Fable - Ask A Call To Arms

[Lythrani Undraeth]

Lythrani deftly maneuvered the cavern's labyrinthian caves, guiding the party of drow to the traitorous Queen from her own memory, until they ventured upon the maddened woman.

Before she could get a word out, the blast of darkness knocked her back flying with a grunt as the air left her body. She skidded backward, eventually stabilizing herself on the cavern floor.

When the spymaster looked up, she saw a great ravenous and demonic beast seemingly tear through reality above the ritual circle. Limbs upon limbs littered the creature, orange flares lighting cavernous eye-sockets. She had heard of them, heard the tales spun of red mists and the creatures that lurked within them.

This day kept getting worse and worse.

Lythrani got up from her prone position, rolling her neck. With a wave of her hand, she quickly vanished into formless shadow as she began to dart through the midst of battle, invisible in the chaos. Those who were observant could perhaps see a dark shape quickly move between places, but they would quickly lose sight of her as she moved through the troops.

The drow steered clear of the Ascendant, though she did pepper it with illusionary warriors and creatures that served to draw some of its attention away from her allies, dodging any attacks that came their way. Judging from Xunari, she had a plan. Ensuring it reached fruition would likely yield some value.

 

[Vyx'aria]

Vyx didn’t have time to register the appearance of the demonic being, and she only knew that their efforts had gotten that much tougher. She whirled around to the others.

“Mages! Trap the thing in place! Archers, prepare a volley!” The drow attempted to bring some measure of order in fighting the beast, but she had no idea what it was capable of just yet. A line of mages quickly began to work to try and bind the creature with spells, all while attempting to dodge crashing stalagcites and debris.

The being was only more agitated as it unleashed a shrill cry that was enough to chill even the heartiest of warriors to the bone. This was followed by the creature slamming a limb down to the ground and sending forth a seismic wave. This caused more debris to collapse on the drow and all around them.

"FIRE!"

As arrows began to pepper the creature, the beast cried out loud, rearing up and opening its maw. What followed was a wave of blue fire, hot enough to melt the skins from those unfortunate enough to stand directly in front.

Vyx’s eyes flew open as she took several steps back, “Fire at will!” The command went out to archers and mages alike, and she desperately looked for weak points on the beast.

Zathria At'Arel Velathina T'sarran Lythrani Undraeth Xunari Auceus Karanon Ulventhral

 

[Xunari Auceus]

Trap the thing in place with magic huh? That was a pretty cool idea - if only Xunari had thought of that, oh wait she totally did and that was why she was already mid-way through her second rune when Vyx'aria gave her order. It was needed for the weak-minded mages who hadn't thought to use their own initiative, sure, but she didn't need a sword-swinger to teach her how to throw down like a mage.

Honestly, mages got NO respect.

Finishing up the second set of runic arrays, she gritted her teeth before slamming her hands down against the ground. Pushing magic into the lines she had used to connect the two arrays, they sprang to life with red strands of magic that shot out from both left and right. Dozens of magical strands of energy from both wrapped around the creature's legs.

Of course the creature didn't realize this immediately and attempted to continue to move forward, causing it to tip forward and have to push itself off the ground with it's many hands to stand upright again. As it struggled against the bonds that held it's legs in place, Xunari pushed more magic into her capture, causing the strands to tighten, digging into the flesh of the eldritch abomination.

Theoretically if she over-powered her runes enough the strands would act like magic garrotes and tear through it's flesh but... she didn't really want to exhaust herself. She had a nagging feeling that this wouldn't been the biggest, or last, threat she faced today.

Zathria At'Arel Velathina T'sarran Lythrani Undraeth Karanon Ulventhral Vyx'aria

 

[Zathria At'Arel]

The mage was not easy to overcome. She was experienced in magic and combat. She shielded herself from the blows of the sword as they rained down against an invisible wall, but she failed to see the web that came down from the other direction. Pasted to the ground, she tried to summon her arms into a casting position, but without success.

The spiders had a free path to the inner parts of house Avairl... if it was safe to enter such a place.

