[Nexus] Outside XXX

[Beans]

[Forest Near Hive] ((Because there are exactly infinity forests in the Nexus))

It's two humans who come along; both are middle-aged and wearing fairly standard hunting gear; each has a shotgun over his shoulder.

Seskila looks at Adam.
I'll take the one on the left.

[Hattish Thing]

Blackdust Camp

Pyrus grins. He tells her, I'm not sure...haven't been here long. Where do you want to go? We can do whatever you want Kestrel. He adjusts his glasses again before placing his arms around her again.

[Mindfreak]

[Forest Near Hive] ((Because there are exactly infinity forests in the Nexus))

It's two humans who come along; both are middle-aged and wearing fairly standard hunting gear; each has a shotgun over his shoulder.

Seskila looks at Adam.
I'll take the one on the left.

Forest Near Hive
Adam nods, and will wait for the humans to come into the right position...
And then he'll drop and impal the one on the right with his armblade, right through the man's throat and spine, hopefully killing him quickly.

[Beans]

[Forest Near Hive]
The other human starts running; Seskila hits him with a venomdisk, downing him. She scuttles over and cuts his throat.
And now, of course, it's looting time! They'll pick up a few hunting knives, some clothing items, and a few doodads like lighters and so forth.

[Rebonack]

[Thessaloniki Museum of History]

Silence.

For a time, at least.

It's crazy how quiet Eighty is despite her size. Ever now and again she seems to intentionally thwack her tail against the wall to make some racket. To provide some warning that she's approaching. Otherwise she's as silent as a hunting owl on the wing.

Then.

Voices up ahead.

Sounds like people arguing over something...

Should Sammy look around the next corner he'll see a trio of men with a stack of paintings they've pulled off the wall sitting near them busily arguing over whether they should continue looting or get the hell out of the building.

[Allen's Winging It!]

It's an urban setting.

There could be a sniper set up in pretty much any building nearby. But given the fact that the Legion broke in so suddenly people are probably still scrambling to get into position.

The soldiers seem awfully relaxed...

Just walking into that building...

"Weren't you listening to the briefing?" one fellow inquires of Allen.

[Bath House]

Throwing daggers at eyes!

Part of the problem with aiming at such small targets, especially against an agile foe, is that it takes only a slight movement to deflect such an attack. With just a turn of the head the dagger shudders harmlessly off the Wyvrn's helm.

The beast whips around again, aiming to clobber Wendy in the face with the side of his tail. Though at the last moment, anticipating that the warrior will probably duck, he lashes out with a vicious low kick as well.

As for Leeh... one of the weapon-pods on the Wyvern's back trains on him and *PHOOMP!*s a grenade in his direction. Maybe a slow approach wasn't such a wise plan?

[Slaanesh Mercs]

As the Wolfen darts through the breech Sixteen briefly trains her mini-gun on her foe as she closes. Given the weapon's rate of fire it'll still manage to spew innumerable rounds at her before she gets into striking range.

As Razorfang nears the gun snaps back into its rest position and Sixteen rears up, aiming a pair of high slashes at the Wolfen with her hand-mounted vibroblades. Ducking under the attack wouldn't be terribly difficult and Sixteen seems to have left herself open with the sweeping strikes.

"This is an unfortunate turn of events," the Wyvrn comments in a rather neutral tone. "I believe it would have been pleasurable working with you."

[Murska]

Thessaloniki - Near the Palace

Someone wandering into the plaza? The explosives are primed and ready... ah, but the sniper signals it's only a hapless civilian, who's soon led into a shelter away from the battle.

Elsewhere, the invaders continue advancing, but this area is clear for now.

And they wait.

