Fall of Anima - RPLOG
Participants
Date
13/7/477
Log
There's a flurry of activity in the camp of Anima - or at least, what still remains of it. A week is more than enough warning for a military camp to be torn down - and torn down it has been, especially with the spectre of an enemy that cannot be fought. Everything non-essential is ready to be abandoned, everything essential has been packed away in carts under armed guard, ready for the evacuation. All that remains is for the hired help to turn up.
Not more than five hundred metres away, the edge of the swirling mist awaits, cold and opaque as always. The edge has travelled considerably since it manifested a week ago - just how big is the old battlefield?
Selena sighs quietly, the wolfess looking about the camp with nothing less than livid frustration at the presence - or more likely absence - of a certain being, muttering something to herself. She's not above helping move some of the accumulated supplies around the camp either, but it's clear that her displeasure isn't with the situation itself.
"Trust that damn kit to show back up out of nowhere and leave 'her' pet project for nothing. Creators' sake." She spits, ultimately moving over to the mustering point mentioned in the call for help and waiting with an air of slight impatience.
Part of the Freesword detachment, Natska quietly approaches the camp behind Selena. She surveys the grounds with an impassive stare, her normally boisterous attitude muted, then glances over at Selena. "Mm. So where do we report?"
Cassidy makes her way along quietly, dapper as ever, despite the gravity of the situation. Her hands remain folded behind her back as she draws up next to Selena and Natska. "Hello, two friends. It is good to be seeing you, as unfavourable as the situation may be." She bobs her head for a moment, adjusting her hat with the momentum.
Eventually Sara shows up behind the gathered people hired, her slow stride taking the dragoness to the camp that apparently seems familiar to the woman. Making her way to the commanding officer of the camp she offers a crisp salute, and with a quick, "Sir, Sara reporting ready and able to work." sets about moving the non-essentials. Never one for conversation, the dragoness passes by the others hired to do the job with a nod, her attention however fully on moving, a well trained subject with her, showing in fluid movements, and few questions.
A great dragon spreads his wings and then lands gracefully on the ground in a clearing at the camp, a bow tied under one of the base of his wings and a suit of plate armor on the other. "Sorry I'm late." Jera explains, bowing his head. "I had other duties, so I rushed here on wing." He looks around for a place that will offer him some minor cover to change back into archer shape.
Angus adjusts the strap of his blunderbuss as he hoofs it towards the gathering point, a hand still on his hat as he skids to a stop near those that had gathered. "Evening everyone." He comments, a little short of breath as he looks around before he starts to head over towards the commanding officer to see how the evacuation was going.
Indeed, the carts have been assembled by the "gate", the earthern wall ready to be torn down
down at any moment now. There's an aura of stillness in the air, where even the occasional undead battering at the walls is nowhere to be seen. Preparations, perhaps, on both sides of the fence. It certainly feels that way.
Poised by the side of the activity, by the commanding officer, are the four callers who previously met Selena and Cassidy on the edge of the Gravefells, and as everyone approaches one of them, a grey wolf, breaks away from the conversation. "Yes, I understand, commanding officer. I will need to borrow the Freeswords for a moment. Well, longer than a moment."
"Welcome, Selena, Cassidy," he muses, turning to the group. "And the friends you have brought along, it seems. It is good that you could come. This situation is quite worrying - remember how I mentioned the mist might take two weeks to reach the camp? It's only been one. The situation is accelerating, and not in a good way. We've been studying the mist over the past week - and have some results I'll share later - but for today, the focus is on getting everyone threatened to safety."
"It is unlikely the Corrupt Court will be satisfied with driving us off the land, and will expecting to make a show of us. That must not happen. The camp may be lost by necessity, but there is no reason for lives to be. I'm not sure what they'll do, but that's why we have every being who can wield a weapon holding one. That, and the likes of us.
"When the signal is given...we will proceed out and south in an orderly fashion. The most likely course of attack that we will be expecting will be wraiths from the mist, forced into attacking us, but it's important to be on guard in all directions."
Selena looks back over to the callers, tsking quietly - though the small congregation of freeswords seems to give her a little solace, giving the others acknowledgement in either short greetings or nods if she's unfamiliar - with an exception for Angus, who's simply given a short stare before she looks away.
