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Bright Journey	When last we left our intrepid heroes (and also, everyone here)... A vicious murder in the Temple District attracted the attention of numerous Exalted in the area...well, it attracted some, and their rather obvious presence attracted others. After a careful examination of the area, evidence was collected and a trail was discovered, which led the party to an alley far across Great Forks, in a largely abandoned and run down section of town. The party searched and found a very cleverly hidden tunnel, and then someone fell into a trap which attracted the attention of the murderer. Some were heard, and some were detected magically...and Rishi frantically pantomimed that each method of detection couldn't sense the other, meaning there were a lot more than the party bargained for! She said six specifically, but it's hard to tell in among everything happening. So the anuhle (demon spiders) are coming quickly, through the underground tunnel, and some are materialized and some not. Soon, they will be upon the Exalted in a mad tangle of limbs and venom-dripping fangs...
Silk Moon Lotus	Standing to one side of the tunnel, Silk moves to blend in with the debris hoping to strike with lightning precision and end one of the opponents before they know she is there. Her mind quickly clears of all worries as she has a strong circle with her. They will prevail against some dirty spider demons.
Reforged Resurgence	Resurgence, who was already standing towards the front of the group, takes an additional few steps forward and takes up Righteous Devil form, pulling the flamepiece from his back and enveloping himself in a burst of firey anima.
Fudou the Mountain	"Hn." Fudou steps forward, the ground actually shaking now. Well..more then before. His immense figure seems to rear up even larger, piling sinew ontop of sinew as the ground rumbles and his tattered garments shred to reveal the brawny looking Moonsilver vest-like armor and hip cape. Enormous horns curl forth from his head as his features become more vaguelly oxen like. Yeddim-esque. He spins his grand goremaul deftly in one hand, and really it'll be a miracle if he doesn't hit anyone with it given the combat space that he's now beginning to fill up. Such is supernatural skill and dexterity that it is unlikely to happen unless someone gets in to close. "Hmm..well let's see what you've all uncovered here.." rumbles the strongman.
Spring Wind	"Well, my fangs versus yours." Spring says, drawing her moonsilver daggers and twirling them into a reverse grip. "Make your bets, the fight's about to start~" she says, grinning.
Bright Journey	Bright Journey's bow practically sings with excitement. The moonsilver and bone powerbow almost shines with its own inner light, anticipating the chance to sink its arrows into the quickly approaching unclean creatures below. She is nocked, drawn and ready as she stands roughly in the middle of the alleyway, surrounded by her allies and in a position to hopefully limit the anuhles' ability to engage her in melee. Her mind is as taut as her bowstring, ready to fire in a flash.
Rishi	Rishi taps her large toe-claws against the ground and readies a lunge upon one of the still dematerialized ones that likely thinks it's hiding.
Amethyst	Amethyst glows with a cool mist of water and violet hues. She stands in the front, her whip of blood extended and ready. The world is also a shadow-y violet to the alchemist, having taken a drug to grant her vision in the immeterial for vision in the material. For a moment, she closes her eyes, aligning and centering herself as she speaks. "<<Demons lay before me and my blade. In my vigilance, I will allow none will remain so long as my heart still beats, and so long as I may still draw breath.>>" She speaks in high realm, a promise of destruction as she opens her eyes.
Bright Journey	Skittering, crawling, slavering, the anuhle horde comes up the tunnel. At least it sounds like it--it's hard to tell, what with the tunnel echo and all. There's more than three visible, though--at least four. And that's not counting any dematerialized ones! Amethyst sees another three dematerialized, for seven total. The anuhle's are of a type no one recognizes--two types, as a matter of fact. One type is larger, and clearly of the type that committed the murder. It's got a black chitin with a silvery sheen over top, and its forelegs are not feet at all--they're blades, actual metal blades, of worrying size and vicious serrations. The other type is slightly smaller, though not enough to cause a major difference in speed. It doesn't have the blades, being closer in look to a more typical demon spider, but it has an oily, iridescent sheen that almost seems to slip between light and darkness. The four materialized ones (two of each type) skitter right past Silk, not a clue she's there. The next one in the lead is Amethyst, as they start to flood out of the tunnel and try to find dance partners. The three dematerialized ones flood right through their brethren, though, and Amethyst as well, fanning out and searching for a good place to stand...
