Day 77 :: Event - Finding a Core

[bastionpc]

[Day 77 is the day for the 'fine Marie' mission, and at first that is what everyone was supposed to do. But once out on the Skyway, the familiar twinkle of a Core can be seen in the distance, off in a direction that's nearly the opposite of where the group needs to go.

So, everyone has a choice to make: do they go after the Core, or keep looking for Marie?]

Links:

Planning
Group A
Group B

((OOC: Everyone can participate in the planning thread, but your character ultimately must choose to go with Group A or Group B. For players with more than one character, we ask that they don't put all of their characters in one group.

And remember, the group going after the Core has until 11:59 PM est on Sunday, June 16th, to obtain the Core.))]

Comments

[superdrowningskills]

[Alucard had followed Rin up the wall, although his method was not so much climbing as it was using the occasional hand and foothold to defy gravity. Physics generally dictates that people are not suppose to be able to jump a second time in midair, after all.

Regardless, he keeps watch while Rin is otherwise occupied; if anything were to attack her while she's holding the rope, it could potentially cause two people serious injury at best, and fatal injuries at worst. Not something any of them want to happen. And so he will stand guard until everyone has scaled the wall.]

[notduchess]

.... Well don't I feel ordinary.

[ And really, for all that Duke has magic, maybe the knight is.

Oh well. Bon seems to not need to be caught, so here is a nod to Kroenen (Lets just assume names got shared at somepoint-) and...

Duke would have preferred stairs.

But this is something that the knight can... hopefully do. Fit, yes, body of a teenager.... no.

Duke will take longer than Bon, but that's probably to be expected. ]

[hellpyre]

[Well Rin is anything but ordinary, which is exactly what keeps her holding on to that makeshift rope while people climb up. Gripping it that long isn't easy, but her strength keeps from dropping anyone, since there isn't anything close enough to tie it to.

Once everyone is up, she'll wrap the cloths up around her shoulder, hanging on to it just in case any more walls present themselves.]

Okay... let's find that core!

[clockworknazi]

[ Kroenen had no need of the rope, but chose to use it instead of scaling the wall for the simple fact that it was faster. He climbed up last, looping the rope over his shoulder as he ascended, assuring himself no chance of anything grasping the end. Passing the bundle to Rin afterwards, the German dusts himself off, straightens his cap and does a gear check before continuing on.

At Rin's enthusiastic remark he nods curtly. While never particularly at ease, the patience, motivation and focus everyone displays pleases the militant officer and he is satisfied that they are a secure unit capable of completing the mission.

Gesturing for them to move on, Kroenen watches the back, weapons ever at the ready for ambush. ]

[bastionpc]

[Caution is a good thing to have right now, because there are monsters about.

They are on the other side of the wall, far below the party, and they seem not to have noticed the party yet. However, there are a lot of them, and if they are alerted to the presence of the PCs then there could be trouble. They are mostly Squirts and Gasfellas, but there is a Scumbag or two there as well.

Further up along the wall is a guard tower of sorts. Though the Core is not directly visible yet, the tell-tale purple glow can be seen emanating from the tallest point in the guard tower.]

[superdrowningskills]

[It's curious how creatures not regularly preyed upon by creatures from the air rarely tend to look up unless they know something is amiss. Still, now is hardly the time to ponder this little fact deeply. The group has a goal to reach, and Alucard would much rather get to that core without a fight. It may be inevitable coming back down given how attracted to the cores the monsters seem to be, but for now, the swordsman will do his best to keep a low profile.]

[hellpyre]

Damn birds...

[Rin hung back with the rest of the group, rather than charging forward without a plan like she normally would have. Reckless as she was, she had been trying to tone it down a little, and going in sword swinging would likely lose their chance at the Core anyway.]

We gotta get through 'em. But how...

[clockworknazi]

[ Kroenen leans over the edge peering down curiously, then leans back and checks his pockets. Three magazines pre-loaded, a full clip in the gun plus one round in the chamber giving him 32 shots.

