• Event • 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

The Assault on Quacia. Quacia Hot Cycle 720 Event. Balthazar.

66th of Ymiden 720

Most shops, parlors, workshops, and other businesses are found here, as well as the homes of those wealthy who are not of royal title. Guilds bleed the citizens dry of coin through taxes and fees. Trade is limited in Quacia, and supplies can be expensive.
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3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

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Continued from 1. The Morning Of
66th of Ymiden, Arc 720

As the congregation of innocent citizens departed, along with Woe's contingent of soldiers, and the priests... that left Balthazar in the partially barricaded nave with seventeen soldiers ready to follow his lead.

A handful of the soldiers gathered in a circle, and prepared their powdered doses of the Wildfire drug. They paused though, and looked right at Balthazar, as if in expectation for the captain to either approve the ingestion of the assumed stimulant or not.

Balthazar had about ten bits to prepare his soldiers however he liked, whether that was encouraging them to take the drug now or later or never. As well as where in the nave they would settle. Only a few of the runic traps had been left behind by Woe, but Balthazar knew where they were.

By the tenth bit, everyone except Balthazar Black and his 17 Soldiers had retreated into the basement...

...and one of the windows smashed apart. An entire branch from a tree flew through the stained glass, in complete shatter of the entire thing. The piece of wood hit one of the stone benches and sent the barricade in a slump of disrupted stone.

The dual doors where Balthazar had let the bloodhound in, shook with sudden force launched against it. Another slam of the polished stone and metal, and it threatened with a squeak. Beyond, the screech of Creepborne sounded. A loud explosion occurred somewhere nearby, from what sounded like part of a building falling to the street. Smoke had started to seep into the church, from a fire burning outside. No longer muffled by the windows, there was some shouting that rose up from the nearby neighborhood.

Another forceful shove against the dual doors. The stone arch cracked, as the frame gave way from vines that curled inward. In creation of space, the vines forced the stone to crumble as thicker appendages slid through. The Creep had entered the nave, and started to spread in every direction along the walls with thorny brambles and thick, hostile vines. The door crumbled apart, no longer held up by the frame, and a hulking Ferahom stalked into the nave. Made of vines and skulls, it went quiet while it surveyed the odd assortment of stone benches that led into a funneled path.

It paused there, no where near one of the traps, and seemed to be considering the area in a survey.
 ! Message from: Strange
Updated NPC Count:
  • 17 Soldiers on Balthazar's Faction (all alive).
    • 4 Soldiers with minor injuries.
    • 8 Soldiers about to take Wildfire (depending on Balthazar's approval or not).
Attached is the map for the area where Balthazar scryed (if he takes another look, it'll be what he sees). The Ferahom is inside, unless something major is done, thus placed on the map at the door - just in case.
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word count: 485
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Balthazar Black
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]


66 Ymiden 720
Balthazar didn't approve of the idea of using the wildfire for whatever temporary boost it would provide, but when he felt the eyes the men on him, seeking approval, Balthazar gave it to them with a silent nod. He did not expect that many of the men who's faces he recognized from the other trials of fighting would live to see tomorrow. Those who had stayed with him had chosen to be the distraction. They were going to fight the Creep for as long as they could and then they'd run. Balthazar could get almost anywhere on his own but bringing the team with him anywhere was going to be a challenge. So he might as well let them go out on a high. He didn't partake though, instead Balthazar kept his small bundle of wildfire tied to his belt where he could reach it if he wanted it. Woe, Vito, the civilians and a few soldiers had gone and the mage was left with his few remaining loyal soldier.

Balthazar's critical mistake was that he decided to begin his inspirational speech after everyone had been cleared out of the room- or at least everyone who would be. He thought it would be better to help oversee the evacuating groups than it would be start a long winded speech to people who might not speak Common. Admittedly he also believed they were doomed to die because he did not think that many of them would understand his directions. Then again how had was it to understand that it was a good idea to run through a portal out of a Creep infested battlefield? So while he could have been giving speeches, Balthazar spent his time moving around the 17 who had remained with him and rattling off instructions about what to do when the Creep broke through. The general summary of his advice was 'don't panic, we're expecting them to be scary.'

