Audric Tania
Soldier
Posts: 57
Profession: Royal Hothead
Affiliation: Lycia
Affinity: Fire
|
Post by Audric Tania on Mar 30, 2016 7:13:16 GMT -6
Audric felt a literal divide through his inner-most core. The urge to stand and fight. However Ulai made an exceptional point. Both Ulai and Wein were correct, yet he knew not what to do. The crimson haired youth snarled in frustration as Charlotte led the Marquess and his wife through another door. At that moment he felt another twinge. His grip on Buidhe tightened as a faint voice echoed through his mind.
Fight to protect.
Protect. Wait..
Audric looked back to Wein as the marksman knocked another arrow. He spoke loudly enough that he could hear Audric over the din.
"The Marquess is retreating, and he and his wife are only protected by a single woman, and their unarmed. Me and my guards shall see them to safety..however the moment they are out of harms way I'm rallying as many guards as I can and returning here. Don't any of you damn fools die until I get back..and don't you dare turn into one of those..things."
Audric wanted to jest, about taking many of the kills, or honor...but he didn't feel right making such comments while the screams of slain followed such comments. Turning to his guards, and leveling his gaze with Ulai he hefted his family's weapon to a firm double handed grip. "We will follow Charlotte, and help protect the Marquess and his wife. After that, were rallying any surviving guards we can as well as those who notice the disturbance. That's that, let's go!"
Audric moved past the three guards and Ulai, jogging to catch up with the blonde and her two royal escorts. Without his armor on, he was surprisingly swift. Long stride brought him quickly back to them as he gave a stern nod towards Charlotte and the Marquess. "We're here to help ensure your safety. After that, I'll take what I can find of my guard escort, and any of your men that I can find and help them fend off this abomination. The others seem to be holding them off for now."
|
|
|
Post by The Madness on Apr 12, 2016 8:12:45 GMT -6
The arrow flying trough her head was an experience. While the head was nothing more but a shady extension of the real, flesh and rot body that she had possessed, she couldn't help but feel a sort of eerie run down her spine. That could've hit her somewhere where it would have actually slowed her down. The arrow caused her focus to snap for a long enough time that she completely mucked up her landing, spear slamming wrong at a wrong angle. She was lucky that she didn't fall down onto her arse, and the ice caused her to slide forwards by quite the length. Thankfully not into a wall, but still. That was embarrassing.
She slowly rose. She wasn't here to make an impression of herself. Besides killing nearly everyone in the building that is, and she had succeeded decently enough for now. She climbed up and shot a glance to where the arrow had come from. Whoever shot it would soon feel Seelenschmaus rending their flesh open, tearing their spirit out to be feasted upon before then being risen as a good little brainwashed and spirit bent little puppet. Oh, she would enjoy the moment with such whim and vigor.
"Oh, there are ways to bend a man that do not involve such loyalties as you humans use. No money. No promises or land or anything like that, tsk tsk. I'm far above that, and as you can see... I've brought this party to new heights. You can thank Tristan and me for all the lovely little party guests we invited." She motioned all around. At times like this she wished she had a smile just so that she could gloat to these mortals. But ah, now was not the time for that. She quickly prepared Seelenschmaus. Slowly circling and movements around the mage.
Meanwhile, the smoke had seemed to stop the undead for a little while, at least. But soon red eyes would glisten trough the smoke, Tristan's laugh echoing trough. They were coming.
|
|
Ulai
Myrmidon
Nothing to be done.
Posts: 37
Affinity: Wind
OoC Alias: Selibas
|
Post by Ulai on Apr 12, 2016 22:25:34 GMT -6
Suddenly captain cookie cutter honor slid up next to Audric and started a great spiel about how important the present situation was. Ulai had had no idea, he had thought the best approach to this whole thing was to just play it by ear. "I've been-" Ulai stopped himself from giving anything near a biting remark. He had nothing to prove when there was a corpse that was walking around making japes and sending armored corpses crashing through windows. He was quite secure in the size of his... hands. So instead of looking to captain high collar, he looked to Audric, and opened his mouth to try and undo any dents to Audric's honor.
