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

[walkthebassline]

Morgan surveyed his empty pistols and turned to Talbot.

"Here's your pistol back. Thank you for the use of it. By any chance, would you have any silver rounds in .44 Russian?"

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling pulled herself out of the chair and over to the little man.  "I am not in bad shape realy.  A little battered from the carriage ride and tired from the run.  My leg tends to complain when i do that for long.  Not as bad as it used to be tho."

[MWBailey]

"Sorry, no chance to wash up, yet," Rourke answered the physician's remark about his lack of injuries. He drank the stuff in the glass down in a single gulp, and then wondered if he should have drunk it at all. It felt like a fire in his gut, and the sensation in his throat, most likely from the sediment from the powder, felt as if he'd tried to eat sand biscuits. Then the fire spread out to his extremeties, and he felt better almost immediately.

"Gaaagh." Rourke cleared his throat, then went to the door, and called Starling in. "Your turn, Miss Starling." he walked out and sat on the couch again.

[Cpt Wallace]

Goldtooth looked up at Starling his hooded eyes shining with glee.

"Ah my dear you are injured like our good friend John Talbot, your injury is not of the physical kind but much deeper."

He dug around in his bag muttering as he did.

Talbot turned his attention to Morgan taking the gun from him.

"Thank you, have a look in the drawers, there's a wide range of calibres and models of rounds in there."

He watched as Goldtooth pulled out what looked like a armoured leg harness of dull metal a collection of pipes and cables winding round it much like the vines round her own leg he laid it on the table.

"A fey built brace perhaps for you leg my dear, to help you keep mobile with those things chasing you."

He laid it out checking the pipes and cabling.

"Here take a seat, I'll check the fit in a moment but first John Talbot needs my attentions."

He moved from the chair and went to Talbot he flicked his hand up and the bandages fell away causing Talbot to flinch visibly, he poked at his side and was rewarded with a sharp curse as Talbot twisted away from him.

"You should have spoke up boy, these wounds are to the bone, the fact you are still standing is impressive what has she been doing to you?"

"That't not your concern."

"It is if you want me to treat you boy, I could try something that would unravel everything that she has done, it could just as well kill you as heal you."

He knelt and whispered into Goldtooth's ear.

"Well well, it's been a while since she tried that, doesn't it push the boundaries of the agreement with the Crown?"

"So long as I remain in part no."

He  nodded and dug his finger into the wound scooping out the Talbot cried out as the wounds reopened and Goldtooth trotted off to his bag and the rack he pulled a bottle and a small pouch from the rack and returned he rubbed the paste over the wound and then slapped on a sheet of green material which stuck instantly.

"Sit, and relax."

He made a concoction similar to the one he'd given Rourke but added in half a dozen other ingredients he slid it across the table like a barman.

"Drink, I need you in better shape before we deal with your other problems."

Then he turned his attention to Starling

"Now my dear your leg."

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling rolled up her pant leg.  The flesh beneath was withered and bound with vines that bloomed every so often. It was the worst at her ankle where the support liked to give randomly while she walked.  She had tried to rebuild the mussels useing every bit of medical research she had and some basic magic but nothing helped.  Starling had told her bosses at the university she had been hit by a carriage and was recovering so when she had to go to campus to turn in papers no one gave her a second glance as she shuffled around with her flashy cane.  But then again the fact that the engineering students kept testing their bipedal automatons on the lawn might have had something to do with it too.  They did tend to steal the show.  "It doesn't hurt nearly as much now that I have most of my bones back."

[Cpt Wallace]

Goldtooth started to fit the brace the material was surprisingly flexible despite it's metallic appearance and moulded it'self round her leg as he checked and adjusted the fitting.

"Ah well that's magic my dear I have only the basic knowledge of magic, John Talbot over there can do more than I can and he's still human more or less, no my skills lie in the mechanic and the creation of things but then that's what Goblins are good at, building."

He fastened the straps round her thigh and then moved to check the positioning of the knee joint.

"Those engineers at your university could learn a lot from my kind, we perfected automotons years ago."

His attention shifted to Talbot.

"You any closer to finding the white witch?"

He looked up from the book he'd scooped up his voice dark.

"No."

"You best get a move on Silverhand has gathered the rest of my kind they are building him an army."

"And the Queens are doing nothing about this?"

"He's removed himself from their reach, he'd hiding somewhere in this realm and using a dammed pixie to mask his presence."

Talbot's eyes narrowed as he put the book down, Goldtooth moved his hand down Starling's shin to her ankle where he made the required fitting to her ankle and heel, he made some final adjustments and then leant back.

"Try it out my dear."

His attention shifted again and his finger flashed up at Felix.

