Technologists Under Fire - RPLOG
Participants
Date
4/1/480
Log
It is warm and breezy by the docks today, and the quay is busy. Beings of all shapes and sizes go about their business along the waterfront. A black fox sits alone at a table at a small cafe, obviously waiting for someone or something. His dark hair is tied back neatly and his long, black coat is perfectly pressed. He does not seem to be the least bit bothered by the heat, despite his choice of apparel.
Fayrmune walks along the dock area, looking left and right for someone. She is wearing some chain armor and has a katana sheathed at one hip and a shorter but similar blade on her other hip. Though the jackaless is visibly pregnant, she seems prepared to take on the advertised job anyway.
Elizabeth is in her typical trenchcoat and has a breast plate strapped to her chest. A musket and a greatsword rest crossed on her back as she walks along the water. Her eyebrows rise as she reaches the fox and she crosses her arms. "You the guy?"
The black fox watches the shark and jackal approach with, not exactly a frown, more like the hint that there might be a frown in the future on his face. "I knew that the Freeswords were short handed lately," he says in a smooth, aristocratic voice, "But I hope you won't take it amiss when I say that I had hoped for a better turn out." His eyes drift to Fayrmune's blatant pregnancy. "Are you two sure you are up to this?"
"Of course! Why wouldn't we be?", Fay says, answering for the both of them. She shoots a grin to the shark next to her. "I might be a lady, but I can play rough when it is necessary!"
Elizabeth tilts her head. "I have been fighting bad guys for years, thank you very much. Although I only recently started doing it privately." She pauses and frowns. "They -are- bad guys, right? You are not sending us to beat up some innocent folks for your gain, yes?"
The fox lifts an eyebrow at Elizabeth. "Creators, you meatheads have short memories," he sighs, "No, I don't expect you to mug children for their lunch money. I am still after the technologists. Just like before. I only hope that you will prove more usefull today than you did last time I paid for a cadre of Freeswords." He nods toward an alleyway leading deeper into the maritime district. "There is an old warehouse at the end of that street," he says, "In the cellar of said warehouse is an item that I should like to see out of the hands of the technologists who currently own the place. All I need from the two of you is to see to it that the guards inside are all removed. One way or another. You get them all out of the warehouse for ten minutes and I will see to it you are rewarded handsomely. Do it however you like." He looks between the two beings. "Questions?"
"Questions, questions... hmm.", Fay mutters as she thinks. "Do you have an estimate on how many guards we will encounter?", she finally asks, tail swaying as she thinks of more questions.
Elizabeth squints at the fox. "I did not recognize you, but if you see fit to insult me, I can leave and lend my aid to someone who will appreciate it more." She twitches her snout. "Would be a shame, clearing out places is a speciality of mine."
"At least two and no more than twenty," the fox answers Fayrmune before turning an inscrutable gaze on Elizabeth. "Let me be quite clear," he says, "I. Don't. Need. You. I choose to support establishments like the guild and I like to find talent where I can. Don't think for a second that you are doing me a favor. I will pay you for your services, in spite of your inability to perform in the past, ONLY because I can see that you are more suited to this one. I don't mean it as an insult, but you may think of it as a critique of your past work for me." The fox waves to a waiter from the cafe. "Please," he says, "Don't let me detain you."
Fayrmune opens her mouth to ask something else when the fox starts rattling off on the shark. "Well, clearly I missed an earlier job, no?", she asks. "Well I am still up for the job either way.", she says, putting her hands on her hips.
Elizabeth turns her snout up a little. "It is not my fault me and that small guy who actually got into the building where the only competent mercenaries you had for that job. But, as, like you just said, you clearly have no need for me, I will be on my way. You would not even be able to pay me enough to work for someone with such a ghastly attitude as yourself." The shark turns on her heels and raises her hand, the back of it towards the fox, for a motionless wave, before leaving.
Just as Elizabeth leaves, a somewhat short monkey, dressed in a pink tunic is breaking her sprint as she reaches the gathering, looking back at the shark. "Am I late? I am late. Hello. Am I too late?"
"Well," says the fox, accepting a cup from the waiter, along with all the trimmings for coffee, "Wasn't she unpleasant?" He sips from his cup and looks up at Natrika. "I suppose we are in luck," he says dryly, "Another Freesword has arrived. I have already explained this little endeavor once, but in the interest of moving things along, I have a warehouse full of thugs that I want to see emptied of thugs at the end of that alleyway. Hop to."
The jackaless gives a salute. "Aye aye!", she says with a grin. "Cmon, sounds like he wants this done snap snap!", she says to the newcomer. Fay clasps the monkey's hand and starts to pull them along. "I'm Fay by the way!", she says to Natrika. "Might as well introduce each other since we'll be working together at least for the next little bit!"
