[center][h3][color=996666][b]Aradeyr[/b][/color][/h3]__________________________________________________________________________________________________[/center] Aradeyr fluttered about the ornate bed chamber wistfully arranging grand bouquets of violet flowers about the room. Every few moments her eyes would fall to her mother, a gentle glowing figure resting soundly in the center of a guilded bed, atop a mound of lavish pillows and coverings. "Osirihii?" her angelic voice called to her, its melody bouncing merrily throughout the grand room, a soft echo repeating her question. [color=996666]"Mother"[/color] She echoed back as the blankets fell about her, revealing her swollen belly. Aradeyr hurried to her side to help her sit up comfortably all the way. [color=996666]"Not long now"[/color] she cooed. Aradeyr had already fallen in love with the child, merely from the wait to meet them. Her mother was about to speak once again when she was interrupted by her father entering hastily, a rolled scroll tucked into his robes. "Your brother has already gone ahead" he reassured her, offering the scroll with no other explanation. Aradeyr scanned the note briefly before leaving a warm kiss on her mother's forehead. [color=996666]"I understand."[/color] she whispered with a nod. Standing abruptly and heading for the door, she gave a disheartened look behind her as she crossed the threshold. Her entire family had returned home in preparation for the new child. Her father had reluctantly chosen to stay behind in any upcoming missions, but she was glad in that at least. He may like to forget it but he was still aging after all. [color=996666]"Hopefully we can return in time"[/color] she mused aloud to herself, fully aware there was little chance. She returned to her chambers at once, where she gathered her weapons before changing into her armor. It had been less than a full month since she'd worn it last, and though she was quite dismayed she would miss her new sibling's birth, she was glad to be changing into it again. Her golden satchel lay ready with her usual necessities so she wasted little time packing and made her way to the stables, securing the famous blue cloak around her as she did. There she called forth her swiftest steed and found it had already been prepared for her departure, her brothers doing she surmised. Retrieving the scroll once more she gave it a final look, confirming her route before setting off to join the main group of soldiers trailing behind the front lines. Hours slipped by and she found herself gaining on the main forces. Slowing her stride to speak to a passing soldier so they could brief her, she quickly took note of the situation and pressed forward. Apparently, a second group had gone ahead to aid the first only a few minutes before she'd stopped to speak to them. If she hurried she could probably catch up not long after they arrived. Less than an hour passed this time, and as she neared she could make out a lone rider tying up her horse in the distance before disappearing into the forest. She continued on horseback and the company of 40 or so men flickered into view. A few moments before they seemed to be talking amongst themselves but now, all of their backs faced her, obviously fixated on the city before them. From afar her eyes began to take in a gruesome sight quickly unfolding before her. What was once nondescript dots littering her view was taking on the form of countless mangled bodies strewn across the area. The scent of charred flesh quickly washed about her, a dry cough forcing its way from her chest in reaction to the sudden change in fragrance. She was about to call to her comrades when suddenly they broke off into groups, forming a hasty battleline. As they dissipated she could finally see what they had been transfixed by. As she approached everyone grew larger in view but directly in front of a set disfigured gates a shadow was growing disproportionately to the rest. A monstrous roar erupted from where it once stood, true abomination indeed had charged directly towards their lines scattering them in several directions. At the sight of archers she steered her horse in their direction, releasing his reigns. He was battle tested and she trusted the fine animal with her life. On instinct, she drew her bow immediately but quickly realized that though her shot was clear there was no favorable target. Closing more distance between herself and the group she took in the sight of the goliath fully. It wielded an ax of unreasonable proportion and was clad in black armor with what she could only assume were the remains of those it had terrorized within the city. There did not appear to be any gaps in the armor and she pondered for the briefest moment what it could have been made of to provide such coverage and who could have constructed it. She had not heard their coordination, but within a moment a halfbreed had fired what appeared to be acid at the beast while another had used some sort of spell to disrupt the earth in its path as the second wave of arrows rained down on it. She hoped if the acid was effective and had covered the beast generously, in combination with the earth crumbling beneath it perhaps it would lose some grip on the weapon. She was not close enough to discern what it was made of, but she supposed with enough concentrated force magic at the right moments she could attempt to knock it from its hands. She did not believe it would stop its charge, as the thing was atrocious enough even without the mighty ax, but if it would stumble for even a moment, or be forced to turn and try to pick it up it would have bought them a precious few seconds to further distract it. Taking a deep breath she poised her bow in aim of the beast yet again. [color=3A5F0B][b]"Aim for the joints! Try to slow its advance!"[/b][/color] a voice called out through the chaos and she fired several charged shots at various joints of the monstrosity in compliance, finishing off with three additional shots to the beasts helmet hoping to expose any piece of flesh that would help them better identify the beast. With each arrow she applied increasing amounts of force magic, hoping the extra power and speed could help penetrate any unrecognizable weakness in the armor. To test the theory of her own she also fired five consecutive charged shots at different points across the uppermost portion of the beast's axe, before returning fire again to the other areas with regular shots. Giving herself time to recoup and concentrate her magics in preparation for another round of charged shots, she now sought to close the little remaining gap between her and the others, scanning and processing the scene she had arrived too late to have observed beforehand. Her keen senses helped to locate the different groupings of soldiers and she started a mental tab on the whereabouts of the other inquisition members. [hider=OOC]Edited her internal use of "halfling" to "halfbreed", so as to not create confusion with her terminology in reference to the hyrbrid.[/hider]