ic Unseelie against Steel (IC)

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

“Yes!”

Blackstaff fist bumped the air as Shade took a direct hit. The wizard quickly collected himself into a proper stoic manner and readied to strike again.

The bigger man had shattered his ice and rushed to set himself between the heroes and his criminal companions.

 

He raised his staff when he was blindsided by Prestige’s attack. Some kind of wire and glue entangled him.

“What the-!”

Blackstaff struggled against them fruitlessly as he saw her hurry off towards the armored villain with the moth-themed villain in tow. 

 

The barrel of a man near him seemed to easily pull himself free and Blackstaff couldn’t help but be a little impressed with the 

show of strength.

“Show off.”

He chuckled and turned his attention back to Anarchillies. He may be stuck in place, but he didn’t need to move to do this…

 

Blackstaff raised the black staff over head with both hands. He twirled it several times as he chanted quickly, the wind picking up as he does. Then, suddenly, he swept it down before him like sword and cried out.

“Zephrys cresenthious!”

Around him, the wind whipped up and followed the staff’s arch, then lashed out like an invisible blade through the air. The only sign of its path, the dust and debris picked up and dragged along in its wake as it raced towards the tank of a villain.

Edited July 30 by Spacefurry

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The pair of villainesses stared briefly at Bloody Mess as he gave his speech. Anarchilles, who had been charging to intercept the shorter man nearly tripped over his own feet, an opportunity the wizard in the mix seized upon with aplomb.

 

The blade of air lanced through the alleyway, the rush of it's passing only audible behind the crest of the wave. As it reached the armoured giant, the space around him seemed to shatter, a kaleidoscope of colours swirling around the meeting point, through which Blackstaff could see dozens of different versions of the villain, some going down to the blade's strike while others stood strong in different guard positions. Almost as soon as it began the chaos ended, Anarchilles standing, arms crossed ahead of himself to block the invisible blade.

 

The titanic man shook his hands with a pained noise, a gouge having been engraved across his gauntlets by the attack. His armour seemed duller for a moment, before a subtle rainbow shimmer made it's way across the plates. He looked between the three heroes, trying to ascertain who would be the hardest for the rest of the team to get away from before making up his mind. He inhaled a big breath of air before launching himself into a big right hook.

 

Shooting Star barely moved as the loud clang echoed through the alleyway from the impact, leaving a large red mark on the side of her head. Anarchilles hesitated for a moment to long as he stared at the heroine.

 

Shooting Star's own retort was quick and to the point: She slugged him back, a fist driving right into his abdomen. Despite the repeat of the kaleidoscope of possibilities, there was only so much that could be done to lessen the impact, a strike that would have sent him sprawling instead only winding Anarchilles, leaving him gasping for air.

 

The Prestige looks between the rather worrisome display from the other two heroes, before turning back to Bloody Mess, as a burst of projectiles that might have been meant for the broad man hammered into the alley wall. "Oh yeah the police... We'll just take Steel Shade to the doctor for that head injury then... Pop down to the station." She lied, taking tentative steps back from the man. "You, uh got us again? And we would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for you meddling heroes and your wizard?" She sounds like she's trying to convince herself that this is working, before on some unspoken agreement her and Mothlight turned and fled towards where Steel Shade still lay, her grip on the other villainess' hand keeping her steady as an enormous cloud of insects descended to block the heroes' view of the three with a mass of buzzing chitin.

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess

 

Bloody Mess batted the insects away, but for every dozen that got smashed by his spade like hands, there were another two dozen that flew into his face and up his nose. 

 

"Gfff!" he sneezed. "Screw this! I ain't gonna punch no dame, but I can punch him!" he said to the world, pointing at Anarchilles. 

 

With a mighty leap from mighty pumped up legs, he launched himself into the air, insects smacking into his face. 

 

He landed with a crunch on the tarmac right by Anarchilles, spitting out a mouthfull of splatted insects, pulling back a hammer fist, winding it up, and letting loose a mighty punch from a mighty pumped up arm!

 

With a bit of luck, Anarchilles would block righty with his face. 

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff watched with undisguised fascination as, well, something around Anarchilles seemed to ripple through the multitude of possible realities. The air around the man seemed to shatter for the merest of moments before asserting itself with the man standing there, mostly unharmed.

“Fascinating.”

The wizard made to move, only to remember his predicament when he met resistance. The scowled down at the wire and glue.

 

He raised the staff up one handed, its tip flaring with hellish red light. Blackstaff mutters a strange word under his breath and slams the tip of the staff down into the sticky mass. A thin layer of controlled hellfire cascading out over it.

