The Principal's Tower, Sunday Around Noon
Their efforts against the monsters yesterday had had a real effect. There was nothing left to do for now besides find the monster that lived in the principal's tower-- perhaps with her death, something would change.
And so, a small group assembled on Sunday morning to make that a reality.
Zoe
Zoe--or, really, the thing that used to be Zoe--was less than pleased about the current state of affairs on her island. Her minions were falling, each loss creating an infuriating ache where her heart likely would have been, and she cried out with a loud, deep roar as her rage grew, the spindly tentacles at the base of her body curling and tightening in fury.
Certainly, only the truly foolish would approach her tower now.
Kanan
Foolish people, incoming! Armed with... Hair.
"We're armed with hair," Kanan muttered, looking at the lightsaber hilt in his hand. "I can't karking believe this."
Somebody was already convinced they were going to die. This apparently wasn't enough to stop him from approaching the tower, mind.
Raven
"The hair of her child," Raven said. She had no weapon, but she'd twisted a few strands around her finger like a ring, soaking in the emotional residue it held.
"It may be that the token of her former life can undo some of the power that has corrupted her," she said. "I do not care how it works, only that it does. We must end this, once and for all."
She wasn't so certain this would work as well, but Obi-Wan said it would, and she trusted Jedi, so....
Eliot
Eliot spun his sword casually at his side, the little hair token tied to the end flapping happily in the created breeze. "Man, first time I did one of these we had to hug the bad guy into submission. Just be glad we get to stick the hair on actual weapons and not beat this thing with love or some shit."
Isabela
"I'm pretty sure she'd like us to try hugging it out," Isabela said. Someone had been down by the docks recently, yes. "But I doubt it'd work."
Kanan
"I'm not really much of a hugger anyway," Kanan sighed. He ran his thumb over the strand of hair that was wrapped around his saber's hilt, and then looked around the group. "So, do you suppose there's any chance we can flank her? Try to drag her attention in all directions? Or were we thinking of a full frontal assault?"
The tentacles looked like they could be a problem, but three of the four of them had weapons that could probably do something about them, so Kanan wasn't too terribly concerned either way. They were about as likely to kill them as the rest of her, after all.
Raven
"I do not think we will have much room to flank her," Raven said. "But I may be able to use my soul-self to blind her temporarily so that we are able to get into a position where we can attack her from more than one angle."
Because top of the stairs was just going to be so much fun.
"Or," she went on, "I can fly myself up to the windows and attempt to distract her while the rest of you attack."
Eliot
"How temporary is temporary?" Eliot wondered. "Distraction might be a better plan, if you think you can dodge when she tries to attack ya."
Isabela
"Maybe she'll be so busy trying to catch you she'll fall out the window?" This was why Hawke got to make the plans, Isabela.
Kanan
"Wouldn't that make everything easier," Kanan sighed, almost wistfully. Almost. There was a grim set to his features as he said it, though. He could probably give Zoe a bit of a Force-push to help her out that window if it really came to it, but by then they would have long lost the element of surprise. "Better to draw her attention than to signal that something is wrong right off the bat by blinding her. My vote is on the distraction."
Raven
"I can dodge well enough," Raven said in answer to Eliot.
"I agree, distraction is the better plan." Her Soul-Self wasn't impervious, so there was no telling how long she could hold Zoe or what damage the creature would do to her.
She rubbed the pad of her thumb over the hair wrapped around her finger. "I am ready when you are," she said.
Eliot
Eliot swung his sword in a circle again -- bad habit, that, always had to spin or flip things -- and shifted his weight from foot to foot, making sure his muscles were properly warmed up. "Right. Let's take her down."
Isabela
Isabela drew her daggers, which were feeling much more inadequate than usual. "Time to loot the bodies," she said dryly.
Kanan
"Hopefully, there'll only be one body up there when we're done," Kanan noted, just as dryly. The snap-hiss of his lightsaber punctuated that thought tidily. "Let's move, then."
And he started up the stairs, his weapon a source of light through the dark corridor. Hopefully, by the time they made it to the top, Raven would have the creature's attention.
Raven
Raven shifted into her demon form as she watched the others head up the stairs, then launched herself into the air, levitating up to the top of the tower. What she could make out through the windows didn't even remotely look like the Principal Winchester that she once knew, but if somehow the bond of mother to child could still affect the creature...she just had to hope it worked.
Gathering up the essence of the emotions she'd soaked in from Grace's hair, she hurled it -- along with demonic energy -- through the windows. "Principal Winchester!"
Yes, that should get her attention.
