Menaces and Mysteries: A Fallen London RP (closed, started)

[Terratina.]

"Should we wait here or follow after Mr Thomas or Sir Cutter?"

In all of that haste, the unfortunate Viktor was left with the weaklings, he had a half a mind to throw the squid at the spirifers with a full load of the stuff Spectacles had cooked up, leave Priscilla and the chemist behind then call upon some recently made friends, so to speak. Nevertheless, there was something that grabbed the Tomb Colonist's attention: the curious dirty red color had intensified. Perhaps it was just a trick of the light but it warranted investigation, especially with the hunter, the hunting dog and the golem charging in blind. A grim grin began to appear on Viktor's face, women were so narrow-minded at times.

"Those aren't our only options, Fräulein." Viktor said curtly, "I doubt the spirifers could endure a three-pronged attack..."

 

[IFS]

Mickey managed to move out of the infrequent hail of gunfire, still shielding Edward. The spirifers stopped shooting almost as quickly as they had started, one poking his head out of the narrow window to try and spot where their targets had run off to. A small backdoor was visible to Edward, though whether or not it was guarded he couldn't tell as it was shut tight.

Thomas entered the temple silently, managing to dart into the shadows before a spirifer could notice him. There looked to be about six of them in the small temple, and he could even make out the unfinished man standing at the back of the group. The unfinished was truly a fearsome sight, larger even than Mickey with a face locked into a pained but menacing grimace. The cracks in its skin had deepened and a red light emanated from them, looking almost like something was burning inside it, the light almost seemed to writhe, as if the souls the clay man had devoured were trying to break free of it. The rest of the room was filled with crates, some empty some not, bottles of souls and mushroom wine also lay scattered about, both of varying quality and emptiness.

The unfinished looked particularly unimpressed with the spirifers around it, and spoke in a deep rumbling voice "THEY ARE COMING, I WILL NOT LET THEM TAKE THIS HOME FROM ME AS THEY DID THE LAST, AND NEITHER WILL YOU," it said, the spirifers clearly terrified of it "EVERY STEP I TAKE TO BE COMPLETE THEY REJECT, COME WE WILL LEAVE THEM UNFINISHED."

With that final statement it shoved one of the spirifers sprawling forwards, the others spreading out and following heading towards the door where Thomas lurked. The only ones that remained were the one looking out the window and another standing just behind the Unfinished man. The latter was much better dressed than the other spirifers, and seemed reluctant to follow orders in spite of his obvious fear.

 

[sage42]

"I doubt the spirifers could endure a three-pronged attack..." Prisiclla frowned. The corpse thinks much of itself. That pride may be my key. "Then I would love to here how we would pull off such a feat. You know as well as I do that Nigel, Mr. Pottinger, and myself have little combat experience. And I doubt you would care to guide all three of us into suitable positions." She spoke, trying to avoid rolling her eyes. She knew she was next to useless here, she would have to trust in the companions with combat talents. Sadly the two she would actually trust were off by them selves. Even Thomas was gone, despite being as big as a fool as he was, she knew him better than the corpse. She didn't like taking bigger chances like this.

 

[Quintley]

On seeing the Unfinished man, Nigel felt a sudden urge to be elsewhere. It looked much more intimidating than the sketch suggested. Then again, Edward had said that he'd take care of it, so Nigel could just ignore it. Hopefully, the target would return the favour.

"I doubt the spirifers could endure a three-pronged attack."

This sounded like a wonderful idea to Nigel, although admittedly it didn't exactly know what a three-pronged attack was (something to do with cutlery? That wouldn't be a problem.) Priscilla seemed reluctant, however. Nigel was a little indignant at her assumption that none of them had any combat experience; why, it had fought off a battalion of rats but two months ago! (Although they had been looking the other way, and 'battalion' was perhaps an exaggeration. But they'd both been armed!)

Nigel pulled out one of the vials of the chemist's exploding gas concoction and waved it at Priscilla. She wouldn't have to fight, so long as she could hit her target with the bottle before he got to her.

