Open Chronicles Mountainhome of the dead

[Aremir]

Aremir's gaze lingered on the figure walking away, and wondered aloud, "How does one who can hear the voice's of the dead deal with the guilt of murder? One can't help but wonder." He mused, not quietly, which to him was as good as calling out after the man. His attention was torn away, however, by the words of the living plant in front of him. "Indeed."

Looking down at the child, he spoke softly in his best elvish (which wasn't very good,) "I am Aremir. A ranger. I mean you no harm. Do you know if there are more..." he paused, looking for the right word, but coming up blank. "Bad... murderous... things?" He gestured to his ear. "The hissing." he tried to explain.

 

[Addy]

"And so he walks into a trap." Addisyn spoke softly and calmly, without a shred of concern. This man's hubris and greed should indeed get him killed. The innocent one here was the child. There were none left to care for it, and this bothered her. She bit on the inside of her lip, grown men spouting threats and showing concern for nothing but their own goals did not deserve her sympathy, but this tiny thing did.

As the ranger tried to make friends in a language she didn't understand, the mage stood by and watched.

 

[Velle]

The child seemed to not understand the elvish either. He defiantly remained quiet.

While the rumbling grew louder and louder. A strange, red light began to circle the town.

First seen by Merek as the creature's visage first unfolded.
Out of the ground rose a red nose, then it's head before it was outside whole. It was the size of a big house and seemed to fit just fine into the court.

With heavy feet it stepped over a building, collapsing the roof of one of the three buildings with it's weight.
Atop it's new throne, the archdemon let out a roar so deep that shook one to the guts. A sickening roar, perhaps even nauseating to some.

 

[Caelia]

Caelia paused, her head rigidly turning to survey the ruins once more as the rumbling continued, not only not ceasing but raising in intensity and volume. Mycolyp scouts sent pulses of fear and repulsion, only maintaining their resolve through the will and connection of the Mycolyp. "Something grows, something unknown," she said, her eyes watching the red light circle the town like a predator stalks its prey before making the first pounce.

Then, they saw it. A massive beast that seemed to come from the ground the town stood on, entering the courtyard with lumbering steps. Roots sprang out of the ground, latching onto Caelia's feet to keep her firm against the impact of the creature's movement, returning to the earth soon after. The roar shook her, another pulse of fear coming from the scouts, but Caelia's face remained unchanging, her eyes inspecting the beast. She rose a hand, calling vines and roots to erupt from the ground near the archdemon, lashing out at it with thorns.

 

[Addy]

The frail-looking mage had just risen to her feet when the ground shook hard enough to throw her off balance again. Her raven cawed a warning over to the toppled woman who simply shot him a dirty little look. "No shit, Tom. I think we all see it, thank you." Sarcasm dripped from her words, those teal hues leaving her feathered friend to rest on the archdemon.

With a perceptive gaze, she studied it for some sort of weakness or flaw as she brought up her shadows in front of her. Her inky-black arcana pushed out like a sphere around her and the bitd now on her shoulder. With one last look to the child, she pointed out a seemingly safe location among the abandoned buildings. The expression she gave the small elf was one of severity. She could not protect it from this, it would have to be smart if it wanted to live.

 

[Aremir]

Aremir watched the archdemon rise with careful caution as he raised his sword again and motioned for the child to stay back, to put as much distance between themselves and the horrible creature as possible. He looked around at the strangers and was glad to see them standing at attention, and that they all seemed like the type of people who could take care of themselves. Except the child, of course, he thought bitterly, pleased as the mage gestured to a hiding spot for the kid. Where had this beast come from? Was this... thing the culprit for the town's grisly fate?

Suddenly, he remembered Merek, and looked over to see the man standing a good distance further than them, and a good distance closer to the beast. He was hardly going to stick his neck out for the man who had just threatened to murder him- in fact, he had no plans of recklessly rushing or distracting this thing for anybody, not even his own clan; he wasn't an idiot- but he couldn't help but feel some pang of panic, if just the general rush of a large group of (seemingly innocent) people's lives being endangered, including his own. How are any of us supposed to fight this? At least they seem to be capable of magic. He glanced at the two women, one seemingly made out of plant magic, the other bathing herself in shadow. Perhaps not exactly... traditional magic, but magic all the same.

