Mr.Dark just scoffed softly at Piper's remark. Had one been able to pierce the veil of his cowl they would no doubt see the glare given. He turned his head and eyed the boy struggling on the ground as soon as the boy's gaze met his Rut froze, and stopped struggling. It was as if they had met eye to eye and whatever was written in Mr.Dark's eyes was enough for him to stop. It was then he looked back to Piper at his mention of giving the children a life.
He just stood and remained silent and motionless as Piper spoke. The addition of another voice made him react, looking up to the man atop the roof.
"Aye, it would seem a bird of the night has joined us."
Mr. Dark ignored the purposed jest and just tilted his head in curiosity, he had wondered who this individual was. Upon seeing Piper's reaction he assumed he knew the man to some degree. It mattered not at this moment considering now the woman they were conversing with ha decided to strike. He simply rose into the air and glided back a few steps in response to her strike confident Piper could handle himself.
If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away, but when the weak court death.....they find it. If you wish to challenge me, I will allow it. The choice falls not unto me or to the whims of fate, Tis your alone.
Kiga ignored Raevarin at this point, as Daisy had just thrown herself headlong into an attack at Piper. He couldn't fault her for doing so, it was his own intention to cut this man down - but she was ill equipped for battle. She might be able to handle herself rather well, but Kiga didn't intend to wait and see what the outcome was.
Piper was a pox. The worst kind of villain. He preyed on the insecurities and frailities of the young and lied to them, deceived them and turned them into criminals. People that were insistent they had no other place Wistvale, people that preyed on others who had worked hard to build this town. Ignoring the orphanage and the foster programs, the free education, the factions and sects that took in children and supplied them both a healthy environment and nurtured both body and mind...
No. Kiga knew what it was like to be deceived, to have your childhood stolen for someone else's own sick and demented fulfillment. And he was determined that whatever the cost, it was not going to happen in Wistvale, his town; any longer.
Kiga sprung from his perch and turned in the air, his body tumling and then winding like a corkscrew. He was going to land immediately behind Piper and drive his Raptor directly into his spine. Now the villain was attacked on two sides.
::As Kiga landed and began the quick thrust of his blade at the Cathian's spine a great gust of wind blew in from the side and gave aide and speed to Piper as he dodged out from between his attackers. An eddy of dust and tiny debris left by the docks was all the visual clue the wind gave to its actions as once Piper was clear, it split in two and curled back to either side to strike both Kiga and Daisy in the back like a hard shove. Already moving forward, it would be difficult for them to stop the added momentum that carried them forward. And without Piper there, the only people left to hit were each other...
Kiga suddenly found himself watching a warhammer swinging at him with much force, while Daisy saw a sharp, talonlike blade coming at her torso.
The force that was pinning Rut to the ground lifted as the focus of the magic's wielder shifted, but he found his gaze still locked on "Mr. Dark" and like a deer in the lights, he was locked in place afraid to move or do anything to draw attention to himself. Perhaps he would run, if given the chance, but not now. Not when that figures eyes could fall on him again if he did...::
((Nice guy that I am, I'll leave it to you two to decide if you get hit or not...))
Daisy was almost literally of two minds at this point. One part of her was consumed by anger, coloring the world red, and driving her to action. The other was cold, detached, analytical, and focusing the anger into a razor sharp instrument of death.
The rage didn't care that the newcomer with the mismatched eyes was suddenly in the way of her hammerhead; but it did care that Piper wasn't. The analyst cared that braining the person in front of her could make her a new enemy she didn't need, that currently he appeared to be the enemy of her enemy, and perhaps most importantly he was holding a blade that was aimed squarely at her guts. Consensus in action was reached without pause or thought.
Her greatest asset had always been her speed and grace. She exploited it now to full advantage. She didn't fight the momentum Piper's wind had given her. Instead she used it. Faster than an eye blink her trailing foot came forward and was planted. She used it as a fulcrum and redirected her motion, twisting to the side away from the path of the newcomer's weapon; even as she pulled her hammer close to her body to avoid him, accelerating her spin. While in motion, her eyes locked back on Piper, and if he could catch them even for a moment he would see the embodiment of primal rage.
