Anthem

[Katzaniel]

Shanna was even more disoriented than before, with the illusions and mindbending going on around her. But when she heard a scream and saw Alric injured, she used the tree to raise and steady herself, took quick bearings, and sprinted to him. He seemed to be swooning a little, which helped as she tore a strip from his shirt and wound it tightly around his leg, to minimize bleeding. By then there were two of the assassins approaching, so she began to drag Alric further from the fight, hoping against hope that someone else would be able to take them down before she was forced to fight them, alone and with only her dagger.

[Solivagus]

Clouds began to form above the clearing as Xaviers mind bent furthur mischief upon the enemy attacking. Wisps of vapour spiraled down, down to the ground, taking on the shape of a domed and many barred cage. A ring of bright blue fire burst into being inside of the cage, the fire giving off a foul and acrid odour. Screams began to issue from within the cage, cries of pain and soul wrenching agony rolling into the air.

 

In the centre of the circle of blue flame a black shape materialised. It seemed to be made almost entirly of darkness, the only sign of colour being two red slits where it's eyes were. A low, blood chilling chuckle reached the ears of the assasins.

 

"Your souls are mine!"

 

A gap appeared in the walls of the cage and the dark shape stepped forward...

[Katzaniel]

The young girl panicked as she saw clearly that no one was going to be able to come to her rescue. Why had she joined this group, anyway? She might have saved Alric's life by coming when she did, but the two assassins would just kill him after they'd finished her off. And if she ran, they would chase her down. Nothing for it but to stand and fight, even while seeing her own death in their eyes.

 

Shanna grasped the dagger, holding it in front of her to ward off as many blows as she could. The first assassin struck, and Shanna blocked it, but she could tell it was only a test. The second man saw her feeble efforts and moved to deal with Alric, who was beginning to stir but obviously not well enough yet to defend himself. Shanna desperately flailed with the knife at her opponent, but he skillfully deflected the attack and turned it on her, slicing into her shoulder. The girl's parry came too late, causing her arm to brush on his, and she felt the flush of pain....

 

Ia the demon watched helplessly as the hated creature attacked her newly aquired body. She had waited so long to inhabit someone, and now the useless woman was going to get herself killed. And then, when the skin of the male human touched her own arm, Ia screamed with hate and surged with power. Only the touch of a man could trigger enough emotion to allow her to overtake the original owner of a body. Oh, how she hated men. Blessed hate now, though, for Ia felt the touch, felt the hate stream through her, felt the power return to her. She grabbed the creature before he could cause them to lose contact, went wild at the continued feel of a man under her hands, and without thinking she disembowelled him in an instant. Then she realized what she had done, felt his life slip away from her, and launched the body toward the second of the three men, both fearing contact with the despised creature and hoping for it, since it was the only way to kill him.

 

Shanna felt the blade in her shoulder, understood that she'd failed to block the blow, and then blackness hit her. It felt like only half a second, but shaking her head to clear it, she realized she was hurtling toward the other assassin. She had no time to notice anything else before the man put out his hands to stop her and she was propelled right into them.

 

The blessed pain of touching the man streamed once more into Ia. The creature's hands had touched her head, but she grabbed his wrist and cackled at him, enduring the searing hate in order to better plan it this time - and to savour his death as much as possible. Pleasure welled with just the thought of ridding the earth of this man-beast. She could grab the third one, too, but that would diminish the feeling the death. Instead, Ia dragged him toward the man that was lying by the tree, then began to cut at him systematically. She was barely even aware of his efforts to resist, but she felt his fear and hurt and she capitalized on it, dragging the blade along his leg at one moment, twisting it in his eye the next, running it down his back. The pain of a man was the most excellent thing in the world, and it made the feel of him in her hand bearable. But then Ia saw that the creature was about to die. Placing the woman's body so that it would fall upon the third man, who was now awake and watching in horror, Ia drove the knife deep into the assassin's heart and felt the death with every fibre of her being.

