private The Fall of Andalasia ~Book 1~

[Torrent505 370]

@, @@Alex Kennedy,

With Adrass driving his sword at the upper hinge and Robert bashing way at the low one the rusted old metal of both twisted and then gave under the force of Adrass' strike.  The top hinge gave first, the sudden lack of resistance to quick for Robert to recover and he stumbled off balance against the wood as it tilted before the bottom hinge broke letting it topple into the basement with Robert directly in it's path.  (Man my inner engineer kinda wanted to write out Clarke yelling at Robert how to best break the hinge, but such explanations have no place on the battle field and I wanted to advance the story faster )

 

@@Shadow Dancer,

Lance slipped away from Indicus making sure to still keep his distance and ranged advantage, he struck a quick sweep at the leg on his opponents blind side looking to hobble and inhibit him further.  Skipping even further back after the assualt to give himself a puase and to appraise the collapsed door.  He called to the man in the already disheveled state that had stumbled through, "This intimate dance was not meant to be a ménage à trois but I will make accomidations if I must.  I'm more than enough of a man for all of you."

 

@@Flying Ace,

The unsually large musclar maid picked herself up after Dresden's watery attack, having lost her sword she puased to step on an over turned table and snapped one of it's leg to use as a heavy club, while hefting and braceing the thick table in her other arm for a huge crude sheild.  "Lets try this again wimpy little boy." she smacked the ground once with the club for emphasis before leaning forward with her sheild and charging at him with a mountains worth of force.

 

******

 

Clarke breathed a sigh of releif as the maid that had been attacking him collapsed to the floor clutching at the needle in her throat that Indicus had thrown,  he stretched out and snatched it for himself.  'That was a pretty good trade of tools.' he thought to himself as he hurriedly tried to pick the lock on his final shackled hand.

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

@,@@Flying Ace, @@Shadow Dancer, @@Torrent505, @@RunsWithSquirlz,

 

Fueled by adrenaline, Robert quickly recovered from the door crashing on top of him. Without much thought for the battle going on behind him, he rushed through the doorway to find the girls. These guys could take care of themselves, he was sure of that, but Tulla was the only one of the girls who wasn't still in danger.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

@@Torrent505, I fell down but was able to clumsily catch myself before I could be completely taken off balance. I mumbled "legumina umbra,"  as I got up. At the same time with a glow of magic from my hand, I made the pulse to automatically trigger every five seconds hoping to at least restore some form of sight to my blind spot. The downside was the relatively long pause between pulses and it would only trigger in semi-circle in front of me as I could not really do any better because of my lack of skill and time.

 

I wished I could do better but this was the best it would get, and much better then no sight on my left side. Up and ready I saw that the Hunter and Robert managed to make it in. But it did distract the Flow Dancer enough or I would not have gotten up so easily. Taking a chance I walked a little closer in my foes guard, at the ready.

 

 

(According to Google legumina umbra is Latin for "shadow pulse)

 

(Further weaknesses are that it like all spells pulls from his reserves, it can be countered like other spells and that the image gets blurry if there are few shadows around)

 

(if you think five seconds is not much time, it actually is quite a bit of time in a fight. Hope this is good enough.)

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Falling forward... wasn't ideal for Adrass. Narrowly stepping aside so as to not fall on top of the door (and by extension, the Bard) he stepped heavily on his wounded leg - feeling the torn muscle strain before simply refusing to move. It took every finer of his being to remain upright, but he did. That was when he heard the taunt.

 

Adrass stalled: genuinely taken aback. What was one of those doing here?

 

His order had little to do with the Flow-Dancers, and for good reason. They rarely held a conflict of interest - and were considered in the same vein as bards or clerics by the hunters - wielders of powers that weren't quite magical: were more like their own blunt denial than any hunter would care to admit. Unfortunately, this meant that the Witch Hunter had lost his advantage: and coupled with his injuries... it didn't take a genius to tell that one-on-one, he wouldn't even slow the dancer down.

 

The assassin didn't seem to be fairing much better either - missing an eye from the best Adrass could tell.

 

The hunter hefted his sword back up onto his shoulder, concentrating. He couldn't spring into action as he would have liked, so instead advanced slowly - feigning better heath than was true as he made to close in on the duel. The nullifying knife hung useless by his side, next to the shaft of the javelin which he had pulled from his leg back in the woods. His guns were dry, no powder left to fire.

