Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[Radley]

Erwin noted the comment and looked around on the city. It was a destitute sight to behold, dilapidated and rotting all round them while the flames slowly burned the once majestic city to the ground as if to cleanse itself of this festering corruption. "Given the state of things, I'd say the necromancers work here is already done." He mused in a somber tone.

 

[Breadman]

"Depends on the state of the rest of the city, I suppose." Theodore looked over his equipment one last time. For now everything was where it should. "Following your lead."

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil had stayed on guard in the sewer, watching for any more undead stragglers that would attempt to attack the group. And when none came, he would then take his turn to climb up the ladder. When he surfaced, he surveyed the area around in a crouched position. "The guards can be incapacitated by me, should i get in range." he stated in a quiet tone.

 

[Infab]

The rest of the group emerged from the sewer into the street one by one, taking their time and moving to cover as to not be spotted by the guards at the end of the street. The zombies were more of a problem, as they wandered around pretty much anywhere and were kind of difficult to deal with in such a large group like this. Once everyone was together, it was time to do something. "We can leave those guards be for now. Let's begin looking for Wallace. He's here somewhere. The question is where. Rosanna? Ethraeil? Can you sense anything?" she said, glancing to Rose. Rose looked about for a moment. "...Well, Aleister and Mariette are over there. Someone go get their attention and let them know where here. As for Wallace...There. Over that way." She pointed to their west behind a few burning buildings, for their friends, then to the southeast for Wallace. "Wallace's got a small squad of soldiers with him...dunno what they're doin'."

------

The soldiers went down quietly, Aleister ripping the throat out of one of the guards, while Camille's needles hit their intended targets and sent them to their graves. The zombies were agitated by the sounds and sights of their living comrades going down, and began to lurch towards Camille, Aleister, and Mariette, however. Slowly, the group began to gather and creep towards them. Rotting and hungry for the flesh of the living (and apparently other undead.)

------

Outside of Porthcrawl's massive city hall, Wallace stood amongst four of his men. He was practically fuming. They had searched all over the gods forsaken city, and still there was no sign of the sword. Where the hell had it been hidden? It was here somewhere. That damn demon told them it was, and everything the demon had said so far had proven to be true. "I swear, if I see Sazak again, I'll strangle him." he muttered under his breath. He then noticed something new, glancing towards his northwest. Towards the western wall of the city. Familiar auras. He grunted. Shit. They're here now. "Alert the guards. We have intruders in the city. Bring the Morning Star in closer so it can provide fire support if needed." One of the soldiers around him saluted quickly, before running off.

 

[Breadman]

"How do we get their attention?" Theodore wondered as he looked at the guards and zombies walking around "Unless you want me to do something that will draw everyone's attention...can Ethraeil communicate with his magic?"

 

[Dmaster]

Camille squinted at the encroaching horde as Aleister expressed his concerns to find the others, her stance shifting to a readied position with her rapier. "Can the both of you not sense them?" she asked, stepping forward to drive her sword through a zombie's skull, quickly retracting as the animated corpse became far less so in an instant. Not sighting any skeletons just yet, she flipped her hatchet around again so that the blade would bear down on any undead that drew too near.

Mariette's plan was rather bold considering the Colonel, his men, and the ironclad could all set their sights on her. The countess was far too cocky now that she was a pureblood, and if she wanted to commit suicide to give the inquiry a tactical advantage, who was the Marquess to stop her? "If you wish to distract them I suggest you do so now." Camille responds in a hushed yet agitated tone, her head swiveling about to guage what part of the zombified mob was closest and the biggest threat. "At this rate we risk Aleister getting his clothes stained with blood gone putrid."

 

[K0mori]

Mariette cracked her neck and grinned. "Oh, I can sense them now, alright, now that they're coming up to the surface... They're that way. I sense the enemy as well. If this works, I'm sure you'll all appreciate the fireworks."

