Sure enough, everything went to hell quickly. While Annabeth managed to get the girl, Jessie, to cooperate, the Nox started to shift again. "Dammit, why now!?" And to make matter's worse, the Nightmare was back. Everyone was making a dash to the room that Darrel directed, but the beast was heading straight for Drake. Everyone was moving except Colette, who had made the decision to fight the Nightmare herself. "Colette get back here!" Annabeth had to save her magic; she couldn't risk Blood Sickness trying to use her spells to distract the Nightmare. Instead she took her dagger and hurled it in the Nightmare's path, hoping that maybe the blade would sink into it's eye or something, or at least distract it long enough for Annabeth to grab Colette and get to the room.
"Stay with the group Colette, follow me!" The girl grabbed the vampire by her hand, not wanting her friend to throw her life away trying to hold this beast back. The room was just a few feet away; if she could get Colette in there, then Annabeth could save them all. "Let's go!"
DIPLOMACY MISSION
The first thing Ssarak would notice was the presence of a ward; but not simply a novice one, but one at least equal to his own. It was strong enough that if it weren't for the fact that Ssarak was actively looking for it, this ward could have possibly gone beneath his notice. Even now, tracking the ward was about as difficult as tracking the thief himself, who had the advantage of moving through the narrow alleyways; various obstacles such as canvas covers and tunnels covered the thief from above, and without Ssarak attempting to break through his ward he would have quickly lost the thief's position from above.
Leith's attempt to stop the thief failed, however it did succeed in causing the thief to crash into the wall with a sickening crunch. He quickly recovered and ran, however it was obvious that he had damaged his arm from the crash. For those pursing the man on foot, they may have noticed as he ran into a dark tunnel that he removed his mask; what was at first a dark blade hood soon revealed long fiery red hair. When he was outy of the tunnel, he was in front of a thick crowd of parade goers and onlookers. They didn't seem to notice him as he pushed through them and ran across the parade with agile swiftness, avoiding the horses and dancers and easily reaching the other side of the street.
He cursed as the room began shaking again, and he heard the snort of the Nitemare charging again. Of course this happens, why would we ever get a single stupid break in this stupid place. He complained to himself, hoping the group would hurry up and not try to be heroes. Of course, one of his own group decided to prove him wrong. Colette tried to make a fight against the Nitemare when speed was of the essence and stupid heroics were not. "Colette! We can kill it later, right now we need to stick together!" Annabeth, who actually had a physical presence, went to grab her. "Good enough!" Unable to grab anyone himself, he settled for urging others into the room. "Lets go lets go lets go. Annabeth and Colette can take care of themselves, and we don't want to end up like a great number of people have on this trip." When they didn't start moving fast enough for his liking, he turned to the only other person with physical presence for help. "Helena, start pushing them. I can't do anything."
Sansar, Yarosmere
"Oh yeah, just don't offend the madman whose fanatics despise most of what the College stands for. Easy!" Aramir replied. "All the while hoping that he doesn't assume that our friends, having not returned from their kidnapping, have gone on to the side of the rebels and tries to capture us to ensure that he has bargaining chips." She smiled in an overly chipper way. "Shouldn't be a problem at all!" She glanced idly around, as if to ensure that no one was listening. "So what's the plan if we have to suddenly run for our lives because we've some how offended the King?"
"And what are we going to tell the College? Aside from the fact that the entire nation has gone insane."
Unknown Location, Yarosmere
Sahra smiled softly, speaking as Mak rolled his eyes. "We have no other choice. If anything it will help you act like you didn't enjoy your time staying here. We'll drop you off close to the palace. I suggest you have a story about how you escaped ready for the guards, lest they try to arrest you for being rebel collaborators."
She turned her gaze to Mar. "While I doubt the madman will give you enough of a courtesy to actually go to an infirmary, we'll cover that eventuality as well. A psychomancy rune will be made and given to you, hiding all your non-human traits from examination. It'll only last a few hours, but that is all the time you'll need to get out of Yarosmere after the dinner. Trust me, you will not want to stay any longer than absolutely necessary in this Inferno-cursed country."
"To review, we're going to beat you so you're not considered traitors by the crown, ensure that any disguises you need are in place so you don't get revealed and killed, and be on hand if everything goes to an absolute disaster and you need to get out of the palace as fast as possible. Any questions or requests?"
Ssarak continued pressing into the thief’s ward. It was much stronger than he would have expected, which only furthered his suspicion that this was no random robbery. However, he could not take the time to think on such speculation while the chase had his focus. Ssarak followed along the path above the thief as much as possible, though as he started taking routes that he could not follow directly, he took advantage of his ability to bypass buildings entirely to try to cut him off.
