Log:Broken Dolls: Hedgespedition

Broken Dolls: Hedgespedition
Participants Alonso, Cassian, Rozalia, Iris, Gisa as ST	11 August, 2017 A possibly ill-advised trip off of the Trod. Part of Broken Dolls
Location Deep Hedge
-> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 7 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 3 3 4 5 5 6 7 8 8 8 8 10 10 10 > ============================-> >> Wits + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- A select group of individuals is contacted about a hair brained mission into the hedge, and some people even bother responding to it afterwards. That group is asked to assemble at Stoneheart by Alonso, where he promises to explain himself. Normally a calm and composed fellow, Alonso has become animated. Even impassioned. He explains that the threat posed by the 'Armies of the Mother', as he's taken to calling them, is considerable. They've already torn through the local hedge in two locations, leaving open trails through the briars right through the loop trod. Anyone that follows those cuts, he continues, will be led right to the heart of our freehold. The greatest defense that they enjoy-- isolation --has been taken from them. It is therefore incumbent upon them, and imperative in that incumbency, that they set out along one of these cuts, follow it towards the source of these incursions, ascertain the strength, number, and disposition of the enemy, and perhaps locate the individual they refer to as their Mother. He shares a hypothesis, that the mother may be no more, and this absence would account both for their sudden and pronounced violence and their relative state of decay. Whatever was tending them and keeping them in line may be gone. With that all said Alonso notes the risks involved, the likelihood of death or dismemberment, and also the insane level of bragging rights that will result from a successful mission. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Right? Anyone who's still in the room after all of that, well. They can follow him down the mountain. Or not. In a stunning display of her utter lack of sense, Iris shows up with enthusiasm and then meets the crackpot idea with even more of the same. With her wholehearted endoresement of what's probably a masterfully bad idea, she declares that the idea is "awesome" and that she just has to go get something first. When they meet up again what she seems to have decided she was missing is an umbrella, for who knows what reason, which she carries rested on her shoulder like a soldier might rest a spear or a rifle. Other than that, it seems that her idea of appropriate equipment for an expedition like this is rainbow colored gladiator sandals with bright ribbons on them and a sundress. No armor, no sword, nothing like that. Much like last time, Cassian's services had been conscripted. There wasn't some steep charge or expensive contract made--But the man wasn't against using the up-front assistance later as leverage. Dressed in the same mesh-and-plate riot armor fit over his body as they had witnessed last time, and having the same hand-carved bow slung over his shoulder, the Darkling-Woodblood waited for the others with a leg draping down from the lowest branch of a tree nearby. Bare, like before. Cassian didn't like shoes very much, it would appear. Roz can go with the flow most times and the Romanian quickly realizes that this needs to be one of those times. Thankfully she's also learned that life with Cassian means more time in the Hedge, which meant upgrading armor as well. This is what happens when you live part of the time with High Wyrd Changelings. New life choices get made. The armor is not top of the line, but it's one of the better pieces of 'not getting killed' that you can find. It's black and there's faded alchemical symbols and other arcane glyphs painted on the armor. She not up in the tree with Cassian, but she does reach up to poke the pad of his bare foot with a gloved hand. Alonso wears his gear on him most of the time. Comes from being a vagabond. He's armored in his leather duster and hat, strapped with a baldric that holds a very obviously hedgespun saber, and carrying in his hands an equally obviously hedgespun bow. He sets off without much ado, bow in his left hand, right hand resting on his sabre hilt. He heads for the western arm of the trod, taking the mountain trail down towards the forest where the hobs first struck. "Cassian and myself, I know, are particularly adept at infiltration. Observation. That sort of business. Rozalia, I am a bit hazy on your skillset. But given you are a Lady Sage, I am confident that it is appropriate." He doesn't mention Iris. Because Iris is sort of obvious, there. Iris is obvious eveywhere, but she also seems to simply take it for granted that people will realize what her role in this whole thing is. Her job is to be awesome. She's great at it! "I'm sure that everything will be fine," she says with a smile, one that