Alyona steps up to the flying skull and swings the stolen ceremonial blade at it. The heavy weapon remains completely unwieldy in her hands, and the skull easily dodges the swing, despite being unable to see Alyona. "This is foolish in the extreme. Clearly none of us are trained to fight, and Ilsea isn't ewen here!" she huffs.
_________________________
"Got no sense a' adventure!" Anlessa proclaims, looking from the skull to the "girl" down the hall. She roll her shoulders, trying to shake herself of the weakness she feels. "Not that mine's all an' rarin' to go at the moment, but still," she teases, stepping up just behind Alyona. She takes what resembles a defensive stance, ready to strike anything that comes moves near them. "Wasn't thinkin' to expect anythin' like this, I have t' admit, though..."
---------------
Erik's eyes dart from the girl to the skull and back again. The... thing... seems fixed on taking a bite out of Aldon, and Aldon seems understandably unhappy about it. Erik growls under his breath, but nonetheless readies the rapier, sparing only a moment's glance back to the girl--
--is Alanar actually trying to hug the girl? The girl who, the more Erik thinks about it, the more he's pretty sure might be a haunt? The girl who's so cold that her tears seem to be freezing solid?
I get where he's coming from, but that guy... I think he really is crazy, Erik thinks to himself, shaking his head incredulously. Between that and the skull attempting to bite Aldon's face off, Alanar's plea for them to stop fighting doesn't seem like the best idea at the moment.
With that resolved, Erik starts to move towards the skull... but as he does, he catches sight of the black palace above the hole, causing him to freeze in place for a moment in shock. A momentary chill runs through him at the sight of it, like fingers of ice tracing up his spine. That wasn't up there before. It couldn't have been; we couldn't have missed something like that...
Still afraid, Erik? Perhaps you should be...
Erik shudders, but that line of thought can wait; as unsettling as the whole thing is, there are more important matters at hand. He moves into position, raising the rapier and waiting for a chance to strike. "Princess has a point... we fight more like dairy farmers than Hellknights, Ilesea doesn't seem to be here... and this place is cold, dank, and full of dead things; I'd just as soon be somewhere else. Adventure's fine and dandy, but I don't wanna be luggin' any dead bodies outta here," the boy says, taking that moment to strike with the rapier... but it is a clumsy blow, and doesn't even come close.
Erik scowls, but he's not done yet; he calls out to the skull. "Bah. Hey, ugly. Now that I've got your attention, how 'bout you go away and leave the girl--and us--alone, and me and my friends here don't make you into a drinkin' cup?" he jeers, giving his most annoying grin.
Realizing that she's back in the dark at the end of the hallway, Shen Hua runs to catch up with the others.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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Shrieking at Erik, the skull lunges forward with jaws open, leaving a rippling trail of blue flame behind it as it moves. The screaming entity latches on to Erik's outstretched arm and clamps down, sharp teeth shredding through his sleeve and sinking into flesh. Blood flows out of the beast's jaws as it jerks its head from side to side like some sort of mad animal.
At the same time, as Alanar approaches the spectral girl and attempts to place his arms around her, he can feel a bone-chilling cold setting in, prickling his flesh and numbing his extremities. As his arms come around her, he heard her whisper, "--tastes like blood." But Alanar's arms pass through the girl as if she were made of smoke and fog, causing her body to ripple and distort and a painful chill to wash over him.
The skull releases from Erik's bloodied and savaged arm, droplets spattering to the floor and quickly forming an impressionist pattern of pain at his feet.
"Θα καταβροχθίσει τις δυνατότητές σας!" The skull howls in threat, burning eyes wild in some sort of frenzy. It is becoming clear that the skull is capable of tremendous harm, and if the students don't cooperate to stop it, none of them may yet make it out of here alive.
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Nonlethal Damage
Thankful at someone coming to his assistance, Aldon flashes a grin at Erik as he enters the fray, though he does groan when Erik misses. Still, everything seems to be coming under their control... until the skull moves. Lips that were turned upwards into a smirk at Erik's taunt veer sharply downwards as Aldon watches blood splatter on the floor.
"NO!"
Aldon's yell is high enough to cause his voice to crack, but he pays no notice. He swings desperately at the skull, but whiffs once more.
"Face me! Face me!" He roars at the skull, gesticulating wildly, teeth bared.
His head turns back once, quickly, to glance at the rest of his companions. Fear is evident in his eyes. He lets out a ragged breath and then a plea. "Help him!"
____________
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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Seeing Erik's severe injury, Deriku pushes past Anlessa and Taeo, bringing the azure light of the lantern with him. As he brings it in closer, his attention shifts to the spirit that Alanar has been trying to communicate with all this time. Squinting, he cannot ensure what kind of entity she is, though he can tell she is intangible to some degree.
"Erik," Stands on Spiral states flatly, "retreat," then, making eye-contact with Alyonna, the Shoanti boy begins swinging the lantern around in a steady loop, causing the shadows to shift and dance. "I will help," he instructs, looking ready to take a wild swing at the skull with the iron lantern to help distract it, though it does not appear to be greatly effective.
____
Move Action: Move 20 feet
Standard Action: Ready Action; Aid Another (Alyonna)
> (fail to aid another :<)
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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As the skull continues to fight with the children, that ethereal young woman covers her face with her hands and curls into tight fetal position in mid air, continuing her mournful sobbing. Her shoulders curl up, the cold around her intensifies, and frost begins to crackle and spread over the walls. "Where are you? It's so cold..." her ghostly form whimpers the words, hands trembling. "The monster won't leave me alone..."
"It does not belong," Stands on Spiral finally calls from the back of the ground. "It is not restless dead, but it is tormenting her. It is a spirit," he proclaims, holding the blackflame lantern up with one hand. But something still sets poorly with Deriku, he'd seen the matching symbols the girl and the skull wore. But if it isn't undead, what could it be?
"Bring peace to this place!" Stands on Spiral shouts, offering the best advice he possibly can.
The girl was cold, and crying, and look immensely lost. Alanar could only think of one way to try and help her, attempting to put his arms around her and letting his natural warmth stave off the frost. The fact that she was ghostly and possibly incorporeal didn't cross his mind. "Shh. No need for tears. If you are cold, I will help to stave it away," He tells her gently. "Will you tell me your name? I am Alanar. We came looking for my friend, Ilesea."
