The Horat-verse

At the outskirts of the the town square Ro and a few of his men had managed to recreate formation, stabbing their way through a downed tengu and approaching Samyan and Sunaarashi. "You're right, " He spat, wiping his blade away. "They've not gone after the townsfolk, they want something else."

Ro watched as the few remaining Tengu flew over, dividing and changing tactics in the air. Some switching to go down and fight while others disappearing into the black smoke of the burning heap where the town-tower and statue used to be. "...Why blow up a tower... unless there was something underneath it," Ro whispered, turning to Sunaraashi and Samyan. "We have to attack them at the base of the tower, in the smoke - they're doing something there, I know it."

At Shuin and Namari's appearance Yuwen immediately uncoupled himself from Lo-Muna, swinging away from her arms to face the two. Yuwen combed the curly bangs out of his face as he approached the two. "Yuwen Fortune," he introduced, grabbing Shuin's hand and shaking it. He took Namari's, but instead rose it to his mouth and placed a kiss like a true yunish hero. He paused, his face scrunching up. "Sorry, you look..." He blinked. Familiar...

Suddenly there was a roar, like the sound of a beast wounded. Yuwen turned to find the source of the sound. Across the square Kaor, the mighty beast-woman he had spoken to earlier, was surrounded by a duo of Tengu. "This is no time to be divided," Yuwen whispered, turning to Lo-Muna, and then the others gathered. "That beast-woman needs our help."

Lo-Muna didn't stick around to hear the last of Yuwen's words. Her heart had raced when she had seen the bear beastwoman in danger and there was an anger that bubbled within her. The ears on her head straightened, pointing towards the sound of the Tengu's steps.

It had annoyed her when Yuwen had removed himself but she was glad of it now. Her feet had begun moving and the grip on her chakrams tightened. She was running and then, in the air. One of the duo raised their swords but it was knocked out of their hand, one of the chakrams clattering beside it. Lo-Muna landed nearby, the other weapon raised and ready to come down on their heads.

"Back off," she growled before charging towards one of the Tengu.

Samyan looked where the guard was pointing, then turned back to him with eyes full of sorrow. She placed her hand gently on his shoulder, and when she spoke, it was the tone of one explaining to an unusually slow child. "That's not a tower. That's a bonfire."

The roar of a bear shook the battlefield as a trio of Tengu held Kaor down. Flaming arrows were launched at the great warrior, piercing her armour and bringing her to the ground.

"Hey!" Yuwen exclaimed, running forward with swords drawn. "Back off the bear!"

Ren raised an eyebrow at the Yunish man, who thanked him in fairly good Yeuxkyen, with a dialect far better than most foreigners could manage. "Bin qui." Came a response of 'you're welcome' in Yunish that bore the marks Ren's of foreign accent. The rabbit woman's response had been far less formal, leaving Ren cocking a smile and giving a slight bow of the head in response.

Before he could respond further, a Tengu had been thrust in his direction, instinctively triggering Ren to grab at the winged warrior's closest arm. Ren gripped tight as he pulled the Tengu's right arm up and over the Yeuxkyenan's right shoulder. The attacker's chest met Ren's back, and before he could fight back to regain control of his arm, Ren dipped down slightly as he pulled the Tengu up and over his shoulder, slamming him down into the stone street with crushing force.

The arm, already heavily damaged, was finished off by Ren using his foot to break it. He considered mercy for the briefest of moments, but after a brief look of the battlefield realized now really wasn't the time. The swordsman quickly and efficiently drew his blade, pierced the chest of the Tengu, and quickly wiped the sword clean of blood. He let out a slight sigh before having his attention caught by talk of... Treasure?

Interesting twist to all this. The arrival of a prefect helped confirm the import of this attack. Ren almost moved to question the Yunish man, 'Fortune', about the treasure more, but he was interrupted by the roars of the bear beastwoman from the Inn earlier.

He supposed it would be prudent to lend his assistance. Before he did though, he briefly turned to Ro. "Backup? Is there any forces that can help us in taking the tower from them?"