"Alright!" Balthazar's raised his voice so that it would boom over the sounds of the Creep encroaching on them. Wildfire was one thing but a little motivation could go a long way. After all, this might have been the last speech some of them ever heard. When Balthazar saw he had the attention of his loyal soldiers, he gestured through the funnel they'd all created with the stone pews. Stone that Balthazar would be able to utilize as a weapon when needed. Stones he probably could have helped them move. "I don't know how many of you understand me and I don't know if we are all going to make it out of this." Not a great start to a speech. "But what I do know, is that we are about to give the Creep a fight it will never forget! We-" And that was all the time Balthazar had to give a speech before the windows burst and glass rained to the ground.

Everyone leapt to action as quickly as they could, drawing weapons and readying their shields. Balthazar grabbed the sheath of his katana with one hand and put another on the handle. He didn't draw it yet, looking instead to see where the noise had come from. What did he think it was going to be? A kitten?

Well it was no kitten. A tree branch came sailing through the window and nearly crushed one of the side barricades. Balthazar moved backwards, gesturing for the soldiers with him to do the same and some did, but not all. Three lingered closer to the barricade, shocked by the treebranch's arrival. "Fall back!" Balthazar hissed at them but it didn't matter.

There was a loud boom at the door where he'd let the dog inside. A boom like the one Balthazar had heard when he saw the giant tree smack the spire off a building. He could feel the call of fire from the burning buildings but he didn't encourage it to burn towards him yet. Sparks began arcing off of Balthazar's hands as he slowly unsheathed his sword. Another boom and the doorway caved inwards beneath a mass of vines. Balthazar wasted no time, thrusting his first forward and propelling a blast of flame to wash over the Creep as it moved through the doorway. The hulking creature looked over the funnel and as it saw the middle it saw the glowing mage with his sword, casting his spell.

They learned when they died. He could not forget that. Anything one of them saw, all of them saw. The sooner the Creep figured out exactly who was where, the sooner they'd be doomed... so Balthazar meant to blind them with fire.


word count: 796

Visible Mutations/ Marks

Mutations
Defiance: Skin always glows faintly and he is warm to the touch. His is also the center of a field of static electricity so people get shocked touching him on occasion.
Rupturing: Orange etheric cracks spider-web up his arms to his elbows. His eyes and the glowing cracks going down his cheeks glow dark blue.
Transmutation: He has a series of emerald, glowing cracks on his right pectoral.
Marks
Bellinos: His fingernails are always black. The color fades into his fingers.
Celarion: A dim glowing ring surrounds his left forearm.
Palenon: A silver lightning shaped mark about the size of a hand stretching up towards his torso.

Scars

  • Oops, Oops, Ouch: Balthazar Black has twenty scars across his back from a lashing as well as scars on his hands and arms from jagged rocks on Faldrass. There are two scars on the sides of his abdomen from being stabbed and a slash across his back which blends in with the whip scars.
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

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The soldiers saw the silent nod, and those who waited to take the Wildfire... did so. Many seemed uncertain how to do so, though, with slight confusion toward the powder. Until Slipper dashed it across the back of his hand and snorted it up his nostrils. The rest of the eight soldiers followed this. One of the men gave a yelp, as blood trickled down from his nose and over his mouth in streaks of red. A few of the other soldiers started to feverishly pray, at the sight of the blood loss.

"Merda," said Slipper in Vahanic. He kicked the ground with his heel and rubbed at his nose. "That burns."

"Do you feel anything?" asked a woman next to him, her raven black hair scraggly around her broad face - deeply purpled and bruised from trials of fighting. Raven sucked her teeth, then licked at what powder was left on her hand. "I don't feel anything."

"Wait," grumbled Slipper.

"I don't know, maybe this is something else?" inquired Raven while she readied her spear and gave it a test stab into the air. "Captain Black, were you going to try it? Captai-"

"Alright!"

The soldiers quieted while their captain had things to say. They looked at him with certain hope in their eyes, unavoidable as they looked upon a leader... or at least, a competent mage. Which in Quacia could be considered the same thing, generally. While Balthazar spoke, a couple of the soldiers started to mutter to the others in quiet translation to Vahanic of what the captain said in common.

It didn't last long before the branch flew through the window.

Raven screamed and stabbed with her spear at some bark that flew her way. Slipper jumped and leapt over one of the stone pews in a swift defense to find cover. The other soldiers scattered in a mad scramble to get away from the offending object of wood. Then it quickly became reading to action instead, once the initial confusion of the surprise faded.

The three soldiers left closest to the door were dumbstruck when it simply gave way and a Ferahom appeared in the wreckage.

