Mage Hunters

The Eternal Hunger giggled madly as Grey kept slamming his hand into her head. There was no pain, no reaction. She just kept madly trying to drive her remaining fingers into Grey's face. She didn't notice Leith walking up to her, caught up in her mad assault as she was. When Leith threw the flames into her face, she screamed. It was a long, tortured, sound and she stumbled backwards off of Grey only to be thrown into another flaming zombie causing it to fall on her. Her scream shot up to a whole new degree, removing any traces of humanity from the sound, as she thrashed and writhed in a desperate attempt to get the flames away from her. By the time her remaining claw had dismembered the corpse enough to let her get up, still trying to pat out the fire, Grey was already moving. Eternal hunger was hit by an essential freight train. As Eternal hunger hit the ground, various bones snapped. Eternal Hunger kept screaming, more concerned with attempting to beat the flames on her head out by slamming her skull on the ground.

As the guardsman's fingers wrapped around her throat, her screams were turned into mere gurgling screeches. Her neck bones broke with an almost disturbing ease, but the screaming didn't stop until the fire reached her brain. All at once, the Eternal Hunger stopped moving.

Watching the fight from the distance, Legion muttered something Althalus didn't catch. Drawing his blade again, he moved it towards his hand, causing Althalus to flinch. Not again. How many hands can this bastard regrow! But the Demonomancer merely made a small slash on his hand, and four plum sized drops of blood spilled out onto the ground and quickly disappeared into the grass. Legion left into the woods soon after, moving with the same inhuman speed Eternal Hunger had shown.

"That's not good.." The assassin muttered, picking himself up. He winced and spat out another curse as he brushed his stump of a hand on the ground. The pain was now a dull throb, but it still hurt. Looking over at the screaming, burning area, he noticed Mar on the ground, Legion's demon over her. For a brief moment, he almost panicked, then he remembered. This man, given what he had seen Althalus used the word hesitantly, helped her. And it doesn't seem to be eating her... Still he hurried over to her, cradling his stump of an arm to his chest.

The demon stepped back and retreated with it's master, leaving Althalus to watch as best he could over Mar while it's slime continued to work its strange magic.

Grey Onyx

Grey was a mess, all he could really process right now was 'KILL THE MONSTER' as he squeezed the life from its throat... He raised one hand, screaming as he drove his armored fist down onto its head, over and over again... Runes glowed through his flesh once more, enhancing his strength with earth-shattering might as he drove his fist right through... He kept punching, over and over and over again, each impact a loud, somewhat muffled thud before he noticed something...

There was no screaming...

His runes dulled to nothing as he sat there, panting in exhaustion. Shakily, he slowly lifted his fist, soaked in blood. He looked down, somewhat in a daze at the sight of the red, pasty smear that was a head once, and the small divot in the ground. Who knows how long it had been dead... Still shaking, he slowly rose to his feet staring at the body as he took a couple slow, lumbering steps back... He noticed several parts of his armor had little flames, drops of lamp oil that had earlier fallen on him slowly burning, not enough oil for a huge blaze. he looked about, far too dazed to take stock of the situation like he usually did. No, instead he did what most people would do in this situation. He braced himself against a ruined cart, and vomited...

Annabeth Gulch

Seeing the roc flinch and thrash about Annabeth grew confident that they had this. "Can't get cocky, it's still alive, and still angry. Colette! See if you can summon your bat again to distract it! I need to reload the balista!" Annabeth wasted no time grabbing the bolts that fell out previously. Luckily they were still intact well enough to be used again, and without the Roc banging ti's head against the wagon Annabeth was able to load the balista. However there was a different concern: The heard the tell-tale sign of the wagon wheel creaking, and one bad bump could knock a wheel off and leave them stranded. Annabeth had to think fast. While this next shot could entangle the roc even more, it would only be a matter of time before the roc broke free. At least if Eural and Colette retreated into the forest they would be safe from the roc, but Annabeth hasn't seen any signal from the Extraction Crew if they had succeeded in retrieving the wagons or not. Not only that but Annabeth couldn't see Arcadius anywhere. She feared that the roc might have dropped him to his doom, and who knows what would happen to him out in the open. "Think Annabeth, THINK!"

That's when she remembered that she still had her bow and arrows. It was a risky idea, but it was a risk she had to take. They couldn't afford to lose the wagon out in the open even if the roc was tied up. But if Annabeth could mount one of the horses, she could move faster than the wagon, pepper the roc with arrows, and keep moving until the Extraction Crew was ready. There was a lot that needed to be done and Annabeth couldn't do it all alone. She had to trust the others for this plan to succeed.

"Eural I don't think the wagon can last much longer if the roc keeps attacking it. Give me one of one of the horses and find a safe place to stash the wagon, but also somewhere where you can aim the balista. I'll move faster without the wagon. I'm going to ride one of the horses and distract the roc with my bow. Colette, I need you to stay with the wagon and operate the balista. I don't know if you had have much experience with it, but all I need you to do is shoot the roc when I tell you to. It's already locked and loaded, just pull hard on this lever to release the bolt."

There wasn't much time left. Eural did as ordered and unhooked Samson from the harness, but as he was doing that the roc was getting free. If Colette's bat can't keep it distracted it might charge into the forest. Or worse, it might flee and return to it's nest. Annabeth couldn't waste time watching it however. She would shoot a few arrows at the roc but before she could draw her bow Eural had Samson out of the harness and saddled. "No time to waste. Remember Colette, have your bat distract the roc and get ready to fire the balista on my orders!" Before she got on Sampson, Annabeth handed Colette her sword. "I know you can do this. I have faith in your strength!" Giving her new friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder Annabeth went to mount Samson. The stallion was still jumpy at the roc's attack but Annabeth did her best to calm it down.

"Calm down, shh, shh... I'll take care of you, okay? Let's go, come on!"

Sitting on top of Samson Annabeth rode out of the forest and into the open plains. With any luck the roc would see her and give chase. But without the dragging the wagon along Samson would be able to go much faster, and if the roc was still bound it couldn't fly after them.

Darius stood at the entrance of the cave, his sword drawn. He tensed at Ssarak's warning, and almost as soon as it was said, they were set upon. Three of the creatures ran at him. Had these things been trained men, Darius would have been sorely outmatched. They were still going to be challenging, but he could do challenging. The one in the lead attacked without any anticipation, a savage overhead strike that he easily side-stepped. The second one crashed into the first and they went tumbling down in a heap. He frowned. Maybe not as challenging as he had thought. The third one ran past the first two and charged him.

