Reflections (Open)

[Beast Master]

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A wave of brilliant energy poured out in a pulse of fury that the Shub was unable to ignore. It literally exploded with a violence that Airo had been unprepared for as she went spilling back onto her buttocks, unsure of what had just happened. When she stood up, she could see that the Shub, the one that had been after her, was now in about fifty pieces.

And the pieces were starting to form more, tiny Shubs…

Down the hill, Jericho wasn’t fairing much better. The biggest of the first three Shub splits was now all over him, just as the first, largest one had been when he had saved the little pale woman from it. His xiphos carved huge gashes in its body as he tried desperately to find some sort of finite point in its ability to heal itself.

Then, of course, there was the explosion from behind that showered him in Shub parts. Jericho turned about and looked, watching as the chunks of Shub formed more and more and more tiny Shubs, some beginning to reconstitute into larger Shubs, some attacking Jericho, and still yet others heading up the hill toward the mage. It was like the spices sprinkled on his shit soup. Jericho kicked tiny, tiny chunks off of his ankles while trying to bat the attacks of the bigger Shub away, while looking for a strategy to beat a foe that knew no pain.

Admitting to himself that the smaller monsters were easier to deal with than their bigger counterpart, he began trying to come up with a way to dispose of them all. First he thought about the mage blowing the other up. Then he thought about her spilling lava from the nearby lava pulls and kicking all the little ones in it…but ultimately, his best option seemed to be to run.

The only problem with that was that Jericho Almados had too much pride to run…

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[Deleted]

Malificar had sat on his makeshift throne, tired of sitting and waiting. His hair was free, flowing about his shoulders, as his eyes stared into the black glass of his throne room. His robes swayed about effortlessly as he finally stood a sneer on his lips. It had been a while since he killed something.

Stepping out of the throne, he went and looked about from his tower. His fortress walls circled it, looking menacing. His eyes scanned the horizon, seeing the volcanic wastes of the end of the world. Some day, he will find a way to make this mountain erupt, but it was not today.

As he was about to turn, he saw flashes of light in the distance. What was that? Magic? Someone was up here? Were they headed to the Temple? His sneer slowly changed into a smile. Visitors...

He jumped from his tower, his body ceasing to be, as he fell. He sank into the ground, and popped up a few yards away, before materializing into solid form again. With swiftness beyond that of an athlete, he ran to the signs of life. His hair blew in the breeze, his mind raced on who could be so foolish to risk venturing here.

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Arriving at the battle, he saw a strange sight. A women, casting spells to blow up a Shub. Another, seeming to be shooting arrows at various pieces. And a Man, large and strong, battling in a way that showed he was foolish. He had battled these things before, Shubs. Fire was the one thing they feared, and Fire was the one thing he did not.


He walked towards the largest of the creatures, not even paying attention to the other combatants, letting them do as they will. Dipping his hands into the ground, he brought up some of the molten lava that they were sitting on. Then, he tossed it at the beast, before grabbing another hand full, and doing it again. Lava should be more then enough to deal with this Shub.

[Airo Maldorn]

The blow back of the spell’s energy was enough to knock Airo to her rear as she landed hard on her tailbone with an audible ‘umph.’ Ludo whimpered softly over the patter of exploded Shub across the snow. Airo winced in her own pain as her rear end throbbed with each beat of her heart. Even though there were pieces of creature falling down around her and her poor pup, they seemed to be coalescing into tinier versions of its former glory.

Twisting her face in a disgusted grimace, Airo flicked a few of the newly forming Shubs from her vicinity as she leaned back on to her back and threw her feet back to where they nearly touched the back of her thighs using that to spring her to her feet. Once standing on a good footing, she turned her attention to finding her weapons. Ludo lifted his head and attempted to wag his tail as he watched his owner scoop up the blades before running to his defense. As she moved across the now melting snow, she skidded to a halt before a reconstituting Shub that was about the size of a human head. Arching an eyebrow and not giving it a chance to coalesce anymore, Airo took two steps back away before taking a running start at the creature, as her left foot hit the ground her right swung forwards and made a connection to the shub launching it quite brilliantly into the sky. Hoping more for distance rather than height Airo watched tentatively just as a person. Man, maybe appeared running into the battle like he was late for some sort of appointment in the crater below.