"Got no sense a' adventure!" Anlessa proclaims, looking from the skull to the "girl" down the hall. She roll her shoulders, trying to shake herself of the weakness she feels. "Not that mine's all an' rarin' to go at the moment, but still," she teases, stepping up just behind Alyona. She takes what resembles a defensive stance, ready to strike anything that comes moves near them. "Wasn't thinkin' to expect anythin' like this, I have t' admit, though..."
Erik's eyes dart from the girl to the skull and back again. The... thing... seems fixed on taking a bite out of Aldon, and Aldon seems understandably unhappy about it. Erik growls under his breath, but nonetheless readies the rapier, sparing only a moment's glance back to the girl--
--is Alanar actually trying to hug the girl? The girl who, the more Erik thinks about it, the more he's pretty sure might be a haunt? The girl who's so cold that her tears seem to be freezing solid?
I get where he's coming from, but that guy... I think he really is crazy, Erik thinks to himself, shaking his head incredulously. Between that and the skull attempting to bite Aldon's face off, Alanar's plea for them to stop fighting doesn't seem like the best idea at the moment.
With that resolved, Erik starts to move towards the skull... but as he does, he catches sight of the black palace above the hole, causing him to freeze in place for a moment in shock. A momentary chill runs through him at the sight of it, like fingers of ice tracing up his spine.That wasn't up there before. It couldn't have been; we couldn't have missed something like that...
Still afraid, Erik? Perhaps you should be...
Erik shudders, but that line of thought can wait; as unsettling as the whole thing is, there are more important matters at hand. He moves into position, raising the rapier and waiting for a chance to strike. "Princess has a point... we fight more like dairy farmers than Hellknights, Ilesea doesn't seem to be here... and this place is cold, dank, and full of dead things; I'd just as soon be somewhere else. Adventure's fine and dandy, but I don't wanna be luggin' any dead bodies outta here," the boy says, taking that moment to strike with the rapier... but it is a clumsy blow, and doesn't even come close.
Erik scowls, but he's not done yet; he calls out to the skull. "Bah. Hey, ugly. Now that I've got your attention, how 'bout you go away and leave the girl--and us--alone, and me and my friends here don't make you into a drinkin' cup?" he jeers, giving his most annoying grin.
I shoulda known a crazy flying skull wouldn't listen to reason! Taeo chastises himself. They feyborn boy ducks around the skull's side, trying to use it's focus on Aldon to sneak in a solid hit. The torch is still very awkward in his hands, despite a few lucky swings earlier, and it goes far wide of his target.
Shrieking at Erik, the skull lunges forward with jaws open, leaving a rippling trail of blue flame behind it as it moves. The screaming entity latches on to Erik's outstretched arm and clamps down, sharp teeth shredding through his sleeve and sinking into flesh. Blood flows out of the beast's jaws as it jerks its head from side to side like some sort of mad animal.
At the same time, as Alanar approaches the spectral girl and attempts to place his arms around her, he can feel a bone-chilling cold setting in, prickling his flesh and numbing his extremities. As his arms come around her, he heard her whisper, "--tastes like blood." But Alanar's arms pass through the girl as if she were made of smoke and fog, causing her body to ripple and distort and a painful chill to wash over him.
The skull releases from Erik's bloodied and savaged arm, droplets spattering to the floor and quickly forming an impressionist pattern of pain at his feet.
"Θα καταβροχθίσει τις δυνατότητές σας!" The skull howls in threat, burning eyes wild in some sort of frenzy. It is becoming clear that the skull is capable of tremendous harm, and if the students don't cooperate to stop it, none of them may yet make it out of here alive.
Realizing that she's back in the dark at the end of the hallway, Shen Hua runs to catch up with the others, just in time to catch sight of Erik being savaged by the skull's gnashing bite.
Thankful at someone coming to his assistance, Aldon flashes a grin at Erik as he enters the fray, though he does groan when Erik misses. Still, everything seems to be coming under their control... until the skull moves. Lips that were turned upwards into a smirk at Erik's taunt veer sharply downwards as Aldon watches blood splatter on the floor.
"NO!" Aldon's yell is high enough to cause his voice to crack, but he pays no notice. He swings desperately at the skull, but whiffs once more.
"Face me! Face me!" He roars at the skull, gesticulating wildly, teeth bared.
His head turns back once, quickly, to glance at the rest of his companions. Fear is evident in his eyes. He lets out a ragged breath and then a plea. "Help him!"
Seeing Erik's severe injury, Deriku pushes past Anlessa and Taeo, bringing the azure light of the lantern with him. As he brings it in closer, his attention shifts to the spirit that Alanar has been trying to communicate with all this time. Squinting, he cannot ensure what kind of entity she is, though he can tell she is intangible to some degree.
"Erik," Stands on Spiral states flatly, "retreat," then, making eye-contact with Alyonna, the Shoanti boy begins swinging the lantern around in a steady loop, causing the shadows to shift and dance. "I will help," he instructs, looking ready to take a wild swing at the skull with the iron lantern to help distract it, though it does not appear to be greatly effective.
<< | | | The Ancient Ossuary >>
With the light from the lantern now flooding the chamber, the children can see long corridors sinking into darkness in every direction from this hub where the rubble is piled. However the azure-hued light of the lantern has an unintended effect as it washes over the cold spirit. The spirit of the young woman looks around, bewildered, "Where did you go?" she whispers again, this time with more clarity than before.
Alanar gets the impression that she cannot see him anymore, not that she was ever truly reactive to his prescence before at all.
___________
Perhaps it had not been the wisest move to try and hug the girl, as the chill seeped into him, the ifrit letting out a shudder. The cry of pain behind him from the others made Alanar look back, seeing how much trouble they seemed to be having with one flying skull.
"...I will be back. I must help them for now," He informs the ghostly girl, regardless of whether or not she can hear him. The Katapesh refugee vaults over onto the rubble behind the skull, getting between it and Aldon to hedge it in. His attempt to distract the thing so that the saber wielding boy can get a better shot in is disrupted as he struggles to keep his footing.
__________
Taeo swings the torch wildly at the skull, aiming to distract it and make it easier for Alyonna to hit...but this time failing to distract it.
___________
Alyona moves past Aldon, dodging around the skull to set up a flank with Erik. She swings the heavy golden blade again, this time pure rage and frustration lend her strength. Why am I here? What am I doing? Who are these incompetents? I shall have to kill Ilsea when we find her, stupid b$!#% caused all of this with her weakness. Hmmm....how to make it look like an accident?
