It was a warm, Sunday night in June, around the nine o'clock hour, the moon bright over head and stars shining in the clear night sky. The waves rising and falling against the beach in a rough rhythm, Waimea Bay was largely unoccupied at this time of night, college students and kids out on summer break heading to the more party friendly waves in Waikiki. That didn't mean that there wasn't a smattering of people here, folks listening to music, couples entwines on beach blankets and people chasing each other here and there. Glow stick festooned surfers could be seen dotting the dark horizon.
Peter strides along the beach, his boots leaving their grooved outlines in a long line trailing off behind him. Beside him, a red-headed Lola, oar comfortably settled over one shoulder. "So yeah. You said I wasn't supposed to be able to see those spirits. Why not? I mean, besides the fact that I can't see dead people and you can. Was there something wrong with those ones? It... it seemed like they were pretending to be people. But they didn't understand something that a real person would, at least, anyone who's been alive for at least twenty years or so, and have seen cars and such. It's like they didn't know that you can't just jump out in front of a car and not get run down."
The young man looks to her then. "Did you notice anything else that was off? I... I wonder if there will be more of things like those. It's why I asked if you'd come out. I was serious about the date thing, by the way. But yeah." The young man gestures. "I thought maybe we could look around, see if there's something strange happening. You seemed curious as to their arrival and actions so..." He shrugs.
Were Peter and Lola not walking side by side, one might wonder if they're actually together at a glance. The fiery haired woman doesn't look at him, her eyes scanning the path before them intently. Occasionally darting to one side or the other. To things not seen by the common eye.. or she's just strange. That's more likely. She does indeed walk with Row'an laid across her shoulder, an arm lazily resting on it to balance the oar casually where it rests. And after his questioning of her, she's quiet for a time. Her dour expression only shifting after a few moments when she starts to answer him in her rough, husky voice. "You aren't like us. You don't see spirits. They're everywhere. All the time." After a beat she adds, "I am looking. And if I see anything fucking with the way things are supposed to be, I'll end it." She still hasn't looked towards him.
Conni makes her way along the edge of the water, carrying a bottle in one hand as she chats with a friend to her left. She's dressed for the evening, wearing a dark low-cut t-shirt and some tight blue jeans, her usual thick boots and a black jacket. She has an artist tube over her left shoulder, the strap crossing her chest. She looks to her left and smiles, pale blue eyes regarding her friend for a moment. "Okay, so I have the food, where are we going to settle for our little picnic?" In her right hand, Conni has a plastic bag from one of the local take-out places, several silver wrapped packages within.
Jane is with Conni, the dark-skinned woman wearing board shorts and a crop top in a matching shade of pale blue the same rich shade as her eyes. Her boots leave deep prints behind her as she walks, prints quietly disappearing as each wave laps over them. She has a glass bottle casually held in one hand, a roll of thick fabric under one arm and a heavy bag slung over one shoulder; the bottle's label announces it as the product of a local brewery, for those who recognise such things. Another wave rushes up the beach towards them, flowing around Jane's boots before ebbing back and taking some more of her bootprints with it. "Not here? We might get kinda soggy," she says, then gestures along the beach a little way. "S'usually quieter over there."
Iolana is making her way across the beach gaze strait DOWN infront of her, small card table tucked under one hand and a backpack slung over one shoulder as she watches where she puts her feet but not much else at the moment.
Casey is stretched out on the sand, hands behind her head where she's propped up on a big black athletic bag. The rangy blonde with her hair in braided pigtails is idly watching the chemical-lit surfers out against the dark water and sipping on a promotional beer that one of the stands was giving out earlier. She's wearing a plain white tank top and a pair of denim cutoff shorts, with a chunky-buckled leather belt slung low around her hips and a black bandana wrapped around her left wrist. Her pale, sage green eyes lined with smoky black scanned from the water to the people around. People-watching. That's it.
Casey's glance falls on the moving figures of Peter and Lola, and the girl at least is familiar. The blonde raises a hand and hollers over, "Heya, Red, long time no see." If she's heard anything of the weird conversation, she doesn't let it show. But the smell of take-out and clinking bottles draws her attention to the towering, lissome figures of Conni and Jane, and she hollers over from her sandy perch, "Got a nice dry sandy patch over here, if you're looking for a picnic, not a spa day."
Out in the water, a head breaks the surface. The owner of that head, Nick, shakes it a bit like a dog, then sweeps his dark hair back with a hand. He begins to swim free style the short remaining distance to the shore, until the water grows too shallow and he begins to wade the rest of the way in. Blue eyes scan the shoreline as he steps onto the sand. Eventually he gets to where he's left his towel and other items, which he drops down to with a sigh.
It's around the nine o'clock hour on a warm, pleasant Sunday evening, Waimea beach mostly empty as summering teens and college students look towards the more casual swim friendly beaches in the later hours. People were still gathered here and there in small groups however, enjoying the freedom that summer brought and grasping at the last moments of the weekend. The night was clear and pleasant, though a low, mournful horn could be heard somewhere in the distance, over the water.
"Oh, I know they are out there all the time. And I did very much enjoy the look on your face when I saw those ones in the intersection." Peter grins cheekily at Lola. "You... almost had some respect for me. Almost." When Casey calls out to Lola, Peter's grin brightens further. "It is nice to see that you can make friends, Red."
Peter waves to Conni and Jane. "Hello ladies. How is your evening going?" He pauses then, and reaches out a hand to tap Iolana on the shoulder as she walks past. "Heeey, Iolana, we never worked out a day when I could come and get my fortune told. You still interested in doing tha.... Hang on..."