[Lord Magtok]

Sevran's sword is deflected by Haz's gun, but he manages to flick the blade horizontal so it merely skitters down the barrel. As metal meets metal, his blade flares into a nova of glorious white light. Might daze Haz for a few moments. But Sevran himself seems unaffected. He raises his sword for another strike but before he can make it, he is kicked out of the way. He staggers back a few steps, giving the two MagClones time for their little switcharoo. Roosevelt and his knife are met with the fixed grin of Sevran's bear-shaped helmet, his red eyes sparkling behind it. In the time it took them to trade places, Sevran has regained his balance. He has the advantage of reach, and he's not about to waste it. He picks up a third chakram off his belt and hurls it at Roosevelt, hopefully disarming the burly MagClone. Even as the chakram leaves his hand, Sevran darts in a step with his sword extended, slashing low at Roosevelt's leg in an attempt to cripple him.

Meanwhile, Moon Called certainly isn't giving the pair any breathing room. After crashing into their cover, she picks herself up and hefts her blade so it sits on her shoulder. With a cry, she spins and uses the momentum to swing the massive sword at the position Haz is about to occupy. He's certainly welcome to try to parry it with his new sabre, but the force of the blow might just end up knocking the sword from his hand.

Well, there goes Roosevelt's left arm. Hopefully the other clones back in the MagCave can repair the damage that's been dealt to it, but I doubt it'll be up and punching things again for a while. His leg's a bit of a bloody mess, too. I doubt he'll be doing much more to-

Whoa, holy fudge, Roose! They probably would've accepted a peaceful little surrender at this point, you don't have to drop the knife and swing your goddamned chakram'd arm at the smelly elf!

Meanwhile, Haz isn't doing an awful lot better. He's not resorting to such desperate gambits, not yet anyway, but things aren't looking too bright. He only just manages to sidestep the massive blade, slashing clumsily in response while Moon's blade is down, to dissuade her from swinging low and taking his legs with that enormous claymore-on-steroids.

[Hattish Thing]

[Thessaloniki - The Wall][/B]

First up, the laser. It begins melting a hole through the wall. It'll take a little while for said laser to melt a hold through said wall. Probably going to get distracted by the guy with explosives first.

The laser deactivates as the tank is attacked. Another one of Lou've Inc's more deadly creations (And that's saying something!) is a top gun mode where two large belts of bullets attach themselves to the top gun/cannon thingamajig and start firing about twenty bullets per second. Oh noes! So, the top cannon turns around to face the man that just broke down the shields! (Crossbow guy, not Zefir.) The top gun starts firing the hail of bullets. The gun swivels around spewing bullets at high rates. Many of the bullets just bounce of walls or embed themselves into the dirt. As the gun turns the torrent of bullets fire even to the area where the three magclones are being steadily smushed. The combatants in that area might suddenly find a whole bunch of bullets firing at them. (Cue Matrix duck!) Eventually the gun faces the crossbow figure and he'll have to evade the vast wave of bullets. (Hide behind a house?) Of course, the tank will eventually run out of those bullets, so if crossbow guy can find a safe area while the tank spews bullets he'll be able to strike the tank as it's on cooldown.

[The Wall]

Well Heat seeking rockets are a small problem for Zefir. He will grap into his bag throwing a small device that copys a heat signal, hopefully dragging most of the rockets away. In the last moment he jumps away to escape the last incoming rocket, which leaves a hole where Zefir just stand. Luckily the boy was gone before the impact. Wherever he went zefir was distracted.

The fact Zefir didn't hide faster is due to the sheep flying behind the tank. He need to direct the sheep into the back of the tank looking for any obvious weaker point. Since the shield is gone the sheep should hit. If so it will explode, rather larg for a device of it's size. The explosion is able to destroy normal tanks.

Explosive sheepies? Marciano recently added some anti-sheep shields. Nah... The explosive explodes! (Obviously). This tank is no normal tank though! The plates are designed with a special alloy. The explosive does blacken the metal though. The tank is practically invincible! Your best bet would be to destroy the various guns on the behemoth of a machine and then get close with a ranged weapon and fire in the small openings in the metal plates.