As the longsword connects solidly with the ghostly skull Alyona screams at the top of her lungs, "F$@# OFF!" She looks around at the other children waving their weapons about foolishly with noodle-like arms. "All of you listen! Ve must cooperate. If ve aren't going to go retrieve more useful veapons, then ve must vork together. I appear to be the strongest, unsurprisingly. Help me! Harry it, distract it, and I vill cut it down." The princess cuts a bit of a comical figure in her petticoated skirt and heeled boots, but her hands are unwavering as she holds the longsword aloft. The burning imperious rage in her ice blue eyes and the iron tone of a lifetime of giving commands rings in her voice. "Do as I say or ve vill all die here!"
_________________________________
Erik takes a staggering step backwards, staring at his broken arm, at the blood still pouring from the mangled bite wound. There is pain, but it's a distant thing. Everything feels distant, come to think of it.
The blood... that's probably something he should be worried about. It would be inaccurate to say that he's never seen this much blood before; it's just that he's never seen this much blood before from someone who's still walking around. Yeah, I should probably be worried about this...
But the cold doesn't seem as bad anymore. In fact, he feels almost... warm. Peaceful. The fear of the unknown--of dying, he supposes--that had loomed so huge in the back of his mind is all but gone now, and the pain is so distant it might as well be happening to someone else. When was the last time he felt like this? Not since this journey's started--even then he was always wary, worrying about this lot and whether he could trust them. Certainly not in the time before Hokuto appeared and pried him out of his lonely little cell in the prison; not even in the last few years before that, when he was trying to eke out a living on the streets of Westcrown.
He thinks on it for a frozen eternity, remembering a time when he was very young; when his mother still looked happy, not like she did at the end. He remembers her tucking him in, reading him a story... one where, in the end, everyone lived happily ever after. He could almost smile... the memory seems so real.
Idiot, wake up! That voice is like an icy needle in the back of his mind, picking at the seams of his waking dream. Pull yourself together, boy!
The dream disintegrates, leaving behind the cold and unpleasant reality; only a moment has passed. The skull has just howled something unpleasant sounding, blood sizzling and dripping from its teeth; and Aldon...
Wow, looks like he's taking it hard, Erik thinks, utterly surprised. Hells, he's taking it harder than I am, and I'm the one that just got killed.
Erik shudders... or he would shudder, if he had the energy. It's getting cold... so very cold. The pain is creeping closer, like a starving wolf scenting wounded prey, and his body is feeling heavy... not to mention his arm feeling wrong--he can see broken bone sticking through the skin. Got killed... heh. Funny. I always spent my life tryin' so hard not to die... but it doesn't bother me so much now. Dyin's... maybe not so bad, the boy thinks to himself.
Is that it? Is that all you can think of? You're just going to give up because it's easy? To the hells with that! Strive 'till this phantom is broken; fight until the battle is done! If you're at your limit, reach past it and stand again! If you must die, then make your death mean something! Or do you plan to leave that girl alone in the darkness?
Erik is still for a moment, panting, head down... then he switches the rapier to his other hand. He's spent years hearing that voice needling him in the back of his mind, taunting him... but right now, the voice is right. If I die... it's damn well gonna mean something, he thinks to himself, gathering all the resolve he can muster. At the very least, whoever kills me is gonna get one hell of an interesting scar for their troubles, he vows.
He looks up. His face is dreadfully pale, his eyes look like he hasn't slept in a month, but he's grinning... the way his face is now, though, there's an uncanny resemblance to the flaming skull's bloody grin. He sees Alyona moving to attack and raises the blood-covered rapier for a moment--threatening the skull enough to allow her attack to strike home, then staggers back, his balance going. He manages to catch his balance again with a herculean effort, using the bloodied rapier to help support his weight--thankfully, Erik doesn't weigh much, so the ceremonial weapon is able to support him without breaking.
"Arright, Princess. I'm a little worn out, but it'd be uncivil to turn down a lady askin' for a dance. I'll follow your lead, sure... for this one, anyways." His grin, if anything, grows broader with that declaration. His cavalier manner might be slightly spoiled by the way he immediately puts the rapier back to the ground so he can use it to keep his balance, or by the blood still oozing from his shattered arm, but Erik has more pressing concerns at the moment.
"Unsurprisingly. I don't think so much," Anlessa replies with a bit of a laugh. "Wasin' not spider bit, I could help more," she replies, shaking her head a bit as she follows after Alonya. "Not thinkin' you wrong, though. Teamwork an' all that, not the rest." As if she feels the need to clarify. Still, she's ready to help the princess as best as she can. "Hit it just in the whites of it's... skull eye hole thingers, that'll get it packin'!" Perhaps a bit of an inapporpriate time for jokes, but she can't help herself.
----------------------------
Erik's limp arm, bent at an unnatural angle, robs Shen Hua of her confidence in her companions ability to overcome this obstacle. Rushing forward, she pushes Erik away from the combat and down to the floor.
"Rest friend, much Honor have you brought your House today. Let others carry this fight in your stead."
Picking up the rapier, she prepares to enter the fray at her next opportunity.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
|
As Anlessa circles around the skull, it lunges at her with remarkable speed. The creature's jaws open and as Anlessa raises her arms to protect herself it weaves around one hand and bites down on her shoulder with an audible crunch. Blood flows from the girl's shoulder at the bite and the creature shakes around violently as pain lances up and down her arm and through her back. Struggling away, the Varisian girl is able to break free, leaving the blood-smeared skull hovering nearby with chattering, shark-like teeth coated a glossy red.
Catching a glimpse of the young Irriseni woman trying to bring the group together, the skull lets out a hoarse, dusty roar coupled with the sound of crackling flames and belches words at her. "Κυνηγόσκυλο σας θα έρθεις μαζί μου!" Then, with that threat spat out, it quickly lunges at Alyonna as it had the others, but as the jaws come down the Irriseni girl pulls away, and the tips of its teeth leave red scratch marks across her throat where it had intended to crush the life from her.
Seeing the others so badly wounded, Stands on Spiral steps forward and continues whirling the magical lantern around by the hoop at its top. The glass panes show the arcane blue flame within flickering and dancing but refusing to go out in spite of its rough handling. "We only have one shot at this!" Stands on Spiral proclaims as he gets into position to aid Alyonna.
____
Your wolf will join me!
Aldon sighs in relief as he sees Erik manage to get away, hoping to goodness that the boy would manage to remain conscious throughout the rest of this.
