The NEW Vanguard TEAM UP! Haunt Issue #13 with special guest star Steeplejack!

Admin wrote:1) Dracula is phased/incorporeal BUT the hand that he used to kill Carter is still partially phased and can be targeted. It will be difficult but by targeting that hand with enough force (you are looking at needed a decent roll and a devastating attack) you might be able to target Dracula!

If you'd scored higher on the check you might have come up with some other ideas on how to thwart the most powerful Vampire who ever 'lived'.

Haunt is up. [/i][/color]

OOC:]OK as Dave goes for his attack I will seek to try and do a Devastating attack on the hand with my Martial Arts skills and see if I can apply so HP to accuracy if need be.  Whatever you think is sufficient.

Sj

OOC Dave E - no HP that you spend would boost the number of Dice Steeplejack can bring to bear with a Martial Arts attack (he's that good). I mean, you could spend HP but it would be horrendously expensive and quite frankly not worth it. Extra dice are nice but Steeplejack already rolls 7D12 and picks the best two dice... He'll have to attack next round as the Dice action this round was sizing up his opponent and figuring out just where to strike (the hand. The rest of him is incorporeal fog and even the hand is well protected but at least Steeplejack can affect it).

David M - Haunt (as far as I know) always wears his costume (probably a bit smelly by now but he can use his shape changing to make a washing machine I guess) and uses Chameleon to alter his appearance/put conventional clothes over the top/hide his acid scarred face.

As for Fog/Aura of Fear, it has been a while!

I don't think it will be effective against a 500 year old Vampire Lord who has lived another 1500 or more years on top of that doing the same things he did the first time around waiting for this moment! That said, the dice are sometimes fickle (ok a lot fickle) and we'll see...

Aura of Fear 10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,4,+0 Total:16 (26) vs
OV8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 5,9,+0 Total:14 (22)
Success +3 (to 13EV) vs RV18 (hey this write up is from Writeups.org not mine, but Dracula is pretty much invulnerable to any kind of mental attack with 16 Mind, plus 2 from his 'live another lifetime and then some' and the upgrade he got from draining Aliens). RAPs zero. Failed.

"Mind tricks?" spluttered the disembodied fog. "You would try some childish mind game on me? I am insulted!" roared the Count. "I am beyond such theatrics and you will pay the price for insulting me thus!"

OOC initiative...

Haunt 26 + Roll(1d12)+0: 8,+0 Total:8 (34)
Steeplejack 34 + Roll(1d12)+0: 9,+0 Total:9 (43)
Dracula 35 + Roll(1d12)+0: 3,+0 Total:3 (38)

Steeplejack shouts "THE HAND! It's solid, or at least in part!" and launches his own attack at the disembodied blood crazed vampire!

OOC Devastating Attack!

Steeplejack Dex 13 + 7D12 (0D Acrobatics! If need be you can spend hero points on defence dice if you need to, or last ditch defence to soak up damage) + Roll(7d12)+0: 6,11,3,2,12,12,3,+0 Total:24 DOUBLE (boom!) plus Roll(2d12)+0: 7,2,+0 Total:33 (46) vs
OV12 + Trick Shot 4 (going for hand) + Dev Attack 8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 3,4,+0 Total:7 (31)
Success +5 (to 18) vs RV25 - Dev Attack 12 (RV13)=5 RAPs. Dracula is reduced from Body 13 to Body 8

With a solid sounding THWACK! Steeplejack delivers a flying kick that strikes true onto the Counts semi solid hand and elicits a cry of rage and pain from the Lord of Vampires!

"You... strike me? What sorcery is this? What Deviltry?" he roars. The mist swirls and reforms, albeit with the Count clutching a limb - presumably his hand - in the mist and those two red eyes glowing.

He seems to be shaken but the Vampire is old and will not be denied! He knows the power that resides in the blood of the two super heroes he faces and it's call is too strong to resist!

Indeed, those eyes glow brightly and the Vampires' voice lowers...

"Why do you attack me, Mr Gibb, your friend?" he whispers. "It is clear now... your friend in the white cloak and hood there has been ensorcelled by the enemy! Strike him down but have a care not to hurt him! We can remove the enchantment that clouds his mind and free him to once more become part of our upstanding band of heroes!"

OOC Hypnotism on Steeplejack!

You can spend dice on defence for this is you want Dave. I'll roll those dice retrospectively and apply any different result to the one below...

Hypnotism 13 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,4,+0 Total:16 (29) vs
OV10 + Roll(2d12)+0: 9,12,+0 Total:21 (31) Attempt FAILED

Steeplejack shakes his head, blinking and rubbing his eyes. "What?" he splutters. "You are EVIL, Count and your wicked ways will end here!" he says!

OOC Haunt is up. He can (with a trick shot) target that semi corporeal hand that Steeplejack just struck. Dracula is injured but recovers crazy fast if he's not put down. The character is very powerful - Boss level - and designed to take on the likes of Marvels' heavy hitters. If not so much in terms of hitting power (7 Str translates into about 3 tons, only just over what Captain America can lift these days) but in all round abilities and Regeneration: 10 means he only needs to use one Dice action to get back to full health.

ooc: Couldn't remember if the Haunt's costume had been destroyed or not so wasn't sure if I had those powers or not anymore. So, keeping the fog up around me to give me the defense bonus but not covering the whole area as that would blind Steeplejack and we go with the usual mallet hands and trick shot.

