Private Tales In the Pursuit of Power

A private roleplay only for those invited by the first writer
Dauner was quiet. Probably for the best, since these halls carried away every wayward sound to great distances. Even half-armored, the clanking of her metal sabatons on the mine floor seemed extraordinarily loud to her ears. The relative quiet had something to do with it, for gone were all of the small little reminders of nighttime upon Arethil: the chirps of crickets, the buzzing of other insects, the seldom hoots of owls, the whimsical fancies of the wind and the little tunes they would play with the branches and leaves of the forest. The ear was so used to all of it that their stark absence was striking.

At least this would work both ways. If Naya could hear them, then they could hear her.

And, right as this thought occurred to her, a faint growling could be heard beyond the torch's reach.

Kristen stopped. Half-glanced over to Dauner. Whispered, "Do you hear that?"

Even then, at the very edge of the orange firelight, the inky muzzle of a Dregdog was peaking into view, fangs bared.

Dauner
 
Dauner saw no use in remaining quiet. The moment the dregdog had attacked his shadow scout, Naya must have been alarmed by the presence of the foreign magic. There was no way to tell anymore, since he could no longer see what transpired within the room. But he believed it to be the most logical conclusion. However, for curiosity's sake, he decided to play along and see what happened.

"Loud and clear" he whispered. "Those, I assume, are hounds from a most profane breed. Seeing as I can't enter their minds with magic, I must assume they have an immunity to magic" he said, revealing yet again another secret of his. Two this time. One, that he could enter other people's minds with magic. And the other, that he had a power under his command that didn't fall under the domain of magic. The latter was greatly obscured by the method of phrasing he used, and only one who critically analyzed his words would get it. To say he was only dropping these hints accidentally, would be an underestimation of his wits. But the reason behind why he was doing it still remained unknown.

"I suggest we take them by surprise, and dispatch of them swiftly. That is, assuming they don't already know we're here" he chuckled slightly as he finished, that last part sounding more like a warning than a joke.

"Oh. I guess it's too late for that" he added, pointing towards the dregdog that had just come into view.
 
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Seeing as I can't enter their minds with magic...

A delayed reaction, Kristen's lips moving silently as if to repeat some of what he'd said. Can't...enter their minds with magic? That, wait, huh? Was that a jest? Could he do that? Was it just with animals or with people as well? Had he...(goodness!)...read her mind?

These thoughts were swept under the tide of present immediacy. No sooner had Dauner suggested taking them by surprise that one of the Dregdogs poked its muzzle into the orange glow of the firelight.

And (mayhap not the surprise Dauner might have wished for) came next a shrill voice echoing down the corridor. The voice of Naya: "WHO IS IT THAT GOES THERE? COME TO INTERRUPT MY WORK, HAVE YOU? NOT AGAIN! TEAR THEM APART!"

The Dregdog barked and broke into a feral dash at this command, hurtling toward them.

Kristen didn't know if they were truly immune to magic or not, but she was resolved to find out if it were so. She spoke her verse quickly and a Withering Chain erupted from the hardpacked dirt and spiraled around the Dregdog's midsection, yanking it back and preventing it from closing further upon them. The Dregdog howled, a vicious sizzling coming from where the Chain touched it, and dregs dripped from its body in droves, splattering on the floor.

But the Chain itself was soon covered in dregs. And it broke. Kristen gasped lightly, never having seen such a thing happen to her Conjurations. The dog, wounded and only temporarily stunned, looked back up to Kristen and Dauner, growling with renewed ferocity.

Kristen had her sword and the torch at the ready. Yet she had to comment, "So foul, this creature! Disgusting!"

Dauner
 
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In as much as Dauner loved getting surprised, it was equally hard for him to be surprised by anything. Age comes with wisdom, and ofttimes, it is more a bane than a boon to one such as Dauner. His experience made it easy for him to predict his enemy's moves, like a chess player who could plan a hundred moves ahead. For one who could so aptly predict what was to come, surprises were harder to find than a deity in your backyard. So to say he didn't anticipate the dregdog coming for them, would be a lie.

Kristen's initial attack on the hound confirmed Dauner's conjecture. The gooey substance on it had anti-magic properties. From his observations just now, rather than simply eroding the magic, the substance seemed to absorb the mana. This seemed a rather dangerous substance, as it could potentially greatly harm a mage by draining him of all his mana, leading to mana deprivation. This was a fatal condition for mages, which could lead to their death if not treated in time. There was also an uncertainty whether the substance was limited to absorbing mana, or other forms of energy were also on its shopping list.

The hound didn't seem keen on leaving Dauner to his thoughts, as it pounded onto them once again. Taking a step in front of Kristen, Dauner sent a rock flying at the beast, only using magic for the initial force on the rock. The hound was sent flying into the wall behind it, splattering dreg all over it.

