Lord of Azure Flame Chapter 27: War

[-Cynthia-]

Helenos, suffering from wounds, decided to eat more corrupted gargoyles to restore her strength, her tendrils snatching two more.

Helenos devours Gargoyle and Deathgoyle F! Helenos restores 30 HP!

Helenos 49/54

Regen activates! Helenos 54/54

Poison affects Helenos 48/54

Gargoyle B decided to stick his lance in the horsewoman who attacked him.

(4,6,1)= Hit! 11-3= 8 damage! Kelas 7/15

Deathgoyle B blasted the swordsman who had stabbed him. (6,5,3)= Hit! 10-2= 8 damage! Eric 8/18

Gargoyle C flew around looking for targets and decided to attack the lancer who had hit Helenos, but missed.

(2,6,1)= Miss

Deathgoyle C decided to attack the young mage who had dared to strike at him before.

(5,6,5)= Autohit! 11-3= 8 damage. Arrin 4/12

Gargoyle D decided to spear the archer who had shot at Helenos before.

(2,5,2)= Autohit! 10-1= 9 damage! Chase 0/9

Deathgoyle D decided to try and get rid of the wind mage, to relatively low effect.

(6,4,3)= Hit! 9-7= 2 damage. Helios 7/18

Gargoyle E decided to spear the fire mage.

(6,3,1)= Hit! 8-1= 7 damage! Isotov 8/15

Deathgoyle E decided to have a dark magic duel with the druidess.

(6,1,6)- Autohit! 6-2= 4 damage Morgan 14/18

Kelas 7/15

Eric 8/18

Arrin 4/12

Chase 0/9

Helios 7/18

Isotov 8/15

Morgan 14/18

Helenos 48/54

Gargoyle A 0/15

Deathgoyle A 0/15

Gargoyle B 1/15

Deathgoyle B 7/15

Gargoyle C 15/15

Deathgoyle C 3/15

Gargoyle D 15/15

Deathgoyle D 15/15

Gargoyle E 15/15

Deathgoyle E 15/15

Player Phase begin!

Edited November 12, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[scorri]

Adena saw the lightning mage get attacked by one of the gargoyles and rode over to him. Touching him with her staff, she healed him fully. Riding back to Alex, she sighs. I'm getting tired and there are still so many demons left to kill. Hopefully we can finish this one soon.

Adena heals Arrin for 8 HP

Adena: 15/15

Arrin: 12/12

Team battery gains 3 exp

Tiria watches as everyone else fights of the gargoyles. Glancing at Beau, she decides that he can take care of himself for now. "Sir, I'm going to attack. I feel that I will be of more use doing that while you are still able to take care of yourself." With that, she turns around and charges the demon that a swordsman had already managed to wound. With a cry, she manages to completely decapitate the monster before it could do any return damage.

[spoiler=roll]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3779216/

(7+1+3)-8=3, Hit!

due to Keen Edge, it's a crit!

((2+5)-3)*2=8 damage

7-8=-1

Dethgoyle B is down

Dethgoyle B: 0/15 HP

Tiria: 15/15 HP

Team Tiria/Beau gains 5 exp

[Snike]

Strength

What Eric thought to be a simple engagement turned disastrous when the armless gargoyle blind-sided him with a blast of dark magic, knocking him onto the ground. Pain coursed through the swordsman's body as he rose to his feet and passed his sword to his left hand. The demon was too far away to attack without leaving Charlotte open for a little while, so Jace's son settled on engaging the lance demon who had just struck Chase down.

It didn't even last one blow.

[spoiler=Roll]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3779222/

Heroic stance activates! HP -2, STR SKL DEF + 2! Now 6 HP, 8 STR, 8 SKL, 6 DEF.

Resolve activates! base STR SKL AS * 1.5!

Now 11,11, and 13 respectively.

Wrath activates! Crit modifier +2!

5,3,3 = Critical hit!

2(14-3) = 22 points of damage! Gargoyle D is defeated!

Team R&J gains 5 exp!

Eric 6/18 HP

Gargoyle D 0/15 HP

Weakness

Emboldened by the success of the previous attack, Alex decided to target another lance demon who made a jab at Damian. She solidly missed, but managed to draw a cut on her arm for the effort.

[spoiler=Roll]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3779227/

1,5,3 = miss!

5,3,4 = hit! 8-5 = 3 points of damage!

No charge for team Batteries :(

Alex 12/15

Gargoyle C 15/15

[eclipse]

I think I'm better able to serve like this.

Midori defends Helios (again)

[Mercakete]

Beau opened his mouth to protest -- having a personal guard was quite useful in this situation, after all -- but Tiria didn't stray too far and she did manage to take out one of the surrounding threats. I suppose it turned out alright, but that was fairly reckless behavior. I want to survive this -- I didn't work this hard just to have my family tragically and completely wiped out! "Try to stay close! Only take out nearby demons!" the young duke instructed Tiria before hurrying off himself to help heal the others.

