Fandom [Mission] Demons and the Book of Vongraw

[Phineas Forge]

Eko was already fired up due to Max so when Libby screamed at the two of them, Eko turned while her lungs pulled in oxygen. She was about to scream some obscenities at the little kid; however, Max took off to join the others, making the gun-toting mage realize that she had fallen behind a bit. Like Max, she caught up to the group, staying near the back. Being reprimanded by a little shit, what the heck's wrong with me? she thought, her eyes focusing on the ground in front of her. She was still fuming, somewhat at Max and somewhat at herself, and a smidge at Libby.

When Aedon got onto Max regarding Libby's leadership, Eko couldn't help but let a little grin show on her face, though she did turn away from the group. She didn't much care about making Libby feel like a good leader and getting her to make decisions on her own; she also didn't really know where they should be going as she'd missed just about all of the briefing for the mission. All she really knew was that there would be demons, something she could shoot. As soon as possible she thought, her grin getting a little bigger.

As the group continued, Eko felt a little better; seeing your mortal enemy get in trouble had that effect on her. She followed the group, keeping her eyes on her surroundings. As an explosion erupted nearby, Eko was on edge. She saw Aedon remove his hat and place it atop Libby's head before taking off towards the explosion, like the other mages from her group. While civilians came running towards her, Eko slid by them with ease. She looked to the fire, before looking around for a perpetrator. Seeing none, she looked to the other mages: Palila was working on crowd control, Kyoya was working on preventing the fire from spreading, Max had been ordered to help the wounded which really only left one thing... stopping the fire.

She drew the gun from her right hip and aimed it towards the building, specifically the flames within it. How do I get stuck doing such lame stuff? she thought as she focused on funneling her magic into the pistol. It took a few seconds, much longer than one would expect to be necessary for a gun. This wasn't a spell that Eko had mastered, which was why it took more effort and time than a normal attack. After a moment, a small magical ball of water came rushing out of the pistol. It swirled through the air, hitting the flames as the little ball exploded, releasing about a gallon of water onto the fire. Water bullet... so boring, she thought, as she readied herself for another one.

Lady Warlock shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03 CelticHero37

 

[CelticHero37]

Holmes and WatsonAedon chuckled lightly as LIbby mentioned investigating, trying to hard to prove that she could still be in the lead. Although, it seemed that by this point, the other mages had dispersed -- choosing to work as individuals, rather than as a team. It did seem they were trying their best to do their part, though.

Aedon had already been searching for another one of his hats tucked in his large trench coat, and in light of the investigation, he chose to pull out a deerstalker cap. He was concerned for what they might find, but he wanted to make sure Libby stayed calm, so he was trying to be careful how he reacted. Following Libby's lead, he paused when he found Kyoya attending to a boy suffering from burns. Averting his attention to the cause, he realized there was a fire that was getting out of hand.

A stray cinder sparked a lick of flame on Aedon's trench coat, which he immediately snuffed with a swat of the hand. Facing the approaching flames, he knew what would be expected of him. Something that he had never intended to do on this little venture. He would have to use magic. Closing his eyes, he let go of Libby's hand and said, "Libby, stand back please. I'll take care of this."

Before he had a chance to act, a small explosion of water caught his attention. He gave a slight smile as he realized it was Eko doing her best to help out. Unfortunately, he could tell the water she was producing wouldn't be enough by itself -- but it would help. Nodding, Aedon turned back to Libby and handed her a small umbrella from his trench coat. Then he turned and stepped toward the fire as if he were going to walk into it and with outstretched arms, clouds darkened the sky.

Aedon wasn't controlling the sky, the weather, or the clouds. He was controlling the element of water, causing it to rain heavily over the fire. Of course, the amount of water that had been gathered by everyone's efforts meant that Aedon couldn't use his primary magic safely. He was effectively crippling himself for the moment to stop the fire.

 

[Sophrosyne03]

Maxwell Rose​

What do I look like? An Ambulance!? Max was perturbed by Kyoya’s request to get medical attention for the injured boy. He felt awful that the boy had been so badly burned, but didn’t like being used as a high speed taxi service.


“I’ll bring the boy back to town. Hopefully there is a doctor there who can help him.” Max sighed sympathetically as he flashed to Kyoya and the boy’s side. He scooped up the boy in his arms, I wish I were as strong as other men my age, this kid seems awfully heavy to me… After making sure the boy was balanced safely in his arms he raced off back to town at a blistering speed.


Fortunately, there was a doctor in town, and Max placed the child in his care. God I feel winded after carrying this kid here. I should really work on my endurance and stamina if I’m going to lower myself to ferrying people… He told the doctor to keep the boy while he recovered and that he might return if he needed to ask the kid questions about what happened with the fire. Max also made sure to discreetly hide his guild mark, and not mention the mission he was on. He hoped fact that he was a mage wouldn’t give away that he and the others were on the lookout for Koty the book thief. I think Koty was the name of the thief anyway…. Max was about to head back to the others when he heard his stomach growl. Better grab a bite to eat before heading back…. He quickly dashed around various food venders in town and soon Max’s pack was once again stuffed with food. He then raced back to the group as he was gorging on grapes.


When Max returned to the scene of the fire, everything had settled down for the most part. Aedon and Eko were in the process of putting out the fire. Max put his hand on the hilt of his rapier, looking around. What on earth started that fire? I hope the others gathered some witnesses to question while I was off on an aside….

Lady Warlock CelticHero37 shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Phineas Forge

 

[Lady Warlock]

Libby Tuck and A Small Town Crowd
Fear engulfed the panicking people even more than it already had when all of a sudden, there was not only a fire threatening their homes, but giant walls of darkness closing in as well. It certainly wasn’t something any of them were used to in the slightest. In fact, with how isolated they were by the trees around them, it was quite possible that none of them had ever seen a mage even one time in all of their lives so it certainly had plenty of reason to frighten them. “What is this?” one of them cried out.

