Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As Arinette's sword slowed to a stop, Sabine's neck felt warm and choked. She dabbed at her collar and brought her fingers before her, finding no blood. It had just been her imagination. Though, Arinette's next spell, a surprise to Sabine considering her state, was readily apparent.

Sabine tried to leap away, too late. A vine coiled around her ankle dug in its thorns. She cried out through her teeth. Having seen the spell a number of times already, however, she did not panic. She used what came to mind to deal with both problems at once as best as she could. She brought a ward up close to herself with her left hand, and in her right hand she used the Staff of Magnus to charge a bright flickering spell at its end. She lowered the spell onto Arinette's elbow where the gem hand connected to her ghostly body, closed her eyes, and blasted the area apart with an explosion of magical fire.

She fell to her knees in pain.

The corpses rising to join the battle made Fendros flinch with his sword when he saw them. In a moment, the terror of sensing Daedra behind him as if he was the last in their pack standing was replaced with unusual optimism when he sensed the undeath in the pits of their eyes. With a grin, he shrank his ward to allow them to charge in. Not a moment too soon, too. He would need to take a potion to cast such a ward again.

Janius' reaction was not as restrained. He reflexively struck down a reanimated Skaafin with his off hand before he realised what was going on. Fendros' next order made it perfectly clear.

"Let's push forward!" Fendros raised his dragonbone sword as he caught up with Ahnasha and the others. "By Hircine, our hunt goes on!"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius edged back and swung his axe hand in the air in an effort to make his two main assailants hesitate. A few spearheads clacked and cracked in the wake of it. He wanted to bite them all in two. He could not stop everyone, though, and he instead thrust at the dremora's chin to deflect its incoming mouth rather than open himself up by striking it more decisively. He braced for a hammerblow and instead heard it land on Kaleeth's armour.

"We...won't die here!" Janius roared. He impatiently ducked around the dremora to direct himself away from the pikes trying to hold him back, before leaping axe-first into the side of the dremora's maw. The dremora tried to snap shut on Janius' arm by quickly found its left jaw muscles cut through and running with blood. Janius then took the beard of his axe-hand and plunged it into the dremora's back like a pick axe. But he could only do so once before a spear was thrust under his arm. Let out a short, pained roar and grabbed the spear shaft, wrenching it out of the hands of the grinning skaafin that landed the thrust. Janius felt hot blood pouring down his arm already. He grit his teeth and pulled the barbed end of it with a dizzying wave of pain.

"We're past buying, Ahna," Fendros responded, turning around with his sword and ward spell at the ready. "But we'll steal some for you."

Janius and Kaleeth fought one way, Sabine's pack another, Meesei held the other way, and Lorag and Leaps were doing their best to contain what was left. Fendros could not help any one side without leaving another unaided. But, drinking down a couple of potions of his own, he could not do much sitting where he was.

He stepped up beside Meesei as she flung out spell after spell. "Meesei!" Fendros said. "Allow me!" He spread out his ward wide and brought a pulse through it that made it brighten nearly to the point of losing its transparency. "The pack needs help!" He shouted, and he paced forward. He could not go too fast or else risk the stability of his ward. Spears formed up and closed in. Fendros' ward brightened further. The points met the surface of the ward and made the shape of it divot against each spear, but it did not let them through. With nowhere to go but up and spells and arrows not faring any better, the spears left the Skaafin with no means of offence. Fendros drew back his sword, pointed it at a Skaafin sergeant dubious with Fendros' attempt at a stalemate, and thrust it through his ward. The dragonbone tore under the daedra's gorget and into its neck. It collapsed. Fendros picked another target.

The Skaafin were not so dull as to stay where they were, of course. They pulled away, out of range, and Fendros was forced to stay where he was or else be enveloped. He was not sure how long he could hold this fortified ward of his, but if there was any advantage to being born under the atronach, it was the time he could steal in situations such as these.

Sabine was no longer in control in that moment. She had a split second to do something. A clever trick was no longer possible in her mind. She brought the Staff of Magnus forward in both hands, fell into a fighting stance, twitched, and channelled magicka. A staff had a little more range than a sword, some memory of Lorag told her.

"Arinette! We are here to free everyone!" Sabine pleaded.

She sprung forward as soon as Arinette was in measure. A strong frost spell was ready to cast at the tip of her staff. A spell the likes of which would cause immediate thermal shock in a regular person. But she needed to touch it to Arinette for it to work. It might take a few attempts. There was no telling whether it would even have any effect.

