The Last Bastion

((Ok, second time writing an RP now. Once again let me know if it needs to be burned for epic failure.))

In the end time, on the darkest day,
The sun shall not give forth its light
And the world shall mourn its loss.

It is then that they will descend.
The Thirteen bearers of death,
To send Earth into her final rest.

The Earth shall cling to her life,
bestowing her essence to her people
in a last defense against the endless abyss.

They shall be given a single year
To destroy the thirteen Darkbringers
Before the Earth gives up her last breath.

Will these souls stand against oblivion?
Or shall death devour us all?
Only time will tell...

When this message is found,
The end is come
Prepare for the apocalypse.
-An Ancient Greek Prophecy

It was considered a myth at first, this "prophecy." It was written on a tablet, uncovered by archaelogists. It was considered a great discovery, possibly an insight into a part of the Greek culture that was never before revealed. No one believed it, not in a literal sense. Several looked for some sort of deeper meaning in the writing. It wasn't until later they found they need not have looked. It meant what is said.

It happened on the day of the solar eclipse. Many had gathered, eagerly wishing to see the eclipse. The moon passed over the sun, blanketing the world with darkness. Everybody waited breathlessly for the moon to begin to pass, as was expected. It never did. Instead, thirteen ghastly figures appeared, surrounded by a crimson glow. Their bodies were as shadow, the faces could not be seen. They all wore tattered cloaks, as grey as a corpse. They spoke as one, in a voice that sounded like the cracking of bones. "THE TIME HAS COME." The call reverbrated across the world, no one was safe from their malignant, ominous voices. The thirteen dispersed, each going to a different section of the world. For a moment everything was silent. Then all hell broke loose. Disasters began tearing through the area. Clouds blanketed the sky. Lightning and fire spewed forth from the heavens, tornados spawned, and earthquakes struck, destroying much. But even worse was when the terrible creatures came, devouring the populace, or turning them into more demonspawn. The world was thrown into a panic. Several countries made moves to mobilize their military, but each was dismantled before their eyes. Some archaelogists remembered the stone tablet, the prophecy which they had proclaimed false only recently... it was happening.
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*RULES*
-This story is set in modern-day times, so please write accordingly
-Characters can use all four elements, but are allowed to specialize in one more than the others.
-Make the demons whatever you want, I really don't care! ^_^

That's really all I can think of... so... go wild!
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Jake gripped his shovel so hard his knuckles turned white. He was in his basement, surrounded by his family. Beads of sweat dripped from his brow, his hand shook as he heard the noises above of his home being torn apart. His green eyes turned from side to side, trying to follow the growling coming from above. His father was at the door, holding a running chainsaw. His mother was holding his little sister in the corner, staring at the door with frightened eyes. Jake took a deep breath to steady himself.

The door suddenly burst in, flying against the wall. In the doorway stood an abomination. It's body was that of a massive wolf, with glaring red eyes. Its fur was the color of midnight. Out of its back sprouted two large, dragon-like wings. Its tail was a snake, hissing and staring at Jake. Jake had never seen anything like this beast before! It immediately lunged for his dad, slashing and biting at him. In a second his head was gone, his body left covered with long, bloody slashes. Jake rushed it, shovel raised. It's head struck him in the gut, sending him sprawling onto the ground, shovel falling from his hands. His mother put his little sister Jenna down, grabbing a nearby hoe. Jake struggled to get up, but his head was swimming. He watched as fire spewed from the creature's mouth, burning his mother. She fell to the ground, dead.

Jake struggled to his feet as the thing walked towards his twelve-year old sister, murder in its eyes. Jake growled, running to stand in front of her. "Come get some!" he shouted at thee abomination. As it lunged, Jake felt a change deep within him, as if something had been awakened. He opened his clenched fists, and fire spewed from his palms. It was struck in the chest, causing it to fall back with a yelp. It stared at him with hatred in its eyes. Jake didn't know what it was, rushing through his veins. He looked at his hands for a moment, then closed them. He didn't care. Rage filled his being. Rage at watching his loved ones be destroyed by this... this demon! He moved his hand in a slicing motion, and a wave of air slashed into the creature, leaving a huge gash. He raised his hands, and a large rock burst forth from the floor, impaling the thing through the chest. His rage subsided, and he fell to his knees, drawing in deep breaths. He didn't know what it was he did, but it was tough.