Sniffing noisily, Peter begins moving down the beach. "That fishing boat is coming in pretty hard. Engine's burning oil or something though." He glances back over his shoulder. "Lola, see anything I can't on that boat there?" The young man gestures out into the water. "It's probably going to come right up the beach in a second..."
Rick has come to the beach by himself, and without sans surfboard this time. Considering it's dark out and he doesn't want to get eaten by sharks or whatever. Instead, he has a cooler in his hand, and he walks out to somewhere halfway between the top of the beach and the water, setting it down and sitting down, himself. He opens it and takes out a beer, popping the top off and taking a pull from it as he leans back, looking out over the water. That's when he spots something odd. His eyes narrow, and he sets down the beer, standing up again, a frown creasing his forehead. Then his eyes widen. "Shit!"
Sylvi was making her way to the beach, not from the island, no, but from out in the water. She'd been visiting someone on a boat out there, apparently, as she was using their collapsable kayak as a mode of transportation to return to dry land. As she made the beach, Sylvi climbed out the Kayak easily and began breaking it down into it's oddly compact form, excellent for use as a boat to shore craft due to it not taking up much space at all on its mother ship.
Syl was dressed for likely what had been a day out on a boat, so she still wore a set of brief, comfortable looking black, knit shorts that left her long, lithely muscular legs mostly exposed all the way down to her currently bare feet, her sandals having been dropped to the sand when she pulled them out of the end of the kayak prior to breaking it down. For a top, she had on a simple, form fitting tank top that was either pale blue or white, hard to tell which in the darkness, really. Her long, blonde hair had been fastened up into a messy bun to keep it out of her way while she made her way to shore, and it stayed there, while she looked out over the water for a moment.
The grin on her lips for whatever she was thinking didn't last all that long, though, as it faded to more of a curious slant as she spotted the incoming fog lights of a water-going vessel. Standing up fully as she tucked the collapsable kayak into its case, Sylvi spoke in Norwegian, not overly loud, but obviously saying something she was thinking without applying the brain-mouth filtration system.
Lola glances towards Casey when called out to, her brow crinkling in bemusement. But despite that her head tilts upward slightly, giving Casey an up nod. Though she doesn't stop walking at the moment. "Wasn't respect," she states to Peter, though she neglects to elaborate. Her attention drifts towards the boat, when asked, pausing as he seems to have. "I see the lights," she answers him, not seeming deeply interested in the boat itself. At least, not yet. Finally she looks at Peter himself, her eyes narrowing slightly.
Looking to her right, Conni looks over to Peter and Lola and then waves. "Aloha Peter, Lola." At hearing his words, she looks over the water and squints her eyes. "Hon? You might want to get out of the water. I can see a small ship out there and it's coming in pretty fast." Conni doesn't sound massively concerned, more curious than anything. Sylvi is spotted as she packs up her kayak, "Aloha!" Looking to her left, Conni grins. "I'm beginning to think that you should have brought more beer."
Casey pulls herself up to sitting when there seems to be some sort of ruckus happening out on the water. "What? Y'all have night vision goggles on or something? I can't see shit..." But nonetheless, the rangy blonde angles up to her feet and slings that big black bag over her shoulder, her discarded boots in her other hand as she takes a couple of steps back. "Uh, where's that ship coming in at?" she raises her voice, flagging down Conni and then squinting back out to sea.
Jane meets Conni's look with one of her own. "Prolly," she agrees. "Or we can make people bring their own damn beer. This stuff ain't cheap out here!" She looks away from Conni, looking out over the water at the lights. "Kinda pretty, huh?" And then she spots Sylvi along the way a little, Jane apparently not quite as sharp as Conni is. "Aloha!"
Nick, lying on his towel that's close to the edge of the water, is lying back with his arm over his eyes, but maybe it's all the chatter from statuesque, super-model-esque women roaming on the beach today that makes him open them again and sit up. He leans back on his arms as he peers out at the water. He sees lights in the distance, but that's not *too* out of the ordinary. Rick's nearby, and he hears that 'shit!' from the surfer. "You okay, man?" he asks, frowning just a bit.
Iolana looks upblink-blinking, "OH hey Peter. Ahh, ain't got my book on me but Anytime Wednesday afternoon ought to be good..." She nods and lets him tend to whatever adjusting her grip on the card table and then she frowns then and looks around only to grimace and direct her back down.
The ship kept coming, and now that others were aware of it, it was easy to see that something was indeed wrong. Especially as it was coming closer at speed. The smoke became visible against the flames that began to lick out from the small fishing boat, momentum carrying it as the engine caught fire. People were already running from the shore as it kept pushing along, finally grinding itself out on the sand.
The explosion that followed was inevitable, breaking the silence of the night and sending beach goers shrieking, hardly helped by the squat, rotund form that was thrown from the deck and onto the sand, rolling hard before coming to a stop!
Peter blinks as the ship began spewing flames, and he takes a few steps back as the ship makes it ashore. The explosion caused him to cover his ears and snarl, obviously not enjoying that one bit. When he looks up again, he moves a little towards the boat, but then notices the rotund form that had been thrown ashore.
"Hey, are you alright, buddy?", the young man asks loudly. "What happened on your boat? Anyone else inside?" Peter takes a few steps closer, his nose wrinkling.
