Jex waits a moment for Faldric to lower his trousers and begin to relieve himself before springing forward, knife in a reverse grip and bringing it down sharply at his neck. The blade cuts deep and Jex twists it to make certain of the kill. Blood spurts up over the assassin, bringing a smile to his face as the mask and simple robes Matteo had taken to wearing become drenched in the red liquid. He eases the body to the floor, quickly patting it down for obvious weapons, frustrated with the lack of sharp objects Matteo had left him with. He whispers across at Didymus "Anything you can do to hide the body?"
Didymus is stood outside the latrine area, beyond the two soldiers who had been accompanying Faldric. He seems to wander off when Jex beckons, but soon appears besides the assassin in a cloud of dark red smoke. The devil waves a hand over Faldric's bleeding corpse and it vanishes.
Jex nods his thanks and looks at the guards, establishing a plan to get them both, he looks around for anyone else in sight that may notice if they fall.
Minutes begin to pass as Vark and Valaith hang in the air above Marcellus' encampment. It's not long before the mage grows restless, fidgeting with Pathmaker in his hands and snapping his head towards any and every noise that drifts up from the camp. They are too high to see anything in detail in this darkness, and it's clear that Vark is getting worried. "I don't like this... they've been gone for so long and I'm not even sure how they plan to let us know if they've found him... a-and I can't keep up this flight for much longer if I want to have enough magic to face Curor..." he whimpers. Looking over to where he assumes the invisible barbarian still floats he continues, "M-maybe you should fly down and see if you can find him. I'd go but it'd be pretty hard for me to be sneaky... you're invisible though."
Val starts to nod silently, then Vark reminds her that she is, in fact, invisible. "I will do that, Vark. Where will you go and how long will this invisibility last? I do not want to be stuck down there alone and visible. I am not easily hidden."
"I'll stay up here as long as I can, I can message you every few seconds so you can tell me where you're heading and I'll try and stay above you. If you find Curor then I'll just drop down on him, it's gonna get real loud real fast so it doesn't matter if people see me at that point. As for the invisibility well... I'm honestly not sure... I guess..." His face scrunches in thought as he considers possible plans B, C, and D. "Well I guess we'll have to readjust, maybe then I could message Aiden and tell them to start blasting before we hit Curor. Maybe that would flush him out... or maybe it would get Marcellus involved... that could be bad... uhm," The more he talks the more anxiety rises in his voice, until finally he shakes his head in frustration. "We're gonna run out of time. We've gotta do this now."
"Do not forget to tell me before the spell runs out!" She whispers to him. "See you below, I will keep you safe." Without another second wasted, Val wills herself to fly lower towards the enemy encampment, looking for some sign of the commander's tent...
Finding the command tent isn't difficult, given its size and central location. Three other tents of a size in between that of Sir Marcellus and the rank-and-file are pitched around the command tent like satellites. The deep blue fabric of the one to the east is particularly conspicuous to Val.
Val wills herself to fly closer to the tent, a feeling that was mutually exhilarating and alien to her. Once closer, she stops and hovers above the tent, her keen ears straining to hear anything coming from within, or anything from the soldiers lingering around the tent.
Floating invisibly above the deep blue tent, Valaith can hear a conversation from within.
"I counsel caution, Riddel," the first voice warns. "Much is at stake. It is paramount that the campaign to reassert control over Sheercleft succeed."
The other man replies with a snort.
"'Campaign'?! Curor, do not overestimate their chances. We are here to put down some would-be-hero renegades, nothing more. Between our combined powers, we will succeed, no matter what challenges may arise."
"Nevertheless," Curor counters, "I very much doubt that the villagers of Sheercleft will welcome us with open arms. We must be prepared to face and put down any resistance that they can mount."
"Found him, blue tent, talking to Riddel." Val finally responds to Vark's regular check in messages after several responses of "Nothing yet." Vark curses to himself at the news that Riddel is currently present with their target. A cleric is the last thing one wants to find when attempting an assassination. But Vark can feel the magic of his flight finally waning, they have no choice but to proceed.
"You should get to the ground. I'm going to come down too, I'll make cover." Vark messages again. Then he begins to chant low, barely a whisper on the breeze. But the breeze obeys that whisper, and it begins to fill below him with swirls of pewter grey. The cloud grows and thickens, expanding to engulf a swathe of the camp eighty feet across. Vark closes his eyes, feeling the magic of this conjured cloud take hold just as the magic of his flight fades. He pulls Pathmaker close to his chest, the crystalline wings almost as wide as his shoulders.
