To Heir is Human XVI-Playground Options

[jack cloudy]

Flint Ironwood, on a raft.

Flint sighed in relief. At least they hadn't been fireballed while the water was flammable.
,,Great. We might just make it." He noted as the beach drew closer.
,,Alright, everyone! Prepare to disembark! It won't be long till the snakes get into pursuit!" He shouted and looked at the treeline.
,,Hmm, I just wonder. With my luck, we'd be walking right into a trap. I mean, it would be typical. I've been rolling from one trap into another for a while now." He thought.
,,So......detection spells out of the wazoo!"

He didn't like what he saw.
,,Armed forces disembark first! I want a phalanx supported by a line of archers. Once assembled, advance slowly! I expect company from that forest!"


Vasha.

The beast was a tough one. Bolts, fire, nothing seemed to be capable of stopping it for long. Still, there wasn't much they could do but try.
,,Fire!" She telepathically instructed and another cloud of poisoned projectiles whizzed towards their mark.

[Lord Revan]

Plys'Iea

"You have no idea what I am, that is because my people aren't from Nirm." He replied, amused by Amrita's hypocrasy.

"You're ignorance is proven by your judging my kind by my actions alone. Look at the stars; each light in the void has the potential for life, not just this single planet." The alien contradicted her.

"And as for you're precious magicka, I couldn't use it anyway, such power is not available to my people, but our technology far exceeds anything your kind could comprehend." He explained, shifting the grip on his staff.

Suddenly the Narza'Tai's bolts pinged off of his back. The hunter hesitated for a moment; then made his decision.

"Pray to whatever diety you have, if my people return to this place, there will be more than one sergeant with primitive weaponry." He hissed before throwing his staff at Rann's approaching form.

[Florodine of Hlaalu]

OCC: Ian won't be happy when he meets Amrita next, and no one is surprised that a seemingly dumb "monster" can speak their language.

Plys'Iea

When the space that the Altmer had formerly occupied blossomed into flame, the Plys'Iea had only a moments consideration. He planted both feet on the ground, Plys'Iea did not have large claws on their legs, but their feet and hands were designed for climbing, and could provide more traction that most plantigrade species.

His people built their guantlets and boots in the same fashion their hands and feet could grip surfaces. The hunter threw all of his weight forward, into the flames! But rather than being seared by the spire of fire (lol, that rhymes) his momentum and powerful leap exposed him to the heat too shortly to be harmed.
He hit the ground and rolled, shifting sideways to face Amrita.

"You have branded me no more that a beast, but I know what you are witch. You've killed before, taken life without reason. Who is the monster between the two of us? I kill for the same reason a hunter would, for my kind see all of yours as a hunter would see game." The alien rumbled, getting to his feet.

Amrita

Amrita grinned. "Sounds rather... beastly of you to picture us as mere game, creature," she retorted back, giving emphasis on the word the creature seemed to detest.

"If you truly believe that you're actually intelligent you'd know which side to choose. Obviously since you chose the wrong side, you no idea what intelligence is," she continued, belting out a laugh. "Any mere brute can swing a barbaric club, it takes intelligence to perform "witchcraft"."

The Silhouette, Shore of Lake Rumare


"I think," laughed the Silhouette's voice from no where "That you calling your petty spells intelligent is one of the most amusing things I have ever heard" mused the Silhouette as he suddenly took form from a black puff of smoke. "As a matter of fact, I think the most intelligence you people have shown is running away, though I can't say that will save you except maybe give my men a little bit more to do." His prescence seemed to have driven the place into even more chaos. More Tsaeci were coming through the gate and the Silhouette advanced on Amrita.

"You have no idea what magic truly is, Tamriel scum" he said as he shot a blast of purple magic towards her.

[Lord Revan]

Tenek

"Everyone has to be rushing around; one moment everything's fine, and the next the Akaviri Army is tearing everything up." A figure muttered under his breath as he jumped down from part of the path to the ground.

