1716/Hatchets

Hatchets
Date of Scene:	03 March 2015
Location:	Summer
Synopsis:	A distress call is sent out! Lumber workers are being attacked in Summer!
Cast of Characters:	Crys Gattz, 560, 617, 726

---

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Peaceful forest. Summer trees swaying. Cheerful workers, cheerfully working.

    Cut, cut, cut the lumber.

    On a warm summer's day.

    Quiet forest. Small shadows moving. Frightened workers, frightfully working.

    Cut, cut, cut the lumber.

    On a warm summer's eve.

    Silent forest. Dark shapes leaping. Silent workers, lying still.

    Cut, cut, cut the workers.

    On a warm summer's night.

    Cut, cut, cut.

    Cut, cut, cut.

    ----------

    The call for aid went out awhile ago. A messenger on horseback. It took time for him to reach the nearest town with a radio.

    Help has been asked for.

    Whiteriver Logging Camp might be in danger!

    The messenger has no idea what happened after he left, but he knows he was chased.

    Chased by small, hunched people (or maybe creatures), with gleaming knives, who dashed and leapt and tried to cut him.

    They eventually stopped chasing.

    But the messenger is not going back into those dark woods this night.

    It is up to others to investigate.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Based on the message, Shirou doesn't have high hopes for the people of this logging camp. Strange, knife-bearing monsters that dwell in night and shadow? What loggers would stand a chance?

    For that matter, what chance should he stand?

    He SHOULD be thinking about that latter part but like always, he's not. NO, instead he's riding a noisy motorcycle down the forest path! He's not the best rider around and it's an old motorcycle he might've been tinkering with in spare time, but it works right?

    It's also pretty noisy and smelly, and the ride's a little bumpy, but just imagine RUNNING this kind of distance!

    "There just might be people stuck there who need rescue...!"

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz did get the call for help, and the help was on the way, Crys would not hold it against the man who escaped he was tempting fate with that. So here she was heading in right after Shirou and she nods to him as she's riding her own hover cycle alogn side his. "Yes given what the lumberjack said it's going to be pretty messy so keep alert kid."

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
"Hey big brother, whatcha doin'?"

From like out of completely nowhere, as usual, Chloe von Einzbern just APPEARS. And as usual, a little way too close to Shirou's side for comfort. She still hasn't explained the precise thaumaturgy behind this apparent complete teleportation. And she doesn't seem likely to, just to mess with Shirou's head.

If anything, she probably didn't pay a lick of attention to anything about the danger, the call for help, or the locals and their knife-wielding problems.

The small, dark-skinned girl, is clearly following for the sake of harassing Shirou.

As usual.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    The logging road is made of dirt, and thus not exactly smooth and even for motorcycling. But it is at least mostly clear of obstacles. No surprise boulders or spike-traps, or similar.

    This logging road is meant for wagons and horses, not vehicles. It's not a modern-tech operation. So it is good that hovercycles and motorcycles are being used, since that means they have room to maneuver.

    But as the dark trees zoom by on either side, anyone who is paying attention might, just for a moment think they catch a hint of a silhouette with gleaming eyes starting at them from the side of the road. It's passed by in a flash, thanks the speed being travelled at. And maybe it was nothing.

    Whiteriver Logging Camp is supposed to be up ahead. There's no street lights out here, no torches, so only the light these three bring with them is available.

    And only that will let them see something on the road ahead of them as it seems to loom up out of the darkness. It is small, colorful, and immobile. Too small to be a person. Shaped wrong to be an animal. If they don't stop for it, they may just run over it or by it.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz is keeping pace with the others but she pauses at Chole, where the heck did that kid just come from. Crys while hse has been trained by a certain smut loving masked Ninja long ago still doesn't always expect ninja antics like this . She does look at the dark skin girl for a moment but she keeos moving thankfully her hover bike is able to navidate the road as they near the logging camp she does star tot slow down, just what was that thing she spotted with her one eye. "Hey there's something there!"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "U-uoah!" Shirou's bike hits a few bumps and swerves wildly as Chloe nearly scares the pants off of him. But he somehow maintains control nd shouts, "Don't scare me like that, Chloe!" they could've hit a tree!

    Maybe.

    But the freakout immedaitely shifts to worry as he drives up nearer the camp. But he hits the brakes without warning and comes to a grinding halt with the bike's lone headlight shining down at the... whatever it is... the moment he sees it.