Zoe
Zoe had noticed the presence of others at her tower, but it wasn't the first time people sought her out, and she hadn't had much of a reason to be concerned by their presence.
Then that energy came through her windows, tainted with... something painful. Oh yes, they certainly had her attention now.
Zoe let out a sharp, piercing shriek as she peered outside. "Who are you?" She fired her gun--one of her old favorites, now safely embedded against her arm--outside towards the source of whatever had caused her this strange new pain. "What have you done?!"
Eliot
"That's our cue." Eliot had his eye on taking out that gun arm -- assuming he could get past the tentacles first. He scanned the area as best he could in the low light, then picked out his position. Hack here, slash there. Not a lot of room to maneuver.
They'd make it work, anyway.
Eliot moved in, all but silent, ready to attack once the others were in position. Might as well take full advantage of that distraction while they had it.
Isabela
So many tentacles.
Isabela crept around the side of the room, really wishing for a stealth skill tree some kind of smoke bomb about now. Why had she decided to act all heroic?
Kanan
That would be because the island was in desperate need of some Big Damn Heroes right about now. Their usual seemed to be a little bit indisposed at the moment.
Kanan didn't creep so much as he just jumped. One out the window and one on either side were three angles covered, and despite his unfortunate tendency to demolish cantina furniture from floor level while brawling, all of his real fighting history came from that other part of him. The one that had him holding the lightsaber. From the rafters he could see where the rest had gotten to, could watch them fall into position. And he wasn't going to give them much time to get too settled, not while Zoe was shooting at Raven outside.
He used his lightsaber to gesture to the other two that they were all in place. Now would be a good time to move.
Raven
Raven, fortunately, had plenty of room to maneuver and managed to dodge out of the way of the blast, sending another bolt of demonic energy of her own toward Zoe.
"Principal Winchester!" she said again, trying to keep the creature's attention on her while the others go into position. "It is time for you to rest. Let go of this chaos and evil that has corrupted you. Remember who you were."
She concentrated on the hair on her finger, remembering all she could of Grace through the foggy passageways of her mind, and projected love and joy at Zoe.
Zoe
Memories of Grace flashed through Zoe's mind, memories she'd worked very hard to suppress, and she shrieked again, loud enough to shake what was left of the windows.
"Stop this! What are you doing?" She lashed out, the tentacles at the base of her body flailing, but she didn't notice any of the others who might have been approaching, not with the terrible things this girl was doing to her mind. "I don't--I have many children now, so many, and you'll be one of mine too." She fired again towards Raven, filled with rage and, for the first time in a long time, a little fear as well.
Eliot
There was nothing about this whole thing that wasn't creepy, but this thing that had been Zoe referring to the creatures on the island as her "children" might actually top them all.
Eliot saw Kanan indicate and nodded back. Time to end this. He set his feet and swung, aiming to sever the nearest tentacle.
Isabela
Right.
Isabela ran up and leapt over a tentacle, attempting to sink both daggers into Zoe's back.
At least she thought it was her back.
Kanan
And Kanan jumped back down from the rafters, lightsaber striking out at the arm still raised and shooting at Raven.
There was no part of Zoe that wasn't the dangerous part, but getting rid of the obvious weapon seemed like a good starting point to him.
Raven
The sheer force of Zoe's rage almost stunned Raven for a moment; as it was, it was so strong it disoriented her long enough that she missed dodging one of the blasts. It struck her left side, sending her flying back.
Ignoring the pain, Raven tried to regain her balance as quickly as she could to resume her emotional attack before Zoe turned her attention to the others who were attacking from behind.
Zoe
These were not the first people who had the gall and lack of self-preservation to attack her, but their weapons hurt, wounded her more than those who had come before, and with each slice more memories surfaced, more emotions that she didn't want to feel. Now, she was aware of all of them, and she screamed as her tentacles flailed, trying to knock these awful people over, screeching as her gun was cut away from her.
Eliot
Eliot jumped and dove, hacked and slashed, but in retrospect, putting himself in the middle of a bunch of tentacles hadn't been the best idea. He gave more than he got, but a lucky hit to his right shoulder made his arm go numb. He swapped hands and swung with his left instead, taking out the offending tentacle and the one coming in after it for good measure.
And Hardison wondered why he spent so much time training with his non-dominant side.
Isabela
Isabela was seriously questioning her life choices about now.
She was also clinging to her daggers and hoping they'd stay firmly embedded in Zoe despite all the thrashing and flailing that was going on.
Kanan
Kanan countered one tentacle, severing it neatly with his lightsaber as it swung toward him, and then another. By the time a third was swinging away, he had made decent headway, thrusting forward with his blade with the intent to bury it deep in Zoe's side.
