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Tournament of Champions! (The game has begun)
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The sound of hooves stomping onto the ground was filling the forest that had begun to turn grey of the abyssal outbreak.
"Where are you?"
The sky where dark and almost glowing with a dark yellow shine.
"Don't let it be too late."
All sounds of singing birds and other animals was as blown away.
"Where have you gone?
A wolf appeared on the road, infected by the abyss. It was neither alive nor dead as it attacked him. He struck it down in a simple strike.
"I will not lose another one."
The air was thick with a dark mantra like ashes in a burned forest.
"Show me where you are."
Broken trees began to become visible in the distance. He rode up on the hill where he saw some lying. It was the watchman Howard, dead.
"I will avenge you dear boy.
He continued downhill where the trail of broken trees led.
"I will destroy you and I will save her!"
Neerayne torn off a part of the unconscious Radhe's clothes. She fixed the cloth piece and wrapped it around Radhe's bleeding wound preventing her from bleeding to death within minutes. She then proceeded to pick up a greenish vial from her pouch. She poured it inside the dying girl's mouth, with a gently movement she forced the girl to swallow it. 'Come on..' She waited the healing potion to take its effect.
The wounds at the forehead of the almost dying sorcerer girl were slowly closing, but the large wound did not seem to heal. 'why does it not work?..'
She then heard something at the distant end of the cliff. Neerayne squinted to see what it was. The trees, plants and the grass began to turn grey as if it they where burning without flame. Then the yellow eyes of the beast appeared looking straight at her.
Neerayne looked at the beast and then back at Radhe. From what she had seen earlier she would not be able to carry the girl and get away, She had to lure the beast away to try finding an opening when she could escape with the girl. She attracted the beast as she jumped back into the trees and began to jump between them towards the river.
She could hear the sounds of breaking trees behind her as the beast followed ramming each tree that came into its way. She was barely quicker than the beast even though it knocked every tree in front of it. The tree tops around Neerayne began to turn grey as she came across the river. Did the beast get up to her? Then got away from it. After a while she looked back and noticed that the beast had stopped and now turned around as it began to move towards the girl again. There where no possibility that she would be able to get to the girl and get her out there now. 'I'm sorry girl. I can't save you now.'
Radhe woke up. She was shacking and her whole body was screaming in pain but she could not feel much, as if her senses where all numbed. She had difficulties to see and her hearing was impaired but she knew that she was alive somehow. She had a bitter taste in her mouth and she did not lie down, she sat with her back towards the cliff as if someone had put her up. She could not move most of her body except for her left hand. She moved her hand with difficulty but it worked. She felt on her head. She was bleeding but the wounds had somehow been closed. She felt on her right arm. The bone was broken and there were some minor scratches. The same was true for her left leg. No ribs where broken but her dress had been torn. She then felt on her right leg.
Her eyes began to tear when realized that her leg was gone. There were only a bloody piece of cloth covering what was left of it. She did not have much time to cry or even think before she heard the sound of breaking trees. She looked up and saw something large black with a little yellow. The monster was back for her. It came closer towards her. Radhe tried to channel any mana but with her numb body it was merely impossible.
She lowered her head trying to crawl into a ball. The monster was now so close that she could feel the grass around her dying. She felt gravel come down from the Cliffside and someone shouted something.
*KLUNG! She heard a loud metallic sound just in front of her then someone shouted in very familiar voice. "Keep away from her you foul beast of the abyss!!". The monster gave away a cold and terrifying roar. Radhe heard another metallic hit as the man continued to shout. "Your abyssal screams won't break me monster! I am a chosen knight of goddess Friyena herself! I have destroyed monsters like you before just as I will destroy you now!" He shouted as the metallic sounds continued.
