Of Steam and Steel: IC (Mature) {Currently Open}

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Adelaide went searching for the manager of the aerodrome. Eventually she found a desk in a corner with a nameplate telling her that the small ferret seated behind it was the manager. She approached the desk slowly, completely calm and quiet. People didn't listen, even to advice they desperately needed, if you started out shouting. "I need to report that your underlings are in dire need of retraining.  They have left me standing for two hours without coming near. Surely even the meanest intelligence can detect a doctor traveling in insignia is not on vacation with days to waste." She tapped her fingers on the heavily embroidered medical insignia on the sleeves of her duster for emphasis.  "Despite the fact that your employees appear to have functional eyes none of them ever approached to see what I was waiting for, or even, heaven forbid, offer to find the missing ride. I wasn't even offered a seat or a cup of tea for the wait. I'm sure you will want to model appropriate behavior for your underlings."

Adelaide settled back, tucking her hands into the sleeves of her long medical duster, and waited for a response. Despite the fact that she hadn't come near it this move somehow set the war hammer on her hip to gently swinging.

[Azlan]

"Eight hundred sounds quite reasonable and the coat should do it."  Locke paused and handed the merchant his card, "this should cover it.  This will be it for my interesting spending in town, everything else is practical... bulk food stuffs and such.  Perhaps I should look into a conventional firearm to go with a being disg..."

Locke's voice trailed off as he gazed intently at a rather uninteresting picture on the wall.  It was not the picture, so much as the thoughts he was mulling about, so what do I plan on doing?  I can't keep raiding commerce lines without a more versatile crew.  Perhaps I should build some combat automatons, more than just the one I use to guard the boarding tube.

Considering his next move, Locke was wary to attempt to hire another crew he couldn't fix himself, or shutdown at the appropriate moments to prevent mutiny.

[insidexml]

Well, that had gone rather nicely, had it not? The mythos got its arm healed, and Sikici had gotten a border pass out of it. He had no idea where the pass had come from or whether it was authentic, and the angel was not quite sure whether or not he actually had a use for it. But again, hey, free stuff! Then again, if it was a fake border pass, Sikici could get in trouble for it. But hey, free stuff!

But, what to do now? Sikici could certainly go take a gander at the merchant district, which was rather close by. But it was raining, and the angel wondered if any merchant would ply their trade in such weather. There were certain to be a few individuals doing such a thing, but he was of the opinion that most were not. He could easily just go and check, but why would he go and do something like that?

Well, since it was there, Sikici decided he might as well check out the club. Would he accomplish anything worthwhile while inside? Would he accomplish anything at all? What was he going to do when inside?

Well, Sikici would have to get inside first to figure it out, right?

So the angel would try to get inside the club. He was unaware of any procedure that went with this, so Sikici would try to walk in and see if anybody tried to stop him. Probably not the best of ideas, but there was not really anything else he could do at the moment.

[Tapewolf]

Seth relieved the injured Being of his weapon and prepared to break his victim's neck.  It wasn't pleasant but it was relatively quick and less messy.  The suit might be handy as well, if he could kill the Being without damaging it too badly.  Once the remains were squirrelled away beneath the train he could start to think about the newcomer a bit more.

A quick glance revealed it seemed to be a Demon, and that was bad.  Unless she was immature, she'd be able to mop the floor with Sethir and there was no guarantee that she'd be anywhere near as compassionate - when it came to a person's soul - as he was.

Alerting the authorities to the pirates was risky, and to Seth's mind it would be tantamount to stealing their souls himself, but the situation seemed to be spiralling out of his ability to influence it and speeding away for reinforcements might be the wisest course of action.

[Ghostwish]

Challam wasn't too surprised by the no-weapons rule. In many countries, such a rule would not have applied as many creatures weapons were natural, but since the rise of technology, one's claws were not so fearsome anymore... or, at least, not as fearsome as a chain-blade.

No, it wasn't that that gave Challam pause. It was what the mythos had said.. "You have no idea how happy I am to finally hear someone call me that." He told the bouncer as he headed for the lockers. "You know while I was off and away I only met two cubi taller than me?" He continued as he selected an empty locker, promptly tossing his bag in and setting his rifle inside as well. "No, no, it was always 'watch your head' or, I bet you get this one all the time, 'how's the weather up there?'" Challam said, making a face and flaring out his head-wings in disgust. "Anyway, have a nice evenin'!" He said with a cheerful wave as he made his way into the club.

It looked to be a mostly creature club, not that Challam was complaining. There were plenty of emotions going about to feed off of, and even though he shared the affinity of his clan, he found the methods of feeding off his prize emotion to be unpleasant at the least. So, Challam just found a vacated seat towards the back, and idly watched the life of the bar..

[Paladin Sheppard]

Battle-Cruiser Halls (Paige)

Bas rubbed his eyes again, dispelling the mind-shield, as he made his thoughts clear and open for the succubus.  On the one hand, he wanted to make it clear that his reasons for hiring her were professional.  That his intentions were not simply to fulfill some frat-boyish fantasy that had started in the bar the night before.  On the other hand, he didn't want to offend the new comer.  He tried his best to sound neutral as he replied, "I never said that... I'm sure you know well enough that your offer is very appealing.  I'm making a point to show that my intentions are completely professional, no matter how tempted i am to take you up on your offer.  I hired you as a pilot, not the pretty girl who jumped me at the bar, last night.  If you wish to be both, well."

Flashing a devilish, and slightly salacious grin, Bas made a sweeping gesture down the stairs, "Captain's cabin is the first on the right.  Otherwise any open room is yours."

"Hun if I wasn't serious about it I wouldn't have made the offer" the wolfess said as she patted his rump and planted a kiss on his cheek. "I'll go get my gear..." With that the succubus padded down the hall her tail (and hips) wagging from side to side.

