Latest revision as of 04:59, 2 August 2014

Participants

Date

1/8/477

Log

Those arriving at Silvervein pass will find themselves in the company of a full military squad. Lots of troopers in heavy armor, some archers in the back line. A mage or two to support the ranks and even a small calvary unit, though Firmament does not have that many horses. Marshal Purpleheart is waiting for the civilian troopers to arrive, at least hoping that he'll have some soulless on his side for the day. He stands next to a pile of mock weaponry. Wooden swords, and spears, and retractable daggers, and arrows with their arrowheads bundled in burlap to make them blunt.

Already traveling through the pass, Savi stumbles upon the training exercise by pure happenstance. Enjoying most things martial, she slows he pace eyeing the large assortment of soldiers. Understanding by the mock weapons there isn't likely a real combat about to happen, the towering plant trots up to the Marshal to see if he requires help.

Calisiel looks a bit out of place in her black dress and white cloak. The crow is carrying her staff, hood up as she heads over to the marshal. Cal stands near him, waits to be told what's going on.

Natska makes her way up the pass in quick, air-assisted leaps. She lands a short distance from the grouped up militia and then runs her gloved fingers along the brim of her hat, making sure it is securely in place. She holds a moment, her wind tugging at her jacket, waiting for Cassidy, then approaches the marshall and gives him a salute. "Private Natska. Lightbringers."

Following shortly after the jaguar, in similar leaps, is Cassidy. She stops just aside her, hat, mask, and all. This time she's got a small black silk pack slung over one shoulder! She doesn't pay it too much mind or importance, though, instead tipping her hat to the marshall. "Greetings. Cassidy Solacious, also of the Lightbringer Unity."

Rainer pulls free of his lips the bone of a small animal, probably a squirkik, and after a quick visual inspection to confirm that it has indeed been picked clean he casts it away into the brush and folds both arms behind his back, closing his eyes and angling his chin towards the sky. The wolf remains so, keeping a casual pace until he's right upon the company set up in the valley, slipping in behind Natska and Cassidy he goes up on his toes to raise over their shoulders, flashing a toothy grin to the marshal and wiggling his fingers in silent greeting.

Bambsi humms happily as she makes her way into the group, clad with her leather and chain jacket, and a good deal of medical supplies on her. "Hello! I was told there was to be exercises around here? I figured you may need some help I'd be willing to provide!" The Gazelle bowing gently to the Marshal as she speaks.

The Marshal spots all the newcomers as his brow furrows a little. He was hoping for people looking a little more...professional. "Hopefully, I don't lose too much face. Marshal Purpleheart." The two Lightbringers identifying themselves helps him to relax a little bit. "Now, go and take armaments if you need practice weapons." The eagle clears his throat for a moment. "I don't want any fatalities at all. Injuries are unavoidable even in mock war. I'll answer any questions you might have about this exercise while you get armed."

"MEN, TAKE POSITIONS!" The avian hollers, soldiers quickly scrambling into formation with shieldbearers in the front and archers at the back.

Without a word Saviante smiles, adn begins poing around through the pile of wooden weapons. Using as much haste as she dares, but with a practiced mannerisms to her movements, she rifles through coming u with not one, but two long sections of wood. Both spears grasped in one large hand, the fern moves towards the lines a few feet, to allow others access to the stockpile, but staying within earshot to listen for rules.

Calisiel is almost disappointed by 'no fatalities.' "I'll just keep my staff, thanks. hard to seriously injure someone with it. So, magic? Can we use that?" As much as the crow would love to set fire to the surrounding area without asking, might not be the best approach. The crow takes a few steps toward the lines, slowly, so as to give time for the marshall to answer her.

"This is an -exercise-," Natska reminds the crow. "Nobody here is your enemy." Her ear flicks and she moves to the stockpile, selecting a few light pieces of different lengths. "What are our orders, Marshal? What role are we playing?"

Cassidy acquires a spear for herself and tests the weight of it, giving a little flourish before smiling. "So, what are we to be doing, exactly?" She nods at Natska's question. "I'm also curious about using of magic. I imagine I'll restrict myself to use of air magic, for safety reasons, yes." She snatches up a sword, as well, and tucks it into her belt in case she needs a back up.

Rainer makes a half-hearted attempt to stifle his snickering while the marshal's forces prepare, falling into step behind Cassidy and Natska. "Maybe we should give ourselves a handicap, so we don't embarass the troops." He at least makes an effort to keep his voice down enough to avoid being overheard by the eagle. His face lights up, as he plucks a training sword from the bin. "I could fight with one sword! I haven't done that in ... years!" He gives it a few play swings before spotting the daggers and swapping for a pair of them. The mutt's delight is boundless, when he discovers the retraction feature. "Ah-haha-haha! Did you see these?! They're -awesome-! Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in..."

Bambsi nods to the Marshal as she smiles gently. "I can help with any injuries if you wish, or repairs to damaged gear, it's a Journeyman's way after all! But if you do need me to fight, I can do so as well." The Gazelle picking up a practice spear as she nods and holds it happily.

Jera nods to the crew. "Magic, yes. As you no doubt must have noticed, there are a few Academy mages in the...the..." Rainer distracts him much, and even the war hardened Purpleheart veteran finds a snicker cross his beak. "The ranks." He clears his throat again and then straightens up, not wanting to give his troops a bad show. "Magic is permitted, yes. Though please, nothing fanciful. Our soldiers can take a burn or two...not getting struck by lightning in the middle of the marketplace."

He turns to Natska. "We have the numbers advantage. They have high ground, and have fortifications set up. The classic war scenario. The whole purpose of this exercise is to practice our military tactics...and to let the windrunners test out a new weapon that they've designed. Just remember. In this exercise...pretend any hits you get are real. If an arrow strikes your armor in the chest or on your helmet you're out. Nobody is enforcing this but we are Firmament soldiers, men. We fight with honor, and won't be cheating."

