DRAFT - The Battle of Vaskoth

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone on the draft
What: The Battle of Vaskoth! Zombie uprising!
When: 25th to 28th (a second log will follow)
Where: Vaskoth
Summary: Please read here for event information
Rating: Z for Zombies

On the 25th, Lucetians are ushered in to join an already growing army to repel the Cultists.

On the 26th, strange symptoms are reported. The first Runners appear and by nightfall, the hospital is lost.

On the 27th, the cultist horde is completely lost to the virus. They send no more reinforcements.

On the 28th, the situation is grim and an evacuation is called. But the battle is not over.

Notes: There will be two NPC threads. One for Specialist Davis and another for Carol.

If you like creating your own NPCs, then check out this spreadsheet and be sure to contribute! This was originally set up by Griff for the Kin'cora event. It's been revised as a semi-official tracking spreadsheet for characters created on the fly.

Comments

27th

[biteoffherhead]

Moro's means of battle are dangerous, violent, and gruesome. With no ability to carry a weapon, and no need, she simply used her ferocious and terrifyingly lethal bite. Unfortunately, this lead to her becoming incredibly infected. It seemed to do little, not being slowed down even slightly, the only warning sign a frothy mouth from the overproduction of saliva as her body's only means to combat overheating. She kept fighting and thrashing, all the way until the sun held high on the 27th. Then, her body finally slowed from exhaustion and weakness from the incurable hunger. In her last moments of sentience, she kept low, growling and struggling.

But eventually, her resolve ran out. Suddenly, she was no longer Moro. Suddenly, it was only primal instinct... and rage. That deep, soul-born rage. With a terrifying roar of pain and agony, Moro rose again... and from her flesh boiled over the stench of rot and blood, and her skin erupted in a squiggling mass of tendrils. She hauled herself to her feet, the squiggling mass beginning to cover her, as she steadily marched towards the nearest movement. First, it was other "zombies", which she ripped apart far too easily. As she moved, she began to build momentum and speed, despite the weakness and burning of her body. Now, she no longer marched as a god, nor as a zombie, but as a demon.

The touch of her boiled blood promises a curse of hatred and pain, and her ever-powerful jaws promise only death. She cannot be left to rampage long...

((OOC: As per this plot thread and these plurks (1, 2), Moro is going to be exterminated. Comment in groups of two or three; Moro has little more to contribute than killing and violence, after all. The end result is everyone coordinating their attacks and killing her in a synchronized blow.))

27th

[eyesofstrength]

[When Leonhardt sees Moro like that, he knows very well he needs to do something. That is obviously not something they need roaming around and harming others.

That and the challenge is something that actually excites him. It is rare indeed to get a chance at a fight that actually will be some sort of a challenge. As he draws closer, he goes ahead and has two shadows elsewhere in the enclosure vanish and creates two new ones here. They will be able to approach with no risk of injury or infection to himself and give something for Moro to attack.

Once he's within enough range to use the attack, he's going to open with his most powerful attack, Meiouken. It is a skill that will freeze everything within a rather large range causing a massive amount of damage and a chance at outright freezing Moro if she's not resistant to it (about a 50% chance with humans). At the very least, it may have an effect on the tendrils. After over a year of holding back from using that one because it would kill nearly anyone in Luceti in one hit, he's finally using it again and it truly feels good.]

[ooc: Am good with others threadjacking and joining him towards the final blow.]

So late in getting to this... sorry @_@

[erosennin]

[Jiraiya doesn't know Moro specifically -- but he knows the signs of infection by now, and he knows that anything this big and dangerous with infection running through her system is very, very bad news.

So he'll head in for action -- when he sees the ice attack, he winces, because he'd been rather intending to use fire, but he can improvise well enough. After all, there are other techniques that will work with that much better. His fingers come together in a jutsu that softens the ground beneath the freeze and around it with water; in mushy, swampy earth she'll have trouble even if she breaks through the ice itself.]

[biteoffherhead]

[The ice poses a harsh obstacle, nearly restraining her for good. She struggled, thrashing and roaring, against the ice and poor marshy footing, seemingly restrained.

