vivala | EVENT#08 VINDESS LIBERATION MISSION LOG

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EVENT#08 VINDESS LIBERATION MISSION LOG

Content warnings: Blood, Gore, and Cannibalism

The Corsairs strike quickly. As soon as Gaurus the Bleeder steps off the Imperial airship, Corsair airships emerge from hiding around the settlement and take to the air, peppering the Imperials with a salvo of cannonfire. Corsairs leap from the deck and emerge from hiding within the settlement, weapons drawn and battle-ready.

For his part, Gaurus the Bleeder meets the charging Corsairs without surprise. The man’s immense bulk is imposing enough on his own, but he carries an unmistakable stench of blood, death and decay about him. His enormous body is toned with heavy muscle, and his hands seem to permanently drip blood as he unleashes a feral belly laugh.

“Take them! Capture them! Flay them alive!” he bellows, his voice ringing out across the city. “Their corpses shall decorate my table, their heads my wall! Come lads, let us punish these rebels and teach them the pain and despair of standing against the Empire!”

The stench of blood seems to spread, thick and metallic as the eyes of the Imperial soldiers seem to dim, blood beginning to trickle from every pore like sweat and seep from their mouths in the place of drool. They surge forward, a beastial hunger consuming them as terror quickly spreads among the civilians who turn to flee. For good or for ill, the battle is joined. With Gaurus at its head, the axe of the Empire descends, and the Corsairs will need to bring their all to bear, lest they be ground underfoot.

All logs have full sign-ups, but characters are still welcome to join any open logs. Additional participants will boost the potential for the log’s success and potential bonuses. Outside of Closed logs, all logs can be as many open threads as the participants desire, involving as many of the total participants as they wish.

Consequences
There is the possibility of consequence, depending on the logs characters take part in and the amount of participants.
Serious Injury: A character is seriously injured and will require bed rest and intensive healing. If they choose to participate in an active and intensive log the following month, their injuries will impede them to the point that it may disrupt the log (but not necessarily make the log fail).
Minor Injury: A character is injured, but not badly. They will require some healing to recuperate but will otherwise be fine for logs in the following month.

MISSIONS

Vindess Raid: The Corsairs face off against Gaurus’s Bloodfrenzied Legion.
Status: Open
Description: Gaurus’s mastery of life ether allows him to manipulate blood within willing and unwilling targets. The Bloodfrenzied Legion are soldiers whose blood and hunger have been set aflame. They fight with more ferocity, move faster, and hit harder. They consume their own blood to fight harder, and thus are overwhelmed with a hunger for more blood, driving them to consume their fallen foes, ripping them apart and drinking their blood.

Bloodfrenzied soldiers are extremely dangerous, while a powerful Corsair may be able to take 3 in a straight fight, more is exceptionally dangerous. Corsairs will need to rely on high pressure and exceptional tactics if they wish to succeed. The Corsairs are buoyed by the local militia, Corsair support allowing some people to fight to the last for their families to ensure they escape.
Current Participants: Donnie, Raph, Rezo, Kanna
Log Leader: None
Anticipated Result: The Bloodfrenzied Legion is held at bay, and the Corsairs emerge relatively unscathed.

Escape Vindess: The Corsairs must cover the escape of the airships as they evacuate the civilians and keep themselves alive against the Bloodfrenzied Armors.
Status: Open
Description: The Bloodfrenzied Armors are armors piloted by soldiers under Gaurus’s Bloodfrenzied Legion. In this case, he uses his magic upon the armors as well as the pilots, so the armors enhance themselves by feeding off the blood of their pilot, compelling the pilots to fight aggressively and target large crowds of fighters on foot or civilians to bathe in their blood and enhance their combat prowess.

Additional details will be sent to the Log Leader.
Current Participants: Shu, Terra, Kanna, Harlock
Log Leader: Shu
Anticipated Result: With the placed traps, the Corsairs will emerge unscathed, their civilian charges maintained safely.

Evacuate Citizens: The Corsairs within the town will evacuate civilians, helping them flee the Bloodfrenzied Legion.
Status: Open
Description: The Bloodfrenzied Legion fights ferociously aggressively, specifically targeting civilians with an aim to tear them open, drink their blood and feast on their organs. They are the core of why Gaurus inspires such fear and obedience within the populace, and it will be difficult to maintain calm.