"Well, it'd be remiss of me not to come. For all the talk I've done of expecting the encampment to fail, that doesn't mean I haven't been doing my part in keeping it here either - unlike a certain vixen responsible for the place. I'll be interested to hear what you have to say about the mist, though, especialy since Kendrac had nothing to say about the matter other than that he was uncertain of what was going on."
Having said her piece, the wolfess sighs quietly, conjuring a familiar shape out of fire and earth beside her, turning to the kit fox in particular. "Jera, I haven't seen you for a long time. Congratulations, though; I heard about your lifebonding. It's not the best place to discuss that, though, or the right time."
Natska shoots Cassidy a quick smile at her greeting, and her eyes widen as she sees the dragon Angus for the first time. Two dragons, even. Her notched ear flicks, and she remains quiet as she listens to the caller - and when they are in the lull before the camp is pulled up, she turns to Cassidy with her question. "I... had not heard much about the mist. What is it?" she asks, quietly.
Cassidy tips her hat in greeting to the callers before looking towards Jera and Angus, smiling behind her mask. "I will help you to the best of my ability, yes. Does the mist still restrict magic usage?" She brushes off her coat and adjusts her lapels before trying to conjur up a few small embers. Nothing intense, just a test.
The true orders eventually reaches Sara's ears, most notably with the help involving the pointing of the guards and those dealing with the last of the moving. "Huh?" she asks as she looks to the officers talking to the others, "O-oh, right.." she mumbles, seeming ashamed of her previous actions. Making her way to the gathering of the other freeswords just in time to overhear Selena's statement on how the encampment would fail but doesn't speak on it, apparently still clueless about the entire ordeal the camp had been going up against. "I'll offer what I can to help fight the wraiths but I'm a bit rusty.." the dragoness offers to the commanding officers before pulling an old standard issue musket from underneath the travelers cloak she had been wearing.
Jera finishes shifting out of dragon form and changing into his black steel plate, laced with red trim. He nods solemnly at Sara and Natska with a serious look on his face, while his hands tested his large bow to make sure it wasn't damaged from the flight. "The mist is a terrible thing. I had an encounter at the Gravefells. It just felt like...I could hear people trapped reliving their final battles. An endless war going on, and on, and on...people who could've been members of my family at Mossy Stone..."
His voice goes hushed a little bit, hints of fear in his widened eyes. "It's terrifying." And then he pulls his visor on.
Angus gives the grey wolf a somber nod, tilting the brim of his hat down just a little when he recieves a look from Selena. "You said the mist can affect magic?" He asks as he draws his blunderbuss from his back, checcking the hammer and making sure it was loaded before turning his gaze back to those around him as he throws the sling over his neck once more.
Victor, the wolf, nods at Selena. "In the intervening week, we've learned some important things about the mist that will help us combat its hold on the land. Although we don't know the whys yet, the how is not as obscure as it once was. I'll tell you more once we're safe."
"For the benefit of your friends...the kit fox is right. One week ago, a wall of mist manifested itself in the middle of the old site of Lord Robert's battle to take back Mossy Stone twenty-seven years ago. Within it, the spirits of the fallen are being forced to replay the events of their final day over and over again. They die every day... and will, forever, if nothing is done about it. Furthermore, it is growing, and will in time encompass the entirety of the old battlefield. It exerts a force that dampens the ability of mathemagic, although we're not sure why. Although we will not be entering it today. Not until we are fully prepared."
While this little speech is going on, the final preparations are being made to break down the gate. The rank and file are fidgety, on edge, as the first cracks appear in the earthen wall, carefully deconstructed by earth mathemagicians.
Selena sighs quietly. "It is a fairly new development. I'm not too surprised you hadn't heard about it." She notes. "Though yes, it dampens magic somewhat. I'd be interested to know exactly how much, but that's a primarily meaningless number for the time being."
The wolfess sighs a little. "All that I know about it is that pyrrha is only tangentially related to the mist and that it's probably a collaborative effort from the old ones. That's all I've heard on that front, and I did ask Kendrac to keep me up to date with this particular event." She notes.