Arrin had been healed already by someone he didn't recognize so he didn't have to worry about him. Kelas and Isotov appeared to be injured. Morgan and Helios weren't in pristine condition, either, though the former seemed to be doing alright. There was another among the injured near Princess Charlotte, but he couldn't quite place his finger on where he'd seen him. Even then, more were being injured in the battle. It would take some effort from everyone who could wield a staff to keep up. So, Beau concentrated the healing energies on Kelas and Helios first.

Healing Aura activates! +9HP to Helios and Kelas

Beau 12/12

Kelas 15/15

Helios 16/18

Beau and Tiria +6exp

Tas, meanwhile, saw a couple others nearly fall. I can't keep picking up people and carrying them around like this... I hope someone else can help keep the fallen safe... Wait, on actually did seem unable to continue fighting. The courier flew over to a smaller-looking archer, who had received a nasty wound from a spear. "Eugh... Uh, hey, are you okay?" Well, obviously he wasn't. "Nevermind, uh... Come on; it'll be harder for them to get at you from Namid's back."

So, he made a somewhat less rushed and more actual harness for Chase and helped him to put it on and get on the wyvern's back, then attached it to Namid's harness and took off again. Okay, rescuing people is going pretty well... I wish we weren't surrounded like this so I could put them somewhere safe... Okay, how else can I help? Things aren't going so well... Oh, I know! It's a little risky, but...I can probably harry some of these things. It would make it easier for the others to hit these demons. It's a bit risky for the ones riding with me, though... Well, if I fly right, it shouldn't be all that risky. Not like actually attacking one of those things.

So, he flew down to tell Morgan about his idea. "Hey, Morgan," Tas ventured, a little nervous but deciding that if he kept it quick, it could only benefit their efforts, "Signal to me which of the enemies you're attacking and I'll try to make it easier for you to get a clear shot and harder for them to strike back at you, okay?"

Tas uses Charisma! +1hit +1avo to Morgan and to Kelas!

Edited November 12, 2012 by Mercakete

[Rothene]

Emerging from the shadows, Hainam noted that that the fight seemed to be going...less disastrous than he imagined a fight with a dragon would be. He had been expecting a full retreat by now. Seeing some spellcasters desperately trying to take down a lone deathgoyle, Hainam shook his head as he watched them fail to bring it down.

Sometimes, a nice clean shot would do, not some flashy spell, Hainam thought as he notched a serrated tipped arrow he used to maximise pain in his prey. Swiftly, the nomad fired the wicked shot at the deathgoyle's head, the arrow tip piercing through it's skull.

Then like a whisper, he faded back into the shadows...

Ranged attack against Deathgoyle C!

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3779331/

1,5,5

8+1-8 > 0 HIT! CRIT

(4+5-3)x2=12 Damage!

Deathgoyle C KO!

Hainam 15/15

Deathgoyle C 0/15

Hainam Stealths!

[Inactive Account]

NONCOMBAT POST

Arrin hurriedly looked to make sure that Tessa was all right. She was; he turned back towards the dragon and began to charge an attack. It was about time to end this; he paused waiting for an opening.

Edited November 12, 2012 by kdanger

[-Cynthia-]

"Please be careful!" Charlotte quickly warned Eric, before applying her healing staff to him.

+9 HP to Eric. Eric 17/18 +3 Charlotte, Eric

Tristan decided to join the battle by flying through and slicing the head off the gargoyle that speared the horsewoman.

(4,1,2)= Hit! 10-3 7 damage. Gargoyle B dead. +5 points Tristan, Viveka

"We need to take out Helenos- try distracting her while I attack," Morgan told Tas, pulling out Midnight to prepare for her magical assault.

Enemy Phase

The wielders and their allies seemed to be focusing on her minions rather than her- which gave Helenos the ripe opportunity to smash the pesky lancer before with a massive tendril. This is all a part of my ultimate design...I'll kill of the wielders and the weapons will be mine! she thought to herself, letting out a loud, menacing cackle.

(5,2,1)= Hit! Damian takes 14-1= 13 damage! Damian 0/12

Helenos regens to 54, then gets poisoned down to 48 again.

Gargoyle C decided to strike back at the lancer attacking it, as getting poked at was rather irritating. Its attack was largely ineffective however.

(5,1,2)= Hit! Alex takes 1 damage Alex 11/15

Deathgoyle D decided to take this fine opportunity to try and attack the wind sage with the Crimson Weapon- unfortunately there was a soldier in the way.

(4,1,3)= Hit! 5-4= 1 damage. Successful defend! Midori 17/18

Gargoyle E decided to spear the troublesome druidess, injuring her a bit.

(3,1,6)= 5-1= 4 damage Morgan 10/18

Deathgoyle E set his sights upon the young mage with the thunder tome, smashing him with dark magic.