Radhe was still crawled into a ball as the sounds of breaking trees and metallic hits surrounded her. The ground was shaking as she heard screams and shouts from the beast and the man. At one point the Cliffside behind her was hit by something large and impactful causing it to shake for a small moment. The battle continued for little longer until she heard a last shout and a terrifying scream. It then became silent. A large hand took Radhe on her shoulder. She gasped. "There is not danger anymore, Radhe. The monster is gone. You are safe now." He embraced her before he took her up and began to walk away with her.
Radhe was so tired of being afraid that she fell asleep in Wardnan's carry.
A dozen soldiers on horseback now appeared. They looked at the devastation and the beast that lied towards a huge boulder with a huge sword stuck in its skull. It was burning in a black and yellow flame. A captain walked to Wardnan who carried the sleeping girl towards his horse Dust. "Sir! You're bleeding." said the soldier and Henric just said "I need to get to the priest and Bristana, quickly!" The captian nodded as he shouted to the older soldiers. "The Akon beast is dead but the forest is still infected. Split up into groups and search every corner of it for other infected animals and abyssal spawns!" Two of the soldiers followed with sir Wardnan back to Legorna.
Then she heard a monstrous scream, and ran towards its source. No more jumping from trees to trees.
Finally arrived just close at the scene, she saw it from behind the bushes.
'It is dead?' There a good few meters in front of her, lied the previous monster towards a huge boulder, with a large wound in its skull. Besides that, she could see a dozens of soldiers. And the leader of that group was riding on a horse towards the city, carrying the wounded sorcerer girl towards the city along with two soldiers.
'Many thanks to whoever you are.' Neerayne relieved herself.
"Halt there! Who are you?" A masculine voice shouted from behind her. It was one of the soldier. A crossbow was held in his hand and he pointed it towards her.
The crouching elf raised her hands, rotated her body, and slowly stood up. It was due to the exhaustion that she couldn't hear the man sneaked behind her.
"I'm one of the contestants, don't you recognize me?" Said Neerayne with a rather straight face.
The soldier frowned, and finally took his weapon down. "You... you're that dark elf girl, right? Hmm, of course. There is nobody else who looks like you around here." He then slung his crossbow on his back.
Neerayne put her hands down, and folded her arms in a thinking position. With her head hung low and being clutched by her left arm.
"Do you want to assist us tracking those abominations? You know those things right?" Said the soldier with his right hand rested on the pommel of his sheathed sword.
She then looked at the eyes of that person. "Alright, I'm gonna assist you, but I also want something later."
"Oh that, don't worry about it, that can be arranged." The soldier then turned around. "Come, let us go then."
'Such opportunities... how very peculiar.' She sighed and just opted to silently follow the soldier instead.
A little info about the current condition (that I don't feel like using the time to put it in dialogue and such)
The Akon is dead but the forest is still infected with the abyssal bleeding. This means that there are infected animals that are aggresive and abyssal spawns (like the Akon but lesser). Some of these may still be dangerous though (therefore the groups of soldiers at minimum 5 each.)
There are approximately 80 soldiers and watchmen seeking out the forest with more coming.
These efforts won't heal the forest though, only preventing further spread.
The spread is by the locals called "wounds" as they appear when life and death essence is destroyed by the abyss. This opens up a hole-like feature that the abyss can bleed through. According to legends if the wound becomes too large than there is risk for something worse. Or rather someone (will be given in dialogue)
These wounds can heal themselves as new life is grown above the old but the effect is often accelerated by the abyss seekers that uses dark magic to create a shield of black/death essence which can kind of suck in white/life essence over the wound. (Vincent is one of these).
The city is barricaded for the uncertainty if the Akon would have attacked it and will now remain barricaded until the wound have been sealed. In case the "hunt" would fail or another Akon would appear.
Your characters are allowed to join these hunts squads but as I wrote earlier. There is a certain danger in it. This is the only way to leave Legorna unless your character would have a really good reason.
And don't try to summon the abyssal avatar. Wouldn't be much of a tournament anymore then...
Also I won't most likely make any more of these 3 parts story events. Cost more than they contribute.
