Showdown at Frost Mountain

[npc_kun]

Characters: NPCs Fugue, Orca, Locke, Nothing, Charger, Steve and OPEN
Date/Time: Monday, September 26, 2011
Location: Frost Mountain (mostly the caves)
Rating: PG, possibly upwards for violence and/or language
Summary: Orca is executing the last steps in his plan to abduct and subdue Fugue. Locke says hell naw. Meanwhile, the rest of the Sphere

Comments

[bloody_pens]

Castle was rather surprised that Brianna had let him come along on the rescue team, but figured it was because he had a personal stake in it- and several of the Watch's own fighters were down, as well. So he'd jumped at the chance to follow her, Lyle and Bellflower into the caverns.

He was still ashamed of himself for backing down during the initial attack and had spent the past few days in a drunken haze- until there was talk of rescue. Then he'd sobered up, resolved firmly to not let his courage desert him again and do whatever he could to help his brother and his friend.

If Genius and Simon hadn't killed each other by then, that is.

Tribble rode on his shoulder; Castle knew he was good in a fight, and had given him a stern lecture about staying quiet or else Genius could be hurt. Tribble seemed to realize how important and tense this was and hadn't made a peep since the small group had entered the cave.

He also acknowledged Brianna's orders with a nod and lingered at the back of the group, his gun firmly clenched in one hand, extra clips in a pouch on his belt if necessary.

[cathar_jedi]

Already drawing on the Force like a shroud, Juhani was silent and half visible, almost fading into shadows, though she was not fully camouflaged yet. This was a somewhat larger group than she preferred, but she supposed she could not in good conscience range out by herself. Not without word.

Her lightsaber was at her belt. Juhani's camouflage could not hide that blade - indeed, having it active seemed to make her entirely visible again. Later. There would be the chance, later.

[live_ringer]

Over the past few days Lyle had been fighting back more rage and helplessness than he'd known he was capable of. It felt like the only thing tempering his urge to fly off the handle, to go do something was the fact that any rashness now could be terribly costly. He couldn't have risked that, not when Stellaris or anyone else might possibly reap the consequences. That was why when Brianna had expressed willingness to take fighters, Watch members or no, he had jumped at the opportunity.

Now, as they crept through the dank corridors of the caves Lyle did a mental check of the equipment he had brought: tactical vest kitted out with extra clips of ammo and a flashlight, the .45 that was nearly always at his hip, and an M16 (the old AK-47 he usually relied on having been traded in for something more accurate). He had Krile to thank for a good chunk of that, as she had been more than willing to offer the stock of the Weapons Tree for this mission. That wasn't surprising; she always offered that assistance in times of crisis, but she had also been hurt in the earlier chaos, effectively making weapons donation the best means she had of fighting this menace.

His gaze trailed around the cave, keeping an eye out for any movement, but also taking note of the topography of the place. His own method of fighting brought the risk of ricochet, after all, so he had to be mindful of just where he might be shooting.

[ice_echani]

Brianna took a deep breath and stretched out her senses, letting the cold of the tunnels sharpen her thoughts and instincts. She could feel Juhani more than see her, and ahead... a gap. Brianna's mouth set into a thin line. As she had suspected, the Force-cancelling creatures were here. But she couldn't take that as proof that they were on the right path. Probably they were scattered all throughout the caves.

"There is a space in the Force up ahead. It is likely we will find beasts there," she said in a low voice. "Be ready." Force or no, she could hear unpleasant vocalizations echoing towards them.

[ooc: feel free to pick a nasty or two for 'em to fight, guys!]

[wayofflowers]

Another nod from Bellflower, and she extended her senses to try and see what was around them. No Hollows, certainly - she'd have been able to feel their particular pulse, and she didn't here. There was the sound of footsteps, running towards them - multiple sets. And an eerie sort of laughter, too, that wasn't quite human-sounding.

She couldn't make anything out - too dark, perhaps? - but her blade moved anyway, coming up to connect with the first enemy. It connected, and there was an explosion of blood splattering over the front of the party.

[bloody_pens]

Castle was beginning to feel more and more out-of-place the further they went in- he'd hardly noticed Juhani, meaning she had some sort of means to shroud herself. Very handy. Bellflower had her sword, Brianna was a trained warrior (she had to be to hold the position she did), Lyle had multiple guns, but he only had one... and Tribble's teeth.

Should have thought of that before volunteering, you stupid ass. It's too late to back out now. Besides, Genius and Simon are counting on you.

