To Slay a Dragon

Horic hurried after Lirren, this werewolf had a remarkable talent for leadership even is a situation like this he was keeping a cool head and leading the group. the pair passed the crossbow girl as she was charging a magical fire bolt, to his eyes the bolt appeared as an excellently crafted spear of magic the patterns in it's magical aura portraying a great potential for destruction. caching up to both Kroyrev and BLEED Horic drew his short sword with his right hand. the horde before them was formidable but no where near as dense as what lay behind them, and the two warriors were doing an excellent job of cutting a swath through it. but no where near fast enough. counter magic it turned out was an ideal weapon to fight the undead, one that could quickly and safely down large numbers of the undead. the flames of counter magic on his hands faded as he transfered the magic to the sword blade, the blade burst to life with purple black flames tuned to destroy the ghouls before him. using the sword he could fire much larger crescent shaped blasts of counter magic that could pass through more that one ghoul cutting swathes out of the undead ranks.

with a cry of strength Horc charged the thinning line of rotten flesh and swung the blade sideways across his field of vision leaving behind a thick trail of the purple black counter magic flames. the resulting five foot wide crescent of counter magic shot forth passing harmlessly through the living members of their merry band of revolutionaries at about chest level to cut down close to fifteen of the undead before the power of the magic faded and the flames dissipated. Horic summoned his strength again and swung the sword back again creating another crescent blast the passed just to the left of the first this time taking close to twenty five of the ghouls.

Horic felt drained, creating blasts of counter magic that large took a great deal of energy and the fact that the magic had to be calibrated to break such a complex spell as necromancy only made it harder. Horic left the flames travel from the sword back to his forearms and sheath the sword again. His efforts were rewarded with a large gap in the undead line. the way down the northern path was clear and the only ghouls he could see were stumbling through th forest on the sides or behind them, the path a head of them was clear and they had clean shot at escape. "Every one!, Disengage and move north! we need to get these summonings behind us!" his shouted to the entire group. "Don't let your guard down, there are still tones of these things stumbling through the forest."
 
Bleed stared around himself at the mass of destroyed corpses. a hand came up fromt eh pile and he stomped it flat. he sw the magic flying throught he air and smiled. "Guess thsis rag-tag bunch isn't so bad afterall." he chuckled. he sprang forward, yelling and beconing the warlord to help him open a greater hole in teh horde.

" So...Yee don' want te Die tonight, Eh Wolvish one?" Bleed called out. His mask was scratched again and he had retrieved his parrying dagger.
"Either way.. I'm with yee." He finished, voice metallic and methodical. Bleed looked over at Horic as everyone started to run for it throught eh northern route.

"Werewolves.. i HATE... werewolves." he grumbled, moving onward.
 
The path ahead had been cleared but the stragglers behind stopped Nimba from charging forward with the rest. Turning back he ran towards Matthias, passing the archer as she released her furious bolt, he slowed a half step watching the undead get scorched away from the magical flames. As arrows faded away Nimba pulled his staff back like a spear and as he threw it at one of the few standing ghouls it took upon the appearance of a harpoon. The force of the throw knocked the ghoul to the ground and pinned it to the earth. Coming in closer he hunched down and bull rushed into the undead next to the one he had just downed with his staff knocking it back several feet. He slammed his foot into the ghoul and twisted the 'harpoon' before ripping it out, "Can you run?" He asked Matthias as he stepped next to him, motioning with his free hand towards the rest of the group.


Looking at the large group of undead still approaching them from the south Nimba slammed his staff into the ground. As he begun to weave his hands through the air the faint red glow of his eyes could be seen beneath his hood. His hands rose into the air in a sudden rush bringing with them a wave of fire that appeared in front of him and Matthias. It stretched for sixteen feet before curving to create a crescent shape. The undead it captured within it where reduced to ash moments. The undead on the other side were stopped by the immense heat it exuded, "That will give usss breathing room." He offered his shoulder to Matthias if he needed it before moving to follow the group.​
 
Xelmog hadn't even bothered to draw his sword as the others had left the inn. He walked after them out the back door to see them fighting off the skeletons and zombies. The swathe had opened and he still only walked, occasionally sidestepping a clumsy attack from the undead. After a while of this he felt it was finally time to catch up with the group, so he teleported in front of them.

When he was in front of them there were still a few skeletons, so he drew his sword. Xelmog did not use the blade of his sword, but rather the back, smashing a skeletons rib cage with ease. A zombie was about to attack him, but Xelmog had already reversed his blade, striking the zombie's neck and removing it's head.
 
Matthias thrust his blade into another zombie's neck and kicked it off into the other undead hoping to buy himself a little time, or to at least face each ghoul one on one. This was just getting harder and harder to manage. A Sigh of relief exited Matthias' whole body as he heard the friendly voice, and Nimba's sillouette came into view.

"Aye, I can. Thank you for the assist." Matthias said, walking over to the ghoul pinned to the ground by aniu. In one swift motion Lanier pulled the katana out of the fiend and sliced its head off. "Did I say you could keep my blade? Damned beast, disgusting to say the least."

