strangetrip | Inn-world Combat: The Dread Reign

Entry tags:

Inn-world Combat: The Dread Reign

At the crest of the mountain, Coc'zac sat atop Nazu's head looking through a glass that Hotor held to his eye. Vokva sat beside them, little more than a pile of bones atop a pile of rocks, and Hafur paced behind them, holding the troops in check. They milled in the pre-dawn gloom, skeletons, wights, zombies, wraiths, and all manner of undead creatures. Periodically, Nazu swept the space behind them with their tail bowling over anyone who'd gotten too close.

The first pinpoint of light had Coc'zac's teeth chattering with excitement in his disembodied head. Today was the day he'd been planning for. Soon, soon the Inn and its occupants would be his. Nazu unleashed a heavy sigh tinged with poison and necrosis. Fortunately the troops were all dead already, and Coc'zac didn't have anything in the way of arms to hit them with.

It fell to Hafur to gesture the troops forward as punctuation to Coc'zac's 'rousing' speech, and together they crept through the portal, avoiding its fizzing and popping edges demarcated in what would be neon blue, if they could still see in color. They couldn't properly hear either, but they were aware of the noise and the danger it marked.

Once they were all through, the advance scouts, four bands of skeleton archers swept quietly as they could through the shadows to take up position around the main buildings, prepared to pick off anyone who exited--for example for a pre-sun jog. And once they'd settled into wary, silent waiting, occasionally interrupted by the pop of a joint or the clatter of toe bones on stone, the next wave rolled in finding shadows to hide in until the residents emerged with the wights taking point.The bone naga and three flameskulls slipped through the lobby doors and stealthed toward the offices, assuming to find the command center there.

It wasn't long before the invaders caught the notice of the residents, and then shouts began to echo through the grey light and journals filled with messages and reminders of siege plans. Several strongly worded messages urged the kids and those without weapons or fighting skills to head for the Temple where the Hallow spell would protect them from unholy undead things.

And so the battle for the Madonna Inn began...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Bo brought up her sword to block the attack and was thankful it seemed as though she had not lost her touch after all this time. She had to brace herself - the mummy dude had a kick to him.

"Looks like someone's in need of a facial." She pushed back at Hotor's sword and went for a swing herself. Despite herself, Bo was smiling - as if something inside of her relished in this chaos.

Mack had only told a few people that he was a kitsune and he hoped by changing, the few he hand't told wouldn't think he was part of the group attacking. He shifted quickly into his fox form and waited for someone to distract/attack the mummy. As soon as they did, Mack shot a fire arrow right at them and hoped that it would catch on fire, or at the very least allow the lady to get a good hit on it with her sword.

Whatever it was, it was big. Big, ugly, and definitely hostile. Geralt spared a moment’s regret for his lost silver sword - the thing, or being, most definitely looked monstrous - before he moved in from behind, fingers sketching a quick Aard. The shockwave sent the creature stumbling forward, if not quite as much as he’d expected. Whatever it was, it was tough. He drew Iris from its scabbard and kept moving into range.

Piotr hesitated just long enough for his skin to shift to metal before rushing into the fight. He had no idea if a punch would be affective against this....thing...but he could at least be a distraction to allow the others to attack. Facing it head on, Piotr sank into a ready stance then beaconed the thing forward, “Why don’t you come pick on someone your own size.”

Hotor lets out a long, booming laugh. He loves the battlefield tremendously, but there's nothing more he likes than cutting through the swagger of his opponents. There's a confidence radiating through these four that makes him all the more eager to see them fall.

The laugh continues as Hotor blocks his body from harm with one of his massive arms, Bo's sword cleaving through a sizable chunk of his arm. As he shoves her back, he's accosted by Mack's fire, which catches burns a long streak across the top of his arm.

Still, Hotor continues laughing, even as Geralt strikes true with his attack that launches the larger creature forward.

"Gladly!" he shouts gleefully at Piotr's words.

Hotor lashes out with his greatsword, the movement alone enough to knock someone unreadied to the ground without even touching them, and then swings forward with one mighty strike towards Piotr.

Bo hit the wall from the shove and felt the wind rush out of her. A part of her actually liked the feeling - maybe Dyson was right... maybe they were just animals after all. When the big mummy dude swung the sword again, she had to brace herself, but even then she felt herself be pushed back. This guy was strong.

"We're going to have to do this together." Bo wasn't a stranger to working in groups, but she wasn't sure how many others were.

While Piotr apparently had Hotor busy, Bo decided to use the time to move around the giant mummy. They needed to distract him so some of them could catch him off guard if they were going to win.

Mack was glad that no one seemed to have an issue with a Kitsune joining in the battle. He took what ... Bo ... he thought he remembered people calling her that said and fought in tandem with them. While Piotr and Bo had the mummy busy and before the other man could join in the fray, Mack shot off another fire arrow toward the mummy.

Rather than hitting him as his first one had, this one landed on the ground, hopefully causing the mummy to be at least a little distracted. Enough that Piotr or the others could get a good hit with their swords.

