Open Chronicles Highway Ambush

[Lenuta]

Tzuriel was not the only one seeking the missing Lenuta. The Nocterose house had been in a flurry, the Lord demanding his best respond to her absence and investigate.


Their travel had been swift and unyielding day and night. Each of the six was equipped with a talisman that protected then from the sun as well as honing in and Lenuta's own. Moira headed the party, all of them clad solely in ebony to hide them in the shadows as they scouted the village, awaiting an opportunity to strike. It was a small group, each and every one of them elite in their own practice and centuries old. Each and every one of them fiercely loyal to Nocterose and Lenuta, undetectable due to the strong magic one of them used to shroud their presence.


They silently watched the carts roll in, the possibility of their opening urging them to draw in faintly, their forms remaining low and concealed.

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

The noble checked the list over and nodded in confirmation. "Everything seems to be in order. My assistant will give you your due. It was a pleasure doing business with you Sir Alanthis."
Tzuriel nodded and reached out his hand to shake with the noble. As soon as their hands met he clasped the nobles hand with his other, holding him there and the nobles eyes widened as he screamed in pain. Tzuriel pressed his silver ring against the vampires hand and wisps of smoke rose as it burned against the vampires skin.

At the first scream is when his men jumped into action. They burst through the front and back doors with weapons drawn and moved to engage the bodyguard and the easterner while Tzuriel continued to burn a deep scar into the nobles palm. Still holding the vampire lord with his ring hand he released one hand to let a wooden stake drop from inside his sleeve. He was about to plunge it into the vampires heart when the suffering vampire caught his wrist. While fighting ensued around them they struggled with each other, the weakening vampire competing with Tzuriel's strength as the stake inched closer and close to the vampires chest.

However, the battle going on around them was not going well at all for the ambushers. Four had come into the house and initially they had the element of surprise against the remaining vampire bodyguard, but they quickly lost that as the vampires greater strength, speed and skill whittled their numbers down to only the two facing the easterner, who would no doubt die just as swiftly.

Once the vampire had dealt with its attackers it lunged at Tzuriel, knocking him away from its master. He landed hard on the floor and dropped the stake, but almost as quickly as he fell he used the momentum to continue into a roll which brought him back up to his feet, with the two blades in his hands, one long, the other short. Katana and Wakizashi. He faced down the vampires alone now.

 

[Sung Chei]

Sung Chei reacted instantly, first his ji cut up across one of the guards, then cut down on the shoulder of the other. When the merchant rolled up and drew his daishō he laughed.

"You two go, protect our lord, get him to safety, I'll catch up once I've shown this novice what single combat looks like in my country." He says marching forward with his ji at the ready. "Your stance is too narrow and too long. At least you're gripping the swords properly. Let's see how much skill you have."

He stopped a few feet in front of him and held his ji forward, ready and waiting for him to attack.

 

[Lenuta]

Tzuriel's ambush was likely the best opportunity for the Nocterose infiltrators, and they weren't going to let it pass.


Fenrir stayed behind, his enhanced vision able to watch and warn. The rest rushed the house, Leon and Gabel flanking the outside to assure that none escaped with their Lady whilst Moira, Lorelei, and Perry entered. They used the chaos of the surprise to their advantage, the two assuring Moira a path to the crate that held Lenuta while Blackroot and his two attendants tried to follow Sung Chei's demand and exit. Only one succeeded, the other faltering at a strange sense that came from Tzuriel. The sense that he belonged to another. Such a tantalizing mortal could not be passed by and the delayed attendant lunged at Tzuriel from behind, fangs eager for his flesh.


The elite were efficient, wasting no time as the vampire guardian tore open the wood with bare hands, tossing the offending lid behind her. Her usual apathy was broken only faintly by a mingle of relief and pity for the sorry state she found Lenuta in. Blood deprivation had left the young vampiress frail and weakened, her condition resembling the monstrous form that had conquered her before she had tasted mortal blood. The veins bulged along her skin, the terrified gaze that looked up bloodshot. Moira reached down, both hands gripping at the leather that bound Lenuta's mouth and easily tearing it apart before doing the same to the restraints at her arms. Wrists were rubbed raw, her regeneration stifled with her starvation. Capable arms wrapped around her, lifting her out of her confinement before swiftly exiting.


Lenuta was left in Fenrir's care. He produced a flask, the metallic smell of blood rousing the wounded vampiress and causing her to grasp at it desperately, ingesting the entirety of the preserved blood within. Still, her body needed time to recover.

"I'll leave her in your care." Moira's voice finally rang against the night, emerald gaze looking back toward the house where Gabel had caught Blackroot's guard by surprise and engaged him.


"They aren't our priority, we should get her back to the Manor." Fenrir's argument was met with a piercing glare.


"These actions cannot go unpunished." Her statement was final, resentment resounding as her focus turned instead to the vampire Lord and his companion who had deemed it wise to kidnap another's daughter.


Moira was extraordinary. There was a reason she had been made the head of Nocterose's elite. The strain of vampire that the family had was unique, enhancing the natural abilities of those turned so that each was different. Even so, her abilities had excelled within the decades she'd had to hone them. She was not granted speed but it didn't matter, her legs were powerful enough to propel her towards the enemy attendant, able to traverse the fifty yards in mere strides directly towards them.


She could feel the mush of flesh as her fist met the face of Blackroot's guard. The crack of skull as it failed to even falter her momentum and the tear of flesh as the head burst from the impact. She stopped with such force that trenches two feet deep corroded the ground in her wake, her arm bloodied with gore from her clenched fingers to her elbow. Her head turned, hatred and loathing stabbing like knives as her eyes looked to Blackroot.


