153 replies to this topic

[Kinewa]

She swore under her breath. The druid would be a problem. Filthy lover of nature. She hated his very being. His power in the forest had been the only thing keeping her out, but now he was in her land.

She removed her hood to reveal a creamy pale face with sharp features. Her eyes had a reflective glare like those of a cat. She brushed her hair back with a long-nailed hand and tucked it behind her pointed ears. Now was her time.

She waited until she was sure that the humans were asleep. Their heart rates slowed to a rythmic pulse, calling her name. She wanted to attack them tonight. The desire was nearly overpowering, but she would have to wait longer. Because of that damned druid, she would have to wait. It didn't matter, though. Her land stretched far and wide, and she would eventually have her chance to attack. For now, she could toy with them. She had influence over many horrors of the day.

[Megell]

Miguel sat in the dark dank cavern shivering. Not because he was cold, but because he really disliked the cramped space this little cave had. It was suffocating. The air hung wet and moist, the size was too tight, and he just wanted to get out of here. He hated spaces like this. A bead of sweat stuck to his forehead; there would be very little chance of him getting a goodnight sleep before this night was over. Hugging his knees, he wished with all his being hoped the hours would pass quickly.

((Oh, and thanks Kinewa for clarifying that. Much love, #GLOMPS#))

[Mizukage]

Even in the deep darkness the peddler's torment was obvious, even without my curse (or was it a blessing?) I could see his agony. I would love to meet his brother, a truly powerful man he must be.

With my darksight I was able to see my companions spread around the small cavern, though none truly appeared asleep.

I watched the boy's laboured breathing and caught the reflection of my ghastly glowing eyes in his own open, tear filled ones, no conciousness behind them, the sleeping draught still worked.

The knight and the druid seemed the closest to sleep, sitting quietly withdrawn to themselves, eyes closed. Did they too feel the evil gaze that watched over us?

I was slightly disapointed with the druid's apperant thought that we did not need to be informed that we had company still in the cave, but at least she (for it was a she) would guard the back door.

with a chuckle I curl up on my knees and slip into a restful state, my keen senses attuned to the darkness around me, my domain.

[Kinewa]

Two in the morning. Four hours before dawn. She begins to tremble as her lust grows stronger and stronger. There will be no more waiting.

She draws a circle on the ground beside her with the sweep of a nail, then begins to walk around it. As she walks, she mutters dark words under her breath. a hazy image begins to appear in the middle of the circle, and as it grows it becomes more clear.

The summoned creature looks much like a dire rat, except for its enormous size. Its teeth extend to about a foot long and one of its boney paws could easily wrap around a human torso. It has yellow glowing eyes that see even in the darkest of nights. Its fur sticks out in matted tufts.

She orders it to tear down the rocky wall carefully so as not to disturb her prey. As it begins to break through, she can feel excitement course through her body like an adrenaline rush. She whistles lowly and more of her hounds appear from the nearby grass.

The creature completes its job, and now there is a significant opening in the cave. She can feel their pulses speeding up now, can tell that they are waking up. The rat-like creature swiftly reaches into the opening, sweeps with its paw, and pulls someone out. It's the paladin.

As the paladin begins to fight back, the woman prepares a spell to attack the others.

[Rytiko]

((Is this some sick way of getting back at me for closing my RP? X_x ...))

So swift, and so quiet. He had neither heard nor had time to defend himself before being scooped out of the cave by the giant claw belonging to some hideously deformed, gargantuan rat. He could do nothing but squirm.

He was completely wrapped within it's paw, and completely defenseless. He couldn't draw the sword on his back, and he couldn't break free. He began to call out loudly, hoping to wake the others. There was little else to be done, and it would seem that they had to be warned anyway.

There were more hounds, and a woman. Was this their former attacker? It had to have been. So he wasn't insane - this was the leader of their assault, and the one that had harmed the boy. He would have his revenge for that....