However, the thrashing did not stop - she struggled and pulled her legs up as hard as she could, and after a few moments, the blood from her wounds gave enough lubrication to tear away her legs from the ice, even if it peeled off skin and fur.

Her attention turned to Leonhardt, and with a gutteral snarl, she leapt towards him.]

[eyesofstrength]

[At least there is one advantage to being small here, he can move far faster than Moro will be able to and with his two shadows to use to take all the hits. The real Leonhardt quickly leaps away to get away from being hit. The shadow ones will remain and jump to attack her so he can see what effect a sword will have, but Moro's teeth will definitely sink into one, leaving only one open to attack. To Moro it will feel like she hit and sank her teeth into flesh, but the flesh doesn't taste the same as a human and this seems like no living creature or an infected creature. And the shadow clone does not vanish upon being hit (though to Jiraya would seem very much like the ones in his world otherwise).

From Leonhardt's new location, he'll be casting an art, though it won't be ready until his next turn.]

[erosennin]

[If she's lunging for someone, Jiraiya's going to do his best to try and stop it. It's closer in than he really wants to get, but he's spinning the biggest Rasengan he can manage to try and blow her back from the leap.

It's a good-sized one, but he knows that getting within her reach is a bad idea. As he races forward, his hair grows and extends over his entire body, save for the arm holding the Rasengan, forming a thick, tough protective cloak. That should keep her from breaking skin before he can get out of her reach again...

He hopes, anyway.]

[biteoffherhead]

[The cut of a sword does little to nothing, and in fact only opens a new wound for more tendrils to burst forth from. Moro shakes and attempts to rip apart the shadow clone in her mouth, dropping it when it fails to meet the needs of her meat. She spots Leonhardt's movement, and with speed that is actually extremely surprising for her size, she lunges for him once more.

That is, until Jiraiya puts himself into the fight to protect Leonhardt. The Rasengan blasted her, knocking her off balance, but Jiraiya's proximity is still too close. The demonic tendrils stretch from Moro's body and coil around Jiraiya's exposed arm, burning into his flesh and feeding powerfully off of the anger, fear, and pain from the ninja.]

[eyesofstrength]

[Right as Moro changes her target over to Jiraya, Leonhardt finishes his own art. It makes a ball of blackness appear, much like a black hole it will also pull Moro towards it. Though with her size she may not get sucked into it, but no matter. It will hurt whether she's sucked in or not.

And the main reason why he used this art is that it has a nasty little drawback of impeding movement of its victim. And since it appears that the sword will not do much in the way of harm, the only way to deal with Moro will be to destroy her body as much as possible and deal with those foul looking tendrils in some manner. That appears to be protecting her, and coming from within as well.

But before they go ahead and continue with the onslaught, Leonhardt is going to cast a very minor art that he'll be able to finish about a second to protect himself from the next hit. The shadow the Moro tossed aside will also vanish. He'll keep it to one so he can make a second to be where he is when Moro lunges.]

27th

[endgames]

[Sup. So Aang, Roku, Shikamaru, and Silver will just be going WTF and restraining Moro over here.]

[endgames]

[This is disgusting. Right up there with that sick bastard Kakuzu's jutsu, and it's the reminder of what those tendrils did that reconfirms to Shikamaru that he wants to stay away from these ones.

He's taking account of everyone out there fighting, watching Aang and Roku go in on their previously discussed strategy. Memorizing their positions and looking out for where they go, to make sure he doesn't hit him. Satisfied, he nods and crouches down on one knee.]

When I start, go for the feet.

[tsuntrader]

Right. [But preemptively, before anything, Silver has Sneasel use Hail- it's concentrated above Moro and starts just as it suggests- a hail storm.

The use of the move will become clear soon enough, but for now, it's nothing more than a nuisance that will probably go unnoticed among the rest of the fighting.

Your move, Shikamaru. They're ready.]

[biteoffherhead]

[The hail causes pause in Moro, who skids to a halt, no longer pursuing the initial attackers. She growls, turning and turning to find the source of the assault.]

