RP Demon Hunters

Discussion in 'Role Playing' started by Ikbenbeter, May 31, 2014.

  1. Ikbenbeter

    Ikbenbeter Pangalactic Porcupine

    OOC Thread: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/demon-hunters-reworked.74986/

    Chapter 1: Attack on New York
    "In the movies, they always attack New York City first. Well, turns out they attacked New York last. But the movies were right about the scale."
    -Derek Vincents

    The previous day, a few hunters had received an email with their teams and their names. They had been assigned to be leader. Aaren was one of them because he was a personal friend of Derek. As Derek was explaining things, Aaren was in the crowd, looking at the faces and checking which ones matched the pictures he was given. He spotted the German, Luis, first, who stood out because he was one of the Europeans. According to his personality profile, he was grouchy but reliable. Aaren was okay with working with people like that, better than the other way around. According to his battle profile, Luis had more experience than Aaren and was a heavy hitter. Aaren felt like Luis was going to be easy to fight with but hard to work with.

    Next Aaren spotted Erick. Erick was somewhat like Aaren, but had got somewhere in life. Aaren also feared his Gun usage, since he had no field experience. Well, he had developed them, so Aaren was alright with it. The third member of his team he spotted was Marlene, a woman. Women were about as common in the agency as men. Her role as a vanguard and healer would come in handy during fights, and according to her personality profile she could do well with stress, which is important as a healer.

    The final person, Michael, was hard to find. It was after it was over and everyone was going home when Aaren spotted him, and only because someone asked for his name. An assassin-like fighter, a valuable asset to any team. Aaren got a very good look at him, and took a picture with his phone because he was unsure whether he was going to recognize him again. Aaren walked over to Derek, who was at the back, texting someone. "Derek!" Aaren waved him over. "Have you found them all?" Derek asked and Aaren nodded. "Good. I have just messaged Eva to send everyone their team. You ready to be a leader?" Aaren smiled. "A lot depends on it."

    3:00 am (pacific), March the 8th 2015,
    The Bronx, New York City, Raining


    [​IMG]

    Aaren and his team were spread around the area which they were assigned to. They had been awake for a while now, and Aaren took his last sip of the iced coffee he had bought. He threw it in a trash can while the taste of it lingered in his mouth. Aaren savored it while the rain kept pounding on his head, sad that his street was devoid of shelter. Aaren sighted, wondering how the rest of the team was doing. They had communicated a bit on their earpieces, but aside from first names and area coverage they hadn't really said anything interesting. They all knew it could be a long night, and since they had met face to face only for a second, they didn't really talk yet. That would have to wait until after the mission. Aaren checked his weapons for the twentieth time. Still waterproof. His equipment was fine, as well. He sighted and took another look down the street.

    Aaren saw something strange, a black ball. He walked to check if it was real, and he felt a foul aura emitting from it. Suddenly, he recognized it. A rift. He loaded his flare gun with the blue flare, which signaled contact in this mission. He aimed upward, and looked around. He saw a few other flares. As his own flare burst into a few seconds of light, the entire sky of New York lit up blue from hundred of blue flares. "Contact, my location!" He shouted into his earpiece and unsheathed his weapon. At the space of the rift a huge Demon materialized. Aaren got out his scanner and Weapon.


    [​IMG]
    Name: Dark Vanguard
    Class: B
    Magic: Strong (Summoning, homing projectiles, Dark portals)
    Size: 30 ft (10m)
    Weight Class: Heavy
    Style: Humanoid, slow, hits like a truck
    Victims: 50,000
    Defeated: 500
    Notes: Usually the first Demon to arrive, this demons huge killcount is due to their huge destructive capacities. Be careful, it can summon Shadows or create a portal that you don't want to enter.
     
    Last edited: Jun 5, 2014
  2. Stu and Improved

    Stu and Improved Spaceman Spiff

    "I am moving to intercept!" Luis popped a caffeine tablet - his second that day - and rolled his shoulders, drawing his axe. He broke into a jog, not trusting the others to get to the brawl before he did. Fortunately, the streets were dead due to the ungodly hour. Just Luis's luck, he supposed. Of course he'd have to always be fighting in the rear end of the middle of the night. "Sir, please advise on position. What is your sitrep?" Luis took a sharp left and sheathed his axe, starting to climb a fire escape to get a better view of his sector. "Verdammt! Sir, please advise! I am seeing multiple threats, repeat, multiple threats on the streets!" Not quite sure what to do, he started searching for a way to get to the next roof. After a moment, he broke away at a dead run, jumping from one roof to another before landing on the ground. As he came up, he switched his flash light on and immediately noticed the small demon turning toward him. With a sharp breath, he drew his axe, chopping the odd little beast in two.