She had too much inertia to just stop moving, but again, she used it to her advantage. She folded her body over the mass of her war hammer and if her motion were not so fluid it would have seemed she was falling. In fact she was tucking into a roll that would take her to again face Piper to press her attack. Why? Because experience had taught her two things about mages : one) when pressed and without time they couldn't bring anything big or complex to bear, and two) she could always swing her hammers longer than they could sling their magic. That, and she wasn't about to let him have her unarmored back.
She noted, with some irony, that if she had been wearing her mail, she may not have been able to pull off these acrobatics, nor have felt such a need to press her offense. Her roll ended and she was in a crouch, hammer at hand, ready to spring at the object of her hate.
"Murder" and "Justice" imply "moral judgements" based on nothing more than how the majority of people feel about the taking of another's life. I don't concern myself with such things; they're too subjective. Whether or not there's gold in my pocket is what matters.
Kiga wasn't moving forward. He had dropped down from above, which had placed him immediately behind the Cathian. His Raptor was large for a karambit, but the blade was still no more than two inches long. It was a weapon of precision, a tool razor-honed to sever the spine and slash through nerve bundles. That being the case, he had hardly an issue accounting for Piper's movement. In fact, Piper moving simply wasn't that hard to follow as Kiga was perfectly suited for close quarters combat. Daisy careening toward him on the other hand; forced him to respond, rather than chase his quarry.
The wind blew into Kiga, something he was not unfamiliar with. He knew the wind like he knew his pulse and it took no thought for him to move. Muscle memory and years of countless training had him simply twist, step and then vault up and over Daisy's back as she compensated for her swing. Kiga spun like a top, leaving the ground just enough to avoid collision; and upon landing, wound again until he slipped into the darker shadows that clung to the alley this night.
He was immediately immersed in the dark, his entire form almost vanishing and becoming quite hard to follow. He made no noise as he moved either, not a single footstep or ruffle of cloth - nor a single hint when he threw his Asps from the shadows.
It all happened very quickly. He'd moved, slipped into the night and without warning, three blades shot through the dark to hit Piper, leaving him little time to react.
Kiga had every intention of pressing the pace of battle here and next to nothing was going to let the Cathian walk away from this encounter.
((I'm going to give Rae one more day to post to move this thread along. If we don't hear from him then I will have no choice but to decide whether to write him out or scrap the thread altogether and begin a new one depending on how the rest of the players wish to go.))
(Having to wait six days on someone is a bit much. I read Daisy is going on hiatus, I might suggest this is locked down and people get their rewards for work done so far.)
Mr. Dark stood an spectated for the most part, not involving himself directly in the fray. He knew from observation that Piper had made a new enemy, and one from before had decided to interfere this night. He sighed in contempt at the events unfolding finding them irritating and bothersome.
He watched as Piper cleverly altered the flow of the ensuing charge pitting enemy against enemy. A small chuckle escaped his lips when both combatants escaped Piper's little trap.
That was when he decided to get involved.
As Daisy rolled out of harm's way and readied herself she would find the feeling in her feet and legs slowly fading as tendrils of shadowy mass entwined themselves around her legs. The tendrils tightened their grip holding her fast in place. Soon she felt the same feeling on her wrists as the writhing darkness on her legs split to hold on to her hands. The binding was not permanent as she would notice. There may be a way to writhe free but the sharp cold coming from the darkness would be an issue to overcome.
Kiga would then be satisfied with the sound of impact but would soon be discouraged as the blades did hit, but not the target he intended. The three knives lay deeply imbedded in what had appeared to be the man known as "Mr.Dark" then it just melted into shadow as the blades clattered to the ground in front of piper.
"You are not the only one who can artfully manipulate the shadows little sparrow."
He said as he emerged from the shadows near piper, seeming as though he emerged from the wall.
"Now, I do believe things have escalated rather hastily. I am sure things could be solved without bloodshed, I for one do not feel like sending you all to the depths of oblivion just yet."