“Run… RUN!” another one of them yelled before turning and charging into the trees. It wasn’t quite clear where she was heading, but away from everything that was happening was a start.

A few people managed to restrain themselves enough to actually hear what Palila put effort into bringing to their attention and a few of the adults started trying to gather stragglers in order to get them out of the way of whatever the mages were going to try and do. None of them looked too hopeful, but everyone could agree that screaming around the fire wasn’t going to do them any good at all. It was simply a reaction that made them look like idiots.

Libby, meanwhile, watched the whole situation closely while trying to figure out how to be helpful. She saw what Palila did and the young child wished she would’ve thought to do something like that. Then again, Libby herself didn’t feel very calm so maybe she couldn’t tell other people to be calm. Palila seemed calm enough and that was what seemed to make it work. Her eyes then fell to the boy who Max would soon carry away. He looked to be a few years younger than she was and Libby got a single glimpse of his face. It was black with eschar and she flinched at the sight of it. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would have felt like.

Aedon told her to stand back and that’s what Libby did. That didn’t mean she stopped watching, though. Eko was being helpful. Max was being helpful. Palila had played her part and now Aedon too was going to do something helpful. So had the other guy… the shadow guy. He still scared her a bit, but Libby didn’t ignore what he did.

There was nothing Libby could do but watch. And she hated it, but she did it. Now didn’t seem like a good time to freak out about it.

She opened the umbrella that Aedon had given her and she glanced down at the map that she was still holding. Somewhere along the way, their target had stopped moving, but Libby also noticed that he was getting close to the edge of the map. This delay was using time and time was precious.

Through an enduring shower, the flames were put out and everyone could breathe easily for the time being.

One screaming woman’s voice broke through the calm that had taken so long to achieve, though. “Logan! LOGAN!” She was running straight towards where the fire had been, yelling into the forest in every which direction. “Where’s my boy!? Where’s my son!?” she yelled directly at the mages once she saw them. One could only guess that she was the mother of the boy who was now fighting to escape death’s door.

JayeTheKat CelticHero37 Phineas Forge shadowdude505 Sophrosyne03

 

[shadowdude505]

Kyoya Kumori
​

Now that the fire had dealt with, Kyoya lowered his shadow-make wall; making it look like it disappeared into the ground as he canceled his magic spell. He took a moment to look over the scene of the formerly burning building. He looked over at the other mages on his team and gave them a gruff nod. It was clear to him that they were beginning to learn how to work together as a mismatched group of Lamia Scale, Raven Tail, and Sabertooth wizards.

Now that peace had been restored, Kyoya began making his way toward Libby to check on Koty's map location. He was only able to make a couple steps toward the young Lamia Scale wizard when a woman's voice began to cry out for her son. Kyoya turned toward the woman and pulled down the mask that was covering his mouth and nose, relieving the silvery blond goatee on his chin. "I had one of our speedster mages rush him to the local doctor, ma'am," Kyoya replied in his gruff, straight-to-the-point kind of way. "You'll find him there."

Kyoya turned toward Libby and began to walk toward her again, pulling his mask back up as he did so. He didn't bother looking over Libby's shoulder at the map. He didn't want to put any pressure on the girl who was now their navigator. Koty was probably still on the move and it was possible that the fire mess had been set up by him to slow any possible pursuers down.... or it could have been a coincidence. At this point in time, Kyoya couldn't confirm that the two events were linked. One thing was certain though. "We should get moving." He said to the group of wizards, signaling Libby to begin leading the way.

Lady Warlock CelticHero37 JayeTheKat Phineas Forge Sophrosyne03

 

[Lady Warlock]

Libby Tuck
As the situation shifted from one of extensive emergent circumstances to one of a lack of task and purpose. In both of those situations, Libby didn’t have much she could do because in an emergency, her own powers weren’t very reliable and in a lack of task and purpose, she didn’t know what to do because there wasn’t much to do. However, Kyoya, at least, seemed determined to shift the situation back to one of a task and of purpose again. The whole fire situation had led most of the group to seem to forget that they were on another mission in the first place and it was probably a good thing that at least one person remembered.

Kyoya’s words reminded Libby that they were on a mission. His words reminded her that she was, in fact, the leader of that mission even if she still wasn’t sure she knew what she was doing. Her eyes shifted down to the map that was still in her hands and she noticed that the little dot that they had been tracking had stopped moving for the time being. Her eyes widened, and she gasped slightly because she knew that if the dot had stopped, that would make their target easier to catch.

“Guys! Guys! He stopped moving! We really might be able to catch him!” Libby was actually excited to see that they might actually succeed, that she might actually lead a successful mission.

Grabbing Aedon’s hand and waving towards the others, Libby seemed eager to follow Kyoya. In fact, she ran until she was ahead of him, leading the way towards where the dot had stopped moving, if only for now.

It was as she was walking that Libby thought of something. “What will we do if he doesn’t want to give the book back?” she asked them. And she asked it in such a way that suggested that she knew that they would have to fight, but as though she wasn’t certain and as though she didn’t like that option.

CelticHero37 Phineas Forge shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[CelticHero37]

[font=Lightnin']Aedon Strom[/font]
Lead the way!
Aedon had been inspecting the extent of the damage caused by the fire when Libby grabbed his hand and broke his concentration. At first he resisted. It was a moment before he was content that the situation was under control. Turning his attention back to the mission, he had no trouble keeping up with Libby as she lead the group in the direction of their target.

However, he had to pause for a second when Libby asked her question. After a moment, he responded, "Well, ultimately it's up to the individual to do what they think is right. With a bit of ingenuity, direct conflicts can often be averted. But, when it comes to something like this, that threatens the safety of others, we use the skills we were hired for to ensure the success of the mission; whatever that may entail."

