Luminosity

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

I'll be taking my leave then I think. Not anticipating being able to keep up.

Sorry. I'll see you guys around.

The Pale Princess

Hey, I know you mean well, but please don't bump just to poke me. I don't know if that was your intent or not. I thought I was going to have the time/energy to post today, but it's turning out to not be the case. And I'd rather not feel more guilty than I have to for keeping you waiting on a post.

🦄 Duplicity - D&D Style Fantasy Rp Adventure (Completed)

Apart from being very busy right now, I'm not sure what to post. There hasn't been a Sundos or Sona post since my last, so Seph is still kinda just standing by the cart waiting for the issue with the newcomer to be resolved.

The Pale Princess

Hey. I'm sorry, I've just been really, really busy. It may not clear up for another few days.

The Pale Princess

Elise groaned in frustration when Valence recovered in time to roll away from her attack, leaving her to slash at the ice beneath him, and she still lacked the strength and the balance to give chase. Her face quickly warped in grief again, as she expected her failure to be the end of her again. She braced herself against the ice with one gloved hand to keep herself from tipping over.

What did he say? He brought her back? Elise stared at him in confusion. Nothing the man said ever seemed to make sense to her, and she was fairly confident she'd heard him correctly, both now and before. Had she... had she really died. Had he really somehow revived her? How was that even possible? And why would he do it to her, his enemy, a mere girl to be discarded so that her father and her kingdom would be weakened?

His eyes opened, locked with hers, and suddenly Elise sharply took in a breath, instinctively removing her right hand from the floor to press it against the side of her head, and immediately slipping onto her hip in the process. She could feel something... foreign, invading her mind, and suddenly Valence seemed to stand out to her like even the room they were in no longer existed. She could feel hints of his surprise, his... shame? Was it shame, or sadness, or perhaps both? Elise couldn't tell, but she could recognize the feeling as not her own.

At the same time, she felt immediately exposed, unable to hide her exhausted state, her confusion, her fear, overwhelming fear that she did everything she could to suppress visually. All of it was tinged with her despair, as everything had been since her mother was murdered. Valence's sword slipped from her hand and clattered onto the ice, as she brought her other hand to her head, as though cupping it would somehow hide her from him. With her right, she pushed herself back up into a sitting position, unconsciously sliding a foot away from him. Her eyes shot up to his, her anger and spirit clearly undiminished.

"What did you do to me?" she demanded to know. "Get out of my head!"

The Pale Princess

Quite suddenly, the very dead princess gasped in a breath, arching her back instinctively and writhing around on her back.

Elise's heart was throbbing within her chest, and all of her limbs felt like they were on fire, like knives were stabbing into every inch of her skin. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she thought she might be choking, but it was entirely mental, and with a few more seconds, she managed to inhale, exhale, inhale again. The room above her was spinning rapidly. She blinked several times, trying to clear the sudden tears in her eyes, and focus, but it was nearly impossible.

It took her mind a long moment to get over the intense sensations she was feeling to remember what exactly had happened. She remembered... defeat, lying injured and incapacitated on the ice, her killer over her, trying to ease her into her death. She remembered closing her fingers around the hilt of her sword, and even then trying to stab it into Valence, even as the knife hovered by her head. A moment before it ended, she gave up the struggle, attempted to relax her body, and closed her eyes. And then... nothing, until the shock of awakening again.

The tingling in her limbs eventually subsided enough for Elise to control her body again, and she pushed herself with great effort onto her side. She felt at the spot where the knife had been driven in, not even finding a scar. Her side felt intact, all her ribs in place, no bone piece broken off and stabbing into her organs. She glanced down at her body, finding what skin she could see to be paler than usual. Not a ghostly white ivory, but certainly devoid of the sort of glow she'd had before. An effect of the cold, perhaps? Her amulet had only recently returned to life around her neck, shielding her from it. She could see the ice around her, knew she was still in the mountains somewhere.

Her vision started to clear up, focus returning to her, and Elise took in the shape of the cave, the runic carvings around her, and... there, on his back on the ice, was Valence. He looked to be unconscious, and Elise's first thought was a dark one. She reached to her hip, but grasped only air. Her sword was gone. Pushing herself to hands and knees, she reached for her boot, finding that the dagger there was taken as well. Valence had a sword sheathed, she could see.

She didn't know what he'd done to her, but it changed nothing. Her mother was still dead. Her killer was still within Elise's reach.