The relief is soon spoiled by the advent of Anlessa getting bitten, and further color drains from Aldon's face. Now there's no more yelling; Aldon's regained control of his emotions, somewhat. His breathing is coming quick and not at all even, but it's an improvement.
"Anlessa, just get away! Leave this to us!"
The words belie his thoughts, which are tinged with urgency and fear.
Gods, at this rate we're not going to make it!
The memories are coming thick and fast. The skeletons were gone, sure, but even despite what Deriku had said (and Aldon, admittedly, had not paid much attention when he did), Aldon could not reconcile the idea that the skull was any different than the undead horrors that had besieged and beset his people. They had bitten and ripped, the same as this thing.
No, can't panic. Panicking won't help.
Nodding distractedly at Alyona, Aldon waves his sword threateningly and whistles sharply. "Oi! Over here! I said to face "
____________
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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With the light from the lantern now flooding the chamber, the children can see long corridors sinking into darkness in every direction from this hub where the rubble is piled. However the azure-hued light of the lantern has an unintended effect as it washes over the cold spirit. The spirit of the young woman looks around, bewildered, "Where did you go?" she whispers again, this time with more clarity than before.
Alanar gets the impression that she cannot see him anymore, not that she was ever truly reactive to his prescence before at all.
Alyona moves past Aldon, dodging around the skull to set up a flank with Erik. She swings the heavy golden blade again, this time pure rage and frustration lend her strength. Why am I here? What am I doing? Who are these incompetents? I shall have to kill Ilsea when we find her, stupid b#~+! caused all of this with her weakness. Hmmm....how to make it look like an accident?
As the longsword connects solidly with the ghostly skull (at least I hope so! Otherwise we really are screwed) Alyona screams at the top of her lungs, "F#+# OFF!" She looks around at the other children waving their weapons about foolishly with noodle-like arms. "All of you listen! Ve must cooperate. If ve aren't going to go retrieve more useful veapons, then ve must vork together. I appear to be the strongest, unsurprisingly. Help me! Harry it, distract it, and I vill cut it down." The princess cuts a bit of a comical figure in her petticoated skirt and heeled boots, but her hands are unwavering as she holds the longsword aloft. The burning imperious rage in her ice blue eyes and the iron tone of a lifetime of giving commands rings in her voice. "Do as I say or ve vill all die here!"
Perhaps Alanar had not been the wisest move to try and hug the girl, as the chill seeped into him, the ifrit letting out a shudder. The cry of pain behind him from the others made Alanar look back, seeing how much trouble they seemed to be having with one flying skull.
"...I will be back. I must help them for now," He informs the ghostly girl, regardless of whether or not she can hear him. The Katapesh refugee vaults over onto the rubble behind the skull, getting between it and Aldon to hedge it in. His attempt to distract the thing so that the saber wielding boy can get a better shot in is disrupted as he struggles to keep his footing.
"Unsurprisingly. I don't think so much," Anlessa replies with a bit of a laugh. "Wasin' not spider bit, I could help more," she replies, shaking her head a bit as she follows after Alonya. "Not thinkin' you wrong, though. Teamwork an' all that, not the rest." As if she feels the need to clarify. Still, she's ready to help the princess as best as she can. "Hit it just in the whites of it's... skull eye hole thingers, that'll get it packin'!" Perhaps a bit of an inapporpriate time for jokes, but she can't help herself.
As Anlessa circles around the skull, it lunges at her with remarkable speed. The creature's jaws open and as Anlessa raises her arms to protect herself it weaves around one hand and bites down on her shoulder with an audible crunch. Blood flows from the girl's shoulder at the bite and the creature shakes around violently as pain lances up and down her arm and through her back. Struggling away, the Varisian girl is able to break free, leaving the blood-smeared skull hovering nearby with chattering, shark-like teeth coated a glossy red.
Erik takes a staggering step backwards, staring at his broken arm, at the blood still pouring from the mangled bite wound. There is pain, but it's a distant thing. Everything feels distant, come to think of it.
The blood... that's probably something he should be worried about. It would be inaccurate to say that he's never seen this much blood before; it's just that he's never seen this much blood before from someone who's still walking around. Yeah, I should probably be worried about this...
But the cold doesn't seem as bad anymore. In fact, he feels almost... warm. Peaceful. The fear of the unknown--of dying, he supposes--that had loomed so huge in the back of his mind is all but gone now, and the pain is so distant it might as well be happening to someone else. When was the last time he felt like this? Not since this journey's started--even then he was always wary, worrying about this lot and whether he could trust them. Certainly not in the time before Hokuto appeared and pried him out of his lonely little cell in the prison; not even in the last few years before that, when he was trying to eke out a living on the streets of Westcrown.
He thinks on it for a frozen eternity, remembering a time when he was very young; when his mother still looked happy, not like she did at the end. He remembers her tucking him in, reading him a story... one where, in the end, everyone lived happily ever after. He could almost smile... the memory seems so real.
Idiot, wake up! That voice is like an icy needle in the back of his mind, picking at the seams of his waking dream. Pull yourself together, boy!
The dream disintegrates, leaving behind the cold and unpleasant reality; only a moment has passed. The skull has just howled something unpleasant sounding, blood sizzling and dripping from its teeth; and Aldon...
Wow, looks like he's taking it hard, Erik thinks, utterly surprised. Hells, he's taking it harder than I am, and I'm the one that just got killed.
Erik shudders... or he would shudder, if he had the energy. It's getting cold... so very cold. The pain is creeping closer, like a starving wolf scenting wounded prey, and his body is feeling heavy... not to mention his arm feeling wrong--he can see broken bone sticking through the skin. Got killed... heh. Funny. I always spent my life tryin' so hard not to die... but it doesn't bother me so much now. Dyin's... maybe not so bad, the boy thinks to himself.
Is that it? Is that all you can think of? You're just going to give up because it's easy? To the hells with that! Strive 'till this phantom is broken; fight until the battle is done! If you're at your limit, reach past it and stand again! If you must die, then make your death mean something! Or do you plan to leave that girl alone in the darkness?
Erik is still for a moment, panting, head down... then he switches the rapier to his other hand. He's spent years hearing that voice needling him in the back of his mind, taunting him... but right now, the voice is right. If I die... it's damn well gonna mean something, he thinks to himself, gathering all the resolve he can muster. At the very least, whoever kills me is gonna get one hell of an interesting scar for their troubles, he vows.
