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Post by Althea on Jan 20, 2017 17:49:15 GMT -6
Lucio and the axe user took the front with a vengeance, carving a path through the pirate menace with relative ease - not solely due to their combat prowess, though that was definitely a part of it, but because by far the majority of the invading force was focused on the left and center flanks while those to the right were mostly already focused on clumps of defenders. In a way they had the element of surprise to benefit them. But there were two problems. The first was that with each step forwards, more of the pirates were starting to notice them, and they were by no means an invulnerable army. The second was that for each clump of defenders they saved or at least kept alive, another vanished under a tide of steel and blood.
It kept her from feeling too good about their advance. Too confident. The absolute disaster of the right flank was simply the beginning of the end for the defenders, showcasing their outright inferiority to the overall pirate force; outnumbered AND outfought, it was only a matter of time before they were all dead, or worse, captured.
The spearwoman was the first to fall, gurgling as a thrown axe caught her in the neck. Althea only had a glimpse of her empty eyes as blood spurted from her two mouths, caught with a horrible urge to look away as she watched another death but unable to deny the necessity of accepting its horror. She hadn't even gotten the woman's name, or seen her well through the helmet and armor that had done nothing to protect her. Just a lucky hit, nothing more. If the axe had hit anywhere else she probably would have survived, but instead...
More than a little anger flowed through her magic as the burst of shadow bent and warped the thrower's arm, his shout of agony almost beautiful in a vindictive, vengeful sort of way. He had - the cast pulsed, intensifying for a minute and ripping his arm off entirely as the magic grew, then evaporated as she recoiled. What had that been? It... it seemed to be happening more lately, the rising tide of emotion that threatened to consume her whole. Althea had never been emotionless by any means, but she had always believed herself very good at controlling her emotions rather than allowing them to rule her. And, if the rumors were to believed, Nether magic was supposed to kill your emotions anyways. If she was just trading away too much to the Nether it would lead to deadened emotions, not a raging swell that only grew with time.
She... had to focus. They were still fighting. Dying. Lucio had already taken an arrow to the shoulder. The axe wielder was bleeding from a cut of his own. Christa was trying to keep up, but watching the lance wielder die had clearly shaken her, and as much as it pained her to say, Althea couldn't blame her in the least. For someone whose life had likely been spent in a convent or temple, being exposed so... brutally to the realities of Elibe was just as harsh if not worse than what she had gone through as well. As they approached the shaman, forced to bypass many clusters of fights, they had picked up a small force, another half dozen men at least, but many of them were injured to varying degrees and one was nearly literally holding his insides in through sheer stubbornness. Not exactly a shining group of gilded gods, destined to save the world, or the battle for that matter.
But the other shaman's strange solid-magic - Ruin, her scholar's mind helpfully supplied, a tome that crystallizes the power of the Nether into physical form, aided in tearing through two more pirates in the way as they approached a sword and shield wielding middle aged man who honestly just looked more confused than anything, though he was definitely approaching his limits as well. "Did... you do that?" Ha! She wished. "No, your princess is in another castle... and is also a man." To his credit, he only looked more confused rather than arguing. "And they will need your help if you can still fight." "Better than you kids," he grunted. "Where to?" Althea just pointed at Drei's body, as he, er, fell over. That probably wasn't a good sign. "We need to move."
He just nodded and faced towards the fallen shaman before starting to cut a path through the remaining pirates that quite frankly no one else in their little group was even close to matching, his silver blade drenched deeper crimson with every step. It was like watching a dragon charge through a marketplace. Didn't hurt that they had made it through the worst of the fighting already, but he made it almost effortless... at least as they fought their way OUT of the struggle.
They reached the fallen shaman's side, and as Althea began to inspect him, moving aside his robes, she realized just how much blood there actually was. He needed... serious medical help, NOW. This was way beyond anything she could do to help. "Christa?" "I-" The blonde little lady looked thoroughly torn, between her obvious desire to help and her fear of her own inadequacy. "I don't think I can heal wounds that serious." Althea scowled at her, frustration mounting, and the girl actually took a step back, though Althea wasn't sure why. Her face wasn't THAT scary. "Try." Without a word the wingless little angel knelt down and focused completely on Drei's broken body, murmuring prayers to the Saint as a whitish-blue glow spread from her hands to his form, slowly - too slowly - emanating outwards as she began her work. The methodical purpose with which the light moved suggested that the girl had at least some talent with healing, but at the same time the... slowness spoke of her exhaustion and lack of experience alike. She seemed to have found the major injuries and was trying to work on them simultaneously, one hand at each, but it didn't look like this would be an instantaneous and complete recovery.
