It Is the Tide, Act 1

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Bodies scatter. The ones who fail to scatter are pulped into the morass. Conqua stumbles, nearly impaling himself on splintered bones that danced at his command just moments ago. The ring of dead blocking Treem Ngôc's movements holds, though, and he scrambles to the relative safety of the other side.


The vapors rising from the mud, where it boils and churns to escape his touch, have begun to take on a stinging, acrid smell. It's not exactly a relief, but it's definitely something other than smoke, for once.

 

[hellrazoromega]

[dice]8307[/dice]


River danced in between the undead, her goal to tangle the up and slow them down. By making their numbers and her speed work to their detriment. As she ducked and weaved she studied the creatures about her, they were dead but her knowledge of anatomy might still severe to her advantage. Even these lifeless things relied on the rigidity of bone for their mobility, a few shattered or disconnected knees among the lead undead would serve to slow down their ghastly precession and allow her time to formulate a more permanent demise for them. Grasping the end of the trailing end of the entrails of the disemboweled creature, River stung between the feet of her adversaries in and attempt to trip them up as she went to work with kicks and her free hand and the flat of her blade to deliver a series of crippling strikes.

 

[Blackadder]

Ahead, a band of laborers and villagers, desperately preparing for the storm. Behind, Diax, frowning and observing the tableau. In the middle, a throng of zombies, undead moving towards their vulnerable targets. No sweat. Diax tensed and shot off like a leopard. Moving quickly, but intently, he approached one of the creatures in the rear, and unsheathed his knife in a glinting smooth quick-draw.


It buried into the dead neck flesh and then ripped the head off free in a motion of skill that belied its seeming brutishness. Diax knew this score - with his strength and training, he could remove their necessary parts with ease, then corpses back to the grave.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

The center of this melee is an obvious disaster. The sun is scorching away deathly miasma, hellfire fills a tornado of silver sand, burning timber gets caught in the whirlwind... But for all the zeal and fury being brought to bear on the apparent villain of the day, the runaway zombies have gotten remarkably little attention. One pack has even reached its target, the massed labor force from Heinz's caravan. Fortunately, as the front-runners were nearing the wagons, the laggarts were falling to pieces, dismembered too abruptly to even react to their attacker.


Meanwhile, up on the hill a bit, *two* women have now burst from hiding to keep the advancing pack pinned down. Their quarry wrench themselves free of the traps, in time, but the magic sustaining them is nearing its implausible limits as the animated bodies are torn, hacked, and battered beyond structural limits.


Of course, in both cases, the monsters turn immediately and fall upon their attackers. The hungry dead are easily distracted by heartbeats.

Spoiler

[dice]8381[/dice]




[dice]8382[/dice]

 

[hellrazoromega]

[dice]8387[/dice]

OOC

+10 Footwork and Mischievous Monkey Technique for another +10 to dodge should net her 39, if I am reading that right?.

River took the small amount of time she had gained to dance backwards to avoid whatever these zombies had in store for her. She flowed like her namesake to get clear and ready her sword to to a final end to these foul things, even now it seemed as if whatever dark force controlled the zombies was starting to wane.

 

[Grey]

Mask watches from atop the wall with quiet satisfaction; the burning projectile, whipped by the winds, left a hot shard of scorched wood in the necromancer's right eye as it carried on unto oblivion.


"You would not see; now you will not." He says, and considers the best path to finish this diversion before it becomes uninteresting.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Conqua grasps desperately for footing in the mud, but manages, at best, to rise to a crouch. He risks the distraction of considering the other two groups of the dead, slowly with one eye useless, and nearly takes a tusk to the back for his trouble.


Gliding suddenly backwards, without the apparent need for footsteps, he darts under Treem Ngôc. As he emerges behind her, his bow is already nocked and drawn, but he holds it wrong-handed, trying to take aim at Mask with his good eye. The brilliant pillar of sunfire seems hard to look past, though. He squints at Sun Minh, and relaxes the draw.


The zombies around him halt in place, like clockwork dolls unwound, but they remain standing. And he still *holds* the bow, if clearly unready to fire.


