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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:51 pm 
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They'd hardly even gotten to the door leading into the armoury in the first place when Carrie casually noted her artificial limb. It made her freeze for half a moment, as if she was a child who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Somehow, despite being covered by a uniform sleeve, a greatcoat sleeve, and a glove, this woman had picked it out, as easily as one might notice a person's limp. She thought she'd been fairly discreet. It wasn't as though she'd get in trouble if anyone knew, of course -- she simply preferred to be considered a fully able-bodied member of any command she was attached to. Plus, there was a subtle stigma to those who wore such prosthetics; some people found them to be less human because of them. Mary didn't terribly like the way it looked, either, but she didn't exactly have much say in its choice or design. After flexing her metal hand self-consciously, she opened the door the rest of the way and let them inside. "Yes ma'am," she simply responded to Magispark's summation of piece's model, though her response wasn't as firm and confident as the other things she'd said were. To be honest, she couldn't really remember what the exact model on her prosthetic was. That sort of thing was a little too technical for her. She had things like that written down somewhere safe, in case knowing it ever became necessary. The specific model that the Caster had mentioned sounded familiar, though.

They set upon the weapons room, and Carrie seemed to find a gun she liked, commenting about its feel. In response, the Sergeant looked to her, smiled modestly, and nodded in agreement. Mary could recognize that the woman was trying to connect to her on a personal level. As much as it was nice to have people in command who didn't have it out for you, and perhaps even were looking out for you instead, she was wary of officers who tried to be friends with their subordinates. It was a somewhat common trait amongst the younger graduates from the academy, and it often hinted at insecurities in their own command ability. Such people tried to compensate for a lack of ability to make firm and forceful decisions with friendship. She hoped that she was mistaken about Magispark, and that she was simply taking an interest in her because of her prosthetic. If something was to happen to Caster Haas, she would have command of their contingent, and her tenacity would be put to the test. In her defense, though, she didn't appear to be some overly excited twenty-ager, buffed and shined, and as green as an airsick recruit. Even if she hadn't had so much deployment in battle, she was probably old enough to discard the reckless enthusiasm of someone younger.

The Caster informed her of her interest in keeping Mary around, and the gunner's brow arched, for a moment. "No complaints, ma'am," she acknowledged. "I'm likely to be attached to your group, anyway. I was one of the chief scouts of the last expedition." She then snapped a brief salute, and introduced herself. "Wing Sergeant Mary Stalwart."

Stowing the rag again, she considered the coming deployment. She commented, "Th' contingent will probably be ... eh, you four, your warpieces, me, and any marines Caster Haas wants along." Normally, four casters merited a whole battalion of troops, but that was neither likely available on this ship nor at all practical for an exploratory squadron. That element threw everything into a sort of disarray; despite casters and warpieces being mighty forces to be reckoned with on the battlefield, they could easily be made vulnerable if they were sufficiently outnumbered and outmaneuvered by enemy forces. Still, Mary suspected the Caster would elect to take a handful of marines, and a larger group of warpieces than normal to compensate. That way, they could remain relatively small, as well as flexible to different situations. But then, Mary wasn't an officer. She could only guess at what went through their heads for things like this, though they were generally good guesses, from experience.

It was good to know that this Caster was a medic and a mechanic. It was a very rare combination, especially in a Caster. Mary hadn't had her prosthetic shot more than once or twice, but when it did happen, nobody knew what to do. The medics didn't want to touch it with a five-foot pole. If there happened to be a mechanic, they tended to claim that they specialized in warpiece work and didn't have the tools to work on smaller-scale machinery. She suspected they didn't want to muddle with the parts where flesh and sinew met servo and mechanism, for fear they would cause more harm than help. So, she would be more or less out an arm until they made it back to Steelshire for repairs. The idea that she'd made it an order to see her first made her chuckle, in spite of herself. "Hardly need an order, ma'am. Thanks," she responded, amusedly.

Now that they'd finished equipping themselves, Mary would secure all of the cabinets again, and the two of them would find their way back onto the deck, where they'd go about their business for the duration of the trip.



