Crimson Sky

Taking a defensive position in the air on the other side of the survivors with plenty of escape routes, I hope to be able to create at least some kind of diversion to help with the final evacuation. I begin firing to pick off the creatures with carefully aimed shots from my rifle. The gravity-powered bullets should help injure and slow down any not killed by the initial shot, ready for another hunter to finish them.

I charge forth through the walls of vampires activating the blood letting ability on my claws, swiping vampires in every direction.

As it flies towards me I crouch a little and step under it. When it is above me I burst upwards, my free hand aimed at it's throat, laughing madly.

Drawing my gun hand up, I plunge the muzzle of my pistol into the vampire's chest and pull the trigger.

Also address your reply to Glen.

The vampire's body shudders as it takes the bullet, before being ripped off your gun by another. The new vampire bares its massive fangs and plunges its head into its dead comrade's stomach, gorging itself on its former ally's organs.

Niceeee, you should take notes...

Another vampire shoves it bodily to the floor in its mad dash for you, the thick, sharpened nails on the end of its thin fingers scoring a light scratch on your shin as it lunges to grab your leg.

Also address your reply to Glen.

You manage to slice light wounds on three vampires as you charge into the mass, but your hasty actions only succeed in attracting attention to yourself. You find yourself in the middle of a group of the creatures. One grabs your head, its spindly fingers exerting inhuman amounts of pressure, while the other sinks its fangs into your thigh.

Address your reply to Sean and I.

You fire into the crowds below, but don't hit any targets particularly. From your vantage point, you can see that there are almost no escape routes, with vampires filling all open spaces, many are heading down tunnels into the rest of the town, but just as many are swarming up out of the mining tunnel. A young woman in red who made up part of the defensive ring of survivors catches your eye as she breaks the circle to dodge a vampire, allowing it to jump over her into the civilians behind, sinking its teeth into a portly man's neck. A dapper looking man also catches your eye, as he appears to be having a particularly fun time killing the vampires.

There are only three mechs left making up the circle, you can see at least five others collapsed on the floor, some swarming with vampires, others splattered with the blood of the decimated corpses that lie within them.

As you watch, the mechs that landed in the lift charge after the newbie, who followed Kroge's example and ran straight into a mob of vampires and is now being grappled to the floor. Unfortunately for him, he lacks Kroge's overall size and axe.

Also address your reply to Glen.

Your dagger stabs through the roof of the creatures mouth, killing it instantly, its teeth scraping ineffectually against the gargoyle-like skin of your hand.

As you turn, you see a griffin winged hunter flying above the group, shooting bullets into the fray.

The vampire you let fly over you bounds into the circle and heads for the nearest target - your father. Leaping forward, it grabs his face in one hand, the front of his shirt with the other and wrenches his head back, exposing his neck.

With a wail of victory, its sinks its fangs into his neck.

Spotting the action going on behind me I flip back onto my feet and pirouette, flinging my left knife into the air above me. Yelling to my father to hunch over I catch the dagger by the tip of it's blade and push all my weight forward, throwing the knife which a huge amount of speed at the base of the Vampire's spine.

I then leap back towards the group, averting my eyes down away from their's, instead focussing on the target of my dagger.

Shooting the vampire trying to grab my leg in the head, I kick the other one away from it's meal.

"Dirty cannibal" I sneer, before killing it in a like fashion to the previous vampire.

"Anyone want to put the kettle on for some tea? I'm parched" I shout with a laugh to those around me.

Seeing this as my chance to redeem from my previous embarrassment I block out the pain and begin to flurry attacks at any and all enemies around me.

One of the men near you, a hunter, looks at you awkwardly. His distraction costs him, and a vampire launches itself onto his chest, knocking him to the ground and proceeding to sink its teeth into his throat.

A vampire launches itself onto your back, nearly knocking you off balance and biting into the side of your neck.

You continue to flail randomly, scratching only a few new vampires and not the ones already attacking you, succeeding only attracting even more attention to yourself. The vampire you just stabbed turns and grabs your other thigh and pulls upwards, trying to pull you into the air. The other vampire on your leg rips out a chunk of flesh, and you feel your jaw dislocate as the first vampire continues to squeeze your head.

Your father's exasperated voice resounds in your head.

Try picking your target, Tendrin. Flailing around like a ten year old attacked by gnomes is only going to get you hurt.

The fights continue below you as you shoot into the crowds of vampires. You see the newbie attract more attention to himself, he is now being hoisted into the air by his leg, two vampires still hanging off of him.

Your father does not react, but your aim holds true and the dagger punches through the base of its spine, causing it to lose grip and fall backwards, wailing in pain. Your father collapses backwards.

Your gaze meets with the vampire's as it lies on its back on the floor and in its already wounded state, it dies almost instantly. You feel something grip your ankle.