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Post by Drei on Jan 20, 2017 20:05:49 GMT -6
How nice it felt. Just to lay on that wooden flooring. The soft rumbling of the tides thumping into the boat reverberating through the wood with its titanic force as each one impacted the ship. He could feel ever so faintly the salty see foam spray that filled the breeze. How it lightly trickled upon his face like cascading droplets in a rainstorm, though far daintier. The ashen haired boy's eyes had eased shut as he finally embraced the weightlessness that his body was feeling. Well..partially. He felt both weightless, yet could detect the weight in his limbs as if the act of moving would meet great resistance. A duality he felt far to lethargic to attempt comprehending when he felt so...so very tired. His wounds no longer hurt. He no longer felt cold. In-fact, he felt quite warm.
How terrifying, that would seem a moment later. The faint warmth of healing magic slowly began to knit his wounds. After a few moments of this he felt his pulse begin to quicken. Or, had it always been hammering? Was he just now being aware of it? Had his pulse slowed? That would've been far worse. Drei's gaze drifted slowly to his surroundings as his lids opened. The moment his eyes opened...boom! It was like sensory over-load. He became aware of the cacophony that was the sound of combat. The rattling and ringing of metal against armor. The shouts and grunts. The groan of the wooden ships as they sailed alongside one another.
Drei's mind then began to wildly buzz. Madly rushing about as he couldn't help but shout in a sudden startled bewildered state. The urge to flail repressed only by the sense of someone touching his wounds, which he became aware of an-
Oh my gods above and below that f*ucking hurts so bad pleaseeeeeeeeee stop touching me
Yes. Because that was precisely what he needed. Another reason for him to hate physical contact. Though one might've expected the ax that had brought it's sharpened question to his shoulder or side to do that just fine on its own. Still, he felt absolutely abyssal and couldn't express enough just how much pain he was now in as his wounds stitched slowly and his body began to come out of shock and into the world of the aware and the living. His gaze averting as he looked to the people around him. The pale woman catching it initially while Drei struggled to find actual words. A look of perplexion obviously explaining his confusion as to the whole "being alive" thing. By the time he'd managed to very very gingerly push himself up with one arm supporting his weight shakily, he'd come to believe very strongly that he would take quite some time before riding a boat anymore. His words were faint as he tried to slowly push himself up a bit further, his other hand now pushing palm down into soaked wooden floorboards while the sacaen shaman looked tot he chaos around them.
"Thank you for saving me. Or...At-least prolonging my death."
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Post by Althea on Jan 20, 2017 23:17:09 GMT -6
Christa squeaked in a manner eerily akin to a chipmunk, assuming chipmunks squeaked - did they? Althea actually wasn't sure. It served to interrupt her healing for a moment before she reddened and lowered her head, turning her complete focus back to the task of trying to stabilize Drei as Althea watched in guarded bemusement. Which... meant Christa wasn't going to respond, was she. f**k. Strangling the urge to just scream to the heavens, Althea stepped in for her erstwhile blonde companion. "Thank her, not me; Christa is the one pouring her soul into you." There was... maybe just the slightest hint of mischief in her eyes as the blonde initiate made some unintelligible sounds and hunkered further inside herself. Too much fun. "-But it is good to see you alive after that madcap dash into danger. Perhaps we could... coordinate more in the future."
Delivered with just a slight tinge of amused asperity as she pointed out the flaws of running off alone in the field of battle, Althea felt she had made her point acceptably well and dropped it from there. After all she had no way to control Drei or desire to do so, simply a certain vested interest in maximizing their combat potential. And that meant they needed everyone alive, and fighting to boot if at all possible. A swordsman without arms wasn't much use to her, but a shaman who was merely injured... well. He could still pull his weight.
