Spoiler: Chapter Sixteen: The Showdown
Show
February 1115
One afternoon a few weeks later, Valentine is in Pops’ store, working on appraising and dickering over the various trinkets that she recovered from the dragon’s lair beneath the Gallows Gap, when the elderly fence asks if she has heard about the new warlord.
“Only Hakkiel’s stories about her having murdered the civil government,” she responds.
“Well, today she made it official; declared herself the Warlord of Golgotha. And her first act was to outlaw slavery. It’s a good thing in the long run, if she can pull it off, more people with money to spend after all, but it's going to be damn tough to liberate so many people by force. It's going to be chaos, mark my words, and a lot of people aren’t going to survive.
Now me, I am old, too old, but you might want to think about moving on. The lawless frontier days might just be over, and when Golgotha is no longer a free city, being mercenary won’t cut it. If you plan on staying, you are going to have to figure out whose side you are on and sign up for real.
Now, what the hell is this? A brass lobster? Is it supposed to be an idol, or some sort of butter dish? This is totally worthless!”
Meanwhile, across town, Aurora is overhearing a similar conversation while honing her skills doing volunteer work in the Cathedral.
Christine is discussing politics with her friends, who insist that she is only supporting the new government because she and Lucia are friends. Christine denies it, saying that while she would prefer to live in an anarcho-feminist commune, but a matriarchy at least gets them halfway there. And besides, Lucia is a fair sight better than one of the other Warlords who were eyeing the city last year, or one of the crime families, let alone The Scourge.
At this, a tall man in the robes of a priest who had been proselytizing to some transients rises and says “But, surely you understand that The Scourge are harbingers of King Arthur’s return?”
“That’s just a myth,” Christine responds dismissively, to which Aurora chimes in: “No it isn’t, Arthur is real, I have met him!”
“Ah,” the strange priest says “So you to have visions of the true kings return? Then tell this nonbeliever of his glory!”
Aurora shakes her head and says she doesn’t want to be involved. He starts to press her, but then Christine loudly proclaims “It doesn’t matter if they serve Arthur or not. Their methods are despicable, and Pangaea needs no king! The world is better off without him!”
“Careful with such heresy, you never know who might be listening,” the priest says quietly.
“I don’t care who hears me say it!”
“Very well then, I will leave you to your blasphemy. Please, keep spreading your word.” And then he bows and walks out without ever giving his name.
Hours later, Valentine calls a meeting of her employees in the back room of the Green Gator, where many of them first met.
Valentine tells them a version of what Pops told her, and asks for input. Nobody is quite sure, their previous patrons; Tahrr, The Immaterium, Balthazar, etc. all have serious moral flaws that someone objects to, and Lady Abasinia is no suspect after Feur’s vision and Lorenzo’s insistence that these Mu spores provided no hallucinations, only the truth.
Likewise, nobody has any idea what Lucia stands for, and Sonya says that Anani was fearful of her and saw dark things in her future.
So, they put it to a vote and decide to remain a free company.
Valentine explains that several months ago, Valin’s agents contacted her and offered her amnesty in exchange for the return of the sword, his attempts to hunt them down were wearing on both his health and his finances.
Krystal asks why Valentine hadn’t told her this before, and the half-angel says that she is telling her now. Krystal pouts and disappears into the shadows.
She has told Valin that she will take him up on his offer, and arranged to meet him in two weeks, at sunset in the town square of Sentry Gate.
It is, of course, going to be an ambush. He has brought in several local gangs, and is gathering hired muscle as they speak. But, she is going to turn the ambush around on him, by having their allies come to relieve them, catching their enemy in a battle on all sides.
As for allies; well, Zara, Harijan, and Butler are a given. But they will need to find more.
Aurora goes to the cathedral to try and drum up some support, but it is unable to gather any. However, Christine herself is willing to come along. She isn’t much good in a fight, but can provide support to the wounded and shell-shocked, and still knows her way around a gun if worse comes to worst.
That opens the door to Raven-Dies-Talking and Brad Weston. Although neither of them would agree to work with one another, Valentine is able to convince them both that they are coming along to protect Christine, as well as a sizeable portion of the take. She doesn’t let slip that they are both going to be working together until it is too late to turn back.
