Dark Knight Rises
LOCATION: Emberstrand Farms
People: Alba, Grumm, Marduke, Talen
Time: THE LEGENDARY GO TIME.
Protecting farms is not an easy job. Without some kind of early warning system, and with transportation by chocobo fast, but not terribly fast, getting to a farm before the mayhem starts isn't going to happen.
The farm grows ice grapes. Ice grapes are exactly what you think they might be. They grow only in the coldest parts of winter, when the plant thrives on the water inside of it being turned into ice. It baffles science, but it makes a damn fine wine. The ones in Giza Plains aren't quite as good as the ones grown in the mountains, but they are more plentiful. Regardless, they are also a form of sustanence, and an army requires sustanence.
It's also on fire.
That's probably bad for the grapes.
From a distance, it can be seen that Archadian footsoldiers are loading up a wagon with barrels of wine and juice waiting to be fermented while part of a work building burns.
Marduke has a habit of wondering the country side. The summoner is able to handle most things, but is probably going to get himself killed one of the days, war and all. He pauses as he see's the smoke and frowns a moment. "It was so peaceful to." He turns and picking up his pace starts running towards the rising smoke and the farm.
As open as the plains are, the rising smoke from burning structures are a fairly simple thing to spot from a distance, and which seem to have put paid to another hunting trip for the Viera couple. Her blades out in hand, heavy fur cloak rippling behind her as she lopes toward the village, the masked woman grumbles, all the way there. "Stupid soldiers, raiding so close to the city. If they remain, they will earn a great many lengths of steel in the belly. Do wetlanders believe this nonsense to be daring? Faugh."
Grumm is taking a day off rom mining to try something else, prospecting at the river. A shovel and a pick are carrier over one shoulder with a large bucket in his other hand. He stops after seeing smoke, wondering if it's normal. "Too much smoke, for a festival and too cold. Must be a building." Is said to himselg in dwarfish as he sorts it out. The tools are swung down to both hands for a better grip and he starts running towards the source.
Talen trails along beside the female viera, and nods grimly. "Sadly, this is what war comes to, for an army marches on its stomach. I doubt they think it daring, it is just something they do. But I do think they should earn some steel in the belly, and fire in the face, yes? I'll keep them from your back."
Murder makes a wonderful date. As the sun begins to rise, everyone works their way hard to the farms. Archadian riflemen are few here, it is mostly rabble, swordsmen and crossbowmen who are busy loading wagons with barrels. There are only a few barded chocobos to show officers overlooking this affair. They are being held by a private. One of the chocobos is green.
Not specially imbred green to denote a special ability. No, its feathers are falling out. It looks sick.
A few crossbowmen are holding the locals at bay, keeping them from getting any ideas. The young men look like they are having ideas. Stupid ideas.
Then comes the loud bellow. A tall powerfully built bone white Bangaa points a heavily gauntletted finger at a bearded hume, his other hand gripping a barrel. "You call this wine? I've tasted piss better than this, you fat /fuck/." A few snickers come around him. He snaps his head around, "What are you laughing at?!"
Soldiers snap to attention quickly. "Nothing, Dark Knight Tuguf," one offers quickly.
The heavily armored bangaa turns his gaze around towards a bangaa holding a long bushman's rifle. "What about you, Lucky? You find something FUNNY?" The bangaa shrugs. He cannot talk. He doesn't have a head. Finally, the Bangaa Dark Knight turns back to the man, reaching out his hand to grab him by his rough spun tunic. "What about you, lard gut? You must have been laughing? Tell me what's so damn funny?"
Marduke slows to a walk as the building comes into view and he is able to survey the scene. Keeping himself low and trying to stay hidden for now. "Hmmm, to many against me. Still." A twist of a smile crosses his face before he goes back to a frown. "Lets see how smart they are." Whispering a few words as as he holds up his hands before him, "Come forth lights of death and rebirth." With a pass of his hand four rainbow colored lights fade into view and start to float around him, pyreflies. "Lets cause some miscief."
"Shaman," murmurs Alba as the pair close on the burning village, "perhaps it would be wise to place fear within their hearts. Have you magics that would allow this?" As she speaks, she scrapes her blades against the scorpion stinger affixed to the sheaths at her belt, and venomous green energy begins to stream from the bluish mythril. Leaping onto the top rail of the fence around the vineyard, the masked Viera crouches low, then launches herself at one of the crossbowmen keeping the villagers at bay.