bears the sharp teeth of a dragon. "I can fly under the radar when I need to, if it comes to that. Honestly, I can. It's not easy to conceal this degree of brilliance, but I can manage it when I need to." -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 1 2 2 3 4 4 6 7 8 9 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 4 Successes < 1 2 2 3 5 5 5 5 6 6 10 10 10 10 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 2 3 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 10 > ============================-> >> Wits + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 1 Success < 1 7 7 9 > ========================-> >> Intelligence + Survival No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 2 3 6 6 7 9 10 > ========================-> >> Intelligence + Survival No Flags << <- GAME: Rozalia spends 1 Willpower -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 2 2 7 8 9 10 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 3 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 1 Success < 2 4 5 7 7 8 > ========================-> >> Intelligence + Survival No Flags << <- GAME: Rozalia regain 1 Willpower -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 6 6 6 7 9 9 10 > ============================-> >> Wits + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 0 Success < 2 4 6 6 6 6 > ==============================================-> >> 6 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 4 4 5 7 8 8 > ========================-> >> Intelligence + Survival No Flags << <- New Activity --------- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 1 2 4 7 9 9 > ==============================================-> >> 6 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 0 Success < 2 3 3 3 3 3 6 6 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 2 No Flags << <- GAME: Iris spends 2 Glamour -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 0 Success < 1 > ==============================================-> >> 1 No Flags << <- GAME: Cassian spends 2 Glamour -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 8 9 > ==============================================-> >> 2 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 0 Success < 3 3 > ==============================================-> >> 2 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 1 Success < 3 8 > ==============================================-> >> 2 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 1 Success < 5 7 10 > ==============================================-> >> 2 No Flags << <- GAME: Iris regain 2 Glamour GAME: Cassian regain 2 Glamour -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 5 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 4 5 6 7 8 8 9 9 10 > =================================-> >> Resolve + Wyrd No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 4 5 5 7 8 9 > ==============================================-> >> 6 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 1 Success < 1 2 3 3 4 4 6 6 6 7 10 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- GAME: Iris spends 1 Willpower -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 1 Success < 1 2 4 5 5 6 10 > ==============================================-> >> 6 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 2 3 3 5 7 7 7 8 8 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 3 No Flags << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 2 3 3 7 7 8 8 9 > ====================-> >> Intelligence + Survival + 5 No Flags << <- -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 5 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 3 4 5 5 5 6 7 8 8 9 9 9 > ============================-> >> Wits + Survival + 4 No Flags << <- GAME: Iris regain 1 Willpower "I don't think my Arcane knowledge is going to help too much out here, but hopefully my other skills will." Rozalia states to Alonso with a nod of her head. There's a look to Iris and a smile from the glowing eyed woman. Then she looks to Cassian, "I'm not as good with a bow as he is, but I can do decently. More I am hoping we stay off the radar for the most part." she nods. Then they're off! And someones gotta navigate their way out of a wet paper sack, Roz is not that person, though she does give a few helpful pointing gestures, not much else comes from the Sage other than that. Silent as the grave for the most part. Cassian had startled at Roz's poking of the bottom of his foot. It caused him to grow wide eyes and suddenly belt out, "That's my toadstool, witch!" Then, of course, a bit of lucidity peeked back into his mind and he realized he wasn't in the daydream any longer. But, Roz was near by. That was usually better than daydreams. "Oh," he says, calmly. Then, as swiftly as could be, they were already on the move. Dropping from the tree branch, Cass motions towards an area he'd already eyed a bit. There were some signs, he thought, that the machines had gone that direction. It would appear, for this venture, his partner would be