 

[Terratina.]

"You know as well as I do that Nigel, Mr. Pottinger, and myself have little combat experience. And I doubt you would care to guide all three of us into suitable positions."

Of course, she would reply like that. Women's minds weren't geared for strategy.

Viktor was about to reply but the squid went about waving the vial of the chemist's concoction, which amused the Tomb Colonist somewhat. Had to be one of those d-mned Rubbery Men who understood what Viktor was getting at. Stupid woman.

"Hmph." The Tomb Colonist grunted, "My dear Fräulein, it seems that this squid's intellect rivals your own."

He looked again at the temple, sounds of gunfire and general fighting were coming from it - perfect. With that done, Viktor continued, "Now then, the hunter and the mutt are in there, no doubt causing trouble..."

Viktor paused and slid out the sword cane's concealed blade. Afterwards, he adopted the stance of an old general and said,"If we throw this stuff into the mix, who would have the advantage, Fräulein? Can you answer that correctly?"

Beneath the bravado, he was ever conscious of the passage of time. Viktor would have to blow the infernal horns soon...

 

[sage42]

Priscilla sighed as Nigel waved the vials in front of her. The squid seemed a little offended. "I do apologize my dear Nigel you are right we do still have Mr. Pottinger's wonderful mixture." She looked back at the corpse. "But we only have some much, and we do not know how many are in the temple. How are we....." Priscilla stopped mid-sentence and narrowed her eyes just a bit. Why is he so eager to get inside. And he didn't seem so keen on teamwork earlier. Why is he so trusting now? "Tell me something Mister Viktor; how are you so sure three non-combatants would be able to take on an unknown number of adversaries?"

 

[DarkRawen]

"THEY ARE COMING, I WILL NOT LET THEM TAKE THIS HOME FROM ME AS THEY DID THE LAST, AND NEITHER WILL YOU, EVERY STEP I TAKE TO BE COMPLETE THEY REJECT, COME WE WILL LEAVE THEM UNFINISHED."

What the bloody hell is he going on about?

Thomas kept to where he was sitting, even as he saw the target, the unfinished man. He didn't speak either. Not before the nearby spirifers had left the temple, leaving only a couple of them behind. The unfinished was there as well, and while he certainly didn't want to face such a giant clay man -he was even larger than the one they had brought- he was the only one there at the moment. Apart from that one, there were two people that needed to be taken out, the fancily-dressed one behind the unfinished man, and the one staring out of the window.

Now, how do I handle these guys?

Thomas was tempted to just go ahead, beat up the ones he could see and lure the unfinished man outside where he'd be easier to deal with. Honestly, he had "dealt" with one of these guys before, but that had been close to the docks. Nothing sank quicker than a man made of stone, after all. Still, apart from that, he wasn't too eager to beat them up. Normally they'd do their jobs, existential crisis or not.

Bloody unfinished men, can't be bothered to feel pain either.

He wasn't even carrying a decent rifle, only that small gun. Besides, for what it was worth, he'd promised that science guy that it would go as painless as possible. Thomas felt his pockets, the vials would be something the lady poet would be quite pleased to be able to examine herself, that he was sure of. However, if he wanted this to go well, he would have to use it. Following the instructions, this time doing a better job doing so, he prepared the bottle, before tossing it behind the unfinished man, at the fancily dressed bloke.

That ought to deal with that one, now for the one peering outside like a moron.

Thomas heard the vial break as he started running, but he didn't look over there to see if it had the intended effect. Instead, he ran for the second guy, and, when he reached him, pulled him with him using his rather overwhelming strength, as he backed away from where the unfinished man was standing. He moved quickly, knowing that any single misstep could cause things to go very, very badly.

 

[Terratina.]

"Tell me something Mister Viktor; how are you so sure three non-combatants would be able to take on an unknown number of adversaries?"