Xanth tried dodging the stampede that didn't bother looking down at what it was trampling over when the attack launched. After getting beaten around by elbows and knees, she flattened against Kaor's backside. She slapped away Kaor's signed command for her to get to safety with one hand as she unlatched the bracelet of a woman running past her and pocketed it with the other. The Mayor was on his way out, but he still stood for the town's will. Violence was a language Xanth could speak and she wanted to be paid for it. She signed Kaor the plan, and dashed off, leaving the dog to guard the beast woman's back.

In shadow, Xanth skittered up a wall. It was a simple strategy, but one that served them well during their time as mercenaries. Kaor stayed on the ground and drew attention while Xanth assassinated them from above. She had to be careful here, she reminded herself as she slipped over the roof and hid herself beneath an overhanging fixture from a Tengu swooping overhead, she didn't have the high ground advantage that she normally did. Xanth drew her twin daggers and waited.

As was the life of an assassin. A far cry from the invulnerable mass murderers myth had conjured them to be of late. An assassin that ever found themselves in the position of having to take out twenty people at once was a miserable excuse for one. Assassins had one job, and one job only, and that was killing a target before they knew death was coming. Most of Xanth's extensive kill count found their deaths in their own beds or, if they were lucky, the latrine, where the corpses could defecate respectfully. The gig wasn't glamorous. If she could tell them the truth, she would.

Black wings swooped past her hiding place. All the tension in Xanth's body exploded and she sprung out, latching onto the Tengu's back with claw-like knives into the base of his neck. She rode the hurtling Tengu down. His body took the impact of the fall, and they skidded to a stop, punctuated by Xanth splitting him open from his shoulder to his jugular. She cut off his nose in one swoop, pocketed it for proof, and was out of sight in a blink. She climbed to the rooftops, tucked herself into a little crevice, and began the wait again.

The second advantage came quicker than the first, and Xanth shot out for it - but the Tengu turned in his flight, and her dagger made its mark in the joint of his wing. She dangled with nothing to push herself off with until she was shaken off. She gripped one of her daggers between her teeth mid-air and planted herself on the wall she'd been tossed into. Foolish. She began her hobble of shame back into the shadows, when a horrible sound struck her ears. Her head jerked to catch her companion's snout turned up to the sky, her maw wide in a howl of pain. The world seemed to shake as the great bear was brought to her knees.

The dog made the valiant effort of biting at her attacker's ankles, managing to tear one off her and shaking their leg so violently Xanth could hear the bones breaking. Her vision went red. The lines around her eyes grew deep and harsh, and she took off sprinting. Her body jutted out sideways from the walls she ran over until she was upright on the rooftops again, not bothering to try hiding herself from their airborne attackers. She took the dagger from her teeth as she arced around and bared them in a snarl as she leapt, sailing over the heads of those coming to Kaor's aid, her knives out, an agent of quiet fury and death striking from above -

Thwack. Xanth was intercepted. A bandit had played her trick and swooped her from above, plucking her away from vengeance. Her targets and friend grew smaller beneath her dangling feet as she was carried away from the battle. A dagger twisted in her side, which Xanth didn't realize until it was already going for her throat. She immediately turned on her kidnapper, struggling and stabbing at them as they attempted the same. Their battle continued on in the sky, a scramble that kept ducking mid-flight and threatening to plummet. Her attacker quickly became fed up with the little rat climbing and bleeding all over him and he tried dropping her to her death. Xanth's hand shot out as she fell and glued onto his shirt, yanking him down with her as she swiped out at his nose with her knife. He roared out in pain and gave his wings a mighty flap. The fabric tore and Xanth fell down towards the alleys with the Tengu's nose, a scrap of cloth stuck to her outstretched hand.

Black clouds of smoke blinded Yuwen as he ran toward the scene. A trio of Tengu had begun lifting the incapacitated and arrow-laden bear-woman off the ground. Each mighty flap of their wings matted the air below, and with each unison flap Kaor rose further and further away from the battlefield. Yuwen bit his lip before taking aim with his sword, readying to volley it like a javelin at one of the Tengu terrorists. If he could hit even one or two perhaps Kaor could be saved. But then, he stopped. For at the edge of his vision he saw Xanth struggling with her own tengu attacker over the rooftops. And then, she fell.

