| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sorin stands amidst the chaos, a battle raging within him as much as is with the soldier outside. He closes his eyes, desperately trying to focus, to call upon the vast power he knows he possesses.
Come on, you can do this!
He seeks that familiar surge of energy, but it's elusive, slipping away just as he feels he's getting a grasp on it. Frustration bubbles up inside him, a fiery tide threatening to consume his resolve. He blurts out "Why now?!" and slams his fist into the nearby wall.
His eyes spring open and the scene of destruction before him sharpens his fear. Meliska's struggle with the advancing undead soldier and everyone is in danger peril – it's all too much.
I can't... I can't let them down again...
He tries to convince himself, but panic and doubt threaten to overtake him.
The last time he tried this, he nearly hurt Meliska.
Am I really strong enough for this? What if I'm just in the way
The insecurity gnaws at him, making his heart race and his palms sweat. Rubbing his hands on his cloak, he stokes the swirling vortex of his emotions and reaches out for something to help bring clarity.
No, I won't be paralyzed by fear. I have to do something, anything!
His hands rise up as the air around him begins to crackle with pent-up energy. His eyes blaze with determination, a silent promise to himself and his team.
Talking to himself, he mutters under his breath as he finally manages to grab hold of what he had been searching for "This is it. I have to control it, channel it, use it!"
The reality around him bends to his will. The ground ripples and the air begins to thicken as a storm of gravitational force erupts from him, directed at the undead soldier.
Hold it together! Just. A bit. Longer.
He strains to ensure that his efforts to not backfire this time and injure his newfound allies or innocents nearby.
Ripple considers the pointed-eared human's words. Normal does seem like Running, by looking at the majority of the people here. But others are not. They look at the three people fighting.
And decides, to be Not Normal like them
The blonde's eyes look around. The two women are dancing around like leaves in the wind while the man is performing some ritual. The man is less protected, and doing something that they hope will help.
A thick vine splits into two, grasping rubble. Pulling back, then chucking the rock at a spear flying over the wall that might have hit the wizard man.
The rock defects the weapon. Ripple feels this is a moment to smile or wink at the person she just helped. So they do both.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Meliska strains, They're. Strong! Her brow is knit, her teeth are clenched, she's swaying with the effort of baffling the control of these undead, but all I need to do is keep it slow and all these other weirdos will tear them apart. The flares and pulses of Sorin's might threaten to knock her over, so Cordy lashes fungal strands to her to keep her anchored and steady. Just. Keep. Concentrating...
With Meliska keeping one of the undead soldiers under control, Viridi sends her spear flying at the other one. It is incredibly fast, twisting and clashing his own spear against hers, just enough to avoid being skewered. A plate on his shoulder pops free where the elf's spear hits, old blood oozes from beneath, revealing skinless muscle.
The soldier is left unbalanced nevertheless, which is enhanced by Sorin's power. She soldier floats for a moment before being brought down hard against the ground as if it had fallen from a tower. The broken pavement breaks even more, forming a crater with an amalgamation of twisted blue metal, flesh, bones and old blood. One soldier is down.
The other soldier is still slowed by Meliska, but manages to jump down from the rubble wall. Yuri sprints forward with a flying kick. The soldier tries to lift its spear to block but can't and suddenly there is a big dent in its chest shaped like a footprint. Yuri twists, still with her food on the soldier's chest, and kicks its head, sending it flying away. The head stares at Meliska between her feet. Relieve fills her as she is no longer trying to keep the soldier slowed. Was her help even needed?
A spear flies from beyond the dust and the changeling lifts a rock to protect the forcemage. Sorin is spattered with small pebbles and the spear falls in front of him. A beautiful weapon, golden in color.
The dust completely clears. There are soldiers everywhere, as well as bodies. So many bodies. Some guards fight the enemies here and there, but in general it is a bloodbath.