He looks up. His face is dreadfully pale, his eyes look like he hasn't slept in a month, but he's grinning... the way his face is now, though, there's an uncanny resemblance to the flaming skull's bloody grin. He sees Alyona moving to attack and raises the blood-covered rapier for a moment--threatening the skull enough to allow her attack to strike home, then staggers back, his balance going. He manages to catch his balance again with a herculean effort, using the bloodied rapier to help support his weight--thankfully, Erik doesn't weigh much, so the ceremonial weapon is able to support him without breaking.
"Arright, Princess. I'm a little worn out, but it'd be uncivil to turn down a lady askin' for a dance. I'll follow your lead, sure... for this one, anyways." His grin, if anything, grows broader with that declaration. His cavalier manner might be slightly spoiled by the way he immediately puts the rapier back to the ground so he can use it to keep his balance, or by the blood still oozing from his shattered arm, but Erik has more pressing concerns at the moment.
Taeo swings the torch wildly at the skull, aiming to distract it and make it easier for Alyonna to hit...but this time failing to distract it.
Catching a glimpse of the young Irriseni woman trying to bring the group together, the skull lets out a hoarse, dusty roar coupled with the sound of crackling flames and belches words at her. "Κυνηγόσκυλο σας θα έρθεις μαζί μου!" Then, with that threat spat out, it quickly lunges at Alyonna as it had the others, but as the jaws come down the Irriseni girl pulls away, and the tips of its teeth leave red scratch marks across her throat where it had intended to crush the life from her.
Seeing the others so badly wounded, Stands on Spiral steps forward and continues whirling the magical lantern around by the hoop at its top. The glass panes show the arcane blue flame within flickering and dancing but refusing to go out in spite of its rough handling. "We only have one shot at this!" Stands on Spiral proclaims as he gets into position to aid Alyonna.
Erik's limp arm, bent at an unnatural angle, robs Shen Hua of her confidence in her companions ability to overcome this obstacle. Rushing forward, she pushes Erik away from the combat and down to the floor.
"Rest friend, much Honor have you brought your House today. Let others carry this fight in your stead." Picking up the rapier, she prepares to enter the fray at her next opportunity.
Aldon sighs in relief as he sees Erik manage to get away, hoping to goodness that the boy would manage to remain conscious throughout the rest of this.
The relief is soon spoiled by the advent of Anlessa getting bitten, and further color drains from Aldon's face. Now there's no more yelling; Aldon's regained control of his emotions, somewhat. His breathing is coming quick and not at all even, but it's an improvement.
"Anlessa, just get away! Leave this to us!"
The words belie his thoughts, which are tinged with urgency and fear.
Gods, at this rate we're not going to make it!
The memories are coming thick and fast. The skeletons were gone, sure, but even despite what Deriku had said (and Aldon, admittedly, had not paid much attention when he did), Aldon could not reconcile the idea that the skull was any different than the undead horrors that had besieged and beset his people. They had bitten and ripped, the same as this thing.
No, can't panic. Panicking won't help.
Nodding distractedly at Alyona, Aldon waves his sword threateningly and whistles sharply. "Oi! Over here! I said to face me!"
<< | | | The Ancient Ossuary >>
As the battle begins to seem most hopeless, as the students rally together to surround the vicious skull-like creature, the phantom of the girl at the back of the room continues her mournful crying, her hands covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle the haunting sound to no effect. The ossuary is filled with the sounds of screams, hisses, and the crying of a young woman.
Is this how it will all end for them?
__________
Alanar was very worried. Everyone seemed to be having trouble with hitting the flaming skull with their borrowed weapons. He himself didn't have a weapon at all, aside from his innate flames, and this place prevented him from using them.
He tried distracting it to no avail - surrounded on all sides, he wasn't capable of being helpful here.
___________
Not persuaded that his antics are actually distracting the skull but not seeing a better path forward, Taeo makes a feint toward the outsider, yelling
___________
Erik is unable to offer any sort of resistance as Shenhua pushes him aside and takes the rapier from him... which, he grudgingly admits, might mean that she has the right idea as far as him staying out of things. "Fine, I'll let someone else have the fun for now," he grumbles weakly.
Then the skull takes a bite out of Anlessa. Erik's eyes widen as the horror of this situation comes crashing back in on him, even through the pain and weakness; Anlessa might not be his favorite person--he hasn't forgiven her for that jibe she threw at him when he was trying to stop Alanar from charging headlong into the crypt earlier--but that doesn't mean he wants to see her bitten in half by some leering skeletal horror.
This... this is not good. Dammit, isn't there SOMETHING I can do?
His gaze falls on the ghostly girl, still crying; he looks around, trying to see something else of use--maybe he can throw something at the skull--but in the end his gaze comes back to the girl again. Agh, talkin' to her has been like talkin' to a brick wall so far... but what else can I do? Break down and weep while everyone dies, like she is? Hells take that! He staggers back up and moves a bit, so that he can get a better view of the girl. Here goes nothing.
"Hey! Hey, Snowflake!" he calls, trying to get the ghostly girl's attention. "Dry those eyes--tears ain't gonna solve this. You say he won't leave you alone... well, we're doin' our part to help you out, but us knockin' him out for ya won't be enough. You want him to step off, you gotta stand up to him! We're doin' all we can... so what are you doin'?" Erik demands. "Bullies love seein' people cry--makes 'em feel bigger than they are. So dry those eyes and stand up for yourself instead!"
---
Shouting and grunting, Anlessa stumbles back and away, wincing as she looks over to Taeo, then to Alyona. "Tch! But, I..." She trails off, holding a hand at her side. Taeo's right, between the spider bites, the skull, and just- everything, she was in no position to be on the front line of this fight, as much as she wanted to be.
It's with resignation that she slides back a step, eyes half lidded as she watches the others, hoping for the best. "Only if'in you can get all the revenge for me!" because seriously, that thing hurt.
-----------
: 5ft step north
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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Letting out a shrill cry of anguish and rage, the burning skull pivots in the air as its victims one-by-one begin to retreat. Instead, it turns its burning stare on Aldon. The gnashing teeth of the skull snap together as it opens and closes its jaws, then bursts forward through the air leaving a bright trail of blue flame behind.
The skull lunges forward with its maw open, and Aldon's quick reflexes allow him to lock the saber into its mouth as it clamps down on old metal. The teeth scrape and grind ineffectually around the blade of the sword, and with a jerking motion the boy is able to hurl the skull off. It wobbles through the air, comes back up and shrieks in frustration once more.