Level up!
Paladin Tech Level 2 - Holy Barrier Level 1 of 3 (level 3 = Holy Armour; Perfect Defense)

Calling upon a technique he had only ever seen, he unleashed a massive amount of energy to form a repelling barrier around himself, which would break through even the strong grip of the rodent. From there, he would use what energy he had left to hold off the attack for as long as possible. His agile frame would be suited for dodging the swipes of the rat and defending himself from the beasts they had already fought once before. At least, Leon hoped so...

He hit the ground with less grace than he had expected. There was a sharp pain in his ankle that shot trough his entire body, causing him to fall down to one leg. Damn... It wasn't broken, of that Leon was sure - But it was, at the very least, a sprain. This would make things difficult. Drawing his blade, he remained crouched. It was best not to strain himself for now. Hopefully the others would have heard his calls and come to his rescue...

[Kinewa]

The rat drew back in confusion, its paw numb from the attack. Still slightly wary, it swiped at Leon with an outstretched claw. The claw just barely brushed across the man's arm, and the small scratch began to draw blood. It immediately raised higher on its hind legs, ready to attack again.

[Queztatlapoca]

The druid woke with a start to the sound of the paladin yelling from outside the cave. Which was open once again. Getting to his feet he woke the resident bear and calling upon one of his only innate abilities began his transformation. His tightly strung muscles tensed, his backed arched, hands were spasming. Hair was growing from all places. His nails grew and sharpened, his mouth broadened and streched to form what resembled a wolf snout. With his transformation completed he dashed out of the cave followed closely by the recently woke brown bear and saw Leon down on one knee, what looked like a rat, more hounds, and a woman he felt had ill intentions for them. Seeing the knight engaged with the rat the werewolf ran towards a pack of the demon hounds and sent the bear to help the knight.

[Megell]

Jostled awake by rocks, stones, and dust striking his face, Miguel thought he worse nightmare had finally happened, he was being buried alive; being pushed into a smaller, and smaller place until his life left him. The rocks rolled on top of his body, covering him, burying him, enclosing him. The world was completely black. His eyes were wide. He was buried alive he was going to die here. A thousand worries struck him at once; he tried to move, he couldn?t; he wanted to escape, he didn?t know if he could. He was paralysed by his own fear. Was he already dead?

Miguel arms scrambled, he waved like a mad man, and he brushed at his face? He was only buried in a thin layer of dust and debris. None the less, he scrambled out of a hole into the night as fast as he could.

He was in the night air all at once. He was on his knees looking up at the stars? he really was still alive? It just didn?t seem right to cheat death so many times in ones lifetime. He breathed in, closed his eyes and prayed to god. He really was alive. His senses slowly came back to him, or they quickly came back to him. He wasn?t sure because time had lost all meaning. He looked around himself in a daze; his eyes adjusting to the night showed him what had woken him: a battle. A giant rat seemed to want to rip into the wanna-be-knight. As well several of those wolf things were attacking some giant werewolf, presumably the witch doctor, AKA the druid.

Miguel sighed, he was right; there were more of the things out there. They would hound them until they were all dead. Miguel reached into his sack, and grabbed his faithful wire, one of his books, and grabbed a stone from the ground. He looked around the area to make sure his plan was feasible. Shrugged then decided to try it anyways. The cliff the cave was in was mainly composed of a small cliff wall about 20 feet high at most, then a slope that ran up a fairly steep hill that had a angle of approximately 45 degrees. Near the top of the slope was a field of rubble and major stones, a couple boulders, and perhaps a trap. Miguel had a plan.

He could escape this situation, but protection at the moment was slim in pickings, he would need to protect these guys if he could, and better yet get him to owe him something in return. Miguel stood up, the wires tied directly around his fingers, his usual puppet master set up. He scrambled up the cliff face and took some time to loosen some of the larger choice boulders that seemed to be only held in place by a rock or two. Then fastened his lines onto the keystones of these massive stones. Running further up the cliff, Miguel took time to fashion out about nine of these traps, enough to get the mountain moving in all the right places.

