Sae'Kall: Pillage and Burn

Purgatory Tavern
 * The Purgatory Tavern, a popular hangout for Necromundus' longtime

denizens and newcomers alike, mostly takes advantage of natural light - or the lack thereof. The sometimes wobbly tables and crooked-backed chairs are scattered throughout blue and violet shadows that are only vaguely disturbed by the illumination provided through porthole-like windows by the glowing archways in the nearby Portal Plaza.

The tavern is surprisingly busy at the moment. A small group of patrons are clustered around one frantic looking Elf, who's arm is wounded. He appears to be relating some story, but appears to be rather disoriented. Garvi is on the outskirts of the cluster, armed and armored as usual.

Phoenix walks in, looking around. She peers over at the group, heading towards them. Her wings twitch, settling a little more comfortably on her back.

And close behind comes a creature of nightmares, closing the door behind her with a claw on one wing, leathery face smiling in quite an unhinged fashion. "Oooo... Storytime!" Vivienne quickly strolls across the room towards the patrons.

The Elf continues his story, still appearing confused and disoriented, "...ran away from them after they impaled the human I was with, the Tauroid was already dead. I've seen people get discorporealized before but this wasn't like anything I've seen." there's fear in the Elf's eyes as he continues, "And...and then I came back looking for them, to see if, if they'd come back and I can't find them anywhere. Has anyone seen a Humoid and a Tauroid recorporealize? Please, anyone?"

Garvi remains where he is, Viv and Ix getting a glance however. Viv's storytime comment also draws a few looks from the people listening in.

Phoenix looks over at Viv, offering a finger-wiggle of greeting to the other demon. Ix glances at Garvi, and then shakes her head at the Elf, "Not recently, no."

A seemingly sincerely friendly smile- that displays an amazing row of sharp teeth- is offered to Phoenix in return. "Manthing on stick? Are we talking about restaurants?"

"No, no," the Elf replies to Viv, "We were out hunting near Southfield and we ran into these...things, they were like big bugs with these glowing spears...and they attacked us, without warning. They overwhelmed us and slaughtered my friends and...I ran away because I've never seen that much pain in someone's eyes before, when the spear ran right through him, it was awful," and the Elf's head goes in his hands, shaking a little, which gets some chuckles and headshakes from some of the crowd gathered, a few of them leaving.

"No, he's not talking about restaurants, 'm afraid," Ix tells Viv. She quirks an eyebrow at the elf, but doesn't say anything to him, just watching and listening quietly.

"Poor little elf-thing," Vivienne croons with a little pat to the elf's shoulder. "Don't you worry, I'm sure you'll see someone in much greater agony sometime in your unlife! If you want, why, I can oblige." She does pause for a moment, though, brow wrinkling. "But it sounds like you're talking about killing the dead so they can't come back! How interesting."

"I can't find them anywhere, it's like they're gone now, like they're dead," the Elf replies, still not paying attention as a few more of the tavern's patrons leave the crowd to go about their business. "It is rather interesting, yeah," Ix notes to Viv. "An'...well, I've heard of stuff that can keep someone from recorporealizing. 'S only useable by the Guys Upstairs or Downstairs, though; 's not somethin' they let up int' Necromundus proper." A headtilt, "...they'd probably offer a reward for someone who found some of that stuff wandering around up here, though..."

"Of course they're dead, silly elf-thing," Viv notes affectionately. "You really mean it's like they're not dead. So you might as well say alive!" She laces clawed hands together. "It might be fun to be alive. There are lots more new manthings up there."

Garviel finally steps forward as most of the crowd now disperses, leaving a humanoid, who give Viv a look, as well as a Sauroid who doesn't seem to give much in the way of intrest, but he's still here, "We'll find yourr frriends, alrright?" he states to the Elf, giving a bit of a look towards Ix and Viv as he does so.

The Elf, for his part, nods and sits there with his head still in his hands, trembling.

Phoenix shrugs to Garvi, "Sure. 'S not like I've got any other plans for t'day - an' hey, possibility of reward from The Guys Downstairs."

"We! My distantly remembered elocution lessons tell me that this pronoun is plural." Viv blinks bruise-purple eyes at Garviel. "What's in it for meee?"

Garviel jerks his head over towards the Elf, mouthing, 'Just say so,' he nods a bit to Ix, before glancing over towards the Sauroid and Humanoid. "Orr forr that rrewarrd Pheonix was talking about, two can fight fight forr it orr something,"

"Or we can do, y'know, a sixty-fourty split or somethin'," Ix tells Viv. "We'll figure somethin' out."

"Stuff is boring," pouts Vivienne, with a toss of her jet-black hair. "Will it be *fun*?"

"If therre's any trruth in the storry, therre'll be things to kill, if that makes you happy," Garvi replies, nodding a bit to Ix.

