ic The Shadow of the Doomforge

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The young woman looked unsure of the entire situation, her eyes darting between Raven and Nevermore, before finally settling on Raven.

 

"A-alright." 

 

She breathed out, it looked like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. 

 

"But we have to get out of here, now! They know I'm gone, they're coming to find me! T-they will find us!" 

 

She was starting to panic again.

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"Alright! Go time, boss!" 

 

Charlie hadn't just been standing still while Alek had won the the woman over. His drone had been out there, scanning and keeping watch and...

 

"Got enemies incoming, all around us. If we're gonna go, we gotta go now." 

[KnightDisciple]

Raven went slightly stiff at the dual warning. He nodded, even as a few odd presses against his suit changed its outline. The cape extended, the strange sheen went away, and hard plates extended out. 

 

"Help her get to the Unkindness, we'll move to a Roost until we can get her to a League psychic. I will cover your path."

 

He turned and moved to the edge of the roof, his cowl's eyes glowing as he scanned the streets below. 

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"Got it."

 

It was kind of weird, honestly. Working with Alek meant that Charlie just instantly fell back into the sidekick role, while with his friends, he more easily fell into a leadership role himself. For a brief moment, he wondered if Alek knew about the things he had been up to with his friends at Claremont, before deciding that, yeah, Alek probably knew.

 

Moving towards the woman, he offered her his hand. "C'mon, let's get you out of here."

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The entire street around them was starting to fill with people. The only uniform to their looks seemed to be ripped and worn clothing, the kind you would see in people that either couldn't afford or didn't care to take care of themselves. They were searching around the area, obviously looking for the missing woman.

 

A slight roar from a motorcycle down the street drew the Raven's attention. The rider was a large was a scrawny man with blonde hair sticking out from a red bandana. He was wearing a denim vest with no shirt. He was barking orders. When he turned just right the Raven, and Nevermore's drone, could spot a logo on his back with a horned skull with flaming eyes and the words "THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATES" above the skull.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"C'mon, c'mon! I know you're out heeeere!" the rider yelled, as he progressed slowly down the road.

 

His eyes were wide open, scanning across the rooftops.

 

"Here, birdie birdie birdie. HERE BIRDIE BIRDIE!" 

 

The rider laughed and pointed to the rooftop.

 

"THERE YOU ARE!"

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"Ah, crap!" 

 

That guy was either lucky or way too good. 

 

"Boss, I'll grab her and put down cover." 

 

Reaching for his belt, he grabbed black out bomb. Artificial darkness, not just smoke. He threw the bomb, an intense darkness springing up all around them, while switching to his own night vision for the H.U.D., then grabbed the girl's hand and started running.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

Bullets were flying the moment the leader called out Raven and Nevermore's location, with the men and women in the streets shouting various obscenities and taunts towards them.

 

A lot of complaining about the sudden darkness, too. They weren't exactly professional hitmen, in fact, they hardly seemed organized or even properly trained. It seemed to be mostly a bunch of random thugs all out to cause trouble under a single commanding voice. 

 

Most of them were grouped close together. Probably easy pickings for the Raven.

[KnightDisciple]

Alek had stepped on the one loose brick on the whole rooftop, but Charlie had been spotted by the strange leader of the group anyway. Something was off with the man. He turned to Nevermore as his apprentice started to move out.

 

"Keep her moving. I'll try to throw them off the trail."

 

As he spoke, he reached down to his utility harness and withdrew an aerodynamic disk. A flick of his wrist sent it amidst the gang even as Nevermore moved on ahead. Almost before it skidded to a halt in the middle of their group, it was screeching out an awful din. The sound was annoying up on the rooftops but right next to the thing, it was likely nearly deafening. A bunch of randomized, computerized screeching and atonal sound-pulses ought to leave them reeling.

 

Raven turned, flexed his legs, and moved to the next rooftop, quickly pushing himself into a near-sprint to catch up with Nevermore enough to properly guard the younger hero's flank. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The man leading the group pulled his hands up, shielding his ears from the sound while he cackled, even as the people around him started grasping their ears in confusion.

 

"Oh, that's good, that's good! Birdie wants to play! C'mere, birdie! C'mere, let me show you what I can do!"

 

He reached out and pointed towards the Raven, and almost instantly both the Raven and Nevermore felt a pull, like someone was starting to just drag all the energy out of their bodies.