But they simply did not have enough time to dally. Glancing back at the fight, Althea could see that the remaining blossoms of defenders were rapidly fading, already down to half the number they had been when starting the trek across the ship's deck. Soon the remainder of the pirate force would re-coalesce and sweep into the final central defense line from the side, obliterating them instantly and dooming the defense entirely. Already there were a smaller number of pirates who had begun charging their group; uncoordinated and easily struck down by the two swordsmen and axe wielder who were still bale to fight, but it would only grow in time. Not for the first time, Althea wished they had an actual tactician there to guide them, but... for now, she had to do what she could until they could launch a real counterattack.
"My name is Althea." Focus on the task at hand; everything would flow from there. "What is your name, and can you fight?"
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Post by Drei on Jan 21, 2017 16:20:51 GMT -6
"....Drei"
His wounds were knitting further. He could feel the lessened injuries and though it made his skin crawl to feel the healing process he could also feel the pain becoming less prevalent. He tried to remain as still as possible while the woman mended his injury, and turned to gaze along the combat along the ship. Drei's mind quietly ticking while he tried to figure out how best to help. His gaze turned to the pirate ship. Though the draglines being cut and most of the planks gone had removed the connecting point for them to the actual ship, occasionally the ships were close enough that the pirates could swing across as well. Given the fates of the prior borders however it looked as if some were getting a bit reluctant to suicidally throw themselves over the edge of their ship and into such a large x factor. Though Drei couldn't blame them he admitted to a somewhat small modicum of surprise that they would show hesitance.
Then again. Even the dumbest of beasts have a survival instinct. Perhaps theirs just took a bit of time to kick in?
Speaking of survival. That...wasn't looking to great. For him personally it was fantastic compared to a moment prior, even if the chill of what had nearly happened was still just washing over him. The ocean's waves crashed against the side of the Nabatan passenger ship once more, spraying the shaman in soft ocean foam, and eliciting no small number of curses from his own part. Mentally, he kept his lips shut as he tried to remain still. The boy's gaze however instantly darted to the other ship as he registered the crashing waves one more time. Their vessel could only spew pirates...as long as they could keep the ship near the passengers. If they managed to slow it though...
He looked to the sails of the enemy vessel. No, they were too far even for his extended range. Not to mention the angle would make it nearly impossible without being on their ship...and he wasn't quite willing to ensure his own death like that if he could avoid it. So was the idea impossible? It kept sticking. The minuscule change and probability aside, the idea was far more palpable. But..the how was the question. The only other way to slow it down would be...
Drei's gaze instantly averted to Althea as he struggled to get up. His wounds weren't perfect, but he was able to move his arm far more than prior(though 2 more than 0 was still 2) and he could actually stand without feeling the crushing weight of his bodies injuries forcing him to struggle through the act. His tone was still somewhat quiet, but audible above the crashing waves of the ocean.
"What if we put a hole in the other ship. The water would slow it down. Then we would be facing a finite number of pirates. It doesn't solve the problem of the pirates we have now but prevents that problem from maintaining itself."
His bangled hand quietly pressed to his side as he hesitantly tested his injuries.
yuuuuuuup. Still feels like I was ripped in half. At-least I can feel that though.
The Shaman turned to the young meek woman who had healed him, quietly nodding in thanks none the less. She was kind at-least, and had done a good job. So he couldn't dismiss her entirely like he would most individuals. Especially not when it was his life she'd saved.
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Post by Althea on Jan 21, 2017 21:04:18 GMT -6
Drei... Drei. She committed it to memory immediately, not that Althea had ever been particularly bad with names. But if he died in another few minutes of combat, she didn't want to have never learned his name, either. It seemed Christa's efforts had born some fruit, though Drei didn't look to be in particularly good shape so much as just 'not dying.' Which was, to be fair, a pretty big step up, especially by his standards! Ha... haha. Apparently watching so much death brought out the worst in her sense of humor. Such as it was.
She listened passively to Drei's idea, nodding silently in acknowledgement as Christa did. Wait, no, Christa was just slumping over. DAMMIT. Kneeling down to catch the fallen priestess before she hit the deck, Althea steadied the now unconscious healer with something closer to emotion creasing her face, before leaning the girl up against the rail. "...She'll live. Just overexerted herself." It seemed that the blonde had most definitely taken upon herself to do entirely too much healing for her abilities, but she was still breathing, just shallowly. Bloody hell. Althea was of course not displeased that she had healed Drei, she didn't want to experience any more death then necessary if she could stop it, but it did mean they were now entirely healerless and would continue to be so until the girl woke up.
