Log:Asking Around About Krul

2020/12/16 Night Marshal Grimm 1

Grimm had to turn down an invitation to go over to Jack's place tonight. She was open about why. She needed to look into some stuff concerning the recent invasion around the Alien District. This gave Jack a free night to moonlight as Night Marshal.

It's late at night in the seedier parts of the Alien District. It's the smaller streets away from the shiny tourist sections.

Down one of the side alleys, there's a loud bang of something hitting metal. Maybe a trash can or dumpster...yes, dumpster. That deeper hollow sound fits more with a dumpster. In terror, someone or thing (based on the odd qualities of its voice) shouts in accented english. "No...no! Let me go! I have to get out of here!"

Night Marshal hears the noise...and moves to the edge of a rooftop to get a better look at what is going on.

An alien with a thick hide and body that consists of body segments that look like rolls is pressing itself up against a dumpster, cringing away from the Mistress of Tenebration herself, Gabrielle Grimm. Grimm's in her more covert 'meta' getup, sheathed in a black catsuit with the spike accents and her leather jacket.

Grimm doesn't look mad, or vengeful. There's more curiosity and confusion on her face instead.

Night Marshal furrows his brow. That means there's a third party someplace looking for this alien. He looks around, trying to spot whomever that might be.

Looking around, there doesn't seem anyone suspicious. Night Marshal is fairly sure about that.

Grimm frowns. "Wait, calm down. You're safe. Tell me more about this army of his."

"None of us are safe!" the alien hisses. "He'll send more of his troops. Bred in darkness and savagery, they know nothing except conflict and hunger. They swarm over defenders by sheer numbers using only teeth and claws! That will be just the first wave. You don't know the horrors he can unleash. Now...let me GO!" he surprises Gabrielle with more than human strength as he shoves her hard enough to make her fly back the few meters to hit the concrete wall behind her. She grunts and winces, sinking down to the ground into a sitting position from the surprise assault.

The alien, bewildered, starts to run away. "I need to get off this planet! They hunger!" he howls like a mad man. Er, alien.

Night Marshal shakes his head...and calls down to Grimm, "Are you okay down there?"

Grimm winces, arms folded over her chest a moment as she catches her breath from the sudden winding. She cringes as she hears a familiar voice having caught her in a bad spot. "Ohhhhhnnn...yeah," she half groans as she struggles her way to her feet. She mutters to herself quietly to chastise her slip up, "I -really- need to figure out some better defensive magic and be faster...."

Night Marshal glides down to the ground, "So...what'd you say to the alien that caused him to run?"

Grimm rubs the back of her neck and winces. "I was asking him about a bad guy. Some galactic conquerer called Krul. I dropped the name and he told me a bit about them. When I mentioned his people were behind the spaceship incident in Old Town, he freaked out." Her hand lowers and she sighs.

Night Marshal watches the alien run. "So...clearly this Krul guy has a rep, huh? I heard about what happened, but missed it in person."

"I think most people did. Even Starguard. Nobody saw it coming," Gabrielle explains and finally seems to have recovered. "I encountered him before with some other heroes. He's here because of us. Because of something we took from him," she says, keeping her voice quiet. "He seems to be known well enough to a number of resident aliens. Lots fear him. Some almost...admire him." She looks over to Night Marshal and smiles faintly. "Maybe it was a good thing you missed it. We couldn't even touch them."

Night Marshal tilts his head a little. "Couldn't touch who, exactly?"

"Two superpowered lackeys who were leading some weird space-orc horde. One was a big guy. Like really big. Seemed like a body guard for the skinny lackey. I think the skinny one was in charge...named Kinsis," Gabrielle explains. "A bunch of heroes, myself included, got to ground zero in time, but we didn't seem to really be hurting the important guys. -When- we could land a blow." She grins at Night Marshal and brings up a hand to do a finger gun gesture, cocking her thumb and winking at him. "We probably could've used your sharp shooting to find a weak spot."