[Murkus]

Thessaloniki- APC

The Triplet is able to wrest the Oil of Summoning from Narahar. There's no sign on the bottle as to what it is, however. The sickle can be picked up without any obvious negative effects. "Because there's a demon bound into that sickle. My death unleashes it upon the mortal realm, at which point it will try to kill everybody for an hour, after which it is banished back to the Abyss." Narahar screams as the sword is pulled out of his arm.

The giant kneels down beside Narahar, frowning in deep thought.

"Your lucky day, then," Teq explains to the priest, shortly before attempting to knock him unconscious with a blow from his sword's pommel.

Whether or not that's successful, Teq turns his narrow gaze on the squad's sergeant. "Is there any way to get him back to camp? Or shall we truss him up and leave him for his friends?" Teq glances toward the triplets and the bald woman who spoke to him before. Perhaps they have some bright idea.

Provided Narahar is unconscious, the giant will step out of the APC, glancing around for this bunker that they're supposed to assault.

[Mindfreak]

[Forest Near Hive]
The other human starts running; Seskila hits him with a venomdisk, downing him. She scuttles over and cuts his throat.
And now, of course, it's looting time! They'll pick up a few hunting knives, some clothing items, and a few doodads like lighters and so forth.

Forest near Hive
Adam actually goes for the ammo from their shotguns, putting all of it into his backpack along with a lighter.
He then kicks a dead human.
"Should we bring back their meat or their weapons or what?"
"I'd like to bury them if possible."

[Beans]

[Forest Near Hive]
Burial.
Their spidery legs make decent digging implements and they'll be able to bury the bodies in the soft soil.

[Mindfreak]

Forest Near Hive
Burial it is then!
Giving them a prayer to whatever god they worship, Adam will look at Seskila.
"We should keep moving..."

[Mr. Moon]

Museum of History

Sam follows along behind Eighty. As he goes, he glances around. The silence that falls is eerie and makes the boy nervous. The first time Eighty whacks her tail against the wall, he cries out and jumps a few inches. Raising his pistol, he aims it around at a few different shadows, before blushing a little and dropping his head when he realizes it was just the wyvren.
Stupid.

However, before Sammy can beat himself up too much, the sound of voices draws his attention. He looks up to see the three looters arguing over paintings.
Why the heck would anyone want to steal paintings?

Wrapping both hands nervously around the grip of his revolver, Sammy glances at Eighty for direction. Should he wait for her to act? Stay silent or follow her lead?

Where the Hell Is Allen?

"Well o'course I listened to th' briefin'." Allen huffs, as if there was no other possibility and the idea that he accidentally slept through it was just hurtful. "I just didn't catch all o' it. So I'd quite apre'tiat it iffin ya could repeat the impor'nt bits fer me."
Standing out here in the open probably isn't a good idea. Allen glances around and joins the flow of soldiers moving into the building.

Cluster**** at the Gate

Sevran is impressed with himself. His chakram managed to cut off the ugly bald guy's whole arm off, even from such a close distance! This was going pretty well, all things considered. Pretty soon he'd have this chump subdued and he and Moon Called would be able to turn their attention on something more important, like -

Oh Xun this man is using his arm as a club! Sevran staggers back out of the way of the make-shift weapon, raising his sword to act as a barrier. This was officially one of the weirder fights he'd ever been in. Still, the guy was at a bit of a handicap. In that his weapon was his hand and he was bleeding from his kneecap. A few more well-placed strikes should be enough to bring him down. Sevran twists and strikes at Roosevelt's arm-arm. "You should probably yie-" he begins, but is rather sharply interrupted as a hail of bullets slams into him from the side. The silver working of his armour flashes brightly, the light expanding to cover the ice elf in a shield of white light. It stops the bullets, but Sevran is still knocked off his feet with a cry of pain but mostly surprise. His sword drops from his hand in the process, landing with a clatter beside him.

Meanwhile, Moon Called has to take a moment to recover from her swing, so Haz has plenty time to make his attack. His sword hits, but bounces off her heavy plate-mail. Swords, after all, have never been terribly useful against armour. Maybe he has a hammer he could try using?

