Re: Ivy and Chrome: Kila, Raven and Cereth
Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:40 am
Kila watches the man with the shot gun walk up to her and offer his help with the boy. Slowly she moves to make room for him to grab onto the boy but doesn't let go of the child herself. "thank you Sir," she says softly as she keeps moving toward the main land. Kila stops walking as she hears Raven's question. "I couldn't," she says as she drops her head her hands still on the boy," They casted a blind spell on me so I was unable to see anything."
Raven nods to Galen and listens closely to Kila. Without saying a word, he turns towards the faerie mound. Finally, he begins muttering something in an arcane tongue, clearing away any magical concealment barriers, allowing himself to see even the invisible. Unsatisfied that this alone will stop the faeries from stopping him. He looks to Galen and Kila, "Don't let any of them get close to me until I cast another spell. Faeries can mean the difference between life and death, especially in our situation."
He digs into his pack and brandishes the book which was given to him so long ago. The brand of the Grand Magus marked upon it with the seal of New Memphis. A time and place long gone to him now, yet, the reality he still holds onto. The places, the people and friends... even the ones who he'd betrayed to Natalya, Logaine and Calligrosto.
He flips to the page he'd had in mind as fast as he can and smiles, oO(I've always wondered if this spell would be worth anything one day. This might be it)Oo. He begins chanting in an odd magical tongue. His face becomes smoother, his expression softer, almost angelic. His very presence and mood seems to radiate honesty, peace and friendship. He looks to Kila and Galen as he drops his utility belt and pack. Carrying only his NE-4 up his sleeve, he mutters to them both, "Please don't let the faeries get near my stuff. There are things in there that I hold almost as dear as I do Kila."
He turns and regards the faeries and begins slowly advancing towards them, careful to stay away from the faerie circle, where thier little faerie dance is taking place. In dragonese, Raven says as angelically as possible, "I come in friendship and seek a young human girl. I miss her dearly and would be ever so greatful to have her back. You see, I am her adopted uncle and her father is a very dear friend of mine. It would make me very sad to see her get too sick to live if I couldn't find her. I wish I could speak like all the little folk, but this is the closest language that I know of. Can you help me find her? I don't want to be sad. Do you want me to be sad?" Raven acts sincere.
Kila watches Raven with a saddened look for a moment before nodding softly and letting the man helping her take the boy for a moment before going over and grabbing all of the things Raven drops. "Becarefully they only seem to want to talk in Faerie tongue," she says softly,"So if you need me to I'll translate for you." Kila looks to Galen as she trys to think of a spell that would help Raven by keeping the faeries off him but at the moment the only one she can think of is the fear spell she casted before.
Raven nods his approval for Kila, waiting for the reaction from the faeries.
Crossing the river, Raven pauses before stepping onto the island. As a ley line walker, he can clearly see the flow of magical energy that weaves in and out of the flowers which ring the island. The sound of music, frivolity, and laughter spills out from the center of the island; where a number of the fairies are dancing in and out of the trees around a small mound of grass and flowers. As he watches, Raven notices a train of fairies dancing their way around the outside of the island; while a second train dances their way around an inner circle.
As the outer ring makes its way towards where he stands ankle deep in the water, just inches outside of their path, Raven makes his case.
"I come in friendship and seek a young human girl. I miss her dearly and would be ever so greatful to have her back. You see, I am her adopted uncle and her father is a very dear friend of mine. It would make me very sad to see her get too sick to live if I couldn't find her. I wish I could speak like all the little folk, but this is the closest language that I know of. Can you help me find her? I don't want to be sad. Do you want me to be sad?"
Watching the train of fairies work their way in and out of the flowers in front of him, Raven catches the eye of a couple of the tiny beings as they dance past.
As he watches to check their reaction, the fairies continue on past. At first, Raven is sure he has had no effect; but then the train of fairies breaks away from its circular path and starts to wind its way back towards him; gathering flowers as they go.
Not speaking a word, the line of fairies dances right up in front of Raven, tossing their flowers into the water at his feet. Dancing away, they return a few seconds later, and repeat the process. Raven looks down at the petals floating in the water at his feet, while he ponders the fairies actions.