Tenek ran to the shore, ignoring the snakemen and other Tamrielics fighting in between. *Why should I fight? I lost my loot and no body's paying me....*

This post has been edited by Lord Revan: Jan 20 2008, 06:34 PM

[Dantrag]

Rann

Rann couldn't help but feel as if his intelligence were being insulted when the strange creature threw its staff his way. The monster's aim was dead on, but Rann was at a far enough distance away that he was able to sidestep out of the projectile's path.

The staff made a loud clamor on the stone bridge, and Rann turned to regard it. He decided then to dispose of the weapon before it could be used against them again. It seemed as if Amrita and the lizard were conversing over something, so time was no crucial factor. He lifted the staff with both hands, as it was rather heavy, and unceremoniously dropped it over the side of the bridge.

The fact that the lizard spoke didn't surprise Rann; the thing had shown nothing but considerable intelligence every time they encountered each other, which was starting to become quite a large amount.

Rann turned back to Amrita and the lizard to find that another being had joined the fight; the Silhouette itself. Suddenly Rann realized that time had been a crucial factor. Running twice as fast as before, the dunmer assassin's hand gripped his sword tightly, hoping to correct the error he made in wasting time to dispose of a staff.

Hold on, Amrita, I'm coming.

He doubted that he could make any kind of difference in the outcome of the fight, but he would try anyway.

This post has been edited by Dantrag: Jan 20 2008, 09:43 AM

[The Metal Mallet]

Amrita

Amrita suddenly found herself in a predicament, both of the two most powerful enemies now faced her. She knew that this was beginning to get over her head. She leaped away from the magic hurled by the Silhouette and kept her distance away from both opponents, eying both of them for the next move. It was then that she found Rann running to her assistance. She grimaced. Now she was stuck with protecting both herself and her brother...

[Lord Revan]

OCC: Rann and Amrita are getting left behind..... And it might not be long before some Akaviri find Vasha or one of her assassins.

(Plys'Iea)

The Silhoutte's arrival caused only a moment's pause. He dipped his head quickly to the War Leader.

The alien then faced Rann's charge.

[The Metal Mallet]

Amrita

Amrita saw the creature turn away from her to attack her brother. Amrita grinned at the mistake of the beast. For something that claims it's intelligent, it should know better by now than to turn it's back on me.

With relatively ease, Amrita unleashed a blistering rocket of ice hurtling towards the beast's exposed back and sensory appendages.

[Lord Revan]

OCC: I'm fine with the Plys'Iea losing a couple sensory organs, they'll grow back during the intermission.
Btw, ()-bold **-italics and the alien's thought isn't guarded, it's practically broadcasting it. Hint hint

(Plys'Iea)

He felt the air shift and the witch's arm rise to cast the spell. This caught him off guard, but the hunter began to side-step.

Rather than strike in the center of his back, the bolt hit his pauldron. The chill froze one of his spines and caused him to stumble.

The hunter corrected himself and without pause, reached behind his back and snapped the frozen appendage off without so much as a wince. *One way or another, with, you will not live through this war.*

Carelessly, he tossed his amputated spine away. The alien did not turn to Amrita, but he remained much more aware of any motion from her direction.
He leered coldly at Rann, *how ignorant these people are, they believe their stand will save the lives of the flottila? Fools, the ambushing force will slaughter those who we did not kill here.*

[Agent Griff]

OOC: I hope you're not talking about my Dan. He may be a telepath, but it's only one way. He can't really read minds but he can feel the presence of someone of particularly strong will. And another thing, how exactly did the Plys'Iea find out about the Akaviri ambush force lying in wait on the other side of the lake? It wasn't as if someone told him in an express way? Oh well, he is an alien after all.

Savirien, the Imperial Palace

Savirien emerged from the former palace of Tamrielic Emperors victoriously. There had been none to oppose him and his shock-troops from conquering the Tower. The Akaviri forces under the Silhouette now had a line of sight which spread over almost the entire center of Cyrodiil.

Now that this is over with, time to see what progress our mercenary and our almighty leader have made.

Savirien looked around and called an Akaviri officer which had accompanied him during the conquest of the Tower. After staring at the serpent-warrior for a few moments, Savirien quickly made himself understood as to what he desired. Within seconds, the serpent was bowing low in front of Savirien as a sign of respect.

"Your will, general?" the officer asked.

