Act 10 Kaiju Battle

The Second Half of the Night Mission

Today we battle a Kaiju! But first lets recap:

We ended last post and Act 9 with the Irish knights having dispatched a Barghest and then discovering a Cult feeding a hole in the side of a hill. Yeah it sounds weird, but this seems to be happening all over the place. Ancient creatures are waking and various cults and groups are trying to wake them faster.

We start exactly where we left off in the last post. The cultists are all dead the ruddy glow within the bore-hole in the hillside slowly dies out and the breathing slows. Whatever is in the mountain seems to be sleeping again.

Blood of the Hunt

Gabriel’s men are invigorated with the fighting. The barghest was dispatched so fast and the mass of cultists barely put up a fight. Only a half dozen of his men have been killed or wounded. Perhaps the fact that before the invasion of Aysle, before reality got twisted, these men used to be thugs and criminals. The Irish equivalent of the Mafia, they used to threaten, coerce, and break thumbs to get what they wanted. But now their “protection” was real, they were fighting to protect their people.

Gabriel is equally pleased to have succeeded, and what started as political maneuvering might have actually become a calling. His claims to uniting the city and protecting all of Dublin might have touched a core that he’d never acknowledged before. That all said both Ragnall and Davey can see in his eyes that the loss of his 6 men is troubling him deeply, and that he wants to call it a victory and get his men home. But how to handle them in their amped up state?

Already several of the men are claiming they can drag the Baron out of his house [a hidden fortress that no one actually knows where it lies] and beat him soundly [when he is an ancient evil that could literally tear a man limb from limb with his bare hands].

Counter Offer:

Gabriel’s political acumen is about to fail him, when Ragnall steps in.

Ragnall: “Going after the Baron tonight would ruin the plan… after all the point is to make his people love Gabriel more than him. With the Barghest dead and their master hiding like a worm in the dark, the people will thank their saviors. Come tomorrow the people will ASK you to come back and pull the Baron out of his hole. Then you’ll be the heroes… the saviors… if you attack tonight it could be twisted you manufactured the barghest.”

Ragnall has them, they are understanding his words with the logical parts of their brains but the adrenaline surging through their veins wants more of a release. At this point Davey steps in.

Davey: “But… if it’s a fight you want, we do have another one…” Ash and Ragnall look at Dave, clearly wondering what he could mean. “The docks have been attacked these last few nights, beasts from the sea and the Yardies have been fighting them off… alone. We helped them this morning but more are sure to come tonight…”

Carrot before the Stick:

Ragnall is quick to get in, “Think of the alliance. We’ve already talked with the Yardies about allying with the north of the city, and they are considering it. Coming to their aid would male an impression that can only lead to all of Dublin coming together.”

Davey: “We can lead you there and make introductions and make this alliance a done deal tonight. And tomorrow the Baron would face the combined forces of the North and South of the city.”

Gabriel is pleased by the reversal of fortunes, but he is still concerned for his dead and wounded. Ryan has patched up the few that will survive. Ragnall puts the “cherry on top,” giving Gabriel a way out of the rest of the night. But also saving face.

Ragnall: “Gabriel, why don’t you load your wounded into our ambulance and Ryan will drive you back to your base, and assist your medics. We’ll take the horses of the downed men and lead your troops.”

Gabriel agrees and the knights cheer.

Within moments the party is on horse back and leading the 8 ex-mafia men to another battle. Barry runs alongside easily pacing the horses, and they all wonder why they spent so much time stuffing him into the backs of vans and such to transport him around the city when his fae nature means he can run faster than they can drive.

To the Docks!

As they near the docks Davey is wondering how the knights will handle NOT finding a fight. He’s hoping that the long ride from the north west of the city to the east and south of the Liffe will be long enough to cool their tempers and work the adrenalin from their limbs.

And then the massive explosion and the pillar of fire that erupts into the sky, thousands of feet into the sky, pauses all of them as the horses throw their heads in fear. Gaining control of the mounts takes a moment and all of their night vision has been ruined by the bright light. But thousands of people have been woken by the sound and lanterns are being lit along their entire path to the docks.

Davey has a moment to wonder if he has been cursed and if he should be more careful with predicting fights, when Ash nudges him from his musing and they both kick their horses into a gallop. It wouldn’t due to have the Irish arrive before them.

FUCKING Kaiju Battle!