Iris. The Darkling-Woodblood Cassian sticks close to the ground, studying it closely. When he finds brush that has been disturbed, he looks it over, before returning along the trail. Now and again, his hand will motion for Iris, who seems to find her own clues just as often. He didn't seem to focus so much on keeping a visual on Alonso and Roz--There weren't a lot he could feed from out here. He could sense them. Oddly, Iris seems to have only the vaguest idea of what she's doing, and a peculiarly preternatural knack for just happening to spot things that she can point out to Cassian, even though she has no clue what they mean herself. Hey, weird, that branch is broken. Is that a footprint? It's like someone bumbling along and just happening to get things right, but it works well enough for her. All the while, she moves with an energetic enthusiasm that isn't that far off of something like a kid whose family vacation just arrived at the parking lot to an amusement park and they can barely contain their excitement. Navigating in the hedge isn't precisely Alonso's specialty. But he's not terrible at it, and has the assistance of a hedge beast eagle to aid him as he goes. It's a surprisingly tedious process, coordinating with a circling raptor, but he never actually steers the group wrong. It's a task made more difficult by not being on point due to not wanting to obscure the trail Cassian is tracking. So it's a bit like trying to steer a fire engine from the back end. Still. When all is said and done, and Alonso crouches down behind a thorny bit of cover near the end of the journey, he seems confident that he knows where they all are. He even gives them an 'ok' sign from where he's taken a knee. -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 5 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 3 4 4 4 4 6 7 8 8 10 10 10 > ================================-> >> Wits + Composure 8-Again << <- GAME: Iris spends 2 Glamour with reason: Songs of Distant Arcadia -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 7 Successes for an exceptional success. < 3 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 8 8 9 10 10 10 > ==============================-> >> Wyrd + Expression No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 3 Successes < 2 2 4 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 9 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Stealth.Darkness + 2 9-Again << <- -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 4 Successes < 3 4 7 8 8 8 9 > ===============================-> >> Wits + Composure No Flags << <- -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 1 1 2 2 3 5 5 8 9 > ============================-> >> Wits + Composure - 2 8-Again << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 4 Successes < 2 2 3 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 > ===============================-> >> Wyrd + Dexterity No Flags << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 5 6 6 9 9 10 > ========================-> >> Dexterity + Stealth + 4 No Flags << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 1 Success < 1 6 7 7 8 > ===========================-> >> Wits + Composure - 2 No Flags << <- -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 8 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 3 3 4 5 5 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 > =========================-> >> Dexterity + Stealth + 4 9-Again << <- GAME: Rozalia spends 1 Glamour with reason: Fleeting Grace -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 4 Successes < 2 6 8 8 9 10 > ===========================-> >> Wits + Composure - 2 No Flags << <- -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 5 7 8 9 > ===============================-> >> Dexterity + Wyrd No Flags << <- -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 1 4 5 8 9 10 > ========================-> >> Dexterity + Stealth + 2 No Flags << <- Some people have nightmares that look like this. If they're really unlucky, those nightmares happen along with visions of dead girlfriends. Just saying. The Hedge smells like oil, blood, and fire, giving them plenty of chance to stop before what might pass, in certain worlds, for a Hollow, opens up before them. A massive pit cut into the Hedge's scape where the greenery has all been cut entirely down, just razed to the ground. Literally as far as the eye can see from the top of the hill they find themselves on (yes, even the hawk's eyes) is a huge, deep bowl of scarred earth, piles of broken machinery, and lines of tanks. Lines of soldier hobs. This is what one side of Somme must have looked like in 1916. Blood, muck, tents, trenches (why trenches, are they fighting each other? Practicing trench-digging? This isn't clear.) Oil. Fire. On one side, there's what looks like a giant mechanoid octopus, being fed Hedge trees and vines by a set of the soldier-looking hobs. It's outputting green goop which is being fed into tubes, into