Arc 12 Post 38: Blades Bright and Dark
Blades Bright and Dark
Third Day of Elnu-Hamba (Elnu Descendent), 1349 A. L. (After Landfall)
"With me!" you call in place of a warcry in the minds of battle. "With me!" Though you can barely hear your own voice over the shouts of rage and of pain, over the thunder of Silver's hooves and the great booming of the war the soldiers of the Fellowship have no need of encouragement save for the sight of the white coat and the burning sword.
You charge and over the sand turned to much and reeking of death and brine, you jump over the bodies of those broken by the brute and then at the last it turns towards you, as though sensing that you would be a greater challenge to the will of its maters... and there at the last you see its face. Broken and ruined it is, a bloated thing of sickly green and rancid blue and yet even among the ravages of death and the curse that denied it you could still see the face of the giant. It was... he was young, barely more than a boy, now made a puppet of dark masers. He does not want to kill you, that you know from the look in tortured eyes.
Durendal slips aside as the rotted boots on the left leg and not the flesh of it as you had meant to as the giant leaps aside with uncanny nimbleness. He does not want to kill you but he is made to do it just the same.
On sheer instinct you manage you manage to block the first kick with your shield, hands numb from the sheer weight of the blow, then just as an Anwari archer manages to strike an arrow through the horror's chest, the second blow strikes with such force that it sends you and Inge tumbling from Silver's back and landing on the fouled earth.... into the water that seems almost to reach out to drown you.
You take 8 damage
Inge takes 1 Damage
As her head smashes back painfully against your chest Inge is sill reaching for the threads of power... still calling to the judgement of Ikomi and from those threads a webs is spun that falls over the hosts of your foes. In the press of the shieldwall half a dozen are caught... more.
"Kill them! Gut the sons of whores!" As warcries go far from the most inspiring, but a bruised and battered Negu is ready to charge into the weakened center of the foe... just as the winged beast tears the net from George's hands and lunges again, seeking to tear the man who had so snared it limb from limb. Though you call out a warning you know it is too late, the press of bodies too close and his horse all but rearing...
Lo a golden light shines upon the brow of Moru, oracle of Inoko of the Twin Flame and his light is of warding... George screams and falls under the beast but only for a moment as Ziku charges it from behind and with deadly blow of his curved blade hews the thing's left wing off.
More you do not see as the giant looms over you trying to grip and to tea. It's all that you can do to lunge under the corpse's hands, though it is between you and Silver now, leaving your friend no chance to get to you and Inge as his hooves sink in the soft sand.
"Leave us! I'll take this one!" The words have more of bravado than confidence, but in the heat of battle one might in place of the other serve.
As Durendal finally finds the leg of the beast, sinking into the rotted flesh and scrapes against the bone of the beast even as the foemen's shieldwall begins to waver even more, some of their number falling without a hand on them. You would laugh to hear men who serve in the company of such horrors say 'witchcraft' in a tone of alarm, but alas you have not the breath. The giant had managed to grasp you this time, to pull you up and squeeze you in a grasp like iron... though still the sword falls.
Blackened fingers fly loose like worms on the muck and that is when Tom spears the giant from behind in the small of the back, the sheer weight of man and horse charging like a lancer, though he bore no lance toppling the corpse. A bite from it tears away your boot and sends pain shooting up your leg, but now its' neck is near enough...
You take 7 Damage
One final stroke of the sword ends it and from its ravaged visage a sigh that might perhaps have been relief escapes.
Just as the battle seems all but won, the winged beast on its last legs fighting the brothers, a great cry of horror rises from the ranks of the Anwa as Negu who had been fighting at the front crumples to the ground. You might have thought he had taken some bleeding wound or blow to the head earlier in the battle, but for the fact that Silver shouts almost at once:
"Assassin! Assassin in the shieldwall!" A moment passes and then he says. "He's gone now, a glamor!"
What do you do?
[] Focus on getting healing to Negu, he is your ally and the battle might yet be lost if he dies
[] Focus on protecting your companions, if there is a killer in the middle of a chaotic ambush than you will need to stand back to back not go charging in
[] Try to hunt the assassin
[] Write in
OOC: And once again perception to the rescue... well that and Tom with a spear on the charge.
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