Scene #8770: Price of Progress: Dances With Wolves

Owner	Pose
Aidan Proudpick	Now listen. We Americans ain't the sharpest stick. You find gold, we wants it. You find ghost rock, we wants it. Money to get a train from the east to the west? We gonna push a man who ain't us to death to get it. It ain't right, I know. Them Inj-Sorry, bad old habit, forgive an old man. Them Native Americans are smarters than us. Always twer. Now, ya see, we knows about the warpgates. Heck, we know about the goings on out there. Old President Hayes, he found the warpgate first. Got some of the best medicine men and women in the country together, asked em to plug it up. See, the world out here ain't easy. It ain't just the heat. It's Them. They's always working up some mischief or another. If that mischief got out to the multiverse, well. Lot of people out there willing to take what they want, hang the rest. Local Chumash tribe in charge of keeping the Warpgate hidden, though, they got in a spot of trouble. Now, iffen you've seen a western, you might expect some leather skins on wooden poles, whacher call a Teepee. Nah, out here we got the Chumash, settled tribe that build a fine straw hut and fishes along the coast. Twas a time when they might be clad in soft leather, but trade fills in the gaps. Rifles always seem to be their preferred weapon, too. Fish rest on racks and seashells are worked into fishhooks. Some work, others play and converse. Iffen you ask me, they had it all figured out. Jeremiah Reading has provided enough horses for everyone, except for the two squirrels, who prefer to walk. "We don't really HAVE horses," Ash says, looking at one, grimacing, "Horse people. It's too weird." Oak looks at one, muttering something along the lines of, "Damn, no pants, huh?" The late afternoon sun hangs about in the sky like a drunkard who ain't too sure if he's gonna go get his work done or lie on the floor. Early spring means the heat ain't too bad. Unless you ain't from the West. Then it's a mite roasty for those east coast fellas. The California country side going up to the lake is right pretty. The weather here ain't like the rest of the west, dusty and tired, instead, the heat already in spring brings plants to life. Roaming hills and countryside are filled with green, trees already coming out of their winter rest to fill with start filling with green. A smattering of orange along the hills shows the poppies in full bloom. The light hits the lake just right. But something ain't right. Corona can see it. Madeleine can see it. Experience of those two gals in areas like these. Each tree casts a shadow too long. Each little overhang of rock, a little cave where something might hide, it's a bit too dark. A lone man, not a woman, as Jeremiah had said, sits atop a horse on a path to the lake. Armed with a gun across his back, and a bowie knife at his hip, he sits on a lovely brown and white dappled horse. A worn brown stetson sits on the head of the dark reddish skinned man. Whatever attire he may have is covered by a set of armor made out of reeds, ornamented with beads. He has the air of someone waiting.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is one of those "east coast fellas", or something close enough to that. A day's riding under the sun dressed all in black has her sweating up a storm by the time the stranger appears on the road ahead. She takes off her hat to fan herself briefly before greeting the man. "Nice knife," she says, placing a hand by the knife on her own belt. "You with the Chumash or are you here to cause trouble?" Best not to mention Special Services just yet.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite is more use to riding a steed of steel and chrome (that is to say, a motorcycle) but she manages well enough with keeping an actual horse on course. The heat and all that isn't going to phase her either, because its the environment she's grown up in, and that fennec are naturally adapted to. There's something else that feels that slight bit off. Something she can't put a finger on, but it's just enough to make the hairs of the nape of her neck stand on end. Then there's an unexpected man in their path. Unexpected in that they were supposedly to meet a woman of the locals. There are a lot of things rubbing Corona's suspicions the wrong way now. That said, she manages to keep her mannerism polite for now. "Ye look like ya been out here a while." And Madeleine essentially says the rest of what she's thinking when she questions why he is here. There's no mistaking that she's armed, but who in this world is going to think seeing the holsters at her hips as anything unusual. And they're not...It's the guns in them that might raise a few brows if she has to draw them though.
Odette Raskins	Odette's not a horse rider at heart. She likes animals, sure, and she likes eating them even more, but actually riding them does not come naturally to her. It's not for a lack of trying, either, but she definitely doesn't look like she knows what she's doing while she's hunched over and hanging onto a horse's back for dear life, practically latching onto it. She'll probably need someone to guide her horse there, too, even if it's fairly easy to follow the more seasoned/naturally talented riders. She also doesn't sound particularly enthused by the time she reaches the lone stranger with everyone else, surrounded by those shadows that don't quite match up right. Odette doesn't notice it, either, struggling as she is to not fall off her ride. "Are we there yet...?" She asks in a slightly dizzy tone, looking up slowly when the horse finally stops and gives her a clearer view of... Somebody else she doesn't recognize! As usually, Odette's dressed in her usual EMT uniform and has her usual giant bag draped over her neck and shoulder, but after being told to pretend like she's from China the last time... She completely forgot to look up how to be Chinese. At least nobody else should know the difference, so she can probably get away with trying to look it up a bit now while the others are speaking to the strange. Unlike Madeleine and Corona, though... Odette doesn't look armed at all aside from the size of her bag with the big medical cross on it. She hesitates briefly before waving politely at the figure, then slides over to the natives with her group while lowering her voice. "Is that one of your people? Or a... Contact?"
