted from waves like something had just dived into the water.

Suddenly, the creature's main body erupted from the waves, as a fierce gust of wind suddenly pulled all the water back into the creature.  A creature was now holding a giant staff in its right hand that it had pulled out of the water with it.  It pulled its arm back and swung the staff at Vayu in a quick forward arc slamming against Vayu's barrier from the side.  The force caused the exorcist to be pushed back with pain rocketing through Vayu's body.  However, they felt a pang of rage slip through them, not enough to lose control, but suddenly everyone around them just annoyed them.

The creature's furious rage worked in Zeyphr's favor, as he plunged the blade into the back of the creature.  It let out a pained yell, quickly swiping at the vanguard with his right arm knocking Zeyphr in front of the shrine next to the odd sleeping elf holding the gauntlet of corrupted water.

"He's powered by prayers... Human prayers are more potent... so we..." The villager manically muttered to Scarlet with a hint of guilt, as his eyes opened wide in awe as he watched the vanguards fight the creature, almost like a fly was fighting a human and somehow winning.

A loud crack erupted frozen wall behind the vanguards that Vayu had froze from earlier, as slight opening erupted in the ice just enough for the fish to see through.  The vanguards could only make out the few eyes of the Voldyanik through the opening, as another loud bang could be heard.

"Prayers... Don't let them in!  If those creatures get in here his power will amplify even further." The old lake spirit yelled, as he began to hold his hand up to the ice wall, gathering his maga to prepare for some kind of spell.

Oasis - Island Caverns

Vayu

With a loud roar, the creature pulled the water back and was suddenly holding a giant staff.

It began to attack him, eventually smashing the protective barrier. Vayu braced himself for the next attack. Pain shot through his body, but at the same time, he grabbed the staff and held on tight.

He wanted to prevent the creature from using it and as long as it focused on him, the others would have an opening to attack it. Zephyr plunged into an attack, but the creature knocked him away easily.

Vayu tightened his grip, seeing that the ice began to crack at the far end of the cavern and the Vodyanik were beginning to push through. The words of the old lake spirit reached him through all the commotion.

"Jack Frost," he pressed through his gritted teeth. "Take care of those demons." Without check if his demon followed up, he focused back on the water creature before him.

Jack Frost jumped towards the frozen water and the Vodyanik amd released another ice spell.

Scarlet - Island Caverns

"Wait, human prayers are powering it?" Scarlet's head snapped to the villager that spoke. "But why would..."

She didn't get a chance to continue the conversation as the old lake spirit warned them about the Voldyaniks, with Jack Frost moving to intercept them. Thinking her arrows would be ineffective against the water spirit, Scarlet ran towards the ice wall, coming to a stop next to Jack Frost.

"Warg! Help Vayu and Zephyr!" she ordered, readying her bow to shoot through any larger gaps in the wall.

Meanwhile, Warg bounded towards the water spirit, latching onto it with a Rending Bite.

Zephyr Arc - Caverns

Zephyr managed to land a good blow before being shaken off, landing next to the strange elf creature. His sight fell onto the goblet, or more precisely the water within. He remembered what happened when he'd been splashed with it. Something clicked when he heard the issue of the prayers and the fish. With a devilish grin, he swept the goblet, making sure none got on him, and beelined for the crack in the ice, splashing the water on the other side through the crack. "Jack Frost, quickly seal it up!" he told the little demon.

Whether or not it hit all of them, he was accurate enough to hit at least a couple of the Vodyanik. As the foremost authority on berserking, he could guarantee a rampaging creature couldn't pray... Plus it should buy them enough time to both seal the crack and finish the enemy. Pretty hard to break into a room while dealing him raging friends, even if you're fully willing to kill them. Once he'd instructed Jack Frost, grabbed his spear and rushed towards the strange water monstrosity again, only now casting a third buff on himself; Boost.