"If magical damage won't work on it, then we'll just have to make do with good old physical damage. Also, don't let that goo touch you. I've got a bad feeling about it" Dauner said, eyes fixed on the beast as it made it back to its feet, growling still at the pair. From the sound echoing through the tunnel, more dregdogs were on their way to reinforced the one they were fighting.

"Oh great! Here comes the cavalry"
 
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"I should have brought a bow!"

Or a spear, or any polearm, something, anything, with a little reach. Her Chains, presumably her Crucifix too, were moderately useful, but the amount of times she would have to conjure them to actually kill one of the Dregdogs with it would drain all of her available magic (and prayers would be heavy come the next morning!).

Such creatures she had faith in dispatching easily by martial means, even with her meager skill with the sword. But in so doing those vile dregs would likely get all over her, and her suspicions aligned with Dauner's—a bad feeling indeed. Oh, to be a heavily armored knight in this instance! How trivial these guardians of Naya's would have proved then.

Dauner smashed the wounded Dregdog against the wall with a mundane rock launched by magical means. The best way of dealing with them, at a distance by any means necessary.

As the sound of more barking and clawed feet tapping on the hard dirt and stone came from deeper in the darkness of the corridor, Kristen looked around her immediate surroundings, looking for anything which be of use. Naya, all the while, was shouting, "YOU THINK YOU'LL ESCAPE FROM HERE WITH YOUR LIVES, DO YOU? YOU KODANS ARE AS FOOLHARDY AS THE ALLIRIANS! SHOULD'VE KEPT YOUR NOSE OUT OF THIS MINE! NOW, YOU'LL JOIN MERKE'S GROWING LEGION ON ARETHIL!"

Kristen found something. Stashed, likely forgotten about, in a wooden mine cart with a broken wheel were an assortment of goods, all newer, many without a purpose for mining, even a few coins from different kingdoms and regions. Some thief's cache, maybe? Regardless, among these various goods was a jug of—

"Lamp oil!" She sheathed her sword, picked up the jug with her free hand, and made ready to dump it out in a big patch on the ground. "Defend me, and I shall give these filthy mutts the cleansing they desperately need!"

Dauner
 
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Dauner couldn't help but laugh at the irony in Naya's words. He, who had a profound hatred for gods, would become a part of a god's army? He, who had once waged war on gods, would bow before one of these very foes in servitude? What a joke. He laughed, yet the notion had him greatly vexed. No mortal could make war with divinity without great sacrifice, and to claim he would one day bow before a god was to insult the multitudes of sacrifices he'd made over the millennia. But he'd keep his wrath contained for now. For he who embodied the concept of the demon king of the seven virtues would not be worthy if he let himself be consumed by any of the seven virtues that made up his essence.

"You can leave them to me" he'd respond to Kristen's request by bringing forth three more rocks, only this time, instead of firing them at the hounds, he'd use them as shields. They would serve in blocking the hounds and knocking them back when possible. With each collision, more dreg would get on the rocks, making them harder to keep under control of magic. But Dauner would show no hint of worry on his face. Whether it was trust in Kristen coming through in time, or confidence in his ability to suppress the lesser beings, remains yet to be known. For now, what was clear was that the rocks wouldn't hold for long.
 
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Good. Good!

Kristen poured the jug out liberally on the ground, the splattering of its oil riding beneath the tide of feral barking from the Dregdogs. The hounds were wheeling about on the other side of Dauner's impromptu rock barrier, trying to find an opportunity to worm their way through and get at Kristen. Were they intelligent beings, they might have succeeded. Instead, they paced and probed and prowled all to no avail, unable to figure out a way past the floating rocks that constantly intercepted them.

It was just enough time.

Kristen tossed the jug away when it was empty. She held the torch far out in front of her, crouching, preparing to touch it to the pool of oil. "Okay! Let them through!"

Timing. Timing. This was all about timing. Too soon, the fire would scare them off. Too late, all of the worst outcomes in her mind would be realized.

She waited until the rocks gave passage. Waited until the group of Dregdogs (their numbers had swollen quickly!) realized they could charge her now. Waited until they came rushing forward.

And then touched the torch to the oil.

Immediately she had to jump back. Heat slammed into her like a gale, light from the erupting fire plunging mercilously into her eyes. All the corridor was awash in scorching orange, and indeed flooded with the agonized howls of the Dregdogs caught within the conflagration. That black muck fell from the hounds in shriveling clumps, shrinking and curling away like crumpled paper tossed into a fireplace. One of the dogs came bolting out on Kristen and Dauner's side of the inferno, yet blind with panic it ran right past them and collided skull-first into a wall at full speed, falling dead on the spot.

When the fire died down, only the smoldering corpses of the dogs remained.

That and the smell, of course. Kristen pinched her nose with her free hand. Coughing. Trying and failing to suppress a gag. "Blessed Aionus...what...eugh...what a loathsome price to pay for success."

