Raven listened but didn't immediately speak. His train of thought was more focused on trying to gauge where the leather devils were. But the scents he had to go by were all over the graveyard. It was sickening really... He wondered if any of them had touched her grave. If they had they'd be sorry. Very, very sorry.
"Huh?" He blinked when she turned to him. He had to think for a second to remember what she said. He didn't particularly care one way or the other... Though one way was certainly easier than the other. And they didn't have much time to debate about it. Not that there was a debate to begin with. But he felt the need to address something else first. "Older gentleman? That makes me sound old. I'm not even 25 yet."
"Just cloak us," He said quickly as they got closer. His choice was the only one there really. Hide. He wasn't going to blow up a graveyard if he could help it. "It'll be easier to deal with them if they're all in one place. And I'd rather not fight in the graveyard if their boss isn't here. I can get a little... excitable. And that's not so good for property or graves."
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Aug 27, 2015 7:31:43 GMT
"I meant older than me," Crisis said with a sheepish grin as a magic circle appeared on the ground around them. "Although, to be fair, if you were a woman you'd be considered an old maid in some cultures."
The magic circle flashed, and a translucent barrier formed around them. Judging from the color, however, it definitely wasn't invisible. In fact, it appeared to be a delivery truck with the words "Inconspicuous Unmarked Van" written in big, bold letters on the side. The whole thing acted like a two-way mirror; from the inside, Raven and Crisis could see through it easily, but it was completely opaque from the outside. Additionally, it was completely solid, so the bikers were unlikely to accidentally pass through should they casually lean against it.
"There we go," Crisis said proudly. "Perfectly camouflaged. Anyway, don't worry too much about collateral damage. Once my Fairy Arena is up, all you'll be wrecking is illusions and biker-faces."
In short order, the Leather Devils had pulled up to the graveyard on their motorcycles. The gates swung open as they approached and slowed to a halt just inside.
"Alright, who remembers the password?" the head thug called out as he hopped off his bike. He was quickly met with jeers from the other gang members. "Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it." He walked over to a nearby grave with his hands in his pockets and put his right foot up against the headstone as if to shove it over. "Klaatu verata nicto!"
With that, the headstone slid back as the ground in front of it fell away into a ramp leading into the ground. The hole also widened, allowing them ride on down three-by-three if they had a mind to. They promptly rode their bikes down into the ground, the head thug taking up the rear after the rest had gone in, allowing the grave to reset behind them. Even their bike tracks were obliterated, almost as if they were never there.
Before he really realized it, Raven found himself sitting in yet another vehicle. He had to resist the urge to duck down as the bandits showed up. he just had to believe they couldn't see him. Thankfully they didn't, though he was sure the vehicle was in plain view. The magic she used was, while silly, surprisingly effective. Either that or they were just blind. Once they vanished he climbed out of the spell van and walked over to the grave.
"...Pretty impressive for a bunch of thugs," Raven was kneeling in front of the grave, looking as if he was paying his respects. He shifted his sword slightly to be more comfortable. Their scent ended here... as if they just ceased to be when the grave closed. The irony of it was palpable. "Not even tracks. Looks like hiding was the better option this time."
"But we shouldn't wait. They might have other hidden doors like this," Raven reasoned as he placed his foot on the grave like they did. He felt like he was desecrating it, but it wasn't really a grave. So he took in a deep breath, pulled at his magic a little to be ready, and applied a little pressure. "Klaatu verata nicto!"
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Aug 31, 2015 6:28:32 GMT
Crisis dispelled the van after Raven climbed out, then followed him to the so-called grave. As soon as he spoke the words, the grave opened and allowed them passage. As Crisis walked down the dirt-ramp, she remarked, "I hope you're not afraid of caves."
The grave would close back up again as Raven entered it. The entrance led to a short tunnel over twelve feet below the surface. Whoever dug this knew what they were doing, as it wasn't merely dirt walls and a ceiling. There were support structures at regular intervals, like a mine shaft, but rather than wood like one would expect they appeared to be made of stone or at least hardened dirt. The whole thing was lit up with illumination lacrima, but they were all of varying types as if they simply raided a lamp store. They didn't even provide the same level of illumination, but they got the job done.
