Island of Maniacs 1

[ApatheticFoxboy]

"I expect to find the princess." Beladere told him. "Don't you?"

Princesses, yeah. Nothing to see here, just an old fart going to make a fool of himself. Noble women in flowing dresses dancing in twirls to the music of wood and strings. Rudy had been fussy as a kid growing up in the Douglas estate.

Every Winter Holiday the family attracted new clients from the upper classes by hosting their own balls. They were the worst as far as young Rudolph was concerned. His aunt taught him ballroom dancing, so the family could to show off to potential clients by having him twirl their daughters. They danced and she talked about how rich her family was, or how her father was a powerful general. He didn't care for it(he once compiled himself to vomit before a terribly fat girl, no fucking way he was going hustle to move that mass). Ever since, young Rudolph as let his twirling talents fade.

The group moved out to the "Proving Ground" as the sign said. In the air he heard the wild shriek of the exotic jungle. He felt the green dewy grass on his bare feet. Contentment flooded his face. It felt good reconnecting with solid earth after the voyage on the battleship GKS Luguro. The accommodations were accommodating, but nothing beats walking across nature's bounty. Rudy approached Rem. "Wildlife," he said with a critical glare, "tell me more about the predator species on the island."

Rudy regarded Rem, like a great show he wanted to see, but wasn't sure it was worth his six pieces. The young woman had glasses. Now there was something to a girl wearing glasses. The scholarly appearance has a stroke of mystery to it. The glasses told Rudy that if he was willing to look for it, underneath these wrapping was a real body with warm blood running through it, just begging to be taken.

[Astral Harmony]

Ming shrugged lightly. "What can I say? Rosalith's a good girl. She knows her mother Viris only has dark intentions. I don't think she wants to kill her mother, but the idea may have to be entertained for the sake of the archipelago."

Rem's eyes sparkled. She certainly loved teaching. "Well, Belghorines are everywhere, and everyone's fought at least maybe a dozen varieties of them. In their pure state, Belghorines aren't much to sniff at. However, they have a technique called 'Theme' that allows them to take the concept of 'something' and mutate themselves to gain that concept. For example, suppose a Belghorine Themes a shotgun. It mutates into a version of itself, simply called a Shotgun Belghorine, that has an organ capable to doing what a shotgun does. Belghorines can only use Theme once in their lives. Once they mutate, they're stuck in their new form. Most Belghorines don't become too much of a threat, although there was a recorded event when a Belghorine managed to Theme a God-level encryption spell called Planet Scarring. I heard it was a hell of a fight to stop it since it could rip huge canyons into the earth at will."

"Octrawings are pretty common in temperate zones, and Red Island is mostly temperate. They're predatory and territorial birds with eight wings, making them fast hunters. They hunt mostly small animals and children unless hunting in flocks, in which case they take on bigger prey like us."
"Carnifish and Toxifish are also very common in many lakes and rivers. They are simply carnvorous fish, although the Toxifish also incorporate venom into their bite to ensure greater success in their kills."
"Land Sharks are voracious amphibious monsters that rarely venture from their aquatic lairs. They have powerful jaws and their tail swipe can damage bones."
"Trents are living trees. They're usually pretty docile at first, but go crazy when you take an axe or some fire to them. We should be careful when setting fires to forests as part of any tactical operation. You never know when some of those trees will decide not to put up with our abuse of nature."

Ming got ready for battle as Rem went on. "Berserkers and Maneaters are also plant monsters. Berserkers are creatures composed of vines with nasty barbs that they like to rake people with. There are poisonous versions with violet barbs instead of the standard red. Maneaters function kinda like catapults, launching large seeds toward their targets with pretty good accuracy."
"Feral Furries are pre-evolutionary stages of every kind of anthrobrid, from neko sapiens to cuni sapiens. They usually have tribal societies and they live where they want to live. We may actually run into a tribe if they exist on Red Island."
"Salamandaurs, Gigazelles and Phargone Wolves are considered the elemental trinity monsters. Salamandaurs are reptiles that command fire, Gigazelles are large stags that wield lightning from their antlers, and Phargone Wolves are large, white beasts with ice elemental fury."

"Early experiments in summoning before it became taboo produced the Moonspawn. They dwell in swamps and other wet places and look like a giant flatworm in a clamshell with long tentacles that eject energy harpoons with frightening skill."
"Topping our list is Luguros and Weeping Madonnas, the most powerful land monsters. They both abhor civilization, so it's more likely that we'll see them out here. Luguros are huge black devilish beings that make their nests in ruins and can grind a person into meat chunks with their Chaos Breath. Weeping Madonnas are part woman, part beetle terrors that can use their beautiful voices for anything from putting you to sleep to shredding your flesh from the bone. We'd do best to avoid those two if at all possible."

