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Sakitu is waving Fin to get closer to her but he seems to not notice. "Fin! You're so blind!" She peeks both ways out of the building and then races across the space between the buildings. When she reaches Fin she puts a hand on his chest and says some magic words. He fades from sight.
"Ok. You are invisible for a little while. Now make sure that you shoot a bunch of those bad guys." She tries to give him a kiss but midjudges where his lips are and finds herself kissing his ear. Then she races back into the building.
Given the size of the camp Bulvi pauses for a moment. "Wait Quasit drink this first, it'll speed you up for about a minute." Taking out a potion he drinks it. He can feel it taking effect and prepares to head up the ladder after Quasit.
Selena continued into the ruined temple, her senses open.
In contrast to the growing chaos ouside, what remains of the interior of the ruined temple is quiet. Most of the structure has been destroyed, with sections of the walls having collapsed inward and remnents of scorched rafters poking out from piles of rubble. The tower is one of the most intact parts of the structure, and though its stonework has a worrying number of cracks in it, the stairway upwards seems passable. Other than that, the west wing of the structure has two intact statues of a shrouded woman, once-white marble wrapped in spiked metal and stained by flame and soot. A shallow basin on a pedastal sits in the middle of this western room. The north and east parts of the temple look to be largely ruined, whatever purposes the rooms once held obscured by rubble.
Outside, the four soldiers in the watchtower fall to the party's attacks. The abrupt stop to the alarm's wailing seems just as loud as its operation in a way, and certainly draws attention. The watchtower to the south turns its brilliant light towards the tower just as Quasit and Bulvi get to the top, highlighting the two of them and Maka in the dark night. Shortly afterward the top of the watchtower is engulfed in a hail of bullets as soldiers in the next watchtower to the north open fire, followed shortly after by a deeper series of reports from the south as the south-corner watchtower fires with a larger gun.
You can hear and vaguely see the soldiers in the trenches below stirring and starting to look up at the watchtower.
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When Quasit gets to the top, she briefly throws herself flat to the floor of the tower and winces as she presses on her fresh bullet wounds.
"Well, this is awesome, we need to calm this down or we'll be fighting about a thousand soldiers for the rest of the night." she growls to Maka and Bulvi.
"OK, let's try one more bit of amateur theatricals. We're still wearing uniforms. Maka, take yours off, you're the bad guy we just killed. Bulvi and I are the ones who charged up the ladder bravely to take you out. Bulvi, I want you to pick up Maka and hold her limp body near the light here so the others can see her, then when I signal, toss her over the side, preferably not head first."
"Shout 'Hey Hey' a couple times and wave your arms at that northern tower."
Quasit waits for the others to agree, then takes a deep breath.
"Wish I knew their words for 'Cease fire'."
Quasit jumps up, wildly waving her arms toward the south tower. She calls out in as deep a voice as she can muster.
"Oi! Hey! Ho!" She gestures wildly at limp Maka for a few seconds, and once she's sure she has everyone's attention, she gestures for Bulvi to toss her into the snow below.
"Eh? Ah?" she says, throwing her hands up even higher into the air and waving for them to stop.
Kalchine finally gets out of the building and heads toward the hot part of the conflict.
Maka was on the verge of launching herself at the tower, its cannons relentlessly firing in their direction, when Quasit shared her plan. There was a momentary spectacle as wisps of smoke emanated from Maka before her stolen uniform erupted in flames. As the uniform reduced to ashes, Maka's monastic braid and attire came into full view. With a toothy grin, she propelled herself towards Bulvi. A lively mock combat ensued before Maka skillfully caught his rifle bayonet under her armpit and theatrically fell to the ground.
"Good job, I love you!" she whispered in his ear as he gently lifted her 'lifeless' form and tossed her off the tower.
Most people dreaded the thought of falling, but Maka relished it, even when a less-than-graceful landing was inevitable. She remained composed, allowing her body to twist through the air while positioning herself for a safe descent, leading with her head. Despite what a lot of people thought, landing on the butt was far from ideal. At certain heights, the coccyx could shatter and puncture vital organs like the kidneys, liver, or even the heart. The body parts best equipped to absorb the impact were those shielded by dense bone. Consequently, Maka's shoulder struck the ground first, followed swiftly by her head. Her neck remained utterly relaxed, efficiently dissipating the force of the fall as the rest of her body made contact with the ground, resulting in a resounding thud.