Sarracenia	Horses. They don't really have those in Pipeland. Still, the princess of the Sundew Kingdom is always up for a challenge and she has plenty of knowledge from hero stories. Surely it will be fine! And an outfit change! Sarra has donned proper cowboy frontier clothing...of a sort. She has on a black cowboy hat, though it has a golden tiara-like decoration complete with a red ruby to keep her royal station clear. Her hair is done up in a proper country braid. She wears a black button up shirt with a red leather vest over it, along with a red leather skirt and a set of black jeans. The red pieces of her outfit are embroided with gold thread to form a crown shape on the vest and a fire-like outline on the skirt. The outfit is completed with bright red cowboy boots with similar golden trim. And they might be a bit late getting started since she insists on applying sunscreen before they leave. She hops up on one of the horses, riding in proper cowboy form rather than sidesaddle or something silly like that. And judging by the expression on her face she isn't taking this too seriously. She's having fun! Her riding is questionable at best, but should be enough to get her where they're going. And of course, having no extra-ordinary senses she doesn't notice anything off about their route or their shadows. When they reach that reddish-skinned man she offers a tip of her hat and smiles confidently. "If you are our guide, I'm happy to meet you! If not...well, maybe you can still help us!" she says, following up what Maddie says.
Aidan Proudpick	"Nice knife." "Nice bow," the man says, nodding his head to it in return. "Ye look like ya been out here a while." "If you are our guide, I'm happy to meet you! If not...well, maybe you can still help us!" "Been waiting for a couple of people who don't look like normal people. People from the Multiverse. Elites, my mother calls em. I reckon you must be them." He looks towards the two squirrels, a look of unease across his face. "Is that one of your people? Or a... Contact?" Oak furrows his brow. "Is this a test?" He lifts his chin to shout towards the man, "I'm from Africa!" Ash rubs at the bridge of her muzzle, "Meat head. Thank the storms I came out of mother first." She takes on the very slight smile of a proper patient lady, nodding towards Odette. "No, Miss Raskins. We were pretending to be natives when we got here, so I understand your confusion. I'm not sure if there are animal people here or not." She levels at sigh at Oak, "Brother, he just mentioned the multiverse, do be quiet." "Yep. Name's Talawiyashwit. Local sheriff just calls me Tally, I figure that's easier for the rest of you. Son of Medicine Woman Kipomo. Student, maybe." He shrugs, "She's out. Something's crawling around in the Hunting Grounds, so you get me." He is a younger man. 23? And patient and at ease. Lackadasical you might call him. Sitting loosely in his saddle, stating each one like he was talking about the weather in a saloon. He looks at the lot of the women gathered. "They got about twenty men up in an old mine. We might be able to sneak up on them if we go real slow, it'll be night by then. If we charge fast, we should get there by dusk, but they are gonna notice." He shrugs his shoulders, "I was told to follow your lead."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"Well, obviously a night assault is the right approach. Catch them in an ambush! It'll be easy." The huntress pounds a gloved fist into her palm. "Holed up in a mine, yeah? Nowhere for them to run." She's out for blood, it seems, despite her preference for a subtler approach.
Aidan Proudpick	Tally shakes his head. "You still got the mining camp. Kind of a big place with walls." He hrmms, then leaps down out of his saddle. He draws a quick sketch on the ground. A square that butts up against a mountain with a few buildings, surrounded by walls.
Corona Arclite	Something's crawling around in the Hunting Grounds. "Somethin'... unnatural, Ah take it." Would explain the general feeling of something being off she's been having. And while both her curiousity and her paranoia are perked, that's not the matter they're here to attend to. Maybe they'll get to cross pathes with the medicine woman later on. Corona pauses a moment to reach up and grab her stetson and pull it off, letting her vulpine ears free of the confines. Then repositioning the hat between them as usual. This fellow knows they're Elites from the Multiverse and they won't really care about what the desperados think. Then leans over to watch as Tally scratches out a diagram in the dirt. "Up against the mine mountains. Only one way in and out to defend. The Molemen would approve." Idly she takes a flask from where it was tucked in her boot and uncaps it for a sip. "All the same, gettin' the drop on them at night would give us a chance to offset superior numbers. Iffen they have sentries in the camp, which they prolly do, it's a chance to drop 'em before the main gang down in the mine knows what's up."