However, before he managed to say anything, Audric was making speeches and promises. Ulai would have smiled if there hadn't been the swirling black death however many feet away. The lordling sounded just like a real lord. The trio began moving towards the exit in order to protect the lord and lady, but the broad shouldered Nabatan hung back. Wanton destruction roared throughout the ballroom, and aside from a few individuals who looked more than capable of holding their own, it didn't look like things would go too well for the living.
Ulai rushed forward after one of the shambling bodies that was chasing a rotund noble, and came near it in a matter of moments. Gripping hard against the hilt inside the gauntlet part of his Pata, and slashed it across the demon's hamstring. Then he immediately turned and rushed after the Marquess. At least he could be of a little help.
|
|
|
Post by Charlotte on Apr 17, 2016 17:13:53 GMT -6
Charlotte breathed an audible sigh of relief as she heard Audric and his men follow after her, the Marquess, and his wife. While she would have found a way to keep the two safe, having a squad of men trained in combat was far better and more effective than the lithe blond in a ballgown. Charlotte had many-a skill, but brute force combat was not one of them.
Lucky for her, though, dodging and weaving from her enemies was something she was very, very good at, which the servants halls presented the opportunity for. As the group bolted through the narrow, dark hallways, the unmistakable laughter of one of the ghouls from the main ballroom echoed around them, causing the hair on the back of Charlotte’s neck to prickle. Even with throwing daggers and her iron dagger at the ready, if they were overcome by the horde following them, surely the blonde would be of little help besides dragging the Marquess and his wife after her.
Still, that didn’t make her useless. While she could do no true harm to these devils in a fight, what she did have was knowledge. The past few months had found her more than a few associates and informants amongst Castle Laus’ staff, and with those relationships, came prime information about the passageways and halls of the castle. While it wasn’t possible for Charlotte to know every bit of the castle’s architecture, she did know about a particular winding passage, just off of an undercroft near the main kitchen. While the passageway was supposedly used for servants seeking a bit of ‘alone’ time, today the exit seemed to be one of their best chances to get out of here. First, though, they needed to put enough distance between themselves and the monsters, so as not to tip them off to the secret exit.
While Charlotte headed the group, her tone pointed and commanding as she urged the others to follow her through the halls, Marquess Revelin hovered closely over his wife, his eyes narrowed and looking for any sign of trouble. He had seen battles first-hand before, seen men as they expired at the end of a blade, but never anything quite as gruesome and vivid as they’d just witnessed.
And while he could bear the sights and remain at ready, with his right hand gripped at the hilt of the rapier that sat on his hip, the marquess feared for his wife’s state - not to mention all of the wives that were back in the ballroom and throughout Castle Laus. The Marquise’s face was white as a sheet, and the only thing that seemed to keep her moving forward being her husband’s hand at the small of her back. It seemed they would need a miracle to save them from the hell that had been loosed on them here.
After another particularly sharp turn, Charlotte whipped her head to look back at the group, though still moving down the stretch of hall they’d just entered. “We need a distraction to shake these things,” she said just loud enough to be heard over their pounding footsteps, “Any volunteers?”
|
|
Aaron Winsett
Sage
Seeker of Knowledge
Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed.
Posts: 419
Sacae Fame: 1
Lycia Fame: 2
Profession: Student of Magic
OoC Alias: Feldsky
|
Post by Aaron Winsett on Apr 21, 2016 19:29:17 GMT -6
It was a woman's voice coming from the helm, but something didn't seem right. It sounded... The green haired scholar couldn't categorize it other than to say that it sounded "wrong." While he couldn't see much of the figure before him, he could tell that it wasn't as it should be. A snarl started to grow on his lips as he heard how casually she talked about what had been done to these shamblers in armor that she'd mastered. He was getting so furious angry that he almost missed how she referred to humans as something separate than humans. In his mind, he could feel something trying to use that to rationalize this behavior. If it was something other than human, then what reason did it have to value these people's lives. Did she treat them as nothing but cattle? Just another resource to be used, like his family would harvest the fruits off the bush years ago? He would none of that thinking! This was atrocious.