He wordlessly took his sister's hand, running up the stairs. They were no longer safe here. He peeked outside the front door. The landscape was devasted, clouds broiled in the sky. He quickly ran outside and into an alleyway. He slouched against the wall, panting.

"Wha-What's going on?!" asked Jenna, staring around wide-eyed.

"Hell if I know." Jake shortly replied, scanning the area.

((Both of your RPs look perfectly fine, but as an aside, I usually find that it's not a good idea to post more than one RP at a time on a forum . . . People get their attention divided so that each RP is less successful than it might've been if they had been able to focus on one . . . ))

((Ah, I see, I shall desist then.))

Wight wrote:((Both of your RPs look perfectly fine, but as an aside, I usually find that it's not a good idea to post more than one RP at a time on a forum . . . People get their attention divided so that each RP is less successful than it might've been if they had been able to focus on one . . . ))

I disagree. If the board needs more roleplays, it needs more roleplays. What you say may be true for boards with hundreds upon hundreds of available RPs people can join, but we're dealing with a smallish board and a small but awesome community. Although... a couple of the responses in Lifon's other thread (The Contagion) scare me, and make me wonder if everyone here is as epic as they should be. Examples:

firehawk010 wrote:Hmm, this should be interesting, a human patrol, and those damn tainted advancing on them. thought Kuro as he flew over the scene.

He was a wind demon, although he wasn't very violent. he had jet black fur covering his body, but his hair ended in an emerald green. his wings were black, and he stood taller than any human he had ever met.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Kuro yelled, diving straight at the tainted.

...A bit short. More than a bit. Just godmod the Tainted, they're "NPCs!" And if he's not very violent, why is he dive-bombing them?

Trinity-Dragon wrote:SF00252 watches the scene take place while hiding in the nearby shadows. This will be a good chance to learn the ways of the land he though to himself.

This almost literal 'one-liner' totally set my teeth on edge. I know you can do better than this, if only from seeing your 'character thread.' You could either:
a) wait for the conflict to actually start,
b) leap in regardless of what's about to happen with the other characters,
c) have your character start elsewhere, and introduce SF00252 in some other way,
or
d) write something totally unexpected but impressive, which I could never have predicted.

Anyways, griping aside, I'll get around to posting a real intro post sometime in the next few days.
Sincerely,
~magik~

((I'll get going, don't worry, 'bout that. As I said before, Lifon is just waiting for Dragonizer, so I just wanted to get introduced... but I suppose it could be much better. Again, As I said, I'm new to this whole RPF things, so I'll do my best to learn. And about this RP... I think it is a bit hard to manage two of your own RPs, but, if Lifon can, I don't see this thread can't continue.))

((I think Dragonizer can join anytime she wants.
...I may be branded 'rude' for this, but I'd rather just go ahead and let her join when she feels like it. I've seen enough threads frozen by people who suddenly go inactive, to not see why we need to freeze two threads for someone who hasn't even joined yet. There are always opportunities for people to join.
If we're dealing with an 'apocalypse-type' roleplay, she could be discovered by one of our characters as a 'survivor' whom they save or are saved by. This lends a lot of flexibility to times when she could write an intro post, and I think that she can manage that easily. I'm going to go ahead and post, and if Dragonizer joins, so much the better.

Also, Trinity, I'm sorry if anything I've said about your posts sounds accusatory or critical... I'm just as interested as everyone else on this board in helping newer roleplayers such as yourself find their wings, so to speak, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be giving advice, whether you want it or not, but feel free to comment on my posts as well.

The second character I'll use is one I've... "imported" from elsewhere. He might be a little too powerful if I kept him to his 'usual' specifications, so I'm toning him down. Sorry to break the 'rule of modern settings,' but since magic has been added, I'll assume that this world has been connected to the easily accessible web of realms.))

Shit.
That one word just about summed it up.
Shit.

