Goriel and beyond

[Jack Rothwell]

"Oh Gods FUCK IT!" Yelled Eli, slamming his fist into the door frame hard enough to send a shudder down it's length. The element of surprise was gone, and a dozen men were regrouping to set a gangplank leading down the docks. As the half-elf watched, the slavers drew swords and guns and began making their way down. Eli even saw a few staffs, announcing that the group had access to magic as well.

The slavers finished their descent and began fanning out, shouting curses at whichever son of a bitch had picked off their helmsman. Eli thought that at that moment he'd have cheerfully murdered the son of a bitch himself, assuming he was still alive at the end of the encounter to do it. With the meeting blown before it got a chance to get started, the only course of action was to put the crew men down and hope that their superior officers had elected to stay on the ship. Given the lack of polish the men had, it was certainly a possibility.

A group peeled off and began making their way down the alleyway Eli and Tim had concealed themselves in. The half-elf gritted his teeth and concentrated as hard as he could.

'I really, really hope this works...'

A dozen yards away, the symbol Eli had etched into the crate began to smoke. A moment later it simply collapsed inwards with a rush of air too loud to credit. The men approaching the pair stopped in their tracks and stared. Eli, meanwhile, was frozen in position with an arm stuck rigidly out in front of him, giving the impression of a man walking in the dark. He murmured a stream of words through his clenched jaw.

"I can find it... I can find it... come here... come here, you little bastard... there!"

The crate exploded outwards in a shower of nails and splinters with a tearing noise that sounded almost organic. The men who'd watched the display went first to shock, then to outright terror as they saw what had caused it. It was the same expression that was on the face of the kobold as she watched the whole scene from her vantage point.

She'd seen the creature that Eli had summoned before and, although it was far for the worst, it was bad enough. Her people called it a 'Galdy'; a four legged horror, a mangy looking feline-esque predator with dead, black eyes and the stink of rot emanating from its mottled skin. The thing turned and hissed at the screaming men, drawing its lips back in a way which was almost reptilian, and revealing two sets of over-sized fangs which Tamina knew were every bit of poisonous as they looked.

Eli watched as the creature pounced and smiled. He turned to Tim with an expression that seemed close to unhinged.

"Good thing I brought back-up." He said dreamily.

[Alberich]

Now even Tim was a bit shaken by Eli's methods -- but simply shouting at the man wasn't going to help. He needed to know things to know how to proceed --

"Can you control that thing? And send it back when it's through? And if the slavers do show up, how do you keep it from killing the captives?" He spoke in earnest, his voice up an octave from terror and revulsion.

Slavers were criminals and ought to be killed, and in a place without law, they may as well do it themselves. But slavers were a lot less dangerous than that damnable thing, and a townsman was better off captured by the slavers than slashed up by that Thiing - beast or demon.

This was like no magic he'd seen before -- and in fact it seemed Eli had been trafficking with Infernal Powers. Thus the late night studying a book right before battle. That was going to have to be stopped. But the time to interrogate Eli about it, argue about it, scream about it, was not in the middle of a battle. He might get the heroic death he was half-longing for any moment, and if he did, maybe that would bring Eli to his senses.

* * *

Udo kept a hand on Tamina's shoulder. "Let's stay back," he said. "Our target isn't even here yet." There was absolutely no reward for killing those stupid sailors. This looked like a trap, possibly set by the man they were after - some kind of weird-ass double-cross. But if the other guys did come running up to help their compadres, they wouldn't have time to think about looking for other hidden assailants. He maneuvered so as to still be hidden, but to be watching the street rather than the dock. His hand was still on Tamina, but only for tactical reasons. Jamie was still out of his line of sight.

Udo noted with satisfaction they weren't standing on the dock itself anymore. An obvious way to deal with that monster was to blast the dock and drop it into the water - and if someone tried that, he sure as hell wasn't taking a swim - and everyone knew cats hated that too.

One other point. He swallowed hard. "If it comes at us - run away, d'you hear? I know you can outrun it. But if they all kill each other, we can get some good loot from the ship." But we'll need to hurry before the goat-sucking Eisenfaust comes up to claim it.

[Graybeard]

Sister Rose picked up the pace. Whatever was happening toward the docks didn't sound good, and it was beginning to cause people to flee from the area. As should we... but those are our friends down there.

She drew up to a vantage point above the shore, a hill that commanded a view of the piers. (Military training: always take the high ground, particularly when there is reconnaissance to be done.) Problem was, there was simply too much clutter. She could see that something had gone badly wrong with the ship with red sails, and men were jumping off it to disperse among the buildings. That was all she could tell from this distance ...

