Agents of Death Chapter 1: Unfinished Business

[Toastburner B]

If you're gonna die, die with your boots on,
If you're gonna try, well stick around,
Gonna cry, just move along,
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die.

Iron Maiden - Die With Your Boots On


---------------------------------------------------------
“You should really stop doing that,” a voice with a French accent said.

Karen Dobson didn’t even turn around to see Jean Delacroix standing behind her. “Why not, it’s not against the rules, is it?” she asked.

Delacroix walked up behind her. “No, it isn’t, but it can’t be too good for your state of mind.”

Karen didn’t say anything, just nodded. Jean was her “trainer”, her shadow. He was supposed to make sure she could live up to the standards Death placed on his agents. He was alright, for a aristocratic jerk from the 1700s. He had every right to be worried about his charge. Every free moment she had been spent here…on a building overlooking the day-care where her daughter spent the day while her widower husband worked to keep food on the table.

“After all, it is not like you could go in there and tell them to take better care of your daughter, if it came down to it, no?” Delacroix added.

Karen snorted. “You do have a point there, I suppose.” Karen turned around, and looked at the taller man. “Did you ever check in on your family?”

Jean gave a dismissive shrug. “The only family I had was my wife…and as it turned out, she was the one who arranged to have the revolutionaries arrest me. Of course, I only found this out when the boss killed off the people who arranged my execution, as per my deal.”

Karen suppressed a sigh. It wasn’t the first time Jacque had regaled her with that particular story. “I suppose you didn’t come all this way just to chide me about keeping an eye on my daughter?”

“Indeed not. The boss has another job for us.”

Karen raised an eyebrow. “Undead or Immortal?”

“Immortal,” Jacque answered. “Very immortal. This one has been a pet project of the boss for quite for about a century. The boss is gathering a group of Agents to take this guy down, including us, so we better get going.”

Karen cast one last look back down at the daycare, and followed Jacque towards the nearest shadow. “Where are we going?” she asked.

“St. Petersburg.”

Karen scoffed. “Did Death arrange a plane for us or something?”

“We have the Veil,” Jacque said, entering the shadows, “We don’t need any flying machine.”

Jacque disappeared from the world. Karen wasn’t experienced enough to enter the Veil quite so easily. She concentrated for a few seconds, and followed Jacque in. The colors of the world faded, like washed-out watercolors. Light and shadow separated themselves even further, removing “soft shadows” and “dim light”. Jacque was waiting for her.

“Don’t look so worried,” Jacque said. “Traveling to Russia is as easy as it was for you to travel here from where we were.”

“Only with the minor inclusion of an ocean,” Karen said dryly.

Jacque said nothing, only looked around for a bit. Then, he decided on a direction. Karen did the same, until some instinct she never had while she was alive. “That way?” she asked.

Jacque nodded, “That way.”

Karen took in a deep breath, and let it go. “Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Jacque nodded. “Try to keep up, if you would.”

Jacque took a step off the edge of the building, and darted off into the air.

Karen sighed again. “Man, I wish there was a way to do this outside the Veil.”

She then jumped off the edge of the building herself, and followed her mentor into the wild grayish-blue wander.

((OOC: Surprise! You can fly in the Veil…AND ONLY IN THE VEIL! Really, I couldn’t think of a better way for Agents to be able to get around, and just makes your advantage in the Veil that much more decisive.

Again, fly in Veil: yes. Fly outside of Veil: no. Very no.))

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had taken them some hours to fly to their destination inside the Veil, which meant that, outside the Veil, it had taken mere minutes. Karen landed next to Jacque on the rooftop of an old church, and followed him inside. Inside, standing in the loft, was a man with a black suit…and utterly average man.

Karen caught her breath as she recognized him.

“Jacque, Karen,” Death said in greeting.
“Bonjour, boss,” Jacque said. The Frenchman had had centuries to get used to the presence of Death. “Come to make sure we get our man.”

“Indeed I have,” Death said, not looking up from his point of view. “Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin has evaded me quite long enough, and I am tried of losing reapers and agents to him.”

Death looked up at the pair. “I summoned a few others for this hunt. I am here to observe, not to interfere. Wait for the other agents to arrive, and proceed as you see fit.”

Jacque shrugged, and sat down, resting against a pillar. There was nothing to do now but to wait for the others to arrive.

((OOC: Ah, the much hated “role call”. Don’t you just hate it when GMs do that?))

[rapter200]

Oroles was already in the fade when he got the message about a new mission from the boss. He knew exactly what to do, he had over two thousand years of experience. Time ticked by slowly while he waited, and then all at once he started to fly toward his destination. Death wasn't someone who you would want to tick off, even if he has the patience of a saint. How ironic, yet so fitting.

The trip took a little over an hour, and when he arrived he saw that the others had already started to gather. Oroles recognized death immediately, but the other two he didn't know very well. Delacroix he knew slightly, he has been with death for over two centuries and Oroles saw him here and there every once in a while. But the woman he did not know at all. Must be new.

“Hello boss, I see that your gathering an army. I know Sir Delacroix, but his young female companion... well I have never seen her before in my entire service.” Oroles then walked up to Karen and extend his right hand in greeting. “The name is Oroles son of Moskon, I am glad to make your acquaintance . I am going to assume you are new to the job, so I welcome you to the fold.” “So boss who else do you have coming, and why do you need so many of us to take out one immortal.” Oroles asked death.

[Bard The 5th LW]

'Ah look at 'at, I ain't late' Maxwell thought to himself as he made it to the church. He had never been to Russia before, but it seemed that he had made it in time. He was always taught to be punctual, so being late was not something he wanted. There was also the matter that Death itself was the one who was the one who was waiting for him.

Maxwell made his way into the church to meet with the others. It was an odd sight, seeing a man walk into a church with a bow,rifle, and a quiver adorned across his back. He also seemed used to carrying them, as he didn't falter as he made his way to the loft

When he made it to where the others were, Maxwell took a moment to make a brief bow towards death. It was hard to tell whether or not he was actually being reverent about it though. He then turned to the other agents in the room with him, "'ello, my name's Maxwell," he told them, his manner of speaking was odd, he spoke with a rather southern accent, but it seemed he was trying to speak like a New Englander, or at least what he interpreted a New Englander to sound like. He then decided to introduce himself further, as he felt he would be working with these people awhile, "but you can call me May I suppose,"he told to them. He then turned to their employer, but he remained silent. He figured that Death wasn't the kind of man to skimp on details, so questions wouldn't be needed.