something inside a tent which cannot currently be seen. And on every tent, a sigil: a golden fist clutching a thorn. Obsessively around those sigils, the word 'mother' is written over and over again, in ink, in blood, in God knows what else. Some of those Hobs are the same four-foot-tall hobs that they've seen before, with the same rank sigils on their arms. Some... are not. There's a cluster of taller tents in the center. Taller tents mean taller hobs. Yep. Those are at least six feet tall. And the tanks in the middle are bigger, too. -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 1 Success < 1 1 3 3 7 7 9 > ==============================================-> >> 7 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 2 3 6 6 7 9 9 10 > ==============================================-> >> 7 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 1 1 3 4 5 6 6 6 7 10 10 > ==============================================-> >> 9 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 4 Successes < 1 3 4 4 4 6 7 8 9 10 10 > ==============================================-> >> 9 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 1 Success < 1 1 2 5 6 6 6 7 9 > ==============================================-> >> 9 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 2 2 3 5 6 6 8 10 10 > ==============================================-> >> 9 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 0 Success < 2 > ==============================================-> >> 1 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 1 Success < 1 2 4 5 9 > ==============================================-> >> 5 No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 2 Successes < 1 3 3 4 4 6 6 8 10 > ==================================-> >> Wits + Occult No Flags << <- -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 1 2 6 6 7 8 8 > ===================-> >> Wits + Occult.Adroitness - 3 No Flags << <- For just a moment or two Iris looks a little puzzled when they encounter this scene, hidden as well as you can really expect a brightly colored dragon covered with wild feathers to be able to hide. Actually, probably better than such a creature has any right to be able to hide. Then the puzzled look goes away, and as her reptilian gaze slides from one to the next, nictitating membrances occasionally sliding across them in a transluscent blinkk, she taps her fingers together and mouths words silently. Is she counting them? Apparently she's counting them. She definitely doesn't look worried, either. Cassian could sense it. Before he crested the hill and looked outward and over the carnage, he could almost smell it. Something foul. His body slowed and he crept, letting only a pair of lily-violet eyes peering to see what it was spread beyond them. To onlookers, Cassian seemingly became a pale marble statue. Nothing about him seemed to move as he studied the battlefield. When he did begin moving again, it was spiderlike--Purposed, but achingly slow to the tune of hunting. "Lily," he breathes, glancing sidelong towards Roz, "Since when are Hobs this martialed? This isn't tribal--this is organized warfare. Our Hobs used a club to open Gadfly Syr--No, no. No, it was, what was it... The ... you called it butter. But, with, what. Carrot nuts? No--Carrots don't have nuts..." It was stronger, here. The further they went inward, the lucidity faded. Cassian's words fell to silent words being mouthed with no breath, like a volley of words falling from his mouth, breathlessly. Roz keeps low, if Arcadia did one thing it was give her the ability to walk like a nightmare sometimes. She gives a look to the field and the army in the middle of it. The glowing eyes of the Lady Sage look over things, taking in the symbols that are painted and things of that nature. She's never seen a Octopus wood chipper before. Neat! She then remembers something. Something clicks and the Dancer pales a shade lighter than she usually is. She raises her hands a little, starting to sign to..someone, Cassian? She shakes her head, then looks to the Darkling when he says Lily, "We shouldn't be here. This is very bad." she whispers. She closes her eyes and rubs at her temples for a minute, "That's a symbol from Arcadia...I can't remember it fully. Don't remember who it heralds." she mutters. "Very bad feeling...very very bad." she whispers as she opens her eyes. Alonso remains still in the shadows behind his cover, his lighting-flecked eyes peering down into the camp. There's a breeze that rustles around him now, a constant swirl of air that sets his hair and the tassels of his head scarf fluttering. For a few moments, Alonso begins glancing about himself. At the sky above, and the lie of the dirt under his feet. Over his shoulder at the positioning of his companions, then back down at the camp with a renewed focus. "That machine octopus... thing. Were it to be destroyed, it would considerably hamper the ambitions of this army in our hedge, and increase the safety of