Winds of Freedom

[Terraspaz]

A crashing explosion roars down the hallway, sending your four assailants scattering across the floor, the two children knocked out cold. As the echoes of the blast reverberate off the wall, slightly disorienting you, the two armored guards rise to their feet. As one hustles to the side to take cover in the hallway to your left, the other leans over the young lady, placing his hands over her. The girl draws in a sharp breath, looks around, and sees the still figure of the other wizard next to her. She shoots you an icy gaze, and rises to her feet. "Your head will ROLL, murderer!!!" Again she presses her hands together, and assails you with a wave of magical energies. Expecting this, you brace yourself, and maintain a hold on the spells around you. The wave persists, however, as the sheer force of the girl's rage propels the force towards, and through you. Just as it wanes, the gray haze that has slightly dimmed your vision dissipates, as the BlackLight is ripped from your core. "There he is! Take his head!!!"

The armored guard that you can see twitches with excitement, as he finally meets your eyes.

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Guard 1:
Move: Stand
Move: Move to north hallway

Guard 2:
Move: Stand
Standard: Activate Belt of Healing

Boy:
Unconscious

Girl:
Move:
Standard: Dispel Magic

MAP:

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[Dralnu]

Being stripped of the blanket of shadows made Kirion uneasy. It wasn't for want of defenses -- as his six duplicate images surrounding him provided ample amounts of it -- but rather how he could now catch the gaze of the people that he was attacking. Those eyes locking with his during this grim moment..

"You've made up your mind and I've made up mine. You should've listened." Kirion begins chanting as he points an index finger at the intersection of the scorched hallway. A small bead of fire shoots forth and strikes the battered floor, erupting in another ground-shattering explosion of flames. He then turns around an runs back into the treasure room.

OOC:

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Standard action explosive fireball in D20, move action back to E4.

[Terraspaz]

Chips of stone and mortar fly back towards you, scratching your face as the blast of concussive force races down the hallway, now filled with smoke and debris. The smoke parts, however, as the young woman dashes towards you in a blur of blue cape, and dark smoke. "I'll send you to the Nine Hells, you worthless insect!" A rat's nest of dark ribbons manifest, and gather in her hand. As she races towards you, she hurls them at your feet. As they begin to swirl and surround your ankles, your moment of panic is overriden by the observation that the ribbons have no weight, and thus can't be restraining your motion. With that, the shadows fade away to nothing.

The girl watches in horror as the spell fades back to the Shadow Plane, now only 40' away from you. "Just Surrender! P-Please just stop!" she cries. From the hallways, the sounds of yelling, and metal clanking echo.

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Girl Wizard
Move: Move 60'
Standard: Cast "Shadow Binding"

MAP:

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[Dralnu]

Kirion lets out a sigh as the shadows disappear from his feet and he looks up at the horrified girl. "No." Chanting a quick spell and raising an upturned hand, the wizard lets loose a ray of scorching flame at the girl.

If she still stands, Kirion shouts at her, "Damnit, girl! Is your life worth so little that you'd throw it away like this? I've warned you over and over: run!" Regardless, he turns away from her and begins loading more items beside him into his floating disc.

OOC:

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Standard action ray of flame, move action to pick up stuff beside me, free action drop it into the disc.

[Terraspaz]

TSSSEEEEEEERRRRR!!! The rays of fire lance out from your hand, connecting squarely with the girl's chest. She shrieks as she falls over, quickly dying. The fire burns at her robe, smoldering as the heat dissolves through her body, and the air. For a moment, it almost seems like the fire concentrates on her eyes, glowing a bright orange, before going cold forever.

You pile in several handfuls of the gems and coins, taking about half of the total volume of the room. The voices from the hall get louder, and then fall silent.

Tick Tock, Kiri.

Tick Tock.

[Dralnu]

Kirion's mind is abuzz with thoughts as he quickly shovels as many items of value into the floating disc beside him. They're calling in the big guns. You gotta get out fast. But you need to make sure you get out of here with enough cash. You don't want to do another mission like this one to make ends meet, right? Or you enjoy being a damned child killer?

His heart beat faster. His shaking hands snatched at the treasure around him at a furious pace. The wizard was dead set on looting until the most valuable possessions in the room were gone.

OOC:

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Double move action to grab stuff. The disc holds 900lb so I'll stop if it reaches its carrying capacity.

[Terraspaz]

The last full handful of gold and gems you can easily locate in the vault fall from your hands, into the growing mound with an audible clink. As the coins bounce, roll, and slide down the pile, you feel the magical strain on your hovering disk begin to shake, and grow tense. While the mound is still secure, there likely isn't much more that can be laid on the platform without risking its collapse. The rapid collection almost surely hampers the accuracy of your estimation, but there is likely a couple thousand worth of gold and gems laden on the pile. Combined with the ring liberated onto your hand, the pouch of magical dust, and Walter's ever-precious PocketKnife, this has turned into quite a profitable haul.

