"Tempting, but I'm no cub. Thrill means nothing if it takes your life." -Rashan, Page 1.
Imperium - Anima Aeternum
The sound of a firearm rings through the chamber as Gremlock's attack finds its mark, the lead pellet rips through the chest of the Skuva pinning Trom, causing it to howl in pain as Trom pushes against it. Before Gremlock could properly aim his second attack however he hears the distinct sound of whistling wind, turning just in time to see a long chain whip over his shoulder and then snap down his back and between his legs, wrapping itself around his right leg. With an audible, high pitched crack that echoes through the room, Gremlock's left shoulder and right knee become dislocated simultaneously. He's then pulled several feet towards the poisonous fog, giving him only a few more seconds to try and worm his way out before inhaling the fumes.
Florence scrambles, pulling out his Pilum and dashing towards the chain pulling Gremlock. Just a dozen feet away from the slowly dissipating fumes, he jams his Pilum into a crack in the floor through one of the links in the chain, twisting it and then stamping his foot down on the chain. The Pilum was already struggling not to break under the pressure despite Florence putting all of his weight onto it. He looks to Gremlock and motions to the chains.
"Free yourself, quickly!" He looks up and back towards Aslo.
"ASLO! Drag Gremlock back behind one of the tables and reset his limbs!" It seemed he was intentionally making noise to help cover the approach of Nyla and Murderok, who he quickly nods in approval towards.
Nyla moved only a couple feet ahead of Murderok, unflinching despite the previous call for help from Trom, though there was concern in her eyes and a slight trembling with her arm holding her shield as a large bruise began to form where she had blocked the blow of the chain. They reach the pillar Murderok had in mind only for a Skuva to drop from the ceiling. Nyla manages to block with her shield in time, though ends up dropping her Gladius. Before the Skuva can recover from the fall, she shoves it up against the pillar with her shield, off of its feet, a clear and easy kill for Murderok. She keeps her mouth shut however as she forces her shield over the Skuva's mouth, trying to muffle any sounds it might try to make.
Meanwhile, Trom manages to push the wounded Skuva in front of him up enough that Gryff's shot finishes it off, striking it with a satisfying
thunk in the skull. The Skuva on the left starts moving for Trom as he pushes his shield out to stop it, reaching for his Gladius. Gryff could only watch as the creature rolled over his shield and slammed one of its hands into his torso with a violent, unsettling noise of ripping flesh and the snap of a rib. Trom twitches, then vomits out of shock onto its face. As it tries to wipe away the nauseating stench from its eyes, Trom punches it across the face, which only seems to elicit a growl from the creature as he spits a mixture of blood, spit, and bile at the creature with a bloody smile.
"Choke on it you piece of--gurgle~" The Skuva sinks its teeth into his throat and rips out his wind pipe, a few more moments of twitching, and the life left Trom's eyes. At the very least, he bought Gryff enough time to reload and have a clear executioner's shot on the Skuva.
Aslo's attack caught the scared Skuva off guard as it stumbled backward, the feint was an easy success as both of his blades sing through the air and cut through the Skuva's flesh. While it doesn't quite cut its head off, the surge of blood running from its open neck was enough to cause it to fall on its side. Though it was still alive, it was in no position to fight, and would be dead within a couple minutes.
Rheinfeld - Scheideweg
Draza's orders were heeded well as the two Republican soldiers suddenly looked more resolute. The one with the crossbow takes careful aim, narrowing his eyes down the sights before firing and managing to interrupt the angel's spell with the bolt cutting off the angel's pinkie finger on his left hand. As the angel howls in pain, Eustice charges only to be knocked aside by the swordsman.
"WAIT! I'm more useful to you alive!" Eustice screeches as he brings both arms over his head. The Republican soldiers shrug before they both start kicking and punching him repeatedly, bruising him and breaking one of his legs. The swordsman then turns to face the angel along with Moira, though as he takes a step towards the angel, he's hit with magic and blown clean through one of the barn's walls. The sickening crack that came from his back as he hit the wall was enough to tell Draza that he was very dead as he fell down the hill towards the camp.