[Noone]

Kyirri only took short observations of who was around him. He was more concerned with not being noticed than anything else, though he did make an effort to steer away from the creatures he could spot. Not making eye contact with anyone else around him, he positioned himself in the best place he could 'hide in plain sight', and waited for the train.

[Tezkat]

Above the Train Crash, Nhylamar

Demonbane clanged against a metal wingtip. Already committed to the diving lunge, Tezkat whipped his sword back just as his momentum carried him head first into the followthrough. He instinctively relaxed as the blow landed. Blade supported by his free hand, he shoved away and rolled will the impact. The roaring chainblade whizzed by his chest, barely clipping one of his coat lapels as he arched back. His wings flared. He pumped them once, providing the extra force needed to propel himself out of reach. Back pressed against the wooden railing, he glared at the Demon.

His brass goggles throbbed. Owwwww! That's going to leave a mark. I'll be black and blue for days!

Ky, you're black and blue to begin with. Tezkat grimaced and rubbed his forehead. Dark magic doesn't bruise.

Says you! Let's get out of here. This guy is kicking your ass.

Who's side was Ky on, anyway? Sure, he had yet to land even a single cut on the Demon, but they were both still playing around, testing each others' strengths. Of course, there was that inconvenient ability to see through invisibility. And somehow dispel his displacement magic...

Fuck! Who was he kidding? After more than a thousand such fights, he was still just the nimble little trickster unable to match blade and claw with the big strong Demons. He'd wear out quickly even if he could pull off a few lucky strikes. Real Demons didn't tire. Indignation burned in his belly. He forced his breathing to slow. Revenge was best served cold, dark, and unexpected. He needed to fall back and rejoin this battle on his own terms. But how? While his soul-powered bike could easily outrun an airship, artillery shells and battle magic were quite another matter--especially with this illusion-breaking captain in the picture.

Tezkat drew his revolver. Most of his ammunition featured simpler magical effects, the kind even he could enchant despite a relative lack of artificing experience. The last chamber, however, he reserved for the more powerful rounds that he'd managed to procure over the years. He was loathe to dip into this meagre collection, but today looked like one of those special occasions. He thumbed the cylinder two notches counterclockwise and raised the gun.

"This gun isn't just for saying hello." He winked. "I also use it for goodbyes."

Suddenly, he swung it towards the bow of the airship, where most of the remaining pirates were busy guarding the cannon. And its neat little stack of shells, now locked in his sights. As before, the muzzle flashed in silence. The globe of blue lightning that erupted on impact did not.

Boom.

[Kafzeil]

The excrement had officially hit the air circulation device.

She paused only for a second as her yellow eyes gazed upon the metal behemoth before darting off yet again.

Lucy glanced at her gun as she ran, quickly checking it over. Six shots, and a knife. She had a more bullets on backup, but somehow she figured if she needed to use the gun at all, she wouldn't be reloading...

The knife was an last resort, she doubted she could stand toe to toe with those guards in that armor. Still, maybe if some exposed joints in armor let her disable it somehow.

She had no idea how fast the metal colossus was, though, for now, her best chance...maybe her only chance, was that forest.

Lucy had always figured she'd get into trouble with the military or the town guard. She just assumed it'd be a drunken bar brawl, not a fight for her own life. Or Unlife.

[Tipod]

Bart's fire extinguished with a hush as the horse's fist cracked against his skull, causing him to faceplant roughly. He slowly, shakily got to his knees, standing up straight as he pulled out his hunting knife. "We'll see who's deformed once I cut your tits off," he snarled, turning as he passed the blade from hand to hand. "Or maybe I'll make myself some saurbraten." After a few more knifey handshifts, the demon pulled out his trusty hatchet. "So what's it gonna be? Rib or chop?"

He moved in a careful sidestep, trying to circle the vicious mare.

[Gabi]

(OOC: making this short because it's late and because I've found no other way to do this.)

Against Anabelle's expectations, the day was free of unusual happenings. There were comments, of course. And questions. But nothing she wasn't ready to handle. Especially since her guest was being as kind and good-mannered as anyone could be (very far from the image she and the villagers used to have about Demons).

However, it wasn't long before other rumors started spreading. It was easy to gather information in Lamylar: all it took was fading into the background and listening to people chatter. Some would even start talking about anything and everything after a simple 'how are you'. Of course, it took some effort to filter the decorations and free interpretations from the actual facts. But listening to different versions and looking for common factors, applying some common sense and looking around for whatever was missing usually worked quite well.

So... someone else had arrived. Some said it was one person, others said they were 2 or 3. The descriptions were too dissimilar to make sense, so it was either more than one individual, one who could shapeshift, or one whom they hadn't been able to see clearly and whose appearance had been vastly decorated by people's imagination. It was bound to be the latter with the tavern's regulars, but a few of the others had agreed on having seen a male lion Being. The part about him being all soaked and carrying a rigid snake were doubtful, though they had also been repeated by more than one person. And some of the rumors she overheard could be about Renard too.

Anabelle had a lot of work to do, so, sadly, she wouldn't be able to go searching for the stranger yet. Besides, she needed to learn more about him before she could confront him directly. Or was it them? She'd have to find out how many strangers were in town, first of all. But that would have to wait: she already had the fresh bread and was done seeing the few people whose age or physical condition merited a house call. And had received a tri-color pie from one of them. Sweet! Ahem... she had to get back home so that she could get done with both the witch work and the house work for the day.

(OOC: OK, maybe it was not THAT short. But it was stalling anyway.)

[Lisky]

Train Crash

The pirates who'd originally judged the entire expedition as a quick and easy snatch and grab quickly found themselves far more trouble than they'd bargained for.  From Seth's perspective, the pirates were mostly backing off, heading back for the ropes with which they'd descended. 

