thebastion | Day 163, Closed

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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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"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."

Raimundo looked at the large tools. They didn't look this big when he was farther away. He reached inside and tried to pick one up with his hands but a wince put a stop to that. Too heavy for him to try and pick up right now. They were more for someone, or something, bigger. If he had some Wu on him, he could be more useful. He glared at the cart then looked back to the growing group and the frozen over Gasfella.

"Why does it always gotta be hard?" He asked himself under his breath. He put a finger under his chin. There had to be some way he could still use this stuff. He looked down at the ground. The cart had to be on tracks, right? If it was, he might be able to do a little something if he could get a strong enough gust going. A mini-tornado would be even better. He'd tried it a few times before but wasn't ever that great at it.

Guess it was now or never to get it right.

"They mine for shards here!" Kitten says it softly, to everyone but easily ignored in the back of their minds if they're... otherwise occupied.

She is of course paying close attention. That was the entire purpose of the spell in the first place. She catches sight of the dimmer layer and examines that, targeting Colin to give him an update on it. "There is a layer of the rock here that I want a closer look at after. I'm not sure if it is related to the shards or something different. If you have anything to help analyze that, I would appreciate the help. Right now, though--" Kitten glances in the direction of the now illuminated pathway, "I want to see where this goes." She's still camouflaged, but if anyone's looking, they'll see a slight ripple against the walls and ground where Kitten moves.

[Ryu's spell was enough to stop the bleeding and lessen the various other pains Alucard feels. Given that Ippo's shirt is now a bit stuck to his face though, he appreciates the fact he's being carried. Like it or not, someone is going to have to tend to his wounds after this is all over.

...He wishes he could actually tell what's being said over the ringing in his ears. Only being able to hear Kitten in his mind makes it a bit difficult to keep track of what's going on.]

Tending to Alucard has him occupied, but he does catch Kitten's telepathic message. "Is it really so important that it has all these shards?" He asks with a hint of anger in his voice. So much chaos and lost lives before they came along, and for what? Ryu knows they could use them back at the Bastion, but what did a Gasfella hope to do with them?

For now, Ryu stays near Alucard. He wants to put an end to this, though he feels as if he doesn't have any more energy to transform. The feeling strikes him as strange, as he would ordinarily have more stamina to change again. However, he's hoping they can end this before the Gasfella can do anything serious to anyone else.

"What do you have in mind for that minecart, Raimundo?" He asks, curious as to what he's examining.

Kitten just barely caught Ryu's words, but she calls backward as she continues moving away, "Of course it's important. Everything is important. If we don't know why it did this, we cannot prevent more incidents! It is no longer willing to talk to me, so I have to find out some other way."

As an afterthought, she adds, "Yell my name if you need an invisibility spell."

Right as Kitten disappears around the way- well, more disappearing than she's already done by going invisible anyway- is right at the moment when there's a thunderous crack and the ice shatters off of the Gasfella when it swings its arms forward.

It nearly collapses forward and gives a shake of its head before its gaze lands on the firing squad that's settled in front of it. Seeing how many have gotten past it seems to alarm it and it immediately makes a move. However, it's not towards any of the attacking group, or those tending to Alucard, or Colin... If the phrase "scramble" can be attributed to a thing without legs, than that is exactly what the Gasfella does. Something about the group having intruded this far into its territory has alarmed it, apparently, and now it's on the defensive as it tries to rush deeper into the rocky area. For all the dark blood that's being left behind in its wake, it still seems like it could keep going on in a fight with all the energy it's still displaying...

How far it gets- if even past Colin- is all dependent on how much firepower the group decides to throw its way.

Kitten's journey will be a bit less adrenaline filled. The illuminated path lends an almost surreal quality to the dim and plain area that were once tunnels. The more she follows it, the more rocks that crop up until she'll eventually lose sight of the rest of the group. Further in also has the ground becoming less flat, more rocky and difficult for most people... unless they're a very agile little dragon or a creature that can float like a Gasfella can. The walls still show signs of being mined, or those peculiar little holes with the rock layer that doesn't match everything else. Even through the rockiest areas, the lit up path remains consistent with only flecks here and there scattered away from the mass of it.

Perseverance will eventually lead her to a larger and more open area. The ground is a bit more flat here, but of more interest will be the large outcropping of rocks in the middle. Pressed together as they are, they make a decent enough and large 'bowl' of sorts. Maybe 'nest' would be more appropriate, because it seems like the sort of thing a bored bird might make: filled to the brim with shards but also scattered with bright orange cloth poking out here and there and pickaxes propped up against it. There's more Pecker feathers scattered around too. Lots of them. Looks like there might have been a scuffle over such a large supply of shards at some point.