Rising back to her full height which wasn't saying much, Althea considered Drei's suggestion again while inspecting the other ship. They simply... didn't have much time left to play around, she didn't need to see the defenders from here to know that they would fall soon, but Drei was also correct in that they had to stop the tide before they could handle the problem. The problem was... "I don't have the magical power to puncture their hull," she stated simply. It was just a statement of fact, not despondent or even unfortunate. She at least knew that much for certain. "The defenders will not last much wronger regardless. We will need to aid them directly lest nothing remain to protect."
"I'll go."
It was the older warrior, still looking beaten down and tired, but possessed of a quiet certainty that transcended reality, spoke to his determination. "If me and the boys here get to work on rescuing who we can, maybe we can hit the main force from the side after, make a breakthrough. But there aint jack we can do about reinforcements, you kids are gonna have to take care of that yourselves."
He wasn't... wrong, per se, but Althea wasn't actually sure how to make that goal into reality. Her last attack had been relatively powerful by her standards, but it had taken an enormous amount out of her and injured her hand to sweep the ray at all. "Drei, do you think you could puncture the hull with Ruin? Alternatively, we could aim to cripple their sails to force them away from us; not as final of a solution, but much easier."
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Post by Drei on Jan 22, 2017 0:48:54 GMT -6
The shaman was slowly and visibly testing himself. Rotating his shoulder in the ball socket, despite the pain that still came up. However there was no immense gush or torrent of blood flooding down his sides. So that was a good sign. In-fact, he'd even deign it a great sign. He wasn't usually so optimistic, but as someone nearly a recently deceased victim, he could say that being able to feel and move his arm without exploding into blood warranted the use of the term. The shaman's hands clasped quietly to his sides while he pivoted on his hips and began to test out his body fully while Althea and the other man spoke. Observing the distant ship hull further before the older defender spoke up about leading a more focused counter offensive. Quietly, Drei extended his hands to the side and began to shakily test his connection to the void. He'd no idea if near death experiences impeded it. As dark wispy tendrils began to form and extend from his palm extended pale digits he realized that nearly dying, did not, in-fact effect Elder Magic.
Drei turned to step a few inches away from the fallen Priest. If nothing else, to give her room in the event that she awoke. Fingers pinched together briefly, before he extended them again and began to channel magic to conjure up solidified void magics slowly. Slowly. He couldn't squander the time that the kindly healing woman had obtained for him. It had evidently come at her own expense. The shaman turned to Althea to gaze directly at her while his hand churned with swirling dark magic that collected into a mass of hardening tendrils.
Given his capabilities, he didn't have to ponder the question to swiftly answer.
"I can safely say that it is likely too difficult to puncture the hull with ruin alone..but your own magic seemed powerful. What if I weakened a targeted area and you used your magic to punch through the weakened segments? We only need one hole for it to greatly worsen, and the ocean will do the rest of the work for us."
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Post by Althea on Jan 22, 2017 3:08:46 GMT -6
The three warriors charged off into battle, with Lucius grinning over his shoulder somewhat supportively - she assumed - before setting his attention to the task at hand. That left her with the unconscious Christa, the still recovering Drei, and one last injured fighter who seemed content to just take a few moments to compose themselves. Althea couldn't say as that she blamed him, but she didn't have the luxury of doing so herself, turning back to the task at hand as Drei gave his pitch for the plan. At least he seemed able to cast again. She envied his quick recovery, likely the result of Christa's work; she had never been especially fast at recuperating from magical activity herself.
For whatever reason, though, he seemed unenthusiastic about her plan with the sails, though she had believed it was likely to work, which left her in a somewhat awkward position. Did she try to push her idea, risking wasting time arguing? Ignore him and do it anyways? Accede to his plan and gamble on their ability to succeed? The problem was that if this attack failed, she would have wasted precious remaining magic on essentially nothing, and given how... painful that last major cast had been, Althea was less than optimistic about her ability to actually recover from a failure of that margin. Not in terms of pride, but simply in that she would likely be limited to weaker spells at best for a time. The only good news was that she was fairly sure that her experience with the last Mire cast, as well as the lack of need to move the beam once cast, meant that this next one would likely be far less costly... probably for the best given that she really wouldn't HAVE much left after that.
Althea took a deep breath and compartmentalized that train of thought in its entirety. Time to make a decision. Trust the other shaman, or try to enforce her own will?
