Knight

Snap! The knight's crossbow shattered, causing him to throw it down immediately and turn to face this new foe. His eyes widened as he saw the hammer coming and he darted out of the way with a vampire like speed.

Despite his armored helmet, there was a distinct sense of a frown coming from his helmeted face. "I am not interested in you, woman. Step aside and let me kill the-GET BACK HERE YOU BITCH!" The Knight suddenly shouted as the Vampire he was hunting suddenly darted towards the Naga he had accompanied and drank from her before disappearing towards the Assassin and the strangely lethal bear. The knight cracked his knuckles, looking at the monk before him. "Very well." Cold fury echoed throughout his tone. "I'll eviscerate you first, then hunt down and kill the vampire." His armor seemed to glow briefly as he analyzed his knew opponent. "You get first move again, woman."

Knight's brother

The man stared in surprise for a brief moment as his axe was stopped. "I don't want to kill anyone. The Forest demands death. The trees whisper of-Oh Gods." The man's speech was suddenly cut off as he saw the Maliced Naga approaching. In an instant he was a cloud of insects, swarming a short distance away from the Naga and reforming at a safe distance. He had left his axe, but that was a small price to pay to avoid the wrath of a maliced Naga. He settled in to watch what his latest opponent would do, interested in who this newcomer was.

Mackendrick

As the bear continued to tear into him, Mackendrick smacked a hand against his leg, and suddenly a screeching sound filled the clearing as the bear stopped rending his flesh, instead seeming to grate against iron. He suddenly stood up, tossing the bear clear and cursing as he realized he had lost track of his target. Blood was running down his body in rivulets. Suddenly something attempted to shatter his ankle. Fortunately, he was able to fairly solidly resist the attempt. It was that vampire. The one that the hunter had claimed he could kill and deal with. "Foolish. Sloppy. Amateur!" Mackendrick hissed. He pressed his hand against his side and palm in rapid succession. "I don't have time to deal with you. But I do have friends who can."

Mackendrick's form seemed to shift and grind, before three more of him stepped out of his body. They all bowed towards Keri, the bear, and Althalus. "If you'll excuse me, I have a target to kill." His hand briefly touched his wrist and he glanced towards where Annabeth had ran off too. "There you are..." He muttered, his hand returning to touch his other wrist. In an instant he was gone, running off after his target.

Alaira's opponent

"With pleasure, half-breed." He sneered, closing the distance between them quickly and throwing a straight, testing, jab at his opponent.

Grey's axe

YES! YES! AHAHAHAHA The axe crowed triumphantly as it sheared through E'docsil's arm, drawing a screech from that wasn't completely different from her sister's. Inhuman and painful to the ears. Wait. What are you doing, NO! The flames went out as Grey's axe went through the Naga's neck, the axe instead looking more flaky and jagged, as if pieces of it would break off at any second. Good job! We just lost our one advantage against her for something useful against the NOW DEAD AND DECAPITATED AT OUR FEET NAGA! The axe slipped into a foreign and long dead language, clearly berating and cursing Grey.

E'docsil

She back up, screaming in pain and holding her arm. Whatever flaming axe had done, it was of pyromancy. The agony racing through her body, along with the fact she couldn't regrow her arm, told her that much. She had to get away. But not before she at least attempted to finish the job. Her tongue shot out of her mouth, along with her remaining arm (the cut of one was cauterized and not regrowing) grabbing the Naga corpse and head. In short order they were both eaten and down her gullet. She lunged forward, closer to Grey and the Naga, curling in on her self. Her skin writhed, as if she was grinding and shifting for a shape change. Rather than that, however, bone spikes began to appear all over her body.

"DIE. DIE. DIE." She howled, sending bone spikes shooting in all directions out of her body. A second after that she shifted into a rat and attempted to scurry away.

Lyamis, Catacombs

Lyamis’ spear found another ridge hound as he stabbed it in the shoulder, then flipped it into the nearest Naga. As if predicting his intentions, easily done through this body language, she impaled the beast on her spear and tossed it away into another leaping at her right. Each Naga held her or his position easily while the giant of a man contended with the shapeshifter and Ssarak dealt with the Malice. The living ‘corpse’ easily fooled by the illusion, hissed and slithered her way past Grey until suddenly...Twap! Her head rolled from her shoulders and her body toppled to the ground, her body still never to rise again.

Silently, he noticed the lacking sounds of this Tyrael’s bellows among the chaos. He had either dealt with the Malice Naga or was killed, which if it was the latter than likely more trouble was about to overwhelm them shortly. Not wanting to dwell on matters unknown to him yet, Lyamis spear spilled more blood with his small, lethal movements while his tail slapped away the crumbling carcasses for the others to feed upon. It seemed to him the smaller the group got than the smarted some became. Like they were starting, finally, to learn their swarming tactics were no longer effective. That worried him deeply because if they kept thinning them out at this rate, only the intelligent ones would remain and that meant new issues.

When his eyes spotted the downed Malice, Lyamis had mixed feelings about the situation. It was good the Malice was down and gone as it was one less threat to kill them out and deal with later. However, their surprise attack and distraction had been revealed by one of their own. The male Naga frowned on the lacking communication the guardsman and the student, something even a Naga would find it hard pressed to do. They might’ve been isolated and left to live on their own at birth, but each individual within the tribe depended and trusted the other to protect one another when a threat was about to kill any of them. To Lyamis, it was if the man expected Ssarak’s plan to be more harmful than good then take matters into his own hand.

Seeming to sense their original plan, the shapeshifter quickly snatched the body then gulped it down in one bite. When the last of the tail vanished down her large, dragon like maw she then curled into a small ball. Sounds of cracking and grinding came from her from, seeming to shape change. However, it was far worse. Instead thin and thick spike ejected across her surface before they shoot out in all directions. With Ssarak in back of her and Grey in front, the Naga had been exposed to her needle like attack. Especially the Matriarch.

Lyamis instinctive rushed to the side and covered the Matriarch, his body providing a thick barrier as the needles were aiming to pepper any Naga who was unaware. Grey was the closest to the Naga and most likely to shield a few Naga, including the Matriarch and Lyamis, from several needle projectiles and possibly saving their future. If he didn’t… one of them would likely not make it out of the catacombs alive.