(3,2,2)= Critical Hit! 7-3= 4x2= 8 damage! Arrin 4/12

Damian 0/12

Alex 11/15

Midori 17/18

Morgan 10/18

Arrin 4/12

Helenos 48/54

Gargoyle A 0/15

Deathgoyle A 0/15

Gargoyle B 0/15

Deathgoyle B 0/15

Gargoyle C 15/15

Deathgoyle C 0/15

Gargoyle D 0/15

Deathgoyle D 15/15

Gargoyle E 15/15

Deathgoyle E 15/15

Player Phase begin!

Edited November 12, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

"What?" Tas asked, suddenly getting a sinking feeling at what Morgan had just proposed. Helenos? Is that...that giant thing...? "Uhh it might be safer for you two to be on the ground for this..." Tas informed his passengers, though it hardly mattered to at least one of them. So, he assisted them in getting off of Namid's back. The demons were striking a hard counterattack while he did this.

As he was looking to see who else might need some medical assistance, the battle raged. The large dragon-like demon even attacked some of their allies. As for people he could actually get to and who weren't astride a wyvern, Morgan and someone he considered to be a closer friend were the most seriously injured. "Arrin!"

Healing Aura activates! +9HP to Arrin and Morgan

Beau 12/12

Arrin 12/12

Morgan 18/18

Beau's Charisma activates! +1hit +1avo to Alex and Helios! (be inspired or something)

Beau and Tiria +6exp

Tas' Charisma activates! +1hit +1avo to Isotov and Irina!

[Inactive Account]

this one's actually a combat post

Kelas realized that Arrin was about to expend his own energy on an attack, and readied herself to defend him again. She'd been healed up again; she could take another hit.

Arrin launched a burst of lightning, barely hitting but making contact all the same. As he focused for the next attack, Helenos lashed out at him with a tendril, which Kelas intercepted. She was hit hard, and estimated that the impact had probably broken something, but not something that kept her from shooting. She responded with a pair of arrows sent straight into the dragon's eye. Of course such a hit would not kill an undead creature, but it could still hurt.

Using the time Kelas had bought him, Arrin threw another bolt of lightning. He couldn't keep this up, but he and Kelas had done a lot of damage; he hoped the others would use the opportunity to finish this.

Kelas defends Arrin.

Arrin attacks Helenos.

(2,4,6) Hit! Arrin spends 4HP. Arrin does 7 damage.

Helenos counters, redirects to Kelas.

(3,1,3) Kelas takes 10 damage.

Kelas counters.

(4,2,6) Hit! Kelas shifts 1SKL to MT, 1SKL to SPD. Kelas does 4 damage.

Kelas counters AGAIN

(5,2,5) Autohit! Kelas does 4 damage.

Arrin counters.

(3,4,5) Hit! Arrin spends 4HP. Arrin does 7 damage.

Kelas 5/15, Arrin 8/12, Helenos 26/54

hell yes

Edited November 12, 2012 by kdanger

[Balcerzak]

Helios attacks a dethgoyle, it has limited effect.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3779452/

3d6 → [6,1,2] = (9)

6 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 9 > 8

1 + 6 + 4 - 1 = 10 - 3 = 7 damage

3d6 → [1,4,5] = (10)

1 + 8 > 5

4 + 5 - 7 = 2 damage

Helios: 6/18 Prayer activates

Goyle: 8/15

Tessa heals Arrin, +6 hp

Edited November 12, 2012 by Balcerzak

[scorri]

Tiria

Tiria sees a weakened gargoyle and lunges out with a slash and kills it.

[spoiler=roll] http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3779457/

hit

Keen edge= crit

(5mt+1+1)-3=4*2=8 damage

Deathgoyle D dies.

+5 exp to Tiria/Beau

Adena

Adena rides over to the archer who had bravely defended the lightning mage, concentrates, and then touches her with her healing staff, healing most of her wounds. "That was brave of you to defend him like that. Take care of yourself though."

Adena heals Kelas for 8 HP

Adena: 15/15

Kelas: 13/15

Team Batteries gains 3 exp

[-Cynthia-]

"Focus on Helenos!" Morgan ordered after noticing where several others were attacking. She then called upon the power of Midnight. A blood-red orb shot out from Morgan, sundering the chest of the great dragon and disintegrating the ribcage entirely. She got a massive smack from a tendril as retribution, leaving her in a wheezing heap.

Morgan activates Luna and Crimson Weapon (4 Mt)!

(3,6,5)= 20 damage!

(5,6,5)= Autohit! 16 damage! Miracle activates Morgan 1/18

Well here goes nothing Tristan thought to himself, charging through Helenos's exposed chest and cleaving her right through the heart, coming out the other side of the zombie dragon. Full Tilt activated!