She bounded away, heading back for the wall where they had come from. Ever since they had cleared out the first guard tower and noticed the heavy cannon, she had been considering ways that it could be used to help the Inquisitors. She had a vague understanding of how to prime and fire one (after all, it was simply a huge version of a normal gun, wasn't it?), and even if there were some gaps in her knowledge, she figured she could at least figure out how to get a single shot off. Her plan was to fire the cannon at the Morning Star, then sprint to the next guard tower. She had already found their combat abilities to be direly insufficient to take on a creature like herself, and she highly doubted the deck guns of the Morning Star could turn fast enough to track her. After the second shot, she would descend to street level unless the boat was sunk. ...Else it would be preparing to fire on the city's third tower, and she wouldn't want to be anywhere near it.

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina ascended the ladder quietly. Despite the ruckus down in the sewers she was confident in both hers and the others ability to accomplish the current mission. Once she was streetside she hunkered down not far from the others with her crossbow loaded and ready. Porthcrawl much worse up close and if it hadn't been for the undead it would look alot like a city at war. Not that Tsavania would ever publicly admit to burning down one of their industrial hubs due to a vampire plague.

She glanced at Theodore. "You have anything small that can be tied to a crossbow bolt?"

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister wasn't entirely happy with Mariette wishing to head off on her own, as the woman, if in trouble, wouldn't have any help nearby. And given how she felt about him now, he doubted she would want anything from him anymore, either. "If the Countess wishes to put a plan in action, I have no complaints. I will remain on the streets with the main group. My magic will keep the undead abominations at bay," he say, unaware of the irony to the ears of someone like Camille.

He said a quick adieu to Mariette as the pureblood hurried off, and he turned his attention back to the approaching zombies. He removed his rosary from beneath the collar of his habit and he cradled it in his hands, brandishing it before him just in front of his chest. Both hands were wrapped firmly around it.

"This will rebuke the zombies. They will not be capable of coming too close, and it will pain and debilitate them to be near," he explained, already noting some of the nearest zombies beginning to grow agitated from the holy item.

"And I can sense the others now. Them being underground made it too fuzzy... but I can feel them well enough now. As the Countess said - they are that way. Come, I'll lead and you can kill the zombies caught in my holy aura," Aleister said, heading down the street with his rosary creating an aura of righteous fury.

 

[Dmaster]

The huntress did not have to be told twice, quickly she set her sights on the rebuked zombies, hacking at their heads with her hatchet and stabbing through them with her rapier. There still was a certain finesse to her attacks even as she performed these strikes on the dim-witted monsters, Camille was not the type to grow comfortable or take any chances in battle.

"I grow more fortunate by the day that you aren't actually a fake priest." she comments, grunting during some of the more taxing swings of her hatchet. Despite the weapon being held in her off-hand, it seemed like she was having no trouble with wielding it, slashes as fluid as they can be with such a tool. The duo were making good progress like this, cutting their way through the horde both literally and figuratively as many of the less ambitions zombies found themselves parting around the aura rather than confront it.

"I'm right behind you. Just move at such a pace you don't leave me behind, oui?"

 

[Breadman]

"Hmm, perhaps." Theodore answered Galina and started going through his pockets and pouches. "Some components can be tied to your bolts. Specifically those designed for impact shells. Tho not as strong as say a bomb detonation, they can still be of use for you."

 

[The_Rifleman]

Sergey followed the rest of the group outside and took cover behind an overturned wagon nearby. They had to act and fast or risk being overrun, by both undead and the guards. It was a curious case that they could walk among the undead with worry. He'll remember that for later. He listened to Rose and Valeria debate on what to do. He couldn't help but add quietly, "We should go for Wallace. Whatever is causing this, has to be with him. We cut off the head, the body is a lot easier to deal with. We need to decide and fast."

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil sensed Wallace's aura in the same direction Rosanna directed towards. He lowered his flames to the point where it only flickered just above his bones and began to walk south down the street. "This way, we can find an alley later." he said as he approached two zombies and decapitated them with ease with his ice sword before venturing further along.