Kim, Feur, and Zara take a trip south, to the nameless city, where they attempt to seek out the aid of Coraxe. The crocodile hengeyokai is amenable to their cause, but sees many risks involved. In the end, he tells them that he will travel with them, but in exchange for his time, he wants their dwarf. Zara will stay with him and help him explain the city’s many technological mysteries for precisely as long as he is away from it.
Zara corrects him and states that she isn’t a dwarf.
Coraxe is confused, for he has seen dwarves before and knows their scent.
Kim interjects and says that she was a dwarf, but is one no longer because she has no clan.
Zara butts in and asks Kim if that is so, and Kim, stunned, nods. Zara then asks if she knows why she has no clan, and Kim responds that they were either wiped out or she was exiled for a crime. And then Zara says, in her most ironic voice, that the wise archeologist forgot the third possibility while she was human-splaining her own culture to her; perhaps it was both, maybe she killed them all herself.
She storms off and agrees to Coraxe’s terms, saying it will be nice to spend some time apart from these condescending know-it-alls.
Sonya consults with Russel, who says that he cannot personally help as he has business with the hengeyokai in the north. She asks if he can send troops, and Russel says that all he could spare would be a squad or two of zealots, and if that truly means the difference in battle between her allies and a mere Trade Prince then he will be very disappointed, so she should think of this battle as a test of her mettle for the true struggle that is soon to come.
Decker and Whin are not willing to help personally, but they will supply the group with ammunition, grenades, and tonics. Whin also prepares an elixir for Valentine that will amplify her voice, and makes a potent sleeping gas from the Gloomwing’s venom.
Valentine herself has also arranged for further reinforcements, but is keeping them close to her chest.
On the journey to Concordance, she briefs her companions, filling them in on Valin’s history and their relationship.
He was once a trade prince of the Sonata corporation, the last of the great Imperial trading houses and owners of the vast city of Concordance, built at the junction of the rivers Sangrael and the Amber Flow.
But, years ago, there was a scandal, which cost him his position and left him scarred and crippled. He has since made a name for himself in the underground, and has recently become the de facto owner of the small town of Sentry Gate, a suburb outside of Concordance proper.
Quincy asks why they don’t just work with this Sonata corporation to take him down, and Valentine says that they would dismantle his empire and repossess his ill-gotten property, and she wants to keep it for herself.
Since Krystal’s betrayal, he has become exceedingly paranoid and erratic. His fortune is nearly spent, but it should still be a grand haul for them as he has taken the whole town as his personal fief.
He has brought together a gang of ne’er do wells and holed up in the town, and it will be easier for them to approach under a flag of truce than to fight their way in.
His gang includes:
Chet Leston, also known as the Sanguine Fox. A legendary gunfighter turned outlaw, always one big score away from retirement. At this Quincy adds that he knows how that feels.
Wendy O’hara, a local torch singer who has taken to leading a band of thugs called the Saber Rats in her middle age.
Alexandria Montfort, the elected sheriff of Sentry Gate. She and her handpicked deputies are as corrupt as they come, and expert riders everyone.
The rogue wizard Al-hoo-whin the golden. He is obsessed with knowledge, and would like nothing more than to capture the Scroll of Aeons and add it to his own collection.
The Two Whispers. Cambion assassins, the same who ambushed them in the Shaded Grove, she knows nothing about them save that they have come from a great distance to aid Valen.
And finally, his personal bodyguard G’mork, a name that means Ghost Heart in the language of the Goren. A literal sasquatch, with black fur and glowing yellow eyes, he will tear you apart if you so much as look at Valin wrong.
The town has packed dirt roads, and tank traps had been laid across them at several points; Valin was obviously wary of their juggernaut.
In the center was a small grassy patch built around the public gallows, a symbol of the town’s self-governance as no Templar would allow such a crude method of execution. Around the gallows is a fountain and several hedges; these common areas would impede movement but not do much to hinder the line of sight.
Shops line the north and south sides of the street, and Valin had hastily thrown up catwalks between the rooftops.
On the south side were several warehouses. On the north was the bank, the largest and most fortified building in town.
At the North East corner of the square stood the Sheriff’s Office and the adjoining jail, and kitty-corner to it was O’haras’ hideout, the Shining Night saloon.