[Fantabulate]

Silence. The vast silence of the sky in the viel; That's all there was.

It was very calming for Richard Lendandi after his last job. It had been a chaotic affair regarding a coven of vampires in southern France, and he knew of no better way to reover than to enjoy the silent sky here...

He had always enjoyed silence, ever since he made his deal. After all, his life had been filled with the noise of the battles throughout the empire, and it had never meant anything good; but now...

Of course, he knew it was to be short lived. It always was. He had even eventually identified a pattern of how long he got off... down to an hour. Almost always. So when the message came 2 hours early, he knew something big was happening.

He was in flying over greece at the moment, so it took him a few uneventful hours to get North to St. Petersburg. He didn't like Russia... never had. However, there was nothing to it but to be where it was appointed.

Rich arrived at the location soon enough, and found 5 people assembled. Surprisingly, the boss himself had shown up. "Interesting." he mumbled. One of the others he'd never seen in his... well, he couldn't call it life. One was Sir Delacroix, the aristocratic man whom Rich had always seemed slightly at odds with these last 150 years. "Darn Aristocrat," he thought. Another was Oroles, son of Moskon, who had just met young woman whom Rich had never met. There too was a man with a hunting vest as his jacket. As Oroles then asked death a question, Rich waited. It was a good question, and in his experience, it'd probably be better not to interupt the Beserker...

[Astral Harmony]

"Padre nostro che sei nei cieli
sia santificato il tuo nome
venga il tuo regno
sia fatta la tua volontà
come in cielo così in terra.
Dacci oggi il nostro pane quotidiano
Rimetti a noi i nostri debiti
Come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori.
E non ci indurre in tentazione
Ma liberaci dal male.
Amen."

Crocetta stood up after praying before the graves of her parents and brother and slipped into the Veil. She usually waited for her friend, a priest who frequented the graveyard, to talk about this and that, but today there was a more pressing issue.
Inside the Veil, Crocetta took to the sky. Her mother's soul had been aimlessly wandering around here for about a week long ago, but it had been collected. Maybe, Crocetta hoped, her family was all together, eating and talking and laughing and just waiting for the day when Crocetta would eventually join them.

She arrived at the church in St. Petersburg and found the space where the others were gathered, then exited the Veil from the shadows. "Hey everyone, good morning or...wait, what timezone is this?" Crocetta falted, looking around. "Anyways, I'm so excited! I've never hunted an Immortal before."
For a dead person, Crocetta sure had a lot of energy.

[Red Mage Black]

Frederick, always preferring himself to be fashionably late when the time came to arrive. He was often busier with his antique weapons, polishing and cleaning them constantly to keep them in shape. 'Married to his hobby', they told him, which he just scoffed at. 'Weapons enthusiast' was a more preferred title for his trade. The Veil often offered silence and alone time to baby his weapons. Though this time, they had a job to do.

In Russia it was, a place with a rich and often violent history. The target was a man with a pretty risque history. It was no wonder how he had survived so many attempts to be murdered, he was an Immortal now. Frederick didn't mind the job, in fact he always wanted to meet the man people had so desperately wanted dead.

It wasn't long until his arrival at the church, still a little late as usual. "To those of you I do not know, Frederick Dubois at your service." He said with a curt bow. "This job is very interesting indeed. Grigori Rasputin, the 'Mad Monk' they called him. At least that was one of his titles." He said, stepping towards the group. Frederick gave a respectful bow to Death and stood there, hands behind his back. "Are we missing anyone or is the team assembled?"

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Outside the church, in the shadow of a great oak tree, a man appeared, seemingly from nowhere. Stealthily he made his way up the steps towards the church, then immediately lost all sense of solemness when he opened his mouth.

"Yikes it's cold!! Bloody Russia, I hate Russia!" He let out a long sigh of freezing breath, checked that nobody had seen a man with a machinegun walking into a church, then quickly slipped inside. Just as quickly he wished he hadn't; it was even colder in here, the ancient stone walls seemingly amplifying the complete lack of heat.

"You sure do know how to pick a meeting spot Death." He heard voices above him and he began to make his way upstairs, entering the room just in time to hear someone ask, "are we missing anyone or is the team assembled?"

"Ah now, you wouldn't want to start without me would you?" He asked jokingly. He scanned the assembled group, recognising a few faces here and there, some he hadn't seen before, others not for some time.

"Hey Jacque, long time no see. Last time I saw you was... what, Venice 92? That sure was one hell of a day! Good times." He gave another smile as he reminisced, before suddenly noticing a figure he should have seen straight away, if it weren't for the fact of how forgettable he was.

"Oh hey boss, didn't see you there. I cleaned out that African village of zombies you wanted, but er, next time you say there's a dozen Undeads that need deading, might wanna mention the other eighty or so that were also running around. Well they weren't really running, they were zombies, so they were more kind of shambling, but yeah, things got hectic." He said all of this very fast, like he was still amped up on the adrenaline of what was apparantly quite an interesting day for him. He also didn't bat a eyelid at telling Death how to do his job.

Most people would usually back down or be intimidated or scared by meetings with Death, but after the first couple of decades Mark had gotten used to him and had started to become quite cocky in his dealings. The way he figured it, he was already dead, there was nothing more that Death could do to him, so there was no need to be afraid or even formal with him. What Death felt about this cocky attitude of one of his underlings was anyones guess.

"So anyway," Mark continued speedily changing the subject, "why on earth are we in the freezing colds of Russia Bossman? Don't tell me it's more zombies!"

[Dauntasa]

Andrew came flying into the church, very much ruffled. "Christ," he said, "Sorry I'm late. Hello, everyone." He straightened his coat, and looked around the room. "I guess I lost track of time." He leaned against the wall, and began checking over his rifle. "Well," he said, "Keep going."

[Astral Harmony]

"Oh, right. Introductions." said Crocetta, scratching the back of her head. "Kind of rude of me to forget about that. Well, my name is Crocetta Russo, a Sicilian girl from the mid-1900's and I got killed in a mafia crossfire over some missing heroin. I guess those substances have the ability to get people killed who aren't even involved in them. But what can you do, eh? Although my mom was completely heartbroken about it."

