Knights of Anathaeum the Fantastical and Feral

[Byanka Valkas]

Gruki created light over the monster's scuffle with the shadow, revealing more of the nasty monster and also making the bloodhound jobs harder. Byanka took a step forward, putting out her other hand in front of Gruki. She was about to say something but Saskia beat her to it, stepping forward.

The monster threw her backwards into a tree, and reared up to its full height. What she saw matched the scent- lopsided horns, gray dead looking skin, and thin, skeletal looking limbs. Byanka wrinkled her nose and stepped to its side, in front of Gruki. She reached out into its mind, or tried to at least. The most she could do was make its vision blurry.

It stumbled forward, right into Byanka's sword. Black blood leaked from the gashes on its legs and it stumbled again before turning its big head in Byanka's direction. It swung a thin but powerful arm out and Byanka raised her sword arm to deflect and got herself knocked backwards a bit and sprayed by black blood as the monster's dismembered hand fell to the floor, twitching with the last bits of life.

"Gruki, make sure Saskia's ok," she said, getting back to her feet, and adjusting her grip on her sword.

Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Gruki]

'Don't we need the light to-' Gruki flinched as the monster lashed out. 'Syr Saskia! Look-' Before she could even finish her sentence, there was a clash. Gruki felt more than saw Saskia get flung aside, straight into the trunk of a tree. Then, Syr Valkas was there, sliding into Gruki's line of sight even as her sister sagged, winded but alive. An order followed, one that made little sense to the orc's beleaguered mind.

'No need!' She shouted, glancing Saskia's way, just to make sure.

As if to prove her point, the monster struck again. Steel flashed as the knight stood her ground. Gruki detected the faintest trace of magick upon the air. Whatever Byanka was doing to the creature's mind, it was working. Don't just stand there, a voice not unlike Gruki's own chided. Get in there!

Taking a breath to steady herself, the squire did just that, circling around the creature to split its attention.

Saskia's shadow moved in her periphery. The static light had weakened it, but even so, it still possessed some modicum of power. Perhaps the monster was stronger in the dark, too? Sensing her thoughts, the monster charged, ignoring Byanka and going straight for her instead.

Raising her greatsword, Gruki delivered a masterful counter-stroke as the monster swiped at her.

Black blood splashed her face as they collided. She did not see the monster's arm go spinning off into the undergrowth, but she did feel the stump of its arm smash against her chest plate like an impromptu battering ram.

Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Kaarle

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

Pain registered the same time she felt herself move in the tangle of tree roots. Saskia gritted her teeth and forced herself to ignore it all, to get up and locate her allies.

Her sword laid in the crunch of dead leaves that littered the earthen floor, and she moved to retrieve it. What felt like the hairs raising on the back of her neck made Saskia lash out with her shadows to shield her back, just as a second monster struck at her.

"They are in pairs!" She growled out, already moving into painful motion as she swung her sword and caught the second inches from it's neck. Her shadows clawed at it's feet to slow it, but Saskia's shoulder protested when she swung her blade again.

Blackened blood spilled at the gash she created, but Saskia kept her assualt ongoing.

Gruki
Byanka Valkas
Kaarle
Hector

 

[Hector]

With quick strides, Hector and Kaarle raced through the woods.

The beacon of light had died out. But Hector had caught a glimpse of the thing that had happened upon their fellow Mums. A thing that looked like twisted death. A thing born of the blight.

On their approach, he willed his breath to steady. Measured, in and out. For a flame started with the breath. Fed the heat within the heart. The spark that gave rise to a shout. Gave smoke to a growl.

With his elven eyes, he could see through much of the shadow as they hurried across treacherous terrain. Root and mounds of earth, passed by with each bound of boot. Sword came free of sheath, and was held firm in right hand as his left traced glyphs through the air.

He came to stop, to better aim his magicks.

Just above the dark thing that assailed Syr Saskia. His eye fixed to a spot just higher than her head. Just beyond her and the monster as gloved fingertips cut and scrawled the last loops and curls of the ancient tongues. Runes of fire.