Viktor frowned, did he really need to go over what the chemist's concoctions did again? The whole bother of it all was tempting the Tomb Colonist to simply walk away. Maybe then he could finally get on with actually doing something. Viktor sighed, his weakness to temptation would be his downfall one day? Or perhaps that day had already passed? Regardless, he was still alive, even if it was a miserable existence; there was no succor for the soulless.

He looked at the hand which held the vial and waved it in front of Priscilla in the same fashion as the squid had done. Women, their minds always ran from one thing to the next without retaining anything. He stopped for a moment, the same hands which now held some connection and a weapon hadn't held and caressed a woman's body in a while. However, now was not the time to be thinking about that sort of stuff. Nostalgia was indeed a plague of the... older gentleman.

Frown ever present, he replied with, "Understand? That's one reason. The other? The human survival instinct is a notoriously reliable one, I assume that is the same for all creatures - even squids. Vote with your feet if you want to follow my plan. Your choice."

Afterwards, Viktor then starting walking off.

 

[sage42]

Priscilla's eyes narrowed further. The corpse was avoiding the question, repeating the same answer. She didn't like this. She didn't know what the corpse's plan was. She didn't like not knowing. Too much risk ,too many variables. She put a hand on Aidain's and Nigel's shoulders. "Mr. Pottinger, Nigel." She whispered. "I do not trust our scarred friend. He seems far too eager to get inside." She watched as the corpse made his way towards the temple. "I admit I am at a loss for what to do. I dare not follow him in, but leaving him to his own devices might be....hazardous to our health. Any suggestions?"

 

[Quintley]

Nigel nodded at Priscilla, while politely brushing her hand aside. It didn't particularly trust the angry bandaged chap either, nor did it particularly appreciate being referred to as 'squid'. But that said, they were being commissioned to eradicate menaces, so eradicate menaces they must. It attempted to convey this by pointing at the temple and driving its fist into its hand a few times.

Feeling that Priscilla was still somewhat unsatisfied with the state of affairs, Nigel held up the gas vial again and looked pointedly at Viktor's back. If the worst came to the worst, they still outnumbered Viktor. Nigel only hoped that the tomb colonist could actually breathe under the bandages.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Edward M. Cutter, Esq.​

The hunter was immensely grateful for his Clay Man companion as he moved them both out of the line of fire, using his own body as a shield. Glancing around him at the worst of the insults the bullets caused, Edward grimaced and patted Mickey on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Mickey my boy. I'm sure there's a way to patch you up. Now, lets find our quarry." he said.

Looking up at the temple, he saw a small backdoor, large enough for him but not for Mickey he didn't think. Looking up at the Clay Man, he nodded.

"Go and help the others. I'll go in the back, and you try and keep the blighter from going out the front." he told him before he moved forward with purpose.

When he reached the door, he reared back and lifted a boot-shod foot, and simply took the door off it's hinges with a savage kick. Then he stepped inside, raising Victoria with a cold look. Inside he could see his prey, the Unfinished Man. He was large, and it's clay skin was terrifyingly cracked, showing shifting red light. It seemed the souls it devoured were disagreeing with it, Edward thought mildly.

He could also see one spirifer in a cloud of Mr. Pottinger's concoction, while Thomas had another well-in-hand. That left the prize to him, he thought with a small, cold smile. So he raised Victoria, aiming at the monster's back, and fired both barrels.


"Turn around and face me, monster. The hunt can't be over yet." Edward called out as he quickly broke open Victoria to reload.

Once she had two more rounds chambered, he raised the Elephant Gun again to fire another volley.

 

[DarkRawen]

Thomas held onto the now passed out spirifer, if the unfinished man did pursue him, perhaps having a hostage would stop it from trying to crush him. Most likely it wouldn't, but the spirifer was just as good as a meat shield. Besides, if it was the unfinished man that had harmed the spirifer, no one could complain either.

I don't want to face that bastard on my own.

He backed off a bit more, surely having drawn the ugly unfinished man's attention. Thomas glanced up, it seemed it would be possible for him to climb further up, gain some height. He needed to do it at the right moment, though, else he would just get grabbed. Luckily, that Cutter guy kicked the door open, and drew the attention of the tall stone bloke. Cutter fired the large gun he had been carrying around all day, and spoke.


