"It sounds like that may not be needed," he replies, flexing his claws. "From the sound of it, now would be a good time to take up some ambush positions and try to take them by surprise when they come out to hunt."
As he speaks he looks for a spot to hide for doing just that.
Finding positions to hide and jump the attackers is not a difficult proposition - as with most farms there is plenty of stuff around - but they aren't the finest ones.
Carlos, high on the thrill of magical energies running through him decides to cast another spell, hoping to protect his mundane (and possibly infect-able) friends from the oncoming hoard.
"Captain I think you have the right of it, lets pick them off as they approach. No need to fight them tooth and claw." He pulls out his magic bag and finds a spot on the barn roof with her, "Sorry for squeezing, but I'll take your combat senses over mine. Brings me back to that other operation."
He grabs the knife in his pocket cuts himself a little, letting out some blood and starting a spell.
Feeling some magic work he shouts to the others, "This roof should provide some sanctuary should you all need it, but no promises!"
Kavax'Kaotl looks for a location where he could confront the ghouls in a choke point; a doorway, narrow gap, or something similar.
It was impossible. How could she know this? She knew cheerleader routines. She knew makeup and what had been trending on Youtube and who was sleeping with which football player.
"We stay back-to-back. Slowly rotate right. You hit them hard; daze them. I'll finish them off with fire," she tells Kavax calmly.
Kavax snorts. "We'll see if I leave much to finish; I've got plenty of fire myself. But I won't say no to having someone guard my back."
Kavax looked toward the farmhouse from whence the ghouls would shortly be appearing. He breathed steadily, thin trails of smoke seeping from his nostrils. Kavax didn't even bother to draw his blade; no use dirtying the edge against foes he needed to burn.
Captain nodded as Carlos climbed up, quietly saying, "No need to apologize, ghouls are usually a 'more eyes the better' situation. We can shoot them down and it seems a couple of the others can easily burn them." as she finished her prep, giving no indication of discomfort or being bothered by it, though telling how she was feeling had always been difficult. Sometimes, even for the Captain herself.
As everyone got into position the first of the creatures emerged, snarling at the last embers of light before stepping out. It was hard to see that it had been human at any point. It was a wasted thing, genderless even with its clothing torn to barely present shreds. Bones and thick cords of muscle showed through its skin, with no fat at all. Each finger and toe nail was longer, tougher and black, more talon than nail. It's eyes were a sickly orange colour as well.
Following it were three more of the creatures. They moved with a feral grace and ease. Finally, a fifth followed along behind the others, dragging a wounded man. The man had clearly been badly hurt, blood staining his clothing. Bait, you had to assume.
Captain slowly counted the 5 ghouls under her breath before squeezing the trigger, aiming for the fifth one holding the man who had a slight chance of being saved...
...Captain smirks slightly to herself before starting to set up her next shot.
Sarah's not a sniper, her trust shotgun isn't good at long range, she'll be hidden someone fairly close.
Sarah pops up, unloading the shotgun as soon as one's close enough for a reasonable shot.
Seeing the Captain's shot strike true, Cheshire aims to keep the ghoul she hit down. He traces a complicated figure in the air while yowling something that sounds vaguely like words.
A bolt of flame streaks out from the air in front of him and strikes the injured ghoul in the head.
Jessica sees an opportunity to help Sarah as she pops out from hiding and fires with her shotgun.
Kavax'Kaotl simply greets the first ghoul to get close to him by hunching over to get his head lined up right, then exhaling a blast of green-black flames at its face.
Carlos pulls out some enchantment from his bag and suddenly a spark of otherworldy energy springs forth to support the flames coming from Kavax.
The Ghoul to the rear shuddered as his head went missing from his shoulders a moment before the crack of Captain Rose's rifle rang out.
Sarah and Jessica attempted to attack another, but the hideous monster responded with astounding speed for something that looked like it should be dead, and raked Jessica with a claw.
Another was immolated by the combined attacks of Carlos and Kavox, shrieking in a wailing despair as it was burned from the inside and outside at once, while Cheshire managed to burn one's skin in a nasty fashion.
This did not stop the other two. One moved towards Kovax, not entirely clear on how to deal with the strange creature but deciding that claws would do the job.
