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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 11, 2017 21:36:16 GMT -6
...And Shara thought Morrigan could be an oddball, at times. Shara herself knew not to pay much mind to stereotypes...and actually bothered to FOLLOW that line of logic these days. However it was still amusing to know that the stereotypes of those who practiced dark magic tended to be that they were heavily introverted and showed no emotion, for they had given it all to the nether in exchange for knowledge and power.
So far, most of the dark mages Shara had met were just awkward and...generally odd all around. Though Shara didn't judge Althea too strongly. Again, she was VERY interesting in the observatory itself. Her main thought towards it was sadness. That observatory had likely been all but forgotten by most of the Bernese. If not through time alone, then through recent events. Monsters like gargoyles dissuaded travel through and around the mountains, and the civil war was also a far more pressing concern for the average citizen.
Now that the war had been won, though, perhaps Bern would set about reclaiming such things from the monsters that had claimed them. Only time would tell...
And again, time was not on their side. If they waited too long the sun would set, and Shara recalled that monsters had a tendency to be more proactive during nightfall. She would much rather catch them off-guard, even better if they were asleep. Were gargoyles actually nocturnal? Likely, given that Shara didn't see any outside of the observatory.
Eventually Althea gave Shara her signal that she was ready, so Shara proceeded to lead the way in a wide circle around the observatory. She kept close to the edge of the summit, but not so far that an unfortunate accident could send herself and Althea down for...quite the tumble. As she made her way around the construct she noted that there really was only one door into the building...joy. At least that meant that the gargoyles within would only come from one direction.
“It seems like there's just one opening that leads into the observatory. I'm not sure if there's a larger opening on the roof or not. Likely so, if any instruments are within the main chamber.” Tools used to map and observe stars weren't of much use if they were placed without a clear view of the sky. Though there were likely tools and instruments on the roof as well...which meant there was most certainly another opening.
“Even with an opening on the rooftop, this means that if we lure the gargoyles out, they are only coming from two locations. Depending on the numbers, they may even have to fly out single file. If I were you, I'd aim for any that come out through the main door first. Try to eliminate them before they're even aware of your presence. Either their heads or wings are probably the best targets.”
Striking their head would obviously be more fatal, but if their wings could be clipped then the vast majority of the threat they posed disappeared as well.
Having made a full circle around the building, Shara took a breath and began to walk towards the door. “I'm going in. Be ready...” ...This wasn't right. Shara wasn't just doing this for the sake of it. She was no mercenary or even a knight. This wasn't her duty because another gave it to her, nor was she being paid. Shara...needed to always remember why she was doing this.
To spread hope.
“And don't fear. I'll...protect you.” Smooth, Shara. Confident and smooth. Fueled by embarrassment as well, Shara kept her gaze fixed on the doorway as she walked towards it, her cheeks a bit flushed.
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Post by Althea on May 11, 2017 23:33:11 GMT -6
Hmm... limited exits and even more limited volume of egress. Though there was the possibility that any roof exits were of larger scale - to allow the movement of larger mechanisms - so that might be worth paying special attention to. Ms. "I'm a mage but I like melee" looked to be covering the front door, which was most likely for the best - it would be easier for her to reach that, and in turn Althea's range would allow her to better cover the upper areas of the structure more effectively. Unless the other woman could like, superhero jump tall buildings in a single bound, but this was real life not some stupid fantasy and thus it was exceedingly unlikely.
In the end it would simply be a matter of doing their best and hoping that their best was good enough. So much for planning, huh? With a wry look Althea focused on the magic coursing through her, bringing her right hand up with open palm and curled fingers, finding she still needed SOMETHING concrete to orient her realspace calculations around - not a crippling calamity but frustrating nonetheless. Her... large... quantities of experience in opening Nether portals had gradually allowed her to refine the craft, stabilizing the mouths of hell - so to speak, she refused to accept the concept of a religious afterlife, Eliminist or otherwise - and vastly increasing the efficiency of the transfer as well as minimizing their immediately deleterious effects on her body on account of, well, not being dumb enough to use herself as the direct conduit for that. Only possible through experience - so in a way she actually DID have to thank those worthless pirates, the bonewalkers, the Mauthe Doogs, the pirates... again, the bandits, all of them, for their unwitting aid in her studies.
Of course she wasn't just standing there feeling giddy and girlish about her success. Most of her concentration was locked up in calculations, requiring the vast majority of her processing power to concurrently calibrate each budding portal's exact spacial coordinates and targeting protocols - upwards, along likely possible flight paths - and one aimed closer towards Shara's direction - not aimed AT the woman, she wasn't THAT heartless or insane, but just in case there was a need. At worst she would just be wasting a bit of magic to de-calibrate and dissipate it, a loss that the magus was willing to accept in the name of attempting to be appropriate supporting fire.
-Though she still wasn't sure how to react to that little parting comment. Hm. She'd kinda assumed an idea would come to mind by this point. Oh well. Might as well wing it. "Thank you Shara. I will endeavor to return the favor."
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 12, 2017 17:07:23 GMT -6
Shara reached the doorway and tried to peer into the observatory. Well it had been nearly impossible to do so from afar, Shara could see that there was, in fact, an opening in the roof of the building. Sunlight managed to pour in, illuminating the stoney building much to Shara's relief. Granted it made fighting the urge to investigate the tools, patterns, and any potential texts left behind all the more difficult to withhold.
But not for long. The scent of sulfur and...bile...reminded her that the observatory was more than just that, for the time being. It was also a nest. A haven for monsters. If Shara was to observe at all, she'd have to do so simply to locate them as quickly as possible. So with her goal clear, she stepped through the doorway...
Her search didn't take long.
The observatory wasn't all that large. The main floor was simply one room, with an old wooden staircase that led to the open upper level. Shara wagered the observatory's main floor could comfortably hold about a dozen individuals, but too many more than that and it would grow crowded, with the various tools left lying about.
Stone platforms and wooden shelves were indeed littered with smaller tools, as well as old texts and parchments that likely held research notes from the last users of the observatory. Larger contraptions, however, notably an equatorium, were strategically placed beneath the opening of the upper level. At first Shara didn't see any monsters present, at least not along the main floor...which, given her targets, likely meant but one thing.
