[Nexus] Outside XXIX

[orb_of_blood]

[In the air]

Yep, it was meant as a threat, and considering his power, it's a real threat too. But Draaxar has nothing more to say, so continues flying, waiting for a reply. The same whiplash occurs again as he turns in the air for a second time.

Worried that he may be restricting Saer's breathing, the tail loosens the hold a little. That's probably not good as it's the only thing holding up Saer at the moment, and it's now threatening to drop him. But it allows him the opportunity to move around a little without getting cut.

[kitcatk8]

[In the Air]

The demon grit his teeth as he was flung once again, but didn't otherwise cry out. The dragon was trying to anger him. Why he wanted to bring Saer's rage...Well...Saer had made a lot of enemies in his lifetime. It wasn't something he readily pondered over. But the whole thing was starting to get tiresome, truth be told.

He was grateful, at least, for the loosening around his middle. With a faint wince, he glanced down to see the sliced, red ruin of his second shirt in approximately 24 hours. At least where it wasn't black/brown from being burnt. He was more than strong enough to keep himself in place. But really, if he fell, he wasn't terribly concerned over that either.

Rolling his eyes up to look at Draaxar, he let his tone convey how annoyed he felt. "Are we quite done?"

[orb_of_blood]

[In the air]

As long as you understand the consequences of upsetting Nixa. Or me.It's a bluff. He doubts Nixa will be communicating with him any more as she wouldn't want to upset Saer, but he wants to make Saer understand his abilities. But yeah, we're done.

The dragon releases Saer without slowing and landing. he just drops him in mid-air over a nice patch of relatively sharp-looking rocks next to a quiet road. Goodbye Little Demon! He calls, using his strong wings to fly away quickly.

[kitcatk8]

[In the Air]

The shirt was ruined anyway.

And Saer was perfectly capable.

But his scar was already flaring up. He'd undergone one full shift less than 12 hours previous. His body was not used to it as it once was.

Yet what other alternative was there?

With a teeth-gritted scream, Saer forced his wings, and only his wings, out his back.

With a harsh sound of tearing cloth, they exploded out of what was left of the back of another one of his good shirts (but they were all good, weren't they?), and struck downward in three quick successions to slow him enough so he could open them and simply glide down.

He went past the rocks, found the road leading back to the DFI, and glided to a field next to the path. The moment his feet touched the ground, the wings folded up and all but slammed into his back quick enough to force another creative curse out of his lips as he took a knee and brought his left hand up to curl gently over his left eye which was throbbing and burning like mad. Saer took in a few deep breaths, and at the last one, he exhaled very slowly, ending with a soft whisper. "Hells." The partial shift was kinder to his body than the full. If he'd had to undergo a second full shift...well...judging from the pounding in his head, he might not have made it.

Shutting his eyes tightly, the demon shook his head harshly, as if to shake away the pain. Of course, it did nothing. The throbbing would only fade with enough time to rest, and Saer spat out the word like it was a disgusting curse on his tongue, "Dragons."

If the point had been to make Saer afraid of Draaxar, it had honestly only made him despise him more. And not in the way he despised his old beast of a master. More in the way one would despise that annoying uncle that keeps showing up for holidays and eating all the best food.

Once he was certain the pain wouldn't force him back down to a knee, which took the better part of a half-hour, Saer slowly blinked his left eye open and growled. He stood and brushed off his slacks, ripped the rest of the shirt off and balled it into his hand. There was dried blood all over his white stomach and chest, but the wounds were gone.

Running a hand back through his tangled hair, a rumble still brewing in his chest, Saer walked back to the inn ((coming up next)).

[ThirdEmperor]

Field of Battle

Aaaaand Prometheus just kind of lies on the ground, smoking slightly as his nerves, muscle tissue and the rest of what little surviving body matter he has slowly dies.