The last one surged towards Rose and Carlos but crashed into the wall of magic around the outbuilding that Carlos had erected. The creature snarled, extending one clawed finger, and began to walk around the building while forming a circle of its own in the dirt.
Seeing the ghouls otherwise engaged, Cheshire continues tossing bolts of flame into the mix, trying to keep any of the creatures from healing.
"Keep your wits about you. We're still missing one," he shouts to the others.
The armor of the Furies lessened the wound, but did not block it entirely. She hisses as her angelic flesh is rent by the creature's claws.
In response, she swings wide with her flaming sword, hoping to pay the creature back in retribution.
Captain motioned to Carlos to ask him to take care of the ghoul who had gotten too close while she took aim at the one who was moving towards Kavox...
...she readjusted for the next shot while grabbing for her knife - just in case the closer ghoul found a way around.
Feeling the circle slam into him, Carlos staggers back and lands on a knee. The ghoul begins drawing a circle and he knows that the creature is coming in close and he has to do what he can to stop it from breaking their little sanctuary they have, "Keep shooting Captain, I'll keep them at bay here."
He unslings the shotgun rapidly and with a quick pivot tries to blast the one near them.
It seems to work well, however the ghoul is mighty resilient.
Another of the monster's heads explodes as Captain Rose shows off the terrifying power of an anti-material rifle on flesh and bone, and Carlos' blast rips a chunk of flesh from the attacking monster. Unbfortunately the undead seemed to consider this a rather simple problem and continued, getting almost all the way back to where it started with it's own circle. Purple magic power began to crack and swell against Carlos' own barrier.
The remain monster was badly hurt by the fiery sword and Cheshire's magic, dealing damage that would kill a human and knocked it back a moment...but it wasn't dead yet. A horrifying pair of globs of what seemed to be acid of some kinda was launched from its maw, being aimed at both Jessica and Cheshire.
The ghoul's claws cut through Kavax's coat, but scrape off the thick scales beneath.
"Yeah, where's the big one? These are all just small fry..."
Kavax cuts himself off as he takes a moment to make burn the two ghouls that had been downed by the Captain's shots, to make sure they stayed down.
[ooc]Guessing at what this would be. Need GM response for it anyway with that roll.[ooc]
Seeing the closer ghoul come back around, Captain tilted her gun down towards it. She knew it wouldn't work best this way, but there was something quite satisfying about point-blank range shots...
...she then readjusted for her next shot, still holding her knife.
Cheshire yowls, more in surprise than pain, as the substance strikes him. He drops and rolls around on the ground for a bit to get it off, then nimbly back to his feet.
"In case you didn't notice, others of us can handle the burning bit while you large, fire-breathing types do the 'knocking them down in the first place' work," he calls out to Kavax'Kaotl.
He didn't like the look of that one that was using magic, though.
Captain Rose once again felled the attacked with her weapon, although this one was rather messier due to to the awkwardness of the closer range. Seeing this Cheshire turned the magic in a different direction, incinerating the last of the Ghouls.
Kovax realizes he can't use his own powers without risking the injured man, as he was being dragged by the first Ghoul downed. He would need moved before it would be safe, but the creatures didn't seem to heal fast enough for that to be an issue.
All five are down, although the three downed by Rose do spasm occasionally. The man they were dragging is simply laying there.
Jessica walks casually from one fallen ghoul to the next, stabbing or slicing with her flaming sword to finish them off. Though she wants to shudder, or act squeamish or maybe even puke at the twitching, vile things, something in her new nature finds the act of dispatching evil creatures comforting and fulfilling.
Captain remained in position with her rifle and knife as the remaining twitchy bodies are burned and the man is checked. She watched for any remaining to come into view while the others dealt with that.
Cheshire looks around warily as Jessica dispatches the twitching ghouls.
"We're still missing the worst one," he comments.
Finishing off the downed monsters is not hard, and the flaming weapon stops the twitching without trouble.
There is, indeed, no sign of the largest one that Carlos reported. The only sound is the faint sound of a radio from inside the house.
Carlos puts the shotgun away and kicks the barn a little, hoping to dispel whatever tiny remnants of magic remain. "Anyone hurt? Not sure what I can do on such short notice, but if its ba---" Just that moment he sees the body laying there, "Who is he?"