I spin around to face whatever has grabbed my leg, preparing to stamp down on it if it's hostile. I also squint slightly in order to be able to close my eyes quickly if I need to.

"Friend or foe?" I mutter.

I fly down to hover above the fighters since escape seems improbable. Following the woman in red's previous action of breaking the circle, I aim outwards from this point. "Stay in formation, I'll be able to take out any that get too close. We don't need any more of them getting past." I steady myself for more accurate and deliberate shots aimed for individual heads as opposed to the rushed and wild shots from before, and open fire on the nearest creature.

"You little wretch!" I scream in pain as I rip the vampire off me and smash it's head into the ground.

"Has anyone got a bandage for this?" I call out, hoping the bit wont develop into something serious.

I attack the one that is hurting my leg. Next I attack the one that is hurting my head.

Despite the stories told to young children to keep them form wandering off into uncharted tunnels, you know that the most that the wound will develop is a nasty infection. That and you might faint from blood loss if you don't stop the bleeding soon.

Someone hands you a crimson healing potion over your shoulder, just as two more vampires scamper at you from either side. You hear the man you recognise as the captain of the hunters yell:

"Widen that path then get the civilians out first!"

You direct your flurry of blows at the vampire with its teeth buried in your leg, all but severing its head from its neck. Your attacks on the vampire gripping your head slices its wirst, cutting down to the bone and causing it to quickly let go of you. With the loss of the two vampires weighing you down, the vampire holding your leg hoists you up so that your eyes are level with its stomach.

You hear the captain yelling something. A mech steps up next to you, the massive blade on its arm cleaving through a line of vampires.

Your shots take several vampires that are milling around. You are distracted as you hear a battle cry from the side and see Kroge carving a path of thick grey blood between the lift and the circle, those mechs that have arrived helping to force the vampires back. You hear the captain yell.

"Widen that path then get the civilians out first!"

Looking back at the woman, you notice her looking down, and see the sickly-luminescent hand of a vampire grabbing her ankle.

You look down and see that one of the hundreds of vampire and human corpses that litter the floor isnt quite as dead as it seemed. Unfortunately, it is a vampire, is sickly-pale hand gripping your leg. It hisses up at you. From in the circle, the man you recognise as the captain of the hunters yells.

"Widen that path then get the civilians out first!"

I continue to attack the vampires that attack me.

Seeing the creature latching onto my leg I crush down on it's head with my shoe, before leaping back towards the group, and turning to face the onslaught. I call out to the winged man above me.

"Cover me while I... Improvise!"

Reaching to my bag I pull out the rope that is attached to the front, before tying off onto the ring on the end of my dagger. I rejoin the circle, holding the blade in my left hand and the rope in my right.

Pulling back with my left hand I launch the blade at the nearest vampire, aiming for the neck.

I watch the weapon modification with concerned interest. "You... do that." I continue to take carefully aimed shots, now focusing on the direction indicated by the enraged hunter. I quickly look around to check how well everyone else is coping.

Quickly picking off vampires with the pistol, I drink the potion in one go.

"Yes siree" I call back with a slight salute.

The vampires are distracted by the new arrivals and are thinning on your side of the circle as they move around to tackle the newer prey.

Tut, tut, tut, these things have no sense of persistence. You can't just expect prey to jump into your mouth, you have to stalk it, hunt it-

Yes, thank you, old bean, but we have something of a slightly more important predicament to be dealing with then the philosophies of the hunt. Go read Machiav-

MAAAAAAAAAAAAACHIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVEEEEEEEEEEEEELLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

You have a moment's respite as no vampires appear to be interested in attacking you. You see that the arriving mechs have forged a path through to the fountain at the centre of the market square and are now creating a path for the civilians to escape down. You see Weird Al half-dragging a a beautiful girl in an expensive looking white dress, who is sobbing quietly and the beggar girl from earlier carrying potions along with a maid.

From your position above the battle you can see that the arriving hunters have formed a protective channel leading to the lift. Several civilians are already making their way through. Al is leading the pack, dragging a beautiful girl in a white dress, while a maid and a poor-looking girl are carrying potion bottles. Daniel is making up part of the line near the lift.

Your dagger rips through the creatures neck, dropping it instantly. The blade flies further, stabbing another through the eye. The nearby vampires
eye you warily and back away slightly.

I rip the dagger back towards me via the rope before moving back towards the group in the hope of retrieving my other dagger.

"How's it look up there flappy?"

"Ah but the hunt you see..." I begin to say to myself, while continuing to pick off the occasional vampire. To an outsider I am obviously caught up in a momentous train of though.

"... the hunt, the hunt must always have a cry of pursuit. One that is bellowed at the top of one's lungs."

I pause for a moment or two, considering something before

"FOR MAAACHIAAAVEEELLIIII!"