Brian Smithson was your average, ordinary guy. He worked at a mechanic's shop, and made enough to live comfortably, albeit single. His house was in a perpetual state of mild mess, but he never let it get bad enough for anyone to consider it a 'typical bachelor pad.' He paid his taxes, and only ever got drunk on Saturdays. In other words, a normal, average guy. Along with all this, though, he had an obsession. He collected, repaired and restored guns.
Old vintage pistols occupied places of honour on the mantelpiece of his modest living room- not loaded, of course. The rest of his weaponry was stored downstairs in the basement, categorized into sturdy, carefully locked cabinets. He had a license, and was in no way inclined to allow his 'hobby' to get anyone hurt.

Right now, though, he was damned grateful for the large store of weapons and ammunition he'd kept downstairs. He was even a little elated at having the opportunity to use the weapons he so loved. Elated, but scared. He'd set up a fully-automatic machine gun at his front window, when they'd broken the glass in the first assault. Now he knelt behind it, trusty shotgun leaning against his side, watching his yard carefully.
Movement from the fence; a hulking form crouched just outside his yard, eyeing the house. Brian had turned off all the lights, yet occasionally the demons still somehow knew where he was.
The beast moved quickly, leaping over the short, ornamental fence and streaking across his lawn at a bounding dash. Its gait resembled that of a dog, but the unnatural darkness was too great for Brian to make out more than its general shape and its glowing red, demonic eyes. He sighted on those eyes, and slowly pressed the machine-gun's trigger. A rattle of automatic fire, and the creature slumped, dead. Brian sighed and relaxed. A moment later he was on his guard again as a loud coughing noise came from the corner of Grey Rd. and Kenneth Cr. The coughing stopped, then what seemed like an eternity passed. A dark form appeared at the end of the path...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serran Marr stumbled from the portal, coughing. Some realms were highly unpleasant to travel through. An example was the world he'd just come from, whose entire atmosphere was filled with some form of noxious gas. All forms of life there had died off long ago. He hadn't stayed there for long. To do so would have been suicide.
He looked around at the dark world he'd entered. Houses surrounded him, indicating a fairly advanced level of technology. It was apparently night-time, but there was a quality to the darkness which was... hungry. As if light were foreign to this world.
Serran wasn't sure he liked this mysterious place. He checked his reserves of power, then swore quietly to himself. Not nearly enough to attempt another jump. He'd need to stay in this world and recover. His hand hovered near his sword hilt as he walked slowly towards the front door of a house.
A loud rattling noise was his only warning, not nearly enough as a split second later weaponry fire spattered against his wards, which only barely deflected them. Serran stumbled back, shouting, 'Peace! Peace, friend!' In a panic, he tried to draw on his power, but found his remaining reserves to be far too low to restore the wards. He wouldn't survive another burst of gunfire.
Just then, the door opened, a silhouette barely visible in the gloom. "You alive out there?" Serran shouted back an affirmative. "Well, get the hell in here! It's not safe to be wandering around. At first I thought you were one of them."
Serran didn't ask who or what 'they' were. He had a feeling he'd find out before long.

Jake ran from cover to cover, dragging Jenna along by the hand. They used whatever they could, the side of a building, some brush, anything that would provide some shielding from the eyes of those creatures. "Where are we going?" asked Jenna, panting after they dove behind some bushes that were growing alongside a building.

"Staying in one spot is dangerous, not to mention we can't stay there forever. We need to find other survivors of this... this disaster," Jake said with a face like a thunderstorm. A part of him cried out in pain at the loss of his parents, but it had happened so suddenly he didn't really feel it. Yet. Right now he was in survival mode: Just doing whatever he could to survive. Not daring to think about anything else.

A hideous screech pierced through the area, sending a shiver down Jake's spine. He looked up through the leaves to see a large demon flying overhead, bearing a resemblance to the mythical roc. "Shhh!" Jake whispered to Jenna. They stood as still as possible. Jake wished he knew what he had done last time. But he was just acting in the heat of the moment, he had no idea how to duplicate the strange power he had shown back in his basement. The creature circled over the area for a moment, seeming to sniff the air. Jake held his breath. After a moment, though, the creature shrieked again, moving on. Jake and Jenna both released a huge sigh.

