Iona felt the weight of Gimpy roll off of her; the heat of the coat on fire washed over her then was gone. Iona batted at the air rapidly, but her attacker was out of reach. She looked like someone that was trying to clear away a spider web they suddenly walked face first into. She watched the flaming vampire run screaming toward the water. This was a good time, no, a perfect time to panic, but her scientific trained mind prevailed. Remain focused on the task at hand.

“What the…How?” Iona blinked and looked around. Alex and Johnny were circling the one she-vamp, Alex feinting and jabbing with her sword and Johnny held … well nothing behind his back. Right about now, she wished she had a rocket launcher. She stood and ran toward the group as she grabbed her can of Mace.

“Choke on this!” Iona said. She fired a stream of the Mace at the vampire’s face.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:11, Fri 18 Nov 2005.

Alex circled the vampire, waiting, hoping for an opportunity to strike.  But while she concentrated on the fight at hand, her subconscious was busily working away, running over her feelings of deja vu, the voice in her head, the pounding at her temples...

Time seemed to slow down as the penny finally dropped.  Never the most serene of personalities to begin with, she suddenly felt equal parts sickened and furious; though neither emotion showed on her face.  Instead, she looked completely calm, the only clue to her inner turmoil the intensity roiling in her eyes.  In front of her now was no longer a  vampire, but an obstacle in the path to her final goal.  One she intended to eliminate.

Now.

Dren saw the fist and knew he could not duck. He got rocked hard as she connected. But instead of going down, he allowed the force to assist him. Executing a near perfect jump-kick, Dren scored a hefty blow to Ginger vamp. She reeled from the blow that would break the windpipe of a normal human. Good thing she didn’t really need to breath, but it did hurt.

Iain saw her back as a huge target. He lunged forward to score a bull’s-eye. But Dead Fred was in security. He had been with Chorro for years. His job was to get in the way and prevent an attack from succeeding. He had moved Iain into Gonzo’s room with ease. Dead Fred’s ashes were all around Iain's feet, and Iain slipped as he lunged at Ginger. Combined with Dren’s forceful kick, Ginger was not where Iain thought she would be and he missed her completely. It looked like Fred did his job one last time.

Ginger saw Iain’s stake in his hand as Iain’s thrust from behind came into view. She went to kick that stake away from Iain and then carry the spin kick around into Dren’s chest.

Johnny captured the She-vamp’s attention with the ruse of a Holy Water shower. She tried to keep an eye on both Alex and Johnny when Iona rushed onto the scene. The stinging spray hit her squarely in the chest, soaking her blouse with the eye tearing compound. The vampire first reacted like she was struck with holy water, but soon realized it was not going to kill her. But it did make it very difficult to see. The creature screamed in anger and flailed her arms, trying to grasp Iona or Johnny or Alex.

A sense of determination washed over Alex as she dodged the flailing attack. Her movements were always fluid and precise, but this was still different. It was no longer a good fighting form, it was perfect form. Her opening was ever so slight, but take it she did. Alexis swung her sword and it sang as the air split on the edge. It connected with the vampire's neck and cleaved it like a master swordsmen would slice a candle clean through, but not disturb the flame. The vampire lunged toward Iona as its head fell backward off the body. And then, before it could become grotesque, she collapsed into ash.

{Kaphious, your presence is not complete… you are Ale Xis Ta Lor now. And you must be cleansed.} The demon stood and brushed the body off the table with a quick sweep of its hand. It was ashen grey, quite muscular with boney plates about its face. It reached upward toward the sky with its clawed hand outstretched and howled.

Gimpy remembered the Caldron and fell backward into it. His sudden appearance startled the hags who came out of the trance and looked about. Gimpy climbed out of the caldron and headed back toward the humans. He was limping, wet, smoldering and truly quite a mess, but still he came forward.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:18, Sat 19 Nov 2005.

Iain replied to Dren's snide remark with an eyebrow raised: "Be my g-"

Not quite politely, the she-vamp tried to kick his stake out of his hand. "Hey! We are talking here." Iain replied, deflecting the hit without much effort.

As he spoke, he pointed at Dren - not quite realizing he was pointing with a large steel implement and not just a finger: "You know-"

The voice in his head called again, and this time Iain looked around.