The docks are well lit, besides the torches and lanterns put up by the Yardies, several massive ships in the bay are on fire and wading up unto shore is a monstrosity more than a hundred feet tall. It is part lizard, part shark, all limbs and teeth and claws. In a wide wedge before it are scores of deep ones wielding spears and nets. Flames lick in pools over the surface of the great creature, but don’t seem to bother it.

The horses are smarter than the knights and they rear back and buck as they get closer to the docks. Whether it is the deep fishy, ammonia reek or all the flames and screaming men and monsters, the horses have had enough, our brave heroes quickly dismount. Despite being called “storm knights” they are NOT trained horsemen.

The three look to each other and nod, they’ll find each other at the end of the battle. This is not one where they can stay close together. Ash opens a portal and disappears as Ragnall goes forward and throws a ball of fire into the mass of deep ones. Davey sighs as he runs behind the Irish and Barry and slowly makes his way to the battle.

Not a good start:

Ragnall’s fireball erupts among a dozen of the fish men, but thick slime coats their bodies and they shed the flames. Ash pops out of his portal to take on one of the priests, his sword flashing in a deadly arc, only to find that the Priestess warps reality and his blade misses by inches. The deep ones have their own stormers. Davey arrives into a mass of Deep Ones, moments after the Irish have charged their mounts through them. He hacks with his blade and is joined by Barry to his left and a couple yardies to his right. His vanquisher blade flares with light but the deep ones seem barely affected by his strikes. He needs to catch his breath.

The kaiju lunges forward, falling onto its forelimbs, the creature is actually a quadruped and as it lands it darts its shark mouth forward and swallows a yardie whole. On the back of the kaiju is revealed a driver and four archers. The archers open fire on Davey and his group of knights. Arrows cut a furrow across Dave’s scalp and blood runs into his right eye. One of the knights beside him drops off the horse and whimpers as he drags himself out of the fight. Davey tries to help the man but suddenly a Deep One is swiping at his face.

Ash pulls back from a lunge on the priest as a stray arrow nearly takes him in the chest, how rude. Meanwhile Ragnall is cursing that his fireball seems to have been neutralized. The deep ones are smart enough to have prepared for him. He starts to summon another spell when three deep ones break out of the darkness and pile onto him.

Getting Worse:

The priestess manages to get a hand on Ash, but her claws merely tear the front of his shirt from neck to crotch. Beneath the finely woven elven chainmail glints in the fire light. Ash smiles and raises his blade for an overhead strike, two more arrows whistle past and he has to change his attack plan.

Davey goes to attack back on his foe when two of the seven-foot tall princeps push in on him. A trident spears into his guts and Davey’s armor gives way and he vomits up his dinner. Besides him one of the knights takes the thrust from the second princeps and dies. Davey grabs the trident embedded in his guts and looks its wielder in the eye. He spits blood and bile into the creature’s eyes.

Ragnall is at the bottom of a pile of deepones, the creatures are kicking and punching, at nothing… the old man wriggles free of the pile and crawls a few meters away before he gets to his feet, he pushes back his sleeves and just as he’s about to fireball the group… there is an explosion far behind him and the sound of gunfire. Is someone attacking the rear of the yardie compound?

The Kaiju lowers its head and bites another yardie in half.

Tides turn:

Ragnall swears and blasts the trio of deep ones. The slime on their bodies seems far less effective this time and the trio are reduced to ash and bone.

Ash decides to try the tactic he used in the previous deep one battle. He opens a small portal behind the priest and then lunges past her. His blade opens the priestess’s side and severs her spine and his lunge ends with a thrust through the portal, and out into the back of the driver of the Kaiju. The driver is deeply wounded but he turns the kaiju toward the elf.

Davey, still holding the trident back slashes the princeps, but his blade merely bounces off the thick skull of the deep one. The princeps yanks the trident out of Davey’s gut and the large wrestler staggers back a step. Looking around the field he sees more yardies dropping under a wall of deep one spears and only six of Gabriel’s knights are still up, but they’ve lost their horses and all are wounded. Gunfire and explosions far behind him makes him wonder if the deep ones have gotten past them and if they are killing citizens.

He is just so tired, the blood running down his legs his not helping him. And then the kaiju runs forward, knocking men and deep ones aside in its single-minded determination. The heavily wounded driver is goading the beast to one target. Ash jumps up to counter attack, the bravest craziest bastard Davey has ever met. And the massive jaws of the kaiju snap shut once and the dark elf is gone.

