2019-03-19: Let's Fight A Knight
- Log: 2019-03-19: Let's Fight A Knight
- Cast: Ratatoskr, Lee Knight
- Where: New Arctica - Hidden Harbor
- Date: March 19th, 2019
- Summary: (Takes place before any of the 'final' events of the Chapter 1 Epilogue.) Lee Knight is but one of a set of hands working to help rebuild what remains of society in the wastes of Northern Elru. Ratatoskr is also a set of hands but he is also bored, and wants to talk about something really awesome he saw further in the continent. Why he thinks survivors of the massacre perpetrated by his people would make great conversation partners is anyone's guess.
=====================================<* New Arctica - Hidden Harbor *>======================================
New Arctica is little to speak of.
The entrance, both from the sea and the handful of tunnels leading to the surface, is a harbor secreted away in a cavern. The harbor is a natural one, though a pair of wooden piers have been built out. There are small ships to be found here, at times, which are largely former Arctican and Ellurian merchant vessels that have been used to make supply runs to the handful of villages holding on in the wasteland.
The harbor itself has no permanent buildings. A few large tents have been put up, offering basic sales of supplies -- and a few training grounds have been established, where a handful of guardsmen train the able-bodied but inexperienced in the basics of military drills. However, this place is ultimately a chilly, wet cavern that has few places to live.
BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntdIZ_TiCcs
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
SOME TIME IN EARLY MARCH, POST COLLAPSE 501...
New Arctica's unnerved by what some of their scouts and supply route travelers are reporting about the fallen city of Elluria. Two years ago or so, monsters just seemed to come out of nowhere to overrun it. Just another patch of No Man's Land to add to the pile, as it came to Elru.
...After having narrowly averted disaster by Mother's awakening and final attempt to eat Filgaia, the people of New Arctica are keen to rebuild. To rebuild means they need to feel (and also, actually be) secure enough to re-establish what little society they have cobbled together from the survivors.
When word of mercenaries clad in olive and black, clearly 'together' but otherwise unidentified, are scouring that place so persistently... well, New Arctica isn't about to go out and challenge anything like that! They are about to call for able-bodied Drifters to come be hired protection for any number of smaller-scale construction projects to make sure they're not about to be ambushed.
Today's not a great day for building. The wintry winds have gotten back some pulse and bite since Mother's removal from the mortal coil, which would be nice if it weren't frigid cold. It's better they set up a presence now rather than later, they reason, and so... out in the mid-day snowy fields of somewhere in Elru's tundras, work is happening.
It's very boring.
<Pose Tracker> Lee Knight has posed.
Lee is one of those types that aren't necessarily into this for fame. Nor power. Indeed. His focus is and has been helping others so they don't lose their city. Like he lost his own. A drifter willing to help build. The boulder was one give away that maybe his strength wasn't something to shrug off for getting help on stuff and Lee's poncho helps if slightly to keep out that biting wind in the tundra while he works. it's boring business. But it's the quiet moments to be celebrated. Afterall, if it was always active fighting, would anything really get done?
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
Things are getting done! Maybe because it's very boring. Very, very, very boring. Sometimes there's inane chatter between carpenters and masons, but not a whole lot to be said. Just the usual chatter and worries about the mercenaries moving around about where Elluria once was. Sometimes Lee might be asked to help move something heavy and join in with the labor, but it always loops back to worries about whether or not things are ever going to settle down.
Then there's suddenly a new voice. A younger one with a slightly tinny sound to their voice.
"You saw them too? You saw them too!" They do not sound worried at all. Eager to speak, even. Wait, who is--
--what the hell is a Hyadean doing here? That is a Hyadean, just brazenly showing up before a number of people who had narrowly survived Metal Demon invasions at least twice. They're a six-and-a-half-foot tall crimson-hued horned squirrel-like individual, noted for solid yellow eyes and a sharp grin that never really abates. He doesn't look friendly at all, buuuuut there he is, just speaking like he's jumping into the latest round of gossip with good friends.