If you sought to live you had naught but run and hide yourself away, but when the weak court death.....they find it. If you wish to challenge me, I will allow it. The choice falls not unto me or to the whims of fate, Tis your alone.
::Piper's attempt to dodge the blades thrown at him was cut short as the shadowy form of "Mr. Dark" appeared between him and the deadly knives.
As they clattered to the cobbled stone ground, he stepped forward and tucking his pipe in his cloak, stuck his braced leg out awkwardly to the side to bend and retrive the wayward weapons. One by one he picked them up with an almost casual aire that seemed out of place considering his close call. As he picked up each one he flipped it into the air and caught it with his other hand...
one...
two...
three...
He then righted himself somewhat clumsily as he looked from the bound Daisy, to the shadows where Kiga hid, and finally to his apparent "savior".::
"I am inclined to agree with my mate 'ere. All I wants is to take Rut 'ere back to get whats 'is for breaking our rules.
I 'ave no quarrels with either of you... Well, maybe the beginin's of some... But I am willin' to be the bigger man and set them aside for the "greater good" as it were.
I think we can all agree that our little town would be better off without 'im."
::The hand holding the Asps disappeared beneath the folds of his cloak as he spoke, his eyes mostly focused on the spot where Kiga had vanished.
Meanwhile Rut was absolutly quaking on the ground and seeing an opportunity while everyone was distracted, he got shakily to his feet and glanced about nervously, hoping he wouldn't be noticed.::
Daisy was caught short by the grasping tendrils. It was bad enough she was fettered by them, but worse they seemed to be leeching the heat and feeling from her limbs. She thrashed and squirmed, moved in every conceivable twist her body would allow to try and free herself. A still target was a dead target.
Still, her rage burned, and the words of the monster in the alley only fueled it. She turned a venomous glare to the creature manipulating the shadows and her words were fierce enough to peel paint even as she struggled for her freedom.
"Cowardly _thing_. Flitting 'twixt the shadows like the daydreams of an over angsting noble's child. Possessed of the power to change the world around you, and yet you are too arrogant, too stuck in the belief you are somehow not a part of it to actually _do_ anything. A single peasant who chooses to stand knowing he will fail and fall and _die_ means infinitely more to this world than you ever will."
Then Piper made the mistake of stepping out from behind his protector and opening his mouth again. Her ire found its current favorite target, and if it were possible her voice was even more rancorous.
"He was as good as dead before you showed. But I think the world will be even better off with your life removed from it."
Daisy's efforts to free herself were redoubled. The only thing that mattered, the only thing she wanted to do was bury her hammer in Piper's skull. If it killed her, it didn't matter. There might be the tiniest fraction of a measure of redemption in the act. He was close enough. All she needed was to be free of these cursed tendrils for a fraction of a second and she'd swing like the vengeance of an angry god.
"Murder" and "Justice" imply "moral judgements" based on nothing more than how the majority of people feel about the taking of another's life. I don't concern myself with such things; they're too subjective. Whether or not there's gold in my pocket is what matters.
(I'm not quite sure if those daggers hit Raevarin, but if so I imagine he wouldn't be feeling so swell. Just sayin'.)
Kiga wasn't impressed, not even a little. In fact, he was beginning to get a little irritated with the whole situation, this and the other opportunities he'd missed at taking down Piper. It didn't show and didn't convey in his actions, or at least not beyond only making him more stoic and cold. Silent. He wasn't going to try and ambush Piper again. He was going to all out confront him. Raevarin would get just one warning, too.
"He broke your rules. You break the law. You break children."
Kiga's hands wafted up in front of him, then fanned out, his fingers curling over and his feet shifting apart. His eyes didn't shift from Piper or Raevarin and he stood direclty before them now, unafraid.
"It's finally time I break you, Piper."
Kiga's fingers tucked into the centre of his palms then and his hands trembled some, indicating his focus and tension. His lip was whispering words unheard, quick and alien to them. The air stiired in front of his palms then and hissed as it swirled into motion, very fine tendrils spinning at an alarming rate as he crafted twin spirals before his hands. They quickly grew and got louder, starting to hum. Kiga had to raise his voice a little now and he spoke as his stance shifted again, preparing him.
