Gilgamesh Jackson Karm

Quite suddenly, from the distance, a shaft of coruscant black light streaks up from the Road and splits the moonlit clouds above.

Gilgamesh watches Isabelle looking watchable, until the non-light display. "Oh, crap."

Lucretia eyes the sky. "Oh, that can't be good..."

Random looks up. "Oh. Shit." He looks at Gerard, and says, loudly, "Uh, that's not good."

Isabelle says, "I have a bad feeling about this."

Elijah is about to say something himself, instead he stares across the horizon and frowns. "Not good at all."

Oh-so-casually, Random slips his his sword free of its scabbard.

Moments after the beam breaks up the night sky, a swarm of smaller shapes erupt from the road and go buzzing up in a cloud that spirals about the beam, higher and higher.

Gilgamesh says, "REALLY not good."

Random demands, as if someone here would know, "What the hell is that?"

Lucretia suggests, "Bats in search of a belfry?" She draws her sword from under her braid.

Isabelle has no sword, but she does have a knife which she withdraws from somewhere near her saddle. "Birds? Black road birds?"

Elijah straightens, "Well, there's something you don't see every day. I don't think they're bats or birds." He states the obvious "But I think it's safe to assume that they're coming this way."

The swarm collects, rises, collects, rises, contracting and expanding like some single, pulsing entity. When it rises above the treeline, it spreads into multiple groups and, as they entities fly, it is clear that they are iridescent or reflective - shafts of moonlight bursting into rainbow hues off chitinous hides. As if coreographed by some mad designer, the smaller groups dive into the beam of light.

Isabelle says, "I knew I should have kept up with the sword practice." Isabelle does not have the physique that suggests swordsman of any kind.

And the light splits, refracts, reflects. What was one vertical beam of blackness becomes, instead, a dozen, a score of smaller beams focused down over Arden like spotlights.

Lucretia wrinkles up her nose. "Locusts?" She frowns. "...Maybe some of us should focus on the origin point, stop whatever's doing this summoning?"

Gerard looks utterly confused, which is generally an expression that, in Gerard's case, soon gives way to rage. He reaches for the sword across his back. "Random. What the hell is going on?"

"You're asking me?" Random stares at Gerard. "I'm no sorceror!" His eyes go to the sky and remain fixed there. "Offhand, though, I would say that the Road is pissed."

Isabelle says, "Or someone who has mastered the road is."

Elijah draws his own sword. "I think we just ticked ---" He stops as Random says exactly what he was thinking.

Gilgamesh's leaves the sword on his back alone, and two long curved blades appear from his coat. "Leaving might be in order. How's that Trump contact?"

Isabelle says, "They are like pollen in the day, poppy pollen in the light. I wonder if they're glass."

Black beams sweep over the forest, swinging one way and another like helicopter spotlight, directed by the reflective swarms overhead. One beam passes over the clearing and the Road finds what it was looking for. The swarm converges, a score of lesser beams condensing into one. It refocuses.

Lucretia shakes her head. "I don't have enough beetles for /this/." She pauses, looking thoughtful. "Well. If they're glass - I could try C above high C?" Another pause. "Or not."

Random glances at Gerard for a fraction of an instant, when Gil asks about the Trump contact, but his eyes snap back to the sky. "I am not so sure that running away is going to be an option."

Isabelle says, "I think we'll be able to define what hearing red in the air means -- at any moment."

Isabelle adjusts her hat.

Gerard shouts, "Random!" He kicks out of his stirrups and dives forward as if to tackle the much, much smaller man. And so he is in the way when the black beam finally refocuses and streaks towards Random. Gerard reacts as if struck by a physical thing, the massive man spun away like a ragdoll and driven hard into the ground by beam. Soil and underbrush fly up at the impact.

Gilgamesh says, "Son of a....."
Gilgamesh kicks his horse into gear towards his father. He sheathes the right handed blade.

Random, who had just remembered he was holding Corwin's card, and was holding it up to refocus upon it, is startled out of his concentration, almost dropping the card. "Damn it, Gerard!" Alert, he hesitates only long enough to make sure Gerard still looks alive before he turns his attention to the black beam.