A moment later, Aedon added, "I wouldn't be surprised if he's expecting company. We should be cautious with our approach."

Lady Warlock Phineas Forge shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[Sophrosyne03]

Maxwell Rose​

“While it is good to be wary, we should strike quickly. Time would only afford our target the means to fortify his position, or to become better prepared for our inevitable confrontation…” Max said, after finishing a quick check of the nearby surroundings for any threats. His voice had a steely resolve. Tapping his feet with impatience he tightened his grip on his rapier, “Kyoya is right, we need to get going and be in position to strike. If we are lucky we can avoid a fight, but if we have to fight…” He paused and in his more customary devil may care attitude, “You will all get to witness my excellent swordsmanship. If you don’t blink, that is.” Max then called out to Palila in a beguiling tone, “It would also be a great pleasure to see your martial prowess in action Palila.” Focusing his attention back to Libby, “Don’t lose your zeal, Libby, you have been doing quite splendidly so far. It’s time for you to lead the way again.”

CelticHero37 , Lady Warlock shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Phineas Forge

 

[shadowdude505]

Kyoya Kumori
​

"In other words, one way or another, we make him give it back," Kyoya replied gruffly, chiming in with his perspective concerning Libby's question. He shifted his gaze to Aedon and nodded after his proceed-with-caution statement. "If he set up the fire trap back there, he probably knows someone is on to 'em." At least it would be best to assume as much. Hopefully Koty didn't have a friend watching the site of the fire, if he wasn't somehow watching it himself. The mages would lose the element of surprise if Koty knew about their numbers and magic abilities.

Without saying anything before hand, Kyoya started to sink into the ground as he transformed into his shadow form. He then merged with Aedon's shadow. If Koty didn't know any better, it would look like Kyoya had never been a part of the traveling party. "Pretend I was never here. I'll try to catch Koty by surprise if things get out of hand," he said, his voice coming out of Aedon's shadow.

Lady Warlock CelticHero37 JayeTheKat Phineas Forge Sophrosyne03

 

[Lady Warlock]

Libby Tuck
When Aedon suggested caution, Libby started moving slower. That’s just naturally what she assumed caution went. It kinda went along with trying to be sneaky in her mind; yes, Libby knew they weren’t the same thing, but the movements that went with them were similar in her mind and based on what she was familiar with. However, now that she was moving slow, she realized that that might cause problems in other ways. After all, slow for her was barely moving at all for the others because she was so much smaller than they were. Well, maybe not that much, but it was still noticeable.

Instead of continuing to just move slowly, Libby looked back at the rest of the group to figure out what moving with caution meant for them. Maybe it would give her some ideas on how to do it herself. She was more than a little surprised when they all seemed to be moving the same, though. Actually, she caught on to the fact that Eko and Palila had fallen behind just a little. “Eko! Palillila!” she called back to them, not even realizing that she’d gotten tongue tied in saying Palila’s name. “Come on guys! We’re getting close!”

Turning her head back to the map, she was back to moving at her regular speed again until Kyoya started moving. Libby nearly froze to watch and was entranced by what his magic allowed him to do. “That is so cool!” she geeked out at the sight. “I wish I could do something like that.”

Now feeling more downtrodden than she had moments ago, Libby kept walking and tried to refocus her attention on what she was supposed to be watching - the map and where this Koty guy was at. He still wasn't moving which had to be a good thing because it gave their group time to catch up to him. The longer that lasted, the more it seemed like he had stopped to make a camp for the night or something like that. Once Libby realized that - probably after everyone else had already figured it out - her determination to keep moving only grew more and more. Having a completed mission under her belt would make the young Lamia Scale mage feel so much better. She never looked back to check on Eko and Palila either. They were grown ups… well, mostly. They were more grown up than she was so she figured they would catch up when they were ready.

Meanwhile, Koty truly wasn’t too far ahead of them anymore. The problem that the mages would soon notice was that he wasn’t alone, either. There were two more men with him, both older than Koty himself was and both very curious about the book that Koty had brought with him.

“You’re sure this is the right one?” one of his companions asked. “Once we get there, there will be no forgiveness if you’re wrong.”

“It’s the right one. I promise you that much.” Koty’s certainty was unquestionable.

For the moment, they were unaware of the presence of mages growing closer and closer. That didn’t mean they weren’t prepared for it, though. Two rings of wire surrounded their camp and Libby’s little feet were moving at the perfect pace to miss them and set everything off.

JayeTheKat Phineas Forge Sophrosyne03 CelticHero37 shadowdude505

 

[JayeTheKat]

✾ P●A●L●I●L●A ✾ T●R●U●S●S ✾

Palila watched as the situation with the fire was brought back under control through everyone efforts. It was quite fascinating to watch Aedon's magic at work. The sabertooth woman smiled a little, enjoying the display of teamwork from the mages. She stood still, sort of just lost in thought about how great it would be if they got along like this all the time. It really didn't dawn on her that the group was ready to move on at first.

Max's calling lead Palila to finally somewhat realize they were on the move. She managed a small smile in the man's direction as she started to follow the group lead by Libby. She wasn't completely done with her little mental break, and it drew her in again as she noticed how supportive they all were of the little girl. It wasn't until she heard Libby stumbling over her name that she really realized she'd slowed down and was lagging behind.

"Oh shoot!" Palila muttered as she picked up her own pace to catch up with the group again. She hadn't seen Kyoya's transformation, but his sudden absence didn't bother her much. She doubted the mage would just up and leave so he was probably around somewhere. Her eyes went from watching Libby to keeping an eye on their surroundings. She had no problems with letting the little girl lead, in fact, she preferred this. However, the more eyes they had on the lookout, the more likely they'd be able to spot Koty...or any possible dangers the boy might have left in his wake.

