[OPEN - RP] And Them That Take It

[Draco]

Draco look at the people helping him.

"Oh I'm fine. Well, as fine as a guy having his life drained away from freaky tentacle things can be. But I appreciate your help. That sack seems to be the biggest problem."

---

Dragus sees Rayce run to him and Vyt. Unsure what was about to be thrown at him, he turned his head. When the crushed glass was clear he turn his head to Rayce.

"You have to tell everyone to not attack Vincent. It will only make things worse. Also, if anyone can do anything involving sound, we need something at a high enough pitch to disrupt any sound Vyt can hear. He said he heard something from that sack, and that might just stop it..."

---

Draco gets one of his arms free, and reaches it into a pocket of his. After a moment of digging he takes out some more bombs.

[Deleted]

((I'm sorry. I couldn't get online. So here's an explanation that probably won't make much sense, but it's all I got.))

Hunter woke to water being poured on his face. Woo! His weewoo, Slothbird, was holding a bottle of water in his talons. He noticed he was surrounded by a firey shield, which although to most would be helpful, probably interferred with his ice magic and caused him to collapse. He waved his staff and dispelled the fire. "What's going on?" Then he remembered Ginz coming in the manor and warning- "The manor's in trouble! Slothy, come on!"

Charging out the door, he noticed a huge fight, but did not recognize most of the combatants. Sarn, Omni, and what looked like a rhinoceros were having a conversation, so he went over to them.

((I can't tell where you are. I thought you were outside, but since Nick went in the window to get to Omni... If you're outside, the door I went out is the main door going out, if you're still inside, it was the kitchen door. Take my vague phrasing whatever way fits.))

((Doc is still in the tavern. Probably playing darts or something, maybe gambling with some people who were still there.))

[Deleted]

Sarn couldn't help but grin at the sheepishness of the newly arrived rhino. Having watched the exchange between Omni and the ridiculous creature, Sarn was not at all surprised when Hunter turned up in the hallway.

"This is perfect," Sarn exclaimed, looking at the other three. "Hunter, you can freeze almost anything, yes?"

Without waiting for an answer, the Feberi turned to the rhino, "You, you're good at distractions, you can stomp around and make lots of noise and create general havoc?"

He beamed at the group with a radiant smile and then realized that they had no idea what was going through his head. His smile faded and was replaced by a serious expression. "When I was out there, surrounded by the smoke, I almost... well I think I did lose my mind a bit. The Star Dance was lost to my ears and so I lost all my power. When those men tried to leech the power out of Mage Manor and everyone within, I had none to give and so went a little mad."

He paused at this point and smiled at Omni. "It was the face of a friend, and the feel of an enchantment that I had cast, which bought me back."

"You see, its all in the smoke. Or at least thats what I think. As soon as I smashed though the window and out of that smoke, those men lost their hold on me. If we can somehow gather the smoke and disable it, that would make it much easier to attack those men. Although..." he paused and pondered.

"I think its the sack. When Ginz and I landed, I felt the evil of it and heard that man speak with a voice that could not have been human. I don't think it is the fault of those men; we should do our best not to hurt them, they deserve to be free of that evil."

"Which means we not only need to freeze the smoke, we also need to get that sack away from the leader, but," here Sarn glanced at Omni, "I think you already have an idea? I don't have my sword, but my arrowheads are sharper than any blade."

[Omni]

"When I was out there, surrounded by the smoke, I almost... well I think I did lose my mind a bit. The Star Dance was lost to my ears and so I lost all my power. When those men tried to leech the power out of Mage Manor and everyone within, I had none to give and so went a little mad."

Sarn looked at and smiled at Omni. "It was the face of a friend, and the feel of an enchantment that I had cast, which bought me back."

If Omni wasn't furry, she might have turned redder. All I did was stand there. She wanted to say it, but didn't

Omni listened as Sarn explained what he knew about the situation.

"...Which means we not only need to freeze the smoke, we also need to get that sack away from the leader, but," He looked at Omni again. "I think you already have an idea? I don't have my sword, but my arrowheads are sharper than any blade."

