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Post by Mila on Nov 29, 2015 22:35:01 GMT -6
Mila cracked her knuckles and stretched a bit more. She turned around to look at her companions for this mission into the woods. Red was still talking to Donny. Typical. But then the Crimson Mage lifted up a staff she had never seen before and cast something on Donny. Ooh.. that's something to ask about later. Drei had joined up with her. The Sage was relieved to see that the Shaman was looking and feeling better. She gave the shaman a small nod then turned around again.
"Right then. Our task is to go in and start picking off the scouts. Lure them into position so the rest of our group can hit them with their weapons. We need to be really careful and real quiet. So watch your footing and stay close to the trees." She took a breath. Compose yourself. Relax. She armed herself with her trinity tome. A newly acquired tome which combined the spells of fire, wind, and thunder all in one book. The tome was very convenient.
"Alright, Let's go!"
Mila started to walk towards the forest. The sage followed the signs and tracks of the skeleton men. Skeleton foot prints were difficult to spot among the leaf litter. Mila was being extra cautious. She hoped the others would follow her example. She tried to make her foot fall as quiet as possible. Which was difficult considering that she needed to at least be somewhat quick. If she had time she'd walk through the forest with very slow and dainty steps. But she couldn't afford that luxury when a monster could be inches away from her. Damn it. How do deer and hunters do this? At most she could do was take light steps and avoid snapping branches.
It wasn't long until she raised her hand to signal Drei to stop. She crouched down behind a tree and prepped a wind spell. Wind would be effective here as it had the ability to create silent blades of magic to cut and cripple the bone walkers with. If she was lucky these blades of wind could cut off limbs if she hit them at a certain angle and at certain points in the bonewalker's bodies. For example where the joints are, or in the little gaps in between the vertebrae. However pulling that off was impossible given the current situation.
She choose to use the "wind spell" out of her trinity tome due to the fact that it was.. the least noisy and least dangerous out of the three spells. Wind wasn't perfect. As a matter of fact it was probably the weakest out of the three basic spells. But, Fire ran the risk of causing a forest fire. Something she did not want to go through again. Thunder was powerful but it was also inaccurate. And the sparks also ran the risk of creating a forest fire. And Gaea.. or earth.. was strong.. but right now all she knew how to do with it was shoot medium sized rolling boulders. Heavy boulders that cost her a considerable amount of energy to use.
She could see the shadows of her target nearby. She waited until the creature moved into the right spot and then turned the corner of her tree and fired the crescent shaped blade of wind. It was enough to knock the bonewalker down and she promptly slammed her foot down on it's neck. Severing the head from it's body. And then stomped on it twice to ensure that the skull was destroyed. Normally she would have crushed it with a boulder or a fire spell but this method was quicker. One scout down.
The sage continued to make her way through the woods until she found a spot she deemed good enough to attack from. From here she had some decent cover to hide herself in. She had nice view of the main path that Donny and Co were going to use as a diversion. Now all she had to do was wait for them to get into position. Then she'd use her magic to provide long range support and blast the bone walkers.
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Post by Donovan on Nov 30, 2015 7:39:16 GMT -6
As the mage team settled into position, Connor ran back to meet his commander and start off the operation. The small thief was quick, but not particularly strong, and he just had to hope that he wouldn’t meet any of the unnatural monsters along the way.
The silver tongued mercenary couldn’t help but chuckle when the Crimson Mage tilted his head in confusion. For a brief second there, he looked so much like Kitchi when the fox wanted an extra serving of dinner. “Blue haired Priest? Seems to be perpetually and impossibly upbeat? He said he fought with you at the City of Heroes.” Don shook his head and laughed softly, this guy was one hell of a character. He couldn’t help but admire his spirit. Don wasn’t an expert on magic, no, but he’d met enough mages to have picked up a thing or two on the topic. “Maybe it’d be better if you aim your bolting a little bit away from Ally and I. I would hate for us to be hit by some stray lightning, you know.” The green clad mercenary smiled, clapping Elias on the shoulder. “Or perhaps its best if I just let you do what you do best. And seeing how I have no idea what that is, I’ll let you make the call.”