In the distance, her eyes caught on the glow of a fire. Her first thought was that was Koty, based on their direction. She caught up to Libby quietly, sliding in to walk beside the girl instead of trailing behind the group where she had been. "It's good to watch the map Libby, but don't get too absorbed in it. It's better to be aware of your surroundings. We seem to be getting close now." Palila, who had previously had no comments for the girl, spoke up quietly now.

❃

 

[shadowdude505]

Kyoya Kumori
​

Kyoya poked his head out off Aedon's shadow as he began to hear voices, making it look like the Lamia Scale mage's shadow had an extra head on the side of its torso region. From his worms eye view, Kyoya began to scan for traps and/or any enemies silently lurking nearby. As he scanned the area, he noticed a faint shimmer of fire light reflect off of something the group was getting closer to. "Tripwire, watch your step," he said loud enough for the group of legal mages to hear. Remembering the tripwire he had found at the burning building, he was now more convinced that Koty, and whoever he was talking to, was behind it.

In his shadow form, Kyoya slithered out of Aedon's shadow and glided across the ground. He slipped under the trip wire as he made his way toward Koty's group, hugging the shadows cast from the trees. Hiding in a nearby tree shadow, Kyoya intended to listen in on Koty's conversation. As much as he wanted to fight the "bad guys," a little extra intel wouldn't hurt.

Lady Warlock CelticHero37 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03 Phineas Forge

 

[CelticHero37]

[Font=Lightnin']Aedon Strom[/Font]​

Wired
As the group neared their target, Aedon's eyes scoured the landscape. Their target could have been hiding and he wanted to make sure he didn't miss something important. It wasn't until he spotted what he thought was a fire, which was then confirmed by the others, that he had something solid to go off of.

If there was a fire, that either meant Koty wasn't aware of their presence and wasn't trying to hide, or that he was prepared for them and all of this was a trap. As he thought of this, Kyoya mentioned tripwires. As an instinct, he concentrated extra energy around his electric field in hopes that he might sense any tripwires before coming into contact with them.

As if on cue -- before he had even taken a step -- there was a 'bzzt'. His eyes clicked down toward his foot -- frozen in midair above a tripwire. He slowly drew his foot back and said, "Kyoya's right. There's a tripwire here. That confirms, this Koty doesn't want to be disturbed. Be prepared for a fight. I doubt we'll be able to take him by surprise. So I'd suggest a few of you hang back and attack from another angle if it comes to that."

Lady Warlock shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[Lady Warlock]

Libby Tuck
Upon hearing Palila’s suggestion, Libby tried to look up and then look down over and over again while she kept walking; however, that didn’t work very well and she wound up stumbling and nearly falling as she did so. Her arms flailed out, grabbing both Aedon and Palila for support in order to keep herself from falling flat on her face. It was a good thing she didn’t, too, because once she managed to regain her balance, she heard Kyoya’s warning about the tripwires. Her eyes opened wider and she actually thought she caught a glimpse of one. It terrified her. In that terror, Libby found herself taking a few steps backwards while everyone else seemed to realize that they were coming close to their target; sure enough, when she glanced at the map, that was confirmed. Koty was right ahead of them.

Hearing Aedon start talking about preparing to fight, Libby found herself starting to shake. She didn’t know how to fight, not really. Sometimes she could become intangible when she wanted to, but other times, she got herself stuck or found that it didn’t work at all. Suddenly, Libby felt absolutely terrified. “Aedon… I… I… I’m no good in a fight,” she stuttered out. She really wasn’t either. She hadn’t even been through much training in combat to even know what was dangerous and what she should definitely run from.

Looking around at the rest of the group, Libby felt like she didn’t belong there. They all looked unafraid of the prospect of fighting and there she stood, absolutely terrified of the idea and most likely useless as well. Kyoya had almost completely vanished into shadows, Max was so fast, Aedon was… well, Aedon, and even though Libby hadn’t actually seen Palila do anything magical, she was fairly sure the other girl in their group had to have something up her sleeve. She was from Sabertooth, after all, and they were scary sometimes.

However, Libby wouldn’t really get a chance to get an answer to her question, something else would command the attention of absolutely everyone in the group. Up until that moment, everyone had been talking in quiet whispers and a voice decided to ask them, “What are we whispering about?”

“We’re whispering because they’re right up ahead.” Libby answered instinctively before she even managed to realize that the voice was entirely unfamiliar to her. However, she turned to look back at the person who had spoken and saw them. It was a man. He was tall. He was smiling. His smile looked very out of place.

Seeing Libby’s eyes, his gaze grew brighter and then he added a whispered, “Boo!” Laughter erupted from him as Libby jumped back almost ten paces and was on the verge of falling right onto the same tripwire that she’d almost landed face first on.

That wasn’t the only thing about him to notice, though. Within seconds of him being noticed, he was standing beside three identical beings that looked exactly like him and they were all laughing just like he was. It was certainly loud enough for Koty and his other companions to notice and he yelled out to them, “Koty, Ricard! That must be the right book after all. They sent mages to claim it! One of them’s a tiny one, too!” His voice throughout the whole thing sounded entirely amused.

Meanwhile, Libby was trying to hold herself up, trying to maintain her balance or catch herself. It wasn’t working.

SNAP!

There was a loud scream that could’ve only possibly come from Libby and then the whole place was covered in smoke. It would be impossible to see the result of the result of her landing.