    As the dog-sized devil melted into shadow, Luis looked around him. He was in an alleyway that had main road access at both ends, with no offshoots. Using his fairly good internal compass, he dashed off again, looking for his CO's (not that he was much of an officer, or even particularly in command) unique style of magic. Luis had to circumvent some fights, but after a minute or so of Flux-assisted running, he saw Aaren at an intersection, battling a particularly large demon. He cursed to himself, mumbling. "Couldn't have given us an easy one on our first night out, could he? Okay, let's see what we've got." He unslung his rifle and sighted in the Vanguard, deciding to wait until he figured out where to hit the thing.
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2014
  3. critsarecool

    critsarecool The Waste of Time

    Crouching on a rooftop near Aaron's location, Michael heard Aaron on the mic and saw the flare. Michael quickly looked around for a contact point, and saw the giant Vanguard demon appear from the portal. 'Damn, I was not hoping to find one of those here. Well, better get to work.' After taking a second to stretch out all of his kinks, he unsheathed his dagger and wrapped the kunai chain around his arm. He then said into the mic, 'OK, Aaron and Luis, I'm gonna cast Critical Vision on the two of you now. It'll let you know where to hit this bugger, among other things.' He focused for a second, drawing his power into his hands, then shot it out into two dark streams, hitting both of the men. He then cast it on himself, jumped off of the building, and went to work. As the demon began summoning shadows to aid him, Michael cast Speed of Night on himself in short bursts, speeding past and hitting all of them in their weakspots, and dodged any opening vortexes. Finally, he got to the actual demon. He cast another quick SoN on himself, and slid under the demons legs once it swung for him. Michael quickly unwrapped the kunai from his arm, then shot it forward, impaling the demon on the wrist. He pulled the demon's arm along with him as he slid, making the demon fall on it's head for a second.
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2014
  4. Boufman

    Boufman Black Hole Surfer

    Erick was lying on top of a high building, happy that he managed to get all parts of a turret set up in 3 buildings. He then waited for orders. When he heard Aaren's message and saw the flares, he started making his way there. He was about 4 meters away from what seemed like a demon, before he heard Michael casting spells on the others and himself. The demon started summoning shadows to help it out, and Erick's scar drawed attention towards him. He took his knife out of his pocket and started to slice the shadows, whilst making his way to the demon. Erick, alternating between his knife and his Torch attack made it fairly close to the demon. He enabled Dark Cloak on himself and managed to sneak past the shadows and on to the building where he had put all the parts to make a turret.

    Erick quickly built the turret, but made it manual. Just as he was about the shoot the demon, the shadows noticed him and started attacking him again. Although this time he had no trouble defeating them. Erick saw that some of the shadows were going for the others and decided to act as a decoy, distracting the shadows. Erick saw the demon fall down and cast a powerful Torch and shot it at the demon, turning it's attention towards him.
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2014
  5. m0k0n4

    m0k0n4 Ketchup Robot

    Marlene was standing on the sidewalk, purposely allowing the rain to drench her hair and body as she gazed skywards.
    It had been a stormy night, too - the fateful night that spurred her into joining the Demon Hunters.
    She was, to be honest, quite nervous. The duties of the Demon Hunters would (almost) always have them put their lives on the line, and she - a relatively inexperienced rookie - was just recently transferred to a brand-new place - the New York branch - as part of the front.

    Not like that will be stopping me. I've got a duty to uphold. And, somehow, even more than this, I feel...
    Excited.
    Excited at how things would pan out, excited at how I can see how much I've grown over this past year, and - at how I can finally fight for real in the front.
    Huh. I wonder if that's what all those deranged, battle-loving maniacs of fantasy fiction think?
    Oh well.


    She sighed, letting out her worries, and alone, she gave a determined smile to the world.
    As if on cue, that was the moment when blue flares - the sign of contact - coated the sky, the leader of her team alerting the others via earpiece.
    Drawing her blade, she replied.
    "Got it. Heading there to assist!"

    Briskly moving through the streets, it didn't actually take her very long to reach the place where contact was made, what Flux she had assisting her movements - she had to cut a path through a couple weaklings, but they weren't much of note.
    Still, she was the last person on her team to arrive. Taking only a moment's time to check intel on the towering foe before her, she swiftly rushed into position.
    "I'm here, everyone. Any specific orders, leader?"
     
  6. Ikbenbeter

    Ikbenbeter Pangalactic Porcupine

    The demon was slow, but resilient. It quickly recovered from any attack, continuously assaulting everyone with its magic and trying to hit anything that came close with its slow but large hands. A single hit from those things would hit most people out cold or send them flying. As it started to realize that it was outnumbered, it started summoning large amounts of shadows to keep everyone busy.