Once they'd arrived, and Mary had helped to identify the enemy vessels, general quarters was sounded. The ship began to bustle with activity again from its relative doldrums. The fact that these were Redloch ships made Mary suspicious of the Caster in command once again, but she forced herself to stomach her concerns again, and simply remain aware. They were still quite a ways off, so the more immediate concern was making landfall.

As she had been expecting, the first mate grabbed her as she was scanning for other aerial threats through the mech-sight of her gun. "Miss Stalwart, report to Caster Haas. You're scoutin' the lot in. Get his muster ready. Move!" he ordered, bringing Mary to her feet. "Aye, sir," she responded, and jogged over to where the former Redloch was. Before she said anything to him, she took a moment to gauge him. What was he feeling, right now? What was he thinking? His gently aged face, well practiced in the art of staying cool in a tense situation, was a statue of stoicism. It was almost a little intimidating, but Mary knew better than to let impressions get in the way of carrying out her duties.

"Caster Haas, sir," Stalwart called, once again producing a solid salute for the man. "Wing Sergeant Mary Stalwart, reporting to your command. I'm your lead scout. I was with the first expedition. I'm also to muster any additional men from the ship's reserves you'd like to attach to the expedition, sir."

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 12:21 am 

It is a hollow shell of what it once was.

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Max followed Cross through the heavy door, idly scanning his surroundings as she indicated an empty space between two beams to the rear of the room.

"Pick up a hammock and set up over there. Once you're done, put on your armor and get back to the top deck."

He set up the hammock in the spot she'd pointed out to him and removed his pack, unloading it quickly, feeling the woman's eyes on his back. He donned his armor, fumbling slightly with it towards the end, unaccustomed to putting on the full set. He placed the pistol back at his side where it had been before, and strapped his longsword (arguably the most familiar item in his arsenal) onto the hip opposite it before slipping his casting glove, the last remaining piece of apparel, onto his left hand.

Once he was finished he turned around and saw Cross sitting in her own hammock, waiting for him.

The floor shook as if they were flying through turbulent air; Max steadied himself with an effort as a signal rang though the ship. Above them and to either side he suddenly heard a general commotion as the ship around them bursted into motion.

"What's happening?" he asked Cross as he reached her.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Sat Dec 27, 2014 7:53 am 
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Carrie smiles at Mary, noticing her discomfort about her prosthetic being called out. "Don't worry about the prosthetic, it's not that obvious. But as a medic and a mechanic, you learn to notice the signs. The leaning, the pitch of the shoulder, the small whirring noises that one can only hear if you listen to them." She finishes loading up the weapons as the Wing Sergeant closes the cabinets and moves with her to the upper deck. Along the way, she chuckles at mary's final comment about not needing an order.

"Yeah, I guess I don't need to tell you that. A surprising lot of people find prosthetics unnatural and abominable, but I don't see the point. The machine is meant to help us, and prosthetics are the pinnacle of that. What I can understand is their unwillingness to work with a servo-coupling they arn't familiar with, but that shouldn't be a problem. I have more than a passing interest in prosthetic biomechanics."

As the two reach the deck, where Carnivore is still surveying the horizon, she turns to Mary. The friendly tone is still there, but an undertone of authority has crept in. "Resume your previous duty, Sergeant. We can continue our conversation later - for now, I need to find Haas again." She makes a small salute before wandering off in search of the legendary caster, face suddenly all businesslike.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 8:02 am 
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Judas waved a hand at the officer, "At ease. For now we don't have much use for infantry. That may change very quickly if we are detected and they decide to pursue us." They could wait, but for how long? No, they will not wait. "They are a good distance from us, so we should be able to proceed. Even if they do attack, they will sustain heavy losses even for their standards." He reached out with his mind, seizing control of three inert Warpieces on the lower deck and activating them simultaneously.

They began to march up the reinforced steps, making their way to the top deck. "Have everyone prepare for combat. Have the laggards get outfitted and ready for battle. I want everyone in their posts and ready as soon as possible." He nodded, "That is all."