Phoenix nods, adding, "You can probably chew on somethin's head." A pause and she adds, "Not mine, though. I just finished washing my hair."

"I haven't chewed on a head in a couple days." Vivienne brightens visibly at this. "Sounds good to me!"

Garviel shakes his head slightly, before he glances to the two remaining tavern patrons, "You two coming?" nods are given in the affirmative, before he looks back to the Elf, "We'll find them, don't worrrry," he states. And finally, he looks to the two Demons, "Southfield then, it seems?"

Phoenix wiggles her fingers at Garvi, "Yep. Southfield." She twitches her wings and then points in a direction that...is actually more towards the bar than the doorway, "Onwards, for things to kill and chew-heads! And possible rewards beyond that!"

"Show me the waaay," Viv sing-songs gleefully, unfurling her leathery wings.

Garviel nods a little, blinking a bit at the direction Ix points. He shrugs slightly, before beginning to move towards the door.

Well, there's probably a reason for Ix pointing bar-wards. Said reason being that she heads that way to snag a couple bottles of whiskey before heading after Garviel. A handful of credits are left on the bar counter.

Vivienne strolls along after Garviel, stretching out the wings, then compressing them to easily fit through the door. Her perpetual smile doesn't fade, light glittering off such sharp teeth.

Cataract - Southfield - Wagonrut Road
 * Now choked with weeds, this old path worn by wagon ruts in ages past

leads from Misty Road toward the shattered remains of the old town known as Southfield.

Garviel gets off of Nightwhisper, the two others following on their mounts, "Doesn't look like therre's much going on arround the town itself...perrhaps the rroad?" he suggests.

Vivienne eschews a mount entirely, flying just on the strength of her wide wings, and so comes landing in a little behind the other two. "I hope so! So far this isn't very entertaining at all! I don't see *anybody* with manthings on sticks..."

Phoenix remains on Sinestra, wings partially spread. To Viv, she replies, "Well, no one -said- there'd be appetizers."

Garviel nods a bit, taking his mount's reins, "Let's check it out, then," he suggests, pretty much ignoring the demon's talk of humans-on-a-stick.

"False advertising makes me want to lick people to death," pouts Vivienne, but with a push of spindly legs, she soars airborne again and begins to circle like some oversized bat.

Phoenix shrugs to Viv, nudging Sinestra towards the road. She remains on the horse, looking around the area quietly.

Garviel just nods, continuing to head over towards the road for now, still ignoring the Demon's comments, or seeming to.

"Oooo," comes a delighted cackle from up above. "THIS WAY!" Vivienne spreads her wings and coasts downward toward a portion of the road, one long arm outstretched and pointing.

"Uh...that way, I guess?" Ix suggests to Garvi. She shrugs again, nudging Sinestra into a trot and heading towards Vivienne.

Garviel nods a bit to Ix, "So it would seem," he replies, loping along after Viv.

Cataract - Misty Road
 * This unpaved dirt road - a glorified wagon track grown wide from years of

traffic coming and going - follows an uphill slope and crests before making its descent into a shallow valley.

Vivienne soars high overhead, seemingly pointing out the way towards something down the road, a dark shape vividly silhouetted in the sky.

The area along the road is a bit forested. The perceptive might notice a few blood stains on the ground over by a particular copse of trees, and that's also in the direction of where Viv points.

Miran's out for a pleasure cruise, having attached pimpin' wheels to the sleigh. She jangles along, an odd assortment of loot tossed into the sleigh as the demon prefers to ride astride the reindeer. Her chirpy bag is held in her lap, and they appear to be having a conversation, that the demon ends as she spots Phoenix. "Ix!" she waves.

Phoenix is trotting along after Vivienne, riding on Sinestra. She looks around, waving back at Miran, "'Ey, Miran. How's it going?" A tug of the reins slows Sinestra to a walk.

Vivienne keeps on homing in on whatever it was she saw up above, circling around like a vast bird of carrion once she reaches her objective, but not landing just yet.

From the copse of trees where the blood is, nine insect like things step out, all carrying spears, and begin advancing towards the travelers on foot.

Phoenix raises her eyebrows at the advancing insectoids, frowning. "Ew. Bugs. I hate bugs," mutters the demon. She rummages in a pocket for a few moments, pulling out a pumpkin gun and aiming at one of the insectoids.

"Bugs?" Miran cranes around Ix to look. "Oh. Bugs. Nice." She yawns, leaning backwards in her saddle and stretching.

"HUNDREDS OF THEM!" screeches Vivienne from above, laughing gleefully. She angles her wings, beginning a steep descent towards the group of demons and wolf, and frees her slender longsword from its sheath on the way down.

The Sae'Kall 'bugs' continue advancing, breaking into a bit of a loping run on their legs. Their spears are held at the ready, making nine nice points aimed at the adventurers. A variety of hisses and clicks come from them as they split up, one each heading towards the humanoid and the sauroid. Two each head towards Garvi, Miran and Ix, while one points his spear up at the flying Viv.