With a subtle shake of his head Galen turns and looks for a place where he can watch for the enemies approach and still be able to see the happenings on the island. Where Raven was previously perched would work if nothing better presents itself. He glances at Raven occasionally trying to understand the actions of the little folk. oO(Could an entire race of sentient beings truly be this carefree and oblivious in the face of danger?)Oo Galen wonders; oO(Or are they truly so powerful in their unity that even the Splugorth would hesitate to attack them? Surely not; it is doubtful there is anything in this realm that would give the Splugorth pause. Especially not such diminutive creatures as these. Odd creatures, though....)Oo
Galen returns his focus more fully to the problem at hand and berates himself for letting his mind wander like that. Orald, his long time friend and mentor, has lectured him on more than one occasion about the follies of daydreaming. Thoughts of Orald remind Galen of his reason for even being on this god forsaken island. oO(Hopefully the slavers haven’t treated him too badly. Maybe he got lucky and and they are using his medical skills rather than... )Oo Galen stops that line of thinking right there and leaves that last “what if” unthunk.
Raven simply watches the faeries as he watches the flowers, letting his latent abilities see if it is an act of friendship and willingness to cooperate or to see if PPE radiates from the flower petals as part of a spell. In the meantime he says, "It would make the little girl sad too."
Kila stays back from the island not wanting to get caught up in another faerie trick as she watchs the movement around Raven. *(Please becareful please )* she thinks as she stands quiet watching.
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What ever Raven knew about the shield in front of them did not matter now that he could see the ice queen...He felt sad about the mage who had just seconds before placed somekind of protective spell on him, but it was better it was her and not him he mused, as he pushed forward towards Raven, he also pulled out his katana, making sure he was fast enough to be in stride and speed with Raven and her horse. Pistol and sword at the ready, he waited to see what would be happening once they came upon the sheild?
Anything that tried to attack Raven, Cereth will do his best to take them out.
Cereth charges ahead, following Raven on her horse. The doubt in the back of his mind grows larger as they come upon the radius of the circle, wondering what would happen as they cross it ... but Raven appears to have no such doubt. With what can almost be considered reckless abandon, she charges right through the assembled demon horde, causing them to scramble aside to avoid being trampled by her steed.
Her sword still sheathed, she seems intent only on charging through the mob, kicking aside the demons as their claws lash out, leaving deep scratches on the horse's protective armour. As the demons are flung from the tight radius of the circle, or as the more cowardly scramble aside to get out of the way of the charging warrior woman, the sheen covering their skin disappears. Only those who are able to stay within a few meters of the closest general retain the protective sheen ... and it occurs to Cereth that Raven is not at all worried about causing damage to the beings ... her first priority is forcing them out of the spell's radius.
The defiant charge appears to have had a distracting effect on the smaller demons, who for the moment are too busy trying to avoid the rearing horses flailing hooves to mount any sort of a couterattack. Cereth finds covering Raven's rear a simple task in the confusion caused by her rush, as many of the demons appear to prefer flight over fight.
And then, he is nearly bowled over by the rearing horse, as it suddenly backs up and turns. Glancing over the beasts rump, Cereth can see the first of the four generals is just on the other side. As Raven draws her sword, a large bastard sword materializes in the hands of her opponent ... a grizzly looking horned beast with three eyes in its forehead.
Cereth nearly drops his own sword, when he realizes the being before them is an oni mystic ... with both psychic and magical powers, Mega-damage attacks, Mega-Damage skin, a diabolic disposition - but most concerning is a strong hatred and animosity reserved especially for Atlantean Undead Slayers. And to top it all off, it appeared that this one was still protected by the icy sheen.
Raven's horse rears again, and Cereth can see she is struggling to regain control of the animal ... making it impossible for her to attack or defend herself. Meanwhile, the mystic grins, gripping the psi-sword and taking on an aggressive battle stance...
Cereth growled at the horse and did not even look up at Raven to see how she was doing. He knew what had to be done, and cursed the woman silently at her stupidity for charging into a group of demons, especialy right next to a frigging oni!
Cereth put away his pistol quickly, and kept his one hand next to a heart encircled in chains tatoo, and then pushed and moved past the horses rump, Cereth pointed his katana at the oni as he shouted out.
"Oni, are you so afraid of a lone undead slayer that you cower behind that shield? I thought all Oni were supposed to be fearless? Or are you so unsure and weak of your abilitys to defeat a lone human slayer, that you cower like a dog like your smaller demon friends here?"
Cereth pointed his katana to the right of him,, all the while not looking. Just keeping his attention on the oni before him. He was playing on the oni's pride and he hoped it would spure him to move out of the shield. Cereth knew the spot he was pointing to, was outside the shield and away from Raven as well.