---
You are tired and numb, hidden in an alley to catch your breath. Skin wet with sweat and caked with dust and blood. Some yours from a couple bruises, mostly from others. The whole plaza is an open battlefield and judging from the many soldiers you've seen taking the many avenues leaving the plaza, the same is probably true about the rest of the city.
The Boros guild was finally able to mount a coordinated effort and in some places were able to hold the invaders. Humans, giants, minotaurs and even goblins and viashinos among their ranks give battle to the undead wave, while in the sky angels fight more undead, these with blue wings and avian features beneath their armors.
The invading army is remarkable. Nothing alike the gouls and zombies Sorin saw in Innistrad or the shambling mess Melira was used to in the Swarm. They fought like veterans of many wars. Fast, strong, relentless, emotionless. Their blue armor slowed them almost nothing, while protecting them greatly, specially from many spells as many guildmages discovered.
The toll of lives seemed purposeless. Death for death's sake. The relative order of Ravnica was long shattered as everyone was solely focused on their own survival. Those who could help others did and in this aspect you were not alone. Mages and warriors of all sorts fought against the invading army and Melira was suspicious that many of these were also not from her city. Why were they here though?
Two figures appear on the alley, one very short and stout, the other tall, slender and pointing at you.
"There she is." Says the tall one with a feminine but powerful voice.
The other reaches for her hand, pulling it down. "Don't point at them. It is rude." His voice is gruff. The woman shrugs. "We are friends!" He yells from afar. "Don't run please."
The 'man' is bald with a well-kept and braided blond beard, reminding Ripple of the dwarves of Axgard. He wears a blue mantle with a breastplate that resembles a bear and carries a warhammer on his hand. The 'woman' has pale blue skin, is completely bald, beautiful if not a bit alien to those not used to a vedalken. She wears a light orange robe with rustic appearance and has one hand covering her left eye as if protecting it.
"I'm Ergar Dar-Dor, this is Ikka." The dwarf politely intones. "Any of you too wounded?"
What do you do?
Instead of blending in with the people fleeing, or even the invading army, Ripple had decided to stay with the people trying to defend the humans. Her mind wondered at the reason why. It would have been easy. Hut would run away to come back later, and she would simply become someone else.
But she didn't.
Not yet at least.
The blonde's face she is still wearing registers surprise with a hint of apprehension as the newcomers show up, searching for one of them. She looks around their group quickly, and answers "No"
She doesn't give a name, since there has been no time to research acceptable names for the region.
Sorin's focus is entirely on maintaining the gravitational storm he's conjured, a tempest of his own fears and determination. Amidst this whirlwind of power, he is vaguely aware of the battlefield's chaos, of allies and enemies moving in a deadly dance. However, his concentration is suddenly broken as a spear, hurtling over the wall, threatens to strike him.
Before he can react, a massive vine whips through the air, intercepting the spear with a shower of rubble. Sorin turns sharply, his eyes tracing the vine's path back to its source - the woman in impeccable attire with the golden pin shaped like a sun on her chest. He watches, almost in awe, as the vine-arm defender offers him a smile and a wink.
What was her name? Has she said her name?
He feels a surge of gratitude towards Ripple, mixed with a renewed sense of camaraderie. This strange, vine-wielding being had stepped into the fray to protect him. He looks down at the beautiful weapon at his feet and is very glad it is not embedded in his chest.
FOCUS SORIN!
"Uh, thanks!" he manages to shout over the din of battle, giving Ripple a nod of appreciation. There's a fleeting moment where Sorin's youthful features break into a smile before he continues to focus on the task at hand and not allow it to backfire and kill someone again.
When the battle is over, Sorin collapses to the ground out of breath, breathing heavily.
When the dwarf-like creatures speak to them, Sorin is about to respond when the woman that defended him speaks for them. He nods in agreement with her statement.
Standing, he brushes off the debris and says "I'm uhm, Sorin. Nice to meet you Er-der dor. Uhh. Sorry. Could you give me your name again?"