---​

Zathria seized a bow and arrows from one of the soldiers crushed by the falling debris. She heard Vyx give the command to fire on the beast, and she scrambled to the side of the cavern, gaining higher ground to fire down on the ascendant.

She nocked an arrow and fired, piercing the creature but it was only one arrow of dozens. None seemed to do much more than slightly bother the creature that stood before them.

Debris and death surrounded them on every side, and fear worked to seize Zathria's heart, but she stood firm. This witch of a queen would doom the whole city without a second thought.

She nocked another arrow, taking aim at the queen herself only to have her aim shaken by another rumble that shook the entire chasm. She was thrown from her feet and landed hard on her side, nearly knocking the wind out of her as she pushed herself back to her feet with a grunt.

She watched the creature - glowing with fire from cracks in its skin - and had a thought.

Zathria ran hard toward where Xunari Auceus was carving runes into the ground.

Xunari! Can you ice it? Cooling the flames might slow or paralyze it! she shouted over the roaring, rumbling, and general chaos of the battle. Of course, doing so would mean drawing casters away from the paralyzing runes, but they may be able to stop it and damage it at once.

 

[Karanon Ulventhral]

Karanon swung wildly in all directions. Spiders closed in on all sides. His vision wasn't completely gone anymore, but he still basically couldn't see. Gredkiral took the opportunity to web up one of the undead spiders, and launched herself upon the one closest to Karanon. They hissed. They wrestled they fought one another.

The second squad of four came to her aid, two of them directly and two attack the other undead spider as Karanon slowly started to recover his eyesight. Meanwhile the other four had gone ahead to assist the Captain. Her battle took the sorceress' attention away allowing one of to them to blast her with a paralyzing web attack. Once the sorceress was down, four spiders bit her with and injected her with deadly venom before Captain Yaenecheri even had a chance to order them to do otherwise.

As the battle in the front came to an end Karanon mounted Gredkiral again. Though she was missing a leg, she was still very functional, and very deadly. And the male drow pet her head in a comforting way everytime thw female drow wasn't looking. The Captain did not join Karanon in riding her this time. She kept her sword drawn and prepared to fight infantry style. It seemed her bloodlust was rising.

They sent in the five remaining spiders who launched the first wave of their assault on the exterior, three of whom had battlefield silk armor, ahead of themselves. And entered shortly after them with eight. Spiders in two units of four behind them. One unit of four was commanded to support Karanon and Gredkiral. The other unit was to support Captain Yaenecheri.

 

[Vyx'aria]

OOC: Lyth has requested to be skipped this turn.

As soon as the mages did their trick with binding the monster, Vyx knew she had moments to act. She drew out twin blades, everything around her slowing down into a blur as she quickly looked for places to strike. Though magic wasn’t her strong suit, she was exceptional with finding weak points and vulnerabilities to have the greatest impact.

She half heard Zathria’s shout to ice it, and Vyx knew that would give her the necessary opening. The general didn’t wait around, rushing forth towards the beast. There was a drow before her that was crouched behind a shield. Vyx didn’t slow her momentum, running full speed before she jumped into the air and planted a foot atop the shield. The drow was taken by surprise, but didn’t have time to register what was happening.

Vyx sprang up from the shield, jumping down in an arc with both blades drawn. The beast wouldn’t have seen her coming from above, and the general could only hope that this was timed with the ice attack. Vyx’s right blade came down with a swift diagonal cut towards where there was a slight crack and fissure in the creature. The second blade came as Vyx pushed off her first attack, pivoting her entire body around to slash it into the left flank.

She repeated the dance, moving like a dervish with precision strikes till she was behind the creature by the end of it. Vyx landed with a thud on the other side, rolling forward on the ground before coming up to her feet. She didn’t look behind her to see the damage done, gaze trained towards the queen before her.

The Queen, for the first time since she took the throne, had hints of fear in her eyes. She quickly turned and began to run in the opposite direction. Vyx gave chase, counting on the others to finish off the beast if it were still alive.

