Take Back the Crown

[Lo Alyssa]

Svetlana got a kick out of the punch, "You're just full of surprises, aren't you, my lady." She whispered with a chuckle. She personally wished she could have done that herself.


Though as quick as she felt glee, she also felt a sudden disturbance in her heart. That feeling that had been nagging at her all day suddenly grew stronger and more imminent. Yaroslav could sense it too. It wasn't this intruder standing before them, it must have been something else. She looked around, walking towards the wagon where Lucas was, just in case something bad happened. Yaroslav took his place by Lucasta's side. He whispered to her, something was going to happen. They noticed the new arrivals as well, but still, that didn't seem to be the cause of their feeling of impending danger. Whatever it was, it was close.


Yaroslav glanced up to the sky to see what looked like a dark cloud, "Grandmother." He said pointing at it, "That is a rather fast cloud, don't you think?" Svetlana squinted at it, but her eyes widened as she realized what it was, "It's moving against the wind. That is no cloud!" She yelled, "Company, prepare yourself! We're under attack!"


They hardly had any time to get ready, the imps darted down from the sky. They were small, inky winged creatures with mouths full of teeth, that weren't very threatening alone. But large numbers could overwhelm anyone. Their war screeches were deafening as they sounded in chorus. They had armor on, spears in their hands. "They're no doubt sent by Kvacht!" She yelled over the noise, destroying two with her magic as they began to swarm, "Their weakness is fire, use it!"


One headed straight for Valeiah, and as if to make a demonstration, before the imp could skewer her head with its spear, Svetlana pulled it back with a force, and she clenched her first, setting the imp on fire. It let out a cry, but was quickly eaten away.
​

 

[L1d1ja]

"You're a fire mage, are you not?" Garrett addressed Ferrix as he summoned his battle staff to his hand. "If I create a rather large enough inferno, will you be able to control it to scorch the Imps?" He asked, because even though he could summon a gigantic fireball to reduce the imps to ash, with his lack of control, some teammates would join the Imps too.


In the meanwhile, Dorian had flown off Garretts shoulder and transformed back to human. He drew his bow and used it to turn Imps into pincushions using arrows which had fire runes scrawled into them, setting the beasts on fire when they got hit.


@Jayshen

 

[TeeKay]

Phaedra found herself interrupted by the sudden appearance of the imps. She was left with no choice but to band together with the group - more specifically Bo, since they stood some distance away from the main party. Although she was faced with danger at this moment - watching imps rain on them in large numbers - Phaedra couldn't help but be overwhelmed with excitement.

In the split second she was distracted by her thoughts, she nearly missed a group coming down on her and her new companion. Likely, they were being targeted for being separate from the group. Phaedra waved her staff over her head in a sharp, quick motion. In her other hand, she threw ash from a pouch from her reagent belt at the same time into the air, shouting a word of magic with it.

A shield of fire appeared over their heads to scorch the imps as they descended on them. The fire faded out of existence shortly thereafter. They were quick - she barely had enough time to react. They would not get that chance again, Phaedra promised herself.

"Perhaps I can stay awhile longer." She tried to remain aloof with Bo, attempting to keep an air of mystery around her.

"I've got your back. You know how to use that?" Phaedra gestured at the bow that Bo carried, a twinkle of laughter in her eyes. Though her tone was flat and serious (given the situation), she seemed to be joking. Perhaps she was warming up to the man quicker than she thought.

It would be a welcome change of pace to travel with a group, and she hoped the others were as friendly as Bo in terms of welcoming her into the group.

@soundofmind
​

 

[RP Marshall]

He gave Phaedra a not-fully-confident half grin, shrugging. "We're, uh... ultimately, aiming to take Algoran back." That was, really, the big picture, wasn't it?

So that is there mission, the stone imp thought with a chuckle. They certainly have a grueling task ahead of them. If they can complete their mission I will be thoroughly impressed. Hmm... Their journey could hinder the End of Days. If the master was here he would want me to stop them. However he told me to not get caught up in the earth's personal affairs, so I will do nothing. He brought me here to record everything involving the living. Sorry master but your Armageddon will have to wait. Hehe!