    "And this place is dangerous. We're investigating a monster report!"

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
"Eheh hehhh~."

Chloe's mission is complete, as she gets good and settled on the back of Shirou's bike, arms around his waist, she rides in style.

With NO helmet.

Despite her blatant disregard for safety, when Shirou comes to a halt, she looks pretty pleased, after hitching that sudden and impromptu ride, hopping off and planting her hands on her hips. "A monster report, huh?" Mused thoughtfully before her lips tug into a teasy leer, "Ooohoooo I get it." She's already looking between Shirou and Crys. "Big brother riding off into the dark and woods alone to meet a mysterious elf-looking chick with an eye patch... I'm interrupting your daaaate aren't I big brother?" She croons, already kneeling down to inspect the thing on the ground.

"Hey did either of you lose this?" Chloe asks, holding the arm by the severed end and waggling it at Shirou. She's already dicking around and using it to wave at him and Crys. "Hiiiiii~."

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    There's movement in the branches overhead. A chittering, chattering rush of voices, like a mix of human and insect. There's a few moments to realize they are not alone, and then several short green people-monsters leap down at the trio from above. They are almost goblin-like, but they have strange antennae growing from their foreheads, hunched backs, and each carries an axe or knife.

    They also seem hostile based upon how they bound towards the heroes, trying to stab or slash them with each downwards plunge.

    Chances are that these are the things that attacked the lumberjacks, and the reason for the severed arm.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz does take notice of the thing being an arm she pauses for a moment and isn't sure what to make of it other than it's likely one of the lumber jacks. She's forced to get off her biek to manouver as she hits the ground she launches several fire balls while yelling.

"FOIE!"

Oh look fire, a good deal of fire hopefully that will do something, on the other hand, however her bike goes spinning off at this point, for a moment before the auto pilot cuts it out and it crashes into the ground.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "Don't be silly. I don't have a girlf--" Shirou was just in the mood to humor Chloe's teasing but that quickly drains away when she starts waving around a severed arm. He stares. Glances over at Crys.

    And then ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE! "What the heck is this?!" The redheaded teen hits the deck, rolling away from the Flea Man who comes swooping down at him with surprisingly good coordination. All that training with Bedivere's paying off!

    And he delivers a quick KICK to knock the creature back before flipping up onto his feet again a bit clumsily.

    A movement style Chloe might be familiar with, seeing as it's a hundred times less polished than the one she's been drawing on... using but still the fundamentals are getting there...

    "...Trace, on!"

    His eyes close only briefly. In the span of no time at all he produces the twin swords with a flash of crackling prana.

    "The report was right...!"

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Chloe is STILL waving that severed arm a moment longer, even going so far as to set the cold dead hand on Shirou's shoulder. At least up until there's a rustle. In an instant, the dark-skinned child's demeanor shifts entirely. "Hoh..."

No sooner than the odd green little men come bounding out of the brush, the dead arm drops back to the dust and mud, and something silver flicks from Chloe's hands. And again, and again, and again.

It's a simple combat knife, sturdily made, sharp, keen-edged, and probably familiar to Shirou, as Chloe starts machine-gun throwing Emiya Kiritsugu's favorite knife.

"They got pretty close huh. I guess you're getting sloppy, big brother."

Yes she's teasing him.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    The fire seems to be effective as destroying the Flea Men, but they are also in the middle of the woods, so a forest fire is a real possibility. Shirou's kick catches the Flea Man attacking him in mid-leap, cracking its fragile ribcage with such force that it goes flying backwards, in a spray of blood! Actually...

    As Chloe's knives punch through each Flea Man, producing a similar result, it seems they may just physically dissolve into a mass of blood when they take damage. They make short leaps along the ground, mixing them in with high, arcing jumps, and or simply dashing to and fro. They can even seemingly change direction in mid-air to a degree, if they haven't committed to an attack. Whether they are going to do a short jump or a high one isn't evident until they actually do it too.

    All in all, they are really hard to pin down. But between three Elites, and there only being seven attackers or so, the ambush is ended shortly. And there are a number of dark puddles all over the ground where the attackers used to be.