Night Marshal chuckles. "you said there was a horde, though. I carry revolvers. Not great for lots of targets."

Grimm hadn't thought of that and looks like doubts her previous statement. "Eehhhh.....you've got a point there. Well, most of them fell off the roof anyway. I was wondering how much of a crack shot you are. Like...have you spent hundreds of hours honing your gunslinging skills due to the death of a loved one and now have the skill to shoot an armored alien in the eye from fifty paces?" she asks rapidly as she builds a fake tragic backstory for Night Marshal on the fly.

Night Marshal chuckles. "No such tragic backstory. But I reckon I might be able to make that shot anyway."

Grimm is mildly disappointed her guess was off. "Damn, I was sure I was on to something with that tragic backstory theory," she grins. Her eyes light up a bit in awe at his other confirmation, though. "Whoa, seriously? That's damn impressive. Okay, I call dibbs on you backing us up against them sometime," she chuckles.

Night Marshal nods. "Happy to help if I can. Do you know when they're coming back?"

Grimm takes a breath as if about to say something....then lets it all out as her shoulders sag. "No. But they -will- come back. This Krul conquerer guy doesn't let up easily. Or...at all, if what aliens have been telling me is true. And Starguard can't even detect their ships until they're right in our atmosphere pretty much."

Night Marshal looks surprised at that. "There's a local Starguard base, though. They didn't scramble anyone to intercept?"

Grimm shakes her head. "They couldn't. No time. They found out about them right around the time the ship was hovering over Steinberg Tower."

Night Marshal nods slowly. "That's well after them 'appearing in the atmosphere', then. They had to get through the atmosphere and to the tower."

"Did you see on the news how all the windows shattered in that area? They appeared in the atmosphere and zipped to Steinberg Tower at supersonic speeds. It was hovering about a mile up above the city," Grimm explains.

Night Marshal shakes his head, "I had missed that detail. Though I'm not sure how I missed it." Buried in work. That's why.

"I had to read the Starguard report to understand it was at subsonic speeds. I only got there so fast because it sounded familiar and I teleported to my...friend, Radical, and they were parked right above him," Gabrielle explains. She detours from saying family member or any other possible distinction. It's best to protect his identity as best she can.

Night Marshal nods, and motions with his hand like he's trying to remember something. "That's a magic-related guy, right?"

Grimm nods. "Yeah. He helped me when I really needed saving. So...I owe him big time," she says with a shrugs and a smile.

Night Marshal nods. "So...why were they looking for him? Assuming he was the target?"

"He...well, we...took something powerful from that Krul guy in a fight some time back. It...was kind of unexpected and an accidental run in while we were dealing with the fall out from that insane ritual where all those DEMON members were sacrificed? Anyway...long story short, we had a run in with Krul and a stolen ship of his, there was a tough fight, and Radical pocketed Krul's powerful item in the scuffle. It was some sort of time stone, or probability stone? It could rewind time to prevent things from happening. Now I guess he found where we were from..."

Grimm takes a breath after all that explaining.

Night Marshal nods again slowly as he listens. "Any idea how he found you all?"

Grimm sighs and rubs the back of her head, shaking it. "Nope. They keyed in right on Radical. Maybe there's some sort of telltale energy signature we don't know about and can't see? Time gem radiation? I dunno..."

Night Marshal nods. "Hmm. That seems like an important thing to nail down. Maybe he can lead them elsewhere or something?"

Grimm rubs her chin and smiles. "He was considering it." Her smile falters a bit. "But there was some concern that maybe Krul would...I dunno, hold Earth hostage until Radical gave up," she sighs. "I'm...honestly not sure what we're going to do against a galaxy conquerer."

Night Marshal shrugs slowly. "You fight. Just like people did against the Overlord."

Grimm's smile picks up at his inspiring remarks. "Yeah. We can definitely do that so long as we're standing."