Mas Bagus

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

There was no expression coming from the elf, only tilting her head slightly to acknowledge the choice Asevor had chosen. The deflected arrow on the wall pulsed once before its explosive charge detonated. Although there was a substantial distance between Asevor and the epicenter, splinters and crystalized fragments scattered about at lethal velocity.

Blasting him off guard, the wizard was still communicating with Solomon's undead when the explosion triggered, but the strike was deemed fair; As far as honor was concerned, the parley was between Asevor and her.

There was no sentimental reason, only a desire to eliminate the threat and ensure the chance of survival, first for her own, and the other comes second. Lurea sings in joyful whistles as the arrow launched toward the old man's center mass. Installed with a delayed fuse, it cared not about its target's switches, insurance, or whatever tricks he had in hand.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

The elven woman listened, yet the level of threat she displayed remained unwavering.

"Bold of you to assume we are standing on an equal footing. Disarm yourself and your magical enchantment at once, then I will let you live."

"Two!"

In that brief moment Jazdia looked at the magical construct, then at the wizard again. The potential was still unmeasured, yet its danger was apparent. Regardless the elf kept her composure, as if not giving it a proper damn Asevor wished she would. The luster in her eyes shows not only sheer determination but also restrained rage and madness.

"Look at me in the eyes. Do you think I care?"

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

The magical barrier reacted, causing her arrow to veer to the side and hit the wall next to the old wizard. It, however, failed to anticipate the frost attack from Solomon's summon and hit Asevor square on his back.

The old mage arched, while Jazdia deftly reloaded her arrow, ready to shoot a follow-up.

"Okay, you've got me. Parley."

The bow steadied, and behind it, a pair of hellish, heterochromatic eyes watched with an unwavering focus how Asevor's spells waned instantly. Yet, the man stood, leaning on his cane, his figures unshrouded, fragile, and proud.

The elven ranger was still holding the string, though she herself was arguably the most potent menace in this room, her arm was shaking slightly.

"You have three seconds to convince me why shouldn't I destroy you right here, right now," she said.

"One!"

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Ah, of course, that possibility again. Jazdia was so tired of this entire charade she did not look at the box again. What else could she do? Defusing a magic construct would require a specialized operator with specialized equipment, which she was not, nor equipped with.

...I will decipher the runes to find a means of opening the box safely. I want to avoid any other dead man triggers. Perhaps I can open the intended doorway.”

Added Solomon after his solemn refusal.

It was not good enough. Working with the undead was often as useful as working with crude automatons, or natural occurrences, and it was not counting her personal distaste towards those nature defiers. Her complaints were numerous, yet Jazdia chose to swallow it all and

"You don't have to to follow my command," she said firmly. "But I tell you this, I can see through his invisibility, and I saw that his defense is fading. What would happen if all goes according to the plan is Asevor will be forced to use up his shield to block my arrow, and should he really has nothing to defend himself, he will be down with one leg shattered to bits, but pretty much alive.

For half part of her speech, Jazdia maintained her usual deadpan expression, before gradually developing into a fit of anger and frustration. "Or if he died... I don't care! This situation has spiraled out of control and surgical action is no longer feasible. Asevor has to be stopped now, by any means necessary, why else do you think he chooses to stay? " After gripping her bow, and feeling the searing pain from her scalded skin in utter hatred, Jazdia hissed. "I value my life even more than any Princeling. I am done, really, it's just the two of us now, and I cannot let us dance to his tune any longer."

After what could be perceived as an act of lashing out, Jazdia left Solomon to do his thing and walked down to the next floor, enchanting several of her arrows along the way. By the fourth arrow, she glanced at one of the dilapidated windows and wished the sun would come out anytime now.

Carefully and quietly jumping down the ruined staircase, Jazdia's enchanted eyes scoured the entire room and immediately picked Asevor's silhouette. Exhausted and battered, silvery patches started to appear at the edge of her hair, and one of her eyes flickered with infernal color. Deciding to stay in that antechamber, she readied her bow and aimed, letting the arrowhead glow a bit more as Solomon's spectral summon entered her line of sight, flanking her target from the main door.