Haunt, wreathed in mist and despite his best efforts, not quite as scary as usual, formed his hands into huge hammers and the Vampire laughed. "You both appear to produce abilities like a magician produces rabbits from a hat! And are both equally as ineffectual!" he laughed though Steeplejack noted he was nursing the injured arm in his foglike form...

OOC Haunt is up. No mention of Crit Blow or Dev Attack so will assume a Crit Blow like last time and Trick Shot to target the hand.

Dex 10 + 6 (Six!) Dice from Weaponry + Roll(8d12)+0: 4,2,2,7,2,2,7,1,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE (that's a lotta twos...) plus Roll(2d12)+0: 11,12,+0 Total:37 (Nice follow up) (47) vs
OV12 + trick Shot 4 + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,7,+0 Total:17 (37)
Success +4 (to 19EV) vs RV25 -6 Crit Blow (19RV)=0 RAPs. No damage.

Despite slashing through the mist and feeling sure that he'd struck that hand again, the twin hammers of justice failed to strike home and the Count cackled, but it seemed strained. He knew his enemies had found a weakness!

Haunt frowned. He suspected that his body was dense enough to affect all of the Count's mistlike form so he wouldn't need to target the hands like his comrade had to (who wasn't physically dense enough to affect any part of the Count aside from that semi corporeal hand that he'd used to strange poor Carter).

OOC Initiative...

Haunt 26 + Roll(1d12)+0: 7,+0 Total:33
Steeplejack 34 + Roll(1d12)+0: 8,+0 Total:42
Dracula 35 + Roll(1d12)+0: 11,+0 Total:46

Dracula snarls and swings at Haunt!

"time to put you in your place, impudent pup!"

OOC CRIT BLOW Dex 12 + 4 Dice (M Arts) + Roll(6d12)+0: 5,7,1,7,6,6,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 4,10,+0 Total:28 (40) vs

Haunt can use up to 3 dice in defence and that would leave 3 dice for him to attack with.

Steeplejack, same again with a devastating attack?

Haunt (assuming Drac doesn't clobber you completely) are you going for a Crit Blow (not likely to damage him without a big roll, but without the trick shot last time you'd have inflicted 1 point) or Devastating Attack?

ooc: Let's not use trick shot since Haunt is dense enough Body-wise but with crit blow. and split the dice, though I was thinking just to take it and see how bad it would be.

Haunt sees the blow incoming but the Count is so fast that he may not get chance to avoid it!

OOC Dracula's attack...

CRIT BLOW Dex 12 + 4 Dice (M Arts) + Roll(6d12)+0: 5,7,1,7,6,6,+0 Total:14 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 4,10,+0 Total:28 (40) vs
OV10 + 3 Dice (3 Dice attack) Crit Blow 4 + Roll(5d12)+0: 9,4,6,1,7,+0 Total:16 (30) Success + 4
EV14 +5 (EV18) vs RV14 - Crit Blow 6 (RV8)=10 RAPs using VAMPIRISM! Haunt is on Body 4/14

Dracula heals 5 APs of Body (putting him on Full/Body 13 once more) and 5 APs go into Power Reserve.

Dracula has 5 APs Power Reserve and Body 13/13

Haunt grunts in pain and reaches a hand to his throat... Had the Count just... Blood! He'd bitten Haunt!

Luckily Haunt recovered from wounds practically as soon as they occurred but that assumed the Vampire gave his body the time it needed to heal!

The Count himself - or at least the mist form that he was - boiled around the area making it hard to tell what was the Vampire and what was natural occurring mist in the forest!

"Hahahahaha! Such power! The blood within you will empower me, sustain me! Indeed, I feel myself ... stronger, younger even! What a prize you and your agile companion make! I shall enslave you and become ALL POWERFUL!"

Haunt pulled up his hammer hands and pounded away at the Undead Villain!

OOC CRIT BLOW AV10 + 3 Dice Weaponry + Roll(5d12)+0:5,8,8,9,10,+0 Total:16 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 11,10,+0 Total:37 (47) vs
OV12 + Crit Blow 4 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,11,+0 Total:23 (39) Success +4 (to EV19)
EV19 vs RV25 - Crit Blow 6 (Rv19)=0 RAPs! No damage!

Despite being dense enough (in terms of physical structure) to affect the Count Haunt saw his hammers sail through the villain and pound into the floor!

"You two shall give me powers and abilities undreamed of!" cackled the mist. "The aliens gave some sustenance but nothing like you two give!"

OOC Steeplejack is up. You guys are in trouble! Dracula is actually an 'inferior' opponent to the pair of you but... his abilities mean that if he can land a Vampiric strike (like he just did on Haunt) then he gets stronger and more powerful! Then the balance of power shifts!