The tunnel opened out to a much larger cavern, constructed with pretty much the same design sense. The whole thing could easily be as large as the entire graveyard. It was more or less circular, and several more tunnels could be seen around the perimeter leading up to the surface. There were numerous, simple structures, almost like a shanty town, but much of the cavern was devoted to open space in which a few of them were currently playing around on their bikes.
A number of bikes were parked by the entrance to the cavern, which Crisis quickly ducked behind. Nearby, the thugs from earlier were being addressed by a larger, more intimidating-looking thug.
"...And then she hit us with a train!" the head thug from earlier explained. "We were lucky to get out of there with our lives!"
"And you thought it was best to come back here empty-handed?" the larger thug growled. "You know how Lord Unnecessary Violence gets when people fail to meet his expectations."
"Yeah, about the same as when they do meet his expectations," the first thug answered. "They don't call him 'Lord Unnecessary Violence' for nothing!"
When the path opened he sighed. It felt like a trap... through and through. But he resisted the urge to say anything and just walked in after Crisis. The make shift tunnel was less makeshift than he thought. This was really well made for a bunch of thugs. But he could see why they'd prospered. The templars might never have found a secret base like this. But then... to have kept it secret they must be pretty brutal.
When they got to the open room he moved to kneel near Crisis behind the bikes and listened in. So they were afraid of their leader... How very typical. They never changed... One would lead through strength and fear, and the others would follow. But in the end the leaders were dumb... save for one. But if these thugs had moved into Gallows town, then she was no longer here. He turned to Crisis and whispered, "I have a plan. Stay here while I draw their leader out. You'll know when to make your entrance."
In truth, he didn't think her small size would draw out all the bandits right away. And if they weren't in the fight, there was a chance they'd flee. But he was bigger, and would cause a more trouble, thus bringing out the leader right away. So he stepped out and started walking forward. "Lord Unnecessary Violence sounds like a fun one to meet."
"So tell him..." Raven wasn't sure if the bandit's nowadays still feared him or not. It had been a long time. But he doubted their leader was super young. He'd surely have heard about the bandit slayer. "That the Flametongue is calling him out. Not just him, but every single member of the leather Devils."
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Sept 2, 2015 7:08:05 GMT
"But wait...!" she interjected as Raven stepped out to confront the Leather Devils. Dammit, didn't she just tell him about the Fairy Arena? Granted, all she told him was that he wouldn't need to worry about wrecking stuff, but whatever. It's not like he needs to know the full extent of her powers, anyway, and she needs time to prepare the spell.
"What the...!?" the head thug from earlier exclaimed as Raven appeared from seemingly nowhere. "Who the Hell are you!?"
The superior Devil punched him in the back of the head. "You moron! You lead him right to us! What'd I tell you about inconspicuous, unmarked vans?"
"But it's just one guy!" the thug exclaimed. "We can take 'em!"
"That 'one guy' is Raven 'F███ing' Flametongue!" his superior argued. "And your squad got TPK'ed by, in your own words, a little girl! You guys hold him off while I sound the alarm!"
"What? 'Hold him off'?" the thug questioned as his superior ran off. "F███ing prick!" He turned towards the intruder and raised his fists. "Alright, let's get 'im!"
The Leather Devils quickly closed in, forming a circle around Raven. The head thug was the first to lash out, charging at the Dragon Slayer and making numerous swipes with a switchblade knife. Two more would soon follow to back him up, wielding a lead pipe and a length of chain, respectively. The rest also brandished various improvised weaponry, but remained where they were for the moment.
Raven heard the call to wait, but he didn't heed it. Down here was good enough for him to cut loose a little without worrying about the city or graveyard above. He simply grinned as he tightened his gloves while the two bandits bickered. He could wait... This little group wasn't who he was after. No, he wanted the leader. But the fodder was a good warm up.
Then the circle was formed. They were confident because they had numbers. But numbers didn't matter if the quality was good enough. And he was more than cut out for this. He pushed the pun out of his mind as he moved to dodge the blade. His movements were small, just enough to dodge the knife. Little energy was wasted, as Raven was taking it seriously despite what the grin would suggest.