    Aaren's entire team was here fast, to his relief. However, they needed his directions, something he wasn't prepared for. Aaren considered the situation. Dark Vanguards are heavy and slow. He communicated the basics to his team: "Team, this is a Dark Vanguard. I see a huge weak spot at its head, but it's high up. Try hitting it with magic or guns." Shadows started to close in, but Aaren paid it no mind as he easily dispatched them. "For now, try to hit its knees with our melee weapons to knock it over, but watch out for its hands." The street was already covered in many Shadows. Aaren loaded a pair of shells in his grenade launcher.

    Music

    Aaren prepared to run across the street to hit the demon in its knees, but there were too many shadows. Aaren fired his first shell into a large group, most of them dissipating into black and white particles that got absorbed by Aaren and it left a mark on the ground. He felt the flux surging through him, ready to cast magic. Rushing through the space he created, the Dark Vanguard noticed him and simply fired a lot of magic projectiles without even looking over. Aaren didn't even divert his path, as his magic redirected the projectiles into the ground with a few subtle moves of his fingertips. Still, there were too many shadows between him and the demon. Aaren started to cut himself a path to the demon, slashing the shadows that came at him.

    He wasn't going to wait with dealing damage, and fired a shell straight up in the air. Redirecting it with his magic, it hit the demon on its head. It made a horrible noise. It fired many more projectiles, too many for Aaren to redirect. Aaren was forced to stop a few meters from the demon, raising a shield. The demons power was much stronger than he had thought at first. It made more noise, and even more shadows swarmed the field. This was going to be a problem.
     
  7. Stu and Improved

    Stu and Improved Spaceman Spiff

    Luis had been reduced to going hand-to-hand with the onslaught of shadows. Although the long reach of his axe gave him plenty of breathing room, the press of bodies was beginning to be a problem. Fortunately, he had just the tool for the job. He turned the handle of the axe, so the hammer end was facing forward, and made a wide sweep at the shadows' chest level. They went flying. Taking advantage of the momentary clearance, Luis steamed forward and cut a path through the shadows surrounding the Vanguard. He prepped a Blind, then swung the sharp end of his axe into the Vanguard's leg. When it turned, he let loose with the Blind, straight into its face. The effect was a cross between amusing and horrifying. The demon's face (he assumed it was the face, bit hard to tell) seemed to melt off, and it staggered back, making a hellish noise that Luis couldn't have replicated, or even described, if he tried. He used a bit more flux to cast Invigorate on himself, backpedalling past Marlene and giving a curt nod. "All yours, ma'am." His work for the moment done, he used the last of his light flux getting up a storefront to watch the proceedings from. "Mark targets when required, sir," he said into his earpiece. "You've got that one on the ropes anyway." He started picking off individual shadows, making sure nobody was encircled.
     
  8. critsarecool

    critsarecool The Waste of Time

    'Damn, there's a lot of cannon fodder here to cut through.' Michael said to himself, then began cutting through swathes of the Shadows with his weapons. He quickly readied two minor Flashbangs, and threw one near the Daemon. 'Ok, I'm banging them, be advised!' He said into the mic, then threw the other one in the air. He waited a second while the shadows started closing in, then detonated it, mildly stunning the Daemon and destroying the shadows in a ten foot radius of him and the Daemon, giving some breathing room.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2014
  9. Boufman

    Boufman Black Hole Surfer

    Erick was still shooting down shadows by the time the whole team arrived. It seemed that the shadows weren't getting too distracted by his gunfire and the attacks on the demon didn't help either. Erick took a quick look at the street and saw it completely filled with shadows. After Michael had cast his spell, which stunned the demon for a while, Erick saw the perfect opportunity to strike at the demon with his dagger.

    Clearing the small horde of shadows in front of him with a Torch, Erick jumped down from the building, holding his dagger with his two hands, and aimed for the demons head. Just as he was about to stab the demon on it's head, it swung it's arm at Erick, smashing him into a near by building. Erick was lucky he broke through the window and not the concrete wall. The demon seemed to have lost interest in him after the hit and continued to spawn more shadows. After a couple of minutes, Erick recovered from the hit and was experiencing great pain, but fighting the pain, he took place near one of the windows and aimed straight for the demon's head with his rifle. "Michael, if you can cast a Critical Vision on me, I might be able to stun this thing for a couple of minutes. Hopefully enough for you guys to take down." he spoke into his earpiece and waited to see where it hurts the most.
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2014
  10. critsarecool

    critsarecool The Waste of Time

    'One second, kinda overwhelmed here!' He muttered some unintelligible words under his breath, then swung his kunai in a wide circle, giving him a few seconds to catch his breath and cast the spell. He pointed his dagger at Erick and shouted, 'Critical Vision!' The beam of dark light blasted from the dagger and was absorbed by the Erick, letting him see where to hit the Damon the hardest. Just then, three shadows piled onto him, ripping into his clothes and back. 'Damn, get OFF of me!' When he said the word off, he cast Arial Offensive, blasting up into the sky and making the Shadows fall off of him. 'Erick, hurry up and take the shot already!'
     