Deriku steps aside to flank the creature with Alyona, whirling the lantern around still with threatening arcs that bring the lantern dangerously close to the skull. While the boy knows it would not make an effective weapon, Stands on Spiral is more hoping to distract the terrible creature than anything. Though all the whole, the wary Shoanti survivor is watching the shadows for signs of both the ghost and the other undying creatures from within the ossuary. For now, he sees nothing, but the worry that this prolonged fight will draw out other creatures is profound.
______
Regretting that she hadn't paid more attention to the boys using the rapier, Shenhua wonders exactly how you swing this exotic weapon. Stepping up holding the rapier in two hands, she swings it overhand at the flaming skull.
Despite her total lack of skill, the young Tian girl smacks the skull across the temple with the edge of the rapier, temporarily distracting it.
Growing wearier as the fight drags on, Aldon doesn't put as much into his next swing and it shows. The saber goes wide, arcing underneath the skull. The attempt was intended to be a distraction rather than an attack, of course, but it still stings his pride. If they both survived this, he might have to apologize to Alyona for not being much help.
Aldon curses, but is at least appreciative of the fact that the skull listened to him... well, appreciative might not be the right word. He imagines that later on he'll regret the decision to attract its attention.
The boy continues his attempt at harrying the skull, whistling sharply. He looks towards Alyona and jerks his head towards the skull.
"Kill it!"
____________
Alyona grins evilly as her minions swarm around the flying skull, distracting it with shouts and feeble, weak armed blows. Now is your time. Show them all what it means to be Jadwiga! She winds up with the golden longsword like a baseball player. It's a horrible posture for sword fighting, but she doesn't know that, and it will allow her to put the maximum force of her her tiny doll-like frame behind the blow.
The ceremonial sword whistles as it passes narrowly over Taeo's shoulder. Alyona strikes the skull dead on, and there is a resounding crack in the small chamber as the skull spirit is swept sideways by the attack. Alyona smiles even wider to quickly cover the surprised look that began to creep onto her face when she'd realized she hit the creature. Now, she looks every inch the self-pleased princess who doesn't recognize she is but one cog in the machine.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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The resulting strike of Alyona's sword onto the skull shatters the creature's bony carapace, allowing a fluidic splash of coiled entrails, tiny organs and violet-colored blood to splash onto the floor as its bony exterior clatters down at her feet. The flames are snuffed out on the moment of impact, and from the phantasmal young woman once hovering in the air a mournful cry escapes her lips as she grips her brow with both hands. The air in the tomb becomes bone-chillingly cold, and from the spot where the flaming skull was slain a hissing noise begins to build, turning into a roar of crashing ocean waves that go from eerily soft to deafeningly loud with alarming speed.
Just as the tidal noise reaches a crescendo, there is an audible shattering sound and a change of air pressure and a sudden increase in temperature from bitter cold to warmer and drier. The light-level in the tomb changes dramatically, with a sudden burst of hazy cloud-obfuscated light shining down from the hole in the ceiling. Gone is the strange palace that loomed in view, now just a haze of fog and clouds. Most tellingly, the hallways themselves seem to have rearranged into a different configuration, with the passages that once led north, south and west being blocked off by rubble.
Atop the rubble pile in the middle of the chamber, Ilesea sits with a worried expression on her face, currently being tended to by a frantic Hokuto Ichihara who kneels at her side. The Tian woman looks up, possibly having heard the same sound the children did a moment ago, and looks on in wide-eyed wonder as the rest of her missing students stand before her, some battered, bloody and injured, others covered in dust and cobwebs holding old, battered, ceremonial weapons.
"There you are!" Hokuto exclaims with both frustration and relief, clutching one hand to her chest and looking as though she were about to faint right on the spot. Bewildered, Hokuto stares at the children with her mismatched eyes and seems at a loss for further words.
"Where have-- how--" The abortive words come with a shake of her head, then a nervous smile that slowly forms on her lips when she sees Stands on the Spiral holding the lantern that had gone missing from the carriage. "Crowley! Crowley I found them!" Hokuto shouts up to the hole in the ceiling, where a rope dangles from its place attached to the tree. Crowley, holding one of the other blackflame lanterns, peers down at the children with furrowed brows.
They're alive.
[ | ]
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Alanar blinks as the environment suddenly changes, the ghostly girl having vanished with the destruction of the skull. That seems important, but he stops thinking about it once he sees the little halfling girl with Hokuto, looking well and whole.
"Ilesea!" He cries out, the ifrit smiling brightly and grabbing onto her tiny hands. "You are all right! Sarenae has answered my prayers!" He laughs. She is all right, and so is everything in the world.
Well, perhaps not everything, as it seems that they're all in a heap of trouble for wandering off like that. Alanar is profuse in his apologies and explanations to Hokuto. "Ilesea, she suddenly disappeared so we went looking for her and she was down this hole but we did not have any way to reach so we went through the crypt and there were spiders and skeletons and a ghost girl and there was a black castle up through the hole and a flaming skull but we beat it and so I guess we came back from where we were and do not blame the others because Ilesea was my responsibility and I failed to look after her but I am pleased that you have saved her and I am sorry we worried you and please do not be angry."
The ifrit finishes his long winded explanation, keeping close to the halfling, afraid that if he isn't careful she'll disappear again.
Erik grins fiercely and lets out a cheer as Ilyona swings her blade and slams into the side of the skull... although his expression sours a bit as the skull shatters and spills innards everywhere. Aw cripes, there goes my new mug. Then again, I didn't think it was full of guts. Blech. Are skeletons supposed to have guts? he wonders... but he doesn't have time to give that thought a great deal of attention, because right about then it starts sounding like the mother of all waves is bearing down on them. Erik manages to stagger to his feet...
...and suddenly everything changes, and Hokuto and Ilesea are there.
Erik stares in blank confusion for a moment, then shakes his head. Well... looks like that whole thing was just a great big exercise in pointlessness, he muses... but the thought isn't as bitter as it could be. Sure, he feels like several very large Hellknights have been using him for a football, but everyone's alive... and that's enough to bring a grin onto his face.
Then Alanar starts in, and Erik's expression goes sour; by the end he's glowering at the ifrit with an expression that's nearly as cold as the ghost-girl's frozen tears. Your responsibility, huh... whatever. If she wants to be your 'responsibility', that's her business, I guess. Just don't try saying I'm your 'responsibility', or you and I'll be having some words.