 
There is a mountain visible behind the—


Sorry, there is a whole range of mountains visible behind the Sweet Rest—


But that one mountain. Not the closest one. Off to the right, some. And behind.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

The necromancer hesitates a moment longer, until Sun Minh is committed to her course. Then, with a twisting sort of axe-kick, he snatches the bow out of his hands and yanks it down, overdrawing the weapon badly. All that force, though, goes into the next arrow, which hits a rock uncovered by the water's refusal to touch him. The wood explodes with a sound like bones crunching in the teeth of hyenas, and an impossible amount of shrapnel flies out in all directions. It shines green and teal, covered with flames that aren't blown back by the speed of their ride.

 

[Random Word]

"Exactly how you thought a horde of hungry dead were going to help your village is beyond me - and so I am reminded of my sanity," she observes, her soul blazing brilliantly behind her, the disk of the sun wreathed in the warding coils of a pair of great golden dragons. She sheathes her sword and steps forward onto the edge of the platform, centering herself in one fluid motion. She soars through the air towards the Necromancer, her anima behind her and the revealed sun leaving her nothing but a dark silhouette against the brilliant glare as she descends to mete out justice from on high. "You will be tried, whether by the dragons under the damning gaze of those you've killed, or by your people amidst their mourners!" she cries. The dragons behind her join her fists as her arms sweep aside the flaming fragments forming two great incandescent wings, her foot lashing out to complete the image of the striking crane.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

The kick is powerful, and swift, and the necromancer is hobbled. But the dark magic he employs moves him out of the way of force that would surely splinter his ribs. And it keeps him upright as he stumbles backward under the rest of her assault. There is no trading of blows, here, because Conqua never regains the momentum to strike back, but there is no decisive, staggering strike either. Just increasingly desperate lurches out of the way of perfect, elegant forms. It is enough like a courtroom, like a prosecutor revealing all the holes in her opponent's arguments as he fumbles for an excuse that will unlink the chains of proof binding him. Enough that the metaphor probably carries to other cultures, even if the principle actors are recast. He cannot win, and all his struggling only grants him the option to lose more painfully.


He drops his bow to catch a punch, and keeps hold. He shouts something over the general din. It's local gibberish, of course, but Sun Minh has heard pleas for mercy often enough—albeit usually with more sobbing—to get the gist. Heinz and Mask might recognize the words. Heinz had better.


"No more, please! Let me live, and I will return what I have taken!"

 

[Blackadder]

The zed swarmed him, to be sure. But Diax danced back, just away from rotten claws and inexorable jaws. Tireless and feeling no pain, but they were still flesh and bone, and still some parts, that if damaged or severed, just like a human, imposed limitations that could not be overcome. Diax savagely rent and chopped legs, necks and arms, to the point where many still moving zombies walled off more mobile kin.

 

[hellrazoromega]

Like a humming bird dancing in a field of flowers, River eyes the creatures around her as she moves looking for the best points to strike. Her sword thrusts like the tongue of that self same bird as she acts to remove as many of these wretched horrors as she can. As she is when practicing medicine her precision is surgical, not wasted effort or movement. Even as she dances about River keeps her eyes and mind open for her next move and an escape, should she need it, lest she be overwhelmed. She doubts these things could manage to overwhelm her, but overconfidence would not be her downfall this day.


"The Land needs your bodies for other things, your souls will have their time another day."

OOC

I will do just as you said in the OOC thread, Lotus, using the dice to find weak-points and attack as many as she can manage.

 

[Random Word]

"How can you possibly return the lives you have taken?" demands Sun Minh incredulously. "You haven't even halted the assault of your minions. You take more as we speak. Halt the damage and we may begin to speak of reparations."

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

There's a tense moment where the necromancer just stares at her, with growing incredulity. Then he laughs, doubling over in a clearly exaggerated display. The flesh of his right cheek bulges wetly around the wood stuck in his face.


"You think I killed? Look around!" And he waves. Up the hill, where River and the local guard captain have a small mob pinned down, in some cases literally. Their mobility keeps them largely out of danger as they take the attackers apart piecemeal. Down the hill, where—literally taking them apart—Diax has been carving through a horde with brutal efficiency. There are a handful of injuries among the ranch hands, but they have the last intact zombies propped up on pitchforks. Up to the top of the hill, where the bustling villagers are panicky, but no enemies have reached them. Whatever threat existed has been contained, and Snake-in-Pot has already delivered his warning. And around, at the swamp, where all the bodies are.


"Okay, I killed one guard. But Tan was cheating on his wife. He had no honor."