From the slowly burning wreckage another figure appeared, this one tall and gangly. Perhaps to the point of being uncomfortably so. It stood at the bow of the ship, eyeing the assembled group of people, tracking movement. It's eyes alighted on Conni and Jane, bobbing it's head as it took note of their height. It let out a high pitched warble, the sound of scurrying following from behind it.
That boat looks like it's gonna-" And then, yes, it did exactly what he was going to say. Which is that it crashes into the beach. The explosion is just a bonus. He takes a step back when the thing is thrown from the deck and onto the sand, and he doesn't start toward whatever it is immediately. And when that second thing takes shape on the bow -- and makes that very eerie sound -- he's even less inclined to get any closer. "What the hell is that?!" He shoots a very quick glance at Nick, as though the other man might have some answers. Not that it matters at this point when the reality is right there.
Sylvi looked over at the makeshift picnic and grinned after tearing her eyes away from the oncoming ship. She made her way to Conni and Jane, lifting her hand first to touch Jane's chin and then lay a solid, rather attentive kiss on her lips. Naturally, one doesn't ignore Conni, being herself she makes that rather impossible, so after greeting Jane, Sylvi turned and repeated the greeting process, touching Conni's chin softly then raising her lips just a little to kiss her properly hello. Once there wasn't a dry lip among the ladies, Sylvi stood back up and grinned to them, saying something in Norwegian that sounded pretty damn suggestive. "Jeg vil ikke overvelde min favorittrorrenser."
Sylvi then winced at the rather terrible sound of sand being ground against the sides and bottom of a quickly moving boat. She had to turn away from her friends on their picnic and stared as the flaming ship came to a solid stop. Her gray-blue eyes narrowed at the boat and she looked decidedly leery, that is until the explosion happened and she brought her arm up to protect her face, then turned so her side was exposed to the sudden fireball rather than risk a full-frontal burn. "Well then, did you bring the marshmallows?" Her tone was dry, as she lowered her arm and scanned the crashed ship, plus the people she could see so far. "There are at least two more moving around on the boat, carrying boxes." That seemed to confuse the blonde slightly. "Though they don't seem to give a damn about putting out the fire." Syl looked over at Rick and grinned. "Hey Rick, it should be alright. Do you have your board with you? All I have are these collapsable Kayak oars, not sturdy."
Lola watches as the boat hits. The explosion faced, her eyes narrowing at the glare. But she remains unmoved on the sands, her head canting slightly as she watches the plump one tumble onto the beach itself. But her attention is snagged when the one on the deck still warbles. The sound, the unnatural build. All bring a slow smile to her. She flips the oar down from her shoulders, taking it up in a casual grip. "About time some fun tumbled into my lap," she rumbles to herself. Her posture shifting, left foot sliding back, the paddle of the Oar of Destiny swept forward in a snap. She handles the oar with an easy familiarity. "And you brought friends," she adds, openly pleased, given the upward curl of her lips. "So let's play."
Conni smiles warmly as Sylvi approaches, reacting to the kiss in kind and then grinning like a loon afterwards. "Well, I'm ready to face the day now." She quirks an eyebrow as Sylvi speaks, leaning over to Jane and giving her a nudge with an elbow. Her attention is then drawn to the approaching boat and the minor explosion. "What on earth?" She starts to make her way into the water, looking to see if she can spot anyone to help. "You know, it never ends well when we go into the water. Just thought I'd mention that..."
Casey lets her boots fall from her hand in favor of shielding her face from the explosion (without thwacking herself in the face with her own heels). When she lowers her bare arm from in front of her eyes, she spots the round man tumble to the beach in a smouldering heap, so she wheels around and darts towards the man, hollering, "Hey, you alright, Mister? That was a hell of a fall-whoooooa..." she skids to a halt about a foot from the odd looking fellow, blinking her eyes and jerking her upper body backwards to stay her momentum.
Jane greets Sylvi with a hug and a kiss that's neither sisterly nor platonic. "And Aloha to you too," she purrs, waiting for the Norwegian woman to detach from Conni before offering her the bottle. "Beer? I know you reckon it's all kinda like makin' love in a canoe, but that's the US for ya." The grinding crash of the fishing vessel hitting the beach had Jane wincing away. The warble from above decks had her staring up at the ship, eyes wide. "Bodysnatchers," she says, as though that should mean something. "God-damned bodysnatchers."
The "body snatchers" having been rumbled, began to move. One of them, grotesquely muscled, leapt easily from the boat's deck with a heavy looking crate in it's arms. It spotted Sylvi and grinned, revealing a seat of teeth too large for it's mouth. It spoke in a foreign tongue, as it opened that mouth further, splitting the skin along the sides of it's face. The muzzle that emerged was veined like parchment, and a hideous belch rumbled forth, followed by a spew of noxious smelling gas directly at the blonde woman! She was easily quick enough to escape however, and it shut it's mouth with a snap of fangs, the skin of it's meat suit hanging uselessly about it's ravaged face
Rick's words of warning are just enough to get Nick to move a bit, getting out of the way for the boat's arrival on the beach and subsequent explosion. He at least has enough warning to grab his shirt and car keys from where he's tucked them. "What the fuck," he mutters, running another hand through his still wet hair. "We should call-" he begins, but then things are getting weird, and he stops, squinting. Of course, that's about when Sylvi's getting attacked. "Yeah, that's wrong on a lot of levels," he says mostly to himself, maybe some to Rick. "Those things aren't normal."