@Queen of Fantasy[/URL]. You are going to need it. Poor child @A Simple Egg... Please master, if you could, do not hurt him. I know the End of Days means death to all the living on earth but he's just a boy... *Sigh* Remain in the wagon. It is up to the party to defend themselves.


The sculpture was motionless as his master's imps rained down on the adventures. Observing the battle through a crack in the wagon, Pip prayed in his stone heart that the group would survive.


{I hope no one minds if I make the demon king Pip's master.}

 

[Danika]

As Valeiah went to stab one, even though it probably wouldn't do much good, then shrieked. "Who dulled my knife?!" And she hit it against the cart. No good. Then she looked at the prince.


"Here, why don't I make it up to you?" She threw her dagger since it was practically useless and pulled him up to higher ground in a tree, where the leaves would hide him from the creatures.


"If you have any weapons I would suggest throwing them. Now." Valeiah leapt back down from the tree after securing him.


@A Simple Egg

 

[plasticlizard022]

Thora sprung up and stood on the back of her horse, her small stature making it much easier to balance. She pulled her bow from her backside and began to slowly, but skillfully, lob arrows into the oncoming imps. Though she was a strong advocate for piece, she knew that sometimes violence was necessary. And it was necessary now.


She may not be the quickest archer, but she had had her fair share of practice and she rarely missed her target. She continued to shoot arrows until she grew distracted by the fire around her. She should have known that there would be a fire mage (why hadn't she sensed it earlier?!). She tried to tune out the flames and heat nearby but she grew overwhelmed; she couldn't tune it out. Her head spun and she fell from the horse. There wasn't much pain, but the shock got to her. It took Thora a moment to regroup her thoughts and pull herself up. She darted into the trees.


More than anything, she wished that there was a Rowan tree she could hide in. But alas, there was not and she knew there wouldn't be. So she forced her shaky hands to steady and she drew her bow and attacked the imps that had followed her into the forest.

 

[Jayshen]

"You're a fire mage, are you not?" Garrett addressed Ferrix as he summoned his battle staff to his hand. "If I create a rather large enough inferno, will you be able to control it to scorch the Imps?" He asked, because even though he could summon a gigantic fireball to reduce the imps to ash, with his lack of control, some teammates would join the Imps too.
In the meanwhile, Dorian had flown off Garretts shoulder and transformed back to human. He drew his bow and used it to turn Imps into pincushions using arrows which had fire runes scrawled into them, setting the beasts on fire when they got hit.


@Jayshen

"Yes, I can do that," Ferrix summoned flames to surround his hand. "I can't summon a lot of fire at once but controlling it is easier than making it."


He waited for the other man to summon the flames, ready to control it any time it was summoned.

 

[L1d1ja]

"Then off it goes." Garrett mumbled to himself and cast a spell. Instantly, a veritable pyre started at his feet, the flames hissing and crackling and quickly growing stronger, though the mage tried to keep them contain to around him without extinguishing them completely.


"Your turn." He smiled at Ferrix.


@Jayshen

 

[OlKaJa77]

Oceana heard the imps attack before she saw them. The awful chittering and hissing grated on her sensitive ears and she found herself spearing them on arrows with a sick glee.


"Die you rotten beasties!"


She hissed to herself.


Suddenly another sound permeated the imp battle cries.


Harsh breathing


Cloth fluttering


There was a girl running into the wood away from the wagons. Her angular features and clothing were all the elf could distinguish before she was attacked from behind by two of the rotten demons. One swung its putrid claws at her face, nicking her nose


"Die!" She yelled as she drew her daggers and skewered them both.


The other girl looked, panicked, up at the ruckus and was caught off guard by an imp who had snuck up on her. Oceana leapt from the tree and right down onto the thing smashing it with her knees. She stabbed it for good measure.


She looked at the girl and said


"Come. We must regroup with your companions. We cannae stay alone out here."


@plasticlizard022

 

[plasticlizard022]

"I cannot go back there," she stated with a shaky voice after thanking the stranger for saving her. Thora glanced over her shoulder at the occasional bursts of fire. She squinted and shook her head. "I cannot," she repeated before diving to the ground to avoid an imp headed straight towards her. She rolled onto her back, sat up, and took a shot at the annoying creature bringing it down.