Dauner
 
Dauner carefully weaved the rocks, his fingers making the motions that moved them, as though he had threads attacked to them. Just like a puppeteer playing with puppets. A rock to the left, one to the right, another pushing forward. The hounds soon found out that unless they were content with a game of attrition, they had no chance of getting past the rocks. Had they had a proper degree of intelligence, they might have strategically found a way through, but alas, that wasn't meant to be.

As soon as the signal was given, Dauner dropped the rocks, exercising his fingers as though to get rid of a numbness in them. Next came a wave of dregdogs rushing at them, and then came the flames. An inferno was created. One that would burn away at the hounds and the profanity that was the sight of them. A true purgatory.

But the hounds were not the only ones targeted by the flame. A flame this huge in so narrow a cave only meant one thing. Anyone present had a low chance of survival. If the heat didn't kill them, the smoke or lack of oxygen that followed will. This deep within the earth, there was always an issue with ventilation, so the oxygen burned in the flame, wasn't being replenished as fast as the smoke was being produced. So if left alone, the duo would also face danger. Well Kristen would. Dauner would still survive such conditions for, perilous though they were to humans, he was no ordinary human.

That Kristen hadn't factored the location in her plans only made Dauner more relieved she wasn't actually on this quest alone, or who knows what would have happened here.

On the onset of the flame, Dauner would force the surrounding temperature to drop by means of magic, keeping the heat from toasting his partner. The ensuing stench of burnt dreg and smoke would be easily resolved by use of wind element nature magic to forcefully ventilate the passage.

"Haha. It is indeed" Dauner replied to Kristen's comment as he stood with both hands stretched out, each displaying a rather complex magic circle. "Just bear with it for a little while longer" he added. Channelling magic on this scale was not something any ordinary mage could do due to the magnitudes of calculations and spatial coordination involved. And although Dauner was no ordinary mage, he was still unable to mobilize the full extent of his powers due to the suppression he was currently under in Arethil as an otherworldly being. Thus, it would take a few minutes to completely ventilate the cave passage.
 
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Kristen's ponytail and bangs fluttered about as the wind blew out the oil smoke from the fire. The stinking steam from the skeletal corpses of the Dregdogs was likewise filtered out. The new air wasn't quite fresh, far from the yawning mouth of the cave were they, but it was better than the stinging, putrid stench of burnt muck.

"WHAT DID YOU DO? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" came Naya's shouting echoing down the corridor. "MY POOR BABIES! MY DARLINGS!"

"An impressive set of lungs this Naya Indigo has within her chest," Kristen remarked.

More shouting. "IS THAT IT THEN?? FINE! NOW YOU WILL SEE! COME, REAP YOUR REWARDS!"

Kristen drew her sword again. "For those who perished in Our Lady of Stars, this witch shall meet her end tonight."

And, in a spirit far less grand, for the sake of Kristen's ears Naya needed to be put down for good. She could only imagine what it was going to be like once they were in the same chamber with her.

She started forward, and said to Dauner, "No quarter shall I offer her. For a soul as twisted as hers, for the extent of her vile deeds done, the only recompense for those who have suffered is her death. Let her see what 'mercies' the Dark Ones will offer."

* * * * *​

Naya made hasty preparations in her chamber. Snagging a few potions here and there, activating some dark runes to serve as traps, stringing up a couple mundane traps as a backup, and that was all she had time to do. She shuffled back over toward the Scar, drank one of her potions (gave her the extra brain power to cast non-Dark Magic spells, it did!), and invoked a spell of levitation.

And she awaited, hovering over the center of the Scar, her bundle of potions tucked under one arm and black energy swirling around her other.

Dauner
 
Dauner somewhat envied Kristen's zeal. He would normally call it self-righteousness, which he still thought it was, but he still envied the ability to fight so much for the interest of one other than yourself. Dauner was a selfish demon man. Nothing he did was without goal, born of self-interest. The desire to avenge a bunch of strangers he's never met before would never cross his mind. It just wasn't in his nature. Avenging a bunch of strangers to earn a certain reward, however, was. Naya needed to be taken down. But not because of a self-righteous ideal. But rather because it was a necessary end to his goal.

As Kristen marched forward, so too did he follow. As he did, he couldn't help but think of what would one day become of this pleasant friendship he was building with Kristen. He would soon acquire the title of warlord, and after conquering Koda, he will make war with the rest of the kingdoms in the central region of the Reach. His wars would undoubtedly cause a great deal of suffering for the many a common man, and Kristen seemed a young knight filled with ideals of chivalry and justice. Such a person would undoubtedly be cross with Dauner come the time. Well, what ever the case, he'd handle when came such a time that needed it.

Heading into the room where Naya was holed up in, they were welcomed with a dark bolt similar to what the desecrators had used, from above. Noticing this, Dauner would rush towards Kristen, grabbing her by the waist as he performed an evasive leap away from the bolt's trajectory.