When Elias’s staff emitted that red light, Donovan felt a wave of energy wash over him and suddenly he felt like every muscle in his body was alive, like he could do anything. He howled in laughter and his now very intense eyes met the Mage Knight’s. “You’re a good one to have around, aren’t you?” Donovan looked around and saw that Mila, Drei, and Connor had long since left into he woods. “It’s time we get a move on. Make sure you all give Ally and I enough distance that they think we’re alone. Keep a sharp ear though. I don’t feel like dying today.” He turned to leave and noticed Kitchi sitting patiently at his feet. “Go find a place to hide out, ya git!” He laughed wildly while Kitchi went in search of a den to keep safe in.
The strength staff seemed to both make him intensely more alert and yet somehow almost drunk with liveliness, as he and Ally walked forward to what could very well be their doom. Hopefully, the others would be in position. Hopefully there wouldn’t be too many skeletons to fight all at once. Hopefully they weren’t dealing with anything more than a wight. The mercenary in Donovan was beginning to realize that their survival was resting a little too firmly on hope’s shoulders. But the ancient sword in his hand coursed with energy as he felt some odd part of himself thinking, be a hero, and the strength from Elias’s magic gave him little reason to see why he shouldn’t follow that advice.
It was a short walk on the smaller forest path that had probably been used by hunters for generations before the undead took it, before they heard Connor whispering for them. Donovan looked around trying to find the small man, before he looking up and seeing the thief hiding in the branches of a tree. “Looks like they’ve been… living? In some caves up ahead. About 300 yards.” The thief looked very worried, “You sure about this, boss? We don’t know how many of them they are, sounded like most of them were inside the cave so we couldn’t get a good look.”
A wave of energy rushed from Fragarach into Don’s hand, traveling up his arm and into the rest of his body. No, we need to do this. Lindsey might still be alive. “We can do this, Connor. Lindsey might still be alive. And even if she’s not, we can’t let her become one of those things.” Donovan breathed in the crisp forest air and steadied himself for what was coming. “Go get into position. It’s time we finish this.” Connor dropped from his tree and scurried as quickly as he could back to Mila and Drei. Donovan counted to ten in his mind, giving the young thief the time he’d need before bellowing out loud and clear, “Lindsey?! LINDSEY WHERE ARE YOU!?”
He and Ally moved forward, calling out the girls name and making their location more than obvious. “Come on you cackling sons of b*tches, get out here.” They’d walked no more than another 150 yards when he heard the sound of rusty armor on moving bones coming out of the tree line to his left. Donovan turned his head to see a particularly small skeleton somehow running towards him with a sword hoisted high into the air. He spun his body around, lifting his shield and bashing the monster in the side of the head before it had the chance to swing its old blade. The Bonewalker flew through the air after he hit it, crashing into a tree and shattering into a hundred pieces. Donovan looked down at his shield arm and laughed, “Gods be damned, I love magic!” His victory did not last long, however, as Ally tapped him on the shoulder and pointed ahead of them where 10 bone walkers were making their approach. And behind them all stood a wight, watching and waiting for his pack to strike them down.
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Post by Drei on Jan 11, 2016 14:32:30 GMT -6
He was quick to follow Mila, even if he was quiet. Drei wasn't one to openly just talk or blabber away, so he simply lifted his palm and began to focus on the grasp of dark magic he held so dear. His mind emptied. All distraction. All thought purged, and any semblance of a foot-hold the void could have relinquished. Clusters of inky black energy residually formed in-between his inclined and curled fingers. Drei's steps were slow and he fell behind Mila by a few steps to ensure his energy adequately mustered. He willed it to shape and form, sculpting it into the jet black sphere of malleable energy. Amber hued eyes gently drifted upwards only to acknowledge visually that Mila had already started destroying a stray bonewalker. She was in no immediate peril. He would take this time to better harness his magic.
A second palm inclined, raising as he willed the sphere to harness between either hand. Tendrils of dark energy slowly trailed from the central sphere to either side of his hands, as if coiling around his fingers to tether them still to his body. However the sphere began to dwindle in size, as the tendrils around his fingers grew. He siphoned the energy to either side until he housed smaller twin black orbs; a single within each palm. The crunching of bone reached his ears. Drei looked up to briefly notice Mila crushing the skull of a lesser walker beneath her foot. He further enhanced his magic, so that the ruin spell took hold. The orbs solidified, transferring to palpable mass as he converted the magic. Energy hissed to his hands, and Drei knelt down quietly behind a tree adjacent to Mila.