After Haz strikes Moon Called hefts her blade up, but in doing so manages to note the turret of the tank in the middle of the courtyard turning in her direction. Cursing, she reaches out with her right hand to grab Haz, throw him out from behind his cover and duck in behind it.

But poor Keval has to bear the brunt of the tank's fire! The crossbowman doesn't have the same enchantment on his armour that his teammates do, so if he gets hit with it...
Well. It'll be a very large red mess.

He sees it coming in his direction as it turns its focus from Sevran and Moon Called. No time to worry about them - he has his own safety to worry about. Quickly, Keval considers his options. He could try to take cover in the building he was up against, but there was a pretty good chance the door was locked so he'd just be wasting precious time.
Wait.
Fixed guns can't shoot below them, can they?

Holding his crossbow to his chest, Keval crouches low and takes off at a sprint. He strafes around in the same direction the turret is going, trying to get in near the tank and below the barrel.

[orb_of_blood]

Blackdust Camp

Pyrus grins. He tells her, I'm not sure...haven't been here long. Where do you want to go? We can do whatever you want Kestrel. He adjusts his glasses again before placing his arms around her again.

“I haven't been here very long either, Pyrus,” Kestrel says with a slight smile, remembering her abrupt exit from her master's empty cave, finding herself tangled in dusty rafters above a roaring tavern. “I'd be up for exploring the clouds of this new world, but you don't have wings.”

She gently steps back and out of his embrace, for the third time that day. “So instead, perhaps you'd like to meet someone?” It had to be done sooner or later, the introduction, and if it was sooner than Draaxar wouldn't be quite so impatient. That, and she knew that at this moment, none of her siblings were there. It shouldn't take very long, and successfully navigating it would mean she could keep Pyrus by her side with one less threat to him.

And that's all that mattered.

[Beans]

Forest Near Hive
Burial it is then!
Giving them a prayer to whatever god they worship, Adam will look at Seskila.
"We should keep moving..."

Their patron deity is something they call the Queen Mother, though all they really know is that she's somehow connected to the main reproductive center of a hive.
They'll find another three humans soon, one with a rifle and two with shotguns.

[UncleWolf]

Four Virtues of Slaanesh

Razorfang's image seems to suddenly blur when the chaingun opens fire, her speed increasing as she darts low and to the side. Even though she dodges most of bullets, a spray of dark blood tells Sixteen that she's made a hit. After the movement, the Wolfen tucks her head behind her armored arm and shoulder as she darts forward, through the hail of bullets. One passes through her ear and another two punch through the starmetal armor to dig into the muscle of her shoulder, but the rest are stopped by the thick plating.

Even though the force of the impacts must have been great, Razorfang's strength was greater, making sure she kept her path true. When the swords are drawn against her, she keeps her blade sheathed. Instead of ducking under and attacking like many bladesmen would have done, the Wolfen ducks low, spins to the side, and draws her saber to attack all in one smooth motion. Half-Fang Spin...

The movement should put her at the Wyvern's side, and the attack isn't aimed at Sixteen herself. It's aimed for the feeding mechanism on the mini-gun. The enchanted metal of her sword should be able to slice right through it with ease.

The Wall

And so the Daemonbunny of Caerbannog is hit with napalm!

...

Want to know what's scarier than a giant Daemonbunny lunging for your throat?

A giant Daemonbunny lunging for your throat....while it's on FIRE!!!!

With a SKREEEEEEEE!!!!! of anger and pain, the Daemonbunny's leap continues on it's arc to try and sink it's fangs into the Drake's neck.

Above the Sea

Captain Blood stands next to Eadin, blinking his eyes. "That...that should help nicely." He says, rather impressed before looking up at the sky and offering a small thanks to Fortuna, his goddess.

[Eadin]

Above the Sea

The hydriad grins, keeping her eyes on the water.
"One of the perks of being a sea goddess, Captain."

