Time to rescue the Princess, er, summoner! (Active, Open)

[ithehellamharry.livejournal.com]

Who: Harry Dresden, Belle, Hades, Yuna, anyone looking to save the latter from the former.
What: The citizens of Paixao gather to save one of their own from the God of Death
Where: Starts at Yuuko's shop, then makes its way over to Hades' hideout
When: The night Belle and Harry found Hades hideout
Warnings: Probably violence, will update as needed
Notes: Okay, this is one of those pesky large scale logs, so everyone try and move fast (says the hypocrite) especially in the beginning. I figure we get everyone to tag in at Yuuko's shop, Harry and Belle will outline the location and plan, and then everyone split up into teams and make their way to the house. From there, things can hit the fan.

It had taken some time for Harry and Belle to get back to Yuuko's shop, having taken a different path and used some magical and mundane trickery to hopefully keep them from being followed. With any luck, by now people would have started to arrive.

Belle had kept Harry up to date on the responses on the message board, and he'd taken the time to try and sketch out a rough plan. It was far from perfect, but they couldn't leave Yuna imprisoned any longer than they had to, so for now it would have to do. With any luck, the others would have some suggestions as well.

Turning the street, he saw the familiar wall of Yuuko's shop, and turning to Belle grinned and said, "Well, I hope we have enough time to get the party set up before the guests arrive.

Comments

[theboywithhorns.livejournal.com]

The skull-faced man in the cloak boomed out his willingness to open the door, and Ico silently braced himself, both hands squeezing the handle of his sword like a vise. The tension in his actions were warranted, for immediately after Death's skeletal hand had pulled back the handle, the door had practically opened up by itself. Squat black creatures with yellow eyes and strange head-stalks - Heartless, as he'd later call them - burst out the door, practically falling over themselves to get a chance to swipe at the intruders.

The horned boy stumbled back as one creature raked the air in an attempt to grab him, and with a loud yell he swung the sword over his head, cleaving its head in two, the body dissipating as it suffered its injury. The sword, it seems, was very lethal when it came to these shadow beings, and with renewed confidence at slaying his first enemy, Ico strove to be the first to charge in.

Another yell escaped his mouth as he swung the sword horizontally, catching three of the creatures and scattering their shadowy particles to the wind, before ducking another's lunge and swinging his blade upwards at it. It'd be evident to the sword-wielders in the group that despite the sword's power and his considerable strength (for a twelve year old), Ico had very little in the way of formal training. The weapon in his hands might as well have been an iron cudgel, for the way he swung it about his head. It worked for a while however, as the creatures weren't exactly geniuses when it came to fighting... but the sheer numbers poured on, and the sword-wielding boy was in danger of being cut off from the group.

Suddenly, a surprise attack from the side caught Ico off-guard and he lost his balance, sword swinging as he was knocked to the ground. The Heartless began to circle him, intent on capitalizing on his prone state, and suddenly the boy was in danger.

[tinybutfierce.livejournal.com]

Karrin sent out the signal the second Death agreed to open the door. It seemed like everyone else was ready as well and Karrin looked up to the others, "We're good to go."

What happened next was not something Karrin was exactly prepared for. She'd faced the beings known as Creepers before but they were very different from these things. Still, if they could be shot, Karrin didn't care. Using guns meant Karrin was staying further back than the others, but her aim was deadly enough. The bullets she fired tore straight through the darkness that comprised the Heartless bodies and they seemed to burst into wisps of shadows.

Karrin knew things were going south, however, when she saw how the boy was fighting. He didn't really seem to know how to use his sword properly at all. Granted, it was a ridiculous size in the first place for a boy so small. Karrin continued to shoot at the Heartless that got too close, but her attention was divided by the boy.

Suddenly, he went down. Karrin cursed, as he was immediately surrounded. She was also out of ammo and needed to reload. Pulling out a spare clip, she turned her attention to Harry, "I'll get the kid, you try to keep those things off us!" That said, she pulled out the sword. She could reload the clip later, it'd be easier to save the boy if she could get in close.

Karrin wasn't about to watch a little kid get taken out. Thankfully, he wasn't too far away. Karrin cut down the first Heartless in her way with a movement that was clearly a lot more skilled than Ico's movements.

[ithehellamharry.livejournal.com]

Nodding to Death, Harry braced himself for whatever horrors lurked within the deceptively mundane facade of the house, with its bright green lawn and suburban surroundings. Places like this always seemed to conceal the darkest horrors, and he found himself wishing that just once he could deal with someone in a proper creepy castle.