Selena makes her way to the tower, carefully following the edges of the room, keeping her senses open for any enemies the might notice a strange moving pile of snow.
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Sakitu is waving Fin to get closer to her but he seems to not notice. "Fin! You're so blind!" She peeks both ways out of the building and then races across the space between the buildings. When she reaches Fin she puts a hand on his chest and says some magic words. He fades from sight.
"Ok. You are invisible for a little while. Now make sure that you shoot a bunch of those bad guys." She tries to give him a kiss but midjudges where his lips are and finds herself kissing his ear. Then she races back into the building.
Fin murmurs, ”Thanks, Hlao-roo, I was a bit preoccupied,” and then jumps a little when she kisses his ear, smiling invisibly…
Seeing his friends taking fire, Fin moves 5’ and fires a volley at the tower to the south, aiming at the foremost machine gunner…
Bulvi went along with Quasit's plan, once she was tossed to the ground he held up his arm making a placating gesture. He made as if to shout out at the soldiers before coughing up a bit of blood dramatically though with all the bullet wounds the blood was real. Hopefully the distance and confusion would smooth over his lack of actual words though he was in quite a bit of discomfort so his performance wasn't at his best.
+?
Fin kills one of the soldiers in the southern tower and injures another. They shout and turn the searchlight in the direction the arrows came from, and when the light falls on him Fin fades into visibility. Shortly thereafter the soldiers in the tower to the north of the one Quasit and Maka are in also turn their spotlight on Fin and all begin to open fire, the rattle of shots from the northern tower joined by the deeper bangs from the large gun in the south tower.
As the gunners fire, one of the soldiers in the tower to the north starts up another wailing alarm.
Selena doesn't notice anything on her way to the tower, but she thinks she might sense movement at the top of the tower once she reaches the base of the stairs.
Chest Thumper rips through the fence, thoroughly getting the attention of the soldiers in the trenches outside. They open fire on him with a flurry of rifle shots.
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Quasit's faint hope in her plan to impersonate the guards flickers and dies as she sees first the guns in the towers swing toward her friends below instead of just going silent, after which she sees Chest Thumper ripping through the fence and getting the attention of a whole new squadron of soldiers, followed by the sickening wail of a new alarm siren.
What now?
Too many to fight. Even Fin and Maka couldn't kill hundreds of men bearing down on them at once. Could they hide? That had been her plan a minute ago, but it was pretty much shattered now. The entire compound would be on high alert now for hours, and they'd be searching everywhere, especially once they found the ruined battlewagon and dead soldiers. And now thanks to the dumb ape, the soldiers only had to come through the hole in the fence, probably by the dozen.
So run?
It made her stomach sicken with frustration and disappointment. All this effort to get in thrown away. There'd be no second chance to bluff their way in as a phony patrol. And it had nearly worked! But to stay was suicide.
She turns toward her companions below and shouts down. No sense pretending anymore, and these soldiers didn't understand Common anyway.
"IT'S NO GOOD! GET OUT HOWEVER YOU CAN! MEET UP BACK AT CLUCKERS!"
She turns to Bulvi, looking pale and scared, shrugging helplessly.
Selena heads for the top of the tower, wondering about the ruckus the others are making. She figures they'll be alright and once on top of the tower she can drop a few targeted spells if they really need her help for once. Or so she thinks as she carefully makes her way up, not dropping her guard for a moment in this place as her senses stretch out to perceive enemies, traps, or intel.
As Quasit urgently called for a retreat, Maka burst into motion with a fiery explosion, heading for the watchtower across from her. Her mission was to divert as much attention as possible away from her comrades, ensuring their escape.
"" Maka roared defiantly, slamming her blazing fist into the searchlight before soaring back into the sky.
As more troops come flooding in from the West Kalchine and Chest Thumper start running the other direction, heeding Quasit's warning and fleeing in what is, hopefully the path of least resistance.
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The searchlights turn and focus on Fin and to Sakitu's horror, he fades into sigh. "No! That's not how that works!" she shouts just as loud explosions thunder in the air. Countless divots of frozen earth fling into the air all around him. Sakitu steps into the opening in the side of her building, waves her arms wildly and yells at him.
