Dartbored Fairy

Defiance

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@Hokum@Polaris North@Jensoman@Candy@Seraphin

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The girl tilted her head and listened - or watched - as Ren made their attempt at communicating. The mute's well-meaning attempt seemed to put a smile on the girl's face, and after he was finished she opened her mouth to respond.

Only to be interrupted by Fauve. Fauve's... attempt at doing what Ren did apparently didn't really do it's job well, as the girl's smile soon fell in favour of a more... annoyed and perhaps a bit disgusted look on her face.

Fortunately though, Corc's half-bumbling 'introducing' put a grin back on the girl's face. Apparently she liked Corc's obliviousness to what was going on.

And then Gabriel spoke, fortunately breaking the cycle by managing to not anger the girl like Fauve did.

As Gabriel starts to walk towards her, he mysteriously found himself within reaching distance of the girl, as though he had walked farther than he should have in a moment of time. Smiling, the girl takes the map and gives Gabriel a gentle wave as if shooing someone away with her other hand, and Gabriel then instantaneously finds himself next to Fauve again.

Studying the map closely - or taking a simple look at it, it's hard to tell at this distance - the girl remains silent for a while, before letting go of the map and allowing the breeze to bring it back to Gabriel.

"Well, unfortunately for you I know less than you all do about this attack you keep talking about, but I can tell you about this map. First though..." The girl's smile slowly turns into a glare as she stares at Fauve. "I do not like you. 'Ren' has more decency than you do, and I do not appeciate what you called me, so I'd suggest you talk less and think more since you look like someone who could do with that."

"In any case, the location marked on this map is a bit further ahead, it's some old ruin with some fancy statues. Don't know exactly what sort of building it used to be, but it has catacombs so that's always a big plus."

"But anyway, all of you except Corc and Ren still haven't introduced yourselves, and you." The girl turns to glare at Devlin "Do not wake me up by shouting again, please. Now, are you going to leave me be, or do you plan on accusing me of more things even though I already stated that I know nothing?"

Defiance

Lui pouts and waves as Dani starts climbing the trees. "Alright, I'll keep an ear open!" She says as Dani vanishes from sight.

"So, ehm... who leads the way now?" She asks the group just as she is hit by the gust of wind. "Hold on what was that?"

Confused, Lui looks around for the source, but finds none. The gust of wind makes her 'eye' itch, but Lui has no idea what has happened.

---

@Hokum,@Polaris North,@Seraphin,@Jensoman,@Candy

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The girl continues glaring at the duo as Devlin tries to make it clear to her allies that they should not attack. As she does so, the girl crawls out of the skull and climbs up to stand on top of it, using the skull's height to look down on the duo.

From her newly obtained vantage point, the girl easily spots Gabriel, and grins, before turning her attention back to Devlin as she begins to apologize and ask her a question.

Smiling, the girl sits down with her legs crossed, somehow fishing a large bone staff out of her hat. The staff itself is not much shorter than the girl itself, and could in no way have fit in that hat, let alone while worn. One end of the staff ends in a skeletal hand that holds a glowing gemstone, which the girl points at Devlin.

"I know of no truffle pig, especially not a giant one. All I know of pigs is that they like rolling around in mud, so why do you question me about Giant Doom Pigs invading places I don't even know of, and then proceed to accuse me of orchestrating such invasions?" The girl says with a look on her face that makes it quite clear that she is both annoyed and sleepy simultaneously. "Do you have no manners? First you go and wake me up, and then you accuse me of being behind the Resurgence before even introducing yourself. What's next? Your friends hiding in the bushes launching an attack while thinking I haven't yet spotted them?"

As she finishs her statement, a powerful gust of wind hits Fauve, Gabriel and Corc, forcibly pushing them into the clearing.

"An Orc and two Humans. What a strange party. Are you going to be as rude as these two here, or do you intend to show some decency?" The girl asks, as she turns her staff to have it lean over her shoulder while a smaller witches hat materialises under it, hanging from the skeletal hand's thumb.

Defiance

@Hokum & @Seraphin in particular, though some others as well

---

As Devlin stalks closer to the skull, she noticed previously unnoticed details on the hat. Hanging from the tip of the cone is some sort of orb. It is almost perfectly round, and casts a sickly green glow onto the area around it. More disturbing however is the fact that at the bottom of the hat, pierced by the cone, is another skull. It's eyesockets are filled with two dull black gems, and it looks almost as though it is staring at both Devlin and Ren.

