Crimson Paladin

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

The group now found itself fighting not just the tree, but the surrounding Unseelie. If it were one or the other, it'd be manageable, but combating both at the same time was a lofty challenge, and the fairies seemed emboldened by their considerable advantage in numbers.

"I've got one," he answered Elnith. "Keep them off me."

With the druid dealing with the smaller Unseelie quite effectively, Ethelred saw an opportunity to strike at the tree. It was still attempting to pry its damaged trunk apart, and while Ethelred wasn't sure why it'd be worsening the damage, it did present an opportunity for the Frozen Knight to do some damage.

Ethelred charged the tree and stabbed his lance into the tree's hole. There was something very odd about how this arboreal abomination was trying to pull itself apart, along with its strange words- was it perhaps trapped in a wooden prison much as Ethelred was trapped in an icy one? If it was not an insane, murderous Unseelie, he might even feel sympathy for it.

In any case, they needed to take this tree out of the battle before they were overwhelmed. With this in mind- and perhaps because he was both curious about whether this thing might parallel his own curse, and because he believed in looking his foes in the eyes- he used his lance to try and pry the tree's damaged trunk apart.

"Let's see what you are underneath all this, Unseelie!"

@BrokenPromise@Rune_Alchemist

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Captain Argus Fellborn

"Perhaps, Ichor willing, we'll rematch that monster with a proper crew someday," Argus replied, putting the maid down. "Nevertheless, I see no shame in a well-executed escape." Unlike the last time he cheated an almost certain death, he pulled it off deftly enough to not warrant sacrificing anyone, he contemplated as he felt a sense of satisfaction in his chest, no doubt from the sense of pride of having pulled it off without deigning to take the easy way.

The pirate still wasn't sure what Cynthia had done with her eye, but she definitely cast the impression that it had taxed her.

Cynthia was unwilling to continue onward, claiming it would be best if the split up, but she gave the vampire directions to the village that she had offered to lead him to. With any luck it shouldn't be too difficult of a walk, assuming there wasn't anything like that sea monster walking around up on land.

"Aye, if I need you, I'll make use of it," he said, accepting the charm, and taking a moment to examine the pattern. "Farewell, lass." He tipped his hat to her and started on his way to the village where, according to Cynthia, other vampires awaited him.

There was much to consider. There was the job to retrieve the blade, of course, but the pirate had other things on his mind. He needed to find corpses for a new crew. He needed to find a source of blood. Perhaps he also needed a ship, but with the collapse of civilization, there would be no wealthy merchant enterprises to plunder out on the seas. Besides, if there was a chance that the Silent Swordbill was still out there awaiting her captain's return, he did not wish to be unfaithful to her.

@Rune_Alchemist

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri stepped back as the axe narrowly struck his helmet. That was too close for comfort, he thought. True, he wouldn't be much of an Iron Rose if he wasn't willing to step out of his comfort zone, but it'd be a good idea to not let that happen again. He was lucky that the axe was not charged when it hit. The explosion from that weapon was strong enough to make a crater in the stone- he did not want to see what it'd do to someone's head.

Judging from what he had seen, the runic engravings on the axe glowed when it was charged, and released its charge upon striking something. If they could strike the axehead before its wielder brought it down, perhaps the unexpected detonation might unbalance him...although doing so might damage his weapon in the process. If they could make it go off close enough to its wielder, they might even be able to injure him with it. It wouldn't be easy though- Fleuri assumed that if this northerner was running around with such a dangerous weapon, surely he'd be experienced enough to not hurt himself with it. On the other hand, assuming the warrior wasn't an amateur who had no idea what he was doing, this might lend a bit of predictability to when and where he'd would and wouldn't use his axe's special power.

When Steffen moved in for another attack, Fleuri was ready to support him. The Ingvarr moved in close and attacked unarmed, presumably wanting to get in too close for the axe- and too close for the warrior to safely use the magical explosion. Fleuri rushed in too, bringing his sword and hooking it beneath the axe's beard or heel, preventing the Barukstaedian from bringing it down on the approaching Invgarr. Between the length of his greatsword blade and the leverage that he had, he should be able to keep the axehead away from himself, but he kept a safe distance behind his sword's crossguard just in case.

Whatever the others were going to do, they'd better do it fast before the northern warrior managed to free his axe.