Stepping forward, the German points to himself, then the mobs down below. Afterwards he swings his gloved finger in a circle, indicating everyone else, then flicks two fingers towards the tower. Military gestures, but fairly universal. He was offering to stay on the wall and take down as many enemies as possible, distracting them for the others to get to the tower unmolested. When he didn't take down with the gun, he was fairly certain he could hold off with his tonfa and the landscape, at least until the others could return and help finish off the stragglers.

It wasn't the best plan, but it was better than all out melee. At the very least, if they wanted to handle the creatures together, he could pull and cap the majority of minor beasts while the others circled around for a hammer and anvil attack. ]

[kyotoprincess]

[...welp.

Brb grabbing for Rin to drag her along.]

We're going to get the core quickly and get the hell out of here. I'll get that guy's attention once we've got the core.

[Hopefully he can last long enough for this crazy plan to work.

By the way he's taking off towards the guard tower once he says all of that. Keep up, you guys!]

[hellpyre]

Wha-- Bon! Would you just--!

[Nope. Dragged. And she has no say in it, just a lot of sputtering.]

[notduchess]

.... I have a few area spells. What he doesn't shoot, I'll drop burning rain on.

[ And maybe meteors after. That tower... ]

If you want, I can be the fall back point.

[ Two people to draw monsters attention, and two people who can fight. Duke knows Kroenen is pretty good with those blade things, but two still sounds better. ]

[superdrowningskills]

[That nets them an internal sigh. No, of course they couldn't at least take the half-second it would take for them all to agree to the plan; clearly that would be too long for Bon.

...Regardless, he nods to the two adults before taking off to catch up with the kids. It wouldn't be good to let a couple of teenagers run off on their own in these conditions after all.]

[bastionpc]

[Yes, Duke, that is a good idea. Stay right there and help Kroenen, he will probably need help at some point.

The monsters don't immediately notice Kroenen, so he'll be able to take out a couple of them before they turn and attack him. Also they're not being polite and waiting, Kroenen will get swarmed by Squirts while the Gasfellas swing their hammers wildly.

As for the group approaching the tower, they'll soon find that there is a ladder that goes up the side of the tower and into an open area with a roof. However, the ladder looks like it's been rotting away, so they should be careful on it.]

[hellpyre]

[Of course he couldn't wait, and now they're staring at the rusted ladder, Rin scowling in irritation as she finally yanks her arm away from the other teenager.]

Brilliant plan, Bon. That ladder ain't gonna hold both of us!

[clockworknazi]

[ Kroenen only offers introductions to those worthy of his presence, and so he wastes no time or patience on the vile little things swarming below. He takes a bead on the bigger one's first - CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK - switch target - CRACKCRACKCRACKCRACKCRACK - slide the spent magazine out, swap it with a fresh one, unload four rounds in one target, four rounds in another, rinse, repeat.
The semi-automatic was entirely spent in less than a minute, the empty magazines tucked in the coat along with the gun, the German switching to his tonfa and nodding to Duke. He left the area adn range fighting up to ladyface - he was going into the front lines.

Reaching into his coat where his breastplate was concealed beneath a leather vest, the officer turns his "key" three rotations, then charges forward at the nearest gasfella, rolling into a smooth dodge away from a hammer before spinning on one leg, centering his balance, rising fluidly and jamming his tonfa into the creature's back. ]

[superdrowningskills]

...I could retrieve the core.

[Look who caught up to you kids. No, but really, he does actually have a plan. He's just not going to say what it is if you don't ask.]

[notduchess]

[ And Duke waits until those guns vanish before starting to cast. ]

Light, stop with beams and start with spears! Holy Rain!

[ So maybe there's some fake cloud cover, and some odd rain starts falling. There's no puddles or anything but-

Well, that definitely was a big spear-like shape of light that came crashing down. It's unfortunately rather random, the falls of these bolts of light, but they're still rather thick through the air, with nice little shocks where they hit.