“Ludo, no, stay.” Airo commanded as she stopped a few feet from the crater’s edge. In amazement as the man who appeared reached into the open lava pool and began to lob molten rock as if it were icing in a food fight. The shubs were none to fond of this development but even so, Airo was thankful for the assistance. Turning away from the edge of the crater she cast her gaze about to the multitude of even smaller shubs she created. Casting her gaze from Ludo and the shubs, she furrowed her brow as she watched in quiet amused fascination at the short crimson haired woman dancing between shub attacks and her successful vanquishes.

“Care for a hand?” Airo offered since she recognized she was completely responsible for the multiplied mess she created. Moving away from the crater’s edge she attempted to squash a few beneath her boot heel seeing as how her magic was a little too volatile for the situation.

[Beast Master]

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Reflections…

Part II…

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Caldrea, Sunderbran
Second Day of Estria, AoS 4010

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Jericho huffed, the xiphos arcing around again in wide strides, cutting small Shubs in half, rending enormous hunks out of the big one, and otherwise just slowly making him tired. His weapons were completely ineffective, and it seemed that every time Airo made a move it only seemed to amplify the problem. The little red head was back in the fight now, running around with her bow and arrow, shooting arrows into smaller Shubs, and being oblivious to the fact that, while it slowed them down for a few seconds, they just seemed to move themselves free of the obstruction and bounce back into the fight. The little ones littered the battlefield like the disembodied limbs / parts of destroyed foes…the only problem was that they were already starting to make bigger creatures once more. Even the large one, the biggest one left, was starting to pick up its smaller counter parts for its own gain.

Jericho cursed.

Years of warfare and strife had brought him to pride himself on his ability to fight. There were few foes who could best him, and they were few and far between. He even ventured to say that they would admit that he was now small bite to pull off. This creature, however, hand rendered his weapons and tactics completely ineffective. There was nothing that he was doing that was doing any real good. Sure, a lopped off tentacle slowed it down for a second, and he had pushed that one into a lava pool and destroyed it, but the big one…it just kept coming, and with no way to break it down in size without possibly creating hundreds of smaller ones, he couldn’t see any way to destroy it. The battle was fruitless. Hopeless. Without reason. He really couldn’t see any way for them all to escape. Jericho resolved himself to staying behind and keeping the attention of the big one, this mind processing the hopelessness of the situation when Airo promptly stomped one of the small creatures only to have it squirm from beneath her boot and trickle up her leg.

The something completely unexpected happened.

As his sword carved another hunk from the big Shub, a new comer joined the fight, throwing what looked like balls of fire. The big one peeled back at once, ceasing it’s advance, but otherwise seemingly unharmed. It didn’t like the attack for sure, but it wasn’t enough to destroy it.

It was at this second that Jericho seized the opportunity to get everyone to clear the battlefield. This new comer seemed to know more about what he was doing than the rest of them. As unfortunate as it was, his courtesy and bold act would get him left behind this day.

Jericho wheeled about and headed back up the bowl of the crater, shouting to Airo to follow suit, and grabbing the little half breed on his way and tossing her over his shoulder. Her zeal and wish to fight could wait for another day. It was time to go. Putting his pride aside for potentially the first time in ten years, he beat a hasty retreat back up the bowl of the crater before dropping her, getting plenty of berth between them and the squirming horde below. His mind worked quickly, trying to cover their escape and provide the stranger below with time to get away himself. An open lava vent appeared above on the ridge, and Jericho’s mind went to work.

”Airo, can you use your magic to break the walls of the vent and pour them down the bowl onto the things down there?”[/b] He motioned with his hand, indicating a desire to create a ditch and flood the landscape below with lava. Hopefully their fire hurling “savior” would get the hint to leave at that point, because if not…

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[Deleted]

Malificar continued to hurl lobs of molten rock and lava at the creatures, taking out any that approched him. His face was twisted into a smile, though he doubted the others could see it, as they used his arrival to fall back away from the creatures. He watched as they ran up the mountain, his eyes focused on them. That male would be a handful, but then his soul would be so much better for his experiments. Now was not the time however, as his eyes went back to the creatures before him, watching dozens of small ones clammer towards him.

Malificar dug down into the ground, and tore up a wave of molten rock around him, seering some of the small ones to nothing, the others trying to stay away and form bigger. His eyes remained on the Shubs, as he continued his assault, laughing the whole while.

"Whatever soul you possess creature, it shall be mine!" With that, he dug into his hands, and pulled out a gem. It was a rather large jewel, clear in color, as he started towards the creature before him, once in a while digging into the ground to create small holes of lava to hurl more at them. He was unaware at what the people at the top were going to do.