Ellys, Lyn’s hunt

Ellys approached. Her body skirting along the grey landscape and slithered closer, her torso seemed only prompted up by the bones that made it. Every movement looked sluggish and half dead when she approached Summer, the student closest to her. The Naga’s eyes were milked over and no longer seeing giving her an image that screamed wrong to any creature with common sense. Without warning, Ellys’ tail lashed out then hit squarely on the girl’s middle sending her into the nearest tree where her figure crumbled and fell into an unconscious heap. Whether she was alive or dead could barely be known by looking at her. To other witnesses, it might’ve well looked as if the creature had killed her instantly.

Her lowered head turned to Leith's direction. Her tail coiled and shifted underneath her, tightening in what seem to be a sitting position. Unless the hydromancer did something, he was going to be for a surprise when Ellys’ body shot forward, her hands reached out and seized him followed by her tail wrapping about his legs to trap him in place. Then the pressure would be applied growing into amounts that could easily crush bone into dust.

Cosh, Lyn’s hunt

The Alpha was in territorial mode, his eye shifted to spot the illusion Annabeth created and the hairs on his fur rose in aggression. His legs stopped abruptly in place as he studied Mackendrick then made a soft sound between a snap and a bark just on the outer edges of the clearing. The two Cosh to his left moved quickly through the brush and started toward the masked man, their image hidden thanks to their stealth, since there was a faint scent of the vampire’s cherry blossoms on his leg. The Alpha and four others however, focused on Keri, the very creature that had wounded their Alpha’s pride and limb. Another of the Alpha’s whiffled cries caused one, the smallest, Cosh to lead the way to pan around toward her back. Once there, the smallest one erupted into the open area then darted right at Keri’s exposed back. Fully visible as a distraction. Most likely the vampire would be able to sense the attack, either hearing the soft rustling or smell the thick, rancid dog scent, moments before the runt snapped down her shoulder and brought her down.

The other two sent toward Annabeth would wait until the moment Mackendrick was gaining on the horse and rider before they would rush out, and then leap on the man’s fast moving figure. They wouldn’t pin him as planned but their teeth would most likely find flesh and blood when he zoomed by their landing figures.

Lyn and her bear, Lyn’s hunt

”Lyn, hold on tightly! Whatever you do, don’t let go. We’re going to go to somewhere safe now.” Annabeth’s voice edged into the child’s focus, Lyn’s mind unable to tell if it was spoken outloud or within her head. Her body was already falling toward the ground that she tried to tighten her grip and balance on the horse. It was difficult in her current state. Both mind and body wanted to shut itself down, rest and recoop but she knew it was a dangerous moment to attempt it. Her weight leaned into Annabeth best she could.

”I-I-I d-d-don’t-t-t know how long I-I-I c-c-can hold-d-d on. S-s-somet-t-thing’s not-t-t right-t-t.” Lyn whispered with a moan, her grip slipping more with each jar of Samson’s hooves. It would plain to anyone observate enough that Lyn was suffering from early stages of Blood Sickness thanks to her overly strong spell. Unless she was given something, she was getting dangerously close to falling off the horse and crashing into the ground during the break neck pace toward the college.

Meanwhile, the bear felt its claws detach as its small, furry body was tossed away. Its claws useless against the metal hard body while its damage ceased causing the demonic toy to growl in frustration at being tossed. It smacked forcefully into the nearest tree where the branches snagged and caught on the furry then tumbled to the ground upon its back.

Despite its size the bear’s weight hadn’t changed in the least making it very, very light and easy to toss. Shaking the daze from its head, the toy growled in irritation when it saw three identical men step out of Mackendrick as it bowed to Althalus, Keri and it. The bear wasn’t interested in the doppleganger when it spotted the real Mackendrick take off after Lyn. Without a moment’s glance, the toy rose to its feet then tried to follow.

Keri Wolf Lyn’s Hunt

The wounds from on the white masked man made Keri very frightened. As a vampire there was no way she could cause that much damage in so little time. Althalus seemed much like a damsel in distress to even cause that much damage himself. The fact was she really had to give credit to whatever did that much to the masked man since she had apparently screwed up herself.” Never send a moron to do the dirty work for you. Oh I forgot it takes a moron to know one.” The man’s speed was… Superior than anyone Keri knew. The movements and the grinding was more unnatural than her still being classified as alive. She felt overwhelmed and powerless making her knees buckle from fear.”Steady there Ker. It's going to be alright. You're going to be alright.”

” T-t-there’s no steady about this! What the hell is going on Althalus? Who was that? How are we supposed to beat a freak like him?” Keri’s choked voice displayed her fear. This thing was much more frightening than her maker. A soft rustling made her fear disappear almost completely. She had hoped these mongrels had learned their lesson but it seemed she would have to finish the job this time. She slashed at where the sound had originated, allowing a glimpse of the Naga, making her fear rise a little more.

If the Cosh was unable to dodge his jaw would have received a massive cut. ” I know this isn't the time to ask but Althalus can a Naga still be alive after they get hit with an arrow in the heart? If not please explain to me how she is. I'd really love to know.” Keri asked as she tore the bottom of her tunic off exposing her navel. She was curious as to how the Naga was alive as to an experiment she wanted to test out. The Cosh seemed to tracked her and she wanted to find out how. If she did maybe they could use this to their advantage.” Here cut this up. I'm quite curious about something. When the clones get into throwing range see if you can pin a piece of cloth to them. I want to see if the mongrels are attracted to the cherry blossom scent.”

Enzius Zarbath

Lyn's Hunt

He had lost them. A rookie mistake. These forests were alien to him and in the confusion he had gotten separated. Enzius raced through the brush, hopping from branch to branch, tree to tree, bush to bush. Leave whirled around him as he sped through the trees. Enzius stopped and rolled to the ground, taking in his surroundings. He looked behind him and saw a gigantic figure looming behind him. At least 9 feet tall, probably more. It was one of the strange beasts that he had fended off earlier. His eyes widened as the animal started bounding towards him at a startling speed. Enzius looked up and saw a branch just tall enough to be higher than the beast. He thought he could make it. He misjudged.