Garvi, for his part, unslings his axe and begins to advance on the Sae'Kall coming at him, grunting at bit at Vivi's gleefull comment.

"Nine, Viv - it's nine, not hundreds!" Ix yells up at Viv. After a moment Ix pauses and mutters, "...oh darkness, please let it just be nine..." Regardless, she shoots at one of the Sae'Kall advancing on her, quickly aiming at the other one.

Dismounting, Miran rummages in the sleigh for a moment as the bugs lope closer, huming to herself. "See, a nice day for a ride, then it all goes to hell." The bag is set gently in the seat of the wagon, chirping softly. "I'm sure it'll be fine," Miran replies as she emerges. "I have some extra armor and clubbish stuff in here," she notes to the group, "y'know. If ya need 'em."

"...NINE HUNDREDS!" yells Vivienne with more manic appreciation than clarity. The spear pointed up at her? She swings her sword in a twirling arc as she soars by, attempting to remove that threat by removing the arm wielding it. "Bleeeed, shell-thing!"

The first Sae'Kall charging Ix is hit by the pumpkin, blowing off one of it's arms and a large chunk of it's shoulder. It holds the pulsing spear in it's other hand, letting off a clattering shriek as greenish blood oozes out of the hole in it's side. The other Sae'Kall bounds forward, jabbing it's spear at Ix.

Garvi is assaulted by the first on his Sae'Kall, the spear jabbing up at him, unable to bring his axe to bear offensively in time.

The hand of Viv's Sae'Kall is indeed lopped off as it lets out a similar shriek, but it manages to raise the other hand up at Viv, sending it's spear at her.

Mir's two Sae'Kall are getting closer to her, almost on her.

As for the two off elsewhere, well, the Sauroid claws the face off of his Sae'Kall, while the humanoid is impaled on that pulsing spear.

"Eat pumpkiny death, bug!" Ix shouts. She shoots at the second Sae'Kall twice, her free hand surrounded by black energy for a moment. The one she just shot (and isn't attacking her) is ignored for the moment, while Ix yells at the one that just nicked her with the glowing spear, "May your legs fall off and your guts turn black!" As she cries this, her free hand is surrounded with a black ball of energy which she flings at the Sae'Kall attacking her.

Miran, watching in a cool, detached sort of way, waits for the proverbial whites-of-their-eyes, before drawing her broadsword with a soft hiss. "That wasn't nice, we were just riding by," she observes before striking out with a hacking motion at the nearer of the two bugs singling her out. Removing arms is always a good negation of threat- so is introducing their faces to the ground about three feet from their torsos. Failing the completion of that particular maneuver, she sweeps downward in the follow-up slice.

Vivienne somersaults in mid-air to avoid the spear jabbing at her. "That wasn't very nice!" the demon poutily cries, catching a thermal to ride it right back- and attempt another unnecessary amputation, this time of her opponent's other hand. Successful or not, she blows a kiss with her other hand back towards Ix, impishly noting, "I'll fix it." The kiss is visible, a little puff of violet energy.

The road is a scene of havok, large insect like things are attacking a varierty of adventures with spears, and a large cloud of dust looms just beyond a copse of trees.

The Sae'Kall near attack by Ix reels at the amount of firepower coming at it, letting out more of a squacking sound as it's hit, stumbling backwards as it's eyes flicker briefly, barely holding on it would seem. The second Sae'Kall stumbles over towards Ix, poking it's spear at her one handedly, although it wavers, obviously unsteady.

The first Sae'Kall facing Miran is cut down no problem, while the second advances on the demon, jabbing at her stomach in an attempt to get under her guard.

Garvi manages to sidestep the blow by his first Sae'Kall, before slicing it in half with his axe. The second one advances on him, poking at his head with his spear.

Viv's one handed Sae'Kall spends all it's attention dodging her blow.

The Sauroid finishes off it's Sae'Kall, before moving over to engage the one that impaled the human. It should be noted that as the Sae'Kall die, the glow in their spears fades.

Phoenix shoots at the Sae'Kall that was nearest her again, leaning to one side and dodging the spear-poke. "Oy, -quit- that!" she snaps at the poking Sae'Kall; her free hand, again, glows - but this time, flames gather around her hand, rather than black energy. The resulting fireball is tossed at the spear-poker, the demon snarling in annoyance.

Stepping over the cleaved bug with a slightly disgusted expression, Miran turns aside the jab from the second bug with her sword and shakes her head, swinging the steel blade around for another whack- a hacking/slicing combo again.

Healing kiss delivered, Vivienne turns back to her opponent. "Bored now," she complains poutily as she lands, and launches into a flurry of attacks- wielding her slim longsword almost more like a rapier, with a fencer's agility more than brute force. Slash, slash, thrust.