The being's armor was dented, damaged, and seemingly in less than ideal condition.  The gun however, seemed to be working just fine.  It's simple sight and action were both simple enough to work, and use. 

Behind him, he could see the demon make her first move, or, at least, the outline of the demon.  The winged figure moved startlingly fast.  Her thoughts were blurred, a very weak mind-shield, just enough to mumble the words, not hide them completely from Seth.  She moved her hand towards her midsection, then struck outward... Slamming the other figure with either a back-hand or back-fist.

Suddenly everything went to hell, a massive series of rippling explosions a few hundred feet away sent everyone, exluding Seth, who was protected by the train, onto their backs, ringing in their ears.  The shards of metal didn't seem to effect either Seth or Bart, but the ground directly under the airship was littered with bodies...  most of the assault team seemed to have been wiped out.

Bart was laying on his back, only lightly dazed, vision blurred as the smoke and dust mixed.  He could see the demoness start to get up, she lifted herself to a pushup position, then fell back over in a coughing fit.  She tried again, with the same results.  The third time, it seemed like she was going to make it.


Inside the Club (Challam)

Inside, Challam was greeted with the sight of an all creature club.  Drinks were being passed around, various magical energies were being passed back in forth in various reckless displays of skill and prowess.  There was circle to the Cubi's far left, two females, an angel patheress and succubus wolf were mid brawl.  The circle light up blue with every hit the succubus landed, and red with every blow from the demon.  It was rather one sided in favor of the cubi and her tentacles, until *BAM*, the Angelic patheress had lunged forward and drove a knee right into the cubi's face.  The wolfess arced back bleeding a bit, just before collapsing to the ground.

To challam's right, there was a bar serving alcohol, and, it appeared to be high quality stuff if the bottles could be trusted.  A pair of demonesses were dancing provocatively, as if they'd learned to dance at a less reputable locale.  They were serving drinks, and drawing attention, dressed in short skirts and corsets.  A fiery red, with silver spots, ocelot joined the doe he'd seen when entering.

A thin, wiry, yet powerful looking navy furred jackal demon was eyeing Challam, then the circle, thought's hidden behind a shield, yet his intentions clear.


Battle-Cruiser MOJLNIR

Standing in a stunned and slightly confused position, the young demon stood watching Paige swish back down the hall.  He recovered decently quick and caught up, standing shoulder to shoulder as he followed her back, trying his best to quickly recover his gentlemanly demeanor.  "If you need any help, just let me know.  Otherwise, I guess I'll just be acting as your guide for the time being."

The demon added a bit of playful swagger in his own step, folding his wings and moving to a position just shy of contact, matching his pace with hers, while standing slightly behind, and on Paige's right side.


Train Station

Most of the creatures seemed to move towards the front of the train, clearly taking upper class seats, while various class-levels of beings started moving towards where the further back,  where the general seating cars were.  The succubus that had he'd noticed early seemed to be following Kyirri now.  He could catch a glimpse of wings fading as the train pulled into the station, cars clearly marked, and quickly unloaded as passengers quickly disembarked and began orienting themselves.

A few moments later, the general staff started loading the train, ushering passengers into  the 3 person deep benches on each side of the aisle.  There was a good deal of room for  Kyirri, as it was clear the benches were designed for a full sized passenger.  A glimpse of yellow as his eyes darted, looking for danger, the succubus was 2 rows behind him.  A few moments later the doors closed, and an usher began walking the aisle, doing a quick check of tickets.

The gray-furred feline stayed upright as the train lurched into motion and Kyirri's adventure began.  The train ride started and he could almost feel that succubus's ever present sense crawling over him.  Less than an hour in, he would feel unusually drained, tired, almost as if someone was willing him to sleep.
 

Over the Train-Crash

It started with a loud boom, not the earth-shattering kaboom Tez had expected, but still a boom.  Metal shrapnel sprayed everywhere as the demon covered himself with his wings.  Tez was less fortunate as the hypersonic bits of metal bit and dug into his fleshier wings, along with a larger chunk the caught the edge of his leg.  The concussion rushed past the feline and nudged him towards the edge, further throwing his balance off.   Just before falling over the ledge, Tez could see the deck gun had become dismounted, and appeared inoperable as best he could tell through the haze of the explosion.  He'd also note about a half dozen shells rolling under the railings, off the airship deck towards the pirates clustered below. 


Forest Edge

Lucy could hear the pounding growing louder.  Suddenly there was a loud roar.  Way to the oh-so-recently reanimated feline's right a cluster of trees exploded.  Wood flakes and bark scattered as the light cannon could be heard ratcheting the next shell into place.  She was just passing the tree line as a thunderous boom, and another tree was hit, closer, but still off it's mark.  The tree collapsed almost perfectly parallel to Lucy's path.

The darkness of the closely packed trees, and their dense canopies instantly killed Lucy's sight.  It was as if night had suddenly descended upon her.  The mech stopped, but she could still hear the foot-patrols behind her.  The tightly packed trees appeared to be closing around her, growing tighter as her path became more a trail, and then faded into brush and under-growth, and shrubberies.


Wolksheem Aero-Dome

The little ferret looked at the irate angel for a moment, looked back at his papers, calmly sipped tea from his mug, then gave an irritated cough.  He blinked, cocked his head to the side, ears flicking a bit in his obvious disapproval.  "I'm sorry... can -I- help you with something?..."  Acting as though he'd completely ignored everything she'd said up until that point.   The current manager gave Addy an annoyed look as he posed his question.  fingers steepled, and the arrogance in his attitude obvious.


Cyril's query was replied to with a shrug from the vixen.  "I'm not sure... i was told they'd be meeting you here... Perhaps they are behind schedule, either way, that is not my problem... what -is- my problem is making my 10am appearance in tomorrow's delegations over an increase to the military budget in the House of Lords... I apologize for having to leave you like this, and on such short notice, but such are things."