Halo: Aegis Team

Yalu 'Suumko

Good, clear from above, Yalu thought towards the dead brute that tumbled off the walkway above him. That was one way to signal that the high ground was taken.

Yalu reloaded his carbine. He was at his second-to-last magazine now. Unfortunately, just as his shields found a moment to hum back to full strength, the telltale stomps of the brute chieftain heralded the charge against Rex.

The spartan was struck deep into the chest. Yalu was in no position to do anything about it. He fell into hesitation, even as the invincibility module faded away. If it weren't for the ONI agents keeping the enemies suppressed, their flank might have been completely done in.

But he shook it off. He filled his lungs and charged. "Rrrraaaaaaah!" Yalu's warcry steeled his nerves as much as it was meant to catch the chieftain's attention. Any one ally would be in danger brawling against a brute with a hammer, but two against one tipped the scales. He fired scattered carbine rounds against the chieftain's shield on the way in. He feigned suicidal rage. However, he kept his footwork ready to void aside or back from a hammer swing in retribution. He did not intend to fight like a mad animal.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"I know!" Fendros responded to Ahnasha, frustrated and showing just a hint of fear. He pulled out his dragonbone sword and let his mind embrace their options. Whatever they needed to do, Fendros could not do it alone. "Ahna, can you use the dead Daedra here?"

Janius leapt for the right flank in a rage, striking aside weapons and foes alike with both hands. It was a wonder he still had the energy to fight so ferociously.

Meanwhile, Sabine let her ward restrengthen as Arinette fell into a charge. Sabine had the power this time, not the other way around, but she was still scared. There were no openings with such power as in that crystal. She didn't know what to do...

...But Fendros did. "Sabine! Ice the ground!"

It was an odd trick to use here, but she knew by instinct to do it. She brought the Staff of Magnus low above the trampled grass by her feet. With a quick focus of her preferred destruction magic, she planted the staff on the ground. A crackling wave of white rime frost exploded out across their part of the battlefield, carefully zoned with an unaffected area behind her. This gave the pack the solid ground that the enemy now very studdenly lacked -- short of those with clawed feet of course.

She followed up, too. With another strike at the ground, this time angled slightly towards Arinette, Sabine conjured spear-like icicles up from the dirt, angled at Arinette's oncoming chest as she slid unstoppably along the ice in her charge.

"Rhajul, Tarna! Now!" Sabine trusted one of her packmates to finish Arinette off when she arrived.

Halo: Aegis Team

Yalu 'Suumko

Yalu barely had time to line up his covering fire to pull back by the time the trap was sprung. That left no time to hate being right in this instance. He slammed his back against the crates behind him before more than one spiker round could clip his shield. Around the crates before him, two more brutes were bearing down with an assault he could not avoid.

Yalu sneered and let his plasma rifle fire fully automatic into the forward brute. The enemy's shield burst, but he was smart enough to fold back behind some crates while the next brute, freshly shielded, kept on running. Yalu kept the trigger depressed, roaring as the quickly heating weapon reached its safety point. Then, as the forward brute thrust his spiker rifle forward at his gut, Yalu spun to one side, felt the vents on his rifle open, and threw the momentum of the spin into shoving his overheated rifle into the side of the brute's face. The burning heat made the brute scream in rage, but his panicked response of striking Yalu's arm aside only made Yalu's energy dagger hook faster into its throat.

Yalu's plasma rifle clattered to the floor from where it had flown out of his hand. His shock kept whatever pain was welling up in his forearm into a dull ache as he shook it in the air.

The rest of the team's communications caught up with him. "Falling back," He said over the comms. He took the spiker rifle out of the slowly collapsing brute's hand on his way back. With his other hand, he pulled out his plasma carbine. A few one-handed shots from both weapons down the range kept the shieldless brute in cover for long enough to back closer to Aviza and 'Mdalak.

He spoke as soon as he could see Tar along the same row. "You will earn your magazines from the enemy, 'Mdalak! Here!" He slid the spiker rifle across the smooth metallic floor towards her like a ringing bowling ball. "One dead on the right flank, at least one more remains. I can't advance until the stalkers above the walkway's right are slain."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine cried out to Lorag when he was struck. She could not hear her own voice over the arcing magic battering Do'rhajul's shield in front of them.