Oasis - Island Caverns

"They threatened us!  If we didn't pray... we'd just end up as that black water!" The man cried in a fit of maddening hysteria, tears of guilt and fear rolled down his cheeks.

The other confused and scared villagers slowly awake from the commotion, but all of them seemed too weak to move.  Some simply opened their eyes and glanced around in terror, as their bodies could only tremble in fear.  Only Hector seemed to making progress, as he slowly placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself back onto his feet.

"You're the the vanguards I saw with Reina?  Thank god you're here, let me..." Hector weakly stated with as he began to push himself back up onto his feet before suddenly falling back to the ground with an pained and annoyed grunt.

Though there wasn't time,Zeyphr pulled the corrupted goblet out of the demonic elf's grasp he felt an surge of terror wash over him.  It didn't stop him since he didn't touch the water, but for a moment he felt like he saw the eyes of the elf on him before he was snapped back to reality at the makeshift ice wall with Jack Frost.

The black water from the goblet the Zeyphr flew out of the cup as it splashed on the various Vodyanik.  The ones who were protected from the splash began to panic, as they backed away from the group that were now corrupted... nimbly leaping away with a thwack of their tails off the cavern grounds.

The ones who were hit with the corruption began to slowly raise their eyes towards where the hole was before it was sealed off again by Jack frost, as the ice attack further sealed the wall just in time.  A ferocious wave of electric energy went haywire behind the ice causing the various vanguard's hairs on their skin to stand on end, prickling with the current.  Pained gasps of the Vodyanik roared out, as the sound of brawling broke out behind the ice wall.

"You!" The spirit yelled in fury, as all its focus seemed to be straight on Zeyphr the moment he touched the goblet.  Warg took the chance to swoop in from the side, as it latched onto the right arm of the spirit, pulling it away from his staff. Now with Vayu holding onto the staff the creature wasn't able to overpower the vanguard as he gave up and dropped the staff to the ground pulling away so he could defend himself from Zeyphr's attack.

The creature tried to dodge to the side but thanks to the boost and speed Zeyphr was able to get through rending a large gash in the side of the creature's waste as some kind of glowing blue fluid began to seep out of the wound.

"Now!  He's weak enough!" The lake spirit yelled from above as he held out his hand, "Resonating Dark!"

A sudden surge of black snakes erupted from the lake spirit's hand as all the vanguards, felt a dark aura flowing through their bodies that seemed to cradle around their maga. They felt protected, like they could handle even the largest tidal wave that the creature could throw at them.

"No! No!  Rolling tides!" The creature desperately yelled, as it slowly began to disperse back into a flood of water.

Zephyr Arc - Caverns

Zephyr rushed the creature, and with Vayu keeping it's staff held in place, managed to get a large and nasty gash on it's side. As he drew back for another strike, both the lake spirit and the creature let out their own spells.

The lake spirit's spell hit first, apparently hurting the creature while giving them a feeling of protection. This lead Cherry to curse under her breath as she positioned herself behind Zephyr. The creature then released the same spell it had previously, though it was now clearly much weaker.

As a result of the lake spirit's spell buffing his defense, Zephyr's Overdrive went over limit, inflicting him with the berserker ailment. Being mid-swing already anyway, this Along with the new buff itself ensured Zephyr didn't even flinch as he the rolling tides hit him dead in the face, slashing at the core of the creature like a juggernaut. His rapidly enlarging spear made dodging very near to impossible mid-rolling tides.

Oasis – Island Caverns
- Vayu -

Vayu tossed the staff away when the creature moved to dodge Zephyr’s attack.

It wasn’t until Zephyr wounded the demon, that he was able to take a look around. The villagers slowly seemed to recover while the corrupted water was splashed over the Vodyanik, still stuck behind the barrier of ice.

The original lake spirit released some kind of protection spell at the same time as the corrupted spirit released its rolling tide spell. He glanced over to Zephyr just in time to see him attack the corrupted spirit once again.

