The fog was seriously starting to disorient Zhiqiang, and it didn't help matters when a spear suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the tip of the weapon grazing against his shoulder. Throwing a hand up over the cut, the horseman hissed, more so in surprise than in pain. As he turned around to face the attacker, his tense shoulders suddenly relaxed. Ah, it was just Yuzhi.
"No hard feelings," He answered with a grin, through it was far less hearty and bright than usual. After a second passed, the grin disappeared, replaced again by an impassive expression. Turning back to face the phoenix, he lifted his bow again, taking aim and firing in its general direction.
Unfortunately, there was someone else who happened to be in the creature's "general direction". "Sorry, Tseng--I can assure you that that was not on purpose this time." Oops.
Damage: 4 BOSS HP: 64 Recoil: Tseng
(( Stats: ))
Name: Zhiqiang HP: 35/40 FEAR Strength: 100% Insanity Strength: 20% Items: RP Blurb:6'0" Conquest Horseman
It hurt. It hurt so much, to think that they suffered even now. That they were going to suffer no matter. She was blind in her way, determined to make some kind of difference. To change the fates, if just a bit. To do a duty. A noble was to lead. Even if that meant she'd lead herself into a path of destruction.
BOSS HP: 38? (IDEK) ((I JUST WANNA STONE LAN AUGH SORRY GUYS LAN PLS ROLL LOW)) (( Stats: ))
Name: Lan HP: 30/40 FEAR Strength: 100% Insanity Strength: 50% Items: None RP Blurb:Also Boobs. Also shame per usual
Arrow after Arrow, she hated this, hated it all. Wanted to end it. She just wanted to end it all, their suffering, all of the suffering. She wanted mercy. She wanted peace. She wanted revenge. Lan above all, wanted to just close this saga of suffering and put their loved ones to rest. Closure, she craved it.
BOSS HP: 38? (IDEK) ((NOT ROLLING LAN STAHP SOB GIMME DAT INSANITY)) (( Stats: ))
Name: Lan HP: 30/40 FEAR Strength: 100% Insanity Strength: 60% Items: None RP Blurb:Also Boobs. Also shame per usual
So this was what everything culminated to: the very beast that still haunted them long after the Fall. The price it took to get there, to hazard the illusions and live in a waking dream, all to be brought back to this harsh reality of a monstrous bird and a shrunken High Priestess on the verge of death.
In this madness, Shik felt himself shamefully slipping. Whispers had begun to wriggle like small rats in his mind, unprovoken thoughts and worries trying to cloud his vision. Could he really strike at the manifestation of what they had once been and could no longer be? At Mai, at Orithia . . .
A peculiar sensation settled in the pit of his stomach as he summoned his dagger dug into the phoenix. It took him a moment to recognize it as true, unadulterated sorrow, the kind that he never allowed himself to feel.
This changed to surprise when his dagger continued on its merry way without his guidance and cut at a familiarly red-skinned artisan. "This is madness," he murmured as he yanked his weapon away before it did too much harm.
-Kaiyumi
Recoil: HI ZHI ILU
BOSS HP: 38 - 8 = 30 Stats:
Name: Shikoba Len Faction: Horseman HP: 40/40 Fear: 100% Insanity: 20% + 10% = 30% Visual Reference:Here, Mr. 6'4", currently with a big gash in his side and blood on his arms and knees
A voice broke her thoughts and she found herself back where she started. The bluebird found herself in a brief daze as she looked at the faces of her fellow clansmen and then toward the giant monstrosity in front of her. Slowly, the horsewoman attempted to gather her thoughts together into one coherent stream of words before she took in the load roar of voices chattering together. She flinched, one eye squeezed shut as she stared at the phoenix with a clearer gaze. The bird was a new sight to her, but it didn’t take Jay long to realize what lay before her. “No…” she murmured meekly, taking a step back as her wings curled around her protectively like a feeble shield.
Her hands slowly reached up to clutch both sides of her head as her ears filled with voices from the past. She heard the smooth voice of her mother, the gruff baritone of her father. She heard the tinkling laughter of an old friend and the low hum of another. It had been months and months and so long, but each and every voice was etched into her memory permanently. Each voice called forth a name and Jay shook her head in an attempt to drive the titles out of her mind. The titles, inevitably, would bring images of friends and family lost and of memories filled with bitter nostalgia and a deep longing to return to a home that no longer existed.
“Shhh…” she mumbled. “Shhhh…Just hush, please. Please.” She nearly retreated into herself, but a sudden thought struck her. No. It was a refusal to give into her weakness. She gradually unfurled her wings and stood straighter, yet the twisted frown on her lips never left, nor the shy furrow of her brows. The warrior regained enough confidence just as the High Priestess appeared. A light flickered in Jay’s eyes as she took in Medea’s appearance, but then switched to keenly absorbing her words. Yes, she was right. The priestess was always right.