Shara didn't even need to look up to confirm their location, though. She could see their shadows.
Four sets of golden eyes glared down at her. Two were perched on the highest steps of the wooden stair case, while two more were perched along the rim of the upper level, able to gaze down and glare at the intruder who dared disturbed their territory. All four of them had grey skin, blotched with dust and what looked to be dried blood. Their wings were folded, but large and likely quite powerful, though Shara noted battle scars were visible along them.
And, of course, three of them held rusted, ebon spears in their leathery claws.
Shara wanted to say something witty. Or anything. Something to break up the Nabatan stand-off that had broken out between her and the four gargoyles. However her mind went blank, and immediately began to refocus. Her stone glowed gently, and Shara could feel its heat against her throat. Power flowed through her body as she drew upon that very heat, her eyes taking on a reddish tinge. The dragoness bent her knees slightly, and waited.
Then came the shrieks.
The two gargoyles on the upper level stretched their wings and took to the skies, leaving the observatory and Shara's field of vision in general. The two on the staircase dove from their posts and charged straight for Shara herself, spears poised and ready to impale her.
Shara backed up into the doorway immediately. The space would be too narrow for both beasts to make it through together: they'd have to go single file.
Her fists raised, Shara ducked as the first gargoyle charged her. There was a rush of wind, its spear whistling beside her ear, before the dragoness drove her fist into the beast's jaw in a fierce uppercut. The force was enough to knock the gargoyle into the top of the doorway, though it made just enough room for the second one to burst through.
Shara's eyes widened as she shifted her body against the narrow doorway, just barely evading a thrust from the second gargoyle's spear, but she was left wide open for it to kick at her body with its talons. There was no penetration, but the kick was delivered FAR stronger than Shara would have expected, throwing her out of the doorway and onto her back.
“I've got these two – watch the two in the sky!” Was all the warning Shara could give as she scrambled to her feet. Her torso, where the gargoyle's kick had landed, stung quite a bit...this wouldn't be easy at all.
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Post by Althea on May 12, 2017 23:03:17 GMT -6
This had been a nice day, Althea reflected serenely as the golden haired 'mage' walked into the observatory with hackles raised and fangs bared. Um, figuratively speaking. Shara didn't actually have - anyways. Good exercise, she got to murder innocent monsters, possibility of knowledge. Obviously everything would go wrong immediately, so Althea couldn't even pretend to be surprised when an explosion of sound and fury erupted from within, shrieking nightmares from Elibe's nightmares ringing forth as motion and action sprang forth within. She couldn't SEE what was actually going on but it took little imagination to think of what could be going on, and so she had a moment to adjust the magic coursing through her, redirecting her abilities slightly to prepare in the few moments of time she had remaining.
When Shara came bursting out the door like a bat out of hell, or more accurately a lady who made new gargoyle friends, that... served to sober the mood to a degree. No more room for jokes. No more amusement. It was time for extermination lest she let down both Shara and herself in equal measures. And while her interactions with Shara had not all been... ideal so far, Althea wished no harm on the other woman. Similarly, while she wasn't exactly used to the idea of 'pride' in her work, she didn't exactly want to fail here.
And as she had realized, there were many ways to use the Nether. At its core it was many things. Emotion. Energy. Mass. Life. Death. But her magic had always tended to the more energetic, figuratively and literally, and so that had more recently led her down the path of actually following through on that thought. If one conceptually accepted the Nether as energy - a malleable force that caused change - rather than as a substance, as she had tended to, if mass was sacrificed in the name of progress, then it became easier to manipulate. Not safer per se. Raw energy was more... volatile to say the least. But it did tax her less physically, allowing her to bring her mind to bear more directly while using her form more for simpler tasks. Like holding itself upright, which was about all her body was capable of doing right now.
But around her, the air boiled as light was sucked into several vortexes, spots that had been odd cracks in the air before but spiraled into portals to the abyss. But rather than the inky darkness she typically harnessed, they were a mix of light and dark, deep purplish-white energy tinged by the ebon shadow throughout them belying the nature of the energy as not being simply light.
Without the mastery needed to actually control them purely by will Althea was forced to continue to use physical motion to direct them, waving her hand upward in an arc, passing by Shara's location - a lancing ray of energy whose light was shadow piercing the space between them very quickly, passing over Shara's head as she rose, into the darkness from whence she had been thrown - a pre-programmed attack, not aimed specifically at the gargoyles she could not even see yet but designed to in theory give her a moment of breathing room if needed - she didn't know what Shara was capable of and so had erred on the side of caution. As her hand rose two more of the portals sputtered to life, roiling vortexes of light and dark that followed her movement, erupting again in lances of light that skewered the air and tore though - absolutely nothing in the first one's case, barely missing one of the rising gargoyles - an error in calculation, this was TECHNICALLY just the beta.
The second struck home, impaling the creature's left wing and burning through nearly instantly before dissipating, ruining its ascent but inflicting minimal true damage aside from hampering its mobility. That was... frustrating. She had been aiming for the head. But this was still useful combat data. She would have to recalculate the algorithms for spacial distortion and moving targets, as well as find a way to better stabilize the gateways themselves.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 13, 2017 15:27:08 GMT -6
Shara wasn't exactly in a position to watch the fascinating, yet admittedly eerie, process of Althea channeling and casting her magic. The dragoness did manage to see the end result of it though, as black energy arced over her towards the doorway. Neither gargoyle seemed to be struck by this initial attack, but both halted their approach – which Shara was grateful for. It gave her the chance to raise her hands and fall into a proper combat stance again. How much good it would serve against enemies that flew and used spears, she didn't know.
The dragoness also took the moment to glance up just in time to see Althea's magic rip through the wing of one of the other two gargoyle's. The creature faltered and struggled to stabilize itself, but it would clearly be moving far slower than the other two. Which was good...given that both gargoyle's would be fully aware of Althea's presence and position. Like Shara had thought striking their wings was definitely a valid tactic – granted it wasn't some stroke of brilliance or anything. Removing an advantage from your opponent was basic.