  11. m0k0n4

    m0k0n4 Ketchup Robot

    As the sudden onslaught of Shadows descended upon her team, Marlene quickly found herself occupied, to say the least.
    As a front-line fighter, it can be said that at any point afterward, she almost always found herself facing at least three Shadows.
    However,
    'Being surrounded' is exactly what she prepared for.
    Her hair fluttering beneath the cloak of night, her sword cutting swathes through crowds of Shadows, Marlene held her ground, keeping a sizable number of Shadows away from the more vulnerable parts of her team's formation, stopping to occasionally evade the Dark Vanguard's flailing arms with Flux-Reinforced legs or redirecting projectiles of dark Flux with her shockwaves of Force.

    She knew they couldn't last like this; the Shadows show no signs of thinning, what with the Vanguard constantly summoning more and more, and she can't really approach the Vanguard with the Shadows crowding around her. If nothing is done, they would certainly overwhelm her team sooner or later.
    Still, as much as she wanted to do anything about the situation, she would need more Flux in store to do that - and that is why she had to continue cutting down the crowd.
    It was only when two consecutive blasts of light - courtesy of her rather invisible teammate Michael - eliminated a wide enough swarm of Shadows did she gain some breathing room.

    And in the span of mere moments, she saw the team's engineer-and-scout Erick dive down from his position, weapon pointed toward the Demon, right before he was quite literally backhanded into a building.

    "Erick! Are you all right?!", she shouted into her mic, silently cursing herself right as she said one of the stupidest questions to ask in the current situation. Before she could berate herself any further, though, she had to jump away from the Demon's crushing fist, only to land near a group of incoming Shadows, with some of the Demon's projectiles after her no less.

    "Oh, great", she commented, the strain of dealing with multiple targets beginning to take its toll upon the young lady.

    Some time after, though, Erick's voice went back on the commlinks. His voice was weaker, and definitely in serious pain, but it at least relieved her to know that he's still alive and kicking.
    Stun the Demon for a couple minutes, huh?, she thought, taking a glance at the building Erick was thrown into. He had taken up position near one of the building's windows, having moved just enough for her to see him preparing a shot.

    "Got it", she voiced into the intercom, making her move.

    As far as she is concerned, she doesn't think that most people can have a very steady aim after being sent into a building by a thirty-feet-tall monster.
    Therefore-
    Summoning up a larger portion of her Flux, Marlene let out a powerful, concussive 'bubble' of Force, sending the Shadows near her far enough to give her a few precious seconds of breathing room, following up by gathering the light Flux she had rather meticulously conserved, forming the Flux into a glow of healing light she focused on Erick's barely visible body.

    "-Right", she continued, finishing her little first-aid maneuver, "Waiting for cue. I can clear a path or give a boost - once. Just say the word"
     
  12. Ikbenbeter

    Ikbenbeter Pangalactic Porcupine

    The battle was going bad. Large amounts of shadows were disrupting any attempt at taking out the large demon, and without some sort of coordinated effort it was going to be impossible to take it out at this rate. The demon had stopped summoning shadows for now, but every time the ranks seemed to get thinner Aaren and his team were given a new wave to fight, while the Vanguard slowly was causing them all to expend all their flux and energy. It kept pounding them with magic and its fists. While Aaren was safe behind his own cover, the others were not so lucky.

    Aaren was not ready to give it all up, however. His shield broke as a new wave of dark projectiles destroyed it, forcing him to dodge out of the way. First, Luis asked for his orders. While Aaren slashed himself a way to get behind a car, he reacted on his earpiece. “For now, just try to keep blasting shadows. From your viewpoint, try to find a rift. I’m not sure what we’ll do once you find it, but it is the source of all these shadows.” As he said that, he saw Michael’s flashbangs, safely from behind the car.

    Suddenly the demon turned its attention away from Aaren and towards Erick, who was punched into a store. “Erick!” Aaren shouted through the earpiece. Aaren wanted to make his way over to him, but it was too crowded, and he was on the other side of the street. Marlene went after him, but the Vanguard turned its attention towards her as she was getting to him. Aaren wasn’t going to let that happen, and jumped out of cover. Focusing his dark flux, he made a dark magnet, attracting nearby shadows. More importantly however, the demons projectiles were sucked in, towards the shadows instead of Marlene.

    As the dark magnet started to fade, Aaren readied another shot of his grenade launcher and threw it straight into the magnet, jumping out of the way. Aaren had hoped their combined efforts would have thinned the crowd by now, but they just made temporary holes that were quickly filled again. However, Erick had come up with a plan. “Erick, wait a moment with that shot. Luis, think you can take a few at the same time?” He readied his own grenade launcher with another grenade. “We are going to make it a team effort!”

