Unsteady Ground [IC]

[Zender_Solarheart]

As Jered hears Skylia's voice within his mind, his lips' right half curls into a smirk of confidence, and he thinks in reply to her: (Roger that, Holy One.) This power...it feels as if he's been imbued with the might of a full-fledged Angel commander, one who could behead a man with a simple punch...and he intends to make good use of that power.

To postpone the problem of Razajin, Jered casts forward a wide-spread blast of electro-magnetic energy. At the distance between them, it's powerful enough to fling the assassin backwards for about 10-15 feet, though not quite hard enough to kill him. He then follows up with a slightly-altered Storm Wing attack at the Demon, this time cast with a thrust so it resembles a highly-concentrated bolt of energy. It's aimed right at the arm gripping Skylia, and if he decides not to move out of its way, it'll burn straight through to the bone, and send a jolt through him that's strong enough to kill 100 men (thanks to how it's pretty much all the power of a wide-slashing, super-buffed Storm Wing, focused into a bolt about 5 inches thick). It's mainly aimed to force him to release her, as her orders were to "stop the attackers," so he keeps his primary focus on Razajin and whatever backup he might've brought.

Speaking of ol' Raz, once Jered secures Skylia with a more favorable situation, Jered whips back around, swinging out with another horizontal Storm Wing attack, this time aimed directly at Razajin. While doing so, he belts out another tiger's roar, building up another charge in his right fist, in preparation for whatever Raz has planned.

[Reaver]

Seeing the Commander okay and chocking the life out of the bitch angel brings joy to his eyes and not to mention a boost of moral and power. So with the Commander's approval he decides to let lose a shadow storm. Razajin puts his two hands together channeling all of his hate, pain and anger from the battle and even drawing some of it from the day his parents died into the palms of his hands, forming a large ball of pure, unbridled shadow magic before unleashing it in the form of a giant tornado that cracks the very ground he stands on and hurls it towards Jered while sending a fragment of it in a beam to delflect any magic he might send the Commander's way. Then he falls to one knee knowing he will need some time to recover.

[That_One_Guy]

Garian smiled at this and kept out of her distance, "Now, this is just a precaution, my dear, I don't want to do this, but it's for my safety." He then leaned down, taking her chin in his hand and making her look up at him, "Now, unlike the angels, I got no problem with breaking a few bones in your body, but I won't kill you." He told her, "I only want some information, that's all, and then I'll let you go, no violence, no hurting you, just untying you and turning our backs as you run off...how's that?"

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire walks closer to the demon as Garian did. "But how is she going to answer these questions with a rag in her mouth? And why would we come back here to ask her these questions?" she asks.

[That_One_Guy]

Garian looked at Claire, "I'm going to ungag her, of course, but after we get her to cooperate." He told her and then looked back to the Demon Warrior, "You ARE going to cooperate, aren't you?"

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire looks back at Garian. "But I still don't understand why we had to bring her back here. And what questions are we going to ask? And why does she have to be tied up? Isn't she already worn out from the Angel?" Claire asks.

[That_One_Guy]

Garian looked at her, glaringly, "You ask too many questions, I serve no one, that is why she is here. I want to interrogate her before the Angels do, and then I'm going to set her free, something that the Angels probably wouldn't do."

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire gasps and bows her head. "So-sorry..." she says quietly.

[napsii]

Garian + Claire -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The girl mumbled with obvious anger, clearly not scared of Garian's rather pathetic threat. She still had a lot of fight left in her before she was struck down by the Angel, so it's unreasonable to expect her to be at all submissive to his wills right now.

She growled a few obvious threats through her gag, kicking at him again. She seemed infuriated by his arrogance.

At the mention of the Angels, her hate renewed and she began kicking again. Better not get too physical with her. She still looks strong enough to strangle you both to death.

Flim + Flam -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Seeing it was being challenged, the Frost Dragon looked up from where it had consumed nearly an entire crate's worth of the liquid and growled, anxiously backing away from the flames, but it let out an odd thing: a hiccup. Licking its chops it sniffed at the liquid and took another sip, hiccuping again and looking towards you. It had taken a lot, so it seems it's fairly hopped up on the drug put inside it. Of course it's still brave and mighty enough to not back away from your shadowflames, which are beginning to take sort of a toll on your stamina to sustain on account of their size.

It growls low at you, hiccuping again, but its will seems in fact sort of weak right now...

Frost Dragon - ???/??? HP (seeming doped up on the mind control drug)

Vivienne -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The shapeshifter demon rolls his eyes, but sets his hands back on you more towards your waist.

"There's not much else to hold onto!" he reasoned briefly.

