Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 22: The Hunt

[Script]

Luc Altair

"What?" Luc voiced as he continued. What could that charge be? Though it explained why he didn't come until it was nearly too late. But, it didn't matter now. "I have asked and you have refused. What happens now is by your own choices." Luc kicked Thunder into his maximum speed and overtook the monk in short time. Luc reached out, grabbed the collar of the monk's clothes, and dragged him off his horse. The material would rip, and the monk would likely be injured from the fall, but not enough to kill him.

[Balcerzak]

Why hadn't they taken her armor off yet? Tessa vaguely registered, as the dizziness cleared for a moment, and the picture had once again spun into view. Bringing her hand back down from her ear, now covered in enough of Althea's blood that it would be impossible for anyone to notice her own fresh blood trickling down from it, she set about removing Aiya's breastplate. The recent practice this morning on Conrad's similar armor was still in her muscle memory, and it only took a very short frame of time before she had loosed it and discarded it to the side.

It was apparent that the wyvern rider was badly burned from the heat, so more healing was required. Leaning forward again, she mechanically performed the steps, her prayer hollow and impersonal. Would the goddess even hear it and grant it? Apparently so, as Aiya's condition improved, but another piercing pain assaulted Tessa's ear, and reaching again for it she noticed Irina reacting as well.

Irina. She suddenly remembered. Kamilla's body tossed like a ragdoll from her lance.

Reaching for her sword―her fingers passed through air. Wait it isn't here? Did I lose it? Sis will be furious... Changing to the only weapons she had left, her fists, Tessa let out a scream and jumped at the other woman. "IRINA! WHAT DID KAMILLA EVER DO TO DESERVE THAT!"

[Mercakete]

Suddenly, the material around Raemond's neck tightened and he was on the ground instead of in Lantos' saddle. (Not good!) Quickly standing, Raemond whistled for his horse's return before readying his shine tome, facing the cavelier. (I don't have much of a choice at this point... At least we're far enough away that this is one-on-one...)

Stats: HP: 3, Str: 1, Mag: 3, Skl: 4, Spd: 3, Luck: 3, Def: 1, Res: 5

Simplified stats: HP 9, Mt 3, Hit 4, Evd 4, Def/Res 1/6

Skills: Overcast

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tas grimaced. "I wish I could help, but I only know some basics of treating wyverns. We could carry it over to...wherever there are healers, though," he replied, mentally kicking himself for being so inarticulate. (That hardly instilled confidance, I'm sure...)

Edited December 6, 2010 by Mercakete

[Script]

Luc Altair

"I beseech you to stand down, I'll not kill you either way but I'd rather not make a more difficult job for our own healers. Your own faction could still have some survivors," Luc told the monk.

Stats: HP: 5 STR: 5 MAG: 0 SKL: 5 SPD: 5 Luck: 0 Def: 4 Res: 4

Simplified stats: HP: 15 STR: 5 Hit: 5 Evade: 5 DEF/RES: 5/5

Skills: Adept, Resolve, Stat Shift

(I'll let Luc start at 9 HP to be slightly fair.)

Edited December 6, 2010 by Script

[Phoenix]

Irina

Irina continued to watch not sure exactly how well Tessa was doing in her healing. Aiya was still motionless. She tightly closed her eyes for a moment hoping that by the time she opened them again Aiya would at least be moving ... and that lifeless stare, it had quickly burned itself into Irina's mind. She couldn't stand such a sight.

Suddenly Tessa violently lashed out at her causing the wyvern rider to fall back a little!

Irina: WHOA!!! Relax! Don't you know that she's the one that brought the enemies here?! We nearly lost our lives because she wouldn't stop threatening us. The fact that she got away only makes it worse. I wasn't trying to kill her ...

Irina looked down at the ground a bit, both sad and a bit angry at the whole situation.

Irina: There's just no dealing with people sometimes. (I guess Morgan's right about that at least. Not that I really want to kill her though. But now she'll just bring a bigger force next time.)

Viveka

Viveka: Right, Sunny doesn't like vulneraries so I mix grapes into them. (I have no idea why she likes grapes, she was allergic to them but kept eating them until she built up an immunity. Crazy pegasus.) There should be a couple of them left in the packs, and Derek you take one too. Please.

