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Ignis	In a different time and place, one essentially now the thing of dreams, something like this would never happen. Shouldn't happen. Sadly it is not infrequent in this Time of Sorrows. The number of things that can rise up and threaten the lives of mortals are practically innumerable and the system that was set up to protect them and proclaim the glories of their leaders is so broken. Long broken. And so this unnamed hamlet, to far from Great Forks to really enjoy its protection, to close to shadows and danger to be free of them, is the latest in a long line of such places to fall prey to the creatures of darkness. The dead march. Zombies called forth by some Necromancer's urge to experiment with forces he likely barely undersands. Nothing but the urge to feed keeps them moving. Nothing is present to keep them at bay and already villagers have fallen and farming lands become corrupt with their stench and fallen bodies. It would seem to be the end for yet another hamlet.. Or perhaps not. A traveller, returning to Great Forks from other errands, has passed through this place in search of a quick roof over his head and he emerges from a home to see the chaos of the marching dead. A single blade is drawn, gleaming gold and ringing the metal of orichalcum. There's no purpose in being subtle here.
Oko	The stench. It's horrid. Oko, on all fours, sniffs the air. He is reminded of the dead that had he was often surrounded with in the Pot. He can hear the undead moans and the almost dead wails. Moving through the woods to see a hamlet harrowed in horror. As Luna's furry envelops him, Oko grows from a small badger into a massive humanoid. Claws rip into a wayward undead. Head popping from the pressure. It's body limp, he lets go and continues to meander forward.
Bright Journey	Isn't that always the way? Too far from Great Forks for an attack to be anything other than 'regrettable' to the leadership there, yet too close to the Shadowlands to be safe for terribly long. It was guaranteed to happen eventually, wasn't it? At least, that's what people will surely say in hindsight. Perfect vision, that hindsight. Not a lot of help for the villagers now, what poor few are left, and not much help for the shining protectors that were not far away. Their search for truth perhaps led to mere raw fact, ie. this village is doomed, but it's a pawn moved in a larger game nonetheless. Someone, no doubt from the Shadowlands or just influenced by them, surely made a move here hoping none would be the wiser. Maybe they were just practicing, or maybe intimidation was on their mind. It doesn't matter now; for whoever did this is, at least for now, nowhere to be seen. Just the windrows of not-quite-dead-enough. Bright Journey may or may not be guided by Fate, but this isn't the first time she's been in the right place at the right time. Perhaps it was a whispered rumor, perhaps keenly honed instinct, but she came here just in time and not without a little apprehension. The slaughter had already been underway. Her bow almost shines silver in the moonlight. Bone and moonsilver twine to form a tall, powerful weapon with a brilliantly shining gem mounted on the front, and with it she does not hesitate to rid Creation of as many undead as she can. The bow almost quivers in anticipation as it purges the unclean.
Ignis	Ignis isn't lacking for confidence in getting these undead cleared out, whether that be unearned bravado or not, but he does lack for some confidence in terms of doing so and keeping all of the villagers alive. They aren't helping. Their panic sends him tripping over one another and into the zombies and back into each other in an uncontrolled riot without any sense of focus and a nightmarish mass of panic that even a specialist sword user like himself who must enter the melee to do something about it all, would prefer to simply not deal with. His sword flashes, spins and whirls, cleaving one zombie after another and then stopping in time for him to reach out and grab one of the still living village elders in time to yank him back from another zombie. One of Bright Journey's arrows strikes true then. A narrow focused lightning bolt that blitzes past Ignis to take down the Zombie with unerring accuracy. He spares only a glance in that direction but then pulls the elder closer to him. "Get the people to the meeting house and barricade yourselves there!" he commands, "But..." protests the elder, uncertain of that and what Ignis even plans to do, "Do it!" commands Ignis. A flash of sunfire in his eyes briefly and the sigil of the Dawn burning onto his forhead. A sudden resolve comes over the elder who backs off and then rushes to gather help to begin directing the crowds -away- from the zombies versus into them. A spin of his blade salutes the distant Bright Journey and then the follow up flourish drops another zombie and then another..and then he just pauses and stares at the giant.. -thing- tromping into the village. "What on earth...?"
Oko	'Was that 12 or 13?' Oko has lost count it seems. Oh well. He grabs another of the undead, ripping it's arms off and then beating the head to a pulp. A hysterical human, still wailing, tries to grab at him. WOOMP! A solid hit to the back of the head should render the human inoperable for a while. Throwing the limbs away he juts his claws into the face of another zombie. With little effort he opens his fingers. The blunt side of his claws force themselves through flesh and bone. Popping. Ripping. Tearing. He hears some person barking orders. Looking over he sees Ignis and gives an emotionless, "Hey," as he punches another undead in the face.