 

[Velle]

The archdemon rose his heavy arm, slowly like the hulk of a mountain it was. It took glances
»HE. HE WHO CALLED ME IS LONG GONE. HE WHO CALLED ME...« His voice sickingly vibrated through the bodies of the living. His gaze shifted left to right, slowly like a scanning dragon, looking for prey. With his massive tail he swing across the most prominent ravine, collapsing the bridge like snapping a single strand od hair.
with such mass and heavy scales, the scraping of the thorny vines went unnoticed, nor the arrival of a familiar friend. It could perhaps sense that the being was cold as ice.

Yet the archdemon was not as unmoving as originally thought. It sneered, snorting from it's nostrills, gazing downwards at some congregation of people, the one closest to him, Merek, was positioned just beaneath his giant potbelly...but this other one was just at the right distance...
»RrrrrrrRRRRRRR---- . DIE MAGGOT «
He slowly rose his foot, aiming it to stomp at Aremir.

 

[Merek Lothar]

Merek stood in silent awe at the creature...it practically burned in an aura of souls, a cloud of terrified, shrieking spectres. He reached out to one of them with the untrained, erratic tendrils of his innate telepathy, and found only paralyzed fear in their whimpers. Disgusted, he cast them off as easily as brushing frost off of a window. The daemon surged forward, hissing with too many tongues and gnashing misshapen teeth made of something between obsidian and steel.

He didn't need to move much, the creature wasn't aiming for him, it wanted the ranger. For all his skills, Merek knew this was beyond him, he simply watched, his blade still drawn, but unmoving in the defense of the company he now found himself in.

 

[Caelia]

Images of the bridge falling to the shadowy depths of the ravine came in several waves from the Mycolyp as the archdemongave a single swipe of its tail. It seems the way back was gone, now. A shiver came from the vines, reverberating through to Caelia, the roots that adorned her skin seeming to shake and rustle. "Cold as the death it has caused, this beast," she said cryptically. The vines returned to the ground, slinking into the earth like eels into a burrow.

As the beast rose a heavy limb to crush its target, a sudden rush of plant growth surged out of the ground in front of Aremir. The outgrowth of hardened roots and vines coalesced into a shield of sorts, curving out of the ground to hang over the human, as dozens upon dozens of thorns spontaneously grew from the vines that held it together. The thorns seemed abnormally large compared to normal plants, their growth enhanced by the Mycolyp considering the situation. Her head gave a rigid jerk to the side, signaling him to move, her hand seemingly frozen in the air as she held the shield in place.

 

[Addy]

Addisyn watched each action unfold, Merek yet again disappointing her with his clear tactical advantage gone to waste as he drew the sword but didn't use it. What was he waiting on? Celia's shield over Aremir was wonderous, and the shadow mage hoped it would hold. It was clear with the beast's attack that they weren't getting out of this without a fight, and she wasn't going to hold back.

Stepping back further away from the archdemon, she did her best to stay out of range of him but with his size it was likely impossible. Her cast would require her to stand still, exposed, and -though her magical barrier had been raised- she did not want to test it with this thing.

Tattooed hands raised once more, somatic elements combined with the soft utterances from her lips with one final word being raised in tone and harsher. "Impālāre!" The woman seemed determined as the shadows that heeded her call had begun shifting and darkening beneath the beast then suddenly formed stiff peaks like jagged spears to stab at the underside of it's scales and gluttonous belly. They unleashed from chin to tail, narrowly missing Merek, and leaving her breathless and weakened.

 

[Velle]

The archedmon banged at the floric barrier. tudding it's forearm violently to shred away at the plants.
»PUNNY MORTALS, YOUR. PATHETIC. SORCERY. IS NO MATCH AGAINST ME«
He soon ripped his claw free, just to have the shadowy speaks form from underneath his bellyside. The spikes would glance against the tough scales, but the demon appeared to be propped up awkwardly now.

