Kaeris Vs Ramos JUN NBR

[Grantt]

The winter snows blowing down from the mountains had emptied the small pioneer town, sending the inhabitants back home to the city with their dreams and hopes for the future. Now, driving winds and blankets of white snows lined the streets, whilst the dark, empty buildings stood silent and ominous. But worst of all was the freezing cold.

Not that it bothered Kaeris. The warmth from the soul stone furnace that powered her flying rig and her naturally fiery temperament kept the chill at bay. As she stood outside the rear door of one of the stores lining the central street, the snows raged fiercely, battering her little group with icey flecks that disintegrated when they hit her burning associates. The gamin were restless; they pulled at each other and set light to their own tails to entertain themselves. Before long, they'd be irritating the gunsmiths, which was probably a bad idea.

"Iggy," she said quietly, "stop playing with those matches and listen carefully." The boy looked at her, pulling a threadbare scarf closer around his face and glowering pubescent defiance. "Over in the main street is a large stack of crates. In the centre there will be a box marked with the M&SU logo. Take two gamin and stay with that box until I say otherwise."

"That sounds pretty boring," he began. She could see he would be difficult.

"I said listen," she began sharply, "Ramos wants that box. He's going to send his best to try and get it. Whatever comes, stay with the box and keep it from the enemy. You understand?"

He nodded sullenly. The two gunsmiths, currently calibrating their cog and lens encrusted pistols, had already been informed. The gamin, simple creatures that they were, knew their place too. It was time.

"Let's do this," she announced, stretching her wings and taking flight over the small tack store to land in front. On her left, Iggy and two of the gamin moved through the neighbouring general store, the fiery glow of the creatures illuminating the interior as they made their way through. Beyond that, one of the gunsmiths took a firing position in one of the buildings further up, settling by the window to get a good, clear shot of the crates. To her right, the other gunsmith walked through the tack store with a gamin trailing behind. She too set up a good firing position. Kaeris watched and waited.

The street was empty, save for the swirling snows. The saloon opposite, usually raucous and bawdy, stood a silent sentinel, whilst the hotel next to it was quiet as a tomb. In the centre of the street stood a huge pile of crates, whilst just beyond that was a smaller pile with a blue flag poking out the top. Kaeris cautiously glanced toward the second gunsmith as she advanced toward their own flag, this one a striking red. Anxiety began to build and she withstood the urge to fly over the saloon to see what Ramos was up to on the other side.

Her thoughts travelled to a week earlier, to Ramos sitting in a small chamber tinkering with one of his many contraptions. He seemed angry. "You're too reckless!" he stormed, though his hands were steady on his construction, "You almost cost us the mission. You need to know when to advance and when to stay where you are. You need to learn patience!"

Snapping back to the present, she vowed she would, waiting and watching to see what his next move was.

A silvery-blue glow erupted from the upper stories of the hotel opposite the pile of crates, closely followed by a low humming. Kaeris winced, knowing what it was, but she could see Iggy and the gamin getting restless. As she watched, an electrical creation swept into view, it's crackling shell already corroding; Iggy whooped and let a blast of fire erupt from his hands. The creation jinked and the fire swept past it, whilst Iggy cursed and took a few steps closer for a better shot. Kaeris hissed at him to stop, but it was too late. The creation drifted next to him and exploded, blowing him to the ground in a blast of electricity. As he dusted himself off, picking himself out of the crates, he cursed and howled. The gamin began to take up position around the crates and the treasure contained within that Ramos wanted.

Kaeris began to move closer when another glowing creation drifted into view. "Don't leave the crates!" she called, but Iggy was already too incensed to listen. As he bolted towards the creation, fire slinging from his hands to wash against the hotel balcony and walls, she sighed, knowing he was doomed. The creation simply drifted closer, avoiding his clumsy blows, and exploded next to him like the first, sending his crumpled body crashing into the ground.

The irony wasn't lost on her.

Frantic, she signalled the other gamin to guard the crates and then fell back to get her bearings. As another pair joined the first two, a third creation rounded the corner and began to float towards them. As a group, the gamin began to heave molten balls of fire towards it. This one could not weather the magma spat from four gamin, and it was soon destroyed, cascading parts down across the front of the hotel. "If that's your plan, Ramos, then I've got this in the bag," she thought optimistically.

It was not. A sudden skittering alerted her to the incoming spiders. Two burst from the front of the hotel, steel legs flashing in the glow from the flames, gaining ground quickly to reach the crates and hide there, whilst shots from the gunsmith hidden in the building harmlessly shattered the boxes around them. Quizzically, Kaeris wondered why Ramos had sent just the two; they wouldn't be able to get the treasure themselves and were no real match for the swarm of gamin she had around it.

