2017-04-29: Attack on Descartes's Base!

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<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

INSIDE DESCARTES'S BASE

The scouting of Descartes's base wasn't caught, exactly. The people that were attacked during that couldn't identify their attackers, but that left him convinced that someone was aware of where the king is.

And other things are complicated. For one thing, the other half of the operation is out of his hands. He gave Kent the key, and since then, the Black Ties and the others have taken on the search for the catacombs. That has left Descartes with two tasks: first, to negotiation with Garlyle, and second, to negotiate with Lacour. There, he has finally made some headway.

He called in the main co-conspirators, to boast -- and maybe remind them who really started this. (He has no idea.)

His base is a series of wooden buildings, constructed around far more ancient walls and atop an old, ruined fortress. He stands in one of the buildings made of stone -- part of the ruins -- and his flesh-and-blood arm has a letter clenched in his big fingers. "Look at this!" he tells the others. "I know you've been busy, but I've got results!"

He grins, big and wide -- and it's a challenge, too. "Here. Let me read it for ya," he says. "'To the kidnappers of our king,'" he recites. "'We have decided to acquiesce to your demands. We will leave the gella at the drop point. We ask this be kept quiet, to preserve what little of our reputation remain. We will send six men to collect the king on Tuesday. We are aware our forces are ill-suited against the Black Ties, the Cascade gang, the legendary Gasback, and of course, that outlaw without peer, the terror of the Badlands, the Humanoid...'"

Descartes's expression... sours.

OUTSIDE DESCARTES'S BASE

The approach is familiar for those who have made it before -- and those who haven't have guides (or, perhaps, luck). A twisting network of canyons leads to the ruin, and the walls are the same as ever. Behind them, a single Garlyle Gear stands there -- and patrolling Drifters, with gunsmoke weapons taken to shoulder. The base doesn't bustle as much as hum with activity.

There is a moment to plan, perhaps, and gather before going in. But then, something quite unlikely happens. A cowboy hat-wearing bandit goes flying out a window, glass shattering with him.

And when Descartes bellows, his voice reverberates off the canyon walls. "VASH!" he yells. "They think I'm Vash the stinkin' Stampede! What the hell kinda insult is this!? I'm not Vash!"

"You're not?" one of his bandits asks another. She just shrugs. 

DC: Descartes switches forms to Fake Vash Descartes!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

"... So apparently Vash the Stampede's involved in all this," Gwen says to her horse Gulliver idly as they ride up, cart in tow. "I'm beginning to think the guy's just a boogieman they blame everything on. Would you believe Sister Claire would threaten stuff like that if we didn't eat our peas, Gulliver? But I told you that story a million times."

Her shoulder's still bandaged from the battle In Port Timothy not too long ago. But sure enough, she's there, ready to guide any helpers in the siege against That Bandit Base, even if she's not too thrilled at the prospect of shootinbg at people. But she'd said she'd do this. Giving Gulliver a good petting before safely hiding him and the cart away when the pathway gets too narrow, she strides forward. Gulliver didn't need to be a part of this.

Maybe she can prevent something tragic from happening.

Maybe she'll see if Vash the Stampede is really a thing.

He probably isn't. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied had been busy since the last time they were at the canyon.

She had to gather allies, capable allies, for the operation. She had to gather her facts and notes about the Garlyle military and update her assertions. She's not walking into an engagement with them without due preparation, after all. She's known from experience that a single Gear is a deadly enemy, even to a team of experienced Drifters, and she wants this operation to go well. And they'll strike, with superior tactics, even if she can't just call on the Ebony Wings.

"I understand that some of you will not have engaged a Gear before," she explains to those that have gathered. "And in truth, I've not seen this model either. However, from what Noeline and I have gathered from seeing Gears in the past, several characteristics are common."

She gestures towards herself. "As you know, Gears are humanoid in shape. They also follow many of the characteristics of a human body." She places her hand on her chest. "Inside the chest is a cockpit, typically piloted by a single human being. However, the armor plating there, as you can imagine, is at its thickest."

She taps to her head. "The pilot inside can only see outwards with the assistance of advanced optics, typically housed in the head. If we can crush these devices, we can essentially blind the Gear as we would any human opponent. There are also gaps in the Gear's armor that are necessary to make it articulate well -- seek the joints as you would in a body, and you can inflict maximal damage beyond its armor plates."

She glances to some of the companions she's gathered. "I've brought Maya Schrodinger today, she's an expert on the use of heavy-ordinance ARMs. Ida, the Devil's Due is similarly powerful weaponry. I'd like to see them put to maximal use at the right time. Because of my flight capabilities, I'll head a team to distract the Gear while you take your positions."

She frowns quietly. "Also be aware of any escorting infantry units that may be protecting the Gear. Given that we've alerted them to our presence before, they may be already on high alert."

The winged woman takes a moment to let that sink in, before asking, "Are there any questions?" 

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

All the wooden buildings have made several of the Black Ties... not nervous but certainly somewhat energetic. The relatively well-dressed gangers don't try to push Descertes' men around or anything - this isn't their turf and they don't seem to be interested in making it their turf - but there are certainly some incidences where the more legitimate pyromaniacs start a dangerous fire somewhere.

Things calmed down when two of the Suits showed up as Descartes excitedly announced his breakthrough, though "Firebug Robber" Kent Hauch himself seems to have taken a pass at the affair for one reason or another. The presence of "Good Boy" Ribaldy always puts the Ties at ease. He's intelligent, dependable, and really chill to be around as long as no one is doing him a concern.

When things are getting read, the big Beastman plants himself behind Descartes, looking over his shoulder, possibly due to harboring private doubts as to whether or not the bandit boss can read. He has always fancied himself a German Shepherd of letters. His gamut of facial expressions are interesting to behold. A moment before Descartes's reaction, he gets ahead of him, and his eyes brighten and a grin spreads across his muzzle. When Descartes starts losing it, he rolls his head back and laughs boomingly, setting the flamethrower tanks on his back bouncing together.

Then he stops, like someone hit a pause button. His fur prevents anyone from seeing blood drain out of his face, but his eyes are small as he looks down at the other Suit with him. "Wuh-oh. You seein' what I'm seein'?" 

<Pose Tracker> Parbody has posed.

Ribaldy is a good boy. Parbody is neither of these things. She has her hands on her hips and is wearing a rakishly-attached slouch hat atop of her usual slicked-down black hair.

She does one of those near-gurgling torso-shuddering not-laughs that she does on occasion at the distress shown by Descartes the Stampede, and then turns her head to present her blank black face to her canine compatriot.

The shuddering ends.

"Well, he is correcting the misapprehension, old chap," she answers him, but she does not seem greatly convinced at this line of thought. Her head swivels back to look towards the infuriated bandit. 

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

The Schrodinger Residence

Adlehyde Castle City

This Morning

The bespectacled girl's trembling fingers brush with trepidation the surface of a well-worn tome, perplexed as to why she cannot make use of it. It's not a magical book, but a pulpy collection of short stories about a gunslinging heroine. It is the fantasy of the tales within which hold magic, to a certain someone.

"I can't project it today..." the girl's muted murmurs are a far cry from the brazen laughter of the sunshine-coloured drifter people know her as. "I can't feel it at all. Why can't I...?" sweat beads on her clammy forehead, fogs the lens of her big glasses. She swore she would ride out today to do good, with Riesenlied and the others, but after the venomous Malevolence struck yesterday, the facade of the gunslinger seems distant and intangible. That mask of hers that people know and love seems broken. And she doesn't know how to fix it.

But Maya Schrodinger has more than one illusion she can wear. And as weak as she might be, as scared as she might be, without the strength and confidence granted by legend, she refuses to reneg on her promise. No matter how many of her secrets she might let slip by playing her remaining cards. "You wouldn't have let this slow you down one bit, would you, father?" she whispers to nobody at all, slowly standing and pulling a paperback tome from the shelf. It glows with promise, resonating with its owner--the tales within avail themselves to her instantly. Her very form begins to shimmer like a mirage on a hot summer's day...

Riesenlied's "Outer Heaven"

Here, Now

A blonde-haired drifter in a ridiculous black cape and equally ridiculous black pauldrons is standing beside Riesenlied with her arms folded and a devil-may-care grin plastered on her dumb face. This is, uh, Maya Schrodinger. Supposed expert on heavy ARMs. (Different to the Gundam Heavyarms, I'm told.) She looks different to the rumours, unless you've heard some pretty wacky rumors. She also doesn't have a gun. Not a single one.

"Slight change of plans, but don'tcha worry. I'm gonna snap that gear clean in half!" Maya boasts with the kind of cheer reserved for the rich and the terminally insane. She punctuates her point with a V for victory, and a gleeful chuckle. "I'm Maya. Maya Schrodinger! Let's get 'em, team!"

OK. 

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

The Cascade Gang isn't anything to write home about compared to the illustrious Black Ties; three men, two a hot mess and one who dresses like he steals the cut from the other two. Or maybe he just spends it better. Regardless, Janus Cascade has indeed come to answer Descartes' call, unaccompanied but for his loyal ARM and the pocketwatch he has propped open without much concern for whether it's rude.

But as the reading continues, his lips curl up into a grin of his own. He doesn't grin when Descartes' fury rings throughout the canyon, but only because he never particularly stopped. "Not a man satisfied with another's glory?" he mutters. His eyes track across Descartes. "Looks like you'll get your chance to set it right, eh? Not every day a man trades ransom for a king." 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

There is a face missing from Riesenlied's briefing.

No, that's not quite accurate. She could swear that he WAS there, for a little while, towards the start. But then, about halfway through, if she would look over in his direction, she'd find... Just a vague, blinking, dotted line where Zed should be.

That's...

That's a problem.

Let's... Get dangerous.

There. Standing atop the canyon. There, silhouetted against the endless sky, a figure casts a stark shadow across the land. With billowing scarf, with fanged grin, with a blade in one hand. It can only be... IT CAN ONLY BE...!

ONE MAN.

ONE DEMON.

ONE ZED!

"Finally...!" Zed says, practically vibrating out of his pants. "Finally! The time has come! I get to fight a giant robot! Ahahahahaha! TODAY IS A GOOD DAY!" He brandishes his blade, Doombringer's wide face glittering darkly. "Yes. I hear you, Doombringer. With the evil power sealed within you... We will bring doom upon all our enemies! Ahahahahaha!"

Doombringer sparkles. It seems mildly baffled, somewhat exasperated, and mostly just sort of resigned. At least it will get to draw blood today. Oil. Same difference??

"That's right partner. The armor is thickest on the chest. That means nobody will expect it when we smash right through. Now... Let's go forth...!" Zed leaps! Zed twirls through the air, dislodging multitudes of tiny, white smoke bombs! He spins like some kind of manic pinwheel, dancing into the breeze. His sword weaves the path of the spiral as he comes crashing down... Right into the middle of the mess of bandits milling around the camp. He whirls through his own smokescreen, blade seeking bandit and miscreant alike as he makes a beeline straight for the Gear.

ZED WILL HAVE HIS DAY. 

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

*** PREVIOUSLY ***

"It should probably go without saying, but if you don't have the tools to take on a Gear, then clean up the crew around it," chimes in the strangely dressed girl who - by rights, given her appearance - should know more about heavy tea parties than heavy ordinance. "Even the best of Gears only has a limited running time, and most of them don't tend to do terrifically well when trying to hit lots of small targets. Take out the logistics and the other bandits and we're all going to have an easier time of things," she adds, wagging a finger brightly as she steps up next to Riese, her lecture punctuated with a grin wide enough to show off two fangs. "Not to mention, a pilot's still just a human. Taking out someone's morale tends to work just as well as taking out their heart, after all."

Her hum is positively predatory.

*** RIGHT NOW ***

"Well, would you look at that," whistles the girl brightly as she takes in the horizon from her perch atop a boulder by the side of the road. She's... uh, she's still dressed in a vivid crimson-and-back dress, apparently not wanting to be bothered to wear anything that could actually be considered protective; at her shoulders, two small metal spheres whistle and orbit around her slowly, one of them flicking quickly between different targets as it identifies them. Newest of all is the long, red-bladed scythe almost casually slung over one shoulder, obviously far too ornamental to be a serious weapon. "They've brought out quite the welcoming party."

"Well, then!" she adds brightly as she drops easily down to ground level, straightening up immediately with a pleased grin. "Do try not to die, everybody. It's terribly inconvenient, after all. Those of you who need to get in close, might I suggest using the hill as cover? --or just use that idiot's distraction, I suppose!" she adds, almost sing-song as she begins a deceptively fast advance of her own. 

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

One thing after another. If it's not the Pyre Witch trying to eat Talise's friend's soul, it's the Trial Knight choosing her for whatever it is the Trial Knight does to people. If it's not that, it's evil bunnies and deer. And now following this one up. There are mornings Talise wishes she didn't always have to bite off more than she can chew.

At least this time someone put a makeshift bridge over that giant gap. It's just a long plank, but it helped her not jam her knee on the way over here.

The tall woman lets her breath out as she looks up at the fortifications ahead, her sword lying sheathed across her shoulders in a fireman's carry posture, casual despite what's going to go down any minute. Beneath that quiet, her thoughts slow, settling into a level calm. Bandits are enemies she understands better than Trial Knights and Pyre Witches, even those who are equipped with incredible technology.

(Don't let anxiety control you or dictate your actions. Fight naturally.)

As Riesenlied explains the meaning of life, love and Gears, Talise shakes herself lightly out of her meditation, nodding along with the winged woman. "I don't know how useful I'm going to be against something that massive," she admits, "but I'll do what I can. I should be able to take care of some of the on-foot opponents, though."

Maya gets a quick nod from her, and she unsheaths her sword and lifts it in a little salute. "Hi Maya. Tal."

Then glass shatters. Someone hurtles through a window. Setting her jaw, Talise looks over her shoulder with a brisk nod. "Let's get in there."

She doesn't wait more than a couple seconds, fairly sure Zed's going to run in like an idiot anyway - and he doesn't disappoint her. Breaking into a run of her own, she heads straight for the gate.

Sword in one hand, she fishes out one of her regular knives, flicking it towards one of the bandits, then rushing in to beat another aside with the flat of her blade. She pivots, raising her voice, eyes flashing with intent.

She does not shout. She's just fighting her way towards the gate. Hopefully it'll open; if not, she has a rope. And the bomb knives in her belt. 

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida had expected last night to be low-key information-gathering. Instead, she had to fight a swarm of corrupted wildlife, and the best thing she can say about the whole situation is that it could've been much, much worse. Once things calmed down, she bound her wounds a bit more comprehensively, resupplied at Castle Adlehyde, and rode out into the desert to go rescue a king from bandits.

Ida did not ever think she would put those words together to describe a thing she is about to do. Technically she still does not think of herself as a Drifter, but... technicality.

Ida left Grey Lady back with Gulliver, assuming the two horses could keep each other company. She kneels behind a rock next to Riesenlied, a thin, elegant slip of a woman who is trying to hide her precise identity. In Ida's case, this involves the same hat and poncho she wore the first time, and a black-and-gold checkered bandana to cover her lower face. At least it's better than the disguise she was wearing when she met Riesenlied. "I've never tested it against something that large," Ida admits, "but..." Maya is introduced. Ida turns to her, and blinks. She saw Maya last night--when did she suddenly decide to abandon the gunslinger schtick? "A pleasure," Ida says. She looks over at Zed--

Where Zed was. Zed is now running right at the bandit camp. Right then.

Ida chokes down the surge of sudden terror, and breaks into a sprint. As Zed erupts in a display of swordplay and smokebombs, Ida goes wide, running behind several of the smaller buildings. She is running for the Gear, and doing so much more intelligently than Zed--assuming that it's armed and ready, and using cover to keep it from getting a bead on her. 

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Yesterday may have been very rough for Rosaline and her friends, but there's still a King in need of rescuing. Nobody ever said the Drifter life was going to be easy.

Having joined back up with Gwen, Talise, Ida and the rest, the nun nods along several times to Riesenlied's briefing. Some of these things she knew already, but it's not like she ever fought a Gear herself, or even had much first-hand experience with them before. "It's nice to meet you, Maya Schrodinger. My name is Rosaline Calice." She's obviously too worried to actually sound happy about making new friends today. She doesn't appear to realize yet that this is the same dynamite-throwing person she briefly encountered yesterday. Like Gwen, Rosaline isn't exactly eager to shoot people either, but she's resigned herself to that necessary evil some time ago.

Over the time the rescue party spent regrouping, Rosaline gathered a few reinforcements of her own. Xantia, who has so far proven to be someone you definitely want on your side in a fight, and Matilda, who... Rosaline has only recently met, but whose heart seems to be in the right place, and also has an intriguing ARM whose purpose the beastwoman doesn't quite get yet. She lets the two other women introduce themselves if they feel like it (possibly because Rosaline is too shy to speak on someone else's behalf.)

And soon, the group approaches its destination, and there it is, the Gear she spoke of. They'll need to do this the smart way. They can't just run in, guns blazing. She looks ahead to see a man flying out a window. S-Should they be worried? "Um. Um!"

And then... Zed and Talise jump in, swords blazing. Oh no. Oh no!! 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Blissfully ignorant Xantia wasn't aware of most of the goings-on surrounding this incident. She'd heard about the kidnapping, but on her radar, it was just one incident of many, and not one she felt most qualified to handle. She thus didn't get involved until Rosaline told her all about it. Minus the complicated politics, anyway. All she really had to hear was that there was a chance to rescue the king, and they could really use her help. If all she has to do is follow along and help punch things once they're there, she can do that!

If the talk of a Gear being present was expected to intimidate her, it actually did quite the opposite. She's elated for a chance to see a Gear up close, hoping it might help her memory along somehow to see a thing that she already knew about without remembering how she learned about it. And with Rosaline having confirmed that it's not impossible for her bracer - her ARM to have been behind her inexplicable lightning punch, anything else she might have been worried about has been firmly pushed to the back of her mind. Leaving her to go into this without much concern, and plenty of enthusiasm.

