[IC] THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

[Zapdos]

It seemed that there was more “decorating” of the nearby tree to be done, since Barracker and James brought over the ringleader of the assault to join his underlings in captivity. Adam nodded, knowing the wisdom of keeping someone who could cast spells unable to attack anyone, but this wasn't the average cultist. So before the Druid proceeded, he searched the evil man, taking away any possessions he might have had. Whatever it was, George would no longer be able to use any of it to escape or commit more acts of evil. Instead, his only commitment would be to staying securely bound to the oak tree, with the red-eyed man being even more thorough than he had been with the others to ensure there was no escape.

Once that was settled, Adam returned his attention to the team to learn about the man that MacKensie had brought to them. It seemed like Hardul wasn't with the cult, but after what had just happened the nature magic user was a little skeptical. When Fenna suggested her idea, the Druid expressed support for it. “Makes sense to me. If he turns out to be with the cult, he won't be able to hurt us, and if not he'll be safe.” Looking around and spotting some out-of-the-way bushes, the youngest member of Second Chance guided Hardul towards them. “Sorry about this,” the nature magic user told the dwarf, “but this will keep you safe.” After growing a small tree inside the bush with a thick root system to secure Hardul, he subtly grew the shrubbery, not so that it would be larger but so there would be more leaves for concealment. With his task done, Adam returned to the team ready for what would happen next. 

[Teyao]

The man possessed a good set of lungs, obviously.

He took no pleasure in what they were doing but if this helped keep the party safe then he was more than ready to do it. Thankfully there was a positive outcome.

He watched as Adam secured the prisoners and the party discussed what they had learned from the different enemies, a mole as he imagined, and the side passage that the man had blabbed about, it could be a trap but ..."The leader spoke of a passage that led directly to the Lich, I think we should pursue it as soon as we can, the sooner we defeat him the sooner we can resolve this whole situation"

The blessing from Undaya had petered off at some point during the interrogation but its purpose had been fulfilled, once more helping him keep calm when the situation -and more importantly his own mind- turned for the worse. With some luck, things would prove easier if they got the drop in the Big Bad Guy they were here to slay.

"You know the formation"

[xenon]

@Zool@Loksfjoer@Saiyan@Teyao@Zapdos@Jay009

And so, Second Chance had secured the outside perimeter of the Temple of Hades, leaving nothing left to do but head inside and complete their mission. Adam's dutiful decision to give their hostages a proper search and pat down was not a wasted one. The Druid recovered the man's spare wand, aswell as a hidden knife in George's wristband - one that could have been used to attempt an escape even while bound in the tree. The interrogation had unvieled some new information too. The temple layout was much like Barracker had guessed from his experience as a Paladin devoted to Hades, but there was also new information in the form of a secret passage.

Would it be a trap? Was it worth finding out? Much like Second Chance's decision to take on the Gold Contract instead of the easier Silver ones, the risk was high but the reward would be higher-still should the party come out on top.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The entrance hall was large but quite simple in it's decor, much like artist's impressions of Hades in the large painting above the closed double-doors straight across from the front entrance. The smoothed stone floor had only a wide stripe of carpet that went straight from the front entrance up to and presumably under the double-doors into the main corridor. Lamp light illuminated the area from the sconces on the walls.

To both the left and right of the entrants were regular wooden doors, the left leading to the shrine rooms and, deeper into the temple, the scullery and canteen. The right side door did lead to a short corridor that took a sharp left turn and led to another door, which would lead to the library. The library itself was a large and long room, segmented into sections of mazey shelves, sections of open floor area and sections of seating area too. Decorating the place were beautiful, statue-like suits of plate armour, and paintings on the wall depicting The Hollow Fields, Hades and notable legends connected to him.

As for the rogue inhabitants of the temple, most had retired downstairs to the sleeping and living quarters, after spending another long and tiring day in ritual, offering up their mental energy and a small portion of their life essence to their lord Drath'tuthan, the being who would grant their souls eternal pleasures in the void of the Oblivion Plane. Many of the cultists were not so drained that they couldn't go and get something to eat, and so there were a dozen or so in the canteen. Guard duties were taken up in the main corridor, and the guards who would go to the temple entrance decided to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to their posts, thinking that George's band of raiders would be outside the temple, making it safe to dally half an hour in the canteen to fill their bellies.

And then there were the few bookworms who couldn't resist a few hours spent in the library, perusing the bookshelves of educational materials that might be useful to their worship, or simply looking to lose themselves in the pages of some interesting tales of the Mythic Age and before...................