"The air in that place is worse than what's happening in it, Jera. It doesn't feel right at all, even if you look past it all being an illusion of sorts."
It takes a deep, controlled breath for Natska to ground herself, but then the jaguar nods. "Very well," she says, as she pulls her gauntlets from their loop on her tasset and pulls them on. She takes the sheath from the blade of her glaive and hangs it in their place, then gives the caller a slight nod. "We will get your people out safely." Then she looks to the other Freeswords. "I am guessing you have spells to snare whatever comes out of the mists. Who is in charge and how are we doing this?"
Cassidy props a hand on the pommel of her sword and wrinkles her nose. "Mm. Not me, preferably! I'm not much of a leader. But I will be here to lend both magic and blade against whatever comes out of the mist. And if we're not going in, that's all the better. Means I won't be as stifled."
Her grip tightening on the musket, Sara holds to the rifle for dear life, her own jittering joining in with the rank and file as the sound of the cracking wall reaches her ears. After looking to her feet and breathing a slow sigh to compose herself Sara looks up and over to Natska, "I'm just out of Freesword training myself. Don't think I'm cut out for leading, but.. since I'm not really burdened by lack of magic, I might help." the last bit said hopefully as if to help reinforce herself, and to dispell the fear gnawing at the edges of her mind.
I would like to lead the way, but I am also a fan of my bow, I'm afraid. If you guys will watch my back..." Jera is suited up in quite the heavy suit of armor too, even as he takes a bo strapped to his back and then spins it around fluently for a moment. "Make sure we get everyone out, ok?"
Angus takes a deep breath, calm and in his element compared to when he was stuck in front of a crowd last night as he looks over those around him. Definitly not a good moment to try and use a blunderbuss while with a group, drawing the dagger from his belt with his left hand as he draws his pistol in his right. "Don't know much about this fog, but I know how to kill the undead. I'll follow your lead."
"The commanding officer over there, as she explained it to me, she will lead. We are to guard the convoy all the way down to Griffon Rock, whereupon we should be safe. Too long have we tarried
"The commanding officer over there, as she explained it to me, she will lead. We are to guard the convoy all the way down to Griffon Rock, whereupon we should be safe. Too long have we tarried; the road south is dangerously close to the mist's edge, but making one's way across the contryside would open us up to other dangers. I am not an expert on minitary matters, so I shall defer to her.
"There's no way to know with absolute certainty what might assail us, or if we will even be set upon. I can only urge everyone to be on guard."
As the final words are spoken, the wall finally gives way with a rumble, the last of the mathemagic used to gently guide the rubble to the side where it won't be in the way. One by one, the carts start moving, mathemagics driving their wheels - there has never been place to spare for beasts of burden in a camp like this, after all. The convoy starts proceeding down the road, on alert, on edge, one eye trained on the opaque, pulsating edge of mist that's too close for comfort. Even at this distance, its oppressive aura presses lightly at the minds of everyone, testing, feeling for a way in.
Selena looks over to the Lizard, tapping the side of her nose gently. "You managed to get here in the first place; getting back shouldn't be any worse with a group." she replies comfortingly, sending her previously summoned elemental out ahead of the group.
"We do know what we're likely to see, but it's better not to be jaded in a situation like this. If anyone is able to summon elementals or other expendable targets, it'd be a good idea to keep them ready for use at any time."
The wolfess lingers a brief moment to cast a little water magic on the group to alleviate the trip ahead, falling in with whomever may be nearby.
Natska quietly snorts, then gives Jera a small nod. She falls in with the column, keeping to the outside of the group, and keeps her gaze watchful. Her tail slowly lashes back and forth, but her questions can wait until later.
Cassidy reaches down to her side and draws her side-sword, running a gloved finger along the flat of the oddly coloured blade before pointing it towards the ground and falling in for the 'march'. "Well, with fortune they will not hinder our travel too much, hmm?"
Sara flares her wings out, the leathery appendages creeping out the travelers cloak, "Usually helps when the creatures can't reach you." she states, answering Selena's earlier comment before returning them to their original hiding space. Though still the jittering does subside, being surrounded by other freeswords helping settle her mind. "But you're right, I suppose." After straightening her back, and clearing her throat she starts to march onwards, following close behind the convoy.