Then Vark falls.
Clouds rush past the sorcerer's face as he plummets like a meteor towards the ground. For a split second he forgets the pounding anxiety in his chest as it is replaced by adrenaline, freedom, the thrill of the wind through his hair. He twists like a dancer as he nears the ground, turning right side up and readying Pathmaker in his hands. The thick fog below him surges up to greet Vark ten feet above the earth. It gently cradles the sorcerer and lowers him silently to the ground. Now Vark is still. He listens, both for sounds of soldiers in the area but also for Curor or Riddel's voice.
After a moment, he breathes a message to Val. "Where are you?"
"Ha!" Vark hears a voice bark from inside the blue tent. "Those villagers are nothing but simple folk. They have no hope of resisting us. Our powers combined with the guile of Math Mathonwy will easily crush any opposition that they can muster."
"Still," a second voice cautions in a more measured tone. "I have seen much in my time as a wizard. I would not discount the potential for unexpected obstacles and challenges. We must remain vigilant and be prepared to face any situation that may arise."
"Right next to the tent." Val responds, but Vark only half-hears the voice being carried to his ears.
'Our powers combined with the guile of Math Mathonwy...'
What on Arden could Riddel mean by that? Is Matthew working with them? Playing both sides? Or do they still intend to enact some Mabinogi plot to harness the power of Asmodeus, not realizing he no longer lies beneath Sheercleft? The familiar feeling of his thoughts whipping up into a storm fills Vark's mind.
He sends one last message to Val, "Get ready to charge." then he closes his eyes. Behind those eyes the storm rages. Around him the dense clouds begin to churn, and red sparks dance up and down Pathmaker. He lets his fury build and roil until finally it is too much to bear. Imagining the spot inside the tent where he just heard Curor speak, he focuses all that emotion into a tiny point and screams. The primordial sound is swallowed by the deafening BOOM which bursts out of the tent. The first ringing echoes of the concussive sound haven't even begun when Vark takes the point of Pathmaker and presses it forward through the tent, putting his whole weight behind it and charging into the space.
Pathmaker spins through the air in a wide arc, parting the heavy fabric between Vark and his object of his aggression. The scene on the other side is one of chaos. Splintered pieces of table, tent pole and baskets litter the ground, along with the fragments of numerous smaller objects. A scribe lies motionless amongst the debris, blood flowing freely from his ears, and two other men have been blown across the tent by the concussive blast. Both are clad in the same dark blue as the tent, although one wears hooded robes and the other a chain shirt over his gambeson. The robed man has a long brown beard and a small stone slowly orbits his head, while the armoured man has slicked, black hair and blades hanging from his belt. Vark's spell clearly hit low and has knocked the two men off of their feet. One of the robed man's legs is twisted and bent at unnatural angles.
Vark rushes in with teeth bared, an orcish marauder wrapped in Mabinogi blue. The small differences between the two surviving men are immediately obvious, and Vark makes a beeline for the one on the ground: Curor. With a snarl Vark stabs down twice in rapid succession. Curor rolls back and forth, avoiding a grievous impalement, but his crushed leg twists painfully with each jerking movement. Vark glares down, his eyes alight with crimson. "What did you mean the 'guile of Math Mathonwy'!?" he spits. Somewhere across the camp, thunder echoes his demand.
As the concussive sound hits Val, she allows that ever present barrier of icy rage she holds at bay, gritting her teeth against the fury that visible from the foggy breathes. She rushes around the other side of the tent to find the hole cut by Vark. She bursts through, raising Rook over her head and slamming it so hard into the head of the man upon the ground that his entire skull is crushed down into the soft earth. As she raises it up, blood and gore clings to the weapon as she then turns her attention to the other man, still standing. Without a word, Rook swings in a wicked sideways strike, impacting hard with the man's torso, but his armor prevents it from being a deadly blow as Larkin's ghostly visage stands nearby with his own version of Rook held in his hands, prepared to assist Val's companions against an attack!
Hearing the thunder and seeing his friend taking to the skies Thurston nods and start spining Rikkazarik as fast as he can and he let it loose in an up direction, getting ready for the pull to lift him off too. But the hammer doesn't lift and he just make a small jump.
"What? Come on buddy"he whispers in low voice trying to avoid being detected. "They need us"
He raises his hand once more, with the mighty hammer pointing towards the sky, but nothing happens.