 

[Infab]

"Rosanna, make your way over and find the others. Theodore, you head over with her. If they're close to the wall, and the ironclad starts to fire on us, you two can get up there and use the cannons to fire on it." said Valeria, motioning in the direction that Rosanna said the others were. She then looked back to the rest of the group. "We can follow Ethraeil towards Wallace. Watch where you're going. Don't want to run into any ambushes or groups of zombies."

Rosanna gave Valeria an okay gesture with her hand, before motioning for Theodore to follow. Off they went, down through an alleyway next to one of the burning buildings towards where Rosanna had spotted Aleister, Mariette, and Camille's auras. The rest of the group followed after Ethraeil as he made his way across the street towards another alleyway.

-------

Mariette scaled back up the wall once more, heading towards one of the large cannons at the top of one of the towers. In the distance, out on the water, the ironclad seemed to be lit up a bit more than it had been before. There were men now moving about its deck, some with what appeared to be binoculars. They had been alerted. But by who? The cannons on the front and back of the ship were starting to move, circling to face the city. If she were going to launch the first strike, now was the time.

The cannon had several shells sitting next to it, one already loaded onto the lift that would raise it to the breech. All that was needed was to open the rear of the cannon, load it, then shut and lock the breech. Then, a simple lever pull would fire the cannon. She'd obviously have to aim it, but that shouldn't be too hard. Just turn some wheels nearby to adjust the weapon left and right as well as its elevation.

 

[Breadman]

"Yes, of course." Theodore said with a slight hint of exitement of the prospect to fire the cannons. "Lead the way." He said to Rosanna as he followed after her.

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina was about to inspect whatever Theodore could offer her when Valeria gave her next set of orders. Once the group began to move Galina remained crouched as she zig-zagged between cover behind Ethraeil.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

With his new found powers, Jakob felt the auras of his fellow supernatural companions. He let out a sigh of relief to know that Mariette and Aleister were okay. He'd love to go with Rosanna and have Theodore stay with the group, but Witlock made a good point. His love for explosives would come in handy against the possible dangers the group was going to face. He then followed after Ethraeil as he led the party towards Wallace. Jakob wanted to face the traitorous colonel and kill him himself, but maybe he was letting the curse think for him. As the group made their way through the alley, more zombies started to appear. Jakob fought alongside the lich, cracking the zombified heads open with his baton. "Come on everyone, we need to find that bastard!" He started to charge ahead, the potential of an upcoming battle with Wallace exciting him. Spurning the werewolf within.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil glanced at Jakob as he followed, the stir of battle seeming to get to his new side and perhaps leading to trouble. Ethraeil decapitated another zombie before moving on to speak. "You need to calm down, Constable." Ethraeil said in flat tone as he pressed forward.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob killed two zombies as the lich spoke to him. He turned to face him, his face covered in darkened undead blood. "I'm fine. I'll be better when we kill that bastard. Come on, bone man!" Jakob then continued to fight his way onward.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil eyed Jakob for a moment as he turned to continue pressing forward to the alleyway. He narrowed his eyes as he himself began to now follow Jakob. He quickly caught up to him, taking out another lone zombie before putting his bony hand on Jakob's shoulder. "Constable. You and I know that's not true. Just try not to get too riled up." he said as he took the lead once more to advance forward.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Rosanna... and Theodore, I believe, are coming our way. I can sense them," Aleister replied to Camille, ignoring her remarks on her being glad that he was, in fact, a priest. He kept his attention on the surroundings, ever alert of what was shambling towards them. Whenever a zombie got too cocky, he angrily brandished the rosary at it to cause it great pain so that Camille could take it out with determined enthusiasm.

Thankfully, so far, his robes remained clean of any blood.

It wasn't long before he saw Rosanna and Theodore appear from an alley not far away. "There - they're over there. Come, Marquess, let us see what we are to do."

He hurried over towards the duo, but not so fast as to leave Camille behind. He kept with her as she executed the undead before they finally reached the pair.

"Glad you both are safe," he said, pausing at the mouth of the alleyway. "What word comes from the inquisitor?"