The angel spits onto the dirt in the direction of his previous compatriot before looking to Moira and chuckling.
"What trouble do you think you will pose to me, little Tem--" He's interrupted as Kasim takes the opportunity to interrupt him mid-speech with an arrow. The arrow strikes him in the shoulder, causing him to grunt and stumble back from the force of the blow. He growls and takes off into the sky through the damage roof of the barn, ripping the arrow out of his shoulder and throwing it away.
"I WILL END YOU!" He howls at Kasim as he starts to prepare another spell, the wind around him quickening as the skies seem to slowly grow darker with clouds. It seemed like a great deal of magical power he was exerting, though Moira quickly shouts to the Queen's Guards as he moves to Eustice's side.
"THE CLOUDS AREN'T HIS! THERE'S ANOTHER MAGE IN THE AREA!... I think!"
The remaining Republican Soldier picks his crossbow back up and moves to Draza as he reloads.
"Uhh... Orders?" He says with uncertainty, his youth and inexperience clearly showing. He would likely be terrified if it weren't for Draza's aura.
As Zin rides down the hill with Davian, he seems conscious but unable to muster the strength to speak much beyond incoherent muttering. Her healing magic, as suspected, did nothing for the Templar. Down in the camp however she can see signs of violence, there were several men armed in neither Republican or Templar attire. Mercenaries. Expensive mercenaries.
Very expensive mercenaries. It looked as though the medical area of the camp was still safe, though it might not be for long. There was also no sign of Taigyn or Alida Spiegal as Davian slowly managed to mutter something somewhat coherent.
"... Keep... Safe..."
Liveria - Heaven's Haven
As Andrea mends Elrbetrt's wrist and the dust continues to permeate the air, several smaller boulders are moved with loud grunting as a green-brown figure stumbles out. Staring at his broken bow, the orc archer looks back up to Andrea and grins mischievously.
"No shaman, now mine." Before he can take a step closer however, dust is blown up into his face by a feathered wing. Gabriel's golden blade tip was already at the orc's throat.
"No, not yours. You want that, you get consent. You want consent? You ask." The orc opens his mouth only to feel the blade tip cut slightly into his skin.
"Not now... When we're safe. Only when we are safe. Now what is your name?" The orc coughs as he takes a step back, Gabriel lowering his blade as a response.
"Droka'tha." Gabriel nods.
"Good. Better. Now, Droka'tha... Do you have another weapon?" The orc cracks his knuckles as he looks at Andrea and Ceann, it looked like he was trying to show off.
"I am weapon."
Gabriel nods as he looks around the area, searching for someone else. Frowning when he realized that they were the only five there, he closes his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath as the dust continues to settle. He looks to the west with a small smile.
"I feel it. Others survived. At the very least, Molkar and Rayvon survived." Gabriel then looks off into the thick forest. A second howl echoes from the dirt road towards the cliff, and in the far distance was a large creature, though far enough in distance that no details could be ascertained from it.
"We should move. Into the forest. Immediately."
Meanwhile, in the west, the howl echoes through the valley. It had likely spotted prey. At least, that seemed to be Molkar's reaction as he temporarily took cover behind a boulder. It seemed his staff had survived the fall, despite having been directly crushed by a boulder. It spoke volumes of the artifact's resistance to damage. He moves towards Rayvon as he continues to look out in the direction the sound came from, gripping his staff tightly. He seemed a bit perplexed, maybe even intrigued.
"Not a howl for us... That tells me others survived the fall. We can use that to our advantage, take the curved dirt path for a while to save travel time we'd be forced to make through the cover of the forest." He looks to Elrithos and scratches his chin.
"Elf... You are a desert elf. Your ears and eyes are sharper. Keep listening for howls. Tells us when to duck and cover." He shudders, then looks out towards the direction of the sound again.
"So bestial... Yet, so familiar..."
