[center][h3][color=CCCCFF]Joakim Fortinbras – Frenzy Camp[/color][/h3]
[@raijinslayer][@liferusher][/center]

When evil visions seized Argus, corrupting his dreamscape into a nightmare frontier and eking wisps of that crimson malevolence into the waking world, Joakim happened to be on guard outside the tent in which the demon's negativity stewed.  The slitherings of a vile, unseen tongue tickled his ears, but Joakim in his worldliness and own experience neither shut them out or let them in.  This phantom poison flowed through the camp and sloshed against the tents, but for the most part found no choir to sing to.  The prisoner called Rune had been taken only minutes ago from his cell by Hyun and Indigo, their intended location undisclosed to anyone A-rank or below.  In order to induct the new arrival Riona, the comely archer Leixia also left the premises.  Only Isla remained to be bombarded by the hellish intonations, their occult musings gushing like ink into her ears to stain and stillbirth her brain.

Long before the aura of demolition ate away at the fabric and wooden struts of the tent, Joakim acutely sensed the foul, sorcerous miasma, turned about, and backed hastily away until its invisible barbs jabbed at his mind no more.  Before his eyes, the insides of the detention tent transformed from austere to diabolic.  Wretched magic blighted the very soil, making it dead forever.  The steel bars of the four cages slowly withered like plant stalks, turning black before becoming charcoal.  Taking a deep breath, Joakim called out for Ange, the only Frenzy Plant soldier still within earshot.  The girl, already disturbed and set on edge by the sheer foul presence polluting her guild's turf, came running.  A look of terror struck her face the instant she arrived, a terror very much in a spiritual sense: the kind of fear that a saint might feel to see the devil at his doorstep.  Nevertheless, she knew by the corrosion what she had to do.  Ange held out her wand, and from the air span crude cases of glass to envelope the partially-destroyed cages of Isla and the Lovers, shielding them from the corruption with a material very difficult to deteriorate.  For the time being, the prisoners were safe from their peer.  

Both northerner and westerner watched, paralyzed, as an ashen, bony figure seemed to hover above the prone form of Argus—already the unholy epicenter of this anathematic corruption, his body now inspired more horror with the implication that it served as only the conduit of another presence, greater and more perfectly repugnant than any soldier, already haunted by death and injustice, could conceive.  Then the foul shape slipped away in a rippling tide of black and scarlet chaos, reducing every element of the detention tent not shielded by glass to soot.  Faster than ice thrown into a fire, the grass faded away, a testament to the tainted earth.  But ultimately, the dark magic receded, and Argus woke blearily into the ruin he'd unwittingly caused.  

Joakim let out his breath, not remembering when he'd held it, and summoned a block of permafrost to sit upon.  Still trembling, Ange followed suit with a stool of solid glass, quite unable to reconcile her heady affliction of insecurity and fear enough to speak.  Joakim tilted the butt of his ribcage staff toward Argus, and declared, [color=CCCCFF]”You are not doing so hot.  If what I just saw and felt is not some elaborate ruse, I would say that you are cursed beyond believing.  It does not change that you are a pain in the ass, and that you have shamed our guild name, but maybe it is not all your fault.”[/color]  The blue-haired magician studied Argus' face.  [color=CCCCFF]”There is no such thing as bad magic, only bad people who use magic for bad, but there is such thing as bad spirits.  The demons.  I am pretty sure we thought you were demon, but if you were possessed, it could explain a lot.

The way I see it, there are few options left for you.  What you have is massively dangerous.  Kicking you out of Frenzy Plant would be like uncaging a dragon, and I do not think Sanders could let you roam free.  Either Frenzy Plant redeems you, and takes this evil out of your heart, or it will kill you both.  Me, I would much rather you not die, since I have many pain in ass friends.  What can we do to help?”[/color]  Joakim's brusqueness only partially veiled his surprising consideration for Argus' condition.  Having seen the evil within him, the northerner was frightened, but he would not allow reality to ensue and purge the demon from the world without first exhausting the possibility of saving him.  Here were people who, not in spit of but because of Argus' behavior, would stick their necks out to try and rescue him.  He need only take the metaphorical hand.

[center][color=F0DC82][h3]Leixia Wuiwomi – In the Little Wood[/h3][/color]
[@oblivion666][/center]

A few minutes after the various Frenzy Plant soldiers cleared out of the newly-repaired section of  forest following Damian's departure, only two figures remained.  Riona, eager to join Frenzy Plant, had received an initial briefing from Indigo prior to her departure, leaving her prospective opponent, Leixia, to fill in the blanks.  [color=F0DC82]”So, we battle until one of us gives in.  By beating me, you get my rank.  If you want to get a higher rank, challenge and beat people in those ranks, in ascending order.  Before we start, let me quickly tell you: self control is a tenet of the soldier lifestyle.  If you take this test too seriously, you'll flunk even if you win.  And no property damage.  Get it?”[/color]

The hooded archer retreated to once side the clearing to wait for Riona to do the same.  When the positions were assumed, she called out, [color=F0DC82]”Five.  Four.  Three.  Two.  One.  Go.”[/color]  With grace, fluidity, and speed she drew a handful of arrows from her quiver, nocked one, and kept the rest in her fist.  An arrow soared toward Riona's position, its tip enchanted by one of Frenzy Plant's Trial Charms to deliver the full kinetic force of the projectile without piercing the skin.  After all, arrows in their raw form were deadly.  Though her steely composure betrayed nothing, Leixia aimed to show her mastery of the bow without hurting the new applicant...too badly.