Over Saskia's head, behind the creature that bared down upon her, a spiral of sparks hissed and spat its amber rain of golden embers. Its center grew tighter. Brighter. Till the little storm of stars cracked blue, then white, shimmered gold as it turned to blazing sword.

And before its light could wash away the shadows that danced amidst the fight, the weapon struck down, in arcing slash that burned through rotted hide, and scored gold fire across the blight beast's back.

---

Back in the farmhand's shack

The man known as Withry wheezed something horrid. His breath a wet rattle in his throat that shook what was left of his lungs.

His companion looked toward him. "Damn, Withry," he lamented, puffy eyes heavy as were the corners of his mouth. "What are we going to do about this,"

Withry coughed. And coughed. And coughed.

The other man's eyes went wide as he watched his friend shake and convulse with the force of each hack that came from his throat. Like something too large was stuck there in the pipe of his breath.

"W-withry?"

A wet splash splat across the floor. A thing, bone and long limbed. A thing with horns. Laid curled upon itself within the ink-pitch mess that Withry had coughed up.

No longer couhging. Withry smiled, and let out easy breath as he fell to sleep.

Kaarle Gruki Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas

 

[Byanka Valkas]

Byanka watched Gruki fight back the monster, wondering what it might take for the squire to listen. Just as she rid the monster of its arm, another appeared by Saskia.

"Pairs." Byanka muttered. "Of course they come in pairs," She moved to help Saskia but then Hector and Kaarle appeared out of the trees, coming to her aid.

Byanka shifted the direction she was going in to help Gruki, as she stumbled backwards. She swung at it from behind, and managed to cut off both its legs at the knees. The monster fell to the floor, dark blood spraying. It unleashed an ear-splitting sound, somewhere between a shriek and a roar, as Hector cut down the second monster with a glowing sword.

"Finish it," Byanka said to Gruki, as the monster between them tried to push itself up with the arm it had left.

 

[Kaarle]

The fuck was happening in here?

There were beasts two, both blighted or something worse, the putrid scent and sight of them twisting his face into a grimace of disgust. And they appeared to be giving a whole world of trouble, despite it being this particular lot they’d happened upon. Competent all three, if he had been any judge in the past — the situation as it reigned made any reasonable sense to him only if they’d been taken by surprise.

Unfortunate, but not unlikely. Anyway—

The low light was remedied some by Hector’s casting, a fire in the air making a sword that swung downwards. With his own blade out and advancing fast upon the same mark, Kaarle extended his free hand at the burning spell. Gloved fingers made a cage and the residual sparks in the flesh flared brighter, rekindling the elemental sword into another strike.

In tune with the fire, he drove his steel home next to exposed vertebrae just as the beast shrieked and made to turn, arm making a broad arch. By a sideways leap and quick yank, he just about freed his sword in time to evade the claws. For the shadows at its feet and Saskia at its shoulder, it staggered.

Saskia Kerraelas Hector Gruki Byanka Valkas

 

[Gruki]

The charging creature slammed into Gruki, nearly bowling her off her feet. Staggering, she dug her heels in as the monster opened its mouth wide, needle-like teeth extending from blackened gums to take a bite out of the she-orc while she was busy wrestling with what limbs it had left. A waft of rancid heat brushed her face, made her look up, up at the black abyss awaiting her.

'Oh, fu-'

The creature hissed, suddenly losing its strength. Twisting, shoving the man-deer-thing away, Gruki stared with wide-eyed horror as Byanka hacked its legs off at the knee. 'Finish it,' she said. So Gruki did.

Reversing her blade, she drove it down two-handed through the creature's roaring, raging face. Parting like wet parchment, Gruki felt her steel go right through skin and bone, straight out the other side. The creature, practically limbless, spasmed as it died, railing against the pain, driven by an anger Gruki couldn't even begin to fathom.

Twisting, Gruki slid her greatsword free, turned in time to see Hector strike another of the antlered monsters. Where had these things come from? And why?

Deciding they were questions best left for another time, Gruki threw herself at the new foe. Kaarle, brave for his considerably smaller size, struck, ducked aside as the thing retaliated. Bounding into it from behind, Gruki brought the monster down with a shoulder-check. Raising her blade, she drove it down as the creature made to rise. The point passed clean through its spine, pinning it to the ground.