He continued to watch quizzically when R5-T4 suddenly appeared in the midst. To his amazement, the goblins and the rest, unanimously enough, had agreed to let their champion help the guards defend the city. This was an uncharacteristically noble gesture for two so green. Well, even if there were ulterior motives, it seemed a somewhat logical course of action all things considered.
When Thibble asked if others were ready and willing to help, Mishra rolled forward, pushed by an Assembly-Worker. He rolled past Thibble and the others and right up to R5-T4.
"Would more automatons be of assistance, construct? Here are six Assembly-Workers for you to command. They should be of use capturing a living subject for your mages."
With that, Mishra was turned and strolled back up to his workshop. He didn't listen to the questions from the guards or the overdressed wizards.
"So, what's the strategy?" Asked Neerayne to the person in front of her, with her enchanted sword ready. They both were currently walking through the bushes, with the person in front of Neerayne was also holding a torch and a sword, along with other nine people in a close group. From there she could see that they still maintaining close distances from each other.
"We're going to comb the forest and kill every thing that looks suspiciously unnatural." Stated the person plainly in front of her.
"Obviously, duh..." Shrugged the dark elf.
"Oh that, we now go in a group of ten. And if someone find something too dangerous, one will be dispatched to inform the others about it." Answered the soldier without even turned his head around.
"How many soldiers?"
"We're currently 80 men strong, lead by Captain Falke there." He pointed his finger towards a person who wore a slightly different coloring of armor who was walking a few meters in front of her group. Said person was also walking cautiously with his sword ready.
"...So, how should I call you then?" Asked the dark elf, eyes still watching her surroundings.
The soldier raised his eyebrow and turned his head.
"Garrett. You can call me Garrett." Then he turned back her focus to the surroundings.
Then suddenly she saw a lone soldier ran from a distance with a torch towards the group where she was currently in. The captain then gave a signal to stop any activity.
The soldier then stopped in front of the captain, still sweating profusely and had a ragged breath, then he dropped his torch and bowed due to the exhaustion.
"Calm down soldier, what did you see?" Asked the captain while was also holding that person's shoulders, besides that Neerayne also decided to hear the news closely.
"There... the 'wound'... a pretty large one..." Said him with finger pointed towards the direction where he came before.
'Must be the infestation thing.' Frowned the dark elf.
"Damn... are the others of your group still alive?"
"Don't know now... we were ambushed... four of us were dead... and the rest were still fighting that beast... and lieutenant just ordered me to inform the others." Said the soldier with a calm tone, although she could see the anger behind it.
The captain stayed silent for a while.
"...You all heard him. Lead the way, soldier."
The soldier just nodded, and walked along with a faster pace with the captain towards his previous position, followed by the others.
Arrived at the edge of the location, the group were surprised about what they saw, especially the dark elf.
Nine presumed to be dead bodies were littered along the street, along with a large abyssal portal that was hovering above the ground. Besides that Neerayne could see a corpse of a dark furred beast that resembled like a large cart-sized cat ridden by sword cuts and arrows. It also had large fangs that jutted in front of its mouth that filled with black bile that the elf assumed to be infected blood.
"Check if someone's still alive." Ordered the captain coldly.
After a while checking the dead bodies, nobody found that someone was still alive in that carnage.
"This is bad, we'll keep our watch here for now. I'll inform this advancement to Sir Henric, and you all stay vigilant." Commanded the captain, then he took a squatting position.
And by that, he pulled a small crystal ball from one of his pouches, and start to pour some sort of blue mana around it. He then closed his eyes. Inside of it, people could see the image from Sir Henric's point of view, the said person was also apparently doing a sort of conversation with a priest.
"Sir, can you hear me." The captain's eyes were glowing with blue light.
"Alright Sir, me and my men will be waiting here." Said the captain again after a session of staring at the crystal ball. He blinked again and his eyes were turned to normal.
"Long distance telepathic link, neat right? But sadly only the important members of the federation who can use it, and the high ranking soldiers after they received training in the arts of sorcery of course. The crystal ball just focused the arcane frequency so only the chosen person could receive the message." Hushed Garrett towards the dark elf.
