Jacks Wild - RPLOG
Participants
Date
1/4/479
Log
It is hot in the shanties, and the breeze throws dust around, making things worse, rather than better. A hooded figure waits in a shaded alley, avoiding the noonday sun and keeping his face hidden.
Zuri walks down the alleyway, sporting his usual bright smile. The small salamander's garment might be mistaken for regular eveningwear, were it not for the holstered weapons hangign from his belt and the bulky appearance that his jacket's extra protective padding gives him. He walks up to the hooded figure, waiting for a moment before speaking.
Rouga is unfortunately not well-suited for the heat, and her choice of clothing only makes that worse. At least she's got a nice parasol to keep sun and dust out of her face. The solemn wolfess makes her way through the streets to the place mentioned in the job, not really looking at anything or anyone in particular. Will she be the only one to respond? Probably not.
Kazel is completely covered in her silvery plate armor, standing out here like a soar thumb. A sizeable shield is strapped to her right arm and her left hand rests on the hilt of her sword as she walks down the alleyway. As she spots the figure and Zuri, she approaches and opens the ventail of her helm.
Kilani soars high overhead the alleyway, circling around the rundown houses for a few moments before lining up a landing solution, arcing downwards to land smack in the middle of the shady sidestreet, leaving scored gashes along the street where her claws gripped in for actually, y'know, stopping. "I heard there was a need for force?"
Another figure approaches, this one from the shanties rather than Firmament. Short and clad in a cloak, though the cloth shifts enough that some features can be seen; a flash of pink fur, the glinting of light off a metal covered arm, or a metal arm, and a purple furred hand holding an intricately carved staff. Those who have met her would likely be able to identify the figure as Arimia, thanks to the colors of her fur. When she nears the group she reaches up to push her hood back, then looks at each of those gathered, black and violet eyes narrowed suspiciously.
The plant being walks besides the salamander, clad in gaudy attire that might fit more in an adventurer's club rather than the shanties, "Very well, here we are." Rokarion says before looking at Zuri and whispering something into his ear.
The hooded figure barely looks around, only pointing at the large warehouse across an empty square. The area is terrifyingly silent. "The Jacks are in there," he rasps in a rough voice, then tosses down a heavy bag of coin, "There's your pay. Wipe 'em out. There's a dog in there. Probably hurt, probably locked up. Get him out. The rest is up to you." He then turns and disappears into an nearby building. Seems straightforward enough.
Zuri looks up at Rokarion, shrugging. "It's a job." He looks back at the hooded figure and collects his pay as it's thrown down. "Huh.. seems straightforward enough..." He says with some uncertainty. He pockets the currency and draws his two blades, rapier in one hand and dagger in the other. He looks up at Rokarion, nods again, then moves towards the warehouse.
Kazel picks up her share of the payment and closes her ventail before drawing her sword and taking point, positioning herself at the door to the warehouse so that she can be the first to enter once the group is ready to open the door.
The large gryphon immediately eyes the sack of crowns as it's placed out, quickly slicing the bag open with a heavy claw and removing her own share of the coin, storing it somewhere unknown upon her. Kilani turns to look at the other Beings that decided to come, observing them quietly. "Perhaps we should consider our plan of attack. Alternate entrances, maybe." She eyes up the armored one. "I could enter through the top. Maybe some of you could look to see if there's any side doors."
Arimia watches the figure walk off befefore looking at the bag of coins in her hand with a sneer. Regardless of whatever feelings that represents she tucks the bag into a pocket before looking toward the others. "Do not harm any but the Jacks. I know how all your kind feel about Apostates, but Shanty Town is our sanctuary, such as it is. I will not have that taken away from us." Then she's turning and moving toward the warehouse, though she's moving to one of the sides rather than the main entrance, likely seeking another, stealthier way in, such as an open(or broken) window or hole in the wall.
The plant being nods at Zuri and shrugs, "Very well." he says before moving towards the warehouse as well, letting Zuri grab both of their shares, "See you inside." Roka adds before moving towards the back of the warehouse, aiming for any windows he can spot from that side.
Rouga is the last to pick up her share of the payment, using the time before to observe the other Beings present and, noting how many of them seem to be armed, does a bit of rummaging around in her clothes for something. Must keep a lot of things in there. That aside, she follows Zuri and Kazel, since they seem to be the biggest single group presently, what with everyone splitting off into angles of attack.
