thebastion | Day 163, Closed

Entry tags:

Day 163, Closed | WE HUNT!

Who: Colin Starfury, everyone who responded to his rallying cry
What: Hunting a Gasfella for a fallen friend
When: Day 163, "Oh God" Early
Where: The Skyway
Format: Whatever the heck you want, we're all big kids here
Open: Closed to those who responded.
Warnings: Violence, oh boy is there gonna be violence. Also, this thing has killed one person already, so there's that.

He'd gathered his crew. He'd interviewed Rin. He'd examined Night's body, the wounds she'd suffered. He had all the evidence he'd be able to get here, and now it was time to head out. He'd grabbed his pistols and an ammo belt, wearing both openly. Also, he'd fashioned a bandolier some time ago to carry grenades, and today was the first time he was going to wear it out.

He wasted no time in getting everyone who said they wanted to come. He was mindful of the residents who didn't want anything to do with it, those who needed only to sleep and mourn. But for those who were going to hunt this thing down, Colin was there, waking them from their rest and rousing them to meet at the Skyway entrance.

There, he set out what was coming in what he hoped was easily understandable terms.

"Okay everyone," he announces. "Our first stop is where this all went down. We need to find more information so we can track down the creature. Rin tells me it was a BIG Gasfella, different coloration than the ones we normally see out there. She'd tried to talk to it, and it attacked them mercilessly. It didn't want them there."

His eyes narrowing, he continues. "So we're going there, we're going to find what it was guarding, and then we're going to find it. We are going to give it one chance to surrender, and if it does anything other than lay down its weapon and put its hands in the air, we are going to kill it so certainly that it will have to crawl into its afterlife."

He looks at Nanaki briefly, then he looks at Paarthurnax and Alucard. "Again I'm going to say... No eating this thing. It tore apart two full-power demons, I don't want anyone getting close enough for a hug, because that will open you up to all kinds of hurt," he explains. "We can inflict plenty of harm WITHOUT opening ourselves up to close range attacks."

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[Ippo's hands were already in front of his face due to his peek-a-boo fighting style, all he had to do was duck his head down a little as he skidded to a stop; the sound and explosion from the flashbang making his teeth clench. Thankfully it was a momentary thing and a quick shake of his head was all he needed to get his senses back; with that he was right off again, noting that the Gasfella was stunned and firing right past it to get to where Colin was...until he saw the grizzly scene in front of him, the very sight of it was enough to stop the young man in his tracks.

This--this was brutal. No matter what justification the gasfella had...all this death and carnage was just too much; it was just killing things on a whim without even trying to understand the situation. With every new horrific thing, images of Night kept flashing through Ippo's mind...the happy times, the smiles, everything he had liked about her as the slideshow in his mind was punctuated by her bloody, lifeless face looking up at him...]

[He felt something snap in the back of his brain, as if all the sadness, anger, and frustration that had been building since he had seen Night's corpse had finally built up enough tension to break his mind like a wound up rubber band. He felt a cold numbness take hold of his body and the chill seemed to extend throughout him, even going so far as to make his breath visible in the air as he turned around. The look in Ippo's eyes no longer belonged to the softspoken, polite young man that had been there only a moment before; instead in his place was the look of a wild animal that stood poised to sink its fangs into the nearest thing that moved.

He'd tried to be diplomatic, he'd tried to understand the Gasfella's side of the story, he'd even gone so far as to push all of his feelings to the side for this one purpose, but there was nothing left for him to understand; the low growling coming out of his mouth was a testament to that. In this moment, in this time here and now, Ippo Makunouchi was out for one thing and one thing only as he slowly advanced towards his target. Blood.]

Maybe to make up for her less-than-perfect eye, Zuko has pretty sharp hearing, and even if she managed to shut her eyes, her ears are ringing from that bomb. She hasn't kept up with Ippo, but she's still closest to him of anyone in the group, and one of the first sounds that comes back to her is that unnerving growl he's making.

Zuko isn't really one to talk when it comes to letting her anger get the better of her in a fight, but she's at least come to realize that it's rarely done her any good to lose her head like that. Sometimes it can add power to attacks, but it can also make a person vulnerable. Ippo hasn't shown very good judgement on that front already.

"Hey!" Zuko shouts ahead to him. "You heard her, right? Keep up, but keep your distance." She can't see his face well enough to discern whether he's past listening to reason, but she can at least try to talk him down from doing anything else stupid until she catches up with him.

[Although he manages to close his eyes in time, the explosion is still enough to make his rather sensitive ears ring even from his position farther back from the Gasfella.