"Turn around and face me, monster. The hunt can't be over yet."

He then fired some more. Thomas waited for the perfect time to let go of the spirifer, then quickly climbed the window and up the higher parts of the temple, beams and other structural--- thingies keeping the place standing. He climbed further, so that he was high enough not to get grabbed by the unfinished man, but close enough to act if there was a need for it. For now, however, it was a way to keep out of the fight, and not get shot.

If something happens, it'll be easier to get out as well.

In the end, this was just some mission of his. He wasn't particularly scared of the unfinished man, but he'd rather not fight a useless fight, he wasn't nearly angry enough for that. Besides, Lady Poet expected her report, and he'd be damned if she didn't get it.

Why isn't the clay man here, though?

Bloody hell, why was Cutter even fighting something like this head on? Thomas was strong, but he adapted, tricks and hidden weapons were as much a part of the fight as attacking was.

Is is the gentleman code or something? What's the bloody point of that?

He wouldn't admit it, but he was interested in seeing how this all turned out, not only for the purpose of his mission.

 

[sage42]

Priscilla smiled. "You are right Nigel, we do have that option at least. It seems Mr. Viktor was wrong about our intellect matching, you are able to think far more quickly and clearly than I." But I know people better squid. And if I know you, you bounce and gurgle happily and soon waddle off to follow the corpse. "Right, Mr. Pottinger, I do believe we should follow our scarred friend. If only to make sure he isn't planning something that would jeopardize our investigation or ourselves. I would ask you come along, but if you wish to stay out of danger, I shall not fault you. Come Nigel." She told the chemist before following after Viktor. She gripped the two vials in her hand, she would need to make sure she was ready.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"Right, Mr. Pottinger, I do believe we should follow our scarred friend. If only to make sure he isn't planning something that would jeopardize our investigation or ourselves. I would ask you come along, but if you wish to stay out of danger, I shall not fault you. Come Nigel."

"Ah, yes, that certainly would be a significant detriment," Aidan said, contemplating his options. He wouldn't be of any real use to combat the spirifers, although he did have his unused vials ready should he need them. Other than that, he was simply stumped as to how else he may be of assistance. Following Priscilla, he pondered until a glaring issue came to light, conveniently as he was nearing one of the unconscious guards. Crouching beside the man, he set his satchel aside and began to unfasten the perpetrator's belt before using it to bind its owner's hand behind his back, talking the others through the process, "In the meantime, I think it best we make sure these fiends are properly subdued. Well, that's going to be my priority at any rate. If the two of you find other ways of making yourselves useful, by all means, do so. After all, it was my idea to apprehend these criminals, and it would be rather counterproductive if I didn't use my time to ensure they get to the proper authorities."

Aidan flinched as there were booming gunshots coming from within the temple, obviously from the armament the brutish Brit brandished. "Or at least the ones that are still living after all this..."

 

[Terratina.]

Viktor stopped walking and looked behind him, he could just make out three vague shapes in the fog. They really did have no initiative or any idea what a three-pronged attack was. To remedy that, the Tomb Colonist sighed and said, "Our trail trifurcates here."

Afterwards, he began to run and faded into the fog. He sharply turned around a corner, finding a back door and the confrontation within. However, Viktor slipped away as best he could, leaving the fight to Cutter and company. Now was time. He headed northwards, but not without giving an unconscious spirifer sprawled out on the cold ground a little stab. With a twist, blood spurted from where the sword cane's blade had pierced him, dyeing a miniscule amount of the fog red. Unfortunately, there wasn't as much pleasure in the act as Viktor hoped there would be. Then again, putting down a rabid dog never was pleasant and of course, there was a much more pressing issue to attend to. Viktor grimaced as he lifted the corpse and carried it northwards a good few metres, then set it down on the ground. Now was the time; he had a scapegoat and he had distance.