the freehold in the near term. It seems the risk outweighs the reward in our present numbers, though a larger strike force would balance those scales." He then points down towards the center of the camp, where the larger tents are clustered. "The command and control elements of the camp will be lcoated there, though the overarching leader of the army is absent. Possibly, this is the mother they speak of. If we wanted to disrupt the camp, neutralziing those in the tents and destroying that machine are two of the best ways to do so." He glances back to Iris for a moment, then shrugs his shoulders. "We're here. I'm not sure when we'd ever get another shot at this, to be honest." -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 1 Success < 2 3 3 4 6 6 6 7 8 > ================================-> >> Wits + Composure 8-Again << <- Hey Alonso. Look up. About ten feet up the tree, directly over the Harbinger's head, there's a six-foot-tall mechanoid thing, looking very much like an artist's mannikin gone completely mad, painted with stripes on its shoulders, and the rest of its body painted black. It isn't actually climbing in the tree. It's just... casually walked up the tree, like a spider. Hanging upside down. Staring at him. Clattering. Shaking. And then emitting a sound that comes from the bowels of Hell, something akin to a scream crossed with a klaxon. "MOTHERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" GAME: Alonso rolled 5 + 2, putting himself on the initiative roster at 18. GAME: Iris rolled 7, putting herself on the initiative roster at 17. GAME: Cassian rolled 9, putting himself on the initiative roster at 18. GAME: Gisa directly set "Murdermanikin 1" on the initiative roster at 15. GAME: Gisa directly set "Murdermanikin 2" on the initiative roster at 13. GAME: Gisa directly set "Murdermanikin 3" on the initiative roster at 10. GAME: Rozalia rolled 9, putting herself on the initiative roster at 18. GAME: Gisa directly set "Murdermanikin 4" on the initiative roster at 14. -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 5 Successes for an exceptional success. < 2 3 4 7 8 8 9 9 9 > ====================================-> >> Wits + Wyrd No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 6 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 6 6 7 7 7 8 8 9 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 4 Successes < 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 8 9 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 4 Successes < 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 13 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 4 Successes < 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 7 9 9 9 9 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- GAME: Alonso spends 1 Willpower GAME: Alonso spends 2 Glamour GAME: Rozalia spends 1 Glamour with reason: Wind 1 Alonso does not seem particularly flustered to find himself the subject of an ambush. He simply rises from his crouch and begins to withdraw towards the center of the group. Lighting quick, quite literally, his hand whips back to the quiver on his back and snaps off one, two, three bow shots in quick succession. He seems to rock the shortbow forward in his left hand with each snap of the string, seemingly hurling the arrow bodily from the string into the chest of each of his targets. One after the other the arrows crack home through the armor of the creatures, leaving one of them quite staggered indeed. "Contact left," he notes somewhat redundantly. -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 6 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 2 3 3 4 4 4 8 9 9 10 10 10 > ===============================-> >> Dexterity + Wyrd No Flags << <- -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 7 8 8 > ==============-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Bows + 6 + 2 No Flags << <- "And so it begins." Roz states in a heavily accented tone. The Dancer nocks an arrow as she sees that Alonso has been ambushed and she is indeed going to be following in the footsteps of her stranger other half with the bow. She fires at one of the incoming and it doesn't add to the damage by much, but hey, they look pincushiony! GAME: Cassian spends 3 Glamour GAME: Cassian spends 1 Willpower -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 6 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 3 4 6 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 > ==========================-> >> Wyrd + Persuasion - 3 No Flags << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 5 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 10 10 > ===============================-> >> Dexterity + Wyrd No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 2 Successes < 2 4 5 5 6 8 10 > ==============================================-> >> 6 No Flags << <- -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 6 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 2 