The creature swung its arm back in preparation of an attack, but it never made it. Darius swung his sword into the creature's neck, nearly decapitating it with the swing. He tore his sword free and turned to the other two that had gotten up and were making their way towards him. When they were halfway to him, they flinched and squealed as flash of light lit the area. At Ssarak's statement, Darius took a deep breath, then ran forward and decapitated one of the creatures with one swing. He ducked under a swipe that was aimed for his head, and shoulder checked the last one, knocking it to the ground. He cleaved into its head as it was scrambling to its feet.

After regaining control of his breathing, Darius watched as Alaira sprinted after something. She could either be chasing after shadows, or it could be the one who released these creatures. Speaking of. Darius walked over towards the last creature, which was crawling towards him, and quickly dispatched it. It was a good thing that there wasn't any more. Quickly dispatching the two creatures were taking its toll on him. His body was starting to ache. He must have gotten close to over exerting himself. With a sigh, he kept an eye out, watching for anything of interest.

---

Leith watched in horror as the elf screamed. He looked at his hand. It would have been a lot better if he had just crushed her head with it. What he had done. It was horrible. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the screaming stopped. She was dead. He brought a hand up to his head. He didn't deny that the elf needed to die, but he had made her suffer. It was a terrible feeling that he knew wouldn't leave him.

With a shuddering breath, he took a look at his surroundings. The forest was burning. The child was gone. Grey was retching by a broken down cart. The demon was gone, and Althalus was by Mar. Slowly, and with staggering steps, Leith made his way to Althalus and Mar. When he got to them, he unsteadily sat down. The adrenaline was wearing down and Leith started feeling the effects of the fight.

”That went downhill so fast." Leith said, his voice shaking.

Caravan Mission

One by one, the ghouls fell. The first that Ssarak struck down was dead upon impact. Darius slew one as it tried, in vain, to crush his head. Two more were caught by a blinding flash and cut down by Darius. But there was still once missing, one that was blinded by the light. But whereas the others merely flailed in place, this one ran until it's eyes could recover, and in doing so found shelter in the scant shades of the trees around the camp. That's when it saw Alaira snooping around, and seeing her as easy prey the ghoul lunged at her with great speed and startling silence.

Mean while the hooded man looked back at Ssarak as he was sneaking off. "Curses! Damn that Psychomancer!" He knew it was only a matter of time before the dragonoid would find him, even if he was invisible. The ghouls hardly proved to be worth a distraction as they were cut down with ease. And with Alaira hot on his tail the vampire needed to do something to throw her off. He doubt that she too was a psychomancer or she would have found him already, and hoping that she lacks wards to protect her mind she cast a spell at her, one that would create false noises away from the vampire. He than ran into the forest further, careful to avoid any branches or sticks to break underfoot. His breath was light, but he knew that he only had a few minutes worth of mageblood left. If the worse was to happen, that he was caught, he couldn't let his journal fall into their hands. He'd have to destroy it before they kill him.

Aramir

The little blue snow Elf glanced about, a bit uncertain about how to go about rescuing all the carts herself. They had just crawled up a plateau and were now, somehow, supposed to get the carts down and past an angry Roc with minimal damage to them. Why. Why was I sent here.. Aramir thought, running a hand through her hair. She was a hunter not a cart driver. Looking about she saw very little options. There were some horses, but they were kept with other monsters and predators. She didn't think the four of them were enough to not only wrangle the horses and tie them to the carts but to fight off anything else they would release. It was looking more and more like they were going to have to push the carts down the plateau and hope they don't fall apart on the way down. Which wasn't really a plan at all.

"Frankly? I don't know. We were sent up here to get the carts down, but the only way I can see to remove them is to push them down the Plateau and pray they don't break apart when they finally land. The Roc is probably going to be coming back soon. So, unless any of you have any ideas, pushing them down is the only way I see us getting off this rock and back to the College before we all become bird lunch." She glanced back at her two other companions. "Besides. We'd best get back to the others in a hurry. It does not sound like their mission against the Roc is going well at all."

Mar

Mar didn’t like waiting and watching. The whole time the battle played out, her eyes narrowed with tension and thick frustration, as it was clear Grey was at a serious disadvantage. With each turn, the man seemed to have fallen in worse condition and ended up being damaged beyond most normal human ability. A few times she tried to rise only to have the demon’s hoof press deeper on her hip, pinning her in place. The Naga gritted her teeth and bit back the desire to slam her twitching tail right into the demon’s side, although it was mending her wounds.

After another few layers, most her skin was back to its original state though more reddish in color and sensitive to the air. Her muscles flexed, her torso slowly lifting herself up as she pushed herself upright again. Mar’s eyes shifted to spot the demonomacer taking off into the woods, followed by his demon, making her teeth grit in anger. Why did he protect them? What was the point? It didn’t make sense and the more she pondered over it, the more questions that popped into her head. Sadly by the time she got up the demonomancer had already fled, no where to be seen with only the droplets of blood left in his wake. Althaus, who had rushed to herself, was standing over her hunched over body, worry over his expression undeterred by the fact he had lost a hand. Her eyes felt sick lingering on the severed stump. Her hand gingerly reached and touched the cauterized remain, fingers examining the flesh while cursing herself for neglecting her vitamancy in healing. Though even at a novice level, she couldn’t revive a whole hand. Not even reattached the old.

Still, she tried while her fingers sent tingling down the nerves and limb, resisting the urge to slap Althalus. Instead she berated him verbally absentmindedly, her tone pissed and upset at his carelessness. “You shouldn’t have done that! That was the most idiotic and … being a stupid male! Now how do I explain this to Lyn, how I couldn’t… couldn’t protect you?”

the last bit she nearly choked on because of her pride, but she managed to swallow it down and bite through it. Althalus would feel the veins start to seal off and skin to slowly grow over, though nothing of a notable degree quite yet. Inward she was aware of her surroundings, from Leith’s wobbly and weakened approach to Grey throwing up his last meal, until at last the former spoke.

“Death is never pretty, be grateful you're not numb to it yet.” Mar stated while she tried to mend Althalus’ hand the best she could, her eyes looking at it carefully with disdain at her lacking skills.