[Airo Maldorn]

Kicking the squiggling black shub no larger than her fist that was attempting to craw up her boot, Airo, for a brief moment looked like some sort of fool act at court. Hopping around on one leg, swords in hand trying and nearly failing at flailing around trying to get this creature thing with tentacles off her leg. The red head was making it to her feet as the giant Jericho made his way up the crater wall.

”Airo, can you use your magic to break the walls of the vent and pour them down the bowl onto the things down there?” He shouted his question to her as he crested the rim. Her gaze followed his finger to the location on the crater wall where a lava tube he wanted destroyed.

“That is something I can do.” She said freeing herself completely from the damnable creature trying to take her boot away. Twirling both her blades in each hand respectively, she positioned them for easy entry into their home sheaths. With the softest whisper the slid into the hard lacquered leather as Airo searched her mind for a more appropriate spell other than what she had been using. Closing her eyes for a moment, her mind linked with the ring upon her right pinky finger where a deep indigo stone set in silver stood; the ring was a collection of everything she would ever want to remember from spells to her nightmarish prophetic dreams to what she was suppose to do for her mother’s birthday, everything she needed was stored in that ring. In her minds eye, pages of books from the Great Library flitted before her as she mentally scanned the ring for the right spell until her eyes flashed open.

Walking to the crater’s edge she looked over to the pools of lava below and at the figure of a man who was still lobbing fire and lava at the shubs that surrounded him. “HEY!” Airo shouted. “YES YOU! ABOUT TO BLOW THE LAVA TUBE MIGHT WANNA MOVE!”

Turning back from the edge and taking five steps onto more solid ground Airo spun on her heel and began moving her lips and her hands in concentric circles. With each pass of her hands formed a ball of kinetic energy the size of a child’s toy ball, a rather large ball to be precise. Each pass of her hands and the building of the words that tumbled from her mouth into the ball, Airo focused a great deal of her own personal energy into this creation as was required for the spell before hurling it into the lava tub along the crater wall in the direction that Jericho had pointed just before collapsing like a discarded child’s toy. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused as she stared blankly into the night sky. A low whine came from Ludo as he padded across the snow from where he was tossed to his mistress before laying down beside her as her guardian, growling and snapping at anyone who came near.

[Beast Master]

**********[/b]

The lava tube blew with a certain violence that left Jericho temporarily in awe. The latecomer was throwing lava around down below like it was mud, buying them enough time for Airo, the Sword Mage, to come up with an attack that would slow the monster below down. Maybe even kill it, if they were lucky. Dead or alive, he didn’t plan to stay around long enough for it to regroup and follow them. The little red headed Halfling was asking questions and making sounds, but she didn’t really have anything to contribute at the moment, and thus he ignored her.

Lava and terra exploded in all directions with the throw of the attack, spilling the super-heated molten rock onto the ground and down the side of the bowl, straight toward the battle below between fire-flinger and booger monster. The vent itself bubbled and boiled and suddenly spilled even more lava than Jericho had anticipated; the sudden impact and release of pressure must have brought more up from within Solabren. Jericho frowned, still ignoring the Halfling, and watching as the Battle Mage collapsed on the ground. Great. That was exactly what he had wanted. For the only one of the three that could do anything against the monster below to suddenly be out of the fight.

He gawked for only a second longer before deciding it was time to leave. With the lava spill and the fire-flinger, he knew there would never be another opportunity to get away like the current. He went for the downed sword mage, but her dog was at her side now, giving him a heavy growl. Jericho continued to approach, not thinking much of the over grown mutt…until it reach out and snapped his hand. He recoiled before there was more than superficial damage dealt, but the bleeding would not stop any time soon, not in such cold weather. He cursed something under his breath and brought a booted foot up, connecting sternly with the dogs chest and flipping it over on its side; not enough to permanently damage the poor dumb beast, but definitely enough to make it rethink using its fangs in the future. At least on him. With the dog knocked aside, he was quick to scoop up its master and turn back toward the Temple of Destruction.

”Time to go.”[/b] He said to the Halfling, starting a slow trot back in the direction from which they had come. The night was wearing on, and now with an incapacitated female in his care and a girl who was, by the looks of her, a bit out of place in Caldrea, it was better to bed down for the evening and try to travel again in the morning. Especially until that thing in the bowl was gone.