Phoenix fist-pumps as she manages to head-shot one Sae'Kall and sets the other one on fire. She grins, looking around and hopping down off of Sinestra, "A'ight - that's two down, how many more we got left?"

The Sae'Kall facing Miran and Ix simply are just not up to holding their own against a Demon, and they drop, dead. With spectacular gore and burnt insect flesh, of course.

Garvi swings his hafted axe over his head, and with a heavy downward stroke slices the Sae'Kall in half from head to hip.

Viv manages to wound the Sae'Kall in his side, but it strikes back at her with it's spear.

The Sauroid kills off his second Sae'Kall, leaving just the one Viv is dueling left, until a new group of nine emerges from the copse of trees, one bearing a yellow chest gem, and another bearing a red one. The one with red is ahead of the others, moving swiftly towards the combat.

Phoenix raises her eyebrows at the new group of Sae'Kall, "Oy, didn't we just -do- this, dammit? More bugs on the way, guys!" She tosses a fireball at the one with the red chest-gem, trying to take out the combat-eager one quickly.

Miran wrinkles her nose. "Supergirl up there needs some better armor," she mutters, "and I suddenly have a bad feeling about this." She flexes her grip on her sword.

"NINE HUNDRED THOUSAND!" Vivienne yells in response to the question about how many are left, twirling out of the way of the spear thrust at her like a ballerina princess. "Or really more like a few hundred but really that's just not as much fun!" Another flurry of swift blows, sword darting in and out in a flash of silver.

The charging red gemmed Sae'Kall manages to dodge the fireball, but it's a close thing, jumping to the side, so it does stall his advance momentarily.

The Sae'Kall fighting Viv is wounded multiple times by her blows, eventually dropping dead.

Garvi moves over towards the others, followed by the Sauroid, "If therre's rreally hundrreds, therre's no way we can fight them all off." hs states, and as if in response to his words, a platoon of Sae'Kall, 27 in all, led by another yellow gem, emerges from the copse.

Mir likes red, right? Next target, away! She hacks towards the bug as she follows Ix, sighing.

"Oh, fuckin' -hells-," Ix snarls as she sees the platoon emerge. She takes aim with her pumpkin gun, firing at the red-gemmed one again and then shooting at the yellow-gemmed one.

"I'm feeling fiiine about trying!" Vivienne cackles, a shove of her legs sending her into the air again. She concentrates on getting *up* first, and then once she's obtained about twenty feet of altitude, coasts downward towards the oncoming platoon, twirling her sword in two swift slashes towards- well, the first enemy left in front and standing, whoever it may be.

The Red gemmed Sae'Kall apparently was /too/ combat hungry, easily being felled by Miran's sword.

Viv's butchery continues as the Sae'Kall she goes after is wounded repeatedly, his arm and a leg taken off, causing him to collapse on the ground, not quite dead yet.

Garvi and the Sauroid both charge forward, Garvi with a bit of a howl as he swings his axe at the first two Sae'Kall he can get at, but both manage to duck in time.

The Yellow from the red's squad is taken down, a dead on shot by Ix taking its head and a large portion of it's chest off. Twos break off, again heading at Ix, Mir, Viv, and the Sauroid as the two near GArvi strike back at him.

Phoenix glares at the two heading for her, shooting at one and pitching a Fireball at the other. "What the hell are they, an' why're they coming here?!" she growls.

Miran growls, falling back. "I don't have patience for this today. HEY!" she shouts the last part. "Supergirl! C"mere!"

"I don't care *why* as long as they don't stop," Viv wails blissfully, stooping low to thrust twice at her mostly-fallen enemy before retreating, beckoning the two chasing her onward with a smile that might be teasing. If it weren't for all the teeth it reveals. "Whaaaat?"

Garviel grunts as one of the spears pierce's his pauldrons, but not blood is spilt. He swings at the Sae'Kall wielding it, who ducks, loosening his grip on the spear which Garvi wrenches from his grasp.

Ix's fireballs and shots cause Sae'Kall to duck and dodge, slowing them down, but no kills. Viv's is easily killed, offering little resistance. The Sauroid also kills one, before falling back with the rest of them, Garvi close on his heels, the spear still sticking out from his armor, "Mirran, grrab one of these bodies and get it in yourr wagon, we'll need something to convince people about what's going on," he states in that low growl of his, "I'm one forr getting out of herre while we still can though," and yet another platoon shows up, the Sae'Kall masses held at bay by Ix's ordinance, but it doesn't look like they're staying back for long.

Miran eyerolls as she chucks a relatively whole- and thus identifiable- cadaver into the sleigh. She pauses to shift the other materials out of the way though...no sense ruining perfectly good pillaging. "I second the opinion." She tugs on Blitzen's leads, turning the reindeer around and trotting to pull the mount into a run before swinging up herself. No sense getting hit with a spear in a retreat.