"What charming hospitality" Dauner would comment, in a tone that would suggest he was pleased with the welcome. Well, it did leave him with a pretty girl in his arms, so he was indeed please, though others might take his words for sarcasm.
 
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The sizzle of dark magic in the air.

And Kristen felt the tug at her waist, her feet leave the ground, the whirl of motion and the sudden stop as they both touched back down after Dauner's leap. It took her a second to realize what happened, a look initially of shock, open mouth and peeled eyes, and then of appreciation. She nodded sidelong to Dauner.

The Dark Bolt splashed against stone somewhere far behind and to her right. Naya was none too happy.

"Oh, I have charm aplenty!" she said bitingly, her voice still shrill and loud even while she wasn't shouting at full capacity. "Always some young upstarts! Whether friend or foe, impertinent all, and dense all the same! Your youth goes to waste!"

Kristen spoke a verse and Withering Chains, a multitude of them, broke out of the ceiling above Naya and writhed down toward her. She, however, merely flicked her hand upward, and a dark translucent barrier shaped like a parasol stopped the advance of each Chain.

Kristen groaned, a sound of mild frustration and greater concern. "That's..."

Naya pulled out one of the potions in the bundle she carried. "CATCH!"

And she threw it at them. Hideous vapors were within, ready to burst out once the glass was shattered. Potent and insidious, the vapors would rapidly induce exhaustion if inhaled, and then a deep sleep if inhaled too much.

Dauner
 
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Although Dauner was probably over a thousand times older than Naya, he still had plenty of youthful vigor in him. So being called a youth was instead a most welcome misconception. However, being called naive wasn't. Dauner immediately thought up a comeback as he faced the old woman again.

"Well, you might be right. A good part of my youth was wasted while I was mopping out the cult from Alliria. Pesky little critters they were, wouldn't you say?" he replied, snide in his comment.

He wasn't intent on receiving the potion Naya had sent their way, so wave his hand, creating a powerful gust of wind, throwing the potion back towards her. He, however, wouldn't let her catch or dodge it, as he flicked a pebble at it as soon as it was close enough to her.

Dauner was pretty sure she had other means to combat the potion's content, but that was still ok. He had never meant that to cause much damage anyway. It was just him trying to be irritating, and from the looks of it, succeeding at it.

"Ok, old lady. Here's my proposal. Give up the resistance, answer our questions, and we could all be on our way, happy with the results. Or, you can keep up the resistance, have your ass beaten, and have all that information siphoned out of your brain against your will. Which I can assure you is a most painful process" he said with a slightly condescending smile. "Although I'd very much rather you picked the second, it's your choice after all" he finished with a sigh of helplessness before the last part.
 
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Naya made an extremely twisted face of indignation at Dauner's first comment.

"You...interrupted OUR WORK!?"

She offhandedly swiped at the cloud of her own potion's vapors, dispersing them away from her person with dark, fanning tendrils which had whipped out from her fingertips and receded just as quickly.

Kristen thought surely that Dauner's first proposal was meant to be a ploy. Deceit she considered indecorous in most all cases, yet here, against a foe as vile, unforgivable, and malevolent as Naya? Absolutely permissible. Great care needed to be taken to preserve one's humanity and goodness, to not become as dark and twisted as the villains one fought, but great care must also be taken to not allow honor to become one's trap and tomb.

To pardon Naya and simply part ways, allowing her to go on and continue her nefarious schemes, would be utterly irresponsible. If she agreed to the proposal, Kristen resolved that still she would die (for what earnest repentance could possibly come forth from her?).

Though it seemed Kristen need hardly be concerned that she would accept the first proposal.

Naya scowled, "Ah, yes, I almost forgot! Impertinent, dense, and always cocksure! You'll make fine sacrifices!" Then she cackled and stretched her gaunt body, like a supplicant reaching to the dark void between the stars above (had they been outside, at least).

An ancient tongue she spoke, and from the Scar first came one thick tenebrous arm, and then other. A hulking humanoid creature, as large as an ogre, crawled forth—a Volgant. Its upper body and arms were grossly disproportionate compared to its head and legs, yet the giant swaggered with an unnatural litheness to match its colossal strength and toughness. Its belly had a noticeable fissure, as if it were a closed mouth which hid some fiendish surprise. And, for this summoning, a few more strands of Naya's white hair fell off from her skull, the clock of her life turned ever closer toward finality.

"Crush them!" Naya commanded.

Kristen, though a bit shaken by the Volgant's bulk and size, spoke a quick verse and conjured an Ashen Crucifix before the beast. The sight of the Crucifix inflicted fear even on mortal foes, yet against the spawn of a Dark One it might be even more effective.

