Twisted Fate Episode II: The Daily Grind (Open)

"SHANNON! CHECK ON SALLY." MAX S. grumbled, carefully dancing around another hammer stroke. It was unexpectedly difficult to take the monster man down. Despite his obvious stupidity and clumsy manners, he was amazing with that hammer of his. A swift uppercut missing it's target would smoothly transition into a backwards dodge, leaving no room for counterattack. The only time for a real punishing counter came when the brute would lose focus at the end of a pattern of attacks, as if struggling to remember what came next. His companion, the goblin, actually made the fight easier by acting as a distraction. Ducking slightly back and hitting the hammer at the same time, MAX S. let is pass straight by his face. Hooking one of the spikes of his mace around the handle of the hammer, the iron golem pulled himself up at the same time bashing forward with his shield.

"GOTCHA."

The half-ogre howled as his heavily damaged face met hard steel once again. With the hammer effectively pinned between the shield and the half-ogre's body, the edge of the shield rammed down on the foot of the monster man. MAX S. heard something pop. Left unbalanced with the loss of his foot, a single shove sent the half-ogre tumbling onto his back, smashing through the kitchen wall.

"TIME TO FINISH THIS."

MAX S. didn't plan to give it or it's 'rider' the luxury of getting up out of that mess. A stomp ended the squealing goblin that had become stuck between the ground and the back of the ogre. Amazingly the half-ogre still had the presence of mind to grab MAX S. by the ankle when he tried to repeat the execution. Floundering, MAX S. fell forwards. A resounding crash demolished what was left of the sink. Kicking 'down' with the other foot MAX S. forced the thing to let go, and he quickly got to his feet. The mace rose up, breaking through the ceiling before plummeting down and ending the fight permanently.

"REST IN PIECES SCUM." MAX S. spat. Looking up he vaguely wondered how the rescue went. There was no way the wooden stairs would hold his weight, so he couldn't go up. Well, he still could do other things.

----

Outside Shannon began to panic a bit. A bit of creative use of her flames had prevented Sally from bleeding out instantly, but she needed help, stat. MAX S. arrived just in time. Wasting no time the fairy explained the situation.

"You gotta hurry! I patched her up best I could, but she needs to see Eric, now!" Shannon finished.

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?" MAX S. asked, picking up Sally bridal style.

"Im still okay, I'll go help Kara and the others, now go!" she ushered him on. The iron golem sped off, while the fairy took a deep breath and flew upstairs through the ruined stairwell, hoping to catch the people there unawares by taking the gassed route. On the upper floor she ran smack dab into two goblins busy coughing their lungs out.

Concentrating on the floor beneath them, Shannon used her earth element to simply will away the support beams, weakening them to the point where they couldn't hold up even the tiny weight of the goblins anymore, and with a satisfying crash they fell right back into the poison cloud.

The garnish purple house had been easy to approach from the north. No one stood watch at any of the windows on the ground floor and the garage cut off view of the nearby yard to their east. Through this blind spot they had crept, Karalanthas in the middle with Verras behind her as the elven pair followed Sam who laid down silk lines as he effortlessly climbed the wall in the dead spot between the two windows. Flattening his body he peered over the edge. “Give me a minute or two to lay another line down for the hostages and see if I can talk to this drow character, Man to man spider.”

“We agreed he'd be taken alive. Not that we'd parlay with him.” Kara said in a faint but distinct hiss.

“Not we I, singular. He's going to react badly to elves just popping up next to him. I'm the closest thing he has to kin handy so he might listen and if not, I'll eat him or something.” He sounded like he was attempting humor though the word eat seemed peasant to him as he spoke it.

“It can't hurt to let him try lass. We're outnumbered here so one less body against us can't hurt and we got the hostages to consider as well.” Verras said, wisely not putting his hand on her.

“Fine, speak to the dark one but if he escapes you or fights us then the agreement is null and I will kill him on the spot. You'll have to keep one of the goblins or other surviving minions instead for whatever reason you may have for it.”

Sam skittered off to parlay with the Drow. The two elves stared at each other as they waited. Verras had no great love for their dark cousins either but they had to be practical about this. Emotion simmered just below the pale eyes of the amazon though. Her just agreeing to let him live was a compromise on her part and now she was to parlay with one like he hadn't helped these fiends rape and murder every other person they'd met since the change.

She listened to the patter of wind driven rain. That odd pattern it had just like that night. She blinked as the thunder crashed over head and lightning flashed, reflecting in the mostly intact windows of the house she was facing. She saw flames and her house as it was so long ago. Hearing her mother singing as she kneaded dough for tomorrows bread. Then there was the screaming. Her mother going out to see what was going on and then bundling Kara up, half asleep. Her mother running through the dark with dark shapes always chasing behind her. They had fallen and she felt something warm on her cheek. It was her mother's blood as an arrow had gone through her chest. They seemed to make a game of it as she struggled to get up and run again only to have another of the black riders shoot her. Not to kill her though but to prolong her ordeal. They either didn't know or care about the girl in her arms just how she'd kick and scream as she kept moving forward to the river. Kara remembered her mother falling one last time and not getting up. One of the men dismounted and finally took note of her. He turned to the other and spoke in their gibberish words and they laughed. He stopped laughing when mother's knife sank deep into his guts as she screamed at Kara to run. She had run and never looked back.

Karalanthas came out her memories as Verras pointed out the time Sam had asked for was up. She nodded and grasped the silk tightly, pulling herself up and glad the weather was so poor as her shed tears fell with the rain unnoticed. The next few moments passed without her paying attention as she built up her wall again and chided herself for being stupid. The drow and Sam had come to some agreement and now they'd enter the house.

The window frame exploded sending wood and glass into the room as Sam used his lightning to widen it. There were screams from the hostages silenced by Sam's shouting commands at them. Kara barely heard any of it as her twin swords were out and she was on the orc still dazzled by the electrical shock that passed through him. Looking up he saw a flame haired elf maiden with a cold emotionless face. Numb fingers wouldn't respond and pick up the bat at his side. His head cracked against the stud in the wall as she kicked him in the chest driving the wind out of him. Her swords swung as he put his arm to protect himself and it fell limp to the floor along with his head. Stabbing one of her blades into the wooden floor, she pulled a grenade out with her now freed hand and pulled the pin out with her teeth before hurling it through the open door into the hallway beyond.