At least she remains quiet and pays attention during the briefing, finding it plenty interesting to learn about how one goes about fighting a Gear. That could come in handy. Of course, asking whether anybody has any questions without being specific about what kind of questions, well, naturally Xantia raises her hand and asks what she considers the most important questions right now, all at once.

"What's it like having wings? Are you part bird, or are you a different kind of animal person? Is there even a bird that also has horns?"

Can you blame her? Those wings are really cool! Besides, anybody who's met Xantia before, or heard the rumors about this weird simpleton of a girl, shouldn't be at all surprised by this.

There wasn't really any time for the answers, anyway. Zed already started the party on his own, so there was some extra urgency involved. Especially since Xantia wants to get close to the Gear before it's smashed to piece. And thus, she's right there with Talise, heading straight for the gate in a frontal assault. She needs no tools, she expects superhuman strength will be enough to get in one way or the other. 

<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.

A Long Time Ago

"Wow. What the heck is that thing?"

A young man in a bright red coat stares down the depths of a vast pit scoring the fading greenery of the surrounding canyon, like an old wound reopened. Large steel chains clank and rattle in angry protest as entire scores of workers tug on them in concert as if they were all trying to play tug-of-war with something vast and fathomless beneath the depths.

And when he sees it, when they finally dredge up that massive thing, like a titanic doll wrought of long-forgotten steal, his aqua blue eyes widen.

"That, my friend, is a Gear. One of the first we've excavated here alone. Isn't it something? This is the face of power. With this -- everyone's fortune's will change."

Blonde brows knit inward. The expression on the young, blonde man's face flits towards something inscrutable. Awe? Wonder?

... Or perhaps simply the dread of experience.

His eyes squeeze shut. He forces an impressed smle.

"... Seriously, it's incredible...

"... I mean, I bet you could make the world's biggest pizza with that thing!! Let's go get the dough! I--AWAHCK"

This would be the sound of the poor young man being struck upside the head by his elderly companion who abandons him to his fate as he teeters against the backdrop of the dust-encrusted Gear, arms flailing like pinwheels.

"OH MY GOD I'M GONNA FALL INTO THE PIT AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO SEE THE PIZZA HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLL"N O W

So apparently Vash the Stampede's involved in all this.

Gwen Whitlock's cart comes to a stop, hidden away within the narrowing pathway, in the rocky canyons now barren and brown and dying. She is, of course, alone but for Gulliver. Of course. That there is an awkward sort of 'awhck!!' that comes muffled from the depths of the cart when it bumps into the side of a rocky canyon wall is of course a trick of the imagination, and one drowned out by the sound of the impact. She's definitely alone.

Pay no attention to the mop of spikey blonde hair that slowly emerges from the edge of the cart like a shark's fin ominously cutting through the water's surface as she wanders away.

Also pay no attention to the,

"Dun dun. Dun dun. Dundun dundun. Dundun dundun dundundundun dundundundundundundundundu--NA NA NAAHHH DRAMATIC STING"

that comes when she's just out of earshot as someone wearing a red coat emerges from the cart. It's obviously nothing.

Obviously, a red-coated nothing that holds his finger up to his lips as he shares a conspiratorial look with Gulliver.

"Shhhhh," he insists, in irritation.

Despite the fact that he was the one just making the noise.

Ignore him. It's nothing. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

"Ah--" Riese pauses at Xantia as she asks her question. "I suppose... part-bird would not be an inaccurate way to describe it. It is bird-like in shape, after all." After a few desperate modernisations and remodelling rounds back at the Photosphere to get her failed wings into a usable shape, at least.

In the wake of the fabled period of operations known as 'go-time', Riesenlied also drifts outwards from the Drifters' hiding place. (What? Drifters drift, right?) Unlike some of the others who are more wisely choosing a discreet approach, she knows that her role here is to provide a distraction. All the truly capable tools that she can wield to take on this situation were not exactly fit for demonstration.

Everything's happening at such a swift clip that she doesn't notice the suspicious companion that Gulliver's brought with him! The rascally horse! The true hero of Filgaia!

She soars into the air and into the path of where she thinks the searchlights will go, her large wings spread to their full extent. She brandishes her thin side-sword as she strikes her pose.

"Hear me, soldiers of Garlyle! My name is Riesenlied!

Our forces already have this base surrounded!

You are outmatched! Only a swift defeat awaits you!

Surrender and we may yet grant you mercy and reprieve!"

It's bluster. A lot of it is the kind of bluster that Riese has come to begrudgingly admit is useful in the battlefield. Even if they don't fall for it, it directs their attention. And part of directing the battlefield means directing where people should -- and shouldn't -- be looking. 

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

When it comes time to introduce herself to Rosaline's friends, Matilda mostly gives an awkward little wave and, in fact, introduces herself as "Matilda Whitehead, Doctor of Compounding, Academy of Linga." It's important to be particular. When Riesenlied briefs them, likewise, she's attentive and enthusiastic. Riesenlied, of course, she already knows. ... honestly, there's a few people here she knows. Drifting is a small world.

On the approach, she stays close to Rosaline or Riesenliedthe whole time; they're the one she knows best, or at least most recently, and it wouldn't do to put herself excessively out. She does take the time, however, to check and recheck Freischütz, and...

... shove... some... glass into the back, where a magazine might go? Sure???

While she's doing this, Zed and Talise move in. Matilda asks, quietly, "... Is this -- normal...?" with a tone that suggests she's almost completely out of her depth. 

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

Maya's cape billows in an ominous breeze and she cups a hand over her eyes, squinting as a Zed-shaped rocket flies overhead from out of shot and towards the target. "Hyuuu~uu..." is her approximation of the noise he should make while falling. "Well! Tal, Rosaline, buddies-o-mine, looks like we're gonna have to make haste or miss out on our share! Give a holler if you need savin'!" the cocky wink and grin are over-the-top. A lingering moment of eye contact suggests she remembers Rosaline from yesterday, but--something's clearly very different. The Maya Schrodinger of yesterday's terror, at Port Timney, was a stressed, bleeding mess.

The sorceress(???) snaps her fingers and incants very briefly: "Luay Wing!" with too much panache and bombastic glee. She is immediately plucked into the air by a force unseen, gives a cute little wave, and zips away with a bizarrely unrealistic cartoon flying noise to bob at Riesenlied's side and chortle menacingly. The miracle of flight. 

<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

"The nerve of them! Thinkin' I'm Vash the Stampede!" Descartes bellows, and slams his fist into a wooden table. The table splinters apart into so much scrap.

And then Will, the bandit that Descartes flung through the window flies back through the shattered window and lands in a heap at Descartes's feet. The big cyborg looks down at him, blinks, and looks back at Ribaldy, Parbody, and Janus. And then he blinks again, before he glances into the corner. The King of Lacour is sitting there, presently bound and gagged. He scowls, as he looks out the window.

In time to see Zed land behind the walls, then all hell breaks loose. Someone is running for the gate, and there are gunshots as the men on the walls take aim -- but their bullets slam behind Talise and Xantia as they charge the gate, sending up puffs of sand. Descartes runs to the window, hand on the windowsill...

...and he crushes the stone between his fingers when he hears Riesenlied shout. "Yeah, well--ain't no Garlyle soldiers here! C'mon, boys! Let's CRUSH 'EM!"

He grabs Will off the floor again, and the Drifter lets out a yell, before he goes hurtling through the air -- and right towards Zed. Then, Descartes leaps from the window and lands on the wall, and shouts. "YOU'RE NEVER GONNA GET IN HERE!"

"Boss," another bandit says, "they're already in here."

"SHUT UP!"

He, promptly, goes flying straight at Xantia and screams the whole way down. 

GS: Descartes has attacked Zed with Thrown Underling!
GS: Descartes has attacked Xantia with Thrown Underling!
GS: Descartes has completed his action.
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Descartes's Thrown Underling for 99 hit points!
GS: CRITICAL! Xantia takes a solid hit from Descartes's Thrown Underling for 145 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Descartes with Bold Proclamation!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Descartes guards a hit from Riesenlied's Bold Proclamation for 63 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Somehow - and it's not quite clear how - Noeline manages to slip away from the rest of the attacking front line. It shouldn't be that hard to lose sight of one of the most obvious combatants in the ensuing melee, but the Crimson Noble seems to have something of a knack for it, often slipping behind cover and darting through burnt-out buildings in an attempt to throw off anyone who might be trying to watch her approach.

As such, her first attack is something of a surprise. A swift kick sends the shards of a rotten door billowing inwards, and through it bursts the girl in red in a high pirouette - albeit one with a rather sharp blade hidden amongst the swirl of ribbons, the scythe in her hands apparently not that ornamental after all as she throws herself in the direction of one of the more notable-looking bandits on scene.

"Hello!" she greets too-brightly, grinning like a manic; at her shoulders, a sudden whirr denotes one of her pods opening up and beginning to spit laser fire indiscriminately. The bolts don't appear to be anything more than an intimidation tactic, but it does make for a disorienting sight. 

GS: Noeline has attacked Kent Hauch with Broad Slice!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

What is this? This is the question Zed asks himself when he sees a man flying through the air like a sidewinder missile. What is this, that is hurtling towards him? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No... It's...

A henchman.

A henchman who collides, skull-to-skull, with Filgaia's favorite Metal Demon. Unfortunately for the henchman, Zed does not use his head much. Also unfortunate is that bone is much less sturdy than metal. Zed charges straight through, his forehead bruising ever so slightly. Will.. Will spins comically through the air before cartwheeling into a barrel of fatback.

Why was there a barrel of fatback?

Nobody needs to know the answer to that question.

"Pffah! These devils, using their own as projectiles! How rude!" Zed growls and whirls into a crowd of yet more heavily armed bandits. His sword cuts into some, but cutting is only one part of his GREAT PLAN. Zed grabs hold of one by the collar, lobs him into the air, grabs him by the ankle, and then begins spinning like a hammer-thrower.

...And then he launches that man right back into the window the first bandit came out of.

TWO CAN PLAY AT THIS GAME.

ALSO ZED IS STILL MOVING TOWARDS THE GEAR. 

GS: Zed has attacked Descartes with Fair Play - Turnabout Man!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Zed's Fair Play - Turnabout Man for 96 hit points!
GS: Noeline has attacked Kent Hauch with Broad Slice!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Kent Hauch critically Guards a hit from Noeline's Broad Slice for 25 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Kent Hauch!

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Ribaldy moves closer to Parbody, pitching his voice 'low'. Low for Ribaldy means that maybe you won't hear what he's saying if you're sneezing near a running lumber mill. "If word's out that they're callin' him Vash the Stampede, everyone who wants to shoot Vash the Stampede is gonna come shootin' here instead."

When Will comes flying back in, Ribaldy looks down at him sympathetically. "Weeeeelp," he says in a half-whine to himself, reaching over and behind his head. He pulls forward a helmet-and-facemask attached to his complicated rig, clamping it onto his head, shifting it until his ears fluff through holes in the top. The tinted plastic - part and parcel with the Day of Collapse flamethrowers he uses - is carefully formed to shield his eyes and travel halfway down his muzzle.

He takes a deep, steadying breath. Ribaldy hates fighting, but it doesn't mean he's unwilling - or more importantly, unable. The tension causes his muscles to stand out until he's beginning to strain the fabric of his sleeveless black suit (the sleeves never survive for long), vest buttons popping open.

The Beastman sets out, unhooking his dual ARMs from alongside their armored tanks, and bellows out into the air. His voice carries unmistakeably: "BLACK TIES! LAUNDRY ON A CLOUDY DAY! HERE COME THE MOTHS!" There's an answering roar and Shirts and Vests start boiling out of whereever they are, clutching their makeshift flamethrowers and hurling molotovs without... as MUCH concern for the base as they should be showing.

Just as Ribaldy is reaching to open the door, it explodes inward at him, a scythe blade already reaching toward him. "Yikes!" He gets one flamethrower up, sparks flashing as the blade fights against the remarkable force of Ribaldy's left arm. When the flare's over, the metal of the ARM has a groove in it, and a bloody gash is standing out in his legs. He frowns at her disapprovingly. "Aw, at least let me get out there first," and suddenly charges, flamethrowers thrust out ahead of him like a bull's horns as he tries to just lift Noeline up and carry her out of the building out into the general battlefield. 

GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Noeline with Beast Charge!
GS: Kent Hauch has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Parbody has posed.

"Well, Ribaldy, would you look at all of that. It looks like quite the organized military response."

Riesenlied speaks; Zed makes his passionate entrance; several people are right dead in her line of vision, which is kind of a minor miracle considering that she has both a gas mask lens AND a broken window to look through -

"Not," Parbody replies, reaching up to adjust her ascot to, perhaps, more firmly cover up her neck. At this point Noeline busts inside, and Parbody ends up breaking off from Ribaldy as his strong, good throat gives the call that she herself cannot, nearly as well.

SOON ENOUGH she emerges forwards, adjusting the hat she's opted to put on in order to fend off the sun's brutality from steaming her potentially-absent face, her walk made slightly sauntering by the boots she is wearing. Compared to all of the mayhem which is primarily focusing on that Garlyle Gear, Parbody is pretty low-key, kind of hard to directly notice, even moving in a distinctly and decidedly casual way, keeping her head low as people lurking in the underbrush/overhang open fire on other bandits and, less pleasantly, some of their new laundry.

A pleasant scent of camphor or something similar precedes Parbody slightly as she gets near towards the tense Rosaline, who she tells with slightly muffled calm, "Just relax. I'm friendly." At which point she moves near enough to pivot around, twisting about on one steel heel and twirling in what might be the preface of some kind of revelation of wonderful disguise...!

It is not. It's a spinning roundhouse kick with a steel-toed heavy boot, aimed right at Matilda's midsection with a distinct upward lift, aimed at sending her flying off her feet. Parbody twirls round like a prima ballerina, but what greets Rosaline is faster, more emphatic, and is aimed to send her flying further yet, like she'd just gotten chipped off of a sand trap. The destination target: That woman she can see in the distance approaching through the general direction of the gate.

That person is Talise.

It may not be optimal to punt gunners away from you but perhaps Parbody has a plan. (Actually she doesn't. Well, not a really detailed one.) 

GS: Parbody has attacked Rosaline Calice with Listen All'a'yall It's Savatauge!
GS: Parbody has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Listen All'a'yall It's Savatauge!
GS: Parbody has attacked Talise Gianfair with Listen All'a'yall It's Savatauge!
GS: Parbody has completed her action.
GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Parbody's Listen All'a'yall It's Savatauge for 46 hit points!

DC: MISS! Noeline completely evades Beast Charge from Kent Hauch!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia listened to the plans, but when it comes right down to it, she doesn't actually have any plans. Even though all she really had to do is follow instructions. No plan survives contact with the enemy, or so they say, but this plan already went out the window before there was any contact with the enemy. She just saw Talise charging in and thought that approach made perfect sense.

Unfortunately, it doesn't go quite as planned. For one thing, she somehow didn't think that this would lead to her getting shot at. Through speed as well as luck, and the fact that the sentries were taking off-guard, she manages to avoid getting shot. Her approach is stopped cold, however, by the most unlikely of weapons: an entire person. With an "OOF!", the momentum of Descartes's poor minion sends her flying in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go, and eventually causes her to crash painfully to the ground, fast enough to bounce once, then scrape across the dirt when she lands a second time.

That got her good. She remains prone where she lies, quite possibly assumed to be knocked out. Any ordinary person might have been. But as has been established many times before, Xantia is anything but ordinary.

"Owww... that hurt," she complains, pushing herself off the ground a few moments later. Her front is covered in dirt and abrasions, but she manages to stand again with only a small amount of effort. She frowns, looking more irritated than anything else, spotting the one responsible for halting her approach high above. "Hey! That wasn't very nice!"

Distressingly, she and Zed seem to be much of the same mind, as she too bends down to grab the bandit who was tossed at her, spins around 360 degrees, then flings him right back up at Descartes. Throwing somebody up should take more effort than throwing them down, but Xantia doesn't seem to have any trouble with it.

That done, she seeks to resume her charge towards the Gear. She can see it in the distance, but no memories yet... clearly, that just means that she has to get closer. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Descartes with Minion Dodgeball!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Xantia's Minion Dodgeball for 96 hit points!
GS: Rosaline Calice takes a solid hit from Parbody's Listen All'a'yall It's Savatauge for 83 hit points!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Parbody's Listen All'a'yall It's Savatauge for 41 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Gulliver, for the most part, turns his head to look at Vash with those deep dark horsey eyes. Pleading. There's a Pet Tax for his silence. And for his assistance. Maybe a food tax as well. He is a simple horse, with simple needs. Surely, the two can come to an agreement, right?

Right.

---

There was a very critical question Gwen had to ask herself before she joined her companions, then split off. She was definitely there for support, earlier. She knows these trails, and if she's trailed a place once, there's a good chance she'll find it again. But that's not the question she had been asking herself.

The real question is: just what the hell is she going to do here? Charging into battle really isn't Gwen's style. Shooting nilly willy isn't either. But there is a trick or two she can do. And she did come prepared.

Tipping her new tan hat to better cover her pale red hair, Gwen ungloves her right hand and rolls the hand of her ARM. While everyone's going for the bigger targets, she'll be content to sneak around and, when she comes across a bandit or two scurrying around by their lonesome, she'll reach out, applying a certain amount of electricity. Not enough to kill them, but certainly enough to knock them unconscious. Then, with some rope, she'll just tie them up like they were simply a package, ready to be delivered to the appropriate address. Something to serve as a gag, of course. Just tuck them into a nice corner.

Problem is, this is slow work. And there are many, many bandits. And not enough rope.

And then, when she manages to get to her latest victim, this one manages to shout out, yelling for the nearby Cascade Gang. "Dere's a ARMS user her-urk!" The female bandit crumbles from Gwen's grasp, the courier wincing as the name rings familiar. That, and the whole 'gang' part.

Oh wait. Right. Thhaaatt Cascade. Janus Cascade Gwen's mouth wavers in an unsure half-frown. It's not that he was a saint or a terrible criminal or anything back when they both were in the podunk town of Little Twister, but damn. He may not remember her. Hopefully, he won't.