Natrika stumbles along on her bare hand-feet as the jackal pull her along. "W-whoa. I am Natrika, and yes, seems so - you can call me Nat, by the way. Is this kinda work always so fast paced?" With her free hand, the monkey retrieves the large staff from her back and readies it, while still being dragged along.
As soon as the pair enter the long alleyway, the hustle and bustle of the port starts to rapidly diminish. Crates and assorted bins line the seldom trafficked lane with its assorted branches leading to the backs and sides of various businesses along the docks. The alley comes to an end at a quiet side street and a squat, wide warehouse sits across the way. There is no gate or wall around the building, but a pair of huge beings stand guard in front of the wide cargo doors, looking alert. Both are heavy clan bears that look like they could be twins.
Fayrmune stops before emerging completely from the alleyway and looks out form behind some cover at the guards. "Well, I don't think there is much sense in being stealthy since the job indicates we need to remove all of the guards.", Fay says. "What are your thoughts before we begin?", she asks Nat.
Natrika scratches her head with the tip of the staff. "'pose we should just take these out while they are split from those on the inside. If they call for aid, the alleyway will prevent them from surrounding or swarming us, yes?"
"Mmm, yeah that seems reasonable.", the jackaless says as she unsheathes her katana from her side. "Shall we then?", she asks, gripping the long sword in two hands. "Onward!", she cries, leaping out and charging towards the two guards at a surprising speed for a mother-to-be.
Natrika is right behind the Jackal, and joins the charge, using the range of her staff for a vertical attack on the head of one of the guards, from behind Fayrmune.
The distance from alley to Warehouse is not long, but it is more than long enough for the pair of guards to be ready and waiting for the two charging women. Fayrmune's target catches her by the wrist, stopping her sword stroke mid-slash and drags her into a litteral bear hug! "Slow down there, little lady," he growls, holding her tightly, "Girl in your condition shouldn't be playing with sharp things!"
Natrika's bear is just as prepared and ducks just in time for the monkey's staff to crack hard onto the wall wear his head would have been. He is not so gentle as his companion and gives Natrika an brain rattling blow to the ear with an open palm. "Told you," he drawls, "We always get the crazies on our watch."
Fayrmune gasps audibly as she is held and squeezed. "Urghhh...", she grunts. She manages to wiggle her hand to reach her hip, where she always has an emergency dagger stowed. Gripping the hilt of the small blade, she tries to jam it into the muscle of the bear's arm!
"Oi! That hurt!" She rubs her head with her free hand. "Thats just no way to treat a pair of ladies!" Her hand wanders from her head to her pocket where she presses a button through the fabric.
"Now, now, Missy," the first bear grins, catching Fayrmune's wrist again and squeezing hard, "No need for all that. I like it rough and all, but maybe not so sharp!" He leers down at the jackal and leans down to snuffle loudly at her neck. "Mmm. You smell good, Missy," he says, "If you wanted my attention all you had to do was ask."
Natrika's opponent is not so flirtatious and obviously does not have romance on his mind as he lumbers menacingly toward the monkey. He snorts as the wavy distortion that indicates the outer boundary of the ward rune snaps into existence. "That the best you got?" he growls, "You'd best make yourself scarce before we show you what REAL Creator magic looks like." He takes another swipe with a plate sized paw at Natrika, not actually striking her, but crashing through her barrier like it was an eggshell!
Fayrmune leans her face away from the bear's head. "Oh, eww, eww...", she murmurs, trying to squirm out of his grip. Her gaze falls on Nat and she snaps to attention again. "You can do it!", she exclaims. "Don't let that big jerk push you around!", trying to boost the monkey's morale.
Natrika smirks at Fay's words. "Wasn't planning on it. Just uhm... hang in there!" The monkey takes a wide horizontal swing with her staff, trying to know both of the guards, or at least one, off their feet.
Fayrmune's new 'friend' has her pretty well locked up. "You ever been with a bear before, darlin'?" he drawls, "I get off duty in less than half an hour. If you wanna wait." He releases the jackal, shoving her away and giving her a hard swat on the rump. "Whaddya say, sweet cheeks?" he leers.
The other bear grunts as Natrika's staff slams into his leg, but does not move him. "YEOW!" he roars, reaching for his belt and pulling a scorcher! "That's it!" he growls, "I played nice long enough!" He raises it and a lance of red fire slams through the monkey's ward and into her shoulder!
"I don't think you would be able to handle me in bed!", Fay says to the bear as she takes a few steps away to gather herself again. She is surprised when the alley is lit up by a red light, originating form the other bear. "No!", she exclaims, leaping to Nat's aid, sword-first, trying to disarm him!
There are quite a few words coming from Nat that no lady should be using as she pats the singed fur on her shoulder to make sure there is no fire. "Thats no toy! Someone might lose an eye or something!" She swings her staff at his hand, joining Fay's attempt at disarming the bear.