 

The best he could do was try to deny the dancer, despite knowing full-well that he was no true witch. It wasn't likely to help, but if he could just conceal his motives for a few seconds... anything that might buy him an advantage.

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Torrent505,

Dresden was unable to avoid the charge and was pushed up against the wall; the force threatening to break his bones. Dresden grunted in pain as he tried to push the maiden's shield off of him; the maid started to raise her table leg to bring it down on Dresden's head. Dresden looked the maid in the eye and a little help from magic spit right in her eye., she jumped back in surprise and tried to clear out her eye giving Dresden time to give them distance as water engulfed his hands. "Now that was just dirty wasn't it?"

[Torrent505 370]

@@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

Lance gave a heavy sigh as he reevaluated the situation: the only barmaid left was Bertha the muscle bound one trying to smash the water Mage boy; the tinkerer was about to undo his last cuff; the joyless guard was weakened but skilled enough to be making a killing blow difficult; the newcomer was surprisingly a hunter but energy was bleeding from him almost as fast as the one eyed assassin, he must already have been through a beating; the only good thing that had happened was the charismatic bard had run off.

 

He smirked, the odds weren't good but he could still easily win this fight; first he would jump to assist Bertha, stab the water Mage in the heart while she distracted him; next slit the tinkerer throat while moving back to engage with the actual combat opponents; with Bertha's assistance he would easily manage a mortal blow against one of them by sacrificing her, before ending it with a prolonged but inevitable duel with the survivor; finally he'd have the easy of hunting down the bard and any other remnants of this group... That was the most likely future he saw, but he was no master of the flow dance and could only see so far with a true certainty. There were still many risks...

 

His mistress The Madame had fled, her establishment in shambles and the core of her staff dead... She was unlikely to recover from this and she still owed a great debt to Lady Valentine (hope that's right), perhaps it would be best to simply return to the District to report about her failures. Yes, that was probably the wisest decision...

 

*********************

 

Bertha growled and was about to throw the table at Dresden, planing to follow it up with a baseball swing of the club at his head when Lance called out.

 

"Bertha, hold a moment, our mistress has abandoned us so and the establishment so our priorities may have changed." Lance focused on the hunter, "I recognize you as a hunter, you probably recognize my discipline of fighting and know what I am as well. Why are you here to defend mages, hunter? You must realize fighting me like this with these weak allies will probably get you killed. But lucky you my commitment to this fight I waning, only my insulted pride screams for me to stay and kill you all. So I offer you a deal, kill the shadow Mage guard," he gestured at Indicus. "Bertha and myself shall leave peacefully."

 

*********

 

Clarke finally released the lock on his final cuff, he glared over at Lance, "Like hell that's going to happen. You're scared you're outnumbered now and are looking for a way out. We're not going to forgive any of you for what you were doing here!"

 

Still Lance just stood, sweaty but completely uninjured so far, staring at Adrass for his decision.

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Tulla never let the man speak, with a hard thrust she sliced into his neck, the blade grating along the bone. As he lay dying, she hacked the chains off of Helena. "Hurry." She said shakily.

 

Whisper could only wait, her captor stayed in the bathroom sobbing with pain.

 

Madame made it out into the night, hands scrathing along the sides of the Inn. "No evidence...Valentine would be cross with me..." her palm pressed down on a hidden nub. Tiles lit upalong the base of the structure, glowing orange with a fire rune inscribed in them.

 

(Gonna blow guys)

[Sekel 694]

Helena nodded wordlessly and quickly moved off the bed. She went over to her clothes in the corner and quickly put them on, strapping the crossbow to her wrist and finally placing her quiver on her back. She was glad to see that her bolts were still in there and that her dagger was still in its place. They probably figured it wouldn't really matter since she would still be tied up. Looking over at the window, she spotted an orange glow. Curious, Helena leaned her head over the window sill to see where it was coming from and to her horror, she found glowing tiles that go along this side of the inn.

@@RunsWithSquirlz

"Tulla, there are glowing orange panels and that's bad news. We need to quickly find the others and then get out of here. I'll find Whisper and you find the boys." Helena quickly told her savior and ran out of the room. Figuring that Whisper would be on the same floor as herself and Tulla, Helena began running down the hallway and checked all the rooms she passed by.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

Adrass stood, swaying much more noticeably now. Perhaps it was a combat stance - more likely it was his balance giving up on him. His face was practically void of color as his eyes flicked back and forth between the Assassin and the Dancer suspiciously. The Assassin had never given him reason to trust him: it wasn't just a fair offer, but an excellent one for the hunter whom had been brought up in a life of pragmatism and zealotry.