Shara just needed to see if she could do it on HER end. If not, well, she'd settle for crushing their skulls.
The two gargoyles closer to ground burst through the doorway and soared towards Shara. While Shara had a greater range of movement now that they had passed through the doorway, her targets did as well. Immediately they moved to take advantage of that, breaking apart from each other to glide around to Shara's flanks. Not good. Waiting in place was likely the worst move she could make, so instead Shara immediately dashed to the right.
Seeing her charge the gargoyle attempted to rise up above her, and unfortunately succeeded to do so before Shara drew near. Knowing what would follow she stepped down hard to come to a halt and spun around-
“Gah!” Just in time for spear to graze her cheek. The spearhead managed to draw blood but the wound wasn't too deep. Following her instincts, Shara ignored the stinging pain and grabbed the gargoyle's spear. It tightened it's grip, but Shara planted her feet as firmly as possible. “Let...GO!” With a cry she ripped the lance out of it's grasp, pulling the beast towards her as it lost its balance in the air. Seemed there was an advantage to being land-locked as well.
Her dragonstone pulsed as further energy was drawn from it. Black scales began to form over her hands and forearms as she tightened her fist, ready to drill the grey-skinned beast right in its snout. Before the strike could be made, however, she heard a shriek from above her. Rather than use its spear the second gargoyle descended and kicked down hard. The force was enough to drive Shara down to the ground, the taste of gravel and blood filling her mouth.
Shara's vision went hazy, but only momentarily. Adrenaline and no small amount of anger driving her, she threw herself to the side, barely hearing the clang of iron meeting rock as she narrowly avoided impalement.
This REALLY was not going to be easy.
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Post by Althea on May 13, 2017 17:16:54 GMT -6
So far, so good. Data acquisition rates were well above expected tolerance - a mixture of good and bad, some expected flaws and further future developments in projected optimizations. Assuming she didn't get murdered here, anyways. Ah, optimism my old friend, I've come to kick you in the gonads once again. Somewhat frustratingly, the gargoyle she'd winged (heh) wasn't even all that crippled by the exchange, clearly more limited in mobility, but still able to fly well enough to approach her and then likely rip her apart limb from limb. Even if it was flapping pretty unevenly. The other one... he was still full on mobility and moving a lot more helter-skelter, pre-emptively prepared for another scathing assault from her magic. Which brought them right back to the core issue as Shara had summarized it earlier - without truly instantaneous magic, Light or lightning or very, VERY fast dark energy, the issue of actually hitting was still a concern.
Taking a deep breath - a shaky one - she was focusing too hard on her magic to really remember physical concerns - Althea attempted to solve the riddle before it broke her. Shara was busy elsewhere and would not be able to provide immediate support, so... so much for having a meatshield. Thus, she had to find a way to hold off one or both of them while landing enough firepower to finish them both off eventually. And while this evolution of her magic was useful and more accurate than previous forms, it was only marginally less costly to use repeatedly. She couldn't just spam it forever. In short, she had to make each shot count... against mobile opponents who could dodge any that weren't aimed perfectly... wonderful! That should be fine.
Or at least some variety of four letter word.
The only solution that actually came to mind was the simplest that could satisfy the equation - if she could not reliably attack where they were, then she just had to attack where they would be. But that in turn came with its own issues. She would have to predict where they would be - independently sentient creatures with high mobility and inconsistent movement patterns. Wait. No. As her psyche continued to unravel the problem, Althea realized she was merely overcomplicating the problem with unnecessary parameters. She didn't have to predict anything. She just had to make their decisions for them. And that, if nothing else, she could do.
Four more radial streams of energy emerged from nothingness behind her, forming a square in the air behind and to her sides, tracking based on rapid calculations. Though it took only a moment to realize that each was - lagging - for a mind so used to absolutely one tracked action it was difficult enough to split it into two or three, four actively controlled was simply too much for her as she was. Maybe down the road, with practice. Abort? No, that just meant prioritization was key. Running through realspace calculations quickly, the two on the left continued to face in the rough direction of the wounded gargoyle, one firing a lance of shadowed light that passed by the creature forcing a minor reaction as it attempted to dodge that which had already missed, as she turned her attention to the more mobile one.
Hm... no. Not enough. But that could work to her advantage. Raising her right hand once more, darkness bloomed again in a ray that carved through the air, a few feet to the gargoyle's right. It definitely noticed that. Good. The second panel glowed and another beam erupted from it, this time much closer to the gargoyle, aimed at its side; already having seen two beams miss to the right - one each on it and its counterpart - the creature naturally evaded to the left. The panel to her left, partially obscured, was revealed a moment later as she stepped to the side, actually feeling the frozen breeze as the torrent of energy ripped through the air past her, aimed just to the left of the creature - what do you know - it moved the same way. The torrent of energy struck dead center, a headshot deemed too risky, matched by a keening screech as the injured character took the brunt of the magical attack.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 13, 2017 20:22:57 GMT -6
It had most certainly dawned upon Shara that the plan she had laid out hadn't...exactly come to pass. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so quick to mention protection and front-lining. She HAD noticed the battle would be happening out in the open, against enemies who could fly. Even if she stood in front of Althea as the druid cast her magic, there was no guarantee Shara could actually keep all four gargoyles off of Althea.
In a sense this was their best course of action. At least this way Althea only had to worry about two, and likewise for Shara. Still not favorable numbers, but both women had their own advantages. Althea had the versatility and range of her magic. Shara...was stronger than the average blonde, though she certainly didn't have as much fun. False stereotype. All the same such a great distance between the two wasn't favorable, and so when Shara got to her feet she steadily backed up towards Althea. The dragoness didn't dare turn her back to the gargoyles before her, though,
As the two of them went for the same pincer maneuvre, shrieks ringing out from them as they beat their wings to encircle the dragoness. Shara spat blood onto the gravel and let her mind race. Initially she'd thought that staying still was the worst course of action, but moving hadn't exactly worked either. That extra dimension of movement made things true hell for the dragoness. Even if she moved faster than the average human woman, she wasn't quite moving at the speed of a gargoyle.