Zathria At'Arel Xunari Auceus Karanon Ulventhral Lythrani Undraeth

 

[Xunari Auceus]

Really?

Xunari eyed Zathria with a scathing glare, kneeling as she was with both hands currently pulling dozens of pulsing magical bonds against the demon. She was literally up to her elbows in two spells currently pinning the demon's legs and flaying it's skin with the pressure she was applying... but oh no, time to drop that and the restraints she currently had locked in for an ice attack.

Because she could pull them out of her pert backside without using either of her hands, couldn't she? Of course she could. Bloody sword-swallowing weapon-bitches...

"Ten seconds."

Because now that someone had demanded her to basically pull something out of her arse she was going to HAVE to do it - her pride wouldn't let her do anything else. Damn her pride, it was probably going to cost her an arm and a leg someday...

Wrestling the bands of magic, she gritted her teeth, transferring the control of all of the bonds to her leg hand. Almost immediately the strain began to show and the demon almost slipped her bonds before she regained control. With her one free hand she began to carve into the stone with her knife's tip.

"INCOMING."

She might have been a bit salty about how it was asked of her but she wasn't enough of a bitch to throw people into the friendly fire zone. Slapping her right hand on the newly created rune, she felt more energy being leached out of her as it activated. Thankfully it sapped energy from the environment too, the temperature in the area dropping by at least fifteen degrees in a matter of seconds as a line of ice erupted from the edge of the rune toward the demon.

Even it's fires dimmed as the rune took in the energy from the heat produced to power itself. The trail of ice reached it's feet and began to rapidly climb up it's body, encasing it up to it's thighs in a miniature glacier in, much to her annoyance, only twelve seconds since she had given Zathria her response.

Two seconds off? Fuck now she was going to be practicing the rune for weeks to get it down faster...

Zathria At'Arel Vyx'aria Karanon Ulventhral Lythrani Undraeth

 

[Lythrani Undraeth]

The shadowed Lythrani danced through the battlefield, deftly evading fallen debris and stray attacks alike with the same dexterity of the darkness she mimicked. She watched as her companions orchestrated cunning plans and paths of death, as skillful and dangerous as she had grown to expect from them. The demonic beast they faced, an ascendant, was entangled in frost and tendrils alike by Xunari before Vyx sprang into action.

Of course, Lythrani was more than an idle observer.

As the Queen began to run, the effects of fear slowly enveloping her like a virulent poison, her legs suddenly gave way from under her—as though swept by some kind of invisible force.

Quickly after, the air shimmered to reveal the form of her once spymaster. A glistening dagger apparated in her hand, with its deadly point soon finding its way towards the Queen herself, though it did not puncture. "Well, well," Lythrani began, "if it isn't our loyal, benevolent Queen."

Her boot came down on the drow monarch's arm, pushing down as the dagger came closer, Lythrani awaiting the arrival of Vyx. Yet as she did so, she whispered in her ear. The words came out harsh and matter-of-fact, yet Lythrani's face carried with it no anger. It felt as though she had merely told a child a simplistic truth of the universe.

"No wonder the goddess had forsaken us. You make her sick."

Zathria At'Arel Vyx'aria Karanon Ulventhral Xunari Auceus

 

[Zathria At'Arel]

hria was unconcerned with whether or not the runic commander wanted to do it, she wanted to know if she could. She was glad in the response. Even as she could practically feel the anger radiating off of her comrade, the drow were a proud people. They didn't back down from a challenge easily, and the results were spectacular this time.

The creature was struck another brutal magic blow and encased up to its knees and beyond. Zathria pulled back on the bow once more and sent an arrow into the creature's eye. It roared in pain, half blinded, bound, freezing, and now skewered by the general. It was in a bad place, and Zathria was perfectly happy with the results.

Impressive work, she complemented Xunari. The mage attacks had been critical to the battle, there was no doubt of that. With that, Zathria began to pursue the queen with the others.

It didn't take long for the party to subdue her, and Zathria began directing the soldiers to secure a perimeter. Military coups weren't unheard of, but not in Zathria's lifetime did she remember such a betrayal by the queen. Blood would no doubt flow. It would have to, and Zathria couldn't help but wonder what the aftermath would be.