"Take command of our troops present here at the Tower, sergeant. Until the return of our Lord or of myself, you shall be in charge. Do not disappoint for our Lord is not as lenient as I may be, at times." Savirien said as he chose a company of crack troops to lead personally to the site of the Tamrielic flotilla of refugees.

Brandishing his blade, he slithered off followed by his warriors.

[jack cloudy]

Vasha and co.

Again reloading the crossbow took far too long. Vasha looked over her shoulder and saw that the flottilla had reached the edge of the lake. Already troops were disembarking and forming a Phalanx.
,,Why? I don't see anything from here?" She thought.
,,Alright, we're leaving!" She shouted and left her position.
,,Killing this beast is one thing, but it is more important that we keep up with the pack. And where is Kalsh?"

Flint Ironwood, flottilla.

Flint waited impatiently for the soldiers to take up their formation. He didn't like fighting himself, but it was obvious to him that they couldn't avoid this one. Either the soldiers would engage the Akaviri he'd detected, or said Akaviri would fall on the civilians like a pack of very hungry wolves.
,,But, this is a war. Are those civilians really that important anymore? Unless we stop this army somehow, they're going to die anyway." The Breton shook his head.
,,No, what am I thinking? I'm not going to sacrifice a single civilian if I can help it. And I'll try to keep the army alive as well."

Flint thought for a moment on which spell to use. Telekinesis was his specialty, but he doubted that was his best option right now. On the other hand, Aleatoire had proven itself to be a very versatile staff.
,,Ok, buddy. Let's see if you can blind that pack of snakes hiding in the bushes. Ready, set....shoot!"

A black stream of smoke erupted from the staff's end and settled at the forest's edge in a dense fog.
,,Ok, that should scare them for a bit. Now for my part. Archers, hold ready and fire at anything scaly that comes running out of that cloud. Spearman take care of any that get too close. As for me....." He shouted and fell silent as he concentrated on his job.

Trees began to groan as they were gripped by invisible hands.
,,Let's see how you like it when you get a whole tree thrown on your heads!"

[Lord Revan]

OCC: Satyana and Rann are limited telepaths (Serene's genes and all). And as for the Plys'Iea, he was the one who asked for that force, so he just assumed (correctly) that it was in position.

(Issac)

At Satyana's beckoning he came out of his trance. Issac saw the troops forming a phalanx and everyone else was disembarking.

He also spotted Ian departing and going after Flint who had placed a smokescreen.
Issac stood and helped Satyana off. The pair then proceeded behind the phalanx.

(Tenek)

The bosmer jumped off his raft and glanced around a bit. *It smells like sweat, blood, and snake over here.*

Clearly the soldiers knew about the Akaviri nearby, so Tenek took a bag from a burly Nord and promptly made himself scarse before the imminent fighting started.

(Karn)

Without a word the Narza'Tai scattered into the night. What gave away the Akaviri was their eyes glowing in night eye.

Karn stood beside the legion officer and no one commented on the sudden absence of the assassin for several minutes.

[Agent Griff]

Savirien

Savirien reached the northern shores of the island rather quickly. He had pushed his soldiers to the limits of their endurance but they had done well and had risen in his eyes. Not one of the Akaviri warriors under him cringed from the moment they left the Tower to the moment they arrived to witness a battle between two of the Tamrielics and the other ranking figures of the Akaviri army, besides Savirien himself.

Their champion, the alien, seemed to have been relieved off his trusty staff by one of his foes and he seemed to have found his match in the person of the female Tamrielic. Oddly enough however, the beast still stood with its back turned to the female opponent, perhaps in an act of defiance.

I will never understand these strange members of a proud warrior-race and their odd ways of doing battle.

The Silhouette seemed to be standing more by the side, watching the battle rather than actively participating in it. He seemed to enjoy watching his most terrible minion tear apart his enemies. Another one of the Silhouette's odd pleasures, Savirien guessed as he ordered his warriors to form a circle around the dueling opponents, wide enough to give them space to fight but tight enough so as not to allow the Tamrielics to escape.

