Corvayne felt his heart quicken as he saw a line of ten killer trees crawling across the mall's small lake towards him. He could hear their roots making clinking noises, the sound merging with the high tension warbling of their whip-like steel vines. The wall of trees must have been twelve feet tall, their bulbous bodies clad in bark and flecks of metal interrupted by pulsing strawberry tumors. If they got cornered by those bulky monsters, they were done for. Even if he fought well, the trees could seriously injure or kill his charges.
He guessed this was the time to test if all the toys he was packing now would make a difference. He saw a few of the newbies were frozen in awe of the wall of huge monsters coming at them. He took a deep breath. He had to focus on getting the help he could protecting those that couldn't defend themselves.
“Lady Blood Claw! Brines! Cover my flanks. Everyone else back, fire if you have a clean shot but don't risk hitting us, bullets don't do much. Brines use the dagger to burn things, don't get close and don't try to take them down, just starting them on fire is enough. ” Corvayne got his whip ready, while holding his own fire-breathing dagger in his other hand.
Ears, Reaper, and Bearer came up near him. “We'll help.” Ears said. “It's my fault anyway this time, right?”
Corvayne gestured to the stairs behind where the party was behind him. “If you have to, keep any upstairs monsters from getting the group. If I die, finish off what we don't kill.”
Lady Blood Claw shot him a sideways glance and huffed. “I think you're underestimating yourself again.”
“If my head's on my shoulders then by all means laugh at me for trying to be safe. Also, just for that you get be the one to tell Wick if I'm missing limbs after this.”
Lady Blood Claw's color turned an uncomfortable ashen color. “I reject that deal.”
There was no more time for talk, as the cluster of plants finished slithering past the jam fountain and Corvayne wanted to make sure them the moment all monsters were at the edge of the jelly that he met them to have as much room as possible.
He ran to about ten feet away and swung his fire-breathing dagger before the wall of wood, with a squeeze directing a red jet of fire out of it and scorching the first three monsters. The cone of fire left scorch marks on two and started one tree ablaze, driving it into a frenzy. Corvayne took advantage of his running boots to back up as the front three trees whipped at him, the noise of steel air a reminder of his first encounter.
He saw Brines warding a pair off with short bursts of fire while yelling, and Lady Blood Claw darted in, slashed one of the trees before she moved back with enhanced speed. Her new blazing sword seemed to both cut and set the monsters aflame. Corvayne stuck with the dagger, letting the already singed trees saunter forward before applying another layer of fire, the smell of wood smoke mixed with burnt fruit. He heard shouting behind him but disengaging before glancing back to spot that the upstairs team had two trees gliding to them.
Corvayne stepped back further when he felt a wave of heat as another tree ignited, flailing in a thrashing cloud of steel vines then falling on it's side as it's strawberry tumors popped. The nine other trees came on, one of them managing to snap a steel vine and draw blood on Corvayne's arm. He used gravity to lighten himself, then snapped out with his whip, the snake-head finding a spot to bite a tree by the root. The toxic blob it left disappeared into the wood, then the tree who had absorbed it sagged as a quarter of it's leg-roots rotted from the inside out, turning a large chunk of it's wood into black mush. No time to celebrate, as the other trees marched forward, slow but relentless upper branch whips snapping out. Mosh was standing behind Lady Blood Claw healing a wound pumping blood out of her shoulder, before she surged forward to continue fighting.
Corvayne took his dagger and once more swept the five trees striding at him. The fire wasn't quite long enough and he felt a whip snap right near his knee, knocking him over. Corvayne rolled away, shadowy hands helping push himself back to his feet. He squeezed the handle of his dagger hard, pushing the pommel itself to glow red hot as it shot a cone of radiant fire focused on the middle tree, then once more sweeping back and forth. More of them ignited, doing enough damage that some of their legs were burnt and dragging along the ground, breaking the line they had formed. Glancing around he saw that one of the trees from above was about to creep down the stairs.
“Flanking! Just focus on survival!”
Corvayne lowered his gravity and darted forward after it seemed there was a moment the vines all tried to strike at once, and with his blazing dagger leading him he rammed his way through a tree using [Cross Skill: Flows Like Water], the burning weapon shooting jets of fire in all direction as he landed on the edge of the strawberry reflection pool. He spun, then readied his whip with [Cross Skill: Thresh] and swept it under the trees, the attack creating a wall of shadows that snagged their roots. When they started to strain against the shadows the three caught trees spun to move away from the group towards him. He looked to the stairs through a gap in the monsters and saw June and Varia were trying to fend the trees from getting to the ground floor, their spears sparking as wires knocked them nearly out of the girl's hands.
