World Tree MUSH

    The little town of Serpent's Creek, Colorado isn't known for much. It's way out remotely in the middle of nowhere. It only has one thing going for it. In the past few months, some fool discovered silver in the nearby hills. Not just any silver either, but mithril.
    Magically potent, hard as steel, and rare as hell, as soon as it was discovered the mithril rush was on; prospectors and claim seekers from all over the west funneled their way to the little town in the blink of an eye, like sharks to a feeding frenzy, on the hunt for their own share of silver-steel.
    Needless to say, Serpent's Creek had to expand, and the town grew rapidly in the months that passed. But where there's money there's always bound to be blood, as soon after all the prospectors came the outlaws. Hell bent on having their own cut, they chased out or killed anyone that wasn't willing to give them what they wanted, and the town's population hit a steep decline once again between the ensuing deaths and flight of frightened folk that followed.
    The town has been through six sherriffs since, each one suffering a fate worse than the last, and the current lawman was forced to put out a call for aid. Several US Marshalls have gone missing since, so the government of the United States soon put out a call to offworlders to deal with the issue.
    Arriving is like walking into a ghost town. The dusty streets are empty, windows are sealed shut, people won't leave their houses out of fear of the myriad gangs trying to state their claim on turf. The only places with their doors still open are the local saloon, where raucous laughter and the occasional gunshot can be heard, and the sherriff's office, which has left the door mysteriously ajar.

    Another day, another town needs saving. Dante's on the case, and he steps off his motorcycle and ditches the goggles on his head. He produces Rebellion from the guitar case strapped to the bike, stowing it on his back despite the lack of sheath. As usual, he's keeping alert, hands close to his guns. "Man, what i'd give for Cayde to be here." he mutters under his breath, making his way down the street, heading toward the sheriff's office.

Those who know Salome might seem someone who looks somewhat familiar. There are a few differences like both her eyes being purple, her hair still being red at the roots, she's a few inches shorter and mainly their being a lollipop shaped staff being on her back but it's pretty good costume complete with a red witch's hat, matching fur lined top and cape plus boots with spurs on them. She's also wearing a purple bikini top along with shorts and leggings that are the same color. To top it off she's holding a pair of revolvers and humming a bit off-key the theme to some Western.

 Speaking of ghosts, there's two floating behind her wearing sherriff hats "Are you sure you want to get involved into this especially dressed like that?" One of them sounds a bit concerned for the woman's well-being. The fact that she smiles upon seeing Dante should be dead giveaway that this isn't who seems to be.

    Maybe a Chinese guy dressed as a monk isn't common in these parts. Or maybe it is, who knows? But that's exactly what's rolling into town. Not literally ROLLING, mind -- he's managed to acquire some means of transportation, whether that be horse, cyber-horse, motorcycle, or something of that nature. Whatever's readily available.

    However, he IS dressed in greenish-brown robes typical of a monk. But also there's a quiver of arrows and a curved sword on his back. He too has answered the call of trouble, it seems. And so, since it was the sheriff that called for help, he's heading towards the sheriff's office himself.

Mining settlement being harassed by bandits. Sounds like another day on the frontier to the Last Ranger. One of those jobs you do because it's the right thing to do.

The town is already looking like a ghost town, so it's not really going to change much when a cloud of dust blows in. Though it's not really blowing so much as being kicked back by something rolling fast, up until said something stops and the dust continues to drift past. As it settles the red and tan 'ball' that made it stops and uncurls, Dillon replacing his hat on his head as he does so and tugging the brim down forward, neckerchief rippling briefly behind him. Scarred eyes glance around, taking note more of the empty streets than the others arriving. Ayup, this must be the place. It's got all the right signs. The lone stranger of little words doesn't have much to say, but the way he pulls his gloves on good and taunt says just as much.

Time to clean up another town of its troubles.