Levski

Lev flinched when he saw Niket nipping at Morgan, but the shamaness was faster than him quickly chucking the infant wyvern right over his head!

Lev: FUUUUUUUCK!!!

He called out diving for the young wyvern and barely managing to catch him before landing flat on the ground.

[Inactive Account]

"Nnn..." A while after Charlotte had moved away, Kelas slowly, painfully regained consciousness. She took stock of her injuries: bad slashes to the shoulder, now healed, and a stab in the chest, also healed. It occurred to her, in the sort of wounded logic that had no reasonable sense of priorities, that she really needed more tunics, she kept getting holes in them.

Satisfied that she wasn't bleeding and didn't have any broken bones or lingering internal injuries, she pushed herself painfully into a sitting position and looked around. Arrin was down-- she was on her feet immediately, then kneeling next to him, checking for injuries. He'd already been healed, it appeared, and his pulse and breathing were steady. She collected him into a hug for a moment, mentally kicking herself for failing yet again, then backed off to let him rest. In a little bit, she'd be able to pick him up and move him to the carriage, she hoped.

Her next target was Amari; she found the mare standing right next to her, looking to be in a high temper. Kelas sighed and gave the mare a pat on the neck; the attempt to be careful had not gone so well. With a start she noticed that Francis had appeared beside Amari, riderless. "What-- dammit, where did he--" she muttered, and looked around. Eventually she spotted Isotov slumped against Kiev, obviously injured. Slowly she made her way over, plunking herself down next to him. "You idiot," she began quietly, realizing quickly that she didn't have quite enough energy for a proper rant. "Why'd you come back and get yourself hurt? We had it sorted," she lied. "And... yer glowin' again. What the hell."

[-Cynthia-]

"Oh, that's...unusual. Probably some interesting stories, but we have more pressing matters to attend to right now, I think." Tristan said, rooting around in Viveka's pack for vulneraries and handing one to Derek. He then fed Susann, who eagerly gobbled it up, the sword wounds being visibly restored.

"Perhaps I should have chased them down." Tristan sighed. "I just...couldn't bring myself to do it, she looked so helpless, limping away. But you're probably right, they're going to bring more after us again."

Morgan felt a swooping motion beneath her, followed by a sudden jarring stop Well, someone lifted me off the ground at least. She opened her eyes and saw Lev flat on his stomach in front of her, holding a baby wyvern. "Status report." she said to Lev, her tone somewhere in between a demand and a request.

Edited December 6, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Balcerzak]

"You weren't trying to kill her, huh? Just impale her mercilessly. At least Tas was lucky you hit him with a training lancehead. And Kamilla brought them? Maybe so, or maybe they brought her. We're dead in the middle of Septimus, reform heartland and are never exactly subtle. Did you see how she was acting, hear her uncertainty? She didn't want any of this either. Neither did that... commander. Not really. You know what? She smiled at me. She wished us well. She told me to save the world. What does that sound like to you? What have we done? What have I done!?"

The whole time, Tessa was yelling at Irina, not bothering to control the volume of her voice, and pounding her fists against the other woman, harmlessly bouncing them off the rider's tough armor, but never stopping.

OOC: I'd have typed the rant in all caps, but that gets hard to read fast, and I'm lazy.

[Mercakete]

Niket was at first startled but then overjoyed: He was flying! He was finally flying! Oh how good the air felt! ...Until the large human unterrupted his flight. Sputtering in fury at the large human, using his small legs, Niket hopped up to Lev's face and crunched his jaws onto the bridge of Lev's nose, attempting to tear off the flesh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I don't think I would have, either," Tas encouraged the prince, "I hadn't seen it, but if someone was limping away, I don't think I could kill them."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"As could yours," Raemond replied, "And I'll not have you waylaying me, though I will likewise not kill you."

That said, Raemond unleashed his attack, having been calculating where his weakest point would be to the burst of magic. (I wonder id he's ever fought a monk before?)