A blast of flame jutted out from Balthazar's fist. It sped past the soldiers, who quickly darted out of the heat's way. One got singed, but quickly rolled on the ground to put the fire out. The blast of flame hit the Ferahom, as if it had no intention to dodge the fire. When the mage with the sword focused on it, the Ferahom stared through the flame as the wood seared from the skeletal structure that offered the timber movement. It jerked forward, without the slightest indication of pain, and walked through the fire to approach Balthazar with a swipe of its long gnarled claws.

Before the strike landed, though, the Ferahom's arm detached from the damage done from the fire. It fell to the ground, the joint blackened. A sickly, unearthly screech escaped the creature - reminiscent of the sounds made on the battlefield in the past several trials of fighting. Not a screech of pain, but of intimidation. Of reminder that there would be another, not long after. The Ferahom crumbled into charred wood and broken apart skulls, in front of Balthazar.

But the door was open, and somewhere, in the approaching army outside... an echoed screech returned the call. Through the din, the creaking of a massive tree could be heard and the faint rumble of roots pressed against the ground that gradually got louder with each step.

"Merda, merda, merda," swore Slipper as he peeked from over one of the stone benches. "They're coming, they're all coming, the vines. Do you see that?"

Raven turned to where Slipper pointed - only the man wasn't pointing anywhere, but instead waving his arm about in wild spins at the arched ceiling. She looked though, upward, and gasped.

The Creep had sped up along the walls, the bramble vines starting to gather and coalesce on the curved space above the soldiers.

One of the Creep vines jutted downward in a rush. The tendril wrapped around Slipper's neck, and then quickly lifted the man upward to hang him. Slipper kicked and struggled against it, unthinking of the sword at his belt while he tried to pull at the vine with his hands instead.
 ! Message from: Strange
Updated NPC Count:
  • 17 Soldiers on Balthazar's Faction (all alive... sorta).
    • 4 Soldiers with minor injuries.
    • 1 Soldier with minor burns.
    • 8 Soldiers high on Wildfire.
    • Named Soldiers: Slipper, Raven.
    • Slipper is about to be killed by a vine.
No map this time, you can assume the last with what changes described here - unless Balthazar takes another scouting/scrying look outside.

word count: 796
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Balthazar Black
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]


66 Ymiden 720
Balthazar watched as the Ferahom advanced on him through the flames, uninjured and he realized the second real danger of fighting the Creep. They didn't seem to feel pain. Fire was effective against men because it burned and the burning hurt enough to distract those who were burning... but these creatures felt nothing while they withered. Woe's runes would be useless and cost his ally ether. Shit. The creature came close and raised a claw to strike prompting Balthazar to ready his sword only for the claw to fall to the ground. The creature shrieked and familiar shriek and Balthazar's expression hardened. More were coming. There were always more. Then we'll kill them too.

"Everyone fall back behind the funnel, move towards the altar and form a circle to watch each other's backs. If you see one coming, call out and be ready to kill it." Balthazar shouted the orders quickly as he moved backwards towards the altar to the absent god. He did not go far, waiting for his loyal allies to move before he did so that they wouldn't be abandoned. He saw Slipper hiding behind the stone bench but thought little of him. Balthazar was not surprised by what he heard coming from outside but he dreaded it all the same. It seemed he would have no choice but to deal with the big bastards eventually.

As Balthazar looked up and saw the brambles running along the wall up to the arched ceiling, a vine lashed out and wrapped around Slipper's neck. Raven gasped and Balthazar sensed the vine grabbing the young solider. He swung his sword in a slightly more wild arc than was probably necessary to cut the vine from around Slipper's neck before hurling another blast of fire up at the brambles on the ceiling to try and buy them all a little more time. "Everyone fall back towards the altar!" Balthazar shouted to the soldiers.

Nimue, I could use some help... But the ghost could not read his mind... and she was afraid of the Creep.
word count: 354

Visible Mutations/ Marks

Mutations
Defiance: Skin always glows faintly and he is warm to the touch. His is also the center of a field of static electricity so people get shocked touching him on occasion.
Rupturing: Orange etheric cracks spider-web up his arms to his elbows. His eyes and the glowing cracks going down his cheeks glow dark blue.
Transmutation: He has a series of emerald, glowing cracks on his right pectoral.
Marks
Bellinos: His fingernails are always black. The color fades into his fingers.
Celarion: A dim glowing ring surrounds his left forearm.
Palenon: A silver lightning shaped mark about the size of a hand stretching up towards his torso.

