Dreadlords Graduation

[Luthen]

Gold
Houri | Livia Quinnick | Silas Artesto | Lumen | Zinnia | Thraah

An odd Arcane symbol flickered just over Luthen's left eye as he squatted on the tallest tower remaining within the city. The crumbling ruin had barely been standing when he'd journeyed to the city last week, though now it stood as a bastion carved with dozens of runes and wards. Each one more intricate than the last. Strengthening the stone and steadying it's fall.

Through the magic he had conjured, he watched as the first group of Initiate's began to approach. His lips turning to a smile as he recounted each of their names and magics in his mind. Good.

He thought to himself as he inwardly praised the ambitions of those who had come to take him on. A long breath drawing into his lungs as his gaze flickered, and his 'view' of the Initate's changed. Moving so that he could now witness them as they approached the entrance to the ancient ruined city.

"Lets go."​

Luthen heard Houri said, and slowly he stood.

The rain continued to patter down in steady beats, puddles beginning to form in the streets. Obscuring the road and what may lay beneath.

As the group of Initiate's stepped into the city proper. They would find the air suddenly filled with an ambience of magic. The saturation of it upon the walls, roads, and even in the very air itself making it almost impossible to find out where it was coming from.

Let's start off easy. Luthen thought with a smile, the symbol in front of his eye watching as the students entered the city, and the ground beneath them began to move.

It did not quake or split, it did not shift or begin to open. Instead, the cobbles themselves seemed to come alive. Each one stepped upon by the group of Initiates found themselves suddenly wriggling, and then popping up and out of the sand and dirt they had been buried in for so long. Within seconds, they grew legs; some six, some eight, some only three.

A face and eyes came next, and without hesitation, the cobbles threw themselves at the students who had stepped upon them. Each biting, slashing, and grabbing hold of any Initiate they could find. A strange red ooze dripping from their mouth as the gnashed their teeth in an attempt to sink it into flesh.

 

[Thraah]

GOLD TEAM

"Yaknow, this isn't sooooooWHAAAAT THE FUUUCK IS THAT SHIT?"
The ground had come alive, like a hideous fucking nest of fucking rock beetles or some shit!
Thraah kicked the first one away and sent it sprawling onto its back but there were more, more and more and fucking more!
"FUCK!"
She hit the next with a gout of fire but there was one on her leg now.
"AAAAAAGH! FUCK!"

 

[Zinnia]

"I'm with you, Zin. Houri,"

Lumen had been gone for so long that Zinnia had wondered if she'd ever come back. Seeing her at the start of the final exams made her heart soar. Kristen might have left, gone to serve her god atop some distant mountain, but another of Zinnia's closest friends had returned. Not a moment too late, either. The gold-eyed girl gave a confident smile and nod towards Lumen. This was it!

It was...rather unfortunate that Livia and Silas decided to tag along. Blegh. She didn't much care for them being sappy in her vicinity, either. And as usual, as Zinnia could overhear, Houri was at least considered while Zinnia's very presence was ignored. Some things never changed.

None of that mattered. Zinnia wasn't here for them, she was here for herself and those who had supported her. She rolled her shoulders and bounced on her heels.

"Ag-greed," she replied to Houri."Time to get moving."

---

GOLD TEAM

A whole ruined city as the testing and hunting grounds, huh? Zinnia marveled at the place. It was hard to believe that Vel Anir had such incredible resources that they could afford to just let an entire city fall to this state of disrepair. Then again, Vel Anir had always put an incredible amount of stock in ensuring that Dreadlords were as well raised as possible. Minus the abuse and ritual killings of the old ways, of course.

The group had only just began to wander in when the first trap was sprung. The cobblestones sprung to life in horrific fashion--was this the work of Luthen, or something the proctors had set up? Or perhaps the reason why the place was abandoned?

In a flash, Zinnia took up her hammer and began smashing away at the ravening creatures. Every step seemed to accidentally conjure more, though. The only guarantee of safety seemed to be in stepping where the stones had already pulled themselves to life.

Then Thraah began to scream. Zinnia hopped from one open patch to the next before leaping past Thraah, taking a croquet swing at the stone-bug on her leg. She landed on a small dirt patch, turning on her heel to try to pick out any more of the gnashing beasties.
"Step l-lightly everyone!"

 

[Aelita]

BRONZE PARTY​

Salak | Mieri

"But I think he'd probably leave the pins inside."

"Hmm, now I kind of want to know what happens if all the pins are lost," Aelita said almost underneath her breath.

As Mieri continued to describe her idea of how to go about assailing the cave, Aelita's eyes squinted - face scrunching.

"Hrm," she hummed.

With a gesture to Mieri, Aelita said, "Alright. Quietly, and carefully! The Dreadlord looked goblin-like, and they like to make pits with shit-covered spikes as traps! He's definitely chosen this place to get us with tricks and traps, somehow."

Aelita drew her staff and gave it a wave as if testing something - a shimmer of light followed. She then motioned toward the cave entrance.

"You first, of course!" she told Mieri.

 

[Salak]

BRONZE

Like any good predator Salak knew the instant his lair was penetrated.
Green eyes flickered towards the locked gate of his sanctum through still wet locks of his unnaturally grey hair.
Slowly he closed the book and took a sip of his tea.
"Hmm."
It was a little sweet for his taste but warmed him well enough. Whoever had entered the cavern had succeeded in the first task though they might not have known it.
They did not try to smoke him out.
Two possibilities, either they decided against it because they knew he would either leave the pins or die inside with them, making them harder to retrieve or they failed to have the idea entirely.
Either way he was pleased. Failure to have a bad idea was no crime to his thinking. The world had enough already.
He waited for them to stumble about in the darkness of the earth and to the pit of hallucinogenic spore releasing fungus. His immunity to poisons was the only thing that helped him get through. The spores, once inhaled, began to create dizziness and nausea then bled vision and blurred sounds. The world melted into swirling vaporous shapes. Finding ones way would be next to impossible even in regular light but in the darkness of the cavern reality became a nightmare of jagged rock and piercing echoes.
He'd have a better idea of who had followed him when they started to scream.
"Let the games begin!"

 

[Silas Artesto]

Hesitation danced at her lips, her eyes staring forward as she walked alongside Silas as they trailed slowly. Livia had kept up her training, and sparred plenty with Amelie seeing as it was Erodin that had sworn the oath to keep her safe. Amelie was a decent teacher, learning some new tricks, but none she could really explain to the boy she was in love with. Instead, she shrugged. "I learned so much... and still am. There are some places I have been to where I get to work more with the corruption magic... and I am barely scratching the surface that Henk helped me reach when..."

At this point, she picked the end of her braid that fell over her shoulder and gave it a wiggle to show the silvered locks. Corruption had leeched it of the dark brown hue the Quinnicks were known for. "Funny how things have changed since the dance... for us and my magicks." Back then, she would have settled for Proctor Salak's challenge and gone for bronze...

Before being one of the conditions to the negotiations Erodin and Amelie asked for, Livia would have settled for silver.

It was only this morning she felt confident in both of her magical powers that she could do this. That... and spite.

"Houri is going for gold. You sure coming along is a good idea?" Livia now turned to look at Silas, brows furrowed slightly.

Silas Artesto

"You're not shaking me off again already, Quill." Silas answered almost immediately, stepping forward with nary a glance in her direction, a steel gaze of determination set towards the path before them, towards the Dreadlord carrying the prize meant to be theirs."I'm sticking with you, no matter where you go." He wasn't giving her much choice in the matter.

In his frustration with her, perhaps he felt as though he couldn't. Irrational though it was, Silas feared the next time he turned his back she'd be gone again. He wasn't prepared for that, not so soon. If she tried to leave again, he'd just have to chase after her.

They both knew who'd win that race.

"We're already lagging behind. Come on, we've got to get to Tollif." Houri and the rest of 'gold team' had set off ahead of them, and Silas doubted many of the people in that group would be keen on helping him after that debacle in the kitchens a while back. No time to kick himself now. Reaching out and grasping Livia's hand, he offered as much of a smile as he could muster in the situation.

"Come on, I'll give you a lift. For old time's sake?"

With Silas' unmatched speed, they caught up to the rest of Gold Team in no time at all. When finally they crossed into the city of Tollif, however, part of Artesto wished they hadn't. Tollif had been a veritable ghost town even before Luthen had his way with it, but the pittering rain, eerie fog and magical pressure in the air only served to turn an unsettling place into a downright frightening one.

"Dropping you here." Silas said, only a few seconds into the city. He zipped over to the crumbling remains of what looked to be an old prison and gently placed Livia back on her feet. "I'd bet my ass they've got this place littered with traps. Can't risk running over one."

A clamor up ahead of them drew his attention and he squinted to peer through the mist, only barely making out the figure of Houri and a few she'd taken with her battling... something?

"There's some kinda battle up ahead... what the hell?"

So baffled was Silas, that he didn't notice the rising cobbles behind him, sprouting legs and features as they readied to attack him.

Livia Quinnick

 

[Livia Quinnick]

If Livia was to be truthful with herself, then she would care to admit that Silas Artesto knew her well. He would know she would not deny herself to be close to him, to be held in his arms as he whisked her away to catch up with the group setting out for Tollif. He knew that sentimentality in the words 'for old time's sake' would have her melt and agree to anything he said.

Once she was set down, her magic instantly have her balance as she whirled her head around to gather her bearings, see what were in their surroundings.

Traps indeed.

Livia had not said anything in the few seconds of arriving, but her magic tore her gaze to look down at the cobbled ground, jumping with surprise at what she saw.

"Shit!" She cursed aloud, pulling her magicked bow from the fastening at her back. It became her go to bow as of late, only requiring magic for a taut string to loose the arrows from the unique quiver she had brought with her. The arrow heads were fashioned in a way that they would do damage when pulled out. But for now, she used her arcane bow to swat away the horrors that came to life beneath their feet. "This is Luthen's doing!" She gritted her teeth.

Quinnick could sense him, his whereabouts clouded heavily in a haze of magic that she was unable to pinpoint his location. Clever man.

Silas Artesto

 

[Zephyrine]

Wordlessly, Ivan and Zephyrine exchanged looks before nodding. It was her way to tell him good luck, but she knew she did not need to voice it. She knew he was capable of holding his own, but the ruined ship was a vast vessel to explore. In order to work quickly, they would need to split up and find Zola and those silver pins.

She watched as Ivan went ahead, giving her a moment to assess what she could from the dock.

Dead eyes bore into her, and she turned her gaze to see bleached skeletons of Dreadlords punished during the Revolution.

"Care to give a hint, friends?" She mused aloud, smiling to herself before testing her weight against the ship brow, ready to repair it's strength at a snap second if the need called for it. It held, and to her great relief, so was the upper deck. Zephyrine walked slowly, getting a feel for the terrain up here before deciding to look for a decent way to head below deck. It was dark, and what sunlight filtered past the overcast sky barely lit anything of note in the holes of the deck.

She thought against calling out for Ivan, but Zephyrine stilled.

She had thought she heard something, and stayed quiet a moment to hear it again.

Zola

 

[Mercer Alwin]

Going for Gold

Mercer had continued to stand silently as most others paired up, she had always been a lone wolf and it didn't surprise her that she was one now. It didn't matter, she would pass or fail on her own merit. She trailed behind the other initiates as a large chunk of them broke off to head towards Luthen's domain. She would have her work cut out for her.

As her slow approach brought her to the city proper, she could feel the magic saturating everything around them. It would make Luther untraceable. Her chinned lifted as yells broke the still air, and she quickened her pace to see many of the initiates fighting already, and she cursed under her breath as she watched the street come alive.

She ignored Quinnick and Artesto, her thoughts only on aiding Houri and Zinnia. they were both classmates she could actually respect. She barely registered Thraah in the mix as she hastened her step to help rid them of the cobbled creatures. She barely heard Zinnia's warning, but it had been enough for her to consider her path carefully. Long swipes of her weapon flung the creatures widely but was nowhere near as effective as say a hammer.

Zinnia Houri Thraah

 

[Lumen]

Gold
Houri | Livia Quinnick | Silas Artesto | Lumen | Zinnia | Thraah | Luthen

She sensed him. The heat of his body. Golden eyes flickered through the rain and ruins of the city and focused on a tall tower in the distance.

There.

Arm straightened and her finger pointed ahead to Zinnia and Houri. Thraah would see it too. Even as Thraah started screaming. The ground rocked beneath her boots. She could've sworn Silas shot by them carrying a girl.

A small smile tugged on Lu's lips at another sighting of one of her friends before her attention shifted back to the cobble-stone vampires.

"Nice one Zinnia!" She yelled at the other girl even as she stepped in to block one of the abominations from her friend's back with her circular, golden shield. The streets were wet and filled with puddles. There was a slight slope that went downward, deeper into the city and toward that tower.

With a breath, the air just ahead of them began to drop in temperature. The puddles around them began to flash-freeze. She wondered if it would be enough to keep any more of the cobbles from breaking into life upward. Keep them frozen and locked down. While also...

"What do you guys say about some sledding and skating?"

 

[Houri]

Houri let the creatures crawl up her silvery armour without so much as a flicker of disgust crossing her face. Indeed, she just kept walking, as though the creatures were nothing more annoying flies swarming about her face. When nearly every inch of her armour was covered there was a sudden crackle and satisfying pop as lightning travelled down her body from head to toe. Where the creatures had latched attempting to gnaw through the metal to the skin beneath, they fell off as nothing more than dark, singed corpses. Once the lightning had passed through her it spanned out to cover the square on which she stood, clearing it of the nasty creatures.

"Do you want snow?" she asked of Lumen at her suggestion, one brow rising. She preferred the rain herself but it would not take much, especially with their combined magic to turn it to snow.