Undead attack on Firmament - RPLOG
Participants
Date
5/8/479
Log
The undead have reached the wall by the time a proper resistance could be formed. They have shrugged off most of the ranged attacks that were slung at them during their approach, though lost a few of their troops to cooking tar and oil. This did not stop the gigantic bone dragon they are fielding, its easily twenty meters high and accompanied by two smaller ones, from breaching the wall and letting the hoard loose on the streets of the city, where they are currently attacking anyone not in their homes. Several cultists on skeletal horses and in dark cloaks ride elegantly through the battlefield, not bothering to take an active role, instead just shouting commands. Several dozen guards and soldiers are already engaging the shamblers and skeletons, trying to hold them off till reinforcements arrive.
Fenris speeds along the streets of Firmament, long coat flapping behind him. He skids into the melee at the breach in the wall, flinging some prepared earth magic into the stones of wall and ground to create a renewed blockade. Best to plug the hole a bit before turning his attention to the cloaked figures on horseback.
Angus straps on his sword belt as he rushes in quickly, chainmail jingling as he rounds the corner to take in what's going on. Studying the fight for a moment he snaps off a few quick commands to the soldiers with him. "Form a line with the defenders, push them back before they get to the civilians!"
Cara rushes along directly toward the large army of the undead. As she rushes along, she gets unsheaths her blade and begins to recount the mathematics necessary to send a few sharp wind currents directly toward the undead army. Her left arm glows green with energy as she unleashes it directly toward the hoards of the undead.
Similarly, Cassidy had taken to the city streets with her own group, but she was in the back giving orders, herself. "Heavy guard in the front, form a phalanx to block the street. We will push forward and claim ground. Archers, behind the second line, fire to pin and disrupt joints. Mages, work on supporting the archers. No fire." The good think about having rank in a city of mandatory military service meant it was never too hard to rally defenders.
The wall is parched up by Fenris, only to once more be swiped at by the colossal bone creature that stands before it. Its two smaller cousins claw at the hole to make it bigger, while more undeads pour in through it. Cara's wind attack cuts down one or two of the enemies, but with as many as there are here it is a drop on a hot stone. The reinforcements for the defenders however are very welcome and much needed, the advance of the undead stopped for now while the fight with the army. Several of the cultists have started taking more active rolls in the fight now, unleashing dark and fire magic, causing houses to catch on fire and defenders to rot from the inside and fall over dead.
Fenris is less than pleased at the inefficiency of his attempted patch, but he can see that there are more important targets now. One dragon at a time. "Robes first!" he calls out to anyone who might be listening. Then he sets to work. The big tiger may not carry any weapons, but that hardly counts as being unarmed. With a combination of earth magic and well honed skill, he whirls through the oncoming horde, heading for the mounted commanders. Cut off the head, as they say.
Angus scowls a bit at their situation, Cliffside couldn't take their home and neither will rotting corpses. Drawing his sword he fixes his gaze on the nearest robed foe, watching as Darkness and fire are brought forth before he points his sword at them as it shines bright. Lets see how they handle some light.
Cara glares at all of the rotting corpses as she makes it to the defensive line. As soon as she is close enough, she attempts to go through the horde of the undead with her glowing white sword, her athletics, and air magic to keep herself going. She also intends to rush towards the commander as soon as she can.
"Mages with water magic potential, douse the flames, left side archers, target the mounted ones, the rest of you, continue as planned," Cassidy says, turning her focus towards one of the mounted cultists and bringing a lightning bolt down upon them. Even if it didn't demolish them outright, it should make them change target.
In the middle of the chaos, it may be easy enough to miss the arrival of Selena from the direction of the church district, the canine making her way quickly up to the front lines with her 'fire' elemental in tow above head. "Get me up to speed, and do it NOW!" She demands upon arrival, sending her elemental over in the direction of the thunder to assist with the fighting. "Just got here from the orphanage. They should be all right, if nothing comes around from the sea."
Taking a quiet breath, she nods in Angus's direction with a somewhat forced smile - after all, it's certainly not the time for a sincere one just yet.
While Fenris rumbles through the enemies, the trio of bone constructs break more of the wall, until the hole is big enough for the two smaller ones to step through and join the fray. The tiger himself only manages to get about halfway to where he wanted and finds himself surrounded as a cultist to the left of him drops from his horse, smitten by lighting. The fiend Angus is attacking mostly shrugs the attack off and retaliates against the fox, giving him a nasty wound across the chest, although not deep enough to damage any organs. The mages of the military are doing their best to keep the various families that are hiding in their homes from getting burned alive and it is looking good so far.
"Fine," Fenris growls under his breath, then raises his voice, "Take down the robes! Nets and magic if you have them. Arrows aren't any good against the Bone Callers!" Then he turns his brutal pathway toward the bone dragons, they can't be allowed to rampage through the city! The tiger faces toward the monsters and wills a wave of earth toward the shambling behemoths.
Angus scowls once more, clutching a hand to his chest as rings of chainmail are scattered across the ground. "Intresting, a little better then a toppled pawn." He taunts, before raising his sword into the air, a brillant flash of light sparking from its steel as he works to slide back into a more defensable position to give commands.
Cara immediately makes it to one of the cultists as she weaves her way around the undead and makes it to one of the cultists. The feline doesn't even bother to give the polite courtesy of a greeting. Instead, she rushes towards the cultist with the intention of cutting him to pieces. As she makes it to the cultist, she swings down torwards his vital organs with the clear intent to kill him.
With one cultist down, Cassidy shifts her focus towards one of the bone dragons, deciding them to be a more pressing threat. She works her magic again, calling down another lightning bolt. Once her group has secured the street, she bids the tower shield troops to hold at the end, blocking off this road for the time being. "Retake formations, hold rank, and prepare for the next push. Mages, keep focusing on those fires. Do not let even a single house go up in smoke."