Ahead, he could see the others. They moved with caution, but progressed fast enough that they seemed to have attracted attention. Drei could see them. The group of bone walkers. A leader? The one in the back differentiated itself. Usually that type of behavior indicated difference or significance.
He steadied his breathing, and focused. His magic was still far behind Mila's. He could create openings, but that was about it. He'd have to ensure he was able to properly capitalize. No distractions. Focus...we can do this...we can do this.
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Post by Mila on Jan 14, 2016 13:20:02 GMT -6
Mila glanced in between the bushes and saw the horde of monsters approaching Donny’s group. Mila counted about five sets of legs meaning that there are about ten different bone walkers. And leading them was the wight. Ah yes the wight. If we can kill it.. maybe the other’s would be disbursed? The sage thought for a second then shook her head lightly. No. Don’t deviate from the plan. We have to pick them off. Give the melee units a chance. She glanced over at Drei who had made his way towards the adjacent tree. She held up her hands. Both palms were open to show off all ten of her fingers.
The sage then turned her head back out towards the bushes. She took a deep breath and went to work. Alright. Let's do our job. Cripple the limbs Mila. Slow them down. Let the other’s strike at them. She approached slowly. She charged up the wind magic and started to fire them at the horde. Her goal was to hit the limbs specifically the legs. This would give Drei the chance he needed to hit them with his dark magic.
The blades of wind stuck at the joints of one bone walker crippling it. Specifically, she hit the knee and severed the leg in half. One bone walker down. She then fired two more bursts of bladed wind and struck two more limbs. What was good was that she was making some progress, two possibly three bone walkers were slowed down, what was bad was that she had given away their position.
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Post by Donovan on Jan 16, 2016 17:56:24 GMT -6
The silver tongued mercenary watched as Mila began her assault from the treeline, a blade of wind taking a leg off of one bonewalker, a second being disarmed as a gust of wind blew its spear from its hands. Well. That’s better than nothing. We just have to hold off… 8? The first of the bone walkers had made its way to him and Ally. The girl in her heavy armor used the large shield she wore as a chest plate to deflect a bone walker’s spear thrust and jabbed at its spear arm, trying to disarm it. She missed, punching a hole through its ribcage, before pulling herself back into a defensive stance. She was keeping her head about her well. Playing it safe and sticking to the plan. Don could feel the magic still coursing through him, though it was ebbing. Wanting to utilize the strength boost before it was all gone, he sprinted toward Ally’s bone walker and cut cleanly through the skeleton, from its head through to the base of its ribcage. The strength magic combined with the magical power of Fragarach making easier work of the creature. That’s 7 now…
He looked up and saw a pair Bonewalkers making their way toward Mila and Drei, one of them was the skeleton that the Sage had disarmed. So 6 then. There was a loud ringing in his ear as Ally threw her armored body between Donovan and a Bonewalker’s sword. He’d been distracted trying to keep track of the battle, and felt a rush of gratitude to the armored girl who might’ve saved his life. He figured he’d repay it, as the bone walker tried to strike at her back before she could recover. The mercenary parried with Fragarach, the small layer of wind sending the monster’s sword flying toward the ground. Don punched the bone walker’s skull, hearing a crack and seeing it’s jaw fly from its hinges, but it didn’t destroy the creature as it had the other. It seemed the strength magic was all but gone from him.
But thankfully, the thunder of horse hooves sounded from behind them. It seemed that the cavalry had arrived. Henry leapt from Brandon’s horse, his axe high in the air and swung with all his might. The bone walker lost its head as it tried to recover from Donovan’s enhanced punch. “NICE TIMING LADS!” Brandon circled around, his spear in his grip, looking for a target to attack at maximum speed. Things on Don’s end were looking good. The match had become surprisingly even at 5 bonewalkers on 4 living. He'd seen worse odds, but there was still one particularly dangerous enemy yet to enter play.
[OOC: Currently: 5 BW vs Physical Units, 2 BW vs. Mila/Drei, Legless BW making its way somewhere, Wight watching]
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Post by Drei on Feb 25, 2016 10:28:14 GMT -6
This was it. The fighting had burst out, and just as the others had started, Drei could tell they'd have to. Right then.
The shaman squared his shoulders and and focused. He'd get it right this time. He could vaguely here it. His fathers words. His father's voice. He could recognize it!
