Fantasy Howl's Flying Castle (Finished! ---Whoo! (*＾▽＾)／)

[Zer0]

- Seth Pendragon -
" Duke Maguire's Keep "​

Seth frowned when Echo told Serena to leave, "Echo, why'd you tell her to leave?" he said when the violinist was out of ear shot. "You're butting in unnecessarily. Your closer to James, I get it that you're rooting for him, but my feelings for her has nothing to do with you. I'm serious about Serena and I think I'm better for her than James, so could you please not get in the way?"

Seth was angry in an indignant way. One could see that he did not do it out of hatred for James, but rather to win Serena over.

- James Pendragon -
" Duke Maguire's Keep "​

"Good." said James lightly, not looking at her as he busied himself with jogging in place. "Can't talk right now, my five minute break is up." and without a backward glance resumed jogging, disappearing as he rounded a corner.

He didn't circle the tower, instead he took a very long route that wouldn't take him back to where Serena was. It startled him that she was there and he wasn't ready to look at her else she see his eyes that would give him away. He needed to calm his anger that wasn't making any sense to him.


Katsuya

OOC || Characters || Interest Check​

 

[Katsuya]

Echo shook her head at the young Pendragon, sighing. "You're right, Seth: It's none of my business that you and James have feelings for Serena. However it'll become my business if someone gets hurt from being tricked or being confused." The fawn closed the door behind her so no one from the outside can hear what they were saying but she left enough space for Seth to walk out anytime he wishes.

"I honestly do not care if Serena decides to have feelings for you or for James. It's up to her, not me, not Ren, and not anyone else. Just her. Since I believe that it's better that no one influences her, I would appreciate it if no one tries to manipulate her either." Echo advised, leaning against the wall as she held her hands together, pressing against each other before letting the tension go.

"I'm serious, Seth. Why not try flowers? Or go out on a short hang-out? Or talk with each other about random stuff, I don't know. Just...don't do what you just did..." Echo knew he didn't have any malicious intent towards anybody, it just wasn't his style. Seth is as free-spirited as Renee and more of a prankster that didn't like to hurt anyone on purpose. So the fawn just wanted him to be more...honest? No, that's not the word. Courtesy. Be like a gentleman and gain her heart fairly.

After all...that's how Johnny won her heart...and how her father won her mother's. By being honest and fair.

***

"Okay...good luck at training..." Serena muttered, raising an eyebrow as James left off to jog before shrugging her shoulders a bit. Sure, she was a bit disappointed that James wouldn't joke around with her, but she figured it's because he wanted to get fit and that's fine and all...

Yet, she still couldn't understand why he didn't look at her in the eye. Sure, he did that before but it felt more natural those other times...but this time, it felt a bit forced. Like he was hiding something...

Maybe she's overthinking it...

With that, the violinist walked back in the tower and to her own room, wanting to play the borrowed violin that James asked for her. She smiled happily at the thought and played a grieving song for her burnt violin.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Duke Maguire's Keep -​

"Don't tell me what to do." said Seth sounding like an annoyed teenager, which he actually was. "Someone's always going to get hurt when a girl chooses to be with someone else, that's normal, Echo. And courting a girl is all about influencing her to like you, that's what you do with Johnny, isn't it? You do stuff so that he'd like you? I just hugged Serena sideways, I didn't touch her indecently, and if James sees that and has a problem with it, so what? That's normal too."

Seth crossed the room. "I won't lose to him. We're friends, Echo, but I won't lose to you either if you butt in again."

***​

After Echo's training, where James just shook his head if ever Echo would try to bring up Serena or Seth as a way of telling her he didn't want to talk about it, he took his things from the bedroom their group was sharing and dumped them in the library, after which he took a long bath and then just buried himself in studying how to summon an Owl bear at one of the tables near the corner where he set up his sleeping bag and blankets.

Some warlocks and soldiers who saw him suggested that he stay in the guest rooms, but James said that he needed the library to work on something important. Truth was, the guest rooms were found on the same wing of the keep, on the same floor, and he didn't want to see Serena and Seth because he still couldn't make a normal face around them.

The quiet and the smell of books calmed him, and the focusing on something he liked helped distract him from his thoughts. At dinner he didn't eat with them, but rather waited until it was late, and then spent the rest of the night helping in the defense of the city by going out and taking the role of a supporting spellcaster to the soldiers, protecting them with shielding charms and sending Sasha out on recon.

Johnny was with him. He had made progress with his ice golem and the war beast was tossing frost at the shades battering the walls which slowed them down.

But it was clear when they saw an ominous fleet of ships sailing towards Holt in the horizon, that her walls will not hold before Kenren Taisho and his aerial reinforcements arrived.

Katsuya Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Duke Maguire's Keep-
​

Lydia was already in the library when James showed up and dropped his things off. She had looked up from her books, having moved on from trying to replace the missing pages of her journal, and began to offer him a cheerful smile and wave when she noticed his icy visage. The expression caused an immediate frown to form on her face. She hadn't been aware of what had gone on but she didn't want to bother him when he looked to be in a bad mood so she buried herself back in her book. She had a lot of things to study, there were so many resources in this library and she wasn't going to let the chance go to waste, especially if the keep wasn't still standing in the morning.

The letter she had written to her mother earlier once again did not contain their location. She also didn't allude to anything that would make it easy to determine where they were. She mostly tried to stick to what she had learned and what she thought of the people around her. She also didn't make any mention of the kind of dangerous things they have been up to, such as most of their group nearly dying when they had entered an abandoned quarry and faced down orcs and goblins in order to get back their stolen belongings. She didn't want her mother to worry.

At dinner she actually took a break, long enough to eat and bathe, though she didn't change into her usual clothing because she wanted that washed first... it reeked of goblin and she thought it was gross. Though being more conscious of herself, she did manage to obtain clothing that was more to her taste, black. She donned a loose shirt with long billowy sleeves that laced up at her wrists over tight black breeches that reached just past her knees where she had settled for solid black stockings and Pilgrim shoes with silver buckles. Her freshly washed black hair was brushed tidily and styled in much the same way Seifer had styled it when he occupied her body. It looked like she was trying to maintain the grooming he had done on her.