So Shara stopped backpedalling and planted her feet again. Her eyes darted from side to side as the two gargoyles began to close in. The dragoness had turned this into a game of chicken. If the gargoyles continued their approach they risked crashing into each other, even IF they hit Shara as well. If Shara didn't move, she wasn't going to be able to stop both of them...but she didn't plan on staying still. Moving had not been the issue the first time she attacked.
She'd just moved too soon.
Shara dashed to her left this time, mere seconds before the gargoyle would have closed in on her. It screeched but didn't alter its trajectory whatsoever: it simply didn't have enough time to do so. Shara shifted her body just to the side, evading the thrust from its spear, and reached out to grab the creature's leg with both of her claws. Shara tightened her grip instantly and dug her boots into the rock and gravel below, grunting as she slid forward with the prone gargoyle in tow. She felt it kick at her shoulder, its talons digging deep into her shoulder, but Shara endured.
“HRAAAAH!” Using the momentum from her dash, Shara spun as she slid. The blood from her shoulder wound flew out in flecks as she managed to make a full turn, just in time to slam one gargoyle into the other. Both of the creatures lost their grip on their lances the tumbled to the ground. They rolled some few feet, hissing and shrieking all along the way, until they finally came to a stop.
Shara broke into a dash again, channeling power from her dragonstone into her legs to move faster. Any worries or thoughts of Althea noticing her eyes, or her scaled arms and clawed hands, were non-existent. Before the gargoyle's could properly untangle themselves she lunged them, tackling into one while knocking the other aside.
The dragoness forced her claws through the tough, leathery flesh that surrounded the gargoyle beneath her. Through the beast's throat in particular. Thick, dark blood oozed from the wound and the creature began to flail about, wheezing in protest. Large wings slapped against her sides, hard enough to leave bruises, and the creature's talons had found the softer flesh of Shara's thighs...but the pain only made her stone burn brighter.
Pulling one of her claws free from the creature's throat, she balled up a tight fist and drove it straight into the beast's snout. Once left an impact, she could feel its bones beneath its flesh, but it wasn't enough. So Shara brought her fist down again, and again, and again, each time letting out an almost feral grunt or cry. More blood began to spurt from the creature's nostrils, and eventually one of Shara's punches was accompanied with a disturbing crack...
Blood leaked from its mouth, its eyes, and the back of the beast's head. Shara had quite literally “bashed it's brains out” against the hard rock of the mountain summit. The repeated blows left her right hand trembling, pain throbbing throughout her arm. Her fist had been too tight, and the creature's body too strong.
Shara got to her feet and shook her arm in a poor effort to relieve the pain that now assailed her arm, but just as soon as she got to her feet did she have the wind knocked clean out of her lungs. Shara's whole world went fuzzy and dark, but she felt an intense throb of pain spread out across her back, as a heavy weight fell upon it.
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Post by Althea on May 13, 2017 21:42:38 GMT -6
Hah! Totally nailed it. The gargoyle was falling, the other one had been slowed enough, almost forced to descend so that its feet could help carry the weight of its tattered wing, that in the moment Althea felt a flush of victory swell over her. She had done appreciable damage to both gargoyles - killed one - she didn't have the attention to really devote to watching Shara's fight but she could see flashes of red and gold ongoing, signaling that the fight was continuing. The gargoyle above her was still falling, the other one hadn't reached her ye... actually that was falling pretty fast, wasn't it? It was hard to gauge the exact speed given the distance and her limited frame of reference, but actually wow yea damn gravity must have taken over pretty hard. Hell, that was pretty fast even for... gravity...
It... wasn't just falling was it?
Althea shrieked when the crimson meteor slammed into the earth before her, spared from being herself crushed only by undignified flailing backwards as she stumbled, all thoughts of mindless ranged artillery temporarily purged from her mind in a hot wind of dust and heat. She forgot Shara existed. She forgot about the other gargoyle. She forgot the observatory, the village, her plans, everything. All that remained was an almost primal fear and survival instinct, one that threatened to overwhelm her conscious thought. The only thought she could cling to, as undignified and... silly sounding as it was, was that she NEEDED that stuff for magic. There was no way for her to manage the complex calculations subconsciously or cast normally in close range without concentration. So she clung to that weakness, and made it strength. Not because she wanted to, or because it was unfathomably deep, but because the dark mage really couldn't think of anything else to focus on in that moment. She had to... regain balance, regain control, pull her mind together and use it. Because this was just a problem to be solved like any other. Harder than some perhaps. But all riddles had an answer if one looked closely enough.
...Well, it had certainly traded its mobility away at any rate. While still conflicted mentally, Althea at least found it in herself to bring her right hand upward, allowing the familiar calculations and the chilling heat of the Nether energies flowing through and around her to bolster her resolve. Rather than a question of ideal application it was a matter of mere optimization. Hit bad guy with more magic than the last time. And without the need to stabilize each lance of energy for long range, nor the awkward beginnings of a tracking system she had tried to implement and generally failed to do aside from wasting magic. That freed up both magic and processing power for more... brute force applications.
Two, four, six portals shuddered into existence around her, rotating around the shaman's body as her rising arm hit the zenith of its ascent, a look of almost grim amusement on her face - the creature flapping its wings in defiance, raising lance, injured but alive - and the axe fell, each blast of energy - rougher and less contained than the previous, less carefully aimed, but more powerful for it - slammed into the creature successively. It staggered backward from the staccato beat as one, then another, penetrated through its leathery skin entirely; what was resilient to blunt force trauma was not so resistant to the magical force of her piercing rays.
But there was still another gargoyle coming, charging now, and with her briefly risen attention Althea could only watch in momentary horror as another bashed Shara from behind. Which did she prioritize? She didn't have enough magic in this instant to do both, or a great deal at all actually, it would take a moment to recover - but the decision came from thoughtspace quicker than she could think it, one more vortex appearing above her as she zoned in on the target - and again light and dark spilled forth from it, a more solid beam racing towards the one assaulting Shara. She had seen blood. She didn't know if it was Shara's or not, the distance too great, but... Althea didn't want to watch the other woman die. She wasn't a friend, but she was a... counterpart at least. Yes, that was more palatable.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 14, 2017 1:47:04 GMT -6
Shara's senses had gradually begun to return to her, albeit far slower than she would have liked. The taste of blood was strong again in her mouth, and her jaw was clenched as her entire body ached. Especially her back holy hell...she'd very much underestimated how powerful these gargoyles were. The dragoness had been prepared for the speed, the longevity, and the low cunning that they'd showcased thus far, but she didn't think they'd be able to cause so much damage to her with just their bodies.