------

"That's our go to get some Warpieces." Olivia snarled, annoyed, "Come!" She beckoned, bounding upright and leaping down towards the lower deck. As she bolted down, she had to pause to let three Warpieces climb up first before using the narrow set of stairs herself. Once down, she made her choice, picking a Bombardier and a Punisher. One to dish out damage from the ship and the other to deal with any pesky infantry if they even had the chance to get close. "I hope you remember your training." She gestured for her Warpieces to begin climbing the steps while she waited for Hendrix to be done. Again. If he would just hurry up... He better not waste any more of my time.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:07 pm 
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With her orders, Stalwart nodded. "Aye, sir," she responded. "I'll get a platoon for reserve." So, that was it. No infantry, to speak of. It seemed bizarre to the Wing Sergeant. Now, her mind was truly boggling over what the senior Caster had planned. He was far too well-walked and seasoned for her to consider this tactic foolish heavy-handedness. She wondered if there was something about the Redlochs he knew that he was compensating for. In her own experience, Redlochs were tenacious warriors who favored close combat, but were not above using heavy firearms and magic. More strategic elements were generally beyond her; she was usually too focused on putting finger-sized holes in the heads of enemy officers to notice how the enemy operated as a whole.

Before she took her leave of Judas, however, she leaned over the gunwale to observe the terrain. This mysterious landmass had a strange beauty to it that lent itself to geographical recollection. The flora in one region varied wildly from one only a thousand meters away, resplendent in splashes of color and championed by towering trees that crested hills like kings of miniature domains. Mary nearly knew where she was already without even scrutinizing the landscape. She pointed to a ridge where a flock of birds were circling a row of yellow and red bushes. "Base camp's just over that ridge. Won't be long," she announced, before turning and taking her leave to assemble the reserve.

Getting them ready wouldn't take long; they were already coming to combat quarters. The dozen men only needed to be selected and quickly briefed on what was expected of them. Everyone else knew what to do when the drum was beaten. So, her next stop was the hold, where she expected to find the three other casters readying their warpieces -- specifically, Carrie. Stalwart deliberately avoided making contact with Olivia, as her former sternness seemed to have degenerated into a full-on bad mood. Once she got to Magispark, she cleared her throat. "'Scuse me, ma'am. Seems it's just you all, your 'pieces, and me. Infantry's in reserve. Redloch's near, so it'll be double-time to the crystal site. Could be dangerous. We'll be heading down soon," Mary informed the medic of their crew. She seemed a bit anxious to get topside again; she wanted to know the condition of the camp as soon as it came into view. Depending on how long Redloch had been here, they might have set up an ambush. She was no good in a place where she couldn't use her gun.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:41 pm 
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Carrie, looking only slightly confused at the sudden warpiece activity, she heads back to Carnivore and focuses on instructing him. The warpiece turns from the gunwale and stands at attention. Carrie looks around, not quite familiar with this particular airship. She looks around for Haas, but is found first by Mary. She sighs at the porspect of imminent combat.

"Wonderful... Alright. Why don't you show me to the drop-off point, I suppose it's time to show off what Carnivore can do." Carnivore's full systems capacity is immediately fired up, resulting in a loud whine and a hissing noise coming from the machine's mechanics. The machine seems to grow in agility, its movements no longer so machinelike and awkward. Carrie's full connection to the fine-tuned piece of weaponry now apparent, she bounds up on Carnivore's back, smiling down at Mary. "He may look like a clumsy runt, Sergeant, but I can promise you, Carnivore could tear every other warpiece on this airship to shreds." To display this, the machine begins whirring its twin-linked machine guns and the nasty-looking drill on its right arm, and the longshot rifle on its shoulder sways back and forth for a bit, its optical scope and even the gun barrel adjusting. After a short while, Carnivore... speaks. "Pre-combat diagnostics complete. All systems nominal. Structural integrity optimal. Good afternoon, ms. Magispark." Carrie grins down at Mary. "Well? Lead the way, I'd rather not be late."

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 4:11 am 

It is a hollow shell of what it once was.

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"That's our go to get some Warpieces. Come!"

Cross snarled at him, moving immediately; Max sprang into motion, following in her wake as she leapt down towards the lower deck. He stopped and watched as a trio of Warpieces moved onto the stairs ahead of them, then finally once the steps were clear he followed behind the woman as she made her way towards the Warpieces. She selected a Bombardier and a Punisher, one designed to attack from the ship and the other intended to play a role in close quarters combat.

"I hope you remember your training."