Her grin widens and he mentiones Fortuna."Luck, huh? Always useful at sea, don't want to run into family."

[Hattish Thing]

“I haven't been here very long either, Pyrus,” Kestrel says with a slight smile, remembering her abrupt exit from her master's empty cave, finding herself tangled in dusty rafters above a roaring tavern. “I'd be up for exploring the clouds of this new world, but you don't have wings.”

She gently steps back and out of his embrace, for the third time that day. “So instead, perhaps you'd like to meet someone?” It had to be done sooner or later, the introduction, and if it was sooner than Draaxar wouldn't be quite so impatient. That, and she knew that at this moment, none of her siblings were there. It shouldn't take very long, and successfully navigating it would mean she could keep Pyrus by her side with one less threat to him.

And that's all that mattered.

Pyrus nods happily. Oh sure! I'd love to Kestrel. Lead the way.

[orb_of_blood]

[Blackdust camp]

Kestrel hesitates.

What if she was wrong? What if Draaxar had declined so far he would try to eat Pyrus?

No.

That couldn't happen. It couldn't.

And even if it did, she would not stand idly by and watch as she had for past pets. It was different with Pyrus. He spoke to her with soft words. He let her sip his soothing energy; drink the sweet taste of honeysuckle and vibrant life. He was more than her previous pets, the mindless animals she had taken in and cared for (until they met untimely ends at the claws of her siblings). He was... well, he was Pyrus. She didn't know what that meant to her yet, but it sure meant something or else she wouldn't feel this concerned for him.

Eventually she nods slowly. As she still has mostly no idea where she is, it's more a matter of feeling her way towards her master via telepathic link. The old red dragon had stayed in the Nexus after a 'family crisis' that no-one had deemed necessary to tell her much about. Something about demons, she'd heard her angelic sister ranting and hissing.

“He used to be somewhat friendly. But... well, he's changed in recent months. Be careful of what you say to him. He won't hurt you, not while I'm there. I wouldn't let him. Still... well, don't do or say anything stupid, 'kay? Oh, and I'll need to fly us there. It's high.”

If he lets her, Kestrel will once again encircle his waist with her arms and drag them both into the sky with straining silver wings.

[Hattish Thing]

Flying!

Pyrus holds her hands as she lifts him, he leans his head back to smile at her. Heis somewhat tired from the runespell he cast. They do tdend to drain you after all. Not that he's complaining about flying. He loved flying! The young man caresses her hands and continues smiles. Is it a long flight?

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Bath House]

Throwing daggers at eyes!

Part of the problem with aiming at such small targets, especially against an agile foe, is that it takes only a slight movement to deflect such an attack. With just a turn of the head the dagger shudders harmlessly off the Wyvrn's helm.

The beast whips around again, aiming to clobber Wendy in the face with the side of his tail. Though at the last moment, anticipating that the warrior will probably duck, he lashes out with a vicious low kick as well.

As for Leeh... one of the weapon-pods on the Wyvern's back trains on him and *PHOOMP!*s a grenade in his direction. Maybe a slow approach wasn't such a wise plan?

A flicker in his eyes, and Leeh focuses in on the projectile flying in an arc towards him. Well...that's not good.

However, he does have an answer. He specifically prepared a few little tricks to ensure he wouldn't be completely helpless in a situation like this. Internally, parts of themselves rearrange themselves and quickly adjust the settings on one of these devices.

He'd initially planned to use this as an emergency escape device. A one-use only teleporter to get out of danger. Teleporters are kind of...draining...use a lot of power, and he's travelling light, a one-use only device was the best he could manage.

That thing would probably kill you, you know. You have a means of dying right now. Why bother pressing it? Because you're still afraid to die...

Leeh growls and ignores the voice in his head. He doubts this will kill that thing anyway, since they're so damn tough. He's not going to jsut let himself die. One way or another something will kill him off by the end of this, surely, but no point just throwing his life away when he still has options. He is here to help this city in its rebellion after all... "Have a taste of your own medicine." The device is activated, and falls out of his body. A small black box with a handful of dials...now useless.