Odette Raskins	"I see... Oh. R-right, I.. Hm. Don't know if I can really pull of the..." Odette trails off after her reply to Ash, nodding slowly and peering at her PDA for a moment longer before slipping it back onto her belt. "I don't even know where Chinese is supposed to be in this world... Well. I-it'll probably be fine." After saying that, more to reassure herself than Ash or anyone else, she looks up when she hears the stranger speaking and introducing himself as Talawiyashwit/Tally. "Oh! Um. H-hi! My name's Odette, EMT and Com... Chinese representative. Nice to meet you!" Good save. Looking a little more confident after that, she listens closely to his explanation of the situation, going a little pale once she hears how many people they're all expected to scare off. "T-twenty? Oh geez... Um. Yeah, what Madeleine said. If we get in at night, it should be easier to take them down." A beat, and then she unzips her bag quickly, withdrawing a handful of syringes and a corked bottle. "... Sedatives. Then nobody has to die, either, and they won't come back looking for blood."
Sarracenia	Sarra can't help a bit of a giggle at Oak when he shouts he's from Africa. She doesn't say anything other than that, though. She turns her attention back to Tally. "I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, but you may call me Sarra." The idea of a stealth approach and a surprise attack is offered. Sarra looks a bit nervous about that. "I...um...am not good at stealth. If it was not for the...special conditions on this world, I would just call in an airstrike and be done with it. A little blast into an abandoned building and they would surely scatter." she says. 'I don't even know where Chinese is supposed to be in this world...' Sarra looks over at Odette. "I am pretty sure it is Chine. The -ese is added to the end of countries to represent the people of that country." she says, seeming confident in her conclusion. She considers a moment. "If we are approaching at night I could give us flight powers. It would allow us to approach silently after night has fallen."
Aidan Proudpick	"Hard charge," Oak pushes one fist into the other. "Simple and straight forward. We are all strong, we can beat a couple of normal people in an instant. Who cares if they can see it. We've got a full squad here, we can probably ride in and just gut the rest." "I prefer the night," Ash sighs. "Ambush is my preferred method." She reaches back to tap the bow on her back. Without the sarape, one can see the thick cords of muscle on her forearms and arms, strong legs and broad chest muscles for an archer. Not as beefy as her brother, but certainly a trained warrior. Ah take it." He nods, continuing on with his efficient lazy drawl, "Manitous. Demons, you might call em. Spirits. Ghosts. Be careful thinking you know what to think here." He taps his head. "My mother's friend, Little Bear, always said that the smartest person knows that they know nothing." A right powerful woman, that Little Bear. "Oh! Um. H-hi! My name's Odette, EMT and Com... Chinese representative. Nice to meet you!" A squint at Odette. "Little Bear is Chinese." He shrugs his shoulders. "The agent told you to say that, I bet. Settlers can't imagine any person ain't white and worships their Jesus." But there's that lazy smile on his face. "If you go back to town, it ain't a bad idea." "If we are approaching at night I could give us flight powers. It would allow us to approach silently after night has fallen." That gets an eyebrow lift. "Your medicine is that strong? Let's go then." Horses make a lot of noise, even if city folk don't seem to think so. Ain't hard to pick up a horse from too far away. "No flying for us. We'll be better off trying to find a tree to settle in on and sneaking up." I ain't gonna tell you yer thoughts on flying, though I know I ain't gonna be able to just fly right the first time. As the light wanes, shadows draw deeper lines. Blacker silohuettes on the ground, the crooked fingers of branches and trees fall onto rocks. In the dim light of the moon, the mine building itself looks like a hollowed out face, a weather worn skull removed of life but still made to house the bandits. The makeshift walls of the mine are sturdy, but not enough to push back a real attack. Maybe stop a cougar. Inside the camp itself, close to the door, there's a very solid wagon. The bunk house is furtherest from the gate on one side, the mine entrance on the other. A storage shed lies between them. In the center, a campfire, guarded in turn by three men, with two women on the carriage. Oak and Ash immediately take up station in a nearby tree, waiting in position. An uneasy whisper rolls through the grass and trees, a scratching at the window.