... And then she caught a distant glimpse of the monster Eli had summoned.

"Luminosita's Nethers," she gasped to Argus. "What was that?"

---------------

"Just one passenger?" Kattie asked Rip, her eyebrows rising as far as her numerous piercings would allow. "How are we going to make any money off that?"

Rip was unperturbed. "They're offering us enough to pay for the whole damn trip. She must be important." Of course, "offering" wasn't the right word, but that wouldn't matter.

[Jack Rothwell]

"Can you control that thing? And send it back when it's through? And if the slavers do show up, how do you keep it from killing the captives?"

"One thing at a time." Eli murmured, drawing his sword.

The remaining men were retreating up the alleyway with their backs towards the pair.The Galdy herded them, the bullets fired at it by shaking hands only grazing or missing entirely. In the half-elf's mind he could feel the ki of the creature he'd drawn, he willed it, steered it in a way that put him in mind of riding a troublesome horse.

A second man went down screaming. Eli was dimly aware of the few customers in the fishmongers adding their voices to the chorus and making their way clear of the area as fast as their legs would carry them. He heard the yelp from his familiar as one of the slavers finally managed to steady his hand long enough to put a bullet in the galdy's fore-paw. The men were now less than ten yards away, and still unaware of the half-elf and the Brother's presence.

.........

"If it comes at us - run away, d'you hear? I know you can outrun it. But if they all kill each other, we can get some good loot from the ship."

Tamina swallowed, but shook her head.

"S' a galdy. Summoned. Ralkin magic. Should kill it."

"Hey! Who's that skulking behind the crates?"

The kobold let out a stream of curses in her native tongue and ducked almost flat as bullets began thudding into their meager cover. Apparently the rest of the slavers had heard them.

"Bad time to mention!" She yelled. "Forgot my crossbow!"

[Alberich]

"Hey! Who's that skulking behind the crates?" The kobold let out a stream of curses in her native tongue and ducked almost flat as bullets began thudding into their meager cover. Apparently the rest of the slavers had heard them. "Bad time to mention!" She yelled. "Forgot my crossbow!"

Even her cursing sounded cute! But to the business at hand. Given her amazing power of speed, the obvious plan was a simple one. Said Udo - "I'll get 'em shooting at me. You run behind 'em and slash!" If she could do that, these fools would end up like the Order of Expendables. And he hoped they were carrying more valuables than those freaks had been.

He ducked to the other side of the crates, poked his head out, and fired several wild shots with the Frontier Blaster. He withdrew as they returned fire, then did it again. Once Tamina got there, he'd have to use defensive mode to avoid hitting her, but that was fine by him. Important thing now was to draw their attention and their fire.

* * *

Eli's answer and his look of concentration said he could control it. Its actions coordinated with his and that said the same. Tim was still terrified. He was no demonologist -- that kind of study was reserved far above his level -- but he knew mortals were never the masters in dealing with these Infernal Powers. This would have to be stopped. But right now it couldn't be. Even talking about it was out of the question. The important thing was not to break Eli's concentration, lest the Damned Thing slip its leash, and lay waste to Port Lorrel, before he could banish it back. Tim had drawn his own sword along with Eli's, and prepared a magical defense just as Rose had shown him. As soon as the ship-slavers came into range, he joined the half-elf in an assault of merciless backstabbing.

Someone somwhere -- a pre-Captivity king, or a heretic, perhaps -- had said priests should not shed blood. What foolishness. Priests administered justice here in this world, and justice could be very bloody business.

[Jack Rothwell]

The 'plan b' ambush worked well enough. Eli and Tim cut down the men in short order, a move which brought them face to face with the half-elf's companion.

The Galdy was determinedly limping forward towards the dead men and baring it's fangs as though it could kill them all over again. It stopped to look at the approaching men with a predatory stare. Eli stared back; he could feel his connection to the thing grow stronger as time elapsed and the distance between them closed. it seemed the process was not entirely a one-way connection. He even feel the shape of the creature's thoughts... simple, cold, but not unpleasant.

"Good girl." He said softly. "Go home."

He ended the sentence with a focus of his will. The Galdy opened its mouth, probably to hiss again, and then froze in place. Before the gazes of the two men the color bled out of the monster in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a husk that looked like a wax-figure replica which in turn collapsed inwards into a meaningless pile moments later.

...........

Tamina cringed at the prospect of running towards men with guns, cursing at the same time her stubby fingers which prevented her from using such weapons herself and cursing that all the magic she knew was contact based. She understood enough of strategy to let her heroic knight to provide cover while she got to their assailants.

