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Post by Terra on Mar 23, 2010 17:56:17 GMT -5
Tristram was on guard the minute a red-faced, breathless orphan was shown into the study of the politicians grand estate. The urchin managed to huff out the news of a black dragon sighting before promptly fainting into Tristram's manservant's arms. He was on his feet in an instance and cutting across backlots and through businesses to get to the arena. The change from human to dragon wasn't an easy one, and the longer he put off doing it, the harder and more painful it became. His body twisted and contorted in gruesome angles while bones popped and shattered, extending to fit the framework of his saurian state. When the smoke from his acridic breath cleared, and the powerful arcane aura wore off, there was left a brilliantly large, gleaming black dragon who extended his wings with a mighty whoosh, which cleared the barn owls nesting in the upper levels of the arena stands and small animals from their burrows for yards in each direction. After beating those two immense leathery appendages thrice, the saurian was airborne and streaking over the wooden and stone-cut buildings of Gualon.
Image was important at times. Be public relations or an army of undead greenskins - sometimes it was the tiniest details that could make the difference between high morale and low. So it was in full form the dragon flew in the skies above an army traveling en masse at a rapid pace. Unorganized it would seem - but enough so that at the front lay blade wielders and in the back were archers - each carrying an easily disposible horse bow that would certainly be tossed aside as battle truly began. Yet. Yet it would seem they were on a straight-shot route toward the gates of the city itself until they arrived within the swamp that was the sinking city. Instintaineously they halted - massive group stiff as statues. From just outside the first building down the main pathway - arrows were nocked, scythe-like blades unsheathed. The saurian could smell them on the wind. The groups. Soon behind that group another appeared - organized in tight rows three wide. Mayhap three hundred pike were marching toward the very spot the greenskins had halted. Yet they paused in the trees - mayhap several miles away - and were really nothing more than illusions. Helich hovered over the disorganized lot of 'zombies' and turned his gaze toward Gualon. Mental strain was not that difficult when what you controlled held no will but - but these illusions were a constant distraction. He could practically sense Tristram though. Sense the males rage, anger, unease. Back in the trees the illusions would change suddenly - into something he could create and release. Three hundred wolves suddenly stood like statues at the forests' edge - a quick fill of rage and hunger set them seeking the closest living things they could find - the groups of orcs in Gualon. Helich released them - they would fade after a time, of course, and were not terribly strong but -- they would do for now.
Aelfulf enters into view; a lone soldier, garbed in shining mithril armor. In his hand lies his moonblade, the beautifully-crafted weapon alight in a white glow, the same aura that surrounds the high elf himself, but far brighter. Strapped to his left arm is a round shield, painted white and with the symbol of Arkhen centered in blue. How this paladin knew of the battle is unkown: perhaps a citizen mentioned it, or perhaps his god sent him. At any rate, he is here, and ready to fight. Aelfulf stops, keen gaze darting about to assess the situation.
Keslin appears from the south.
An alarm went off outside the city and moments later it was duplicated from within the gates. The sighting was genuine. The intricate pattern of chimes that followed from deep within the swamp provided the information that the black dragon soaring toward Gualon was not alone. Citizens sprung from their slumber and poured into the streets. Many of them poured toward the arena as if a current carried them there, and when they emerged, it was with weapons - weapons upon weapons. Tristram had provided for his people. He had helped train them, prepare them for war. He had prepared the women and children as well, the former of which were scurrying toward the clinic and unfolding cots that lined the walls. Children, with fear and pride in their eyes, were hurrying toward the orc parties that streamed from the grog house and places of hunt. They thrust weapons into the orcs' hands and stood at the ready to go and find more, or carry messages through their ranks. Gualon had an army; Tristram wouldn't be caught unaware like last time, when the Empire had swept through his little kingdom and planted its flag deep within his trenches. It had taken months to rid the city of Vuryal's influence. The orcs headed toward the gates of Gualon, following a shadow of a black dragon above, to join their brethern already at the ready just outside the gates.
Greux was happy to see his brothers, faster of which were already forming ranks outside the city gates. More orcs and ogres were lining the wall that surrounded the city, and archers were dipping their arrows in tar before setting them on fire. It took only a word for them to pull back at the ready, bows growing taut, eyes squinted as they took aim at the hordes of their brainwashed, undead brethern just within the tree line. Not a finger trembled on the line, nor did a face reflect anything but grim determination. Greux urged his orcs forward while Tristram streaked overhead on a collision course with Helich.
They were a few miles away. The wolves. Every one of the feral illusions - real in every aspect other than the fact that...you know...they weren't - was charging toward the undead greenskins. Perhaps another ten minutes, twelve, and they would be upon the scene no matter how they were recieved. Helich heard the gongs toll - and would have smiled if he were capable of it in this current form. The dragon's gaze narrows in such a way it would suggest that he was at a point of timid confidence - yet confidence won over as a roar that would echo for miles escaped his toothy maw. Bells of his own? Perhaps. So now free of illusions to concentrate - he unleashed a black hell. His head arced back - maw angled at eleven o'clock or so - and a spew of acid shot out of his mouth. As it reached the climax, rather accurate really, it would arc downward and start littering the walls of Gualon with acid. The archers were obviously in danger. While this occured he would occasionally pause to lower his head - so his eyes could fall on walls - and ensure he had targeted the top of the wall. The fumes were noxious. The acid was searing and would kill after several hours. It was an assured death. The group of greenskins, every one of them breathing not and staring like statues with blank lifeless eyes was a mix of goblins, orcs, and ogres. It seemed that orcs numbered more than any other, the occasional juggernaught of an ogre, and it would appear as if every goblin of the entire horde were the ones wielding those short bows. Helich relingquished his attack and curved himself back toward the group - and took up another hovering stance directly behind the large horde.
Keslin stood among the warriors, red leather armor standing out amongst the crowd. Her long hair, braided, was tied now around her neck, making it harder to grab. Her violet eyes watched the dragon overhead for a moment. She smiled, for the briefest of moments seeing her true prey. Then her mind focused on the task at hand. She raised one hand to the ruby pendant around her neck and said a soft prayer. Her elemental blade, was ready in her hand. The battle she had come to join, and the bounty she had come to collect, were both close at hand.
Aelfulf moves down to join the orcs that flock to battle, knowing full well that alone, he will fall. He stands out like a sore thumb among the hulking, fur-and-leather clad shapes of the orcs, but they seem to recognize his purpose, and accept his help for now. As the wolves speed in, illusionary teeth snapping, Aelfulf springs to action. His sword flickers here and there, slicing through fur and flesh easily as the magical onslaught continues. With the rough shouts of one used to commanding troops, the high elf bellows at the orcs nearby, bidding them join him in a shield wall. After some hesitation, a number of them comply, locking the edges of their shields together to make a defensive wall, through which the wolves cannot penetrate. Now protected, Aelfulf and his unlikely fellows begin to advance, forming into a wedge of locking shields with the paladin at the point, pushing out toward the mass of enemies.
There was no dragon above, protecting the warriors from their first douse of acidic breath that caused their armor to hiss and sizzle, and then the same to their skin. They were led toward the clinic by the street urchins, blind ogres led by hand to the stream that ran behind it while the nurses took turns bandaging their green, melting skin. There were more to replace them, though, lines of seasoned soldiers ready to fight and defend the city. Suddenly, from the perpetual fog over the city, descended a dragon, claws extended and maw agape, atop the interloper. Helich was a great deal larger in diameter in he, but if Tristram could cut off his means of transportation, this could become a landlocked battle, and there, he knew he would achieve the victory. The dragon descended rapidly and began to claw at the other dragon's wings, trying to rip those webbed appendages apart while a serpentine neck unfurled and snapped at the other dragon's, to keep him from retaliating and snapping back at him, mid-flight. Below, a single arrow set off a procession of hundreds, arcing into the forest surrounding the swamp, and into creatures they had once called brothers.
Aelfulf moves to join the orcs, arriving just after the acid blast from above. When it is clear that he is here to assist, he is accepted among the ranks. He spares a moment to peer out, watching the dragons in flight. Shaking his head, he turns to his immediate neighbors and, with the expertise of an experienced general, begins to form them into a wall of interlocked shields, ready to defend should the enemy launch an answer to the storm of arrows that hurtle through the air. They seem reluctant to follow the paladin, but eventually are swayed, the stink of sweat, filth, and leather filling the air around them as they form up, waiting until the time is right.
Keslin uses a nearby orc as a living shield, taking cover behind him as the rain of acid washes the lines. She knows she is lucky even then that she is unscathed though the orc before her is bellowing in agony. She lets him be taken away, feeling for a brief moment her move was that of a coward...then she dismissed it. Where she larger she is sure that any number of them would have used her in much the same way.
The procession of arrows began to acrue. Wave after wave would land on the horde - and yet they would of course pierce flesh, render bone as sinew in some cases shattering them with their broad heads yet -- yet not a single one of the undead minions seemed to notice. Still as statues. Quiet as ghosts. The archers pulled back an arm in unison releasing a volley of arrows at the walls. These arrows though - they were a tad bit more..disturbing. Broad-head, nay, so they would only meet flesh through those special tender spots - the neck, armpit - but each was tipped with a minute amount of empathic energy. Of the few of Gualon's orcs that -were- going to get hit by the arrows, they would instantly be driven into a state of bloodlust - all mental capacity lost and would quite possibly turn on their bretheren. Helich's enjoyment of this first volley - which was soon followed by another, and another, and more even that reached over the walls and into the city itself - was short lived as his focus shifted to Tristram. He was here. He heard the sound of wings cutting against wind just a moment before the male was upon him - his response was a rather lazy spin to the side that had Tristram madly clawing at his left wing. The black's claws did meet with the leathery hide but not enough to incapacitate him - not yet at least - for he soon rolled on his back and just before he was out of range as gravity took hold his own claws sought to dig into Tristram's belly while his neck was wildly cutting inward to avoid the male's maw. It was difficult at best - a hit or miss - yet arrogance told him he could easily beat his own bretheren without resorting to magic.
Aelfulf 's small band is quite well protected from the arrows, their shields absorbing those missiles that threaten them. However, when the less-organized orcs around them begin to lose control, the paladin orders those with him into a ring, keeping the shields laced together as they strike out at their deranged companions. With clubs and axe hafts, the orcs begin to knock their new foes about the head, the blunt force driving the bloodlust from them little by little, so that the ring of defenders grows more and more, the new arrivals being hustled to the center to have their wounds bandaged before they are thrust back into the defense. Many more are left unconscious, but the fighters' goal is not to kill their own friends. Rather, they are simply trying to stay alive until the enemy's infantry is close enough to engage.
Tristram bellowed in pain as Helich connected with his tender underbelly, the sound reverberating throughout the forest and possibly as far as the nameless desert miles away. The dragon was released with a final tear at his wing and Tristram circled upward, disappearing into the smoggy atmosphere again. Blood sprinkled upon the denizens below, and Tristram had no real sense of what was occurring down on the land front. He trusted his soldiers, however, and with Greux at the helm, he knew they would do whatever it took to win, because they hadn't the sense to know when to quit. Of course, they were a bit short on the tactical side of things, but he could tend to that when he finished off this blowhard invader. Tristram descended once more, predicting the larger black's flight path to cut him off from access to the city and snap at his neck once more with a great, gaping jaw and razor sharp teeth. This needed to end. Below, the archers had taken up swords and the call was heard all along the wall. "Forward!"
Kain appears from the east.
Keslin quickly finds herself surrounded by battling Orcs as brother turned on brother. She is reluctant for a moment to fight her allys, the less she had of them the lower their chances were of succes after all, however after several near misses with axes, she finds she has little choice. If she can, she takes her blade to non-vital locations, knowing that preventing the demoralizing effect that was the attacks true intent was impossible. She killed quickly when incapacitation could not occur. A blade through the heart, or neck. Her speed and agility her only true allies. And the rain off arrows continued to fall about her. Some of the blunt heads struck her, leaving painful welts under her armor, but fortunately not pierced her flesh.
Kain, hearing the sound of battle, approached slowly, trying to figure out who was fighting who. Clad head to foot in dull black armor, he kept to the outskirts, not wanting to get sucked into a battle without knowing who was on what side.
They were an unruly lot, these wolves. These feral beasts - as black as the saurian himself - were mayhap two minutes away right as the call to foward was called. It was beautiful timing, such beautiful timing. Nothing more than luck. They sought the blood of the living, and so they passed by and through the assorted horde of greenskins at a full-charge toward the onslaught of orcs pouring from the city. Now these beasts - illusions as they were - were quite susceptable to death. They were a quickly made thing that was dismissed, of free will but with only one purpose. To kill. They charged ahead of the horde now, three hundred strong galloping straight toward the city gates and as contact was made with these Gualon-kind those at the front leapt for the first defenders they encountered - and aimed by instinct straight for the sweet spot. The neck, where death was quick. They met head on attacked at will any enemy they encountered. Precisely one minute and three seconds after this calvary charge the horde burst to life per se, burst into motion and speed that would not be considered clumsy. His sister had amassed him the perfect army, emotionless, painless, mindless - but agile and strong. They began to trot toward the gates of Gualon - not charge, but quickly advance while the wolves tried to push through the mass of orcs and get closer to the walls. Still the goblins fire arrows even while running - inaccurate, but each volley was sent into the fray of wolf and orc taking down even the illusions in the process. The Ogres now formed on the outer edges of this horde, a sort of wide box formation - the orcs formed a triangle and from the flank the goblins formed into a mass. Suddenly the disorganized lot of mindless minions was as organized as any military institution. The saurian was in control of them. The archers fired until the square of ogre reached the very rear end of the wolves - they opened up the formation at the front and the undead orcs charged. Full-sprint, no holds barred - they were out for blood and nothing more, A few Ogres remained at the forefront of this second wave of attacks, and a third soon followed - the archers fired against the walls. Still they pushed. Still the remaining wolves sought to just make it to the gates of the city - the horde was twenty feet behind them now, the orcs only ten and closing in quickly. If his luck was in, if this timing was perfect the orcs would continue the wolves charge straight into the city. Helich was rather preoccupied for a few moments arranging the formations - enough time for Tristram to disappear from his view into the muggy fog above. The saurian's eyes were constantly in motion, intelligent mind attempting to predict his opponents next move - but he was hovering only - not pursuing a target he couldn't see at the moment - but he was ready. Prepared.
Aelfulf is injured in the wave, knocked down by a blow to the head. Thankfully, he is ushered back inside the walls.
Aelfulf vanished before your eyes, perhaps never to be seen again.
Kiri vanished before your eyes, perhaps never to be seen again.
There was no poetry here, no lines of men angling for position, or generals tracing invisible paths along a worn map. There weren't barks of directions or streams of communication flowing throughout the battlefield. Here, there was chaos, and only chaos. Here was bloodthirsty orcs turning upon brother, only to be cut down by that brother and left in the streets. They had only one purpose -- save the city. Wolves, streamlined and quick, managed to get through the narrow gates and poured into the city streets. A shout went up among the numerous urchins lining the backways and alleys, and soon, heads were peering out windows, and new archers were taking aim. Rocks fell too, smashing the wolves' heads for the urchins with especially good aim. Citizens ducked inside and shut the doors. Through windows, they battered and clobbered any canine foolish enough to come within arm's reach. For those left on the streets, survival was not likely; the men on their to or from the clinic were picked off especially easily. The gate was left open at a call from Greux. He would not leave his brothers stranded outside the city gates while the battle raged on. The orcs, ogres, goblins, and humans huddled together, and partially under direction from Aelfulf defended themselves in pockets of shielded units that moved together. They would work to take down the greatest and closest threat, and then move on to another. Above, another battle was being fought entirely. Tristram collided with the larger black and instantly sought to tangle his neck with the other's, twisting and curling it around so that he when he exhaled an immense breath, it was filled with acid and smoke and aimed directly for the creature's snout and eyes.
Keslin tore her blade from a freshly downed ally and turned, hearing the snarl of a wolf behind her. Her blade flashed, cleaving the image from the air on instinct as she turned. That turn forced her to see what was coming towards them. For an instant, and only that, she allowed herself to fear. Then she forced it from her being by shere force of will. Her cry of battle was as loud and primal as those orcs around her, but her path was not forward. She turned and ran to the citys gates. There she stopped, trying to stem the tide of creatures entering the city. She also knew that if the lines broke, she would close the gates herself, even if she died doing it. A Ruin was useless to her.
There weren't may of the wolves left - twenty, thirty? Somewhere in the middle but they had no idea of strategy or priority - they were as mindless as the horde now trying to press the orcs back into the city. The wolves wandered aimlessly. Unsatisfied, thirsting for blood - they would truly attack any they found regardless of the chance of sucess. What had once been a box of Ogre around the spearhead of Orcs now shifted, transitioned - the saurian found himself distracted again making a few minor adjustments - into the frontline of orcs being combined with the ogres. It was not pretty. For the entire horde mayhap ten of the ogres managed to join the battle before Helich found himself attacked by Tristram - and those Ogres immidiately set to slamming huge two handed black-iron hammers, the heads of which were twice as wide as any of the orcs easily, sought to cause complete havoc. The rest were trying to get into the fray but - of their own accord - as Tristram dug his claws into his form again and entwixt his neck around the black's own. He couldn't really predict Tristram's move but he wasn't surprised - the only reason he was caught off guard was that he had just finished the formation changes and it was in that moment that his eyes narrowed into determination. Just those few moments before Tristram unleashed his attack those eyes narrowed - his neck entwined - and they closed in preperation. The blast scoured away layers of scale. Smoke kept those eyes closed - along with a fear of another attack - and he released a tremendous roar of pain and struggled to keep in the air whilst supporting half of Tristram's weight. It was in this moment of agony he responded for the first time through this entire battle with illusions. Rather abrubt and brash - and therefore all the more raw and powerful - the attack was an attempt at overwhelming Tristram's very senses. Not only sight and sound but touch as well - to make the world go black for the dragon. As his blood dripped down to the battle below his maws sought the males neck - if they found them after this blinding empathic attack he would try to throw the dragon off of his form and to the ground sixty feet below.
Kain, keeping his identity cloaked beneath his full armor and faceguard, recognizing Keslin, sprang forward into a sprint. and plowed shoulder first into one orc, while Bad Attitude tore into another. Unaware that there were supposed to be illusionary wolves, the wolverine targeted the closest hostile flesh and blood enemy it encountered. Wielding a dense black staff, the stout warrior shattered the skull of the orc he had plowed into, and turned to help Keslin close the gates.
Tristram found himself surrounded in black nothingness, only blackness upon blackness. It would be a lie to say he wasn't the least bit fearful. Had Vuryal teleported him out of time and into space? Was this some sort of delayed retribution? He couldn't feel his own limbs or his own wings. He flung his neck from side to side, in an attempt to restore some equilibrium, but he couldn't find it; the next instant, he found himself reeling downward, unable to make his wings beat as they should, or stem the flow of blood suddenly springing from the neck he couldn't feel. As he spiraled downward, he heard a shout -- then more. The fog began to clear and once his vision began to clear, he realized he was much too close to the ground. Wings beat urgently and he managed to avoid a cruel reunion with the ground and lift himself up and away at the last minute. Of course, he was closer to the battle now, and he couldn't help send a plume of fire and acid into the row of orcs forming the third wave of invaders. With blood still massing at the wound upon his neck, the saurian abruptly turned his sights upward with a roar, and nimbly streaked after the larger dragon. His manueverability would surely provide the tactical advantage. Below, after seeing a wave of orcs nearly incapicitated with a breath, Greux shouted to rally his brethern. Ogres stepped over bodies to fight Helich's large champions, and orcs keeping the gates would look on in confusion as strange creatures sought to close the gate he demanded be kept open.
Keslin wasn't actually trying to close the gate, merely hold it. It was after all, the only form of retreat for any that dared it. The gates would stay open as long as the lines before them held, but she and her newest ally could not hope to hold them alone, she knew that, to save the city, she must close them. She dared not waste her breath with speech, even when a new ally joined her in her fight, his stature betraying only that he was a Dwarf. She redoubled her efforts. There would be no innocent blood shed if she could help it.
Zeke sits on one of the cracked roofs, snickerin and watching those around him.
Helich did not release the hold, the advantage he had at the moment over Tristram. As the fellow black would head back in the saurian's direction, he would feel the blackness returning. The numbness, lest the male had a counter - and it was with this advantage that Helich kept a careful presence of Tristram but moved into the city to assist his undead horde. In a rather brash move all the Ogre suddenly charged the gates that were now begining to close, trampling over their fellow undead bretheren in an attempt to delay something that was not quite yet inevitable. The saurian himself joined in - eyes opening once more unharmed while the majority of his face held permanent burns. The acid was just as deadly as his own - yet his own blood was combatting this invader and keeping it at bay. For the time. The saurian released a deadly stream of acid, made it spray instead of squirt, at the creatures trying to close the gate and anything else hit along the way, including the Youngling's housing - that which was nothing more than collateral damage. The acid began to eat through wood quickly - stone slower - but the building was on a sure-course toward structural failure if he kept it up for long. Which he did not - arrogance returned and he dropped the illusion within Tristram's mind instantly. The black may feel a bit overwhelmed, suddenly returning to the screams and chaos of the battle below. Complete sensory overload, pain would smack him like a wall....Helich rounded at a curve and was now heading straight for Tristram.
Kain noticed the black preparing to breathe at the gates, and roughly shoved Keslin to the side, then hurled his steaming, acid-splahed shield at the closest of the rushing ogres. While he had lost his shield, he now knew which one of the dragons was his enemy, and his mind went into overdrive as plans raced through the dwarf's mind.