    The logging camp is still ahead. Maybe these things were easy to kill, but a bunch of civilian non-combatants getting swarmed by a couple dozen of the agile little things could result in a total slaughter. They might be able to kill a few of the little beasts, but predicting their movement would be hard for most fighters in general! What lies ahead? There appears to be a cabin-like building to act as a central office, with places to tie off horses, but if any horses are still alive, they aren't here anymore.

    Bodies are scattered here and there, logs and partially-processed trees lie on wagons or waiting to be sawed apart. There's a river nearby, quietly flowing through the area.

    A couple of torches are still lit, but others appear to have been knocked over and extinguished.

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz sees that both Shirou and Chole are going at it too, she listens to the two siblings banter but she's got other things to focus on namely the hjorrible Flea men. She notices there's a lot of them. Still she's got other methods to take them out and the fire ball was cast on reflex. She changes step now as she rises up and calls out something else.

"BARTA!"

She's now trying to freeze the thigns solid from the looks of it but once they managed to get up. She now pulls a weapon from her photon trap, it seems to be a pistol of some sort and in her other hand a hilt of a sword takes shape, a moment later a blue blade snap hisses to live from the primary part, and an smaller onr from the guard.

"...these things would have been able to chew civilians keep alert but be ready to find no one left."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "... what's with these things? Yuck..." Apparently they're very weak, because Shirou's not that strong unless using his NOble Phantasms. A single kick? That was all?

    "These things move weirdly..." He mutters, only to shoot Chloe a huffy stubborn gaze. He's trying his best, sheesh!

    Finally he remembers the dark-skinned girl's name. "Crys... Crys, right? This is Chloe, I'm Shirou. Not sure if we've met!"

    But he tries to team up with her by the time they reach the logging camp... and finds bodies everywhere.

    By now he's brought out a flashlight but it doesn't feel like enough.

    "Use ice or something that won't cause a fire if more of 'em come out." He advises Crys... but his words are quiet and grim.

    There's bodies everywhere.

    Too late to save anyone, prboably... probably.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
"Hiiiii~." All things considered as the horrible little abominations of men and insect leap and bounce and even shift and jink in the air as Chloe seems to turn a slew of knifes into a veritable anti-air defense, she's pretty chipper when Shirou introduces her to his NOT GIRLFRIEND. "Nice to meet you, Shirou's NOT GIRLFRIEND."

See?

But once the attack dies down and the flea men are reduced to grody stains, Chloe changes clothes. It's an instantaneous action; a snap of her fingers replacing her school uniform with red cloaks and black segmented armor. "Well they were pretty nasty. There's probably more out there." She points out more seriously. As serious as Chloe von Einzbern can get anyway as she taps a corpse with her toe-- then kneels to prod and see how cold it is and how recently they died.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Ice seems about as effective as fire, or kicking, or knives. The knives seemed to practically go right through them, but whether that was because of Chloe's strength or some innate weakness is unclear. The body seems to have been cold for at least a couple hours. Probably since shortly after the messenger left the camp in search of help. He got out just in time. The cabin's door seems to be closed tight, and while the windows are broken, they have metal cross-bars that might have kept the creatures from crawling inside.

    While anyone outside is probably dead, it's possible there might still be someone inside.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    A quick look around the camp - combined with occasionally hurling his weapons at Flea Men and producing new ones - reveals what Shirou ws expecting. he's surprisingly calm around all of the dead bodies, showing only grimaces of disgust, anger, and regret. If he'd gotten here quicker... but that would be just plain impossible.

    No, all he can do is clean up the bad things so they don't kill anyone else. That's not his idea of being a hero...

    But it's got to be done.

    "I'm too late for too many..." But then he spots the windows... and rushes over to the Cabin to knock on the door. "Is anyone alive in there?!"

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
Chloe is still poking at the body when Shirou decides a more direct route to check on survivors.

"They'de have to be locked in pretty tight if they're still alive in there." She points out dryly. "Guess we can only hope, huh?"

Well at least Shirou has the decency to knock.

Crys Gattz has posed:
There are more of the monster and the ice seems to work better now she doesn't want to let htem get in close if she can help it. She'll fire off the odd shot from her photon pistol if it's warrented. She keeps with her comrades and she pauses at the buildings.

"There migth be surivours inside."