As Cross made the statement, Max watched as the duo of Warpieces climbed the nearby steps. He examined the selection, and his roving eyes stopped abruptly, having found what he was looking for.

Shields. Shield Warpieces could provide valuable cover in any environment, with mana-powered barriers that could deflect ordinary rounds while absorbing mana from incoming attacks. They also allowed for friendly fire to pass through from the rear of them, making them a valuable asset for most engagements. They could also wthstand a great deal of firepower when not deployed, making them one of the most durable types of Warpieces available. Max picked two Shields and, after he gestured for them to move along, they followed behind the two that Cross had selected.

He hadn't expected to see action so soon, but he was ready. At least, he hoped so.

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Learning a simple lesson isn't always simple. Sometimes, you have to slowly lose everything great around you to understand the gravity of your shortcomings. Admit that your egos have grown too large, that you've lost your sense of what you realistically are, and maybe you can repair the road that has broken beneath the weight of your failings. Or maybe you'll just keep going as you've gone, and you'll learn nothing, and eventually, everything around you will become dust. To be honest, that's by far the likeliest of all outcomes.


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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 6:31 am 
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The ships glided lower, breaking the flimsy cover of the clouds. Almost at once, they could see the top of a large Redloch blimp, roughly three times the length of their ship. Flames licked the side of the airship as it fought to maintain altitude, Steelshire artillery shells rising up to meet the large red target. Wordlessly, the ships shifted course, away from the friendly fire and lower towards a clearing in the land. "Get ready to fire, load the port guns!" The captain shouted.

Judas peered to the other ships, the cannons from the other ships portsides too, began to peek out. He waved, signalling the captains attention, "Lower, we need to dock first!" Getting a pieces down on the ground was his first priority, if they were hit down by friendly fire now, it would be all for naught. "We need to unload the Warpieces!" The captain nodded and the ship descended slowly, the first volley fired, punctured the sides of the armored platform.

------

The ship rocked, causing Olivia to steady herself mid-step. She glanced back, as though to check on Max before continuing forward. She said nothing for the rest of their upward climb. The first thing which she saw was the color of red, wrapped in flames and smoke. The deck moved quite swift efficiency. She signaled the Bombardier to ready its mortar, the angles being calculated by a second sub-Shell inside the Warpiece.

"Stop!" Judas grabbed her by the shoulder, "What are you doing? Our people are down there!" The Bombardier lifted its cannon off the ground and rose back to its full height, commanded to remain on standby by Olivia's signal.

"I wasn't going to shoot." She shrugged his hand off and watched as they sunk lower and lower, towards the open field.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 5:29 am 
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As Mary, Carrie, the two junior Casters, and their respective Warpieces emerged from below, the sharpshooter was greeted with a great, fiery sight. The enemy dirigible had closed faster than she had expected, or perhaps it was bigger than Mary had gauged it to be at a distance. The trio of ships dove past the fearsome, unbiased hail of flak that gouged at the reinforced membrane of the hostile vessel's balloon. As she came to the gunwale, she brought her gun up to scan the enemy ship as they descended. For the moment, the gargantuan top of the red craft, along with all the fire and smoke that billowed around it, obscured any sight of the Redlochs themselves. Her shots could do little against that. Even the screaming artillery was only slowly beginning to stagger the progress of the great floater. The hull of the vessel would be beneath, and significantly smaller. She would need to wait for it to come into view before she could take any shots. Even still, that would be long before the ship cannons could draw a bead on them.

So, there was an awkward moment of tension as the enemy vessel slowly roared past them in elevation, and nobody could do anything but watch with every muscle tensed and every apprehension braced for. Stalwart already knew where the hull was going to appear, and she was ticking away the seconds in her head until she calculated it would begin to show. She trained her long-gun on a specific spot on the side of the blimp as they descended, delicately adjusting her aim lenses. If she could just pick off a few officers on deck, the Redloch crew would be momentarily cast into chaos, and perhaps make their operations less efficient. It could buy them some time. A few marines joined her at the gunwale and brought up their guns as well, though they seemed confused at what they should be shooting at. The blimp, perhaps? Mary took her eyes off her sight and quickly pushed their guns back up. "You can't shoot that far! Leave it to me!" she shouted over the loud howling of the wind that rushed around the body of their ship. They hesitantly acknowledged, and backed away.

