Delirious Tremendous

“Alright, all the illusions are in the main house. We’ve got half an hour until sunset. Grace is going to stay near the house with all the people. If any of the vampires go near it, handle it or tell us. Lucille, you’re on the lookout for the puppeteer. You’ve cleared the surrounding forest of traps, so he’s going to need to come to us. Other than that, circle the village and take out vampires that get past Abigail or me. Abigail, the east side of the village is yours. I’ll take the west,” John said, looking into the forest that bordered the small town. “All’s quiet… for now.”

“Why am I always not fighting!” Grace complained, looking at her three teammates which stood directly in front of her. Lucille disappeared from the Brit’s vision, and she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked behind herself to see the elf. “Okay, fair enough.”

“Any other questions, comments, concerns, questions?” John asked, running through the plan again in his mind.

“You said questions twice,” Lucille said, a hint of a smile on her face, “and we should make fortifications. Take the fences from around the homes and create a perimeter. One of the canisters at my hip is filled with oil. We could coat the fences with it. A last line of defense in case things go sideways.”

“That’s a good idea, let’s set to work on it,” John replied, nodding. Together, the four of them uprooted the sections of fencing and set them along the edges of the village. If they were modern fences, this would have been much more difficult. As it were, they merely had two foundations per side of fence ripped out of the ground to contend with. They completed it just in time, the sky a vibrant pinkish orange as the sun finished setting.

“They won’t stop the vampires, but they’ll slow them down,” Lucille said, a small but steady stream of oil pouring over the frames of the fences as she moved along the perimeter. “You can’t be so careless with your fire until we light the fence. The smallest spark will ignite it. If anything else catches fire, put it out.” John followed behind her spreading water over the grass behind the fence to prevent the fire from spreading.

One is here. It’s a scout. It doesn’t know that I know it’s here, Lucille said, not pausing in spreading the oil.

Only one scout? John asked, following her lead and not interrupting his task either. What is a savage vampire anyway?

The purest form of the creatures of the night. Vampires are popularly known as humans who have been converted into the undead. Savage vampires are the start of that infection. They’re nearly impossible to keep alive in captivity and have supernaturally keen senses. This makes them hard to study. There’s a lot of debate as to their level of intelligence, Lucille explained, a pistol appearing in her hand. A single gunshot rang out, and a pale, deformed humanoid body dropped from a tree to the ground. It looked like it had… wings, or the frames of wings.

They can only be killed by vital damage to the heart or brain, though a blessed weapon will kill them no matter where they’re hit. They’re particularly susceptible to fire, and fear it. They’re tribal, and the hierarchy therein is based on strength, the elf finished explaining as the dead vampire turned to dust before their eyes. That was the first of many. They’ll be coming very, very soon. We better all get into position.

You heard the Prodigy! Everybody go! John said when he noticed that Abigail and Grace were looking to him for direction. It stroked his ego and stressed him that they had started to see him so solidly as the voice of command.

A cascade of glowing red eyes blinked into view in the shadows of the forest, and a thought that should have occurred much earlier hit John, Wait a minute, if these things bite us, will we become vampires?

No, with savage vampires they have to drain all of your blood. I still wouldn’t let them touch you. The more of their essence that clings to you, the faster their magic works, Lucille responded, a hailstorm of arcane bullets ripping into the forest as she leapt between the trees. This resulted in little more than loud, angry hissing.

The first vampire came into view proper, scampering forward on all fours. It reminded John of a Vampire Lord from an old RPG he had put hundreds of hours into a lifetime ago. A giant column of a nose that split its face in two. Fiery orange eyes peeked out of each sunken socket, and elvish ears. Long, slender limbs that belied their strength carried the vampire across the ground, the arms ending in crooked fingers topped with sharp keratin that was more claw than human nail.

John lined up his shot; a mundane bullet from a blessed weapon tearing off its head was all that was needed to kill it. Red wisps of aura streamed off John’s body, and he saw the cause was a duo of vampires, each sucking the very life essence out of him. A bullet to the head of each put them out, but it seemed for each he killed two more emerged, as four came out of the woodwork. Two scrambled toward him, lurching over the fence, and two hung back using their blood magic.