It took a lot for her not to follow James when he went to defend the city. She just wasn't good enough yet, so she wished him good luck and told him to stay safe and went back to the bedroom with a collection of what she had determined would be very insightful books, all having to do with things involving shadow magic.

Katsuya Zer0

 

[Katsuya]

-Holt-​

The fawn shook her head softly, smiling warmly at the twin as precious memories from the past popped in her head. "Actually, he would sit there and lie about his health status to get me to leave and I was too shy to notice that while offering to help him with his somnambulism." She chuckled in amusement.

"Merlin, I stuttered so much too. We only saw each other a bunch of times because James and Renee needed to talk with each other and we were there with them somehow..."

It's strange how she could talk to Seth without feeling skittish like how she would back at school before. Then again, everyone in this group has gone through so much on this journey to Dalaran, so maybe she grew to be a bit courageous?

Then she shook her head a bit. "Not the point...We only did what the other liked after Johnny asked me out. Before that, we just talked...and talked...and shared about personal stuff. It felt natural like we were setting building blocks before going to the next level if that makes sense..."

She really wasn't biased about this whole thing as she rather stay neutral but she wanted to look out for Serena too. It's weird, but it's what she wants to do. "Little piece of advice which I'm sure you know but I'm still gonna remind you since we're friends: you should get to know her on a personal level." Echo got flustered as she tries to give advice to the annoyed teen, scratching her head as she tried to soften her blunt words.

"Just be yourself...Not saying you aren't-! But like...Augh! I'm not good with this. Either way, good luck, Seth. I wish you well. Oh-! and don't worry, I won't bug you anymore about this since you obviously know what you are doing...I hope..." With that, she left the room and returned to the training grounds. Echo did ask James about either of the two, but she only got a shake from his head and stopped questioning him. Instead she tried to cheer him up by making him run faster before letting him go.

***

Renee sighed as she didn't know what to do with these sinister looking potions and left them in her space of the conjoined rooms. Though she noticed that James' stuff disappeared when she went up to go get him for dinner but she didn't think much about it. Her brother is the type of person who keeps to himself so the white-haired teen thought that he had enough with sharing a room with others for too long and went off to get some space for himself. She couldn't blame him for that.

***

As the night continued, Renee was flying low, healing wounded or poisoned Holt soldiers with Mica's help and antidotes that she made with the other medi-witches and nurses. Panting, she shot another solar arrow at an enemy that managed to pass through the wall, killing it as her arrow hit through it's chest and out to hit another that's climbing over. Wiping sweat off her face, the Pendragon sister nodded at Mica to climb on again and went off flying with the terrified ferret. She shot another arrow at the enemy to get it away from the soldier who's struggling and cooed at him before flying off again to heal another person who needed Mica or her antidotes.

Echo, with her hammer, whacked another shade off the wall they were climbing on while the war beast besides her tossed shades left and right. Then she ran and jumped over a wounded soldier to put all her weight on the swing of the hammer and hit another shade on it's head, hearing it hiss at her before hitting it again. She saw that it landed on it's alive comrades who were trying to climb over as well only to be pushed down by the dead body. She uttered the words "Terra Nivis", the ground parted as it rose up high like an avalanche and swallowed the corpses that weren't fighting Holt soldiers into the ground, never to be seen again.

Serena played her violin as Foo spun around in the air, letting out a large ring of fire at the huge eel-spider monster and burning it. When an enemy got too close to her liking, she played for her fireflies, letting them swarm around and burn it. There were times where she would play her shield spell for the Holt soldiers who went out of the wall. It felt good to let out her frustrations on the shades, though she felt bad on burning the corpses. The blonde made a little prayer in her head as she ran, tightly holding the violin.

Using the many spots with "Springen" on them (like the walls and floors and now looked like jelly), Serena bounced high in the sky to see how the siege looked like. As she spun in the air however, the violinist could only gasp as she spotted the dark shadows in the water, dreading what that meant. "Oh no..." The blonde descended down to the ground to bounce again and landed near James, alarmed at what she just saw.

"James, did you check the seaside of Holt? What are going to do?" Serena asked as she stood up, looking around as she was didn't want to alarm the soldiers nearby yet.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Holt -
" Early morning, Eastern Wall "​

Serena's question was answered for her when scouts on the look out towers yelled, "GET OFF THE WALL!"

Flashes of light and many muffled booming sounds echoed from the silhouettes of the ominous ships, before a barrage of cannon fire came whistling through the air and smote the east wall.

The air was filled with the deafening sounds of avalanching rocks and the rending of stone; yelling soldiers fell from the ramparts to be buried and crushed under the falling debris; down below, many were running into the evacuated houses to take shelter from chunks of the falling wall the size of garden sheds.

The arsenal tower on which James stood shook as he multicast Protego on Serena, Echo, Johnny, and as many soldiers as he could as dust and flung rocks enveloped them.

"Fleche Garde!" a pulsing white barrier blossomed from the tip of his wand, slowing the speeding cannon balls so that they clunked dully on the tower, but the range of his spell could not protect all of the wall and with a great crash that shook the city, the eastern wall came crashing down.

With a roar the undead army stormed into the city. Arrows rained, shields and swords clashed as the warriors and warlocks of Holt skirmished with the enemy. A pair of giants came thundering above the houses, wielding wicked spiked clubs the size of full grown pine trees; groups of ogres in crude metal armor stampeded through the human ranks, swinging giant maces; goblin mages upturned the earth and summoned swarms of gnats, and every Holt soldier that died only boosted the numbers of the undead.

"The city is breached! Fall back to the keep!" yelled the officers as the warlocks of Holt stemmed the flow of the horde by setting fire to streets that had been previously doused in pitch and tar until a ring of towering fire surrounded Duke Maguire's keep, except for a stretch of street near the city's cathedral where the retreating allies were passing through to get to the keep.

A terrible voice echoed around the city as a dark hooded figure with flashing crimson eyes stood atop the overtaken walls. " MOVE INTO THE CITY. KILL ALL IN YOUR PATH!"

"Get the women and children out! Get them into the air ships! Retreat!"; "Fight! Fight to the last man!" encouraged the officers, trying to rally their troops.

Above, winged monsters were attacking Holt's airships hovering above the keep where the citizens were evacuating to. The princess and everyone needed them to cross the ocean and get to Dalaran.