[Saiyan]

The atmosphere was certainly creepy enough for a temple devoted to the god of death. Zell had expected nothing less, yet still found himself as on-edge as a crackhead in rehab. He followed from the back as Barracker led the way, taking one last look around the entrance hall before closing the door behind him. Sword already drawn, he held it at the ready, straight up beside himself - a two handed grip, for the most part. It was more out of comfort than anything else. God help them all if they were caught in this narrow corridor and forced to fight like this. There was no space to swing.

It was quiet. Only the gentle sound of his own breathing and the careful footsteps from the others could be heard. That is, until they quietly entered the library, at which point, the sounds of voices were in the air. He shared a few determined glances with his comrades as they pressed on. Whoever the voices belonged to, they were on the other side of the maze of tall bookshelves ahead. The time for action drew near.

Again; no room for a proper formation. They were forced into a column of twos, creeping along, the voices growing louder as they neared. The first visual was shadows from movement, conversation now clear enough to hear the words spoken and similar accents to those from the village of Cherrad. The party stopped on the edge of the bookshelf section as they surveyed the situation. Zell moved aside a book so he could spy what was going on through the small gap of the shelves.

Three of them...

No... four.

"...it's not for us to decide," one was saying. "Anyway, the full moon is upon us - the temple reopened. There will be plenty of work to do tomorrow."

Nonsense. Whatever they were talking about, it was crap. By tomorrow, there would be no cult. Zell whispered only loud enough for his teammates to hear, directing his words to James.

"Take em down quietly?" he suggested. When James gave the okay, Zell nodded to Fenna who's eyes he caught first, then pointed at MacKensie and then Barracker. Four cultists meant one-a-piece for the weapon-wielders of the group. He sheathed his sword, drew the knife from his boot. Then he said to James and Adam, "Cover us."

The cultists had made it easy. They all had their backs to Second Chance's position, making an approach simple enough. As Zell, Fenna, MacKensie and Barracker silently fanned out to each of their respective cultists, Zell's target - a woman in robes that had done some of the talking - started moving. Zell's heart stopped as she almost turned enough to see him, but luckily she remained oblivious and headed down the aisle of some more bookshelves. Zell followed.

She had a wand on her belt, but no other weapons, as far as he could tell. He decided he'd try the non-lethal approach. A dumb risk, really, but it felt way too dirty, following a woman into a dark aisle and murdering her. And he knew it was stupid to think this way. Dangerous and stupid. These were bad people - brainwashed or not, they were murdering innocent people and worshipping god-damn demons! But this was the problem when it came to fighting real people instead of skeletons and ogres. The hesitation and second-guessing just couldn't be helped.

Zell closed in slowly and quietly, then tried to snatch her wand, wrap an arm around her throat and hold his knife in front of her face. "Make a noise or a move and you're dead," he would threaten, if successful.

[Jay009]

Barracker led the party from the front, his tower shield and claymore in their usual cross shape on his back. As they entered the temple the Paladin could see a picture of Hades hanging in the entrance block of the temple. He gave a sign of respect to ‘the other side of the cycle of life’ that was his divine patron. There was no sign of any opposition so far. Through the right side door they went. The party was led through a narrow stone corridor, passing the lamps ensconced on the wall. As they took a left, the corridor led on to another door. Barracker lowered his voice telling everyone this is the library up ahead. As they were closing in on the door, Barrackers keen sense of hearing picked up voices on the other side. The Paladin rests a finger to his lips signalling quite, letting them there was danger ahead, before slotting his mask on. Barracker moved through, opening the door slowly and quietly. Seeing that the coast was clear, Barracker led the party into the library and moved stealthily through the aisles of books until they sighted the owners of the voices.

"Take em down quietly?" Zell suggested, which was a good idea. When the swordsman pointed at him, Barracker nodded slightly to show there was understanding behind the faceless mask. "Cover us."

Barracker tailed one of the four cultists, his target on the left side, standing near a bookcase reading. Barracker snuck table to sofa, sofa to table until he was close behind the cultist. He waited, hidden behind cover, for his party to be in position, ready to pull the cultists' feet up from under him, hard enough to yank him almost horizontal in the air. If successful, Barracker would clamp down a choke hold on the man as he came crashing down to the ground.

[Teyao]

The moment he stepped into the Temple he felt it, the same feeling he had whenever he visited the big churches or when casting a blessing except this time it was strange, oppressive and uncomfortable, while normally the feeling wasn't nice per se it was at most indiferent whereas this one felt conflicted, as if caught between malice and accceptance and it couldn't decide which it wanted.