As Kitten moves against the ground, she might hear a high pitched twangy sort of noise from somewhere in the room. Is that an echo?

Zuko gives a nod to Tris's suggestion, but she waits to follow through on it, because she knows her bending is on a time limit. As soon as she hears the ice crack, her first move is to send a blast of fire for that twister.

With her other fist, she aims a second burst of flame for the Gasfella, and then with a glance at the others, she starts after it. She has no intention of closing with it and getting in their way, but she needs to keep it in range of her attacks. If it stops, so will she.

Raimundo looked to Ryu and opened his mouth to say something but then that stupid Gasfella busted out. The teen ducked behind the cart so he could avoid the ice shards. He peaked up to see the monster trying to crawl/float away as fast as possible. They couldn't let him get away.

"Ryu! Help me throw this at that thing!" It was now or never. With them together, they could probably toss thing cart right at the monster. He pulled back his arms and tried to focus. Spinning wind. A tornado. Like the one that Tris had made. Just smaller and under the cart. That thing was not going to get away. Not now.

He glances to the minecart and nods, ceasing his treatment on Alucard. It's enough of a distance that he can get a running start, and given how many times the teen has thrown himself into things, he knows how to put his full weight behind it. Even if he couldn't transform for more power behind it, he could certainly still use some of his power naturally, even in a human form.

"I hope you know what you're doing!" He shouts just before ramming his shoulder into the minecart. It's certainly heavy, but that won't stop him from dislodging it so Raimundo could do what he planned to do. If it doesn't move the first time, Ryu will throw himself into moving it again and again until it does what Raimundo needs it to do.

"Just it? Not going to happen." Now, if it had been earlier, she might have been able too. But now the Gasfella is free, and now she has a fire tornado, and now the Gasfella is...

Running?

"It looks a bit early for it to retreat." But, somehow, both of the people who can talk to it aren't around, to judge by the lack of shouting directed at the Gasfella. Her tornado moves after the creature, off to the side and behind it. She isn't sure if she's threatening it to not turn around, or getting ready to smash fire and wind into the creature of it makes a move for Colin.

"I thought as much!" Colin shouted above the roaring, flaming whirlwind. And more importantly, around the gunshots.

With Tris's tornadoes no longer hindering his shots, Colin's arm snaps up independently of the rest of his body. He squeezes off three shots in the Gasfella's direction, two aimed cleanly at the thing's eyes, and another aimed at the laser wounds Ippo left behind.

"No more, you blight," he says. "You had two chances too many, and you threw both of them away in spite of that."

With the Gasfella running now, Colin re-targets and fires three more shots at the dark, bloody spots on the Gasfella's cloak. He's aiming to make those wounds worse, to bring this thing down both quickly and painfully.

Kitten hates scrambling awkwardly up things, but she by far prefers it to leaving even idle curiosity unfulfilled. And her current curiosity is anything but idle. Sharp, strong silver claws dig into the dirt or rock as she goes through the more difficult sections, the sound slightly eroding her capacity for stealth. Kitten wonders how far the mine extends, doing her best to ignore the distant sounds of battle. Was the Gasfella just protecting the mine and the shards, or is there something else here?
Then she gets to the nest. And feathers. A lot of feathers. Who built the nest? Was it the Gasfella, or the birds? So far, Kitten has nothing but more questions.
She spins to face the direction from which she thinks the sound may have come. She hesitates, remembering how violent their opponent outside was, but then Kitten goes ahead and calls softly, "Hello! Who was that? I am not here to hurt you." If she gets no answer, it's time to rummage around in the nest itself. Who knows what else is in there with the shards.

Gasfella Group
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Zuko's quick actions means the fire hits first, consuming the Gasfella's injured shoulder and the blaze only feeding off of its cloak. It slams down a hand onto the spot in a half hearted attempt to extinguish it, but its attention is still focused on absconding. At least, that's where it's attention is until a minecart suddenly flies straight at it anyway.

It makes a jerk in an attempt to dodge the large cart, but it still clips the Gasfella and nearly spins it right into one of the fire tornadoes Tris and Zuko have made. Even 'nearly' is enough to set it more ablaze, however, and that includes the large shovel it manages to grasp from the floor where other mining tools are scattered thanks to the minecart. It uses the tool to dig into the earth and wrench it away from the pull of Tris' wind. The fiery shovel soon goes flying out of its hand towards Colin... but not before its head goes jerking back as its hit by the engineer's gun.