Rem adjusted her glasses. "There's lots and lots of monsters that could have come to reside in Red Island since the last four-hundred years, and I don't have an accurate idea of all that would be there without doing some in-depth surveys."

[Malkadocian]

If this was common terrors of the Isle... then how powerful was the General that was with the Princess?... He'll just have to see how impressive such a feat was, once they were inside the depths of the Red Island itself. For now... it was debatable. Many such threats that were listed weren't even... a danger to him, were he aware of them.

"Hmph... I'll deal with the aquatic and aerial beasts. They won't last a second against me." Leraje went silent after his simple statement, as if that was enough.

Leraje moved around a bit, unable to really stand still, now that his feet stood upon the bare earth, and his freedom was only as far as Colonel Ming telling them they were ready to head out. His impatience was obvious... fingers flexed... cracking knuckles... shuffling dirt around with the toe of his torn brown boots. Leraje was already far from this place... trying to fly away with weights tied around his ankles, keeping him low to the ground. Only a matter of time before the weights were dropped and Ming would send him on his way.

[Astral Harmony]

"Leraje the Storm, master Forcer of the stormy elements of wind and lightning. Yes, you would be quite effective on flying and swimming monsters." Rem approved.

Ming began to step back. "Don't follow her. I think it's time for our lessons in tactics."

Before anyone can look at someone who is supposed to be an masterful tactician talk about "our" lessons, Rem continued. "You can always learn something new. When you become so skilled at such advanced tactics, it is possible to forget the bare basics."

"Training force, front and center." Ming commanded softly. Suddenly, six individuals, four males and two females, poured onto the battlefield at Ming's flanks, all of them facing the main characters. "All right, now please take a look at this. Try to ignore the parts intended by the creator to be humorous. She's a goddamned imbecile."



"These are the basics, actually." Rem said. "All that's here is grassy plains, so we can't mess with terrain effects in this battle zone all that much except for an unnecessary change in the weather. Additionally, our parties are a bit too far from each other to begin on the very first turn. At the very least, Rushers and Radian have the Speed to meet the enemy in two turns, while it will take everyone else three turns. The exception to this as that the Shooters and Forcers can attack with their ranged attacks and magic in just two turns. After all, it's ranged. Why should you have to get within melee range to strike foes with your guns and arrows and elemental fury?"

"Notice off in the battle zone status section that our enemies are pretty weak. I mean, you can tell from their names. Swordholders? Arrowmakers? Coffeewarmers? Yeah, so there's no need to go overboard with your attacks. At the very most, you'll want to use medium size weapons and advanced magicks."
"All in all, this is just a big lesson to see how well we cooperate as a party and as people in a tactical battle situation. The image provides enough tactics to own this battlefield."
"Don't forget about me," Ming challenged, lazily twirling her immense axe. "Boss characters like myself are much tougher than standard foes."
"Right," Rem agreed. "When Ming charges, regardless of what enemies harass us, we will want to focus all of our attention and offensive power on her. Otherwise, she'll start slicing and dicing her way through our ranks."

Enemy Data
- GK Swordholder - Newbie recruits who have a long way to go to reach knight status. This will be their first time swinging a sword instead of polishing one. They lack cocky attitudes and aren't really worth humiliating.
- GK Arrowmaker - These raw greenies haven't even shot a bow yet. They're a greater threat to themselves with those longbows than they are to any enemy forces they may encounter.
- GK Coffeewarmer - These ladies are just this side of cute and just that side of capable as far as Forcers go. They have just enough knowledge about encrypting Divine Data into half-hearted Fire Bolts.
- Colonel Ming - A Colonel in the Galvantyne Kingdom Army, and a destructive Breaker class warrioress with a lethal axe. Ming has seen a lot of action, and hates that now she's usually stuck behind a desk. Still, her skills haven't become dampered by relentless paperwork in the slightest.

[ApatheticFoxboy]

Rudy hadn't been prepared for the lecture. Rem assaulted him with the statistics of all the major species on the island. He feigned interest, but often felt his head slide off to the side. His attention was piqued by the tribal furries. For a second Rudy was completely focused, then his mind drifted to Nyam. Rudy had never turned anyone, hadn't even had any experience himself on becoming a vampire. Grandfather Douglas had changed the whole family with Divine Data. It wasn't like he had given out a pamphlet.

He shook his head to discard uncomfortable thoughts "Hey, Akane," he said distracting himself, "Those Phargone Wolves seem pretty cool. Big white furry coat, awesome Ice magic, I'd love to have that beast at my command. Imagine a wolf half your size keeling at your feet. That would be the ultimate show of dominance. Totally Alpha. Ok, I've made up my mind. If we see some Phargone Wolves I'm going to tame one of them."