Raising his altitude enough to get above the rooftops, Ssarak continued to pressure his ward as much as possible, as well as to try to keep getting a sense of his location. It took a moment for Ssarak to discern the logical exit of the tunnel, and by the time Ssarak had flown over to it, his fast-moving figure was halfway through the crowd. On the ground, it would likely be difficult to track him through the mass of people, but Ssarak could help with that. He had already been giving his allies directions through the chase. This time, he created an illusion for his allies in the form of a beacon of light shooting up from the thief into the sky. It would reduce his pressure on the ward, but it would be worth it to allow his allies the ability to track, and hopefully catch up with the target.
Follow the light!” Ssarak said telepathically to his allies, just to be sure that it was clear.
Helena looked at Athalus with something like disgust on her face. “What the hell do you think I'm doing?!” she shouted back at him, pulling at the other man’s arm as if to drag him faster, regardless of what he was doing. She made it to Annabeth and finally let him go, turning around to see who else was left.
“Colette,” she called, trying to find the other girl in the dark. “Can't be the heroine if you're dead. Run first, then attack.” She knew she’d been stupid before, but that was a much smaller a threat. A threat that she could have handled. But this was just stupid, standing up to this beast that could fucking teleport and leave the plane they were currently existing in to move about. Like why would they stand and fight that when they could flee?
The Nitemare snorted and rushed forward. Colette could see the hallways behind it collapsing, each wall falling in on itself and then sucked backwards into a swirling hole. Even the beast seemed terrified at being sucked since it barely reacted to the searing pain of the rapier across its flank or the dagger that nicked its shoulder. Instead it just plowed onward past Colette who crouched down beside a wall to avoid its path. With the last of the party pulled in, the rumble lowered and the exit sealed itself. Now whatever force had collapse the hallway was working on the room itself.
Darell, upon spotting it, yelled at the others and gestured for them to follow him across the room. His feet moved quickly toward it while the roof started to crumble from the top and the floor rose to crush whatever came into its path.
~~~|After entering the tunnel|~~~
After entering the tunnel, darkness seemed to swallow them. A pale blue light stretched in the distance and casted everything in an eerie blue as they drew closer with each step. The shifting of the room had ceased the moment they entered the tunnel allowing them all a breather from their harrowing experience. Alert and wired with adrenaline, Darell remained ahead of the others. Every few steps his head whipped about then shifted from one side to the other.
Gradually they entered a circular room and at the center was a dark, sinister figure gently running his clawed hands upon the orb. He raised his bird like mask to notice the students then seemed to give an aura of amusement.
Uncovering Shadows
Lyn, Hysteria (Djarkel)
Lyn silently cheered when Leith created a small puddle, the water slipping the thief up and caused him to crash into a stone wall. Not surprisingly the man managed to recover and keep on running faster, his pace unfazed by the sudden blow. Cursing under her breath, Lyn pushed her legs faster. The muscles burned and protested, but she ignored them in favor of gaining ground. She naturally jerked to the side to avoid the puddle as it retracted into the air and returned to Leith for additional use. Gradually recovering lost momentum, she parkour over the various crates left abandoned in the street sides while darting around what few bodies were walking within the alleyway.
Despite her lithe build and focus on speed, she still couldn’t catch him easily and he began to pull away into a dark tunnel. A flicker of movement and a flutter of red hair was revealed before he melted into the crowds. His figure pushed any spectator aside on his path deeper into the people. The moment he reached the crowd, Lyn knew there would be little chance to catch him. She hated herself for her failure to reach the man as she looked about quickly for a high vantage point. To her side was a grey, aged trellis on a nearby wall. Usually they were used for plants but in Djarkel, the cursed land made such things difficult or ugly as only withered vines pitiful clung to the wooden frame now.
Carefully she paused then began to scale the trellis toward the building’s roof. In moments she was gone, Leith likely the only one that spotted her small rear vanish over the roof’s edge. Her eyes spotted the large beam of light that showed their quarry followed by a telepathic message that confirmed it. Not waiting for any of the other students, Lyn darted along the roof’s edge at a rapid pace. She managed to keep parallel to their target as she went from one closely packed building to the next with surprising grace, a lesson from her father.
‘I’m going to try to get ahead and drop down to a nearby alley to cut him off!’ She mentally uttered to Ssarak as she continued onward, her path unhindered by people. Each time she spotted a gap too wide to jump, she reached into her pouch of seeds then flipped out a few vine seeds to create a single tight walk rope to the next roof. Thankfully there wasn’t too many gaps while she parkour over the obstructions in her way and pull ahead of the light beam.
Diplomacy at Yarosmere
Mar, Sansar (Yarsomere): Underground Cave~Unknown Location
“I doubt it too. I believe any devout follower would easily tie me up to a wooden post and force me into malice before ending my life. Personally, I have a reason for not wanting that,” Mar said in agreement, recalling the Naga tied up on their entrance and how they tortured it until it become a shell of itself, “I’ve seen more than I can tolerate and want to be away as soon as possible. Since you’ve got that covered, let’s get this over with.”
Gently Mar moved from her leaned over position on the table edge and followed where she was gestured to. As she was led off to be beaten down, she turned to the nearest individual to warn them, “I’ll try not to bite but old habits are hard to break. If you happen to get bitten, it will wear off in a few hours to a day.”
