[Closed] Kingdom by the Sea

[meonikost]

WHO: Asher Hardie, Cullen Rutherford, Korrin Ataash, Malcolm Reynolds, Meoni Kost
WHAT: Red Templars have been harassing merchant ships, and the Inquisition has hired a team to take them down.
WHEN: June/Justinian the 12th
WHERE: A network of caves near the Storm Coast.
NOTES: Canon-typical violence, and a torture room towards the end. Recruitment post with details! I'll post a series of comments with details for each movement that players can reply to.

In the mouth of the strait that leads to Lake Calenhad through a river, a group of Red Templars have staked their claim. On one side lies the cliff and a cave--at low tide all ten feet of the cave can be seen, but at high tide only four can be seen. With armor and weapons, it's impossible to swim through. During low tide, there are visible rocks that make a path into the cave, but they are mossy and treacherous. Boat carnage bobs slowly with the tide, thunking against the stone and making even more noise than the ocean itself. A rowboat, wide enough to fit ten people, is tied to a steak someone hammered into a crack in the cliff.

The other side is less a cliff, more a tall and rocky hill where the Red Templar watch waits. Past it, away from the cliff there are tall pine trees and boulders. Still, there's an uphill run and some distance between the templar watch camp and the cover.

[OOC: Tagging order is Cullen-->Malcolm-->Korrin-->Asher]

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's target is tougher than anticipated, even wounded, and she has a few narrow-misses as it swings at her in an attempt to crush the Vashoth woman. Between that barrier of hers and the distraction of a spirit blade cutting into it, the attempts don't seem that successful. Well, at least until it lands a powerful blow, sending her flying back.

Korrin winces as she strikes the ground, but she's on her feet again in a moment. This will ache later, but now is the only time that matters. Renewing that barrier -for herself and anyone else nearby- she then steps forward to cast Stonefist again, once she's sure to be at an angle that will push him into the water. Punching people with boulders will never get old.

[hlif]

"Ataash!" The call is for Bronson the instant Asher sees her go down even if it's just for a second, and his hound is on the move to sink his jaws into the leg of foe. Bronson was a fighting dog before he was Asher's, he doesn't know fear, he knows clamping on and winning, ripping and tearing even if he's a big soft lump beneath the surface. Korrin can spoil him with treats later if she wants as the hound finishes off what her spell has done most of.

A quick check to confirm where everyone is and then Asher spins, his grip on his weapon solid. The blows will be glancing at best at first, but it exposes the backs of their targets to everyone else, means Asher picks up more hurts to fuel himself and draws from the pain and fear from the people he's hurting too. Some wounds go deep though it feels weird hitting these Templars, where the flesh doesn't feel like flesh, sounding wrong but he'll complain about it later, fininishing his spin by hacking off an arm at the elbow. The resulting howl is music to his ears.

[lionheartedman]

Mal's through and through shot is perfectly aimed, and freezes his target effectively, letting Cullen get a clean strike in at the neck, taking off his head. He was probably already dead. Certainly fatally wounded. It's just insurance. Ounce of prevention and pound of cure, sort of. More or less. It also avoids the possible death cry.

Which Asher makes a non-issue only moments later. Well, at least that's all four taken care of. The one herded to the water with Jayne, the one run through and decapitated, the one smashed into the water with a boulder (which, he must admit, looks really freaking cool) and Bronson, and finally Asher's spinning top of death. If they're lucky, the noise won't have carried inside the cave.

He waits for a bit of stillness to return before looking to the three figures still standing. "Everyone unharmed?" Then he glances to Asher. Maybe the wrong wording. "Able to continue?" Better.

[aintwejust]

Looks like none of them got to two this round- and that he can have such an offhand thought so easily is a good sign. Means things are still go'n smooth, that no one's too hurt and nothing's gone sideways all of yet. He jogs up to fetch his spear, crouching down to scratch Jayne's ears for a reward. A little bit of jerky keeps him from nosing about the templar corpses.

Bad stuff, that red lyrium. Regular stuff makes Mal's nose itch, always ends up causn'n no end of trouble. The red stuff don't much seem like it'd be any less. "We're good, Commander. Asher, you breath'n fine?"

Fretting. Small frets, but that cough...seems to be gone. Mostly. Sooner he's sure, the better.

[gatheringstorm]

"Such a good boy, Bronson. Thank you." Korrin leans down to pet Bronson fondly, naturally glad for the assist. She'll definitely spoil him later, but for now there's still more work to be done. So, she nods over to Cullen, straightening.

"I'm good to go. And Mal, you know he'd never admit it if he wasn't." But she glances over to Asher, too, just to see for herself that he doing alright. As long as he's not staggering around and spitting up blood or something along those lines, then she'll give him space and the area one last good glance-around before following the Commander.

[hlif]

"All good Commander, no complaints!" Mal and Korrin know just how rare it is that Asher bothers with rank - it's a sign of respect right there as Bronson heads back over to his master after being petted, allowing the merc to lean against him.

"I will slap the mouths of your faces the pair of you," Asher grumps, but he suspects it'd be more effective if he weren't saying it after a coughing fit but he's covered in blood anyway so how are they going to know what blood belongs to him and what blood belongs to the enemy? They won't, he's fine, he can breathe. "Just need to wash some of this crap off."

Seriously, if he wasn't keep on lyrium before any of this on account of how odd Templars seemed then he definitely didn't want any of the red stuff on him longer than was needed so he made his way to the water, complaining under his breath the whole time as he quietly washed the worst of it off.

[lionheartedman]

Cullen doesn't have much gore on him, but he still wets a cloth absently with a little water, wiping it off of his face and ignoring his armour. His own relationship with lyrium is complicated. He doesn't want it anywhere near him in general.

When he walks past Asher, he offers the cloth. It's still mostly clean. If everyone is fine, they shouldn't waste time. He pokes his head into the cavern, listening intently, and then motions the others forward. Time to take out the next batch.

[[OOC: I thought we were good to keep going in the next thread. Hopefully this is a more acceptable chapter end? If not, or if you guys want more conversation beforehand, feel free to ignore it and keep on tagging in this one.]]