Not that he thought Isabela's daggers needed any help, really. But Zoe was a fighter, and they could only take so much more punishment, themselves.
Raven
Now that Zoe's attention wasn't just on her, Raven had time to focus. She wove Grace's essence into the fuchsia energy crackling around her and made one last concentrated attack, sending the energy into the heart of the creature that had once been the principal.
Zoe
Zoe's screams grew as she lashed out more wildly, and began coughing up dark blood, her wounds burning from the tainted weapons, refusing to heal.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out at first, as weak as she was getting. She clutched at her chest at Raven's onslaught, and when she looked back up, she gave them all a hazy, unfocused look. "I just... wanted to see the island when it was pretty. Grace... she loved December."
The tentacles still attached to the creature's body fell slack as she collapsed, the light in her eyes flaring and then fading out.
Eliot
Well damn.
Eliot wiped his sword on one of the slackened tentacles and sheathed it. His right arm still hung slack at his side, but he ignored that for now, looking around to make sure everyone else was in one piece.
"She did all this for her kid?"
That was touching. In a fucked kind of way.
Isabela
Isabela pried her fingers lose from the hilts of her daggers and shook them to get the feeling back.
"Let's never do that again."
Kanan
"Agreed," Kanan replied, shutting off his saber, though he didn't hurry to clip it back to his belt. This place had him twitchy. More than usual. "Is everyone in one piece?"
Raven
Raven floated in through the shattered window, returning to her human form. Her cloak had been scorched, but the wound in her side was already healing. She looked at Zoe's body, feeling a strange sense of pity but victory. The question was, now what?
"I am all right," she said. She looked to Eliot. "You require healing, however."
Eliot
Eliot looked at his shoulder. "Could use a hand poppin' it back in at least."
Isabela
Feeling restored in her hands, Isabela yanked her daggers out of Zoe and started wiping them off. "Not it."
Very helpful, Iz.
Kanan
Kanan's eyeroll was... more indulgent than epic, really. He even had a wry smile on his face as he finally clipped his lightsaber to his belt and picked his way over the fallen tentacles and other assorted nastiness toward Eliot.
"I've got it. And then we can get the hell out of here. This is not my favorite view on the island."
[[ much love to our fighters uncertain_dume, vdistinctive, goodforsix, raven_unhollow and of course the fantastic bigdamndean! small OCD coming up! ]]
And so, a small group assembled on Sunday morning to make that a reality.
Zoe
Zoe--or, really, the thing that used to be Zoe--was less than pleased about the current state of affairs on her island. Her minions were falling, each loss creating an infuriating ache where her heart likely would have been, and she cried out with a loud, deep roar as her rage grew, the spindly tentacles at the base of her body curling and tightening in fury.
Certainly, only the truly foolish would approach her tower now.
Kanan
Foolish people, incoming! Armed with... Hair.
"We're armed with hair," Kanan muttered, looking at the lightsaber hilt in his hand. "I can't karking believe this."
Somebody was already convinced they were going to die. This apparently wasn't enough to stop him from approaching the tower, mind.
Raven
"The hair of her child," Raven said. She had no weapon, but she'd twisted a few strands around her finger like a ring, soaking in the emotional residue it held.
"It may be that the token of her former life can undo some of the power that has corrupted her," she said. "I do not care how it works, only that it does. We must end this, once and for all."
She wasn't so certain this would work as well, but Obi-Wan said it would, and she trusted Jedi, so....
Eliot
Eliot spun his sword casually at his side, the little hair token tied to the end flapping happily in the created breeze. "Man, first time I did one of these we had to hug the bad guy into submission. Just be glad we get to stick the hair on actual weapons and not beat this thing with love or some shit."
Isabela
"I'm pretty sure she'd like us to try hugging it out," Isabela said. Someone had been down by the docks recently, yes. "But I doubt it'd work."
Kanan
"I'm not really much of a hugger anyway," Kanan sighed. He ran his thumb over the strand of hair that was wrapped around his saber's hilt, and then looked around the group. "So, do you suppose there's any chance we can flank her? Try to drag her attention in all directions? Or were we thinking of a full frontal assault?"
The tentacles looked like they could be a problem, but three of the four of them had weapons that could probably do something about them, so Kanan wasn't too terribly concerned either way. They were about as likely to kill them as the rest of her, after all.
Raven
"I do not think we will have much room to flank her," Raven said. "But I may be able to use my soul-self to blind her temporarily so that we are able to get into a position where we can attack her from more than one angle."
Because top of the stairs was just going to be so much fun.