    The door to the sheriff's office is ajar. Usually not a good sign, but judging from the sound of the harmonica playing from deeper within the darkened building, someone is there. If anyone bothers to step inside, they'll be sure to find the sheriff himself. He's a stocky man, a skin beaten red and brown by the heat of the sun, it's hard to tell what kind of elf he is exactly from a cursory glance. But from the looks of things, he isn't doing too well when it comes to his job.
    See, he's locked up in one of the cells, playing a mournful tune on that harmonica of his, until someone steps inside, causing one last note to trail off as he looks up.
    "Well shucks, you folk don't look like you're from around here. If I were you I'd vamoose before the Red Sashes get active for the night. They don't take too kindly to strangers on their turf these days."
    Across the street a few gunshots ring out from the saloon, earning a sigh from the caged sheriff as he tugs the brim of his hat down to cover his eyes.
    "Locked up in here as I am, ain't nothin' I can do unless someone gets the key from their leader anyway. Stuck me in here and left me to rot, they did."

    
    Funny thing is, Dante and Salome happen to share a rather friendly enmity. He does recognize Holly, and grins to her. "Nice cosplay, kiddo. Felt like somethin' similar but I ain't got the chest for it." He jokes. He goes to the sheriff's office after nodding to Kung Jin and Dillon, and kicks the door down. "Funny, 'cause usually the bad guys run from -me- and not the other way around." He says with a grin, drawing Ebony. "You better step back, sheriff." The demon slayer fires twice on the jail cell lock, aiming to blast it right off.

She makes her way into the sheriff's in time to hear what's going on. "Those danged rootin-tootin' varmints won't get away with this!" The witch says with Belgian accent that sounds like it's trying to intimate a New York one. "I could try to summon a skeleton key to open the door? But we can't just leave you in the cell, they'll likely shoot you too!"

 "Use some of that muscle Hol...I mean Salome and bend the bars!" The other ghost encourages the witch on. She holsters her revolvers and tries to do but Dante beats her to it by shooting the lock.

 "Oh...what gave it away?" She pouts a bit as Dante realizes who she really is.

Dillon turns his head at the sound of gunfire coming from the saloon. "Typical," the armadillo mutters under his breath. Well someone else is dealing with the sheriff's office -- with more gunfire it seems -- so he'll go check out where trouble usually starts and/or ends in these sort of places. "Sounds like Happy Hour started early." So far this is the type of situation he deals with on a regular basis (when its not chasing Rock Monsters away from eating Scrogs) so with his usual solemn demeanor he ambles over to the saloon, pushes the doors open and heads inside to see what the ruckus is, and who he's likely going to have to put on the bad end of his claws to make it stop.

Hesitation is what gets folks in worse trouble so as he usually does he's leaving the thinking to someone else to worry about. He'd rather find these outlaws and let his fists do the talking.

    Kung Jin frowns at noticing the sheriff's door being ajar. Yeah, that's... not good. Jin pulls the curved bow from his back and cautiously enters, ready to hit something if it jumps out at him. However, as he sees the sheriff's plight, he blinks. "That's... not something you see every day." A pause. "Must be worse than I thought," he mutters. To the sheriff he offers, "I could try to pick the lock if you want. I have a bit of a background with this kind of thing."

    Dante fires at the lock, though, and Jin shrugs. "Well, I guess that'll work too," he quips. "Though on the bright side, I guess we're here, so we might as well deal with these 'Red Sash' guys."

    No one is going to notice another gunshot when the saloon is already loud with them, as Dante shoots out the lock. The sheriff whistles appreciatively and stands himself up when the cell doors are kicked in for good measure.
    "I'll gear up and head to the telegram office, see if I can't call for more backup for y'all." The sheriff says as he starts arming himself. "I ain't much in a fight myself, I just got 'elected' after the sixth sheriff here bit the dust. But I'm about as sick of the gangs here as anyone else."
    Well looks like he's not wholly useless. But what's going on in the saloon?
    It's a PARTY. Scruffy looking elves in dusty clothes, wearing red sashes for belts mean that this must be the current gang in control of the town, and they are drunk and they are rowdy. Someone's pulled their gun and started taking potshots at various liquor bottles over the bar, making the poor bar man keep his head down and not dare to pick it up for a newcomer at the door like Dillon.

"I was at a Halloween party and didn't have time to change. Oh well, I can see how well these guns work!" Holly explains why she's dressed like this. "I think they would have some faster away to reach people on a world with magic." Especially when there's people who can fly like her. "The gang might be gone by the time help arrives." She supposes they should head over there and see what's going on.

Smart man, that barkeep. Best way to not have his head end up like the liquor bottles behind him, shattered and dripping all over everything else.