"Gotta go up and 'round." She said, nervousness dancing in her voice. "Please don't shoot me please."

A warm reassurance by Udo went some distance to calm her. Tamina turned her hands to claws and turned to the nearest empty cover.

"<Spirits protect me>... K, go."

Suppressing gunfire had the half dozen men who where still firing on their location pause just long enough for the kobold to use her own spell. The energy coursed through her body like adrenalin from a hummingbird as she flew from her position in a blur of legs.

Getting them all at once was out of the question of course; the slavers were spaced too wide for the action. Still, Tamina's charge did get her to a pair who were trying to flank her companion, and tackle them to the ground with sharp claws tearing. A much more blood streaked face popped out momentarily to wave a hand to her protector.

"Got some! And- ahh!"

Renewed gunfire cut her sentence short.

[Alberich]

"Got some! And- ahh!" Renewed gunfire cut her sentence short.

Udo saw a gunbarrel swing Tamina's way. Without a thought -- good Noble Knight Protectors don't think in a situation like that -- he stepped out again, and fired away at that one, smashing him back with a blazing bolt. That made him a better target for the rifles that hadn't swung over Tamina's way, and one caught him in the breastbone. Backward he went, and to the ground with a thud!

The good news, did he but know it, is that this part of the fight brought them into Jamie's line of sight.

* * *

"Good girl." He said softly. "Go home." He ended the sentence with a focus of his will. The Galdy opened its mouth, probably to hiss again, and then froze in place. Before the gazes of the two men the color bled out of the monster in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a husk that looked like a wax-figure replica which in turn collapsed inwards into a meaningless pile moments later.

Tim breathed a sigh of relief. But it was modified relief. The fact is, this companion of his, who seemed to be his most trustworthy, also seemed to be trafficking with demonic powers that would imperil the world around him and, even worse, his very soul.

Did half-elves have souls? Tim didn't know the official Church position. His own thought was that elves probably didn't, and that half-elves maybe sometimes did and sometimes didn't. When it came to love, Eli was more like a human than an elf, and probably did. More than anything else now - he wanted to save Eli's soul. Not the full way, not converting him to the worship of Lord Luminosita; that was impracticable. But to get him away from what he was doing, to keep it from eternal slavery to whatever he was invoking, yes. Nothing was more important than that. Nothing.

The slavers here were dead and the others looked to be dying, in a crossfire they didn't need to enter. So Tim began cleaning his sword and asked -- "What you did there...did you, ah, learn that from the book you were reading last night? Or something earlier?"

[Jack Rothwell]

"What you did there...did you, ah, learn that from the book you were reading last night? Or something earlier?"

"You noticed the book, did you?" Eli replied, jerking his head around to look at Tim as though there was a crick in his neck. "Alright, you got me. I did a little research in the last town we were in. Snooped out a few places that were, shall we say, not strictly legal and found an interesting read." Eli tried to smile at the Brother in a reassuring manner, but the expression stopped well short of his eyes. He continued with his lie. "With mages running around who can kill with a word it made sense to deviate from the normal paths we follow... elemental and healing magic is all well and good, but drawing something forth that can do the work for you is a work of art."

OOC Hanging on for Jamie./OOC

[Alberich]

Tim was glad that Eli was talking to him alone, hoping the half-elf would open up a little. Something felt strange about the way he talked -- not surprising, though, if what he thought was true, and he'd been conversing with Infernal Powers. Tim tried to project impression...impressment...err, however you said it, that he was impressed rather than frightened, in the hopes that Eli would tell him a little more. He thought Eli might tell more to him alone than to the others, who had been horrified at his earlier actions and had not been shy about showing it.

"Indeed, that is a great power you've been showing." he said. "Is it something you could teach, or is there someone else I'd have to talk to?"

[OOC: Yes, I expect she'll finish off the rest of the slavers with a flourish, while tossing off witty action-movie lines that would make fantastic forum quotes.]

[Graybeard]

OOC: So with this little digression getting resolved, should we put everybody on one airship or another? The proposal is for the usual RInkaiel crowd to be on the military airship, while Tamina, Udo, Jamie and Angrist joining Rip on the Bonny Read. That way we can get all the inter-character interactions back in the picture, and also get things moving toward Goriel. If we need to clarify some of the details of how that happened, we can always do it with flashbacks/retrospectives.

Note also that a new semi-PC is waiting to be introduced when we get there. I think you'll like "Therese"...