The vixen handed over a few additional notes, a small bag of coins should he need something to eat or a place to stay, and a friendly wave.  "Best of luck, Sir, and i hope the rest of your entourage arrives shortly."

With her little goodbye the vixen headed back up the ramp and onto the airship.   This left Cyril alone save for the few attendants of various shops, and the dome-crew who were clearing the countess's airship for launch.


On the Cart

The air was chilly, a soft breeze rolling over the rodent as he sat on the cart.  He felt strange, overwhelmed, and yet, had this feeling of connection.  He heard a voice in his head for a second, someone thinking about a recipe for dinner.  "2 cups s...."

Then it was gone.  As soon as it had come, the feelings of connection passed.  A few moments later, he could hear something rustling through a bush near by... a second later, it was silent.  Completely quiet, too quiet.  The soft chirping of the crickets had stopped even.

(OOC NOTE: Muse started to die on me... gonna finish the other posts i owe tomorrow morning... sorry to those i've missed)

[Noone]

Kyirri gave the succubus a sharp glance as he started feeling drained, looking for any obvious signs that she was using magic on him. Didn't think that could be done silently and without gestures... He got back in his seat, and started planning a course of action. I don't need to sleep,.. but I don't know how much protection it will provide against whatever she is doing to me. At least what I'm carrying is well concealed. He presented his ticket when the conductor came by.

Examining his surroundings carefully, he started to formulate a course of action. He took note of any exits, to other cars in the train, windows, or doors that exited from the train. He looked around at the other passengers, counting how many witnesses there would be in case someone attacked him in plain view. He also himself examined who might have been sitting with him.

Creatures tend not to be very careful, and they often act against their own self interests. Still.., often times they don't need to. She might be able to kill me, take what little I have, and bolt before anyone would care to react. I don't have any weapons on me... not like they'd serve to deter her. It might create a panic if she starts searching my corpse, but I don't think she'd care. He glanced about again. I didn't pick it up yet, and I only saw her at the train station. It's possible that she's been following me from earlier, but not likely, since she wouldn't have had her head wings out unless she's an idiot. She's probably planning on killing me, taking my belongings, and then running for the exit once the train comes to a stop. He gave his surroundings another critical glance. Still... whatever I do... I better do it quickly, this is not going to be a short trip and time isn't on my side.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Battle-Cruiser MOJLNIR

Standing in a stunned and slightly confused position, the young demon stood watching Paige swish back down the hall.  He recovered decently quick and caught up, standing shoulder to shoulder as he followed her back, trying his best to quickly recover his gentlemanly demeanor.  "If you need any help, just let me know.  Otherwise, I guess I'll just be acting as your guide for the time being."

The demon added a bit of playful swagger in his own step, folding his wings and moving to a position just shy of contact, matching his pace with hers, while standing slightly behind, and on Paige's right side.

Grinning playfully at Baseel Paige headed up to the flight deck to collect her bags. Opening the luggage hatch on the A-16 she pulled three decent sized rucksacks and tossed two of them at the demon. "Be a dear and take those down would you?" She said sweetly, but with a wicked smirk.

[Tapewolf]

As he examined the dead sniper's burned clothing and stowed his body under the carriage, Seth took a moment to look around.  Aside from the Demon, the pirates seemed to be retreating.  This either meant that they were fleeing because things weren't going to plan, or that they were about to do something terrible from the safety of their ship and didn't want to be on the ground when it happened.

He heard a blast up above and looked up, the airship seemed to be rocking slightly and wasn't that smoke...?  Then there was a sudden, vast explosion on the ground.  It would probably have killed him if he'd been on the other side of the train...
Seth quailed as a number of Beings suddenly had their lives snuffed out.  He clutched his head, willing his ears to stop ringing.  One of the fringe benefits of being a Creature was that if you did suffer that kind of hearing loss, it would gradually heal back.

Shit, I hope the wards protected the bike, he thought.  He couldn't remember which side of the train he'd parked it on.  Peering out he could see shrapnel everywhere.  That seemed to have killed most of the pirates who were still on the ground.  He wasn't sure if this had been planned - if it had, the pirates were either even more callous than he'd expected, or it was some act of mercy to protect their souls from the law - one that was as bizarre as it was indiscriminate.

Suddenly Seth was filled with horror.  The crowd of passengers who had been heading away... were they far enough away, or had some of them been shredded?  He had to make sure they were okay.  He loaded the rifle up with the nastiest looking round he had to hand, and fired into the Demon mare, who was struggling to get up.
Then he turned tail and ran, keeping the train between himself and the Demon (and the site of the explosion).  His plan was to get to the bike and if it still worked, get to the crowd and make sure they were okay.
If - as he suspected - the explosion was unplanned, it probably meant some bad shit was going down on the airship, in which case the big guns wouldn't notice him fleeing.

[Ghostwish]

Challam pretty much ignored the would-be challanger, and didn't show much interest in the fighting at all. He'd never been one to search for conflict, no matter how often it found him. The bar, however, was a different story.

Challam's eyes lingered over the many labels, and some of them seemed just too good to be true. But, he decided to give gambling a shot, and ordered a fine wine that had once been served in a clan meeting. Maybe he could get pleasantly drunk before the night was over..

[Arroyo Milori]

Arroyo had the strangest feeling from the town's people. He couldn't be sure, it was a gut feeling after all. He thought again about having his weapon out in public, it is a bit unsettling these days to see someone with their weapon unconcealed. Weapon or not, he also had another feeling why he got this feeling as well, it was because he wasn't a familiar face around these parts.

Arroyo's method of transportation did put him in a bit of a social block. He could never really stray away from his boat too far, due to the fear of those trying to steal it away. After all, it is his home. It was an odd looking boat but it was a sight that gave Arroyo a sense of relief after a long hard day.

