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 Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 5:10 pm
Quote: Out of Season (13) : One would think that winter would be dismal and gray, and after each snowfall there's a hefty dose of white covering up the world. Except, all winter bright patches of wildflowers begin sprouting straight through the frost--as if spring has decided to push its way into winter a few months early. Blues, pinks, yellows, and purples bloom in vivid clusters, warming the landscape with bursts of color that look impossibly alive against the cold. The flowers behave exactly like their normal spring counterparts--soft petals, gentle fragrance, and even suitable for tea or simple crafts. They’re simply appearing far too early. Whether it’s a harmless anomaly or a sign of something stirring beneath the seasons, the sudden blossoms bring an unexpected beauty to the winter chill.
Unfortunately, Chaos had other ideas.
The creature that slunk out of the darkness was, mercifully, only as large as the beast it patterned itself after. Long and slender, it looked a bit like a wolverine--though this wolverine boasted particularly long fangs and massive antlers that looked taken from an elk or moose, rather than a deer. It also boasted a snarling temper, and a lot of speed.
Carterhaugh's wisp had ducked away, and the monster launched itself at him, sending him running and hoping that there might be someone who could assist. He could fele another bright aura nearby, and so it seemed prudent ot yell.
"Help!"
Was it a little pathetic for a Squire to be calling for assistance with a youma? Maybe. But he was also armed with only a crystal rose and a can-do attitude, and neither of those was going to help against slavering fangs.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 7:52 pm
Odain was headed towards an area that had been rumored to have a place that was very out of season for all the snow and cold they'd been having. Her shawl over her arms to help keep the chill off she paused when she felt a youma and an order signature.
It was unsuspecting to have run into a youma in this sort of weather, but not totally unsurprising. What was surprising was she'd heard the word help and she paused, did she recognize that voice?
She thought she did but she didn't want to jump to conclusions. So instead she jumped into action pulling her arrows from their subspace and ran towards the energy signatures and the person calling for help. "Halt, you monsterous villain!"
She couldn't help but yell. She placed her arrow on the magical bow string and shot it in the air, she'd noticed Carterhaugh running, "Carterhaugh! Cover your eyes!" She called as she fired the arrow hoping to blind the wolverine youma in order to buy some time to find something fairly more useful.Quote: Squire: Bamboo Arrows with Star Shaped Heads At this stage Odain's Arrow's have a vaguely pointed star shaped arrow heads, basically everything's slightly rounded off instead of sharp and pointy; at this level she has bamboo arrows that can still break but not as easily as the reed arrows. Odain can throw the arrows, bonk someone on the head with them or shoot them using her Bow. -Magic: Odain can aim her arrow up into the air and shoot her arrow. At this point it looks like a shooting star/firework flying into the air, when it reaches a midpoint the arrow bursts into a bright blinding light that covers a radius of 15 foot. With in this radius anyone in the 10 foot radius of the light burst are temporarily blinded; anyone further than 10 foot range from temporary blindness* to seeing stars for a short time after the light burst. Vision starts to slowly come back after the burst of light has ended and is fully back with in 10 seconds** from the end of the light burst. (The Light burst at it's longest can last 30 seconds. Or Odain can choose to break it up in shorter bursts depending on her need. *Temporary blindness is considered if the target(s) aren't wearing eye protection such as sun glasses - if sun glasses are worn effects are lessened **10 seconds: is the longest recovery time if a character was closest to the light burst.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 9:26 pm
Carterhaugh winced, just a little, hearing that very...dramatic cry. But at least he had backup, and he was pretty sure he knew that voice, so he turned and grinned when he recognized the sparkly, skimpy rainbow in front of him.
"Odain!" He greeted, and now that he had backup, he called on his own magic--a little extra boldness didn't necessarily seem like it was needed, but it was an extra gird against the thing's teeth seeming a little too scary to fight.
Though clearly, Odain didn't need it, and the warning came just in time--the bright light that lit up the battlefield was still noticeable even though Carterhaugh took the warning, squeezing his eyes shut and turning away.
The wolverine-elk youma creature, which had turned its attention to the new threat, seemed startled by the sudden magic--though it had started to move towards Odain, the sudden, blinding light made it make a noise that was, somehow, a cross between a bellow and an elk's trumpet. It scrambled backwards, and tumbled over its own hind claws, seeming confused by the sudden bright light.
"I don't have a decent weapon," Carterhaugh called, "but can you stab it with one of those arrows of yours? Or something?" He'd caught the briefest glimpse of what she was holding--hopefully thay could be weaponized a little better than a crystal flower. Quote: Magic: Carterhaugh concentrates, and their rose glows with a soft golden light. The area around them is filled with the scent of roses, and allies within eight feet of Carterhaugh feel bolder and more virtuous, as if they could face any fears. Carterhaugh can channel for up to 30 seconds at this stage.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 10:32 pm
Oddain grinned when the other said her name and she gave a quick nod hello. The youma was already headed towards her but she was glad she was able to fire off an arrow first.
However when Carterhaugh asked if she could use her arrows to do something there was a light chuckle, "They might put out an eye?"
She said with a quick shrug and while the creature was temporarily blinded she charged in swinging a fist. She could try to use the arrow though it felt wrong, " Hey Carterhaugh, see if you can locate a trash can lid or a stick of some sort, would you please~? I'll keep it distracted." She aimed her fist at it's face. She had the arrow in the other hand - following up with that to it's side if it didn't move. As she tried to watch it's teeth, claws and antlers.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 11:17 pm
"Good enough!" Carterhaugh said. "But hitting it with your fists will probably do just as well."
But her suggestion was a good one, so Carterhaugh tucked his rose into his corset and scrabbled around in the snow until he found a decent, solid branch. It wasn't a magical weapon, but it would have to do, and he ran in, bringing it down on the wolverine-elk's back as hard as he could, which made it yowl-bellow again and start snapping, blindly, at the branch that came down on its back.
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Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 11:36 pm
Odain nodded and grinned, as Carterhaugh came back with a branch to smack the creatur with. "Ah! Yes that works well."
She watched the creature snap blindly and she aimed a kick towards it's stomach. She was hoping her platform heels would give it a nice little oomph to the kick.
"You know sometimes I wish we could mount these things once we beat them." She said hoping they could dust it sooner rather than later. While t was keeping her warm fighting it she would've rather been looking at pretty out of season flowers.
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2025 12:43 am
"No idea where I'd put it," Carterhaugh said. The thought of hunting trophies didn't particularly appeal to him, but that wasn't the point, really.
He got his branch under the creature's stomach, in between the rain of blows from Odain's platform heels, and flipped it, sending it tumbling over in the snow. The creature yowled the entire way, until it smacked into a tree and disintegrated into dust.
"And there we go," he sighed. "Ugh, I hate those beasties. Such a pain in the a**."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2025 12:55 am
Odainsaker seemed to think about what she would do with a weird youma trophy, "I'd probably just make a prop out of it for my cosplay and larping sessions."
When the youma was dusted she gave a clap and grinned, "Well done, that was a nice branch too!"
She was looking at it giving a nod. She looked around, "Well since that's done - have you see any flowers out here? I've heard there's some that are out of season." There was a grin, "I've been looking for them and perhaps thinking about getting some hot chocolate now after all that."
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Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2025 1:01 am
"Thanks," Carterhaugh said. "My weapon and magic are no good for this sort of thing, but it's true that a big stick is eternal." He laughed a little.
"And what a coincidence. I did see exactly those flowers, right before the youma found me. Come on,. I'll take you to them."
At least they'd get something nice out of tonight.
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