After her introduction which lacked any kind of bitterness about her own untimely demise, Crocetta followed Delacroix's example and found a place to relax against a wall, sitting down and letting her head hang. Given time, she was likely to start dozing.

[Arcanum]

Izuko sped along a desolate road, flying only a few feet from the ground. Sure he could fly higher and not have to worry about buildings or other objects, but despite nearly 200 years of service he still found flying odd, of all things considering his job. Still, Izuko enjoyed his job, and found it similar to the samurai life he had always envisioned but never lived. Taking orders from a respectable master instead of some crook with the right amount of money probably had something to do with it.

Izuko noticed the church rapidly approaching and he dropped to the ground and skid to a stop. He took a few moments to make sure he was presentable, found a suitable spot to exit the Veil, then entered the building and went upstairs to the loft. He was a little startled to see so many Agents already gathered, very rarely were so many needed for a single task. Still, Izuko was sure Death had his reasons, and upon forming that thought he noticed Death himself standing at the other end of the loft. Izuko reached up and shifted his samurai mask so that it rested on top of his head, something he only did while in the presence of Death as a sign of respect.

Izuko noticed the others making introductions and decided he might as well do likewise for the sake of those who had never met him before.

"I'm Jinuske Izuko," he said, his voice containing only the slightest hint of a Japanese accent. Two hundred years of speaking English had a tendency to do that. "Izuko is my first name, by the way, for those unfamiliar with Japanese custom. Am I the last one to arrive or is this mission even more dangerous than I first anticipated?"

Izuko silently hoped he was the last one. If they really needed any more agents then this was going to get real messy.

[Toastburner B]

((OOC: Since I have three characters talking, maybe I need to steal a page from AB's book.))

"This should be enough," Death said without preamble. "The target is Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, who is also known as the Mad Monk. Rasputin should of died in 1916. On top of immortality, Rasputin also practices the art of necromancy."

"Necromancy?" Karen quietly asked her mentor.

"Necromancy basically means that he has the power to create undead, Delacroix explained. "The undead we usually hunt because such of their own will. Rasputin has the ability to turn people into undead against their will. So, on top of having to fight an immortal, we will likely have to battle a retinue of undead."

"That is correct, Death said, picking up the converstation between the two agents as if it was all planned. "While Rasputin is young for an immortal, his control over undead increases his threat. 8 reapers and 3 agents have been destroyed trying to collect Rasputin, which directly resulted in my decision to order you all to move against him at the same time." Down below on the main floor of the Church, a door groaned as it opened. "Here he comes," Death muttered. With a wave of his hand, he pulled himself and all the agents into the Veil.

"He has got to teach me how to do that," Jacque muttered, "I wasn't even standing in a shadow."

"Necromancy created undead are not as powerful as true undead,, Death continued his briefing without missing a beat. "The undead he was created from unwilling victims will be little more than slowly moving corpses, and will be easily cast into the Veil, where reapers will be waiting to collect them. However, Rasputin does have a handful of willing undead that act as his body guards: a vampiric couple, a revenant, a werewolf, and a jaing shi. All of these are bound to this world by Rasputin, and will fall into the Veil if Rasputin is killed. Of course, this means that they will protect Rasputin with everything they have."

"I don't suppose you are here to help, are you boss?" Jacque asked in a "I already know the answer to this" kind of tone.

"If Rasputin manages to destroy all of you, he will undoubtedly attempt to hide again. It will be easy to summon another group of agents to his location if I follow him personally." Death said evenly.

"Love the vote of confidence," Karen remarked.

"However, I am certain that you will prove to be more than a match for him and his bodyguard. I will be waiting to collect Rasputin personally when you force him into the Veil."

Death stepped back, as much of a sign that he was going to give that his briefing was over. Jacque looked down at the church floor, at the door opening so slow he could hardly perceive the movement. "Karen and I will take the lesser undead. She could use the experience in casting undead into the Veil without having to weaken them first."

Karen opened her mouth as if she was about to protest. However, after a casting a glance over at Death, and kept silent. Apparently, she was nervous about working in front of the boss.

"That leaves you guys to take care of the major undead, as well as Rasputin." Delacroix said. "I'll leave it to you guys how to work that out. We'll get into position and wait for you to move before we act."

Jacque lead Karen on a short flight over to the rafters over the opening door, and blinked out of sight as they re-emerged back into the mortal realm.

Death wasn't going to give any more information, and the first two agents were already ready to strike. Now it was up to the remaining agents to plan, or to simply strike.

((OOC: Alright, for all intents and purposes, Rasputin is roughly equal to an agent, as far as strength and such goes. Of course, older agents will have a more experience than him. Vampires are both fast and strong, and have the added benefit of not feeling pain unless the heart or brain is damaged in an attack. Revenants are straight up bruisers, very strong, and can take a lot of damage before they faded into the Veil. The werewolf is basically a possessed wolf...it looks like the human who possess it, or as a giant, freaky undead-looking wolf. Finally, the jiang shi is an essence-drinking, rotting corpse that can jump to great heights, and unsurprisingly, packs one heck of a kick. The lesser undead will be like slow-zombies...not much of a threat unless you are extremely careless, and you will be able to push them into the Veil without having to beat them down first. Rasputin and the major undead will put up quite a fight, but the minor undead can be destroyed at will.

Oh, and the church is a large-ish building, abandoned and dilapidated. Lots of shadows to work with. Ruined pews, make a old statue or two...rather stereotypical hollywood style. ))

[Dauntasa]

{OOC: Hey, we need a discussion thread.}

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

"Oh great, more zombies!" Mark sighed. He'd had enough of zombies for one day, it was time to go after something more powerful.

"Dibs on the werewolf," he said to the others, before he too floated down to the ground floor and took up a place behind a statue in an alcove halfway into the church, on the opposite side to Jacque and Karen. With his back to the statue he crouched low and drew his guns, cocking them and flicking off the safety before exiting the Veil.

No need to rush into battle while they had the element of surprise; all they had to do was wait until everyone was in posotion and their targets had moved into the centre of the church. Then this Rasputin and his cohorts would be in for a very nasty surprise.

[Red Mage Black]

"Too bad I can't engage him in a little discussion first. I'd love to hear how he evaded being murdered quite a few times. Of course, it was probably his immortality, but nonetheless. Besides the Tsars, he was one of the most famous men in Russian history. Pity..." Frederick said, pulling up one of his revolvers and checking his ammunition count. Six currently loaded and more on his belt. This would end up being pretty fun. Much like the others, he found his nice little shadow and exited.