Talen hmmms and chuckles, "I have one but you may wish to cover your ears." The male viera begins whispering words of magic, and an ominous pressure builds up. He gestures at one of the henchmen standing behind Dark Knight Tuguf, a down slash, which is followed quickly by a bright electrical discharge, and a rolling thunderclap. [Thunder]
Grumm slows as he sees what's going on and devises a uick plan, cut off their means of escape, inspire the farmers, and hope for reinforcements. He drops the shovel and bucket, wielding the mining pick with both hands. "Father taught me to be more prepared." After moving around behind buildings to remain unseen, the pick is raise high above his head and brought down on the private, trying to bury it deep in his chest.
Archadian soldiers are probably at least smarter than Stormtroopers. They work efficiently. Rather than, say, slouching around and drinking wine. Like the Dark Knight appears to be. His fingers around the man begin to glow black. They suck in light. And they seem to suck some of the healthy color out of the man. Boils are just starting to appear before the lighting strike rips into one of the privates behind him, knocking the swordsman clean off his feet.
'Lucky', as the headless Bangaa appears to be called, brings up his rifle swiftly. Kulgkar Tuguf drops the fat man into the barrel of wine and spins around, "Spirits DAMMIT do they have mages here?" He grasps the man by the hair and starts hauling him out.
Alba gets up damn close to them before the crossbowman turns his weapon around. He lets out a brief curse before Alba lands down on top of him. It probably won't end well for him. He batters at her with the crossbow butt.
Dwarves are not stealthy. But everyone is distracted enough to ignore Grumm. Kulgkar points into the grape vineyards where the short curse came from. "Over there! Get over there, you three assholes, come on!" Kulgkar lifts the man by the hair out of the wine, the poor stuff dribbling from his face. From his back, the bone white bangaa lifts a large sawtoothed two handed battle axe. He places it up against the man's neck. "Alright, mage, get yer pansy bones out here or I turn this man into one headless plague corpse."
Lucky's shoulders sag a little. Memories.
"Yield," whispers the voice behind the faceless, laughing eyed bone mask, the bruises raised by the crossbow butt glimmering white and beginning to heal, even as the weapon is pulled away. Her own blades, pressed against the poor private's neck, a foot rising to press down on the boy's forehead, pushing his head into the dirt. "Yield, soldier, or die frothing and bubbling and glad that never your mother will know how her child put a family to torch and plague to feed a sorry, puling Captain." One ear flicks outward, tracking the clomping progress of the three incoming soldiers, but her shaded eyes stay locked upon the boy.
Marduke starts walking forward coming into full view of the enemy. A touch of a smile, "mage? I do not recall being a mage." He doesn't know where the lightning came from, but he is going to try to play it off. Letting the pyreflies circle around him lazily, and add to his effect. Pyreflies are well believed to be associated with death. "But you did say Spirits. Shall I introduce you to some? Here like this little one." Holding up his hand as one of the pyreflies starts to circle around it, "Here." Pointing at the Dark Knight, the pyrefly zipping foward in a attempt to explode in white element energy.
Talen hmmphs, faced with an interesting dilemma. He steps into view, and holds up his hands, words already dribbling from his mouth in preparation. "How do I know you won't kill him anyways? Archadeans aren't known for their mercy, are they?" The male viera suddenly thrusts his hands forward in a fan like pattern, and all around the Captain's feet and legs a mini Blizzard rages, icing up the ground and battering at his footing. The spell sputters momentarily as a pyrefly streaks into view, but Talen grunts and holds it together.
Grumm burries the pick deep into the poor lad and stops, hunched over him, looking around for whatever mage is being talked about. He pulls the pick free and swats the chocobos on the rump with it to scare them off before looking for the next target. Compassion is for those that deserve, not scavengers like these soldiers. Rushing towards a crossbowman he tries for a repeat of the last stroke. "Take out the support to weaken the rest." Rattles around in his head, echoes of training.
He struggles against the viera until the crossbow gets pulled away. He has a dagger that he goes for, but when the blade is at his neck, he stops immediately. His hand goes up, very slowly, fingers spread, in submission. "I'm just following orders." He has further explanations, but he decides not to voice them. The soldiers are two swordsmen and a crossbowman. They aren't going for stealth. They have weapons out.
Most Dark Knights are not dark enough to be suspectible to the element of light itself.
