Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 27: War

[-Cynthia-]

Chasing

"If any of our group remained at TISME, they may be able to cut it off in time," Morgan said, not attacking for now. She did not trust her accuracy at this range and hitting a vital organ of Shanice could prove disastrous.

Not Chasing

"If you're too tired to use any magic, it may be better to stay out of the way if you can. There's no need to endanger yourself without cause," Charlotte said to Adena, who had apparently returned from healing others.

[the_whistler]

He's too serious to be joking, Heinz noted. But if there are two demons and one is Miranda, the thief retrieved the tome from underneath his cloak. "Sure," handing the magic book back to Raemond.

He readied his knives, holding one loosely in each hand. Might need both. "Light magic should be able to stall a demon, I've quick enough reflexes to hit a limb or two. If it's small, it might still slip past us in a tunnel," Heinz commented.

[Mercakete]

"I suppose I will simply stand by," Beau informed, keeping more off to the side. He had a staff ready in case anyone needed to be healed in this endeavor.

As Raemond received his tome back, he gave Heinz a small nod, then said to the others, "I will try to cause the first to stumble. Hopefully that will help." At its speed, I wonder if I can cast quickly enough to strike it... Once the first one falls, hopefully that will delay the second. I'll aim between the eyes -- that will be the most effective spot -- but this is like throwing a stone at a charging horse... I hope I hit my mark. If I can maintain the spell, maybe I can push back with it somewhat. Hmm... They're almost here. That first one seems more powerful than the second, though both are quite powerful... This is going to be tricky. With those thoughts, the monk prepared himself to rapidly conjure a ball of light in his free hand for quick casting.

[Balcerzak]

On the Chase

There had been a few close calls, trying to follow Krinkov from the ground, and once Tessa lost quite a bit of vital time by heading down a path that ended up blocked by some rubble. Still, she had started to hear roars, and see occasional flashes of magical energy, meaning that Morgan and Lev had definitely stumbled onto something. With renewed effort, she continued to make her way toward them, knowing that all alone they needed her help more than everything, and the sight of a giant purple dragon rising into the air, and then barreling down toward the ground was more confirmation than she needed at this point.

By the time she arrived, there was ice and debris scattered everywhere, and she saw the back of a knight on horseback riding off down an sidestreet, or alley or something. It was a bit hard to tell. Tessa was able to push Trevor on for a final sprint to close some distance before having to slow back down because the footing was getting just too dangerous. That was enough to recognize the man, though.

"Fargo!?" she called out. "What are you doing here? You saw Sis and Lev, right? Were they all right?" then looking critically at him she added, "Are you all right?"

On the defense

They had barely begun their endeavor, Helios was surprised it had managed to get off the ground, pleasantly surprised, before news that demons were approaching called a quick halt to activities. Maneuvering himself toward the front, the prince added his presence to the defensive formation that was steadily being arranged. If the monsters were trying to escape, they weren't going to make it easy on them, that was for sure.

[Phoenix]

Still Searching

Every now and then Irina would look back over her shoulder to see if Iso's eyes were glowing. They never were, and after about eight or nine two second glances at each other, Iso was getting annoyed. "Look, I'll tell you when I sense something. Keep your eyes forward, or we'll crash into something."

"No we won't. Nikita's been trained like a regular mount ... mostly. She won't ram into something unless I force her to. Heck, if we weren't searching for Miranda right now, I could safely take a nap or something," Irina explained.

"Well, we are looking for Miranda, so eyes forward. My sensing range isn't even that big. We'd likely see her before I could actually sense her."

"Oh, I thought it was the other way around ... sorry."

"I was hoping so, myself, but-ergh ... never mind."

Iso's odd reply prompted Irina to look back and she saw Iso staring dumbfoundedly into the distance, and his eyes were indeed glowing. "Hey, is it her?!"

"I have no idea, just turn right, fly lower, and try to build up some speed!" Iso quickly instructed. "Whatever I'm sensing is really close and on the move!"

"Okay, hang on!"

Still Annoying

Harold listened in on the demon conversation and eventually decided that waiting around wasn't necessarily what he wanted to do. "The rest of you keep working and bunker down. Percy and I can handle this," he declared to the group, starting off without even waiting for a reply.

"I suppose it is fitting that way," Percy conceded.

