Fable - Ask Missed Opportunities

[Noel]

Noel tensed as the horn sounded, fastening a chunk of metal into a deadly sharp spear. Preparing herself for war.

”Wait. What?” She stated immediately after Demir’s notion that there weren’t just rebels here. ”What, other than rebels, is down here?”

She wasn’t afraid, fear wasn’t part of a Dreadlord’s repertoire. But she wished to be ready. Prepared for whatever foul creature might also share these dark hallways with the rebellious scum they were tasked with weeding out.

Then another order came. It was going to take awhile to get used to taking orders from mundane guardsmen like Demir Ildren. It wasn’t a bad call though, if they got separated it would make saving the guardsmans life a much more difficult task.

There was just enough light for Noel to signal to Alistair in the universal sign language that all Dreadlords were taught. Keep an eye on him. Keep him safe. The hand gestures were fast but she was certain that Alistair saw them.

They kept descending deeper. Another horn blared.

All around them though another sound had begun to slowly increase in volume. At first it was faint but it was growing ever louder as the blaring horn seemed to be moving further and further away. It was the sound of nails scratching at stone.

And judging by the distant horn whoever was blaring it was issuing a warning while running from someone. Or some thing.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair dropped down to follow the others as his eyes began to glow softly to reconfigure his vision to the new area.

"Maybe, if we are lucky. Whatever else is down here will do our work for us."

Judging by the sound of the horn, it was doing exactly that. Unfortunately, that also meant that whatever this thing was was not a pushover.

He just noticed Noel's signal but said nothing of it. Why did he have to be the one to protect the guard? It did not really matter, Alistair would look after them anyway. Besides, it seemed like he was more capable than the standard guard.

The scratching sound quickly grew on Alistair's nerves. It was like the worst chalkboard at the Academy. A few runes slowly began to trace their way along his left-handed glove. No need to play the long game with whatever they found. As soon as this thing showed its head, he would blow it off.

"Statistically speaking, it would be surprising not to find things down here."

Demir Noel

 

[Demir]

Slowly they stepped through the catacombs.

The dark light shadowed massive sprawling tunnels extending into great rooms, crypts, and untold amounts of other things. Every corner was marked, every turn slowly set into place. Yet as they continued the tunnels grew into chambers, and soon they found themselves in the midst of a strange grand hall.

Every few steps they passed a coffin separated only by the massive columns.

Demir turned his head, fingers gripping one of his blades tightly as they moved.

He half glanced back over his shoulder as Alistair pointed out the likelyhood of finding something. Demir would have laughed at the joke, maybe even offered a jest, but there was an incessant noise within his ear. Quiet, masked.

Click. Click. Click.

His head whirled. "There!"

He pointed into the shadows to their left, there a monstrous figure. It's form that of a hunched wold, ears rising, jowls pulled apart, but made of the abyss itself instead of flesh and fur.

 

[Noel]

The air settled as they entered the large open space of the caverns. The trio had become remarkably quiet as they continued to traverse the underground. The only real sound being the echoes of their footsteps as their ears stayed trained on every miniscule sound that resonated within the cavern.

But once they entered the grand hall…

Sound seemed to stop, if only for a moment. Then it was replaced by terror.

Whatever was before them wasn’t human. It wasn’t beast. It didn’t even seem natural.

”W-what is that?” Noel’s voice was uncharacteristically shaky. She wasn't scared, per se, but not knowing what they faced was a different sensation entirely. Could magic harm this thing? Could metal? If the answer to both of those questions was no then they weren’t Dreadlords preparing for war.

They were simply prey.

Noel didn’t wait for her comrades to respond. Instead she summoned large chunks of her armor to break out and as they began to float through the air they formed massive spikes all across their surfaces. In an instant both projectiles flew through the cavern at rapid speeds to make contact with the… thing that now blocked their path.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Statistically speaking, that thing was seriously fucked up.