In the South East corner were the stables and an old windmill, while the North West corner was shaded by the town’s water tower.
The juggernaut rumbles into the square from the South West, near the saloon, the Saber Rats hanging off the balcony and lounging about the porch, watching it closely.
But, Valentine and her crew are not inside. Rather, they come walking up from the north, out from under the water tower, the massive crocodilian bringing up the rear. Krystal is, of course, nowhere to be seen.
Valin can be seen across the square, standing on the bank’s balcony, slight and with a scarred face, and he calls out “Where’s the sword Valentine?”.
“You’ll know soon enough,” she answers defiantly, in a voice that is soft but carries across the square.
“I guess one of us will,” Valin says, dejectedly, and motions to the rooftop snipers.
They fire before Valentine can react, and she is pierced by two bullets, both blessed by the dark powers, knocking her to the ground and sapping the life from her.
And thus the battle for Sentry Gates began. It lasted just over twelve minutes.
Minute One:
Kim loses her cool and rushes south, moving for the ladder to the sniper’s nest on the roof of the general store, while Valentine collapses and drags herself into the shadow of the water tower, blocking line of sight.
Krystal slips through the shadows to the north sniper nest, while Quincy attempts to return fire, but only succeeds in smashing a hole in the built-up storefront.
Aurora summons a blood elemental to assist with healing and to stave off death for her wounded companions.
The group closes ranks, but Valin has seen this coming, and has set up a pair of mortars, one on the roof of the sheriff’s office and another near the stables. Feur uses his chronomancy to see the explosion coming and makes sure he isn’t anywhere nearby. Likewise, Sonya and Quincy dive for cover, leaving Esper the horse free to move about on its own. Harijan is badly wounded by the attack, taking a bit of shrapnel to the gut.
Christine, Brad, and Raven-Dies-Talking reveal their presence, emerging from the warehouse at the south end of town.
A regiment of Black Scar Mercenaries takes up positions in front of the bank, while at the same time the local militia forms rank about the town commons, locking their adversaries in place.
The wizard, Ahl-hoo-whin conjures a mana shield to protect them, while the twin demon spawn disappear from sight. A pair of priests, one holy and one demonic, bless the troops, while G’mork stands vigilant at the base of the stairs leading to the bank.
Chester, the Sanguine Fox, laughs at Brad’s appearance, and proclaims “Surprised you would show your face after what happened at Red Wind Gulch. Of course, I’m sure this time you won’t get all of your allies killed.”
At this moment, Valentine’s secret weapon appears from the North East; Samuel and his band of mercenaries have come to their aid. This group, whom you may recall assisted them in recovering the Mandala of Dreams, is led by a knight who is half angel and half asura. It also includes a winged pikeman named Vogel, a redheaded medic named Carrie Jidan, a Buddhist gunslinger named Kale, a fairy scout and magician whom they call Tinkerbelle absent her real name, and a mysterious sixth member who is not yet revealed.
Three of them are soaring through the air, while Kale and Carrie charge forward atop a wild mustang whom he has been attempting to tame with limited success.
Samuel swoops onto the north rooftops to engage the sniper.
Alexandra Montfort and her deputies take off after Kale, and when they do, Jeremy Butler takes the opportunity to slip away. You see, he had infiltrated the Black Scar Mercenaries in town a week earlier, and had secretly been planting explosive caches around town. So he moves away from his regiment, even now forming ranks and drawing lines of fire, and moves into the now unoccupied sheriff’s office.
The deputies can’t catch the wild horse, but a near-miss from Chester’s revolver knocks Kale from the saddle, and Carrie continues on across the square without him.
Coraxe tosses a grenade into the militia, and when they break ranks to dive for cover, Vogel descends upon them, killing more than his fair share in the confusion.
Minute Two:
Valin holds out his arm, revealing a bird that is either a small eagle or an exceptionally large falcon, and pulls back its hood while directing it toward Valentine’s wounded form. But, before it can so much as cross the square, Raven-Dies-Talking’s pet Cyndi takes to the air and meets it, the smaller bird proving to be its superior in both agility and tenacity, and soon it takes to the open sky, being harried by the corvid the entire way.