After his troops deployed according to his wishes, Savirien joined the ranks of Tsaesci warriors watching the battle. His attention was not given fully to the duel at hand however, Savirien also threw quick gazes over to the shore to see how the ambush force was faring. It seemed that the Tamrielics had somehow detected their troops hiding in the forest and were now arrayed in battle formation.

As soon as we are done with this pointless show of skill, I should announce the Silhouette that the Tamrielics are escaping. At least he will know that way that it was his fault that they did escape. Him and his pet, the beast, as well.

This post has been edited by Agent Griff: Jan 21 2008, 09:40 PM

[Lord Revan]

OCC: This is any awkward situation, though killing two of the three needed to kill Veric would be great on the Plys'Iea's resume (sp.) Maybe Veric has finished his spell and intervenes, I'd rather he does that than Rann and Amrita miraculously escape when they're surrounded.

(Plys'Iea)

He did not face the Altmer, now that he was alert he could dodge her magecraft. The Dunmer needed to be killed before the witch could be dealt with.

From an orismer's corpse he took a warhammer. The normally unwieldy weapon's grip clearly wasn't the right size.
Privately, the hunter disdained of such weapons, his staff had prefect balance, he would have to us his own weight to counter-balance......

[Priest of Sithis]

Patholos

As dark skin scurried all over the shadowy image, Patholos found an opportunity to strike. He dodged two tele-magical (magic only visible through special fields of vision) cables as they shot through the rancid air, burying themselves into two snakemen. The man the snakemen were fighting gazed in awe as the two snakemen apparently floated into the air. Patholos disregarded the stunned man's noises, and became focused. The superfluous feelings began to fade as the state each assassin attains draws in. Patholos was one with his blade, he was the blade, and nothing else. The magically forged blade sang as it sliced through the air in a complex pattern, almost invisible because of the speed with which it flew. Patholos was within a step of the shadow, and the shadow had not taken notice yet. Without a sound, Patholos buried the blade to the hilt along the Trapezius Muscle Group, grinding down until the blade struck bone. The shadow made no noise or hint at any pain or recognition of the grievous would it had received. Patholos withdrew the blade and a fountain of black filth spewed forth out of the shoulder of the shadow. The Shadow turned, and Patholos watched as one of the magical cables shot towards him. Patholos dove out of the way and turned again to see the shadow approach.

The shadow started to fade again, but did not evaporate. Instead, the shadow made his hand into sharp metal, and charged Patholos. Parrying each blow drained Patholos's strength, most likely from the nature of magic the shadow was birthed from. Patholos was driven into a wall and one of the shadow's hands shot into Patholos's stomach, and lifted him up four feet off of the wall. Patholos coughed blood onto the shadow, which was absorbed in mere seconds. The shadow was darkening, and Patholos felt his life drain away. With a last effort, he sent his hand with his blade screaming across the neck of the shadow. The blade struck where the Carotid Artery would be, and black filth began gushing out. The shadow reeled and screamed, as it faded extremely rapidly. The shadow soon began to disappear, but Patholos could not watch his opponent, as he was down on all fours, slowly dying.

Patholos gasped and reached into his pouch for something that could help him survive a little longer. Patholos felt cork and pulled out what he though would be a restorative potion. What made Patholos laugh as he fell to his side was, that, in fact, it was a potion. The top half of a potion. Patholos started to shiver and he knew he was not long for the world. As he lay there, he wondered if by destroying the dark part of his soul, he doomed himself to a broken soul, shards cast away in the wind.

His blood ran in tiny rivulets around him, flowing through the cobblestone like tiny lines drawing a picture. Patholos slowly let the dark around his vision close in, he was tired of fighting....

OOC: Wondering if we need patholos anymore... wiling to let him die....

This post has been edited by Priest of Sithis: Jan 22 2008, 02:58 AM

[Dantrag]

OOC: Rann isn't telepathic either. He can recieve telepathic messages when they are specifically meant to communicate to him and he can guard his mind from telepaths, but he cannot send any messages or read minds at will.

Rann

Rann was still a reasonable distance away from the Plys'Iea, who seemed to be his designated foe. When the reptilian creature paused to pick up a weapon, Rann scanned the area hoping to do the same. He spotted a dead snake-man clutching an Akaviri katana in its death grip. He pulled out the enchanted dagger given to him by Amrita and made short work of the tsaeci's scaly fingers by removing them.