Spring Wind	Spring's off first, charging towards one of the smaller looking spiders as she moves to make a couple of quick cuts in order to force the spider back towards the sewer wall... Or perhaps cripple it if it's not careful. Got to keep something with this many legs off-balance, hard though it may be. Plus, something smaller with an ood appearance is an unknown quantity and thus potentially dangerous. Best to go for it first.
Spring Wind	Pushing the spider back, Spring's swipes seem to keep it off-balance. It stumbles a few steps back, chittering and hissing in spite for being threatened so! Conversely the rat lunar seems to be in high spirits... For now, at least.
Silk Moon Lotus	As the Spider Demons pass Silk by, she vanishs into the darkness. She quickly and quietly moves behind one of the large materialized spiders and exicutes a slide to get the softer underarmor of the shell unleasing a Seven Points of Weakness Strike to shred through the armor. She finishs the slide to stand behind the mountain of men making up the front line.
Rishi	Rishi headtilts, examining one of the dematerialized spiders and deciding upon the best place to strike while she allows essence to flow through her claws to fray the boundary between mortals and spirits. Having found her spot, she leaps up, bouncing off the ceiling, and pouncing upon the spider, claws out, cutting the boundary between real and unreal as she falls!
Silk Moon Lotus	Silks blades dig deeply into the spider's softer underbelly causing ichor to spray across the ground just missing her as she slides. Silk slides between the men coming out of the slide into spinning backflip to land facing the spiders.
Bright Journey	Here they come! Bright Journey wastes no time, drawing and firing in one smooth, practiced motion almost as soon as the spiders appear. She strikes at one of the bigger ones, another one materialized and in front of Amethyst, with an arrow shimmering argent with power. Now is the time to strike!
Rishi	As the spider emits surprised curses in old realm after Rishi lands, she hisses in mixed annoyance and delight. Next time she will pick a better spot to slice into.
Bright Journey	The shimmering silvery arrow leaps from Bright's bow hungrily, and her aim does not falter. The shaft slips in over Amethyst's shoulder and very nearly takes that spider's eye out. It reels and paws at the arrow, just barely deflecting it into one of the alley walls, but it's flailing madly to do so, off balance and off kilter.
Amethyst	Amethyst brings her whip to bear, charging it with her essence. Her aura shifts, her anima flares from a subtle mist to a angry steam. Her blood turns from red to this brilliant blue as it too begins to glow. She has faced off against wyld monsters worst than these, she thinks to herself. And her martial training has honed her skill while the utterly fluid nature of her whip allows her to flow seemlessly And so she aims her whip at the other bigger one, hopefully to catch it off guard as well.
Fudou the Mountain	LIke an incoming thundercloud, Fudou's presence rolls forward with crushing pressure before the goliath himself actually finishes crossing the distance to get to Amethysts position. The ground shakes from the rumble of his pounding steps and his grand goremaul as it drags behind him and then lifts upwards with one temple column girthed arm flexing and heaving it up. His biceps swell, giving the impression of a Guild Wagon wheel before his other arm comes in and his other hand curls around the grip of his Tetsubo-esque weapon. "Duck." is the only warning he gives to Amethyst before his strike comes surging for one of the large spiders, with surprising surgical accuracy in contrast to the immensity of wielder and weapon.
Bright Journey	Finally, after almost all of the Exalted have viciously pounced on the demon spiders, the first of the dematerialized spiders begin to form. Finally, though really all of this happens within moments. This is one of the bigger spiders, and it phases into existence right behind Silk Moon Lotus.
Reforged Resurgence	With a voice that definitely shouldn't be coming from his small frame, Resurgence condemns the spiders in Old Realm. <<Cruel spirits, you have feasted upon mortals under my protection. Your lives are forfeit!>> As the spiders cower, he brings his flamepiece up to eye level with the stance of a duelist and fires away at one of the smaller spiders harassing Fudou.