It seemed that Ssarak's plan had not worked exactly as intended. Alaira had seemingly ignored his initial warning about the incoming attack, as she had not joined them in fighting the feral vampires. As such, she was now searching for the same foe Ssarak was trying to find. Fortunately, Darius seemed to have fared well against the ferals, which was not too surprising, considering that they were essentially behaving as mindless beasts. However, while the one Ssarak was searching for did not reveal himself so easily, he did have a clear line of sight from above on the feral that had set its sights on Alaira. He could have swept down down to eliminate it, but Alaira could deal with it just as well; she only needed a warning.

"Alaira, there is one behind you!" Ssarak shouted down to her before immediately shifting his focus back to his search. Visually, he could not locate his target, so he reached out with his mind instead. With a wide-area telepathy spell, he could feel the wards of his foe, and he could feel that they were wavering. Evidently, his use of his magic was taking a toll. Seeing an opportunity, Ssarak pressured the wards with stronger, more focused telepathy to finally break through. From there, it was a much simpler matter to get a sense of his direction by reading his thoughts. Ssarak could not exactly pinpoint him with his magic alone, but he did not need to. Once he had a direction, Ssarak banked towards it, then scanned the ground until he finally spotted his quary, or rather, the disturbances he was making in the grass. Now, since the invisibility was not completely perfect, Ssarak could see the distortions, giving him a definite spot to target.

Ssarak swept down low, gaining as much speed as he could without risking hurting himself upon landing. His target was starting to head into the forest, but Ssarak was able to catch up before the trees grew too dense to force a landing. Ssarak hit his target like a boulder, smashing him into the ground hard enough to give him a concussion at the very minimum, without needing to use his weapon. His invisibility wore off immediately, which allowed him to finally be seen clearly. He seemed to be entirely incapacitated, but even so, Ssarak was taking no chances. He kicked him over onto his back, then quickly patted him down for anything he might be carrying, like weapons, bags, pouches, and so on. Anything he found, he moved a safe distance to the side, then positioned himself between the man and his belongings. Ssarak hovered his weapon inches above the man's head with the spike on the end pointing towards his skull. He looked the man over carefully to see if he was even still alive, ready to jam the weapon into his skull at a moment's notice.

Althalus' look of relief as Mar sat up was pathetic and he knew it. He didn't care either, just happy Mar was relatively okay. He winced as she began to prod at the stump, resisiting the urge to scratch at it as it became less pain and more itch as she began to speed up the process of his stump healing. He merely grinned at her as she began to berate him, as if what the crazy elf bitch had done to him was his fault. It was good to see that she wasn't overly affected by the whole ordeal. Other than being angry at him, obviously. He resolutely ignored the guardsman. There would be plenty of time later to discuss how stupid he was and to give Grey a chance to explain why he shouldn't just be killed for the injuries he caused Mar. As Leith stumbled over he managed to give him a sympathetic look. Mar summed up both of their opinions nicely, but Althalus felt the need to add on. "You'll be fine. Though try to cling to that shock at all this death. It'll help you in the long run."

Althalus' eyes shifted to Mar's disdain filled face, he chuckled at her. She glared at him, clearly still irritated. "I'm sorry," he said innocently, "You're just so cute when you're irritated." Mar's eyes narrowed dangerously and her mouth opened again, likely to deliver another scathing comment. Althalus silenced her with a kiss, breaking it after a few moments and pressing his head gently against hers. "Don't worry about my hand and what Lyn will think. We're both alive. That's all that matters." He spoke quietly, smiling.

Then of course, everything went to hell.

Three of the blood droplets left behind raced towards Grey, Mar, and Leith respectively. One stayed behind. In a few moments, they were all positioned. Another moment later, and something was growing out of the blood drops. Right behind Althalus an exact copy of Mar came into being in seconds, her tail wrapping around his waist and throwing him backwards. "There. Now we won't be interrupted." The new Mar purred, sensually rubbing a hand over her chest.

The same thing happened behind Leith, the new Leith's demon hand yanked him backwards and his copy turned to face him. "You're too weak. You'll never seize, and keep, the power we want. I'll make sure we do."

An exact copy of Grey appeared in front of him, indecisively glancing between Grey and his companions. "Kill you or help them, kill you or help them. Leave me and I might help kill one of your friends. Fight me and one of your friends might die."

Althalus faced his own copy, groaning. "Can't we get a break for one damn minute!?" His copy sneered at him. "No. I'll keep Lyn safe from now on. You're too much the cripple and the weakling to do so."

Mar had been about to chew Althalus out for his lacking concern, her hands released his stump and twitched to smack him upside the head. His comment was uncalled for in her mind and pulled emotions that were best left alone. She never got the chance because the moment her mouth opened to snap at him, his lips was settled upon hers, sucking her deeply into a kiss.

The flesh in her lips tingled, the surface stinging from the pressure and faded into heat. It spread and flooded her body, making her surface glow. Inside she wanted it to last but her naga pride slithered to the surface. It bore it's fang and hissed causing her cool back reflexively, despite her desire to experience the public affection.

She felt a ashy feeling creep into her core when the kiss finally ended as the three blood droplets started to move. They slithered across the ground at neck break speed, one unawarely arriving behind Althalus, Mar's widening eyes was the only warning before he was ripped away.

Mar's teeth showed and flared at the copycat, her nose crinkled in disdain. Her tongue flickered out to catch the scent of copper and musk mingling unnaturally. Narrowing her eyes, she hissed at the pitiful imitation. Her tail lashed out at the woman's torso as her fangs lengthened, eyes narrowed on her prey.

Leith nodded at Althalus and Mar. ”I don't think that I'll forget this anytime soon." He looked at the ground as he thought before looking back up at Althalus and Mar. ”Thank-" He froze when he saw a second Mar right behind Althalus. When Althalus got flung backwards, the back of Leith's scalp tingled as he got the feeling that something was behind him. Before he could look, he felt a hand on his shoulder and then he was flying backwards.

Once he had hit the ground and stopped rolling, Leith let out a groan. As he pushed himself to his feet, he heard his own voice. He looked the man that looked exactly like him. ”At what price?" Leith countered. He looked warily at his double. It was bizarre to look at himself as if he were looking at another person. ”If I hurt the people I want to protect with the power I'm looking for, I will not take it." Leith drew his sword with a sigh. He didn't want to fight; he was sore and exhausted, but he knew that it would be inevitable. ”Well, lets get this over with. He chuckled as he had a thought.