A loud war horn echos in the distance. "They're ready. It's time to march." Silvervein pass is incredibly narrow...the troops find themselves breaking formation as soon as they leave through the clearing just to advanced through the narrow route. Rain from last night has made the pass muddy and difficult to traverse as well. It's not long before the troops encounter a large, sturdily constructed barricade. Movements from atop the two sides of the valley give sign that enemy forces are preparing a trap...best to hurry.

Savi pulls up short and holds back a far distance from the wall. Hefting her shield, she moves to the side of the forces and hesitates at the edge of the deep mud. Attention focused on the top of the obsrtuction, the armored plant drives one spear into the ground and absent-mindedly shifts the second around in her hand, growing used to its weight and balance. Feet shifting, shield ready, the plant waits to see what form the mounted defence will take.

Calisiel scoffs at the word 'honor'. "There's nothing honorable about war, marshall. This is just practice, but in a real battle, cheat. Always." The crow most likely will cheat anyway, doesn't like to lose. She then heads up after the soldiers, not far from the barricade. Stands close behind the men, using them as a shield; assume arrows will come over the barricade.

Natska gives her head a shake and makes a note to keep an eye on the crow; she herself ends up falling in near the academy students, although she shoots Cassidy an inquisitive glance. The blowing horns catch her attention and she turns, then begins scratching equations in the mud with her own wooden weapon, preparing a breeze to swirl around her, or surge if needed.

Cassidy smiles behind her mask and gives a nod to Natska, turning to move as the rest of the group did. Though, she lingered back. Considerably back. She knew the kinds of things Windrunners tended to have up their sleeves, and wasn't about to get caught in a hail. No, if they wanted to get her, she'd make sure they'd have to target her specifically. "This will be quite fun, I believe!"

"...blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade c--ah, hey! Wait for me!" Rainer finally notices that everyone else is leaving, and hurries to form rank. And, once he has... "Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in--so what's this new weapon, anyway?" Oh hey, he -was- listening. "Well, it's the Windrunners, didn't he say? So it must be some kinda ... archery thing. Blade comes out, blade goes in~ Oo, I bet it's, like, a bow that can shoot three arrows at once! No, wait, that's dumb. -Five- arrows. Blade comes out."

Bambsi humms gently as she follows after the group, the Gazelle frowning at the expeditions difficulty from the mud, and with a working of her hands, she tries to help the soldiers and freeswords by hardening the mud for them to walk on with greater ease... Hopefully she wasn't rusty!

The mud is nicely hardened, and though some troops end up stuck inside, already knee deep in mud, they manage to dig themselves out with little trouble. The march progresses smoothly until the unit reaches the barricade, where they're fully walled off. From behind the barricade, there are two winding paths that allow the unit to pave to the high ground.

...Though that probably isn't the greatest concern right now as the opposing forces spring their attack! Archers lining the peaks start raining bundled arrows down as a blitz force charges the rear lines the way the unit came...making use of the hardened terrain! Standard hammer and anvil.

Tower shield already prepped, Savi raises the giant piece of metal over her head as she turns, spear at the ready. Hand low on the weapon and feet squarely planted, Savi attempts to wait out the inital rain of arrows, trusting the spear forward warningly in an attepmt to recover from the sudden lack of physical protection. Accustomed protection currently diverted in an attempt to survive the sudden hail of arrows, practice though they be.

"Pfft. Most obvious trap ever. And, we walked straight into it." As she is near the back of the formation. Calisiel has few between her and the charging blitz force. Doing the exact opposite of the gazelle, the crow tries to use magic to turn the now dried mud between her and the attackers back into actual mud in an effort to slow them down.

Natska finishes her equation and releases a burst of raw air at the incoming arrows on her side, then takes a couple of steps to get herself between the mages and the oncoming blitz force. "And we keep walking, right up the barricade, Cali. Use their fortification against them."

Cassidy turns and steps up next to Natska, lending some of her magic to help the jaguar turn aside arrows. "Yes, keep moving. We will hold the force from the back, but you must continue forward." She flexes her fingers and readies to buffet the advancing force with air magic, should she need to.

"Got your back, ladies!" the wolf declares as everyone springs into action, hastening to the thick of the lines and striking a combat-ready pose that would certainly look proper and menacing if he were weilding swords, but looks a bit... silly, with toy daggers barely larger than his hands. "Oh. Right. Nyhiiiiinnngh!" His fur bristles as the arrows start coming down all around him, and after a few close calls and a half dozen failed attempts to deflect the falling artillery he's left scrambling to get out of the line of fire.

Bambsi eeps as the airs begin to fall down on them, the Gazelle focusing on herself as a large collection of stone and dirty work around her to provide a shell to deflect the projectiles, before she moves to try and help cover Rainer. "We have to keep moving!"

The arrows take down some of the troops! Who put down their arms and then move to the side of the valley so they don't get trempled, slumping and pretending to be dead. The charge is slowed down by the suddenly softening earth, the blitz unit losing their footing and being hindered very badly. Amongst them is...the Marshal! Seems like there will be no more orders for this fight. The unit is starting to lose their composure, climbing, shoving and pushing each other to try to get over the barricades as quickly as they can. All this and the new weapon /still/ hasn't been revealed. The Marshal's troop is running out of options...and running out of time.

Falling Back with the others, Savi keeps her attention focused upon the section of battlefield between the group, judgind distance and doing her best not to hurt anyone. Doing her best just to spook the charge, the towering plant points with her spear, and calmly unleashes a writhing bust of dark math across the ground ahead of the charge. Not wasting time seeing if people bother to stop, she turns and moves in the direction fo the main army as fast as she is able, watching only for soldiers who may need assistance as she is funneled along with everyone else.

Growling out some frustration, Calisiel figures the soldiers can deal with the slowed blitzers. She uses fire magic to set some of the arrows on the ground near her ablaze. But, due to her lack of control, several arrows still in the sky catch fire as well. "Heh". She chuckles before extending her wings and takes flight towards a group of archers. Horrible idea, probably.

