It was a sudden shriek that awoke the two magnakai in their tent; Rain Feather was wrapped in her own blanket and Sun Snake had dazed off while sitting in a meditative position, but the sound was so unnatural and reeking with malice and menace that it sharply assaulted their Kai senses, pratically forcing them awake.

And while the two recovered, they could hear the hurried steps of the Drakkarim who moved in what sounded like a very frantic, if surprisingly disciplined, pace outside of their tent - as if taking defensive positions.

Maakengorge team, welcome back to the game! Sun Snake, Rain Feather, I do hope you've recovered as adequate for your sleep - you're about to need those resources.

Sabre, you will wait to post until both Snake and Rain are out of the tent - since you already know what's going on and I'd hate for you to spoil the surprise. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:00, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

The shriek shattered the sense of calm that had settled over her, and immediately she was out of the tent, Breakwater in hand.  Her black spear was not on her, and she charged out of the tent to see what was going on.

"You know, the first time I have a good dream, and it gets interrupted... what's about to get on the wrong side of several sleepy Kai and Drakkarim?"

Sun Snake wouldn't be inside the tent. I was never going to take the tent restoration bonus.  He is supposed to be outside monitoring for this exact thing, and the only reason he fell asleep instead of report things right away was I'm making him sleep, and helping preserve the thread continuities, etc. I feel like I've said at least twice he'd fall asleep accidentally meditating, exactly as has happened before.

He would not have fallen asleep willingly knowing what he knew...he wasn't going fall asleep when the only supposed danger was the acolytes coming at them in the night, why would he deliberately go to bed now!

So, I presume I can post as if just startled awake in some corner of the outside?

"What the..." said Sun Snake, startled awake, and then suddenly filled with terror. "By the Darkness, why did you let me fall asleep, Sabre!" the Kai snarled, leaping stiffly to his feet from him dazed hunch. He staggered as his legs, crushed from their cross legged pose, protested at such instant movement.

"Get away from the lake! Over two hundred creatures are comign this way! We can push them back from the vantage of the camp if needed, but attacking them is suicide. For Kai's sake, whatever idiot went in to the lake, pull them back...now!"

As she left the tent and turned to the lake, Rain Feather had her answer - a multitude of swimming creatures were surfacing over the lake surface and were swimming toward the beach, although they seemed to be barely half an hundred. They were strange creatures, with a long, scaly muzzle filled with curved fangs, two powerful arms that ended in clawed, palmated hands, and four fins at the back that, alongside their powerful tails, they were using to proper through the water incredibly quickly.

In fact, some where already reaching the beach, but there, the mud slowed down their movements - alhtough it did not stopped them completely.

At Sun Snake's words, the Colonel, who alongside Sabre Fox was standing on the beach, sword in hand, to repel the first wave, motioned to the Magnakai swordman that stood at his left, drenched from head to toe, and said, smirking:

"Don't worry Lord Sour Snake, your idiot is already back on the shore again... the main problem is that these things seem to want him back!"

And with that, he charged forward, easily cutting into two of the beasts, while the other two tried to drag themselves through the mug and assault Sabre.

Sabre Fox, feel free to post again whenever you want! Your two current opponents are as such:

Lake Creature (trapped in the mud): CS 17, END 19
Lake Creature (trapped in the mud): CS 18, END 18

To clarify, the things have a -3 CS penalty for being in the mud - if you'd stopped on a more rocky shore, they'd have been able to propel themselves out of the water like projectiles, and on the rocks they'd be somewhat faster as well.

Of course, fighting underwater they would get a +6 CS bonus, and then there's the several penalties to whomever is fighting for: being underwater, being unable to breath, being unable to see... really, it'd be incredibly hard to face them if they'd been able to push or drag you in the water, which would have been plausible with a camp put near the rocky shore - but thank to the mud, that's impossible for them. :)

So, Rain and Snake, until there's more opponents to attack, you're free to do anything that you believe would give you some form of advantage on the incoming attack - the soldiers, for example, seems to be preapring torches around the campfire.

"Yea blame me the lot of you why dont you??!! But believe me when Im gonna tell you after this is over it was worth it!!!"

Taking his two swords back from thier scabbards, Fox was ready to meet the oncoming enemy.
This message was last updated by the player at 21:13, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

Sun Snake looked around for the sergeant he had taken watch with last night. "You! Do we have oil? We need to create a choke point left and right with fire before we get swarmed. Is that what you are doing?"



Edit: Double posted with you, Sabre, but don't know how Snake would react to that revelation. I'm intrigued :)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:15, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

Sabre Fox jumped forward as the monsters attacked, offering himself to the beasts' grasping hands; however, it was but a way to get them to open, for in the follow up the Magnakai slashed downward, cracking both of their heads open.