(4,6,5)= Hit! 15-7= 8 damage! Helenos dies. +15 Tristan, Viveka

Helenos gave a loud shrill cry, before collapsing to the ground, quickly degenerating into a mass of tendrils. The remaining gargoyles fell from the sky also to become merely writing tendrils.

Battle End!

[Balcerzak]

Okay, that's enough of that

Just as the lieutenant expected, the swirling aerial combatants did indeed prove to be quite the menaces. The young archer went down, and hard, and Frederikov also saw her prince took a hit that looked fairly serious. Issuing a set of commands to Drake, she'd had it carefully retrieve the unconscious Crimson, she couldn't remember his name even, but few things could have been farther from her mind at the moment.

"Highness!" she cried out as she kneed Kiev into a tight spiral. Drawing up right next to him, she took cursory judgement of his injuries, ruled that nothing would be aggravated by her next move, and then hauled him into the saddle. "You've had enough for now." Perhaps he was surprised by the action, but there was only really time to react when they were once again in the air.

They made a few circles of the battlefield, until the giant rot dragon helenos went down, before once again landing. Iris was at this point more than ready for any earful the prince would give her.

She also looked around for Drake, and found that apparently he'd been beaten to the archer, but had picked up another ally, later along. That's good, able to adapt.

Wyrmslayer, engage

The writhing mass of tendrils that had used to be Helenos, thrived and throbbed. As Tessa stared at them it brought back to mind the demon mesh they had fought so long ago, her first encounter with the group, just after her having fled the monastery. She didn't trust for a moment that things had finished, and urging Trevor onward rode up to them. Several of the largest seemed to be twining themselves back together, trying to attain shape with more... definition, an actual solid form, but the valkyrie put a swift stop to that.

Slicing the wyrmslayer with as much strength as she possessed, it cleanly cut through the dread mass, and a harsh, earpiercing shriek echoed, temporarily deafening her. A few... flashes sped through her mind. She wasn't sure if they were insights, memories, prophecies, or just what they might possibly be. She thought she recognized the earth dragon, with the cool feet, in one of them, but they all happened so fast, and were quickly gone.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Balcerzak

[scorri]

With a slight sigh of relief, Adena gathered up her remaining strength and started to go around offering healing to anyone that seemed to need it. I'm glad we finished this with only a few extremely wounded people. That was... scary to say the least.

[Inactive Account]

Aftermath

A few more hits, and one of the pegasus knights tore through the dragon, with Tessa finishing it off. Kelas saw that Tessa had already healed Arrin. She looked around. Hainam was fine... Isotov was not, injured and eyes alight from having killed one of the smaller demons. Iris had snatched him out of harm's way, and had landed now that the battle was over. With no small amount of pain, Kelas rode over. There was only so much she could say in front of Iris... "You all right?" she asked lamely, hoping to get an answer that described mental soundness rather than the obvious physical distress. She stayed in the saddle for a moment, not quite trusting her legs.

Arrin was similarly taking inventory of his friends. Beau was fine, Tessa was... a loud, horrible noise interrupted his concentration, and he realized he'd better check. He ran over to her side, nearly tripping over a few bits of dragon on his way. Tessa appeared unharmed, and Helenos defeated, but... "Tessa! What was that-- are you okay?" He reached out to her, but some misapplied shred of common sense drifted up to stop him from putting his hand on her shoulder immediately; she might be under Helenos' influence, though he doubted it.

[Mercakete]

Tas and Namid took off swiftly. As they sped towards the demon dragon, Tas took a small breath and steeled himself. "This is something we have to do, Namid... Let's help the flock!"

Together, Tas and Namid sharply turned, flying straight up, then, making another tight loop, dove at the dragon, swooping this way and that around her eyes in various angles and directions, simply whirling. Namid's instincts were able to take over, as Helenos was registered as an enemy to be attacked, not as a threat to flee from. He shrieked and hissed in the flurry. Then, there was a large discharge of magic below them. Namid instinctively pulled up and circled high above the dragon. Tas watched from high above as the thing fell and disintegrated along with its army. Still cautious, they circled a bit longer. Then, some loud shriek exploded from below. By reflex, Namid pulled a bit higher. But then, it appeared to be over. It took a little time before Tas felt comfortable with lowering their altitude, but eventually, wyvern and rider began to circle downward.

It was noisy, messy and disgusting, but it was over. Finally, Beau could go around with the last round of healing necessary before they moved on to something just as perilous. Viewing it that way was tiresome, but it was at least a reprieve. "Excellent work, Captain," he sighed to Tiria as he ran a hand tiredly through his hair. A moment later, something dawned on him. Skeptically, he inquired, "You're not hurt in any way, are you?"

[scorri]

Tiria turned to Beau, about to ask him if he was ok when he asked her the same question. "What? Oh, no. I was thankfully able to take down already wounded enemies so I managed to escape unharmed. Are you ok? And how is Raemond? Where has he gone?"