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

The girl couldn't see anything, and she was clearly starting to panic. All that darkness that surrounded them, all the people screaming from Raven's attack, and now she was starting to look tired. Charlie felt it, too. A gnawing feeling, tugging on him, like something was just zapping away all his energy, it was.... It wasn't something that was gonna stop him.

 

Charlie reached out and grab her wrist. "Hey." His voice was low, but loud enough that she could hear him. "Don't worry. We'll make it out of here." He reached into his utility belt, picked out a small ball and dropped it at his feet, then started pulling the girl along with him, through the darkness. "Come on, we got this. This is the Raven. No way they're getting past him." He kind of wanted to mention himself too, but Alek was the headliner here.

 

Once they were far enough away, he activated the metal ball, which started playing songs of a man and a woman bickering.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

"I got 'em, boss!" 

 

A man with a red bandana and a heavy winter coat with fur trim called out, raising his machine gun and starting to fire wildly in the direction of the sound of two voices bickering.

 

Amidst shouts of agreeing, most of the other goons joined in, all shooting into the darkness, far away from Nevermore and the would-be-whisteblower. 

[KnightDisciple]

Raven ignored the gunshots. He was not impressed by the already-addled goons. The leader of the group, he was stranger, more intimidating in the abstract. He clearly had some sort of stamina-draining power, but Raven was able to clench his teeth and ignore it. Instead of a verbal response, he just palmed the dispenser in his belt and lobbed another sound-grenade at the group of thugs, a bit over from where his first one landed. The effects wouldn't last long, but the more confusion and discomfort he sowed now, the better. 

 

After that was done, he turned and increased his pace, doing his best to catch up with Nevermore and their impromptu charge. He said nothing for the moment, just nodded to Nevermore and signaled to keep moving along the rooftops. A bit closer and he'd warm up the Unkindness. 

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The Born Loser made a snarling noise and started running, far faster than his otherwise frail frame would suggest. He made a snarling sound, and both the Raven and Nevermore felt a gnawing feeling at their guts. He quickly reached where Nevermore had been before, finding nothing.

 

"Clever birds! Get 'em, now!"

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

They fell for it, great and... then the bullets started flying. Oh, they had to get out of there now. The quicker, the better. That guy, their leader? He was fast. Already caught up to where he was before.

 

Charlie pulled the woman along, running over the rooftops, grabbing her and swinging over the rooftops as necessary. No jokes right now, he had to just run. Get out of there as fast as they could, get to the Unkindness. Then they wouldn't be able to catch up.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The goons stopped shooting when the Born Loser called out to them. Everything was silent for a moment, aside from some of them cursing about not being able to see anything and others rubbing their eyes.

 

Then, they started shooting wildly again, everywhere around them, not caring at all about who they would hit.

[KnightDisciple]

For a few moments, the Raven pondered sowing more chaos. However, the various enemy forces seemed rather thoroughly misdirected at this point, and his apprentice was drawing near to their escape. He could focus for a few moments on catching up. They had to get their contact in the Unkindness, and soon.

 

With that decision made in the blink of an eye, he was moving rapidly and smoothly across the rooftops, taking a running leap in a place where Nevermore, with his much-less-experienced-at-roof-running companion, had exercised slower more cautious approaches. At full speed, the Raven was a dark blur in the night, barely visible even if someone had known where to look, and that was without him even really trying to be stealthy in any capacity. 

 

Within a few moments, he was moving near Nevermore, keeping pace with the younger hero as they worked to escort their charge the last leg of the "race". 

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"C'mon. We're almost there. Just a bit more!"

 

Charlie was holding on to the witness. They were almost there. Bullets flying all around them, but... they were almost to the car.

 

They were getting out of there, and they were keeping the woman safe.

 

Reaching the end of a building, Charlie spread his arms out around the woman as he pulled her along, shooting a line out to break his fall just as they reached the car. Get in the car, wait till Alek got behind the wheel... then they could get out of there.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

The shots kept being fired wildly, while the Born Loser shouted for them to get them. Even as the heroes' distractions began to dissipate, they were too far away. 

 

There was no way they would be able to catch up now.

 

Not that it stopped them from trying, several setting into mad dashes, or just continuing to shoot wildly in the general direction of the Raven.