Looking around, Aaron could see the pandemonium pervading the hall. People were being slaughtered by the walking dead. The desecrated bodies of Elibes citizens being used to fuel this madness. He looked back to the armored warrior, and felt his fury alight anew as he looked at this being of pure unadulterated evil, and for once, didn't wish to watch and study anymore. He felt an itch with the call of the elements at his fingertips, and let his hands light up with all the fury he could muster. He drew deeply from the knowledge he'd gathered over the years, and even bending the fire away from himself, he could feel it burning his skin, and scorching him. He took a step back closer to the wall and its decorations still present, gathering his breath to speak.
"Let me give you some of that thanks you've earned then." The sage raised his voice, caught up in the fervor, and brought his hands forward, aiming at the floor just in front of the black knight. Twin blasts of flame launched forward until they hit the ground just in front of the spear figher. Most of the force was directed forward, but even so, they still released a fiery blast harsh enough to singe his clothes and throw him back into the wall. The armor rattled next to him, and he felt his ears pop from the pressure change after the detonation. Dust kicked into the air and the stone floor cracked under the heat of what he hit it with, sizzling quietly.
He quickly scanned the room to see what was left in front of him and around him, both of enemies and allies.
|
|
Wein Lowell
Sniper
The Noble Arrow
If you're a glory hound, then I'm king of the glory hounds
Posts: 268
Lycia Fame: 2
|
Post by Wein Lowell on Apr 21, 2016 23:16:35 GMT -6
At first Wein was dismayed that Audric was planning on retreating with the Marquess, and his spirits were only slightly lifted when the red-headed lordling announced his intentions to return with a fighting force. He knew the man’s heart was in the right place, and he couldn’t argue with the offer of reinforcements, it was just that amidst this unholy chaos the archer wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold on until then. No, the prospects were not positive. He may not survive this night.
Then again, these days the Ostian walked the hero’s path, and that meant that, even in the face of insurmountable odds, he couldn’t give up. Even while staring death in the face he had to try. So the archer took a deep breath, put on a brave face, and pulled one of his shiny new arrows from his quiver. Silver, designed specifically to kill monsters. Well, technically not silver; there was nothing particularly special about silver when it came to slaying monsters. No, it was an alloy of sorts made through a special forging process that resulted in a- no, focus Wein!
The archer nocked the arrow and took aim at the armored figure with the evil lance, hoping that it possessed whatever factor monsters did that made this metal so effective against them. It worked on zombies, right? And this thing made zombies! There was some connection there…
But before Wein could release the projectile a fiery explosion erupted in front of the dark knight, throwing up smoke and flame and causing the Ostian to stumble and lose his shot. He grit his teeth and looked for the source. Only one man at this ball was capable of an attack like that: Aaron Winsett. And sure enough Wein spotted the familiar green haired mage thrown up against a wall looking a bit singed himself.
“I hope that did more to it than it did to you!” Wein shouted, attempting to reacquire his target. He could see smoke and he could see burning zombies, but he couldn’t see the armored figure through the smoke, and until he confirmed a still, unmoving body, he would assume the dark knight alive. He did notice, however, that some of the rugs and tapestries had caught fire from the intense burst of heat. That would spread. The Ostian couldn't help but have flashbacks of that night in the forest. “You should probably refrain from using those kind of attacks indoors!”
|
|
|
Post by The Madness on May 2, 2016 6:15:54 GMT -6
"The only thanks I require is your surrender and assimilation to the true heirs of---"
Before she can finish her sentence, she notices the flames. Only a few seconds to think. The flames were sent out. They came crashing down upon the floor with the power of a thousand suns, or so it felt to her. She slammed the butt of Seelenschmaus against the ground, muttering a few words in her native tongue. It would sound like shrieks to human ears, but to any Arum, the voice was beautiful, more beautiful than anything in the whole world. But she was not early enough. By the time she muttered the last word the floor was already exploding.The only thing she could do by now was to brace for the impact.