Phoenix glares at the Sae'Kall, gesturing in an attempt to cause a pit to open up under the ones in the lead. Whether or not she succeeds, she turns back to Sinestra, mounting and spurring the horse into a gallop as she wheels, retreating.

"Awwww," whines Vivienne- but perhaps not suicidal enough to stay and fight alone, she shoves mightily off the ground once more and leaps into the air. Spreading her wings, she circles to find updrafts, riding higher and higher to follow the other retreating ones.

Ix's chasm takes the lives of three more Sae'Kall, while two that would have fallen to their doom manage to leap out of the way.

Garviel jumps on top of Nightwhisper, following after those retreating as does the Sauroid.

The Sae'Kall back off for a bit, not wishing to move forward as the earth splits, the air full of chittering and hissing, before they slowly begin moving around the fissure in the earth, but there's no way they can keep up though.

Cataract - Misty Road
 * This unpaved dirt road - a glorified wagon track grown wide from years of

traffic coming and going - cuts through an ancient forest of leafy green trees. Small animals can be heard scurrying through the bushy underbrush.

It is a quite cold evening as the sun sets beyond the horizon to the west. The air is stagnant, not stirring with the slightest breeze. The skies are perfectly clear.

Everyone managed to make it out without any additional injuries, and the Sauroid and Miran head off to display the body to those unbelievers back in Necromundus. "So what now?" Garvi asks, still in Nightwhisper's saddle.

Vivienne soars overhead, though as the others halt, she begins to descend in erratic circles. "Ohhh, I had so much fun!" declares the demon, audibly thrilled. "Can we go on a date again?" Is she talking to Ix or Garv? Who can tell.

Phoenix blinks up at Viv, noting, "Your standards for what counts as a date are weird." She stretches her wings, shrugging to Garvi, "I think we need t' get more people involved. Those things just...kept coming. We can't kill 'em all by ourselves."

Garviel glances up at Viv, "I have a wife, wasn't a date," he states simply, before glancing to Ix, "Need somewherre to defend at least, we'll stand a betterr chance if we've got something defensive in place."

"Silly people," Vivienne says affectionately, "I am a demon, this is the most fun I can have with other people! So it is a date." She lands and stretches out her wings with a big jaw-cracking yawn. "Or we could just kill them all, defense is boring."

"In this case, 'defense' -does- mean "kill them all," it just also means "kill them all without getting hurt" too," Ix replies to Viv. "An' I'm a demon too - trust me, there's other types of fun t' have, too."

Garviel nods a bit to Ix, "Perrhaps Whisperrwood hold, in that case? Has walls and a main gate, some soldierrs as well." he suggests, before glancing back to Viv, "Wasn't a date," he replies again, before turning back to Ix, raising a brow.

"Okay, then I'm just dating her!" trills Vivienne, pointing at Ix. "But where are they going? We need to know that, puppy-thing, or we might defend someplace they never go! And then we won't get to kill them, and I will be sad."

Phoenix shakes her head at Garvi, "I think they're gonna be heading for the portal. An' you don't wanna think about what'll happen if they can even just get into the plaza, you really, really don't. So we need t' keep 'em from getting in here."

Garviel nods slightly, "So we need to set up defensive worrks herre, trrenches, walls, spikes, the like?" he replies to Ix. He nods to Viv about her dating comment.

"Do that hole thing in the ground!" Vivienne suggests, jabbing a finger forward. "Then you will have lots of pits and trenches and we can put in many spikes and eat them for dinner. You know. The whole thing you did before!"

Phoenix nods to Vivi, "Earth magic would work for that, yeah - even gives us a way t' make a fortress relatively quickly, too. We're still gonna need more people t' fight with us, though."

Garviel nods a bit, "Mirran and the Saurroid will take care of that," he replies to Ix, before he hefts his axe, "I'll starrt making some stakes," he says, moving towards any trees around.

It's at this point that a collum of smoke becomes visible southwards. Southfield burns.

Phoenix looks southwards, arching an eyebrow, "...I think we'd better hurry. They're on their way." A headshake, "I think it's just lucky that no one lives in Southfield, any more."

"Oooh... I forgot the marshmallows." Oh, Vivienne looks so utterly sad at the thought.

Garviel nods a bit, beginning to hack at the trees. He does inspect his pauldron as he does so, growling slightly at the pierce in it.

"There'll be time for marshmellows later," Ix tells Viv. Meanwhile, she starts working on digging trenches and pits, using earth magic to alter the landscape.

And Vivienne? Well, she does absolutely nothing useful, either because she doesn't want to or she can't- who can tell? She just stretches her wings, combs fingers through her hair.

Garviel continues hacking away at the trees, getting a few down and beginning to sharpen the ends.

Phoenix is still injured, but she seems to be coping well enough with the wound. That or she considers getting trenches and fortifications built a higher priority than taking a moment to sit down and get someone to look at the cut. After all, what's the worst that'll happen?

