2453/TZ: Battle Under The Mountain

TZ: Battle Under The Mountain
Date of Scene:	14 June 2015
Location:	Caverns of Prophecy (CP)
Synopsis:	Sarah Rogers (with mercenaries Rocket and Groot) lead an assault on the Confederacy held Caverns of Prophecy target zone defended by Gaius Van Baelsar and his legion. It was a close battle but the day was won for the Union by Rocket!
Cast of Characters:	522, 781, 796

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Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Caverns of Prophecy have been under the Confederates control for some time. On a switch of patrols some of the XIV Legion has decided to lend a hand in keeping the area safe, but they are on edge given who is also present among them...

Their leader, their Legatus, Gaius Van Baelsar.

The dark armored figure with crimson red leather-like cloth walks among the lower part of the mountain. He watches over the entrance to the Mountain leading up to high Caverns above, knowing going up so high is a dangerous journey even for an Elite. While he in the past has had many battles above and within-- they are never his choice of conflict as it places a great deal of stress on the Magitek.

As he walks the path with casual, calm steps his void-lens eyes are ever watchful of what could be present, yet he is a mortal man under all that armor. The right timed strike could catch him off guard or grabbing his general attention could also work. As any trained eye will see, he is the largest threat here today at the Caverns of Prophecy for those wanting to take it for Union control.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
As Sarah's been learning more about the state of the Union and it's place in the Multiverse, she's felt an increasing itch to do something useful to help. Having received a tip that The Caverns of Prophecy might not be very well guarded at the moment. Also that Racoon-like being, (Don't call him a Racoon!) She met in last night's expedition has been gushing over some toy he found in the Armory. She suggested a place he could test it out, and offered a few credits from her cut of the profits as motivation to come along.

She's got her small party hunched behind a rocky outcroppinng, with Groot doing an amazing impression of a perfectly normal tree. "There, That guy looks like the only guard, I'll knock him off his feet, Then you guys do your thing!"

With that she steps out from behind her hiding place and hurls Mjolnir at Gaius's feet.

Rocket (781) has posed:
Rocket was happy to take Sarah's offer of a job and of course brought along a small arsenal -- a grenade launcher, a new EM blaster rifle picked up the night before, his favored 'canon' and a couple of pistols just in case. He and Groot also both are wearing bandoleers of high tech grenades to use (or in a few cases, perform first time field tests with) that can either be thrown by hand or fired from the launcher.

While they wait for Sarah to call the attack Groot focuses his attention on the Legions while Rocket splits his between that and confirming everything he brought with him is in 'just' the right position. He then cocks the grenade launcher as Sarah speaks, reading a sonic grenade for firing even as Groot prepares another for throwing.

After Sarah throws her hammer at the nearby guard Groot throws his grenade with enough force for it to travel deep into the ranks of the XIV Legion and Rocket fires off his laungher aiming into the same mass at a closer -- but safe for him -- distance.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Mjolnir impacts the ground at Gaius' feet. The explosion of the impact knocking him off his feet as it catches him off guard. His metal armored body slams into a rocky cropping and he lands onto the ground in a three prong crouch. His gaze looking to the woman whom the hammer belongs too.

Gaius shoves off the ground in a rotation before landing back on his feet with the Heirsbane coming in his grasp. He spins himself around to point the blade's edge down toward Sarah, before pulling the trigger on the Gunblade. With a flicker of blue from the barrel of the weapon three bullets blast out of for her.

The Legion themselves are easily knocked aside, but when Rocket aims his grenade launcher, Gaius can only snap his attention around in time to see the burst. He activates his Magitek Protect Shield just in time to protect himself from most of the force, but the explosive impact cracks, then shatters the the Magitek field like glass of wisps exploding out around the Legatus.

His left hand then aims a Rocket before there was a blast of blue Ceruleum from the Gauntlet launcher. each plasma shell races for the Racoon and goes to explode on impact with a blue bloom of fire.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah plants her shield in the ground, and crouches behind it as she senses the incoming fire. It's a bit more than she expected, and vibranium can only absorb so much energy before it's forced to release it. She's flung backwards as her shield rings like a bell, leaving cracks in the ground and dribble of blood coming from somewhere underneath the girl's hair.

Since she was launched into the air, she elects to stay there. calling Mjolnir back to her hand and then whirling it around with a metallic hum and she charges it up for a proper attack. When she launches it this time, she's aiming for that black gem in Gaius' chest.

Rocket (781) has posed:
As the plasma shots arc towards Rocket and Groot, Groot intervenes to take the majority of the hit -- leaving scorch marks on his bark -- but the spill over gets to Rocket. "Aargh!" Rocket calls out as the plasma dances across his body momentarially.