"Well oni! Are you afraid of me? I've heard great tales from humans and they whisper your name in fear! Come oni, meet me in the field of battle, and lets see if you are as powerful as they say you are!" Cereth shouts out once again.
*This better work or both me and Raven are going to be fubar.* Cereth thinks to himself.
As Cereth speaks, the other champions arrive at the outskirts of the sheen's protective circle. Following Raven's lead, they plow into the demon mob, forcing the smaller demons aside and out of the circle.
Cereth's speech appears to have the desired effect, as he now commands the Oni mystic's full attention. A number of the smaller demons turn and run out of range upon hearing Cereth's words, retreating back to a point halfway between the generals and the point where Issilia is hovering; wanting to retreat further, but equally afraid of the demon ice queen's wrath.
The Oni Mystic steps closer to Cereth, but does not leave the circle. Cereth can still see the icy sheen on the demon's skin as it standsjust a few feet out of Cereth's reach and beings to chant ...
However, out of the corner of his eye, Cereth notices that the mystic is not the only one to hear Cereth's challenge. The three other generals are now focused on Cereth as well; and are forcing their way through the smaller demons to get to him. Each of them is also covered by the icy sheen, and it occurs to Cereth that where one Oni would be a challenge, four would be a death wish ...
... but before he has a chance to finish the thought, one of the distracted generals is tackled from the side by a charging Zryl. Xavious engages a second, landing a powerful kick which knocks the demon back out of the protective circle. The demon lands with a heavy thump, and the icy sheen disappears from its skin ...
The Mystic's words draw Cereth's focus back to his current adversary. It would appear that the true battle had begun ...
*With the Mystic watching me closely, I does not have the luxury of trying to knock him off guard like Xavious just did. My only chance is to draw him out and possibly having someone else knock him foward while I distract him with my attention.* Cereth mused to himself as he backed away from the demon, as he tried to draw it out from the shield.
As Cereth backed away, he lowered his sword so that it was pointing downward and near his right leg, while shouting out at the Mystic.
"So you are afraid of a slayer? One would think someone as powerful as you would not fear a HUMAN! But then possibly your power comes from your queen, and was never yours to begin with? Possibly you are weaker now that I have taken one of your queens eyes? Yes I think you are a weakling! Nothing but a sniveling, cowardly ork, hiding behind a ice shield, hoping to get some easy prey!!!"
"Come demon, show me that you are powerful enough that you do not need that sheild, or shall the history books tell of the tale of a human atlantean slayer who challeged the great Mystic General away from the iceshield, but refused because the Mystic feared the slayer. What a sad reputation you will get from your fellows, though possibly one of these will see this a sign of weakness and try to take your position away. Of course your queen may see you as a weakling as well. Hmmm?"
Cereth was ready to move back quickly, using his great speed to get out of the way, and only hoped Raven would get the F**k out of the way, or she'd suffer what ever fates that might come her way. While moving backwards, Cereth will engange his Knight armor tatoo.
As Cereth backs away, the Oni Mystic completes her next spell. Cereth sees the attack coming, but is unable to dodge the incoming fireball. The roaring flames slam into Cereth, but he is protected from damage by his invulnerability tattoo; which bears the brunt of the damage from the fireball's heat.
As the flames disappear, Cereth notes that his words have had their desired effect. The Oni Mystic lets out a scream of hatred toward Cereth as he taunts her, before lifting her psi sword high in the air and slamming it to the ground. The sword cuts a deep furrow in the earth as the mystic is torn between leaving the mirrored damage field and lashing out to end the life of this mere human who's words cut at the very core of her pride. Finally, the implication that the Mystic actually feared Cereth triggers the ultimate decision, weighing it heavily towards ending the stream of insults the pitiful human was dishing out.
Her psi-sword lifted once again, the Oni Mystic leaves the protective mirror damage field and charges ...
Prepared for the attack, Cereth easily parries the oncoming charge. As the demon rushes buy, Cereth turns to strike at the mystic's back as her momentum carries her past. His sword barely scratches the demon's tough hide as it strikes home.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that Raven has dismounted from her steed, and is leading the struggling horse from the battlefield. "Negate!" she seems to be yelling to one of the nearby casters, as the horse continues to struggle.
Then the demon has turned, and is readying herself for another attack. Again, Cereth easily parries the demon's psi-sword, striking back with his own. Again, he connects, but barely leaves a scratch in the being's shoulder. Continuing to back away, he draws the mystic away from the other demons, and into a space free of interference ...
