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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

frost_and_shinies

"Yup. Just place it and torch it, right? Though that's harder without Fire Ether..."

From:

theriflespiral

"Honestly, if we can force enough I bet we could cause the reaction with anything..." She hums. "Meet you at the spoils pile after our current placement."

From:

frost_and_shinies

"Got it. See you there."

And Kaitlyn was off.

From:

theriflespiral

Natalia did not beat Kaitlyn to the spoils pile; she had had several more limpet charges to place and a fuse to rig.

However, she does notice the same thing Kaitlyn does when approaching-- the pile is moving consistently-- and draws a conclusion. "... Don't think we'll need to pan the pile, but..."

That had to be a monster.

Edited Date: 2025-04-27 08:04 pm (UTC)

From:

frost_and_shinies

"... So is the monster wearing the spoils pile, or is it literally the pile itself is a monster? Like, some kinda super mimic thingy?"

... It's a valid question! She thinks.

From:

theriflespiral

"Not sure. Do know monsters are attracted to Ether Stones. It might just be digging through." Yeah.... This is time to pull out her sword. Can't afford gunshots. Not this early.

From:

frost_and_shinies

"Okay, so, fight it. Preferably quietly. Can do."

... Given what Natalia's seen of Kaitlyn's style, that may be a bit of an understatement, as blades of ice begin to form in her hands.

From:

theriflespiral

Natalia smirks slightly, and nods. "I'll keep its attention; time to earn our reputation."

She reaches into a small pouch and, among the coins, she produces... a shard of Ether Stone.

The pulsing stops for a second, and what leaps out is somewhere between a mole and an alligator, if it were the size of a large dog.

Natalia slips away from the claws that catch with less than a centimeter to spare, and pockets the stone, making sure the monster knows where it is.

From:

frost_and_shinies

With it jumping for Natalia, it's made the fine choice of ignoring Kaitlyn.

Or, in other words, freeing her to stab into it with a blade of ice.

"Good, good."

From:

theriflespiral

The first blow is telling; Natalia's sword simply makes official what Kaitlyn had already assured. A quick, clean, but not quite quiet death.

She pulls her bayonet and uses it to skin the damned thing. Time to be quick about it.

From:

frost_and_shinies

Kaitlyn doesn't know much about skinning creatures, so she instead keeps watch.

"... Gathering the spoils is going to take a bit, huh?", she can't help but note.

From:

theriflespiral

She's reaching among the entrails, and-- "Ah. There's the bastard." It has a gizzard. Why does it have a gizzard.

She cuts that and the stomach open and reveals quite a few shards of Ether Stone. "Like I said, easier in some ways, more difficult in others."

Even she blanches a little at the smell. "We'll want to wash them, though."

From:

frost_and_shinies

"Yeeekh. Yeah, for sure. Smelly materials sell for a lot less all factors considered, after all..."

She's already starting to use a bit of magic to generate a bit of snow specifically so it'll melt into water and reduce the stench some hopefully.

From:

theriflespiral

"Definitely." That does make it weaker, thank God, but even then, there's something to be said for dunking them into the tumbler trough and leaving them there for a minute while the stuff attracts more monsters.

Still... Had Kaitlyn heard a patrol coming? She nodded at what she assumed was a ruse and not losing the plot, listening carefully.

From:

frost_and_shinies

"Concealment. Possible patrol."

Kaitlyn says this, and is already moving into cover. Depending on the patrol's size, getting the drop should be enough.

The shift in tone was almost sudden, but not the first time Natalia had seen it out of the white-haired icecaster - going near silent to accompany taking a concealed position seemed to come particularly naturally to her.

From:

theriflespiral

So. Yes. She hears the metal on metal and nods again, picking up a fingerbone-sized bit of gravel, humming, and, after a moment's aim, throwing it to one of the piles of gravel around them.

As she headed to a different point of concealment, the pile shifted into a cascade.

"--Something over there!?"

More of the molediles emerge, disturbed by the noise and the shift in the ground.

"This what you heard, Ensign?"
"Don't rightly know, but it's a safe bet."

Natalia listens, counting from her pinky. One, two, three, four, five. But tied up with the monsters.

Edited (wasn't done.) Date: 2025-05-09 06:25 pm (UTC)

From:

frost_and_shinies

Kaitlyn poked her head around just enough to signal her location to Natalia.

This would be a great time to know proper sign language, she realizes, but for now, she glances toward the soldiers, ice blade already in hand, then looks back to Natalia, silently asking "strike or no?".

From:

theriflespiral

She listens for drawn swords and the cessation of growling-- the moment they're all committed to the fight-- before nodding and running in towards the Imperials.

No one with a radio array. Good, nothing to disable. She gestures Kaitlyn to take on the molediles as she folds up the two who are hesitating-- and finds that her sword is not up to the task of breaking through armor twice.

She might need a magic weapon just to not shatter in her hands-- or else, learn a method to reinforce the weapons she has.

Improvise. Take the officer's sidearm and saber, get back on task.

From:

frost_and_shinies

Kaitlyn takes the signal, stepping out and throwing blades to try and get the molediles down quickly... Only for one to survive the first hit. Hastily, she runs in to make sure the moledile doesn't go for Natalia.

Notably, while she's completely silent, her face pretty well communicates that this caught her at least a bit off-guard, even as she's forming another blade to cut it down.

From:

theriflespiral

"Who goes th--"

Natalia's loaded fist makes short work of the one Imperial to speak and as the moledile leaps for Kaitlyn--

She does the only thing she can think of, which is throwing the unconscious soldier at the moledile. At least that'll delay it a second-- long enough for Kaitlyn to re-form her ice blade? Who knows.

From:

frost_and_shinies

Oh that is a way to do it. Brutal, but effective.

Kaitlyn, for her own part, has formed another blade by this point to cut into the next soldier before he gets a chance to do... Much of anything, really.

Even then, she's quickly shoving him down. No giving chances for them to strike back. Not in a fight like this.

From:

theriflespiral

As they come down to the pile of corpses, Natalia sighs. "Looks like this is all we get. They'll investigate soon. But we should be able to use the Stones we can get out of this to make what we need."

She pulls her bayonet. "Even if it's awful work."

From:

frost_and_shinies

"... Still quite a bit. Stones, other loot, all of it into my bag."

... Right. Her bag is a Bag of Holding. She can stuff a lot in it.

From:

theriflespiral

"... Mm." The disconcerting sounds of cutting open skin and bone sit under Natalia's words as she works. "If you can make it somehow not look like blatant theft, all the better-- We don't want them catching the scent and closing the trap before we're ready."

From:

frost_and_shinies

"... True."

Kaitlyn sighs. "Feels bad just leaving shinies, honestly, but it's a better tactic."

And she does leave most of the stones alone, grabbing only a few larger ones.

Re: Entrap the Imperials

From:

theriflespiral - Date: 2025-05-15 04:37 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Entrap the Imperials

From:

frost_and_shinies - Date: 2025-05-17 04:21 pm (UTC) - Expand

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