"Fin! This way! Get out of there!"
She then turns towards the north tower that gunfire is coming from. She makes frantic gestures in the air in front of her and moments later a dark and swirling cloud appears on the tower.
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Wincing, as he’s hit with several bullets, he quickly assesses their situation. Recalling the scrolls they’ve acquired, he knows, We must retreat…
Seeing Kalchine and Chest Thumper start to move north, he cries out, ”Kal, you and Chest Thumper get near Sakitu…Selena, wherever you’re at, get your butt over here!”
Turning to the tower where his friends reside, he yells even louder, ”Q…SCROLL…HANDY HAVERSACK!” Then he puts the haste spell to good use, running north till he’s out of the spotlight, then circles east around the building Sakitu’s at, joining them…
”Hlao-roo, retrieve that scroll of dimension door and read it; we must escape and rendezvous with the others at the Hut…”
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”Q…SCROLL…HANDY HAVERSACK!”
"Huh?...Oh, the scroll!" Quasit starts digging through her haversack.
"Bull, grab some more guns and ammo from those bodies, then I'll try and use this teleport scroll to bamf us outta here. At least with all the chaos in here, they shouldn't be using those searchlights to look outside the fence right now."
Once Bulvi assents and is ready, Quasit will attempt to read the dimension door scroll, aiming for the maximum distance due west, taking Bulvi with her.
Bulvi nods at Quasit. "On it. We've got this." He grabs more of the guns and ammo. "Everyone is still kicking and we've given their defenses a bloody nose. If they try tangling us in the close confines of the woods they'll regret it." He moved over the Quasit ready to be whisked away.
The heat of Maka's flames shatters the spotlight's glass. The soldiers in the tower fire wildly at her as she jets away.
Quasit and Bulvi disappear, appearing at the edge of the forest.
Sakitu, Fin, Kalchine, and Chest Thumper take cover behind the wagon shed. One gun still fires at them.
The bullets from the big gun in the southern corner tower go straight through the building, narrowly missing Chest Thumper.
Selena continues climbing the tower in the ruined temple until she can sense two beings above her.
Trails of fire fought against the darkness as Maka propelled herself through the air with graceful agility. With a roar Maka shot across the sky, exploding into the heavy gun firing upon Kal and Thumper.
Counter to the plan, Kalchine doubles back, an idea occurring to him just a bit later than it should have. He can't quite do it yet, as he can't see what he's aiming at, but he heads back the way he came.
He sends Chest Thumper into the building he just came out of for cover but keeping heading away from the conflict.
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Counter to the plan, Kalchine doubles back, an idea occurring to him just a bit later than it should have. He can't quite do it yet, as he can't see what he's aiming at, but he heads back the way he came.
He sends Chest Thumper into the building he just came out of for cover but keeping heading away from the conflict.
...or that's what he WOULD do if he WASN'T listening to Fin.
Instead, he and Chest Thumper huddle around Sakitu, waiting for the magic express out of this dangerous situation.
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After they’re fired at, Fin reflexively brings his bow up to return fire…but realizing he wouldn’t be able to retrieve his arrows, he reluctantly lowers his bow. Seeing Kalchine and Chest Thumper huddled around her, he steps closer to Sakitu, laying a hand gently on her shoulder. ”Ready when you are, Hlao-roo; Selena either didn’t hear me or ignored me, but we can wait no longer. She mentioned back on Triaxus that she had a teleport spell; she can escape on her own, methinks…”
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Sakitu digs around in her bag till she finds the scroll. "Ok. This is it. I think I know how to work it." She unrolls the scroll and invokes the magic. Moments later the small group finds themselves outside the compound where they had been waiting before.
"Ok. We're out. Now what? Where are we meeting the others?"
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”Excellent! Good job, Hlao-roo, you saved our bacon,” Fin says as he quickly and lightly brushes his lips against hers.
Nodding back towards the hut, he adds, ”Q said to meet back at the hut; you, Kal, and Chest Thumper head back there to meet up with Quasit and Bull, I’ll stay back to make sure Maka and Selena can make it out…or in case they might need help or a distraction. I’ll be along shortly…”
Fin moves stealthily along the tree line till he finds an appropriate concealed position from which he can observe the camp and keep an eye out for Maka and Selena…
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Appearing with Bulvi in the whispering quiet of the pine trees rustling in the night breeze, Quasit finds herself still shaking with adrenaline from the recent foray. She rips the soldier hat off her head and slams it into the snowy ground and kicks a tree trunk.