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

The cloud of insects persisted as Bloody Mess's fist ploughed into Anarchilles's helmeted face, the sound covering the meaty smack of fist meeting metal. The strike had little apparent effect, but the poisoned blood seeped in through gaps in the mask to sicken the dazed villain.

 

Simultaneously Blackstaff turned his magic upon the glue, hellish heat causing the glue to bubble and contract, while the lengths of wire weakened and snapped. The wizard stepped free, dirtied but no longer trapped as the cloud of insects faded to reveal the three villains getting into a new looking station wagon.

 

At the same time Anarchilles's armour had recovered its rainbow hue as the villain caught his breath from Shooting Star's punch. He stayed slouched long enough to mutter "I think I'm gonna hurl..." Before rearing back up, his fists curled clumsily before his head in what seemed to be a layman's best imitation of a boxing stance. "I'm not out of this yet, and if you wanna get to the others you're gonna have to go through me!"

 

Shooting Star obliged him, figuring that after defeating him she could catch up with Aaron's car. She drove her fist out to strike the villain only to watch in dismay as the kaleidoscope lit up once more, before reality collapsed back to a version who had caught her fist with a large gauntleted hand, the crash of superdense flesh against metal briefly drowning out the screech of tires as The Prestige pressed the accelerator of her car flat to the metal.

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess

 

The Mess turned his head left, then right. Then, his head rapidly oscillated betwixt both positions, with a swishing sound that belonged in a cartoon, or, hypothetically, in the text of some constructed story about his exploits written on the internet. 

 

"Wh-Wh----" 

 

For a moment he couldn't decide whether to take chase or not. He couldn't be in two places at once, could he?

 

Overthinking was not a torment Bloody Mess was subjected to. 

 

Anarchilles was the guy who annoyed him most, and would put up the best fight. So, toxic blood blisters bursting over his skin, he made his mind up and jumped. 

 

"Say hello to righty!" he proclaimed, before unleashing a massive sucker punch from lefty! KER-POW!

 

"Gotcha!"

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff regarded the station wagon, but the hull of a man before him seemed like a more pressing matter. Even with the two powerhouses on his side, he didn’t see this being an easy fight.

 

The wizard chanted softly under his breath, pointing his staff first at Anarchillies, then towards the sky. Clouds began to gather and churn. A rumble echoed briefly as the taste of static filled the air around the villain and heroes.

 

“Fulmino galventas!”

Hairs rose on end as a single lightning bolt connected earth and clouds for the briefest of instances.

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess

 

"Hey, a wizard! Like in those films! The ones with that snotty nosed kid and that annoying girl!" said Bloody Mess, very impressed with the magic words Blackstaff had spoken. The lightning and sparks were cool, of course, but real magic words? Now that was the business!

 

"My fists are magic, too! Watch this!" he said, puffing out his chest and cracking his knuckles. 

 

Despite the slowness of his brain, Freddy knew how to fight - straight up boxing, laced with dirty street fighting. One - two, weave, one - one - two. 

 

A little bit of a dance, and he had found the right angle to release a mighty blow from righty, each knuckle keen to deliver a KO!

[Kaede Kimura]

GM

 

As the pair piled on the pressure, meaty fists and bolts of lightning slamming into the villain, at first it seemed victory was at hand as even after his powers activating, rainbow flashes and kaleidoscopic pictures of the villain ending in the man standing strong to resist, Anarchilles collapsed against the wall after Bloody Mess's toxic blood took effect.

 

Unfortunately, through some hidden well of fortitude the giant still struggled to fight them off. Shooting Star added to the pile, her elbow aiming to strike him on the shoulder instead striking his interposed arm, and Bloody Mess's followup strike being caught in a gauntleted hand. Perhaps the tides were turning for the villain? Or would this be his last defiant stand against the three heroes?

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff gritted his teeth, watching as the two powerhouse heroes seemed hard pressed to keep Anarchilles down. As the villain seemed ready to struggle back to his feet, the wizard’s eyes scanned the surroundings for an idea.

 

He was fairly positive he couldn’t just hold the walking tank of a man and their attacks, while each was substantial, weren’t enough on their own. Maybe he just needed to approach this from a different angle.

 

He knew what he wanted and the spell quickly came together in his mind. The chant was quiet on his lips, ironically, as a finger traced a glowing pattern in the air an inch from his throat. He was quick, and hopefully precise enough.

 

Before he closed the final circle of the pattern he yelled to the other two heroes.

“Clear the way!”

A moment later the circle closed and he felt the power swell in his throat. Blackstaff sucked in a painful breath and then a scream, like a banshee in a wood-chipper, erupted from the wizard. The light from his throat flaring with it.