The Plys'Iea had closed the distance considerably...

Rann threw his pathetic excuse for a sword at his oncoming enemy before wielding his new weapon. Surprisingly, the legends surrounding snake-men and their swords, just as with their skill, seemed to be completely true. The katana was light. Lighter even than the blade he had lost, which he used to favor for that very reason. On top of that, its edge was sharp and its balance flawless. He couldn't sense any enchantments on it, but at the same time, he knew even less about Akaviri magic than he did Tamrielic.

Voltar

Voltar's curiosity was piqued. "What are we intending to do with this spell? So far, the creature had yet to be truly harmed via magical means," he paused, "Of course, no one with significant intelligence has yet to use one upon that creature...".

Altair

"I don't plan on harming it in the least," Veric replied cryptically, "But I'll explain in a moment."

That moment passed quickly, as they both found themselves standing in the palace of Veric's own creation. Wandering down what looked like stone hallways, Veric led Voltar to a large room with bookshelves covering all wall space. There was an uncountable number of tomes, books, and scrolls on the shelves and in the center of the room sat a large wooden desk adorned with scattered papers, a candle, a quill, and an inkwell.

"Would you clear those papers for me, Voltar?" he asked as he walked towards a bookshelf to select the proper tome. It seemed as if he knew exactly what he was looking for, since it was the very first one he picked up.

He pulled a chair up to the desk and motioned for Voltar to sit in the seat opposite him.

"This spell," he said, opening the ancient book, "Can send a soul to Oblivion. I don't know much about the Silhouette's species to be honest, and I haven't been able to find much information, but I decided that I would be safe in assuming that it has a soul."

"That, however, is not our biggest problem. I don't just want to send that thing to Oblivion, I want to banish it there, trap it there, make it completely unable to return to the mortal realm, and I want to modify this spell to do just that."

[Priest of Sithis]

Mannimarco

The slithering tendrils of magic cast by Mannimarco careened throughout the shell Mannimarco was trying to occupy. Mannimarco was attempting to bind his soul to the body like the original soul was bound. It was more than just possession, Mannimarco was becoming the shell. The way his body started to hurt, his body, and the scar above the left shoulder from,..... a hunting accident? Yes, Mannimarco thought, the boar have skewered his shoulder when his back was turned. That was before his wife died. Mannimarco began to feel an emotion he had scarcely ever felt, sorrow. He quickly withdrew his magic and tied his soul into place, becoming the new soul for the shell. Time would ravage this shell quicker than regular mortals because of the uniqueness of the binding. A similar event occurs with the undead vampire, and the werewolf races. Each experiences time almost stop, however, once a mortal blow is struck or a weakness exploited, the vampires turn to dust, like the sands of time. Werewolves deteriorate at an alarming rate, most often three days before their corpses are destroyed.

Mannimarco felt for his magic energy, and it was dim and weak. Mannimarco had never possessed such a weak mortal, and for that matter, so weak in the arcane arts. Mannimarco had always found those adept in magic, trained them to their full potential, and then stolen their bodies. Mannimarco found that the Sload people actually lived for thousands of years by transferring their souls to other bodies. Mannimarco learned this, and became close to immortal. Mannimarco's original form was almost destroyed by the Mantella, the gem fueling the great giant Numidium. Mannimarco kept his body alive in stasis so he would one day be able to control the Mantella and ascend into Oblivion as a Daedric prince. But that dream seemed to be fading as he was scourged by Lord Dagon, doomed to Mundus until he could find a way to break the magical seal.

Mannimarco coughed one last fitful cough, and then sat back. Mannimarco sent a healing wave of magic throughout his body, restoring the torn muscle and perforated stomach in his new body. Mannimarco would have to manually adjust the magical flow into this shell. Mannimarco laid back against a rock and began the three hour long magical spell that would allow his body to absorb more magic, due to the nature of his soul. Mannimarco wondered if the seal Lord Dagon had given him would affect his total magic, he hoped not.