Ripple frets inside her mind as another name is said. Not giving one will appear rude, won't it? The situation might mask that. Scared woman lost in the midst of these horrors... no, her eyes look around her. They saw her fight back... oh bother bother bother...
Sorin doesn't appear to be from here. Ergar appears different than the majority of the people she has seen. More important is that he appears different than the form she is wearing. And this Ikka is more foreign looking as well, but at least the most similar.
Ikka then. Sharp in the middle, hers being K, end in vowel, A. Short name.
"Rita" the blonde answers both to Sorin and the new comers. Remembering to include a tired brief smile. "What is happening?"
"And are none of us too wounded for what?"
Viridi shakes her head at the question, looking over to Yuri to see if she was going to speak to the pair of newcomers. She was nearly overwhelmed herself; this battle was nothing like the skirmishes she'd experienced back on Naya.
Sorin, still reeling from the chaos of battle and the relief of being saved, tries to regain his composure. His mind is a whirlwind of thoughts as he grapples with the fast-paced developments and the introduction of new faces.
Why is everyone asking so many questions? he thinks, struggling to keep up with the rapid influx of information and interactions.
Turning to the woman who had assisted him, he nods in gratitude, trying to recall her name in the flurry of the moment. "Rita. Right. Thank you, Rita." His voice carries a hint of uncertainty, but he hopes the sincerity of his thanks comes through.
Then, his mind snaps to Meliska, another ally who had helped him earlier. He scrambles to remember her name, chastising himself internally. Why can't I ever remember people's names? It was like Fog. Or Sog. SMOG! That's it.
Feeling a bit more confident, he turns to Meliska with a smile. "Smog. Right? Thank you, Smog. For earlier, I mean." He offers a friendly nod, unaware of the error in the name. In his earnest attempt to show appreciation, he overlooks the fact that he's misremembered her name.
"It's actually Haze."
|
Yuri is tired as well, but she musters herself enough to give a formal bow to the newcomers. "I am Yuri Tanaka. My friend there is Viridi. It seems that we all arrived in this strange place from different realms. Perhaps we were all called here for a common purpose. Are you able to shed any light on what is happening here?"
"Ergar Dar-Dor." The dwarf answers slowly, smiling and rolling his 'r's, before turning to Meliska. "Oh, wounded enough to live." He says, noting a couple scratches on you all. "No one can call themselves lucky this morning, but we have to be realistic, no? There are many dead or dying and while I'm versed in healing magic, I can't really help everyone."
The woman, speaks in a way that sounds she is a bit lost or disoriented. "So much is happening. People are dying everywhere. Undead warriors are invading this plane and Nicol Bolas is behind some, or all of it." She explains, and somewhat states some obvious facts. She speaks the name with fear. "We are also trapped and more of us are arriving."
Ergar nods in agreement. "That much we know. I'd like to know the 'whys'..."
The woman frowns a bit, uncovering her eye, showing it to be wounded. "You are Ripple, from Littjara in Kaldheim." She says eyeing the blond girl. "You are Viridi, from Inchol'azutla in Naya. You are Yuri, from Towashi in Kamigawa. You are Sorin, from Arashin in Tarkir." She says, going from one to another, leaving Meliska to the end. "And you are Meliska, from Korozda in Ravnica." She covers her eye again, before adding some more to her. "We are all scared and lost, but I see it goes double for you... you'll find answers to many questions you have... and some you've yet to make."
Ergar looks at Meliska with concerned eyes and gives her a small bead in a braided string. "Keep this close to your chest. When we leave and you find yourself lost, I'll come to you." He smiles in a fatherly way. "Well, introductions done, I figure we should start with gathering some information." He says before nodding towards the tower with the humming. "Feel we could start there."
Ripple stills at the use of her name "How did you know that?" a toneless question, but the stones shift as an outhouse-sized house rises on chicken feet to stand protectively behind the woman.
"Us..." The tone hints to a question, then mimics Ikka perfectly "We are also trapped and more of 'Us' are arriving" Her head moves to look around, her mind connecting places she has never heard of to the people around us. "We all Travel? And that pulled us all here, is keeping us here?"
