To go with your crew...

[highseasmods]

Who: Everyone who is fighting in the battle to kill the witch.
Where: The Black Fortress in the East
When: Jan 24th-25th
What: The grand battle to get back what you have lost, get revenge for what was taken, and avert disaster.
Warnings: Language. Death. Victory. Defeat. True love. Miracles.
Style: Text or prose
Status: Open to all



The black fortress ripples with shimmering iridescent energy, the piles of black coral heaped on roped together barges around it, bobbing in the waves. On the largest barge stands a slender man with a copper belt, wearing a face mask, orange red hair flecked with black from ash or dust. As the dawn slowly folds over the ocean, he'll look up, as if hearing some hidden voice.

At the top of the fortress, a figure climbs into vision, a woman, dressed in gray, features obscured by a hood with impenetrable darkness behind it. She staggers a moment as if she is weary, then straightens to her full height. As she speaks, her voice comes out of the journals, echoing over the water, low but clear.

"This is no small task ye do. She that rots within'll do anythin' ta stop ye. Don't hesitate to kill what ye find. If they were human once, they hain't no more. Watch out for her golems, too, or they'll drain ye dry quicker'n a wink. But if ye can get rid of 'em, it'll weaken her." She hesitates, cants her head to the side. "And if ye lot aren't as much of a bunch'a idiots as usual, ye might come out alive through this."

That said, she raises her hands. After a moment so does the man on the barge. For a moment, nothing seems to happen and then iridescent light shimmers over the coral, seeming to match that which surrounds the fortress. It crackles and dances like a fire, and then without warning bursts into a furious life, slamming against the energy of the fortress. There is the sound like thunder and light snaps and crackles, zipping with energy. Then with a woosh the light flies upward, taking the figure with it. The man on the barge lets out a cry like a seagull and dives into the water as if intending to swim after her.

For the boats that remain, a part of the fortress will crumble away into the sea, revealing a small harbor and an open doorway. Enter all ye who dare.


[If things become too crowded, feel free to make another thread outside of these. Just put where you are in the header.]

Comments

[unlikelyfarmhand]

[They made it sound like it was for his own protection, but Hachiken was pretty sure they were watching him. He has no complaints on the matter, after all he did try to kill them all and they had every right to be wary.

At the end of the passageway into the room, he finally comes face to face with the witch.

When she speaks, he shivers. That voice. Involuntarily he takes two steps back.]

[maskedtyrant]

Good plan.

[Said to Hachiken, standing behind her; Rider had warned that her abilities, whatever they are, were quite destructive. Best if they take her advice and stay out of her way until the dust settles--or she needs help.]

[...so reasons the masked woman who promptly decides that this rule applies to everyone but herself. Codi waits until the first volley of bullets comes to a rest before taking up position on the opposite end of the room that Rider has migrated towards, staying far away but still within heckling distance.]

The lady asked you a question! Why should we save you?

[nice_boat_rider]

It ain't been but a rhetorical one, kid!

[A barrier, huh? Rider only had one thing to think about that right now: if brute force wasn't working, she wasn't using enough. She was, after all, still holding back.]

Be a fine day for bloodshed. Stop jabbering and open fire!

[She declared to, well, everyone, thrusting a hand forward as she skid to a stop on one side of the chamber. Behind her, out of magical circles, came the barrels of cannons.]

Cannonade!

[Boom! A volley of magical cannons fired toward her enemy.]

[hollywood_bro]

[After watching the bullets bounce off of the barrier the only thing Dave can think is that the cannons won't work either.]

Hey, wait! We need to get the barrier down before we can- SHIT!

[But Rider fires before he can finish so he ducks for cover. He doesn't want to be anywhere near the barrier when those bounce back.]

[spirits_of_the_air]

[Instead of taunting or rushing in, Ihrie was quietly watching the witch and the air around her. There was a barrier, yes, but she couldn't tell what kind of barrier it was. There were many kind out there and some of them only protected from projectile attacks.

Handing the sack she'd brought in with her over to Hachiken - pretty much just thrusting it into his chest - Ihrie then drew her sword and spoke in a low voice to the cook.]