The impact came like a punch to a drunkard's gut. She was sent flying backwards, rolling across the floor as some of the flames stuck to the cloth parts of her armor. She could feel the meat in her left leg slowly burn, she could feel how it reached the marrow and the rotten flesh, and she could feel the smell hit her nose, or well, more like she could feel the burnt smell with her smell sensors. She felt the wall hit against her back, some decorative swords falling from the wall and onto her, causing a small oof to emit from her. They were blunt, of no harm, yet every drop caused another small sound of discomfort.
But, she still managed to push up. She looked around at the damage, holding onto Seelenschmaus as a support. That must have been an immense burst of power. Where were her men. How were they.
Meanwhile, at the hallway, Tristan and his own men were starting to push trough the smoke. While they could not yet see them, they could definitely hear them, Tristan especially, who was cackling and throwing out rather sound insults.
|
|
|
Post by Charlotte on May 2, 2016 11:44:04 GMT -6
[ooc: broleg, let me know if I need to change anything about what I had Tristan say to taunt them]
Before anyone from the group could respond to Charlotte’s prompt, a familiar voice echoed through the halls from behind them. “Why run, friends? We only wish to carve you up like a drove of seasoned suckling pigs! Not good for anything better, not at all!” What cackles and laughs came from the noble Tristan’s mouth, wherever it was in the halls behind them; they were nightmarish, which made it all the more important that they escaped, lest the threats and insults came to fruition.
“We’re close to the kitchens, yes?” Charlotte looked back to the Marquess again, who gave a simple, wearied nod. While he and his wife were fit in a sense, they likely had no intention to be sprinting through their Castle’s halls on this eve, which was more than relayed in the sweat dripping from their foreheads, the plaits falling from Lady Laus’ hair, and the panting breaths that filled the air around them. Charlotte faced forward again, pushing on herself as she hope they would make it to the hall.
The noble’s voice sounded again, this time closer than it had been before. “Why flee from your fate? Your daft brains will sit upon my hounds’ supper plates tonight! Ground into a slop, that’s all they’re good for, yes yes!” A chill coursed through Charlotte’s person. They were gaining on them, and having everyone escape through the corridor would only keep dragging this sick freak and his monsters after them, potentially out into the streets of Laus. While Charlotte wasn’t usually concerned about the general populace, she would be remiss to loose these fiends on the whole of the capital.
With that thought, though, the gaps in her plan seemed to fill in all at once. “Audric,” Charlotte called, abandoning formalities for now, “you and your men want to make it back to the great hall, no?” Guiding them around another sharp turn, the kitchens were in sight at the end of a long, dark hall. Dropping back to the man’s position, she lowered her voice substantially, until the only ones who could hear would be he and potentially Ulai and the Marquess. “Then set an ambush in the kitchen. I’ll take the lord and lady through the undercroft. No harm will come to them.”
“Stop hiding, hiding, hiiiiiiding! We want to see the whites of your eyes when we pop them out of your skull and fry them up in lard, yes yes, so wonderful and joicy, what a pop!”