"Understood. I only have one good shot left in me, though; we will need to coordinate effectively... ideally striking almost simultaneously to maximize the penetrative force. And we will be defenseless once we begin. Are you ready?" Ha... ready. As if she could answer that question herself!
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Post by Drei on Jan 22, 2017 13:53:55 GMT -6
Drei was quiet for a moment. His gaze lowered and he looked downwards towards the churning sea waves breaking between either boat as the two ships sailed upon the seas alongside one another. The sacaen shaman briefly imagined how nice this trip might have been if the pirates hadn't shown up. Boy, wouldn't that have been a change of pace? The shaman slowly pressed his palms together and began to unfurl the confines of limitation within his mind. As if he was briefly releasing the restraints that prevented his well-being from being further harmed by his magic. The faucet unleashed so to speak, darkness erupted from around the shaman while he began to sculpt and conjure up every ounce of darkness he could condense, shadowy trails of smokey magic converging and conforming into the spherical shape he so naturally inclined towards. His tone slightly strained as he felt a throbbing pain within his cranium that ravaged the space between his scalp. The battle raged on upon the deck of the ship, defenders furiously giving their all to fend off the pirates.
"I am ready. I concur. If we strike simultaneously, or perhaps my bolt a mere moment before yours we can puncture a large enough hole. Either way...all we can do now is trust the defenders"
It was no great explosive force. It barely registered as a flare or pulse of magical energy compared to more potent practitioners of the abyssal arts, but it was what he could work with. Ashen bangs rustling slightly as robes drifted while the gentle current of magic swirled around him, Drei extended his hand slowly and began to form and sculpt the colossal dark magic bolt that would be his contribution. It was flattened and further sculpted as the Shaman quietly formulated it with sculpted control.
The outside world tuned out to him while he worked his trade, the bolt itself thickened with a flat hammer like edge initially before the center protruded into a single lengthened tip. The shaman took aim and began to focus quietly. There were a series of window like holes along the stern of the ship, and lower at a spot where the tide frequently crashed into he could see a golden inlaid design. Some kind of plate? No doubt indication that the ship itself was stolen. Drei's left hand extended as he lengthened the bolt just long enough to give it further drive and puncturing force.
"We could use that plate to aim together. The tides breaking upon it often enough that it should do. Does that seem reasonable?"
Sure. Fending off a pirate attack by punching a hole in their ship while the two ships sail along side each-other on shaky ocean tide. After nearly dying. Reasonable. Fair word for this entire trip.
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Post by Althea on Jan 22, 2017 18:02:36 GMT -6
"Trust..."
Althea still wasn't sure she could actually do that. It wasn't a matter of Lucio and the others having done something to make it hard for her to trust them. By all accounts they had been stellar allies, willing to risk their lives for her and for each other. It wasn't even a matter of dislike; in her short time with the brash swordsman he had already garnered more of her confidence than nearly anyone else she'd met in some time. No, the problem was entirely within her... the truth that she struggled to let others inside at all. To treat them as more than allies of convenience who would leave her behind as soon as it was beneficial to do so.
But - she had to trust them. Had to trust that this would work. Had to trust in Lucio, in Drei, in Christa, in all of them. She didn't have the luxury of being weak, nor of allowing them to fail in her mind. They would succeed, Drei would succeed, and she... bringing both arms together, using her own body as a conduit for the Nether, Althea accepted quietly that she would succeed, too, because there was no other choice. She would wrest control of the tide of darkness and bring it to bear against her target, not out of hatred or love, but because it was the right thing to do.
The roiling tides of shadow seeping into existence around her as Althea began her task spoke to the amount of magic she was pouring into the seal, adjusting the flow with minute movements of each hand. This time she had not only to re-establish the link she had managed before, but to reinforce it far more strongly, while simultaneously venting excess Nether in ways less, ah, detrimental to the continued existence of her hands. So she experimented. She worked with what she had learned. She felt rather than thought, immersing herself in the work, trying to gauge each action and reaction and respond to it intuitively. The seal itself - Althea could see the flaws, at least some of the, in her previous work, and strengthened them, remade them so that they were strong. It was as much the pressurized force of uncontrolled Nether that had scalded her hands before, and venting the excess more evenly, on all sides of the seal as well as using her body as a conduit, lessened the impact at any one spot. Oh, it still damaged her, she could feel the gnawing at her skin, but it was more a familiar pain than the foe of agony.
