genessia | Silent Night, Deadly Night

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Silent Night, Deadly Night

WHO: Winter Schnee, Metal Man
WHAT: A frost mage has been wreaking havoc in Fayren. Tired of waiting for a bounty hunter to deal with it, Winter resolves to take of the matter herself. And there's also a robot involved.
WHEN: November 3, 2017
WHERE: Fayren

The first Winter heard of the troublesome ice mage was in the newspaper. She was disturbed that she hadn't caught wind of his murderous activities until that very day, and after posing a few queries of her own, learned that the crime scenes were nowhere near the castle. As such, it was out of her jurisdiction. Still, she resolved to keep an eye on the matter as well as the bounty boards. Certainly one of the many bounty hunters would take action and bring the culprit down, and though Winter doubted she would have been approached personally to assist, she was prepared to offer assistance nonetheless.

But days passed, and the culprit remained at large, his bounty unclaimed. Understandable, she supposed, given the state that the city was in. She didn't like it, but the matter would surely be resolved once the monsters were gone and the world returned to a state of calm.

That didn't happen either. So be it. In the evening hours, Winter conducted her research, learning details of the criminal's appearance, patterns, and targets. Then, when at last her personal day was granted, she arose precisely at 6 a.m., showered, dressed, and took up her sword, departing her quarters at exactly 6:30 to begin her work.

The sun hadn't yet risen, and frost tipped the blades of grass as Winter followed the directions she'd committed to memory. The mage didn't live in town, and tracking him would surely pose no difficulty for her...not with the ghostly white Beowulf she'd summoned, snuffling through the frozen grass. It loped ahead when it caught the scent, then bent its snout to the ground once more whenever the trail grew faint.

Winter allowed herself a small, pleased smile. Why fight ice with fire, when she was already so accustomed to the cold? This fool wouldn't stand a chance.

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Winter wasn't the only one stalking this prey, and she wasn't the only one who'd prepared themselves. Metal had come on-line early, given himself some thorough maintenance, and prepared for his excursion to Fayren. He wasn't as familiar with the location as he was Nova, but he'd done his research on both the criminal's movements and the layout of the so-called "magical" city to know enough.

He also expected not to be the only one making an effort. This was all about familiarizing himself with the job. He fully expected to be beaten to the punch on one of these things. But when he got the trail, he couldn't help but get a bit excited. That is, until he caught sight of Winter and her beast stalking ahead of him.

Narrowing his eyes, the robot master made a decision to hang back, moving as quiet as a heavy robot man made of metal could manage. Which was, surprisingly, rather quiet. Maybe an opportunity would present himself, but from this vantage he could at least watch and learn.

So long as Metal Man remained downwind, it was unlikely that the beastly white wolf would pick up his scent. If the winds shifted, however...

Winter's head turned slightly. It almost seemed as if she were about to spin around and fix him with a steely gaze, but her pace didn't slow, nor did she reach for her sword to draw it from its sheath. Who could say if she was truly aware of him or not? She pressed forward.

The path wound through the fields of tall grass into the woods, where short stubby trees became more numerous, greater in height, until they moved over a narrow game path that could scarcely be seen if not for the glow of the summoned Beowulf. It made for such a convenient flashlight in these dark times.

Though Winter's steps were light and careful not to disturb the undergrowth, the same could not be said for her companion. Where it stepped, it left behind heavy frosted footprints. They wouldn't be difficult to track as a result, and Winter was fine with this. If things went awry and she fell in battle, it would be a simple matter for someone else to take up the hunt where she'd left off. Besides, it was the mage she was tracking and not the reverse. She had little reason to fear a follower.

When Winter turns her head, Metal worries he's been found out. In the end, it compels him to be more discrete and careful, and try to be more careful. He manages for the time being, thankful the glow of the Beowulf gives him something bright and obvious to follow.

But, well, the robot can't keep it up forever. Metal's good, but he's not as good as he thinks he is, as his focus on following Winter causes him to not pay proper attention to his surroundings and trip over a rock, causing him to fall on his face with a heavy clang.

Winter's steps stopped completely. There was a sudden stiffness in her shoulders before she whirled halfway around, glowering at Metal Man over her shoulder.

"I was content to let you follow so long as you were content to remain silent," she remarked crisply, narrowing her eyes.

The Beowulf lingered up ahead, waiting patiently for Winter's orders. She exhaled, her breath leaving her in a fine curling mist of white. "There's no sense in pretending any longer. Get up. Come."