Corvayne resisted the urge to move back to assist, as he still had four trees on him. He had to hold or Lady Blood Claw would be facing five alone. Make that four, as her blade found an opening and cleaved into her second target dropping it. Brines was doing okay holding the other two back with fire destroying some of their legs, but Corvayne saw that the monster on the stairs was going to over run the two girls fending it off. Corvayne threw his still blazing weapon with [Phantom Knife], turning the weapon into a streak of fire that thumped into the tree then exploded in a shower of embers before it rocketed back to him, the handle hot as he caught it.
The trees pressing him seemed to know he was open after catching the knife, forcing him to snap his whip to keep them from just rushing him down from three different directions. Another pair was creeping up behind him, both of them fully sized like the security trees. That's when he heard something like a buzz saw, and there was sawdust where one tree had been. There was another cracking noise, and the one in the catwalk slipped, the renamed trio closing in and attacking over and over, even as Reaper got slugged with a vine in his chest and fell back wheezing.
Corvayne was cornered, but he smiled at seeing his team take down two trees.
Brines burned one of his trees to death finally but was drooping from the effort when a vine shot out, hitting his wrist and cutting him so bad that Corvayne was sure his hand was going to fall off. The distraction nearly cost Corvayne his neck as he ducked away from a strike that grazed the back of his head. Drawing on gravity once more, he crouched then leapt, snapping his whip at a cross-beam above him and letting the force swing him in an arc towards the group.
After pulling the whip back to him he realized his positioning and been off and he was falling right at Ayame.
Thankfully he weighed so little she was able to catch him in a panic, oily arms only holding him for a moment then letting him drop. Corvayne got to his feet, thanked her with a salute, then ran to Brines. The same tree that had bloodied the man tried to slap at Corvayne with it's steel vines, who cracked his own whip as he nimbly side stepped the barrage.
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The glob of poison from the whip literally chewed it's way down the tree leaving a greasy black trail that caused the monster to drop. Brines saved for the moment, he turned back to the other side where Lady Blood Claw was jabbing with her huge flaming sword, darting in to strike then moving backwards, pain evident in her face and stance but her skin holding gray suggesting her control. Mosh had switched to helping Brines, who's diving outfit had turned black where his blood had soaked in.
Corvayne stepped up to the group of three trees on the ground and once more stabbed out with his dagger, using the cone of flame to ignite another of the monsters. He was starting to tire but moved his dagger over, applying the fire to a fresh tree that had joined the original ten, quickly setting it ablaze before the third of Corvayne's cluster came whipping in, top branches sparking as they hit the metal floor. The heat from the fight and pain from his wounds didn't stop him from stepping forward with his whip ready and jumping with gravity, boosting him as he flicked his weapon downwards, activating [Cross Skill: Juxtapose].
Suddenly he was on the ground and he dashed forward moments before the tree he had swapped forty feet up fell. He felt sleepy, but turned and saw that Varia had stepped up next to him then gestured, blasting a tree with a thin blue line of white energy. Ayame helped his other flank, getting hit by a steel vine that bounced off hardened olive oil as she slashed at the monster with her pizza cutter. She started crying out in shock and fell back, holding the spot where she had been hit and falling over, pushing herself away from the line of battle.
Horton shouted, and Corvayne dispatched another tree with a whip strike before looking and seeing Horton was upstairs and running down the steps. “Three trees up here! I can't do anything!”
Mosh was starting to look tired as he let his hands drop. “I'm going to actually run outta mends soon Boss!”
“Fling salt at them or something!” Corvayne said then got belted in the gut for letting his attention lapse, a cloud of mist blasting out. No broken ribs, but the dumb hit had made him angry. He was done playing around. He put his dagger away and visualized his whip as a caged beast, gripping the green leather handle with both hands and tilting the weapon like it was the hilt of a katana at his side, He took his stance then opened a chain of attacks with [Cross Skill: Draw] to unleash the whip like a beast sent to hunt. [Cross Skill: Shadow Step] made him feel like he was slithering as the whip swirled around him, and with a hiss he slid through the clump three trees then back into reality. He cracked the whip with [Cross Skill: Sheath the Life] to finish the chain of attacks. Toxic slime burned out the path through three trees he took, which crumpled as they died and turned into putrid puddles of bark and berry seeds. For as well as it worked, his anger and strength faded, left him feeling emptied out. Taking a moment he saw that there were still monsters trying to reach the stairs to their level.
“Lady! Top!” He called out, and she saw the trees moving after Horton and nodded. There was one that had been late to the fight skittering across the ground floor, so despite being tempted to leave it to the newbies he grabbed his dagger one more time and squeezed, turning the last tree into a burning pile of embers. Looking back up at the fight on the second floor walkway he saw Lady Blood Claw bait three whip strikes then move forward, activating [Circle of Death] after moving into the middle of the trio, and in that moment she slew all three at once, turning to look down at him while she shifted to the gold hue of pride.
Corvayne gave her a thumbs up then mentally forced himself to not just pass out after a fight for a change, striding over to a bench to rest. His ribs hurt but compared to getting hit by Argyle, the trees were... quaint.