“Confusion Wave,” he cast towards the spirit to inhibit his ability to dodge even more. Vayu drew his katana, more as a precaution, should the corrupted spirit escape unfazed from Zephyr’s assault.

Scarlet - Island Caverns

With the Voldyanik sealed behind a fresh wall of ice, Scarlet ran back to the recovering villagers, helping Hector up to his feet.

"Take it easy there," she said to him, looking back at how the fight was progressing. The lake spirit cast a defensive spell on the Vanguards, allowing the others to withstand the water spirit's next attack.

Seeing her companions press the attack, Scarlet waited for a clear shot. "Sapping shot!" she cried as she loosed an arrow at the water spirit.

Oasis - Island Caverns

With a loud crack of intense and furious maga emitted from Vayu's hands, and a quick passionate shot fired from Scarlet's bow the two spells erupted at intense speed towards the hostile and injured creature.  The confusion wave hit first, as the creature began to reel slightly from the confusion wave stumbling around for a few moments, stalling it just long enough for the sapping shot to hit, slamming right into its core as a loud crack could be heard.

"M-my core, I can't." The creature cried in a desperate plea, as Zeyphr drew closer and all the vanguards could see a look that almost seemed like genuine fear appear on its face, as quickly held its unstable arms in front of its core to protect it.

"It's not fair, you've already killed me before!  I earned this life!" The creature yelled, but it didn't disturb the vanguard at all, as his blade grew closer and closer.

The creature let out an ear piercing scream, as Zeyphr slit his blade into the crack formed by the arrow using the damage done to tear apart and shatter the core.  Thick steam like maga began to erupt from the core, clouding the air in the cavern with a thick and discomforting mist.

"Let's go!  All that maga might compromise the caverns... We should be fine as long as we're quick" Ludo yelled, as the creature began to dissolve into water that began to slowly fill up the room.  The comatose eleven body beginning to go under the water as it appeared some of the thick maga had flowed back into the demonic elf, as she began to stir a bit before the water began to slowly cover her.

Some injured Vodyanik began climbing their way out past the ice wall as well, though the ones remaining didn't seem concerned with the vanguards they were more focused on finding a way out and securing their lives.

The lake spirit quickly dropped down, as it began picking up villagers and quickly moving them back into the hole where they entered to safety, ushering the vanguards to follow suit with one of the golden snakes peering out of the lake spirit's hair signaling the vanguards to hurry up with a strange ushering wiggle.

Oasis – Island Caverns
- Vayu -

With their combined efforts they managed to destroy the core. The Vodyanik paid no attention to them as they fled the cave.

Vayu continued to help the weakened villagers out of the caverns through the maga mist.

“Zephyr! Did you see what happened to the elf?” he asked him, wondering if he had recovered from all the buffs.

“Scarlet, nice shot,” he commented on her previous attack and together they helped Hector stand up.

Scarlet - Island Caverns

Scarlet winced as the water spirit screamed, covering her ears with her hands. Withe the water spirit defeated, the party quickly made their way towards the exit.

She helped a couple of the less mobile villagers onto Warg's back, the demon giving a huff of discontent at being used like a pack animal.

"Sorry about this, it's just until we get out of here," Scarlet comforted her demon.

"Thanks!" she said in response to Vayu's compliment, giving him a quick smile.

Zephyr Arc - Caverns

With the combined attacks of his companions slowing it down, the creature was unable to react as Zephyr bore down on it. The fear on its face and its begging may have given anyone else pause, but Zephyr didn't even so much as flinch as he deftly lunged his spear into its core. He remained unphased by its screaming as he then ripped the core apart.

As the thick Maga mist erupted from the shattered core, Cherry took the chance and swiftly whacked Zephyr in the back of the head with a fist full of Mercy Wind, purging the berserk ailment and knocking him to his knees. "Ouch." He grunted out, getting back up to a pouting Pixie. His body ached from the abuse it had been through as he started making for the villagers.

"Not after I snatched the chalice..." He replied to Vayu as he grabbed several villagers and began moving them out of the cave they were in.

