Tanis Six, 3,520 years after the Battle of Tanis.

[shiivster]

Aki watches the couples and all the words getting exchanged then steps up to Fakir and tugs on his shirt/pant leg. if there is a stray hair showing, she'll groom out of habit before asking the following once she has his attention

'you do bad. why steal medicines? . . needs medicines. you brings back, stop being bad. if herd, you loner. not need loner, need herd be whole be safe. medicines make herd whole and safe. you returns medicines now . . . yes?'

*for her its simple to ask and makes the clearest sense. she just hopes she's not thought to be dense or worse

[albatross]

Fakir looks down at Aki compassionately, "What are you....? Oh, that vaccine. I had nearly forgotten."

He looks about and sighs, "How about we talk about that after we get rid of this demon? Your question is fair, I'm just more worried about this herd right now."

"Shall we?" Fakir looks around. "I doubt this demon is dumb enough to fall through the Gate by itself." He looks back to Aki, "Lend me your strength and I will tell you everything:"

[shiivster]

' . . maybe demon have . . . treasure? . . could ask old warbird steal . . fly this way . . ? not happy to ask, but is old old fighter. think him want die fighting. could ask . . you want use Aki inner strength? . . i guess is okay. not atke all. not want be demon dinner . . Yumi will bite you if i becomes dinner'

*after the pause it took her to think of how to help, she can only think of asking the old bird to lure the demon to the gate so all can aid in sealing it away. she has also given her permission for Fakir to use her Chi if its needed.

'otherwise i gives his foot a bite of my teeth . . and run this way . . . . ' *holds up the old silver Sai. Yumi hops out of the sack now and sits up and gives a faint hiss at Fakir and chiiters angrily.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe becomes fairly interested in this gate, and can't help but wonder what's on the other side. To her it sounds a lot like "The Phantom Zone" from an ancient (to her) Superman Comic book she once read in the Dweamor library.

She says "Well, the demon does seem rather focused on Mikalah, I'd imagine all she'd have to do is back it up towards the gate. If it gets close enough, and I still have the energy I can then use a spell to create a duplicate of the demon, it won't have all of it's equipment, magical energy, or be as durable, but it will be as physically strong. All it would have to do is surprise it long enough to push it or throw it through the gate, at the very least it should distract it long enough to get the job done."

"My biggest concern here is that banishment, no matter how unescapable, is rarely a permanant solution. Not to mention that this demon seems to be serving The Old Ones and thus probably isn't playing by the usual rules."

Bellephoebe ponders "I don't know what happened to Starlighter, but one option that occurs to me if we can't contact Mikalah or backing it up in this direction seems unlikely, would be to have her or another large flying creature like Aki's bird grab the Demon's banner with that symbol on it. If the demon is a general, it's probably not going to tolerate disrespect to it's banner, especially seeing as it's probably used to both identify and rally it's troops. We bring the banner here, and the Demon might very well want to carry the battle in this direction.

Of course I wouldn't begin to hope it would be stupid enough to actually chase it through the portal if we lobbed it through there."

[albatross]

Fakir glances sidelong at Bellephobe, but he mostly addresses the massive arc of rock called the True Gate, "Mikalah's people are an ancient race. In all their history there is no record of any lone person or any couple that wasn't truely in love ever returning from that gate. I've seen time travelers go through and shifters and they never come back. If we shoved an Old One in there it would be the last to awaken, if ever. It will hold the Demon Commander." He puts his hand on Aki's shoulder and drains most of her Chi.

"Your idea might work," He says to Bellephobe. He turns to Bellephoebe and Ora, who is struggling to rise. "Take the Demon's standard from its standard bearer and bring it here and defend it as a prize of war before the Gate." He looks at Aki, "Your war bird can help. And you can use your 'teeth' on the standard bearer, but beware, it is tradition for the standard bearer to be the best fighter. All your companions can assist you. The Duke Etienne and his lovely and powerful wife will assist Mikalah and me , my minions and the nuns will hold back the demon hordes." Indeed, with their targets all gathered together the demons are regrouping to attack the gathering in front of the Gate. Starlighter isn't in sight, but Bellephoebe could call the gryphon.

[shiivster]

' . . . best fighter? . . . oh . . not me . . no no . . am not real fighter. but will aid in taking standard. not want be demon food'

*she seems to half sag as the chi is mostly taken then stands straight again. 'remember . . keep word then' *she stares up at Fakir and frowns. she really hopes that he'll return the vaccine once this is over. she still can't understand WHY he took it . . and shakes the head then squats to stare at the Mongoose. then to the night hawk she states 'we go battle. steal flag. tell big wing sib we plan this. is better battle than prey no fight back . . . more honor. come back when big warbird listen and follow. we needs make plan. needs all wing sib. you fastest and boldest'

*she will look at Belle now and wait for further instructions from her.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe will attempt to call Starlighter. After she does she says.

"Well, my plan was more along the lines of a smash and grab rather than an attempt to kill the standard bearer, hence the usage of the warhawk or gryphon. I have no idea where 'all my companions' are except for Aki and as she said, she isn't much of a fighter, and neither am I. I figured I'd just lob my remaining blinder at the demon, and while it's going "oh crap my eyes" we'd have one of the larger flying creatures snatch the banner. It's not like I expect us to hold onto it for a long time"

Bellephoebe waits to see if anyone has a better idea (NPCs, maybe even a returning PC, if any ever come back). If not, that's pretty much going to be her plan at this point.

[albatross]

Starlighter returns. Ora staggers over and readies her stone sword and boomerangs, "It is a good plan." The giant wipes blood off her forehead and looks at the standard. Tesla raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't have a better idea. Of pthe Torchwood group, only Aki, Bellephoebe, Ora and Tesla seem to be nearby. The rest are scattered by the chaos of battle.