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 9 10 > =================================-> >> Wyrd + Resolve No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 0 Success < 3 > ========================================-> >> 13 - 12 No Flags << <- -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 1 1 6 6 7 9 10 10 > ==============================================-> >> 6 No Flags << <- The moment that there are enemies incomig and alarms being raised, subtlety has gone out the window. When subtlety goes out the window, Iris comes crashing right back in through it. The rainbow dragon leaps out of her hiding place and rushes toward the incoming enemies. She makes it about half way to then, then stops in the middle of what passes for a path and flares the crest of rainbow feathers that passes for her hair into an expansive halo and lets out a screeching roar of draaconic challenge at them. Basically, she's trying to make herself as big a target as she can. -> >> Gisa to Here << <-============================================== Rolled a chance die for a success < 2 10 > ========================================-> >> 13 - 21 No Flags << <- -> >> Rozalia to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 1 Success < 2 2 2 3 6 7 8 > =================================-> >> Wyrd + Resolve No Flags << <- Game: Iris takes 1 Lethal damage. -> >> Iris to Here << <-============================================== Rolled 0 Success < 1 2 2 6 7 > ========================-> >> Stamina + Composure - 2 No Flags << <- Cassian continued to mouth the words, now seemingly driven only to find out what the Heck he was trying to conjure in his own mind. His back is to the ground, seemingly perfectly hidden by outcroppings of rocks or grass. Any number of things protecting him from the eyes and ears of the Hobs down below. Of course, the Hobs down below were a problem. Why did it have to be so many of them? He could've stole away and swiped a power core or engine part or something--Anything! But he was helpless with that many Hobs. "Was it Ricenuts?" He asks, thoughtfully, as he rolls a bit on his back on the grass. He seemed ... childlike, almost. More like Iris, actually. Except if Iris wore dark eyeliner and played in a ska band part time because she was afraid doing it for real would mean she had a job. Yea--That Iris would like Cassian. Of course, little do the Hobs know, something was coming for them. In his madness and hunger for a word he couldn't grasp, because the word itself was a nonsense word, there was a part of Cassian trying to solve his problem: the Hobs. He needed them gone. And he couldn't take them on himself. Because he was just an Assassin, not an Ogre. By now, Cassian has begun moving his hand, waving it like an Ogre would it he were smashing small beatles. Ogre smashing. Of course, he wasn't Ogre smashing at all. He was reaching out to all the creepy crawleries about them. He was tugging at them from their nests and holes and drawing them towards the Hobs. To smash upon the Hobs and the mechanicals and stomp them out--Like an Ogre stomping. Out from the Hedge they come, all shapes and sizes. Some orange and red, some bright green. Some were a black so dark the sun simply turned away from them. They were large, but also small. Corgi-sized spiders skittering frantically in impossible pathways. Worms leaving green slime bringing up the rear. And flying monstrosities that would make people beg for wasps. They all came for the Hobs down below, a swarm of violence and nature, gnashing and biting, but mostly annoying the Hell out of things. Cassian had his own army to do his smashing. Or so it seemed. Back on the ground, Cassian grins a bit with wide eyes. "hungry... hungry. Eat. hungry. Hungry. Eat..." "Motherrrrr, motherrrr.... " While the smaller hobs seemed... at least sort of coherent? These are more animalistic. And on closer look -- which Iris definitely gets as one of them swipes at her and actually manages to get through her Elegant Protection, and Alonso too as one of them comes at him (and misses) -- there is fur sticking out of their joints, where pus leaks out of the ball-joints and where they're welded together. Clattering and shivering, the two leaping from tree to tree like oversized mechanoid spiders, focus their attention, one on Iris and one on Rozalia, and there's a hissing sound as Darkness slides toward both of them. Roz doesn't take her eye off of the targets for the moment, but then there's that buzzing noise and she can see fluttering and crawling things about them heading for the field. Then her attention is drawn towards the incoming mechanoid spiders and that hissing sound. Roz doesn't even have a chance to curse or anything else. Her eyes roll back in her head followed by the woman slumping to the ground. Because that looks healthy. GAME: Alonso spends 2 Glamour -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 4 Successes < 1 1 3 3 4 8 8 9 9 > ====================================-> >> Wits + Wyrd No Flags << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 7 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 7 7 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 10 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 7 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 8 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 5 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 2 2 3 4 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 9 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 13 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- -> >> Alonso to Here << <-============================================ Rolled 6 Successes for an exceptional success. < 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 9 10 10 10 > ================-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 8 8-Again << <- GAME: Gisa removes "murdermanikin 1" from the initiative roster. GAME: Gisa removes "murdermanikin 2" from the initiative roster. GAME: Gisa removes "murdermanikin 3" from the initiative roster. GAME: Gisa directly set "Like 800 Fucking Hobs Okay" on the initiative roster at 8. Alonso sidesteps the swipe of the creature that was nearest him and pivots on his heel to snap a fourth bowshot into the base of its skull from behind. Crack. The light goes out, the strings are cut, and the thing just collapses to the ground outright. His fifth and sixth shots are aimed at two two others he'd hit the first time around. Each arrow closer to center mass than the prior shot he'd landed on either of the mechanical hobs. While the kills aren't as clean as the first he'd managed, they too collapse forward into the mud and stir no longer. He's already reaching for another arrow, "If we don't relocate, we'll be overrun in short order." -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 4 Successes < 2 2 3 3 7 7 8 9 9 10 > ===========-> >> Dexterity + Firearms.Archery + 2 - 4 No Flags << <- -> >> Cassian to Here << <-=========================================== Rolled 3 Successes < 3 5 6 8 10 10 > ==============================================-> >> 4 No Flags << <- GAME: Gisa removes "murdermanikin 4" from the initiative roster. A few more moments passed and Peace seemed to wash across Cassian's face. His eyes even closed for what could have been an instant before, as if waking from a validating, life-changing dream, he sprang up. With bow in hand, Cassian was on his feet in a blur of motion. Now was not the time for stealth--They needed to get out of there, and quick. "Peanut butter!" He grunts, before spotting the murdermanikan still giving them trouble. The bow is pulled quickly, and an arrow is loosed at the thing's face, in an attempt to split it in two. Hard to say if it was successful, but, Cassian was on the move now. And ... somewhat lucid. The swarm shifts, if anyone were even paying attention to it, and moves to sweep across the intersect point the Hobs would logically take to seek out the cause of the alarm. Anything to slow them down. The reaction Iris has to one of the jackasses stabbing her is a mocking laugh, despite the fact that there's a gash in her flesh that stains her feathers scarlet. "I let you hit me, and that's all you do with the opportunity!" she mocks. The dead guy. "Now I see why you need to bring a thousand friends!" But she's not actually stupid enough to try to fight the full number of them, and she instead turns around to head for her friends only to see one of them sleeping. She hurries over to Rozalia, scoops her up into a fireman's carry, and then looks at Alonso. "Which way now?" Apparently he's supposed to know. With the immediate threat of the picket patrol dealt with, Alonso lowers his bow and steps forward a few paces to peer down the face of the hill towards the onrushing batallion of militant hobs. The entire camp is mobilized, it would seem, and surging up the hill rather much more speedily than he'd ever have thought possible. "I can out run them," Alonso concludes with a glance back to the others, "but I doubt very much that the rest of you can. We should consume our brumebulbs and go. Wake Rozalia. Pity if she should choke on her fruit." Alonso pulls his out of his pouch and nods towards the others, "After you." "Mind the landing with those things," Cassian says, calmly, before he begins to try and wake Roz up. Usually that wasn't something he spent his time trying to do. But, it seemed like if she died up here she'd be cross with him. So, he tries slapping her cheeks a bit. "Come on Lily... come back to us," he whispers. He doesn't rightly seem to care that she was still on Iris' back. The fact the woman hadn't put her down was her issue. His issue was waking the green-haired vixen from sleep. Game: Rozalia takes 1 Lethal damage. One minute you are being put to sleep by huge mechanoid spiders and the next there's that jolt of your life being drained out of you. That is what snaps Roz awake. There's a deep