Mosh did some triage, mostly focusing on making sure Brines was alive. Ayame was rubbing her arm and biting her teeth. Bearer and Reaper both had taken a hit, and were sprawled out on steel benches, groaning. Corvayne saw the shiny bars in front of the door back outside slowly slide back to the floor, suggesting the threat was really over.
Ears came over, holding up what looked like strawberry pants. Not pants with a strawberry print, as he had first assumed, but if someone had taken the texture of fruit and sewn pants out of them.
The punk girl smiled “Hey, Corvayne, we decided you and Miss Blood Claw should have these.”
He blinked. “Oh. Why?”
Ears looked at him doubtfully, extending the pants. “Because... you earned them.”
Reaper called out from his bench, “She said they looked stupid.”
Corvayne accepted them, then felt that they were not just fruit, they actually oozed with jam inside. His hand didn't come away sticky, but it was almost certain it would be like sticking his legs in pants that had been washed in preservatives.
Bearer-of-Burdens nodded at Corvayne. “The texture is too off for us to wear, but you're really strong and it seems like you could deal with it. Mentally.”
Lady Blood Claw looked at the pants then up at Bearer. “That doesn't mean anything, gross is gross!”
Corvayne saw June coming up, and held them out. “June did you want-”
Mosh lept up from where he was giving Brines water. “No! Don't go giving her slimy pants Boss!” That evoked a laugh from Ayame. Corvayne caught Varia nodding. Oh, was that her problem?
June took the pants, felt them, then handed them back. “I'm sorry Corvayne. I cannot accept your gift. The Jam-Jammies are too gross.”
Everyone stopped for a good three seconds as the statement she had made hung in the air. Mosh came up to her and hugged her. “Great job baby, you figured out what's gross and not!”
June beamed, but everyone else was looking at the pants. It probably didn't matter if it was an artifact, Corvayne could see Ears turning away from Corvayne, her shoulders shaking in mirth. Once June had named them, it would always be the Jam Jammies. If he became an immortal demi-god, still alive in a thousand years, and they were the strongest legendary armor he owned that they called Blood Ocean Leggings, or Blood Splatter Chausses, and he was sitting on a throne of skulls or something, king of the universe... he'd know he was wearing Jam Jammies.
“Mister leader Corvayne...” She started saying. Reaper was biting his lip and breathing through his nose as he walked further back, clearly nursing his ribs. Ears-of-Steel continued. “I think I speak on behalf of the group-”
Corvayne looked pleadingly at Lady Blood Claw. Her support for him vanished as he met her eyes. “No Corvayne. No same woman is ever going to wear something that shoves sugar into your crotch.”
The girls aside from June were all nodding. June just tilted her head at that comment. Corvayne didn't get it either but LBC's conviction convinced him it was bad for some reason.
“Well, if no one wears them we can-”
Ayame had her hands folded. “You want to protect Wick, right?”
Unfair. “Yesss....”
“You can't waste power like people waste food. We worked hard and risked our lives. Take it.”
“We don't know what-”
Mosh took a scroll of Identify from Brines and read it, then stared into the air a moment before his eyes widened.
“Oh yeah, that's a hell of an artifact. I'll write down the stats for ya.” The little goblin smiled.
Corvayne tried to use the suggestion against Mosh. “Why don't you have them then? It would protect you-”
Mosh laughed and took a step back. “Oh Boss no. Green and red? Those colors don't look good together. Also, too big for me.”
Lady Blood Claw started speaking. “Magic items adjust their-”
“Too big!”
Horton raised a finger. “Actually about red and green, they work very well, in fact there's a holiday that-”
Mosh kept talking over Horton. “Sorry Boss, if it was grape flavored...” He looked at June who shook her head. “... I'd still be a no there champ.”
Curtis, who had been frozen the entire fight, shook his head. “Even if you didn't wear em, I was useless that fight. I didn't earn a single bit of goop from those Jammed up Jammies.”
Corvayne looked over at Brines. Even half dead from blood loss, the man raised a hand to stop Corvayne. “I made a promise to my dad, to never... never wear.... pajamas... in... public. It would kill him if he heard his son, his own... flesh and blood... say Jammie.” Oddly enough he sounded the most sincere out of everyone who spoke up, actually making eye contact.
Horton just said, “No. The texture would make me throw up. I veto any attempt to give me the Jam Jammies.”
Corvayne winced. Maybe he could at least fix part of his problem. “How about we change the name before we decide on-”
It was too late, in his eyes he could see 'June's Jam Jammies' had stuck, and now he was going to spend the rest of the dungeon trying to purge that alliteration from his mind. He was going to tell the group that they did a good job but... he looked again at his new strawberry leggings, then at his friends who had clearly abandoned him to his own fate. Only Lady Blood Claw looked like she might waver, but he caught the look in her eye and decided he wasn't going to try and slime his friend.
He stood up and sighed. “Fine. I'll take the damn pants.”