To the Southern Continent

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Just throwing out info about the overall flow of the fight right now. Interact with the npc's and monsters in town however you like. Things'll be changing gear on my next post. Btw, is Jasmine hiding out of town? A rifle shot would probably be picked up by a kobold if she wasn't./OOC

Things were escalating rapidly with the arrival of the kobold reinforcements. The main group in town of feral human's were still pounding relentlessly against the tavern where the largest number of survivors were hiding. The tortured splintering noise announced that the windows were beginning to open up. An ear-splitting roar from inside the building declared that someone with a very big gun had just unloaded on a would-be intruder. The group still trying to get in, however, were still easily enough to overwhelm the sailors and cilivians left inside. A few more minutes and Rigby's crew would be in deep trouble.

Inside the Waterfront Tavern, the short Captain looked at the ground meat that had a second before been a terrifying, leering, subhuman face squeezing through the broken window. Even as he watched the body was pushed further forward by the creatures behind it until it tumbled inside the room. Some of weaker minded patrons lost themselves in hopeless screaming, the Captain eyed the stairs behind him, forced himself to stand his ground and began reloading the blunderbuss.

The other group of kobolds, a half dozen hunting party which included Alleece. Had successfully circled round to the eastern side of town, picking off a handful of stragglers with stealthy success. A pair of ex-humans had even been successfully subdued by some accurate blowpipe fire from the young female and one of her counterparts. The unconscious infected had been dragged to a nearby hut for 'storage' later on. Although what shape Grendell would be in at the end of the invasion only time would tell. They approached the central streets at a low run, keeping watchful for further danger.

Tamina and Jamie's group arrived at the opposite end of Grendell at almost the exact same time as Alleece's. Immediately the healer saw the besieged Tavern and made a mewling noise that signalled distress, She saw two dozen there at least; a scrambling pair of legs disappearing through a window on the ground floor, and even a pair actually showing the co-ordination to climb up the drainpipe attached to the side of the building which was, unfortunately, within easy reach of unguarded glass on the second floor. Tallah barked something to everyone present in his native tounge, then looked at Jamie and thumped himself in the forehead.

"Gonna... draw them..." He flapped his hand towards them, then pointed at a clear building with a low-hanging roof. "Get them there. Pick 'em up."

"Off." Said Tamina, but nodded in approval, noticing that Tallah was looking at the human with a hopeful expression he invariably got when he was wishing for praise. She had to hand it to him; his human speak was getting better. The big kobold notched an arrow and pointed it a target.

"When... you ready." He managed.

[Jack Rothwell]

At the same time the battle was raging in Grendell. The Ralkin were gathering in the ruins of the underground temple. Fusilious, their marble-domed leader, cast his eyes over the five other men gathered there with pride in his heart. The efforts to invade the Northern coast were going much more smoothly than the previous attempt. A fumbling disaster chalked up mainly to the efforts of two previous members of the cult who had since been either 'let go' or butchered at the claws of their old enemies. They'd been forced to retreat after that, forced to scratch a living out of the earth like lowly freebooters for years. Now, finally, they had the means to establish themselves as a power on the Southern Continent, and the invasion of Grendell was just a demonstration of things to come. He assessed them with a cold calm; each of the men before him were powerful mages in their own right, pratictioners of arts banned largely throughout the world. With an army of ferals behind them victory was a certainty. He directed a question at Valus and Malja, the pair currently attending to the crystal which was holding the plague spell in place.

"What news?"

"Kobolds are arrived." Valus murmured. "One group still near the edge of town, approaching the waterfront, the second is headed for the centre."

"Are the ferals on their way?"

"They'll be arriving in the next minute." Malja said, his eyes were completely blank, as though the glowing device in front of him had stolen his sight. "They're in line with the central group now."

Fusilious (OOC why did I make this guy's name so bloody difficult to spell?/OOC) nodded and turned to the three men to his right. He examined the trio for a moment before he raised a palm to the grizzled looking individual in the middle. Arcelius, the man looked like a monster, he was well over six feet tall, with a build that was sinewy long limbs and jutting bones. His face was old, oak-like, and criss-crossed with ugly scars and stitches, the lower half was swamped with a rat-tailed beard that looked as if it hadn't been washed since it began to grow. The man's self-experiments had given him a straight-backed vitality that wasn't dulled by his age. He was perfect for the job. Indeed, the broken toothed smile he gave his commander showed he was ready for it.

"You'll give me the honour?"

"Yes. Take Grendell for us. Kill or turn the pockets of resistance." For the first time that day some warmth crept into his voice. "Then we march on the kobold village and put those sorry people to an end."

Arcelius hefted the staff in his hand; a three foot affair as gnarled as the mage who weilded it, set at its top was a chunk of crystal that resembled a miniature version of the one his fellow cultists were pouring all their attention into.

"Send me."

The Ralkin leader and Arcelius' two companions formed a triangle around the big man and began to chant.

[Sareth]

"After you," Jamie replied, nodding. She finished reloading, snapping the cylinder into place. As the kobold began to run she watched carefully. She didn't want to shoot and draw the attention away from him, that would spoil his plan. But at the same time her trigger finger was itching.