Natska glances behind her as she backs away from the charge, to make sure she stays between the more vulnerable back of their group, and the oncoming force, and growls. Her ear flicks. "Hey you!" she yells at the breaking group. "What is this, lunch time at the mess hall? FALL IN!" she shouts, using a push of air magic to make sure her voice carries. "ORDERLY MOVEMENTS!" Another quick glance, and, no, no officers... "Listen to the Corporal!" she adds, turning back to keep an eye on the oncoming group, wooden "sword" held in front of her defensively.

Cassidy gives a curt nod and falls in behind the rest of the advancing group. "Heads down, shields up!" She calls out, "Do not stop advancing! Archers, mages! Try to take out their ranged oppostion." She, herself, try to help with that by creating a strong wind at their backs. Hopefully enough to guide their own arrows while interfering with those of the 'enemy'.

Rainer rumbles in frustration as he hunkers down behind the cover Bambsi's conjured up for him. In a presumably last-ditch effort he ducks out just long enough to acquire a pair of targets and chuck his retractable daggers at them, then takes a running dive for another shelter ... except that when he comes back up he's gripping a pratice sword in each hand, discarded by the out-of-play soldiers. "Sucks to handicaps!" And with that battlecry, he goes charging full tilt at the enemy's front lines.

Bambsi follows behind the group, the gazelle attempting to provide cover as she targets the left side of archers, conjuring a sweeping flame inches from them to try and get them to either flee, or at the least be distracted to allow everyone some breathing move. "Time is of the essence please!"

There are three walls of flame being formed, some of which are more effective than the others. Cali's fire seems to be a bit...too effective, and both sides actually hold an unseen ceasefire for a moment until the fire arrows are avoided for a bit. Both sides of archers lining the pass start to make their retreat with walls of fire spreading, causing the raining arrows to cease to a halt. The third wall of fire stops the charge...and along with the two Lightbringers hollering orders in place of the 'fallen' Marshal, the mages and archers of the party's unit rally themselves, and start firing back with spells and arrows of their own! The barricade continues to bar any advance onto the higher ground.

With the charge broken and the retreat halted, Savi looks to the remains of the now cracked hammer charge. Remaining in the rear, she presents her shielded form as a distraction, trying her best to cover the grouped mages. Mages she believes have a much better chance of getting past the anvil.

Shield raised in one hand, spear pointed in the other, the fern places herself facing the fire, primed to pop a rather painful distraction at the first sigh of the enemies second push forward.

Calisiel flies quickly towards a group of retreating archers, staff held with both hands at the bottom as if she intends to swing it like a warhammer. Completely disregarding the flames, she charges while still flying in an attempt to divebomb the nearest archer, staff held over her head for a downward smash.

Natska continues 'rallying' the troops, tapping a couple of the Academy mages on the arms and then pointing at the barricade. "Hey, come on guys, someone has got to be better than I am at moving dirt. Get us a path up that barricade before we're squished!" She glances back and forth and then, deciding it'd be best to see what surprises might be on the other side, leaps over the group and up on top of the barricade.

Cassidy keeps pace, most of her focus spent on maintaining her air magic. "Make sure nothing gets the jump on my, Natska, and help keep the troops motivated. I trust you enough to give orders where appropriate." She reaches up to adjust her hat and turns her attention back to the task at hand.

"Hey guys!" Rainer chirps as he pops up between a pair of archers. "Doink," He touches the business end of one wooden sword to one archer's neck, then does the same for the other, "and doink." His gaze casts out across the chaos for more targets, and then he's off again! "Anyone seen the super secret caramel-coated surprise weapon yet?" He stops briefly near Cassidy. "Anyone?" Moments later, he's peeking up behind Saviante. "Weapons?" The wolf crops up behind the shield wall being formed by the remnants of their side's advance, leaning towards Bambsi and inquiring, "Secret?" Finally, he ends up atop the barricade a few paces divided from Natska, thoughtlessly dangling a sword down to tap a few times on the helmet of a soldier hiding behind it. "Doink. Secret weapons? Where at? Seriously, waiting for something particular?"

Bambsi turns back to face the group, sighing as so many were struggling with the barricade, and soon enough the ground shakes for a moment before a smaller boulder moves down to crush it under her control to let people out, before dashing through.

Calisiel gets a few of the archers to drop their weapons in surrender once she flies up, though they pick up their weapons frightfully with the way she smashes one of their number down. Her victim isn't even moving at this point. "Is she a bandit??" They ask. And the unit already routed by the fire panic even more, pulling out the real arrows they have kept in case of wandering Jarls or elementals and start to fire pinning shots.

Natska, Rainer Bambsi and the rest of the storming troops are treated to quite the terrible sight after she crosses the barricade. The two paths up the high ground are covered by two units of windrunners, though none of them bear bows. Five in each unit, they man a massive looking weapon of war on both paths. It seems like they've been instructed to fire once the barricade is breached, the two Hwa'Chas painting the battlefield with explosive bombs! Waterbombs. The Marshal shakes his head. "D-darn. We had an hour to breach the pass before the heavy artillery got set up. The first strike got more than half of the allied troops in the gorge. And most of the soulless in the pass too! It's a massacre. Sorta.

"Alright, stand down, soldiers. We lost..." The marshal grumbles, as the defeated soldiers move to the side with the hammer squad, who haven't let their weapons down yet with the fern in the way!! She might try to turn the battle in heroic fashion. Cassidy is the only other who wasn't battered directly by a 'bomb', only catching 'splash' damage. She has a small bundle of soldiers left to charge the flank, though it's likely she'll only get one before they reload!