Iolana's eyes widen and she scampers back several paces, "Coulda killed somebody wha in the..." She peers at the reactions of those she recognizes and then poses closer, "Awww...HELL Naw." She stumbles and falls on her ass and scrambles to get back up on her feet in the sand taking off a bit and kicking up sand in the processes, "Naw, naw, naw." She declares frantically as she makes SURE there's plenty of distance between whatever the hell THOSE are and her.
The tide is low and ebbing.
Another of the box carrying creatures hopped down onto the sand, this one obscenely tall. It was fully stretching it's borrowed skin, which looked dry and weak from age, never mind the stress it was under. It too dropped it's box to the sand, letting out a screech in the same language as it went after Nick, long claws raking across his chest!
The porcine looking fellow, his skin bulging in odd places with the effort to contain... well frankly whatever the hell was in there let out a return to that earlier warbling call, launching itself off the ground with surprising speed despite it's shape, claws extending from split open fingers to slash at Casey, though the woman was easily nimble enough to suffer nothing more than a light scratch!
"See, you should have accepted the date. I've brought you to the entertainment.", Peter says over his shoulder to Lola. "Uhm, you wouldn't happen to have a second oar, would you? Or maybe Longinus, the Spear of Destiny? Something sharp and pointy?" The young man looks around, ending up snagging a nice wine bottle some kind partygoer left behind. "Well, this is not a fortuitous start to the fight night." The young man holds it up in readiness. "Come get some ...", he pauses to look at the bottle's label. "Cheap Port, soggy burnt ... thing."
It's initial gambit having failed, the oddly trundling thing took off like a shot towards Sylvi, claws extended towards the norwegian woman, it's hideous face open wide to try to bite at her. It managed to sink claws into her certainly, enough to draw blood as it took up the warbling cry.
Rick is clearly not sure that any of it //will// be all right, judging by his expression. As to whether he has the surfboard, he just shakes his head and says, "Nope," but he doesn't have time to say much more before one of the things is coming at Nick. "Shit!" he exclaims for the second time in as many minutes, and without thinking about it any more, he reaches down to grab the beer bottle, swinging it hard in the direction of its head. Or some part of it.
Sylvi hissed slightly as claws happened to scrape across her arm, abrading her skin. "Du pikk!" She cursed at the creature that was attacking her, then dipped low, grabbing a handful of soggy sand, throwing it into the ghul's face. "I hope someone has an extra weapon, then, I don't even have an underwire right now!" She shifted around watching the ghul, taking a breath to steady herself without taking her attention from the target.
Lola tracks the moving targets as they scatter to start assaulting beach goers. Her eyes narrowed as they flick, flick, flick.. there! She catches the sanding of the D rated Ghul and reacts immediately. Even as it's dealing with that, she snaps towards the thing, Row'an swung up, then around and down in a smooth and focused swing. "Smashing time, bitch!" She keeps it simple, swinging the oar down hard to slam into the thing's shoulder hard. There's a dull, wet pop as the bone slips right out of place. And that seems a sweet sound to her, given the open pleasure that blossoms on her face. The young woman hopping back after impact, her oar lifted again across herself, her stance light and ready.
"Just give me a minute?" Conni winces as Sylvi is attacked, swinging her artist tube around via the strap so that it is in front of her. Quickly popping off the top, she takes out two lengths of wood and metal and sets about screwing them together. "I really need a quicker way to do this..." She glances around as she works, rather keen not to get jumped in the process.
Shadows lengthen and the light turns golden as the sun sinks toward the west through a clear sky.
Casey recoils away from the slashing claws of the ghul, taking a rake across the arm with a snarl. "OH. HELL. NO." The pigtailed blonde slings her bag from her shoulder and unzips it in one fluid motion, the gleaming polished wood of a genuine Louisville Slugger - the king of baseball bats - appearing in her hand as the bag falls away. "You came after the wrong girl, you Unclean shitheel. Because I have a heaping helping of righteous fury ready just for you." She starts testing out her swing as she murmurs a quick prayer: "Lord, only you can judge if these monsters are worth of mercy, so please help me send them to you swiftly and away from these people."
"Hey! Asshole!" Jane marches the few steps towards Sylvi, all boots and attitude, and shoves her empty hand towards the face of her opponent, putting her palm right in front of it. "Screw you!" Sunlight, incandescent but fleeting, kindles in the palm of her hand. Against the darkness of the night it's a devastatingly-bright attack, guaranteed to leave afterimages in the eyes of those its aimed at.
The evening stars come out as the red-orange sun sinks below the horizon.
Spotting one of it's kin being battered, the Ghul leapt away to strike at Lola, knocking her oar aside as it slashed her with it's claws, it's odd call growing more intense as it tried to batter at the armed woman. As it did the stress of such movement put an even greater strain on it's failing shell, hunks of skin and hair falling away to reveal more of it's true shape!
Nick reels back when the bodysnatcher swipes at him, grunting in pain and looking down at his now torn Ramones shirt. "That was *vintage* you asshole," he swears at the thing, backing up as Rick charges the thing. He glares at the thing, and suddenly there's the faint sound of hooves as he holds up his hand. A ribbon of supernatural fire -- crimson, magenta, even green flames -- comes shooting toward the ungainly inhuman thing that attacked him. No doubt the scent of scorched flesh is unpleasant.
Iolana blinks and STARES at Rick, "What is he..is he nuts?!" She minces in place and sighs, "Damnit. Fine." She drops the table and her backpack and begins to scoop and pack sand into her packpack zipping it up, "Well I'll listen if you got a better idea." apparently to the thin air beside her as she struggles to heft the now quiet heavy backpack with both hands. Anyone who's ever been smacked by a heavybag or taken a medicine ball to the gut probably knows what she's going for though less clear is how she plans to use this Very Heavy Thing.