The abyssal creature seemed to be pulled straight from nightmare itself. It did not scream power like the cult water goddess, but it did radiate a sense of terror. He took a step forward, not getting in Noel's way, but getting into a position where he could if things went sideways. His role could be the tank to start this battle, at least until he saw what the Captain had up his sleeve.

There were a lot of specialists in the Academy. Those that entire magical repertoire was based around one type or even more specifically one ability, someone like Edric.

Noel was also of that type. This was a good thing, specialists tended to be strong, their abilities pushed to the extreme. It also made them predictable to some degree. Enemies could be prepared if they knew them, but more importantly for Alistair, allies knew how to support them.

As soon as Noel shot out her massive metal spikes, Alistair threw out a simple electric charge that hit one of the spikes and then began to ark between the two. Hopefully, that would give the attack a little extra kick.

"Not a rebel, and not friendly."

Noel Demir

 

[Demir]

The beast in front of the three took a step forward. The sound of claws scraping against cobbled stone echoed out in the small catacomb. It was uncharacteristically steady for a predator, slow. Demir expected it to pounce, jump and claw at the easiest perceived target.

Yet even as Noel ripped pieces of her armor off, as she threatened, it did not pounce.

Spikes of metal suddenly burst forward. Shot out like a porcupines quills. Alistair's magic wrapped around one of the metal shards, and the whole cadre suddenly launched forward in a focused scatterblast of Allomancy. The metal tire forward…and then slid through the beast as though it were made of water.

They cut piece, by piece through it. Not a single flinch, not a howl of whimper of pain. Nothing until the shard of metal with Alistair's magic struck.

As soon as the enchanted piece hit home the creature seemed to shirk. It's body suddenly wheeling back and it's monstrous jaw unhinging. A road escaped it's throat, the guttural sound of a beast taking a wound. Then suddenly, it's jaw snapped shut and within the same beat of the heart launched itself forward.

Rushing at Noel.

In the same moment Demir heard it. Another scrape of a claw. His eyes widened, and he realized why the creature had made such a show. "BEHIND US."

The Guardsmen shouted as he whirled around and found himself tackled by a second of the creatures.

 

[Noel]

Alistair enhanced her attack with his own magic and Noel smirked for a fraction of a second as she assumed the beast before them was about to collapse from the coordinated strike.

Instead it appeared as if the blades had almost no effect. Her smirk vanished.

Then in a blur she heard Demir scream as a second monstrosity tackled him. Her eyes stayed focused on the thing before her as it rushed near and flung terrifyingly sharp claws in her general direction. Noel only had a few heartbeats to transform a chunk of her armor into a wide shield and raise it up to block the attack.

Its razor claws clanged against the metal, which barely held the first assault, and then a second strike from its other appendage came. Small tips of its claws pierced through her shield as Noel spun backwards and sidestepped the other beast.

They were in a fight for their lives now as the initiate formed a spear and charged once more. This time aiming the spear towards the beast that had attacked her's jaw.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Nothing like a brief moment of triumph, only to immediately have it taken away as everything went to hell. A smile split onto his face as he saw the success that accompanied his attack but never got the chance to bask in his ingenious move because Demir had to go and get attacked, oh and Noel too...There were two of those things.

Alistair hesitated for just a moment, deciding who to help. Sorry, Demir. Dreadlords needed to look out for each other. Especially now that no one was killing each other for good grades.

A rune flared into existence in front of him, at the same time, the tip of Noel's newly made spear would begin to glow it arcane energy.

"Noel, use arcane power, not physical force."

He remembered how the creature had handled the damage until the electrical spike had connected. They must have some resistance to normal physical weapons...That was bad news for normal soldiers, including the Captain.

Fuck, he couldn't let him die. That would look bad in the report. "Noel, keep yours busy." Without knowing if she agreed, Alistair turned to rush towards the beast atop Demir. Alistair did not have much plan, all he knew was these things did not like magic, so...hit them with magic.

Arcane bullets fired out from his glove aiming to knock the creature off of the prone Demir.