Matthias couldn't stand any longer and used what energy he had to hobble to Nimba. Mtthias leaned on the friendly shoulder. "So, What happens now?"
 
The path was open now and Bleed chortled, sheathing his weapons and standing upright, tapping his foot.

"Ye all coming or shall we leave ye to the ghouls?" HE said, crossing his arms. slowly the undead were going to close the hole the warriors valiant efforts had opened.
 
As the searing flames took the unlife from another zombie Nimba took Matthias's weight onto his shoulder, "Now we leave before this gets much worse." He took off at a heavy jog supporting Matthias as they regrouped with the party moving into the woods to the north. His staff returned to its normal shape and he used as a pole arm, swinging it in wide arcs to knock back any undead that approached to close. The blows weren't damaging but enough to send the undead staggering a few steps back to help clear the way for them two of them.


Passing through the gap created by the other fighters Nimba leaned Matthias against a tree, "On your own again." Looking to the rest of the group Nimba back tracked a few steps and nodded to Bleed, "Give me a moment of cover." As he kneeled onto all fours he let his staff simply drop to the ground. The previous firewall had sputtered out an more of the undead were closing on them from all directions. Running was always an option, but, they could use something to slow these ones approach. Countless more undead where scattered throughout the woods and it would do them no good to have such a large scale following so close behind them.


Placing his hands upon the earth he began to chant in a low muttering tone. The simplest destruction spells were forged from the varying earthly elements. The same could be said about the simplest transmutation magic. Changing a substance into another substance it naturally turned into, like water into ice, was a very basic task. The easiest transmutation spells for Nimba where ones that used the four elements for how well versed he was in using them in his destruction spells. Turning water into ice, simple, doing it on a large scale took time and skill. As his chants begun to grow louder in volume and more rapid in pace his hands begin to slide into the solid earth as it transformed to mud. He pressed his hands deeper into the earth and a physical ripple moved through the ground, spreading forward and to the sides of Nimba's location. As the ripple passed through the solid earth it transformed to mud, thin slippery chunks of mud here and in other places four inch deep thick mud that made it hard to walk through. The undead reaction to this sudden change would've been comical in any other situation. Zombies would get stuck and attempt to continue to walk to no avail while skeletons running at full speed slipped and stumbled, bringing down others with them.


Standing back up he flicked the mud off his hands. Propping his foot under his staff he popped it back up into his hand, "Come, we must hurry. Sssun will dry it fassst."​
 
"Ye have it." Bleed said in reply to the wizard asking for his assistance. as he chanted two undead came close enough to harm him,. Bleed swunga mighty metallic fist at their torso's, agan imbued witht he magic-cutting strength of his greenflames. Their spark of unlife left them as their ribs cracked.

"Dust te dust." He rumbled, grabbing their skulls and charging them with green fire until they positively glowed like green embers, then threw them at two more approaching undead right before the mud reaction started to slow them all down.

"..." BLeed looked quizically at the magic reaction that was befuddling the best attempts of the ghouls at grabbing them and looked at them with contempt. He looked over the group of retreating revolutionaries, scuttling from around the mud to escape the undead. Once again he heard the calls of the werewolves in the forest behind hima nd turned to face the path that was son ahead of them.

"... ... ... "
 
Prelude to an epic rocking.

Far ahead of the group, the barbarian stood, towering and mighty on a hill in the woods. He watched his companions run, away from the growing horde and the increasingly advanced necro-forms appearing amongst the rotting mass. He seemed to be smiling; the electic axe was in his hand. Even as the mud slowed them down, the larger ones, towering golems of flesh and bone, twisted limbs jutting out here and there suged forth, stomping through the mud, carrying hundreds of their lesser brethren on their massive forms.

"C'mon, a bit faster lads!" he shouted over the din of battle "Just a bit further; c'mon, got a treat for all of you!"

Even as the horde surged closer and closer, his smile grew wilder. Those receptive mana could feel an odd tension in the air. As if something was ready to explode.

No, something was going to explode. The smile on Kroylrev's face could imply nothing else.
 
Bleed turned from the spectacle that had bewondered him but moments ago and ran at full speed up to the hill were the warlord towered. His steps were silent though his armor clunked and chimed morbidly. Bleed could not help but think of what had brought him here. A thousand thousand dead and here they were running from the necromantic rage of some curmudgeoned evildoers. A blasphemous retaliation of unatural forces, Though Bleed sighed inside as he approached the warlord. He wasn't so far away from such rage. there was a time when he woudl have joined what these people knew as the enemy..

"I don't think I got yer name, warrior." He said, stopping on a dime infront of kroylrev.
 
Matthias thumped against the tree. He was suprised at how much weaker he actually was compared to how he felt. "Don't worry about me i'll take care of myself." Lanier replied to nimda

Two lucky shambling corpses staggered up to him with a deathly hungry moan. "Don't you pathetic, soulless, disgusting, zombies ever get enough of a beating. GO. BACK. TO. SLEEP." Matthias emphisised every last word of his declaration with every swing of a sword. First at the necks, to the waist, then moving up to cut an arm and finally a slice down the middle bringing both ghouls down. Matthias let out and exhausted breath. I used more energy than i needed, i must preserve what i can.
 