Bright Journey	Bright winces slightly at Oko's admittedly handy method of dealing with aggravating mundane hangers-on, but let's be honest. There's still far too much to do to be focused on that sort of, er, 'community relations'. So she flips her pink hair back over her shoulder for the umpteenth time, arms, draws, and fires with practiced, smooth motion. For every arrow, a downed zombie, but despite having two quivers she's starting to look a little low on spare twigs just as Mt. St. Ugly plows its way through what might have once been a forest canopy just outside the village clearing. Massive, misshapen, and with a stench thick enough to quite possibly demand equal rights, this -thing- tromps into town with a creditable tree trunk in one meaty fist. Bright looks askance at the thing and wrinkles her nose in disgust...then the full force of the stench hits her and she physically recoils in anguish. "Oh, Gods, what IS that thing? Did they carve it from a behemoth's leavings?"
Ignis	Ah yes. The stench. And Ignis is right in the middle of it to. He's been putting on a good game face but the arrival of the zombie wyld-giant is abit much and he recoils after kicking away the body of another downed monstrosity. "Hey, careful with the merchandise!" he manages to shout out towards Oko, rightfully pegging him as..well..not ally but at least 'not an enemy' given the other giants concentration on the zombies but it'd still be good to not accidentally, you know, break the villagers in the process. "Maybe you want to cut loose on that instead?" he adds while gesturing with his sword towards the newly arrived Mc'Nasty. That said, he starts off at a sprint towards the monster, stepping atop a fallen beam to use it to vault towards the roof top of a building to quickly dart along that instead, seeking higher ground for a better striking point. More zombies fall in the wake of his passage before he ultimately reaches the end of his path and then leaps. A flash of sunlight pierces the miasma and lances outwards towards and into the body of the beast, following along the arc of Ignis sword and crossing the rest of the distance ahead of him.
Oko	"Merchendise?" Oko pauses at the statement and looks back at the human he knocked out. He now questions what the hamlet actually is. Another place for slaves? That will have to wait. The monstrosity befor him takes precidence. Giving a frightening bellow, Oko odd form changes even more. Hulking to three meters in hight, dark black fur growing even longer with a white stripe down the back, the lumbering Oko rushes at the undead creature. His lose skin seems to flail around reacting a few seconds after the underlying muscles take action. Claws of bone white rip into its flesh, exuding a noxious odor. Oko's stumpy looking legs ground him as begins to push towards the heavens. He manages to remove the creatures legs from creation.
Bright Journey	Dead though the misshapen monstrosity may be, but that giant thing either feels pain or knows it should be. It roars this horrid, unearthly roar that chills the bones and paralyzes that little hindbrain in everyone telling them to RUN. Not that Exalted ever listen to that voice of wisdom, but it's there nonetheless. Bright's eyes widen as the cannon fodder gives way to this nasty thing. Oko goes in, claws flashing in, and lands a few (putrid) solid hits while going for the dead man lift. And gets it! Barely, struggling, but he does! That's pretty damn impressive, even for what must surely be a Lunar. There's a bit of a quirky grin on Bright's face as she contemplates that, but she shakes the thought off a moment later to draw a bead on the hulking monstrosity. The arrow begins to shimmer silver in the night, anticipating the chance to bite into undead flesh, and then she lets it rip. The shaft catches the beast in the ribs, elicitng a roar, but that's nothing to the howl of anguish as it sizzles and pops, continuing to gnaw at its special prey. It's by no means dead yet, but surely her bow of purification is not done with it yet.
Ignis	Another flash of gold and Ignis sword bits true, cutting along the torso of the beast as he blurs past and skids to a sliding stop. A visible trail of ichor follows behind him, staining his cloak and drenching the ground and his nose wrinkles in a combo of disgust and that horrifying roar that digs at even the fearless demeaor of one of the Dawn. "Figure of speech, big fella." he explains towards Oko, "Just go with it." Indeed, probably a lunar. Strange, the nature of this chance encounter but..more on that later, he supposes. He turns, just in time to see the purification arrow strike true and begin to unmake the creature from within. "Hold steady!" he calls out as his anima blazes, brilliantly, flaring towards that of a bonfire as he drops into a rooted stance and draws his blade backwards. The golden daiklaive gleams of alife all its own, the gems in the hilt reflecting a rainbow like corona that blazes outwards as if a star itself had settled into the fields of this village. If people didn't know something supernatural was here before...they know now. An instant later and Ignis seems to vanish - and then reappear as his blade rips and flashes and sings with a brilliant array of strikes that seem to each occur with the space between seconds and is followed by a final swing through the area already being eaten away at by the holy arrow. His anima blazes like an inferno and is then expelled along the length of the sword arm and the sword itself into a final fizzing pop, dropping his light show back down to a dim level though the strike seeks to completely cleave the creature in two.
