As they walk down the slope Letitia seems to be eyeing Saraya carefully. The red-head turns and smiles somewhat viciously; then she catches up with Danny. "What am I doing here? Well sometimes a man needs a little help, with the ladies, you wouldn't know anything about that." she smiles running a red finger across his shoulder.
"I am a fixer." Saraya states demurely whilst Letitia's gaze burrow into her back.
I mean the guard, Danny boy; dont be silly hehe
Sal skulks back over to the group out of the darkness. "You want me to take out the guy on the dock?" she asks quietly, unslinging her rifle.
As they walk down the slope Letitia seems to be eyeing Saraya carefully. The red-head turns and smiles somewhat viciously; then she catches up with Danny. "What am I doing here? Well sometimes a man needs a little help, with the ladies, you wouldn't know anything about that." she smiles running a red finger across his shoulder.
"Nope. Not a thing. You'll have to tell me about it sometime." Danny replies with a straight face.
"I am a fixer." Saraya states demurely whilst Letitia's gaze burrow into her back.
"I'll bet you are." Danny murmurs, trying to hide his smirk.
"Well, you certainly 'fixed' the party good. Nice touch, by the way, with inviting Ken and me to attend. Remind me not to tick you off will you? I'd hate to see who'd you'd invite to MY party!" He fixes Saraya with a raised eyebrow. He enjoys the sight of the woman and the way she almost wears the dress, but he obviously doesn't have any problem keeping his eyes on her face either.
"So, what was the deal anyway? Obviously you were supposed to be working FOR the hosts, and fixing a little insurance to make sure the blackmail scheme went off without a hitch. AND with no trace of drugs either. (Nice touch there, By the way), But yet you invited US along for the ride, knowing full well about our,... predisposition towards action. So, whose side ARE you on? Or are you just playing for your own team?" He asks, genuinely interested.
I mean the guard, Danny boy; dont be silly hehe
Danny flashes Axe a grin.
Ishana
Sal skulks back over to the group out of the darkness. "You want me to take out the guy on the dock?" she asks quietly, unslinging her rifle.
"You got a silencer for that cannon?!?" Danny asks, eyes wide at the size of the rifle he would have sworn she didn't have before. (He's familiar with firearms, but as he usually doesn't get to play with them much, all rifles seem objectively large to his point of view.)
"If you can take him out without attracting attention, ok I guess. Otherwise, I'll just make Axe blend into the scenery and he can take care of the ghoul up close and personal."
Danny flashes another grin at Axe.
"No, it's not going to be quiet. I'd move away to take the shot, then try to draw pursuit away from you, hopefully lose 'em. Sorry, but silenced sniping is a bit out of my price range!" She looks at Axe and his sword and nods. "I'm sure the Spartan here could take him out a lot more quietly than I could, if you can get him up there."
"Yeah. I can do that." Danny looks at Axe.
"You ready big guy? Just walk next to me, nice and slow. I should be able to keep us from being seen. And then you pop him when you get next to him."
Danny starts singing softly,... "You can't see me, you look right through me,..."
Sal fans back out into the darkness very quietly, picking a position where she can set up for a shot with a good view of the docks... just in case.
~~~Earlier to Danny~~~~
Saraya licks her ruby lips; "Oh, I'll play on both teams."
"Now, about why I am helping you. Well, the ROAB are hunting down any supernatural's and killing them. So, don't want them to have power over the government. Of course, I'll still take their money and supply their entertainment."
Saraya turns to look at Letitia raising an eyebrow. "The potion however just enhances peoples natural lusts. I'm not breaking any ." She smiles widely; "Anything you are feeling towel-girl are your own appetites." Her tone arch.
~~~~Now~~~~
The creature on the dock wanders back and forth, it seems to be a man in a flannel vest of middle age. However looking underneath the filth and grime, the movements studied with a stood give tell-tale hints to the knowledgeable.
The creature looks towards the sounds from the manor, alert to something that's happening. As Danny & whomever approach under his veil, for a second the creature looks straight at the musician....
The moment stretches...
Then his gaze slides away, only a heartbeat has passed as he continues to scan the darkness.
Axe takes off his chef accoutrement and clears his sheild and sword and hold them at the ready. At the mention of the Spartans, his head, for a second, swims with scenes of a thousand battles on distant fields, ancient battles he couldnt have been in. His last image the citadel at Troy, Home of Hector and the stolen bride.
Proceed, it may have a communication device, if someone could insure it doesnt work, that would grant us an additional measure of security
----
Axe reaches out with his senses; tremor sense, and clears his head for battle with a quick prayer. "let me bring glory to my ancestors and cleans this land of humanitiess predators" Axe has his battle face on.
