Recudor: Party's House

Frazil sidesteps the dazed young man that gets shoved in her general direction, and can't help but think that the cat won't really like the environment if the fight comes to this room. She unceremoniously dumps a pile of water into Airgetlam's bucket with a quizzical look. What rul.... nevermind. Fill me in later. Cloaked though... that makes sense. Frazil spreads a layer of water on the floor about an inch thick, allowing it to pool and flow so that if any invisible intruder steps in it, she'll see/hear the effects. She then coats the walls and ceiling with a thin layer of very slick ice to discourage climbing and fill any gaps in the walls. She has dealt with both invisible, and squeeze/shrinkable foes in the past, and has used this trick before to secure a room. Here's hoping they can't walk on water too... and Jian, please tell me you have some kind of stim that will make that potion less debilitating.

Jian follows Air in his confused and tired state, but starts to grasp that the situation itself is quite a dire one. He follows the given orders and just keeps an eye out for what's going on. The hectic steps through the house and everyone exchanging info at the pace they then also gives away as if there's someone getting ready, or as a matter of fact, already is invading and possibly attacking. Regardless of that, Jian does not have the right mindset yet, so he remains with not saying much at all, just nodding in response.

Moments later, they descend into the living room, where he's being pushed into the bathroom. He eyes Frazil, looks at Air and then listens to them both working out the idea they had. He still isn't very certain of what exactly is going on by now either, but he now gets his instincts rolling a bit better, his heart building some adrenaline for that worst case.

"I guess... I understand why I was pulled out of my sleep like this.", he then says somewhat quietly, his voice still very tired, "If there's anything I can do to help, please... let me know"

He forgot one thing personally, which is his equip past the armour, so he doesn't have the dagger he got from RD on him. This might prove disadvantageous, if it comes down to direct combat with him involved.
Other than that, he still tries very hard to wake up fully, to ensure he's ready mentally and reflexwise.

Jericho's slight smile stays on his face when he feels that shadow magic is at play here. It would seem that someone else is taking advantage of the full moon that is out, though there is little we can pull from since it's raining. He thinks to himself. He turns to RD and watches the man move and talk to whomever may be listening. When RD is back to where he started, Jericho opens his hand and tosses a ball of light above their heads. It is bright enough so they can see everything with out straining but it isn't so bright that it hurts their eyes. He leans in to talk to RD

"As you might of guessed, someone out there is using shadow magic. I would be on your guard if I were you. There are a number of things a master of the shadow arts could do. I am not saying there IS a master out there, but you never know."

Jericho then turns to the kitchen were he sees the open window. He frowns and keeps his attention there, both his hand and gun pointed in that direction, just waiting for something to show itself.

"Here we go... Jericho whispers so that only RD can hear.

Jack felt frustrated hearing the words 'only open fire if I'm not in the way' implying a sense of worry in Sharpe's mind of being caught in friendly fire. A miniscule, yet cruel, reminder that everyone in the house now thought of Jack as a horrid clutz. Ignoring the thought, Jack used his mental capacity to think through the possible plan of attack. He only had one shot in the gun. If he activated the protraction, the bullet would catch fire, enveloping the the target, but setting the house ablaze. Frazil would be able to put out such a fire, but that would leave Clarent and Hitomi vulnerable. Sharpe might be able to handle himself with a 6 shot capacity without the need of Jack singular non-incendiary shot, but that's assuming there's only one hostile behind the door, in which case, Jack would have to use his single shot on cover fire. The worst scenario is if there was nothing behind the door but a mere distraction as the assassin or assassins plural slaughtered everyone from behind with their guard down. Thinking of all that could lie behind the door, Jack was as reaady as he could be in the time give and leaned close to Sharpe, nearly breathing down his neck. Sharpe couldn't feel it because Jack held his breath still with anxiety. He waited for Sharpe to pry the door open and spring into action.