"Remember Drei. It's not about giving into it. It's about taking it in. Making it part of you, instead of becoming part of it. You might not get it now, but when your older..it'll make alot of sense. Until then..why not try to sculpt a ball, yeah?"
Yes. Yes. . Drei walked past Mila slowly as he lifted up his left palm. He got it. He spoke out quietly as he lifted up both his hands together to either side. "Yeah dad...it makes sense now...thanks." Dark energy pulsed outwards like a palpable heartbeat for a brief moment. Thick energy manifested into violet inky orbs which resonated with his core. He conjured the energy necessary as both his hands vanished beneath the shadows that blocked out all light which attempted to pass. These orbs fused together into one before Drei thrust his left hand forwards, exhaling sharply and guiding it as if his own hand had fired outwards upon extended limb.
The shadowy tendril punched through the air with tremendous force, before shattering into the bonewalker and puncturing part of it's spine. The shaman lifted his left hand upwards, the tendril coiling around the creatures spine as it began to flail, before Drei suspended it further. His eyes pulsed with the essence of the Nether, and his robes billowed lightly as the violet essence permeated from around him. Ashen bangs billowed and his amber eyes were beneath a veil of violet as he managed to sculpt out his path through the void's energy and exert himself further. For the first time, in quite a long time, he was in full control of his own power.
The bonewalker flailed and swung it's blade wildly at the tendril that embraced it's spine. This however, would not avail, as it was unable to damage the dark magics binding it. Drei brought his hand down as he abruptly began to shatter segments of it's spine through sheer crushing force. Sweat trailed down his right temple from exertion, but he maintained his grip. This was his father's legacy. He would make it his own. It was his birthright.
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Post by Mila on Mar 2, 2016 17:09:59 GMT -6
It seemed that the physical units had evened the odds. Mila could see that the man on the horse and the dude with the axe had joined the fray. This gave a slightly struggling Donny a bit more breathing room, which was good. The sage looked over at Drei who seemed to be dealing with one bone walker. Very.. slowly dealing with one bonewalker.. come on! She knew nether magic was slow but this was the first time she was able to grasp exactly HOW slow. By the time Drei had smashed the skeleton’s spine she probably could have launched two balls of flame.
She let a breath out of her nose then looked out towards the others. Another bonewalker was making it’s way out towards Drei. Probably wants revenge for it’s dying.. uh.. re-dying.. friend? Sure.. lets go with that. Alright Mila.. focus. This bonewalker needed to be destroyed quickly. She flipped the pages of her tome over to the section on thunder magic. The great sparks of magic were stronger then both wind and fire. But they were also the least accurate. Mila had to concentrate. She cleared her mind of any distractions and solely focused on the words of the tome.
She carefully moved her hands out and slowly gathered the power of anima out into both of her palms. She could feel the light crackle and charge of the building electrical energy. She slowly pulled her arms apart and could distinctly feel strange invisible forces trying to pull her hands back together. She put her hands to the side, breathed out slowly, spun on her heels, raised her hand up towards the bonewalker, and released the charge. A yellow bolt of lightning shot out of fingers and hit the bonewalker. The force of the spell was enough to shatter the cracks in the bonewalker’s bones and caused it crumple into several pieces. The bonewalker that threatened to attack Drei was no more. Her focus on the spell and it’s execution was so great that she was not phased by the accompanying “thunder” noise. At least that's what it seemed. In reality Mila was frozen in place for a few moments.
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Post by Donovan on Mar 3, 2016 17:43:38 GMT -6
The silver tongued man parried a sword thrust from a bone walker who still had some flesh clinging to its bones. Normally, the Rattlers didn’t smell nearly as bad as the Shamblers, but this particular skeleton’s smell was absolutely overwhelming. Ally and Henry were teaming up to draw the attention of 3 of the other creatures, focusing on protecting themselves more than causing damage. Brandon, on his horse, was running circles about the fourth and distracting it as thoroughly as he could, jabbing at the sword wielding creature with his spear and putting holes in its armor, but not doing much in the way of killing it.