Yuwen dropped his swords, dashing over a turned over wheelbarrow and sprinting down the alleyway. His feet smashed against the cobblestone as hard as they could, like a hammer knocking them into place. With a grunt his run turned into a painful slide. Yuwen slid forward just in time to catch Xanth in his arms. The impact smashed him against the cobblestones below and he grunted but soon after rose his head at the mute. "I got you," He whispered, looking up at the woman in his arms. He was coated in sweat, his curly hairs matted against his forehead and a goofy grin on his face.

***

Ro looked to Ren as he smashed a Tengu in the nose with his shield. "Backup? In Poyo?" Ro couldn't help contain a smile. "Don't worry. We have them on the run," He said, stepping over the Tengu he'd downed and slicing him with his sword. Ro wiped the sweat off his brow and looked over the fiery battlefield. A foursome of Tengu retreated to the skies with a beast-man over the village walls, the rest of the tengu seemed to be fleeing into the fire where the statue and tower of stone used to stand.

"Whatever they want is down there. You can follow him into the eye of the storm if you want: we have to secure the area!" Ro nodded to Ren, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Suiken observed the course of the battle, not fighting any further just yet. These Tengu had a goal and he was determined to find out what it was. The old oni narrowed his eyes, observed and listened.

[Ro looked to Ren as he smashed a Tengu in the nose with his shield. "Backup? In Poyo?" Ro couldn't help contain a smile. "Don't worry. We have them on the run," He said, stepping over the Tengu he'd downed and slicing him with his sword. Ro wiped the sweat off his brow and looked over the fiery battlefield. A foursome of Tengu retreated to the skies with a beast-man over the village walls, the rest of the tengu seemed to be fleeing into the fire where the statue and tower of stone used to stand.

"Whatever they want is down there. You can follow him into the eye of the storm if you want: we have to secure the area!" Ro nodded to Ren, wiping the sweat from his brow.]

Ah, there it is. Clarity. Now that he had attained it, it was the time for action. Suiken drew out his Tiger-Fang mallets and used their frigid aura to douse down more flames as he headed towards his goal. He wasn't just aimlessly swinging at flames, however. He had a goal. A path. The tower. Several Tengu were still flying above it. Suiken smirked and arched his arm back, ever so slightly...

With a mighty swing, he threw the fang as it swung in a circle like a boomerang, knocking the wind out of three Tengu before it pierced the wing of a fourth, who crumpled to the ground and felt a cold chill throughout his body. Suiken approached the wounded Tengu and stepped on his chest. "Hey, how's it goin'?" Suiken asked casually, as if he were conversing with an old friend. "How about telling me what you..." Suiken pointed at the Tengu. "...want in there..." Suiken continued, pointing at the tower.

The smoke made Lo-Muna's eyes water and the sound of screaming filled her sensitive ears. She could feel her rabbit heart beating furiously against her chest and there was the smell of iron in the air. Lo-Muna could taste her own desperation as she ran after the fleeing Tengu. Yuwen had run off and her own feet seemed to want to move in another direction. They dragged on behind what her mind screamed for them to do.

It was a familiar sight almost. Muna had frozen up before but she had thought, she had thought, it would be different the next time around. She gritted her teeth and paused in her pursuit, chucking one of her chakrams at the backs of the retreating Tengu. One of them looked back but the chakram had missed them entirely, leaving them to continue in their capture of the bear beastwoman.

Lo-Muna sprinted, jumping onto buildings to continue chasing after them. In her frantic chase however, she misjudged the distance and found herself unable to land safely on the next roof. Instead, her hands opened reflexively, the chakram falling to the ground. She had made the jump too short and her nails scratched at the sloped edge of the roof in hope of grabbing the edge. The hard material however didn't give away and the sound of nails scraping was followed by a loud crash.

Pain. There was pain from where the crates dug into her. She could feel it radiate throughout her body and it took her a few minutes to regain her breath. There was a wetness on her cheeks and she slammed her fist onto the ground.

The best part about you is your speed.

The bloodied Tengu coughed heavily as Suiken pressed down on his chest down. "Hey, how's it going?" Suiken began, his voice relaxed. "How about telling me what you want in there..." He continued, pointing over the Tengu's head. Suiken's finger was hard for the Tengu to see through the smoke and ash, but he knew where he was pointing. The Tower Site.