Isabelle says, "It doesn't look like weapons such as swords would work so well," glancing down at Gerard and Random. A little bit of awe. Concerned.

Lucretia similarly moves towards Gerard, sheathing her sword; she's immediately in combat medic mode, bending low over her horse's neck. "Mirrors!"

The sounds of the forest have vanished, erased by the promise of violence. What comes next is the crackle of lightning. The beam splits into five actinic arcs. As the bolts strike earth, they resolve themselves into slender, glistening black figures. Each bears two spears. Each is clearly a warrior - an elite thing not corrupted by the Road but formed of it.

Random hurriedly stashes Corwin's card away. He eyes the warriors, putting his back up against the tree he was slouched against before. "I would say that we are definitely not in Kansas any more." He shouts, "Gather up! Don't let them separate us!"

Elijah flicks a glance towards Gerard, immediately he's in battle mode when the black figures appear. The black road creatures reflect slightly in his eyes. He nods at Random and is quickly moving his horse into position.

Gilgamesh pulls up next to Gerard, guarding him at ...and possibly Lucretia...for the moment.

Five whiplash-lean demons turn their attention Random. Five whiplash-lean demons drive one spear each into Arden's loamy forest floor. The other spears are brought up what is clearly a fighting stance - if an alien one.

Isabelle obeys Random's orders as well as she can, but there is in no way anything warrior like or military like about her. The best that can be said is that the lively horse looks like it could run for the hills. An architect without a pencil; librarian with no library, faith arranged attractively on horse back. She bravely stays somewhere near Random's tree.

Lucretia slides off her horse to drop to one knee next to Gerard. She keeps half a wary eye on the demon creatures, but tends to Gerard. "He's alive. Unconscious, though. I'll see if I can bring him round."

Elijah is intent on defending Random, it seems to be his calling. "What are they?" He squints as he whirls his sword in his hand. "Whatever they are, bring it on. They're not getting past us."

Gilgamesh's voice has dropped an octave. "You're a fiesty one, aren't you?"

Isabelle fishes in her pocket and finds a rubbery ball that might once have been a tennis ball, but for the lack of fetch possibly from someone's cold black nose and tongue. What she lacks in ability she makes up for in refinement.


Random eyes the warriors. "Crap." He arcs his blade before him, wide and fast, defensively. He does not like the five-to-one odds. He in fact doesn't like to be outnumbered at all if he hasn't gotten the drop on his enemies. Five is right out.

As one, the five figures -extrude- into thin lines, jagged like lightning, and become bolts aimed in different directions. Two impact trees, compacting back into the demon figures before extruding again into bolts aimed towards Random. Two others hit the ground, resolving into demon shape before bolting into the air. The fifth strikes a rock, compacts, extends, and streaks towards Gerard.

Lucretia looks up at Gilgamesh as if he's suddenly started speaking in tongues. She looks over her shoulder for the demons. "What?" The glance towards the demons is just in time; she swears, throwing herself over Gerard to block possible lightning strikes. Must protect the patient!

Random, in a change of tactics, throws himself out of the way more or less blindly, ducks and rolls and keeps ahold of his sword as best he can, swearing colorfully all the while.

Isabelle calls, "They smell electric! Perhaps they could be grounded somehow!" If only she had a Heathkit radio kit!

Elijah gages the scenario quickly. He moves quickly, sword spinning as he studies their attackers from his position. "Gil, Look out!" He calls to Gilgamesh.

One blade has been put away once the demons formed, Gilgamesh instead drawing his pistol...but reversing it so the butt is like a blunt-bladed axe, with the metal frame sticking out a wee bit from the grips, as well as a stylized signet. It this that  is swinging towards the Gerard-bound demon like a bat towards a baseball.

This is how these demons attack, it seems. Electric flashes of motion followed by swift thrusts with their spears. They move in a strange and chaotic dance, trading opponents with staccato speed, darting this way and that as they engage the group, always trying to get to Random. The one demon bolting towards Gerard meets the strange symbol that caps the butt of Gil's pistol. There is a sudden flash of light and the bolt deflects into the nearby earth. The demon resolves there, spear at the ready.