You feel the consciousness poke back at you when you give your verbal command. The chalice sways dangerously in your hands, and so you grab it again so it doesn't fall. Crouching its feet, the giant dragon extends its wings and begins flapping and flapping, making painful spikes of air pressure shoot up in your ear as a hurricane of dust and debris is kicked up by its flapping. You rock back and forth slowly as she begins to move, before finally taking flight, ascending to the sky above the fortress (which you can see is now mostly wrecked, Talphalos sitting on the ground roaring at Nilgalos, who looks down and growls back) and circling about.

You start to get a feel for the consciousness, which is obviously Nilgalos.

All of a sudden, you feel it broadcast an urgent warning to you and you look towards the edge of the fort to see about eight ballista bolts flying out from beneath the smoke poised to strike Nilgalos' left wing.

Nilgalos - 200000/200000 HP
Vivienne - 200/200 HP
Demon - 650/650 HP

Jered v. Razajin -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Jered, overcharged with incredible power, slings a wave of energy Razajin's way that puts only a slight dent in his energy. Razajin's own attack intercepts it before it can strike, however, the two massive waves of magic colliding with each other in a picturesque explosion of arcane energy that nearly incinerates them both (but doesn't thankfully)

Neither are injured, but Razajin feels that his stamina has been impacted by casting such a large spell.

Jered's Storm Wing seems poised to literally rip the Demon Commander to pieces on account of its power, but it seems his blunt approach will cost him. As he was not totally engrossed in thieving Soul Essence from Skylia, he catches wind of the attack and rather than attempt to dodge, in a cruel move swings the Angel in training around by her neck to block the attack. Ironically for both Razajin and Jered, the little bolt of shadow magic that Razajin sent to intercept the Storm Wing has the effect of diminishing its power somewhat so that it collides brutally with Skylia with somewhat lessened effect (155 damage + 40 damage from Soul Essence drain).

Tragically, Skylia seems to fall limp. Not dead, but rather losing consciousness as she is far too weak to fight.

In addition, Jered would find his sword literally just fall from his hands as soon as he cast his second Storm Wing at Razajin, the attack sputtering and dissipating before it can travel more than 3 feet. Not due to a spell, but rather the Divine enchantment suddenly just being ripped from him as Skylia falls unconscious and his body is flooded with exhaustion. It would clatter to the ground near him and he'd probably be unable to do much other than collapse to the ground. (-300 HP, stunned).

The Demon Commander coarsely drops Skylia to the ground in a heap and turns towards Razajin, who beside himself is now apparently the only one standing. The three imps, seeing what happened, whoop and cackle and run out from behind the bushes to Razajin's side. Their knives glisten with poison, but it looks like they won't even have to use it.

"Seems I could trust you after all." he comments to Razajin, looking between Jered and Skylia.

"I quite like this one. Perhaps he may see the error of his ways and join us in the future." he says in reference to Jered, not seeming to want to kill him. "As for that... whore, you can do what you wish with her. I must go attend to more pertinent matters." he said with a point to the barely conscious and unarmed Skylia on the ground behind him. With that, he walked off towards the village with his sword in hand, seeming quite rejuvenated by his sudden victory. Flames shot up from the chapel at the center of the hamlet.

Jered - 16/450 HP (nearly KO'd by exhaustion)
Razajin - 360/400 HP (victorious! Another win for the dark side...?)
Skylia - 10/700 HP (KO'd and disarmed, but not dead)

[That_One_Guy]

Garian growled at her, "Stop fighting!" He growled and slammed his booted foot against one of her knees as hard as he could, hoping to break it, or shatter it, to the point of being useless.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire jumped in shock. She looks up at Garian with a depressed look on her face.

[jayjaycaps]

Flim and Flam are furious now. To hell with danger, this dragon's drinking their cargo! "Brother, he's drinking the ale!" "Then lets go!" Flam turns his shadow flames into shadow bolts, and fires them at the dragon. At the same time, Flim fires the arrow he had notched, aiming for the dragon's eye.

[Reaver]

Razajin walks over to Jered crouching next to his body. "You know it didn't have to be this way, We could have been brothers-in-arms, fighting off hordes of those uptight angels. I think you would have made a wonderful addition to the demons and prehaps in time you will realize that it's the right path for you, but until then i have nothing else to say." Razajin then gets closer to his face after picking up Jered's weapon. "A fine piece you have here, the craftsman who built this should be proud. But i dont think you'll be using this for a while." he says as he tosses it a couple of feet back before turning back to him "but hey i have stuff to do and i think i shall teach that uptight bitch angel a couple of lessons in happiness Demon style, so i think it's time to finish this." Razajin then promptly flips his dagger and smacks Jered in the head with the hilt. After finishing Jered, Razajin gets up and stretches his back before calling the imps "Come the Commander has given us the angel as our prize so i think it's about time we've taught that whore a few lessons in humility." Razajin then walks over to the angel waiting a couple of seconds reveling in his victory and making sure the angel is surronded by his imps, before slapping her awake.