 

The blackness had hit again, and this time when it cleared Shanna found herself falling. She twisted in the air, trying to get her balance, but managed only to make herself land a few inches to the left. Luckily, it was opposite the direction that Alric had chosen to launch himself, weakened but driven by fear of the Shanna he had just witnessed. Shanna landed on the ground, breathing heavily, and then looked up to discover the mangled bodies of the assassins.

 

"Oh my god!" she breathed. "Alric, what did you do to them?"

Edited June 2, 2004 by Katzaniel

[Vanessa]

Mara's eyes widened at the sight of the demon that someone had just summoned. As it began to move towards the assasins her eyes whipped across to Alric, the only person who seemed likely to have summoned the creature. To her horror she Alric next to the horribly mutilated body of one of the assasins. Shock washed through her, if it had been Xavier she wouldn't have been surprised, his ways were known to the elves of the air, but Alric?! He had seemed so nice! What sort of people had she fallen in with?!

 

Hurridly she drew another arrow from her quiver and fitted it to her bow. She saw the arrows of the assasins strike the demon everywhere, but none seemed to have any affect. Instead she turned her bow on Alric.

 

"Send it back! What kind of fool are you to summon a demon here?!" Her voice had a panicked note in it, she had no wish to fight a demon but she saw no sign of the traditional spells of protection that wizards cast before summoning such abominations. As far as she could see there was nothing to stop the demon turning on them and gaining its freedom!

 

Again she called out to the wizard, who apperead to have made no move.

 

"Send it back before it destroys us!"

 

OOC: I had no idea a roleplay battle could be so confusing...fun though

[Merelas]

Quickly, Alric launched himself out of her path. The woman was deranged. He had never seen anything like it... docile and terrified one minute, then revelling in the pain of a victim in the next. Quickly he pulled himself out of her path, and dodged her fall.

 

"... Alric, what have you done to them?"

 

Alric looked at her with what he would call a mixture between fear, hatred, and disgust. Her actions nagged at a corner of his mind, telling him that he had seen such a thing before, but at the moment he was too worried that she would rip his head off.

 

He grounded and centered instantly like one who had practiced an action so much that it was second nature to him now. Then, he called up the most persuasive ward he knew. Shanna seemed to not be quite so dangerous now, so hopefully it would work. It was a form of an illusion, and although he had never been much good with visible ones, he could play on emotions like a bard played a lute.

 

Alric installed fear in her tiny mind, realizing that there was already some there. What she already had, however, wouldn't be enough. She had courage, and she could fight the fear. Alric knew how to deal with this... he gave her the fear that if she moved an inch in any direction, she would die on that move. Instantly, and painfully. She was too dangerous to be dealt with in any other way, and although he regretted paralyzing her, it was necessary.

 

Then he heard the shouts of Mara.

 

Fool of a woman, he thought to himself. No Verdant could ever summon a demon, because their agreement with the Lady Nature was to preserve the balance of what She created. Demons, summoned from a planewhere Nature had no presence to a plane where she ruled was unacceptable. She would not allow it.

 

Demon, indeed. As Alric waited for the Demon to actually do some harm, he realized what it must be. The illusionist had offered his best work for the fray in order to scare the enemy away.

 

He ignored her. If she thought that he had conjured a demon, then she would know that the only way to defeat it was if he banished it. She would not kill their only hope of removing the malevolent entity before said entity was defeated.

 

He saw Finnius and Silver fighting in the middle of the fray, and decided that they were their best hope of quickly defeating the original enemy, and not the one that had erupted within their young barmaid. Quickly, he gave them his aid in the best way he could manage, at the moment. Enchantment was one of his minor skills, but he could at least make it last the rest of the battle. The swords emitted light, and the ray of light that extended out past the tip acted as an extension to both of their blades, making them longer but with no added weight. At the same time, he affected their bodies, and gave them stoneskin. If either of them were in a state to notice, they would have felt their skin harden and become (imagine that) as stone.