A sickly laugh began to croak out of the wounded Tengu's lips. "...We attack towns..." The Tengu hissed. "Don't over think it..."

[A sickly laugh began to croak out of the wounded Tengu's lips. "...We attack towns..." The Tengu hissed. "Don't over think it..." ]

Suiken pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed briefly watching the bald human head into the tower. "Let's try again, buddy. What is in the tower?" he asked more intensely. "You know...my weapon is still lodged into your wing. If I removed it the wrong way...that could end up pretty painful..." he bluffed.

Try as she might, the Tengu refused to dip into a range of Ginchiyo's fatal strike, perhaps it saw her easily dispatch his comrade earlier, but the birdman kept dodging and weaving out of her range. Her senses were mostly trained on the evil creature, but it would only dip down to attack her when he was sure her attention was otherwise occupied. Channeling chi was tiring and her arms were already starting to show times of wear and tear. It was quite frankly, pissing her off, but there was little she could do about the jerk in her current situation. Vaguely she heard mention of some sort of treasure, which was entirely inconsequential to her at the moment.

Nearby, several people were struggling against the tengu attack, one of which was sporting a bow and shooting down birds like barrelled heron. The man was especially tall, stained with the dark tan of a Suuni. "Hey. You." Her amber eyes locked onto the stranger. He hadn't shot her assailant, but that was likely due to his focus being on the closer issues. "That one." She gestured to the Tengu that was hovering in the air, almost outside of sight. "Blast it out of the sky you handsome piece of Auburn chocolate." Her legs tensed as she approached the man, ready to throw herself at the next target to get too close to either of them, hunting was so much easier with a capable partner.

If years of military training had taught her anything, it was that the attackers were clearly trying to liberate something from the statue that had just been exploded in font of fire and terror. If she hadn't been so chummy with the local prefects, she would have gone to nip the problem right in the bud, but right now she had more important matters to attend to.

There didn't seem to be many tengu left in the square, Samyan noted as she looked around. Most had either flown into some hole in the ground or taken off toward the mountains with a... bear? That was a bear, right?

Oh well. Not her problem.

The hole, though. Apparently it had treasure in it? "Why would anyone hide treasure in Buzzkill?" she asked herself idly as she walked away from the rude guard and toward the bonfire which apparently hid the aforementioned secrets of this village. She passed behind a large oni man who seemed to be bullying one of the tengu. "It isn't like this village is worth anything. Are they stupid? Treasure should only be hidden in castles and deserted islands, right?" Samyan stopped at the edge of the rushed excavation and peered down into it, smoldering rubble licking at the hem of her kimono.

"You're both very strange, almuharibun," Sunaarashi said to Ginchiyo, an arrow snapping through the marauding Tengu's neck. With a gurgle, the Tengu hit the ground, where Sunaarashi calmly and efficiently ripped the weapon free, wiping the bloodied projectile on the dying Tengu's clothes. "You use too much chi in your fighting. It's not good to rely on the magic, bithiqa."

"As for the kanz, a hole under a tower in a town is as good as a cave filled with monsters and traps," Sunaarashi said to Samyan. "You need to open your mind, sadiq, else..." Sunaarashi paused, looking for the words, then shrugged. "Satakun 'aemaa 'iilaa al'abad." He gestured to his eyes, waving a hand in front of them perhaps in an attempt to portray sightlessness.

Xanth hesitantly squinted her eyes open to peek at her savior. She recognized him - well, not his face, but the hair on his head - he was the one that insisted Kaor go to the town square! He was beaming, which quite jarring after the fright of her near-death experience, and felt like he was goading her into returning one. A smile twitched back at him across her flushed face. This encounter was making her head light. Before she got any fanciful ideas she realized that was because she was bleeding out all over him.

Xanth sprang up, clutching at the wound on her side. She fervently tapped at her chin with her other hand at him, mouthed her gratitude, then bowed, before hurtling back towards the town square. She peered over her shoulder at him as she ran, hoping somewhere within that mess he had managed to interpret, "Thank you."

When she emerged from the alley into the square, there was only a trickle left of the roaring current of battle that had been before. A dwindling chaos she should have easily seen the towering Kaor looming over. But she couldn't. She slowed her steps, scooting around bodies and limping between those still cleaning up the battlefield. Her heart felt heavy with dread. She went to open her mouth, but her lips wobbled and sealed themselves against her instinctive desire to shout Kaor's name. Nobody would miraculously hear her now.