An old man might be seen in the distance, should someone decide to risk taking a good hit while looking off in the distance during this battle of epic proportions. This old man would fit the typical appearance of any "elder." His beard was long and white, his back was hunched over, he walked with a stick in hand and his hands were shaky. What would an old man want with this place that had as little of humans inside its walls as possible? Whatever his reasoning was it would have to wait. The elderly man would take a slow and steady seat upon the dirty moist ground beneath him. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do but, he was old, he couldn't stand forever. From his viewpoint he could see most of the war zone while still maintaining a more than safe distance from it. At first a chuckle may escape his lips then it would soon be followed by a few brief coughs. "I'm far too old for this." Another few coughs would be forced out involuntarily. This man seemed to take quite an interest in this battle. He couldn't see the ground forces very well, but two fully grown male dragons would be hard to miss for even his old eyes. He smiled, very much enjoying what was happening so far. If one happened to be close enough to look directly into his deep blue eyes that seemed to hold the pure esssence of wisdom, they may see something more to this man...something more...strange.
A high pitched screech echoed high above the shouts of war in Gualon. The sound of wings slicing through the wind became more apparent as from the East a trio of large avian creatures made themselves known. At the head of the Trio was the Mythical Sage Roc Uviour, with his beast master Diyuir at his helm. The Elven Mud cast his soulless gaze down upon the city of Gualon and couldn't help but feel a pang of regret in his heart that he had not been able to evacuate the city any faster. Reaching to his back the pale male quickly untangled his sturdy willow fletched bow from its hold on him and pulled it forward. He stared to the sea of undead minions and thought it to be a petty waste to fire such a meaningless round into the skull of a single infantry. Thus the sight of Helich breached into Diyuirs vision and without true knowledge he couldn't help but take this being to be his rival from the drunkards inn board. Quickly flicking his wrist behind his back Diyuir pulled forth two Iron Forged arrows from his quiver and aligned them to his sights. The wood creaked as Diyuir drew back his bow-string and without hesitation released a skillfully aimed duel shot towards the figure of Helich. Wether the blow would land was not of importance as Diyuir released a clicking noise from his vocals and Uviour dropped into a fierce descent. The Elven man figured it best to help hold back the tide of undead for now in order to allow the civilians of Gualon to seek refuge. The other two band of rocs followed on his command and as they approached the ground a large steel cage became visablly between them. The two beast riders called to their mounts and released the sturdy cage to the ground directly ontop of an advancing platoon of undead orcs. As the beast riders fell back to the North away from the fight obviously unwilling to stay and risk their lives Diyuir simply hailed a salute as the cages bars dropped. Before the raging battle now stood a monsterous being. An eleven-foot Ogre held his ground firmly and released a blood churning roar from its throat. The beast held no weapons but instead had four appendages neatly fitted to its torso and wasted no time to begin ripping undead minions apart. The Wood Elf smiled and leapt from Uviour landing in a roll before the army and quickly pulled his bow into two seperate holds revealing it to be a bow-sword. He began to hack and slash his way against the tide and was on the opposing side of the gate from Kain and Keslin allowing them more oppurtunity to simply close and lock the gates as Uviour turned and headed towards the Ancient Black Dragon himself. The Legendary Roc hungry for Dragon Blood.
Zeke simply sat by, enjoying every moment as it unfolds in front of him.
Kain takes advantage of the momentary lul in the battle at the gates to rush over to his pack and retrieve a fresh shield.
Keslin finds herself shoved out of the way as the acidic spit sprays over the area. The lines before them break even as she regains her feet. She nods, grim determination maring her features. "Hold the Gate!" She yells to the dwarf even as the cage falls into the enemy ranks. She makes him a silent promise to return to his side before rushing to close the gate. If the gate were held up by a chain, she would empty one of the small vials of Dragon Blood she had on her purpose and scoop some of Helichs acid to use on the chains, hopefully weakening them enough for her to break the links and slam the gate down, hopefully on the enemy, and not allies.
It didn't take long for the fog to clear, and his senses were overwhelmed -- but chemical won over emotional, and the adrenaline surging through his veins would clear up enough of the confusion to get him airborne and cognizant again. Nothing could be done about the orphanage; it was indeed, collateral damage. But the occupants within, were not. They had evacuated the building because it was under construction anyway, and most definitely not the location to seek shelter from the battle. Tristram was angry now, infuriated even. Two beats of immense wings later and he was tearing toward Helich with the same fervor Helich drove at him. Tristram spun, over and over, to avoid a lock on his position and sent two streams of acidic breath at his opponent, one on each side of him, so that he had nowhere to go when they would eventually collide. Straight into his own acridic breath, Tristram traveled, momentarily blinded but on an exact course to meet with the larger black's own underbelly, and he snatched and tore at it in an effort to distract and disembowel -- anything to stave off the attack on the city. That was when something hit him -- two of something hit him, to be more specific. The dragon howled in pain and snapped at his own underbelly and the two iron-forged arrows that had lodged there. His head swirled around to stare at the creatures below him, to see who was responsible for this unexpected attack. Mayhem ensued below, and all the saurian could see was a large ogre, and an even larger cage. Who was he bloody trying to get into that thing? The orphans were cheering along the watchtower; it seemed that despite whatever was going on above, tides were changing below.
Kain returns to Keslin's side, nodding in agreement. The gates had to hold if the city was to survive the assault. He frowned behind his faceguard, seeing the wrong dragon get hit by the arrows, then turned his attention back to the threats in front of him.
The cage fell over an entire battallion - things were getting out of hand and he was too distracted to make adjustments. Wild changes were made, sloppy - Every ogre the horde contained now rushed toward that single, four armed beast - each raised their giant two handed hammers above their heads when in range and each sought to decimate that particular foe. It was sloppy, but surely numbers shoulder overwhelm a single ogre - and while this occured all the saurian could do was signal the remains orcs and goblins to push and charge, push and charge, slash and shove - until a small stream was darting between the battling ogre and entering the city at least. They were as coherent of the situation as the black was - still on the war path, they didn't take Keslin and Kain into consideration at all. A few did, a few rushed them - but such skilled warriors would certainly find them no challenge. Helich on the other hand soon found himself forced to foucs on Tristram - the rage, the anger - and from what? It took a moment for it to connect. For him to realize - this saurian was...caring. The puzzle was solved. He had barely a moment after the plan had formed to react to Tristram's attack. He tried to dodge the acid - tried to avoid something inevitable but a steady stream of it took his entire left side - from his shoulder, all along his back, and finally to his back leg. His wing took light damage - the blunt of the breath attack had followed a line right along the left side of his spinal coloumn. Pain was something he could not avoid. It was not dull. It did not grow slowly. It overtook him in an instant. Overwhelming. An overbearing reminder that he was not a demi-god. His thoughts raced - Tristram's claws missed his underbelly by mere -inches- as he rolled in his own right on to his back, allowed gravity to pull him downward, and finally rolled upright and began retreating...into the city. It had occured to him. Tristram cared for the citizens of this city. Held emotions like kindess and love, something Helich was sorely lacking. Yet his injuries were severe - some areas over his ribcage had so severely deteriorated by this point that the final layer of muscle was the only thing keeping his entrails from spilling - if he were to roll. The situation was precarious. Pain was overwhelming - so it was with tremendous effort his eyes darted about the city searching - The Roc was right on his tail, thirty feet behind and he hoped Tristram would confuse him for the enemy. At any rate he found them. Where they had run. The city hall. Hesitation was non-existant....his mouth opened, and acid shot toward the roof of the building. A large amount was applied, it would surely burn away within a minute or less. He circled around again, preparing for another attack.
Tristram roared in victory, the sound echoing throughout the marshes and swamps, stilling the battle below for seconds before the sound of spear and shield was taken up again. His maw snapped open and he bellowed again. Below, things were certainly turning in his favor. Diyuir and his Roc had descended upon the hordes, and Helich's forces didn't know upon which front to fight first. The time it had taken for Helich to direct his forces had been costly indeed, and Tristram delighted in the chaotic spectacle below. His attention shifted back to the black. A second later, and his eyes were filled with horror - not the town hall. In an instant he was streaking toward Helich, knowing full well he would never reach the dragon in time. Greux roared his own warning, but it wouldn't be in enough time. Even if the building were able to be evacuated before the roof caved in, not everyone would make it out - certainly not the motherless babies, or the infirm and elderly. The saurian had only once choice. With an expression that could only be likened to a grimace, he charged - straight for the path of the acid on a direct course for the building. He rolled at the last minute, so that the majority of his bulk took the attack and spared those below. The pain was unlike any other he had experienced. Thick scales were the only thing that kept his skin from falling apart altogether. They slid off his hide as it were, great black plates becoming nothing more than bits and pieces of melted flesh. The roar that came now was not one of victory, but one of pain. Struggling to stay airborne, the dragon twisted his head upward to observe Helich's chosen path of flight. If Helich went again for the city, Tristram didn't know if he had the strength to stop him - and now the gates were closed preventing any outside aid from rescuing the citizens within. He had only one choice.
Zeke exits south.
Keslin looked on in horror as Helich attacked the city hall. Her anger grew in that instant to a rage. Her voice rang out above the battle, directed at the dragon above her. "Helich! Your head is mine!"
Tristram shouted, "Wait."
Kain hissed in anger, then hustled away from the gates, knowing they would be closed within a few more minutes at most, to help get the evacuation of the building underway. Once the occupants had begun moving out to a different place, he shustled back toward the gates to rejoin Keslin and Bad Attitude, hoping the gates would either be closed, or at least not breached yet...
The flame that had once been bright white was now exstinguished in full. They were out of the city - only a handful had made it in. The saurian heard the black's voice just as his maw opened for a devastating attack upon the hall - instead he landed atop a roof that did little to support his large frame. Each breath was heavy. Every moment another agonizing breath - his horde rashly hit the walls, the gate, trying to push them open. To no avail. They focused instead on the Roc. Helich spoke - a voice spoke rather - "Yes?"
Tristram struggled to place himself between Diyuir's Roc and the dragon, newly settled on a roof which began to rain dust and splinters of wood onto the occupants within. It was hard to stay airborne, but he didn't want to settle on the ground - not yet. His voice came as a rasp as he spoke, and he spoke in the ancient draconic tongue. Having the citizens hear, and understand, his next few words would be devastating, and they would do foolish things to stop him, or to hurt the larger dragon. Maybe they would succeed. He had no doubt they could do it - he had trained them himself, after all, and they knew how to take down a dragon. But many of them would be killed, instantly, slowly, all painfully. Entire generations could be wiped out in a single breath. A low rumble echoed throughout the city, and the dragon made his offer.
Tristram said to Helich, "Me for the city. Spare the people, and I'll surrender." Tristram looked truly pained - in agony, really.
Keslin was running through the city streets, her eyes on the dragons. Doing something stupid had always been her strong point, and rushing to attack a distracted dragon on a rooftop definately counted as stupid. She moved with a speed only anger could give, rushing through the streets like a red comet. She made the roofs through ruins, mindful of the acid still clinging to it, then raced accross them towards the two blacks, her eyes watching Helich intently.
Helich managed a rather pained snort out of his nostrils - nostrils that were flaring with each hard-taken breath, "You would die rather than see them harmed?" His gaze settled on the hell at the gates - he could hear the roar of his greenskins trying to breach gates that did not budge a hair. Keslin was sensed but ignored - the presence was a tickle in the back of his mind. "Agreed." Diplomacy was a swift thing at times. "The guise of a human should do fine. Transition now." Emotionless was this illusionry voice - it did not sound tired or strained in the slightest.
Kain looked at the gates, determined they would hold, then picked up a spear from a fallen soldier, and moved toward Helich. While he held the weapon properly for a throw, Kain had never used a spear before, but Helich couldn't know that. Moving to what seemed a reasonable range, he seemed prepared to launch the weapon, should the black make any wrong move.
Tristram said to Helich, "Get off the damned roof."
Helich said to Tristram, "Transform first. Your allies concern me little." The male seemed to disappear into thin air. The angle Tristram stood at was the only one that could see him. He gently landed upon the streets - for the sake of confusing Kain and Keslin - and repeated himself. "Transition now."
Tristram turned and dipped behind a building. Another bellow was heard, echoing throughout the land, and a few tense moments later, a human emerged, bedraggled and with his teeth gritted. Anyone could see the pain in his eyes, aside from the blood flecking his skin where wounds - too deep to heal by the arcane nature weaving together his human form - transitioned into his flesh. He held his arms loosely at his sides and stopped in the middle of the thoroughfare that ran through the city. He appeared relaxed, assured for the sake of the orphans peeking out the windows and beginning to develop an understanding of what was occuring, but the muscles along his jaw were tense, and his fists balled at his sides.
Keslin slows her approach and then stops all togeather. She moves near to where the two were, her guard raised as she looks for them. All she can see is a lone man, injured, standing in the street. "Bloody dragons." She mutters to herself watching for any sign of any form she has seen of Helich.
Helich didn't hesitate. Too much hesitation would be his demise. He charged down the throughway - a bit clumsy with injury and exaustion - but his head ducked low to the ground so that his forehead lined up perfectly with Tristram's form. A crushing blow it would be. Certainly if Tristram spoke truth then the black-in-human-form would get rammed - but the saurian would stop. He did not wish to kill the male. Not yet. Only severely injure - to send Tristram flying through the air to rather harshly slam into a brick wall and break a few bones. Pass out. That was his intent - he gauged the power of the attack rather perfectly. His gaze rose to survey the scene that followed.
Kain watched Helich disappear from the roof, then heard a voice. Working toward the source of the voice, he kept the spear up, but in a more relaxed grip now, as the violence seemed to be concluded. Using the residents of the city as a guide, he continued forward toward the dragon's new location.
Tristram could have defended himself. He could have dodged to the side, and maybe aimed a blow for the dragon's eye. He could have done something. But he didn't. The building didn't cushion him as he crashed against it, nor did the ground soften as he fell into it. The wall, now marred with cracks and a pretty obvious indention, belonged to his estate. Irony at its finest. Things became a bit fuzzy after he felt the frailty of his human bones and the ribs that were in a great deal of pain. Passing out seemed like a viable option. He was roused from his instinct by a pair of arms scooping him up and setting him on his feet, steadying him before they were retracted. A servant from his estate had helped him, saved him the humiliation of being carried from the city unconscious. And just to prove his point, Tristram groaned, "Is that all you've got then?"
Keslin picks up a piece of debris from the rooftop Helich had been standing on and hurled it with all her strength at the spot where the man had flown from. She hoped it would break any illusion, by interacting with the illusion. She also hoped that others would follow her lead.
The scene projected above the city. A wonderous sight - a tiring thing to do. It played against fog, a rather detailed image of everything the male saw through his eyes. Tristram's injuries and the fact he was being held by a servant. "Come with me now. Leave your people." A very good choice of words - the male was up to a typical parlour trick and nothing more, just on a grander scale. The unintelligent ones would fall for it as easily as even the more intelligent. "We had an agreement. Do not let their deaths be for naught." Tristram's response would make the difference between a smooth transition of the city in his control - to a radical regime change. More radical than what had already occured this eve. The horde that had been banging on the gates ceased - and resumed the lifeless stance Helich had become accustomed to.
Kain: Arriving at the location, as Tristram was being helped up by one of his servants, and he couldn't help but grimly smile at his comment. Closing the distance from forty to about thirty feet, he wondered if he could actually hit Helich at this range, though he didn't want to get too much closer. While he had used different oders to mask his natural scent, he knew that it would be unwise to tempt fate much further without just cause. The longer he could remain incognito, the more he could learn.
The illusion shattered, and the male paid it no mind at all.
Tristram stared upward. There it was, for the entire city to see. The fighting slowed, then ceased. They all knew Tristram by sight, and to see him like this ... it was unheard of, really. Greux gathered a band of orc raiders, the most talented in the city and began to discuss what they were seeing. Their brains did not hold the capacity to understand the sacrifice that was being made. Tristram prayed that it did not appear as cowardice on his part, or he would lose them forever. Diyuir had mounted his Roc and was circling overhead, unsure of how to proceed given the new circumstances. He wanted the dragon, yes, but not at the cost of more lives. His ogre champion laid slain, and the cage he had brought to catch a dragon rattled as orc, ogre, and human alike bumped against it, each jostling for a better view of the panarama in the sky. Tristram could see those gathered closest, and steeled himself against the sudden chill that ran down his spine. "Come where?" The black was daft if he thought that the defeated saurian would let him take him just anywhere, and likely kill him there for undisputed control of the city he loved.
Helich flicked his tail in irritation. It sent a rather large chunk of stone, as chance would have it, directly at Keslin's head with enough force to knock her out.
Kain didn't really have much love for the city, but he couldn't stand Helich. Closing to about twenty feet, he hurled the spear at Helich. Doubting if his first ever lob of a spear would do much damage, he figured it would at least break the illusionist's concentration, ending the display. Bringing up the staff, he stood in a loose yet ready position, not wanting to be caught unprepared in case of a retalitory strike.
Keslin notices the stone to late and falls unconsious. She rolls down the roof and falls to the ground, landing with a graceless thump near Kain. Her sword fell beside her.
The spear was certainly there. In route, without doubt but -- it seemed to vanish suddenly. Where it landed, what happened to it would remain unknown for the time, at least, but it was easy to assume that the thing had simply missed Helich. Still Kain, Keslin were disregarded as annoying pawns in this rather life-size game of chess. "Somewhere far away from here. Per our agreement of course. You for the city." Which he hoped the citizens listening would interpret as 'your life saved for the city' oh my what a blow that would be~ The saurian allowed his illusionry voice to whisper a few words to Tristram - the location - and he of course hoped the weakened black would be so kind as to oblige.
Tristram didn't want to leave. He couldn't just disappear and have no way of knowing what was going to happen to his people. Dragons, especially blacks, were not especially renowned for their truth telling. Then again, when had he ever promised to tell the truth? If he could just get Helich away from the city, maybe he could transform again, muster the strength to make the change, and maybe he'd be healed. Maybe he could defeat the older black away from the city, when he had nothing to lose, and Helich had nothing to hold over his head. He subtly flexed his muscles, testing them, and immediately cringed. If he transformed, he sure as all that was unholy hoped that his ribs healed in the process. "Fine," he muttered from between teeth that were still clenched in a mixture of pain and fury. "Let's go." He limped toward the gates, which looked miles away from where he was standing. Mentally, Tristram began calculations. How far away would he have to be to make the transformation -and- catch Helich before he got back to the city? He paused next to Keslin and struggled to rouse her, get her on her feet and out of the street, perhaps his last good deed for a while. He staggered to his feet again, and with a grunt, began the procession down the street.
Helich begins to follow Tristram out of the city. By air. A slow hover - pained as ever - inching ever so slowly with each step the man took, and high enough up that he was out of range of even the strongest archers.
Kain shakes his head and mutters, "Ye hide up there Helich, but yer time be comin'. 'N it be comin' sooner then ye might think." He then turns his attention to Keslin, bandaging the wound on her head, then helping her stay on her feet.
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Post by Terra on Mar 23, 2010 17:58:02 GMT -5
The night had been a long one. When Helich had escorted him out of the city, he had expected to stay out of the city, an exile, but not this. He had been brought back inside in a ceremony that involved a great deal of humiliation and manipulation of the fragile minds of the orcs that roamed the city, disturbed and angry. A four-armed ogre stood guard next to the cage at all times, and periodically an orc or troll would stop and question the meaning of their once-proud leader displayed like this. The answer was always the same, a monotonous, "He traded Gualon for his own safety." This spread like rapid fire through the city, and while the creatures licked their wounds and took the night to heal and rest, it was the talk throughout the campfires that burned late into the night. The orphans were affected the most deeply. The ogre wouldn't let any of them near the cage, but they were suspicious, suspicious of the monotone answer, and the deadness in the ogre's eyes.
Terra had been led by one of the children who had not bought into the belief that their mentor had betrayed them all. These kids were far smarter than the common street urchin. Unable to understand what happened or what was happening she merely followed, solemn and muddy. "They've done what to Trist...?" Then the cage was spotted and the figure in the corner was identified after both eyes narrowed into near-slits. "Tristram?" His name was made into question as the empath remained in denial, sorrow weighing heavily on her shoulders as she took a step towards the guard and the spectacle he flaunted.
Tristram knew this was inevitable. Bloody urchins. He was happy to see her though. The streets were relatively deserted, save for the shuffling to and from the clinic, and the citizens stumbling around in shock. Many of them did not know of his presence here in the center of the town. They would soon, though. The ogre stood placidly at his post, only turned to stare at the vampire, huff, and return to staring into the distance. "Terra," he murmured, and truly appreciated her presence while simutaneously condemning her presence. "You shouldn't be here, baby. It's going to be fine, I promise." He tried to keep his arms still, to make it look nicer than it was. "He just wants to make a point, that's all. Go. I'll come find you soon, I promise." He smiled, and it was strained, but genuine. Terra did not buy it. Not to say she didn't want to because if she had her way, if she believed in her hopes, he would not be here and made a mockery of. No, such an event would never had occured if she had her way. But alas, he stood on the other side of bars that would not give way no matter how much her mind willed them to bend. "No, no. This is not okay." In that moment she's not sure who she blamed more - herself or Helich. All of it could have been prevented should she not pleaded for the life of his captor. "I'm so sorry Trist. This is my fault. You should have killed him that night but I--" A sharp look was spared for the guard who glared once more, unappreciative that she had not moved right along as the rest did. "You were right."
Tristram said, "Circle." He dipped his head toward the opposite side of the cage, where it would look less suspicious if she kept moving. The ogre likely wouldn't remember her face anyway, the next time she crested his station. "Don't you say that. Don't you ever say that. Don't ever apologize for showing mercy." He lifted a hand to run through his hair, a nervous gesture that calmed him, found he couldn't reach, frowned, and lowered his arm again. "It's going to be okay. I don't lie to you. You know politics, Terra. He is just showboating. Showing off the prize. I'll be out of here by tomorrow, really."