“Everyone that doesn't want to die here, get out NOW!” She growled as she heard the clatter of nails on wood and the thumping of something with 4 legs running up the stairs. The Demon wolf lunged out of the smoke, teeth exposed in a vicious snarl that turned to a look of surprise when the Drow shot it. Kara loosed her arrow and it sunk deep into the wolf's eye skewering it's brain, It was dead before it stumbled and slid to a stop in front of them. “I claim his pelt. I could use a new cape and boots.”

The Hobgoblin came changing in and focused on Sam who was now closest to the open doorway. Kara raised her bow but they were constantly moving around now. She could hit him but not kill with certainty. She was completely unused to fighting with the spider so jumping in wasn't wise. Sam saw her planned what to do. “Guard the Door!” he yelled as he drew the creature deeper into the room. They knocked over what few furnishing this room had before Sam fell from the wall and drove the hobgoblin to the ground with his bulk before biting him. The fight was over then even if he didn't know it and Kara lowered her bow to watch his last seconds as his life's blood pumped out of his torn neck before Sam dropped his dead body over the side of the house.

She saw Sam was favoring one side again. The Hob's death grip had done some damage before it died after all. “You could have warned them you were just dropping him like that.” She said as Sam pulled the pin and threw his grenade, banking it to bounce around the dog leg bend of the hallway as the noxious smoke spread out through the hallway again, a thick haze of orange red plumes choking off everything as they spewed out.

“Yes, look out out below, dead hobgobin.” would been so much more polite he said picking up the rifle.

There was a thud and they saw the arm of someone fall out into view. Verras began to push past her to hep when Kara held her arm out. “It's a trap. We go rush in to help and they kill us.” As if on cue a shotgun blast went off tearing up the wall the body was in front of. As the lizardman spoke to them she leaned down and saw the lump in her neck. Putting her hands on it she felt the broken vertebrae. “He broke her neck. He doesn't get to run away like your drow.”

She picked up her body and held it in front of her, her arm around her waist. She put her feet on hers and began to slowly walk. “Dead...Yes yes. You murdered me. You murdered me and now you have to be dead, like me. But first I have to eat your brains!” Kara shuffled forward slowly keeping the woman's slightly larger body in front of her. She made the body's arm swing as she moved the body. Brick saw a faint outline in the smoke and unloaded a shot into it. The outline disappeared as it stumbled back a step but then it was there moving forward through the smoke again. As it moved forward Brick saw it was the girl he killed before. “You can't kill me, I'm already dead. Murdered by you. Come on lover, let's go to hell together.”

“Stay the fuck back. I mean it.” Brick yelled at her. He unloaded a second round round and the body jerked, blood spattering the floor. Dead lifeless eyes stared at him and then her dead body and Kara rushed out of the darkness. Brick let go of the girl out of reflex to stop the dead body of his last victim but both she and Kara collided with him knocking him over. His shotgun came free as they hit the ground. Kara rolled, freeing herself from the tangle as claws scraped and tore at dead flesh to get her off him and picked up his shotgun as he realized she wasn't undead but just dead. His eyes became slits as he saw the barrel pointing at him.

“I give up.” Brick said raising his hands up as he got up slowly. “Silly bitch,” he thought, “ like thats going to do anything to my built in lizard body armor.” He'd get close enough then he'd break that stupid elf bitch neck, gun or no gun, and then get the hell out while that other guy is distracted by her. Just a few more inches.

“Catch.” Karalanthas said tossing the gun back to him. He caught it and saw a line two silver flashes across his field of vision. She started to fall sideways and his last conscious thought was 'she's fast.' Brick's headless body stood there for a second then tried to walk away before falling over.

Sam walked in and quickly switched to the wall to avoid the still squirming body of the former lizard man Brick. Kara stepped over it to help the sole surviving hostage up. “Up the hall to the other room. Climb down and go to the house next door. You'll be safe.” She didn't seem to be listening string at the dead bodies on the floor so she pulled her away to th doorway so she'd block her view and she then reappeared herself. The Girl finally nodded and ran off down the hall and disappeared into the gas.

Kara pulled the bandoleer free and slung it over her shoulder before picking up the shotgun again. “Now we take care of the Prime Rib hiding upstairs.”

She reached the other bedroom and noticed the hole in the floor where the stairs had collapsed as she passed it. She reloaded the shotgun and then fired it at the opening at the top of the stairs before speaking. “Your men are dead, dying, or fled. Your hostages are gone except the one you have there. You kill her and you got nothing keeping me or my friend here from lobbing a grenade up there and turning your sorry meat market ass into ground chuck. If you let her go and surrender you will live. Harm her We kill you. Attempt to escape and we kill you. If we have to come get you, you will die. We are not the police. I do not care how this turns out as one way or the other it will be over. You can be breathing or not breathing. Your choice”

Kara mimicked Sam crawling up onto the ceiling and throwing his last gas canister with her hands with a sign to wait. “You got five minutes.”

Earlier...

Edward knew the jig was up when the metal hulk charged into the house below. He wasn't sure how you killed something like that, certainly bullets would be useless. Hopefully, Chet could keep the thing occupied. If he'd had any doubts about his assessment of the situation, the sounds of an explosion and shouts coming from the back only moments later ended them. It sucked. But what could you do?

First things first, you moved. Assholes knew right where he was. Running around on the inside of the house seemed like a bad idea, given the sounds of chaos and violence bubbling up from below. He peered out into the darkness, the sun having gone down making the never relenting storm even murkier. He didn't think they had any snipers and if they did, he doubted they'd be able to see anything. He shrugged. Just have to risk it.

He turned to the girl rocking back and forth upon the floor nearby. He punched her, hard. She was out. Maybe dead, maybe not.

Edward opened the window and climbed out, trusting this body's incredible strength to simply make handholds in the comparatively flimsy construction of the house. He snorted in irritation at the sensation of his thick fur instantly soaking with moisture.