Overcast not active

(4+4)-5 = 3 = hit! (3+6)-4 = 5 Critical! = 10 damage

Luc 0/9

Raemond 9/9

The attack hit its mark: between the cavelier's shoulderblades. Riding would be painful but the blow was not lethal. That was when Lantos slowed to a stop beside his rider. Mounding up, Raemond spoke to the cavelier, "Now return to your allies and trouble me no longer. I have a demon to rid the land of."

With a command from his rider, Lantos was galloping away towards Altenau and was thankful that Raemond was not asking such high speeds from him as he had only recently done.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Mercakete

[Script]

Luc Altair

Luc let out a gasp of pain as the attack hit him. Dammit he had underestimated the monk. If he didn't get this treated... He kicked Thunder around and the two charged back to the others. The monk wouldn't be able to catch him, Luc knew that for sure, and the wound wasn't immediately fatal.

[Phoenix]

Isotov Irina and Kiev

Iso smiled being just happy to see that Kelas was alright, and trying to scold him.

Iso: You're right, I am an idiot. Irina even told me to my face. "Idiot". I guess I'd rather be an idiot than a person with his back to the enemy ... and his friends ... and family.

And yes, he was glowing, yet again.

Iso: I am? Well ... I don't think it's anything bad really. When I used to lose control or anything like that, it felt ... precise, hard to explain but it's not a feeling you ever forget. This feels different to say the least. I should probably see a healer soon thou-

Tessa's yelling caught Iso's ears easily. He didn't know the context, but it was already bothering him that Irina was her target. What was going on, now? What on earth could have possibly upset Tessa of all people?

Irina: I wasn't trying to impale her, Tessa. I kept Kiev at just the right height so that only he would collide with her. I-if I wanted to run her through, at that speed I could have done it and she'd be dead right now. Instead, she got away ... and next time, we're probably going to lose people since I'm sure the reformists aren't stupid. (I don't know how many of them it would take to kill us, but after a massacre like this, I think I know how many they'd use if they REALLY want the weapons gone.)

Tessa asked her a question that she asked herself sometimes. "What had they done?". Not much more than hunting demons it seemed, and not very well at that. It was best to ignore the negatives since those would just make it seem worse than it needed to.

Irina: I want to do what I can ... save the world? Sure, but if all I can really do here is protect my brother and friends, then I'll do that instead. Kamilla was as big a threat as the rest of them. That woman wanted to kill my brother just because he's a wielder. She wanted to kill Arrin and Morgan and ... all the other wielders too. If I have to choose between Kamilla and the reformists and my brother I'm going to choose him no matter what. So ... fine. Be mad at me if you want, but letting her escape means it's only going to get worse for us.

Viveka and Susann

Feeling much better, Susann began to move her head around trying to get a sense of her surroundings. Now that her pain was fading she could remember to panic about other things. Like Viveka? Her human was selfish and unfair but she still cared for her. Was she alright? Well she seemed to be alright. So many males tending to her. Susann was hardly jealous though. She had the magnificent one tending to her, that was all she needed. Things beware.

Viveka: After Irina decked her I was going to move in and capture her but that swordsman blindsided me. I couldn't get out of the way. It's probably best none of us caught up to her, or that swordsman would have let loose a flurry of attacks.

Levski and Krinkov

Lev: Iack! ... urrrrrgh.

With the hatchling secured to his nose, Levski hauled himself up holding the rest of the wyvern up in his hands. He walked back over to Morgan.

Lev: Their leader is dead. All of the cavaliers are dead. Neither Irina nor Viveka could apprehend Kamilla before one the man with the blue cape whisked her away. The monk also took off after Tessa killed their leader. Yeah Tessa. Good thing you gave her that sword. She was definitely the right choice there. ... I uh ... I might want to consider not being the baggage handler anymore so much as a straggler hunter. You might also want to invest in some armor padding. Can you hold him for a second? These will just take one moment.

