Bubz

[Ashador]

It was a stormy evening in the City, rain had been pouring heavily for most of the day. Ashador had been wandering the streets since early that morning looking for any signs of trouble as well as for any odd jobs so he could pay this months rent. With the rain as heavy and oppressive as it was however there was little of either to be found. He had finally made his way back into one of the more run down parts of the Outskirts. Nearby was a small two story building nestled in between two larger apartment style buildings with a worn out, flickering, red neon sign above the door that simply read "Bubz". Ashador trudged inside, his wet boots squishing and squashing with every tired step.

Bubz, it turned out, was a small bar that was only about fifteen feet wide and about thirty feet long. The bar itself took up ruffly half of the space of the room and is situated on the right wall of the room, while the rest of the room is divided up by a number of small booths and tables as well as stools at the bar. Situated at the bar were the regulars, the men who for one reason or another chose this god forsaken bar as the local to drown their sorrows in booze and try to forget the hardships of their lives. Occasionally some will get riled up and put on some kind of nonsensical gibberish before being escorted, or thrown, out of the bar, but the majority sit in a quite slumped over heap reflecting on their misfortunes. Sitting in the booth nearest the door was a young couple that wandered in to escape the down pour quietly making conversation with one another trying to pass the time until the storm subsided.

Behind the bar was Bubz himself, slowly cleaning a large glass with an old wet rag occasionally putting the rag ang glass down in order to pour a drink for one of the men at the bar. Lately Bubz has grown quite old, quite fat, and quite bald as the only hair left on his head is his now grey mustache. He looked up only for a moment to see who had walked into the bar and once he noticed that it was just Ashador he went back to polishing his glass and then asked "Any luck out there today Ash?"

"No," Ashador replied "not today." he said as he took off his soaking wet duster and cowboy hat and hung them neatly on a coat rack by the door. Once they had finished exchanging the usually pleasentries about his rent and the fact that he couldn't pay it right now, as Ashador rented the small flat above the bar, he walked slowly his shoes still making squish noises, over to a single small table placed in the far right corner of the bar with two chairs that had a half empty bottle of wiskey, an ash tray full of cigar stubs, a single glass, and a sign that read "Researved" placed on top of it. Ashador ploped himsilf down in one of the chairs facing the front door and placed his cross bow against the wall behind him. He then poured himself a shot of whiskey and downed it in one gulp, he then proped his chair back on two of its legs and then threw his feet up to rest on top of the table. Then he just sat and contemplated his next move. He had been around here for too long and it was time for him to move on, time for him to try and respark his sense of adventure. So he finally took a cigar from his pocket, lit it and sat quietly.

[Khan]

The forlorn patrons of the bar drank and droned on as usual for the next few moments. The clock chimed, signaling that midnight was upon them, and suddenly the air within the bar became deathly silent. Bubz looked up from his dirty glass quizzically; something didn't feel right.

Without warning, a hulking grey figure crashed through the window next to the front door. He slammed into one of the front booths, but the force at which he flew was so great the he bounced off the wooden table as if it were rubber. The body soared across the room and slammed into a case behind the bar that was filled with various liquors. The impact stopped the figure's trajectory, and he promptly slammed down onto the dirty bar floor. Bottles from the case rained down onto the body, covering him in alcohol and shards of glass.

The entire room sat in stunned silence. Bubz looked down at the giant grey shape in amazement. It looked vaguely orcish, yet its skin was grey and it had various other strange features. The body was still for several seconds, and the bar patrons simply assumed that whatever it was had been killed. A collective gasp emanated through the tiny room when the creature began to stir. It's eyes opened, and, with great effort, he managed to lift himself to his feet. The monster looked down on a terrified Bubz.

"You got any mead in this dump?" The beast growled. Bubz nodded slowly, then went over to the surviving liquor cabinet and filled the glass he had been cleaning. He handed the stranger the mead, who downed it in an instant.