She looks about with her one eye and she stares as new ones form. She seems cold to the corpses and it's true. You can't do anything for the dead, worry about the living, was a lesson she learned on Ragol long ago.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    There does indeed appear to be someone in there, as evidence by a voice from the other side of the door warning Shirou, "G-go away! You gotta' get out of here! Those things are still running around out there! I'm not opening this door while there's still monsters on the loose!"

    Sinews produce a sound like high-tension wires straining almost as though to emphasize the danger. Right above, on top of the cabin, is something that looks like a more demonic version of the Flea Men, with sharp, cork-screw horns protruding back from the sides of its heads, a pair of hand-axes, and a black-scaled, sharp-toothed, clearly-inhuman appearance. It screeches, and then leaps, lunging at Chloe first. It is faster than the Flea Men from before, and (to make matters even worse) the sound of the Flea Men leaping and bounding can be heard from all directions as twelve... Twenty... Uhh...

    A lot of them are coming this way, at the call of the Death Reaper that leads them. They aren't here yet, but they move swiftly and cover a lot of ground. They'll be here soon.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
It's the new sound that gets Chloe glancing up. Though color her surprised that there's a survivor in the cottage, she has little time to try talking with them when something leaps down at her. "Awah!"

She does make for a good looking target doesn't she? The smallest of the group-- a little sinewy and probably not much meat on her, but an easy kill, right?

"--Trace On."

Wrong. Very wrong as she's tackled down, grunting in pain as an axe bites deep into her shoulder. In her other hand however a red light of framework forms, immediately flaring to reality in the shape of a white-bladed sword, gleaming with a soft, but angry, holy light, which she swipes at the thing's gut in a lightning snap. She'd worry about the Flea Men but she has bigger problems right now.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Well that's simple enough. Shirou grits his teeth, then answers, "Okay. Hold on, we'll deal with--"

    Then the unusual noise catches his attention. He looks up... and immediately leaps back to get back to back with Chloe, hurling Kanshou and Bakuya and immediately replacing them while the first set go spinning and whirling through the air for some of the Reapers!

    "Where are these bastards coming from?!"

Crys Gattz has posed:
She does see there's some people there.

"Well clear them out. You keep your self safe."

She doesn't force the door she moves to look about pondering for a moment she sees something and she looks up she raises her pistol and opens fire at one of the reapers whne she can get a clear shot, then she keeps on shooting knowing she needs to clear them out before they can get to close range, also this is going to call for some heavier melee weaponry at this rate.

Walter Bernhard (726) has posed:
    Chloe's strike deals significant damage to the Death Reaper, almost sawing it in half, though it seems to not be as fragile as the Flea Men. Even so, blood flies from its deep injury, and smoke trails it as it hops around in a blur, trying to keep itself mobile while looking for a second opportunity.

    Shirou's whirling blades take out some of the Flea Men who have just started to arrive, mowing through the ones who don't get out of the way in time, while others go scampering around trying to keep too low to the ground to get chopped in half or beheaded.

    Thankfully, because the Death Reaper is focused on Chloe, when Crys fires it catches it off-guard, right in the head. Then, much like its lesser brethren, it blasts apart into a wave of blood and splatters all over.

    With that, the Flea Men mostly seem to scatter, fleeing back into the woods. While parting shots on their retreating backs are possible, they appear to be retreating. The lumberjacks still inside the cabin may take some convincing in regard to the monsters being gone, but will eventually emerge and allow themselves to be gotten to safety.

    Was this just a random monster attack? Or was there a purpose behind it? Also, where did the monsters come from? Maybe referencing Union databases will given some answers as to what kind of monsters they were, and what might have caused them to attack people out in the middle of the woods.

Chloe von Einzbern (617) has posed:
It's over then? Chloe sits up with a grunt of pain and adrenaline when the Reaper isn't pinning her anymore. In a soft flare of red light her sword vanishes so she can clutch the wound and pout MASSIVELY at Shirou. "Geeze, sneaky bastard." She huffs as the Reaper is reduced to a bloody paste and the Flea Men decide to book it.

"Shirouuuuu... Carry me home~."

Crys Gattz has posed:
Crys Gattz sees that the creatures and she oes to take more of them out as she ca, she watche as they flee, she keeps shooting at them, she's aiming to take down as many as she can to prevent them being a problem so soon again she'll even chase them a bit, but eventually she'll pull back, there are surivors to help and dead to burry.