After a moment she spotted several of the whatsits break cover to give chase to Tallah. She grinned, and took careful aim. She didn't want to shoot, but if any of them changed their mind and headed toward the group still under cover, she wanted to be ready to respond.

Sweat dropped into her eye, stinging. The girl swore and wiped it away. "Damn heat."

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC AHHHHH! Action! So much action!/OOC

Tamina loosed an arrow which took one of the scrambling humans in the back as Tallah vaulted nimbly to the low-hanging roof above him. He wheeled around and delivered a kick to one of faster pursuers who'd managed to get a handhold on the structure. The creatures head snapped back and it fell. Tamina ran full pelt past the group, hauling herself up to join her companion while the rest of the party took the opposite way around.

The tactic was an effective one. Although the humans possessed a fair amount of agility the time it took for them to clamber up the structure was ample enough for the defenders to pick off the invaders in dribs and drabs. The number still attacking the Tavern was dwindling, but the sound of breaking glass indicated that the survivors inside weren't out of the woods just yet.

....................................

Rigby turned with surprising gracefulness as shattering noises and fresh screams sounded from upstairs. Inside the bar, his crew struggled with a pair of monsters who'd successfully climbed in through the now-open windows. The Captain shouted encouragement to the men under his command and made his way upwards.

He hit the bedroom at a charge, using his short, but portly bulk to send the portal flying open. The sight which greeted him made his face pale. Two more of the rabid natives were there, standing over the body of a young lad the Captan recognised, the serving boy, the owner's son.

Fear was replaced by outrage in an instant, the gun came up of its own accord. The Captain unthinkingly dropped into a stance to absorb the kick-back from the huge weapon. The first feral's head disintigrated into red mist. Rigby dropped the blunderbuss, knowing there wasn't time to reload it, and pulled his cutlass from its scabbard. The second feral charged, roaring mindlessly and flailing with overlong fingernails. The pair crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs. An instant later the warped body on top of the Captain shuddered once, twice, and was still.

The Captain groaned, gritted his teeth and pushed, straining as the dead thing rolled off him. He couldn't stop a cry of pain from erupting from his lips as the tearing noises punctuated the claws coming free from his chest. He could feel the dampness spreading beneath his shirt already. He knew he was badly hurt, maybe dying.

He tried to get back up. The world swam. After a few agonising seconds he settled for instead propping himself up against the door frame. He reached for the fallen gun.

"Alright..." He managed. "Reload it. Just do that. Worry... about everything....later..."

......................................

Outside, the second group of kobolds was not faring much better. Alleece heard the heavy breathing and thundering footsteps a second too late. The young kobold turned just in time to see one of her companions go down under an explosion of matted furs and talons. She shrieked a warning to the group, but the sudden ferociousness of the feral kobolds attack was scattering them. The hunters broke apart, cutting a desperate retreating motion that had them fleeing in all directions.

Alleece ducked a swipe and ran for the nearest alley, praying to her Gods that it wouldn't be blocked.

[Sareth]

Jamie let several shots rip, clearing away a few of the besiegers attacking the Tavern. From the opposite direction several rounds from a rifle roared out, clearing away a few more.

"Thanks, mom," Jamie grinned at the perversity of thanking her mother when the woman was too far away to hear the gratitude. She ran out and pot shotted a few more of the creatures, clearing a window.

"Hey!" she shouted in through the window, careful not to put her head up where some trigger happy fool inside might take a crack at it. "I think we got this window clear! You want out, or want us in?"

"In!" Came the shout from inside.

Jamie grinned. "Don't mind if I do." She grabbed the window sill and pulled herself up, then immediately dropped down to the ground again, wobbling. "Woah... Head rush..."

[Jack Rothwell]

Captain Rigby heard the shouts coming from outside the tavern and breathed a weak sigh of relief. He recognised the voice as the firecracker teenager whose companion had had 'convinced' him to sail to the Southern Continent a day ahead of schedule. He tried to push himself to his feet but his legs wouldn't co-operate.

"Captain?"

Rigby looked down the flight of stairs, and saw Wedge standing frozen with a horror-struck face.

"By the Gods, are you okay?"

'Not the brightest boy, that one.' He thought, then out loud. "Does it.... look like I'm... okay?"

The light finally went on over Wedge's head, the young man ran back to the now thankfully clear tavern windows and yelled to their rescuers.

"We've got injured inside! Is there a healer around?"

.....................

Tamina caught up with Jamie as the rest of their group finished either killing or subduing the feral humans. Things were going better than the kobold had hoped. But that didn't stop the feeling stealing over the native that they were experiencing the calm before the storm. There were still dozens of infected people stampeding around Grendell. She could hear the repetitive bangs of woodwork under assault to confirm that. Alleece's group should've been able to deal with the stragglers, but Tamina hadn't caught a glimpse of her friend or her group since they'd begun the attack and there was Jamie besides that, the girl looked a little shaken up, a quality that looked alien on her. Tamina opened her mouth to ask the teenager a question.

"We've got injured inside! Is there a healer around?"

She wheeled at the voice from inside the Waterfront. People were hurt, she had a job to do. Whether or not she could help, the least she could do was try.