Demir Noel

 

[Demir]

Demir's blade caught within the creature's throat, it's claws glancing off his flesh as it tried swipe at him. Lips thinned, and he let out half a dozen curses as the creature tried to open it's jaws shut upon his harm. Fingers reached up, slamming into the thinks teeth.

Eyes bugged as he heard a loud hiss when his steel hardened fingers touched the creatures saliva. "Don't let it bite you!"

The Guardsmen shouted just as Alistair's magic cast against the creatures side. Arcane bullets tore into the beasts side, it's body reeling, and giving Demir an opportunity to shove it left. Every bit of strength poured into the shove.

In it's flurry of pain the creature lanced back and away. Stumbling off of Demir, the Guardsmen slipped over towards Alistair and rolling up onto his feet.

A second blade flickered into his other palm as the Creature righted itself before them.

"Any ideas?" The Guardsmen asked as he took half a step back, the creature pulling itself upright. The holes formed by Alistair's bullets had formed slowly sealing back up.

 

[Noel]

Arcane energy? Great, something she had practically no skill with.

Luckily for her she was with a runecaster and he had kindly ignited her spear into a blaze of magical energy. It crackled and sparked in a pleasing hum of power as the metal manipulator kept the weapon pointed at her foe.

”Oh, I’ll keep it busy.” A grin came over her as she glared at the beast before her.

In a sudden movement her opponent lunged at her, a quick sidestep followed and a flurry of motions as she rammed the shield into its back. Seemingly putting it off-balance long enough for her arcane-infused weapon to be rammed deep through its torso. The monstrosity let loose a blood curdling cry before her spear…

…snapped in half as the inky blackness of its body reformed the gaping hole she’d tore into it.

The pointed end of her spear fell to the stony ground and the energy Alistair had infused onto the spear tip fizzled out. Noel backed up several paces as Demir warned about their saliva and the Dreadlord-in-training reformed her metal from a simple rod without a spearhead into a curved scimitar.

The trio stood with their backs against one another as they stared down the odd beings before them.

Ideas? Physical trauma had no effect. Arcane power seemed to be shrugged off quickly as well. What other options did they have? To run? What else could they be weak to?

She mused for half a second before asking, ”Alistair? Can you create light?” That was more Henk’s wheelhouse but it was the only thing she could think of. Maybe these things lived down here to get away from the light of the surface.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"Keep hitting it until it keels over for good."

Without any real information on the things, coming up with to detail of a battle plan would hurt them rather than help them. There was one thing that Alistair could do for Demir, though.

He was using some type of drug or magic to enhance his abilities, Alistair was sure of that, but he also probably was not trained in magic. Al took out a simple dagger and shoved it into Demir's hand. He would provide the energy for this battle, a quick word later and the blade was glowing with a strong heat.

"Use that instead."

It was Alistair's fire-starting knife, usually for complicated engraving or alchemical concoctions, but Demir did not need to know that.

He felt Noel at his back and she called for some light. He could provide some, it would not be anything super impressive, but it was a basic spell, so he could.

"Yeah, I'll light this place up the like Amol-Kalit."

His finger started tracing through the air leaving flowing blue runes to hang in the air. Each rune irrupted with white light before Alistair would send them to hang all over the room.

"Is this the idea we are going with?"

Alistair used his other hand to take a simple hilt covered in runes with a jewel fused into the end of the hilt where a blade should be protruding. He finally had a reason to use this.

The runesaber ignited as deep blue arcane energy erupted from the hilt and compressed to form an arcane blade that was made of pure magical energy. He kept it pointed at one of the creatures hoping to keep it at bay.

Demir Noel

 

[Demir]

A blade was slapped into his other hand, and Demir regarded it with a slight frown.

He was about to comment to the boy that he didn't need the weapon, marking that his own swords had been forged by Bella the Blacksmith. But his lips snapped shut, deciding that now was hardly the time to talk about the intricacies of forged weapons.

Light cast out around the room.