He didn't like it.

His breath became a little more deep as they made their way in silence, he wondered if the other were as nervous as him, fuck he really wasn't good with this sneaking shit but if this meant they were most likely to come alive at the end of this he was willing to put up with it. Finally, after what felt like an eternity they came across the library that the man had mentioned.

"Cover us."

Zell

He gave a nod.

In a second he accessed the bookshelf in his mind, bringing two of his newest spells to the forefront of his mind. Lesser Barrier and Lesser Counter Spell, if they tried anything he would be ready to act.

He grimaced a little, he would have to prioritize Mac and Fenna over Zell and Kass as they had the better armor.

[Zool]

Fenna's suggestion on how to deal with Hardul, made MacKensie feel much better about situation. Not only was it for the dwarf's own good that they hold him as something of a hostage, but MacKensie was confident that Adam would handle the matter with the utmost care. MacKensie bent over a little and squeezed Hardul's shoulder as she smiled at him reassuringly. "Don't worry. You'll be safe this way," she told him. "We'll come back for you, just as soon as we are done. I promise."

She watched Adam take Hardul away and do his work, creating a suitable camouflage around the restrained dwarf. When he returned, James informed them all of the intel he and Barracker had managed to extract from George, which coincided well with a stealth mission. "You know the formation," Second Chance's leader said, refreshing the memory of Zell's tactical briefing that first night, aswell as the modification James had made for this mission. She nodded and they were off.

But she did not make it more than half a dozen steps when she paused suddenly, the others leaving her behind as she wondered for a moment, then looked up at the tree where their prisoners were hanging. Her blue gaze washed over them all and she dared to ask...

"Steven?" her tone dripping with uncertainty.

One of them perked up and looked at her, a few moments of silence before finally answering. "What?" MacKensie couldn't supress a small smile. The old beekeeper who she'd questioned in Cherrad would get her son back in one piece. If they could only complete their mission. Thank the lord for small mercies. "You know me?"

MacKensie shook her head. "No. I do not," was all she said, then hurried away to catch up with her friends.

Fortunately, they would manage to get a good way into the temple without coming into contact with any cultists. The eerie atmosphere was very un-churchlike, but every bit expected of the lair of a dark cult. MacKensie, near the front of the pack, saw Barracker make a hand-gesture of respect to the painting of Hades, and she thought to herself that she would find time in the future to ask the Paladin about his diety. Not only would it be a chance to get know more about Barracker, but the world of Mytheria also.

When they found themselves sneaking through the library towards the sound of voices, MacKensie pulse was picking up pace. Zell drew up a quick plan with nothing more than a nod of the head and two points of the finger - that was all that was needed - and James gave the final command with a nod of his own. MacKensie was ready.

This moment was the first time she'd ever noticed that her footsteps made no noise. Without any effort to do so, she moved in complete silence. It must be a Ranger ability, she thought. It certainly made sneaking up to her target much easier. Dagger slowly drawn and held invertedly, she moved towards the giant of a man who was sat in the arrangement of sofas, crouching low and moving quickly to get right up to him, ducked behind the back of the sofa. She waited to attack in tandem with the others.

The man was big and broad-shouldered. There was no way she could risk a non-lethal grapple attempt, and so her attack attempt would be a swift movement that saw her dagger slit his throat.

[Loksfjoer]

When Fenna entered the temple, Sil joined her and she extended her arm for the falcon to sit. There wasn't a lot of room for her to fly, but she seemed adamant on joining them. With the falcon on one arm and the spear in her other hand, she walked with the others through the temple. There were muffled distant voices, cultists talking to each other. Barracker led them further into the temple until they reached the Library, where Zell suggested to take them out. She caught his eyes and nodded.

With quiet steps, she approached the cultists closest to her, Sil silently spread her wings and lifted into the air as Fenna moved to swing her spear with the intention to hit the cultist in the head with the shaft.

[Zapdos]

Adam examined the wand he got from George. It was good the evil man couldn't use it or the knife to escape, but the Druid had no clue how it worked. Could it be useful someday? Maybe. Would it be useful now? Nope. With that in mind, the red-eyed man stored the magical device for later and focused his attention on entering the temple with the rest of his team.