Currently, Frederick had an idea. Something was going through his mind. If they thought only one agent was here, maybe they would be caught off guard. For the moment, he sat in one of the pews in a prayer position. However, he sung something else to himself in a very low voice:
"Those who are dead are not dead
They’re just living in my head oh…
And since I fell for that spell
I am living there as well oh…

Time is so short and I’m sure
There must be something more..."

At least one chance to talk to the 'Mad Monk' was all he wanted. He sang that a few more times before he stopped. The others must have thought that he had gone nuts.

[Fantabulate]

"Alright, my friends. It looks like the other's have made a bit hasty move into position. How about the rest of us take the ten viel-minutes to organize a little..." Lendandi began.

"My personal recommendation is that we wait in the shadows above the doorway, in the viel. When Rasputin and his troops come through, we cross over and drop right on top of them! Heck, we could even surround them!"

[Bard The 5th LW]

"I don't quite think surrounding 'em would be the best thing to do," Maxwell said in his odd accent as he knocked an arrow into his bow, but still waiting to pull back the strings. "These undead probably won't understand the concept of surrender, and we can be sure that Rasputin just won't care to give up," he said.

"These things are like animals, it ain't helping if they can see you or know were they're being attacked from, we just need to cover alot of ground and remain stealthy," Maxwell said in a lower voice. "And seeing as how the wolf has been taken, I get the vampire," he said. He figured that his arrows would be enough like a stake through the heart to sufficiently injure one.

With his advice given, Maxwell slowly made his way behind a fallen pew, and put a tighter grip on his bowstring. "Wish me luck," he said to the others before exiting the veil and entering the mortal realm.

[rapter200]

Oroles waited for everyone to stop talking. “This type of fight doesn't call for much stealth, I mean there is only so much we can do in terms of strategy I say we all just rush in as one large wave. There won't be much they can do against that. I mean look at me I am not that good at subtlety, if I tried to hide it would look ridiculous. Though I guess I can wait in the veil while you guys spring the trap.” Oroles grabbed Dragon Claw off of his back. Holding it one handed, and then with both. With that he he leaned against the church's walls. He then looked at the remaining agents “I call the Revenant, it seems like the guy who could go toe to toe with me, no bull shit with his kind.”

Oroles decided what the heck and left the veil, leaning on the wall in the back of the church. He couldn't be seen because he was completely covered in shadow and darkness. He heard one of the agents praying or chanting something weird, What the hell was he doing. Stealth, hah yeah right. More like leave your self right open to attack from behind.

While waiting for the fight he went back into the veil it would be best if he waited for everyone else to get into place. This stealth thing really did not sit over well with him. He would rather just have every jump in and attack all at the same time immediately. "Hey when you guys are ready please get into place, some nut is chanting something, and he is one of our guys. He will blow your supposed cover all to shit and could get himself killed... again." With that he waited for the others, the revenant was his. But he had no idea who would take on Rasputin.

[Dauntasa]

"Well, I think I'll stay near the back of the church; try to take out the higher priority targets with my rifle. I mean, all we have to do is take out Rasputin himself, and the other's all go with him. I say those of us with guns focus fire on the big guy, and those without keep the little ones off us." Andrew slung his rifle over his shoulder and loosened his knife in its scabbard. "'Course, if things start going south from there we can always just hack our way in and stab 'im."

[Arcanum]

"He's right you know," Izuko said to Lendandi, referring to what Maxwell said. "Both werewolves and vampires have senses that go beyond normal, and subduing a kyonshi is... difficult. Fortunately I've encountered a few kyonshi before, and I find the best tactic is to remove their legs as quickly as possible."

Izuko calmly gauged his surroundings, looking for the optimal place to emerge from the Veil, before continuing. "If you are determined to use organized team tactics then try and get the kyonshi to jump at you so I'll have an easier time cutting off it's legs."

Izuko then flew up to the rafters as Oroles started to talk about his lack of stealth. Izuko didn't pay much attention to him, or any of the others for that matter now that he had formulated his plan. He hovered above one of the beams but didn't exit the Veil despite being submerged in shadows. He replaced his mask over his face and drew his katana, grasping it firmly in both hands, then waited. His eyes stared intently on the slow, almost unmoving outlines of the Jiang Shi. He would wait until the perfect moment to strike down the walking corpse, and if the trajectory of his attack were to be executed perfectly then he would land in another shadow and reenter the Veil. No reason to pointless expose himself.

[Astral Harmony]

Crocetta shrugged. "Well, if you're all going to lie in wait, I'll just go ahead and start things rolling if you don't mind. Sorry to those who'll be royally pissed off at me, but I've never been good in the brains and tactics department. Keep your eyes peeled and don't let me die too quickly, now."

Without waiting for anyone else to give permission, Crocetta found a far corner and used the dark shadows there to shift out of the Veil, then presented herself before Rasputin and his entourage. "'Ey there, Raspie. You don't mind terribly if I call you that, do you?" Crocetta spoke to the Mad Monk if a casual tone. "I'd really hate to break your heart but you're way, way beyond your expiration date, yet you still choose to stroll around like it's no big deal. And my boss doesn't appreciate that kind of thing. Sorry, nothing personal."

Crocetta took aim with her Tommy Gun and, with no more cheesy monologing, opened fire on him and his servants. Crocetta's aim was pretty terrible, but Rasputin and his comrades were grouped relatively close together. Crocetta didn't expect to kill a single one of them with this egotistical and psychotic display, and just focused on keeping the shaking barrel of her gun pointing relatively in Rasputin's direction.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Well, there goes the ambush plan, Mark thought to himself as Crocetta opened fired with a hail of bullets on everything and anything.