[Mercakete]

Beau didn't have the exact answer to that question, raising an eyebrow in response at first as he looked over to where he thought he'd fled the monk. Running around trying to avoid being noticed while attempting to keep everyone else standing had the chance of turning one around, after all. Raemond wasn't there, however. So, he began looking around. "I fled from him when he attacked that gargantuan demon. I don't see him now..." he replied a little uncertainly. After a bit more scanning, he voiced, "Ah, that might be him. I wonder how he managed to get over there..." Raemond was still unconscious, lying right where Tas had left him.

"As for myself, no harm came to me. I am somewhat fatigued, though. Of course, my work is likely not quite finished. I've traveled with these people before and at the end of each battle, there is always more work to be done for those who have the ability to heal others," Beau answered the other part of Tiria's question.

[eclipse]

Midori shook herself off. The monster that had charged at her did surprisingly little damage. She turned to Helios, and managed a small smile.

"Glad to see that you made it out in one piece, but it looks like you could use a healer." Part of her was worried about his wounds, but another part of her was happy? Another memory fragment floated by.

"It's okay, you can come out now. I won't hurt you. What's your name, child? You don't want to say? That's fine. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you again."

[Phoenix]

Irina and Nikita

Irina tried to keep a safe distance from Helenos until Damian was ready to make another pass against the dragon, but it was difficult to tell what was a safe distance and what was an inadvertent retreat thanks to those tendrils flailing about. The gargoyles seemed to still be keeping them from running, anyway, and so she decided not to get too close to them, either. That was when one of Helenos' larger tendrils came speeding toward them aiming to take them right out, and Damian took the brunt of the impact. She reached around with her left hand, letting go of Nikita's reins which let the wyvern know it just got serious, and tried to make sure Damian wasn't knocked out of the saddle. She couldn't protect him from the force of the blow, though, and nearly fell out herself. Nikita retaliated by biting the tendril. She had a much better grip on it than even she realized, because when the tendril began to pull back and retreat, they were pulled off course, and Nikita couldn't recover before they crash landed and tore up a nearby inn rooftop.

Irina looked up to see she had been thrown a few feet when Nikita came down, but she didn't feel any pain ... nothing warranting concern, yet. She picked herself up, carefully, so she wouldn't slip and slide right off the roof and made her way over to Damian. "Hey! Hey! Are you alright, Damian?! I swear I didn't see that tendril coming! Please be alright!"

While checking, the sound of Helenos collapsing pulled at her attention. She glanced over and saw the beast more or less defeated. Well at least now she didn't have to worry about getting hit with another tendril, and just to make sure, Tessa put an ultimate end to the creature. Around that time, the gargoyles began to tear each other apart with lances and dark magic. A deathgoyle even fell onto the building and tumbled on down past Irina as she tried to help Damian up and over to Nikita, who herself was snapping at the gargoyles to keep them away from her, not realizing that the falling ones were already dead.

Iso and then a little Kiev

Meanwhile, Iso found himself facing the wrong kind of goyle, evidenced by the sharp spear it came at him with. Where did they get those? He didn't have time to ponder that and tried to get out of the way, but it pulled a feint, holding back until Iso had made its move before stabbing him in the abdomen. That brought him back to the skirmish with the demons in the forest that ended with him setting the whole forest ablaze, an attempt by Proxima to keep him alive. He wasn't on the ground, though, so he quickly pushed the weapon away from himself and began stepping back as quickly as he could. By the time the gargoyle was ready to strike again, Iris had shown up. He ... really couldn't argue at a time like this. All he wanted right now was a break and a healing. He could help the others out when he wasn't nursing a bloody wound.

As they flew around, Iso contemplated asking Iris to take him to a healer, but mainly so he could get back in the fight and help out Kelas and Irina. That was of course when he spotted Irina. She looked to be alright, but there was a trail of busted tiles all over that inn's roof leading to Nikita, who was shaking herself off and snarling while Irina tried to confirm Damian's condition. They were sitting ducks. They could go down and help them, or get a healer first ... he wasn't sure what to do. By the time he reached a decision, Tristan had launched a devastating attack on Helenos and brought her to the ground, leaving nothing but a disgusting mass of tendrils. "Whoa ..."

So that overgrown wyvern thing was melting or something. Kiev didn't want to catch whatever she caught that caused spontaneous meltage. It was strange flying around and just watching the battle unfold. He was used to being attacked more frequently than this and was wondering if Iris was trying to protect him. She was a nice human, and now Iso was with them too. Where were they going next?

"Hey, I'm useless like this. Take me to a healer, and then go see if Irina's okay. I'll head over once I'm patched up again. I think that's the best way to handle this situation until those gargoyles decide to retreat." That was Iso's plan based on the fact that they were still surrounded by a whole flock of opposition, but when Tessa got into an altercation with the remnants of Helenos, the gargoyles began to go into a frenzy. Helenos' corruption had taken their bodies, but not their minds, and they began to kill each other, each seeing the other as a corrupted demon working for the dragon. Despite the ... vague sense of safety the group now had, Iso didn't amend his idea.

