10:00 PM

Tafyaf's eyes blink as he spots a flare of firelight streaking through the sky outside a nearby window. "...Reached the fort, it seems. Things about about to get interesting, yes."

The gnoll is interrupted from his musing as he finds himself pushed back onto a cot by a black-haired elf. "Stop worrying about what's going on outside and let me finish patching you up, dammit. What were you thinking, going so far south on your own?"

"Not alone!" The scout whines slightly as a cut on his arm is magically mended by Grayana's skills. "Had Scout Greenbell with me, yes. And we made it back with the information we needed! Heroes that makes us, really, I think."

"Heroism is for anonymous strangers. Boyfriends should be more concerned about coming back alive. ...At least it's all minor, I suppose. Is it really that bad out there?"

"Worse, probably. Doubt the Dragonlord intends to conquer one tiny village and stop there. Will have many more troops following behind, probably. But still at a scale we can fight for now, I believe." The man sits back up and clenches his fist. "Speaking of - am I cleared for duty, Combat Medic Goldleaf?"

The stern-faced medic sighs. "I suppose you are. And I'll go out there with you - if the fort itself is under attack, I'll need to see to dragging some other fools back here rather shortly."

Tafyaf grabs up the bow and quiver that had been left beside his cot, and Grayana ensures that her wand and dagger are properly sheathed on her belt. Thus armed, the pair make their way out into the main yard of the Grassbrook Fort and find that the place is indeed under at least a light attack. Archers on the wall trade shots with unseen enemies, and occasional fireballs or lightning bolts illuminate the night for brief moments of time. A light-based mage of some sort is rushing from place to place, casting spells to improve the visibility for the wall's defenders, although counterspells seem to be snuffing out her beacons within a few minutes of her getting one going.

The doors are tightly shut now and the time for scouting is past, but Tafyaf does spot one of the other scouting squads nearby and hustles up in their direction. "Ah, Scout Lenloo! How are things looking this evening?"

A grizzled-looking gnoll fifteen years Tafyaf's senior grins back at him. "A target-rich opportunity as they call it, yes? They're not ready for a serious assault yet, but there's enough of them out there to keep us from going outside - not unless we were sallying out in full force at least, no. Kobold and demon archers in the treeline, and a few mages. Nothing too serious yet! My troops and I were just loading up on arrows before we go back up to the walls - care to join us? It's one point for an archer, five for a mage - I've got twelve points already!"

"Will join you, yes." Tafyaf turns back towards Grayana. "Stay away from the walls, hrmm? Wouldn't want to stress the other healers by making them heal you too, hehehe."

"I'm not suicidal enough to go actually poking my head up for a look, thank you very much. Just be careful, alright?"

The gnoll fingers the lucky charms hanging around his neck - one now lightly stained by a bit of his own blood. "No worries, no. Luck will see us through this all...somehow, yes."

"There's four more on the east side of the building!"

Tinsel shouts back at the panicked minotaur. "Just tell me none of them are shooting fireballs! Haylizt's shadow magic is good for small fires but we don't have any hydromancers if the whole place goes up in flames! If that happens, we're fucked!"

Jantana growls back. "No, but this place is barely defensible! It's an oversized house, not a castle! And why are we even fighting, we're Valleylands army, not Rainlanders!"

Mesht, the squad's orc Vanguard, bounds back down the stairs from his most recent delivery of crossbow bolts to the Sniper and other archers upstairs. "Tell them that! They attacked us!"

"Not like it matters, anyways!" Tinsel grits her teeth as she tries to finish another batch of explosive vials as quickly as possible without causing them to explode in her face. "You really wanna bet the Dragonlord is only attacking the Rainlands? At the least there's gonna be some skirmishes over on our side of the border, just to make sure we don't come in and help them or something. If we just surrender, say hello to being a prisoner of war for the rest of the fight - and that could be years. And I dunno about you, but if I'm gonna fight in a war, I'm gonna last for more than forty-five damn minutes of it!"

Mesht makes his way back upstairs just in time to be replaced by Haylizt, with the drider skittering along the side of the mansion's stairwell to avoid running into the man. "Two casualties on Banshee Squad. I think there's a mage out there with cryomancy, they're building defenses to hide behind, and an ice spike got a couple Initiates by surprise. That Janey's stabilized them, but healing's not my specialty. How are we on healing potions?"

"We're fine, take what you need. It's my offensive shit that I've been burning through faster than I can mix it. Although this new batch is just about done..."

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"Alchemist Hansliss, ma'am." Jantana sets her heavy palms down on the table next to the mousekin, as the Regenerator of Rage puts clear effort into controlling her emotions. "You are indeed a talented alchemist, ma'am, but you are also our commander. What are our orders, here?"

"Do you really need orders to defend the place? How about 'try not to die'?"

Tinsel gives the minotaur a glare, but it's to no effect as her soldier continues. "We can handle that, ma'am - but for how long? Sooner or later a mage who can shatter the walls of this place or burn them down will arrive, or we'll be flooded with an army of raiders." She pauses for another breath. "...Is this to be a last stand, ma'am?"

"Fuck that." Tinsel pauses in her work for a moment, and begins to think things through. "Just to confirm, what's the status of our landlord and...guests?"

"Janey's the best healer in the building, so we're lucky to have her here. I think Tassa's been helping board up windows. As for Grizza and Roxxy, I'm pretty sure they're up at the dungeon. Have been a lot, recently." Her eyes narrow in recollection. "...Seems like he and Tassa act a bit awkward around each other. I think they used to date, or something."