Everyone who wishes approaches within charge reach of the shores edge, the veil still holding in the darkness. There is a slight growl from the kennel. The grubby man shakes his head trying to understand his confused senses.
The boat upon the lake seems quiet.
Sal sets up in a small dell, with a perfect view of the dock, lake and shore. The manor house in her peripheral vision.
whispers to danny
tap me or say go and I will be on him like white on rice
Danny nods at Axe's comment, not trusting himself to stop singing softly long enough to speak. He looks at Axe, And raises an eyebrow in question.
WHen he gets the look of 'ready'ness, he waits a heartbeat more, and when the guard is facing the other way, taps Axe on the arm once, hard.
Kenneth shakes his head at Saraya, "So then, just tae be clear: You can say ye dinnae ken what went wrong and blame us for your double-cross? So, we get tae have the fallout, and yet get tae keep the reward?" He growls, "That isnae my kind of arrangement... strangely, my goddess isnae fond of her Herald being someone else's pawn."
He turns to Axe and Danny, "Let's go deal with the openly despicable thing."
----
Kenneth whispers to Danny, "Keep an eye out. I still don't believe he's the only one."
Seeing Axe leap out, Kenneth smiles, At least I can strike down the openly evil things... and directs his will into his claighbeag, feeling the Flame of Kildare sheathe the blade with its righteous power, and swings the burning sword at the Ghoul.
When Axe and Kenneth leap out from behind the veil, it is fast. And loud. So fast that Danny, who had been expecting it, and given the cue, was so caught by surprise that he almost let his song fall silent and lose the veil.
Danny may not be a great warrior, but he was an excellent performer. And you don't get there by not being able to recover from a little surprise. Before he was done blinking he had caught the song back and kept the veil firm. He swiftly looked around to see if Ken was right, and there were more of those things hiding out here. Or if the 'dog' was going to come out and play,...
Saraya had just smiled at Kenneth's assessment, raising an eyebrow and looking to Danny.
As Kenneth bounds down the slope crushing the cold damp grass, in his inexorable charge the man spins around. His face elongates into a putrid maw and it's yellowed eyes bulge.
But his reactions are too slow the flaming sword flies towards his head; the creature raises an arm to protect. With a thump it lies upon the floor and a terrible growl rolls from its throat. There is a shuddering transformation as limbs elongate and it sheds it's human guise the ghoul stands before Kenneth - blood pouring from it's stump.
From the kennel pops a pale head covered in dark runes.
Sal sights in on the thing in the kennel but holds off, waiting to see if the swordsmen can take it out.
Axe attacks with a leap; my sword is weapon 3 too but not using its ability
weapon
acrobatics to maybe catch him offguard or undefended.
Axe slashes at the creaturewith a flying leap, it's pale eyes look straight at him. The Gladius flicks out, the bronze sheen glinting in the moonlight. The creature stumbles back, but it was only a feint from the Greek Hero and he tumbles to the monsters off hand side.
Rolling from a crouch the short-bladed weapon flicks out in a controlled and precise arc, practised across countless battlefields the warriors reactions are impeccable especially combined with the Herald's initial attack.
Wide eyed the ghoulish face turns towards Axe, before it rolls upon the floor!
There's a holler from the kennel, a soft wail of a distraught farmer losing a prized bull. Bounding out from the small hut is a naked ghoulish female covered in tattoo's, the loose skin sagging in folds and a murderous look in her eye.
She charges forward straight towards the armoured man claws outstretched. Trying to scratch through the chest-plate.
weapon defense
A single shot rings out from the nearby grassy knoll. Sal, seeing her target emerge, squeezes the trigger.
The ghoul doesn't see the shot as it flies towards the creature. However at the last second the putrid creature ripples unnaturally as it senses the danger and the bullet tears into the flesh, however the rubbery flapping flesh has an unnatural resiliance. Like week old fish it flakes away from the high callibre shot.
The claws threaten to tear into Aximeus' armour, but the creature vision shifts from the weapon fire. Upon the nearby crest Saraya sees the danger of the powerful monster upon the Hero. Her arm shoots out and she tears the towel from the Warden revealing her dark bra. "These are much better than yours darling."
Adrenaline hits at the same time as the fear does, the mixture causing Danny to giggle in a slightly embarrassing high pitch. he cannot help himself, as sometimes happens his mouth engages before his brain recovers. And a small snatch of tune escapes from behind the Veil,...
"WHO let the dogs out?!
WOOF! Woof woof!
WHO let the dogs out?!
WOOF! Woof woof!"
Danny's disembodied voice floats out from the veil, distorted but loud and clear. It seems to come from first one side of the ghoul, then the other.