The weight on her back shifted as Shara planted her hands onto the rocky face beneath her. Power rushing through her upper body, Shara began to push herself up even with the gargoyle on her back. Her progress was halted when she felt her throat tighten swiftly. Not from the claws of the monster, but from her own cape! The creature must have begun to pull at the back of it. Shara gasped and choked as she began to fight for air, and silently cursed that her stone had given her such a weakness, albeit an aesthetically pleasing one...
Thankfully the pressure was lifted suddenly, and the weight of her back was knocked over. Sucking in a deep breath Shara watched as the gargoyle fell before her. Smoke rose from its back, lingering dark energy sizzling away at its tough hide. It must have been Althea.
“And I'm supposed to be protecting her...”
The thought didn't come with the angst that, in the not-so distant past, may have assailed her mind. Instead brief flashes of a fresh memory came instead. Undulating waves of blackness, and the unnatural voice of a monster playing at a human taunting all who were consumed by them. No...there was no fear, no sorrow, and no self-pity in Shara. The dragoness' eyes burned with rage, and with a battle cry she broke forward into a sprint.
The gargoyle recovered fast and spun 'round to face Shara. With a hiss it lashed a wing out towards her, to attempt to impede her progress, but rather the dragoness dug her claws into the leathery appendage instead. Panic consumed the gargoyle and it charged forward to tackle into Shara, but it was too late. Just as its snout connected with her torso, Shara managed to tear through the wing's membrane with her claws. Like a hot knife through butter.
Shara was forced back a few steps, barely managing to keep her breath after the headbutt, but the gargoyle was left in a far worse state. It shrieked in agony and stumbled forward, far less balanced on solid ground as opposed to the air. That's right – the creature was on Shara's turf now. It attempted to stretch its wings and take to the sky, but just as it rose up Shara drove her fist dead on into the beast's snout.
Blood splattered out from the creature's nostrils as it fell back, about to land on it's back again. Shara reached out with her other hand and grabbed the winged beast's left leg. With a hard pull she yanked the gargoyle's prone body towards her and raised her claws up, poised to strike. As soon as it was close Shara pumped all over power into her right arm. “GRAHH!” With a cry she drove her claws into the creature's chest, forcing it's body down to the ground hard.
The gargoyle was tenacious, though. Even with blood pouring from its open wound, rising up around Shara's claws, it wrapped its paws around her wrist and attempted to force her claw out. It's strength waned fast, however, and instead Shara twisted her claws to grind away at the monster's innards. Seething, from pain and anger alike, she watched as the creature's breathing slowed...pulling her claws free as its chest fell for the last time.
“...Okay...time to keep my promise.” Shara turned around to face Althea. The druid had unleashed a magical barrage on one of the gargoyles, black light bombarding and piercing its leathery hide. If that one wasn't dead after that, it would be too weak to be considered an actual threat...however another still fast approached.
Shara grit her teeth, pushed past the pain that throbbed throughout her back and arm, and made a dash towards the mage.
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Post by Althea on May 14, 2017 17:37:58 GMT -6
Althea's right eye narrowed without her consent, distracting her momentarily as she realized bit late - almost lagged - that her mental processes were disconnecting to some degree. Nothing fatal. That was the first diagnostic, of course. She wasn't turning retarded. But there was a - a time lag, a difficulty in connection, that was both incredibly frustrating and slowing her calculations down more significantly than she had realized. How intriguing. Despite the situation she found herself intrigued by the prospects. Physically she was almost completely unperturbed by this repeated magic use; her exhaustion was almost precisely at the level it had been from the climb and little more. Compared to her usual magic, this was far easier on the mind. As best she could tell it was even a bit easier on her magically, though at the cost of a significant reduction in power - while the Nether lasers were fast and accurate they lacked drastically in power. Yes, monsters were tough, but magic could rip through any hide, and her usual magic did a far better job at doing so.
The cost to this, primarily, was the (hopefully temporary) damage it did to her mind, exhausting and slowing her unexercised logic centers. Sort of like trying to run before one had learned to walk. Or perhaps more accurately, running a marathon without training? Whatever the case it was clear that while she hadn't rendered herself mentally retarded or anything of the like, continuing to freely cast this magic would have increasingly deleterious effects on her psyche. Not that she really had a choice. The one winged angel gargoyles was still bearing down on her, and while she had done massive damage to the fully landed one with the previous barrage, it was still functional to some degree, swaying as it barely stood upright, its lance planted in the ground to offer support.
...She almost felt bad for it, oddly enough. It was a bit too ugly, too battered, to look even vaguely noble - but whether by force of will or force of hate it stared defiantly at her nonetheless despite what it had endured. It continued to do so as a single ray formed above her, burning through its face and skull, incinerating all form of sentience from the living corpse as it collapsed limply to the ground.
-And the headache was getting worse. Fantastic. Momentarily recuperating, Althea found a moment to observe Shara's battle, or possibly hallucinated, she still wasn't close enough to see super specific details but it sure as hell looked like Shara's arms had... warped into... something else, and she was ripping a gargoyle apart? Dammit. It WAS the same god damn bullshit 'magic' that Jalid had used, but even more advanced. It wasn't the anger of hatred, but of frustrated knowledge - Althea did NOT like not knowing things, and while she had allowed Jalid his flimsy excuses, she was not going to let this blonde hussy get away with the 'lol im just a mage' bullshit.