He wasn't the ice mage, she knew that much. Just one look at him was enough to convince her he was so absolutely not a native of Fayren. No, his build and make-up, as well as his ability to be in Fayren at all, led her to believe he was a foreigner to this world as much as she was.

Behind her, a blue glow started to light the forests, and the Beowulf uttered a low, warning growl.

Metal pushed himself up, blinking his optics and looking rather embarassed and flabbergasted... at least, he would, if not for the faceplate covering most of it.

"You... you knew I was here the whole time?!" he cried. Well, of course she did. Dammit. He thought he'd actually managed to keep himself hidden.

But he noticed the blue glow as he got to his feet, and his mood changed. "Shit," he said, deploying several Metal Blades. "Looks like we've got company..."

"If you don't want to be noticed, change your color scheme," Winter remarked crisply. Red wasn't exactly subtle in these lush evergreen, frosted woods. Perhaps if fall had stuck around a little longer...

Her head snapped around as her summoned creature issued its warning snarls. Winter seized her sword and drew it in a swift, smooth motion, bending at the knees. Noisy as the distraction had been, it at least forced the mage to reveal his location instead of playing games on the trail.

"MOVE!" she barked a warning, a lance of jagged ice slicing through the Beowulf to scatter it into a frozen mist as the strike came hurtling straight for the two hunters.

A glowing white glyph spun to life beneath Winter's feet, propelling her sharply to the left. It remained there if he wished to use it (or just accidentally stepped on it without knowing what it was).

Metal scowls as she admonishes him, but he doesn't have time to follow up on it, already dodging to the side as the blasts come surging after them. Once he's clear, he plants his feet down and lobs the Metal Blades in the direction the attack had come from.

"Your pet's dead," Metal growled, as he ran in the direction Winter headed in. "You should have lectured HIM instead of me...yikes!"

Before he could say anything further, he stepped on the glyph, which ended up shooting him to the left as well, arms flailing through the air in the process.

"It was never alive to begin with," Winter shot back. She could lecture him about the finer points of summoning at a later time, however, as they had more important matters to--

--Where was he going?!

The astonishment on Winter's face was brief, immediately souring into frustration as he was propelled ~~hilariously~~ to the side after coming in contact with her glyph. Amateurs. (Never mind that she should have dismissed the glyph immediately after using it since he didn't know what he was stepping into.)

Ill-content to remain in the same place, Winter launched herself toward the source of the blue light as well with another glowing white glyph. Shards of ice pierced the air, aiming to riddle her with dozens of frozen bullets, but her sword was faster. Steel cleaved through ice as her blade flashed, allowing none of the mage's attacks to touch her.

But when she arrived at the source of the assault, there was no one there. The blue glow pulsed steadily, but as for the mage himself, there was no sign.

Winter's eyes narrowed as she tightened her grip on her epee. "Magician!" she snapped. "By royal decree, you are under arrest. If you do not wish to be harmed, show yourself and surrender!"

He was trying to group up with you! Strength in numbers, lady! It's not his fault. Really.

Metal groaned, picking himself up as quickly as his heavy body would allow, trying to follow her... just in time for him to see the ice shards being shot at Winter, and given he was following, Metal well. He brought out two buzzsaws to shield himself, as his processor mentally caught him up... okay, the dead pet thing wasn't really a pet, they're being attacked by their target...

"He's not going to come out if we order him," Metal sighed. "He could be anywhere all around us..."

He narrowed his eyes, looking at the two saws he was holding. A multi-directional attack maybe? But he couldn't say that out loud...

Winter remained still. She wasn't about to use her summoning just for the moment, it would surely provoke an immediate retaliation before her creature could emerge from the portal. An attack would be forthcoming, however, she had no delusions otherwise.

"Heat sensors," she ordered Metal Man. He was a robot, he had those, right?

...Right?

The ground began to glow beneath their feet with an eerie blue light. There was no spinning sigil to indicate that it was Winter's glyphs either.

"MOVE!" Winter kicked into a backflip, coming in a low crouch atop one of her glyphs to propel her up into the trees. That robot's reflexes were as sharp as his blades too, she hoped. If not, then hopefully he was prepared to withstand one of her glyphs manifesting beneath him to shoot him forcefully away from the danger as cold water suddenly exploded from the snow, freezing everything within its field.

"... What about them?"

Metal stares at her for a moment, momentarily distracted. "What, do you think I have infrared or something? I'm not designed to-"

Oh. The ground was glowing. Metal had good combat reflexed, but his distraction and programming limitations were what slowed him down. He ended up being thrown away from the sudden freezing blast in the air...