"Show time!" He leapt to his feet and swung out from his hiding space, levelling his pistols at his chosen target, the werewolf, and opened fire, catching him in a deadly crossfire. It wasn't hard to determine which of Rasputins minions was the werewolf either; the moment Crocetta had opened fire he had begun to change, taking on more wolf like characteristics, with hair sprouting all over his body, his face elongating and his body growing in size. With a howl of anger he charged towards his nearest attacker; Mark

Mark had expected this attack, but despite his supernatural speed, he'd underestimated just how fast the wolf was as well. The raging Undead slammed into him, throwing him backwards into the wall of the church. Mark hit the ground hard, his guns slipping from his hands as the creature reared back and raised a massive claw, ready to slice straight through the former soldier. He was beggining to see just how Rasputin had survived so long. The wolf paused a moment before he struck, as if savouring the kill, but it paused too long. With a sudden burst, Mark pushed himself back to his feet and punched forwards, slamming his fist into the monsters chest with all the force he could muster, throwing the werewolf off its feet and slamming it back into the statue that he'd previously used for cover.

With the space cleared he quickly scooped up his guns and re-aimed at the wolf, who was already recovering from his injuries, his supernaturally fast healing cleaning up the bullet wounds he'd sustained.

"Well, this is certainly more fun than zombies!" Mark smirked, before opening fire with both weapons once again.

[rapter200]

When Crocetta decided to blow any sort of planning and destroyed the thought of a surprise attack Oroles was pissed. This was why agents did not work well together, everyone was too independent, too unpredictable. “Oh well I guess its time for me to do what I do best.” With that Oroles left the veil and readied his battle axe. “Rasputin, well I guess you know why were here. The boss wants you, really badly. I am more than happy to oblige him.” When he finished talking Oroles took Kronos his throwing axe and threw it at Rasputin, maybe he would be lucky enough to end this with one blow, or maybe it would hit a minion who knows.

Oroles spotted the revenant, it was standing around currently not engaged in any sort of combat. Oroles charged it, ramming it with his shoulder hoping to knock it down and then quickly dispatch it. But the revenant stood its ground, it was able to take the blow and in fact punch Oroles in the shoulder. The punch hit with a loud thud against Oroles shoulder, and it looked like it hurt. But he didn't even feel it, already Oroles had Dragon Tooth coming down upon the revenant, but it jumped out of the way. The battleaxe hit the ground hard leaving a gash in the ground where the axe hit. Oroles and the Revenant were now locked in heated combat.

[Bard The 5th LW]

Maxwell listened to what was going on currently in the church from behind the pew. 'Typical pack mentality,' he decided to himself. He figured something like this would happen. The agents were likely to have diverging battle plans, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

But he did know, was that people liked to follow another person. One of the agents was likely to just charge in and open fire, like Crocceta, and that caused other people to follow suit, because the original attacker gives them the encouragement and momentum to go through with it. This could be good with larger numbers, but there appeared to onl be three people out there at the moment. They need some backup or they would be likely over-powered.

Maxwell then pulled back the strings on his bow. He would give them backup, but he would keep with his initial plan; stay hidden and move fast. He then slightly raised himself from his hiding place, holding his bow sideways so he could stay low, and took aim for the heart of the vampire. "C'ya Eddie," he said quietly to himself with a chuckle as he released the bowstring. When the arrow left the bow, Maxwell quickly darted off for a new place to hide. He didn't want this guy to be aware of who was shooting him, and from where.

[Arcanum]

Izuko watched patiently from the Veil as his fellow agents sprung into action. Well from his point of view they didn't so much as spring as they dead slowly engage. The difference between the Veil and the mortal realm's time flow was one of the things Izuko liked the most about being an agent. It gave him ample time to train.

Figuring that he didn't have to wait hovering in position for a couple dozen or so minutes as events progressed in super slow motion, he dropped down to the ground and examined Crocetta's silhouette. He could make out her gun, and if he focused hard enough he could see the bullets as well. He shook his head at the thought of randomly attacking their targets and just hoping for something to happen. A true warrior didn't leave things to hope or chance. Still, Crocetta's attack seemed to get the attention of the Undead, and the moment Izuko had been waiting for finally arrived.

He watched as the Jiang Shi bent it's legs, preparing to leap high into the air where it would be unable to alter it's trajectory. Izuko returned to his spot on the ceiling, his feet planted on the wall of the church. Then as the Jiang Shi started to near the apex of it's jump, Izuko exited the Veil and pushed off of the wall, which cracked a bit from the force of his push.

Izuko reached the Jiang Shi the moment it was at the apex of it's jump, and he swung his katana at the undead's legs. To his surpise the Jiang Shi brought it's legs up above his sword swing and then pushed off of his katana. The act sent Izuko tumbling through the air as the Jiang Shi reached the ceiling of the church and jumped directly at Izuko, it's leg wound back and ready to deliver a kick.

Izuko landed on one of the pews, splintering it and nearly shattering it in half. Not wasting time to cringe in pain he rolled under the intact pew in front of him and re-entered the Veil a moment before the Jiang Shi landed and destroyed the already splintered pew.

"Dammit," he said as he stood back up and made sure he hadn't received any serious injuries. "Can't say I was expecting that."

Once he was sure he was still in a perfect fighting condition, Izuko quickly moved into the shadow of a pillar and exited the Veil once again.

"Over here," he said to the Jiang Shi that was kicking aside the shattered remains of the pew to see if it had hit it's target. The remarkably agile corpse looked in his direction and bent it's legs slightly in preparation for another attack. Izuko glanced sideways at one of the generic undead that was getting too close for comfort, which collapsed as whatever soul it had left was sent to the Veil. Izuko then drew his wakizashi with his left hand as he looked back at the Jiang Shi. He raised both his swords in a defensive position, ready to counter attack. Two legs versus two swords, now it was only a question of agility and reflexes. Of course, Izuko still had the Veil on his side.

[Fantabulate]

"Well, great. So much for ANY planning whatsoever..." Rich thought. On the other hand, since none of the others had suggested a comprehensive battle plan, Rich would go through with his. That's what everyone else was doing, at least.

And so he took his position hovering in the shadows above the church's entrance, waiting for Rasputin to walk through. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Izuko also remaining in the viel, preparing to strike.

Rich pulled out his saber and a pistol. The time was almost here... he could drop down and attack Rasputin before the immortal even knew he was under attack...

And the Crocetta opened fire, and the whole thing began. Rasputin wasn't even in the church yet. "Blast, this just became harder."

Still, he may as well try. So, waiting a moment for the others to start attacking their' targets, Rich dropped out of the viel and fell to the ground near the heart of the entering group. But where was Rasputin? Look as he might, Lendandi didn't see him!

But it didn't matter anyway, since he had blown his cover. The second vampire rushed him within a second of his touching the ground. He swerved his saber to impale the vampire, but the rushing foe just battered it out of the way.