SHe's already running for cover. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Coil Beam!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Coil Beam for 38 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline's ears twitch. Did she hear something coming from behind? Some kind of dramatic sting? She glances behind her back, just barely missing the red-coated blonde. It's probably nothing.

"UM," she says as she's fairly certain she just saw Matilda shove broken glass into her ARM. But then, did she, really? That would be ridiculous. The nun doesn't say anymore, not wanting to raise a fuss.

She waves at Maya as she flies away. That woman is acting like she knows her from somewhere. Does she? Oh, Rosaline hates these situations. It'll probably take her a bit to put two and two together there, since she never did catch Maya's name yesterday. And just like that, she's gone.

The strange woman has a point, though. Rosaline runs after the trio who just went and Leeroyed in, trying her best to keep up and half-expecting everyone to already be full of holes by the time she gets there.

She hears Ribaldy's battlecry, sees the Black Ties pouring out of the buildings. They, above all else, are the reason she's here, even despite a King being involved. Her trembling hands reach for her ARMs...

"Y-You!!" Rosaline lets out as she sees Parbody approach. She claims to be friendly, and did help them out on that fateful April 1st, but she knows better than to fall for this. "Miss Whitehead, please watc--"

She gasps in horror as her newest friend is kicked right in the midsection, and readies her ARMs to point them at the Black Tie. She has a moment's hesitation, however, and that's all it takes to make her vulnerable and send her flying right for her other friend, Talise--

CRASH!

Rosaline is painfully entangled with her half-beastwoman friend, which is too bad because Rosaline's feet have some sharp claws one needs to be careful with. Her hands, too, though one doesn't usually see that. The Ethos nun wears some thick gloves to conceal them, to make sure she isn't going to hurt anyone.

Usually. They lie to the ground, discarded.

People who know Rosaline, even if they've just met recently, might expect her to apologize profusely even as she picks herself off the ground. Not so. The woman who rises up isn't saying anything, not even trembling, or shrinking in the way she usually does. She faces the gas mask-wearing woman with actual, unfiltered hatred.

She takes a breath and bounds off with inhuman speed, bouncing right back the distance she just sailed, claws out, screaming out a simple, disconcertingly sincere declaration of intent:

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" 

DC: Rosaline Calice switches forms to The Wrath!

GS: Rosaline Calice has attacked Parbody with Now You've Done It!
GS: Rosaline Calice has completed her action.
GS: Parbody takes a solid hit from Rosaline Calice's Now You've Done It for 91 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Things get chaotic in a real freakin' hurry. Zed's shining entrance ain't the stuff of subtlety, and Ribaldy fairly neatly explains why this could become a problem.

Also, some lady is shouting at them.

Janus grunts, kicking off the wall. "I'll handle the sky," he declares, though he expects neither Ribaldy, Parbody, nor Descartes is paying him much mind. But he knows somebody is, and his eyes cut to the timid blonde lingering behind the door. "Romero. Now's no time to be shakin' in your boots. Understand?"

The blonde demi-ninja grunts, and darts off.

It's only a few minutes later when Janus muscles his way up into the highest point on Descartes' little hideaway, planting his foot on a window sill to steady himself while he lines up with his rifle ARM.

"Alright," he says to himself. "Who's up first..."

He picks out a few spots on the horizon, blurs moving through the bandits. There's one; there's a thunderous report of his ARM, and a second as he swings the weapon higher and takes a shot at a likely target rushing for the gear. And then he hears, distant and down, the sound of one of the bandits shrieking for help. ARM-user, huh...he takes note of the location, but...

Well. That's already handled, probably.

Relatedly, when Gwen rounds a corner, a fist the size of an entire ham slams into her jaw, and Dario Nicolodi grunts as he trundles into the open from the crate he was passed out in.

His fly is resolutely unzipped. "Zappy shit ain't polite, ma'am!" he grunts, in poor attempt at Janus' style. 

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Dario Assaults Women Chapter Episode 87!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Sniper In The Tower!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Zed with Sniper In The Tower!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Dario Assaults Women Chapter Episode 87 for 81 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a glancing hit from Janus Cascade's Sniper In The Tower for 38 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise left her own horse, Dragon by name, back with Gulliver and Grey Lady. By now they've probably starred in a Filgaian version of My Little Pony.

Glancing over her shoulder, Talise flashes Xantia a rough smile. She may not know the woman from Adam but at least she's got the right idea.

As bullets pound the turf behind her, Talise lowers her head and shoulders, remembering some of the things she's learned about defending against people with ARMs. It saves her; she keeps going.

Through the gate. Turns out it's hard to get into attack range when all you've got is a sword and some throwing knives. And it's even harder when there's a catgirl nun hurtling at her. With a startled breath, Talise throws herself to the side, but it's not enough. Rosaline gets the worst of it but Talise hits the turf nevertheless, grimacing and wriggling aside as she tries to pry herself loose from the cat nun.

Who then loses her mind. Talise stares after her for a moment.

Then she sighs, setting her jaw. Here she is telling herself not to let her anger rule her and all of a sudden it's sweet, polite Rosaline Calice doing otherwise. "What's with those two," she murmurs before breaking into a sprint again. Rosaline has a headstart on her.

Talise inhales - and then shifts her sword to one hand, firing her gauntlets up. Strength pours through them as she doubles at the waist as she charges, reaching down to slap the ground.

Her gauntlet hits hard enough to leave cracks in the turf. The sudden outpouring of strength boosts her forward with a surge of momentum. Sprinting dead-on, she grips Rastaban in both hands again as she closes on Parbody, the heavy longsword rising as she swings a rushing blow for the masked woman's shoulder.

"Lady, you don't look friendly!" she fires off, mostly because she can't come up with a good line to save her life. Sue her. 

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Parbody with Relentless Carve!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
GS: Parbody takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Relentless Carve for 91 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline doesn't really seem to have been aiming for anyone in particular - after all, she did just burst through a door and take a completely opportunistic swipe at whatever was the largest mass around - and as such she immediately pauses, her eyebrows hitching upwards in an amused sort of surprise. "--well, look at you," she comments glibly with a wild grin, immediately motormouthing. "Do you really need two of them? Isn't that just compensati--oh--" she adds, whatever else she was about to say lost in the burst of movement as the large beastman attempts to simply shouldercheck her.

It works, kind of. At the very least, it accomplishes its goal in the short term - rather than stand her ground and receive the charge, the odd girl pushes off her scythe to start nimbly dancing backwards, letting momentum and the flow of the fight send her right back outside.

"But it's the sort of day to stay in, don't you think?" she comments brightly as she lands from her last jump, the scythe snapping back to her side. "Put your feet up in front of a roaring molotov, curl up with the King, that sort of thing. Surrendering would probably make the whole thing a lot easier, you know," she adds conversationally.

It's hard to tell whether the constant chatter is just Noeline being herself, or another deliberate attempt to confuse and irritate - either way, she darts in a second time, coming in low before sweeping her blade upwards. The strike almost seems wildly short - but then, it's not the beastman himself that she's aiming for... 

GS: Noeline has attacked Kent Hauch with Dis-ARM!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Matilda just smiles back at Rosaline pleasantly at that surprised noise. Did she do that? It is, in fact, a mystery. One which will be explored in earnest in the fullness of time. She sticks close to Rosaline as they move forward -- and is, of course, immediately punished for her choice in friends with a sucker-kick.

The kick hits her squarely in the gut, and she goes staggering back; she's wearing actual armor beneath her coat so she doesn't quite fall, but yikes, does it ever hurt. She calls out, "Rosaline!" as she tries to stabilize hers --

--Oh. Well. Um. That's... well.

Matilda blinks a few times, still stabilizing herself, and then smiles broadly. "All right, so, I clearly see what I'm to be doing here," with a firm nod. She starts backpedaling away from Parbody, firing a few reflexive shots from Freischutz into...

... the ground in front of her. Shards of glass fill the air between the two of them, ricocheting off the ground and toward their true target. 

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Parbody with Bank Shot!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Parbody takes a glancing hit from Matilda Whitehead's Bank Shot for 39 hit points!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes Cover! She gains 50 temporary hit points!
GS: Kent Hauch guards a hit from Noeline's Dis-ARM for 25 hit points!
GS: Weaken! Statuses applied to Kent Hauch!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Ida ducks behind a stack of crates, and glances up at the Gear. It doesn't look like it's moved at all, and there's no way to tell if there's even a pilot in there--Ida resolves to watch it a little while longer, ready to spring the moment it so much as twitches. She glances back, trying to make sure she's not about to be ambushed--

And her intuition is all that saves her from being shot in the back by Janus Cascade. She sees the telltale glimmer of light off an ARM. Sniper, she realizes, and she throws herself into a combat roll as Janus fires. The bullet punches through the crate she's hiding behind, traces a bloody line across her right bicep, and sends an artful spray of splinters flying before burying itself in the dirt. Pain throbs through Ida's consciousness as she kicks out of the roll, taking a knee below the window. "Zed!" Ida cries, "Sniper!" She ducks out from cover, and fires three shots up at the tower--blind shots, really, and at considerable range. 

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Janus Cascade with Revolver Shot!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied was glad for Descartes' rather blunt response.

She wanted to know if the Garlyle military was involved here. That they weren't, at this point in time, was all the confirmation she wanted to hear from him. It doesn't simplify matters, but it certainly changes how she'd like to handle the situation. The Black Ties, and his goons at that... it's a different profile of people to deal with.

This was never meant to be a military operation on their side -- they didn't have the numbers or the organisation for that (thanks Zed) -- but how their opposition responded would change how she proceeded with her battleplans.

She hears the shot ring out from the dark -- sniper. But Ida can take care of herself, and she hears her call for Zed; she'd deal with it, but she's got faith the two can coordinate. Right now, she needs to focus on her adversary.

The winged woman sinks down from the air and comes in on an intercept angle. Her sword held aloft, she clashes with her adversary on a mid-air strike. She doesn't strike deep, but it's a clear warning -- that she controls the aerial space, and she's checking his moves.

"I'll be your opponent," she announces. "Your ambitions end here, Descartes. I, for one, will not let Garlyle set foot upon Ignas. There is enough war here already!" 

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Descartes with Dire Warning!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Descartes guards a hit from Riesenlied's Dire Warning for 75 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Parbody has posed.

It is very difficult to gauge Parbody's actual emotions. She is actually a pretty good physical actor, perhaps to help make up for - or accent - her cryptic visage, but there is no apparent performance in her when she looks back at the incoming Rosaline.

She does answer her before the clash -

"Is that so?"

And then she hikes up one leg, the steel beneath her slacks revealed when that huge carving STRIKE rips off fabric on her left calf, which is probably actually way worse to her, personally, than any number of contusions and abusions could possibly be. Twisting round, she sees the incoming Talise, who she advances towards, throwing herself on the palms of her hands and twisting both legs around to try and clash with that blade!

This does not work out extremely well, and throws her off balance, landing in the dust, in a tumbling roll. This does at least leave her shoulder uncleaved. Perhaps this is Parbody's true power - her shoulders aren't shot magnets. "I didn't say who I was friendly to," she points out mildly as she regains her feet: "You made an assumption."

She may have visibly gained strength through this pedantry. Fortunately Matilda then shoots at her, or rather, near her - and unlike the usual outcome of such markswomanship, this one actually sprays shrapnel up. RIGHT into her eyes! Of course, this does not actually rip out her eyeballs, which would have been one way around the rest of this. "Hhhsh," Parbody exhales.

Then she leaps in the air, spreading her arms out as she does, onto the eaves of the nearby building. She is not without presents - she hurls something thin-walled and glassy at Rosaline, and should it break, she's going to get a nice sample of the new fragrance sensation that's sweeping the nation: Kerosene!

Her thrown-forth other arm erupts in a burst of steel-hammered sparks that shower down towards Talise, Symbology glowing dully somewhere on her body. After this she kicks off, twisting herself round into a 450-degree turn to build momentum before descending down towards Matilda.

Some kind of a combination of kicking... and an aerial dive. A "KickAer" if you will. There may be a better name, but Parbody's already focusing elsewhere. Either way: Steel boot backed by at least a hundred pounds of additional mass. Don't catch it with your neck! 

GS: Parbody has attacked Rosaline Calice with Kerosensol!
GS: Parbody has attacked Talise Gianfair with Spark Throw!
GS: Parbody has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Angel Reform!
GS: Parbody has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.

A pet tax. And a food tax. The blonde-haired man smiles slyly. Shuts his eyes knowingly. Rubs his jaw smugly.

"Behold, Gulliver -- the sign of our solemn pact...!!"

And here, the man presents it, his gift -- a mighty, gleaming, pristine--

... apple... core.

...

... ... yep.

The battle starts, as is inevitable. Violence rings out with the furious roar of the man who is most definitely Vash the Stampede, red-clothed and be-mohawked with a big metal arm and -everything-, just -look at it-, so Vashy. Henchmen fly. Henchmen cry. Henchmen sigh.

Truly, being a lackey of the real, true Vash the Stampede (alias: Descartes) is suffering.

There are those who rush ahead, there are those who try to sneak, but the furious sounds reach as far off to the narrow, cavernous passageways where once hid two horses...

... now, down to one.

---

That sound of gunfighting, of outlaws battling outlaws (or otherwise) is deafening. And yet, somehow, some way...

... the sound of a dramatic and bold horse's neigh ripples across the battlefield that has become of this bandit base.

All it takes is for one to look up to see it, then: at the top of the canyon, there he is. Upon his mighty steed, back facing the sun, the dramatic weight of his presence immense. A tall man. Spiky blonde hair. Orange shades. A coat as red as the blood of his victims.

And a large, silver ARM held in his hand.

He stares down imperiously, the weight of the world in his gaze. And suddenly, DRAMATICALLY, that horse rears backwards, as if announcing his infamous presence to the world.

"BEHOLD, FOOLS, AND TREMBLE AT THE SIGHT OFFUWAUGH c-c'mon Gulliver you're bucking way too-- WAHHH!!"

... announcing his infamous presence to the world by flopping backwards as his horse apparently rears back a -whole lot harder- than he was expecting sending him bending backwards with all the flexibility of a noodle, limbs flailing in a panic as he pathetically slopes diagonally to the side of the horse, his massive, silver revolver kind of... bouncing between his hands as he desperately tries to hold onto it.

"WE PRACTICED THIS, GULLIVER, GET IT TOGETHER!! WHAT WOULD YOUR FATHER SAAAA-HAAA-HAAAAAYTanyuu (talk) 23:36, 9 May 2017 (EDT)?!"

BANG

That would be the sound of the gun going off. Accidentally.

It's really not great.

And with those annoyed shriekings, the mighty (?) blonde-haired gunman (??) bravely (???) scrambles back up onto the saddle of what actually looks to be a very familiar, very lovably derpy horse rather than a magnificent steed. He catches his breath. He looks down. Realizes he's still there. Awkwardly clears his throat.

"... err... a-as I was saying -- TREMBLE AT THE SIGHT OF YOUR ENDS, BANDITS!"

Wind gusts, dramatically, as the Man With No Name (????) scoots a bit more securely to Gulliver's back. That he's chosen a point of high ground that is hardest to shoot at from below -- that he actually managed to get there with no one noticing, with Gulliver in tow -- is probably just chance.

That the one, accidental shot he fires off is directed just so to ricochet harmlessly off the metal shoulder of Descartes to catch the large man's attention, at exactly the perfect angle to rebound off that prosthetic and fly for the ARM held in Janus Cascade's hands in that high tower?

Clearly, dumb luck.

Seriously. Who is this guy?

"FOR I -- AM THE MAN WITH NO NAME!"

...

"that sounded cool, right, gulliver" whispers the mysterious Man With No Name to his boldly borrowed (pilfered) horse companion (bribed accomplice). 

GS: Talise Gianfair guards a hit from Parbody's Spark Throw for 60 hit points!
GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Talise Gianfair!
GS: Vash the Stampede has attacked Janus Cascade with The Coward's Way!
GS: Vash the Stampede has completed his action.
GS: Rosaline Calice takes a solid hit from Parbody's Kerosensol for 75 hit points!
GS: Break! Statuses applied to Rosaline Calice!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Parbody's Angel Reform for 139 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

Zed lobs the bandit right back into Descartes. He swings the man aside with his fist, smashing him away, and then he yells angrily. "Watch it!" he bellows, to his man, before he looks to the side -- to see Zed rushing for the Gear. "HEY! Garlyle's gonna be real pissed off if we get that thing messed up!"

"On it, boss!" the Gear's pilot yells.

And then, the huge cannon in the Gear's hand swings down. The barrel of the rifle clicks, once, and then fires. A shell comes screaming down -- and it doesn't need to hit Zed. It needs to hit near Zed, because when it strikes the ground, a concussive blast blows over half of the wood in the place and knocks aside a few bandits running away.

"Hah!" Descartes laughs. And then another minion is thrown back at him, and pegs him in the head. He throws the man aside, then looks down at Xantia... and scowls.

"Awright, THAT'S IT!!" he bellows. "I'm getting sick of this! Let me show you how a REAL bandit does this! HWARGGH!!"

Then he wheels back, turning, and his mechanical arm breaks down -- the boomerang section flying and spinning through the air, the wire guiding it on a disastrous path towards Xantia. It hits the ground before it gets close -- and carves through it on its way to her!

And then it snaps up, and the blade twirls through the air before Descartes catches it -- and raises the boomerang, catching Riesenlied's sword with a mighty clash of steel upon steel. "Is that so!?" he bellows. "Well--at least you know my name! But I'm not gonna stop... for some weird, winged, freaky demihuman!"

He swings his other hand back -- and then throws a massive, oversized punch right at Riesenlied's face. And then, he frowns, as he sees someone riding a horse.

Blonde hair, spiky. All in red. And a big ARM... Descartes narrows his eyes, the gears turning. 

GS: Descartes has attacked Zed with Gear Rifle!
GS: Descartes has attacked Xantia with Wire Boomerang!
GS: Descartes has attacked Riesenlied with Meaty Fist!
GS: Descartes has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Descartes's Meaty Fist for 239 hit points!
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Descartes's Gear Rifle for 100 hit points!
GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Descartes's Wire Boomerang for 76 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Ribaldy would've tossed Janus a hot thumbs-up but someone got immediately rude at him.