 

Slay the mage, restore some of his honor and find the princess. Leave with everyone else unharmed and even perhaps survive to fight another day.

 

How could he argue with that - was he supposed to have some kind of kinship with the emotionless killer that had most likely summoned his assassin friend to kill Adrass' charge? The Assassin hadn't once shown himself capable of honor or trustworthiness: their guild cared for nothing but their next payment!

 

He blinked slowly, breathing deeply as he focused his mind on denying the flow of magic around them with the last dregs of faith that resided in his body. He felt his pulse, felt the breath cycle into his lungs and back out of his mouth in haggard, torn breaths as his focus mounted silently. If he was going to fight any kind of Witch which bleeding to death, it was surely best to deprive them of as many advantages as he could.

 

Every last ounce of belief, of denial and single mindedness wracked his mind. No magic would resist his sight: none would subdue him if he believed. He was a Witch Hunter: he had a job to do.

 

He nodded.

 

The air had practically stilled in the subdued aura of the Witch Hunters denial: colors seemingly muted and dull as he turned slightly away from the flow dancer and glared at the Assassin. It wasn't a look of remorse, or even dislike. Merely one of a defeated and world-weary wanderer, aged before his time.

 

"I never found out if I could really trust you anyway. These fools did, and look at how travelling with you ended up?" He managed to say - staving off the blackening edges of his sight. "It's better this way. Safer. Either I'm right and..." He grunted, shuddering. "... and they'll thank me... or i'm wrong and i'll pay for it in the void."

 

Hefting the two handed sword from his shoulder, it swung in a wide, flourishing arc to stand upright in front of his face - a quarter: something the hunters sneered at the concept of. He nodded at the assassin grimly, before turning his head slightly to include the Dancer in the corner of his vision. He winced - denial and suppression more and more difficult to sustain with each passing moment. He couldn't hope to suppress anything for more than a few seconds more, and he knew it.

 

"Go." He muttered to the Dancer. "Leave them with me - all of them - and I wont let them follow..."

 

...

 

Adrass twisted violently and without warning: thrusting his right hand outwards towards Indicus, sword hurtling towards him not point first, but handle. He doubled over in agony, reaching instinctively for the leather straps by his side where the knife was kept. His fingers didn't clasp the handle of the silver-runed weapon, but instead on a wooden shaft - the half-javelin that had impaled his own leg just hours earlier.

 

In the same fluid motion, he continued to twist in place - practically laying on the ground now, blood smearing where the crude bandage had come loose. He swung his arm over his head, fingers opening and feeling the weapon leave his grasp and hurtle towards its target... The Dancer.

 

Sure, it would have made more sense to kill the Witch. Sure, it might yet come to that. But the Dancer... well, it was worth being stubborn just to try and piss off somebody that had royally fucked up ones job and tried to hurt someone innocent. That was... that was enough to merit such a stupid action, in the hunters eye. Besides, it wasn't his style to just go bleed out in a gutter someplace.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Cinderscribe

[Shadow Dancer 111]

@, I saw the Hunter throw his two handed blade hilt first soon after he cut off magic dissolving the spell I used, I dropped the dagger and caught it staggering back from the force. I was not the best with two handed blades but could make due. As the spear that the Hunter thew flew through the air I went forward getting the Dancer in range of my current weapon and swung in an arc away from the hunter as to not accidentally kill him. Fortunately this all happened in the range of my normal vision.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Shadow Dancer

[Torrent505 370]

@@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

Despite the weak waves of magical interference that the hunter was putting out Lance could still read the way the sword was being tossed to Indicus and how it was them choosing to work together, though his understanding of the energies were greatly slowed. That didn't concern him or distract him too much, but the sudden blinding flare of potential energy spreading from the Inns foundation and racing to flow throughout the entire building very much did, it also terrified him to his core.