Sarracenia	Despite Oak's push for a head on charge, even Sarracenia is going for the stealth flight. With the plan settled on, Sarracenia pulls out enough clouds for the party to all gain flight powers. Yes, clouds. She peers at the squirrels as they decline. "...trees do not usually walk. Are you able to teleport through trees or something?" She won't force them, but she hands then the power ups either way. If they want to save them or just leave them, she doesn't really care. The princess hops on her cloud and grins to Tally. "What do you think of this medicine?" she asks and takes off like it is a magic carpet. "Do not worry! They are easy to fly! Just lean in the direction you want to go!" she calls back to the others as she takes off. She keeps low to the ground for now, waiting until it is dark before she rises into the sky. "Follow me, and stay close. If they do happen to see us we should look like a normalish cloud. I have a plan for moving the wagon, so I'm counting on you guys to distract them." she says. She leads the way, and once they are over the camp...Sarracenia dives on her cloud right toward the wagon. She leaps once she is close enough, and as she is falling she throws a couple of bob-ombs at a section of wall away from the wagon. The resulting explosion is enough to light up the camp for a few moments. Sarra lands in front of the wagon, then pulls out a pair of Bullet Bills. She lashes them to the wagon quickly, pulls out her hammer and grins. "Giddy up!" she exclaims, then smacks them on the flat. The two shark-faced bullets rear up, then take off. Sarra leaps into the wagon seat with the reins and tries to steer the now Bullet Ponies toward the gate. She's sure going to need some cover though!
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the clouds - thank god, it's not that silly raccoon costume again. She ties her horse to a tree and mounts up on a cloud. They're easier to pilot than you'd think, at least when you have the turning speed figured out. After a few wiggles side to side Madeleine's cloud is zooming after Sarracenia's, but she breaks off just before crossing over the edge of the camp, circling around its perimeter. As Sarracenia launches her direct assault, Madeleine drops onto the roof of the bunkhouse, then jumps down from her cloud to land in front of the door. By the time the startled bandits in their underclothes are making it to the door to see what all the ruckus is about, she's got her spear ready in a reverse grip. "Going somewhere?" she asks, with a comically raised eyebrow and a smirk on her lips. Then she attacks, battering the ruffians with the butt end of her spear. Despite her eager attitude toward the ambush plan, she isn't drawing blood just yet.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite shakes her head to Tally. "No worries, Ah've dealt with enough of the weird stuff back home to know better than to think it's easy to sum up when it comes to supernatural shenanigans. Some things just don't bear explaination." And right now there's more important things to think about, like their little raid into this camp. "Y'all fly iffen it helps ya get in quick and sneak attacky. The squirrels can go climb a tree and pick off anyone tryin' to double back or sneak out." In all honesty Corona wasn't the most stealth trained individual either. Though not too keen on flying with her pilot here to handle it... but that changes when Sarracenia pulls out clouds instead of contraptions. "Well don't that beat all." It at least is something she can work with to get over that wall. And a better vantage point to get a scope on the camp with her goggles. Campfire sentries and a guarded carriage. Carriage likely has the goods they're trying to recover. There's a lot of ways to go about this... but it would seem the Princess already has an idea to get the carriage moving. So Corona will focus on trying to keep the guards from stopping her. Out comes her custom handgun, giving it a flashy twirl like a proper gunslinger should, then leveling out her arm and taking aim to use the vantage point of the cloud from above to angle her shots and try to knock the ladies off the wagon. "Yeeeha! Reckon this kinda makes it a literal bullet rain!" Because she's on a cloud.
Odette Raskins	"Chine..." Odette murmurs, nodding slowly as Sarracenia 'corrects' her. "Yeah, that makes sense... You just gotta add the extras to the end, like with planets and stuff." Sounding satisfied with that, she turns to Tally again and tenses up briefly when she's caught in the lie almost immediately. It doesn't take much for her to admit it, either just nodding slowly when he guesses what she was told to say. She does chuckle awkwardly after the fact, though, especially when he recommends using that on the way to town. "I-I will! Um. Yeah. Sorry about that. Wasn't sure if you were... Um. Our guy." With her mind at ease on Tally's identity, the next step is... Actually raiding the camp! Althogh Odette's hoping for a grounded approach, it doesn't take much to convince/peer pressure her into going by air. She does, however, opt to just hitch a ride on Sarracenia's carpet instead of taking her own, largely from not trusting herself enough to fly it properly without blowing their cover. Thankfully, she doesn't have to worry about that once Sarracenia divebombs the wagon with her bombs going the other way. Holding back the urge to scream and settling for just strained throat squeaks, Odette throws herself off the carpet so as to not be right on that thing when the hijacking attempt begins. Landing back-first on that storage shed with a painful groan, she counts to ten to control her breathing, then sits back up to peek from the edge of the roof. She waits until the coast is (relatively) clear to caaarefully lower herself from the roof and land on her back again, but she's back on her feet after a quick sip of a painkilling concoction. Next step: Finding any of the guards that might still be groggy and unaware of what's going on. Odette slinks around the outer perimeter of the storage shed to see if anyone's coming out first, keeping her syringes full of sedatives on hand to stab them right in and slip away before making her way towards... THE BUNK HOUSE.
