Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros had to jump back from the ground he gained in order to avoid an overhead strike from the next skeleton's axe. It followed him back, taking a backhanded swing at Fendros' right. This one Fendros blocked with his shield before bringing his mace up and around for a strike at the skeleton's right shoulder. The blow connected and the bones detached from one another, spinning as they fell into a heap.

While Lorag remained the big and threatening target, Sabine found an opportunity to duck and make herself scarce. Whether Lorag knew or not didn't matter, but there was an out of place clattering of bones just outside of his field of vision to the right. A mace lightly hit his leg on its way from falling from the skeleton's grasp. Sabine stood over the pile of bones have just saved Lorag's shoulder from being dislocated by an oncoming blow.

The final skeleton had the gall to try and dodge Janius' swings, but didn't quite have the agility to avoid Janius stepping forward so far that he was virtually leaping while swinging his mace upward. The mace made contact on the underside of the skeleton's ribcage, which caused a spectacular sight as some bones were hit up into the air while the rest fell to the ground.

As quickly as they appeared, the sentinels were dispatched. After a moment, the illusions disappeared, howling wind and all, to reveal some lights from the crumbling battlements of the fortress walls. Robed figures could be seen against the blue of the night sky with spells in their hands. Occasionally they had the gaunt sentinels beside them, armed with bows and quivers of arrows over their shoulders. The shapes of several more sentinels could be seen between the walls and the pack, but they had been ordered to keep their distance by the looks. The witches were now going to bring their own power to bear. Bolts of white and red flew through across the air towards the pack, the white ones expanding into large spheres of swirling cold air, and the red ones exploding on impact with the ground, lighting up the entire area. The pack had to scramble for cover, which in most cases were trunks of mushroom trees, but Sabine had to settle for a large rock to duck behind. It seemed as if the low light was making their shots less accurate at first, but with the witches likely having access to night eye effects, it wouldn't be hard for the pack to be spotted. Between the spell impacts, Janius popped out of cover to throw fireballs of his own to try and suppress the witches in some capacity. Needless to say, the pack needed to move.

After a short while, Ahnasha and Ariel entered the storeroom tower. There were still magelights hovering just below the ceiling of the first floor. They lit the crates and barrels that Ariel had seen the last time in a bright blue light. Some of the crates were open, however, and some gaps where the gas flasks were packed in suggested that some had been taken. A good thing that the pack could currently resist its effects. Double checking with detect life and detect dead spells that the room and the space upstairs was clear, Ariel began to take some of the fire salt flasks from her bag and handed a couple to Ahnasha. "Take these and put them next to walls, far apart. I'll take this side of the room." Ariel whispered.

Final Fantasy: Awakened Souls

So, can I assume that I got a halberd to use, or will I have to settle for a sword or a gun?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Spotting Ahnasha's intentions, Ariel looked ahead for a moment, then went back and hefted the grate back into position. Last time, Meesei was able to somewhat weld the grate. They didn't have time to do the job as thoroughly, and they needed to make sure it wouldn't take them too long to escape through the same way. In light of this, Ariel attempted the same trick as Meesei did, charging destruction magic to heat the grate until it was white hot and started to flow just a little bit. She made two joins only, so it wouldn't take too long to detach them if needed. They left the grate in its original position with two glowing red spots that Ariel hoped would not be noticed before they cooled completely.

Now they were inside the grounds, there were a couple of groups of sentinels running over to the gate with long and clumsy strides. At the gate, there were the shapes of a couple of witches in a quite alert state supervising the skeletons. The gate was opened and the sentinels proceeded out before the gate closed again and the witches disappeared inside one of the towers next to the gate. Either the pack had stepped on a rune or they had engaged a patrol. A small explosive popping sound from somewhere over the wall confirmed that they had raised the alarm.

Because it was dark and there didn't appear to be anyone in the courtyard nearby after a life and death detecting spell, Ariel quickly made her way to the tower with the first objective. A life detect spell revealed that there were some witches behind the tower walls already. Turning to Ahnasha, Ariel pointed to a dark corner where the tower and the main wall met. Once they had made their way there and hid behind a small bush, Ariel shared her thoughts. "There are some witches in the laboratory still. We'll need to wait until they come out to defend." She whispered.