Enzius leaped up through the air, but the beast was faster. Enzius grunted and was thrown backwards onto the beasts antlers, impaled. He tried to scream in pain but his vocal chords didn't work. The antler was covered in Enzius's blood and the hooved monster shook his head around as he tried to shake the snow elf off. Enzius made small grunts, not able to make any noise as his tiny body was jerked around and with the blood slicking the antler, he slid off and was thrown to the side; the beast sprinting away. Enzius laid there as he bled out, blood trickling out of his mouth. He looked up at the sky, it growing dimmer every second. He wondered where he had gone wrong.

The Branch he thought.

The branch was too high.

He drifted into eternal darkness.

Ssarak Dyreackthanose - Catacombs

---

As he attacked, Ssarak saw the bones growing out of the shapeshifter’s body, and noticed the shape they were taking. Spikes, pointing out in all directions. Defensively, they would be quite useless, so the only reason remaining that they could be present was for an attack. He had his helmet to protect his head, though he still raised his shield up regardless.

Spikes! Protect the Nagas! Ssarak shouted telepathically to Grey, just before the bone shards shot out in all directions. Steel protected the majority of Ssarak’s body, and it was not as if the shapeshifter was aiming finely enough to target any of his armor’s gaps, if it was aiming at all. One of the shards did shoot through an exposed part of his upper wing, though the hole it made in the membrane was only the size of the shard itself, and not significant compared to the surface area of the two wings. The impacts from the rest of the spikes against his armor was not exactly pleasant, but they lacked the hardness to penetrate steel, and the mass to break any bones. Against an unarmored target, it would have been an utterly devastating attack, but the shapeshifter was either uneducated in tactics to counter armor, or was too desperate to care.

When Ssarak lowered his shield, he found that, to his surprise, there was no longer a behemoth of a foe before him. In fact, he could not see anything other than Grey in front of him. Knowing that his opponent was a shapeshifter, however, Ssarak’s mind immediately went to what it could have turned into. Something which could fly would be the quickest way to get away, but he could not hear nor see the flapping of wings, so his eyes quickly moved downwards, scanning for anything at all that was moving. Luckily, he was able to spot something which looked mostly like a rat scurrying away. It would be easy to hide a such a small creature, especially once it moved beyond the illumination of the fairy fire. But, Ssarak did not intend to let it escape without one final attempt to stop it. Unfurling his wings, Ssarak braced himself, then flapped his sizable wings with as much force as he could without actually lifting himself off the ground. His intent was to use the powerful gusts of air to blow the tiny creature off of its feet and into a wall, allowing him or Grey to catch up to it, and likely crush it under one of their boots.

Leith frowned at the man's surprise at what he said. The man was crazy to think that the forest itself wanted death. It just seemed a way to justify killing. The man looked like he had more to say, but he stopped suddenly as he saw something behind Leith and dispersed into a swarm of bugs. Leith turned around just in time to see Summer struck by the Naga and sent flying into a tree before falling still on the ground.

"No..." Leith whispered as he looked at Summer slumped on the ground. All he could do was hope that she was alive. With a lot of effort he peeled his eyes off of Summer and turned towards the Naga. He frowned at the sight of the arrow wound on the Naga. That looked like it should have been fatal, but the Naga was still upright, barely. Before he knew it, the Naga was lunging at him. Leith took a step back in surprise and stumbled over his feet. He would have fallen to the ground, but the Naga caught a hold of him. She pinned his arms to his sides and started wrapping her tail around his legs.

Leith knew he needed to act quickly if he wanted to keep his legs intact. Already, the pressure around his legs were increasing quickly and becoming painful. He couldn't move his arms enough to get a swing at the Naga with the axe he got from the Herbamancer. Seraphim Sword was in its trinket-like size, so he couldn't do anything about that.

Or could he? Leith reached into his pocket and grabbed his trinket-sized sword. He then carefully moved the sword around so the the tip was facing away from his body, and towards the Naga. Leith enlarged the sword and the sound of ripping cloth was heard as it tore through his pocket towards the Naga. After he had enlarged the sword, his leg broke. Blinding pain filled his mind as he screamed in pain.

---

Darius stared at the man in surprise as he screamed at him madly. This man was insane. He idolized the Demonmacner to the point of what looked like worship. In any other scenario, Darius would have left this man to die, but he was not alone, so he could not say that this man got away from them an got carried away by the Ridge Hounds. Which he still had to deal with. These ones were not jumping in stupidly like the others were. It looked like they were trying to tire him out by jumping in and out of reach. If he continued to fight them with swipes of his sword he would indeed tire out.

He needed a new approach. Sound does disorient them, but doing multiple loud pops were tiring him out. What he needed to do was to make a single massive pop. Darius took in a few deep breaths to ready himself, and start gathering air in a single point as he made moves against the hounds to prevent them from thinking he was tired out. It took him a few moments to gather enough air. When had enough, he took a deep breath

”COVER YOUR EARS!" he bellowed to the others before he detonated the collected air. It was massive. Enough to possibly disorient anyone not aware of the incoming explosion. After that, Darius fell to a knee. That had taken a lot out of him. Hopefully, it had been enough to disorient the hounds enough to allow everyone else to clean up.

Urgency filled Sinys as cries of pain pierced his ear, his first arrow had been released after a positioning played out in his mind from sounds. The first had been followed by a second the moment after the string became taught again. Even if he could react to the sound of a moving opponent it was very tricky business. One had to know the mindset it posessed, currently with his brain turning over details a small but meaningful detail had been outside of his mind. If it couldn't feel it wouldn't have wanted to dodge, probabilities in his mind might have changed with more accurate information.

So with this thought of logic he fired a third arrow at the space to the left of where his current opponent had been. The first logical step that was made when shooting arrows. Of course he had a rough idea as to what was happening, after all the sound of a bone snapping is unpleasant to most ears. An idea possessed him that would not have normally come over him being the loner that he grew to be, in his thoughts he quarreled with himself over the seemingly dubious matter. Maybe if someone had a short blade I could do some damage. A dagger would be nice, but I could work with a longer hefty knife. Though I don't want to sound silly asking for something others may not have. Nothing ventured nothing gained... he reasoned with himself. His next moments were spent placing himself off to the left further than what he was previously following the idea of of a dodging opponent.