"That might work," she replied, "if the arrowheads are long enough and the shafts strong enough.

"Okay. So the idea is to have..." she turned to the rhyno, "...you distract them. I don't really care how, just take their mind away from the bag." She turned to Sarn. "You fly past the leader real quick and cut the bag open, or maybe even cut it just below his hand so that the rest of it drops anyway. I know a spell that will allow me to make and control vines. I'll use it to grab the object from a distance and pull it away from them." She paused. "I may need to be outside to do it right. It may also be tricky to get the object somewhere they can't reach without being affected. Unless... nevermind, I think I can do it."

[Vyt: Down, but Not Out]

A powdery substance entered Vyt's eyes, subsequently blinding him physically. It was Rayce's way of stopping the catboy in his deadly berserk, and it seemed to be working as well.

Vyt let out a wild shriek of pain coming from his eyes, and quickly pulled back from barraging Dragus with his attacks. He fell back and initially seemed to search for his target despite his sight being taken away temporarily.

Sometime later, the catboy was beginning to calm down, albeit his head continued swinging back and forth. His heavy breathing was apparent, and it was imminent that the soul was trying to tire its body out.

"Wha..." Vyt tried to speak between his gasps. "... What is Vincent doing now..."

-----------------------------

Vincent's eyes were concentrated on the figure of Vyt, the poor catboy trying to fight his way through the spell of the sack's content. He was the one who had first sensed the danger that lurked inside it, and disabling him from even taking pursuit was enough for him to cause mental havoc and confusion among the beings around him. Without the catboy, no one had a clue on why the current events were happening.

It had been awhile since he was met with attacks of different kinds, ranging from traditional projectiles to even magical spells that would require years of practice to even be of any use. The sack's power needed to leech its own strength from its assailants, and without any agitator its growth was static.

They would have to proceed with what was planned earlier before the fight.

In the air, Vincent resumed the interrupted chant, and so did the men below who followed him. The black smoke around the Manor began to rise up, almost as if consuming it from the perspectives of those outside.

He would only need to drain out the magical reserves of that marvelous establishment.

[Omni]

((Vyt: Are you saying they're not draining the power of the residents this time? This post is written assuming so, so...))

Voices reached Omni's ears. They were too familiar, having heard them so recently. Looking out the window, sure enough, she saw that the men continued to chant.

"Uh-oh. We need to start now. I'll be waiting outside."

And with that, she started to run. With only one step she seemed to vanish, but really she had quickly moved to the door to the outside, using the Manor's magic in an attempt to protect it.

[Draco]

Dragus relaxes now that Vyt has calmed down, and looked at what was going on with Vincent.

"Floating in the air and chanting. Oh, and Draco seems to be getting attacked by some kind of tendrils of some sort... But he's getting help."

Dragus does not sheath his sword as he walks over to Vyt.

"You said earlier not to attack Vincent, and I haven't been able to relay that message yet. I am going to go now, because it seems everyone is doing exactly what you do not want."

With that Dragus leaves Vyt to Rayce and begins running back to the manor and the battle. When close enough he begins to call out, "Don't attack the man! Things will only become worse!"

However, not listening, Draco throws several more bombs up at Vincent.

Draco turns his head to the running Dragus.

"Whoops. To late now."

He gets his other arm free, and starts to try and get his legs free with the help from the others.971

[Deleted]

As soon as Hunter showed up, Sarn came up with a plan, speaking quickly. Hunter tried to keep up.
"Which means we not only need to freeze the smoke,"
Hunter tried not to let his expression show his thoughts. Freeze smoke? He thought, Is that even possible?
"Uh, Sarn, I've never tried working with anything other than water particles. I suppose it's possible, but depending on the freezing point of whatever is in that, I may quite literally explode trying that. I'll give it my best shot, but I can't guarantee much."
Omni then explained her plan, then went to act on it. Hunter ran outside and began the insane task of trying to freeze smoke.

[Deleted]

((Having forgotten to answer a prior question, I shall attempt to do so now. The Star Dance is music that only an enchanter can hear. Likewise, any enchantment that Sarn sings isn't able to be heard by anyone unless they have the ability to hear the Star Dance. It is, however, common knowledge that said music is the source for Sarn's power. That is why the pirates had no idea that Sarn conned them, being unable to hear his enchantment and all.))