Dillon stops just inside the doors, leaving enough space for anyone else that cares to follow him in after helping the sheriff. He crosses his arms, looking even more surly and annoyed than his usual gruff demeanor. "That's a terrible waste of drinks y'know," he drawls sourly. And means it. Shame to see the good liquor go to ruin like that. "Reckon it's time y'all packed up and scrammed."

That's probably the most people have heard him say. Dillon's not usually the talking type, but right now, it's the best way to get the attention of some drunk banditos.

    "Rough turnover rate, huh?" Dante muses chipperly. He shrugs at Kung Jin, before he dashes out toward the saloon. "We'd better get to work before someone else gets hurt." As h e makes it to the door, he claps Dillon on the back. "Ready to stroll in?" Without waiting on an answer, Dante storms in with his gun out. "Hey hey hey! Where's the drinks? Why shoot all the glasses if there's drinks to be had?" He says, then suddenly he kicks a table toward some of the desperados in red. Time to make this a -real- barfight.

    God have mercy on the bar.

    The saloon does seem to be the first problem that needs to be dealt with. And now that the sheriff is out and making himself useful, that's a good place to start. Jin nods to the sheriff. "All right, thanks. Be careful though." Goes without saying, but yeah. As for himself, Jin heads to the saloon. And yeah, there's a lot of shooting... and that's dangerous.

    Before the door has even closed good, Jin has nocked an arrow against a string that flashes into existence on the curved bow. And he lets the arrow fly. He's not trying to hit the shooters. He's trying to shoot the arrows through the trigger guards of as many of the raised pistols as he can. The fletching of the arrow, combined with the speed of the arrow's travel, should rip a few pistols out of hands, and with luck, should nail them to the wall with the arrow. And possibly also mess up a few trigger fingers. But nobody's going to die, so...!

    "If it's rude to open an umbrella in the house, I'd think the same principle applies to shooting indoors," Jin quips. Yeah, he's starting crap pretty much instantly, but there really isn't any other way to get their attention.

    WOW does the saloon go quiet. First a bigass armadillo comes rolling in (figuratively), and tells the Red Sashes to turn tail and leave. And then there's shooting. Dante bursts in with his gun out and sends a table flying into several men, and as soon as some others draw their guns, they cry out in shock as an arrow disarms them and pins their shooters to the wall.
    But the men rally fast for drunks, scowling and pulling iron. The poor barkeep scrambles out the door as bullets start to fly, one the men draws a wand instead of a six iron and flings a bolt of lightning, but then everything comes to a screeching halt when Holly rushes in.
    "It's the boss!" One of the men shouts.
    "Boss! These here guys are tryin' to wreck our fun!"
    This seems to be a severe case of mistaken identity as they all avert their fire from Holly, who they seem to think is on their side as soon as she's through the door.

This is a bit awkward all of a sudden as Holly's mistaken for Salome. These guys must be really drunk. Hopefully, the real Salome doesn't show up all of a sudden. "Yes, the boss. That's me...I think it's time we moved on from here. We've pretty much looted this place dry." Servis is whispering into her ear what to say to them. He figures if the gang suddenly turns themselves in that'll draw too much attention. She doesn't want to shoot the others either. "Plus, the marshalls are bound to show up if we keep killing the sheriff's."

    That one with the wand is not the only one who can do magic. Or, well. Basically magic. But the way to deal with magic? Drain the mana. Whether it's the wand or the one using it, that's probably still the way to deal with it.

    Of course, first he has to not get hit by lightning. Because it's not fun. He knows this for a fact! Dodging isn't as simple as just ZOOP-ing out of the way though, and he gets a nasty burn on his arm as he ducks.

    As he draws the next arrow, it glows blue. And he fires it towards the hand of the person holding the wand. The arrow should attempt to siphon away the mana around it. That could be of the person, or it could be of the wand.

    But he pauses as he notes the gang's reaction to Holly, hold off on any further violence. If she can make it stop without having to break a few of them, that would be much easier.