Scars

  • Oops, Oops, Ouch: Balthazar Black has twenty scars across his back from a lashing as well as scars on his hands and arms from jagged rocks on Faldrass. There are two scars on the sides of his abdomen from being stabbed and a slash across his back which blends in with the whip scars.
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Strange
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

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Off Topic
Skill Check: Leadership - 35 Competent
On the shout of the orders, some of the soldiers scrambled to follow the instruction to go for the altar. A few, however, remained where they were - whether frozen by shock, or because they had gotten distracted by the Creep that writhed overhead, or any number of things. Of the ones who remained though, the majority were high on the Wildfire.

Including Slipper and Raven.

Balthazar swung his sword toward the vine, and though it was a wild arc, it was absolutely necessary. For the vine twisted tight, when severed from the bladed cut. Slipper fell to the ground, the severed vine leashed around his neck and he choked in a silent cry while he tried to remove the tightened tendril.

The Creep writhed as the fire blasted upward. It charred the spread, and blackened remnants rained down onto the nave, dead and turned to ash. The brambles and thorny vines started to retreat from the upward trajectory, but spread along the walls in the direction of the altar.

Raven had left him, though, to stand at the narrow passage where the bottleneck led. She had her spear and shield ready, and the soldier stared at the busted opening of the door. She seemed to be in wait...

At the second shout, the other soldiers finally came to and hurried toward the altar. One of the soldiers who'd taken the Wildfire grabbed onto Balthazar's shoulder and said, "Captain, sir... they're coming. It's coming. It's..."

Slipper had fallen on the ground, behind the stone pew, consciousness fading as he hadn't removed the vine from his neck. While the vine had died, it had done so in the tight leash around the man's neck.

Through the open doors, however, another Ferahom entered. It didn't pause like the first. Twisted and long, the skeletal and rippled flesh of what had once been a creature of some sort... shunted with vines and barks from the Creep's invasion to the animal. The bones had been snapped and extended by the vines, to lengthen and create an even larger animal than the panther or jaguar feline creature that had been hollowed out.

The Creepborne panther Ferahom stalked forward with sharp claws that clicked against the polished stone of the nave's floor. Large fangs jutted out from its broken jaw and its eyes were hollowed out. Its back glided in an awkward bend while it stalked forward toward Raven.

Raven held her spear at the ready, in seeming choice to fight this Ferahom herself, while it stalked through the funneled corridor and right over one of the runic traps...
 ! Message from: Strange
Updated NPC Count:
  • 17 Soldiers on Balthazar's Faction (all alive... sorta).
    • 4 Soldiers with minor injuries.
    • 1 Soldier with minor burns.
    • 8 Soldiers high on Wildfire (including Slipper and Raven).
    • Slipper is currently suffocating to death from the vine.
    • Raven is about to fight a Panther-base Ferahom.
    • The other 15 Soldiers are now at the altar, but it took them a bit to all get there.
word count: 518
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Balthazar Black
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]


66 Ymiden 720
Things were going from bad to worse quickly and Balthazar didn't have to be an Empath to realize the resolve of his followers was shaken. Those who gathered around the altar would be safest because they were out of the way. The first two blasts had lit the spark and now flames burned around the defier, with every breath he breathed in through his lungs he could feel his ether and sparks beginning to roil. This would be his death if he did not take risks. He'd been burned in Faldrass but he'd also become something greater- forged literally in the earth of the volcano. Now he would show the Creep the might of Faldrass' Warden.

Not all had followed his orders, some due to their own boldness and others due to their shock, but Slipper disobeyed for the only reason Balthazar considered valid- he was being strangled by a vine. Balthazar noticed rather quickly that he hadn't freed Slipper when he cut the vine but the mage was preoccupied tracking the brambles as they spread across the wall towards the altar where he'd ordered his people to move. A solider grabbed his shoulder and warned him the Creep were coming.

"I know, and we're going to kill it. Now cut the vine off his neck while I burn some bramble!" Balthazar shouted the order so he would be heard over the rest of the noise and chaos in the mind of the panicking soldier. He'd have slapped him if he didn't think it would hurt the lad too much. As much as Balthazar wanted to help Slipper, the boy was one of many in the group and Balthazar was the only one who could really get the party going. They'd stayed to fight with a powerful mage and they would get what they wanted. Balthazar sheathed his sword as he looked around quickly once more to paint a vivid picture of the room in his mind's eye. Some soldiers in place, some out of place, one- oh Immortal's what did she think she was doing?