He just hoped his? friends? had as good reflexes as he hoped they did. He pulled on the first of the strings, then the others. Smiling as he watched the stones start to bound down the slope towards the ground below, each knocking out other stones in a chain reaction pattern. He had started an avalanche.

He smiled psychotically; the scene was bound to be interesting as the large boulders came crashing down. He called out in a loud voice. ?Avalanche!?, giving his companions just enough time to react and gain protection, but not enough to allow the enemies to escape. He sat down in his usual cross-legged pattern on the ground, waiting to watch his mayhem to happen. A large grin crossed his face and a chuckle came out from under his breath. ?Check mate,? he whispered.

[Rytiko]

The beast tore into Leon's arm. Left unable to do much in the ways of dodging, there was nothing else that could have happened. He had made a mistake, and it now appeared,a s the beast prepared a second slash, that it would cost him his life. Pathetic. After all he had done in the past, he would die facing a giant rodent...

But it would appear that his plea was heard! Salvation, in the form of a bear, had come to his aid. Quickly leaping onto and sinking it's teeth into the arm of the rat, the furry behemoth had saved him. He had a chance. There was no time for reflection, only movement. The bear as his guard, he would be the sword of light that cut through the opposition.

He could see that no one else had given up - the druid had probably summoned the werewolf-looking creature as he had sent the bear to his aid, and even the merchant was scaling the cliff. Whether he was running away or preparing for something, Leon could not tell. But he hadn't given up hope. Raising his sword and standing on his good leg, he was prepared to at least defend himself. Blade shining, he prepared to attack when the rodent next attacked.

His moment was cut short though. The merchant had called out, as boulders began to tumble, "Avalanche!!" ... So it would appear he was to leap backward and hope to avoid the rock slide. With an excruciating amount of pain, he succeeded in at least that much. The rocks threw up such a dust cloud, though, that he was unable to see what became of the bear and what he now realized must be the Druid.

[Queztatlapoca]

With his senses heightened and reflexes improved was keeping the hounds at bay with minor difficulty. As one leaped at him, the werewolf side stepped and caught the thing by it's throat crushing it's trachea and hurled the corpse at a nearby hound. He, as he dropped to the ground on all fours ready to pounce on another hellhound while simultaneously dodging another leaping over him, heard the noise of rocks falling down a mountain side. The he heard the merchants yell "Avalanche!!". He pushed up with his forepaws and rotated 180 degrees and leapt towards the incoming rocks landing on the larger ones and jumping immediately to another. He was running up the mountain slide. Just as it ended he caught the edge of the cliff and pulled himself up to the beginning of the up slope. He nodded to the merchant in thanks and spun to look at the aftermath and was horrified to see the bear pinned beneath a pile of rubble.

[Mizukage]

with the sudden, and predicatble attack on the cave I watched as my colleuges rushedo ut of the cave, performing to thier utmost. A simple bog witch and her summonings, nothing I should bother myself with, Especially with the merchant collapsing the mountain oon top of his escort.

Thinking quickly I lay down a fine line of powder that blends with the dirt but would give off a blinding flash of light as warning if it was stepped on and then against my better judgement I grab the still prone boy and hurry out through the back of the cave, previously guarded by the she-bear.

as I expected there were no threats to been seen or sensed.

Expecting the worst I drop the boy a couple of paces outside the entrance and stealthily prepare my ambush.

[Megell]

Staring down the mountain in triumph, Miguel sat admiring his handiwork. He had single handily taken out the vast majority of the attacking beasts. The large rodent hadn?t been killed, but it moved as if it was in agony; if it was in its death throngs. Miguel chuckled the beasts hadn?t though about the terrain and it had cost them dearly. He adjusted his collar as he sat, the others would make quick work of all the foes that remained, all he needed to do was sit back and enjoy the show.

