Ruin's Dawn: Ascension

[Basilisk]

Date: 35th of Saun, 721
Location: Ruins within Anox's Folly, Eastern Hotlands

Falkia Brennan walked through the crumbling hallways to the room where her Lord and his allies had gathered. There was a sense of oppressing gloom to the ruins that the Aukari woman did not care for, a sense that something horrible had happened in these halls that Falkia could not shake, no matter how assured her Lord was that the ruins were inert. Still, she was her Lord's Champion, his most trusted servant, and she would not shake because the place she was in just happened to be a bit creepy.

When she reached her destination, she knocked on the door and was bade to enter. Opening the door, she walked up to the time-weather, but surprisingly still intact, stone table at the center of the room, then knelt before her Lord. Faldrun looked down at Falkia and nodded at her to continue. "The Aukari Occult have been dispatched as you commanded, my Lord. The artifacts that lady Kata and lord Mastes supplied us with have been given to each group. Fortunately, we had infiltration groups in place for some of these areas already to speed the process up." she said, her tone calm. Falkia had been a loyal servant of The Great Fire since she was a child, and Faldrun had favored her with his Blessing as she had risen through the ranks of the Aukari Occult. Unlike so many of her lesser subordinates, she had little to fear from Faldrun, a fact that she took both comfort and pride in.

Faldrun nodded, then looked at his two guests. Kata and Mastes were not traditionally some of Faldrun's closer allies, but they were the ones who had proposed this plan. A way to gather ambient power from special locations around Idalos and harness it. Mastes had claimed it would give Faldrun the power to defeat the likes of Ilaren, Qylios, and Ethelynda, the most dangerous of his enemies. Kata had been the one to provide the artifacts, claiming they were part of Anox's old armory.

Kata had also been the one to suggest they meet in Anox's Folly, claiming that once the so-called Pro-Mortal alliance realized what they were doing, they would try to attack them in Sirotelle, making Anox's Folly a safer meeting place. Falkia privately suspected it had more to do with The Ruined Maiden's known obsession with her creator. Still, Faldrun had agreed, and it was not Falkia's place to question her Lord.

Mastes had, apparently, been the one to come up with the plan. Faldrun had confided in Falkia that Mastes was not to be trusted, and Falkia agreed. The Prince of Plots was not, by nature, one to come up with a plan where the most immediate benefit was reaped someone other than him, and so Falkia had been instructed to keep an eye out for interception not only by the Pro-Mortal forces, but by Mastes and Kata's forces as well.
Since they had arrived at Anox's Folly, the three had contented themselves discussion their plans while Falkia managed the Aukari Occult as was her duty. Now, with her report given, Faldrun nodded at her. "Well done. Continue to moniter the groups. We can expect our enemies to intercept as soon as they learn what we are about. Keep us informed." he said, nodding at her.

Dismissed, Falkia rose and left the room, returning to the observation room that Kata had set aside for her. It housed an artifact that Anox had apparently used to watch over his forces before the Shattering, and Anox had re-activated it so that Falkia could maintain her watch over the Aukari Occult members in the field. Still, she wondered how soon the enemy would learn of their plans and whether they had another way of learning of their plans.



As Falke returned to the observation room, a small wolf whose coat was a mottled grey-brown wiggled through a hole in one of the walls of the room, slipping through the cracks and into another room just as Faldrun's Champion returned to her post. Karem may not have been able to get to where she could eavesdrop on the three Immortals, but she had been able to get a look at the artifact Falke was using.

Letting out a low breath, The Great Wolf found herself greateful for her Empress's obsessive watchfulness of Anox's places of power. Raskalarn had seeded every ruin of Anox's old empire that she had been able to find with wards to alert her if someone started turning things on. When things had started turning on Anox's Folly, Raskalarn had dispatched Karem to sneak around and find out what was going on.

