Port Lorrel- Puppet Masters (part 2)

[Jack Rothwell]

Matriarch turned with a speed born of dozens of legs and snapped at the attacking monk with it's huge mandibles. The audible clack as the huge protrusions came together on empty air told the unfamiliar everything they needed to know about how dangerous that bite was. The kobold had once seen one of the insectiod horrors shear a horse in half.

Tamina's attention was focused elsewhere at that moment, namely on the glowing figure shooting blasts of magic at the distracted companions. With naked hatred burning in her heart, she braced herself and began to channel.

......

Eli's wild laughter carried clearly through the streets of Port Lorrel, the accompaniment of clattering horse hooves painted a picture of some demonic night rider on the hunt for lost souls. The half-elf spared a look over his shoulder, seeing a brief glint of magic through the holes of the receding warehouse.

"And THAT'S why you don't fuck with summoners!" He cried, geeing his mount onto a greater speed. He looked towards Carlson's men and waved them to break off their convoy action and head towards the market district. A bid to both throw off any pursuit and to serve the purpose of passing the news around the Black Guard.

Lastly he turned to Tim.

"Well that was exhilarating! How do you think the people of the Port will react to the news of elves butchering innocent civilians at a public event?"

OOC Is Angrist going after Eli momentarily?/OOC

[Drusia]

Jargalan actually hadn't waited for Tamina to say anything; he'd done a mana-assisted leap, swing, and jump to the roof of the warehouse, calling out "<Come on!>" to Drusia. He ran to the edge, fired a blast at a fleeing rifleman, leaped back down to the street, and took off after them. He was dressed more lightly than the soldiers, and knew himself to be an excellent athlete. He enjoyed pacing them so as to let them tire themselves out, but whenever he got a clear shot, another one was going down. He liked the predator's role.

Without hesitation, I gate to his side.

<"Let's do this fast,"> I say. Mostly because I doubt Aleron will give us any better opening that fast. <"You take point," I add. Aleron will likely expect me to use Jargalan as a distraction and attack him from behind, but what I'm hoping he won't expect is how deadly Jargalan is. If he can force Aleron to pay him his full attention, I might be able to slip in and kill him without much of a fight. For me, that is.

-- Drusia

OOC: I read the side discussion, but you failed to take into consideration one thing.
As far as Drusia is concerned, Aleron and Eli are a greater threat than the Matriarch. By leaving Tamina and the others to deal with it alone, Drusia is "protecting" them from Aleron. And, since the chaotic nature of battle prevents her from taking the time to discuss this with Tamina directly, she can't be blaimed for following an opportunity when it arose. Win/Win in Drusia's mind.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC The big bad who's holding the Matriarch's reins is still there Dru. Tamina yelled for someone to stop Eli so he couldn't 'start it all again'. She's focusing on the magic-user right now./OOC

[Alberich]

Udo hit the ground, grabbed a fallen mana rifle from the demonstration, rolled over three times, assumed a prone firing position, and began to fire blasts up into the monster's foreparts.

Tactically speaking, the roll was really quite unnecessary. No one was shooting at him; by all appearances he was the least dangerous person on the battlefield. But he did it anyway. And some of his uncharitable detractors, such as Sergeant Orimoto, would've said he was better built for rolling than running anyway.

The thing was big enough that he could shoot its upper parts without endangering Sensei down below. Obviously, Sensei had escaped whatever trap the enemy had him caught in, no doubt through a really colorful adventure that would be awesome to hear him talk about, only he wouldn't...

Khoo [OOC: If Graybeard doesn't object] used his barriers the way Tim had used his earlier on - to shield Udo between blasts.

* * *

"<Let's do this fast. You take point.>"

Jargalan was fine with that - Drusia could keep up in this pursuit, thanks to her teleports, and well he knew her tactics relied on surprise.

Aleron wasn't visible in this pursuit - it was only Eli and the riflemen. And they split apart, the riflemen heading for the marketplace, the errant for someplace else.

Jargalan made quick mental contact with Drusia. "<Tail the errant. I'll finish his helpers and join you.>" There wasn't time for argument, but the big thing was he didn't want those weapons recharged and shooting back at them just when they were finishing the errants off. Those things were powerful! And in large enough numbers, even ants could chew up a lion.

He wasn't exposing his ears under that silly blonde wig of his, so those who didn't know would take him for just another mage - albeit a powerful and deadly one. Whenever he passed a fallen man's rifle, he spared a blast to destroy it - no need for these animals to have that kind of power. Maybe whoever made these things, and the plans to make them, would be waiting, all flammable, at the errants' new fortress.