The monsters seemed to shirk slightly, their bodies flickering and their forms seemed to seep shadow into the light. Smoke rose and curled from them, though they did not flinch in pain as the cavern was illuminate all around them.

"Try a killing blow. Maybe they won't be able to hea-" Before Demir could speak, one of the beasts pounced forward.

It was noticeably slower, not sluggish by any means, but whereas before it had been but a blur now it moved like a regular wolf. It darted forward, pouncing at Demir and swiping it's claws in full force. His blade flickered up, catching the creatures shadowed claws.

The knife Alistair had given him flickered upward, and then stabbed into the creature's throat.

He felt the blade pressed through 'skin', and then suddenly lose all resistance as his entire hand sailed through the monsters body. It's eyes flickering up at him with a ferocious glee. Head turning as it snapped it's jaws towards his arm.

 

[Noel]

The light only went so far. It seemed more effective than when she was stabbing with just metal but the monster continued to regrow its wounds as she struck it continuously with her scimitar.

”A killing blow!?”

Her voice was a panicked shout. Noel had always remained calm in combat situations but her icy composure was beginning to slip as the hopelessness of their situation only grew. What would even be a killing blow against these things? She’d already tried slicing across its chest, hacking towards its neck, and all of it seemed fruitless.

Claws raked towards her and the raven-haired initiate ducked low to avoid the strike. These things seemed easier to dodge but in the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something that forced her stomach to sink.

Demir had sailed forward in the heat of battle and the creature he was dealing with now snapped its razor-sharp teeth towards the guardsman’s arm.

In a flash Noel interceded, placing herself inbetween the monstrosity and the ‘leader’ they were having to babysit. Just before it could clamp its mighty jaw onto the man’s arm his mouth collided with her shield instead.

Noel gritted her teeth as the second creature charged at her while she kept the one who’d gone after Demir at bay. ”I’m fresh out of ideas.”

She knew that Alistair would likely defend the duo against the charging creature but how long could they hopelessly slash and defend until they made a mistake? Or simply ran out of energy.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alright, it was finally time for Alistair to back it up. Noel and Demir were busy with the beast, which left Al with the much needed opening.

He channeled his magic into the runesaber and let the magic density in the blade grow, shown by the darkening shade of blue in the blade.

Alistiar was out of clever ideas at the moment, and was going to have to rely on the unique properties of his sword. While the runesaber was capable of cutting through metal better than most swords. The real special trait of the sword was proving to be the sabers ability to cut through magic.

It had not been what Alistair planned when he made the sword, but it made sense. The blade was simple condensed and solidified magical energy. When it came in contact with magic that was rarely condensed or sharpened to such a degree, it was almost a given that his saber could cut through them.

He moved quickly and confidently to step in front of the charging beast. Timing was the most important part here. Waiting and waiting. Now!

Alistair lunged forward and cut from the bottom upward. The body of the wolf felt solid and then their was give like the creature was trying to fade away, but felt his blade still continue to cut even as the beast tried to disipate. He was satisfied when he finally heard the creature yelp.

It backed away from the swordsman as Alistair continued to pressure it and keep it away from Demir and Noel.

Demir Noel

 

[Demir]

Demir took half a step back, fingers flickering over the hilt of his blade as he considered the beasts for a moment. "I meant go for the brai-"

Before he could finish speaking a deep, dark and guttural howl echoed through the sewers. It resounded and reverberated against every wall, every nook and cranny. The pillars seemed to quake, shift, and then suddenly come to a quiet stop.

The two creatures looked at one another, and then towards Alistair's blade.

A low growl echoed from their shadowy forms, and then slowly they turned around. Within half a second they faded into the darkness, their forms disappearing into the depths.

"That was..." Demir frowned, glancing down at his steel-like skin and noting the etching of claws through it. "Interesting."

He finished with a frown.

 

[Noel]

It somehow felt more eerie to suddenly have their foes simply vanish rather than consider their pursuit. Not that she was complaining.