Admin wrote:OOC Steeplejack is up. You guys are in trouble! Dracula is actually an 'inferior' opponent to the pair of you but... his abilities mean that if he can land a Vampiric strike (like he just did on Haunt) then he gets stronger and more powerful! Then the balance of power shifts!

OOC: Oh O!!!! This doesn't look so good. It feels like it's all down to the dice. Hmm, I can't do anything else save keep trying the same tactic I did before and specifically target the one area that I can hit. So I guess it's rinse and repeat for me. ;-) Welcome back Paul by the way, hope you had a good break.

Sj

ooc: Not sure what else to do either other than go from Crit Blow to Devastating blow and hope the dice roll high, so I'll do that.

Steeplejack, with an astonishing level of combat skill practically unmatched by anyone save the most experienced of superhuman foes, could tell that he was the irresistible force meeting the immovable object!

Or the untouchable object, in Count Draculas' case...

Unlike Haunt he would continue to have to target the one semi solid part of the Vampire and hope to score a hit by swinging with his powerful legs dozens of times per second!

OOC Steeplejack DEVASTATING ATTACK!

AV13 + Roll(7d12)+0: 9,8,4,8,1,7,12,+0 Total:16 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 11,8,+0 Total:35 (48) vs
OV12 + TRICK SHOT 4 + DEV ATTACK 8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 12,7,+0 Total:19 (43) Success +3
EV13 + 3 (EV16) vs RV25 - 12 Dev Attack (RV13)=3 RAPs

Dracula is reduced to 10/13 Body

"Arrrgh!" declared the Count, hissing as once again the whirling dervish that was Steeplejack delivered dozens of kicks in the blink of an eye, each one capable of kicking through a bank vault door!

"Your power..." snarled the Count. "I can respect that, even as I claim it for my own!" he roared.

Haunt pulled up his hammer fists. That walloping he'd just taken from the brief bite of the Count had been humiliating, not least because it seemed that the Count would soon use his own life force against him! (OOC Next round.)

Where Steeplejack was a world class master in unarmed combat, Haunt was off the charts with his body weaponry. He didn't miss, pure and simple.

Question was, could he hit his target hard enough?

OOC HAUNT DEVASTATING ATTACK!

AV10 + 6D Weaponry (8D in total) + Roll(8d12)+0: 8,7,8,6,1,1,9,9,+0 Total:18 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,11,+0 Total:32 (42) vs
OV10 + Dev Attack 8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 1,9,+0 Total:10 (28) Success +5
EV15 +5 (EV20) vs RV25 - 12 Dev Attack (RV13)=7 RAPs.

Dracula is reduced to Body 3/13! This is going down to the wire! May go on initiative... if Dracula goes first and takes one of the heroes out, the other hero might find it nigh on impossible to cope with the Counts' healing factor which would be on a par or higher than Wolverines!

There is a cry of agony from the mist as the mighty hammers of justice pound through it!

"you... will ... PAY for that, mortal!" gasped Dracula. "No one has ever inflicted such agony on me and lived!"

OOC initiative...

Haunt 26 + Roll(1d12)+0: 1,+0 Total:1 (27)
Steeplejack 34 + Roll(1d12)+0: 11,+0 Total:11 (45)
Dracula 35 + Roll(1d12)+0: 9,+0 Total:9 (43)

Steeplejack goes first then Dracula who will use those RAPs nicked from Haunts' life force to enhance his Dex and make it easier to hit his foes.

Same again? using any of those dice for defence or is it all out, Devastating Attack/Trick Shot and hope for the best?

Admin wrote:Steeplejack goes first then Dracula who will use those RAPs nicked from Haunts' life force to enhance his Dex and make it easier to hit his foes.

Same again? using any of those dice for defence or is it all out, Devastating Attack/Trick Shot and hope for the best?[/i][/color]

OOC: Wow talk about tense. Yes same again, as that seems to be my best shot and getting in before he gets out.

Steeplejack was amazed, he knew vampires were tricky, he knew Dracula was a vile creature through and through, but any semblance of honour seemed to be stripped from him. He was no more than a creature of malice and wicked lust for more power. Yet he had been part of their team, he knew what this mission had to accomplish. Yet all that seemed forgotten with whatever vestiges of his once faded humanity still lay in tatters down the corridors of time.

Taking no pleasure even in the death of one so wicked, Steeplejack knew he had to end this. The count was fast, faster than even his partner but somehow his speed had been sufficient to counter his attacks. Just as well with the way, even Haunt took a blow. With intense concentration, once again the fleet-footed one fired a fast flurry with his feet and fists to counter the creature before he could marshal his efforts to take them down.

Sj

Steeplejack was beyond what ordinary humans could identify as being an 'expert' martial artist.

With bullet fast reflexes, reaction speed measured in milliseconds and moves that would astound a grand master, his flexibility, skill and dexterity was about as superhuman as it was possible to be!

Still, the Vampire in front of him had held off not only Steeplejack but Haunt, a true powerhouse with those diamond smashing hammer fists of his!