Oasis - Island Caverns

At the mention of the demonic sleeping elf the vanguards could make out the woman still stuck at the bottom of the water.  Her eyes opened, as panic filled her face, various Vodyanik paused and looked at her for a few moments as if it they were considering saving her.  Though, a giant hunk of rock slammed into the center of the room, as the Vodyanik scattered and the vanguards view of the elf vanished.

The little girl villager quickly glanced back with a look of concern, as the variety of villagers that seemed to notice her gaze responded with a combination of indifference, or disgust.  Though, the majority of them seemed to be more focused on escape, weakly moving forward as they latched onto the vanguards for assistance.

"She's the reason that corrupted chalice showed up, don't worry about her" Hector harshly commented, as he pushed his way away from the vanguards his strength suddenly renewed and grabbed the girl pulling her with the rest of the group.  

The group quickly pushed their way through the tunnels they had dug earlier, as everyone began popping their heads out of the top, the light from the various golden snakes lighting the way.  They managed to find their way back to the shrine with all the glistening offerings.  When the ground below the vanguards began to rumble....

"Without the offerings, I won't be able to sustain the barrier for a while and recasting it over the village is difficult... We need to grab some." The spirit commented, as various snakes began to slithering over to the treasure.

"Forget that, we can handle the desert creatures for a while, what's important is the villagers.  We should learn to not be reliant on a single demon, those Vodyanik were desperate but intelligent...  I found some that didn't follow the nutcases... we can use them!" Hector commented

"We could also use the water elementals, I might be able to come up with something that isn't so unstable.  We could also interrogate the elf and figure out what the Vodyanik were doing." Ludo quickly chimed in as they began look among the vanguards for answers.

Spoiler:

Zephyr Arc - Caverns | B) Focus on gathering treasure

As they got the villagers out and made to scurry out of the cavern, Zephyr saw the look on the girl's face. It was an odd but familiar look. He followed her gaze to the elf. For whatever inexplicable reason, he was possessed with an impulse and drew on what little maga he had left to cast his buffs one last time as he also grew his arms and spear as far out as he possibly could, hooking the spear to the cavern they were escaping to and reaching out to grab the elf before the tides got her. He couldn't reasonably allow a child to wear such an expression.

His endeavor done successful, Zephyr surfaced, putting his wet and confused prized catch on the cavern floor. "The spirit is right, I vote we look for more offerings. As much as you'd like to think the demons could be handled 'for a while', we have no idea how long that while will be, and even my friends and I can't protect everyone from large numbers of demons for very long. Even that's not considering the fact that we're all probably running on fumes by now."

Oasis – Island Caverns
- Vayu - B Focus on gathering the treasure

Vayu pointed the villagers that were with them towards the exit.

“Focus on getting out,” he said and added towards the Spirit. "Lead them out. Let us worry about the offerings,” he said and gestured over to the Vanguards. He agreed that saving the barrier was more important that saving a few villagers. Especially if that prevented the rest of the village from being devoured by the desert demons.

Zephyr used some of his last reserves to rescues the elf and Vayu still wasn’t sure if that was a wise choice.

“Jack Frost,” he called the demon over. “Take care of her,” he pointed at the elf and the demon jumped over to the elf with a jingle, lifting her motionless body up.

“Jack Frost will hee-hoo take her to the surface!”

Vayu suppressed impulse to roll his eyes and instead returned his attention to the offering, ignoring Ludo’s suggestion in the process.

Having only cast a few spells during the fight, he had a rather large reserve left and cast his Synchro Gift to increase his own speed and agility and began to collect part of the offerings.

Scarlet - Island Caverns

A) Focus on saving the lives of the villagers

The group shepherded the villagers out of the cavern back towards the surface. As the passed the room full of offerings, the lake spirit requested they gather the offerings to help sustain the barrier, which the othr Vanguards seemed to agree on. Scarlet glanced at the villagers and their various states of injury. The barrier was important, but if there happened to be any more hostile demons about, they may be in danger... It would probably be best if they had more than one escort.