Corsairs will need to calm their charges and efficiently move them through the town, employing the maze of homes, pulling down break lines, and doing whatever they can to keep the soldiers away from the civilians.
Current Participants: Emery, Matt, Shu
Anticipated Result: The Corsairs will successfully evacuate the civilians, keeping them mostly safe from harm.

Tend Citizens: The Corsairs will need to tend to the wounds of the evacuated civilians, preventing as much death as they can.
Status: Open
Description: It’s rare for a civilian to survive a run-in with even one Bloodfrenzied soldier, but any who do will be brutally maimed. Additionally, in an escape wreathed in fire and devastation, injuries in the flight are common. Corsairs will have a range of injuries, from people torn open by soldiers to people crushed by falling, flaming debris.
Current Participants: Tsuyukusa, Matt, Thomas
Anticipated Result: The Corsairs will successfully heal and save a majority of those who can be saved, although casualties will still happen. Their success frees up the local militia to fight harder, aiding the Corsairs in their fight.

Entrap the Imperials: Before the arrival of Gaurus the Bleeder, the Corsairs set up traps around the town, ensuring they had many ways to entrap both the man himself, and his ships and armors.
Status: Open
Description: Corsairs will spend this quiet pre-battle time laying out traps meant to take down Gaurus the Bleeder and hamper the armors and airships upon landing. Corsairs have access to heavy explosives and enough poison to kill several large monsters, which may even be enough to slow down the man who can manipulate his very bloodstream with his ether.
Current Participants: Ilphyl, Aira, Natalia, Atom
Anticipated Result: The Corsairs will lay so many traps that they can target both the Assassinate Gaurus the Bleeder log and the Escape Vindess log.

Assassinate Gaurus the Bleeder: The Corsairs will face off against the head interrogator and Bloodfrenzied Legion commander Gaurus the Bloody.
Status: Closed, this log will be a single thread between all four participants
Description:Gaurus the Bleeder is an enormously powerful fighter who can manipulate blood on a wide scale. Those who face him in combat can hold their blood to a point, but if Gaurus manages to come in physical contact with a person he can begin to turn their very blood against them. Gaurus is exceptionally dangerous to approach, and must be handled with utmost care.

Gaurus is a huge, barrel-shaped giant who stands at 10’9” and wields cruel cleavers, hooks, knives, and spikes. He wears a bloodied apron over thick, high-quality leather armor, and his body is heavy and muscular. His combat power and ether control are further enhanced by the Empire’s drugs, making his capacity truly beyond belief.

Additional details will be sent to the Log Leader.
Current Participants: Link, Natalia, Atom, Ilphyl
Log Leader: Ilphyl
Anticipated Result: Voting will occur in a sub-thread at the start of the log. Either Gaurus will be captured and the team will be seriously injured or Gaurus will be killed and the team will escape with minor injuries.

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Aira holds tight to the raven even as the ominous din swells all around her. She winces and covers her ears, trying to stay alert.

Maleficent's appearance still catches her off guard—and that's nothing to say for what happens with the raven.

"Dammit...!"

It doesn't hurt, but the disintegrating hair makes a horrid smell, even as she tries to uncoil the tendril and draw it away. The exposed parts won't be growing back anytime soon, and Aira grits her teeth, glaring over at the imposing sorceress.

"I'm not going to let you hurt anyone," she says. "Come at me!"

Her voice remains steady, and she stands poised. A good portion of her hair is still usable, but clearly she'll have to be more careful with it. Whatever the case, she needs to keep this woman occupied for as long as she can.

Maleficent is now cowed. In fact, she laughs.

"Oh, how you Corsairs do amuse me," she says. "Such lofty, misguided ideas you have. How quaint of you, to think that you could ever dare to stop me."

And then the entire flock of ravens, all as one, converge down upon her. They will peck, and they will claw - and some will follow the path of the first, and dissolve into burning acid.

That laugh sends a chill down her back—and as for the insults, no retort comes to mind, focused as Aira is on what counts. Though too much of that focus is trained on Maleficent herself, and she reacts half a second late to the swooping ravens.

"Shit."

Aira lashes her hair at a few of them, keeping the nearest ones briefly at bay, but then there's the damn acid. Aira swears again as more of her hair hisses away, but there's nothing else she can use to protect herself.