He suddenly stopped and shook his head a bit. Perhaps he was affected by fatigue or maybe just thinking too much. He continued his stroll down the street, in search of a shop to stock up in necessities for his journey.

[SquirrelWizard]

Stephan was busy sorting through his mind. He was playing various scenarious through his head. "She could be held against her will, possibly for ransom. Maybe they're torturing her... what for I dont know... Gods if they harmed her there will be hell to pay, I'll make sure of 2 cups s..." his brow furrowed, Great... all this crap piling up, and I'm thinking about dinner..."

Stephan cocked an ear towards the edge of the clearing, all the sounds of nature had just died, someone was out there. With a flick of his wrist, Stephan reached into his hip pocket on his pants and pulled out a magician's wand. It was black with a white tip and about one foot long, clearly something that couldn't have physically fit into his pocket to the casual observer. Inside the wand was an iron core that exited at the tip of the wand, the practical effect of this design, meant he could better direct a jolt of lightning while on stage. On the other hand it would be perfect for delivering a nasty shock to anybody who underestimated him. Wand in hand, Stephan waited for whoever was out there to make a move.

[Tezkat]

Everything went quiet all of the sudden, the bustle of battle supplanted by a dull ringing noise. The sound of rushing air gradually crept into his consciousness. Tezkat blinked. The ground was approaching at an alarming rate. He should probably do something about that...

He pulled out of the free fall, gritting his teeth as he spread his wings. The only part of his body able to match the toughness of a Demon's hide, they had taken the brunt of the blast. Dozens of hot metal shards protruded from the leathery membranes. Buffeted by the wind, many dug deeper as he arced into a wide circle to slow his descent.

The rain of artillery shells touched down, rocking the pirates' drop zone with a string of explosions. Dirt, shrapnel, and gore sprayed across the field. Tezkat braced himself, struggling to steady his flight against the turbulence of multiple shockwaves. When the dust cleared, little remained of the pirates. Not in one piece, at any rate.

His bike lay where he had left it, in the shadow of an immolated car near the front of the train. Sheathing his weapons, he dropped through the billowing smoke and came in for a landing. He stumbled, suddenly aware of the pain in his leg as he pitched forward onto one knee. A chunk of twisted metal was embedded in his calf. He sucked in his breath and pulled it out. His blood sizzled on the surface of the nearly palm-sized shell fragment as he tossed it aside. With his flame ward expended, the heat had partially cauterized the wound, but it oozed blood and puss freely nonetheless. He'd never get the stain out of his trousers. After rolling it up around the wound, simple magic tightened the cloth into a makeshift bandage.

Tezkat limped over to his bike. Bits of shrapnel scattered behind him as he morphed his injured wings away. Even becoming incorporeal failed to banish the throbbing discomfort. But daily beatings as a child in the Demon Isles had taught him to ignore pain. Such minor flesh wounds would heal on their own within days. He had to move quickly in the meantime, however. There was no telling when the doubtless very angry Demon would come after him, and he was in no shape for a rematch. He pulled the vehicle upright and climbed on. A little scuffed up but otherwise intact, it purred softly under him.

Aren't you glad I found you a change of clothes?

He chuckled at Ky's attempt at levity. Tezkat was covered in his own blood. A few pilfered clothes on his bike and the shredded coat on his back were pretty much all he had to his name, stuck in the middle of nowhere without travel funds. He might have just made a new mortal enemy--in retrospect, it would have been a good idea to ask the Demon's name. And it wasn't even breakfast time yet. He still had all day to find more trouble.

[Kafzeil]

Lucy kept running, and an even as the forest got darker, she could hear the soldier's voices grow fainter and fainter. She grinned, laughing. She had escaped. She had won.

Then, everything that had happened in the past few hours started something. Some trigger in her brain, with nothing to focus on but walking, suddenly the scope of her predicament was in full view.

She'd never see her family again most likely. All her friends would likely kill her if they ever met again. She was homeless and she was very, very, very much alone in a country that wanted her dead.

The feline Undead trembled as she trudged through the thicket. She wasn't just a Creature, she was a zombie. Pain, love, the sweet taste of fresh Yorkshire pudding and fresh lemonade on a hot Summer's day, she would never again experience it. The only thing she could ever taste, ever crave, was live raw flesh.

Then, the final straw. She stopped as it emerged from the cloud of shattered worrying thoughts, eclipsing all others in sheer horror.

She would outlive her brothers, she would now endure all of this for centuries, maybe even a thousand years or more. She was denied dying of old age, she either be killed again or rot away slowly over countless years.

The forest fell silent before an anguished scream  filled the dark underbrush,  before falling eerily silent, a long, trench coat and fedora wearing feline trudging through it in a seemingly random direction, as if suddenly entranced.

[Tipod]

The explosion rocked Bart's hearing and vision as he hit the ground, staring up at the dust around him as his hands subconsciously picked around his chest for any metal shards or holes. Nothing. The pirate thugs (and probably some of the passengers themselves) weren't quite so lucky as they were pulverized by the blasts. But that demoness, she was still alive, and stunned by the force of the explosion. Now was his chance to keep her grounded.

The demon quickly scrambled to his feet and rushed towards her, just barely making out some kind of banging noise before his charge. With reckless disregard, he stomped his boot square into the mare's back, gripping and twisting her wings as roughly as he could manage.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Adelaide was a bit amazed. Mid-level bureaucrats generally got that way by developing a highly refined survival instinct. Grumpy angels with weapons should have at least brought him to his feet. This ferret was either the luckiest or stupidest being on the continent or he wasn't a being at all. And if he was a disguised creature in a land where wings and horns were flaunted that meant he was up to something. Nine times out of ten that meant cubi. Adelaide was in complete sympathy with the dragons wanting to get rid of the pests. And she had an idea how she could figure out if it was a cubi with no idea when enough was enough or the most oblivious bureaucrat ever.