 

The combination of the sheer magical potential energy and the hunters attempt at interference delayed his recognition of the javelin hurtling towards him, at least enough that he realized he could no longer dodge it. Instead he threw up his free hand trying to ward the projectile off... The wooden shaft didn't just penetrate his palm, it tore and split it; leaving it a mutilated wreck. The assassin was on him just a second slower having been further away to run up and make his swing, Lance was able to deflect the heavy swing as it broke his foil but he swept out with his leg assaulting Indicus' wound leg and sending him crashing to the floor. His opponent exposed on the ground next to him Lance could have used the jagged stump remains of the foil to end Indicus' life but he was more concerned about his own survival.

 

He rolled away from the downed man to avoid any of his thrashing and came up running towards the door clutching his ruined hand. "Madame you traitorous whore!! I refuse to die in some blast like a vermin!" He nimbly tumbled past the sluggish hunter also not bothering to strike out. In an instant he was through the doorway and out of the basement.

 

***********

 

Bertha still stood near Dresden, "Blast? Lance, wut blast?! Lance!" She called after the flow dancer. Her eyes now wide and wild, both at being left to face all these opponents and what the mans words had implied.

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Torrent505, @@Shadow Dancer, @,

Dresden gave a cheer at Adrass and Indicus success at causing the dancer to retreat, he was actually worried that Adrass would kill Indicus. Dresden looked over at Bertha who didn't seem to know what Lance had said, "He means that this place is going to blow! If I were you I would get out of here and hopefully live or continue to fight us and get your self killed which is it?"

[Shadow Dancer 111]

@, @@Torrent505, The Dancers kick, knocked me down and the blade was sent out of my hand a few feet away, recovering I got up and reclaimed the blade if only for the Hunter. I walked to him and prepared to pick him up, "Hunter, I heard the bastard say something about a blast and the Madame being a traitorous whore. Place will probably blow with us in it if we don't get the hell out of here."

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

A small explosion rocked the foundation off the Inn, sending maids screaming out the doors, pushing eachother out the way and becoming stuck with franticism.

 

Madame was stumbling far across the field, holding her shoulder and keeping her eyes on the treeline. In the distance, horses screamed in the stables, feeling the fear and intensity in the air. It had awoken Tugg, and now he wnadered out of the stables aimlessly.

[Torrent505 370]

@@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

Bertha looked down at Dresden in contempt, "I understood what he meant little boy." She seemed to find her resolve, "My mistress needing my life is all I need to be sure of!" She turned hurling the table top like a discus at Adrass and should he dodge the doorway beyond him. She then swung the table leg club at Dresden, "We can all die as one!"

 

********

 

Clarke not liking the sound of all this explosion and blast talk had rushed over to one of the walls to pick up the still unconscious Serafinno. They all needed to be ready to go now.

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Torrent505,

Dresden jumped back from the swing, "Gr, dying for someone who abandon you is a poor choice." Dresden slammed his hands on the ground and a wall of water jutted out of the ground knocking Bertha off her feet. "Clarke, find the others and get them out of here!"

[Sekel 694]

@@RunsWithSquirlz

"Come on Whisper. Where are you?" Helena whispered frantically as she felt the building shake as a small explosion went off. "I hope Tulla made it out with the boys. I still need to find - nevermind." Helena ceased her rambling as she opened up a door to a room. Looking inside, she found Whisper in the bathroom with a man cowering in pain. "Whisper, we need to go. Now." Helena said firmly. She bashed the man's head against the floor to knock him out. "This place is going to blow up." Helena added.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

@@Torrent505, @, @@Flying Ace,   As I was about to pick the hunter up I ducked and went to bring him down with me, I felt as the table top went over our heads, and saw it lodge into the doorway. I looked to see if Adrass had any new injuries thankfully besides what I saw he had before and the leg wound which I got some cloth bandages one of my last and wrapped it around his leg to slow the bleeding and I got ready to get the Hunter out, but just before that I slid a nearby needle similar to the one that my eye got stabbed with towards the Water Mage.

 

 

(Sorry if anything is wrong with the post)

[RunsWithSquirlz 274]

Whisper tugged at the chains still holding her, shivering with fear "Helena! Thank you!!!"

 

An8ther blast sounded off from the far corner of the Inn, the structure began to groan as supports cracked and fire burst forth. Tulla ran downstairs, shoving people out of her way "Robert?! Dresden?! Where are you?!" She ducked as a beam cracked and sent splinters flying, the temperature was quickly rising.