The ghul assaulting Casey kept at it, trying to break past her defenses now that she'd drawn out her bat. It manages a few quick scores along her arms, but was kept at bay otherwise, letting lose a call of frustration!
One of the ghuls, noting that the others were busy, decided to send itself after Peter, who had clearly armed himself but hadn't started fighting yet. Easy prey, save for the fact that the man was horribly nimble, and suffered nothing more than a few scratches.
The stars glitter like diamonds in the deep sapphire blue of the night sky.
"Hey, watch it!", Peter says loudly as the ghul tries to claw him, leaving a thin bloody line along one of his legs. He takes a few steps around the ghul on him, to swing the bottle against the ghul attacking Lola. Only to bounce the bottle lightly off of the ghul's shoulder.
The ghul Jane and Sylvi had managed to blind was staggering around, lurching about as it tried to find prey. It stumbled towards where Jane had been when she had blasted it with light, lashing arms out to try to grab her in a bearhug. She was far to quick however, and the creature was still way to blind to manage to get it's grip on anything!
He may well be nuts, but either way, Rick misses the ghoul, and then needs to jump out of the way as Nick's fire blasts past him. "What the hell!" He looks over at Nick with wide eyes, and he hesitates, before going forward to swing again. Once all the fire is out of the way, of course. That could be bad.
Sylvi looked at Conni as she finished putting together the weapon, then gave her a saucy grin that likely didn't belong on a battle field. "Sexy, sexy." She reached down and plucked up the spear from Conni, hefting it over her shoulder and turning to look at the Ghul that was now going after Jane, bright light having made it a little less capable of getting a grip on the tall, dark, and lovely woman. A growl came from under her breath as she took her position, aimed, and then used her arm like some sort of trebuchet of doom, the spear flying true and rather fast right at the Ghul's head. As it entered the side, then came out the other, sticking into the ground after losing its momentum, it left behind a huge hole, and some very nice cracking along the rest of the Ghul's skull, leaving it a fairly fragile container for whatever meat it had between the ears. "Get away from her, you DICK!"
Lola twists as another target comes at her, Row'an swept a few times to try and ward it off. Which almost works, but it slips past, scoring first blood on her. The woman grunts at the pain, but grins at the creature. "You flirting with me big boy? Better watch out for him." The words rolling out harshly as she sees Peter coming in from another angle. As Peter plunks a bottle off her erstwhile suitor, she catches her prior target having its head cored and the scent of weakness draws her. She ducks to the side and sweeps Row'an around, letting the weight of the paddle work for her, adding to her momentum. Swung up and around as she leaps, putting her weight into the swing. "Hammer time!" Roared out as the paddle comes down, edge first. The already weakened head splatters under the weight of the blow. Her expression alight with terrible glee. She doesn't even blink when her clothing and face are lightly dotted with gore. The first few rows might get wet as well.
Returning the grin, Conni watches as Sylvi makes her throw, letting out a low whistle when it hits. "Oh wow, now you're making me envious that I never kept up with the javelin!" Getting back to her feet, Conni spends a moment surveying the battlefield and then coming to a decision. Taking in a deep breath, she starts to draw on her energy, filling herself up until she's almost at bursting point and there are spots starts to show in front of her eyes. Point a finger towards the Ghul that attack Casey moments before, she utters a single word. "Thurisaz!" The word spoken, a wrist thick bolt of lightning springs from her extended finger, arcing across the beach and grounding itself on the Ghul. There is an almost blinding light followed by the smell of ozone and something that could be but probably isn't bacon. "Woah..." Conni says, blinking her eyes and trying not to sway.
Casey gives a feral whoop as she smells Nick's charred ghul, followed by the slightly earthier scent of ghul blood as Sylvi skewers and Lola splatters the unwelcome sailors. The rangy blonde in pigtails leaps aside as lightning arcs past her, but the effect earns an approving yelp of its own. "You probably should've thought this through better," she tells the ghul who's raked her arms into bleeding ribbons as the blessed, holy momentum of a bat swung with righteous fury connects with its knees. "Say your prayers, if you know 'em!"
Jane, having evaded the ghoul, takes stock of their surroundings. "Spears and javelins. Be right back!" She turns and runs, the pack falling from her back to land on the sand in her wake. A few moments after she gets out of sight there's a strange sort of booming, thundrous whump, followed by a quieter one a couple of seconds later.
The Ghul Conni had struck with lightning stood there, dazed and juttering as it tried to regain it's senses. It did so to see one of it's compatriot's heads opened up and staved in, and another taking a baseball bat to the knees, which let out a keening scream. It started back, giving it's own strange cray and ran towards the two crates, grabbing one up in it's arms as it began to flee the beach towards the forest beyond!
The tide is low and rising.
With a few fellow fighters on the weird skinwearer that had attacked him, Nick wheels around to see the rest of the beach. There's another of the things somewhat near Iolana. "Watch out," he tells her, as she's gathering her makeshift weapon, and does the thing again. There's the sound of hooves as he holds up his hand, and once again that spiraling blast of balefire that envelopes the ghul, singing hair and skin -- it's too short-lived though, and is out in the blink of an eye.
Nick sinks to one knee. "Fuck. I think that hurts me more than it hurts you. And not because I like you," he says bitterly.
One of the Ghuls lurched towards the lightning calling Conni, the hideously tall one that had first appeared on the ship. It wrapped it's arms around her, it's skull starting to split as it prepared to exhale in her face!