[Zender_Solarheart]

"Wh-...why are you-" is all Jered can squeeze out, before the hilt-strike to his head knocks him out cold. Well, not entirely out of it, as he does have something of a comatose "dream," so to speak.

In that dream, he finds himself struggling to his feet in a rather grotesque environment. The ground beneath him is charred and ashy, the sky is a solid bloody red, and the horizon is wreathed in flames. Oh heavens, no...not again... Jered silently thinks to himself, recognizing it as the same landscape that his nightmares often place him in. Worse still, they always have some connection to his old tragedy...being tricked into killing his own sister, that is.

No, wait...something's different this time...normally, the sky above him is not only the color of blood, but drizzles it down like rain...and unlike the other nightmares, the ground is flat and smooth, instead of jagged and littered with embers. What the hell is up with...wait...is there something up ahead?

(OOC: Nap, you can control things from here, if you'd like. Otherwise, I'll just play it out on my own terms, but I figured I'd ask you first. You're the GM, and all. )

[Icaelus]

Vivienne blushed again, shifting around uncomfortably as the demon placed his hands on her waist, reasoning that that was nothing else to hold on to.
"Fine.."
Her embarrassed reply was short as she quickly turned back to hold on to the chalice. That was close..
The roars of Talphalos drifted up to the sky, making itself heard quite clearly. Nilgalos growled in her response..
Viv gasped softly as Nilgalo's consciousness brushed against her mind again, warning her of something..
That something was eight freaking ballista bolts hurtling towards them towards Nilgalo's left wing.
Could they dodge it in time..? Had to try, still..
"Nilgalos, go right and dodge those bolts. Don't do a barrel roll, please.."
Her eyes flared bright blue and she raised a hand towards the ballista bolts.
Viv wordlessly mouthed a few incantations..and the moonbeams blasted down from the sky, targeting both the bolts and the location where they had been fired from. If her accuracy proved to be true, the beams would take out the bolts and the ballistas in one go.

[Zender_Solarheart]

<<still in dreamland>>
Roaming closer to whatever's happening ahead of him, Jered finds that the environment is slowly changing itself. The sooty, pitch-black ground seems to gradually become more suitable for plant-life, and the sky steadily transitions from the bloody red, to a more normal color of blue. clouds and a sun follow suit, and the earth sprouts to life with grass and flowers, as if he were in a meadow...odd...

Stranger still, though, is who's waiting up ahead...is that Skylia?

(Note: I'm trying to "synchronize" the dream events to reality, in some fashion...let's just say that, after this post, Jered's comatose visions will become a metaphorical representation of the nearby reality).

[napsii]

Garian + Claire -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The girl isn't totally defenseless. She's still wearing her armor, and manages to block your kick by slamming her armored boot out like a rocket to hit you right in the left kneecap (10 damage) which although doesn't do much damage leaves a bruise and is very painful, nearly knocking Garian off his feet.

She continues to sputter and growl, obviously going to strangle you to death once she wrestles out of her bindings.

Flim + Flam -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Talkea's incredibly nervous when you open fire on the beast, and gulps. Clearly she's not sure how much damage you can really do, but knowing the dragon will take her out even though she didn't attack because you two did, she opens fire with an arrow aimed at its neck.

The dragon looks up when you shout your war cries and immediately reels back as its chest and back are impacted by numerous and heavy shadow bolts (220 damage) before Flim's arrow strikes it in the neck, the arrowhead breaking off against its steel like scales (5 damage). Talkea's arrow strikes truer and hits it in a more fleshy part of the neck, but still seems somewhat ineffective (25damage).

Flam feels somewhat fatigued by his heavy spellcasting.

The dragon snorts and scratches its claws against the ground, obviously mad, but comical hiccups break its growling every few seconds.

It roars at you loudly enough to almost make your ears bleed, opening its mouth wide and shooting a massive bolt of frost energy at you three to which Talkea leaps off the wagon, breaking her fall with a roll. It looks like it will miss the wagon, but if it hits you, you probably don't want to know what will happen.

Flim - 250/250 HP
Flam - 250/250 HP (slightly fatigued from magic use)
Talkea - 200/200 HP (seeming very scared, but still moving)
Frost Dragon - 14750/15000 HP (looks pretty mad)

Vivienne -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Nilgalos heeds your commands and swiftly dives off to the right, the ballista bolts inaccurately flying out into the sky missing her by a few feet. You feel as if the dragon just heaved a sigh of relief in her head. She looks far too tough for the bolts to have done a lot of damage, but chances are getting shot at was annoying as all hell for her.

Your incantation doesn't have the usual effect. As you hold the chalice and cast your spell, you feel it sort of fizzle out and the liquid Soul Essence inside the chalice begin to shimmer and crackle noiselessly. Given that you can't even see where the ballistas are, you decide to cancel your spell before the chalice does something bad.