"I don't think I 'Travel' unless that's why I fell over? Is Traveling like hitting your head on the cobblestones?" Meliska smiles weakly, but it's clear she's gradually facing up to what's next.
"So. The tower."
"I can see what lies beneath and what lies beyond. That is my blessing and my curse." She answers Ripple, apparently incapable of speaking in a natural or direct way. The dwarf rolls his eyes some.
The woman looks at Meliska. "Yet."
The dwarf interjects. Planeswalkers, is the usual name, for those capable to well... walk to other planes. He smiles. "Quite a pleasing and direct name, in my humble opinion, even if we actually disappear from one and appear on another instead of actually walking."
"Something brought us hear. Something is keeping us from leaving." The woman clarifies. Or not. "They could be the same thing. A thing, a being, a spell. So many possibilities." She says, looking at the humming tower and uncovering her eye again and soon covering it back. "The tower is a good place to start."
The blonde woman stops her 'normal' cover. She doesn't ship back to being her normal shape, but stops wasting time remembering to do the hundred things humans do every second, from blinking to breathing. Her head turns to the source of their trouble "The tower is a good place to start." she mimics again.
With that she starts moving toward the tower with her house following.
"It's actually Haze."
Sorin looks confused but nods "Oh. Okay. Sorry about that. Nice to meet you Haze."
"I am Yuri Tanaka. My friend there is Viridi... Are you able to shed any light on what is happening here?"
"Pleasure. Yuri. Viridi." Sorin says, repeating the names over and over in his head to himself.
Yuri, Viridi. Yuri, Viridi. Yuridi, V-. Uhh. No. Wait.
"Well, introductions done, I figure we should start with gathering some information." He says before nodding towards the tower with the humming. "Feel we could start there."
Sorin waves his hands "Whoa. Whoa. Whoaa. Hold on. Yes. Sorry to interrupt. Just a moment." He turns to Meliska, "Haze? Haze you said. You just said. I am sure it. Is Meliska like your surname? Are you going by surnames now?"
He pivots to Ripple "... and you are Rita. Rita, right? Or, uhm, Wasa it Ripple?"
He pinches his nose and groans, closing his eyes "I am so confused right now."
When everyone starts walking, he tries to follow, doing his best to recite all of these names in his head again.
Viri's eyes go wide when the woman announces not only her name but where she's from, along with all the others that had fought against the undead soldiers. She takes a step closer to Yuri out of nervousness.
"Planeswalkers." She says the word out loud, turning it over in her mind as she gets used to the concept that describes what's happened between Yuri and her. The short male was right though; planeswalking involved way more falling than walking.
"The tower is a good place to start what?"
Ripple slows down to walk beside the one called Sorin "My observations of custom suggest I should show remorse and request acceptance of an apology for my deception." The still human looking woman pauses her speech "An alternative would be to express anxiety over the unknown reaction this land would do to an outsider." Another pause "But truth is better to foster trust." finally she looks at the one called Sorin "I lied out of habit. My name is Ripple, chosen from the sound of a pebble in a still lake."
"You gifted me with your truth. Without needing to be unmasked..." she paused again, thinking "That is nice."
"Are you... okay?" a slight hesitation includes a comforting smile.
"To look for answers." Ergar replies to Viridi, ever patient.
"When in a difficult situation, we should always strive to understand it before trying to solve it." Ikka adds. If the vedalken is annoyed by Ripple mimicking her, she doesn't show.
"I understand we do not know each other, but we sadly do not have time to. I've seen you not only fighting the undead, but also helping people, and to me it is enough for now." The dwarf says. "Now, we must ask ourselves why are the undead attacking. Perhaps they are here to conquer this plane, or even to simply waste it, and the answer to both of these would be to stop them." He says, slamming one fist against his hand, determined. "But then we also need to ask why were we brought here." He raises his bushy eyebrows. "If the inhabitants did it, perhaps they wish to force us into helping, but it would be too big of a gamble because there are both good and evil ones. But if that dragon brought us here, then there is a catch I'm not seeing."
