Thorns

Poppy turned over towards the cowboy offering her a knife, the bard frowning for a moment when looking at the dagger and shaking her head. "I'm okay, really! I don't need any weapons. I hadn't really planned on fighting anyways, just.. helping the rest of you real fighters!" She shouted hesitantly and gave Panna a nervous smile. "You'll need that dagger more than I will!" She gripped the neck of her lute tighter as she looked around at the enormous hoards of enemies still approaching, her instincts to flee becoming stronger and stronger with each new beast.

"If push comes to shove, I can always just use m-" Before she could finish her sentence, a large root burst from beneath her feet, sending Poppy hurdling backwards and hitting the ground with a large thud, much heavier-sounding than someone of her size should have made. She groaned as she quickly got back up to her feet, rubbing the back of her head and enormous ponytail before looking around and realizing several of the beasts had begun making their way towards her. She held her lute at the neck as though she were going to use the instrument as a club, and prepared for the worst.

Nyle focused her strength on keeping the swarms back, engulfing each one in flames as they appeared. Most swarms went down without much fight she noticed, satisfying her as she kept going with the help of her unknown power boosts. The plans discussed around her fell on deaf ears through the noise of her fire blasting. She stood her ground as she shot swarm after swarm out of the sky, stopping once in a while to set fire to any stingers as they drew nearer.



Most everyone's activity had gone unnoticed by Nyle as she continued to fight, until a loud bang grabbed her attention immediately.




"HOLY CRUD!" She shouted, immensely surprised at the thing's arrival. "That is one BIG soldier!" She pointed dumbly as she shouted this. She was about to once again start asking Storm about her toy, as the giant knight now interested her very much, but was reminded they were in the middle of a battle with the cry of a giant nearby.



This statement alone, though not aimed at Nyle, kicked her back into focus as she turned to the hoard once more. It had become much more intense as she had been distracted, and she went back to hurriedly blasting their foes before anything else could get too close for comfort.

So, the battle had begun, huh? The attack had stopped all friendly communication among the bunch, as they were now focused on surviving. The dark haired woman sighed, placing her mask back over her face. Now was the time she'd actually start fighting... To be honest, she'd done a lot of fleeing against these creatures, so this battle was a new one to her. A very dangerous start, too.

Watching those around her, she took note of their fighting style. The giant rock buffoon seemed to be calling the attention of many enemies now as well as helping the smaller singer.

"Suppose that's my cue..." The woman brought out both hands, three very sharp icicles forming from thing air above each hand. With a thrust of her right hand, three icicles shot out and to one of the stingers approaching her big and small ally. The icicles went for the creature's limb-like legs, and when she thrusted out her other arm three more pierced it's head. With the songs that granted them strength and speed, Raei used that to her advantage, summoning a line of at least a dozen icicles in front of her body in but a moment. Bringing both hands out, the line went straight out to the roots snd through a few swarms. It didn't seem to do much to the swarm, slicing straight through, but it had at least temporarily paralyzed a few roots that insisted upon their creeping. She'd have to get closer if she wanted to do more damage.

Another few attacks sent by Nyle went by before looking back at the knight, noticing Storm was now on its shoulder. She also noticed the girl was not paying attention to what was in front of her, opting to wave down at her instead. This caused Nyle to jump about, shouting up at her a warning as she couldn't shoot a fireball at the swarm without the fear of hitting the girl instead.



"WATCH WHAT YOU'RE DOIN KIDDO YOU'RE 'BOUT TO GET HIT!" She yelled, hoping dearly that Storm would hear and realize in time.

Nyle was surprised the knight seemed so helpless against the swarm, and once Storm hid behind her back she knew she had to protect her and her toy.

"I sure hope you're heat resistant," Nyle muttered to herself as she prepared to blast the swarms off of the knight. She hit the swarms and they were set ablaze, no doubt heating the knight just next to them. "Pay attention when we're fightin, Storm!" Nyle shouted over the noise of the battle, trying to show she was somehow competent by giving advice, though she had not heeded her own words just a moment ago. "You can't let your guard down! When you get back to your knight try to avoid the swarms, okay?" She glanced behind her to see Storm's tearful eyes and felt a great pity for her. The poor girl. She really was too young for any of this.

"Hey, don't worry! I'll have your back whenever I can!" She patted Storm's head before focusing back on the army of thorns. All around her everyone was giving their all to fight back. The rock man from earlier had just been covered in the plant beasts, being fought back by both himself and what looked to be ice magic, from which Nyle could not discern the source. Everyone's efforts along with the quivering Storm behind her made her hope uncharacteristically that they could come out of this safe and sound. She forced herself to believe it to be true, for she'd already seen enough death, and created the biggest fireball she could muster. She sent it far into the crowd of thorns, setting whatever it could on fire. Roots, stingers, seeders, anything in the blast radius as it had gone past the front lines and into the fray. A good amount of plants shriveled and fell upon impact, though just as many had taken the hit in stride.

Nyle could feel her strength fading with that last attack, and hoped she had not overdone it- the fight hadn't started all that long ago, after all. It was a good thing for Poppy's spells, though she hadn't known of them, otherwise she would surely have felt she couldn't go on after an attack like that.

Panna watched the scene between Poppy and Leander, gripping the brim of his hat tensively. He questioned whether or not he should intervene and attempt the calm the bard down, yet ultimately decided against it. He would be doing Poppy more good right now by listening to Anden's orders and fighting off the encroaching horde, at least then he would be keeping the kid safe.

Or as safe as she could be right now.

Panna surveyed the area, scoping out a pair of archer's parapets as well as other forms of high ground, any of which would serve him accordingly. He then turned to Pema, "I'm going for the high ground. I'll support everyone from there!" He called out over the roar of battle and then turned to the eastern parapet, jogging towards it.

A group of three stingers then turned their attention towards Panna and began to chase after him.

"Oh come on!" Panna groaned, speeding into a jog, the situation all to familiar to him. He had spent many days and nights out running and hiding from the thorns, ducking into crags and hold his breath underwater wait for them to pass him by. Now he was fighting them with pennies like a damned fool. Just as Panna was busy berating himself for agreeing to fight the creatures he found himself under the loom of a enormous, if not familiar shadow. Panna looked up to find the source, only to identify it as the root he had brushed against earlier. However, this time the gears in Panna's head began to turn. He looked between the thorns chasing him and the one looming above, a smile- though a nervous one, formed on his face as his plan solidified. Panna's run slowed down, allowing the stingers to catch up to him as the root above him began to crash down on the newly formed group. Adrenaline rushed through Panna's veins, he could feel the weight of the colossal root crashing down on him before it even made contact.

Not yet... now!

Panna slid out of the way of the root just as it crashed down, just barely escaping being crushed. The three stingers behind him, however, were not as lucky. Panna regained his footing and turned back to examine his handing work. "I still don't forgive you for last time."