Then Jake heard gunshots, and faint shouts. "More survivors." he muttered. He and Jenna ran towards the sounds, hoping for the best. A house quickly came into view. No demons, so far. Jake ran up to the door and started pounding on it, shouting "Open up! Please!"

Serran, sitting with his feet on a soft, plushy footstool, was chewing contentedly on what had to be one of the best and most exotic foods he'd encountered in his travels. All he'd needed was a safe place to catch his breath, and something good to eat. This dish, which Brian told him was called a 'P, B and J sand witch,' was absolutely heavenly, though he wasn't sure what the food had to do with witches. The fruity flavour and nutty, oily texture mixed beautifully, and no plate or cutlery were necessary; the flavourful sauces were eaten on slices of soft white bread, leaving nothing to waste or to clean up. Human beings were ingenious creatures.

Just then, there was a sudden and frantic knocking at the door. Within a second, Serran went from a reclining position, feet up, to a tense standing posture on the footstool, and then launched himself towards the door, sending the stool flying, drawing his sword in the same movement. He landed ready for combat as Brian looked on with mixed awe and amusement.

Serran spoke, his archaic speech making Brian wonder where he came from. Certainly nowhere nearby. Imagine not knowing what a peanut butter and jam sandwich was!
"Who is there? Announce yourselves. Be you friend, foe or monster?"
A muffled voice, too quiet to be heard through the unusually thick door, responded, accompanied by the sound of quiet crying. Serran paused for a moment, thinking, then muttered a short phrase which Brian didn't catch. The strange man- really only a boy, obviously no older than eighteen, thought Brian to himself- threw out his hand in the direction of the door, and, strangely enough, a feeling of tingling energy seemed to wash over Brian. He shook himself, and grunted. No time for silly imaginings- things like magic only existed in kids' stories. He conveniently chose to forget the idea that in a world where demons suddenly appeared and began killing people, magic wasn't exactly an unfathomable thing. Serran lowered his hand, panting as if he'd just run a long way, and walked slowly over to the door. He placed a hand carefully on the doorknob, then in a flash turned it and pulled the door suddenly open.
A young boy staggered into the room from where he'd been leaning against the door and scanning the street fearfully. A young girl- his sister, Serran presumed- followed him, clinging to his arm. Barely avoiding overbalancing, the boy stared at Brian and Serran, taking in the black robe worn by the latter, and the sword hanging loosely in his grip. His sister whimpered softly.

Brian gave a wry, decidedly uncomforting smile. "Welcome to safety, kids. Or at least more safety than there is to be had anywhere else."

A large fireball rose from the gas station across the street from an almost unnoticeable gun store, a large dragon like demon relishing in the destruction.
Inside the gun store, a 16 year old boy decked out in black cargo pants a grey t-shirt with the words "Every man dies..." printed in black across the front, he had a black bandana on his head and was prying a door open to the back of the shop. "Come on Morris, I know you got some heavy equiptment in here," there was a small crack as the door broke loose from it's frame. "There we go, now where are those C7s... ah there we are, even has the M209 grenade launcher attached. now what else do we have here..." He said prying open another crate. "Cipher... you just hit the jackpot." Inside lay a MK19 grenade launcher and enough grenades to supply a small army. "Now whats behind door number 3... lots of ammo and.... a DE 50 cal. nice, this should be fine, but how do i carry, problem solved." Cipher said, spotting the forklift outside the window. "But first I'll take care of that dragon."

Cipher darted out the door of the gun shop, with ten grenades and twenty ammo clips, praying it was enough. The dragon was so engrossed in the fire that it didn't notice the teen sneaking up on it until the first grenade hit, breaking one of it's wings. It roared in pain looking around for what had hit it. the second grenade hit it's chest, not killing it but knocking off some scales. Then the bullets started, the first few pinged harmlesly off of the scales of the beast, but a few went into the holes, clearly doing internal damage to the beast by now it had located it's attacker an was shooting fireballs back.