Without another word, she was lead off as any others finished their questions and lead off.
Leith chased after the thief, silently cursing his inability to sprint long distances. The trap he made did manage to trip the thief up momentarily and Leith winced at the sound the man's arm made when he hit the wall. Despite that, however, the man continued to run, much to Leith's dismay. Already, a stitch was starting to form in Leith side, and he was starting to gasp in breaths. He wouldn't be able to chase the thief for that much longer, but he could attempt to try something to make it easier to track the man.
As the man ran into the tunnel, Leith gathered his water into a rapidly spinning cone and with a swipe of his arm, sent it towards the man's legs. It wasn't big enough to drastically harm the man. It was just enough to draw blood. With his last attempt done, Leith slowed down as he exited the tunnel into the crowd of people enjoying the festivities and braced himself against a nearby wall, catching sight of Lyn scaling up another. Leith took a moment to catch his breath before rejoining the chase, albeit a little slower. Searching the ground for any signs of blood and keeping an eye on the light that pinpointed the location of the thief.
Darius Jura
"If we somehow offend the King, all we can do is hope that the fact that we are from the college grants us some immunity. That is it." Darius answered the snow elf before thinking about her other question. He scratched his cheek lazily as he looked around the room. "We could tell the college that Yarosmere has undergone a revolution and is now a new country and very unstable. We should not offer any aid until it has stabilized. But we have yet to meet the King, and so we have nothing to tell the college yet." With that said, Darius leaned backwards in his chair and rested his feet on the table and got comfortable as he waited for Yolin to return/
The young woman heard the sickening crack which came from the thief, making a smile creep on her lips. In a way the girl was happy at least one of the students were able to harm the human granted that the bloody man still had what they needed. Her hand gripped the shield in her hand tighter as the sword on her back gently patted her back. The vampire glanced from side to side, feet carrying her forward, in order to keep up with the hybrid child. Granted that the simple task wasn’t proving to be much of a challenge. Yes, Lyn was much faster than a normal human being though at times it didn’t feel like it. In a way time always seemed to stand still for Keri when running. The feeling was great in some aspects but in others it didn’t allow her to feel human.
Perhaps it was due to the newly piling stress that had began to make her feel this way. Maybe it was worry about her lover that added this unfamiliar though inside her mind. Whatever it was the vampire didn’t enjoy the feeling. She made a mental note to see her teacher in order to release some of her anger out again. Maybe ask him to train with her after this damn mission was over.
In the corner of Keri’s eyes was the color red showing in the light. This was the main thing that seemed to drag her out of her trance like thoughts. The hair color wasn’t unusual at least in the young woman’s mind set. Then again she could have been wrong. ” stop slipping into your own little world. Focus on protecting the others. Where’s Lyn?” she thought while looking around while continuing running forward.
Ssarak’s words filled the girl’s mind granted that they didn’t make much sense at the moment. When her eyes caught a sliver a light then his words made much more sense. She managed to see a figure go upwards towards the rooftops and decided to follow suit, mentally bring thankful that the person was Lyn.
”Lyn can you manage to grab him with a vine? If so then I can make a move for the box. Though if that doesn’t work I can at least injure his leg.”
Helena was glad for the cease is shifting walls and floors, but she was still not very excited to be where they were. She followed along near the rear of the group, keeping pace easily despite her shorter legs, but she was used to following along after much taller men. “C’mon c’mon,” she kept muttering as she looked back over her shoulder in the darkness to see if there was anything behind them. She wanted to never see that beast again and she was praying to whatever god felt like listening that they wouldn't. But somehow, she figured that wouldn't actually work in her favor.
Shortly though, they came to something. And just one look into the room made her question if it was actually a better outcome than if they had to keep running from the Nitemare. Her hand held her knife tighter and she scanned the room quickly to see if there were any other ways out that didn't involve going by the figure with the eerie aura. “Who is that?” she asked quietly to those nearby her, hoping they knew more than her about the Nox, because she was sadly under informed about the whole thing.
Helena was glad for the cease is shifting walls and floors, but she was still not very excited to be where they were. She followed along near the rear of the group, keeping pace easily despite her shorter legs, but she was used to following along after much taller men. “C’mon c’mon,” she kept muttering as she looked back over her shoulder in the darkness to see if there was anything behind them. She wanted to never see that beast again and she was praying to whatever god felt like listening that they wouldn't. But somehow, she figured that wouldn't actually work in her favor.
Shortly though, they came to something. And just one look into the room made her question if it was actually a better outcome than if they had to keep running from the Nitemare. Her hand held her knife tighter and she scanned the room quickly to see if there were any other ways out that didn't involve going by the figure with the eerie aura. “Who is that?” she asked quietly to those nearby her, hoping they knew more than her about the Nox, because she was sadly under informed about the whole thing.