It completely undercuts her earlier bravado, but there's no choice: she has to run for shelter. At least the building where she was hiding earlier is close, so she makes a break for it, sprinting for nearest window and busting back inside. In the process, injuries have already started to rack up. There are some punctures and cuts from beak and talon, and an exposed burn on one shoulder suffered from a light splash of acid.

This... is not going well. Aira flees further inside, running for a door that she'll try to put between herself and any ravens in pursuit.

The ravens are behind her, a mass of black feathers and claws that harries her back as she runs. The pour into the building through the broken window, filling the space behind her.

The door she closed gives her a temporary reprieve - but only temporary. The bodies of the ravens melt and shift, and they become like a liquid that seems through every open crack.

Aira will not be safe for long; and still she will hear the sound of Maleficent's laughter.

"Oh, shut up already!"

Aira grumbles darkly to herself as she retreats up a set of stairs. Even if she can shake these damn birds somehow, which seems unlikely on its face, she has to assume that Maleficent has plenty of other tricks up her sleeve.

It's irritating that she could only hold out this long, but if her ENC device gets damaged—and there have been a few close misses already—then she won't be able to alert anyone or call for backup.

Using the tools Renne developed, she quickly contacts Donnie with an Emergency: Need Assistance, along with the building's address in shorthand. Then its back to fending off the ravens however she can. She uses two weakened tendrils of hair to fling furniture at them, endeavoring to avoid any direct contact.

MEANWHILE—

"BOOM!"

A large, glowing fist punches a soldier straight through a wall, conjuring a cloud of dust and debris around where he used to be. Raph returns to a defensive stance, only to note the lack of threat now that things have mostly cleared up on their end. It at least gives him more time to see where all of his teammates are.

"Alright, sound off," he calls out. "I know we did real good, but serious question: anyone need medical attention?" He looks over to where his not!brother is. "How're you holdin' up, Donnie?"

Donnie's long since let his mystic Feder dissipate, the Imperial forces long since broken through. He's a bit winded as even using a purified Ether stone to conjure doesn't keep you from not being susceptible to exhaustion holding a giant mechanical construct for a consistent amount of time, but he's seemed to have avoided any worse injuries than what Rezo's already healed.

"'m okay here,' he says, starting to glance over towards Raph when his ENC buzzes. He flips up the cover on his gauntlet, brows lifting.

"-Raph, we gotta move. Aira needs help." It doesn't look like he's waiting for a response there as he turns and starts running for the nearest way up onto the rooftops- the quickest way to travel.

"Aira's in trouble?" The larger turtle doesn't have time to process between the confirmations, barely catching where Donnie dashes off to. "Donnie!"

Fortunately, Raph can catch up, bounding off and up the walls to grab a hold of the eaves of the closest building, using his momentum to flip himself topside without wasting too much time.

"Where is she now?" he asks, routine resonant, noting that the urgency of the matter is more important.

Already making his way up onto the rooftops, Donnie only glances back to make sure Raph's there. He looks down at his ENC again, pulling up a map to cross-reference the location Aira had pinged him.

"...this way!" he says, darting off to the side before leaping across to another roof.

At first glance, there isn't anything immediately off with building Aira has attempted to take refuge in. It seems just like most other buildings.

Except on second glance, Raph and Donnie will see something strange within the windows; ravens, multitudes of them, inside the building.

And inside, Maleficent laughs as she slowly strolls through the building.

"Why, what a delight this is," She tells the one raven that remains on her shoulder - in a voice that echoes throughout the building. Wherever Aira is, she will hear it.

"Our little miscreant. Alone in the darkness. She tries to flee...but there's nowhere to go! Nowhere to escape from my eyes."

And then the eyes of the ravens all glow red. Some have been struck by furniture, dissolving into dust. But more come. And keep coming.

"I said... SHUT UP ALREADY, YOU MISERABLE HAG!"

Aira can't magically enhance her voice, like what she assumes Maleficent is doing, but she can scream at the top of her lungs. It's raw and guttural, since anger is presently winning out more than fear—though she damn well knows what a dire situation this is.

That anger is also apparent in how hard she's bludgeoning the ravens, and before long, the chairs and tables she's using start to break down, with flying legs and bursts of splintered wood. She can't let herself get cornered in here, but her timing could be key. Aira counts down in her her head, thwacking at more birds. But too soon, the ravens thicken and really start to surround her, which forces Aira to run again.