"You know..." He began as the two men rushed him. He held up one arm and caught the chain, and used his other hand hand to catch the pipe. As the man with the knife came in he twisted, using his super human strength to pull the lead pipe and chain guys off balance. The knife passed harmlessly by his side as he let go of the pipe guy, sending him staggering into the circle of people. "It's a shame you all forgot about little old me."
"But it lets you experience it all over again as if it never happened!" Raven brought his knee up into the elbow of the knife man, driving his knife up into the links of the chain. Then he pulled on it, pulling the off balance bandit towards him. Using that momentum he ducked down and let the chain guy fly over him. Then he sprang back up, pumping his legs into an uppercut into the knife bandit's chin. The resulting connection echoed through the underground little town they were fighting in. Sure, he had only really attacked one of them, but the other two were off balance.
"It's gonna take more than just three of you, so you should probably start taking me seriously," He said with a wide grin. Then he spoke loud enough for Crisis to hear clearly. It could have easily been directed at the bandits, or Crisis. With Raven's wording it would be hard to tell the difference. "You don't have to hold back. I came all the way here so put on a good show!"
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Sept 11, 2015 7:23:08 GMT
The blaring sound of an air horn suddenly resounded across the cavern. Soon after, it was followed by the echoed voice of the superior thug from earlier. "Attention all Leather Devils! Raven Flametongue is at the South entrance! This is not a drill! Get down to the South Entrance and show him what-for!"
"Sounds like a cue if I ever heard one," Crisis remarked as she stood up from behind the motorcycles. The eye on her hat opened as she adjusted the brim. “Dimensional warp engaged. Expanding distortion field. External parameters defined. Internal boundaries unlimited." She held out her hand in front of her as a magic circle expanded from her feet. "Crisis Gate, OPEN!”
Space and time seemed to warp as crystal spires and jets of steam sprung up all over. The underground cavern was soon gone, repaced with walls of rough-hewn crystals. They crystals seemed almost translucent, revealing veins of molten lava leading to bubbling pools and misty geysers. The floor seemed nearly as clear as glass in places, offering a view of a massive pool of magma far below. The ceiling, however, was completely gone, leaving a starry, midnight sky complete with full moon for all to see. Most importantly, all exits have vanished, and no one was getting out. The shanty town and bikes remained, however.
"Fairy Arena," Crisis noted. "Crystal Caldera."
The Leather Devils looked around, bewildered. However, the thug with the knife kept his wits as he pulled himself off the floor. "Don't just stand there, get him!"
The circled Devils all bolted towards Raven simultaneously, only to immediately be smacked in the face by the handles of rakes they just stepped on. As they held their faces in pain, a wrecking ball swung through and sent all the guys on Raven's right flying. The ones to his left, however, still attempted to mob him. The first guy that reached him attempted to smash him over the head with a folding chair, of all things. He was followed closely by a pair of bikers with a tire iron and a crowbar, respectively, who tried to club Raven in whatever spot they could reach. The rest weren't going to give him a chance to catch his breath, coming at him with two-by-fours, parking meters, sacks of smaller blunt objects, and even a skateboard.
Meanwhile other bikers were regrouping elsewhere, the revving of their motorcycles reverberating across the caldera.
Raven looked up at the blaring noise and grinned. Excellent. They were planning to stand their ground and fight. Folly if he'd ever seen it, but it was theirs to be had. He was about to start laying into the men around him when things changed. His senses felt the distortion, and it threw him off. He was momentarily disorientated, but so were the men around him. He was slower to recover however...
Slower, but not too late. Raven punched the chair coming in at him, knocking it from the man's hands. Then he began what could only be described as a dance. To him, the men were slow moving and easy to read. As such he was able to dodge, duck, weave, and counter. A palm strike sent one man tumbling several feet away. A round house kick sent another spinning to the ground. He grabbed the arm of one of the men as they swung and pulled him forward, only for the dragon slayer to drive his elbow down between the man's shoulder blades.
He never stopped moving, but seldom seemed to attack. All his moves were counters, and his sword remained sheathed. It didn't stop him from suddenly placing his hand on it and pushing down on the hilt. This swung the sheath up, catching one guy between the legs. Before that man could slump to the ground he was knocking another off balance with a shoulder push, only to follow that up with a palm strike to the chest.