"Tastes like troll piss." The creature said. "But it'll do." He tossed the glass across the room, and then began picking the splinters and glass shards out of his skin. He looked out the window he had flown in through, and grumbled, "Well...that was unpleasant."

[Allule]

Not two seconds after the word "-pleasant" had left the things mouth, the door opened, pushed by the butt end of a stick. A staff, as it were. And following closely behind it, was a man, and of course the rest of the stick. He was facing outward, a look of what might have been amusement passing briefly along his face, before he managed to get past the door, the hinges creaking behind him as the old oaken thing shut behind him of its own accord.

The silence following the heavy crash was still present as the ragged man, still practically sopping wet, pushed back his hood, which had been up to protect him from the rain. Ruffling his hair a little awkwardly, as if trying to get the practically omnipresent water still caked there, he walked over to the bar and sat himself down in a chair which happened to be less than a foot from the "beast's" head. Frowning at Bubz, the man who had just entered rapped the head of his staff on the bar, making a loud tinny sound, and rattling the other glass that was left on the table.

Bubz himself appeared to be pulled out of his stiff awe, if that was what you wanted to call it, by this sound, which rang through the bar like a bell. Without seeming to think about it, he turned behind him and grabbed an ancient looking bottle off of a shelf directly behind him and plunked it down in front of the man with the staff, grunting. The man nodded his thanks, shaking a little more water off in the process and grabbed the bottle, taking a gratuitous swig of the stuff, and then coughing once or twice.

This seemed to pull the rest of the pub out of whatever kind of trance the strange occurring had put them into, and they resumed their conversations in whispered tones, albeit some of them pointing at the "beast" and whispering quietly to themselves. The man with the staff took another long draft before turning to look at the beast and saying "You know, you really shouldn't have made it angry. I've no idea what he'll do now. I would say to be careful, but I don't think you've got that option now."

Here he frowned, and took another long swig of the black bottle. "I've no idea what will happen now," he said, the amusement returning to his eyes. "None at all."

[Welcome to the long haul boys! If this thread is any indication, we'll have quality RP here for a long time to come!]

[Ashador]

When Ashador had thought about going on a new adventure he hadn't really planned on it starting this soon nor had thought the adventure would come to him. While he was happy for the change of pace he wasn't to happy that most of the liquor was now gone, and he was not about to let whatever this mysterious force out side the bar do anymore damage to one of his least favorite drinking establishments, and more importantly he wasn't going to let it damge his home on the second floor.

Ashador quickly stood up, grabed his crossbow from behind him, and made his way toward the door. As he past the strange man who had come flying through the window and the stranger man sitting at the bar he paid them no mind other than to say "Well don't just stand there let's get to it," he said whilst cocking a bolt into place. He stopped briefly at the door and grabed his duster and cowboy hat still hanging neatly on the coat rack by the door. He slid on the still moast coat and dawnd the damp hat, his crossbow now glowing slightly he grinned in anticipation to see what was beyond the door as he opened it and stepped out side.

[Khan]

The beast ignored both the dark elf exiting the building and the mysterious, haggard man who sat before him for the moment. He had finished picking the last bits of glass and wood from his skin and spit a stream of jet black blood onto the counter before he realized his right arm wasn't working. He slung it onto the bar and looked at the stranger, who took another swig of his brew.

"Wipe that smile off of your face, you smug bastard." He grimaced as he cracked his right arm back into place. "You weren't the one who just got punted 6 yards into a liqueur cabinet."

He shook his right hand to make sure it was working, then turned to Bubz, who was still frozen in amazement. "Get me something else, barkeep." The beast grunted. "The strongest thing you got."

Bubz grabbed a large, dusty bottle of amber liquid from the cabinet and handed it to the creature, who examined it for a moment before ripping the cap off. "Hey, if I'm going to die tonight, I might as well be drunk." He said as he downed the bottle in a single gulp. He tossed the bottle behind him, and let out a long sigh before he focused his attention back on the stranger.