Warehouse is a bit of a kind exaggeration for this place. It is a ramshackle building about 15 feet high that is likely only a single storey inside. The place looks like it has been cobbled together from whatever wood and canvas could be scavanged for use, much like any other building in the area. There are some windows about twelve feet up, under the eaves of the shabby roof, but they are not glazed. Instead they are covered by thin, yellowing parchment. The main door to the loading bay is a huge sheet of metal that looks as though it is meant to slide aside, but the two other doors, one beside the front entrance and one toward the rear are squarish pegs in only vaguely square holes and don't seem too sturdy. The Jacks don't seem like the most well funded gang, but they DO have a reputation for being vicious.
Zuri blows a kiss at Rokarion as he walks off towards the back of the warehouse. He arrives at the 'main door' of this ramshackle construction, stacking up to one side to let Kazel take point. He nods at her to signal his readiness and crouches down, ready to slink in after her and cause all kinds of havoc.
Kazel nods at Kilani's plan. "I suggest that two come in through the front with me to draw their attention, you go in from the roof and two more seek entrance through a possible backdoor or window and attack them from their flanks or back." She gives a nod at Zuri as he takes a position close to her, before adding, "Looking at the place, making your own entrance is probably a viable option too."
Arimia pauses at the side of the building, looking up toward one of the windows. Stepping closer to the wall her eyes move to examine the wall. She ever-so-lightly taps a claw on the wall in a few places before reaching up with her metallic arm, sharpened claws sinking into the material. Making use of her natural claws and those on her prosthetic the small raccoon begins to climb up the side of the warehouse, planning on slipping in through a window.
The plant returns the air kiss back towards the salamander with a wink before he continues his way towards the back. Rokarion rubs his chin as he scans the warehouse, thinking about the method of making his grand entrance. Eyeing the back entrance in front of him, Rokarion decides to play as a distraction instead. With that in mind, the young being moves towards the door and knocks loudly on it before moving away from hiding to the side of the door, waiting to see who answers.
Rouga pulls a book from her clothing after a little while, along with a couple other things. She nods in support of Kazel's distribution of the group, scooting a little closer to her and Zuri so that she's part of the 'two others' serving as an attention-draw for the Jacks.
No one answers the back door. But there is a sound of activity inside. Seems like they aren't accepting visitors.
Kazel takes a step back, nods to the others and gives the door a hard kick, two inch next to the lock. The fragile door loses its lock, which is still stuck to the frame, and flies open. The armored rodent charges inside, large shield raised to protect her and her allies behind her.
The small salamander is right on Kazel's behind as she pushes in, slipping out behind her and finding nearby cover. He waits for the rodent being to engage first, and in the meantime focuses on making her a bigger threat for anything that might be inside. He traces a few mathemagical symbols in the air and gestures in the direction of her weapon, seeking to envelop it with a layer of stinging, bitterly cold frost.
Arimia pauses once she reaches the window, just long enough to use her sharp claws to cut through the yellow parchement. When she hears the ruckus start the raccoon moves to slip through the window. One hand holding the frame of the window, her other moves to sweep out, Arimia performing some dark mathmagic to send a wave of darkness out at the gathered Jacks.
Rokarion taps his chin as no one answers before he hears the noise of the breaking door, well it appears that the Jacks will be quite busy with the intruders. The plant being glances around again and shrugs as he spots no windows on this side of the ware house. Taking out his rapier from its scabbard, Roka moves towards the back entrance and prepares to break his way in, forming a circle with his finger as he prepares some divine maths to help with that.
With her group having broken in through the front door, Rouga hangs ever so slightly back from Kazel and Zuri, tracing some earth mathemagic in the air as she does so. It's clear from her tracing speed and the relative simplicity of the formula that she's still learning, but with any luck, she may be able to offer a bit of protection to Kazel as long as she's doing the whole 'protecting allies' thing.
"FIRE!" comes a shout as Kazel kicks down the door and the air cracks with the sound of gunfire and the open floor of the warehouse fills with smoke as a bevy of blunderbusses fire! Fortunately, between Kazel's shield, Zuri's armor and a bit of help fro Rouga's magic the bullets are stopped. It looks like the whole gang must be here! No less than 15 beings are lined up in the shabby warehouse, armed to the teeth!
The rear door blasts inward in shards of shattered wood, preventing the prepared volley of fire aimed at the back door. The gang members all seem a little off as Arimia's magic washes over them!
Zuri acks and ducks behind cover as the first few volleys are exchanged, feeling the patter of rounds as they graze against his jacket or embed themselves into its padded lining. After the volley ends he pops out and runs to stand behind Kazel and her shield. He clutches his rapier with one hand while the other traces mathemagical symbols in the air. He finishes his incantation by thrusting his hand up and closing his fist, urging the moisture in the air to coalesce into pellets of hail that begin whizzing their way towards the bandits.