She began spellcasting. Subtle movements of her hands and soft subvocalizations were the only hints to her actions. The chinchilla didn't believe in the more theatrical types of spellcasting some of her compatriots practiced. With a gesture as if dusting her hands the spell was sent towards the ferret. Then she turned and gave the well-dressed badger who was just approaching a smile. Adelaide didn't smile too often so the gesture was a bit less charming than she imagined. "Why don't you go ahead of me sir. My problem might take a moment to unravel."

Adelaide stepped a few paces to the side and watched the ferret. She couldn't go very far, the spell relied on the caster remaining nearby. It was a spell learned during a stint working a psychiatric ward. Newly "born" cubi tended to end up there. It often took a nice little bubble of quiet to calm them down. None of those nasty thoughts or emotions battering their tiny brains. If this was a cubi he should realize something was wrong very quickly. If he wasn't a cubi the spell shouldn't have any effect. Of course if he wasn't a cubi she'd have to think of something different. There had been several interesting incidents in medical training where a spell for replacing a dislocated shoulder had been used on people without dislocated shoulders. This smile was even less pleasant than the last.

[SpottedKitty]

Zelah looked both ways along the corridor where Elkan pointed, then turned and laid her arm on the handrail of the stairs. "Let's start at the top and work down, shall we?" she said, "I'm not sure, but I think this might be where I came down on to this deck."

A few steps up, the 'Cubi paused, her ears and headwings semaphoring and her tail-tip slowly curling from side to side around her ankles. "Um..." she said a little uncertainly, "might be a bit late to ask this, but what's Captain Wolkshammer like as a commander?" She'd served under some very good officers in her brief stint in the Aeliseium army... and one or two hideously bad ones. It had been one of the latter who'd landed her in the situation where she'd had to return to civilian life abruptly, with generous helpings of mayhem and property damage. Which kind of commander had she just committed herself to?

[Lisky]

Club (Sikici)

A large and brutish looking lion-demon stood in front of the Angel, as he headed inside of the first door.  A wooden rack built into the wall was on Sikici's right, it appeared filled with weapons.  Just behind the demon was a secondary door, where the angel could smell alcohol, and hear rather jovial music and laughter.  The lion giving Sikici a bit of an annoyed glance as he said,  "Any weapons to check, do so now, over there."  Making a gesture towards the rack

He glared again, the tinge of magic around his eyes making it clear he was looking for pocket dimensions, or other tricks for hiding weapons.  He continued after giving the Angel  a rather thorough  visual inspection, "... and if i catch you getting handsy with the staff, I won't hesitate to throw you out... Other than that, if you've got no other questions, welcome to the Land Shark."


Coat Store

The owl gave the other angel a bit of a concerned look.  His abrupt stoppage of out-loud thought, followed by his rather odd stare at the picture on the wall had the store owner a bit worried.  "Uh, sir? Is there anything else i can help you with?  Sir, are you all right?"

The owl angel gave Locke a light tap on the shoulder as well.  Trying to either break whatever trance that Locke seemed to have put himself in, or, at least get his attention long enough to find out what had happened.


On the Train

If Kyirri kept tabs on the succubus, he'd note her get up a few moments later and head towards the lavatory at the very rear of the car.  Nothing else of note happened as the train continued on towards it's next stop.  Kyirri had 3 more stops to go.  The succubus, however, got up, swishing her tail as she walked by,  and gave the roo-rat a little wink as she got off the train.  A little while later a few scruffy looking beings boarded, and the train continued on it's way.


Battle-Cruiser MOJLNIR  

Bas caught the bags, slinging them over his shoulder for a moment.  He then started to make a flick of the wrist gesture, rolling his hand in a circle, before grabbing the straps of the 2 bags, and warping them to his state-room.  "why bother with carrying when one with enough skill can get them there faster, and with far less effort?"  Giving his own toothy grin, Bas played off the obvious show of magical prowess as nothing, moving in closer to help Paige with the last bag.

The canine demon flashed Zelah a wicked grin, "well then, flight deck first, then the armory...  If you'd be so kind as to follow me, your tour can commence."

Sliding past the succubus,  Elkan slid up the stairs, he then replied to what was probably her more pressing question as he reached the top of the first flight of stairs, "Captain Wolkshammar is decent at what he does.  He's a bit more easy going than i suspect a warship captain should be, but i'm not going to complain.  He's a very lead from the front, and lead by example kind of guy...  Besides his color choice for uniforms, can't find any other faults with the man while i've severed with 'em."

While talking, he'd been leading Zelah up 2 additional flights,  Planting them in a rather cavernous room, A large square hole in the celing was had sunlight coming in, and along with the inner lights, made the room seem even larger, as it was difficult to make out the small dark shapes at the far end of the internal hanger of the large battle-cruiser.

"Hmm.... here's the hanger, where we hold our smaller aircraft.  We don't have too many just yet as the majority of creatures we've employed are already flight capable, or at least glide capable.  Makes housing gyros,  ornithopters, or planes a lesser demand.  Though it looks like one of the new pilots has just arrived.  Also looks like she's makin' a move for the captain..."

Giving an amused snort as he finished, the canine let the feline get a good look around, standing around in a polite and attentive stance should she have any questions.  


Train Crash

As the smoke and dust began clearly, the civilians from the train could still be seen heading off, away from the crash, most were heading towards the nearby town, some 20-30 minute jog away.  Seth could clearly see that the majority of them had cleared the danger-zone several times over.  Some were far enough along to just be silhouettes.  However, all this knowledge didn't come until after he'd taken the shot at the demoness.   The slug went a little higher than he'd expected, punching a hole through both sets of leathery wings, leaving nasty tears, and dribbling blood.