Geralt wondered if the thing had hamstrings. It seemed humanoid enough in shape, at least. He rolled beneath the swing of its sword, and attacked again even before he was back fully to his feet. With his free hand, he used Igni to send a stream of fire at the thing's chest, sparks flying in all directions, even as he tried to slice across the back of it's leg.

Having his challenge accepted, Piotr stepped up into the monsters face. So far all he’d seen the big thing Do was wave that sword around and really, how much damage could that do to him?

As soon as the fire hit the monster’s chest, Piotr stepped up into the shower of sparks and punched the same, now blackened, spot hoping to make the damage even greater.

Perhaps of Hotor were intelligent, he might have cared that he was brutally outnumbered, but ego and bloodlust outstripped any semblance of clear thinking, even as the attacks rained down upon him.

Mack's arrow does manage to briefly distract him, so he doesn't see Bo move in from behind. When Geralt sends fire blazing towards his chest, he lets out a laugh and simply steps out of the way of his assault on his leg; it misses its target, but catches a pouch on his person, and it falls to the earth below. And just as he shifts out of Geralt's way, Piotr lands a punch right to his chest.

Hotor braces himself against the attack. Now, he's starting to feel it.

And for the first time since the battle began, Hotor gets angry.

The laughter stops.

Hotor lashes out with two vicious strokes, one at Hotor and one at Geralt, who are both within melee range and within sight.

Playtime was over. If they wanted to really fight with him, he was going to really fight back.

And he was going to be sure that they didn't forget it.

With Hotor distracted, Bo took the opportunity to take in whatever weak points it looked like he might have. She did notice the pouch, but right now the big, scary thing attempting to kill everyone was a priority.

Bo took a running start to the big mummy and jumped high, hoping to stick her sword in its back and take a slice down the back as gravity helped her back down.

Mack could tell that he wouldn't be much help at the moment, all three adults were doing more damage than he could do. But what he could do, was grab the fallen pouch between his teeth. That had to be important right? Like the horn in his battle with the wizard back home.

Mack dashed over, carefully avoiding the swords, until something caught him and he squeaked out a yelp of pain. That didn't stop him however, he continued on and grabbed the pouch between his teeth. Tendrils of smoke rose from the ground where the pawprints were barely visible.

Big it might be, but it was also deliberate enough in its movements that the shape and direction of its attacks were obvious. Geralt dodged easily, then darted back inside the thing's guard, his sword lashing out in a blur of rapid, slashing attacks.

With three companions moving around quickly, Piotr opted to hold his ground rather than get in their way.

He could see that the thing was getting angry, so he decided to try and goad it some more into attacking him rather than the others. “Is that all you ha...” but the quip died away as a pulse of pain spread along the line where the sword had connected with his armored skin. It hadn’t broken the skin, but he could feel a part of his life force being pulled from him.

Catching his breath in a moment, he growled and let loose a flurry of blows.

Hafur had his own problems to deal with, between a necromancer, a priest, and some kind of tentacle-summoning sorceress, but he kept one eye on his brother, always, waiting for exactly this: Hotor's battle-lust to overwhelm his self-preservation instinct. There was nothing lovely about their mother-tongue, shouted through a decaying throat and a dessicated tongue, but it carried well over a battlefield.

"I did not brew you those potions because I enjoy the smell, little brother!"

A few of the attacks strike true; others are blocked by his blade. Hotor is starting to look worn, tired, like a few more blows might very well down him.

Hotor lets out a little exclamation of realization as his hand reaches for a pouch at his waist --

-- and finds that it isn't there.

There is another pouch at his other side and he rips a glass bottle from it filled with a red, vicious liquid. He pulls the cork out with his teeth, then spits it out and easily sucks down the liquid inside.

It leaves him vulnerable, but he looks rejuvenated.

And furious.

He throws the empty glass at the nearest person then swings his sword with a graceless, lumbering force at one person, and then another.

Why did bad guys have to accessorize? Bo tried to dodge from the glass thrown towards her, but her momentary 'what the fuck' had her just slow enough for the glass to shatter at her back. She felt the sheering pain burn against her back and she swore. She was going to rip those decaying limbs off of him.

"Hey! It's not break time yet." And she swung her sword again.

The little bag is still tight in Mack's teeth but that doesn't stop his ability to help. He doesn't get too close to the swords, mostly because he doesn't want to trip the fighters up. Their attention will be on the mummy, where it should be.

He concentrated and with a flick of his tails, sent three fire arrows straight at the mummy. This time it wasn't a distraction, it was a hope of catching him on fire.

Geralt parried, but barely, and the force of the blow sent him staggering backwards. He managed to catch himself, regaining his balance, and then flung himself forward, going on the attack once more. When you were facing something stronger and bigger than you, you couldn’t let up. One of Vesemir’s first and most important lessons, all those decades ago.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Inn-world Combat: The Dread Reign

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight