Fantasy Fading Flame (In Character)

[LuciTheGreat]

Anna Eadburg

The entire village burned in a sea of red, yellow and orange and the cries of the people echoed into the night. Despite the raging chaos around her, Anna couldn’t help but notice a high number of poweful individuals amongst the defenders. A sorceress floating in the air, a knight carrying a bony whip, a giant ravaging the invading horde…. could they be the Guardians she was looking for?

But being lost in thought on the battlefield is never a good occurence, and she was reminded of that when a runner brutally slammed into her cross as she was preparing to fire it again, making her lose balance, trip on the cadaver of a fallen guard and fall over.

The silent yelp she made when she hit the ground turned into a desperate scream of pain as the Holy Cross fell over her, crushing her ribcage and a good portion her left arm, leaving her pinned to the ground. She struggled to get up, squirming and kicking the ground in an attempt to get the heavy construct off her, but her valiant efforts were in vain. As if smelling the agony she was in, a darkwolf jumped on the cross. The beast’s eyes radiated with pleasure as Anna started struggling even harder under it’s extra weight.

In pain, wounded and desperate, the girl took out a cillindrical-shaped bottle out of her pocket. She looked at it for a second, as if contemplating whether she should really use it or not. It was her last one, after all, and she had intended to keep it for later. But if the howling beast on top of her was not a good enough reason to use it, the pulsating and burning pain in her chest certainly was. With unsure and trembling hands, she removed the rubbery cap of the bottle and threw it in the air, she then proceeded to bury herself deeper under the cross, but not before shouting: „May you all burn like Peter did!“.

The bottle spinned a few times, spilling a gooey liquid as it did so. As soon as the golden substance made contact with the air around it, a very peculiar reaction started to take place: the liquid started to glow and it soon turned into a fiery ball of yellow flame, billowing outwards, filling the street and scorching almost everything in it’s path. The force of the impact managed not only to temporarly clear the street of invaders, but it also pushed the cross just enough to set Anna free.

She was now standing again. Her rasping breath steamed in the fading light and her mouth was filled with the not-so-pleasant taste of blood. She heard the quickening thud of the horde as they began to fill the street again, the ground shaking under their weight. She heard her heart thumping in her head and her legs began to quiver like jelly. She tripped over a piece of wood and the earthly ground rushed up to her face as she thudded to the ground.

Blood was slowly oozing out of numerous wounds in her face, abdomen and arm, a small but relentless flow of crimson. Despite the fact that she could feel no pain, she could definently tell her wounds were serious, even breathing was hard.

With shaking hands, she grabed the holy artifact and, with the stubborness of a religious fanatic, she started to slowly crawl towards the townhall, motivated by the promise of reinforcements delivered by an unknown female voice, somewhere in the distance. But she was way too slow and the devilishly nimble runners quickly caught up with her.

As if appearing out of nowhere, strange marine creatures came to her aid, blocking the oncoming invading force. But Anna paid no attention to her saviours, continuing to crawl towards the townhall, dragging the heavy cross with her.
The stench of blood and flesh, but mostly the terrible wounds she had, were beggining to weaken her resolve. Her primal hunger was starting to get the most of her, and the bodies laying on the ground were turning more appealing by the minute. The wonderfull flavour in the air… the dripping red meat on the ground… the succulent red honey… it was all so hard to resist. But she had to fight it, she couldn’t succumb to the taint, not now… so she crawled, slowly but steadily, towards the town center…

 

[hostage]

Esta Faeven
Esta turned, hearing the call for a retreat. The hordes of Darkborne were thinned, yet there were still not enough fighters to defeat them. The forces of Frontierville began streaming away back to the plaza. Narrowing her eyes, the druid thrust her sword at a goblin, impaling the beast through the chest. It collapsed onto her, and with a grunt of disgust, Esta shoved it off.

A Darkwolf leapt towards her turned back. Just as Esta swiveled to face it, a fish like creature blocked the attack, disemboweling the creature limb from limb. When the marine looking thing turned, Esta bowed her head in thanks, then spun around to lop off a row of Runner heads. She planted her feet in derision, covering the backs of many soldiers on the retreat. Baring her teeth in a feral growl, she gathered the light from flickering torches and sent it bursting across the field, lighting and dimming the battleground in a series of flashes.

After fighting for a while longer, Esta began to join the retreat. She cut a path through the dark mass of fury and hate around her, opening a path to the hall. Tiredly slinking into the structure, she slumped in a corner near a clump of panicked soldiers. Their deep voices rung out as they worried. “What’s gonna happen to us? We can’t hold them off for any longer, especially not through the night,” a soldier yelled. “Yeah, what’s to stop those things from ripping us limb from limb,” another called.

Esta sat in her corner, clamping a hand over her shoulder, where a deep cut resided. Her own blood stained her hands as she ripped off a strip of her pants. Gritting her teeth, Esta bound the wound before standing up. “Would all of you shut up?! You aren’t doing anything to help!”

The warriors looked at her incredulously. “And what ideas do you have?” A man asked snarkily. Esta whirled around angrily. “Maybe you cowards should stop moaning and help the rest of us get rid of this darkness. For all I know, us Guardians have risked our necks for the fate of the world, and this is the repayment we get? If everybody I knew were like you spineless cowards, I would give up,” she thundered. She turned and stormed out of the town hall, slamming the heavyset doors behind her and leapt into the remains of the battle.​

 

[Soviet Panda]

Buras spun through the battlefield, his axes trailing the dark ichor of Darkborne and Gobletyn alike. The clamor of battle was like music to his ears, literally and metaphorically, as he cleaved his way through the receding horde, either not having heard or ignoring the call to retreat. Even alone as he was, without a partner, he was more than a match for any number of Darkborne or opportunistic raiders. However, once the assistance of the spear men was taken away, he began to feel a bit more pressure. So he slowly made his way closer to the town hall, killing as he went.

As he cleaved through a Goletyn, he noticed a hammergrazer, one of the last of the herd. It was in a blind panic, as one would expect, with several Darkborne clinging to it's back via tooth and claw. And it was headed right towards the town hall, where the soldiers have fallen back to for a short respite. If that thing crushed it's way through, who know how many would die by it alone? Not to mention the gaping hole that would allow the Darkborne and Gobletyn in, and trap the soldiers. So he did what anyone without a spear and of his height would do. He ran at the large beast, used a Gobletyn that wasn't paying attention as a spring board (and crushing the poor thing,) and leaped onto the back of the hammergrazer.

The Darkborne took notice of him, and the few that were holding on by tooth fell off as the released their grip and tried to grab onto their new prey. Those that held on by claw fared much better, until an axe was planted in between their eyes. But that was not where Buras wanted them to stay. Quickly working his way to the front of the hammergrazer, Buras lodges his axes on one side of it's head, and heaves. It'd head being pulled one way, the hammergrazer's body followed after it. No doubt the soldiers inside the town hall could feel the ground tremble as the large beast stamped just by the town hall, a few bricks even being shook loose from the mortar.

And while he was on top of the beast, Buras might as well put it to use. So "steering" the beast in roughly the right direction, Buras jumps off and leaves it to run back the hole it and it's kin had created, trampling the darkborne and gobletyn that were caught off guard or where to slow to react to the surprise hammergrazer. That done, he decided he had had enough of fighting by himself for now. He must have a partner, even an untrained one. They would learn, or they would die. Simple as that. Now, which one looked like they wouldn't die?

 

[QizPizza]

Audun the Fallen

Location: Frontierville - Approaching Guild Hall
Status: Retreating/Mildly Injured/Mildly Fatigued
Disposition: Generally Good
Interacting With: Trappy LuciTheGreat

​

The waves of Darkborne in front of Audun were easily slaughtered by the Nephilim. They were no match for Harmonious Discord's arcing holy lighting. Normally, such a weapon would be killing Audun, but the weapon was designed specifically to not be able to harm its owner. For Audun this battle was a chance to prove his worth and perhaps a slight hindrance. However, for the soldiers and townsfolk, this was a battle for survival. As Audun grabbed a Runner by the neck out of the air, he used Entropy to stop the electrical signals coming from its brain, instantly killing it. He took a glance backwards to see the soldiers slowly being pushed back. They had Audun's skill with the spear earlier, but since not all of them used the same weapons, they were pushed back. As they go further away, Equilibrium would be less effective, which only made them fall back further. Audun, concerned with the safety of soldiers, leaped into the air, back towards the defensive line. He reactivated Equilibrium, this time considering the various swordsmen within the ranks, giving all of them his skill with a sword.

Audun's wings let him glide over to the defensive line, before closing them to drop right in front the forces, using Entropy to free the electrons of all Darkborne in a 20 foot radius, letting Harmonious Discord's lightning easily arc between all of them. The soldiers in the front were quite obviously shocked (no pun intended). As he landed, the order for retreat was sounded. He saw many of the troops make a mad dash towards the other end of the town. "FOOLS!! DON'T BREAK THE LINE!!" Audun's words went unheard as the soldiers made a mad dash away, more than just of few being overwhelmed by Runners. Audun made another leap, however, as he was in the air, he noticed an woman dragging a cross along the ground. The cross itself reeked of divine magic, but Audun had a duty. He landed beside the woman and the cross and sheathed his sword. He then picked up the cross in his right hand, ignoring the burning sensation spreading across his body. Despite his immense strength, the holy magic was weakening him, making the task far more arduous than it should have been. He wasn't sure what would happen, but Audun used Entropy on cross to lessen the effect of gravity on the relic. Using his left arm, he picked up the wounded woman. "Are you alright ma'am? You're faith must be incredible to cling onto such a relic even at the risk of your life." Audun proceeded to leap into the air again, letting his wings glide them towards the town hall.

 

[Sybil]

Spessartite Phos​

The elemental was taking mental notes when her attention as diverted to the cornered civilian and the hurt Hammergrazer, her body starting to move on its own before the mage even finished her dialogue. She ran at them, not even hesitating to run a hand through the ground as she went, pulling out what formed into a handle and simply grew longer and longer. As she neared the first hound she twirled, the weapon forming into a giant mallet head with an ax on the back, cratering the unfortunate enemy into the paved road. The sudden impact and use of the hammer caused her to flip forward with her legs passing over her head, vaulting with the weapon only to scrunch her mineral abs and bring the hammer off the ground and over her head to slam again into the next round with a sickening crunch. While she fought these darkborne the mage might be getting glances into her inner monologue, a slur of hate and resentment under her smiling surface and heroic actions. She despised these creatures with a fervor.

The last hound had caught wind of this attack and changed it's target, jumping and biting down on the stone head and cracking it under their jaw strength, this happening all while the giant herbivore backed up more. Not wanting to harm the creature she used her powers more towards this than her cracking skull. The herbivore would find its legs now covered in rocks, a giant stock clamping around its neck and torso to secure it as they tried to pry the wolf off.

"DAMN THING LET THE FUCK GO ALREADY! JUST DIE!" She raises her fist and starts punching the dog's side, her knuckles covered in gem spikes and tearing into the dog. Soon it would disappear as well, the elemental not pausing before she pulled the giant beast forward by dragging its bonds via their powers just enough to let the person run out of the culdesac.
"Come on and run to safety!!"
As she waved him to come to her, the moving arm suddenly fell off, the action looking like it was cut clean off as is slammed to the ground. The person showed concern as they ran by her, but she only pushed them to move on.
Oh, fuck not now.... not now dammit! The sorceress probably could hear her curse and swear about her condition and her magical energy depleting. As she worried, the bonds began to weaken against the herbivores frantic screaming and thrashing.

Vyseryx

 

[Unwavering Knight]

Pryonn & Kaatl

"The privilege of any good errant, past and current!" The knight sang as he fought, rotating the chained flail with brisk might as the monsters swarmed his banner-stand. "To dream the Impossible Dream!" The flail swung down, edged head imbedding itself into a shadow-form with a sound akin to hooves sucking into mud, the darkrunner whose skull was caved in gave a garbled screech before its twilight-contour disintegrated "To right the unrightable wong!" The plated fist gripping his flag-lance thrust forth, ramming the spear's wooden staff directly into an on-jumping wolf, casting it to the ground before an iron-boot came crashing down onto its neck.

"To fight the unbeatable foe!" he continued chanting, roaring with unabashed vigour, steel-foot crushing through the dark canine's spine "To run where the brave dare not go!" A Runner's claw aimed at the fairy still seated upon Pryonn's shoulder, the creatures cunningly attempting to exploit any opening they could find. "This is my Quest- " Expertly, the knight swung around his flail to send the chained head crashing into the monster's hulk, concussive force tearing out a portion of its mid-section while sending the rest flying back "- To follow that Star!" Another wolf jumped him, this time from the side, aiming for Kaatl. "No matter how hopeless!" Raising his flail-hand, the knight stepped to the side, ramming his mailed elbow into the canine's widened maw "No matter how far!" Facetious teeth were sent flying, the wolf shrieking in agony over its broken jaw as its blighted form was sent to the stone-ground before another swing of his flail silenced it forever.

Only a short distance from him, his Lady was battling the monsters with her own leonine grace. Where perhaps other knights might have grimaced at the thought of seeing their Light-Bringer risk herself in battle, Pryonn could only find that her combat-prowess added further allure to her stature. What else could a knight want in the thick of battle, but a Lady so full of mettle?

Hearing her request, the knight rammed his banner into the ground and hastened over to her, charging through and ramming away whatever canines tried to stop him. "As you wish, my Lady-Love." Bowing his helmeted head once in deference, the knight's free hand carefully grabbed hold of her, before throwing the incruscan high into the air.

CombatReadyPenny

 

[CombatReadyPenny]

Terra rolled her eyes as Pryonn said his words. She was not one for long worded phrases as she fought. Though she could feel the might behind them. Terra sighed. "You really don't know when to shut up." she said with a small blush as she was launched into the air.

Terra held her war hammer in one hand as she soared through the air. Once she reached her highest point, she whorled around and held the hammer above her head. She did this and time seemed to slow down as she feel. When she landed, electricity jolted from the ground in a cone in front of her, clearing out the backline of Darkeborn.

She stood up, electricity crackling off of her skin as she stood up a bit wobbly. "Alright... Let's hope I don't have to do that again... Next time might make me blackout." she said as she looked towards the center. "Hey, we should retreat. The beasts are fading out over here and we need to make sure no one is injured." she said as she walked past Pryonn, placing her staff, which was previously her Warhammer, onto her back.

Unwavering Knight

 

[Aryasaurus]

Aoibhín; "Eevie"
Location: Town Hall
Tagging: hostage ​

Eevie was stuck - not physically, there was nothing that stopped her from moving at this point - as she glanced at the hole in the wall. She felt uselss. She had no skill or ability that she could use to patch it up, so all she could really do at this point, was fight. For a moment she realized that her impulsive actions had, in fact, put her at the disadvantage in this situation. Eevie took a step back, casting a look back towards the plaza as if contemplating whether she should go back to the cultist she had left behind. Emotions bubbled inside her chest, and she started to regret running off ahead the way she had. That was when she heard it, a pair of familiar voices from earlier shouting a retreat.

“Retreat to the other side of the wall! We must reunite with other units! I will secure your retreat!” shouted a female voice.

"You heard the lady, move like your lives depended on it, because it does!" a male voice responded, relaying the command forcefully to his charges. The man shouted something else, but Eevie did not hear. She was heading back to regroup.

Armoured boots pounded against the cobbled street. The dusk had now completely descended into night, where only the light of the moon guided her path. This felt natural to her, and her sight was clear as ever. Whether it be day or night, none of it seemed to matter. Eevie stormed through the streets towards the town hall, driven and determined. Yet upon seeing a hammergrazer relatively close, she decided to divert her path. They needed less of these damn cow-things destroying the place and endangering lives - they needed a lot less of all this bullshit that was going down.

Pressing the rune on her whip, Eevie lashed out, the spinal chord curling around the neck of the roamer and latching into its hide, they blade sinking deep into its flesh. The creature, who was already panicked, was now furious. It bowed its head, nostril snorting out heated breath as it turned toward the Dullahan. 'Oh, shi-' she didn't even have time to finished the thought. The hammergrazer scuffed its hoof on the ground and sprung into a charge. A sharp inhale and Eevie hanked her whip off the beast, though it was difficult to do. Her dodge wasn't even executed when the beast barrelled into her small body, sending her backwards. She crashed into the ground, armour creating sparks against the stone as she skid to a halt.

Her body ached, throbbing painfully as her breathing became laboured and rapid. 'Dammit, its too fast,' she mentally groaned, forcing herself back onto her feet as the hammergrazer prepared for another charge. This thing, she decided, was not allowed to keep existing. It was delaying her as it was, and she hated being delayed. Perhaps it was in anger that she tried to do this once more, despite her injury, instead of simply retreating. Eevie lashed her whip at the beast once more, this time not aiming to wrangle the creature. Her lashes repeated over and over, the blade as the end of her whip slicing into the head like a knife through butter, before it finally collapsed. Dead or dying, Eevie didn't care. With her free hand she clutched her waist as started to make her way towards the town hall, focusing on healing her injuries as she went.

By the time she had arrived, her injuries were a lot easier to bear, yet not completely healed. The dents within her armour were suggestive of her match head-on with a hammergrazer, which additionally made her mentally groan at the thought that she would need to hammer it out later. Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by the voices of troops she walked in on. Each cowardly whimpering about their imminent deaths, and a snake-like guardian - who was rather fed up with their crap - that promptly stormed out of the hall. Eevie would have chuckled if she could.

Instead, she approached the soldiers, stretching out the bone whip between her hands intimidatingly as she neared them. Roughly a dozen heads turned to look at her, eyes filling with familiar looks she was accustomed to receiving - horror, fear, shock - yet she paid it no mind. Eevie secured her whip back to her hip, now having garnered their attention, and pulled out her notebook and quill, taking the time and making sure they understood that she was trying to communicate. None spoke, they just watching her as if trying to gage her intentions.

After a minute of writing in utter silence, Eevie tore the paper from the book, and held it out to them. The soldiers threw each other puzzled and fearful looks, but with a few nudges, one reached out hesitantly and took the letter.

'You are not alone in your fear. Many of us are fighting for a chance to see tomorrow, to see our loved ones and to be free of this evil. Can you just idly sit here and expect to be saved? Are you not soldiers? Come with me and defend Frontierville so we can all see tomorrow.'

"You're joking, right?!" the soldier blurted out after reading the note out loud. "There's no way I-"

Eevie snatched the note away and quickly scrawled something else on there, before handing it back.

'Let me put it this way: if you don't come and fight like real men, then I'll make sure you never leave this building alive.'

The colour drained from the soldier's face as his eyes fell back to the whip hitched to the Dullahan's hip. "R-right," he choked out. He looked at his troop and motioned with his head to stand, and so they slowly stood up, nodding fearfully as they each read the note. "A-as you say, ma'am."

Humans were all the same: they would rather die by a foe they knew they had a chance against to live, then to suffer by the hands of an unknown. It was either that, or the chance to die trying to be a hero, or die as a coward - it was human greed that lead them to want for more than they deserved.

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

Gaheris Agramar

After what seemed like eternity, a call for retreat was sounded. Karl had lost his spear in the fight, instead opting to grab the mace at a dead man's side. Lyle was keeping up fairly well, though the seemingly endless swarm of Darkborne and the Hammergrazers weren't helping their stamina.
"Damn it! These things never end!" Lyle snapped. Karl glanced at his colleague. "Best we can do is retreat...but we'll both be dead if we turn our backs now! We don't have any cover!"

"Then let's not turn our backs." Lyle countered, holding out his spear as he backed off. Their retreat was done with their faces and weapons to the enemy, backs turned to the town hall. In their retreat, though, they ran into a familiar...lack of a face.
"Agramar! I can't believe you're still standing!" Karl stared up at Gaheris, who flicked away a Runner on his shoulder.
"Won't die. Can't die." Despite the lack of pause in his words, the battle had started to take a toll on Gaheris. Though he didn't seem exhausted, his armor had quite a few bite marks already.

"I have an idea..." Lyle muttered, and raised his voice so that the giant could hear him better.
"Agramar! We need to get back to the town hall. Cover us!"
"Lyle, what the hell?!"
"He'll listen. Giants are used to taking orders."

For a moment, Gaheris paused, looking back at the retreating warriors. There were still a few out on the field- some very tough looking ones. He briefly wondered if the druid earlier- Sashi, was it?- was safe, in the hall.
He shook the thoughts out of his head. With a rumble, he suddenly threw his good arm around both guardsmen, lifting them both onto his shoulder while maintaining a grip on his greatsword.
"Hang...on."

"W-Wait! Agramar, what in the name of the Empire are you--?!"

Gaheris sprang into the air, reaching a great height. He easily cleared the distance to the town hall with a single leap- he found an open area and landed with a sharp crash of metal boots on the floor just outside the hall. It temporarily startled quite a few guards, though seeing the two guardsmen climbing down from his shoulder reassured them that he was fighting for their defense.

"Aren't you coming along?" Karl asked as Gaheris turned away. The knight looked to his armor briefly- then back to the guardsmen.

"Can't...be...useless." He repeated, moving to a safe distance in front of the hall. He readied his greatsword, adopting a defensive stance.

"The big lug's covering for us!" Lyle yelled as he stepped into the town hall, his words addressing the many soldiers around the room.
"You plan on letting him- and the others still out- die out there or are we going to think of something to help out?!"

"We can't exactly go out there, now can we?!" Another soldier snapped. "You're awful tough for someone who lost a giant!"
"It's better than sitting around, waiting for the Darkborne to kill us!" Karl argued. "Quit thinking about your final rites! We have to work something out so that this whole village won't be ash when the night's over!"

The arguing Imperial guardsmen were silenced a bit by the sound of a giant roaring outside.

"Look out there! There are probably more soldiers out there, more wounded than you are, and they're still fighting! About time we start doing our jobs, don't you think?!"

The two's words seemed to get the remaining soldiers' attention. They were worked into a new vigor- some were still hesitant, but at least they were calmer. Lyle looked around.
"Don't you guys have a big boss, or something? Would be nice to have 'em here."

 

[AlphaKyle]

"YELLOW HAIR! HELP!!"
It wasn't until her scream did he notice that Leafa was in trouble, a good 10 yards away. Charging to her aid, nearly closing the gap, he was bulldozed by a stampeding Hammergrazer. Luckily the beast kept on its rampage and didnt look back. It took a few seconds for Sulevi to regain himself, before making it to his feet. He made a mental note to look both ways before charging and stumbled towards the elf. The next few things he saw he didn't understand if he hallucinated them or this small town was weirder then he thought.
He nodded towards a girl made of rocks, making sure if they were ok before disappearing into combat. The beast that was on top of Leafa looked completely frozen with an arrow atop its head. And a bird man was mending himself close to her, surrounded by ice men. Pushing the strangness aside he focused on Leafa, setting his spear down and kneeling beside her. "Leafa are you ok? What were you thinking? Did it hurt you? I told you to stay close!" Frantically checking for injuries or bleeding before hearing the words of a woman towards the center of the plaza. "Retreat to the other side of the wall! We must reunite with other units! I will secure your retreat!"
Again trying to gain the girls focus, Sulevi grabs the girls shoulders "We need to get to the townhall, you're doing great. C'mon." helping her up he looks at the eagle incurscan "bird man, come! Towards the townhall! Ice beings! Protect our rear!" Making his way towards the center of the plaza.
-robert- Thorn_Reaper

 

[-robert-]

Leafa

"Huh? The doggie... It's... gone?", too her suprise, when Leafa opened her eyes, there was no longer a Darkwolf pinning her down. Yellow hair appeared by her side.

"Leafa are you ok? What were you thinking? Did it hurt you? I told you to stay close!"

Shocked by the sudden attack, Leafa was unable to respond, Yellow hair told her one more thing, but she wasn't able to hear it, "With time... hurts will heal... mommy... said so...", the young elf's legs were shaking, she could barely stand, she started to feel dizzy and warm, "I don't feel so good Yellow hair... can you... carry me... please... hey is that a... dragonfly...". As the symptoms kept growing bigger, her legs started to fail her, now in the ground, Leafa started to feel sleepy, and her eyes were getting heavy. "Is it sleepy time yet... mommy?", she ended up fainting.

Blackness. In her head, all she could see was darkness. She started to hear... screams... of a woman perhaps... a familiar scream. "M-mommy?", the thought echoed inside her head. More screams came, now a male voice... also familiar to her. "Is that daddy? Daddy I want to go home... take me out of here... I want to go back..."

AlphaKyle

 

[billthesomething]

Miska Dunwich

The Cultist had been successful in resting up, from opening such a huge portal. and was certain he could be of use once more, from his resting place, he could see his Deep Ones doing their best to assist the town's defenses.

"Somebody Help Us!" "Please!" "Be Steadfast, My Sons. The Light Shall Preserve us"

But he could still hear the screams of innocents, and it made him feel horrible. He was resting, while the villagers suffered. He would not let anyone suffer, because of his inability to act, he did his best to stand up, his feet were a little wobbly, but eventually, he managed to steady himself enough to begin running to where he heard the scream.

When he reached the source of the scream, he came upon a church of light and to his surprise, it was the fanatic from earlier and his two lackeys, they were being assulted by a group consisting of runners and two darkwolves , the priest was busy trying to not to be killed as he attempts to open the huge doors to the church, while the two peacekeepers, fought off the runners as best as their abilities allowed for, but were they not to receive assistance soon, they wouldn't survive to see tomorrow.

"G'a B'e ruk shaglom!" Miska shouted, and two pairs of tentacles sprouted from out of the earth, to the peacekeepers it looked as the earth beneath their very feet had suddenly decided to join the fray, but they didn't truly have time to ponder the origin of the appendages, as they needed to continue fighting, they were just happy for the assistance. meanwhile, Miska used the tentacles to slap Runners away from the group, and grab Runners then tossing them as far away from the village as possible.

Some of the Runners began shifting their attention away from peacekeepers and focus solely on the tentacles, seeing the eldritch appendages as the bigger threat. One of the Darkwolves had somehow figured that the limbs were being controlled by the cultist and it charged for Miska.

Miska being far too occupied with assisting the group didn't notice the dark wolf, but a little being upon the roofs did, and threw his trident at the dark wolf, but missed and hit the cobblestone in the path between wolf and cultist. "STINK BREATH TO THE RESCUE!" The Deep One shrieked as he lept down from atop the church roof, and landing right beside the wolf, Stink Breath delivered a right hook to the wolf's jaw stunning it for long enough for Stink to grab his trident.

The Wolf growled in an attempt to intimidate the Fish Boy, but Stink Breath, growled back, with his trident poised to strike the Umbra Lupine. The Wolf leaped, but Stink leaped even higher and came back down upon the wolf's skull with an elbow-drop smashing its head into the cobblestone with enough force to crack the stone, getting up quickly Stink stabbed his trident into the beast's back seemingly killing it, but things are rarely so easy, it stood back up even though Stink Breath could see that he had stabbed the trident so far in, that the prongs were poking out of the beast's belly.

The Wolf managed to catch the Deep One, and attempt to bite the fishes head off, but its jaws were held open by Stink's superior strength, he began forcing the wolf's mouth to open wider, the wolf began to desperately try to escape the Deep One's hold, but Stink wouldn't be letting go, until he ripped the wolf's head in half, and he didn't need to wait long for the jaws to begin cracking under the pressure he was applying then moments later the darkborne had been torn in half.

Then the second wolf leaped for the fish but was grabbed by a tentacle and dragged into the tentacle's dimension of origin. and with both of their leaders killed, the runners being the cowards they were, Ran.

"Thanks, Boss" Stink smiled at his boss, who seemed a bit surprised to see that the Deep One was here with him, instead of helping Eevie or someone else. "Stink, I told you to help people defend the village" The Deep one tilted his head in confusion "I am" "Then why are you here?" The cultist was curious to see what explanation the deep one could give him "Cause you say help village, you help village, I help you help village, cause I like to help you, so I help village by help you" The Deep One's smiled seemed to have gotten even wider.

Miska only chuckled lightly, before being accosted by the fanatic

"BLASPHEMER, YOU HAVE SOILED THESE SACRED GROUND WITH YOUR ABOMINABLE MAGICK," The fanatic's tirade was cut short by the deep one leaping onto him and breathing into his nose, The deep one lived up to his name, and the foul odder of his breath, cause the fanatic to faint

Miska was then approached by one of the peacekeepers, who bowed his head gratitude "Thank you for helping us, and sorry for the trouble earlier" Miska just waved him "I think you should get inside the church" The Abomination said without really acknowledging anything the peacekeeper said, but the peacekeeper handed the cultist a small bag of coins as a thanks, before heading into the church and grabbing the unconscious priest

It wasn't that Miska held grudge against the group, but he didn't feel he had to acknowledge the peacekeeper's thanks or apology, he had already forgiven them for earlier and they should have understood that.

"Come on stink we need to get to the town hall" The Deep one nodded and followed his boss towards the desired location

 

[Thorn_Reaper]

Gon'gon

Gon'gon heard what the blonde man told, the elf girl had fainted, 'I will heal her once we reach the town hall' he though, with his legs too hurt to walk, but the wings intact, took flight at some 20 meters in the air, while the elementals protected the blonde man and the elf girl, he began shooting fireballs at the enemies which came too close of the pair.

The goblin archers that had shooted him, noticed him in the air, and began shooting again, he dodge as dozens of arrows flyed towards him, he dodge some by a large margin, and others almost hit him, some hit him, one in the shoulder, and other in the left wing, but he ignored the pain and bombarded the goblin archers with wind arrows, killing them all.

Finally they reached the town hall, Gon'gon entered, "Put her on the floor, i will heal her" he told the blonde man while landing in the floor, barely capable of standing, his 2 ice elementals stood guarding the door, preparing to defend their master.

He could sense how his other elementals outside die on by one, but ignored the feeling, they were, after all, mindless constructs summoned by him, and he could make more.
AlphaKyle -robert-

 

[AlphaKyle]

Seeing the eagle Incruscan begin mending the young elf Sulevi kneels at her side grabbing her hand, and whispering words of encouragement.
"Titta enpolodren, dilth dren." -Fight little elf, be strong.-
Speaking to the unconscious elf, and to himself, not knowing who needed the words more. Standing, he nods to the birdman, and makes his way out back towards the plaza. Brushing himself off and accounting his few pieces of gear.
"Spear, check;
Rifle, check;
Badge, check;
Armor," Taking his right fist and pounding his chest with a grin "check."
Taking note of the ice creatures that stood steadfast Sulevi patted them as he walked past, in a form of thanks for their protection. Stepping out of the town hall and for the first time noticing the chaos that was actually taking place among the ruins of this town; fire consuming most houses, the bodies he simply trotted over, and the screams of darkborne and lightborne alike. These scenes reminded him of his home seven years ago, and was flooded with emotions. Losing his equilibrium he leaned against the nearest wall, slowing his breath and clearing his mind. Sending his soul from his physical vessel, Sulevi entered the astral plane, leaving his emotions in his body.
With his clear mind his soul flew up to observe the situation from above. The Darkborne emitted flowing mists of thick darkness, there seemed to be a diminishing number of them in the city. Looking to the hole in the wall where they entered the darkness was much larger. Reserving that knowledge for later he looked for a being with the strongest presence to see who to take orders from. Noticing many sources of power he was no longer surprised as to why the darkness had attacked with such a large number this night. He found a group of individuals who looked to be giving orders in the center of the plane. Floating towards their position, Sulevi broke the barrier between the planes briefly to present his astral form.
"I am a Guardian sent by the King's Council, my name is Sulevi Kapanan, and am here to help." Subconsciously patting his form for his newly awarded badge but remembering it wa son his physical body. Giving a brief blush of embarrassment he asked
"Where would I be of most use in driving back our enemies?" Returning with a pensive stare.
-robert- Thorn_Reaper Trappy

 

[Vyseryx]

Margot

Before the sorceress even finished speaking, the elemental had already jumped into the action, taking care of Darkwolves with admirable efficiency and fervour. She could feel her furious thoughts through the connection mage had established, but she could not make out any words from them now.

‘Spell’s not working correctly on angry elementals, need to fix that later.’ Margot looked at the panicked Hammergrazer, as the girl slowly moved it out of the alleyway, allowing the woman trapped there to flee.

"Come on and run to safety!!" the elemental shouted, gesticulating lively… until her arm fell off.

‘Oh, fuck not now.... not now dammit! ‘ Margot heard in her head and she focused her gaze on the Network around elemental.

‘She used too much energy too fast?’ The mage theorized, as she dove down, noticing bonds keeping Hammergrazer in place weakening. They were almost broken, when sorceress landed before the animal, looking into its eyes and forming a circle with her palm.

“Danger no. I friend.” Margot said in the Language of Spells, forcing animal to calm down with magic. Its muscles loosened and its eyes become hazed, as sorceress technique was overtaking its mind… but then that happened.

The echo of spell came from the north, an echo of familiar magic, that Margot had not felt in many years.

Her head turned so quickly something audibly snapped in mage’s neck, as she looked, confused and with pain in her eyes, in the direction the feeling had come from.

“Sarel?” she whispered weakly, not noticing that her calming spell disintegrated, until it was too late.

Hammergrazer broke free from the earthen bonds and charged ahead violently in mage’s direction. She realised what was happening fast enough to avoid being trampled, but not enough to avoid harm entirely. When she dashed away from the animal, its head clipped her back and threw sorceress in the air as a bag of potatoes.

With a heavy thump she had landed on the ground, breathing, but apparently blacked out.

Sybil

 

[Trappy]

Maria
Standing from the gate of the townhall, Maria had a good view of the nightmarish chaos that befell Frontierville. Panicked Hammergrazers trampling buildings and streets across the town. The destruction caused by these creatures were only amplified by cannon crews ordered to rain Light shells upon them. On the streets, the havoc caused by Darkborne and Goblin was finally answered by a contingent of volunteer militia. Though the beasts were evidently being rebelled, the sporadic fighting was nowhere near its conclusion. Across the plaza, the Imperial force under the unofficial command of Jericho was making their hasted retreat, with some unfortunate soldiers being picked off by the raged chasing beasts. Utter chaos. But from the other directions, separate Imperial cohorts were making their way to the townhall to replenish exhausted or routed units, eliminating any beasts left behind on on way.

Inside the hall, the situation was no better. Panicked soldiers cowering in groups, were being forcefully rallied by sergeants. In a few cases, things got a bit more violent, whether it be the soldiers' stubbornness or the sergeants' attitude, and resulted with a few threats and weapons pulling. A group of peculiar individuals had also arrived, and were aiding the sergeants in gathering the soldiers, who were only reasonable - refusing to face almost certain death. They seemed to wield potent powers within them, albeit their . . . diverse forms.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed one of them, who was approaching her.
"I am a Guardian sent by the King's Council, my name is Sulevi Kapanan, and am here to help." It wasn't until he finished the sentence that Maria turned around to see the figure, who turned out to be an elf. Standing straight with spear in his hand and rifle on his back. His hair, long and magnificent, as one would expect from an elf, was pushed to the side. He continued. "Where would I be of most use in driving back our enemies?

Maria's blue eyes were locked onto the elf's. She would admit that she never liked the elves. This was largely due to her years campaigning the neighbouring territories, where the elves, with their guerrilla and swift, decisive ambushes proved to be one of the largest challenges her legions had to face. But as dire as their situation were, elf or not, help was desperately needed. Besides, the elf identified as a Guardian, which means Maria will have to work with him in their common quest ahead, one way or another.

"Here. We'll need all the help we can get here, Sulevi. Once the separate units have rallied, we'll have a chance to snuff out the beasts for good." She paused, looking away from the elf. "I trust you'll give your best in this fight, for we'll need it."


Imperial forces and the Guardians have gathered in front of the townhall, preparing to push as one against the Darkborne held at bay by separate militia units. The troops, mostly comprised of lancers and axe-wielders were positioned in squares behind singular lines of shield-wielders. Ahead of the formation, musketeers were still firing shots down the direction of the beasts, weakening their packs before the charge. As she took a scroll along lines of soldiers, Maria couldn't help but notice apparent fear, worries and panic on their faces. Sweat on their foreheads, tears, mouth mumbling phrases of prayers.

Surely, the Light, in all its grace and benevolence will protect them, as it has granted them Life.

Maria thought something must've been done to encourage the men, or else she figured they would break formation as soon as they hit the Dark forces. Stopping her inspection by a band of music troops, Maria spoke up.

"SOLDIERS IN SERVICE OF THE LIGHT!" She paused, making sure that she had the attention of the troops, before lifting her bardiche with one hand, pointed it at the crack on the wall, and continued. "THE ENEMY HAS BROKEN THROUGH OUR WALLS . . . AND THEY PREY UPON OUR YOUNG, OUR OLD . . .OUR FATHERS, OUR MOTHERS, OUR BROTHERS, OUR SISTERS! THEY SEEK TO PLUNDER, BURN AND KILL ALL WE HOLD DEAR!"

There was not a sound. She felt like the eyes of a thousand men and women were laid upon her. In the background, shells were still being dropped upon certain portions of the town, and the fighting near the crack were intensifying. Maria resumed her walk along soldiers' formation.

"I ASK YOU: WHO ARE WE TO SIT IDLY BY? OUR ANCESTORS CONQUERED THESE LANDS WITH BLOOD, FIRE, AND IRON. ARE YOU PREPARED TO DISGRACE THEIR LEGACY?!"

Maria admits, she never considered herself a great speaker, so at that moment she could only hope that the men got the message through.

"FIGHT! FOR THOSE YOU LOVE, OUR ANCESTORS. FOR PRIDE, AND GLORY!"

The Captain from before was there, and as Maria ended her speech, the old man pulled his weathered blade from the scabbard, and yelled order to the side of the formation.

"MUSICIANS!"

The musicians started playing a marching tune, one Maria had known too well. Soldiers were readying their blades and axes; tightening their grip on the lances; fixing their shields. As soon as the musketeers had made their retreat to the rear, the Captain gave his next command.

"VICTORY OR DEATH! URAAA!"

"URAAAAAA!" - The soldiers followed their leader, letting out a ground-shaking battlecry that even caught the attention of many beasts from afar. And with this, a stampede of footmen headed towards the vile creatures of Darkness. Their steps mix in with each other, seemingly shaking the very mantle of the world. In her heart, Maria felt like nothing could stop them now. But still, she prayed for the best, for it was all she could do.

Vyseryx LuciTheGreat CombatReadyPenny Aryasaurus Sybil Thorn_Reaper CrowOuttaHell billthesomething hostage Whisker Kabboom Pilgrim59

 

[Kabboom]

Jericho
Soon enough, without much incident, his ragtag group of troops have successfully withdrawn from the breach, as per the orders of flying-mage-lady. His steps begun to dabble, both due to the slippery nature of the cobbled plaza floor, now awash with blood and other disgusting bodily fluids and remains, and the extended use of his abilities. Though his Clarity reached out effectively, adding a few more to his group as they make their retreat, they quickly sobered up to the situation at hand.

Cowards, defeatists, and deserters being dragged out of the town hall, through the works of a guardsman, and another, far more effective, fairy with a bony whip tucked into her belt's side. The Captain, listening intently to the reinforcement's broadcasts on his Lightvoxer, while Maria inspects him and his men, as they file into formation. Taking advantage of the moment, Jericho takes a rest from using his abilities, leaning his halberd against his chest, while taking off his helmet, inspecting the Goblin's damage. Sure enough, he spotted a sizeable dent, with a few loose rivets, on the back. That'll require extensive work with a hammer and anvil, or perhaps to just purchase a new helm entirely. But for now, it will have to do. As he put it back on again, the General begun her rousing speech, and Jericho listened intently while reloading his weapon, Dante, out of pure habit.

As she spoke on and on, hitting all the 'good spots' that a rousing speech was supposed to hit, Jericho's eyes didn't leave her face. There was a fire within her, a spirit that will not yield to any force or being known to him in the realm, a will that would not be subjugated, even if it took her life in the process. 'So this is the true face of the General,' thought he. The stories, the tales he had heard of her were wrong. They were all wrong. Well, not all of them, but still...

As the guardsmen let off the war cry, Jericho joined them, though not nearly as enthusiastic. He instead was focusing within, channeling Experience Drip alone, for the spirits of the men have been sufficiently raised. As a result, the swordsmen lancers around him begun holding their lances and spears tighter, and in a more professional stance, while the swordsmen keep their weapons closer to their bodies, as to allow for quicker reactions against Darkborne, should they go for center mass.

Their charge, paired with the musicians playing their inspirational marching tune, attracted virtually every single Darkborne creature left at the wall breach, roaring and charging headlong directly at them in turn. The men are even more pumped, with one shieldsman simply bashing a Goblin out of the way, killing it on impact. As the Darkborne slammed into the Imperial ranks, Jericho swung into action, stabbing a Runner in the eye socket, just through the crevice of two shields holding the creature back, before doing a full spin back around, pulling the spike tip out of the killed beast and lining up for another swing in a swift motion.

Another feisty Darkwolf has leaped over the front row of shields, knocking down the shieldsman, and bearing its fangs as it prepares to sink them into a guardsman. The teeth met not flesh, but steel instead, as Jericho swung around, with the dull, boxy hammer head of his halberd directly into its face, deforming its skull with a resounding crack, as its body goes limp, hind legs already beginning to dissolve into raw Dark energy as it hits the ground. As the men regain composure, Audaton spots a bad situation with the potential to go worse: the sorceress, beaten to the ground by a stampeding Hammergrazer, as an elemental struggles to cling onto the beast, seemingly part of an unsuccessful plan to either maim or calm the beast down.

Acting on pure instinct, something Jericho learned was not always a good thing, he pulled out Dante, and fired a clean shot into the Hammergrazer's head. Such a shot usually does nothing, for the hammerhead is too thick for small arms to penetrate, but with his superior accuracy, the bullet has managed to lodge itself in one of its eyes, sending it into a frenzy, shaking wildly from pain and rage. Breaking from formation, Jericho ran towards it, making as much noise as possible to attract its attention away from the unconscious sorceress, banging his halberd against the ground, and his gun against his chest, all while taunting it. "Over here, knucklehead! Over here! Hey! Come on! Over here! Come over here!"

Vyseryx LuciTheGreat CombatReadyPenny Aryasaurus Sybil Thorn_Reaper CrowOuttaHell billthesomething hostage Whisker Trappy Pilgrim59 Unwavering Knight

 

[Thorn_Reaper]

Gon'gon

Gon'gon stabbed a goblin with his spear, and cooked alive a darkwolf with his fireballs, his 7 elementals fought along him, with a wind elemental left to protect the elf girl, and make sure she don't get into the battlefield. He looked up at the sky, the armies of darkness covered it, allowing nobody to take flight without being right into the center of a massive army of ravens and vultures ready to strike.

"Not for long" he though, he then lifted his 2 arms towards the sky, two fireballs formed in his hands, then, like a heavy machine gun, he shooted dozen after dozen of fireballs towards the sky. The fireballs then, falled to the ground, towards the hordes of darkborne. Charred corpses were left by the fire, as it rained from the sky, as an insane amount of red and white light covered the sky, every fireball leaving Gon'gon with less energy.

This made him remember the moment the eagle kingdom was attacked, he lost friends in that invasion, he wouldn't let that happen again, he then, with regained energies, keep hurling explosive fireballs to the sky.

Gon'gon falled to his knees, exhausted, he could again feel his elementals die one by one, out of the 7 elementals he had, only 4 were left, he was surrounded by the darkborne, defenseless, but he keep shooting fireballs towards the sky nonetheless.

 

[Unwavering Knight]

Pryonn & Kaatl

Pryonn's gaze followed Terra as she ascended into the air. For a moment the knight allowed himself to marvel at his Lady's hallowed form whilst she lithely twirled in the air, handling a crackling staff-turned-armament, before he chastely lowered his gaze so as not to accidentally impugn her immaculacy. Kaatl gave the knight a questioning glance, before the sudden gathering of magical energy drew her attention to the incruscan, heralding Terra's incoming onslaught.

In response, the fairy hugged the knight's helmeted head, closing her eyes to ready herself just in case she needed to keep stray energies away from Pryonn's ironclad form. For but a moment, the knight led his free hand to the fairy's head, giving her a reassuring pat of his own in appreciation.

With a blinding flash of unleashed magicks, Terra's lightning-force slammed into the amassed monsters, dozens of the exposed creatures shrieking in agony as electricity surged through their once-shadowy forms, casually setting ablaze what was supposed to be of midnight-matter. Within moments the darkbornes' struggles ceased, their ebonine figures disintegrating, dark particles fleeing into the night.

Having readied himself to catch the leonine maiden, the knight felt a slight pang of disappointment when she instead gracefully landed, the emotion quickly giving way to continued admiration. Giving a nod at her proposal to flee towards the village's center, where most certainly Frontierville's main forces were already gathering for a counter-attack, the knight only took a moment to retrieve his banner before taking off with Terra.

As the trio made their way through the streets, fending off minor darkborne surges and goblin-raids that attempted to intercept them.

They emerged from the maze of streets and alleys near Frontierville's fortified center, where already the village's defenders were in the process of establishing a shieldwall, a phalanx of spears, halberds and other tools of war advancing through the narrow chokeholds of the roads, within them musketeers and crossbowmen firing screen upon screen of projectiles into the farther darkborne.

For now at least, the trio of incruscan, fairy and human appeared safe behind friendly lines.

"Just in time, methinks. It appears we will join the counter-attack." Pryonn spoke with usual brashness, flag-spear leaning against his shoulder. Looking back to Terra, the knight asked "Say, my Damsel-Heart; I know this to be a selfishness of mine, but ask I must nonetheless!" Turning fully to face her, the knight once again bowed his helmeted head, asking with his eyes cast down "Would you allow me to inscribe your name upon my banner? With your livery held high in honour, I would quest with greatest vigour, proclaim your glory for all to savour!"

CombatReadyPenny

 

[CombatReadyPenny]

Terra looked to Pryonn with complete and utter confusion. She had no idea what he meant. "I.... Guess... I'm not entirely are what that means, but oh well..." she said with a shrug. She was too busy looking on her sash to care about what it meant. She was looking for her healing crystal. "Ah, here it is." She said as she pulled it out of the holder.

She crushed it into her hands as they entered the center. "Alright... Pryonn, you go ahead and see if they need help fighting. I'll be here healing myself and the wounded." she told him as she walked towards a wall to lean against as she rejuvenated and healed.

Unwavering Knight

 

[QizPizza]

Audun the Fallen

Location: Frontierville - Town Plaza
Status: In Combat/Moderately Injured
Disposition: Generally Good
Interacting With: Kabboom Trappy LuciTheGreat Anyone Else

​

Audun set down at the door of the town hall and dropped the cross onto the floor, quick to get rid of the holy relic. Audun's right arm was now burned to a moderate degree. The sheer amount of divine magic leaking out of the relic could easily repel or even kill a lesser Hellion. That is not to mention the adverse effects on Nephilim. The burn itself was nothing that could stop Audun from swinging his sword, but the divine magic had greatly affected Audun's own strength. However, he could not afford to appear weak in front of the soldiers, lest he weaken their already damaged morale. A warrior such as a paladin was a paragon of valor, bravery and faith that could never afford to be anything less. This was a role that Audun constantly falters at, a reason why he is never seen taking off his armor. By separating his personas as a paladin and as an infidel, he is both the model soldier and the worst a person of faith could become.

Audun drew his sword again as he set the woman with the interesting hat down. He observed the situation around the town. It could've been worse. At the very least, the various Guardians scattered around the town were able to out up some form of resistance. However, considering that the people he saw were Guardians, Audun began to wonder how desperate the Empire was at this point. Under the employ of the Empire were a crippled giant, numerous children, an Eldritch horror and a hag with a beauty spell. No doubt they passed the courses and trials required, but their capabilities have yet to be proven in battle.

General Maria, Maria as she preferred to be called, began a rousing speech. For lesser beings at least. Audun's home was not in the Empire and his ancestors certainly did not have their blood shed for the sake of this land, but being able to prove his worth was just as important. As the soldiers began their chant, Audun joined in with his booming voice drowning out the musicians for a brief moment. "URRRRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!"

Audun leapt into the air, spreading his wings and becoming the figure leading the charge. He came crashing down on a pack of goblins throwing rocks at the charging soldiers, with his sword discharging electricity across their ranks. He was maybe 20 feet ahead of the shieldline, once again in the middle of the fray. The difference is, this time, Audun was sluggish and his preferred arm was injured.

 

[Sybil]

Spessartite Phos​

The battle was scarred with fire, screaming, the rage of soldiers who sung in a common word and in music. The elemental's mind was trying to process what to do next only to witness the mage knocked to the ground and seemingly go unconscious. She sometimes forgets how fragile the flesh was, but such thoughts were irrelevant now with danger right in front of her. As she raised her hand to deal with the rampaging herbivore a bullet rang out and struck the beast and sufficiently distracting the panicked and aggressive animal. She cast her head to look to see if their helper needed and help themselves, only to recognize the man clearly had an idea of what he had done by his stance and demeanor.

Thank the Empire not everyone here is a greenhorn thought Spessartite as she began to inspect Margot, making sure she was still breathing and not broken. A small relieved sound of what seemed to be a sigh was released from the cracked stone head. With that relief, she would take the backpack and sword from the black-haired woman and set them next to her as the elemental, looked around now for a solution to this issue of transportation. Where to? She had been hearing town hall was likely the best option for the citizens fleeing earlier who tripped over each other for safety.

Townhall..... ok ok I got this...well wha- Their thoughts were thrown off track as they heard light and soft feet behind her followed by silent and unintellectual whispers. She knew exactly what it was from their language and weight after many years dealing with the greedy blights. Goblins... The earthen woman put her one operable arm to her chest, her stone teeth gritting and cracking as she felt the hate boiling inside from the years of struggle in her life thanks to Darkborne and their legion of hateful beings. She pulled a stone pole of about three and a half feet out of her chest using her own material, then came the head. Out of her chest came an old and slightly rusted iron pickaxe head fixed atop the stone handle, and now with it in her one hand, she would stand up with this constantly stoked fire inside now on show.

The pick showed a beautiful radiance of a gentle white aura, light-infused into this artifact of her own. At least, that is what it began as. If Jericho noticed or Margot woke up they would see the light darken as her body cracked and her teeth fractured under her own rage. Her dress-like clothe began to crack deeper as the light and dark seemed to fight on the pickaxe's metal head, and it showed brighter when one of the goblins made its move. Before it could even close the distance to attack Spessartite would turn and plant the pickaxe straight through the goblin and into the earth. The goblin bled as fell to the sides as the pick buried itself and the ground shook and cracked, turning into fissures as the earth itself seemed to rupture at the remaining few goblins who were now panicking and damaging buildings around them with debris now falling and collapsing rooms. Despite their possible use of intelligence to consider regret it was already too late, and before they could even scream they were swallowed individually into the ground in an instance. Screams could be faintly heard until the elemental cracked their neck at their energy expenditure and a horrid crunch emitted from the stone and dirt where the enemies once stood and blood dampening the soil and rocks seemingly bleeding. As the closest two townhomes partially collapsed and the elemental slumped forward panting they pushed the weapon back inside using their one arm.

Ain't got much time now... need energy... fuck! She gripped her one disembodied arm in her mouth, the woman's backpack on her back, the sword hilted into the elementals shoulder as a way to hold it, and finally the woman over her shoulder. Now with everything gathered they would look at Jericho once more before running their broken-looking body all the way to the town hall and attempting to lay the woman down for her to rest after kicking the door open.

Vyseryx Kabboom

 

[Kabboom]

Jericho
Jericho ran to the side, attracting the hulking beast, as it turns to him, staying away from the unconscious sorceress. The elemental clinging onto its back dropped down, and rushed to aid the mage. As for Audaton, he had bigger fish to kill. Half a ton of murderous hammer-beast charging him at a surprisingly quick speed. But seemingly, as if a miracle, or an invisible hand reached out and pressed the thing down, it slowed down drastically, seemingly being pulled to the ground. Taking advantage, Jericho thrust his halberd deep into the underside of its neck, before pulling it out and rolling to the side. As calculated, the thing slumped down, being in its death throes. It whimpers and roars at the same time, struggling to stand up in vain, whilst blood gushes out of its neck. Crushing one curious Goblin, its final kill in this life, the thing quietly exhales and falls dead, its rearing head collapsing down to the ground like an actual hammer, cracking the cobbled street.

The soldiers, with adequate morale and experience, along with support from an angelic figure of some kind, decimate the Darkborne forces in no time, with only a few survivors, fleeing back to the forest in a futile effort to retain their experience, before being cut down by a fusillade of Musket fire, barrages of arrows, and salvos of Light-cannons. Soon enough, the battlefield was devoid of enemies, with the marauding Goblins eliminated, and the Darkborne stragglers in the streets mopped up by the militiamen. With a triumphant roar, the guardsmen declare victory. "WE GOT 'EM! URAAAAAAAAA!" His lone voice was quickly joined by virtually everyone else in Frontierville who wasn't wounded or cowering in a corner of their homes.

Jericho relaxed, retreating to the town hall in a tired fashion. The fight was over, for now. But his experience compels him to advise everyone to maintain watch, and repair the wall as fast as possible. Darkborne never retreat, for they fear not death; they only do so, either because they have retrieved something important, or accomplished something, or something bigger is coming. But for now, he rests. Leaning against the wall of the wrecked town hall, he dozes off to a quick nap, clutching his gear tightly, with his helmet resting by his side, because it's too uncomfortable to lean against the wall with that thing still on. His consciousness slips steadily, along with every fall of the axe from the repairmen, as they begin to hack some logs into handy chunks to repair the wall with.

​

Approximately 15 minutes later, his little nap was rudely interrupted by a Light-cannon going off. Shaking awake, he quickly got back into the fray, putting on his helm and standing up, whilst taking a look at what's going on. One Light-cannon crew, frantically firing off at some concealed threat beyond the walls, and as the other archers and musketmen peek out to investigate, every single one of them hurry to fire off as well. As guardsmen begun running around hurriedly, Jericho peeked through the gaps between the logs of the crudely patched up wall breach, he could spot the walking horrors, illuminated by the explosions of the Light-shells, exploding harmlessly on the facade of its carapace. The name came up to his mind at the exact same time an Imperial sergeant atop the walls cried out in horror.

"RAVAGERS! LIGHT PRESERVE US, RAVAGERS! MAN THE DEFENSES!" And with that warning ringing out in the frighteningly cold air, every guardsman, every man, woman and child within earshot was sent into panic. Jericho clutched his halberd, as he recalled his encounters with these damned things. 5 times taller than a normal man, they resemble scorpions, with a brownish-pitch black exterior hide, their resilient scales tanking through all but the heaviest of Light ordnance, leaving them free to wreak havoc with their huge pincers, and for their duo of barbed tails to fling poisonous quills at faraway prey, with ranges upwards of 20 meters. Five of them. Along with a bigger threat rumbling behind them, seemingly incapable of matching their surprisingly quick speeds.

Upon closer inspection, Jericho sees the full enemy force, and through it, the doom of Frontierville, should he do nothing. 5 Ravagers, accompanied by Darkwolves and Runners, along with a Cerebrate. Much larger than the average Ravager in size, with only one tail. In return, its thick, rock-like hide has innumerable pockets, from which Darkwings are released; small bat-like Darkborne creatures with tentacles on their wings with which to latch onto prey and claw them. With every step, the Cerebrate rumbles and shakes the ground, easily brushing aside trees as it strides forward, releasing a thick horde of Darkwings into the air.

"Get into formation! Go! Go! Go! Hold the walls!" Jericho yelled, using his Clarity to get troops together, pulling themselves from their panicked state unnaturally quick, and defaulting to their discipline and training, as they rushed towards the wall. "Alright people, these Darkborne look tough, but they have a weakness. If we can get to their..." His sentence was cut short by a Ravager crashing through the freshly repaired wall, throwing logs and such into the plaza, directly at him and his men. Almost all of them get hit with some form of flying debris, and as Audaton gets hit in the face with a chunk of wood the size of his arm, he goes down onto the ground, reeling from the blunt force trauma. For most of the men tonight, their fight is over, but for Audaton and the Guardians, the true fight for their lives had just begun...

SCSaya06 Trappy hostage Nightblade Soviet Panda Thorn_Reaper Pilgrim59 Unwavering Knight CombatReadyPenny Sybil billthesomething CrowOuttaHell Aryasaurus AlphaKyle Whisker QizPizza -robert- Vyseryx LuciTheGreat

 

[Vyseryx]

Spessartite Phos & Margot

Thuk, thuk, thuk.

Methodical sound of axes ramming into the wood forced its way through to the mind of sorceress, as her consciousness was slowly coming back. Margot’s fingers moved a little, feeling the cold of the tiled floor under them. It was not what she expected - the last thing she remembered was a sandy street of the city and being almost trampled by an enormous…

‘HAMMERGRAZER!’ Margot’s head kick-started violently and sorceress jumped up, raising quickly to the standing combat position. What she has regretted immediately, as her head spun with blood leaving for the rest of her body. Sorceress made a few steps back, before she had managed to catch her balance, but then...

‘LEO!’ The thought shook sorceress’ mind all of a sudden as she twitched her entire body, only to see her bag still safely hanging from her arm. Untold relief filled mage at this sight, as she touched the material surface and reached with her mind inside the container, only to find Leo awake, but calm inside. ‘Thank the Light!’

Knowing that her son is safe, Margot took some time to assess her own situation. Her body hurt, but quick magical analysis suggested no broken bones or any form of permanent damage. That being said, her back had a large bruise on it, that was making it painful for her to move.

She was in a big building, surrounded by wounded guardsman and Guardians. From their behaviour, it would seem that the fighting is over, at least temporarily, what made Margot happier than she would admit. Years of working as Enforcer could not prepare her for the slaughter that was Darkbornes’ attack and she was grateful for every second of rest she could have. And for the fact she was alive, probably mostly due to...

Margot eyes darted around, until she had found an armless stone-built girl sitting few meters away, eating gravel off the ground as she laid on her side. The woman had seemed to lose both her arms, their body deeply cracked and in some parts were even starting to crumble. She had mage’s sword and backpack lying around her, confirming Margot’s suspicion, that she must have carried mage’s unconscious body here all the way back from the battlefield.

The sorceress walked to her as quickly as she he could with her hurt back and said, with a genuine gratitude in her voice:

“You have my thanks, elemental. It would seem we owe you our lives.” The sorceress reached her hand in a reflexive gesture. “I believe we were not properly introduced. Margot Lagarde of Red Ribbon Guild. A pleasure to meet you.”

***

The elemental had gotten there and laid the woman down just in time to descend into the state she was, the gravel being brought to her by a kind but injured peacekeeper. As the mage woke up the earthen woman would jerk her torso up, a smile forming on their broken face as they were afraid the woman might have fallen into a coma if she was asleep any longer. As Margot extended a hand to shake, the elemental would raise a stump, forgetting that the arms she tried to use were on the ground. As she looked at the predicament she paused for a moment, only to erupt into loud and hearty laughter as she saw the mistake she had made. 'This woman must be one of those fancy Empire mages, always trying to greet people with distance instead of just huggin’ it out!' She thought.

“Woops! Sorry ‘bout that! I never really seem to remember when I lose those damn things.” She looked down, noticing the word usage. “We? You got a pet in your pocket or somethin’? I hope it is alright I would have been more careful carryin’ ya if I knew.”

The mage smiled, though she was apparently slightly puzzled by the deteriorating state of Spess’ body.

“Better than pet.” Margot reached her hand and patted her bag delicately. “My little son, Leo, is in here.” As she noticed Phos’ surprised look, the magician proceeded with explanation. “My bag is magical. Bigger inside than it looks. It’s safer to keep him there, while I fight. Anyway, I believe I haven’t caught your name miss...?”

The elemental just stared at the bag, a bit astounded by the fact that there was a child in there all safe and secure. “O-oh, my name?” Her haze turned back to the woman’s face as they sat up, leaning against a wall.

“My name is Spessartite Phos, But you can call me Spess, Phos, Rocky, or Backwoods. Try to avoid the the last one ya know? Not the best nickname but whatcha gonna do amiright?” They shrugged with their armless shoulders.

“Could have been worse, trust me.” Sorceress cracked a joke, proving that she was not completed devoid of sense of humour. Her eyes darted around elemental’s body with a weird interest shining in them, making Spess feel slightly weird, as she felt her gaze on their armless torso. “Forgive me for asking, but are those… injuries… caused by the lack of mana?”

The elemental looked at their shoulders, sighing despite their lack to breathe. “Yeah, happens when I over do it. I didn’t store up enough of my energy before this and look where it got me. Anyways I can fix it don’t worry! It will take awhile but I always bounce back! How are you and that kid, Leo was his name you said?”

“Yes, and we are fine, certainly better than you it would seem.” Sorceress touched her chin, looking at Phos intensely and having a thoughtful expression on her face. “I must admit I don’t fully understand the inner workings of your body. But… I have an idea, that may prove helpful to us both.”

Margot’s hand disappeared in her bag, only to quickly come back wielding a piece of chalk. The sorceress made few steps away from the wall and with a move of her hand caused a gust of wind that cleared away dust from the floor. She then lifted the chalk with her magic and proceeded to draw with it on the hard surface quickly, forming a system of three magical circles, that Phos couldn’t make anything out of.

The elemental felt a weird tingling in her body as weird words came out of sorceress’ mouth. “What the hell…. ohhhhh that’s right you are one of them mages!” The elemental relaxed some against the wall, letting the feeling wash over her.

“Tith al Luma! O’tert au tert! O’tert au pana!” Margot’s words were not loud, but they ringed with an otherworldly power and as they echoed between the walls of town hall the drawings on the floor started glowing with magical light.

The circle closest to Phos attracted her attention in a way she could not describe. It felt similar to what a summer's day against bare dirt might feel, a similar feeling they got after a nice feast and rest as their body would repair itself. She didn’t understand her body or how it worked, but it mattered very little as long as she could understand at what it did.

“It’s a simple Conversion System.” Mage started explaining, seeing Phos’ bewildered look. “It draws mana from the Network and adjust its alignment with practical application of at’Zethras’ Law of Covariance.”

The Elemental looked as confused as she had been when the explanation started, the miner’s brain not comprehending the mathematical or scientific elements to her magic. All she knows was it felt good! “Well, I mean….. yeah?... Ok I will level with you I have no clue what the dark you just said.”

The sorceress blushed a little bit and brushed her curly hair. “My apologies, old habits. My master liked definitions way too much.” The woman pointed at the circle that attracted Phos’ attention earlier. “It’s unleashing mana, that should be close to what your body needs to rebuild itself faster. Just... sit in it.” Margot looked at the severed arms of the elemental. “Should I help you with those?”

“I mean, if you can actually give me energy I can put them back on, luckily they ain’t broken too badly you know? When they fall off it’s not as bad... but can you put my arms in it as well? I can’t really… you know.” They stood up, sitting in the center of the circle as told.

Meanwhile, Margot grabbed their arms and put them next to the elemental, before taking sit in the third circle, allowing its green glow to envelop her body. A visible relief showed on mage’s face, suggesting that the spell was making her wounds less painful.

The elemental would let their shoulders sag a bit as it reinvigorated her. Sure, she was not catching all of the mana being put out, but she was catching the majority, and with such a resourceful and powerful mage that was more than enough to bring back the stone maiden from utter rubble. Slowly their body would repair its cracks from her crumbling legs to her broken teeth and cracked face, turning to a more smooth stone. They would soon, after witnessing their body repair itself, lower their body to put their torso near arms and they would snap back onto the body as if they were magnetized. She would open and close their hands and turn to the woman, smiling wider. “Wow, that’s some fast stuff! Way faster than a few hours.”

***

“It’s the least I can do for you for saving me.” Margot answered with a courtly smile, that hid a dark thoughts that came to her head, as she watched elemental’s body regenerating at rapid pace.

‘Turn her into a weapon.’ A cold voice, a voice of her master, sounded in sorceress’ head. ‘Its mind is weak, but with your magic it will become a perfect tool.’ Margot looked at the innocent elemental before her. Even if this creature did not understand its power, it was undeniably strong. ‘It’s why the world makes lowlifes like it. To serve you. To serve Magekind.’

"RAVAGERS! LIGHT PRESERVE US, RAVAGERS! MAN THE DEFENSES!" A sudden shout broke Margot out of her thoughts. Both mage and elementals rose from the circles, ready to join the fray once again.

 

[Nightblade]

The fighting had been brutal, Falon had wet his spear with the blood of enough Darkborne to turn many rivers red. The armour he wore to battle, usually glistening green and silver was dirty with their blood. Managing to rally some soldiers and people armed with whatever makeshift weapons their hands held, Falon managed to help halt waves of the foul beasts from gaining further ground within the city. As the battle wore on and the cries of the injured and rallying cries of those still fighting rang out, in that moment there was no such thing as race. It was a fight between the living and those who brought forth nothing but darkness.

Moving with a grace that seemed almost impossible, Falon switched between his spear and the pair of daggers he had, slashing the throats of any he came too close. Just then the fighting came to a stop as their enemy fled in retreat. Taking the moment to breathe, Falon lent against his spear. The fighting had been more intense than he ever saw. Whatever was happening with these beasts, they were getting more daring in their attacks. Something would have to give soon, either these creatures pressed their advantage and the pressure would be on.

Falon all of a sudden heard cannons firing and the sounds of shouts as his blood ran cold, Ravagers. Turning to the people who had banded together. He nodded at the direction away from the fighting. He did not need to say anything except to run. Meanwhile gripping his spear, he began to run towards where the noises of fresh fighting were coming from. Blocking out the terrified screams around him. He found himself in the fighting.

Seeing a man nearby stagger in an attempt to shake off getting hit by some flying debris, Falon gripped him by the shoulder and hoisted him up. With a grunt he spoke
"There are beasts that need killing"
Gripping his spear in his hands he scanned the battle and picked out his target

Kabboom