Jera follows just behind the commanding officer, keeping his weaponry at the ready, along preparing some sums in his head in case things went south quick. He then frowns, and then clenches his hands, starting to call up a tailwind for the crew.
Angus nods, thinking on it as he sheaths his dagger and adjusts the grip of his pistol, switching it to his left hand in a two handed shooters grip, pulling back the hammer as he looks around. "Welp, lets not keep them waiting then." He mutters to himself, tail flicking as he follows.
Soon enough, the convoy is beyond the walls of the now-former camp - and at its most exposed. The road is long, little more than a dirt track worn out over the last few months of supply runs, and at its most exposed - the gently rolling hills offer little in the way of cover. A double-edged sword, perhaps - nowhere to hide, but nothing hidden, either, when the relative silence, save of the marching drumbeat, is broken abruptly.
~Run, worms! Flee! Now that you have tasted the true power of -~ the "voice" is cut off abruptly, much like as if someone had clamped a hand over their mouth. There's some "interference", almost like hushed whispering, but it quickly fades away. Ugh, such cheesy bravado.
Selena mutters something to herself quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on the area ahead. "Well, Akros is definitely here. Aparrently another two old ones stifled him." She states, evidently keen on getting the information to the others regardless of how useful (Or useless) it may be. "I'm sure they're VERY proud of themselves."
That said, she moves her elemental a little further ahead of the group; "If we have mages here. prepare shielding spells or air magic to deflect projectiles. I know what to expect out of Mossy stone, but that there's more old ones there it'd be best to make sure we're accounting for less obvious opposition. If they think they have the upper hand, there's probably an ambush nearby."
Angus stiffens, stopping in his tracks as he hears Selena say that name, and he hisses. "Don't say that name!" He spits out with a little scorn as he remembers the last time he ran afoul of that horrid monster. "If he's here we do not want to attract his attention, remember the last time we ran into one of this creatures? And what they did?" He comments as his eyes dart around the place, holstering the pistol to free both hands to draw out his blunderbuss once more, his grip tightening just a bit as he takes another deep breath.
~You diseased, rotting fool. You've blown our cover.~
~Little matter. It's not as if we needed to take them by surprise anyway.~
Another "voice", strangely calm and businesslike. ~Who did she say was in charge for this? You or me?~
A little more skulkily. ~You.~
~And don't you forget it. Now listen up, mortals and creatures of Kendrac - and the others, of course. We're letting you in on our conversation to prove a point. Nothing personal. We'd just like to make an example of you. Or more than already has, at any rate. Enjoy. Our callers worked hard on this. Oh, did you know there was always a spy in the camp? It was ridiculously easy to slip one in.~
Slowly, the wall of mist softens, losing its consistency...and from within, the call of an old bugle, a call to arms.
Jera kneels down, and sets his bow across his lap for a moment to nock an arrow on each scale on his bow, growling out. "Here they come. Throw what you have at the mist first, but don't exhaust yourselves." A whole quiver of arrows loaded, he draws strenuously, and then tilts his bow up, loosing a rain of arrows into the sky.
Selena shrugs, looking back to Angus. "Unlike in the swamp, Akros is less relevant here. And by 'the rules' he can't intervene directly. I'm not worried about him here." SHe replies flatly. "And he is already here."
looking back ahead, she replis; "I'm not surprised, the three of you - You do know who was 'rnning' the camp, right? That said, you make it unreasonably difficult to contact you without more hassle than I'd like to go through, so I'm still curious what your motives are and why you've chosen to show up here - promise, I mean - rather than elsewhere. But I suppose that kind of question is irrelevant. I hardly suspect you'd want to sit down and talk about this when you have your plans laid out. There'll be another time, I'm sure; I like to know why things are happening."
Natska's ears go back and she growls; a low, menacing rumble. The jaguar turns towards the mists and lowers herself into a readied stance, behind the firing line that Jera has established. "Right. I have nothing for this, so I will be interference if needed. Unless the commander wishes otherwise."