Twitching, transfixed, it clawed at the dirt, tried to drag itself towards Saskia. Pinning its wrist with her foot, Gruki brought her other boot down on the back of its skull. There was a loud crack.

Then... nothing.

Hector Kaarle Byanka Valkas Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

Saskia seethed as her shadows were hindered, not by the lack of darkness, but her own fear moments before help came to her aid. Her sword thrashed, swung, and found sweet purchase into it's flesh, but they were not fatal blows. A holy vision appeared above, and a blessed sword came down to tear the flesh of decay. A stray glance revealed the arrival of Syr Hector and additionally Syr Kaarle, the latter coming to aide Saskia in taking down the beast of unholy silhouette. Saskia was spent, fighting against tears that wished to leave pained streaks down her pink tinged cheeks. Her shoulder, her spine, muscles protested as Saskia's drive in combating the beast did not waver.

Bless every saint out there.

Just as she was sure she was about to tear something a part of herself, Gruki's tall frame came into view and leveled the beast to the forest floor. The shadow wielding dusker flinched violently away from the still moving creature, claws shy inches from her boots before Gruki delivered a stomp that put the second creature to an end.

Not until she was sure the creature was still and lifeless did Saskia fall backwards, catching herself onto the tree she had been flung into moments before. Her nose got another whiff of the decay that clung to the creatures, and her stomach turned.

"Are we alright?" Dropping her sword, her arms came to wrap around her middle, willing her stomach to still and calm. "Do you think there are more of them?"

Byanka Valkas Hector Kaarle Gruki

 

[Hector]

With fire let fly, Hector rushed in trail of the magick's wake.

All the world a jostle and shake as he pressed with eyes wide and aware of the scene that unfolded.

It was swift violence. Crunches, clangs, and cracks, and as Hector happened upon their number he steadied his breath, eyes wide as they took account. As blasts and beats of flame's symphony sounded through his being.

Hearts pounded in rythms. Rushed. But steady. True. Heat pulsed from them all. Roared hot with rage and snapped cold with fear.

Syr Kerraelas' voice broke first the infant calm. Hector's dark eyes, full of it all, and traced with Flame's light, turned to Gruki, watched her a long moment.

"No clue as to their number," Hector added his account. As his eyes came shut, and a long breath left his nose. "A few villagers had been-"

A shrill cry came from the farmhands shack.

Byanka Valkas Saskia Kerraelas Gruki Kaarle

 

[Byanka Valkas]

The group was allowed a moment of repreive as the monster's dead bodies steamed. Byanka turned to look at Saskia at her fellow knight's question. A nod to the first question, and a pause as she listened to Hector's response.

"We can't be certain, but with our luck, I'll bet there's more out there," she replied, squatting to wipe her blade on the grass. She paused a moment, considering the black goop she supposed was the creature's blood. She touched it lightly and brought it to her nose. Beyond the decay, it smelled... metallic, almost. Like human blood.

She was just about to say something about it when there was a piercing shriek from the village behind them. She straightened quickly, turning towards the sound. Were there more monsters in the village? Taking advantage of the group of knights in the forest, away from the people in the village? Were they even smart enough to do that? Byanka figured if they had been smart enough to hide their mental presence then it was entirely possible.

Hector Saskia Kerraelas Gruki Kaarle

 

[Kaarle]

There was no need to strike a second time, not for him anyway. The one squire in their midst made sure of that, coming in at ballistic velocity and force. The creature would’ve been better off having been ran over by a runaway cart.

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, stare falling on Saskia as she spoke, questioned. In tune with it he shot a glance at each and every one in turn, like daring anyone to say they had been injured. Strangely if not unfortunately, it appeared only Syr Kerraelas herself seemed to be struggling with—something.

“ I’m rather aligned to ask you that, Syr Kerraelas. Are you quite alright? “ He asked, taking in the dropped sword and the arms that clasped about the abdomen, stare marking. A tinge of concern in his grave expression, his eye didn’t leave her until a hideous sound broke their briefest respite, too clearly heard in the cold air.