Outside of the fortress, the response to the pack's incursion came fast and loud. All around them, a howling wind started to pick up, getting louder and louder. With it came whispers of unintelligible words. As they proceeded, the wind started to deliver shrieks off terror from every direction. Streaks of light swirled around them, then formed into the shape of great disfigured undead giants between them and the fort. The giants leaned forward and roared like otherworldly beasts, causing the wind to have a dank smell of sewerage and death. It was just as Ariel had said, fantastic and terrifying illusions to scare intruders off. Janius and Fendros' hearts raced and they stood at the ready, but they knew they were harmless and incorporeal. Sabine seemed calm all things considered, this wasn't what was worrying her.

While the illusions stayed menacing, eleven skeletal silhouettes started to appear through them. These were real. All were armed with a shield and a either a sword, axe or mace. Their pace was slow, bordering on shuffling. The pack stood their ground. Once it was abundantly clear that the intruders weren't going to run, the sentinels raised their weapons and broke into a charge. The leading three went straight for Meesei, who was ahead of the group, while the others wrapped around. Two went each remaining pack member. The space they had very quickly shrank as they were surrounded, but they only had to land a single hit on each of them.

Confident, Janius leaped forward and struck one of the skeletons, aiming for the head. The sentinel raised its shield to block, but upon contact, its entire structure came apart and it collapsed under the weight of its own block. Fendros acted similarly, swinging at one of his opponents' flanks and causing it to fall apart sideways. Sabine stayed nearby Lorag, ready to strike. She just needed Lorag to distract them enough so she could get around them and deal with them. The sentinels didn't seem smart enough to adapt to the threat of the pack's weapons. This was going to be quick.

Final Fantasy: Awakened Souls

I wish we had renaissance fairs in Australia, they look cool :(

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As instructed, they all downed the resisting potions. Fendros was glad that he made quick work of it; it tasted like clay and lingered in the mouth. Its effect was subtle, but he could feel it. A sort of inflamed feeling in the very centre of his skull. It wasn't bothersome, but it was slightly uncomfortable.

Instead of a resisting potion, Ariel took another night-eye potion as she had done when they were scouting. "Right, follow me." Before she started moving, Ariel reiterated the movements of their plan, "Once we're past the grate, we'll head to the second tower on the right, set it to be destroyed, then the one after that. If we haven't found her already, we'll try and deal with Lilia before escaping through the grate the same way and waiting at the meeting point." Ariel gestured to the potions that Ahnasha carried, "Don't hesitate to hide yourself, and if you can help it, avoid the witches altogether. Some of them are capable of life detection spells that will see through invisibility." With that, Ariel started over the rise, inspecting for any patrols before casting a muffle spell on herself and moving.

"Ahna," Fendros brought his hand up and caught Ahnasha by the arm at the last moment. He looked at her for a moment, before smiling and letting her go. "Good luck," he said.

The approach to the grate went similarly to the scouting run, except this time when they reached the wall, they had to press up against it and become silent for several moments. Something holding a torch was up on the wall. Whether it was a witch or a sentinel, they couldn't know. Eventually it walked away. Its presence was concerning for Ariel. Had they increased the number of sentinels on patrol? They might have, if they found out that they had been infiltrated. If that was the case, the witches might be on the lookout for interlopers.

They hugged the wall until they reached the culvert. The grate was still crudely welded in place from when Meesei last repaired it. Good, it would only have been a matter of time before the coven noticed something wrong with it. That meant that this route was probably still clear. Ariel turned to Ahansha, charging a red disintegration spell in her hands. "Keep an eye out," she whispered, turning and setting to work on the metal. Without Meesei halving the work for her, it would take a little while longer to displace the grate, so she kept her eyes looking through the grate for any wanderers while Ahansha watched in the other direction.

Final Fantasy: Awakened Souls

CrimsonWarrior55 said
NOOO!!! FUCK NO!!! I can't handle leadership!

Says the guy who agreed to be the mentor for one or possibly two of the player characters from the get go >_>

I kid, I kid.

Also... *Diverts dog stare towards BlazeGamma*

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Similarly to the rest of the pack, Fendros, Janius and Sabine all wore equipment and clothing scavenged from the hunters. Fendros and Janius both managed to find shields for themselves as well as their enchanted maces, but the only other armour they wore was a helmet that Janius had found. Not much of what the hunters had was fitted to their size, and most of what was had some sort of silver feature. While Janius would have preferred to have more armour on, he made do with what he had. In a small pouch that he was not too attached to, Janius carried a health potion and a magicka potion. Being one of the spellcasters in the group, he figured that he would have to do his part in suppressing the spells coming down from the walls while they made their approach. Fendros carried a health potion for himself, but knew that he probably wouldn't be using any more before scaling the wall. Sabine carried with her a hammer that she could use in one hand. She didn't quite have the time for training with a mace like the others did, but she could still be quick and assist her packmates with stealthy strikes. With the enchantment upon the hammer, it should only take a single hit to take down a sentinel. To help, she carried along one of her sister's invisibility potions.