Kulgkar Tuguf is not most Dark Knights. He sees the pyrefly and immediately shouts, "Hades' BALLS!" He throws the man back away from the barrel to grab it and throw it at the pyrefly. It explodes in a great gout of steam and fruity smells, just barely out of the way of Kulgkar. He scoops up a helmet near by. It is black to match the rest of his armor, long like his face, in the shape of a dragon's skull. He slams it down on his head, the eye guards glowing red. "Shoot h DIABOLOS' TITS!"
Another mage. "Shoot the spirit guy. I got the furry one." The bangaa lifts one foot up high and then slams it down. A wave of corruption rips up from the ground, carving a path through the ice and charging forward. It isn't just darkness, it seems like the embodiment of unhealth, of plague, of death, a great black fin of energy that sunders the ground on its way to Talen. "GET THEM!"
The soldiers aren't endless, but there are three left, two more swordsmen and a crossbowman that kneels and is about to fire at Marduke when Grumm spooks a chocobo. He jerks his head up and gets a pickaxe in the face for his luck. It hammers through skull with a meaty and unpleasant sound and rush of blood.
Lucky, the headless Bangaa, lifts his rifle up to his shoulder and takes aim. He takes a shot at Marduke's shoulder, trying to put him off balance. Lucky, somehow, is a crack shot. The two other swordsman drive forward, both bearing down on Grumm from opposite sides.
Most adventurers, when facing the superior training, efficiency, and general poor odds of a three on one fight against trained military personnel, would rather fight dirty, or retreat and seek some other advantage. Most adventurers, however, have not spent their formative years where monsters are only one of a host of dangers, most originating from the pitiless dunes of the Sandsea itself. Which is why, when Alba rudely shoves the private's head back into the ground in her wild, careless leap toward the trio of soldiers, she *is* fighting to her advantage; where most fighters have armor, tactics, and strength on their side, Alba simply acts as a veritable buzzsaw of poisoned blades, preternatural speed, and semi intelligible taunts.
Marduke watches the reaction and hmms a bit, "You have fallen far. Hades has a special place for souls like yours. I will perform the sending personally." Holding up his hands and claping them together as the call is made to attack him. He whispers one word, "Pyreguard." A skill that allows him to use all of his remaining pyreflies to form a shield. The bullet slamming into the shield and knicking his shoulder with only a bruse. The power of the shield diminished, but still holding and may be able to take a few more shoots. Eyes glancing to Lucky, watching him for the moment.
Talen's ears perk high as the black energy rumbles through the ground towards him like a negative version of the humble shark. "Oh bollocks.", he mutters, and bolts away from the spell, his long legs stretching out as the viera heads for the cover of the vineyards. More words are muttered, each one beginning to circle the viera's head as he goes. [Spell Burst] In a page pose to you, Marduke heh, cool.
Grumm looks up, with blood splattered on his face and clothes, pulling the pick free. "I was think I was only one." He stares at Lucky, amazed that it can still move around, more so that it can find a target to shoot. The approaching swordsmen snap him out of it and he leaps with a roll, scrambling to get some distance. "Look like I got they's 'tention."
The private's head hits hard with a grunt to the ground under Alba's heel. They are trained, but they aren't well blooded like Alba is. When she comes at them like a barbarian, one of them quails at her. The crossbowman is kneeling, lining up his shot, trying to get a good one and not hit his buddies. The other soldier grabs the first by the arm. "Come on, it's just a psycho viera, put her down, just like those junkies. All bark, no bite!" He uses the superior reach of his long sword to try and take out Alba before she gets in for dagger fighting.
Kulgkar snarls at Marduke. "Fuck you and your holier than thee marlboroshit. Did you get raised in the slums, have to beat the shit out of bigger kids to get your food?" The red in the helmet flares. "Did YOU have to give the Green Plague to a man just because he wouldn't give you some damn FOOD? Life is tough. So I decided to learn to violate its /mother/." Lucky turns slightly towards Kulgkar. Kulgkar snaps at him. "SHUT UP AND KEEP SHOOTING HIM!" Kulgkar looks back. "Fuck, where did he go."
"Come out come out, where ever you aaaare." Kulgkar snaps at the vineyards. "Oh, he's in there. How EVER will I see him?" Slowly, the bangaa draws in a deep breath. He then breathes it out slowly over the vineyard. It's like a Marlboro's breath, only more dark aligned. The vineyard shrivel up and blacken. A ground squirrel caught in it turns inside out and then explodes into a bloody mass.