Duke isn't sure if Meteor Swarm would be a good next bet, or if maybe... Well, gathering some up couldn't hurt Kroenen yes? ]

[hellpyre]

[That was the sound of guns running out of ammo. She had heard it enough times from her sister to know, and to also know in a situation like this, it was bad

Rin looked at Alucard, then to the solider, then back to Alucard. They were already running out of time...]

Y... yes, go! Just grab it so we can go! Bon and I will cover you!

[Turning, she grabbed her secondary sword out, ready to attack anything that got away from Kroenen.]

[superdrowningskills]

[The words are barely out of Rin's mouth before Alucard completely gives the ladder amiss and opts instead to adopt his bat form and just fly up. It might require some explanation later, but they're a bit pressed for time and this is much faster.

He reverts to normal the moment he reaches the top, grabs the core, and takes the fastest route down he knows - the ladder would probably have given way anyhow, so might as well let gravity do all the work. Likely a bit alarming to have someone come tumbling out of the sky and practically onto your heads, but the swordsman seems no worse for the wear, standing there with their prize in hand.]

Shall we retrieve the others?

[kyotoprincess]

[Holy shit did that guy just turn into a bat?

After staring for a moment, Bon snaps out of it and gives Alucard a nod.]

You just keep moving towards the Bastion, we'll get the others.

[But as he say that, he realizes something: they're still up on a wall, and unless Alucard can jump down three stories without getting hurt, he's going to need help getting down.]

I don't think we have another ladder down to the ground inside the walls, can you climb down the rope Okumura made while still carrying the core?

[clockworknazi]

[ Kroenen rarely experiences fear. In fact, many emotions are numbed to him, so that "frustration" is merely explained as an answer to when he cannot control something, or "anger" is when people behave in a manner he deems foolish. He knows what he -should- feel, but rarely lets it take command of him, as he would have before he became the work of art he is today.

A swarm of Squirts and Gasfellas were hardly terrifying to him. Pain is merely a distant memory for him and every weak attack by the little inky-skinned creatures it largely ignored in favor of focusing his bloody whirling dervish of combat an those creatures that could genuinely damage him.

Not hurt, certainly, but there were some things one could not repair in the field. If one of them managed to crush his legs or tear off an arm, he would be a hindrance to the others. So he works quickly and never looks back. Part of working as a unit was trusting the rest of your team to play their parts. He fully expected Duke to handle his part, and so long as he himself was keeping the monsters from chasing down the tower team, Kroenen cared little for his own safety. ]

[hellpyre]

I don't think we got a choice! C'mon!

[Sword in one hand, cloth rope over her shoulder, Rin didn't think twice about grabbing Alucard by the arm and yanking him back over to the wall.

A few Squirts had escaped from Kroenen, charging after the two of them. Rin had no choice but to ignore them and keep running, knowing that the Core was more important than attempting to smack them away.]

[superdrowningskills]

[Alucard didn't have time to respond before he was suddenly being dragged along, and it's all he can do to match pace with Rin; too fast and they both might trip. Still, he does speak up after a moment of running.]

...You can let go here. The drop is not great enough to injure me. Focus on the others.

[bastionpc]

[A couple squirts notice the activity going on up top, and they get up there to see what's going on. That's when they see Alucard running off with the Core, and in response they let out this horrible screeching noise, unlike anything that has been heard from them before.

Suddenly all the monsters in the area (yes, including the scumbags, who had been hanging back from the fight) turn and start climbing up the wall and down the other side, heading towards the Core. They are going after Alucard specifically, and they will not engage anyone else unless attacked first.]

[hellpyre]

[Rin did let go, just in time for the Squirts to let out that terrible noise. It wasn't as bad as Crona's attacks, but it was still painful to her ears. She grimaced, putting hands over her ears until it was over, only to find that they were on the end of yet another ambush.]

Shit... go!

[The command was barked to Alucard as the half-demon put her secondary weapon away and went for the Kurikara, bringing with it her flames. She put herself between the oncoming swarm and Alucard, hopefully giving him enough time to flee.]

You're gonna have'ta go through me if you want that Core!

[While she didn't charge headfirst at them, she would start slashing the second one was close enough to hit.]