Once again, she gazed down, just in time to see the keel of the Redloch vessel peek out from the side of the balloon. It would just be moments, now, before she could start shooting. She shouted over her shoulder to Caster Haas, "Permission to engage targets of opportunity, sir?!" It might seem unreal for someone with a rifle to ask to shoot at something that far away, especially from someone he'd very likely never heard about before today. But then, perhaps Judas Haas was the sort of person to place faith in unlikely places. In either case, she knew better than to fire without an order.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 9:53 am 
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Sitting atop Carnivore, Carrie follows Mary to the gunwales, resignedly accepting that for now, Carnivore would be stationed where he could place a shot. It didn't really matter, Carnivore could survive a jump from the gunwale once they were clear of the crossfire, but she would rather that she was on the ground before hostilities commenced. Nevertheless, she instructs Carnivore to plant his foot braces and lower his point of balance to remain steady. As Mary waves the other riflemen away from the deck, Carnivore stands firm in place, once again adjusting its scope and the very barrel of its heavy-caliber longshot rifle. A low click can be heard as the machine loads the gun with a type of secondary ammunition. "Dumdum anti-personell rounds loaded. Awaiting target. Awaiting clearance to fire." Carrie steps into cover, allowing the warpiece to stand at the ready by itself. She looks over to Judas, apparently waiting, like Mary, for the go-ahead to shoot.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:39 pm 

It is a hollow shell of what it once was.

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Max seized a rail as the ship jolted violently; after a moment, he continued moving upwards until they emerged onto a scene that took his breath away.

A massive Redloch blimp hovered nearby, its size dwarfing their own vessel; Max felt a dropping sensation in the pit of his stomach as their airship began descending towards the ground below. It was something of a shock to see the terrain, as it had only become visible once they'd passed through the thin barrier of clouds that had limited visibility up to that point. Max could hear shouts, could hear Judas yelling that the Warpieces needed to be unloaded, and he felt sudden comprehension. They needed to get them to the ground without risking friendly crossfire, a matter complicated somewhat by the opposition's position.

The Shield Warpieces stood upright on either side of him, as still as statues as they awaited further instruction. Once commanded to enable their barriers, they would lean forward into a crouching position, their hands stationary on the ground as the mana-fueled barriers form above their shoulders, extending out to either side. Max glanced down at the clearing below that was undoubtedly their destination, and he knew the Shields would be crucial to providing cover in the open area.

He stared around at the others, awaiting the orders that would send them all into motion.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:14 am 
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"Just be sure not to hit our guys on the ground. We don't want to have any friendly fire if possible." It seemed as though the Redloch ship could blow any moment, smoke billowed from its ruptured hull. "Anti-personnel only, siege weapons should not be fired. You shouldn't bother wasting your ammunition though." Judas nodded to the gunner and Carrie, "Not that that ship is ever getting out of here in one piece now." He leaned over the gunwale, glancing back and forth to the pick out the signal on the ground for them to land. The ship steered closer before there was the loud mechanical whirl as the lower decks were opened to drop the Warpieces down onto the earth. With the sudden loss of mass, the ship began to accelerate, then they began to compensate for it, the thrusters slowed to a dull roar of flames.

They dropped the anchor some distance away from the Warpieces and waited for the men on the ground to put up the planks for them to disembark.

------

Olivia stared restlessly at the floating wreck, she knew all it took was one good hit to the engine and the ship was toast, but then there was their camp on the ground. Their actions has not gone unnoticed, for she could clearly see winged creatures beginning to break off from the surrounding forest's canopy. "Just wondering... what are Fleshpeckers again?" She asked Judas with slight apprehension.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 7:11 pm 
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Bracing herself to the rail to steady her aim with a method she'd endlessly practiced, she began to bring her view closer, and closer to the cabin of the blimp. She could see the men hurriedly dashing around, legs and arms dashing past portholes as fires were futilely fought and a dying ship's crew desperately tried to keep it afloat. The heading that the great dirigible bore made for a rather difficult firing angle. Windows of opportunity for shots were far slimmer than had it been a full broadside encounter. Still, she was sure she could pick off an officer or two. Judas recommended they save their ammunition, which perhaps made sense for Carrie's warpiece, since even the anti-personnel shots that thing fired were bound to be wholly rare and expensive. For a simple rifle shell, though? She could take potshots at the hull of their vessel all day and still hardly dent the ship's ammo stores.