Outside the Battlefield

"Nonsense. Bull****, even. Magtok and Ilpholin taking over AMEN will not in any way make it any more 'unified'. Everyone here has their own motives, their own desires that more often than not are unaligned or even contrary to the current leadership, and that will not change any time soon." The battlemage shakes his head at Kal's empty little speech, tone quite condescending as he presents his counter-argument to the devil. "You yourself admitted to having ulterior motives, and We posit that the real reason you are so set upon ensuring that Ilpholin takes over is not out of any true desire to help 'AMEN' in any way, shape or form, but simply because your ulterior motives align with hers.

Now let us consider the fact that you are not, to the best of our knowledge, even an AMENite, coupled with this newfound information that she is apparently a member of WATCHTOWER. You are both clearly in cahoots with Magtok, who shows himself at AMEN rarely enough, previously sabotaged our attempts at conquering Inside by shooting Gordon at a crucial moment and represents his own faction upon the Remnant Council. Thus, every one of you is highly suspect upon your own, more so when put together."

[Lady Serpentine]

Slightly to the side, another battle ensues. This one involves a lizardfolk who's trying to make her way over to Talinassa, dodging the chains for the second time. How annoying, they didn't seem to be giving up! As for the man who's already been caught, he's dragged backward, leaving a rather horrifying streak of bright crimson behind him. He's screaming in shock and pain, and this is causing the other three (two still behind the shielding spell) to run towards Talinassa a little faster, intent on not getting the same treatment themselves.

((Sorry for the delay, everyone... It was partly due to internet issues, partly because I simply wasn't inspired for Talnissa. ))

The man that was dragged backwards will get something of a respite, at least, as the heads of the chain-arrows in his legs fold up, and retract back into her arm.

Meanwhile, the other three slaves may notice that, while Talnissa's the remaining six chain-arrows are still chasing them, it's not really a very effective chase, as though the robot's mind isn't really on it, for the excellent reason that it's not.

What it is on is tapping the reserves of necromantic energy she has stored in compartments at various locations within her body, and using some of that to attempt to bring Flame's corpse back as a Bane Thrall, with the rest being used to try to speed decay in some parts of the two dead gnolls, and then reanimate them as Bile Thralls.

[Reinholdt]

Fields of Battle

Bravo, Gordon was worried that he was going to have an angry Raril after him after this, but with her recovery, that's not going to be a problem. However, now he has the problem of Ilpholin being back up, and he can't move from where he crashed.

However, that's not a huge problem. Gordon has many skills, his weapons which he used to bring down Magtok's mighty machine, his brute strength that nearly took Ilpholin out of the fight, and now at the last, one of the few things that he can do in dragon form that doesn't require moving very much, his magic.

Of course, Gordon isn't really good at magic, so that limits his opinions a lot. But he does have one spell down well, lightning. Gordon focuses, through that is getting harder as the poisons continue their work, and tries to hit her with with a lightning bolt.

The Glory Fields

If it's not one problem, it's another isn't it?

Well far be it from Ilpholin to stand still at least. No, she starts moving, though does get caught on the tail end by a nasty zap of lightning. I swear her hair is never going to be the same as her body reveals the tell-tale signs of electrical burns as its regenerative abilities concentrate on keeping her alive. Her torn up arm looks back to normal at least, even if the rest of her still needs patching up.

She moves and fires a web, right close to Gordon's side, intending to ride it while running down his side, her whip coming out just a bit. Not nearly its normal length. Something between the size of a large knife and short sword size. So she'll have to be awfully close for this, but just long enough to keep her from having to touch him personally. She intends to run down next to Gordon and slice into him with her whip the whole way down. Nothing special beyond sharp this time. It also has the convenience of getting her away from the front end where he breathes lightning and such all the time.

[ThePhantom]

Field of Battle

Trying to have things touch Gordon, not this time. Gordon turns on the shocking machine attacted to his armor, hopefully forcing Ilpholin back. After all, Gordon has something to do and distractions would make that harder.