Conrad watched as the men started off. (They won't lose easily, even to a demon of Shanice's caliber, but this is still a fool's tactic.)

Still Struggling

The chimeras still had it surrounded, Miranda and her pet were following from the rooftop to the right, and there was a wyvern with a magical sharpshooter astride, with who knew how many others steadily making their way closer. 'Damned' never saw such odds, and Shanice tried to muscle passed the chimeras to reach an alleyway off to the left. The attempt was a disastrous failure, as the chimeras used the opportunity to not only push back and counter Shanice's maneuver, but also took advantage of its lost momentum and all piled up on top of it. The pile of dogs slashed and clawed as they tumbled and broke away from each other, tumbling down the street until they grinded to a halt. Shanice was the first up and changed from a dog to the horned bear like creature again as they swarmed it, beating them off with its paws and trying to find room to escape.

"Ixion's chimeras slowed him down!" Lev pointed out as they drew closer.

Miranda meanwhile took the opportunity to leap from the roof and came down right on top of Shanice, hitting it on the top of the head with both knees and then hanging on as it reared back. As soon as it was on all fours again, Miranda unleashed everything she had left in one sustained arc, aimed straight into Shanice's back. The chimeras could only stand back and watch as she continually blasted the shapeshifter. Over ten seconds, Shanice continually changed from one creature to another until it finally reverted back to normal and collapsed with Miranda on top of it. She panted heavily as she picked herself up, and Fenrir quickly joined her.

"Dammit ... that took way too much energy," she muttered before stumbling back a few feet.

"Uuuuuurg," Shanice groaned. "I ... I can't ... I can't ... uuurgh ... Argh! Why?! Why does th-this ... keep happening to me?! P-Petroooos! Arghaaaagh ..."

[Script]

The Fargo

"OH, hello missie!" Fargo said surprised as Tessa called out to him. He reared Enigma to a halt to answer. "My horse bolted off with when that dragon appeared, so we ran straight into an ice dragon instead--oh and that demon woman from before. Then those two you just said came flying out of nowhere and they all forced the dragon which became some sort of dog thing off. They all went chasing him--it? faster than I could catch up. I think we're all alright, but I can't really tell them, y'know?"

[Mercakete]

Raemond grimaced at the heroes' overconfidence. "That doesn't--" were the only words he managed before his eye caught Beau's eyes on him with a somewhat raised hand, signalling him to be quiet. Lowering the gesture, the boy calmly spoke up. "Those two are quiet experienced in the slaying of demons. Of course they will not be overtaken by only one or two of them."

The monk raised an eyebrow somewhat at him. Beau, meanwhile, just smiled a little and asked, "You aren't worried, are you?"

Raemond didn't reply immediately. However, during the span of silence from him, he did notice something. "Hmm. It seems the demons have stopped..." he noted aloud.

Beau's expression shifted to a more unreadable one. "Oh? I wonder why..." Darn. Well, there will always be more opportunities for positioning later.

[Inactive Account]

Arrin nodded at Tiria's suggestion, getting his tome out, and sure enough, it wasn't long before the sounds of a chase began to reach them. "That's probably got to do with her," Arrin said with a sigh, and took off at a jog in the direction of the noise.

By the time he arrived, the chase was over; he saw Shanice pinned by Miranda, and a gathering of some sort of unnatural-looking dogs surrounding. Looking up he saw Morgan and Lev on their way in; he was sure others would be on their way soon.

"The blonde woman is Miranda, the demon she's stepping on is Shanice and definitely not friendly, I don't know what the dogs are but they're not attacking so we should wait for an explanation," Arrin summarized quickly for Tiria after looking around. "I don't know what's going on, but I suspect we shouldn't be interfering with whatever Miranda's up to..."

ooc: I don't remember if Arrin has seen the chimeras before, if someone remembers him doing so pls tell me

[scorri]

Tiria nodded. "So that is Miranda. Well, let us try to get a bit closer. Obviously we should not get so close as to interfere, but I would like to hear what is going on at least and perhaps be able to support Miranda if she needs our help. Besides," her eyes turned hard, "I will take any chance I have to get revenge for my uncle." She stalked off towards the ongoing fight.