 

[The_Rifleman]

Sergey listened to Valerie give out orders to everyone, with Rose and Theo heading out one way and the rest the other. Turns the other group was busy in another part of the city, and its up to them to head towards Wallace, hopefully getting everyone together later on. Ethraeil, Jacob and Galina pushed forward down the alley, as Sergey followed behind them, making sure all their targets were in fact dispatched. He was careful not to get left behind, or get overrun by any enemies. He was worried again about the constable up ahead, as soon as any action hit the man started becoming overcome by the wolf within, anger seeping out. How long can he hold it in, Sergey wondered.

So far, nothing has been to challenging for them, and that also worried him. This entire town was zombified, and those guards could walk around no problem. Clearly there is some very something very powerful, and magical at work here yet they're walking around the street, taking everything out in their way with relative ease. Was the group that skilled...or was this bait? The hairs on Sergey's neck stood on edge. If they can sense Wallace surely he can sense us too...no?

He quickly ran up behind Valerie to voice his concerns as they were on the move. "Pssst, Val, quick thought. If we can sense Wallace, can he sense us? Or whoever is with him? This just feels too...simple and easy right now. We shouldn't let our guard down."

 

[Dmaster]

Camille dispatched the horde on the way with continued precise stabs and slashes of her hatchet, all hitting their mark and quickly executing the rotting foes. Though the process was not the cleanest, as often she would have to apply her boot to their chests to dislodge her weapons from their fractured skulls. "Good." she said, somewhat relieved to have good news and actually other allies to assist with killing all these zombies.

While Aleister had remained unstained from the encounter, a decent amount of blood and gore had splattered against her clothing from the attacks she made with her hatchet. The killing blows she was able to land with her rapier were effectively cleaner. Once they had found Rosanna and Theodore she increased her pace, closing the distance as the vampire did. Standing just behind Aleister the Marquess gave them a firm nod, starting to clear the blood off of her weapons.

"Yes. We need a plan. The countess has run off to be a hero or perhaps cannon-fodder for the ironclad." Camille explained, so desperately hoping that the vampire would be shelled for her hubris. "We were not spotted by his men, but this horde continues to grow more restless."

 

[Infab]

"Valeria and the others run off towards Wallace's position. Guessin' they're gonna try and take him out while they can. She told me and Theodore to link up with you, then get up on the wall to fight off the ironclad with the cannons if it starts shootin' at us. If Mariette's up there already, that's better for us." said Rosanna, motioning up towards the wall before looking back to Aleister and Camille. "You two should get over there to where Valeria and the others are. They're gonna need the help if Wallace decides to act. Better move quick, too."

Once she finished, she looked to Theodore. "Let's get up on that wall and see what we're workin' with, eh?" she said, before motioning for him to follow as they made their way towards the wall that Aleister and Camille had descended from earlier. It was a short walk, with the pair dispatching wandering zombies as they crossed streets and went through alleys before arriving at the steps which lead up to the top of the wall. Old wooden steps. "I hate old stuff like this. Wood breaks, you fall through, break your legs..." she muttered, moving slowly up the wooden steps till they eventually reached the top. Once there, they saw Mariette at the first of the large cannons near them, meant to fight off ships out in the bay. Powerful indeed, a few good shots from these large siege weapons would certainly cripple or sink the ironclad in the bay...which seemed to be preparing to engage the city.

As they moved quickly over to where Mariette was, Rosanna looked to Theodore. "I'm sure you know how to work this thing, so fill us in if we miss somethin'!" she said, pointing to the massive cannon. Once they arrived, Rosanna greeted Mariette. "Howdy, Countess! Ready to sink a ship? Or try to, at least."

A moment later, there was a thoom from out in the bay. And a shell zipped over their heads a moment later. The ironclad was already firing on them. Another thoom from the large rear gun on the ship, and a shell collided with the stone far beneath them in the wall. The detonation blew a fairly large chunk out of the wall, forcing them to stumble a bit. The wall and tower remained standing though. It was time to fight back, and do it quickly.