After a few minutes of constant fighting and movement, the small band of rebels came upon a group of werewolves lined up and facing them. They were in varied states of human to werewolf form, and they moved aside to let the group through only when Lirren came to the front. One of them, near the back, sent a bolt of silver magic at one of the undead which brought it down and then kept moving like a flash of lightning from one to the next. The other werewolves simply beat apart incoming undead with their fists.

Lirren kept moving inward; it was clear this area was well-protected as no undead came from the wood around them to attack, but several werewolves could be seen from time to time. Before long they came upon the leaders, standing in a small clearing and all in full werewolf form. The alpha, who towered over most everyone else (Kroylrev being the nearest thing to an exception), gestured for Lirren to come closer.

They conversed in werewolf tongue. Before they had entered the forest Lirren had explained that while most werewolves could understand human language quite well and speak it fluently enough, to speak to them in their own language was a show of respect. Diplomacy was key here as much as it had been there. The alpha explained that the werewolves could hold their own for some time, especially since they had gathered near some stored supplies, but the present situation ultimately amounted to an unwinnable siege. Their shamans had traced the necromantic magic to a place on the other end of the forest, though still for enough from the edge to be protected. Whoever or whatever was keeping it up had to be destroyed for there to be any chance of survival. Lirren's group was still too small in number and strength to make it to where it was, even if they went around, and the werewolves needed all they had to fend off the undead where they were. They were close enough to the edge to make a way out. However, if the werewolves were to leave the forest now, it would look like an act of aggression on their part. It would give Tarimel all the excuse he would need to assemble an army and kill them once and for all.

After a few minutes of talk, Lirren nodded and turned back to his own group, who had been waiting patiently, resting or conversing. "I have made an agreement. They will help us leave the forest, on the condition that we return soon and remove the source of the undead," he said. There wasn't much room for debate here; Lirren believed in being democratic about their decisions, but they needed to survive first.

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They made it out of the forest before long, and the undead did not follow them. It had been a run the whole way out, and now they had stopped to catch their breath near a rock-paved road. Lirren had not had time to take stock of their situation, so that he did now. "Who's still here? Who's injured?" he asked, after turning around and looking at the group.
 
Sonya felt she was in no place to try and negotiate the matter. As far as she was concerned, she was just glad to be getting out of the infested forest. After a hasty escape, the group was finally out of the woods. Glancing at a few scratches from running by plants and not paying attention, she was beginning to realize just how difficult this little rebellion might be. Her thoughts were broken by Lirren's questions.

"I'm here," Sonya responded, waving her free hand.
 
"I'm still here Lirren." The White Count said, "what's our next step?"

While he asked this he straightened up his clothes. Largely to insure the stitches covering his body were not visible, considering that they were just dealing with the undead, he didn't want to make it widely known he was little better.
 
As Horic cleared the edge of the forest at a jog he let the counter magic flames fade from his arms. he'de been using his magic for hours now and while that meant thousands of corpses that would never again be able to be reanimated he felt nothing short of exhausted. "I'm still here" Horic rasped, his through was dry too bad he hadn't had time to grab a canteen of water. he could really use a drink.
 
Matthias spoke up with a heavy breath

"Aye i'm still here. a little beat up but still alive and kicking hahahaha." *cough, cough*

Lanier smiled still though the pain was almost too much
 
Breaking free from the forest allowed for a sigh of relief but they weren't quite out of the woods yet, "Ssstill alive." Nimba allowed himself to lean on his staff to relax. Running for long period of time was something he had gotten used to at a young age. He wasn't as tired looking as some of the others who escaped the forest, but he still wasn't very anxious to ask the next question, "When do we go back to uphold our part of the bargain?"


He moved over to Matthias and handed him a pouch full of a foul smelling goo, "It'll help with the pain." He mimed the motion of rubbing it on as he spoke.​
 
"Gahhhhh, wat is this stuff? It smells disgusting." Matthias yelled

Still, no matter teh smell matthias needed some healing. Despite objections of his nose Lanier to some of the goo and rub it on injuries.

"Thank you nimba. i much aperrciate it."
 
"I'm still here" Bingles said. He was busy creating poultices and ointments to deal with everyone's injuries. His supplies were running low, and he was going to have to find more herbs soon.

"If anyone needs their wounds treated, come to me, I can help you.."
 
"This is turnign out te be a wonderful walk throught eh park." Bleed said, liftign his mask jsut enoguh to spit out some blood and a tooth. "Ima gonna smash the next undead pile of filth i see right in the groin for this travesty." He sighed and put his mask bakc, steam comgin up from beneath it and his hood frotm eh massive amount he had been sweating.

He regarded everyone with pause and tied his massive blade back to his shoulders. " So.. what now? i mean we have a direction, however..." his pecimism was showing.
 
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