That said there was still another gargoyle running at her, using its remaining wing for some speed, and she didn't have it in her to greet it with a barrage of magic right now. Instead Althea found herself simply channeling a simple Flux spell, trying to turn the strain to her body and magic instead to allow her mind to rest for a spell. Heh. Spell. Get it, because she was casting magic and magic could also be called a - nevermind.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 14, 2017 20:07:59 GMT -6
Aaaaaaaand yeah, there went the first of Althea's gargoyles. What remained of the creature's smoldering body slumped to the ground. Shara was somewhat impressed: she really hadn't expected Althea to be so capable. Not that she looked down on the woman in the first place, she was...trying to STOP doing that. It was more that Shara didn't really know what to expect from mages. She'd met some who were...about average, like Samantha and others whose true prowess she likely hadn't seen, like Morrigan. Shara figured the safe assumption for the average individual would be, what a shock, average.
However the dragoness was still left in a rather fierce race. One gargoyle did remain, after all, and it flew at Althea. The woman didn't quite look like she was at her peak game anymore, Shara could relate, and the black tendrils she'd begun to summon were not quite on the same level as her earlier rays of absolute blackness. Shara didn't want to see if that gargoyle would be hampered by that spell or not.
So she tackled it. A few feet before Althea's face Shara tucked her shoulder and lunged at the beast. The two collided with a loud smack...and neither landed gracefully. Shara slid across the gravel and rock, her arms scraped from the friction and rough texture. The gargoyle tumbled into a roll, they had a strange tendency to do that, but would be left not nearly so wounded thanks to the leathery flesh that served to protect it.
Shara attempted to push herself to her feet, both arms BURNING from the recent scrape, but her right arm throbbed and trembled. Had she really over done it? It seemed gargoyle's had tougher hides, and bone structure, than Mauthe Doogs did. Regardless, both Shara and the gargoyle got to their feet and stared at each other for a moment. The gargoyle panted and huffed, like a panicked beast, as it gazed between the two females. The tables had turned – and it wasn't very thrilled by that fact.
The creature WAS intelligent enough to realize that if it didn't move it was boned harder than...huh, Shara didn't have a good example. She was on one hell of a dry str – ANYWAYS. The gargoyle beat its wings furiously and attempted to take to the sky, but Shara was quite done with the abominable creatures and their aerobatic maneuvers.
“Oh no you don't!” Shara charged forward and leaped up, reaching out with both arms as the gargoyle continued to ascend. It didn't ascend high enough, unfortunately for it, as Shara's still clawed hands gripped the creature's leg. With a roar she swung her arms down, bringing the creature down to the rock in an arc. The beast landed back first with a heavy thud and let out a pained, frustrated shriek in protest.
Before Shara could move to place the creature in checkmate, she felt something wrap around her left calf. Alarmed her gaze went downward, and she saw the creature's tail coiled tightly around her. She then felt rough leather crack into her face as the gargoyle wrenched its leg out of her grasp, taking advantage of her distraction, and kicked at her. Great, now she could SMELL blood as well as taste it, and her vision was blurred for the third time that fight.
Shara staggered back a step, and was essentially helpless as the gargoyle yanked its tail backwards hard. The dragoness felt her leg pulled out from under her, and her entire world (dark as it may have been) spun fast as she landed on the rock – thankfully back first. “f**k**g crap!” Shara didn't cuss often, but she also didn't enjoy the sensation of being entirely dazed.
A shrill shriek rang through her ears as the gargoyle hurled itself upon Shara. She could barely see the thing, with her vision steadily returning and inertia wearing off, but a surge of adrenaline had Shara throw her arms up in a defensive position. Catching the gargoyle by its claws, Shara poured as much power as she could into her arms as she held the beast at bay. It hissed and snapped at her neck, but was kept just out of range from delivering a bite.
“Althea – kill it!” Shara called out. She squirmed and struggled to work a leg up beneath the creature, in an attempt to kick the beast off, but the fatigue had begun to catch up to her a great deal. It was all she could manage to hold the gargoyle off of her.
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Post by Althea on May 15, 2017 16:46:21 GMT -6
Well that hadn't gone quite as expected. She hadn't actually been paying attention to Shara in that moment, too focused on the charging gargoyle, so admittedly Althea was a bit caught off guard by the sudden blonde and red missile streaking into the demon bird thing trying to kill you. The Flux spell fizzled uselessly as her concentration imploded into meaningless mush. Up close, she could see Shara's injuries much more effectively. And while she had not been distrusting of Shara before, exactly, that certainly helped to cement the other woman as - she didn't know what, exactly. Human maybe? In her mind. Well technically she supposed Shara might not TECHNICALLY be human, maybe she was one of those 'Taguel' things from Vinland, but it was hard to really envision the other woman as a monster or a... thing when you had just watched them fight and bleed. Even if Shara hadn't done most of it for HER exactly.
It wasn't out of laziness or lack of caring that she didn't aid Shara in the woman's struggle against the gargoyle, but more a combination of practicality and pragmatism. Well they were basically the same thing but - anyways. Point was that she couldn't exactly make the bad guys go boom when the other good guys were right next to them - whatever she was, Althea was NOT the kind of individual who would happily include an ally in her magic's area of effect. And, well, she wasn't certain she could use limited-radius magic effectively and accurately enough to aid safely in that moment. The other reason was the fact that she did need a moment to recuperate. While she was PHYSICALLY unharmed by this battle, mentally and magically she had... used a fair amount of her available resources.
Though when the battle seemed to turn against her companion, Althea found herself trying to gauge the wisdom of interjecting anyways - trying to minimize the damage she could do. Whether that was WISE or not paralyzed her into relative inaction, though not to the point that she could not channel the Nether regardless. The question was shape. Scale. Intent. Threefold complications. Any sort of ground based usage was too likely to strike Shara as well. She was... temporarily limited on converting Nether to energy as she had before. And so far her projectile research had mostly involved how to make them go boom even bigger, which was not exceptionally... useful to this particular situation.