Lucretia scrambles off Gerard, pulling her dagger and dumping her pack next to her. She does some one-handed rummaging, eyeing Gil and the demon both warily.

Elijah decides to get down to the ground to fight these things. It'd be easier to defend Random that way. He pulls down a saddlebag as he moves and rips it in two so that he can use it as a makeshift shield.

Gilgamesh spins out of the saddle as much of his follow through, using the motion of the swing to take him from the horse's back and onto the forest floor....where again the gunbutt slams into the ground, and softly glowing runes spring out over the dirt and leaves and grass, a circle several feet across, encompassing himself, Lucretia, and Gerard...and hopefully not the demon. There wasn't time to calculate.

Random's strategy is simple: don't get fried. "Why the hell do these things hate _me_?" he demands of the world. He is weaving in and out of the trees, throwing himself out of the way of bolts when they come his way, trusting his reflexes and intuition for where not to be at any given time. But he is actually working his way back to where the demons planted their other spears. He attempts to rip one out of the ground, when he is close enough.

The demon facing Gilgamesh considers the circle of light and runes, frozen still for a moment. And then, quite deliberately, it takes one step over the circle. And then another. And now it is inside. It chitters its scorn and hate at the son of Gerard and launches into its attack.

Gilgamesh says, "Craaaaap."

Elijah's intentions are pretty clear, make sure the demons don't get near enough to the Prince to draw blood. He's effective and direct in his style. He seems completely focused on the task at hand, and is keeping Random in his peripheral vision at all times. Using the shield he manages to get close enough to a demon intent on killing the Prince. He spins once and lops it's head off with his sword as his 'shield' takes a hit.

Isabelle meanwhile has dismounted, the stirrups tanging as she inexpertly tangles her knife with them. Yes, she's concerned about the beings of light and electric, looking up from time to time, but she's also got her canteen of water, sprinkling pools here and there.

Gilgamesh is kneeling. He launches himself from this position, towards the demon, attempting to first slice, then turn mid-air to thwack the demon on the back of the head with the gun-axe.

Random may not have exactly noticed Elijah, but his continued existence is grateful, anyway. He grasps a spear one-handed, and gives a mighty yank, nearly falling backwards when it comes free more readily than he expected. One of the demons bolts forward when he does that, driving its remaining spear into the ground in front of Random. In turn, Random eyes it coldly, then attempts to drive the spear he's captured through its body.

Lucretia tucks the dagger in her sleeve, putting both hands on Gerard's chest. She takes a deep breath, focusing on what she's doing with eyes narrowed. "Come on," she mutters to herself. "Come on..." Her breath hisses out from between her teeth as they click shut over further words, expression one of intense concentration.


Gilgamesh's knife takes the demon across the chest....which is a shame, because, on instant reply, it'd be obvious, he was going for the throat. These curved long knives are really designed for that, or else multiple cuts, and he only got one in. Still, there's an impressive display of blood.
But the demon is more enraged than anything, and the spear snaps around to lay open that arm. Unfortunately for the demon, that was the offhand...Gil's main hand, weilding the gun/axe, smacks into the base of the neck with a loud crack.
Unfortunately for Gil, his spin is now off kilter, and he slams, shoulder-first, into a tree.

Lucretia's eyes roll back in her head and she drops with boneless grace on top of Gerard, slumping to a halt on the ground next to him. The dagger falls out of her sleeve.

The demon facing Random takes its own spear through its abdomen and unleashes a horrible scream. It contracts into a coruscant ball of black lightning and grounds into the spear that Random holds. Meanwhile, one of the demon crackle-jumps this way and that, only to suddenly land in one of the pools of water Isabelle's providing. Water turns to vapor instantly, but the demon materializes and is thrown back violently in what seems an explosion. It is missing its left leg.