[Script]

Luc Altair

Harold and Percival felt like making everything else and went out to hunt the demon down. Luc couldn't possibly stop the two of them so he didn't even divert effort into attempting it. Though Raemond's declaration that the demon was stopped added a chance that it or they had been caught by the Crimsons seeking it. "We can't let the demons abrupt stop lull us into a false sense of security. We should continue preparing."

[-Cynthia-]

Shanice Casts Summon Petros

Morgan hesitated to strike Shanice- if she accidentally disintegrated the heart before Miranda recovered it that would be disastrous. Suddenly, she sensed a demon approaching towards them at a great speed. "Something's coming!" she warned those around her, before a huge rocky figure, popped up from under Shanice with great momentum. The force of this sent Miranda flying off, with Shanice perched atop of Petros's head.

Morgan fired a blast at the earth demon, but this barely chipped it, not even causing Petros to flinch.

[Phoenix]

Rockshield

When Miranda landed on her back, she rolled backward to get back on her feet, planning to immediately blast Shancie and Petros with a lightning attack, but Shanice quickly morphed into a bug before crawling into Petros' jaws. Safe from the lightning attack, only Petros was hit, and like Morgan's attack, there wasn't any noticeable damage. "Dammit," Miranda cursed as Shanice hid inside of the much tougher demon. "It's times like this I wish I knew some decent wind magic."

"Ah hell," Lev muttered as Petros showed up. "New plan! We get down there and make sure Petros doesn't take out Miranda! That's about all that'll work out for us at this point!" Lev suspected Petros was either there to rescue Shanice or back him up, but couldn't chance letting the latter happen because Miranda was in a vulnerable position right now. Maybe he wouldn't kill her due to the very irony they themselves were trying to avoid, but if he incapacitated her and left down that tunnel, it would be just as bad.

[Inactive Account]

Arrin had gotten as close to the fight as he felt was safe when the tables were quite suddenly turned: Petros appeared to intervene by digging out of the ground directly below Shanice and Miranda. Shanice immediately used Petros to hide, and Arrin registered two things: he probably couldn't damage Shanice now, and Miranda probably needed backup. He let loose a large blast of lightning. It hit Petros squarely, but only caused some of the demon's exterior to turn glassy. Still, he had to keep trying; he began to ready another shot.

[scorri]

Tiria had been running towards the fight, but pulled up short at the sight of the giant rock demon. I am not sure if I can do much here. But... for my uncle... and for these people, I must try. If we can stop him here, it will protect Beau too. Ok. Taking a deep breath, she closed the distance between the demon and herself. As she approached, she pulled her arm back, and slashed at Petros' knee. Hit the joints. Maybe that's a weak spot. However, as the base of the blade slams into the demon's knee, Tiria felt the shuddering vibrations followed by the stinging sensation in her hand that told her the blade had broken. She cursed. I knew I should have replaced this blade. I have had it forever, should have replaced it back before I met Beau. But I could never afford it and now I am going to pay for that. She stared up at the demon she had just stabbed and tried to get out of there as quickly as she could.

[-Cynthia-]

Escape Plan

Facing assault from all angles (even though some of them were rather ineffective), Petros decided to duck back down into the hole where he came from. After going down, he decided to seal the entrance to the surface by throwing a large rock at it. That should slow them down at the very least... he thought to himself, moving back towards the outskirts of the city.

"Pursuit here would be very dangerous- if the tunnel collapsed upon us we would have little chance of survival," Morgan warned everyone around.

[Inactive Account]

And just like that, it was over; Petros was gone and the way was sealed. "I don't think anyone has the intention to follow," Arrin said shakily to Morgan's statement. "Tiria, are you all right?" That impact had to have hurt, if it had managed to break her sword.

Edited December 16, 2012 by kdanger

[scorri]

Tiria sat down, staring at the hilt of her sword. "I was useless," she calmly said to Arrin. "I could not even do a bit of damage to these demons. How can I avenge my uncle if I can do no damage?" She threw the hilt as hard as she could at the rock that had been used to seal the tunnel. "I AM USELESS!" She collapsed onto the ground and covered her eyes with her hands.

Edited December 17, 2012 by scorri

[Phoenix]

Demon Escape: It's Like Ape Escape But We Kinda Lost, I Dunno

As Petros left into a tunnel with Shanice and closed it behind it, Lev landed Krinkov and sighed in relief. It sucked to lose the chance to deal with Shanice once and for all but at least they hadn't dealt with Miranda once and for all. In their situation that could have been a total loss.