OOC Steeplejack Devastating Attack and TRICK SHOT

AV13 + 5D12 M Arts (0D Acrobatics) + Roll(7d12)+0: 3,5,8,11,4,6,6,+0 Total:12 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 10,10,+0 Total:20 DOUBLE plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,3,+0 Total:6 DOUBLE (!) plus Roll(2d12)+0: 3,3,+0 Total:6 DOUBLE (????) plus Roll(2d12)+0: 9,11,+0 Total:64 (!?!?!) (77)

One of the highest and strangest rolls ever?!? Here's what it looks like after the initial roll (which was tempting to grab the 8+11 as the double rolls haven't been kind all the time).



Anyway...

Dracula OV12 + 4 Trick Shot + Dev Attack 8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 10,1,+0 Total:11 (35) Success +9 (I think the highest we've had is +10 or +11, once)
EV13 +9 (EV22) vs RV25 - 12 Dev Attack (RV13)=9 RAPs

Dracula was on Body 3/13. This would put him down. However Dracula has 85HP and spends 63HP (leaving 22HP for Dracula Remaining) to absorb 7 damage and leave him on 1 Body. He is also STUNNED and can take no dice action in this round or the next! Dracula Body 1/13

Haunt gaped. His comrade was a blur! Spinning on the spot to deliver HUNDREDS of kicks amidst the cloud of mist that Dracula was currently formed of!

The mist was swirling, the red eyes in it reeling! For once the Vampire was silent and Steeplejack landed in a crouch. It was, by any stretch, the most he'd ever 'let loose'! Since his early days and a long career in superheroics he'd refined and tested his abilities. When he'd taken a leave of absence after the rise of the UKChampions he still honed and developed his craft, pushing himself to his limits and beyond without fear of innocents being injured. Alone on a mountain side, he would dance free of ropes and strike at pre painted and set up targets using his agility, reactions and speed to seemingly dance on sheer cliff sides, faster and faster, seeking out more dangerous locations. He would assume an identity and seek out the most dangerous opponents in the far east, martial artists of such legendary skill they would laugh at the efforts of 'world champions'.

He would learn from them all, and beat them.

He was the STEEPLEJACK, and Dracula? Dracula for all his power was just a training dummy!

Haunt, no slouch himself, pulled his hammers up and growled, then moved in to (hopefully) deliver the coup de grace!

OOC Hmm, Dracula was easier (by 2 points) than he should have been last time for Haunt. That's not counting the Trick Shot, but his OV12 was showing only as a 10 so wasn't what it should be. With that in mind... DEVASTATING ATTACK

OV10 + AV10 + 6D Weaponry (8D in total) + Roll(8d12)+0: 12,3,12,10,12,10,6,6,+0 Total:24 BOOM (Double, the modifier may be a moot point) + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,4,+0 Total:36 (46) vs
OV14 (12 + the two points I missed last time) + DEV ATTACK 8 + Roll(2d12)+0: 4,9,+0 Total:13 (35) Success + 5
EV15 + 5 (EV20) vs RV25 - 12 Dev Attack (RV13)=7 RAPs.

At most Dracula can absorb 3 damage with his remaining 22HP but takes 7 damage. That drops him to zero and adds 4 minutes (6 RAPs of time) to the hour that Dracula would normally be down. DRACULA is DOWN and OUT!

Steeplejack and Haunt saw the mist solidify and form into the prone form of the Vampire lord! Even his mystically empowered form looked battered and beaten, but before their very eyes he started to recover!

Haunt could recover from practically ANY injury almost instantly. Steeplejack needed to be stood on the ground but recovered very quickly, albeit slower than Haunt. Dracula was recovering faster than either of them were able, it seemed!

"You need a stake." said Mina Harker as she jogged into the clearing, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson hot on her heels, puffing and huffing. Watson looked fit to keel over!

"Wait! You are talking about murdering someone! One of our... <huff> comrades!" spluttered Watson as he bent over, coughing.

"My Dear ... Watson..." huffed Holmes, albeit much quieter and he'd recovered much faster than his dear friend."Dracula is already dead! He is UNDEAD, and any injury we inflict on the Count will not be permanent but will serve to 'keep him down' so our friends do not have to unleash their titanic abilities once again!"

"But..." spluttered Watson. His medical training and mind screamed that this was wrong... but Holmes was rarely, if ever, wrong and ... He frowned. He couldn't remember Holmes EVER being wrong!

"Allow me." said Mina as she pulled up a stake, sharpened and prepared at some point...

"Surely there is some other..." spluttered Watson, moving forwards, only for Holmes to step in his way...

CRUNCH!

Mina swept the stake down in an arc and punched it into the Counts' chest!

Dracula gasped, eyes wide and blood red, and looked upon Mina... "Ahhhh... my heart..." he gasped... then he slumped to the side.

Mina herself gasped and stepped aside on shaky legs!

As Haunt, Holmes, Steeplejack, Watson and Mina looked on, the Counts' body shed it's flesh and turned into bones! The skeleton - with elongated fangs and a stake jutting from the rib cage, lay on the ground.

"It is done. I am... free..." gasped Mina. "Free of his evil, free to tread where I will..."