Four more bullets went out, but only two vampires dropped dead. The two lunging at him were moving fast enough that his shots missed their head, and so they barely survived. One dropped dead in mid-air, shocked at its **** more than anything else. The other was able to sink its claws into him before breathing its last breath.

You have been injured by a savage vampire! +25% Damage Received from Blood Magic (10 min)

That’s worse than I thought, John started to panic, but calmed himself as the masses finally attacked. Several dozen of the beasts charged them, a few dozen glowing red lights appearing as they used their blood magic on him. Focus on the magic users!

The muzzles of his guns flashed and bodies dropped as more undead flooded the village. John had to Jump on top of a house as the beasts had surrounded him on all sides. The Afterimage left behind created a momentary diversion for the melee vampires. He started to feel weak, and saw that his health was just under half. Looking to the hazy scarlet lights in the distance, he channeled a Mana Bolt through each gun and swept them over the row of vampires, the lights going out one by one. It looks like all the tribe’s attacking at once. Cherufe, light the fence, Lucille ordered, and John watched as the group was cut in half by a sudden wall of flame rushing to greet them.

That lessened his troubles, but still left him with around fifty undead in the village, half heading toward him and the other half began to fan out, sniffing the air for prey. “Hey! Over here!” the Gamer called, dropping from the roof of the house to the ground, shooting into the crowd of vampires. In the forest he saw the blood mages that had survived his attack beginning to target him again. Channeling a Magic Rope through each gun, he fired two giant nets onto the crowd of melee vampires, giving him a few moments to focus on their mages.

Using Truesight to pierce the darkness, he counted six blood mages left… and a coil of rope hanging down from one of the trees. The Puppeteer is here somewhere, John called out, silencing the tribe’s blood mages once and for all. A chunk was taken out of his leg as recompense for his momentary distraction.

You have been greatly injured by savage vampires! +100% damage from blood magic (1hr), -10% max hp (1 hr), -33% hp regen rate (1 hr)

The vampire’s fangs had an interesting point as they tore his leg apart, but his bullet’s argument was far greater as it blew the beast’s head to pieces. There was little logic to how the vampires moved. John had grown accustomed to fighting opponents who had some sort of… tact. These enemies moved truly as beasts did, there was no rhyme or reason to how they fought.

This made for a disorienting experience at first, but the Gamer quickly adjusted. He had learned that he couldn’t anticipate their movements, and so he fired upon the greatest concentrations of them instead, hoping to hit something. This turned out to be a much more effective strategy, and soon all that was left were the beasts beyond the fence, the flame of which was burning it down to cinders. One brave soul tore at the fiery barrier, and the section fell over.

A giant came through, five times the size of its allies. It swung wildly at John, and to his surprise, a single bullet wasn’t enough to put it down. A brilliant blue fire engulfed the arm he had shot, and he brought up a Mana Construct shield in defense as its good arm swiped at him. The protection shattered, but he stood his ground. Channeling Mana Construct through his weapon, he fired a cannon-ball sized bullet through the creature’s head, killing it.

How’s everyone doing? John asked, checking in on the status of his teammates as he Jumped closer to the downed fencing. This turned out to be a beneficial thing, the bottleneck allowing him to kill multiple vampires per bullet every time.

Nearly out of things to punch over here, Abigail reported, and John watched as a mass of wriggling limbs was sent into the air to explode.

Searching for the hostile. I’ve found several traps. Everyone stay out of the forest, Lucille replied, and using Truesight again John learned she was right. There was another trap laid mere meters in front of him.

After another minute, all the vampires were dead… and he realized the usually chatty Brit never responded. Grace, how’re things with the illusions and the prisoner?

Nothing.

Grace, this is really funny, but our situation here is almost over. Tell me the good news, John tried again, turning toward the central house.

Nothing.

“Grace!” John called, the sounds of battle quieting down as the fiery brunette finished off the last of her creatures.

“Sorry, John!” he heard from behind him, and felt as a sticker was slapped onto his temple. Weakened as he was, the volts from it running through him were enough to knock him out. He went limp and his vision faded. The last thing he felt was being dragged toward the forest, and the last thing he heard was another fiery explosion.

Abigail and Lucille knew that Grace had been controlled, the former rushing toward the prisoner’s house and the latter still looking for the puppeteer. They hardly noticed as the oft ignored health and mana bars disappeared from their periphery.