"... I'm... surprised that you know so much about arcane arts." Neerayne raised her brow, her hands folded.
"Well, I read a lot of books." Smirked the fairly young soldier. The elf could assume that Garrett was indeed only still in his twenties.
"Something is coming!" Interrupted a soldier while preparing a battle stance with a sword and shield. From a distance, another sort of large cat beast with black coloring was stalking slowly towards the group and encircling them.
All the soldiers prepared their weapons and tensed to fight the black beast.
"Stand your ground and get ready!" Barked the captain while also prepared his sword and a battle stance.
'This is not going to be end well...' Neerayne took a battle stance and gritted her teeth while Garrett sheathed his sword and prepared his crossbow instead, both were also sweating and tensed for the incoming fight.
She could feel that her body was floating. She opened her eyes and saw that she lied in a river surrounded by a beautiful forest. She heard someone singing, a beautiful voice. Radhe wanted to stand up and search for the singing one but she noticed that her leg was still gone. The singing became louder. Radhe thought she would cry for her leg but it felt as her bad feelings had to struggle to blossom up. A tall being in a green dress of sorts appeared behind her. It picked her up. Radhe was a little anxious at first but she calmed down as the singing entity carried her towards a large moss-covered boulder.
Radhe looked at the entity's face and asked "are you an angel, am I dead?".
The goddess just smiled at her as she sat down on the boulder with Radhe still in her arms.
All concerns and bad feelings left Radhe as she lied there in the singing goddess' arms.
She felt like she could lie there forever and just listen at the goddess song.
She heard a terrifying and familiar sound from the other side of the river. Radhe looked at the black monster with its glowing yellow eyes. Radhe did not feel any fear this time. She just looked at the beast as it began to walk towards her. When the beast took a step into the river it began to melt. It screamed as it also began to burn with a black-yellow flame. The monster burned away into the air and everything that was left of it was a normal man. The man began to cry as he reached out his arm towards Radhe. A black liquid began to drag him down into the river. As the man disappeared into the darkness the river returned to normal. The goddess was still singing above Radhe who laid there looking straight at the place where that man had disappeared.
The thing I wrote is a dream of sorts like the one that happened to Leandra after match 6. (If that confused you)
Sorry for the delay-- here is Kara's response to his Bells story and his second iteration.
Kara sat in his room - his cell, really - staring at nothing in particular. He shifted, and his gaze was attracted to the wrought bracelets that encircled his slender wrists. He followed the pattern of runes, around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and...
...A sudden burning, searing pain tore through his midsection. Kara blinked in the sudden bright sunlight. He sat on warped ground, chalky and white, a behemoth - Kozilek - standing over him. A blade coming from the titan's elbow transfixed him. He smiled up at Kozilek. It really was a majestic creature. Kara disregarded the pain of the great appendage spearing through him, even as his skin around it began to warp. Kozilek's many eyes in the various joints of its carapace were nearly all fixated on the puny human figure before it. Its gaze was inscrutable. Did it feel confusion that Kara was not afraid? Did it feel anger that its devastating strike had not made much of an impact? Did it regard him with contempt? With respect? With disdain? Perhaps... with fear? Or perhaps it simply did not feel anything at all. Nonetheless, the giant didn't move, remaining with the blade casually speared through Kara's chest. Losing interest, Kara's eyes wandered in his semi-lucid state. Across a vast battlefield, hundreds of humanoids lying warped and dead on the chalky white or strangely patterned ground. Monsters of various sizes, ranging from the smallest about the size of a large dog, to giants almost as tall as Kozilek and its companion. A name sprang to Kara's mind: Ulamog. As he surveyed the carnage, Kara realized that he knew this place, knew the creatures, knew the people. The littlest monsters were scions. Next were drones, then broodmasters, then the titans themselves. Collectively known as Eldrazi. The white-skinned humanoids were Kor. Intermingled with them were humans, merfolk, elves, people of all kinds. The humanoids were losing. Badly. And Kara felt no sorrow for them, even as he watched a human crumble to dust, three merfolk simultaneously speared on the sharpened leg of a drone, a group of elves crushed under the tentacles of a giant broodmaster. A scion skittered past; spawn of Ulamog, no doubt. Without knowing quite what he was doing, Kara reached out his mind towards the creature, feeling a strange pressure drawing his awareness to it, stretching, tearing, snapping...