Over the creature’s shoulder, Donovan saw Drei slowly tear the spine from a Rattler. The bone walker doing battle with Don tried to stab him again, the mercenary pushed the blade aside with his own, and brought the brim of his shield down on the monster’s forearm with a sturdy slam. The sword fell from the beasts hand, Donovan kicked it in the knee and snapped one of its brittle legs in half. As he prepared to finish the creature, he heard a gruff call ring out, “Don! Behind you!” One of the monsters fighting Ally and Henry had escaped. The mercenary spun to see the raised, rusty axe about to strike him down. Fragarach was a quick weapon, but it was too late to block this attack. While looking on in terror, Henry was stabbed in the back by a skeleton he and Ally were still fighting.
A thunder of hooves came from the left and Brandon’s horse knocked Don’s would be slayer off of it’s feet, the axe not quite managing to hit its mark, and glancing off of his armor. The hit still hurt, but it was not anywhere near fatal. Donovan spun back around as his original opponent tried to grab him from behind, and with two quick flashes of the ancient blade, the skeleton’s head and torso had been detached from each other. The green clad mercenary stomped on the removed skull with his sturdy leather boots, cracking it open to ensure its death. “Brandon! Go help Ally and Henry.” He’d need to thank the cavalier later. He had certainly saved Don’s life. “MALK! Get over here now, Henry’s been wounded!”
Brandon stormed over and knocked Henry’s potential killer to the ground as well, giving Ally the chance to stab it in the head. The Bonewalker that Brandon had trampled began to pull itself together and to its feet. It was missing one of its arms now, but its axe was still in its grip. The creature that Brandon had been running circles about turned its attention on the horseman once more. Malk and Sam came running up the path, the little recruit doing their all to keep up, spear almost too big for them. When the priest reached his allies, he set about to trying to heal Henry right away. The wound was severe. Meanwhile, the recruit, the knight, and the cavalier formed a protective circle around the priest and wounded fighter.
From its perch at the top of the path, the Wight began to move down toward the battle. It’s long broad claymore pulled along the ground. “Mila! You’re with me! Drei, help the others.” Suddenly the Wight firmed its grip on its sword and began to sprint. It was faster than Don had thought it would be. Much. Much faster. Their swords met, the magic blade clashing with the enormous cleaver of a weapon, but rather than being over weighted and limiting the movement of the Wight, it was able to swing the sword for a second strike with as much ease as Duma had with his brave sword. Donovan was forced to raise his shield and block the hit rather than go for a strike of his own. He looked the disgusting Rattler in the eye hole and knew that if it had had cheeks, it would have been smiling.
[OOC: Currently: 3 BW vs. NPCs. Wight vs. Don. Legless BW making its way somewhere]
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Post by Drei on Mar 30, 2016 7:48:45 GMT -6
Crack! Snap!
The loud crunching of the bonewalkers spine echoed into the darkened space around it as Drei's twin tendrils shattered it. However, he was not quite done with it yet. Darkened aura radiated from the shaman's hands as he extended his left palm, a spike of pure blackened essence slithering outwards to impale the skeleton through the skull. As shown before, even with half a body they were dangerous creatures. The ashen haired shaman took no chances. Even as the tendril obliterated the base of the skull, Drei continued his manipulation. He traced it around the sockets where eyes had once no doubt occupied, and retracted it. He brought it to him. Embraced it quietly by cupping fingers gingerly around the pale dome which formed over his hands.
Amber shaded eyes idled upon this cracked bone, while he stared to it. It wasn't until Donovan called out for him to help the others that the boy found himself drawn elsewhere, turning and slipping the skull beneath his robe and into one of the many pockets within it.
The young sacaen boy sprinted for the group now trying to combat the bonewalkers. Preparing to, at-least.
As the three skeletal monsters started moving for the group of weary, and injured, Drei took it upon himself to lessen their threat. The only way he knew how...
Drei lifted his left hand as a pulse echoed out into the air around him. A magical surge as he tapped further into the nether, drawing on it further and drinking it in. Once more, making it his own. Commanding it. Shadows trailed from his palms as he lifted his left hand. Of the bonewalkers sprinting towards the group, one brandished a blade in two hands risen above it's head. A shadowy spike cracked through solid rib-plates before rooting it still. The Creature found itself unable to move from this, until he extended his left hand to send a second tendril to ensnare around the monsters spine. Inky black energy started to gather around the shaman while he lifted the writhing creature into the air. A purple hue stained his eyes with soft glowing light, like dying embers of a lavender shade, and Drei suspended it in the air.
The constricting force of his tendrils audibly cracked bone. He could not shatter it instantly. However it was no longer a threat. That was certain. Drei spoke in a quiet tone. A dark tone.