Of course, their disappearance had followed the howl which still rang off the stone and in Noel's ear drums. "I don't think we're out of the woods yet." She tried to eye the way they came and the long ominous pathway forwards.

Logic would dictate that whatever had bellowed that terrible roar lived deeper into the mines. But that was always where their prey had fled to. Where they'd scurried to avoid the reach of Vel Anir.

"We can't go back," she said with firm conviction in her voice, "are you two ok to move?"

Technically the decision of what they'd do next was up to Demir. The Guardsman who was playing the role of babysitter to the two Initiates. But this mission had gone from a walk in the park to real and present danger for all three of them. The last thing Noel was about to do was allow some regular human to condemn them to death. Or worse, have them return to the surface without completing their mission.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

Alistair deactivated the runesaber as soon as he was sure that the beasts were gone. The weapon was a constant drain on his magical energy while it was activated. He needed to be careful about reserving his strength since his sword was the only thing that had really done damage so far...speaking of which.

A large smile stretched across his face as the runesaber had worked just like Alistair had envisioned. It was a stunning success, he would have to tell Ralene about it later.

He focused back in on the others and nodded in agreement with Noel. "I'm good to go...more like we aren't out of the shadow wolf-infested caves yet, though." He offered to Noel.

Alistair offered his hand out to Demir hoping to get his knife back. "Some would call it interesting. I call it terrifying, but tomato, potato."

Noel Demir

 

[Demir]

Demir spun the blade in his left hand for a brief moment, frowning as he slipped it into the sheath on his back. "We don't turn back."

The Lieutenant said with a nod of his head at Noel's words.

Even he had wanted to, something told him that those odd beasts wouldn't be letting them go anywhere. Lips turned to a frown for a brief moment, and then he motioned towards the two Initiates with his remaining blade.

"New mission." Demir said grimly. "We find out if those things work for the Rebels."

If so...that was going to be a problem.

For a brief moment more the guardsmen lingered, and then slowly he began to move forwards. Grasping the torch from the floor and scooping it up to begin the trek further into the dark.

 

[Noel]

"If they work for the rebels then we're fucked," Noel said plainly. If the rebels had made friends with some infernal, ancient, powers what hope did they have? Might as well report back to Vel Anir and advise that some Dreadlord with massively devastating magic come to level the city of Vel Ostemir.

For now though she simply followed along behind Demir and kept her steps in line with Alistair.

Regardless of who those shadow things served Noel was certain she didn't wish to face them again. But she was more certain she didn't wish to come face-to-face with whatever monstrosity had scared them away. Her pace quickened as did her heart rate.

Keeping her weapons nearby she actually reformed some of the platinum she carried from her weaponry into armor. Never could be too careful when dealing with what you didn't even understand. "Perhaps we should speed up our pace? Find these rebels quickly?"

The sooner they slaughtered the very mortal, very much un-shadowy, rebels the sooner they could ascend back to the surface.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"We'll have our answer soon enough."

Alistair was silent as he listened closely for anything, but more importantly, he was listening to see if the hunt continued. They had managed to push back their opponents, but there were plenty of rebels down in these tunnels.

Those shadow wolves would certainly run into some of them, so either he would soon be hearing screams or silence. Screams meant the wolves likely were not working with the rebels. The silence would tell Alistair that the rebels likely were working with them somehow.

"If they are allies, then we can't just kill randomly. We have to find the ones giving the orders. Cut the head of the snake off."

Every step they took deeper into the tunnels felt more like a death sentence.

"My idea about flooding the tunnels is starting to look a lot better."

Demir Noel

 

[Demir]

”I thought Dreadlords were supposed to be brash in the face of danger.” Demir said, though he couldn’t help but agree with Noel’s assessment of things. If those things were working for the rebels then they really were fucked.

Fighting in tunnels and warrens was a difficult enough prospect for any army. Trying to do it while being hunted by creatures that you can’t kill? That was next to impossible even for a cadre of Sorcerers.