Once everyone entered, the doorway in their wake immediately sealed shut. Shadow and darkness swirled into the opening, blackening it completely, before it became completely solid. When touched, it felt like living flesh and even quivered at the contact. It gave an unsettling sensation. At Helena’s question, the masked figure looked at her. He seemed to be smiling underneath.
Casually he stepped from the crystal toward the seven flies that had made it to his web and welcomed them with a gravelly voice, “I see you’ve arrived at the heart of the Nox.”
His arms raised to indicated this place was their original goal and their way out. Rotating slightly toward his left, he seemed pleased with the fact and continued, “Congratulations would be in order but sadly, it’s short lived. I can’t tolerate insects.”
The man turned his back on the students then prodded a finger into the Nox’s core. The liquid light rippled and wavered in reaction causing a loud, ear piercing sound to erupt within the student’s hearing. It started off soft then quickly grew enough to fill them with pain, their knees crumbling from the intensity howling at their eardrums. Then it ceased suddenly. Their shadows extended from their feet, moving behind and then began to shift into about seven bizarre tentacle like creatures.
Darell cursed under his breath, “Shit, not a Uth.”
“Kill them all…” Came the man’s orders causing the beasts to pick a target and suddenly attack.
Name: Uth
Class: Medium 6 ft Height and 4 ft Length
Species type: Nox
Image/Appearance Description:
Abilities:
Unknown… for now.
OOC Notes: Feel free to control the beasts, but keep in mind I decide when they die. Have a little fun showing off your PC’s abilities and pound the snot out of the NPCs.
Uncovering Shadows
Lyn, Hysteria (Djarkel)
The thief made his way through the outer edge of the crowds far easier than the students. Even the ones who had opted to take the roof path and attempt to cut him off were having issues trying to navigate the rocky territory of each building. When he made to the street’s other side he broke off from the crowd, his head briefly glanced upward to spot Ssarak high above him and following. Without hesitation, he easily pushed open the door to the nearest building then vanished inside.
It turns out it was an established warehouse where food supplies and more were being held.
Meanwhile, Lyn’s ears caught Keri’s question. She nodded and replied, “I can try but I need to get ahead of him first as I’m not in range!”
With a goal in mind, she continued to navigate the rooftops at a fast pace. Upon the few buildings with flat tops she easily stepped across, her feet covered the distance and closed onto an upcoming gap blocking her path. She whipped her head over her shoulder to notice Keri’s location right behind her. She flashed an apologetic toward the vampire than sped up. Her foot kicked off the edge of the gap as her body sailed through the air toward the other side.
For a heart stopping moment, Lyn thought she wasn’t going to make when her body sank downward faster than she expected in midair. Her arms waved in circles, a fruitless attempt to urge her success, and her heart jumped into her throat. Time itself seemed to stand still at that point.
“Shit!”
Immediately, her torso smacked into the edge and purged her of all breath. Her body began to slid down causing her arms to scramble for any purchase among the edge. If she fell from this height, it would likely break a few bones or even kill her. Panic set in as she felt her grip slowly, her eyes widened in fear.
~~| Ssarak|~~
If the Esyire was aware and wide scanning, his mind would’ve caught about three other minds converging on the same building. However from his position he would literally see nothing.
Gradually the daylight hours faded and night time rose to take its place, guards in the distance idly roaming to watch the distant sands for shadowy figures in the distance. Not a single animal, none seen, stirred when a darkness formed and the missing students were suddenly ejected from the Nox portal. They each landed harshly just a few feet from the palace entrance requiring that they walk until they reach a guard.
Mar was the first to pull upright from the entanglement of limbs. She groaned and looked down, her eyes traced her skin alive with vivid bruises spotting her surface. Every part of her ached with a dull fire in her muscles and bones causing her to bite back the scream in her throat while she stood upright.
The sand cobras hadn’t held back in venting their anger over the whole situation upon the students in order to make the ruse believable. Casually Mar looked down to assure herself that she still held the rune in her hand and ease her anxiety over this whole ploy working. She still distrusted the resistance but the grudge against those that murdered her people overcame that.
“Looks like we walk from here. Anyone has any idea where we’re at?” Mar stated as she dusted herself off.
Meanwhile, the students that had managed to remain with Yolin had eaten, rested and anything else during the period their comrades were gone. Now they were touring the outside ramps to ‘sight’ see how things had changed from their prior order. Several young men who appeared to never been within conflict had volunteered to stand watch over the desert’s landscape with the type of energy most veterans wouldn’t be caught dead showing.
A young man peered further over the ramp edge and looked into a direction hard, his lips pursed into a frown. If the other students managed to look too then they would easily spot a small group of individuals not far away. They seemed to appeared from nowhere, but within Yarosmere’s desert sands that wasn’t unusual.
Already the man was notching an arrow into his cross bow and ready to shoot unless someone spoke up.