Lucky, seeing his chance with Marduke, snaps the lever action on the rifle and aims again, taking another shot. That shield is tough, but Lucky is patient and his hand is steady. He seems so damn impassive without an expression to read.
The swordsmen on Grumm's feet stomp after him quickly. They split up, trying to circle around and catch him on either side rather than face him one by one. The truly worrying thing, when fighting 'just another psycho Viera,' is that when the psycho's very blood courses with healing magics, wounds tend not to remain as serious as they once were. And when the psycho Viera slaps a hand over the glimmering furrow dug out of her side, and the white magics turn dark, life eating, and *call* to the blood of the swordsman that wounded her... That tends to be when things go past worrying, and edge towards truly frightening. [Drain]
Marduke glances back over impassivly to Kulgkar, "you desire to appeal to me with excusses?" His hands are steady as he holds up his staff starting to chant another spell. "It only shows your inability to overcome, your own weakness. Pathetic." Perhaps he is trying to rile Kulgkar, or at least distract him to give Talen a easier opening. "Come forth flames of passion and fury. Child of the flames, burn away the flith that is before us." Starting to chant the arcane words of summoning quickly now. Four globes of crimson flame fade into view circling around him and gathering in intensity. Holding up his staff he calls out, "Come forth, Elenaor of the Crimson Flame!" The orbs shoot off into the sky fading from view. A ball of flame suddenly falling down from the sky landing in front of Marduke, which will act as a new shield for Marduke as his pyreguard fades spend. "Hi hi Mardy!" Eleanor offers with a giggle, then turns, crouches down drawing two swords of flame, and dashes straight towards Lucky.
Talen puts new effort into his run, hearing the dry rustle of the wilting vines, and feeling more than hearing the splat of the stricken squirrel. He bursts out into the three soldiers, running in front of the crossbowman, but behind the two swordsmen. As he does so, he whispers the final words to his spell, gesturing at the group of soldiers as he speeds past. Three streaks of fire zip at the soldiers, one for each of them. "We need to finish this quickly!" he calls out, to Alba. "If you're going to do something, NOW'S the time! Fight or run!" That said in the direction of the villagers. [Fire, with Spell Burst]
Grumm isn't as experienced as Alba, or the others, probably not even as much as these soldiers, so instead he relies on what his father taught him. "Use your size and the terrain to your advantage." He thinks as he rushes past one swordsman and swings the pick to hook a leg and trip him and keeps moving past, going for the wagon and sliding underneath.
The wound on Alba's side disappears. It reappears under thick padded leather armor with a sudden gash of blood. "Guh, she's a mage!" He staggers, grabbing at his side. Mages are scary. You never know what they are capable over. Not everyone wears the robes of certain colors like they are supposed to. The second swordsman brings up his sword in defense, waiting this time for Alba to strike first. And that gives the crossbowman the perfect moment to fire a bolt. Until fire suddenly explodes on him. Screams of pain come from all three and the bolt goes wild. The young swordsman staggers back, hitting the ground hard, dropping his sword.
Lucky seems to notice the spirit. His shoulders jerk back, maybe in surprise. His rifle comes up. He fires once, snaps the lever, then fires again, then begins to run. He pumps one last bullet out, wheeling backwards, before he begins to leg it from the summon. Summons are scary shit.
Kulgkar stomps after Talen, his axe in both hands. "YEA, I WILL SHOW YOU HOW I OVERCOME WEAKNESS! Get back here, longears, I'll turn your fucking liver into jelly!" He swings his axe down then upward, like a mighty shovel. Another huge wave of darkness rips forward. He cares little if it actually hits a soldier.
The villagers are not stupid. They are already getting the hell out of here once all the crossbowmen were distracted. The fat man has scrabbled away back to his house. The swordsman swings down for Grumm at the same time. But while he is trying to give Grumm a hefty slice on the back, Grumm is going for something less conventional, and regardless of the outcome of the slice, rips the man off his feet. The other soldier vaults over him with a grunt.
"Thank you, my Shaman," Alba murmurs, ears tipping backwards from the sudden explosion of fire skirling in front of her face. Dipping to one side, she snarls faintly, as their leader bellows his challenge, and lopes toward the origin point of the wave of black energy, one hand flicking out to swat Talen's eartip in passing. The energies wreathing her blades fade, supplanted by flickering white fire as she closes in on the Kulkgar. "Puling bag of filth," she crows, "whining and sobbing, your water is tainted! Come to me, then, I shall cure the disease that burns within you!"