 

[Vyx'aria]

“Maelzafen abandoned us a long time ago, you stupid bitch,” The Queen hissed as she attempted to yank the arm back and failed. She glared up at Lythrani before turning to look at Vyx, “She hasn’t answered in centuries. Even since the time of my mother.”

Vyx’s eyes widened at this. There had been rumors, but to have it confirmed? It sent a chill down her spine and made her question the future of her people. The grip on her blade grew slack, but her face did not betray any emotion.

“The drow are doomed,” The Queen continued, “The council has fallen apart. Our territories beyond Zar’Ahal fall under constant attacks and are poorly defended,” The Queen cackled as she spoke, “You should use your tricks there,” She spat at Lythrani, “Paint the illusion of a future for your people. Because one does not exist.”

It was a lot to take in, and it felt like a heavy blow to the gut. It was enough to almost knock the wind out of her, but still she remained steadfast. The Queen slowly turned to look at Vyx again.

“And you,” She said with a sneer, “You betray your-”

The rest of her sentence died as a blade sailed through the air and wedged deep into her eye. The Queen was silenced at once, blood trickling from the wound. Before she even hit the ground, Vyx had her blades drawn, slicing them left and right to kill the two drow next to her. The general then gazed upon Lythrani - the only other witness to the queen’s words.

There was a moment of pause when Vyx simply gazed at her, silent and unmoving as a statue. The tension was thick enough to cut through.

After agonizing moments, Vyx lowered her weapons, keeping her eyes still fixated on Lythrani.

“No one else can know of this,” Vyx said quietly, “Our people must hang onto a thread of hope if we are to survive,” It was a dangerous secret to keep - their people had sworn their lives to Maelzafen.

Zathria At'Arel Xunari Auceus Lythrani Undraeth Karanon Ulventhral

 

[Xunari Auceus]

Xunari grinned up at Zathria from her position kneeling on the ground. She had bitten her tongue at some point so she turned to the side slightly to spit out the blood before turning back to the weapon master with a smirk.

"Give me something hard next time." she joked back with a bark of a laugh, "Nice shot - you know what you're doing."

High praise from one drow to another in her opinion - recognizing someone else as being skilled was an odd thing in their society. But Zathria had acknowledged her brilliance so she would not be a stick in the mud and do otherwise herself.

She wasn't one to leave a job half finished however so rather than rushing over to the queen immediately she released both of her current runes. While the beast struggled in vain, she drew another runic array on top of the existing ice one before slamming her hands down on it, pumping it with magic to activate it.

The ice surged up the beast's body, covering it up to the chest, where the heart would be. With a twist of her hand and more magic pushed in, large spikes erupted into the meat of the creature and out of the ice the other side, a dozen of the long spears piercing through the front and back to carve the insides of the creature's chest up.

With the creature mortally wounded she left it to the grunts to finish off, moving up toward the general only after the secret had been uttered. Having heard none of it she merely raised an eyebrow at the dead Queen.

"The Queen is dead... how muddy is the line of succession right now?"

Vyx'aria Zathria At'Arel Lythrani Undraeth Karanon Ulventhral

 

[Zathria At'Arel]

Zathria gave a thanking nod to Xunari, something of an understanding having been reached between the pair. Her pace toward the queen had barely slowed, however, and she arrived in time to hear the queen's parting words. They were things that had been whispered by the most scandalous of their people, but most hadn't dared utter the fears aloud.

Now, it seemed, the truth had finally come out and it was grim.

Zathria heard Vyx'aria speak quietly, saying that the people could never know and Zathria shook her head quietly in reflection. She wondered how long they might keep this secret and what the repercussions might be. Her mind tore quickly through options for what they could tell the people about why the queen betrayed them.

We'll need to tell the people something about the queen, she said, pausing a moment.

Possessed by the blood magic of Avairl's matron? she asked. Of course, that would require the execution of the nobles of Avairl immediately, but that would be expected retaliation for an attack like this.