And it might have been, on a lesser spawn. The Volgant was temporarily stunned by the Crucifix, but it reached out its massive hands and snapped the arms of the cross—thick, dry snaps each—and tossed them away as the whole Conjuration crumbled away to nothing once so broken.

Kristen grimaced, but even then spoke a quick prayer, "Blessed Aionus, Holy Sentinel, bestow upon me the honor of becoming Your agent in the flesh and enacting Your will upon Arethil."

Dauner
 
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"Resistance it is!" Dauner exclaimed excitedly at Naya's response. It was as though he desired her to resist them, which he did. He didn't want her to resist because of a sadistic nature that desired to see put down the more painful way, though there was also that. But more than that, he wanted to see what strength she could summon. It was no secret that Dauner missed having an opponent that could make him go all out. So to substitute that, he now searched for an opponent who could at least give him a hard time, given the current strength level he limited himself to. By his calculation, Naya could use the dark pit to supplement her abilities and either become a strong opponent or summon one.

And lo, a creature born of darkness emerged from the unending void that found itself on the other side of the pit that exuded darkness. Seeing this, Dauner felt somewhat excited. A thumb pushed his sword's hilt, leaving it slightly unsheathe, before his hand pulled it the rest of the way. He was currently limiting himself to the abilities of master swordsman, which was three levels below his actual skill level.

Seeing Kristen's conjuration get smashed by the creature, Dauner guessed that was his queue. Before the creature could take one more step forward, Dauner leapt at it, sword in hand, and attacked it with 3 rapid consecutive stabs. One to the left side of its chest, the second to its right shoulder, and the third to its head. The first one was a hit, but the creature somehow evaded the second. This however left an opening which helped Dauner zone in on its head, landing the third strike. Dauner rolled his body up from the recoil of his strikes, landing close to Kristen again, as the Volgrant was sent stumbling back by that last hit.

"Pretty tough skin it's got there" he commented, spinning his sword as he prepared to launch another attack.
 
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The Volgant reeled from Dauner's assault, but still it seemed ultimately unfazed. The creature, so far as Kristen's reading of the old texts went (and what precious few she could actually get her hands on in Vel Anir), spoke in fleeting detail of Volgants during the Noxomarchy. Products of the Dark One Nebbatt's twisted designs, forged to help bring about the extinction of all life through sheer brute force, they were forces of terrible power on those ancient battlefields.

But not invulnerable.

"Formidable indeed!" Kristen said. She swiped the torch far out to her side and pointed her sword at the recovering Volgant. "Let us be satisfied in piercing it!"

Meanwhile, Naya, seeing Dauner preparing to launch forward once more (and considering him more of a threat than Kristen), shouted, "Not so fast, boy!"

Dark Stalactites coalesced above Dauner's head. Above his head and along the path he had previously leaped, in a bid try to dissuade him from attacking again, or ideally catch him with at least one of the deadly conjurations. Yet there was room, however, for a more creative angle of attack than straight forward.

As the Stalactites were plunging down, Kristen shaped a Curse and directed it at the Volgant, "The winds of time erode even the mightiest of mountains."

The Volgant was stomping forward. It staggered slightly, as if minorly struck in the shoulder, but its gait did not falter. Kristen didn't know if her Curse successfully weakened its hide, partially weakened it, or was resisted altogether.

No time to find out.

She had to start backing up.

Dauner
 
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As the old saying went, 'if you can't break it with one hit, then just keep hitting till it breaks'. A method Dauner had employed across his many years of life. Sometimes, it was all about how you hit it. Other times, it was about where you hit it. The Volgrant not only looked tough, but was also tough to match. However, that did not mean there wasn't a weakness that couldn't be exploited.

One would say Dauner looked relaxed. Full of openings. He didn't take on a stance to help him distribute his weight across his lower body to more effectively attack. Little would they know that the relaxed posture was Dauner's stance. It not only gave room for multiple types of responses to those trained in it enough, it also made it hard for the opponent to predict what his next move would be.

Naya's stalactite rain along the path Dauner had first attack the Volgrant on was quickly evaded by a leap to the side. As soon as his feet touched the ground, however, he leapt forward again. This time changing directions in a zigzag pattern, as he approached the Volgrant.

Following Kristen's curse, Dauner skidded to a halt, his body half crouched, before the Volgrant. His sword was back in its sheath, but was about to be drawn again, in what looked like a martial technique. It was fast. A split second was all it took. As soon as Dauner unsheathe his sword once again, its blade slid across the lower right side of the creature's midsection to the upper left side of its chest. The blade didn't stop there. Quickly withdrawing to the side of Dauner's head, it was plunged forward again against the creature's midsection.

If Kristen's curse had indeed weakened its skin, even only partially, Dauner first slash would separate whatever it had for flesh like a knife through butter. If the curse had no effect, there'd still be a cut, but it would be too shallow to matter. The next stab to the midsection, however, was filled with blunt force. Its goal not to pierce but to push back, and push back it did, as the Volgrant was sent flying into the wall behind it.