_________________________________________________________________



Edward did his best to lighten the pressure of his hooves as he walked through the second floor.

Given the breaches in the house, the crash of the storm outside, and the sounds of retching and tortured wailing coming from goblin voices down below, his care was probably unnecessary. He'd caught the content of the attacking party through windows as he clambered around the outside of the house, silently cursing at the lethality of the insultingly small group of three in comparison to his supposed hard asses. Having made it to the roof of the garage, he'd intended to slink away into the night despite the barely constrained rage of the bovine moron in the back of his head. The minotaur's fury at the idea of letting those who'd destroyed their plans go, was an understandable thing but Edward wasn't going to allow it to get him killed. There were always opportunities in a violent world like this, the soft trappings of civilization torn away.

But then he caught sight of the golem speeding off into the night all such thoughts vanished. He hadn't wanted to contend with a bullet proof bruiser who could go toe to toe with him in a fight.

Two Keebler elfs and a spider-man against him plus a gun and maybe a little surprise?

He liked those odds.

And this way he wouldn't have a group of such deadly pricks gunning for him in the future.

So here he was sneaking through the second floor of the house in order to catch the trio from behind before they realized there was no one up there to negotiate with. Edward could hear the female elf calling up the stairwell to the top of the tower, so he knew they still thought he was up there.


A diminutive fairy collapsed on the floor against the hallway's side frantically tried to gather the strength to scream a warning as the minotaur's dinner plate sized hooves passed within a foot of her position. It was probably just as well that she couldn't as it would take only one stomp to end her existence in her current condition. Still, her heart was wrenched with dread at what would happen to her companions if they were caught unawares by this giant monster wielding a pistol.

Shannon was afflicted with a deep paralyzing exhaustion as a result of her successful leaching of earth element from the floor beneath the goblins' feet. It seemed that her elemental abilities were somewhat like a muscle that had to be slowly trained to exert itself in certain ways. Her totally unprecedented use of the earth elemental without any preparation had seemed to 'pull a magical muscle' resulting in a completely debilitating enfeeblement. She couldn't move, could barely stay awake. In the confusion, Sam, Verras, and Kara had passed her right by without noticing on their way to confront the minotaur and now so too did the villain himself.

Shannon had experienced a few moments longer of self-loathing at her inability to warn her friends before finally succumbing to her fatigue and passing into sweet oblivion.


_________________________________________________________________


The first bullet pierced Verras's lower back, just barely missing his spine.

Samuel's large bulk was hard to miss and he was struck once and then twice on the right side of his spider half.

Given Edward's wild charge most of his shots went wide, Kara was entirely unscathed by his barrage.

Before the elven ranger was entirely aware of the pain in his back and abdomen a vicious backhand by the massive minotaur sent him careening into the wall, the force of the impact sending his elbow through the drywall. Given the mass of the drider's body and the size of the pistol, his wounds weren't immediately threatening and barely noticeable given the nature of his arachnid nervous system. But as he skittered around to face this new threat, Edward's momentum had carried him close and the minotaurs big hands impacted underneath his spider abdomen and heaved with an ear splitting roar. Edward's tremendous strength actually flipped Samuel over entirely, the drider's shoulder wrenching painfully as his bulk pinned his humanoid torso to the floor. The minotaur barely paused in his furious drive forward.

Kara had reacted with her characteristic speed, already having spun to face the threat and lashing out with her blades but the bovine train simply barreled into her leading with his right shoulder, smashing her halfway through the window, glass shattering around her as his hairy hips momentarily pinned her to the sill. Rain and wind suddenly lashed and buffeted her. Her sword strikes were dulled by his thick fur, cutting into his thick flesh but the smashing force of his body sapped away any precision. When he carried through with his left hand punching the barrel of his Luger into her stomach and pulling the trigger, she was deeply bruised and pushed the rest of the way through, her legs flying up as she fell.

CLICK

She had little time to appreciate her fortune in the minotaur's empty chamber as gravity took her in its greedy grasp.

Edward didn't bother to confirm her fate, swiftly turning to approach the struggling drider fists raised to bludgeon him into spider paste.

Kara knew she was in trouble the second she heard the first shot. The shotgun wasn't going to stop that beefsteak son of a bitch in time So her blades came into hands almost like she had summoned them there even as she turned around.

He had tossed Sam head over many heels and was bearing down on her. She tried to leap out of the way but was caught by his bulk in mid-air and smashed into the window frame. Her ribs exploded in pain as try ground against the broken grass and wood of the frame. Twisting she struck against him but she had no leverage and no room to swing stuck half way out the window. She felt metal stab into her and for a moment thought he had stabbed her but no it was his comical undersized gun. She wasn't laughing though as he backhanded her with it instead out of frustration.

She tumbled out of the window and hit the rain slicked sloped roof of the veranda. Stabbing her sword into the wood she stopped her short slide with her head hanging over the lip of the gutter. With rain stinging her face as the wind blow it right into her battered flesh she reached up to her side and pulled out the shard of glass lodged there, tossing it over the edge. Her mind went to that night so long ago. The laughter. Edward's was deeper as he started to hit Samuel but it had the some tone some quality. A mask descended on her face, one of cold emotionless rage. Flipping herself up onto her feet she covered the distance from the roof's edge to the window in one bound. She sat perched like a cat there as the wind and rain howled behind her. Pale Blue eyes stared at Edward and then in a blink of an eye her long knife was flying striking Edward in the shoulder.

He bellowed more in surprise then pain as it lodged deep in his shoulder just outside his reach to grasp. She leap just missing the ceiling. Edward arm lashed out intending to smack her out of the air like a gnat but she rolled in mid air as his blow passed barely below her to land a double kick to his face. Springing off him she flipped backwards to land and take off again this time running at him. Staggered he took a step back and then launched a massive uppercut that never connected as she slid along the now wet wood floor and slid under it. With two quick strikes she cut the inside of both knees and rolled away as he smashed both his hands where she had been only a moment ago.