    ((Before doing anything else, Please check your inbox so we can write a group piece, you should all be in a pm session within a few minutes of this post))
     
  13. Ikbenbeter

    Ikbenbeter Pangalactic Porcupine

    ((The combined post))

    Luis kept bringing down shadows, but the crush of bodies was getting ridiculous. After about a minute, he stopped firing and focused his efforts on looking for the rift. He wasn't dead certain what he was looking for, but he figured he’d know when he saw it. His shoulder was getting sore from the number of shots he had taken, and something told him that he was going to have to wade back in for more Flux pretty soon. He kept searching for the rift, while keeping an eye on the proceedings, wincing as Erick got smacked through a storefront. "Walk it off, you'll be fine!", he called, hoping he was right. After taking down some of the shadows trying to get at him, Luis returned his attention to finding the rift. He cast about fruitlessly for a few moments, then decided it would be easier to just see where all the shadows were coming from.

    After watching the crowds for a moment, Luis got back on comms. "They're all coming from the side street, in between the bookstore and the apartment block, sir. I don't have eyes on the actual rift, but shadows are coming out of that alley like it's a clown car. If you can distract the Vanguard, I can go stick a-" At that moment, he got the second message. "I can do it, sir, but I feel like there's more pressing matters at the moment."

    Aaren looked at the large Vanguard and its location in relation to the place Luis reported the rift to be. It made sense. “Luis, do not try to go to the rifts location. The Vanguard will do anything to keep you away from it, we need to distract it.” A plan formed in his head. “Marlene, Erick, Luis, I need you to distract the Vanguard. Stick to Erick’s original plan, even if you can’t stun it you can do enough damage to make it angry at you. Michael, when its distracted us two are going to go to the rift. If we’re lucky, there will be another demon there to guard it. If we’re unlucky, our big friend is the Rift Guardian and the only way to destroy the rift is through him. In that case, we need to blow up the access to the alley.”

    Splitting her attention between the battlefield and her allies, Marlene weaved and cut through the throng of Shadows, gathering the Flux she had remaining.
    She gave a curt reply, and stood ready.
    “Got it. I’m ready when you are”

    “Copy that, Aaron. Whenever you are ready. I’ll make my way over to you.” Michael said, fending of Shadows with the Kunai in his hand. He lowered his hand, then said to himself, “This is gonna take a bit more effort than usual, I’m assuming.” then sighed.
    He used some flux to jump above the crowd, which gave him enough time to wrap the Kunai around his hand with the blade sticking out from over his knuckles like a strapped on blade. He twirled in the air, and then took out his Dagger of Light. He grabbed a ridge on the hilt with a hand on each side, and twisted the edges away from each other. There was a flash of light, and then the dagger split down the middle. His dagger had become two, each one sharper than the original. “Let’s teach these bastards a lesson.” He landed nearer to Aaron, and immediately was set upon by a crowd of Shadows, which he slashed at, turning them to Flux instantly, and cutting a path through to Aaron.
    “What exactly is waiting for us on the other side of that rift?” He said into the mic.

    Erick heard the messages from his comm. It seemed like right now everyone was waiting for him to take the shot, and thanks to Michael, he knew exactly where to hit it. The only problem was that it seemed like the only place that damage the demon a lot was the back of his head and currently Erick could only see the left side of his head.
    “I need you guys turn him around so that I can see the back of his head.”

    “On it”, Marlene answered almost immediately, moving past several Shadows while slicing them apart with well-placed, fluid swings of her sword. Drawing her gun and a deep breath, she circled around the Dark Vanguard, knocking aside a couple Shadows in the process, and fired a shot to the demon’s head. It definitely didn’t do much damage, but it did draw the demon’s attention for a bit - enough for it to face her.
    Now for part 2.
    “Hey! You! Big black knucklehead! GET OVER HERE!”, she shouted, firing another shot into the demon’s face, dodging to the side as its fist slammed down the pavement she was on, and redirecting its waves of homing projectiles with blasts of Force.
    Retaliating with both gunfire and verbal abuse, she kept dodging, maneuvering such that the back of the demon’s head is now right in front of Erick’s line of vision.
    “Erick? Any time now?”, she then said meekly to the comm.

    Aaren was glad to have someone by his side. Marlene’s distraction should be enough, for now “It depends on the rift what is on the other side. Some can’t be crossed by humans, some seem to be one-way. The others… they’re a portal to the World of Darkness, the place they come from.” Aaren started cutting him and Michael a way to the alley. They were getting very close to the demon, but Aaren hoped it wouldn’t notice them.

    ‘Don’t worry Aaron, it won’t notice us if we move fast enough. Let me help real quick.’ Pulling up some dark flux, Michael cast Speed of night on himself, then touched Aaron on the shoulder, direct casting it on him. A bead of sweat rolled down his face, and he said, ‘I really hope that Erick takes that shot soon. Lets get on the move in case it sees us.’ With that, Michael sped off in the direction of the rift, taking out shadows like a whirlwind. Aaren quickly followed him.