Cassidy gives a curt nod to Selena. "As you say." She flexes the fingers on her left hand for a moment as she concentrates, readying a bit of wind magic should she needs to use it in a hurry. She tightens the grip on her sword and looks towards the mist. "I do find your actions a bit strange. You would win a lot more people over to your cause if you didn't act so blatantly... Malicious." She doesn't yet make an attack of her own, though.
A faint snicker passes Sara's lips over the bravado, "Guess I've nothing to fear then." she mumbles under her breath before turning again to silence, listening quietly to the argument, the trudge of the various feet, and the roll of the wagon wheels. Occasionally looking to the sides and behind her looking for any movement in the mist that would signify a possible threat. A slow, yet shaky hum eventually breaks out from her throat, remembering that song on the jetty she had heard only a day earlier, Green Greens by the sound of it. Though the song is short-lived as she looks up to Angus and Selena, watching their reactions and quickening her breath as a result. She had no idea what the old one was, but with a reaction like that, it probably did not bode well. Raising her weapon to the thinning mist she pulls the hammer of the musket back and points it to the mist, waiting for the first visible form to fire upon.
Angus flicks his ears before they fold at the sound of that familiar voice, the foxes eyes darting around the place as he moves his right hand to touch the staff strapped to his back, giving him just a little more confidence to face Akros again after what happened last time. "Creator damned, pieces of filth." He mutters to himself as he turns in the direction that he could hear the horn from.
~You're right, creature of Kendrac. Talk is meaningless. Ask your patron, if you want to learn the truth. If you want to know of the peoples who lived on this world, ages before you were sent here, and of their eventual fate. See if he will give you so much as a straight answer. We are done here.~
With that, all is quiet. Shaken as they are from the exchange, the convoy keeps moving, everyone understanding that this is a moving retreat - staying and fighting to the bitter end can only result in tragedy. Yet positions are readied, bolts and arrows are notched, powder primed.
"Captains! To your standards! We enter the fray!"
The six-armed bannerman has neither breath nor blood, yet it has enough of a voice. Wraiths emerge from the mist, coated in vile slime, dread striking all who gaze upon them. Yet not all of the spirits are pliantly acquesing with being played around with like puppets on string - some of them are clearly struggling against the cursed bannerman's control, to no avail.
Selena clicks her tongue at the response. "Well, now I have somewhere to start." She replies to the disembodied voices, shivering a little at the bannerman's appearance. "... Well, I suppose that's going to be a problem." She grumbles, gesturing to the bannerman. Her elemental, on the other hand, simply moves towards the new assailants as the wolfess readies a spell proper. "But I definitely don't like where this is going."
Natska taps Jera on the shoulder, tail lashing. "Keep moving, lord Jera." She falls back a few steps, eyes scanning the masses of horrors. "Remember we're here to leave, not kill things..." She shoots Selena a glance. "What is it talking about??" she says, sotto voice.
Cassidy glares off towards the Bannerman, remembering the last time she was around such a thing. "Yes, we are here to leave, but it sounds like everyone is preparing to engage. So fleeing is not in the plan, it seems." Rather than her defensive spell, she starts to prep an offensive one, instead, waiting for the right signal to let it go.
With a careful breath, Sara pulls the trigger back, firing off a shot aimed for one of the struggling undeads skulls. With the musket expended she sets it aside and pulls a pistol from its place on her belt and aims it to another for a second shot aimed for another. All the while she does her best to keep pace with the others, returning to reloading both weapons. Her hands scramble to reload both however, making more of a mess than anything.
Angus stays close to the group for now, holding his shot as he glares in the direction of the bannerman, looking over the undead that were coming their way as his tail flicks.
Another clarion call of the bugle, another command shouted. "Archers! Light your arrows! Aim at the first in the train!" Hundreds of pinpricks of light flare up in the advancing army as bowstrings are drawn and readied to loose.
Selena tsks quietly, peering into the ranks of the hostiles before letting her spell loose - clearly based on battlefield purification, but something clearly different about it; fires erupting from the soil underneath the troops and creating unstable footing, the heat dessicating those unfortunate enough to be in its wake. Were it not for the lack of air magic, the spell would be drawing components from all schools of elemental magic.