"Mad I killed your dad?" He said as Kara stared at him again. He swung at her and she danced out of the way, scoring a shallow cut on his thick arm. "He's bleeding out right over there." She just stared at him silently. " Say something you bitch!" He stomped his hoof and charged but she rolled out of the way and scored two more slashes on his flank. Flicking her blades blood spattered to the rain soaked floor, his blood and it would not be the last.

"Thanks..." I muttered into the floorboards, legs scrabbling at the ground and wall to extricate myself. Kara had him pretty well distracted. I used that time to skitter- well, limp over to Verras and drag him away from the fight. He would only get trampled and it wouldn't be a good thing. I could feel the ichor oozing from the wounds on my back, but it didn't seem that bad. In the hallway I spotted Shannon down in the corner, grabbing the small fey and piling her with Verras. What we were about to do, the incapacitated didn't need to suffer for. I left them propped up in the bedroom next to the opening, I called out into the rainy darkness. "HEY, WE'VE GOT WOUNDED! VERRAS GOT SHOT!" Before leaving the pair in the room and heading back into the hallway.

I looked at the rifle, it was far out of reach and behind the dueling pair. So I pulled up the last of my magical allowance for the day. In the back of my mind I hoped that the librarian could have survived to help us here, but it was nothing... I waited for Kara to be catty-corner to my position, with a free lane of fire. It didn't take long, what with the acrobatics. I wove the spell, wincing at my busted up shoulder, but completing it. Then I called out.

"Hey, Chuck Roast!" He turned his head slightly at the yell.

The lightning bolt grazed Edward, causing the muscles on his sides to spasm and burning the fur there. My aim thrown off by him starting to dodge and my busted shoulder. It wasn't perfect, but it would certainly put part of him out of action. My good arm whipped around my back, grabbing the last glass canister. It would be good to use him as a final test-subject. I grinned and prepared to dodge.

With his sweeping attack aborted by the need to dodge, Edward was off balance and twitching, his right arm jerking against his will as pain crackled through his nerves. The elf's sword bit deep into his right pec and drove downwards on its way out, creating a line of white hot pain across his abdomen. He lashed out with his left arm at the spinning female, but the way his right side continued to lag and spasm made it clumsy and ineffectual. He whirled after her as he felt the feeling and control return to his limbs but he kept up the pretense, well aware of the need to draw her in given her extreme agility.

The next time she struck she went for the lightning struck side and he was ready, having gotten used to her acrobatics and speed by now. Her leap over his left fist put her right in position for his snatch of her ankle with his fully functional right. With a powerful twist of his torso, he threw her at the Harry Potter spider man. So long as he was hanging back throwing lightning bolts, Edward would be too distracted to catch the agile bitch. So he had to go. The minotaur was already charging the entangled duo, instinctively dropping his head to gore them with his horns.

He felt his right horn sink into flesh and the drywall behind as a male cry of pain tickled his ears but predictably he noted the elf moving away out of the corner of his eye. Edward twisted the knotted muscles of his neck, jerking the drider with the movement before pulling his head back and his horn out in a spray of blood. He saw that the spider freak had managed to get the most of the way out of his charge, only his left shoulder a bloody ruin. No matter. Edward had him backed against the wall and he slammed one huge meaty fist into the guy's comparatively slender humanoid abdomen. All the while, he paid attention to his rear knowing that the elf would have to come to her companion's aid, would have to come to him rather than continue to fly around like some damned acrobatic fairy.

And sure enough as the drider managed to interpose some of his front spider legs to soften the minotaur's titanic blows, Edward sensed her approach from behind. Waiting for the opportune moment, he pivoted backwards and sent a powerful bull kick behind. Either he'd misjudged her direction or her freaky reaction time saved her, for all he managed to do was clip a limb, probably a shin. He shrugged it off and continued to wail on the drider. She'd have to try again and this poor fool wouldn't hold out for long.

"GAH!" I bit down a scream at the mangling of my shoulder. That would take forever to heal. I had little air left to lament the other blows. I wished briefly that Max was here to do his normal job.

"You got me Bessy,..." I taunted, hoping that Kara could get in a kill-shot without me using the gas. But it was no luck. Another hammer-blow knocked me down again, but this was what I was planning. "You managed to run a band like this? What a load of Bull!" The taunts were doing what they were supposed to. Making fun of his species was the fastest way to do it. "How pathetic... You fight like a cow."

"SHUT UP!" He bellowed, taking another swing, my ideal time, he was breathing in... I ducked this swing, groaning as my ribs protested. My right arm came around with the glass canister, swinging under his guard and lobbing it into his face.

"Breathe Deep!" I yelled, then sucked in a quick breath, hoping that Kara would get the message. It crashed into his face, splashing the peppery-pineapple gas all around. The minotaur stumbled back, rubbing his eyes to remove the glass. The glass wouldn't hurt him, but his eyes and nostrils would be the pain-centers. I took the brief reprieve to skitter back, away from the poison and towards the fallen rifle. I scooped it up, checking the chamber. There was one bullet in there, the one I had racked against the lizardman. With that I moved around, trying to get to the hallway, or at least the stairs.

Kara's eyes burned as the gas cloud spread around Edward. He was blind though for the moment, thick tears pouring out of his squinting eyes as he flailed at the gas and the shards of glass still in his face. There wasn't grace in this move as she charged the choking and blinded Minotaur and sank both blades deep into his bovine belly. She twisted both blades deep inside him. He lifted her up as he spun around and backhanded her sending her and her swords sliding across the floor at the edge of the still expanding cloud near Sam.

Bloody and battered she stabbed the one sword still in her hand and used it to prop herself up as she reached for the other. "Leave him he's toast!" Samuel cried out to her. Kara faced shifted the rage lifting as she saw the mortal shots in his torso, whether he escaped the gas or not all he had to look forward to was a slow painful death unless he had a healer or some kind. She stood unsteady for a second and put her blades away. Taking a running start she jumped, as he turned and landed on his back. Grasping her long knife she held tight as he tried to shake her off and then dropped free as he tried to smash her into the wall rolling out of the way of his hoofs as he legs scrambled on the floor for traction. " Sorry he had my knife" she said as she reached Samuel and helped him towards the hole.