[Sekel 694]

@@RunsWithSquirlz

Helena studied the chains and tried to quickly figure out how best to take away the chains. "No problem. Don't mention it. Now to get you out of these chains." Helena replied and getting her dagger out, she slashed away the chains near her wrists and ankles. No point in dragging long chains. Once that was done, she put her dagger and watched the chains clatter to the floor. "Now. Let's -" Helena didn't get to finish her sentence as explosions from below cut her off. "Change of plans. We're going out the window." Helena said bluntly and walked over to the window to judge how far they have to fall.

Edited October 25, 2014 by Dji

[Alex Kennedy 1,228]

@@RunsWithSquirlz,

 

Robert was probably about to stab the person he heard approaching when he recognized Tulla's voice. Giving a faint sigh of relief, he called back. "I'm over here! I was coming to help you guys, and the others are... hopefully not far behind. Are the other two okay?"

[Torrent505 370]

@@Flying Ace @ @@Shadow Dancer

 

Clarke rose from where Finn had crashed into the wall and he was grinning ear to ear, "I found my stuff!" Indeed Clarke had slung Finn over his shoulders and in one hand he had his chainsword the other held his scattergun. "Dresden catch! Point the end with holes at the maid, pull the trigger in the handle, but mind the recoil!" He threw the scattergun to Dresden as they were both heading for the door, behind them the muscly maid must have been a glutton for punishment because she was climbing to her feet again.

 

Clarke started the ignition on the sword revved it once then throttled the spinning teeth to a high speed letting him easily cleave through the table blocking the door. He paused looking back to make sure Indicus was helping Adrass and that Dresden was still coming as well.

[Shadow Dancer 111]

I carried Adrass following the others while holding the two handed blade. Next we would find the others and get out of this death trap of a brothel. I cursed myself for relaxing and dismissing my gut feeling as just ubeing overly cautious but nothing major. Another thing crossed my mind why didn't The Hunter just finish me it would have been easier and he would have "reclaimed his honor" that he holds dear.

[Flying Ace 142]

@@Shadow Dancer,@@Torrent505,

Dresden caught the needle Indicus threw to him and caught the scatter-gun in the other hand, he quickly aimed the scatter-gun and pulled the trigger. "GAH!" Dresden didn't expect the recoil to be this strong as he was flung back and landed near the others. "I meant to do that," Dresden quickly got up and backed up towards the door. "Let's hurry."

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Adrass.

 

It wasn't easy, but hey - what was these days? He should have point blank refused, or waited until they slept on the first night and killed them in their sleep. So many mages and the like, he could have just denied them and cut their throats. Perhaps he would have done so eventually: it wasn't easy to go against ones nature.

 

But then they had been attacked, and everything changed. He wasn't given the choice of which 'side' he was on. Funny really - had the Maiden simply left them alone, Adrass might well have done her job for her.

 

But now here he was: bleeding and broken. Was he even alive? The dull pain that wracked his body with every breath told him that he probably was. His life had changed to one of vengeance, and not even in the 'honour bound warrior' kind of way. Everything he had fought in the past few weeks had wronged him first, and he didn't like it. The Assassin had attacked them first. The maiden had attacked them first. The Dancer had attacked them first. This wasn't hunting - this was fleeing, and he hated it.

 

But such was life at the moment. Would he die? Hopefully not. He was making a habit of pudding people off and it entertained him thoroughly.

 

He grunted as a splinter of wood that hasn't quite been removed properly happens at the inside of his flesh. He slumped - slipping in and out of consiousness with the spikes if pain.

 

The irony that his greatest defence - his suppression of magic - was likely to be what killed him came to mind. Then again, he's rather die than have flesh knitted back together by the foul arts anyway. He allowed himself to smirk - it was a funny kind of pride really.

 

The gaping wound to his leg was the worse of the two causing problems: or at least the most visible. The shot he had taken to the stomach was where the real damage was though. It was past the point of being ignored: how the hell had he been taken by supprise so many times in such a short space of time anyway? And who could hurl javelins with such accuracy and force? It just wasn't natural...

 

Wait, had he told anyone about...?

 

"Hurry up, I'd rather not die here." He gasped, scowling and heaving himself forward - subconsciously half-aware that he wasn't even supporting most of his own weight. Was it the assassin? Well, if there was a knife between his ribs, Adrass couldn't feel it...

 

Huh, he was pretty thirsty...