The group now at the door, Charlotte pushed it open, ushering the group after her while mouthing for them to 'go.' Regardless of what Audric and Ulai decided, she and the Revelins would be exiting through the passage she’d indicated. She only hoped the two would be able to use this opportunity to beat back the terrible dark force on their heels, and make it back to the ballroom to help the others.
|
|
Audric Tania
Soldier
Posts: 57
Profession: Royal Hothead
Affiliation: Lycia
Affinity: Fire
|
Post by Audric Tania on May 6, 2016 7:46:54 GMT -6
This entire situation was one inducing of nightmares. Even so, his heart raced with some perverse sensation akin to exhilaration. He couldn't entirely identify it but there it was, pumping the fire within his veins that he knew as blood. His grip firm upon Buidhe as he quietly shifted in place and moved hastily while Charlotte moved through the hall. Again, the weight of his armor being absent made him far more agile than he was used to, yet he felt out of place without the rhythmic clinking and reverberating impacts of the plated pauldrons jostling from his movement. He didn't have that crashing force. However, he did have his armor in Laus. They'd have to make it..outside the castle though. He could circle around though couldn't he? If the remainder of the Tanian knights that had served as his escort were still by the carriage he'd arrived from, he could rely on them alongside any Laus guards he found.
The sanguine haired lordling turned to Ulai before registering the crackling taunts of the undead fiend trailing behind them. It should've sent absolute dread shivering through his spine. It should have filled him with terror. Instead, his first thoughts shifted to the chaos within the ballroom. That fiend. What if he were able to move through out the streets? Kill all in his way..it would be horrific. Imagining this monstrosity felling children and women and innocents wantonly as he had in the ballroom did not fill him with terror. Audric had always been hot blooded. Now, that blood boiled with such writhing intensity, his hands gripping Buidhe's shaft so ferociously, that his body wracked with tremors of unquenchable rage. Perhaps it was the sheer injustice of the situation. Perhaps it was the loss of life. Still, any notion of fear was washed away by an all consuming flame of rage that took root in his very core.
That Charlotte's tone caught his attention was good, because Audric himself had been moments from turning about and charging to the fiend directly. He nodded before responding in a hushed tone, the clinking of his men's armor preventing his words from being heard by any other than the intended.
"That is an excellent idea. We will ensure you three can escape safely. May fortune favor you this night."
The lengthy hallway however burst open briefly with light as she threw open the kitchen doors, after suggesting the ambush. The moment Audric and Ulai, along with his men had passed through the kitchen doors Audric banked against the right wall and hissed for them.
"Wait here."
He extended his spear to push the doors closed from a distance as he watched Charlotte and the Marquess vanish around the corner, followed soon by his wife. Audric turned and rested his spear atop the cooking counter before moving behind one of the heavy tables used as a butchers table, grunting as he threw himself behind it before looking to his guards for assistance in this matter. Two of them moving to help him as they grunted and forced the heavy table towards the large wooden doors often left ajar to the kitchen for servants to enter and exit readily. A moment later he grabbed his spear before turning to one of his guards, Curtis. The ax wielding man was already ready for combat as Audric re-griped Buidhe, arm snug around the rope that trailed from the tip of the spear to the base of the shaft before he looked to the heavily mustachioed man.
"We wait here. We shall hamstring them as they try to funnel through this, assuming this shite barricade slows them at all. Curtis, I want you to run out, and try to rally the other Tanian knights at the carriage. If you can, bring my armor. I would sooner not try to move like a cat when I can play the role of hound. I'm not built for it. "
He turned with a slightly sly grin towards Ulai. Even in these situations he found a moment to jest. He spun his spear before taking an aggressive stance and ensuring he and his men were to the sides as Curtis fled the kitchen, His heart pounding in his chest, and with each pump, sending fury filled blood through out his entire being. He knew they weren't fighting that red eyed fiend with the spear. With an ambush preceding them, he had a feeling they stood far better chance. As soon as something burst through that door, it'd be greeted with Tanian hospitality at it's finest, delivered straight from the arm of it's own heir.
|
|
Aaron Winsett
Sage
Seeker of Knowledge
Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed.