"Hyahaha--! What'd you see?" He continues. "C'moooon! Tell me! Because if I have this right--"
"Go away! Go away!" Shouts a carpenter who is already loading a gunsmoke ARM, a mere pistol, pointing it at the Hyadean. That's the bravest response there. Most of them just cut and run. The pistol-toting fellow discharges one shot that goes wide, sticking a slug in the snow.
Yeeeeaaaaaah it might be time for Lee to earn his keep four times over. He's already earned it three times over so far, what's one more?
<Pose Tracker> Lee Knight has posed.
Lee pauses in his work. Watching the other men run off, he grabs that hammer of his, eyeing the thing. "What in the..?" Shaking his head a little, the one guy who shot then run, would pass Lee on his way through. "Alright beasty. I don't know what you are. But you're scaring them. Time to get dropped!" Somehow, making it look weightless, Lee would whip that boulder out into a series of strikes at the crazy wierd squirrel thing!
GS: Lee Knight has attacked Ratatoskr with Boulder Smack! GS: Lee Knight has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lee Knight has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr takes a glancing hit from Lee Knight's Boulder Smack for 52 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The odd 'beasty' takes a cursory hop back from that first strike in the series, squirrel-like tail flaring out its segmented metal bits as he raises his arms in a combat stance.
"Did I just see that? Did I just see th--" Yes. Yes he did. The following parts of the sequence batter and push them about, threatening to hurl him down a steeper snowy hill...
...but a clawed hand thrusts itself against the ground and catches after a stagger. A small trickle of silvery blood escapes their mouth. The solid yellow of their eyes lights up even more.
"That thing's... wow. You can lift that...! That's awesome." Their grin widens as they stand upright, crossing their arms over themselves. The squirrel tail swishes out. "You swing it like it's nothing...! I haven't seen a human that strong in some time... oh, I know strong humans! They're the most fun..."
...Honestly he should just be smacked again.
GS: Ratatoskr has spent 1 Combo on Inspire, including 0 on Gatling! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Lee Knight with Shoot The Messenger! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Lee Knight takes a solid hit from Ratatoskr's Shoot The Messenger for 0 hit points! GS: Riposte! Statuses applied to Ratatoskr! GS: Reload! Lee Knight gains 15 extra FP from Ratatoskr! GS: Lee Knight gains a Combo from Inspire!
<Pose Tracker> Lee Knight has posed.
Lee steps back a step, eyeing the thing as it didn't seem to want to go down. "Really? Huh. Well.. Maybe we can compare notes another time. For now? you're messing with the people who I'm protecting. You're going to have to go now." If anything, somehow Lee sped up in those strikes, coming at the squirrel again with that boulder snapping out in that combination of strikes!
GS: Lee Knight has spent 3 Combo on Gatling, including 2 on Gatling! GS: Lee Knight has attacked Ratatoskr with Consecutive strikes! GS: Lee Knight has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lee Knight has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Ratatoskr completely evades Consecutive strikes from Lee Knight!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The wind violently whips in the wake of each and every swing, as the crimson-armored squirrel-'beasty' leaps back after each and every one. There is one especially powerful swing in that combination that displaces the air so much that even being near that swing seems to throw him back a distance nearly equivalent to having been smacked righteously.
...His grin never fades.
"...Cool. You're really strong...! You must've fought in some battles, right? You must've fought in some battles! Which ones?! Tell me, tell me...!"
The creature comes running in on all fours to close back up distance before going upright a split second before leaping forward with an extended knee into the mighty boulder wielder!
GS: Ratatoskr used Mystic on Ratatoskr! Status effect durations increased by 2! Temporary HP duration increased by 2! GS: Ratatoskr has activated a Force Action! GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Lee Knight with Fly Into Fray! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Lee Knight guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Fly Into Fray for 65 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lee Knight has posed.