That said, she still felt a little conflicted, which led her to glance back over her shoulder at the senior Caster again as she hesitated. If she took the shots, what was she saying about herself? Was she saying she thought little of the man's advice? Was she saying that she was bloodthirsty, and killed just for the pleasure of killing? Sure, the ship was going to crash, but there could be survivors. What if her shots meant the Redlochs could not organize themselves quickly enough to take any shots at their flotilla? Grunting quietly in spite of her own mental arguments, she looked down her sights again and, in another moment, found the first officer of the enemy ship.

"There," she whispered to herself. The man disappeared behind a panel of hull, a moment later. "Shhh, shhh, shhh. It's okay. Come out, little boy. It's bedtime."

As she tried to keep her aim leveled on the airship as it began to rise above them, there would be half a dozen times where the first mate would show, but not the right parts of him, or he'd come into full view when she wasn't zeroed on him, only to disappear through a plume of smoke when she finally drew a bead on him. She was patient, even as the ship beneath her rumbled and swerved, and even as her moments of chance were whittling by. Even as her arm and shoulders began to ache from holding the gun at a precise angle for a prolonged period. "♫ Beouy bha anginme... Te b'bei... ♫" she quietly sung, and as though by magic, her target showed himself, and seemed to stand there, as though he was beginning to give in to the despair of his situation. Her sights fell upon his head as he looked around. Mary began to ease back on the trigger.

"...what are Fleshpeckers, again?" she suddenly heard, and was stolen from her self-induced trance. She brought her sight from the gun just as her last opportunity to fire had passed. She shot a partially annoyed look back at the burning ship, but at least the enemy had not managed to get any shots off at them. It seemed there was a more pressing concern at hand.

"Fleshpeckers?" Stalwart repeated, pulling away from the gunwale and jogging forward. She brought her gun back up to get a look at the flying creatures that were soaring towards them. She saw them in all their detail, and hissed her breath. These things would not be nearly as satisfying to kill as Redlochs, but at the moment, the need was far higher. They'd be in firing range very soon, but it would take more than a couple of smart shots to put this threat at bay.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 6:15 am 
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"...what are Fleshpeckers, again?" Carrie heard the question, and more curious than alarmed, turned around. "Well, dangerous, in a word." She walked over and saw the flock on the horizon. Still looking more curious than alaramed, she made a gesture, and Carnivore soon stood beside her. She spun around once, as if a little confused, and addressed noone in particular. "Well, should I load flak into Carnivore's longshot rifle? Just in case?" Carnivore stood firmly in place, making a few clicking and clanking noises. Longshot Flak bullets loaded. Warning: ammunition low. Awaiting target. Awaiting clearance to fire." Carrie turned to carnivore with an eyebrow raised. "I guess loading five different ammunition types isn't always a good idea, huh?" She turned to Mary. "Twenty mil flak rounds. Are there any on the ship?" Thw whole situation seems to have left Carolina dazed, but when all was said and done, flak made sense.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 1:39 am 

It is a hollow shell of what it once was.

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As they tossed down the anchor, Max heard the question about fleshpeckers, asked by Cross in an unusually wary tone of voice. He turned away from the smoke billowing out of the Redloch ship and felt his attention drawn immediately to a number of shapes soaring through the air towards them. He squinted as they drew closer, and he recognized the creatures, things he'd only heard of in stories before. He never thought he'd meet them in person- or rather, he'd hoped a meeting would never take place.

He saw beaks that appeared to be made of solid metal, gleaming in the light; on some of the larger specimens he could see wings that were tipped with metal as well, growing more discernible as they closed the distance. He drew his pistol, a weapon equipped with arcane rounds that carried a powerful electric shock with a small radius of effect; if he could get a cluster of them together, he could potentially take multiple birds out with one shot. He lifted his firearm and took aim, his hand shaking slightly as he leveled his arm out in front of him.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:37 am 
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"Button up!" The captain of the ship ordered, the ports at the side of the ship beginning to shut as the cannons retreated into the portholes at his command, "Get something out to deal with the Fleshpeckers or go inside, don't clog up the deck!" Several deckhands who were unequipped made a beeline for the steps down to the lower deck.