CelticHero37 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03 shadowdude505

The one who appeared behind you is named Elias. He has a magic ability that allows him to make clones of himself. You’re unaware of the limit or if there is one at the moment. So far, you’re aware of four, but you can’t track them in the smoke to see if there are more. He’s still laughing so you could find him by sound. Ricard is currently standing with Koty and you remember the direction they were in, but can’t see them due to the smoke. You don’t know what Ricard can do, but you know Koty can summon demons from a book. You can’t see what happened to Libby because of - again - smoke, but you know the direction she fell in. If you go to where she fell, you’ll find that she isn’t there anymore. You don’t know where she is. You cannot see. The gist of things… smoke prevents you from seeing too much at all.

 

[CelticHero37]

Aedon Strom​

Tazed
When Aedon felt the tug on his trench-coat when Libby had almost fallen flat, his arm had shot out and snagged the back of her helping her back upright before continuing. Everybody trips, but he knew now wouldn't be a good time to have someone fall, and she'd likely be devastated if she felt she was the reason for alerting the Koty.

Despite the assistance and the talks he had given her thus far to boost her confidence, she made it clear she still wasn't comfortable. Thus, Aedon had been about to get on a knee and share with her that he felt anxiety and fear every time he went into a fight and give her some tips to get past it. However, he never got the chance.

Stepping a bit closer to Libby, he glared at the newcomer, taking note that he seemed to be taking particular interest in Libby. Or rather, trying to scare her. Before he even had a chance to calm Libby down or give her some advice, smoke filled the area and he heard her scream. When his arm shot out to grab her, it swiped at air.

A chill went up his spine as he realized what had just happened. Once it sunk in, he let out a long labored sigh. This was the last thing he needed. If anything bad happened to Libby, he was responsible, and Patty would never let him forget it. She'd make his life hell. He could already see it. Her crying, her fits, her helplessly beating on him as he tried to comfort her, then getting the cold shoulder, being blamed for the rest of his life. That was only the tip of the iceberg. These guys didn't know what they had just gotten themselves into.

"Hey Max, Palila, Kyoya, you guys alright?" he asked, though that wasn't his biggest concern. Closing his eyes, he then called out to their opponents saying, "Ya know, I wasn't even planning on doing a mission today. Only reason I got dragged out here is because I'm kinda responsible for the kid. Her first mission and all. It was supposed to be simple. She'd go on her first mission. We'd build up her confidence, help her learn some tricks and all. Complete the mission and I'd be back home in time for dinner. Heck, I was plannin' on letting these guys handle the fighting. They're more than capable. You wouldn't even have had to worry about me," with a sigh, he continued, "But you had to go and touch the kid. Well, let me tell ya. You fucked up. Party's over. Oh, and by the way. I can see ya, punk."

As he said this, Aedon had been focusing on the flows of energy. He could tell there was something strange going on below them, perhaps underground, but he couldn't make out what it was at the moment, so instead he focused on the various dense concentrations of energy that generally highlighted people. Since they were mages, it was that much easier to spot them out. He knew where the others had been and was able to keep track of them as well.

Thus, by the end of his little speech, he had made his way to the nearest unfamiliar energy signature and grabbed their shoulder, saying, "Energy Make: Tazer." As he said this, a jolt of electricity was sent through the other person.

Lady Warlock shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[shadowdude505]

Kyoya Kumori
​

Kyoya was still lurking in the shadows near Koty and the other guy when the element of surprise was suddenly taken away, for the others at least, it was still possible that he hadn't been noticed. The smoke triggered from the tripwire quickly became a nuisance as it blocked his view of Koty and the other man. Hopefully the smoke would dissipate soon or maybe one of his teammates will figure out a way to get rid of it faster.

Kyoya quickly contemplated his next move. He didn't want Koty and his 'friends' to get away, but questioned how tactically sound it would be to provoke them in this smoke. He didn't know what the other man with Koty could do and, as far as Kyoya new, the vigilante Raven Tail mage was the only one close to them, meaning he might be fighting alone for awhile. Something he could probably handle for a little while at least.

The other option was going back over to the others and help them deal with whoever was laughing maniacally. Libby's scream echoed in his mind and in the end he couldn't fight off the father in him. Relying on the fact that they could track Koty again if needed, Kyoya began to slither toward the sound of laughter. Who knows, maybe Koty and the other man would join in the fight if they thrashed the laughing guy enough.

Once close enough to the sound of laughter to make out the source, Kyoya menacingly began to rise out of his shadow equipped with his signature spell, Shadow-Make: Reaper's Scythe, a large scythe molded to be more intimidating looking that a regular one. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size," Kyoya gruffly taunted Elias.

Lady Warlock CelticHero37 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[Sophrosyne03]

Maxwell Rose
​

“Grrr…” Max growled in anger and frustration. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience to witness Libby’s plight. Without a fan or cape to quickly disperse most of the smoke, the usefulness of his speed magic was greatly hampered. He could vaguely make out Aedon in the smoke who had made an angry speech and was currently attacking their assailant… or one of there assailants. Kyoya’s gruff menacing tone reverberated through the smoke, as he too went on the offensive.

What can I do? How can I disperse the smoke? Max felt a prickle of panic, and tried to quash it. He closed his eyes and tried to picture the scene before the smoke impaired their visibility. When we arrived on the scene two people were talking, one of whom I assume to be Koty. I think I saw that he had a book on his person, but I don’t know if it is the book of Vongraw or not. There is the possibility that it is, but Koty could have absconded with other Haein family books we are not aware of… It doesn’t matter what book it is, if I can swipe the book I could use it as a fan to blow some of the smoke away. Hopefully, there are no demons about that can effectively counter my speed magic… not to mention the other fellow, who might knock me flat, but it’s better than doing nothing. I’d rather be an audacious idiot than a fool twiddling his thumbs…

Max carefully oriented himself and tried to make a beeline for the location he last remembered the two men occupying. Going at high speed with reduced visibility is basically suicidal, particulaly when you had to watch your footing. After just seconds of running through the smoke Max nearly ran into Koty at full speed (or at least whom he assumed was Koty). Then he swiftly and deftly maneuvered to try and swipe a book from the man’s possession.