"Izh vo'acha nesh."
He was a conduit. Through his medium, the nether interacted with the world around it. A ripple traversed the tendrils and their pressure tightened greatly upon the bone walker as energy surged against it and his twin tendrils pulled it further apart. He would not let another die, if he could prevent it. This power was his, and he would use it for such.
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Post by Mila on Mar 30, 2016 12:44:11 GMT -6
Donny's call to arms was enough to help shake Mila out of her terror. The sage shook her head slightly as she brought herself back to reality. They were still in a battle. They were still fighting. And she was still needed. Can't stop now! Come on Mila Move! She opened her eyes and let the woods refocus her gaze. She took a deep breath and headed out towards the sounds of the others. Soon she caught up with the mercenary turned commander and watched as the wight made two quick sword blows. Donny was quick to counter it thankfully.
"That's a Brave sword!" This was both, exciting, and terrifying moment for Mila. Up until this point she did not think Wights had the capacity to wield brave style weapons. She always assumed that due to the fact that Wights were mostly made of bone they would not have the same reflexes to use faster weapons. She had seen Wights use things like regular axes, lances, and swords. This meant that the magic holding the Wights together had stronger properties then she originally anticipated. And that it was advanced enough to wield weapons of complexity with the same caliber as humans. This specimen of a Wight would add greatly to her research. But at the same time this thing was attacking Donny. Donny. Her friend. Companion. Like all battles there was a 50% chance of either living or dying. Mila did not want to see Donny die. Because that would suck!
She was also excited at the prospect of seeing a magic weapon against a brave weapon. Granted Donny's sword was not fully awakened like the other magical weapons she had encountered. Like Xigshaw the holy axe who helped it's wielder wield it by either granting them the strength to lift it or the defenses to with stand some blows. Or Vincent's Pheonix heart a blade made from meteors that seemed to fill it's owner with determination. But still a sealed magic sword had properties that were beneficial towards it's user. Mila didn't know much about Donny's sword Faragach (yet) but she could sense it's element was wind. There was so much potential information for her to process that it would inevitably conflict with her ability to provide support. So she had to mentally tune most of it out. She shifted her focus on Donny and the Wight. She had to remember they they were on a rescue mission. And while Mila doubted the woman they were going after was still alive she had to still play her part in the rescue. Now how to go about this. She carefully moved a few paces to the side so she was still behind Donny but at a diagonal.
Mila recited the words for fire in her head and the orb of fire materialized over her hand. She held it there until Donny moved away enough from the Wight to launch it. Hopefully the blast would knock it back a few paces so that the Mercenary can score a hit.
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Post by Donovan on Mar 31, 2016 14:07:20 GMT -6
The actor seemed to be evenly matched with the wight that he faced. The Brave Claymore’s range, speed, and extra force made it difficult to get into attacking range. But the wight was having an equally difficult time landing any hits on Donovan, thanks to Fragarach’s wind magic. Both swordsmen, dead and alive dueled in a fury. As the skeleton stepped forward in another downward strike toward Don’s chest, the mercenary lifted his shield to intercept the attack. With a resounding crack, Donovan could feel the wooden targe on his arm crack and the force of the wight’s strike sent a shock of pain down his arm. A savage yell escaped his lips. He couldn’t hold back with this wight as he had the others.
Fragarach drew deeply from him and Donovan could feel a powerful urge to protect his friends and Lycia and the whole god damned world. As the Wight prepared to swing again, Donovan expanded the range of Frag’s wind aura to a foot, and flicked the sword at his attacker’s. The large claymore was not knocked aside, though its wielder managed to hold its grip. A ball of fire crashed into the Rattler’s chest, knocking it well off balance, and Donovan followed up Mila’s blow by sending a blast of wind at it’s chest. The combined attacks managed to knock the fiend off of its feet. “Crush it Mila!” he called, discarding his broken shield. Don could feel the damage in his off arm and switched into a fencers stance. He allowed Fragarach to draw from him again as he prepared to attack once again, with more deadly force this time. He had a sinking suspicion that Ol’ Rattler wasn’t going to be finished so easily.