”Should I go first, or should I?" Oh he was tired.

Colette

Colette nodded when she heard her friend tell her to resummon her bat. Doing so quickly she gave it quick directions to distract the roc and the bat quickly went to the enraged roc attacking its eye making the usually noises that a real bat would make. Colette watched on worried for her bat as she looked at her friend "Annabeth..." she said as she felt the reassurance in the pat on her shoulder and turne dher attention back on her bat and saw how quick her bat was being beat down.

"Annabeth what do I do, the roc is going to crush him" she cried out looking at her not knowing what to do, she wanted to strongly help her little friend, but she was once again feeling useless.

Summer

Summer sighed sadly she walked around the small tower that had been her home for 8 years. She heard whine and looked to see her father's old companion watching her silently and she smiled sadly walking over to him sitting down on the bed he was laying on. "I miss them so much..." she said her voice low and allowed her hand to guild across his soft gray fur.

"Where are you....you should have released me by now" she said looking out the window to see it was once again raining. She sighed longingly missing the feeling of the rain against her skin. She felt tears going down her cheeks and she didn't even try to whipped them this time. She curled up and began to cry in her wolf companion's fur feeling the loneliness eat more of her already fragile heart.

Grey heaved, still leaning to the cart for support as he finally managed to calm himself. It was alright, the creature was dead... Nothing could survive what he did to her... But he knew somewhere in the back of his head that he shouldn't have been able to... obliterate her head so completely with his fist alone, even with repeated blows. But there were more pressing concerns, such as diffusing a potentially nasty situation before his allies decided to turn on him.

Of course, he would find an even more pressing concern, as some... animate blood formed into a near-perfect copy of him, right in front of him. He gasped in shock, stepping back against the cart at the sight... He shuddered, shaking his head as he quickly regained his composure. A doppelganger? Ha, that was far from the most disturbing thing he'd seen in the last ten minutes alone. "Very well... I'm not fighting you." He said to his counterfeit, shaking his head once more. "You know as well as I do that I know all your tricks, and you know all mine. It's pointless." He said, glancing to his allies...

Mar's copy rolled her eyes at her Naga opponent, rearing back as quickly as Mar lashed out. She wasn't fast enough however, and the tip of Mar's tail cracked against her stomach, causing the copy to hiss in pain at Mar. She drew a scythe that was, unsurprisingly, an exact copy of Mar's own scythe. She ran her tongue along the edge of it, smirking at Mar. "After you die, I'll show Althalus how a real Naga reacts to a kiss..and more." She laughed suggestively. "After one time, he won't miss you at all. You'll be nothing more than an old, terrible memory. The cold, heartless, Naga he only stayed without out of a dedication to Lyn. You make his life worse than an eternity in the Inferno, you know that right? He hates you and thinks you're to much of a cold bitch to be a mother, much less a lover. Don't deny it. You can see it in his eyes, as easily as I can sense it. Why else would he lie to you about his past?" She slashed diagonally at Mar's left shoulder. "Die and let your better take your place!"

Leith's copy sneered at him. "That is exactly what I'm talking about. You're not strong enough to make the sacrifices necessary, so that you can control the power to defend your friends and ensure any more sacrifices aren't necessary. Don't worry though. I'll fix that soon enough. It'll require you to die, of course, but you can rest easy knowing that I established your name in history as one of the most powerful men in the world." He gave a humorless smile at Leith's comment before he drew his exact copy of Leith's sword and thrust at the Hydromancer's chest.

Grey's copy shrugged. "Go ahead. Make my decision for me. If you leave to help someone more blood will be on your hands as I'll leave to go help one of my allies. One of the three will get an axe to the back of the head while you try to get one of my allies. Then we'll both swarm the other one, killing that ally, and then we'll swarm you and kill you. Your decision."

"I'll die before I'll let you touch her." Althalus growled at his copy. His two handed copy merely smiled. "Yes. You will." Althalus went to draw one of his knives, only to realize that all of them had been lost in the fight with the undead horde and the fight with Mar so she wouldn't murder the diplomat. "Shit." He muttered leaping back as a knife was thrust towards his ribs. "Care to play fair?" He asked his copy. "Would you?" Was the mocking reply. "No." The assassin had to admit, dodging another knife thrust.

Alaira Taenn

Alaira's hunt was soon interrupted by a ghoul... and at that exact moment, as she rushed towards the underbrush, she was hit with a spike of pain to her mind as she felt the psychomancer's influence... Yet, it was nowhere near as awful as it had been the previous day. No more painful than a wound taken in battle, actually. Before she could ponder that, however, she was warned of the ghoul, leaping towards her... She spun around, smirking as the creature leapt onto her... and her knife. "Nice try..." She said, mockingly, twisting the knife before kicking it to the ground. It's scrambling was quickly silenced with a mace to the skull...

Grey Onyx

Grey sighed... So unreasonable. If it was true this was a copy, he knew, much to his own chagrin, that he should be easy to mislead. Several other truths could likely be assumed, as the doppelgangers own words proved. Even though it was an evil reflection, he seemed to care for the other doppelgangers. "Do you really think I still care about those fools? They constantly ignore my orders, go off at random, and fail to impress any time I rely on them for anything. I can wait here all day... But can you? I can see your Mar fight, totally useless, too bothered to make a proper attack. And Athalus is tricky, he'll find a way to win one-handed and unarmed... You might get Leith, but can you really afford to trust them by themselves? What will you do if you let two of them die?"

Eural listened to Annabeth shout out instructions, his hands starting to slow the horses to the side, as his body hopped off quickly. Stopping for too long was dangerous with the Roc hot on their tail and his hands fumbling to undo the straps for Samson. The horse bumped and snorted, unhappy they had halted, his head thrashing backwards to see the Roc’s own struggle with Annabeth’s little illusion. When his fingers felt numb enough to fall off, the horse was free and passed to Annabeth. In the back of his mind he couldn’t help but think how crazy Annabeth’s suggestion to pincushion the bird was going to be. That thing might just bit down and gulp her down in one bite without so much as blinking an eye, he thought when his hand brought to saddle the horse’s smooth back.