A massive amalgamation of feline and plant sauntered forward through the middle of the barricade to a lone brave soldier, high on an ironically named drug. The beast stepped on a strange marking on the ground causing Balthazar to remember Woe's traps. "Entraro!" Balthazar shouted, recalling the trigger word that Woe had told him- well the trigger word for the rune of weakness, the only rune Balthazar thought would do anything to this enemy who could not feel pain. If that was not the rune the beast had stepped onto, it would not matter... in fact... it didn't quite matter that the beast was on the rune at all.

Raven was in Balthazar's way so he could not send an ocean of flame to cleanse the beast stalking towards her, but Balthazar was a master of a magic that bent space. There was no hiding from the Creep now so he'd let them hear his magic roar... but gently. Balthazar reached his open hands out towards Raven and the Ferahom panther in the narrow passage, the air shrieked and small blue sparks appeared behind the beast, dancing into a flaming porthole. Then Balthazar magnetized the portal, attaching a pull to it so he could drag the Ferahom away from Raven."Fall back to the altar!" He shouted to Raven as he turned towards the egress of his porthole portal.

A portal was a door and any door could be entered from both sides. Balthazar conjured a ball of fire in his hand and hurled it through the egress of the porthole, causing the fire to burst through the ingress that was pulling the Ferahom towards it. Naturally the fire was pulled back towards Balthazar by the portals magnetism but that would only cause it to churn and burn the hopefully trapped Ferahom inside. Unable to wait and see his success, Balthazar turned and reached his hands out towards the embers along the arched ceiling. He called on them to burn and the small specks of orange burst back to life as a wave of fire washed along the wall to try and purge it of the Creep while the rest of his soldiers got to a place they could defend each other.
► Show Spoiler
word count: 796

Visible Mutations/ Marks

Mutations
Defiance: Skin always glows faintly and he is warm to the touch. His is also the center of a field of static electricity so people get shocked touching him on occasion.
Rupturing: Orange etheric cracks spider-web up his arms to his elbows. His eyes and the glowing cracks going down his cheeks glow dark blue.
Transmutation: He has a series of emerald, glowing cracks on his right pectoral.
Marks
Bellinos: His fingernails are always black. The color fades into his fingers.
Celarion: A dim glowing ring surrounds his left forearm.
Palenon: A silver lightning shaped mark about the size of a hand stretching up towards his torso.

Scars

  • Oops, Oops, Ouch: Balthazar Black has twenty scars across his back from a lashing as well as scars on his hands and arms from jagged rocks on Faldrass. There are two scars on the sides of his abdomen from being stabbed and a slash across his back which blends in with the whip scars.
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Strange
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Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:43 pm
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

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Flames crackled, burning slow from the first two blasts that Balthazar had sent about. They didn't take as easily as a building made of wood, for Quacia's architecture was formed almost entirely of stone and metal... and the reason why showed when the brambles continued to traverse the walls in swift forward motion for the altar.

The soldier who'd grabbed Balthazar's shoulder - a young man known as Joe - nodded and hurried over to help Slipper with the vine. It was an easy matter, though his dagger nicked Slipper's neck with a few droplets of blood.

Meanwhile, the bestial Ferahom approached the lone soldier of Raven.

"Entraro!"

Balthazar's shout activated the rune of weakness. A vivid glow of ether rose up from the activated runic trap, and the Ferahom's skeletal-and-vine twisted paws gave out. It fell down, in front of Raven, without so much as a mew or a screech. Its skeletal fangs chattered though, from where it could no longer find the literal strength to stand.

As this happened, Balthazar wielded his magic like that of a master at his craft. The portals shrieked open, sparks flying around the flaming porthole. The pull dragged the Ferahom away and gradually off the trap.

Raven poked forward with her spear, and stabbed into the Ferahom's eye socket. A mess of leaves and sappy vines came out with the spear and she nodded when Balthazar shouted for her to go back to the altar. Despite her nod of agreement, her eyes were wide and pupils dilated - and Raven turned to stare at the shattered window from before. She pointed her spear in that direction, though nothing seemed to be happening. Those who had also imbibed in Wildfire all turned and looked to the same spot.