... but this time he reacted more quickly, twisting in the air into something of a controlled position, snarling as he leashed out a volley of Metal Blades. They flew out in arms around him, trying to hit in multiple directions and HOPEFULLY draw their attacker out.

Sawblades sheared clean through trees, filling the tranquil and snowy forest with deep crackling groans as the trunks teetered, tipped, and crashed heavily to the ground.

Winter had no complaints as to his methods, save for the lack of infrared sensors. That was a key component to any robotic model meant for combat, how else would they be able to track their foes in the dark?

She was forced to abandon her perch as Metal Man cut it down with one of his blades...again, nothing she felt worth a complaint since she still couldn't see the mage from her vantage point and needed another...her gaze flitting furtively for signs of movement. Surely he would have left some manner of tracks to follow. But, as a master of ice magic, perhaps not. They needed a strategy.

Winter lighted back to the ground near Metal Man, lowering her voice as she placed her back against his so they could not be ambushed from behind.

"Can you retrieve and control your blades remotely, and in a nonlethal manner?" she whispered.

Metal landed, cursing the fact that he hadn't hit or flushed out their target. As she landed near him, he raised a brow at her question.

"Retrieve them...? No, that would like, mean I had some kind of magnet or gravity power, wouldn't it? That'd mess with my circuits."

As if to demonstrate, he deployed another group of them, slotting them out of his arms and holding them between each finger, arming him with a total of six. "I'm not running out even remotely soon, though."

A shame, as being able to control the blade directly could surprise the mage and ensure a swift victory. The strategy was discarded. Very well, the objective to lure the mage out of hiding remained clear. How to do it? Likely he wouldn't emerge as long as it seemed clear that the two of them could easily overpower their target. Therefore, they must appear to be short on resources.

"Pretend that you do run out," she confided in a low voice. "Strike your blaster, curse at how nothing is coming out. I'll allow my feet to become ensnared. If we seem powerless, our enemy will likely show himself."

If that failed, she trusted that the robot could easily break the ice should she become frozen in it.

She had more summoned creatures at her disposal as well; likely the mage thought he'd destroyed her companion earlier.

"Is the plan understood?"

"... Okay, that definitely sounds like something that's doable."

Oh wow. She was pretty tactically minded, wasn't she? Metal would have smirked if he didn't have a faceplate, nodding to her question of whether the plan was understood or not. That just left...

"Oh god dammit! This damn weather! The mechanisms in my arms have ice crystals in them! I can't use my weapons!"

Winter glowered at him. Those were not the instructions she gave! Did he have ice crystals lingering in his auditory components? He had better hope that this was a fake-fakeout followed by one that was more convincing.

"Useless," she spat. Whether that was in reference to his acting, or his supposed inability to use his weapons, who could say? Winter was, at least, excellent at issuing harsh judgments, and she knew exactly how to play her role. "I should never have allowed you to follow me. Stay out of the way." She pointed her saber point at his face as if to punctuate her point before dashing away from him.

Sure enough, the ground was starting to glow blue beneath his feet in an attempt to capture them both, but Winter had already darted away from the incoming spell's range of effect. Perhaps she really had abandoned him, since her glyphs were nowhere to be seen to propel him out of danger.

Pretending to ignore Metal Man's plight, Winter ran through the woods, moving in a broad circle as she scanned for signs of her target. Where was the man hiding? She stopped, turning her head and slowly pivoting. Any sign of movement...she just needed some small hint.

"Abandoning your ally? Oh...that is cold."

The voice was soft, but echoed like a roar in her skull. Winter whirled with a lethal slash from her blade, but cleaved nothing more than a swirl of white mist. Her eyes narrowed as a chuckle reverberated through the forest.

There was no blue light at her feet, but a split-second downward glance revealed an intricate pattern of rime creeping over the forest floor toward where she stood. Clever...he knew she'd bolt at the more obvious attack, so he was attempting something more subtle while arresting her attention. She pretended not to notice, even taking a step closer toward the encroaching frost when she turned again.

"Show yourself," she demanded again.

"In time, fair lady, in time. First, I'm going to make a lovely statue out of your metal friend. You don't mind, do you? After all...he's just ever so useless."

Winter grit her teeth. He suspected something. And he was going to call her bluff in a very nasty way. She didn't know how ice truly would affect a robot of his make, but she might very well wind up on her own if Metal Man couldn't do anything for his predicament.

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Silent Night, Deadly Night

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