forty-five sins

[endthem]

[...it is time.

This is the moment--this one--that he has been waiting for. Waiting, planning, sweating, bleeding to make happen. It is time to show this little world just what it is trying to keep captive. Fight the chains until they break, wrap them around the throat of their captor and pull until the air runs out.

Opening the door to the house,

Comments

TOWNSPEOPLE

[endthem]

[if it isn't the entire town, it certainly seems like it. The mob is solid and unflinching, mindless and filling the streets to capacity-- and they're all heading straight for the castle in one steady and relentless wave. Some carry weapons--any random object used to stab or bludgeon--and some have only their own bone and muscle to fight with.

Fires burn in the town, carts are trampled. The members of the mob fight slowly, clumsily, but without restraint. They are strong and seem to be impervious to pain. And there are many...]

((ooc: anyone at all can join in the fight to keep the townspeople back. NPC your own townspeople, and try to keep their actual fatalities to a minimum. As Legato is distracted, the townspeople will be periodically falling unharmed to the ground in giant random groups, so feel free to play that out as well at any time if you wish-- especially if you need a reason for your character to not kill dozens of NPCs. They can find themself suddenly in the middle of a crumpling mob of unconscious combatants. Have fun

[beltbucklerebel]

[fighting his way to the clocktower is literally that. A fight. His training and experience lets him strike to disable, rather than kill, but that way is also slower. There's a distant thought, lingering at the back of his mind, that he'll have a lot of bruises to answer for, come morning. But it's a much more present thought that has him grinding his teeth as he picks his way through the mob.

If the clocktower proves to be the wrong choice, he might not get another chance to reach a better location. Not having to fight townspeople too.]

[thedicearecast]

[Even for someone used to moving through mobs, or fighting groups, what Legato has set up is a far extreme. Just how much power did the man possess, to have control over so many people? The prospect is a frightening one, but the numbers work in Amelia's favor in so far as serving as a distraction from the thought. She can't take her mind off the fight in front of her for a second, if only because each step is a struggle. Her riffle remains at her side, Amelia opting to go at it hand-to-hand, and doing fairly well for her efforts.

Yet another problem presents itself in the form of not being able to tell just who is a foe versus a friend. Her path is pushing her closer to Booth, and while she's not exactly going at it with blinders on, all she knows is that there's a fight near him; not any of the specific players. Without much time to figure out who, Booth may end up having to dodge a stray but well-intentioned punch.]

[beltbucklerebel]

[He'd already twisted one man's arm behind his back and was in the process of bracing himself to flip him out of the way when he catches sight of that punch from the corner of his eye. He doesn't even curse. He's focusing hard on staying silent and working fast. But he drops the man in surprise as he ducks the blow.

Amelia won't hit him, but she might hit the guy he was dealing with if she follows through.

Whirling, he turns to deal with this latest assailant and just barely recognizes her before he actually strikes out]

...Amelia?!

[thedicearecast]

[In this mess, any punch that lands counts as a good thing in Amelia's mind. So she's satisfied with the contact, but knows better than to linger on it. Just like Booth, she's about to go after the missed target when he calls out her name.]

Booth! [There's a second of hesitation when Amelia recognizes the man, which is long enough for one of the townspeople to grab her shoulder. The touch is more than enough to break the momentary shock, and Amelia snaps her elbow back into the person's face.]

Sorry about that. [She can at least talk and fight at the same time--which includes giving the grabber a solid kick to the gut as thanks for the touch.] How on Gunsmoke does he have control over so many people?!

[beltbucklerebel]

Once we find him we can ask.

[he sweeps the legs out from under another townsperson. He's doing the best he can not to look at their faces. Not to see whether it's a woman or child or elderly old man. They're fighting much too fiercely for him to take special care with any of them.

All he can do is hope that the worst any of them have to deal with are bruises]

We've gotta get out of this. Now.

[thedicearecast]

I'll add it to the list then.

[Because Amelia has more than her share of questions to push on Legato, most of them focusing on "why." But that amounts to putting the metaphorical cart before the horse in the face of the swarm. Booth is right to say they needed to move; the numbers aren't decreasing, even as innocent people are knocked to the ground. No one could keep up with it long and expect to survive, much less face the puppeteer.]

If you've got any ideas for doing that, I'm listening.

[beltbucklerebel]

I need to get to the clocktower, and I need to be there yesterday.

[whenever he can, he flips people to the side of the road, out of the way of the trampling hoard, and tries not to think about the ones he can't]

[thedicearecast]

The clocktower? [Amelia hasn't heard anything herself about Legato's exact location, and it seems strange that Booth would pick someplace so specific without knowing that. But at least it's easy to spot among the buildings in town, and Amelia alters her direction as much as she can to head there.]

If we focus on moving, we might be able to outpace them together. [Because it's clear from how they're both holding back that Booth doesn't want to kill these people any more than she does.] Can you push through the front while I keep your back clear? We might not even have to knock them out if we can get past them quickly enough.

[beltbucklerebel]

[he glances at her briefly, long enough to give a short nod.]

I can push.

[thedicearecast]

Good. Then tell me when we're starting, and don't look back once we go.

[Amelia can only hope that by now, Booth's seen enough of what she can do to actually follow through with that. The only way things work--at least in her mind--is if Booth doesn't needlessly worry about her. She kicks out at another person who is getting too close, mostly to shove them back before she positions herself behind Booth.]

I'm ready when you are.

[beltbucklerebel]

[if there's one thing Booth is good at, it's trusting the women in his life. Turning forward, he drops another townsperson who got too close and nods]

Go!

[thedicearecast]

[He'd use strength, she'd use speed--that's the plan, at least, and Amelia takes off after Booth the moment he shouts. She knows she can't fall more than a few steps behind, if that much. Anything that makes Booth hesitate will wreck their momentum, which they will need to make it through the mass with as little damage as possible.

But as easily as it works out in her head, Amelia knows it's much harder to execute. Even early on, she has to watch for stray weapons and limbs, and knock each of them away without getting entangled herself.]

[beltbucklerebel]

[They can't move as fast as either would like, but they make better time working together, forcing their way through the crowd until the clocktower comes into sight.]

[azure_guardian]

[the Azure Knight arrived in town as quickly as he could - fast travel systems being a god-sent when situations like this came up, after all.

he is fighting back against the mind-controlled townspeople right now, choosing not to use the Empty Skies at the moment and sticking with his hands and feet. blue fire occasionally flickers along his body which burns any townspeople that try to grab him.

Kite couldn't physically get tired but he knew they needed to find Legato as fast as possible.]

[ar0se]

[Aradia is not terribly worried about the townspeople on a personal level, because unlike her, they cannot fly. For the moment she remains behind friendly lines, well above the fighting, scanning the town for any sign of the puppetmaster.

She knows his type. He won't stay under radar for long.

.... It would be really nice to have Eagle Vision right now though.]