Before that, though, Kelas showed up and her question was well founded. He still had an open wound in his stomach. He couldn't very well hide it, either. "I'm ... fine ... broadest possible definition of fine, mind you. Are you alright?" Truth be told, he was actually feeling pretty good about all of this. Helenos didn't really stand a chance. Not against all of them. He understood why the demons used some of the tactics they did in the past. Just one crimson was dangerous, eight to nine with half again as much support? It was seeming less likely that they would fail their mission after all, especially since there were no heroes around claiming victory in place of them ...

Viv and Sunny

"YES!!!" Viveka cheered. That was a double win for her, not only had they taken down Helenos, but it was someone from her own pseudo squadron. Better still, no one was dead. She felt more confident than ever that Harold and Percy were as useless as the impressions they gave. Sending them off was indeed the right call, or at least one that worked out in the long run.

Susann was even more excited, seeing Bellerophon take down the scariest thing that had ever been, ever was, and likely ever will be. She supposed the human helped a little ... not much, though. In fact the extra weight probably endangered the magnificent one, somewhat. Without much consent from Viveka, Susann began to fly around the mass of tendrils to reach Bellerophon. During the flight, Viveka saw Tessa moving up on the mass and called out to her "Hey be careful!" Of course she was way too high up to be heard proper, but she quickly saw what was happening. It was a good call on Tessa's part. If they hadn't been paying attention, this battle could have very well repeated itself, and they weren't as ready to address it a third time and it could have gotten ugly, fast. "Whew ... good job, Tessa" Then she noticed ... "... Sunny, where are we going ...?" The pegasus simply neighed happily in response.

Return Flight

Lev sighed in relief as Helenos was killed by a child with a sword. "Oh how the mighty have fallen ..." Stephanie said quietly, glaring at Helenos as she dissolved. "Such a hideous creature should never exist in this world."

"Agreed. Come on, you've got the lady's work to do and such." Lev got Krinkov moving, and the two flew into the fray, dodging a few gargoyles along the way. "I didn't think Helenos' spell wearing off would have them killing each other. Why aren't they going after us?"

"They must all see each other for what they are. Perhaps the one that survives should be handed a mirror."

"Or we could just stab it. You really hate demons, don't you?" Lev asked, looking over his shoulder with a bit of concern.

"I am sorry, Leviski, I do not ... I don't usually have to spend so much time in death's presence. I had no idea it would be this difficult, the smell of the air and this taste in my mouth, and that foul presence that will not go away, not even with that 'dragon' dead. Let us simply keep moving and help the others get back on their feet."

Lev nodded understandingly. "Alright."

Denial With a Side of Pain

The attack on Conrad had failed, and not for the reason Shanice expected. In its own words ... "Where the hell did that bastard get a light brand that large?! Argh! I was so close, dammit!" Suddenly, something got its attention, and it stopped leaping from rooftop to rooftop in the abandoned area and looked off into the distance. "What's ... going on ...? I sensed Helenos but I couldn't deal with that until I got backup but now she's ... dead? Who could have ... no. No way! I ... I can feel the other crimson weapons coming from that direction too! No way! There's no way they took out Helenos! She just finished stomping them into the ground in Septimus! They shouldn't be this strong yet!"

Shanice leaped high into the air and took on the appearance of a mountain wyvern before trying to get some altitude. That was when Miranda came down on it, leaping from the back of a gargoyle and blasting it on the head with a red thunderbolt before landing on its neck and driving it headfirst into a roof. She leaped off in time to not fall through the collapsing ceiling with the wyvern, however. "GRAAAAAGH!!!"

"Hi, Shanice. How's life treating you?"

Shanice crawled out of the giant hole in its normal form. "I ... hate ... youuu ..." it declared, panting all the while.

"You have something I want ... and I aim to take it." she spoke plainly. "So then, let's get started~" And she kicked Shanice in the teeth, sending it falling into the wreckage on the second floor. Not surprisingly, Shanice rose up revealing most of its front teeth were resting randomly on its tongue.

It swallowed them before sprouting new ones and leaping out of the new sun roof. "You're gonna die!" Transforming back into the mountain wyvern, Shanice flew to a distance, aiming to come back and take Miranda down, but she attacked him with her thunder magic several times as she followed after him. Shanice abandoned the attack plan and just tried to get away, with Miranda hot on his tail, wearing it down with lightning strike after lightning strike. "Arrrrgh! Get away from me!"

"Don't run! I just want to tear out your heart, Shanice!~"

[Ether]

And so his assault... wasn't followed up on? With Helenos devouring two more of the creatures and regenerating fully in the process, Damian couldn't help but feel a tad bitter that not a single effort was taken to fell the beast that he had severely wounded mere moments before.