Upstairs, Sharpe listens carefully to the door leading to the large room. The creaking of wood and soft rustling of stuff indicates there is indeed someone in the room. Given the sound he could tell that the intruder is on the far side of the room, rifling through random equipment and backpacks. What way the enemy was facing though Sharpe would not be able to tell.

The downstairs is quiet, with the both of them merely hearing the rain and commotion upstairs.
The air is very tense, and despite the bright light and Rich's taunt no enemies have surfaced as of yet. Moments later the slow sliding of the window in the hall, behind RD and Jericho, is heard, followed by the entry of a fragile figure wearing a gothic-styled combat dress and a solid mask to obscure its face. It immediately makes the grab for the door leading to the large training room which seconds as RDs resting quarters. Just as attention is drawn to itself another figure, exactly like it, climbs in the open kitchen window, immediately pulling out a small sickle-like weapon and making a charge for the two men in the room.

Sharpe looks at Jack and nods.

"Counting down for breach, three seconds. Steel yourself, friend. 3... 2... 1..." He starts, and puts his weight on the door, harshly turning the knob and throwing it open, aiming his pistol at where he believes the intruder is while moving to the side. He can't immediately make out the enemy though at this point all he's concerned with is subduing and vanquishing the intruders. He puts his finger on the trigger and depresses it until he hears a click, and the gun goes off unleashing a fire-aspected protraction shot at the invader.

Airgetlam nods to Frazil as she fills the bucket, and she walks back out into the hall and kitchen are where RD and Jericho are situated. As she walks she freezes up as she sees the dress-clad figure armed with what she recognizes as a kama. Instinctively she throws some of the water from the bucket out at it and puts the bucket down almost losing all of its contents. She wrestles the crossbow out from it's sling and takes aim to take a reaction shot. Aiming in roughly the general direction of the figure, hopefully with little chance of endangering RD and Jericho. As she takes aim, the crossbow is pointed roughly at about center-mass.

"...Which is why i asked for a bit more light, gives us a better grasp of where exactly they can attack from, if that's what they intend to use."  As Richard ends his explanation he hears the sound at the end of the hall and turns his attention towards it. The window opens up and someone in a combat dress slips inside the house. RD raises an eyebrow at the unusual battle gear as well as the fact that it immediately entered his current living quarters. He begins to make a dash for the room as another figure in similar gear enters through the kitchen window, which Jericho had his weapons trained on, and Air happened to be walking by... with a bucket of water she promptly attempts to drench the intruder with.  Seeing this, Richard holds back on the shotgun blast of flame he had prepared and instead focuses on providing cover for the two shooters, shifting into a defensive stance and drawing the kama-wielding intruder into a crossfire by restricting her movement. He focuses most of his attention on the figure before him, but keeps an eye on the hallway for any more movement in case the other intruder decides to come out of 'his' room and play with the rest of the children. He refuses to leave them at a time like this, but he can't help but fight the urge to dash after the secondary assailant in his room at the moment.

Frazil is bored, but vigilant. She hears commotion in other parts of the house, but trusts that the team can handle themselves. She has innocents to protect. She has made the bathroom into her personal domain, and continues collecting water by stoppering the tub and sink.

A stretch coming from Jian combined with a long yawn, he then drops his arms down again, listening closely to the commotion from outside the bathroom.

"So... what exactly is going down, I get that someone seems to attack or something like that, but do we even know who we have to deal with right now?", he then just tosses into the room as a question, not expecting a clear answer of course.

"If this is related to the people that are after me since I left my old residence back in the east, then I would like to partake in this matter myself, that much I also have to add", he then says with a quite sincere tone after thinking about this all a bit longer.

Jericho hears the window slide behind them and he turns to see the attack in the middle of the hallway. He quickly pulls up his gun and fires. He is shocked at how powerful and fast the shot is. The lunar energy that he put in the chamber shoots like a silver lightning bolt across the hall. He growls under his breath when he sees the shot hit the wall. He isn't surprised that he missed, he has never shot a gun in his life, he was just hoping to graze the assailant. He then sees the figure duck into RD's room.