Frantically looking for something to cover the man with, he unzips his empty duffel bag and throws it over him, "Sorry amigo, wasn't your day." He then says a small prayer and starts examining the body for any hint of who he was.
"Anyone hear that radio? Could that be the radio that the sheriff said he heard from?"
The man's pocket contains a wallet and driver's licence that said 'Colin Matthews.' He was also, notably, not dead. He has been hamstrung, and partially eviscerated, but his heart is still beating.
Hold on. Hold on! He sees the duffel slightly raise at the mouth, "I think I may have made a mistake, this fellow is most definitely alive but might not be for long." He rips the duffel bag off and tosses it aside, really hoping deep down it doesn't get incinerated by a dragon or flaming sword. Or else carrying this shotgun will be mighty awful.
"I'm going to do my best to help this fellow out but watch for that magic sensing bearded ghoul." Channeling what seems like more magic, he begins a ritual to try closing the most grievous wound on the man named Colin Matthews.
"Hold on guey, this is going to hurt a lot." Recalling a spell that he used once to fix up a wounded animal on Chesire's request, he really hoped it worked on humans. Carlos had little time to deliberate as he started pulling out various ground roots and his long knife.
"Work dammit, work!"
Captain remained on the roof, keeping her guard up and watching for threats to give Carlos as much time as could be spared to help the victim.
If this man was bait, this could be what brings the big one out and if the big one was happy to wait until they entered the obviously high risk building, the Captain could also wait for a bit.
Kavax similarly stands guard. "Why didn't the big one come out at the same time as the little ones? Does it prefer to lead from the back? Or is it planning something?"
Carlos' magic manages to knit the man's stomach and shredded legs back into something that resembled human flesh. He gasps as then magic courses through him and sits up sharply, looking around in confusion.
There is still no sign of the larger Ghoul.
"Easy there, easy there. Don't move too fast, you're going to open up again if you do. I'm a... paramedic. What happened here?"
Carlos flashes an a-ok sign to the squad and lets out a heave of exhaustion. "Colin right?"
"Yeah," the man grunted, wincing. The magic had certainly not repaired everything. Magic wasn't always a miracle and he was still in a pretty bad shape. "Did you get the message?"
"You called the sheriff? What was the message about? We only heard a little before we rushed over."
"What? Sherrif? No!" The man looked around again, taking in little details - like the lack of an ambulance, medical gear or uniforms and a significant number of guns. After a second he shook his head. "My wife and daughter and I escape when those zombie...things ambushed us. We saw a wounded guy in the road, pulled over and they...jumped the rest of us. We ran. Made it to that town. We found a little radio and my wife started trying to fix it, to call for help, but my daughter, she needs insulin, and I went to try and get some and I go...caught." He winces briefly. "Guess they ate there old bait when we didn't find us."
Cheshire stays out of the man's sight--being a human-sized cat-man probably would not be comforting to him just now--and listens. Interesting, interesting... he shifts back into cat form and starts prowling around, keeping watch while they talk.
Captain raised an eyebrow in amusement as Carlos identified himself as a paramedic though in this situation, few would likely mind.
Captain tried to remember if she had seen anything about that in the reports she had read earlier that matched what the man had said while taking a moment to check her company assigned briefcase for something to treat the man that might prevent him from turning.
Speaking up, Captain said matter of factly, "I received reports from my employer, who are doing all we can to deal with this situation. We are aware of one more larger attacker, but if you have further information, it could help us to stop them before they can cause this pain to anyone else. I can take you for further treatment and to get your family once we are done here." Captain did not attempt in the slightest to hide her weapons or alter her mannerisms as she spoke, just gave him some of the information and let him decide how much he was able or willing to help.
Androleteira extinguishes her sword and sends it away while they talk with the injured man. A part of her new nature stirred when she heard his story about abandoning his family (to get insulin, dammit! That's a thing! That's totally a thing!) and she had to fight to quell it.
Not trusting herself around him, she stays back and lets Mr. Garcia and the Captain talk with him.
Kavax did his best not to loom, while also going over to look at the door the ghouls had emerged from. He didn't enter the building-not yet and not alone-but would be ready to meet any more that came to the door.