Jay held out a hand to summon her weapon and leapt at the phoenix with her blade raised, but something was in the air. The fog made her confused, disoriented. As she confusedly looked left and right, she chose to fling her dagger into the fog in hopes of hitting her target once more. It didn’t.
Damage: 3 Recoil: WOOPS SORREH SHIK Boss HP: 6?
Ol-j-man
Name: Jay Faction: Horseman HP: 35/40 (From Shaheen below this post) Fear: 100% Insanity: 15% Visual Reference:link
Seussi rolled 2 8-sided dice:
1, 2Total: 3 (2-16)
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 7:15 pm
Her mind had been a whirl of memories. Of happy moments and proud moments. She was happy again, happy with who she was. Insanity free, strong, a proud warrior who had risen to chieftain in record time. All of that was completely shattered in an instant, the scene before her changing back, tearing her away from the place that she had grown, both as a horsewoman and as a leader.
And now she was back, faced with that damned insanity taken shape to form a Phoenix. A command to take it down, but she was still so disoriented, the voices of her parents, her few friends, calling out to her, bidding her to join them.
She had gotten the offer once before, and hadn't joined them then. Why would she do so now?
She summoned her dagger, though it was still hard to focus, she still felt slightly confused. Finally, when the time felt right, she leapt forward and dealt a slashing blow towards the Phoenix, her blade swinging wide, hitting somebody else as well before she flitted backwards with a a few strokes of her wings. Her face was grim, determined, though a sadness still lingered below the surface.
Scams cut through the comfortable silence of the memory that Nergui had been tapped in. Loud, desperate sheikhs that you're the quiet scene apart and rang painfully through the mare's mind. She did the noise, clapping dark palms uselessly over her ears as she dropped to her knees. The voices, so different and yet terribly familiar.
As mismatched eyes opened the mare let out a low whimper as fog formed feathers filed her vision. The Phoenix, or a shadow of it, raising before her as it had in so many nightmares past. The bird, as if that was an adequate description of the thing, was bad enough on its own, but beneath it, stalking forward with hands out starched and voices calling, marched the shadows off the past. Lost friends and family, all the denizens that had died in the destruction of their home. Neru had always been a bit of a loner, but even she found faces within the crowd that made her heart hurt. Allies and sisters, soldiers. Those she had liked, respected, and even those she'd disliked. All of them called out to her, begged her to come home.
Then Medea mass herself known, and the sight of the high protests in her current state had the dark skinned mare gasping, hands snapping up to press over her mouth to silence the cry that threatened to spoil pay midnight lips. She watched Medea faced the shadows of their former clans, whispering, and set them free.
After that all the priestess needed was an order, and as Medea gave everyone around snapped to action. Her own dark weapon came to her hand, but before she could join the fray it seemed as if they'd..won?
Or not.
On tenter-hooks the mare waited, fingers tightening around the hilt of her blade.
The phoenix the Insanity screeched, and took flight, disappearing above the thick layer of fog, fog that curled around everyone, blinding and isolating them, giving them a taste of despair and then-
Silence.
'Where is our home, our home - where is-
- The ground split open in several different parts, large grey trees suddenly shooting out, leaves still fragment, fog-covered. Grey forges began to form from ashen tiles as molten white lava churned around them. An illusion, made entirely out of Insanity. Even still, the fog curled higher and higher, grey towering buildings growing detail, familiar statues now a thick smoky black, fountains a mockery of their former selves, fading at the edges to white.
They were in a strange, distorted reality of their old clans, a reality meshed together, bits of and pieces of each clan, unable to form true life. Pale. Quiet. Still.
And then, from the fog itself, two shapes burst from the ground, horrific and grotesque and yet oddly familiar. They didn't talk, simply screeched, reared horrifically and snorted, attacking any that came near, attempting to drag with teeth and hooves those that reached them back into the fog.
'Come with us back home'.
OOC
HORSEMEN BOSS FIGHT PART 2: - From the fog emerges two shapes - strange Insanity creatures. Where did they come from, and why do they look familiar, somehow? - You may attack up to 5 times per boss this round. HP is carried over but your Fear charge is recovered. - The LESS HP each boss has, the more you understand what they are saying, the more you can hear them outside shrill screeches and cries
Kuromeez
- The fog has captured you entirely as the phoenix flies away, isolating you from everyone else. You feel strange for a second. The Insanity is too strong, you for a second lose entirely who you are and only can feel pain and loss, the strong urge to run, to go home, to cast away anyone in your way as you blindly seek to go home. - The LESS HP your have, the more you regain consciousness as you try to call out to the others... - When your HP goes to 0 you finally feel at peace as you solidify into stone
- Mengao is now an Insanity boss! They have 75/75 HP. They can target 1 person at a time and roll 2d12. No Fear attacks can be used. They can attack every time someone attacks them.
xoxomenai
- The fog has captured you entirely as the phoenix flies away, isolating you from everyone else. You feel strange for a second. The Insanity is too strong, you for a second lose entirely who you are and only can feel pain and loss, the strong urge to run, to go home, to cast away anyone in your way as you blindly seek to go home. - The LESS HP your have, the more you regain consciousness as you try to call out to the others... - When your HP goes to 0 you finally feel at peace as you solidify into stone
- Kiwi is now an Insanity boss! They have 75/75 HP. They can target 1 person at a time and roll 2d12. No Fear attacks can be used. They can attack every time someone attacks them.