CelticHero37 Lady Warlock shadowdude505 JayeTheKat

 

[JayeTheKat]

✾ P●A●L●I●L●A ✾ T●R●U●S●S ✾

Palila flinched visibly in sympathy with Libby's scream, an immediate worry for the girl rose in her mind despite being practical strangers. Her right hand rested on the hilt of one of her twin swords. Her eyes scanned through the smoke, trying to determine where the enemy was, and her comrades. The effort amounted to practically nothing in the smoke. She could hear Aedon and Kyoya's voices, so she knew they were just fine, though she had a feeling she needn't worry about those two anyway. She couldn't hear Max but she trusted the fast moving mage knew what he was doing. Libby... Where was Libby? The girl's scream echoed through her mind, and she shifted towards the last known location of the little girl only to find nothing. A short curse left her lips.

Her next move was to figure out what exactly was going on around her concerning their immediate threat. There was one direct threat, the strange man, and his three clones. There was also Koty and the other man who were aware of their presence by now. Based on what she could hear, Aedon had probably hit someone with magic, and Kyoya was taunting another someone. Hopefully, at least one of the pair had located the original clone-mage, but either way that still left two more clones with unknown locations. Her grip tightened on her sword, her free hand moved to rest beside it's twin as well. She didn't draw them in the smoke, too much of a risk to injure an ally instead of an enemy, but she was ready in case she had to.

Palila's eyes scanned the immediate area as she stood statue-still. She was focused on trying to determine the footfalls of any other the remaining targets from those already located.

❃

 

[Lady Warlock]

Elias Tarly, Koty Haein and Ricard Calhan
All three of the men who were now in opposition to the legal mages attacking them heard Aedon’s speech. Not a single one of them, though, actually cared about a single word that he had to say. Ricard could’ve argued that technically none of them had truly touched the kid, but that would’ve been pointless because even he knew it wasn’t what Aedon meant.

They had nothing to verbally say, but now that the fight was real, Elias, Koty and Ricard were all in it for the long haul.

When Aedon swiped at him, aiming to shock him, Elias could only chuckle as one of his clones was hit and poofed into nothingness. “You can see me, eh? But can you see which one’s the real me? That is the question.” All of a sudden, Aedon would get the sense of being surrounded and then all of the ones around him started moving in a circle around him. The fog cleared and there were five all running. It actually was quickly a blur that almost looked as though it was just one man moving as fast as Max could. The circle slowly grew smaller and smaller, too, as punches began lashing out at the energy make mage.

All the while, Elias was laughing.

He was even laughing at Kyoya who approached yet another figure of Elias. “Why, I am picking on someone my own size, right at this very moment. Had you not noticed yet?” The grin on his face was pure chaos.

Deciding that Aedon was more fun than Kyoya looked to be, Elias reached out and grabbed the scythe that was reaching towards him. Actually, he sort of jumped at it and let himself get sliced in two, poofing into nothingness because he’d just been a clone. The true Elias was within the circle that surrounded and punched at Aedon over and over again.

Meanwhile, Ricard and Koty just stood on the outside watching everything unfold. The smoke was quickly clearing because it was a rather large forest and there were simply too many ways for the smoke to thin out and clear, but they had known it wouldn’t last long anyway so it wasn’t a major concern. It was because that smoke was clearing that Ricard got the smallest glance of something moving towards them very quickly.

“Interesting,” he remarked. In a single maneuver, Ricard lifted the earth right in front of and next to Koty. When Max came charging and swiping for the book, his fingers would indeed feel the pages as though they were in his hands. However, before Max could fully grasp the book, he would find himself tripping over a block of earth and tumbling forwards at dangerous speeds before crashing into a nearby tree. Ricard laughed at the sight of it and Koty just turned and looked rather shocked.

“They could’ve had the book, just like that!” He seemed enraged by the possibility.

“Relax, Koty. They’re not going to get that book. If they did, then I’d have to explain to someone far more powerful than anyone here why I failed in my mission and I know he wouldn’t like the story I’d have to tell. Do you think I’m going to risk his rage?” The obvious answer was no. “You wouldn’t be safe from his rage either, you know. Maybe it might be wise for you to start trying to help us out rather than expecting my brother and I to do all the work.”

Ricard and Elias weren’t really brothers, but they were as close as brothers would be.

Koty glanced down at the book in his hand and lifted it up so he now held it in two hands. “Very well. I’m going to need a few minutes, though.” Summoning the twins wasn’t an instant process.

shadowdude505 CelticHero37 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[CelticHero37]

Aedon Strom​

The eyes of the energy mage sparked as his hand clenched down on nothingness. The target of his Energy Make Tazer had vanished. Aedon's first conclusion would have been that his opponent's magic was akin to Libby's ability to disappear. The trick could have fooled him had he not noticed the energy signature dissipate as well. From that clue, he was able to piece together the fact that he had engaged some sort of mirage clone.

As if to confirm that inference, the clone mage surrounded Aedon with more clones that started running circles around him while letting punches fly. Despite the situation, the ace of lamia scale was unfazed. It was obvious his opponent had no clue what he was getting himself into. There were almost too many ways the situation could be dealt with; from lackluster to over-the-top.

With a sigh, Aedon bit down on air; causing a a spark to fly out of the corner of his mouth as he gave the clone mage a halfhearted glare. "Touch me and you're dead, kid," was all he said as sparks of energy crawling around his body. However, rather than let the kid electrocute himself, Aedon added, "Energy Make Tazer," and thrust his electrified hand into the blur of clones. He doubted the real mage would be in the mix, but if he was, he'd be met with a face-full of shocks.