"You're going to need to get some attention, you probably inhaled and it's going to screw you over. You should also wash yourself. Head outside onto the roof, should be good."

Twin spears of fire burned in his belly. It crackled in his lungs. It simmered in his throat, stabbed his eyes and tore at his nostrils. Panic set in. He went down on all fours with a powerful exhalation blasting as much of the corrosive substance out of him as he could, the pain going white hot as it tore at his insides. He was blind but he could hear and feel the rain.

Samuel and Karalanthas just managed to dodge aside as the bellowing minotaur smashed through the broken window, tearing it out of its frame and smashing a large chunk out of the wall as he passed. He hit the ground below with a surprisingly effective roll. Edward was up on his feet, furiously rubbing at his eyes and face with his water slickened hands as he stumbled off at a dead run. By his stumbling manner, it was clear that he was blind. His form was swallowed up by the maelstrom of wind, rain, and darkness as he headed east.

The amazon's immediate intention to ensure the kill was stalled by Samuel as he pointed at some of the huge puddles in the yard below. Along with the steady strikes of forceful raindrops there was a powerful ripple washing across their surfaces. A moment passed and another one appeared along with a gentle tremor that she could feel in the house around her now that she was paying attention to it. The pattern repeated, a slowly increasing rhythm before the they spied the huge saurian form stride into view.

The tyrannosaur paused, it's car sized head turning one way and the next as its nostrils flared. The watching duo stayed very still, mindful of that scene from that movie. Whether it was based on fact or not, it seemed the best choice given the situation. Finally, it lifted its head from sniffing a spot where Edward had passed, no doubt he was bleeding profusely from Kara's strikes. The dinosaur opened its mouth to release a tremendously powerful roar that literally shook the house around them before it loped off into the darkness in the same direction that the minotaur had disappeared.














In the immediate aftermath of the battle MAX had soon returned, content with the knowledge that Sally would live though it had been an absurdly close thing. He found the rest of his companions gathered in the garage of the house next door to the Marauder's thoroughly wrecked base. There's some discussion on what to do with the freed hostages. While the idea of bringing them back to the tree house is batted around no one is excited about it except Samuel who continues to make some comments that straddle the line between darkly humorous and rather disturbing. Karalanthas is adamantly against the idea given how stretched their resources are just taking care of their current crop of free riders. MAX wonders about the possibility of dropping them off with the group he'd helped earlier and it quickly becomes clear that its their best option.

Shepherding their charges through the wrecked neighborhood during a raging thunderstorm is thankfully uneventful. It seemed that most of the monsters that usually roamed the streets at night were choosing to hunker down and wait out the rain. The much distant roar of the Tyrannosaur assuring them that the massive predator was no longer nearby.

The people they were looking for were now set up in a large brick apartment building a few houses down from their previous location. It seemed that all of the various groups that had been holding out had gathered together now that the immediate area had been swept of the Maruaders. In all there were about fifty survivors, an even distribution of the twisted and normal humans but the majority of their mistrust for each other had been worn away over the past few days of hellish nightmare and death enforced cooperation. Ryan Kaper, the big man with the sledgehammer, and Mark Coleman, an avid gun nut whose collection had been the difference between life and death for his group, had emerged as leaders and were busy organizing the mass of shell shocked survivors and now hardened warriors into something that could survive the night.

Given the still fluid and ad hoc nature of their situation and the mistreatment the former hostages had born directly at the hands of their enemies, there is no issue with taking them in. Given that they've been fighting for their lives in a very direct way for most of the time since the abrupt arrival in this world, its clear the food situation isn't fully on their radar.

Its decided that the group will stay with these folk for now given that Eric's still providing much needed healing though the kid is nearly dead on his feet. Kara volunteers to check in on their people back in the tree.

She learns that everyone is safe, the only incident was a harpy harassing the entrance. It was successfully warded off, though Louis was going to have a very wicked looking scar running from the bridge of his nose down his cheek to his jaw now. Moira had made good use of the medical supplies Kara had procured though she admits she'd had to use one of the first aid manuals included. It seems that Sarah wielding Lucy's bat was the hero, reacting to beat the living shit out of the screeching flyer as the rest were shocked into inaction.

Kara finds out that Adali isn't there.

Sarah explained:

Once assured that they could fend for themselves, Kara returned to the rest of the group in the apartment building and let them know what was going on, particularly that Adali was missing.

"Well, he did say it was a predatory place. He was right. Dead right... Now, let's check on the girl upstairs." I limped up the spiral staircase, cradling my ruined arm. When I crested the stairs, I spotted the slumped form on the floor. "We've got a girl here. I'll try to bring her down." I had to practically drag her with one hand, her feet thumping on the stairs as I got her into a decent hold. My arm under hers, move backwards. The view was decent at least...

"I agree Kara, we don't have enough room where we are and with the situation to the south, it's definitely a bad idea. There are a few buildings near the ROTC buildings that are free, those are also close to the river which would make it easier for them to get water. I mean, if worst came to worst, we could solve our supply problems right here..." I grinned ruefully and massaged my shoulder. Eric had done what he could, but he was clearly going to need some rest soon. The hostages were staying away from me, as were the people we hadn't rescued. A woman, one of the hostages if I remembered right, wearing very little, possibly a stripper, looked at me with some awe. I grinned at her, she dropped her gaze. It was going to be one of those nights. "There are a lot of people here, shame if something were to... happen to them." I wiggled my eyebrows conspiratorially. "What? I can't be the only one who's thinking this. Or am I the designated humor-man, didn't say it was good humor." I shook my head and scuttled away, settling in by a window with the rifle and what little ammunition I had scavenged from the Drow. I wondered what had happened to him, I would have to pay a call on M'dearest soon. I would have to control myself this time, far more than usual.

The news of Adali's disappearance surprised me, especially under such sad circumstances. Perhaps she was eaten by the Tyrannosaurus, or demons. No matter, we had to press on.

Kara stood in the rain letting it soak into her skin between coughing fits. That pineapple smell seemed stuck in her nose. With the battle over and her blood again cool and rational her ribs hurt like hell and her bandage showed dark stain of blood where the glass from the window had pierced her side. Having her head bounced off drywall hadn't helped any.