It was well that she had, it meant they were not so far behind. Karem sent a message to one of her Blessed at Raskalarn's court through the Velduris pack bonds, relaying her findings to the Empress. Karem kept the connection open so that Raskalarn could send a message back, and it came soon after. Raskalarn would inform then Pro-Mortal alliance, and then aid them in this. Raskalarn stood apart from either of the primary factions of the Immortals, much the same as Karem did, but they both agreed that the utilization of Anox's artifacts was enough of a crisis to warrant their involvement.

With Raskalarn handling the gathering of allies, Karem laid down in the rubble of the ruins, the coat of the wolf form she had chosen for this mission letting her blend in with the ruins. She knew what was coming next. Their hands bound by the Oath that almost all of them had sworn, Mortals would be gathered for the coming trials. Hopefully, Karem thought to herself, none of theirs would come to harm this day, as had so often happened before.

!

Message from: Basilisk

Hello, everyone and welcome to Ruin's Dawn! This is an expository thread only until further notice. Players, you will find your thread linked below: Kalortah, Devin, Zana, Oram, Arlo, Alyssia: viewtopic.php?f=414&t=27125 Faith, Padraig, Varlum, Jasper, Doran: viewtopic.php?f=414&t=27126 Woe, Gennadiya, Xander, Zoro, Mab: viewtopic.php?f=414&t=27127 Praetorum, Yeva, Cail, Shl'drei, Natalia: viewtopic.php?f=414&t=27128 Cyrus, Cad, Kisaik, Nathan, Goku, Tei'serin: viewtopic.php?f=414&t=27129 Elisabeth, Balthazar, Tor'ree, Nir'wei, Ralgar: viewtopic.php?f=414&t=27130

[/code]
[/style3][/style]

[Basilisk]

Falkia frowned as something caused the monitoring artifact she was using to chime. It took her a moment, but she was able to get it to show her what had made it freak out, and when it did she let out an irritated huff. They had certainly moved fast, even finding the vault in the Uthaldrian mountains. Kata had been the one to point it out as a power source, apparently there was some old gemstone or such that generated ambient energy, but she had apparently only known about it because it had been Anox's sometime before the Shattering.

Yet, there they were, a bunch of Mortal pawns put on the board to serve and die for their Immortals. Some she could respect, those who had already chosen to serve the Immortals. They were like her, after all, serving their masters aims and she would be a fool and a hypocrite for condemning them. But some of them were just plain strange. Why had Cassion brought a trio of fops into things and then let one of them go? She shook her head, then sighed and left the room to go report to her Lord and his allies.

When she was granted access to the Immortals chamber, Falkia bowed to her Lord and waited for his permission to speak, which he granted readily. "Our enemies have moved, faster than we thought. Their pawns have already been called to the place where our agents have gone to gather power. In addition, there is some strangeness amongst our enemies. Cassion has found Anox's vault and called two of his own, but he also called three of Delroth's and what appears to be a child. Furthermore, Raskalarn was the one who called agents to the Rynmere Labyrinth." she said, before frowning. "In addition, several of these are well known. Qylios called the Mage-Breakers and one of Rhaum's slayers and Ethelynda called up Sintra's son and one of Rharne's healers." she said, her tone calm. "On the other hand, Valtharn did her part, so we have that advantage." she said, before waiting for a response from the three Immortals.

Mastes didn't reply, and Kata looked to have not even been paying attenion, but Faldrun shook his head. "A pity, that they defy the natural order of things. Very well, we shall let things proceed apace. Let them believe they have a chance of success. It will keep them fumbling in this vain hope of preventing the inevitable." he said, before smiling at Falkia. "You're doing well, my Champion. Return to your duties, and keep us informed of any changes." he said, his tone supremely unworried.