Well of course they didn't listen to a proper warning to get out. They never do. The only reason Dillon bothers is because 1) a Ranger should remain polite until given a reason to otherwise and 2) it was a better way to get their attention and make sure it wasn't just some drunk and rowdy locals. There's a bonus 3) as Dante and Jin capitalize on the momentary distraction. A few shots are fired and Dillon hunches forward and down, bracing himself to move while letting bullets ding off the tougher armor plates of his shoulders. Then jukes in close as a brawler should, going to grab the closest bandit and because it's something you do in saloon fights, toss him down the length of the bar.

And then it gets weird as they hesitate when Holly comes in, mistaking her for somene else. Dillon pauses, but he has his clawed fists up and ready should the bandits not listen to her. He'll keep beating sense into them if need be.

    Dante draws both pistols, gracefully dodging and weaving as he trades fire with these bandits. "WOO! Yeah baby! I ain't had a good gunfight in ages!" He says gleefully, leaping over the bar. "Hey partner, sorry about the bar." He grins to the bartender, then grabs himself a glass, filling it from a keg that was shot open. Dante slugs back the beer without stopping for several seconds, then tosses the rest over before diving out and firing on the bandits.

    It is immediately chaotic as hell. The wand user is yelps as he's hit by the arrow and hits the floor, clutching his hand and snarling. Though he tries to use his other hand, the wand fizzles as his mana saps away.
    Bullets are flying, men are cussing, Dante is drinking in the middle of a gunfight, and as much as the drunks try to focus their fire, not one of them can het through Dillon's armor as he hurls another man, screaming, across the bar.
    "Uhhhhh..."
    "Boss?"
    "But we haven't even gotten the mithril yet..."
    There is BLATANT confusion as Holly says they should move on. Right up until another voice calls in from the doorway.
    "What in tarnation is going on here?"
    The witch in red, standing in the door does not look pleased in the least as men glance from Holly to the real Salome with blatant confusion. Her hand is on one of the guns at her belt, and mismatched red-blue eyes take in the carnage.
    "... Holly, is that you? You know, I heard imitation is the highest form of flattery, but that's kind of my look you're highjacking." She says, slowly pulling one of her cherished colts from the holster and giving it a twirl. 
    "And slick... Fancy seeing you here. Been a while, but I'm gonna need you and yours to stop killing my guys, capiche?" Said as she thumbs back the hammer on her gun, lips quirking into a sneer that her living hat readily mimics.

>> GAME >> Salome uses a Free Edge for: My boys ain't worth much, so I'll take you all on myself.

Holly's startled a bit and there's a poof of black and orange smoke. She lost her focus and is back in her usual halloween witch attire. She still has the revolvers. "I came here straight from a party! I didn't know you would actually be here!" She does her best to try and explain what's going on. "You're not going to make throw up again are you? I ate a bunch of candy before coming here..." She actually sounds a bit nervous.

    You could almost hear a record screech, as Dante peers out from cover to see Salome. "Oh, hey Sally. Yeah, we gotta stop meeting like this." He says with a cheeky grin as he emerges from cover, aiming his guns right at Salome. "Hey, if you're willing to take one for the team go right ahead. I could use a challenge, your guys aren't as fun all blitzed like this."

    "Draw!" He opens fire.

Let's be honest, that hat is probably freakier than the witch wearing it.

"Ain't killed no one." Dillon side-punchs one of the bandits while he's trying to make sense of their being two of his 'boss' in his stupid. That was probably a bit hard, so he adds an "Intentionally." Frontier Justice doesn't really care if they end up dead or not after the fact, since they'd been making living hell for the locals. Then reachs for his belt.

Why -does- he wear a gunslinger belt when he doesn't have guns, anyways? This is why. He digs a clawed finger into one of the bullet slots and pulls out a glittering crystalline object. Which he throws at Salone, in an effort to distract her from Dante's gun blitz. The Freeze Bomb will live up to it's name on whatever it hits, coating it rapidly in a thick layer of ice.

    "Nah, Holly, this time? I'mma do far worse." Salome threatens as the action picks back up. Her scarlet eye glows as Dante opens fire, and she twirls herself through the barrage, several bullets grazing along dark skin and leaving new holes in her duster before she lands on her feet with a click-clink of heels and spurs.
    And just like that, she opens fire, fanning the hammer of her gun, spitting off four shots in quick succession. But it's not bullets that come out of the barrel. Indeed there are no slugs as she takes aim for the magnificent four and unloads on Holly, Dante, Dillon, and Kung Jin. That embossed old revolver spits a series of spells, hexes and curses in particular.
    For Dante she shoots a Slow hex.
    For Dillon she fires a Weakness curse.
    Kung Jin will have to dodge a Blindness spell.
    And Holly... Poor Holly. Salome unloads a Bad Luck bullet at the other witch, as Salome takes the Freeze Bomb dead on, frost and rime forming on her skin and coat and slowing her movements by a degree.