Also, any worry about Ribaldy being an overcompensator likely goes out the window shortly after Noeline gets away from the Beastman's intended impact point. His mouth drops open comically as he imbalances and tumbles forward, hitting the ground, rolling, bouncing painfully on his tanks, and somehow landing from there on one foot, swaying dangerously. People concerned about looking cool for Various Reasons just don't let themselves look like that.

His head tilts toward Noeline. He has a brilliant mind, but often comes off as a bit... slow. "Uh?" He has all the killing intent of a wet sponge lobbed in an arc toward a fishbowl. "He's kind of allergic to dander. I've been trying to- hey, hey! Whoa!" Ribaldy stuttersteps back, bringing his flamethrower down again. The weapons clash, and while Noeline doesn't manage to rip it out of his huge hand, she pops loose a cable on the weapon, fuel spurting out.

Damaging his ARM finally seems to irritate the Beastman. He pushes off the ground, drawing Noeline further from the King, frowning at the valve. "Gonna have to pop that in when I get a second," he mutters, "that's about a 1% drain per second, faster if I don't hold it right. Tube needs to be resealed back at the workshop for safe operation and examined for compromise. Hard-to-find material, unlikely to be lying around in the salvage pile. Visit to the market likely. Gella cost: mild but non-negligible." The other flamethrower levels at the girl. That shaded plastic mask suddenly looks a lot more threatening. "But think about the emotional stress." The flame on the front bulges briefly before an alarmingly long stream of it races out toward her, far better than the makeshift weapons the other Black Ties carry.

--

At the sound of A Mysterious Man's gun going off accidentally, a cowardly Shirt bursts out of a stand of dry bushes next to him, shrieking and hurling his one, half-empty (he has been drinking it) molotov at his face before running screaming away, pulling his symbols of rank from his body as he unceremoniously quits the Black Ties in his first firefight.

Which is to say he strips nearly naked as he runs, falling a few times. 

GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Noeline with Red Glob!
GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Vash the Stampede with Black Ties - Molotovs!
GS: Kent Hauch has completed his action.

DC: MISS! Vash the Stampede completely evades Black Ties - Molotovs from Kent Hauch!

GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Sniper In The Tower for 75 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

Fate is fickle, and loves a rematch. This is why we have things like pro wrestling, and World War 2. It's probably also why Maya Schrodinger is drawn back to not just any battlefield, but one with not just one but two dangerous criminal gangs she has wronged and been wronged by. It's just beautiful, isn't it?

She's here at Riesenlied's insistence, so it's also no wonder that the airborne spellslinger is sticking close to her boss. With surprising ease and agility, no less, she sweeps and scythes through the air with cheerful guffaws the whole way as the ground beneath them erupts into the stuccato din of gunfire and insults. "Go get 'em, boss! I'll back you up from here!" is her very professional commitment to the winged woman that help will be on the way.

Sure enough: Riesenlied, Darque Angel that she is, performs a diving attack with a truly ludicrous hitbox into Descartes's path. It gives Maya the time she needs to skid to a halt rather animatedly, in the air, and prepare the assist. Not that she prepares it fast enough--the demihuman cops a hell of a beating down there, but it's the thought that counts.

"Caught you suckers napping! I'm up here, bwahaha~!" Maya guffaws loudly in defiance of the situation unfolding on the ground, sparks and flame beginning to gather between her outstretched fingers. She winds back like a star pitcher in the last innings and hurls her thermal bounty at the dread bandit and robot enthusiast Descartes. "Fire Ball!" 

GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Descartes with Fire Ball!!
GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Maya Schrodinger's Fire Ball! for 100 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

If nothing else, Parbody's not missing an arm. That's unfortunate in Talise's book.

As the other woman hits the ground and rolls, the tall Beastwoman doesn't pursue just yet; she wheels away instead, spinning and coming away to one flank, trying to keep Rosaline out of thrusting range and her body out of Matilda's firing arc. "Oh, well. You don't have to be so nitpicky about it, jeez," she snaps back, before Parbody does something magical.

Talise doesn't really know how to deal with magical. Blinking, she holds her weapon defensively and drops to a knee, attempting to block some of the sparks. It doesn't really do a lot; steely sparks burn into her shoulders and scorch across her cheeks, the shoulder panels of her coat left badly singed. The fringes of her coat smoulder. With a hiss she bats a few sparks away from her face; they sneak under the cuffs of her coat instead and burn incredibly unpleasantly.

Cursing under her breath, she tries not to dwell on the fact that something under there is burning painfully. Her grip on her sword tightens. "But forget who's nice to who," she growls. "If my cat pal's mad at you, there's gotta be a good reason."

Besides the obvious royal kidnapping, anyway. Talise figures that doesn't need saying.

Taking a short lunge to one side, Talise hits the ground, then springs forward again, evidently determined to make this a close-range fight; she's better at that than she is at magic or gunplay, anyway. Mostly because she lacks a gun. Whipping Rastaban out to one side, she hurtles at Parbody -

Then suddenly twists away, coming out to one side of her, then pivoting back around to deliver a hard, descending two-handed stroke. "Ruoooaaah!!"

There are advantages and disadvantages to being Talise that don't necessarily fit into how most Filgaians fight. Her main disadvantage is that she has no guns and no magic; her only weapon is a sword and she's next to useless outside of close range. On the other hand, once she's close to you, she's got a long enough sword and enough skill at using it that everything she does is potentially lethal. 

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Parbody with Tidal Blow!
GS: Talise Gianfair takes 7 damage from Poison!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.

DC: MISS! Parbody completely evades Tidal Blow from Talise Gianfair!

GS: Noeline takes a glancing hit from Kent Hauch's Red Glob for 52 hit points!
GS: Poison! Statuses applied to Noeline!

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Rosaline has lost her mind. If it helps Matilda, if she asks around later, she'll at least learn that this is not behavior the nun would call...

A habit.

The masked woman has banter to share, and unfortunately Rosaline doesn't seem to care. Her attention is laser-focused, despite the red-coated man's dramatic entrance, the intervention of her friends and all other assorted chaos.

The feral beastwoman is relentless. She pounces right back in Parbody's direction, heedless of anything-- or anyone --in her way. This includes the bottle of kerosene, which to her credit the nun at least tries to brush aside-- But that's without taking into account her sturdy, razor-sharp claws. The bottle breaks, dousing her in the liquid, which--

WHOOF.

Flames engulf the woman. This interrupts her charge, but only for a moment. Only a second later, she's roaring through the pain and back for more, hunched over as she swipes for Parbody's sharply-dressed torso. Most of her habit seems to have been spared by the flames, but her coif has caught the worst of it, making the woman seem like she's trailing flames with every move. She's fighting up close and personal, trying to use the fire to her advantage. To make the other woman feel the same pain she does right now. The one she feels every single day.

She is unfortunately too blind with rage to remember that Parbody likely fire-proofed everything she wears. 

GS: Rosaline Calice has attacked Parbody with I Want To See You Bleed!
GS: Rosaline Calice has completed her action.
GS: Parbody enters CONDITION GREEN!!

DC: MISS! Parbody completely evades I Want To See You Bleed from Rosaline Calice!

GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Vash the Stampede's The Coward's Way for 21 hit points!
GS: Vash the Stampede takes Cover! He gains 50 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

"What?" Zed cranes his head over at Ida, "Sniper? What do you--" *BLAM!*

Sound.

Moves faster than bullets.

Zed.

Can too!?

Zed hisses, twisting with blade outstretched. The flat of Doombringer's edge catches the bullet, but the force knocks Zed off balance! Just in time for a much larger, much scarier *BOOM!* Zed looks over his shoulder and his eyes go wide at the literally artillery-sized shell screaming downrange at him. He pivots, but the world suddenly disappears into a blast of concussive force and a wave of shattered earth.

...

Wait.

W-what's that there!?

A black swordsman, pressing forward into the bullet. His blade is braced against the tip of the shell. The force has pulverized his body, splotches of blue blossoming across his skin, but he's still intact. He's still alive. And he's... Literally caught the bullet.

Because nothing, not even a Gear Rifle, can break Doombringer's curse.

It's not worth nearly enough Gella.

"YOU!" Zed yells. "YOU THREW A BULLET AT ME!" He takes a step forward, knocking the shell into the air. It spins! It falls. He hops up with arms outstretched and catches it... Awkwardly. Zed grunts, pushing this way and that, until he's set up in such a way that he's... Actually straight up man-handling that ginormous bullet. "That's cheating!" Zed winds up...!

"TAKE IT BACK!"

ZED PITCHES...!

The gear shell... Sails through the air.

Right for the gun that shot it. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

WHAM.

Riesenlied goes flying as Descartes gives her a resounding punch that can only satisfyingly be depicted complete with freeze frames, and three repeat shots, ending in an Earthbound 'SMAAAAAAASH!' noise that sends her flying and crashing against the side of the cliff. An Engrishy announcer exclaims, 'Now that's what we call BIG damage!' Is this the end of Riesenlied?

>> Caution: Estimated damage intake greatly exceeds regeneration capability.

>> Proposal: Utilise ARMs modules and accelerate regeneration priority.

Riese quietly ignores the machine-noise in her head, pushing the advisory notices aside as she rubs some blood from her lips. "... you have strength," she murmurs. "But--"

And then Vash comes on in on Gulliver, enacting faithfully the tale of the horse's Travels. She couldn't help but notice how his bullet ricochet in such a manner as to strike the sniper in the tower. That was no mere coincidence... was it? Just who was this man?

"Just what is it that Garlyle is having you do, Descartes?" she's goading him. "Do you believe you'll gain the glory you seek from this? Look at yourself! Your name is not even so much on the map compared to Vash the Stampede's! And it shall never be."

She rises up into the air once more, glancing further as she announces with an arm spread forth dramatically.

"Maya, don't let up with your sorcerous attacks! Take note of the Gear and do not lose sight of our objective!

Noeline, fall back into the line don't let their flak surround you! You've more stray fire incoming from your left!

Zed, don't let that Gear take aim -- use your speed and technique to distract it from a clear shot!"

She doesn't speak of the last key in her plan, but she trusts in Ida too, and she can only hope that she can hear her direction. The plan, at least on her part of being a distraction, was still on course. 

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Zed with Charismatic Presence!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Charismatic Presence!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Charismatic Presence!
GS: Riesenlied has attacked Noeline with Charismatic Presence!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Maya Schrodinger takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Charismatic Presence for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Maya Schrodinger gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Zed takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Charismatic Presence for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Zed gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Zed has attacked Descartes with ICBM - I Can Beat Mechs - Toss!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Charismatic Presence for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Noeline gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Descartes guards a hit from Zed's ICBM - I Can Beat Mechs - Toss for 48 hit points!
GS: Descartes enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Janus Cascade critically Guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Revolver Shot for 17 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Gwen runs. She flees. Runrunrun- ah there. There, that alleyway. If she can get into there, she can maybe get up to higher ground, evade any notice, then claim back down and resume her slow, slow plan of attack. Let's just duck into this corner, look just right over her shoulder-

-and then run straight into a meaty fist right into her chin for her trouble.

"Grh-" The startled courier falls onto her back, blood oozing from her coughing mouth. Scrambling backwards on her hands and knees, she places her right hand on her chin, trying to correct where it's gone askew. If there's even a way to do that. She unceremoniously spits blood, her eyes flicking back to her surprise assailant. "Y'hit hurd-"

don'tlookathiscrotchdon'tlookathiscrotchdon'tlookathiscrotch WELP

She's reflectively finding herself holding her right hand over her eyes to halfway obscure, but not entirely block her view of Dario. Just the... unfortunate parts. Clearly she was untimely "Frr hod's hake, yer harn door's open!" She moves onto her knees, then her feet, rubbing her mouth again, trying to regain some semblance of wits.

That's when her horse shows up, on a vantage point for all to see.

With a familiar face on it. Completing turning her gaze away from Dario, she points upwards, hearing her horse's name being called. "Hat's...." She points upwards. "Hat's my hoddamn hors! What the hell is he- THEY"RE HONNA HOOT AT-"

bOh right. She's kind of in a pickle herself. "'Ere!" Gwen does, for the record, take Dario's polite suggestion. No shocking this time- she punches, instead. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Special Delivery!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Riesenlied's Charismatic Presence for 0 hit points!
GS: Reload! Ida Everstead-Rey gains 15 extra FP from Riesenlied!
GS: Janus Cascade takes a glancing hit from Gwen Whitlock's Special Delivery for 52 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia's already nearly forgotten about Descartes by the time she resumed her approach of the gear. She never even realized that was one of the head honchos. Nor did she expect to have to deal with further response to their little game of catch-the-minion. This only becomes clear to her when a giant boomerang passes over her head, and turns back towards her.

She barely has enough time to react. Nothing to do when the equivalent of a buzzsaw is carving up the ground in front of you than to dive aside and hope for the best. This prevents her from being sliced in two, only to run afoul of a nearby explosion, knocking her flat instead. Preferable to the alternative, but painful nonetheless.

Groaning, Xantia looks back to see the boomerang return, and Riesenlied taking on the big man directly. Then she looks at the crater nearby, and soon determines its cause. The Gear... it's moving. It just got that much more important to get over there, to stop it... somehow.

Picking herself back up, she fully intends to continue on her way immediately, until-- "...no way." Yes way. She knows that voice. That very loud voice, shouting very strange things. She thought she sensed a great disturbance, as if what remained of the APPLE OF DESTINY cried out in terror, then was suddenly silenced. By a horse. Now it all makes sense.

In the face of this development, she simply has to shout something in return. "Hey! No Name Man! You'd better still have my apple!" Because if that feeling in the pit of her stomach was right, The Reckoning may have to happen a lot sooner than she anticipated.

Lucky for Vash, the Gear needs to be Xantia's number 1 priority right now. Resuming her reckless charge towards the giant machine, she gets to work on clearing out any minions that get in her way. If all goes as planned, a great many of Descartes's gang are about to become intimately familiar with Xantia's ability to generate shockwaves through punching the air, after which they'll probably become intimately familiar with the nearest wall. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Descartes with Massive Shockwave!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Xantia's Massive Shockwave for 79 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I suppose you didn't," Matilda replies to Parbody, reflectively. ... Parbody definitely has a unique sense of style, she reflects -- she may have to bite a few bits and pieces of it for herself. She takes a moment to rack Freischütz, and unfortunately, picks exactly the wrong moment to do it.

Parbody crashes straight into her, sending Matilda staggering back. This time she does hit the dirt, and at an awkward angle; she lies on her back for a few moments, looking into Freischütz's magazine... which she never finished loading. So it's empty. Oh boy.

Frantically looking around to either side, Matilda shows some clear panic as she looks for something, anything to load. She isn't at a great angle to get at any of her compounds... and most of what she carries wouldn't be dreadfully effective in this particular situation anyway. Eventually, she settles for something quite abundant in this canyon network:

Rocks.

She shovels a handful of them into Freischütz's magazine slot and seals it back up quickly, remaining prone; she takes not-too-careful aim at the Black Ties member before depressing the trigger and holding it, propelling dozens of mid-sized rocks at her target.

"Rosaline, watch out!" she calls, despite knowing full well that this is probably not a particularly... useful application of breath. 

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Parbody with Automatic Fire - Rocks!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Parbody critically Guards a hit from Matilda Whitehead's Automatic Fire - Rocks for 20 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

"THE HELL!?" Descartes bellows, big and loud as ever, when Maya sends the fire ball flying in. It smashes into his chest -- and the big cyborg is pitched off the wall. He slams into the ground, before he reaches out. He hamstrings a man running, his cowboy hat flying off.

"Boss, wait, I'm--"

And then the hapless bandit goes flying into the air, careening on an intercept arc for the flying mysterious sorceress. (And isn't Maya Schrodinger an ARM-wielder? Descartes could swear he heard that...)

And then he hears a massive, loud explosion when the shell that Zed punches back at the Gear explodes. The Gear brings its arm up, so the shell blasts into the armored forearm instead of the rifle. Still, that much concussive force blasts the Gear backward. The massive robot stumbles, then smashes down into the wooden storage shed.

It explodes into splinters. Descartes frowns.

Then, he looks up at Riesenlied. "Nothing! I got some stuff from them--but this is my show! MINE!" The Black Ties, Janus, and Gasback might have something to say about that. "So... shaddap! I'm gonna kill you if keep runnin' yer mouth at me!"

He swings out the boomerang again. It goes flying, and slashes across Zed -- trying to slam into his back, before he can move on the Gear -- and then arches up. The boomerang flashes past Riesenlied, but the wire tries to hamstring her and throw her out of the air. And then, Descartes snaps it backward. Two things happen in rapid succession.

First, Xantia's shockwave explodes outward, throwing a score of Descartes's bandits high into the air and clearing a path to the fallen Gear. Second, the boomerang cuts through the shockwave, and ends its trajectory by smashing directly towards her back.

"GET AWAY FROM MY GEAR!" 

GS: Descartes has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Thrown Underling!
GS: Descartes has attacked Riesenlied with Wire Tangle!
GS: Descartes has attacked Zed with Boomerang Sweep!
GS: Descartes has attacked Xantia with Boomerang Sweep!
GS: Descartes has completed his action.

DC: MISS! Zed completely evades Boomerang Sweep from Descartes!

GS: Riesenlied takes a solid hit from Descartes's Wire Tangle for 33 hit points!
GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Riesenlied!
GS: Descartes takes Cover! He gains 50 temporary hit points!
GS: Xantia guards a hit from Descartes's Boomerang Sweep for 59 hit points!
GS: Maya Schrodinger guards a hit from Descartes's Thrown Underling for 63 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied's seen the type before. Many times. Many of the demons back at the Photosphere have a nature that's very much like his, and she's seen it as a detriment to the growth of the Hyadeans as they set their foothold on Filgaia.

She draws her wings in as she lets the natural regeneration of her species start to mend functions that've been knocked offline, which saves her from the worst of the incoming wire; the mesh grazes with a fiery clash against her wings and shears off some of her rectrices, but no more than that.