The whole sequence happened so fast that Naya wouldn't have had the time to stop him, as any projectile she would have fired at him to this aim, would still be on its way, and he'd still have time to evade. This was mostly thanks to the cover of Naya's stalactite rain.

"Do you think you can cast more of those curses, Kristen. I think we're going to be at this for a while if we can't get its skin softened up" Dauner said.
 
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Shallow was Dauner's cut. Kristen's Curse had merely been a sort of glancing blow against the Volgant, bouncing off, in a way of speaking, like an oblique crossbow bolt deflected by the curve of a breastplate. She saw this with no small dismay, but her determination remained undimmed. Her Curses were versatile, limited only by her imagination and willpower. Her attempt to weaken the Volgant's Nebbatt-blessed hide directly had failed, but could be other ways. Like Dauner dodging the Stalactites, she just needed to try a different angle of attack.

"I can!" she replied as the chamber rumbled following the Volgant's crashing into the wall. 'Twas good that she prayed at length the day before they reached Yslan! And furthermore: "No fatigue has set in yet!"

"Well, then allow me!" Naya shrieked with glee.

While the Volgant was recovering, righting itself on those disproportionately small legs, Naya took the initiative. More hair fell from her head as she again directly beseeched a costly blessing, this time from Merke. She tossed her bundle of potions aside (some bouncing, some breaking, one rolling into the Scar and slowly being disintegrated) and both of her hands crackled with black lightning. No physical harm would this lightning do, but to be shocked by it would drain the magical reserves of any mage.

Kristen didn't want to find out what the lightning did in any case. As Naya's lightning arced from her hands and across the chamber floor and scurried toward her and Dauner, Kristen knocked over one of Naya's own tables and took cover behind it, the thick wood insulating against the dark crackling magic.

"Dauner!"

Dauner
 
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Dauner had of course not forgotten about the woman above. As they strived to take down the Volgrant, she would keep being a pain, until eventually she used up the last of her life force, borrowing the powers of the ones she served. If they wanted to wait for that to happen, they'd have to turn this into a battle of attrition. Something Dauner wasn't too fond of.

With the Volgrant slowly getting back to its feet, and Naya's lightning zeroing in on him, Dauner, seemingly unfazed, grinned. Dauner was born with an innate lightning body, which meant his affinity towards lightning was maxed from his very birth. He'd spent more than with it than with a sword, and had trained it extensively. As such, the idea that his opponent would resort to using lightning against him only amused him. But he stopped himself from laughing. By the clauses of the innate lightning body, taking this hit would theoretically do him no harm, but instead help 'charge him up'.

However, he wasn't one to reveal his cards so easily. So he'd keep his partial immunity to lightning attacks of all form to himself for now. Instead of taking the hit head on, he'd hold his sword to his side and swing it at the bolt of lightning, leaving a trail of electric particles in its wake. This trajectory would coincide with the incoming lightning, deflecting it towards the Volgrant which had just gotten back to its feet.

"On my, old hag. I know your summon is a little weak, but you didn't have to hit it so hard. Now I'm starting to feel bad for the poor thing" he said smugly, playing the psychological game with Naya, and trying to get inside her head. When he looked down at his sword, however, it was ruined. It had been unable to handle the power he'd drawn through it, and the collision of power with the black lightning. He threw it away without a second thought. So far, only the Reaper's Bane could let him run wild without taking damage each time he used it. But he'd left it at Sovereignty castle, so he'd have to do with his fists for now.

He was now preparing to go on the offensive again, not against the Volgrant, however, but against Naya instead, when he heard Kristen call out his name. At that instance, instead of launching towards Naya, he'd head for Kristen instead, before the second wave of lightning could get to him, skidding to a halt by Kristen behind the table.

"You called" he'd say, trying to look as unfazed as possible, as though trying to impress.
 
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Kristen, despite everything, fell short of words when Dauner slid behind the table. She'd seen the whole thing: the black lightning crackling and arcing its way towards him, the way in which he just simply slashed at the lightning and deflected it, the Volgant catching said deflection square in its massive chest and reeling back once again as its own dark blessings were disrupted and stripped from it. Naya was spewing her vitriol, cursing Dauner's youthful impertinence. Still was, but to Kristen's ears now it was just background noise.

She was, inevitably, impressed. Brows arched high, lips parted in awe, and then came the rapid blinking when Dauner spoke so casually.

"I do not suppose something like that can be taught...?" she said, somewhat breathlessly.

Naya, meanwhile: "...will take great joy in making you each bleed! I've had enough of your interloping! Your end is here, and your deaths will fuel me!"

Kristen refocused. Said to Dauner, the weight of the moment's dire import back in her voice, "You can strike at Naya more effectively than I can. Shall I occupy the Volgant, and you, therefore, battle her?"