He doesn't need his ears to know he needs to move though. His eyes are enough to tell him that their target is in a rather more vulnerable state than it was. They are also enough to tell him that Ippo is on the war path. It poses an interesting dilemma. Does he find a more suitable spot to cast from for the sake of keeping himself uninjured for the time being? Or does he risk injury for the sake of perhaps preventing others from taking too much damage.

Once he would prioritized his own safety. But now... Now he chooses to rush the Gasfella while it's still blinded to hopefully take it down quickly.]

Thanks for not listening to the weather witch, Ippo, Alucard. The Gasfella doesn't really know what's going on with two of its prime senses disoriented. Being guided by wind to slam into rock after rock is doing nothing to help that. Still, it determinedly presses on forward. It's only when it hears Ippo through its clogged hearing does it pause and wobble in the air, dripping its oily blood onto the stone. There's a rush of air that goes through it, rough and harsh, before it jerks around with a hand outreached.

It doesn't grab Ippo, however. It ends up grabbing Alucard instead.

This fact doesn't seem to bother the Gasfella, not even aware of who was coming towards it in the first place. It moves with the action smoothly, twisting its large body. On the bright side, Alucard won't smell that grotesque smell brought from a bloody and burned Gasfella. On the down side, the Gasfella slams him face first into the stone floor with its enormous palm gripping the back of his head tightly. It doesn't stop there, either. Even with Tris' wind as a deterrent and encouraging more meetings with the wall, it seems just as determined to lunge itself forward with Alucard's face still pressed down against the floor. Everytime it blindly slams into a rock or wall, it makes sure that Alucard gets slammed as well.

If it gets hurt, it seems like it wants to make sure Alucard feels the same way.

[ooc: Godmodding done with permission by Alucard's player.]

[Whelp, hopefully Tris wouldn't be putting anything in Ippo's way right now, because the second he saw Alucard get snatched up and slammed, he was off like a rocket towards the Gasfella. The growling coming from him had turned into a guttural roar as he dashed into the Gasfella's personal space, his punches lashing out like bullets as he aimed for any open wound he could visibly see. He was putting his entire body behind every shot, which meant that anything that managed to connect was going to give the Gasfella a nice taste of laser on impact.

He didn't care about himself at this point; the Gasfella might as well have been a moving heavy bag with how he was attempting to wail on it. Drop the dhamphir, bad Gasfella, bad!]

[This wasn't the chance he wanted but it was the one Rai was taking. Hurt or not, that giant green bag of bad gas was going down. They needed to take it down and now. Raimundo launched himself at the Gasfella with a burst of wind. He tried to use his speed from the air to land a strong kick to the side of the Gasfella's head. If they could get Alucard, the Squirt-sucker, free, they could take this stupid thing out. Once and for all.]

And instead of letting their big guns do the work, everyone's chosen to blitz the thing. With predictable consequences. The flashbang was only a momentary stun, and whatever advantage they'd momentarily had was now blown.

Damn it all.

"TRIS!" Colin shouts up to the weather mage. "Get them OUT OF THERE! Don't be gentle about it! Paar! If you can calm Ippo down somehow, DO IT!"

He's got several more grenades he can use, but none of them are safe with that many friendlies so close to the enemy. He has no other orders to give, he doesn't know the full capabilities of everyone he brought along. Alucard was going to need some blood after that beating. Ippo's attack was going to do some damage, but he could almost guarantee that the Gasfella was going to be able to survive it long enough to do some damage back.

"Sorry about the blast, Kitten," Colin adds, aside. "Didn't have time to give a detailed explanation. The blindness was the bigger risk to everyone."

He lifts his pistol, but rather than looking at the Gasfella, he surveys the area. So long as Ippo's going to town on the Gasfella, he can't take a shot. If he had a laser pistol, that would be another matter entirely, but even with his targeting, there's too much chance of hitting Ippo.

They're at the Gasfella's lair, that much is plainly apparent. But is there anything here that he can use to turn the situation around?

Edited 2014-03-12 18:14 (UTC)

She said to stay away from it!

"I said - Just because you're taller, " (and very possibly older) "does not mean you can ignore what I say!"

They could have handled this without Alucard getting smashed. Without everyone else ganging up on a very strong creature, when it was clear that Colin had ways to hurt it from a distance - when hurting it from a distance had been the plan.

Colin's directions just make it so she makes the decision quicker. While she would still be 'gentle' - getting them away from the Gasfella would be rather pointless if she tossed them over the edge of the Skyway in doing so - she... lets it be harder than she would have done so otherwise.