"I know you're here!" Devlin's words echo throughout the clearing, and the chimes fall silent, taking away the last source of ambient noise. For a moment it is still until Devlin finishes her announcement, leaving the clearing devoid of sounds for a while.

Then, a gust of wind erupts from the skull, travelling outward like a shockwave. The gust can be felt even at the town gate, and those sensitive to magic can quite definitively tell that it wasn't a regular gust of wind. Especially not since they would now also be able to easily tell that their companions have started radiating some strange ambient magic. It seems harmless enough, though it does make them stand out.

Back in the clearing, the previous quiet has faded as the wind picks up again. A strong breeze blowing through the forest and the clearing, and causing the chimes to chime like crazy. Yet, the hat itself seems to be unaffected by the breeze as it remains where it is, on top of the skull.

That is, however, until an arm reaches out of the right eyesocket of the skull to grab the hat. Crawling about halfway out of the eyesocket is a young, pale-skinned girl. She takes a few seconds to put on the hat - it is a tad too big for her - before actually noticing both Devlin and Ren.\

Her hair is a very dark black, and her eyes a strange, bright purple. She seems to wear a layered black dress of which each individual layer seems to be adorned with parts of the night sky. It is remarkably accurate, yet strangely enough something's off about it. Not only are there stars on her dress that shouldn't be there, all the constellations are marked through glowing yellow lines, and some of them are foreign.

The girl looks at the duo with a look of confusion on her face for a few seconds, before her look slowly turns into a glare. Almost immediately afterwards followed by a sense of dread washing over them.

"Which of you two woke me up." The girl says, sounding rather annoyed. The skull on top of her hat meanwhile rotates to look directly at Devlin, and the girl then points at her as well.

"Was it you, or do I need to replace his eyes again?" The girl says with a grin, temporarily revealing her rather... sharp teeth.

Defiance

Lui smiled as Dani apparently agreed to her plan. He seemed to agree that it was a good solution, and offered to guide the group. Some people still seemingly wanted to go in other directions or something, but Lui didn't mind. At least they were going to get going.

"Of course I'm coming!" Lui happily said in response to Aelih. "Just lead the way, Dani!"

"And we don't have to worry about the forest being dark either, because I've got all the light we need!" Lui said as she proudly held up her magelight, it's lantern shining brightly. She didn't expect the forest to be dark, but she took pride in her magelight, and she liked showing it off.

---

@Hokum

---

As Devlin continues deeper and deeper into the forest, she comes closer and closer to the source of the sounds. Strangely enough, there is barely a breeze, yet the chimes continue chiming, as if driven by an unknown force.

Then, Devlin comes across a small clearing in the middle of the forest. The ground seems a bit scorched, as though it has seen recent fighting, and several trees show large... scars, as though something has hit them. Obviously, something has been fighting here recently, but what.

Devlin soon spots the source of the sounds however, as on a large rock opposite of her lies a large witches' hat. Hanging from the brim of the hat are the wind chimes that are no doubt the source of the sounds that she has been hearing so far. Yet, strangely enough, there is no breeze at all in this clearing. Deeper in the forest there was some wind, but here there's none. Yet, the chimes are still chiming, filling the area with a strange sense of dread.

And who, if anyone, is even the owner of the hat? There is nobody in sight, and given the lack of wind it's hard to believe that the hat got blown here on it's own. Perhaps the owner was involved in what caused the damage to this clearing?

Then, Devlin notices a detail she had previously missed. The large, leaf-covered rock upon which the hat rests, is not a rock at all.

It is instead a massive skull, belonging to a creature that would have been big enough to swallow a small human whole. Yet, by the looks of it, the creature has long since died. Where it's body went is another question entirely though.

Defiance

Lannissa

@tex

Accepted!

Tamriellah & The Midg

@Prima Luce

Very nice sheet, but I wouldn't expect anything less from you. Accepted as well! (Obviously)

Defiance

Darren Madeus Dakarr

@ArkmageddonCat

Boris
AKA The Bonecrusher

@Hokum

Both accepted!

Defiance

Lui curiously listened to all the new people arrive and talk about their ideas. Most, if not everyone, agreed with going to the location marked on the map. Except Dani, that is.

"Hey, Dani. How about we leave immediately for the location marked on the map? Think about it, if we go there all these other people will be with us too. Better to wander around in a group with some tough people than all alone, right?" Lui said, smiling. "And if things do go wrong we can just run away. You're good at navigating, right? If we get in trouble we can just follow you out of there."