"Do you truly believe that, Descartes?" she continues to taunt him from the air, unbalanced for a moment, but keeping her height advantage. "I think Kent Hauch knows differently. And you know you'd be truly nothing if the Black Ties here didn't lend you a hand."

She narrows her eyes and points directly at him. "Garlyle considers you expendable. You'll lose everything the moment you slip up!" 

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Descartes with Resolute Belief!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Descartes critically Guards a hit from Riesenlied's Resolute Belief for 28 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"Even if you know your stuff, I'm not quite sure that someone carrying around a pair of flamethrowers can really talk about emotional stress, you realize," Noeline comments, surprisingly casual given the situation - that is, as she wrenches herself to one side and kicks into the air to attempt to vault over the stream of fire, rather than do anything so dangerous as risk going under it. It doesn't really help - her bravado turns into an angry hiss of pain as both a shoulder and a large chunk of one twintail get heavily singed, the ribbons around that side of her hair falling away in the heat.

"--for instance, do you know how much it costs to get clothes this good and then have them get charred!? You wouldn't know fancy if it rolled up to your door with a silver platter!" Aha, maybe the secret is in how sharply the speed of her chatter quickens, or the angry huff that follows it.

At least the odd girl can spare a single, brief glance at the sight of the winged woman crashing down upon the bandit leader, and seems to take a little comfort in it; it even rejuvenates her grin ever so slightly, as a flick of her hand sends one of her metallic pods forward in an attempt to divert the beastman's aim. "Strife, go!" she calls, even as she dives sideways through the doorway of another gutted shack to give herself a moment to pat down the flames. 

GS: Noeline has attacked Noeline with Covering Fire!
GS: Noeline takes 7 damage from Poison!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
GS: Noeline heals Noeline! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Janus is still keeping his eyes open, tracking for targets, but--

His eyes widen a little. holy shit that dude caught a bullet. Janus looks at his comparatively tiny rifle, and considers his odds. You know. He's got other stuff to do today, he decides, and swings the weapon up, scanning for--

His eyes narrow. "That Schrodinger?" he mutters, leaning in a little to use the weapon's scope. "Thought she was more of an ARM type..."

He grips the handle for his bolt-action rifle, grin turning as insufferable as always. "Well, guess we'll see what noises a bird like that can m--" PANG!

Janus' eyes widen as a powerful force slams into his rifle, just so to not only throw it off but actually jolt it out of his hands. He staggers back, stunned from surprise and furious from shock, eyes darting around...he finds a man, and a horse, and...no, that's, surely not--

"Boss!" Romero yells from below. "That shouting dumbass on the ugly horse just scored a lucky shot!"

"I noticed, actually!" Janus snaps back, glaring up. That shooter looks like an absolute moron. So...luck? Sure? Either way, he's got to get to his gun! He leaps out of the window, causing Ida's rounds to whistle just past him, getting his blood up but shedding none of it. Moments later, he's getting his gun back from where it fell - right when Gwen socks Dario so hard he tumbles ass over teakettle and lands at Janus' feet. Janus looks down at him. "Zip your damn fly, man," he snaps, and gives Gwen...a curious look. "...now that's a face I haven't seen in a while," he mutters. His grin spreads wider. "Not many blokes callin' Little Twister home. You're far from home, darlin'." He brings his weapon up...and then keeps raising it. "Thatcher horse? Reckon that's no friend o' yours ridin' it, from yer tone. How 'bout I do ya a favor." His grin remains firmly in place as he fires the weapon - straight up. A single bolt of steel races upward, a beeping, shining light on one side as it twists through the air, and then, with a riotous eruption, it shatters and scathes the ground in two totally different directions, bathing Ida and Vash both in shot.

"'n' that'll give us a minute to just sit here and reminisce," he laughs, which is when Romero suddenly appears on a nearby eve and whips a series of throwing needles at Gwen...and Dario gets up, grumbling and zipping his fly.

The Cascade Gang, assembled. 

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Vash the Stampede with Multiblast!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Multiblast!

DC: MISS! Vash the Stampede completely evades Multiblast from Janus Cascade!

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Throwing Needle!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Janus Cascade with Dario zips his fly!!

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

The gear guarded!? That's completely unfair! Totally cheating! Nah actually that's perfectly fine, because Zed is already right there. "Don't worry Riese!" Zed yells over the din, "I got it! Heard you loud and clear! I'll just need to outspeed this thing! Ahahahahahaha-hup--!" Oh. That's a boomerang. Zed yelps as he leaps over it like some kind of superpowered plumber. Exactly like that, he then hops off the spinning blade and uses it to vault over the Gear's raised fist.

"Hahaha! Is that what you'd call a BOOMERANG FLASH!?" He pauses briefly in his flight, glancing over one shoulder, then the other. You can never be too sure who might show up when you mention their names. But it ultimately doesn't matter. Time and physics reassert themselves, Zed lands with a clatter atop the Gear's guarding limb. "Alright! Now... I want you to keep your eyes wide open for me! 'Cause I'm gonna show you a really cool trick. You ready?" He holds Doombringer to one side, bracing his feet against the cracks in the gear's armor. "Here we go...! SURE KI--"

Zed blips forward in a flash of movement.

Somewhere in there, Zed's sword cuts at the Gear's head...!

"--LL!" Zed reappears on its opposite side, whirling his blade with a quick flourish. "Did you see it? My hidden power...!"

--==Secret Sword - Lightning Flash==--

Zed clenches a fist. The world behind him! Explodes into light and smoke!

No wait those were just flashbangs and smokebombs he left behind.

...

Still! Might be enough to distract the boss! 

GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Dario zips his fly! for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

Oh--the Gear. The reason they're here in the first place. That's kind of an important element to the whole operation.

"The Gear? I'm on it, don't you worry 'bout a thing!" Maya chirps very pleasantly and loudly to Riesenlied, informing the world at large as to her plans here today. She gives the noble swordswoman the thumbs-up, completely oblivious to the artful rebound-shot going on behind her as a beautiful blonde man tries to spin the bullet up Janus Cascade's nose. Her teeth gleam in the wake, too, of Zed entering the shot-put competition with an artillery shell.

A gentle fellow clotheslined by Descartes's cybernetic fistos makes haste for the elder Schrodinger girl, his pristine white stockman's hat still fluttering to the ground in the wake of his departure into the air. She spies it entirely too late to get outta the way, or rudely boot him out of the way in turn! There's but one course of action: yell in alarm.

"Bweee~eh!?" Maya shrieks comically, flailing her arms in wild abandon as she hovers midair and catches the oncoming bandit like a prize linebacker stopping the last play of the game. The momentum sends the pair of them spiralling downwards, together, dancing beautifully with swirly eyes apeice. Descartes probably also heard rumors that Maya Schrodinger is a badass and steps on dudes for fun and money, so maybe his rumour mill is now officially bullshit-tier and in need of replacement.

On the other hand, maybe the spell-flinger deserves a little credit. She's landed on her feet and with the bandit man held in one arm in a beautiful and safe princess-carry, where nobody can harm him anymore. "I got 'em! You're safe with me, buster, you just hold tight and Maya the Mighty'll sort you out later!"

Okay. Sure. Maya raises a gloved hand and begins to wave it around in a circle, standing perfectly still because dodging is for idiots and losers who don't summon protective shields and she has to carry her new toy. "South winds that blow ~ Have you as their source ~ Into my hand ~ Deliver their force!" she intones very cheerfully. More important than the words to her spell is the fact an entire blizzard is coalescing into the air above her outstretched palm in the shape of an enormous blue Anime Spear.

"Icicle Lance!" Maya yells triumphantly, queueing the stock footage and music as she launches an ice-based torpedo at the stationary Gear in the distance. What a dirty trick! You dirty rat, Maya Schrodingle! He told you explicitly to get away from the Gear! 

GS: Zed has attacked Descartes with Secret Sword - Lightning Flash!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Descartes with Icicle Lance!!
GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action.
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Multiblast for 60 hit points!
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Zed's Secret Sword - Lightning Flash for 56 hit points!
GS: Shieldbreak! Statuses applied to Descartes!
GS: CRITICAL! Descartes guards a hit from Maya Schrodinger's Icicle Lance! for 100 hit points!
GS: Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Throwing Needle for 43 hit points!
GS: Janus Cascade takes Cover! He gains 50 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Parbody has posed.

"Well done!" Parbody shouts out as she sees a Fire Ball whip across the scene. She assumes it was one of them. She has not yet clearly registered the presence of Maya "Death To Maya Schrodinger" Schrodinger yet.

Matilda manages to avoid being completely crushed by Parbody, and is in a momentary body-clatter with a woman who rolls loose rather than get, potentially, shanked. Parbody has many secret traps; she didn't bring her shank with her, though. Matilda is busily loading her gun by the time Parbody gets up to her feet again, and then she blasts.

Parbody pivots on one heel. At this point, karma catches up with her. The beastwoman, now on fire, lunges towards Parbody and she is forced to lean backwards with sinuous fluidity that almost conceals the fact that she is scrambling - the mask helps - and which may tie up Matilda momentarily with the prospect of being also set on fire. Her clothing is perhaps not asbestos-lined, but does seem to handle the near proximity of flame quite well.

She ends up seeing Talise as a result and diving directly towards her. So Parbody tumbles to the left, nearer to a small cluster of outbuilding nonsense that gives her no joy nor pleasure, EXCEPT for a half-barrel which has been set out, indifferently filled with water, probably to help water any stray donkeys or put out any fires if they come up...

Hm, Parbody thinks, before she ends up kicking the thing at its base, jarring it loose from the concrete accretion of dust and dirt and probably horse plop, and then tilting it forwards. Grabbing it from her side, Parbody sweeps around like a dream in order to swing the iron-clad, oak-timbered barrel RIGHT at the side of Rosaline's head.

The good news is that the centrifugal force is already pouring all the slimy, horse-spit-tainted water out even if she whiffs it. This will probably help Rosaline's fire situation.

The bad news is that it is in fact a band of iron being swung with astonishing force by a psychotic criminal. That's going to be an owie!

Fortunately for Talise and Matilda, Parbody's OTHER act is to sweep the air dramatically, and much of that water suddenly vaporizes, a nice humid and unfortunately opaque bank of mist and fog rolling in as if from nowhere. This is one of the more obscure marks of Symbology, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

She then hears more words from Maya Schrodinger and her head snaps towards her, despite them being rather distant. >>DETECTED 

GS: Parbody has attacked Rosaline Calice with Angel Reform!
GS: Parbody has attacked Talise Gianfair with Moonlight Mist!
GS: Parbody has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Moonlight Mist!
GS: Parbody has completed her action.
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Janus Cascade with Dario zips his fly!!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Dario zips his fly! for 0 hit points!
GS: Shield! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Talise Gianfair takes a solid hit from Parbody's Moonlight Mist for 0 hit points!
GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Talise Gianfair!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a glancing hit from Parbody's Moonlight Mist for 0 hit points!
GS: Slow! Statuses applied to Matilda Whitehead!
GS: Rosaline Calice takes a solid hit from Parbody's Angel Reform for 135 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

The Black Ties do have something to say about Descartes's yelling, but they say it quietly, carefully, almost imperceptibly. At the beginning of the fight, there were, easily, almost as many Black Ties here as there were Descartes's men. Now, as the fight drags on, there seem to be less and less of them, as though they're being taken out hard - but the injured on the ground don't match up with that. The Ties are taking their men out somewhere when they get hurt if they aren't already too far gone, but then they... don't always come back.

The presence of Kent Hauch's gang is slowly dwindling, while those Black Ties that remain are acting like they're doing the work of two, hurling molotovs wildly and blasting flames pointedly into the air, reassuring Descartes that, yes, he still has the backup of his fellow Badlander. You know, if Descartes isn't watching too closely.

A man in a white suit is next to Janus. He approached with a very precise amount of noise, unhurried despite the fighting. Fargo Foobach takes off his hat as a gesture of respect and says quietly to the head of the Cascade gang: "Things look to be turning against our Mr. Descartes. Are you aware of the significance of the order, 'Laundry on a cloudy day?' We try not to get our suits wet for bad reasons." With his warning delivered, he fixes his hat back onto his head and... steps away like a heat haze, disappearing back into the fight. It's extremely difficult to keep track of him.

--

Ribaldy's flamethrower makes a few pinging clicks as he stops firing, as Noeline makes the somewhat unwise decision to hide from a Black Tie in a wooden shack. He stops mumbling costs to himself and responds proudly, "One third of the proceeds of a bank robbery went into my shoes. Custom cobbled! Shoemade? Shoemaker..ed."

He finally catches hold of the leaking tube and fits it awkwardly back into its port on his left flamethrower, twisting it into place. "Why's the same word get used for a dessert and a man who makes shoes, anyway? Needlessly confusing, I think." His left gun weapon follows the thrown pod in a stream, while his right aims right at the shack, a flame gust shooting at the doorway, picking up chunks and flinders of wood and spraying them around like burning brands.

--

A door bangs open, disgorging a Vest and three Shirts to one side of Maya Schrodinger. "Spotted!" calls the Vest. "Whoever takes you down gets a preferred cut for a whole year!" She waves her hand at Maya imperiously, the Shirts dropping to a knee and producing their makeshift ARMs. "Lie down and make me rich!" Flame bursts fitfully toward her. 

GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Noeline with Blood of the Earth!
GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Black Ties - Flamethrowers!
GS: Kent Hauch has completed his action.

<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.

From his vantage point up on the craggy canyon above, the blonde gunslinger can see everything. The Black Ties, setting things ablaze. Rosaline, lost in her vengeful rage. Gwen, being brutally bludgeoned.

... And that Gear, unleashing its hell bred from and for the fires of war against those that get in its way.

He closes his eyes. Sighs. He leans forward, to gently pat Gulliver on his mane.

"Thanks, buddy. You did good. Go east, got it? East. There's some nice shade in that direction."

As everyone deals with their own problems, the man in the red coat slides off of his steadfast companion (kind of). He gives one last fond pat to the brave Gulliver's head, before he looses a single whistle -- and off the horse sprints.

By sheer coincidence, right in the knick of time to avoid the (half-empty) molotov the panicking Black Ties member hurls with -surprising panic strength- straight for the tall man.

"AGH NO WHAT A WASTE OF ALCOHOL!!" shrieks the Mysterious Man as he flails in a panic, his swinging arms aiming with remarkably lucky timing to bat that molotov further into the air and past him. "How dare you!!" shrieks the man in red, eyes on DANGEROUS FIRE. "Do you know how much that costs?! I DO!! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN TELL YOU HOW MUCH GELLA A BOTTLE OF THAT STUFF COSTS -RIGHT NOW-!!"

And does he use his large ARM on the man? No -- the Mysterious Man instead reaches into his coat, -LEAPS- through the air and -hurls- something at him.

Something that goes horribly wide, and completely missing the near-naked man.

Something that flies through the air to lodge into Zed's mouth, timed perfectly for the very moment he opens his mouth...

... to introduce him to the sugary, healing power of delicious, Tanyuu (talk)*heal berry icing donuts*~~!!!

A moment later, the red-coated man lands from that craggy cliff onto the main battlefield. He stares at where his donut has landed. Squints.

"... uh," says the blonde with a blink. "... Oops." He scratches his head, frowning. "I coulda sworn I got the trajectory on that perfect though, I mean seriously, it wasn't that far away was it? Am I losing my touch? Or--"

Frowning, the blonde-haired man squints. He holds his hands up in a portrait's frame gesture, dipping down into a crouch to assess the angle of that attack--

--tight in time for that shattering blast to soar right over his head with him seemingly not even noticing how he could have just been incinerated.

"... no, I got the angle just right, so why's it--"

BOOM

"WHY'S IT SUDDENLY SO HOT OH GOD MY BACK SMELLS LIKE BACON--!!"

And this would be the sound of that riotous explosion ERUPTING behind the MYsterious Man with such immense force that it sends him HURTLING through the air. Strangely, though, despite his cries, it doesn't seem like he's actually -hit- by it. Flailing and whining through the air, it'd take a very astute eye to notice the fact that he seems to be just fluidly moving WITH the explosion, like he were riding off the very edge of the kinetic force, or something equally absurd.

But that's ridiculous, right?

It must be, considering how he hits ground with a very unpleasant WHUD of impact seconds later, rolling and rebounding off the harsh barren earth going "OOF!" "OW!" "MY COCCYX~~!" with every smack into earth until he comes tumbling, head over heels--

--right between Gwen and the Cascade Gang, abused bottom jutting into the air and face jammed into the earth.

"Uhhhhhh," the Mysterious Man huffs out, kicking mouthfuls of dust up around him.

"Haush id goihn yuh guysh, we haffin a party--"

Yelling, from an angry red goblin in the distance goes here.

"CAN'T YOU SEE THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT?? BERRY THIEF!!"

Yeah. So that happened. 

GS: Vash the Stampede has attacked Zed with LOVE and PEACE and... DONUTS?!
GS: Vash the Stampede has completed his action.
GS: Vash the Stampede heals Zed! He gains 200 temporary hit points!
GS: Maya Schrodinger takes a solid hit from Kent Hauch's Black Ties - Flamethrowers for 66 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

Talise is practically right on top of a Rosaline who is also on fire and screaming bloody murder. It's distracting and more than a little terrifying.

Parbody jukes away from the heavy blow Talise was about to administer to her. The woman's fast; it frustrates Talise a little. Breathing in, she remember to control that urge. (Don't let your anger rule you. The Guard exploited it. So will the Black Ties.)

Talise doesn't advance just yet; the mist bank rolls out of nowhere and engulfs her before she can think of a good way to react to it. As the fog eddies around her, she holds Rastaban at her side, almost vertical but off by a few degrees, ready to defend or riposte at a moment's notice. Not that it appears, on its face, that it'll do much good, given that she can't see shit right now.

Caught in the fog with no sense of where anything or anyone is, Talise Gianfair... breathes in, slowly. And closes her eyes.