Rudy went down into a starting stance. Hands down, knees ready to spring. For an instant Rudy remembered the smell of rubber soles and track gravel. He eyed his opponents across the field. The feminine flanks with their exposed necks looked attractive to the blood starved vampire. Avoiding fire balls that were sure to come his way was a must. Take the one quick and stay far from the other. Or maybe a simple application of Heart magic would suffice.

"So, Which way were you thinking of going?" he said to the Rusher to his left and the Breaker to his right, "I'm taking one of the coffee warmers and I'd like some cover to my exposed side."

[batgirl]

Akane nodded at Rudy as her left hand reached into her pouch. If you're into that kind of thing with controlling animals and can tame one, be my guest. Me? I'm my own animal, she said, pulling out a pair of brass knuckles and slipping them on her hands. She punched her fists into each palm to secure them and took a low fighting stance. I'll take the swordsmen, I enjoy melee combat. The back row should keep the archers off our backs and watch to see if Ming makes any moves.

[secretskull]

Beladere yawned loudly. "Bah, this is no fun at all!" He complained. "Sitting here... Talking about his disconcerting fixation with wolves." He added indicated Rudy. After a moment he began to stare ahead of him, at Akane. "As lovely as the view may be, isn't good enough." Lazily he began to rise into the air.

"It's just not a real battle if no one is trying to toss a fireball at you." He called down to the group.

[rapter200]

Those Coffee Warmers are an insult to the art of fire lets wipe them off the face of the earth. “ Hey you, yeah you, you “coffee warmers” you think you can use fire magic and insult my art like that. You have ignited my wrath, and you will be cleansed. I will make it so that all you will ever be able to do all your life is to warm coffee with your smoldering ashes.”

Cael did not care about any of the other enemies, all that mattered was the cleansing of the warmers of coffee. Cael shifted his feet to the stance that he developed during his training. This stance allows all his anger to fuel the flames, letting it flow through him with ease.

[Malkadocian]

Leraje was in complete agreement with Rem's assessment of the situation. Everybody but Ming was not worth noticing. They were simply there to provide a menial obstacle to his newfound "party," and that was it. A distraction, pure and simple. He knew a threat when he saw one, and that hefty axe that the Colonel was wielding would have cut him in twain, should it have ever gotten within range. Therefore.... that was the threat.

He didn't vocalize his intent, nor communicate with his party about his intentions... but he sized up how people were forming up near him, and shrugged, taking that into consideration. The longer Ming was tied up the better, allowing him to prepare a real offense, should it come to that.

With his intent finally forming into his mind, Leraje tapped into the Divine Data that he saw before him, chaotic in his minds eye, and prepared to weave two things towards Rudy and Akane... the same spell, actually... just cast twice, one for each of them. "Tail Wind"... it would increase their speed, and allow them to engage the enemy quicker, react to their foes, and hopefully dodge the occasional attack, with greater ease.

[Astral Harmony]

Ming smiled. She apparently really enjoyed battle, even the ones she couldn't win because of the difference in power between her squad and the main characters. "They sure look like they're ready to fight after having endured that long ride on the ship. All units, advance! Give me a good show and you might just move up in the waiting line to begin training a bit."

This wasn't particularly good motivation for the raw recruits, given the clear truths that they were slightly outnumbered and severely outgunned by their opponents. One of the Swordholders shrugged. "Well, we're going to get the shit kicked out of us whether we charge or hold back. Might as well make it sooner and get it over with."

This gave the formation the boost they needed to at least press forward. The two Swordholders advanced straight ahead, ending it just outside of the range of all characters save the newly boosted Rudy and Akane. The Arrowmakers followed closely behind, and the Coffeewarmers not far behind.

Sitrep Update: Leraje isn't even winded yet.

Both Swordholders are within range of everyone except Hiroko. Both Arrowmakers are within range of the Shooters and Forcers (and Radian who could Launch a weapon). The Coffeewarmers and Colonel Ming (who hasn't moved yet) are not within range of anyone.

"This is a good chance to land a severe initiative on the enemy," Rem advised. "Radian, Rudy, and Akane should be able to defeat at least one Swordholder and wound the other by themselves. The Forcers should be able to deal with both Arrowmakers and remove the remaining Swordholder for good. Those sad excuses for spellcasters are just out of everyone's range. If we charge, they'll get the chance to hit us with their Fire Bolts, but I doubt even Radian who has the lowest Willpower would take enough damage to feel particularly threatened. Just be careful. We don't know what Ming will do, but I wouldn't be surprised if she Launched that axe. Hopefully she aims at Rudy or Akane. They have the best chance to get out of the way."