Tired of waiting for the enemy to come to her, Jennifer casts cheetah's sprint on herself.
Creatures with a base land speed above 30 feet receive a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for every 10 feet of their speed above 30 feet.
The brown, angry blur that sometimes goes by the name of Jennifer Buscema runs across the ship's deck before launching herself across the gap between the ship and the flying turtle with ease. At the apex of her leap, she let's Syar'ammag come forth, and by the time she lands amidst the enemy (on one knee because that's more dramatic), she is considerably larger and uglier.
She attacks.
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[dice=Acrobatics/Long Jump]1d20+148
What Jennifer's leap into the air lacked in elegance it made up with magical force, propelling her like a living battering ram directly into the attacking mage, whose expression of shock and surprise barely had time to change of one of horror before he experienced what it was like to be hit by a truck with ill intent and no breaks. He did not survive the experience.
The Dragon Turtle below groaned one more...and was answered by the cries of three more of the beasts as they came out of the fog. Railguns tracked but found the first turtle and it's rigging blocking the forward gun, and the rear one couldn't be brought to bear.
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Kaelic decides to deal with this turtle problem head-on. "Cover me."
He then flies out towards the first turtle and begins to unpack some the C4 they'd been assigned to destroy the ship. Seems they wouldn't be needing it for that anymore. He makes sure to secure it somewhere that looks soft and not too close to the ship itself.
"I saw this on a movie once." He reassures.
Nurai chuckled as she tried to line up another shot on a warrior. Watching Jennifer's acrobatics was exciting to watch though more of the Dragon Turtles coming in wasn't much less so. Maybe they could have a little luck and keep them all back for a bit.
She growled and tried to adjust, keeping an eye out as she did so. She was reminded why she never picked up any sort of shooting-based hobbies, but she'd been to wait and hope she didn't really need to get into the fighting for a bit.
Nurai's shots go wide on the approaching enemies, who glide towards the beleaguered ship under the cover of there ally. Kaelic attaches a lump of plastique to an important looking strut on the Dragon Turtle's back that rose, painfully, from it's shell. The force should be rebounded back and up, once he chose to detonate. Thankfully, Jennifer saw the explosives being prepared and knew that leaving would soon be a good idea.
Jennifer surveys the carnage around her on this giant turtle before casting cheetah's sprint again and hurling herself at the next closest turtle. She'll try to land in the middle of any group of people on the gantry to discourage any casters from casting more fireballs.
Jennifer soared through the air, once more with much more force than grace, and landed on another make. She screamed in shock as she was hit, but having not already been riddled by bullets, she didn't go down as the previous one hand. Instead, she lashed out with a leather gauntleted hand, a spell clearly already stored in.
The rest of the magi - all 11 - cast Lightning Bolt. Not, however, directly. The 11 spells flew into the air, over the barricade the 1st Dragon Turtle had created, and then arced down as one vast bolt of lightning. The metal of the hull conducted the electricity as it was designed to do, earthing much into the water, but there was enough to overflow into the metal of the deck.
Although it wasn't enough to cook the whole ship there are still any number of screams and yells as members of the crew on the deck failed to dodge, and the ship's lights flickered and occasionally exploded.
Kaelic avoids the worst of the lightning but the damage is still considerable. He channels a wave of warm energy to heal those around who also suffered from the blast.
Nurai tried to get away but didn't quite make it. Her shadows insulated her, but it still burnt deeply. Her typical growl had a squeaky cry to it and a lot of muttering and swearing in different language. She hoped they would be through soon. She really wanted to be back in a slightly less messed up dimension.
After a moment, she took aim again and shot. She'd fill it rage if she could...
Jennifer looks out at the approaching horde, and notes two things - there is no one in obvious control of the dragon turtles, suggesting the creatures were moving under there own thoughts or magical reigns, and that most of the enemy mages seemed to be having a mild fit.