As he put another grenade in the launcher on the C7, Cipher thought Good, I can kill it with a well placed grenade. This will be interesting to say the least... He quickly ran out from behind the cement road divider that he had been hiding behind and fired the third grenade. Bulls eye Cipher thought as he saw the dragon get hit in the mouth, but surprisingly the grenade didn't go off. Damnit, too small of a tar... Wow... The grenade exploded in the creature's stomach, causing it to burst like a butane can thrown in the fire. "Note to self, dragons are walking bombs... Now to get the other weapons and find some survivors of this mess..." He said walking back into the gun store. Soon he was driving down the road in a "Borrowed" Pickup truck with the weapons strapped in the back. Glad i finished drivers ed...

Jake blinked, eyes laying on the black-robed man for a moment. He seemed quite... odd. He was in such unusual clothing, and with a sword drawn and ready. "Thank you," said Jake, nodding towards the other man. He walked in with Jenna quickly, closing the door behind him. He then relaxed, taking a look around the house. It seemed like your average place, but these two didn't seem very ordinary. The black-robed man, well, looked like he wasn't even from the country. The other guy was holding a machine gun, not something common for such a peaceful town. Well, what -used- to be peaceful. Heck, what -used- to be a town! It was too wrecked to be truly called one now.

"My name is Jake Shigeru, and this is my sister Jenna. We just ran from those monsters out there, our parents have been killed by them..." he paused a moment, looking downward, then looked up again. "Who are you two?" he asked.

I know I heard gunshots in this area... Ah! that looks promising, M60 in the front window, dead demon in the front yard, still I should be careful. Cipher thought, grabbing the C7 and refilling his ammo belts. Just then a loud shriek was heard from overhead. A large bird shaped demon was swooping straight at him. "Eat grenade birdbrain!" CIpher yelled, firing the M209, the grenade hitting the bird's wing, sending it crashing down into the road. To be sure it was dead, Cipher opened fire on the thing's head, till it looked like a very bloody piece of swiss cheese. "Knock knock, anyone alive in here?" He said, walking up to the door, reloading.

((

magikchicken wrote:

Wight wrote:((Both of your RPs look perfectly fine, but as an aside, I usually find that it's not a good idea to post more than one RP at a time on a forum . . . People get their attention divided so that each RP is less successful than it might've been if they had been able to focus on one . . . ))

I disagree. If the board needs more roleplays, it needs more roleplays. What you say may be true for boards with hundreds upon hundreds of available RPs people can join, but we're dealing with a smallish board and a small but awesome community. Although... a couple of the responses in Lifon's other thread (The Contagion) scare me, and make me wonder if everyone here is as epic as they should be.

Hmm . . . I respectfully disagree with your disagreement -- I've roleplayed for many years on forums like this and have found that people do suffer from a syndrome where they can maybe only get one or two posts written a day. When that happens . . . They tend to choose one RP and neglect the others. In the end, we end up with one that goes strong because everyone decides to focus their attention on it while all the others die. And if someone makes really stellar new RP, all attention jumps to that one while the original will die off. Of course, this won't happen if the community is made entirely of people like you who are able to make consistently good posts in every RP you join, but . . . not everyone can manage. As for me, I am only able to conscientiously join one RP at a time, really.

This isn't really the place to discuss this however. >_>))

(( I agree, let's keep this thread for the RP, mebbe make a RP discussion thread?))

Jake was interrupted by a knock followed by a human voice. Jake immediately rushed over to the door, opening it. There a teenager there, holding a gun. He didn't look much younger than Jake himself. He was dressed darkly, he didn't look like the kind of person Jake would usually hang around, he looked like trouble. Right now, though, that didn't matter. Jake , without so much as a pause, quickly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside, shutting the door and locking it. Hmph. As if a lock would do anything. he thought absently.

"Alright, the world's gone mad, and we're probably the only living humans in a mile's radius. Introduce yourselves to your new companions. Right now, this is all we got," Jake said, walking back over to his sister's side.

"Well, your pretty straightforward. My name is Cipher, we can leave it at that since last names don't matter much anymore. Mind if i grab the truck's cargo, It may come in handy." Cipher said looking at the small group. Noticing Jake's expression at his appearance cipher added, "I normally wouldn't dress like this but i figured that since everything is dark around here I should raid the local gothic clothes shop, and so far these clothes have saved me from being noticed a few times. Also, I know where we can find lots of ammo for any weapons, my uncle owned a gunshop, and he worked for some gun smugglers so he has some pretty heavy equipment stored there."

