Ronin: Blood and Wine (OPEN)

Jardin turned to Diana.  "Language, my dear," he advised.  He did not seem to be tanking the situation seriously but the truth was a bit more complicated than that.

Jardin's attention returned to he armored vampire. This one looked like he just wanted a fight. No reasonable discourse would sway him from his idiocy.

Jardin also scoffed at the old man's flashy armor. The gothic ridges and ornamentation was all well and good, but spikes? Spikes were little more than hand holds. That combined with his polearm, which lost much of its speed and mobility without using the off hand, meant Jardin could contol the fight easily if he closed quickly enough. All he had to do was get rid of his blasted silver knife...

A single step let Jardin hurl the knife forward, aiming for the helm's visor. He soon lept after it, hoping the knife would obscure and distract. The thief hoped to take advantage of this, get inside his weapons reach and pull the "man-at-arms" into a through.

Still, he kept the halberd blade in mind. A knife throw was not the world's best opening gambit...

Without any fear or doubt, Petyr slowly advanced on the duo, in a slow, menacing walk. He grasps his halberd with two hands and begins twirling it, using his strength to good use. The first attack came at an inhumanly fast speed, a downward swing that Diana could only defend against, Petyr leaving no opening for a counter-attack. Diana flipped backward, forced to shield herself from Petyr's follow-up attack with the shaft. Diana felt her arms quake, as she used her sword take the blow.

"Not bad for a mortal. You may yet be useful as a bride." There he goes, being sexist.

Diana's face wrinkled with feminism. "...I am going to kill you."

"How about you, boy?" He motioned towards Jardin next, stepping in with a swift thrust with the halberd head, and swinging it wherever Jardin went.

Jardin was a bit annoyed.  It seemed the old vampire was faster that he had predicted.  Another issue; he had elected to go after Diana.  Now he was just showing off.  Cue douchie misogynistic comment and an offended huntress to chase down the sour after-taste.  This guy was probably Renaissance era...

Then the old vampyre taunted the young thief.  The insult was swept away by his indifference but Jardin still saw through the intent.  The thrust came and he was ready.  But the metahuman decided not to do the expected.  He played his own game.

The spear head drove forward but Jardin only raised his empty hand.  The vampyre's polearm stopped dead as it pierced both flesh and bone.  "Sorry, were you expecting me to dodge, old man."  The reckless "boy" let a twisted grin creep across his face as he finished his own insult.

Jardin quickly stepped in to grab the haft of the halberd with his uninjured hand. Pulling his right hand free, he hoped to grab onto the armored man's elbow and twist he vampyre's arm up. The youth hoped that Diana was quick enough to go for the opening...

Diana was not expecting Jardin to take the halberd just like that. Seemed it didn't bother

"Do your worst-" Petyr would soon regret his words as Diana demonstrated a well-guarded technique.

The entire room seemed to shudder and distort, everything falling into a time sink. No air blew through the room, none of the vampires made a move, yet even their supernatural speed could not perceive the move. In slow motion, the curtains began to whip violently, furniture began flying everywhere. Nine Deep cuts lied the floors, walls and ceiling, their source not readily apparent.

Diana made only the slightest movement, yet in less than the blink of an eye she ended up behind Petyr, sword drawn.

"...Pathetic. One cut cannot... can... not... what the..." It was something out of a samurai movie, as Petyr moved to grab Diana, only for him to literally start falling apart, having been sliced nine times, very neatly and thoroughly. His armor fell to the ground in pieces, while he turned to vapor and retreated to his underground lair.

Diana let out a deep breath, and sheathed her sword. Her body quivered, and she took a knee, from the energy expended from using the God Slayer.

The three vampires could only gawk. "That. was. Awesome."

His hand liberated from the halberd, Jardin flexed his hand, causing the bones in his palm to pop and click grotesquely.  The young man winced at the pain.

Turning to Diana, the thief walked over to check on her.  "That was impressive.  But it looks exhausting.  You alright?" He took a moment to guage the girl. The truth was, Jardin was curious about the power the swordswoman had harnessed, but he was reluctant to ask...

Once confident that Diana was fine, Jardin turned to the three other vampyres. There were other matters to attend to. "I assume this is not settled yet. Petyr seems like the sort to hold a grudge."

Fixing them each with his most serious face, Jardin said, "If it comes to it, I need to know the simplest ways to kill vampires. Whatever it takes, your sire has to be stopped." The thief remained, waiting for his answer...

"Put a steak through his heart. cut off his head. Burn the corpse and scatter the ashes at a crossroads..." Diana mumbled, recovering her
senses. She looked at Jardin at realized he had quite some tricks up his sleeve as well. She gets up and sheathes her sword.

"...uhm... Petyr's coffin is in the lowest level and..." Hansel started explaining.

"Come with us then and lead the way." Diana insisted, breaking off the leg of a chair and sharpening it with a knife.

They would be led into the mansion's secret lower levels by the trio of vampires. With Diana's sword at their backs, they played no tricks until finally they reached a secret chamber behind a bookshelf. Inside were the coffins containing the dirt from their place of birth. One coffin had Petyr's resting form, still comatose from his sudden defeat.

Diana handed Grey the stake. "Be my guest then."

She then proceeded to stand behind a column, some distance from Petyr's coffin.

Before departing for the crypts, Jardin reclaimed the borrowed falchion. It could prove useful. He easily rejoined the others.

Once they arrived at the vampyres resting place, Jardin accepted the wooden spike. "Stake?" he questioned. "What's so special about a piece of hardwood?" Still, the thief shrugged. "The supernatural is friggin' weird..."

Moving to the coffin, Jardin knelt, as though attempting to pray. Stake in his left, the thief twirled the damned thing into a forward grip and thrust into the monster's chest. He aimed between the ribs, angling for the heart...or where the heart would be in a human.

The thrust was followed by a swift hack at the neck, decapitating the old vampyre with ease. "Stake the heart, severe the head, burn the body, scatter the ashes," Jardin repeated the steps under his breath...

Once Diana was sure there was going to be no more blood spraying all over the place, she came over the the body with a lamp and lit Petyr's body on fire. The hard stone served as an ideal fire pit.

"There, it's done." Diana said. "I'll take the ashes to a crossroads, and we'll make the deals..." She eyed the three lesser vampires in company. "...And one day come back to finish the job."

Jardin stepped back, slinging his gore soaked blade over his shoulder. Beyond that though, there was not all that much blood. After all, the dead do not bleed.

Joining the swordswoman, the thief placed a hand on her shoulder. "Now, now. No need for all that," Jardin said. "They know the score." Looking at the vampyres, he added, "We just trounced a monster they could never have beaten. And we're not even the scariest things in the world." Stepping passed Diana, Jardin made a show of holding his hand open. The hole made by the halberd earlier was competely gone.

Joining the three vampyres, Jardin threw an arm over the shoulder of one, as though they were old friends. "Now, if you have this all under control, I should get started and bringing these gents into the twenty-first century. Ciao." And like that, the four males left the woman to her own grisly purpose.