Even as the shots all hit- although one doesn't get the Gasfella's eye and is instead lodged in what could be called its 'cheek'- it still moves stubbornly forward after grabbing another drill like tool in one hand. It's leaving a trail of oily blood after all this, now, shining a sickly kind of bright blue in the light. It heads for one of the rock walls that are left, attempting to float and climb up one in an attempt to gather the high ground and perhaps shelter. Although when a rock breaks off in its hand, it tries to throw that back at Colin too.

----------
Kitten
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For a heavy second, there's nothing but silence. Then, another light twangy sound- and another, and another, and another. Turns out that wasn't an echo after all. The sounds come from all over the little clearing. There's a lot in the pile of shards, but also coming from the rocks themselves, or at least somewhere from within them. A multitude of voices respond back to her, quiet and young and curious.

Hello?_____________Hello?
___Hello?___Hello?__Hello?__________Hello? Hello?
______Hello?______Hello? Hello?____Hello?
_____________Hello?______Hello?

There's the sound of more than a few somethings burrowing about in the stone, and the quiet clicking of shards being moved about from the pile. The twangy sound gets a little quieter as they're exchanged back and forth. Another response-

_____________Are you dirty?
___Are you hungry?
________________________Did ours let you come?
_____________Where is ours?
Ours?
________Hello?

There's going to be a lot of little voices echoing the louder ones, over and over again. 'Hello' is especially popular, it seems. From the shards, there's the sound of something tiny being grinded and clicked.

[With Ryu's help, the cart was up and off the tracks. The tornado began to spin underneath it and lift it into the air. Raimundo put all his focus into the tornado. It grew larger and began to spin the cart with its current. He chanced a glance up to see the Gasfella climbing up. It was now or never. That thing wasn't getting away.]

CATCH UGLY! WIND!

[Raimundo motioned with his arms. The tornado curved and threw the cart full of sharp equipment up at the Gasfella. He just hoped this plan worked.]

Kitten answers them before doing anything else. "I am a little dirty now, but that's easy enough to fix. I am a little hungry too. I can wait for food till after I've talked to you.

Yours is with my friends now. Let me see if I can help her talk to them. I'll be back soon, alright? I would like to spend more time with you." She needs to keep them calm. If the babies are powerful, a rush of them would hurt her friends' chances of surviving unscathed. If they aren't, running out to check on their mother would get them killed, and it would be all her fault.

With her casual reassurances accomplished, the small dragon faces back the way she came and takes off running. Kitten makes it a little ways before she stumbles, tumbling awkwardly downhill and coming to a rather abrupt halt wedged up against a rock. Ouch. She gets back to her feet.

Breathing in, Kitten concentrates and projects her mindvoice as far and as loudly as she possibly can. "IT'S A NEST! There are young here, lots of them, all talkative and curious. She is protecting her babies!"

If Kitten is too late to stop anything happening to their mother, she fully intends to make all of the young things her responsibility. Even if she is just an infant herself.

Hoping the Gasfella and all her friends are still in one piece, she pleads, "If my friends stop fighting, if they leave you and your family in peace, will you promise not to hurt them? We didn't know, and we mean no harm to your children!" Now seems a time for honesty, and Kitten adds for everyone to hear, "I won't allow harm to come to them, whatever happens."

Edited (left out a word) 2014-03-22 04:31 (UTC)

A nest? The young dragon's words bring Zuko up short, immediately halting her pursuit of the Gasfella. Why couldn't it have told them if it was protecting its young? In the shape they've put it in, Zuko isn't even sure if it's going to survive, much less be able to care for them.

It's too late to stop Raimundo's efforts, but Zuko does sprint close enough to the Gasfella to take control of the flames eating at its cloak, and calm them into nothing.

"HOW DOES IT FEEL, WRETCH?!" Colin yells as the Gasfella flees. He's got no translation available, but tone is an effective conveyer of at least the intent of the statement.

But the thing is clever, and resilient. Colin hasn't imagined for a second that it's anywhere near defeated. The flaming, flying shovel is proof of that. Fortunately for Colin, tools make very poor thrown weapons, especially at long range. Unfortunately, it's still a rather good threat, and Colin has to dive to the side to avoid getting impaled by it.