Althalus' eyebrows raised at the sight of the man in the middle of the room, a weary despair settling into his bones. He merely shrugged at Helena's question, waiting for their new visitor to unleash some fresh inferno on them. Althalus sighed as the doors slammed shut behind them, with a distinct note of finality. As the man spoke, something about the heart of the Nox, he wasn't really paying attention, Althalus replied. "Is this the part where you tell us you're going to kill us." It was less of a question and more of an automatic sarcastic response. As the man declared that he couldn't tolerate insects, Althalus rolled his eyes. "It is, oh goody. What are you going to do? Teleport around the room? Shoot dark shadows from you-" What ever tired mocking he had left was suddenly silenced as the loud screeching noise filled his hearing, making him instinctively curse and cover his ears. The only reason he didn't fall to his knees was because an immobile assassin was a dead assassin. He wanted to be prepared for whatever the masked bastard threw at them.
Still. Hard to be prepared for your own shadow turning into a pile of tentacles with mouth.
"Oh! Summon tentacle monsters from our shadows. That's...different." He darted backwards as his own shadow thing (Uth, he thought he heard Daren or whatever his name was say) lashed out at him. He stumbled, having crashed into Helena in the process. "Sorry, trying not to di-Hey! I'm solid again!" He grinned, looking over at Helena. "Pass me some of my knives would you? You do still have them right?"
Aramir, Sansar
Aramir hated the heat. She hated it almost more than she hated the people they were forced to play nice with. It constantly beat down on her, making her sweat out what felt like twice her own body weight. She had wanted to stay inside, maybe drink some more water before some madman tried to kill them. But her companions had wanted to go outside on the ramp, and she wasn't about to stay behind alone in the palace and make small talk with their guide. So here she was, standing in the heat, almost wishing she was sitting down with this new 'King' of Yarosmere.
She supposed that the desert had some form of beauty to it, if you could stand the heat, but right now she hated it with every fiber of her being. What I'd give just to be amongst the endless snow storms for just one more minute...why did I let Myrn talk me into going to this hellish place? She sighed wistfully, before looking up in minor alarm at one of the guards. He was aiming his crossbow at a group, too far out to be identified, and seemed to be on the verge of firing.
"Wouldn't it be better to wait till we see who it is before shooting them?" It was more of a general question to the group, rather than the guard. She didn't expect him to acknowledge her, much less listen.
Baulder brought his hand to his jaw and rubbed his rather sore skin. Baulder had... not enjoyed being beaten, even if it was for a ruse. He may have punched back once. The Sand Cobra's had not taken too kindly to that and settled for just knocking him over. So now his jaw was bruised a rather dark color. Oddly enough, he hadn't felt the need to throw up after this teleport. Maybe it was just that he had eaten so much of the rebels food that it kept him safe. Or it could be that he was half dazed from the slug to the jaw. Whatever the case Baulder found his arms on the outside edge of the pile and he began pulling himself from the group. Feeling his legs drag over other people was a bit of an odd sensation to Baulder. His rough and calloused feet felt odd against someones bare skin. It was, an interesting feeling to Baulder.
As he extracted himself from the mass of living beings he found himself standing on soft, burning sand. Luckily he still had remnants of his shoes on his feet. Granted, leather wasn't stopping all of the heat from the sand it was atleast stopping most of it. He hated the heat, the heat of the day was long gone but it's remnants had been left all over the landscape, including the hot sand. The air was not terribly warm and was acceptable to his taste. He looked around and saw the high walls of the city again. "Even in the night the ground, it is uncomfortable. Why would people choose to live here."
Ssarak tracked the thief up to the point where he headed into the warehouse, after which he circled around the warehouse quickly to check exactly where the exits to the building were. If they had to head in after him, they would need to cover each entrance to make sure he had no escape. Hopefully, they would get him cornered and force him to surrender. Getting him alive would allow them to interrogate him to find out why and how he had planned this theft. It was most likely not random.
Quite fortunately for Lyn, Ssarak had a clear view of the rooftop that she had attempted to jump to. He was upset that she was even attempting such a thing, but helping her took priority over blaming her. Ssarak swooped down towards her, made a half circle back to slow down quickly, then touched down just at the edge of the rooftop, right above her. He reached down to grab her by the wrist, then effortlessly pulled her light body up onto the rooftop with him. “I think you shall need wings if you wish to attempt a jump like that.” He commented. “The thief ran into this warehouse, and…”
Ssarak cut himself off as he concentrated on the minds around him. There were three others moving in, though Ssarak could not see them from where he was. “There may be others.” He warned as he tried to find as many of his friends’ minds as he could in order to send a message. ”The thief has ran into this warehouse; he may not be alone. Myself and Lyn are on the roof. I will see if there is a way to climb in from above; if not, it may be wise to attack from multiple angles.”
Mission: Retrieve the stolen box Location: Hysteria, Djarkel
A few steps backwards in order to get the right distance, wapping of wings coming from her right, and on decision though could have harm the three of them. How much more stupider could the girl have been? Of course there was someone flying above when Lyn misjudged that jump. Of course it would have been the Esyire of all things. How stupider could the young woman get considering that Lyn was never truly left alone. Everything was beginning to fall in place for once on her life. She was no longer needed to protect the young woman.