"Traps within traps and endless schemes. Always three steps ahead. Nicol Bolas is infamous for his plots... evil and self-serving ones." Ikka adds.
"Thus we need to know why we were brought here."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sorin walks alongside Ripple, listening to her methodical, almost analytical way of speaking. Her admission and the subsequent attempt at a more personal connection seem to strike a chord with him. He glances at her, a mix of curiosity and empathy in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm Sorin," he responds, his voice tinged with a hint of youthful uncertainty, characteristic of someone still finding their place in the world. "It's okay, Ripple. I get it; sometimes we all have reasons to hide who we are or... to be something else." His words trail off for a moment as he reflects on his own experiences of being more than just a teenager, of recent events planeswalking and being stuck with these immense powers he didn't ask for.
He shuffles his feet slightly, a nervous habit, then looks back at Ripple with a more confident smile. "And, yeah, I'm okay. Just trying to make sense of all this, you know? It's a lot to take in. Just when I thought I knew what was happening. Poof. I'm somewhere else all over again." Sorin gestures vaguely towards the tower and the chaos around them.
"Being here, with all of you, it's... new. But I think we can figure it out together." His tone is hopeful, revealing his belief in the power of unity and collaboration, even among strangers from different worlds. He smiles. "Yeah. I think I'd like that."
As they continue towards the tower, Sorin seems to relax a little, the initial tension easing as he converses with Ripple. "So, Ripple, like the pebble in a lake, huh? That's a cool way to choose a name." He offers a genuine, friendly grin.
"Where I was before, I called myself Eclipse. I have all this darkness in me and I'm fighting to keep it from blocking out the light, but it's hard. So I figured it was like when a moon goes in front of the sun." He frowns. "When I say it out loud, it doesn't make as much sense as it did in my head."
Ripple looks at Sorin when he talks, fully absorbed, as if studying. Despite her preoccupation, she navigates rubble without a single stumble. Her head tilts so her eyes can study the genuine friendly grin, and then after a moment of pause, it is returned.
"Eclipse, so you are the Moon in that naming? Obscuring the light within you from taking hold? Or is it obscuring others from seeing anything other than the darkness?" The question seems to hold curiosity, even if the tone does not.
Sorin listens to Ripple's interpretation of Eclipse. Her question makes him pause, reflecting on the deeper meaning behind the name he had given himself. The rubble around them seems almost symbolic of the internal obstacles he faces.
"Yeah, I guess I am like the moon in that way. Hmm." Sorin replies thoughtfully, his voice tinged with a mix of realization and introspection. "I saw it as, it's like I have this light inside me, this potential to do good, to be a hero. But there's also this darkness, right? These powers can be so destructive if I lose control, even for just a second." He glances down at his hands, as if seeing the physical embodiment of his abilities.
He looks back up at Ripple, his expression more resolute. "I want to be the light, to help and protect people. But sometimes, I'm afraid that the darkness, the part of me that can cause harm, is all that others see. That it's all I'll ever be." His words are heavy with the weight of his doubts and fears. "It's a struggle I have not yet mastered."
"Ripple, how did you come to be here, and what's your story?" he asks, curiosity getting the better of him.
Ripple pauses "The norm of sharing is to recipicate" she relates to herself out loud, while mentally adding the custom as something to remember.
Her mind gathers all the outcomes for revealing details about herself. Including the potential of being attacked, the fact the woman has shown knowledge of her already, and also that this group needs all the help they can get at the moment.
"I am not normal.[//b]" she answers, then decides that the description is not specific enough in the present company. "[b]I am not human. I tried to be. I believed I had achieved it. But when the humans found out I was not like them, they chose violence over acceptance." There is a longer pause, once where there is the possibility of falling into, but she finishes in a few moments. "I Travelled then, without knowledge of how and Hut came with me." The house following them bounces up and down twice, meaning something, but Ripple doesn't explain what.