Likewise, he knows better than to stay on the ground, immobile, with an enemy nearby. He's up and running to get a better shot when she throws the rock, and Colin has to dive out of the way again. This time, though, he's lined up another shot. A set of hands is a lot easier to hit than an eyeball.

"No," Colin says, squeezing off a shot from his second pistol, and then another, aimed at striking the climbing Gasfella's hands. "This is what it's like when escape is impossible, you short-sighted, murdering waste."

He's targeting another vital shot when Kitten's announcement reaches them. He doesn't look away from the Gasfella, but he immediately holsters his pistols and starts to back away. "WITHDRAW!" he orders. "250 meters, no less! Follow me, but make sure she doesn't clip you!"

He turns so he can start jogging away from the Gasfella, but he doesn't take his eyes off of her. She's still a threat, and there are still people close enough to get hurt.

Fortunately, at least how Kitten may view it, the Gasfella is not yet dead. Beaten and shot at and just recently extinguished, but not yet. Night and Rin couldn't take it- her- down for good reason. Not that she is in any great condition, mind... The trail of blood has only gotten more thick and noticeable, and her floating is far from a straight line. It's hard to tell if that's because of the blood loss or the eye loss.

Yet when she hears Kitten's words, she pushes herself to charge all the more straight ahead. It's a good thing that Colin backs up, because she charges straight past with her fingers dug into the earth and goes smashing into a wall. There's a lot of zig-zagged wall smashing, as a matter of fact. Hopefully Kitten will be able to avoid that, as well.

Mine!? You found mine!? Where are they, don't touch, don't spread your filthy touch, mine, need to be safe!

...That's not exactly an answer, no, but she doesn't seem to be interested in that right now so much as her offspring. If Kitten can avoid accidentally getting bowled over by a panicked mother Gasfella, she'll notice the creature's body smashes into the rocks actually has a purpose. It looks like she's trying to force more rocks down to make traversing the path more difficult.

Tris pulls the twister back, keeping it out of the way.

"I can do something about those rocks, but it would be the last thing for the day, and probably not that great of an idea." The Gasfella could knock rocks down so easily, what could a contained earthquake do.

"No, Tris, we're not going to follow it," Colin says. "She'll fight her hardest in there. And the young have done nothing, and would be very likely to get caught in the crossfire."

He looks back at the rest of the group, frowning. "Alucard's still in bad shape, and Raimundo looks like he's taken some licks too," he says. "Does anyone have an issue with blood? Alucard's a dhamphire, some extra blood will let him heal faster."

He gives Paar and Tris a look, then he looks at Zuko. "I'm going to try once more to talk to her. She's going to be angry, and I'm not going to pull my verbal punches," he adds. "Tris, if she doesn't respond well... can you raise some rocks? Is that within your power? I want this place looking like nobody should approach. This... incident cannot be repeated."

Finally, he looks at Kitten. "Hell of a job, Kitten," he tells her. "I'm going to need you a little longer to translate for me. You may not like what I have to say, but it needs to be said if we're going to resolve this, one way or the other. She's injured, and with the wounds she's taken, she may still die. I won't shed tears over that, but... her kids don't deserve it."

"Blood?" Zuko has no idea what a dhampire is, so she doesn't grasp what Colin means. She can understand in theory how giving someone blood after they've lost a lot of their own would be a good idea, but they don't have tranfusions where she comes from either.

She frowns as he goes on about the Gasfella, not sure Colin talking to her is really the best idea, unless Kitten's translations are a lot less confrontational.

"...what about healing her?" she says. "I know she's dangerous, but she should be around to raise her kids." Zuko isn't sure how much she actually supports her own suggestion, but she wants to pose it as an option. If this is a mother they're dealing with, was it that much of an overreaction for her to fight so hard when a bunch of strangers showed up outside her nest with weapons?

"A nest?" He snaps to from hanging back for the sake of support. The Gasfella thinks they're alive. To him, it feels like the Nue all over again. "So are we just going to kill her? What happens to her kids?" This was something that didn't sit well with him, that much was clear to his tone. Given how much has been done, he's not sure he can stop her wounds given Zuko's suggestion. "I can try, but with all the injuries she's taken, even my strongest spell may not be enough."

"Kitten, you're sure her children are alive?" He asks, closing the distance between himself and Colin. "Can we prevent her from coming anywhere near the Bastion?" He asks, unsure how the group may take to his change in methods. Least of all Colin.

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Day 163, Closed | WE HUNT!

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