    Erick knew that Marlene couldn’t take any more of the demon, but she did her part. The demon now had it’s back to Erick and he had a perfect shot. ‘Here goes nothing.’ he thought as he casted a Steady Aim on himself. He was completely stable, his breathing didn’t disturb his aim and he knew exactly where to hit it. Erick aimed at the back of his head and prepared for the wrath of the demon. He waited till the demon was completely still and when it did, he pulled the trigger letting out a burst of light.
    The demon screamed with pain and anger, it’s screech was painful but Erick knew that whatever was about to happen to him was gonna be worse. It seemed as if the plan worked, the demon had now forgotten completely about the other team members and focused on Erick. The demon flung a car at the building like it was a baseball. Erick ran as fast as he could to the stairs of the building but noticed from afar that the door was locked, thinking quickly, Erick started running towards the car. As the car broke the window and the solid concrete wall, he slide from underneath the car as flew above him. Stopping before falling off of the building, he noticed that the car had in fact broken the locked door open. He hurried towards the car, climbing over and reached the stairs. Just as Erick had dismounted the car he saw the wall behind blow up, it seemed as though the demon had fired projectiles at him. “Alright, I’m pretty sure it’s mad at me now,” said Erick as the wall in front of him blew up, “any chance you guys could hurry up and close the goddamn rift!?”

    “Yeah”, Marlene added through the communicators, already back in her usual tone of voice, her somewhat strained breaths notwithstanding.
    “Not trying to offend or anything, but the faster the better”
    She took a deep breath, Erick’s shot having alleviated the pressure on her enough so that she could cast a Recover on herself. Not that she was noticeably injured, but her stamina was nearing its limits.
    Feeling significantly better now, Marlene spoke to the others,
    “Right, then. We’ll keep the target busy. Hope we get some more clever ideas, guys”, running back into the battlefield once again.

    Arriving at the rift, Aaren looked around while slashing everything around him. Scattered all around the dead-end alley were shadows, lots of them. He looked at his scanner, but it didn’t pick anything up in the direct vicinity. “Bad news, we cannot close the rift without taking down Mister Vanguard.” Aaren said into his microphone. Curious, he tried to touch the rift. The Vanguard made a horrible noise and Aaren quickly pulled his hand back. “Michael, we are going to blow up the entrance to the alley.” Aaren prepared his grenade launcher with the remaining shells. Suddenly, three demons jumped out of the rift, one headbutting Aaren and sending him flying. Once he landed, the three demons were already near him and Aaren had to dodge bite after bite. “Michael, I can’t fire with these things.”


    [​IMG]
    Name: Howling Barker
    Class: E
    Magic: Average (Bark, Howl)
    Size: 2 ft head to behind
    Weight Class: Light
    Style: Canine, fast and agile, dangerous bite
    Victims: 50 (no hunters)
    Defeated: 200
    Notes: Its Bark magic is a short ranged, shotgun-like spell that is very dangerous up close but laughably weak once you’re a few steps away. Its howl can block your access to light magic. Its weak spot is in its mouth.


    ‘Watch out, their bark is worse than their bite. Don’t let it get close to you.’ Michael cast Critical Vision and SoN on Aaron and himself, boosting their speed to faster than the hounds. Using CV, Michael was able to confirm teh weak spot. As one began charging him, he unwrapped his Kunai from his arm, and made his Blades one again. Right before the Hound wa about to Bark him, Michael launched the Kunai, wrapping it around one of the Hounds legs, and pulled, bringing it down.

    Michael cast a quick Flashbang, and when the hound opened its mouth, he shoved in the Flashbang. Michael stepped back a few fet, then detonated it, resulting in a muted flash and an evaporated Hound. During all of this, however, another Hound had been sneaking up on Michael, and was right behind him. Michael sensed it and turned around, launching his Kunai right as the hound Barked at him, making Michael fly backwards and hit the wall, which gave him a head wound and made him very unsteady.However, the Hound had been killed. ‘Aaron, kill that other hound then blow the alley, i just need enough time to get into the building next door and recover.’ He staggered to his feet, leaning unsteadily against the wall, and made his way to the side door of the building Erick was in.

    Luis lined up the Vanguard’s head and pulled the trigger. Click. “Oh, dammit. No flux left, going to have to do this the hard way!” Luis slid down from the awning and drew his axe again, taking a couple swings to get his centre of gravity ironed out. After that, he went to work on the still-large crowd of shadows, taking out three or four per swing. He was starting to tire, though. “Sir, any time you can shut down that alley is good for me!”