Savi is a decent soldier, good at following orders, mostly calm natured. But she doesn't like to lose. Up till she's out, the plant unleashes a bright flash of light at the still armed soldiers, following the eye burning light with broad sweeps of the spear. "GO GO GO, They can't have more than one of those!" yelling as she sweeps the field in front of her, the plant tries to hold the area, giving the fennec a chance to still make the hill.

Calisiel laughs sadistically at her now unconscious, or dead unsure, victim. She looks toward the archers. "HEheheh... Better run." Her beak turns up in an aggressive snarl as she conjures flames in her hand. She's wearing a thick flame retardent glove, so does not burn her. The fire is just for show, the real spell she casts armors her with a layer of stone, in case they do fire any arrows at her.

Natska grunts as she does her best to twist through the air on top of the barricade, but there isn't much that would save her from so many water bombs fired point-blank and she catches one square on the chest. She grunts, stopping, and then peers at the artillery; she raises her wooden sword in salute to the ambush team, then scratches behind an ear with her dagger before she wanders over to the side of the pass, holding both sticks in one hand so she can peer down at her clothes.

Cassidy takes a short jaunt towards the barricade. A half-hearted thing at best. She only had one shot at what she had planned, and she knew who she was up against, but her hope was that a short burst of unexpected power applied in an unorthodox way might get the better of the other windrunners. Drawing in a deep breath, she focuses everything she's got to try to conjure gusts of wind -under- the beings manning the weaponry to hurl them into their own allies. Nothing particularly -dangerous- per se, but it might leave some bruises if it goes off.

Rainer finally catches sight of the Windrunners and their hwachas on the highground. "Oh." is all he gets to say, before he's thoroughly doused by exploding water balloons. Eyes half-lidded, ears drooped from the weight of the water soaked into them, he stands there bow-legged and dripping for a time, and finally, dejectedly: "Doink." Tossing his practice weapons aside, he flops down to sit right where he is atop the barricade to watch the remainder of the battle.

Bambsi eeps as she's soaked with water, blinking some before clearing her throat as she makes her way off to the side, and begins to make her way back, looking for anyone whom may have sprained an ankle or hurt.

"Oh shi-" The five windrunners guarding one of the Hwa'Chas move to protect their weapons, and with that focus to control the spell that Cassidy cast, they seem to neglect themselves in the process, getting blasted off their feet and blown back quite a large distance. One of them falling off the narrow ridge and landing rather hard after a long drop. Twitching a little on the floor. The other crew pull out their bows and avenge their fallen brethren by raining padded arrows!

"Stop! Stop! This is just an exercise!" The head of the archer unit growls, sinking a shot into Calisiel's arm, another arrow already nocked. "If you advance any further, woman, you'll have the entire army on you."

Bambsi will find quite a few troops to tend to. Most sport minor injuries like abrasions, or bruises, or sprains. And many sport a disease that the cervine will find hard pressed to cure: Wuss Syndrome. There's still the matter of the gravely wounded archer on the high ground and the fallen windrunner...

Savage Saviante manages to stun the soldiers, some of them dropping their weapons to cover their eyes, while some hesitate to approach with the smaller reach of swords against spears. She's suddenly attacked by what looks like a higher ranked soldier, twirling his spear and challenging the soulless fern to a duel.

Knowing the warrior has more training, the plant raises her shield and pulls the spear in lightly. Arm braced for impact, the plant readies, coils, and lowers her shield. Dropping the wall of reinforced plate the plant, the sphinx, exposes her face cearly to the experienced warrior before spinning her spear to attempt a nominal strike, an attempted tap at the soldier. An act of defiance more than malice.

Calisiel grabs at her arm, snarling angrily and ignoring the slight pain. Calcified flesh stopped most of the arrow. Still a minor wound. The crow extinguishes the flame by closing her fist. "Alright. Keep your arrows to yourself now, asshole. I'm done." She smiles, pokes the downed archer with her staff. "Heh. He's done too." A nod, as she looks back at the archers then sits, begins rubbing the downed soldiers back. Her expression remains angry, defiant.

Natska's eyes widen as she watches the one windrunner flung down the ridge. She drops her toy weapons and hurries after him, letting the wind guide her as she hops and slides down the slope to land lightly next to the windrunner. She quickly begins checking him over, seeing if he is injured and if so how badly.

Cassidy takes off after Natska, likewise concerned for the fate of the windrunner. She certainly didn't want to do that! Heedless of being tagged out, she takes off to the skies intent on reaching him as fast as possible. She does try to tag one of the weapons as she goes, though, for what it's worth. Her primary goal is certainly the fallen one, though.

Rainer watches the Windrunners get knocked up... and come down. Hard. Sympathetic cringe. By the time he gets to his feet Natska, and then Cassidy are already well on their way. Then comes the voice calling repeatedly for Calisiel to stop, so he turns his attention that way, hopping down off the barricade and coming up behind the crow at a brisk-but-casual pace. "Hey..." the canid starts, but he comes upon the clobbered soldier first and leaves the thought unfinished, stooping down to attend to the soldier instead. "Getting a little carried away over here, eh? Gimme a hand with this guy."

Bambsi doesn't know of the two heavily injured individuals, instead instructing the soldiers whom were taken out and injured to form a orderly line for her to see them one at a time. When they finally comply, she sets down her back and begins to work down the line, treating who she can.

Savi's opponent is experienced. He twirls his spear to deflect the fern's blow, drawing two circles, though he underestimates her ability and ends up getting tapped on the shoulder anyway. He opens his mouth to speak, face flushed, growling softly before...bursting into laughter. "You soulless are as good as they say...bested by a girl, too urgh." He shakes his head.

The archers facing Cali lower their arms. They have better fights to pick. The wounded archer needs urgent medical attention or he will soon be the first casualty.

The windrunner will be alright despite his unconsciousness. Just a broken bone. Or two. Or five. Nothing major too, those bones only got fractures.

Bambsi does good work! She gets many promises of free drinks at the inn.