As fast as he could, Rich pistol-whiped the vampire, and jumped back. The vampire just shook it off like it had been nothing. "Duh... instant healing."

The vampire charged again, and Lendandi raised saber for a side-slash...

[Astral Harmony]

Crocetta's tommy gun ran out of ammo, which was just as well. Now that the majority of them were fully engaged, all her shots would produce are friendly injuries. So, drawing her baseball bat, she surveyed the raging battle before her. All in all, it seemed someone needed to keep Rasputin distracted while the others took care of his lieutenants.

Swallowing her fear, Crocetta stepped forward and made a practice swing with the bat. Then, she got ready for a one-on-one with ol' Raspie until someone had fighting ability to spare in order to assist her. "Master Death sends his regards, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. He wishes you to lay down your life and quietly enter the Veil where you belong. However, I know his wishes fall on deaf ears. If you wanted to enter the Veil, you would've done so when you were supposed to have died. So, the slow and painful way it is then, I guess."

[Toastburner B]

Of all things that happened, perhaps the pre-attack speeches were the most ill-conceived. Rasputin and his minions had as much, if not more, experience as a goodly number of the attacking agents. As such, the speeches did little to intimidate them, but rather, gave them warning, and even worst, react.

Rasputin, knowing attacks would be coming his way, used his lesser undead as shields. Literally throwing them around like a puppeteer would swing a broken marionette, the zombies were yanked off their feet and mercilessly placed in the path of Crocetta’s bullets and Oroles’s axe, absorbing the blows for their creator.

The werewolf apparently did not enjoy being shot. As he got back to his feet, the beast circled around the the statue it had slammed into, putting it between itself and Mark. It spun around, and kicked the statue with it's hind legs, sending it flying towards Mark. It then turned around and dashed behind the statue, using both as cover and an attack.

Despite Oroles's early strikes in the battle, it was becoming apparent that perhaps slugging it out with a revenant was not the best idea. The creature was pure muscle, and the thing was larger than his opponent. Oroles might win in a straight up slug-fest, but he would certainly be worst for wear by the end of it.

Even Maxwell's sniper shot was spoiled by the warning the other agents had obligingly offered the undead. The creature flung his arm out, catching the through his forearm, but well short of his heart. Despite the blood that gushed from the vampire's wound, it casually pulled the arrow out as it dashed towards where the shot came from at surprising speed. The vampire was a night stalker, so perhaps hiding in the shadows was not May's best idea to date...

The vampire charged Rich, careful to make sure it charged with its right shoulder, keeping his heart away from an easy strike. The vampire had a full head of steam as it charged the agent, but pure speed was often useless against an agent.

Izuko started t feel the energy drain of the jiang shi. Since he was already technically dead, it didn't effect him as much as it would of effected a living human, and certainly didn't reinvigorate the jiang shi as pure life force would, it would slow Izuko by a fraction. On the other hand, the essence the Izuko was taking in was that of pure death, the very thing it sought to escape, and while it didn't physically hurt it, it was distracting. And in a contest like this, mental errors could prove more costly than physical pain.

Rasputin said nothing as Crocetta gave another monologue, and it was far from a "one-on-one" fight. With a wave of his hands, the dozen-plus minor undead he kept as shields were physically flung at Crocetta. While one zombie was no threat, more than a dozen hitting you at the same time was...unfortunate.

Of course, Crocetta wasn't really alone, either.

"Concentrate," Jacque ordered Karen. "Forcing a spirit out of an undead and into the Veil is pure will. It should be easy on these, as they are not willing undead, but victims."

"Alright, so how do I will them out?" Karen asked, worried that Crocetta would be overwhelmed.

"Don't focus on the rotten shell they are in. All that matters is the soul, and how far it is separated from the Veil. The body they occupy has nothing do with it...it all comes down to will. Just picture taking the soul out of the body, and shifting it into the Veil. You have to come up with your own visualization for me. Myself," he said with a smile, raising his hands, "I always enjoyed the visual of wringing the soul out." Jacque closed his hand, and two or three of the zombies jumping Crocetta turned to dust as their souls were ripped from their bodies into the Veil. "Simple as that."

"Right...squeeze the soul of 'em," Karen muttered. She stared at one of the zombies, but couldn't really visual "squeezing" the thing. The first thing that came to mind was far more surgical...cutting the thing open and removing the soul through the cut. Excising, exorcism...close enough she thought to herself..

She willed it to happen. In her minds eye, the creature split open, and the soul came out, and faded into the Veil. To her real eyes, the creature simple turned to dust. "It worked!" she muttered in surprise.

"Very good," Jacque said cheerfully. "However, now that that lesson is over, perhaps you should go help Crocetta. I'll handle the rest of the zombies." Jacque reflexively closed his hand again, and another zombie that stood between Crocetta and Rasputin dusted. Karen nodded, jumped down from her perch, and went to help her fellow agent against the immortal Rasputin.

((OOC: Everything seems to be going alright so far. Don't feel like you have to drag this out...if you think you have you can kill one of the undead without being too deus ex about it, feel free to.))

[Astral Harmony]

While Jacque and Karen dealt with lesser undead from a distance, Crocetta apparently liked to bring the fight to them up close and physical. Her first zombie lost its head to an upward swing by the baseball bat, followed by having its chest impaled with Crocetta's clenched left hand. "I may be a dumb girl, but try to credit me with some ability," she said as the body crumpled to dust and scattered across the floor.

Her second zombie was knocked off balance by a high roundhouse to the neck, then smashed to the ground with a chop from the bat. Crocetta sent its freed soul into the Veil with a stomp in the chest. "Rest easy, boys. I'll avenge all the suffering you've gone through, I promise."
Rasputin was dead ahead. Crocetta drew her handgun with her left hand, essentially dual-wielding both of her useable weapons, sidestepping as Karen came up beside her. "So Karen, how do you wanna do this? I can't believe this is my first time fighting an Immortal, and I've served Master Death for half a century already. They can't take damage from two sources at once, can they?"

[Bard The 5th LW]

'Ahh shit, its got me in its sight,' buzzed through Maxwell's head as he moved away from his hiding spot, not even attempting stealth anymore. Despite his panicky thoughts, he still managed to keep a stoic face, he had to go purely on instinct to fight this thing.