​

Spoiler: Story Progress Options

Katsuya Roleplay Skittle , you guys can interact with the characters more, or move the story forward by picking a dice battle. You don't have to pick now or pick the same battle, I'll tweak it so that two main dice battles can happen at the same time:

1. Hard battle. Fight the Deathknight. Victory here means destruction of the undead army and safety of all of Holt, +1 extra spell/skill slot.
   Deathknight stats:
   10 HP
   +4 success rate
   Hits 4 targets at once if successful
   
2. Average battle. Defend the five airships. Victory here means safety of the princess, most citizens, and soldiers.
3. Easy battle. Destroy the fleet of ships in the sea. Victory here means keeping at least the princess safe until Kenren Taisho arrives.

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Duke Maguire's Keep-
​

After some much needed sleep, Lydia awoke and to the echoing rumble of the wall falling. She quickly made her way to the tower with some direction from whatever guards and servants she could stop and ask, eventually catching a glimpse of the ensuing chaos and the Death Knight as his voice boomed his commands to the enemy army.

Lydia stopped cold in her tracks but quickly regained herself and met up with the others in the tower. She had her mace in hand, it seemed more reliable than her spells, although she wasn't sure what she could really do with it as she cast a worried glance to her comrades.

Zer0 Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

From the small pile of rubble, Renee managed to put up her shield in time when the wall fell and had three soldiers with her. Dropping her shield, she looked over to where she heard the deathknight and flinched.

Yea, no. She didn't want to get caught and get her soul sucked out. She still needed to go to the storm wall first.

When Lydia passes by, Renee gave her a look of 'don't you die either!' before climbing over the pile of rubble and ran...

To see a certain entertainer.

"Johnny!" She cried out as her new bag filled with new and old things hang on her shoulder.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Early Morning, Eastern Wall-
​

Renee had caught Lydia just as she had stopped at the sound of the Death Knight and the novice witch gave her friend a halfhearted smile. She wanted to be cheerful, but how?

When she reached the tower she immediately went to James, the expression on her doll-like features set in worry, "what are we going to do? We can't possibly fight them all off... and who knows if we can hold out until reinforcements arrive."

Facing the Death Knight head on seemed like the only option to dissolve the attacking forces, but with all the suicidal missions that they had been going on, Lydia was afraid that would be their last and she didn't want to see them fall now after being within arms reach of their goal.

Zer0 Katsuya

 

[Zer0]

-Sky -
" Near the Keep "​

"Renee!" waved Johnny, from atop Butters. He was at the stretch of street not engulfed in the ring of flames, helping the soldiers retreat to the keep by transfiguring the tougher opponents into harmless sheep or mice and letting the soldiers finish them off.

Meatballs was breathing fire at the waves of undead and slapping ogres down with his heavy paws, while Johnny's ice golem was flinging arcane frost at the flying monstrosities, sending them crashing down into the ground as frozen pop sickles.

"That's the last of them! Hurry back you two before we seal the ring!" yelled a warlock who was already casting a spell to close the ring of fire as the last soldier sprinted through

There was screaming up above. Looking up, one of the ladders of the air ships floating above the keep that the civilians were using to climb up was cut. Dozens of people were falling from the sky. "Renee, save them!" pointed Johnny above her as allied soldiers on gryphon riders tried to catch the others, while winged monsters used this opportunity to attack the distracted riders.

Katsuya

Back at the tower, James summoned Frey and told Lydia to hop on to the saddle as they retreated. "We have to get the air ships safely out to the ocean! If we can get on a gryphon and get you close to the enemy's anti-air artillery, can you destroy them with your rain of fire?"

Roleplay Skittle

- Seth Pendragon -
" In the overrun city "​

Seth had been buried under the rubble. He thought he had died, but he came to. Only to realize that he was out of the frying pan and into the fire.

None of the monsters and undead that passed him realized that there was a living human in their midst. When he saw an opportunity to leave unseen, he scrambled out and hid in the shadows, looking for a way back to the keep, where, to his dismay, he saw was surrounded by a ring of flames.

He needed wings to get through now.

"Darn it." he muttered, panicking. That's when he saw Echo and Serena in the distance and hastily ran up to join them. Unbeknownst him, but probably noticeable by the fawn and the violinist, a dark shadow was hurtling for him from the sky, carrying a wicked black scythe.

Katsuya

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Near the Keep-
​

Lydia nodded as she hopped up on Frey, though she didn't know how they would help get the airships to safety. As she thought, James answered her unasked question. She had gotten into her usual, thoughtful position, her arms crossed over her chest with one hand cupping her chin as her index finger hooked and pressed against her lower lip, her green eyes turning back to James as he spoke.

She grimaced. Her last attempt at the spell had ended in her getting laughed at and that situation, while dangerous, was not as dire as the current one. Previously she had attempted casting the spell with only herself to worry about, this time there would be so many people that would be depending on her.

She drew in a deep breath, "well I..." she sighed, her expression fixed by that worried expression, "I can try..." she said softly, somewhat sadly but tried to muster a smile.

Zer0

 

[Katsuya]

Renee nodded, letting Mica poof out of the battle, changing back to her half form, and flew up quickly.Once she's high in the sky, she knocked her arrow and let it fly to a winged monster who was attacking a griffin rider catching a citizen. She put up her barrier if any of the monsters try to attack her.

***
The girls met up when the wall broke; Serena fell of the tower and Echo jumped off in time to run. They perked up when they heard Seth's voice.

"Seth!"

"Thank godness! You're okay!"

The girls called out to the youngest Pendragon. Then something caught Echo's eye and she looked what it could be only to gasp. It seems Serena spotted that Death knight as well.

"Inges Aegis!" Serena played her shield spell for Seth as he ran towards the girls and Echo stomped on the ground and yelled for her hammer to grow. Then the fawn spun as she swung her large hammer at the incoming deathknight, hoping to at least get him to slow down. Better if he gets hit.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Sky -​

James glanced back at Lydia as the ethereal stag leapt from the battlements and landed with a jarring thud on one roof then another. "You can do it." he said firmly. "For your journal too, so that all our books won't burn."

He wondered where her fighting spirit had gone, and remembered that it had always been roused whenever her books and journal were in danger, and briefly mused the idea of somehow using that to rile her up, get her confidence and courage back because boy does the city of Holt need it.

Frey skidded to a halt on the roof of the cathedral and looked up to the sky where a squad of gryphon riders were winging their way towards them, Sasha soaring at their side. They had two rider-less gryphons with them and presented the majestic half-eagle, half lion mounts to Lydia and James.

"We've got three minutes of clear skies before the next wave of those winged monstrosities come around!" said a soldier. "Our first airship is ready to fly, but she can't go beyond the city with those ships firing cannons from sea, so let's hussle!"

As soon as Lydia and James were off the ethereal stag, Frey disappeared in a puff of smoke. James mounted his gryphon, a grey one with fierce blue eyes, and cast shielding charms as a couple of goblins who were gleefully throwing fireballs and shooting from blunderbusses from a roof spotted them and decided to chuck bombs and shoot at them instead.

Roleplay Skittle

Renee's arrows shot the monsters down. Johnny shouted from the ground asking if she could give him a lift to one of the airships that was being swarmed by the most monsters.

Katsuya

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

Navy Fleet success +2
3/3 Hp
*attack's twice

Ground Artillery success +2
3/3 Hp
*attacks twice

Flying Monster Swarm I success +2
3/3 Hp

Flying Monster Swarm II success +2
3/3 Hp

(1-6) Holt Airship Fleets
5/5 Hp
*If these fall, battle is lost. Attacks twice

- Deathknight Battle -​

The shadow sliced through both earth wall and flaming shield, black scythe falling down in a deafening clash at Seth just as Echo swung her hammer.

CLANG

The shockwave of the impact burst the glass windows of the houses that lined the streets and caused a cloud of dust and ash to billow all around them. Seth leaped out from the dust cloud, sliding to a halt beside Serena as he spun, clutching throwing knives between his fingers.

"Echo!" he yelled.

When the dust cleared, there was Echo, hammer crossed with the deathknight's scythe. Their strength seemed to be equal as the wicked weapon quivered, unable to pierce her neck any further than the little scratch where a small trickle of blood dripped down to the ground.

Terrible red eyes fiercely gazed down upon her. The eyes of a murderer . . . it was as if Echo was all alone where no one could hear her, a cold whisper clutching at her heart, heralding an impending doom she cannot hope to stop.

To those watching, it seemed that Echo's eyes were slowly glazing over as the deathknight's hood drew closer and closer to her face.

Katsuya

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

Deathknight +4 success
10/10 Hp
*attacks four targets.

 

[Katsuya]

-Sky Battle!!!- ​

Doing what Johnny had asked of her, Renee cooed and grabbed his shoulders with her falcon-like talons. With a mighty flap of her wings, she flew up into the air, holding tight to her bow. The Pendragon sister made a bunch of twirls and somersaults to dodge the monsters that were swarming around the air ship Johnny pointed at. Then she placed Johnny on the air ship before landing herself and looked up at the sky.

Renee wondered for a second and aimed straight at the sky, the pink jewels on her bow glowed bright as an arrow of sunlight was knocked on the dark cherry color handle and was let go. The arrow of light shot through the clouds and Renee thought it didn't work.

Until she saw a soft ray of morning sun shining through the dark clouds.

Within a few seconds, the clouds departed and Renee cooed in a short cheer. Her new spell worked! Yes! With a wide grin, the transformed teen knocked her arrows at the swarm around the air ship to let them fly. She used her barriers around Johnny and herself whenever the swarm of creatures tries attacking them.

***

-Deathknight Battle!!!-​

Echo stared down the Deathknight as she held on her own against him and being so close. It's really incredible how close she is with this monster...this murderer and...he's staring at her. The fawn started to feel like she wasn't able to breathe as he stared, not realizing that he's coming closer to her face. This is scary...no, more like...

Terrifying. This is terrifying.

Though there's a soft tune playing in the distance with...someone calling for her?

"...cho! ...Ech...Echo, wake up!!"

It was Serena, screaming as she played 'Magica Melodie', the glowing white notes quickly reached over to the Deathknight. Only to be destroyed by the Deathknight's sharp kicks and the violinist tsk-ed in frustration. Bloody Merlin-! Why did this knight come to them of all people?!

Echo blinked in surprise from Serena's scream, shaking her head a bit and glared at the Deathknight defiantly.

No. Not again. She's not about to be captured again. Not by this creature of shadows!

With a yell of her own, the fawn kicked him in the stomach to push him away and putting her strength in the swing with her growing hammer like she would swing a baseball bat and-

Twack!!

Her now giant hammer made contact, the Deathknight looked like a doll as he landed hard into the rubble covered ground and skidded to the fallen wall. Away from the trio. Echo panted as she tries to catch her breathe, her hammer's head shrank a bit though the handle stayed tall for reach. Her green eyes burned with her own calm fury.

"That...was my regards for the bloody poison, you bloody twat." Echo cursed, watching the Deathknight pick himself up. The fawn never forgave the Deathknight for putting her and her boyfriend through that terrible experience of being poisoned and now she wanted to smash him until he disappeared into nothingness. She made her stance as she muttered her spell "Terra Nivis" to drag him underground. She made sure to use her earth shield spell if he tried to attack at her or Seth.

Serena cheered with a loud 'Yea! Go Echo!' and started to play Foo's song, the summons giggled as she poof-ed in again, ready to spin around and burn her victims. The violinist was prepared to play 'Ingus Aegis' again for herself since Seth already have those shields around him.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Sky-
​

Lydia clung tightly to James as Frey's movements jostled her. She wasn't particularly scared of heights, just her own clumsiness which she didn't have to worry about at the moment since she trusted Frey to carry them safely where they needed to go. If the situation hadn't been as dire as it was, she might have even taken joy in the opportunity of sitting so closely to James, but as it was, her thoughts were focused on getting herself in the proper mindset to cast the spell James' had asked her to.

Getting into the proper frame of mind was incredibly difficult because her mind wanted to do its own thing and that was primarily thinking of all the people she would let down by failing. She was nervously chewing her lip, staring down at the battle below when James tried to bolster her spirits. His encouragement made her smile, even if it wasn't the typically coy smile she gave him when he sent kind words her way and she cast her eyes back down again as she considered what he said. All of that knowledge would burn and she hadn't even touched on it yet. Though she realized quickly that James didn't really understand why she was so disheartened and that caused her frown to return and her brow to furrow deeply as she looked back to him. He didn't think she really cared.

