The Log of the HMAS Marigold: The Serpent and Cross (Part Six)

[walkthebassline]

Morgan shooed away the crewman at the helm and took his place.

"Ah...good to be back. Starling, my dear, do be careful. I'll do what I can to get you close to your target."

[MWBailey]

"Alright, lads," Rourke addressed the full assembled Rifle company. fifty men of varying ranks and duties aboard the Marigold, selected for their skills with rifle, bayonet, and individually-preferred weapons, augmented by mission-specific equipment. Commandoes, veritable aerial marines in all but name, they had each proven their worth a hundred times.

"We're stormin' the stronghold o' th' Brother'ood o' the Serpent, " he said, "you each have your duties.Those so assigned have been given strafing wings and harrying packs. Your job is to attack any and all points on the exterior of the premises; anybody what looks loik a monk, you kill 'em, an' blow up or otherwise incapacitate thee position, commandeerin' any portable weapons or ordnance they have there. You'll loikely be facin' low level cantrip magic, so take precautions."

He turned to the three squads equipped with simple descent arrestor rigs. "You lot, you're the vanguard of the main attack. Hit the target identified by Miss Starling an' th' Cap'n. hit it hard, with everything you've got. Set up spotting points for our artillery, and hold what you get."

He turned lastly to those with rapid-descent arrestors. "You fellows are the escort for th' rest o' th' Marigold Team. you 'it th' ground first, and aid an' support, you're the grunts here, so  fix bayonets before you descend."

"I'll infiltrate the defenses and let the Main Body in through the front door," he said, and then snapped,  "Never ye mind 'ow," he snapped. Alroight, I'm off. Bosun, start the raiders approximately three minutes from now." he walked to the end of the takeoff deck, and looked down. "Cor, that's a long way," he breathed. He had not realized they were no closer to the Target. "Mina, you 'ere?" The huge bat popped into existence beside him, and squeaked, "Right here, Sir Rourke!"

"Roight. Go an' foind th' Brother'oods front door, yeah?"

"Alright. The bat hovered close and looked him right in the eye. "You be careful, Rourke, Milady'd be devastated if something happened to you." she squeaked seriously.

"Roight. You too, li'l one."

Mina vanished, and Rourke closed his eyes and leaned backward, plummetting from  the takeoff bridge, dropping to ward the roofs far below like a rock, then snapping the Russian gliding wings open, and carving an insane, high-speed arc toward the place where Mina circled and shrieked. He alighted like the bat that the huge black wings cause him to resemble, and Thought to his Sire, "Alright. I'm here and ready."

He tried. He truly tried to endure the searing pain that was the Pillar of Smoke transformation, but in the end, he whimpered as his corporeal body vanished and became a cloud of smoking vapors.

The guard not ten feet away on the opposite side of the dirty, ill-kept brick wall snapped to attention, scanning the alley before him, but saw nothing. He certainly did not see the smoke that leaked through the brickwork behind him. So intent was he on finding out what had alerted him, he also did not notice that same cloud smoke seeping through the keyhole and the cracks around the door, avoiding the thaumic warding barrier by simply bypassing the pieces of wood and metal upon which they were carved. The event that made it possible for vampires to enter a person's house, the event  that Rourke had counted upon had already occurred, after all, just the way that Rourke had anticipated; when it was reported to the High Priest that the Marigold had appeared overhead, he had said the words that doomed their last line of defense and would throw open their gates to the enemy: "Let them come. I welcome you, Lieutenant Rourke and Doctor Scott, to this house and to your doom."

And then suddenly, confusion and hell desended on every defensive and surveillant position. The Rifle Company's harriers had arrived, and Rourke materialized inside the vestibule, screaming aloud as he did so, the pain being intense. The the pain, he drew his sword and cut down three attackers, then pulled teh revolver and shot fouir more, and strode to the winch that drew aside the bolt that held teh door fast. thr riflement, followed soon by several more, rushed in as he opened the door...

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling swooped above watching the riflemen scramble like ants and makeing sure nothing got behind them.  She was doing well until something whizzed by her head and she went in to a defensive roll.  As she was trying to find the source she was shot at again.  "There are shooters on the roof." She called out.  Unfortunately the roof was also covered with chimney pots and statues so spotting the blighter shooting at her was like finding a needle in a haystack.

[walkthebassline]

Morgan guided the Marigold down through the London sky, carefully avoiding chimneys and rooftops. He kept the ship moving, giving the gunners clear fields of fire to pick off enemy riflemen, and kept an eye out for Starling.

[Stella Gaslight]

She dived missing another shot and let out a woop as she saw the telltail sparkle of the gun.  Pulling her pistols she took a shot at the robed figure.  It seemed to work as he fell back arm now useless.  She flue in closer to take out the threat when suddenly monks trying to get away from the fight below bolted from a hatch like an ant hill that had been sprayed with water and suddenly they had a firefight on their hands.