Tseng just sort of made a face back at Zhi after he had been hit by him. Though, he soon looked as the phoenix seemed to leave them. That was it? That was hardly a glorious end for a battle. Before he could make any sort of objection, he nearly lost his balance as the ground split open to have trees bursting on out. He couldn't help but stare as the fog formed some sort of twisted place reflecting all four clans in one way or another.
That wasn't in though. Two horses of fog now stood before them.
... And he could have sworn there were less horsemen here too.
This was not good.
Clutching his bow, he wasn't entirely certain what to do. So he decided to try and bide them a little more time. As he pulled his bowstring back, the weapon began to shine a brilliant light.
"LIGHT OF A THOUSAND SUNS!" he cried out. However, the bright light lasted a little too shortly, proving to be a little ineffective this time around.
Target: Mengyao Effect: Nothing because he missed >( Attack: 1 Stats:
Name: Tseng Lee HP: 35 FEAR Strength: 90% Insanity Strength: 20% Items: RP Blurb: Horsemen of conquest wearing a teal tunic.
It was probably a good thing that Yuzhi was so low to the ground because she didn't have to fall far when the ground suddenly shifted and she ended up on her rear end with a soft 'Oomf'. That was certainly inconvenient; as she sat there trying to gather her wits again there was a sudden moment of dread as she saw the figures emerge from the fog making quite the racket.
They were threats, whatever they were.
She got back onto her own feet and then gathered FEAR into herself appearing to grow a bit in size as she gathered strength within throwing arm she used for her spear and when it felt right she flung it at the unwinged creature.
Zhi wanted to talk to you after all this was done and over with, Shik.
The man grimaced in pain as the war horseman yanked his dagger away, lifting a hand to rub at his newfound--albeit fortunately not too serious--injury. The little cut, however, was obviously very quickly forgotten when a series of things suddenly happened, the first being the almost anticlimactic disappearance of the phoenix. Was that it? After stumbling around and attacking it, they were unable to free the--
--what the hell was going on.
Zhi swung his bow back up, turning this way and that as trees shot up from out of nowhere, followed by a number of buildings and statues, some of which he knew very well. They worst thing of all, however, was the sudden appearance of two large creatures. Without any hesitation, Zhi automatically drew back his string and shot an arrow at the one closest to him.
Target: Kiwi Damage: 5 Target HP: 70
(( Stats: ))
Name: Zhiqiang HP: 30/40 FEAR Strength: 100% Insanity Strength: 20% Items: RP Blurb:6'0" Conquest Horseman
He screamed, shrieked, and kicked his feet in the air, the sound reverberating throughout the enclosure. The horseman clearly did not appreciate the attacks, rearing up on his back legs and snapping its teeth together, the sound awful and twisted.
All around him was nothing but an endless white and grey shift of fog, blinding his vision. But the pain was the worst. Crippling in on him from the inside out, heavy as a sandstorm at his back. A thousand voices calling to him, all the lives of the Famine Isle, and all the lives of the Four Clans itself, screaming in unison, something that struck Kiwi to his very core:
‘Come home with us!’
For a split moment he wasn’t certain where he was, or even who he was. Something felt different, different in him. He could almost hear it, see it, almost taste and touch it. Home was there, calling to him. He had to go homeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Kiwi pushed forward, and his voice rose through the Insanity surrounding him: “Come with ussss back homeeeeeee-” Sounding far more like a deafening screech than actual words, though he heard nothing, felt nothing but the calm warm tug distantly ahead that bid him freedom from all this pain.
That is, til what almost felt like an arrow punctured his side. The colt reared, voice braying into the white all around him and stamped hooves and gnashed teeth. Homeeeeeeeeee. He had to get homeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Jay should have known this would happen. She stood her ground as the fog descended upon them again, isolated them from each other once again even though she knew the others were so close. She just couldn’t see them. Her wings rustled tirelessly just before the wave of emotion struck her. She covered her head as she refused to let the despair overtake her. Nononono…
But then there was an unsettling silence just before the words rang out. The ground split open to let loose a variety of things. Trees, buildings, lava formed from the fog and the more Jay watched the scene unfold, the more familiar the parts became to her. They were all parts of the islands, but they were meshed together into one thing. The last things two appear were two beings made from Insanity. She clicked her tongue as she gripped her dagger and prepared herself for yet another battle. She should have seen it coming. She really should have.
There were two targets, but she could only hit one. Green eyes curiously looked between the two before one of them decided to attack Zhi. “Hey!” Frowning, she threw her dagger at the creature.