Lee grunts as the swings never quite connect. This thing is quick! Watching it get pushed off, he'd shift that boulder in between them, deflecting quite a bit of the impact from that shot as he'd get knocked back himself. Shaking his head to clear it, he comes back at the thing. "I've been 'round and dealt with things. But I've not been in any major battle.. Skirmishes.. and.. stuff like that.." Once again there's a set up for that combination, the boulder being swung about to smack the squirrel this way and that, trying to knock it off it's game! "You leave and we'll be good.. Can talk another time, but you can't mess with these people!"
GS: Lee Knight has attacked Ratatoskr with Boulder Smack! GS: Lee Knight has completed his action. GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Lee Knight has lost 1 Combo!
DC: MISS! Ratatoskr completely evades Boulder Smack from Lee Knight!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
"What?!" Lee saying he's never been 'in any major battle' seems to throw Ratatoskr right off of his game as he steps back from those tireless, relentless swings. His grin seems to fade a little, the lights of his solid yellow eyes dimming. He seems deflated by this revelation.
...
"...What if you never do, though? That'd be... a waste... c'moonnn!!" He flares up to life again. "How heavy is that...! Where else am I going to see someone swing something like that?! Hyahaha--!" Aaaaaaaaand it looks like he might need to be smacked some more, a lot more. There might be a fine opportunity to do so once the squirrel-like fellow leaps up into the air, swinging a digitgrade foot down upon the mighty Lee from above.
There's an opening inside his foot. Huh--
Then there's a loud burst of compressed air escaping this opening, revealing its true nature - it's a shotgun ARM, blowing gusts of wind at incredible force from point blank!
An ARM that lives within the creature's own physiology... the remnants of the Metal Demon forces are still so mysterious, in their own ways. (Also dangerous.)
GS: Ratatoskr has attacked Lee Knight with Overhead Shoot! GS: Ratatoskr has gained 1 Combo! GS: Ratatoskr has completed his action. GS: Lee Knight guards a hit from Ratatoskr's Overhead Shoot for 71 hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Lee Knight has posed.
Lee grunts, never quite catching this thing with those swings once again. Rolling his shoulder as he'd eye the thing, he takes a step back. "I'm not afraid to fight. I just haven't. Yet." As the thing goes up, he'd bring that boulder up again to try to deflect as much of that strike as he can. Panting a little, he'd hop back in that snow, planting the boulder for a moment as he'd take a breath. "Man. You're something else, you know that? Crazy limbs and all of that for a squirrel.."
GS: Lee Knight has attacked Lee Knight with Rest and Recover! GS: Lee Knight has completed his action. GS: Lee Knight heals Lee Knight! He gains 100 temporary hit points!
<Pose Tracker> Ratatoskr has posed.
The deflection at least appears to manage to do just that, flipping Ratatoskr in the air once and seeing him land with a touch of extra stress on one of his knees. As Lee takes a moment to catch his breath, the squirrel-beasty guy's tail deflates again.
"You just haven't fought yet? You just haven't fought yet!" Those repeated words reach a fever pitch as he once more rises in a combat-ready stance. "Wow... swinging that weapon around like that so easy...! That's not even the best you can do..."
...He sounds like he's in awe, even as Lee seems to be struggling to catch his breath.
"C'monnn!! ...Wait, wait, wait...!" Wait, what, restraint? The squirrelly one stands back up, a rare moment of contemplation with crossed arms. "...There must be a big battle brewing in Elluria... there must be...! Someone strong like you..."
They grin a lot wider.
"See it for yourself...! I'm going to go back there and watch..."
...Just like that, he leaps into the air and unfurls a liquid metal patagium between his limbs, riding the wind currents to just hover off to - presumably - near the fallen city of Elluria. It's not exactly a VACATIONING PLACE because HOLY CRAP THIS IS ELRU and they've only just barely staved off complete annihilation.
...Still, it captures one's attention and imagination, doesn't it?