"Well, that's enough arrows." She mutters, noting the lit arrows in the opposing forces in the wake of her spell. "Deflecting those is going to be more reasonable than blocking them. We wouldn't be able to make a shield around a group this large without wasting our energy."
"Yes," Natska states, doing her best to keep her voice calm and even despite the apparant forcast of firey rain. She starts to say something else, then stops herself with a small shake of the head; best to let the mages figure out their magery, and she'll keep to making sure they aren't left behind by the caravan. And that they don't need to worry about trippping over something unexpected.
As the others start their attack, Cass follows through with her own at last. With a snap of her fingers, mostly for her own personal taste, multiple lances of flame dart out to seek the opposition. "Well, let's see if we can do this fast, then."
Looking up from her weapons at the surge of magic on her side, and the pinpricks on the other Sara's mouth just drops before shaking her head, and clearing her mind. With the weapons loaded Sara lifts both, one at a time, and fires doing her best to take out two of the archers that the magic had not touched yet. With her weapons unloaded Sara ducks behind a wagon and crouches behind, praying to the creator and any other divine that the arrows would not touch her, or any of the others standing between her and the undead.
Angus draws a pistol from his side, firing off at their foes before he holsters it and tkaes hold of his Blunderbuss in a two handed grip, he looks around at all the chaos and steadies his aim, still holding the shot as he watches the arrows fly over.
While the armed guard maintain firing line and harass the approaching army, the four callers escorting the convoy have not been idle, either. Focusing their efforts, a gust of wind flies up, blowing astray a goodly number of arrows even as shields are raised to protect the carts from it.
"Keep moving!" Victor shouts. "Keep them at bay! They cannot stray too far from the mist! And help us with this wind!"
Selena mutters to herslelf, the woman conjuring a thick mire behind the carts to harry any close-range attackers that might've been conjured up by the mists. "I'll help with the winds in a moment if there's nothing else I can do. My elemental should be able to hold its own for a while." She replies, giving the already distant magma-esque doppelganger a go-ahead to begin attacking proper.
Natska just shakes her head and keeps with the wizardly types, watching the battle line of the undead and waiting to be of assistance. "There are definitely questions," she murmurs.
Cassidy drops her hand, her assault done. "Indeed there are. I have no spirit to call my own, so I've none to ask. I'll just wait to hear what Selena has to say after she's asked, herself." She turns her focus, then, towards trying to aid with the wind magic defense.
"Don't worry, we'll follow your instructions!" Jera growls as he keeps his bow and then amps his contribution to the group's air magic with all of his focus.
Angus watches as the wind buffets the arrows, looking at the shields as well as he looks around the combat fields and puts his hands to his muzzle to shot. "Selena, Cassidy, if you aid the callers and focus a massive gust of wind directly at them we can stall them and help throw off their aim!" Turning he looks to Natska and Sara. "You two, grab some shields and see if we can't help deflect the bolts." He states before taking up one of the extra shields.
It works. The mist grows further and further away as the carts press down the road, arrows deflected off shields and wind alike. A few are grazed, but those are mostly flesh wounds. Too easy. Perhaps too easy. But there is little point in terror if no one is left alive to tell the tale, is there? The undead army doesn't even seem to be trying, merely content to hold their ground for now. Why?
Questions to which, perhaps, the answers will be sought later, once the retreat is over. Even the four callers look appropriately surprised - but not as much as they do when the wall of mist gently rolls forward in one defiant gesture to consume the edges of the old camp that used to be known as Anima. With a shake of his head, Victor looks out at Gryphon Rock in the distance, then back at the mist before whispering something to Selena. But it would seem, for now, that the danger has passed.
As much as she disliked the idea of putting herself inbetween the others and the arrows, Sara had risen from her earlier roost behind the wagon and procured one of the tower shields, hefting it up skyward to stop any arrows from hitting the mages that had seemed to be doing most of the damage. "Ready here!" she shouts, answering Angus' earlier order. With the pistol reloaded from her time behind the wagon, the lizard woman sets the shield aside and creeps her hand out from behind to fire upon the army, this time, instead of aiming for a bannerman instead of one of the shambling footsoldiers. A last hurrah from her before again hefting the heavy shield overhead and protecting from any remaining arrows, a state she remains in until the mist is far on the distance.