Her features stiffened as the thought occurred to her and even though it made her heart sink, she only loosened her grip on him as they came to a stop before turning her gaze to the approaching gryphon riders. She tried not to let her thoughts wander, but as she dismounted Frey and mounted her own gryphon, she couldn't help herself and barely noticed what the riders said as she tried to determine how to even fly on one of these majestic creatures.

She cast James one last saddened look before she prepared to fly from the roof, careful to stay near James as the goblins decided to focus on them. When they came close enough to where Lydia could clearly focus her attention and spell on the anti-air artillery, she cast, "Children of the heavens, let them feel my ire. Set mine enemies ablaze, Rain of Fire!"

Perhaps it was the fact that she was mounted on a flying gryphon. Maybe it was the fact that she thought James saw her as a shallow person. It may have even been her general distress at the fact that she felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders, or at the very least the weight of all of the citizens of Holt. Whatever the distraction of her mind was, Lydia failed again to cast the spell. The flames she had hoped to use to aid the people of Holt dying before they had even come to life.

Lydia was not an incredibly emotional person. At least not when it came to crying. She was usually pretty stoic and held it all in. At this moment, in her desperation, even though it wasn't the time for it, she just couldn't help herself. Her throat locked up as her teeth clenched before she began releasing gasping and panicked sobs, her eyes burning, though from what she couldn't tell because of the smoke in the air and the wind in the eyes, not to mention her complete and total disappointment in herself. She felt like all of the time she had spent studying, theorizing, experimenting... anything she had ever done with regards to magic had been completely pointless.

In her distress, the gryphon had looped around, avoiding enemy fire and sqwaking loudly to her as though telling her to snap out of it and pay attention or she'd get them both killed. It was then that she looked down and caught a glimpse of Echo taking on a terrifying looking figure with a scythe. She considered her new friends for a moment and how much she had grown to care about them before trying to calm her breathing and without taking her hands from the reins, quickly rubbed her shirt sleeve across her eyes to clear them of the tears that had begun to form, "I'm sorry!" She squeaked, closing her eyes and trying to calm herself again before she would try to cast Rain of Fire again as the gryphon looped back towards the anti-air artillery.

Zer0 Katsuya

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Sky "​

"Captain, did you bring the dynamite and silk curtains?" shouted James amidst the howl of wind and battle in the high seas.

"Aye! Though I don't know what the curtains are for!" said the gryphon rider, tossing James a bag. Inside, there was a fine expensive purple curtain and sticks of dynamite he had brought with him from the goblin camp.

"It's for food!" grinned James.

The gryphon riders dropped dynamite on the firing ships on their first sweep across the sky with Lydia, an arrow hitting her when her tears messed with her vision. Some of the dynamite missed, exploding above the water, a few boomed on arcane shields protecting the tops of the ships which were being manned by trolls and goblins, but one broke through the barrier and allowed the rest to blast the sails and mast of one, grounding the ship and starting a fire.

"Manta Venire!" said James. Callie the large ethereal manta ray flapped happily out of a puff of cloud and landed with a splash on the ocean half a kilometer away from the fleet of ships. James leaped down from his gryphon and gave her the silk curtain which she chewed on heartily. "Stay still." he patted her encouragingly as he multicast Protego, Flamme Garde, and Fleche Garde to protect them from the cannon fire and gunshots assailing them.

He drew a spell circle on the ethereal manta ray's back, calming his soul which was kind of hard since though the bullets that hit him were slowed, it still hurt enough to bruise. That and Serena and Seth were still on his mind, which was dumb.

Recent happy memory . . . recent happy memory . . . What was the most recent happy memory he's had? Ah, jogging five rounds for the first time in his life! Followed by seeing Seth and Serena hugging --- no, not going to work. Further back . . . Lydia whacking that goblin. He chuckled. "Ursa Choutte Venire."

A large feathered claw stretched out from the circle followed by the leafy hulking back of a giant owl spirit that wore a mask of white wood. Callie squeaked a little from the added weight, but the water helped buoy them up. The owl bear loomed over James and seemed to speak as it gestured to him then at the ships. For a few minutes one would see them just talking under the protection of his arcane shields, then the giant owl nodded and James bowed making a gesture as though promising something. The giant owl turned its massive head to the ships and started to wave its hands to the sky.

A funnel of wind swirled down from the heavens, faster, and faster into a small tornado. It touched the sea and now a spout was whirring swaying with the motion of the owlbear. With a wave of its feathered claws like a dance, the summon sent the tornado ramming into the flaming ship. The boat crashed into another, the spout pulling all other ships and nearby flying monsters before fire rained down from the heavens and sank the entire fleet under the sea.

The gryphon riders cheered. Now there was only the ground artillery left!

The winged monsters recoiled from the sunlight, screeching in dismay before Renee's arrows dropped them from the sky. The pillar of light rallied the defenders of the airships and one managed to break through the flying enemy's ranks and towards the shores.

The four other airships began to follow.

"Keep it up, Renee!" cheered Johnny from one of the ships.

The winged monsters seemed to realize that the most dangerous enemy was Renee and they winged around gathering together like a black cloud and chased her, swarmed her, clawing and slashing at her wings as they screeched their anger.


Katsuya Roleplay Skittle

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

1. (1-8) James summoning success = 6
   James evade 7
   2/3 Hp
   
2. (1-7) Johnny summoning success = 3
   Johnny evade 4
   3/3 Hp
3. (1-7) Lydia spell success = 5
   Lydia evade 3
   2/3 Hp
4. (1-7) Renee archery success = 1
   Renee evade 5
   2/3 hp
5. (1-6) Holt Airship Fleets = 1
   4/5 Hp
   *If these fall, battle is lost. Attacks twice

***​

1. Navy Fleet success +2 = Total 8
   0/3 Hp
   *attack's twice
2. Ground Artillery success +2 = Total 5
   3/3 Hp
   *attacks twice
3. Flying Monster Swarm I success +2
   0/3 Hp
4. Flying Monster Swarm II success +2 = Total 7
   3/3 Hp

- Deathknight Battle -
" In the overrun city "​

The deathknight was swallowed by the earth. He hissed, shadow tendrils flaring from his back that struggled to pull away from the earth that was dragging him down; encouraged by Echo's solid hits Seth, joined the fray, flinging a fan of knives at the deathknight's vital spots: eyes, throat, lungs arteries, as Foo's fire set the knight ablaze.