Regardless, there wasn't much contemplation time to speak of, as Helenos launched another assault, catching Irina off guard. The result was him taking the brunt force of the tendril directly, the impact against his torso, and across his entire body. The most notable damage from the assault being the snapping of several ribs, followed by severe damage to his left arm, with both major bones in the forearm having broken, the lower part of the limb, while still attached, hung at a clearly unnatural angle.

At the very least pain wasn't much a concern, as the man blacked out almost immediately, Irina's coercing and worrying going unnoticed, and thus entirely unheeded.

[Script]

Luc Altair aka mr useless

The battle began in earnest, with deadly strikes on Helenos that nearly had her defeated within minutes of arrival. But her foul form shifted and mutated and grew even more vile. But even that would not save her, as Damian and Irina struck with great frevor and sent her just as quickly back to the edge of defeat. Only for no one to capitalize on the rot dragon's weakness at all. Luc was too far away, and wasn't confident in the least of his abilities to damage the demon dragon, but had he know the others would simply leave her to consume her own minions to restore her own form Luc would have at least attempted his halberd at combat. The dragon's minions were now a target to be engaged, and the Crimson group continued their decentralized whimpering of attacking random targets instead of coordinating for kills. This led to casualties once the demon's attacks returned as Chase and Isotov went down. And with no Fargo to help anyone. Where had the blasted fool run off too? He was being more useless than Luc was! Though as the Directus Paladin wondered that, a rare occurrence of sense came to the others, and with actual coordination for once they cut apart the minion numbers and finally put an end to Helenos herself. And the one to cut the finishing blow was Prince Tristan himself! The demon's death turned her body--and her minions as well--into writhing masses of the same tendrils she had used for combat.

Tessa--of all people--saw fit to end those. As she rode with Wyrmslayer in hand and cut the squirming mass to bits and pieces which let out an unearthly shriek as it was rent asunder. It was time for recuperation again, but there was still work to be done. Unfortunately some of said work required one of the injured. "We should put the remaining pieces of Helenos to the flame and leave naught but ash!" Luc yelled. "Let us take no chance of her return at all." Luc had been completely useless in this engagement so he had to at least try something worthwhile.

CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE! the true hero of the rp

Chase's first attack only sent Helenos into some fit of regurgitating frevor, where she only served to grow more ferocious. While he readied himself for more attacks in an attempt to finish her off for good, the others kept getting in his way. Had they not seen the damage he had done to the dragon? And he had even splendidly dodged Helenos' own counter! And because he couldn't finish her off she dragged in some of her minions, restoring her body to proper form and pressing the others into combat. And then when a powerful blow from Damian--with help from Irina--laid Helenos on death's door once again he was blocked off again. Were they trying to keep Helenos alive? Well the demons sure as hell were as one of them recognized Chase as a threat and unlike his move with Helenos couldn't avoid it.

Darkness and pain overtook him again as his consciousness slid out, and his body was moved by Tas without him even realizing it.

General Mendozza and the No One Cares Brigade

Way back when, before anyone had departed to reinforce the defense against the surprise demon assault the Directus portion of the warping groups were approached by a strange group of six equally-blue weirdos. The concerning part being that there were six of them, not looking alike, dressing alike, acting alike and using all six people for one sentence. Those were all normal. Which was sad. But the Directus troops didn't have time to worry--also the spies gave up the location of Merigold, which was nice. So General Mendozza sent someone over to retrieve her back to the Septimus Embassy while the spies and the rest of the troopers continued forward.

Warping was as obnoxious as ever to the aged general. But he didn't have time to complain about it. Like he was ordered he sent Sigurd and his band of healers to warn the countryside of danger and aid any fleeing civilians, and the spies buggered off to go have their own brand of fun. Pressing into the city was hard, but the Elysium troops ahead of them fought damn hard that the Directus host barely got any action. Of course they did, and sometimes they should have. One of the demons took a swoop at the leaders of the formation but was blasted away by a light brand. But that should never have occured in the first place. "Horsemen! Keep your damn eyes on the sky and shoot down anything that gets even as remotely close again! Do you hear me!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Edited November 12, 2012 by Script

[Balcerzak]

Reputation to uphold

Helios was a bit ragged of breath, and notably drained, but as far as wounds went, he wasn't bleeding that badly. His robes might not even stain this time, he thought with a bit of bemusement, after the fall of Helenos afforded the luxury to do so.

Fate had somehow found him fighting near the lance woman again, and she'd actually interposed herself a couple of times between threats, much to his surprise. Normally, nobody would even care. Still, he had an image to maintain, and when she expressed some concern for his condition, directing him to seek out a healer, he blustered lightly.