Talen grins at the swat to his ear, and he turns, running back the way he came. Leaping atop one of the burning soldiers, Talen leaps over the wave of energy this time, landing with a roll. Swatting at the flames that lick at his robes, he follows Alba back towards Kulkgar. "You want my liver so bad, come and take it!"
"Oooh, a race?" Eleanor shouts, chasing after the headless Bangaa, her feet leaving smoking spots of char where they touch ground, crimson fires swirling away from her. "Careful, if ya can't watch where you're going you're gonna hit something!" This, as if an errant fence is the least of Lucky's concern.
Not fast enough, Grumm recieves a diagonal slice across his back. The pain causes him to hesitate under under the wagon, in safety and look out, the soldier is still down. "Can' wai'." With a pained grunt he comes back out from under the wagon, charging at the chasing swordsman with a swing of the pick towards his ribs.
"Doomtrain's chapped /ass/, do all you assholes have weapons of holy?!" Kulgkar looks at least wary of Alba. His stance has gone from 'do you even lift' to 'maybe she lifts a /little/.' He grips his axe. He doesn't seem afraid of two against one. But he does the math. How many of his guys did he see taken out? The alleyway bully in Kulgkar seems to waver as the odds are turning. Don't get in a fight you can't win in superior numbers. Still...
How tough can Alba /be/?
He blows out from his helmet onto his axe. Darkness clings to the axe like a film. He hoists it up over his head and takes a step forward to cleave at Alba. Now, Kulgkar is not skilled at the axe, not terribly. Not like some men. But he is strong. Hella strong. The axe might be able to cleave a man in half on a good day. And the darkness seeks Alba's life. A Dark Sword, in the form of an axe.
Lucky runs. You can't hear him cursing. Because he doesn't have a mouth. He vaults the fence, as if he were able to see it. He pulls out a pistol with two barrels and four revolver chambers. He turns around again, pumping out two shots, before spinnig around again. There might be panic.
The swordsman is ready to meet Grumm however. He brings his sword down at the pick, grunting as it he tries to force it downward for a moment. Then he uses his other fist to slug Grumm in the face.
Agile Alba might be, possessed of preternatural speed and keen reflexes... but even the most skilled of fighters is going to take a hit now and again, and even a grazing strike by such a weapon could be life threatening. A deep gash is carved across the Viera's belly, and even as her personal magics go to work closing the wound it's clear that if she hadn't clapped her arms over her stomach as she came to rest, the result would have been a good deal.... messier. Black veins radiate away from the covered gash, and somehow the hate in her eyes behind the mask is palpable, a low snarl rising as one of the charms around her wrist, a beaded silkworm's coccoon, begins to glow, dim gray threads of magic lashing out to encircle the massive Dark Knight in tendrils of distorted, slowed time.
Talen's ears flatten backwards to his head at seeing the slash connect. The viera calls upon his magics ones more, a white glow encompassing his hand and forearm. He skids to a stop behind Alba, and places his hand upon the small of her back, the white glow rushing from his hand to sink into the female viera. He waits just long enough to ensure the spell is taking hold, before he scampers to one side. "Hey, I thought you were trying to take my liver, bangaa butt. What, now you're picking on girrrrls? Who's got a chapped as now eh?"
Eleanor squees with delight as Lucky jumps the face, "Ahh you got over the fence!" As she approaches the fence herself he doens't jump it, but instead jumps up into the air. Wings of flame sprouting from her back and takes to the air, doding the shoots aimed at her at the same time. "Missed me!" The spirit having way to much fun with this. She reaches the zeneth of her jump, and tilts foward to dive straight for Lucky, blades first, "Look out below!"
Grumm didn't expect the parry, or the punch and his head snaps back from the impact with his jaw, stopping his charge. He recovers and pushes in close to the swordsman, using the pick's head to hold the sword away from his body and slides his hands up the handle before swinging the end of the handle up between the mans legs as hard as he can.
Kulgkar Tuguf doesn't evade magic. He tanks it. He doesn't really evade attacks either. He soaks them in. The slow magic works into him, threads of slow weaving across his armor, acting like ethereal bounds that hold him down. The big bangaa works against the magic bonds. They hold him tight, but they might not last as long as usual. He slowly pries up his hand and points it at Talen. Just as Talen's hand was white, his is black. He makes good on his promise.