Iolana notes the Ghul running off and grunts as she takes a rew running steps and then pivots swinging the backpack around with the limited strength she has in her wirey frame letting gravity do most of the work even as she lands on her rump as soon as the heavy weight of the sand-filled backpack leaves her grip.
The newly kneecapped ghoul decides on another target, lurching off at full speed towards Sylvi. Raising claws that have never seen a brush or a nail file, it slashes wildly at her face in a move so telegraphed that Sylvi dodges it easily.
Peter gives out a frustrated groan at the ineffectiveness of the Port bottle, and he drops it. "Fine, I guess I should have just done this in the beginning, like every other time." He drops his backpack to the ground, and begins to shrug out of his t-shirt. "Hey!", he yells as the ghul he'd tried to brain grabs a crate and begins to run off. Peter's shorts are barely touching sand before his body begins to change, growing larger and becoming furred. The Siberian takes off down the beach after the ghul, it's long legs quickly eating up the distance. And then the Tiger leaps at the ghul, but misses the ghul's back with his large claws. Undeterred, the feline keeps pace with the ghul, worring at its heels.
And Rick misses again! He seems to decide not to see if the third time's the charm with hitting the bottle. Instead, he drops the bottle in the sand just in time to see the ghoul who's getting its hands -- or whatever -- on Conni. He pushes off the sand with one foot, launching himself toward it and grabbing its shoulder with one hand and the opposite arm with the other. He then just //heaves// with a grunt of effort, throwing the thing back so hard that it slams into the sand.
Sylvi rolled across the sand out of the way of the Ghul's attack on her, headed right toward the spear that Conni had so kindly provided for her use. As she stood, she plucked the spear out of the sand and looked at the Ghul that Rick had just pulled off of Conni, her face a mask of battle-ready focus. "Oh, you aren't gonna like being aerated, you jerk." She lined up well, and even managed a solid throw of the spear, but it seems as though the timing isn't quite right, and instead of hitting into the ghul, the sharp, pointy part of the spear ended up doing nothing but making itself a happy home in the sand as it sailed right past its intended target. "Oh, skit. Beklager, Conni!" Syl called out her apology in Norwegian, obviously not having intended to miss the damn thing.
Conni is distracted enough to not notice the other ghoul until too late, letting out a harsh breath as she feels the arms wrap around her. Pinned by the surprising strength of the beast, she flails away ineffectively until Rick pulls up and wrenches the arms off from her. Blinking, it takes a moment for Conni to catch up and then turning to Rick she bows her head and smiles. "Thanks!" Turning, she looks to the Ghul who grappled her and points a finger at him. "Naughty!" Another bolt of lightning arcs out from her finger but the Ghul in a shocking turn of speed manages to dodge, leaving just a charred whole where he should be. "Damn!"
Lola pivots after head smashing, bringing the core splattered paddle of the Oar of Destiny up, ready for action. With A in a close melee with two folk, she focuses on the bat drunk C, a slight upward curl coming to the corner of her lip just before she throws herself at it. Coming at the Ghul in a run, the oar lowered like a lance. She powers it into the thing, jabbing it in the ribs with the force of a small, lithe freight train. She rumbles low in her throat. "Let's make this a threesome, baby!" Her harsh, throaty tone of voice anything but sexy. To most people, anyway.
As Peter chased the fleeing Ghul it looked back to him, eyes narrowing in fear and outrage. It avoided the tiger's attack, setting it's cargo aside to swipe back at him, though the large cat proved to be just as quick!
Casey snarls at the ghul who's turned its back on her to lunge at Sylvi. "Don't think I'm just going away, dirtbag! You made this bed, now lie in it!" She charges after the ghul and flashes a feral grin at Lola as the redhead joins the fray. "You lucky devil, you're just getting all sorts of attention now!" The pigtailed blonde winds up and delivers a grand slam to the side of the ghul's skull, with a sickening crunching sound. "Whoo, my hair's standing on end! Is it the lightning or is it getting exciting in here!" She winks back at the lightning-slinging Conni.
Nick's woozy but manages to stand, but not to go after any of the flesh-wearing monsters. Strangely, maybe worryingly, he walks back into the water, giving a wide berth to any of the fights between the beachgoers and the ghoulish creatures. His wading out becomes a swim, and then his head is no longer visible. Anyone watching -- and let's face it, no one is watching; they're all too busy fighting the bodysnatchers -- might notice the faintest current of something moving through the waves before disappearing around the bend. He may be about to collapse, but it's easier and faster to swim his way out of dodge than to use his feet.
Iolana shoots back to her feet and goes running to retrieve her backpack but stops and double-takes as a tiger runs past her. She's somehow distracted by the immenient danger all around her as she peers after the tiger tearing off the beach, "What-a-minute..." her eyes open and her mouth forms an "O" as something very belatedly clicks.
The Ghul thrown to the ground managed to pick itself up, shaking it's head to clear it. It was now entirely divested of human features, skin and clothing hanging loosely on a misshapen frame dominated by an elongated, dog like skull. It barked at Conni and flew at her, going for the one throwing around all the damn lightning! It managed to slash at her, bloodying her torso as it's claws raked along her skin!
Realizing the dire nature of the situation for them, the battered and beaten ghul peeled away from the fight, heading towards the shore to grab up one of the boxes and start running for the forest. It's steps were a good deal faster than the other that had fled, and it made good time towards the treeline!