Moving the fox around her carefully as he makes his way back through the lines, Selena grumbles out a remark about there likely being no point in asking for a situation report given the obvious. Turning back to the front of the fighting, she sighs.
Her elemental, now in position, unleashes a barrage of fiery projectiles at the undead towards the middle back while Selena herself prepares a spell - dozens of large chunks of ice forming and falling upon the ranks of the zombies with surprising force in an attempt to slow their progress. Houses could be rebuilt, after all, but beings... Not so much.
The thunderbolt going down on the bone dragon leaves a scorch mark on one of its ribs, while Fenri's earth attack merely seems to annoy it. Several zombies fall under the barrage of fire, ice and earth they are faced with while Cara's attack on one of the commanders is easily shrugged off by the mounted heavy warrior, who grabs the feline as a counter attack and throws her a few feet, in the middle of a bunch of shamblers. Angus manages to disengage his opponent, stunning him with his bedazzling for long enough to retreat to the back of the allied forces. The bone dragons both start to swipe at the army, ignoring the freesword attackers for now.
Fenris follows his wave of earth magic and crashes into the foreleg of the lead bone dragon with all the force and momentum he can muster with both physical and magical strength, hoping that the other troops will take down the commanding cultists. The tiger has a hunch that his real target is beyond both the dragons and the walls. Whoever is masterminding all this is like his Mistress and does not like to get his hands dirty, from what Fenris has observed in the past.
Cara lands on the ground and she immediately gets back to her feet. The feline doesn't have time to worry about injuries and she attempts to rush after the shamblers. That throw didn't really do much of anything other than annoy her. From there, she rushes through the shamblers once more and leaps into the air. As she soars through the air, she begins to twirl through the air with her foot extended. Her attack threatens to harm both the commander and anyone who might be next to him.
Cassidy gives the soldiers a moment to catch their breath and form up ranks once more before she points on. "Onward march! Sweep the next street clean," she says, taking a flash from her jacket pocket and sipping from it. She needed a moment to regather her own energy before she could redouble her assault.
Selena looks back over the battlefield, quickly mustering her variant of calcified flesh on Cara as the elemental presses the offensive. "Did you think to bring any trauma mages for the front line, Cassidy?" She calls over to the fennec, hopefully being heard over the roar of the battle. After a second thought, the canine pulls the unusual half-spear from her pact from her bag; while remaining somewhat back from the conflict, being unarmed would be a mistake.
A couple more undead fall from the fire magic of the elemental and the army seems to hold off the advance of the undead troops into other parts of the city quite well. Fenris' attack leaves the bone dragon unimpressed, but annoyed, the feline only narrowly dodging under a might kick of the giant that was directed at him. Cara and the heavily armored cultist engage again and it is much more of an even match up this time, be through sheer force of will on part of the feline, or the spell affecting her. Their weapons clash and in the end they are no further than they were moments ago, other than that they know more about the strength of their opponent.
Fenris rolls back to his feet and makes one more brutal strike toward the joint of the huge bone dragon's leg, stone rolling up along his body protectively as he draws upon the power of the earth beneath him.
Angus makes sure the wound that he had recieved was not as bad as can be, giving a bit of a huff as he points to a group of his own in the back. "Arrows do nothing, We need more people dealing with the fires or holding the lines." He snaps towards them before once more joining the fray with a shout, hoping his voice carries over the din of the battle. "We've held against Both Cliffside and the Shadows, today will be none the same! Put them back into the grave! "
Cara feels the energy affecting her and she grins further. She quickly sheaths her sword and the gauntlets on her hands begin to glow a vivid white. "You've harmed enough innocent people already!" She leaps into the air and attempts to swing her fist directly toward the cultist with the intent to crush his skull. Her pupils are dilated, and her fur is standing on end as well.
Cassidy rolls her shoulders and works her math upon the bone dragon once more, striking from the heavens with another brilliant bolt of energy while the soldiers under her command advance steadily and readily, spears and pikes thrusting out from behind a mobile barricade of tower shields. Securing the street was the top priority, and as long as they could cover steady ground, that was enough.
"Go for the Bone dragon's joints! They won't stand if they're broken, and we need the infantry to break their skulls, not their legs!" Selena calls, pointing out the knees and heels of the dragons to the mages and infantry that might be able to do something about the creature's mobility. Her elemental continues its onslaught as she marks out the enemy in question, eyes looking around the battlefield for something or another afterwards.
The two smaller dragons are hit with such a salvage of spells and melee attacks that they struggle to do much other than defend and shield themselves. Fenris chips off some bits of bone from the big one, but the beast remains rampaging. The pushing of the troops is not without downsides however, as the undead manage to break the eastern front and are about to flood the streets as several beings in heavy armor and accompanied by golems block their way, slowly but surely forcing the horde back to the frontline. Lucky. The bones of the bog dragon crack further as lightning hits them once more, causing a rib to fall off and hit the ground taking out several undeads and a soldier as it hits them. Cara and her opponent continue their one versus one in the middle of the raging battle, neither of the two fighters surrendering an inch of ground to the other.
Fenris is not being nearly so effective as he had hoped here under the stomping feet of the bone dragon. The tiger summons up a bit more earth magic, forming stone into a second, protective skin as he slips beyond the bone dragons, searching for the leader of this attack.
Angus takes a swing at one of the undead as they start to break their lines. Seeing Cara's stalemate, makes him scowl a bit as he starts pushing his way through the line, his shield up as he trys to force his way in.
Cara continues to glare at the annoying cultist. At this point, he really should have said something by now, but it clearly doesn't care about others. She shouts directly to him, "Why won't you die already?!" The feline leaps to the left and instantly swings out an incredibly fast short punch torward the armored cultist. At this point, the armor should have fallen apart by now. After all, the cultist can't do this forever.