From then he acted on his debate he held with himself "Dose anyone have a knife or daggar? I'd work a lot better with one of those." He said rather loudly, he wanted to make sure anyone near him could hear his words. Not having anytime to explain why he had a bow instead of a blade he drew an arrow and placed his bow behind his back in its holster. The arrow of his choosing had been one that he had chosen for roped arrows, and of course it had a rope stretched to it. In his mind if he could stick an arrow in the creature for sure he could know it's location solidly. This idea would also give him an idea of the angle she was from him, as well as a judgement for distance if the rope was taught. This also was credible to him since the length of his rope, and his tying habits were peculiar, was measured in his mind. He wanted to put that arrow in her shoulder or chest to give the best plan to strike as apposed to the tail.

Of course this had been a train of thought against a normal opponent, if it had become obvious to Sinys that the only thing the snake creature had been concerned if would be perilous death and rampant destruction his tactic would become elementary. Bait, run, and strike. A classic solution for charging boars in his limited experiance. At the moment he had been concerned with a thinking mentally active foe, and this fact held him in check for the time being. His blindness making him hold back from showing his close range abilities. A prime example being the fact that a sight filled person had been captured and crushed. This played heavily in the mind of the youthful Elf, whom was unsure of the foe before the tall and slightly lanky areomancer.

Cosh, Lyn’s hunt

The Cosh was unable to avoid the attack as he was tossed from his original trajectory. With a sickening crack, the beast was smacked into a nearby tree where the wind was knocked from him and his figure crumbled into a heavy at the base. Crimson blood was running from his maw and pooling into the ground underneath, a harsh, breathy whimper edged into the air as he struggled to rise. Hot mist flowed out of his mouth while the jaw bottom hung down, gravity pulling it wider open than was natural. The lower jaw wiggled with his motions to stand upright to shake off the daze sensation from his head.

Wide eyes glared at the vampire as he finally managed to steady himself, then tried to snarl. The sound whistled past and became a harsh, distorted rattle. The sword hadn’t managed to kill the Cosh but the blade had penetrated through the muscle and tendon tissue, rendering the mouth one less threat she would need to worry about. As Keri turned, she note the creature readying itself for another attack. His breath heavy and wounded while more red dribbled down his chest and onto the ground where it stained the grey grass.

Just when Keri finished tearing and tossing her blouse bottom at Althalus, the Cosh’s hind legs snapped forward. His body lifted from the ground in a lunge at the vampire intending to scratch her chest and spill more of her dusty blood.

Ellys, Lyn’s hunt

The corpse of Elly squeezed tightly, her tail muscles constricted easily about the student’s legs and arms with frightening quickness. Her arms hung loosely at her side while she started to apply more pressure as Leith was close enough to see the undead, milky white eyes of the deceased. If Leith’s memory recalled from their mission months ago, he should be able to recall some of the corpse's’ eyes had the same dead image allowing him to conclude the Naga was already dead despite her shambling figure trying to crush him. The Malice Naga drew her victim closer while she widened her jaw and erected her fangs to pierce his throat.

Both to rip it out or inject her venom into his currently abused body. Suddenly, the sword which Leith had enlarge erupted through the Naga’s torso middle causing her to stop in mid-action as her jaws snapped inches from his face. Her soul long gone, she was unable to think about spitting itt and started to push her body against the protruding weapon that currently skewered her. Centimeter by centimeter her flesh bleed, dowsing her front in nothing but crimson coloring while arms tried to pull him closer to her fangs now extending. Pain from Leith’s screams didn’t faze her despite its loudness breaking into the air to all those around them. However, even in pain he would note the coil’s seemed to have lost some strength as his blade had grazed her spinal cord, not enough to stop her sadly.

Suddenly, two arrows thumped into Ellys lower back from Sinys’ direction causing her coils to loosen. It should allow Leith to pull one of his arms free while the Naga’s head thrashed behind her as if seeking the source, her middle still stuck from rotating completely toward the blind elf and held her in place. Her skin stretched on the wound sides and pulled away from the spine, preventing her coils from constricting as rapidly as before. Sinys’ third arrow had missed since the fresh corpse hadn’t reacted like a normal, living creature.

Baulder, Catacombs

"You fool you'll ki-" was all Baulder was able to get out before the loud shockwave knocked him out of the clutches of the hounds. For a second Baulder thought he had died, as he could not see or hear anything. While his vision quickly returned his ears were still ringing incredibly loudly. He was on the ground spread out on the floor trying to orient himself to where he was again. The shockwave Darius had sent out had sent the hounds into a frenzy and were now trying to scramble to their claws again as they figured out where they were. One was so out of it that it began to thrash its head around wildly trying to make sense of the world without sound. Baulder moved his hands to his ears to try and stop the ringing and shut his eyes hard. Feeling the ground with his body Baulder made and effort to stand up but quickly fell down because he was so disorientated. He took one of his hands off his ear and put it on the ground to right himself onto his knees. Baulder then started trying to blink with his eyes wide as if he were just waking up.

Ears still ringing, Baulder turned behind him towards the pile of corpse hounds and seeing John bleeding from the ears and eyes stabbing one of the larger hounds that had grabbed him to death. Baulder yelled out to John but he couldn't hear anything but the ringing, even though he could feel his throat straining. Baulder began crawling over to his double on his hands and knees trying to steady himself. But Baulder had to stop for a moment and wiped the blood on his hands on his shirt. His hands were beginning to become slippery with blood, threatening to make him slip forward onto his face. Still yelling out his demon's name but still not hearing anything Baulder began to become light headed. The ground moving into angles they shouldn't be, his vision becoming filled with black dots. He could feel himself losing the ability to control his jaw and instinctively clenched it for fear of losing control of it. He was still trying to yell to the demon for help but he couldn't tell if he was making any noise. He could feel the spittle be ejected from between his teeth and his vocal cords straining to make noise but all he could hear was the ringing. The ringing was so loud, so very loud. He just wanted the ringing to stop.

Baulder put one of his hands on the demon who was still stabbing the now very dead hound. The demon brought the blade immediately to his throat, but stopping just short of killing him. The demon's face went from pure anger to fear in a second and he put the knife into it's holster quickly and grabbed Baulder before he collapsed face first into the floor. Baulder looked at the demon's face, it seemed to him like he was trying to say words but even if Baulder could lip read he doubted his demon's ability to actually make coherent sentences. Baulder, holding onto the demons shoulders began trying to say "The rune! The rune!" But Baulder couldn't be sure what it sounded like, he was going off what he remembered the word sounding like.