And then after a short pause

"AND FOR TEA! DEFINITELY FOR TEA!"

Before running headlong into the group of vampires, pistol blazing at any target available.

"You can stop calling me that... now. The other hunters have started the evac. Start moving people through the line between the mechs... I don't think we can hold this position for too much longer." I fly off to the line the hunters are holding in order to allow the people of Evren to escape.

I take a flight path that keeps me above Al and the girls carrying the potion supplies; the added power from the small vials could prove vital in everyone's survival. I make it clear to anyone below me that I am present. "How are you all coping over here?" I shout over the sounds of battle, including my own shots.

Your first bullet finds home in one of the vampire's legs, driving it to the floor, grey blood splattering its comrades as its artery is severed. The second goes wide, while the third grazes another vampire's temple, knocking it sideways. The fourth and fifth ricochet off into the hordes. The sixth rips into a third vampire's shoulder doing minimal damage, though the beast wails in agony. The seventh and eighth shots miss by a fraction.

The revolver clicks empty, all eight bullets fired.

You've attracted the attention of the surrounding vampires and now stand in the middle of a group of five of them. The third vampire leaps forward, scratching at your chest with its good arm, barely succeeding in ripping your shirt and jostles another vampire that's grabbing at your head away from him. A new vampire tries to embed its teeth in your forearm, but misses, landing on all fours at your feet.

You are wrenched off of your feet as a vampire creeps up behind you, closing its hands around your throat and pulling you into the air. Another goes for your gun, sensing the threat.

"Fuck you!" Daniel yells, wrestling with a vampire that has grabbed him by the shoulders and seems intent on wrestling him to the floor and ripping his throat out. Beside him, a group of six vampires swarm one of the mechs, knocking it to the ground. Reaching into the piloting seat, they eviscerate the poor pilot.

You barely knew him.

Two vampires bound over the downed mech, heading for a middle class man who is helping a hysterical woman.

As you look down, back at the circle of civillians that you are protecting, you notice that a lot of the people have already gone. Those forming the protective circle are begining to fall back.

Your father is lying in a pool of blood, incredibly pale, the vampire collapsed on top of him, your dagger protruding from its back like some kind of trophy. Emmarabella and Al have already gone. Somewhere in the distance someone yells out.

I fly over to help Al with the girl, I put her other arm around my shoulder and walk on looking out for attackers.

Ignoring the potion carriers for a moment, I work on systematically taking out the vampires. I start with the two headed for civilians before I can focus on trying to help Daniel; I bring up the rifle and fire at the creature nearest the couple. After reloading I wonder how much ammunition is left in the pouch.

OOC Note: Below is a VERY specific set of actions, if something is not 100% clear ask me and I will clarify, and if you can wait a little I'll even demonstrate if possible. All the following actions are done quickly with large amounts of force unless otherwise stated.




Dropping the pistol, I take hold of the vampire's hands around my neck and begin to pull them apart. While doing so, I pull my knees up to my chest as fast as I can. This, when combined with the upward momentum provided the by the vampire lifting me off the ground, sends me into a spin and allowing me to fully break the grip of the vampire behind me. I remain holding onto it's wrists throughout the spin.

When I reach the top of the rotation I extend my legs, giving myself a slight vertical boost. As I begin to complete the last half of my rotation, I extend my left leg slightly further forwards so as to push it in front of the predicted landing point. At around three quarters of the rotation I bring my right legs down in a swift arc, my foot connecting with the lower back of the vampire.

I continue the rotation, landing on my left leg behind the vampire. I still have it's wrists in my hands, which I now pull into myself with as much force as I can muster, extending my right leg as I do so.

Bringing my right foot down, I place it slightly to the left of the vampire in front of me. I let go of it's wrists and rush forwards, in the direction of my right leg. Placing my left hand on it's left shoulder and my right hand on it's head in order to give myself a boost as I propel myself off the ground once more.

This time I bring my left foot round in an arc aimed at the head of the nearest vampire, the one that is now regaining it's balance from being pushed off me a moment ago.



OOC Note: Those actions are pretty much guaranteed due to the situations the vampires affected were in (not expecting it and staggering). However the actions below purely attempted as the remaining three vampires will have had time to react.



Using the momentum from the kick, I bring my right leg through and attempt stamp on the face of the vampire to it's left with the intention of stunning it slightly. Continuing my run, I attempt to stamp on the face of the next vampire with my left leg.

Now lacking in suitable targets, I drop my right leg to the floor while turning my right hand slightly, so I am gripping across it's face. When my right foot touches the ground I take one final step with my left and begin to spin to face my attackers. As I do so I pull my right arm across me while keeping a firm grip with both hands in an attempt to snap it's neck. After doing so I hug the limp body to me, using it as a shield.


OOC Note: You know you want rule of cool to prevail xD