"It's not like you had the opportunity to get hit, anyways. You were just standing in the shadows watching me get pummeled like you always do." He hopped over the bar and pointed at the door the dark elf had just walked through. "Now, this guy...I like this guy's style."

He unsheathed the claymore on his back, then jumped out of the now empty window sill. He turned towards the man, still at the bar, and smiled.

"You coming?"

[Allule]

"Faster than you, I might add." He said, taking a final swig from the bottle and stowing it away in his cloak.

Placing some money down on the table, he pulled his hood up, and, using the door, swept out into the rain, Staff in front of him. Almost directly in front of him, perhaps 10 feet away, stood the Steamforged that had Kicked the half orc through the window of Bubz "humble" establishment. It was at least nine feet tall, probably bigger than that looking more closely, and practically gushing steam. It could have been a suit of armor, with a lot of valves and the sound of water hissing through it, if it hadn't been so tall and had that dull yellow tint to its gaze.

Kryth had seen it, edging his way into the bar, all clanking an whirring in an angry fashion as though it had been done some personal wrong, but it hadn't looked twice at him as he had entered the place. Now, on the other hand, it looked rather angry, it's yellow eyes gleaming malevolently. Taking a closer look, Kryth saw that it hadn't bothered to even use the window when it had apparently exited the last establishment, preferring to bust directly through the wall. It also didn't look to have any markings, other than the valves and whistles that pocket marked its metal hide. That was until it shifted in the practically non existent light to reveal his shoulder, which was emblazoned with a circle with three square like things protruding from it at regular intervals.

"Greattt." Kryth muttered to himself sarcastically. In other parts, he knew that that symbol was one of Nuclear Power, or Nuclear Danger. But here it simply meant one thing. "NEW DAY!" He shouted, not sure if he would be heard over the down pour. Regardless of weather the other two warriors had heard what he had yelled, he hoped that the Dark Elf, in particular was light on his toes... The Steamforged had raised a fist and was hurtling it towards the bowman's position before Kryth had even finished his sentence.

[~The Controller~]

Swinging his great fist through the air, the Steamforged tried to pummel his opponent, his great valves steaming and puffing as he attempted to make contact. Suddenly, in mid swing he puffed out a few words, the Steam practically obscuring them as they came out.
"I... Will....Squash...Puny....Fleshbags." He hadn't really come for a fight, to his poor memory, but now that there was one, he figured he might as well try to finish these puny bugs off.

After all, it would be what his master wanted, he thought. Though, that much was a difficulty to him. He had been bashed over the head once or twice by the big grey one at least once or twice, he thought. It was...so... hard to remember. The Steamforged, who had, apparently enough forgotten his name by this point, he was so senselessly enraged, roared in frustration. He WOULD win.

((Sorry for the short post, but some of the exposition that should go here got put into Kryth's bit. As for the rules for battle, we'll go in the same order with this guy after Kryth, in order for everyone to provide an answer to any attack that gets directed at them, such as an AoE or that kind of thing. So basically, the order is the same. Feel free to attack whenever your turn rolls 'round; he'll respond in turn to each one when his post rolls back around. If you have questions about it, simply post up in the Cbox, and I'll address them.))

[Ashador]

Ashador tried dodging to his left but the punch came so fast and so suddenly that he was only able move partially out of the way receiving a glancing blow rather than a full force punch. He was sent flying to the left and rolled on the ground till coming to a stop a few feet away. He stood up in a daze now slightly alarmed by the strength of this steam forged, and as he collected himself he glanced quickly at his crossbow. It was now radiating a strong white light now charged and ready to be fired. He quickly tried to think up a good one liner before he fired "Well now that I am throughly acquainted with your fist," he yelled "Why don't I introduce you to my Boom Stick." he pointed the bow and fired releasing a roughly meter wide sphere of energy sending it hurtling toward the steam forged.

[Khan]

The steamforged stumbled back as the energy blast slammed into it, and Khan saw an opening. He charged forward, and leapt through the icy rain at the metal beast. The steamforged shook off the disorientation far more quickly than Khan had anticipated, and just as the half-orc was upon it, the robot's giant metal arm swung upwards and landed a bone shattering backhand under Khan's chin, knocking Sonja out of his hand and sending him soaring.