It was suspicious how few people they had encountered so far. Was this a trap, or was this cult just arrogant? Either way, Adam Phillips was extremely alert as the team proceeded to the library, and Zell's request of him and James was something the Druid was glad to do. If any of them were in trouble, Adam would use his acorns and-or maybe…

Yes, it did work! He used his powers on one of the nearby wooden bookshelves to move it slightly. Not enough for anyone besides him to notice, but enough for him to know that his magic worked on that furniture. If the four attackers of the group succeeded, he would do nothing, but if any of their targets tried to escape or fight back they would learn just how heavy a bookshelf was.

[xenon]

@Zool@Loksfjoer@Saiyan@Teyao@Zapdos@Jay009

That feeling that disconcerted James' senses was the corruption of the Obivion Plane slowly but surely winning out over the power of Hades. Not that these other-dimensional entities were more powerful than The Quinity. No. Especially not an entity like a Greater Wraith, that was not even dominant in it's own demonic world. But the connection that Drath'tuthan had established with the followers of this temple, had given him an open door to impact the mortal realm more directly. And the longer he could keep his claws sunk in the minds of these mortals, the more powerful his presence would become.

The Temple of Hades had become a stronghold of darkness and despair. Lesser Wraiths roamed. Watched. And these beings were starting to zone in on the presence of the outsiders, Second Chance. Willpowers that had not yet been broken by the weight of corruption. The library would be as far as the Heroes from the Sky would get without being contested. On the mortal plane of Mytheria, it would appear as if the Lesser Wraiths came out of nowhere...

@Teyao

He might have been nervous, but James was truly gifted to be able to already understand in detail the feelings he was getting from this place. He was smart to prepare his spells in advance. And furthermore, he was incredibly talented to be able to direct those spells to successfully defend two of his allies in the two tenth's of a second that the Lesser Wraiths were even detectable on this plane.

He'd chosen to prioritize the protection of Fenna and MacKensie, which meant he'd left himself open to attack. The wraith appeared with it's ghostly weapon already held high and brought it down to strike the cleric. James would take the full brunt of the blow. Slashing damage that would bypass cloth, leather and steel to strike flesh, resulting in a lot of pain and a grievious purpling wound down his torso. It was not a killing blow, but second one might well be the end of him.

And a second strike is what the floating corporeal being was hunting for as it swam through the air like a shark through water and went for a repeat attack...

@Loksfjoer@Zool

Like James' ambusher, the Lesser Wraith that lunged at Fenna was already upon her and bringing it's ghost-blade down on the ranger when it became visible. There was no way to avoid it. Luckily she wouldn't have to, as James' magic barrier materialized as a transparent disc, just an inch above her head, only glowing as the wraith's weapon hit it with a spark and a clang. Fenna would have no time to change her course, but her own attack wouldn't be interrupted either, and so the shaft of her weapon smashed across the head of her enemy, sending the cultist to the floor in a daze.

The wraith frustratedly banged its weapon against the barrier a couple of times before floating off to one side and finding away around magical barrier. The time it took gave Fenna a chance prepare herself for whatever it would do next.

As for MacKensie, the wraith that phased into reality to attack her, screeched in anger and pain as it's self-summoning was dispelled and it was banished back to the Oblivion Plane by James' Counter Spell. And so the cultist unfortunate enough to be her target was defenceless to the quick and ruthless ranger. He choked and gurgled for a few seconds before he was dead.

@Saiyan@Zapdos@Jay009

The other three men in Second Chance were not fast enough to avoid the wraith's attacking them and they were not fast enough to get their own attacks off either.

Barracker's cultist would feel the strong grip of the vampire on his ankle, but Barracker would not get a chance to do anything as a ghostly slash would bypass his armour and cut him deeply. His injury was not as bad as any of others due his higher ascension level and vampire toughness, but he still took damage.

"What in the world!?" the man yelled as he looked behind him and realised they were under attack. The cultist brandished the wand on his belt and backed off to a safe distance to start casting, meanwhile the wraith would continue to assault Barracker.

Zell would manage to steal the wand but that was all, as the wraith ambushing him would save yet another cultist. The full brunt of ghostly blade would strike the swordsman and hurt him very badly. The woman who was spared would run down the aisle and out the other side, head to one of the statues of plate armour and steal a sword, then come back into the battle. Zell's wraith would press it's advantage and follow up with another attack.

Adam would not get a chance to move the bookcase any further as a sixth wraith would appear in the midst of a vicious swing that, again, would connected cleanly and wound the druid. Like James, due to the druid's non-combat class, he was extra vulnerable to the damage and would probably not live through another blow like that. Adam would barely have a chance to blink or feel his pain as the wraith would sweep toward him, changing speeds and winding like a falling piece of paper in the wind, then thrust his ghostly weapon forward in an attempt to end the druid's life..........