She honestly had forgotten about the last girl until Sam had brought her out. She'd been honest when she thought Edward had been up there. She didn't care really. This whole raid hadn't been about rescuing the hostage but killing these people. Saving them was a bonus and now they had 50 more people to consider now. That and who was she going to give the shotgun to, if anyone.

Day Four

Our heroes gather their members and depart for the tree before dawn's light, sharing quiet words of camaraderie with Ryan and his group. Its decided that given the hot emotions and forceful opinions displayed last night when some of the folk realized that the healer Erik would be leaving them the next day, it would be best to simply take their leave while most were still asleep. Mark Coleman's well armed band being of most concern, as the rescued hostage Nathan Dyson, a marine, had instantly slotted in with them and had been making comments about the kid being a vital resource.

The fourth day sees Adali's storm abate somewhat, the violence and calamity of it gone replaced with a simple steady downpour. The canyon bottom is flooded, the banks of the river runneth over. Everywhere there is water, from a few inches to a few feet but no more as the drop off to the south ensures it all has somewhere to go. The environment is treacherous for the unwary with the waterfalls to the north expanding to take up the entirety of the northern cliff face, everywhere there is rushing current all of it ready to hastily drag those caught over the side.

As for the rain bringer herself, there is still no sign. No evidence of her passage on the approaches to the formerly Marauder held area, though if there had been any such signs they have long since been swept away by rushing current.

From the network of massive branches just outside their rooms it is easy to see that the dome of shadow about Magruder down below has not grown in the slightest though occasionally a tentacle of darkness could be seen lancing into the waters to reel in an unfortunate aquatic creature from beneath the surface of the rushing current.

Sarah, exceedingly ecstatic with her simple metal bat and absurdly proud of her showing in sending the raiding harpy packing, has taken to alternately pestering Kara about teaching her 'combat-fu' and bothering anyone who leaves the base to take her with them.

Louis, the former teacher, reports that the group's food stocks will last three more days at most with their current rationing plan. Some of their number are already grumbling at how little they're allowed to eat and its clear that fatigue is setting in from the low calorie diet.

As for events around campus, it seems that given the miserable weather and the flooded conditions most are staying inside. The few monsters roaming the place are the aquatic variety, taking advantage of their expanded hunting area to snap up those caught in the rapids.

The marine was certainly going to be a problem. He seemed to be sticking close to Erik, trying to get him to follow his group. I would have to keep Erik fairly safe for the next few days, what with the possibility of someone just swiping him. We didn't save him to have him stolen as another 'potential resource.' Besides, my rib needed healing and my shoulder wouldn't be worth crap if that didn't get attended to. There was no way I'd let Erik go anywhere today, he needed to rest and regain his strength.

Well, she's either gotten cautious, there was a coup, or she's planning something. I would need to visit tomorrow. I groaned, realizing that I still had to weave. Making a net would be tough, but at least we had plenty of room to string it. Hopefully we could get some trawling done in the swollen river, but the monsters would definitely see a fisherman as a tasty snack. I vowed to triple-reinforce the net, to keep it from being torn to bits by anything caught in it. With luck we would soon eat like fisher-kings.

I handed the rifle to Kara, her shoulder was in better condition for hunting, and if we could get something big in the water, we might have another couple of days of food. Our vantage point in the tree and the ease of access to the water from higher ground would keep us safe from all but the largest and most determined of waterbound monsters.

Cecile watched the redheaded elf head off into the highways of the tree's massive branches from the their abode's 'porch'. Lady was a freaking machine. While the rest of their group's combatants were still resting up after yesterday's extermination of the Maruaders, here she was gallivanting out into this miserable rainy and assuredly still extremely dangerous day without a second thought He was glad she was on their side, though he kind of wished she hadn't spent all morning making fur clothes out of that horrific monster MAX had dragged back this morning. Elven eye candy was the one bright spot in his decidedly dreary existence. He'd loved the way Kara's already scanty clothing had steadily become ever more ripped and torn as the days passed revealing more and more lovely toned flesh. A lot like Sigourney Weaver's character in Galaxy Quest, he thought in wistful remembrance.

However, he soon grimaced at the reminder of a world forever gone. He supposed there might be a copy of the movie somewhere on campus along with a dvd player and a tv, but there sure as hell wasn't any electricity.

Cecile jumped half way out into the huge platform of the branch extending straight out from the entrance, getting only slightly wet as Legolas er- Verras appeared next to him saying, “Keep your mind here. On this moment. On this task. Boredom is a guard's true enemy. If I'd been a foe, you'd be holding your innards in your hands right now.”

The ranger spent a few minutes giving him tips on staying focused and fighting with his halberd. Cecile wasn't sure what the point was. It mostly seemed like you wanted to keep the enemy back by poking him with the heavy pole. Finally, Verras left after reminding him that he only had an hour or so to go before Sarah relieved him.

Cecile glanced towards the passageway where he could hear Sarah's loud voice and some laughter. That would be Jordan, Sally, David, and Janice. They were definitely some sort of clique now that they'd gotten to go out and fight. Cecile snorted. Good for them. Pure luck, they all weren't dead. That and that Erik-guy's inexplicable ability to just make wounds go away. Cecile'd just as soon stay here where it was if not safe...less likely to be eaten by a dinosaur or stabbed through the chest out of no where like a bad horror movie. His best hope was whatever had caused them to show up here would just reverse itself and send them back. Not likely, but he was pretty sure they were all screwed in the long run no matter what they did.

He turned his attention back to the outside. Stepping out on to the sturdy branch, he walked to its side and carefully peered over, eyes sweeping the vast stretch of bark that made up the tree's trunk for anything climbing up. Not seeing anything all the way down to the rushing waters around the base, he turned and traveled the ten feet to the south side. He studied this one longer because of the makeshift hand holds dug into the bark by MAX's iron hands the day he'd dragged them all up here. If anyone was going to scale the tree to reach them, this was the most likely avenue.

But there was nothing.