@OlKaJa77

 

[Raven Kade]

Abigail wrested control of her body fully back into her own hands. She looked around at the caravan that had exploded into a battleground, and saw a fierce fight. However they had come upon them unexpectedly, and there were still many more coming, so it was not going as well as it might have. Still in cat form she leapt off the front of the wagon and walked forward before her body exploded. Flesh boiled outwards and then an immense bear that stood around ten feet tall on all fours stood in the cat's place. Abigail roared deafeningly and then reared back and began smashing groups of imps out of the sky as more poured from the sky. She roared again echoing her challenge to the imp's, and any other demons that might be around. Imps tried to get to her but with the size of her bear form cam fur too thick for the size of their weapons to easily get through.

 

[OlKaJa77]

The elf maiden grit her teeth and slashed an imp in half. Looking back at the other woman she noted new things. Up close she could see her truly aquiline features and pinnacled ears.But she was different from an elf. She looked more... Otherworldly...than an elf. Some kind of fae. Considering the need to run from fire and into the trees...


A nymph. No wonder she wants to be far far away from that fire.


Sympathy rose in her chest and she put up no more arguments.


Steeling herself, the elf went back to back with her fellow forest dweller.


"Then we'll just have to ride out the storm here"


@plasticlizard022

 

[plasticlizard022]

Thora let the bow drop to her side for just a moment. She remained silent, speechless but the expression on her face was easy to read; She was surprised at the kindness and generosity given to her. She expected to fight this battle in the forest alone. She nodded her head in thanks and lifted her bow once more. She wouldn't let any of the imps get to herself, and she wouldn't let any of them get near this stranger, this elf. She took a deep breath and began to fire a the incoming imps.


@OlKaJa77

 

[Rydellius]

With the imps swarming the sky, screeching hideously at the churning flames, Nameen reached up and whipped out her sword. She grit her teeth. Time for some target practice.


She swung the sword, slaying almost every imp she set out for. The blade pierced the tought skin of the beasts, hitting its marks with excellent precision. Years of practice had been a great benefit to Nameen's skills, no doubt, and she'd learned to adapt to the blinf spot her missing eye brought.


So many of them. Her blade connected with another of the monsters. It let out a dying squeal and fell. The demon lord has found about about us already.

 

[QueenSaiko]

"What in the world are these?!" Ayda yelled at no one in particular, thanking whatever gods may be out there for her quick reactions. The small woman managed to dodge every attack the strange creatures threw at her, and managed to avoid hitting anything while she ran away from the hoard of imps.


'If I stay here, I'll just get in the way! I guess my family were right after all, it really was foolish to refuse to learn how to use a weapon.' Ayda grimaced at how useless she was in this situation, unknowingly getting further and further away from the group as she tried not get kilłled.

 

[Danika]

Valeiah scampered back to her dagger. It was dull but better than nothing. As she picked it up she came face to face with an imp. The thing was terribly ugly. She stabbed it quickly.

 

[Jayshen]

"Then off it goes." Garrett mumbled to himself and cast a spell. Instantly, a veritable pyre started at his feet, the flames hissing and crackling and quickly growing stronger, though the mage tried to keep them contain to around him without extinguishing them completely.
"Your turn." He smiled at Ferrix.


@Jayshen

He quickly took control over the fire. Ferrix separated the flames to be able to hit multiple of those imps at once. Though, the fire mage carefully directed the flames with his fingers and hand as to not accidentally hit his teammate, which made him slow down and hesitate a bit to attack sometimes. He wasn't able to be harmed by flames- or heat really - but what to say the others did too? Fire was a tricky element; if he wasn't it could spread to the forest or harm someone he never intended to harm.


He managed to take down some of the imps, ones that weren't being taken of the others already. The imps were small, smaller than the things he usually burn, that required more concentration for him but he didn't find it as troublesome as he would. Probably because adrenaline had kicked in.