Rocket 'drops' the launcher, allowing it to fall at his side on its sling, and brings forth the new EM blaster while stepping out from behind Groot.

Taking only a moment to aim, Rocket squeezes out a shot directly at Gaius.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius steps around as he watches the strange woman decide to stay in the air. "Hm." At last he vocalizes something with a perhaps hint of intrigue. Yet she does not stay on the interest for long as he is quickly back in the focus of the battle.

Once Sarah unleashes the hammer toward him, he uses the Hiersbane blade to deflect it away. The force though does cause a bit of a jarring effect which almost off foots his balance. The Legatus then levels a few plasma shots in her direction, but this leaves him open to Rocket who's own bust shots slam across his backside.

The impact sports scorch the metal, but also causes the Legatus to loon in his direction. There was a low rumble from the Legatus as there was then a blue line dragged around from his left Gauntlet as he went to face them, before firing a shot into that Ceruleum line.

Once the bullet impacts the line, it suddenly blasts forward with the speed of the bullet, cutting and exploding against everything in its wake.

"I do not know whom you both are, but you have chosen your own fate by attacking here." The Legatus warns to them both. "Turn away now and I may take mercy upon this transgression."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah easily dodges most of the plasma bolts by merely zig-zaging in the air, then she gets cocky and pauses to stick her tongue out at Gaius as the last one catches her in the thigh.

"Ow! Watch where you're pointing that thing! I dunno who you are either but we kind of need this place back. It's nothing personal!" She sounds a little annoyed as Gaius's tone suggests she's supposed to know who he is.

She's calling the hammer back to her hand as she retorts the taunt, and starts spinning it up until it's crackling with lightning this time. She watches Gaius' movements, taking the battle more seriously now and waiting for the right moment to fling the hammer again.

Rocket (781) has posed:
Having lept in front of Groot, Rocket takes the brunt of the wave blade and is knocked back into his friend's shin. Seeing a trickle of blood at the corner of Rocket's mouth sends Groot into a rage and -- after a subtle indication from Rocket that he'll be ok for now -- he steps over and past Rocket and starts attacking invidual Legionairs. His general tactic seems to be to snatch them from the ground by their heads and shake them before tossing them aside!

Taking a moment to recover from the latest attack, Rocket mutters "You show'em big guy" in Groots direction and then, while twisting a dial on the EM rifle to increase its inensity, he leaps up on top of a nearby rock and fires a burst of beams at Gaius. "I'll retreat when I'm good and ready to, not when a puffed up robot-wanna-be tells me to!" he screams while his face is lit from the glow of the repeated bolts of blaster fire.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Legatus doesn't really reply back to the woman, as this was war. There was no reply needed to be given. The hammer though is thrown and he attempts to deflect it away again. This was /not/ a wise idea this time as the force was far greater and the electrical surge races over the metallic form of the armor.

While the Cermet is not a great conductor, it still wrecks havoc on him and the force of the hammer knocks him back several feet, causing him to lose his balance and roll along the ground. Slowly the Legatus picks himself up and looks to her. His hand spins the blade. "As you wish." He says calmly to them both. When Rocket opens fire, he spins around and uses the Gunblade to deflect several of the shots, before returning fire with an ammo switch on his next step in rotation that explode on impact.

He then turns his attention back to Sarah and races for her with far greater speed then someone with armor on should be able too. With a leap he impacts a rock, before following it up on another ledge to get some distance. He comes in on Sarah quickly in the air, before coming to impact her with his metal fist. Hoping to knock her down on the ground.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah tries to get some more altitude when she sees Gaius leaping up towards her, but he's *much* faster than she was expecting and gets a metal gauntlet hard to the face, succeeding in plowing her into the ground. She brings her shield up protectively, But she's dazed and disoriented and can only hope she's got it facing the right way.

She starts calculate her situation as she to staggers back to her feet. There are no lives at stake here beyond her own, Rocket and Groot's. It wouldn't be a terrible loss if they had to retreat, but her head's starting to clear and she still feels like she's got fight left in her. On top of that She's got Gaius in melee range now.

She swings Mjolnir at him, and follows that up with a close range shield bash. Both attacks are aimed at the same side of his body, even if they don't do much damage, she's hoping she'll get Gaius's back to Rocket and keep his attention focuses on her.

Rocket (781) has posed:
Rocket doesn't flinch as the shot fired at him misses him, hitting the rock he is standing on. Splinters of the rock go semi-balistic and hit him in the exposed arms and leg, leaving bloody streaks behind. Part of why he didn't flinch is because he was looking at the gun trying to figure out what happened. "Darn it, turned it /down/ instead of up!" he exclaims as he corrects his mistake.