breath in, "Did we win?" she gasps out. Then she looks to Cassian suspiciously for a moment and then to the others with a nod, "I'm sorry about that back there." she tells them as she gets her feet on the ground. "Thank you." she tells Iris. Oh, look, Roz is awake. When the woman starts moving, Iris sets her on the ground, and when she gets thanked she flashes a smile. "Any time! Speaking of time, I think that this is the time for eating those brumebulbs and getting out of here." She flips open her satchel (which seems to be stuffed full of the weirdest assortment of shit) and takes the hedge fruit from the top. Then she chows down, which she'll probably regret, but she'll regret it less than staying around to die. Game: Iris takes 2 Bashing damage. Game: Rozalia takes 2 Bashing damage. "Lily, it was peanut butter. That was the word," Cassian says, meeting her eyes with a dreadpan stare. "Here, eat this," he says, holding up one of the bulbs. Because ... well. If they hadn't learned already, he was kind of a weird guy. He would wait for Roz, which meant there was a queue for eating with the lady-folk at the head. But, it would keep them all safe. "Watch your shoes when you land, love," he says, encouragingly. Game: Cassian takes 2 Bashing damage. Brumebulbs -- while absolutely disgusting and really hard to eat -- are a much better alternative than being swarmed by literally hundreds of tiny murderous hobs. And so one after the other, they choke down the noxious fruit and turn into vapor, whooshing away and dumping them all out a few miles from the gate at which they all entered. Good thing it isn't just some random nearby gate or with them being in the Deep Hedge, they might have gotten dumped out in Camden at 2 AM. Who knows what's 'near' to where they were? At the foot of Tamarack Falls, they come back into their bodies... and guts ready to empty themselves. But otherwise? In one piece. Once he's unceremoniously spat out into the real world, Alonso goes running for the nearest recepticle into which to empty his guts. He's used to this, being something of a veteran hedgenaut. Still. There's no delicate or suave way to expunge your guts and then some, so when he comes staggering back in, he's flecked with sweat and looking positively displeased with the world. He wipes his mouth with the back of a gauntlet, then wipes the gauntlet on his trousers and finally wipes his trousers with the palm of his glove. Which more or less just spreads the sick around. "We'll need more numbers next time. And artillary. That construct must come down." He turns his head to spit out a gobbet he'd missed the first time around, and wipes his mouth again. "Volunteers?" As soon as Iris is solid again she runs to the nearest corner, her cheeks puffed out and her hand clasped over her stomach, and then she doubles over with a horrific retching sound and the sudden unleashing of all the contents of her stomach. It's likely that nobody's going to come inspect her vomit, of course, but if they happened to decide that they desperately needed to for some inexplicable reason, they might wonder how the hell it is that she threw up a big puddle of food-chunks and bile in every color of the rainbow. Was she eating crayons, or something? When she comes back over to the group she makes a face and says, "gross, I think I got some in my feathers." Then she looks at Alonso, gets a sudden "oh shit" expression, and declares, "I'm going to have to go back anyway. I put down my umbrella when I picked up Rozalia and forgot to pick it up again. I can grab it when we make the assault!" Roz gives a smile to Iris and then her attention is back on Cass when he talks to her, "Peanut butter...yes." she totally knows what he's talking about. The bulb is taken and she gives a nod before she takes a bite, not batting an eyelash when he tells her to eat. Better than dying to a fucking hob army! She gives him another look before everything just seems to rush by. And then there's the lovely drop at the end of the ride and the green haired woman is puking her guts out. Well, if the cops investigated they could definitely say they were drunk...or it's bad drugs...or something. When she hears Alonso call for volunteers there's a chuckle as she straightens up, "I think as long as I take No-Doz I should be fine next time. Hopefully." she states as she wipes her mouth, because gross. Nothing about Cassian screamed 'volunteer'. Doubled over in a corner, quietly and, with whatever dignity he could muster, he was trying to ceremoniously control the wretching. This is why he didn't use that damn bulb--He prefer the tricks of the trade, all the same. "What a terrible way to travel," he mutters, grumbling to himself in his brooding corner. He had a healthy diet, but tended to eat plenty of hedgefruit too. So, what came back was equally as weird. As Roz seems to volunteer herself up, Cassian shakes his head. Whatever he had to say, he kept it quiet for the moment.