Elijah's eyes glitter as he fights the demons. He's completely calm in spite of the fact that Gerard is down and it seems like the shit has hit the fan. What matters to ELi is that there are still people alive and still things to kill. He continues to display the fine art of badassery in the most effective ways possible without much in the way of commentary this time. His shield is now quite shredded and he eventually gets rid of it.

Random sheathes his sword. He grasps the spear with two hands, and attempts to snap it in half. Hopefully, he has not been standing in one place for too long.

Isabelle is thrown back by the explosion. She arcs into the air, landing hard on her behind, an arm cracking on an old tree stump. The remaining water in her canteen showers outward, dappling down on her and last years dead leaves.

The scent of ozone and filth increases to the point where even those without Isabelle's keen senses can smell it. The spears in the ground crackle and gleam. There is a deep rumbling. But if the way Gilgamesh is moving is any indication, soon five demons will have become two - one of whom is missing a leg.

Elijah looks at what Random's doing and decides to fight his way over to see if he can help because rumbling sounds in the ground are never a good thing.

Isabelle sits up, her long dark hair wild and sporting leaf bits. She dunks George's ball in th nearest puddle and attempts to throw it at one of the creatures when it seems like it's still reforming. Unhelpfully, she throws like a girl.

Lightning sparks and crackles between the five spears in the earth, the air filled with a strange charge that slides oily against the skin. Air gathers, pressure on eardrums. One of the spears suddenly gets sucked into the earth. Then another. And another. Random grabs one and tries to pull it out, every hair on his body standing on end as the diabolical current rushes through him. He finally gives a mighty yank, staggering back - without a spear, as the earth chooses that very moment to devour it.

Random nearly falls backwards when the countersucking force goes away. As soon as he regains his balance, his fine-textured always-rumpled hair now standing electrically on end, he takes a hasty look around. "Where the hel did they go?"

There comes a thunderous rumble and a black, wickedly barbed spear breaks through the earth from below. But this is no normal spear. For one, it is some fifteen feet long. For another, it is held in a massive fist.
Once, when Arden was young, giants walked these forests. And the Road has found one of them in its eternal slumber, painted its heart black and woken it.

Lucretia remains where she is, lying peaceful and still. Unlike everyone else, she has nothing to worry about - out cold as she is.
Random spins around. "Wake the hell up!" he shouts at Gerard.

Meanwhile, in a crater to one side, a Prince of Amber stirs from beneath the unconscious form of Lucretia Mandrake. "I wake up in the strangest places," Gerard observes.

"Damn. It worked," says Random, surprised but pleased.

Elijah heads over to Isabelle to see if she's ok and help her up. He sheathes his sword.

Isabelle is struggling to stand up, but when she does, she dusts off her trousers just in time to hear the rumbling, in time to glance at Elijah, "I'm fine," but she sounds shocked that se's fine. "Or at least, I was. What's that noise?"

One healthy, and one crippled demon remain, however. The one-legged demon hurls itself towards Elijah and Isabelle. The healthy one at Random.

Isabelle shrieks helpfully when she sees the one-legged demon coming after herself and Elijah.

Elijah offers his hand to help her to her feet. "Whatever it is, it isn't happy." He catches the demon out of the corner of his eye as it lunges at him and Isabelle. In a swift moment he moves his sword back behind him to stab the Demon. He whirls and yanks the sword out, pulling guts with it.

The giant pushes itself out of the earth, eyes turned to black fire. One leg rises, finds purchase, and it strains as it comes free of the dirt and rock and soil. Standing, now, it is just over ten feet tall, shaggy and charcoal-skinned. The giant smiles, revealing hematite teeth.

Random no longer has a weapon on hand. He interposes a tree beneath himself and a demon lightning-bolt just in time, and scrambles to draw his sword again. By the time the demon re-coalesces, he has the blade out. A quick feint bats the spear aside, and a lunge runs the demon through neatly. Random nearly drops the sword with the electric shock, though.

Isabelle hunts around for her knife which she dropped after the explosion. The best she can do is try to hide behind trees. And the Giant has her attention too. Very likely her horse has smartly run for the hills.