During the rush to pull over the wagon, he had only half listened to what the woman told Colette. With Samson fully saddled and ready to go, he ended up catching the short, sweet version of the orders. It seemed Colette was going to command the balista. Eural paled at the thought and his worry only became worse when he heard the vampire visibly panic for her bat and ask Annabeth for instruction to aid it. The bad part was… Annabeth already had taken off. The woman on horse bolted into the open field and right for the Roc, leaving the pair alone to complete their task. Inwardly the guide groaned.

“Look,” He started to speak and placed a hand on Colette’s shoulder, hoping to gain her attention. “Your bat will be fine. It’s quicker and it’s not holding the skull now, so just focus on getting into the wagon and staying by the balista. Then shoot when you see a chance like Annabeth said. Else none of us are making it home and you’ll never get that date, right? Now knock off just letting others tell you exactly how you can be useful and use your common sense, I know you have it.”

It was likely not the smartest thing to say to a vampire that could rip out his throat.

In addition, his last words had revealed someone else had been eavesdropping on Colette’s and Liam’s conversation. He turned away and waited for Colette to get into the wagon before catering off to a better spot. It was slow going due to the mare’s stress in hauling the cart by herself, neither having the bulk or power the male did, as the wagon wheel wobbled some. He added one last thing. “Keep an eye on that wheel, will you? It’s coming off at the seam and I much rather it didn’t break cause I couldn't keep tabs on it.”

Meanwhile, the Roc was just recovering when something sharp bit into her eye. Blood, a bit, leaked from the wound causing the Roc to flinch and snap out at the source. Thankfully the bat had several things in its favor. It was light, small and very, very quick despite the little damage it was doing. Little marks of red dotted the larger bird causing it endless frustration. It screeched and snapped, again missing the little pest. It didn’t help her vision was still blurry and disoriented thanks to the flash casted into her eyes, blinding her for a few moments. Her mind distracted and her wings on the verge of breaking the ropes, the giant bird hadn’t heard the loud hooved from Samson’s approach into battle nearby. this gave Annabeth prime time to let off a shot or three before it gained the beast’s attention.

Lyn

Lyn was curious. A flaw and trait that was both a positive and negative depending on the situation, her feet tapped the gray grasses under her small feet while she edged further and further away from Mei.. The girl was busy talking with the caravan master so she failed to notice the child slip away during the conversation, though her path didn’t take her far. Surprisingly, in her wake, her teddy had fortunately tagged along. the thing had little trouble keeping up, despite its stubby and stuffing filled legs as it skirted quickly over the rough grass in the girl’s wake. It was a determined little thing after all.

After a few minutes, a half an hour, of trekking through the tall trees. The skies overhead were no longer visible and the darkness started to shroud her eyesight, her heat sense was the only guide in almost total darkness. It didn’t take longer for her to come across a brightly lite field causing her eyes to widen in surprise when the darkness peeled back from the bioluminescent flowers. A countless number seemed to flood the forest floor leaving little room for other beauty to grow within, their closed blooms sealed tightly while some scaled the trunks and other local flora. Unknown to Lyn she had stumbled across a small patch of Death Blooms. Gingerly she started to skip closer causing a few of the dark bulbs to stir, their petals growing and seemingly ready to release it’s danger upon the unaware child.

It wasn’t until she was a short distance away did the scene’s temperature sudden change. A chill, sudden and unexpected, swept over the Death Blooms as a man, well dressed in a suit, top hat and tie emerged from the darkest part of the area among the flowers. Everywhere he stepped, icicles spread. His frosty magic jumped from bulb to bulb, each sealing them tightly, and making them dormant once more. Their dim glow became disorderly when filtered through the thin ice thanks to his mage blood.

Lyn noticed him immediately and tilted her head, curious at the man’s abrupt appearance. His darkened skin hailed him from Yarosmere, complemented by his curly black locks and tall stature, his figure willowy that screamed he was no warrior. Though upon looking into his bright, reddish brown eyes there was something that screamed predator in a mild way. Her right foot took a small step back when she met his eyes, now fully realizing she was possibly in trouble, and watching him back. The man’s lips curled into a warm smile while he never paused in his way towards her. His shoes gently stepped between the crowded flowers, careful never to crush a single one, as he gestured with a low sweeping hand at the field surrounding him. “Little one, you really should be careful.”

He flashed her a set of pearly white teeth and continued. His eyes scanned the scene behind her as if looking for whom she belonged to and was disappointed in finding no one around, save a curious little animated toy moving into defensive position. “Where are your parents or care giver? Shouldn’t they be nearby?”

Lyn shook her head at the last question.

“Can’t you speak?”

She shook her head again.

“Do you have parents or guardian at all?”

She nodded this time, her hands reached down for her bear and hugged it tightly to her chest. Her eyes never left the man’s though she listened, her body still where she stood as if waiting for something.

“Well little one, you almost ended your own life. Don’t you know the difference between normal flowers and Death Blooms?” He asked curiously, his eyes still studying her. He currently had grinded to a halt outside the edge of the bloom’s patch while he noted the milder copycat, a Lucilia flower, blossoming nearby. Usually they were weeded out by the Death Blooms but a few scattered ones had managed to survive. He noted Lyn shake her causing his lips to frown. “Well, that won’t do. Ignorance isn’t bliss in this case and it might be best to rectify that.”

Elegantly he bowed at the waist and scooped up a Lucilia flower, his hand holding out dainty for the young child. Lyn cautiously reached out for it as her fingers wrapped about its stem, pulling it close to smell. The man smiled again and on closer inspection, she noted the canines were slightly pointed oddly. He pulled upright, placing his arm at his back middle in a relaxed, gentleman posture. “That my dear is a Lucilia flower. Both flowers look the same but unlike a Death Bloom, a Lucilia won’t kill you.”

A voice, distant and worried, screamed out Lyn’s name. Lyn naturally jerked her head in the direction and pressed both items close to her, uncertain what to do. She didn’t want to be rude and leave the current man alone without saying goodbye. Seeing her conflict, the man chuckled in an amused tone before he took one step from the flower patch and reached out a hand to touch her head with a gentle nudge. For a brief moment, something felt odd but Lyn simply brushed it off in her naivety. “Go on... someone’s worried about you.”

Without needing another nudge, Lyn took off towards where Mei was. The child only paused long enough to wave back to the stranger and shortly she was gone. The man, still standing where she left him, merely let his lips curl into a cheshire cat grin. It was interesting to him how fate worked.