[endgames]

[At least that'll only effect visibility for her. And Shikamaru doesn't need to see to instinctively know how to direct his shadows. His hands flash through two seals. Rat. Bird.]

Kage Nui no Jutsu.

[Only by the light of the moon can you tell there's shadow. The one at Shikamaru's feet stretches toward Moro impossibly fast, thicker and blacker in a way that might go unnoticed in the dark. As it draws closer it splits into a dozen of separate tendrils that begin to rise off of the ground, solid and three-dimensional.

Underbelly, they surge straight up. Solid and three dimensional needles, sharp enough to stab through rock, let alone muscle. Finding clearance, the shadows will then charge down to burrown into the earth, sewing the target to the ground as best as Shikamaru can hold it.]

[tsuntrader]

[That... Is pretty gruesome, but Silver has no time whatsoever to think on it. He and Sneasel have to follow it up.]

Just like we've practiced, buddy. Blizzard.

[Silver and Sneasel have been slaving over having a better mastery over ice. Pryce could do amazing things with ice in seconds that completely restricted movement, skewered things, froze entire lakes over, created all sorts of things out of ice, all effortlessly- and as much as he loathes the man, he has to respect his sheer destructive skill. In that way, he really is still his student, although that thought is so thickly frozen under denial that it will never come to surface.

Sneasel takes a deep breath before releasing a steady stream or what looks like a concentrated blizzard that comes from both his mouth and claws, just as the name of the move suggests. It pairs up well with the previous hail and pulls moisture out of the atmosphere around it; in seconds, a base of ice forms around her paws. Encasing her wouldn't be effective enough; there's no doubt that she'd have the strength to pull her leg back out. So the ice materializes in the form of sharp, jagged spears of ice and attempts to swiftly climb up and jam itself in her legs or at least cage her legs trying. Hopefully like this it won't be difficult to reroot her again if she manages to pull her legs back out.

It can only start on one paw at a time, but it spreads quickly. It starts at a back paw with the intention of moving diagonally to one of her front paws, back to her second hind paw, and diagonally again to her second front paw.

All the effort immediately takes a visible toll on Sneasel, but he intends to be just as stubborn as Silver and hold it up. It's nowhere near masterful. They haven't had years and years to practice and perfect it to the point where it's effortless. But they're putting their all into it regardless.]

[flameoroku]

[Roku was making his march with Aang to get into position and help Shikamaru and Silver hold her down.

He could barely register what was even happening right now, just trying only to remember his part of the plan. He wasn't looking forward to the inevitable conclusion to this, should nothing change.

Once he was in position and Moro was in his sights he'll fire bend to block her path, get her attention and attempt to lure her in the area Shikamaru had wanted her.]

[savedtheworld]

[And Aang was at Roku's side, consumed by uncertainty. This whole thing made him feel uneasy.

Moro had become dangerous, and something had to be done to stop her from killing. The plan didn't sit well with him... but it was all they had. And he tried to feel in his heart that there had to be another way, if they could pin Moro down. She was a god, after all. Maybe she could regain control. Maybe it wouldn't be like Robin.

Aang begins with some firebending to match Roku's.]

[biteoffherhead]

[The fire didn't initially frighten the demonic beast, as she charged blindly towards the evident source, still yet to be restrained by Shikamaru's and Silver's efforts. Moro found herself soon driving through the fire, her fur and flesh burning and releasing a horrid and gut-wrenching stench. Her instincts hit hard just short of the two Avatars, Moro screeching to a halt and screaming in agony and fury at the burning heat. She leaped away, obeying her survival instinct first and foremost.]

[flameoroku]

[That scream she made, it made the hairs on the back of his neck go up and cause a chill down his spine. And then the stench reached him.

He was hesitating about continuing this now, but if they don't do something...He makes a frustrated sound and then moves around so that he could make a line of fire behind her. I just want to block your path, don't run into the fire, please.]

[savedtheworld]

[Every bone in Aang's body was seizing at this. Seeing Moro in so much rage and pain. He remembered the Avatar State. What if, just like him... she just had to be pulled out?