"You swordsman sit, you have some wounds similar to his." 

[Alexis Voltaire]

Felix nodded, and moved to sit in the chair Goldtooth, as he seemed to be called, had indicated. He was a little dubious, but decided he didn't have much choice, and that if Talbot trusted the visitor he ought to as well.

He shrugged off his coat with a slight hiss of breath at the movement, revealing a spot where blood had stuck his shirt to his side around four parallel cuts matching the ones in his coat.

"Just got this, we were out fighting off a pack of helldogs a few minutes ago." He said by way of explanation.

[walkthebassline]

Morgan began searching the cabinets around the room, marveling at the wide variety of ammunition Talbot had. He kept a close eye on Starling though, and was not entirely comfortable with what was going on. He trusted her judgement though, and he knew his knowledge of magic was limited.

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling tested her leg not particulerly trusting it.  It was far mor sturdy and her ankel was behaving.  It didn't replace the mussel but it shored things up so there were no wobbles.  Running for long distances might not work but it was nice to not be in danger of falling over.  "This isn't bad at all."

[Cpt Wallace]

Golddtooth was busy rubbing some of the paste into Felix's side he had a sheet of the green material ready for when he was finished.

"It is powered by your aura my dear, it's won't replace the damage done but it will support and compensate for it while you're moving around, give some practice you should be able to run around too."

He looked towards the windows.

"So what are you going to do about them things outside?"

Talbot's eyes lifted up to look at him.

"Your wards are working I see, for a human you have some ability John Talbot the hellhounds are unable to follow your scents, and anyone wishing to scry your whereabouts is blind."

"My sanctuary from the world."

[MWBailey]

"Oi," Rourk e said from the window he had wandered over to when an odd series of sounds had echoed up from the street outside. "What's all that racket down there, d' you syuppose?" He had the sash up and was looking down at the ground and the side of the building below, where  every once in a while, a huge crash could be heard that reverberated up through the floor beneath their feet. amothe rcrash, and a portion of the ground-floor wall exploded outward, as simultanepously a woman's scream could be heard from te same general location.

"I don't wish t' be a party pooper," Rourle said somewhat sardonically, "but it seems to me, this floor might 'ave ter start flyin' by itself if 'at keeps up..."

[Alexis Voltaire]

"What on earth?" Felix said, moving to the window where Rourke stood as soon as Goldtooth had finished treating his wounds. Strangely, he saw two helldogs trotting quickly away toward the entrance of the alley, but then just as quickly they turned and lowered their horned heads, and ran at full speed toward the base of the building.

The floor shook under two impacts, and then as Felix moved closer to the window a bullet struck the brickwork just outside the frame, scattering bits of brick and missing him and Rourke by inches.

Felix stepped back quickly, taking Rourke's arm to move him back out of the line of sight. "Looks like we have another problem... Talbot, do you have an accurate rifle and a way up to the roof from here?"

---

Somewhere underneath an outer section of London, the ritual hall of the Brotherhood of the Serpent was empty- save for two people.

A woman in a red robe peered intently through the vapors rising from a silver bowl. She looked up to the high priest as he paced back and forth across the tiled floor, and shook her head.

"Many of the Guardians have fallen, but those that remain continue the attack." She said.

The high priest muttered a phrase under his breath and turned, pausing in his stride to look to the woman.

"The others?" He asked, referring to those who had been sent to bring Starling back after the helldogs had killed her defenders.

"Most are scattered. They began to chase her as she took to the sky, but it was a trick." She blew on the surface of the bowl, and the images she saw shifted. "I saw her as the Guardians chased, on the streets. I can see that place, but I can no longer find her directly, she is hidden from me."

"Contact them. Tell them where to find her, and to bring her back no matter what it takes. You know what depends on this," He said, looking hard at the woman. "We must not fail."

[Cpt Wallace]

He pulled rifle from one of the cabinets that had been fitted with a collection lenses and slid the compact magazine from the weapon, he unloade the rounds on the table and went to one of the drawers seemingly his vigour ha returned pulling the drawer open he collected up half a dozen gold and silver rounds, each one engraved with crimson Latin script, he loaded the rounds and tossed the weapon to Felix. Then he took the newest weapon of the collection the Hotchkiss repeater the weapon was an ugly thing dark and boxy with a large drum he pulled the drum from the weapon and checked the load before sliding it back into place.

He took up the winchester pistol and headed for the front door grabbing a coat as he went pulling it round his body and fastening it.

"Teach this dammed things to attack my home, Mrs Figginson is going to have a heart attack when she sees the damage."