"But, if you're really unwilling to go check it out, then I'll come with you if Aelih comes too. I don't know about these newcomers but I trust both of you more."

Realising she said that out loud, Lui quickly goes back to hiding behind Aelih. She really wanted to check out what was on the map, but if that'd mean following people she didn't know then she'd rather not.

---

As the town is completely overrun, the undead legion slowly approaches the west gate. It'll take a while before they get there, but if the people at the gate wait too long they'll have to no choice but to fight again.

-@Hokum-

Following the map, Devlin travels into the forest to the west of Nadska. The thick foilage blocks out the majority of the sunlight, leaving the forest a dark and eerie place. The fighting has scared away many birds it seems, as the forest is quiet. The only sounds heard are the sounds of Devlin's footsteps as she walks through the piles of leaves that are already on the ground.

The only other sound that can be heard is a distant, eerie sound of wind chimes, coming from deeper within the forest.

Defiance

Lui listened to Dani argue against her idea. Apparently Dani was really good at leading the way, though the mention of hunting parties was... unsettling. What were they hunting in the first place? Magical Constructs? Lui really didn't want to find out.

Then, Dani apparently heard something, and Lui heard it too. She was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, Dani's idea was far superior to her own. After all, how could they hope to fight something really big? Although the scary orc was big, perhaps the undead had something even bigger. Lui hoped that, whatever it was, wouldn't come for them.

As Dani states that he is against the idea, Lui opens her mouth to agree, only to be interrupted by the arrival of the woman from before.

Lui already didn't like her, but she did give more information about the map. It did make Lui more curious, but she still wasn't as sure of her plan as before.

Then, someone else arrived, a man wearing strange gauntlets. Lui had seen them before in the tavern, and she still didn't like the idea of being within range of the gauntlets. So, she did the most sensible thing ever, and hid behind Aelih. At least they were tall enough to hide her, right?

Dani then spoke again, asking about survivors. Was he planning to go in if there were? Lui hoped not. She'd much rather stay outside after all.

"...if there are, will we wait or will we try to rescue them? Can we please not go inside again?" Lui cautiously asks, peeking out from behind Aelih

Defiance

@EldarionI

Don't worry about it. Can you make the changes to your character I asked you to make? Don't forget to mention me when you're done

Defiance

Lui nodded as she listened to Dani. The large amount of undead didn't look like good company in any kind of way - unless you were suicidal - so Lui didn't want to go anywhere near them.

"I'm with Dani on this one, let's not go back into the town. I much prefer staying alive over joining those creepy skeletons." Lui said, sighing. "We'll just have to build a small memorial or something to whoever doesn't make it out alive."

Then, Fauve caught up. Lui had only seen a glimpse of her in the Tavern, and she didn't really like her, given how noisy she was. Still, she did bring some interesting information. Something about a person with a map. What could be on that map? "I haven't seen them, sorry. Are sure they're still alive?" Lui replied. "I don't think it's very safe to go looking for them now."

Then, Lui had an idea. If there were still people trying to escape, then maybe it was worth waiting for them.
"Hey, I have an idea that may or may not be bad. Instead of going back in, how about we wait at the gate? If more survivors come we could help them get out. If not, we can always make a quick escape. Plus we could potentially even close the doors on those Undead, keep them temporarily trapped. It's far safer than heading back in, don't you think?" Lui suggested. It wasn't the best of ideas, but Lui was proud of it. She didn't often have such grand ideas.

---

As the group retreats from the Church, the behemoth charges forward, towards the church. Moments later, it crashes into it, the behemoth's massive strength that was previously used to create a hole in the town wall was now used to bring down the church itself. The first hit is enough to severely damage the front of the building and make the tower highly unstable. A second hit destroys more of the building, and causes the old church tower to collapse. From a distance, the tower can be seen falling over sideways, with the impact being easily audible for a long distance.

With the church tower gone, the behemoth stops for a few moments, before continuing, slowly but surely levelling the old church. As it does so, the Skeletons rally. Temporarily halting their pursuit to group up and start a steady advance, searching every building as they make their way to the West Gate, ensuring to take down everyone foolish enough to not flee. Although it gives those trying to flee some extra time, anyone foolish enough to stay behind would find themselves less fortunate, facing overwhelming numbers for even the toughest fighters.