"I dunno what you want to know, but I'll tell you anything you want. My wife and daughter are in the town over there. It was an old hotel or something. I can show you." The man stood up, growling several choice words as he tried to move. He pulled a small case with various cartoon character stickers. His hand is shaking as he passes it to Carlos. "The insulin. You're more likely to get there than I am in this state."
Carlos turns to the others and takes the insulin, "We'll get this to them right away and get you out of here," He hopes the others agree, or else he'd be running a man over to the hotel, "How desperate is this insulin?" His glasses hide the worry in his eyes, though his voice falters slightly. While the supernatural threat was a threat, this was just as bad... He quite literally carried a life in the case.
Jessica eyes the lunchbox and considers their dilemma for getting the man to safety while also getting the medicine to his daughter.
She steps forward. "I could possibly take you back to the diner, but it's not without risk. I can take someone with me when I... move, but sometimes, well, more often than not, they get lost along the way. So you may not want to do that. I could only take you to places I've been, so if you want to stay close, it's got to be the diner. I could take you to the hospital in Scranton, though."
She shifts her stance and nervously wrings her hands. "I could also make sure the insulin is safe in case we have to fight again before we reach her. But, you'd have to give it to me," she tells the man. "And not just hand it to me. You'd have to give it to me, knowing in your heart that you no longer had any say over its use. Only then could I protect it." She hated the rules. She could only stow away items she owned, and that whole saying that "possession is nine-tenths of the law" doesn't apply.
Continuing watching the door, Captain rested her knife down and reached for her phone. "Protocol for after contact with designated threat and potentially at-risk victims that require... specialists. They will need the name of the hotel, it's better for them to wait there and assess any risks while we contain this site. she said with a glance over to the man before looking down at her phone.
The man shook his head. "The place is a hundred years dead. The hotel was barely standing, it didn't have signage up anymore. Or if it did I didn't see it when I was running away."
Looking at Jessica, the man sighed. "Yeah, that's a perfectly paramedic thing to say. What the hell did we get into..." Rubbing his eyes, he gestured to the insulin. "It's not like I can protect it. It's yours."
Wincing, he added, "It's desperate enough that I risked getting..." he gestured down to the fairly horrific wounds he still possesed."This to happen. We always have some on us, thank goodness, but the bulk was in the car. And the f*****s moved the car. They're smarter than zombies or whatever they are get shown in movies."
He nodded towards the house. "There are tunnels, that's how they move in the day. They don't like light much. Maybe they're vampires? I thought those guys were all sexy and sparkly, but..." he shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Point is there are more, they're underground and I really need you to get that stuff to my daughter and to not bother wasting time on me. I'll live." He was pale enough that those words weren't certain by any stretch, but he was clearly not going to go willingly when it cost precious time.
Captain muttered slightly at her phone before putting it away, "An Adalet medical team is on route, they should be able to find the hotel from my coordinates. We'll meet up with them there -- after securing this site." Captain explained the protocol in a 'this is going to happen' tone of voice.
She chuckled slightly as she picked up her supplies to get down from her spot. "If these attackers try moving my vehicle, they're in for a few nasty surprises. We should be able to hear it from here." With her equipment in hand, she continued while approaching the door near Kavax, "It is very useful to know they are underground, thank you. However, I don't waste my time, on or off the clock. Unless you have other information that will help us do this well and quickly, I would appreciate if you chose a safe place to wait while we go in."
Jessica can't help but be a little surprised with how easily the man gave up his daughter's insulin, but there was really only one way to find out. She steps over to Carlos and takes the case from him and tries to shunt it into the space where her possessions go. It doesn't disappear.
She turns it over in her hands and looks at the stickers on it. Under her breath, she mutters, "Damn it. Stupid rules, this is his daughter's lunchbox. He can't give it -- wait." She opens it and takes the medicine out of the case. The syringes disappear from her hand.
"Okay." She tosses the case back to the man.
The man tried to grab the case but fumbled it, and left it on the floor with a shrug. "Adalets? Aren't they some company? Screw it, I'll take what I can get. Doubt the hospitals can deal with vampire zombie b******t."
Captain Rose could see inside the trashed hallway and the remains of the police tape that had sealed the place off. The sounds of a radio were coming from the living room, although it seemed to be a woman talking rather than a radio show.