Falkia nodded, then bowed to her Lord and left, her worries assuaged by her Lord's confidence. What matter if Cassion had found Anox's vault in his meanderings, or that he'd decided in his empty head that Delroth's useless fops could serve a purpose just because there were shiny things in the vault. Qylios and Ethelynda summoning more capable players was interesting, but they were in Quacia and the Augiery caves. The locals were hostile enough to keep them occupied while the Aukari Occult went about their business. No, there victory was assured. They were the servants of the rightful ruler of Idalos, after all, and they would not be bested by these petty rebels, not this day.

Still, Falkia did not look forward to the prospect of a fight. Even an assured victory would come at a cost as the brave men and women of the Occult died to fulfill their Lord's desire. Her heart ached at the thought of their deaths, and she had to pause for a moment, stifling the pre-emptive pain of losing her fellows. They would succeed, they must succeed, because if they failed, if the rebels gain the artifacts, they could overthrow and slay Faldrun, and without Faldrun, the Aukari were truly doomed.



Once again, when Falkia left, Karem slipped through the hole in the wall and crept over to the observation artifact, her paws making no sound on the stone floor. When she looked at the groups that had been called, she let out a small huff. Most of them were eclectic groups, but she at least felt confident in trusting Ethelynda's judgement. Qylios, who Karem was more reserved about, had made some clearly smart choices as well, but U'frek and Ilaren's choices didn't make much sense to her. Maybe they wanted adventurers to handle things instead of regular soldiers. Raskalarn had called one of her own and her tail wagged a bit when she saw Nir'wei, but then she stopped when she got to Cassion.

Raskalarn had told her that they hadn't been able to identify the vault. It had been a big room full of gold, there were far too many places it could have been. Karem didn't quite understand the proclivity some beings had towards hoarding shiny objects, but she'd had to concede the point. The Eternal Empire had several such vaults, and she suspected that other principalities did as well. Cassion could, she supposed, have just stumbled onto the vault, given as he was to wandering around aimlessly in lieu of actually taking on some proper responsibilities. But that didn't explain why he had summoned people to the vault, much less some of the Featherhead's pets. Raskalarn had been the one to call in allies, after all, and she would never have entrusted this to Cassion, not when more reliable sorts like Xiur remained to be called on.

Karem paused as she heard Falkia returning, then went back to her hiding place, vanishing out of site as Falkia re-entered the room. She had to report in to the Empress. Something was going on with Cassion, and it was smarter to find out what it was now, rather than later.

[/code]
[/style3][/style]

[Basilisk]

Falkia tapped her chin thoughtfully as she watched her cultists at work. Infiltrating the worshipers of the so-called Wounded God hadn't been the easiest thing, but it had meant they were already in place when Kata had told them one of the energy sources they needed was underneath their main temple. There was no small part of her that wanted to wipe those murderous heretics of the face of Idalos, but mounting such a campaign would be risky and costly. Better to wait until their enemies wouldn't attack them at the first sign of weakness.

The other teams were doing similarly well, though the one in The Heart of the World was the one she was least worried about. While there was an enemy group there, her Lord had seen fit to call in other allies as well, though one had vanished. Still, it was no matter for now, since that area was in their own back yard. Everything was proceeding as planned, which was only to be expected, given they had launched this plan as a stealth mission and weren't encroaching on any areas directly held by their most prominent enemies. Or really, Falkia mused as she observed the monitoring artifact, any areas of particular note at all. Yaralon was a mercenary town, filled with killers for hire and strange customs. The vault in Uthaldria was so well hidden that Falkia was still surprised that Cassion had known about it. Rynmere was filled with Mortal worshipping heretics and hadn't recovered from its own self-devastation. The only gathering point besides Quacia and the Heart of the World that was the caves around Augiery, but even they were outside the territory directly held by Audrae's shadows.