"What the Hell are you... Oh, come on." He frowned as he saw the demon approach.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

The air between the two legs of the Arch began to glow and swirl at the Demon’s command. It grew rapidly until it covered the area the combatants were fighting. The dull red air then flashed brightly into a flaming mass. It began to break up into softball sized clumps and fell to the ground like huge burning hail, smoke trailing off each clump.

The fire-ball attack startled even his minions, causing them to look up at the changing sky.

Gimpy’s face was highlighted with the reddish glow as the looked up briefly. Standing there in his bullet ridden, charred, smoldering, wet suit, with balls of fire falling around him, he looked rather sad.

He rolled his eyes and shouted “AARRRG! I'm gettin' too old for this shit!” He moved to intercept Alex as she advanced toward the demon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:28, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

Alex glowered as the voice thundered through her head again, spinning on her heel and starting toward the demon.  Fire began to rain down between the arches, but she didn't care; in fact all it did was ignite her anger even more.  Gimpy moved and it was with no small amount of annoyance that she realised he was intending on  getting in her way.



"Let me help you with that."  She answered coldly, unhooking the stake secured in her belt and lunging toward him, aiming for his heart.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:28, Mon 21 Nov 2005.

   Great. Fireworks. Johnny took a step back, not for the sake of the raining skies, but rather to attend to the glaring wound in his left leg which just now had started to give him grief. He realized he must have fell atop of something when that freight train of a woman ran into him. Note to self; bring first-aid kit, he thought, barely giving himself time to wrap the makeshift bandage that was his shirt around his leg.

Dren easly sides stepped the Vampire’s attack and jabbed his stake at her back hoping to score a vital hit. ”Yer gonna ‘ave t’do bet’er than that!” with his burned hand he snatched something off his vest and hurled it and flung it at the vampire while backing up to put some distance between himself and his quarry.

Seeing an opening in the she-vamp's defense, Iain thrust his arm up without thinking, hoping to catch her off-guard and dust her on the spot.

“No no no no NO!” Iona’s eyes went wide with fear as she looked up at the falling balls of fire. She scrambled to her feet and ran back toward the grass, getting out of the apparent range of the flaming attack.

Alex strode forward toward Gimpy, and then sprang into action. She dodged a weak swing from his bullet shattered arm. Using her legs as additional thrust, she drove the stake upward deep into his chest. “Thank _you…” he said as she put him out of his misery. He collapsed in a cloud of ash.

The hags began to scatter running toward the swirling vortex that was still sucking up the river. Though the vortex was beginning to lose its tight definition and slowing down. It was kind of like stirring a pot of soup then stopping suddenly and leaving the spoon in the pot.

Alex continued toward the demon, seething, weapons at the ready.

Dren ducked back from the spin kick that Ginger had tried to plant on him. He then drove his stake into her chest, just off of her shoulder. It would not kill her, but it seemed to hurt like hell as she threw back her head and screamed. The fiery sky exploded above them and began to rain down. Her shriek was now aimed at the sky as she moved to avoid a flaming ball. Iain took advantage of the distraction and drove his stake into the center of her chest, piercing her heart. The shrieking quickly faded as did Ginger, leaving the two men of Cornerstone standing alone, breathless.

Johnny tended to his largest wound, attempting to stave off some of his blood loss. He ripped his shirt into a makeshift bandage and tied it tightly around one leg. Iona backpedaled as fast as she could to beyond the falling fire, patting out flames on her arms and legs as she ran. Her eyes teared up with fear as she wondered where this new threat had come from.

The Demon pointed at the body on the ground that was his meal. The corpse rolled over and stood. Its head has been cut open; the top of it was sitting on the table like a bowl. The remains of his brain were still in the skull cap, although most of then were gone. As the corpse turned, it appeared to shape-shift with a suddenly shimmer. A young woman appeared to stand beside the demon where the dead man should have been. She was pretty in her own way, not a model beauty, but in a girl next door kind of way. She looked a bit rugged and rough around the edges like her life had been hard but she had not let it define her. You knew this woman met life on her terms and would usually win.

“Alex, it is me, Sarah. Stop. Don’t hurt him.”  With that, the demon almost smiled.