Lev gestured hoping she would hold the hatchling's lower half so he could pry his mouth open freeing his nose. It was already bleeding slightly. Krinkov meanwhile simply chuckled to himself as only a wyvern could. This Morgan was probably infertile, but was certainly amusing trying to knock out his little brother and chuck infants through the air teaching them to fly. His master's attempts to interrupt the hatchling's flight training were also entertaining.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Phoenix

[Ether]

Continuous pulses of healing light lapped away at the damage caused by the magical burst, and the burns began to fade, eventually to a mere annoyance of a stinging sensation.

As Aiya's chest was unarmoured, and the healing light applied directly to it, the weary heart, on the verge of petering out a second time, found the direct healing a blessing, and was able to regain it's usual strength.

Lifeless eyes blinked, reopening with a dull lustre, yet most certainly alive, and a much less shocking sight than earlier.

Aiya was finally able to register the world about her again. The tang of copper in her mouth telling her she had been bleeding from it, the slowly arranging colours of the normal world...

The sounds of shouting? Nearly in her own ear, they were most certainly close.

Her mind wandered back to it's earlier train. It had all seemed an indiscernable jumble at the time, but the image was now crystal clear, and overtook her current surrounding.

"Come my child, it is over now... the pain, the anguish... 'tis all but a figment of the past." The voice was calm and angelic, waking Aiya. She seemed to be laying on the ground... what had happened? She recalled a scorching pain... and then nothing. Looking herself over for injury, she found none... the only thing of note was the fact that her sturdy armour had been replaced with a light gown, composed of what appeared to be silk...

'But silk isn't this soft...'

Finally resting her eyes on the woman who had awoken her with their voice, Aiya couldn't help but gasp. The woman was the epitome of perfection, her form perfect, and her steps resounding with an inhuman grace.

"W-who are you?" Aiya stuttered out uselessly, lifting herself off of the floor, which looked as thought it was made of marble.

"Look into your heart, my child... you will find the answer." That voice again. It was too perfect, too inhuman... no human body could produce a sound like that... one that rung in one's ears like the soothing bells of a grand church...

"You are... the Lady... the Goddess..." Aiya said assuredly, mind drifting into thought.

'But then... there is no avoiding it... if this is the Lady... then... I am... dead?'

The woman smiled, the mere appearance of her face nearly causing Aiya to blush. And then...

A scowl. The angelic face contorted into a form one would not think possible of it, as the angelic woman turned her back harshly, and walked away without a word.

"What...?" Aiya was puzzled... what had just happened-

Everything turned to black.

And so she awoke, returned to the world of the living.

Snapping out of her remembrance, the source of the sound became apparent, as Tessa pounded with all her might on Irina's armoured form.

"Tessa? Irina? What's going on-?" Aiya began to ask what had caused this turn of events, Tessa was not violent... what could Irina have done to evoke such malice from the gentle girl?

A sudden violent cough, spraying what remained of the blood trapped in her mouth and throat over the other two, as Aiya collapsed back to the ground from her near sitting position.

[riariadne]

OOC: Great, I missed another battle due to sleep. >_> This post takes place towards the start and involves Chase failing some more (this time with horses, whoo) and sitting out again because he's an idiot.

Seeing an armed group ahead, Chase was confused. The hell? Oh, look, people that probably wanna try and kill us. Nothing new... He tried to bring Ava to a stop and retrieve his bow while still holding the herbs against his head, but having overloaded himself with tasks his right foot slipped out of its strap. Realizing his mistake, he attempted to correct the error but ended up dropping everything and landing on the ground net to the horse with a dull thud. Groaning, he brushed himself off, picked up his bow and the herbs, mounted Ava again and muttered, "Maybe it's a better idea to not make myself an obstacle like this," and kept close to the carriage, gasping a bit and glaring when he noticed Kamilla but otherwise remained quiet.

--

After the battle finished up, Chase sat still awkwardly for a few moments before deciding he should probably do something to try and be useful. He looked around for a few moments, then noticed something he couldn't identify attacking Lev. Approaching him, he pointed at it and asked rather unhelpfully, "Why's there a... thing trying to tear your face off?"

[Snowy_One]

"Aiya! You're alive!" exclaimed Esphyr, squeezing the hand of the wyvern rider in joy as the blood-splattering cough covered her with Irina's blood. "Don't let up Tessa! Please, don't let up. I'll pay money, I'll do whatever I can for you, just please don't let her die you beautiful woman healer you!"