He was shaken from his thoughts with Brianna's words and the unexpected arrival of an enemy- which Bellflower quickly dispatched, covering all of them with blood. Tribble gave a small yelp of surprise then dropped to the floor, baring his teeth, fur on end, tiny growls bubbling from deep inside him.

Movement behind the first enemy- a humanoid shape with a silver head, making mechanical noises. A robot. Castle moved forward, dropped to one knee, gripped his gun in both hands, aimed and fired. The shot hit the robot in the chest, making it fall back, sparking and popping through the damage.

[cathar_jedi]

It began in earnest with the first contact, and Juhani fiercely suppressed the odd sort of relief that rose in her, for she knew it was false. I shall not be seen, she told herself, and the Force washed over her like a wave.

Camouflage was always a strange experience, as if she became an entirely different person. She could only move at a creeping slow pace or risk breaking it. But it would be broken if she found herself within that bubble of neutral Force.

And not only that, of course - Juhani had gone, briefly, without the Force before. That sickening sense that all life had fled, and what remained was a hollow mockery.

But she would not think of that now. Juhani crept, ignored, forwards and to the side, trusting she would not be shot, attempting a flanking maneuver, so that if anything too formidable to be felled by bullets manifested, it could be attacked from two fronts.

[live_ringer]

If the mood in the cave hadn't been serious enough before, the sound of flesh bursting and the cloying metallic stench of blood brought a somber macabre to the whole affair. The game was most certainly on, now.

Absently, Lyle noticed that Castle had managed to dispatch one of their attackers with very little trouble. Everything about the other man read as 'civilian' to him, so he had resolved to keep an eye on him while in the caves. The fact that he was holding his own left Lyle surprised and impressed.

That wasn't exactly something he could dwell on, though, as he soon heard an ominous buzzing not before him where the rest of the action was happening, but behind him. Spinning around Lyle caught sight of a handful of flying creatures zipping out of side tunnels embedded in the walls of the cave. Their silhouettes were reminiscent of giant insects but their cries sounded like those of a bird of prey. He had to admit, he didn't particularly care what they were so long as he took them out before those nasty, sharp appendages they were wielding didn't come anywhere near. The first two he was able to fell with a shot each, but the third swooped past with only a nicked wing.

[ice_echani]

Brianna activated her lightsaber at once, but Bellflower and, surprisingly, Castle were too fast for the creature and the droid. She didn't flinch at the blood splatter; it was nothing compared to the drenching she'd received from the ogre.

As the third wasp-like animal buzzed away from Lyle, Brianna leaped straight into the air and sliced, neatly severing its thin neck. A nudge with the Force prevented it from falling onto any of them. She waited a brief moment. They had made some progress; up ahead was the gap. It was difficult to sense how large it was--if she'd had the time, she could have sat and meditated to feel out its boundaries. But as it was, they could only proceed into it.

"Keep going--we will not be able to use the Force in this next area. I do not know if your abilities will be affected, Bellflower." Of course, Juhani would already know what lay ahead, but Bellflower might not. For safety's sake, Brianna deactivated her lightsaber and hooked it back onto her belt and tried to exhale the apprehension she felt. Fighting unarmed did not bother her. But fighting in gloom with one eye....

The first thing she encountered when she stepped into the null space was another droid of the type Castle had felled. She punched it in the head with a satisfying crunch, wondering at the same time what else was here that she couldn't see.

[wayofflowers]

Bellflower nodded, and stepped forward. There was a weird... buzz to the air, in a way, though if she had to heal, she thought she probably could. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"The creature that exploded - it's invisible in this gloom, so pay attention to the sounds."

There was a somewhat more audible buzz, as more of the huge wasp-birds came towards them, and Bellflower arced her blade up to slice through the pack.

[bloody_pens]

Castle only noticed the second wave of flying buzzing insect-birds as soon as they were on top of them; thankfully, Tribble was at the ready, and leapt upon one that Bellflower had missed, sinking teeth into its neck. He was glad that the others were with him- were he on his own, or if it had been just him and Lyle, they would have been sunk.

Being an ordinary human, Castle didn't feel any sort of change when he stepped into the nullifying area, through Brianna putting away her weapon made him feel on-edge, as did Bellflower's warning about an invisible creature in the gloom. How were they supposed to fight what they couldn't see...? Tribble finished worrying the buzzard insect that he'd killed and rolled forward, his hair still on end, tiny nose sniffing the air for threats as they pressed on.

[cathar_jedi]

In the null area Juhani faded back into sight and stopped, glancing about, her pointed ears cupped and held away from her head. She could not see as well as humans could in low light. Breathing itself seemed more difficult. There were things moving in the gloom and she could not feel them.

