Anna was dancing!  It seemed like a good night at the bar; patrons were watching her and throwing money, which was good.  The bar was relatively nice, and the drinks were sharply overpriced, but Anna (and the other dancers) were the reason that people came, and that let the bar provide for them, so that was good.

Unusually, there were a couple of women watching her as closely as several men.  Her set was ending; typically, she'd get to rest, and many customers would buy her drinks and try to hit on her, which was all part of the job.  How would Anna handle this...?

Anna did her best to smile and be nice, unless people tried going too far.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 22:54, Mon 27 Feb 2023.

A tall woman with curling horns raised a glass to her and smiled, but did not approach.  However, a slender, leaf-eared woman was grinning as she lead a large, muscular but confused young man over.  She was slickly dressed, and winked at Anna, but the young man just looked confused.  He also could not possibly have looked more like a farmer or the like, from the middle of nowhere.

"Hey, cutie," said the woman.  "We loved that dance, y'know.  Buy you a drink?"

"Sure, that sounds lovely," Anna said.

"Now, I'm Alana, and this is Artz," said Alana.  "Artz here has never been to the big city before, and I thought I'd show him the sights.  I figured he'd like to meet a girl like you, but honestly, after seeing you dance, maybe I should make him wait outside for a few..."

She was grinning; Artz looked utterly confused.  But behind them, there was a commotion at the door-- and it was suddenly kicked down with great force.

Anna looked over to see what was going on.

Soldiers were coming in, to the annoyance of everyone else.  She could hear them talking.

"One of the dancers-- which one is she?"

"Let's just grab 'em all!" with a laugh.

"No time for that nonsense.  Look for the crystal in her forehead.  Don't let her escape."

And they were heading for her, and the other dancers...

Anna cursed. How had they found her so quickly? She ran for the back, hoping there was another way out.

Shouting revealed that the back entrance had had soldiers posted their the entire time!  Anna might well have to fight her way out!

"Stay back!" Anna said. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will if you force me!"

She silently prayed that he powers would work.

"Surrender!" called the soldiers, pointing pistols at her.  She was outnumbered and surrounded!

...but the young man whistled, and a truly gigantic dog burst through the doors to his side.

"You ain't gonna hurt her!" he declared, pulling a spear out from under a table.

The young woman with him sighed, looked for an exit, shrugged, and drew a knife.

And the woman with horns looked, grinned, and picked up a truly enormous axe to join the fray!

"Thank you for your help," Anna said.

Combat begins:  Anna, Artz (and friend), Alana and Krovna vs 4 Soldiers!  Go!

Anna focused on the flowing energy around her, drawing it in and then releasing a blast of fire at one of the soldiers.

(OOC: Pyro Blast at the closest soldier - Anna Patri rolled 5,5 using d10,d8. 10 Total and a crit success if it hits. Using advantage for the next ally)

The burned soldier took a shot, but it went wild!

Alana pointed an accusing finger at the next soldier.  "Your unforgivable actions in disturbing this innocent place of business will be punished!  Whey I talk to your superior, you'll surely be demoted or even discharged!"

12; Soldier 2 is Dazed and loses 10 MP.

Artz stabbed at a guard with his spear, but couldn't get past their defenses.  His dog growled and snapped and kept the soldiers at bay.

"Hi, I'm Krovna," said the large woman with the gigantic axe.  "Listen, I really loved your dance, but I was too shy to come over at the time.  Maybe we can talk later, after I CRUSH THESE WEAK GUARDSMEN!"

With a roar, she swung the axe, and a deep red aura shrouded it!  The soldier she struck was staggered, thrown against a wall and all but felled by a single blow!

That soldier fired at her, drawing blood!  Another fired wildly, missing.  The one Alana had challenged backed towards a window-- and yelled for help!

"Reinforcements!" he called.  "They've got an army!"

With a 12, the Soldier has started a six-segment clock.  If you don't defeat the soldiers before it's full, reinforcements will arrive!  Various characters CAN take actions to remove segments from the clock, which has 1 segment full now.

Anna began to really feel the energy around her and she began to dance with with the flow of it as continued to shoot flames at the same guard.

(OOC: Pyro Blast at the same soldier - Anna Patri rolled 4,5 using d10,d8, Hopefully 9 hits and 20 damage again if it does)

The soldier fell, burning!

Alana frowned, ran to a window, and shouted "Hurry, men!  They went out the back!"  She sounded extremely convincing.

The soldier, confused, tried to argue, but couldn't make himself heard over the chaos.

Alana removes a Clock segment.

Artz engaged a soldier with his spear; neither accomplished much.  His dog, however, felled the soldier Krovna had maimed.

Krovna went into a guard stance and roared, power gathering throughout her body...