The magic that flows from Kulgkar is practiced, but not trained. Kulgkar is a Dark Knight Savant. Dark magics from childhood, fueled by a petty and remorseless bastard, carved into crude but effective tools. He begins to slowly curl his fingers, extending the magic out to Talen's insides. It is like a targeted jacked up version of a Marlboro's breath, as if he were trying to give Talen every known disease at once. "Yea, you a tough guy, buttercup?"
Lucky wheels to one side, evading one blade. The other digs down into his flesh through padded leather, burying harshly. He shoves away with a throw of his arms, his armor now blackened around the hole. He staggers drunkenly, nearing a wagon. He grabs a chocobo and leaps up into it quickly. The chocobo isn't having any of Eleanor and books it.
The swordsman goes overhead as Grumm goes underhand. Grumm has a shorter distance to go. While the arm is padded, it is not that padded, and the brief flash of pain distracts the soldier long enough that his slash goes wide.
"He is tough," Alba says, levering herself to her feet... and what was one a life threatening gash, now a sickly, jagged black furrow dug across her middle. "*I,* likewise, tough. The Sandsea demands no less, pustulent snake, and its harshest lesson: Many will walk, where one may fall." Dropping into a low crouch, she springs forward, knives streaming white fire as they arc down toward the Bangaa's armored collar.
Eleanor lets go of the sword that digs into Lucky, the blade fading shorly after. "Ahh I dont want to roast a choco! Meanie." Putting her hands at her hips as she hovers there. "Guess you got lucky! Bye bye!" Eleanor offers with a giggle. Seems Lucky is a secondary target, and the fire spirit turns towards the Dark Knight, "You need a breath mint!" Though she isn't going charging in, instead she holds up a hand and tosses a ball of fire at the Dark Knight, a secondary type of attack for her. Melee is her primary skills with some ranged. With one last giggle she fades from view, "Have fun Mardy!" At which point Marduke is making his way back in heading towards the Vieras and Dark Knight.
A gurgled cough is the viera male's reply, a sickly grey drool running out of his mouth. His hand flares white once more, a ragged white flame engulfing his hand and forearm. "T..tough? You'll die before I will.." Talen gags and sinks to his knees, the spell arcing out to touch Alba, and then curling back to bathe the male in white light. He looks a little better, but not by much.
The engagament started off well for Grumm, it's not going nearly as well anymore. "I need to atleast keep them busy so the others can fight." He thinks as he continues to push the swordsman and swings the pick down to hook a leg. "Bring em, down ta me size." Is grunted out as he stops moving and pulls hard on the pick, trying to get the solider off his feet. Two viera Kulgkar is pretty sure he can handle.
Two viera and a summon? This is getting pretty HOT to handle. He sees Lucky wheeling away too. "GET BACK HERE YOU HEADLESS ASSHOL glurk." The knives dig through the black armor. Not quite as if it were paper, but they slide through more easily than they should. They dig into the meat of his shoulders and chest. "FUCK!" He bellows, throwing one arm out to wrestle Alba off of him. So she is out of the way just in time for the ball of fire to hammer into him.
He tanks it, one arm up. It scorches the dry grass around him and burns deep into his arm, getting a snarl of pain from the bangaa. He points his axe at Talen. "You'll die a nice long death." He swings his axe once around him, then throws it upward, making a huge ring of darkness around him. But rather than bother staying to try and make SURE it hits Alba, he uses it as a barrier to leg it to another one of the wagon chocobos.
The twist and trip works well for Grumm, especially with his low stature. He gets the man's legs out from under him and he goes toppling over just like the other. Marduke holds up his hand as he chants a spell, powerful white energies forming around his hand. "Talen, for you." Pointing at the Viera, "Esuna." One of the most powerful status removal spells around, a gift from the spirits. "Actually, I do not think he will be dying at all. Now, die so I can send you to Hades." Planting his staff into the ground, getting ready to prepare another spell.
"Run!" Alba calls as she rolls to her feet, hurling herself through the darkness toward the Bangaa's pounding feet, heedless of the damage wrought to her body. At her wrist, the silkworm charm glows again, threads of magic unraveling and launching toward the fleeing Dark Knight. "*Run for your mockery of life,* shambling pile of cowardly foetor! DIE WATERLESS AND PLEADING!"