[Florodine of Hlaalu]

The Silhouette, Battle

The Silhouette decided now was a good time to take action. He started shooting magic left and right at various defending soldiers. They fell down, dead instantly. He laughed as one fell forward and stabbed anothre one. An imperial battlemage shot fire at him. And with a simply swish, he was no longer solid and became a smoke like substance which the fire passed through harmlessly. He became solid again and fired a particularly nasty curse towards the battle mage. It was blocked, but the impact was too much and the explosion killed three others nearby. The magic overwhelmed the battlemage and he collapsed, dead, from exaustion.

"Now for you Tamrielic 'heroes', it is finally time I do what I sent Karn to do a very long while ago." he sneered and fired three curses aimed for Rann, Amrita and another soldier nearby...


Dalrus and the Mages Guild, Imperial City Isle

Dalrus and the leading mages saw him. Standing there slaughtering soldiers with simply flicks of his wrists. The Silhouette was in battle mode and nothing seemed to be standing in his way. Dalrus and the other mages prepared and started sprinting towards the water. When they reached the bank they three flashes of purple light, they were aimed towards two people Dalrus didn't know, and Rann! Dalrus knew she had to act, she still loved Rann and needed to stop it. "Protect the witch and the soldier, Vilius, help me protect Rann" she screamed as fast as she could.

Dalrus wasn't sure if the spell would work, a simple but strong protection spell, she wasn't sure which element, or if it was even an element native to Tamriel, but she wouldn't take the chance. She shouted the spell in unison with Vilius and the two spells flew towards Rann like giant glass shields. The Silhouette's curse hit the shields hard and the first shield collapsed, Vilius's. Vilius tumbled into the water, the water walking spell of course did not work on dead bodies. The impact of the spell was not as bad once it reached Dalrus's and she was a better mage than Vilius. She cringed as her magic fought against The Silhouette's diminished magic but as she thought she was about to die, a restore magic spell flew from one of the Healers. Dalrus regained her strength and the Silhouette's curse was stopped. All this had taken place in less than a few seconds, but Dalrus felt as if she had been fighting for hours.

The soldier and the two Mage's Guild members who had tried to protect him all lay dead in the water and on the ground. One of the mage's who protected Amrita was also dead but the other had gulped a restore magic spell as he fired off the protection and survived.

Dalrus and about 30 of the battle mages now reached the City Isle. They started battling with some Tsaeci mages and killing off many soldiers. Dalrus recieved a blast in the chest and many looked over, scared, had their leader died? There it was again, that curious sensation she seemed to recieve whenever smaller and medium sized spells were aimed at her. It seemed to sink into her skin, almost strengthen her. Of couse this was not true for most killing and explosive spells, but it always happened against less skilled or average opponants. Dalrus smiled and fired an orb of lightning at her opponant who collapsed.

"What do you need us to do?" she shouted over to some of the people in the thick of the battle"

[Dantrag]

Rann

Rann paused dumbly for a moment when he noticed the spell hurled at him by the Silhouette. He stood even more dumbly when an unexplained shield appeared to counter it. He looked around for the origin of the rescue spell, and he couldn't have been more relieved when he saw who it was. He hadn't seen Dalrus for quite some time, and in the back of his mind, he'd been worried about what might have happened to her. There was no time for words, unfortunately, so he thanked her with a nod.

His mind was brought back to the present though, when he suddenly remembered that he was standing like a fool in front of a giant lizard that wanted nothing more than to kill a certain young dunmer. Rann hoped to disappoint it.

[The Metal Mallet]

Amrita

Amrita had foolishly been too preoccupied with attacking the creature to see the curse being sent her way. By the time she sensed it, she was too late to react to it. Amazingly though, a shield spell encased her out of the blue and fended off the attack. She looked for the source of protection and found that a group of mages had arrived.

The snakemen surrounding them immediately began to fight against them and Amrita assisted in removing that thread.

"We need to get out of here and re-join the army!" Amrita shouted over the din of the battle.


Voltar

Voltar took the indicated seat and cleaned up the papers. He looked intently at the book, curious to the contents that were displayed on the open page.

He cracked his knuckles and neck. "Well let's begin then."