Gilgamesh grimaces as he pulls himself off the tree. Yes, off. That arm is not happy...first a slice from a spear, then a broken, healed but still rough and bumpy portion of a tree got him slammed into it. There's torn leather and blood there. The sword, on the other hand, probably shieled his spine from snapping in twain. He see the giant. "Papa, if I take it out, you have to take Haley. If you take it out, you wind up with another kid. Pick one." He draws the sword, a curious, slightly curved hand and a half with a thicker top that juts out and barbs down...like an axe on top of a scimitar.

Gerard pushes himself out of the crater, eyes narrowing with rage as he sees a wounded Gilgamesh and a fallen Lucretia. He sets a hand against the ground and pushes himself up, dusting debris off his coat. Standing, now, he draws his sword. He does not smile. "Son," he rumbles, "don't let that thing move away from me."

Eli receives a bit of an electric jolt himself and he staggers back. His sword sweeps around and quickly lops the demons head's off. It falls. Eli looks up just in time to see the Giant rise up. "I hope he does not have any friends."

Random backs away from the giant, and towards Lucretia, whom he attempts to wake up, somewhat roughly in his haste.

Lucretia's ribs move oddly under Random's hands. She wakes up slowly, vision unfocused and blurred with pain. Her pupils are dilated oddly; she appears to be concussed. "...Ow," she says feebly. "Please save feeling me up for when it hurts less."

Isabelle is on her feet, but says in a quiet voice to Elijah, "I'm certain I'm all right. But I'm not sure I'll be very useful against," her chin completes her sentence. "I'll see if I can do anything to help Lady Lucretia.

Elijah nods quickly. He looks at Gerard, looks at Gil and is on his way over to them. He takes a few deep breaths, but that's all that is needed to regain his vigor.

Random smirks. "I'll keep that in mind," he tells Lucretia. He stands, figuring he has reached the good-enough stage of having seen her conscious, and turns to face the giant once more.

Gerard swings his sword slowly, inscribing a threat in the air. Gone is the genial demeanor. Gone is the hearty laugh and the ready smile. What remains is fury, inscribed in the tendons of his neck and the white tension in his knuckles.

The giant considers Gerard, a moment, then turns and casually swats at the others with the long reach of its spear.

Isabelle meanwhile, limps over to Lucretia and kneels down beside her. She tries to keep her voice low. "Can you stand, Lady Lucretia? We should try to get out of the way at least."

Lucretia's expression remains pained. She turns her head very carefully towards Isabelle. "One broken rib, one cracked. Moderate concussion. I can move if you help me, but I'll need support until I can get my ribs strapped. Try not to let me slip out of consciousness, but I don't think there's any subcranial bleeding." She somewhat feebly reaches for the pack of medical supplies.

Gilgamesh only has one arm, but he attempts to catch the spear in the nook of his sword between the "axe" and the"blade." Ooooooh....that's why it's designed like that.

Isabelle says, "I can help. But we've got to get out of the way," glancing over her shoulder, offering both arms to help Lucretia. Belle is a little bruised, but no worse. "Perhaps we'll be lucky and the sun will rise and turn the giant to stone."

Lucretia slings an arm over Isabelle's shoulders. "If I were them, I'd aim for the groin. Nice big target, considering."

Random considers the giant, eyes narrowed. He gnaws his lower lip.

Isabelle attempts to limp away behind some of the trees with Lucretia. "Good idea. Unicorn," she breaths, "The creature is huge! We should send them down the black road."

Elijah follows the arc of the spear and uses his own sword to try and force it to get wedged in a tree. He puts everything he has into this maneuver to try and disarm the giant.

Gerard ignores the sweep of the spear as it passes clear over his head and instead digs his feet in like a bull about to charge. And charge he does, sod flying as he rushes forward. The zweihander descends like a headman's axe and sinks into the giant's thigh. There comes a howl that shudders the canopies and the giant kicks out, powerfully, sending Gerard stumbling back several steps - with his sword still in the beast's thigh.