Cassidy glances over towards Selena and nods at the magicians under her order. Those that weren't containing fires or reinforcing the wall. "You heard her! Target the joints. Vanguard, hold the line. Don't give them an inch to step forward. Push them out of our city." She turns her attentions towards the large dragon's joint once more, striking at it yet again.
giving an appreciative nod to Cassidy, the canine returns to her own actions, calling a significantly less stable-looking elemental into the fray with visible effort and directing it to the foes on undead-horseback. "Keep fighting! There are families here, friends and relatives; they're counting on us!" She shouts.
One of the smaller bone dragons goes down with much cheering from the soldiers as a cannon ball from where the golem crew is helping out hits its head. The beast crashes to the ground, destroying a building on the way down, and burying a sizeable number of both living and undead forces. Cara seems to finally turn the battle in her favor as a clever dodge allows for a forceful counter that literally knocks the cultist off his high horse, which is all too well as Angus funds himself completely unable to break through to her,recieving some rather nasty cuts and bruises as her tries. The main dragon thrashes at the defending forces, blind with rage it does not even seem to notice when a combine assault finally cuts off its right arm. On the other side of dragon and wall, Fenris finds himself confronted with several mounted skeletons and cultists. One of them seems to be the one he saw when he first spotted the invading army in Silvervein pass.
Fenris cannot help but smile a little when he finally sees what he has been looking for. "About time we met face to face," he says, stalking forward, "Your boss and I are old friends." The tiger has not had much luck talking to the ground inside the walls. Maybe this patch of earth will be more pliable. The tiger moves in a strange, dance like sequence that some might mistake for a martial arts movement, but a practiced eye would recognize as a rather large Kevinscope, sending a wave of earth to unhorse his opponents.
Angus grunts a little, some colorful cursing threading through his voice as he shifts his stance, no more pushing through for him as the shield comes up. His sword bursts into pure white fire as he starts to swing at the undead before him, brillant flashes of light accenting his blade as he starts to hack at them
Cara smiles with glee as she brings out her sword once more. This cultist wasted enough of her time and she still needed to deal with the rest of cultists. In her haste, she rushes over to the now unmounted cultist and her sword glows a vivid white as it pulses with energy. As soon as she makes it to him, she immediately thrusts her sword downward in the direction of his skull in her attempts to stop him from harming anyone else ever again.
Cassidy turns her attention towards the undead footsoldiers now, helping the allied soldiers push the dead back out of the city through a slicing, buffeting wind thrown against the legions of the dead. "We've got momentum now. Don't break it!"
Selena curses quietly as Angus continues to be laid into by the undead. "Damnit, Angus, FOCUS!" She yells, casting the same variant of calcified flesh as she had earlier - though this time to protect the fox who seemed to have no luck defending himself. The elementals launch another barrage of fire and ice at the undead horde in an attempt to thin out the rank and file for the front line as she pushes forwards herself. Not quite to the front - after all, there'd be no room to maneuver there - but closer nevertheless.
The presumed leader does not feel like chatting with the tiger and instead shouts some orders at the riders around him. Fenris is soon faced with two dozen heavy riders, although he manages to knock about half of their horses. The remaining twelve circle him. Angus does about as well as moth fighters in the army, meaning that he manages to hold off the horde, but is not going anywhere. Cara's personal enemy is finally slain. Or at least has a sword through his head, which typically does the trick. The elementals merrily carve paths into the oncoming horde that slowly but surely turns from flooding to dripping through the hole.
Fenris grins like a maniac at the surrounding cultists and their skeletal mounts. "You know what the best part of being surrounded is?" he asks, then answers his own question, "It doesn't matter WHO I hit!" The tiger flings himself at the nearest horse, aiming to cripple the skeletal thing before moving on to the next.
Angus smirks a little at the shout for focus, turning to look at Selena for a moment as the calcified flesh is placed upon him. "Fine, fine! It's lost its amusment anyway." Sheathing the sword, keeping his shield arm still high as he backs up he fiddles with his soul gems, waiting for that moment that he could use his skills once more to lay into their foes.
Cara draws her sword from the skull of the cultist, the blade now covered in blood. Her ears twitch upon hearing the sound of Angus's voice and she turns to see a large circle of skeletal beings in the direction of the voice. In an instant, she rushes toward the skeleton circle with her blade raised and eager to slash away the undead next to Angus.
With a roll of her eyes, Selena turns back to the main battle, hackles raised just a little. Her elemental's orders unchanged, it continues its assault in more subdued bursts around the gate. "Keep on the offensive and keep fighting! We have their flank, I don't want to see a single one of these zombies left standing!" She calls, the battle coming to something of a close results in her continuing to move forwards and waiting for an unprepared group of zombies to try to pass the gate. "This stopped being amusing the second they made any attacks."
Once the soldiers have it underway, Cassidy turns her attention towards the riders surrounding Fenris, turning her breeze that way to try to part rider from mount and give Fenris an easier time of dealing with them.
Fenris's attacks don't really seem to impress the undead a whole lot. Two of them swing themselves off their horses and grab the tiger by the shoulders, but he does a great job of not letting himself be hindered by this. Cara cuts a good bit of a path free around Angus, which is only slowly refiling with undeads from further behind. The big dragon roars in pain as it is hit with another salvo of spells and its remaining small friend finally falls over backwards as a heavy clan with a gigantic hammer shatters its lower leg.
Fenris slips and weaves among the undead, heading for the leader and leaving chunks of dirt and debris in skeletal hands. The tiger is not about to let the architect of all this get away. And maybe taking him will stop the attack. He throws a brutal jab toward the distant rider, which should have been useless, but along with his punch comes a ripple in the earth. He does not stop to see how his attack goes, though, continuing to charge forward.
Angus needed not an exit as his soul gem finally kicks in. The buckler is discarded, taking his blade in both hands as he lunges forward towards his foes, his stiff stance and movement before now fluid and sharp as he strikes out for one of the undead, the momentum of the strike continuing as he swings it around, his full weight behind the blade as it draws it down upon another of the accursed foes with a sharp scowl of anger. "Get out of my city!"