Suddenly her ears picked up the sound of barking. She changed her course and swifty hobbled over towards her dog, barking furiously at the sky. Xanth sluggishly whistled his name. The dog's ears turned to her then he bounded over and immediately started licking at her wound. Xanth slumped down to her knees and let him have at it. She looked up at the sky where he had been barking, but whatever it had been had already been carried away. She wrapped her arms around the dog's neck and leaned her head against his fur. Her eyes kept skyward as she waited for the last of the fighting to stop.

Gripping her remaining chakram in hand, Lo-Muna slowly made her way back to the town square. She could already feel the bruises that would form and there were cuts and scrapes all over her. There was a throbbing pain on her arm from where she had slammed it onto the stone floor repeatedly out of frustration. It was minor compared to the loss of the beastwoman.

She had half a mind to chase after her out of the town limits but it would be fruitless to do so. By the time Lo-Muna made it to the wall, they would already be long gone. They had already been shapes in the distance when she had fallen. When she had risen, they had been a mere receding speck. Her rabbit traits were useless in a hunt unless she had sight on them. She couldn't even hear the beating of their wings anymore.

Lo-Muna gripped the chakram tighter and felt her nails dig into the palm of her hand. Her pace quickened and she didn't bother looking for the other chakram as she passed the buildings. The fight would certainly be in their favor at this point, meaning she didn't have more time to spare.

Emerging onto the square, Lo-Muna came out of the same direction Kaor had been taken. She heard the distinct sound of a dog barking and glanced over briefly. There, a small muscular human hugged a dog, searching they sky for something. Her stomach dropped. Had the bear beastwoman had some sort of family? Friends? The scowl on Lo-Muna's face became a look of guilt and sorrow. She took a step forward, hand up, mouth open to call out to the poofy-haired human.. but she withdrew her hand.

She couldn't go to her, not like this.

Instead Lo-Muna headed towards the tower. There was a Snow Oni holding down one of the Tengu assailants and an Ashura heading towards the column of smoke where a statue had stood earlier. Yuwen had said the Tengu wanted treasure. On her way to the bear beastwoman, she had noticed some of them had gone into the crater. Or at least, she had assumed so. She didn't take a good look. There was only one way to find out for sure.

Running now, Lo-Muna passed by the snow oni and the Ashura before leaping straight into the hole.

Yuwen entered the square behind Xanth. He stepped beside the kneeling woman and her hound. Yuwen glanced down at her and smiles, "You don't talk much, do you?" He commented with a heavy exhale. He gave a nod to the woman before running forward. Yuwen leapt over fire and rubble, entering the burning square just as the festival combatants took down the last of flying tengu.

"This village is small, and ugly, and the festival food leaves something to be desired," The injured tengu nodded in agreement with Samyan's statement. In response Suiken grabbed the weapon lodged in the tengu's wing threateningly. The tengu's breathing increased, short bursts of air out of his nostrils. "But it is also home to something old..." He managed to say. "Very... old..."

"Very old?" The voice of Yuwen Fortune came. Suiken and Samyan turned to see the swordsman approach, his body covered in the blood of others. Yuwen squinted at the sight before them- the statue and the collapsed tower were now just fiery ruins, collapsing into a pit. Before Yuwen could speak more the rabbit girl he'd fought beside earlier ran passed, and without a second thought, dived directly into the opening of earth.

Yuwen ran forward, his feet stopping at the ruined cobble-stone edge of the pit. Yuwen turned back toward the rest of the group. "The last of the tengu are down there," He breathed. "So what are you waiting for?"

Yuwen leapt after Lo-Muna, into the darkness.

A few moments later Yuwen's legs buckled as he smashed into the earth, sliding to a stop at the bottom of the pit...

Suiken released the weapon from the Tengu's wing. "Leave this place, Tengu. Your brethren are falling. Leave this town to live and fly another day," he instructed, standing up and walking over towards the pit and taking a leap downward, digging the pointed end of his mallet's into the wall to slow his descent.