The route to the marketplace wasn't covered by Eisenfaust ambushes, but Jargalan was a deadly shot and much faster than the men he was pursuing. The only one who survived was Sergeant Carlson, and that was because he had the presence of mind to fling down his identifying rifle and duck into an alleyway that made him more trouble to pursue than it was worth. There's be time to grieve later about the good men he'd just lost, but for now he was smart enough to see he was being used as a disposable decoy, and to refuse the role or at least interpret his orders in a way that left him alive in the end. He'd won awards once or twice in his years of service. The Martyr's Crown wasn't going to be among them.

Jargalan destroyed the discarded rifle, then communicated with Drusia so as to get back on track for some errant destruction.

* * *
Meantime, in several parts of town, extortionists strange to the inhabitants (in fact, Eisenfaust men from out of town or from different parts of town) were "putting the squeeze" on various merchants and other notables, some of these being escapees from the slaughter at the square. Some of this "squeezing" was by letter and some in person. One way and another, these extortionists explained that the victims' "generous contributions" were needed to continue Logan's important charity work, to feed the poor and clean up this city, and various and sundry other matters that the contributors needn't concern themselves with. After all, one man's private fortune couldn't be expected to bear all these costs for long, now, could it? It was time for these good, upright citizens to show their generosity too. Of course, the Eisenfaust didn't expect to collect most of the extortion money -- after all, from the look of things, there'd be no Logan organzation this time tomorrow. The intent was psychological, since the strangers seemed so effective.

Some of the conspiracy-minded citizens of Port Lorrel guessed correctly who was behind it. Others had been anticipating this and believed the ruse -- "come, meet the new boss, same as the old boss" was an easy mentality to fall into here, and to truly prevail against it would've taken Logan far longer than he'd been given. Others had theories ranging from a Waffenbruderschaft revival to a Gewehr plot for which the Black Guards had been a front all along to "fuck, I dunno, let's get drunk and don't get involved." The latter mentality was the one the Eisenfaust liked best of all. It was what they were used to, the sea they swam in.

* * *

"Well that was exhilarating! How do you think the people of the Port will react to the news of elves butchering innocent civilians at a public event?"

Tim had no idea. He'd never done missionary work here, and the bandit-ridden people of Port Lorrel were a world away from the free Faithful of Umbertiel. His face was grim at the "exhilirating" and, for all the pretending he was doing, he wouldn't pretend to be happy about that.

"I did what I had to," said Tim. "I wasn't letting her get you, no matter what."

[OOC: Aleron stayed with the Matriarch where Tamina is about to attack him, while Angrist and Udo attack it. It's very believable that in the heat of battle Drusia missed that fact -- there was the bulk of a warehouse and a giant Matriarch to block her view -- she might even have mistaken Tim for Aleron at a distance, and moving at those speeds; he's a guy in robes sticking close to Eli and if they're shielded that distorts the view. I think in the long run it will not matter. They're both tough enough to get the job done wherever they are. I say let's drive on the way it is.]

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC A valid point. Driving on then.../OOC

The blast from Udo's mana rifle crashed against the Matriarch's upper body, the creature made a screeching sound as the thick carapace cracked and flaked at the piercing power of the creation of the Black Guard's contractee. The huge invertebrate reared up and slammed it's body into the ground like a falling redwood. The slate floor beneath the creature shattered, the shockwave of the body-slam caused those standing too close to the monster to buckle at the shaking earth.

Tamina had channelled and charged, the flurry of her legs took her just past the creature and on a straight shot to the sorcerer controlling it when the ripple pushed at her back, she grunted, tumbled forward, then rolled back to her feet with her eyes still locked on her target. The fear had left her now, there seemed to be nothing in her head except the image of the wound on her dead Elder's chest.

The mage saw the approaching kobold and fired a salvo of force bolts in an arc in her path. Tamina weaved around the magic missiles, cursing and thanking the distance between them simultaneously as something that gave him time to fire but her time to dodge.

......

"I did what I had to." said Tim. "I wasn't letting her get you, no matter what."

"Thanks Brother." The half-elf replied jovially, still clinging a little to the mania which had infected him from being part of such a huge spell. He made, at least, an effort to focus on his surroundings as he rode; their enemies had become too much of a notorious pain in the arse to deal with for the half-elf to assume the matriarch would kill them all. A few would be a start, if any survivors were foolish enough to pursue they would fall shortly after. Eli shook his head clear of thoughts of bloodshed for the moment and returned to his conversation with the Priest.

"It's that loyalty that carried us through today, and that's why you get the hear the whole story. Aleron asked me to take you to his current residence after the 'ambush business' was concluded. We suspected there be an attack; we sent our location to the attackers after all." He caught the look on Tim's face despite the pace of their flight. "...I'll explain later, but now I've got something to show you... the real instrument of our revolution."