You stay here out of the way. We're not going to let her take you again. But I need you to do something for me. If I have to use magic here, no matter what seems to have happened to me, you need to gather my things up and put them in the bag. Got it?

[And without waiting for a response, Ihrie charged the witch, following the cannon fire in, hoping to use it as cover. If the barrage did bounce off the barrier, she was pretty sure she'd be clear of the ricochet with the angle she took.

Once she got close enough, she was going to see about introducing the witch to her sword.]

[theleonking]

Ooh. Not bad! [The ominous black fortress and suffering of her crew had until now evoked from Leo the gravitas she reserved for fighting major demons and pretty much nothing else, but she couldn't help but voice her appreciation at Rider's majestic cannon barrage. But even as she speaks she's muscling her way up the line and thrusting the haft of her axe forward, bringing forth a barrier to protect the others.]

Falling doom! [...calling your descriptive attack names takes most of the surprise value out of attacking from an odd angle, but Leo does anyway and a bright green light flashes from the ceiling down to the witch and explodes. Hopefully before Ihrie was too close in.]

[highseasmods]

[she hisses at the barrage, as if nervous somehow? The green light from overhead, she looks up at the last second but when the light fades, you can see it flickering through the barrier, though it is much smaller now, the various energies crawling over its surface.]

Please. I am just a victim like yourselves. [she reaches out] Hear me. Help. me.

[maskedtyrant]

[Codi has just enough charge to not be worried about the various projectiles flying haphazardly past her, but not enough to attack the target at a distance. She has to take advantage of whatever break everyone's created to try and get in close.]

You're not being very convincing! [The Tyrant pulls out her recently-acquired copper lance from her cape and couches it, feeling the electricity fizzle through her fingers.] Come on, we all know who you are. Give us a monologue like a good villain!

[Not that Codi is willing to wait; as soon as her partners in battle attack again, she'll come in at the end and try to give the barrier a good stab. Maybe it's like plexiglass, and will shatter when hit with a point force? Doubtful, but the idea kind of makes sense in her mind.]

[highseasmods]

[it doesn't shatter, rather the electricity seems to be absorbed into the barrier, the whole thing crackling and humming with energy, like it's dangerously close to exploding]

It's not true. I'm merely trapped here. A prisoner of my own mind. Like Hachiken.

[a small pause and then she says softly. soothingly]

Hachiken. You understand, don't you? You remember, don't you?

[unlikelyfarmhand]

[Hachiken's eyes go a little wide and he takes a step or two back again. His voice is shaky and uneven.]

I...I remember...

[He whimpers a little bit, his eyes changing focus for a moment before he drops Ihrie's bag to cover his ears.]

Don't talk to me! Don't talk to me anymore!

[Not again, please not again.]

[hollywood_bro]

[That pisses Dave off. The mind control bullshit is exactly why he came here in the first place and it's just enough to get him to jump into the fray regardless of how many bullets or cannon balls are whizzing past his head.]

Shut up! No one wants to listen to you, bitch!

[He strikes hard at the center of the barrier, hoping that the crackling sound means that it's about to fall apart. If it breaks he might even be able to land a blow to her shoulder.]

[spirits_of_the_air]

[Ihrie managed to pull up short before she got hit by the various flashes of energy from both her allies and that barrier. Eyes on it, she jumped back quickly, coming to the realization that it was absorbing the energy being thrown at it was once it hit its limit, it was going to throw all of it right back at them. Like a classic kinetic barrier, and her allies weren't seeing it.

She had to take that thing down now.

In one motion she sheathed her sword and loosened the clasps on her breastplate. Then her hands raised before her, she called on the magic she knew that she almost never used because of the consequences to her. But screw the consequences.]

Oh spirits of the air that hear my voice... Solidify thy bodies to blades of steel. Sever my enemy that stands before me!

[As she cast the spell, swirls of multicolored spirits became visible in the area immediately around the witch. They took on dagger-like shapes and pierced the barrier about the witch before apparently ripping it to shreds until it was just tiny wisps of fading power.

...and then something engulfed Ihrie, like a small vortex of wind, and when it disappeared, all that seemed to be left was the pile of Ihrie's armor, clothing and her sword.]