Cara rushes torwards the rest of the undead horde as she brings her blade out once more. She attempts to barrel through the undead horde as she slashes at them with her blade. As she charges torward the horde, she doesn't bother to think about what might happen. After all, there are more cultists to eliminate.
Once the Dragon starts to fall, Cassidy returns to her command role while recovering her energy. "Archers, fire upon the bone dragons. It may not do much, but if you can distract it then you're still doing fine. Mages, help finish those things off. Infantry, forge onward. Drive them back to where they came from. They'll not be taking our homes today."
Selena gives a gesture with her hand, the elemental passing back from the wall to the bone dragon and unleashing fire at the beast's frame. "Let's make our message clear: We are not going to lose ground, we will not give up, and we are not intimidated by spirits or their pawns!" She shouts, a certain note of conviction entering her voice with the latter part of her statement. The canine waits for an opening - the remaining bone dragon attempting to lift one of its forearms - before she turns her attempts to calcifying the joint. "We need to get that dragon down! Same plan as last time, make it unsteady and strike when it's off balance!"
The remaining dragon roars once more, causing some of the younger soldiers to nearly drop their weapons, but it seems to be impaired in its movements somehow. Cara continues blindly cutting down the undead, which is a great help to the pushing forces of the military. Meanwile Fenris' assault is stopped dead in its tracks. The rider in the fancy, black armor chuckles as he stops Fenris from moving with his own magic, the tiger's movement slowing as he finds himself nauseous and coughing to an extend that moving becomes impossible.
Fenris slows, trying to stay focused on the laughing cultist. The big tiger blows out a full breath and relaxes himself, taking the strength of the earth into his body, then willing the ground to open up beneath him! He needs a moment to regroup and Dark Math is not helping!
Angus looks up at the call of the dragon, taking a few steps back before launching himself into the air with the aid of Air magic As he tries to gain some height. He always hated doing stuff like this, but it was time to take out the Dragon as he points his blade ground wards, cutting the spell short before another equation sets him darting back down towards the Bone dragon, looking to give it one splitting headache!
Cara gets back to work on dashing through the hoards of zombies. Her rampage of continued slashes fueled by anger are apparently causing her to keep going when normally she should be exhausted by now. Her feet are a blur as she continues to charge onward.
Cassidy closes her eyes after seeing her cousin go flying through the air in the distance. She heaves a little sigh and opens her eyes again, preparing to work her magic to save him, should something go amiss. But it looks kind of like he's got it handled... She doesn't let her guard down, though.
Selena blinks for a moment as Angus flings himself into the air. "Oh, no..." She mutters to nobody in particular, somehow finding the time to rub at her temples as he shoots up into the air, making sure to ready herself just in case the fox's flight path isn't quite up to scratch - apparently having the same thought as Cassidy at the back of her mind.
The fox is in the air! And then he is not. Angus lands on the head of the beast and pierces the skull cap with his sword. Not that the creature seems to mind it more than most attacks against it. At least with the sword embeded into the skull, the fox has something to hold onto. Fenris manages to shrug off the dark magic projected at him and stop himself from spilling his breakfast all over the battleground. He is still surrounded by enemy troops though that only seem to wait for one command to tear him apart.
"What is this all about anyway?" Fenris shouts from within his little stronghold of earth, scrambling with the soul pendant at his throat and a few small items in his pocket. "What does Pyrrha gain from this offensive of yours?" he asks, using the Spirit's name, "Do you think that people will love her for this? What about the monuments I built? Were they not tribute enough?"
Angus grunts a little as he manages to sink the blade in, good. Step one is done. Keeping a grip on the blade he lays one hand on the bone dragon's skull, a second tail appearing on his person as he starts to work the magic of his dedication, it's time to turn the tide of this battle.
Cara continues to rush onward through the horde of the undead. She is still slicing blindly in the hopes that she might find Fenris. She groans to herself, "Where is he?" She continues her slicing attempts in the hope that she might find some sign of Fenris through all of this.
Cassidy frowns softly, but it seems Angus is doing well enough, so she turns her attention back to the troops. "Very good, keep pushing. Secure the gates and let none enter. This is almost won!" She hops a few rooftops over, securing a better vantage to follow the advance of the army.
Selena, on the other hand, keeps her eyes on Angus - having little to do by way of spells to toss into the ensuing melee, better to make sure that a flying fox doesn't end up breaking his back on re-entry if something goes wrong. Her elemental is redirected back to the gates to pick off unsuspecting undead as they come.
The army does a great deal of good work in pushing back the hoard. Most are now at the breach and even the dragon takes a few stumbling steps back as one of his legs is shot off by the cannon that downed its smaller cousin earlier. Now on three legs, the creature struggles to maintain balance. The dark armored caller has no words for Fenris in his little earth cage. Instead he orders the already dismounted undead warriors to surround the tiger and ready their weapons for him.
Fenris takes that silence to mean that he is not about to get a monologue out of the villian. Shame. The tiger always enjoyed a good monologue. Instead, he takes this opportunity to harden his stone shell into brittle shards and blast them away in all directions with explosive force!
Cara continues to keep pushing forward through the horde of the undead through as she keeps on searching for Fenris. There's got to be a sign on where he is. She also has to kill the leader as well, but where is he? Her blade continues to move through the air in a blur as she continues to rush onward in the hopes that this will come to an end.
Angus huffs a bit as the dragon is still standing, getting to his feet and reaching for the hilt of the blade with both hands. Making sure the blade is dug in deep he starts wrenching, not to pull the blade out but to jerk the dragons head as violently as possible in an odd angle, the wind snapping to as he spits out a string of calculations to see if he can't tear its head off, or send himself flying. Which ever comes first!
