"Guardians' breath!" Eligor cursed as everything suddenly seemed to explode into chaos. His suggestion to just leave was not only ignored, but apparently, vetoed by the door slamming shut behind them. Wait a minute...where was Nephi?
The next sound was the splintering of wood as Alethea's ranseur nearly split the old throne at the end of the table. Had she...?!? No, the horned creature had eluded her, but not escaped unscathed from the look of it. His informant hadn't been so lucky. Well, it seemed the opportunity for avoiding hostility was past.
"Watch your backs! We're outnumbered and surrounded!" he called as a reminder, shortly before being cut off by the roar of a new creature. What devilish new hell was this?!? Clearly a new abomination from the dark forest, the thing radiated the sickening feel of corruption and its appearance turned the stomach. Gripping his staff tightly to steel himself and focus, Eligor drew his magic while forcing himself to keep an eye on the beast. When his power was ready, he raised his hand to send a magical blast of Light at the creature.
"There is no place in this world for such a monst--AHH"
Eligor's magical attack flew up and wide, missing its target, as one of the rodent creatures had leapt through the air and latched onto his wrist. Grimacing, the mage whipped his arm to the side to dislodge the creature, which went flying with a pitiful squeal. Ugh, perhaps he should focus on reducing their number a bit while the others focused on the abomination.
Well, there went negotiations. Not that she was all that upset by it. These accursed abominations were begging to be cleansed. The world would be better rid of them anyway. And this time, no one could point at Lailah for starting the hostilities.
She was just joining in now to defend herself and save her comrades.
Following Alethea's charge, Lailah focused her sights on the horned, fuzzy loudmouth. It would be a pleasure to shut him up, after all. However, within moments, he'd called for reinforcements and she had to take pause to consider this development. She narrowed her eyes at the hideous creature that emerged from the darkness. Of course, the coward had backup, but what the hell was it?
Armored, from the look of it, and that bubbling green drool looked dangerous as well. They'd have to find a way to strike in the chinks of its armor, but aside from that and avoiding the slime, it seemed doable. Unless this thing had some new secrets to pull from thin air. Always a danger with things from the dark forest. Best take it out, then focus on the fuzzy, horned one.
Though she'd tried to keep herself mostly hidden in her flanking maneuver, the shadows had also been filled with the squirrel-like creatures. As she tried to move to intercept the larger beast, a group of them rushed to block her. It wouldn't do to ignore them, their snapping jaws and scrabbling claws were looking for any inattentive fool to give them a chance to strike. Fine, she'd just have to carve a path to her real target.
Glaring at the horde of rodents, Lailah sneered and twirled her blades before setting her grip again. "Alright, rats, let's dance."
Doof rolled 1 10-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-10)
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 2:10 pm
MISS!
Doof
Offline
Doof
Offline
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 3:12 pm
"s**t."
For one young demon, the tension in the air had shattered at the same time as her veneer of knightly protocol.
It had been a matter of moments since Katya had assured Dante that the situation would 'blow up'. Now, with this new, twisted beast's appearance, it had done just that. A number of the mutated rodents had surged forward at the second whip crack, one latching onto Eligor's arm, despite Genesis, Alethea and Harveer having moved ahead as a screening force. He was still a little far forward for a mage, having less than a minute ago been one of the mouthpieces for their group, and Katya winced as his spell flew wide.
For a moment, the archer considered going after the little balls of tooth and claw also, but they were small, fast and hard to hit. She had only a limited number of arrows, after all. She noted the somewhat catlike body, and otherwise insectile limbs and head, and figured the thing had a good amount of agility itself. The layers of carapace likely functioned as moderately effective armour, reducing the creature's target cross-section even further.
And then there was the blue runt. Although Katya had not heard much of his provocative tirade, she could see that he was the master of these tainted abominations, and to her mind that drew a mark upon his head, Guardians' mercy be on him. As she began to pull back her nocked arrow, a moment of hesitation halted Katya for a second as the flighty, usually-compassionate youth realized the gravity of what she was thinking. In that second however, Genesis had clashed powerfully with the summoned beast, and the two of them blocked any shot she would have had at the fuzzball. Katya cursed again, as she realized that failing to stop these creatures would be the end of them all.