Terra obeyed this time. It was an easier to command to follow than leave which would have to occur soon despite the silent protests. Lips pursed in a thin white line and despite the name tattooed on wrists that conveyed her ability to display mercy, none would be shown for Helich if the two crossed paths once more. What connection or tie they had or could have had were severed this evening. They fell away as did her gaze when she watched him fail at being able to accomplish the simplest of tasks. "They will not show you mercy, Trist. They'll beat you until you can't walk or until you wish for it to be over. And for what? Land? A title?"
Tristram 's eyes followed her progress around the cage, and kept the guard in his periphery at all times, in case his undead brain were suddenly infused with some sort of understanding or worse, influence. "No." His lips thinned, and it took him a few minutes to gather what he was going to say before he said it. "It's for more than land, or a title. It's for power. He will start here, and then move on. Nothing he wants is here." His neck craned to follow her path around him. "I have nothing to do with it." He was lying now, and he hated himself for it. "So I'll be fine." It was hard to wait until she was in front of him, and he would clamor forward a pace or two, and draw the attention of the guard - but he had to say his piece. "Do not stay here. If he sees you, if he knows how much I goddamned love you, he will use you against me, and I will give everything - everything. Right now, at this exact moment in time, you are my worst enemy."
Terra kept moving and even picked a stray pebble to pitch towards the cage as though she indulged in the torture that was sure to face the dragon. If only that was the worst of it. This time when she came to the front and could see his face she lingered. Everything he said made absolute sense. At this point she was nothing but a liability and that heart-wrenching thought nearly summoned a sob from a throat clenched so tight air wasn't able to travel through. Never had she hated herself more. "You're right. Just know that I hate you Trist. More than anything else in this world." It went in line with what he had said and she looked nothing less than defeated then.
You said, "Good." He leaned back and closed his eyes, so he didn't have to look at her. It would have killed him, hurt him worse than anything Helich could ever do to him. Those eyes would have pierced him, sucked the breath from his lungs, stolen away the life he was savagely trying to protect. She hated him, and it would save her. It was hard to get comfortable. His apparent nonchalance was awkward, and drew snickers from orcs that had begun to gather around the cage, first two or three, then seven or eight. He didn't open his eyes, but his nostrils were flaring. She needed to leave. Now.
Terra knew from the start that there was no happy ending. There was no possible way for this to ever end in her favor and that's what made her an idiot. The circle would not be walked again and once she reached the other side her breath hitched. "That was the last time I will ever lie to you." Because it was the hardest and because it was their only option. A part of her - and she's not sure how large that part was, just now - wanted to hate him for ever introducing himself with that womanizing charm that she was unable to resist then or now. Hands were stuffed into the pockets of pants and it took every ounce of restraint in her to walk away then, unwilling to linger. He said he would come find her and she trusted that.
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Post by Terra on Mar 23, 2010 18:23:25 GMT -5
The people were unsettled and milling about, clogging the tavern and the usually pleasant plaza leading into the exotic gardens of Gualon. Something seemed to be going on in the middle of the town square. An orphan ducked out from the surrounding crowd and ran toward the town hall, followed shortly by another. They were replaced by two more, elbowing and shoving their way into the crowd until they reached the epicenter of the large gathering. Those in the immediate vicinity were of orcish descent, with a few goblins and orgres thrown in for variation. There was a large cage in front of them, surrounded by a mass of orcs, some alive, some undead. In the cage were two figures - an immense ogre, who was, for all intents and purposes, quite dead, and savagely carrying out a task willed by some unseen hand. The other figure was a man shackled to the interior of the cage's floor by his wrists. He was kneeling - probably because he couldn't stand - and spitting blood out of his mouth and onto the already saliva and bloodstained steel floor of the cell. The ogre swung again, and sent Tristram sliding sideways with a painful thud and clatter of chains. And then the orcs cheered. The sound was worse than hearing his own bones break. The foolish, fickle orcs. They had turned on him the second they were fed the insidious lies that he had abandoned them, traded the city for his own protection. The saurian spit out a stream of blood and a tooth or two and forced himself into an upright position again. The undead ogre, once on his very own side turned to face him and bellowed into the crowd, which roared in response.
Helich :: Helich was one of the bystanders. If he could be called that. Surrounded by a few of his undead greenskins of course. Well. Several. Well. Alot, really. Could never be too safe but - but - here he was. His entire face was bandaged except the eyes and nose - those eyes were narrowed with anger, the nostrils flaring with contempt....He had had a seat brought to him. Even with the scene before him - he did not appear to be enjoying himself. Though he watched each blow with passing interest. His mind was a swarm of plans, contemplation.
Tristram was defeated, sure, but he wasn't any less himself. The orphans were doing their part to keep Tristram, well, alive, and this time they had slipped a sharpened bolt into the corner of the cage, which he had collected when being thrown across it. Palming the steel rod, he struggled to his knees once more and when the ogre turned his back to him, he leaned forward and drove it through the ogre's foot with a sickening squish and a garbled moan of pain from the less than jolly green giant. He didn't possess enough power to push the rod through the equally hard steel of the cage floor, which prevented him from nailing the ogre in place, and with another roar, he stumbled back and pulled the thing from his foot and let it fly across the crowd. "If I get another one," the imprisoned man muttered, though the crowd had grown quiet enough so that he could be heard. "I'm going to jam it through that rock you call a head."
Helich :: The ogre's reaction was swift after the roar of pain. Helich tensed up - which caused a recoil of pain to surge through his entire torso. The Ogre's huge hand gripped Tristram's neck - a tight hold, but not enough to really harm the male. A scratchy voice left that throat, but the accent used suggested that it was in fact not the undead greenskin that was speaking. "Isn't it adorable how I roar? As if I am still alive. You poor man. If another of your little friends tries to help you, I will have all of their throats slit yes? Do you want to see that? Maybe I shall throw them in the arena and let a few of my brothers have their way with them hmm?"
Tristram had no answer, but despite the green hand wrapped around his throat, his eyes sought out the source of the voice -- the true source. He could scent draconic blood through any illusion, but the scent of his own dripping down his body was so strong he could barely smell anything at all, not his sweat, not the garbage that had been hurled into the cage, not the sweet, lingering scent of the gardens that wafted through the plaza with any breeze at all. Eventually an answer was forthcoming, in the form of a defeated, "F--- you." An orphan was sent scuttling through the crowd once more after a particular glare from the saurian; the warning was taken, and passed on accordingly. The orcs were taking up another chant, and Tristram couldn't help but wonder if Greux was among them. He rocked back on his heels and jerked his head away from the ogre. Someone had reported news on the board to him, secretly, and in passing, and his eyes roamed the crowd once more. Two weeks until his execution? Bloodied lips dipped downward in troubled thought, and he tried to drown out the chants of the orcs.
Helich :: The male untensed after a moment. His mind was far more troubled than Tristrams own. What to do with all these people? How to feed them while on the move? Raiding - of course, certainly, but would there be enough? Thousands of Orc, ogre, goblin - thousand of green-skinned citizens occupied this city and now considered them their ruler. A voice would whisper in Tristram's ear - the ogre had gone stiff as a statue, still in that exact post sif he were holding the male. Course, only Tristram would hear it. Even over the chanting, "Do you know what I am going to do with your pretties? They are going to set the world afire. So easy they are yes? Fickle and idiotic. It takes very little for me to overwhelm them mentally, very very little. Though numbers do stack no? You agree?" The Ogre now shifted into motion, smacked the leader in exile across the face. The sort of smack that did more than sting, the male may be seeing stars for a few minutes. "And all of your pretties who fell - they rose again yes? How odd really, my sister hadn't told me the curse carries over. Necromancers and their secrets, oh my."
Tristram tensed the same moment Helich's illusionary self untensed. His words caused the blood in his veins to boil, and the muscles along his jaw to grow taut. The slap was merciful this time because it robbed him of consciousness for a few blissful minutes. His head swam, and he could only see one face in the crowd, and he knew before darkness took over his vision, and then his senses - a darkness that was not of magical means, but natural. The human body can only stand so much. It was a bucket of dirty water thrown over him that roused him back to consciousness, and then the pail hurled after the water, which he deflected with his arm. It was becoming progressively harder to pull himself upright, to stay defiant and strong, like any leader would under the present circumstances. His eyes sought out the infiltrator once more, and his words were meant for Helich as he spoke them, and not the ogre that stood dumbly by and smiled at the orcs jeering and cheering him on. "They are smarter than you give them credit for." No they weren't. His lie was so transparent. He backtracked. "But they are easily turned. Perhaps tomorrow they learn the truth of the situation and kill you while you sleep in my bed." The ogre lumbered forward and jerked his head back by his hair, perhaps for talking, because Tristram doubted he understood the implication of his words. "Easy there," he cooed, licking dry lips. "I'm far too pretty for you to keep shoving around like this. No one is going to want to see some ugly, unrecognizable sob executed in a week's time, are they?"
Diyuir moved silently through Gualon. The Elven blood was well disguised from the legion of living and dead green skins alike. For the male was wearing only ragged cloths yet his own flesh was covered by that of an undead orcs. Diyuir had taken one of the defeated corpses with him from last nights battle and skinned the fiend making its own flesh into a leathery suit that was stitched into Diyuirs own body. He took his movements cautiously and slow as to keep away from any suspicion which was far easier against an army of morons. The Wood Elf had come back to the forsaken city and infiltrated it hoping for a multiple number of things. One he had hoped to find sight of his berserker friend and even Uviour. He also hoped to find Helich and end the beings life but above that he wished to find sir Tristram. Word of the mans execution had spread quickly through the lawless city of Kelay and Diyuir had spoken with his blood Lirithen about finding the man. Diyuir search had been futile and he was ready to get out of the swamped city until he came forward to the plaza. The sight before him made Diyuir grit his teeth in anger. His soulless eyes were cast upon his Berserker companion, Tristram and Helich all at once. He felt his blood begin to boil as he saw that his second guardian had been turned into a damned abomination. Though now was not the time for sickly emotions. Diyuir hadn't really thought about what to do if he had found Tristram during his infiltration and honestly had no idea where to go from here. So for now the man played along, offering only a slight moan every now and then as he advanced upon the prisoner slowly. He dragged his heavy set iron sword through the dirt to blend in with the rest of the undead minions through the eyes of Helich and his the other intellectuals that would surround him.
Helich chose not to respond to Tristram with words, but action. This time the Ogre sought his hair, gripped it, and smashed it against the steel bottom of the cage. The creature held him there, cheek against steel. The guise the dragon had chosen was contrasting with the bandages around his face and torso, but he spoke with a steady tone. "You have a point Darkheart. Perhaps we should leave you to be recognizable."
Tristram might have lost another tooth. He had stopped counting, in all honesty. His head slammed against the bottom of the cage, but it was almost a welcome respite. The coolness eased the pain radiating throughout his face, which was taking the brunt of the ogre's abuse. He didn't struggle against the ogre's grip; what was the point? "Speaking of your sister," he shifted his head under the ogre's meaty paw and fixed his eyes on the bandaged form of Helich. "You should have heard the things she asked me to do to her when we were alone. Shocking."
Helich growled. Coming from a drow it would sound odd - for it was a dragon's growl. Keeping his face recognizable be damned. The saurian waved a hand - the crowd of Orcs began to chant louder - the black winced at the gesture - but soon the Ogre was picking Tristram up off the ground and holding him upside down by a leg. "You would be wise to watch your tongue, look at all the good it has gotten you thus far!" The Ogre shouted loud enough for the crowd to hear. They cheered even harder now, waiting, anticipating something entertaining was about to occur.
Helich apologizes to Diyir and throws in the fact that he has no idea Diyuir is there at all.
Diyuir continued to advance through the horde of orcs and ogres towards the large cage. It took everything the man had to hold back a flinch as Tristram was smashed into the cage. The Elven man resisted the urge to simply grip his blade and start lobbing off heads. As much as he wished to set Tristram free and liberate Gualon, he knew he couldn't. Not without a plan. Diyuir was no hero. Finally the man made his way to the front of the pack and without knowing it stood directly beside Helich. He stared into the cage at the Ogre that held Tristram and tried his best to find something decent left in the beast. He turned up empty and his Tree Born abilites would be of no use here. At the furious calls of death and cheers for Tristrams pain Diyuir realized he wasn't exactly fitting in. But then again, not all of the undead were able to speak due to their vocal chords being ripped out. So he held his ground firmly as his mind raced for a tactic to get Tristram out of the cage and to safety. His eyes looked wildly around and acknowledged everything yet there was nothing to be found so the Wood Elf simply waited patiently as Helich continued to taunt his prey.
Tristram found himself hoisted in the air by one set of four arms and hung there. It became some sort of bizarre rack, with his hands chained to a set of bolts on the floor of the cage, and his body hoisted to the top. It was impossible to conceal the grimace, or stifle the urge to pass out again as his ribs popped and snapped. "F---," he couldn't help but groan, and send a wild gaze around those gathered closest. Bleeding orcs. Someone new had appeared next to the illusionist, and he tried to focus on the form of Diyuir while getting spun around by an over-eager ogre. He swallowed a mouthful of blood and saliva and wisely kept his mouth shut - for now.
Helich didn't note Diyuir's presence, and wouldn't unless the male got so close that he could empathically detect him. At any rate - the four armed ogre pulled just that much harder, slowly stretching the male. "Scream." Tristram didn't scream. Instead, he set his jaw and willed the blood to flow to his brain ... faster.
Diyuir watched Tristram dangle like a limp rat caught in a felines fingers. His anger began to rise and was getting the best of him. The man was ready to foolishly cut down anyone near him so that he could make his way to the cage. Yet suddenly a wave of relief surged over the Wood Elfs body. A noise barely audible to the naked ear hissed like wild fire in Diyuirs. The air above him was being sliced and he knew now he had a chance. The man had taken note of the illusionist beside him. The dragonic growl that erupted from his throat hinted to Diyuir that this was the ring leader of this whole operation. So with a deep breath he counted slowly to himself. "Three." The cheers of the orcs rushed through the mans head. "Two." His heart began to beat against his rib cage like that of a war drum. "One." Everything froze for a moments time, Diyuir acted. The man suddenly brought his sword to full guard and spun in a well calibrated arc slicing off an orc bystanders head. He then moved towards the Drow illusionist and brought a fierce blow from his elbow aimed at the mans head in hopes of knocking the man to the ground. As Diyuir acted on his own means a familiar creature made itself known as Uviour suddenly fell from the sky and collided full force into the steel cage before them. A screech from the legendary beast signaled its call to arms and from the sky came four more Rocs. The white birds-of-prey began falling down on the horde of orcs swiping them away from Diyuir and the Cage. Uviour had hit the cage with such force that it would hopefully tilt the enclosure allowing the ogre to drop tristram and grow disoriented so Diyuir could make his move. As a frenzy suddenly broke out among the plaza with blood, feathers and cries flying around like play. Diyuir felt a strength in his heart that he may actually have a chance at this as he gritted his teeth preparing for the impact of his blow against who he didn't know to be Helich.
Tristram wasn't feeling too hot. The ogre's claws were digging into his arm, and he didn't have any extra blood to spare to spill. It was a desperate and forced attempt to try and stay conscious. "She was all over me, you know, as if her obvious daddy issues had finally gotten the best of her. Daddy didn't love her as much as you? Or were you the bastard?" And then the entire cage shook and rattled, and Tristram thought Helich was killing him, and re-killing the ogre. The ogre let go of him, and he was once again, firmly planted on the cool floor of the cage, and trying harder than ever to stay upright. What the bloody hell was flapping at the cell? Feathers? An entourage of avians? That would never happen. The avians were aligned with Solaris, and the exiled leader doubted that good ol' Solaris would send a delegate of bird brains after another creature with whom he was aligned. His eyes tracked the movements of the illusionsary drow, and he tried to keep him in his line of sight. If he got out of this thing, it would be straight to Helich he would go for vengeance, and he didn't have anything left to lose. He struggled to get to his feet and stayed on his knees, pulling at the chains, and keeping well out of the way of the four-armed, disoriented ogre stumbling around the confines of the cage.
Terra had heard. Who had not? And she ran. There had been no time to arrange rides, to ready horses, to beg and barter and plea. The end product was a messy, swamp-damp vampire that pushed and shoved aside the heartless audience that raved and cheered. One might have even earned an elbow to the nose and the spurt of blood that came as a result only stroked the flames of the creature's lust for blood. Then again, plenty of the dragons --of Tristrams-- had been spilled. "Trist!" It's a half-cry as she pushed herself to the front of it all.
Tristram was dodging an incensed ogre that seemed to think he was to blame for the ogre's current state of disorientation. Of course, he could only manuever so far, and the ogre managed to land a blow or two, but not fell the dragon. Not yet, anyway. The voice. It was so familiar, and it made every hair on his body stand on end. Before he knew what he was saying, which in actuality was, "No no no no no no no," he had spun around and pulled at the chains to face her. His her. "Get. Out." It was a simple command, and he had never been so serious in all his life. She was the one thing he had left to lose. "Get out. Right now. Run." The ogre jerked him back and threw him as far as his restraints would allow. "Don't stay here." And he knew full well that being as stubborn as she was, she wouldn't listen to a damn word he said.
Diyuir :: The squad of Rocs continued their assault on the orcs and one of the lesser ones seemed to heed Tristrams words as it released a feral screech and wisped down on the orcs enclosing around Terra with its talons, covering the female in blood but damn well saving her life.
Tristram totally misinterpreted the Roc's intentions, the blood that was covering the vampire he was desperately trying to keep track of, and the moment she was taken away, the intensity of his roar caused the fighting to still for a moment before it took up again. He strained at the shackles; he was frantic. Where was it taking her? Why the blood? If it had dragon blood on its talons, it would kill her. He was growing more desperate by the second, and even the berserker looked a bit leery as he paced the outer rim of the cage.
Tristram shouted, "Terra!"
Diyuir :: Uviour continued to slam against the cage until finally the beasts talon ripped through the steel top. Slamming its beak down into the cage a large hole was formed and it screeched heavily to the Ogre. Uviour jabbed its talon down into the cage and began to slash at the four armed berserkers gut over and over as the opposing roc who had aided Terra looked to the woman and tilted its head as it kicked backwards with its talon and smashed about ten orcs back into another wave.
Terra fought, kicked, screamed, and clawed. There was no sense of dignity or respect for any that attempted to restrain or protect and it was why she merely scoffed at the commands given and utterly dismissed them. With scrapped fingers and knees and the knowledge to be on the look-out for things that could swoop from above she'd continue to approach. A never-ending battle that left the travel-worn blonde slouched down a few feet away from the cage. "I'm going to get you out of there." A solemn vow that was spoken loud enough for the disguised drow to hear. Helich would not touch her - surely. There was no way to approach any closer without risking an attack from any of the stray guards and greenskins so she'd use the dirty-face orphans with a knife pressed into one of their palms with a clear intent. Her right shoulder where the talons had clawed seemed to be swelling or possibly dislocated but the pain could be ignored as the sound of metal being ripped away became clear. Was there hope for them after all?
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Post by Terra on Mar 23, 2010 19:01:42 GMT -5
Tristram was lying on the floor of the cage in the fetal position, as if his body was instinctively protecting itself against whatever potential assault might come next. The dragon was out cold, but shifting restlessly in his slumber. The ogre standing outside his cage was dozing as well, two arms folded across his chest, and another hanging limply at his side; one was missing entirely, courtesy of one of the Rocs that had descended during Diyuir's valiant attempt to free the exiled leader. Helich's illusionary self had melted into the crowd and disappeared, before Diyuir could get to him. The wood elf had managed to take down a cohort of undead minions before he was run off. He had managed to escape capture himself and as far as Tristram knew (before losing consciousness), he had taken refuge somewhere within Gualon. While walking that thin line between consciousness and sleep, Tristram's thoughts turned to Terra.
Hours later, Tristram had managed to pin Helich down to the floor of the cage, and was straddling the drow's chest, keeping the dark elf's arms pinned to his sides. There was no mercy to be shown. The dragon's muscles rippled as he punched the drow, over and over again, until Helich's blood was coating his fists. There were murmured oaths and curses, mentions of mothers and sisters, but Tristram kept going, giving in to his hatred of the other black, and years upon years of aggression toward those of his own kind. A stretch of the chain linking his wrists to the bolt in the floor was pulled across the drow's throat, and the exiled leader held it there, staring into the drow's eyes and leering at him as the last bit of life drained away. Helich raised a hand, a beckon for mercy, perhaps, or a plea for a last word, but Tristram only pushed down harder, until the usurper was dead. A grunt was pulled from his lips when a pail of ice cold water was thrown over across his sleeping body, and he struggled to pull himself upright. It had been a dream. There was no dead drow in the cage, not even the undead ogre, who stood outside and grinned with dual chipped tusks.
Terra had tried to find Helich. Gualon was not a small town by any means and the options were endless. The first place was Tristram's Estate and it seemed that the bastard had started nesting there with plenty of willing hands to be at his beck and call. This evening Helich had not returned home. So then it was the grogshop, the clinic, the arena, the empty house that had been listed for sale for months. Any possible option was explored until there was no energy left in her to run so she turned to the one safe place she knew of here and was given the rude reminder that it had been violated by Helich. That every person that remained in that building had not stood and fought. They were not valiant or loyal and there was no mercy to be spared for any that allied themselves amongst Helich's ranks or regards. Mindful of the patrol that went up the streets of Gualon and towards the gardens she'd slip around. With Darian as her Sire, a few good things had been learned and gifted and one of which was the ability to blend in with the dark - a place she belonged, no doubt. Cold fingers gripped the steel handle of the door and a quick tug granted entrance. Still left with the impression that the imposter Black was not here (though he could be lurking, she hoped) she'd make a run for the room with the largest fireplace. The crackle and hiss of the sizzling flames only stoked the silent fire, encouraged the nearby furniture to be tossed towards it, and an arm to be risked to grab a broken chair leg that was dropped on the plush rug. She didn't even stay to watch the fire catch on as the door was shut to keep in the scent of smoke for as long as possible. If this place was not Tristram's, then it was not home. Their privacy that was once so valued had been breached and she'd rather see the place in flames, in ashes, then to live with the knowledge that Helich had once occupied it. Now to find its owner and apologize.