[MWBailey]

A contingent of Riflemen had endeavored to follow Dr. Cross as she made for the rooftop, but a drawback of using descent arrestors in place of regular powered wings was tha they tended to be slower than the powered wings, unless one put them into a dive-- which ultimately negated the "arresting"  feature of the device. Thus, of the riflemen who managed to keep up with Starling, three plummetted to a painful and injurious landing. They kept fighting and firing, of course, but they were more or less confined to where they crashed.

It was thus up to the three that managed to keep up without crashing, and two harrying strafers, to help Starling with the firefight that resulted from the panicked monks making it to the roof, only to find that the battle was in full swing there as well. the guns on teh strafing wings of both strafers were spent, so they landed their wings, unslung their rifles, and set about shooting and lobbing grenades at the monks, blasting apart chimneys and chimneypots, and smashing skylights left and right.Many monks went dowmn, but more boiled up from below. One of the Escort riflemen, a hulking Bosun's mate named Matthews, who also wore a rifle corporal's chevrons, hunkered down beside Starling at one of the more resilient chimneypots. "We've got three men down but firing, and five effectives. What d'yer want to do?"

[Stella Gaslight]

"We need to take out their entry way if we can. Then we can take care of the rest of them easily. I have Old Betsy and it will cause some damage but explosives would be better." Starling ducked reloading as shots pinged off the terracotta all around them.

[MWBailey]

"Right you are, Doc," Matthews said. "ere, Winks, and you, Sponti, toss me yer bandoliers, yeah?" Matthews snagged the items out o fthe air as they flew in his direction. he took two grenades from each. One of the harrier riflemen said, "Here, Matt, use this too."  He tossed a small bundle of gelignite bricks wrapped together with a diminutive explosive detonation cap, the sort that used a twisted powder fuse. "use the spare strap from yer wing controls to tie it all up together, and put it all together in that weird li'l mess kit they issued us." He told Matthews how to arrange the grenades and explosive so it would all go off at once, and waited while Matthews followed his instructions, trading shots with the monks and downing several. He looked back over, and said, "yeah, loik 'at." Fuse out, yeah, now screw the lid back down. Now, slide it over 'ere, I'm a better thrower than you, remember."

Matthews kicked the mess kit's discarded inner components away, then reluctantly slid the improvised device back over to the harrier, who picked it up, lit the fuse,  and then suddenly sprang up and forward, running across the roof, dodging bullets, shrapnel, and lightning bolts, presumably from one or more of the monks. "Wait! tha's suicide, that is!" Matthews yelled. Incredibly enough, the harrier made to within six feet of the doorway befor being caught in the ankle by a bullet and going down with a growling cry; He tossed the smoking bundle into the doorway with fractions of a second to spare. Shredded woodwork, flame, masonry and screaming monks were flung both skyward and back down the stairs by the blast...

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling shook a bit of wood from her hair and took a moment to breathe. "Very nice gentlemen.  Lets get down there and finish them off now that we don't have to worry about death from above."  What she didn't know is the ones below were waiting for her with some complex magical traps and some very simple pits just waiting for the unwary.

[walkthebassline]

"Captain Bledsoe, any orders at this point? Most of the fighting appears to be heading indoors."

[MWBailey]

"Steady as she goes, Mr. Redburn," Bledsoe answered. "Keep at about 400 feet, so our gunners can narrow the odds of hitting collateral targets to a minimum; You never know but what Rourke'll call for penetration rounds to take out the core of that building, or that last Sparkmoor Device. Pity we're too big to fit down into the street, or we could blast 'er out floor by floor, like a Jerry troopboat..."

At that moment, in fact, Rourke was pressing in and down, chasing a knot of oddly-terrified monks down a lower stretch of the very same stairwell that Starling's contingent were now descending, picking their way through the debris cast down by the improvised demolition charge and the dead monks also cast down by the same blast. every once in a while a monk would rear up brandishing a weapon, and be shot or cut down by Starling or one of the Harriers or Riflemen. Her group came eventually to the landing on the first floor; shuffling and scuffles as of men trying to set up a hasty defense could be heard around the stairwell. "Roight. Us lads'll take on this floor. Mink? you stay ';ere wi' th' Doc and guard teh stairs, anybody you see down there that ain't ours, let 'em 'ave it. C'mon, you lot, it's housefight protocol..."

Rourke holstered the revolver and held up his left arm, hand fisted, signalling 'Hold Position'. "Stop 'ere, they're runnin' too desp'rate fer my likin'." he said. "There's prob'ly a trap down below. Corp, you got a mortar or a big grenade?" He grunted as he took the newfangled oblong mortar shell. "So, we bust this cap on the end, and she'll blow up when she 'its, roight?"