Kaelic's energy revived several of the crew nearby, but there was a lot less fire going out than previously noted. Nurai's shots struck one of the stunned mages, wounding them.
Jennifer tries to finish off the mage she's working on before moving onto another.
Nurai looked over to the wounded and down people around them. She knew that this was part of their chosen profession, she knew that it was far more help to try to prevent anyone else getting close, she knew she would probably never understand why but she still had to force herself to refocus on the people in their way and not on their reasons or the people around her.
She let her shadows help her focus on their next threat, and took aim...
Kaelic channels again, warm light washing over those around him. "You might want to get behind some cover." Was all he could think to say before who-knows-what was about to happen. Would it work? Would it make a huge mess? Would there be a rain of dangerous debris? In a moment that mystery would be solved.
C4 is not the loudest of substances, even when the stuff explodes. There was a dull thump! which was more felt than heard. The platform shuddered as one of its supports vanishes in a cloud of splinters, and then the groan of cracking wood rippled out, the sound of wood tearing as the strain becomes too much.
As the platform crashes and splashes into the water and the Dragon Turtle screams in pain the angry hum of the railgun sounds along the deck, and the fore weapon opens up with a screaming bolt of hyper-velocity metal. One of the attacking Turtle gantries dissolved in a shower of shattered wood and broken bodies. The rear weapon remains silent and still, however, and the other Dragon Turtles continue to approach.
Nurai's assault goes wide, but Jennifer is able to finish the attacker off with a brutal strike. The remaining mages seem to still be stunned from the attack spell, or perhaps one of there groups vanishing as the result of simply being too close to a hypersonic lump of iron.
Nurai growled as the threats grew closer, the shadows rippled around as they expected to be tearing into them soon enough.
She attempted another shot...
...and sighed as it went wide again. Something out there was getting a lot of human lead. More clean-up for later.
Jennifer takes advantage of the remaining mage's stunned-ness.
Kaelic takes to the air, his fey wings lifting him easily off the ground. The course is simple, but dangerous: use iron-cutter to sever the supports and bring the platforms down. "Let's tip the scales in our favor!"
,
Jessica cut into two of the mages, tearing through one and smashing into the next. Finally the mages were finally awakening from there stunned condition, and the second, while bleeding heavily, fought back while some of the guard fired stone-tipped arrows.
Kaelic dashed through a support. It was clear that cutting only one wouldn't do the force - without the explosive force comporisming the rest of the structure they were tough - but the mages responded with a magical bombardment to defend themselves.
Nurai opened fire but only managed some moderate supression. The Weapon was much closer now, and more likely to hit, although the burst failed to do so. Arrows flew in reply, most clattering against the ship's side, but some were more accurate.
The arrows embedded in the thick shadow hide and slid down to the ground. The shadow eidolon rippled in chuckles around Nurai who just sighed...
...and provided more suppression fire. Maybe she couldn't hit the broad side of barn, but maybe she could stop them pressing forward into some of the others who weren't so lucky to have bonded to cranky shadows to take shots for them.
Kaelic focuses his healing energy within himself as he maintains his flight in the face of explosive spell energy. Shrugging off most of the damage, he persists in his labor of slashing supports with an unearthly fury.
,
Shrugging off the spell and arrows, Jessica continues her rampage.
Another mage falls to Jessica's rampage, and she lands a blow on the next.
With the closer proximity and the bullets power Nurai takes out a warrior on the encroaching attackers.
Kaelic slices through another support.
The timber groans alarming, the people aboard crying out, but it doesn't fall.
The three giant turtles reach the Blackwing, crashing into the side and pushing the ship back.
A voice from the centre calls out, "We waste time. Blind them so that the ritual can commence!" Magic creeps into the characters minds, moving to there sight, and the fields of there view begins to narrow...
As the turtles make impact, Nurai turns her attention to the others nearby on the rocking ship.