The drow will need something to unite behind... ...and distract them from asking questions, she didn't say aloud. She knew Vyx'aria would understand the implication. Another war would be on the horizon. A massive one, and the line of succession? Who better to lead the drow into war than a general?

 

[Lythrani Undraeth]

Lythrani's foot dug in deeper as the Queen spoke, her face unmoving even as the darkest secret of the Drow surfaced into the light. Though she had always remained skeptical of the goddess's true presence, to hear it said aloud before her... it was unlike any feeling she had ever experienced prior.

She let the wretch speak, uttering her last words of spite and anger drift into the air, uncaring of whatever chaos such things might sow. Yet as the Queen spat on her, Lythrani leaned in close, her mouth to the monarch's ear. She whispered, the sound elegant and gentle like a mother comforting a child, "Do us all a favor, and die."

The blade soared through the air, piercing flesh and bone as it split the Queen's head in two. Blood rolled down the drow's face, the last hints of rage leaving the corpse as its soul spilled out to a godless afterlife. The body slumped, unceremoniously kicked to the side by Lythrani herself.

Her gaze moved upward, locking with that of Vyx'Aria. The spymaster's eyes betrayed no emotion, no lingering hints of her thoughts, and none crossed that of the general's visage. Though their eyes only met for moments, it felt like a stretching eternity. In both their minds, they combed over what they had heard. Doubt ensued, only to be overtaken by a tide of contemplation, leaving behind nothing more than a sea of its implications.

They were the sole witnesses to words that could never be shared, never brought up, and never answered. Words that, should they ever leave their memories, would yield the ruin of all they worked for.

Lythrani glanced down at the decrepit form that littered the ground before her, quietly responding, "A thread that can never be cut."

It was moments later that Lythrani moved her gaze to the two other Drow that arrived on the scene, heeding both their words. "The Queen's death was a tragedy, to have been driven mad by Avairl magic after they had made a demonic deal with an Ascendent," she nodded to Zathria. "It was only by the guidance of Maelzafen that Vyx'Aria and I were able to end the ritual."

"Yet, our people must continue forth, to prosper and to victory. It's only fitting, Xunari, that when no heir remains, it be the loyal leader of her army that takes her mantle and leads us to greatness." Her eyes directly met that of Vyx'Aria. Not only was she far more well-known among the people than the spymaster, who thrives upon anonymity, but her soldiers trusted her and would be willing to follow her to the throne. Her place would be certain at her side as spymaster, where she preferred it. "Isn't that correct, general?"

Vyx'aria Zathria At'Arel Xunari Auceus Karanon Ulventhral

 

[Zathria At'Arel]

Zathria could sense the tension in the small group and knew that it was there for a variety of reasons. No one in this society could be trusted, and she wondered if and when things would boil over.

Whatever the answer, it would be a problem for a different day.

The queen is dead. Long live the queen. It is Maelzafen's will, Zathria stated, giving a bow before slipping her swords away. She had followed Vyx'aria this far, and she had no intention of falling away now. There was still much work to be done, and a ladder to climb, it seemed.

By your leave, I'll take a detachment to eliminate the remains of Avairl, she said. What was left of the soldiers, slaves, and non-nobility of the house would be folded into the army, though Zathria doubted many within the house itself would survive the destruction that was to come.

She should have been nervous, she should have been tense, but the only word Zathria could find to describe herself was eager. Times were changing, and for the better. Death and glory awaited.

 

[Xunari Auceus]

The Queen was a traitor and the Queen was dead.

The line of command passed to the leading General and that meant that Vyx'aria was to be the leader of their people. Of course calling her Queen right now was a little pre-mature since there hadn't been much of a coronation yet but she doubted the general was one for ceremony.

Nodding in understanding to the spy mistress, she turned to Vyx'aria. Putting her own spin on bowing, she gave a brief curtsy with all of her runes shining slightly across her skin as she did so.

"My Queen." she intoned respectfully, "My magics are yours to command to crush your enemies."

Best way to get royal approval to go magic-item-hunting was to say that in her experience.