The mystic lunges forward, stabbing at Cereth with the demonic psi-sword. Again, Cereth is able to parry the attack, swinging down at the demon's sword and knocking it off course. As the demon's sword contacts the ground near his feet, Cereth sees an opportunity and brings his own sword up quickly, drawing it across the demon's unprotected throat. This time, the cut is slightly deeper, and it forces the Oni mystic to back off to regroup; though the wound is not bleeding freely.
As the demon regroups, it gives Cereth a chance to plan his next attacks ...
Suddenly, the oni Mystic lunges forward, dashing past Cereth with unbelievable speed. As it dashes past, faking a swing with the psi-sword, it follows up by throwing all it's weight into a giant spin; attempting to rake Cereth with it's claw as it comes around.
Expecting a direct attack with the psi-sword, Cereth attempts a desperate last minute adjustment as the claw flies towards him. Spinning away from the attack, he brings his sword up in an attempt to parry the strike while ducking away from the razor-sharp claw ...
... The strike misses Cereth, but catches the base of his sword only inches from his wrist. In a flash, Cereth gets a temporary sense of despair as he feels his grip on the sword falter, and then fail completely. The sword flies from Cereth's grasp, landing a few meters away. The loss of his weapon distracts Cereth, who suddenly finds himself rather vulnerable, once again ...
The Oni mystic carries through with her momentum, completing the spin. As the mystic's arm is moving away from Cereth, the other arm is coming around towards him ... Psi-sword in hand.
Suddenly, the spin stops, as the being's momentum is interrupted by a high-explosive arrow slamming into it's weapon shoulder. This is followed immediately by another. As he regains his feet, Cereth sees that Raven has left her horse, and is now charging back into battle, firing as she does. Seeing that he is back on his feet, she turns and fires her next two arrows into Issilia, who is still hovering over the battlefield.
Cereth attempts to dash to his left to regain his weapon, but the demon slides over to cut off his path.
Once again, the two square off; with the demon now having the potential upper hand.
Cereth curses at the demon as cuts off his attemp at getting to this vibro sword. Backing away quickly Cereth has little choice now but to use his limited magics.
Reaching down with his right hand to his left arm and touches a flaming katana with coiled serpents on it.
Immediately a flaming katana appears in his hand, and he smiles as moves it in front of him, grasping the sword in both hands, as he feints first to the right, then to the left, to the right and to the right again, and then attacks to the left, thrusting his sword with all his might against the demon that stands before him.
Stepping backwards, the oni mystic kicks Cereth's sword, knocking it another dozen meters away. Meanwhile, the Undead Slayer activates another tattoo, a flaming translucent sword appearing in his hand.
The mystic's toothy maw curls up in a sneer as it sees the new weapon appear. Brandishing its own sword, it steps back within melee range ...
As Cereth feints to the right, the demon moves to parry his thrust. Cereth counters, feinting to the left; the demon swinging downwards to trap his weapon as he does so. But Cereth is already moving back towards the right, feinting twice; the demon moving to parry these attacks as well. Then, lunging forward, the demon swings at Cereth's head; leaving its defenses open for a split second. Seeing his chance, Cereth steps back to the left and thrusts forwards with all his strength ...
... The sword pierces the demons thick hide before tearing loose, leaving a large gash on the side of the mystic's abdomen. Fire flashes in the demon's eyes as the sudden pain registers, and it strikes back with fury; landing a solid blow with the Psi-sword ... but the damage from the blow is absorbed by Cereth's protective tattoos.
Again, the two combatants catch their breath and square off anew. Focused on his opponent, Cereth barely registers the sound of chanting coming from Issilia; a chanting which has been steadily growing in pitch, power and volume; as if building up to some powerful yet-to-come climax ... Raven's arrows appear to have had no effect on interrupting the demon queen.
Cereth barely has time to wonder how the other champions are doing with their own assignments, before having to decide how to deal with the Oni Mystics next incoming attack...
Cereth does not like the feeling he gets when he saw the ice queen and her magics, but first things first.
Reaching quickly his right hand, and touching his left shoulder, Cereth draws upon the ley line energy around him and activates his Gryphon tatoo. As the creature becomes active, he points at the Oni, and then smiles as he grabs his sword once more.
With a burst of speed, putting all he can into the move, Cereth hopes that the gryphon will set the Oni offguard enough to give him a chance to strike against his enemy at the moment.
Though Cereth knows that this is also taking a large chance, as the destruction of the gryphon will cause him physical harm, but it is a chance he is willing to take.