"Will you come quietly or am I going to have to kill you?"

 

[Sung Chei]

Midway through her sentence, Blackroot attacked her. Lounging forward with speed that rivalled or even exceeded her own. He put his hand through her chest, right about where her heart would be.

"You talk too much." Was his only response. And with that, he disappeared into a swarm of bats, passing behind Sung Chei and leaving him a whisper.

"96.82°south, 85.64° west. Go there."

Sung Chei heard and memorized these coordinates, then, having grown tired of waiting for Tzuriel to attack, did so first. He unleashed an endless barrage of stabs, cuts and kicks, never letting up, and never showing an opening.

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

Just when everything was looking grim, there was a flurry of activity. The Lord and his servants were leaving. His men were dead, but elite soldiers rushed in suddenly to apprehend them, He didn't know what was going on but he recognized Moira in the mix dressed to kill literally, and he saw the Nocterose vampires recover their mistress. There was confusion and fighting, and somewhere in the fighting one of the Blackroot vampires caught his scent, and couldn't resist taking a bite. It rushed at him from behind and sank his fangs deep into his neck.

This wasn't the first time he felt fangs in his neck, so he wasn't shocked or immobilized. He turned his swords around and made a double backwards thrust, catching the vampire through its gut and chest. The vampire let out a grunt of pain and then attempted to flee again before it was cut down by the elite vampires.
Tzuriel shook his head to clear it, but he didn't have time to see to the wound on his neck.

Since he didn't show immediate signs of weakening the easterner attacked with his shortened polearm. The easterner was incredible before if Tzuriel were able to witness it, but now with vampiric strength and speed Tzuriel was very nearly overwhelmed! With two weapons that he could wield masterfully in either hand he was able to ward off most of the attacks, but several nicks and long shallow cuts were scored by the easterner in just a few brief seconds. But it took only a few brief seconds for Tzuriel to adjust.
The easterner offered no opening, so he decided he would create one. The Easterner was a vampire now, after all.
Simultaneously while parrying, blocking, and dodging. Tzuriel maneuvered the contents of one of his inside pockets with his elbows. A very delicate bottle dropped from his jacket and shattered against the floor, in that moment Tzuriel closed his eyes as the flash pot released not any kind of spoke or gas, but a blinding flash of light that should be doubly effective against vampires.

He opened his eyes again quickly and then pressed in with attacks of his own, alternating between leading with his left and right, but even treating his attacks as a complex chess game, using one strike to leave him open for another from the complete opposite angle or direction. Forcing him to choose what to sacrifice and what to protect. and Essentially forcing him to protect his head and heart while sacrificing his other extremities less important to a vampire.

 

[Sung Chei]

Deciding quickly that he needed to return to the offensive, Sung swept low. His entire body was lower than Tzuriel's knee, his left foot pivoting, his right like sweeping his feet out from under him, while cutting up and across as a follow-up attack. From there he returned to the offensive, stabbing and slashing like a maniac with perfect form. While Tzuriel was good, he wasn't near as well trained or disciplined as Sung, who had spent ten years learning with the southern monks of his homeland.

 

[Lenuta]

Lord Blackroot matched her prowess, swooping around her to sink his hand deep into Moira's chest before offering a rebutting quip. There was no sign of pain that hindered her glare, the entirety of her form bursting into wisps of charcoal smoke, her form reappearing next to her four other associates who had made their exit to assure Lenuta's safety. Their eyes followed the swarm of bats as they flew through the house to whisper to Sung Chei.


Moira clicked her teeth with annoyance, jerking her head towards their rendezvous near Fenrir, the group reassembling near their fallen Lady.


"Time to go." Moira stated, Gabel nodding and grasping at the hidden talisman, pulling it from beneath his tunic.


"Wait." Lenuta's hoarse voice brought them pause, her cinnamon hues trained on the house that had held her captive for several days.

"Tzuriel. He must be rewarded."


All eyes shifted from her to Moira, awaiting an order. It was but a moment before Moira bowed her head, giving a nod to the rest of them.


Lorelei took the initiative, displaying the same shadow magic she had used previously to save Moira from Blackroot's offending jab to burst into smoke and vanish from the group. Her slender form reappeared just behind the merchant king just after his flash pot sent out it's blinding light and before Sung Chei began his crazed-yet-articulate attack. An arm wrapped around Tzuriel's neck, her grip non-threatening as her other hand remained free to block any attack that might be made on her instinctively. They vanished to return to the group.


Gabel had already been prepared, his enchantment finishing at Lorelei and Tzuriel's arrival, the ground beneath them opening into an abysmal void that swallowed the lot of them, closing swiftly and without a trace.

 

[Tzuriel Alanthis]

He was swept to the floor, the landing took a lot more out of him than it should have. The wound in his neck was beginning to burn in agony and it was as if fire was beginning to spread through his veins, The veins in his neck were clearly darkening as a potent venom made its way through his blood stream. His advantage was lost, he couldn't see himself standing up again soon, and he could see the master fighter about to make short work of him. Then an arm looped around his neck and he suddenly was outside by his wagon among the vampire elite.

He was relieved to see Lenuta there as well. But his attention was quickly diverted as he felt a poison begin to slowly creep through his body. He expected to be turned into a vampire... That, however, didn't seem to be what was taking place. He had mercifully little time before the whole group was swallowed by an abyss in the ground and he lost consciousness.