The force of the blow sent Khan flying into Bubz' lone second story window. He landed on a small, soggy bed next to the window whose wooden frame, under the pressure of the massive half-orc, promptly exploded. The mattress crashed down onto the frail wooden floor with a force so incredible that the entire room collapsed. Khan feel through the floor, slammed back onto the bar floor below, and was quickly followed by a dozen sharp wooden boards as well as an ancient, wet mattress.The bar was still for a long moment as the wood pile sat motionless in the middle of the floor. Suddenly, Khan busted out of the wreckage and looked out the window at the fight in progress. "I swear on my mother's grave," he said, gritting his teeth, "that is THE LAST window I'm getting thrown through today." He pulled out the two short swords sheathed on his waist, and leapt out of the window frame. Bubz walked over and examined what was left of his upstairs flat, then looked out at the half-crazed beast running out into the rain. "Oh, man," Bubz grumbled, "Ash is 'gonna be pissed."

Khan dashed again towards the steamforged. The robot had seemingly forgotten Khan existed, and, as such, had not noticed him approaching. Khan zipped behind it, ran up it's back, and then dug both of his swords into its neck. The steamforged let out a metallic bellow as it bucked and flailed its arms in an attempt to get the half-orc off of it.

[Allule]

Kryth frowned, perhaps in a kind of admonishment, as the big half orc was sent flying through the air, then he practically facepalmed as the same man came rushing back from the broken in first story window, apparently having suffered only a minor set back from his loud crash down to the second floor. Without hesitating, the man had run up the Steamforged back (not that that had probably been necessary, mind you), and stabbed the thing in the neck.

Now thought Kryth to himself, watching the Steamforged buck wildly, That is an idea. Lowering his staff, and gripping it with both hands, Kryth closed his eyes briefly and opened them again, apparently causing the portion of the staff pointed away from him to light up. Swirling runes, none of which would probably mean anything to anyone but Kryth, started twirling elegantly around the staff.

Then Kryth leveled it, causing a blue blast to come shooting out of it, headed straight towards the Steamforged. With that, he began a kind of dance, or so it would have seemed to anyone watching. Spinning the staff as if it were a baton, and leaving his left hand to hang, he began twirling it in a pattern around himself, twisting back and forth as if in some sort of trance, though anyone watching would have seen the sheen of perspiration that appeared almost at once on his brow.

None the less, every time the staff hit a point in its arc in which it was pointed at the Steamforged, a blast of blue light shot from its end and went sailing towards the giant. Every time this happened, there was a satisfying, at least in Kryth's mind, kerchunk from the staff. All in all, before he finished spinning, he was able to get a good 5 or 6 shots off, a good amount, he thought, though the attack itself tended to be a little dizzying.

Making for a theatrical finish, he made certain to finish by throwing his staff arm behind him, and crouching, causing a minor tremor of blue smoke to come tumbling off of it. Was the smoke useful? Not really, no. But the effect was nice.

[~The Controller~]

The Steamforged was hurting by the time the swords had been stuck handle-deep into its neck, that was for certain. After all, you don't get hit by projectiles like that, be they energy or orc. None the less he thought that perhaps he could still get away. Was it likely with the little orc hanging from his neck? Well, he didn't think about that. After all he was a little fuzzy on the details anyway as to what had been happening to him. That was until he started to get hit by the magic.

The first bolt hit him directly in the chest, and, while 3 or 4 of him missed him, two more crashed into him, one into his shoulder, throwing him off balance, the other directly into his chest, causing him to topple over, finally loosing his battle with the pavement. The Steamforged felt the life giving water seeping out of him. It was right about then that he realized that he really was not long for this world, though the thought really didn't stay long.