Of course, whatever he’d expected to be inside the home, the reality was much worse. Physically the Heartless weren’t exactly intimidating, indeed they looked almost cartoonish, but there was no mistaking the aura of cold inhuman hunger emanating from each and every one of them. Unbidden the memories from his Sight rose to the front of his mind, causing a shudder of revulsion to pass through his body which threatened to send him to his knees. Those piercing yellow eyes swung towards him, boring into his soul as if they could see his fear itself, laid out like a four course meal.

For some people fear was crippling, an ice cold hand that gripped their heart and left them frozen in the face of it. Others felt fear like a beast breathing hot against their neck, causing them to break and flee screaming into the night in a desperate attempt to escape.

When Harry got scared, on the other hand, he got angry.

Thrusting his staff at the mass of darkness, Harry gathered his will and channeled it along the staff. With a shout of “Forzare,” he released the power towards the mass of darkness, splattering several of the Heartless across the back wall of the house before they promptly melted away in a cloud of smoke. More were sent spinning or knocked to the side as the blast passed them, but in seconds they were back on their feet and advancing with mindless determination.

Casting the spell allowed Harry to focus his mind and channel his fear, and after a second he was able to focus again on the actions of his allies. It seemed that in the span it had taken for him to react Ico had managed to charge headfirst into the fray and gotten himself in trouble. Luckily Murphy was already moving, and Harry found himself slipping easily into following her lead, years of battling side by side causing his body to act almost without thinking.

He yanked his blasting rod from his coat, and pointing it to the largest mass of Shadows, and a moment later an effort of will sent a bolt of pure flame the size of a silver dollar blew through the Heartless, setting any that it touched even with a glancing strike ablaze. The creatures twisted away, flailing in silent distress, before melting back into the darkness.

Swinging the blasting rod around, Harry grinned savagely and said, "Careful boys, that lady is one hot commodity!"

[humaniste.livejournal.com]

He'd known it wasn't going to be easy, and he was accustomed to being right. This, of course, did not mean he took any sort of pleasure in it.

So when the avalanche of Heartless flowed out of the open door, he wasn't particularly surprised. This same thing had occurred at the party in the opera house, after all, and they could expect no less from Hades. Fortunately, he was not disappointed in his expectations of his allies either - in the split second he'd drawn his sword, they had readied their weapons and joined into combat. Amidst the loud crack of gunfire and the boy's yells, Death's blue-edged blade made short work of numerous Heartless, cutting a swath through the mass of creatures, the battle made all the easier by the fact that the Heartless' attention was on those with hearts - Death's attacks hit unnoticing unprepared creatures, taking them out quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, effective as the sword was, he could only take so many creatures at a time, and while he was making a dent in the oncoming mass, it was a small one. And the boy was overwhelmed...

He moved in to join the group, slicing cleanly through the Heartless that Harry and Murphy had not yet hit. He recognized banter - humans sometimes did this in times of duress - and believed the pun (obviously meant to deal with the fire) to be less important than the battle at hand.

This, of course, did not stop him from replying. DON'T WORRY. I PREFER TO REMAIN UNATTACHED.

[theboywithhorns.livejournal.com]

Despite being disoriented by the loud nearness of Harry's spells, the respite bought by Karrin's intervention was enough to shake Ico out of his moment of shock, and from his prone position he swung the sword sideways at the legs of the approaching Heartless. Such was the power of the sword that even the slightest touch of it was enough to scatter the body of the dark creatures, and soon the boy was up on both feet once more, holding out his chosen weapon with both hands, side by side with the blonde woman.

The boy had only a moment to regard his savior as he stood up, and he gazed at her with a strange mixture of gratitude and awe - before his gaze shifted back to the Heartless, and silently he began to cleave at them, using the woman's assistance to focus his attention to one side of the room.

Like the incoming tide of a black sea, the Heartless continued to pour down on them, but their lines were quickly thinned by Harry's powerful magic spells. As a line of flame appeared in the rank of the dark creatures and made them fall away, Ico thought he glimpsed where the army was stemming from.

When he was sure of what he saw, Ico communicated it to the rest of the group. "The door!" he shouted as he chopped through an approaching wave of monsters. "Big door ahead! They're coming from there!"

[tinybutfierce.livejournal.com]

Karrin, for the most part, ignored the flames Harry was tossing around. Years of working with a wizard meant you sort of got used to such things. She trusted him enough not to burn them all and that was that. Once the boy had recovered and was back on his feet, Karrin shifted her focus back to taking down as many heartless as possible.

Of course, she still kept one eye on the kid.

Her eyes immediately went to the door the kid was shouting about. "I say we head for that door then," Karrin shouted, over the din of dying heartless. She pulled her gun out again and shot down a few more before switching back to the sword. Karrin was sure that Hades was using the heartless as a distraction or they were possibly guarding him. That meant the way to Hades was probably paved with heartless. This is going to be tough she thought.