 

[OlKaJa77]

At a pause in the fighting, through the trees, Oceana spotted a human woman running from the imps. She was moving further away from the group and the imps were gaining on her. Her fingers itched for her bow. To shoot the imps down.


To help , a quieter voice echoed within her.


There was a hiss to her right.


She slashed and black imp ichor spattered.


The fight was on again.

 

[TeeKay]

As Phaedra fought off the onslaught of imps coming at her alongside Bo, she noticed a lone human girl narrowly dodging each and every imp at her heels. She had accumulated a few of them by now, no doubt noticing she had no way of fighting back. Phaedra couldn't help but express her frustration aloud with an irritated grunt, pulling her attention away from a new group of imp headed in their (Bo and herself) direction briefly.

In any other situation, Phaedra wouldn't be likely to help, but it seemed that the girl was a part of the group she wished to join. Despite how utterly useless she found the girl, no doubt there was some skillset that must make her standout among those gathered here that made her worth protecting. At least, this is how Phaedra rationalized this to herself.

She didn't have much time to react as the woman was in immediate danger. Focusing her energy, she summoned a vortex of wind around the girl, pulling her to herself and Bo at an alarming speed. The force of the wind knocked the imps off their balance momentarily before they continued their pursuit, but at least now the woman was protected by two others.

The wind dissipates as soon as Ayda touches ground beside Phaedra.

"If you want to live, don't move." Phaedra says this rather sharply, but quickly follows up, as if making the conscious effort not to sound so abrasive. "..You're safe here."

@QueenSaiko
​

 

[soundofmind]

"Perhaps I can stay awhile longer." She tried to remain aloof with Bo, attempting to keep an air of mystery around her.
"I've got your back. You know how to use that?" Phaedra gestured at the bow that Bo carried, a twinkle of laughter in her eyes. Though her tone was flat and serious (given the situation), she seemed to be joking.

"Nah, it just makes me look useful." He replied with an equally serious tone, but a playful smile. He gave a short laugh as he pulled out his bow, but his demeanor quickly grew more focused as he began to shoot arrows into the onslaught of imps headed towards them. Just as much as Phaedra had his back, he had hers. He managed to keep many of the imps from getting closer, but he was quickly beginning to run out of arrows as the fight went on. Imps began to draw closer and closer, and he was having more trouble fighting them off. Kicking an imp aside with a powerful thwack of his long legs, he took a brief moment to breathe in, feeling a rise of electric energy flow through his body. His attentions were momentarily distracted as Phaedra pulled a defenseless member of their crew between them, but he quickly turned outward to the new incoming group of imps, inhaled deeply, and exhaled a fiery bolt of lightning.


As he turned his head the bolt pulsed out of him, zapping the imps one by one. Someone - now, he couldn't quite remember - had said that fire was their weakness. It seemed that lightning had a similar affect, since lighting was also an effective fire starter. With each hit, the imps would convulse and fall to the ground... sizzling, and dead. Sweet. That took out about... 5?? 6?? That took a lot of energy, though, so he figured he'd go to zapping with his hands instead. He swung his bow back over his back, and with pointed fingers, prepared to zap more imps, since they seemed to just keep coming from who knows where.


He gave a quick look to the girl between them, with a strained smile. "Stay low," he ordered, then looked over to Phaedra, (who was holding down the fort) giving a quick nod of his head (the gestural equivalent of a thumb's up). And now to fight, again.





@TeeKay @QueenSaiko (I hope this ok oy vey)

 

[A Simple Egg]

Lucas sat in his tree, throwing the fire stones from the safety of the branch. He thought it was beautiful, how the flames swirled when he struck another 'monster'. There was a small thought at the back of this mind that perhaps he was having a bit too much fun with it...but he dismissed it.


He didn't know where the strange girl who at first was his attacker went. She was the one who lifted him up here, giving him a good shot. He sent her a silent thank you, and one to the old woman who gave him his weapon too. Good manners was one thing drilled into him at a young age.