Sorin listens intently to Ripple's revelation, her words striking a chord with him. Her candidness and her experience with violence rather than acceptance resonate with him. He understands the fear and misunderstanding that can arise from being different.
"Yeah, I've noticed that about humans too," Sorin responds, his voice tinged with a mix of empathy and sadness. "They. I mean, we. We can be quick to choose violence over understanding. It's tough when you're different when you don't fit into their idea of what's normal. What that is. I'm not it, that's for sure."
He glances at the house, bouncing along behind them, a smile breaking through his contemplative demeanor. "But hey, your hut is really cool," he says, his tone lightening. "It's like it's got a personality of its own. That's pretty amazing."
"Come, lets go." Ergar says, moving to the mouth of the alley. "We could use your help Meliska." He asks. Ikka takes the rear, still covering her eye.
You navigate through the alleys, glimpsing undead all over the place. The Boros apparently have a better grasp of the situation, but the feeling is that the undead are still gaining ground. The ground shakes from time to time.
At some point, you hear the sounds of marching and on a nearby street you see a legion of Boros soldiers rushing towards the plaza. Giants, minotaurs, goblins, viashinos and elementals appear here and there between human soldiers, all wearing the white and red of the Legion. The sun is obscured for a moment as Parhellion II crosses the sky shrouded by clouds... the angels' flying fortress joins the battle. The ground keeps shaking.
You cross into Precinct Two, getting really close to the humming tower connected to New Prahv. The tremors appear to be getting closer. People flee from the direction you are heading. "Ready yourselves." Ergar says as you get closer to another opening between the alleys.
"Serra protect us..." Ergar mumbles and stops, mouth hanging open. The ground shakes, rhythmically as a colossal tree marches, three to four times the size of most buildings, earth and rocks falling from its roots turned into feet. Upon a closer look you realize it is so big that it even has buildings on its own body! Vitu-Ghazi, the living guildhall of the Selesnya also marches, creating an avenue of rubble on its wake.
You are forced to retreat and hide until the elemental passes and then have to climb over the rubble. A cloud of dust obscures the vision, but you must be close now. A couple more alleys and streets you'll reach the tower...
You reach a junction of streets. A figure steps at the end of an alley, a horseman. It rides towards you slowly, one weapon in each hand. Once a ray of light shines above, you notice it is in fact a centaur wearing crude armor and weapons, a burning tree tattooed on his chest. Behind him, others appear on the other streets, a pair of human barbarians covered in furs and holding a beast by a chain, a hulking ogre and a viashino with two axes. The Gruul have joined. "Haa!" The centaur yells and laughs. The Gruul have joined the enemy.
What do you do?
"Are they enemies?" Ripple asks without inflection. It is easier for her to tell if they are killing people... though the act of killing is in fact too late to help, so maybe if they are only threatening people... yes that would be a good test.
But there are no people to threaten. Her head moves to look at her companions. Maybe they count as 'people'? Are the various humanoids and animaloids threatening them...
Or was that an exclamation of greeting?
If Ripple was the type of being to express frustration this would be the perfect time.
Viridi's confusion fell away to simple shock at the overwhelming forces on display. She was used to colossal trees, but colossal trees that got up and walked were another thing entirely.
The appearance of the horse-person and savage beings was far less of a spectacle, but unfortunately they actually noticed them. Ripple's question about them was a good one, but Viridi was on edge. She grips her spear tightly as she studies each of the newcomers.
Meliska seems visibly discomfited in the presence of the legions and angels swarming around, but the sight of the attacking barbarians oddly leaves her less uneasy. At least with the Gruul Clans you never have to figure out what's going on beneath the surface...
"Krokt spare us. Okay, even the Gruul wouldn't attack us just for being prettier in the middle of all this ruckus, so they've cast their lot with the big dragon.