The Siberian tiger keeps pace with the ancient undead snatcher of crates. And at the right moment, unleashes the ancient kitty art of getting between legs and tripping people. Except that someone forgot to remind the Tiger that he's too big, and instead he ends up lifting the ghul up with his head.. and then dumping him unceremoniously onto the sand. Where the feline promptly begins to setting on its back.
Riding high off his success, Rick tries to grab the ghoul that goes for Conni again, again. Yes, again again. So, he goes for its shoulder, grabbing it to attempt to hold it still for someone else to hit, considering he's not having luck with that at the moment.
Sylvi had lost her javelin for the time being, and that's ok.. Really. Ok not really. She wasn't pleased. As the ghoul that had earlier attempted to slash at her started motoring like Usain Bolt, he caught her attention. Especially because he was also carrying himself a box. Her eyes narrowed, and the Valkyrie lifted her hand, holding her fingers up to snap them. As she did so, her wings revealed themselves, huge and black like a raven's, and her eyes glowed with an electric green shimmer. In time with the snap of her fingers and a harsh word, which sounded like 'Smart Raven' but couldn't possibly have been so, right?, there was a sickly green glow that started around the retreating ghoul's feet. As it moved up his body in a swirling vortex, bits of his clothing and then the very flesh of him started flaying loose, falling to the ground in gelatenous globules as they decayed. The vortext didn't stop until it got to his head, though the box dropped long before then, as the arms that were holding it up had been flayed clean of muscle and the bone couldn't hold it up without that fleshy, necessary bit. When all was said and done, the now rather dead ghoul left a trail of sickly, putrid body chunks which ended in the macabre discovery of a worn out skeleton, just waiting to further decay.
Lola smirks at Casey, then their target gets blasted. Which annoys her. "Just when it was getting hot," she grumbles. But her down period is brief when she notices the next target is still present. She turns at once and flings herself at it. She brings Row'an around in a series of casual swipes, her form suddenly far too slow, too wide to strike a real blow on these agile creatures. But it hardly seems to matter to her, the young woman grinning fiercely as she flails with her oar rapidly.
Conni is rapidly losing patience with the Ghul that attacked her and after watching a moments consideration, readies another spell. This time, she draws far more magic than she would usually, her body swaying as she tries to keep it together. She opens her mouth to speak and the word comes out strangled but it's enough for the gods apparently as another bolt arcs forth, this time hitting the Ghul and causing it to jerk and dance.
Casey chases after the ghul as it tries to retreat. "Don't start what you can't finish!" she snarls after the retreating ghul, and the trail of like-minded pursuers. Still moving as she pulls up alongside the ghul, the rangy blonde brings her Holy Bat of Louisville square into the center of the ghul's back, bringing with all of the momentum she's built up.
Iolana stops and clutches her heavy backpack looking around wide eyed and sort of missing the mild mannered professor chuckles in all this insanity. Awkwardly she circles a bit in place as if not sure if she should run, or stay, or set up a triage table.
Spotting it's comrades go down one after the other, the Ghul being sat on by Peter levered itself free, taking a desperate swipe at the Tiger, though it's claws managed to catch nothing but air. It let out a frustrated howl, baring fangs at the tiger as it eyed the box and the woods.
The tide is high and rising.
With the ghul moving to attack, the Tiger has difficulty sitting down upon it. The feline roars then, a full open-mouth thing that shows off all of his beeeg teef! The Siberian then makes the attempt to sit upon the crate instead. Oh, you were using this? If kitty fits, kitty sits!
The ghoul slips from Rick's grasp this time, and he lets out a frustrated sound, this time just swinging his empty fist at it. He doesn't seem to be employing any sort of style, or really any sort of thought. He just wants to hit the thing in some capacity.
Sylvi seemed satisfied with the state of the ghoul she'd been preventing the escape of, so she turned back to look at the ghoul that the collective seemed to be battering on. As it seemed to be free of anyone holding it down, Sylvi let out a grunt of effort, some dark circles starting to show under her eyes. Launching herself forward with the massive expanse of her black wings, she drove herself bodily into the torso of the ghoul, knocking it to the ground with her own weight. "Someone KILL this thing!" She managed to huff out the words as she wrestled around, pinning its wrists with her knees, though the situation of her straddling the creature and holding its arms out of the way seemed perilous at best.
Lola ends up bouncing back and dancing on the balls of her feet as the melee gets mixed up. Her focus on her target, waiting for a good shot at it. When Sylvi gets hands on, she sees her moment. The target still just long enough for her to snap in and swing. The paddle coming in to sharply smack it across the head. The tighter swing not letting her get a heavy enough hit to do more than ring it's bell. But it surely won't live long enough to enjoy the inevitable headache.
Conni lets out a cheer as Sylvi manages to get ahold of the whiley Ghul and watches with some appreciation as Lola gets a swing in. Glancing over to her right, she looks to her spear but then, changing her mind heads over to the Ghul instead. Her knuckles creak as she draws back her fist, aiming for a spot close to the creature's temple. With a roar, she drives her fist forward, the smack of impact followed by a squelch as her fist keeps going, green ichor and grey wiggly bits that were probably once important sticking to her fist as the creature crumples to the ground.
Casey cheers as the ghul closest to her explodes into toasty ghul bits, and instead turns her focus to the ghul trapped by the tiger. She eyes the tiger, then her bat, and instead pops a flask out of her back pocket and sends a gout of holy water at the creature. Unfortunately, it only succeeds in blessing a tiny section of beach. "Motherfu---" she starts, and then trails off as if she's been interrupted, and she falls still, listening. "You guys have got this, I have to go," she suddenly declares, scooping up her bag and taking off at a run, bat, flask, and all.