Several feet away, Princess Helénē stumbles out from behind a boulder. Cradling her right arm, it was horrendously mangled, the cloth shredded to reveal bruising and swelling all over, yet the Liverian kept to nothing more then the occasional whimper of pain, pride not allowing her to do more than that. The arm didn't look permanently damaged, but it would easily take months, possible years to heal naturally without magic. The orc shaman seemed impressed with the way she handled the pain as he reached to his waist and pulled out a small pack. Small for his stature, anyway, as it was the size of a backpack for Rayvon. Several smaller pockets kept herbs separate and distinct from one another, and Elrithos would recognize a few of them, though most notable two different kinds of aphrodesiacs, a poison that lights the innards of its victims on fire, and some healing herbs that dull pain. Molkar pulled out the healing herbs, and motioned to the princess.
"It will help with pain, girl." She looks away from him, a cold look to her eyes as her shoulders went stiff upon noticing him at all.
"I'm fine. Save your herbs for someone else if they get hurt. My magic doesn't need this arm to work." Molkar shakes his head and chuckles.
"Have it your way." He puts the herbs away and looks to Rayvon and Elrithos.
"The forest, or the dirt path?"
Free Holds - Devil's Children
As the dance begins, Mikan takes off her robe and tosses it out into the crowd. Grabbing Mars' hands, she dances close to him, face to face, leading the dance as the spotlight quietly hovers over her performance with Mars in tow. Deimos was already intrigued with a woman that took the lead: The others were meek and followed the man. Mikan shot a glance towards Fahim and winked as he nodded in approval, crossing his arms over his chest before he noticed Abida being led away towards the back rooms. Getting a good look at the woman leading Abida, he slowly tries to follow, only to spot Child out of the corner of his eye, stopping Durlon from moving out onto the dance floor. He hesitates, then starts moving to support Child, only to watch as Durlon drew his throwing knife. Child then, with one, unflinching motion, slams both of her metal gloved fists into each side of Durlon's skull. He falls backward onto the floor with a concave head and shattered skull. Child is then knocked to the ground by an older man as he aims a small pistol at Child's head.
"That was my property, you halfwit effeminate boy!" Child would then see a guard pass through the crowd and look at the man.
"You got a problem here?" The guard said with a voice that Child recognized to be Fahim's voice.
"Yes! He destroyed some of my property!" The guard nods thoughtfully.
"Ah. I see." Then, with a single motion, he slips out a throwing knife from his sleeve and cuts open the nobleman's throat. He falls back dead.
The crowd didn't flinch at all. In fact, from the looks of it, this event had repeated itself in a couple other areas of the room. It was surreal seeing so many cold of heart people, though the Renaltan nobles in the area seemed to grow quite pale at the sight. Fahim offers a hand to Child with a small smile, still in his guard outfit as he couldn't safely shapeshift back to the nobleman's form whilst still near a corpse and prying eyes.
"Well done. Always remember though, there's never just one assassin." Somewhere in the room, there was a loud, feminine scream.
"There's always at least a half a dozen." It was followed with a more masculine scream.
"... Or more." Ouchi Maru walks over to the two of them and drops a pair of bodies, others nearby quickly step aside to avoid getting blood on their shoes.
"How about none at all?" The guard nods appreciatively.
"Thank you, Ouchi." The orc blinks, dumbfounded.
"Um... Illusion magic?" The guard shrugs and sighs, then nods.
"We'll go with that if it makes you feel better."
While the dance continued on, Abida was led out of the ball room into a servant's hall, then from there, into a smaller storage room. The succubi motioned Abida inside first, then followed immediately after, closing the door behind her. There was no lock on the door. Before the slave could turn to fight or ask questions, she was pinned to a wall by the succubi, who gleefully ran one of her fingers over Abida's lips.