Lady Warlock shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[shadowdude505]

Kyoya Kumori
​

Kyoya glared at the spot the enemy mage used to be. Apparently he had been talking to one of the clones. No sane person would willingly sacrifice their real body on purpose. Though no sane person would sacrifice a clone just because he could. Kyoya decided that the nutjob wasn't worth his time. If he wanted to pester the S-Ranked Aedon, the Raven Tail mage would let him. He had bigger things to worry about, like the objective of the mission.

Kyoya didn't waste his breath by telling Aedon that he'd leave the strange mage to him, instead he began to look around for Koty. Now that the smoke was clearing, he could see the man they were tailing and his other "friend." Koty was still holding a book, probably the book that they were supposed to retrieve. Kyoya started to walk over to them while resting his scythe construct on his shoulder.

"Shadow Pull." Suddenly a large shadowy hand emerged from Kyoya's shadow and started to slither its way across the ground toward Koty. He was planning to snag the kid from a distance and maybe interrupt any demon summoning in the process.

"Tell me, are you a part of a dark guild, or some kind of misguided cult?" Kyoya asked gruffly as he stopped walking a couple yards away from Ricard. "Not that it makes any difference to me," he added, taking a defensive stance with his scythe.

Lady Warlock JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03 CelticHero37

 

[Sophrosyne03]

Maxwell Rose
​

“Rrrr….” Max growled softly in pain. The trip had sprained his ankle. He could feel a bruise forming, where his rapier slammed into his side during the tumble. That could have gone better… at least I’m not as terribly injured as I could have been… By crumpling up and not stretching his arms out, as he fell, saved him from fracturing the bones in his arms and hands. It was one of the first, painful, lessons he had learned when practicing his high-speed magic.
Trying to focus through the pain, Max only heard fractured parts of the conversation between Koty and the mage next to him.
“…Book like that…”
“…Not going…Book…Someone…Powerful…Safe from his rage…Bother and I…”
“…Need a few minutes…”
From these snippets of conversation Max was able to collate his thoughts. So… I nearly got the Book of Vongraw… Well I’m not down for the count yet. Time to make another go at this… He slowly and quietly got to his feet, a building rage overpowering the pain of his injuries. Max drew his rapier, feeling the balance of the hilt in his hand he could sense that the blade was not noticeable bent.
Libby was still missing, and until the fight was over, he and the other couldn’t go looking for her. An emerging figure coalesced from the clearing smoke. It was Kyoya, wielding his scythe. As far as he could tell, Kyoya was launching an attack at the two mages before him.
Max quickly summed up the situation laid out before him. Koty is preoccupied and can’t defend himself right now, so it’s all up to his partner… Max decided to attack the mage that tripped him. The clearing smoke afforded him the opportunity to proceed at his true full speed., Before he had lacked the confidence to actually run as fast as possible in the reduced visibility.
Max raced toward the mage that had caused the book to slip from his grasp. Anticipating him to try to use same trick again, he jumped straight up about 15 feet in the air when he got close to his target. While airborne Max somersaulted in the air to position himself to make a swift blow down on his opponent. He focused his fire magic at the soles of his shoes, using the flames as a jet to propel him back down at his quarry. Aiming to strike down with his rapier to pierce the flesh behind the knee cap, Max brought down his rapier in a blinding motion.
CelticHero37 shadowdude505 Lady Warlock JayeTheKat

 

[JayeTheKat]

✾ P●A●L●I●L●A ✾ T●R●U●S●S ✾

Watching and waiting paid off in at least one way for Palila. It left her for the most part free to act. As the smoke cleared, she continued playing the waiting game, taking note of where her comrades where and what their moves were. Her focus shifted immediately to Koty as the clone mage honed in on Aedon. Not really the smartest choice of the bunch to target on the clone mages part, but if he wanted to end up with a severe ass kicking, that was fine by her. While she didn't catch the exchange between Koty and Ricard, when Koty shifted the book open, she had a fair idea of what was planned. She made the choice to aim for the retrieval of the book, and didn't really give a damn that Kyoya seemed to do the same with his shadow.

Her movement towards Koty was set at a brisk pace, and carried her off to the right of the lad. One hand was silently filled with a sheathed sword as she freed it from her hip. Although she could not move anywhere near as fast as Max, she still made use of the attack Max launched on Ricard to get close to Koty. She had her sheathed sword directed towards the boy's side. Her aim was not to hurt Koty, but to prevent the summoning of anything in that book. And to possibly drive him towards the others in the process.

"I really do think what's in that book should stay put. Do yourself a favor and hand it over, before you get majorly hurt." She spoke, her voice quiet put still plenty loud enough for at least Koty to hear, as she made her move. An attempt to reason with the kid despite knowing it was most likely useless.

❃

 

[Lady Warlock]

Elias Tarly, Koty Haein and Ricard Calhan
Running around in circles in multiple forms of himself surprisingly wasn’t dizzying at all for Elias and he was actually managing to have more fun with it than distress. As he continued going around and around and around, he was yelling out taunts at Aedon that included things like, “Can’t catch me!” and “What are you gonna do? Huh? Huh?” Anyone who hadn’t seen that Elias was actually a reasonably grown up man probably would’ve assumed that he was just a little kid because his words seriously made him sound like one.

Despite that, though, he was paying attention at least slightly. When Aedon started electrifying even slightly, the energy-make mage would hear Elias remark, “Oooh! Sparkles! I’m scared…” in a rather mocking tone. Truly, he wasn’t scared at all. Then again, Elias had no idea who he was fighting either, not really anyway. He might have been acting differently if he had known… or maybe not. It was hard to tell.