Personally the vampire didn’t mind turning back and going towards the cart. After all considering that the half breed was safe and sound with a protector there wasn’t much to do. The human could survive retrieving the blasted box without any problems. Best to leave now and not be bothered with such burdens. This was what everyone in the group was thinking right? Best get rid of the useless people so you don’t have to deal with them ever again.
The woman’s head shook violently attempting to clear all these negative thoughts away. Granted some still lingered in their place. Control was never really her strong suit, making it fairly easy to pick up her thoughts if one wanted to. Her figure once again copied the movements from before, making the jump without any problems for being a newly turned vampire. ” Guess the whole jumping through the trees like a complete moron wasn’t useless after all. The last step gave me a small amount of troubles as well as getting the angle perfectly but I digress.” She thought to herself then addressed Lyna after Ssarak.
” I know you want to be just like your father Lyn but please don’t do that again. You could have gotten hurt and the last thing I need is another hit on the head due to you copying me alright? Stay with Ssarak and the others please. It’s better if I get hurt then you alright?” The woman said in a soft tone before placing a few more candies in her mouth. Her eye twitched off to the distance, seeing faint figures running their way.
”Ssarak take our little Lyn up. Keep high off the ground and leave the fighting to us. If you don’t trust me then give Lyn to me and we’ll head back to the cart. Personally I would rather release my frustrations on them than the cart.”
Helena had watched with confusion, only partly hearing Althaus near her talking to basically himself with his own sarcastic comments. But that didn’t last long as her confusion turned to something more like horror for a second before her brain felt like it was being melted. She clasped hands over her ears as she sunk to her knees, trying to block all the noise out.
Gasping and breathing hard, she looked up after a moment, pulling her hands from her head as Althaus spoke again. “No, I thought I’d just throw them away willy nilly while we’re in a literal place of death,” she shot back, pulling them out and tossing a few underhand towards him, knowing he’d likely catch them.
The beasts seemed to surround them the longer that they didn’t move. She looked around her quickly, regaining her feet as fast as she could, but her head still felt a little dizzy from the noise that had shattered her brain. She grabbed at her own knives as she stood, backing away a little from the nearest one, trying to see if she could figure out what it’s little trick was that it was going to use against them. Would it be like the shadow’s above? Would it use them to move along? Did they need more light, or less?
“What do they do?!” she called to Darell. She didn’t like the little shit, but he seemed to be the only one who knew anything about what was going on here. “Aside from the tentacles and the probably bitting.”
Leith slowly made his way through the crowds, keeping an eye on the beacon that Ssarak created for the thief. He made sure to keep his arm concealed by his cloak so he didn't cause any alarm in the vast crowd. Movement caught his eyes on the rooftops in the direction Lyn had gone, and as he turned to see what was going on, his blood ran cold as Lyn miscalculated a jump and collided with the edge of the other roof and started sliding down. Luckily, Ssarak was there to catch Lyn before she got hurt. Breathing a sigh of relief, he returned to wading through the mass of merrymakers. As he approached the warehouse, Leith got the message from Ssarak and made his way towards an entrance, waiting for further instructions.
Darius Jura
The desert at night was a beautiful sight. Darius sighed as he looked out into the night and reminisced of years past. This place, this land, it was his home, but because of the revolt and subsequent revolution, it no longer was. It was a hard fact, but it was one he had to accept. Now, all he could do is offer insight on what the college should do with the new Yarosmere. Darius glanced at the guards on the ramps and scoffed. These men were as green as they come.
Darius figured that these men volunteered so they could have an advantage in any fight that came to them. As he watched them, he frowned as one of the guards started aiming their crossbow into the night. He followed the man's line of sight and his jaw dropped when he saw the man aiming at a group of people in the distance that were approaching.
As the snow elf made her quip, Darius quickly crossed the distance between him and the guard and stood before him. He glared down at the man as he spoke to him in a quiet tone. "Has this revolution rocked Yarosmere so much so that her guardsmen shoot people they cannot see clearly?" Darius glowered at the man before he continued. "Lower that crossbow, before your superiors hear about this."
Colette gasped when the beast completely plowed past her. When she learned, a horrified look appeared on her face as she saw the walls collapsing and being sucked into a hole. Staggering to her feet, she took off running keeping the the wall same as the beast did to avoid the path. The hole seem to grow stronger, making it much harder to move, but she managed to escape and collapse to her knees. She watched as the exit sealed itself, the rumbling lowering in noise letting her ringing ears to calm down.
Looking in front of her, all she could see was a pale shade blue color ahead of them, which was a deep contrast to the darkness that surrounded them. She could easily see through the darkness with her enhanced sense of sight. Standing back up, she followed the rest towards it, getting a feeling in her stomach that something bad was about to happen.