Upon seeing the Wight move away from it’s watchful position and enter the fray, Connor into the Bonewalker’s cave, and found it to be a camp of fear incarnate. There were a series of bodies that had been tied up by their wrists and used as pin cushions. By the looks of them, the thief figured that he’d found the members of the caravan that had been dragged off. Quickly and quietly, he went up behind each of the dangling corpses, checked for a pulse he knew wouldn’t be there, and jammed his dirk into the base of the skull. The least he felt he could do was ensure that they didn’t end up becoming what had killed them.
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Post by Mila on Apr 14, 2016 10:19:48 GMT -6
The sage panted for a bit as she watched the rest of the fight unfold. They both appeared to be evenly matched. But, Mila was afraid. She was afraid of losing Donny. She knew that at any moment the tables could turn. All it took was one slip up and that was it. That would be the end of Donny. And she.. would not handle that loss well. The actor turned fighter was a dear friend. A true companion. Who had seen her at her best and at her worst.
She quickly shifted gears and switched spell books. She threw the earth tome onto the ground and started chanting. With the fear of loss in her mind the spell took a different route. She could feel the power of the earth spirits tapping into her body. Tapping into her mind and they found another fear. An old fear. And in her head she could hear it, the rumblings, the crumbling, the falling, shaking, all of it mixed and beating in time with her heart beat. To those who could see her, she was standing still. Fixated on the fight. As if she was waiting, waiting for something to happen. Everything, in her head started to go slow, and her perception of the fight slowed down significantly. It looked as if both Donny and the Wight were fighting… moving as if they were underwater. The sage knew they were both fighting up on land.
When Donny gave the command to “crush it” the sage took it literally. With all of the spiritual power she had been building up, she released it in a few swift but elegant motions. She raised her hand up up front of her and raised it up towards the sky. In front, of the Wight, a wide but human length boulder of rock emerged up front of it. It served as a barrier between undead and human. Mila made certain that the mercenary was a few paces away before summoning it. The Wight looked confused at the sudden apparition of earth. Mila brought her hand back down, curled her thumb and pinky of her opposite hand down towards the palm. So, that only the three fingers remained upright, then she flicked that hand up. Three more pillars of rock emerged surrounding the Wight in each direction. These pillars were a few paces away from the Wright so it had enough space to move around and realize it's situation. The sage brought her hand back and clapped them together. The rocks responded. In moments the four rocks crashed into the Wight, in the same moment the sage clapped her hands together. Crushing the walking pile of bones inside.
The sage kept her hands together. Each finger laced into the other and she put so much pressure between them that her hands were going red. The knuckles grew white from the holding. And the rocks held their place. She could feel something from them something beating. Unsure, if it was her own heartbeat or the beating heart of whatever dark magic that held the Wight together. But, she kept her hands together until that beating faded. The rocks crumbled into rubble then into dust before returning to earth.
Mila’s went limp and crumpled to the floor. There's body exhausted from the strain of continuous magic. She was on her knees and not face first into the ground. She was tired but she was conscious. Her chest felt like it was on fire and the only thing that seemed to help cool it down was some heavy panting. But she did it. She crushed the Wight.
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Post by Donovan on May 27, 2016 13:57:36 GMT -6
Don watched as the earth itself rose to crush the fallen wight. Donovan had rarely seen such a complete display of power from Mila, but he supposed that the wight must certainly have died… again. Spinning back around, he saw the remaining pair of bonewalkers baring down on the wounded band of mercenaries, and released the charged, razor sharp blade of wind from Fragarach. It took one of the monster’s in the back and cut cleanly through its shiny white skull. The creature fell immediately.
Ally caught the final monster’s attack with her shield and Sam punched it’s ribs in with their spear. Finally, Brandon’s horse reared up and kicked the skeleton in the chest, scattering the bones all over the place. Sam ran over and drove her spear through the skull for good measure. Donovan looked around and saw that there wasn’t anything left trying to kill them. Anything other than the legless bone walker now trying to make its way into the forest and as far from the monster slayers as it could. “Sam, go get another kill under your belt,” he called, pointing toward the legless creature.
From the cave, Connor finally emerged, carrying the lifeless body of the taken myrmidon. Ally ran forward upon seeing her friend’s body, stumbling on her wounded leg. She collapsed at Connor’s feet, and he gently laid Lindsey down on the ground. “I’m sorry, Ally.” He took out his dagger and handed it to the knight. “I thought you might want to do it…” Sobbing, Ally took the dagger and made sure her friend didn’t turn.