And the grenade gets 'ported to a different position...so now it's flying towards the wyvern's back.

[ThirdEmperor]

The giant kneels down beside Narahar, frowning in deep thought.

"Your lucky day, then," Teq explains to the priest, shortly before attempting to knock him unconscious with a blow from his sword's pommel.

Whether or not that's successful, Teq turns his narrow gaze on the squad's sergeant. "Is there any way to get him back to camp? Or shall we truss him up and leave him for his friends?" Teq glances toward the triplets and the bald woman who spoke to him before. Perhaps they have some bright idea.

Provided Narahar is unconscious, the giant will step out of the APC, glancing around for this bunker that they're supposed to assault.

"Actually, I think we should kill him." The triplet holding the sickle says, finally speaking up. "If our goal is to destroy the bunker, I say the easiest way would be to throw this weapon in, execute him and release the demon upon our foes."

It seems like a fairly win-win scenario to him. If the demon destroys the bunker, they can simply retreat with the knowledge that they've accomplished their objective. If it fails, well, at least it'll likely weaken the bunker's defenses in the process. And either way they won't have to deal with the inconvenience of hauling a worthless prisoner around.

[happyturtle]

Four Virtues of Slaanesh and the Prisoner / Employer / New Convert Felis

"Do you have a spare rifle?" Felis asks Pet. He peers through the opening to give his sister's eyes sight of the battle with the wyvern.

Thessaloniki Palace

"Felis's Mercenary group had just helped a Wyvern breach the walls, but now they've turned on it." Vita tells her Uncle. "I do not understand these people. To turn allegiances so quickly - they must have no honour."

[Zefir]

Fields

Already reeling, the battlemage doesn't have a chance. He's summarily beaten unconscious, the constant barrage of punches keeping him from regaining enough composure to cast or even wage more mundane counter-attack.

And now Zefir's after the Objects. They aren't hard to sense. No less than four of them, four precious, precious objects, lying just out of view behind the stands. And the two battlemages nearby are already too occupied dealing with his spider-mine to stand in his way.

Fields- By the Stands

This time the one battlemage still capable of walking doesn't make the same mistake by moving, confident that he's well out of the blast radius. Instead, he closes his eyes and begins to cast, not moving a muscle, just whispering arcane words behind the quieting confines of his mask.

But he will have to move soon enough. Meaning that the spidermine must be removed by some means, and that he must call in one last favor from his dying companion.

The battlemage with the earth dagger run through his chest, already on the very edge of death and fast fading, just manages to raise his hand and wave at the spidermine. Not a fast movement nor a strong one, but it should be enough to draw the automated explosives attention. At least it's a quicker death than bleeding out.

Fields on the way to the Objects

Zefir doesn't need all four. Just one would be enough to cool down the urge feeling. He will indeed become faster as closer he get's to Prometheus and the Objects or maybe just the Objects. And then he stops. He can feel something. And this feeling seems to slow down the Object hunting. Something he has felt so mayn times that it was missing. He turns around watching at the scene with the spider mine. He grabs in his bag. Taking out a flashbang. He can't allow any spellcaster to survive and he throws the flashbang at the mage still awake (the one who starts casting).

Fields- By the Stands

The spider mine reacts as thought even if he first runs for the other mage he will stop in his movement and then make his way to the moving hand.

Wall above Four Virtues of Slaanesh and Felis

Zefir takes a look over the wall seeing that the tank isn't damaged, not even the guns near the point where the sheep explodes. Since his actions are limited now and he needs some time to breath he will take his shoulder pads of and throw them over the wall. They won't reach the tank with that, but they don't need to.

Then Zefir heads to the hole where Felis felt down. He looks down to see him not dead and fighting against the enemys with other guys.

"Hey boy? All OK down there?" he shouts down.