Mar bristled at the thoughts as Lust spoke. Her fangs bared and tail coiled underneath, her fingers digging deeper into her palm. She didn’t care or seemed to pay attention to the dilemmas of her companions, her boiling emotions turning deep within her core and clouded her focus. Her tension rippled through her figure as she watched Lust summon a weapon, one identical to hers, which caused Mar’s eyes to dart to the side. She spotted her own still laying out of reach upon the ground where she left it. Her eyes flared at the mention of Althalus’ reasons for sticking around, ones she used herself to justify his presence and not completely give him up. A crutch to cover the painful truth.

It was unnatural for her anger and hurt to get the better of her, but hearing the naga’s words, it sparked a sense of protectiveness and possessiveness Mar hadn’t fully realized before. Her mind briefly recalled the hints, The various times she approached him about flirting and interacting with other females, her eyes never leaving his image as long as he was within her sight. Her feigning disinterest, even casting away her worries with pitiful excuses. It was little surprise that despite her distant attitude she truly cared for him.

She was ready when the bitch stuck. Mar’s venom had collected in her fangs and immediately the moment the Naga’s scythe struck out, the liquid plow through the hollow fangs to streamline to her foe. Her waist jerked back as the blade met her flesh, creating another dark, red line for her delay. However if the venom hit the eyes, it would’ve slowly worked in paralyzing the Naga during their fight. Not wasting time to scream, Mar’s coils jerked out when the Naga was brought in close for the attack. Her tail went to coil and tighten about the waist, possibly crushing her foe in her strong grip.

Lust snickered at Mar’s clearly upset state, amused that she had gotten a reaction out of her opponent. Lust saw the danger too late, screaming in pain as the venom burned in her eyes. In a heartbeat, she felt a coil wrapped around her waist and she was jerked close, her scythe pinned between them. Lust was still blinded, but she didn’t need to see to sink her teeth into her antagonist’s neck. She bared her own fangs, venom clearly dripping from them, before lunging forward in the general direction of Mar’s face. There wasn’t time for words, so hissing would have to do express her anger.

Mar couldn’t avoid the fangs. Not without disengaging, as her hand whipped up to Lust’s head back. Her hand tingled and her head adjusted all in the same moment, her face spared from being impaled. Pain rattled through her surface and filled her mind. It burned when the fangs pierced into her neck, the artery there feeling the sting while they sank in. At the same instant, her hand balled up a fistful of the Naga’s brown hair and forced her vitamancy into it. It traveled up the fibers then into the roots where they suddenly became stiff, acting like needle, before Mar shoved them into the Naga’s skull. It would be an instant kill.

Lust’s satisfaction at feeling her fangs enter Mar’s neck, and her venom pumping into her enemy’s body, lasted only a second. Then she felt Mar’s hand on her hair and it becoming a weapon. She yanked her fangs out, attempting to free herself, when the new needles were shoved into her skull. Rather than dying, Lust just swayed in Mar’s grip, her head gently resting against the Naga’s. “He doesn’t love you.” She spoke softly and slowly, all malice and hate gone from her eyes. “You don’t lie to those you love.”

Then she died, her body going limp.

Grey

Grey’s copy, Sloth, glanced back and forth between the other fights and Grey. “But what if I end up like you? You could easily end up being like that…abomination,” Sloth shuddered, “and causing extreme and irreparable harm to at least one of your companions. Speaking of one of your companions, why leave the Assassin alive, much less free? He’s a hired killer . Mar can easily raise Lyn on her own, with the entire College helping. Imprison him before he does what he does best and kills someone for a sum of gold. Raising a child is hard. Raising a child with no money is even harder. Kill him.”

Sloth’s eyes were suddenly jerked from Grey, watching Mar’s fight with Lust. As it ended, he shouted out “Lust!” And brushed past the Guardsman and left his back wide open…

Leith

Leith sighed at his copy's words. ”But would you be a man, or a monster?" As his copy went on the attack, Leith dropped his sword and grabbed ahold of the blade of the other, wrenching it to his right. With his other hand, he threw a backhand at his power-hungry double.

Leith's copy, Greed, brought his demon artifact covered hand up to catch the back hand, keeping a grip on his own sword with his normal hand. He tightened his grip on Leith's wrist, snarling at him. "Is that all you have, really? Why did Xyden even bother getting your help in trying to kill Lyn? Though I must admit, the way you lied to Althalus afterwards was impressive, truly. I'll make sure to keep that little facade going on as long as possible." Greed tried to yank his sword free of Leith's grip, intent on impaling the Hydromancer.

Leith winced as Greed caught his hand and started slowly crushing it. When his copy said that it was impressive that he had lied to Althalus, he flinched, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to speak. ”That's not true! I never lied to him." He almost never noticed the sound of metal scraping against metal as Greed pulled the sword from his grasp. With a silent curse, Leith jerked to the side as much as he could, the sword just barely cutting into his side. He caught ahold of the blade again.

As he looked at his double, he thought he heard something mumbling. He frowned, trying to hear what it was saying. Then all of a sudden, he could hear it.It was coming from his mind, but it didn't sound like the voice that came from the ring. 'This imposter wants your life. We need to make sure that he doesen't. The hand that he's using to hold the sword isn't the one with the Daemon Artes. Show him that it was a mistake he will never make again.'

Leith glanced down at the sword and came up with a plan. He threw his head forward, and headbutted Greed in the nose, while at the same time letting go of the sword and grabbing onto his arm and pulling.

Greed, despite obviously being made of unnatural magic, was still human. His head snapped back, his nose breaking, as Leith's head crashed into it, and his arm was, frankly, ripped out if it's socket and then ripped off his body completely. Luckily for Leith, Greed's hands went automatically to his nose, saving the Hydromancer from the same fate. Despite the copious amount of blood gushing from both his nose and his shoulder stump, and the pain that must be causing him, Greed laughed at Leith. "You did lie to him though! Althalus was perfectly willing to kill you for your actions, and you came up with a smooth lie and a guilty look to make him believe you. That child is an abomination and you know it. You knew exactly what you were doing when you agreed to Xyden's plan. You wanted to get an abomination out of the way and two potential enemies to your rise to power, all in one fell swoop. Even the violent elf was going to die. Would have worked too, had something not gone terribly wrong." He grinned at Leith, his teeth stained red with the blood from his broken nose.

"I am you. I was born from the depths of your soul. Why would I bother lying when I know all your dirty little secrets?"