Without much better of an idea she was left to simply cycle the dark energy through her, eventually setting up a simple acceleration loop to begin forging a higher power spell without much idea of when she would actually be able to use it or how. When Shara called for her though, the decision was made for her. Gauging acceptable area of effect. Target height. Viability of pierce-through. Tolerable spill. It almost felt a bit nostalgic to feel the dark energy visibly consume her right arm, the sense of cold discomfort and light pain growing as the torrent of energy solidified into a stream, then a river; the mobius loop surrounding it feeding into itself as she finished sorting the delivery method. And then one ribbon detached itself, feeding down the waiting circuits in her arm, and ice turned to fire in her veins as the accelerated and now amplified stream of screaming shadow burst forward, rapidly decomposing and spreading out as it traveled but still held together by the curving direction of the magical mechanism to focus it into a roughly tubular stream that smashed into the gargoyle's back and burned into it, streaking and slicing.
Aided by Shara's grip and the creature's lack of preparedness the dark magic had only its tough skin to bore through, and presented with only an immobile target that took very little time indeed, though as the sealing array dissipated under the magical stress Althea found herself forced to carefully - slowly - walk forward to keep it focused on the creature's back and not, say, on the Shara underneath it. By the time the loop had fed itself into the array entirely, the top two thirds of the gargoyle had evaporated completely and Althea was close to on top of Shara, looking... slightly less victorious and unscathed than she had a moment ago, her right arm still smoking ribbons of shadow and raw in places. But her left arm was in one piece, so with a wry smile she offered it to Shara nonetheless, not quite feeling up to saying anything less she... she didn't know what actually. Her head was still made of mush. Probably woulda said something stupid in the moment, a lame pun perhaps. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 16, 2017 22:30:31 GMT -6
Given the brief but painful glimpse into the true terror that dark magic could wield, one really could not blame Shara for her panic. It didn't help that there was a bloody gargoyle atop her body, locked in a struggle of raw strength that seemed an eternal statement. Yet as absolute darkness seemed to consume the foul creature from the inside out, Shara's mind was...very gradually set at ease. The beast had essentially disintegrated, swallowed whole by the undulating waves of black energy Althea had pumped into its being...
Shara let her arms fall to the side and allowed the ache to consume her. Well, at least her arms right down to her pectorals. She likely came close to tearing them, but, that was how muscle was built, right? Shara knew there would be great pain in fighting...but despite her body's lovely way of informing her that it had undergone a herculean effort, she still managed to feel...dissatisfied. She should have done more.
The feeling only sank deeper within herself when she saw what had become of Althea's hand. It looked as though it'd been nearly taken by the nether! No way such a strange, yet unseemly wound was caused by the gargoyle: it'd been Althea's own magic that was the result. A small part of Shara's mind pondered on how Althea had gone about that last technique, and presumed that it must have been the cause of her injury...but that part was drowned out by the...Shara didn't even know how to describe the feeling. Just that she processed it.
“...Thank you.” Shara said quietly as the other woman offered her good hand. Shara took it, but at least took it upon herself to get to her feet. Her legs didn't ache nearly as much as her back and upper body, so standing itself was not a great burden. The dragoness stretched her arms out, wincing as the ache intensified from the action. After a few seconds there was a faint, brief surge of relief. She'd been correc then: stretching was good, even if it hurt.
Shara's scales began to...oh. Right. As they flaked away like embers from a hearthfire, Shara looked at Althea. “A...bout all this. I can-”
A song came upon the wind, and when Shara heard it she fell silent. A rushing of air that followed a furious tempo...wingbeats. There was another one? Or-
Shara spun 'round and saw not a new gargoyle, but the first. The one she'd dealt serious damage to the cranial region to! And it...showed. The beast's face was partially concave, mushed meat leaking out beneath worn flesh. The creature's flight pattern was erratic and barely controlled, but its fury drove it forward through the pain and likely disorientation. It let out a shrill shriek and tucked its head in...
So Shara ran straight at the creature. She didn't have much time, maybe a second before it reached them, but all she knew was that she wanted it to reach HER first.
Shara tucked her shoulder in, against every protest her body gave in response, and focused what remained of her draconic energy into her upper body. The two collided with a crack, but Shara silently thanked her ancestors when no real pain followed. No broken bones. Instead both parties stayed pressed against each other, with Shara's boots gradually scraping backwards against the rock.
The gargoyle squealed and screeched in rage. It gripped Shara's body with its rough claws and pumped its wings harder as it attempted to drive her back. The dragoness grunted and cast a glance over her back. She was inches away from the cliffside. That was...NOT good. Definitely not good. What were her options? The creature's grip was tight – if she tried to slip out of it she'd just give up footing to the beast. Did she try to push back harder? Same risk, likely worse...
Shara no longer felt solid rock beneath her left heel. Another glance and...there was another cliff. More solid rock. Not a lot of space, but it looked sturdy enough to hold her should she fall...
Some cushioning would help.
Shara plumbed the depths of her reserves for one last rush of fire. Her scales burned onto her forearms once more, and with a desperate cry she gave up her push to drive her claws into the belly of the beast. The creature's flesh was strong, however, and Shara was not at peak condition. Her claws didn't bury themselves, far, but just enough that she could dig in a solid grip.
As she began to fall backwards, Shara used the last of her footing to push slightly to the left. The gargoyle and Shara spun during their descent. The fall was only a few feet – but it was just long enough for their rotation to reverse their positioning. Shara landed onto the lower cliff knees first. Even though it was leathery skin and muscle that she fell upon, a painful shock reveberated through her legs all the same.
The gargoyle itself, however, had it much worse. A sickening snap could be heard and the beast let out a screech of agony. One of its wings was bent beneath its back..and the force of the fall had driven Shara's claws deeper into the creature's gut. Once again she felt thick blood ooze and pool around her wrists...but the creature wasn't dead.
Luckily, Shara had a set of claws free.
“Round two, then?” Shara's taunt was a feral rasp, her eyes red as she fed her strength into her right arm. With a cry she slammed her fist down on the creature's already wounded head...and then again. Again, and again, until her muscles practically burned in absolute protest. Her strength finally failed her on the fourth strike, her fist slipping against the bloody mess that was the gargoyle. What balance Shara had was thrown, and she fell forward atop the motionless creature. Panting, and fatigued.