[Wall to the Tank]

Two shiny objects fall down the wall. Both hit the ground and stick in the earth for a moment. Then they start to move, becoming spider like legs. Both seem to crawl through the tanks direction.

[happyturtle]

Four Virtues of Slaanesh and Felis

Zefir probably can't see Felis, because Felis is looking through the hole in the wall. He might think Felis is dead.

Felis certainly can't hear the shouting of someone far away, not over the gunfire and explosions and screams of the wounded and dying. So Zefir gets no answer. Zefir is on his own.

(Also, Felis is an adult, not a boy. )

[orb_of_blood]

[Up in the air] - ((which is actually also the name of a film I've been told to watch by a hundred different people, and yet I still haven't gotten around to watching.))

“I don't know.” It's hard to tell when you aren't sure where you're headed. She knows it's this direction, but there aren't any mountains over there. That's odd, Draaxar rarely left the snow-hidden caves for fear of the humans. He would sneer and call them 'Inferior Species', but it was obvious enough that they sparked fear within him.

Which only meant she'd have to look after Pyrus while there. Her arms tighten around him protectively.

“I wonder...” she hadn't meant to wonder aloud actually, but as it had begun, she may as well finish the thought. “Have you ever met a dragon before? How are they treated on your world?” On hers a dragon was feared and hated no matter what they'd done. If their scales weren't gold, they were evil.

[Hattish Thing]

Up In the Air (( I haven't seen it either...huh.))

Pyrus continues to hold onto her. Dragons? I wouldn't know. There are no more dragons in my homeland. They went extinct. I've never met one. Which is why you are so fascinating. Your wings are very beautiful.

[orb_of_blood]

[Flying]

Well he should be holding onto her. They are high up, and her wings are the only thing keeping them up there.

She's proud of them, that much is obvious. When he compliments them she almost seems to swell with the pride. And rather than be even slightly modest she merely smiles and answers "yes they are, aren't they?" They're her joy. Not draconic in the slightest. Her siblings have huge leather brown or black things, horned and thin and sometimes very ugly or clashing with skin tones as they are on Lathe, or Rasha. But her wings are the same as they had been before the blood, spectacular white plumage. Her name is strangely fitting.

Buuut onto more serious topics. "If you've never met a dragon, then I probably should warn you not to stare at Draaxar. He doesn't take kindly to the, ahmm..." she couldn't name them 'lesser races' in front of him, could she? She'd never really believed anyways, it was more the old red dragon's saying. "Well, humans."

They approach the end of the forest, and begin to fly over plains of vibrantly green grass, broken in the distance by rolling hills. It's the highest of them that they seem to be heading towards. "Still, a land without us. How... depressing. Are you ready to meet one then? A true one, I mean. I'm more an imperfect spoof than a true dragon."

[Hattish Thing]

Up In the Air

Well, hes holding onto her tighter than strictly necessary. He smiles. They are. Warm and soft too. He then frowns. He doesn't like humans? Why? Kestrel...you're not imperfect...you're a beautiful creature.

[orb_of_blood]

[Gnoll battlefield]

Talnissa:

Well, that certainly sounds unpleasant, and more than vaguely evil. Although it can't really be said that the gnolls deserve much respect, even after death.

"You- would? You'd help them?" The spirit had done little to calm her, if anything making her more nervous, as it's a new type of magic she's never encountered before (and probably having someone else's spirit/soul attach itself to you may not be the nicest feeling). The words however had served their purpose.

"Thank-you. Talnissa. I will remember your name. May Andaress protect you more than she ever protected me." She flees the field. The blood, the death, and the very idea that she is free now is just too overwhelming.

And with that, Talnissa will find herself more or less alone. The ground is blanketed with snow, tinged pink in some areas, churned to slush in others, and speckled with dead and dying. Pleasant.