But that stench. That horrible stench of decay was overwhelming, and his knees almost gave out. But he had to keep her at bay. He kept himself going. We beat the droids, we saved Ikki. We can do this. We can help you. And while the fire was affecting her like this, Aang opted to switch over to earthbending, trying to sink her paws into the ground.]

27th

[windandrain]

[Saori had followed Moro's progress periodically during the fighting, staying high above the battlefield as any sky-god should, using a bow and her magic to tear through Third Party and Infected alike. The wolf god was a curious, dangerous thing she felt better avoiding in a battle like this.

Until the infection began to spread.

When she saw Moro change, her blood ran cold. Primal terror surged through the myojin at the sight, and her instincts screamed at her to put down the demon. Moro was beyond saving, there was no hope for removing the infection when that dark curse started bubbling over. This wasn't a mercy. This was survival. The damage that the curse, not to mention the furious demon could do, could leave hundreds dead.

Moro had to die.

Saori drifted down over the other god and her mortal attackers, careful to stay well out of her reach if she jumped. Moro's curse was not something she was willing to risk being caught in, it's taint enough to overwhelm her and change her into the same. Storm clouds gathered above her and she pulled back her longbow and loosed a shot. As the arrow sped through the air lightning flashed and joined with the projectile, whizzing towards the snarling wolf demon, heralded by a thunderclap.]

27th

[voidseeing]

[For all of the horrors Gai has seen in battle, there's something about this sight that makes even his stomach recoil in both disgust and horror. He doesn't need supernatural senses to realize that something is horribly, terribly wrong, even beyond whatever virus it is that's mutating the people in this enclosure.

This is no zombie. It's something far more dangerous, far more abominable than that. And it needs to be killed, NOW. But with those tentacles, the chances of him being able to get a fatal shot in are much reduced. He'll have to take care of those first.

And so he takes aim at the mass of tentacles surrounding her head with his MP7, hoping that even if they do regenerate, he can clear off enough of them to allow the chance for a kill shot. Right now he's damn glad to be allowed an automatic weapon on this draft, that much is for sure...]

[biteoffherhead]

[Moro was restrained, pinned to the ground with shadows and ice, but she thrashed even still, especially with the gunfire to her head and the thunderclap arrow. Her body jolted when the arrow struck her torso, the electricity causing her muscles to seize and flail uncontrollably. But the tendrils wriggled just as they always did, swarming towards the head as much as they could to protect the face as it was being shot at.

There was a wretched, choking sound mixed with the screams of pain, and the stench of electrified and burning, rotted flesh filled the air in a gut-wrenching mix once more, challenging all in the area to hold their stomachs.]

[windandrain]

[Saori fought back a gag as she pulled back her bow a second time. The fetid reek of rotten meat clogged her nostrils, threatening to steal away her concentration. Through sheer force of will, however, she kept her eyes open and her stomach quelled.

The shadows that held Moro constricted, squeezing the wolf tighter and making it near impossible to miss, so she took the shot.

Wind spiraled around the steel tip of her arrow as it sped towards the target. A vortex of air impacting against the writhing mass of tainted ichor before the projectile. Hopefully that would clear away some of the defenses so a killing blow could be made.]

[voidseeing]

[That stench of burning flesh is enough to make even Gai's normally-ironclad stomach turn an uncomfortable somersault; he quickly switches to breathing through his mouth instead before it causes an even worse reaction than that.

He's aware of the woman floating above him and her arrows, and in his mind, this combination gives them the advantage. If one of them can keep those tendrils at bay for more than a few seconds, the other can deal a fatal blow. He's willing to work towards that goal.

When Saori's arrow strikes, he's immediately aiming towards that spot and firing off a burst of bullets, hoping that they'll be effective.]

[biteoffherhead]

[The burst of air exposes Moro's flesh, which, followed by the barrage of bullets, takes a beating before more tendrils sprout from the new wounds, and her thrashing as she became encased by ice as well as pinned by shadows increased.]