The shadows protect Nurai from whatever tries to reach her mind, a chuckle about controlling the darkness and requests for a certain ritual murmurs past her ears. She sighs, but can't stop herself from smiling.
Leaving her rifle to someone who could hopefully use it better, and pulls something from her pocket as she moves forward and crumbles the scale between her fingers, a few words and moves as large shadowy wings appear and the avatar in her very pleased eidolon takes flight.
"Look, they're taking to the air! Does this boat have anti-air measures? I don't want to be in the sky when those go off!" Kaelic weighs his options, but the hope that the ship would have defenses is offset by his concern about being caught in the crossfire. He slashes at one last support before flying back to the deck of the ship.
,
The fight continued for some short time, the attacking Fey trying to perform there ritual without touching the warship's metallic hull. Kaelic was able to rally some of the remaing crew to turn the ship's anti-air craft weaponry on the spellcasters, and while there magic was impressive it wasn't up to a barrage of bullets from two vulcan cannons. The party was able to finish the battle in short order once the core of the ritual was undone.
There own ritual continued, and the Blackwing slid back into it's own reality. The ship was battered, damaged - being struck by what was essentially a direct lightning strike piled upon her years stranded had not done anything good for the experimental vessel, but she was seaworthy enough to await rescue. Which was not long coming.
Due to your own contracts and mission, a simple debrief awaited the party. The crew of the ship - those who remained - faced a longer debrief. Until they could be judged safe not to walk about what had happened to them, where they had been, and the like. It was clear the British Navy had no intention of simply vanishing them, but didn't want to leak the existence of other realms, or there travel to them. Already news was being announced that the Blackwing[/i] had been found locked in the Arctic ice and unable to signal for help after an accident destroyed all forms of communication. It was a weak cover, really, in this modern age, but the Navy wasn't willing to scrap the ship, and doing so would mean explaining her crew.
After a few days a return to Fever was arranged, and payment for services completed. The town seemed still enough, for now, but there was still a certain tension in the air as the seasons turned and spring turned to summer...and other stories.
[b]End of Part Four - the Strange Tale of the Blackwing.
Fever Museum. Part of the same structure as the library, and with a little bit of an overlap in terms of collection housing, this gothic-styled two story building sprawls just outside the town centre. The dull grey stone has long since been carved with images from the past, and here and there traces of paint that suggested a rather more colourful façade might have once graced the old stones. Even in Fever it feels out of place, out of time.
A large banner hangs above the doors, welcoming visitors to explore the visiting exhibit of pre-Colonial artefacts currently on display. A security guard – an aging woman who sits on a stool by the door – nods respectfully to each comer and goer, assuming an alarm isn’t currently blaring. Which it isn’t.
Everything seems normal enough from the little plaza outside the building, the surrounding streets and businesses buzzing with life as people head to where they need to be. Something still feels…tense.
Besides, you're here for a reason, and have a purpose.
Task: Keep the thief out, prevent the thefts, or retrieve the things taken as a last resort.
Task: Seal the holes into the Twilight that are already open, stop more from being formed.
Task: Find out the secret of Fever’s Museum, and maybe stop the theft if you can.
Using Google on his phone, the beat-up black pick-up found the museum parking lot and parked. The truck raised about an inch up as it's driver left the cab.
This man stood just over 6'6", with a highly muscular frame. He had short, wavy brown hair with a trimmed three-week beard. He wore a black hoodie over a black t-shirt, blue jeans with a black belt and work boots.
The large man walks up to the surprised security guard, and introduces himself. "Good morning, Miss. I'm Joe Zaidel. I'm a friend of Valda's. She asked me to speak to someone about the recent", Joe leaned in to whisper the last part, "break ins."
Getting back from her early-morning run, Median got a text.
I need a favour. Some of the old residents of the town – and some of them are real old – are getting there undergarments in a twist over these thefts at the Museum. I get the feeling they know something about what’s going on, and why the thief is here, that I don’t. Can you look into for me?