Lines were blurred during war. Would this be considered a war? Then again, they had a hostage that she was willing to commit acts of arson in the name of. A child was lured to a nearby ally and neatly tied to the tree. Ogres like children as food, right? So she killed the poor child out of mercy and attempted to bribe the ogre away with food and a chance to be cruel things that they enjoyed without second thought. As soon as the creature was gone she pressed against the cool bars and felt for the figure in the shadows, found puddles of cold water and flinched. "Trist!" A sudden exclamation because their time could be limited. When was it not? "We have to get you out of here. Tell me how Trist." Helich seems to appear from out of nowhere, spontaneously generating next to you.
The ogre wasn't interested in the sharp cry of a child from down the alley, except to twist his head in that direction and snort a putrid breath into the cool of the night. The berserker stayed where he was for a long time, until eventually, the humid breeze of Gualon carried the scent of fresh blood to his post. The undead was easily manipulated and controlled, but still ruled by basic instinct, and soon enough, he was lumbering down the alley way toward the sacrifice and beating off other interested parties in his effort to secure it for himself. The saurian turned his head one way, and then the other before locating the source of the voice. "Terra." He cringed at the effort speaking her name took. His head swam and he steadied himself with one hand placed flush to the floor of the cell. The wave of pain eventually receded, and he straightened with a groan. "How?" Were there keys? Where was the door? How did he get in here in the first place? He hadn't the foggiest idea. "Didn't I tell you to stay away?" His body swayed, and he forced himself to focus on her; she looked different, darker. Swollen eyes narrowed, and he sniffed. "What did you do?"
Terra had to shut both eyes for a long moment. There were moments that would haunt you forever but this seemed to be the night from Hell, one that would never be vanquished entirely. But if it were her behind the bars would Tristram not burn the place down? Confident in that even if it was only that, she'd breathe a small bit of the harsh air and turned to look towards him once more. "That doesn't matter right now. I'm going to get you out of there." By now it had been repeated so many times it sounded like the words to a chant, less of a reassurance. If only she could feel him just this once. "Trist, I need you to focus. How do we get you out of here? Are you not able to transform?" Around the cage she walked, found the locked door and gave it a hard tug as though her strength alone would budge it. "Keys... where are the keys?" More movement, unable to sit still with him caged like a common animal and displayed for the cruel amusement of a dragon that would soon meet his demise.
Tristram could see smoke billowing from a building that suspiciously resembled his own, and decided he didn't want to know. His body hunched, and he slumped forward. There were disturbing shades of blues, purples, and sickly greens painted across his torso, a protrusion that angled itself out from his ribcage, and he found himself unable to take deep breaths because of it. His breathing was shallow, and his words reflected his discombobulation. "Transform? Maybe. Need a new body." His head was beginning to clear, and information began to trickle into his consciousness. He looked around again, and a cloudy gaze was far more alert now. "Larry Three-Arms has the keys to the cell," he was beginning to return to form. He jerked at the shackles, forearms straining. "I don't know if they open these as well. I assume not. I think he has them." His head jerked toward his manor, though he refused to look at it. "I told you to stay away. This is not staying away."
Helich :: A quiet night. He'd been rather pleasantly walking around - by luck avoiding Terra - until he did a defensive check. After Diyuir's little stunt was more on edge than usual since capturing the city. So empathically he'd recently been sifting through the mill of the city. She stuck out like a sore thumb. Her. The one. That girl. That....thing that always brought him to a state of...feeling things that he typically didn't allow himself to. A few past experienced were reflected upon whilst he made his way into the plaza with a trio of -living- ogre on his flank. A personal guard, no doubt - for he was not in any position to fight. In his drowen guise his face was fully bandaged - the only exposed area being the nostrils and eyes. His torso was the same and he was this eve bare chested. The way he stood, arms crossed gently over chest, suggested he was in a rather smug - if not pained - mood. The smoke was ignored. This was all a ploy however. Quite a busy thing, running a city. He found his gaze on her. He could feel it swelling in him, something that distracted him from the burns that caroused most of his body. One of the ogre grunted - Helich smiled from beneath the bandages of his face. "Pleasant evening isn't it?" A rather formal greeting. He prayed she would stay away - if anyone in these lands could hurt him, make him something he was not - something good - it was this woman.
Terra would confess to murdering a child, to setting his estate ablaze, and every other sin that weighed heavily on her conscious as a result of this evening alone. "And I told you I hated you. This is me hating you." A few stray hairs were brushed back from her forehead as she craned her neck, tried to see behind a building as the clouds of smoke continued to roll in the distance. Now, there were very few things that should scare a vampire and the sudden roll of Helich's voice was enough to do just that. It wasn't exactly the form of the dragon or his disguise or the threat he posed... no, it was the type of person she would become in his presence. The very same thing that he feared. "What have you done? What have you done to this man? When he had the chance to kill you, to behead you on the very same ground you walk, he did not. So why is he in a cage?" And yet again this being had the ability to sway her to tears because she's damned near that point. "He doesn't belong in there."
Tristram 's blood ran cold at the sound of that voice. Helich. He watched him approach, watched him watch her, and trembled in anger. Wrists pulled at the manacles, fists were clenched, and every muscle in his body was taut. If the disguised dragon came a step closer, he would tear his arms out of their sockets to defend the vampire. "Stay back," he warned, and his voice dripped with venom, while dark eyes flashed, perhaps more disturbing than they had been during the siege. His eyes were leveled at the drow over the blonde's head, and his tone was icy as he added, "Not a step closer. I will tear you limb from limb, and the f--- your dead sister's body with them if you come one goddamned step closer." Terra was trying to add her own threats, postulations, and appeal, but he cut her off. "Shut up, Terra. Be quiet. Go home. This is not the place for you. You hate me, I hate you. Leave me alone. Leave." He kept his eyes on Helich with violent determination.
Helich cleared his throat. It was an awkward thing really. A filler to avoid her words. She just...always...did this! Every time! He actually felt -guilty- due to the empath. She was like an emotional thorn in his ass, but his ass was like a sensitive fifteen year old girl whose boyfriend has just broken up with her. So. You get the idea. The recoiling effect was a dropping of his gaze to the ground below, a shuffling of feet - slowly they rose with intensity in them. "You don't comprehend the severity of my situation, my reasons and my results. You are too young. He knows." A gesture toward the caged black - "And he still refused me. I will do whatever needs to be done, to even my own -brethren- to achieve the task that has been beset on me." An honest answer...these emotions, they swirled in him. She pulsed in him and he in her empathically. A ripple colliding with another ripple in a pond that was otherwise still - eventually the outer ring would reach the center and continue on, only to be replaced by another. Tristram's verbal assault cut off whatever was to come next - and his eyes narrowed upon Terra. The ogre on his left grunted, the one on his right scratched the back of his head but both nodded and began resting a hand against the crude shaft of a club. From the southern entrance to the plaza a few undead greenskins were beginning to wander in rather...aimlessly. A ploy, or was the saurian truly being so lazy with the control? "You strike me as the sort who doesn't let go of a grudge Darkheart." With her here - he couldn't do it. A constantly teetering arrogance with her around. Threatening to cut him down to size, "You - Ack!" A growl. So frustrating! "Y- Why. Answer me Darkheart! Why didn't you just pledge to Solaris?"
Teeh and Heeh were walking around, minding their own business, going to a regular training place one might say was his intent. But suddenly he hears voices in the distance. They become intrigued by what the voices may be saying, sensing some dragon blood coming from the area within. Step by step they move closer to them, unaware of what he may find. Finally he is able to hear what the voices are saying. Coming in at just the end of what Helich says to Terra. They don't make a sound for as long as he speaks. -Wait, Darkheart? Solaris?- a few questions left unknown to them. They think that it would be time for them to show themselves and slowly make their way to the group. Looking around, he doesn't quite like what he sees, but wait, the drow. With a draconic aura. -How does this sound familiar?- Teeh questions himself. Wait! Helich! A slight smirk wraps itself around Teeh's lips as he whispers to his brother who quarks his head and looks to the drow, then back to Teeh, and gives a final nod. Teeh looks to Helich, "Are.. you... Helich, by any chance?" He says rather slyly, only slightly aware of his abilities.
Kasyr is slowly working his way around the outskirts of the plaza. With care taken towards both lingering undead sentries and those individuals of a less cadaver-like status, the hybrid eventually finds a path towards that westernmost house. It's only when he's positive that he remains undetected, that he continues his journey through the shadows; to eventually slink to the back of that building- so that he can make his way to its roof and simply lurk upon his newfound perch. Now just to hope that Satoshi is discreet...if she's in fact follow after him.
Diyuir rushed through the city of Gualon. The Wood Elf’s plan had been foiled and Uviour had to fall back with his brothers. A large sum of Orcs and Ogres chased after the man with their clubs and blades thirsty for Tree Born blood. Diyuir continued down the well thought path and looked to a near-by building charging to the door he used his shoulder as a battering ram and splintered the door to pieces. He had forgotten how cheap Gualon was yet he pushed the thought from his mind as he rushed to the upper floor of the home and quickly thought of a plan. Turning to face back down the stairs orcs began to pile up the incline and Diyuir pulled out a small set of throwing knives chunking four of them with amazing accuracy directly into the skulls of some Orc blood. Rushing behind through a nearby bed room the Wood Elf jumped through the nearest window and collided to the ground below. The wind being knocked out of him as dust flew into the sky. Feeling disoriented Diyuir forced himself up and reached to the undead orc skin he had stitched into his own flesh. Knowing greenskins had low intellectual level he believed he would be able to avoid the beasts if he changed his appearance. He couldn't help but shout in pain as he ripped the first sleeve of skin from his own and he realized his mistake. The orcs that had piled in the house began pouring back out. Grunting to himself he began running back towards the plaza. Blood seeped from his arm as the wounded Elf tried to find a decent escape route. Yet his faithful guardian proved well once again as Uviour suddenly collided to the ground in front of Diyuir and began screeching to the orcs. The green skins halted their rush and began looking around in a dazed confusion. Diyuir looked to the Roc and smiled. "Good boy..." The other rocs were nowhere in sight yet the tree born thought nothing of it as he climbed up onto Uviour. The mythical roc hissing and swiping its massive talons towards any of the warriors who were foolish enough to approach. Slowly but surely the duo made their way down to Tristram's cage. Terra and Helich were paid no mind as Diyuir's soulless gaze set firmly upon Tristram. "So much for a quiet recon..."
Terra cursed them both. Aloud. It was a word that rarely left her lips even in the worst of pirate-company. But Tristram's growing frustration was coupling with Helich's and the outlet seemed to be the blonde caught in-between the two. "Is that why you've caged him? Because you think he's stronger. That he is. He didn't need to go to Solaris to accomplish any of this. He obtained Gualon without the help of Solaris. You were not strong enough to do that." A scowl. No matter how much she appreciated Gualon, there was no amount of land or title that would push her to these points. Then again, all it took was a caged dragon to start the slaughter of innocent children and set the Darkeheart estate on fire that still filled the sky with dark smoke. Then Teeh and Heeh appeared and she became distracted and scowled, turned to glance towards Tristram and the company he seemed to have gained during the short interaction with the other Black saurian. "I don't understand politics. I'm really not that smart when you get down to it but ... " she did not care if this was interrupting any of the other members of the crowd because they had all become faceless. "you and I both know that this is wrong. I know that you know that. I knew it the night I begged and pleaded for your life and the night we sat at the bar. Are you ever going to realize it?" There's no amount of rationalizing or reasoning with the orcs that seemed content to take a swing at her with those maces so she'd merely look towards Trist once more, tried to catch his eye. "Don't fight my wars for me."
Tristram was watching Helich's feet now, waiting for any excuse, waiting for him to shift the caged dragon's direction. The ogres went entirely unnoticed, except for a subconscious flinch when one of them shifted his grip on the dark-stained club he wielded. His hands were still balled at his sides, and kept his lips pursed throughout Helich's rant. Here was the dragon's weakness - the same as Tristram's own: Terra. Only it appeared that Terra turned Helich into a raving, disorganized, self-doubting child. Trist could work with that. "Look at yourself," he called, his tone still flat. "No wonder you gave yourself over so easily. You have the weak mind of the ancients, mere pets to the humans they served." Terra's cursing caused him to fall momentarily silent, and a muscle along his jaw twitched. Her frustration was fueling his own now, like a broken sound system receiving only feedback and putting the same back out. He cared about as much as she did about the growing crowd, giant feather creatures, stalking felines, and two-headed dragons alike. "I may be your war," he spoke, eyes narrowing on the blonde, while he pulled forward, stretching himself so he could be as close as possible to her when he added, "But this is not your battle. You're right. I should have killed him when I had the chance. And now I will when I get the next one." The dragon smirked at the drow, and forced himself to relax minutely. "How does it feel knowing you'll never have the one thing you crave the most? That keep you up at night at all? Thinking about her? Us?"
Helich :: Terra held him a moment longer. One of his biggest pet peeves - and one that seemed to get exercised quite frequently - was when the situation was not in his control. After all, the saurian was a rather arrogant bastard and to have a -vampire- or an -elf- catch him off guard was...deplorable. But she held him - held his gaze through Teeh's words, held his attention through Diyuir's sudden arrival on the scene - and all he could do in was sigh. A pained sigh. This was not acceptable. The lurker, the savior, the hydra, the leader in exile taunting him. "Darkheart. Shut your mouth for a few minutes and keep her safe." With Diyuir here - things were soon to be hairy at best. The living Ogre at his flank looked about. They were scared, heads darting left, right, behind them - from every crevice in the city they began to pour in. The saurian had been keeping close tabs on the party searching for Diyuir and had a little plan in mind if he were to pop his head up again. The greenskins. Every remaining undead greenskin he held in his control, from every alley and throughway. All had weapons bared, all prepared to descend and destroy anyone at the saurian’s command. Not even a verbal command - the control he held over them was absolute. Yet it did not end there - Diyuir was to plague him for the last time. An illusion was easy to believe if it's dissension into a scene was believable no? This was Helich's logic. From above the fog came the roars. More than one. Several. Every detail was perfect, from their life-like eyes to the breaths they took - they were perfect replicas in every way. Blues. The dragons swarmed like angry hornets upon Diyuir - and it was then the saurian let them go with one purpose: destroy Diyuir. This of course left them rather...palpable to defeat, what with a lack of a working mind to strategize they were in a complete berserk mode - lightning flashed out of each of their mouths, perhaps seven or eight - and each sought Diyuir and Uvior. Soon they were in pursuit. A rather...odd scene, considering how calm things had been before. The black eyed Teeh after things had settled, after the undead minions had gone stiff as statues. Helich himself was rather tense - "What do you want?" Irritated...annoyed, "And -why-" he turned to Terra suddenly, "The hell did you start his estate on fire?" His estate?
Diyuir sat atop of Uviour and hissed down to the greenskins before him. The Elven man feeling empowered as he sat atop of his beloved mount. Though something strange broke the feeling of being in charge around Diyuir. His eyes slowly looked up to the sky and his heart sank into the pit of his stomach. Gritting his teeth and growling the Tree born felt a rush of fear flow through him. Every hair on his body that wasn't strapped down by undead Orc skin was standing up. Yet Diyuir was never one to simply give in. His heart slammed against his chest over and over until he finally whispered to Uviour. "As the clan folk say. Tis' better to die a hero than to live a slave." Diyuir opened his mouth and released a blood curling scream and he jerked his sturdy willow bow from Uviour's saddle and jerked his quiver to his back. Pulling out two broad iron arrows he loaded his bow and pulled back the string allowing it to pop and send the projectiles towards two of Helich's illusions. The elven blood knew not that they weren't of true bone, flesh and blood but he cared no more or less either way. As Uviour jumped into the air above the legion of green skins Diyuir had little time to measure his previous shots. Reaching to his quiver he pulled forth two more arrows and launched them against his foes again. As Uviour flew like an ace across the sky Diyuir was ready and continued his fight against the Blue Dragons. Diyuir had come to save Tristram and liberate Gualon. This he was going to do. Else die trying.
Tristram said, "My estate is on fire?" His lips dipped in displeasure. There was going to be a lot of bloody reconstruction -- again -- when this was all over and done with. "Keep her safe." Helich had a lot of balls for that suggestion. She wasn't Helich's to keep safe in the first place. And if he wanted her safe, he wouldn't be summoning an army of blood-thirsty orcs to the plaza. Trist spat a couple of choice words toward the drow, and turned his attention toward the dark alley the ogre guard had disappeared down. "Hey. Pretty boy." His voice carried down the street, and he could hear the ogre grunt in response. "It's time for my hourly beating." In the same instant, he turned toward Terra and reprimanded, "Shut up. Don't even say it. Just stand there and look innocent. Er. Do your best. Whatever you can do." The three-armed ogre lumbered up to the cage and grunted at the dragon, and Tristram straightened. "Come on, then. Haven't got all day. Time is of the mother-bedding essence." To Terra, "Look away." There was no room for argument. The mindless ogre opened the cage door after tense moments of fiddling, took a swing at him and sent him sprawling across the floor. He got up, took another hit, and stayed down, closer to Terra this time. "Get yourself in here. He'll turn to the left when he closes the door. Go right. You'll be safest here."
Terra grimaced at the mention of the Estate. That little detail had yet to be mentioned to the owner of the building so it was hard to explain. A shoulder dismissed it entirely. "Why did you decide to imprison a dragon and take over what wasn't yours?" All logic seemed to follow the same route this evening and that was what made it that much harder to comprehend. Teeh and Heeh are both studied and it's all Terra can do not to squeeze into the bars, to play out the role of damsel. And then Tristram is whistling and calling attention to himself those things that she had wanted him not to do. Panic inspired her to follow the directions because they made more sense than walking away and leaving him here to rot as previously instructed by Gualon's exiled leader. So she walked in and remained to the right, pressed into bars. Not exactly how this evening was supposed to go but she was tired of debating it. They would either both go free or they'd perish behind these bars.
Tristram kept the ogre's attention - without provoking him - while he locked the door behind him, and shuffled back into the crowd, trying to keep the area immediately surrounding the cell clear, and not paying hardly attention at all to who currently occupied it. The dragon spit out a wad of blood and pulled himself back to his knees. A hand lifted to warn her from coming to him. "Stay back. It's dragon blood." He thought for a minute, and craned his head upward. "But stay toward the middle. I may need to use you for cover from bird crap."
Shaelus appeared quietly and out of sight, staying just on the fringes of the group for now.
Terra would have stayed on the outside had she thought this through. As far as bad ideas went... his taunts only caused her to sneer and kick a pebble towards him. Though the crowd only seemed to grow as the evening continued to drag on. "I'm starting to think it was safer out there."
Tristram tried to push his hair out of his eyes, failed, and huffed a sigh. "We've got another hour until he rolls back in here. Should make yourself comfortable. Do you like what I've done with the place?" He took the opportunity to rake his gaze over her body, then assume a pensive expression. "Listen. If you happen to have a cigarette on you, I will marry you right now." He wasn't about to send an orphan into his burning manor to sift through his study until he found his supply. Trist could only pray that Terra had enough sense to take what truly mattered out of his home before she decided to burn it to the ground.
Satoshi 's terribly late to the party--that she's equally terribly ignorant of--but at least she's as discreet as any tiefling could hope for when she weaves her surreptitious way through the crowd to eventually join Kasyr at his rooftop perch. "What'd I miss..?"
Helich growled. The illusions above took the damage as if they were real - even released a predictably loud roar of pain. Four had been hit already, one in the soft underbelly - the sweet spot - and was quickly falling behind in the pursuit. The remaining seven however, they were dead-intent on killing the wood elf and his mount. Lightning again shot from the mouths - some at Diyuir, some at Uvior, but all with the speed of real lightning and pretty accurate considering the situation. The saurian - guised as a drow - was still tense. Still uneasy, his gaze settled on Tristram, Terra, and after a moment the ogre that had been lured within the cage while the male was distracted left and closed the door that led into the small confine. Perhaps he should execute her as well. As a means to an end - an end to the festering acid that ate away the walls of his emotion that was the woman. It was being mulled over within his mind whilst he looked skyward to watch Diyuir battle his puppets. A sigh fell from his mouth, several of the greenskins were beginning to sheath blades and retrieve horse bows from their backs, and arrows were beginning to be nocked. The black changed his attention back to the duo in the cage. Over the noise of the battle above his voice beckoned, "Darkheart." A single word, a summons to cage's edge, as far as the chain's binding his wrist would allow him to go - and soon the male was slowly treading toward the cage with his Ogre guard in line behind.
Terra huffed and puffed and threatened to blow their house of bars down. Well, not exactly. But she had managed to snatch a few cloves and the cherished papers and simply tossed the container towards him with little affection or care for the contents. "I felt it was time to redecorate. Spruce the place up a bit." A casual shrug that went stiff as Helich started to approach the cage and uttered that single word. No, it was not her surname but she still approached as though it was. Even more curious than the cat and tiefling on the roofs.