Only a couple were left and Raven could hear the motorcycles revving up. This was going to be interesting. He grabbed one of the last guys and threw him into the air. Then he threw a fireball that curved towards him, and then exploded on impact. It wasn't lethal, and neither was the fall... but it let them know he'd been holding back. "C'mon. Do something fun."
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Sept 18, 2015 6:11:34 GMT
The thugs were sent flying with little effort as the Dragon Slayer effectively scattered them to the winds. They may have been down, but not out. They began to get back up and scurry away, dragging off whoever couldn't flee on their own, but they weren't exactly retreating. Rather, they were making room for their comrades, who were going to do what they did best: Fighting on motorcycles!
The riders hoot and holler as they made their approach, waving weapons and blunt instruments over their heads menacingly. They surrounded Raven, orbiting him in concentric circles rotating in opposite directions. Their assault began in earnest as they proceeded to break away from the circles and peel across it in repeated attempts to run him down. Some would head directly for him while others ran askew, attempting bludgeon him with bats, pipes, and sledgehammers. Still others tried to fake him out, power-sliding towards him only to zoom away again. Finally, amidst this flurry, a pair of them barreled right for Raven, holding a net between them in an attempt to snare him and drag him around behind them.
Crisis decided two could play at this game. Well, not two. How many bikers were there? One more than that. That's how many could play this game. Crisis had once again conjured up her monstrousity of a motorcycle, this time with a few additions to it's design: A huge lance sticking out from the carousel horse's chest and a pair of gatling guns on the sides. She charged right through the swarm of motorcyclists with her bike's wings deployed, knocking brutes around left and right. Then she skidded in a wide arc, firing her gatling guns at whoever she missed the first time.
Had Raven been a more practical man, as he was in his youth, there'd be corpses instead of men scrambling onto bikes. But, Raven was a more lenient man than he ever was as a child. And as such he was about to feel the painful consequences of his choice. Seeing them orbit him, and at much faster speeds than they could ever hope to achieve on foot, Raven reached for his sword. He was going to need the reach...
Crimson flashed out as he slowly turned in place, counting off riders. There were certainly more than a few, but he felt like he could predict their movement. After all, the faster a target was the harder it was for both the target and Raven to react. And they were restricted to straight-ish lines. So all he had to do was picture a big circle, and dodge the lines.
Which he did easily enough from the first few passes. But then the armed ones swung in. That added a huge problems. At those speeds even Raven wouldn't survive a full on blow to the head. So he raised his crimson sword into a ready position and started slashing weapons as they swung. Crisis drove by more than a couple times as he did his little dance, thinning thugs and bikes. Thankfully, none of the Leather Devils were stupid enough to rush Raven on foot. That would have complicated things just a bit.
As one dashed by he dropped low, and cut the bike in half lengthwise. The driver tumbled from his now in pieces ride, his arm twisting in the wrong direction with a sickening snap. His screams only spurred them on however. And while Raven had improved senses, 360 degree sight was not one he had. So he had no time to react when the net finally got him.
He was dragged behind, sword still in hand. The men cheered and whooped as Raven incurred scrapes, bruises, and had to bounce so he didn't fall on his own sword. Unlike the entire time he was now getting kinda of mad... One last bump put him in the perfect position, and he took that time to stab his blade through the net. And with one clean motion he was free, and the net was suddenly in half. But it didn't stop there. The smell of burning rubber could be picked up as fire rolled off their tires.
"No more games," Raven snarled as he stood up to his full height. Energy radiated off of him, and as he looked at bikes, more wheels caught fire. Before long most of the bikes that Crisis hadn't disabled were now without wheels. He turned to Crisis, blade still in hand and shrugged. His voice still carried the edge when he addressed her, but it was toned down. "Hopefully that's enough to bring their boss out."
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Sept 27, 2015 7:31:26 GMT
Crisis pulled up alongside Raven as the Leather Devils retreated. "Yeah, I don't know what kind of leader would stand by while..."
A wall of earth suddenly exploded from the ground, knocking the Leather Devils around. A strange sight, considering the ground currently appeared to be translucent crystal over distant pool of lava.
"...That wasn't one of mine," Crisis admitted.