And she could feel something... else, almost guiding her, the gentle touch of her subconscious or overmind or emotions, the shaman couldn't tell, though she had her suspicions. It was not a voice of reason, but of emotion, of fine control that her conscious mind lacked, bringing to light small quirks in the feed, areas of the seal she hadn't noticed beginning to fall apart, helping her stabilize the seal now that it no longer needed to rotate, which itself was surprisingly hard considering it made some of her previous experience useless.
Of course there was still the question of exactly where the aim the beam. She didn't have the power or control to simply fire it from above her, as efficient as it might be in terms of only needing one two-way seal, so she needed to create a conduit array closer to the target. But it couldn't be in the way of Drei's attack... and it might be wiser to try to strike from two angles simultaneously anyways, to maximize the overall penetrating force. It looked quite underwhelming from where the two of them were standing, but as the shamaness focused and furrowed her brow, the small beginnings of a magical circle appeared there, tracking the plate as she zeroed in on its spacial coordinates while linking them together with the Nether. There was an interesting quirk in the spell though, and it took looking down to notice that her right hand was shaking to realize what it was; even with her extra precautions the strain of this magic, simply building it up, was already fast passing her limits. She couldn't hold it for much longer or it would backfire, and, er, given that she was using herself as a medium, Althea didn't have high hopes for her chances of survival in that scenario.
"R-ready when you are," she managed to grit out between teeth like tombstones, far too much of her focus held on the magic to bother with such irrelevant concepts as coherent speech or giving a god damn what Drei had to say about holding off any longer.
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Post by Drei on Jan 22, 2017 20:55:51 GMT -6
Drei's limbs felt heavy. Not just the strain of Elder Magic, but the weight of the physical construct's restrain, and guidance. Ashen bangs rustled through the wind as Drei withdraw his arm further. Slowly focusing and narrowing his gaze. He lifted his arm back as far as he could and aimed quietly, inner focus nearly at a perfect state in that hanging moment before Althea spoke. Drei's voice through pursed lips quiet.
"Firing!"
He swiftly thrust his left arm forwards in a high to lower diagonal path while his palm lit with infused dark magics before ejecting and willing the large nether bolt to sail through the air. It traveled as if it had been fired from a balistae, and hummed through the air with the dark intent to puncture the ship. The thick bolt crashing into the wooden hull and blasting against it with a fairly solid explosive thud. Wood splintered and cracked. When the tip that'd been sharpened to a point smashed against it, it burst thunderously with the smallest of punctures opening up. Albeit both too small for the shaman to see and too small to be of use.
Drei's body grew heavy once more as he panted and heaved from the exertions prior comprised with his own a moment ago. Sculpting and forming the bolt with such lesser details had been an extremely tasking process to maintain, holding the shape through sheer will alone. It was even harder to restrain it for so long instead of letting it loose. He could only hope however that Althea's magic would finish the job that his own had started. Though his magic seemed superior in the aspect of precision on fixated points, her own seemed to house a distinguished power behind it. As if she commanded the crushing force of the void itself.
His lungs burned as he lapped for air, briefly running pink tongue with darting fashion along his lips before attempting to catch up his breath entirely. His gaze never leaving the spot he'd managed to land with his spear. He could only hope Althea would have the success she needed for them to remove the aggressors from the equation.
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Post by Althea on Jan 22, 2017 21:58:54 GMT -6
Carefully bringing her hands together, tightening the seal as she focused the torrent of magic through the ever-shrinking pathway, Althea struggled to keep her magic under control. Now was the last chance she would have this cast to try to fix anything, to learn what she could from the experience - because in a few moments there would be nothing left but to control the power and fluctuating frequencies of her magic, and by then it would be far too late to make any real adjustments. There were any number of ridiculous idioms that could fit the situation; do or die, make it or break it, sink or swim. Althea didn't particularly care for any of them right now. She didn't have the luxury of that choice - she could only succeed, for there was no other path.
Drei's lance of tenebrous shadow leaped from his hands, carving a path through the air as it speared into the side of the ship - her cue - with one last forceful motion Althea curled her hands around the now tiny seal, a sparkling glint of white and black mixing into one contiguous color as the magical force reached critical mass and set off the full reaction, almost as though she held a tiny sun in her hand - a candle whose light was shadow.