Holmes raised an eyebrow then looked to Haunt and Steeplejack. The look was clear. Mina herself was a Vampire and no longer under the power of Dracula, free to go where she willed and there might never be a better opportunity to rid the world of such evil... if evil she did indeed bring!

OV10 + AV10 + 6D Weaponry (8D in total) + Roll(8d12)+0: 12,3,12,10,12,10,6,6,+0 Total:24 BOOM (Double, the modifier may be a moot point) + Roll(2d12)+0: 8,4,+0 Total:36 (46) vs

ooc: I got a TRIPLE and TWO doubles!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?


Catching his breath and recovering from having his blood sucked, the Haunt looked around and saw the body of John Carter.

"I wonder," he murmured. At Holmes' inquisitive "Hmm?", he continued. "How much is fact and how much is fiction about John Carter I'm not sure about. But it was said he died in a cave in Arizona while being chased by Apaches and his soul went to Barsoom, a version of Mars, where a new body was formed minus any injuries. And after some years, he returned to his dead body here on Earth, but it was totally healed when he did so. Did being killed by Dracula here, send his "soul" I guess back to Barsoom? Will he one day return to Earth and this body? When this is all over, we probably want to arrange for his body to be put into a crypt with a way to open it from the inside, just in case."

He looks around to see what the remaining members of their team were doing, Dr. Clark Savage and Dr. Jekyll.

OOC: That is quite some rolling. Just what we needed when we needed it as well. How portant, it really looked to be going down to the wire.

He looks around to see what the remaining members of their team were doing, Dr. Clark Savage and Dr. Jekyll.

 

Meanwhile, Steeplejack moved to Mina, "Yes you are free from the count, for now. But what next! I know you didn't come to this willingly, but it will take all your willpower not to succumb to that which he has made you! Is that a fight you deem yourself worthy of taking or do we need to drive a stake through your heart here and now?"

Although the last statement was said with a flash of a smile. There was no humour in it. Steeplejack had seen what happened when people became vampires and how the bloodlust made them mad with desire. They were brute beasts, fiends of their fatal desire to taste that which was alive if only to give them a semblance of life till that was consumed and the hunger began again. He needed to know if Mina had it in her to really be a different kind of creature, to that which had enslaved her.

Sj

Holmes raised an eyebrow. "You are most learned, sir. It makes me wonder what you know about me and my companion, Dr Watson!"

"I don't want to know!" exclaimed Watson from where he had examined and diagnosed Carters' body. He shook his head. "At least it was quick. More than that... brute ... deserved." he said of Dracula.

"Quite." replied Holmes with a pat on Watson's shoulder. "I asked Dr Jekyll, Captain Savage and Anjali to watch the camp. Mostly for the Captain to keep an eye on Jekyll. The man is... tainted, but as his brutish alter ego he is a horror. I could not leave him unobserved even for a moment, and Anjali to stay with Savage for her safety. In many ways Captain Savage is the modern equivalent of the knights of old. There is a sense of good I get from the man that suggests he always acts with impeccable honour and thinks more of the welfare of others than of himself."

Meanwhile Steeplejack asked his questions of Mina...

She was silent, hugging herself for a moment as she peered on Dracula. "That monster destroyed my life. I died, only to be raised again. Now? The easiest thing would be to put a stake in me but I don't... I don't feel the need to control, to destroy, like he did. When he died I felt a weight lifting from me. I must feed, I know that. However... I make this solemn pledge to always feed from the guilty, the terrible, the criminals and the dastards who walk the land with callous hearts and prey on others. If I can do that? Who knows? Perhaps some higher power may see fit to cure me of the affliction and give my soul peace."

"We'll take Carter with us for a proper burial." said Watson, stepping up and mopping his brow. "What of Alucard or... Dracula... the name backwards I suppose, but Mina shouted it after spending time alone. Only then did we see she had been whittling a stick to a sharp point!"

"And a good thing too!" said Holmes, stepping up.

"What of Dracula's remains?" asked Watson.

Admin wrote:"And a good thing too!" said Holmes, stepping up.

"What of Dracula's remains?" asked Watson.

Steeplejack having placed a sympathetic hand on Mina's shoulder in acceptance of her pledge, heard the Dr's question.
"I could bury it deep down under the earth, he might get out, eventually, though shame I can't bury him in the sun." Steeplejack added wistfully.

Sj

"I think we should leave them here," the Haunt puts in, "for now, at least.  We move that stake, he comes back to life or so the stories go."  

"There are a lot of legends about vampires and I do not know which are true or just fanciful stories.  Asian vampires seem to have different powers and weaknesses than European vampires do.  I've heard of European vampires that if we cut off the head of a vampire and bury it on the other side of a large moving river, then bury the body on the other, that prevents them from coming back to life.  Or take the two parts and burn them on the opposite sides of that river.  Also heard that the sun will dissolve a vampire's staked body if exposed to it long enough.  And other stories including the use of wolfbane and garlic."  