Bart's assault was quick and brutal, however, the gunshot wound through the wings had the demoness alert and pissed, while inflicting only a minor injury.  As Bart's boot slammed into her back, and her pulled at her wing, she rolled away, exposing his other foot to her grip.  She yanked it in, wrapped her legs around the boot that had been planted on her back moments ago.  A few seconds later, his boot that had been on the ground was trapped between her claws.  The mare, behind a vengeful, toothy, and scorn filled glared, proceeded to twist the foot.  The ankle gave a painful *CRACK* as Bart experienced what felt like a bolt of fire running up his leg.  He suddenly found he couldn't move the toes in his one foot, and all attempts to move the foot sent even more wracking pain through his leg.

She let him go, and rolled to her feet.  Stretching her wings, and standing over Bart with a triamphant grin on her face.  "Stupid boy" She hissed "Did you really think that would work?!  If you're going to ground a demon, you stomp the WINGS, not the back."   Delivering a swift kick to his torso to roll the other demon out of the way, the demoness stomped on Bart as she took to the air again.

Tez could see the Demoness and but a few survivors on the ground.  A dark shape, a demoness mare, and what looked like another cubi heading along the train trying to make an investigation of what was going on.  The demoness took off, completely ignoring the cubi as she ascended to the top-deck of the airship.

A few moments later, Bart, Seth and Tez could all see the airship rev it's engines, and start speeding north.  It seemed the remaining pirates were running.


Bar (Challam)

The incubus was greeted with a wide-bodied wine glass and a dark, almost black, red wine was poured into the cup.  He could smell the rich mixture of flavors even as the glass was passed to him.  His order hadn't gone unnoticed either.   He didn't have an obvious clan-mark showing as he approached, the feline was some type of tiger, though rather unusual colors, a royal blue base, with golden stripes.  His bright gold eyes were piercing as he approached.  "Haven't heard that particular wine ordered in some time.  Why it must have been when the sending off party for a certain troublemaker who needed to be tamed by SAIA... if i recall correctly."

The tiger flashed a wicked and toothy grin as he took up a seat next to Challam.


Aeliseium Forest

Lucy's Path took her close, very close to a couple of settlements.  The sounds of living folks going throughout their day was obvious.  She could hear children playing, and she come perilously close to being discovered by a local constable who'd been wandering the woodland paths.  Eventually she arrived at a river, it was impossible to tell what time of day it was... She'd been in the darkness for a while perhaps all morning, perhaps longer.  The river was slowly meandering, it was shallow, but in the way.

Suddenly a titanic *CRACK* followed by the sound of something heavy slamming into the ground, then another noise, almost like the sound of a breaking arm amplified 100-fold, followed by another deep thud.  Something near-by was tearing down trees, and in a brutal fashion.

The brothers could hear the sound of a constant rumble as 2 of the fully-suited invaders disappeared back into the thick brush of the woods surrounding the clearing.  The sound of rending metal, and creaking wood could be heard as well.  Suddenly a massive *BOOM*, as a massive plume of dirt and debris surged skyward, propelled by an explosion of extraordinary magnitude.  A ratcheting sound, more rending mental... Then, an enormous metal leg.  Deep, black, shiny, and bulky.  The bipedal figure pushed over another tree.

The thing standing before the beaver brothers and Ashlyn was enormous, humanoid, and bulky.  It had to weigh at least 100 tons.  It looked like an enormous person, clad in head to blackened plate armor. Each arm ended in a series of light auto-cannons.  In the center of the chest was a large bore for a snub-barreled cannon.  The top half the head looked skull like, and the whole machine looked to be almost 50 feet tall.  It leaned to the side, using the auto-cannon mountings to shove the last tree aside as it entered the clearing, almost at the same time as the Storm-Scorp.


Around the Cart

The bushes rustled again, there was shallow breathing, but Stephan still couldn't tell who or what was there.  Another bush, further away rustled this time.  The near windless night had left him with few assumptions to make besides someone or thing nearby.  The  branches swished and swayed against each other, making distinct swishy noises.  

Stephan barely had time to react as an unfamiliar being feline rolled into the clearing, his movements seemed to be erratic, and he was shouting "OH MY GAWD, The BEES! THE BEES! THEY'RE STINGING ME EVERYWHERE!"

Swatting at something, the being rolled right on through the Squirrel's camp erratically flailing, falling and rolling.  Patting at some unseen force that seemed to besiege the being.  As far as Stephan could tell, the blackish-blue feline was either a house-cat or perhaps a half-breed panther.  His hair was cropped short, and hidden under a dark gray hood, connected to his tunic.  The being had adventuring garb on as well.  A sword strapped across his left side, and what appeared to be a solid, box-like object strapped to his right leg.

[Tapewolf]

As the airship disembarked, Seth - having seen that the passengers appeared to be safe - made his way to the smaller demon who seemed to be injured.

"You okay?" he asked.  "We should probably get the other side of the train, just in case they fire the big guns."