The winds she used to guide the Gasfella into rocks spins around it with a handmotion, tightening and becoming a minor twister. Not enough to scrape skin off - well, any rock fragments caught up would still not be fun, but it isn't the wind doing anything. She asks it to split a bit off to circle in another direction, before the edge of the skyway and any obvious rock formations.

Hopefully the gasfella lets go with all the spinning, and hopefully she managed to throw those standing around it into the slightly covered distance. She keeps her hold on Paar with a rather furious scowl, but her attention is all on her twister for now. This is where she needs to focus more.

[There are many things Alucard could have been thinking in his current situation. He could have been considering the fact that perhaps bringing people without the ability to attack from as distance had perhaps been a bad idea. He could have been thinking that next time there should be a more coordinated plan in place beforehand. It was even possible that he could have been considering how fortunate it was that he had managed to take the blow instead of Ippo, as a human would quite likely have much more difficulty surviving this, and not without permanent damage.

Considering that he's begun to leave a noticeable trail of blood though, it's rather understandable that the only thing resembling a coherent thought in his head at the moment is something along the lines of "Ow, my face."]

Paarthurnax has been hoping the rest would keep organized or at least cool headed. Still, it's not surprising to see everything rapidly falling apart. There had been a brief spot where things could have gone quietly but it seems now out of their grasp for now. What's important is not the Gasfella but reining in the rest of their group.

Hopefully some of Tris' attention is also given to staying on Paarthurnax, because the dragon twists his body and begins to dive downwards. It's a good thing there are some pieces of cave walls still more or less intact. They hold Paarthurnax's weight as he lands down onto them. If Tris' wind hasn't pushed Ippo and Raimundo away yet, then Paarthurnax's swinging tail certainly will as he twists around on his new perch. Whether or not the Gasfella has let go of Alucard isn't a concern right now; Paarthuranx is confident the dhampir can survive this and recover well enough. They need time, and Paarthurnax can only bring it to them in one way:

"Iiz Slen Nus!"

The shout booms over the Skyway, and Paarthurnax's head snaps forward on the last word. Anyone that's still trying to get nearby will get a slight taste of bone-chilling cold, but it's nothing compared to what's being sent full force at the Gasfella. Enough to barrel into it and freeze it solid against a rock wall... But such an affect won't last long. They have thirty second only at best if it hits... With that in mind, Paarthurnax draws himself up as best he can on his precarious perch and without making Tris fall off.

"That is enough!" While not angry, his voice is still loud and commanding, the kind that makes people's ribs rattle. He should have gotten involved sooner, but there's no time to dwell on mistakes. "Go, now, and take Alucard. Do not question, do it." Whether the others interpret that as 'go with Colin' or 'go back to the Bastion', either will do for now.

And so help him if any of you make anymore motions towards this Gasfella. He WILL pick you up in his claws or, at least, act as a physical barrier.

The down side: the Gasfella reacts to Ippos and Raimundo's attacks. Violently. (Although at this point, no one should be expecting anything more.) With Alucard still in hand, it tries to use the poor dhampir's body as a weapon in place of any rock or ax and does its best to bludgeon its two nearby attackers with his body. There's definitely damage being done- the dark blood splattered all along like a trail and on their clothing is a fine testament to that. However, that doesn't seem to be stopping the massive creature. In fact, Kitten may be privy to some rather creative swear words and curses if she's still listening in.

There is a bright side, however, and the first part of that is that it lets go of Alucard as Tris' wind sends it spinning. He might go skipping a bit face first, but he's still let go of. It's also hit full blast by Paarthurnax's Shout. The force of it makes it slam into a large rock, covered from head to tail in ice and frost which also is along the floor as well. There's a crackling sound in the air. Momentarily, it seems to be stopped.

Now that they've gotten further in, Colin can see more than just the remains of past victims. There's a little left of some rails, hinting that this area may once have been a mine. This is only further supported if he takes a few more steps in and can see a large mine cart set to the side that is positively full of mining gear. Pickaxes, shovels, those sort of things. Colin's scanner can pick up some of the same energy that shards release further in the rocky ground and walls- there's still some of them left buried. Even to those without such impressive technology in them, there's still plenty to see. Anyone not distracted by how much blood Alucard is leaking or having a crisis might notice tiny little holes everywhere. In rocks, in the ground, in walls... They're around the size of people's eyes, for comparison. There's also signs that something has been mining in the walls relatively recently.