Katya jumped and let a wingbeat carry her further upwards. Her bow was drawn and aimed at the tainted leader of the beasts, mostly still obscured by his abominable cat-bug, but perhaps worth a shot. For all of her consternation previously, the young demon loosed her arrow almost subconsciously, once the shot was lined up. She was still sailing through the air when in a blur, an arthropodal leg swung into view. It didn't quite knock the arrow out of the way, so much as it simply interposed itself between the missile and its mark. For its part, Katya's arrow ricocheted harmlessly off the chitinous limb.
The demon blinked in disbelief before she hit the ground at a run, moving rapidly to Eligor's position. With a swift, accurate punch, she knocked aside a tainted rodent that had launched itself at him in an odd mirror of what the large beast had done for its master. Perhaps if she could help cover the gifted caster, his next magical assault would find its mark.
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 4:23 pm
Enemy Dodged!
Alethea scrambled to her feet and spun around to hold her ranseur to the villain. Adrenaline pumping, she didn't even flinch at the whip-crack. However, she did gasp at the creature the whip-crack apparently summoned.
*clank*
Her head whipped around at the sound of Harveer's blade hitting the ground. Slowly she edged back and nudged it towards him. "We have to aim for the underbelly." When Genesis' hit landed, the pink angel took her chance to swipe at the monster's legs, intending on tripping it up.
But she missed. She missed. But how?
She lacked the focus. She was angry and wanting to turn this beast into dust, yes. But she'd heard Eligor cry out. One of those terrible little beasties had bit him! She'd turned and swung her polearm, hitting the squirrel that Eligor had launched as he'd shaken it off. Another critter saved by Anguish.
She nudged the chunk of tainted squirrel that had fallen to her feet with the tip of her ranseur to make sure it wouldn't suddenly sprout a new head or something and attack. Eligor!
Catching sight of two targets who seemed to have ignored its entrance, the beast dodged lightly around most of the other Squires' attacks, trading blows briefly with Genesis, before escaping to target the pair again. Clarux and Dante each took a hit from the creature in their inattentiveness, then it focused on the one who dared attack its master. Filled with rage, the insectoid creature scrambled madly across the floor and launched itself at Alethea. It took a wide slash with its clawed appendages, then retreated to a safe distance once more.
Outside of the chamber, a deafening roar shook the walls. A sudden impact against the door that had been slammed shut earlier did no bode well for whatever was going on out there.
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:24 pm
Round 1 Ending Stats!
Squires
Eligor - 120 HP Nephi (outside in foyer) - 96 HP Alethea - 108 HP Harveer - 140 HP Lailah - 140 HP Dante - 138 HP Clarux - 97 HP Katya - 140 HP Genesis - 140 HP
Enemy
Tainted Beast - 90 HP
*****
Despite only minimal blows on both sides, the horned teen had a devious smile on his face.
"Tsk tsk...such brave warriors. Proud of yourselves for picking on children?" He had seen the one already drop his weapon in fear. If he thought this was a monster, then wait 'til he saw...
A roar, easily twice as loud as the previous beast's and much deeper in tone, tore through the room. A beast similar in shape, but far larger emerged from the shadows, dwarfing the first. Snarling at the Squires, this one seemed more mature, with additional points and barbs protruding from its armored carapace. If the other was the size of a mountain goat, this one was scaled more like a lion. It bounded forward to place itself between the horned one and its little one, and the Squires attacking, swaying back and forth, ready to strike.
"I don't think she's happy you were picking on her baby," Kerne taunted, drawing back to let his pets have their fun.
Eligor had seen the swift movement and raised his staff to block, when the incoming rodent was knocked aside by a swift punch. Aiming an appreciative nod to his fellow demon, he quipped, "Nice one, Katya. Appreciate the cover. These vile things are everywhere."
Hearing Alethea's voice, he turned, glancing at his wrist as he did so. "I don't think it broke the skin; it's fine." He also noted the pieces of rodent by her foot and realized what had befallen the unfortunate beast that had attacked him. Well, one less corrupt monster to deal with.
Taking a deep breath, he gripped his staff in both hands to focus, taking a step back. "If you girls can give me a moment's cover?" He drew his magic forth again, focusing on the staff as a center, then working as a conduit, drawing the power into one of his hands. He was nearly ready to take aim when the beast apparently decided it was tired of waiting. Fast, too fast, it flew through the air, struck Alethea, and fled again to a safe distance.