"Or," she went on, "I can fly myself up to the windows and attempt to distract her while the rest of you attack."
Eliot
"How temporary is temporary?" Eliot wondered. "Distraction might be a better plan, if you think you can dodge when she tries to attack ya."
Isabela
"Maybe she'll be so busy trying to catch you she'll fall out the window?" This was why Hawke got to make the plans, Isabela.
Kanan
"Wouldn't that make everything easier," Kanan sighed, almost wistfully. Almost. There was a grim set to his features as he said it, though. He could probably give Zoe a bit of a Force-push to help her out that window if it really came to it, but by then they would have long lost the element of surprise. "Better to draw her attention than to signal that something is wrong right off the bat by blinding her. My vote is on the distraction."
Raven
"I can dodge well enough," Raven said in answer to Eliot.
"I agree, distraction is the better plan." Her Soul-Self wasn't impervious, so there was no telling how long she could hold Zoe or what damage the creature would do to her.
She rubbed the pad of her thumb over the hair wrapped around her finger. "I am ready when you are," she said.
Eliot
Eliot swung his sword in a circle again -- bad habit, that, always had to spin or flip things -- and shifted his weight from foot to foot, making sure his muscles were properly warmed up. "Right. Let's take her down."
Isabela
Isabela drew her daggers, which were feeling much more inadequate than usual. "Time to loot the bodies," she said dryly.
Kanan
"Hopefully, there'll only be one body up there when we're done," Kanan noted, just as dryly. The snap-hiss of his lightsaber punctuated that thought tidily. "Let's move, then."
And he started up the stairs, his weapon a source of light through the dark corridor. Hopefully, by the time they made it to the top, Raven would have the creature's attention.
Raven
Raven shifted into her demon form as she watched the others head up the stairs, then launched herself into the air, levitating up to the top of the tower. What she could make out through the windows didn't even remotely look like the Principal Winchester that she once knew, but if somehow the bond of mother to child could still affect the creature...she just had to hope it worked.
Gathering up the essence of the emotions she'd soaked in from Grace's hair, she hurled it -- along with demonic energy -- through the windows. "Principal Winchester!"
Yes, that should get her attention.
Zoe
Zoe had noticed the presence of others at her tower, but it wasn't the first time people sought her out, and she hadn't had much of a reason to be concerned by their presence.
Then that energy came through her windows, tainted with... something painful. Oh yes, they certainly had her attention now.
Zoe let out a sharp, piercing shriek as she peered outside. "Who are you?" She fired her gun--one of her old favorites, now safely embedded against her arm--outside towards the source of whatever had caused her this strange new pain. "What have you done?!"
Eliot
"That's our cue." Eliot had his eye on taking out that gun arm -- assuming he could get past the tentacles first. He scanned the area as best he could in the low light, then picked out his position. Hack here, slash there. Not a lot of room to maneuver.
They'd make it work, anyway.
Eliot moved in, all but silent, ready to attack once the others were in position. Might as well take full advantage of that distraction while they had it.
Isabela
So many tentacles.
Isabela crept around the side of the room, really wishing for a stealth skill tree some kind of smoke bomb about now. Why had she decided to act all heroic?
Kanan
That would be because the island was in desperate need of some Big Damn Heroes right about now. Their usual seemed to be a little bit indisposed at the moment.
Kanan didn't creep so much as he just jumped. One out the window and one on either side were three angles covered, and despite his unfortunate tendency to demolish cantina furniture from floor level while brawling, all of his real fighting history came from that other part of him. The one that had him holding the lightsaber. From the rafters he could see where the rest had gotten to, could watch them fall into position. And he wasn't going to give them much time to get too settled, not while Zoe was shooting at Raven outside.
He used his lightsaber to gesture to the other two that they were all in place. Now would be a good time to move.
Raven
Raven, fortunately, had plenty of room to maneuver and managed to dodge out of the way of the blast, sending another bolt of demonic energy of her own toward Zoe.
"Principal Winchester!" she said again, trying to keep the creature's attention on her while the others go into position. "It is time for you to rest. Let go of this chaos and evil that has corrupted you. Remember who you were."
She concentrated on the hair on her finger, remembering all she could of Grace through the foggy passageways of her mind, and projected love and joy at Zoe.
Zoe
Memories of Grace flashed through Zoe's mind, memories she'd worked very hard to suppress, and she shrieked again, loud enough to shake what was left of the windows.
"Stop this! What are you doing?" She lashed out, the tentacles at the base of her body flailing, but she didn't notice any of the others who might have been approaching, not with the terrible things this girl was doing to her mind. "I don't--I have many children now, so many, and you'll be one of mine too." She fired again towards Raven, filled with rage and, for the first time in a long time, a little fear as well.