Cecile had a momentary flash of bare breasted woman-avian screaming with razor claws and he jerked, flailing backwards as he frantically looked up, his head twisting and turning. He fell to his butt upon the branch, bracing himself with his weapon. Nothing. Just branches above, green leaves dripping with rain. Gasping for breath, he slowly relaxed. He could just barely make out the twinkling lights of the fairies through several canopies, the barest hint of country twang reaching his ears.

He made it back to his post just in time to ogle Alissa and Moira as the two ultra beautiful elves passed through the front room on their way to some other part of their bare ascetic complex of rooms. He muttered an awkward hi under his breath as the supposed Princess greeted him in her overly formal way. The foreign brained elf had clearly taken the confused economics major under her wing, Moira managing a fair imitation of the greeting as well.

Finally, after killing time by doing his best to reconstruct the periodic table in his head, his guard duty was up. After exchanging a few polite words with Sarah (she may have been rude but she'd saved their lives last night...), he headed to one of the back rooms furthest from where Lucy had been killed. He very carefully did not ponder the implications that had for the supposed safety of their current location.

He stopped short as he entered one of the larger rooms to find the place littered with silky spider webs, Samuel skittering back and forth across them. It was pretty obvious that he was creating some sort of net but Cecile couldn't quite stop himself from shuddering as he watched the guy's spidery-body create some of the stuff. His head jerked and he hastily jumped back as he noticed a cocoon of the webbing hanging from the ceiling with Erik's unconscious face sticking out the side. “Gahhh! Whaat the fuck, man!” Seriously, Samuel was the absolute creepiest dude they had. He still had nightmares about seeing the monstrous looking guy casually walking around with that severed head! Shit. Guy had lost it hadn't he? And Lucy-

As Samuel finally noticed his presence, Cecile slowly backed the way he came with his hands held out placating, “Hey man! It's cool. I didn't see anything. Don't mind me. Haha..” he laughed nervously before turning and fleeing.

The drider made to go after him to clear up the misunderstanding but Shannon flew in and distracted him, “Is that really necessary?” she asked as she fluttered around Erik's cocoon.

Sam took a moment to respond as he looked after the retreating chemistry major with concern. He relaxed when he saw Sally catch the guy in the next room. His efforts at building a report with the ice mage had paid off recently, she'd set the skittish guy straight. Looking back at the fairy, he said “Yea, totally. Guy was dead on his feet, just a robot mindlessly going from wound to wound. This way he gets some rest. He went right out after like 15 seconds of struggling. Plus this way he won't wander off and get snatched by that ungrateful asshole marine we saved.”

“Um... I don't think there's much danger of him reaching us all the way up here. He's not a ninja and I didn't think he was that obsessed or anything. I mean there's the monsters, the flood, climbing up the tree, and getting past everyone.”

Samuel nodded, “True. But something got in here the other night and killed Lucy. I don't want to be crass but the marine was right. Erik is a vital resource. Our vital resource. He could literally be the difference between life and death for some of us.”

“Uh...okay.” She had been going to see about getting her foot healed. It was literally throbbing with pain by this point but if Erik was exhausted as Sam said then it was probably better off if she waited. The healer had told her that fixing her bones would take a lot of concentration.

Samuel cleared his throat to get her attention, “This morning you said you were going out to find more food or figure out a way down to the floating feudal farmland island below, right? How'd that go?”

Shannon shook her head and looked away, “I- didn't find anything useful. Um...maybe I should have had a plan or something. As it was, with the pain in my foot and the way the rain bogged down my wings, I just kind of wandered around aimlessly. After nearly getting eaten by a falcon, I decided I was better off coming back here to rest and get fully healed.”




The amazon's search for Adali started with a survey of the northwest corner of the canyon from a vantage point within the tree's boughs where she could observe the entire area.

Karalanthas's attention was drawn to the West Campus Suites by the organized placement of sentries on its roof, particularly the shear variety of races represented. An orc, an elf, a goblin, a kobold, a dwarf, a winged dragon-like humanoid, and a few humans. All calmly ignoring the downpour, spread out across the top of the U-shaped building bearing various sized bows, crossbows, and a few melee weapons. Kara watched the orc wander over to the elf and apparently have a congenial conversation to alleviate some boredom. Their peaceful co-operation was strange. She supposed that all of their original personalities had persisted, but it seemed odd given her experiences so far.

Two individuals exited a hatch in the roof. A rotund bald human in a suit and-- Adali!

Kara recognized the slender feminine figure with the distinctive ax at her hip walking at the man's side, relaxed as can be. She watched the duo walk around the roof, the man stopping to speak with the sentries and occasionally turning to talk to Adali, the mage-warrior nodding more often than not. It took a few minutes for Kara's human memories to rise to the surface but she soon recognized the man. The University's gregarious President Mueler, she'd met him both during her initial campus tour and the freshman welcoming ceremony. He'd seemed a nice enough guy, but that was his job of course. Overly friendly charismatic human males tended to be suspect in her eyes. But he'd seemed to have forged some sort of refuge in this crisis, so that was a bit of respect...

Deciding that the woman wasn't in any duress, Kara headed back to the group to let them know Adali was okay. Kara wasn't too concerned with why Adali hadn't shown up for the attack, given that the woman was as much a loner as she was. Perhaps, she'd gotten bogged down helping these folk out. Hell, perhaps she knew someone down there. It didn't matter much either way to her.

"Oh, hey Cecile I... Wait, where are you going? Is this about Erik? I..."

I rubbed my head, this was definitely going to be hard to explain, especially to the others. Maybe I should make a sign or something. I shook my head, that would just be silly.

"You're probably right, he wasn't that obsessed, but it was something that was bugging me." I shrugged, wincing at my shoulder, it was still not very effective at this point. I was also waiting for Erik to get better. "I know how you feel, he patched up the worst of the wounds, but he was dead on his feet. Though I am interested in your plan. You said you went under there earlier, did you look at our island? Anything interesting along the edge there? Getting off is one thing, if we can find out what's on ours first we might find a better place to hole up. I haven't been along, and I haven't gone over the rim yet." I paused, remembering something. "I also have to pay a visit tomorrow, do you know if there are any flowers in this tree? Or something like that. I don't know if she'd like flowers, but it is nice to take gifts when a-courting. I do wonder what happened to that Drow and his sweetie he was oh-so protective of, whether they made it, they did go when it was still pretty hard to see, I'll have to find that out too." I started to work again, "Sorry Shannon, I've got fishing nets to make, a gift to plan, Erik to watch, my wife to murder, and Gilder to frame for it. I'm swamped." I hoped she'd get the reference.