He quickly spun his head around to see the vampire gaining on him fast. Maxwell quickly fumbled through his quiver and pulled an arrow while he was moving. At first he appeared to be knocking the arrow into the bowstring, but his hand was too fidgety to get it in right. Acting quickly, Maxwell tossed the bow behind him a the vampire, and slowed it down slightly as it collided with its knee.

Seeing his opportunity to attack as the vampire stumbled a bit, Maxwell suddenly veered around and faced the monster, and lunged straight forwards, arrow in hand as he tackled it to the ground. The vampire was quick though, and quickly pushed him off to the side, showing no sign of shock or pain from Maxwell's attack as it jumped at him with obviously malignant intent.

All Maxwell could do was his feet forward, which managed to keep the vampire back as the soles of his boots collided with the monsters stomach. Seeing this as a major opening, Maxwell took the arrow in his hand and jabbed it straight through the vampire's heart, its blood spilling on his vest as Maxwell pushed it off of him. Maxwell may have become the prey in this fight, but prey can become quite dangerous when cornered. Maxwell then focused on removing the vampires soul from the wound he had made through its heart, and fell to dust as its soul went into the veil.

He then picked himself up and lifted his rifle from his back after dusting off his vest, and began loading a clip into it. He wanted to take a shot at the immortal's skull before another undead got to him.

[Red Mage Black]

Well, this was just perfect. They had blown a perfectly good plan. Which was to draw Rasputin out into the open and make him believe that there was only one agent here. Too bad Crocetta blew the whole thing. He was going to talk to her after this was over, if they didn't all die. Frederick slowly stood up and looked amongst the fighting. No one or no thing seemed to be paying any direct attention to him. So, instead of just engaging them, he pulled out one of the SAA revolvers and spun it on his finger quietly.

From his position, Rasputin was a pretty far shot, but he was distracted with Crocetta and Karen at the moment. Quietly, he contemplated his plan of action. On stone, these bullets could be ricocheted and used as a trick shot. He tossed the revolver from one hand to the other, still spinning it in the process. Frederick looked from one statue to another, formulating his plan. What they had been taught, with your will, imagine their souls being forced out and into the Veil.

Tossing it into the air, he caught it with his primary hand again and put the barrel on his arm and took aim. Careful and don't fire wildly like the others. Otherwise, you'll miss your target or not hit the point you want. He thought to himself, keeping one eye closed and focusing on the Mad Monk. Calculating the distance as well, he waited for one open spot and fired. Imagining Rasputin's soul being sucked out through the bullet wound and forced into the Veil.

[Arcanum]

Izuko noticed the drain on his body the moment it hit him. It felt like the air around him had become thicker, as if it was the air itself that was trying to squeeze the life force out of him. His movements would be slowed but his mind would be as quick as ever, as long as he kept himself focused.

The Jiang Shi tilted it's head in brief confusion as it drained Izuko's energy, but then seemed to give it no further thought as it charged directly at him. Izuko held his ground, then as it reached striking distance he lashed out with his wakizashi, aiming a quick slash across it's chest. The Jiang Shi easily jumped over his attack and over Izuko himself, landing on the wall behind him and jumping off with a kick aimed at his head.

Expecting the counter-attack, Izuko side-stepped the kick, but was forced to duck as the Jiang Shi lashed out with it's other leg. While he would have dodged the attack had he been in peak condition, with his hampered movement he received a glancing blow on the top of his head. The attack knocked him off balance and dazed him a little, but he quickly steadied himself and rushed the Jiang Shi as it landed aiming another slash at it's legs. However the corpse jumped again the instant it's feet touched the ground, narrowly avoiding Izuko's katana. It didn't fare so well against his wakizashi, which he had initially aimed at the creature's midriff. The force of the attack threw off the Jiang Shi's momentum, causing it to land awkwardly on a pew.

It tried to stand up but it's right leg gave out thanks to a three-inch-deep gash in it's thigh. Black blood seeped out of the wound, along with a pungent stench of decay. Determined not to be defeated, the Jiang Shi pulled itself up with the help of the pew and rested all of it's weight on it's left leg. Izuko held his ground, well aware that even with one good leg it was still dangerous. Then a thought occurred to him and he backed up into the shadow of the pillar he had emerged from earlier. Before he entered the Veil, though, he pictured in his mind's eye the soul of the Jiang Shi being torn from it's body with an ethereal sickle and chain. The Jiang Shi visibly flinched as it fought to keep it's soul in it's body, and Izuko descended from the rafters, his katana grasped in both hands, having emerged from one of the many shadows scattered along the ceiling.

The Jiang Shi moved to jump out of the way, but only managed to stumble with a wet thud. It managed to keep itself upright thanks to the pew, but it looked down to see that it was now standing on two stumps, with it's feet cut off at the ankles. Before attacking from the ceiling, Izuko had emerged underneath the pew and amputated the Jiang Shi's feet while it was momentarily stunned by his attempt to push it into the veil. The living corpse looked up to see Izuko's katana cut it in half, from the left side of it's neck to the right hip. As the creature began to collapse Izuko once again willed it's soul to be torn free by the sickle and chain, and the Jiang Shi turned to dust as it hit the floor.

Now that that's settled, he thought to himself. Time to deal with Rasputin.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

The thing about large stone statues being kicked across a room by an enraged werewolf is that, they're not exactly the fastest moving things in the world, particularly to a being with hightened reflexes. So when it came to pass that Mark found himself facing the onrushing force of a large stone statue being kicked across the room towards him by an enraged werewolf, it was a simple matter to dash out of its way. The statue impacted the wall with a deafening sound of shattering rock, but remained surprisingly in one piece. Mostly.

The werewolf that followed was going to be an altogether trickier operation, but luckily Mark now had a huge, heavy statue to use as a weapon. As the wolf charged Mark grabbed the remains of the sculpture and toppled in front of the wolfs path, bringing it down on top of the beast in question. Already weakened, it didn't surive the second impact and broke apart upon the wolfs back, forcing the wolf down under its weight. But the monster was only stunned and Mark wasted no time in putting a few more rounds into it at close range, using the last of his bullets in his right hand gun. The werewolf remembered that it hated getting shot though and lashed out automatically, one of its claws catching Mark across the arm and tearing an impressive gash from his elbow to his wrist.