Talen is rolled along by the bangaa's last spell, and comes to rest upon his back. "Uhhf. Yeah... you do that run thing. I'm just going to lay here and bleed a little while." Talen coughs a few times, wiping away grime and blood. "Euugh, so that's what cancer tastes like."
"It work!" Call out Grumm, a bit surprised but doesn't get distracted from what he set out to do. He suckes in a deep breath as the mining pick is raised high above his head, but not relly very high and brings it down on the prone soldier with everything he can muster.
Kulgkar swings up onto the chocobo, slouching from his wounds. The chocobo is already starting to look a little sickly from just the aura of Kulgkar Tuguf. "WHAT BY DOOMSHIP'S HOARY FEET IS A FOETOR!" He doesn't stay for the answer. With most of the Archaedaen soldiers incapitated and Lucky gone, he isn't about to try and take the three of them by himself. The three around Alba are wasted. Kulgkar's black ring seems to have withered them away in their armor.
The worst thing is. He might have.
Grumm finishes off the one who hasn't given up in a rather gruesome manner. The pick hurtles down into him, the sharp end digging hard into the man's chest with a sickening crunch and a spurt upward of blood.
The sound left now is the last soldier whispering 'don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me' and the frightened 'wark' of the last chocobos.
Marduke glances around the battlefield, shaking his head slowly. "You did well Grumm." Smiling over towards the dwarf, "Gather the wounded, me and Talen can do some healing." Turning to start walking towards Talen, chanting his spell again, "Esuna." Sending the energies Talen's way, "Good with that or need another?" Looking over the Viera with concern. Eyes glancing to Alba, and offering her a nod before looking back to Talen.
Alba pushes her mask up to snarl at the back of the Bangaa's sickly chocobo, turning... with a slight weave, as the trauma of the magics wracking her body catches up with her, and makes her slow, unsteady way back toward Talen, the feather charm on her bracelet already beginning to glow. Marduke's nod is returned, and she touches her eartips to Talen's her own, much weaker curative magics going to work behind Marduke's spell. "With fortune, they will not return," she murmurs. "Weaker prey to be found, elsewhere. When all is finished, here, perhaps it will be seen what remains of the farm that may be salvaged."
Talen takes in a deep breath, a rattle and gurgle sounding deep in his lungs as he does so. Esuna helps quite a bit, and as Alba leans to touch her ears to his, Talen casts a spell of his own, bright white light flowing between the two viera. "With luck... they'll keep running til they see Archades' gates. Uhhhhnn." Groaning, he slowly sits up, shaking with the effort. "Are you sound, my hunter?" His eyes shift over to Marduke, "Give me a few moments more. That guy uses some pretty evil mojo."
Grumm leaves the pick where it's, running over to pick up a crossbow and look for bolts, finding some on the guy that got a pick in the face. "I no good with these." He mutters as he pulls the string back, loading a bolt. Several deep breaths are taken as he tried to relax and line up a shot with the Kulgkar before he can get away. The string twangs and the bolt whistles through the air when the trigger is pulled, too late he's out of range. He nods at Marduke and moves off slowly, breathing heavily, looking for wounded villagers. A long gash across his back can be easily seen when he turns away.
The house is sound. And while one of the work houses is now a smoldering ruin, all the casks remain and no one is hurt. The ground where Kulgkar's darkness has touched, however, is barren. But with all the villagers retaining their lives, that is more than worth the price, is it not? The twisting pain slowly leaves as the healing magic undoes the several dozen plagues turning the inside of Talen into black pudding.
The house is sound. And while one of the work houses is now a smoldering ruin, all the casks remain and no one is hurt. The ground where Kulgkar's darkness has touched, however, is barren. But with all the villagers retaining their lives, that is more than worth the price, is it not? The twisting pain slowly leaves as the healing magic undoes the several dozen plagues turning the inside of Talen into black pudding.
The villagers are starting to come back and peak just a little. They probably will not be kind to the last man alive. But at least Emberstrand got itself a couple sets of padded armor and crossbows and swords!
Marduke nods slowly at that, "Just let me know. I still got a bit of energy left." Glancing around the battlefield, and shaking his head. "No, a man like that will be back. He will make a show, he will want to fight us again. He will make sure he believes he has the upper hand as well, pulling in what tricks he has. He will be back, prepare yourselves." Looking to the Viera, "That is the kind of man he is." He glances to Grumm and frowns, chanting another spell, "Cura!" Giving out the area healing spell himself now. Making sure Grumm gets some of the healing magic.
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