Sarn glanced at Hunter and the rhino. "You'd better start that distraction, rhino-man. And Hunter, if you can freeze that smoke..."

He turned back to the window, leaped out and unfurled his wings. He let himself rise on an updraft until he was level with the roof of the manor and began to circle slowly, focusing on what he had to do. He ignored everything else, all the shouts and noises and the chanting of the men. He ignored the feel of flight and of the wind against his wings.

Sarn knew that he wouldn't be able to control his flight when he got close to the ground, his wings were too large to be of any help, so he would have to line himself up perfectly. He would have one shot and one shot only if this was going to work.

Reaching behind his shoulder, Satn took hold of one arrow. It was fletched like the others, with his own feathers, and he gripped the shaft firmly in his hand, visualizing what he had to do and waiting for the distraction that would allow him to do it.

Singing softly to himself, he enchanted the arrow with strength and cast a protective enchantment over all his friends and then he circled and waited.

[Vyt: Down, but Not Out]

((You should at least have inferred that Vincent does not care if he's draining out more than what he needs. Typical villain thing, yanno?))

Dragus' warning was indeed too late for everyone to hear, including Vincent. The man glanced at the bombs fast approaching towards him, but at such relatively slow speed. The contents of his sack immediately recognized the impending boom, and began to hum its ominous tune once more.

This time, it was very loud and clear, sending chills towards those too weak to take it, and even more to those who had already taken contact with the sack.

Namely Vyt.

"WaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Vyt's soul snapped back in the cage, as his body took control once more. Sensing that the sack was in danger, he jumped off and over those watching and delivered a swift kick that sent the bombs downward, back towards Draco.

All even with the temporary loss of his sight. It was obvious that the sense of hearing was the one that led him to his targets.

The catboy dropped down to the ground, once more struggling to return its soul to its proper place, while Vincent continued chanting out the words that escalated the black smoke up until the top of the Manor. It finally consumed the Manor wholly, which meant only a few more seconds for Vincent to hold on.

Below him, Vyt continued to break free of the sack's spell, but as long as the soul could not do so, the body immediately picked up the locations of those who dared attack the sack. With his claws unsheathed, he began to charge towards the preoccupied Hunter.

[Draco]

Draco watches as his own bombs are coming back towards him. He quickly takes out several kunai and throw them at the bombs hoping to detonate them or knock them away. However, he missed, and the kunai only fly past Vincent.

"Oh poo."

---

Dragus slows down when he reaches the battle, unsure what to do now that he is there.

[Enn]

"Distraction. Got it." Nick's eyes were filled what looked like childish mischief, rather than the proper mindframe for a war zone, but he had a few good ideas. With a last glance at the mysterious figures he was racing away, taken back when Omni vanished before his eyes but shrugging it off- as he ploughed down the broad corridors of the Manor he grabbed anything he could from the walls, quickly accumulating armfuls of vases and small paintings.

By the time he'd gotten to the ground floor blackness had completely consumed the Manor. The front door was way down this corridor, and Nick was having none of that- glancing around to make sure nobody was watching his vandalism, his bare feet changed once more, and it was a half-kangaroo, half-rhino creature that exploded out of a downstairs window, bursting through the smoke coughing and spluttering. His pile of accumulated junk landed at his long feet, and even before his lower half had changed back to normal he was flinging pottery and various frames into the air- aiming some at the floating figure a little way away, some into the dark smoke to make it flicker and shift momentarily. He even aimed one large pot at what appeared to be tiny bombs tumbling through the air, until he reconsidered- explosions were not only pretty, they were very distracting.

All the while he started yelling, at the top of his voice, the first things that came to mind- it wasn't exactly Shakespeare, but he was loud as he roared "Hey, hey, look at me, I'm over here, I have vases and an angry tone!" As he continued his loud rant he tossed a particularly ugly vase into the air and tugged his staff from his back, swinging it like a baseball bat; it was not a whole piece of pottery but thousands of tiny chunks that were sent hurtling into the dark smoke around the Manor, and towards the floating figure a way away.