Kasyr lifts an eyebrow at Satoshi's sudden arrival then merely shakes his head, "Comings, Goings. The place es a bit too crowded to approach yet. ..Discussions seems improbable. A strike seems more appropriate. ...Though, not yet. It wouldn't be...efficient, a ce moment." The tiefling's words are hurriedly whispered to the feline, before he simply returns to staring at the unfolding drama- with a particularly catlike patience.
Diyuir began to feel cocky and even let a smile spread across his visage as he rode atop of Uviour. The man’s bow gripped tightly in his hands. He pulled forth another arrow from his quiver and lined it up with his bow string. Yet as he readied to pull a sudden streak of lightning landed into the man’s chest. A howl of pain escaped as he was launched from Uviour and sent hurtling towards the ground. The pain was so unbearable that the Tree Born lost his conscious state of mind as he fell to the earth below. Landing before a group of greenskins Diyuir body smacked with such force that the sounds of his bones popping could be heard all around the plaza. Blood trickled lazily from the man’s mouth, nose and even eyes as he laid in a well defeated pose. Nearly every bone in his body was fractured or broken from such a horrific fall and by only the grace of Sven the Tree Born was still breathing. As light as it was, it was breathing though the sweet cold embrace of death was not far off as Diyuir’s legs and hands twitched wildly. Uviour on the other hand was also struck by the bolt yet the legendary beast was able to take the blow in recoil before fleeing away to the north, heading back towards its homeland of Sage. There was nothing the Roc could do to aid his life companion. He would have to retreat and wait another day.
Diyuir shouted, "ARGH! God Dammit!"
Shishi hadn't the sense nor the care to approach on rooftops like some others have thought to. Attracted by flashes of lightning without rainclouds and other luminous light sources the vampire approaches at a rather heightened pace, mud covering his shoes and the bottoms of his pant legs as per usual with the trip through the swamp he takes to reach the city. His arms are folded at his chest, cradling a small, brown, fox-like creature that has purposefully positioned most of its body between Blue's shirt and the black necktie loosely fitted around the vampire's neck, keeping the fox from being illuminated by any light sources. The animals numerous 'yip's are likely drowned out by the sounds of battle and such as Blue approaches the scene and brings it into his field of view, again not caring much about staying hidden at all...
Tristram was so happy for that cigarette. If he possessed a tail, it'd certainly be wagging. He fumbled with the etched case for a good minute or so before the thing popped open and released one of his hand-rolled little pick-me-ups. And Lord knew he needed one. He was fiddling with a lighter when Helich called his name, and his chin lifted, eyes narrowing on the approaching drow. It wasn't easy, struggling to his feet, because the length of the chain running between his wrists and the floor was preventing him from making any real progress in the maneuverability department. He did, however, push Terra away, and place himself firmly between the two. He'd use his own blood to keep her back and away from Helich if that was what it took. "One more step forward. I dare you. I'll give your sister a new definition of fisting. My hand to god. Yours to her." His crassness was reaching new levels, but given the current circumstances, it didn't rank very high on the list of things he cared about. Diyuir's descent distracted him, and he flinched for the elf when he hit the ground. "Ohhh. That's not good. Let's hope something other than an orc or an ogre reach him first."
Helich :: Unfortunately the order Helich had given to his greenskins was that they were to fire their arrows at Diyuir. He didn't specify when. So each of the greenskins that had an angle on the man - it was pretty crowded in the plaza - were each drawing back strings and preparing to lose them. This however, would not be the end of Diyuir's life. Not at all. The greenskins paused. A typical statuesque pose as well, the minions - every one of them in the square - had an arrow pointed at the wood elf’s form. Even the ones that would not hit him with the others blocking the view. The black paused, listening to Tristram - a tiny bit of anger showed in his gaze that he had been trying to hide all night with every taunt the male vomited from his mouth - but he soon turned his back on the cage. A quiet moment goes by. Not a sound to be heard in the square other than the loud breathes of the living. The arrows were placed back within their proper places - Diyuir's former four armed (now three...) ogre was the one to scoop him up carelessly and start to bring him toward the trio. "Quaint." Attempts were made to push Terra out of his mind - or gut rather - as each pulse of the woman's empathy still egged him like an old man's house on Halloween. "Mayor. Exit." He turned to Tristram, the door opened. The three-armed Ogre with Diyuir was perhaps ten feet away still, shuffling between the minions, "Darkheart. You are soon to have company it seems. Mayhap I should just kill him now? As a demonstration of power? Yes?" It was then he paused - and turned to regard Shishi. Of all the people he didn't want to see, it was this man. "Stop or die." A quick command, for as he spoke every greenskin in the plaza was now gazing at the vampire. "Take your wife and leave. Now." Diyuir 's limp body rested atop of the massive berserker that was once his great ally. The duo had even fought side by side in the original battle for Gualon yet here he was. The blacked out, near dead Diyuir hanging like a piece of meat from this beasts shoulder.
Tristram said to Helich, "This man is going to die anyway. Your power had nothing to do with it. He was outnumbered."
Awne runs along the path of the city, towards the sounds of war, towards where her clansmate had made mention of people. And oh how right she had been! So many, how were they to find the elf? the white feline hardly paused her stride, scooting around people and ..things, yelling the sage elf's name; he couldn't be gone yet, he had to still be alive, he had to. Weaving her way, ducking under arms and hell even through legs if it meant getting to the center faster. Where was he!
Terra empathized with Helich on that one thing - Shishi's presence. It wasn't likely that the vampire would respond politely to the situation at hand. Previous meetings with Helich had ensured that his chances of survival were significantly lessened. Nearly every person who breathed was able to saturate the hatred that emitted for the disguised dragon. It went into their pores and Terra was not immune. His was just another scrap of advice ignored as she took a step back away from the door with her head shaking. "No, I will not leave him to die. None of them." If Helich knew her at all, even just the slightest, he had to know that answer was coming. A scowl. "Don't do this. Any of this. This is not the side of the war you want to be on." Then a semi-guilty, pleading look was shot towards Shish. Would he understand? Another step backwards and she found herself well into the cage now.
Solidad is just ahead of Awne in her entrance. She had stopped, eyeing the gathered crowd, searching for the man who had been described to her, a clanmate she had yet to meet. Then she saw the Ogre, heading towards Helich. 'Oh... him..' she thought briefly, but then she saw the mark of the eye of the limp figure. That had to be him then.. now how to stop this? So she raises her ebony staff, pointing towards the Ogre and focusing on the magical energy. Her mind was racing panicked. The best idea she had was to cause several strong thick vines to rise from the ground and tangle themselves around the Ogre's legs. Hoping that would be enough to prevent him from caging Diyuir the vampiress then steps into the shadows of the building, her black clothing making it more difficult to be spotted from there.
Shishi gave off the impression that he was rather unhappy with the drow speaking with him, the vampire's arms crossed as they were. There's a flicker of red in the assassin's eyes when he sees Terra in the cage behind Tristram. With a slight sneer towards Helich the vampire began to speak over the constant yelps of the fox in his arm, muffled by the tie flopped over its face, "I doubt she-" and Blue blinks once when Terra cuts him off with the answer Shishi was about to give Helich. Shishi sends a look around the drow-disguised dragon towards the female empath and frowns at the sense of unpleasant déjà vu he's feeling as she refuses to exit the cage. His eyes flash crimson again and remain that way this time, flickering shadows at his feet swaying unnaturally as the assassin speaks to Helich, "Might be a better idea if you were the one leaving, I think. This prolly won't end well for you if you end up hurting anyone further... You know?"
Odessa steps to where Solidad had been the moment she moves out of sight. The tall warrior woman stood over six feet in height. She wore loose clothing and a staff across her back which quickly made its way into her hand, raised as if she herself were the one to cast the spell.
Tristram | Terra probably found herself backing into him, as he positioned himself to catch her backward progress into the cage. "You need to leave. You need to leave with your husband." He could feel a slew of emotions emanating around him, through him, none of which seemed to be his own. He had felt indifferent toward Shishi, maybe even affable occasionally, but never this intense of a hatred, only to lose it a moment later and feel cool nonchalance once more. "His children ..." Being here with Tristram, was probably the least safe place for her now, though his loyalty was divided. If she stayed, he could use her to free himself. Helich was weak in that regard, and that weakness was utterly transparent. But if she left, she would be safe, away from here, and with her husband and her children, and far away from the orcs and ogres clamoring over themselves for a meal. His eyes sought Shishi in the crowd, and instead of issuing commands to the vampire, and pressed his lips in a thin line, and watched.
Shishi looked into the cage again with a cringe and asked uncomfortably, "Do you have to stay in the cage to prove your point, Ter?"
Tristram said, "No, she doesn't." Shishi said to Tristram, "Then let's get her the hell out."
Awne took notice of the familiar woman briefly before her sights caught sight of the one she was after "Diy!" she wasn't sure if it was relief or worry that flitted through her more, at least she had found him, now to get to him. She was running again, closer to the ogre green thing that held him "let him go!" She called to the green thing, unsure if she was heard or even understood really, she'd never met one like that before.
Tristram said to Shishi, "Sure, just let me finish my ciggy." His words dripped with sarcasm, and he pulled at the restraints until he could have sworn they gave a bit. "I don't have a whole lot of options unless you want me to spit at her, or projectile bleed at her."
Terra had to pause. Inhale. Exhale. Control was rapidly being lost. All these people. The constant swirl of emotion, the never-ending clatter of feelings and torments and taunts and conversation. A sudden bump into Tristram did not cease any of this but it provided a brief lapse into silence that was appreciated more than could be expressed. Instead of a grateful smile there was a scowl, eyes narrowed towards the both of them who thought this was about proving points, about cages and memories and pasts. "I'm not leaving until he does." Outside a war had started and she felt it safer on the inside anyway. "This all ends tonight."
Terra said to Tristram, "Shut up. Keep your blood to yourself." Tristram said to Terra, "Go burn down another house."
Shaelus appeared very suddenly near Helich. He seemed more or less uninterested in the various people and actions taking place around him. His glowing eyes stared out through his mask, briefly sweeping everyone and everything in a judgmental glance. This was all the attention they were given before he turned and allowed the judgment to rest solely upon Helich. The very presence of his body filled with his unnatural power distorted the world around him. Light traveling toward him bent and cast shadows at odd angles. Just the same, where there should have been light, there was shadow. It made him seem all the more imposing, being that it would hurt the eyes and heads of any who attempted to look upon him for long. His mouth didn't move, he didn't even breath, and despite this, his voice boomed from every direction all at once, lightly shaking small pebbles on the ground, "Where is my army?" Despite the tone, there was a reason for it, and the reason did not rest within Helich at all. Solaris had reasons upon reasons for even the smallest movements of his own body. He couldn't stop plotting and planning even if he wanted to, which he didn't, since it was all he could do to remain focused on returning to the realm he belonged to now. Such a show now may give reason for enemies to forgive one another once Solaris had completed his task and returned to the Underworld. Then again, perhaps it wouldn't. So long as the chance existed for the blame to be placed entirely upon himself, he would take action to make sure it happened exactly that way. Difficult tasks required difficult choices and Shaelus-Khar was never one to shy away from duty, no matter the cost.
Terra said to Tristram, "Which of your concubines?" Tristram jangled around a bit and said, "Oh, for chrissakes."
Terra gave a start at the voice and backed against the bars so she could be sure of what was behind her. "It couldn't possibly get any worse..." mumbled into the air as she started to slide down to the floor with legs stretched in front of her. "Surely."
Helich :: The living occupants of the city were now beginning to mill around the plaza - few could fit inside with the large amount of undead greenskins crowding the square - but those that could looked intensely toward their new leader, a few shouted battle cries at seeing a familiar form now unconscious - Diyuir - which only made the hive more full of buzz. Now Helich was rather distracted. Distracted was a bit of an understatement. Much too distracted to even fathom Terra's words for - it appeared an ugly scene was developing. A scene where several parties were likely to get injured, which didn't bother the black so much as he was rather vulnerable at the moment following his injuries from a few eves prior. Tristram was paying for those on a daily basis, with the beatings - at any rate. Solidad's grab made true with the ogre's legs - Diyuir went whirling out of his arms and into a heap on the ground. Helich's reaction was swift. The blues that had disabled Diyuir in the first place now swarmed the scene - followed by four new illusionary allies. The one that had taken the arrow to the belly -still- lumbered behind and seemed rather close to collapse and illusionary death at this point. The black dismissed them from his mind quickly and allowed them to strike out with lightning from their mouths at everyone they detected except for Tristram and Terra. And Helich of course. The scene grew more chaotic - the male's voice quickly bellowed through the entire city. A parlor trick on a grand scale, "My brothers!" what had he convinced these Orcs of? "They are trying to take Darkheart away! Destroy them!" Gongs tolled -- it was obvious within a few minutes that escape would be futile for Diyuir's rescuers - and several seconds later, the infantry was on the move. Every undead greenskin that crowded the plaza burst into motion before they had even unsheathed their scythe-like blades, rushing toward Solidad - Awne - Odessa, a wild charge, a careless thing - they weaved a wide girth around Diyuir. Apparently the black wanted the male alive for one reason or another. It was then, after all of this, after chaos upon chaos wrapped within chaos had exploded - he felt him. Solaris. It was a bath in ecstasy - the mark had its effects - he turned, grimaced through pain and extended a hand toward the scene before him. Casually of course. "Here." The roars of the living Orc and Ogre, the battle cry and cheers were beginning to rise from outside the plaza. "Behold, Solaris."
Tristram said to Terra, "Just did. You have impeccable timing, dove."
Diyuir 's lifeless body slammed to the ground and whatever bones were still intact now popped with a loud crunch. Blood continued to pour from the man’s eyes, nose, and mouth. The twitching had stopped and so far, so had his breathing.
Tristram rolled back on his feet and shifted his weight onto his calves. He looked around for his lighter, and handed Terra the pack of cigarettes. It didn't look like they were going anywhere now.
Shishi snowed off a fang or two in s alight sneer towards Tristram's sarcasm. Sunny is set onto the ground and Blue steps around Helich and into the cage, the fox following in his shadow. Crimson eyes fall on Terra as the assassin takes hold of one of her wrists, "Ter." he speaks in a low voice, reserved for when he's trying to show he's serious, "Let's go... Yo-" Shaelus's appearance, or more specifically the arrival of the darkness he brings with him cuts Shishi's speech short and his grip on Terra's wrist tightens slightly while his free hand rises to the side of his forehead, his balance faltering slightly.
Tristram said to Shishi, "Make yourself at home, kiddo. Have a cigarette."
Satoshi 's gaze flicks from tiefling to lyre and back before, lingering just long enough to plant a kiss to his forehead, she slips off the roof and behind the building. Requiem held tight to her chest, the feline makes as hasty a departure as she can from the chaotic scene.
Terra sat slouched and somewhat helpless as she witnessed what happened just beyond those bars. The cheers, the cries, the sound of broken bones, the scent of freshly fallen blood, and the constant static of victory and defeat that ranged on the minds of those ally and enemy alike. One knee is brought to her chest as she glanced towards the shackled dragon at his smartass remark and merely grinned, accepted the container just as her wrist was grasped in a familiar ring of skin and bone. When that grip tightened she was able to pull herself to her feet and gently prod, pull him back towards the bars and away from the exit. Such a thing didn't exist by this point anyway. "You shouldn't be here. This is ... this is not the place for you. Get Orange, get Yellow and hide. Just for a bit. Anywhere but here." Defiant, chin jutted and she'd gently start to pull her wrist away. "Things will only get worse and I'd rather have the knowledge that you're okay. That you are not here."
Awne watched the elf fly through the air to fall to the ground, no sooner though the lightening, she dodged to her best ability, her hands flying up in front of her, light emitting from them as she shields herself. Too slow as she was pushed back, tumbling over but shifting to the feral form of her lioness self and dashes forward. She was smaller now, quicker, she could move more easily then the lumbering giants above her. She was almost there, she could see him! Dashing through the legs of a greenskin she shifts again and slides, adrenaline in her system at least was keeping fatigue at bay. She was drawing on reserves she tried not to use to keep going but she had him! She grabs the body of the elf and clutches him tightly. "Diy..hang on..please please please.." even with the pleas for him to hold on the orbs were forming, rising from the feline herself and around, a slow whirlwind that grew and grew, the light blinding as it form a solid circle around the pair. The light grows brighter and brighter, inner light, holy light even but the flash lasted only second, an after image all that was left of the two.
Diyuir offered no response to Awne. In fact, he only slid against the dirt as she walked with a corpse of a Tree Born in her maw.
Terra said to Tristram, "And you. Do something useful. Today."
Tristram fished around on the floor until he found his lighter, and dipped his head so he could light the cigarette still stuck in the corner of his mouth. He clipped the lighter closed, and tossed that to the vampire as well. "There. Good? It's the most productive I've been all day." He followed her with his eyes, and briefly considered the effectiveness of kicking her out with a barefoot to her backside. It would be decided upon while he enjoyed his cigarette.
Kasyr s' instincts are the only thing that save him in the following moment. One second, He's observing Helich, and the growing Chaos- and the next? The next the hybrid is moving to slam a hand into the roof- using the motion to send himself skittering away from the sudden discharge of energy. Unfortunately, the tiefling isn't quite as fortunate- managing to avoid the brunt of the sudden mass of lightning crashing into the roof-...if only to get pulled down into the building and when the tiles simply implode. ...This also has the side benefit of slamming the hybrid into the first floor of the building, as he impacts into (and subsequently passes through) the weakened floorboards of the second floor. Gradually staggering to his feet, the tiefling simply moves to draw in the ambient emotions in the area, To properly prepare himself for any would be investigators.
Odessa let her form grow, a deep growl rising in her throat as her form went from woman to a great muscular instrument of death. Gone was the blonde hair, replaced with black fur marked with white, tiger like markings. Her mouth and nose elongate into a lupine snout full of razor sharp teeth. Great claws grew on her hands. Over ten foot of muscle and speed stood now in the midst of those who dared to come close, and the six foot long quarterstaff spun expertly, knocking away any that got within its reach.
Tristram , upon hearing the destruction (inevitable, but still) of yet another building, groaned, "Another one? Really?"
Terra said to Tristram, "See what happens when you're mean."
Solidad presses herself more tightly against the wall. She was so very glad she'd worn the black leather that would allow the her hide in the shadows, with the hood of her cloak pulled low over her face not a sigh of her white flesh could be seen. Beneath the shadows her silver eyes burned with hatred for the dragon known as Helich. She wanted his head, but she doubted that would possible tonight. She was seriously overmatched, she knew that, but she would not leave, not when she had started this. Solidad d'Mor was no coward. So she merely watched from her place in the shadows, using some of her magic to hide her presence from the enemies, illusory and real. Her main focus was on Odessa, and a significant portion of her magic went to spells to help defend the werewolf. She couldn't use the holy spells to protect her, but she could damage many who tried to attack her. More vines to entangle a few, her own brand of lightening darting out and there, and walls of fire were the best spells she had, so she utilized them thoroughly. This worked well, until she began to draw more magic away from her own defensive spells to help Odessa and she found herself facing two rather large Ogres. "Crap," she muttered. Odessa would have to work on her own for a moment. Without warning the small vampiress pulled a sword from a sheath at her side, and within moments she was locked in a fierce battle for her life.
Tristram said to Terra, "I'm not entirely sure you're not to blame for this one too. Weren't you leaving?"
Terra said to Tristram, "As the person that I hate the most... I couldn't miss your funeral."
Shishi 's fox was having such a blast in the darkness brought about by Shaelus that it didn't seem to have a care in the world for the momentary plight of its owner. the assassin's own shadow rose from the ground behind him and made a kind of lunge towards Terra as she told Blue to leave, only to stop short behind Shishi and kind of melt back to the ground to form the vampire's flickering silhouette on the plaza floor. The reason for their halt and retreat is clear, to the empath at least, as Blue looks at her through azure eyes again and shakes his head, "Don't be so selfish. I can handle some danger too. Orange and Yellow are fine... far away from this. I'm not leaving without you, and you're too stubborn to leave at all... so..." Towards Tristram the vampire merely shrugs ambiguously and keeps any I-told-you-so's to himself regarding why Helich is still even living.
Terra found it best that they not stray into that conversation. After all, there were words inked onto wrists that served a blessing as often as they did a curse. Helich's position was still being balanced in mental scales to determine if the right thing had been done. When she risked a glance for the dragon she quickly looked away. It didn't seem the drow (or dragon, rather) that she had met was present. "Okay." There's really nothing more to be said on the subject. "Make yourself useful too. Find a way to get him out of those chains."
Shaelus looked away from Helich and to the roaring crowds of orcs and ogres. Though it couldn't be discerned from looking at him, he gazed at the army with approval. He truly hadn't seen such a sight since Kaizer and himself had led such an army against Crius. Something was missing from this army, however. Dragons. Solaris had asked for dragons. Perhaps he simply wasn't looking or feeling far enough. The power could actually be seen reaching out of his body. It snaked away in various directions as he began to fill the entire area with his presence all at once. He felt the very souls of even those around him, searching for those who might bear the taint of his power and influence. He still sensed none of the saurians he had asked for, try as he might to find them. Again, his voice shattered the very air as it swept in from every direction towards Helich, "Where are my dragons, follower? I asked for dragons." His body trembled as though he was having trouble maintaining it. Truthfully, it pained him to see such an army. The sight brought back old memories best left forgotten. People didn't believe him, but he wasn't the same person anymore as the one who had led that army with Kaizer. It was then that another thing began to tug at his mind. With his power touching so many souls all at once, he began to feel it stirring up within him. The Hunger. It demanded his attention, and it was not lightly ignored at all, even by him. He cringed ever so slightly behind his mask as his power receded back into his own body, where he could at least for the moment make certain he wouldn't become an immediate danger to every living thing around him. He had to forcibly turn himself away from the group and maintain focus upon Helich, awaiting a reply.