"Most of this is just self-inflicted. Using a demonic tome carries a certain amount of... risk. I'll be fine, really. Though perhaps I should take a seat somewhere..." Helios looked around a bit, seeking somewhere to maybe indulge in that, before rethinking that plan. While a bunch of the winged things that Helenos had summoned, or attracted, or whatever had been dragged down with her, perhaps a last ditch effort at the rot dragon to reassemble?, there were still a handful winging around. Not to mention the whole city was likely a continuing warzone.

"...or maybe not," the prince reluctantly concluded, turning to face Midori once again. "I guess I could allow you to esco―" rt me was how he was going to finish but he noticed a small streak of blood on her. Did she get that when she jumped in the way, he pondered, and is there worse I'm not seeing, a frown forming on his face. "Let's go find some healers then," he ultimately ended up finishing.

Tinnitus

Tessa's ears still filled with the shriek, even after it had passed for everyone else. Ignorant of that though, she winced, and releasing her left hand from the two-handed grip she'd used to deliver the deathblow, raised it to her ear. When covering it didn't make any difference, she nodded slightly to herself, and waited for it to die down to just an annoying ringing, while she puzzled over the visions, righting to figure out what to make of them.

A slightly oppressive atmosphere, movement in the air very nearby her, brought her back to her senses, and she wheeled about, and started bringing her sword to the ready. When she caught sight that it was her friend, and nothing more, she relaxed, and then slightly embarrassed, wiped and sheathed it. "Oh, Arrin," she answered, starting to hear herself softly now, in no small part due to the fact she was speaking louder than normal. "Sorry you startled me."

"I really shouldn't be spacing out like that. Certainly not in a time like this." She pressed her lips together, and studied him quickly, he seemed about as healthy as she remembered healing him up to before the final fall, so it didn't seem anything had gotten to him while she hadn't been looking.

"I need to... right! Where's Sis, that hit looked really bad, and I need to let her know I actually did it," the valkyrie started to ramble, a bit excitedly, while she rustled about and retrieved her staff. "If you saw anyone else that needs help too, yes, let's get to work!"

Needs a promotion

They were just settling down for a landing when Isotov spoke up. Iris was a little exasperated at the timing, but didn't let it show. Or endeavored to, at the least. She'd been trying to land close to one of the healers, but it seemed her target had been more focused on the ground injuries and left. The prince's mention of the princess caused her to stiffen up visibly though. Right, that crash landing did not bode particularly well at all. Even skilled riders can get killed in accidents.

Blood draining from her face a little, Frederikov swiftly worked her way out of the saddle and swung down to the ground, giving Isotov an assist down. With a little more leisure, she made sure his wounds weren't critical. "There's no press to get back into the fight, not anymore, and from the looks of it, you'll live. I'd hoped to get you to one earlier, but... you know air traffic."

She retrieved a pair of vulneraries, and pressed them into his hands. A look at the nomad woman had told her she was still wounded too. "You two... do each other," she said so that both could hear and understand.

After she was sure he had a grip on them, the lieutenant put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "I'll go get her, do everything I can," she said as warmly as she could. "After you've stopped the bleeding get one of the professionals to take care of the rest."

Leaping back into the saddle, she took another good look at the both of them. "As soon as I'm able, I'll be bringing Her Highness back with me. That's a promise."

With some prodding, she got Kiev to take off again, and, like a bullet from a sling, sped off the direction the princess had gone down in. The damaged inn only barely stood out as worse off then the rest of the area, testament to the overall destruction of the city it seemed, but she managed to pick it out, and came in at a steep descent. "HIGHNESS, SIT REP?" she shouted out, worry tinging her voice, as she coaxed Irina's pet to land.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Balcerzak

[-Cynthia-]

Tristan and Bellerophon

Bellerophon began flying in large, dramatic circles so that everyone could see him in all his magnificent glory. Tristan was attempting to rein him in, but was having relatively little success. I killed a dragon? I killed a dragon. I killed a dragon! he was repeating to himself several times in his head, still thinking it didn't quite sound right.

Charlotte

As was the usual after a battle, Charlotte scanned around. Most of the people on their feet seemed to be in relatively good shape- but she was fairly sure others had been injured. I hope it was people on our side who took the severely wounded and not the demons... she thought to herself with trepidation.

Morgan

Morgan managed to make her way up to where Tessa was stabbing the tendrils and began disintegrating them with small bursts of dark magic wherever she saw any signs of Helenos's remains. "One can never be too careful in such matters," she said, coughing a bit afterwards.

Petros and friends

Petros received news from the gargoyle that the Crimson wielders and their allies had already downed Helenos. Are the wielders that powerful or Helenos that weak? In the case of the former, it would be better to confront them where all these mages would be unable to intervene... "All units retreat!" Petros commanded, as the demons fled back into the tunnels and began moving out of Illyphina entirely.

Edited November 13, 2012 by -Cynthia-