Dreadlords Villain and Violent

[Vittoria Larrainth]

Vittoria frowned. She could feel a mass of magic disintegrate, her head whipping in the direction of where the sounds had come from.

What happened? It was not a telekinetic force by Wylls...

"King, perhaps you go help Navarre wi—"

A screeching cry pierced the night. She paused, convinced Wylls or Vult had succumbed to something... it was not a sound she thought Marcia could even conjure.

"The wards." She realised, turning back to King and pulling him along with her to help the Guardsman.

---

"Over there! Go to Marcia!" Wylls ordered Vult.

On their heels, she could hear the snapping maws of canines forced into frenzy. Magic burned at their noses, turned them rabid.

"Hurry!" Markesson called out, but was brave enough to summon another ward to create a defensive wall behind his classmates. Wylls had tripped, only just making it through Markesson's wards.

What Wylls did not know was that Markesson burned through his magic. Had gone too hard too quickly, and he could only buy them a minute. He ran out to help her up, asking Vult to help him get to to Marcia.

But a minute was useless against a pack of dogs insistent on hunting prey.

He thought he was brave.

He had told Vult to keep moving, that he would stay back and distract the dogs. Markesson was a fool, and he knew Vittoria would say as such.

The dogs jumped him. He punched, kicked, roared. Pain flared, but he didn't start to panic until he tried to push them off with a force of a ward.

He began screaming when his magic barely flared.

Two seconds later, his throat had been ripped out.

 

[Felix Nevarre]

"That's right big guy, right over here."

Felix had slipped into the stable with little fanfare only having to deal with the slight surprise of the horses. He chose the two nearest to each other in their pens for the wagon as that was a sign they got along ok.

He was just beginning to move the second horse when the scream pierced the night and Felix was almost thrown from his feet as the horse pulled back in surprise. His well-trained physique allowed him to hold on, but now it was a much more difficult process to pull the horse to the wagon...They just had a few feet to go.

"C'mon, please hurry. That did not sound good for either of us."

Felix was by no means a horse whisperer, but he had been on more than a few mounted scouting missions and his trainer Leif had always told him that horses will respect you if you respect them.

 

[Saderzaine Vult]

The dogs were behind them, and help was in front of them, so Wylls' remark felt a little unnecessary at the current moment. He chanced a look behind himself while still running and cursed colorfully in his head. Bad idea to do this. However, he knew that there were to be no excuses, for he had come along just as any other initiate. When his butler pulled out the full name tactic as a kid he had always somehow known that meant it was truly time to focus up. Perhaps that would work now? I knew it and I still did it, so get the fuck over yourself and survive, Initiate Saderzaine Irwin Vult.

Suddenly a ward appeared behind them and Sader continued running for a moment before hearing something hit the ground behind him. He turned and saw the scene, Eliza on the ground and a ward holding back a sea of slavering, slobbering jaws fully intent on ripping each and every one of them to teeny shreds. Just then, he noticed Markesson walk up and help Eliza. Why, though? If the dogs broke the ward, they would likely attack him first. It was his magic they knew best, having been trapped within it. "Markesson, are you-" The words out of your mind died in his mouth as he noticed the ward begin to break. Something was very, very wrong.

"Keep moving, Vult! Get away!" He heard Markesson say just a few seconds before the ward shattered. He turned as a pitiful excuse for a struggle ensued behind him, knowing that at this point all there was left to do was capitalize on the time gained by his fellow initiate's sacrifice. He ran through the terrible screams and only stopped just in front of Marcia, the sudden void left by the sharply halted clamor causing him to stumble a bit.

Damn it, why is it turning out this way? Where did we go wrong? He shook his head in order to clear out space for the truly necessary question, knowing it was the most important to answer right about now. All of this sudden tragedy could be resolved later, but such a simple ask could not.

"What the hell do we do next?"

Marcia

 

[Marcia]

Marcia, whose order of 'fucking move' was taken as a mere suggestion to fucking move, had the distinct pleasure of witnessing the brand new tactics of 'flounder around', 'gather in a group', and 'attempt to use the wards again despite their previous failure'.

What an embarrasment. The anticipation of the fallout from this calamity was creeping up the back of her neck like a burn, prickling anger.

Markesson's final piss-poor strategy was 'die screaming in a pointless sacrifice', which did little to soothe Marcia's frustrated temperament; the boy's shrill screams were a fucking beacon for everybody in the vicinity to hone in on. Waste of space. At the very least, they might have been able to fight back more efficiently without Markesson pissing himself on the sidelines. Thin the herd.

"Get the others, Vult!" Marcia barked, equipping her shield with the arm strap instead of the hand grip. "Use your speed! GO!" The dogs were upon them again, frenzied maws barking and snapping, spraying feral spittle as they charged forth. "Wylls, bring them into my shield!"

To her credit, Eliza Wylls was not entirely worthless as an Initiate and did as asked. The girl's telekinesis was put to good use in tandem with Marcia's spiked shield. The closest hound was pulled towards them violently as the shorter girl charged forth, shield raised for a heavy impact of bone on steel. A clang. A whimper. "Now away!" The same hound was picked up and flung backwards by Wylls' talent before it could recover, knocking into the next and bowling both over.

"Just keep doing that," Marcia said to the other girl, moving backwards with her shield raised. "But we have to keep moving, or we'll get overrun." It wasn't a sustainable strategy, but it would hopefully keep them going until the cavalry arrived.