Scene #4113: The Crow and the Priest

Owner	Pose
Count Kord	Every once in a while, there is a town that resists becoming a part of any of the factions. For those towns that rely on their independent pride there are few defenders, because they are unlikely to rely on outside help out of pride. This was exacerbated for this island city by their distrust of foreigners in general even before they unified and the immense problems they had with mindless beasts hitching a ride through the warp gate just off the coast. Anything that so much as looks slightly intimidating got attacked with liberal artillery support. Which didn't happen when Kord arrived. Somehow, under the cover of a stormy early morning in this tropical land, he had gotten deep with the city. He slipped through the alleys and over rooftops and eventually found himself staring down at a concert happening down there. A metal concert. People sheltered below umbrellas under the shadow of an old dilapitated church that served as the clandestine meeting place for all of the soldiers Kord had brought into the city in slow preparation for this day. But first he would have to make a spectacle. He would need to disrupt the people so that his soldiers could work. He had no interest in the slaughter of the innocents, so he would have to disperse them before he could get any work done. Hefting his weapon in one hand, he took aim and flung the scythe down at the stage. The scythe carried a shimmer of red energy that EXPLODED outward when the weapon got embedded into one of the enormous speakers the musicians were using up until that moment. Panic ensued, the musicians toppling off the stage to escape the sparks and falling equipment, and the fans began running. Thanks to the rain, it would take some time for the island's militia to even realize what's happening. Kord is, however, old enough to know that there are people in this life that are strong enough to stare death in the face and smirk. He scans the crowd for strong individuals, those that could put a stop to his plan to conquer this nameless little island for the Confederacy. His deathly blue eyes stare down at the chaotic mass of fleeing men and women, judging most unfit to be a threat or even worthy of being prey, much in the way a monster might judge people.
Alice Jones	Glancing up at the wave that crashes into the stage, Alice is caught by surprise and thrown back into the ground as she rolls a bit. Standing up and dusting herself off, she offers a hand to one of the stagehands nearby to get him up. "Not good." she says, with a hefting assist then glances up at Kord. "Wait a minute. Kord? The hell are you doing, crashing my show?" she asks with a glare. "Come on, can't you just enjoy the fun instead of tearing things to pieces?" she asks. "Though I get the impresion that you've got a LOT more on your mind than just booing me off the stage." she says. "Alice, this is NO time to be taking him for a critic, we have to get out of here!" the roadie says as Alice holds out a hand and waggles a finger at him. "Give it a rest. I can handle myself, you've seen me accidentally show off a bit, right? Have a little faith." as the roadie then uneasily nods and runs off with some of the others. "So." Alice says as the people depart. "What's your beef then?"
Count Kord	"Alice." Kord's informal greeting comes with him leaping off his perch down to an opening in the fleeing crowds. They flee much faster away from him when his aura of malice and predatory intent washes over them, some of them falling over each other to get away. That feeling is much more appropriate now that he's terrorizing the island. Soon, the area is empty, full of toppled fold-up chairs and discarded belongings and food. "I'm here to seize this island in the name of the Confederacy. In other words," he lifts his hands up in an animated shrug, his head tilting in a slightly bird-like way, "It's nothing personal." He straightens his posture. The shadows in the area seem to have deepened, and sharpened, creating a contrast that makes even the darkness under his cloak seem like an inky abyss. "You should leave." He sounds so mild, despite just declaring he's taking over the island.
Alice Jones	With the momentary apperance of a midnight blue leg overlapping one of her own, Alice leaps onto the lights as she lowers her head and brings a hand up to the side as though thinking. "The thing is." she says, "You've got a lot of gall trying to use military force. Ever heard of diplomacy or trade agreements? If you want to integrate a territory, there are a lot of other ways. But I suppose you do have your orders don't ya?" she asks. "Besides. If you're prepared to kill for your prize, then you've already thrown down the gauntlet haven't you?" Striking a rather dramatic pose she then says, "You've just sealed your own doom." as a pair of ghostly arms with a similar tone to the leg appear and splay their clawed fingertips, the image seeming to merge with Alice at the shoulders as the hands fill with black fire, the bolts flying towards Kord before the arms shimmer out of existence once more!