"You...won't... get... away with... insulting.... the Company." He wheezed finally, using up the last of his excess steam. The last thing he remembered brought at least the equivalent of a Steamforged smile to his face. At least he had thought to call for reinforcements... In fact, he thought he could almost hear them coming now.....

*** <--((Indicates a change in characters for the NPC))

As the singular Steamforged passed, the alley became filled with other Steamforged, as well as more shadowy something-or-anothers filled the alley. In fact, if any of the trio were to look around them they would have found that they were surrounded, by what might, at the best of times, been called a sortie, at the worst of times an army. However, they had yet to move, seemingly waiting for some instruction. But there were a lot of them.

Alot.
Of.
Them.

[Ashador]

As the dying steam forged bellowed out its last breath of steam Ash paused for a moment to catch his breath and assess the situation further. He approached the two strange men slowly he didn't really know who they were or what they had done to piss off that steam forged like they did so he was hesitant to talk to them. However he wasn't going to get any answers from them if he didn't speak up so he simply asked "What the hell was that all about." The smaller of the two men motioned to begin a response however before he could The group was surrounded by a large group of steam forged as well as some things he wasn't to familiar with. "Oh this is just fantastic," he muttered sarcastically.

He ran back to the door of Bubz in order to warn those inside of the impending danger, "Bubz!" he began as he burst through the door, "You need to get everyone out of......" he trailed off upon noticing that his mattress among other pieces of wood and debris were now strewn across the floor of the tiny bar that wasn't there the first time he walked through. "Bubz... why is my mattress on the floor?" Ash asked with a slight amount of agitation and confusion in his voice. Bubz slowly looked at Ashador, then back to the mattress, then back to Ash, and then finally tilted his head up to the ceiling. Ashador followed Bubz gaze upwards and noticed the hole in the ceiling where his bed used to be, he stood silently for a moment staring at the hole with his mouth slightly agape. Then suddenly he scrunched up his face in anger and yelled "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" this continued for about 15 seconds, "UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Ashador did a quick about face towards the still open door and the large group of steam forged, mystery creatures, and the two adventures who were all looking at Ash quite quizzically. His fists were clinched and his shoulders hunched in a now quiet rage. He began marching slowly toward the two adventures and was glaring particularly angrily at the large one. "You!" he said as he stopped and pointed his Boomstick at the big one. "If we some how make it out of this particularly bleak situation alive I am gonna KILL YOU!"

Once he finished yelling he quickly shifted the Boomstick towards the nearest steam forged and unloaded the remaining 24 charged arrows into it's torso filling it full of holes that instantly burst with steam killing it instantly. He then ran towards the still falling corpse, used it as a stepping stone to vault himself towards the one behind it and landed squarely on it's shoulder. He quickly reloaded both the air tank and bolt cylinder and fired a single red explosive arrow into the head of the steam forged he was standing on top of. He then deftly jumped off and began to walk away from it as it proceeded to explode into shrapnel, however Ash was not at all phased nor did he look back or pay any attention at all to what he had just done, he just strode back toward the others with same angry glare in his eyes.

[Khan]

"Damn." Khan muttered as the dark elf strode away from the plume of flames. "That was amazing."

His dumbstruck gaze was quickly interrupted by the three steamforged that emerged from the alleyway behind him. He pivoted on his heel to face the iron giants. "No way in hell I'm gonna' be outdone by Patchy over there." He growled as he dashed towards the nearest two robots. The mechanical beasts stood side by side and prepared themselves for the little orc's assault. Khan was about to begin his blitz when he spotted Sonja lying on the ground behind the first line of steamforged and directly in front of the one in the rear. He slowed down his advance, and just as he was within the robot's reach he dropped to his knees and slid on the wet pavement right beneath their grasp. He swung with his swords in each direction, and in an instant the titans fell, their knees sliced clean open. Still sliding, Khan sheathed his swords and put out his right arm. His hand felt the familiar touch of Sonja's hilt, and he stuck out his left foot in an attempt to brake. The third steamforged, upon seeing his comrades fall, rushed the orc as he slid towards him. He ran in and stopped low, hoping to crush Khan in his metal grasp. Just as the robot began its strike Khan shifted onto his left foot, spun around, placed his right foot on the slick pavement, then dug Sonja into the steamforged's right eye socket. The robot let out what sounded like a scream as Khan pulled his sword out and swung in an upward arc. Sonja sang as she cut cleanly through the machine's outstretched neck. Khan spun around, leapt through the rain, and with a single 360 spin in mid-air decapitated the other two hunched robots in front of him.

