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Post by Sorrum on Jun 23, 2019 23:18:26 GMT -5
Aqua had listened intently and looked into the portal before walking in. At this point, she asked herself how far she was willing to go for this cause.
She hesitated, then realized that this evil would just spread if it wasn't stopped now. Her own journeys were something she could pick up again after this was over. She sighed and walked through.
Stealth was not her strong suit, so she just followed behind Terra and tried to emulate her movements. At one point she saw the girl contemplating something deeply, but she did not speak on it. Aqua tilted her head, but remained silent as well.
After the green dragon scout had warned them, Enfurnus had pushed on without a word. Aqua understood that timing was dire here, but he had made a mistake that could cause many problems not addressing the literally green soldier. Dragons weren't all the same though, so she reluctantly followed along with the group.
Once they had reached the clearing, Aqua saw the figure on the rock. She immediately took cover behind a cut down tree. Did he see us? She peaked out from behind the tree and saw him doing.. nothing. She hadn't seen many mages carrying scythes and giving off ominous auras, so it was obviously their mark. Whatever that glow of his was, it was unnatural and made her skin crawl.
After Terra inquired to their plan of attack, Aqua's mind scrambled to action, formulating a plan. Suddenly, her demeanor changed from the carefree elf to her ship captain persona. "He's alone and hasn't noticed us," she spoke quickly. "There's not a better time to take him down. If we can capture him, we can find out what he knows about the enemy."
Aqua huddled everyone together. "He's going to expect dragons, so we can't attack him from the sky. Not here, but there," she said, pointing to a pile of turned over logs near him which created a space low enough to crawl close to him without being noticed. "If we can get close to him from there, we might be able to get the surprise drop on him."
She looked over at Silver, Enfurnus and Rion. "You three will need to take lead as you have more experience with blight than any other of us. Arne will back you up and I'll provide support from here."
Aqua drew her bolas from their clip on her belt. "These can immobilize a person, but better than that they actually freeze their prey in place." She looked around at the others, then to Terra. "We might only have one chance with this, and I'm not nearly as stealthy as you are in this armor. While we distract him, get as close as you can and hit him with these. Don't worry about how to use them, they activate when thrown." She stopped, then added an afterthought. "Just don't miss."
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Post by Vic Alriikerson on Jun 24, 2019 19:25:31 GMT -5
The Best Laid Plans...
Shortly after the group gathered to lay their plan, someone entered from the opposite side of the clearing... Dragging one of those blight beasts from arc 1 on his great sword. He'd sigh, imbue his sword with flames to incinerate the monster, before returning the blade to it's fellows upon his back.
"I swear... if I never see one of those again..."
He would sigh, taking a deep breath...Before seeing another face. For what seemed ages, he had been fighting these beasts. He somewhat forgot how it even started. He was... in a town?
It didn't matter. He'd smile warmly towards his new Scythe'd friend, waving his hand widely over his head. He had known a few farmers before, and they tended to be quite nice. Perhaps he could spare some of his crops.
"Hey! buddy! I got lost fighting monsters and I dunno where to go! Think you can point me to a town or pub or something?"
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Post by Swim on Jun 24, 2019 22:01:15 GMT -5
As Frida explained her plan Terra quietly lowered her bolt action rifle and strapped it to her back. On the off chance that the ominous scythe wielder turned out to be an ally it would be better to take a non lethal approach. And if he turned out to be a blight mage as Terra assumed, maybe they would gain some information by taking him alive.
Frida's plan was sound, but Terra still had misgivings. The figure hadn't noticed them and stared resolutely as ever in the other direction. "Maybe he's waiting for other mages to show up?" Terra wondered out loud. If that were the case they needed to take him out quickly before any reinforcements arrived.
Terra accepted the bolas from Frida and made her way into ambush range. She movements were a slow and cautious crawl through the dirt and amidst the fallen trees. Every movement had to be deliberate, the forest was so silent that even snapping a twig would surely give away her position. She wondered again how far they'd come, it had been morning in Eulene when they went through the portal. It shouldn't be this dark, Terra thought. Either Celestrus' portal had transported them to the other side of the planet, or the blight magic around them had blotted out the sun.
Finally Terra made it to her designated position and hunkered behind a pile of logs. She peered out to see whether Silver, Enfurnus and Rion were in position and signaled her readiness. The distraction could begin as soon as they were prepared.