As for what he is doing, he's reaching out magically for the core of the generator. The core is after all a very powerful magical gemstone, and he'll need the power boost for what he's planning. As for the rest of what he is doing, he closes his eyes, focusing inward.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Outside Trog's Tavern]
((I'm not going to quote everyone since I'm fairly sure you all know what you posted and it takes up a lot of space))

Drift, who had been quite busy trying to inconspicuously skirt the battle, gives Chez an angry glare. But Chez is a giant wolfman with frankly alarmingly huge muscles, and so would rather not have him turn on him in the middle of all this. So he draws the glowing green longsword and hesitates a second further. Damn, he knew everyone here...

Then the rush of slaves meet the group. The first few are knocked down by AM4s energy blast, and really they look as though they're going to be out for a while. But there are still more, and they attack. Granted mos of the attacks are a little hesitant and about half will be purposely aimed high or to the side, even despite the offered time off. For the most part, the slaves are not evil. ((In case it's lost, they are mostly attacking AM4, and a couple are at Chez and Kale as well))

From the swarm a shifting grey mass is visible for a fraction of a second, as Grendar continues to stalk his prey. Oh wait.... two elves? He watches his target, Sleet, release the other elf, the larger one who reeks of alcohol. Well... Kordak never said anything about him, and Kordak is the boss, but maybe he ought to take out both? Yes, that seems reasonable. From the mass of slaves he leaps, aiming a strong clout from a massive clawed paw at Kale's chest, snapping at his face with huge jaws.

Slightly to the side, another battle ensues. This one involves a lizardfolk who's trying to make her way over to Talinassa, dodging the chains for the second time. How annoying, they didn't seem to be giving up! As for the man who's already been caught, he's dragged backward, leaving a rather horrifying streak of bright crimson behind him. He's screaming in shock and pain, and this is causing the other three (two still behind the shielding spell) to run towards Talinassa a little faster, intent on not getting the same treatment themselves.

Also to the side, a burned Marty howls. Well, that was moronic of him! It just drew the attention of a small group of slaves! He probably has time for one last action before they reach him...

As if that wasn't enough, behind the slaves and the group of gnolls who are mostly just watching the scene, Kordak and two of his brothers still stand. Kremiir, hold. Save your spells, I believe we'll need them soon for our own protection. Obediently his brother lowers his hands, and together they all watch the battle in relative silence. Kordak slowly takes out his whip and rests it on his lap, a hand ready to scoop it up if need be.

Kale meets the wave of agressors with pure drunken violence, aiming to incapacitate rather than injure, slamming the pickaxe's handle into the gut of the first slave to draw into range, sweeping the second off his feet, the third receiving a fist-full of callused knuckles directly to the jaw*. No doubt Kale takes more than his fair share of bruises, cuts and scrapes during the dust-up, but I'd still wager that he deals more damage than he takes against the reluctanly aggressive slaves.

Grendar, on the other hand, represents a more serious foe.

Kale catches sight of the grey blur tearing it's way towards him mere instants before Grendar leaps, raising pickaxe to block the hyena's gnashing teeth but failing to account for the gnoll's claws, which tear right through the miner's flimsy vestments to cut deep into flesh, drawing both blood and snarl of pain.

*All actions merely attempted, of course.

[orb_of_blood]

[Outside of Trogs]

If Kale raised the pick-axe to block Grendar, then the gnoll may already have it in his teeth. If not then he promptly tries to snatch it away from the miner and snap it in two. He’d rather not wander back to Kordak after this bleeding from a thousand different pick-axe wounds.

The slaves that were not attacked as part of Kale’s aggression hold back and away as Grendar engages him. If they tried to help they might hit their Master, and that definitely wouldn’t bode well for them. Those that were are recovering briefly before attempting to re-enter the fray.

Sleet is directly behind. She’s trying to help while not killing any slaves, but already she’s stabbed one. Oops… She tugs the sword from the slave’s body and turns, almost dropping it when she sees Grendar and Kale’s blood soaking his torn shirt. She breaks into a run. Gotta get there… but no, three more slaves step in to block her way.