Syr Valkas’ words were ringing true much too early to his liking. But there was naught for it, but to—

“ If you are injured or otherwise unwell, am bound to suggest you consider whether you’re fit to continue. I’m signaling the rest. “ Spoken to none in particular, he turned on heel and left back to whence they’d come, the farmhand’s shack. From the satchel at his belt, he dug a little clay sphere on his way, lighting the fuse only as the building loomed. He stopped momentary to sling it high in the air, where it shattered and released a red light.

Over the building, the magical flare hovered, marking danger.

Gruki Hector Byanka Valkas Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

Saskia straightened up at the question posed by Kaarle, grateful her stomach stayed as is. "Going to need more than that to---"

Her words died under the alarming cries from from the farmhouses.

Her body was aching, but it truly would take more to stop Saskia from moving ahead, to be at the backs of her fellow knights and comrades. She stooped to grip her sword back in hand, rushing after Syr Kaarle and ignored the aches along her spine. She will weather it, use the pain to keep her focus.

The dwelling before them was one she had seen Syr Kaarle and Syr Hector traveling to earlier in their search of the perimeter. Did they miss something? Had something followed them to the home?

What horrors plagued this night?

"Perhaps there are more." Kerraelas hardened her gaze, sending forth tendrils of the shadows she knew well to scope ahead.

Hector Byanka Valkas Kaarle Gruki

 

[Gruki]

Gruki took a moment to get her breathing under control. The sword in her hand felt heavy, the fingers gripping its hilt numb. Even her legs felt weak. 'Well,' she took a tentative step back as blood began to pool around her boots, 'I guess that's that!' Laughing, her relief overcoming her, Gruki sank to her knees besides Saskia. This wasn't the first time she had been forced to fight for her life, but even so...

Oh, oh no!

'Saskia!' Spinning about on her hands and knees, the squire inquired as to the knight's health. 'Is everything alright? Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?' The others -Syrs Byanka and Hector and Kaarle- were all okay, thank the Heavens! The blonde dusker was another matter, however.

Cursing the waning orb of light as it floated away, Gruki rummaged around in her belt pouches for something to clean the ichor away. 'A few cuts and scrapes, minor bruising...' Gruki was only half-listening as the rest of the knights talked amongst themselves. Numbers, no clue. More of them? 'You're okay, I think. Won't know for sure until we get this armour off you.'

A shrill scream from the village put paid to that idea.

Jumping to her feet, all thoughts of administering aid gone from her mind, Gruki waited. When no further screams came, she was almost relieved. Almost.

Snatching up her weapon, she bounded after the others, quickly outpacing the slower members of their group. A small shack came into view as they broke past the forest's edge. Passing Syr Kaarle, Gruki hopped the ditch, made her way around back. The flare painted the night sky a deep red. A shadow moved off to her right, by the building's footings. Gruki hoped it was one of Saskia's shadows.

The alternative would probably kill her.

Hector Byanka Valkas Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Hector]

A red light. The mark of danger.

His core still hot, though his limbs felt more vulnerable to the cold. The price of magick, beginning to show.

He held tight to the weave of flame, its threads spooled in his gut.

The cold shapes of Saskia's shades traced forward. Hector forced calm into his breath. Pulled in, let out. Fed his fire. "I'll take the point," he sounded clear over the stir of their actions, feet already moving across the cold earth they had raced over once before.

All jostle and blur. Hector struck forward, sword in hand as his cloak snapped fast behind him.

At the shack, he pressed his back to the outer wall of the building. Let his eyes come shut with an exhalation of breath. Fingers reworked themselves along the corded grip of his sword. His eyes came open, alight with flame's trace, once more.

In his gaze, Hector could see the emberic forms of his allies, positioned around him and moving through the dark.

Bright yellow, red, and white against the cold blue of chill night. Even the pads of their feet left a small pool of dull heat behind them. Swallowed up fast by the cold.