From the other side of the clearing came a short spurt of flame. Terra looked over startled, assuming it was another blight mage but the newcomer carried himself differently, and something about him was vaguely familiar. Either way his entrance served to distract the scythe user. It was now or never.
Terra pushed a hand through the earth and came up with a small boulder. She sprang over her cover and heaved it at the mage, striking him in the joint behind the knee and driving him off balance. With her free hand she drew one of Aqua's bolas, taking aim at her foe as she sprinted closer. Terra heaved the weapon, striking the mage and wrapping once around his midsection before there was a flash and the ice sprang up around him. The mage thrashed about wildly. Hopefully the bonds would hold strong, but Terra rushed up ready to drop her fist on the mage's face should he continue to resist.
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Post by Tony on Jun 24, 2019 23:47:44 GMT -5
Arne was a bit shaken up coming out of the other end of the portal, it being a method of travel is was far from being used to. He shakes his head and lightly smacks his forehead to regain his senses before following along with the group, Hien sticking close by giving off a concerned chirp every once in a while.
Arne, however, remained quite as they traveled... constantly looking around and observing their surroundings. This is far different from what he was used to, but his experience caused him to instinctively treats this like any other hunt. Taking in what's around him, seeing anything that could be advantageous, and being weary of possible ambushes. Though, encountering the dragon snapped him out of this for a moment. He reflexively went into a defensive stance while Hien yelped in surprise and hid behind him. Once the dragon revealed himself to not be a threat, he relaxed and returned to observing.
As they neared the clearing and spotted the cloaked figure, he immediately crouched low to the ground Hien quickly landing right beside him. "This seems like our quarry." he softly mutters to herself.
Following Aqua's plan, he stuck close to Silver, Rion, and Enfurnus as they moved around to the cover of the logs... Hien scampering behind the group, trying to stick to the ground. Once reaching their cover, he draws one of his javelins and keeps his eyes on his target, waiting for his moment to strike.
Or, he would, if his attention wasn't pulled away by a sudden burst of flame, his eyes now on the person casually walking up to the scythe wielding figure. "Who the hell is that? He one of the creepy guy's friends?" He whispers to the others. Not soon after, Terra began her attack, and Arne starts to charge the javelin with lightning. "Guess it doesn't really matter now."
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Post by Arashi on Jun 25, 2019 23:10:02 GMT -5
What a perfect sneak attack on the mage. It seemed to work flawlessly and he was incapacitated. It seemed as if the crisis would be averted, and a tough foe would be taken out with ease.
Or so it would seem.
The figure that Terra held was nothing more than a rotting, moaning corpse, held together and kept standing by some sort of magic. It writhed and moved, but there was no true life left in it. It was apparent at that point that it was some kind of decoy; perhaps a human that failed to become fully blighted and instead left as essentially a useless husk. Probably looked a lot more zombie-like than most of the blighted creatures they encountered.
The scythe dropped to the floor with a clang and there was an eerie silence. It was still glowing the same color as the decoy.
Something was definitely not right here.
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Post by Arashi on Jun 25, 2019 23:24:16 GMT -5
Before anybody had much of a chance to react, a circle of dark purple flame surrounded the group, likely dragging Alriik in with them as well.
A clapping could be heard in the distance, and soon after a voice followed...but it was hard to see where it was coming from because of the flames.
"Well, well, well...you folks sure are spunky aren't you. That was a good show. Thanks for coming to me and going right where I wanted you to go. I appreciate that, really."
The scythe rose up slowly, and then flew off in to the distance, towards the voice.
"Now don't worry, I'm not going to kill you or anything...I just wanted to show you a little bit of what we are capable of, since you seem to think you are heroes or something ridiculous like that. We hid for so long, nobody expected us to come this far again...but oh, do I have such a wonderful surprise for you. You all will be nothing compared to me...the world will be nothing, either...and you certainly can't do anything to stop me, even with your little blighted mutt and fancy light mage you have there."
The voice was dark and ominous. It was clear now that this entire thing was a set-up, intended to draw the group out. Which it did.
"Now then, what should I do first..."
The voice sounded closer this time, and in a few moments, a cloaked figure with a scythe could be seen overhead, sitting on top of what looked like a blighted griffon. The figure and his steed hovered near the group, just past the flames.
"Should I finish what I started here and claim this land as my own, or should I let you children play with one of my toys? Or maybe both? Hmm. Though it does seem to me like you want to play, especially you."
The figure pointed his scythe at Terra.
"Want to find out how you do in a fight unlike anything you've ever fought before?"