Hissing as Casey threw something at it, it jumped back from the presence of holy water, eyes narrowing. It gave a screech of outrage as Peter sat on the crate it had been trying to make off with, but in the end let out a cry of anger before heading off into the forest at speed, inhuman body propelling it towards the forest and freedom.
Iolana hesitates but then with a grimace as if she'd like any excuse NOT to go towards the tiger and meat puppet she hefts the backpack and churns her way across the sand towards Peter and Ghul B. Not that she's the foggest what to do if the tiger doesn't have this!
As the ghul takes off, the feline eyes the crate for a moment, and then at Iolana as she comes running up. The feline lets out the loudest sounding meow, patting the crate for a moment before the cat turns and takes off after the ghul.
The ghoul dispatched much more effectively than Rick could have, he turns quickly, just in time to see the last one booking it the heck out of there. He attempts to catch him, but whether he's tired from the unexpected exertion, tripped up a little bit by the sand, or just plain not on his game, he definitely isn't running fast enough to catch up with it. "Damnit!" he exclaims, coming to a slow, then a halt.
Sylvi grinned up at Conni, though the smile was tired as she pushed herself back to standing. Grunting as she turned her head. "Are you kidding.. there's still one more?" And then, Sylvi used her wings to push herself up... well kind of up, it was more up and forward. She was obviously moving a little off the ground, and toward the running ghoul, but... the fact that her energy is a bit sapped left her unable to really gather up the momentum needed to move with speed. So she was more bringing up the rear of the ghoul catching train. Sylvi the caboose.
Lola smirks as the snagged Ghul gets head smashed. "Juicy," she states before looking up. And.. people are chasing something? Fuck yeah! Lola darts almost at once, her oar drawn in close to herself as she breaks into a full run after everyone else. Her pace good, though she doesn't quite work herself into a perfectly efficient flow.
Conni really isn't feeling fantastic and it has less to do with the beer she has been drinking than usual. "One more? Damn, damn, damn!" Watching as Sylvi takes off, Conni breaks into a run, her own wings popping out behind her as she starts to sprint. With a 'whump', she is no longer running and just flying, blinking as she watches the Ghul ahead doing a passable impression of the road runner.
And road runnering it was! As Oahu's defender's chased after it, the Ghul picked up speed, becoming a blur as it pulled ahead and vanished into the forest, a last scream of pain and frustration letting loose before it disappeared completely. ALl that was left on the beach now was the two crates and the still burning boat.
Iolana stops running, "Damnit. That's gonna make a mess..." She turns back towards the beach and exhales, shoulders drooping as she unzips the backpack anmd deumps sand from it before calling, "Anyone need a Medic?"
The large feline soon peters out, slowing and then stopping. An unsuccessful hunt. Oh well, one in two to twenty, he'll catch something another day. Hopefully wild bacon. The Tiger returns to the crate the Ghul had dropped, and grabs a corner of it with his jaws, and draaaaaags it back down the beach. At least as far as to where Peter had undressed. The Siberian begins to ripple and shrink, and soon there's a naked young man quickly stooping to grab his clothes and redress. "DIBS!", he yells.
Thoroughly outclassed by the superhuman ghoul, Rick turns instead to the crate that is left on the beach. He grabs a piece of whatever's handy to pry off the lid, and looks inside. Curiosity killed the cat, right? Apparently Rick doesn't hold stock in that sort of thing, though. He does, however, recoil from whatever is in there. "Jesus!" he exclaims, and he makes a face. "Yuck." He reaches into his pocket then, and pulls out a lighter, squatting down to set the crate aflame. It seemed like a good night for a bonfire anyway, right?
Sylvi stopped her flight near Peter and raised one, fine, blonde brow in an arch at him when he called dibbs on the crate. "Worry about your clothes, kitten." Then she ripped the lid off the crate and tossed it away, peering within to see the contents. "Oh, no. This is not yours. This won't be anyone's. Ever." Her wings ruffled as she brought her fingers up to snap them again, her eyes flashing with that sickly green light as she spoke "Smertevann" softly. In time with the snap, the contents of the crate began to putrify into congealed, once living gelee. The wood of the crate started to rot and whither, cracking, then falling into mulched pulp before it mixed with the unholy soup she'd created of the 'living' matter within the crate. Taking a step back from the puddle of nasty she'd managed to make out of the larvae, Sylvi shook her head. "No one needs ghoul larvae. Anywhere, ever."
Lola disappears, racing after the running Ghul. It will eventually lose her, but not for a while as the woman races after her prey with a fierce grin and boundless enthusiasm for the hunt. She'll turn up again later. Eventually.
Realising that she has little hope of catching up with the last of the Ghuls, Conni swoops down to where Sylvi is standing. Peeking over her shoulder, she takes a look at the contents of the crate and then peels back. "Woah, yes. That's how I'd have dealt with them...if I wasn't so tired and if I could work with that type of magic and if I wasn't worried about blowing myself up..." Grinning, she steps closer to Sylvi once more and pats her on the shoulder. "It was a good fight today!" She looks over to Peter and Lola and nods. "Rather glad those two were here, it was getting quite difficult for a moment there."
Iolana blinks and her face goes ashen, "LARVAE?!" she lifts her hand and drops her bag, "Yup, Naw, I'm..NAw..Just, naw..." She turns and strides off. That was definately her cue to leave.
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