The lewd bear only leers as Fayrmune dashes past him, though he seems a little surprised, probably expecting her to attack HIM. His partner snorts derisively at Natrika's swing, moving his hand aside to avoid the staff. . . and directly into the slash of Fayrmune's blade. There is a clang of metal on metal and the scorcher goes spinning way, clattering on the cobble stones. The bear is left staring at his empty hand and the blood flowing down from where his first three fingers ought to be.
Fayrmune holds her stance for a few seconds, then takes a deep breath and gracefully turns, her blade slashing horizontally this time, directed at the bear's gut. No one shoots her friends!
Natrika takes her chances where she can get them and makes a dive for the dropped scorcher, rolls backwards after snatching it and points the creator tool at the bear, pressing the button of the device.
Natrika squints at the weapon, just before the button is pressed and throws it at the wall behind the bears instead, after spotting some damage. Shame. The young monkey instead jabs at the bear that previously held the jackal with her staff, to buy her companion some time to deal with the other.
The first bear swears at the sight of his companion's sudden and excessive manicure and turns from the fight, running the short distance to the warehouse door without even noticing Natrika's wild attack. "TROUBLE!" he shouts, pounding on the door, "ALARM! RAISE THE ALARM!" As if to highlight his distress, the thrown, damaged scorcher starts to suddenly emit a high pitched whine, that gets louder and shriller before the little hand held weapon explodes! Not like a sapper's explosive, but certainly in the realm of larger, dangerous fire crackers.
The other bear, sans three fingers tries to shake himself from his shock, managing to step to the edge of Fayrmune's range, which saves his neck, but earns him a long slash across the ribs. He roars in pain and outrage!
"Run away home.", Fayrmune states to the bear, eyes filled with sturdy determination. "Unless you want to lose more than a few fingers." She brandishes the blade menacingly, threatening to use it again.
Natrika runs her hand through her hair. "Thats not good." She eyes the bears. "Think we can handle them?"
The door of the warehouse, the smaller one, set in the big cargo door, swings open and a trio of bears, again, nearly identical to the first two crowd out, each armed with what can only be Scorchers. The first bear shouts and points out Natrika and Fayrmune. His directions are fast and garbled, but there are only so many things that you call on a crew of thugs to do. They raise their scorchers and open fire! All three of their shots go wide, but they are bound to get better as they get closer!
The wounded bear growls and falls off his feet, gripping his chest wound. "Maybe you're the one that should be running," he grimaces.
"Okay! Great! Lots of guns.", Fay exclaims. "Take cover!", she calls to Nat as the jackal finds a crate to dive behind.
"I am...not sure thats gonna help in the long run, rather not have them use that on point blank." The monkey takes her staff in both hands and sprints towards the trio. "Hey! Yeah you, with the ugly mug, let me fix that for you!" With that she dances between the various ursines with quite some speed, whacking, jabbing and swinging at them, while staying on the move to be a hard target.
The jackal may have had the right idea as all four bears still on their feet train their weapons on Natrika. One shot goes wide, leaving a smoking scorch mark on the cobbles, but two of the searing beams of light find their mark on the tumbling monkey, sending her skidding in a heap along the cobbles. One of the trio snorts at the original guard who is still struggling to liberate his weapon from his belt. "A couple of girls?" he sneers, "Couldn't handle a couple of girls!" He and the shamefaced guard start toward Natrika, while the other two advance carefully toward Fayrmune's hiding place.
Fayrmune waits until she hears the footsteps within a few yards of herself before leaping out and shouting, "Try this, assholes!", and channeling her energy outwards in a brilliant blast of light!
Natrika cries out she is hit and stop drops and rolls, making sure to roll away from the bears that are coming for her though. In her mind she goes through some simple mathemagics to help ease the pain.
The bears approaching Natrika do so cautiously, but with confidence. Taking two direct Scorcher hits is enough to take the fight out of most anyone. Even with the aid of her magic, the pain is intense and the smell of burning hair and singed flesh is overwhelming. "I think the Doc may just want a word with you, Missy," one of them Leers, as they both keep their scorchers leveled at the injured primate.
Fayrmune, leaping from behind her crate manages to get the drop on the bears stalking her. The two of them cry out and stagger back a little, trying to shield their eyes from the blinding light!
Clutching her sword tightly, Fay runs between the two blinded bears, aiming two slashes, once at each bears' achillies' tendons to hopefully immobilize them. She doesn't wait to see if she hit, but continues running to assist Nat!
Natrika groans. The monkey takes deep breaths as she is laying on the cold, dirty ground. Her breathing gets faster and faster, as she summons inner strength and adrenaline to pull through her wounds and continue fighting, even though it will cause her to crash much worse in the end. She gets up and, finding herself without her staff, goes for a high kick at the closest guard.