Oko	Oko has to close his eyes with the light show going on. He focuses on immobilizing the creature. Lifting with all his might and gripping with the same can have adverse effects on flesh and bone. Even with the necrotic power flowing through the creature, the decaying flesh and bone can't stand up to the force. Oko's grip causes slices through the flesh and bone, cleaving the two legs off. The attacks from the others have destroyed the creature's capabilities. It's, again, lifeless body falls on Oko now that it has not stability. He starts ripping through the gut of the giant undead and eventually walks out the side covered in decayed blood and flesh. Oko spits out some that made it's way into his mouth.
Bright Journey	As Oko finished off the hulking thing, Bright lowers her bow, looking alertly around for any other threats...either undead, or whoever was summoning them. Seeing nothing, however, she slowly resheathes one of her last few arrows and loosens tension on the string,ready but not drawn as she stalks around the village center most of the fight took place in. Bluntly put, it's a mess. Bodies everywhere, sadly. Both those who died in their village..and those who died here a second time. And far more of the latter. At least the sounds of ordinary people from elsewhere in town start to become audible. Not everyone was taken, warped, murdered, then destroyed. Bright steps closer to the other two, and eyes them both, just a bit cautiously. "Ignis. Good to see you again. We keep running into each other like this, there won't be any demons or undead left." She grins a bit, but there's too much death here for her heart to be in it. She then turns to the other man. "Well met, whoever you are. I appreciate the help."
Ignis	Ignis grimaces as he surveys the village. The ichor from the beast sizzles and burns from his blade but his outfit fared a worse. Splashes of the beasts gore stain his jacket and coat and color portions of his grey, black and gold tinted armor. And then there's the stench. He sheathes his blade and turns to survey the area before finally adding, "..It could be worse. Much worse." as if sensing Bright's mood at the loss of life though he acknowledges her words with a nod of his head, "Imagine if we weren't here. More reason to solve these recent riddles concerning the dead and their emmisaries.." His voice trails off as he looks towards Oko.
Oko	Well, he's got the name of one of them: Ignis. Not sure about the other. That bow seemed to be super effective against the undead. "I'm Oko," he states bluntly as he starts flipping over corpses. He is looking for someone. He sniffs the air as he moves around as if trying to find a scent. As he continues to look, his form shifts. No longer the massive, hairy behemoth. He now stands at average height, thick build with long black hair. Looks like he hasn't shaved in a while either, or worn clothes though his body is lacking fat. After noticing some interesting looks at his lack of attire, he removes the pants from one of the dead and dawns them. "You," he points at Ignis. "You said merchandise. I'm tracking some slavers and I'm not seeing their stock. Is this a common trading route?" There isn't much of a question as a demand for answers.
Bright Journey	A quick, sharp nod to Ignis, and Bright acknowledges the comment. Clearly, each knows why the other is here, and they are at least acquainted with each other. Though they obviously didn't come to the village together. Interesting. Most of Bright's attention is reserved for Oko, though. She looks at him warily. "Er," she says, looking at him as he transforms back into a human. "Well met, Oko. You...hrm." She shakes her head briefly. "You're not who I'm looking for. But I was just wondering..." Her voice trails off as Oko points at Ignis and asks pointed questions. She holds back her own question, whaveer it was, probably because he didn't seem so talkative.
Ignis	"It was a figure of speech. A joke and apparently a poorly timed one since you took it rather literally. You may have some luck in Great Forks although..I..suggest.." His facade of playing it cool finally just simply cracks as he notes that Oko just took the dead mans pants. "Okay, alright.. are you a Lunar? You're a Lunar. You must be a Lunar. Should we be worried? You have no love for the dead...and I fear for these slavers that have angered you..but..."
Oko	"Great Forks," Oko mumbles. "That name has come up a few times. Guess I need to go there." Satisfied that those he is looking for are not here, he focuses on the two that assisted in taking down the massive undead. "Yes," he states bluntly. "Are you use to seeing humanoid beasts transforming into humans in 'Great Forks'?" A bit of sarcasm is thrown in. Eyeing Bright as well, that pink hair does stand out, he comments "But you two aren't much different. That bow." He nods at Brights weapon. "Not normal and great for these things." He kicks one of the undead laying next to him. The head breaks off and rolls down the slight incline. "And you lighting up like the sun. You those shiny twats that ran away for so long?" He's looking between the two.