He pulled open the door and stepped out slamming the door behind him, striding down the corridor towards the stairs he drew the slide back on the weapon and headed for the front door he pulled the door open and levelled the weapon pulling the trigger he sent a dozen quicksilver rounds hammering into one of the hellhounds as it appeared from the corner the creature the rounds tore it open and it flayed around on the floor it's side and legs ruined.

"Where are you you bastard."

His attention shifted and he shouted back into the building.

"Get your selves rearmed there are more coming."

[walkthebassline]

Morgan had just finished reloading his revolvers, and he followed Talbot to the door. The second helldog was rounding the corner, and he lifted both guns and began firing. Four silvered bullets slammed into the beast as it bounded towards them, and at the last second Morgan fired the shotgun barrel of one LeMat, catching the helldog as it opened its jaws. With that, he scrambled back, trying to avoid its teeth.

[MWBailey]

Rourke had found a crate of cartridges similar to the holy water rounds he had gotten at the Nadir Palace, and they fit his service revolver. He finished reloading the revolver, then saw something odd but familiar in the crate. six round discs, each charged with the same rounds, turned up as a result of his searching. he pocketed those, then went in search of heavier artillery. he found in the case from which Talbot had removed the Hotchkiss a huge -bored rifle (if rifle it in fact was; it had barrel grooves, but the rounds for it were almost an inch and a half in diameter!) the projectile sections of the cartridges were silvery and covered in crosses and and what looked like depictions of broken ankhs. He put the strap over one shoulder. it only had six rounds in the magazine, but anything this big will play merry hell with the enemy, he thought.

He had an idea, then, and wandered away from the main room, thinking, Now, if I were one o' them things, where'd they keep me... He stopped beside a smallish bed in another room, stooped down, glanced under the bed, and then fell to all fours. "Eureka!" he exclaimed, as he drew forth a crate from which he removed an ATLATL and three torpedo rockets. Then he heard Talbot's shout for rearmament, and smiled grimly, shouldering the ATLATL as well, and hurrying out just after Redburn.

On the street out front, two helldogs were just turning about for another run at the building. Rourke strode out onto the stoop, shouldered the ATLATL, yanked the priming cord, and  yelled FIRE IN THE HOLE! STAND FROM UNDER!" and as the ignition warning charge POPped loudly, he pressed the firing lever, and the cage that held the rocket sprang open, the spring action also thrusting the torpedo rocket upwards laterally. The main propellant charge lit off, and the rocket whoooshed away to target, the explosion of the warhead totally shredding one Helldog, and severely wounding the other ... and simultaneously blasting a hansom cab (thankfully empty of driver or passengers) to flinders. The horses(Rourke was amazed that they had not bolted already) fled screaming in terror.

The second helldog recovered itself despite the others' shots, and came on at a dead run. "Bloody hell," Rourke reloaded the ATLATL but stopped short from re-stringing the priming cord and laid the weapon down, instead bringing the shell rifle to bear...

[Alexis Voltaire]

Felix followed Talbot and the rest, but turned off at a stairwell that led upwards, and  after a climbing another flight of stairs found a door leading up to the flat roof.

Careful to stay out of sight, he took a position between two chimneys and rested the rifle  across a rise between them, and began scanning the rooftops and windows in the direction the  last shot had come from.

Ah, there you are... he thought, catching sight of a tiny flash and puff of gunsmoke  from another roof as a shot rang out. unfortunately, the shooter was well protected from  that angle by a similar brickwork chimney stack.

Felix saw that he might be able to get a clear shot if he moved to the left. The only cover  in that direction was the eight-inch high lip on the edge of the flat roof, but if the other  shooter was only paying attention to the ground he could get over there without being  noticed. He slid the rifle down off its rest and edged over on his stomach to the left side  of the roof.

The other shooter apparently couldn't see down far enough into the street below to take a  shot at the others as they fought the helldogs, so he moved out from behind cover of the  chimney, crouching close to the edge of the roof so he could shoot down into the street.

Idiot Felix couldn't help thinking, sliding the rifle up to rest on the lip of the  roof. His own position was hardly better from a standpoint of concealment, but he didn't  have the time to find anything else.

He lined up the sights of the lenses on his target, aiming for where the man's heart should  be from this angle, and squeezed the trigger slowly until the rifle kicked back against his  shoulder. He saw the bullet strike the man's neck and send him reeling back, and Felix quickly slid the rifle bolt out and down and back again, chambering another round. The rifle  was sighted in for a much longer range than this, the windage was perfect but the sights  were high by six inches or so.

He watched but the man on the roof didn't move again, likely the bullet had broken his neck.

But others were arriving by wingpack from elsewhere in the city, and Felix suddenly found himself running and dodging for cover as two more riflemen made up for the fact that they couldn't aim well on the wing by peppering the rooftop with bullets...