Bright Journey	The dematerlized spiders all rematerialize, each one behind one of the rear-echelon Exalts, prepared to strike. The four that are already materialized all move in a fantastic, impossible blaze, striking as fast as scorpions. Two of the larger ones strike true, knocking Amethyst reeling, but it's still not quite enough for them to fully recover themselves. The two smaller ones instinctively strike Fudou, since he got in their way, and the result is like trying to bite a brick wall. Not especially effective. But flat-out hilarious after the fact.
Bright Journey	The fight is joined, the battle intense. The anuhle, demon spiders, have spilled forth from the tunnel below to try to overwhelm the ones who have fallen into their webbing, but without question have met some intense resistance. The seven spiders have met an equal number of Exalted and the Exalted pounced on them without mercy. All seven are still alive, and they are of two varieties. Four are larger, with blades for forelegs, and three are smaller and oily, black, iridescent. Two of the larger ones are in front of Amethyst, though they're both crashed, with Silk behind one. They have struck at her, and she's in the most danger of any of the Exalts at this point. Two smaller spiders tried to surround her but Fudou was able to block their way, so he has those two next to him. They tried and failed to penetrate his monstrous Lunar defenses. Two more of the larger ones just Materialized behind Bright and RR respectively, and the last smaller one Materialized behind Silk. Those three have not been able to strike yet.
Bright Journey	OOCly: I will add this in the scene so it can be backscrolled. Current spider init: #1: -1 #2: -3 #3: 5 #4: 3 #5: -2 #6: -6 #7: 2 #1-4 are large, #5-7 smaller (though still quite large!). #3, 4, and 7 just Materialized.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk turns her gaze upon the demon spider that thought to suprise her with a withering gaze. "I will end you." She flips backwards and jumps off of Fudou's calf like a springboard. She brings her razor claws to bear as she passes just over it's back raking and slashing her claws against the demon.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk's claws tear massive rends into the caripace of the spider demon. Dark ichor spraying from each of the wounds left behind by her blades. The spider staggers from the hail of blows inflicted upon it but does not fall. It turns slowly to follow the dark shape's movement with malice in it's compound eyes.
Bright Journey	Unfortunately for Bright, she's the target of one of the larger spiders that just materialized--it's in the back of the group and right behind her! She could try to get out of range, of course, but in these close quarters, against enemies of this size, there's not really a whole lot of places she can move to. It's harder to aim from this close, perhaps, but a defensive strike is by far the better option. She spins, kneels down and releases another argent arrow, much like the first, hopefully under this spider's defenses and up into its softer underbelly.
Spring Wind	Twirling around and jabbing her daggers at the thorax of the anhule that just tried to bite Fudou, Spring finds that it jerks out of the way and annoyingly causes her to unbalance herself! "Oh come on!" she says, "You were on the ropes!"
Fudou the Mountain	"Hn..hold fast!" encourages FUdou as his deep voice thrums and rumbles through the combat space. He hoods his gaze at the attempts on his toughened hide and just shakes his body, moving his muscles around like the movements of an avalanche under his flesh in order to shake the spiders off and away from him. His body pivots and his weapon whirls, trailing silver essence that likewise is wrapped about his body in a soft glow. The moon blazes to life upon his brow. "DOWN BOY!" he quips as the weapon reaches its apex and then comes thundering down like some sort of piston, intent on crushing the spider into the ground with its seismic force.
Rishi	Rishi, seeing Ammy's situation has finally managed to get back over to her. Rishi's saurian form is glowing softly as she sizes up one of the large spiders, her anatomical knowledge allowing her to find the best place to slice through the armor. Her claws begin to burn with a smokey silver flame that is not any of the above as she leaps forward, claws out and ready!
Rishi	Rishi's saurian claws cut through a weakness in the Spider's armor like a hot knife through butter, causing it to scream and Rishi flips off the creature and lands next to Ammy, an empty Silver Ring on her forehead and silver and shadow playing around her, like the moon reflecting off water.
Amethyst	Amethyst nearly loses her balance as she's struck and sent back, blood dripping from her cheek. Blood that burns with the same blue intensity as her whip and circles, creating a menagerie of blue, red, and violet as her anima dances. "<<Drawing blood only makes me stronger.>>" She hisses in high realm and follows Rishi's attack with her own. Her whip blaring down with a firey intensity as is snaps towards the creature.