He's grinning. He's fucking grinning and it is so smug.

 

[Random Word]

Sun Minh grits her teeth and backhands him across the face before humouring him and examining the state of the village. Between the sandstorm and her own focus she hadn't realized the zombies had been halted. How many expert martial artists and Anathema can one tiny backwoods village hold? "So you failed not far lack of trying but for lack of wits. We can reduce the charges levelled against you from 'murder of' to 'attempted murder of' your entire village!" she congratulates sarcastically. "Was this your idea of a clever practical joke? Hesiesh temper the fires of my rage if you think this," she gestures broadly at the state of the village, "is droll," she growls, her eyes flashing dangerously.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Conqua grimaces, and spends the time Sun Minh is speaking gingerly rubbing his wounded face. He looks younger the longer he spends not shooting at anyone. Skin is smooth, motions are still a little rough and wasteful. The bone-white linens he wears aren't doing him any favors, but the mud has something to do with that. He's barefoot, and his long hair has dozens of tiny bones tied into it.


"I do not think... I think you should let me leave before the other ones get too far away and scatter." He nods in the direction of the wall that separates the muddy pool from the jungle beyond, and his decorations rattle together. They really shouldn't be audible; he's almost shouting to be heard. "I cannot return what I can't track down."


He glances up the hill, at that, and grins."Maybe if Ki-Lan helped. She is the best tracker."

 

[hellrazoromega]

River looks over the scene about her as she moves closer to the center of all of the action which has been going on in order to see if she can get a better grasp on what has been going on.


"Well this has been an interesting day."

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

I mean, it was interesting. There was a time when things like a mob of undead being led against a helpless village by someone who appears to know the residents extremely well would cross the "interesting" threshold. It was only a few seconds ago. But all that just got a little meaningless, a little bland, even hard to focus on.


Nothing compares to that mounta—


To the cliff on the side of that mountain, almost too far away to—


There's a woman in the cliff. It's clearly not possible to see her at this distance, but there was a time when distance mattered more than Her, and that time is in the past. Eyelids are a triviality. Looking away is meaningless, and probably blasphemy. She eclipses awareness, and even the zombies, even the elephant everyone must Be Aware.


And then it stops, and the world regains its ordinary focus.

 

[Random Word]

Sun Minh blinks and shakes her head, exclaiming, "Mela's sweet breath, what is wrong with this village? What was that? Why do you have an Anathema population density that makes the Caul look like Tuchara?" She looks around and sighs in exasperation, then scowls at Conqua, "None of this is getting you to trial." She turns to crane her neck to see the rider atop the elephant, "You! You say you want to fix the wall? Then do it! And you," she points a finger accusingly at the soothsayer, "No more prognostications! I don't think I can take anymore. The village certainly can't." She turns her head to see the new woman approaching, "It's not over yet. The Necromancer claims his creations are still at large. You seem quite capable of dispatching them, would you make a sweep of the perimeter of the village to tie up any loose ends?" Without waiting for a response she grasps the collar of Conqua's robe in one fist and begins dragging him up the slope, "I think you will see Ki Lan, but I doubt she'll find this as amusing as you do."

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

Conqua shrugs and stumbles along after.


"No, she will probably not."

 

[Blackadder]

Diax finished off the last few zombies, when IT happened. He frowned and began to clean his knife as the implications suggested itself. Something big went down. Something bound to be Fate related, and definitely prophecy related. Well... he'd come to the right place. And taking a look around did suggest other Exalts here. If one needed a shite storm, look no further.

 

[Shining Lotus Sage]

As the Magistrate settles comfortably into handing out orders, Ki-Lan is dispatching the remaining dead. Now that the urgency is diminished and she is relatively safe, the combat high seems to be giving way to grief. She weeps as she methodically butchers her cousins, and the tremble is back in her hand. In bitter irony, it's causing her to make sloppier, disfiguring cuts. The machete is slowly dulling on bone, too, which doesn't help. She wraps up her task as the prisoner is drawn near.





"Stop at once!" she shouts suddenly. "That one is still armed." And indeed, there is a contraption of saplings and small logs under considerable tension, smeared with concealing ash, at their feet.