Posts: 419
Sacae Fame: 1
Lycia Fame: 2
Profession: Student of Magic
OoC Alias: Feldsky
|
Post by Aaron Winsett on May 8, 2016 17:49:45 GMT -6
The inhuman shriek during the fire he threw out.... That sound stuck with him as he recovered from the blast. It was a bonechilling scream, almost familiar in the horror it invoked.
It was from above that Aaron heard the next sound. A little distant sounding from the ringing still in his ears. It wasn't what he was ready for, and among the last things he was expecting to hear: A familiar voice. Aaron himself off a little and stepped out stiffly away from the wall before looking up and seeing a ghost from the past.
"Wein! I never thought to see you here." The man had been among.... No, he probably was the first friend Aaron had made upon setting out for adventure. Since then, they'd had more adventures and escapades. Some life threatening ones, some scholarly, and some merely for fun.... Maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised to see him after all.
"Right...." Nope.... Fire wasn't friendly in large amounts, and typically brought more trouble to those unready or unprepared for it.
"Let me concentrate on clearing some of this smoke, and you can tell me what you see from up there...." Aaron turned his attention back to the ground level where he was at, and started working off of the Trinity of the Light Elements. Adrenaline was still pumping in him, but he had a good lock down on his focus, and that could make him seem almost conversational as he worked.
There was plenty of air movement for him to work with already because of the intense heat he'd focused into the room. He just needed to work on harnessing it and shaping it to what was needed. It wasn't complicated work, but coming down off of what he'd just been handling, it was tedious. He rushed through the process, and it wasn't long before the smoke in the room started to trend towards rising to a far corner the hall, before pouring out the top.
"...It's good to see you again." It was almost an afterthought as he reached out a hand from and called the fire from where it still burned around the hall to a spot at his feet. No fuel there. It would die before too much time passed.
He stepped forward into the lingering smoke and dust, and looked around. A few burnt out husks of his handiwork. Bodies from the raid. He couldn't see the armored one yet though. He'd shielded himself from most of his blast. Whatever had gotten through on the knight had been a full burst of concussive flame. He couldn't imagine her faring well with that but he needed to find out.
"I don't see anything down here yet. Anything up there?"
|
|
Ulai
Myrmidon
Nothing to be done.
Posts: 37
Affinity: Wind
OoC Alias: Selibas
|
Post by Ulai on May 9, 2016 20:40:33 GMT -6
Another thing to bring up in Ulai's book to set it apart from every story he'd ever read would be how it was far less comfortable to run in the world's fanciest legwear than it was to run in literally anything else. In the pants he was in now, Ulai was almost willing to risk stopping to adjust them, and let the monsters and demons chasing him overtake him, that was almost preferable than continuing in these pants that were a slap in the face to El. They were tight in the wrong places, loose in others, itchy and hot. Still, Ulai would have worn them the rest of his life if there was some quality in them that kept that abomination encased in that black armor at bay. So perhaps that was why pants were never brought up, they weren't what a character would focus on reasonably. Ulai wasn't sure if he'd fit into any story other than his own, but there ran a stream through the bottom his mind that was incredibly concerned with his pants.
“Then set an ambush in the kitchen. I’ll take the lord and lady through the undercroft. No harm will come to them.” Ulai was ripped from his inner knickers monologue from the blonde bundle of surprises. A nice face, handy in a pinch, an expert with a throwing knife, and a pragmatic strategist. However, many faceted as she may be she would be protecting the Marquess and his wife alone, and one against a legion of death wasn't fair for anyone. As she ran off and Audric prepared the ambush, Ulai decided to voice his thoughts, "You should keep going, keep them safe yourself. You and her could probably manage it even if they're set upon. Between you and I you're the better fighter indoors, but that would be better used protecting the Marquess and yourself."
Ulai pressed himself hard against the side of the wall, and grinned at Audric's jape. "The day you move like a cat is the day every feline in Elibe is three drinks deep." The broad shouldered Nabatan braced himself. Here it came.
|
|