Rishi	As the Spider's fangs near Rishi, a small vine wound across her head springs forth, becoming a floating bramble shield that attempts to block the Attack!
Rishi	The Spider tries to simply chomp the bramble shield out of the way...but unfortunately finds that the orns are very, very sharp and backs off for a moment
Bright Journey	The larger spider facing Bright slashes viciously with its blades. Her attempt to dodge is...pathetic. There's no kind words for it. She -sucks- at dodging, and the armor makes it even worse. On the other hand, those shiny, sharp blades skitter harmlessly across her armor, utterly useless in actually causing her more than annoyance.
Reforged Resurgence	Sensing the incoming danger, drawing upon years of experience built upon training remembered only by his muscles, and using his lightning-sharp reflexes, Resurgence takes a second between seconds to...duck. The spider's claws swing over his head, slashing at the air above him.
Bright Journey	The demon spiders go into action, and they move in concert to engage their opponents. The problem, of course, is while they might be perfectly effective at murdering helpless citizens of Great Forks, taking on a group of the Exalted is a task of an entirely different nature. All the larger spiders slash viciously with their blades, but of the four, two managed to be parried or dodged completely, one actually strikes Bright but skitters uselessly across her armor, and the last actually manages to hurt -itself- with an ill-timed slash into a shield of sharp brambles. What the other three do, however, is far more important. One of the smaller ones draws on its power to speed up again, taking two more bites at Fudou, trying but failing to get past his guard. Amazing how hard it is to get around a freakin' pillar. The other one facing Fudou, however, -vanishes- in a dark, oily flash of light, teleporting effortlessly behind Spring! Its bite attack fails to penetrate her guard, but still, she thought herself in a pretty good position, but it didn't matter. The last one, however, the one Silk had absolutely shredded moments before, has apparently had quite enough. It vanishes in exactly the same way, but fails to reappear. Where it went is unknown, and the din of battle is just too loud for it to be audible, if it's even within hearing range.
Bright Journey	That last strike was concerning, even if it didn't actually manage to penetrate Bright Journey's armor or Resistance charms. It's time, well past time, to put this thing to bed so she can support her allies. Time almost feels like it's slowing down for a moment as she pulls another arrow from the quiver on her back. As the steel tip crests the mouth of the quiver, it's already starting to glow that same argent shade, like her previous arrows...and just like her pure, taint-cleansing bow. A moment later, that arrow tip erupts into purifying flame. A moment after that, the whole arrow begins to glow with a hungry, golden orange light, almost quivering in anticipation as she lays it across the bowstring and smoothly draws the nock to her ear. Without hesitation, she looses it, and it streaks forth heading right for the larger spider's eight beady, hatred-filled eyes.
Reforged Resurgence	After bringing the butt of his flamepiece crashing down on the spider's head and regaining his footing, Resurgence quickly reloads and points the barrel back at the spider. "Let us finish this." Without a second thought, he pulls the trigger, the sidearm's single nostril exhaling a breath of fire.
Bright Journey	In truth, this might be the first time anyone has seen Bright Journey's anima flare at all. She's usually far, far more subtle. But this time, with this one arrow, she pours raw Essence into her flaming arrow and her anima instantly erupts from nothing to a glowing state, a white-gold aura suffusing her as the center-dotted circle of the Eclipse caste shines on her brow, casting light over her long bangs from the inside. That's nothing compared to what the arrow does, though. The arrow is glowing with a fierce light, flaming all along its length, as it streaks the short distance between her and the anuhle she's facing. It strikes the creature straight in the forehead, but frankly it doesn't matter where it hits--the moment it does, it all but explodes into flames! The explosion goes off like a silent bomb, erupting in a dazzling, blinding flash of light that bathes the entire area and, were the buildings not surrounding the alley, the flash would be visible for MILES around. As it is, a vertical shaft of light stabs into the sky, gone as soon as it appears, illuminates the clouds overhead for a moment. Of the spider there is absolutely nothing left but immolated demon flesh. It is absolutely consumed in an instant.