In that moment the pain hit him like a wave. He suddenly felt all the tears and cuts on his body from the hounds. He went limp for a second as he was using John to stand up. He managed to stop himself falling over for a second but he found himself in intense pain. The cuts on his chest in particular felt like a brand was being put to him. Clenching his jaw again and trying to force a grunt out of his mouth more spittle flew out of his teeth. It didn't help that he could barely see now with his vision darkening. Then he felt the intense healing of the rune on his skin. While Baulder had been struggling to stand up against his demon, John had gotten to work producing the healing rune. Baulders knees went weak again for a second but this time he was hanging onto John's shoulder and kept himself from collapsing. Not knowing where he was in relation to the naga or the other students Baulder tried to say the words "We must kill the Naga brothers and sisters! You must assist me, they will die because our master demands it!" Baulder was entirely unaware if any of those words managed to escape his clenched mouth but he had made the effort. He then managed to spot the naga in his narrow field of vision. Still killing hounds and.... something else. He couldn't make it out as there was a man with a shield in front of it and Ssarak dealing with it and a dying naga. Baulder reached over to John's dagger and pulled it from it's sheath and pointed the dagger at the naga.

"Their death has been demanded, we comply!" Baulder managed to open his mouth this time but he still could not tell what it actually sounded like. The ringing seemed like it was now a fact of life to him, never ceasing and covering up any noise the world should be providing him. Still leaning heavily on John Baulder began to step in the direction of the naga, clutching the blade as tightly as he could in his weak hands. He clenched his jaw again and began grunting with every step he took towards the naga, making a sure but slow pace towards them. If Baulder could see anything that wasn't the naga he ignored it. Master Tyrael had demanded their deaths, Baulder could not disappoint master Tyrael. He wouldn't. But the distanced between him and the naga seemed like an eternity away even though it couldn't be more than 30 yards. Baulder was having a hard time navigation over all the corpses littering the catacomb now. Slowing what could only already be described as a crawling speed.

Myrn Vaan'Atisha

Things were hectic as ever as the Ridge Hounds started hopping around everyone like angry, man-eating fleas. Myrn had to go on the defensive as the monsters actually started posing more of a threat with fewer of them around to get in each other's ways, but she knew if she could kill one that the beasts would be stupid enough to stop what they were doing and eat their dead. And with so few of them left, they shouldn't finish as quickly. One of the Ridge Hounds jumped on her back and bite into Myrn's shoulder, causing her to shout in pain. "Shit!" Quickly Myrn brought her blade through the Ridge Hound's skull, using it as leverage as she tossed the corpse far away from her past the ridge hounds she was fighting. And sure enough they went after the body like a dog fetching a stick.

However despite the momentary reprieve, Myrn looked at her shoulder. It was severely wounded and it would certainly weaken her fighting prowess. Nothing a little healing magic can't fix, but she doesn't have access to such things right now. Not to mention that even if she did, those Ridge Hounds would be on her the moment she was finished, if not sooner. No, Myrn can patch herself up later. Now it was time to finish this fight once and for all. Ignoring her wound, Myrn got ready for her final attack.

And just as she asked, Darius had a spell to stun the Ridge Hounds. When he told everyone to cover their ears Myrn did as told, and even though she couldn't hear Darius's explosion of sound, she certainly felt it. It was sudden yet intense, as if she was thrown into the bottom of a lake, crushed by the pressure of water. But as fast as it came the feeling was gone and the Ridge Hounds were all stunned. Now it was Myrn's turn. Gripping her Dar'Missan with both hands Myrn got into a low stance and looked at each of her opponents. For just four seconds, Myrn emptied her thoughts and meditated, and during her meditation she saw only herself and her enemies. Each second she felt a renewed vigor as well as a direct path to each of her targets, avoiding her allies and obstacles. When she opened her eyes Myrn pointed her blade at her first target and dashed forward.

"Path of Blades."

Myrn was at the first Ridge Hound in less than a second. She swung at the creature, but did not drag her whole blade through. Instead, she gave the monster a small cut, and then used the sheer speed of her Dar'Missan to carry the weight of her blow through the wound and cut the ridge hound in half. This effectively allowed Myrn to keep moving even after delivering a powerful blow, so she could do the same to the Ridge Hounds in the hall. Myrn went from one ridge hound to another, letting the speed from her swing tear open the cuts Myrn puts onto the ridge hounds so she can continue her path of destruction. She slew the ridge hounds attacking Darius, sliced through the ones trying to eat Baulder, and even took out the few that were after her. The only ones Myrn couldn't get to where the Ridge Hounds that were previously at the Naga's, and even then she managed to cut down two as they ran past her.

By the time Myrn came to a full stop the Ridge Hounds stopped moving. Suddenly they would fall apart, cut in half by Myrn's attacks. But because Myrn didn't bother to heal herself, the wound on her shoulder got worse, and blood began to burst from it. Unknowingly to her, the Ridge Hound had not only managed to make her bleed heavidly, but actually broke her shoulder, and Myrn's Alpha's Strike did not help it at all. Another painful scream escaped Myrn's mouth as she fell to the ground, clutching her bloody arm. She didn't hear Baulder's crazed ranting but if she knew that he was still intent on killing the naga, she would have tried to knock him out.

Leith sighed in relief when the pressure on this leg lessened. He looked at the Naga that broke his leg and realized that she looked dead. Which was odd because she was still trying to kill him. It almost looked like Necromancy, but something wasn't right. The Naga was still bleeding. It seemed like there was some truth to the stories he had read about the Naga. They have to die twice, or something similar to that. Currently, though, he was still stuck, and the only thing keeping him relatively safe was the fact the sword acted as a buffer between him and the thing's fangs.

Two thumps made the Naga jerk and turn her head. It also caused her tail to loosen up on him slightly, and gave him enough room to act. Quickly, Leith shrunk the sword back down to regular size and pulled his arm free. He pointed the trinket at the Naga's head and enlarged the sword a second time.

Keri Wolf Lyn’s Hunt

Low towards the ground into a crouched position was the animal was once more. It's jaw was hanging as if it was hanging by a tread. Blood that was dripping off the sides covered the chest area making the fur turn darker and clump together. The ground by it's feet was a deep crimson looking color. This was how Keri would have described it by her glimpsed, then again if one was close enough they wouldn't have needed it, anger seemed to how clouded it's eyes. After she torn her tunic grass shifting, as if forcefully moved, caught her attention. The animal was wounded as she could tell by the sound of it's breathing.