BOSS FIGHT: ATRACAN IRONCLAD 'ANV MORNING STAR'

----------

Valeria's group continued on through the city, following behind Ethraeil and Jakob as they lead the way towards where Wallace currently was. According to the map she had, apparently Wallace was close to or at Porthcrawl City Hall. A ways south from where she needed to be, but hopefully the fight against Wallace would give her a little time to find what she needed. She knew where it was. The issue was getting to it at the moment without Wallace showing up to claim it. She'd rather not have such a powerful weapon fall right into the hands of the Duke.

Valeria looked to Sergey as he spoke of Wallace being able to sense them, and her eyes widened. She had completely forgotten about that part. Wallace was likely a werewolf just like his men back at the swamp, so it was very likely that he could sense the group coming towards them. He probably sensed them as they entered the city itself.

Dear Witlock...did you consider that he already found you? Valeria froze. Look up. She did so, and found herself gazing upon a...massive werewolf perched atop one of the buildings near them. By the gods, he's HUGE. Far larger than any other werewolf she had seen or encountered. The werewolf was glaring down at the group as they continued to move across another street. His golden eyes studying each of them. "There he is! Top of the tenement building!" she said, drawing out her revolver and firing off a shot at the werewolf. The silver bullet in the weapon collided with his shoulder, but it didn't seem to faze him all that much. A simple wince, it seemed. He quickly moved, scurrying off across the rooftop and leaping to another building. Heading back towards City Hall.

Then, they heard yelling. Soldiers. She knew they were going to be fighting soldiers anyway. It was just a matter of when. A pair of soldiers, each carrying single shot rifles, met Jakob and Ethraeil at the end of an alley, weapons raised.

----------

Cassandra chuckled. "Nonsense. I'll be fine! I don't have to sleep. Neither do you actually, but its nice to during the day." she said, taking the reigns of the horse and turning it about. They followed after the twins, whom were already departing from where the barn was sitting on their own horses, and heading out onto a nearby dirt road. "Oh, you're going to enjoy being a vampire...trust me! If I didn't, I'd have stepped into the sun ages ago!" said Cassandra with a chuckle.

The four of them traveled for several hours, moving from the small farm in the Tresomin Hills to the small but important village of Oar's Rest. It was mostly a fishing village, nestled amongst the swamps of the river delta nearby, and was also famous for some of the swamp monster attacks that it would get from time to time. Mermaids would also occasionally appear, as would Sirens. The latter often being killed quickly. They would stop here for the day, renting a room at a local inn for Cassandra and Wesley to stay in. Meanwhile, the twins would find a secluded place outside the village to stay. After all, witches and necromancers weren't exactly liked.

In the room at the in, Cassandra began to teach Wesley the basics of being a vampire. Their enhanced speed, reflexes, strength, the claws that he now had to use as weapons. Enhanced night vision, and the ability to see auras. She even pointed out that he could walk up walls now, as well as swim underwater without needing to come up for air. "You've got some amazing gifts now. Of course, they come at the cost of not being able to move in the day without roasting alive, and being vulnerable to silver. And stakes. Watch out for stakes. Stakes to the heart paralyze you, unless its white oak. White oak will kill you." she explained, sitting in a chair in the room as Wesley got settled in for the day. The curtains were drawn over the window nearby, as to make sure he wouldn't get accidentally burned.

 

[Breadman]

"Know to?" Theodore answered "I know these cannons inside and out. Figures that they would have the inferior model here still. But it will be enough." The ground shook under his feet as the wall was hit. There was no time to waste. "The 3 of us will have to perform the task of 10. Good news is those ships have a fatal weakness. Their engine rooms. We penetrate that and the ship not only stalls but the fire will spread throughout the decks."

"Marriette, use your speed and strength to fetch and load the munition. Rosanna, you're on cleaning duty, the barrel needs to be cleaned to fire in the first place. Sponge, wad screw and everything else is by the cannon. I'll handle the powder, primer and everything else." He looked at towards the ironclad and squinted through his goggles "Merde, they are preparing for another round." He looked back at his two companions in this task "Remember this order, clean, powder, primer then shell."