*Now to take the oni down in a few battle rounds and use my tatoo bow/arrow to take out the demon queen. Ifall goes well that is.* Cereth thinks to himself.
Seeing Cereth reaching for another tattoo, the Oni Mystic charges.
Raven nods to Galen and listens closely to Kila. Without saying a word, he turns towards the faerie mound. Finally, he begins muttering something in an arcane tongue, clearing away any magical concealment barriers, allowing himself to see even the invisible. Unsatisfied that this alone will stop the faeries from stopping him. He looks to Galen and Kila, "Don't let any of them get close to me until I cast another spell. Faeries can mean the difference between life and death, especially in our situation."
He digs into his pack and brandishes the book which was given to him so long ago. The brand of the Grand Magus marked upon it with the seal of New Memphis. A time and place long gone to him now, yet, the reality he still holds onto. The places, the people and friends... even the ones who he'd betrayed to Natalya, Logaine and Calligrosto.
He flips to the page he'd had in mind as fast as he can and smiles, oO(I've always wondered if this spell would be worth anything one day. This might be it)Oo. He begins chanting in an odd magical tongue. His face becomes smoother, his expression softer, almost angelic. His very presence and mood seems to radiate honesty, peace and friendship. He looks to Kila and Galen as he drops his utility belt and pack. Carrying only his NE-4 up his sleeve, he mutters to them both, "Please don't let the faeries get near my stuff. There are things in there that I hold almost as dear as I do Kila."
He turns and regards the faeries and begins slowly advancing towards them, careful to stay away from the faerie circle, where thier little faerie dance is taking place. In dragonese, Raven says as angelically as possible, "I come in friendship and seek a young human girl. I miss her dearly and would be ever so greatful to have her back. You see, I am her adopted uncle and her father is a very dear friend of mine. It would make me very sad to see her get too sick to live if I couldn't find her. I wish I could speak like all the little folk, but this is the closest language that I know of. Can you help me find her? I don't want to be sad. Do you want me to be sad?" Raven acts sincere.
Kila watches Raven with a saddened look for a moment before nodding softly and letting the man helping her take the boy for a moment before going over and grabbing all of the things Raven drops. "Becarefully they only seem to want to talk in Faerie tongue," she says softly,"So if you need me to I'll translate for you." Kila looks to Galen as she trys to think of a spell that would help Raven by keeping the faeries off him but at the moment the only one she can think of is the fear spell she casted before.
Raven nods his approval for Kila, waiting for the reaction from the faeries.
Crossing the river, Raven pauses before stepping onto the island. As a ley line walker, he can clearly see the flow of magical energy that weaves in and out of the flowers which ring the island. The sound of music, frivolity, and laughter spills out from the center of the island; where a number of the fairies are dancing in and out of the trees around a small mound of grass and flowers. As he watches, Raven notices a train of fairies dancing their way around the outside of the island; while a second train dances their way around an inner circle.
As the outer ring makes its way towards where he stands ankle deep in the water, just inches outside of their path, Raven makes his case.
"I come in friendship and seek a young human girl. I miss her dearly and would be ever so greatful to have her back. You see, I am her adopted uncle and her father is a very dear friend of mine. It would make me very sad to see her get too sick to live if I couldn't find her. I wish I could speak like all the little folk, but this is the closest language that I know of. Can you help me find her? I don't want to be sad. Do you want me to be sad?"
Watching the train of fairies work their way in and out of the flowers in front of him, Raven catches the eye of a couple of the tiny beings as they dance past.
As he watches to check their reaction, the fairies continue on past. At first, Raven is sure he has had no effect; but then the train of fairies breaks away from its circular path and starts to wind its way back towards him; gathering flowers as they go.
Not speaking a word, the line of fairies dances right up in front of Raven, tossing their flowers into the water at his feet. Dancing away, they return a few seconds later, and repeat the process. Raven looks down at the petals floating in the water at his feet, while he ponders the fairies actions.
With a subtle shake of his head Galen turns and looks for a place where he can watch for the enemies approach and still be able to see the happenings on the island. Where Raven was previously perched would work if nothing better presents itself. He glances at Raven occasionally trying to understand the actions of the little folk. oO(Could an entire race of sentient beings truly be this carefree and oblivious in the face of danger?)Oo Galen wonders; oO(Or are they truly so powerful in their unity that even the Splugorth would hesitate to attack them? Surely not; it is doubtful there is anything in this realm that would give the Splugorth pause. Especially not such diminutive creatures as these. Odd creatures, though....)Oo
Galen returns his focus more fully to the problem at hand and berates himself for letting his mind wander like that. Orald, his long time friend and mentor, has lectured him on more than one occasion about the follies of daydreaming. Thoughts of Orald remind Galen of his reason for even being on this god forsaken island. oO(Hopefully the slavers haven’t treated him too badly. Maybe he got lucky and and they are using his medical skills rather than... )Oo Galen stops that line of thinking right there and leaves that last “what if” unthunk.