This beast seemed to have everything but a vampire’s speed giving Keri an idea. If she could use her speed instead of strength she would have better luck. As the monster lunged forward she moved to the left as she slashed at it's side. If the Cosh was unsuccessful in either hitting Keri’s right side or dodging the attack there would be a fairly decent cut on its left side. It was close but she was able to stop behind the animal. Shifting to a block in case of a counter. She patiently laid in wait listening to the dripping of blood from it's wounded jaw.

A sense of satisfaction flooded Sinys's senses as two solid thumps hit his intended target. He knew that his quarry had been marked, but had been confused as to why the Naga had not moved from its spot or even cry out in pain. For now he considered it to be a rush of energy dulling the pain. His mind worked over the details he could find briefly. A cold chill ran up and down his spine like an electric pulse, a feeling he often associated with accidents and death. It noticed him, it noticed him for sure. Something didn't seem quite right to the young elf with this whole situation.

He shook his head to clear himself of deep thought, the idea was to damage the thing infront of himself. Not to study it in a perilous moment in time. He decided that getting caught would do him no good and pulled his bow out again and took his firing stance once more listening to the thrashing of her head. Imagining where that vertical target would be he drew three more arrows shooting them one at a time from the middle of her spine to what he assumed was her neck starting with the roped arrow.

The distance itself had not given him a clear picture for the angle he needed to fire so his aim had been a little higher than he had originally wanted. He had taken his time with each shot now that his target had begun flailing. Intending to use the moment of chaos to his advantage, the rope he had held onto during his releases. He then pulled back the line tight and secured it firmly if it had stuck. Not pulling the target back, just holding it in place for the time being. If he had missed he would yank it back in a whip like motion, and use it again.

Althalus

Althalus cursed as the assassin split into four and then one ran off. "Oh, fuck you." He snarled as the three remaining ones bowed at him and Keri. "Beats me. He's really annoying though, as you've noticed. As for killing him, that's simple!" He drew two knives, crouching into a ready position. "We stab them repeatedly until they die." At the mention of a Naga he glanced over at Ellys and cursed. "She's gone into Malice. If you don't destroy the brain she'll just keep coming. She's essentially a walking corpse of rage and murder."

What happened next was a bit of a blur. The vampire tossed him a rag, animals suddenly attacked, and the other three of the assassin suddenly leapt into action. Althalus slashed at one animal only to be knocked over as an assassin was thrown by another. As he struggled to his feet, all three assassins suddenly cried out in pain. Before they could recover, two were cut down by the beasts. One was bleeding heavily and suddenly disappeared as the original assassin abruptly turned around and started heading back towards them, a knife in each hand. "This...might not be better."

E'docsil

As the gust of wind hit the three legged rat, it abruptly shifted into a large roly-poly, curling into a defenseive ball and smacking into the wall with an audible thump. In an instant she was back into a rat, scurrying off into the darkness.

Aramir

The Ridge Hounds were closing in quickly. Far too quickly. Aramir's last arrows were gone, only hitting a couple of the monsters, and the other ones were too far away for her to just grab. There was one thing she could do. She tossed her bow to the ground behind her, (damned if she was gonna be responsible for burning it) and threw her hands out in front of her, ignoring most of the screeching and howling and ranting around her in favor of focusing on the immediate threat.

Fire leapt from her hands, burning anything foolish enough to get in it's path. Aramir grinned as they hounds were either killed or forced back. Of course, with raging flames around her, she didn't hear Darius' warning. It was with a scream she hit the ground, covering her ears in an attempt to block the pain out.

Ellys, Lyn’s hunt

Ellys was distracted, her head turned away, as she bared her fangs. Groggily her face swayed back to face her current victim when she felt the sword pulled out of her middle. Immediately fresh wave of blood washed down her torso followed by a wrinkled, pinkish rope that was her intestines and piled to the ground. Clumps of dirt clung to the thick organs as more fell from the gaping hole while emptying out her insides, her liver, kidneys and more shortly joined the rest. The Naga didn’t seem to notice or care when she strike forward.

Suddenly two things happened at once. Leith’s sword grew and the tip sliced through her head back, severing her spine and taking a chunk from her skull when it came out the other side. There was a distinct crack like a large, oversize coconut being busted open. Brain matter and bone fragments sprayed through her hair soaking it in her fluids as she made a death rattle, her body trembling slightly when Sinys’ arrows hit their mark again. Each aiming higher up than the last, through one was off by a fraction. It sliced through the Naga’s face side and toward Leith, narrowly missing him when it smacked into the ground behind him.

When it all ended, the Naga slumped over and stilled in death, collapsing to the ground.

Helena

It had been a terribly long way to get here. Denny had been very insistent when he'd asked her to go on a trip with him that he wasn't trying to take her away to that college that her father had been going on about and she'd refused to consider. She didn't want to leave just then. School could wait a little while longer. There were things...she assured them all, that she was doing and she needed to stay there to do them. She could keep reading, learn that way to control her magic. Control the fire. That incident in the warehouse a few weeks ago was nothing. She totally had meant to light the box on fire. It wasn't an accident at all, and she so wished they would all stop saying that it was. She was in control.

So she trusted Denny. If you couldn't trust your lover, the who could you trust? But he'd lied to her. And he'd suffered for it too. Not quite physically. At least she'd not burned him or singed his hair off. She said it was because she loved him too much. But if she was truly honest with herself, deep down, she knew she wasn't in control enough. And even just giving him something as little as a rug burn could get out of hand. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she did truly hurt him like that. So she made him suffer other ways. But even with that, he didn't turn around and take her back. And eventually, she admitted, only to herself and never aloud to him, that they were right and she needed this.

They were so close to the school now that she was starting to get nervous about it. She'd never been to anything like this before. She'd hardly been to school to begin with. Her mother and stepmother had pretty much taught her everything she hadn’t taught herself. So this was something well beyond on her just then. She was dragging her feet now. Trying to make it take longer than it needed to because she knew that it was just over that next rise and she'd be saying goodbye to the last comforts of home and hello to the scary reality of a magical college.