"Snake-in-Pot said... He said Conqua had come back. And I thought we could rejoice! I thought it would be a feast-day! What is this? What is this?" As she rises from closing the last set of eyes, her fury builds. "You unearthed the dead! You insult our ancestors and our survivors! You demean yourself! How can you even call yourself Tengese?!" By the time she stalks over to him, her machete is practically vibrating in the tension of her grip. If she had been worthy of the dragons, they would all be choking on a cloud of ash, or the sea in their lungs. She opens her mouth to continue the point, but Conqua lurches forward in Sun Minh's grasp and cuts her off.


"Don't moralize to me, Red Eyes. You comfort yourself with crumbling fortifications and empty prayers! You have no faith left, and it is the only thing you have done right! You know I can stop them. I can move in the night like they can, and my militia cannot panic, cannot falter, cannot whimper in fear and pain while the beasts close in! Do not speak to me of piety! I will save these people," and here he waves roughly up the hill, "if they do not kill themselves! What have you done?!"


You'd expect her to escalate, really. It's in keeping with her general temperament. But instead, she shrinks back, folds in on herself as though his words had been a solid fist in the liver. Her eyes read betrayal, but it's not the same as animosity. "Stop this, Conqua. You are walking a road so dark, the Night Mother turns away. We need every strong back; I could convince Riverworn Stone to let you stay and work, if you turn your back on—on this!" She doesn't even need to gesture.


"Remember your place, sister." Conqua's eyes set as firmly as his jaw, and match the scolding tone. "You are law, order, safety. Do not invite a serpent into your house."

 

[Random Word]

Cathak Sun Minh


Sun Minh's face contorts with fury as she drives her fist into Conqua's jaw. "You stupid ignorant child. You could have found the Legion wherever they've fucked off to, you could have gone for help downriver, and instead you thought these Dragons forsaken abominations would safeguard your people?" She regains her stance and wipes her face, breathing heavily, still recovering from the day's exertion. "I have heard it said one should never attribute to malice what might equally be accounted by stupidity, but in all my years arresting stupid people for malicious acts rarely have I seen such depths of either."


She casts a sympathetic glance at Ki-Lan, "I will find whatever this menace of the jungle is, drag it into the light, and should it prove half as monstrous as I, gut it on the spot. Then I will depart before I cause any harm." She glares at Conqua, "I wouldn't trust you to dig a ditch without endangering the entire Satrapy. We may both be monsters, but at least I have the good grace to be civilized about it. Now sit still and shut up until your trial, your people don't need to hear any more of your brilliant ideas. By the time you've been sentenced I will have demonstrated how to solve problems without desecrating the remains of your ancestors."


Sun Minh studies Ki-Lan to ascertain how she's holding up, evidently concerned. "Where do you want your brother incarcerated for the time being?" she asks, exhausted.

 

[Blackadder]

[QUOTE="Random Word]Sun Minh's face contorts with fury as she drives her fist into Conqua's jaw. "You stupid ignorant child. You could have found the Legion wherever they've fucked off to, you could have gone for help downriver, and instead you thought these Dragons forsaken abominations would safeguard your people?" She regains her stance and wipes her face, breathing heavily, still recovering from the day's exertion. "I have heard it said one should never attribute to malice what might equally be accounted by stupidity, but in all my years arresting stupid people for malicious acts rarely have I seen such depths of either."

[/QUOTE]
"You haven't found enough of them then." Diax called, coming up towards the Realm official enough to hear the conversation. "What this about a menace in the jungle?" He rolled his shoulders, working off the exertion and sweat created by butchering zombies.


Truthfully though, in one little grim worn section of his soul, Diax applauded the bit from this Conqua about pointless piety. Being in Heaven itself had disabused him of even the slightest shreds of faith he might have retained from his past life.


If this was the place, zombies weren't the big deal. Perhaps the assortment of strange individuals, yet clearly on the front lines of the fight, might be the focus in question.

 

[Random Word]

Cathak Sun Minh


Sun Minh favours Diax with a wry smile, "Cathak Sun Minh, and I've found enough for one lifetime, I assure you. The village is being plagued by some pack of rogue spirits who strike under cover of night. There is no real Immaculate presence to pacify them, and you can see the effect they've had." She examines Diax appraisingly, "You comported yourself well, and look like you know your way around a fight. I would have your assistance in laying them low so these people can rebuild in whatever passes for peace in this Dragons forsaken jungle."