If only she knew how right she was about to be
As she walked towards the blue glow, she could hear Helena muttering under her breath and side glanced her. She could see the female looking behind them to make sure nothing else was following. Copying her movements,she also looked but saw nothing standing out in the darkness that seem to follow them,
Colette had to admit, this type of darkness was leaving her terrified and she had to place this at number two of the top ten worst experiences she could ever go through, for a reason. She absentmindedly touched her right shoulder, reason unknown to a lot except to a select few. On her right shoulder, though hidden well, was the one that would always stay number one.
~In the circular room~
As they entered the doorway of a large circular room, Colette jumped when she heard something slam behind them. Looking, she paled even further as she saw the entrance was completely shrouded in darkness until nothing of an entrance was left, just a wall of solid stone.
“Who is that?” she turned to Helena who asked and jumped when she followed Helena’s eyes to see they were not alone in this large room. Her instincts screamed danger as she looked to the figure and she discreetly made her way over to Helena as the figure spoke.
“I see you’ve arrived at the heart of the Nox.” Heart of the Nox? Colette thought to herself. Hearing that explained the danger feeling in her gut. The heart was the living part of any place or thing. Her eyes went back to the figure as he moved slightly to his left and spoke once more.
“Congratulations would be in order but sadly, it’s short lived. I can’t tolerate insects.” Out of nowhere, all Colette could hear was a loud, ear piercing sound to erupt as the figure poke and prodded the Nox’s core. Colette hunched over, her stomach heaving at this point.
She began to question herself if she was going to make it out of here alive as she heard Darrell curse under his breath, “Shit, not a Uth.” As a beast appear, its appearance ugly as tentacle like things moved when it moved. Collett swallowed the heaving and stood straight again preparing her weapon to fight. If she was going to die here, she was going to go down fighting.
’I hope I make it out of here. Keri would not be happy if I died now, but Hyllos and Atticus are nowhere strong enough to last this battle.” casting her beloved demons a worried look.
Darell jerked to his right and rolled. Two tentacles slapped the area he once stood and then retracted back, the jagged rows of teeth grinded slightly. It sounded like rocks being clashed together. A scream was heard as one of the students they had picked up immediately moved behind Annabeth. Meanwhile, Annabeth already had her weapon raised and ready to defend herself and the girl, their shadows advancing upon them.
Drake already began to hack then slice at his current shadow. It flinched, the physical attack sliced off several appendages before they promptly grew back. This caused a horrified expression to surface upon his face as newer tentacle shot forward then penetrated his shoulder.
A blood curdling scream erupted from him, the sound echoed throughout the room. His sword dropped from his hand and his body crashed to the ground, helpless as the thing’s mouth clamped down on upon his foot.
“Help me! Please!” Drake begged as he reached for his sword, the blade just out of his reach.
The Uth tugged his foot and jerked him away. His foot kicked out but seemed to not affect it, the teeth biting down harder and began to shake him.
Upon hearing Helena, Darell’s head jerked into her direction, “Uth are deep Nox dwellers. Physical attacks aren’t going to do shit unless you combine it with magic, any type works. However, it won’t do us much good-Shit!”
Darell’s Uth lunged forward. His figure jerked to the side in an attempt to avoid, only to find the creature twist about and smack his chest with its back hoof. Blood splattered from the slice deeply into his skin and bone. Crack! His body slid along the stone and into the abyss, his arm jerked out just in time to present himself from plummeting down. The Uth snarled as it casually advanced, intending to finish the job.
Uncovering Shadows
Lyn, Hysteria (Djarkel)
Lyn’s legs struggled to gain some holding upon the smoothed stone surface. Each time she tried to pull herself upon the roof, her foot slipped and whatever gain she had was immediately lost. The worse part, she felt her fingers slipping gradually. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she would be falling to the ground. Her eyes looked over her shoulders just when her hands lost their grip.
Her heart stopped in her chest. Air rushed about her when she began to fall and her arms flailed a bit, her mind imagining herself hitting the ground and becoming a red smear upon the stone. Her plummet suddenly came to an abrupt halt when something snatched her wrist. Her arm jerked and her body dangled there several moments before she opened her eyes to realize her fall had been stalled. Lyn’s eyes glanced upward to spy Ssarak, his arm extended and firmly fastened to her wrist to stop her.
‘Thank goodness,’ she thought and reached her other arm up for him to grab.
Upon reaching the roof, her arm rubbed her now slightly sore wrist until it was gone. After a few moments she patted her trousers and shirt clear of any dirt that clinged to her. Satisfied with her examination that nothing was broken, her lips frowned at his mention of wings. Her chest inhaled and her arms crossed over it, her head tilted in what her father called her teenager pose.
She spoke in an insistent tone when Ssarak finally finished, “I just misjudged the jump was all or I would’ve made it.”
Upon hearing the mention of more than one, her eyes snapped to the Esyire. She bit her lip then spoke what was on her mind, “That’s not normal… is it? This wasn’t some random theft, or am I over thinking this?”
Without waiting for an answer, her face scanned the roof for some way in. She shortly spied a single wooden hatch and possibly their way in. However, if anyone attempted to open it than they would find it jiggled easily but didn’t give easily. It would take time and risked someone hearing them.