    As Michael absconded, Aaren was busy fighting the last Howling Barker. It was fast, but Aaren had already landed a few hits. He readied a spark bomb, and threw it at the demon. It ran away, giving Aaren enough time to load his grenade launcher with his last grenades. The demon returned, however, and Aaren quickly sliced at it. It barked at Aaren, sending him flying but he landed well. Quickly, Aaren fired his first grenade at the Barker. It exploded in a cloud of flux. Aaren used his remaining critical vision to look for weak points of the wall next to him.

    Five new Barkers already jumped out of the rift. Aaren slowly backed away. One shot at the wall, and it started to show signs of weakening. The five demons came closer. The second shot at the wall, and it started to crumble and the building shook. One of the demons jumped at Aaren, but he had already fired his third and last shot. The building rumbled and part of it came down, onto the alley. As Aaren had hoped, it blocked access to the rift and as a happy side effect four of the demons were crushed, destroyed or stuck under the ruble. The final demon was already in front of him. Aaren quickly reacted by putting up a light shield before it could Bark at him. “Well done, team!” He said into his microphone. “We should be done with our unending shadow problem.” Of course, some remained but the Vanguard would have to manually resummon individual shadows now.

    ((Resume posting as usual, and consider this my post for this round of posts))
     
  14. critsarecool

    critsarecool The Waste of Time

    Gritting his teeth, Michael opened up his shirt and took a look at his chest. It was on giant bruise, and it felt like he had a few broken bones. 'Alright guys, I'm gonna need some time to recover. Aaron, I'm gonna throw some Flashes out into the street, just tell me which ones to detonate. Don't want this flux to go to waste.' He then readied himself for the pain, and drew out 6 flashes, then threw them out of the window one by one, crying out each time. He said to himself, 'Damnit, feels like a broken collarbone. I got to get this fixed quick. 'Marlene, if you have enough flux for a quick heal, I'm in the building that got a car thrown through it.' He slid down the wall then with his arms at his sides, trying to not pass out with each breath.
     
  15. Boufman

    Boufman Black Hole Surfer

    Most of the shadows had disappeared thanks to Aaron. Erick took out the remaining shadows with his knife to regenerate some flux. "Marlene, try to regain some flux and see if you can patch up Michael, I'll keep the vanguard busy." said Erick, he felt a bit weird since he kind of just ordered someone to do something, something he'd normally never do. Either way he had to stick with his plan. Erick cast a Dark Cloak on himself. 'Second times the charm, wait, it's third time...' Erick stopped the argument in his head. He took out his knife and jumped off the building, again, but this more confident since the demon couldn't see him.

    He landed on the demon's head, that's something the Cloak couldn't cover up. Before it could throw him off his head, Erick took his knife and stabbed him in the back of it's head. It didn't seem to affect it too much but it wasn't meant to. Erick used his knife as a ledge to hold on to. He cast a very strong Torch and shot it at the back of the demon's head. It let out a screech almost identical to the one it let out when he shot it at the back of his head with his rifle. This time it was weaker, so either it was getting weaker or it didn't hurt it much. The demon started to shake violently, Erick tried to hold on but it was too strong. He got flung on to the sidewalk with a mild concussion. As he rose his knife flew right past his head, taking it out Erick spoke into his comm, "'Kay, Marlene, path's clear, I got it distracted."
     
  16. m0k0n4

    m0k0n4 Ketchup Robot

    As she nimbly dashed away from another of the Vanguard's homing energy blasts, Marlene looked up just in time to witness the alley Michael and Aaron had been targeting crumble, blocking the path and the Shadows flowing from it. She let out a relieved sigh, thanking her allies for the timely assistance.

    But then she heard Michael's damage report, and as quickly as it brightened the expression on her face darkened.
    "Right. Heading on the assist ASAP", she replied swiftly and curtly, amplifying the Reinforcement magic on her legs. She would need all the speed she can get.
    "Luis, please cover me!", Marlene then shouted through the comms, already running past a few straggling Shadows on the way to the broken building. Thanks to Erick's assistance, though, she didn't have any more of the Vanguard's homing energy blasts coming after her - on one hand, she can't spare much more Dark Flux on Force right now, so she's glad for the assist. On the other hand, she had to suppress a wince as she glimpsed her helper fall several feet down to the cold hard concrete floor. That's another person she'll have to assist...

    Less thinking, more doing
    , she mentally reprimanded herself. Erick is still within sight, so-
    Dispelling the Reinforcement spell on her legs, she quickly cast a medium-strength Recover upon Erick before she continued her run toward the wounded Michael, diving down into cover as he came within sight.
    It was one thing to hear Michael talking about his wounds. Seeing them in person is another thing. Even at this range... She'll have to full-power her Recover spell, maybe more.
    ...Ah.
    "Not good. Not enough left...", she said to herself, not caring whether or not her words were transmitted through the comms.
    "...I'm draining my gun. I won't be able to offer ranged support for a while, guys", she decided, speaking louder this time, already drawing the Light Flux out of her Gun of Light. Using up as much Flux as she can, Marlene cast a fully-charged Recover spell on Michael, before following up with a second, moderate-strength one.
    "There. That should do it - a bit drained right now, but I'll manage. Further orders, leader?"
     