[Kaede Kimura]

Shooting Star 

 

The Wizard's scream pierced the air, rocking through their victim and leaving him dazed and disoriented under their enchantment.

 

An opportunity Alice was not about to waste. But this point her brother and his teammates were probably in the wind, a thing that both relieved and infuriated her, so she decided to take it out on the villain before her. A distinct crack echoed through the alley as her fist smashed through the sound barrier and then into the villains chest, the rainbow fragments of Anarchilles showing a myriad of versions of the villain each folding around her fist until reality snapped back to the villain sucking in air from her winding strike.

 

The cocktail of emotions that were driving her continued to bubble, satisfaction at fighting an opponent who was her physical rival. Respect for the man who stayed behind so that his team could escape. Righteous anger that the team he was a part of was her brother's. Relief that this tough as nails villain had been standing between Aaron and danger. Guilt that if it wasn't for her intervention her brother would still be doing so. She glared up at the man, trying not to let her feelings boil over. She normally didn't hold them in like this, but she couldn't lose focus. Not on this. 

 

"End of the line Anarchilles, surrender or we'll just keep pounding you into the ground."

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess

 

Freddy was pretty impressed with the sheer resilience, sheer determination of his foe. Grit like that wasn't common. 

 

Not that he would say that aloud, of course. No no, such resistance just made him puff up his chest even bigger, spit blood onto the sidewalk, crack his knuckles, and get on with business. 

 

"Maybe I shouldn't go so light on you," he said through gritted teeth and snarling eyes. "I'm going to turn this up to one third power!"

 

That said, he put every ounce of energy and will into his uppercut - and uppercut that sent Anarchillies flying upwards, only to come down again and get stamped to the ground by Freddies foot. 

 

OK, he was a boxer. But a dirty boxer. Feet were certainly on the menu. 

 

"That enough for you, sunshine?" he said, gloating over the man beneath his heel. 

[Kaede Kimura]

Anarchilles

 

The air around Anarchilles once more exploded into a pattern of alternate versions, but where before there had been one or several standing strong against the attack, the heroes could see a shift- No matter which fragment of possibility they looked at they replayed a similar scene.

 

As reality snapped back into place, the villain was lifted bodily off the ground by Bloody Mess's strike, metal armour creaking at the impact. With a crash he slammed back down to find himself beneath Freddy's foot.

 

Anarchilles considered his course of action as he surveyed the field, his team had escaped, he was outnumbered (and if that was one third power, outclassed too) and really sore. "Yeah, that's enough for me. You guys win. Justice has prevailed, huzzah." He wiggled his hands slightly as he said 'huzzah'. "Just don't like, leave me to get eaten by Goblins, please."

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

“I’m gla-*cough*”

His voice was a little hoarse and Blackstaff rubbed his throat as he cleared it. He tried to speak again.

“I’m glad you’ve decided to stop resisting.”

 

Blackstaff leaned casually on the firm blackened piece of wood that bore a striking resemblance to his nickname.

“Now, about these goblins…”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“Don’t suppose you’d be willing to enlighten us as to how you became entangled with them?”

[Kaede Kimura]

Anarchilles

 

Anarchilles hummed noncommittally at Blackstaff's comment about stopping resisting, an air of resignation about him. 

 

As soon as the wizard mentioned the Goblins however he apparently had his attention. Briefly he thinks about whether his team would be annoyed if he told the heroes about the job, but given it was already done he doubted there was any harm in it. "We were out on a job, to get this supposedly magical blade for this wizard guy, yeah? Routine smash and grab. We go in all standard procedure-like. Mothlight is a little more distracted than normal, but that happens sometimes."

 

Anarchilles shrugs as if that explained it, forgetting that his audience isn't as familiar with his team as he is. "Anyway, Shade opens the safe without much trouble and we pull out this wicked looking blade, it's like two feet long with a cloth wrap around the tang and all these runes in it. Apparently it's like, pure meteoric iron. Anyway, The Prestige takes it and we're about to use Steel Shade's teleporter when Mothlight starts freaking about something coming our way when all of a sudden the Goblins start breaking out of the ground and walls, pretty sure I saw one climbing out from a light fixture. One of the guys with the red hats throws a small stone blade into the teleporter, and we have to try getting out on foot until we can find a good spot for The Prestige to put down a car to drive away with. That's where you guys come in, and the rest is history. Very painful history."

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess

 

The Mess scratched his head, although it was a small target for his hand to accurately scratch. 

 

"Goblins, ghosts... what the spooky spooktown is going on?"
 

He looked to his new comrades for answers. 