Tristram said to Terra, "If he looks at me like that again, I'm going to kick his ass." Tristram glared at Shishi. He was known to become a bit belligerent without food.
Terra mumbled something from her slouched position on the floor that sounded suspiciously like, "The only ass you can reach is yours" but these things could be hard to determine.
Helich wasn't easily intimidated. But Solaris ~ could bring him to his knees with a single spoken word. So it was with those disapproving words - regardless of the demigod's own approval - that the black allowed the minions attack Odessa at will. A huge number of them were rushing at her, constantly - there was no way in hell she would last long, even as careless as they were being she was just...far outnumbered. The ogre with Solidad on the other hand - well they were clumsily bashing clubs toward her instantly - and Helich, so caught up with Solaris, couldn't even spare a moment to hear talk of escape for Tristram. "Th-they still refuse." He began timidly, "I am going to execute Darkheart - to show them - to show them that they should join and....this army of mine is going to march and destroy. Until nothing is left but saurians and avians, Solaris. That should - that is my plan."
Tristram vigorously renewed his efforts to pull the bolt free from the floor.
Terra said to Shishi, "Hurry! We have to leave while he's distracted."
Tristram shouted, "The only thing you'll show them is that you're a bloody coward!"
Terra hissed at the dragon then.
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Post by Terra on Mar 23, 2010 19:03:39 GMT -5
Shishi turned to glance outside of the cage towards Shaelus and Helich, frowning slightly as he lamented not taking his precious shadow-ward scarf along with him in order to keep it out of the mud. To Terra the vampire puffs out his cheeks a bit as she asks him to try and get the dragon out of his restraints. Black hair is patted down with one hand as he says, "Eh... I'll try in a minute..." trying to put off activating his cursed eyes again with Solaris's darkness lingering. To Tristram Shishi sends a small smirk and asks, "Aren't you supposed to be president here or something? How'd you get all locked up like this?" Terra whispered to Tristram, "Shut your prideful mouth! Get out of here, heal, and then yell." Tristram wasn't helping his situation, granted, but he spoke his mind.
Tristram said, "Oh, that's it."
Odessa broke her staff over one such minion, it's head flying away from it's still fighting body. Her claws flashed with a speed and precision only rigorous training in the arts of hand to hand combat could provide. But even with all her knowledge and skill brought to bear, even using every available weapon she could, the numbers of the swarm still scored blows upon her flesh. She was creating a bloody mess of carnage and destruction in the army, but she knew her chances of victory alone against a horde were fairly slim.
Solidad knew she had to help Odessa. She had to, she couldn't lose that woman now. So she fought like a demon, slashing and hacking at the Ogres before her, determined to mince them to little pieces. She was ducking and dodging, twisting and turning. Oh they managed to land a few blows, and they hurt and stung, but they were not as tough as she had imagined they would be. That's not to say it didn't take some time to take them down, or that she was going to get through unfazed. She definitely felt like she had broken a rib, but she tried not to let it slow her down much. She was vampire and therefore graced with some pretty strong healing capabilities. Sword fighting wasn't her strong point, no, magic was, but she was far too distracted for that at the moment. So she slashed and hacked until one of the Ogre fell in a blood y heap before her. That left one, one more and she could fight her way to Odessa's side.
Tristram came very close to hauling the entire floor of the cage off its base with how hard he struggled. He could care less about Helich right now, even Solaris for that matter. The husband of his lover was sat there, condescending and showboating right in front of him. Unacceptable. Terra's whispered words of wisdom were completely ignored, and he was straining to catch hold of the other vampire, mocking him in his very own ... home - since his other one had burned down, apparently. "I'll kill you right now, fella. I was protecting the whole goddamned city is what happened. I oughta --" The three-armed ogre, now carrying yet another arm limply at his side, lumbered back into view, and Tristram contemplated getting the greenskin's attention to dish out a bit of punishment that the saurian couldn't.
Kasyr is simply ignored. Whether it's by providence, the assumption that whatever the dragons blasted is quite dead, or the simple fact that there was other more apparent targets running in the square; the hybrid isn't discovered by some hapless undead orc. Wasting no more time, the hybrid simply presses up against the door to the house, Gently nudging it open to allow himself a means of staring in the direction Helich rested. Beyond that, the hybrid simply remains still, majoritarily obscured by the darkness of the house, and the door, with his hands resting upon the blackened hilts of the Katanas at his side.
Shishi blinked once and kind of reflexively shifted his eye color back to crimson again, squeezing tears out from the effort involved when Terra told him to 'hurry!'. Shadows slithered on the floor towards Tristram, crawled towards the bolt in the floor that held him in the cage and dug beneath it, loosening the very ground that anchored the tether to the floor. Meanwhile Blue has his hands at his head again as he deals with the shadow's advice to -tear both of these dragons to shreds-.
Shishi bared fangs at the dragon he was attempting to help free while his shadows continued the work that would eventually let Tristram successfully lunge at him. For the moment it was merely a standoff, more darkness flocking to Shishi floating up from the ground to accumulate around his left hand, so eager to be used violently if Tristram followed through with his threat.
Shaelus turned his masked face towards those trying to escape. He raised a finger to point and bellowed towards Helich again, "Your example is escaping. Kill them all. Bring me their heads." With that, Solaris held his hand out to Helich for a moment. The mark he'd given the dragon glowed fiercely, even as Solaris lifted into the air with no help from his wings. He had far too many other things on his mind, and he was convinced of Helich's ability to handle the problem himself, whether or not he really managed to bring their heads. Solaris had to get away from everyone and everything before the Hunger drove him to consume everyone present, Helich included. His time was better served alone for the moment, where he could continue his searching for those beings who were his rightful targets for destruction, Arrecation and Xaen. A great tremor shook the ground for a mere instant. In that same instant, the world was filled with sound and light as Solaris spoke with his true voice. The sound had no sooner escaped from his lips than he was gone. The shaking stopped as soon as it started, not given the chance to cause much damage. As Solaris disappeared, so too did the light and sound created by his voice. His exit wasn't a moment too soon. Everyone had their demons, but most of those demons weren't capable of slaughtering people by the tens of thousands. Solaris would be able to return back to the public eye in a few days, only after a long bout of meditation upon his goal so that the Hunger would pose as little a threat as possible.
Kain , having remained incognito and out of the way, saw his opportunity, and rushed in. Hurling a stone at one of the foes attacking Odessa, he turned his attention to those in the cage. Years of smithing made it easy for him to find the weak points in the chain, and without speaking, he motioned for a little room, adjusted the chain, and brought his hammer down hard, then again, followed by a third swift powerful strike, distorting the link to the point it would snap far more easily. Bad Attitude also helped add a bit more confusion, as the wolverine tore into another of the minions assaulting the lycan, before turning to attack one of the brutes attacking Solidad. The stout warrior put his strength to bear, slipping the link, then hustled out to help cover their retreat.
Tristram said to Shishi, "Get. Her. Out. Now." Tristram shouted, "Go!"
Terra - If this had been any other situation she would have laughed. The taunting would have felt more light-hearted and could have been excused. But it was Terra's current reality and it took all she had to refrain from throwing a tantrum of two-year-old proportions. When at last it seemed that Shish was able to gain some control over the shadows and offer a helping hand a breath of relief moved through dead lungs and shifted shoulders, encouraged her to stand and watch the shadows slither and chains fall. "Stop. Stop now." The threat of execution and Tristram's sudden shout that she leave once more. A frustrated growl rumbled in her chest and the feral noise left her pretty features in a snarl that seemed all wrong. A hand wrapped around the space just above where the chains had latched and she tugged. She took some blood in the process and hissed at the sting of the acid but she would be damned if this was all for nothing. "You know where I stand. Go."
Shishi huffed and flicked his left wrist, dispelling the darkness gathered there at his hand when Tristram shouted his way. With a quick turn Terra's arm is grabbed again, with more determination this time as he starts moving once he has a hold of her, "We're going, Ter. Sorry." He didn't sound it as he apologized and pulled her towards the cage exit, "You can argue all you want once were out of here..."
Helich :: The bright light - such departure. Such power.....such an order. Kill her? The other two he could care less about - but her - she made him...feel things. But, as he would say in his overly zealous way 'the Will of Solaris' and such. So. He turns calmly - every motion was pained - and kicked the door to the huge cage shut. It locked automatically, oh my, trapping the now-freed Tristram along with the other three. "Going somewhere?" He spoke to Shishi - who had managed to make it directly to the freshly-closed door. Now any magically-prone (And who the hell in Hollow isn't?) would note, instantly, upon even grazing the bars of this impromptu prison that the bars were in fact warded. No magic could harm them. At all. None. Absolutely -none- no matter what was used, it just wasn't possible at all. Now that we have that established, physically speaking they are reinforced and pretty much impossible to destroy. A diamond compared to a typical coal, if you catch the drift there. At any rate. The black's response was a quiet shaking of his head - eyes on Terra and full of regret - he, rather satisfied he had things returning to control, returned to the battle going on behind him. They were easy to defeat this was true, when he was not in control of them - but soon strategy began to be employed. The greenskins pulled back, allowed Solidad to reach Odessa - and began to surround both. Now truth be told, the black was prepared to decimate the two for simply annoying him - the two girls were surrounded by over four hundred tightly-packed orc, ogre, and goblin - but, diplomacy diplomacy. His voice, or the voice he chose rather - none had ever heard his true voice - echoed throughout the plaza. "Give me two reasons not to end your lives now and I may consider sparing them." For every undead minion that had fallen, a living orc was taking its spot at the back of crowd - cheering. The front row of Helich's undead mass each pulled an arrow and drew, prepared to fire, arrow knocked. This of course happened after they had sheathed there weapon - a chance for the two to attack perhaps - but regardless, with the ever-growing crowd, with the city in an uproar, a few living orcs began to squeeze into the surrounding homes and businesses attempting to get a better view of the action. A group of three began to slide open the door that Kasyr was so sneakishly hiding behind, grunting amongst themselves and such.
Terra was being tugged in one direction and pulling from the other. There would be arguments about this and they would last for days... but their start was delayed when the sound of locks clicking into place was heard. Would it ever end? Evidently not... Both hands wrapped around the bars and she pulled herself towards them - towards Helich, towards the source of all this unease and their current situation. She knew what he was, he knew what she was, and she tried to play off of that. Every ounce of sadness possible was summoned and no matter what amount of training she lacked she felt pretty confident that if enough was gathered he would feel it too. Anything, any emotion, any real tug at what semblance of a heart still beat inside of his bruised torso would be better than ... this. "Don't do this." It's a half plea that may not be heard as he had already approached the other two who had come out of loyalty to their own ties. Forehead matted down with sweat and bangs and mud is knocked against the cool metal and appreciated for the shortest of breaths. "You don't have to do this." In all honesty she is utterly terrified. At this point she would not have minded being on the other side if that meant being free of walls with bars and these two, stubborn-headed males. "Helich!" A name she had heard, applied and used in this moment. "Just let us out!"
Kain , seeing the door closing, did the only thing he could. Throwing himself between the door and the latch, he yowled breathlessly as his armor caved in, stopping the door from closing completely. Gasping for breath, he tried to get to his hands and knees, hoping his ribs weren't broken.
Kasyr tensed at the creak of the door, before simply bursting forth from his hiding spot with an audible crashing noise. It's akin to the noise of a dam breaking, really, every ounce of power the tiefling had at his disposal from both consumed souls and ambient empathic energy being tapped into in that moment. The trio of orcs at the door doesn’t even have time to fully open the door before it's simply carved into little pieces, their bodies being in close enough proximity to share a similar fate. And it's that simple action which precipitates the hybrids next motion. Focused singularly upon Helich's essence, the hybrid streaks across the battlefield- quickly and efficiently shearing apart whatever beings stood in his path towards Solaris' minion. Orc, Ogre, Goblin....Even any of the would be rescuers wouldn't be spared if they strayed into the hybrids lunatic rush~ And it only grows more furious still, as the hybrid sheds his weighted trenchcoat mid-dash, so that he can leap unencumbered upon the shoulders of an orc- using that uncanny grace of his to cross that final distance between himself and Helich. Ever hastening, until at last he leaps towards this Interloping dragon- both Katanas flicking out in a blur of obsidian- the intent to maim the Dragon until he was no longer amongst the living. No expense in energy was spared in this moment- all the excess that remained exerted in an attempt to gorily decimate this invading legions leader.
Odessa ,her voice mangled only a little by her form, stood ready to protect Solidad. "You ask for two reasons. I give them. One, we did not come here to do battle with you or your city. We came for the elf, nothing more. You obviously wanted him alive. A messenger of your power perhaps. That is reason two. We can be that messenger. We alone cannot hope to defeat you tonight nor, obviously, can this city hope to be saved." She stood before him, unafraid and proud. "If you so choose to send only one messenger you will send Solidad, should you have even a shred of honor in you."
Tristram had ceased trying to end Shishi's life, and was busy flexing the very rigid, stiff muscles in his arms; he lifted his head just in time to see the cage door swing shut. With a groan nothing short of resignation, he pulled his arms behind his head, and declared, "Well, isn't this cozy. All one big happy family." Legs as stiff as his arms were suddenly forced into action, and with a tremendous heave, and a pained breath of air sucked into his lungs, he took a tentative step toward the bars - toward Helich - to prey on his weakness. "They'll die in here. She'll die. Have you seen a vampire die from contact with dragon blood? It isn't pretty. All that pain ... and you'll be experiencing it firsthand, won't you? At least then you'll be obeying your little puppet master's desires, won't you?" Leaning on the bars now for support, he couldn't help but give them a firm rattle. "And Tommy Two-Arms is about due for a visit. I wonder who he'll pick? Maybe he'll make a meal out of one of us." Trist was doing arm calisthenics in the cell now, trying to work some feeling back into his muscles.
Odessa said to Solidad, "Do not forget who you are, my queen. Do not forget your position among us. Should they fire upon us then I will guard you with my life and we will leave. Should he choose to hold me captive...allow him this. I am a wolf and warrior. I will survive. I promise."
Shishi wrapped one hand around a bar of the cage as the door slammed shut in his face. Crimson eyes glared out at Helich as Blue growled, "Open it!" The vampire didn't wait for a response as his shadow came to life yet again and splashed harmlessly against the bars of the cage before retreating back to their vampiric ally, reporting back to him, -Can't break it, Blue.- Arms fold, as Terra has already broken free from his loosened grip, and the assassin silently watches the empath's interaction. Tristram is eyed unhappily as he describes Blue and Terra's likely deaths should they be left in the cage with Kain and the dragon. The vampire keeps his mouth shut as he lets the others try and guilt trip or scare Helich into letting them out and Kasyr makes his brutal dash towards the dragon outside the cage.
Solidad doesn't reply vocally to Odessa's words. Instead she sets her lips into a thin line, keeping a steady hand on her sword. She was once again glad for the hood that hid the unshed tears in her silver eyes from sight. She still had a card up her sleeve though, one last trick of Odessa's words fail. She didn't like the thought of using it, but if it meant saving Odessa she would play it.
Helich :: The words were quiet - but filled every crevice of the plaza, like a whisper in everyone’s ear. Honor....He used to practice that. A long, long time ago. "Leave." So quiet, so full of the deepest sadness that even a being non-empathic would feel it down to the core. The word though was not directed at any particular party - but all. The caged, the surrounded. It was at this moment that something was hacking, slashing, heading straight toward him - he turned, eyes as wide as they could go and from beneath the bandages adorning the entirety of his face he gasped. Pure shock. Utter shock, contempt - there it was. Kasyr. Ashen himself, in the flesh - here to end him - he truly didn't have time to react until after the first slice of the katana met with the flesh of his shoulder, slashed downward and ripped a three inch deep gash from his collar bone to the top of his pelvic bone - the blood, the cry of pain - it was overbearing for that same whispered voice was being used. But suddenly he disappeared. Physically at least, after rolling to the side to avoid the amassed cuts and slices that were trying to rip him to shreds - as heel rolled and he found himself with his back to the tiefling he moved. Trackable yes, but by empathy and moist foot prints alone. Not the best of escapes -- but soon the entire horde followed. A pained voice roared through the city - illusionary but the voice they all knew him by - "All able bodied males! Prepare for war! Destruction!" Of the mass of undead greenskins, living greenskins...where could he have gone? "The world has thrown you all into the pits of hell and they call it Gualon! Take back what is rightfully yours! Gather your blade! We are on the march as soon as the sun rises!" Which was only several hours away at this point. Helich was gone. Somewhere in the city, bleeding, rather pissed off after Terra's little trick and Tristram's words had worn off but -- it would be rather hard to find him.
Solidad lowers her sword as the army follows Helich's hasty retreat. The sadness in his voice, that painful sadness at cut through her heart and forced those unshed tears to make their way down pale cheeks. Oh was she ever so grateful for the hood of that cloak now. She glanced around, her gaze lingering on Odessa a moment. Well, the werewolf would have to wait, she was going to be beyond angry at Soli for this. Instead she made her way carefully to the cage, wanting to check on Terra. This was largely in part to an alcohol clouded memory of the other vampiress calling her a friend. "Terra?" the question is hesitant. "You alright? Need any help?"
Tristram took a few halting steps around Terra, eyed the cage door up and down, and then pushed it open. "Huh. Right then." He gestured for Terra to exit, then Shishi, and wobbled his way outside. Walking took more effort than he would have imagined. Larry Three-Arms-cum-Tommy Two-Arms really knew his stuff. "I guess I'm going ... uh." He sliced Terra a stare, ducked his head, and started limping toward the smoldering framework of his estate. "To get my personal effects." And visit a clinic. His cigarettes were still sitting inside the cage, but he'd rather kiss an ogress than go back in that thing.
Odessa stayed by Solidad's side, her massive form quickly forming a shield between her and anyone she saw as a threat...including Kasyr.
Terra did not respond to any of this well. From being trapped in a cage (again) to the near brawl to the threat of execution and the fall of Gualon... And Helich's heart-wrenching plea for them to all leave. Everything was starting to take its toll on the empath and she frowned, bit down on her bottom lip as a few stray tears managed to work their way down flushed cheeks. Kasyr's cameo and presence in all of this does not go ignored but it's too hard to acknowledge that -to acknowledge him and that locked chest- when everything else has been an absolute mess. Without realizing who or what had happened the cage door she merely stepped through and kept walking. There's no direction or purpose to it but it offered her a sense of solitude that staying there and being reassured wouldn't. She did manage a wink to Solidad in the process but that was as far as her ability to converse would extend that evening. It had been a long night and she was certain that Gualon would be far behind her before the sun rose.
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Post by Terra on Mar 25, 2010 8:08:28 GMT -5
Roelstra strolls quietly into view, from the shade of the tree line. As she nears, she cocks her head to one side as she spots her brother, " Well, that answers that question..."
The sun was just reaching the horizon, night a short venture away - and the camp was a bustle of commotion. Many of the remaining undead greenskins were constantly on patrol, mindlessly walking about the encampment with only one order: Kill anything that doesn't belong to Helich. This of course caused problems at times, but any citizen of Gualon wearing the mark on their chest came and went freely through the camp. The majority of the living greenskins were settling down for the night, sitting around campfires stirring kettles of stew or eating a stale hunk of bread. The saurian on the other hand looked a king among them. A rather bandaged king - the drowen guise he wore as practically a second skin at this point was bandaged from the tip of his head to the waist. Every breath was labored, pained, but it seems he had procured a sedan chair. Four burly orcs carried him while he lounged, through the camp.
Roelstra stops before she can be seen by the undead orcs, fading back into the tree line as quickly as she could manage, cursing her brashness, hoping she can observe without any incident.
Mahri tightens her hold on the concussed child, one hand pressing his face closer to her neck until he muttered, "..can't breath." after which she eases up on the pressure. The overwhelming stench that permeated the camp, of which she was at the edge of and trying to go unnoticed. Obviously, it was going to be hard to avoid detection. Pressing her lips close to Aiden's ear she whispers, "Can ye hide us like last time?" To her dismay, the boy shook his bandaged head. "Hurts too much, Mahri."
Cerinii had felt the need to check out her past home, see what damage had been done. She sighs softly, as she saunters along the road. Spotting the camp from a distance away, she would frown and approach at a casual pace. She spotted the green-skins, unaware of how they would only let one marked by Helich pass. She approaches the encampment, taking in the form of Helich's drow disguise. "Herr Helich. Our discussion was so brief the other night."
Nasada 's unseen gaze narrowed as he spotted a drow's form amongst the green skins, a low growl to himself as he observed the area. Had he not been banished from violent acts, he may very well have attacked the disgusting dark elf.
Most of the patrol were a single ogre trailed by four orc. The black was paranoid of late, and with good reason. The food was the most protected part of the camp, wagons tightly packed against the wall of the city and surrounded by the army. Which expanded out loosely in a half arc, the road into the city splitting it in half. Mahri went unnoticed for the time - Cerinii's presence caused the sedan chair to halt. "It was." was the only retort he offered her, while an orc near the avianess grunted and thumbed the hilt of his blade.
Cerinii growled lowly at the orc, her metallic hand balling into a tight fist. She looked at Helich, stepping closer. "Perhaps we can continue that conversation, in greater depth. Seeing as I do not have ein dinner to attend to." She paused, before adding, "You also said we had to talk."
Dergious watches an orc guarded caravan pass, his eyes calculating.