The green clad mercenary put his hand on the knights shoulder, “We will make sure she gets a proper burial. I’m sorry, Ally.” He leaned down and picked up the myrmidon’s corpse,, “Let’s get her out of this gods forsaken place.”
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Post by Mila on May 31, 2016 12:43:01 GMT -6
Mila looked up at the remains of the wight. The earth had released it's grip on the bones and returned to its pre-manipulative state. The pile of bones that lingered, looked as if someone had mashed it with a sledgehammer. Chips or splintered bone littered the ground. The skull of the monster which housed the dark magic that made it move, now lay there, a cracked, crumbled mess. To Mila it looked like an egg after one had smacked it with the back end of a frying pan.
The others were busy fighting around her. But, she couldn't move to help them. Her body felt very drained. The thumping of her heart in chest felt like the organ was desperately trying to escape it's ribbed prison. And then it hit her. The numbness, cold, side effects of a magician using too much force. Also, the sudden realization of what she just did. Sure, she crushed the Wight. But, she did so using the element of her fears. A heavy element in both physical and psychological weight. She crushed the wight just like the ruins crushed her colleagues. That thought only further exasperated her physical weakness. She gripped the ground with her fingers and forced herself up. For a brief second her vision went dark. This sudden darkness was a consequence of getting up to fast. Her vision cleared to blurry colors until she could see again.
She was on her feet. Her very shaky and wobbling feet. She could really use someone to lean on. But, Donny was preoccupied with the others who were with them and Drei she imagined was in a similar state as herself. She needed to push herself forward without support. She grabbed her staff and used it as a walking stick. She used it to hold up most of her weight. She stood there until she caught her breath and until the thumping of her chest returned to a semi regular beat.
Slowly, the color of her face started to return and the numbness mostly went away. She'd have to remember the consequences of using too much earth magic in one shot later. Okay, come on.. step.. Mila’s brain tried to convince her brain of the action. Reluctantly, the leg moved forward. While most of the severe numbness had dissipated the bit that remained made moving difficult. And that was not counting the headache that was starting to come in. Her steps were slow and short like baby steps. Gradually, she increased the distance to something that looked like a normal step. The walking heal stick was helping.
By the time she rejoined the group, the missing woman had been recovered. And just as Mila predicted she was already dead. The undead waste little time in making more of themselves out of the living. Mila knew this. She told Donny this. And yet here they were crying over it. Sympathizing and desecrating the body so that it could not turn. Mila’s scientific part of her brain would have loved to witness the turning of a corpse into an undead. She had never witnessed a turning up close. But, she was tired. And the more human part of herself thought it to be in poor taste. A woman was dead. And that woman's friend was grieving over it. Donny picked up the corpse and offered his words of sympathy. Mila said nothing as she slowly trudged along. The sage had her own internal battle to contend with. The walk back was going to be hell.
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Post by Donovan on Jul 16, 2016 10:32:25 GMT -6
The silver tongued mercenary took the lead among the surviving warriors under his command as they returned to the small town not far from here for their payment. The recruit and fighter were quite jovial at their miraculous victory, though the knight was intensely quite. Don himself was far from laughing at the day’s turn. He held Lindsay’s body in his arms and couldn’t help but marvel at how incredibly light she was. She could not have weighed more than 90 pounds. She probably was not much older than 17. He could not help but dwell on the question; was there anything he should have done differently? Was she dead because of his leadership or because it was simply the nature of war? If leading meant sending your people, your friends to their deaths, was it really something he wanted to do.
Looking around at the surviving members of his group he realized that, yes, in fact, he did want to lead. They had lost Lindsay, and that weight would weigh on his chest, but his strategy could have been the difference between one death or all of the men and women here being corpses strewn across the countryside. Better to have a leader who viewed each of their warriors as the individual they are than to have some high brow lordling who viewed the common soldier as a pawn to be sacrificed in some sickening game of chess. The war to come would be brutal, but Donovan was willing to put himself at the center of it.
It was a long walk back to town. By the time they'd arrived, Don's arms were stiff from having carried the dead girl all the way back. He knew that she wouldn't be the last friend he would have to bury in a foreign town. But her death was not in vain. They'd eliminated the threat and saved an innocent life. In the end, all they could do was hope to see another day and do everything they could to see Lycia free of the monsters that plagued them.
[End Thread]
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