After a little while of preening, Vivienne seems to get bored, jumping up and gliding over to Phoenix. "You never said thank you," she says rather randomly, watching the other demon with whirling eyes.

Garviel continues his hacking at the wood, sharpening stakes on both ends and setting them aside, the wolf seems to be making fairly good pace at it. He does glance over at the pair of demons for a moment, though, then back to his work.

"I was busy killing bugs at the time, I'm sorry," Ix replies to Viv. "But thank you." This said, she turns her attention back to creating trenches and ramparts by moving dirt from one spot to another.

Vivienne dimples at that, a rather worrisomely cheerful expression on her face. "I'll fix it," she reiterates, and with flagrant disregard for personal space starts trying to seek out the injury... with a direct kiss this time, not a blown one.

"...eep?" is Ix's response to Viv's sudden attempt at kissing her. The demon doesn't try to fight Viv off - but that might be shock, as much as anything else.

Mir rides out from the Portal, and pauses. "I brought you all some stuff to help," and procedes to toss items towards various people. A few stragglers, many obviously routed from the tavern (and a few splattered in blood not their own) bring up the rear. "Hey, supergirl, you especially. C'mere."

Brian steps through just behind (ahead?) of Miran, looking around a bit warily. He's flexing his fingers as he approaches. "So, what's going on?"

The area outside the portal is currently being transfored into a fortress or sorts. Ix is using earthmagic to dig trenches and pits and the like, while Garvi is off by a copse of woods, sharpening stakes with his axe. A pillar of smoke rises from the direction of Southfield.

Vivienne is busy kissing Phoenix most energetically, though anyone paying attention might notice she's kissing her where the wound from the Sae'Kall's spears once was... and when she straightens? It's entirely gone. "I fixed it," she declares, and winks at Phoenix before glancing back at the new arrivals. "Man-thing!" Brian is happily greeted, before the eccentric demon saunters over Mir's way. "Yeeees?"

Alot a fuzzy wuzzy cute snow white polar rides in Augustus with tail awag and chomping on a cigar. The furry chiminy rides along fro Heathaze Village singing a raunchy little number in Latin.

"Thank you," Ix says to Viv. The demon returns to her work, having already used her earth magic to dig deep trenches in the road from Southfield, and using the extra dirt to create ramparts and battlements around the portal leading to the plaza. It looks like she's trying to put as many obstacles into the path of anyone heading for the portal as she can. Of course, this means that anyone -exiting- the portal is going to run into the same obstacles (just in reverse).

Brian walks over to Ix, looking up at the demon with a frown. "Need help?" he asks, kneeling on the ground and planting his hands. "I can put in a few more tangles for you, if you wish."

Mir returns the gaze a moment, not bothering to mask the stare. "Wow. Well listen, I brought you something that might, y'know, actually deflect things stronger than a breeze." She jumps off the mount and rummages in the wagon, producing a few items to thrust at the other demon.

"Presents?" Viv asks gleefully. "Oh, goody. I don't get out much. It is easy to catch manthings with my poking stick and this, but these are harder to kill than manthings. If anyone hurts you, I will kiss you until you're better! And maybe a few more times if you like me to but I think I'm supposed to charge for that." She holds out her arms.

Phoenix nods absently to Brian, "Sure. Although I'm more interested in "spikey" and "stabby" than "tangly" at the moment." This said, it seems her focus is moving to creating a moat around the ramparts outside the portal.

"I'll have my wife heal me if I'm hurrt, don't come kissing me," Garvi calls over to the demon, before he goes back to sharpening stakes. Vampire hunting, anyone?

Augustus wags along as he looks around. "Well.. soo... playing cowboy and indians?" He asks lazily as he puffs away. The Lupoid regards Viv for a moment then his ears tilt forward. "How much for a quicky?"

Brian nods, then concentrates, drawing up a few spikes of stone out of the ground himself. "So, what are these things?"

Blink. "Right. Well, here-" Mir thrusts the 'presents' to Viv. "Y'can keep the tunic, but I want the necklace back, unless you save my ass. Then, I guess, you can keep it." She grins at Augustus and shakes her head. "She might be able to sew herself back up when you're done, too."

"Naw," Ix calls to Augustus, "it's a bug hunt. Whole swarm of bugs are makin' their way up from one of the groves in Southfield. From the looks of things," she waves to the smoke coming up from the south, and one of the ramparts ends up looking rather oddly shaped as a result, "They've already reached Southfield. So they're probably headed this way."

"That's what it's good for!" agrees Viv gleefully, changing out the leather and nodding away. "I can put man-things on my wall and when they want to undie to get away I can zip them right back up and begin allll over again." She looks to Augustus, her nose wrinkling. "Does that involve eating my liver too because that costs extra! I've only got one. I think." She pokes at her midsection.