"Don't make this your concern, Mr Dark. I don't want you in my way. I'm stopping him, no matter what it takes."
It wasn't a threat and there was no false bravado in his tone. Raevarin wasn't stupid enough to not recognize that Kiga very much meant to see this through.
At any rate, should his words not convey the message, the twin buzzsaws of spinning wind he now had prepped at his palms like giant, spinning shuriken should be enough to convey the message. They not only spun without enough ferocity to stir the dirt about their feet, they crackled with energy, and whipped the winds past the clothing of all present.
::The ice flowing through Rut's veins that had kept him from acting up to this point thawed as he found what small opening he was ever like to get to make a break for it. Turning away from the gathered combatants, he fled off into the darkness of the alley.
Evenyone's eyes were drawn to the sudden movement, however, as the street rat was not the nimble child he once was. Daisy was still struggling with the shadows that held her, and thus could not give chase at this time. Kiga's attention was locked on the Cathian, and his on Kiga. Neither willing to break from the other to stop the escape.
"Mr. Dark" was not so inclined to leave the man to his freedom, however and spun on the spot as he disappeared into darkness. Presumably to retrieve the wayward, would be rapist.::
((Took some liberties here as GM to get things to a point of being able to continue the thread. Rae can return, if you have the time to keep up, otherwise we can assume you found Rut and decided to do whatever Rae would do with him.))
::Piper's face grows stern at Kiga's words and he calls back with voice raised to be heard over the rising wind. His cloak flapping behind him to reveal the three stolen blades held near the brace on his leg.::
"Break me? Mate, you can't even make me bend!"
::Piper brought up the hand holding the poisoned blades across his chest and then out in a fluid motion. Three funnels of air cut through the raging wind as three blades followed the channels to their target, unaffected by the near gale forces building around the Vanguard and spreading out through the alleyway. They were not aimed at Kiga, however, but at the trapped woman...
Luckily, "Mr. Dark's" quick disappearance left nothing to maintain the hold on Daisy and the shadows that once held her firm had begun to weaken. As the knives sailed towards her, they shadows finally gave up their hold, but would it be too late?
As the knives left his hand, Piper spun the other direction and bagan to run at a full sprint towards the opposite end of the alley, leaving Kiga with the choice...Piper, or the girl...as he fought to keep control of the raging winds he had summoned.::
Silent as a shadow on padded feet...
Daisy [M:15:0:][D3v:http://rpgmenagerie.com/index.cgi?board=cs&action=display&thread=746]"I kill for fun and profit. What's your excuse?"
Words came from Daisy's mouth, but they were in a language not the common tongue of the area. They were however the sort of words that made curses blush with embarrassment and had a character so bad that their parents should have sent them to military school. It looked like that little waste of flesh Rut was going to get away. Not only that, but there was more magic being brought to bear in the narrow alley.
What the hell? Was this town some sort of mage's academy in a port's clothing? First the creature shows, then Piper starts tossing around the wind, and now the guy with the odd eyes had summoned a condensed whirlwind of blades. On the bright side, he seemed like he might be as determined as her to remove Piper from the land of the living.
Also on the bright side, Mr Dark seemed to be turning his attention to the fleeing Rut. Of course, when things seemed not so bad, that was when they always went further to craptasticland. Piper threw three blades, with what she recognized as expert precision, through the wind straight at her.
On most days Daisy wouldn't give a second thought to the danger of simple thrown knives; but on most days she was wearing her mail and that meant their threat was minimal at best. Right now her mail was laying in a pile at the foot of the bed in her little rented room. She was as good as naked against the incoming blades.
On a good day she could dodge those blades, or knock them aside with her hammer. This wasn't a good day. She was being held mostly immobile by Mr Dark's magic. And although that creature had turned his attention elsewhere his magic lingered on without him. It couldn't possibly last more than a couple of moments without his direct attention, she knew that from encountering magic users before, but those were precious moments she simply did not have.
Time slowed down, and she wondered if the reaper's scythe was behind the knives tumbling through the air at her. The center of her anger flared white hot with pure fury. She wasn't going to die at the hands of Piper; it was insulting.