[Phoenix]

OOC: It's certainly not Irina's blood coming out of Aiya's mouth :/

Also only replying with Levski for now, giving others time to reply.

Levski

Lev: It's called a wyvern, Chase.

Not sure how much more obvious he could be about the matter, Lev waited a moment to see if Morgan would assist him.

[Dark Sage]

"Uhhhhhnn..." Alf groaned as he got up, his eye in pain but mended, clutching it and wincing. He hurt all over and his memories were blank.

Wait. There was something he remembered. The voice and then nothing.

There was blood on his axe.

And surprisingly Alf felt no regrets. In fact, it felt good. Those templars deserved it. They deserved it so much.

"Hah....Reika are you ok?" he said getting up, heading towards her.

"....Fine. You really, ah, went on a rampage out there."

"Yeah...there's another me inside me. I don't regret it at all."

That was odd. Whatever she knew of the man, she knew he was not a violent man. And another him inside him? Was he crazy?

It was possible.

Still, at least he wasn't so soft that he might betray her. And maybe it's just a false alarm.

"Feh. Whatever. You did your job. At least you're good for something."

The two spotted Tessa screaming and hitting Irina over and over, Alf spotting Aiya lying nearby. They both headed to the scene, Alf kneeling by Aiya, taking out a vulnerary and inspected her wounds to see if there was anything there.

"Oh Aiya..."

Meanwhile Reika had caught one sentence from Tessa.

"WHAT DID SHE EVER DO TO YOU!"

Reika was not at all impressed with Irina's response either and she entered in.

"What did she do to her? Probably pointed out her idiocy. Multiple times I might add. Honestly, if you don't know what you've done to deserve everything that's been happening to you so far, you are the biggest retard in the entire world. I'm not even joking," said Reika, the last part to Irina. She recalled how Irina felled Kamilla and this Kamilla girl seemed close to Tessa.

Edited December 6, 2010 by Red Magister

[riariadne]

"A... wyvern?" Chase repeated, dumbfounded. "... It looks kind of unimpressive. Where'd you get it, anyways?"

[Snike]

Status updater

"... It just ended...," Elle said, uncorking another vulnerary to apply to the wind sage's wounds. "... There were two or three that got away, I think, but the rest died... Don't move, just yet..." The sage was pretty focused on her task, odd considering that just hours beforehand, she had tried to kill the group. Not that she noticed.

Take your medicine, dear

Reluctantly, Derek drained the vulnerary, enjoying the faint taste of grapes slightly as his aches eased. After kneeling back down, the man placed he arms under Viveka, and with a small grunt, lifted the pegasus knight, standing up as he did.

"Alright, let's move you to the carriage, and figure out what's wrong with that leg," he said. "Though, that swordsman really did a number on us both. Rent my armor, at least. It's been a while since I've seen someone that fast, aside from him."

[-Cynthia-]

"Not a total failure, but since we let them escape they will undoubtedly be back again." Morgan answered. She groaned a little as she got up, then scooped up the wyvern from Lev. This must have been what was trying to eat me earlier...how unsanitary.

[Phoenix]

Levski

Lev: It's not my wyvern, it's Tas' ... for now.

As Morgan picked up Niket, Lev quickly pried his nose free and wiped the blood from it ignoring the small wound itself.

Lev: Right. I owe you an apology, Morgan. Trying to handle both Kamilla and the demon ambush at the same time was a mistake. If Kamilla shows up again, I'll make sure she's dealt with these time ... permanently.

Viveka

As Derek hoisted Viveka up she flinched slightly at her leg. Moving it even a little hurt.

Viveka: I don't think it's broken, but it hurts way too much to be just soreness. I couldn't possibly walk on it. (Or kick Irina's ass for letting Kamilla escape.)

Irina

Irina shot Reika a very angry glare all of a sudden.

Irina: Stay out of this. It has nothing to do with you. Why don't you go siege a village or something?