Taking a form of a well-dressed lady, she looked unnaturally fair for an undead, yet her outward beauty was rather balanced out by the sinister link that made her general appearance similar to a human with another human as a branch. Fortunately, Jazdia would soon realize that her neat appearance was not her only distinguishing feature. The conjoined undead would prove herself to be a quite formidable caster with her frost magic. Still, she could use a bit more guidance.

Shifting her aim left and right, Jazdia made eye contact with the undead woman while making a move to give the impression that she could not see Asevor. And that, before suddenly waved her aim toward the wizard himself and fired her arrow.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Jazdia was ready to shoot another arrow when wounded Asevor managed to make a sudden turn toward the same building he was escaping from and took shelter there.

Undrawing her bow in sheer displeasure, Jazdia darted for the door leading to the floor below, almost like skidding down the stairs. Once she get in there, the elf glanced at Solomon who seemed to be busying himself with perusing the box containing the prince.

"I will not try to poke that thing if I were you, especially not when that wizard is still around."

Standing in the doorway leading to the second floor, Jazdia's eyes flickered for a brief while before giving another assessment.

"So that's why he is still here," she muttered. "It is very likely the runes that regulate the enchantment was programmed with a safety measure. If you see that green-colored rune surrounded by yellow or blue it means the trigger was designed to pick up the wizard's final energy before triggering itself to live. Or simply trigger itself when it can no longer detect Asevor's energy." the elf shook her head. "No, that would require a constant effort to emit your own mana into the air, it was never a practical method. A tether? I don't see the lines. Must be my first guess, but I don't have time to nerd it out."


"Let's leave the Prince for now. Asevor is right under our feet. On the first floor of this building. If we want to subdue him alive, I would need your restraining spell."

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Jazdia readied shot, and for God's sake, she could hear the incantation as the bladed point of her arrow creaked in purplish flame. When the bolt of arcane magic struck down, however, she determined that it was already too late to intercept the attack.

She only caught a glimpse of the collapsing bear before returning her attention to the caster himself. Composed as ever, yet still irritated by waves of pain coming from her injuries, Jazdia drew her bow and aimed. When the wizard cloaked himself in an invisibility spell, she activated her eyes, casually, like a trained operator responding to a blackout by switching on a flashlight.

Her mental crosshair wobbles a bit to follow her target. That target in question was the bluish man with several shining dots that seemed to have its intensity decreased. Against the chromatic background, that silhouette flew away, straight, and despite the hailstones, it was not even trying to make any erratic move, or try to protect itself with another layer of arcane energy, perhaps in sheer arrogance, or fear. A perfect target nonetheless.

The arrow launched, aimed as true as Jazdia could manage, and no amount of hard wind or icy pellets may deter it from its path.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

After what seemed like a long dash, Jazdia reached the edge of the battlement and looked down. Uninterested in the explosion above and more concerned with creating more of it.

"Hey! You two," she shouted to a particular Samurai and the newcomer girl. "Use my arrow and bla--"

"FINE! IYULL DARKEN YA FUCKIN' SKY FER YAH, YA FLYING FAT FUCK! IF'N I GOTTA DANCE FER YA TOO, SO FUCKIN BE IT YA PRICK!"

Jazdia knew it was not for her, but standing here in the line of fire of a cursing druid made her hold her breath. Anyhow, that should be the least of her concern; the air's changing all of a sudden, adding more to the dark overcast above. The wind whistles unnaturally and became more intense in seconds. She had no idea what deity Cedar worshipped, but apparently, they were incredibly lenient they answered his prayer even if it was laced with foul epithets.

"Hey, you! Listen to me! Use my arrow and shoot that mage!" Two of her arrows kindled in bluish flames before Jazdia tossed them down to Veronica and Chonan.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Emerging from the smoke and leftover vapors was Jazdia, standing in a way that hid her flabbergasted expression. Her clothes were tattered around her calf, elbow, belly, and chest, showing the burnt skin beneath. Her injury testified to the intensity of her firestorm, yet the blaze barely licked the source of the dangers itself.

And it was still going, albeit at a slower pace.

"What a *cough* bother."

For a while, her vision blurred, and it felt like she would collapse any moment, the damage was pretty bad Jazdia could have sworn she heard her father nagging from the afterlife.

Yeah Dad, channeling magic without a medium was a very reckless of me.

"How is that damned prince anyway?"