Fire hurled through the egress of the porthole, and burst outward through the ingress at the Ferahom. It happened quick, but just enough to cause some char to the Ferahom who'd gotten dragged into the portal, though it was slightly larger than the actual dimensions of the portal itself. It didn't react to the fire, but as it was pulled off the trap, it started to regain movement of its legs.

The Ferahom started to try and climb its way out of the portal.

Above Balthazar, the small specks of orange were called upon and manifested - and a brilliant streak of flame cut across the ceiling and to the walls. The vines of the creep started to writhe and squirm and retreat...

...and the ground rumbled. The earth shook underneath Balthazar's feet. A pair of Ferahom sprinted in through the broken-down door and rather than follow the funnel, these two simply started to climb over the benches. Thin, nimble, whether they were of fallen humans or something else, it was difficult to tell due to the extensive warping of the plant matter that controlled the skeletal base. One of the thin Ferahoms leapt at Raven, who'd kept staring at the window rather than going to the altar, and she stabbed at it with her spear. She cried out as the two of them fell onto the stone floor of the nave in a deadly struggle.

As the two new Ferahoms joined the fray, the last of the shattered glass in the broken window gave way. A tree branch stuck through - but it wasn't disembodied. It retracted soon enough... and then punched through the next window. And then the next.

One of the Tree Walkers had arrived, and seemed to first decide to take out the stained glass windows. Some of the creep vines that had retreated from the flames, wound up to start to twist and squeeze at the stone frames. The stones crumbled as the windows opened up wider. Smoke and noises from the outside flooded into the nave, no longer sheltered by the window or walls.

"What we do? Oh, Wounded Lord, what do we doooo?!" asked one of the soldiers at the altar in a break of composure. He kept moving forward as if to help Raven, then pausing and returning to the altar where they had been told to stay.

Slipper ran forward though, recovered from his brush with death via choking vine. He looked to help, a long and curved dagger at the ready, while he rushed toward Raven.
 ! Message from: Strange
Updated NPC Count:
  • 17 Soldiers on Balthazar's Faction (all alive... sorta).
    • 4 Soldiers with minor injuries.
    • 1 Soldier with minor burns.
    • 8 Soldiers high on Wildfire (including Slipper and Raven).
    • Slipper is running forward to join the fight.
    • Raven is fighting a new Ferahom.
    • The other 15 Soldiers are now at the altar, unsure what to do.
  • There is a Tree Walker outside, taking down the citadel wall.
  • There are the three Ferahoms (panther and two thin ones).
word count: 813
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Balthazar Black
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Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 1:15 am
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]


66 Ymiden 720
Alright, so maybe giving your soldiers drugs right before the battle was a bad idea after all. It certainly felt like one when Balthazar saw the wildly dilated pupils of the seemingly non-responsive Raven. Well that was a poor way to categorize her, she was responsive she was just not responding to what Balthazar was saying. Instead she was doing what the drugs seemed to drive her to do. It seemed he couldn't corral those who had taken the wildfire and before long Balthazar wouldn't be able to corral any of them. Chaos was taking hold and Balthazar was more of a fighter than a leader. His actions could inspire but his words often failed to achieve the desired encouragement.

Balthazar steadied himself against the trembling earth and looked down at the ground beneath his feet. In Faldrass, a sublet rumbling had lead to an entire landslide... but he was stronger than he was then... and his purpose was a little more singular now than it had been then. Balthazar kept the fire burning despite the panic beginning to seize his followers. He kept the ocean of orange alive with little to no thought. The flame was a friend and now that it had arrived it seemed to burn at the Creep almost independently of Balthazar will- as if it was protecting him... because it was. While the fire burned, the Creep continued its assault.

Two more Ferahoms emerged through the broken doorway and began making their way over the stone barriers that had been set up. Balthazar reached out his hands towards the barrier, calling on the comfortable stone to suddenly shift in shape as the Ferahoms scrambled over it. A stone bench folded in half, attempting to crush a Ferahom between its two ends. The other Creepborne beast made it over the barricade and tumbled to the floor with Raven. Balthazar surged forth to try and help her when suddenly a tree branch with a body attached to it smashed through another window. Ah shit, one of the big ones. Balthazar looked between his soldiers gathered around the altar and Raven struggling on the floor with the Ferahom.