Mark immediately backed off as he winced with pain, but fought to suppress it, knowing the werewolf would be on the attack again immediately. He fired the last few shots he had in his other weapon before it clicked empty. The werewolf eyed him warily, before seemingly deciding that now, this time, he would take down his foe, and began to charge again.

"Come on then you stinking mutt!!" Mark yelled, urging the wolf onwards as he continued to back away from the charging beast. The beast responded with a roar as it leapt at the Agent... and slammed into a wall. Mark had backed into a shadow in the corner of the church, dissapearing unseen into the Veil. Now safely inside the Veil he inspected his wound, which was bleeding profusely and was starting to throb with pain. "I swear if I become a werewolf from this I will not be pleased!"

Looking towards the corner he saw the Werewolf slowly leap into the wall, saw it begin to slump to the ground and decided on a course of action. It was time for Operation; More Bullets! In the real world, he reappeared at the other end of the isle where he and the wolf had been fighting and drew the wolfs attention back onto him.

"Here doggy, here boy!! C'mon, come here boy!!" He yelled in a mocking voice, no doubt enraging the wolf even further. The wolf turned and let out a long howl of anger towards Mark, before running at him again, slower this time, in case he pulled the same trick as before. "That's it..." Mark raised his Thompson and took aim, "Come and get some!"

Mark pulled the trigger, unleashing a hail of bullets on the wolf. Unlike Crocettas rain of gunfire earlier, this time only one thing was being targetted, and the damage was for more substantial. The rounds ripping through the hide of the wolf, tearing chunks of flesh, shattering bones, liquidising internal organs. Even to a werewolf the damage would take time to heal. None of it slowed the beast down though, determined as it was to kill its prey. A metre away from Mark it pounced, aiming its claws at the Agents throat. Just as its feet left the ground Mark dropped backwards, drawing his reloaded pistol as he went. His speed and reactions seemed to make the world slow down, as the werewolf sailed over him and he took aim. One shot was all it needed, a single bullet firing straight up, into the werewolfs lower jaw, through the roof of its mouth and upwards into its brain. Mark hit the ground hard, the werewolf harder, as it flew over him and rolled to a stop on the cold floor. Knowing the damage he'd done was severe, Mark looked towards the wolfs body, visualising the hole he'd just made, the cracked open skull, and the soul pouring out of it.

The immobile werewolf corpse burst into dust a moment later. Vaguely Mark wondered how the others were getting on...

[rapter200]

There are a few inherent problems in fighting a large creature of pure muscle. Number one, such creatures tend to lack the ability to feel pain. Number two, they are always more agile than they seem. Number three, when you think you have outsmarted you most definitely have not. The fourth and final problem of fighting a creature like the Revenant was that they hit back hard. Oroles was sent flying through the air when he was hit by a punch that connected with his abdomen. Bones cracked, muscles gave way, battleaxe went flying. Cuts appeared all over his body, and a gash had opened on his forehead. Oroles looked like a bloody mess that wouldn't be able to keep on fighting, and the revenant knew this very well.

The lumbering body of muscle walked toward his prey, it felt pain from the wounds it had received from the fight with this creature. It would know finish off his opponent by crushing him, but first it would fling him across the room again. When the revenant reach Oroles it grabbed a leg and flung him all the way across the room into the opposite wall. The pain was clear on his face when he had impacted the wall, he looked even worse than before.

Anger, death, blood, carnage, rage, fury. Pure fury. It is all that Oroles felt when he hit the second wall. This creature had finally awoken something from deep within Oroles' mind, something he hadn't felt for at least a few centuries. The undead and immortals from the past few years have been too easy, or maybe he had gone to soft. But not anymore. Battle Rage. His face had turned fierce, and all the pain left. As the revenant moved in for the kill he grabbed for his final weapon, Abyss. It was a fine weapon and would do the job quite well.

When the Revenant got close to Oroles a look of what could possibly be described as surprise formed on its face. This was because Oroles got and charged the creature axe slamming down into the shoulder of the Revenant. The axe cut through muscle and bone going through the shoulder then chest. It left a large gash that was gushing blood at the moment. Then Oroles stuck again this time lopping off the right arm of the beast. He looked at the revenant knowing that his job would soon be done.

Abyss may not have been a throwing axe, but truth be told it could still be thrown. Just not as efficiently as an actual throwing axe. Wanting to end this fight now before the revenant started to fight back Oroles threw Abyss at his enemy's head. The axe dug into the creatures head lodging itself deep into its brain. Oroles then imagined the soul rushing out of the gash, and The Revenant turned into dust. Abyss fell to the ground with a loud clang. Oroles went to pick it up and then found his battle axe. He would find his throwing axe after the entire fight was over.

[Fantabulate]

Vampires. Do they ever get old? Well, of course they don't, but fighting them certainly did. All this went through Rich's mind while the vampire continued its charge, heart-side held back.

Lendandi knew a side-swipe at the vampire wouldn't work, but it might buy him a moment to do something else. So he swung with a fair amount of force at the charging vampire, but no use. It leaped.

In life, Lendandi had heard the legend of vampires... how they might turn to bats and back again... but he had never asked how fast they could do it. It had never been applicable, until now. Unable to hit the agile little bat, it managed to fly past his saber and rake deeply into Lendandi's right arm. It stung horribly, and Lendandi could no longer hold the saber... the vampire was changing back...

Then something flew past, distracting the bat for a second... it was a axe by the look of the blur, that nearly decapitated both Rich and the bat. The bat flinched for a split-second as it flew by, and that was just enough time. Lendandi slammed his arm and it's passenger into the wall with all the strength of a British dragoon. It's grip loosened a little, and Lendandi was free.

Rich Dived for his saber, knowing the vampire would recover almost before he even touched his sword... but Rich grabbed it quickly in his left hand, and spun on his back.

There was the vampire, changed back to humanoid form. Lendandi raised his saber and cut wide, digging into the vampire's chest... Lendandi cut again, this time willing the abomination's soul into the veil with more than a century's worth of practice, and, suddenly, he was covered in a thin film of dust.

"This is why I will NEVER watch twilight..." He thought to himself.

Time to join the others. But was Rasputin even still here?

[Fantabulate]

((OOC: Should we still continue waiting on ToastBurner, or just go on ahead?))

((OOC: Will someone please answer me?))

((OOC: C'mon, guys! Don't make me triple post!))