Mahri edges off the road, her mind spinning in trying to figure out a way to get past the army and over that damned bridge. Aiden couldn't use his talent to shield them from prying eyes, so that meant finding another way. Either around or through, and even she knew when she was out numbered. Sliding behind a tree that lines the road, Mahri lays Aiden against it and peers around the curve of the trunk. Finding the leader of this warband isn't hard. After all, he's being carted around on a chair with handles. The bandages though, seem promising. If she had to fight her way through, he'd be her first target. Her palm itched to draw the dagger from it's sheath, but the weapon stays put for now. She still had to plan before someone noticed herself and the boy.
Roelstra crouches silently amongst the congested flora of the swamp, removing her gear from her pack and donning it swiftly before scaling the nearest tree without disturbing any leaves or vines that may hang in her way. The ranger-assassin focuses her heightened sight upon the camp, taking a rough head count of the undead orcs.
Dergious pretends to browse a merchant's wares as the the covered wagons pass, his eyes still glancing furtively at the destroyed gate, and then to the people shuffling by. The dwarf's reasons for being in this place are unclear, but from his demeanor he is taking great pains to blend in with the crowd.
Roelstra isn't able to spot her brother, or Mahri. But, the vampiress does spot Dergious, wondering what in the world he's doing here. An unfamiliar avianess comes into her view, making note of any outstanding features. She spies a bandaged drow perched atop a sedan chair, quirking one well groomed brow. Roelstra stifles a snicker, thinking to herself, " Is this guy serious? Carried around on a chair? Oh, please..."
The orc grunted again. The black smiled from beneath his bandaged face, "Dinner?" Ah. He'd forgotten the ettiquote of this land. He doubted his appetite would appeal to Cerinii's palate but..."Of course. But we have little to talk about. You represent me, you do as your told, and you get to enjoy the continuation of your life. As a matter of fact, I expect you to write a letter to Jacklin of Larket and inform her that if she doesn't wish to see her city burn, she deliver to me several hundred pounds of oats." He nodded, rather satisfied. "Understood?" This was followed by a groan as he sat up and leaned against a pillow to further view the avian - he was testing her - and observe her reaction. A patrol was begining to head down the road now - and would pass Mahri in a minute or less. The undeads were...mindless beyond any order the saurian gave them. It could turn ugly, or harmless - time would tell. Dergious - a dwarf in Gualon? The citizens were smart enough not to investige. But the Orc gathering outside the gates were. A few grunted at the scent of the psion - but none were in any hurry to find him.
Cerinii growled lowly, perhaps only to herself. Her upper lip gave one twitch - but was it seen? She smiled graciously at Helich. "You fail to understand, Helich, what I have told you. I do not bow, nor kneel to you. Nor do I obey your commands." She shook her head, "I have been /asked/ to represent you. As I take it, you do not hold much power over me." She shook her head, once more. More firmly. "I shall not write such ein letter to Queen Jacklin. If you want oats, I can quite gladly supply them to you. But only if you do not threaten Larket." She smirked at his groan of pain, perhaps enjoying such a sound from him.
Mahri felt the tremble of the ground as the patrol made its way back to camp long before she saw it. Darting back behind the tree, mostly to shield Aiden, she holds her breath and hopes they pass without noticing her. Now the dagger is drawn, the last rays of sunlight catching the sliver blade to glint into the eyes of the band's leader. Now, whether or not he chose to investigate the source of annoying light, Mahri would never know until they either went past or they came up on her. Right now, her main focus is finding a path past this damned army and getting Aiden to safety before returning for purely selfish reasons.
Nasada 's invisible form circulated around the area, weaving in and out of the bands of green skins as he further watched the goings on. Deep senses caused the entity to peer in one direction and then another, feeling something out of place.
The orc grunted again. The black smiled from beneath his bandaged face, "Dinner?" Ah. He'd forgotten the ettiquote of this land. He doubted his appetite would appeal to Cerinii's palate but..."Of course. But we have little to talk about. You represent me, you do as your told, and you get to enjoy the continuation of your life. As a matter of fact, I expect you to write a letter to Jacklin of Larket and inform her that if she doesn't wish to see her city burn, she deliver to me several hundred pounds of oats." He nodded, rather satisfied. "Understood?" This was followed by a groan as he sat up and leaned against a pillow to further view the avian - he was testing her - and observe her reaction. A patrol was begining to head down the road now - and would pass Mahri in a minute or less. The undeads were...mindless beyond any order the saurian gave them. It could turn ugly, or harmless - time would tell. Dergious - a dwarf in Gualon? The citizens were smart enough not to investige. But the Orc gathering outside the gates were. A few grunted at the scent of the psion - but none were in any hurry to find him. Helich hides that post under a carpet.
Helich seemed rather satisfied with her answer. "I see. And pray tell where will you come across so much? Regardless. I expect the first shipment within a week." Demanding little bastard wasn't he? "Or mayhap I will make you the next demonstration of Solaris' power." Mahri's luck was in. The greenskins were mindless, a glint in the eye registered to them as much as rain. If it was not living, they would not notice it. Yet. A check, empathic, through every living being within a mile would change that luck. The luck of all the lurkers. To differentiate a race from a greenskin was a simple thing. "Quaint." He couldn't place where they were, only that he knew they were here - Mahri, Dergious, Roelstra. "I think we may have company very soon my dear Senator."
Dergious still watches, though it is clear he is far from nondescript. His dealing with orcs have been many, however, and he knew to show no fear. He finally finds a place to sit and does so, pulling some drink form a pouch and partaking of such. His eyes are still darting however, as if taking in every detail.
Cerinii grinned widely, "Then perhaps, we could have ein tea party." She nodded, "You will get your oats. But you will not touch Larket." She chuckled throatily, "Make me an example? Hm. So interesting." Indeed, he was demanding. And even more so a bastard. Cerinii then added, "Perhaps, you should let said company go. Look at you.. bandages everywhere. Making noises of pain. I'd rest up, Herr. Bring your army back in, to you. Keep them close, lest you wind up with more injuries."
Dergious grins and starts pulling ale after ale from a pouch that could not possibly hold so many. He flags down a merchant, whispers to him for a moment, after which the man leaves. A few moments later, he returns with a cart and starts loading it with the beverages. With an exchange of gold, the man begins offering the ale free of charge to the (few?) living orcs, guard and civilian alike.
Shishi sneaks along side streets and through rubble of recently wrecked buildings as he approaches the crowded gates from the city side, slapping his back against walls and peering around corners through currently azure eyes where appropriate. The stealth is likely pointless as Helich makes his empathetic scan of the area. Soon enough stone and streets turn to flora and mud and the assassin is crouching between trees and such as he finds himself approaching Mahri from behind. Noting the dagger the vampire pauses and rustles some leaves or performs some other subtle noise creating action to try and get her attention without startling her and risking a knife wound.
Roelstra stiffens just the slightest bit, her petite frame pressed tightly to the trunk of the tree, hidden well by the foliage. The ranger-assassin was afraid that she might have somehow possibly revealed herself. Hoping her brother doesn't pull anything brash, Roelstra carefully makes her way down the tall trunk. She lands in a silent crouch, out of sight behind the wide and ancient tree, weaving her way with continued stealth towards the north. Any others who happen to be observing covertly, she hopes, have the sense to leave for their own good.
Free ale? They crowded the merchant until none remained - each orc downed the drink and each dropped the empty mug on the muddy ground and each, rather content at getting free drink, offered praise to Helich - giving him credit it seemed. They talked amongst themselves now, while the black nodded toward Cerinii. "Tea. That sounds rather good actually. Have you ever been stabbed, Senator?" ~ and as such continued, the undead patrols stopped patrolling. Stiff as statues, lifeless, the saurian was up to something. Matter of fact, they began to pull back toward the encampment, a few carelessly wandered over to the sedan chair and were begining to surround the black. Quite paranoid he'd become indeed.
Cerinii nodded, "Indeed, I have." She grinned at Helich, "Was that ein threat, Herr Helich?" She chuckled softly, "I would have thought you would have acted then asked... Rather than simply asked." Cerinii's pointed ears perked, there was a lack of noise. Something had stopped. She narrows her gaze at the saurian - noticing that the orc patrol had, indeed, came to a stop.
Nasada could sense his own sister close, and with so many patrolling creatures, it may not be long before she is discovered. Violence of his own accord not an option should things turn sour, the crafty concealed entitity had an idea that may provide an adequate substitute. Invisible to the naked eye, the devious male began to approach various orc and goblin, his hushed voice crossing over to the physical plane as he neared the ear of one. "Big dumb orc there, called you stupid. Said you are weak." Then he would traverse to another, "That goblin over there is going to steal your food. He wants it all for himself." Again, the invisible entity furthered this action, planting various ill thoughts within many of the simple minded creatures, all in hopes to turn them against one another in a disruptive feud in order to cause a distraction. As a final topper to his master plan, he would crawl up behind the dragon in drow's guise and plant one final thought deep in his mind, "She plans to betray you. Her armies draw close... Kill her before she can kill you."
Mahri looks over her shoulder at the sound, eyes widening when she spies Shishi. A quick glance and she presses a hand to Aiden's shoulder. Even with the physical signal, he'd have known to stay put while the lycan made her way to the vampire. "What the hell are ye doin' here?" Not giving him time to answer..."We need t'get through them gates." She hadn't seen the druegar drop the meade, nor had she heard the avian's suggestion to let them all pass freely. But..if the bodies of orchish guards had been found in the city --that she'd had to kill once they attacked without provocation-- she just might be looked for. Mahri didn't know and was not about to take the chance. Her split lip was slowly mending and the bruises had faded to a dull yellowish-green by now, but the cracked ribs were going much slower and she wasn't about to let on just how injured she'd been in that scuffle. Her main worry was the boy and her own foolishness in bringing him here in the first damn place.
Shishi starts to point behind him in an attempt to give a reason for why he's here sneaking up on the lycan and the boy, but Mahri, as was stated, doesn't give him the time of day, or dusk as it were. His expression improves from a frown into a rather blank stare as he looks towards Aiden for a short moment. The lycan woman is given a wink so that she may watch the color change occurring in his one open eye, swirling from oceanic blue to an accursed, glowing crimson shade, "So we'll just burst right though then." Usually the transformation and the speech that followed would have been accompanied by a smirk on the assassin's lips, but at the moment his neutral expression remains as he awaits Mahri's response, likely a negative one, he thinks.
Dergious gets up, and walks slowly with the crowd and angling towards the gates. He seems unconcerned, though in reality every sense has been heightened, and his weapons are close at hand.
The minions of Helich would descend upon Cerinii without scrutiny, without hesitation - the vast numbers seeking to firmly wrap an arm around the avian's neck, grab her arms, even subdue her further with legs. The black only watched in silence -- distraction was presenting itself in the form of a brawl. What really caught his eye was the goblin flying through the air, arms flailing, and landing only several feet away from the lounging male. Quaint. A sharp word was bitten off, "Stop." And soon his voice was bellowing throughout the camp and surrounding forest, an illusionory tool aiding, "Stop or die." Dergious had gotten lucky. Many of the citizens heading within the walls for the night stopped to watch the fight and paid him no mind - while another one of the ogre threw another goblin several tens of feet. The scream grew fainter as it landed, dying instantly, a mere two feet away from the tree Mahri and Shishi hid by.
Cerinii was quick to act, quite used to these spur of the moment attacks. The elder Avian's wings furled around her, quivering as those large obsidian spikes jutted outwards. The titanium arm was perhaps the most difficult limb to grab, considering she was snatching it back or even better - smacking some orcs with it. Her legs were easily grabbed, but only because Cerinii had never.. augmented her legs or paid heed to those limbs, really. The ooze upon her metallic arm shimmered, slithering across her skin swiftly and solidifying into solid armour. She growled at Helich, her voice having an echo to it, "Und you seize me why?"
Shishi smiles, finally, showing off white fangs to the lycan. Although the excitement he shows is likely not his own as he opens his other eye to show that both have shifted color to their accursed crimson shade. A pulse moves through the very shadows on the ground and shakes the leaves of the nearby trees much like a sudden gust of wind would, "That sounds good to me. I think." He stretches out his arms a bit in front of him, emitting subtle cracks from joints and such as he loks out towards the gates. With a sideways glance at Mahri he smiles again, "Tell me when you're ready..."
Dergious moves quickly now, his eyes upon the gates and freedom. The shadows reach out to him. It is not his own work, that is just how darkness behaves around his kind. They elongate, embracing him and obscuring him further as he nears the path to the north.
Mahri scurries, yes scurries since she's trying not to be noticed, back to Aiden to encourage the boy to wrap his arms around her neck and legs around her waist while settling him against her back at the same time. Peer around the trunk of her hiding tree, the sight of the now dead goblin gives her brief pause. It would seem that total chaos has erupted amongst the army. This she quite liked. A glance over her should and a nod tells Shishi that she's as ready as she will ever be. The dagger once again in her hand and held in such a way that hacking and slashing will be most efficient.
Helich was rather satisfied again with her reaction. "I cannot allow a representative of myself to depart without a proper farewell." They continued - an overwhelming mob - attempting to subdue her completely. ~ Shishi went unnoticed, Dergious was pretty much a free man, and the fight was quieting down considerably. This however, was temporary. The saurian was...irritated. Very irritated. As a matter of fact, that same voice bellowed through the area without the male's mouth moving. "There are intruders in our midst. They follow Darkheart! Find them! Kill them!" He didn't expect them to find much of anything given the fact his empathy had yet to place their exact locations, but soon shouts ran rampant through the camp - cookfires were tipped over in the growing chaos throughout the camp. A gust of wind carried a fire to one of the few tents in the camp, it started ablaze - the saurian was no general, regardless of the amount of reading he'd done. He just didn't have the patience for it - but soon the majority of the camp was spreading outward away from the city, searching for anything lacking the mark of a citizen of Gualon.
Cerinii was struggling to cope with such an overwhelming mob, attempting to subdue her. She snarled at him, spikes elongating as far as possible. "Then I say farewell. Will you let me go?" She was really struggling now. Metallic orbs for eyes settling upom Helich, a sense of fear stirring in the Avian.
The spikes pierce flesh of undead greenskin, leaving gaping wounds within the minions that did not bleed - but they did not react. Emotionless, painless, and one rather large ogre reached back and smacked her over the head with a balled fist. Really, this just isn't the way you treat an ally - but he was up to something. Per usual. The chaotic camp wasn't settling down a hair - but the saurian felt rather safe behind his shield of undead minions. Still, one could never be too safe. Poor Kasyr though ~ poor, poor Kasyr - Goblard approached his illusioned form, a hand on the hilt of his blade and his breaths strained. A word in passing. "Let's go Feckleferd!" Really? Apperently the goblin Kasyr had killed had a rather lame name. Man that sucks, anyways, "Hurrrryyy!" and Goblard was gone, such as it were, amongst the mill of ever-expanding future-raiders.
Shishi takes Mahri's nod and the sudden chaos caused by the spreading fires as his signal to move. His pace is somewhat slow as he remains crouched while under the cover of flora still, shadows cast by the trees slowly gathering at his feet and flowing along the ground with him as he moves. Enough darkness is accumulated by the cursed vampire by the time he emerges from cover to give the assassin the illusion of being much larger than he actually is as he flaps his arms once in a display that pulls the shadows up from the ground and makes it look like the vampire is flapping two gigantic wings each easily the length of his own body. Swinging his arms downward the darkness accumulates around his flapping limbs, forming massive bearlike arms of pure shadow, extending his reach greatly and of course increasing the power behind his blows. Any in his path running due to Helich's orders or to flee the fires fall victim to the brutal flailing of those black shadow-composed, now solid arms as he clears a path to the gate for Mahri and the boy Aiden.
Mahri is right there, behind Shishi and somewhere amongst the gathering shadows. A shiver runs down her spine, having been on the receiving end of that sort of magic at least twice before. This time though, she isn't even if it isn't much comfort. Using the cursed vampire as a sheild, she follows in his wake, dagger and boy held onto tightly.
Feckleferd begins to jog off in valiant pursuit of Goblard. Whilst at first there was a certain degree of worry that he might run smack dab into whoever riled the camp- it's just a few moments later before he writes that off as a ridiculous idea. More than likely, the runt was valiantly running the wrong direction to 'bravely' get lost and come back at a later date. Worse comes to worse, if the currently Goblinoid looking hybrid does stumble into someone?...There's not an ounce of shame in accidentally tripping Goblard and just dissapearing into the crowd.
Tristram had been holed up in the clinic, directing a steady stream of traffic - and mainly supplies - into the building. He had managed to maintain a low profile, ducking scouts and turncoats alike, and getting his information from a network of orphans scattered at various posts throughout the city. When the stream of supplies dwindled, it prompted the exiled leader to brave the streets in search of the hold-up. An older orphan dodged a patrol of guards, and they met in the alley. Words were exchanged in low voices, and with a boost from the kid, Trist pulled himself atop a rooftop. He reached down for the teenager and pulled him up as well (and not without a grunt of pain and a 'don't say it' glare to the kid), and together they managed to get to the gates via rooftop. "This is it?" Will nodded. "Supplies are stopping here. It's a bottleneck. Marcus, Edgar, and Joaquin are stuck outside. Everybody else is accounted for."
Nasada , having seen his plan of causing a diversion come to fruition, decides that now would be best to flee from the area lest he be discovered.
Terra had been caught. There was no way to tell who leaked the information, who had turned her over, but Tristram might have appreciated that the vampire did not destroy any more of his property. For the most part she went willingly with the guards in exchange that they not ruin the clinic or go through with their first threat which had been to torch the place. Helich's orders were clear - execute anyone and anything that did not bear the forsaken mark and she was on that list but they used - surprisingly - an impressive amount of foresight and took her back towards their camp to enlighten their saurian leader, possibly torture her a bit for answers as to the whereabouts of the lost Darkeheart.
Tristram lost all color when he saw Terra being paraded down Gualon Way and toward the encampment at the gates. He was pulling himself to his feet, prepared to jump off the roof and beat the guards off her when Will pulled him back down, and held him there until he regained his senses. "Trist. You can't, first of all. Second of all. Calm the--" an ogre burped, and drowned out the word, "--down." The dragon wrenched himself out of the teenager's grip and flattened himself against the rooftop so he could see exactly what was happening. Helich wouldn't kill her. Helich couldn't kill her. He tried yesterday and couldn't even give the command. It didn't make the situation any more pleasant for him to think about. He ran a hand, trembling in anger, through his hair. "I need Josephine. And Micah. Tell him to bring everything he can carry. Everything."
Terra could be heard from quite a good distance away. "Let me goo~!" It's near a howl. The last time she had met up with creatures this size had been frost giants in Frostmaw and that place had been avoided ever since. "I don't know where that jerk is." Which was the truth because he left without a word. Not that she would have admitted the truth anyhow. There's a fair bit of kicking and screaming and all-around childish behaviour but the empath would not be caged nor stuck in Helich's camp for the evening. These were things that would not happen. The group of orcs snorted and kept her captive, did not even wince when a well-planned kicked landed on their shins or stomachs. Their only pause came when goblins went by them and each was sniffed and studied.
Kasyr notices the orcs observing those goblins which are ahead of him, and let's out an ired (and rather high-pitched given his illusiary form of a goblin) moan. Nonetheless, he doesn't change course, following the other goblins onwards as they path intersected with...Terra. "Great.." Rasped the goblins voice, mimicked perfectly from the memories stored within the creatures essence. "Great..." Which, simply leaves the hybrid hoping he smells enough like them, after spending an evening laying in their filth.
Josephine reached him first, a bow in hand and quiver arrows on her back, and flattened herself next to the dragon. "Trist ... Will said--" The exiled leader interrupted her and jerked his head toward where the guard was pulling Terra past the goblins and toward the camp. "We can't let her get in there. We can't fight that many. They'd be on us in seconds." Josephine nodded, pulled her bow free, and nocked an arrow. Shaking his head, the dragon placed his hand atop hers to lower the bow. "Wait for Micah." He could see the fear in the adolescent girl's eyes, so he leaned down and kissed her atop the head. "It'll be okay. Nothing's going to happen to you up here. You just drop the guards, and go hide. I'll give you a cigarette if you do a good job." It was the only form of payment and reward he currently possessed, and the urchins were flaunting them around like they were bars of gold. Micah appeared on the rooftop parallel to the one the dragon currently resided atop. A series of hand gestures conveyed the plan of attack - which was half-baked at best - and Micah nodded his understanding. Tristram turned to Josephine. "Take out the two guards. They are wearing armor, so aim for anything that's exposed. Wherever you get a shot. And for chrissakes, don't hit her, whatever you do." Will appeared on the rooftop suddenly and dropped a sack on the ground. "Ammo." "Good," the dragon grunted. "Goblins." He signaled Micah to prepare to launch a round of steel-tipped arrows from his crossbow. "Remember Jo, aim for green, not metal." With that, the dragon was gone, scaling down the back wall of the shop that stood next to the gates, and around the corner.
Shishi was still plowing through the scattering crowd towards the gates, knocking away those that moved into his path in an unnecessarily brutal fashion, one unlucky orc falling under both the assassin's massive, shadow-composed paws that seemed to be getting bigger, the impact bringing forth a rather unpleasant crunch as the poor fellow was crushed. It is in this manner that Blue clears a path for Mahri and Aiden until Terra's shouts reach his ears in between crashes of his arms into guards at the gates. He turns his head towards her voice as another foe is swatted away by the vampire's seemingly sentient arms, "Ter!?" he calls out as if he wasn't positive it was her in trouble once again. With a sigh and an unwarranted slam of his oversized, darkness-composed fist onto an already downed orc, Shishi glances towards Mahri, "Let's move it! Get him out of here already!"