"Wasn't really looking for the gossip version, but good to know, I guess." Her paw-like fingers tap out some nervous energy on the tabletop. "Our options are to flee north or to the town center. The town center is closer and better defended, but sooner or later it's gonna get encircled too. Meanwhile the north means running around in the dark with absolutely no defenses whatsoever. We run into a flanking party or something and we're probably fucked."

"Maybe if we go to Grassbrook, we can join up with a larger team for a break north? Or maybe find some horses."

"Not like I know how to ride one, and one of you minotaurs would probably break one in half. But yeah, that's probably a better move. If nothing else we can hold out there longer than here - now all we gotta do is get from here to there without losing too many people." The mousekin begins grabbing at some of her newly-filled vials. "Get everyone down to the first or second floor and pass out these explosives. On cue, we'll toss them into the treeline and give those scouts some fire to think about while we haul ass out of here. We'll take the door out through the kitchen, and - "

The Battle Alchemist's instructions are cut short as a sudden boom rattles the walls, as if a meteor had just struck outside the building. "Fuck! The hells was that? Came from out front, I think, c'mon, let's take a look!"

The pair make their way into the entry hall of the mansion, and while the front door has been partially barricaded with furniture, they're still able to take a look out of some of the side windows. In the light of previous fires set by Tinsel's mixtures, they can just barely make out the shape of the new arrival.

Although it takes their brains a few seconds to register just what it is exactly that they're seeing. It's insectoid, but massive, and of a form neither of them can categorize. It appears to have the eight legs of an arachnid, but an upright torso resembles a mantid with two pairs of blade-like arms. Giant wings flutter from the back of both the torso and the abdomen, indicating that the monster flew its way here. ...Or, going by the heavy landing it apparently made, perhaps the beast is more of a hopper.

The minotaur's eyes grow wide. "That's a monster! I've never heard of anything like that before, though - in the Domain or anywhere else on the continent! How the hell did they tame something like that?"

"Tamed? Or got a dungeon to spit it out?" Tinsel's voice turns into a growl. "Okay, change of plans. Get everyone down here, and we'll focus our fire on annoying that thing before ducking out of the back! But for now, stay away from the windows and - gods damn it, what now? A storm? They got a weather mage?"

The officer's question is triggered by the flash of lightning in the sky above, although there's no sign of rain. If that didn't give it away though, the fact that the lightning isn't natural becomes clear when a massive bolt strikes the beast outside squarely in the back. It doesn't seem to do much more than singe the beast, but following that a true - yet very unnatural - storm starts to pick up. Despite the near-complete lack of wind, pieces of metal from across the front yard begin to lift into the air as arrowheads, blades from fallen scouts, and other pieces of debris swirl around the monster.

Once the cyclone reaches a sufficient mass it suddenly tightens in, bladed edges cutting into the insectoid like a magical blender. Its exoskeleton is tough, and at first most of the debris causes little more than scratches, but soon enough pieces start to aim with more accuracy, aiming for joints, wings, and eyes. The beast attempts to fight back, inhuman screeching coming from its mandibles, but there's nothing for it to hit. As pieces of metal are knocked to the ground they simply fly back up again a moment later, rejoining the attack.

Finally, a second lightning bolt lands on the dungeonborn monster, but this time it brings with it a massive projectile of metal and pointed edges. The mass hits the monster like a trebuchet shot and the rear half of the creature explodes into gore and shards of exoskeleton. The torso surprisingly remains active for several seconds more, three of its remaining arms flailing about, but as a few well-directed arrowheads fly into its skull the monster finally slumps over.

The the half-buried mass of metal drags itself out of the creature's abdomen and reshapes itself, before shouting out to the mansion. "Tinsel! You there? You okay?"

"Holy shit!" Tinsel begins unbarricading the front door, although she doesn't make it very far before Jantana joins in. Eventually it's cleared enough for her to open the door a bit, and she shouts outside. "Zappy! You beautiful lil lightning bug! Get in here before some of those other scouts start shooting at you!"

The magnetic elemental takes her time approaching the door. "Oh, we're okay for a bit - I think I got all the ones on this side of the place, at least. But I came to get you out of here!"

Despite her calm, as soon as Zappy is close enough Tinsel pulls her girlfriend inside, giving her a quick hug before questioning her. "We were just planning on it! We're probably gonna try heading to Grassbrook's town center - you wanna come with us?"

Surprisingly, the elemental shakes her sculpted head. "Actually, no - I asked the dungeon, well, I asked Doorman and he asked Xenia, and I got permission - I came here to bring you up to the dungeon!"

The two soldiers pause for a moment, and Jantana questions her superior. "...The dungeon? Is that a good idea, Alchemist?"

"...It's more secure than Grassbrook is, I'd bet on that. We'd be trapped in there, but...fuck! You saw how quickly that bug-shit-fucker landed on us! If some monster like that lands on the road north, I am not wagering on our odds!" Tinsel takes a few deep breaths to calm herself before looking back at Zappy. "You think we can get to the dungeon alright?"

"There's still some Challengers and soldiers - Rainland soldiers - defending the path. And if we get to the mountain the dungeon will cover us from there, I think. As long as we head out now, we should be fine!"

Tinsel licks her lips, taking a moment to think, but she doesn't delay long before issuing Jantana an order. "Get the word upstairs - everyone grab what they can carry and get down here! We move out in five minutes!"

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