There wasn't time to ponder; a noisome skittering from the saloon roof caught her attention, closely followed by one of the gunsmiths shouting a warning; a swarm of arachnids crested the rooftop and began making their way down the saloon and right for them. Wind rippled her heavy coat, lifting it as the gunsmith cooly levelled her pistols and fired, while sent streams of flame from her fingertips to wash over the oncoming horde. A few were blasted apart or melted to slag, but it wasn't enough; the swarm crashed into them both, forcing the gunsmith back and smothering Kaeris in a clattering mass of metal legs and pincers.

For a moment she was paralysed, unable to move under the weight of metal and frenzy of attacks. In a daze, she focused on defence, burning away the attacks that came to close. Sweeping legs, clicking mandibles and sharp claws flashed for her skin and blood. The rest of the battlefield faded away, forgotten in the race for survival as the press of arachnids drove into her. Cursing, she began to accept that Ramos had caught her out again.

Gunshots rang out. A spider that lunged for her face was obliterated by a well placed bullet, then another that was about to bite her thigh was blown to smithereens. More blasts followed and more of the spiders were driven back. Kaeris dived away from the mass and looked to the gunsmith, who simply nodded impassively whilst clearing the remaining arachnids. Kaeris knew she owed her a drink.

The respite did not last long. A low, subterranean rumbling grew in intensity as Kaeris checked on the gamin by the treasure. Their efforts, along with the other gunsmith's, were keeping the spiders away, yet Kaeris knew it was just a distraction. As she realised this, she watched the spiders change tactics and jump onto the two closest gamin, braving the firestorm to latch on and distract the fiery elementals.

That's when the ground beneath them exploded.

A huge metal snake erupted from the ground in the middle of the gamin, it's head replaced by a huge, furiously spinning rock drill that suddenly filled the air with it's ferocious drone. The gamin stopped, momentarily shocked by the sudden appearance of the soul stone miner and howled as it began to systematically attack each of them in turn. Though Kaeris couldn't see exactly what happened amongst the raining debris and exploding crates, the fury of the melee wasn't lost on her. She raced to help, feeling the blasts of not one, but two of her gamin exploding in elemental fury at being destroyed. By the time she arrived, the metal contraption was no more, destroyed by the burning magma of her elemental and explosive creations, whilst only two of her gamin were left, both heavily injured. The two spiders had been destroyed by the dying blasts of the gamin they held. The treasure was still there.

With a small shout of satisfaction, she allowed herself a moment of joy; her plan had worked! The gamin, explosive little devils that they were, had kept the treasure from being taken.

Her joy was short lived. A woman dressed in punk plaid, hefting a long barrelled pistol in one arm, the other a clockwork claw, turned the corner of the hotel and sent two shots in her direction. As Kaeris dived for cover amongst the crates, she heard the girl curse; "Dammit! You'd think a target that big'd be easy to hit. Damn snow!"

"Rusty" Alice. So that's how Ramos was turning out so many spiders and creations. Still, despite the swarms of constructs, the treasure was intact, her flag was still there and her distraction was working. If she could keep this up, she would still win the day.

As if in response to her thoughts, what was left of the arachnid swarm changed tactic, moving away from the gunsmith to swarm over her flag and destroy it. As it did so, the gunsmith took advantage of the opening to finish it off, destroying the final spiders with a couple of well placed shots. Kaeris swore, loudly, and maintained that as long as she had the treasure, she'd be fine. She signalled the other gunsmith to try and get the other one and he dutifully nodded and slipped out of the building, racing towards the blue flag where Alice stood, waiting.

"Silly man!" the girl cried, letting off a few rounds at the scurrying gunsmith. One flew wild, but the other rang true and for a sickening moment, Kaeris thought that the man had been shot between the eyes. Yet it was only his tall hat that tumbled to the ground; he kept sprinting for the flag.

As Kaeris watched, she noticed something moving on top of the hotel. Scampering from cover, she watched as a huge spider scurried down the side of the building and leapt, landing in the centre of the creates by the treasure. Blue electricity lanced from it, shearing through the remaining gamin who exploded uselessly against the metallic armoured legs. Kaeris watched in awe as the contraption, half spider and half Ramos, scooped up the treasure and began to walk back towards the hotel, throwing a small metal contraption behind him. As it bounced on the decking, it began to unfurl, revealing legs, mandibles and a circular saw; it was a large arachnid. She gasped; so this was Ramos' avatar form.