[Much to the Gasfella's displeasure, every shot it seemed to send at Ippo was met with air and more shots to its body; Ippo might be out of it, but his body remembered the countless hours he'd spent drilling his skills into his body and every bob and weave of his body simply added to the force of which he was striking...until a gust of wind blew him backwards and sent him tumbling along the ground.

He stood up in short order looking even more enraged than before, but no sooner did he start moving forward again did the mighty tail of Paarthurnax send him flying back once more as the Gasfella was iced against the wall. This time, he smacked his head hard on the ground as he tumbled, and with that his entire world seemed to snap back before his eyes as if someone had pulled a sheet from over his head.

He could smell iron in the back of his nose and everything seemed disoriented...but a small shake of his head quickly set him right; now he could see Alucard lying bloody on the ground and that took a far higher priority than figuring out what he'd been doing for the last 10 minutes. Without a word, he scrambled over to his friend and place a hand on his shoulder as he tried to see if he was alive...well, still breathing at least as he ripped his shirt off and started to wrap it around the more major wounds on his friend's head.]

Alurcard...Alucard say something!

She hears Paarthurnax's voice, and she can sense the burst of magic, his joining the other power that was already there. Kitten is impressed and dreadfully curious, but too occupied to pay the main battle much attention.

She's surrounded by rock, and while Kitten isn't much use in combat right now, here is something she can do.

As soon as she notices the holes, Kitten is at the wall digging a claw into the nearest one. Her claws are strong enough to gouge into the stone. She whistles an experimental light spell against the rock, because seeing how the length of the wall responds to that is faster than close examination. Different rocks respond differently. Kitten didn't force it with a more complex spell. This is her simplest one, and it will hopefully point out any areas of particular interest.

She is still camouflaged, but even if Colin's sensors don't alert him, the sound of claw against stone should have told him just where Kitten is.

[Raimundo grabs onto the Gasfella's wrist when it swings Alucard at him like a human sized club. He moves around in a 360 before he lets go. The wind from Tris blows him away and he uses his own to land most softly on his feet. The ribs on his left side send a jolt of pain through Rai but he keeps standing. He growls and looks deeper in. He sees something gleam. A pickaxe. Ideas are running through the Xiaolin Dragon's head. He turns to watch the Gasfella get coated in ice.

The actual dragon's roar makes him jump and he quickly, or as quickly as he can, walks deeper in and toward the pickaxe he saw. If that thing gets out and someone can keep it still, one nice hit to the head ought to take it down, right? Everything had a brain.]

[As a matter of fact, Alucard is not breathing at the moment. Between the blood from his broken nose leaking down the back of his throat, the possibly broken rib, and just really not wanting to move his face, the dhampir is not terribly inclined to anything that involves the use of his lungs. He is however going to take the shirt from Ippo and keep it pressed to his face, hiding the extent of the damage from the others.

These are hardly the worst injuries he has suffered. More than once he had needed to run while wounded near the point of collapse. By comparison, this is nothing. And yet... Like this, he can neither see nor smell, and his ears have yet to stop ringing. Like this, he cannot move on his own.

He thinks perhaps he might feel the slightest bit afraid had he been alone.]

Edited 2014-03-13 07:16 (UTC)

This fight was uncoordinated from the start, but it's been getting progressively worse, and despite the volume, Zuko nearly breathes a sigh of relief at Paarthurnax and his rider's intervention. (Even if it's a surprise to see the dragon breathing ice -- where does that start making sense?)

After eyeing the frozen Gasfella for a moment, she sheathes her swords for now and joins Ippo at Alucard's side with a sharp look for the fighter. "What do you think you were doing? Didn't you hear her say to stay back?"

Zuko turns her attention to Alucard. He's conscious, but beyond that it's hard to determine the extent of the injuries with his face covered. Still, Zuko feels like anyone but an earthbender would have looked even worse.

She raises her voice. "Can we get a healer over here?"

Ryu takes that as his cue, and shifts back into his human form. It appears as though the dragon's body is unraveling into nothing, revealing the group's blue haired friend standing where the dragon had once been. He strides over to Alucard with a quick step, kneeling next to him.

"Just hold still, okay? I'll be able to fix you up."

Unless Alucard stops him, Ryu is going to proceed with his spell. A sphere of pulsing energy appears in his hands, and disappears in a low flash of light after being split apart. What replaces it is a warm green glow. The healing spell is certainly not uncomfortable, it feels more like a warm tingle than anything else.