Nearer to the golden plate they were targeting, the tiny circle exploded outwards, almost double the size of her previous one. As it warped and strained, the six-pointed seal slowly took on somewhat of the appearance of a flower, six pink petals opening to reveal a tiny blackened core held between the tips of the petals, before a solid torrent of blackish-purple energy exploded outwards. What was at first an explosion tightened, focused, into a solidified torrent of Nether energy that slammed into the evaporating remains of Drei's own magic carving a tumultuous path through cracked metal and splintered wood like with the raw caustic force of pure energy rather than the more stable, liquid-like magics of Flux she had been previously used to.
Where Drei's magic had punctured and weakened, her magic rent and tore and melted, even with her attempts to focus it down to a finer point, chewing through the durable wood with a mix of agonizing slowness and seeming ease that belied the clashing mindset she was rapidly finding herself in. The tiny portal in her hands was desperately trying to spew the Nether out around it as well, to equalize the pressure, but as her hands trembled and shook she focused entirely on keeping it closed, on continuing to concentrate and focus the beam to obliterate everything in its path.
She didn't actually realize she had hit the limit until the singularity in her hands detonated, forcibly pushing her hands apart as magic dissipated, singing them slightly though less agonizingly painfully as the last experience, and the beam below rapidly lost cohesion in its wake as the tight beam of entwined light and shadow rapidly faded to a spew of darkness that in turn became nothingness as the remnants of the portal disintegrated. Althea hardly saw it, staggering backwards for a moment in the wake of her exertion, having trouble actually seeing effectively enough to be certain if she had succeeded but most assuredly tapped out for that particular cast... and getting to be there in general as well.
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Post by Drei on Jan 22, 2017 22:51:25 GMT -6
Althea's precise application of the nether was new to Drei. He'd never seen any of the shamans or dark magic practitioners utilize it in that way. That wasn't to say he didn't believe it, that wasn't a luxury he would've had after seeing her magic with his own two eyes. The potency of it impressed him as well. Even if it seemed to take an even greater strain on her to perform it than even his ruin spears, there was still a large amount of respect to be had for the girl's sheer control and might. The sudden groan, and visible jar as the pirate vessel lurched was noticeable enough to make him feel some small well of satisfaction.
The large ship dipped downwards slightly. The flooding sea water gushing with an endless torrent into the pirate vessel also slowed it down despite the nabatan passenger ship continuing at full speed. There was still fighting on the ship, but Drei risked it to further admire the fruits of their labor. Until his head began to sear with mind melting pain of an unfathomable scale. The shaman pressed his palm to his forehead as the blinding pain of a cluster headache threatened to drop him to his knees. His other hand quietly latched onto the rail for support as the pirate ship fully peeled away from lack of ability to actually catch up.
Drei fought it for a moment longer. Another few agonizing seconds before her lifted himself away from the edge and looked to Althea. He kept a passive expression even though he spoke with a severe tone, his hands releasing the railing while they idled down to his sides. The weight on his shoulders from his magic had him feeling lighter than air with almost a giddy feeling as well.
"Are you going to be okay, Althea?"
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Post by Althea on Jan 23, 2017 0:31:09 GMT -6
"Ha... ha... wonderful," the shaman breathily announced, trailing off partway through before managing the final, more coherent, word to finish off that response. If it could be called as much. There was not so much of the pain she had been fearing, but she was quite dizzy and thoroughly spent. The last thing she saw of the enemy ship before her legs gave out from under her was water rushing in the blackened hole that their combined attack had torn in the hull, and a great sense of vindictive satisfaction that now it was the pirates' turn to suffer.
Then she was on the ground, sitting, not quite sure how she had gotten there but too tired and sore to actually care a great deal. She could hear more noise than before behind her, the battle seemed to be heating up, but at this point she didn't really care about that either, or even what it implied - resurgent defenders, fleeing pirates, the fight getting closer to them, or even just one last burst of activity before the defense collapsed entirely. It didn't really matter. She was already dead if the pirates had won, there was unlikely to be coming any more magic coming out of any of her orifices today. But... at least they'd succeeded at crippling the pirate ship, cutting off reinforcements. If the defenders had any chance of winning at all, this would be their opportunity to shine, striking in the wake of the receding pirate threat to maximize their counterattack.