The tattooed ghoul swings wildly towards the invisible sound....
Nearby the other ghoul lays decapitated upon the lakes edge.
Letitia grasps at her exposed cleavage, pale in the moonlight. She turns to Saraya looking daggers in her eyes - but the scarlet sorceress has moved out of arms reach.
Danny's disembodied voice chuckles around the edge of the lake. Whether at the ghoul or at Letitia's fashion show is hard to tell, since you can't see him.
"STEE-RIKE ONE!"
seeing those puppies, the dogs being out and hearing the song Axe can't help but grin but then shudder as the realization that perhaps we have Loosed the Dogs of War and gained Ares notice.
Axe strikes quickly and prays for Danny's veil to hold
Kenneth says, "See? I told you there'd be another one!" and turns to face it with his flaming sword in hand, only pausing for the smallest of fractions at the sight of Letitia. Now, that's a bonny woman..
He shakes his head and in his best Ash says, "Come get some.", bringing his flaming blade down on the ghoul.
Sal quickly scans for other targets. If none are to be found, she takes another shot at the ghoul attacking her new friends.
Rubbery loose flesh hanging from tough bones, she spins and ducks. An inhuman continuous movement, the grey limbs flick and whirl trying to find the source of the noise and get retribution for her mates destruction. The stench coming from the rotting flesh is sharp and bitter, a soft lingering smell that draws bile from the stomach.
The amazing fluid dodging of the holy ghoul, ordained with her tattoo's of purity. She whirls away from the strikes of the hero bouncing off his shield. The horrid spins away from him.....
....straight into a slice of the flaming holy weapon. The ghouls guts spill forth in loops of slimy intestine that hang to the grass, burning in the claymores fire. The smell of roasting fat fills the air along with the pop and crackling of flames.
The injured ghoul screams and scrabbles with a free hand to stuff the burning meat back in her stomach. As she ducks Sals shot just misses her body, sticking into the turf nearby.
Trying to claw at the shadows and veils with her free-hand she misses Aximeus, due to Danny's clever block and illusionary magic.
Defense roll vs ghoul (though by reading it may not be necesary)
Axe seeks to jump over the ghoul cart-wheel like as an unexpected manuever in her dance and position opposite of Kenneth with the ghoul between us for an advantage and have the additional advantage of watching each others backs.
acrobatics
sword attack
-----
posting from work before I leave; modem is dead at home so post for me if needed; am trying to fix it soon as I can.
Bleeding things are tough... Any sane thing would have the good sense tae have died by now...
Kenneth sees Axe shifting into position and and waits, then swings his sword as the godling does. She cannae dodge us both, especially nae wounded as she is...
As he brings the sword up, he feels the kinship of the RIGHTEOUS FLAMES wreathing the blade and the ghoul's flaming guts, and smiles, ...especially not with a beacon leading the blade in...
He smiles at the ghoul as he swings the blade, "Dinnae fret, beastie, I ken how that feels.... it comes a few hours after I eat the bonny vindaloo at the pub down the block. It'll only burn for a bit."
...and Kenneth will take the free tag on the major consequence FLAMING GUTS for +2 to his attack, as like attracts like, bringing the total to an attack 4, as always, with a weapon 3.
Still behind his veil, Danny switches to a livelier, rolling beat.
"Your on fiii-re!
Your on Fiii-re!"
Danny's disembodied voice continues to taunt the ghoul.
"Your mate's lyin' on the ground,
It's you we're gonna pound,
Your on Fiii-re!"
Clutching at her stomach she still moves preternaturally quick, eyes upon Aximeus shield watching out as he feints again. The creature moves away spining into the thrust, which tears across her thigh. Dark ichor pours from the wounds and the creature starts to limp slightly.
"Vile unbeliever, you shall pay for your actions. The Holy Dragon will take your life - tear you limb from limb." The ghoul hisses backing off to the lakes edge slightly, before the flaming blade scores another hit.
Kenneth = 4 - 3 + 3 = 4 Stress hit.
Stress Track: ◙◙◘◙◘◘ Consequences: Major (Flaming Gut); Minor (Thigh Strike)
Upon the slope the Warden starts to move down, her hands wreathed in pale blue flame. Saraya slides over towards where the hidden sniper is, avoiding the wizardesses wrath.
Sal curses softly and works the bolt to chamber another round, firing one last time and the wriggly creature, who is nicely lit up by her own immolation.
A lead projectile flies through the darkness, slicing through the air towards it's target. Slightly dropping but compensated by the aim of the sniper, it wings it's way towards the tattooed ghoul.