Count Kord	"As usual, the young make many assumptions," Kord muses aloud, following Alice's path up to the lights. He had caught sight of that ability of hers, though it was hard to judge the nature of it, and it made him fixate his pale blue eyes on her more sharply so he could watch for more signs of it. She strikes a pose and he momentarily finds himself underestimating Alice due to the bizarre nature of it and her apparent bravado. But she has an attack in mind, and he can't react quickly enough to it to avoid getting struck square in the center of mass! The attack slams into his armor with a metallic THUNK, and sets his cloak aflame, staggering him backward three steps in the middle of his attempt to avoid it. He tears the cloak off and gasps from the pain of the hit. "There we go! Someone to FIGHT!!" he loudly proclaims, shortly before leaping up to the center of an umbrella and then up to where Alice had ended up seemingly under his own power, the man in black and red seeming pretty swift in his movements! He tries to knock Alice off of her own perch with a pair of boots, whipping his foot through the air with a vicious purpose toward one of her shoulders as if he could swivel in the air on command. It would be pretty clear at that point that he can probably fly.
Alice Jones	Falling back, Alice nearly hits the stage floor but not before the midnight-blue creature that was seen in a few brief instances fully emerges and grabs onto one of the girders, holding her by the other arm. "...Heh." Alice says, "Thanks for the save." as it then flings her back up and disappears once more. Having been seen, the creature is clearly inhuman between the midnight-blue skin, solid and glowing yellow eyes as well as black fire for hair and wrist-bangles. This is something very strange, though one familiar with Stands might find it more humanoid than many. Descending, Alice attempts to perform a falling slam into Kord's face. She's not pulling any punches here but then, he did go and wreck up her performance after all.
Count Kord	Kord recovers from his kick nicely, with a pair of strange semi-transparent wings manifesting behind his shoulders in a way eerily similar to what Alice is doing with her Stand. He, of course, is still confused by the presence of that ability, but makes no questions about it. He just observes, taking note of its autonomy... if she has that protecting her at all times, it means a greater potential for defense than even he could accomplish. He doesn't have a lot of time to appreciate this when she comes at him again, trying to slam into his face with her foot. The hit knocks that weird helmet off of his face thanks to the blunt impact, revealing that, despite his weird eyes, he has the features of a young adult, somewhat romanian, with red stubble. He also has a bloodied lip from her foot and a rattled brain meat, but that's less immediately obvious. He plummets and the darkness billows out from behind him, creating a black fog that the both of them would fall into. Which would be a problem, because without some way to see or hear in complete, oppressive darkness, it would be hard to hit him again without taking the fight OUT of the field of black. The darkness attacks. Somehow, the shadows explode outward to try to blast Alice with pure Dark energy, sending nearby furniture flying from the shockwave. After the attack, the field disperses, and Kord is revealed to be standing there in a puddle a healthy distance away from Alice, giving her a suspicious eye and panting lightly from the exertion of the battle and the adrenaline.
Alice Jones	"You're probably wondering, 'What IS that thing?" Alice says, "Well let me tell you something." and chuckles. "You're not hearing it from me." she notes, with a wicked grin. "This is a pretty dirty business we've both found ourselves in, but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna see it through." as she approaches, "I'd like to know a lot of what you can do, but nobody says that in the middle of a fight." and sighs. "This is going to have to end sooner or later though." she observes, as the creature that was guarding her emerges once more and rushes Kord, unleashing a barrage of claws with repeated cries of, "GURA!"