Garviel glances up at Augustus as he comes on over, carrying a few of the stakes with him, he begins to drive them into the ground around completed ramparts, "Ah, Pack Leaderr, imagine you of all people would be up forr bloodshed?"

"Bloodshed is good. Bloodshed and sex is betterr." Augustus replies as he glances over at Viv and starts to dig in his sadle bags. "Well.. I can settle for a kidney, I had a heavy lunch. How much we takin here?" He asks, tail wagging and for the most part ingoring those around.

"Gods, she's perfect for you, Aug," Miran laughs, patting Blitz and directing him back to the portal before sauntering over to the two lupoids. "Not much good with useful magic, Garv," she muses, "d'you think we can disillusion 'em?"

"Money is boring!" trills Vivienne, watching the smoke. "Do you have any marshmallows instead?" Brian grimaces as he focuses on making the road a mess. "I'm in the perfect company," he mutters under his breath.

Garviel shrugs slightly, which ends up looking fairly awkward in the armor he's wearing, "Dunno, we don't even know how they see, they'rre bugs afterr all, was neverr an experrt in how bug saw, might see in infrrarred orr something, was neverr an experrt on bugs. Might be worrth a shot, though."

"Got a new shiny helmet?" Augustus offers as he rides up closer to the two demons. The Lupoid licks his muzzle and eyes Miran. "Yeah maybe.. a scrrrew is a scrrrew aye?"

"Marshmallows!" demands Vivienne loudly, pointing off at the burning remnants of Silkfield. "I like mine still on fire."

"It isn't vision," Mir corrects with the air of one used to explaining their own manipulations to people. "Its in the head. Easier to believe the lie, sort of thing. I bet I could do defenseless and sad, as long as I changed what I looked like." She glances back to Aug, "I guess so dear."

Phoenix doesn't look too interested in the interplay between Viv and Augustus, focused more on her rampart-building and trench-digging. Stretching her wings, she jumps, taking to the sky to survey her work.

Garviel nods a bit to Miran, "Give it a trry, hope it worrks, sad and defenseless could be good, let us take them by surrprise." he says as he continues to put stakes into the ground along the finished ramparts.

Vivienne siiighs after a moment, telling Garviel and Miran with a long-suffering air, "Anyway if you want to know more about one why don't you just go get one and bring it back?"

Brian tilts his head back to look at Phoenix as she flies overhead. "See where I should be building?" he calls up to her. "Direct me, I can't see quite so far."

"We go off, and we fly," Vivienne suggests, "and we stab one until it falls down, and then we pick it up."

Phoenix calls down to Brian, "The ramparts need some shoring up in the back. Try makin' the moat a bit deeper in the front, t' get the dirt for it. Asides from that, I think we're about as ready as we're gonna get, defensively."

Brian nods, concentrating hard, and the ground in the moat sinks, and the rampats rise up as it's finished. "So, we have something trying to... What are they trying to do?"

Garviel goes back to sharpening stakes over by the forest.

Vivienne pouts a little as no one seems interested in debating her strategy, and plops down to start filing her nails.

Augustus shakes himself off then shrugs. He looks over his shoulder then wanders back.

Brian stands up once he's done, brushing off his hands. When he looks to the others, he tilts his head to the side and asks, "Ahh, what are we dealing with here?"

Garviel sharpens those steaks, yup.

"Bugs! ...Big bugs," Vivienne thinks to clarify. "With magic spears that make you alive again if they kill you. And they're fun to cut into pieces nice and slow."

Augustus pulls out a cigar and does a little jig.

Brian blinks. "They make you alive again?" he asks. "That, uh, doesn't sound /bad/ to me."

Well... fuck that! You know what? I like being dead. You should see the size of my!!!! My!!! Puppy!" Augustus proclaims proudly with a few pelvic thrusts tossed in for good measure.

"They don't come back, might not be alive again," Garvi suggests, but keeps sharpening those stakes. "Well, they make you not dead," Vivienne notes helpfully, "So, because of that, if you're not dead, you must be alive." She looks rather proud of her logical skills.

Brian looks over to Augustus, blinking a few times, before he says, "No, thank you, I think I'd rather not be looking at a dog's... puppy." After this, he turns to look at Garviel and Vivienne. "So, we don't know what happens to them. Just that they go away?"

Phoenix lands on one of the ramparts, "We don't know what happens to those they kill, no. So we don't know that you'll recorporealize if you get killed by them." She -peers- at Augustus, "Keep your 'puppy' in your pants, dude."

"Oi! What fucking kind of dog wears pants?" Augustus replies as he grabs and shakes. "And why do we care what happens? We kill them, end of story. I look like some bad cop drama? Change my name to Eliot? Piss on that."

"Just have to worrrry about not getting killed in that prrocess," Garvi comments to Augustus, still sharpening his stakes.