"Mm... I haven't had a good, strong woman in months... I think I will savour this..." Abida would see before her eyes as the guise slowly faded, leaving behind a woman with alarmingly attractive features, dark red skin, and a pair of eyes that were hard to look away from. She would also feel a tail, slowly wrapping itself around one of her thighs. Already, disturbing feelings were racing down her spine and she was finding it harder to think clearly, though for the moment, she retained control over herself. It wouldn't last long under this degree of pressure however, as the wonderful scent, the alluring figure, the warm touch, the sultry tone to the woman's voice--all of it together in combination with what might have been magic or simple biological impulses made it very clear that this was a potent woman... And not one to be trifled with lightly.
Meahwhile, back at the dance, Mikan was quickly soaring leagues and miles ahead of her competition. Leaning in close to Mars, she whispers from behind her mask into his ear.
"The moment the dance ends, try to get close to the cage with Eüchia... If she really was Deimos' slave for a while, she may have invaluable information for us about the demon invasion, considering Deimos is in direct cahoots with a succubi." Her eyes wander around the room as a small frown reaches her lips.
"Speaking of, where did she go..." Deimos stands slowly, raising both of his hands up as the dance ends. Pointing at Mikan, she giggles, and then runs a finger down Mars' neck.
"Not bad, I'll have to teach you more later..."
Deimos takes a few steps down from his throne, leaving only a few feet between him and the crowds. Mikan in turn approaches him, though visible shudders as she grows closer. Deimos chuckles as he grabs her shoulders and looks her over. Now was Aëyr's chance to get close. Mikan takes her mask off and drops it, Fahim notices and looks to the Renaltan nobles, giving them a nod as they slowly start to mobilize in secret. The intricacy of the operation was almost impressive. Mikan drapes her arms around Deimos, seeming to be quite comfortable in his grasp, though not absorbed by him as she moves with him a little so his back would be facing Aëyr.
"Impressive." Deimos mutters as Mikan giggles.
"I've been with two people more intoxicating than you..." Deimos quirks an eyebrow, his shoulders going stiff.
"And who would those people be?"
Amazons - The Greatest Hunt
Princess Ethlinn listens as Esyllt informs everyone of what she discovered. While she absorbs the information, Unamo glances at Naream and blinks in confusion.
"Why... Would you want me to put the spirits of our enemies into their own corpses? They won't help us willing, and by dominating them, they lose their tracking ability and it takes more effort for me to do that." Tasha glares off into the jungle, waiting for someone to take the lead. It seemed that nobody would: Not Maeven, not Naream--Alicia didn't prove to be a solid choice for leadership. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Princess Ethlinn eyes over the Queen's Blades and finally speaks, confidence filling her voice.
"We're going to slip to the edge of the enemy camp. Two of Naream's skeletons will burst out at another angle, supported by an undead jaguar which Unamo will control. Once the enemy reacts to that, we'll flank them and cut the head off the snake." A look of confusion comes from Tasha, though understanding comes from Unamo.
"... Er, we'll kill their leaders first." Tasha nods, now understanding.
Ethlinn thumbs the shaft of her spear carefully as she looks to Alexandria.
"Once that is done, you will lead the metal dragon and Alicia, climb onto the monstrous drake, and rip through its back to any point in its spine. Once you've damaged it, it will be unable to move, and you can finish it off with ease." Tasha growls.
"So you give away responsibility of the kill to outsiders? Some leader." Ethlinn glares back at Tasha.
"My personal glory comes second to the safety of the tribe. There will be another day for me to complete my hunt of a drake to become Queen. Right now, I must ensure nobody else has to suffer the same fate as your mother... Or my own." Tasha opens her mouth, then simply remains silent, a look of shame passing over her face.
"I... Understand."
Looking at the rest of the Queen's Blades, Ethlinn seems to hesitate, as she was still coming up with the rest of the plan.
"The rest of you will support the three moving to kill the Drake. Ensure none of the subordinates can injure them. If they fall, then our odds of slaying the drake drop significantly... Now... Lets go." Without another word, Ethlinn begins moving into the jungle's underbrush, keeping low and careful. Unamo begins work on bringing back one of the jaguar, it wouldn't take her long. Tasha seems to hesitate a moment longer, looking gingerly at the Queen's Blades before quickly following the princess.
