I had many songs in mind for this. Mystery Meat, Id (Purpose), Katyusha, Fortune Days, Castor Inception...
In the end, I think I'll go with something simple, old and with a relatively appropriate name:
POP:WW - Conflict At The EntranceCampaign, Ike!
"Aha! The Taroids have got our scent, methinks! Back, men! And women too, I assume."
Best to retreat a little. Give some room for the Taroids to charge! Get my trusty peasant regiments back as well.
No men. This society seems close to the ye olde gender separation, although nobody seems to be actively enforcing that, at least not on your companions. Then again, most of the people you've met have thought you were either foreigners, wizards, nobles, monsters or a combination of the above, so it's quite possible they are more tolerant of deviations in these sorts of individuals. There's probably some sort of interesting sociological study to be made there, but you can't really get too much into that right now due to the group of Taroids coming your way.
"Spears front! Hold the line!"You give your men the order to retreat and prepare to hold them at the gate. They run around the corner, one of them slipping clumsily but quickly getting back up again. They look like humanoids covered by a thick layer of dark smoke that trails behind them as they run. Whenever their limbs thrust forward, you can see their finer details, but they are still obscured by the darkness, making them look like a dark viscous tar-like fluid became animate. They're running full speed now, almost as quick as a normal man, except for one that is moving slower than the rest, as its leg is twisted in the wrong position, causing it to half-jump half-limp forward. They stick close to the sides of the road, to the shade provided by the buildings, but they don't appear to have any trouble stepping into the light.
"Slow them! Pin them down!"As soon as your men are close to the gate they start throwing rocks, bricks, pieces of wood and whatever else they have on them or can get their hands on. However, their efforts don't appear to be working. For the most part, the projectiles appear to be a minor inconvenience for them. A man manages to get a particularly good hit in, striking one of them in the leg with a powerful blow, causing it to lose its footing and fall down. But the others keep running.
Your spearmen do your best to stop the two advancing Taroids that reach them, the other two still catching up due to their injuries.
"Hungry..." you hear one of them rasp.
One of the spearmen manages to catch the Taroid straight in the chest and completely stop it after sliding back for half a metre. He keeps pushing, throwing it off balance and pinning it to the ground as it thrashes around and tries to hit anything within its reach.
"Sorry..." the other gurgles.
The other spearman is not so lucky. The force of the impact catches him by surprise. He is thrown back and onto the ground. He desperately tries to use his spear to hold the monster back and keep it from jumping on him.
"Hold them down! Remove the head! Destroy the brain!"The rest of your civilian mobs attempt to mob the Taroids and help their spearmen comrades in arms. They manage to handle the downed Taroid quite well, bashing it in the head with whatever they have until they turn it into a pulp and the monster stops moving coherently (although it continues flailing around and grasping and emitting unsettling noises).
The one trying to eat the downed spearman however... The mob seems hesitant to approach, after one of them that does finds himself on the receiving end of a vicious strike that throws him to the ground with his arm broken. The monster pushes itself against the spear until it emerges on the other side of its shadowy body. Its shadow hides the poor spearman from sight, but you can still hear his screams and something crunching.
"Warm flesh..."Meanwhile, the other mobs deal with the other two Taroids that have just arrived. The other two spearmen manage to hold their ground and keep the Taroids at a distance, while the civilians help by pelting them with stones. One of them manages to get a good hit in, stunning one of the monsters and throwing it to the ground.
This isn't turning out so well. Then again, it could had been much worse. Now might be a good time to intervene.
Zechariah chided himself mentally as he continued with the group.
Of course they'd be afraid of shadows, idiot. That's what they're fighting right now, after all! And suddenly, a bunch of strange people show up with promises to help, but towing along a kid who can bend shadows to his will. Brilliant!
"Please don't be afraid," Zechariah reassured. "I'm not one of the monsters. I'm just here to try and help. If this.. 'magic' scares you, then I won't use it for now." He held his staff down as he walked and tried to stay behind Ike and the others. Looking down at his staff, he wondered if his crystal abilities would be reliable enough to use in this area. Considering that he was pained even in an area lit by sunlight before, he doubted it. If he needed to break out the shadows again, however, he seemed to have more than enough power to be able to repel any threat.
It's just a question of whether or not he can control that power.
Stay close like before and try to keep on guard with my sight as best as possible. If I suspect danger, see if I have enough natural light around to gather crystals. If not, gather small amounts of shadows.
Trying to use your staff to manipulate light appears to be a bad idea. It feels like it's sucking the life out of you whenever you try to do so, making you feel dizzy and weak.
So you just watch Ike while maintaining some shadows in the... well, in the shadows, ready to intervene.
((The dice lust for the biggest amount of amusing carnage almost as much as I do. Much like Xan and his id, our desires are nearly one and the same.))
Continue to maintain control until we spot the original jelly monster thing. Hold my carrot back and whisper sweet promises of velocity in its ear.
The urge for release is burning you. You think your skin is starting to turn orange.
I look up at the short man, trying to think of anything I might have forgotten.
"Um, stay near me? I can't avoid burning you if I don't know where you are. Um... I can't think of anything else right now."
Ready? I'm taking the torches by the way.
He nods and goes for the door. He lets it open just a crack, scans the area and then opens it completely. He checks around once more, including above him and then goes outside.
Everything is quiet.
He motions for you to follow him. You get out, close the door and retrieve the lit torch while he watches the area.
When you're ready, Vind takes point and you follow him closely.