Aidan Proudpick	"What do you think of this medicine?" Tally does looks suitably impressed. "My mother's magic can't even do this for so many people." Like anyone, Tally ain't too easy about just flying on a cloud, but it gives him a good vantage point to take out his winchester. A careful hold over the cloud and a keen eye. He whispers a few words, singing words, and light flows around his eyes, showing up as tattoos of an eagle. He fires a shot down into the crowd. Any element of surprise is immediately gone as Bob-ombs fly out from Sarracenia's hands. They hit the walls with a satisfying BOMB!! before the walls explode away. The bandits on the wagon itself suddenly dive off to the sides as the wagon. The two on top are knocked onto their keisters as the bullets hit the roof, forcing them to jump back and right off the wagon! Immediately, the five collective bandits pull out their six guns, trying to fire up in the air at the just barely outlined Corona and at the wagon's bullet bills! Thankfully, Bullet Bills actually go at a sedate pace, but it is a perfect way to get it going. Ash and Oak land on the top of the wagon just behind Sarracenia, over the covered ghostrock payload. "Be careful, Princess!" Ash shouts back towards Sarracenia. "If this bursts into flames, it's going to be worst than death for both of us." She takes off her bow and lets out a breath. A whisper of her life force into the bow before pulling it backwards. The string glows a bright blue as Ash PULLS, muscles shifting underneath her fur. A bright blue arrow forms in the bow itself, wind given form. She lets it go with a powerful TWANG that hurtles through the air into a bandit. "Going somewhere?" The bandits look up, pistol belts being pulled on, rifles being loaded and cocked. The first bandit's nose flattens in as the spear butt hits him, one of his teeth flying from his mouth with a bloody spray. The next woman is hit in the chin, making her topple backwards to the ground. A scrum follows, those closest to Madeleine firing their six guns at her while the others try to push out through the windows and away from the mighty huntress. Now, this Odette girl. She's a real bright one. Courageous, even if she don't look it. It takes a lot for a person to want to save people's lives in the thick of a battle, the hardest of all things. A right Hell to wish one anyone. That is why this part of the story pains me so. As Odette comes around to the front of the storage shed to drop two guards into a snoozy heap, whatever is inside sounds madder than a hornet's nest. One beat. Two. A furious roar from the inside from several distinct voices. The door to the storage shed explodes outward, flying at Odette as two figures leap out. To say they was bears ain't fair. They were bears. One of the pair immediately rips at a guard with a claw with only two fingers. Another paw seems to be coming out of it, and both rip down the man. It ain't got a full head either, a wound taking it out from the left eye to part of the brain. But another head comes up underneath that, the entire top half sheered off. Where rotten meat and torn skin appears, another piece of a bear forms. Corpses all. Every bandit turns with a wild expression on their face, staring at the creatures. And all of them turn tail, running for the nearest exit and out into the night as the pair of amalgamation bears leap out to cause havoc.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	As the outlaws in the room open fire, Madeleine twirls her spear, able to deflect most of the bullets at once since they're all coming from the same direction. When the roaring starts outside, though, she reflexively whirls to face the new threat, and a shotgun blast launches her forward through the doorway. She leaves the bandits within to hide or flee as they see fit when the real danger becomes a-bear-ent. The awful howling of the mangled beasts doesn't faze her much, because she's faced wilderness monsters many a time before. The sight of them, however, does briefly give her pause; these things look like they've already been tortured and mangled, and they're still fighting? Madeleine flips her spear around, ready to bring its head to bear (no pun intended, this time). She waits for one of the creatures to take notice of her and charge, and she sets the spear against its attack. A thrust at the last moment halts the creature in its tracks as the spear's 'wings' catch against its body. The huntress advances, trying to force the creature out into the open for the others to finish it off.