Calisiel answers Rainer. "Alright, I'll help get him up." She assists Rainer in moving the injured man, bringing him back toward where the marshall was. Seeing Bambsi helping people, she turns to move toward her. Getting close to her: "Hey, Gazelle! We've got someone who is actually injured for ya!" Dropping him soflty to the ground, the crow kisses the injured man. "Tell him I've got a room at the pig if he wakes up." She ignores her wound, flies off toward firmament.

Natska finishes checking out the windrunner, then gives Cassidy a short nod and a small smile, patting the fennec on the shoulder before she hops her way back up the ridge. She perches at the top for a moment, then frowns as she sees the commotion caused by the critically injured archer. She hurries over to his side, concerned, then calls out. "Give me room."

Natska motions for Bambsi, though, eager to hear the expert's opinion.

Cassidy remains by the injured windrunner's side til she's sure he'll be okay to go, helping him back up to his fellows, if need be. "My apologies about your friend. I am... Still rather uncertain of just how powerful I can exert my control, and how it comes into play with other things. I think I need to work on that, yes."

Rainer doesn't say anything, but he keeps darting glances at Calisiel for the duration of their short march over to the other wounded with the konked-out soldier slung over their shoulders. "You got a handle on this, right?" he inquires of Bambsi, once their cargo is deposited, straightening up and putting his hands on his hips. "Hey, nice work with those ... earth math barrier things at the start! You saved my butt." The antelope gets a thumbs up, then a backwards wave over his shoulder as he starts off in search of other ways he can make himself useful.

Bambsi nods slightly to Rainer, before she turns to give the critically wounded archer medical attention with a frown. With her attention taken though, she's unable to assist Natska. "I've got most of it, check on the ones back up the path please? And it was no problem." She gives a brief smile before it's back to work.

Natska waits tensely for a few minutes as she watches Bambsi get to work, then relaxes as it seems the skilled doctor has everything well in hand. She gets up and moves off to the side, slipping her hands into her pockets and waiting for Cassidy to rejoin her before heading back down the mountain.

Cassidy brushes her gloved hands down her coat, ridding herself of spare dirt before darting off to catch up with Natska, smiling at the jaguar. "Well! That was an interesting little detour, huh? Shall we?" She tips her head before setting off with her companion.