CURRENT GOAL: Keep our group alive.

Current Mood: Usual cheer: Victory has been achieved at minimal loss, and we have possible new allies.

PRIORITIES (in order)

* Try and act as peacebroker between the three groups, if possible we merge. At the very least, aim for a joint sweep of Maruader territory for useful items that can be equally shared. Use the reputation gained by smashing the Marauders as needed by stressing we (or at least MAX S.) are largely interested in getting as many people out of this alive. In general, talk to people and generate goodwill.

* Ask around for some weapon insrtuctions. By and large current efforts were improvised and relied on brute force to work, this will not always work out well.

OSENG, for this last one I will need your help :

* Ask Shannon for fireball healing. Suggest she use MAX S. as practice dummy for various forms of attack.

Inventory:

Large one-handed mace

Kitchen knife.

Torn and scorched toga made from curtain.

What she had done so far hadn't been pretty as she washed the fur pelt she carved off the beast then scraped the flesh from the Warg's hide using a broken tip of a knife before cracking it's skull open to remove it's brains and mash them with water into a gory pink slurry that the hide was now curing in. The work had been foul and she washed up before during the bucket of water on the land side of the tree as to not get that foulness in the pond below them. She would have liked to do the same for her clothes, such as they were, but it was rainy and semi cold outside so she'd have to build a fire to dry them and doing so inside a living tree was just asking for trouble.

With more people needing Erik's help then she did and him being unconscious from the effort of the previous night she cleaned all her wounds of which she had a good handful now and dressed then from one of the many First Aid metal boxes they now had from her last trip out before the raid on the Marauders. The stab to her side had it's own line of super glue holding it closed under the bandages around her chest.

Hopefully the weather would be on her side when she had to stretch and dry the hide before it could be worked and then cut and sewn into clothes. For the time being though while her pelt was curing to avoid rot she'd go out in her tattered shirt and pants for a few days more.

Light footed she passed by several people without them even being aware she there including their Guard for the shift, Sarah. She paused as she passed one of the new girls they picked up. While Most of the rescued hostages were in the brick building close by, several had come with them into the Tree even though Karalanthas herself didn't want them to. They been kidnapped and brutalized from their homes and dorms before so it made sense they might want to be close. This had been one of them. She hadn't spoken yet so far as she knew and flinched anytime someone moved close to her. She was fumbling with a hairbrush they must have found during the aftermath of the raid. She nearly leaped up as Karalanthas fingers closed over hers and she pulled her back into a sitting position with her other hand. She put her hand around her golden hair and began to pass the brush through it with a clean whisking sound each time. They sat there in silence as the Amazon patiently unsnarled her hair then began to braid the waist long hair into long twin pigtails. That done Kara produced a cheap mascara mirror so she could see herself. Shoulders shaking she stared at herself. Her green dress muddy and ripped with her hair now combed and braided with a welt on her cheek from being backhanded. Tears well up in those azure eyes and Kara felt her head slam into her shoulder as she started crying, each sob making her whole body shake. Kara gently put her arms around the girl, words unneeded as hot tears fell to the dark strained wood floor.

A monster though I might be, heartless I was not. It didn't take long for my newly enhanced hearing to pick up the telltale noises of someone sobbing. I stopped weaving the net that I was working on, holding a strand of silk gently away from its fellows. It hurt to hear that, though I felt like crying myself. What those people had suffered, what we had been forced to do. What had changed in the past four days should have been impossible. But here we were, in the center of a giant tree, I was a bloodsucking cannibalistic psychopathic monster surrounded by good people, I was carrying the jawbone of an undead monster, and I was weaving a net from my ass.

After that particular revelation, I took a break from the weaving, making sure to check if Erik was still upright and breathing, and heading out along one of the larger branches for a light stroll. The rain the previous night had certainly taken the edge off the sun, and was keeping most of the bigger aerial predators from moving around. Though that wouldn't stop the smaller ones, like the harpy that had supposedly attacked. I might have to do something about that too. But being able to make webs, I would have to make a lot of them, and that would take a lot of feed-. A leaf tipped itself, drenching me with what may have been a drop of water to a giant. I shivered and tried to wring out my increasingly ragged clothing. If only I could eat-

None of that now...

I skittered along the topside of a branch before transferring to the underside, stretching and letting my hair and arms hang down. I felt overstrained, overpained, and overburdened. But it was good to have something to do. So as not to go absolutely bonkers. I spent the few minutes of stretching also looking for some flowers, perhaps something in white or red. I had to agree that she did look good in red. Unfortunately the fae were uncooperative and generally didn't come near me or anything like me. Just a few, if I could teach them the proper tunes. They'd make a lovely gift or installation in any home or castle-

Dammit... Not the time for advertising. I cursed myself, something I had been good at before, was now keeping me from going nuts. Where before it was just for crappy jokes and making people uncomfortable if they annoyed me, now I could come up with a quick patter for anything. Things were starting to feel detached.

I headed inside, muttering a perfunctory greeting to Verras at the door, he had done quite well even after being ventilated. As much as he occasionally irked me, being an elf and all, he was really a nice person to have around. I would have normally loved to chat or more accurately natter, but really didn't feel up to it, nor interested in much else. I had to work or everything would tumble down around my newly pointed ears, friends or not, people don't generally think when they're hungry enough. Though I did vow to ask Shannon to look me over at somepoint. She could just see things that others couldn't. It might be useful for my situation if she could find something to fix. Yeah, I'm just broken and need fixing, that's a great outlook. I sighed and got back to my knitting, hoping it would do the trick. Maybe a chat with MAX might help. He always seemed to be inspirational, even if it was in a very strange and oddly orthagonal way.