His smile returns as his attention shifts back to Hokuto and Ilesea. "So. Hi," he says, grinning at Hokuto for a moment. "Glad to see you here," He glances to Ilesea. "Yeah, we got a little worried and went lookin' for you. I guess we found you, at that; better late than never, I guess. Just... got a little lost, first..."
He trails off, swaying; he's starting to feel rather tired, and his arm's starting to hurt again, though thankfully the pain's still distant. "Bleh... too much excitement. Feelin' sleepy." He wanders towards the side of the chamber and plops down next to a wall; as much as he wants to be out of this place, he really, really wants to sit down for a minute and maybe take a nap first. He'll let some of the others go up the rope first while he recovers a bit of his energy.
There is one thing he wants to ask before he drifts off, though. "Hey, Shenhua... what you said earlier. Didja mean it?" he asks quietly.
"Vha...?" Alyona begins to ask as the whole world changes around them. Her satisfied smile disappears. She stands in shock for a few moments as Erik and Alanar explain what happened. Then Alyona sets the longsword daintily down, rubbing her tired arm muscles. Swordfighting is so tiring and dreadful, why do men insist that it is admirable?
"Vhere vere ve just now Mistress Hokuto? Vhat vas that castle in the sky?" She puts her delicate porcelain fingers to the still bleeding wound on her throat. That was far too close.
Heart still racing, Taeo hugs Crowley and Hokuto as they haul him out. He sits with a stunned look on his face for a minute, blinking at Ilesea, trying to decide whether to kiss her forehead or shake her for fleeing. Then, as Alyona is lifted out, he bows playfully to her and says in a singsong voice: "Valiant Princess - bold and brave, you've knocked our foe back to its grave!"
...at which point a giddy exhaustion sets in and he finds himself giggling uncontrollably and gasping for breath.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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One by one, as the students are hauled out of the chasm, Hokuto checks them over for injuries. The most grievously injured are sent to Crowley, who withdraws a smooth willow branch from within his suit jacket, conjuring a warm golden glow at its tip with a single command word. With this wand, he mends the injuries of the students with patience and practice, giving the old man something to focus on while Hokuto ensures that they've all made it out alive.
The tiny Ilesea hangs on to Alanar the entire time both before and after being removed from the hole in the cemetery, trembling all the while. She buries her face in his chest, eyes wrenched shut, even through Crowley's attentive healing.
All of the children talking at once, the different explanations of what happened and to whom, it overwhelms Hokuto to an extent. The fortune-telling teaches exhales a weary sigh and sweeps one pale hand across her brow. Alyona's question is the most easy to answer, though also the most easy to avoid giving a full answer to. "Had I thought you'd have been wandering here, I would have warned you that these ruins are not stable places." She speaks, even while looking the blonde girl over for wounds.
"This village... it was destroyed a long time ago, and the battle that was fought here sundered the division between certain planes of reality. It tore holes between this realm," she sweeps her hand in front of Alyona as if directing to somewhere else, "and the plane of shadow, a dark mirror of our world."
Looking up at each of the students, Hokuto smiles wearily and rubs her face with one hand. Crowley, indicating that all the injured have been tended to, retrieves the blackflame lantern from Stands on the Spiral and begins leading the group back to the carriage.
"Our school stood here long before this battle took place, though you can't see it right now." Hokuto motions up to where Alyona mentioned the castle in the sky. "What you saw was... likely an echo of Akrabahadran. For the real academy is hidden behind a mirage arcana."
As they pass through the cemetery, Hokuto looks at each of the children with expressions mixing between frustration and pride. She takes this moment to give what amounts, to her, as a scolding. "I told you all to stay in the light, and... I suppose you did." Cracking a smile, the Tian woman looks over to Ilesea, then back to the others. "You're all very, frustratingly clever. Thank you for protecting her and looking out for her..."
On passing the ruined stone wall that partitions the dusty road through the ruined town and the cemetery, Hokuto produces a collection of necklaces from within the voluminous sleeves of her kimono. "Before we go any further, I must give you what it is you were supposed to be waiting here for."
The necklaces are simple chains, ending with a rectangular metal plate roughly the size of an index finger. An inscription in arcane writing runs down both sides of the narrow plate and at the bottom there is stamped in the metal the symbol of an open eye. "These are vigil pendants," and Hokuto begins handing them out to each of the students. "The vigil pendants mark you as a student of Akrabahadran and allow you to see through the mirage arcana and other magical traps that ward our school from the outside world."
As Hokuto is handing out the necklaces, Crowley quietly watches from by the wagon, hanging up the lantern the children had taken. But as he does, he steals glimpses of the decorative weapons that the students had taken from the plane of shadow. A briefly fretful look crosses the old carriage driver's face, but he winds up saying nothing. Instead, he notices something unusual about Taeo and once he's done hanging up the lantern he quickly makes his way over to the boy.
"Hokuto," Crowley notes almost breathlessly as he approaches Taeo and takes him by the wrist that holds the torch he'd been carrying since entering that darkened place. "Look at the boy's torch," the old man says with a furrowed brow.
Hokuto, looking up from dispensing the necklaces, raises a brow and looks in Taeo's direction as the fey-born squirms against Crowley's grasp. The others hadn't noticed it, but the shadows cast by Taeo's torch aren't acting normally, instead they're making shadow puppets with their hands, some doubled over in pantomime of fitful laughter.
Scrubbing one hand at the side of her face, Hokuto approaches Taeo and squints at the torch, then waves her hand through the flame without harm. Her nose wrinkles, and she turns her mis-matched eyes to the fey boy, then back to the torch again.
"Akuz," Hokuto quickly utters the incantation as a violet light outlines her eyes. She makes a noise in the back of her throat, then motions for Crowley to release Taeo's hand. The aura around her eyes fade, and she rests her hands on her hips.
"Well, that's... new." Scrubbing one hand at the back of her neck, Hokuto shakes her head and lets out a brief yip of laughter. "It seems you've brought something, harmless, back with you Taeo. I'm not sure if it's your fae nature, the weirdness of the plane of shadow, or a touch of both... but that dusty old torch you've been carrying has changed somehow."
Hokuto motions to the antics of everyone's shadows cast by the flickering torchlight, "Your torch is sucking in light, making it gradually darker. It also seems to have some sort of illusory power, the torch's flame isn't even fire anymore. It's heatless-- harmless." Hokuto withdraws a large embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve and drapes it over the torch's head, hooding the flame. She then produces a thin line of twine that seems to spool endlessly from the same sleeve, tying the handkerchief on to hide the light of the torch. As she does, the lights of the lanterns grow brighter.