Count Kord	Kord watches Alice as she speaks, and strikes an amusedly skeptical look at her when she tells him she WON'T monologue about her mysterious spiritual ability. He had never expected her to explain it in the first place. When the bestial figure emerges from her again for another attack, though, Kord's expression lights up with bright surprise and perhaps a flash of terror, because it can move very quickly. Claws slam into Kord, slicing through his armor and his leathers and bringing out pained noises as he tries to swerve out of the way with motions that just aren't quite good enough. And he retorts with a vicious and somewhat desperate attack of his own-- from a completely different angle. His scythe, which had probably been overlooked until that point, gets yanked out of the nearby stage by an invisible force and whips through the air to land in Kord's hands, his gauntlets clasped around the haft while he strikes a pose meant entirely to negate the kinetic force of catching something heavy and metal moving at high speed. He slides along the water wet pavement, serving to give him a half second of breathing room. This means that along the way the blade slices at the Stand while it's in close proximity to him!
Alice Jones	Shetaggering back, while the Stand takes the hit one may be surprised to see that Alice is bleeding from her abdomen as well. Granted, not as much as one might expect but for whatever reason the fact that damage to the Stand is reflected on Alice IS a notable thing. "Heh." Alice says, "Nice hit. So, packing up yet?" she asks. "Not like this fight is going to go on forever, we're going to have to give up at some point. I mean, why the hell did you even sign up with a group that wants to conquer more territory? I mean really, are you just that much of an asshole, someone feeding you a line, or what?" as she leaps up into the air, the Stand's leg propelling her upwards once more before she grabs one of the spotlights' power lines that was cut in the first blast and tosses it at Kord! Might do a little more damage there
Count Kord	Kord doesn't know what artificial electricity is. This can be a problem when trying to deal with a power line being thrown at him, and he tries to slice it, and it zaps the ever living hell out of him! BZZZT!! He jerks back from it and gets higher up by manifesting his black clawed wings again, his armor smoking from the water being boiled off of him by the electrical surge. "I'm a conqueror. It's what I do, with or without the Confederacy," Kord tells Alice through the effort of battle, as if it were that simple. He doesn't give her a lot of time to contemplate that, soon moving to try to hit the Stand again thanks to it being the true combatant here, an extension of Alice's will. His wings beat once and he launches forward, pulling back his scythe to try to slice the Stand. But not just with his own arm strength! The blade is coated in an aura of black that extends the sharpened edge and gives it the power of Dark, making an otherwise mundane slash into a magical attack!
Alice Jones	It seems that the magical attack doesn't do quite as much as would be expected as Alice jerks out of the way, but the coordination between two separate entities involved leaves Judas Priest to absorb some degree of the hit himsefl. "Sheesh. "Alice says, "Saying it's what you do is no excuse. If it's what you want to be, that's one thing. But if it's what someone's telling you or what, 'Fate' dictated or something? That's no way to live. Guess you've decided it already though." she says. She then braces herself with her physical arms as the Stand's arms raise and a ball of black flame about twice the size of Alice's head appears and then leaps back into one of Judas Priest's arms, before being flung at Kord!
Count Kord	Kord frowns as she keeps talking, not happy that she makes remarks about fate or what his intentions are. He steps on the air and flaps those semi-translucent wings once to get into position and try to deflect the fireball as it comes at him, then, as the flames burn across his body and sizzle out under the rain, he rushes forward suddenly, and does several quick slices with the scythe from different angles all in one smooth motion, while speaking to Alice with a cool calm tempered by the pain and fatigue of the battle. "I don't need you to accept it," he tells her, "I need you to get out of my way!"
Alice Jones	"You say it like accepting this matter is easy." Alice says, "You're running around stomping on people, and you think I'm going to like it at first glance?" she asks, "What is WRONG with you?!" as she moves in to tackle him, then leap back as her Stand tries to land a heavy punch on his face. It's not certain whether or not this will work, but maybe it will?
Count Kord	Thunk! Kord gets clipped as he tries to avoid the first punch, and swerves around the Stand as it swings. He grunts and plants his feet and then swings the haft of the battle scythe around to try to hit the Stand right in the wound he made in its midsection, to knock it away from him with one nice strong hit! He growls with the effort of it, because of how bloodied up he already is! "Do you think I'm a fool!?" he barks at her, "I don't do this for the love and adoration, girl!" He sounds older than her but he doesn't look it, though the age of a strange magical weirdo would be hard to judge.