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you are tired after blasting that gnolls back there... "
The hammer doesn't reply but Thurston can barely see Aiden now heading towards the heart of the enemy campment.
He felt silly, frustrated and worried. All at the same time. He looked down to the tents and noticed that some of the troops were wondering what was happening at their commanders tents.
"One job! you had one job!! you stupid ugly, bearded son of a goa..."he looked down to the catapults and, feeling his chest burning he made a reckless decision.
"Ok...rraaaAAAHHH!!"
He started to run, pushing his muscles as much as he could. As he started to pass around the tents he felt his heart pumping like a crazy horse in his chest, the legs started to complain but he put all of that behind him and kept pushing, he only had one chance and the others needed him. Small cracks of electricity started to jump from his arms, from his legs, the camp around him turned into a blur, his eyes fixed on his goal, the catapults. As he ran the electricity around him began to grew stronger, when he had covered half the distance a lighting was erupting from his body, his eyes glowing with blue energy. With a scream he jumped into the air, raising Rikkazarik above his head and creating a lighting that followed him on his attack on one of the siege weapons.
"THOOOOORR!!"he screamed as he fell upon the machines. Lighting spread around him and a loud thunder could be heard when he impacted.
He looked around, eyes still glowing, shoulders shaking by the effort but with a smirk on his lips.
The catapult was damaged, but not destroyed. He and Aiden will have a hard work ahead but he will make sure that his friend found them already damaged.
Seeing the smoke go up, Jex curses his companions lack of patience and drops the bow from his shoulder to his hand as he begins making his way through the camp towards the command tent, hoping to at least buy his friends some time. He hears the battle cry go up to the southeast as well. At least that should split their attention. Subtlety never was his friends' strong suit.
Jex waits a moment for Faldric to lower his trousers and begin to relieve himself before springing forward, knife in a reverse grip and bringing it down sharply at his neck. The blade cuts deep and Jex twists it to make certain of the kill. Blood spurts up over the assassin, bringing a smile to his face as the mask and simple robes Matteo had taken to wearing become drenched in the red liquid. He eases the body to the floor, quickly patting it down for obvious weapons, frustrated with the lack of sharp objects Matteo had left him with. He whispers across at Didymus "Anything you can do to hide the body?"
Didymus is stood outside the latrine area, beyond the two soldiers who had been accompanying Faldric. He seems to wander off when Jex beckons, but soon appears besides the assassin in a cloud of dark red smoke. The devil waves a hand over Faldric's bleeding corpse and it vanishes.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Jex nods his thanks and looks at the guards, establishing a plan to get them both, he looks around for anyone else in sight that may notice if they fall.
Minutes begin to pass as Vark and Valaith hang in the air above Marcellus' encampment. It's not long before the mage grows restless, fidgeting with Pathmaker in his hands and snapping his head towards any and every noise that drifts up from the camp. They are too high to see anything in detail in this darkness, and it's clear that Vark is getting worried. "I don't like this... they've been gone for so long and I'm not even sure how they plan to let us know if they've found him... a-and I can't keep up this flight for much longer if I want to have enough magic to face Curor..." he whimpers. Looking over to where he assumes the invisible barbarian still floats he continues, "M-maybe you should fly down and see if you can find him. I'd go but it'd be pretty hard for me to be sneaky... you're invisible though."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Seeing the guards too exposed in the pathway, Jex shoulders his new weapons and sneaks off back towards the command tent.
Val starts to nod silently, then Vark reminds her that she is, in fact, invisible. "I will do that, Vark. Where will you go and how long will this invisibility last? I do not want to be stuck down there alone and visible. I am not easily hidden."
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
"I'll stay up here as long as I can, I can message you every few seconds so you can tell me where you're heading and I'll try and stay above you. If you find Curor then I'll just drop down on him, it's gonna get real loud real fast so it doesn't matter if people see me at that point. As for the invisibility well... I'm honestly not sure... I guess..." His face scrunches in thought as he considers possible plans B, C, and D. "Well I guess we'll have to readjust, maybe then I could message Aiden and tell them to start blasting before we hit Curor. Maybe that would flush him out... or maybe it would get Marcellus involved... that could be bad... uhm," The more he talks the more anxiety rises in his voice, until finally he shakes his head in frustration. "We're gonna run out of time. We've gotta do this now."