Serran struggled a bit with the new dialect, especially a few words, like gothic, and ammo. He surmised that 'gothic' was the style of clothing that Cipher was wearing, and that 'ammo,' was a synonym for the word 'ammunition', which he had encountered... elsewhere.
He sheathed his sword as Cipher spoke, then as the boy finished, Serran bowed towards the two young-looking boys. "I am known as Serran Marr." He could have included one or more of his titles, but he guessed, rightly, that this was not a place where they would be understood or appreciated. "I am... a traveler of sorts, though I find myself needing to search for safety here. This man-" he gestured at Brian- "helped me immensely by providing a safe place to rest. I will return the favour by helping you until it is time for me to move on."

Brian watched from where he sat behind the mounted M60, then got to his feet as Serran finished. "Hey. My name's Brian. Brian Smithson. Don't wear it out. I live alone, and I don't deal with kids much. Sorry in advance if I hurt your feelings or somethin'."
Serran, meanwhile, was studying Jake carefully. "You have power, child, but it is uncontrolled. In my-" He stopped abruptly, then continued. "Where I come from, you would have been trained in its use from an early age. Where is your mentor?" He stopped again as everyone else in the room gave him a blank stare.
"...Did I just now commit some social gaffe in your culture? I apologize, then. Perchance-"
"Relax, Serran." Brian looked amused, rather than annoyed, which put Serran slightly more at ease. "It's just that we have no idea what you're talking about."

Before they could continue, Cipher came through the door wheeling a large crate on a hand cart. "I'd assume by the gun in the window that you are good for rifles, but a few C7s shouldn't hurt. Get this one open while i go grab the rest. I have about twelve of these crates in the truck, and one really long one, but I'll need help with some of the heavier ones, there is also a full-auto grenade launcher that i want to mount on a van for when we need to make supply runs." Cipher said, taking the hand cart with him out the door. "I'll give a shout if I see any demons..."

Jake nodded. This Cipher guy was a quick-thinker, Jake hadn't even thought so far as into the future. The fact that he had access to illegal weaponry was even better, it gave the group a much better chance. He and Brian worked together, ripping open the crate.

Jake took a C7 out of the crate, turning it over in his hands. He was on the shooting team in his school's Reserve Officers Training Corps, and he was a pretty good shot, but he knew that firing a C7 would be nothing like using the much less powerful rifles used at practice.

His mind muller over the words spoken by that strange fellow... Serran Marr, Jake believed he had said. Definitely not from around here. What power was he speaking of? Was it that power he had used earlier?

Jake was interrupted by a roar, followed by the sound of gunfire and and a shout. It came from outside.

"Damn..." said Jake, turning towards the door.

"Hold it off and pass me that crowbar!" Cipher yelled, firing a grenade at a large dragon. ((Hope you don't mind this short use of your character, if so just say.))

As soon as Jake passed him the crowbar, Cipher started prying open the lid of the long crate. When the lid was fully removed, he reached inside and pulled out a FIM-92 Stinger missile launcher. "Hold your fire, I need to shoot this thing right down it's throat."

As the gunfire ceased, the dragon came around for another pass, flying low and fast at the truck. Steady... steady... NOW! Cipher thought as the missile locked on. It flew straight for the dragon, and hit dead on. The carcass of the now headless dragon crashed to the ground two feet from the truck. "Man I'm glad my uncle showed me how to use one of these things..." Cipher said, loading another missile into the launcher.

((I feel like I'm being left out of the post order somehow. Surely it's just my imagination.))
Serran watched as Cipher took charge of the small group of survivors. They seemed quite able to handle themselves, but there was that troubling aura about Jake... He decided he'd have to stick around for longer than he'd previously intended.