For a second, Alex stopped in her tracks, staring at the image of her best friend before her, breath catching in her throat as she desperately wanted to believe what she was seeing was real.  But it wasn't, and no amount of wishing upon a star was going to make it true.  Tearing her eyes away, she looked instead at the demon who seemed to be smirking at the effects of his latest parlour trick and her anger  flared again, furious that he had dared to desecrate Sarah's memory.

Blinded by rage, she threw caution to the wind, along with any semblance of a practical defence and charged toward the demon, intent on burying her sword inside him as deeply as she could.

Ignoring the lightshow, impressive as it was, Iain moved toward Alex, intent on lending her a hand; then, with the utmost disbelief, he saw her charge at the demon with total lack of self-preservation.

Dear Lord almighty... No sooner had he finished that thought than his legs began moving of their own accord, squeezing out every drop of vampiric speed, trying to reach her before she succeeded in what, from his point of view, looked a lot like a suicidal attempt.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:09, Sat 26 Nov 2005.

Okay, it was officiall. Fire and brimstone were falling from the sky. To Dren that could only mean one thing… The Heavenly Father was extremely pissed off!

He blamed Iain for no good reason, as he decided to get the hell out of the area. Seeing Iona he pulled the top off the glass vial of holy water he had palmed for his fight with the She-bitch and opted instead to sprinkle it over the only friend he had on the battle field. From a religious stand point it should make her has one of God’s children, and from a scientific level it was still a water and fire thing.

”Though I walk through th’valley o’th’shadow o’death,” Helping her to her feet he let his stake from from his hand and making sure he placed the blessed liquid on areas that looked like they were still smoking he continued his prayer, ”…I will fear o’dread n’evil, fer God’s wit’us.” grabbing a new vial he told her she’d be okay as he ran with her still throwing water over them ”Fer thine’s th’kingdom, th’power an’ th’glory…”

   Noting Dren's withdrawal and rather satisfied with his bandage - it might not be exquisite craftmansship, but at least he wouldn't die from loss of blood if he tried running three steps - he had to wonder what in the world he was going to do about demons, hags, cauldrons and fiery skies. You're now officially way out of your league, he reminded himself, walking cautiously towards Alex' bag, trying to catch what was being said.

Iona started to hear scripture and was getting wet. It took Dren splashing holy water on her face before she registered him at all. Tearing her eyes away from the fiery sky took more then a little effort.

With all the vampires gone and the hags popping into the vortex, there was only one creature that opposed them. Normally that would mean they were winning and things were good. But, with the Demon smirking and the dead rising, the vortex destabilizing, and the sky falling, could this really be a good sign?

Iona smiled briefly at Dren as he ministered to her reddened burn marks. “Thanks, that feels a lot better.” she said. Iona looked back at the scene under the Arch, “There has to be something that can be done to end some of this madness.”

Iona’s mind worked the problem. If the candles were connected to the cloaking spell, what is the caldron for? The spinning vortex? It was worth a shot. She reached out with her mind and began to upend the heavy iron pot, intent on spilling its contents.

Dren and Iona had scrambled from the area of the falling fire while Iain, Johnny, and Alex saw it for what it really was, a phantasmal effect. It had to be believed for it to burn. While Dren was dousing Iona, she tried to upend the caldron and the spinning liquid it contained. Johnny rummaged in the sports bag for a suitable weapon, something a bit larger then his pocket knife and more damaging then his imaginary holy water. Iain took a second to take note of the remaining situation. It was just a split second to register Alex’s actions, but it seemed a lot longer. He launched himself toward the demon, but would not get there before she would.

The Drac'Nienn demon’s glamour did not seem to have the desired affect on Alex. In fact the opposite effect was invoked. Instead of giving her pause, it spurred Alex into fury. Alex leaped onto the table and sprinted down its length. As she reached the other end, she did a perfect bent knee deer-leap and spun her sword to adjust her hand grip into a downward stabbing strike. With her hands clenched together on the hilt, she bore the blade downward, deep into the Drac'Nienn demon’s ashen grey colored chest.

It bellowed loudly as the young woman hung for the hilt, using what weight she could to ram the blade to the hilt. With strong, hands, he gripped her tightly about the chest, crushing her ribs to the point of making Alex gasp. The demon’s hands lifted her up and a way as one would toss a feral cat that had attacked. Alex refused to release her grip on the sword and tore it free of the well muscled chest as she was flung back. Blood spouted from the hole in the chest the sword had left behind.