Helena had managed to sidestep the dark tentacles that reached for her, just barely. They closed around where her feet had been a few seconds ago, but caught air instead of her boot. She looked away for a second as she heard Drake's cry of pain. “Shit,” she hissed, looking back just in time to see the rest of them reaching for Darell since he’d been the bigger threat to it. “Fuck me.”
Darell’s words reached her as she stumbled backwards, almost losing her footing as she did so. “Well that would have been good to know about two seconds ago,” she shot back. “So time to use some heat then.”
Taking a deep breath, she called up the fire that had been bubbling to get out since she'd been pulled down into this darkness. Control, at least a little, was something she'd learned. And her aim wasn’t too bad either. As the beast stalked towards Darell she shot a few balls of fire at its backside, aiming for the legs so as to slow it down. They seemed to hit well, but she wasn’t certain if that would do all that much to it anyways. Magic or not, she didn’t think these things would be so easy to take down.
Ssarak knelt down next to the wooden hatch and tried to listen for any movement below, though his hearing was not the best for listening for faint sounds. Not to mention, the warded mind of the thief made it difficult for him to reach inside and discern his exact location. But, one thing that Ssarak was sure of was the fact that they could not afford to wait long. It was possible the thief might know of a secret exit, so they had to act quickly, or risk losing their property.
”I have an entrance on the roof. I can jump down inside safely, capture, and hold their attention. Everyone else, enter from different entrances and hit them from all angles immediately afterwards. With luck, our thief or thieves will surrender immediately. If not, prepare for a fight.” Ssarak said telepathically to all of his allies.
Ssarak looked to Lyn and spoke quietly. ”It would not be wise of me to try to jump down carrying you. I do not know what I am dropping into. You carry plants or seeds with you, correct? Can you support me from up here, Lyn?”
Althalus quickly and easily caught the daggers, tucking all but two into hidden sheathes. "You never know, I'm guessing you've never held properly forged knives." He danced out of the way of his own Uth, smiling and listening. He had no idea how to murder these things, but Darrel did. His smile dropped as first Darrel got hit towards the abyss, and then the new one with the sword began screaming as he was gnawed upon. "Gods damn it. These were my good knives." He sighed, dodging his own Uth yet again. "She's gonna be pissed." Taking a deep breath, and glancing regretfully at the two knives in his hands, Althalus focused his magic. Rust began to creep quickly along them, pitting the blades and filling them with rot as the assassin filled his blades with the power of decay. He threw one at the monster gnawing on Drake's leg, the dagger flashing through the air before sinking hilt deep into the side of the Uth. The creature screamed and fell on the ground, writhing, as the decay magic began to spread to it.
"That's one." He turned his attention to the one Helena had wounded, it shrieking and hissing as the fireballs struck it. His other dagger whistled through the air, striking it in the chest. It shrieked as well, leaping backwards. Althalus darted out of the way of his Uth again, drawing another dagger. "Colette! Go get Darrel. We'll keep them off of you." He waved his dagger at the Uth, the thing approaching him. "You don't want to end up like your friends do you? Why don't we just all play nice, and you leave and I leave, hmm?" It ignored him, leaping forward again.
Sansar, Yarosmere. Aramir.
As the guard aimed his bow at the crowd in the distance, he glanced between Darius and the slowly approaching group. For a few tense seconds, it seemed like he would fire anyway. Then, scowling, he brought his crossbow down and unloaded it. As the group approached and individual members were able to be picked out, Aramir breathed a sigh of relief. It was their friends. Friends who looked like they had been beaten up, but alive none the less. "Open the gate. It's the rest of our group." The guard looked at her skeptically, but then glanced at Darius again and shouted the order. The gates creaked open, and the rest of the College students limped in, sporting various injuries.
The soldiers began to take them to the infirmary, but Aramir waved them off. "We can take care of our own." The soldiers hesitated, then shrugged. They had tried. They couldn't force the visitors to take care of themselves.
Walking away to an empty part of the courtyard, the students taken by the rebels were examined and had the worst of their wounds patched as they explained what had happened to them and the situation with the Resistance. Aramir whistled quietly. "That's certainly food for thought." She jumped as Yolin's voice rang across the courtyard. "Friends! I'm so glad that you're alive, but absolutely disgusted that the Resistance would disgrace us by treating you in such away. You have my word that we will find and destroy them. There will be nothing left of those cowardly fools but ash and blood by the time we are done." He clapped his hands together. "Enough of that though! The King is ready, as is dinner. You will be given a few minutes to freshen up, and then begin to eat!"
Fifteen minutes later, the college students were seated at a large table, the King closest to them at their right, the rest of his court farther down to their left. A veritable feast laid out before them, steaming meats and soups, spices, vases of drinks. It seemed that there was no expense spared for their arrival. The King, Prophet of the Sand God, looked at them with calculating eyes. "I imagine the College has questions about my reign."