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Post by Vic Alriikerson on Jun 26, 2019 5:33:56 GMT -5
As soon as Alriik's new friend was struck down, he darted towards him, hand on his katana's hilt, darting towards his attackers. He would make a few steps before the corpse puppet fell over. "What the fu-"
Alriik was caught with the others, surrounded by a wall of flame. As it happened, his hand shifted from his katana to drawing one on his dragon teeth swords, looking towards the villain. He gave the proper hero's respect for the monologue, before chuckling at his foe.
"Whelp.... Looks like I misread this situation. But real quick... Lemme answer your question with another question.
He drew his second dragon tooth blade, pointing it at the figure.
"You know you're bringing farm equipment to a big boy fight, right? I dunno about them, but I'm nice enough to wait for you to pick up a real weapon before we start for real."
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Post by Sorrum on Jun 26, 2019 5:47:43 GMT -5
When the plan began to go awry, Aqua, who had stayed behind, watched the events unfold with gritted teeth. An ambush was something she hadn't planned best for, but at least herself and Terra weren't trapped.
As the mage goaded Terra, Aqua raised her hands and angrily carved a glyph in the air, and with flourish hurled it forward. "See how you handle that!"
The glyph sped through the air, and upon reaching its location, spears of ice shot forth at the man and his bird.
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Post by Arashi on Jun 29, 2019 0:51:16 GMT -5
Enfurnus sighed as soon as he realized it was a trap. He was wary of the entire situation, but stuck with the others in their ambush attempt in order to keep the group together.
He should have followed his instincts on this one and led everyone out, but it was too late for that now. Looks like they weren't given much of a choice in the matter here. Staying calm was the only option he had right now, so he stuck with that. He ignored the figure's threats and just stuck his attention to the group.
"This might be a tough one. Who knows what tricks he has...just be careful."
He simply waited for whatever happened next, knowing that this would likely get dangerous real quick.
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Post by Swim on Jun 29, 2019 1:22:35 GMT -5
Terra didn't need to wait for the ring of dark flames to spring up around them. As soon as she realized that the creature she'd ensnared was nothing more than a simple zombie she knew it had been a trap. She unceremoniously snapped the creature's neck and rose to her feet.
Shortly after the real blight mage revealed himself, flying on an undead griffon and radiating with vile energy. It reminded her of Celestrus. At this point Terra was feeling very suspicious of their dragon 'ally'. The dragons that had been defending the area had clearly surrendered this position and retreated back to their stronghold. There should have been no reason to set up a trap here unless the blight mages had been informed- not only that their group was coming but also the direction they would approach from. But that could wait. For now she would focus on the enemy right in front of her.
Terra couldn't believe how much of a talker he was. When she finally confronted the ancient necromancer who had been responsible for the destruction of Delbray and who knew how many other cities, she'd imagined some sort of demon. She certainly hadn't expected him to fly outside of her reach and call her spunky. She had no problem trading battle banter with Yung Fueg or any of her arena adversaries, but she had no words that she wanted to waste on someone so unspeakably evil. The mage continued to taunt the group, saying that he didn't intend to kill them... which was interesting... But the feeling certainly wasn't mutual. Terra unslung her rifle and popped one of her Exploding Star rounds into the chamber. Her actions seemed to draw the mage's attention as he pointed his weapon down at Terra, singling her out.
"Want to find out how you do in a fight unlike anything you've ever fought before?" The mage jeered. He seemed entirely unconcerned by the rifle pointed directly at him... So Terra adjusted the sight down a hair and fired her shot straight into his mount. The griffon squawked as the magical slug lodged itself into its breast cavity and ignited, blasting it apart from inside. In the same moment both Frida and Arne attacked the mage with javelins of ice and lightning. Maybe that would finally shut him up.
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Post by Vic Alriikerson on Jun 29, 2019 8:23:48 GMT -5
Alriik watched the others take their offensive, keeping himself closer to the back and at the ready in case this Griffin mounted villain had any tricks up his sleeves. With the way he was acting... Of course he did. He thought back to what he was taught on fighting someone like this.
"When facing an opponent with a long scythe, aim for the crook between the pole and the blade. Parry, strike, your fight is over. Farming equipment stands no chance against a well forged weapon of war."
"Dark Magic requires concentration. You'd be surprised what a well timed scream would do to a spell in motion. Break their concentration, break the spell."
"You're not even alive. What's running in your veins... You call that blood?"
Okay, time to stop thinking.