Kim clambers up an old ladder onto the roof of the shops on the south side, swinging her chain to disrupt the snipers that hunker there. On the opposite side, Krystal moves through the Hellscape to emerge onto the north roofs, but as she does so, she feels something massive scuttling after her, and only Brad, trained demon-hunter and possessed of the second sight, can see the massive predatory spider spirit which lurks on the other side of the Veil, but he is too busy trading shots with the militia to do anything about it at the moment.
Zara drives the juggernaut right into the balcony of the Shining Night, sending young gangers toppling every which way, and before they can recover Aurora throws her knockout potion into their ranks, sending more than a few of them into a dreamless sleep. Rather than risk getting stuck in the building’s foundations, Zara rights the juggernaut back onto the south road.
Sonya uses the Bloodstone Pendant to drain the life force from those militiamen who were wounded by Coraxe or Vogel, who still strike at them with scattergun and voulge, and Harijan does his best to mimic her spells, although, without the amulet to amplify his powers and distracted by his bleeding guts, he makes little progress.
The sheriff and her deputies take potshots at Kale, who dives behind a horse trough and returns fire.
The Sanguine Fox puts a well-placed bullet into Sonya’s shoulder, putting a momentary stop to her casting.
Ahl-hoo-whin steps through the doors of the bank and then emerges from a shop much closer to his enemy's position, clearly some sort of wizardry at work. He attempts to cast a spell of some sort upon Feur, but the chronomancer resists his efforts, and summons a hound of tindalos to amplify his own casting.
Samuel dispatches the northern sniper, while Carrie rides across the square and dismounts amongst the sleeping toughs in front of the Shining Night saloon, taking cover behind the armored Juggernaut.
At this moment two hulking iron figures on either side of the bank, which the attackers thought mere statues, reveal themselves to be huge steam-powered golems. They slowly rise to their feet and jerk forward.
At the same time, Jeremy is lighting a fuse.
Valentine gathers her strength and flits onto the roof of the warehouse; escaping death by just a few seconds, although she will never know it.
Minute Three:
Kim and Quincy both strike at the southern sniper, although it is unclear whether it is her mace or his bullet that does the deed.
Feur speeds up his companions with a haste spell, further laying waste to the town militia.
Aurora, finding herself under fire from the mercenaries across the square, moves to the south side of the warehouse.
The two priests move along the roads, one north of the commons and the other south, each flanked by a duo of Black Scar guards.
Wendy O’hara rouses some of the gangers from sleep and rallies those who are merely shocked or dazed, and orders them to surround Carrie.
Chet takes fire at Raven-Dies-Talking, and the wandering flutist takes cover by scampering up a ladder onto the side of the general store, and Alexandra Montfort dismounts and follows, leaving Kale to her deputies.
Samuel flies down to a lower rooftop on the north side and helps Raven-Dies-Talking up all the while blocking incoming fire with his shield.
Al-hoo-whin casts a more potent spell which he had held in reserve, and suddenly an irresistible halo of bright light surrounds Krystal, giving away her position to everyone on the battlefield. She panics and transports herself onto the warehouse roof, the monstrous demon-eating spider in hot pursuit.
The golems continue their advance, the one on the south side slamming its massive fits into the hood of the juggernaut and denting the steel.
Moments after Jeremy departs the sheriff’s office, the entire building explodes, the mortar shells and stashes of gunpowder within ignited by the demolitionist’s charge. The entire town shakes with the explosion, and the mortar is, needless to say, taken out of commission along with its crew.
At the same time, the southern mortar emplacement finds itself without anyone to load it, as Shade, the glaistig rogue, and sixth member of Samuel’s troupe, has dispatched them without ever being seen, striking with the grace and ferocity of the dinosaurs that he resembles.
Nommo are vicious monsters native to Masaria, they resemble humanoid frogs and are renowned for their long venomous claws, tough hides, and camouflaging abilities. Many of them were captured by the Masarian corporations, augmented alchemically, and conditioned to follow orders, and some of these have made their way to the mainland as bio-weapons. Valin has purchased some of these, and had them stalking Valentine. But, once she flits up to the roof, they instead turn their ferocity onto the nearest target; Quincy.
Minute Four:
Tinkerbelle moves to protect Krystal with a shell of anti-magic, and Brad, using his own form of teleportation by way of the Cubic Gate, moves to assist her on the roof, driving the spider-spirit away with his enchanted pistols.