She uses the last battered chair to break away, then plows out through another window. With this one on the second floor, she ends up falling ungracefully into a bruised and bloody heap. She doesn't wait to look around for Donnie or anyone else before screaming out.

"I'm here! That witch... I think she's inside!"

Trusting Donnie's lead, Raph is close behind like a large shadow, treading wherever his brother leaps to next. He feels the burn of their previous mission's antics building up in his body, but he can't slow down now, not when a friend needs a hand.

Every building looks normal until they close in on the given coordinates, unassuming until they're within range of the chaos. "What the– " he squints, "–crow??" Mixing up black birds is the lesser of two problems; the flurry of black feathers and the specks of red are worrying. "Oh, that ain't good."

His attention snaps to where another window shatters, catching a glimpse of pink hair attached to the pile of teenager. "Aira!" A second wind picks up and Raph flicks a side glance to Donnie before shifting direction, taking point to get to her as quickly as he can. "Hang tight, we're gonna get you outta here!"

Ravens... What was it about ravens? The sight nearly has Donnie slow once he makes out what all that movement in the window is. Something...something about ravens- look, he's had a busy month and hasn't been paying much attention to chatter.

Raph doesn't have to say a thing as Donnie's looking in the direction of the shattering glass as well. He moves after his not!brother, eyes widening as he sees Aira and the state she's in. Dropping down by her side, he looks towards the open window, adrenaline buzzing.

"Can you move? We need to go-"

From within the building, the two brothers will hear the sound of laughing. To one of them, it's a familiar voice.

But it's not the woman they encounter first; it's the horde of ravens that are following them outside. Each one screeching, as they pour out of the building and head towards all three of them.

"... Yeah."

Aira grits her teeth. Everything hurts, but she's survived worse. She wants to thank them for being so quick to respond, or ask if the Corsairs won the day, but Maleficent is too much of a pressing threat to focus on anything else. Donnie's right; they just need to get out of there.

It takes her a second or two to get on her feet, but by then the ravens are closing in.

"Shit! Run!"

Hopefully the desperate urgency in her voice is enough to convey the danger, assuming the evil glowing eyes aren't already enough of a tell. Aira leads by example, breaking into a dash, but she's definitely slowed some by her injuries.

On the other side of Aira, Raph stays crouched with a knee to the ground until she finds the means to stand, lifting his head when phantom laughter rises amid the raucous cawing. "That don't sound good," he says, trying to see if he can find the source. And he finds nothing. He can't really explain it, but he just feels like everything's off.

Of course, that is when the horde of ravens flood out of the building.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash!" Along with Aira's prompting, Raph knows it's time to go. He makes sure Donnie is there too, knowing that he can run, but he's ready to scoop up the both of them at a moment's notice.

He'd been all set to run, and once Aira had started to move, Donnie had gotten up to take off after her.

That is, until he hears that laughter, and all at once he freezes in his tracks, breath catching in his throat. No, no no no no, not her!!!

The ravens are almost on them - but rather than attacking, they all seem to come to a stop, each one finding perch in a circle around the trio.

Then from within the building, a sickly green ball of light flies ahead of them. It hovers for a moment, in the space where they would want to run, before shifting into the form of a familiar woman.

She gasps - a artificial gesture, mocking and purposefully dramatic as she looks at Donnie.

"Why - if it isn't the quiet little turtlekin! The one who so struggled to obey his betters. I do hope you have enjoyed my gift."

She pauses, giving the briefest of moments for her words to sink in before her voice turns hard and cold as ice. "Come to me," she orders him.

Aira notices in her peripheral vision when Donnie freezes up, and she's staggering to a sudden halt even before Maleficent appears to cut off their escape. It's chilling to see the look on his face, and her chest tightens as she turns back to face the sorceresses.

"You were after me, right?! Leave him alone, you bitch!"

Mustering what power she has left, Aira charges straight at her, then she leaps to aim a harsh kick right towards her face.

For all of the cacophony that built up, there's a strange pause. Raph expects something to come from the ravens, but it doesn't happen the way it usually unfolds. The appearance of the ball of light forces him to skid and break, the color itself warning him that this may be a lot worse.

And it's definitely worse when he realizes Donnie suddenly isn't moving. "Donnie?" His head whips around, teeth grit as he bristles at Maleficent. "What are you talking about, lady? What'd you do to my brother??"