As you look down the hallway, the smoke from your ferocious attacks has started to cling to the ceiling, allowing a better view of the carnage. The charred, twisted bodies of the vault-watcher, two armored soldiers, and the two young wizarding students lay strewn about the floor like the laundry dropped by a running wash-maid. The blue cloaks worn by all five are stained and soiled with soot and ash, leaving them a mixture of black and gray.

The room is silent, permitting you to hear the sound of your own racing Heartbeat.

[Dralnu]

Finally satisfied with his plunder, Kirion turns his attention to escape. With a quick chant, he pops out of visibility and rushes down the hallway, trying his best to ignore the carnage of his own making.

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Standard action cast invisibility, move action 30ft.

[Terraspaz]

The pulse beating hard enough to be heard in your head has begun to subside. The edge of battle has begun to subside, as you skulk down the hallway. You approach the intersection, and see the hallways to the left and right, as well as the descent of stairs towards the research labs ahead of you.

MAP:

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[Dralnu]

Kirion is uneasy. What were his pursuers doing? The quietness was more disturbing than even the illusions that the cleric inflicted on him. To be alone with his crimes, to hear his fear of the uncertainty of what lies around the next corner.. At this point, the wizard would welcome the sight of an angry face with a big axe.

Kirion plunges his hand back into his spell component pouch and utters another spell, defying gravity with arcane ease. Now six identical copies of the wizard flies down the hallway with a floating bulk of treasure at their side, while his true self is masked by invisibility. He presses forward towards the main entrance, hoping to find a window large enough to squeeze through along the way.

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Standard action Fly, move 60ft. to C19

EDIT: Forgot to mention there's a floating pile of treasure that's visible along with the mirror images.

[Terraspaz]

The smoke from the battle begins to thin as you pass around the corner, mound of treasure clinking gently together, in remembrance of wine glasses and fine ceramics clinking together in the banquets of the East Wizard Academy. Has it really been two years... seems like just the other day? The techniques, the protocols, the style of attire... even the words of the now-adversaries seem so familiar from the training missions, the lecture halls, and even the very residence with other students within the academy. Being in such a familiar environment, yet now so drastically changed by the circumstances has not gone unnoticed by you. Once the chaos subsides, a more suitable time to reflect on these changes will surely present itself.

As you hustle around the corner, a thunderous voice booms from behind you. Shadow Bandit!" You turn around to see a small frame of a man dressed in a simple blue robe. No beads, no jewelry, no baubles of any sort dangle from his person. Indeed, the only distinguishing feature from him is a braid of light brown hair trailing down from the back of his head, just barely brushing against the floor.

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You recognize this man as Jonas Blackthroat, Head of the Southern Wizard Academy.

"This has gone far enough, invader! Surely you recognize we have you surrounded. I will give you this one chance to surrender to your knees, else I bring you there myself." The figure stands roughly forty feet away, though the distance is made difficult to estimate by the late morning sun streaming in through the stained glass windows, just behind you.

[Dralnu]

Kirion boiled with rage as he glared at the man across the hall. Jonas Blackthroat. He was the reason why Kirion was on the run; the bastard had set him up. The pyromancer idly hoped that he could've gotten revenge on the cowardly fool during this mission but now was not a good opportunity. Jonas was most certainly too prepared to deal with at the moment. It would have to be another time.

"Surrounded? You think in too few dimensions, my vertically-challenged friend." Kirion whips around to the stained glass windows behind him as he chants, firing a volley of four force missiles at them. If they shatter, he immediately leaps through and begins to fly away.

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Standard action Magic Missile at window, move action Fly 60ft.

[Terraspaz]

KSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!! The rocket of light arc through the air towards the window, filling the hallway with a brief radiance of reds, blues, greens, yellows, and everything in between as the light reflects off the glass. As the collide, the window shows cracks radiating outward from where the collisions occured, before exploding outward, sending colorful glass fragments out into the courtyard, similar to the parades in the Festival of the Hunt that litter the streets with confetti every year. You duck your head and dive through, as a pair of arrows whiz past you, clattering against the floor. You feel the magic bindings forming the disc flicker as it rises over the ridge of the windowsill, and settle back down as it hovers 2 feet above the ground.

You look behind you, and are surprised to see no figures in the newly created doorway giving pursuit. As the air rushes around you, you begin to discover an even more surprising sound faintly echoing from the direction of the main gate. "...Dawg, I told you, I'm here to see Professor, Ehm... ...Y'know, the one with the beard, and the ears?"

MAP:

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We aren't strictly in initiative right now, so if you have to move, say 65' over 60', that's fine.

[Dralnu]

Unwilling to part with his hard-earned spoils, Kirion flies at a fraction of his top speed in the northwestern direction, allowing his sluggish floating disk keep up with him on the ground below. That's it, Kiri. Almost home-free. The nightmare is almost over. Upon turning the corner and noticing the guards conversing with a familiar face at the entrance, the wizard gains a cocky grin. "Hey, Walt! I suggest you duck!"

OOC:

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Move action 30ft. northwest to the gate, standard action scorching ray.