@Conscripts@Rune_Alchemist@Creative Chaos

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Captain Argus Fellborn

It worked. The pistol's firing mechanism, Argus' blood magic, and Cynthia's plan, all had managed to come through and temporarily stun that sea monster. And while Argus wasn't exactly sure what Cynthia did when she revealed her eye, he was pretty sure she did something. It was aimed at him- perhaps it was some sort of empowerment? Regardless, they had found success, and as long as they didn't push their luck, the duo should be able to make it to shore and out of that creature's reach.

Cynthia wasn't doing too well, however. Whatever she did had weakened and pained her, and now she was asking the pirate captain to carry her to safety.

"Very well, lass," Argus answered with a sigh, before picking up the girl. "You angled me out of the depths, after all. Besides, there's naught but dead men to tell this tale."

With Cynthia in his arms, he ran across the wreckage and leapt towards the shore. What a sight- the dreaded Red Tide, risking his own escape to rescue someone else, then carrying them to safety. Even if there was a practical reason for ensuring Cynthia's survival, perhaps losing his thralls had stung the pirate even more deeply than he believed.

@Rune_Alchemist

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

The tree's reply to his demands answered one question. The tree was indeed an Unseelie, with all of its kind's twisted mockery of the concept of friendship.

There was a much more dire concern than the nature of the malevolent tree- the knights had found themselves surrounded by the plant-like creatures from before. It would appear that Ethelred's previous worry that there were more of those things lurking around wasn't too far off. Now they'd have to fight both the plant creatures and the tree.

They had finally come face to face with the corruption in these woods. Now it was their duty to cleanse the forest and make it safe again.

"Look out!" Ethelred warned as he lunged away from the incoming tree.

"Elnith, keep that tree's branches off us!" he shouted, reading his lance. "Lugh, Luana, don't let yourselves get separated!" He didn't know if there were more of those beasts concealed in the brush, and didn't want any of the knights to get cut off from the others. Staying close would keep them within reach of the tree, but he trusted in the skills of his companions to support one another.

@Rune_Alchemist@BrokenPromise

The Storm Cycle: Reclamation

A horrific smell made its way into Ethelred's helmet and into his nostrils as he heard Lugh's protests. He glanced back just long enough to see the poor Tuatha near Luana, who had taken the form of a skunk.

Poor Lugh, I hope that they have a magical way to get that smell out. Luana was probably trying to help counteract the tree's strange scent, but why didn't she just spray the tree instead, he wondered.

He didn't have time to think too much about it- the much more pressing matter was that the tree seemed to cease as the trunk finally cracked. Once it did, however, the tree began to move again. A large mass of branches came towards Ethelred, compelling the Frozen Knight to withdraw his lance from the widened crack and attempt to move away from the attack- assuming the frozen roots around him did not maintain their hold.

It was curious, perhaps perplexing when Ethelred saw the tree seemingly trying to widen its crack. Nothing could prepare him, however, for the sign of the tree trying to move away, seemingly in an attempt to escape its attackers.

Normally the Frozen Knight didn't like to chase down fleeing enemies. But regardless of whether it was an Unseelie or simply something twisted by their curses, this tree was a threat to the good people of Albion, and it needed to be stopped before it could place its roots down elsewhere and consume more people. Assuming he escaped the tree's grip, he would pursue the tree and attempt to drive his lance into one of its roots in an attempt to stake it into the ground. Regardless of his situation, he would convey what was likely a rather pointless ultimatum, and one that'd probably appear rather silly to everyone involved.

"You've taken your last innocent life, tree! If there's any intelligence in that trunk, you'd better surrender else we'll cut you down!"

@BrokenPromise@Rune_Alchemist

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri turned his full attention towards the newly arrived warrior.

"This must be the very large warrior that the Nem mentioned," he remarked to his fellow knights. Indeed, the man before them was quite large, and even if his axe wasn't bearing a dangerous enchantment, he looked to be quite a formidable foe.

Fanilly ordered for a few of their number to deal with this warrior so the others could push forward. The Ingvarr knight Steffan was the first to volunteer, moving to engage the bearded axeman. His opponent wasn't going to go down easily, and with that enchanted weapon in an enclosed space, it was too dangerous to leave this to one knight.