Of course, that left the question that had been gnawing at her since the enemy teams had first shown up. How on earth had the so-called pro-Mortal alliance found out what they were up to and where? Why had they called in Raskalarn, who was so critical of them and their hypocrisy? How had they known to call in Cassion to find the vault? For that matter, why had they relied more on adventurers than their regular forces for this? Then Falkia shook her head at her own musings, because she knew the answers to that last question. Qylios and U'frek weren't rulers and had no regular forces to call on in the same way that other Immortals did, Rharne was still recovering from Rhaum's siege and so Ilaren was probably keeping her thrice-accursed Lightning Knights close to hand, none of Ethelynda's regulars would be well suited to operating in dark, enclosed caverns, and Cassion would have used adventurers anyway. Of course, that left Raskalarn, who Falkia didn't know as well. The self-proclaimed Divine Empress wasn't a traditional enemy of her Lords and had, thus far, stayed well away from Immortal conflicts and had contented herself with more mundane conquest and governance.

Which brought Falkia right back to the question of why she had gotten involved, and how their enemy had spied out their plans. There was nothing to do know but watch events play out, and left Falkia time to wonder and to worry.

[Basilisk]

Falkia watched the observation artifact, pleased at the progress they were making, but only half-focused on what was going on in the field. Her teams and the enemy teams were in place, and there was nothing much she could do to affect them right now. So instead, she worried at the question of how the enemy teams had arrived and why they had picked who was involved. She wound a finger through her red hair as she thought, a habit she'd had since she was a kid.

Eventually, she a thought occurred to her and she realized she might have been coming at the problem from the wrong angle, trying to figure out why the allies had called in Raskalarn. What if it had been Raskalarn who found out about their plans and the Divine Empress had called in the Pro-Mortal faction? That fit better to her mind. It explained why Raskalarn was involved, and given that the Conqueror was more neutral and less rash than the Pro-Mortals, she could see Cassion confiding in Raskalarn that he knew the location of hidden vaults at some point. It wasn't like Raskalarn was likely to send her people galivanting across Idalos in search of buried treasure.

It did leave some questions very much up in the air, though. Why had Raskalarn called in adventurers? And why, if Raskalarn was in charge, was Karem nowhere to be found. One of the things that made Raskalarn dangerous despite her lack of alliances was that The Great Wolf was out and out subservient to her by choice. It gave Raskalarn a powerful ally that could be depended on under any circumstances and that came with no great risk of hidden agendas or need to attend to her own territory. Yet Karem was nowhere to be found. She could, Falkia supposed, be taking care of things within the Eternal Empire while Raskalarn attended to current matters, but that was unlikely. Karem was a wild creature, it was one of her Domains after all, and thus inherently ill-suited to running a government. And it still didn't answer how Raskalarn had found out what they were doing.

Falkia started to pace, wondering what Raskalarn could possibly be up to and where Karem was. Raskalarn would not have her Hunter sitting idle, she would be usefully employed. That she wasn't visible meant that she up to something that Raskalarn didn't want them knowing about, and which meant that she really needed to figure out where Karem was. Falkia turned back to the observation artifact and started to tune it to look in on Korlasir. She had to find out what their enemies were up to.

[Basilisk]

Falkia couldn't find Karem anywhere. She wasn't in Korlasir or Kahryst, she hadn't shown up with any of the teams, she wasn't in the Sacred Forest or any other special locations within the Eternal Empire's borders, she didn't seem to in Scalvoris or Rharne, or even in the Ivorian Empire. Everywhere she looked, the Great Wolf was conspicuous only by her absence. She had even checked on Sirothelle proper and Viden to see if she'd turned up in either of those locations, but she wasn't there either. There were, of course, hundreds of thousands of miles of forest she could be hiding in, but she didn't understand why she would be there.

Raskalarn wasn't one to waste forces, yet Karem was nowhere to be found and she hadn't deployed her Imperial Legions against the relic teams. What could they possibly be doing that Raskalarn wouldn't call on them? Falkia growled to herself, then stopped suddenly as a thought occurred to her. If she hadn't deployed her legions to search for relics, it could only be because she needed them for something else. If she cared enough about what they were doing to interfere directly, then there was only one thing it could be. Swearing under her breath, Falkia tuned the observation relic to check on the closest Imperial holding to Anox's Folly, hoping she was wrong. She waited a moment for the artifact to adjust, then swore when it came into clarity. "Damnit!"