Corona Arclite	Sarracenia only gave a crash course on how the Cloud works, but it's enough for Corona to utilize it without crashing. In fact being able to steer just by leaning works well in her favor, keeping her hands free and steady to handle her gunwork. That is until the storage shed explodes from something within rather than the attacks from the outside. The emerging abominations, and the sudden feeling of some unseen essence shivering down her spine, distracts her from evading a chunk of former shed flung through the air by the monstrousities. It hits the cloud, causing the powerup to disperse or whatever you call it failing. It unfortunately is still a fair way to drop, and being as light as she is, Corona takes the reunion with the ground fairly rough. Though not enough to keep her from getting back on her feet. Now, the question is where those creatures always there? Or did the bandits hunt some bear for food, stow the remains, and some unseen force has frankensteined them together? The corpse-like appearance and what briefly they were told about how this world can... manifest weirdness lets say for ease, could suggest something like the later. But there's not really time to overanalyze it right now. The creepy ominous feelings are sure jabbing her anxieties something fierce though. At least the bandits had some notion to run. "Just get the goods outta here!" Corona holsters her handgun. This wasn't a matter for it to deal with. Instead she pulls out Forgesweeper, pumping the action as she does so to activate it's pulsarium core. The other arm she points after the wagon, firing her glove-mounted grappler to snare the back of it and reel herself after it. But she was use to run-and-gun fighting on the move, so being yoinked to the wagon doesn't stop her from firing several bursts of hot electrified plasma at the horrific abomination. Abearmination? She's not feeling witty enough at the moment to come up with a one-liner with all the creepy ass vibes now.
Sarracenia	'If this bursts into flames, it's going to be worst than death for both of us.' Sarracenia doesn't usually worry about collateral damage, but that makes things a bit more serious. "N-no fire or explosives?! What else am I supposed to do from this wagon?!" she exclaims as she drives around. The Bullet Bills move at a sprinting speed. Not exactly horse speeds. She watches the others go about their work, grinning a bit at how successful they seem to be. Except for...Odette. Odette apparently discovers some sort of terrible bear zombie creatures! Sarracenia's eyes widen. "Wh-what in the...?!" she exclaims, and even the Bullet Bills seem to get bug-eyed for a moment or two before Sarra continues toward the gate. Usually she'd leap right at those bears, but with Bullet Bills pulling a powder wagon...she's feeling a bit on edge and not inclined to push her luck after Ash's warning. "Shouldn't you get off of here, then?!" she exclaims to Ash. "It's pretty silly to be on this wagon on purpose if what you said is true!" With the bandits apparently scared into retreating, Sarra heads for the exit as well. Her priority right now is getting this wagon out of here. But, as the wagon nears the gate...Sarra feels a compulsion. She mmphs, then hands the reins to Ash. "Take over! I have to help Odette!" she calls out, then just leaps off the wagon. She pulls out her hammer and charges right at the bears. "Keep away from her! The hero Sarracenia is your opponent now!" she exclaims. That's a little off the deep end, even for her.
Odette Raskins	So far, so good! Two guys downs, somewhere around eighteen more to go. There's still five at the wagon, but that's still at least five Odette doesn't have to worry about. With any luck, there might be- A door exploding out at her. She's caught flat-footed when it happens, letting out a startled squawk-like noise as one of the doors slams into her head on and knocks her right onto her face. Her ears are still ringing a bit as she chokes out a breath, pulling herself away on instinct and turning slowly just in time to see... Bears. She blinks slowly to try and refocus her vision, bringing a hand up to wipe those high-tech glasses off and make sure she isn't seeing things. How many bears is she actually looking at? Wasn't that guy unconscious before? Why is his reading showing that he's almost dead now? Still coughing painfully at the impact, Odette scrambles back as she starts to get a better look at what's happening in front of her. There's a brief choking noise as she sees the torn up man, then the bears coming out of bears, and she outright screams before starting to haul ass. Everything hurts. She needs to get some meds in, to stop her own bleeding, to prevent his organs from deteriorating. The problem is those horrible creatures. What's she supposed to do against that kind of monster?! Besides screaming and running, anyway, which isn't going to help anyone at this point. Seeing Madeleine, Corona, and Sarracenia heading into the fray is enough for the EMT to... Not necessarily charge right in herself, but it's enough to get her to reassess what she can do. Hauling the guy out is too risky right now. All those seemingly open wounds, however, are a prime target for all manner of chemicals that might help dismantle the creature. Taking cover behind a stray crate or whatever, Odette yanks another bottle out of her bag, uncorks it, and promptly flings it with weirdly pinpoint accuracy right at the bear's rotted flesh leading into the second bear. The mixture inside, in addition to being quite caustic, is also potent at causing muscles to stiffen rather terribly!