Fleuri didn't have the opportunity to vocally convey his intention to stay, because he needed to act immediately. As the warrior charged at Steffan and swung his magical axe, Fleuri moved to flank from the right side. The moment that the explosion finished its course, the knight moved in and thrust his greatsword at the warrior's torso just beneath the arm, aiming to stab his sword between the armor joints while the man's arms were extended forward. Whether or not he was able to penetrate the man's armor, he'd immediately withdraw his sword and step back after making the stab- he needed to stay out of the range of that axe, because attempting to block or parry it would end in disaster.

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR@Conscripts

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Captain Argus Fellborn

This was not the first time that Argus battled a sea monster. But without a proper polearm, without cannons and a crew to man them, and without his full strength, this wouldn't be like before. He had only one ally, and his only tools were a rusty cutlass, a soaked pistol, a wooden spar, and his magic.

Perhaps, however, that might be enough.

Upon hearing Cynthia's plan, the vampire complied- he wasn't much for taking orders, but he had no hang-ups with going along with another's quick thinking when the situation got dire. In fact, the only proper answer to Cynthia's request was to give her some quick thinking of his own.

Argus channeled his blood magic, causing a red trail of fluid to pour from within his sleeve, along his glove, onto his end of the spar, embedding itself into the wood. He had to be careful not to give up too much of the red substance, lest he find himself measurably weakened. With his other hand, he drew and fully cocked his pistol. The weapon was quite useless as a firearm in its current state, but all he needed was for the flint-and-steel mechanism to work.

The monster was rising up, he needed to be ready...

Argus moved his bloodied hand down the shaft, smearing a red trail. Then, without hesitation, he positioned the pistol to the trail, intending to ignite the magically altered blood with the sparks. Fire was the enemy of blood magic, weakening and destabilizing it. Unlike some vampires who might have seen this as a weakness, Argus exploited this property, imbuing it with energy to be released in a self-sustaining reaction when destabilized by fire.

Whether or not the blood began to ignite and move its way towards the crimson tip, at the spearmaiden's command, Argus spun the spar around so that the bloodied end faced the monster and tossed it like a massive harpoon.

@Rune_Alchemist

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Captain Argus Fellborn

The pirate had made it. All it'd take was a good jump and he'd soon be back on the shore, away from his former crew and that monster. Argus didn't consider himself an escape artist, but he had certainly made many narrow escapes over the years, ever since that fateful day when he became a vampire. How fitting, that his resurrection would begin in the same manner as his birth as a vampire- with his former crewmates trying to kill him.

Unfortunately, Cynthia hadn't been so lucky.

She was on an adjoining wreck, with a large chunk of wood embedded in her shoulder. Behind her, the pirate bore witness to the roiling of the seas as the monster began to rise out of the sea. Cynthia shouted at him to forget about her and get free, that his survival was the key, and readied her spear to hold it off.

Judging by the way it was rising out of the water, it was no mere whale or shark.

It should be an easy choice- to run and leave her behind. That's what scoundrels and thieves do, after all. Not only that, but Argus had already done it once before, giving up much of his crew and sacrificing his thralls to slip away from the Hundred Paladins and complete the mission he had been tasked with. Sure, it was hard at the time, but if he did it once, the second time would surely be much easier. Besides, it's not like it'd be a betrayal- she told him to run and leave her to face the monster.

On the other hand, if something happened to this spear-maiden, how would he get paid?

The vampire grabbed hold of the wreck's bowspirit with his left hand and chopped it off at the base with his cutlass. With all of his strength, he swung the spar around and brought its far end to where Cynthia was.

"Grab on, lass! No need to make a martyr out of yourself tonight!"

@Rune_Alchemist

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Novak

"Very well," Novak replied. "I will to return here tomorrow night as instructed." Now that there was definitely nothing left to do, he turned and exited the house.

Thanks to this white-haired girl, they now had a possible lead that he did not anticipate- a petition with the goddess of death. Would she actually reply, though? The Yaga certainly didn't think so, and Novak couldn't fault her logic. Why would a deity intervene in a petty matter like this? And if they did, would they do so in such an open manner, or would they resort to machinations too subtle for mortals to notice?

Regardless, Novak wasn't going to stop in his efforts. It might be wise to avoid doing anything that could sabotage or interfere with the performance of the Yaga's ritual, but there was still more about this situation to learn, and more about the obstacles to assess.

Novak wouldn't wait outside for the girl whom he presumed was Lissa to exit the witch's house. He would need to get going, and it might be safer if they moved separately. Whatever questions he had could wait until after they were back in the town.

"Let's go, Ayumi."

@Rune_Alchemist@Click This