The necromancy spell Talnassa’s attempting to cast may be disrupted by the slash of a scimitar across her front as the two shielded slaves reach her at last. The wizard hangs back a little behind the fighter. It- it’s not alive! It’s a machine! That means they can dismantle it without guilt! The realisation of this brings a relieved smile to her face as she raises her hands, scrolling mentally through her list of spells.

Drift notices Marty standing behind him. I mean, he’s not being attacked and he’s reluctant to enter the fray against his friends, so he’s on the outskirts. Oh… say, you wouldn’t know where the other girl is, would you? i think they were calling her 'Shada'? Maybe he’d get a reward for bringing in Shada? No… but after the package sent she’d be mad enough to come out anyways. Hopefully. Best ask just in case. He’s also hoping it’ll cover up the fact that he’s being about as unhelpful as he could possibly be right now.

The sweep of energy from AM4 catches the slaves completely off-guard and sends most of the ones who caught it flying backwards. Okay, well that’s served to upset some of the lesser gnolls, who are now moving slowly away from the robot. Kordak points, singling out four of them. A few spell-casters buff them before the order for the slaves to withdraw is given, and the gnolls set out in their place. Walk? Bad idea. Run? Less time to get hit and they’re lower to the ground. The first few drop to their paws and rocket towards the automaton, and the others follow suit a few moments after.

AM4 may have… oh, roughly time for one last quick action before the first gnoll leaps in a fear-driven flurry of teeth and claws.

Chez’s grenade explodes, sending a wave of tear gas over the area of the battlefield around him. Suddenly the slaves are doubling over, hacking and coughing. However, despite their own problems, I’m fairly sure Chez would share them as he’s standing in the middle of it too.

[Hattish Thing]

Outside, Trog Field

Marty turns to Drift, pistol drawn. ...Why do you want to know? Why aren't you helping?! Poor Marty leans on his rifle. He glares at Drift, mistrust in his face.

[ThirdEmperor]

Outside of Trog's

The gnoll should indeed have the haft of the pickaxe held in it's teeth, but it's a sturdy instrument meant to stand up to years of usage, not some easily broken twig. Although Grender might be able to break it, doing so is easier said than done. And Kale isn't about to let go anytime soon.

Despite the shock of his wounds, the four burning lines of pain torn across his chest, the blood pouring from said injuries, Kale manages to keep his hold upon the pickaxe, Grendar's attempts to tear it from his grasp only managing to pull him sharply forward... And into kicking range.

The gnoll might suddenly find a knee slamming into it's fur-covered gut, Kale attempting to use the pickaxe between the gnoll's jaws as a handle to pull the beast downwards, into the kick.

[Reinholdt]

Field of Battle

Trying to have things touch Gordon, not this time. Gordon turns on the shocking machine attacted to his armor, hopefully forcing Ilpholin back. After all, Gordon has something to do and distractions would make that harder.

As for what he is doing, he's reaching out magically for the core of the generator. The core is after all a very powerful magical gemstone, and he'll need the power boost for what he's planning. As for the rest of what he is doing, he closes his eyes, focusing inward.

The Glory Fields

He may have surprised her once with that, but not twice. She expected to be shocked in such a manner. Fortunately for her, she's using the slicing part of her whip to attack and touch Gordon. Something which has been shown many times previously to have electrical properties. The electricity Gordon uses now funnels through and recharges it, as happened once before in this fight, but hardly ever gets to Ilpholin nor stops her as she runs down his side.

Hopefully that will prove conveniently distracting.

Ilpholin stops when she reaches the end of the line, close to Gordon's rear flank, her other arm repaired by now. She's looking much better when she jams the last of the lollipops into her mouth.

[Mina Kobold]

[Outside of Trog's]

AM4 sees the approaching Gnolls and initiates a standard defensive pose just as the first foe hits head on, knocking the automaton off the ground.
While clumsily adjusted for the machine's vital points, the defensive stance saves AM4's glowing "heart" from the first attack and lets the fallen robot send a punch at the Gnoll's rib.