Cassidy conjures up another breeze, but this one is for their own soldiers. Not one of cutting, nor even one magically inclined. But it's a refreshing breeze all the same. Fighting in the Sweetwater summer heat was no doubt oppressing, and morale had a high-running momentum. Best to keep it that way.
Selena curses quietly as Angus starts to try to pull the dragon around, leaping into the air as he's cast off of the beast and catching him as he falls. The canine braces for impact with the ground - two beings are far too much to remain in controlled flight with - but she does try to soften the fall with strong winds pushing back against her path.
With the advancing of the troops and Fenris' cage exploding, the tiger is now finally visible to Cara and Cassidy. The shrapnel from the blast staggers the undead around Fenris, but like mosst projectiles does little to dispose of them. Selena and Angus do a couple of rolls in the air, much like an unbalanced kite and land on a couple soldiers, bruising all involved quite badly. The dragon however seems to crack at its head. If it was Angus or someone else who finally pushed it over the edge is unclear, but the jaw falls off, then parts of the skull and finally the whole thing comes down, leveling anyone and anything under the dragon.
Fenris is focused on keeping the area under control where he stands the the undead off of him. To that end, he keeps moving, generating kevinscopes as he goes to turn the ground around him into an impassable morass.
Angus blinks a bit, his head rolling as he rubs at his cheek. "Well damn, Didn't expect a wild ride today. Everyone alright?" He asks as he stands up a little shakely to his feet, checking on Selena and those they landed on.
Amidst all of the decayed bodies, Cara continues to rush through them. Finally, she notices the rock cage exploding and she rushes torwards the undead that are around Fenris. A small smile begins to show on her face and her heart is practically beating at a rapid pace. She continues to rush onward to slice through the undead and ultimately aid Fenris.
Cassidy spots Fenris from her vantage and looks towards the archers. "Assist Fenris," she directs, and then to the mages, "You as well. The arrows may not fare well against the undead but they work to slow them down. Keep up the pressure." She didn't want to send any of the infantry in, though, keeping them busy with what was left of the primary force.
Selena remains on the ground for a few moments with a groan, nodding as she pushes herself back up, her elemental having winked out of existance on impact with the ground. Pushing herself back up with some visible effort, she manages a quick "Don't let that happen again." before taking a deep breath and pulling a dulling potion from her bag - quietly wondering how the bottles manage to remain intact after that kind of a fall - and downs the contents of one.
With the field on his side, Fenris launches into another flurry of attacks, moving quickly between the undead in pursuit of their commander, stone coating his fists, elbows and knees as he deals out powerful strikes.
Angus brushes himself some more, seeming to have lost his sword in the frey as he looks around. "So...clean up the rest? See where everyones gotten off to? Looking pretty good so far." He exclaims just a bit as he adjusts the torn chainmail on his person just a bit.
"That'd be the plan, I presume." Selena replies, dusting herself up and conjuring her elemental back into existance, still not sounding the best from the collision with the ground and other beings in armor. "We need to know how much more there is on the other side of the wall, if they brought friends."
Cassidy takes another sip from her flask, taking the moment to recover her energy for what she fully expects to be greater fighting outside the wall. The dead would have to be tended to later, but at least they could not rise so quickly. That was a blessing, if a small one. There could be no chances later, though.
Cara rushes directly torward the zombies surrounding Fenris. She glares at the slightly more armored undead and she rolls her eyes, "It's too bad that most of the undead can't talk." The feline shakes her head and gets back to work in her attempts to cut up the undead between her and Fenris while also being careful to avoid stepping in the mud.
There is indeed more fighting going on outside the walls. Fenris and Cara are roughing it out with the elite of the undead, while what must be the leader watches. They both manage to down one of the heavily armored skeletons with combined forces, but Fenris is hit with a mace on the shoulder, causing the stone coating his left arm and the left side of his torso to crumble away. Cara luckily manages to avoid all attack coming her way. The army finally manages to push the undead out of the city and back through the hole they came through, now that the bone dragons are out of the way.
Fenris staggers back, reeling a bit from the attack that has shattered his stone covering. But he has eyes only for the coweled leader. He is not letting that guy get away this time. The tiger tries to dance out of reach of the monstrous undead to get at their leader.
Angus manages to scrounge up a musket, jamming the pistol he was given through his belt as he walks through the crumpled part of the wall to continue the fight. Standing upon the crumpled ruins he takes not of the fight between Fenris and the others. Bringing the newly aquired musket to his shoulder he cocks back the hammer, aiming down the sights as he fires, not at the foe but their weapon to see if he couldn't help even up the fight.
With a sigh, Selena looks over the troops that had remained beyond the wall. "They never make this easy..." She gripes - not really to anyone in particular - before sending her fire elemental after the leader and providing Fenris's damaged earth armor with a little extra for good measure.
The archers under Cassidy's command do their best to provide distracting fire support for Fenris, while she herself stows her drink away and returns to the fray, herself. Any attempts the leader had to get away from the battle would be met with a strong, buffeting wind.
Cara continues her assault on the rest on the surprisingly strong undead soldiers. As two of them attempt to cut her down, she narrowly swerves away from the slashes and then proceeds to dash forward. In her rush of momentum, she continues to rain down slash after slash on the undead. This has taken a surprisingly long time though, and she'll probably have to drink water at some point.
The leader does not seem like he needs to be stopped from fleeing however. At least not for now. He screams more orders at his undead soldiers and most of them head south to engage the soldiers who are coming through the gap in the wall. It soon becomes very clear that ordinary soldiers are no match for these elites, even though there are only a couple dozen of them, they mingle between the regular fighters of the horde, avoiding to have to face to many opponents at once, cutting down one soldier at a time. The arrows flying at them seem to be a distraction at best, between their plate armor and bony bodies. Fenris' armor is mended by Selena, however her elemental is literally extinguished by a dismissive gesture of the leader. Cara finds herself faced with two of the elites, that are very intend on not letting her escape, while Fenris is engaged by three, two between him and the leader and one cutting off the retreat. Angus' attempt to disarm one of the elites goes wrong as he misses, though no allies were harmed by the stray bullet.