A loud noise from somewhere below them caused all four to freeze temporarily, then-
"Shit!" Brian yelled, grabbing his shotgun from where it rested next to him and rushing to a small door Serran had written off as a closet. Turning the knob, he threw the door open and proceeded to fire his shotgun down the stairway that was now revealed.
"Goddamn it all, they got into the basement!" Brian was pissed. He'd thought his house was at least a defensible position, but apparently there must have been only a thin metal wall between his basement and the sewer... And from the smell wafting up from the basement, that wall was now gone. The other indication would be the flood of red humanoid demons, the unfortunate humans who had been killed in droves during the first few hours of the invasion, before the evacuation teams began pulling the survivors out. Brian swore as his ammo ran out, and fell back before the horde, reloading frantically-
Only to see a blade of silvery-green metal flash in front of him, cleaving the nearest two demons neatly in half from bulbous red head to clawed feet. Serran was suddenly standing in front of Brian, that sword which he'd carried slung across his back now revealed in all its bloody glory. You're joking me, Brian thought, rolling his eyes. We've got a freaking swordsman here?
A moment later, it was evident that Serran wasn't quite up to the challenge. Perhaps a bit too tired, perhaps just lacking the tactical advantage of the top of the stairs, he had been driven back into the room, the red-skinned horrors slowly beginning to surround him. Brian blasted away at the outer fringes of the demons, but couldn't fire into the center or he'd hit the sword-wielding maniac. He rolled his eyes again. This was just great. Overrun by numbers. They needed to take back the top of the stairs.

Just then, Serran roared a battlecry that sounded something like his name-- Egotistical little man, isn't he? thought Brian, ignoring the fact that Serran was easily a head taller than he was-- and dropped to the ground, placing his palm on the floorboards. What followed was something Brian couldn't quite write off as 'well-hidden modern weaponry.'
A large globe of dancing flames appeared around Serran, burning the closest demons away with short, cut-off screams and a horrific smell of burnt flesh. It began to expand until all the demons in the room had been engulfed, then went out to reveal Serran standing in the middle of a large scorch mark on Brian's living room floor, apparently unharmed by the raging fire. A wall of said flames burned in the doorway leading down to the basement, apparently not spreading, as a fire that hot should. Brian shivered. This wasn't normal, any of it. Magic? This Serran Marr was more like one of them than anything. He wasn't human, that's for sure. Normal human beings didn't control fire or use a big-ass sword to chop their enemies up.

Brian Smithson was beginning to regret helping this kid get to safety, useful for defense or not. This was just... uncanny.

"Brian, move yer ass!" Cipher yelled, running down the stairs holding what looked like a Tommy gun, but when it was fired it was evident that it was a fully automatic shotgun. "Don't know where Ed got his hands on this one but I'm glad he did, also you aren't the only one seeing flame boy over there. Crap I'm out of shots, cover me while I reload." Cipher quickly ducked behind an overturned table, ditching the first clip for another one. "We have to push them back into the sewer or we're screwed. Hold them off, I have an idea!" Cipher said, noticing the spare plumbing parts in the corner of the room.

Jake growled as the red beasts flowed out of the stairway. He fired the C7 he had took, which pleasingly cut several holes into the demons, which then fell over. Several more rushed out. There's no end to them!

His sister was cowering against the wall behind him, eyes wide. It wasn't long before Jake's clip ran out, though, and he was left defenseless against the oncoming mass of red demons. They scrambled towards him, red body looking contorted. They appeared almost as a human would, only their skin and faces were sickeningly covered with sores, their eyes hungry. Their faces seemed frozen in an eery smile, revealing several fangs.

They had him backed up against the wall in a moment. He tried to shield his sister from them, using nothing but his body. "Get away dammit!" he yelled, throwing out his hand at them. Red flame came out from the air, burning the creatures just as Serran had. He started at his hand for only a brief moment, brow coming together in puzzlement before. After that he quickly grabbed his C7, running for another clip without a second thought.

Cipher was having trouble keeping up the fire, he couldn't reload fast enough. Just as he was reloading one of the demons knocked the gun out of his hands. Cipher didn't panic however, he just jumped back. If i'm gonna die, i'm gonna do my best to lead these things away from the others... He thought trying to see a way through the demons. Suddenly, he felt something build in him and things started to slow down okay... weird... this ain't adrenaline, Woah! Cipher thought as he took a punch at one of the demons, and a bolt of lightning shot out from his hand. He tried again, but made a slashing motion with his hand and three demons were fried by a wave of lightning.