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 He turns to Natska. "We have the numbers advantage. They have high ground, and have fortifications set up. The classic war scenario. The whole purpose of this exercise is to practice our military tactics...and to let the windrunners test out a new weapon that they've designed. Just remember. In this exercise...pretend any hits you get are real. If an arrow strikes your armor in the chest or on your helmet you're out. Nobody is enforcing this but we are Firmament soldiers, men. We fight with honor, and won't be cheating."
-A loud war horn echos in the distance. "They're ready. It's time to march." Silvervein pass is incredibly narrow...the troops find themselves breaking formation as soon as they leave through the clearing just to advanced through the narrow route. Rain from last night has made the pass muddy and difficult to traverse as well. It's not long before the troops encounter a large, sturdily constructed barricade. Movements from atop the two sides of the valley give sign that enemy forces are preparing a trap...best to hurry.
+A loud war horn echos in the distance. "They're ready. It's time to march." Silvervein pass is incredibly narrow...the troops find themselves breaking formation as soon as they leave through the clearing just to advanced through the narrow route. Rain from last night has made the pass muddy and difficult to traverse as well. It's not long before the troops encounter a large, sturdily constructed barricade. Movements from atop the two sides of the valley give sign that enemy forces are preparing a trap...best to hurry.<br> <br>Savi pulls up short and holds back a far distance from the wall. Hefting her shield, she moves to the side of the forces and hesitates at the edge of the deep mud. Attention focused on the top of the obsrtuction, the armored plant drives one spear into the ground and absent-mindedly shifts the second around in her hand, growing used to its weight and balance. Feet shifting, shield ready, the plant waits to see what form the mounted defence will take.<br> <br>Calisiel scoffs at the word 'honor'. "There's nothing honorable about war, marshall. This is just practice, but in a real battle, cheat. Always." The crow most likely will cheat anyway, doesn't like to lose. She then heads up after the soldiers, not far from the barricade. Stands close behind the men, using them as a shield; assume arrows will come over the barricade.<br> <br>Natska gives her head a shake and makes a note to keep an eye on the crow; she herself ends up falling in near the academy students, although she shoots Cassidy an inquisitive glance. The blowing horns catch her attention and she turns, then begins scratching equations in the mud with her own wooden weapon, preparing a breeze to swirl around her, or surge if needed.<br> <br>Cassidy smiles behind her mask and gives a nod to Natska, turning to move as the rest of the group did. Though, she lingered back. Considerably back. She knew the kinds of things Windrunners tended to have up their sleeves, and wasn't about to get caught in a hail. No, if they wanted to get her, she'd make sure they'd have to target her specifically. "This will be quite fun, I believe!"<br> <br>"...blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade c--ah, hey! Wait for me!" Rainer finally notices that everyone else is leaving, and hurries to form rank. And, once he has... "Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in, blade comes out. Blade goes in--so what's this new weapon, anyway?" Oh hey, he -was- listening. "Well, it's the Windrunners, didn't he say? So it must be some kinda ... archery thing. Blade comes out, blade goes in~ Oo, I bet it's, like, a bow that can shoot three arrows at once! No, wait, that's dumb. -Five- arrows. Blade comes out."<br> <br>Bambsi humms gently as she follows after the group, the Gazelle frowning at the expeditions difficulty from the mud, and with a working of her hands, she tries to help the soldiers and freeswords by hardening the mud for them to walk on with greater ease... Hopefully she wasn't rusty!<br> <br>The mud is nicely hardened, and though some troops end up stuck inside, already knee deep in mud, they manage to dig themselves out with little trouble. The march progresses smoothly until the unit reaches the barricade, where they're fully walled off. From behind the barricade, there are two winding paths that allow the unit to pave to the high ground.
+...Though that probably isn't the greatest concern right now as the opposing forces spring their attack! Archers lining the peaks start raining bundled arrows down as a blitz force charges the rear lines the way the unit came...making use of the hardened terrain! Standard hammer and anvil.<br> <br>Tower shield already prepped, Savi raises the giant piece of metal over her head as she turns, spear at the ready. Hand low on the weapon and feet squarely planted, Savi attempts to wait out the inital rain of arrows, trusting the spear forward warningly in an attepmt to recover from the sudden lack of physical protection. Accustomed protection currently diverted in an attempt to survive the sudden hail of arrows, practice though they be.<br> <br>"Pfft. Most obvious trap ever. And, we walked straight into it." As she is near the back of the formation. Calisiel has few  between her and the charging blitz force. Doing the exact opposite of the gazelle, the crow tries to use magic to turn the now dried mud between her and the attackers back into actual mud in an effort to slow them down.<br> <br>Natska finishes her equation and releases a burst of raw air at the incoming arrows on her side, then takes a couple of steps to get herself between the mages and the oncoming blitz force. "And we keep walking, right up the barricade, Cali. Use their fortification against them."<br> <br>Cassidy turns and steps up next to Natska, lending some of her magic to help the jaguar turn aside arrows. "Yes, keep moving. We will hold the force from the back, but you must continue forward." She flexes her fingers and readies to buffet the advancing force with air magic, should she need to.<br> <br>"Got your back, ladies!" the wolf declares as everyone springs into action, hastening to the thick of the lines and striking a combat-ready pose that would certainly look proper and menacing if he were weilding swords, but looks a bit... silly, with toy daggers barely larger than his hands. "Oh. Right. Nyhiiiiinnngh!" His fur bristles as the arrows start coming down all around him, and after a few close calls and a half dozen failed attempts to deflect the falling artillery he's left scrambling to get out of the line of fire.<br> <br>Bambsi eeps as the airs begin to fall down on them, the Gazelle focusing on herself as a large collection of stone and dirty work around her to provide a shell to deflect the projectiles, before she moves to try and help cover Rainer. "We have to keep moving!"<br> <br>The arrows take down some of the troops! Who put down their arms and then move to the side of the valley so they don't get trempled, slumping and pretending to be dead. The charge is slowed down by the suddenly softening earth, the blitz unit losing their footing and being hindered very badly. Amongst them is...the Marshal! Seems like there will be no more orders for this fight. The unit is starting to lose their composure, climbing, shoving and pushing each other to try to get over the barricades as quickly as they can. All this and the new weapon /still/ hasn't been revealed. The Marshal's troop is running out of options...and running out of time.<br> <br>Falling Back with the others, Savi keeps her attention focused upon the section of battlefield between the group, judgind distance and doing her best not to hurt anyone. Doing her best just to spook the charge, the towering plant points with her spear, and calmly unleashes a writhing bust of dark math across the ground ahead of the charge. Not wasting time seeing if people bother to stop, she turns and moves in the direction fo the main army as fast as she is able, watching only for soldiers who may need assistance as she is funneled along with everyone else.<br> <br>Growling out some frustration, Calisiel figures the soldiers can deal with the slowed blitzers. She uses fire magic to set some of the arrows on the ground near her ablaze. But, due to her lack of control, several arrows still in the sky catch fire as well. "Heh". She chuckles before extending her wings and takes flight towards a group of archers. Horrible idea, probably.