  17. critsarecool

    critsarecool The Waste of Time

    After Marlene had cast the two recovers on him, Michael looked at his chest, and saw his bones knitting themselves together and the bruise fading away, along with the cuts on his back. He felt his chest, double checking for any pain, then got to his feet with a small groan. 'Thank you very much for that, Marlene. If you ever need a favor, just throw a shout my way.' He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder, not really used to these kinds of interactions. 'Let's get back out there, sounds like the demon is still alive and angry.' As if on cue, there was a large crash from outside. 'Aaren, I'm gonna go up on the roof, see I maybe I could get the drop on that demon. I have the feeling my attack would be significantly more damaging than Erick's.' He unwrapped his kunai, and walked outside.
     
  18. Ikbenbeter

    Ikbenbeter Pangalactic Porcupine

    Aaren still had the last Barker to deal with. He quickly stabbed it with his glaive and finished it off. Meanwhile, his team was doing well, for the most part. They had pulled themselves together. "Team, the demon can only defend itself for so long. Focus fire, we are going for an all out attack!" The demon, noticing what was going on, summoned more and more projectiles. Aaren tried to remember what its weak spots were. "Target the arms, legs and if possible the head. It's its weak spot." Aaren realized his team would have trouble getting there vertically. "Oh, and if you need a boost: just shout Shield! and I'll try to instantly summon a short lasting shield of light under you, make use of that. This is it, we're going to deal enough damage to take it down!" Aaren summoned a shield to block a bunch of incoming projectiles and he started running towards the demon.

    The demon was close to where Aaren was standing, but it had turned its back to him after Ericks attack. Aaren had plenty of flux left and was behind the demon in moments. He tried to estimate where Michael would come from and started slashing the demons legs, making the demon turn towards him. Aaren slowly walked to his left, making the demon turn his back towards the location where Michael would be coming from. The demon raised its arm and quickly let it come down, directly towards Aaren, who summoned a shield directly under the demons hand. It slowed it down, but only a little and Aaren had to jump backwards, sent flying by the shockwave created from the impact. He flew again a building, into a window. The window exploded into shards, but none of them hit Aaren badly as he fell onto the ground breathing heavily. He stood up, but the demon prepared for another punch into the building and onto Aaren.
     
  19. critsarecool

    critsarecool The Waste of Time

    Seeing the demon pulling back to punch Aaren again, Michael took quick action. He cast SoN on himself, and then leapt off of the building he was on in the direction of the demon. Looking like a black bullet, Michael spun his Kunai and lodged it in the elbow of the demon. As he sped past, he narrowly avoided becoming a splatter on the ground by swing on the kunai the was lodged into the demon. The pure force that he caused on the arm forced it to be pulled into the demon's chest, and Michael kept his momentum up, spinning around the demon until his chain ran out of length. When this happened, Michael quickly scurried up it's back while it was distracted and stabbed it in the back of the head. It was only a glancing blow, due to the angle, but it was certainly enough for the demon to cry out and try to hit Michael with his free arm. Quickly, Michael split his blade in half again, looped the chain tightly around one of the daggers, and stabbed it firmly into the demon in a place that it couldn't reach. He then jumped off, and sped away again. 'Alright, I hope that bought you enough time to get out, Aaren. It won't be able to break that chain, and his arm is held tightly against his chest. It has efficiently trapped his arm, so that's one less thing to worry about. However, be conscious where you land your blows; I don't want to have to explain how I ended up having only half a blade left to fight with. He's all yours. Just call me again if you want it to be dramatic.' He quickly climbed up the side of another building before the demon saw him, disables SoN, and waiting for himself to be needed again.
     
  20. Stu and Improved

    Stu and Improved Spaceman Spiff

    Breathing heavily, Luis retreated from the now dwindling throng of shadows, Flux levels high enough for the time being. Looking through the scope, he drilled a couple more shadows around Aaren, internally fuming. What an idiot. The CO shouldn't be putting himself in harm's way like that. This wouldn't be happening if I were still with Black Forest. Lining up, he shot the big one a few times in the head. "Sir, with all due respect, I'm questioning the tactical integrity of your move." He waited for Michael to clear off, then kept firing. "This guy's just not going down, sir! We can't keep this up forever!" Luis ran out of Flux. With a loud curse in German, he jumped off the roof onto the Vanguard's shoulders, drawing his survival knife and jamming it into the first convenient thing he saw, which happened to be the demon's eye socket.
     

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