Samyan leaned backward, letting herself fall into the pit. She tumbled end over end, landing at the bottom with the poise of a master acrobat. "Never been in a big hole before," she remarked to the others. "Kinda stinks down here. Musty."

Snorting out a laugh, Ginchiyo leveled a look into the tall man's grey eyes, "You are using sinew and horn to send bits of earth flying through the air at speeds that would kill an elephant. One of us is certainly relying too heavily on magic..." She would have pushed the point further, but the White Rabbit from earlier had thrown herself down the proverbial, and perhaps literal, rabbit-hole. Yuwen followed shortly after, which could only mean trouble, one way or another.

With a sigh, Ginchiyo ran straight at the pit, throwing herself into a front handspring as she tossed herself into the abyss. Her left hand dug into the side of the pit, nails as hard as steel throwing up sparks as they scraped against hard rock; her descent ending in a dank tunnel at the bottom; Yuwen and the White Rabbit weren't alone

"The infamous Mr. Fortune! I for one would like to hear more about these bandits camped out in the swamp. Had you been just a bit faster, or the tengu just a bit slower; all of the town's fighting men would have been too far out to respond." She leveled a searching glance at the others in the tunnel, looking for someone with a bit of reason. "I can't be the only one who thinks he is trying to cross the sea without Heaven's knowledge. When the Tengu's attack failed, he had to improvise, and now we're standing in a hole with the rest of the enemy on one side and a shady stranger on the other."

After Takai and the rest of the gang dropped down into the hole, the monkey man stepped forward beside Ginchiyo and shrugged, "Shady? Maybe so. But!"

He reached into his robe and pulled out something. From the palm of his hand Takai let a key drop, dangling in the air by a thread before all of them. The Major's brass key glittered in the dim light of the cave.

"They're after this, aren't they, Fortune? You know something about this, don't you?"

Takai's key glistened in the dark. Yuwen stared at the brass instrument before raising his stare to Takai's face. "Maybe!" Yuwen shrugged at the monkey man's inquiry. "I'm as ignorant as as all of you!" He added, looking up at the tall Ginchiyo. Yuwen sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, I'm maybe a little less ignorant than you... the Tengu are after some treasure, right? Well, there's reportedly an ancient crypt near Poyo. But the entrance was supposed to be in the swamp, hidden by magic."

Yuwen frowned and walked passed Ginchiyo, approaching the stone walls of the passage they'd fallen down into. "Both the statue and the tower were partially built of that strange, golden stone," Yuwen breathed, turning back to the other's gathered. "They said it was old... very old. Built before the rest of the village... this must be it, the same crypt I was looking for, but I guess the Tengu found a different way in."

From his pocket Yuwen pulled out a large tinderbox and after a few tries lit a match. The fire roared in his hand, lighting the walls of the caverns- revealing the same honey stone lining the walls. They refracted the fire-light, illuminating the passage ahead. "Dofuzi's catacomb," Yuwen breathed with a small smile. "The great Yunish philosopher. Buried here, in the middle of nowhere, beneath-" He paused, failing to remember the name of the town. "Poyo," He recalled after a moment.

"I think you mean Bogo," Samyan corrected, stepping past Yuwen into the tunnel. "Dofuzi... Dofuzianism Dofuzi? Why did they make that guy a tomb? His shit's mad dull, homies. I prefer Waazir Vad's work, personally." Samyan neglected to mention that Waazir Vad was a poet, not a philosopher. Continuing on, she knocked two knuckles against the side of the passage, the sound echoing down the tunnel into the dark. "Nice stonework, though."

"Dofuzi is the greatest philosopher of the second era," Yuwen retorted, immediately erasing any Oni thinkers Samyan may have brought up. "The location of his tomb, if it existed, has been a mystery for ages. A mystery that I thought only I discovered the answer to. If the Tengu found this place, someone knows something I don't."

A frustratingly vague statement.

"The Tengu must have a master of elemental chi, someone who was able to target these particular stones and blew them up, revealing the tomb below," Yuwen commented, placing a palm flat on the body of one of the honey stones in the passage wall.

"How did you manage to discover this?" Suiken inquired, glancing about the cavern with awe. He wish he'd had some parchment on him right now. "Oh the songs one could make about this. Remarkable..." he went on, following the others down the halls of the cavern.