Jericho then hers Airgetlam fire a shot from her crossbow. He turns and smiles when he sees that she has hit another one of the attackers in the side. As the assailant charges at them, Jericho brings his hand out and fires a blast of light like he shot at Jack but this one is meant to kill.

The adrenaline running through Jack's vein's made him feel almost completely weightless. He could hear noises coming from downstairs. It seems the others were preoccupied with their own assailants. Sharpe would be the only one at Jack's side dealing with this stranger. He could help grinding his teeth together after wasting such effort overthinking why he should avoid using an incendiary round to avoid burning the house to the ground only to helplessly watch Sharpe do exactly that. The hesitant way Sharpe squeezed the trigger just barely allowed the assassin to dodge most of the flame with a small ember stuck to their foot. Jack could hear the faintest of grunts as the assassin stamped out the ember. Clearly they had quite a pain tolerance. The room had barely any lighting in it save for the flame of Sharpe's shot. With the assassin quickly dashing away from the light, Jack could only make out their silhouette as he pointed his gun in their direction.

"You there, stop!! Drop any weapons you're carrying and put you're hands behind your back. No one in this room wants to die, but I can guarantee you will if you try anything foolish. You're out gunned! Give up!"

Under Jack's breath, he was hoping the assassin wouldn't 'try anything foolish' as it is exponentially harder to question an assassin on why they are trying to kill you when they are dead.

Downstairs the Kama-wielding figure leaps towards Jericho and RD, quickly being repelled by Jericho's blast. It gets knocked out of the air and sent crashing through the half open window, breaking it in the process with a loud shatter. The figure itself can barely be seen outside, with it's face obscured by the windowsill, but it isn't moving or trying to get away.

Upstairs, the other figure barely avoids Sharpe's loosely aimed fireball and Sharpe and Jack notice a smoldering burning figure in the far side of the room. There had been indeed two assailants in the room, with the remaining now making a quick dash towards the gun-wielding opposition, with seemingly no regard for their own life. The fire in the corner of the room begins to spread, with the smoke and stench of burning wood slowly filling the upstairs.


The commotion causes Hitomi to become quite stirred up, as she instinctively rams against the door of the bathroom in her sudden panic. She scrambles for the handle and eventually manages to open the door, running out of the room as the scent of smoke and burning wood become quite evident.

Meanwhile, Clarent is still sleeping.

Sharpe turns his attention to the assassin throwing itself at him, casting away any pretense of caution. He instinctively aims at the foe's chest, but then lowers his aim and fires a round into the assailant's leg in hopes of disabling them, that they might be interrogated later.

Checkmate - knockout/disable

Air pumps her crossbow cycling to her next bolt, and looks around for any further hostiles, barring the one walking around RD's room. She hears a clambering and looks round to see Hitomi scramble out of the bathroom they left her in.

"Hitomi! Get back in!" She yells and rushes over to push her back into the bathroom. When she gets her back in, she lifts her head and notices the smell of burning wood, her heart rate jumping as she realizes something has been set alight, hopefully that something not being the house. She looks at Jericho and gestures to the foe outside.

"See if it's down for the count," She says to him, then turning to RD, "Let's go see what's lurking down by your room, I've got you covered!" She says and aims her crossbow down the hall.

The Assailant soars right back out the way she came in except a tad more violently, which causes Richard to flash a toothy grin. "Ha! Very nice!" he comments as he begins to make his way towards his own living quarters at the behest of Air.

He pauses after the first step though, "... Jericho... we need who-or-whatever that is alive... other than that i don't really care what you do, but make it quick, we may still need your assistance... By the way, I-Is something burning?" He raises his voice a bit so it can be heard through-out, "ARE WE GONNA HAVE TO HAVE A CHAT ABOUT FIRE SAFETY?... Tch" he sucks his teeth before charging into the workout room using his gauntlet as a shield, his knife at the ready for the inevitable encounter.