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Reflections…

Part III…

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The Temple of Destruction, Caldrea, Sunderbran
Second day of Estria, AoS 4010

[/b]

The sound of snow crunching below his boots along with the rhythmic in and out of his breath had almost been like a pacing music, such as the beating of a row masters drums, as he had run. Not a true, dead on sprint, but a nice pace for a trot. Between the supplies he had brought, his weapons, and the weight of the woman he was carrying in his arms, things had been a little…trying. Sweat pooled under his armor, and wet his clothing, meaning he knew he would have to try to build a fire once in the temple in order to dry himself. He was tough, and the cold of Sunderbran had never really bothered him, but he knew that Caldrea was a trying land, and being soaked in your own sweat was a good way to catch something in the cold.

They had entered the temple silently, stepping through one of the many pillared rooms in great venue of the temple, before stumbling into what must have once been an old camp. A fire pit dotted the center of the room with its ashy presence while a dried up, armored corpse sat nearby, having long since tilted over in death. A cart piled in wood sat behind the collapsed remains of a horse, its head still held high to the pillar it had been lashed to. Jericho was a bit shocked to see the state of these previous visitors, but wrote it off soon. It wasn’t like he had never seen such a thing before. It was often that adventurers stopped sick or injured and set up a camp where they could whether off their affliction, but instead passed on to the immortal realm. This poor sap must have been one of them.

Jericho laid the girl down not too far from the fire pit, being sure to be easy with her, before eyeing the red head they had come to rescue in the bowl.

”Why are you still here?”[/b] He asked her. It was a casual question, mostly in passing as he entered the deceased adventurer’s wagon and plundered for tinder, wood, and the like so he could build a fire. He was sure he knew why she was there. Where else was she to go in Caldrea, especially after the battle they had just survived? He thought about the fire thrower who had showed up late in the game, and wondered how he had faired after the magma had been spilled, but quickly resigned it as a lost issue. He would probably never know what had happened to their unfortunate “hero”.

It did not take him long to spark a small fire in the fire pit and start shedding his sweat soaked clothing…

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[boxcattin]

[/color]

7 (Avg: 7.0)

(Total avg: 7.0)

[li] 7)[/b] Loot (Find a treasure chest or lootable storage bin on your journey. +5 XP to your thread gains. Player driven.)[/li][/ul]

[Deleted]

Malificar jabbed his arm into the strange beast, gem still in hand, as the torrent of Lava came crashing around them. His eyes glowed, as he saw what soul this creature had, swirled and lit up his gem, before the gem darkened, only a slight flicker remaining. His eyes then closed, as he focused on another power, moving from the vanished corpse of the Shub, to the surface of the Torrent of Lava. Reaching the top, he noticed that the others were gone, and deduced, only one place they could be headed.

With a slight smile, he put the gem into his pack, and started to move again, towards the Temple of Destruction. His mind raced, as he remembered for a breif moment, who was there. A warrior, strong, hardy. A Mage, beautiful, and deadly... and a halfling, with hair that seemed as the lava pools. How he could not wait to meet them.

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He moved slowly, as if recovering from the battle. Even his undead form had taken damage from the beast, and it needed to heal. His mind thought of the others, when he reached the Temple. They had already found some other 'visitors' that he had had once. They never saw him coming, and died peacefully in their sleep, their souls also part of his collection.

He watched them, from a distance, vanishing from sight if he saw them looking his way into a wall. Thats when the women stripped, baring it all to the world. Quite the body for one so small, and it invigorated him. Using his incorporal form, he followed the naked women silently, and secretly, through the temple. She seemed to be exploring as he had done many a time.

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She seemed to go about her explorations, and found herself something he had managed to miss. A chest? Interesting indeed. He was curious, just what could be inside, though his mind was on far more carnal thoughts. An unconcious women, and a naked one... the sheer amount of possabilitys were endless.

As she seemed to start cooking some stew, she handed the large man, something... a letter perhaps? Yes, something like that at anyrate. A boy gave it to her for him. Curious. What could be inside? Again, his mind wandered to the women who was naked. How long had it been? He had lost count... the years all mixed together at this point.

He finally decided to reveal himself, at the doorway. Stepping forward, he was still wearing the robes he had worn when they first saw him. In fact, there was nothing different about him from that time. They saw him get engulfed in the lava. Saw him hurling fire. His eyes, however, were just black orbs. He smiled, his teeth somewhat crooked, a curse from Nargel, a cruel joke.