Figuratively. She slipped and fell upon first trying to stand, ending up on her side again with a cry. Ice was hard, and her limbs felt weak, heavy, sluggish, like her body had yet to fully wake up from a long, deep sleep that her mind was already clear of. She crawled to his side, checking to make sure that it was indeed him. He had a new scar across his cheek that hadn't been there before. She wondered how long she'd been out, what had happened in the meantime. Her father... he would think her dead, the entire Vale would think her slain.

Wrapping both gloves hands around Valence's sword, she tugged it free, the ringing of the steel echoing through the little cave. The effort tipped her over again onto her side, though she tried to right herself as quickly as she could, still remaining on her knees. Just one clean blow could end him, if she could manage it...

{Closed}

_Fiona

Unknown Location - 500 HP - 2/6 Stamina

---

Fiona watched with a great deal of interest, and concern, as the other half of her group engaged the larger faceless, who proved unable to stop Nicholas and herself from moving to assist their ally engaged with the smaller one. She watched their impressive coordination, doing what they could to it to bring it down, before the woman atop it was thrown bodily into the other girl, and an earthquake erupted under them, taking them both to the ground. It didn't look too bad, but Fiona wondered if she could help them, if she was getting in the way here...

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Nicholas was forced back, bumping into her side with his shield arm and throwing her off balance. She recovered it quickly, reaching out with her free hand to grasp Nicholas by the elbow, and keep herself upright. Turning to face the smaller faceless fully, she trusted that the other three could keep the greater beast busy.

"I can't go much longer, either," Fiona admitted. She wasn't harmed at all, by some miracle, but her muscles burned and her breaths were coming quicker and quicker. Her use of magic had fatigued her quicker than some of the others as well, and if this kept up, her strikes would swiftly start to become weaker, her reactions slower. "We're behind you," she assured her ally, getting ready for the attack.

She wasn't sure what he planned to do with the arrow, but it came as a pleasant surprise when he used it to strike through the thing's knee and bring a leg down. Fiona followed in the path of its swung sword, opposite the way the other man had gone, and raised her sword high over her head for a vertical strike, bringing the blade down towards its head. She thought to use her magic to make her blade even more deadly, but decided against it, remembering the results of her last spell. The strength left in her arms would have to do.

The Pale Princess

Elise had never truly been injured before, not in a life-threatening way, nor had she been subjected to the force of offensive magic the likes of which Valence had thrown at her. There was nothing she could to dodge the lightning, and it aggressively jumped from her sword's blade into her arm, proceeding to course through her entire body. She shook violently, as every piece of her erupted in pain unlike anything she'd ever felt. The tightening of her muscles prevented her even from screaming; she merely stood still, the agonizing magic sapping all the strength she had left in her.

When it ended, she was left with just a brief moment to gulp in a breath, and blink the unbidden tears from her eyes. She wavered in place, her sword easily slapped from her hand, and it flew to the ground, clattering against the ice. Her limbs trembled from the surging of energy still reverberating through her, making it almost impossible to control herself. Elise would have fallen quickly enough regardless of Valence's next attack, but it came anyway, and she could only watch.

The hilt of the sword smacked into her face, bloodying her nose and wrenching her head back. For an instant she blacked out, unable to see or feel anything, but when her senses returned, she felt herself falling, her legs having been swept out from under her. Her back collided painfully with the ice, and she cried out, arching her back away from the ice and trying to brace herself with a gloved hand. One of her ribs had most certainly cracked, leaving rippling agony throughout her torso. She couldn't even move her hand well enough to clutch herself, however.

Her breath came in gasps as she writhed on her back on the ice, the chill of it cutting through her. She was still clearly trying to resist, trying to roll over or get up or strike at him, but her body wouldn't obey her. She could only lie upon her back, her limbs twitching this way and that, spasms shaking her body every few seconds. Blood ran in lines down the side of her face.

Elise's imminent death began to set in fully. Somehow she'd known this would be the outcome, with her lying defeated under her mother's killer, soon to be her killer as well. But she had to try. If she hadn't, Valence would've disappeared, surely. He could not show his face in Vale again without being attacked by any soldier in sight. He would've retreated to his home or somewhere else. This was her one chance for justice.

And she had failed, costing her own life, and further damaging the future of her kingdom.