A section of the wall suddenly cracked and shattered as something large punched through it. A large, hulking beast of a man stomped out from the resulting cloud of dust and debris. Clad in a leather vest and pants, half of his skin was covered in scars while the other half was covered in tattoos. Just about all flesh in between sported various forms of piercings. His one good eye surveyed the carnage, eventually settling on Raven and Crisis.
"I hear someone's been be'in' on muh men," the man said in a low, growling drawl through disfigured and poorly-maintained teeth. He didn't seem angry as he regarded Raven with an elated grin. "Nobuh-y beats on muh men buh me."
"Lord Unnecessary Violence I pre-" Crisis remarked before a column of earth erupted from beneath her and knocked her and her bike into the air.
"Hmm?" Raven glanced over as the giant of a man busted through the walls. It was as if Atrum had been scarred and tatoo'd up. The image quickly vanished as the man spoke. It was grating on Raven's ears, who was currently holding his sword low. He eyed the man, noting he only seemed to have one good eye. He also seemed super humanly strong and probably used earth magic, seeing as how Crisis and her bike were flying. Part of him wanted to dive after her, but part of him decided to let her take care of herself.
"It's really hard not to pick on people weaker than me," the sword moved to rest on his shoulder as his tone turned cocky. It looked as if he was taking this man less seriously than the crowd of thugs... an assumption that would be true if people were making it. Aside from a few bruises and scrapes, Raven was fine. He turned his head so he wasn't even facing the bigger man as he continued. "And your underlings were just so weak that I couldn't resist."
"Even in numbers they were barely able to hurt me," He commented closing his eyes and shrugging. He was completely open. "And since you seem so much weaker than them... I'll give you a free shot. But you better not waste it mister weak bandit."
Post by Chryseis "Crisis" Teotwaki on Oct 22, 2015 7:29:41 GMT
Lord Unnecessary Violence's laugh started as a low wheeze and quickly elevated to a throaty chortle. "A man affa me own 'eart!" He stepped forward, unconcerned about the screams of the biker whose leg he stepped on in the process. "Sumtimes, affa 'ard day, ah luck to unwind buh breakin' a fewa dere ribs. 'Elps remine dem 'oo's in chawge 'round 'ere, knowhattamean? 'Ittle runts sh'd be gratefoo they gotta real man luck me 'round ta show dem 'ow things oughtta be done. Foa inference..."
The gang leader raised an arm as a pair of earthen walls sprung up from the illusory crystal floor, then closed his fist as the walls attempted to crush Raven between them. Then, just for kicks, he summoned a pair of larger walls to crush the first, then an even larger pair to crush the second, then third, fourth, and fifth. About this time, Crisis motorbike crashed into the ground in a brilliant explosion some distance away. However, Crisis had already escaped from it, popping out of a hatch a ways behind Lord Unnecessary Violence and firing a bazooka at him. With a flick of his wrist, a boulder was yanked out of the ground to intercept the projectile by flying straight through it and towards Crisis. With a "Meep!" she ducked back into the hatch, narrowly avoiding the boulder and the several dozen additional boulders that followed it.
"..." Raven listened to the man, wishing he was deaf at that particular moment. His way of speaking was grating on the ears. And his disregard for other people was even more so. He was going to enjoy punching this particular bandit into the dirt. But as he was thinking this two walls shot up on either side of him. He glanced back and fourth at them before chuckling slightly. "That's prec-"
He didn't even get to finish before the walls slammed in on him. He was encompassed in total darkness as his magic flared up to prevent him from being completely crushed. Then he felt the next set of walls slam in on the first. And the next. And the next. Man... He really lived up to his name. Not that Raven minded. He counted off the seconds in his head, knowing that Crisis would likely interfere. At ten seconds he smirked in the darkness.
The first sign that he was still alive was the light that started shooting out of the cracks. Then a rumbling followed, along with a breathing sound that sounded almost like wings beating the air. Finally, the rock walls exploded, revealing Raven. Though now he had a fiery aura around him, complete with flame wings. "You call that an attack? Get it together, man."
"Twin Dragon Cannon!" Raven pushed both hands forward. Two fireballs easily the size of the boulders being flung at Crisis flew out, spiraling around an invisible center point. On contact with either the bandit or the ground, they made a pretty impressive explosion. But Raven only grinned more and opened his mouth. Another fireball like the previous two shot out, also exploding on contact.