"Well, it is kinda important t' know if we recorporealize or not," Ix notes. She sits on the ramparts, looking southwards.

Brian frowns, examining his hands a moment, before he nods. "I'll need to get a staff," he murmurs.

"The elf-thing said that we don't come back. And that's sad, I guess, but who knows where we go?" ponders Vivienne aloud in a rare moment of meditation.

Augustus scratches his 'puppy' for a moment then sniffs his paw. The lupoid yawns then wags his tail. "Why... do we care? Don't let them kill you then."

Garviel continues sharpening those stakes of his.

Phoenix stretches out on her spot on the ramparts, watching the road from Southfield.

Brian considers the people about him another moment, before shaking his head. "I... really don't understand," he muses.

"Thats because you're a human, therefore a wanker and a retard." Augustus adds helpfully before he wanders off.

"Okaaay! So, there are a few hundred bug things with spears that when you get stabbed by them, you don't come back," Vivienne explains, a tad impatiently. "And we want to kill the bug things, because killing things is fun. We are here to kill the bug things before they get through the portals."

From Sinestra's saddle, "I'm thinkin' the bug things are here t' try an' invade," Ix opines. "I mean, no attempt at negotiation or even just runnin' away after they saw us slaughter a lot of 'em? Somethin's gotta be drivin' 'em here."

Brian makes a rude gesture behind Aug's back, before looking to Vivienne. "I understand /that/," he says. "But I'm still figuring out all this business about... what this place is in the first place. What elf thing? And I have to wonder what's going on when we just disappear."

"The elf-thing!" Vivienne repeats impatiently. "Who told us this was happening. I don't know him, he's just a silly elf-thing who was sad his friends weren't coming back."

"Norrmally when people die herre they rrecorrporrealize, and come back, just hungrry. It seems when these bugs kill you, you don't come back," Garvi says to Brian, in an attempt at explaination. He nods a bit to Ix, "Sounds like it."

Brian nods slowly. "Mm. That makes sense," he says. "I thought you meant some... special elf or something."

"You're a manthing, he's an elf-thing," Vivienne says rather slowly, as if explaining to someone particularly dense. "And he said his friends didn't come back after being stabbed."

"Right," Brian says, a bit dryly. "I just need to remember your way of talking, then."

Phoenix studies her fingers, noting to Brian, "She's not sane, you realize. 'Least, not by mortal standards." A shrug, "And she's kinda weird, even by demon standards. But then, she's in Necromundus, so that's a given."

Garviel continues to sharpen his stakes, "Maybe someone should fly up high and take a look, see if theirr coming," he comments, glancing at the pillar of smoke.

Brian nods. "Ahh, I figured that," he says, before saying to Garviel, "Good idea... How many did you kill tonight?"

"I've killed six," Ix replies. "At least six, anyways - I'm pretty sure at least three of 'em got caught in that pit trap I made, when we retreated."

"Me? Two," is Garvi's response, still sharpening more stakes.

Brian lets out a slow breath. "And there's hundreds of them?" he asks. "We're likely to be overrun."

"Thus, the ramparts," Ix replies. "They don't fight smart, though. They could've overwhelmed us - there were nine of them in each group - but they just split up t' go two-on-one. An' we creamed the first group. We creamed the second one, too - it was the third one that made us figure we ought t' regroup an' get some reinforcements."

Garviel nods, "They kinda just rrushed us in numberrs...therre'll be morre though, we'll get morre people to help defend, and yea, the defenses will help us." he replies as he continues to sharpen the stakes.

Brian nods, looking over himself. "Huh. Do you know anyone who'd be willing to make a good staff, then? I think I'll want to hunt that down before I try and kill these things, if there's time."

Phoenix shrugs, "Raeft, maybe. But I haven't seen him in a while - so 's not likely you'd be able t' find him in time." A yawn, "Or you could, I dunno, go buy one from the shop. 'S probably enough time."

Garviel nods a little, "Know about making sworrds and axes, not one forr staffs, though." he replies.

Brian frowns, then nods. "Right," he says. "I like a staff better. But, well, I'll go with frying things for now. It's worked well enough so far."

"That works, yeah," Ix replies. "An' frying 'em works just as well as anythin' else does, really."

Garviel nods at that, "Just need to kill them. We have to make surre we hold wheneverr they come. Werre rright, we can't let them get into the porrtal." he says to Ix.

Brian glances to the Portal in question. "Is there, you know, any way to actually close the portal?" he asks. "We could try and get as many people as we can throughh, if that's the case."

"Nope," Ix replies. "Not that I know of, anyways. They don't have any off-switches. An' even if they did, I think the Powers on both sides would get kinda pissy with anyone who tried futzin' around with said switches."

Garviel nods to Ix, "Agrreed on that, besides, if one can turrn it off, surrely one can turrn it back on, would just be stalling them is all."

Brian nods, frowning. "Alright," he says. "So, we just have to smash..."