...Kara dashed across the ground, weaving between greater Eldrazi and their foes. He was hungry. Oh so hungry. He passed across a single flower that still grew among the lifeless, warped soil. He pounced on it, sucking the life-giving mana from it, savoring the elation as the plant crumbled to dust. With barely a pause, he moved on, and felt nothing when a drone stabbed him through the back with its claws and took his life force for its own...
...Kara scuttled along on five crablike legs, peering around him through his many eyes at once. He meandered through the carnage, seeking any mana, any at all. Six sparks charged at him, throwing themselves and their life-giving mana into his clutches. Disregarding their weapons and hard bits, his limbs stabbed three through the head instantly. The remaining three formed a spearhead formation facing him. As they advanced, reality warped into a form more pleasing to him, and suddenly he was behind them, mowing through the ranks. With every spark that he killed, its mana flowed into him. He grabbed a scion and left it a husk empty of mana, then did the same to another. As he turned, a looming broodmaster slimed forwards on its hundreds of tentacles, crushing everything in its path. Several scions and two other drones were enveloped along with him as he painlessly was folded in with the creature...
...Kara dominated this area of the battlefield, swarming over scions, drones, and sparks alike. The unstoppable urge to feed drove him on, destroying all before him. Without even noticing the sparks that gathered around him, he plowed through their midst, aware only of the surge of mana that he drew in. Away now from the main body of sparks, there was no uncorrupted land to provide mana for miles and miles, so he turned back, swarming over countless more...
...Kara blinked, and realized that time had stopped. He still sat before Kozilek, the titan's blade through his chest, surveying the battlefield through the memories of Eldrazi. Nothing moved. All was silent. He realized that he wasn't breathing, nor did he feel any need to. So he sat there and extended his mind once more...
Kara abruptly was shaken back into the real world as a woman walked in through his door. His power - his curse - had warped his body, but none of his surroundings had been affected. The bracelets, he assumed. As he surveyed the woman, the distortion faded from him... most of it, that is. His face was strangely left untouched. The woman told him that she could relieve him of his power. He was elated, but the emotion felt empty, hollow. He had stopped thinking of it as a curse and more of a blessing, a tool to use however he wished. And "burn"ing it out of him sounded ominous. As he gathered his scattered thoughts to respond, bells began to ring. The woman stood and exchanged anxious words with the guard outside. Kara barely heard. Already he had retreated back into his past...
...When he returned from his latest foray, days had passed. Or it might have been years. Or centuries. Or merely seconds. He didn't know and didn't particularly care. Curious now as to the extent of his newfound power, Kara split his awareness in two, then in two again, then in two again. Six scions, a drone, and a broodmaster were all him, and he was all of them at once...
...And so Kara whiled away the centuries, sitting in the same position, impaled by the same blade, never moving an inch. He went through every Eldrazi on the battlefield time and time again, in every combination he could think of. At first, ten of the creatures was the number he could be at once, but with decades of practice, he bumped the number up and up and up. He could be sixteen Eldrazi, twenty-four, forty. But then one day sometime during his fifty-sixth century, it occurred to Kara that perhaps he could keep his own awareness about him. After a century or two of trying, he was able to remain dimly aware of his surroundings even as he merged with several Eldrazi at once. The number was never as high as before, though. It was strange, he thought, how he could be so many and yet not be himself. The thought was amusing for some reason. He began to laugh, and laughed and laughed for a million years. Then he settled back down and merged with some of his old favorites, still giggling...