He landed next to Ash, who continued to give him an angry look. "Oh, don't be mad, Patchy." Khan said. "Next time I get back handed 10 feet into the air I'll make sure not to land in whatever sinkhole you happen to be living in. Promise."

In that instant the entirety of the force emerged from the shadows. Khan began spinning around hopelessly with his claymore raised. "You know I'm not one to run away from a good fight," He yelled at Kryth, "But methinks its high time for a tactical retreat!"

[Allule]

Kryth only frowned as the force began to set in on them. After all, what was there to do against such a force? There really wasn't any hope now, unless... No, he forced himself not to think about it. There really wasn't any way that the Resistance could find them in this part of town anyway, even if they really wanted to. Frowning, he spun on his heel, quickly assessing the situation. They were surrounded, fairly obviously. The only open spot was back into the bar, which was apparently in a sorry state judging from the way the Dark Elf had flown out of it moments ago, practically stark raving mad.

It was about this time, however, that the Half Orc started calling for a tactical retreat. Paling a little, as he knew he would, Kryth started for the bar as quickly as he could, still a little dizzy from the magic he had used against the lone Steamforged. It had been so long since he had used the artes. He would get used to the feeling though, he knew, rather quickly, if this force size were any indication. Stepping through the busted window and into the place, which was indeed very torn to shambles, the staff bearer spun and crouched low, looking at the force. They had yet to move, and in his experience, New Day forces not moving could only mean one thing. There was a higher-up among them, and they hadn't received their orders yet. That could only be a bad thing.

Suddenly, a familiar stench fleeted across his nostrils, and he looked around only to see Bubz standing behind him. However, there was a strange look on his face. And his eyes were glowing purple. Frowning, Kryth stood up, now ignoring the army entirely, and began snapping his fingers dubiously, directly in Bubz face.

[~The Bystander~]

This snapping, of course, had absolutely no effect. However, after a moment or two, Bubz grabbed Kryth's wrist and said in a voice quite unlike the normally gruff barkeep, "You are to come with me." Then, without waiting for an answer, Bubz with apparently here-for-to unshown strength began bodily dragging Kryth towards a door at the back of the Bar, interestingly enough directly next to the chair that Ashador had been sitting in not too long ago.

Taking care to kick over the chairs he passed (for the bar had cleared out not long after the second time the Half Orc had crashed through the establishment), Bubz finally reached the door and wrenched it open, revealing a rickety staircase. Then, taking care to do the thing properly, Bubz took the heel of his boot and jammed it, apparently as hard as he could on the corner of the third step from the bottom. However, instead of breaking, as the thing looked like it should have, the entire stair case creaked, and, as Bubz foot came up, the stair case came with him, the entire floor lifting up as though hinged to reveal a hole large enough to stuff a man through.

Unceremoniously, Bubz proceeded to stuff Kryth, staff and all, into the hole. Kryth himself was in for a short fall and a good stretch of tunnel before he got out of the passage. But he wouldn't have to deal with the Steamforged. Smiling a little to himself, Bubz, who at this point was obviously being possessed by someone or another, smiled to himself and said "Well, I may have saved him, but at least he won't enjoy it." And with that, he proceeded over to the bar, the mirror long gone at this point, and climbed into the biggest cupboard under the mirror, shutting the door behind him, and then promptly falling asleep.

If this hadn't been the case, he might have heard the ominous words "You shall begin the Attack in 30 seconds." echoing through the alley from seemingly no where. Wrath rarely showed himself for such small things, after all.