"ENOUGH!" he roared, flinging them all back with a dark nova that broke Echo's earth shield. Houses were blasted out of the way and street lamps fell. For the first time, the deathknight's hood was down, burned from Serena's flames.

"Brats . . . " he seethed, pulling out Seth's knife from his head and using his shadows to douse the flames. Black shadows closed over his burned and bleeding wounds. The knight looked like an oriental man, with red eyes, short black hair, and a very angry face. On one finger was an ancient silver ring embossed with symbols in the oriental language. "And here I thought I could play with you just like I played with your friend. The real fight begins now!"

He lunged, a whirling blade storm, reckless, angry and swift. A long time ago, the princess had told Echo, James, Renee, and Johnny the names of the four deathknights that first appeared in the front lines of Leor: Greed, Lust, Sloth . . . and Wrath.

Katsuya

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

1. (1-3) Echo spell success = 3
   Echo evade 7
   2/3 Hp
2. (1-7) Serena spell success = 7
   Serena evade 4
   2/3 Hp
3. (1-7) Seth knife throw success = 4
   Seth evade 5
   2/3 Hp

1. Deathknight +4 success = Total 7
   5/10 Hp
   *attacks four targets.

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Sky-
​

She didn't even know how to handle getting struck by an arrow and if anything it only worsened her situation. She couldn't even heal herself! She had little time to worry about it as she completed casting and was finally successful. Her sobs of discouragement and now pain changed slightly as she developed a grin and chuckled slightly, the sound was really a muddle of emotions.

After the gap in the darkness appeared and let the sun shine through, Lydia shielded her eyes slightly, only to be jostled by the flight of her gryphon as it weaved through flying monsters as they flew towards the source of the sun, "Renee!!"

Lydia's eyes widened as she saw the flying Pendragon being attacked by the horde of creatures as they howled in anger and scratched and clawed her. She urged her gryphon towards Renee beginning her cast as she went, "To elude our enemies, sweep this dust up in a gale. Cast them into darkness, leave them blind, Shadow Veil!"

If that failed, she hoped that she could urge the gryphon well enough to get it to attack while she whacked some enemies with her mace.

Zer0 Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

-Sky battle!!-​

Renee, for once in her entire life, let out a smug smirk as she hears the cheers of the Holt soldiers and the screeches from the monsters. So...they can't survive in the sunlight, huh? Heheheh~! A plan formed in her mind as she cooed at Johnny's cheer only to be struck by one-! Two-! Many of those monsters. All of a sudden she was surrounded by the flying shades as each one of them struck her wings and she hissed and screamed in pain.

Then she glared heatedly, her eyes are practically glowing in her anger. They want a fight? They are so on-!

The whirlwind of monsters looked like a cloud from the outside, some of the people in the air ships watched in dread as the one who managed to put sunlight in the sky is in the ball. Then a large white bundle of feathers pushed through the wall of monsters, flapping her mighty wings to push them away for a short while. The ominous glare from the owl griffin would have intimated the citizens of Holt...if she hadn't changed back to her smaller form with the large wings that looked bloody.

Renee kept flying to get away from these shadow creatures who followed her and shoots another arrow up in the sky. More dark clouds disappeared as the sun's light intensified. Then she knocked her solar arrow again and let's it fly in the swarm, frowning in her personal challenge with the swarm of monsters. The transformed teen made sure to use her barrier to defend herself whenever a monster got too close.

***
-Deathknight battle-
​

"Oof!"

Echo and Serena were blown away by the dark nova, luckily none of the falling rubble from the now destroyed houses landed on them. However when the fawn heard the Deathknight (which shocked her when he talked, even more so when he looked so human), she squinted her eyes at him in a bit of disbelief. Really? That bloody twat...played with Seifer's body??

"Oh shut up! 'The real fight begins', my hoof!" Echo scolded the now-dubbed immature Dark knight of idiots. "It's your own fault for not taking us seriously in the first place!" She stood up, dusting off her clothes and leather armor before taking a step forward.

Little by little, Echo is sounding more like a mom with each passing second...Despite herself, Serena snorted quietly in amusement as she watched the fawn glare at the human-like Deathknight like he was a small child who wouldn't eat his vegetables. Then she blanched as Wrath came at them with swiftness...but he looked clumsy while doing so...maybe-!

Not backing down from the immature brat of a dark knight, Echo muttered her spell "Flora Flagellum" to whip him. If that didn't work, she'd use her hammer to whack him again like in a baseball game and shield herself with her wall of dirt.

Serena played her fireflies song again as Foo attacked as well, not backing away from this dark being. She hoped her shield can withstand the hits again as she played that as well for defense.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Deathknight Battle -
" Overrun City "​

The deathknight nimbly dodged the vines and slashed at Echo, but her wall of earth took the brunt of the blow and she was flung back through the walls of a house, but was alright. The same could not be said for Seth and Serena.

Foo's flames hurt, and he whipped around --- the violinist's shield broke as he grabbed the summon by the face, squeezing with the force of an ogre, and Wrath's boot collided with Serena's nose, grinding her head to the stone ground; Serena could feel her nose breaking, she couldn't breathe with the dirty boot covering her mouth; Seth's foot was caught by a tendril of darkness and he was roughly dragged forward.

The deathknight was burning from arcane flames and the hand that closed on Seth's neck seared him as he struggled to break free. "An eye for an eye." smiled the deathknight gleefully, taking away one of Seth's knives and stabbed him in the lung.

Seth twitched, but he had no air to yell out.

"Fear not, I'm a necromancer, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to take your souls." red arcane circles appeared on the ground and out stepped two of those tall spider things with the white masks that had sucked Seifer's soul out.

Their masks cracked open, they drew a rattling breaths, and Serena could feel herself being lifted from the ground, but her body was being left behind.

"You will join your friend in my collection soon." smiled Wrath happily, showing them a small transparent vial that reeked of dark arcane enchantments, where a small glowing leaf floated inside.