[MWBailey]

Rourke forced himself to relax and concentrate on the shot, drawing a bead on the second helldog and squeezing the triggerm bracing fir what promised to be a sizeable kick.

It was, and it nearly caught him off guard. He rocked back on his left heel, absorbing the recoil as the breeze blew away the heavy cloud of gunsmoke. The helldog literally ran straight into the small-caliber shell, and the beast's head flew apart, the body tumbling end over end in the road, before coming to rest just short of the stoop.Rourke noticed the flying troops over head, and thought they were reinforcements until a few bullets spanged off of the paving blocks at his feet. He raise dteh shell rifle and shot three of the fliers down before ducking back inside the doorway, dragging Redburn and Talbot behind him. "That's a rainstorm you don' want ter get caught in," he said, as teh retaliatory bullets sprayed down.

[Cpt Wallace]

Taking cover he looked Rourke and Redburn a wicked grin on his face.

"What a bloody waste each one of these things cost more than those buggers likely get paid in a year."

He stepped out into the open brought the repeater to his shoulder and fired spraying the air with a even spread of deadly fire, he cut half a dozen from their swooping passes either killing the men outright or rupturing some vital component in the wing pack and sending them diving to their deaths, the weapon clicked empty and he stepped back into the building drawing his pistol.

"I suggest we go down, there is an exit to the underside of London in the basement we can lose them in the labyrinth the Nadir use and head for Felix's safe house. Or we could go through the fey mirror  and find our way from there."

[MWBailey]

"The mirror's temptin', but I'd feel better with a little more tangible means of escape," Rourke said. " 'Sides, Mina can go on a head and let Nadir know what's comin into their demesne." he turned about suddenly, pulling his revolver, and shot on eof teh helldogs point-blank in the face with one of Talbot's holy water cross bullets. The beast stood there as if stunned, and then burnt away swiftly to ash from the inside out.

"That was entirely too close," he said...

[Alexis Voltaire]

Felix ducked back down into the stairwell leading to the roof, several bullets striking the wall in fron tand to the sides as he hurried down the stairs. He turned and shouldered the rifle when he was down far enough that the rooftop was roughly at eye-level, and shot two riflemen that had just landed though the chest, and winged a third, causing him to to tumble off the edge of the roof.

He hurried down the steps to meet up with the others, and once there heard about Talbot's idea.

"I can find the safe house from here, above ground or under." He said, shouldering the rifle to shoot another rifleman that had just landed and stepped to the edge of the roof to take aim...

[Stella Gaslight]

Starling was not happy with staying inside during the bombardment but going out was a bad idea.  All the fire would be attracted to her in a heartbeat.  She paced back and forth trusting that Morgan would be alright but it agitated her.  Starling had noticed that since she gained her powers she worried more and more about Morgan and the fact that monsters were popping up more and more.  They were both strong but still the thoughts nibbled at her.

[Cpt Wallace]

Goldtooth was fussing packing his things away he left a box on the table and what appeared to be a wide silver bracelet.

"My dear I am not a fighter, and this is becoming a warzone I do not want to be caught in, give John Talbot the box and the bracelet he will know what to do with them."

With that he shuffled off dragging his bag with him to the mirror dragging open the cage he strode into the glass and vanished the cage slamming shut behind him.

--

Talbot swung round and put a round through the neck of of the attackers it dropped him like a stone it utter silence then he turned and put a round in another hellhound it's skin shattered at the point of impact the body caving in on itself as it collapsed.

"What ever we're doing let's do it quick."   

[MWBailey]

"First, upstairs ta Get Miss Starling and the others, then down to th' underground," Rourke said. "We might be able to do a jog through the Nadir network t' throw 'em off..."

[Alexis Voltaire]

Felix headed back inside, leaving the door open for the others to follow, and went back up the stairs to Talbot's flat.

"We have to leave now, Dr. Scott." He said, stepping inside and holding the door open. "Talbot has an exit in the basement we can use to get to another location, we should be able to lose them this time."

[Cpt Wallace]

He went back up into the flat striding through the door he pulled off the bloodied shirt and pulled on a fresh one from a drawer collecting up his gauntlet he pulled that on too and headed into the dining room, gathering a bag he thrust as much ammunition as he could into it and then pushed the repeater in on top the weapon took too long to reload so he scooped up the second Winchester pistol and a speed loader snapping the rounds into the gun he slid it into a holster.

"Take what you can, there are more bags laying about here."

Moving to the rack by the front door he collected up his long coat and then the fey blade which he hung from the belt.

"I'll come out last there is one last surprise I can set in case any one wishes to enter here."