Aidan Proudpick	Once a huntress, always a huntress. Madeleine's keen senses can see that whatever creature this is, it isn't a result of mutation. It's more akin to several corpses simply layered over each other. There's no order to the limbs, except that each corpse is certainly some semblance of a bear. And there's two of them. But that skill still works on these undead beasties as Madeleine corrals them like herd animals, pressing them back towards the campfire. Each head seems to operate independently for whatever amount of brain it has left, but the benefit of there being so many open body parts is there are so many places to put a spear. The bear seems deadened to the pain, not quite alive as it is. But each spear point pushed into a vital organ makes it just that much slower. Just that much weaker. Sarracenia hands over the reins to Ash. "Thank you princess," she says in a flat tone. She grabs both and kicks them, trying to pull every bit she can out of the bullet bills. The blast of the shot gun goes wild, missing both bears. The ground where the blast lands suddenly glows red hot as it rapidly cools from the fierce shot. It DOES back both bears into the fire, setting some of the visible fat on fire, rendering it into oil. Oak lets out a sharp shrill whistle, aided by wind magic. That done, he leans over the back of the wagon, reaching a gentlemanly hand down towards Corona. "My lady? Do you need a hand?" The roughness is gone for a moment, a chivalerous bent in his tone. Now there is a woman who don't know fear. There's a distinct and satisifying CRACK as the wooden side of the mallet comes down against fat and meat and fur, crunching into the side of the bone. The leg goes out completely underneath it, crackling of sinew and cartilege as it falls down onto its various quality of five legs. The man looks up at Odette, coughing up blood through his bandana. "I needed the money." He struggles to grab at the ground with one hand, the other hand so thoroughly mangled that the visible bones and meat twist but the hands simply don't operate. "I needed the money, I needed the money. I needed it. Please." His eyes bore into Odette's as he coughs out another ragged breath. "Please don't let the widow take me." The bottle lands on one of the bears, soaking into the open meat, the flesh, bathing every inch of viscera in chemicals. Dead cells suddenly find themselves working against new chemicals, struggling to operate as the other bear slumps downward. But there is still the OTHER half of the bear on it. It slams down a claw on top of the bandit, popping his skull with an unnecessary crunch before twisting to the side to lash out first at Odette, then at Sarracenia. Claws simply slide out of their flesh, popping off the bones as it swings them with such might. The second bear spins, suddenly crashing through Madeleine, slamming into her with one shoulder and charging towards the wagon. The several jaws open, various qualities of teeth snapping at Corona!
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine, instead of dodging around the beast's charge, sees its real target is the wagon and lunges into its path, raising her spear to check the bear-thing as it tries to shove past her. It roars, and she grits her teeth, pushing down the unease that creeps into her mind. This is just another hunt. Just another hunt. She swings Drogrung at the monster, then delivers a mighty kick to drive it back again, into the campfire. As the creature stumbles through the flames she raises a hand and exhales. A puff of misty vapor flows around the amalgam and solidifies into a cylindrical prison - this close to the fire it won't hold for long, especially not if the bear is intelligent enough to recognize the trap and smash the ice, but it should keep the thing close enough to the fire that it catches alight. Whether a flaming bear-monster is in fact an easier foe remains to be seen.
Corona Arclite	Corona Arclite doesn't want to hang off the back of the wagon any longer than necessary so she grabs Oak's offered hand and help haul her up. "Much abliged." Except there's no time for more elaborate gratitudes because they've got one of the bear abominations trying to chase them down after ramming right through Madeleine. Snapping at them with more mouths than any one bear, or creature in general, should posess. But those maws are big and ugly and full of teeth, if Oak hadn't helped her up Corona might of been snatched right off wagon right there. As is the vixen leans back to avoid several of the jaw snaps... and then at the last one thrusts her fist into largest of the maws. It snaps down hard, Corona gritting her teeth and holding back a groan as the jaws dig into her gauntlet. But being a raging monsterous beast the thing probably didn't realize it was biting down on something with a weapon built into it. Corona pulls the internal trigger and fires several explosive rounds. Then pulls her hand out with another hiss of holding back pain. Then the rest of the ammo in the gaunlet cooks off, self-destructing a second explosion.
Sarracenia	One thing about charging in blindly and heroically...sometimes you take some zombie bear claws to the face. Sarracenia's hammer comes down, only for her to get slashed terribly and sent tumbling away with a shrill cry of pain. She looks very much worse for wear after that one, with clawmarks through her vest and shirt and into her side and belly. And the fear that instills in a princess who usually doesn't get anything worse than a papercut or a sunburn is magnified. She struggles back to her feet, holding her side. "G-gah...am I going to be a zombie now...?" she wonders. She grips her hammer firmly, and the hammer head starts to glow with a prismatic light. "A hero cannot meet her end at the claws of such a vile creature!" she exclaims as that glow starts to flow over her. "And I will not let you keep her from saving people! Even bandits!" she exclaims as the glow fills her eyes as well. And she starts hammering away like a demon. Nearly a hit a second, each one enough to create a small shockwave. Apparently several full set of claws to the face wasn't enough!