Sounds ripple around her - the sounds of distant cries, of guns going off, of spells erupting. Of Riesenlied shouting something. The sound of something burning. The scent of flesh burning. Some of it is hers. Not all of it is.

Some of it is paired with a sound. Clothing rippling. Hard breathing. Someone shouting.

Another set of footsteps moving not far from there.

Talise's shallowly pointed ears twitch - and her left hand drops to her waist. She comes up with a throwing knife.

She doesn't open her eyes as she whips the knife back - and as she listens to those footsteps not so far away, she whips the knife towards what she hears, not what she smells.

There are two sounds nearest to her. One is on fire, screaming and steps lightly.

The other sound is not on fire but smells vaguely camphorous. That's the smell she's throwing the knife at. 

GS: Talise Gianfair has attacked Parbody with Mai Knaifu!
GS: Talise Gianfair takes 5 damage from Poison!
GS: Talise Gianfair has completed her action.
GS: Noeline takes a solid hit from Kent Hauch's Blood of the Earth for 67 hit points!
GS: RUIN! All positive status effects and temporary hit points purged from Noeline!
GS: Parbody takes a solid hit from Talise Gianfair's Mai Knaifu for 89 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

The Gear's rifle fires. Ida doesn't see it--all she hears is a thunderous report, and then suddenly, everything's flying. Tar-paper and bits of wood peel off the building she's hiding behind; crates go flying, bits of rock and wood and metal spray everywhere. Ida's eyes widen as she scrambles to her feet, not entirely sure when she dove for cover. The Gear is active. If Zed is still alive, that's where he--

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yes, that's where Zed is. If the Gear's up, it's now the deadliest thing on the field, but the blue-haired man has her pinned down, and he's got backup, and he's threatening Gwen. Ida hopes Zed can buy her just a little more time. Just a little more--

Janus fires into the air. Ida would think this a gesture of dumb bravado if the projectile wasn't obviously abnormal; she throws herself to the ground again, curling up and shielding her face. The shell--cartridge--whatever it is spews shot across the field, reducing her hiding place to splinters. Bits of metal tear into her forearms, lodging there like needles. Ida looks up at Janus, something approaching righteous anger in her eyes. "Back, ruffian!" she roars. She would sound ridiculous if she weren't so angry, and also if she weren't in the process of springing at Janus, swinging the butt of her revolver at his head. She follows up with an offhand jab, aiming for the gut--and then she twists around in an about-face, steps forwards, and launches a fierce snap-kick at Dario's junk. (He may suddenly be very glad he zipped up his fly.) 

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Janus Cascade with Unladylike Roughhousing!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia neatly succeeds in getting the final obstacles between her and the Gear of the way. She allows herself a fistpump after that one. And just happens to catch something approaching from behind out of the corner of her eye...

In a flash, she's span around, reacting to the boomerang by... swinging her fist at it. There was no plan involved, it was pure impulse. Yet somehow, she manages to land a solid blow in a spot that doesn't cause her to cut herself, causing the bommerang to veer wildly off-course. After which Xantia grimaces, and shakes her hand. Punching a metal object coming towards you at high speeds really hurts, who knew?

Ignoring the man's angry shouts, she proceeds to do the exact opposite, rushing straight for the falling Gear. This is it. She's so close now. She can make out all of the machine's details so clearly.

...nothing. No memories are resurfacing at all. True, she had no particular expectations, but she was almost certain there would be something, anything, if she came into close contact with a Gear. Maybe the contact just wasn't close enough yet. It can't be helped then. There's only one thing to do.

Perhaps not many would be eager to close into within arm's length of a Gear, but Xantia shows no hesitation. She runs right up to it, leaps into the air, and... punches it directly in the shin. Normally, this might not do much, not even with her considerable physical strength. But this time, the careful observer would have noticed that her fist had started glowing while she was winding up... and upon impact, there's a literal *explosion* of force.

The blast is powerful enough to knock Xantia right back -- the following backflip and the way she lands in a crouch may make it seem like it was planned this way all along. Her baffled expression tells another story, however. What did she do this time? She has absolutely no clue. This is rapidly building up to an existential crisis. What is she?

Fortunately, the man most likely to dispel any kind of serious concerns in favor of drawing attention to himself happens to be here. Xantia immediately straightens up, and gets into a shouting match in the middle of a battle that's still very much happening.

"What?! How am I a thief? You threw those berries at me yourself! You can't do that and not expect me to eat them all!"

That's just science. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Descartes with Exploding Fist!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Matilda is right in guessing that Rosaline is unlikely to listen to her. She has so far seemed unconcerned with her own well being and, besides, is she even hearing her friend's voice at all?

At least she's both spry and sharp enough to lean right out of the way of Matilda's rocky projectiles as they come from behind. Whether the warning had anything to do with this or not is unclear.

What she can't simply lean away from is that BARREL swung her way. The water does help, it's true, insofar as it prevents her from burning to cinders within the next minute. The problem is everything else. The large, heavy thing cracks right into her head, sending her sprawling a few feet away, a bloodied tangle of limbs.

It seems, for a moment that might well be a relief to all involved, that she might be out of the fight. But no. She twitches and, deliberately, pulls herself off the ground. Perhaps the most alarming part about this is that her ARMs are back in her hands. You don't normally expect berserkers to have enough sense to operate a firearm.

But then, for someone who has lived and breathed the Ethos doctrine for their entire life, holding an ARM might as well be second nature.

"I!" Rosaline reiterates.

She charges right back towards Parbody, not a single hint of subtlety in her actions, only sheer rage, intent and inhuman celerity.

"AM GOING!"

She raises her two submachineguns, undisciplined fingers right there on the triggers but not squeezing them, not one moment before--

"TO KILL YOU!!"

--she's right back in the gas-masked maniac's face, stressing once more that, well, Parbody may be a psychopath, but other people have their own problems too. Rosaline the proceeds to empty two whole clips into her at point-blank range. This might turn out unpleasant. 

GS: Rosaline Calice has attacked Parbody with One Woman Apocalypse!
GS: Rosaline Calice has completed her action.
GS: Parbody takes a solid hit from Rosaline Calice's One Woman Apocalypse for 164 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

Whoops! All of the excitement is making Expert Sorceress Maya Schrodinger a mite forgetful, or maybe it's just that screaming nonsensical spell-chants and hurling neon particle effects everywhere makes you an easy target? She has but time to crane her head in the direction of a kicked-open door before she's surrounded by men with flamethrowers. "Gee~eh!? What the hell're you bunch doing here--" is the beginning of her lecture, cut woefully short as clouds of red and yellow flame bloom and blossom over her like a dangerous bouquet of flowers welling up from... from the tanks of pressurized propellant, I guess.

The perfume of lit propane, the raucious laughter of successful banditry and the crackle of flames accompany their treacherous deed. But hark! There's another, stranger noise running beneath all that. An electric thrum of sorts, that persists even as the hiss of gas and flames ceases. It's the most archetypical magical shield ever, a spherical dome of light (artfully textured with a hexagon pattern) which clearly didn't go up anywhere near in time: Maya is cartoonishly covered head to toe in soot, like Wile-E Coyote on the receiving end of a dynamite blast. The rescued bandit in her arms has fared way better.

A nerve pulses angrily on her dirty forehead. "Oh yeah? Tell your damn boss that Maya Schrodinger's gonna come beat his ass once I'm done with this base! And put that in the--in the bank! Yeah! Vlave Howling!"

The protective shield around Maya pops like a balloon. A balloon filled with concussive force. If things go to plan, all three shirts and the vest get non-lethally flung into the distance like T**m R****t. 

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

Noeline's pod bolts around the beastman more out of a sense of panic than any actual attempt to be a threat; it's fast enough to avoid the worst of the jets of flame, but whatever mechanism was letting the other machine fire bolts of light appears to be inoperable. A cute distraction, perhaps.

As for the fate of Noeline and the shack she's hiding in, it isn't immediately clear. Certainly, the structure starts to groan and creak ominously, some blasted timber crackling with flame as it drops to the ground - and then the entire wall gives way, the remnants of stone and wood collapsing under the heat as so much rubble.

Noeline is nowhere to be seen - the only thing there, floating merrily in the midst of the smoke, is her other ARM. It beeps almost happily, the flaps on its front slowly opening to reveal the focusing lens as it begins to charge up--

A second cute distraction.

Noeline suddenly sweeps around the next shack in the row, her scythe drawing up sparks from the hard ground as she brings it around in a wide arc. She's definitely had better days, her dress significantly scuffed with soot... but her grin as she leaps up at the beastman is incandescent. 

GS: Noeline has attacked Kent Hauch with Pointed Commentary!
GS: Noeline takes 4 damage from Poison!
GS: Noeline has completed her action.
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Kent Hauch with Vlave Howling!!
GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action.
GS: CRITICAL! Kent Hauch takes a solid hit from Noeline's Pointed Commentary for 115 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Kent Hauch!
GS: Kent Hauch takes a solid hit from Maya Schrodinger's Vlave Howling! for 59 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

And that's the position Gwen was in when Janus looks up from Dario to her. Metallic fist extended in a punch, blood leaking out of one side of her mouth, her face an unsure grimace. Same freckles, same pale red hair, now revealed by her hat having been knocked off by Dario's last punch. She's no longer missing her right arm, of course, and she looks considerably healthier. Adoption does wonders for burn-scarred orphans, who knew? Though usually they don't get mechanical arms as part of the adoption package. "Oh, uh, hey, Janus." Blue-grey eyes flick towards Janus, her hand nervously massaging her jaw.

Of course he recognized her. Damn. And she, judging by the look on her face, clearly recognizes him. And regards him with the same level of caution as a camper finding a bear wandering through their campsite. Unpredictable, potentially violent, potentially not an event at all, just as long as you just... stay... still. "Last I heard you went off to seek your fortune as a Drifter. But isn't this kinda.. uh..."

That caution goes out the window when Janus motions with his ARM, raising it upward. Towards Vash, the courier presumes a bit to hastily. "H-hey, wait a sec!" But the gun keeps rising, pointing straight into the air, the charge spiraling upward and splitting to hit not only Vash, but the nearby newly revealed Ida.

It's a great distraction, allowing Romeo to imbed needles in Gwen's side, causing her to hiss in pain.

Vash is likewise thrown down in front of her, making his.... prone position the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes. "Mister Arashmatash." Berry thief? ".... Let's figure that out later." What the hell is going on here, Gwen doesn't know anymore, she sounds suspiciously like she's used to it

That's when Ida comes in. Gwen, likewise, takes advantage of the opening the markswoman makes. "Hmp!" Gwen holds her right hand and summons a charge of electricity, casting it in a wide net of sparkling motes in the area around her. "Sorry, Janus, but I'm gonna have to mess things up a bit for you!" That doesn't really sound all that threatening, but she'll just let her actions speak for her. 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with St. Elmo's Fire!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Yikes. Matilda... makes another note in her head and then moves on; she sort of has to, anyway -- the mist provides an opportunity for separation on both sides, and while it's a type of separation that undeniably favors Parbody, Matilda knows well enough to take advantage anyway. She's a naturally cautious person, and hopefully it'll play to her strengths here.

"... Is this normal!?" she calls to Talise, slightly desperate now; she feels a little exposed by the lack of support from her recent friend in favor of all the... well... screaming.

She would rather not try to engage directly while in the position she's in; after a careful consideration of her options, she ends up focusing on keeping Rosaline safe to do whatever she wants rather than aggressing. This time, though, it's with a slightly different flavor of bullet; instead of firing her favorite at Rosaline, she loads a vial of something else entirely. This creates a hazy mist around the berserk nun -- one which keeps her invigorated and ready to go while Matilda herself mostly just hides. 

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Rosaline Calice with Fairy Bullet!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.
GS: Matilda Whitehead heals Rosaline Calice! She gains 100 temporary hit points!
GS: Janus Cascade guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Unladylike Roughhousing for 81 hit points!
GS: Janus Cascade guards a hit from Gwen Whitlock's St. Elmo's Fire for 50 hit points!
GS: Jam! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

The rumor floats around from time to time that the Black Ties are completely invincible to fire. Sometimes this is shifted to mean their own fire, specifically. Occasionally someone says the only fire to hurt a Black Tie is their own.

Rumors occasionally have a seed of truth within them. Odd martial arts disciplines boil out of the Badlands, and one such master has landed in the Black Ties, and holds the occasional class. Through Fargo Foobach's Art of the Hot Body, one can claim some control over their body temperature and even, for brief periods, refuse to burn.

Maya's blast goes... well. Sort of to plan. The shoddy flamethrowers in the hands of the Shirts kind of tear apart in their hands as the force hits them, sending them flying up and away flailing into the air. The Vest, through grit and determination, barely stands her ground. She and the remnants of the flamethrowers are pitched back into the little shack, resulting in less of an explosion and more a very aggressive puff of flame as fuel finds itself outside of where it's supposed to be.

Against all odds, the Vest comes tearing back out of the flame, skin an unnatural red, her sweat turning to steam. Her clothes are on fire here and there, which is part of why she's so mad. "I'll show you how we do this in the Black Ties!" she shouts, leaping bodily at Maya and clawing for her neck. "GIVE ME THAT CAPE!"

--

Ribaldy points his right flamethrower directly at the second pod, and realizes the trick immediately. "Ahhh, slag," he says, ears wilting, crestfallen. Noeline comes screaming up to him and drags the scythe across his chest. She slices a wide line up his body, blood splashing out, completely ruining his vest and shirt, which would be a MUCH bigger deal if he weren't a Suit and therefore kind of rank-locked.

He staggers back and hits a knee, teeth bared in a wince as he puts a hand at his stomach, making sure he was not in fact just killed. Flesh wound, but it HURTS. "Maaaaaaaaaan." He shakes out his head in the traditional dog drill method. "Good thing I wore my worst shirt! I had a bad feeling as soon as I was told to be open to a cloudy day."

The Beastman pushes up and taps his flamethrowers together. "Look, ma'am, you seem... fun... I'm really just doing my job here. Probably taking off soon! You know, when it's definitely about to rain." He taps them a few more times until something clicks together. "I winked when I said rain. I'm wearing the facemask though. Anyway what I'm saying is let's, like, go a little easy, jeez. They might have to shave me to stitch this up. That itches so bad!"

He seems surprised when his ARMs finally lock together and fire, both the streams splashing into the ground first and falling out like a wave from the ocean. He stumbles back a little. "Oh crap, I set it on high! I really meant it about going easy, honest!" 

GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Black Ties - That One's Crazy!
GS: Kent Hauch has attacked Noeline with Tephra Wave!
GS: Maya Schrodinger guards a hit from Kent Hauch's Black Ties - That One's Crazy for 53 hit points!
GS: Noeline has activated a Force Action!

DC: MISS! Noeline completely evades Tephra Wave from Kent Hauch!

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Janus eyes Gwen with a certain amused malice, but...also like a bear, perhaps it can stop at amusement. "It's a livin'," he says, with a laugh.

But before that can get very far, a few things happen. One, Vash comes tumbling down ass over teakettle, after pitching a delicious healing donut at Zed. Two, Ida comes at him and just straight up lays into him; WHOOF, pow!! He staggers back a few steps...

And his eyes cut up, grin widening. "Well that wasn't very neighborly," he quips.

And then Gwen gets to see Janus Cascade run (attempt to) a person through with the massive bayonet on his rifle, jamming it right for Ida's stomach and shoving it in deep, before roughly raising one leg to kick her right off the blade and as many steps as momentum will carry her. The electricity from Gwen jolts through him, and he hisses. "Dario!!" he snaps.

"Ha ha!" Dario yells, and snaps his gun up, pulls the trigger once, and then twice, and then three times, and then looks down the barrel because nothing's happening. THANKS, GWEN.

"Ugh," Janus snarls. "Useless!" And then he charges at Gwen, bulling right through her electric net to biff her across the face with the stock of his weapon, then stab at her with the bayonet.

OK, so maybe he's not entirely useless with the gun disarmed.

"Hey, Boss!" Romero yells, while Janus is attempting to commit homicide. "What do I do about the dumb one!?"

Janus, with the heroic resolve necessary to corral this pack of losers, shouts, "Idunno, have some fun with it!"

"OH BOY!" Romero yells, and then leaps down to just LAND on the mysterious red-coated man, both feet slamming down. 

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Ida Everstead-Rey with Heretic Stab!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Gwen Whitlock with Unrighteous Sheer!
GS: Janus Cascade enters CONDITION GREEN!!
GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Vash the Stampede with Taijutsu Mastery!

DC: MISS! Vash the Stampede completely evades Taijutsu Mastery from Janus Cascade!

GS: Janus Cascade has attacked Janus Cascade with Romero loses his nerve!!
GS: Janus Cascade has completed his action.
GS: Janus Cascade takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Romero loses his nerve! for 0 hit points!
GS: Quick! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Kent Hauch has completed his action.
GS: CRITICAL! Gwen Whitlock guards a hit from Janus Cascade's Unrighteous Sheer for 83 hit points!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey takes a solid hit from Janus Cascade's Heretic Stab for 96 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Ida Everstead-Rey!
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Xantia's Exploding Fist for 133 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Parbody has posed.

Parbody's plan was of course to escape in the mist. It's a solid plan and she is already implementing it when, to her great regret and misfortune, Talise proves herself skilled - able to feel the flow of energy that pervades all living things (which we call 'midichlorian energy') and then STRIKE -

There is a small wet sound and a much louder HISS. The blade still didn't hit Parbody in the shoulder. Instead it hit her in the thigh, which is similarly meaty but significantly less pleasant to walk around with a knife in.

Of course, there's a bigger problem, glowing in the mist. Coming towards her with sheer and infamous rage is the furious form of Rosaline. Who empties her magazines directly into the Black Tie's body, and no doubt leaves a bloody, perforated corpse in her wake!

At least that's what Rosaline might think, and given that there is, in fact, quite a bit of blood, this is not even entirely wrong. The fog and mist may make it easier to tell herself a hopeful story about gory triumph over the enemy, especially since Parbody has jettisoned her suit coat - of neccessity, NOT desire, for something in the pockets was broken by a bullet and the front lapels are energetically disintegrating at the touch of some secreted acid.