Raven simply watches the faeries as he watches the flowers, letting his latent abilities see if it is an act of friendship and willingness to cooperate or to see if PPE radiates from the flower petals as part of a spell. In the meantime he says, "It would make the little girl sad too."
Kila stays back from the island not wanting to get caught up in another faerie trick as she watchs the movement around Raven. *(Please becareful please )* she thinks as she stands quiet watching.
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What ever Raven knew about the shield in front of them did not matter now that he could see the ice queen...He felt sad about the mage who had just seconds before placed somekind of protective spell on him, but it was better it was her and not him he mused, as he pushed forward towards Raven, he also pulled out his katana, making sure he was fast enough to be in stride and speed with Raven and her horse. Pistol and sword at the ready, he waited to see what would be happening once they came upon the sheild?
Anything that tried to attack Raven, Cereth will do his best to take them out.
Cereth charges ahead, following Raven on her horse. The doubt in the back of his mind grows larger as they come upon the radius of the circle, wondering what would happen as they cross it ... but Raven appears to have no such doubt. With what can almost be considered reckless abandon, she charges right through the assembled demon horde, causing them to scramble aside to avoid being trampled by her steed.
Her sword still sheathed, she seems intent only on charging through the mob, kicking aside the demons as their claws lash out, leaving deep scratches on the horse's protective armour. As the demons are flung from the tight radius of the circle, or as the more cowardly scramble aside to get out of the way of the charging warrior woman, the sheen covering their skin disappears. Only those who are able to stay within a few meters of the closest general retain the protective sheen ... and it occurs to Cereth that Raven is not at all worried about causing damage to the beings ... her first priority is forcing them out of the spell's radius.
The defiant charge appears to have had a distracting effect on the smaller demons, who for the moment are too busy trying to avoid the rearing horses flailing hooves to mount any sort of a couterattack. Cereth finds covering Raven's rear a simple task in the confusion caused by her rush, as many of the demons appear to prefer flight over fight.
And then, he is nearly bowled over by the rearing horse, as it suddenly backs up and turns. Glancing over the beasts rump, Cereth can see the first of the four generals is just on the other side. As Raven draws her sword, a large bastard sword materializes in the hands of her opponent ... a grizzly looking horned beast with three eyes in its forehead.
Cereth nearly drops his own sword, when he realizes the being before them is an oni mystic ... with both psychic and magical powers, Mega-damage attacks, Mega-Damage skin, a diabolic disposition - but most concerning is a strong hatred and animosity reserved especially for Atlantean Undead Slayers. And to top it all off, it appeared that this one was still protected by the icy sheen.
Raven's horse rears again, and Cereth can see she is struggling to regain control of the animal ... making it impossible for her to attack or defend herself. Meanwhile, the mystic grins, gripping the psi-sword and taking on an aggressive battle stance...
Cereth growled at the horse and did not even look up at Raven to see how she was doing. He knew what had to be done, and cursed the woman silently at her stupidity for charging into a group of demons, especialy right next to a frigging oni!
Cereth put away his pistol quickly, and kept his one hand next to a heart encircled in chains tatoo, and then pushed and moved past the horses rump, Cereth pointed his katana at the oni as he shouted out.
"Oni, are you so afraid of a lone undead slayer that you cower behind that shield? I thought all Oni were supposed to be fearless? Or are you so unsure and weak of your abilitys to defeat a lone human slayer, that you cower like a dog like your smaller demon friends here?"
Cereth pointed his katana to the right of him,, all the while not looking. Just keeping his attention on the oni before him. He was playing on the oni's pride and he hoped it would spure him to move out of the shield. Cereth knew the spot he was pointing to, was outside the shield and away from Raven as well.
"Well oni! Are you afraid of me? I've heard great tales from humans and they whisper your name in fear! Come oni, meet me in the field of battle, and lets see if you are as powerful as they say you are!" Cereth shouts out once again.
*This better work or both me and Raven are going to be fubar.* Cereth thinks to himself.