[techmaster-glitch]

Aelisium Forest

   Just after firing off a thunder shot at where the one soldier who had shot at Gaakronacht was, some much louder sounds were emitted from the trees. Very loud sounds. Sounds that the brothers were very familiar with. Two of the three soldiers that Gaak had seen earlier retreated towards the sounds, the third one unaccounted for.
   In several ways, Gezzemocht was the "commander" of the Storm Scorp. When Gaakronacht is actually busy shooting at something, it was Gezzemocht's job to keep track of things the younger brother couldn't spare attention for, including what they should be doing sometimes.
   "Full voll then half-circ right, keep cov!" Gezzemocht shouted, using a shorthand language for Aelisium ground vehicle crews. In this case, it meant to circle forward to their right (the approaching enemy's left) while keeping as hidden as possible, but not before letting off a barrage with all weapons at whatever was about to enter view. Gaakronacht began to back up up the Storm Scorp again, back into the trees they had just emerged from. One of the advantages of the equal-quadruped design was that the steam-mech could move the same speed in any direction.
   An Ahnk'Ator medium steam-mech (by their standards) began emerging from the opposite side of the forest, just as both brothers knew it was and were ready for. Standing more than twice the height of the Storm Scorp, this mech was armed with a huge central cannon of heavy-artillery caliber, with multiple autocannons on both "arms". Before it had fully emerged, and before the Storm Scorp had fully disappeared, Gaakronacht began firing. In very quick succession, he fired a thunder shot, a lightning shot, a second thunder shot, a second lightning shot, a slug shot, and a third lightning shot.
   whu-BOOSH
   Krzzap!
   whu-BOOSH
   Krzzap!
   Blam!
   Krzzap!
   The first three shots he aimed directly at the large cannon-hole in the center of the enemy mech, the last three at the "head" of the mech, just before finally hiding back in the trees.
   The one thing that allowed a mech like the Storm Scorp to take on mechs larger than itself was the fact that it's two main weapons generally didn't bother with armor; the concussion cannon could easily buckle lighter armor, but in all other cases, it shook and knocked about anything behind the armor. The lightning cannon was similar, if it doesn't punch a hole, then it disperses and fuses things up. The shot cannon generally just bounced off anything too thick, but otherwise was decent for causing general damage. In all hopes, the first three shots directly to the enemy mech's cannon damaged or disabled said cannon by affecting the mechanisms, where normal weapons would've just bounced off. If there were any pilots in that area as well, they'd possibly have a few headaches at least. And if the pilots were in the mech's head instead of the chest, then they should have similar problems.
   Hopefully, enough problems to let the Storm Scorp slip back into the trees without them getting off any return shots...or at least any accurate ones.

[Noone]

Kyirri stared at the succubus as she left, his own expression completely blank. He kept his attention on her face and wings, trying to anticipate what she would do, and positioned himself ready to sprint for an exit if attacked. He breathed a sigh of relief as she left the train. Still, whatever energy draining she did left him severely weakened. A tingle in the back of his head kept him awake, like something yanking on his mind. It was moderately discomforting but it served to keep him alert. That's probably not the last piece of trouble I've seen. I'd better be alert for anything else.

He glanced about, still keeping himself fully alert. Change of plans, after I get off the train, I'll find a place to eat, rest, and lay low for a bit. After that, I'll be on my way. There's not a lot I can do while I'm on the train though... I'm stuck in my current seat, I guess I'll just have to wait and hope that I don't get attacked.

[Kafzeil]

The ocelot sighed as she walked along the river, looking to find the shallowest part of the river before

The noise didn't seem to brother her. For all she cared it could be a bunch of loggers. Maybe she could swipe a map from them, find her bearings and get somewhere less hostile. The border to Nylammar has to be close.

Great, it wasn't loggers. She could hear gunfire. Maybe some bands of bandits and raiders were fighting. No...The artillery sounded too heavy for that. She should have ran, but then again, maybe she could stow anyway on a pirate ship.

She checked her pockets once. She still had the note to her mother. She forgot to leave it behind. Lucy felt like crying. And yet, no tears for form, no matter how sad she got, no matter what tragedy befell her, something as simple as single tear would ever be shed.

She screamed yet again, kicking up cloud of dirt and gravel in fury. It wasn't fair. In one day, one single day, she had lost everything. Every goddamn thing in her fucking life was now so far away...

She reached the very edge of the clearing, crouching down and using the bushes for cover she peaked through. An Ahankian  Mech and an another mech, and odd looking four legged design, squared off. It took Lucy a good moment before noticing the four-legged mech was an Aesilian design.

Before she could turn her tail and run like Hell, however, a stray shot from the Ahnkian mech's auto cannon struck a nearby tree, sending splinters and chunks her direction, before the entire tree fell with a loud crack,

The great tree had fallen on Lucy, pinning her leg to the ground. Grimacing, she reached over to free it, thankfully nothing seemed broken. But now she was between Scylla and Charybdis.

Lucy grabbed her gun and pulled the trigger back in case things looked bad. She doubted she could use it actually kill anyone, save that skunk officer. She didn't plan to, anyways things got ugly, well, she'd prefer to die by her own terms today then give some Aesilian soldier the pleasure of another creature kill.

[SquirrelWizard]

The Carts

"OH MY GAWD, The BEES! THE BEES! THEY'RE STINGING ME EVERYWHERE!"

Stephan watched the being swat his imaginary attackers. Either the being had had induldged in one too many recreational drugs, or he was trying to lure him out to see what the problem was. Most likely the latter than the former. He sighed, might as well nip this in the bud.

Leaping off of the cart, and flapping his wings a couple of times to slow his descent, Stephan landed on the ground near the being, "I am Stephan Oralis," Stephan drew himself up, his wings were folded behind him, all together cutting as an imposing figure as he possibly could, "you will explain to me why you have invaded my camp, and you will do so quickly. I'm in no mood to be trifled with." The last sentence dripped with malice as he glared at the feline being.

[Paladin Sheppard]

Battle-Cruiser MOJLNIR  

Bas caught the bags, slinging them over his shoulder for a moment.  He then started to make a flick of the wrist gesture, rolling his hand in a circle, before grabbing the straps of the 2 bags, and warping them to his state-room.  "why bother with carrying when one with enough skill can get them there faster, and with far less effort?"  Giving his own toothy grin, Bas played off the obvious show of magical prowess as nothing, moving in closer to help Paige with the last bag.

"Ye realize tha be chea'n" the Succubus purred at the demon, again falling back into the accent of her clan, while picking up the last bag. "So when do you plan to go into action Captain Wolkshammer?"