"You there!" Olivia called out, stretching a hand towards a deckhand, "Give me your gun, the bandolier as well." The man hesitated at the command of the younger lady before surrendering his weapon and ammunition. "Move along now, there should be plenty of space in the lower decks." She tested the balance of the weapon, weighing it in her gloved hand. She raised a hand to the back of her neck, raising a collapsible helmet over her head. Two almond-shaped slits provided vision, enough for her to secure the belt from shoulder to opposite hip.

The gun was canister loaded, each canister roughly the size of a fist. Inside held various waste metal from the factories and gunpowder. She knew from her basic military training that the canisters could be used as improvised explosives as well. She pushed a canister into the slot and cocked the hammer. Back away from the front, give me room. Her Warpieces moved to the side, still facing the incoming flock of birds but unable to do really anything with their current armaments.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 4:18 am 
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The steeled avians flapped ever closer, and found themselves in Mary's sights. They screeched and stared at the grounded airship, hungry to add Human to their diet. On her last trip to this giant, floating rock, she'd seen a man suddenly set upon and picked to pieces in a matter of seconds, when their platoon happened to march past a pod of these devils. Fortunately for the rest of her comrades, there was a spingun specialist in the company, and at such close range, the birds were easily made mulch and forced to flee. In this situation, likely the flak ammunition in Carrie's warpiece would prove most effective. Still, her long gun wouldn't be useless here. Their beaks might be made of steel, but the rest of their bodies were flesh and feather, and most of their wings were vulnerable, too. Plus, it wasn't armor-gauge steel, or else they would be rendered too heavy to fly; a properly aimed slug could still punch through it. Properly aiming was the tricky part. Their beaks were curved and pointed in their direction. Almost anywhere you hit them from this angle of attack would mean a likely deflection, even if the impact would still probably concuss the bird out of action.

A few firing solutions were quickly imagined in Mary's head, as she considered how the action would go down as the fleshpeckers approached. Flak was best when fired into the center of a mass, where the shrapnel could most easily find purchase. Smaller weapons would not likely find accurate marks until the birds were nearly upon them, at which point their flying formation would be basically irrelevant. The best thing to do, then, was to make things easier for the flak by taking out the sides of the formation, forcing them to fly in closer groups. She pivoted ever so slightly, found the furthest left pecker in her sights, and began to whisper those strange words to herself again. "Zechim klöd..."

Crack!

She would not be robbed of her opportunity to fire, this time. A shining bullet sailed out of her gun and whistled through the wind, wavering to and fro, arcing in its peculiar way, and covering hundreds of meters before it found the underbelly of its target and made it explode into a plummeting cloud of feathers. This was nothing to the flock, however. She needed to hurry. The lock was pulled open, another projectile slid in, powder added, and then closed in with the lock. Her barrel swung over to the right, rapidly scanning across the mass of animals until she found the right-most one.

"Uiah bit baan tub'bei..." Kow!

This shot hooked along a breeze, and practically rolled along the top of the unfortunate fleshpecker's beak until the cranium was found and it was permanently alleviated of its insatiable hunger for meat.

Reload. Reaim. "Hieri cöl..." Pow!

Reload. Reaim. "Te b'bei..." Chakk!

Two more were swiftly found and popped out of the air. Four, in all. There were so many, however, and they were going to get into the range of the regular long gunners and flak any moment now. She could only continue to whisper her eerie song and pick off the outer stragglers. It would be up to the others to deal with the rest. As she stopped to reload again, she addressed Carrie, who had asked her about ammunition.

"Not many, ma'am," she reported, promptly. She couldn't spend much time talking when there was shooting to do. "Maybe one or two shots. Gun deck. Aft, port side. Bottom crate, under the bola shot."