However, superhuman strength will most likely not give AM4 an advantage against the nonhuman foe or it's allies.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

Ah, the wonders of walking through nature on a date. Such a wonderful feeling.

The couple in question, after walking from Mallside, are currently here. Myrmidon, a man that has been changed many times over from various procedures. AJ, a winged woman who remembers almost nothing before waking up at Umbrella.

Maybe not the most obvious couple in the world, but that's okay. They seem pleased with each other.

AJ looks at her surroundings with wide eyes, taking everything in. Wow...it's so beautiful...

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of Woods

"Yes, it is." Myrmidon happens to be rather cheesy at the moment, though AJ might not notice- he's staring at her, not the scenery. Myrmidon probably hasn't let go of AJ's hand, and might have tried adding his other arm into the hand-holding, sandwiching AJ's hand between his own. If AJ showed any sign of displeasure, though, he'll let go immediately.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

AJ doesn't notice what Myrmidon's attention is on. Though, if she did, she'd probably blush a little. She shows no signs of rejecting the double-hand holding. In fact, when he initiates it, she smiles a little. She likes it.

After a little while of walking, AJ comes to a stop, looking into the trees. Hey...do you see that? She points up into the branches. If Myrmidon looks, he may notice the outline of...something. Hard to tell what it is. Could be a person. Or maybe a rather large verity of squirrel.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of Woods

"Yes, I think so. I can't make it out very well, though; what do you think it is?" Myrmidon's upper arm nearly breaks away from the hand-holding, but he suppresses the instinct to draw his shiv pretty quickly.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

AJ shakes her head a little. Not sure.

Then the figure moves. And a figure it is. It stands up, revealing itself to be humanoid. I say humanoid because this motion reveals that it has wings. It raises a hand up, and a flash of green light appears there.

Huh. That's...odd... AJ doesn't seem scared, but she isn't exactly running over to say hello, either. If Myrmidon's paying attention, he'll notice that her muscles are tensing up a little. In case she needed to move fast.

At that point, sounds can be heard from ground level. Sounds kind of like...armor. Footsteps. People were coming this way. Not a hurried pace, so they weren't running at the couple.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of Woods

"Think they're hostile?" Myrmidon has noticed the tension, and suspects they're from AJ's homeworld, but has no idea what that might mean- maybe they want to give AJ an award or something, but they might also accuse her of desertion, cowardice in the face of the enemy, or something else.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

AJ moves just a bit closer to Myrmidon, still holding his hand.

Not sure. Probably should wait and see.

Finally, about a dozen figures come into view. They all wear armor that is almost the same as AJ's, if a little newer and shinier. They all carry spears, with a sword at their waist. And they all appear to be well trained and disciplined.

They march closer to the couple, then move to surround them. As they do, AJ turns a little so that her back is against Myrmidon's, wings out a little. She figures that'll be good so they can watch all the soldiers. She still holds his hand.

Once the soldiers reach their positions, they come to a halt. Then, to AJ's right, and Myrmidon's left, two soldiers move to allow a person into the circle. It is a woman with red hair tied into a bun at the back of her head. Her wings are mostly black, with the bottom edge being white. She wears much fancier armor that is decorated with a lot of red and gold. Her expression and stance carries an air of command to it.

For the moment, she simply stands and watches the pair. Her attention is mostly on AJ.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of Woods

OK, so group of mysterious armed and armoured chaps who aren't very talkative? More likely to be hostile than benevolent. Myrmidon lets go of AJ with his upper hand and takes out a crude knife from his rucksack. It's merely a sharpened piece of steel with leather wrapped around one end to make a handle, and Myrmidon knows it can take out a dire rat, and thinks he could take out a human with it, but a group of armoured, spear-armed strangers? Well, he'll give it a go- AJ's at risk, after all- but doubts it'll do much.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

The red-haired woman sees Myrmidon draw the knife and raises an eyebrow to him. You're a brave one, aren't you?