The drop of the order makes him balk, but Aira's visceral reaction encourages the spiking need to protect and catapulting action into his limbs.

"Yeah! What she said!" Raph yells, bull rushing the horned woman at the same time with a sai pointed directly at her, surrounded by a clenched fist. "Better yet, leave 'em both alone!!"

That night at the King's Table had been hell, the public display Maleficent had made in 'gifting' her curse providing plenty a willing noble eager to make the most of the turtlekin's misfortune. It had only taken one refusal for Donnie to regret everything, the scoffing and laughter of those he'd refused only making him feel even more horrible. He hated how abruptly the pain and despair that so quickly sunk its claws in deep had just as quickly evaporated into complete elation once he willingly did what was asked of him, driving him into a servile cycle that would have kept him at the Table's festivities well through its end if not for the intervention of other sympathetic servants.

He'd avoided Elysium since.

Seeing Maleficent appear before them fills him with that ugly spiky sensation that makes him want to crush her with a cannonball, at odds with that icy chill that makes him want to bolt. When she recognizes him he feels like his heart constricts, and for a moment he forgets to breathe. Her taunt stokes that fire, and for the briefest second the rage is plain on his face, a look that could kill if given physical force.

It vanishes abruptly at the order, his body tensing as he knows one of two things would come next, and he wants neither.

And then Aira is there, flinging herself at the planetouched, and Raphael is following. "No-" he starts to say, not to Maleficent but to his friend and his brother, hand reaching out as he takes a step forward.

Maleficent raises one hand - and one of the ravens flies in-between her and Aira. The bird takes the full force of the kick, exploding into a puff of feathers.

More ravens fly down, and as Maleficent's staff glows the birds' bodies begin to transform. Their legs elongate, their bodies become torsos, and the shape of their wings shift info something more like that of a human arm. They become soldiers - feathered, beak-faced soldiers, who all stand before Maleficent.

"Come," she tells Donnie again. "Do not speak to them. They will be dealt with soon enough."

Boy, is she sick of these damn birds. Aira swipes away the feathers around her face, then lands somewhat off-balance. Her heart is pounding hard in her ears, but she can still hear what Maleficent is saying. Why the hell does she think she can order Donnie around?

"Don't you dare listen to her!" she shouts.

Still defying her pain and weariness by force of will, she darts behind Raph and follows his charge, close enough so that she can say a few quick words. "She might have a spell on him or something. But if you can make an opening, then I'll go right for her and take her out."

It's a rudimentary strategy, but what other options do they have? Still, Aira manages to sound way more confident than she actually is. There's no choice; she has to act like they're going to get through this.

"Aira!"

Raph dashes to meet her halfway after the failed attempt to kick evil in the face, glancing over a shoulder to make sure she's still okay. He isn't a stranger to being used as a shield, and he'd rather be the one blocking any other attacks coming their way instead of having her left alone to defend herself while she's still reorienting to the situation at hand.

His brow creases upon hearing what Aira relays to him. "A spell? Now that's sick. An' not in a good way." The options really are few and far between, but the cobbled-together tactic she has in mind can do in a pinch.

He reminds himself that now is not the time to get sentimental over how similar she is to April in moments like this.

"With these guys?" The turtle's arms are once again encased in glowing red gauntlets, locking into position out and to either side of his large frame. "Not a problem."

Raph does many things. Some of those things relating to being a ninja aren't very ninja-like at all. In this case, however, he uses that ninja speed, kicking up a few notches as he fearlessly rushes the raven-soldiers with a primal yell. He'll take on one. Heck, he'll take them all on. Giant red fists meet beaks and armor with extreme prejudice, giving Aira the chance she needs to get through.

Another step forward, like he's walking a tightrope. He flinches as Aira shouts, closing his mouth as he swallows another protest, not necessarily meaning to acquiesce to Maleficent's order, but Donnie feels it all the same, that brightness that starts to fill his inner being, a nameless, unbridled joy that breaks through the fear and anger, and he's unable to keep the smile from his face. It's almost intoxicating, it's far better than the pain he knows will come if he disobeys, the bottomless pit of wretchedness that will pull him down in a heartbeat.

His feet carry him farther, hesitating only because his turtle brother is moving to plow through the raven guard- but then that just clears a path for him in turn.

No, no, he can't, he shouldn't- Raph and Aira...

EVENT#08 VINDESS LIBERATION MISSION LOG

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