[ithehellamharry.livejournal.com]

Grinning at Death's banter, Harry sent another blast of flame into the mass of Heartless even as he shouted, "Well, that's your decision, but if you ever change your mind I'm sure there are plenty of girls out there who can't wait to become Mrs. Death!"

Working together they seemed to be turning the tide, Heartless flashing out of existence left and right as they were struck down with steel and sorcery. Still, Harry knew they were far from out of the woods yet. For every Heartless they struck down it seemed like two more rose up to take it's place. Worse, soon several Heartless wrapped in bandages appeared, one eye glowing bright yellow under the wrappings, and long limbs tipped with sharp looking claws. Twitching unnaturally, they pounced at Harry's group.

Oh, and the main event had yet to show himself either, and Harry couldn't hear how the other groups were doing over the sound of the battle. This was going to be a long night.

One of the Mummies pounced at Harry, sailing through the air with one unnaturally long limb out stretched, claws reaching for his chest. Shifting backwards, Harry's hand rose of it's own accord, pointing his blasting rod at the creature and letting lose a beam of flame. Unfortunately the speed of the Heartless hadn't given him time to really aim his shot, and instead of burning clean through the Heartless his evocation simply seared off one of the creature's arms.

The Heartless hit the ground in a role, kicking up dirt and stone from the faux lawn, its rags having to begun to catch on fire from the heat of the blast. Still, it clearly still had some fight in it as a second later the Heartless was back on its feet and closing the distance between itself and the wizard. Harry threw himself back as the Heartless' claw grazed his cheek, leaving a burning trail in its wake. He felt the things leg lash out and hit him, drawing a grunt of pain from the wizard as he hit the ground hard, knocking the air out of him.

Luckily, Harry's rings didn't need air to bring a world of pain.

The Heartless moved in for the finishing blow, just as Harry lifted his fist and released the kinetic energy stored within one of the rings on his hand. Turned out that was more than enough to send the Heartless flying back to splatter against the house.

Surging to his feet, Harry felt a sudden explosion of power from inside the house. Swearing rather loudly, Harry said, "I think Hades is on the move! You need to get in there and draw him out this way! Once you do I've got just the thing to ruin his day!"

[humaniste.livejournal.com]

EVIDENTLY SO, AS I SEEM TO HAVE A GRANDDAUGHTER I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. Death may have been getting better at this banter thing.

And then the new types of Heartless appeared, and the time for banter was over. They ignored Death, as all Heartless did, which gave him an advantage in striking them down from behind. Still, the Heartless moved quickly, and his party ran the risk of being overwhelmed if they didn't strike the creatures down quick.

Harry's plan made sense, and Death did not question just what his surprise would be - wizards were a naturally crafty bunch. It would be a sight to see either way.

I WILL GO. He strode forward, cleaving through Heartless as he went, his way made easier by the fact that the Heartless did not pursue him.

[theboywithhorns.livejournal.com]

As the Heartless continued to assail them, Ico became more cautious about where he swung his sword. There was the blonde woman to worry about, and now that they were well in the thick of the fighting he couldn't afford to be careless, in spite of his lack of swordsmanship. He had to be smart - he couldn't let himself lose his balance again.

Two waves of Heartless crashed against his blade before he met one of the mummified ones, looking much more sinister than the regular kind. Its clawed hand outstretched, the monster lanced out towards Ico, necessitating a quick jump to the left as it went by him - an action that nearly had him falling towards another group of outstretched Heartless. Thinking quickly, he brought his sword across in a horizontal stroke, dispatching the foes and returning the gaze back to where the bandaged Heartless had been.

To his surprise, it was no longer there, and it was only instinct that saved him from the Heartless's airborne claw attack, ducking and rolling away as the bandage-clad creature plunged its deadly digits into the floorboard. There it found itself stuck, and tried in vain to pull them out - which gave the boy enough time to get to his feet, and with a frenzied yell, remove the monster's head from its body.

Turning his attention back to the others, he noticed the skull-faced man move presumably towards wherever Hades awaited them. Despite his reasons for coming here, the thought of facing such a potentially devastating god made Ico's blood run cold, and he wasn't sure he was ready to face him just yet. He was reluctant to show his face after all the things the god had threatened to do to Yorda.

And so he turned to Harry briefly, and called out to him. "I will stay here! I will try to drive the monsters back where they came!" It wouldn't do, the boy had decided, to leave the spell-casting man to himself with these demons. He'd have to keep them off him, and he had to also make sure the blonde woman got out of this alive, as well.