With his elven ears he could hear the whimpers coming from with in. The prayers to gods and goddesses that stayed silent as something inside chattered its teeth, snarled and snapped. A sound like hollow knocking came rapid from some throat.

Hector let out one last breath, turned, and kicked the door open with a hard thump of his heel.

Byanka Valkas Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas Gruki

 

[Byanka Valkas]

And just as quickly as the monsters had arrived, and the fight won, they were once more running to the next fight. As they ran, she took the liberty of muting their group's harried, weary thoughts. There was still a fight to be fought, and the element of surprise could be a useful weapon in their arsenal.

They slowed when they reached a shack, over which a red flare burned. Danger. Soon the rest of the party that had been sent out here to investigate the monster would be here, and if the other monsters were anything like the last two, they would need all the help they could get.

Shadows flickered around them, both Saskia's and natural ones. As Byanka listened to the sounds coming from within the shack, she was struck with a wave of pain. But it was not her own, or even that of her fellow knights (though she was aware of Saskia's pain)- whoever was hurting was inside the shack. Again, Byanka wondered about the monsters. What exactly were they fighting?

She was quick to move behind Hector as he kicked down the door, leading the way into the shack. The first thing to hit her was the smell. It was worse than it had been in the forest; it smelled as if an animal's insides had been slowly decaying and rotting in the sun, and it made her eyes water.

Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas Gruki

 

[Kaarle]

Magic rushed in the air and the ground, tangible like a volatile field. It prickled the skin, made him uneasy as he watched the shifting shadows and the figures of his fellows. He couldn’t but commend them all for how efficiently they seized initiative, Syrs Rookheart and Valkas approaching the door of the shack in tandem.

He glanced to the remaining two at the yard, Gruki with that large sword at the ready and Saskia that’d kept magnificent pace despite what he yet assumed was injury. The squire appeared to be looking somewhere to the blackness, wherein neither the moon or the flare touched. Had she sensed something?

“ Gruki — You seen— “ He started, to the tune of the door being kicked in. The air warped, like being breathed in through the windows, old wood whistling and creaking.

“ Somethi— “ The rest of the question was drowned out by a great earsplitting shriek and a loud thud from within the building, its shutters blowing out all at once like by an explosive gust. No hinge held against it, a curse tearing out of him as he rose an arm against a rain of shattered wood.

Hector Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Gruki

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

Saskia couldn't help but jump with surprise as the shutters clattered upon being forced open, her shadows taking form of into that a wolf she had left on the farm at the start of their search. Butter lowered it's shadowed head, hackles raised as Kerraelas moved closer to the shack, a wall of shadow arcing before her and the others nearby to spare them.

Sword lifted, Saskia tried to hide her hiss of pain that flared at her lower back. Her advance saw no more disruption, moving to the doorway that her fellow knights had disappeared through, the shadowed hound at her heels. There was but a single light in the room she stepped inside, the flickering flame made shadows grow and dance, but something was off.

Very off.

Saskia moved her nose to her shoulder, sword upright as she fought to ignore the potent scent that violated her nose and burned her lungs. Again with the decay? She thought, trying not to gag and lose focus.


Gruki Hector Byanka Valkas Kaarle

 

[Gruki]

Gruki moved, and the shadows moved with her, right up until the moment Syr Kaarle called her name. 'I thought I saw-' She started to speak, turning, only for her voice to be drowned out by an almighty shriek. Something whooshed, blowing out the shutters of the small shack into which her brave knights were rushing.

Another something smote Gruki's brow so hard she blacked out.

When she opened her eyes, the world didn't look quite how she remembered it. The red flair danced in the sky overhead, drifting, falling like a shooting star. It was so pretty, it nearly distracted Gruki from the pain in her head and neck. Groaning, the she-orc rolled on to her front. She couldn't find her sword, and she had the sneaking suspicion her helmet was gone, too.

The shadows moved nearby, and Gruki moved with them, rolling clear of the monster just in time to avoid the killing blow.

Taller than her by a foot, and far muscular than the two they had encountered in the woods, this beast had skin the colour of ash. It shrieked as she rolled aside, washing her in its rancid breath. This one had the smell of spilt viscera to it, and the eyes...