"Yessir," The corp answered, "The things real sensitive, too, so watch out..."

Rourke grunted again, smacked the brass bulge with the pommel of his saber, and then tossed the round out into the middle of the stairwell. it dropped...and dropped...and dropped. "Cor," Rourke swore, "ow deep is dis thing--!" He cut off as a detonation, much larger than he had expected, erupted far below, lightnings shooting upward and lashing the middle extent of the stairwell.

The corporal risked a look over the railing, and said, "Looks loik we 'it summat, sir..."

[walkthebassline]

"Alright Captain, steady as she goes."

Redburn turned to find an attending crewman.

"Fetch a glass, will you? I could use a drink."

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling ran from cover to cover making her zig zaging way to the front doors.  The first chamber was still but she could hear fighting not too far away.  Not wanting to give away the surprise she gestured for the others to follow her slowly and quietly so they could creep up on the monks.   Little did she know that as busy as it was above it was double that below and that each step was shown to them through the floor as bright gold splatters.  Starling was in their sights and soon there would be no escape.

[MWBailey]

A rumble from somewhere deep below heralded first a subtle trembling, an dthen what felt like a full-scale tremblor. the lights, both aetheric and gas-fueled, flickered or flamed up and guttered, and then came back up again, as static tendrils crackled over every window and metal surface attached to the building. A smell of both ozone and brimstone, mixed with scents of loam, ice, and a floral whiff or two afted through teh vbuilding, and the entire edifice seemed to settle back into its foundation, as if it were slightly off-kilter from its original position.

Mina popped into the stairwell and settled on Rourke's shoulder. "Sir Rourke, I don't like this. It feels like we woke something up." Rourke's and Mina's extra senses fairly screamed that although some malevolent force was weakened, it was still present, and might actually be a bit angry. "I know, little 'un," Rourke said. "I feel it too. I wonder where Starling and her lot are right now..."

[Stella Gaslight]

So much for being sneaky Starling thought as the ground shook and they were all forced to scramble.  All around them plaster pillars that had once been bolted to the wall burst off with strange popping sounds coating them in dust as they tried very hard not to be clobbered with the larger chunks.   The monks she had been attempting to sneak up on were dazed and scattered so Starling tried to strike before they regrouped only to find her feet knocked out from under her by something she could not see.  Below chanting started to build as Starling started to get up only to fall again.  All the wile a strange pressure was building like the sky before a thunderstorm.

[MWBailey]

Matthews went to Starling's side, and gripped her arm. "Pardon my for'ardness, doc, but yer floppin' 'round like that bat of th' Leftenant's does when she tries t' run like yer cat. Our orders are t' stuick wi' yer. If you keep floppin 'round like that, we can't move fast, which means we may all get it in the arse, beggin' yer pardon, Doc Ma'am." He looked her seriously in the eye, and then glanced away and said, "When ...Mina, ain't it? When she can't keep up or has trouble on th' ground, she takes t' th' air."

[Stella Gaslight]

"I don't mean to be flopping about it is just every time I get up something tugs my feet out from under me." Starling felt around by her feet and found something wrapped around her boot and her hand came up with a dust covered bit of cable. "What is this?" As she put both feet on the floor the cable started to thrash like a live snake.  "I have the culprit. I think." She said rather confused about the wiggling thing in her hand,

[MWBailey]

One of the other riflemen pulled the sword bayonet from the muzzle of his rifle , and chopped the part of the cable located at his feet into several shorter peices. The segments all sparked as if all were still connected to a main dynamo circuit. "Criminy! i's loik they's all full o' fire!' he yelped as one of the bolts of force contacted his inner thigh.

[Stella Gaslight]

The sparking cables skittered across the floor trying to get away.  "What the blazes is happening here?"  Starling threw the cable at one of the monks and it returned to it's lifeless state.  "Well we have a magic user somewhere at least. We best meet up with the others fast before they have a chance to regroup."

[MWBailey]

Rourke had a thought, and called Mina over to him after ordering hi scontingent of riflemen to set up a perimeter around the stairwell.. "Go and find Miss Starling, or Thomas if that's what it takes, and tell what's going on. Can you translocate her whole force?"

" I can try," Mina answered dubiously. "Mistress says I can do as much as any Paladin, but I've neve rdone more than that At...At... That rocket-blasty thing."

Rourke slipped his pencil and notebook from his tunic, wrote a short note to Starling, and yanked a thread from his sleeve where a scimitar-wielding monk had sliced opemn a seam, and tied the note to the bat's leg.

Doctor Starling Cross,
My compliments.