She smiled and texted back:
On it.
She had been planning to do some writing today, but it was Valda, and besides, people watching (or rather people listening in this case) was a fun assignment, and the whole "casing the museum" idea was a good one. She could already imagine the opening to her next novel beginning with a scene at a museum. This would be excellent research.
She jumped in the shower and then got ready for the day, pulling her hair back into a tail, choosing a Tardis T-shirt to go with her jeans, and grabbing a few library books that she needed to return on the way.
She rummaged through her beautiful cross-body messenger bag of holding to see if there was anything else she needed to bring and concluded that what she had in there already was probably overkill for a quiet museum, ... but she left it all. You never knew. Might as well be prepared. She locked the door to her condo on the way out, making sure the deadbolt was secure.
After stopping at the library, Median walked into the museum, grabbing a brochure/map and looking around and slowly examining the paintings and artifacts like any normal person would, but the whole time, she was listening to people's surface thoughts, trying to figure out if anyone at all was here for nefarious reasons, or thinking about the thefts.
Jennifer had visited both the museum and library shortly after arriving in Fever. Any easy attempts to mollify Syar'ammag. She hadn't expected much, of course. None of the really good stuff will be open to the public in a museum or library. And, as part of Jennifer's payment for getting rid of that Bercilak a!@!*@!, Valda had used her connections to let Jennifer peruse anything of interest stored "in the back" in various locations around Fever, including the museum and the library.
So, it's with no small amount of surprise that she finds herself walking up the steps to the museum. More than one cause for surprise, really: One, that her parents' families had connections in Fever* and therefore a reason to send a note; Two, that there was anything worth stealing from the museum; and Three, that Syar'ammag had become really agitated at the thought of something being stolen that he might decide to claim. Actually, "agitated" was putting it mildly. Jennifer had an aspirin bottle in her pocket so she could continue taking twice the recommended dosage every four hours.
Passing the geriatric security guard, Jennifer enters the museum and starts to look around for things that might be stolen tonight and how she would do it.
Morning always came. It was unfortunate really. Ross sometimes wished that Zaoth would grow tired of him, snuff him out like he'd promised so long ago.
A cup of coffee helps. It does little to assuage the perpetual exhaustion, but at least the familiar comfort takes his mind off it. What's more, the forces decided to help him that morning, so his coffee was already made. Granted, they'd scrawled messages about doom and gloom and the end of the world in spiralling, smoky text floating in midair above his bed, but hey, small victories.
His apartment was nothing too grand. Nothing very good, really. The orcs downstairs had been blasting metal all night as usual, and sleep had eluded Ross as always.
[color=gray]"Goood mornnnning. You wwwould like to go to the mmuseeuum todaay."[/color]
Zaoth's voice grated in Ross's head like a knife on a cold concrete floor. It was a command, as always.
Ross drove his beat-up Prius to the museum. Somehow, it felt familiar. Slivers of the void he'd seen called to him, speaking words he cannot understand. Zaoth did not like these intrusions. Zaoth's will did not include these intrusions.
The young man sighed. It was going to be one of those days.
A too familiar acrid smell that leaked from the place had caught Nurai's attention earlier that day. She could have turned her lunch date into an exploration of the matter, but with how Fever-related investigations can gone lately, it would too draining and gross to result in much fun, before getting into the complications of then needing to bring her shadows in on her date and hearing all their opinions and grumbling about being the extra wheels.
So an impromptu park trip and some fun in the green later, Nurai eyed the outside of the museum from behind her aviator sunglasses as she re-approached the odd old building. She couldn't sit back and wait, not if she wanted another chance to talk over some of those pieces and enjoy those dark corners - or talk to certain individuals who would say it is Nurai's duty to handle such things. An annoyed hum buzzed near her feet with her thoughts.