"What're we supposed to do? Kill all those guys?" she shouts in frustrated anger.
She crosses her arms and plops down on her butt, leaning against the tree she just kicked.
"It doesn't make sense. Where was the machine? They built that whole garrison just protect an empty burned out ruin? I'm not buying it. But where was it? And what was all the purple lightning for?"
She stews for a long moment, then her features soften a little.
"Oh man, I hope everyone got out ok." she says, worry dripping from her voice.
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Sensing the two creatures above her, having no backup, Selena halts not what they are. Hearing Fin yell for her, she quickly casts teleport as she pictures the cauldron room in Baba Yaga’s hut in her mind…and then finds herself there…
Seeing she’s alone here, she says, to know one in particular, ”Well, looks like Fin should’ve had gotten his butt over to me instead…”
Selena appears back at the door of the Dancing Hut, to find it largely how the group left it. At the very least there isn't an ambush waiting there.
Quasit and Bulvi appear near the treeline at the edge of the area cleared around the camp and quickly get out of sight in the forest. Sakitu, Fin, Kalchine, and Chest Thumper do likewise, though in a different direction.
This means that Maka is the only target for the fury of the defenders, and they expend it on her in full. Her blow on the larger weapon heated the metal of it red-hot, but it still speaks. The two soldiers manning it yank it backwards--it seems to be on wheels?--and fire on her.
Now that she's this close, Maka can see some kind of... device in the center of this watchtower. One of the soldiers runs over to it and hits a button, and it spits a bolt of violet lightning at her.
The remaining soldier in the tower slips a knife into his gun and charges at her.
The soldiers in the other tower fire at her as well, heedless of Maka's proximity to their comrades.
Lastly, some of the soldiers in the trench fire up at her.
Maka made a mental note of the strange button as she dodged the lightning and subsequent shower of bullets. Her speed and mobility once again proving too much for the soldiers to keep up with. One soldier's clumsy attempt to stab her almost bringing forth a laugh. While a part of her wanted to stay and fight, her monastic discipline remained firm.
Maka shouted into the night air. With a deafening explosion emanating from the palms of her hands, Maka propelled herself upward with incredible force. Jets of flame from her feet and a series of smaller explosions sending her higher still.
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Seeing Maka fire up, way up, straight in the air, Fin shakes his head, murmuring, ”Erasil’s antlers, Maka, you’re like a goddess…”
Knowing she’ll be clear shortly, he readies his bow in the unlikely case she’ll need cover, and looks to the gate for any signs of pursuit…and also for any signs of Selena…
"That was...tough," Kalchine pants, his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath from all the running.
He looks around carefully. "But they lost men and resources and we didn't, unless Maka..."
He gazes off into the distance where it seems that a meteorite is going the wrong direction.
"They lost men and resources and we didn't. So that's good. A war of attrition is never a good thing, but it does seem an option."
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Quasit eventually gets up and starts heading back toward the Hut with Bulvi, moving through the woods in a circle to the north of the compound. Before setting out, she strips off the rest of the uniform, packs it away in her bag of holding, and puts her Habit of the Winter Explorer back on.
"Keep your eyes peeled, they'll probably send out a bunch of patrols looking for us. I think we should plan to hide in the Hut tonight.
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Feeling confident that Maka was out of danger now, not to mention she would most likely beat him back to the hut, Fin takes one last glance for Selena before turning away…
She mentioned she could teleport now, so she’ll likely beat me to the hut as well…need to get back and talk plans with Q…and get warmed up next to a fire with Sakitu, if she’s agreeable, he thinks with a roguish grin cracking his face…
Fin turns back towards the hut, using the tree line for concealment, but still keeping his eyes alert for any signs of patrols or pursuit…
Bullets continue to fly past Maka, but none really get close.
Maka continued to soar through the air, her joy undiminished by the danger, enhanced by it even. The continued to move around the perimeter of the base, hoping to buy as much time for her friends as possible. Once satisfied, she took a roundabout way back to Cluckers, keeping her eyes open for any troops in pursuit.
Landing gracefully on the porch, Maka wasted no time opening the door. "Is everyone all right!?"