Before she could return her attention to Tessa, Aiya woke up. Ready to move closer, she began kneeling down only to stop short as Esphyr took her place there. She sighed and looked over at Isotov and Kelas who were with Kiev. Kiev looked over at her wondering if she was alright. The other females certainly seemed mad at her. Was it because she nearly killed that tall male, or because she had him take down that familiar female? Why would females be mad about another female being taken out of the picture? Kiev concluded that it had to be the male they were mad about. Now he was concerned for his rider's safety.

Edited December 7, 2010 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Niket dug his allons into Morgan's hands and spread his wings, leaping at Lev again. He wasn't finished with this human! That was his first flight and the big human had ruined it. However, his "mighty" roar turined into a a shrill cry of some panic as - rather than swooping bravely at his foe - the young wyvern began to fall towards the ground. This wasn't right! He flew before, why couldn't he now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tas wasn't sure what to say, suddenly feeling quite out-of-place. The man he didn't know was helping Vivika and the hostile pegasus knight's pegasus seemed to be doing much better. Unsure of exactly what to do, Tas asked Tristan, "So, how have things been?" With a bit more sympathy he added, "Have you still been thinking about Burgosas?"

Namid had curled up again to save his nose from the powerful scents in the air. Whatever the sweet smell had been, it was less potent and the smell of horse and human blood was giving him a headache.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beau tried not to think of how those he tended to most carefully watch were doing as he rested in the carrage. (Tessa is likely looking after Arrin. The Toran prince is likely also being watched. That rider probably has people looking after him, too. I needn't provoke my headache into annother fit. I've been overworking myself as it is. Besides, I'm the heir to Bellmire Estate. People should be serving me - not the other way around.) Even as Beau thought that, his headache continued with a growing, dull pain and a grimace began to show in his proud countanace.

(... But... I also have the ability to heal. ... People could die if I am too idle... No. I-- ...) "Oh for the love of Ziatani and Oraisunyou both!" exclaimed the young priest, taking up his heal staff and getting out of the carrage. Grumbling as he began to look around for any who could use his assistance, he placed his hand on his aching head. (Yelling will not bring about any sort of relief at the moment, it seems...)

[Script]

Luc Altair

Luc and Thunder charged back into the group in short order. Along the way, Luc assessed the damage he had taken more thoroughly. From the location of the hit, Luc was clear that the monk hadn't been trying to kill him. It wouldn't have been much of a change to hit Luc's head and kill him. Though Luc certainly didn't want him running, at least the monk wasn't an immediate threat like some others.

Luc looked around for any aid he might immediately receive, but all the healers seemed to be busy with more important matters, and Luc had no intention of placing his lighter burden higher on the scale. Not yet at least.

A Paul

Oh cool, it looked like there was some tension in the group! Oh man, watching allies betray each other was right up there with religious crap. All the more so when you cause it, of course.

[Mercakete]

"You seem to be in pain. What happened?" asked Beau as the rider slowed to a stop near the carrage - or rather a sort of "base of opperations." As he waited for a reply, the young priest healed his won concience by applying his heal staff to the apparently danger-prone horseman.

[Inactive Account]

"You were s'posed to not get hurt," Kelas insisted. "You weren't s'posed to come charging right back, and get half-killed again. I didn't do that just so you could get half-killed again." She paused, looking past the strange glow of magic to assess Isotov's injuries. "And gods dammit, that's exactly what you did," she concluded with a sigh. "You're badly hurt, glowing from I-don't-even-know-how, and you're acting like you're perfectly fine." She looked around for a healer: Tessa was in the middle of an argument, one Kelas would have to join if it weren't for the current situation; Beau was exhausted still; Charlotte was elsewhere. It appeared that there would be a wait. "If you die from this, I'm going to kill you," she grumbled. She was almost able to hide her worry, but then it just displayed as anger anyway...

[Script]

Luc Altair

Though it seemed young Beau wasn't busy, as he walked up to Luc and asked of the cavalier his condition. "Arrogance and chasing down one of the fleeing opponents. He landed a good magic hit to my back." Luc turned to show the boy the damage Luc himself couldn't actually see. "I'd appreciate any aid you could muster, but others likely have more pressing wounds than I."