Leith's face went blank when Greed said that Lyn was an abomination. The longer he spoke, the more Leith realized that this double of him was just something that looked like him. When Greed mentioned that he was Leith, Leith laughed dryly. ”You may be from me, but you are not me. If I had been as hungry for power as you are. What you said might have been true. Your greed is so much that you have forgotten our values. Judging people for what they are, and not what they have done is not something we- no, I do. I do not want to be like the men who tried to kill me five years ago." Leith took a few steps backwards, dropped Greed's arm and picked up his own sword.

”This fight is over." Leith said, and without another word, he slashed at his double.

Greed sighed. "Our. Our greed. The only difference between you and I is that I would have murdered her myself, rather than letting Xyden do the dirty work for me. And you can be different than the men who tried to kill you. You can be stronger, and ensure it happens to no one else." He couldn't bring his arm up fast enough to block the sword, and it cleaved diagonally into his body, bringing more blood and a gasp from his Greed. His remaining hand grasped the blade, holding it against any attempts to yank it out. "Don't want to be like me? Fine. Take what parts you can use and cast aside the rest. If you were more like me, Lyn would have never been in danger. You would have never had to lie to Althalus. Mar would have never nearly died. Do us a favor, and at least become better." Then the last of his strength ran out, and he slumped to his knees, falling on the ground, dead.

Once Greed had died, Leith took a few steps bacwards and sank to his knees, similar to how his double sat. That was an interesting experience. Not often that one could say he killed himself. As he caught his breath, he thought on the words Greed had said before he died. He did have a hunger for power. Maybe he should spend a little more effort on searching for it. Not so much that it caused the lost of his friends, but enough that he could get strong enough to protect his friends. With a sigh, Leith stood up and looked around at what had become of the other fights.



The guide hurried over to Mar, glancing at her various wounds. “I leave for a few minutes go gather some herbs, since you all seem incapable of not causing yourselves wounds, and all hell breaks loose. The kid is free, there’s a man who looked on fire running through the forest, the guardsman crushed a woman’s skull into a fine paste with his bare hands, and suddenly you’re all fighting yourselves. This isn’t the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, you haven’t known crazy till you watch Archmages duel a Demon lord that threatens all life on Tiien, but it’s a close second.” He quickly chewed up the herbs, packing them into Mar’s various wounds and binding them with a makeshift bandage. “Judging from how you haven’t moved in a while, I’m going to say you’re poisoned. Nothing I can do there. We’ll just have to wait until all your friends are done not getting killed, then rush you to Lidda. Try not to die during that time hmm?”



Althalus jumped back again as the dagger was thrust towards him. “Why don’t we talk about this? You don’t try to kill me, I don’t try to kill you, and we all just walk away from this unscathed?” The assassin asked his copy. His opponent merely smirked, before replying, “A bit too late for you, isn’t it? Hand missing, wounded from the fight with the supposed love of your life, its remarkable you’re even alive at all.” Althalus shrugged, leaping back from another knife thrust. “What can I say? I, we, are tenacious.” He could see the crossbow bolt nearby. I just need to get to it..

His copy was nodding. “It’s always been a trait you’ve had. One of many you share with your brother.” Althalus’ froze. “What did you just say?” His rasp was far more pronounced, as he had to force each word out of a closed throat.

“You’re almost exactly like your brother.” Before Althalus could do anything more than just stare at him, the being born from blood continued. “Think about it. You’re both ruthless killers. You’re both charming. You both have people you love, well in his case had but I’m sure you’ll fix that soon. You’re both willing to do whatever it takes to get their goals…need I go on?” Althalus shook his head in vehement denial, taking a step back and a bit to the side. “No. I’m nothing like that bastard.”

His copy continued, unperturbed. “The only real difference is that you haven’t yet killed someone you love so that you can gain that forbidden power. You know what I’m talking about. The same power that made the boy so dangerous. That made your brother essentially untouchable by you. You know you’re hopelessly outclassed here. You couldn’t protect Lyn from any of the dangers so far. The demon and the Sea Naga, both easily beat you and Lyn had to be saved by another. Your weak and you know it. And you know the only way to gain power too.” Althalus shook his head again, breathing harder. He was beginning to feel like a trapped animal, as he edged backwards again. “I would neve-“ He began, only to be cut off by his double once more.

“Not Lyn of course. She’s the thing you’re trying to protect, obviously. But Mar? She’s expendable. She would want you to do whatever is necessary to protect Lyn, even if she didn’t understand why protecting Lyn required her death at the time. “

Althalus’ next words were practically hissed out. “Never. Never. Never.” He was within diving distance of the bolt. Come on you bastard.. He thought as his copy shrugged. “You will. When you realize that you’re at the mercy of whoever decides to save you and your daughter, then you’ll make the sacrifice necessary. But of course, I’ll do that for you.” He lunged again, cursing as Althalus dived away, and the copy tried to stab him again, only to get a surprised look on his face. There was a crossbow bolt sticking out of his throat. “Don’t…let…your weakness…kill Lyn…” He gasped, before slumping over. Althalus dropped the body in disgust, kicking it once for good measure. “Stay dead you bastard.”

Annabeth Gulch

Annabeth wanted to help Colette, truly she did. But she couldn't hold her hand forever. Right now they all needed to do their part, and now was Annabeth's. As soon as Eural had freed Samson Annabeth took off out of the forest and towards the roc. Normally she would strafe such a beast and try to keep her distance, but that might give the roc reason enough to ignore her if she was doing to be such a difficult target. No, Annabeth knew she had to draw the roc's attention by looking like easy, foolish prey. Which was why she was riding directly towards the giant bird of prey. With two arrows on the string Annabeth fired both of them in the general direction of the Roc. She knew that the arrows may miss their mark, and even if they did may not do much harm. The point was that she was going to get the roc's attention, and she was certain she did when both the arrows stuck into the breast of the beast. A bit of blood came out from the minor wounds, only to be absorbed by the feathers.

But that wasn't the end of Annabeth's insanity. Now within close range of the Roc Annabeth released a weak flash of light from her hands to the roc's now bleeding eyes. She made sure to direct it to the roc only, saving Colette's bat from the flash. "Come on, look at me! Come and get me you oversize fowl!" Pulling sharply on Samson's reigns she had the stallion juke to the roc's left. She was going to take it out into the open fields for a short while until either she gets a signal from the Extraction Crew or until she see's the wagon in place for an ambush. When Samson was going in a strait line Annabeth would draw her bow and fire arrows at the roc. While she wasn't particularly aiming anywhere on the creature, her arrows did land close enough to possibly hit the monster, maybe even do some damage if she was lucky.