She turns her gaze back to AJ. Captain Arianna Junrin. You are under arrest, by order of the Burung Military, and of Perintah herself. You are being charged with treason, desertion, disobeying your commanding officer, and aiding enemy forces. We are to take you in to prison, where you will wait for your fate to be decided by trial.

AJ blinks a few times, confusion spreading across her face. Wait...what? Who are you? What are you talking about? I have no idea what's going on here.

That is a terrible defense. The woman sighs and shakes her head a little. I had expected better of you, AJ. She nods to another soldier, who lowers his spear, pointed at AJ. Don't make this harder than it has to be. One way or another, you're going to be returning with us.

AJ takes a half step back from the spear. She swallows, some fear starting to show through her expression. Her eyes dart around, trying to come up with some means of escape. She still holds Myrmidon's hand.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Woods

"Ariana crash landed here a while back, and awoke remembering only her name. I can vouch for this, and there's others who can as well." Though Myrmidon doesn't know where they are at the moment. Myrmidon continues clutching his crude knife, though he's trying to squeeze Morse code onto AJ's hand. If she knows it, he's telling her to fly and leave him.

He's regretting having his secondary heart removed now, along with his other redundant organs. So much harder to stop somebody when you don't know where to stab them to make them die. Although his internal organs are different enough from the standard that stabbing his heart is harder than it should be- it's behind, rather than in front of, his lungs.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

Unfortunately, AJ does not know Morse Code. In fact, the pattern of squeezing doesn't really register as anything other than squeezing to her.

The woman sighs again. Even if that were true, it still does not change what she did. And that is why we are here.

I don't want to hurt either of you, but I will. Because I am not leaving without her.

AJ's eyes narrow a little. Something clicks in her head. I...I know you...

The woman looks to her and nods. Yes. I am your commanding officer. General Arahan Am.

AJ gives a short nod. Yeah...Arahan...

Arahan looks to Myrmidon. Are you really going to fight all of us?

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of the Woods

"If I must, then yes." Myrmidon has a determined look upon his face.

He also examines the armour- is it made of large plates, rings, chain, etc, and are the helmets open-faced, or do they have a visor with eyeslit/plastic eyeshield?

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

The armor is plate and leather. The helmets have open faces, but they surround the head, leaving only the face open. Arahan herself wears no helmet, though her armor seems to have some mail on it.

Arahan closes her eyes and shakes her head. Bad choice, sir. Especially since, based on the fact that the two of you are still holding hands, AJ really wouldn't want you to get hurt.

AJ's eyes flicker to Myrmidon for a moment. He should be able to tell that Arahan's statement was true.

What...what would happen if I do come?

We leave here immediately. You get locked ina prison cell for however long the trial lasts. And then...then we see what happens there. Something in Arahan's voice catches a little at the last part. But, it disappears quickly. If you don't come willingly, then we would have to force you. Which would end with you still coming, and a few people would be injured.

AJ sighs, then turns to face Myrmidon proper. Myrmidon...I...I have to. I don't want you to get hurt...and I really don't think we could beat them.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of Woods

"Fine. But I'll come and find you, no matter what, OK? Can I come as well?" Myrmidon would like to- it'd make breaking AJ out easier, after all.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Edge of Woods

Arahan shakes her head. No, you cannot. And if you try to follow, we will take action.

AJ's eyes start to tear up slightly. Myrmidon...I... She pulls him into a tight hug.

Please don't do anything crazy. I don't want you getting hurt.

She lets go of him, obviously sad. Then she looks to Arahan and nods a little. I'm...I'm ready.

[Earl of Purple]

Edge of Woods

Myrmidon will do something crazy, and he knows it. So he doesn't say anything. He does hug back now, though. He'd rather die rescuing AJ than living to a fine old age always wondering what would have happened had he tried. Though he'd prefer to live to a fine old age alongside AJ.