Dreadlords Graduation

[Livia Quinnick]

Livia's foot fell onto a loose animated cobble, sweeping her off balance in her run that caused her boot to slip and send her to crash into the tough stone below. Pain erupted at her back, having twisted in time to tuck her arms in and landing just shy from her shoulder. She knew better than to cry out loud with pain, but frustration still could make sound through gritted teeth as the cobbles now latched onto her being.

The first glint of glistening teeth made Quinnick let out a hurried burst of her corrupting magic, and for a few shorts moments, the runes giving them autonomy and drive became null. There was no time for her to dwell on the humility of taking a fall, to register the pain and give it more power over her mobility at that moment. I have felt worse than this before. She reminded herself.

She had been near death once, had been sure herself and Ivan would die in that chamber in Tel Arran. Her shoulder had been dislocated and set back on a mission over a year ago, and still, she worked with Proctor Ebersol to take down a Rogue Dreadlord. You are not dead yet, Quinnick. Livia told herself as she helped herself up and began to limp back in a direction she had no thought of making. Compass magic pulled her again, but she turned her head to watch as golems had made their attack.

Livia could help them. Would they help her in return after their fallout?

She turned her head, quickening her steps now as she advanced forward.

Someone ought to see what else was in store for them all.

 

[Zinnia]

GOLD

Snow began to fall courtesy of Houri as chaos unfolded all around the group of six. Lumen set up a golem as a pin and Thraah knocked it down--those two seemed to have their targets under control. Zinnia whirled to see where else she might be needed.

Silas was making a blur of himself, golems swatting at ghosts he left in his own wake. That speed of his was quickly becoming astonishing. For a moment Zinnia wondered if one day he might be able to overtake even Proctor D'Amour...

An unimportant thought to consider at a later date. Much as she disliked him, it was in the best interest of the group if he wasn't left senselessly on diversion duty forever. Quicker than most, but not nearly as quick as Silas, Zinnia rushed behind one of the bewildered behemoths and charged ice into the head of her hammer. She leapt, hammer fully raised behind her as she lunged towards her target, and slammed the ice-charged mallet into the golem's head. Stone ruptured before the thing's whole body began to shiver and crack, the sickly goo that coursed its body quickly freezing on impact.

Zinnia kicked into the monster's back and wrenched her hammer free to dismount, spinning enough as she did to see the distant form of Livia hobbling away...away from another golem.

"Tch!"

Instinctively, Zinnia pulled a mortar from her belt and pressed down on its release. A terrible, sharp *crack* rang out as a bolt of lightning streaked across the crumbling landscape. It struck the golem just as the thing was raising its arms to slam down into Livia, and as electricity wracked its form one thing was clear: it was only stunned.

"Silas! Go help your girlfriend!" Zinnia hollered without a second thought, knowing he'd be the only one fast enough to get her out of harm's way from here.

 

[Lumen]

She had to hold up her circular shield and duck her head behind it as rubble from the smashed golem pinged off it. Rocks and debris made small dents in her armor and she no doubt would have multiple bruises beneath. Her breath came out in a cold puff as she looked to Houri.

A nod in thanks as her hand went out to give her classmate's shoulder a quick squeeze.

"Good work, @Thraah," she added. Lowering her shield, her booted feet stalked forward and past the remains of the golems as she strode deeper into the city and deeper toward their mark.

"And Zin," surprise briefly crossed her tawny eyes. Leave it to Zinnia to bring the tools and gadgets. A frown at Livia Quinnick. Had she been trying to leave the group behind just to get to the finish first? Lumen was surprised there weren't more in their class like her.

The ground was now covered in a thick, blanket of snow.

Making a point not to leave any of the other girls behind, Lumen took up the rear of their party as they moved deeper into the ruins of the city.

 

[Houri]

With Lumen's and her combined powers keeping the golems in place, Thraah and Zinnia were able to smash through the living army in quick succession. She supposed Silas and Livia were doing... something to help with that too. It was better to keep her mind off of them. Off of him. Taking a breath she carefully let go of the snow, letting it brew into a natural occurrence and stay until she decided otherwise, but without draining her energy reserves further.

Mind free of magic and the focus it took, she drew her blade and leapt into the fray amongst her remaining friends.

Houri brought her sword down upon the nearest Golem, letting a spark of anger harden the blade with lightning. The creature let out an agonised scream as the sword sunk into its flesh then exploded outwards, showering the earth with bits of its stony corpse. The initiate spun away to the next and the next. A cathartic dance.

 

[Silas Artesto]

The intricate doubling act that Silas was pulling to draw as much attention to himself as he could was effective enough, but mentally taxing just as much. All of his attention had to remain on maintaining his echoes, lest they fade and lose shape. The activity surrounding him, the efforts of his comrades, they fell to the waysides of his mind as prioritized survival and little else as he swayed and dodged mortal blows from behemoths made of solid rock and stone.