For those that observed, one could see that the demon's hide facing the sun, thus his back and left side was slightly drippy and glossy looking. Certianly heat had something to do with it.
But his chitinous hide seemed to be as strong on all sides regardless of the sibtle melting.
Careless use of magic will certianly be a recipe for disaster and needles extortion.

The little boy seemed to have dissapeared into one of the houses.

 

[Merek Lothar]

Merek lurched back as the creature's massive weight thrashed around like a bloated, solid shadow of dripping flesh. He cocked his head in fascination as he saw the skin of the daemon drip thick, wet, unorganic goop onto the harsh, frost- blasted stone. In an instant he crossed the distance between him and the exposed left side of the creature, he dug it into the flesh like an ice pick, and clambered up the side of the beast, attempting to pry open individual armoured plates with his bare hands, while he drove the blade deep into the disgusting body of the creature. Rage took him, a fit of spasming, barking fury as he howled a spiteful shriek through his helm, 'My prize,' he screamed, 'where is it!!?', he was shouting directly as the daemon, as if he had gone completely mad.

 

[Velle]

The demon shook his back to no avail. Yet the sword of Merek did not go deep, it could barely pierce through half the armour plating. Yet the heat did melt a significant portion away.
As many as the spines would try pierce the demon from below...those solid scales were impenetrable.

 

[Caelia]

The vines writhed in retaliation against the beast, thorny growths emerging from the makeshift shield as they wrapped further up the demon's arm. Caelia watched as the others launched their attack, spears of darkness making their attempt at piercing the thick scales along with Merek's sword. Neither seemed to be too effective, unfortunately, although they still managed to make a slight impact against it.

Suddenly, images surfaced in her mind from the eyes of the Mycolyp scouts, images of melting scales in the sunlight. "Its scales quiver under the sun," she commented to the two nearby. That could be of use. She thrust her hand up, calling forth more large vines and roots from the earth which quickly attempted to wrap around the demon's limbs and head. With a quick jerk of the hand, the plant growths pulled the demon further into the sunlight so that the heat may have a greater effect.

 

[Velle]

If only he could converse propperly, he could have told what plane the demon came. Ice.
But the sun alone would not be enough, from one of the higher windows the boy would show himself again, his face determined, he threw a jar at the demon.
It broke somewhere on his right shoulder and the oily substance dripped over it and down, soiking itself into the vines belonging to the mycolyp.
As soon as it landed the boy was gone again apearing out of another window and throwing another jar or lantern oil.
He wave at the crazy man on the demon's back to get off.
-----

The demon somewhat wet and confined growled.
»YOU THINK YOU CAN RESTRAIN ME?« He growled, trying to rip again from the vines. But this time struggling more.

 

[Addy]

Her shadow was the very absence of light, and she could not deal in the magics of such. This was a way that she was limited, and while she had an idea of a way to bring more light to the situation, it was clear that the boy had brought them a more suitable answer. A mirror would be a poor substitute for the amount of flame he was setting the demon up to receive. "Ahhh." Merek needed to move, but she had no control over the man. Yet... she could. Shadows were weakened and she had one of two choices. Slip her cold tendrils around the man to force him to avoid a very deadly situation or hope he moved in time.

Addisyn wasn't one to gamble, and the idea of the man being set aflame in front of her wasn't one she relished. She wrapped her shadow around Merek's waist, drawing the treasure crazed man away with her magic in order to clear the way for someone else to set the dragon-like beast up in flames. He could hate her later if he wished, but she was doing it for his own good. Damn the consequences. Her teal hues moved from person to person, hoping they all understood what was to come next.

 

[Velle]

The boy dissapeared back into the house, to remain unseen.

Nothing on the demon was lit yet, but he seemed oblivious to just what was planned for his icy hide.

 

[Merek Lothar]

"Put me down!' Merek spat through his drool- strewn teeth. He thrashed, struggling against the hue as it dragged him away, as he felt the halo of psychic praise dim. It was then that he decided he hated being here, once this was over, he would take his prize, and decency be damned if they got in his way.