She felt like a child again, helpless before a superior foe. Juhani's pupils dilated, her expression changed, her lips peeling back, and she had to force herself to start moving again, now holding her lightsaber in both hands like a talisman. Even without camouflage, she had little scent and moved almost silently, and she was in shadow.

There was the scratch of claws on stone, something running. Juhani waited, tense, hardly able to bear it, until she heard it passing on its way to the others - then she lashed out, lightsaber a shocking blue beam in the dark, and sliced through a bipedal saurian's leg. The creature fell heavily, thrashing and snarling and clearly not dead yet.

This, unfortunately, called attention to her, and in the sound of that action she missed noticing another of those droid creatures until it landed a kick on her. Juhani staggered back, swinging her blazing lightsaber in a fast infinity loop, trying to get some space.

[live_ringer]

It was some comfort to have the light of those beam sabers (he knew they were called lightsabers, but somehow, the other moniker came to mind more easily) cutting through the gloom, but Lyle still punched the button to activate the flashlight attached to his vest and illuminate the path before him. After all, their opponents knew they were here and there was no sense in risking friendly fire because he couldn't see what he was doing.

As he did so he caught sight of Juhani being caught off guard by a droid. From what he had seen of those robotic beings she could probably take care of it easily enough, but that lizard creature she had wounded was still writhing, claws scraping against the ground as it crawled toward Juhani with teeth bared. Even if the saurian was impaired that thing wasn't the sort of complication anyone needed, so Lyle finished it off with a shot to the throat.

Then things got strange. The moment the reptilian being stopped twitching a... thing flapped out from one of the side caves. It wasn't one of the avian insects; it looked more like half of a corpse that had been gruesomely rearranged into a bat-like form. Lyle was stuck staring in horror as the creature latched onto the head of the fallen saurian, spraying disgusting yellow viscera every which way. "Jesus Christ..." He squeaked out as the monster detached from its victim. Fight or flight instinct kicked in and Lyle emptied the rest of his clip into the creature.

It was a bad time to have to reload. While Lyle had been busy dealing with Batcorpse the dead lizard creature had started twitching once more, then convulsing and morphing into something entirely other. And this something had apparently decided to start mindlessly clambering in the direction of the gunshots that had just ceased. Shit.

[ice_echani]

"Noted." Brianna had made an effort to sharpen her hearing in the months since she'd been reborn; she would have to trust in that even more now. And Juhani was severely off-balance, obviously unsettled to Brianna's perception as her fighting became wild, the lightsaber looping wildly.

Lyle's flashlight did help matters--it helped, for instance, to illuminate the completely monstrous thing that he was shooting down and the fact that Bellflower and Castle were capably handing the buzzard-wasps. But his shot had landed, so Brianna was free to grab Juhani's battledroid by the shoulder and kick out one of its knees while Lyle apparently panicked with the assistance of bullets. She let go just in time to hear the foul noises from the direction of the first thing he'd shot.

Now it was some kind of flying, transmogrified, melded thing that she was sure would be oozing dark side if she could feel the Force. And Lyle had stopped shooting--this was why melee weapons were superior. Brianna lunged at the creature, activating her lightsaber in the last instant, neatly removing its head.

It didn't seem to notice. She had to duck immediately to avoid the scything hand that wanted to repay the favor.

[wayofflowers]

The thing coming towards them - it looked like some sort of gruesome parody of death, like someone had taken bodies and put them back together the wrong way. She was surprised when it kept moving after it's decapitation, but her combat reflexes were good enough that she didn't stop to stare. Instead, her own blade came up, cutting a diagonal line across the creatures torso from shoulder to hip. One of the bladed arms fell to the slash, falling to the ground - and yet the creature still came towards them.

"Keep out of melee range, it won't stop coming," she ordered to their ranged fighters in back. They had no way of countering a blade - which meant a swift end for them, most likely.

[bloody_pens]

"Shit."

Castle nearly dropped his gun at the sight of the grotesque creatures- they weren't human, but not wholly monster, either. Like dissected corpses come to life and given FUCKING BLADE ARMS, and these somehow felt even worse than the zombies. Tribble shrunk back into the cave wall, whining.

Oh God. Oh, God. I'm going to die. Or they'll die because of me.

Upon Bellflower's warning, he stepped back, somehow managing to turn to fire again as one last buzzard wasp descended upon them. His shot landed in the creature's throat, and it fell, dead instantly. He decided to step back and let the others handle the corpse-creatures, as Bellflower said- because shots sure as hell didn't seem to do much good. Still, he stepped a little in front of Lyle, gun raised, to give him more room to re-load in case another threat appeared.