Katsuya

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

1. (1-7) Echo hammer success = 10
   Echo evade 7
   2/3 Hp
2. (1-7) Serena spell success = 3
   Serena evade 4
   1/3 Hp
3. (1-7) Seth knife throw success = 6
   Seth evade 5
   1/3 Hp
4. Deathknight +4 success = Total 5
   3/10 Hp
   *attacks four targets

​

- Sky -​

Just as Lydia's spell finished, enemy artillery fire rent through the nearest air ship and a grand explosion blew away her, Renee who had felled her foes, and Johnny who was still on the air ship that was now burning, falling out of control. It grazed another airship, accidentally hooking on to the gondola and now it was dragging this airship down.

Civilians on board screamed; gryphon riders were hastily trying to cut and push away the part of the burning airship that was dragging them down, and Johnny and his golem were trying to put the fire out, but the flames were too large and hot, and the billowing smoke was too thick and rancid. They needed help.

"Heeeeeeeelp! Heeeeeeelp!" On the dragged down airship was Latifa waving her kerchief from a small round window. The princess and her maid had evacuated with the civilians and now for some reason they cannot get out.

On the shore, a small tornado was wrecking havoc among the anti-air artillery. Callie shivered as cannon balls, gunshots, and bombs rained on James arcane shields, but she had been given very tasty cloth to eat, so she did not dive into the sea for safety.

"Good girl, you're doing a good job." patted James encouragingly as he sat beside the giant owl spirit. This was Callie's first battle, so she was prone to retreat or even poof out because of fear, so James stayed calm even though in his mind he was impatient, the tornado wasn't quick enough and a battery of anti-artillery cannons were getting ready to fire.

Too late.

BOOM, BOOM

Three speeding giant cannon balls were whizzing through the air heading straight for the gondola where the princess and Latifa were still trapped inside


Katsuya Roleplay Skittle

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

1. (1-8) James summoning success = 1
   James evade 7
   2/3 Hp
   
2. (1-7) Johnny summoning success = 2
   Johnny evade 4
   2/3 Hp
3. (1-7) Lydia spell success = 9
   Lydia evade 3
   2/3 Hp
4. (1-7) Renee archery success = 6
   Renee evade 5
   1/3 hp
5. (1-6) Holt Airship Fleets = 5
   3/5 Hp
   *If these fall, battle is lost. Attacks twice

***​

1. Ground Artillery success +2 = Total 7
   1/3 Hp
   *attacks twice
2. Flying Monster Swarm II success +2 = Total 7
   0/3 Hp

​

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Sky-
​

Yet again, another spell failure. Lydia's emotions were on a wild ride as she had been through sadness, discouragement, physical pain, joy, and now she was just mad. At least Renee had managed to free herself of the creatures attacking her, but she didn't have time to even really acknowledge any of this as she was blown away by the exploding airship.

Her ears were ringing, the sounds of battle echoing in the distance and as she was collecting herself, she caught sight of Latifah in the window. Her big green eyes widened in dread, that meant the princess was on board too! She looked around for the others to tell them that the princess and her maid were aboard one of the falling airships, looking back to where she had seen Echo only to spy Serena in the grasp of what she now assumed was the Death Knight as she saw the spider like monsters Seth had described as the things that sucked Seifer's soul out. She faltered as she began to urge her gryphon down towards them, but remembered the princess, her gaze hurriedly scanning the airship that was on fire and spotting Johnny as he and his golem tried to douse the flames.

Well, if she couldn't be of help one way, maybe she could help in another! She quickly headed for Johnny, yelling as she went, "Johnny!!! The Princess is on the airship!!!" She held on tight to the gryphon with one hand and pointed frantically at the airship that was being dragged down by the one Johnny was on as she urged the gryphon to land near Johnny and handed the reins to him, "here!"

She then stumbled and ran across the deck to the edge of the ship in search of Renee, yelling to her and waving her arms when she spied her, "Renee!!!! Serena and Seth are in trouble!!!"

Katsuya Zer0

 

[Katsuya]

-Sky to Deathknight Battle!!-​

Her wings could not handle the abuse that it has taken from this battle, feathers flying everywhere as Renee plumbed down from high in the sky. Strange, she was grinning despite her predicament though it could be because she managed to defeat two swarms of monsters. The teen wondered as she stared at the cloudless morning sky if it's because of the battle and it might have affected her mentally somehow...

Well she's gonna have fun being insane...

Then she heard a light voice from above and...to the right? What?

Renee looked at where the falling air ships are and spotted Lydia waving her arms, saying something about Serena and Seth...Now paying attention to what she was mouthing and feeling an adrenaline rush flowing through her tiny body, the winged teen flapped her bloodied wings to regain her balance in the air and flew towards the air ships. Once she got close enough, her talons grabbed Lydia by the shoulders as she swooped down and cooed at Johnny 'Good-bye' as the winged Pendragon flew to where Lydia saw the trio.

Spinning gracefully to dodge the canon balls that was aimed at the airships and prayed that Johnny gets the princess and Latifa safe, Renee flew quickly as she could and reached to where she spotted the Deathknight...who looked waaaayyyyy too human in her book with the two spider creatures that took Seifer's soul and now was about to do the same with Serena and Seth. Didn't seem like he noticed them there either. Perfect for a surprise attack.

With a heated glare, Renee aimed her solar arrows at the sadistic Deathknight, letting them fly to her intended target. Then she aimed up at the clouded sky to bring in the sun's light here, watching the arrow pierce through the thick dark wall of clouds again. She used her barriers around Lydia and herself in case he attacks them despite getting him from the behind.

***

Echo groaned as a piece of the house she crashed through landed on her head, she pushed it off to stand and get out of the mess. Only to see the Deathknight stab Seth in the chest and Serena's soul about to be taken. The fawn ran forward, not making a sound like how James suggested long before after the wolves' test and made a swing at the deathknight. She was prepared to make another earth shield if he attacked her again.

Serena couldn't breathe and her screams were muffled in pain. Thing is the violin is still in her hand and she can hear her familiar crying out in pain which fueled her anger enough to outright whack his leg with the instrument. Hoping it'll be a good distraction though she was close to losing her consciousness...