The black lightning, meanwhile, continued to crackle around the cover the overturned table.

Dauner
 
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"I don't see why not" was Dauner's response to Kristen's inquiry on whether deflecting lightning could be taught. An innate lightning body wasn't necessary for that. But one needed a high enough affinity to lightning to pull it off. Something that took several years to train.

Naya, in the meantime, continued with her rambling and cursing, as though thinking it could be of any help in battle. Dauner may have lost his sword, but that just meant he could take things up close and personal with his fists.

"You can count on me, m'lady" Dauner said to Kristen, with flirtatious intent which he wasn't even trying to hide at this point. "Time to get this show on the road"

Now that he no longer had a sword, his original premise for restraining himself to the strength of a master swordsman was no longer valid. As such, he tapped into his lightning element for the fight to come. Crackling around his hands were sparks of lightning, right before he leapt off the floor, and towards the ceiling. To Naya, this would make Dauner an easy target, since he could no longer dodge her attacks. She couldn't be any more wrong about that.

As Naya concentrated fire on Dauner, he surprised her yet again, by dodging to the left. He began to run in the air, feet devoid of solid ground underneath to provide it with support. Randomly zooming to different corners of the room to confuse her, before launching himself straight towards her from the side.
 
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Dauner's acrobatic exit from behind the cover of the table attracted the attention of Naya and the black lightning shifted up toward him, giving Kristen the opportunity to break from cover herself.

The Volgant was fully back on its feet, and those beady eyes nestled in the tiny pits of their sockets were locked on Kristen. Its footsteps rattled the loose shards of glass from the few broken potions. The creature was gaining speed with its quick, shuffling gait.

Kristen spoke a longer verse, and several Withering Chains burst from the cavern floor and ensnared the Volgant. Steam hissed viciously all along the points of contact, the Chains searing into the Volgant's tough hide (even shorn of the dark blessings, the Volgant had a fearsome constitution). Though slowed, the Volgant tugged at the binding Chains and pulled them along, fighting for each step but inexorably coming closer. Kristen started to backpedal—

And then the Volgant thrust forward its gut. That sealed fissure burst open, and a dozen thick tendrils emerged from its stomach, all seeking—in a sort of unexpected reversal—to ensnare Kristen in turn. She grimaced harshly (disgusting, these slimy tendrils!). She slashed at the swarming tendrils, cutting the ends off of some, backpedaling and weaving away from others. But one wrapped around her ankle. Yanked. Her legs flew out from under her and she hit the ground on her back. Kristen slashed and severed the tendril at her ankle but two more already wound around her legs, pulling her back in, closer to the Volgant. In response Kristen commanded the Chains to tighten, and the Volgant let out a low rumble of pain. But the fight was still going.

Meanwhile, Dauner's astonishing feats of unnatural agility and airwalking had Naya baffled. Angry. But, perhaps most pointedly, shaken. Her black lightning just couldn't connect with him.

"What is this? What?? WHAT ARE YOU—!?"

Dauner
 
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Seamlessly connected strides across the air, each leaving a trail of lightning behind. After several such strides around Naya, the trails would connect in what seemed a simple magic circle. And then Dauner would pounce at her fist drawn out, and deliver a punch to her face, just hard enough to send her flying and falling onto the floor beneath, without robbing her of consciousness. His punch came as she questioned his strength, visibly shaken by it.

"What do you mean, 'what am I'? I'm just an average guy trying to have some fun" he replied right after touching down onto the floor.

He took a look over to Kristen. Her chains had the Volgrant bound, and were digging into its joints, but its toughness was worth commending. Even in that situation, it still concentrated on her. What with all those tentacles spilling out of its gut, two of which had Kristen tied by the ankles, and were pulling her in. From Dauner's angle, it looked like it was trying to devour her.

"Well, she looks like she's having fun" Dauner commented jealously, completely taking his attention off of Naya for the moment. He might have been trying to bait her into thinking she had an opening. That, or he was just being Dauner.
 
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Naya shrieked when Dauner's fist struck her face. Her black lightning ceased and her levitation spell was disrupted, and she went twisting down through the air, hitting the cavern floor just shy of the Scar. Old bones cracked in several places.

Yet neither the punch nor the fractures put much of a damper on her bellowing voice, "UNBELIEVABLE IMPERTINENCE!" She groaned loudly in pain. "You should be dead already! DEAD!"

Kristen meanwhile was being pulled in still by the Volgant's tendrils. She'd cut them off and they'd bleed black blood and the rest of the appendage would slither up to wrap her again. One went around her waist. Around her sword arm. She tossed the torch away and clenched her porcelain hand into a tight fist, the motion helping her focus her intent to a crushing point. The Chains binding the Volgant responded, crushing down as well with renewed force.

The Volgant bellowed and shivered.

Kristen's right foot entered its stomach.