"So yes, they're enemies. Uh they've got strength, anger... strength and anger again... the ogre smells worse than you think. Even worse."
The ogre's likely stench gives her an idea, and as the Beast bears down, Meliska rubs a particularly noisome mushroom between her fingers, dragging the stink out into the air, and then hastening it along up the Beast's nostrils to stall its charge.
As the one named Meliska clarifies the allegiances, Ripple nods, then clucks, before jumping into the air. Quite high in the air. In response, her house, that has been bobbing behind her, digs its clawed talons into the walkway and darts forward, catching the Ripple-In-The-Air, on its tiny little porch. Then the two speeds forward.
Straight at the ogre with the particular stench.
A charging house is not the norm, and especially not one that grows bigger and bigger with every step. A split second before impact, the figure on the porch ducks as the entire structure rams into the barrel-shaped humanoid, easily missing becoming squished. They seem very used to this maneuver like a normal person would be raising a foot to avoid stepping in Poo.
Viridi analyzes each enemy. There isn't much time to think, so she has to go with her instincts. The centaur looked like the leader, so it was reasonable to say he might be the most dangerous of them. The ogre is undoubtedly strong, but doesn't seem really smart. The lizardman seems very agile. The beast reminds her of the behemoths of Naya, though much smaller. There is anger and savagery in its eyes, barely contained by its handlers.
The centaur runs towards you, raising his front legs and then hoofing the ground, which causes it to break and send ripples of destruction around. The force was clearly magical, much beyond what was reasonable for such move. As the shockwaves reach you, time slows and everything becomes unfocused and blueish around you... the wave of destruction pass harmless as if you were ghosts!
Time speeds up again and the chaos around you focuses once more. Ergar charges, his hammer turned yellow and red as if it was made of molten metal. The centaur tries to block with his own sword, but it simply shatters, causing him to be hit on one of its legs and falling. "Curse you! Outsider! Scum!" He screams while Ergar frowns eyeing the enemy. "You were wrong for attacking us. You may surrender and live." He offers, trying to stay calm and getting only an angry yell as an answer.
Ripple rushes by in her chicken hut, meeting the ogre halfway through a charge. The ogre slams the side of Ripple's hut with a huge mace before flying and crashing against a nearby wall, which crumbles and buries the creature for now. The viashino pauses as it was about to charge as well, uncertain of the fight.
The barbarians sick the beast to charge. A kronch, a vicious beast that looked like the cross between an yak and a boar but with and extra pair of horns that are just too big. On top of that, the gruul thought fitting to add a harness with blades around its neck. Meliska throws the stinky 'shroom at the kronch, which swallows mid air. It shakes its head, confused, slowing down enough and steering slightly away... its confusion will not last long, however!
What do you do?
Hut's foot lands on the loose rubble, sending it listing to the side, thankfully making the ogre's mace rake down its side instead of caving it in. Only one of the small windows loses a shutter, but it could have been MUCH worse.
A still panic rushes through Ripple. The thought of losing her one and only companion sends ice through her. Her body shakes lightly, making her lose her firm control. Her form shifts, until the pretty blonde is gone, replaced by the lithe figure in a flowing robe and a plain wooden mask.
The new figure, Ripple in her natural form, stares at the closest enemy, the viashino, hesitant on the edge. In a tone so flat it could cut the very air around them, she tells it to "Run"
The implication is simple.
'Run or I would bathe the heavens with your blood for hurting the one I care about'
"The beast is a terror, but its rampage will be a hindrance to friend and foe alike," Viri tells Yuri. If it behaves like the beasts of Naya, she adds mentally.
She dashes forward, flinging her spear at the beast's muzzle to surprise and enrage it more! Then she maneuvers to keep the other enemies between the beast and her!
Meliska clenches one hand, heightening the noxiousness of the Kronch's shroom while Viridi hunts it.
With the other she tosses down bulb after bulb of spreading stranglevine, Cordy helping to wrap over the already trapped ogre til even with his great strength he could scarcely move!