Spinning in the darkness, the ghoul is broken and backed to the icy waters edge. It just had managed to avoid the worst of the shot with a supernatural prescience.
She shrieks as Sal finds her flesh, turning she tries one last claw before diving to the freezing pitch black depths of the water.
Danny's illusion proving it's worth, but the hatred of the killer of it's mate. Then the ghoul dives into the water.
Stress Track: ◙◙◙◙◘◘ Consequences: Major (Flaming Gut); Minor (Thigh Strike)
The dark lake ripples, a hand-ful of bubbles rising to the surface then nothing...
A soft dark mist hangs over it as the chill night air meets the cold water. Letita starts to move towards the waters edge, her hand glowing with a pale pulsing blue fire. She looks to the decapitated body with undisguised disgust.
To one side the kennel lies quiet and empty, stood next to the quay. There are a pair of boats (1 rowing, 1 motor), each capable of carrying a half dozen people moored to the sides. Subtly shifting with the ebb & flow of the water.
Still, the large junk bobs up and down upon the water, Chinese lanterns softly illuminating it. No sounds come from it.
However, since you will be losing contact with the land you're armour will be less effective! (It'll be only Armour:1) And you're Inhuman toughness/recovery will not work...
Your shield will still have it's power.
Only a true hero would be upto the task of confronting the Dragon-Emperor when not in peak condition. You upto the task :P
A small voice whispers to you; 'Destroy the Immortal Emperor's form now and he will return to his home-land, to be bound there for the next century! By morning and he may find more of his tea.' The voice comes from the Fates, softly rolling in his head.
Danny's singing fades away as his veil shimmers and he reappears.
"Huh. That wasn't so bad." He says smugly.
(Says the guy who managed to avoid the actual fighting part.) ;)
He covers his face and moves upwind of the section of burning entrails with silent gagging motions, as he warily looks around for any other 'guards'. He glances back at the tent and house where milling crowds are still in confusion from the fire alarm. Then he stares at the Chinese Junk still bobbing on the waves.
Danny sighs. "We're going to have to go over there, aren't we?" He asks, his voice raised slightly in hope of hearing a denial,...
Sal jumps to her feet and slings her rifle over her shoulder, trotting quickly to the group on the pier.
"Is everybody well? Anyone hurt?" she says worriedly.
Still in combat mode, sword burning, Kenneth says, "Nae, naught but me pride in letting the beastie get away..." He then sighs and releases the holy fires, the blade instantly cooling... "Hopefully tae lick her wounds and nae to tell them we're coming."
He looks across the water at the boat and says, "Aye, I think so. With all that water protecting it, I cannae call upon the Flames tae sink the ship from here..." He turns his head and adds optimistically, "Unless Sal's got a toy a mite bigger than her rifle..... I think we'll need tae beard the dragon in its floating lair."
Defense roll vs ghouls attack
I accept the Noble Purpose, grit my teeth and go forward feeling the loss of my mothers blessing, moving in to the realm of Neptune and his cold embrace.
Leadership
to the BOAT; let us destroy this invader Dragon or no Dragon!
Letitia stands by the waters edge looking ruefully across it; she turns back to the others. Saraya is stood a bit away hidden in the shadows as the wardens eyes scan past.
Lets us aquire means of transport and board yonder boat
Axe grimaces, partially at the wound and partially at missing the hamstring of the ghoul and getting the thigh and looks for a boat.
Danny stares at Axe unashamed, his surprise at the fact that the warrior is still standing despite that last hit plain on his face.
As the others look around, Danny slowly points to the last jagged wound the ghoul gave Axe before jumping in the lake.
"Um, should I get you a Band-Aid for that?"
"No rocket launcher or RPG, sorry. We're going to have to get up close and personal. If we can get out there." Sal looks at the arcane types. "I don't suppose anyone can fly us to the ship? Or heal the Spartan?"
Axe will row the boat.
I have some stuff in my bag; enough C-4 to sink that thing, but not enough to blow it sky high, a grenade or two. What we need to determine is what our plan is here. Is everyone on that ship a bad guy? cause if this is the only boat we might want to think about what to do with civilians.
Kenneth looks at the godling's wound, "Aye, I could probably fix that... but Axe heals at least as fast as I do. Better to save meself for what's tae come, ye ken."
He hops into the boat and clenches his Crasg Brìghde, readying himself to bring up a shield if anyone on the boat attacks.
I hate water, never know what is under there, too many hateful things, but on the funny side, my armor left and probably went back to that museum; hehe just imagine the curator and guards faces. First it is there, then gone, then there. Right now they are probably poking it with a pencil to ensure it is real; then agreeing "dont say nothin". hehe