And finally the Withering Chains tore through the Volgant, burning through the dark creature with their holy touch, a crescendo of sharp hissing and plumes of steam rising. The Volgant staggered back...and then fell apart, the pieces of its body collapsing to the ground with great wet slaps.

Kristen lay awkwardly on the ground, her shoulderblades on the floor but her back and legs arched up, her right foot still lodged in the Volgant's stomach; those tendrils, now limp, nevertheless wrapped around each legs and her waist and her arm. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Naya, as the Volgant fell, took Dauner's ostensibly wayward attention indeed for an opening. A shiv of dark energy formed in her hand and, despite her injuries, she snarled and leapt up and tried to stab him in the back.

Dauner
 
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A battle well won. Kristen had, against the odds, emerged victorious. Any later and she might have found herself in the monster's belly, though Dauner would most likely have intervened by then. He liked to leave others to their own fights, offering help only when needed. To get rid of their enemies for them would only rob them of valuable experience, which would be hurting them instead of helping them.

Amidst the tide of events, and with Dauner's distraction, Naya saw a chance to strike down her greatest nuisance thus. So she pounced upon him, like a predator descending upon its prey. Little did she know it was her who was the prey here.

With a thrust, she burst a hole through Dauner's chest from behind, rupturing his heart, and bringing about a wave of regurgitated blood from him, most of which made their way out of his mouth. The realization of a successful sneak attack brought about a rush of ecstasy in the old woman, which was followed by frantic laughter. A few seconds of her laughter echoing through the room, and she realized it wasn't Dauner's chest her hand had just punched through. How? Simply because it was very unlikely that Dauner would turn into a pile of black goo upon his death, like that figure was.

"Secrets of the void. Memories in the dark. Emerge from the precipice of the mind, and reveal to me what knowledge I desire" a voice, awfully familiar, chanted. It was, without a doubt, Dauner, who then exited the veil of darkness he'd hidden himself in as he tried tricking Naya. The black goo suddenly erupted, engulfing Naya entirely, and despite her protests, she was soon entirely covered by it. Dauner then walked over to Kristen, as the black goo extracted the memories it could out of Naya.

"That was a pretty close call. I trust that in our next battle, you'd rely a lot less on just luck" he smiled as he offered her a hand to help her back to her feet. By the time she did get to her feet, the room was filled with shrill cries of pain and agony from Naya. Ear-piercing cries, which would normally be enough to make one's vocal cords bleed, now served an indication of the pain Naya was being put through. Anyone stumbling upon this scene would no doubt deem Dauner as the bad guy, but that mattered little to the man himself. Though there was no doubt he was being a villain here, since he had other less painful methods in his arsenal.
 
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Kristen went to work sawing and slicing the limp tendrils, freeing herself. She took them as she sliced them and tossed the severed lengths away as if they were dead snakes. With a little jerk and a twist she freed her foot from the Volgant's stomach, and she came to lay flat on the cavern floor, again letting out a long breath. Had it not been for Dauner's deflection of that lightning, evidentially stripping the Volgant of its protective blessings, her Withering Chains might not have seared through the beast quickly enough. A formidable foe indeed, and one she would have to learn how to fight more adeptly in the future.

Naya's screams filled the chamber, and Kristen spared no sympathy for her. Torture was appalling, degrading to the human spirit...in many cases. But here, in light of the complete absence of humanity in Naya herself, by dint of the fact that Dauner's method of memory extraction was inescapably agonizing, this was a fair enough punishment indeed for all of the wanton malevolence she had perpetrated upon scores of innocents upon Arethil. The pain she was suffering was but a fraction of that which she had caused.

Dauner came over. Offered his hand.

I trust that in our next battle, you'd rely a lot less on just luck.

Kristen grinned, the giddy rush of victory filling her with a jovial sense of lighthearted mirth. "'Twas a lucky jacket to which I ascribe my good fortune," she said, giving the lapel of Dauner's jacket a tug before accepting his hand and rising to her feet.

She cast a glance Naya's way, that grin she'd shared with Dauner becoming a look of disdain for the ancient woman cocooned within the goo. Unseen, a fleet of memories were sailing out from the harbor of Naya's mind: her as a child being cruel to animals she caught in her traps, her being rejected by a boy she fancied and lighting his house on fire, her first discovering lore about the Dark Ones, her finding and being inducted into the Allirian cult—

A black scythe formed in the air above Naya, and with one quick slice ended her life and cut the flow of her memories. The scythe dissipated as quickly as it had manifested.

"Blessed Aionus!" Kristen said, taken aback.

Much like the scythe, a black, misty projection came into being by Naya. The upper body of a woman. Khorvayne.

"Well done," she said in congratulatory fashion. "Naya was much too abrasive for my liking."

"And here you are again," Kristen said, not very welcoming.

"I did say that I am never far." The misty projection smiled. "For we had an accord pending, had we not?"

Dauner
 
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