 

And he hesitated. He looked behind him to the woman, who had moved not an inch. Her eyes were wide with fear, but he could sense the ward beginning (slowly, to be sure) to fade. He re-set it quickly, and looked to see what else he could do.

[Solivagus]

A look very close to rapture flickered across Xaviers face as he heard Mara accusing Alric of summoning a demon. A feral grin spread slowly across his face, and he quickly shifted the demonic illusion's course. Slowly the being turned and began to make its way towards Alric, a look almost like a lost dog returning to its master crossing across the entities face.

 

"Master!"

 

The demons voice was a crooning song, filled with longing.

 

"Master, I obey your summons!"

 

Xavier giggled as he saw the look of terror and hatred flash across Mara's face. He saw her arms tense, pulling back the string of her long elven bow. The mirror images had faded now with the creation of the demonic entity, but no matter. He made a quick check to ascertain that the protective image was still in place, before returning his borrowed sight of the Roc to Mara and Alric...

[The Big Pointy One]

After quite a few minutes of support fire, Sliver was finally able to give his bow arm a rest. Unfortunately, a brief second was about all he was allowed. Walking from the direction of the camp, a large demon was making its way to Alric and Shanna. It called out to Alric, as if it were his master. Fires raged inside of Sliver, and anger touched his cheeks. It was demons that had taken his family and his home, and it was demons that he would wage war against until the day he died. Now, there was a demon walking towards his travelling companions. He didn't care much for them, but a party was a party. And a demon was a demon. He slung his bow back over his shoulder, quickly secured it in place and jumped to the ground. The agile ranger started running as soon his feet hit the ground, sword in hand with the blade trailing behind him. Just as Mara decided to loose an arrow in the Demon's way, Sliver leapt into the air and swung out with his holy sword in a wide arc. Much to his surprise, he went straight through the demon. For a moment, he thought it was perhaps some form of shadow-beast, but even so, his blade would have caused the thing blinding agony. Instead, as Sliver passed through, there was nothing but silence. The demon was an illusion, most likely created by the assassins to distract the party. He quickly made his way over to Alric and Shanna, his sword held firmly in both hands and his eyes searching the surrounding woods for more assassins...

[Finnius]

Countdown five, in the branches stalking, silent.

 

Sliver flew through the body of the Demon, landed on the other side, bounded towards Alric and Shanna. The woman had killed at least two of the assassins. Arrows lodged in three more, and their bodies fell from the trees where they had hidden.

 

Countdown three, getting closer, stalking.

 

A sharp whistle cut through the trees, followed by a rustling of leaves as several human forms scattered off into the treetops, splitting into the night. Three assassins stayed on the ground, locked into combat. Two followed after Sliver, one advanced on Alric.

 

Countdown one, closing in, target sighted.

 

Mara pulled back her bow, drew the arrow to her shoulder, enough force behind it to put the shaft through bone. She swung the arrow towards Alric.

 

Countdown cancelled, dropping in... now.

 

There is a soft thump as two feet land behind Mara, and a soft scraping, sand poured over stone, as a long blade is slipped deftly underneath her chin.

 

"I'd suggest lowering that bow." A gravelly voice, Finnius' voice. "Any first tier illusionist could tell that monstrosity from a real demon. Notice that there are no arrows in it, despite it having been fired on? Notice that the assassins are ignoring it now that Aiden has projected himself through it? Think, Mara."

[Vanessa]

Mara's eyes widened as she saw Aiden move through the demonic figure. Her voice had a note of both wonder and shock.

 

"But...who? Why?" Suddenly her eyes narrowed. "Xavier?" Her voice held a note of question, but her eyes were already searching for the Dream Assasin. Her eyes fell upon the dead body of Xavier.

 

"Finnius? What the hell is happening?!"

[Merelas]

Alric was beginning to burn.

 

It was always the first sense that he had used too many spells in too quick succession. It didn't matter--life was more important than comfort at this point... at the very least to prove that he hadn't summoned the demon, if not to aid the party further. If they didn't want his help... so be it.