Karem shifted in the rubble as she waited for Faldrun's Champion to either leave the room or say something she could pick up on. She could wait patiently for trials at a time as she waited for her prey to move into striking range, and this was no different. Sure, she didn't want to eat Falkia, and Raskalarn had, for reasons that Karem hadn't precisely agreed with but could understand and accept, ordered that Falkia not be killed if at all possible. But Faldrun's Champion was prey nonetheless, even if it was information that Karem was hunting.

When she heard Falkia swear though, she knew it was time to act. Hunching low, Karem rushed the hole she'd been using to sneak into Falkia's post. The wall was already cracked and damaged, held together by rotting plaster and loose stone, so Karem was able to force through it with relative ease, given the extraordinary strength and toughness that was built into every Immortal. The Great Wolf changed to her humanoid form as she landed, bringing up the rough hewn crossbow that was her usual weapon. It was pre-loaded with an bolt that had been part of an arms gift from her Empress, and it only took her a second to aim and fire.



Of course Raskalarn hadn't called in the legions to go after the relics. She was leading them, personally even, through the damn desert straight for them. How had she known where they were? Falkia pushed the question from her mind and started to move. Her Lord and his allies had to be warned that they were about to be dealing with an army on their doorstep. Before she could move away from the artifact though, the side wall burst inward and pretty much all of her questions were answered as she saw Karem raise a crossbow. Before she could react, the Great Wolf fired, a glowing crossbow bolt striking the observation artifact and exploding.

[Basilisk]

The dust from the explosion settled fairly quickly and, slightly to Falkia's surprise, she was not only still alive, but she wasn't even really injured. Her crimson cloak had kept what debris there was from really hitting her, since she raised her arm to protect herself, and it appeared the only real damage was to the observation artifact, which was completely destroyed. "That was...unexpected. So you just wanted to take out our eyes, not kill me? A little out of character for the Empire, isn't it?" she said, her nerves settling. If she had to fight the Great Wolf, so be it. It would not be a fight she sought, though.

Karem tilted her head to the side, sending a shiver down Falkia's spine. The Hunter looked so ordinary, with her average height and plain looks. Even the fur clothes could be expected of a lot of hunters, barring that most didn't wear fur cloaks in Saun. But it was the eyes that gave her away, for all they they were a common brown. She couldn't hide that she had the eyes of a predator, that she was always looking for a way to disable her opponents. Falkia was not used to being looked at like she was prey and it was unsettling to say the least.

It was only a slight thing that gave her a warning, however, a slight breeze behind her. She crouched and whirled to face behind her, her cloak fouling the strike that Karem's wolf had been going for. It was a leg shot, and it would have hurt if the beasts jaws had closed on her, but it wouldn't have been a killing shot. The same was true of the arrow that passed next to her head, which had only missed because she had turned her crouch into a roll. It was a fowling blunt, and it would have knocked her out cold and given her a good concussion, but it wasn't a kill shot either. Falkia could only conclude that Karem didn't want to kill her, which was all right with her. She had no grudge against the Great Wolf and didn't particularly want to kill her either.

But she couldn't just let herself be taken out, so when she regained her feet, she drew her sword and called upon the sun spirit her Blessing gave her, giving herself a golden glowing armor that was, while bright and gaudy, a lightweight and very sturdy defense, giving her as much protection as any armored knight and much better mobility. She activated other powers afforded to her by her Blessing as well. Heavy Burn made her stronger and faster, while Corona wreathed her in flames while Flame Wreath did the same for her sword. A single thrown fireball dealt with the first wolf, given that it was literally white hot, but there were others and with that, the fight was on for real.