<So... There's something I've been meaning to ask you... But... I've never really worked up the courage to do so...> The village is not that large or wide. There aren't many places you could sneak through, even if you wanted you. You follow the outer wall for a while, moving quietly through the open area close to the wall. You pay special attention to anywhere an ambush could hide, every shaded point. Corners, sheds, creaking windows... Everything seems quiet. There are signs that people rushed away, doors left open, fires still burning. It makes you wonder why they left in such a hurry, what could had alerted them to the danger. Did the news spread via word of mouth? Did they rush away, following the herd like panicked animals? Maybe there was another means of addressing a large number of people? Or maybe they saw the monsters with their own eyes...
<It's something that occurred to me the moment I first laid eyes on you... Your body, your tails... It all looked so...>The last option becomes even more plausible when you find a couple of corpses sprawled across a shaded porch. Vind spares a minute to carefully approach and investigate them. It looks like whatever attacked them dragged them here to feed on them. Their bodies have been badly mauled and broken and then had their flesh torn with hands and teeth. There's little left on them. The tracks look a bit unclear and distorted, but you think they're human, around three of them. It looks like whatever they were, they left towards the way you came from.
<So, there's just that I want- only if you want to of course... I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or force you to do anything you want, but...>You move on. After a while, you cut through a side street and head closer to the main road. You're not yet at the centre of the village but he probably just wants to check ahead before you get too close. The area looks clear, so you keep going until you reach the main road. You can already hear something up ahead, slight repetitive movement, dirt and wood, so you use your hand to get his attention, warn him and indicate the direction it's coming from. Vind approaches a building and leans around a corner to look ahead. After a quick peek he gets back into cover and signals you that there are 5 ahead. Probably close, judging from how tense he looks.
<D, now is really not the time.><Yeah, but, you know, something might happen and, you know... Something might happen to me, I might never get a chance to speak with you again. So I just wanted to say it while we still had the time. You know, no time like the present, hehe...>Suddenly, you hear a noise. You think it came from somewhere above you. You pause and try to listen as hard as you can but there's nothing. It has stopped and you're not exactly sure where it came from or if it was even something important. Vind notices you so he joins you in scanning for trouble. But there's still nothing. Maybe it was just wind from your fire disturbing things on the roofs of the buildings. Maybe you're just on edge.
<Okay, here goes. Can you... say 'Moshi Moshi'?>
((I'm late and not that proactively helpful, but also sick, and sad. 
Generally planning Theri to aid with what skills she has here. I think I've caught up in the past 5 pages...))
"Sir with the bow waiting for him in town, would you please get yourself a small bundle of torches, one of them lit, and come with me to guide?"
unless DAF / Tiruin are ready to play, then I'd like to leave their characters here to help guard the locals.
((Totally could help given my advantage in speed and probably strength. Still super thankful for Parisbre/DAF's attitude and mindset of continuous activity!))
Given Theri's current circumstances, she did her best as she could--bereft of magic unlike Irine, something she made known to the villagers in contrast as she tended to them and their needs. She put forward the idea that despite a group going away to take care of their concerns, the rest should keep aware. She was surprised at the recent happenings within the village of Dragon's Hole, and mused that they must be nearing their objective--finding whomever River mentioned a long time ago. Her memory was hazy at the moment.
"I get that I don't look much like someone many of you would like to be with, but I would like to know more about what happened recently. I'm here to help, and so are my friends--I cannot do any magic, but that doesn't mean we're any weaker without it. Can anyone help me here; who leads the village? What are your professions? Who watched the fighting directly?"
Acquire human intelligence resource. Get information. Try to be useful being the only one left behind. Also try to sense for River...
((As far as I recall, there is a way I can contact the others from here, right?))
While taking care of the wounded and organizing a rudimentary group of volunteers to help take care of them, you also do your best to gain information. The mayor in charge of the village listens to your suggestions and assigns whoever he can get to start working on creating fortifications and finding weapons, so that they will be better protected if something happens during the night. You understand, however, that the people here are not warriors. Most of them are either merchants, farmers, craftsmen or simple workers, either helping with the farms, processing their products or doing odd jobs to get by. If there were any warriors amongst them, none of them are here.
The stories you hear about the attack to the village sound bad. The creatures that attacked them were mostly humanoid. They attacked either with swords and clubs or with their bare hands. But they all appeared to be much stronger and tougher than humans should be. There was also a bull-like creature that run through the streets. And animals called Cacolopes, creatures with large sharp teeth that like to jump around on their four thin but dexterous legs.
A few villagers say that leading the attack was some sort of winged, horned, four-legged creature of darkness. They say it was somewhat larger than an Ox and it did not appear capable of flight, but it was quite ruthless nevertheless. It pounced on people and used its tail to throw away anyone that dared to come close. Some say it was a dragon, but others say that dragons don't look like that, that dragons are supposed to be reptiles with a long neck and that this was more like a dark pegasus with a long tail or maybe a large winged cat. You're not really interested in a debate on the morphology of magical creatures right now, and each of them appears to have a different story or description about the creature (some say it had red eyes while others say it had no eyes, some say it breathed fire while others say it breathed darkness) so you don't press the matter. You don't think any of them are very reliable. They're probably still in shock, embellishing and confusing their stories.
As for River... You have a very bad feeling about him. You think he might be in great danger. However, you're still not sure about what you are supposed to do about it. It's just a source of anxiety with no obvious way of resolving it. But you can't just sit around and do nothing. You can't just hope that everything will work itself out, not when your friends are in danger. You feel that you have to do something.
After relaying the information you gained to the others, you leave your telepathic communication wire to the mayor and instruct him in its use. And then you get ready to act.
((To be continued, as per your instructions...))
OOCHere's a video portraying Ike's group's efforts:
https://youtu.be/ONEZfj6h1xc
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