They were pinned in place. They could not afford to remain here. With no other direct orders, Fendros took the initiative and brought up his own ward, casting it broad enough to cover Leaps-On-Elves' front. No one had time to ask what he was doing before he kicked Leaps forward, jumping them out towards where Lorag lay. But just as Fendros braced himself to hold against the collateral power of Arinette's lightning, he found no resistance at all. Instead, in front of his ward, was Sabine. She was braced with her staff held forward, warding what was soon likely to be the full force of Arinette's spell.

She shouted something back at Fendros. He could barely make out any words, but he knew what to do.

"Leaps!" Fendros shouted. "Get Lorag back!"

Leaps was already in the process of biting Lorag's forearm and dragging him back to the pack. The others could heal him.

Fendros ripped an arrow from his quiver, loosed it at Arinette, and saw it obliterated in mid air by the lightning spell. He cursed.

Sabine screamed out. "Why!?! WHY YOU!?!"

They needed a plan, and quickly. Janius was distracted, watching their rear for Daedra running around to flank them, Sabine was not in any position to act beyond defending herself. Fendros cursed again and dismounted to help drag Lorag's enormous armoured form to safety while he tried to think of their rapidly diminishing opportunities.

Meanwhile, Sabine's words crept into Fendros' mind. "Surely not..." he thought out loud.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Been busy with holiday stuff. I'll get a post in the next couple of days.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine raised her ward and had to squint her eyes. The intensity of the lighting cast out to the sky was enough to make her forget that she was covered by Do'rhajul's shield, even if she had been the target.

The downward flight of the Daedric titan, however, slowed everything down. She had seen the stream of powerful lightning that the titan had shrugged off at the start of the battle near their oblivion gate. To think a spell from the spirit's crystal could have brought it down in one hit gave her a chill that shuddered her neck and shoulders. The titan landed and, for a moment, the battle was consumed by the noise of its impact. The ground shook as if struck by so many felled trees.

Fendros and Janius were just as speechless. No commands or cries interrupted the ghost's enraged demand.

Sabine felt her knees shake. She would have collapsed had she not had her staff to lean on. She tapped its magical power for the reassurance she needed, before calling out in a high voice. "Do'rhajul! Do not lower your shield!" Her voice breaking at intervals belied her determination. "Everyone else make space! Stay out of the way!"

With her staff pointing ahead and her feet planted firmly in the ground, Sabine drew up a ward and, in her other hand, cast an ice storm spell around Do'rhajul at the ghost by some way of disrupting her next move. Sabine knew she could not defend against everything the ghostly mage had, but Do'rhajul's shield and the power in the staff could at least buy time to find a technique to bring the ghost down.

Fendros, on the other hand, was looking at the problem with the rest of the pack's capabilities in mind. Namely, he called out to Meesei. "Alpha, what is that thing in her arm and how do we stop it!?"

Halo: Aegis Team

Yalu 'Suumko

"They're giving ground already?" Yalu asked himself. "That chieftain was clear, but..." His eyes dilated in realisation. Shortly before Tar was fired upon by the human with the assault weapon, Yalu was already loping into a broad sprint down the right flank, sliding to a stop facing to one side. The human gunner flowed into his sights and five plasma rounds shot towards his centre.

"'Mdalak! Right side clear!" He hesitated, not yet seeing any sign of a jammer, let alone any extra movement on his motion sensor yet. "This feels like a lure!" He added over a growl.

Yalu kept his wits, trying to listen and feel more than see. Brutes liked activate camouflage in packs, and this valley between the walkways was perfect for their prey.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As if the shriek of pain and the crimson lightning did not attract enough attention, Fendros was already on the lookout between hewing at the Skaafin that tried to stop Leaps. He spotted the Breton ghost from his elevated position on the wamasu and was shocked at the sight.

"The ghost!" He shouted, pointing it out. "Ward yourselves!"

Sabine leaned around Do'rhajul to spot the spirit through the enemies between them. She tried to look closely at the face in case it was the one she hoped she would not be. The woman who captured her with Do'rhajul so long ago and had plunged her mind back into her old suffering self for a time. Sabine's grip on the Staff of Magnus tightened.

Janius' beast spirit gave him hubris. "Just let her try to stop us! She was defeated before!" He picked up his pace to fight his way towards the ghostly mage.