Or things could be delayed more. Denny had stopped her, his arm across her chest to keep her from going forward. She'd not been looking at him and when she did, the question that had been on her lips dried up and she turned to look where he was looking. There was something going on out of sight, sounds of fighting was drifting through the trees. And they knew the sounds of fighting well.

“Denny,” Helena started softly, not knowing where potential threats might be at around them, “I...I don't know if it's wise for us to…” But what she was thinking was more it was unwise for him to get involved in what was going on. She had some advantages that he didn't. And she didn't want him to get hurt. They'd been lucky on their trip here, and they'd not encountered much of any trouble.

“Are you kidding me, Helena,” he huffed quietly, grabbing at her hand as she went to step away without thinking much.

“Are fucking kidding me?” She said as she yanked her hand free of his and took off faster than he could catch up to her. She wasn't used to trees and the like, but she still made her way through rather quickly and quietly, though not silently at all, just quiet enough to not have everyone know she was coming. Hopefully that wouldn't backfire on her too much.

She heard the fast progress of the hounds as they rushed through the trees ahead of her. Or she thought they were. She couldn't see much of anything, even after pushing her glasses back up her nose. She hung back a moment to see if they had seen her, but they had a scent they were after and she wasn't it.

She took after the noise, even if part of her was really wishing she wasn't so damn headstrong. This was going to get her into something dirty she was sure, but already there was no going back. She managed to stumble across, though distantly, she'd heard through the trees. Hanging back Helena pulled a blade from her boot, looking the scene over before she charged even more headlong in. She needed to do some sort of planning, even if it was half-assed and likely to only just avoid getting herself killed.

Well this is a bit of a clusterfuck, she thought as she watched the creatures she'd followed after be tossed about some without really seeming all that bothered by it. Slowly, she began to circle around towards what she could only assume were students, trying to get closer to them. If she was going to be using her fire, she didn't want to get them too. But coming at the enemy from behind had its advantages too.

There was so much blood, just everywhere. She didn't think she'd ever seen this much blood before in her life. Even when she'd been in a slaughter house it hadn't seemed this bad. Was this what she really wanted to get involved in? It was too late now though to think about such things. She was here and she was going to help. Or try to. Taking a deep breath, she stood more upright than she'd been, aimed, and tossed the blade at one of the beasts. It wouldn't kill anything, she was sure of that, but it would hurt and distract whatever it did manage to hit. Just hopefully not one of the people she was trying to help.

Cosh, Lyn’s hunt

Keri’s move was successful. Her body moved to the left, altering her position just when the Cosh’s arm reached out and tried to slash across her front. His claws narrowly missed her by a hair’s breath and skimmed the surface. The clothing tugged then ceased, barely touched, while he thumped upon all fours. Pain flashed along his side drawing a disgruntled shriek muffled by the precariously hanging jaw causing the omega’s head to jerk back and spy the long, deep gash down its greyish coat. There was a small glimpse of white from where the weapon had managed to skin all the way to the bone, leaving some of the rib exposed through the stripped patterned. Red dripped along the skin and fell to the ground, quickly soaked up, causing the beast’s eyes to twinkle for fresh violence.

Already the Alpha had started another assault, with three of his four pack hunters taking down Mackendrick’s clones. It was easier than expected as the three were used to working together and could easily read each other’s movements and in moments they turned upon the remaining college students. The Alpha himself leading the attack, his body hunched down behind just a few feet from Keri’s position and coming around her from behind.

"This...might not be better."

On hearing Althalus speak, the Alpha seemed to snap in agreement. His head jerked to the side causing Keri’s currently target to launch at her leg, attempting to bit down then break with its massive jaw strength. Meanwhile, another jerked forward to pounce on her exposed back at the same time. The smaller Cosh never got very far. A dagger, seemingly out of nowhere, flew into its shoulder and landed with a soft thump. This unexpected action caused the beast to lose balance and crash into his side, skirting across the ground a few inches. Pissed at being denied his prey, the Alpha’s lips curled back then snarled at the new comer. His tail flickered and the fourth that had joined stepped forward into the fray, pacing around Helena’s left with a snapping snarl hoping to intimidating her off. The moment she attacked through, he would dart to the side then abruptly vanished using his camouflage ability.

Through if she looked closely at the ground, then the red headed woman might notice in some places the grey grass would indent then pop up again. This usually only happened when someone was stepping on it and among one of the few ways to give the feline like monsters away when in this mode

Another just finished off a Mackendrick clone, ripping the clone’s throat out, then seemed to smile wickedly at Althalus. In a blink of an eye… the creature vanished in front of everyone’s eyes. His lithe body moved around to Althalus’ left in an attempt to get an immediate kill in the first movement and use his stealth to his advantage, if he was wasn’t noticed than Althalus would find himself piled underneath a rather large kitty. The teeth a brief flash before it sank into his throat then tried to rip it out.

Sinys

Lyn's hunt.

With a harsh yank on the rope with his right hand, in the same motion his right leg twisted to allow power to flow into his left. Giving him enough strength to pull the arrow out of the fully dead body. The sound of Elley's head squelching made a horrid noise in Sinys ears. He felt his stomach wanting to give out. After all he had never really been in battle like this. Hunting seemed... alot cleaner to him than this. Brushing this feeling aside feeling the arrow come into his bubble of vision. He knew what it had been the moment the triangular sharpened surface began piercing the wall of the unknown into the known. He of course calculated the angle of it's return due to the influence he made on the rope.

He hadn't been far off, but it was closer to his face than he preferred. As the shaft gained form his hand darted out in an attempt to grasp the length of it for control. A brief time passed before his came back, he became truely blind for the first time in a long time. If but for a slice of a second of time he had been faster, his hand caught feathers still. It had not been something he liked at all, any of it in which ever way. He grew sad at the thought of not being able to use the last technique his father tried to pass down to him. He had an opportunity to use it and took it for later experiance.

Bringing his focus back he rushed over to the first student he was to meet, in the first skirmish he had ever participated in. That had been an odd thought to him, his mind stored it to ponder at his leisure. First thing he did was pull the tail from around the poor guy before rigormortis set in. The second thing he did was apologize "Sorry I got here late, I heard your leg snap earlier. The depth of the sound told me which bone it had been. I don't have time to talk, I sense a fight in the other direction... That last arrow missed. My mistake if it came close to you." he knew how close it should have been considering the appearant situation now that he was closer.