Demir frowned, tightening the grip on his blade.

”Find the Rebels.” He agreed. ”Avoid those fucking wolf things.”

The Lieutenant was wise enough to make that call at least. ”And if all else fails we flood the place.”

Which would of course slaughter a whole bunch of innocents and also make the city next to useless for a few weeks…but better than losing an entire Anirian Army within the depth of these tunnels. The General wouldn’t like it, but if it was the only way, it was the only way.

Quickly Demir picked up the pace.

He guided his two Dreadlords through the darkness, using his enhanced senses to take corner after corner. They moved through the maze, ducking beneath carved out alcoves until eventually the sound of voices could be heard.

“They attacked agan.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. We’re not invaders! They are! This cities belongs to us, it should be hunting the Dreadlords. Why is it attacking us?!”

“I don’t know Ered! But we’re safe in the Chapel at least.”​

 

[Noel]

"Dreadlords will always face danger," Noel said with a chip on her shoulder, "but we try not to make a habit of throwing our lives away."

As Demir issued orders she simply nodded and followed his lead. Noel Schwarz wasn't going to step out of line but she also wasn't about to let her order be insulted. Nor would she tolerate some insinuation that the Dreadlords were cowards. Even if there was a piece of her, however deep, that felt a terror at the concept of fighting those beasts again.

The trio kept walking around the catacombs, stumbling in the darkness, except for their leader of course.

How was he avoiding the same shambling that Noel and Alistair had been forced to? If one didn't know better you'd have thought Demir was walking around in broad daylight, not in a dimly lit underground city of cobblestone.

For their part Noel and her fellow initiate were forced to follow his lead. Ducking low when he did, taking a wide step to avoid whatever pitfall he was, mimicking his every move until Demir jolted up a hand and the trio came to a halt. Just off in the distance they could hear the voices of their prey.

And their conversation was more than a little interesting...

"So they are allied with our foes," her voice was so low that it was barely audible. "Shall we seize this chapel?"

 

[Alistair Krixus]

"The loud ones tend to be, but some of us prefer to think things through."

Alistair let himself be guided by their Captain. He had some spells that would allow him to see in the dark, but he needed to save every drop of his magic to power the runesaber. He had no idea how long this battle was going to take.

His ears perked up when he first heard the voices from up ahead. A smirk spread on his face as he listened in on the discussion.

"Or, they thought they were allies, but it doesn't seem like they are now. Still, I agree with taking the chapel. If we force them out then maybe the monsters will do our work for us."

Demir Noel

 

[Demir]

It was a brutal strategy, but it would certainly solve their problems.

A frown played over Demir's face though, lips thinning as he glanced at the two Dreadlords. For a brief moment he considered them. They had been sent into the catacombs to flush out the Rebels, but the spirit of the order was...well, a tad different.

They were here to secure the city, but there wasn't much to secure if the Rebels were dead and those things were still running around. "See if you can get around the chapel."

He said quietly, pointing to small alcoves within the rock.

"Get into position and flank them as well as you can." He frowned. "We need to figure out what those things are."

Demir's voice did not hold any of the jovial manner it had before. "So I'm going to talk to them."

He pointed to the Rebels.

 

[Noel]

"Talk?"

Did Demir have a death wish? Even in flanking positions Noel and Alistair likely couldn't protect him if he was suddenly charged or an arrow was loosed. Sure, the strategy made sense to her, avoid massacring the entire population of Vel Ostemir, but if it came at the loss of their commander it'd likely look bad for the two initiates.

But, he was in charge, and the only thing worse than letting Demir get killed would be defying a direct order from him. "Very well," she said quickly, "if things go south curl into a ball or rush towards a corner." Maybe she could at least manipulate some sort of metal barricade around him. Buy him time to save his life.

Noel slinked around towards the flanking position that Demir had pointed out, only once she was in place and had a good vantage point did she open up to speak with her classmate. "He's going to get himself fucking killed."

The raven-haired initiate shook her head in disbelief.