Frazil rolls her eyes at the little Fae child and pulls her into the room, creating an ice portcullis-like grate over the open bathroom door so that the others can be seen and heard, but the child can't run off again.

Jericho smiles bright when he watches the figure fly back through the window it crawled into. He starts walking over to the body when he hears Airgetlam tell him to do what he was already planing. He then smells the smoke and his blood starts to boil. "If that is in my room....Someone is going to pay." He thinks to himself.

Jericho climbs through the window and looks down at the figure. He bends down and quickly uses his magic to bind the figure's arms and legs. It looks like rope around them but it is lightly glowing silver. He then looks over and removes the mask. When he sees the face he can't help but let out a gasp. This was the last thing that he was expecting. The face is made of black wood. The eyes have zero color and it is clear that the doll is no longer active. Jericho quickly picks up the doll and tosses it back though the window and he climbs back in.

When they are inside the house again, Jericho puts his hand on the doll's chest and starts to poor some of his magic into it.

"Wake up! I know you will be confused now that you have two masters, but you need help me and NEVER kill yourself."

Jericho waits for the doll to respond.

Jack leans over to Sharpe, whispering softly so the assassins can't hear.

"I have a plan, but it's somewhat risky, so I'm going to need a yes or no whether you're OK with going through with it. The assassin on the floor didn't feel any pain when you shot them, but the other assassin was hurt by the burn. Based on that, it's obvious who we can deduce is human and who isn't. I'm going to hand you my gun so you can keep both of them at bay while I run and grab Frazil so she can put out the fire and provide backup. If either attacks while I am gone, you could shoot to kill the non-human but leave the human assassin alive at all cost. Do you think you can hold out on your own for that long?"

The doll jerks briefly as Jericho begins to push his magical reserves and reanimate it. Slowly it's glowing green eyes fade into focus and it looks up at its captor unmoving.

Meanwhile RD storms into his room only to find someone rummaging through his bag. Upon noticing him the intruder backs off against the far side of the room, wasting no time to pull out a Kama and enter a ready stance. With a bit of sluggish movement the intruder lunges forward trying to strike from above with its weapon.

Sharpe looks keeps his eyes trained on the assassin he brought down while keeping Jack's face visible in his peripheral vision. At the suggestion of handing him his pistol, he shakes his head, reaching into his coat and producing the slug-thrower, and aiming it at the opponent on the ground that Jack disabled.

"I got things here, I've got more tricks up my sleeve if they try anything. They should know better than that if they cherish their lives. Or life since this one clearly has no concept of self. Get the water." He says to him. He backs up a few paces so his legs are not within reach where they could be grabbed, keeping the guns focused on their upper bodies.

"So, I'm guessing you are the leader and handler, unlike this one you look human. So let's start off. Who the hell are you and why are we your targets?"

She looks up to see a thin veil of smoke rising upstairs, but pays less attention to it, as their first priority should be their assailants.

Airgetlam runs after RD, and as she turns the corner catches a glimpse of the intruder attempting to swing down at him. She shoulders her crossbow, aiming for a snap shot rather than perfect accuracy at the figure, trying to hit center mass or perhaps the arm it was swinging it's weapon with.

"Rich! Move!" She shouts at him, so she can get a clearer shot without hitting him. As much muscle as the man might have, getting hit with a projectile might maim and inconvenience him and spell his doom.

"Oi, Oi! Hands off!" Richard remarks as he watches the intruder rummage through his belongings. "Thought i told you punks we ain't got what yer lookin' fer!"

The thief backs off and instantly takes a ready stance, but their movement from there into a lunge was far too slow, RD could tell it was coming well before it was performed, he/she might as well have written a manual on the attack and given it a name.

As Air was telling him to move he had already taken a calm and confident sidestep, shifting himself out of the door way and ensuring the assailant landed squarely within her range. He doesn't need to look at Air to know she's got the shot, he merely shoots a sly smirk the intruder's way.