Gruki felt her courage waver as the monster took her by the throat, cutting off her air as surely as any blade. Punching, kicking, the she-orc was forced to watch as her world shifted once more. Up she went, kicking and clawing, fighting with what little might remained to her. The monster, taller than her by a foot, bared its teeth in malicious smile, its eyes like embers, bright, burning her with their heat.

The light started to fade...

Hector Byanka Valkas Kaarle Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Hector]

Heart in his throat, Hector eyed the room, his ears still ringing from the shriek that had shattered the shutters and left his legs a wobble.

Pulse quickened, he turned left, then right. Heard the commotions outside.

Fly, his instincts told him. Fight the threat.

His teeth ground together as the muscles in his jaw clenched. His swordhand gripped tight his weapon. and he saw the man cowering behind cover.

His breath. His power came from his breath. He felt it flow through him. Stoke the flame inside him. Sheltered by the walls of his flesh. His bones a kiln. His blood fast with the currents of the wind.

With a smooth exhalation, he turned toward the door.

Outside he saw some monstrosity with Gruki in its clutches. With his stance bladed, he raised his left hand, fingers cutting signs before they ended in a seal with one digit pressed against thumb to form a ring, three digits bent like the tendrils of a flickering fire. Gruki framed there at the center.

His blade-wand leveled, point aimed at the squire. At her flickering heart. He thrust the magical focus forward, the spell of fire's heart cast to give strength and clarity to the struggling Gruki.

Byanka Valkas Saskia Kerraelas Kaarle Gruki

 

[Byanka Valkas]

Byanka nearly forgot the smell at the sight within the shack. A monster resembling the other the two they had already fought towered over the knights in the shack, its chest rising and falling rapidly. At his feet was the limp body of a man, deep gashes opened across his front, his blood staining the monster's claws crimson.

She kept her sword out in front of her as Hector turned to face the door to help the others who were still outside. For a minute, Byanka and the monster merely looked at each other, and she could've sworn there was almost something human in it's gaze.

Slowly, with her free hand, she pulled a bit of spare cloth up over her nose and chin. The monster growled deep in its throat, and Byanka realized the pain was coming from the monster. The scream had likely been from the man as he died, but even though it seemed there was no wound on the horned monster, pain radiated off of him, fading bit by bit as the seconds ticked by. Her mind raced but her sword hand was steady, her gaze never wavering from the creature before her.

A tremor ran through it- him- and it lunged forwards, its focus on Byanka, Saski momentarily forgotten. Byanka easily sidestepped it's clumsy move slicing open its flesh as it stumbled past her. It did not give up and turned around, reaching out a clawed hand. The claws raked across her chest plate and Byanka was glad she was wearing armor as the resulting shriek made her cringe.

Saskia Kerraelas Kaarle Gruki Hector

 

[Kaarle]

Having stumbled, ears ringing, he came to belatedly. In the red-tinted dark he caught sight of Saskia disappearing into the shack, leaving outside but himself and the squire. His look sought her where she’d stood mere seconds before, obscured in the building’s shadow.

She was no longer standing, helm and sword in the ground alongside. And above, hovering over her, was a greater dark form. He didn’t get a word out, watching as a clawed limb reached for Gruki and lofted her from the ground. His blade flew out of its sheath as his rage flared, overdoing whatever fright there was to be had.

He was upon them in a couple fast leaps, sword sweeping upwards to cut at the arm that held the squire.

Gruki Saskia Kerraelas Hector Byanka Valkas

 

[Saskia Kerraelas]

Saskia felt the air in the room rush before the shattered debris flew about, and she found herself watching another beast barrel towards her friends, her fellow Sworn. Gruki, the squire, was now held up with Syr Kaarle coming to her aide.

But something else still lingered in this home, already entangled with Byanka and Hector.

Something was afoot here, something sinister and cruel. She was not well versed in the Pursuit of Loch as Byanka was, but the pain radiated strongly now that Saskia could sense it. She paused, waiting and watching as her eyes centered on the back of the creature's torso.

