Event Private Finished Noblesse oblige

The undead army, moving slowly but surely away from the volcanic panther, grouped to surround Béatrice, welcoming the now hybrid formed orcentia into their ranks. She was still a bright white streak, although tinged with red blood, amongst the reds and greys of the army. She was still a target. She was still bait. Charlie hoped to the gods he didn't believe in that this plan would work. Injured birds often landed. And thats what this was right? A bird, albeit a big one. He had hunted thunderbirds, but he had been prepared for that. He had a rifle. The only guns amongst the zombies were those gripped by the soldiers, and most of those had been rusted shut. If they could get it to ground, the undead could rip it apart. Sherbert the bone crab and the undead wreathed in chains hurriedly ran away fromthe panther rejoined the group, but stayed on the edge. Although the heat from the chain had been mainly dispersed into the ground, they were both still rather warm, and staying on the edge, where the breeze which crossed the square was strong, would help them cool down faster.

"Nice of you to join us" said Charlie with a smile. The orcentia was clearly tired. She had said somethin about orcentia. They were like elementals. And Béatrice was a water Orcentia. Maybe if they could get her to a large supply of water. They were too far from the docks, and drawing the bird to the nearest other large body of water would create unnecessary targets, possibly of students. Charlie racked his memories attempting to remember if this had been the square with the fountain, where he had met Ciara, or it's neighbour with the nice bookshop. They looked the same, apart from the far end, which, unfortunately, was cloaked in darkness.

The vulture began to close in, the form of Béatrice within it's sights. She was the largest form within the army, and probably the lightest for her size. Charlie gave up a call.

"NOW"

The undead raised their weapons, pointing them in the direction of the diving bird. Spears, bayonetted rifles, swords, pieces of sharpened metal and even a section of glass from the shop window were pointed towards the emmense bird. The bird would either have to pull up, or be impaled on the weapons like the worlds largest shish kebab. He hoped for the latter, but that would depend on the momentum of the bird.

The bird was high again, like a bomber waiting to dive and drop a deadly payload. He was glad Béatrice was here. Against this alone, his army would have been slowly picked off. She was a welcome boon. The undead the bird had picked up landed with a splat of crushed bone, and flesh liquified on impact. Bugger, thought Charlie, attempting to think of some sort of plan. Luckily, one of the falling zombies had landed on a remaining flesh troll, and the scarred ruined body, clawed at by the bird mixed with the slightly cooked body of the troll.

Charlie looked at Béatrice as she called for aid. He was glad she had a better memory of the towns layout than he did. The joys of not spending most of your time in the office, Charlie surposed. The largest of the undead, Sherbert and the undead wreathed in chains closed position around beatrice. Sherbert began to hold its bony claws above her head, shielding her from view, whilst the undead wreathed in chains began to whirl the chain around above the heads of the horde like a giant bolas. A couple of undead who broke ranks as they shambled were struck by the chain, and were sent flying into nearby walls, and across the square into the darkness. Charlie gave the order.

"Forward MARCH!"

And at that, the horde of zombies, smaller than they arrived, began to march across the square, a fleet of undead, glowing with an eldritch blue light, began to troop forwards, avoiding the molten corpse of the panther. But the bird, the bird was an unknown. It might be able to do something... unexpected.

Charlie watched the retreating bird as it flew far out of sight. If i had my dragon, thought Charlie, if i had my bloody dragon you'd be a big vulture kebab. But no. That bookcase had to give way and damage him. Just my luck.

"That's alright. You did well. I'm going to... attempt to cool down the panther's body" Said Charlie, as the remaining undead gathered anything they could to use as buckets, bending metal into shape, some using the skulls of their fallen comrades. They formed a long bucket chain between the fountain and the crater where the panther lay, pouring their improvised containers of water onto the now steaming body.

"It might prove useful if i can recover it" he said with a weary smile, his glamour reforming as he took a moment to breath. "I hope you can make it home safely. We really should meet up for tea, after this madness is over"

"Keep it" said Charlie, as he nodded towards the metal plate Beatrice had uncovered. It was shiny and covered in numbers, some sort of code, which meant that these creatures had come from somewhere people were, people to tag these beasts with the metal plates. "I've got several."

At this, Charlie tapped his bag with one bony hand. It jangled with the discordant sound of metal grinding on metal. His bag was quite clearly full of metal plates, presumably the tags from the monsters that were roaming the island. Satisfied that the crater had cooled down slowly, he removed a couple of plastic carrier bags from a pocket on the side of his satchel and passed it to one of the undead. It, along with several others, slid down the sides of the crater that the panther had made, and began picking up all the bone fragments and placing it in one bag, and using their hands to scoop up the ash and place it into another.

"And i would certainty be up for researching this fascinating specimen with you." said Charlie, satisfyingly watching the undead collect what remained of the panthers corpse. It wasn't much, but it could still come in useful "It appears to have an elemental element, if you'll excuse the pun, and i could use your expertise."