Or that?s what he thought. At the same time he heard a growling sound coming up rapidly from behind him, he just thought one phrase as he turned to see the first of the three wolves starting into a leap at him, its teeth trying to tear and bite into his skin. Miguel reacted instinctively, he rolled out of the way in a second and the beast jumped passed him harmlessly. As it fell past him, he stood up and placed his hands in his pockets. The terrain would prevent him from escaping this situation. Also there were no items remaining to fashion traps out of, he would just have to rely on his other skill. His ability to dodge near anything until help arrived.

He watched as the remaining two wolf beasts move off to different sides, he realized instantly that they were boxing them into a corner, he was being trapped on all sides, and from all sides they would attack. The strategy was simple but effective, keep one of them in his blind spots at all time and attack to locations he couldn?t see.

The wolf things were growling in agitation, they were getting anxious for the kill, there blood-lust growing like some sort of lotus flower. They formed a perfect triangle on all sides of him, he was boxed in. The first of the beasts jumped at him, it was the one from his top right corner, Miguel simply stepped to the side and the beast passed by without so much as coming close to him. Then diverting his attention to the other two he noticed the one from behind him was running full tilt at him, attempting to catch him by surprise, he merely learned to the right and the beast passed by as if it wasn?t even aiming for him. The final one launched itself at his head, trying desperately to bite his face, he merely ducked and the beast flew over his head.

They would never have a chance of hitting him, he would just have to wait them out for some rescue.

[Mizukage]

the cacophony that resonated through the cave was rather disturbing, the sounds of battle were still present but things were, well, different.

The smell of a trio of brown wolves were added to the fray and the sounds of the the mutants life were dripping away. there was still an unseen watcher though, at she was preparing a deathblow.

again logic was overcome by something, greed, lust, desire, whatever it was it played off my natural caution and cunning. it would not be good if I had to deal with this without a crew.

After carefully concealing the child from most senses I stealthily climb up the small mound to survey the surroundings, a strange sight this battle was.

it appeared that the whole world had decided to rise against us, the peddler was dancing with a trio of wolves directly above the entrance to the cave, rocks and rubble were stewn around the battlegrounds. the bear was pinned and being assaulted by the remaining two shadowhounds, the mutant rat had been dealt with but had inflicted some moderate wounds on the paladin and a werewolf was standing off to the left, despite the appearance it would seem this was the druid.

and out in the treeline, 15 feet from the cave i saw what I was looking for, the bog hag, preparing her spell.

seeing that i was in the best position to deal with her I acted swiftly, running towards the edge I make a running jump out towards her. as I near the treeline (32 on my fantastic leap check) I use a similar tactic to before, but with a slight twist. attached to my first dagger was a small clay jar of a caustic liquid, designed to break on impact. i throw the weapons and (with the critical hit, magical damage plus a substance of fire and wounding) hit the bog witch right in the forehead with the caustic blade, the jar explodes and the vile substance destroys her head without a sound.

her summons disapate as I finish my leap by catching onto one of the branches of a tree and break through the cover, knocking the wind out of me as I fall to a lower branch and suffer several cuts and scrapes

[Kinewa]

(OOC) Good job moving along without me guys. (/OOC)


She waited quietly for the travellers to finish the battle. She had not expected this strength, especially with the tension that she had already felt in the party. If she were human, she may have felt sadness when she witnessed the massacre of her summons: her companions. But she was not human, and she felt no emotion. Rather, she felt a need to raise her standards.

Quietly, she slipped to the side of the battle while no one but the rogue seemed to notice her presence. As she watched the man carry the wounded child deep into the cave, she blended into the shadows and conjured a multiply spell, creating a life-like version of herself in case the rogue came after her.

She waited in the background, completely hidden by the darkness. Eventually, the group had defeated her wolves and the rat summon. They were breathing laboriously and some of them were wounded.

She cast a levitation spell and rose above the trees, calling the attention of the weakened party.

"What brings you to my part of the land?"