Coraxe turns to help Quincy, distracting the nommo long enough for Christine to drag the rifleman’s wounded form out of the fray.
Valentine takes flight across the town square, and calls out to Kim for aid. Kim uses the Staff of Noboru to render her invulnerable to bullets, which is good because she takes a volley from the Black Scar who follow Valin’s instructions on the west side of the commons. Unfortunately, as she passes overhead, the diabolic priest tosses a vial of profane water upon her, which both weakens her shield and burns her holy flesh, and she comes crashing onto the rooftop beside Kim, bleeding and broken.
Vogel, who had been doing so well against the militia, is, bereft of Coraxe’s support, pulled down and pummeled harshly, his delicate wings broken.
Kale, meanwhile, gives the deputies the slip and climbs onto one of the northern rooftops, but is soon pinned down by fire from the Black Scar.
Samuel and Raven-Dies-Talking fight back to back on the rooftop; Samuel slams sheriff Montfort down with such force that she crashes through a catwalk and lands in an ally below, while Raven finds himself engaged by the twin half-demons, and even his enchanted sword, Apshai’s Talon, passes right through one of them like smoke.
The southern golem matches its metal against the Juggernaut, and in an amazing display of strength actually manages to turn the multi-ton vehicle over onto its side. Meanwhile, its northern companion goes after Sonya, who takes shelter beneath the porch of a nearby storefront.
Jeremy is spotted by several soldiers garrisoning the roof of the jailhouse, and he tosses as a flash bomb at them before taking shelter inside.
As Wendy’s goons move to surround Carrie, Aurora casts a spell upon several of them, causing them to drop dead of massive hemorrhages.
Minute Five:
The nommo swarm over Coraxe, and he rolls deftly, pushing them to one side, where he can engage them with tooth, claw, and wicked kukris.
Samuel drops to the ground, scattering the remaining militiamen and moving to help his downed friend Vogel.
Brad again jumps through the ether, coming to rest atop the water tower, where he rains bullets down upon the Sheriff’s deputies, killing one and wounding another. His brother Raven, deciding that the demon girls are beyond his abilities, drops down into the ally and begins brawling with Sheriff Alexandra.
The Two Whispers teleport to the center of the commons and take cover out of sight.
Ahl-hoo-whin and Feur get into a wizard’s duel, each attempting to bend the flow of time to their advantage and mostly ending up in a stalemate.
G’mork is given leave by Valin to investigate the flash of light that came from the jailhouse. Inside, Jeremy is hoping to find some prisoners to free to add to the chaos, but the building is empty and so he instead looks to lock himself up.
Chester fills the porch with holes, driving Sonya out from her hiding place and into the metal grasp of the golem. Its mate, on the other hand, smashes into the rooftop where Kim and Valentine are hiding, sending the abjurer crashing to the ground even as she attempts to bargain with an earth elemental for protection.
Minute Six:
Kim engages the golem with the Endless Chain, though even this hell-forged weapon does little to slow the metal colossus.
Aurora finds herself surrounded by fleeing militiamen and gangers, with more than a few bullets and arrows whizzing past her head, and decides to climb onto the warehouse roof.
Sonya does her best to run and hide behind Feur, and the golem loses interest.
Krystal darts along the rooftops, each step barely exiting the Hellscape before the deformed spider can catch her, and deftly ends the lives of each of the Black Scar Mercenaries who stand atop the jailhouse, even as they are recovering their vision.
Valen, seeing the battle turning in his favor, moves to join the Black Scar battle line, coming down the steps of the bank even as his hirsute bodyguard chases Jeremy out of the jail and down the north side of the square.
The twin whispers teleport themselves through the Hellscape onto the roof across from Valentine, and hit the fallen angel with a paralyzing dart.
Coraxe is more than a match for any of the nommo, and tears a few of them to pieces, but they are much swifter and more numerous, and he soon collapses under the strain of their combined venom.
Harijan is shot by one of the sheriff’s deputies and nearly trampled by his horse, and when Christine attempts to drag him to safety, she catches a bullet in the arm from the Sanguine Fox and ducks back into the warehouse. Brad, deciding he has had just about enough of this upstart gunfighter, responds by filling him full of lead and leaving him dead on his back in the dusty street, putting an end to his long career.