EDIT: ...and it does seem wrong that the only competitors defending the city are the UBR ones...
Neerayne was sweating heavily, sword still in hand in a striking stance. Then she rolled from an overhead swipe that caused by a particular large and black furred cat beast, its eyes were also glowing with yellow-ish light, not that its pupils were also already yellow enough.
The beast turned then pounced again at her, but still she could sidestepped it and slashed its left section, another sort of black ichor flowed from its wound. It was now growled with an unnatural sound.
Another crossbow bolt then shot past her and hit the head of the beast.
It didn't thrashed itself around and changed its focus towards Garrett. But before it pounced towards him, the captain moved in a quick motion with a sort of reddish aura that surrounded him, his eyes also glowed with reddish light, and swiftly decapitated its head.
The headless beast then unceremoniously fell to its side.
"Hastening spell. Great for outspeeding your enemies." Stated the captain towards the dark elf, his reddish aura and his glowing eyes then slowly faded away.
Neerayne then took a squatting position, then jabbed her black sword on the ground and held its pommel like a makeshift crutch.
"Why the wait then?" She asked to him with a slightly annoyed tone.
"I needed something that could distract it." Said the captain while was cleaning his sword from the black blood of the beast with a cloth, his eyes still focused on his surroundings. "After I observed its behavior, I admit that couldn't win if I fight toe to toe against it. And besides that, I also wanted to see your combat capability this time since you're considered to be an important person."
Neerayne raised her eyebrow.
"You're also probably better than me anyway, champion. I can see that you're also pretty adept at sword fighting and has very quick reflexes." The captain then sheathed his sword and lent his hand towards the dark elf.
"..." Without a word, Neeryane pulled her sword and took the captain's hand and stood up.
The captain smiled and just patted her afterwards. Then he walked towards one of his other subordinates.
"You, what's your name?"
"It's Erik, captain." Saluted the soldier with a slight black beard unlike the captain's clean shaven face.
"Status report."
"Only minor injuries, just a bit tired. Do we have the permission to set a camp, captain?"
"We don't need that, Sir Henric will come here shortly along with a specialist. Just rest for a bit and stay vigilant for now. Oh yeah, and put the corpses in a row so they can be easily identified."
He just nodded and walked towards the other soldiers who were guarding the dark portal.
"Well, just another dirty work... isn't it?" Muttered the captain towards the standing female dark elf, with her hands folded, then he took a swig of clear liquid from his leatherskin bottle.
"You want some?"
"Why not then?" The dark elf took the bottle and smelled its content.
"Keeps the body warm since it gets more and more colder lately, you know." Stated him with a smile.
She just shrugged it and took a swig from it too, then she quickly handed it back towards the captain.
"A little bit strong, isn't it? Its not the best in the world, but it's pretty fine, in my opinion." Stated the captain.
The dark elf just nodded and wiped her mouth.
"Guess we'll have to wait for now, right?" Asked the dark elf.
Minutes passed while they both were just doing small talks, then Garrett, the youngest soldier among them also joined the chit chat after he finished his short rest and checking his equipment.
From a distance the sounds of hoofsteps could be heard from a distance. The party could only see the general form of the incoming cavaliers due to the dark conditions of the forest itself, ignited only by the lights of the torches and the moonlight.
"Ah, that must be Sir Henric." Said the captain, his right hand still rested on the pommel of his sword in a relaxed manner, while was also focusing towards the incoming party.
"Hey, uh Neerayne right? What do you think they'll going to do with the portal?" Whispered Garrett to the female elf, with his head tilted slightly.
"To be honest, I have no idea since I am no expert in such phenomenon. I also never saw such thing in my life, but I can feel a sort of sinister aura oozed out from the portal." She frowned, her eyes also still fixed to the incoming group.
Garrett just shrugged while also joined her posture.
I believe R5-T4 and Mishra's assembly-workers were the first in the line of city's defense because they're expendable. )