Play@YSDC

Tobias decided to the hell away from the tree. He know what the damned thing is and he is afraid.

Catherine also retreats from the tree, seeking whatever cover she can find.

Though in exceptional shape for one his age, Tobias is an elderly man. He's only barely able to avoid the branches from the Tree, and he and Catherine take the opportunity to put some distance between them. They won't be protected from the others, but at least the Tree won't be able to reach them. In theory, anyway.

Daniel keeps his wits about him and fires a blast at the thing that is Beth. It hits her directly in the chest, causing her to flinch back with the impact. Yet a second later she snarls and keeps coming. The blow should probably have put her down, or at least caused her to struggle to stand, like Deputy Steel, who seems to be remaining conscious due to sheer will. On the positive side, Daniel notes there is a lot of blood (perhaps surprisingly, red) now leaking out of her, so if her body is anything like a human he has hurt her to some degree.

The Tree continues to drink from Peter, whose struggles gradually cease. If he's not dead now he likely will be soon. Its other branches attempt to grab at Daniel, but he is able to avoid them as well, and it gets nothing but air.

Beth reaches the officer and attempts to scratch him with her nails. Daniel notices they're quite sharp, and are likely to hurt. His training kicks in, and he avoids her blow. Beth is hooting now, seeming disturbingly like an animal in heat.

Deputy Steel aims his gun at Daniel, but the sheriff's continued cries briefly attract his attention. He turns his attention to the fleeing Catherine, and despite his weakness looks furious at the one who harmed his boss. He shoots at her, but the shot goes well above her head.

Karen remains indecisive. Seeing this, Beth shoots her a look and barks in an authoritative tone.

“The knife, Karen! It is time for you to prove yourself!”

With a shaking nod, Karen retrieves the ceremonial knife Tobias had dropped near the tree. Then she begins to approach Daniel, her eyes steely.

OOC:   I'm just going to stick with 6th edition, since I don't have 7th. A very lucky round for our heroes. Both Alex and Beth are wounded, Alex critically though with Beth it is difficult to say. Due to the others retreat, Daniel's the only one in range of the Tree at the moment.

“Karen! Don’t do this, nothing will come of this! I know there’s still good inside of you, and I need you to make the right choice. Daniel is your family, he’s the one who gave you the expensive presents! He spent hundreds of dollars to get you that backstage ticket to Fun Direction or whatever-the-hell-that-boy-band-group-is-called, if you still want that ticket, put that knife down this instant, young lady!” Tobias barked, hoping like crazy that he sounds persuasive enough to make a difference. Meanwhile, he analysed Beth and attempted to determine whether she is still human or not.

Fast Talk 65%,[dice]1[/dice] [ooc]I want to spend 10 luck to make my roll successful, um, is that okay?[/ooc]

Anthropology 01%,[dice]0[/dice]

Catherine takes cover behind a non-moving tree. Leaning around it, she returns fire at the deputy with her shotgun, but the blast goes wide.

OOC,Shotgun roll (30% base skill) shooting at the deputy: [dice]0[/dice]

Daniel will back up a bit carefully (hopefully out of the Tree's range, but its not his greatest concern at the moment), and shoot at Beth again. He hopes that if he can kill her all this madness will stop.

Daniel fires point blank into Beth, and once again he is rewarded for his efforts by a fresh spray of blood. The Wild Woman staggers for a moment, and one of her breasts has been nearly entirely destroyed. Yet still she remains standing. It seems clear she's either incredibly powerful or her body is more capable of withstanding bullets. But she does look seriously hurt, and Daniel doubts she can withstand much more.

The Tree releases Peter, who is no longer moving at all. Its branches now lash out at two people. Daniel is once again able to avoid it, but surprisingly its other target is the person closest to it: The sheriff. Still sprawled out on the ground, the tree seems either unaware or uncaring that she is one of its worshipers. Its branches wrap around her and quickly immobile her, and her screams take upon a new intensity.

Despite being seriously hurt, Beth lashes out at Daniel again. This time the cop cannot avoid her, and he gets a very painful gash on the side of his face as her nails slash at him and dig into his skin. The pain is incredible, but he remains standing. Beth withdraws her hand and grinning, licks the blood off. Somehow she manages to make even this action sensual.

Catherine fires at the deputy, hoping to put him down, but perhaps unsurprisingly her shot goes wide.

Karen ignores her grandfather's words and slashes at her uncle with the knife. But she's not a trained combatant, and Daniel is able to easily avoid her telegraphed blow.

Deputy Alex seems unconcerned by Catherine shooting at him, and he instead looks down at the sheriff. “Mabel!” He cries, in what is apparently genuine concern. Hesitating for only a second, he fires a shot at the tree. It's a good shot, but does not seem to stop the tree, whose branches are still moving.

OOC:   New round. Daniel took 6 damage from Beth's attack. He's also not out of the Tree's range yet. Catherine got VERY lucky here. I had to check the action order. Had Alex acted before the Tree, he would have fired at Catherine, and even with her cover bonus it would have hit her and done a very significant chunk of damage. As it was he's more concerned about the sheriff.

Tobias also starts shooting at the tree with his glock pistol.

Firearms Pistol 65%,[dice]0[/dice]

Daniel's focus has narrowed in the chaos of the battle, right now all that matters to him is killing the monster that call itself Beth. He will shoot the Wild Woman once again.

Catherine leans around the tree again and fires the shotgun at Beth. To her amazement, the shot is nearly perfect.

OOC,Shotgun roll (30% base skill) shooting at [b]Beth[/b]: [dice]0[/dice] Damage to [b]Beth[/b] from impaling shotgun blast: [dice]1[/dice]