Silk Moon Lotus	After the blinding flash of light, Silk uses the momentary distraction to move deeper into the tunnel and out of line of sight. Silk's Anima starts to grow with dark waves warping the demon's vision and bending their sight away from her as she slips past them and into a better position to strike.
Fudou the Mountain	A little bit of caution so as to not flare up into a bonfire in the middle of Great Forks, a little bit of arrogance thinking he only needed minimum effort to defeat these creatures and a dash of lack of surety on all who are around him has led to Fudou holding back just a little bit. As such, when his last strike fails to utterly decimate his foes - the first pinge of concern that these demons are tougher then he anticipated and the need to get serious actually strikes him. He also grows angry. As much with himself as the demons but angry indeed. "Enough of this!" Fudou's arm surges in size as power ripples through him. His garments strain, moonsilver though they be, as his muscles bulk out and pile sinew ontop of sinew. His namesake of 'The Mountain' roaring into being as it seems as if Meru itself is bulking into being under his flesh. His grand goremaul comes whirling around, singing violence with its arc as it plummets in for the strike.
Reforged Resurgence	With the pull of a trigger, a billowing, roaring flame comes into existence for mere seconds, turning metallic limbs to warped orange shapes, a larger demonic form to a mass of carbon, and ironically snuffing out the life of the spider. As Resurgence lifts the barrel of his flamepiece up and away from its latest victim, the spider's corpse collapses in on itself with a crunch, leaving only hot scrap and ashes that stubbornly cling to one another.
Amethyst	This time, Amethyst is not caught so off guard. Instead, her whip travels quickly and intercepts the beast, tossing it backwards. Then, she leaps into the air as her anima rages. Swirling runes trail in her wake as a violet, violent turbulence of drowning seawater forms around her. Prismatic hues trail at the edges of her anima, and a sea lion, mouth open to consume that which dares to harm her, rises with her. That anima expands and fills her whip, from a tiny thin blood whip to a raging torrent of water and essence. chmVioletc/, chcBluec/, and chrRedc/, the wave comes crashing down. Water scatters every which direction as the furious torrent of essence crashes down into the spider, like a tsunami crashing onto the shore. Amethyst lands just behind it, the raging torrent gone from her anima, replaced by the determined waves of the open ocean. The sea lion sits noblely in the background, as Amethyst straightens up, and without even looking to see the results of her work, she says in high realm, "<<May your journey back to hell be swift and painless. Farewell, stupid spider demon.>>"
Amethyst	Then the Dragon turns around and admires her handiwork. She actually hmphs a little. "What? How are you even still moving? Damned demon." She ineffectively kicks it and then looks at Rishi. "Rishi, would you be a dear and finish it off? I guess it isn't ready to go back to hell yet." Amethyst then turns her attention towards the spiders that aren't squirming ineffectively away from death's door.
Rishi	As Ammy invites Rishi to feast and Fudo covers her in the now squished remains of his spider, there is a brief moment of silver light and shadow, reflecting off the water...before the slumbering shadow rises from beneath. Rishi's Shadow is ..unusual. No-one here can recall ever having seen it before. Until now. It moves on it's own, gliding around the area until it slides up beind Rishi. It's inky black aura, like two wings spread wide before descending, enfolds Rishi's saurian form and the two Spiders for a moment. There is a horrible inhallation, mastication...and then a *burp.* And then the shadow pulls back, revealing Rishi in her preferred form ...slightly changed. Her fur is somewhat more bristly, her claws slightly bigger and more swordlike...and dripping with a distict poison. She's smiling. And spotless, as usual. "Ahh...thank you my love. That was a most refreshing meal."
Spring Wind	"...That does it." Spring says, closing her eyes as her tell's whiskers twitch about. Feel the air, know your opponent's location... Movements... And weakness. It's a splash of slightly lifted sewage and a rising blur that seems to indicate her having headed upwards, before she kicks off from the upper tunnel into a dive with her knife tips pointed out slightly to scour the anhule's carapace at the joints. For a moment, just for a moment, you could swear you saw a beast of a rodent tearing at the anhule from the shadows but that can't be right... Can it?