Kazel keeps behind her shield in the face of this many enemies and goes through some divine math in her head, focusing it on the center of the enemy group, hoping that the small earth quake she is conjuring up will not obliterate the small building.
Arimia focuses her eyes on the one who called out an order to fire and starts to move her hands in arcane gestures. As she finishes she directs the dark energies toward him, assuming that it was the leader giving that order. "You'll be the one to help me refine this." Then the raccoon slips through the window, prosthetic arm reaching out to catch the wall and drag down it to slow her fall.
Rokarion smirks and waves at the three beings aiming at him, "Oh, my mistake. It appears that I took a long turn." the plant being quips before quickly throwing his dagger, Mercy at the middle being's shoulder as he rolls to the side to avoid the incoming volley.
Rouga finds herself lacking in big, impressive options to throw out like the others, so... when in doubt, whistle loudly and hope it provides enough of a split-second distraction that it stalls them trying to threaten one of her present co-workers again. One might even call it a wolf whistle... though that's not the noise pattern it makes.
Things are not good among the happy denizens of gang land. Shards of ice whip about and slice through the thugs as the sweltering heat of the day becomes frigid, almost painfully so. Then the ground starts to rock and buck, raining dust from the ceiling. Arimia's spell finds its target with no trouble, the huge hyena calling the shots howls in sudden pain and blood runs from his eyes. It is terrifying how powerful the soulless are against ordinary thugs. . . None of them are able to even fight back under the onsaught.
Zuri wheezes as he finishes casting the powerful spell.. perhaps it was the small salamander's lack of familiarity with that particular mathemagical phrase, but it certainly drew deep from his strength to produce results beyond what he was expecting. He readies his blade and moves to stand next to Kazel, taking a moment to regain his breath and reassess the battlefield while guarding the rat's flank.
Kazel steps forward to the cooled, shaken, but not stirred beings that dared to dent her nice shield with their bullets. She keeps the shield raised and only somewhat peeks from the side of it. The heavy steps of the rat slowly but surely take her to the nearest of the thugs, at whom she slices with her broadsword.
Arimia turns her head to sweep her eyes over the group, looking for the dog that was mentioned, as well as picking out which opponents seem to be the most in control and healthy. Then she starts to move forward, one hand slipping under her coat to pull out a dagger. When she reaches the first of the oppoenents she pauses to quickly stab her dagger into a vital point before starting to move again, rather obviously heading for the next.
Rokarion smirks and moves back into the warehouse after dodging the hail of fire sent his way, "Gentlemen, I hope I did not intrude, you look a bit busy." the plant being quips before he brings down the pommel of his rapier on the nearest of the three beings, aiming to send him to the land of dreams, while his own gaze is more focused on discovering the 'vigilante' that was caught.
Rouga is most definitely not the focus target of this fight. That's fine with her; it's honestly for the best that she stay on the sidelines and nudge things here and there. Making use of her view of the ensuing chaos, she turns her focus to sketching out some air mathemagic to help nudge her allies' weapons a little more toward where they're trying to go. Just minor corrections if any are needed.
A scarred bear falls under Kazel's sword and an ugly stoat tumbles to the earth with Arimia's knife work evident on his neck. As the Freeswords finally enter the fray, Zuri's vicious hail storm fades, preventing any friendly fire. Or ice, as the case may be. The bloodied gang members don't seem to be out of the fight yet, though they all look worse for the wear. Especially the gigantic Hyena who seems to be calling the shots. Blood rolls down one of his cheeks from a bloodshot eye and he is reeling, though he does not seem to have sustained much damage from the magical hail storm. "Make 'em DEAD!" he roars drunkenly and the others join in with voiceless roars, throwing themselves into the fray. A pair of thugs throw themselves toward Kazel and Zuri, but the rat's shield manages to keep them at bay for now, warding off blows from a swarthy warthog and a shifty looking raccoon. Arimia manages to keep her attacker, a rangy feline female at bay as well.
Rokarion's masterful strike drops one of the gunmen at the back door, but he still has two more friends to deal with. The angry looking mole and rabbit duo drop their spent firearms and each draw heavy metal rods from their belts. No sign yet of the prisoner the shadowy benefactor mentioned.
Rouga seems to have chosen wisely, keeping at the edge of the fray. The angry gang members seem to have overlooked her in their thirst for the blood of the Freeswords who have hurt them the most.