Odette Raskins	Ducking back behind that overturned table, Odette sucks in air through her teeth as she starts to feel the bleeding at her back. It's going to be hell explaining this to the washers once she gets back to the Company, but they've probably seen worse. Or... Wait. She shouldn't be worrying about that. Looking aside to the bloodied man, she gasps lightly at the sight of his bloodied body, and she looks away instinctively before forcing herself to look right at him. The glasses tell her he's probably not going to live through this if she leaves him alone, and he probably might not live even if one of his friends that already left somehow came back to pick him up. "St-steady breaths. Count the stars, think about..." There's no way to treat him properly here, especially with those bears still around. The best she can do is make sure he's awake enough to get away from all this danger. Slipping her hands into her bag, she takes out a small injector and a bottle of cloudy liquid. "Think about... Y-your favorite food? How do you make it?" She just needs him awake. The injector goes to his neck, to dose him with a technically unreasonable amount of painkillers. Before she can get the rest of the dosing done with that bottle, however, one of the bears smashes the guy right in front of her, prompting yet another terrified scream from the EMT. She chucks the little bit of plastic and metal at the bear before kicking off the table, both to launch it at the bear and to get herself that much more distance so she doesn't get mauled. On the plus side, she really does manage to not get mauled with that maneuver, but flinging herself across the ground is still scraping her back up rather terribly. Odette lets out a frustrated shout as she flips herself over clumsily, then starts backing up again while dropping that bottle into her bag and seeking out... More bottles. They look like any other bottle she has, and it's not immediately clear what she's doing when she just starts running around the bear, flinging the bottles and their contents all over it. Anyone with a stronger sense of smell might notice it smells suspiciously like fuel, however, and when she goes for one of those lanterns... "Get away from it!" Odette shouts a warning and promptly hurls that flaming lantern at the bear-chimera, trying to immolate it entirely.
Aidan Proudpick	The bear is operating on pure instinct, gnawing deep onto the gauntlet, struggling to tear the metal from the bone and devour the rest of that arm. The force is dragging her down, but Oak has one arm on her shoulder. The weapon suddenly ejects and the bear crashes to the ground, chomping uselessly at the metal, crunching it down. Another worrying bite, then, a shockwave. Rather than a simple blinding explosion, the shockwave of the explosive rounds ripple backwards. Tiny ropes of meat and viscera spread in all directions as the skulls are split apart, as the spine is turned into powder, dropping the bear completely to the ground, smoke rising from the stump of its neck. Mist rolls across the ground, forming a little icy crystal trail as it works its way up around the campfire. With a suddenly cracking like the sound of chiming crystal, the ice barrier pushes up. It's hard to simply BURN a body. But bears got something special. A whole lot of fat. And rotten corpses got something special. A whole lot of dry meat. The sickly sweet smell of rotten flesh permeates the area as flesh and limb catch flame. The bear uses all of its way to press through the ice, shattering it down just as a rush of fuel hits it across the face, the chest, the forelimbs. Oil slams into its side before both the campfire and the lantern alike set it full ablaze. Muscle dries and snaps. Brains cook off like spinach, shriveling quickly under the hot flames. It struggles to stand, pushing off the ground. Each slam of Sarracenia's hammer pushes it back down. The mallet slams into it, and it struggles back up to one leg, then CRACK. Again, it pushes up on another leg. RIP. Each slam of the hammer pounds it flatter. It doesn't seem quite DEAD, but the meat and bone struggle to move, unable to form any kind of locomotion. Back at the wagon. Oak slips his hand off Corona. "Oh, that was nothing. THIS will be my pleasure." One gauntleted moves out, touching Corona on the back. Suddenly, the world feels... light. It's hard to imagine all the things you can feel weighing you down. Your body's weight on your legs. On your knees. On your organs. All of them just suddenly gone. The back of the wagon opens up. A woman in a wedding veil pokes her head out. "You idiots were supposed to have the wagon gone already." Oak snarls, "How was I supposed to know some stupid bitch would get scared and try to run away!" The woman in a wedding veil looks towards Corona with a little smirk. "Put her down and let's get out of here." Oak slams his hands onto the wagon. It too suddenly has gravity's effect on it disappear, letting it drift into the sky behind the bullet bills. Oak swells his mighty Gastonesque chest and lets out a harsh RUSH of air. With a step, Ash puts one heeled foot on the back of the wagon and draws her bow. Muscles stretch and shift again as she pulls, forming an arrow of wind in the bow. "Corona Arclite." The bow string snaps and the arrow flickers out, twisting with unerring accuracy towards the fox.