Ariel made sure to hand out a suppression gas resisting potion to everyone in the pack before they set out. As for her own equipment, she brought along the potions that would help her spellcasting, two of her invisibility potions in the event that her own illusion magic failed, as well as three of each the magicka potions and the healing potions. The only thing that could be described as a physical weapon on Ariel's person was her dagger, but she intended to make use of her magic if it came to fighting.

With no protest from the group, they left the hunters' cave and set out for the coven. Janius held his mace over his shoulder and gave off a distinct air of confidence as they proceeded, while Fendros held himself a little more cautiously, even after spending the day refining their mace techniques. Ariel had a sort of tense excitement about her, though she couldn't tell whether it was because she was scared or not. Sabine hid her emotions as she normally did, except for any keen eyes noticing her clenching her jaw every now and then. Her most common nightmares were set in the coven, anyone in her position would hope that they would not come true tonight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Hmm. So unless intended to have a quick spar between Lorag and one of my characters, we may or may not want to just narrate the rest of the sparring session as a sort-of timeskip soon enough. I'm not sure how many little stouches I can write between Janius and Fendros before it starts to get bland.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ariel curled her lips in thought, looking down and to the side for a moment while considering. "I could do that. It would be more difficult to handle, and it might take a while, but it's possible." Ariel looked at Meesei properly with her confident explanation face on, "The effect is such that getting a more concentrated liquid would provide diminishing returns. It's difficult enough to get it down to the volume that I have it now. But!" -Ariel raised her index finger- "What I can do is make into sort of..." Ariel spun her hands, trying to find the word, "... a vapour. Except, not quite like you'd think. More similar to the transforming gas that we'll be destroying. It would be much smaller though," Ariel held her hand up with her finger and her thumb holding an imaginary small object, "It could fit into a smaller vial, one could wear around your neck with a cord. The downside, of course, would be that you would have to breath in the whole thing at once. You can't open the vial without the gas escaping. So, for example, you won't be able to drink half of it for a partial effect. I shouldn't think that'll be too much of a problem in this case though. With Sabine helping me, it should take a few of hours I think."

---

"Okay," Fendros said, dipping his head in understanding. He hadn't thought of that. Grabbing his mace again, he lowered for the next bout.

Their clash started with Janius baiting Fendros to swing by holding a lower guard. Fendros hated when he did this, but he knew their wasn't much he could do but try and spring the trap before he was caught in it. With a sword, this wouldn't be difficult, but he was holding a mace. Momentum was the name of the game here. As if he was reading Fendros' annoyance in his hesitation, Janius pulled a smirk. Perhaps if I... Fendros attempted a swing at Janius' right, but didn't step up so far as to be able to hit him cleanly. Fendros didn't try to redirect his swing like he would if he was trying to get past Janius' trap, so Janius brought his shield sweeping up to cleanly deflect the blow upwards and retaliate. With the extra distance that Fendros had given himself, he was able to pull back his stomach and hop back to dodge the swinging mace. Janius seemed to inadvertantly give Fendros a slice of extra time as he followed up by circling his mace around to swing down on Fendros' left shoulder. Fendros was surprised that Janius would try such a forewarned move against him, especially with how much of Fendros' more agile fighting style he should have been familiar with. Nevertheless Fendros didn't pass up the opportunity to exploit his mistake. He ducked and weaved to the left, bringing his mace back with him. Then he swung into the side of Janius' back, slowing down the force put into his weapon at the last moment as they were wont to do in a sparring match. The mace collided with the armour with a clank and even the slowed blow was enough to make Janius stumble in surprise.

Regaining his balance, Janius looked over to Fendros. "You and your bloody slippery moves," he said, speaking in a tone that mixed laughter and frustration, showing their sense of friendly competition as they did, "Be fair and wear some armour like I am!"

Fendros laughed in return. "Come now, I saw that swing coming a mile away."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Work again, as well as this time tomorrow. This week has been so busy -_-