<br> <br>Natska glances behind her as she backs away from the charge, to make sure she stays between the more vulnerable back of their group, and the oncoming force, and growls. Her ear flicks. "Hey you!" she yells at the breaking group. "What is this, lunch time at the mess hall? FALL IN!" she shouts, using a push of air magic to make sure her voice carries. "ORDERLY MOVEMENTS!" Another quick glance, and, no, no officers... "Listen to the Corporal!" she adds, turning back to keep an eye on the oncoming group, wooden "sword" held in front of her defensively.<br> <br>Cassidy gives a curt nod and falls in behind the rest of the advancing group. "Heads down, shields up!" She calls out, "Do not stop advancing! Archers, mages! Try to take out their ranged oppostion." She, herself, try to help with that by creating a strong wind at their backs. Hopefully enough to guide their own arrows while interfering with those of the 'enemy'.<br> <br>Rainer rumbles in frustration as he hunkers down behind the cover Bambsi's conjured up for him. In a presumably last-ditch effort he ducks out just long enough to acquire a pair of targets and chuck his retractable daggers at them, then takes a running dive for another shelter ... except that when he comes back up he's gripping a pratice sword in each hand, discarded by the out-of-play soldiers. "Sucks to handicaps!" And with that battlecry, he goes charging full tilt at the enemy's front lines.<br> <br>Bambsi follows behind the group, the gazelle attempting to provide cover as she targets the left side of archers, conjuring a sweeping flame inches from them to try and get them to either flee, or at the least be distracted to allow everyone some breathing move. "Time is of the essence please!"<br> <br>There are three walls of flame being formed, some of which are more effective than the others. Cali's fire seems to be a bit...too effective, and both sides actually hold an unseen ceasefire for a moment until the fire arrows are avoided for a bit. Both sides of archers lining the pass start to make their retreat with walls of fire spreading, causing the raining arrows to cease to a halt. The third wall of fire stops the charge...and along with the two Lightbringers hollering orders in place of the 'fallen' Marshal, the mages and archers of the party's unit rally themselves, and start firing back with spells and arrows of their own! The barricade continues to bar any advance onto the higher ground.<br> <br>With the charge broken and the retreat halted, Savi looks to the remains of the now cracked hammer charge. Remaining in the rear, she presents her shielded form as a distraction, trying her best to cover the grouped mages. Mages she believes have a much better chance of getting past the anvil.
+Shield raised in one hand, spear pointed in the other, the fern places herself facing the fire, primed to pop a rather painful distraction at the first sigh of the enemies second push forward.<br> <br>Calisiel flies quickly towards a group of retreating archers, staff held with both hands at the bottom as if she intends to swing it like a warhammer. Completely disregarding the flames, she charges while still flying in an attempt to divebomb the nearest archer, staff held over her head for a downward smash.<br> <br>Natska continues 'rallying' the troops, tapping a couple of the Academy mages on the arms and then pointing at the barricade. "Hey, come on guys, someone has got to be better than I am at moving dirt. Get us a path up that barricade before we're squished!" She glances back and forth and then, deciding it'd be best to see what surprises might be on the other side, leaps over the group and up on top of the barricade.<br> <br>Cassidy keeps pace, most of her focus spent on maintaining her air magic. "Make sure nothing gets the jump on my, Natska, and help keep the troops motivated. I trust you enough to give orders where appropriate." She reaches up to adjust her hat and turns her attention back to the task at hand.<br> <br>"Hey guys!" Rainer chirps as he pops up between a pair of archers. "Doink," He touches the business end of one wooden sword to one archer's neck, then does the same for the other, "and doink." His gaze casts out across the chaos for more targets, and then he's off again! "Anyone seen the super secret caramel-coated surprise weapon yet?" He stops briefly near Cassidy. "Anyone?" Moments later, he's peeking up behind Saviante. "Weapons?" The wolf crops up behind the shield wall being formed by the remnants of their side's advance, leaning towards Bambsi and inquiring, "Secret?" Finally, he ends up atop the barricade a few paces divided from Natska, thoughtlessly dangling a sword down to tap a few times on the helmet of a soldier hiding behind it. "Doink. Secret weapons? Where at? Seriously, waiting for something particular?"<br> <br>Bambsi turns back to face the group, sighing as so many were struggling with the barricade, and soon enough the ground shakes for a moment before a smaller boulder moves down to crush it under her control to let people out, before dashing through.<br> <br>Calisiel gets a few of the archers to drop their weapons in surrender once she flies up, though they pick up their weapons frightfully with the way she smashes one of their number down. Her victim isn't even moving at this point. "Is she a bandit??" They ask. And the unit already routed by the fire panic even more, pulling out the real arrows they have kept in case of wandering Jarls or elementals and start to fire pinning shots.
+Natska, Rainer Bambsi and the rest of the storming troops are treated to quite the terrible sight after she crosses the barricade. The two paths up the high ground are covered by two units of windrunners, though none of them bear bows. Five in each unit, they man a massive looking weapon of war on both paths. It seems like they've been instructed to fire once the barricade is breached, the two Hwa'Chas painting the battlefield with explosive bombs! Waterbombs. The Marshal shakes his head. "D-darn. We had an hour to breach the pass before the heavy artillery got set up. The first strike got more than half of the allied troops in the gorge. And most of the soulless in the pass too! It's a massacre. Sorta.
+"Alright, stand down, soldiers. We lost..." The marshal grumbles, as the defeated soldiers move to the side with the hammer squad, who haven't let their weapons down yet with the fern in the way!! She might try to turn the battle in heroic fashion. Cassidy is the only other who wasn't battered directly by a 'bomb', only catching 'splash' damage. She has a small bundle of soldiers left to charge the flank, though it's likely she'll only get one before they reload!<br> <br>Savi is a decent soldier, good at following orders, mostly calm natured. But she doesn't like to lose. Up till she's out, the plant unleashes a bright flash of light at the still armed soldiers, following the eye burning light with broad sweeps of the spear. "GO GO GO, They can't have more than one of those!" yelling as she sweeps the field in front of her, the plant tries to hold the area, giving the fennec a chance to still make the hill.<br> <br>Calisiel laughs sadistically at her now unconscious, or dead unsure, victim. She looks toward the archers. "HEheheh... Better run." Her beak turns up in an aggressive snarl as she conjures flames in her hand. She's wearing a thick flame retardent glove, so does not burn her. The fire is just for show, the real spell she casts armors her with a layer of stone, in case they do fire any arrows at her.<br> <br>Natska grunts as she does her best to twist through the air on top of the barricade, but there isn't much that would save her from so many water bombs fired point-blank and she catches one square on the chest. She grunts, stopping, and then peers at the artillery; she raises her wooden sword in salute to the ambush team, then scratches behind an ear with her dagger before she wanders over to the side of the pass, holding both sticks in one hand so she can peer down at her clothes.