Carrie pulls out her Atlantean pistol and fires at Wendy O’hara, paralyzing her with a stunning blast of electricity, and then turns to faith the youths that now surround her, daring them to engage.
Tinkerbell summons up a magical storm that scatters the few remaining members of the town militia, those who do not flee the field are struck by supernatural lightning.
But, alas, before Samuel can reach Vogel, the massive golem stomps on his chest and crushes the life from him.
Minute Seven:
Kim realizes that the golem is too much for her disengaging by clambering up the rubble, which rises to meet her like a living stair, and stands guard over Valentine’s paralyzed form.
Krystal darts across the field and stabs Ahl-hoo-whin in the back, shattering his mana shield. He then turns to her, leaning in close to bypass her own anti-magic shield, and whispers into her ear, asking if she should really be down here fighting with him when Valin’s agent is alone on the rooftop with Valentine’s helpless form. Krystal’s suspicions toward Kim flare for a moment, but then she recognizes the words of enchantment and shrugs off the suggestion spell. But, before she can clear her mind completely, the wizard darts away into a nearby doorway and is gone, and when she goes to give chase she feels a dart bite into the small of her back; the demonic assassins have found her.
The nommo engage Samuel and Feur in melee combat while Aurora moves to heal their wounds with the words of magic.
The water tower, already damaged by a mortar blast, begins to crash under the weight of structural damage caused by too many bullets and passing golems, and Brad finds himself tumbling to the ground, nimbly avoiding being crushed or drowned.
While Sheriff Montfort and Raven-Dies-Talking continue to brawl, one of her surviving deputies cracks Harijan over the head with the butt of his rifle, taking him out of the battle.
Minute Eight:
While Kim stands on the ruined rooftop surveying the battlefield, she sings to the Earth, which rolls and buckles under the Juggernaut, until the massive vehicle is once again right-side up.
Ahl-hoo-whin dashes out of the warehouse door and stands above the slain body of the Chet Leston, and draws dark runes of necromancy in the air. A moment later the Sanguine Fox rises again, a terrible wight driven only by hatred and vengeance.
Krystal slays the priest and his Black Scar bodyguard just as Jeremy runs past, the sasquatch G’mork hot on his heels.
Kale is injured, taken out of the fight by a bullet in the shoulder guided by the mercenary battle line under Valin’s direct command.
At the same time, Shade leaps down from the rooftops, attempting to strike at Valin directly, but first, he must clear a path, and using stealth, claws, and poison, he takes down the mercenaries one by one.
Raven-Dies-Talking emerges from the alleyway, the bound and gagged body of the sheriff dragged behind him.
Brad reloads his guns and takes out the remaining deputies with careful precision and cold dispassion.
Feur is taken out of the fight by the nommo, who now turn on Sonya.
Aurora is hit by a bullet and collapses on the rooftop, digging through her pouch for a tonic to heal her wounds.
Minute Nine:
Kim centers herself and decides on a better method of dealing with the golems than attempting to whack them with her meteor hammer. She commands the earth to swallow them, and though they are too large to bury completely, they are also too clumsy to escape, and they end up half buried in the ground, swinging wildly at anyone who comes near.
G’mork, hearing the screams of dying mercenaries, turns back to protect Valin from Shade’s rampage.
The demonic cultist rushes forward to engage Samuel, his unholy blade eager to draw the angelic blood within.
Carrie, meanwhile, is attempting to talk some sense into the remaining Saber Rats, trying to convince them to give up aiding these doomed outlaws, and promising to support them in their new lives.
As the juggernaut trundles north, Jeremy moves to clear a path for it, demolishing the tank traps that lie between it and Valen. Al-hoo-whin, seeing this coming, conjures up a force field in its path to stall it.
The undead gunslinger takes down Feur with a bullet to the chest, and it seems like the young Tribunal’s adventure is over, and he considers turning back time, but does not want to rob his allies of the victory he foresaw, and thus is content to leave his future in the hands of fate.
Krystal moves across the battlefield after the sasquatch, but is finally caught by the spider that has been hunting her, and she scrambles back into real-space bleeding and feeling its venom burning in her blood.