Beyond that, she watched the gunsmith smash the blue flag from its spot just as a small arachnid jumped onto his back and exploded, sending him crashing to the ground in a smoking heap. Kaeris gritted her teeth and made to go after Ramos himself, through the large arachnid if necessary.

Luckily, it wasn't. A few well placed shots from the remaining gunsmith took the spider out before it even had a chance to realise it was alive. Kaeris could feel the fury of a plan unravelling; feel the warm, familiar anger welling up to override her patience and preparation. She let it. As Alice levelled her gun, Kaeris sent a wash of flames across the empty street, sending the girl scurrying for cover, patting out flaming clothing as she went. Howling in fury, Kaeris turned the corner and started suddenly as she came face to face with Ramos, his metallic legs lifting him high off the ground, electrical discharges from his suit illuminating his sly grin. His arms were folded, his scolding imminent.

"I have it," he began, "This concludes our little exercise."

"Not exactly, old man!" she spat, still angry, "You might have the box, but where is the mechanism?"

He frowned, turning the box around in his hands before opening it to stare at the emptiness within. "Where is it, Anaslea?"

*

Iggy had long gone, dusting himself off and complaining about how stupid this all was. Her gunsmiths were off recalibrating their weapons and talking through the best possible optimisations to use against Arachnids in cover. Alice had already raided the empty saloon and was now standing in the doorway, taking slugs of whiskey and waiting to head home. The fight was over. Ramos strolled alongside her, his mechanical limbs long since retracted into the folds of his overcoat.

"I appreciate that you held your defensive line for so long," he ruminated, "but you should always be prepared for your opponent's next trick."

"I think mystical super-powers might be cheating," Kaeris offered.

"In a battle, nothing is fair. The variables are random and you must always expect the unexpected."

They meandered back to the start, where Kaeris had waited with her gamin and little crew before everything had kicked off. Ramos observed that she had handled her placement well, making sure that the gunsmiths held the flanks and the gamin held the centre. He fussed over her choice of the boy, Iggy, and she was forced to reluctantly agree. The training exercise had definitely provided lots of useful information.

Then they turned the corner, coming across the rear of the tack store. Kaeris suppressed a giggle, but allowed herself a small smirk of satisfaction.

On a chopping block was the contraption; a collection of fine cogs and gears. Above it, burnt into the wooden wall, was a message;

"Dearest Ramos. It seems you fell for my distraction. You may have the box, but you don't have the contents. Fooled you."

Beneath that, scrawled in different writing, yet once again burnt into the wood;

"You old fart. This is stupid."

"Oh, Iggy..." Kaeris chuckled as Ramos raised an eyebrow indignantly...

---------- Post added at 06:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:54 PM ----------

35 soulstones; Pioneer Town map; Heavy Snows

Me;

Kaeris

Gunsmith

Gunsmith

Fire gamin

Fire gamin

Fire gamin

Fire gamin

Iggy

Distract

Assassinate; Sabotage

Opponent;

Ramos

aRamos

Mobile toolkit

Rusty Alice

Large Steampunk arachnid

Steampunk arachnid

Soulstone miner

(Most of his original crew got sacc'd for scrap to facilitate aRamos)

Treasure Hunt;

Breakthrough; sabotage

Finale;

Me: 6

Him: 6

[UberGruber]

This is remarkably good, I've seldom enjoyed a 'storyfied' battle report as much, it read like a proper short story and yet gave a pretty clear account of the course of the game too, which can't be an easy thing to accomplish. The only aspect I rather disliked was it turning out to be a training exercise, but oitherwise this was splendid.

[Grantt]

Cheers for that! I pondered whether or not to have a genuine fight between them and decided, due to their relationship in the books, to go for a training exercise instead. Plus, it made writing in my distraction strategy a little easier...

Oh, please check out my Iron Quill entry in the writing room!

[UberGruber]

I guessed you might have taken the background into consideration and made it a training exercise for that reason. It just felt a wee bit of a cheap twist, if you see what I mean (that sounds a bit harsher than I mean it to be, I think) though in fairness you do set it up by giving a failry large clue near the start and other ones in the battle sequence. It's well done in that respect, it just always seems like a bit of a let-down to discover it was all a dream/all a game/etc. Still brilliant though.

I've had a quick read of your IQ entry, which I also like. But I'll comment on that tomorrow.

[Sezar]

Excelent!! I really enjoyed it!!