"I'm here!" She called back and started clambering through the window.

....................

Alleece burst out of the alleyway and veered sharply to the right to avoid the clutching claws of one of the feral kobolds who'd sneaked up behind her group. The native sprinted flat out towards the centre of town noticing, despite the panic she felt, the new arrivals crossing paths with the rabid humans seemed to be unwilling to engage in hostilities with each other. In fact, the human's actually made room around the houses to accomodate the feral kobolds. It must've been the work of the Ralkin, either that or the plague carriers recognised each other as kindred spirits, no matter what species they were a part of.

They were tightening the noose around the young kobold, she could see them approaching from several directions. Alleece hurried to the nearest hut that was climable and jumped upbefore she began screaming for help.

......................

Tallah's ears twitched as the cries of his tribeswoman carried clearly across the town. The hunter's eyes widened in panic. He barked something in kobold speak to the rest of the group and turned to Jamie before he hurried towards the source.

"Alleece in trouble! Must find her!"

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Sorry for the double, got a lot of threads to follow atm./OOC

Something was happening at the edge of Grendell. While Alleece finished climbing to the roof of a ramshackle building, still screaming for rescue and pulling her legs out of reach of her possessed kinsmen as Tallah and two of his comrades ran full pelt to find her. A small space some four feet from the ground of a wooden walkway began to darken. The blackness swam through the air like ink dropped into water, expanding until it formed a cloud bigger than a man. The spell began to spin, making a crackling noise as reality was temporarily ruptured. A moment later it slowed, expanded, then disapated.

Standing on the spot where the teleportation spell had taken effect was the imposing, gnarled man Tamina would've recognised as Arcelius; one of the fiercer members of her tribe's worst enemies, the Ralkin. The old magic-user surveyed the scene of chaos around him with a pleased look in his eye. He raised the short staff in his hand like a standard bearer rallying troops and the crystal embedded in its top flashed a signal.

The nearby ferals turned as one at the sudden light. With an eerie coordination that would've put an observer in the mind of an insect swarm they made their way to the Ralkin. The old man smiled, he waved a hand and the group wheeled as cleanly as soldiers on parade, fanning out to put themselves between the mage and his targets.

Arcelius thrust the staff into the air a second time; knowing that there was still something to do before he finished eradicating the natives from the settlement. He chanted sylabbles in an unintelligible language, the staff seemed to respond to his words, it began to leak green-tinged smoke that bled down its length and enveloped the aging sorcerer. Within seconds he was covered, the pitch of his voice rising either in elation or pain. The cloud didn't disapate, but instead seemed to soldify into the figure who'd cast the spell. Arcelius' face and body came into view, swirling within the vapour shaped like a man. The smile was still on the figure's face, but now it continually twisted into a see-sawing maniacal leer. He raised an insubstantial arm and pointed to the lone kobold on the roof. The group in front of him fixed their attention on the target. He whispered in a voice that sounded as if it were carried on the wind.

"Kill her first."

[Sareth]

[OOC]Not quite sure what to do at this point, to be honest.[/OOC]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Kicking this forward. I'll keep Jamie moving round if you still need some time Sareth, let me know if there's anything you need tweaking bud./OOC

Tamina found Captain Rigby at the top of the stairs of the tavern lapsing into unconsciousness. As she knelt by his side she drew back a pawlike hand and slapped him.

"Ow! What... was that... for?"

"Gotta stay awake." The healer replied, weaving her hands for a spell. "Makes healing easier."

"Can you..." The Captain's sentence was cut off by a fit of coughing, his vision blurred as his body was racked by the spasms. Tamina didn't wait for him to finish, she placed both her hands over his wounded chest and concentrated. A strong green glow brightened the fading daylight.

Healing serious wounds was a slow process even for the kobold's contact magic. And Tamina knew full well that the infection inside Rigby's body would go untouched by the spell she was casting. Despite that awful knowledge it went against everything the native had learned to leave an injured man to die. The Captain sighed with relief as the edges of the wounds began to knit back together.

...................

Tallah ran ahead of the group, not bothering to look back to see who was following him. Deep thinking had never been the hunter's strong suit and, even if he'd stopped to think once he'd heard Alleece's cry, the instinct to help his kind was too strong to ignore. The kobold weaved through the buildings with predatory speed. He cut left and right with the spear in his hand, felling the pair of infected human's who moved to block his path. He heard the cries of combat behind him as his tribesmen followed.

He found her sitting on the roof of a tall building and flailing frantically downwards at the ferals trying to clamber up to eviserate her. The native roared a challenge at the group and bared his fangs.

"Tallah!"

He risked a glance upwards at the young female, Alleece was pointing behind him with an expression of naked fear on her face.

OOC Expanding tomorrow... err....probably, if no-ones got anything to add before then./OOC

[Graybeard]

OOC: I'll try to help move things along, but what are your choices? Keyes popping his head in, or Lucy Kankaniel suddenly showing up, or the three baddies from the "Background Noise" thread? I'm not as deeply involved in the plot of this one as in the other two threads, so I don't want to throw too much of a monkey wrench into the works. Opinions?