And so, he was just sitting on a branch, swinging his legs and happily disposing of the 'monsters' that came too near. And that was when he noticed the bag. The bag that he had heard the voice from. It lay, abandoned, on the ground. Without thinking, without the notion that there probably wasn't even anyone in there crossing his mind, he jumped down, throwing the rocks wildly, ran to the bag and scooped it up. He then hightailed his way back into the overgrowth and hid in the thickness of it. That was enough heroics for one day, he believed.

 

[TeeKay]

Phaedra was thoroughly impressed by the powers that Bo had, her eyes widening. He certainly didn't give off the impression that he was a spellcaster - no, this ability seemed innate. She could be wrong, so into the memory bank with that. She would be sure to ask Bo when they weren't being swarmed by dangerous demons. In the meantime, she couldn't help but let out a laugh at the magnificent display.

"Brilliant work, Bo!"

She simply met eyes with Bo and smiled in response to his nod. This was fun, though she was acutely aware that others wouldn't describe this situation as such.. Conserving her reagents, she held a palmful of ash in her hand and whispered a quick incantation, summoning fire in that same hand. She pulled fireballs from this flame - a similar trick she observed farther away from the fire mage - and tossed these at any imps that came their way, covering Bo. Seeing as how he seemed to be taking the melee approach, she would keep as many at bay as possible for the time being.

Even with all this going on, she made sure to keep an eye on their groupmate between them. Though she still felt some frustration at being saddled with the task of protector, she didn't wish ill will on the girl as she didn't actually do anything wrong. So, Phaedra kept an eye out to make sure they wouldn't be flanked.

@soundofmind @QueenSaiko
​

 

[QueenSaiko]

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Ayda said, obeying Phaedra and Bo as she stared in awe at the two's powers, feeling almost a little jealous that they could fight so well. Almost. After all, didn't Ayda's motto go something along the lines of 'power means strength, strength means fighting, fighting means war, war means suffering'? However Ayda was a tad too busy to be having a nice think at the moment, and the small woman tried her best to stay out both the imps and the fighting duo's way.


"T..thank you, Sir, Miss. I'm sorry." Ayda said apologetically, jumping out of Phaedras way as her strange new protector attacked the imps.


@soundofmind @TeeKay

 

[Vampiricdoll]

Lucasta was immediately attacked by 5 imps at once. She didn't have her sword or shield, so she made due with dodging until she could reach them. She was astounded by everyone's sudden and effective defense. There was so much happening at once, it was very difficult to keep her mind on task. To get her weapons.


She sprinted to one of the wagons, and throwing herself into it, quickly grabbing the hilt to her sword, and the edge of her shield, then holding them up to defend herself. She slashed and hacked with her sword, killing the imps that chased her into the wagon. She jumped out onto the dirt path, when suddenly she remembered the most important thing.


Lucas.


She spun around looking everywhere for him, when she finally spotted him in a tree, defending himself with explosive rocks. She didn't know where he got them, and she didn't care. He had a way to protect himself. That was the important thing.


During her distraction, an imp sneaked up behind her and hit her head with the flat end of the spear, causing her to fall to her knees. She quickly turned and hit it's neck, slicing it open. It's rusty colored blood spilled onto the floor. Lucasta felt herself get dizzy and soon lost balance. Her white hair was now red from the wound the imp caused her. She stood, and tried to regain balance. She felt the back of her head, trying to get a feel for how bad the injury actually was. She pulled her hand from the wound, and found it a dark red color. At that moment she realized how bad the wound was, and quickly leaned on one of the wagon's wheels. She swung with one hand and kept herself up with the other. Though she was succeeding in killing the foul creatures, she grew weaker with every swing, and soon fell to the floor, knocked out from the blow.
​

 

[Raven Kade]

Abigail saw the princess fall and an imp dart towards her. @Queen of Fantasy She lunged forward onto all fours, smashing the imp one her way down. She then hunched over the princess on all fours with her vulnerable belly right over the princess keeping her safe with her bulk. She called out to Svetlana with her mind If you can heal get over here! @Lo Alyssa She was harried by the imps still but now she could only snap at them as raising her paws would mean exposing the princess. Unfortunately this meant some of the imps strikes could now get close enough to pierce fur, and she roared with pain as the first of their blades struck home.