But when the grasping tendrils dissipated her limbs were cold and heavy.
There was still time to dodge... on a good day.
She did her best to drop to the ground, to twist to the side as she fell to the earth and avoid the glittering little missiles.
But it wasn't a good day, and her chilled limbs didn't allow her to find her grace.
It was more fall than roll and she was unsure if she'd find the ground as she was; or with the added weight of steel penetrating her flesh.
But, if she got up from this, and the newcomer's little buzz saws of doom didn't get him... well, there wasn't anywhere Piper was going to be able to hide from her, not for long.
"Murder" and "Justice" imply "moral judgements" based on nothing more than how the majority of people feel about the taking of another's life. I don't concern myself with such things; they're too subjective. Whether or not there's gold in my pocket is what matters.
Kiga's power was focussed in the flat blades of deadly wind that he kept at bay, pressed to his palms. The other wind wasn't about to impair anyone's ability to throw knives, it was merely the side effect of so much power, stirring so raidly in such a confined space and compact form.
Kiga's attention was locked onto Piper of course, he was prepping to cut the bastard into three large, but messy pieces. When the Cathian threw his own weapons at Daisy, he was quick to react though. He couldn't just throw the blades to interrupt the knives either, they'd cut through the damned wall and anhialate whatever was on the opposing side. They would likely tear off and into the night quicker than the knives travelled in fact. But he reacted very quickly all the same, upon instinct.
Kiga was Vanguard. It wasn't a matter of pride, or a matter of duty. It was a matter of doing the right thing and whilst the right thing wasn't always so simple, or so easy to determine sometimes; now was not one of those moments. Kiga spun just enough and swung his arms out before clapping his hands together quite suddenly. It was a dangerous thing to do and he knew it, he was bringing a great deal of power crashing together. But he also knew the wind, just as he knew his own breath.
The sudden impact of twin powers unleashed a concussive wave of force. It was enough to rock him back, push the woman over and most of all; most importantly - to completely scatter those knives. It took less than a second to do and the crash of the power would be instantaneous.
The only other thing he did was shriek. Not in a terrified manner, but in the manner of a raptor, diving upon it's prey. And elsewhere, further off in the night but much closer than earlier; there was an answer. And now, they were coming.
Just how fast can a crippled, crooked cat run? As fast as a pair of birds on the wing? He'd best hope so.
::The blades were coming hard and fast, honing in on Daisy. She had little time to react as she dropped, or more accurately, fell towards the ground. But it would not be quick enough to avoid the attack...
The wind Kiga had summoned was extremely powerful, having poured so much focus an energy into the act of creating and controling it. But air and wind wants to be free. It wants to move. To expand and fill emptyness in a rush, and therefore it is much harder to slow or control than it is to build. Therefore the blast of wind hit harder than he intended...
As she crumpled to towards the cobbled stone alleyway, she heard a loud shriek like that of a great warbird cut through the night and the force of a small hurricane hit her...
The gale force buffeted against Daisy's clothes, whipping about anything loose and pulling at her like an urgent child as it first pushed her along the ground, then shoved her hard into an old crate on the side of the alley. It splintered on impact and she felt small pinpricks of pain along the side of her that took the brunt of the impact as tiny splinters found their way into her soft skin. But that was outweighed by the burning sensation in her shoulder where a larger piece of wood had pushed through the flesh and muscle and come out the other side. It was not serious as in she need worry of bleeding out, but it sure hurt alot. (Read: Flesh wound)
She barely had time to register the pain when there came the clatter of metal on stone. One of the blades that would have killed her skittered across the stones and came to a halt by the alley wall. A second hit the wall itself with a heavy thunk and fell to the ground. The third...
The third drove itself into the remains of the crate Daisy had hit close enough to cut a lock of her hair and now stuck out from the rotted wood just inches from her face.
Meanwhile, Piper had disappeared around the corner of the alley, his old cloak drifting to the ground in his wake. And the rooftops had come alive with the movements of figures in blue hoods not unlike the one Kiga wore as they moved in the direction of the fleeing Cathian...