[Jay009]

Barracker was caught in the middle of a sword strike from the unexpected wraiths that appeared. The sword strike ignored his armour and sent Barracker flying back into a chair, sending him toppling over head first. This was uneasy, his head felt battered and his chest had a warm sensation where the flesh had been torn slightly, as if flayed off his skin, giving way to a deep purple. With the momentum he had, he rolled backwards onto his feet. He looked around to see his party companions and see where they were standing. The wraith never took his eyes off the Paladin as it swooped in with another slashing attack with its ghostly claw this time. Barracker drew his claymore. As the Paladin went for the spectre oil, the chair split into two, leaving Barracker the option of rolling again, circling the wraith waiting for its next move, while popping the vial of spectre oil, quickly soaking the blade. As he finished, the wraith went on the front foot- frontal attack with a combination of sword and claw. The sword was blocked by his claymore but the claw came clamping down on his shoulder, holding the vampire in place while the wraith went for a lethal sword thrust to Barracker’s face. The Paladin stretched his neck to one side, the ghost sword missing his face by a small margin.

Dammit if I’m going to die today, he thought determinedly as the ghost blade passed through his face mask and grazed his cheek.

“James! Adam! I’m on my way,” he called out across the lounge area. The spellcasters were the most vulnerable as they usually require concentration to cast. Also wizards and other classes like that were not known to be defensively agile in the face of swinging swords.

As soon as he could, the vampire dug his claymore into the wraith's arm. Doing this freed him from its grasp and allowed Barracker to get away and close the distance between himself and James and Adam. The spectre oil on his sword left the wraith’s arm mangled with a deep burning wound, screeching as Barracker sprinted towards the wizards. With prayer to Hades, he summoned a magic barrier between Adam and Adam’s wraith, and without stopping he lunged at James wraith and swung a powerful blow.

[Loksfjoer]

As the shaft made contact with the cultist's head and knocked them out, Fenna noticed the movement behind her. A wraith was banging on an invisible wall. Wraith! As it tried again, she grabbed the vial Barracker had given her and applied it to the tip of her spear. As it came around the barrier, she stepped aside and as it raised its blade she ducked and moved her spear into position. The wraith cried in agony when the tip made contact and pierced a part of its body.

At the same time Sil let out a loud screech that distracted the cultists, but the wraiths didn't pay any attention to it.

As the wraith backed down a little she quickly moved her head from left to right to take in the situation in the library. Barracker came to the aid of James and Adam, MacKensie seemed okay, but Zell was under attack from a wraith, and the two cultists that had a wand and a sword ready were also still around. The one with the wand had recovered from the screech and started casting again, but in response to Fenna's worry about that cultist, Sil attacked him with her talons and tried to grab the wand.

[Saiyan]

The suprise attack was going well, at first.

Wand. Check.

But Zell, very painfully, found out that the cultists weren't the only ones being snuck up on.

"Agh!" The power of the ghost-sword slash knocked him stumbling backward and onto the floor. "Shit."

Zell barely managed to hold onto his knife and the wand. He felt like his arm had been cleaved off at the shoulder. Eyes squeezed shut with pain, he forced one open to see his cultist target running off down the aisle, and the far more concerning visual of a purple, transparent-ish creature floating toward him with a sword brandished. Scrambling to his feet with the help of the bookshelves at his side, he backed up and avoided the swings of the wraith - a lean back, a slip right, a duck down - and stumbled his way out of the aisle, into the seating area where he would soon realise that everyone else was under attack too.

In a moment of forgetfulness, he found an opening in the wraith's slow movements and threw himself at it, trying to stab it with his knife. "Whoa!" He went right through it, momentarily feeling he was in a winter blizzard before coming out the other side and falling onto his face. "Ugh."

Instinctively he rolled several times to one side, blindly avoiding a coup de grace from the wraith who relentlessly pressured him. Popping back to his feet, he was once again backing up avoiding attacks, throwing in a valiant effort to fire some kind of magic blast from the wand in his left hand (fail) before falling backwards over the back of a sofa. After rolling off, he'd created some space between himself and the wraith who was slowly gliding over the furniture. The time he had to himself gave him a chance to think, to feel the painful wound the ghost-sword had given him, and to look around the room at his friends.

"Good work, Kass!" he shouted as he saw the vampire damage his opponent and then zoom to the aid of James and Adam. And then he sighted the enemy caster. A cultist with a wand, all the time and space in the world, and no one to stop him conjuring up something nasty. Zell had his new target.