((firehawk... what's this about the basement? I already made a flame wall in the doorway down to it, and we're in the living room...))

Serran, kneeling on the floor, panted heavily. He didn't have enough power left to do that again. The flame wall he'd created continued to burn in the doorway to the basement, but it wouldn't last long, and the demons which had flooded into the large room were enough to cause mayhem on their own. Cipher and Jake were holding them off quite well, even at close quarters. The young mages here were quite powerful, but apparently these two hadn't been trained. Their power was raw, and actually somewhat wasteful. Still, it worked.

The swordsman pulled himself to his feet, muttering something to himself in an arcane tongue, then threw out a hand, fingers outstretched, to where Jake, running for more 'ammo,' was about to be set upon by a few of the remaining demons. Bolts of bluish-purple energy burst from his fingertips, scattering and converging on the small horde of red-skinned creatures. Most died instantly, and the few survivors were sent reeling, mortally wounded, away from the explosions. Jake looked up briefly, and Serran nodded, then walked to dispatch the remaining few wounded demons. The room was clear, for now at least, but Serran could feel his magical reserves disappearing.
"That wall of fire is about to die away. I would suggest preparing for a renewed assault..." Serran paused as his vision swam, then crossed the room to take his place immediately in front of the basement steps. "If I am pushed back, I would appreciate covering fire. Meanwhile, make sure that we are not under siege from any other direction."
With that, Serran released the wall of fire which was in the process of draining the last dregs of power from him, and raised his sword into a ready position as an unearthly scream emanated from below. The first of the red-skins began to come up the stairs, and Serran moved to meet them, his blade keeping the creatures, which could only approach two at a time in the narrow stairway, at bay. A single skilled swordsman could hold a chokepoint like this all day. The problem was that Serran wasn't exactly the most skilled swordsman around. The sword he used didn't even really belong to him.

Serran's heart sank as a horrific scream emanated from somewhere behind him. Then, a massive red maw appeared from the darkness of the basement, snapping at him. The blade-wielding mage cursed as he interposed the weapon between himself and the massive beak, barely turning its hooked point away. The demon revealed itself fully a moment later, its birdlike talons raking at him and forcing him to retreat a step up the stairs, parrying the blow. He wished his brother were here. Technically he was, but Serran still wished his brother were here in more than spirit. The mighty swordsman he knew would have destroyed this bird-creature utterly, without even needing to use magic. For the first time in a long time, Serran Marr felt... inadequate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian fired wildly as the massive beast thundered across his lawn. The barrel of the M60 mounted in his window blazed, but the hulking mass of flesh, a dark purple for a change from the unending cliché red, barely staggered. A moment later it was close enough to the house to be out of his line of fire, and Brian grabbed the shotgun beside him, his palms suddenly wet with perspiration.
"Get over here, kids, we've got a big, pissed-off purple demon on our hands. Don't get too close to the door, though."
The creature chose that moment to simply knock the door off its hinges. Brian yelled, and fired. The creature seemed to stagger, glowing blue runes appearing around it as Serran's earlier warding spell activated. At that moment, the mage himself flew into the room headfirst, landing hard and sliding painfully across the coarse carpet, bleeding heavily from a slash across his shoulder. Another birdlike shriek from below announced the approach of whatever had sent him flying. Meanwhile, the purple thing seemed to be shaking off the effects of the ward.

Brian, pumping his shotgun to unload another round into the large mauve beast, jumped and swore as Serran shouted from behind him.
"Jake! Cipher! Your fire, your lightning... Send them to me. Throw your power to me!"
Brian swore again, and fired at the purple demon in the doorway. Crazy wierdo.

"Sorry, no can do, But I got something better! Get the hell under cover!" Cipher yelled as a piece of pipe, wrapped in tape and with a sparkeler came flying through the room and landed under the purple demon. Cipher ran in with another similar device, which he lit with his lightning and threw into the bird's open beak. "Praying this works..."