Without thinking, Eligor tracked the evil thing with his hand and released the stored Light magic as soon as it halted its erratic movement. He took only a moment's satisfaction in seeing his attack hit, then turned back to his comrade. "Alethea! Are you alr--"
He was interrupted by a loud roar as a second, larger monstrocity appeared...then an echoing, muffled roar that shook the floor from out in the corridor beyond the door. By the Guardians, more of them? How many more of these devils...?
Harveer could hardly believe he'd just frozen up. Not only had he frozen up, he'd dropped one of his blades. Thank the Guardians that Alethea was kind enough to at least nudge the tonfa in his direction. With all the fuzzballs swarming around, his eyes were constantly moving. The distraction of picking up the dropped blade would be enough to cause an opening, Harveer wasn't sure he could afford it.
This was a battle, he sure as hell couldn't afford to stand there and decide what to do with his weapon. The pale angel gave his head a slight shake and bent to get it. He needed that blade for any attack.
And sitting there, taunting him, at the end of his blade was one of those tainted rodents that had been sitting on Fuzznut's shoulder. Eyes narrowed, fingers curling around the handgrip, Harveer brought his remaining blade around in a swipe. The entire point was just to split the horrific rodent in two. Apparently it didn't see any danger in the squire retrieving his weapon and didn't move out of the way in time. Harveer sliced through the thing and managed to scoop up his weapon.
Blades in hands, he advanced on the smaller beast. Encouraged from managing to slice through the rodent, he aimed for one of the jointed limbs. His aim however, was so far off it wasn't even funny. Maybe it was the massive version of this already big thing behind it. The commentary from Fuzz Butt over there wasn't helping any either.
She listened to the sounds around her as she remained engaged with the tainted creature, covering for Harveer while he picked up his weapon and exposed himself. Genesis wasn't thrilled about the spectacle they were giving the tainted boy. She had boasted of him losing his minions, but it seemed they were already struggling. She was nearby to Alethea and saw the blow the creature had dealt her in her distraction. Genesis could see Alethea was still able to stand and defend herself, but Genesis now knew she'd have to keep an eye on her. Perhaps she had taken the loss of the squires the hardest and that's why she was acting so irrational, but it seemed the other girl now had a target painted on her back.
As the new creature emerged, Genesis glanced back to make sure Harveer had reclaimed his weapon. Once she saw that he did, she moved towards the larger creature. "I will keep this one occupied," Genesis called out, "make haste with the little one." Genesis struck the larger creature with her sword and then attempted to draw it away from the others. If she kept this one busy, perhaps they could quickly incapacitate the other one and join her.
Ugh, so many of these accursed things, they had to be crawling up from the depths of the earth! With a sneer, Lailah kicked another of the pests away that had tried to latch onto her boot. They could be fighting these things for eternity and there'd still be more of them!
Eyes flicking for only a moment towards the sounds of trouble from her comrades, Lailah struggled to keep complete awareness of her surroundings as yet another player joined the battle. Great, and this one was even bigger. Probably tougher too, and they had hardly managed to hurt the 'little' one yet!
Keep calm, Lailah...focus efforts. Find their weak spot, focus on one, then the other.
Genesis seemed to be drawing the larger one's attention so that the others could finish the smaller one first. Good enough plan. Whirling a blade to deprive one foolish rodent that had landed on her shoulder of its tail...and back pair of legs...Lailah cast off the remains of the creature and forayed into the fray.
Circling around behind the smaller creature, she studied its armored carapace, searching for openings, anywhere she could find a crack to fit a blade. Hideous. She stifled her disgust for the sake of the battle, choosing her moment to strike. When Eligor's magical blast hit the creature, she sprang. Unfortunately, by some luck, the creature's resulting recoil from the magical blast caused it to lash out and deflect her strike. Blade hit chitin and the impact would have shaken her grip had she not prepared for such an unfortunate turn.
Lailah stifled a curse and withdrew, keeping on her toes and ready to react if the creature attempted to counter her failed strike. As frustrating as it was to have not been able to do direct damage herself, if she could keep the beast distracted, then at least the others could continue doing damage. Keep it disoriented and confused, that was the game. Soon as they finished with this one, they could relieve Genesis with the larger beast.
Reply