Raven-Dies-Talking moves to engage the golem, mostly just distracting it so that his companions can pass by its half-buried form, but he thinks his keen mithril blade just might be able to pierce its iron hide.
Brad takes out the last of the deputies and chases away their horses before he turns to help Krystal.
The sun has now fully set, and Sonya calls forth ancient shades from the Abyss to protect her from the encroaching frog-creatures.
Minute Ten:
Ahl-hoo-whin moves to reanimate Vogel in the same manner that he did the Sanguine Fox, and turns his back to Brad. Brad, not wanting to miss this opening, puts a bullet into the back of his head, but unfortunately, the golden wizard foresaw this doom, and performed a ritual to protect him from all bullets, and his spell goes by unimpeded.
Samuel is injured by the cultist before killing the defiling priest, and now sees Vogel rise, and he is mentally and physically exhausted, unsure if he has it in him to face the monster that was once his friend.
Quincy reenters the battle, somehow mounted upon Esper’s back, the loyal horse having taken him to safety. Aurora quickly casts a spell of restoration, giving him the strength to once more grasp his rifle, and, surveying the battlefield, the old hunter takes a swig from his flask to steady his fingers and loads some of his few remaining vorpal bullets.
Krystal moves to hide behind the juggernaut, and the anti-magic shield that surrounds her disrupts the force field long enough for it to move through, but the spider is still searching for her.
Sonya continues to summon forth shades, and they drink the life from her amphibian attackers.
Kim engages a few enemy archers who have taken cover on a nearby rooftop, swinging her chain across the gap.
Tinkerbelle, seeing the detritus about her, begins weaving spells of animation, dropped and discarded weapons now being wielded by phantom warriors.
Valin commands his troops to move forward.
Minute Eleven:
Quincy takes the head off one of the golems with his enchanted bullets.
Sonya and her shades clear the Black Scar mercenaries from the north side of the square, supported by cantrips from Harijan, freshly returned to the fight by Aurora’s spells.
Brad and Raven-Dies-Talking work together to return The Sanguine Fox to his grave.
As Vogel mortally wounds Samuel, he is in turn impaled by his own pike, which had been guided by Tinkerbelle’s magic.
Ahl-hoo-whin launches a fireball into the mass of animated weapons, melting most or blowing them to pieces, and then steps away.
The Juggernaut continues to trundle west, toward Valen.
Shade attempts to escape, but G’mork catches him by the tail and yanks him back. The fearsome reptile bites and claws, but the mighty primate is simply too powerful, and he is smashed repeatedly into the ground until his bones are broken and his will to fight utterly spent.
Carrie manages to talk down the last of the Saber Rats, only to find herself surrounded by advancing Black Scar Mercenaries and forced to surrender.
“Little Sister, where are you?” The Two Whispers call out. Krystal crawls into an alley and hides behind some crates. But, a moment later, they cry out “Found you!” With the last of her strength, she fires Shrieker, startling and deafening them with the sound of a thousand screams, including one particularly vulgar tirade which occurred after she shot Feur in the back during a training exercise. Krystal slips into the Hellscape, and Tinkerbell quickly performs a ritual to strengthen the Veil to keep the spider spirit from pursuing her. She wraps herself deep in her cloak of shadows and lies still.
Minute Twelve:
The juggernaut trundles through the Black Scar lines. Those who do not evade are crushed, although a few, protected by shields of mana, survive only to have their life force stolen by the Bloodstone Pendant.
Coraxe, cured of the poison by Aurora, happily devours those who remain.
Quincy dispatches the second golem with his enchanted bullets, though he only has a few left.
The Two Whispers move to Valentine, and one drops to her knees and begins to saw off the angel girl’s wings, hoping to draw Krystal out of hiding. Kim swings her chain at the one who stands guard, and it passes right through, and she realizes that they aren’t twins at all, one is merely an illusion, a mirror image created to distract those who would strike at the original.
When Krystal rises unsteadily to her hoofed feet, Ahl-hoo-whin casts the spell he had been saving for this moment; seize. He pulls the Black Flame Blade from her grasp and into his own hands, and moves to take it to Valen; Brad thinks quick and teleports into his path, distracting him so that Raven-Dies-Talking, an old hand at this game, can sneak up behind him and steal the sword from his grasp.