"Get him back, get Alucard away from the fight! And everyone who can't hit at range, stay back with them!" Colin orders. "The Gasfella's immobilized for the moment, so everyone who can get it at range, form up near Paar, and get ready to unleash hell! I doubt it's going to stay immobile for long!"

Colin moves next to Paar, looking up at him. "Kitten's not close to the Gasfella, so no worries of catching her in a barrage, but she's in there in the rocks," he says. "So my high explosives aren't an option. Still got my pistols, though. Think we can finish it off quickly?"

He tilts one of the weapons in his hand as if demonstrating. And then, without waiting for Paar's reply, Colin turns his gaze towards Kitten's direction. "You see anything in there that might explain any of this, Kitten?" he calls out to her.

Colin is right- it's obvious the Gasfella isn't going to stay in its frozen state for much longer. There are more noticeable cracking sounds now, not the usual noise ice makes but that of something trying to break through. Its frozen body is shaking a bit, and bits of ice are falling off of it. Any moment now...

But people might get distracted from the Gasfella by the fact that this particular portion of the Gasfella's lair is suddenly lighting up. Not all of it, of course, but tiny little pinpricks of light... They're miniscule but bright. If Kitten or Colin give them a closer look, then it'll be obvious that the particular rock reacting so strongly to Kitten's spell would be fragments and slivers of shards. There's a few specks in the holes that Kitten is inspecting, but they're most noticeable in the areas that have been mined. The reaction is so strong- perhaps a chain reaction even with the shard fragments near Kitten carrying on further- that it actually shows a path. Colin may notice immediately that it leads to the area on his scanners that is giving off all that collected shard energy.

There's a quieter and different colored glow as well, if Kitten pays attention. It's coming from the little holes, although the shine of the shards might hide it if she doesn't look carefully. It seems that the glow is coming from a particular and thin level of rock that's around the openings of the holes and the inside of the tunnels they lead. It seems like they're an entirely different sort of rock than the rest of the wall...

Also, Raimundo is more than welcome to help himself to the gleaming and sharp mining tools filling up the mine cart. However, he might need to work at picking one up... These mine tools aren't made for human sizes, especially not Brazilian teenagers. Even the normal sized Gasfellas are large in comparison to regular humans.

There's no need to wait for Paar anyway- he's quiet and watching the Gasfella cautiously. It's good that the others have gotten Alucard away at least to some degree. His large body shifts, wings brushing against the top of the wall he's on.

"Not long now..." His voice is a low rumble, gaze still trapped on their opponent. "I cannot say, Colin." After all, it's held off after this long. It's gone against Rin and Night, their strongest fighters, and even wounded like this and going up against all of them... This Gasfella is clearly strong to begin with. Even more, it seems desperate and that sort of thing always lends a frightening strength to creatures.

"I will protect all of you as I can, however." No more sticking to the skies. Most of their fighters seem too preoccupied as of the moment anyway.

[Ippo didn't need to be told twice as he scooped up Alucard in his arms...gods above this man was heavier than he looked, and began to move him away from the battle; not that he was going to ignore Zuko's snappy comment.]

I...wasn't really hearing much of anything, honestly. I just saw red and then I came to a few minutes ago...what happened exactly?

"You just started pummelling it." Zuko doesn't ask the obvious question, if he seriously doesn't remember that, but it's in her eyes. With his lack of control or even knowledge of all his actions, it's better if he gets out of the fight.

"You can think about it later. Just get him out of the way."

Zuko herself moves to join Paarthurnax and the others, and focuses her attention on the Gasfella. She leaves her swords sheathed, because by this point she's sure she doesn't want to be close enough to use them. She still has her firebending, hopefully for long enough to finish this.

Tris stays where she is on Paar's back. Getting off would be too much trouble, really. Her twister is weaving a little pattern not too far away from the Gasfella, tightly controlled for now.

When Zuko steps up, Tris glances over at her.

"If you light the twister on fire, things could get rather interesting once its free." Fire tornadoes. It could be fun, dealing with those without a forest fire.

"Tris, stupid question," Colin asks, letting his targeting system attempt to figure out the math behind the shot he's planning to make. "Can you give us a twister sufficient enough to throw it off the Skyway? Or will that put us in danger as well?"

He won't be able to make a clean shot just yet, but he imagines that the Gasfella will make it much easier for him when it breaks out of the ice.

"And Paar, if it comes after me, let it. It needs distance on everyone else, and I have plenty of surprises for a close range encounter," Colin adds. "Even if it's recovered enough to move, its still feeling the effects of my grenade."

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