Dog Daies July 10th: Attack of the Killer Whatever
July 10: Attack of the Killer Whatever
“Hurry!” Natanael shouted, and fired.
The shot’s report, in the relatively close confines of the hallway, was loud enough to make his ears ring but not enough to overwhelm the sound of a dozen spell-bearing flechettes ejecting from their casing and whirring over his shoulder like a swarm of violently annoyed high velocity hornets. It had the desired effect, however -- behind him, he heard at least eight solid impacts, black jade needles piercing through their target with a tearing shriek. Natanael stepped aside to let him into the room, Mercy of Heaven never wavering, until he himself stepped back and slammed the door, even then only laying the shellcaster aside on the nearest shelf instead of returning it to its holster.
A spell-needle pinned a warding strip so freshly scribed the ink still gleamed in the flickering light of the lamps to the inner surface of the door. Similar confections hung on each interior wall, across the doors and windows, even the floor and ceiling. In the middle of a hastily constructed protective circle, the Takasugi family huddled together, battered and stunned.
“Everyone accounted for?” Merrick asked in an undertone, trying without success to take a headcount; his eye was far too swollen and blurry.
“Yes.” Quietly, as something slithered by in the hallway, wafting with it a horrific stench.
“Well. Good.” Merrick lowered his voice another degree. “Would you care to explain to me, using the smallest words possible, why precisely anyone knowledgeable about the...peculiarities...of your homeland would save a bloody pair of underwear for a full damned century?”
“Hurry!” Natanael shouted, and fired.
The shot’s report, in the relatively close confines of the hallway, was loud enough to make his ears ring but not enough to overwhelm the sound of a dozen spell-bearing flechettes ejecting from their casing and whirring over his shoulder like a swarm of violently annoyed high velocity hornets. It had the desired effect, however -- behind him, he heard at least eight solid impacts, black jade needles piercing through their target with a tearing shriek. Natanael stepped aside to let him into the room, Mercy of Heaven never wavering, until he himself stepped back and slammed the door, even then only laying the shellcaster aside on the nearest shelf instead of returning it to its holster.
A spell-needle pinned a warding strip so freshly scribed the ink still gleamed in the flickering light of the lamps to the inner surface of the door. Similar confections hung on each interior wall, across the doors and windows, even the floor and ceiling. In the middle of a hastily constructed protective circle, the Takasugi family huddled together, battered and stunned.
“Everyone accounted for?” Merrick asked in an undertone, trying without success to take a headcount; his eye was far too swollen and blurry.
“Yes.” Quietly, as something slithered by in the hallway, wafting with it a horrific stench.
“Well. Good.” Merrick lowered his voice another degree. “Would you care to explain to me, using the smallest words possible, why precisely anyone knowledgeable about the...peculiarities...of your homeland would save a bloody pair of underwear for a full damned century?”