As the shades close in around Valen, he realizes that it is over; his mercenaries are dead or scattered, and his allies pulled thin, and with each incantation from Aurora, he grows more and more outnumbered. He calls out to Whin “Wizard, the night is lost. Get us out of here!”
The golden mage looks at him and bows, responding “I agree that this evening is a loss, but unfortunately “us” is no longer a possibility,” he then snaps his fingers and disappears.
Valin looks around uneasily, moving behind G’mork, and then Kim approaches him, and commands the Earth to swallow him whole.
The Trade Prince barely even has time to register his surprise before he is buried, and before anyone can even think about digging him out, Zara rolls the Juggernaut on top of him.
G’mork swears an oath of vengeance and then runs into the darkened streets. Likewise, Brianne of the Two Whispers decides that she has nothing more to do here and disappears into the Hell from which she came.
The spider creature is now unable to detect any more demons in the area, and a few shots from Brad’s Fiend Slayer Revolvers convince it to go elsewhere in search of prey.
There are few prisoners; Sheriff Montfort, Wendy O’hara, and a handful of Saber Rats, Militiamen, and Black Scar Mercenaries.
The battle is over.
A few hours later, the victors are celebrating in what remains of the Shining Night tavern, although it is more of a wake than anything else. Alcohol flows freely, for though Vogel was the only casualty, thanks to the dedicated work of Christine, Carrie, and Aurora, there is none among them who do not bear scars.
Brad, Christine, and Raven admit that it was nice working together again, and agree that the next time Raven-Dies-Talking is on Golgotha, the three of them will get together for a proper reunion.
In the morning, they will raid Valin’s vault as well as his personal estate, and find that his coffers were not so deep as they imagined, but still enough to make for a generous payday for each of their allies.
Valentine has a lot of work ahead of her if she wishes to take over the town and Valin’s syndicate, and considers who to keep on and who to banish, and whether or not she can bring any of her allies in on this. If Decker has some boys who can help hold the town in exchange for a new trade route, and if Pops might not be too old to relocate after all, and maybe handle all the civil stuff, perhaps even as mayor.
But for now, she is just glad to be alive, and enjoying Samuel’s attention. He is based out of Concordance, and looks forward to having her as a proper neighbor when he gets back from his next mission, a long and dangerous journey into the heart of the Wasteland looking for relics of the Old Empire for the Imperial Justiciars.
When nobody is looking and the moon is full dark, Krystal slips away and exhumes Valin’s body; braindead but still technically alive. She takes him to an abandoned shop, and follows her sword's instructions to call forth The Maestro of Disharmony, a demon that was once a sound elemental.
The foul spirit enters the room not as a being, but as a strange discordant tone that fills anyone who hears it with dread. And she makes the bargain; giving it the soul of her worst enemy along with the sound of her footsteps, rendering her utterly silent from this night on.
Nobody does much of anything the following day, they are all too sore from the battle and too hung over from the celebration, and none of the townsfolk dares approach these armed marauders. The closest they come is to feed the prisoners, including the Sheriff who is locked up in her own jail.
Among Valin’s effects, they find an enchanted brooch which is built to warn him if Krystal is near, something that he had no way of knowing would do no good while she wore the Oculus.
In addition, they find a letter from Lady Umbriel, stating that she is sending one of her agents to bring the matter to a close, after all, does not the Tao say to fight hellfire with hellfire? But make no mistake, if he has not recovered her sword by the time she arrives, it will be Krystal, not Valin who will be lord of Concordance in the new age.
They can only puzzle at precisely what this means, what sort of deal Valin and Umbriel had going on under the table, and why a gangster from Concordance would be dealing with the Warlord of a kingdom well over a thousand leagues away.
The following day they all depart by their various means; Coraxe and Zara by way of the Juggernaut, Brad and Christine through the Cubic Gate, Kale and Carrie on the back of his wild horse which is being put in its place by Esper, and the rest by train. Raven-Dies-Talking and his familiar Cyndi merely walk off into the desert in search of whatever adventure awaits them next.
And, as for our heroes, they must now answer the call of The Scourge.
Re: Talakeal's Campaign Diary Part II (Now 90% horror story free!)
Looking for feedback on Heart of Darkness, a character driven RPG of Gothic fantasy.
Reply With Quote