Caravan Mission

The vampire never knew what hit him. He didn't even get to turn around before he felt the cold steel of Ssarak's body slam into him. Where he a normal man the vampire would have been able to at least continue running, but being hit by a dragonoid twice the size of an average human was too much for the vampire. He was dazed, going in and out of conscience. His thoughts ran wild, a mixture of fear, panic, and planning. He knew he had to escape. The pain was much too great. He had to destroy the evidence. He needed to kill the others. These thoughts ran through his mind but his body failed to do anything. Eventually everything went black.

On the body Ssarak would the vampire's journal, some of it written in the common language however most of it seems to be in some sort of cypher. Ssarak would also find a long sword, one just large enough for him to wield with one hand. Unlike the axe it had no particular magic emanating from it, however where were some runes inscribed on the blade's edge. There was a small coin pouch containing 20 silver pieces and 3 gold. There was also a mix of herb, roots, and mushrooms. A mixture of these could be made into a lethal poison, or possibly a restorative potion. There was little else of worthwhile note on the vampire, however if anyone bothered to strip him of his clothing they would find an tattoo over his heart. It appeared to be either a blood droplet or possibly a reversed fang. Likely intentionally designed like that.

After a few minutes the ghouls would be reduced to dust from their exposure to the sun. The only thing left behind would be their clothing; even their skeleton would decay into nothingness. Within the cave, if anyone would explore it, is a cramp space containing various barrels, boxes, sacks, and other containers. Inside consisted of various food items from apples to salt and even lobsters. There was also some trade goods to be found such as exotic spices and textiles. There were also cages on the immediate right side of the room, where the ghouls were held. The torn remains of an unknown victim was within each of the cages. Likely the meals for the ghouls. To the left was a wooden wall with a wooden door. Though locked, a swift kick would be all that is needed to knock the door down. Inside was a single bed, desk, and chest. Inside were some other equipment such as daggers and wilderness supplies. Various pieces of unused parchment were scattered about, as were feathered pens and ink bottles. There were a few bottles of wine as well as blood in a crate underneath the bed, no doubt belonging to the vampire.

The camp was clear of any hostiles; the bandits who fled showed no signs of returning. Further investigation of the camp would inform the college students of a hidden path which they could bring the wagon through in order to pick up the supplies from the ravine entrance. A few low-quality swords, axes, clubs, and crossbows with bolts were also available for the party to use or sell at their discretion. There was still light out and the sun, when it could be seen over the clouds, were still high in the air. It would be at least six more hours before sundown, and there was still a full day's worth of travel before they would arrive to Hysteria.

Grey watched his double, a stern, unreadable expression on his scarred face... He felt... Pity for his double. He reminded him of... Well, himself. His faults, but also his positives as well. he felt a flash of anger at his words, but... they were disturbingly similar to his own thoughts on the matter. And when he saw him turn, and cry out for his companion, he felt a twinge of sadness... However, he had to do what needed to be done... As he brushed past, he suddenly whipped around, drawing his emergency knife... There was one particular, glaring weakness in the standard-issue college guard's plate:There was a gap between the pauldron and the cuirass, on the rear side... He jammed his knife down through his neck, wrenching it between the back of his ribs and the shoulderblade. He then threw his arm around his neck, throwing him down to the ground...

He knelt down by his double, staring him down. "You will not speak of Athalus like that..." He said, his expression softening. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry. But I cannot allow you to harm them... You would do the same." He said, reaching down and grabbing a hold of his doppelganger's head, and ending his life with a simple twist. he rose, sighing quietly as he loosened his arm, and winced suddenly, his arm seeming incredibly sore... He was not aware, but he had overused his runes, and they had caused a bit of damage through overheating... He clutched his arm, looking around to the rest of the fights... All none of them. The only one still going was Athalus, but before he could even think of running to help the double had a bolt in his throat...

Mar. Mar was hurt. He began to walk towards her, scooping up his family shield on the way. He slowed down as he passed Leith, gently placing his hand on his shoulder... "Listen..." He started, sighing deeply... "If something like this ever happens again... Please, listen to me..." He didn't blame Leith for his mistake by any means, and his tone was not angry, just... weary. he continued on his way, kneeling down beside her, nodding to the guide... He was glad he was alive. "Is... is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose

---

After a few moments, it became clear that the vampire would not be getting back up. From all that Ssarak could tell, the impact had killed him, so he finally pulled his weapon away and performed a more thorough search of the body and his belongings. The journal seemed to be the item with the most potential usefulness, though a quick glance through revealed that not all of it was was written in a form he could easily understand. There would be time later to look through it in greater detail, so he packed it away and continued with his search. The sword, while it did not seem to be magical, did have runes inscribed upon it. The runes could have meaning, and if nothing else, the blade itself would be valuable, so he tied it and its scabbard to his own belt at his waist. As well, he took the coin purse and the ingredients for similar reasons. His search of the body itself produced little of note except for a tattoo on his chest. If it was a symbol, Ssarak did not recognize it, but he made a mental note of it regardless.

Ssarak headed back to the bandit camp to meet back up with Alaira and Darius. Despite their successes so far, they were still not finished. They had to move the carriage through safely, and there was still the matter of the reinforcements they had learned about while listening to the bandits. However, they had no way of knowing how long it would take for those bandits to return, and they did not have unlimited time. Ssarak reasoned that it might be best to move the carriage through sooner rather than later as, at the very least, most of the enemy force had been depleted, and they might be able to frighten away any reinforcements with proper intimidation.

"I believe now may be the time to move the caravan through. There is still that group away from camp we overheard the bandits talking about, but we have no way of knowing how long they will take to return. I can fly back to the others quickly, update them on our progress, and see if the caravan master wishes to go ahead and move through. In the meantime, it might benefit us for you two to search the camp more thoroughly, particularly the underground portion. There may be information to be found in the cave or, at the very least, items of value. The caravan master may be more willing to forgive the problems we have faced if we can help to make him more coin. Any kind of trade goods or other valuables you can find would be helpful." Ssarak suggested. Alaira certainly would not want to search the caves, but she could always stay on the surface while Darius searched underground.