Avoiding another death blow from the wraith who had managed to catch up with him, he fled the ghostly being and ran towards the cultist with the wand at the end of the room. "Oi! Da fuck you think you're doin!"

Sil suddenly screeched loudly and the wand-wielding cultist was holding his ears in pain. "Ha!" Zell sought to take advantage and launched his knife overhand to send it spinning through the air towards the cultist. Once near the wand-wielder, he joined the falcon and jumped into a 360 spin, drawing his sword mid-spin and putting all the momentum into a killing strike.

[Teyao]

It hurt!

It fucking hurt!

"Agh!"

His mind went into overdrive even as he felt lose his balance, as he fell on his back his mind did its best to categorize his injuries, a long cut from shoulder to hip, not deep enough to be instantly fatal but if he didn't receive attention immediately the blood lost would complicate things. Next, he took stock of the situation, he had prevented the things -Wraiths?- from harming Fenna and Mac but left Adan and himself vulnerable.

Barracker and Zell should have also been hit but he trusted them to handle the damage.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Adam in a similar position as him and further away he perceived Barracker barreling towards them, making some sort of gesture towards Adam's direction even as he continued running in his direction.

For a moment he panicked thinking that Kass was saving him instead of Adam but then his rational side won, the paladin was a smart man and if he was taking this course of action it meant that he likely had a plan to help both so it didn't make sense to loose his calm at the moment. Instead, he looked at his own situation, wounded, bleeding all over the floor, on his back, and with the wraith moving to attack him again. No spell seemed fast enough to save himself.

He was fucked in short.

Well, maybe not.

With all the strength he could muster, he rolled so he was face down, the Wraith had a sword and if the previous attack was any indication it had a panache for slicing rather than stabbing so he would take the gamble, that it would slice and that the blessed anchor on his back will block it in time for Kass to take care of it.

[Zapdos]

Oh geez, that's not good was the understatement that Adam told himself as he reacted to the pain of a Wraith slashing him. Not that he had much time to do anything, as the creature rushed to attack him again. In the midst of all the pain - and there was a lot of it - the Druid wasn't sure how he would escape the attack that would impact him momentarily. There were no plants to move, even if they could damage the monster, and even with a tunnel vision level of focus on the situation at hand no other ideas presented themselves. It seemed this might be the end, though the man felt he had to try something to get out of this mess. And as if it was reacting to the thought, Adam noticed his right hand was glowing green. Deciding to try whatever this was, he held his hand up as if to strike the Wraith and…

A barrier appeared?

Can I summon barriers!?

The Druid saw the answer to his incredulous question in the form of Barracker and realized that the vampire had been the one to save his life, and now was going to save James. What a guy. There was no time to stand around in awe though. The hand was still glowing, and that meant there was something the red-eyed man could try, and with a few moments of mental focus he now knew what it was. So with all his effort, Adam moved so he could have a good line of sight on the creature, held up his hand, and fired a natural energy beam at the monster.

[Zool]

It had taken some grit to go through with the cut-throat assassination of the cultist: Putting the knife in the flesh of the neck, the blade had gone in and sliced across so easily - too easily. Weirdly, she found herself, in that moment, missing her mother more than ever. Perhaps it was because she didn't like what she'd become - someone who could kill with such mastery. But there wasn't much time to contemplate her new status and lot in life, for the piercing screech of a dying wraith erupted right next to her, threatening to burst her eardrum.

With a gasp, she looked to see the last of the flames disappear where the Counter-spelled wraith had once been. Then she took in the instantly chaotic panorama and rose up, drawing her crossbow. First she aimed at the wraith attacking Fenna near her, before remembering that her bolts would do nothing to these ethereal monsters. After that she hesitated a few seconds, then shot at one of the living enemies. The bolt, aimed down the aisle where Zell was, passed straight through the wraith and was on target to hit the fleeing cultist in the back of the head, but the woman managed to disappear around the corner just in time to avoid getting hit.

MacKensie didn't waste time lamenting her missed shot. She couldn't even if she wanted to, for as she aimed at the wizard cultist with the wand, Barracker's wraith came after her, forcing her to dodge away from it. With no method to counter the wraith, she was forced to stay on the defensive, evading attacks while repeatedly checking behind her to see where she was going. Carefully she navigated the furniture and ghosts while the wraith pursued her. It wasn't too difficult to avoid the ghost sword, but it was frustrating to be doing but being a distraction for a single wraith. She smoothly dove and rolled over a tabletop, back on her balls of her feet with some distance between herself and the wraith. Once again she sighted the woman who'd ran off down the aisle. She was back again, now with a sword, so MacKensie headed her way.