One thing was certain, though. Knowledge or no knowledge of who - or what - Aedon really was, the result of Aedon’s next action would be the same. As Aedon’s electrocuted hand shot into the spirals of clones that were moving as fast as they could, there was an echo of loud crashes, one right after the other, as each of the clones got… well, essentially disintegrated. It all happened so fast that it was hard to keep track of how many there really were, but that didn’t matter. The loud crash was followed by a hoarse scream that came from none other than the real form of Elias Tarly… and that was apparent by the fact that when all the smoke cleared, Aedon was standing with his hand still on a man’s chest. Electricity still flowed through him and his body was quivering as though in seizure.

Meanwhile, Ricard and Koty found themselves stuck dealing with all the others which wasn’t proving to be quite as one sided. “If it doesn’t matter, then why do you ask?” Ricard replied to Kyoya with a smirk as he watched the shadow mage take up a stance. ‘Shadows…’ he noted mentally before his eyes surveyed their surroundings. Shadows really weren’t going to be a fun thing to try and fight against in the middle of the forest where they were quite literally everywhere. ‘That makes it hard to keep an eye on things.’

“Koty!” he called out to his companion. “It’s gonna get bumpy for a while. Be ready.” It wasn’t clear what Ricard was planning to do, but the way he voiced that made it seem like something big.

As Max launched his attack from behind the direction Ricard was facing, Ricard himself was focused on something very different. The ground beneath everyone began to quake, softly at first but with extensively growing intensity and one thing became clear to everyone involved. Ricard was no minor earth mage… nope, he definitely was the kind who knew what he was doing and who could cause more than a small amount of damage to any area he chose. Right now, he was choosing to do just that. First came the shaking, but then it seemed as though the very earth beneath their feet was exploding… spikes, steps, boulders, blocks… they all emerged from the ground underneath everyone in ground-breaking force. Anyone who happened to be standing on a piece of earth that moved was likely launched into the air with its force and few were lucky enough not to be touched. Trees collapsed around them as well, their branches stabbing into the earth that was so unstable around them.

In particular, the ground beneath Koty’s feet was gentler. It brought him up high and out of reach of any of the mages who had been sent by the magic council - including out of the reach of Palila, the one who was nearest to him.

Elias, too, would find himself in a less than uncomfortable position - the earth having knocked him out of the electrical reach of Aedon Strom.

There was one other certainly noticeable thing that happened around everyone and within sight of everyone as the earth erupted around them. There was the return of a loud, childish scream that all the Fioran mages would recognize. The small form of Libby Tuck shot out of the earth, almost like a bullet although not nearly as fast, and was sent flying straight towards a now collapsing tree… and she clearly had no method of altering her own trajectory.

Even before the earth had yet to settle, there was a whoosh through the air beside Ricard’s form as he tried to recover from such a heavy use of magic and then a deep growl from him as a blade pierced through his flesh. “Ahhgh!” he yelped as Max’s rapier was true and managed to hit its mark bringing the earth mage down to one knee. Breathing far more gruffly now, Ricard reached for his magic once again and created a spike of earth that would surely either stab straight through his attacker - who was no doubt still attached to the rapier embedded within him - or at the very least send him flying in the opposite direction. Regardless, Max was separated from his rapier because it remained in Ricard’s leg.

Pain was written onto Ricard’s face, but that didn’t stop him. “KOTY! GET A MOVE ON! WE NEED THOSE THINGS HERE, NOW!” Then his attention shifted. “ELIAS! GET OFF YOUR ASS AND HANDLE THIS… THIS KID!” Max by far was proving to be the most annoying of all the Fiorans so far.

And the clone mage heard. Ignoring Aedon now, Elias created three clones from where he was lying and allowed for them to appear around where Max landed. Each clone flickered like a glitch, Aedon’s taser shock still having its effect on how effectively Elias’s magic actually worked.

Libby was sent flying through the air at a collapsing tree. If someone does not save her, she will be knocked unconscious. She is currently tangible.

So… the forest exploded… kind of. I tried finding a picture but couldn’t actually find something that worked. Trees are falling down. Imagine that pieces of the earth flew out of the ground and then fell back down as boulders and rocks of every shape and size. It looks like the aftermath of an earthquake that happened in a forest. Koty is now standing on a pillar of earth raised high into the air making it hard for him to get to.

CelticHero37 shadowdude505 JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03

 

[shadowdude505]

Kyoya Kumori
​

"So I know what group I should start tracking down next," Kyoya replied gruffly. He kinda expected that Richard wouldn't spill the beans right away. He looked like the smarter of the two dark...whatever they were. It didn't hurt his conscious to assume that they were dark wizards for the time being.

He would have changed in to attack, but suddenly the earth started to shake. The shaking became more and more violent each second. Something was coming. Kyoya jumped back as the earth underneath him exploded into spikes, dematerializing his scythe and the shadow hand that had chasing after Kody as he focused on landing safely. He landed on a patch of earth the surprisingly wasn't being effected and began to scan the scene to gauge the earth mage's power. Trees were beginning to snap and fall. The shadow mage had to quickly roll out of the way of one tree in particular.

While regaining his bearings, Kyoya spotted Libby flying toward a tree that was falling. He quickly held out one of his hands and started to quickly focus shadow magic around his outstretched arm. Shadows extended from his arm and created a giant hand that glided through the air toward the girl. The shadow hand caught Libby and started to real her toward Kyoya. The hand gently placed Libby on the solid ground next to him. His fatherly instincts had come into play, but he still wanted to keep that part of him hidden. He didn't wait for Libby or anyone else on the team to thank him.

Kyoya quickly morphed into his shadow form and started to bolt across the ground toward the pillar of earth holding Koty out of reach. Hopefully in all the chaos he wouldn't be noticed as he tried to slither up it.

Lady Warlock JayeTheKat Sophrosyne03 CelticHero37