Bright Journey	There's no two ways about it. Bright is a bit taken aback by Oko's very blunt speech. But she clearly refuses to let it faze her. She lowers the bow a bit, but as she directs her attention to Oki, the gem mounted in it actually grows just a bit brighter. She tries on a bit of a smile, even if it doesn't quite reach to her eyes. "I don't know much about slavery, but Great Forks is pretty free wheeling. You might have luck there. As Oko refers to her bow, Bright simply nods. "Nightbane. A gift from my mate, a long, -long- time ago. Before my kind 'ran away'--or rather, were murdered--so long ago. I...still don't remember much. But I know my bow cleanses. Poison, disease...darkness. It will be a long time before I really understand what it's capable of again. But it serves me well. "What about you, though, Oko? Do you know what caused this place to be plagued as it is?"
Ignis	Ignis is less...diplomatic in his response though he doesn't speak for a moment as Bright Journey says much. He looks to her and allows his gaze to look over her bow before nodding appreciately and then he turns to answer Oko for himself, "Yes. As she said. Run away. Murdered. Betrayed. You know. Interchangable." His voice drips with sarcasm though he does arc an eyebrow with the faintest hint of a twinkle in his gaze as if he is somewhat amused by Oko's bluntness and not sincerely insulted to the bone. "And no..I have not personally seen shapeshifters in Great Forks but it is a place friendly to those of supernatural origin and ability. You may find many strange things there...including leads on your own quest."
Oko	Ignorning their excuses for the Solar's absence, Oko responds to Bright. "I have no idea what happened here. I'm just passing through." Finding a shirt that doesn't have too much blood on it, he takes it off the body and puts it on himself. It's a bit tighter than he had hoped and removes it. "Seems like Great Forks is a great place to look into." He looks around for a bit and then asks, "Which way is it?"
Bright Journey	Bright smiles briefly, not as concerned about his opinion of the latest topic, as she gestures in the general direction of Great Forks. "The city--for it is truly a city--is that way. Not gonna lie, you should think about at least having less blood on you if you want to try getting past the guards. Try to not make them pay too much attention to you." "Anyway, she adds," I'm called Bright Journey. Pleased to meet you, Oko." Her voice is mellow and even, now, less worried-sounding. More in her wheelhouse, now, clearly. "Again, I don't know where to find slavers, but I know they're there. Keep an eye out." She pauses and makes she she has eye contact right with Oko. "And, do me a favor? Don't kill anyone innocent. I'd appreciate it."
Ignis	"Indeed. IF you're done robbing the dead infront of their loved ones.. there's a river not far from here where some washing can be done to try and deal with this stench. We might all have to attend to that before going back to Great Forks. The city is ruled by gods and has its rules and expectations.." Ignis smirks, tone sardonic. There's some mild amusement but he's also keeping an eye out on the villagers as they emerge back into view. It will be time for mourning, clean up and more soon and they are keeping their distance from the trio, keenly aware of their supernatural nature and unwilling to test their luck. Shame, the small tavern and inn had good food to.. "I think I'd best be on my way actually. I'm sure I'll run into you both there again. Unfinished business and all...and now a Necromancer to be on the look out for." He nods to both Oko and Bright and takes a few steps back to disengage conversation.
Oko	Oko sniffs the shirt he's wearing. It probably hasn't been washed in a while an the blood and bile aren't helping. He shrugs, "Good idea." Confirming the direction Bright pointed out with a pointed hand and an audible "That way then," Oko starts the long trek. "Nice to meet you Bright. You might find me in Great Forks though I don't plan on hurting the innocent." Though he does mumble, "Are any of us really innocent?"
Bright Journey	Well, THAT'S not worrisome. No, not at all. She looks rather apprehensive as Oko asks himself if anyone at all is innocent. Bright winces and turns her attention back to Ignis. "In truth, I think it's time I headed out, too. I have leagues to go, and dinner to catch as well." She chuckles and looks at her quivers. "If I have enough left. In any case, I bid you well, It doesn't appear we got a major lead on who's doing this and where, so I'll keep looking. Good morrow!
Ignis	"I think he has a crush on you and only talks to girls usually." quips Ignis at Bright Journey and with some amusement at Oko not asking for his own name though he didn't necessarily offer it either. "I can see the wedding already. He probably knows how to throw a party like nobody's business." He watches as Oko wanders off and then nods his head to Bright, "Agreed. Take care of yourself."