Without delay, Viktor blew the infernal horn and in siccing Devils upon whoever was in the old temple felt somewhat like a conjurer from the days where superstition and the occult were widespread. But he was just the herald, not the hunter.

 

[IFS]

The four spirifers poured out into the mist, one of them running right into the outstretched arm of Mickey, sending the spirifer sprawling to the ground at least momentarily disabled. The others spun and raised their guns, trying to dart out of the reach of the clay man before firing. How much damage their rounds might do to him was difficult to say but even clay men could be worn down by battle.

The spirifer behind the unfinished was quickly engulfed by Thomas's flask, the sudden appearance of the vial caused him to gasp in surprise, which only enhanced the gases effectiveness. He let out a hacking cough before collapsing into unconsciosness as Thomas swiftly dealt with the other by the window.

The Unfinished man roared in anger at this, taking a heavy swipe at Thomas as the man scurried out of his reach. His enraged assault was interrupted by Cutter's volleys, which tore into his back sending chunks of clay flying. Roaring again in anger the unfinished spun to face Cutter, ignoring Thomas entirely.

"Turn around and face me, monster. The hunt can't be over yet."

"MONSTER. THE PRIEST CALLED ME AS MUCH, AND NOW LIKE HE YOU SEEK TO DRIVE ME FROM MY HOME," the unfinished said, its face contorted by pain and anger as it moved steadily towards Cutter "I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS FOR A THIRD TIME."

With that the hulking clay man charged Edward, who only narrowly managed to snap Victoria closed and dodge the blow. The stone of the temple cracked from the force as it was struck and the unfinished man barreled forward, threatening to run down Edward.

It was then that the infernal horn's sound broke out across the quarter, far too close for any comfort and sending chills through any who knew what it meant. It was soon answered by other horns to the west, the devils had been summoned and would soon be upon the group. Even now the distant sounds of hoofbeats could be heard growing rapidly closer, a harbinger of death and worse fates.

One of the spirifers, an eye-patch wearing individual turned pale, his single eye growing wide with terror at the sound of the horns, he turned immediately to flee in the opposite direction of the sounds throwing his gun aside as he ran.

"The Devils! Run you bastards!" he yelled to the others, who were visibly unnerved by this, yet hesitant to turn their backs on their foe, continuing the fight as their ally fled.

 

[Quintley]

"Our trail trifurcates here."

With that comprehensive explanation of their attack strategy, Viktor ran off. Well, the Tomb Colonist could go trifurcate himself as far as Nigel cared. It glanced at Priscilla and gave an exasperated shrug, and then sneaked over to the temple doorway. Edward was being attacked by the Unfinished man, which was probably part of the plan. Mickey was being hassled by some of the remaining humans, and Nigel couldn't see Thomas (or Viktor, for that matter). Still, time to get started. Nigel opened one of the glass, and started to --

-- And then, the horn sounded. Oh, bother.

"The Devils! Run you bastards!" One of the spirifers, morale broken, shot out the door - crashing straight into Nigel, and sending them both sprawling. Nigel lay there dazed, with shards of shattered glass digging into its hand.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

Edward M. Cutter, Esq.​

The Unfinished Man turned after he had called out and glared at him as he shouted.

"MONSTER. THE PRIEST CALLED ME AS MUCH, AND NOW LIKE HE YOU SEEK TO DRIVE ME FROM MY HOME, I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS FOR A THIRD TIME."

Then he lunged forward, and the hunter only barely managed to get out of the way as he finished reloading. Moving backward, Edward grinned and raised his Elephant Gun.

"I'm actually looking for a new trophy, Unfinished Man. You'll do nicely." he said with a boisterous laugh as the hulking giant started to barrel forward.

Edward simply shouldered Victoria and aimed at the Unfinished Man's legs, firing both barrels in quick succession, then diving behind a nearby pew in hopes of avoiding the coming blow, or being crushed underneath a collapsed Clay Man. But it was then that he heard the horn ring out.

Lifting his head, he looked up in confusion for a moment, but a grin spread on his face again when there were calls of Devils coming.