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Post by Althea on May 17, 2017 0:35:19 GMT -6
Soooooo... situational awareness was a thing, apparently! Good to know. Althea had looked in the exact wrong direction for the creature when she realized something was amiss, so turning back and realizing Shara had disappeared was rather confusing. Completely ruined her snarky comeback too, which actually bothered her a lot more than the blonde's apparent sudden deat-oh nevermind she was quite alright, just locked in a life or death struggle against a creature born from the nightmares of humanity that apparently didn't have the good sense to stay dead. It must have been one of the ones Shara had laid into earlier, not that Althea had exactly been paying perfect attention to that particular exchange; one of the ugly beasts was the same as another as far as she was concerned. They all looked the same anyways. It wasn't racist dammit, some stereotypes were based on fact!
Unfortunately there was very little she could actually do to aid Shara in their combat, with it all happening relatively fast and the blonde doing a WONDERFUL job of using herself to, er, protect the gargoyle from Althea's ability to aid her. Not her fault exactly. And the dark mage was rather impressed by the warmage's strength and tenacity. But it did sting a bit to feel so useless in the moment. If the gargoyle HAD won that fight, it would have happened with her simply standing there slack jawed. Further evidence that she needed to continue refining her control and the accuracy of her magic. Althea considered the thought as she began to carefully... and very slowly... heal the damage to her arm. Not by much. And with one arm, er, obviously indisposed, she had to keep the other nearly on top of it and focus a bit. Hm. To be able to deliver exactly as much as was needed in any situation, no matter how much or little. To be able to aid allies even in close combat with targeted precision strikes, perhaps even accepting the lack of effective damage in return for simply being able to break their opponent's concentration and open them up for allies.
-But that, of course, would require as much of an intimate knowledge of that ally's fighting style and probably movement patterns as it would control on her part, and Althea was... nowhere near there when it came to Shara. For better or for worse. Such thoughts occupied her as she walked over to where the two were fighting; past a moment of panicked horror she had heard the thump of them hitting solid ground so she had time to compose herself and stay her thoughts by the time she looked over the edge of the cliff and saw Shara and a now-unmoving gargoyle lying together in a wonderfully intimate embrace. The urge to make an uncouth joke was surprisingly strong, but she managed to bite it back for the time being and stared down for a moment.
"I am sure that we will have plenty of time to discuss various subjects later," Althea stated evenly as if nothing whatsoever was strange about the situation and she was totally ok with the idea of strange women turning their hands into claws, "but in the meantime, would... you like some help back up, or...?" She knelt at the edge of the incline, trying VERY hard not to think about her general dislike of falling to her death, both hands FIRMLY on the ledge and not say anywhere else, the remaining pain in her right arm was a very small price to pay for that security, and made ready to offer a hand if that was... if that was a thing that Shara did? She didn't really know how this was supposed to play out but Althea certainly hoped the blonde didn't expect to be hauled up bodily by a woman who couldn't bench press a kitten much less a crazy scale lady person.
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Post by Shara Tiinedra on May 17, 2017 19:35:23 GMT -6
Everything hurt.
Was this going to be a constant thing now? Her new permanent state of being? First there was the Mauthe Doogs followed up by Ragnis. Then there was that...oh, to hell with it, that bitch that took over Morrigan's friend out in the Convent. Now there was these damned gargoyles. Shara had gone from an extremely detached, non-confrontational, and mostly comfortable experience throughout Elibe to a never ending pain train.
Luckily, even the pessimistic and agonized dragoness was aware enough to realize that she'd...actually succeeded. With no small amount of help by any means, of course. Even as she mused to herself Althea had made her way to the upper cliff's edge, hand outstretched as a gesture of help and good will – poor thing didn't look like she'd be able to pull anything heavier than a book but the thought was still a nice one.
And whatever she likely lacked in physical prowess she certainly made up for in magical. That trick with the gargoyle earlier was -
...Oh boy, she was off topic. Perhaps just to distract herself from her aching back and throbbing arm, but also a sign that she was finally at ease. Mission was over. NOW she could geek out and do normal Shara things...er, normal NEW Shara things. Like...attempt to socialize and all that. Of course it'd be best for her to embark on that brave new frontier once she was actually on the same position as Althea.
So Shara pushed herself off of the gargoyle corpse – she'd never really been one to li...never mind. She got to her feet and gave herself a second to make sure her balance was fine. There was a light trembling in her knees thanks to the fall, but they didn't give out. So Shara made her way to the rocky cliff face and looked up. They really hadn't fallen that far. Enough that if she reached up she'd be able to grasp Althea's hand.
“Just...help keep me steady. I can do the heavy lifting.” ...N-not that Shara thought herself as heavy. Just...ugh. Was this how victory was supposed to feel? Awkward, yet giddy? Shara HAD taken a blow to the head during that fight...
The dragoness reached up and took Althea's arm, but rather than hold on for dear life and risk pulling the magus down, Shara squeezed out a bit more juice from her stone. Not enough for anything impressive, just enough to dull the aches and pains. With her free hand Shara reached for a decent sized chunk of rock and gripped onto it. From there she pulled herself up with a grunt, doing everything she could to avoid putting any pressure on Althea's arm.
Once she was high enough to set her knee on the rock, Shara reached up to the cliff edge itself and repeated the process. After some effort to heft herself up Shara was able to get both feet onto the rock beneath her, and gave a small hop to help her get her upper body onto summit. It was...awkward to partially supported by her, ahm, chest. But hey, Shara never thought they'd help serve a purpose quite like this one.
“O...kay!” With one last grunt Shara pulled herself onto the cliff successfully, releasing Althea's hand and taking a breath. Right...that was the easy part.
The uh, “various subjects” thing they had to take care of...now that would be the hard part. Shara wasn't exactly in great condition to defend herself, in case Althea reasonably freaked the hell out. But she didn't plan on telling a lie, couldn't think of a good one anyway. Besides, Althea hadn't killed her yet, for what that was worth. Her best opportunity would have been when she had the high ground and she willingly helped Shara up onto the summit again.
So Shara didn't necessarily fear a confrontation. It was just...well...when it came to directly telling humans what she was, the standing record was incredibly extreme. It either went very well, and helped strengthen a growing bond with someone she could now call a friend.
Or...it ended with blood.
“...All right. Ask whatever you'd like.”
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