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Deathknight Battle -
" Penultimate Peril "​

Clang

Serena's weak slap with the violin did not harm the deathknight at all. He looked down at her, amused as if she was a pathetic worm twying so hawd and drove her face deeper into the ground with his boot, more bones on her face cracked.

With uncontrollable shudders, Serena's and Seth's souls were sucked into the dark hole of the masked monsters, but not before Seth, seeing the violinist's body go limp, kicked Wrath in the face before his eyes became glassy as well.

Irritated, the deathknight threw the twin's empty body as if it was garbage, Seth's sad form lay in a heap like a ragdoll.

Echo accidentally stepped on rubble. Alerted by the sound, the deathknight raised his scythe in time to block her hammer, his feet skidding back from the strength of her blow. "Why, you little whelp." he glared, eyes bulging as their weapons crossed once more, shaking when one could not move the other. " How many times do I have to kill you ----!?"

An arrow of light pierced the deathknight's heart. He collapsed forward, surprise written all over his face. Those looking would see that in the hole that the arrow had rent through his chest, instead of a heart, a blood red crystal exuding a powerful arcane aura wrapped in flesh and blood pulsed life into his veins.

The spider monsters shrieked, their shadowy forms becoming erratic, more wild; all around the city, one could see hundreds of undead collapse all at once; a spider monster bawled over Echo, mask open and black abysmal mouth shrieking, trying to suck her soul out desperately; the second one stretched an abnormally long hand and swatted Renee unconscious from the sky.

Only Lydia was left standing, facing this terrible foe.


Katsuya Roleplay Skittle

Spoiler: Battle Statistics

1. (1-7) Echo hammer success = 8
   Echo evade 7
   1/3 Hp
2. (1-7) Lydia spell success = 9
   Lydia evade 3
   2/3 Hp
3. (1-7) Renee archery success = 2
   Renee evade 5
   0/3 hp
4. (1-7) Serena spell success = 8
   Serena evade 4
   0/3 Hp
5. (1-7) Seth knife throw success = 5
   Seth evade 5
   0/3 Hp
6. Deathknight +4 success = Total 11
   1/10 Hp
   *attacks four targets

​

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Deathknight Battle-
​

Lydia braced herself for Renee's grasp as she collected the novice witch, all she could really do was ball up and hold on as Renee wove through the air towards the Death Knight and their friends, preparing to cast Shadow Veil as they flew.

Lydia hit the ground casting, watching Renee's arrow pierce the Death Knight as Serena was crushed and Seth tossed aside. She couldn't even feel shock at this point, she was just so angry and that anger was only increased when once again her spell failed. Her rage boiling over didn't even have a determinate cause, at this point she was just furious at everything. Herself. This journey. The army. The Death Knight.

She let out a dry yell that was a combination of rage and frustration as she yanked her mace from the belt around her waist and charged stubbornly at the Death Knight. Now she might yell something clever, something to express what a horrible creature she thought the Death Knight was. But she couldn't. All she could do was scream as she dashed towards him, her mace held at arms' length at her side, the usual stance she took to put her weight behind her swing, she couldn't even hope that she didn't miss, her tunnel vision blinding her to all else except that she wanted to wallop the heck out of this blackguard.

The wind whipped by her as she charged, beating her face which was streaked with tears and darkened by smog. Her teeth were tightly clenched and her lips parted as she sobbed and yelled sporadically, her body whirling in a circle as she swung the mace sidways and upwards, smashing the silvered iron ball right into the face of the Deathknight. Her gasps coming raggedly as he fell to the ground, her own small form jumping atop him as she raised the mace over her head with both hands.

Overkill, probably, and after she was done hitting him repeatedly until his face was just a bloody mess, she dropped her mace and fell off of him, hugging her knees and hiding her face as she sobbed.

Zer0 Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Echo grunted as her hammer rammed against his and not letting him budge at all. Her green eyes flared in her calm anger as she was about to respond back but before she could, an arrow of light went through the Deathknight's chest revealing a red crystal, pulsating through with veins.

She didn't grin, she didn't snort, she didn't even responded back with a sentence as she swung her hammer hard like a baseball bat at both the Deathknight and it's shrieking companion, only to miss and her green eyes widened in fear. The creature is going to suck her soul out too-!

Then she saw Lydia come from behind and defeated the Deathknight.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Victory! -​

All around the city, the undead were collapsing, shades were disappearing, and the winged terrors were falling from the sky. The warriors and warlocks of Holt were looking around bewildered. Then a cheer rose up to the sky, it was joined by many voices, until all of Holt was roaring in victory.

Without the horde of shades and undead, the goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls, and giants began to route. All the allied forces rallied and the men and women of the city drove off the invaders chasing them down as far as The Quarry and the Peponee Caverns. For miles around, the land was littered by the bodies of monsters. Many friends and families were relieved that now the bodies of their slain comrades can rest in peace, no longer enslaved to the dark will of the necromancer, Wrath.

Everyone was wondering what had happened, how this miracle came to be, then someone shouted. "It was Lydia Dubois and her friends! I saw it! She defeated the death knight!"

Many soldiers and warlocks immediately landed around the scene rushing to give medical aid to those who were wounded; the body of the deathknight crumbled into ash, leaving nothing but the pulsing blood red crystal on the ground and that bottle that contained the single glowing leaf; the monster grappling Echo froze then crumbled into nothing, leaving a bottle with another glowing leaf. There were three of these: the one by the red crystal had a white leaf, the one near Echo was autumn in color, the other was an azure blue; both Seth and Serena's bodies remained unmoving.

James and Johnny landed with the others and immediately leaped off their gryphons.

"Echo, you're alive!" cried Johnny, so relieved he was sobbing while hugging her. "Lydia!" he hugged her too, then saw the bodies and went rigid with shock. "No . . . Seth, Serena . . . Renee . . . Where's Renee?! RENEE!"

A terrible grief-stricken cry cut through the air, "SETH! SETH!" James was cursing and crying, bent over the twin's body. "SETH!" he was doing cardiovascular pulmonary resuscitation.

In the distance, out in the sea, a mighty horn rang across the sky and the silhouette of Kenren Taisho's flying gunship and his aerial war fleet descended from the clouds. They had finally arrived.

Roleplay Skittle Katsuya