Eliot
There was nothing about this whole thing that wasn't creepy, but this thing that had been Zoe referring to the creatures on the island as her "children" might actually top them all.
Eliot saw Kanan indicate and nodded back. Time to end this. He set his feet and swung, aiming to sever the nearest tentacle.
Isabela
Right.
Isabela ran up and leapt over a tentacle, attempting to sink both daggers into Zoe's back.
At least she thought it was her back.
Kanan
And Kanan jumped back down from the rafters, lightsaber striking out at the arm still raised and shooting at Raven.
There was no part of Zoe that wasn't the dangerous part, but getting rid of the obvious weapon seemed like a good starting point to him.
Raven
The sheer force of Zoe's rage almost stunned Raven for a moment; as it was, it was so strong it disoriented her long enough that she missed dodging one of the blasts. It struck her left side, sending her flying back.
Ignoring the pain, Raven tried to regain her balance as quickly as she could to resume her emotional attack before Zoe turned her attention to the others who were attacking from behind.
Zoe
These were not the first people who had the gall and lack of self-preservation to attack her, but their weapons hurt, wounded her more than those who had come before, and with each slice more memories surfaced, more emotions that she didn't want to feel. Now, she was aware of all of them, and she screamed as her tentacles flailed, trying to knock these awful people over, screeching as her gun was cut away from her.
Eliot
Eliot jumped and dove, hacked and slashed, but in retrospect, putting himself in the middle of a bunch of tentacles hadn't been the best idea. He gave more than he got, but a lucky hit to his right shoulder made his arm go numb. He swapped hands and swung with his left instead, taking out the offending tentacle and the one coming in after it for good measure.
And Hardison wondered why he spent so much time training with his non-dominant side.
Isabela
Isabela was seriously questioning her life choices about now.
She was also clinging to her daggers and hoping they'd stay firmly embedded in Zoe despite all the thrashing and flailing that was going on.
Kanan
Kanan countered one tentacle, severing it neatly with his lightsaber as it swung toward him, and then another. By the time a third was swinging away, he had made decent headway, thrusting forward with his blade with the intent to bury it deep in Zoe's side.
Not that he thought Isabela's daggers needed any help, really. But Zoe was a fighter, and they could only take so much more punishment, themselves.
Raven
Now that Zoe's attention wasn't just on her, Raven had time to focus. She wove Grace's essence into the fuchsia energy crackling around her and made one last concentrated attack, sending the energy into the heart of the creature that had once been the principal.
Zoe
Zoe's screams grew as she lashed out more wildly, and began coughing up dark blood, her wounds burning from the tainted weapons, refusing to heal.
She tried to speak, but nothing came out at first, as weak as she was getting. She clutched at her chest at Raven's onslaught, and when she looked back up, she gave them all a hazy, unfocused look. "I just... wanted to see the island when it was pretty. Grace... she loved December."
The tentacles still attached to the creature's body fell slack as she collapsed, the light in her eyes flaring and then fading out.
Eliot
Well damn.
Eliot wiped his sword on one of the slackened tentacles and sheathed it. His right arm still hung slack at his side, but he ignored that for now, looking around to make sure everyone else was in one piece.
"She did all this for her kid?"
That was touching. In a fucked kind of way.
Isabela
Isabela pried her fingers lose from the hilts of her daggers and shook them to get the feeling back.
"Let's never do that again."
Kanan
"Agreed," Kanan replied, shutting off his saber, though he didn't hurry to clip it back to his belt. This place had him twitchy. More than usual. "Is everyone in one piece?"
Raven
Raven floated in through the shattered window, returning to her human form. Her cloak had been scorched, but the wound in her side was already healing. She looked at Zoe's body, feeling a strange sense of pity but victory. The question was, now what?
"I am all right," she said. She looked to Eliot. "You require healing, however."
Eliot
Eliot looked at his shoulder. "Could use a hand poppin' it back in at least."
Isabela
Feeling restored in her hands, Isabela yanked her daggers out of Zoe and started wiping them off. "Not it."
Very helpful, Iz.
Kanan
Kanan's eyeroll was... more indulgent than epic, really. He even had a wry smile on his face as he finally clipped his lightsaber to his belt and picked his way over the fallen tentacles and other assorted nastiness toward Eliot.
"I've got it. And then we can get the hell out of here. This is not my favorite view on the island."
[[ much love to our fighters uncertain_dume, vdistinctive, goodforsix, raven_unhollow and of course the fantastic bigdamndean! small OCD coming up! ]]