Her shadows didn't like the taste of dim patches the building gave. Something was wrong, hopefully something interesting - or at least, something they could enjoy sinking their claws into -- to protect their summoner of course. They hadn't been expecting to be here today, at least not so early, but being so bonded often means changes of plans and anything potentially interdimensional was bound to wind their summoner up.
Moving together into the museum, the shadows braced for even more foulness while Nurai smiled broadly and complimented the security guard before saying, "Hope you've had a quiet day, everything going well?" If anyone knows what's been odd, it's security, and having been around a few times before she hoped it was enough to for a bit a chat that could point her on their way.
Salim did not exactly make a habit of looking into the Twilight; the glimpses of the realm of Nightmare each evening were scarring enough for the psyche.
But today...there was something about the museum that caught the eye. A shadow on a sunny day, with no apparent source.
And so, after a light lunch and leaving an "OCCULT RITUALS IN PROGRESS: DO NOT DISTURB!" sign on the front door of the Sanctum Obscuri, Salim left to check out whatever hinky stuff might be going on over there.
As with most things, subtlety was called for. And so Salim made his way to the front desk.
"So, what's new in the museum?" he asks the lady at the front desk, while surreptitiously sweeping his gaze around the room.
Another woman - someone you vaguely feel like you've seen in the library, maybe, but it might just be that she looks like she should be in one - wanders out the giftshop as the man at the desk gets his info.
Inside, it was easy to 'feel' the holes someone had opened into the Twilight. From both sides. It was like the skin of reality was stretched thin across the building. Puckered around the wounds. Someone wasn't opening or closing these pathways correctly.
Approaching the front desk, there are two teenagers who don't look terribly engaged in there job but perked up at the approach of someone who might need something. "We currently have a exhibit kindly loaned to us from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in the guest gallery," the leader announced, "And our exhibition on the founding of Fever has recently re-opened after renovations if you've been previously." Another woman enters from one of the galleries, a slightly mousy looking lady.
The only other thing that you pick up is the curator seems to be waiting for...something, with feelings of dread. But he vanishes into one of the back areas not for guests before you can pick up any details.
As you head out the gift shop - naturally the only way to exit the building - you see two people standing in the foyer, a man standing by the information and a woman you swear you've seen before, but it might just be that she looks like she should.
Median sits on a bench in the foyer and maintains Detect Thoughts, listening to the surface thoughts of the others that she noticed, but outwardly paying attention to her phone.
While she is listening, she texts Valda.
Picked up something from the curator... might know something. Museum exceptionally busy today. Did you send others?
If you did, who are they? Want to make sure I connect with your side and not the other. ... Although perhaps it doesn't matter. All information is good information?
Well, she was no help, Joseph thought as he let the exotic-looking black woman enter the museum before him. "After you, miss."
After entering the foyer, Joe walked up to the front desk, where in other museums, admission to the museum is paid. He goes to stand behind the man already at the front desk, listening to the eager teenagers explain the attractions.
'Re-opened after renovations? Renovations to cover up damage from a break-in? I should head to Fever Founding exhibition first.
The wonderful sparkle in the older woman's eyes brought a chuckle out of Nurai as she stepped towards the guard and out of the way so the man and other guests could pass her. Glancing over to Jennifer, she tried to keep in mind where the familiar face was going.
Hands in her leather jacket, Nurai continued with a broad smile, "Likely a quieter day for you when she doesn't get involved. Any exhibits you'd particularly recommend for friends of Ms Simmons?"
Friend hadn't seemed the right word - they'd worked together a few times and had enjoyed some fun times, but even well into her twenties, it was still odd being 'friends' with someone who was friends with several of your mothers first.
Her shadows coiled tightly at her feet to avoid the footsteps of others, creating a deep dark circle around her leather boots.
Salim nods sagely.
Ancient Native American burial ground, perhaps?
"Thank you, you've been a big help..." Salim says in his best "mysterious" voice, and heads off to check out the Warm Springs gallery more closely.