(Again, if I have any geography or anything wrong tell me :3)

[Shoichi Kobayashi]

Leaping through the air towards Vincent, Shoi swung his kamas in a wide arc... which passed right through the column of black smoke that stood where Vincent had been only a moment before. Landing on the ground, Shoi looked up after his prey - and then was knocked flat by the black tentacle that Esme had thrown at him. A moment later Draco's first set of bombs arrived, and exploded with a huge bang.

As the grey smoke roiled, swirling around and about the thicker black smoke column, Shoi tossed the tentacle to a side and sprang back to his feet. His garb was torn and bore a large hole in the left side from where the explosion had hit him... as did he himself. The gash in his side was, however, quickly filling up with more of the silvery substance that comprised the rest of his body.

Noticing that Vincent was outside of his reach, Shoi turned to Vyt, and then to Draco. Realizing that Draco was quickly being drained - and dying from it - Shoi raised his hands, crossed them, and then punched both of his open-palmed hands out towards Draco. He then slammed his palms together, causing them to be covered in a brief flicker of silver essence. With a flash of silver light, Draco was instantly encased, at skin-level, in a semi-translucent shield that covered him completely. Dropping to one knee, Shoi then tore his palms apart, flinging them powerfully out towards his sides, and the shield around Draco engulfed the tentacles, turning them silver and disintegrating them as they did so.

Still on one knee, Shoi looked up, eyeing Vyt closely.

[Cyborg]

Cyborg grabbed a tranquilizer dart, loaded into his crossbow, and fired at Vyt's neck. In hopes to cease his attacks. Cyborg then concentrated, and made a rock pillar rise with himself on it. Once he was at Vincent's level, he stated. " Cease the attacks, and hand over the object, and no further force will be needed."

Rose and Midknight continued slicing the tendrils. " I suggest no more attacks, it seemes to make things worse. If need be I'll surround him in the shadows, and try to prevent him from attacking, or what ever else he may plan."

Rayce saw his powder work at first, until the sack was threatened, and Vyt ran off. He needed to stop Vyt, and he had an idea how to do that. Rayce grabbed five throwing needles, and threw them. Two at Vyt`s ankles, two at his wrists, and one at his upper back.

[Vyt: Down, but Not Out]

Amidst the growing black smoke, the sack that Vincent held shone brightly with a radiant red glow. It sensed once more that the holder was in danger, and this time it was from three different sources at once. It emitted the same forbidding hum again as the sack began to blow out red smoke surrounding Vincent. Without him even making any move at all, the red smoke started to solidify around the man.

The plan only partially worked. Some of the shards from the vase went through, cutting paths through his mantle. Vincent grimaced from the sharp pain, but seemed to shrug it off moments later.

Vincent was later faced with a cyborg-looking tiger, who had somehow found a way to level the height. After he was threatened, the man laughed whilst rubbing the thin line of blood that formed from his cheek. "SILLY CREATURE. MY WORK HERE IS ALREADY DONE," he waved his hand before continuing. "THIS PLACE IS NO LONGER USEFUL FOR MY PURPOSE."

The black smoke that enveloped around the Manor retreated back to the sack, albeit a part of it still circling on Vincent and his men. It left a very peculiar-looking place without any sign of aura at all. The once marvelous place that was Mage Manor had been diminished to just an ordinary building.

"I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO DRAINING OUT YOUR ENERGY, HOWEVER. THAT'S WHY I WILL BE MEETING YOU BY CASTLE KESTREL," he boastfully let out as the smoke then grew up to his neck. Little did anyone know it had been transformed into portals that led to the different parts of the NTWF.

Meanwhile, Vyt had been pierced by different objects meant to subdue him. The dozing effect from the tranquilizer dart did wonders to stop his body from confusing friend (or neutrals) for foe. The catboy collapsed towards one of the men, pushing the smoke into vanishing as they fell together towards the ground.

Grunting could be heard from the very man Vyt fell on. He was beginning to have his real consciousness back.