Fenris does not slow in his advance, using his renewed earth armor to augment his strength and momentum to slam into the undead warriors blocking his path!
Angus curses under his breath, definitly should of brought his own musket but no matter. Brandishing the weapon as a club he steps forward, swinging at the first undead that gets within arm reach. "This would be a perfect time to use their numbers against them, anyone want to bury them again?" He asks with a shot, hoping someone gets the hint.
Selena smirks slightly as the elemental is snuffed out. "Well played." She murmurs to herself with a half-smile, perhaps ill-fit for the situation. She doesn't waste time in returning her attention to the elites and the infantry being attacked by them, though the skirmish makes for a poor place to deploy battle magic to begin with. "Cassidy, can you give the troops any support? We don't want any unnecessary losses here and my hands are tied!" She calls, taking a quiet breath and turning the same earth magic to Cara for want of something to do that didn't risk severe collateral damage. "I'd rather they not show up in the first place!" She replies to the fox.
Cassidy would love to, were earth magic her forte. But seeing as it isn't, she turns towards the soldiers, noticing their falling. "Fight cautious. Shield knights to the fore, form a barricade again. Keep them from getting in, but focus on safety." She unleashes her magic upon the 'elites' that were engaging the troops, more lightning coming down upon them.
Cara rolls her eyes at the two of them as she wipes the sweat off of her brow. She chuckles for a moment as she swerves away from their slashes. "Honestly, you really should give up by now. You don't even remotely have a chance at this." Her blade begins to glow a vivid white as she attempts to slice down one of the elites.
The undead soldiers facing Cara and Fenris seem rather unimpressed at their attacks, but in turn do not manage to overcome the feline duo's defenses either. The soldiers manage to get a somewhat proper formation going that holds off the advance for now, while minimizing loses. On both sides. A couple of large golems are being directed to the front as well, towering above the soldiers and being more than even matches for the undead heavy warriors they are engaging. Cassidy's magic hits one of the ones in battle with a golem and manages to blast his head off.
Fenris growls under his breath at his lack of progress, but turns his attention on his boney opponents. They shouldn't be able to move like this in that magical mud. A lime green ? appears on his left cheek. "What does Pyrrha get from all this?" he asks as he dodges and weaves, "She won't win any love this way." He attempts to raise another wave of earth, a personal earthquake to remove his skeletal obstacles.
Angus just shakes his head a bit as another mook goes down, waving his hand as he steps back from the carnage as he starts looking for Cassidy while he shouts. "Sink the ground, sink the ground!" Trying to get his voice heard over the fight. "Take out their numbers with earth magic!"
Selena looks back over to the troops at the front line; "Blunt weapons! Get out a mace or hammer, you know what they'll do to armor from Cliffside, and you know wht they'll do to bone! They might be dead, but they're still beings in the end!" The canine silently curses to herself, keeping her eyes to the front in case something goes wrong.
"You heard her! Blunt weapons, hit them hard and break whatever they've got." Cassidy looks towards Angus, then, ears perking before looking over the mage unit. "Pull the ground out from under them. Bury them beneath the earth." She turns her attention to those outside the walls now. They weren't in the city, so buildings could not be burnt, and the wall of shields was keeping them out, so she brings down a rain of fire upon their back line.
Cara sighs as she swerves away from the blades of the undead once more. She's going to have to go for a different approach since this doesn't seem to be getting her anywhere at this point. However, her blade is normally what she is best with, therefore she attempts to cut down the skeletal enemies once more.
Fenris manages to knock over two of his opponents and block the ferocious attack of the third, while Cara's cuts remain without effect. Cara herself however has her defenses pierced as an arming sword breaks the stone on her lower left arm and leaves her with a deep cut. Selena's efforts to rally the troops are mediocre at best, but Cassidy manages to get them in line and with the blunt weapons the slowly start turning the tide of the battle once more.
Now to keep the downed opponents down. Fenris is getting tired with all the mathemagic going on, but he stretches himself to pull the boney baddies down into the earth to restrain them. Hopefully he can get all three!
Angus gives a bit of a nod as he notices Cassidy start spuring people into action, wishing he had remembered where he lost his sword as he brandishes the musket again, laying into the undead with a vengeance as he swings at another skull!
Selena tsks quietly as her comments go largely unheard, though she doesn't seem particularly surprised. A shrug later and she quickly makes her way over to Angus, pushing Kendrac's pact baton into his hands quickly. "You're better at using these thing than I am, and I'll be it's going to work better than the musket is."
Cassidy looks over the mages again, then back at the opposing forces. "Work with me! I will light the ground aflame, and I want you to collapse it. We will make them regret attacking our city," she says, setting the ground under the enemy ablaze, like a crucible made of fire. It would pose no dangers to their own army as far out as it was, but it'd likely cause problems for the undead caught in the fire. "Now, bring it down!"
Cara shouts loudly upon the slash actually hitting her arm. She grips her arm as it continues to bleed, but for some reason, she smiles. From there, she places her blade away and brings out Kendrac's pact baton. She holds in her right hand and she attempts to impale one of the elites upon it. After all, she might as well keep trying to kill them since they won't let her leave anyway.
Right after getting the weapon, Angus has to duck under under the flail of the walking corpse of a peasant. Cara manages to finally down one of her opponents, but in turn recieves a bruise from the mace of the other, however it seems like she avoided the worst, her shin bone not shattered. Fenris successfully performs the two quickest burials in history, but the concentration required for such a feat let the remaining elite near him slip past his defenses and pierce the stone skin surrounding his chest, leaving the Tiger to bleed from his chest. The army, together with Cassidy seems to finally be able to take a hold on most of the army, swallowing them slowly into the ground, severely damaging the surrounding buildings, with several of them collapsing.