Terra could not tell what was worse. The constant rumble and pain that came with being escorted with force or the scent of these creatures! They all smelled horrible; of sweat, of blood, of mud, of bodily excrements. A stench that could not be forgotten. As they progressed and the goblins came near it was only intensified, lessened just the slightest when the disguised Kasyr happened to hobble by. There was something odd about this one and those forest-green eyes searched and sought, try to find someone else that did not belong here but there was not enough time to effectively communicate that she understood. So she'd struggle once more ... until the first arrow went flying by and thankfully missed her, a prayer that was repeated to the diety above over and over. By the grace of that very same god the blood of orc was not poisonous and she didn't mind when it splattered over pale face with a few flecks of flesh that slid down jaw bone, landed in the crevice of her collarbones. The other guard gripped his weapon, fat fingers wrapped tightly around until the sound of his joints could be hear popping. With his brethern currently laying in quite the unnatural position this one is prepared for war, already scouting out a proper location for attack and summoning the horde of goblines back with a deep-chested bellow. Meanwhile, the blonde seized the chance for what it was and took off running for the building that seemed to be the source of the arrows. Anything was better than being stuck there. It seemed Shi's cry of confirmation would go without answer because it was missed between the yelling and the cry of goblins as their armor and weapons clanked together. They enjoyed the hunt.
Mahri tossed raven hair over one shoulder to better glance at Aiden, murmured an order for the boy to shut his eyes. Yes, he had been exposed to quite the numerous incidents of violence since their trip to Gualon and the powers gifted to the child would assure that his childhood would be plagued by such visions, but the lycan would protect him from what she could manage. With the assurance that his legs were wrapped tightly, low on her hips and his arms were squeezed over shoulders though not constricting, she ran. That dagger in hand proved useful when a brave goblin lumbered towards them, seizing Shi's brief distraction as a chance to tackle those that did not follow Solaris. Mahri simply turned the hilt and projected the knife outwards, a sudden side-slam jammed it into the creatures nasal cavity and beyond. The weapon would not be yielded and was simply removed from face, flipped and held tightly once more as they ran through the gates. Eyes that didn't quite represent the two-legged form maintained turned and examined. She did not want to leave. There was so much to be done still! But Aiden's whimper provided an incenitive and the wolf found that her priorities were truly in order as she ran with all the grace being a creature bound to the moon provided.
Helich had simply decided to allow the avian senator to depart. She wasn't worth the bother, not now, not when he had an entire city and its citizens at his disposal. A sniveling swamp imp limped into to view and snarled up at the black, "Master, a patrol has returned with the girl you seek." Helich's eyes glittered, and he steeled himself to prepare for the emotional battle to win her own freedom. Not this time. "With him?" The imp sneezed, "No." Helich grinned. "Excellent." He waved his hand at the guard that fell in line to accompany him to the gates. "Stay. I'll handle this on my own." He turned to the imp and questioned, "What do you think we should do with her?" The cave imp sputtered, "W-with or t-to, Master?"
Tristram watched the first two arrows fly from Josephine's arrow and strike one guard. Good girl. Micah began firing from above, taking out goblins and anything else that had stopped to inspect the new prisoner. Will followed suit from his own location. The orcs and goblins - as vapid as they were - weren't without some survival skills, and one ogre pulled Terra back and with a death-grip on the vampire, pulled her toward one of the hollow stone pillars that flanked the large gate. Some of the trolls lingering nearby had pulled bows from their backs and were now firing haphazardly toward Gualon, but it would only be a short while before they pinpointed the origin of the rooftop attack. Tristram was waiting, lingering in the shadow the building closest to the gates cast, and swearing a great deal. He ducked out, and turned back after nearly getting hit with an arrow. If he could make it to the pillar, he could figure out his next move from there. The dragon counted to three, and sprinted out into the fray.
Kasyr was not in a small amount of trouble. Despite the refocused attack on the arrow-wielding trolls, Micah was still taking out the goblins per previous instruction. He would drop them all before he moved on to a new threat. And he was not a bad shot, to boot.
Shishi sidestepped an oncoming goblin, clothes lining him with one of the dark arms. The shadows on that arm detached from the vampire and descended on the creature they had just knocked to the floor, engulfing the goblin and tearing off skin like a swarm of flesh eating insects. This left the assassin with just one oversized, black right arm the length of his body and a normally sized, pale left arm. Letting those malicious shadows do what they would to the poor goblin Blue breaks into a sprint towards Terra, the shadows composing his bear-like right arm removing themselves from the vampire now as well, dropping to the ground and slithering off towards the ogre that had taken hold of the empathetic elf, the darkness moving faster than even Blue's sprint allowed, so they'd reach the ogre before he did and attempt to bite at his ankles and get underneath his skin... "Ter!" the call comes again from the running assassin, this time more to try and distract the ogre holding her than to get the blonde's attention.
Kasyr simply practices the better part of valour. Which is to say, with Terra free, and arrows flying, the gobln/tiefling simply runs off to take cover. Which, given the ample amount of other targets, allows the tiefling to close a fair bit of distance between himself and a set of bushes whilst his fellows are riddled with arrows. On the downside, this makes him rather noticeable after a few moments- given that he's a singular goblin running off, and there's not an orc in the immediate vicinity to take cover behind. Talk about a target of opportunity. It's really not that surprising that when Micah's arrow is loosed that it buries itself neatly into the back of the goblins head. Really, the only peculiar part is the way the goblin remains standing for a few long moments before abruptly falling over. Beneath the illusion, it's not exactly a picnic either- as the tiefling had unforunately removed his trenchcoat so as to avoid brushing up against anything unnecessarily. Thus, he currently found himsellf muttering and cursing under his breath at the arrow buried in the back of his knee. Really, the only thing the tiefling can hope to do is simply remained focused on his illusion, to try and prevent it from wavering unnecesarily. After all, a corpse on the battlefield was hardly abnormal...
Terra made a strangled sound that came from being so near to freedom and losing it abruptly, pulled back suddenly until she collided with force into corner of the stone. Breath came in a low wheeze that a quick cough and blood speckles was able to make right. That arm of hers was locked tight in a vice-like grip and the empath could sense him - Helich. He was on the approach, ever so near, and that was the last thing that she needed. There was simply no possibly way to match the extent of the Black's abilities and so that struggle was increased tenfold. Gap between chestplate and helmet is eyed and that expanse of green flesh was attacked suddenly even while Shishi started from the bottom. This should have been a sucessful venture but she's met with some of the elite guards from Helich's constant brigade, having survive the onslaught of arrows with far less damage than their fallen counterparts. By this point, the rooftop has been invaded by goblins and orcs, and there's a pack of determined ogres who sought to obliterate the building entirely if the post was not abandoned. This night would have no survivors if Helich had his way.
Tristram ran into the ogre - straight into the ogre. It caused his grip to loosen on Terra and a stumbling step backward to be taken. The ogre tried to hold on to the vampire to keep himself upright, sending the entire party, vampire, dragon, and shadows alike reeling backward. The exiled leader had a dagger in his hand, and he jerked Terra's hand away to thrust the thing into the ogre's face, over and over again, until he was gurgling blood, and missing an eye. There wasn't time to do anything but run back in the direction he had come from, so he collected the vampire and hoisted her into his arms. He was running as fast as possible back to the city, to the buildings that would grant them some cover, when he saw Josephine fall from above and hit the ground with a sickening thud. Will screamed, and scaled down the side of the building nearly as fast as her fall had been. He was running toward her, when Trist set Terra down to catch the boy. "No. It's too late. Just go. It's too late. Take her-" he thrust Terra at the teenager "- to a safe place. I'm going to get Micah." The boy was having none of it, though he gained a bit of perspective when Terra was practically thrown into his arms.
Shishi , up to this point, had been rather fortunate in regards to all the arrows sailing through the sky, or that is to say he had the good fortune of being surrounded by 'friendly' shadows that leap out to intercept the projectiles headed their -user's- way. With that darkness off eating goblins and gnawing at ogres Blue is finally left rather defenseless in his sprint towards Terra and soon finds an arrow embedded in the meat of the back of his right thigh, the vampire falling forward and rolling on the ground once from the strike. From his low perspective there he watches Terra being freed from the Ogre's grip and shadows creeping back towards him after the ogre had been dealt with. That darkness seems to help the assassin back onto his feet and kind of pushes him forward to get him moving again. There's a wince that goes with each of his first two strides before he stops and rather violently yanks the arrow from his thigh, splattering more than a little bit of blood from the wound. With a cringe and more help from the shadows Blue is moving again, chasing after Terra and Will as Tristram passes him by headed in the opposite direction to retrieve Micah. If the pair exchanged a glance the exiled leader would see that the assassin seems to be enjoying himself so very much with that somewhat malicious smile on his face, or rather, he's infected by the euphoric shouts of the shadows that only he has the privilege to hear inside his head as the darkness Shishi has given life to draws more and more blood. With Mahri and Aiden safely out of the city beyond the gates and not a care for Gualon or its residents Blue's focus is razor sharp, "Ter! Damn it!" he calls out as an arrow headed for the back of his head is swatted out of mid-air by a lightning quick tentacle of shadow while Blue sprints after the elf and Will. The dark entities given life by Shishi worry that the empath has brought his precious scarf along with her, but hearing those concerns doubts she has, and to a lesser extent doubts he wants the shadow-ward scarf now...
Terra had been in the arms of several beings this evening and not a single time had it been pleseant. Either forced, bumpy, or awkward. This time it was a teenager that was about the same height as she and seemed to be more sensible for he grasped her hand tightly and gave a nod at the command. Will was far better at following orders than she and already she tried to struggle against the direction they ran towards but as they tripped and strided over bodies she found it best to go along with the trust that they would return for a proper burial for the fallen girl. But the female was only able to go so far and eventually wrangled her hand from the grasp of the boy and frowned. Her name had been called and was responded to with a quick shout of "I'm here!" and he would soon see that for himself as she started to jog back towards the gates with Will yelling behind her, "Miss! We need to go now." Those shadows of Blue's are in luck because the empath had not brought along the scarf, had not left this city in quite some time, and it was why the leader of the shambles was sought even as Shish closed in the distance between the two. This was not a matter for debate, "We can't leave Tristram in this mess." It did not matter that arrows were constantly on the horizon and that bodies of goblins and children littered the streets in an alarming and somewhat outrageous number. Shelter was found in the broken remains of a wall that stood long-ago and she ducked behind that, dared anyone to move her beyond that point unless it was Micah with the saurian in tow. She'd be damned if all of their effort went to waste because he was captive to Helich's whims once more. "Tristram! Hurry up!" There's the burn of torches in the distances that signal more were coming and would continue to flood the streets. Will returned to her side and tugged and clamored for escape with every breath the boy breathed in.
Tristram ducked out from behind a building, and nearly got an arrow in his shoulder. He swore quietly under his breath. Some orcs had pulled Micah down from his post atop the roof and were forcing him through the door and out into the streets. The trolls were still firing arrows and nothing in particular, but with rather good aim, so the dragon could only grit his teeth and watch the orcs manhandle the boy down the street. He edged down the length of the builiding to determine how far Will had gotten her to go. Not far enough. When she called his name, he shrugged, and disappeared back around the corner again. He wasn't really the hero-type, and he didn't have a lot going for him, aside from the whole dragon thing, so all he could do for the moment was slink along the buildings and keep a hawkish eye on the kid. Helich was still approaching, faster now that he had seen his prize plucked from his guards and hauled off. They'd be together any second now, and the elder dragon would be in possession of a bargaining chip that Tristram couldn't let him possess. Jo's bow was just out of reach, and he made a quick grab for it, hissing when an arrow grazed his wrist. He notched an arrow, took aim and a deep breath, and shot Micah in the shoulder. The kid went down like he'd been thrown off the roof. The exiled leader prayed he had enough sense to stay down ... and forgive him.
Shishi turned and ran beside the empath when it became obvious that her intent was to pass him by. He slid to a halt, slapping his back against the wall she took refuge behind, eying her through cursed crimson eyes for a second as the virtual umbrella of shadow spread out to include Will and Terra in its radius, swatting arrows out of the sky and swallowing others up in airborne waves of darkness. Cursed crimson eyes watched coldly as Tristram fired the arrow into the captive boy's shoulder. The vampire's left fist clenched tightly while the fingers of his right hand curled gently, not pulling yet, around Terra's bicep on the arm that wasn't already being tugged by Will, "He's coming." he said, not specifying which Black Dragon he was talking about, "We can still keep moving without leaving him behind totally he'll follow us. It'll be no good if another of these kids gets caught cause we had to stay sitting here." The last bit is said while nodding towards Will, maybe persuading the boy to pull a little harder. It is only then that he stands and starts coaxing Terra in the opposite direction of Helich's approach, pulling now along with Will.
/ dug heels into the ground and was literally tugged along a good foot before the verbal protests began. "No! I'm not leaving without him!" And she would fight just as hard against these binds as she did against the orcs that had brought her here. Since the previous attempt had been so sucessful she merely grasped Blue's wrist since it was so close to her skin and forced every bit of empathic skill she had; he would experience the widest spectrum of emotion and the vampire trusted in his shadow guard to keep him from being seriously wounded should he collapse to his knees from the images that would soon conjure in his skull, bring him to tears, to rage. To Will she would look if freedom was granted and it was a muted plea exchanged with very few words before his grasp had loosened significantly and he was ordered to return to the clinic or to hide in the underground cavern that no one should have known the existence of before this evening. There's a few broken steps in the direction of where Tristram had last been spotted but then there's Helich and his rapid approach was enough to send the vampire twirling once more until she fell under the impression that maybe it was better to run. If nothing else, it would lead the Black away from this area so she taunted him with a test of her capabilities and tried to do what he did to her so many nights ago in the tavern - produce tears. It would ripple back to her, of course, but many nights with sorrow as company had perfected the art of fleeing from the scene and crying all at the same time. Maybe it would be enough of a distraction for them all to scatter into the winds... or it might just infuriate Helich beyond no end. Time would tell but she's already on the move, motivated not that it wasn't forced.
Will watched what Terra did to Shishi, and dropped her hand. Soon, he was jogging back toward the clinic, and collecting urchins as he went. He'd go and get Tristram and Micah and Josephine back himself if he had to. The orcs had dropped Micah and were shoving at him with their boots, when Helich paced by, enraged and on his way to go and personally recapture his first prize. The orcs fell in line behind him. The trolls stopped firing and went back to milling around. The goblins decorated the streets with their black blood and pitiful whimpers. This was Tristram's chance. He rolled out onto the street and pulled Micah to his feet. The arrow was still lodged in his shoulder, and Micah moaned in pain, but it couldn't be helped. The dragon shouldered the boy, and jogged back the way he came. An orc exited the building he was trying to enter, and Trist had no other choice but to use the kid as a make-shift battering ram, and used the bulk of his body to slam the orc out of the way. Once they were inside, he shouldered his way through broken furniture and a collapsing ceiling to head toward a back window, which he broke open with his foot. Micah was propped against the wall. "Wake up. C'mon buddy." He slapped him across the face a couple times. When Micah opened his eyes, Tristram helped him out the window, and another urchin materialized to help the kid down a back alley. They were both crying, and the dragon couldn't figure out why, until he felt tears on his own cheeks. Goddammit. She was close. He ducked back out the building and criss-crossed behind a small escort of orcs, walking behind Helich, who had paused with eyes narrowed on the vampire. He was crying too, in anger, perhaps, and focused on her, enough so that Tristram could collect Josephine's body, and disappear down an alley that would take him behind the wall, and eventually join with the group. "Chapel," he directed, breathlessly. "Said we'd meet at chapel. Go."
Kasyr , with no more arrows flying, and the majority of attention taken stage...whichever direction the chapel is off in- the 'goblin' with an arrow in it's head finally shoves itself into a sitting position. Obviously, the goblin must have had a thick skull..or perhaps the blessing of whatever gobliny-god was out there. It was most certainly -not- a tiefling simply pulling the arrow out of his leg and staggering to his feet. No, of course not. This goblin-who-is-obviously-not-a-tiefling takes a few more moments to look dazedly about the battlefield before finally settling his gaze upon another of the demi-humans that had composed his 'group'. This is apparently enough to attract him to that location, so that he can place one hand upon the brow of the goblin and offer deliverance to their dark god. ...And it's obviously not a ploy for the tiefling to get a bit of goblin blood to smear his wound with at all.
Shishi looked back at her when she grabbed his wrist, cursed eyes pleading with her before she even began the process of filling his already overfilled mind with images meant to overwhelm him with emotion, "Ter, Don't-" His arms drop to his sides as tears fill his eyes. The shadows in his proximity, including those cast by Will and Terra are swept towards the assassin and crawl up his body, wrapping tightly around his limbs and climbing his torso and chest up towards his neck so that it would look as if he was covered in black vines once they had settled in place. Blue is all but incapacitated by the initial sorrow and by the time rage is forced into him Shishi has more or less given up. The darkness moves the kind-of-catatonic vampire like a puppet, mechanically moving his limbs that it was wrapped around. Shishi wasn't afraid of Helich, but the shadows were; he'd taken their vessel from them before and they wouldn't have that happen again. So they force the crying vampire to follow after Terra again, towards the chapel, it seemed.
/ is an onion since her presence had managed to reduce everyone to tears. Good thing she had not needed to be chopped or diced for this to take effect. The vamprie did not care that she was followed by vampires and goblins and urchins. No, she simply stormed into the chapel with little regard to the holy sancticity of the place and struggled to control herself, hiccuped through breaths and eventually found herself on solid steps where she curled up tightly with a dangerous look. Stems of sorrow had been broken and slowly recoiled leaving only the salty taste of tear shed on the faces of those that gathered her but an apology was not summoned - not for a single one among them even though she could only imagine the images that had stormed through their brains and the whirlwind of emotions that had cascaded down upon them as a result of her inability to control what she had become. It was a heavy dose of power that she rode on and it is what kept her content with the knowledge of what had happened this evening. "Thank you," a low, muffled whisper of gratitude that is not directied at any one person but them all.
Tristram didn't cry. Ever, really. But he was wiping away tears with the back of his hand, and managed to play it off as grief over Jo's death. Once the group was safely inside the temple, he set her body down on an empty pew, said a word or two of thanks, and shuffled back to the group had collected. The door was closed behind them after a brief glance into the street, and he pointed down toward the front of the chapel. "If they come in, we go that way. There's an exit there. We go in different directions in pairs," his voice was flat, monotone, as if he had spoken this speech many times before, and was no longer aware of his audience. "New rally point is the arena stands. If you're in trouble, or someone near you is in trouble, you've lost your baseball bat. Someone will come to help." He looked exhausted. The dragon had been up for more than thirty-six hours, aside from catching hour-long naps during his tenure in the plaza. "We should be able to stay here for a little while at least."
Shishi stepped abnormally into the chapel, what with the wound on his thigh he was nursing and his lack of control over his own body. In his own mind Blue is all but absent, his head occupied by two contrasting sides. On one hand he has the absolute sorrow Terra has pumped into him; visions of loneliness, the deaths of family members, and rats... On the other was the shadowy voices, still in ecstasy over what the vampire had enabled them to do tonight; let them rend flesh, kill the wounded, watch children die, etc, their favorite chaotic pastimes. As Terra's emotional abilities recede so too do the shadows surrounding Blue's body. Idly they move to his back and form various appendages one after the other, a lion's tail, dragon-like wings, and horns to name a few. It's almost as if they're trying to cheer their user up... an act of futility. As the assassin listens to Tristram and the dragon's words go in one ear and out the other Shishi's eyes flicker and fade back to their original shade of oceanic Blue and the shadows trying to entertain him slither back to their rightful places; namely beneath Terra and Will. It is towards the empath that Blue moves, ignoring the cold looks she was giving. The back of his hands are used to smear tears across his face as he drops finally into a seated position onto the step directly below the one his wife had taken up, leaning his weight to his side to rest against a wall or railing, his back to Terra...
Terra heard him but she did not really listen. None of this was news to her, something that had not be thought of or discussed during the last few days. What energy remained was spent and she was certain that the next encounter with Helich would not end as well as this one had. Tricks like that could not be repeated without control and that was something she lacked. As made evident by the cold-front provided by Blue who sat near, had yet to speak. Just as well. There were no words to be said. So instead she rose and found Will and tried to give him an awkward, one-armed hug to express what gratitude that couldn't be said aloud and merely kicked Tristram in the shin. It's the best she could do for the evening until a quiet, cobweb-free corner could be located for a nap.
Tristram yelped and frowned at the vampire. Will accepted the hug and sat with Josephine, and eventually sleep would find him there. Tristram strolled down the aisle and pulled a tablecloth free from the altar, spread it over a cushioned pew and gestured toward it. "You sleep. I'll take first watch." He passed the vampire on his way back toward a window, and couldn't help cup the back of her neck and press his lips to her forehead, murmuring, "I'm glad you're safe." Then he was pacing toward the window and situating himself on the ledge so that he could see out from between panes of stained glass. Will would relieve him next, and then wake Shishi for his turn. Terra would be allowed to sleep the night.
Kasyr simply roams the streets alongside his brethren, frequently straying behind due to his wounded 'head', seemingly more interested in keeping Tabs on Helichs position than anything. It's this restless behaviour the tiefling will pursue for the evening, beyond perhaps a pause or two to feed upon an unsuspecting goblin and replenish his strength.
Shishi gritted his teeth and stood abruptly on his step, a hand against the wall for balance, "Don't touch her, you filthy Dragon!" his eyes flickering in between Blue and Red as the vampire shook, trying to hold off the change from happening again, "Glad she's safe!? Your defense consisted of you and a bunch of ten year olds! Your best weapon is the fact that Dragon is afraid to kill her so you use my wife as a shield to run behind! What the hell is wrong with you!?" A hand rises to his eyes, covering them for a moment as if trying to calm them... Blue wouldn't be sleeping tonight, he was certain of this... it was back to that.
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