They can see the Duke and Duchess in a martial arts whirlwind, attacking the demon commander from all sides as it focuses on Mikalah.

Behind them, Fakir, his minions and the nuns face hundreds of demons- holding back the horde.

"Let's do it," Tesla says with a scowl.

[shiivster]

*Aki watches the sleek female nighthawk head off on her mission to summon the big old warbird to get full orders. the Bloodhawk rests on her shoulder and dwarfs the small frame as she feeds it some dried meat.

'hope big warrior come for orders. him not live much longer. not able to hunt for self , , we have toe blades? maybe arm bird toes with sharp blades? maybe could sit behind you . . . and drop onto back with my daggers? they bite hard. it be blind by you . . war bird hit the standard . . i land and bite the back with silver daggers . . then i runs fast fast here. bloodhawk and nighthawk watch . . protect . . lead . . harrass the bearer if had toe claws . . would work . . yes?

[thorley]

"That sounds like a fair plan Aki, if you don't think the warbird will live long, and it's willing perhaps it should make the grab for the standard? Otherwise I was going to do it with Starlighter since she's a warrior and I'd hate to ask someone else to take a risk we weren't willing to.

Any way it goes, when you here me say the word, try and look away, and ask your friends too as well. If your facing the light when my blinder goes off, it's not going to be pleasant. While the demon is distracted that's the time to grab the standard".

However it goes Bellephoebe will follow the plan, she'll fly over on Starlighter, give the warning word (Photon), and then either have Starlighter make a grab for the banner and head for the gate (without flying through it of course) of if Aki's Warbird is willing to make the risk will maintain distance and shoot the demon with her rifle a few times to hopefully give it the impression it's being attacked rather than being mugged, and make a second dive if the warbird fails.

In the end if the grab succeeds her plan is simply to head back to the area around the gate. Any demons around the standard bearer are likely to be blind too.

Let me know what happens specifically when the attempt is made and what rolls are needed. The Blinder is AoE and the area big enough where I'd imagine the chances of missing are minimal, it's mostly a usable debuff

Strike: [dice=20]

[rand=30220587297542195974849542935809745146616410717288133895797530815]

[thorley]

Ooops, not that it likely matters but that's supposed to be a 10 forgot to add the +3 for thrown weapons onto it (used to rolling for Caleb/Scarecrow who has no offensive bonuses at all). Unless there are unusual circumstances about this, I'd imagine that the important thing is that she didn't fumble and drop it on her lap.

[albatross]

The standard bearer is thirty feet tall, and engulfed in white flames. Ora hurls her smallest boomerang at it and the flames are snuffed out. At Bellephobe's warning, "Photon," most look away. The warbird dives for the standard but the bearer whips the great spear the standard rests on and cuts the warbird in hand. Its eyes see nothing, dazed and blank, but it apparently has other senses.

Ora rushes forward, her giant strides and speed to match Fakir sweeping her on close with a leap and a sprint. Her giant boomerang is on her right arm like a body shield and her long rapier is in her left hand. She deflects the bearer's spear thrust attack and her sword flickers up towards its face, slicing its cheek.

Tesla circles to flank the standard bearer... The blood hawk soars above, watching the battle and the night hawk titters in Aki's ear, "Go, go, go:"

(Tag: Aki, Bellephobe, Starlighter, Yumi)

[thorley]

Bellephoebe is fairly low on options especially if she wants to have the energy to duplicate the leader when it gets near the portal. She's literally used up pretty much her entire stock of tricks. Plasma rounds probably won't work on a flaming demon, and she doubts she's going to knock something that size (not to mention demonic) out with gas.

That said she'll cast her "Spinning Blades" spell again and bring the blades in behind the demon where it should have difficulty dodging (the attack is impossible to parry) assuming it can even see it.

She's going to aim for it's arm and try and get it to drop it's weapon. If this succeeds Starligher will make a dive for it (though Bellephoebe is riding on her at the moment)

Strike [dice=20+3]

Damage: [dice=72] (12d6)

If the attack hits (when used offensively) the blades disappear. If she misses she can direct them around for another strike.

Bellephoebe will maintain distance while the demon is stuck in melee, she figures she should be good for one hit at least anyone due to her invincible armor.



[rand=72754739269333877419763040976853728712934840181529331390820599284]

[shiivster]

*Aki mourns the brave bird, but knows it died in battle and she leaps off the griffon and plummets downward in a small compact ball as she readies for the stabbing motion of the sai to its back.

strike - [dice=20+3]

damage - [dice=6+9]
[[ unsure if i need to add body weight to the impact damage . . but they are silver. i suspect they may even break . .but who knows =p ]]

Yumi will slip the head out and when close to the ground, will leap out and try sinking HER teeth into the achilles tendon . . and if it's a no go . . will scamper out of the way of combat and race for the gate avoiding the many feet of combat. she's brave enough to try to do damage, but not dumb enough to stick about. she chitters frantically while waiting for Aki to show up

Yumi attack - [dice=20+2] {{ LOL . . poor thing missed totally }}
Yumi damage - [dice=6+6][rand=790039404538057962442536820121842017614466429102317500192751740662]

[albatross]

Bellephobe and Aki's attacks do damage as the demon doesn't try to dodge. Aki's attack does additional damage for weight and double damage from the silver. The creature winces at the pricks in its back. But it doesn't drop the standard yet...

As the standard bearer reaches one arm behind its back to try to remove Aki, Ora hits its hand with a vicious swing of her boomerang.

Disarm: [dice=20]+13[rand=31334570609033113456930443644523691145320422947418382969284430146]