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 5:44 pm 
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Carrie heard Mary's response between gunshots, frowned, and turned towards the group of approaching flechpeckers. Gritting her teeth, she shouldered her carbine and went to ground on one knee. She mouthed her command to Carnivore so softly it could barely be heard. "Defender mode. End. Optimize fire, flak rounds. End." The massive machine crouched a little lower, its braces locked to the floor, levelling its longshot rifle. The moment Mary's shots bring a cluster of the little creepers together, Carnivore's rifle let out a 'clang!' and a soft thud, sending the flak round soaring through the air. On impact, it exploded into tiny pieces of shrapnel, tearing at least three birds from the sky. The sound and killing was repeated four more times. A soft click marked that Carnivore had changed ammo type, and leveling its twin-linked gatling gun, it began roaring death. Carrie, on her end, fired only when in immediate danger, which was rare - thanks to Carnivore's effective sentry work.

"Sergeant, get inside! You're a soft target, and Carnivore can't stand sentry for both of us!"

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 9:59 pm 

It is a hollow shell of what it once was.

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The Shield Warpieces were tremendously valuable assets on the battlefield, able to absorb incoming mana-based attacks and deflect regular rounds; however against wildlife they were completely useless. Max gestured them back so they wouldn't crowd anyone's line of sight, even as his finger finally began tightening around the trigger.

He had been trained in marksmanship, of course, but there was something very different about taking aim at a flock of deadly birds drawing closer by the second. He suddenly became aware of everything around him- the bead of sweat that dripped into his right eye, stinging it, the way the light gleamed off of the metallic appendages on the approaching fleshpeckers, the movements of those around him… he had to shake himself to regain his focus.

He squeezed the trigger and his first round missed entirely, harmlessly whizzing past the head of one bird and beneath the wing of the one behind it, even as others began going down from the weapons firing on either side of him. He watched as several birds were taken out in an explosion of shrapnel courtesy a shot fired by one of their Warpieces, and then he felt a wave of self-reproach at his own incompetence.

He aimed again, narrowing his eyes and focusing on his target; he exhaled slowly as he pulled the trigger that time, and then he watched as three birds went down in a surge of electrical power after the center specimen was struck in the head by his arcane round.

There was no time to celebrate the hit, however, as the rest of the fleshpeckers continued to close in. He took aim and fired again.

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 Post subject: Re: Arcane Decay
PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 11:45 am 
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"Clear the line!" Olivia planted a foot forward and tucked her right hand behind her back. She paused for a second, shifting her weight to get the perfect balance before firing, the recoil forcing her forearm to bend at a right angle with her upper arm. The peppers hot did it work, chewing through the cloud of winged beasts, scattering their warm remains on the fore of the ship. Her hand dropped, lowering the weapon as she stepped forward, raising her right hand, the core balanced in the palm of the gauntlet beginning to glow as she consulted her knowledge of magic.

------

Judas watched with mild interest as he observed how the combatants acted. One was the long gunner, she was skilled, no doubt precision and finesse was present along with a level mind. He watched as she picked off the steel avians, descending from his post to join the rest. Then came Magispark, who as predicted, used the Warpiece to great effect, catching the Fleshpeckers with a flak round without damaging the ship itself. His boots knocked aside spent shell casings from the Warpiece as he made his way behind them.

Then it was down to the boy, Hendrix. He obviously had a bit of trouble targeting, which was not surprising with his choice of weapons. He then watched as his other student warned that she was about to fire, sending dozens of metallic pieces into the cloud of birds. She followed up immediately with a preparation for a spell.

All in all, not too bad. He rested a hand on Hendrix's shoulder, "I assume you'd be more comfortable using magic, judging from your background. So use it." His hand slid off as he stepped forward, raising his hand. The air stirring on the deck, the air growing cold as heat was drained and forced onto a single focal point to create a ball of heat, which he fed rapidly, exploding into a ball of flame. The heat caused small fires to leap up on the deck beneath it, before being sucked in to become part of the growing ball of fire. "Wildlife has an inherent fear of fire. Even when they have been mutilated this much, it does not mean they have lost all of their instincts which have kept their ancestors alive in the Old World."

------

Olivia gasped, feeling the heat forming before her, she raised her hand before her, shielding her face as she stepped back, the air growing difficult to breathe. Then as though she had passed through a barrier, from where beyond the heat was drained, it returned back to a normal temperature. She could still feel the heat held within the steel of her helmet, beads of sweat breaking on her brow as she witnessed the birds either get burnt to a crisp or veer away, breaking formation.

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