[IC] Totem

[Commodore Robot]

There was only one word on his mind as Djonn watched everything fall apart around him: Fuck. An endless loop of invective swallowed his thoughts as he tried to come up with some kind of plan, any kind of plan, to get his party out of this unharmed. He suspected that no matter what he did there was bound to be blood, contrary to their claims Djonn had a suspicion that these men had no intention of letting anyone live if it could compromise their mission.

"Djonn... The quarrels... They're totems,"

What the hell kind of totem would you put on a quarrel? Djonn thought. It troubled him how well prepared these men seemed to be. Nonetheless the comment from Zacharias had jarred him from his stupor and a plan of sorts began to form. Keeping his voice low he turned to Zacharias "Zach, keep low and keep quiet. You need to spread the word to the rest of the guard. We're going to give them 'Hemming'" he gestured to the carriage where Rook still sat, "when they open the carriage tell everyone to cover their eyes. Adele is going to give us an opening and we're going to run these fucking dogs down."

As glass continued to break revealing more Crossbowmen Djonn knocked three times hard on the side of the carriage to get Rook's attention. Leaning close to the door he kept his voice to just above a whisper "Rook, draw steel and get ready for action. If they try to open that door I want you to turn them into ribbons."

Testing his luck Djonn tried to sidle as close to the driver and Adele as he was capable without being seen or heard. "Adele, We're going to need that cannon of yours to give us an opening. Disabling the bowmen is our biggest priority. Wait til the last possible second to fire, but if it looks like things are going south do whatever you can. I'm trusting your judgement."

Letting out an audible sigh Djonn stepped out from behind the wagon and took a step forward towards the mysterious men at the front door. Spiking his glaive blade down into the earth, but keeping his hand on it he raised his voice to be heard. "Gentlemen, you have put us in a very difficult position. Our contract says that we must let Mr. Hemming reach Paolou safely. However it is simply unacceptable that innocent lives must be thrown into this scuffle. Your presence also proves our theory that Mr. Hemming had led us on without explaining the dangers inherent in such a mission, and has therefore intentionally endangered not only myself and the other guards but also everyone under his own employ with his acts. By willfully acting with such abandon he has already violated his contract with the White Guard, and as a sellsword I see no reason to protect an individual who cannot conduct fair business. Make no mistake, I find your actions abhorrent and if I had my way I'd see you and every one of your men strung from the gallows like the animals you are, but money comes before pride in this line of work. Take the bastard Hemming and get out of here." Djonn accentuated his final words by pointing his thumb back at Hemming's Carriage.

[Hella Cute]

Rhona groaned and let her body hang limp as she flutter along the road; she watched the path roll underneath her idly.

“This job is so fuckin’ dull, I swear to-"

She stopped and pulled herself up, she lingered quietly in the air. Something, somewhere was watching her, she could feel it and it wasn’t long before her suspicions were confirmed. With outstretched talons, a large owl swooped out of the night sky. It grasped at Rhona and Rhona rolled out of its way. The owl pulled up and soared in the air far above Rhona.

She looked up and, to her dismay, another owl circled around her with the first. She barely had time to think before they were upon her again.

The first owl swooped down on her again; Rhona barely managed to sidestep it before the second owl flew in the from the side, trying to catch her in its beak. Rhona flew upwards, as quickly as she could, and drew her sword. The first owl followed, flying up at Rhona; she leveled her rapier at the bird’s large glowing eyes, the needle broke through the eye and plunged deep into the owl’s skull.

It cried out and writhed in pain, jerking the sword out from Rhona’s grip. It flapped desperately but couldn’t find a grip, landing with a deafened thud on the road beneath her. Rhona watched as he spiraled out of control and was caught off-guard by the second owl who clipped her with its wings.

“Gah! Fuck!”

Rhona was sent into the same downward spiral as the first owl, her fall was broken by the now lifeless corpse of the first owl. She gasped and coughed, trying to catch her breath. The owl hovered overhead, waiting for another chance to strike. Rhona groaned and crawled her way up the cadaver to its head, her sword was hardly a nub, lodged deep in the brain of the bird. She put one foot against the bird’s eye and pulled with all her body and yanked the needle out.

She pushed off of the bird and caught herself mid-air, the owl swooped down with its talons out, managing to wrap them around Rhona’s waist. Rhona groaned as the bird flew back up with her in its grasp. On her belt, though, sticking out from between the owl’s talons was a glass vial of a strange clear liquid - a fairy poison. She swung the sword at the vial, once, twice, three times. Each attempt cracking it ever so much before it finally smashed. The liquid seeped out, covering the owl’s talon, Rhona’s legs and most importantly, the tip of her blade.

Rhona smirked and lunged the blade through the owl’s talon, the talon twitched and spasmed, before going limp. Rhona free fell for a while, watching the fast-acting poison cause the owl to go into a seizure and fall to the ground to die. Rhona caught herself just before hitting the ground and she let herself down slowly.

Rhona pushed the sword back into her belt loop and pulled the broken vial off of her belt carefully before letting it drop onto the ground. She sighed heavily and picked herself up again, continuing down the road to the Cossler’s estate.

“Flyin’ in th’ fuckin’ dark. Nothin’ bad e’er happens when yer flyin’ in th’ fuckin’ dark.”

[Fairess]

Adele was in a cold sweat. While Djonn ought to have been commended for his bravery, she found herself disagreeing with him once again. Surrendering their weapons was an unreasonable demand, but why not just hand over Hemming? Sure, they were paid to protect him, but this was a matter of hostages. Let the outlaws do what they wanted with the liar—her life and those of the nobles that may or may not be alive inside the house were vastly more important.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t a time where she could mouth off. She bit her tongue, eyes flickering to what view she could get of the carriage’s door. Rook was in there… and he and everyone else would be relying on her to give them cover once the fighting broke out. If she somehow screwed things up, there was no doubt that people were going to die. She was certainly in a prime position to play pincushion.

“Damn you, Djonn!” Adele hissed under her breath. She slipped her goggles over her eyes and worked her cannon as subtly as she could manage, trying to focus on notches and numbers instead how just how shaky her fingers were getting. Keys E2 and G6, amp filter set to full power, light filters L5, L7, and L8 for full spread… steady… stay calm… aim for the windows as soon as the door opens!

The driver beside her shuddered, and her breath hitched. She turned her head to growl at him, already at the edge of her nerves. “Don’t bump me!” she warned in a low whisper, “just focus on closing your eyes and slipping off the side of the carriage when the door is opened. You’ll be safe from any crossbow fire from there. If you move after that, you’ll be just as likely to be mistaken for an enemy soldier in the dark.”