"I heard for a Chinese Vampire, you can weaken it or kill it by hitting it with unfertile chicken eggs or by placing that unfertile egg in it's mouth while it sleeps during the day, it can't wake up then."   {That's from an old Sammo Hung film where he fights vampires. I think it is Encounters of the Spooky Kind.}    

"I think leave it here now as is, maybe erect a wall of stone around it but still exposed to the sun, to keep anyone or any animal from easily getting to the bones.  Then we get the Grail and see if it can eliminate Dracula."

DavidMcMahon wrote:"I think leave it here now as is, maybe erect a wall of stone around it but still exposed to the sun, to keep anyone or any animal from easily getting to the bones.  Then we get the Grail and see if it can eliminate Dracula."

Steeplejack nodded and moved his hands to take care of the body in such a way as that it might lay undisturbed and yet somewhat shielded to 'protect it' from further interference.

OOC: OK with that done, I guess we press on sooner we get the grail the sooner we can take care of Dracula once and for all and get things going forward the right way in our time line.

Sj

With a gesture of his hands Steeplejack erected a solid walled tomb/mound without doors or windows. It was more than that, being a solid block of Earth compacted to rock hardness and with the body of Dracula in the centre!

Anyone wanting to get at Draculas' body would have to pound away with a pick and a shovel for hours. If left alone in the woods nature would soon - within weeks and months - reclaim the site and before long it would be just another mound of earth set deep in a forest off the beaten path.

"Amazing." muttered Watson. "I see it with my own eyes, what the two of you can do, and yet my rational mind finds it difficult to comprehend what my eyes are looking upon."

"My dear Watson, you and I have seen many strange sights and god willing, will see many more. I believe we will look upon this time in a dream like state and indeed, were we to recount our experiences who in their right mind would think us sane? Come. I trust one of you fine gentlemen can transport our fallen companion back to the camp?"

Haunt morphed one of his hands into a kind of floating (attached by a tendril to his body) stretcher and scooped John Carters' lifeless form up. Watson thought to speak again but looked upon the fallen warrior with silence, as did the whole party.

They turned and headed back to camp, with a last look at the mound that was the - presumably - final resting place of the legendary Vampire Lord, Dracula!

=========

"You've returned!" said Captain Savage.

Anjali, formerly of Captain Nemo's crew, moved across to stand beside the Captain. It looked like the pair of them had been searching for something... or someone.

"Where is Dr Jekyll?" asked Holmes, glancing about.

"He left!" declared Anjali. "Despite our protestations!"

"Or rather, his monstrous alter ego Mr Hyde did." said Savage. "I didn't want to shoot Jekyll but tried to restrain him. He transformed and battered me aside as if I were a straw man! The man... the beasts' strength is truly prodigious, inhuman!"

"I failed." groaned the Captain. "he didn't respond to threats and despite my gun the man saw fit to leave. I deduced my gun to have no use against a man that can do THAT!"

He pointed to where a tree had been uprooted, pushed aside as if by a brute with limitless strength and rage behind the blow!

Holmes narrowed his eyes. "We cannot waste more time. The Grail must be recovered."

Captain Savage was stood over Carter's limp form. A skilled surgeon and medic himself, he bowed his head in respect. "The grail. The Grail! By jove that's it Holmes! Of the many legends of the Grail, it is said that it can restore life to the recently dead and pure of heart! Carter is a heroic, noble soul and surely qualifies  for aid from the mystical artifact! We should waste no time and get the Grail to him, to restore Carter to life!"

"What of Jekyll... or Hyde?" asked Watson. "The man is a snake, and I'd as soon not want to turn my back wherever he is around. In truth I feel safer with him gone."

Holmes nodded. "Captain Savage is onto something I feel. We cannot tarry here longer. That castle and the Grail therein may be our only chance to restore life to John Carter! Once done we must return it to England without delay!"

"There is the small matter of those who stole it to deal with!" spluttered Watson.

Holmes looked to Steeplejack and Haunt.

"My dear Watson, we have the two greatest heroes of this or any age to aid us! We will have no better chance to thwart our enemies and save our friend than the now." said Holmes. "I say we make all haste!"

"Then, Off To The Castle," the Haunt says, pointing dramatically in one direction and then figuring out he was pointing the wrong way and pointing the correct way, all the while making it look like he planned it that way.

DavidMcMahon wrote:"Then, Off To The Castle," the Haunt says, pointing dramatically in one direction and then figuring out he was pointing the wrong way and pointing the correct way, all the while making it look like he planned it that way.

Steeplejack just raised an eyebrow, and then signed in resignation at his partner's antics and followed with the others.

OOC: I suggest Haunt and I scout ahead, whilst the others keep a weary out for other possible enemies who'd like to ambush us.

Sj

Steeplejack and Haunt scouted ahead with the others warily looking about as they followed at a distance.

Captain Savage was incredibly disappointed at having 'let' Hyde/Jekyll get away but in truth the man couldn't justify attacking the physician/brute and in any case the chances of a firearm hurting Hyde were minimal.

The group pushed on with Anjali proving her worth by successfully hunting for food and they stopped off briefly to cook it whilst remaining vigilant.