The fiery girl rushed into the house to see the blond standing and rubbing his wrists. An uppercut was enough to both break his jaw and knock him out, but it was too late. Looking out the door, she saw Grace, dazed and confused, holding John. An empty potion vial was in her hands, one she had kept after the second test. John had woken up to a tight weight pressing on his mind… and his body moving without his say-so.

Abigail hurled a fireball from the doorway at her partner, who let out a small ‘eep!’ before diving to the side. John on the other hand, levelled his guns at the brunette. The Puppeteer has John! she called into her mind, but was met with silence. Now out of the party, they had no mental link.

Her fear quickly turned to anger as a bullet grazed her cheek. She erupted toward him, destroying the door in the process. She saw him aiming both guns at her and dodged out of the way just as the muzzle flashed. I can’t afford to hold back… sorry, John.

An explosive kick met air as he Jumped behind her, a Fist going through nothing but fire as her stomach turned to flame. She slammed the back of her head into his face, her hair aflame. Her legs locked around his and she slammed a fistful of dynamite into his head.

Arcane beams pulsed from his guns and made her rush away, flying into the air with a burst of flame from both hands. Her fire was suddenly cut off as a familiar feeling of dread filled her. He had used Sip the Mana. He leapt toward her, kicking off the air and slamming a Fist into her stomach. The **** of it sent her through two trees, one falling on top of her. I haven’t been hit that hard in a while, she mused to herself, pushing the tree off, getting up, and feeling a sharp pain in her chest. That’s a broken rib. When did he get that strong?

Of course, he wasn’t actually that strong. Most of the work was done by the magic, but she didn’t know that. Okay, he can only do the thing where he has me stop using my flames every once in a while. I have to attack now, while he can’t do it.

She didn’t have the luxury of waiting to recover, as thirty two bullets filled her vision. The brunette dove to the side, turning most of her body to flames. In a flash he was upon her, attempting to knee her in the ribs. Her body turned to flame, and a Disrupting Blast turned her back as he reached out for her, instead catching her shirt and ripping it to shreds instead. The only shirt she had that could convert into fire with her.

“You. Big. Jerk!” Abigail screamed, flames cascading across her body and exploding all around her. They expanded, filling up the size of her aura. John began to back away, terror briefly overriding the control over him. “Now you’ve made me angry. Very. VERY. ANGRY.” With each word the flames grew, rising higher than the trees around them and burning the duster to ash where they touched. All at once she released it in a lance of flame, sending his **** body ragdolling through the forest, hitting and felling several trees before crashing through the wall of an unoccupied house, ****. She grabbed at the rags around her, stuffing them into the hem of her pants.

She fell onto her back with a sigh, the fire instantly receding back into her. She felt utterly spent, in mind and body. If it were almost anybody else, she would have just lain there, but she needed to make sure he was okay. Slowly she rose, heading toward the half of a house that he was sent through.

Coughing as she pushed rubble aside to gain entry via the hole in the wall, she was horrified to see his **** form rise. Please no. I don’t want to hurt him anymore.

“Stop controlling him, now,” Lucille said, pressing her gun to the pale man’s temple. “Any sudden movements and I’ll blow your brains out.”

“I could make him kill your pyromancer friend right now, you know,” the Puppeteer responded, hands holding crosses like those that would control a marionette, but frozen nonetheless.

“She’s not my friend. I don’t care for any of the people there. If any of them died, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for me. I’d even get paid for it. I’d prefer he didn’t die though. I’m offering you a way out as a professional courtesy, because you have useful skills and would bring value to this organization. You move a muscle, and I paint the tree with your brains. You end your control over him, and I let you go,” Lucille explained, staring the white-haired man in the eyes. She had already tried to nullify the spell’s control, but it was too strong for her. Curious, considering he was in Class C and she was a Knight of Swords.

“Fine! I’ll let him go!” the white-haired man yelled, the crosses disappearing from his hands. He looked to Lucille to see her fist coming toward his face. “You said you’d let me go!” His nose was broken with a sickening crunch and his head slammed into the ground as he lay there, ****.

“I also said you have useful skills,” she replied to his **** form, spitting on him. She ripped off the cape she had spat on before picking him up and swinging him over her shoulder, intent on bringing him back to the village.