His eyes bored into Leith's with no emotion or care, all of that translated into his voice. With no example to guide him his features generally remained flat. Occasionally he showed some, generally not considering his style. He tried to give a smile that would simply come off as akward. Deceptively honest in a certain sense. Quickly he stood and turned using one leg as a pivot. His torso leaned low as that leg thrust him foreward, the momentum gathered from that movement drove him faster than a dead start. The jolt of speed him into a six foot elf's lengthy sprint. He used the momentum to jump into his next push his legs stretched out. After some time the brawl grew louder.

At this time he drew up the memory of what the driver described to him with resentment building in him. As he harbored this feeling he didn't slow but instead drove himself into what he gathered shortly to be the most dire situation he could assist in. The Cosh poised to attack the leg of someone, in the middle of all the fighting. If he had hit his shoulder would have dug deeply into the ribs of his target. Either way the situation played out he would roll to his feet from a ventricle position by tumbling onto his back then twisting around to face his new quarry. The difference would be whether or not he would try to put more power into hitting the ground. In addition the distance put between them. The picture that entered his vision told him enough of this one's capabilities, mostly because it traveled the planet on all fours.

He pulled a broad head from his quiver at his waist holding it poised to attack. His waist had been low to the ground giving him balance and foundational strength. The other hand held the bow he possesed, there was more than one way to use a bow. The less used technique had been crude but effective. Especially with such a hard and flexible bow. Using the style his father passed down to him opened scars that were just beginning to heal. Each movement stabbed him with anger at his own helplessness. The emotion welled up in him like a cold fury lending to his aggresion.

He paused for a second "A-am I here at a- a good ti-me?" he asked with intrigue dripping from his bland face. Near the end of his breathless inquiry he pushed himself to land an attack. The bow came down first searching for the back of the neck of the lesser Cosh, in the same motion he sliced with the broad head in the same direction. This left him slightly open with the twisting force from the ground up gave the thing his back. He however planned on this and threw his bow to the side and lifting his planted foot to turn him around with enough force to tear some flesh away with the arrow in his other hand.

Against a thinking opponent it might realize that his movements were well practiced and reactionary. That however was a chink in his armor of attacking, these moves could be easy to counter if the fight drug out. As his reactions would become obvious to certain situations.

Tyrael Marchosias

The Ridge Hounds fell, one-by-one, as the students fought them to the last. Aramir was the last one to fight against the survivors, but when she was stunned, the Ridge Hound who was lunging at her continued to do so, even as it was stunned in midair. Despite this however, it still managed to land on the Snow Elf and was going to shred her apart in it's fury. Or would have, had a blade not emerged from the monster's head, dripping vicious sticky blood on the elf. Standing over her was a demonic entity, a creature from the depths of the Inferno. It was Tyrael, albeit... Changed. Unlike before he looked relatively "Normal", yet this was obviously not his usual form. Tossing the dead Ridge Hound away the demonomancy teacher spoke quietly, almost frighteningly so.

"This mission has been a disaster. Take the students back to the surface. Now."

As he spoke, his Threshold Guardian was making his appearance, if the sound of him dragging his massive body wasn't enough to alert the others. He completely blocked off one of the tunnels, and on the other side were his amorphous demons, though they were hidden. They would reveal themselves however, if anyone tried to go in that direction. The only other path that didn't have a demon was the one Tyrael was on. And as he stepped forward, each stepped changed the catacombs around him. The grey stone and walls vanished into an open area that had floating stones in the skies, but the landscape was desolate. The husks of trees in the background indicated that this place was once a civilization, but not only tentacled monstrosities wander in the distance, oblivious to the students, demonomancer, and others. But depite what people could see in the distance, there was also a distinct border where the this strange realm and the physical realm met. Most of the students were on one side, while Ssarak, Grey, the nagas, and the shapeshifter were on the other.

Despite the appearance of this place, this part of the Inferno Realm. And the only reason that no one else caught in the realm was not petrified and turned to dust, as this realm often will do to outsiders, was because of Tyrael's magic. Even Baulder and Colette's demonomancer would barely be enough to save themselves, let alone anyone else. But Tyrael was giving everyone a chance to leave. Everyone but the nagas and the shapeshifter.

"I will deal with the naga, and this new threat. Take the wounded and leave this place."

Tyrael spoke calmly, almost serene. This was unlike the roar of blood and anger that had previously echoed through the halls. But it was obvious that he wasn't here to talk. He just wanted the students gone. The fact that he was manifesting the Inferno here, a powerful but draining magical technique, should make it obvious that he was not holding back. Anyone who chose to be his enemy right now would face him at his strongest, in his domain. He only had one mercy to give. The students will have to use it wisely.

Baulder, Catacombs

Baulder could only keep his field of vision on the Naga now, even that though was quickly closing. He had the field of view of a large bowl now, but he could tell that it was going to get smaller from there too. As he was making his way to the Naga with blade still outstreched he looked beyond the Naga and saw a massive wall of flesh begin to take up the hallway. Either Tyrael had finally arrived, or the Inferno had opened itself into the catacombs. Baulder began to believe the latter as he turn around himself while John propped him up. The walls we becoming deceptively larger and beginning to open up into what he could only presume was the Inferno. We figured this was a possibility. Baulder found himself in solemn agreeance with the fact that he was likely to die now. If only he could give him more time, maybe he would find him.

As Baulder collapsed to his knees and John began to fade away Baulder reached out to his fading demon and then he was gone. Baulder tried to get himself up, even sheathing his blade to try and stand but he only succeeded in landing on his hands and knees again. Baulder decided to lean back on his knees and pivoting his foot to touch the ground so that he was stable. He looked back at the leading edge of the Inferno that was coming towards him and he realized that right next to him was a bipedal demon. "Demon.." Baulder coughed hard for a moment then turned back to the demon "I do not know if you are of the masters brood or... maybe you are him. Find Tyrael, tell him.... I failed... there were so many of them.... we killed so many of them.... couldn't..... get to them. We tried Tyrael, we could not accomplish your orders. We are..... sorry for that." Baulder suddenly went limp and face planted forwards into a ridgehound body. Through Baulder's pinhole of vision he was able to see the demon continue moving past him. Baulder had failed him, Baulder was undeserving of his mercy.