Withstand

The remaining soldier fired wildly again.

Anna took out a couple of the throwing blades she kept carefully hidden in her costume and hurled them at the last guard.

(OOC: Attack roll - Anna Patri rolled 6,6 using d10,d8. 12 Total and another crit, so going for that advantage. 10 Damage)

Alana decided to settle the issue of whose cries for help were more important by stabbing the guard at the window; this finished him off.

Artz finally landed a spear blow on the soldier-- which exploded in fire!  Artz apparently had more tricks up his sleeve than were obvious.  The dog dragged the soldier at the window away.

The injured soldier-- the last one standing-- fired at Artz.  This time, the shot was true, but Artz was hardy and not badly hurt.

With a roar, Krovna launched herself at the remaining soldier.  Used Identity for a reroll  The soldier was felled!

"...Okay," said Alana.  "So we are LEAVING RIGHT NOW, right?"

"To where though?" Anna asked. "I can't go home!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:22, Wed 01 Mar 2023.

"Step one is away from here!" said Alana.  "We get away from the soldiers, THEN we worry about where we're going!"

"This way," Krovna added, kicking down a side door and trying to haul the group into an alleyway.

Anna followed.

As the car pulled up, the bartender swore. There was a large black truck parked out front with soldiers lingering around.

"Looks like we missed the start!"

"Let's give them a problem to solve, then," said Tim.  He raised his sword and shield, and looked to the others.  Best to strike as a team.

The rest nodded and charged in.

(OOC: You are now fighting four soldiers and the party goes first, thanks to a preemptive attack)

The soldiers who had conquered his people, who oppressed them to this day-- oh, yes, Timoteu could fight them, and eagerly.  He raised his sickle-blade high, striking in a pattern that drew on the darkness of his heritage...

Spellblade (Drain) with my weapon.
19:59, Today: Timoteu El Segador rolled 15 using 1d10+1d8+2 ((9,4)).  That's a hit for 24 Dark damage.  Tim's not hurt, but it's better damage than the blade by itself.

Sunam stepped up, hitting the soldier you drained with a powerful uppercut that sent the man flying and a hard landing.

"Shame you boys are so slow!" Tremal said as he drew his gun and began unloading it quickly into one of the soldiers, badly wounding him.

Says sighed as she drew her own gun and fire at the wounded soldier, finishing him off.

"Who the hell are you people?" one of the soldiers demanded as he shot, wounding Saya.

The other guard nervously shot at Sunam, missing wildly.

"No one of consequence," said Tim, bitterly.  "...Well, not to you, at least."

Darkness sang in his blade again, striking at the most-injured foe.

20:38, Today: Timoteu El Segador rolled 13 using d8+d10+2 ((6,5)).  21 Dark damage.

You strike another of the soldiers hard, who Samara then kicks in the head, knocking the man down and out.

"Next verse same as the first!" Tremal said. pumping the last soldier full of bullets.

Saya followed up, the last soldier was badly hurt and began to hobble away in terror the best he could.

Tim chose to let the last soldier go.  There would be witnesses anyway-- better to let the Corp know that there was resistance to them, perhaps.

Besides, as a member of his family, he could hardly back down.

"Well done!" he said.  "Back, then?"

"Maybe we should question him. Find out why they were here?" Saya asked.

"...an excellent suggestion," said Tim, and he went and put the curve of his blade around the soldier's neck.

"Pardon," he said.  "We have questions, if you don't mind."

"Please, whatever you want, just don't kill me!" the soldier said.

"What were you after here?" Tim asked.

"One of the dancers. Boss said she was an ancient. I don't know what  that means," the soldier said.

"How were you to recognize her?" Tim asked.

"A gem on her forehead," the soldier said. "She ran out the back once we went in, but we had guys there waiting."

"...but you clearly didn't catch her," said Tim.  "Thank you."

He left the soldier and headed for the rest of the group, telling them what he'd learned.

"Interesting," Saya said. "I've never heard anything but unsubstantiated claims about them."

"People say that about my family," said Timoteu.  "The world is full of many mysteries; I'm willing to believe in this one."

"There's got to be something if the corp is interested in them," Saya said.

"...agreed," said Tim.  "But what?  They tried in vain to take the power of my family; might they try that again?"

"They can steal power?" Sunam asked. "Like with a machine or something? Damn!"

"They tried, but it wasn't successful," said Tim.  "I'm not sure of the exact process, but there was at least some physical instrumentality.  As I said, it went badly for them."

He didn't mention that he himself might be safer for such a thing-- but he also didn't have much power.

"It's great information and all, but we probably should be gettin' out of here," Tremal said.

"Agreed," said Tim, going into the car.

The others piled in and soon you were back on the road.