He could feel them, though: The impact of Zinnia's hammer ringing in his ears, the hungry slice of Houri's blade as it cleaved through the summoned fiends effortlessly, the heat that came with Lumen's mere presence, combined with the chill of the snow that now surrounded them. All were confirmations that they still lived, that his efforts weren't in vain. All but...

Livia. Where was Livia?

"Silas! Go help your girlfriend!"

Zinnia's voice cut through his combative trance, and the echoes dissipated as Silas skidded to a stop and swung his head back towards where he'd last seen Quill. She was alive, but there was a golem right on her tail, and the hobble in her step was slowing her down considerably. Clenching his teeth to ignore the throbbing pain of exhaustion, he launches himself towards her, turning his feet to skid across the snowy earth and swing around behind her, throwing a burst of vibration towards the golem in the hopes of pushing it back and scooping Livia back up for an escape.

Gods, his entire body ached, but they needed to keep pace if they wanted the gold. Tightening his grip on Quill, Silas rushes to regroup with the others.

"Don't mind me" He pants, exhausted. "Just being the knight in shining armor again."

What on earth more could they possibly have thrown at them? The frightening thing was that Silas was all but certain it was only beginning. "Let's not try any lone wolf stuff, yeah? They might be pissed at us, but it's not worth dying over." Silas was leery of relying too hard on those he'd scorned just the same, but they'd just had a taste of the alternative.

 

[Luthen]

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

As the golems crumbled, the ruins around the Initiate's seemed to fall quiet. An eerie silence drawing through the streets and close alleyways. The only sound carrying that of tumbling rocks as the remaining golem's slipped and fell to the ground. Breaking against the shattered and disparate cobbles which still stuck within the earth.

The strange quiet continued as the group made it's way further towards the tower.

It was within that silence that the Initiate's encountered trap after trap. Some set by rune, others with only two hands. Each time the students quickly evaded what had been set for them. An explosion torn away by powerful gust of wind, shards of ice wiped away as they were melted in the very air, again and again they overcame the challenges set.

As they continued, the test almost seemed too easy. Wearing against them, but never pushing. Drawing them down inch by inch, but never forcing more. The paths through the ruins was one of fatigue, but not utter exhaustion.

Was this all the famed Dreadlord had for them? Had he lost his touch and the Proctor's made a mistake?

Those very questions likely floated in the minds of the Initiate's as they reached the base of the tower, and there encountered Six large crates of wood.

Each stood nondescript, a simple thing of pine. No markings held upon any of them, no scrawl or message, and yet each one radiated magic the likes of which none of the Initiate's had felt before. Not power, not strength but a subtle familiarity that lay within, and as the students stepped forward; each of the pine boxes fell open.

Within them, stood each of the Initiate's themselves.

For a moment they seemed to linger, and then one by one they stepped from their coffins. Each movement was eerily familiar, every thing about them a reflection of the Initiate's who had come to the ruin. The way they walked, the scars upon their skin, the very life within their eyes, all of it was the same.

The copies stepped to meet their opposites each in turn. Each wearing a smile of absolute confidence.

(This will be the 'final' test. Each of the copies is exactly that, a replica of the Initiate in the test. The Gold Pins are inside the copies. I highly encourage every individual writes their own copy as you know your characters best, but I can supply some back and forth writing as well of course!)

 

[Thraah]

Gold

Thraah spat a mote of fire that left a scorch mark on the ground.
She was looking considerably more animal than person at this point, her clothes smouldering as if about to ignite at any moment and her back hunched. Her chains still wrapped about her bloody knuckles that left steaming red stains on the ground.
The last blast left her half covered in pale dust and dirt and one of her eyes was bloodshot.

But when she saw the replica she smiled because she knew this dumb fucker didn't know dick about her.

Someone started to speak but Thraah started to run straight for her doppleganger which followed her lead and they began to beat the absolute tar out of eachother. A bit like two cats the hair was pulled, the skin was bruised and limbs were slammed against each other and they roared hatred at one another!

"FUCK YOU-FUCK YOU-FUCK YOU-FUCK..."
"FUCK YOU-FUCK YOU-FUCK YOU-FUCK..."

 

[Livia Quinnick]

Before her very eyes, Livia came face to face with a being much like her.

She had the same olive hues as her, the same resting face that looked bored, and to her shock, the silver hair she was left with only a couple of months ago. The Livia Copy turned to meet her own gaze, and Liv gritted her teeth. She had fought many opponents before, but never thought to look at her own fighting style.

In fact, she had met her match.

Liv abandoned the gathered group, moving to meet her double.

She needed to be the quicker draw, calling on her crackling energy of corruption and launching at the other silver haired Initiate. Success saw the double wince, but her tolerance for pain was exactly the same as her own.

This would take a good while to figure out, and all she needed to do was stall.