As Cereth speaks, the other champions arrive at the outskirts of the sheen's protective circle. Following Raven's lead, they plow into the demon mob, forcing the smaller demons aside and out of the circle.
Cereth's speech appears to have the desired effect, as he now commands the Oni mystic's full attention. A number of the smaller demons turn and run out of range upon hearing Cereth's words, retreating back to a point halfway between the generals and the point where Issilia is hovering; wanting to retreat further, but equally afraid of the demon ice queen's wrath.
The Oni Mystic steps closer to Cereth, but does not leave the circle. Cereth can still see the icy sheen on the demon's skin as it standsjust a few feet out of Cereth's reach and beings to chant ...
However, out of the corner of his eye, Cereth notices that the mystic is not the only one to hear Cereth's challenge. The three other generals are now focused on Cereth as well; and are forcing their way through the smaller demons to get to him. Each of them is also covered by the icy sheen, and it occurs to Cereth that where one Oni would be a challenge, four would be a death wish ...
... but before he has a chance to finish the thought, one of the distracted generals is tackled from the side by a charging Zryl. Xavious engages a second, landing a powerful kick which knocks the demon back out of the protective circle. The demon lands with a heavy thump, and the icy sheen disappears from its skin ...
The Mystic's words draw Cereth's focus back to his current adversary. It would appear that the true battle had begun ...
*With the Mystic watching me closely, I does not have the luxury of trying to knock him off guard like Xavious just did. My only chance is to draw him out and possibly having someone else knock him foward while I distract him with my attention.* Cereth mused to himself as he backed away from the demon, as he tried to draw it out from the shield.
As Cereth backed away, he lowered his sword so that it was pointing downward and near his right leg, while shouting out at the Mystic.
"So you are afraid of a slayer? One would think someone as powerful as you would not fear a HUMAN! But then possibly your power comes from your queen, and was never yours to begin with? Possibly you are weaker now that I have taken one of your queens eyes? Yes I think you are a weakling! Nothing but a sniveling, cowardly ork, hiding behind a ice shield, hoping to get some easy prey!!!"
"Come demon, show me that you are powerful enough that you do not need that sheild, or shall the history books tell of the tale of a human atlantean slayer who challeged the great Mystic General away from the iceshield, but refused because the Mystic feared the slayer. What a sad reputation you will get from your fellows, though possibly one of these will see this a sign of weakness and try to take your position away. Of course your queen may see you as a weakling as well. Hmmm?"
Cereth was ready to move back quickly, using his great speed to get out of the way, and only hoped Raven would get the F**k out of the way, or she'd suffer what ever fates that might come her way. While moving backwards, Cereth will engange his Knight armor tatoo.
As Cereth backs away, the Oni Mystic completes her next spell. Cereth sees the attack coming, but is unable to dodge the incoming fireball. The roaring flames slam into Cereth, but he is protected from damage by his invulnerability tattoo; which bears the brunt of the damage from the fireball's heat.
As the flames disappear, Cereth notes that his words have had their desired effect. The Oni Mystic lets out a scream of hatred toward Cereth as he taunts her, before lifting her psi sword high in the air and slamming it to the ground. The sword cuts a deep furrow in the earth as the mystic is torn between leaving the mirrored damage field and lashing out to end the life of this mere human who's words cut at the very core of her pride. Finally, the implication that the Mystic actually feared Cereth triggers the ultimate decision, weighing it heavily towards ending the stream of insults the pitiful human was dishing out.
Her psi-sword lifted once again, the Oni Mystic leaves the protective mirror damage field and charges ...
Prepared for the attack, Cereth easily parries the oncoming charge. As the demon rushes buy, Cereth turns to strike at the mystic's back as her momentum carries her past. His sword barely scratches the demon's tough hide as it strikes home.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that Raven has dismounted from her steed, and is leading the struggling horse from the battlefield. "Negate!" she seems to be yelling to one of the nearby casters, as the horse continues to struggle.
Then the demon has turned, and is readying herself for another attack. Again, Cereth easily parries the demon's psi-sword, striking back with his own. Again, he connects, but barely leaves a scratch in the being's shoulder. Continuing to back away, he draws the mystic away from the other demons, and into a space free of interference ...
The mystic lunges forward, stabbing at Cereth with the demonic psi-sword. Again, Cereth is able to parry the attack, swinging down at the demon's sword and knocking it off course. As the demon's sword contacts the ground near his feet, Cereth sees an opportunity and brings his own sword up quickly, drawing it across the demon's unprotected throat. This time, the cut is slightly deeper, and it forces the Oni mystic to back off to regroup; though the wound is not bleeding freely.