The soldiers around the altar were afraid, one of them crying out in fear at the attacking tree-beasts. Slipper ran forward bravely to try and help Raven which made Balthazar's decision easier. "Burn them all!" Balthazar shouted at the solider around the altar. "Protect each other and burn every vine that moves! I'll handle the walkers!" And with that assurance given to them, Balthazar reached out a hand and with a twist of his wrist he conjured a swirling blue flame that screeched as it tore open the space between the air in front of Balthazar and the sky outside that Balthazar could see. The Tree Walker had actually helped Balthazar by shattering the windows because it gave him a better view of the outside and he could use that view to conjure a portal.

He kept the edges of the portal intentionally unstable, knowing that the Creep would likely strike back and hoping that the weaker edge of the portal would cause it to collapse before anything could get through. Well anything other than what he prepared next. The portal was only meant to give Balthazar a more direct shot. The portal would show Balthazar the Tree Walker- or at least he hoped it would. The sparks dancing around Balthazar's arms from his mutations began to coalece in his hands before Balthazar thrust it outwards, hurling a bolt of lightning through the portal at the Tree Walker in hopes that if it didn't kill the beast outright, it would ignite the tree for Balthazar to burn.
► Show Spoiler
word count: 667

Visible Mutations/ Marks

Mutations
Defiance: Skin always glows faintly and he is warm to the touch. His is also the center of a field of static electricity so people get shocked touching him on occasion.
Rupturing: Orange etheric cracks spider-web up his arms to his elbows. His eyes and the glowing cracks going down his cheeks glow dark blue.
Transmutation: He has a series of emerald, glowing cracks on his right pectoral.
Marks
Bellinos: His fingernails are always black. The color fades into his fingers.
Celarion: A dim glowing ring surrounds his left forearm.
Palenon: A silver lightning shaped mark about the size of a hand stretching up towards his torso.

Scars

  • Oops, Oops, Ouch: Balthazar Black has twenty scars across his back from a lashing as well as scars on his hands and arms from jagged rocks on Faldrass. There are two scars on the sides of his abdomen from being stabbed and a slash across his back which blends in with the whip scars.
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Strange
Prophet of Old
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Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:43 pm
Race: Undead (Ghost)
Renown: 999
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]

Image



The flame crackled around Balthazar, keeping him safe of the vines that tried to spread any which way in what seemed to be an increasing flustered state. Each direction seemed to sear and set another long bramble afire to ash.

The stone bench folded in half, just as Balthazar reached out to call upon the elements within, and it crushed the Ferahom into dust of smashed bones and plants. Destroyed instantly, what remained fell down with the stone.

The other one tumbled to the floor with Raven, and Slipper ran toward her...
Off Topic
Skill Check:

Detection - 30 Competent
Tactics - 50 Competent
The soldiers listened to the shout to burn. Some of them, the ones high on Wildfire, rushed away from the altar and toward the flames. One of the soldiers tore off his sleeve, and wrapped it around the end of his sheathed sword. This way, he caught the fabric on fire and then ran past to try and press it into the vines that were squeezing the walls apart.

This act didn't last very long, as the Tree Walker punched through a nearby window. The branch bent in a way unlike an actual tree, and then its branches grabbed around the soldier. It lifted the soldier up and shook the man until the flame dimmed and the sword fell out of his hands. It clattered to the floor.

The soldier screamed as he was taken out of the citadel and then impaled on one of the sharper branches that stuck out from what could be called this Tree Walker's shoulders. He was not the only one, either. As Balthazar opened up a portal, he saw a number of corpses impaled on the sharp branches that stuck out like ornaments on pauldrons for the Tree Walker.

Meanwhile, the previous portal that Balthazar had for the panther Ferahom... not seemingly maintained.... vanished. The Ferahom had still been partially between the two portals, though. It jettisoned forward, still on fire, and leapt past Raven and the other Ferahom. It started on a mad sprint toward the altar and to the other soldiers who'd remained on the platform.

Slipper evaded the panther Ferahom, then slipped right past Raven who struggled with the thin Ferahom.

As the Tree Walker turned to look, with eyes shaped from vines and hollowed bark, at the portal that spied upon it - and the gigantic creature stared right back at Balthazar...

...the mage sent the bolt of lightning through. It hit the Tree Walker in the face, and it singed the bark, and fire set to a gathering of nearby leaves. The Tree Walker held absolutely still, then covered the flames to stop any wind from making the fire spread. Fortunately for the Creep, it was a mostly windless and humid day.