The jackal's sword manages to slice into the calf of one of the two bears, scraping up only sparks from the cobbles on the other side. The wounded bear cries out and staggers, falling to the ground clutching his leg. The uninjured ursine whirls around and fires his scorcher, landing a grazing hit on Fayrmune's shoulder, charring the jackal's armor.
Natrika manages to surprise the bears coming to corral her, striking the nearest one a solid blow, though it is like kicking a furry wall! While he staggers back, his companion wraps the monkey up in a wrenching bear hug.
Fayrmune hisses with displeasure at the glowing-hot section of her chainmail which is now causing her fur underneath to smolder. This doesn't stop her however, and she comes up from behind the two bears assailing Nat, dishonorably striking the one holding her from behind!
Natrika is kicking and squirming trying to get out of the grip of the bear holding her. The monkey is not above biting firmly into his arm either.
The bitten bear grunts in discomfort. "Damn," he growls, "She's a wiggly one. You two get the other-" he starts to say, looking up to see the sword wielding jackal careening toward him! It was not to be, though. As she runs, Fayrmune suddenly finds herself on the receiving end of several hundred pounds of angry grizzly, dragging her to the ground. "Somebody go get a medic!" he roars, "And something to tie these crazies up with!"
"Damnit! Unhand me fiend!", the jackaless cries, resorting to kicks, punches and even a headbutt or two to try and get back on her feet and enough distance away to use a blade again.
Natrika continues to bite, kick and push and squirm against the bear, with not much else she can do.
The two Freeswords seem pretty securely wrapped up as a guard returns with another quartet of beings, two of them large bears, but the other two are much smaller, a rat and a rabbit. "Creators above!" he rabbit swears, looking over the bloody mess that constitutes two of the ursine guards, "Two beings required all of you out here? Unbelievable! We saw to it that you were all the biggest, baddest things around, armed you to the point of ridiculousness and still, a pair of little females takes all of you to subdue? And. . . . gods. Is that one pregnant?" The mouse goes about the work of patching up the wounded while the rabbit gripes.
Fayrmune growls and snaps at her captors, not letting up her fight even as she is held down firmly. "I'll never talk!", she exclaims. "And if you lay another paw on my friend, you'll regret it!"
Natrika struggles and squirms against the bear some more, but stops the overly aggressive escape attempts. "So, you are just gonna let us go now, right?"
The rabbit ignores Natrika's question and Fay's threats. "What have they seen?" he asks, "Are we compromised?"
The original guard shakes his head. "They didn't see nothing," he says, "Never got in the door. Just a couple of crazies looking to look a good lookin' warehouse, I think."
The rabbit considers the struggling pair as the bears carefully bind them. "Well," he says, "We have not tested much with females, and a pregnant female. . . that has some possibilities."
"I'll sooner skewer you with my blade than be a part of your freaky tests!", the jackaless shouts, still struggling to resist her limbs being bound.
Having given the bear some time to relax, Nat bites down hard on his arm again, trying to squirm free in the moment of surprise when she does.
"I am sure you would, young lady," the rabbit says, considering the jackal while a bear finishes binding her hands together, "Fortunately, I don't really need your permission. Now. Who sent-" The rabbit is interrupted by a howl of pain from the bear holding Natrika. He does not actually loose her, but his grip slackens a bit for a moment.
"That's it, Nat! You can beat that guy!", Fay shouts, gathering up her energies and resonating them through her voice in a powerful battlecry. "Justice will always prevail against evil!", she yells.
Natrika smirks as she hears the words and, with the same smirk on her lips, squirms and kicks again, biting the arm of the bear once more at the same time as she drives her heel up his groin.
This time, there is not so much a roar as a choked whimper and Natrika suddenly finds herself free! And just as suddenly as she is loosed, the entire area goes dark as pitch, like someone put out the sun.
Now that the alley has gone dark, a glowing shimmer coming from Fay is the only thing giving the area light! "The hell?", she asks, looking up into the sky.
Natrika uses the call from Fay to her advantage, or to the advantage of the both of them, as she uses it to swiftly locate the her location and to deliver a jumping kick to the shoulder of the guard holding her, to knock him over.
There are shouts in the sudden darkness as the guards and their overseers flail about, then there is a gentle hand on Natrika's shoulder after she frees herself and a gentle tug on Fayrmune's hand as she suddenly finds herself free. "Come along, ladies," comes the familiar voice of the fox they met earlier.
The cries of alarm fade behind them and then, the darkness is gone and Natrika, Fayrmune, and the fox from earlier are stepping out of the alleyway into the noise of the sunny docks once more.
"Well," the fox says, dusting some imaginary dust from his coat, "Not how I would have done it. But well done anyway."