As he and Vyctar took a step back to recover their breath, they could see that six more creatures were advancing through the mud, and many more were swimming behind there in a furious urge to reach the shore...

Meanwhile, the Drakkarim turned toward Sun Snake, the soldier he'd took his watch with nodded and said, in a very neutral, pratical tone:

"We have enough oil to create a small cordon of fire, yes - it would be enough to block the beach, probably. But that wasn't our original intention; we were preparing the torches to use them as proyectiles - these are water creatures, they're sure to have a strong reaction to it. The Colonel and your friend are supposed to old the ground until there's enough bodies that the advance of the others will be hard and that they'll be all pressed togheter and unable to escape back to the wather, using the beach as a chockepoint. Then, once that's accomplished, we'll flung all the torches at them, and hopefully burn to death a big enough number that the others will retreat."
Sun Snake seemed deep in thought, when Zahira emerged from her tent, completely armoured, and glanced to were Vyctar and Sabre Fox fought, smiling wickedly as she prepared herself to run headfirst into the battle - perhaps even flung herself into the lake.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 21:59, Tue 07 Aug 2012.

"Whatever you guys are doing back there do it fast!" Fox shouted out

Not really knowing whats going on, he is simply urging you forward ;)

"...Sabre, this had BETTER be worth it. We're going to have to find a nice, defensible place and hope to anything that we can survive this... what did you do, anyways?  Snake and I both told you the lake was dangerous, for Kai's sake..."

She really, really wished they hadn't abandoned Sun Fox and Sun Feather.  A nice dose of magical fire is exactly what they could use...  She'd try to find them, wishing fervently that she hadn't neglected her Divination training, even as she brought up her mental defenses. There were plenty of them, and not so many of them... so she began to think.  She held out her hand, and focused her power into one of the rings on her finger, and prayed the power would prove useful.

"Colonel! Maybe you should show us off that lighting blade of yours? Zapp those snakes!"

Looking over his shoulder at Rain, he shouted back

"I didnt mean too! But I got us a good lead! Just trust me on this one! Either way hurry up and lets kill these things!"

"And all Darklanders cower from the sun! There are sixty out there right now, and over two hundred in the river underground waiting to swarm. Unless you can pile bodies hundred high and surround the lake with fire, it won't work! Sabre picked us a defendable point, but hey can come out of the lake elsewhere and surround us in our nice fiery coffin if we trap ourselves in it."

He looked to the sergeant from before. "Hundreds of acolytres died here. Yet they didn't shut off this passageway, The creatures won't follow us if we fall back."

Sun Snake pointed left and right. "Instead of a haphazard defense and praying to our gods for luck, we place controlled breaks of fire to block them from swarming in the direction of the entrance tunnel, we pull back methodically, and make them pay for coming through those specific breaks until we can get out of here." He then looked to the other sergeants. "Then you can have the slaughter you wish, and you," he said, pointing to the outspoken sergeant from the previous night, "if you want to stay trapped with something I do not wish to, then go ahead."

Sun Snake then noted the mage rushing in to battle. "Colonel! Keep your mage restrained and out of the lake! If they are doing this because Sabre took a dip, imagine what they will do against a deliberate assault in their own home. What would you do to someone like that?"

Before Sun Snake's words, one of the monsters seemed to suddnely explode in a ball of blue fire, schorching the nearest two; that provoked Zahira to clap her hands at the show.

However, once Sun Snake's words echoed through the chamber, the three soldiers looked at him with surprise, while the dark haired girl was clearly annoyed.

Vyctar, however, slowly backing away from the beach and raising his hand in a clear gesture to command Zahira to wait, asked the Magnakai, even as he kept his eyes onthe creatures emerging from the beach:

"How do you know how many there are? If you're right on the numbers, then your plan is sound, but if there's less than one hundred in total, then my plan would work better - if we retreat, we'll be losing this defensive position, and beside, a retreat is only acceptable when the enemy forces are really overwhelming."

Rain, Sabre, if any of you two wants to speak in favour (or against!) Sun Snake's plan, now's the moment; otherwise, once the Colonel is certain that Sun Snake isn't just scared and actually has the means to verify the enemies' numbers, he'll follow Sun Snake's suggestion.

"Colonel! If Snake say's there are two hundred out there then there are two hundred! Believe me when I say he is the one to trust in this situation!" Fox shouted

One of the snakes lunged out of the mud at him and Fox retaliated by slashing in an X shape cleaving it in three.

"He knew about the Agarashi earlier before we even had a chance to react! Believe me Colonel that he will be right on the money!"

In favour of Snake......... suprisingley 0.o