"It's a hex!" Unlike those creatures they had fought in the forest, beyond the farming properties. This was a cruel trick. She has little reason to only call upon the Pursuit of Death, but her shadows made her well suited for such a task.

No shadows, no blade.

Saskia walked towards the creature and studied the rotting flesh. She lifted a hand, wincing as the soreness in her back struck at her, but she did not relent. Saskia began to whisper, conjuring a spell to extract the pestilent hex.


Gruki Hector Byanka Valkas Kaarle

 

[Byanka Valkas]

There were two monsters now, one outside the shack and one within it. Byanka was readying for another defense from the monster within the shack when Saskia approached it with an extended hand. The monster paused, confusion and pain still etched across its horrid features. After a few moments, Byanka realized what Saskia was doing, and thought she ought to distract the monster so that Saskia could continue to cast her spell.

Byanka lowered her sword a bit, focusing her mind on the monster instead. It was harder to read, but she did her best to calm it, ease its pain and confusion, turn its mind into a foggy haze; so that Saskia might better draw the... sickness, or whatever it was, out of the monster.

Byanka wondered morbidly if the monster would return to human form, and what the effects of the sickness would be. If the man inside the monster would survive.

Saskia Kerraelas Gruki Hector Kaarle

 

[Gruki]

Gruki felt the monster's grip slacken as Kaarle struck, his aim true and vengeful. Corded muscle gave way to cold, sharp steel. Gravity did the rest.

Gasping, clawing at her throat, Gruki felt her panic recede as her lungs drew in the air they so sorely needed. A new feeling filled her heart, then. Foreign... and yet oh-so familiar.

Anger, pure and unbridled.

Rage, enough to make mountains quake in fear.

Scooping up her battered helmet from where it lay, Gruki surrendered herself to the feelings eating her up inside. Pushing Syr Kaarle aside, the she-orc threw herself at the monster threatening her knights. Her helmet, already badly-dented, crumpled as it caught the creature full in the face. As it fell, her fist came up to meet the underside of its chin.

Pugnacious eyes regarded her as it toppled, backwards, into the filth from which it had crawled.

'Bastard!' Gruki cursed as it tried to rise, breaking all the oaths she had ever sworn to Ma and Pa. Thinking of them hurt her, more than any vice-grip ever could. Harnessing that feeling, she renewed her assault, bouncing her helmet off of the monster's skull.

'Bastard!' She cursed again, leaping on top of the monster. A claw caught her breastplate, hooked her onto her back. She let her momentum carry her over. Punching, bucking, she managed to get around behind the beast. The back of its head came up to meet her face, mashing her nose. But that was okay. She could take the pain, could take anything, if she put her mind to it.

Then, Syr Kerraelas started to speak. The rage subsided.

Hector Kaarle Byanka Valkas Saskia Kerraelas

 

[Hector]

A long breath out, his eyes still lit by the light of Flame as his limbs fell to the side.

Gruki and Kaarle could hold the creature outside. The beast stunned upon the cold ground after Gruki's onslaught.

With his heart hammering strong in his chest, Hector, felt the seconds bleed by. Felt the cool pulse of Loch within the room. Some of his heat waned. Sapped. Swirled about the room as the Hexed Creature cowered back. Lulled by the weave of Byanka's spell.

Hector's eyes came shut. His heart still strong, his blood still warm against the cod draw of Death. His sword caught ablaze, though the flame scorched and licked across the wand-weapon's edge.

With haste, he took the tool with both hands, and traced wide circle about himself. Set scorch marks upon the cardinal directions, brought his sword up to his heart, and let its blade run towards the zenith. The lines he'd cut flickered with fire, traced across the azimuth of the ring.

A locus of communion. A point to gather the magicks around them, to ease the strain of channeling and weaving the strands of power.

As Byanaka and Saskia worked to contain the Hexed Creature, lines of gold would burn across the earthen floor of the cabin. Should the golden lines reach the Knights, a boon of magick's current would bolster them.

Channels and currents of magick shared. The load of each magick act, divided amongst three instead of bared by one.

Saskia Kerraelas Byanka Valkas Gruki Kaarle