Alice Jones	"Then what DO you do it for?" Alice asks, "Power means nothing if it doesn't have something to be used for!" she calls out as she attempts to kick Kord the crotch before her Stand goes for a one-two punch. "I'm not going to pretend to know you, but I do know what I see in front of me. Someone thinking that they're justified to take what was never given to them!"
Count Kord	Clunk! Well, it's a good thing he wears leather armor as well as the metallic plates, because that kick doesn't get a whole lot of purchase on Kord, and the two punches nick his face with those claws as he leans away from the brunt of them. And the proxoimity means she is ripe for a retort that comes with all the wondrous practiced force of a headbanger, just trying to slam his forehead into the center of her face, most notably her nose.
Alice Jones	"So what, you're not going to answer me?" Alice asks, "Fine, be pompous about this. I don't give a damn, so long as this fight... Ow!" she notes, as the headbutt slams into her face. "Thabts not helpful!" she says, seeming to get a bit more angry rather than rational. Of course that's not helpful, he's fighting her! Though she inhale as the Stand appears over her once more, before exhaling and spewing a stream of black fire from her mouth. Bit of a new one, but not terribly fancy either.
Count Kord	Kord is past the point of exchanging banter with her, apparently! His wide-eyed and cold fury is easy to read especially after the vicious impact of his head to her face. She readies a blast of fire, and he grimaces through it like some kind of lunatic, dropping his scythe to block it from hitting his face while his other arm accumulates dark energy that sparks and sizzles with every second that the black fire hits him. And then he darts forward to try to slam the dark energy right into her chest before she can properly finish that attack, a loud WHOOMPF emitting and blasting raindrops and puddles away from the both of them!
Alice Jones	"Sonuva-" Alice says, falling to her knees as Judas Priest starts to appear somewhat translucent but ultimately fades back into her, retracting from existence. "...No more playing nice." she then says, struggling to stand up as blood drips off of her. "You want to take this place?" she asks, as her Stand appears once more with veins seeming to somehow eat the light around it as though they were made of the same black fire he's been throwing about. "OVER MY DEAD BODY!" she shouts as her Stand's hands are wreathed in gauntlets of black fire, and he grabs at Kord with a look on his face that does not seem very friendly at all. Should he grab, he will presumably attempt to toss Kord into the stage, prior to firing blasts of energy at key points in the infrastructure holding up the lights to cause it to collapse in on him.
Count Kord	The grab gets Kord, and the Count finds himself being scorched by the hold. But his own clawed gauntlets go forward to get purchase on the Stand and he whips out his tail and both of those wings! The tail, which would've looked like a belt until that moment, is the same color as the wings though it is DISTINCTLY physical in nature. He somehow struggles against the throw, and adjusts his grip for the Stand's neck to try and force it down and prevent the throw. "As you wish," he speaks with the calm and predatory voice he had not demonstrated until that moment. A whirlwind of black and red light emits from his arms as he tries to use the power of the Oblivion Wing to absorb the life right out of Judas Priest before it can properly escape his clutches, his wings widening and the shadows deepening around him ominously, his lips pulled back into a sharp-toothed snarl. She probably wants to recall her Stand before Kord evaporates it like some sort of magical spirit vampire, this attack doesn't look the same as the previous ones.
Alice Jones	Looking pale, Alice seems to have her Stand flicker above her but then has it withdraw into her as she kicks Kord with a bit less force than usual in the gut... But then collapses. Seems she's more or less out of it for now. "Dammit..." she says wincing before she simply passes out from lack of life-force and general harm.
Count Kord	THUNK! Kord watches her collapse, and he wheezes from the hit to his midsection. Unhappy with her last ditch effort, he decides to give her a little momento of this fight: He steps over her body, and tries to give her one swift kick in the ribs for good measure. This, of course, is the last thing he can do in this fight, back he is utterly HAGGARD. He could fall over if he overexerts himself!