    There's only so much Jin can do when dealing with the others in the group. Salome's blindness spell hits its mark, and Jin staggers back, frantically wiping at his eyes. That's likely a good cue for the rest of Salome's gang to take aim. Fortunately Jin's aware of this, and as soon as he realizes he can't see, he makes for the first table he can grab, flips it so it can serve as a barrier, and vaults over it to use it for cover until he can see again.

Holly wonders what's worse than throwing up as the bullet hits her. She fires her revolvers at Salome only for the bullets to miss and ricochet around before finally hitting her. Thankfully, they're only made of candy but they still hurt when they hit. "Ouch!" Well, I guess it's possible for her to be more unlucky even with as unpredictable as her magic is.

    "AHHHHHH SHIIIIIIT!" Dante says in sloooooooooooooooow moooooooooootiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooooooooooooon. The hex has definitely thrown off his groove. He can barely maneuver like this, his bullets moving slow enough that Salome could easily just swat them out of the air if she so wished.

Guns that shoot magic instead of bullets or magic bullets is something new, and against someone that tends to just plow through things good at catching them off-guard as Dillon's physical power is brought down a few notches. Okay, that's going to make things a little more annoying.

But being dealt a bad hand is no reason to throw it in. Dillon will improvise a way to make it work. He jumps on the bar, and then jumps off that towards Salome. Mid-leap he curls up and starts spinning, not taking long to build up a considerable amount of speed. It hopefully at least partially compensate for the debuffed strength on impact, as while not hitting as hard directly Salome is going to have to worry about speed and friction from the jagged ridges of the armadillo's shell.

    Bullets spang of Kung Jin's table as he ducks for cover, and the banditos rally, but it's really Salome who people should be worrying about, here, now, instead of the gang members. They don't have half the lick of skill nor power that the witch in red does.
    A twirl of the revolver in her hand and she uses it to bat several bullets out the air, and simply lets Holly hit herself with candy. It's Dillon she has to give a wide berth, even with his reduced strength.
    She might not have expected him to come leaping at her right off the bar and roll up into a jagged ball. There's a grunt as her slowed and froen state makes it difficult to get out of the way in time and she's bowled aside by a rolling 'dillo.
    But she's still up, stuffing her gun back into the holster and drawing a pair of Schofield revolcers, firing a swathe of bullets at everyone and anyone in her path, before she draws another one of those ornate Colts.
    It's Baba Yaga, and she thumbs back the hammer.
    "Time to warm things up a bit." The witch in red says through chattering teeth as she pulls the trigger and launches a large fireball for the center of the room, where it explodes with violent flaming force.

    Jin thinks fast, knowing he's in a bad place -- that table won't protect him from the gang creeping up on his sides. And they're likely to be familiar with Salome's tricks, and likely know he can't see. He reaches back to his quiver and grabs for an arrow. On the bright side, Jin knows where all his arrows are, because he can't see them to search through the quiver when he's in the thick of combat.

    The arrow he brings out is, of course, one of those mana-draining arrows. Though before he can do much else, the fireball explodes in the room, flinging Jin and his cover against the far wall. On the bright side, there's less chance of people sneaking up on him. On the other hand, he did just get slammed into a wall. Though hopefully, now that he's moderately settled after the explosion, he can fix this...

    Jin places the arrowhead to his face, near his eyes, hoping the mana-draining qualities will draw the blindness curse from him. He's not utilizing any chi or energy of his own, so the only energy the arrow has to drain from him would hopefully be that of the blindness spell.

    It's not often Dante gets on the receiving end of something like this. He bowls over several tables and chairs before the spell wears off, and he regains his speed again. He opens fire at Salome, leaping and diving out of the path of each shot Salome returns. He's not quite aiming for Salome, but instead he's covering for Jin once he registers the monk's plan. Clever bastard clearly didn't get so far without his wits, alright.