 

Alric saw another assassin begin advancing against him, and took action. He quickly threw his shoulders back, arms pointing outward, the left one holding the branch that he had pulled from the tree earlier.

 

The assassin stalled. He knew this man to be a mage, but he didn't know what he was conjuring up next, or if he had enough time to charge the man and cancel the spell... which he realized too late was a summons. Next to him, the tree raged to life, ripping its roots up from the ground and charging at the assassin. The treant had some shape of a face in the trunk now, and it swung its branches violently.

 

It tore the attacker to shreds.

 

Which, conveniently enough, caused Alric to feel a burning sensation all over his body, a pounding in his mind, and an ellevated sense of the pain in his thigh. He collapsed to his knees...

 

He didn't realize that the ward he had placed on Shanna dissintegrated without his notice. If he were capable of it, he would have screamed in pain... but the blackness was all that was necessary now--he embraced it.

[Katzaniel]

As Alric collapsed, Shanna felt her fear dissipate. Why had she been so afraid a moment ago to move? There had been assassins, although their numbers were dwindling. In fact, as the young barmaid looked around, she saw that the group had dealt with almost all of them. Oh yes, and the ones that were torn to shreds next to the prone Alric. That was something of which to be afraid. She hadn't seen what had happened, but he'd looked at her with fear in his eyes. As one of Sliver's arrows pierced the second last, the woman concluded that the attackers were no longer a real threat, and Alric was unconscious again. Finnius made short work of the last man, who was, too late, trying to escape, and the night fell silent again. They all looked at each other with something akin to a new respect. And Shanna saw the same fear in more than one pair of eyes when they glanced at her.

 

"Erm, " she stuttered, keenly aware of the broken tranquility, the tangible syllable bouncing around off the trees in the stillness. All heads turned to her. "I, uh, missed part of that somehow... what did I do?"

[Solivagus]

With the death of the last assasin Xavier let his conceling illusions vanish.

 

"Well now, that wasn't too difficult was it?" His voice with it's cynical undertones seemed to jar shockingly in the night air. There was a rustle of leaves and an arrow point was suddenly aimed at his throat. Mara's voice came out in a hiss of menace.

 

"How much of what happened was real? How much of it was just your crazy games and illusions?!"

 

A scowl formed on Xavier's face at Mara's words.

 

"The foolishness of children and elves will never cease to amaze me! I did what I had to in order for use to survive. Maybe next time I'll make you an easier target and see how long you last!"

 

Mara's arms shook with emotion as she struggled to keep from releasing the arrow. But no, she had been taught better than to strike out of anger. Slowly she released the tension on the string. Slipping the arrow back into her quiver she wheeled without saying another word, and made her way over to Alric to see if there was anything she could do to help.

[The Big Pointy One]

Sliver frowned. It seemed like the battle was over, which was good, but already it also seemed like the group was falling apart. A lot of energy was expeneded on everyone's part, and now, it seemed like the next few days or so would be spent struggling on. He didn't like it, but he kept silent. It was not his place to direct how everyone was to act. If it really came down to it, all those who couldn't control themselves in a manner appropriate to mercenaries; professional mercernaries, mind you; things could be done. The important thing now was regrouping and making sure everyone was okay.

[Vanessa]

Mara carefully looked over the unconcious body of Alric. She had had some experience with magic users; her own father had been no mean wizad, and she had often taken care of him when his spellcasting had weakened him. She recognised Alrics problem as merely exhaustion, a problem best solved more by rest than magical means. However she saw the wound on his leg and decided she could at least do something to help it heal. Placing her hands over the wound she sent out tendrils of magic. Her face twisted in pain as the magic caused her to feel the wound on her own leg. Slowly the wound began to close over, the flow of blood at first slowing to a trickle and then stopping alltogether as the skin became whole again.

 

As she healed the verdant mage the pain in her own leg lessened and then ceased. Once the wound was healed she ceased the flow of magic into the magic user. She had done the best that she could. She looked around at the others of the group.

 

"Is anyone else injured?"