He knelt down by her, setting his sword down by her head and reaching out to touch her face. She recoiled from him as best she could, tried to reach for his sword, but her arms refused to obey her, and she grimaced with the effort. She heard the drawing of a knife, and struggled harder, managing to almost roll over slightly, but the move put weight directly upon her broken rib, and she choked on a gasp, forced to roll back. Tears streamed from her eyes, from pain and grief in equal measure. She ceased her struggling, now only twitching from the jolts still going through her limbs and body from the electricity's after-effects.

He was saying something to her, but Elise didn't understand, at least not at first. Perhaps the pain was causing that. Something about her mother. Proud, he said. He wanted a message, last words. Did he want her to beg? No, his eyes spoke otherwise. He was sorry to be killing her. He really believed he needed to. Elise desperately tried to get a decent breath, so she could speak, but her breathing was ragged, the taste of her blood thick on her tongue.

"My father," she managed. "I'm sorry..." It was all she could think to say, as her eyes wandered to the knife, and then up to his eyes again. Elise swallowed, trying pointlessly to steady her breathing. If she was to die, she wanted to die unafraid, as the daughter of a King should.

The Pale Princess

She'd almost had him, and it gave Elise a momentary burst of hope. But her blade was forced away by his defenses, and almost proved in the end to be nothing. Worse, her efforts had convinced him to increase his attack, and Elise soon found herself entirely on the defensive.

A brief moment she spent recovering her footing was a moment too long, and there were sword blows raining upon her before she could move. The first was deflected entirely by her wards, but she felt them significantly weaken in the process, given the strength of his attack. She had to defend against them herself. The second clashed loudly off her sword, driving her a step back and rattling her arms painfully all the way up to the shoulder.

He feinted, and she fell for it entirely, the next strike coming at her unguarded side, and she would've been split open were it not for the wards, still barely holding. Some of the force was coming through now, and the blow felt like a brutal punch to her ribs, knocking her breath from her and leaving her reeling. Elise stumbled back, her features contorted in pain.

Her back hit an icy wall, radiating cold, and she shuddered. No sooner had she hit it than a lightning bolt shot forward from Valence, on target to hit her in the chest, but her ward saved her from it. Her defenses shattered with a loud ringing, and the amulet upon her chest immediately darkened. The force of the lightning bolt still carried mostly through, smacking Elise back against the icy wall, the burst of energy in front of her kicking up another cloud of snow.

Only her fall to her side saved her from the next lightning bolt, which blasted apart a chunk of the wall behind her, sending icy pieces raining down around her. More than anything, Elise felt the cold, now that her amulet was spent, leaving her exposed to the elements. It was a stark reminder of her vulnerability, the air cutting like knives through her clothes and armor. She couldn't hide the fear from her eyes. Who wouldn't feel fear, when assaulted with terrifying force like this?

But Elise wouldn't give up, not until she could go no longer, and she forced herself back to her feet as quickly as she could, beating down her uncertainty with anger. "I am a daughter of the Vale," she said, as she charged forward again. "And I will have justice!" That was unlikely at this point, but saying the words gave her the courage she needed for another attack.

She was slowed somewhat now, making her movement easy to read, as she rushed forward and made an aggressive lunge now that Valence was shieldless. It would leave her entirely exposed if she missed, however, and the protection of her warding amulet was now gone.

The Pale Princess

Elise's attack did indeed carry her further than she intended, when the ice proved difficult to halt on. Her enchantments strained to redirect his kick, but ultimately couldn't do so, and his boot found the side of her right leg, forcing her down onto one knee. She winced, as the limb twisted somewhat painfully, but no serious damage had been done, and she managed to act quickly, tucking her shoulder and rolling forward, coming quickly back to her feet, albeit with enough time for him to turn and face her again, effectively resetting the fight.

"So you would murder our people in their homes instead?" she spat, maintaining her ready stance. She tried to ignore the wyvern peering down at her; she couldn't afford to be distracted by it. Valence had strong control of magic, making his attacks difficult for her amulet and gear to intercept. She couldn't afford any mistakes, either. "You're no better than those who intend to conquer you. We will not be intimidated into submission!"

She rushed forward again, this time kicking up a cloud of soft snow towards Valence, hoping to obscure her approach, giving her a better chance at breaking through. She broke off, through the cloud, trying to get around his right side, not risking a feinted step for fear of slipping on the ice. As she came around, Elise attempted to slash high with her sword, aiming for his exposed head.