[Basilisk]

Fight Karem, Falkia thought as she cut down yet another wolf, was like fighting a never ending pack. It didn't matter how many wolves she felled, they just kept coming. Even worse, they didn't stay down. She'd seen some who bore marks from some of her previous attacks, which meant they were healing and getting back in the fight. Karem herself stayed on the fringes of the fight, firing in the odd flowing blunt to try and take her out completely.

The only thing keeping her alive was that Karem seemed to really not want her dead. The fire coating her body kept the wolves from landing a disabling blow, but if Karem herself put in more of an effort, she'd have been perforated a long time ago. Of course, she wasn't using everything she had yet either, since she didn't want to provoke the Immortal into suddenly fighting seriously. That said, she was still losing the fight, and she needed to do something to tip the scales in her favor. Of course, part of the problem was the enclosed space, so she couldn't maneuver hardly at all with all the wolves in the room.

That gave her an idea, and she started inching towards an outer wall, gathering power for a particularly big blast of fire as she waited for one of the Omega wolves to launch itself at her. It didn't take long, there were a lot of them after all, and when it came, Falkia ducked under the wolf and lunched the fire blast at it, sending the big wolf crashing into the wall. The walls weren't very strong, but even with their weakness, the hit wasn't enough. It would take several more and she wasn't sure the wolves would fall for it again.

Then Karem spoke up. "If you wanted to leave the room, why did you not ask?" she heard the Hunter say as another glowing bolt went past her head, hitting the wall. There was another explosion behind her, and then she felt a solid impact to the gut, this time from Karem herself, and she was knocked back through the hole in the wall and out into the open courtyard beyond it.

[Basilisk]

Falkia let out a huff of pain as she landed on the ground and rolled. Immortals were stronger than the vast majority of Mortals, and only the absolute strongest of Mortals could hope to exceed even the weakest Immortal in raw strength. It was part of what made the Immortals the rightful rulers of Idalos, their in-built physical protection. She had always admired it in her Lord, marvelled in the perfection of Faldrun's form on the rare occasion he deigned to take an Aukari form. Not in a lustful way, she knew her place, but in an aesthetic sense. She did not, however, appreciate that perfection nearly so after having been kicked in the stomach by an Immortal that was above the average strength for an Immortal, much less a Mortal.

She coughed a few times, then rose to her feet, realizing she was a good twenty feet from the hole Karem had made and they were both outside the building. The wolves were spreading out in a semi-circle around her and Karem herself stood just outside the hole, her head tilted to the side again. "Well, we are outside now, Champion of Faldrun. Show me how this changes things for you." she said, her tone calm. She had another fowling blunt loaded in that crossbow of hers, and was clearly ready to continue the fight.

Falkia grimaced, having partially hoped that Karem would leave if she didn't intend to kill her, but since the Huntress was sticking around, she had no choice but to keep fighting. Taking a deep breath, she raised a hand and called on her Fire Fall power. As a hail of fire started to fall on the wolves, Falkia used one of her unique powers, for she had been afforded several by her Lord, and absorbed some of the falling fire to restore her energy and heal her wounds. Then she charged into the crowd of wolves, keeping them between her and Karem as she moved closer to the Huntress. This fight could only end if either her or Karem was incapacitated, and she did not intend to be taken down.

[Basilisk]

Things were going much better now. Fire Fall was dealing with the majority of the wolves now, since even they couldn't deal with the random pattern of the flames, and by keeping the wolves she engaged with between her and Karem, she was better able to keep the Immortal from firing on her. There were still problems of course, the sheer number of wolves she was fighting was enough to guarantee that even if she wasn't facing an Immortal, but she was on better footing. The added room to maneuver was helping as well, since she could more easily avoid getting surrounded or pinned against a wall. But she still had to deal with Karem or she would never win this.