Whilst the land seemed quiet - dotted with copses of woods and creepy forests always with a rolling mist about it and a chill in the air - the heroes always felt there was something else about. A sense of being watched, tracked, spied on, that they could not shake. Haunt circled the air as a hawk, enhancing his vision to look down for miles and Steeplejack relied on his keen senses and danger sense but neither could find a reason for the unease.

The group, restless and nervy, pushed on.

=========

Some time later they moved through a blasted forest, the trees devoid of life and signs that a fire had raged once, sapping vitality from a once bustling growth.

Now nothing seemed to grow and a shin deep foul smelling water seemed to suck at the travellers as they pushed ever onward towards their goal. Watson looked nervously about, jumping at shadows in the mist. Captain Savage peered into the gloom and stopped to listen frequently before shaking his head and sloshing after the others.

Anjali seemed fairly upbeat, considering this all a great adventure whilst Starkey frowned and tutted at the sodden mess his expensive tweed trousers had become. Holmes watched the group and assessed them, quietly proud of their strength against the adversity and horrors they'd experienced. All felt the loss of Carter most keenly. The man was a noble, upstanding warrior and hero. The glimmer of hope that the grail may yet save him was just that - a glimmer. Every time the group had come close to catching up with the grail it had moved just beyond grasp and even now the castle was hidden from their sight at ground level by the thick, cloying, damp mist.

Steeplejack moved from tree to tree with an agility no spider monkey could match and Haunt was a great white Eagle, soaring over the forest and looking out for mile upon mile of white boiling mist. Breaking out of that only a couple of miles distant were hills that grew into mountains and on the side of the highest, the castle. Who had built the place, how, remained unknown. Hopefully though the Grail was there and could be retrieved and the heroes return to their own time once the Holy Grail was back in the possession of her majesty Queen Victoria.

=========

Elsewhere....

"Well? What do you propose to do now?" snarled Moriarty. "My infernal enemy and his merry band of misfits plough on. I saw with my own eyes how you manipulated the Vampire, Dracula, and pushed him in a direction of your choosing sorcerer and yet the miraculous shape changer and the man who can only be described as a blur defeated him!"

Fu Manchu glanced at the Professor and bit back a reply. The power needed to influence a power like Dracula had been immense and the oriental villain had, and would, pay a heavy toll. "Perhaps, Moriarty, you should use that supposed keen intellect of yours and figure out some way of spiriting us from these lands and faster to my homeland!"

"As you know I have people working on that very topic as we speak! It is ready to fly, a wonder of the age! However, with that orb of scrying you use we have already seen what the white garbed man can do. He ... morphs his form, manipulates his self in ways that defy belief! Is there no end to his talents?" said Moriarty with some bitterness, shaking his head.

"And the other one! What manner of man can move faster than the eye can follow? Faster even than the Prince and Lord of all Vampires, Dracula? Such a warrior never trod the Earth that could match this one in unarmed combat!"

Fu Manchu started, then glanced at Moriarty. "Perhaps that is it! This land has seen countless wars, battles over the ages. Many, many souls have fallen here, more than the stars in the sky! I, Fu Manchu, greatest sorcerer of this or any age, will call on my dark power again and finally crush these 'heroes'."

The dark cloaked form in the corner of the room watch the arch villains plot and scheme and came up with its own conclusions. Whilst they made their next plans it quietly left the room, its feet hovering off the floor and hidden by the folds of its cloak.

=========

"Almost... there?" huffed Watson.

"The land is rising slightly." said Savage. He was emptying a boot of water and looked about. "Though gently. This water, this murk and mist, they seem endless! Was there ever such a misbegotten, foul and blasted place such as this before? I long to be travelling back through the verdant valleys of Europe or the steamy jungles of Africa."

The group were ringing out and drying socks and clothes as they rested and ate around a fire, which was the only thing holding the mist at bay it seemed.

Anjali stood, turning the spit as a deer roasted on the fire. Then she frowned and turned, looking out into the mist.

"What is it?" asked Holmes.

Up in the trees Steeplejack and the (in bird form) Haunt heard and looked about. It was impossible to see in the mist but there was a sloshing sound. Sounds. Many of them!

Though they could not see it, they could hear wading through the water and mist as someone... or something... closed in from all directions towards the camp of the heroes!

Admin wrote:Up in the trees Steeplejack and the (in bird form) Haunt heard and looked about. It was impossible to see in the mist but there was a sloshing sound. Sounds. Many of them!

Though they could not see it, they could hear wading through the water and mist as someone... or something... closed in from all directions towards the camp of the heroes!

Doubling back Steeplejack headed toward where the others were and jumping down among them warned, "Looks like we've got company, to welcome us...I suggest we find somewhere to take a stand. This might get ugly."

And with that Steeplejack made ready to create a space around them to defend as need be.

OOC: OK depending on if we have the lost armies of undead or something else coming, it might be spirits for whom mounds of earth mean nothing so I don't want to raise the landscape until I know what we are facing and then erect a defensible position from which to fight if need be.