"Lets try this again, sucker!" he yells as he opens up another blast of blaster fire at the Imperial Legatus.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Gaius goes to block Sarah's attack with a painful grunt, as her shield and hammer impact his arms which cracks the metal-- perhaps cracking more then that inside. This leaves him open for Rocket's shots to impact him on the backside, which scorch the metal and he almost kneels; Almost.

With a low rumble of disgust for this situation, he ignores all pain in his arms and then goes to flip himself away from Sarah, before swings his sword around for downward cleaving slash. Then with a step around there was a click from his gauntlet as the spheres change inside.

With a blue glow from his Gauntlet there was a flicker of blue before a heavy blast is sent out from there and it was easy to tell by the recoil and how he acts just a smidge-- that was a bit painful.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah's getting tired, She's trying not to show it, but as she swings her shield around to block the Legatus's sword she succeeds only keeping the bade from plunging into her neck, which might have been fatal, to slicing her hard in the side. She grits her teeth and refuses to cry out. And hey, the pain's spread around a little more evenly now. That's a plus right?

"Oh no.. you're not getting away that easy." She sneers, spinning the hammer up again until it arcs lighting. She hurls it again, but hangs onto the strap and plows towards Gaius. Mjolnir in one hand and the Star Shield in the other.

Rocket (781) has posed:
Rocket's feeling the pain of the injuries. While not a single one is a major wound they are beginning to add up. The tip of his gun lowers briefly as he ponders a retreat and then Sarah shows signs of actually being dedicated to this fight. Up comes the gun and out comes a plan.

Meenwhile, Groot has been continuing to work his way though the legion. However, he pauses in his efforts to toss a fragmentation grenade in Gaius' direction when Rocket yells, "Now!". At this same moment, Rocket he opens fire at the armored Confederate with the EM Blaster Rifle.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
Sarah Rogers slams into the Legatus with enough force it sends him back, tumbling head over heels, rolling over on his side, before he manages to flip back up on his feet as he continues to slide back even then as his metal boots plant themselves against the ground. "You are an impressive warrior." The Garlean says calmly, hiding the pain he was in. "I commend you."

He flourish the Heirsbane once more. "For this battle will be one I shall remember."

The Legatus goes to charge in for Sarah again, perhaps starting to show his fatigue in the battle. Forgetting of the threat of the Racoon, which was a poor mistake. It is only when he spots the frag grenade and then hears the now does he realize the trouble.

The frag grenade explodes and the Legatus jumps into the air. Rocket aims his shot well, but the Gaius was quick to control his armored form while up there to where the blast skims past his arm, burning apart the kevlar weave.

Gaius then lands back down on his feet sliding back a bit. His gauntlet powers up the Ceruleum charge, he creates a blue line once, but this time twice before making an X pattern. "My name is Gaius Van Baelsar." He aims into the glowing X held their by the energy in its creation. "And you both have done well, but I do believe this is where it ends for one us..."

With a shot into the X, it blasts forward, racing across the gap between both, becoming almost like a piercing round of Ceruleum that not only scorches what it goes by, but on solid impact explodes.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah's sent hurling back by the blast. The Shield is probably the only reason she's still alive. But the look in her eyes shows that the worst injury of all is the one to her Ego. She slides backwards across the cavern, rolling over a few times, then yelping in pain as she tries to get up, "Rocket.. we're pulling out." She gasps, pulling herself up to face Gaius one last time. She's got one trick left, but it's more to cover their retreat than an attempt to finish Gaius off. She slams Mjolnir hard against her shield, the reaction causing a shockwave to erupt The looser rocks and debris in the area come tumbling down. If one doesn't pay attention they're likely to get a pile of stone on top of them.

Rocket (781) has posed:
When Sarah calls a retreat Groot immediately begins to do so, moving back toward's Rocket's position while brushing advancing soldiers away with idle sweeps of his lengthening arms. "I am Groot!" ((Rocket, I am returning to you!)), he beellows.

Rocket on the other hand, seems to have other ideas, grunting in pain as he returns to his feet he yells out, "Don't come back with any unspent grenades!" at Groot and begins to level his EM blaster in Gaius' direction again.

Groot gets the point and activates every grenade on his bandoleer at once with a special button rigged for this by Rocket and throws the whole belt at their opponent and then turns and breaks into a run towards his friend who, as the spinning belt descends towards Gaius' position, opens fire one last time with his rifle.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Shockwave and combination of grenades, along with EM shots force the Garlean to activate his defenses again. The force of the shockwave did shove him against the side of the mountain, then explosives going off, along with the shots build a massive dust cloud around him.

When everything settles it was hard to say if they had one or lost. It is only when the dust settles down is the Legatus still standing there. Parts of his armor missing, cuts across his body with blood trickling down his arm, yet--- that man was still standing.