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"Do not forget to tell me before the spell runs out!" She whispers to him. "See you below, I will keep you safe." Without another second wasted, Val wills herself to fly lower towards the enemy encampment, looking for some sign of the commander's tent...
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Finding the command tent isn't difficult, given its size and central location. Three other tents of a size in between that of Sir Marcellus and the rank-and-file are pitched around the command tent like satellites. The deep blue fabric of the one to the east is particularly conspicuous to Val.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Val wills herself to fly closer to the tent, a feeling that was mutually exhilarating and alien to her. Once closer, she stops and hovers above the tent, her keen ears straining to hear anything coming from within, or anything from the soldiers lingering around the tent.
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
Floating invisibly above the deep blue tent, Valaith can hear a conversation from within.
"I counsel caution, Riddel," the first voice warns. "Much is at stake. It is paramount that the campaign to reassert control over Sheercleft succeed."
The other man replies with a snort.
"'Campaign'?! Curor, do not overestimate their chances. We are here to put down some would-be-hero renegades, nothing more. Between our combined powers, we will succeed, no matter what challenges may arise."
"Nevertheless," Curor counters, "I very much doubt that the villagers of Sheercleft will welcome us with open arms. We must be prepared to face and put down any resistance that they can mount."
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
"Found him, blue tent, talking to Riddel." Val finally responds to Vark's regular check in messages after several responses of "Nothing yet." Vark curses to himself at the news that Riddel is currently present with their target. A cleric is the last thing one wants to find when attempting an assassination. But Vark can feel the magic of his flight finally waning, they have no choice but to proceed.
"You should get to the ground. I'm going to come down too, I'll make cover." Vark messages again. Then he begins to chant low, barely a whisper on the breeze. But the breeze obeys that whisper, and it begins to fill below him with swirls of pewter grey. The cloud grows and thickens, expanding to engulf a swathe of the camp eighty feet across. Vark closes his eyes, feeling the magic of this conjured cloud take hold just as the magic of his flight fades. He pulls Pathmaker close to his chest, the crystalline wings almost as wide as his shoulders.
Then Vark falls.
Clouds rush past the sorcerer's face as he plummets like a meteor towards the ground. For a split second he forgets the pounding anxiety in his chest as it is replaced by adrenaline, freedom, the thrill of the wind through his hair. He twists like a dancer as he nears the ground, turning right side up and readying Pathmaker in his hands. The thick fog below him surges up to greet Vark ten feet above the earth. It gently cradles the sorcerer and lowers him silently to the ground. Now Vark is still. He listens, both for sounds of soldiers in the area but also for Curor or Riddel's voice.
After a moment, he breathes a message to Val. "Where are you?"
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
"Ha!" Vark hears a voice bark from inside the blue tent. "Those villagers are nothing but simple folk. They have no hope of resisting us. Our powers combined with the guile of Math Mathonwy will easily crush any opposition that they can muster."
"Still," a second voice cautions in a more measured tone. "I have seen much in my time as a wizard. I would not discount the potential for unexpected obstacles and challenges. We must remain vigilant and be prepared to face any situation that may arise."
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
"Right next to the tent." Val responds, but Vark only half-hears the voice being carried to his ears.
'Our powers combined with the guile of Math Mathonwy...'
What on Arden could Riddel mean by that? Is Matthew working with them? Playing both sides? Or do they still intend to enact some Mabinogi plot to harness the power of Asmodeus, not realizing he no longer lies beneath Sheercleft? The familiar feeling of his thoughts whipping up into a storm fills Vark's mind.
He sends one last message to Val, "Get ready to charge." then he closes his eyes. Behind those eyes the storm rages. Around him the dense clouds begin to churn, and red sparks dance up and down Pathmaker. He lets his fury build and roil until finally it is too much to bear. Imagining the spot inside the tent where he just heard Curor speak, he focuses all that emotion into a tiny point and screams. The primordial sound is swallowed by the deafening BOOM which bursts out of the tent. The first ringing echoes of the concussive sound haven't even begun when Vark takes the point of Pathmaker and presses it forward through the tent, putting his whole weight behind it and charging into the space.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
Pathmaker spins through the air in a wide arc, parting the heavy fabric between Vark and his object of his aggression. The scene on the other side is one of chaos. Splintered pieces of table, tent pole and baskets litter the ground, along with the fragments of numerous smaller objects. A scribe lies motionless amongst the debris, blood flowing freely from his ears, and two other men have been blown across the tent by the concussive blast. Both are clad in the same dark blue as the tent, although one wears hooded robes and the other a chain shirt over his gambeson. The robed man has a long brown beard and a small stone slowly orbits his head, while the armoured man has slicked, black hair and blades hanging from his belt. Vark's spell clearly hit low and has knocked the two men off of their feet. One of the robed man's legs is twisted and bent at unnatural angles.
The Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - DM for Aiden, Bründir, Jex, Thurston, Valaith and Vark
The Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - DM for Alaris, Astrid, Caio and Shiva
Vark rushes in with teeth bared, an orcish marauder wrapped in Mabinogi blue. The small differences between the two surviving men are immediately obvious, and Vark makes a beeline for the one on the ground: Curor. With a snarl Vark stabs down twice in rapid succession. Curor rolls back and forth, avoiding a grievous impalement, but his crushed leg twists painfully with each jerking movement. Vark glares down, his eyes alight with crimson. "What did you mean the 'guile of Math Mathonwy'!?" he spits. Somewhere across the camp, thunder echoes his demand.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Vark Galestone | Half-Orc | Storm Sorcerer
Chronicles of Arden: Hunters - Caio Cypherien | Shadar-Kai | Inquisitor Ranger
As the concussive sound hits Val, she allows that ever present barrier of icy rage she holds at bay, gritting her teeth against the fury that visible from the foggy breathes. She rushes around the other side of the tent to find the hole cut by Vark. She bursts through, raising Rook over her head and slamming it so hard into the head of the man upon the ground that his entire skull is crushed down into the soft earth. As she raises it up, blood and gore clings to the weapon as she then turns her attention to the other man, still standing. Without a word, Rook swings in a wicked sideways strike, impacting hard with the man's torso, but his armor prevents it from being a deadly blow as Larkin's ghostly visage stands nearby with his own version of Rook held in his hands, prepared to assist Val's companions against an attack!
Valaith "Rimehand" Kalukavi - Chronicles of Arden
"That's our signal," Aiden says. He pulls his helmet onto his head and begins to fly, up and forward, until he's made it deep into the camp.
Chronicles of Arden: Sheercleft - Aiden Olrikson | Human | Tempest Domain Cleric of Thor
Hearing the thunder and seeing his friend taking to the skies Thurston nods and start spining Rikkazarik as fast as he can and he let it loose in an up direction, getting ready for the pull to lift him off too.
But the hammer doesn't lift and he just make a small jump.
"What? Come on buddy" he whispers in low voice trying to avoid being detected. "They need us"
He raises his hand once more, with the mighty hammer pointing towards the sky, but nothing happens.
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you are tired after blasting that gnolls back there... "
The hammer doesn't reply but Thurston can barely see Aiden now heading towards the heart of the enemy campment.
He felt silly, frustrated and worried. All at the same time. He looked down to the tents and noticed that some of the troops were wondering what was happening at their commanders tents.
"One job! you had one job!! you stupid ugly, bearded son of a goa..." he looked down to the catapults and, feeling his chest burning he made a reckless decision.
"Ok...rraaaAAAHHH!!"
He started to run, pushing his muscles as much as he could. As he started to pass around the tents he felt his heart pumping like a crazy horse in his chest, the legs started to complain but he put all of that behind him and kept pushing, he only had one chance and the others needed him.
Small cracks of electricity started to jump from his arms, from his legs, the camp around him turned into a blur, his eyes fixed on his goal, the catapults.
As he ran the electricity around him began to grew stronger, when he had covered half the distance a lighting was erupting from his body, his eyes glowing with blue energy.
With a scream he jumped into the air, raising Rikkazarik above his head and creating a lighting that followed him on his attack on one of the siege weapons.
"THOOOOORR!!" he screamed as he fell upon the machines. Lighting spread around him and a loud thunder could be heard when he impacted.
He looked around, eyes still glowing, shoulders shaking by the effort but with a smirk on his lips.
The catapult was damaged, but not destroyed. He and Aiden will have a hard work ahead but he will make sure that his friend found them already damaged.
PbP Character: A few ;)
Seeing the smoke go up, Jex curses his companions lack of patience and drops the bow from his shoulder to his hand as he begins making his way through the camp towards the command tent, hoping to at least buy his friends some time. He hears the battle cry go up to the southeast as well. At least that should split their attention. Subtlety never was his friends' strong suit.