The immaculately starched white of her shirt, to say nothing of the glossy gray of her vest, now have a fair bit of this bonus material - it's red. You have about a gallon of it in you, give or take. It's called BLOOD. Parbody also has some kind of an object in her hand which she pulses quickly while struggling for breath. At this point her lungs are bursting for air. She did not expect Rosaline to go so completely spare.

Her arm sweeps around again. Parbody seems to do a lot of circling. And some circles COME TO AN END! The sparks she'd thrown before do not take the form of a shower of increased depth now, but of a shrieking wave of bursting force, as if someone had just pitched a crucible of steel - heated to a thick bubbling paste -directly and straightly into the cool stream that you fished in as a child.

The result would be a whole lot of horrible black slag and also an explosion.

(Meanwhile, the signal is sent, occultly, to Ribaldy: 'time 2 go ??')

And after THIS -

She turns towards Matilda. As she reaches down to pull the knife out of her thigh, she strides forwards. "Yes," she tells Matilda. "This is how things really are."

The knife is flung forwards at her. From a certain angle, this would likely be a striking validation of your investment in 3D viewing technology. 

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Ribaldy, obscurely, says "OW MY EARS" 

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Janus eyes Gwen with a certain amused malice, but...also like a bear, perhaps it can stop at amusement. "It's a livin'," he says, with a laugh.

But before that can get very far, a few things happen. One, Vash comes tumbling down ass over teakettle, after pitching a delicious healing donut at Zed. Two, Ida comes at him and just straight up lays into him; WHOOF, pow!! He staggers back a few steps...

And his eyes cut up, grin widening. "Well that wasn't very neighborly," he quips.

And then Gwen gets to see Janus Cascade run (attempt to) a person through with the massive bayonet on his rifle, jamming it right for Ida's stomach and shoving it in deep, before roughly raising one leg to kick her right off the blade and as many steps as momentum will carry her.

While he's recovering from attempted homicide, a presence is at his side. Janus takes one, two, three breaths to focus on what he's hearing. "...I hear ya," he says. His eyes cast to one side, trying to find Descartes and his goons amid the fighting. "'n'--" ...and the other man's gone. Janus huffs. "Black Ties sure are somethin', ain't they--"

The electricity from Gwen jolts through him, and he screams rather than complete the thought. He screams something else, too: "Dario!!" he snaps.

"Ha ha!" Dario yells, and snaps his gun up, pulls the trigger once, and then twice, and then three times, and then looks down the barrel because nothing's happening. THANKS, GWEN.

"Ugh," Janus snarls. "Useless!" And then he charges at Gwen, bulling right through her electric net to biff her across the face with the stock of his weapon, then stab at her with the bayonet.

OK, so maybe he's not entirely useless with the gun disarmed.

"Hey, Boss!" Romero yells, while Janus is attempting to commit homicide. "What do I do about the dumb one!?"

Janus, with the heroic resolve necessary to corral this pack of losers, shouts, "Idunno, have some fun with it!"

"OH BOY!" Romero yells, and then leaps down to just LAND on the mysterious red-coated man, both feet slamming down. 

GS: Parbody has activated a Force Action!

<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

"They're the ones that are expendable!" Descartes roars back at Riesenlied -- but, clearly, his blood is up. The veins in his neck bulge, when he yells. "All these idiots, prancin' around with their kingdoms and their armies and their dreams--it's pathetic! Take a look at the world around you, princess. It's dyin' -- and the only people who can live in a world like that are people like me! Garlyle's as good as gone, and me? I'm still here! GWAH HAH!"

He yanks on the wire -- and the boomerang comes crashing back into his hand. He catches it, squeezing down, before he throws it again. The boomerang goes flying, and this time the huge blade comes crashing down for Riesenlied directly!

"So go ahead!" he yells. "You said I ain't like Vash the Stampede! How about you drag yourself to whatever hellhole that dirt dog's hidin' in, and ask him! He'll tell you! Filgaia's dead, and the vultures are rulin' it!"

And then he pauses, not at Zed shouting -- but at the huge number of flashes and bursts of smoke. He turns, and sees the way that Doombringer has gashed through the right optic, and caused the Gear's head to start shooting sparks. "WHAT DID I JUST SAY!?" he yells, and then grabs for a man. He yelps, as he gets lifted bodily, and chucked for Zed.

Which gives Maya all the time she needs to fire her huge lance of ice. It slams into, and then through, the head of the Gear. It shreds the armor, popping out plates, and smoke and sparks erupt -- and then Xantia hits, her fist smashing into the Gear with a fiery blast. The titanic Gear collapses, smashing through the wall. Dust and stones explode, and a huge cloud of dust erupts.

Descartes's eyebrow twitches. "You... you... YOU--"

The boomerang rebounds, slamming back into his metal hand. Then, he rears back, and sends the boomerang flying. It slashes across Maya's front -- and then the wire reels in, trying to smash into her a second time from behind! "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

At the same time, Descartes grabs one of his men -- and hurls him. He yelps, as he flies towards the fallen Gear... and Xantia, trying to plow her right over. 

GS: Descartes has attacked Riesenlied with Boomerang Crush!
GS: Descartes has attacked Zed with Thrown Underling!
GS: Descartes has attacked Maya Schrodinger with Wire Boomerang!
GS: Descartes has attacked Xantia with Thrown Underling!
GS: Descartes has completed his action.
GS: Parbody has attacked Rosaline Calice with Ignition Driver!
GS: Parbody has activated a Force Action!
GS: CRITICAL! Rosaline Calice takes a solid hit from Parbody's Ignition Driver for 282 hit points!
GS: Cripple! Statuses applied to Rosaline Calice!
GS: Maya Schrodinger critically Guards a hit from Descartes's Wire Boomerang for 29 hit points!
GS: Parbody has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Sharing is Caring!
GS: Parbody has completed her action.
GS: Zed takes a glancing hit from Descartes's Thrown Underling for 47 hit points!
GS: Xantia takes a glancing hit from Descartes's Thrown Underling for 47 hit points!
GS: Matilda Whitehead takes a solid hit from Parbody's Sharing is Caring for 52 hit points!
GS: Riesenlied critically Guards a hit from Descartes's Boomerang Crush for 23 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Talise Gianfair has posed.

"No, she's normally really nice!" Talise shouts through the mist cloud towards the source of Matilda's voice. She still doesn't open her eyes. "Rosaline, not this lady in the weird facemask!"

Then the edge of the blast sent Rosaline's way catches her too and throws her clear. She hits the ground on her head and skids for about forty metres before landing in a pile well outside the combat zone. 

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

Let's be fair, something going even remotely to plan in the midst of this bedlam is cause for celebration. That Maya has bought even a few seconds for herself to try and see what the heck is going on with the Giant Robot they're here to bust up is fantastic, and she somewhat sadly has to roll away the bandit-man she's been lugging around like a paralyzed sack of potatoes. "Bah, you get outta here and don't let me see you running with this sack of losers! Go home and be a family man!" she chides him for good measure. Perhaps he will pick up his beautiful white cowboy hat and leave for good, and open up a hotcakes stand. The Gear seems to be successfully disabled in the wake of the combination onslaught, and that's what matters.

There's limited time for this to be appreciated. As it turns out: Kent's dudes and dudettes have some extraordinarily bodacious levels of martial prowess in addition to flaming guns. Now if only Maya weren't wearing the form of the Sorceress, she might stand more of a chance. Maybe if she were a chapter along and had access to a lil' somethin' more entirely, there'd be a cool clash going on. Instead, Maya is being strangled to death by a steaming red-hot gangster with 5 dots in martial arts and a bunch of fire-related charms.

"Ghhk--I'm tellin' ya--you might wanna let me go!" she kicks uselessly, looking like it's all over but for the choking. "It's behind--you~u--"

Bonk.

Descartes, rightfully red with rage, tries to kill Maya the Magician with his wire-linked boomerang. Unfortunately, who's in her way? The steaming hot Vest. I'm not going to dictate that they got knocked on their ass or anything by that whiffed shot, but suffice to say, Maya ain't the one getting hit. She drops from the choking grasp and rolls away in a scramble of pauldrons and cloaks and lands on her ass. Somewhere in cover, preferrably. She needs a moment to breathe. "S--shieldo~...?" incantations with such VIGOR and COOLNESS. Maya-sama~a! 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied just can't believe what she's seeing, when the mysterious man in the red coat just saunters on past and makes the impossible look casual. Even manages to make Zed eat a doughnut, too. She frowns just a little, paranoia creeping up at just what this bespectacled man wants. He wasn't here because he just bumbled in out of nowhere. Her reason is simple:

He wears the same round glasses Citan does.

Well, no, there's the fact that she can observe expert movement when it occurs, as well. It's... not her topmost priority right now, however.

"The world is dying," Riesenlied answers as she comes and sweeps down, holding her sword to meet the boomerang and twisting it in such a way that the blade grazes and deflects the projectile clean off to the side. A moment later, the red-hot thin sword creaks and... crumbles apart, clearly not meant to do such ridiculous manuevers.

Another casualty. Just where can she find a decent blade?

Riesenlied can tell that the momentum is shifting. "But it doesn't mean we have to die along with it. Look around you! The Black Ties are making a retreat. You are alone, Descartes." She looms above him, her wings spread wide like an omen, even battered as she is, bloodied. She extends her hand. "I will tell you once more: Surrender, and you may yet make something of your life. Resist, and I can guarantee that you won't even make a footnote in any history book." 

GS: Riesenlied has attacked Descartes with Resolute Belief!
GS: Riesenlied has completed her action.
GS: Descartes critically Guards a hit from Riesenlied's Resolute Belief for 29 hit points!
GS: Maya Schrodinger has attacked Riesenlied with Vas Gurudo!!
GS: Maya Schrodinger has completed her action.
GS: Maya Schrodinger heals Riesenlied! She gains 200 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

The Crimson Noble(?) dances back from her strike, quick on her feet; this time she doesn't misjudge her sideways leap, deciding that maybe going under the twin jets of flame would be better than going over it. It involves a little bit of skidding, certainly, but she takes it with aplomb, vaulting back up to her feet in a single smooth moment as she brightly smirks.

"--well!--" she hums as a first thought as she comes to a stop, bringing her scythe up to guard and drumming her fingers on the blade. "Don't get me wrong - it's as if I care all that much about a human king when another one will be along in a few decades either way," she notes rather... candidly, with an easy shrug of her shoulders. "Really, their lifespans are terribly short. But I do have my own obligations to upkeep, after all, and some friends to look after."

The faux vampire pauses, and takes stock; there's kind of a lot of stuff still generally on fire around them, prompting even the elegant girl to scratch lightly on her cheek, and again her eyes flick towards the winged woman to assess her state, a concerned frown flickering across her face. "... I suppose we've succeeded well enough as far as 'cause a ruckus' goes," she allows after a long moment, snorting to herself as she watches some of the Ties cut and run. "If you're leaving, now's the time, at least." 

<Pose Tracker> Rosaline Calice has posed.

Luckily for Rosaline, she doesn't have the sense this time to dodge Matilda's strange projectile, and it works out for the best. Healing magic washes over her, and just in time too, for what comes next.

Burning slag washes over the nun, and then her entire field of cognition explodes at once. She's thrown clear by the blast, burning whole patches of her habit beyond repair and inflicting serious burns on the nun besides-- Thank God healing magic is a thing that exists!!

THIS should put her down for the count. THIS should finally keep her out of the battle. If it hadn't be for Matilda's timely intervention, the nun would almost certainly be dead right now.

A twitch amidst broken crates.

Her drive is too strong. She lives for this, for even a haphazard shot at revenge. Her silhouette rises in the mist, and...

"Oh no," she says, her voice hazy, "is everyone all right? Ouch... Oh no, oh no..."

She clutches her crucifix desperately, summoning the last of her strength. Thank God healing magic is a thing she personally wields.

And then, she collapses right back into the broken crate pile, exhausted but at least no longer in critical condition. 

DC: Rosaline Calice switches forms to The Timid Nun!

GS: Rosaline Calice has activated a Force Action!
GS: Rosaline Calice has attacked Talise Gianfair with Cure Light Wounds!
GS: Rosaline Calice has attacked Matilda Whitehead with Cure Light Wounds!
GS: Rosaline Calice has attacked Rosaline Calice with Cure Light Wounds!
GS: Rosaline Calice has completed her action.
GS: Rosaline Calice heals Rosaline Calice! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Vash the Stampede has posed.

Mr. Arashmatash.

"G-guh... no... how many times do I have to tell you... it's... Mister... Habberdashercash...!"

(It's one.)

(Because this is literally the first time he has ever called himself that.)

With a rattling exhale that sounds like his soul is escaping his body, the red-coated man looks like he is in quite a sorry state. Except -- the closer one looks, it doesn't seem like there's any injuries to be found on him, nothing obvious, nothing even subtle.

It's a fact that might be hard to pick up on, if it weren't for the utter mood whiplash that occurs when Xantia starts yelling at him -- yelling, after such confusion had taken over her.

"WHAT!" he shouts with sudden, vigorous life from his awkwardly-bent condition. "You did WHAT! Those were worth so much money!! Aaaahhhh spit them back up, spit them back up right now--!!"

And, just like that, Janus Cascade and the Cascade Gang are all but forgotten in the throes of the Mysterious Man's agony. All those heal berries...!!

His wailing (and yes he is absolutely wailing, wailing like a child) comes to a slow end, however, when he catches something from the corner of his eyes. Descartes. Ranting and raving. Abusing his own men as if their lives meant nothing.

They're the ones that are expendable!

All these idiots... it's pathetic!

How about you drag yourself out to whatever hellhole that dirt dog's hidin' in, and ask him! He'll tell you! Filgaia's dead...

The absurd lamentations slowly bleed from the blonde man's expression. Even bent as awkwardly as he is, that sky blue gaze has something different to it now. something possessed of the weight of centuries.

His lips twist into a frown for reasons entirely different, now.

Gone is that pathetic, foolish air. Gone is everything that looked so utterly ridiculous about the man. Gone is that harmless sense that seemed to purposefully exude from him. Romero descends--

--and all he might feel is a rush of air brushing past his cheek and rustling his hair as he lands, feet-first, on nothing more than empty ground. Because the man isn't there anymore.

He's directly behind Romero, in an instant he could easily capitalize on to shoot him. Cripple him. Kill him. Anything.

And yet...

... it all happens in an instant. So fast one might miss it if they blink. Three shots fired into the clogged, heated air. Three shots fired so fast they sound like one. The barrel of a large, silver revolver smokes dangerously. Pointed not at Romero...

... but at Descartes.

There is no obvious sign of injury. No obvious sign the bullets hit their mark. But if they do, if they land, the next time that Descartes tries to use that massive, mechanically-empowered boomerang ARM with that mighty prosthesis...

... it is all coming apart at the seams. 

DC: Vash the Stampede switches forms to The Humanoid Typhoon!

GS: Vash the Stampede has attacked Descartes with Fast Draw!
GS: Vash the Stampede has completed his action.
GS: Vash the Stampede has activated a Force Action!

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Icecicles fall! A megaton is punched! Everything explodes! Zed, being the coolest of the cool guys that he is, stands with his back to the blossoming boom as it blooms a plume of smoke into the sky. "Ahahahaha! Did you see that? That... Is the power... OF TEAMW-OMF--"

Zed's words are cut off.

...By a delicious, toroidal pastry that has, by some miracle, found its way into his mouth. Zed's eyes go wide. He can taste... The sugary sweet icing. The freshly fried, so-fluffy dough. The greasy, heart-clogging glaze.

His eyes twitch. His mouth slowly draws the entire donut into itself. Om. Nom. Nom.

Nom.

...

A bandit is flung at Zed's head.

Zed's eyes flash.

"DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!"

Oh. Oh god. Zed is glowing. The air around him is shimmering with light. Zed shines. He's burning with an aura of pure culinary joy. "This... This power...! The power coursing through my veins..." Zed clenches his fists. "It's the highest. The highest of all hiiiiiii--" Oh. Wait. That's a bandit coming for him again. Zed does not frown. Zed throws his arms open and catches the man with a soft oof, before setting him gently onto the ground. "There now, friend. Do not worry. I will not hurt you. I am only going to hurt your boss."

"Now."

Zed draws his sword. Doombringer's edge glimmers gold like a mirthful guillotine.

"Let's finish this...!"

"RIEEESEEEENLIIIIIED!" Zed yells as he breaks into a sprint. No, not a sprint! A vault! A series of swift kicks off the ground carries him forward like a meteor! A comet! A spark of sunlight prominence! "DUUUUUUCK!" Zed shoots forward. He scythes his blade at Descartes. His foot hits the ground.

And then he darts back. Again and again and again, Zed sweeps in, slicing once, twice, thrice, a hurricane of sword blows from every direction. The world burns with GOLD.

This is...

--==FORBIDDEN MOVE - ASTRAL DANCE==-- 

GS: Zed has activated a Force Action!
GS: Zed has attacked Descartes with Forbidden Move - Astral Dance!
GS: Zed has completed his action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Zed's Forbidden Move - Astral Dance for 157 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Ida Everstead-Rey has posed.

Why do you even have that giant blade on your gun if you're not going to stab people with it? So of course, Janus stabs people with it.

Ida sees him lunging out of the corner of her eye, and whirls away from her attempted manhandling of his henchman; the blade rushes at her like a giant, impaling fang, eager to tear her open and leave her to bleed out under the hot sun. She would not be the first to suffer this fate.

Ida should know better than to call Janus Cascade's bluff, but she does anyway. She rushes at him, sees him slow down a little as her focus-trance flips her sensory processes into overdrive. She steps to the side, twisting around in one of those pirouetting about-faces she uses to change firing angle quickly. Janus's blade grazes her side, and a spray of red arcs from the wound. His boot lands in her ribs with a heavy thwock, and the breath rushes from her lungs. Ida grits her teeth, forces herself to breathe, experiences another flash of red-hot rage as Janus tries to gut Gwen as well.