Will you come with Mina and join us on the ground floor? I have set up a perimeter around the main stairwell.

-Rourke

"Well, let's work on gettin' the good doctor down here first, then we'll worry about th' rest of 'em," Rourke said.

Those words still echoed in the stairwell as Mina POP! ed out of sight and nearly simultaneously did thesame in reverse not ten inches from Doctor Cross's head.

Mina landed on the arm that Dr. Scott had been using to move the cables around, squeaked loudly, and extended her massage-wrapped leg meaningfully...

[Stella Gaslight]

"I got it Mina." Starling said clonking a monk on the head as he stared to stir.  "All right gents we have an invite so lets get a move on."  As soon as the made it out the door the ground shook and there was ha horrible flash of light.  Behind them the floor crumbled and a howl like thunder rolled out.  Starling started running.  "Rourke I think I have trouble on my tail!" She shouted.

[MWBailey]

Two of the harriers and three of the vanguard riflemen fell through the crumbling floor just short of the stairwell landing, along with the monks around them. The landing itself began to shake as well, cracks shooting through teh masonry and pieces flaqking off of teh raw edges where teh floor had once been joined on.

This was indeed a "pickle," as one of Rourke's old C.O.'s had been in the habit of saying. His rifle contingent had only descent arrestors; they could fly undfe rpower, but did not have the necessary engine power to take off. Much like the German wings that Starling had adopted and modified, they could only fly n their own if they had already begun to glide. Rourke himself could priobably swoop don th emiddle of the stairwell and then back up again, but who knew what was down below to catch him unawares before he coild begin to climb again?

"STARLING! Grab yer riflemen, and then grab Mina, and then tell 'er to translocate! The rest o' you lot! DIVE, HO!" Rourke yelled back up. Two harriers and the scanty remainder of the escort squads did as ordered, snapping open their wingpacks and resolutely diving into the open air at the center of the main stairwell as the building began to almost melt around them; Mina took a bit of initiative, then, and clenched her foot-claws into the fabric on Starling's shoulders. *SQEEAAaaeekkk!" she shrieked, telling Starling to hold on tight to her riflemen...

[Stella Gaslight]

 "Alright gents I know it is odd but we neet to hols on too each other." A head rose out of the hole that looked very much like the hell hound from the morning only made of sparks amd golden fire.  It looked at them and let out another howl.  "Blast blast blast it's spotted us.  Mina do your thing quick before that thing chomps us!"  They faided from view as the hound charged.  Poping back in to exsistnce was odd but Starling tried to scoot out of sight. "They have a hell hound made out of bloody fire!"  That seemed vastly unfair.

[MWBailey]

Rourke gaped at Starling. These flamin' things come in more than one kind? he thought incredulously. It did stand to reason, though, hell supposedly being magma-hot...

The hellbeast landed on the stones of the stairwell landing (the tiles having long been shattered by pounding feet and repeated impacts by bullets and magical blasts), it s feet actually melting well-defined footprints in the naked stone. he fired his revolve rat it, and ordered three volleys from the riflemen. "No rockets or bombs, just bullets!" he ordered, carefully gauging the beasts reaction. as he had guessed, with every aggressive action, it either walked or leapt forward several steps. "Hold your fire," He ordered. "Aetherman!"

The man so addressed, a younger rifleman with a wooden case from which emanated at odd locations and angles various bits of coiled wire, piping or dials and switches, stepped forward. "Sah!" he answered; Rourke motioned for the man to turn around. After the man complied, the lieutenant began to whip up and down a small lever on the side of the case, crank another spinner-lever-like device,, and flip several toggle switches until a small aetheric bulb began to shine dull red on top of the contraption. Rourke opened a door in the back of the case, pulled out a receiver microphone and an earpiece, and said, "Rourke to Marigold, code mahogany, over."

"Marigold to Rourke, we read you loud and clear, this is Wellbourne. Code Mahogany acknowledged, gun crews are standing by."

"Rourke to Marigold, alert target-side gunners to fire as they bear upon target to be named, one Hellhound of Fire, to be lured out by massed rifle squads two and three," Rourke answered, then flicked off the mic, and gave the order to the relevent squads to fall back in order, firing steadily, and lead the beast out the ground floor door of the building. The riflemen complied, and the beast followed the squads out into the street, gaining speed and ground with every step; only the iron discipline of the ranks kept the men from bolting and running in the face of of the hellish enemy. Then, Rourke ordered the men to fall back across the street and take cover, waved his sword at the ship above, and dove to the side as the shells rained down...

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling was shocked to see what a beating the beast was taking but still getting up and looking at them like they were delicious.  It howled sending out what looked like lightning at them.  Starling grabbed Rourke and ducked behind a few discarded crates that were charred by the strike.  "Damn that thing is powerful."