The void lens in the left eye had been shattered, showing the stare down with his gold eye toward them. He should fall over. He should retreat, but Garleans--- Garleans do not ever retreat and they never surrender -- unless forced the brink of no other option. For failure-- failure was something Gaius Van Baelsar could not abide by.

His hand tightens on the Heirsbane before he starts to walk out from the dust. His weapon rises as he gaze darkens with pure predatory stare like a hungry wold. His index finger comes to rest on the trigger and fires off Ceruleum shots crossing between the two, before following it around with a spin step of them blasting his Ceruleum charged shots at them both.

He was ragged--- but he was still going...

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah limps towards the exit. Something's already broken that makes even flying painful, and she really wishes she knew what it was. and then those bolts come flying her way. She manages to deflect most of them with her Shield. but one nails her in the thigh again, the same one she left exposed back when she was treating this like a game.

She crumples to the floor. too exhausted even to cry out, and continues to crawl towards the exit. She's a little annoyed with Rocket. She considers herself the leader after all. but She didn't really expect him to be great at following orders either.

Sarah manages to drag herself outside the cave and slump up against the rock wall near the exit. She hopes that damn racoon will listen and follow her out. At least Groot has a good head on his shoulders.. branches. Whatever.

Rocket (781) has posed:
While Groot is retreating and closing on Rocket's position, he also knows better than to get in Rocket's way when he is pointing a weapon down range at any sort of target. "I am Groot?!" ((Sarah ordered a retreat, what are you doing?!)) he bellows at his friend anyway.

Rocket pays no mind to the orders from Crusader. Nor does he bother acknowledging Groot's repitition of them. Instead, hoping that the legion will take their leader and depart if he can just make the man fall down, he yells "Eat hot plasma Mr. Van Baelsar!" as he opens fire one last time -- ready to drop behind the rock and haul tail (literally!) if this gambit fails.

Gaius Van Baelsar (522) has posed:
The Garlean pushes himself one more time and charges at Rocket, he goes to avoid the shot, but it hits him just right that it impacts one of the exposed lines. Blue Ceruleum sprays out from the line and Gaius' static HUD goes haywire with warnings.

He ends up teleporting directly past Rocket, which all the raccoon will see; along with Groot; is a blue flame of a flash in front of them. It wouldn't be long till what remains of the Legion also start to pull out. Looks like Union had won the day, even by the skin of their teeth.

Perhaps the way Rocket maybe likes it? However such victory for them and the hang of defeat for the Garlean Leader only means that Gaius Van Baelsar knows he will have to take more action again. Union will pay...

Rocket (781) has posed:
As the Confed forces retreat, Rocket and Groot stroll out to Sarah. "So, I won the day for you. You promised us a paycheck, right?" Other than the scorch marks, Groot seems relatively uninjured -- just scorched in a few places and some new notches in his bark which are already showing signs of closing. On the other hand, Rocket is doing a real good job to hide the level of pain he is feeling -- not totally successfully but he is managing to seem mostly nonchalant.

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah speaks into her comlink, sounding completely exhausted. "This is Sarah Rogers requesting reinforcements to hold The Caverns of Prophecy. A medical evac is required as well. One Human, One Colossal Arborform, One Raccoon. All need medical attention." She puts an odd twist on the word Racoon. kind of sarcastic, kind of proud. She knows Rocket hates it, but he disobeyed orders.. and won the day. "I'm proud of you soldier." She says in an imitation of her father, "And yeah.. the check's in the mail." She smirks faintly.

Rocket (781) has posed:
Groot begins producing bandages from his own bark and starts to apply them to Rocket to cover his wounds. One side of these dressings is covered by a goopy sap that smells slightly fruity while it is exposed to the air. "I am Groot?" ((May I help you too, Sarah?)) he asks her.

Remembering from last night that Sarah can understand Groot, Rocket simply leans back against his friend's leg and says, "Somewhere along the way he learned to make a fruity aniseptic material. Never could get him to tell me where he picked up that trick."

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Shearah looks eagerly back at Groot and starts to nod, then realizes that hurts too. "Please do!" She winces, "Hey. Aspirin is basically Willow Bark right? Can you cook something like that up? Maybe a few dozen times stronger?" She lays back and lets Groot do what he can. and It's not too much longer before Union ships start emerging from the nearby warpgate to dispense troops and much needed medical personnel

Sarah Rogers (796) has posed:
Sarah looks eagerly back at Groot and starts to nod, then realizes that hurts too. "Please do!" She winces, "Hey. Aspirin is basically Willow Bark right? Can you cook something like that up? Maybe a few dozen times stronger?" She lays back and lets Groot do what he can. and It's not too much longer before Union ships start emerging from the nearby warpgate to dispense troops and much needed medical personnel