The one-time member of Ulthorion’s army, the dark elf who tried to walk in the light, is pierced through by teeth the size of kite shields, chewed and then spat out unto the dock as the great beast slowly turns to look at the knot of fighters trying to hold the docks.

RAGE:

Ragnall steps forward, calling on the lightning of the storm, clouds gather overhead in a boiling surge of angry energy. Thunder booms as the power is drawn from the heavens. Barry bellows and knocks aside a handful of deep ones. He kills another priest and then scoops up Ash’s body. He runs the fallen elf away from the fighting.

A yardie steps up onto the rusted hulk of a car and is reading the instructions on the side of a bazooka, he pulls a pin, extends the tube, and points the correct end toward the enemy.

Davey throws himself into both princeps, screaming in rage, his wound and lethargy forgotten. His blade chops into both of the creatures and they fall back under his onslaught. The princeps fall beneath his blade as he surges forward through them, the knights form up beside him and fight in a wedge through the enemy.

Barry places Ash on the ground and then turns back to the fighting. He charges across the field and kills another priest, barreling through the body and reducing it to parts and blood spray. [The hit is so hard that David is able to play a GLORY card, and the gunfire and attacks at the back of the fighting ends.] Ragnall finishes pulling the energy for his bolt and he lashes out with the lightning, striking the kaiju. The beast roars as blood erupts from a long wound down its flank. One of the arches is also caught in the blast and bursts.

Finish IT:

Only one priestess is still on the field, last time the whole army broke when the priest died. Davey closes with the priestess and hits her with his blade, but then reality warps and the creature is three meters to his right and unwounded. He curses.

Ragnall is struck by a salvo of arrows from the remaining archers on the kaiju and staggers back. He summons a ball of fire and hurls it back in retaliation. Somehow the driver on the kaiju’s back avoids damage but the kaiju itself bursts into flame, its entire back blistering and boiling. But the great creature is still going strong and it swipes a hand along the dock, killing another knight and two more yardies.

Davey and the priestess exchange blows and both of them warp reality to keep soaking away the damage. It’s a stalemate. A trio of princeps move in to protect the priestess.

Barry charges the kaiju and leaps up grabbing the great creature’s jaws in his large hands. With a scream of primal rage Barry breaks the jaw and then twists, snapping the massive beast’s neck. The archers scramble off the back, two of them surviving to the docks but one of them snapping his neck in an awkward fall. The driver is strapped to the back of the beast and doesn’t manage to get free as the beast falls over and he is crushed beneath it.

The deep ones recoil in horror and start to back up.

Push them back into the Sea:

The trio of Princeps are forming a wall between Davey and the Priestess. They exchange blows, Davey’s rage keeping him going and every wound that opens on a princeps encourages him further. Ragnall runs up to close the distance and hurls a fireball at the priestess, she dismisses it.

Davey presses again and the princeps repel him but they have more wounds among them. Barry starts to come over, knocking out deep ones along the way, and Ragnall rushes forward. The priestess might be able to stop attacks from hitting HER, but what about her defenders? He fireballs the princeps and two of them die instantly. The last princeps is heavily wounded. The creature charges into Davey in a final act of defiance, but as he does that Barry charges past and kills the priestess with a single swipe of his massive hand.

Davey dispatches the heavily wounded princeps and then seeing that the enemy is routed, he runs back to check on Ash.

Toughest bastard on the Island:

Ash is broken, arms and legs twisted and only held together by tendons and luck. Only the fact that Barry wrapped him in a death shroud has kept any blood within his body at all. But really, Ash is just such an evil son of a bitch that the reaper doesn’t want to deal with him. The true “toughest” bastard of the isle is Ragnall. The priest is ignoring the three arrows in his own chest and the blood bubbling in his mouth every time he breaths. He heals the elf, though Ash doesn’t awaken, his breathing does deepen and his limbs do straighten and fill back out.

Ragnall then heals Davey, and finally himself, before he gets back to his feet and starts to stagger around the battle field.

In the aftermath of the battle the trio look up to see that the head of Gabriel’s knights is kissing the hand of Mame, the White Witch. The alliance is coming together.

BY 3 am the Irish Knights return to Dublin House and fall into sleep. They have fought four major battles in a 15-hour period. Rest has been earned.

End of Scene 2

So… next week we’ll pick up with scene 3, late morning of day 143… Where we learn more about the changes to Eire and the story of the Castle that keeps appearing and disappearing. It’s a long conversation with the Keymaster, and then just like that we move on to Act 11.