Zuri shakes his head to clear away the wooziness, snapping back to attention at the sound of blows clanging harmless off of Kazel's shield. He focuses his gaze on the shifty raccoon and steps towards him, shiny rapier flashing as he produces a quick flurry of swipes in the bandit being's direction and terminates with a solid thrust. His other hand re-draws his dagger, readying it for use.
Kazel wards off two more impacts with her shield and grins behind her helmet as she spots the hyena and marks her as her target, marching towards the feline at the same, stable pace she had been keeping up the whole time. As she passes the another tug who was foolish enough not to retreat from her assault, probably the one that just attacked her and was not take care of by Zuri, she pulls back her shield and bashes it into their head.
Arimia shakes her head slightly as she ducks around the feline's blows, eyes on the Hyena. "How well can you give commands as your own body betrays you?" Other than doing her best to avoid the attacks she simply ignores the hyena as her hands move again in arcane paterns. This time she takes a bit of water magic, then uses her knowledge of dark mathemagic to twist it, seeking to turn every liquid in the hyena's body into a deadly poison.
Rokarion smiles and shakes his head, "Ruffians, ruffians. No need for such silliness. I take no pleasure in fighting thugs who were not given equal opportunities in life." the plant being says as he takes out his sword-breaker, "But if you insist, a duel is what you will have." he says as he assumes his duelling positions and immediately lunges at the rabbit, aiming a thrust at his forearm to make disarm them, while preparing his dagger to counter any attack from the frog.
Rouga continues her watch of the battlefield, leaving the actual fighting to her companions as she weaves subtle enchantments here and there to help out how she can. For the moment, that would happen to be a wordless song that nonetheless seems to harmonize with the clashes of steel, the magical portion of the harmonics cancelling or at least dulling the strain on the hand and body that such impacts cause to build up over time. No sense letting them tire out, right?
Arimia says, "8 on light weapons"
It is a bad day to be a Wild Jack. Rokarion's clever sword work plunges his rapier into the soft tissue of the rabbit's inner elbow, setting blood gushing from the wound and causing the wounded being to drop his makeshift weapon, staggering back, away from the fighting while the mole lunges forward, hoping to catch the plant by surprise.
Kazel's shield strike sends another thug reeling as she proceeds on her way, and Zuri's thrust takes another out of the game, slicing into the brute's abdomen.
Arimia's work bears specific note as the Hyena she is targeting, and that Kazel is so eager to engage opens his mouth to roar a challenge, but only gurgles out red and black froth. His eyes roll back gruesomely in his head and he slumps to his knees, blank white eyes staring at the sunlight filtering through holes in the ceiling while he convulses gently.
Rouga, as she circles the room, giving what support she can, notices a short flight of rickety stairs behind a stack of crates. It probably leads to a separate room. Or maybe an escape route.
Zuri flicks his blade as he fells the thug, and quickly glances around for any more targets of opportunity. He spots the mole in the back engaging Rokarion, and dashes over in his direction to provide assistance.
A slightly disappointed grunt comes out of Kazel's helm as her opponent to be drops to the floor just as she reaches him. With a sigh and a cut to the throat she ends his suffering. She peers at the few remaining enemies in the hut and with booming voice instructs her allies to, "Finish them!"
Arimia turns an annoyed look toward the feline that had been trying to attack her. As her hands start to move again in the patterns of mathemagic she comments, "You are far, far too close." And then her spellweaving is done, and the air around her fills with a sickly green mist.
Rokarion takes away his rapier from the wounded rabbit as the mole dashes towards him. The plant being's parrying blade was already ready for such an attempt as the pipe collides with the dagger. Instead of pushing the frog away, Roka moves with the frog's attack, turning to the side and letting the frog's momentum push the amphibian forward. The young jasmine then uses this opportunity to continue his circling movement by raising his rapier's and striking the pommel at the back of the frog, aiming once more to simply knock him out of the fight instead of leaving any permanent injuries.
Rouga figures the others have this fight well under control, so with what enchantments she's placed lingering to help out, she tests the rickety stairs gently to make sure they're not going to break under her weight or something. She's not exactly heavy, but still...
The feline attacker gags and clutches at her throat, falling before Arimia. Rokarion's fancy moves are more than the poor, brutalized mole can handle and he drops with a grunt.
The last two thugs standing aren't having any more to do with this as make a break for it toward the shattered front door. Now there are only corpses and groaning, incapacitated gang bangers rolling around on the floor.
Rouga doesn't have any trouble getting up the stairs. She finds a small, dim room. The only light filters through cracks in the wall. There are two bodies up here, sprawled on the floor, both look like they are in rough shape. One is a skinny dog and the other is a short hyena.