But while Balthazar busied himself with this, he did not realize the betrayal about to happen.

Slipper had reached the mage, and his dagger had never been meant to help Raven at all. In perfect show for his nickname's sake, he slid behind the distracted Balthazar. In swift expertise, the stealthy rogue put the blade to Balthazar's neck. He demanded in his accented common, "Make a portal, or I'll slit your throat! Make a portal to Fortress! Now!"

Across from them, the thin Ferahom clawed apart Raven's armor and skin. She screamed and then she went silent. Smoke from the fire started to fill the nave, though it drifted out the few broken windows as well.

 ! Message from: Strange
Updated NPC Count:
  • 15 Soldiers on Balthazar's Faction / 2 Dead.
    • 4 Soldiers with minor injuries.
    • 1 Soldier with minor burns.
    • 8 Soldiers high on Wildfire (including Slipper and Raven).
    • Slipper has taken advantage and now is holding a dagger to Balthazar's throat, in demand that he portals them away.
    • Raven is dead.
    • The other soldiers are scattered between the altar and the fire.
  • The Tree Walker is trying to put out the fire on it.
  • There are the two Ferahoms - the panther on fire that is running at the altar; and the thin one that has defeated Raven.
word count: 688
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Balthazar Black
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Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 1:15 am
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Profession: Leader of The Black Cats
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Re: 3. All Alone [AoQ Event Part One | Mature]


66 Ymiden 720
The screams of the soldier being impaled on the Tree Walker distracted Balthazar as the traitor neared. At least it had been quick... Balthazar hoped. While his Rupturing spark warned him that Slipper was moving in, Balthazar thought Slipper would move passed him. He didn't realize the man's purpose until it was too late to do anything about it.

"Think it through, if you slit my throat you won't get out of here either and I can't cast a portal large enough for us without you letting go." Balthazar reasoned and lied. He probably could have made the portal with the blade at his neck but it didn't matter, he was just trying to make Slipper uncertain. His eyes had begun glowing as Balthazar attune to the soldier holding a blade to his neck. He didn't know what he was looking for but impulse told him to look so he did. It didn't matter, Balthazar knew what he was going to do. There was only one fate for traitors and cowards who tried to command him.

Due to Slipper's meddling, Balthazar's portal to the Tree Walker snapped shut but fortunately the fire on the beast wasn't out entirely yet so he could still feel it and he could still compel it to burn. There was not much more than that which he could do with the blade at his neck. Raven was dead and the Ferahom that killed her was likely to move on Balthazar next. Another one ran for the scattered and confused soldiers at the altar.

Balthazar grabbed Slipper's blade-hand, relying on his strength to keep Slipper's dagger from his neck long enough for Balthazar's kin element to reach out, embracing Slipper in a wreath of blue flames that covered his entire body- burning him. Balthazar's kin had a particularly cruel embrace to those who were not initiated. Those who could not be forged in fire were destroyed by it.

When the traitor began to burn, Balthazar elbowed him in the stomach and tried to push him away before reaching his hands out towards two stone benches and the drawing them together- clapping his hands. The two benches Balthazar reached out towards flew together, the earth seeking to merge with the Ferahom in the middle. Crushing seemed to be more useful than burning but Balthazar could only fling so many stone benches.

"Kill it!" Balthazar shouted at the soldiers near the altar that the Ferahom had reached while Slipper distracted the mage trying to keep them all alive.
► Show Spoiler
word count: 483

Visible Mutations/ Marks

Mutations
Defiance: Skin always glows faintly and he is warm to the touch. His is also the center of a field of static electricity so people get shocked touching him on occasion.
Rupturing: Orange etheric cracks spider-web up his arms to his elbows. His eyes and the glowing cracks going down his cheeks glow dark blue.
Transmutation: He has a series of emerald, glowing cracks on his right pectoral.
Marks
Bellinos: His fingernails are always black. The color fades into his fingers.
Celarion: A dim glowing ring surrounds his left forearm.
Palenon: A silver lightning shaped mark about the size of a hand stretching up towards his torso.

Scars

  • Oops, Oops, Ouch: Balthazar Black has twenty scars across his back from a lashing as well as scars on his hands and arms from jagged rocks on Faldrass. There are two scars on the sides of his abdomen from being stabbed and a slash across his back which blends in with the whip scars.
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