[Queztatlapoca]

The werewolfs head turned to look at the hovering hag, and he let out a low snarl. When the druid spoke his voice was oddly unchanged. "YOUR part of the land? Who are you to claim ownership of this great land?" He was unblinking while staring at the thing which just claimed to own a part of the earth mother. "but i am forgetting myself. We are merely passing by on our journey north."

[Kinewa]

"This part of the land is just as much mine as the forest is yours, druid," she replied. "You speak of cooperation with nature, but you yourself know that it's really domination. I've merely applied your practices here."

"You have entered my land and expect to make it through without paying my fees, and unfortunately I may be forced to destroy you. This is for everyone's good you know, safety isn't free. In fact, I'm willing to go easy on you. All I want is the boy. He's useless and half-dead as is, so I'm sure you would be relieved to have him taken off your hands."

[Megell]

Un Deterred by the fact that Miguel wasn?t dieing when they attacked him, the hell hounds continued to attack him. He evaded effortlessly and at the same time reached for the rock he had picked put from before. Tying it onto one of his wires, he threw it at one of the beasts as it attempted to bit his torso. He caught it around the neck, giving it a quick tug, the wire cure deep into the beasts neck and severed its head. The blood shot out and coated Miguel?s face as it splattered around, leaving a volatile print etched into his face. He smiled, this was starting to get amusing.

The other wolf things, though seeming not concerned over his decapitation their ally, looked at him for a second, and then ran. Seemingly called of by some force. Miguel stared at the beasts a little confused and rubbed his blood-covered hand into his white hair dying it a crimson red. He gave a look of bewilderment as the last of the beasts disappeared into the woods. He began to walk down the slope to where the druid was, he saw him talking to some woman, perhaps she had some answers? Other then the obvious. He smiled, this night was actually kind of fun, he had shed some blood? He crossed the thought out of his mind, he couldn?t let his nature out at the moment; He had to keep his focus set.

[Mizukage]

an interesting trick, but it wouldn't stop me. she didn't seem to be an actual threat, she just had a low CHA score. Listening as i climbed down from my perch I watched her, absorbing ever nuance of her movements. she may be speaking reason but that doesn't mean she was incapable of another outburst.

I stealthily snuck behind a large poplar, its smell masking my presence. watching the witch and her interactions I readied another set of knives, she may need, pursuasion, to see things my way.

[Queztatlapoca]

"What would you want with a "useless half dead" boy?" the druid asked. "You attack us without provocation and assume to ask a fee of us. You are a common bandit who deserves no less then death. Tell me why i should not kill you and just continue on our way?"

This witch wanted the boy, and given the evil aura the woman was emanating the druid was going to make sure she didn't touch him.

[Rytiko]

He was still relatively incapable of movement, but was able to see and hear the events as they took place around him. Eli was safe for the moment, but the woman wanted him... So it would be up to them to make that decision. The sad matter was that they didn't have very good options. Either outcome was terrible.

In response to the Druid's threat of killing her, Leon, who had slowly moved to the fallen rock in the time of combat in hopes of at least having something to contribute to the party, let out a deep sigh.

"The answer to that question is obvious," he said, limping in the direction of the druid. "We can't. I'm sure you can sense her overwhelming dark power. She'll summon more and more beasts to keep us occupied while she keeps running, because she is either too cowardly or too wise to face us herself. Enshrouded in darkness, she outclasses us. The difference in power is obvious here."

Finishing his grim words, he looked to the druid with eyes filled with sadness. They couldn't win in a fight, and there was no way to escape with him holding them back. Would they have to give up the boy...? Leon, though wanting to do nothing of the sort, saw no real option. Even the stealthy ploys of the rogue would prove useless. The knives would be deflected or hit nothing, as the quick glint of the witch's eyes assured Leon that she was aware of their leader's presence. There was little that could be done. Perhaps that is what made Leon ready to say what he did.

"Take Eli. I'll only hold you back. Run, and I'll try and follow. With my leg though... I won't be able to keep up. Luckily I'm not a target - she may rush right past me in pursuit of you. I... I don't see that we've any other options. We can't keep fighting."