Fable - Ask Burnt Pages [KoA]

[Lorinna Astarel]

Lorinna stepped back. The komodi looked as if she was going to try and eat her. She must have been caged up for too long.

Lorinna was not entirely wrong with her assessment of the situation.

"Climb?" She asked rhetorically

Dealing with being deep underground was one challenge. Now she had to manage heights.

Lorinna hooked the poleaxe to her belt and mentally mapped out a route. With no magic, she could only watch as the rocks came tumbling down.

She dropped to a knee and closed her eyes as magic saved them.

"Fudge it," she said, too well raised to swear even in the moment.

 

[Melfa]

Melfa wasted no time with stairs. Stepping up to the wall, the komodo reached up to clamp her claws into the stone with a hefty thwack and promptly hoisted her entire self upwards. This continued in a slow and purposeful pattern that posed negative points in grace but overachieved in effectiveness. A big, horny, scaly steam engine thoughtfully chugging its way up a sheer stone wall. At some point she engaged in a head-on deliberation of ideas with a large piece of falling debris and it was left undecided who won the argument, but the steam-lizard kept chugging upward.

By the time she neared the halfway mark, the stairs had officially run out for Innis and the others and the landscape of ruins seemed to be within the throes of its final, rumbling, death rattle. Melfa dug in as the entirety of the foundations gave a great heaving shudder, looking up to see a massive piece of stone parapet sailing downward at them like a sacrificial mountain top.

"BRACE!" she yelled to the others, ducking her head against the wall and curling outwards from her shoulders in an effort to take the brunt force of its fall and deflect it away. It smashed into her with a weight she'd not combatted since going up against the Giantess Hallaflun in the Victory Pit of Clan Koty'cade.

Wind knocked cleanly from her lungs, Melfa felt the heat of trauma rushing beneath the scales of her back. She wouldn't be lifting heavy objects for a while after this, but at least she'd suceeded in her task. The massive slab bounced and careened off across the open air below her, missing the others.

 

[Roki]

Roki watched with wide eyes as boulders seemed to bounce off of the huge woman's proud crown. Her whole frame flexed and surged with power as she braced for the blows.

Then came big crack. The promise of doom in the shape of a giant sheet of stone sloughed off by the tower.

Fingers pinched in to the crooks in the wall left behind by the rescued giant, Roki tried to steady his breath. His heart pounding so hard and quick in his chest it felt like it would leap out of his throat.

Magick wouldn't come. Not if he didn't clear his mind. Not if he didn't center himself.

Shit. Shit. Shit!

BRACE! Came a voice hot and sure.

Roki plastered himself flat as he could against the wall, his bones tucked in, one hand still carried his elm wood staff as he closed his eyes tight.

A resounding crack, the stone sprayed debris after impact as it tumbled behind them. A spin of the material caught his staff with a hard smack that ripped the enchanted tool out of his hands.

"No!" Roki shout as he watched the fractured focus clatter uselessly below them. Debris still rained in pings and slides. He grit his teeth, turned his attention back up as he shook his head.

They still had to climb.

It was from on high that came a sharp whistle, masked as an eastern peewee. A rope fell down shortly after. Sharp eyes might see a proud feather bob, and the wide brim of a tell-tale cap.

 

[Innis]

As the stony-looking woman clawed her way up the wall, only Innis's eyes followed behind. She stared up in disbelief at the distance they still had to go, and the falling rubble, and a sharp crack! as a slab broke against the woman's back.

"There's no way..." she muttered to herself.

Luckily another way presented itself. A rope slapped against the stone precipice, unfurling itself until the end of it brushed against their feet. "Syr Sando!" Innis exclaimed, some brightness coming back to her eyes. Relief washed over her as Innis realized not only that she wasn't going to die trying to climb a sheer wall, but that Syr Sando had returned to them in one piece.

She reached out and took the rope, the barrier spell above their heads fizzling out as she did so. No other choice but to go up the rope, and hope another slab didn't crash down on top of them.

Atop the wall, Innis clawed at dry grass and topsoil, heaving her belly up over the edge. She expected to greet the feather-capped knight, but when Innis looked up, her eyes met the scowling face of an orc, his sword catching the sunlight as it came glinting down upon her.

Innis yelled out in surprise as she rolled away from the blow. The sword clattered against the ground. A puff of dirt bloomed around them, and a stone dislodged itself, tumbling down into the pit below.

 

[Lorinna Astarel]

Lorinna had been worried that the komodi might have been exhausted from her time in the cage. That turned out to be am unnecessary worry. She used tooth and claw to attack the rock face.

Watching, Lorrina almost didn't move when she realised more rocks were coming down. Her armour made loud noises as she slammed her back against the wall and hoped to survive.

Syr Sando! Innis exclaimed,

Lorinna looked up. As her eyes followed the rope she could feel her shoulders aching already. By the time she shedded the weight of armour and layers it would be too late.

The others went first, but she was soon after them. Placing feet to the wall, she climbed arm over arm.

As she rolled onto the ground she saw the fighting and heard the clashing of swords. She managed to push herself up onto one knee but could barely lift her arms.