She started out, on the approach, by stopping the cultist dead in her tracks with a pre-emptive shot in the arm, then rushed in with her dagger and reeled off a twirling combination of strikes that the woman struggled to fend off. With just a few more seconds, MacKensie would have, no doubt, broke her opponents guard and finished her, but the pursuing wraith on the frenchwoman's tail had quickly caught up and joined the fight.

Now MacKensie was back on the defensive again, parries for the physical enemy and dodges for the ghostly one.

[xenon]

@Zool@Loksfjoer@Saiyan@Teyao@Zapdos@Jay009

@Teyao@Jay009@Zapdos

The late Arthur Baker, the Deep-One Reaver. Favored by his patron God, Undaya, ruler of the Sea, son of Iris. Arthur was the first Anchor Bearer, but now it seemed there was a new one with that name. And this one was also favored by the Sea God.

The wraith's sword came down on James, but just before it made contact, James' anchor glimmered. Ice and hoarfrost materialized on the surface of the anchor, enchanted with Source magic, it stopped the ghost blade as if steel met steel.

After James had saved himself from certain death, Barracker completed the rescue, almost cutting the wraith in half. The increasingly familiar screeching sound of wraith pain filled the room. One arm was fully severed and burned up into nothingness. The rest of the wraith was completely deformed, torso cut right though the chest, it's top half horizontal and hanging on by a thread. It did not stop screeching.

Adam's wraith was similarly screeching in pain, after the beam of natural energy, imbued the Source of the Earth Domain, went straight through the entity and blasted rock from the wall on the other side of the room. The resulting visual was a wraith with a massive hole in it's body, one big enough to stick one's head in, should they be weird enough to try it.

Both ravaged entities fled across room, away from the three men of Second Chance, past the Rangers and to the end of the room where Sil the falcon and Zell the swordsman were fighting the mage. The wraiths each entered a statue suit of plate armour, once simply decorations, now animated allies of the enemy.

@Loksfjoer@Saiyan

Sil managed to draw blood with her talon attacks, aswell as enough of the mage's attention to prevent him avoiding the thrown knife that buried into his leg, causing him to cry out in pain. But the competent mage did not drop his wand and managed to conjure a Lesser Ward - a magical shield - that would block Zell's killing strike. The force of the blow would knock the mage flying to the floor, rolling to a stop at the foot the pair of plate armour statues that were about to become animated by the injured wraiths.

The armoured suits vibrated as they were possessed, then stepped forward to flank the mage that was getting back on his feet, blood on his face and trickling down his bald head from the vicious falcon attacks. The suits pressed forward and the mage started conjuring once again. He would manage to charge and fire a multi missile attack of a dozen Dark bolts that swirled around eachother as they rose into the air then parted ways as they blasted off in all directions.

@Zool@Loksfjoer@Saiyan@Teyao@Zapdos@Jay009

12 bolts of Dark Domain Source. Fast flying and wide turning. 2 for each party member, homing in on their position. Unless dealt with, they would not give up on seeking out their target and doing a significant amount of damage to the ascended adventurers.

@Zool@Loksfjoer

In addition to her two opponents, MacKensie was unfortunate enough to attract the attention of another. Fenna would also be attacked whilst dealing with her wraith. The cultist that Fenna had knocked out, was quick to regain consciousness. He groaned and slowly, unsteadily got to his feet, rubbing the side of his head. When he realised what was going on around him, he drew his wand and blasted a firebolt at Fenna, then chanted a second immediate spell and sent a stream of fire at MacKensie.

[Zool]

MacKensie's blue cloak whirled as she twirled with her parries, ducks and dodges, giving ground with every attack from the wraith and cultist. The speed and agility on display may have looked pretty, but her face was frozen in wide-eyed fear, he breathing erratic as she tried to follow the steel/ghost blades of her enemies. How long she could keep this up was unknown, but she was not optimistic.

After catching the cultist's overhand strike on her dagger, the ghost sword slashed her waist causing her to cry out and crumble under the weight of the cultist sword, which in turn slashed her dagger-arm as she was forced to retreat with her wounds. Back-pedalling frantically in pain, she watched her enemies chase her down. Her back hit the flat wood of a bookshelf's end, then she ducked just in time to avoid being beheaded.