As the demon regroups, it gives Cereth a chance to plan his next attacks ...
Suddenly, the oni Mystic lunges forward, dashing past Cereth with unbelievable speed. As it dashes past, faking a swing with the psi-sword, it follows up by throwing all it's weight into a giant spin; attempting to rake Cereth with it's claw as it comes around.
Expecting a direct attack with the psi-sword, Cereth attempts a desperate last minute adjustment as the claw flies towards him. Spinning away from the attack, he brings his sword up in an attempt to parry the strike while ducking away from the razor-sharp claw ...
... The strike misses Cereth, but catches the base of his sword only inches from his wrist. In a flash, Cereth gets a temporary sense of despair as he feels his grip on the sword falter, and then fail completely. The sword flies from Cereth's grasp, landing a few meters away. The loss of his weapon distracts Cereth, who suddenly finds himself rather vulnerable, once again ...
The Oni mystic carries through with her momentum, completing the spin. As the mystic's arm is moving away from Cereth, the other arm is coming around towards him ... Psi-sword in hand.
Suddenly, the spin stops, as the being's momentum is interrupted by a high-explosive arrow slamming into it's weapon shoulder. This is followed immediately by another. As he regains his feet, Cereth sees that Raven has left her horse, and is now charging back into battle, firing as she does. Seeing that he is back on his feet, she turns and fires her next two arrows into Issilia, who is still hovering over the battlefield.
Cereth attempts to dash to his left to regain his weapon, but the demon slides over to cut off his path.
Once again, the two square off; with the demon now having the potential upper hand.
Cereth curses at the demon as cuts off his attemp at getting to this vibro sword. Backing away quickly Cereth has little choice now but to use his limited magics.
Reaching down with his right hand to his left arm and touches a flaming katana with coiled serpents on it.
Immediately a flaming katana appears in his hand, and he smiles as moves it in front of him, grasping the sword in both hands, as he feints first to the right, then to the left, to the right and to the right again, and then attacks to the left, thrusting his sword with all his might against the demon that stands before him.
Stepping backwards, the oni mystic kicks Cereth's sword, knocking it another dozen meters away. Meanwhile, the Undead Slayer activates another tattoo, a flaming translucent sword appearing in his hand.
The mystic's toothy maw curls up in a sneer as it sees the new weapon appear. Brandishing its own sword, it steps back within melee range ...
As Cereth feints to the right, the demon moves to parry his thrust. Cereth counters, feinting to the left; the demon swinging downwards to trap his weapon as he does so. But Cereth is already moving back towards the right, feinting twice; the demon moving to parry these attacks as well. Then, lunging forward, the demon swings at Cereth's head; leaving its defenses open for a split second. Seeing his chance, Cereth steps back to the left and thrusts forwards with all his strength ...
... The sword pierces the demons thick hide before tearing loose, leaving a large gash on the side of the mystic's abdomen. Fire flashes in the demon's eyes as the sudden pain registers, and it strikes back with fury; landing a solid blow with the Psi-sword ... but the damage from the blow is absorbed by Cereth's protective tattoos.
Again, the two combatants catch their breath and square off anew. Focused on his opponent, Cereth barely registers the sound of chanting coming from Issilia; a chanting which has been steadily growing in pitch, power and volume; as if building up to some powerful yet-to-come climax ... Raven's arrows appear to have had no effect on interrupting the demon queen.
Cereth barely has time to wonder how the other champions are doing with their own assignments, before having to decide how to deal with the Oni Mystics next incoming attack...
Cereth does not like the feeling he gets when he saw the ice queen and her magics, but first things first.
Reaching quickly his right hand, and touching his left shoulder, Cereth draws upon the ley line energy around him and activates his Gryphon tatoo. As the creature becomes active, he points at the Oni, and then smiles as he grabs his sword once more.
With a burst of speed, putting all he can into the move, Cereth hopes that the gryphon will set the Oni offguard enough to give him a chance to strike against his enemy at the moment.
Though Cereth knows that this is also taking a large chance, as the destruction of the gryphon will cause him physical harm, but it is a chance he is willing to take.
*Now to take the oni down in a few battle rounds and use my tatoo bow/arrow to take out the demon queen. Ifall goes well that is.* Cereth thinks to himself.
Seeing Cereth reaching for another tattoo, the Oni Mystic charges.