The demon’s concentration was broken and the fiery sky dispersed. The glamour on the corpse faded back to its original male form and collapsed like a puppet whose strings were cut. The Drac'Nienn stepped forward and backhanded Alex, knocking her bodily back a couple of feet.

It was with considerable satisfaction that Alex noted she had done enough damage to throw the Drac'Nienn's concentration; the image of Sarah vanished and left only the poor unfortunate who had been the demon's latest meal.  Not even registering the pain emanating from her ribs or the metallic taste of blood from her split lip, she moved forward to press another attack.  This time she was more measured in her swing, though it had more to do with the fact that she didn't want to endager whomever was joining her in her fight than any regard for her own well-being.

With the vamps gone and most of Dren’s weapons scattered about the field he reach around and pulled the Tanto from along his back. For those that may have scoffed at his coming into this like a walking armory he was actually running out of weapon to use. Moving quickly he passed up his stake and headed for the last known location of his guns.

With the reasurring feel of cold steel in his hand - Gosh, aren't these things heavy? - Johnny got his hands out of Alex' bag again, drawing closer to her back as he carefully looked around of himself, to see if there was something - someone? - they all had missed.

Iain saw Alex knocked backwards; fortunately, before he could go through all the worst-case-scenarios that had come to his mind, she stood back up. Had his heart been beating, it would have probably stopped for an instant.

His sprint finally brought him close to the demon, but, instead of slowing down, he jumped - as well as the somewhat slippery terrain allowed - and spun in the air, slashing at the monster with the wakizashi in his left hand.

As he finished the jump, he thrust the stake in his right hand toward the creature's chest. Granted, it wasn't a vampire, but ten inches of wood through the heart tend to make anything that moves... Well, stop.

Alex moved like a large cat on the hunt. This time she looked for her opening, just out of reach of the demon. As they feinted and parried, her strategy was rewarded. She ducked low then used her legs to magnify her thrust up into the creature’s abdomen. She danced back just out of reach as it tried to punt her across the field.

It was a good thing she had leaped back because there was this blur of whirling vampire between her and the demon. Iain did his graceful spin, his wakizashi slashed across the strong chest. Iain drove the stake into the demon, but his momentum had carried him just a bit off the mark for a strike to the heart. No matter, a splinter of this size would give anyone pain and the Drac'Nienn was no exception.

It howled at the new threat. The demon looked at Iain with red seething eyes and then reached out its arm toward the table. It grasped at air like one would grasp a baseball bat and with a swing of his arm, the table flew toward them both, narrowly missing Alex and arched toward Iain.

Iona finally managed to topple the caldron, spilling its contents. The slightly thick fluid spilled out onto the concrete. As it did, the vortex that was sucking the river dry collapsed. The water that was suspended splashed to the ground violently, soaking the upper deck where the fight was with the silt laden water. Then it began to run down the steps, back down the levee to rejoin the rest of the river.

“Nooo! My escape!!” The demon cried. Looking at Alex, “Kaphious, Assist me.” he commanded.

*WHAM* Ah, the joys of monster hunting... How many people can slip "...and then the guy whacked me with a table" in a story? And what's a black eye in exchange for that?

Although, when you couple it with the other black eye, the broken lip, the bleeding nose, the generally swollen face, the cracked ribs, not to mention the handful of minor wounds scattered all over Iain's body, it could look like something...

Gotta find another line of work... He thought, readying his weapons for another assault.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:49, Thu 01 Dec 2005.

Dren stood leveling his reloaded gun "Dinna ever play a prank on an Irishman." Dren pulled off one round with his good hand and paused to see what effect it might have.

Thoroughly soaked by the filthy water splashing down around her, Alex could feel every open wound shrieking out even louder than before.  Just as she was trying to force the pain to the back of her mind, she felt an unpleasant tug in her head, as though someone had lodged a hook there and was trying to pull her where they wanted.  Stubborn as she was however, Alex performed the mental equivalent of digging her heels in the ground and refused to budge, clenching her jaw as she moved around the demon, waiting for a chance to strike.