Her hand darts around to her back, and pulls something out of a holster. That something is a weapon that might've been a rifle, before someone sawed off most of the barrel and altered the rest so it could be managed with a one-handed grip. It gleams with the odd, vaguely unnatural greenish-silver patina of Demon bone. Ida raises the weapon one-handed with an arm that's been injured permanently, shifting her weight and putting everything in a line behind her outstretched arm--as though there's a direct line between her heart and her ARM.

She doesn't so much press the trigger as move it, as though it's part of her own body. She can feel the fire stirring in the ignition chamber as the Dragon's breath-igniter glows white-hot. What issues from the weapon's barrel isn't so much a bullet as a force of nature, a splintering spray of molten metal, eldritch energy, and unleashed chi. It banks off nothing, twisting to avoid Gwen--

And then falls down at Janus, whom Ida has judged to have made poor choices. 

GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has attacked Janus Cascade with Dragon's Breath!
GS: Ida Everstead-Rey has completed her action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Vash the Stampede's Fast Draw for 119 hit points!
GS: Descartes has Fallen! Him is no longer able to fight!
GS: Rosaline Calice heals Matilda Whitehead! She gains 100 temporary hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Kent Hauch has posed.

Oh yeah, no, Maya expertly peels the Black Tie off with Descartes's boomerang. She doesn't actually seem to be particularly skilled past the Hot Body technique - more snatching and clawing at the cape's clasp than deftly applying pressure to Maya's jointy bits. She announces "gleh" as she's hit, already tired from stressing her body out so hard to not light on fire.

A Shirt in a smart hat comes running by, ducking under weaponsfire to, first, promote himself, taking the woman's dark blue vest off and pulling it over his own shoulders. The fit is a little wrong but he can go bully the gang tailors later. "Ma'am," the new Vest says to Maya, doffing his crumpled bowler hat before slinging the demoted Shirt over his shoulder and darting for daylight.

--

Ribaldy doesn't totally have control over his joined flamethrowers. They're a new modification he thought of last week, and they work wonderfully for making huge scary fire, and terrible for letting him stay upright while he does so. He eventually pulls the ARMs back apart and exhales, so relieved his muscles untense. He goes from looking enormous to merely large.

Noeline starts talking again. The Beastman is already used to it, a strong adapter, and pops one weapon on his shoulder as he turns, surveying the field. The laundry's just about off the line. "He's not Vash, by the way," he says, cutting in. "That was just a smart move by someone to bring a bunch of attention on his head. The boss figured this arrangement was just about done, anyway."

Ribaldy re-racks his right flamethrower and reaches up to his helmet, pulling it back and nestling it between his scrap-armored tanks so he can scratch behind his ear, leaning into it. "I was pretty sure it wasn't gonna last long from the first sunrise. Descartes was thinking too much about the payday, he didn't actually look at the people he was hiring. My old master used to say: Never hire an apprentice that makes you look like a rookie." He sees, by chance, that flash of competence from the tall blonde man, his scratching slowing. Something to remember.

He picks a direction and goes, giving Noeline a mild smile. He's not gonna interrogate the whole 'vampire' gimmick. Everyone's got their thing. "Soon as I heard he hired Gasback, I knew he was working out of his depth, you know? A big deal like that? Well, anyway." Ribaldy starts jogging despite the cut on his leg and gash on his chest, hissing a little. "Have fun!"

Later, on a horse, whining at Parbody, "Then I said 'have fun.' Who says 'have fun' while taking off from a fight? Have fun what, still being shot at? Dumb. I really wanged that one off the post." 

<Pose Tracker> Xantia has posed.

Xantia's shouting match with the self-proclaimed Man With No Name continues unabated, learning the value of the berries she ate not giving her any pause whatsoever. "I can't do that! What's the difference anyway?! You might as well eat the food instead of using it to get money and then buy food with it!" That's basically all that she ever uses it for.

Being distracted by Vash ends up being doubly helpful to Xantia, because it leads to her facing the right direction to notice another bandit getting hurled in her direction. She's ready for this time. She braces herself, opens her arms wide, and... catches the man. The force still causes her to slide backwards a little, but looks like they both came out fine.

She proceeds to set the man down next to her, gives him a sweet smile... then punches him in the face. He's still a bad guy, he had it coming! It's better for him to unconscious, anyway. Previous evidence suggests what will happen next. With another 360-degree spin, Xantia hurls the man right back at Descartes. It feels more like a game to her than anything else at this point.

That done, she turns about, and heads right back for the Gear. It may be down, but in a surprising bit of common sense by her standards, she's realized that there's still a potential threat as long as there's a pilot in there. So she moves to climb the machine, planning to make her way over to the cockpit, and force it open if the pilot won't come on his own accord. This will take some time. 

GS: Xantia has attacked Descartes with Minion Dodgeball!
GS: Xantia has completed her action.
GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Xantia's Minion Dodgeball for 110 hit points!
GS: Descartes has Fallen! Him is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Matilda Whitehead has posed.

Parbody's unsolicited answer and Talise's rather more solicited one both ring out -- and Matilda decides that she doesn't have the mental fortitude to sort through them right now. Thinking about it any harder than she did would probaly have meant that knife was a much bigger threat than it was -- piercing something much more important than her side.

She does, however, flinch, and then start forward toward Parbody rather than recoiling from it. Seeing Rosaline pop up and try to help her appears to embolden her; she moves toward the woman in the gas mask at an even clip, ignoring the pain in her side for a moment. It can wait.

Reaching into her coat, she pulls out a clip of actual, honest-to-goodness revolver bullets. Unusually, there are seven rather than the standard six. "I suppose if you believe that's how things really are," Matilda says, voice suddenly hot with anger...

She fires three quick shots at Parbody's midsection, and takes a hop back. "I have no reason," she continues, firing three more shots -- and then, yet again, hopping back. It's at this point that she switches her grip; rather than lazily one-handing the not-quite-a-longarm, she takes it in a proper two-handed grip and transitions smoothly from her hop to a kneel.

"... to act as if I believe them to be any other way!"

The last shot rings out, as Matilda pops back up out of her stable shooting posture and starts moving toward Rosaline with her newfound vigor. 

GS: Matilda Whitehead has attacked Parbody with Seven Bullets!
GS: Matilda Whitehead has completed her action.

<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

"Wha--HAUCH!" Descartes shouts. "What the hell are they doing!?" he bellows, before he looks back at Riesenlied, and glares. He swings back his arm, readying the boomerang for another blow -- refusing to surrender, even in the face of the logic that the Metal Demon presents. "Never! It ain't like that! It ain't--"

It is.

He sees the glint of silver from Vash the Stampede too late to stop it. He only sees the gun barrel in time to realize: the flash of silver light, and then the three shots that come from three different angles faster than he can blink. The first shreds the elbow joint; the second slashes through the boomerang's coil for the wire; the third blasts through the shoulder join. The arm suddenly hangs limp and the wire unspools rapidly, snapping against the ground, and the boomerang collapses.

"No! NO! Not--not an idiot like you! You can't be Vash! You can't--an IDIOT LIKE YOU CAN'T DEFEAT--"

There is a flash of gold and of minion. Zed comes in one direction, gold slashing through one side -- and Descartes doubles forward, screaming in pain as an idiot like Vash does, in fact, defeat him. And then, Xantia's thrown minion smashes into his face, and Descartes topples.

A quiet falls over the base, then. Men drop their ARMs -- save those fleeing, of course, and many do besides the Ties. The hatch opens, and the duster-wearing pilot comes out with hands up in the air, though he blinks at Xantia's lack of a gun.

If someone checks, the door to the building Descartes exited from is open. Inside is a bound and gagged man, wearing a thin circlet and in a now-dusty blue uniform. 

GS: Janus Cascade guards a hit from Ida Everstead-Rey's Dragon's Breath for 99 hit points!
GS: Poison and Break! Statuses applied to Janus Cascade!
GS: Janus Cascade enters CONDITION GREEN!!

<Pose Tracker> Gwen Whitlock has posed.

Somewhere, Gulliver finds that nice patch of shade Vash told him about. He even finds a few tufts of grass there. Bonus! Being a horse, he dips his dark mouth to the ground and begins to nibble on the spare blades of the plant.

And so, an endangered species of grass is pushed even further to the brink of extinction, all courtesy of Vash the Stampede.

But Gulliver is very happy, and all is right with the world.

----

"C'mon, keep this up and you'll give Little Twister a bad name!" Gwen's nervous tease falls as quickly as the sad excuse for a grin on her face; not only was she hardly the sort to tease anyone when she was younger, Janus's actions most likely will simply make the katamari ball of woe that is Little Twister's reputation bigger. It's probably a blessing that Gwen's attempts at socializing end right there.

They're practically adults now, and adults establish their territory and boundaries in ways children can't. Like, for example, copious amounts of violence! Like here, where Ida gives a very nice demonstration. "Ida!" Gwen exclaims in alarm.

No worries, Gwen, you'll be getting your turn next.

The handle of Janus's weapon smacks Gwen across the face, adding a trail of what will eventually be bruises across her already bruising face. The bayonet meets the harder skin of Gwen's ARM that the courier uses as a makeshift shift, thankfully, which doesn't yield as easily as the skin underneath. Gwen's breath comes out as a pained exhale as she struggles against Janus's charge.

Then Ida saves the day, unleashing a force from her ARM that Gwen can't help but watch in awe, as it swerves past her and right at Janus. And Gwen is definitely taking advantage of this.

"Right back at cha!!" Gwen yells, reeling her right fist and attempting to pummel it right into Janus's face.

Maybe there's still hope for him....? Being from the same town as someone who helped kidnap a king can't be very good for her business... 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has activated a Force Action!
GS: You have activated the Force Action Full Clip!

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed lands with some finality. He whips his blade once, shedding the thin sheath of blood that had accumulated across it. "Hm!" He glances back and finds... Vash the Stampede! Zed has no idea what that name means. Instead, he just flashes the man a winning grin and a thumbs up! "Good shooting! Very cool! Great job! Now...!" He sheathes Doombringer. The sword seems... Satisfied? Hm.

Well. Whatever! There's a guy in there.

Zed goes up to the man in the circlet and gingerly tugs the gag down from around his mouth. "Hello there!" Zed says. "You look like a king. Are you the king?" 

GS: Gwen Whitlock has attacked Janus Cascade with Return to Sender!
GS: Gwen Whitlock has completed her action.

DC: MISS! Janus Cascade completely evades Return to Sender from Gwen Whitlock!

<Pose Tracker> Descartes has posed.

The king is, incidentally, gagged and bound. He gives Zed a withering glance, then wiggles his hand free enough...

...to give him a thumbs-up.

Then he dies inside a little. 

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

Maya is fixing her talismans and adjusting her cloak as she hunkers behind the cover of a not-yet-burning wooden shack. "Gear's down, still got all my fingers... yep, everything's comin' up Maya." she boastfully muses to herself. "Uh--work hard." the blonde warily advises the Black Ties' latest Vest, entirely unsure of what to make of what she's just observed. That doesn't sound at all like the broad with the guns cutting people down at all, what the heck happened?

Well, no matter. Work to be done, after all. All the bad dudes are retreating and it's time to get lootin'! Maya's headband-wearing self pokes her head into the same frame as Zed from out of literally nowhere, hands behind her back. "Yep, that's him." she pauses. "Hey, Zed, are you Vash the Stampede?" 

<Pose Tracker> Noeline has posed.

"I do try," she curtseys in response, of all things, that grin vibrant on her face.

At the very least, Noeline's true to her word; she doesn't attempt to assault the beastman from behind nor impede his progress, watching him leave as her expression drops to a secretive little smirk on her face. "... well, of course. Get that famous, and everyone will use your name just for the sake of it," she says almost to herself, chewing over Ribaldy's words as she turns back towards where the Gear is being assaulted from all sides. "Just like a human to get carried away. Just like a beastman to call them on it, I suppose."

It takes a moment to actually take stock of what's left of the battle, watching around her with abject curiosity - Maya slinging what looks suspiciously like sorcery, Zed bouncing around in a ridiculous manner, Riesenlied clinging on to her convictions - and lets out a deep sigh.

"... well, I'm hardly done with things around here just yet. We're going!" she calls to her two pods, as Trouble and Strife swing around her shoulders and then get instantly left behind, beeping in consternation as Noeline begins to pick her way through the remnants of the battle at some speed, towards Riese's position. 

<Pose Tracker> Zed has posed.

Zed looks the king right in the eye. He receives a thumbs up to his question, and then nods his approval.

Oh you poor King. Getting Zed to nod his approval at anything you do.

"Well okay! Now! Hold still!" Zed glances around and finds... A knife! A knife which he uses to begin cutting through those ropes. But-- Why does he not use his sword?

...

Well. He probably doesn't want to accidentally kill this guy after all this effort.

"Whuh?" Zed blinks, craning his head owlishly at Maya's question. "What? No. Who's Vash the Stampede? Is that someone important?" 

GS: Parbody takes a solid hit from Matilda Whitehead's Seven Bullets for 177 hit points!

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Zed's rather overwhelming attack prompts Riese to yell, "Don't overdo it!" which she... retracts a moment later, frowning. "There's data to be gathered from the cockpit."

Riesenlied feels Maya's shield wash over her, which starts to inteÉ}?<È'ñè

>> Critical: Foreign energy body detected. Aborting current functions and correcting for malformed sense caches.

`ÇÞ?ë=¦÷Óòuè?nlied's senses bring her to the sudden hail of bullets that the mysterious man in red shoots, and she can trace their trajectory -- prompting her to suddenly shout, "Don't fire that--"

The explosion she was expecting never happens. Instead, Descartes simply crumples and -- gets squashed under one of his own minions, prompting a wince. "Vash?" she murmurs, glancing towards the blonde, bespectacled man. "It can't be..."

A high-pitched, whistling noise echoes in her mind.

T-this unpleasant... sensation...

The bells have rung once more. It was her inner frame, and it was telling her that a Dragon was nearby; a Dragon just activated. Her horns twitch a little and subtly point in Ida's direction, before her eyes and the rest of her thoughts realign herself.

She flinches for a moment, covering herself under the reprieve of her wing. She's gasping just a little as she watches, seeing flame, chi and metal combine into a power that she'd wished she wouldn't see unleashed again. Not for the Dragons, not for the Demons, and definitely not for humans.

"... the world is dying," she murmurs again and looks to Descartes. "And I, for one, will not let it accelerate."

She looks towards Noeline as she approaches, and then gestures towards the Gear. "I'd like you to extract whatever you can from there. Garlyle IFFs, code designations, operating routines, the works." 

<Pose Tracker> Maya Schrodinger has posed.

"Naw, he's some clown worth all the money in the world who makes a helluva ruckus wherever he goes." Maya seems to have lost some of her refined edge with her sorceress cosplay, and shrugs lightheartedly as she and Zed stand before the King, holding swords and discussing bandits.

Good times.

"I'm kidding, just that someone outside was shoutin' the name. Maybe they mistook you for him, huh? Zed - The Humanoid Typhoon. Hmm, hmm~m..." she chuckles into a gloved hand. "Got a nice ring to it, you gotta admit..." 

<Pose Tracker> Parbody has posed.

Parbody's blank, masked face tilts to the side about ten degrees, like a quizzical dog - indeed, Parbody developed this habit FROM Ribaldy - and then she loads up a gun. At this point, Parbody may be realizing she is facing someone who is possessed of that legendary blessing of the drifter: A Cool Hand.

Perhaps it will gratify Matilda that after she takes shot #1 clipping into her side, ripping a red line in the black and white of her vest and her shirt, Parbody leaps for cover. Shot #2 brushes somewhere, Parbody isn't sure where. Two of the second volley CLANG off her boots if with sufficient force that she wonders for a hot moment if her leg is broken. (THAT would be awkward.)

That symbological mist rises again around her, angry and muffling.

When it fades, Parbody is nowhere to be found.

However, there are some leavings!

  • 1x Bloody Black Coat (Women's Cut)
  • 2x Aquasol
  • 817 gella

LATER (ON A HORSE) (STOLEN)

Parbody has her gas mask around her neck, hanging by the main strap. She is drinking from a flask. The camera is behind her. "Just a bit," she admits. "But you've just focused on other things, old salt." The flask is proffered across the interhorse barrier: "Casual ease takes a lot of work." 

GS: Descartes takes a solid hit from Vash the Stampede's Fast Draw for 119 hit points!
GS: Descartes has Fallen! Him is no longer able to fight!

<Pose Tracker> Janus Cascade has posed.

Romero is, despite the way Janus treats him, no true fool. He's merely a man who hangs out among titans, and knows himself to be of lesser stuff. But he's a talented man, and a man DISAPPEARING from under him is a thing he knows to be no easy feat.

He feels that sting of greatness he feels from Janus, sometimes, before the report blasts in his ear, and he stumbles and staggers and falls to the ground, squawking.

Janus, who has the awareness of a peanut, just looks behind him from where he's clashing with Gwen. "Romero, the hell're you - you let him get up! Dumbass!"

He's about to try and shove Gwen off him when Ida blasts him direct with the Dragon's Breath bullet - no, more of a bolt, a raw, primal thing that slams into him. But Janus Cascade is made of stern stuff yet; and though it hits, slams him dead in the chest, rather than scream and die he staggers one, two, three, four steps back, eyes flashing with drive but showing no signs of intent to stop, if anything growing in apparent malice; but then his eyes cut to the side. Notice Descartes screaming.

Notices Gwen swinging at him with the best haymaker her arm can bring. That one he outmaneuvers; throwing himself back to rally up with Dario and Romero, huffing and glaring. "Well," he says, straightening up all the way. He knows how to project a certain presence, at least. His cocky grin returns. "Looks like you blokes win this round," he says. "I'll remember that." His eyes briefly linger on Gwen, a searing, searching look. That lingers....and lasts....and....

....Janus looks at Romero, then cuffs him upside the head. "Can't you read the mood to save your own skin, fool? That means we need to leave!"

"Oh! Shit! Right!" Romero says, because he's busy staring at the man in red with a certain horror and awe. But he bobbles a small orb out of his pockets, and slams it to the ground, and a flash of white light blinds the senses.

And when it's gone, the Cascade Gang has taken to heel.

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