Wonderful, a new scar. Fenris is starting to feel more than a little beat up and that laughing cultist calling the shots is still fresh. Not to mention the fact that the rotten skeletons don't get tired! He needs a chance to recoup and focuses on a bit of defense, summoning up the earth into a bizzare coat of armor covered in jutting, spiky crystals!
Angus ducks under the blow as he grips the baton tight, squaring his shoulder to lunge forward to throw his foe off balance. Now that he had a weapon that would be useful against the undead it was time to get to work, Swinging at the elbow to catch their spine at the neck to remove the threat fast.
Taking a deep breath before anything else, Selena wipes her brow with a sleeve. Much like with Fenris, the constant use of magic was starting to take its toll even with the dulling potion from earlier. She closes her eyes for a few moments, silently running through her memories for one of her older spells before attempting to recreate it; a tremor intended to set Fenris's assailant off-balance.
The buildings were an unfortunate casualty, but since the occupants had been evacuated, it was not a costly one. Shanties could be rebuilt. Cassidy gives a nod to the mages, gesturing forward. "A good start, but don't end it there. Bury them now. Churn the earth and leave their army back in their burning grave."
Despite the pain, she gets to work on stabbing the final member of the elite. This has taken far too long and at this point, Cara doesn't really care if she is defeated since this has to end immediately. She dashes torward the final elite and attempts to finish him off with a strong stab.
The spell Selena flung had the intended result, the heavily armored skeleton is on the ground and struggles to get up again. Meanwhile Angus has finished off another attacker and Cara evades the next attack of her foe. The mages finish their deed and the main forces of the undead is swallowed, with the soldiers and golems quickly closing in on the stragglers.
Fenris is not sure how his last opponent has been removed from the picture, but he is not going to question this bit of good fortune. The gem encrusted tiger thunders toward the now exposed cultist in an all out charge, drawing on a bit of water magic to strengthen himself against the caped menace's shadow magic.
Angus swings once more as he works to help drive the undead back, checking his flank to make sure the rest of the soldiers were with him before the earth swallows up the undead before him. He stumbles for a moment on the edge before managing to catch his balance, happy that he didn't just take a nasty fall down into the hole with them. "Keep it up, leave none of them standing!"
"At least they're almost all gone." Selena replies with no small measure of relief. The canine's attention returns to Cara, ensuring that their strike doesn't leave them completely undefended as she repeat a certain routine - the familiar stone armor returning yet again; the utility of the spell above her other common go-tos rendering it her preferred option in the remaining conflict.
Cassidy would've burnt out long ago, were she not keeping a supply of medicinal tea in that flask of hers. "Keep it up! They are being beat back, but do not expose yourself. Conserve energy and life, strike only when the opportunity presents itself. Archers, continue to target joints! It may not hurt them, but it's hard to move with an arrow in your knee." She looks towards the battle Fenris and the others are fighting and considers joining in, but at this point she needs to stretch her energy as far as she can.
Cara grits her teeth in rage and she glares at the absolutely worthless, well, to her anyway, undead soldier. She dashes toward the foe with dilated pupils, raised fur, and quite the scowl on her face. As she rushes forward to impale him, she begins shouting in some rather colorful. "Die you stupid %$@#$#@ piece of !@#$!#$!"
The dead knight that was opposing Cara falls under her assault, impaled by her spear. Fenris manages to resist the ill intend of the leader's dark magic for now. The caller looks to his sides, assessing the battle field and focuses for a moment, calling a heavy fog in the area around him.
Fenris is exhausted. Fighting an army will do that to you. But he is not willing to let this Caller vanish. He pours all of his remaining energy into a final charge, backing himself with what magic he has left to catch his escaping foe.
Watching the fog roll in, Selena frowns slightly. "Cassidy!" She calls, making her way over to the fennec and gesturing to it. "You're familiar with the gravefells, around where the Anima encampment was? Even though that took more than just Pyrrha to set up, I don't want to take chances that the fog's the start of anything similar. I want to see some strong winds going his way as soon as possible. Might just be cover for a retreat, but I'm not willing to risk that happening again. Not here." Possibly sounding a little paranoid at that point, but there's definitely some concern on her voice.
"Already on it!" Cassidy says with a nod. "Have enough energy to help me? I should be able to manage it, but I don't want to take any chances either," she says, working her magic to try to conjure a strong gale to help disperse the fog. There'd be no cover here!
Cara glares at the heavy fog and decides that enough is enough. She puts the baton spear away and both of her hands glow a vivid red. The equations form in her mind to the best of her ability and now, she waves the energy torward the fog. She is angry, tired, bleeding, and really angry at the moment. Her intentions are clear as a large ball of flames is sent forth directly into the heavy fog.
Screaming can be heard from the fog and as soon as it vanishes, pushed away by the two mages, it is revealing that the cultist was hit and knocked off his horse. His cloak is burning, illuminating his skeletal features that should provide the caller with even more protection than his armor. He draws a large, two handed sword and, seeing how he won't be able to escape this easily, turns to the offense, swing at Cara and missing by an inch, the giant sword tearing through the air above the feline's head. The army is doing well. Most undead are defeated with only a few dozen stragglers around to soon be overwhelmed by Firmament's defenders.
Fenris has used up most of his reserves. The tiger does not try to engage the skeletal fiend directly. Instead, he tries to recoup his strength and hinder the foe for Cara to fight. For now.
Selena coughs quietly in the wake of the spell, taking a deep breath and a moment to collect herself. "... It has been... A -very- long time since I've done this much serious casting..." She pants quietly, another of those odd white dulling potions going down. "I don't miss the necessity of it at all." he canine offers one to Cassidy as well, keeping her eyes on the fight.
Cassidy accepts the potion with a nod. "Me too. Most things don't require anymore near this much. But then, most things aren't an army of undead marching on our city," she says, downing the drink and watching the fight. She casts no further for now, waiting to see if the others have it handled or not.