Dillon rebounds off the witch and hits the floor still rolling, knocking over a couple of barstools in the process before he finally restabilizes himself. It takes longer than usual to brake and change directions as he doesn't have his strength to use his arms as anchors at the moment. So he's still in the process of redirecting himself towards her a sceond time and revving back up when the fireball goes off in middle of the saloon. Hope the barkeep had good insurance. If they have it at all on this world.

The fiery blast throws Dillon out of his spinup and against the wall of the saloon with an audible crunch. And when he pulls free there's a rather sizable indentation from his armored backside hitting what was probably mostly wood and such. He gets up onto his feet again, licks his claw-tips and uses them to smother out a bit of his neckerchief that was on fire. "Welp." Grabs his hat with both hands and straightens it out. "Now I'm really annoyed." Flexes his hands as he lowers them back to his sides, curling the large claws a bit.

And instead of attacking Salome directly as one might expect he turns and slashes the fasteners for one of the suspended light arrangements, trying to drop it on the witch. Or at least create more obstacles so she has a harder time dodging Dante's attacks.

Holly takes cover as the bullets seem to be attracted to her. Even that seems to be a bit of problem, as she trips on spilt beer and straight towards the exploding fireball. She grabs one of the tables to try and shield her from it but it slips out of her hands and goes flying towards Salome. Maybe giving the somewhat klutzy already witch bad luck wasn't the best idea.

    That arrow. That mana siphoning arrow... Seems to start doing the trick. Sapping at the hex dealt on the monk-turned-thief and soon enough returning his ability to see, while Dante's cover fire keeps the banditos occupied.
    And those banditos aren't holding up very well. They rallied when their real boss had arrived, but now they're looking ready to cut and run, and some of them are already bailing.
    "The mithril ain't worth my damn life!" One of them calls out, and the others are soon fleeing in a panic as well, leaving Salome alone to contend with a falling chandelier and a flung... ... Holly just launched a table at her.
    The witch in red just barely gets out of dodge, narrowly avoiding getting crushed, but not without trouble for her effort as that table slams her out the door and sends her tumbling in the dirt for a moment.
    "... W-well..." The witch huffs, picking herself up and dusting herself off. "I do declare, y'all really wanna make a girl's life hard." Muttered as she holsters her guns and blows a sharp whistle through her fingers. 
    The broom that comes zooming in from the distance stops long enough for her to climb on, scowling. "Don't y'all think I'll be forgetting this." Groused as she gives a clink of her spurs and zooms off out of town now that her men have fled the scene without her.

    Dante winks at Salome, "Any time, Sally. Catch you around." He grins, stowing Ebony & Ivory. "It's -always- good to see you..." With the bandits routed and Salome bailing, seems like everything worked out...except for the bar, no amount of insurance is gonna fix all of this.

Of course that means Holly goes straight into the fireball and ends up catching on fire, in a panic she keeps running straight through the wall and crashes into the horse trough outside. At least the fire is out, but now she's all soaking wet. Well, at least they know what Salome's after all. The two ghosts float next to the witch checking to see she's not too badly hurt. "Ouch..."

Well now they're all fleeing, including the witch. Good enough for Dillon.

Gonna have to keep in mind guns shoot more than bullets around here.

Maybe he should think about upgrading his gear to better handle stuff outside the frontier he's use to. He huffs faintly, giving his hat a tug down so he has that proper partially shadowed look over his eyes. "Someone let the sheriff know they've been run outta town." Pause. "And probably some carpenters." The bar is going to need it.

    Once Jin can see again, the first thug that he sees that looks like they're trying to sneak up on him is getting a fireball to the face as Jin vaults back over the table. See, Jin's world is rather violent, with the core of the whole world basically built around a bloody tournament of to-the-death fights. And Jin has pretty well had it up to his recently-uncursed eyeballs. So yeah. A few members of the gang might die if they don't take off pretty fast -- a pissed-off Shaolin monk is not something to take lightly. Particularly an archer.

    Fortunately both the gang and their leader appear to be leaving, so Jin stops firing. "Ugh. That got messy fast," he grumbles. He looks around. "Everybody all right? Anybody still cursed?" Clearly he can see again, so he must have some way to lift it.