"It has magic in it, and I suppose it's your responsibility now." Hokuto looks at the others, then Crowley, to see if he noticed anything else off about them. "You all should be careful, if you notice anything different or strange let me know. I'm not sure what your... experiences in that plane may have done. But if this torch is any example, you might not have come back from that place alone."
Then, with a deep exhalation, Hokuto shakes her head and opens the door to the carriage. "Get in," she instructs, "there'll be more time to talk on the way up to the school."
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The first time that Alanar looks away from Ilesea clutched in his arms was to look at the new piece of jewelry given to them all. Personally he felt that they could have used something fancier to decorate them - a thin gilding of gold or silver perhaps.
He helps to fasten it around the halfling girl's neck before putting his own on, carrying her into the carriage afterwards. "You are safe now, Ilesea - but please do not run off like that again! You had so many worried, and we fought sabat and there was a flaming juljula and then there was the khayal..."
He hugs her gently. "I have lost too many already. I do not wish to lose any more."
Alyona bows to Taeo, smirking. "I suppose I did," she says. Then she waits patiently to be healed by Crowley. She's the last one to receive his ministrations. With the bite wound on her throat and some explanation from Hotuko on what just happened to them she's feeling much better. Alyona accepts the vigil pendant with a shallow bow, "Thank you mistress," she murmurs.
"King, be a doll and hold my hair up for me vould you?" she asks Taeo, hoping he can keep the avalanche of back-length golden locks out of the way long enough for her to clasp the necklace. If he agrees to help her she attempts to strike up conversation with him as they get back into the carriage. "So now you've wisited three different planes of existence right?"
Anlessa takes her pendant and holds it up eye level, examining even as she rubs her side, still feeling the linger sting of her earlier injuries even despite the healing her had received. The pendant is met with fascination - typically, this looked like the kind of trinket Anlessa and Lianrix likely would've sold to help fund their travels, discovered in a dusty abandoned chest on the side of the road or bartered for in exchange for their help with any number of things.
"Thakin' for the helpin' an' all," she murmurs to Hokuto, not keeping eye contact with her as she sets the pendant around her neck. She feels bad for her part in the group's needed rescue. But there's nothing to be done about it now.
"Three?" she repeats, looking over at Alyona with a bit of disbelief. A look of consternation forms on her face, looking down at her hand as she mouths words and raises fingers, as if trying to reconcile this fact herself - this was not a field she was terribly well versed in. Eventually she furrows her brow and shakes her head annoyingly.
"So, was kinda in the school but kinda not?" She scratches the side of her head, going over t o herself what Hokuto had said. "Or- was once the school?" She lets out a frustrated sigh, flopping back down into a seat. "Well, I'll be gettin' t' understand soon enough, sure t' bet."
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 4
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As the children all climb aboard the carriage, Hokuto settles down in her seat and affords them time to get situated before shutting the door. Ilesea looks down at her feet awkwardly on getting in, then up to Alanar with a wordlessly mouthed thank you all she can afford. It was her fear that had her running, her helplessness that had put everyone in danger. It was clear from looking at her that Ilesea felt responsible, in spite of it being Taeo's joke that sent her running.
"You weren't in the school, no..." Hokuto finally explains to Anlessa, reclining tiredly against the plush velvet cushions of her seat. "The surrounding area was once a village that served as farmlands for a nearby temple," and with that Hokuto motions vaguely towards one carriage wall, as if indicating the direction of the temple off-handedly. "The people there were persecuted when the Rahadoumi pure legion discovered that there was a practicing religious community within their borders. The village was burned and the temple sacked... hundreds died."
Growing silent for a moment, Hokuto crosses one leg over the other and carefully adjusts her kimono's lower hem. "Some of the survivors of the temple fled into the plane of shadow to escape the battle that was happening, they fled with sacred relics and items of importance to the faith... hoping to start anew in a realm where the pure legion would not find them." Shaking her head, Hokuto shows that the story does not have a happy ending.
"They were never heard from again. The plane of shadow is not fit for human life, and there are far darker and more terrible things that haunt that place than imagination can conjure." With a wave of one hand, Hokuto draws back the curtains of the wagon to reveal the foggy, mountainous landscape outside as the wagon begins to move along.
Rumbling up the rocky road, the wagon carries the students up a switchback trail that is beginning to ascend the mesa that the ruined village was built in the base of. "Eighty years ago, a group of scholars and dreamers rediscovered this forgotten place. An abandoned temple nestled away in the most unforgiving hills of Rahadoum. They learned that the old place still held secrets, secrets that it had managed to keep from the pure legion in their sacking. Akrabahadran was founded from those secrets, and all the students who have come since have been indoctrinated in these arcane mysticisms."
Gradually, the fog outside begins to take strange shapes. First vague swirls, then humanoid visages of soldiers with spears on horseback. "To protect itself from the pure legion ever returning, the founders warded the entire region with powerful illusions. The only items able to penetrate the veil are crafted within, and never allowed beyond the village below." Hokuto looks out the window, and soon the fog begins to disperse, revealing a range of jagged rocky outcroppings and crumbling plateaus.
"Why don't you see for yourselves, though," Hokuto says, gesturing to one of the open windows as the wagon starts to turn along the zig-zagging path. Out the window, a sight comes into view, a towering mesa hundreds of feet high with waterfalls spilling down from its narrow top. Upon the crown of that plateau, an ancient palace sits in the dark of the night, with towers rising up like fingers grasping at the sky, all shrouded in voluminous clouds of fog and mist.
"Welcome to your new home."
<< | | | >>
As Akrabahadran comes into view in the distance, it's clear the carriage still yet has a long way to travel. Ilesea makes the first sound yet since her rescue, little more than a whispery squeak of excitement as she presses herself up against the window in fascination. Stands on the Spiral watches more distantly, his back against the opposite carriage wall, brows lowered and head tilted to the side at the spectacle.
____________
Welcome to Akrabahadran.
Alyona pretends to not be overly interesred in the new view out the window, but only lasts a few moments longer than the others before plastering her face to the window. Her breath is taken by the beauty and mystery of their new home. A smile sneaks onto her face as what's left of the little girl in her fully asserts itself. Now that alone is a sight worth leaving home for. Surely the secrets of great power lie within such a magnificent place.