"I'll go with the villagers, make sure they get back safe, in case there are any more dangers," she declared to the rest of the party. She would stay if they objected, but she wouldn't feel comfortable with that decision, given the previous ambushes that had occurred since they had entered the village.

Oasis - Island Caverns

The little girl's sad expression seemed to lighten with a light sweet smile when Zeyphr nimbyl saved the woman with his fisherman acts that would rival Hector.  The little girl seemed to stick to stick by Zeyphr's side, attached by the hip.

Vayu and Zeyphr began moving over to begin gathering the offers, the girl quietly walked over to the vanguard, as he was gathering a bunch of treasure, helping him gather some along side him.  Struggling to hold all the treasure in her arms at once, before a loud rumble from the caverns scared her off towards the exit.

"Thank you, with the offerings we should be able to sustain the barrier." The spirit thanked Zeyphr and Vayu with a light nod.  Various snakes began to move back as they were all holding treasure quickly slithering towards the exit.

"Though, now that my shrine is falling apart, I don't know how villagers would react to the fact a demon is the cause of their barrier." The spirit commented, his eyes jolting towards the spirit.

"Especially the mayor, that woman has always been a control freak, it's why we shouldn't rely on you.
She'll just use you for her order." Hector stated with a loud huff.

"We can talk about your independence afterwards.... for now we should keep the barrier, chaos would ensue otherwise... while you may be ready for this Hector not everyone else is." The spirit stated firmly to Hector, as he simply gave a firm nod.

Hector looked like he was about to say something, but the water began to seep into the shrine, as everyone rushed out of the room and climbed out the shrine back onto the open island, the dead bodies of Voldyanik now piled up as a few guards and the mayor stood there examining the vanguards as they climbed out.

Scarlet who had been protecting the villagers noticed an overly formal woman and her guards piling up the bodies, as they were examining the area.  She slowly turned her gaze towards Scarlet, as her eye glared with a look of annoyance, a formerly captured villager standing next to her.

"Ugh, Scarlet don't let her have the elf!" Dantes suddenly called out inside Scarlet's mind at the same time she felt Jack Frost appear behind her with a light Hee-Hoo, as the appearance of the elf seemed to interest the mayor even further.

"Hand that demon over, and I assume the spirit is down there?  Hand him over too.  Then leave, your task is complete and I'll give you a positive review.... provided you leave now" The mayor demanded, as the voice echoed into the caverns down below for the vanguards and spirit to heart, as extreme worry soon covered the spirit's face.

Spoiler:

Oasis – Island
- Vayu -

They fled the caverns and managed to make it out with enough offerings to sustain the barrier and all the villagers.

Outside they were greeted by a woman and some guards.

Vayu casually stepped forward, much like he’d done when the guards had demanded that Ludo accompanied them. He made a point of moving between the woman and her guard and the still unconscious elf that was being protected by Jack Frost.

He crossed his arms.

“You must be the mayor,” he stated. “The one who was too busy to actually greet us.”

“We don’t care about your review,” he said, “We will leave when we think our task is complete. I don’t give a **** about what you think. You weren’t even here, so what insights could you possibly have?”

Zephyr Arc - Island

Once they were outside, an oddly irritating looking woman strode up and started making demands like she thought the world owed her. Zephyr looked back and forth between her and the girl that had been stuck to his side. His expression darkened as he fixed his gaze back on the woman who was most likely the mayor.

He strode over and casually picked up the unconscious elf, slinging her over his shoulder. "Review? Don't worry, we'll be writing out reports on how you withheld information and had your little toy soldiers hinder our investigation. Now I suggest moving out of the way." He added to Vayu's own rebuttal. Next, he craned his neck to face the rescued villagers, wet hair somewhat covering his features. "I'd suggest a new mayor since this one is clearly faulty."