"Glad to see that you all made it to the Temple safe. Quick thinking with the lava flow. The Shub is no more." He walked a bit further in, his eyes seeming to gaze at all of them, though lingering on the naked women.

"Tell me, it is unusual for me to get visitors here. What is your purpose here? Is there a reason you would travel to this dangerious and near lifeless place? Have you come to study the temple?" He stopped a bit away from them, smiling still. He wondered if the warrior, who seemed well travelled would know what he is. The mage might be able to pick it up, but perhaps the Halfling would be easier to seduce. After all, she didn't seem the well versed in mythic monsters type.

[Airo Maldorn]

My breath froze in my throat as I huffed from exertions of climbing over the rocky and icy terrain of the Caldrea. What a strange land this is, I think to myself as my gaze travels from horizon to horizon and all I see is the death and rebirth of this confusing place. The land quakes at times, sometimes violently that it hinders our ability to press forward. His quest is consuming him. His desire for this beast, this what did he call it, this Ardearian is a driving force that keeps our company moving over the dangerous terrain.

Jericho, I think his name is. Tall, hardened by many a year and battle, the stories of which are written across his body armor and his weathered face. He is driving us forward towards a place that at this distance looks like one of the many villages I have seen on my other adventures into Sunderbran, though as we gain more territory with each passing step, there is a difference with the buildings of this place. What would been a village of hovels and long houses is a village of stone. Carefully placed stones with intricate details that could be mistaken for elfish design. Turning from the buildings that Jericho was so intent upon reaching, I catch a strong stench upon the air.

Eggs, like those that have been kept too long by a cook. The sulfur stench burns the eyes until they water, but where is this stench originating? Jericho has pulled his shield from his back and readied his spear, the red head, Cyri, has pulled an arrow and notch it into her bow string and the late comer, a cursed man whose face is obscured from me, is there readying himself for what is about to come next. The stench grows stronger with a new aroma, one of thick, almost oily consistency, it only adds to the burning of our eyes. Then the ground begins to quake, but this is no natural quake.

Rising above the second story of a building with delicately carved flowers along the columns, the slick black and green scales of a dragon like beast’s neck appears before the heavy scale crest of the head levels itself at us. A second head appears within moments, snapping angrily at the first, then a third and a fourth.

Oh Gods! It’s a bloody Hydra.

The battle is fierce and carries on for what seems like an age. Ludo, my trusted companion lays in bits, torn asunder by the head that I managed to slice cleanly from the creature’s neck only to have two more heads rise from the steaming bloodied heap of flesh. The little one with the brilliant crimson hair did not fair well at all her skin melted from her bone by the toxic breath of one of the heads. The cursed one, I do not know what happened to him but it was not pleasant the sounds he made during this battle. I, myself, watch as if I am not in my body as the last one standing, the Winterborn Jericho, bleeding profusely from wounds gathered from claw swipes, nips and from breath weapons uses his spear to lean upon. His strength is sapped, his life draining from him and the beast; with more heads than its original five is circling for the kill. I close my eyes because I do not want to know the inevitable.
“Ludo, ashitan mestie ono borito.” Airo mumbled weakly in the Imperian tongue as she gently pushed Ludo’s head aside trying to avoid getting licked in the face again. “Ludo, come on. I’m up.” Airo blinked a few times to clear the feeling of having bits of sand rubbed into her eyes. As her vision focused, she moved her eyes around, finding a fire within an arm’s length from where she lay, a stone roof above her head and two very naked people on opposite sides of the fire. Blinking again in hopes she made a mistake as she rose upon her elbow.

“Your stew is burning.” Airo spoke slowly as an immense wave of pain washed over her body from the hair follicles on her head to the tiniest joints in her feet. Slowly she righted herself into a sitting position, when she realized that she too had been freed from the modesty clothing provided. Ludo, laid back down in the space once occupied by his mistress, wagging his tail happily over the flagstone as he let out an audible horumph. “And I assume there is a reason why I am… Naked?”

"Tell me, it is unusual for me to get visitors here. What is your purpose here? Is there a reason you would travel to this dangerous and near lifeless place? Have you come to study the temple?" The questions from the far side of the room caused Airo to turn her head in that direction.

“You were in my dream, strange I see your face now but in my dream you were faceless.” Airo muttered to herself.