Jazdia's heart raced, with a certain anger in the mix, she refocused her magic and stared into the room, half expecting the poison to have reached his chamber, cooking him alive with no way to exhaust the gas away. Yeah, of course, it didn't happen... for His highness' convenience, her fire had cleansed the air before it could seep through, with her paying the price for it.

Was it worth it? Was it the right thing to do? Tough questions, one of many things she wouldn't do when the danger was still imminent and her enemy was still at large, but her mental acuity allowed her to do that, all while dashing forward, and the only thing that made her paused the thought that she had allowed herself to get hurt just to save a royal brat was a slight embarrassment after realizing her tattered shirt was draping behind her exposed midriff.

...and the mass of concentrated energy being sent to the sky.

Despite the damage she suffered, the last explosion taught her something, and it was time to put that knowledge to good use.
Reaching for her previously-enchanted arrow, Jazdia grimaced as the skin from her scalded finger peeled off as the arrow released. It trailed straight toward the arcane construct before exploding on its own and igniting the acid fog.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

Whatever that wizard was doing, Jazdia did not care, the bombardment continued even when the first one failed to bring him down. The second arrow trailed in the air, and his summoned servant also intercepted it. Not waiting to see the result, the third launched, the wretched lunged, punishment dispensed, and damage was taken. To shoot them until they were all down, and let's see how long they can withstand the bombardment. There's more where that came from!

When the fourth was ready to launch, it was apparent that the Wizard's turn to answer her onslaught was imminent. Same trick, same problem, but now it descended like some sort of volcanic haze crawling down from a very passive mountain, yet its course remained unaltered by the wind. Jazdia winced and have her bow un-drawn. She had had enough.

The elf gripped the remaining three arrows and cast upon them a protective command before returning them to her quiver. For much of the observable moment, she did nothing but breathe. A fire vortex started to form on her right hand.

Breathe.

She looked up as the cloud of poison hovered down towards her.

Breathe.

She kneeled and closed her eyes. A calmer state of mind was required...

To breathe.

Fire engulfed her right hand as she touched the stony base. The flame was her own energy, compacted in a volatile medium, unstable without its usual casing.

For another five seconds, Jazdia kept on maintaining the flame. A while ago, in her current blinded state, she would worry that damned Wizard would come down and lop her head off while she was kneeling, now the concern was more immediate as the acidic fumes started to burn her clothes and she could hear her own skin sizzling. Worse of it, she could only ignore the pain.

With a swift motion, the elf raised her hand. The condensed flame whirled and pulsated once before lashing its blaze in every direction. She braced for more pain as the flame ignited the acid fog and scorch the entire battlement in a rapid conflagration.

Sovereign's Will: A Fantasy Roleplaying Game. [CONCLUDED]

The room was clear, and she did not waste a moment pondering about it.

Third floor, eyes activated...

Jazdia usually never bothered with vines and overgrown proliferating around her. But this time they grow so quickly that she instinctively slowed her pace down. When the next floor reached, however, she started to despise it even more.

"A friendly... magically enchanted construct, great!"

And true to that, besides making her feel rather squeamish, those overgrown were an active veil to her vision, and having to exert more power to pierce those layers was always a bother, especially when done in a place where the access to the sunray was limited.

After treading through the moss-layered floor that felt like cheap, soggy carpet, Jazdia climbed another set of stairs and reached the door. It was opened but blocked by the overgrown. In sheer frustration, she unsheathed her long knife, channeled magic until the blade was glowing hot, and slashed the moss, vines, and all.

She was half expecting an ambush but found that the welcome was rather lukewarm. Carefully her eyes spied the coast. She saw the spectral doctor Solomon near another room, smaller than the floors below with myriads of magical emitters installed between it and another internal room in which the prince could be seen sitting and reading without a care in the storming world around his small cubicles.

The wizard was up there...

Was he really that snob he thought of himself as ascended being or something?

The elf grabbed her arrow in a batch of six and took her time to enchant them with the explosive spell that would automatically explode after reaching a certain distance. A bit more expensive than usual, but look where she was now! The sun was shining directly above her head making the cost almost negligible.

When the wizard finished his summoning, Jazdia had already finished her arsenal. The first one nocked and the bow was drawn in full, it whistled in the air before blasting its target with fire and crystalized shrapnel.

She betted the wizard never heard about surface-to-air missiles before.