She couldn't help but notice that Christa was blissfully unaware of the whole scene, happily asleep against the wall, and Althea almost envied her for a moment. She would really, really like some sleep now, please and thank you, if that was at all likely to happen!
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Post by Drei on Jan 23, 2017 15:02:07 GMT -6
Althea seemed like she was out of commission. The pale, ashen haired shaman quietly lifted his hand to near chin level and let a shadowy essence of magic ignite to life. Like dark flames writhing and squirming, before the magic conformed into traditional paths and patterns as it made a murky swirling globe of Elder Magic. The shaman's eyes lit from the darkened shadows twisting around the faint violet light. The shaman's tone was quiet as he gritted through the headache and began to fall back to the less taxing "Flux" magic.
"You should rest here. I'll take care of this. Most likely. Possibly."
With that simple phrase exuding in pure confidence, Drei turned to walk down the stairs from the upper part of the stern, turning his gaze to the defenders. Though the tide had been stemmed, the fighting was still raging on. The current pirates trying their best to put down the relentless defenders who were starting to rally. One of the far pockets had already almost completely dispatched of their pirates, and it was thanks to the group that had left from Althea and Drei's side. Which meant to best help, the other side....
Drei turned and lifted his hand. Turning his gaze to a small trio of pirates fighting against four defenders. Though out-numbered their ferocity had made up for it. Their backs to the Shaman who had quietly found himself almost disastrously on the wrong side of combat, which...with none actually noticing the dark robbed silent boy made for...quite a boon. It seemed most of the pirates either hadn't noticed their ships sluggish pace or were simply so engrossed on fighting for their lives they did not care.
One such pirate found this mentality a fatal one as a blast of black magic caught him between the shoulder blades. Enough force behind it to damage the flesh, and knock him forwards a bit, the bewildered man turned abruptly to find a spear plunging through his abdominal section. A second turned to look at the fallen comrade before he was wounded as well. The now victorious defender of the fallen pirate moving in to help finish him while Drei began channeling his next cast. He did not need to utilize his full power, and could thus focus on stamina preservation so that he wouldn't collapse from fatigue mid fight like Althea nearly did. Or like himself prior.
So this plan continued. A few smaller successes and the now finite pirates allowing them to snowball into a colossal avalanche of bodies that began to route the pirates. Though it was a victory...the costs were not absent. Bodies strewn of valiant countless defenders even while the Shaman quietly tried to preserve himself. His fatigue still definitively evident in his stride and two newly acquired, though far lesser wounds from before causing him to bleed lightly from his opposing side as the prior wound near his hip, and his left arm was once more trickling down blood quietly from a thin laceration along the length of his forearm. The boy quietly lifted a palm to it while he approached the pale haired Shaman once more.
"Althea, you okay?"
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Post by Althea on Jan 23, 2017 16:49:10 GMT -6
"That's... reassuring," Althea managed with a wry smile, not quite feeling like herself. It was a curiously distant feeling, but then everything felt distant right now, even the receding of Drei's billowing robes and the dying sounds of combat. She wasn't quite sure if this was what dying felt like, but hoped not. It didn't hurt nor had she been seriously wounded, but the sullen exhaustion washing over her in great waves was enough to make her seriously consider just slumping over right here, wood and water be damned - but that would be MURDER on her hair - something about the thought almost sent her into a fit of giggles right there, surrounded by me myself and I, just the absurdity of not even giving a damn about the actual fight anymore and only really thinking about whether she should try to find a safer place to collapse or just call it a day there.
Seeing Christa's resting face was the last straw for the fading shaman, and with herculean effort she managed to scootch a bit closer to the girl, slightly worried that she'd died in the meantime. No, her chest was still rising and falling, she was definitely alive. Just uh, passed the f**k out. Ugh, she looked almost comfortable... serene in her repose, a peaceful scene amidst the madness. Leaning up against the wooden walls - there was a term for it, Althea couldn't think of it, something other than railing - it didn't matter that much. She didn't think she could actually move any further to save her life if the pirate emperor himself showed up with an axe in one hand and his genitalia in the other.
By the time Drei returned, Althea's head had lolled to the side a bit, resting on the shorter blonde's own as the two maidens joined each other in slumber. Both had simply pushed themselves too far for their limited abilities; if not for the efforts of Lucio and crew, and Drei's final acts, they probably would not have survived the voyage.
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