The whole time she'd been holding her crossbow in one hand - the chamber empty - no time to reload. She just couldn't get away from her foes for long enough. And then things went from bad to worse. She spotted the bright flames of conjured fire in the corner of her eye, and looked to see yet another wizard about to point his wand her way. Suddenly the pain of her lacerations was the least of her worries, all but ignored as she sprinted for cover, baseball sliding under a table and flipping it to use the tabletop as a shield. The stream of fire hit the table and MacKensie could feel the heat from the other side, even seeing the flames dancing as the fire stream continued to blast against the table like water from a hose, spreading into a wall of flames that she could see above her.

He is going to smoke me out of hiding!

She had to do something.

And she did.

Without thinking, she ignited flames of her own. Source magic flowed through her arms, little flames dancing down her hands as she activated her Deadly Flurry. Then she got up and jumped over the table, through the wall of flames to take her enemies by surprise, a fist full of bolts in one hand, held over her crossbow.

Jai vous!

She fired off all the bolts like a machine gun. Before MacKensie had even landed, the cultist with the sword was hit a bunch of times, and her crossbow sights swept left to try and take some revenge on the fire mage too before her attack ended...

She landed and drew her dagger once more, ready to press any advantage she might have from her suicidal counter-attack, but she only saw the wraith, who had carefully avoided the fire and now moved towards her. And there was also...

"Wha-?" MacKensie dove to one side to avoid a pair of crackling black thunderbolts came zooming at her. Flowing into a roll to smoothly get back to her feet, she looked over her shoulder to see the two bolts hit the wall and explode. She had no idea where they'd come from, but tried to remain alert as she turned her attention back to the approaching wraith. Blood stained her torn tunic at the waist and on her sleeve, pain glowing beneath. But her determination glowed brighter.

[Zapdos]

It seemed this new natural energy beam - or what Eric might call a “Kamehameha” - was effective, judging by how the Wraith proceeded to run into a suit of armor. Not the kill Adam was hoping for, but it was good enough. However, the dark bolts heading his way? Not good. At least thinking of his brother had brought to mind something else that would be relevant right now. Seeing as Barracker's barrier was still there and these blasts were homing in on him, the Druid waited until the last second, then jumped behind the magical shield, letting it take the hit instead of himself. 

Whatever game he had done that in, Eric's example probably saved his brother's life at that moment. 

What now, what now…

The field of battle was truly chaotic, with everyone in what seemed to be life-or-death situations. As he saw his team bravely battle, Adam was determined to do the same. Not hand-to-hand like most of the others, but the Druid saw where the two injured wraiths had gone and hoped he could stop them from inflicting any more damage. Moving a group of heavy-looking bookshelves, he positioned them so they would be above the possessed suits of armor and the mage they were surrounding. Then, after being sure that Zell and Sil were out of the way, the red-eyed man repeatedly slammed the enemies with the furniture like a hammer pounding a nail.

[Teyao]

It worked!

It fucking worked!

Oh good lord was that close, and thank whoever was listening that Kass was as fast as he was, for a moment he thought he was toast. Thought, considering the situation he might still be. There were 2 bolts of magic that didn't seem very friendly heading for each member, sadly he couldn't get rid of all of them.

Just the ones heading for him and Kass.

The beams of light shot in quick succession, the first one was lucky to grab two but the others were far apart so he needed to use one for each. That done he left the arm fall limp to his side "Thanks for the save Kass, but there is no time, the others need your help, go, me and Adam have things under control here" He patted the man on the shoulder.

Then he stumbled his way to Adam's position, all that movement was not doing him any favors but he had a duty to fulfill. As soon as he was within arms reach he fell to his knees, then maneuvered so he was sitting behind the barrier that was protecting the other man.

Judging by the way he was moving and the enthusiasm behind the motion the guy was really getting into it.

Reaching a hand he brushed it against the Druid's leg and incanted one of his new spells Lesser Restore, as the name suggested it wasn't the greatest spell but for injuries like the ones they had? It was a literal lifesaver. Instantly he could see the cut on the man grow less and less pronounced until only unblemished skin was left instead. His hand retracted and held his own injury, he had another Lesser Restore for the day... but they still needed to truck ahead and this spell could be the difference between one of his party members surviving.

With pain he directed his other hand to his pack, retrieving his medical supplies.

"Hey Adam, keep me safe for a sec will ya?"

Without waiting for a response he started the process of putting himself back together, he would use a Increased healing speed at the end but he still had to reach that point.

This was going to suck.