"Excellent! I don't think I've ever had such an exciting hunt! If this is what I have to expect from working with the Department, I should have joined them far earlier!" he said excitedly.

 

[DarkRawen]

"MONSTER. THE PRIEST CALLED ME AS MUCH, AND NOW LIKE HE YOU SEEK TO DRIVE ME FROM MY HOME, I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS FOR A THIRD TIME."

What's the use of talking? Just punch him already. Both of you.

Thomas wasn't completely sure whom he was cheering on. Sure, he would rather they get this business over with, go back to the lady poet, and get an actual job where he could actually beat someone up, or at least have a decent drink. However, he wouldn't exactly be sad if the Unfinished man managed to break Cutter's nose.

"I'm actually looking for a new trophy, Unfinished Man. You'll do nicely."

More talking.

Now, Thomas wasn't actually unfamiliar with the act of taunting. However, standing around, speaking about trophies? What was the fun or use in that? This battle was boring him, no one was bleeding -though, one couldn't really bleed-, nor was he particularly impressed by Cutter's effort. For as much the man seemed to go on about being a gentleman, he was the one carrying a large gun, and aiming at the weaker spots.

An I who thought he liked to play it fair. Shame the unfinished man seems to move like a slug, though.

This was just the boring kind of cheating, and Thomas thought he might as well help end it by interfering. However, before he could do anything about that, the sound of a horn rang, the kind of horn the devils used when they hunted.

Bloody devils, not good for anything apart from making people into sport.

Even worse, they seemed to be approaching the temple. Cutter was overjoyed over this, and that was the final nail in the coffin, Thomas was now sure the man was a maniac.

"Excellent! I don't think I've ever had such an exciting hunt! If this is what I have to expect from working with the Department, I should have joined them far earlier!"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?!" Thomas yelled, the excited look on the other's face aggravated him. Whatever good mood he had been in had slowly diminished as he had watched the fight, and now this fool was acting like a... like a fool!

"What's so damned good about some bloody devils?! They'll just get in the way, the bastards! If it's so damned fun, deal with them yourself!" Thomas got down from the higher parts from the temple in front of the outer door, and left. He'd been sent to deal with the unfinished man, not the devils, if Cutter wanted to get involved with this stuff, he could feel free to do so. Besides, if there was anyone there Thomas felt like he owed the smallest favour, it was the science guy. He spotted the group and got closer, noticing that the bandaged man was gone, and that something had happened to the rubbery man, who was on the ground.

"Hey," he told the rubbery man. "Get up, else the devils will walk right over you." Noticing the glass in its hand -upon closer examination, of course- he pulled the rubbery man up himself, not giving it much of a choice but to stand. "There." He then went to the science man, regardless of if the rubbery man chose to follow him.

"You. Science bloke. I'll pay you back the favour because you loaned me those... ehm. Strong-smelling smoke-bombs. I'll pay you back by making sure you're not hurt, got it?" His tone showed that he was angry, though not nearly as angry as he'd been when talking to Cutter the maniac. As he spoke, he eyed the nearby spirifers, there wasn't a lot of them now.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

"You. Science bloke. I'll pay you back the favour because you loaned me those... ehm. Strong-smelling smoke-bombs. I'll pay you back by making sure you're not hurt, got it?"

"Right, well...thank you," Aidan said taken aback by the gesture. He would have reminded the man that his name wasn't 'science bloke' were there not more pressing matters to address. Though he seemed to be in a safe-enough spot, away from the fray that was going on inside the temple and wasn't entirely certain he'd require much protecting at this point. However, there was that odd blaring of some kind of horn, but it presented no immediate danger. The chemist had high doubts that it was a call for aide from the spirifers seeing as they'd likely not want to attract any more attention to themselves. There was shouting and someone had bolted from inside, then bowled right into Nigel in his panic. "Oh my word...Thomas, could you please apprehend that man? Then see if our dear friend is alright. I'll try to bind and collect these malcontents as best I can, but I can only manage that if they're all unconscious."