<br> <br>Cassidy takes a short jaunt towards the barricade. A half-hearted thing at best. She only had one shot at what she had planned, and she knew who she was up against, but her hope was that a short burst of unexpected power applied in an unorthodox way might get the better of the other windrunners. Drawing in a deep breath, she focuses everything she's got to try to conjure gusts of wind -under- the beings manning the weaponry to hurl them into their own allies. Nothing particularly -dangerous- per se, but it might leave some bruises if it goes off.<br> <br>Rainer finally catches sight of the Windrunners and their hwachas on the highground. "Oh." is all he gets to say, before he's thoroughly doused by exploding water balloons. Eyes half-lidded, ears drooped from the weight of the water soaked into them, he stands there bow-legged and dripping for a time, and finally, dejectedly: "Doink." Tossing his practice weapons aside, he flops down to sit right where he is atop the barricade to watch the remainder of the battle.<br> <br>Bambsi eeps as she's soaked with water, blinking some before clearing her throat as she makes her way off to the side, and begins to make her way back, looking for anyone whom may have sprained an ankle or hurt.<br> <br>"Oh shi-" The five windrunners guarding one of the Hwa'Chas move to protect their weapons, and with that focus to control the spell that Cassidy cast, they seem to neglect themselves in the process, getting blasted off their feet and blown back quite a large distance. One of them falling off the narrow ridge and landing rather hard after a long drop. Twitching a little on the floor. The other crew pull out their bows and avenge their fallen brethren by raining padded arrows!
+"Stop! Stop! This is just an exercise!" The head of the archer unit growls, sinking a shot into Calisiel's arm, another arrow already nocked. "If you advance any further, woman, you'll have the entire army on you."
+Bambsi will find quite a few troops to tend to. Most sport minor injuries like abrasions, or bruises, or sprains. And many sport a disease that the cervine will find hard pressed to cure: Wuss Syndrome. There's still the matter of the gravely wounded archer on the high ground and the fallen windrunner...
+Savage Saviante manages to stun the soldiers, some of them dropping their weapons to cover their eyes, while some hesitate to approach with the smaller reach of swords against spears. She's suddenly attacked by what looks like a higher ranked soldier, twirling his spear and challenging the soulless fern to a duel.<br> <br>Knowing the warrior has more training, the plant raises her shield and pulls the spear in lightly. Arm braced for impact, the plant readies, coils, and lowers her shield. Dropping the wall of reinforced plate the plant, the sphinx, exposes her face cearly to the experienced warrior before spinning her spear to attempt a nominal strike, an attempted tap at the soldier. An act of defiance more than malice.<br> <br>Calisiel grabs at her arm, snarling angrily and ignoring the slight pain. Calcified flesh stopped most of the arrow. Still a minor wound. The crow extinguishes the flame by closing her fist. "Alright. Keep your arrows to yourself now, asshole. I'm done." She smiles, pokes the downed archer with her staff. "Heh. He's done too." A nod, as she looks back at the archers then sits, begins rubbing the downed soldiers back. Her expression remains angry, defiant.<br> <br>Natska's eyes widen as she watches the one windrunner flung down the ridge. She drops her toy weapons and hurries after him, letting the wind guide her as she hops and slides down the slope to land lightly next to the windrunner. She quickly begins checking him over, seeing if he is injured and if so how badly.<br> <br>Cassidy takes off after Natska, likewise concerned for the fate of the windrunner. She certainly didn't want to do that! Heedless of being tagged out, she takes off to the skies intent on reaching him as fast as possible. She does try to tag one of the weapons as she goes, though, for what it's worth. Her primary goal is certainly the fallen one, though.<br> <br>Rainer watches the Windrunners get knocked up... and come down. Hard. Sympathetic cringe. By the time he gets to his feet Natska, and then Cassidy are already well on their way. Then comes the voice calling repeatedly for Calisiel to stop, so he turns his attention that way, hopping down off the barricade and coming up behind the crow at a brisk-but-casual pace. "Hey..." the canid starts, but he comes upon the clobbered soldier first and leaves the thought unfinished, stooping down to attend to the soldier instead. "Getting a little carried away over here, eh? Gimme a hand with this guy."<br> <br>Bambsi doesn't know of the two heavily injured individuals, instead instructing the soldiers whom were taken out and injured to form a orderly line for her to see them one at a time. When they finally comply, she sets down her back and begins to work down the line, treating who she can.<br> <br>Savi's opponent is experienced. He twirls his spear to deflect the fern's blow, drawing two circles, though he underestimates her ability and ends up getting tapped on the shoulder anyway. He opens his mouth to speak, face flushed, growling softly before...bursting into laughter. "You soulless are as good as they say...bested by a girl, too urgh." He shakes his head.
+The archers facing Cali lower their arms. They have better fights to pick. The wounded archer needs urgent medical attention or he will soon be the first casualty.
+The windrunner will be alright despite his unconsciousness. Just a broken bone. Or two. Or five. Nothing major too, those bones only got fractures.
+Bambsi does good work! She gets many promises of free drinks at the inn.<br> <br>Calisiel answers Rainer. "Alright, I'll help get him up." She assists Rainer in moving the injured man, bringing him back toward where the marshall was. Seeing  Bambsi helping people, she turns to move toward her. Getting close to her: "Hey, Gazelle! We've got someone who is actually injured for ya!" Dropping him soflty to the ground, the crow kisses the injured man. "Tell him I've got a room at the pig if he wakes up." She ignores her wound, flies off toward firmament.<br> <br>Natska finishes checking out the windrunner, then gives Cassidy a short nod and a small smile, patting the fennec on the shoulder before she hops her way back up the ridge. She perches at the top for a moment, then frowns as she sees the commotion caused by the critically injured archer. She hurries over to his side, concerned, then calls out. "Give me room."<br> <br>Natska motions for Bambsi, though, eager to hear the expert's opinion.<br> <br>Cassidy remains by the injured windrunner's side til she's sure he'll be okay to go, helping him back up to his fellows, if need be. "My apologies about your friend. I am... Still rather uncertain of just how powerful I can exert my control, and how it comes into play with other things. I think I need to work on that, yes."<br> <br>Rainer doesn't say anything, but he keeps darting glances at Calisiel for the duration of their short march over to the other wounded with the konked-out soldier slung over their shoulders. "You got a handle on this, right?" he inquires of Bambsi, once their cargo is deposited, straightening up and putting his hands on his hips. "Hey, nice work with those ... earth math barrier things at the start! You saved my butt." The antelope gets a thumbs up, then a backwards wave over his shoulder as he starts off in search of other ways he can make himself useful.<br> <br>Bambsi nods slightly to Rainer, before she turns to give the critically wounded archer medical attention with a frown. With her attention taken though, she's unable to assist Natska. "I've got most of it, check on the ones back up the path please? And it was no problem." She gives a brief smile before it's back to work.<br> <br>Natska waits tensely for a few minutes as she watches Bambsi get to work, then relaxes as it seems the skilled doctor has everything well in hand. She gets up and moves off to the side, slipping her hands into her pockets and waiting for Cassidy to rejoin her before heading back down the mountain.<br> <br>Cassidy brushes her gloved hands down her coat, ridding herself of spare dirt before darting off to catch up with Natska, smiling at the jaguar. "Well! That was an interesting little detour, huh? Shall we?" She tips her head before setting off with her companion.[[Category:RPLogs]]