Sj

"Who knows what we are facing now," The Haunt say to himself. "It didn't work the last time but lets see if it will work this time, since we have a few moments before they are on us. If it doesn't, it will give me a better idea of what we are facing this time."


ooc: Aura of Fear, minus his teammates.

As Haunt suspected he reached out with his power and hit... nothing.

Whatever was out there in the mist was immune to fear and probably any other kind of mental effect. He narrowed his eyes behind the mask. There were a number of reasons for that, but the likeliest is that some distant mind far away was guiding whatever would soon plunge from the murk at them.

Steeplejack had called out to the others who made preparations. Captain Savage loaded round after round into a long hunting rifle he'd built up from parts from a case, the beautiful brass mechanisms and polished mahogany casings forming up to make a long barrelled hunting rifle with a primitive brass telescopic sight on the top.

Holmes was impressed. "That thing would take down a Rhino!" he exclaimed.

"Indeed it would, but I do not shoot animals. Once, maybe, but now I am dedicated to their preservation. At some point, not now or in the near future, but perhaps decades from now, many of the animals my friends and colleagues hunt for sport in the jungles of Africa and dusty Savannah plains will come close to, or be made extinct. I will not speed that process along." said the Captain.

"Indeed, I prey on those who hunt the elephants for their ivory and leave devastation in their wake." he said quietly, steel in his voice and his eye as he scanned the mist for shapes.

Starkey looked up and down the weapon as he slopped across through the mud. "I couldn't improve much on that thing." he admitted. "Those cartridges look like they will punch a shell through brick!"

"Indeed they will, sir." admitted Captain Savage. "I tracked Pirates to their base in Rabat... Morocco... and came under fire for my efforts. Some guesswork and fortune aided me but I shot the Pirate Leader through a thick stone wall. When he toppled the Pirates' spirits sank and they fled, leaving their hostages behind."

Starkey pursed his lips, chin in hand and picked up a stick, tying string and a rock around it. Then he ran his hands up and around it, creating a replica of the hunting rifle. "I like it! Mayhap I can follow in your footsteps Captain." Savage raised an eyebrow and smiled, then nodded at the mist all around them. "You'll not need a sight in this fog Mr Starkey. Any minute now whatever comes at us will be revealed!"

Watson huffed and puffed, whirling about and his webley revolver quivered in an unsteady hand. "What I'd give to be back at 221B Baker Street in front of the fire and sloshing a whisky about."

Holmes looked over. "Hold to that thought and fight for it!" he smiled. "Note where our two protectors are. They will draw the enemy to them like flies so be sure to keep your distance! Whatever comes on us is from all directions. Never look in one direction for more than a second if you value your life!"

Steeplejack jogged up and glanced about. His danger sense by now was telling him danger came from all directions!

Haunt moved over, his legs stretched like stilts and towered over the site but finding the mist gave nothing away higher up, so he shrunk to ordinary size and adjusted his cloak and hood about him.

Anjali tried to control her breathing but couldn't help shivering.

Mina Harker had fished through the companions weapons and come up with John Carters' sword, turning it in her hand and admiring the edge.

The group could only wait.

Slosh... slosh... slosh slosh slosh slosh...

"Steady..." said Savage.

Dark shapes formed in the mist.

With the keenest eyes Haunt and Steeplejack saw ancient warriors, crusted with the muck of ages and with rotting armour and weapons. What threat could they pose?

Just then something sprinted amongst and behind the shambling mass. Dressed as the others but clearly different and with something else about them. A glowing yellow mist... where the mass of dozens if not hundreds of the mindless shambling dead warriors were striding through the water and mud, these others were sporadic and much faster, possessed of an evil animalistic instinct. Not intelligence. No these things were something else. Hate. Evil.

"What are they?" spluttered Watson, raising his pistol with a shaking hand.

"Something not alive." muttered Savage. "How we need Captain Carter now!"

Holmes added "The majority of them..." he said, looking around as the small group formed a circle "seem mindless and slow. Every now and again we catch sight of something ... similar but faster, more urgent. Beware those the most!"

Anjali tried to control her breathing but sounded close to panic "Mind the slow ones too! Those swords and spears they hold are rusted and muddy but will pierce flesh if thrust with enough force!"

OOC Haunt and Steeplejack act first.

There are more than one hundred zombies rising from the muck and advancing on the party!

The other ones, faster and more dangerous, are far less numerous. These are not Zombies, they are Wights, and they want to drain your soul!

Admin wrote:OOC Haunt and Steeplejack act first.

There are more than one hundred zombies rising from the muck and advancing on the party!

The other ones, faster and more dangerous, are far less numerous. These are not Zombies, they are Wights, and they want to drain your soul!

Steeplejack readied himself, he didn't fancy getting too close to the creatures that sloshed and slumped their way through the muck and mire, so planned to use his earth-moving powers to attack the creatures and attempt to thin their ranks before the wraith-like creatures came upon them.

OOC: OK so going to use earth control and force shield in a defensive way to try and impede, stop, or attack where possible the creatures coming for us. I will also move from one point to another so that I can try and keep the oncoming creatures back and away from the defences I've put up for the rest to hunker down behind.

Sj