Cara glares at the absolutely worthless cultist that is now on fire. She merely shakes her head, and her hand glows grin as she tries to remember the equations for making a wind slash. As soon as she has them down, she sends for the mathemagic with hopes of both putting it out and possibly cutting its bones to pieces.
The wind manages to blow out the flames on the cultist's coat and, in fact, slice the piece of clothing off of him. This, together with Fenris's magic has him unable to hit Cara once more. His sword passes too low and the feline jumps over it.
Fenris takes his earth magic a step further, trying to turn his established morass into quicksand. He is quickly running out of stamina.
Angus had been helping to mop up the rest of the undead, now that the army had them in hand he could turn his attention to supporting the others. Stepping up to the fray he watches the mathemagics being slung all over the place and just....stands there at the edge of the fray, rolling the baton that Selena had given him in his hand as he waits for an opening.
Selena makes her way back to Fenris quickly, passing the tired tiger another of those same dulling potions while he's still at least a bit out of harm's way. "Drink it. Should help a bit." She comments quickly, putting a little distance between herself and the no-longer-a-mounted-soldier. "You're doing great. Just a bit longer, and we're done here."
Cassidy takes a knee on her perch, watching the battle as the effects of the potion set in. She'd need a hearty meal and a long nap after this, but at least it seemed like they would win.
Cara glares at the skeletal cultist. "Just look at yourself. You're nothing more than bones and your entire army is gone!" She uses this time to take a deep breath, thankful that her extensive training was able to aid in keeping her up like this. She promptly frowns and aims a nice slash torward his bony arms.
The cultist emits a hollow, booming laugh. "And yet you are unable to do me any harm. You should stop playing war and go back home, little girl." With that, the skeletal fingers grab Cara by the neck and send her flying in the direction of Fenris and Selena. The cultist using the moment to swing himself back into the saddle of his skeletal horse.
Fenris is on his last legs. But he refuses to let this very skilled madman go! The tiger summons up the last of his reserves, attemptng to imprison the skeletonized cultist in stone!
Angus continues to roll the baton in his hand, circling around quietly to get behind the mounted fiend. His ears twitched, his stance loose and his footing wide as he waits to see the outcome of this scuffle.
Selena shakes her head as the offered potion is ignored. "Right, then. Call out if you need it." She says, Cara being flung in their general direction prompting her to take a quick half-step back. "Wonderful. Just wonderful." She mutters, offering Cara a hand up and turning back to the skeleton. "You only say that because you set the pieces in your favor for a selfish sponsor." She calls back in an even tone. "What you should be worried about is where their priorities lie - I doubt you have any idea, and I suspect your 'mistress' isn't earning what she claimed to want either. I think you're being used as a proxy, as collection. How does it feel to be fighting not for yourself, but for a spirit that doesn't know what they want or how to obtain it?"
Cassidy isn't about to let the thing get away, but she does not want to interfere with Fenris' spell. Instead, she turns a lighning bolt to his steed, trying to take it out from under him.
Cara lands on the ground and accepts Selena's hand to pull herself back up. She sighs, "Thanks again, Selena." For now, she gets back to her feet and tries to summon enough of a wind current to cut the cultist's arm off.
The combination of quicksand, stone encasing him and his mount being knocked away from him with the impact of the lightning bolt seems enough to finally stop the leader of the army in his tracks. He sinks into the ground till his legs up to the knees are swallowed which leaves enough time for Fenris to raise mighty stone pillars all around him and seal him in this improvised prison. The timing is perfect as well, as cheering from the army indicates that the last of the forces have been defeated.
Fenris is barely standing. He staggers to where the instigator of all of this mess is finally imprisoned. "You'n me're gonna talk," he slurs, "right after m'nap." Then, the tiger's aromor crumbles and he slowly, gracefully tilts directly backward and flops to the ground, blood oozing from the now uncovered slash across his chest.
Angus is breathing heavily by now from the confict, wounds starting to ach as he stays cautiously at the ready to move if the thing gets back up. As soon as Fenris drops he stirs into action, snapping at a few soldiers to get medical, while he starts taking stock of the wounded and dead.
Selena breathes a sigh of relief mixed with pleasent surprise. "That would make you one of the first beings to know my name before I've introduced myself lately." She comments. "I don't recall if we've met, but I am that Selena. It would be nice if we could've met under better circumstances." The canine turns back to Fenris for a moment as well, plucking a gem from her pocket and swapping it out for the one she had previously been using. "I'm going to help with the wounded for now. You've all done well; thank you for putting yourselves at risk for the city." She says to the few around her with definite sincerity. "I'll let the innkeeper know that tonight's drinks are on me. You all deserve something of a reward for this, might as well chip in a little myself."
When the secondary soul's memories and methods set back in, the canine begins to put the hearth magician's healing magic back into use, assisting Angus and the rest of the militia with the injured.
Cassidy closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, rubbing her face. "What a mess. At least it is over. Well... Almost." She pushes herself up and raises her voice, looking over the troops. "Those of you that wish to return to your lives, you are free to do so now. The city thanks you or your service. But for those of you that wish to remain and help gather the bodies, your efforts are appreciated."
Cara staggers directly torward the soldiers with casualties, blood still coming from her left leg, and her body drenched in sweat. Her breathing is heavy and as she continues to move forward, ignoring the pain in her shin along with the exhaustion as much as she can, her vision begins to grow blury. From there, makes it to a nearby cluster of casualties, then erupts into a blazing glow of life restoring flames. Her injuries are sort of healed, but it's not enough to keep her up. As her fur turns into feathers and her arms become wings, she collapses to the ground, completely unconscious.
The bodies are gathered and prepared to be burned, both regular and creator healing methods are being applied to the wounded soldiers and the leader of it all is being shackled and escorted into the deepest dungeon the Good King has at his disposal. It will take some time to rebuild, but the worst has been avoided.