[Browncoat]

With the Matriarch's head nearer to ground level and the mage occupied with Tamina, Angrist charged in again. With Jargalan away, he was willing to cut loose a bit. He ran at the beast, jumped, spun in a tight roll to add more force, and slammed his heel on the Matriarch's face between the eyes. Before it could counter, he triggered magic he'd learned years ago.
{Not as rusty at this as I thought I'd be}
To Angrist, it seemed as though the rest of the world was moving in slow motion. He darted to the left and threw an uppercut which started the head tilting. Then he went to the right side and repeated it. With the Matriarch's head now rising from the ground, Angrist came in underneath and struck up. The impact sent him back to the ground. He did it again and again.
The others saw the Matriarch's head lift and peel back from the flurry of blows and the spot where Udo had shot it came back into view. As Angrist returned to a more regular speed, he presented Udo with a fresh weapon.

{Blast away}

[Alberich]

Udo, firing prone, was shaken up by the Matriarch's shockwave. His next shot went way wide and blew a chunk off the now-blazing warehouse.

Under other circumstances he'd've taken time out to collect his wits. That is to say, he'd've taken time out and a nap. Or maybe time out, a nap, a flask of plum brandy, and "quality time" with some naughty illustrateds. But now duty called. And besides, when Sensei tossed him the last functioning mana rifle (the rest had been carried away by Carlson's guards and were being destroyed in short order by Jargalan) it bonked him on the head and refocused him on the scene around him. "Ah, thanks, Sensei!" he called.

He should probably have focused his fire on the Matriarch -- it was big enough to hit even in his shaken state -- but no Noble Knight Protector could leave that wizard alone when he was blazing away at Tamina like that. Sensei would have to take care of the monster worm-thing himself.

Udo's first shot at Aleron missed, but was close enough for the fiends' chief to notice. Khoo kept shielding him between shots.

* * *

Tim just nodded when Eli offered to take him home and show him his "instrument." Overplaying his enthusiasm wouldn't be smart. But he was satisfied now that summoning those galdies had been right. The devil-worshippers' inner sanctum was the right place to bring it all to a end, to get through their illusions and lies to the truth.

[Jack Rothwell]

OOC Believe it or not, that faintly homoerotic double-entendre was not intentional. /OOC

The robed figure's attention diverted from the rapidly closing and ash-smeared kobold to gesture at Udo and punch upwards with his fists. The burly knight protector had enough time to register another rumbling sound from beneath his feet before a stone column erupted upwards like a jagged claw swiping at a pest (OOC I leave it to you whether Udo gets a stone enema, Al /OOC). Meanwhile, the Matriarch swung it's front section in a flailing sweep at the speed-boosted monk, it's legs lashing with the unpredictably of an avalanche of chairs (OOC ... and up to you whether Angrist takes a hit, BC/OOC).

The momentary lapse in the Summoner's concentration enabled Tamina to clear the last several yards to her enemy at a leap. She saw the cowl turning back to her direction as her feet left the ground. Her sharp senses picked out a glow, pinpricks of light side-by-side in the depths of the hood, before she made contact.

The barrier came up with a split-second to go, but the immediacy of his defence prevented it's perfection. If there had been time for contemplation Tamina would have noticed the absence of Aleron's staff, which was doubtless detracting from his power. The kobold hadn't had much contact with the Ralkin leader directly, but the few occasions she'd seen him he'd clasped the wooden walking aid with whitened knuckles.

The shield crackled audibly as the humanoid's energy-clad feet hammered into it. The wizard was forced a step backward by the ferocity of the blow, but a husky chuckle whispered it's way from the darkened recess of his cowl.

Tamina cursed and jinked past the old man had he prepared to launch another spell.

As she sought cover the kobold was, as of yet, unaware of a small ball of heat pressing into her hip.

In the pocket, the Ralkin crystal was glowing.

[Alberich]

Had Udo been standing, that column would've erupted between his feet, built up some momentum, and hit him like a potato masher right on the old potatoes (which would then have been well and truly mashed). Since he was prone, it came up right under his chest, knocked the breath out of him, and flipped him over like a flapjack. Happily, one of Sensei's "how to fall" lessons kicked in. He didn't crack his skull as he went from prone to supine, but for the moment he couldn't do more than suck for oxygen.

[Jack Rothwell]

Tamina ran deeper into the warehouse as a gout of flame streaked after her and set fire to the stacks of crates and rolls of material which would now never see a buyer. The kobold cried out as her shoulder was singed, and turned a sharp corner to catch a chance to recuperate.

She sank down with her back to a broken cannon and applied healing magic to the wound with the flames behind her spreading rapidly. No sooner had she finished repairing the damage she yelped as the iron her back was to began heating up. She scurried to her feet, patting herself down frantically, slapping at her hip until it dawned on her that the warmth was coming from the inside of her clothing.

Her fumbling fingers found it's source as a force bolt blew a hole in a tall box to her side. An unpleasant idea took root in the humanoid's mind...

OOC Tim and Eli arriving on my next post./OOC