 

"Big sword, yeah? Big magic sword? That doesn't sound to good. Sounds pretty bad, actually. And goblins don't sound nuthin to celebrate about, either. Aren't they evil and stuff? And thieves? Don't they eat babies? Or was it they steal milk. I can't remember..."

 

Occult history was not his strong suit. 

 

He cracked his knuckles. "So where do we find the bad guys?"

[Kaede Kimura]

Shooting Star 

 

Alice listened closely to the story, trying to find any parts that she wanted clarification on, noting that there were no details on the employer or what the sword might do. She had to admit that the fact that Goblins apparently existed was doing a number on her ability too focus on the story.

 

She did seem to have a slightly better grasp on what was happening than her short ally however. "Not that big, two feet is only like, this long." She held her hands apart, although it was probably closer to a foot and a half. Her knowledge of Goblins was pretty similar to Bloody Mess's, although that distant memory was enough to have her interjecting. "I think it was steal babies and sour milk. Right, Mr Magic?" Alice turned to Blackstaff questioningly.

 

She did however share in Mess's enthusiasm for hunting down where the bad guys were hiding, offering the man a grin and a first bump at the question. 

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff & Lark

 

Blackstaff’s attention was peaked at the mention of the magic blade and that they had been conscripted by another wizard to retrieve it.

“Hmm, so they did reveal themselves until you secured the blade? That presents a few possible scenarios.”

He raised a finger.

“One, they were summoned about retrieval to take back the blade as a sort of security measure. But I think that's the least likely.”

He shook his head and raised a second finger.

“Two, they couldn’t get to it on their own and simply took advantage after you removed it from any protections it was under. A matter of you lot being in the wrong place at the wrong time, as it were.”

He raised a third finger.

“Three, you wizard decided to cut you out in the end. Summoning the little buggers to take the weapon and return it so as to not have to pay you. That would be my pick for the most likely explanation of what happened.”

 

Blackstaff regarded Bloody Mess.

“The occult and supernatural are far more normal than you would believe.”

He explained.

“And while goblin is a fairly generic term thrown around. Those goblins we encountered are indeed of the more, hmm… volatile species. Known for, yes, many rather unpleasant stories that have circulated through history.”

He looked at Shooting Star as well.

“We should seriously consider finding where the rest of them went. For their own safety.”

Blackstaff leveled a look at Anarchilles.

“Your friends are in serious danger. You’d do them no good hiding them from us.”

He warned.

[Supercape]

Bloody Mess

 

"Normal? You call this mess normal?" said the Mess, eyes wide. "Although I guess it got sorted like normal, huh?" he added, with a laugh and crack of his hammer hand knuckles. 

 

"So, how do we find da rest of 'em?" he asked, his eyes now screwed tight with the effort of thinking. "I mean, do we need some hocus-pocus good wizard to do a spell or sumthin' maybe a wizard with a big pointy hat. Ain't that what wizards wear?"

 

"Me and my partner, we can find pretty much anyone in da city. Dat's what we do. Bloodhound detective agency. But we ain't never gone hunting ghosts or goblins before, I gotta confess!"

[Kaede Kimura]

Anarchilles 

 

The big man on the ground followed the conversation between the heroes silently, seeming to be mulling something over. At Blackstaff's comment about him doing no good good hiding his team from them he seemed to snap back to reality. "You're kidding right? You think I'm gonna tell a group of heroes where my friends are? I'm not stupid, you guys will arrest them. 'Oh, it's for your own good, the Goblins will hunt you down otherwise, now off to Blackstone you go!'" He puts on a mocking (and surprisingly accurate) impersonation of Blackstaff as he says the last part.

 

He turns to face Bloody Mess as he talks, although his expression is impossible to gauge through his helmet. He is silent for several long seconds, trying to work out if he's being messed with. Eventually he turns back to Blackstaff. "The little green monsters said that their prince was coming. That seems to discredit your third option. I think they're trying to establish a foothold in the city. That seems a bit more important than a couple thieves, yeah?"

[Spacefurry]

Blackstaff

 

Blackstaff gave Anarchilles a thoughtful look. After a moment he shrugged.

“I’ve been wrong before. But thank you for the information.”

The wizard turned away from the villain and his face showed much more concern than he dared show Anarchilles. His frown was obvious as he thought.

He hadn’t heard anything about a goblin clan attempting to establish a foothold, but it was more than possible. Blackstaff took a breath and did his best to not show his concern as he turned back to the villain.

“Well then, if you won’t tell us willingly.”

He pulled a piece of chalk from his coat pocket and gave the large man a smirk.

“We have ways of making your aura talk.”