Miranda was spent and couldn't risk chasing after the reinforced shapeshifter. Too much could have gone wrong. "... those stupid soldiers just had to show up before I finished it." As Fenrir approached, she sat down on his back and crossed her arms and legs, beginning to contemplate her options before whatever Morgan was here about came up.

"Well, here were are," Lev noted as he climbed down from Krinkov, helping Morgan down a second later.

[-Cynthia-]

The swordswoman seemed rather distraught, but there were more important matters to attend to. With the demons apparently gone for the time being, Morgan decided to approach Miranda.

"Miranda, Esphyr is dead and the Crimson Sword needs to be rebound- and quickly. The sword will become useless after a short while, so we will require a new wielder," she said simply, sword in hand.

[the_whistler]

After several heartbeats Heinz twitched, giving an inquisitive look to the templar. "Are the demons still halted? Can you sense the Crimsons?" He flexed his fingers slowly, allowing the blood to circulate. Feels like sentry duty all over again.

[Phoenix]

Snrk and Such

"Esphyr's dead?" Miranda inquired, glancing at Morgan in disbelief. Well, the sword was right there after all. Miranda got off of Fenrir and asked, "What the hell happened? Did one of the demons take her by surprise? Did Helenos kill her?"

"Miranda? What's the situation?" came Ixion's voice, from none other than Fenrir.

"Whoa!" Miranda immediately kicked Fenrir in the nose yet again when her demonic eyes saw Ixion's face on the chimera again. All anyone else could see was a talking chimera, unfortunately, so she looked like a pretty bad pet owner for a moment there. "Oh my god, Ixion, stop ... fucking doing that to me! You know how disturbing it is when your face is on a dog!"

"I can't help the way your eyes interpret possession," Ixion defended.

"This from the guy who built me. Anyway, Shanice got away and Esphyr is ... dead apparently?" she informed him, looking to Morgan again for confirmation.

Lev meanwhile approached Arrin and Tiria. "Did you see any other demons besides those two while you were searching?"

[-Cynthia-]

Ixion was apparently possessing his creations now- Morgan supposed that was an alternative to shapeshifting, but pondering the implications of the matter would have to wait until later. "Esphyr touched something she should not have in a mage's lab and died...allegedly," Morgan said, narrowing her eyes. "Anyway, that is not particularly important right now, what is important is reattaching the Crimson Sword to a new host," she stressed to Miranda.

[Inactive Account]

"You're not useless, it takes more people than we have here to deal with a demon of that size--" Arrin began to tell Tiria, but Lev was asking him a question. Since he didn't know what else to say to comfort Tiria, Arrin answered it. "No, we didn't see any other demons."

[Phoenix]

Aftermath of the Aftermath

"Maybe Shanice was the only one left and Petros came to pick him up before he got taken out then. I was worried the demons had regrouped for another attack," Lev explained.

Hearing the news that Esphyr was dead had shocked Miranda, and then it shocked Ixion, but when Miranda learned of just how Esphyr met her end ... well, "BAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHH!!!"

"... is this really the time, Miranda?" Ixion chimed in, compelling Fenrir to sit down so he could speak from a more upright position.

Miranda held her sides as she bent over laughing. "You've got to be kidding me, hahahahaahhhh! Survives a dozen bouts against demons only to be killed by some random doodad in a lab! Oh my god, if the other demons ever figure out this weakness, you are all ... SO FINISHED, hahahahahahahaah!"

"This ... isn't the time."

[scorri]

"I was unable to do any damage. All I managed to do was break my sword. What use am I without a sword? All I could do was run away!" Hearing the demon woman start to laugh, Tiria cracked. She couldn't take it anymore. Standing up, she stomped over to Miranda. "Stop. Just stop. You have no idea what has gone on today. People have died. All Esphyr was doing was what she had been told to do. She had no way of knowing what might happen to her. So what if she died in a magic accident or against a demon? She died. That is what matters. I cannot believe that you would make a joke out of this. Death is nothing to be laughed at. I..." Clenching her fists, Tiria stood glaring at Miranda helplessly. I can do nothing but yell at people...