He focused himself, blades at the ready for his chance to prove himself amongst heroes, a plan in his mind and a war cry in his heart.
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Post by Sorrum on Jul 6, 2019 4:05:37 GMT -5
The shadowy mage stumbled as his mount was assaulted. Despite the griffins reaction, he wasn't able to avoid all the simultaneous attacks, taking more than enough hits to bring it down. It fell, burning to a crisp from the energy inside it destabilizing. The griffin was no more. It's rider had vanished before the fall, nowhere to be seen.
Next, the flames that had captured the party died down, but suddenly reappeared along the clearing of the forest and towered, creating an effective wall of flames they were trapped within.
A deep voice rang out, seemingly coming from all directions.
"I see you aren't the type to wait around," the voice said shortly before another sound broke the silence in the forest. Thunder, yet constant and rhythmic. It grew louder and louder with each instance. "So we'll cut right to it. Show me what you've got."
Next, heavy vibrations shook the ground and debris, the trees violently waved from the pulses, and whatever was causing the thunder was growing louder and louder. Seconds later, an ear piercing scream echoed throughout the darkness. The clouds in the dark sky above them seemed to warp and explode with a bright light.
An enormous dragon burst from the canopy, sporting three pairs of wings and three heads, sneering and dripping dark ooze from their mouths. Their fangs were black, as were their talons. What looked like stitching ran down the legs and backs and necks of the beast. It seemed to be made of different bodies, as the center had silvery scales while the others had dark red and light green. The dark energy inside them had burned their eyes into white, shiny rings under billowing clouds of smoke. As the dragon descended, it's center head screeched while the other two's mouths filled with dark flames and acid, which soon rained down on the clearing.
On the forest floor, a creature beneath it tossed over trees effortlessly as it moved about, like a wave of earth. It approached Terra quickly. With a squeal, out lunged two long limbs as thick as tree trunks which snatched at Terra's legs. Two other limbs shot out it's side, and stabilized it on the ground. Two giant red orbs and six smaller red orbs glared out from the darkness of the pit, while a pair of venomous fangs reflected in the light of the fire raining down on the battlefield.
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Post by Vic Alriikerson on Jul 6, 2019 11:45:08 GMT -5
Alriik's eyes brightened when he saw the approaching dragon, readying his blades... Before he noticed it's appearance. Silver, red and green. Mashed together as a weapon of war. He felt a kinship with the beast. Poor thing needed to be put down.
He readied his two drawn blades, one a fellow dragon's fang, and darted at the amalgam beast at it's fellow attacked Terra. Attempting to blindside it, he channeled electricity in his katana and swung the blade, firing the bolt of lightning at one of the heads, before leaping at another, aiming to meet his second-handed sword to one of the dragon's eyes.
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Post by Swim on Jul 6, 2019 18:49:59 GMT -5
After downing the griffon Terra ejected the cartridge from her rifle but the attack that came next came so suddenly there wasn't even time for her to load another round. She was barely able to register the presence of the three headed dragon before the pair of spindly limps erupted from the soft earth and pinned her down. First Yung and now this, she'd have to learn the tunneling technique herself once time allowed.
Perhaps it was because she'd seen a blighted dragon, perhaps it was the scale and proximity of the giant arachnid which was pulling her toward its maw... but Terra experienced a moment of raw terror. It only lasted a moment before her fighting instinct kicked in. Her legs may have been pinned but both of her arms were free. Just as she had done with Yung, Terra engulfed her fists in flame and clamped down on the spider's legs, scorching its hairs until the monster reared back and released her. Terra scrambled to her feet, planting herself in the soft soil and charged a fireball in both hands. When it was large enough she let it fly, aiming at the spider's many eyes.
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Post by Sorrum on Jul 9, 2019 21:15:44 GMT -5
Aqua's ice missiles felled the griffin but were like pebbles to the dragon that came down from the sky. She stared in awe as the beast descended, before hearing the ground rip open in front of Terra.
"They're attacking from under ground too?!" She stared wide-eyed at the tendrils that had grabbed Terra. Aqua aimed her harpoon at the spider's arms, but Terra had burned them off of her before she could fire, then blasted the spider with an attack. She had things under control over there, so she turned her attention to the other threat.
The dragon flew over head, spraying the field with plumes of darkness, acid, and fire. Aqua sprinted toward a spot to run into the dragon's side. A glyph appeared in each of her hands, and icicles the length of Aqua's body shot forth, aimed at the side of the dragon's belly.
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