And yet she is alone. Most of the remaining gnolls have withdrawn to a hill, watching something obscured by their furry bodies, and snarling loudly, angrily. Whatever slaves haven't fled are under the watchful eyes of several other gnolls, driven together into three small herds and kept still with whips and blades, within view of Talnissa but not particularly close by. On a hilltop, completely ignored by just about everyone, AM4 battles the gnoll-mage. The rest of the group is hidden by the group (gang? gaggle?) of gnolls.

-------
Marty/Drift:

Well, Drift's already in trouble. Not sure what he did to get in that much trouble actually. He'd delivered Marty, Kale, Chez, even his Sleet just as they'd told him too. And yet he'd still been labelled 'traitor'. It was told through their movements, through Grendar's red, angry snarl. The gnolls had taken his eyes, they'd taken his freedom, and now, if they followed through on their threats - and they always had - they'd have his tongue as well.

So, if he's going to lose it anyways, may as well deserve it then. The half-elf was in the process of slowly freezing to death. He'd seen it happen to slaves before, those who cared too much about honor to resort to stealing blankets. Those who were too weak to keep them from being stolen from them. So Drift sweeps his blue, sensor-specked cloak from his back and tucks the heavy material over the half-elf. On the plus side, no-one was watching him, most eyes fixed instead on Kale and Kordak.

-----
Kale:

The greater gnoll is actually somewhat impressed. The elf kept his eyes level and his gaze defiant. He'd never had an elf stand up to him... ever. And to do so with that much courage... well, it had drawn a ring of spectators. The lesser gnoll group had swelled in size in just these few minutes, everyone keen to watch Kordak crush the threat.

And yet... he sweeps his eyes over the miner again. He possessed a certain sinewy strength, so uncharacteristic for race. Defiance, courage, and enough intelligence to have cornered him so.

Dangerous.

Suddenly Kordak wasn't so sure he'd come out of this unscathed.

Still, despite everything hanging on his next movement, the alpha hesitates. Could that feeling be... fear? No, no, I'm meant to be fearless and merciless. I'm meant to slay anyone who questions me without hesitation.

"I'll fell him here and now." A new greater gnoll, a smaller brother but with the same heavily-muscled build of Grendar, steps forward and notches an arrow to his twisted bow.

No! Can't have that! He'll take my title straight from me!

"I accept!" He snarls quickly, before the arrow is even aimed. Yet he still does not attack, but slides out his claws, adopts a defensive position - hind legs coiled to leap, facing Kale so that his razor teeth and front claws are ready to meet an attack - and waits.

-----
AM4:

Drift, who was already feeling in a rebellious enough mood, can't exactly answer for his current predicament - stuck in a ring of gnolls who would be more than happy to slay him. But upon hearing the request, so absurd in the middle of a battle, he gives a sharp nod and wishes the robot could hear his silent pleas to killhimkillhimandfreeusall!

The gnolls are surprisingly unbothered by having a robot that's already been deemed 'dangerous and unpredictable' fall into their midst. In fact, he's given barely a glance. They seem to have lost all interest in fighting, eyes only fixed on a different event before them.

Except for Kremiir. The gnoll-mage is awfully devoted, and that can't be a good thing for AM4. He's been delayed somewhat by his own fireball, the force of which sent him careening back and into a giant pile of snow. But he's up now, shaking the flakes from his mangy pelt and snarling. Non of his siblings step in to help. Because knowing Kremiir's insane pride, offering a helping paw would mostly likely end with it being ripped off.

A non area effect spell...

Well, fire didn't work, so he tries lightening instead, calling magic to form a crackling, vibrant ball of energy in his hands which he flings now at AM4.

-----

Wolf:
In another part of the battlefield, removed from most others, a wolf lies in a puddle of his own blood. Around him are a few broken, torn gnolls, each worse off than the last. At least now the others have left him there, deciding he was soon to die and not worth the time of killing outright - especially not with so important a battle occurring.

Which means he's mostly left in peace for the time he needs. In fact, the gnolls seem to have ceased all efforts to kill any of them (except for one last battle between AM4 and a greater gnoll). Something important must be happening...