Karem, for her part, hadn't been sitting idle. The Great Wolf had proven adept at dodging the raining fireballs and she kept moving, forcing Falking to constantly shift position to keep the wolves between her and the Immortal, else the Immortal would have a clear shot at her. She had been keeping an even distance between them for now, but Falkia knew she needed to close that gap. Fortunately, Fire Fall had only been part of her plan. The rain of fire was creating little fires all over the place, and she was being careful to maneuver in such a way that she was always fairly close to one of them.

Her opportunity came when one of the falling fires landed near Karem. It wasn't so close that the Immortal had felt the need to dodge it, but it was definitely close enough for Falkia's purposes. Using another of the unique powers afforded to her as a Champion, Falkia dived into the fire closest to her and emerged from the one next to Karem. She came out swinging, and the flaming blade managed to shear through the crossbow as Karem raised it to defend herself. That alone surprised Falkia, she had assumed it was more than it seemed. It didn't put Karem out of the fight, though, as the Hunter drew an axe from her belt and parried the second strike. "Well then. You are clever." Karem said, now making no move to disengage. "I suppose we shall see how you handle a more direct fight with an Immortal." she said, parrying another strike from Falkia's blade.

[Basilisk]

Karem was keeping the wolves back now, probably because they wouldn't have been too much of a direct help, since the air around the two women was pretty filled with axe cuts and sword slashes. Or perhaps she just considered this a test, as her words had implied. Either way, Falkia was glad of it. She had heard how dangerous Immortals were, she knew they were powerful on an intellectual level. It was a whole different thing when you were fighting one. Karem was faster, stronger, and had better reaction times than Falkia did, and Falkia had pushed herself to the absolute limit to become of the best fighters on Idalos. Now, she felt like she was completely outmatched.

Not to say she was doing terribly, she had managed to keep the Immortal from landing a blow, but she hadn't managed to land one either and she was starting to wear out. She hadn't used all of her tricks, however, and she used the most effective sword skill she'd mastered. She'd named it Sirothelle's Glory after being pressured to name it by her then-superiors who had wanted her to teach it to other members of the occult, but none of them had been able to pull it off after she'd demonstrated it. It was, one the surface, a simple thing, a series of seemingly erratic sword slashes that came out fast and strong, ending with a thrust. But there were two things that made it effective. The first was the nature of the swings, which used the momentum from the previous swing to carry it her the next one. She never started the move off in a specific way, but the pattern of the swings was always determined by that first swing rather than by conscious decision, which was why the swings seemed erratic. The second was that the swings were ultimately meant to get her opponent into a habit of blocking the swings, which left them open for the thrust at the end.

The first part went exactly as Falkia had planned. Karem had, as expected, managed to block pretty every swing, shedding them with the haft her axe without even damaging the wood. But she hadn't been expecting the thrust and it had slipped past her guard. That was where things pretty much fell apart, though. Karem was fast and she started to dodge as soon as Falkia's blade slipped past her axe. It wasn't a complete evasion, though, as Falkia landed a clean hit on the Immortal, opening up a shallow, but noticeable, cut on her side and tearing through the fur of her cloak as Karem dodged. Karem looked down and felt the wound, her hand coming away bloody as her clothes started to turn red with the blood. "Well. That is impressive." she said, before looking up at Falkia. "It will not work a second time." she said as she started to step back into the fight.

Then the wolves, all of them at once, sat back on their haunches and howled at the sky. Karem stopped at the sound and relaxed her stance. "It would appear that I have kept you busy long enough. But I see why Her Majesty is so interested in you, Falkia Brennan. Try not to die tonight." she said, before she opened a door into Emea and stepped through it, her wolves vanishing with her as the portal closed. Falkia, for her part, blinked in surprise, then used one of her unique powers to consume the remaining fires around her, restoring most of her stamina and healing the remainder of her wounds. Then she ran towards the entrance of the ruins. Karem had said she'd kept her busy long enough. Surely, however, the legions couldn't be here already.