The spear, meanwhile, catches on Gilgamesh's sword - for a moment - before the unrelenting force of the giant's blow sends Gilgamesh's blade tumbling blade over haft into a nearby tree. But there comes Elijah and all his weight and the spear is knocked clear off course. It pierces the entire trunk of an ancient oak and its barbs catch. The giant cannot pull it free and now both the titan and Gerard are disarmed.

Gilgamesh says, "OW." Pause. "THAT sucked.""

Elijah pants on the ground as he tumbles after the maneuver. He looks quickly to Gil, then over at Lucy and Isabelle. He takes a few moments to catch his breath. "I hate spears." He decides.

In the meantime, Random climbs a tree, behind the giant. Walking carefully out onto a thick but perilously narrow branch, he balances precariously at its end, draws a deep breath, draws his sword, and then leaps down, aiming to bury his sword in the creature's neck. And hang from it. Or something like that. Plans are for other people.

Gilgamesh mutters, "Stupid freakin' gunpowder. What kind of perfect world doesn't allow freakin' gunpowder to work?" He flips out a dagger, weighs it, and tosses it at the giant's head. Unfortunately, he doesn't see Random until he's releasing.

Gerard catches himself as he's pushed backwards, feet digging tracks through the dirt from the force of the giant's blow. He considers his swordless state and then, finally, he grins. It is not a kind expression. "Okay then," he says as he turns his head first one way, then the other. Joints crackle and pop as they align themselves. "If that's the way you want it, I don't mind."

The knife tumbles end over end, not only missing the giant's eye, but missing the head, and whistling past Random's head.

The giant HOWLS in agony as Random leaps down to impale it. It's not a killing blow, as the sword sinks into the massive figure's shoulder, instead, but it's a telling wound nevertheless. The giant roars his fury and torques powerfully, hurling Random away - only to meet the headlong charge of an unarmed Gerard, whose lowered shoulder strikes the giant's wounded thigh.

Elijah stares up at the scene, grunts and picks himself up. He scrambles backwards ready again with his sword to assist and seems to be gaging the feasibility of playing pound the giant back into the earth with Gerard.
Random, a lightweight by almost any standard, goes flying and smashes into a tree like a rag doll that has lost the favor of a very naughty child.

Gerard takes one step forward after the point of impact and the impact of his foot against the earth makes it seem as if he is rooting himself to the ground. Now it is Gerard who is the stable platform and the Giant - with one sword in its shoulder and one in its thigh - who has become and object in motion. Bone cracks with a deep, visceral sound and the Giant slams onto the forest floor. What ensues is the brutal reality of ground-fighting. It is savage, unrelenting and ends only when Gerard gets his hands around the wounded Giant's through and squeezes its last breath into nothing.

Random, off to the side, is out cold.

Elijah watches, impressed. wipes his sword on the grass as he casts an eye around for anything else that might be coming their way.

Isabelle glances out from behind the tree. While Gerard is still throttling the giant she makes her way, with Lucy, over to Random.

Lucretia straightens out her top as she follows Isabelle. She's walking very carefully, but more or less upright. Her pupils still don't look quite right.

Isabelle says, "Uncle Random?"

Isabelle keeps glancing at Gerard and the giant until there's no breath left. Isabelle may have finally discovered what her least literate uncle is really useful for. She's a bit in awe.

Lucretia lowers herself to her knees next to Random - slowly, still. Carefully. She has a professional yet pained expression on her face as she begins examining his injuries.

Elijah watches, clearly he had no idea exactly what Gerard was capable of. As the girls seem to have Random in hand, he looks to his 'brother'. "Gil? You breathin?"

Gilgamesh says, "Yeah. We lose anybody?"

Random, whose clever not-plan to hang from his sword just let him swing around it like a wind-up toy before being hurled through the air, into a tree trunk, and abraded sliding down it (with a lucky land in a pile of leaves, at least), is conked out pretty solidly.



Rest of the log cut due to an inopportune power failure....But Lucretia, wounded, still manages to patch up the others. Gil finds out Isabelle is his cousin, and grumbles about all the good ones being taken or related, and the mission is called off on account of Black Rain. No "serious" losses.