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Fin follows Maka and her fire trail like a falling star…trudging towards the hut…
He finally makes it back…and sees that he proved correct in both Maka and Selena beating him back…in fact, he appears to be the last of their party to arrive…
After giving Sakitu a quick hug, he looks to Maka. ”Good work taking rear guard, Mistress of Fire, gave us time to get away…” Realizing he’s still bleeding from the bullets he took, he adds, ”…but you’ll have to teach me that deflecting bullets thing though, I caught a few…might need a little healing, Kal, if you can spare it…”
Nodding to Quasit, he queries, ”Any ideas for our next move, Q? Perhaps we might take a closer look around the perimeter and look for another way in? When I flew around the perimeter before settling on the tower, there appeared to be a graveyard in the northwest corner of the camp that extended outside the fence..or at least there were a bunch of crosses there. Perhaps that might give us a way in…”
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As Quasit trudges back into camp, she does a quick head count, and makes a mental note of how wounded people are. She looks very discouraged and has nothing to say immediately, and doesn't even mention her own rather substantial wounds. She goes and sits on the steps of the porch with her head in her hands.
Nodding to Quasit, he queries, ”Any ideas for our next move, Q? Perhaps we might take a closer look around the perimeter and look for another way in? When I flew around the perimeter before settling on the tower, there appeared to be a graveyard in the northwest corner of the camp that extended outside the fence..or at least there were a bunch of crosses there. Perhaps that might give us a way in…”
"I don't know." says Quasit curtly. "I can't think about that right now."
Her hands look like they're pressing on her head to keep it from exploding.
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"I don't know." says Quasit curtly. "I can't think about that right now."
Fin winces, mentally kicking himself for not noticing that Quasit was badly wounded; he had been so relieved that all his friends had survived and made it back to the hut, that he spoke before he thought. It appeared that bullets had taken their toll on all of them except perhaps Maka and Selena…
”Sorry, Q, that can wait…a pox upon me for a clumsy lout. Looks like most of us will have scars from this fight; we need to heal and rest before we do anything else…
“Bullets got you too, Hlao-roo, lemme clean that up…”
Fin tries to clean up his friends’ wounds till Kalchine can get to them with his magic…
Her hands look like they're pressing on her head to keep it from exploding.
Fin sits on the porch beside Quasit, saying lightly, ”You’re head must be splitting, Q…if you’ll allow me, I was taught an Elven technique that might help…”
”My Mom used to do this for me when I had headaches growing up…she said most headaches emanate from the neck and shoulders…especially when suffering from stress. When she started getting headaches after Dad died, I did the same for her…she got a lot of headaches after that, so I got a lot of practice in…”
Kalchine nods when everyone gets together and he appraises their injuries.
"If they do send out patrols tonight, we could ambush one or two. We can also consider strangling their supply lines if we think we have time. Small though our group is, we could perform a guerilla siege," he says.
"Not that kind of 'gorilla,'" he says to Chest Thumper as the ape perks up a bit.
He gathers everyone around and starts pulling rejuvenating energy out of the planet and dispensing it to heal the injuries of those around him.
Those two bursts fully heal Maka, Selena and Sakitu.
He then focuses on Quasit, kneeling in front of her and taking both her hands in his as he pulses positive energy into her.
He smiles as the last of her wounds close then reaches a hand out to rest on Fin's shoulder.
With Fin healed, he moves on to Chest Thumper.
And with his brother healed, he finally turns to himself.
After giving Sakitu a quick hug, he looks to Maka. ”Good work taking rear guard, Mistress of Fire, gave us time to get away…” Realizing he’s still bleeding from the bullets he took, he adds, ”…but you’ll have to teach me that deflecting bullets thing though, I caught a few
"Well I learned it from you shooting a whole bunch of arrows at me, but I'm sure we can figure something out!" Maka said with a toothy grin as she patted Fin on the back a bit too hard.
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Maka shivered with delight as Kal's warm magic flowed through her, and responded with her usual back breaking hug. "Thanks Kal!"
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"I don't know." says Quasit curtly. "I can't think about that right now."
"You don't have to think about anything right now, just get some rest. Are you hungry, do you want me to make some food?" With the adrenaline thrill of battle fading away, Maka returned to fretting over the grieving Quasit.