"I have no idea what kind of spell that was, but the chalice must be stopping it. Just use Nil! She's tough." the Demon suggests to you, adjusting and readjusting his grip on your body every few moments so that Nilgalos' swaying doesn't knock you and him off her.

Nilgalos rolls back around and seems to be lining itself up for a fly by over the fort. As she does this, Talphalos beats its (or her as the Demon notes) wings and ascends to the sky, seeming to begin lazily chasing after Nilgalos with no clear intent other than to follow. These things are loud as hell!

Nilgalos - 200000/200000
Vivienne - 200/200 HP
Demon - 650/650 HP

Nilgalos seems to inhale a deep breath and shadowy flames begin to leak from the corners of her mouth, passing harmlessly across the tops of your arms. You feel the consciousness brush against you again as if asking for a command.

Razajin -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Your imps whoop and cackle, clapping in excitement at victory and bouncing around, poking Jered's unconscious body for a bit in curiosity before following back after you. They surround the downed young Angel, rubbing their chins through their mask and twirling their knives in their palms as they wait for you to do something. One of them finds her blade on the ground: an Angelic shortsword that looks much like a gladius, and has a shiny silver blade with a razor edge and a golden handle with a small ruby in the pommel. It's delicately embossed with designs of vines. They look hesitant to come near it. Perhaps because Angelic equipment repels demons and anyone associated with them.

You slap her across the face a few times and she groans, rolling over. You see she has sort of a black eye from where she was struck, but it fades a second later as a healing spell seems to take effect of its own accord. You get a better look at her features now: she's maybe five foot one with a very slender and lithe form, B-cup breasts and a very pretty face. Her long blonde hair falls down her shoulders, two thin braids falling over her temples. Her blue eyes quake as they look at you.

"What... is... this? Eh..." she groans, attempting to sit up. She's only wearing a mildly damaged white robe, with tall white socks and sandals on her feet. Underneath, you could probably expect to find underwear knowing how uptight they are about sex. She seems to find out that you're not Jered a sec later.

"You... human... please... leave..." she requests as politely as possible raising herself to her knees and painting, hands on the ground to keep herself steady. She looks dazed.

[Zender_Solarheart]

<<coma-dream>>
As Jered wanders closer, he can see that the being in front of him is indeed Skylia...although, her garments seem to have been torn at the areas where she had been struck in the prior battle. Her sword is missing, as well...odd, but not particularly troublesome. What is troublesome, however, is when Jered realizes what has recently transpired...

...he had failed.

Feeling a sudden blow of shame strike him, Jered slumps to his knees, clenching his fists in spiteful anguish at his own incompetence. "I'm sorry, Holy One...I've...failed you..." he mutters through grimacing lips, his whole face contorting from the guilt. His first battle for the common good was almost a narrow victory, but had quickly devolved into a humiliating failure. If only that assassin hadn't shown up...if him and his little band of spineless rogues had just been elsewhere, that fight would've turned out very differently...

Yet, even as Jered's fist punches the ground in anger, Skylia seems rather forgiving. "Do not discredit yourself for this, young Jered...you fought heroically, and with more valor than many men would ever show. We may have lost this battle...but we haven't lost the war." Even with that being the case, Jered's heart is fallible, and initially rejects the angel's words. Upon further contemplation, however, he brings himself to take solace in her compassion. He slowly rises to his feet, and says: "...you're right, angelic Skylia...we must strive to regain the ground we've lost, now more than ever...and-"

But he doesn't finish his sentence, as two shadowy figures suddenly appear from the sidelines, tackling Skylia. She's surprisingly vulnerable to their assault, and is quickly dropped to the ground. What's even more shocking is that it appears to bring her to an unusually weary state, with her rising back only to her knees, and breathing heavily with exhaustion. "You... human... please... leave..." she speaks to the smaller of the figures, while the larger one seems strangely immobile at the present time.

Yet, as much as Jered wants to intervene, something holds him away from the situation. Well, "holds him away" may not be the best way to put it. It's more like there's some invisible wall locking him out, so that he can only watch as the scene unfolds. (rather fitting, seeing how his body is 100% immobile in reality.)

[MelissaB]

Salyandra ignores the fact her hair got messed up in the process and makes her way avoiding anything along with the sweeping tail's path towards the prisoners and kills the first one she reaches plunging her sword into their chest casting a spell from her school of fire to harness their essence as she does so. Seeing this as her chance to get that essense she was promised now paying much attention to the new comers as well as the demonic dragon's behaviour.

[That_One_Guy]

Garian gasps and growls at her, "that hurt, bitch!" He growled, aimed his hand, and sends a searing wave of flames against her leg, hoping to burn her legs inside the metal armor, controlling the heat so that when he cries mercy, he'd lower it to cool and allow her some respite.