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 Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 6:32 pm
Zeal chuckles from some distance behind Kreen and Artes. Very nice. Both of them will do rather well. He walks more quickly now, moving toward Kreen and Artes rapidly in order to join up with them. He waits to speak until he gets close enough to do so without difficulty.
"Very nicely done. I believe that Kreen could have handled that monster himself but you performed quite well also, Artes." He stops beside them and turns to the west. "I believe that I will need to see you in one further battle before this particular training session will be over. You have shown that you can work together to destroy a single opponent. However, I believe that the two of you should be challenged in a different way." Zeal turns his attention more toward Artes. "Most opponents won't attack one at a time like this. The creature that Kreen just killed is one of a race of monsters that usually hunt in mated pairs. This one was a rogue male that was both young and inexperienced." He turns his gaze to the horizon and smiles slightly at a small cloud of dust that is barely forming there. "Those should challenge your combined abilities. They tend to be annoyingly stubborn about not falling before magic alone. Magic can kill them but... it has to be rather focused since they're naturally resistant. Oh, and they don't necessarily have to touch you to hurt you so watch their stingers."
Zeal holds his sword by his side calmly as the monsters begin to resolve into discernable forms on the horizon. Eight black scorpions, slightly over twelve feet long, moving in a pack race across the black sand. Their stingers glow a faint red as they approach.
Valden readies a very faint and highly focused breath but relaxes at Zeal's insistance. Very well. You will protect them if they cannot deal with this. He relaxes again, remaining watchful and turns his gaze on the human beneath his wing.
"When they have satisfied Zeal, then we will all leave this place. You will most likely be returned to where you come from... unless you have an alternative suggestion to make?" Valden's voice is deep and steady, not disturbed by the recent occurances at all.
The giant scorpions scuttle forward rapidly, raising some dust in their passing. The heat from their stingers makes the air ripple around them. The stingers are capable of throwing intense bursts of heat over around a twenty yard range with effictiveness. The heat is intense enough to liquify sand on impact. They aren't terribly accurate but they are pack hunters and this makes them far more dangerous.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 6:43 pm
Artes looked at the cloud and jumped back once he realized what they were. He had read about these. "In-infernal scorpions? A whole slew of them? I-I don't know, Zeal. These things are extremely dangerous. I'm not sure if I'll be of any use at all." Obviously Artes had no confidence in his combat abilities.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 7:14 pm
This is one foe Kreen has faced before. They are dangerous and unpredictable, making them absolutely perfect pets for a warlord. Despite this fact, he charges his gauntlets a second time and begins to chain several spells together into what will be a powerful gust of wind when it is released.
"Remember, they have only the ability to strike forward. Nothing else. If you can move quickly enough, you can strike them from behind. Aim for the base of the stinger with your arrows. If you manage to hit the right place, it will immobilize the entire thing and become just a dead weight which will slow your enemy enough that you can defeat him easily. As a general rule of battle, if you are forced to engage the enemy from the front and all else fails, aim for either the eye or the weapon if you think you can hit it. If you cannot, reposition until you can. Do not waste your arrows or energy under any circumstances," Kreen says, pulling from it hiding place one of his shortswords. "Take this and use it if you are forced to engage at close range. If you can, attempt to ride the creature. It will have no way of hitting you but with the stinger, and it will not use that for fear of hitting and killing itself."
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 7:34 pm
Zeal raises his sword to a position of relaxed guard and nods slightly at Kreen's words in confirmation. He closes his eyes for a moment and the blade in his hand begins to glow a pale blue, rippling slightly as its edge is enhanced by an exponential factor.
"Kreen, the arrows that Artes has should be enough, in combination with his enchantments, to kill these monsters. He won't be able to fight them close up though. No elf can. You and I will have to keep them away from him so that he can." Zeal's eyes flick over to Artes. "Artes, you shouldn't have a problem hitting them. Start shooting... but take your time while you can. Make those shots count."
((I will wait for Shiznit's reply before posting with Valden. I may be getting offline in a relatively short period. I will be online tomorrow.))
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 7:43 pm
Artes nodded. "Right. I only have ten arrows and then the bow shatters, right? I''ll do my best. I know something that may help." He sat down on the sand with the bow across his legs, focusing his energies. "Lamprell De Muelti" Energy flowed over it and it glowed with green light. He then stood up and drew an arrow. "This will make it a bit easier." As he notched it, it turned blue and looked like a bolt of energy.
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Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:33 pm
Elves cannot fight at short range? Interesting. Not having come in contact with elves in so long, he had forgotten of that crippling weakness of the elves'. With a flick of his wrist, the blade disappears and Kreen takes to the air. He flies at an angle toward the creatures. Then, he dives, timing the action so that he will land behind the creatures just as they pass under him. Then, he further corrects his dive as he and they get nearer and nearer so that he will land on one of their backs. Just like last time. The risk of being attacked in that position by one of the other creatures is low, but it is still worth taking into account. With this in mind, he seems to flick his glowing blue wrists and the shortswords reappear from their hiding places. He shifts in the air so that he is falling feet-first, then rams his blades into the creature's back so that he he will stay on.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:00 am
He watched the whole demise of the millipede play out, and realized he was standing up. When he sat down, the dragon spoke to him. "Oh, alright," he said, happy that they would leave the Waste, and take him with them. "Well...I dont know where I came from," he looks up at the dragon, "I kinda just woke up here...and I would love it if I could join you guys in whatever youre doing here! What are yuo doing here exactly anyways?" He quickly realized his offer was a rude one. "But, I dont want to be a nuisance, so you can just drop me off at the nearest town."
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 1:39 pm
Zeal raises his sword and thrusts the blade into the ground as Kreen begins his dive. The pale blue light flows along a horizontal line for several yards, reaching upward higher than the heads of Zeal and Artes. With this minor barrier in place, Zeal raises his left hand to touch the barrier with his palm. The light ripples slightly and a matrix of thin streams of more concentrated light flow along the surface to gather before his waiting hand.
Zeal releases the light in a highly focused beam just as the first few bolts of concentrated heat surge from the tips of the scorpion's stingers to splash against the barrier. The impacts would have missed both of them, with one exception. That single blast would have struck Artes a glancing blow to the leg. The intense beam of sapphire light strikes the lead scorpion, punching through its carapace. The beam does not penetrate all the way through however and only the one monster falls, forcing those behind it to slow momentarily as they scuttle over the corpse.
"The barrier is one way! You can shoot through it!" Zeal says with an imperative tone to his voice as another nexus of power begins to gather before his hand.
Valden listens to the human with his full attention, well aware that Zeal is holding back the vast majority of his strength in order to test the two others. His eyes focus on the human as he finishes speaking. Valden remains silent for a moment as he thinks to provide the best answer.
"This... is a test. The elf and the fae are being tested to see whether or not they will be able to fulfill the tasks that they have chosen to undertake. You seem to be capable of handling yourself fairly well. You may join us if you have no place to return to. The elf also has no place to which he can return." Valden's voice and manner are somewhat welcoming and reassuring. However, such things coming from a great black dragon may not necessarily have the intended effect at times.
The scorpion beneath Kreen chitters in agitation and anger throwing a burst of heat off of its stinger that barely misses his head to splash harmlessly against the base of Zeal's barrier, forming a small pool of molten sand. The other scorpions spread out somewhat and continue bombarding the barrier with bolts of heat. The lead scorpion is still some dozen yards away and some of them have begun slowing down. Two of them move closer to the one that Kreen is riding in order to attack him with their pincers.
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:40 pm
A test? Rath thought to himself, I wonder what theyre testing... He watches the battle under the shade of the giant black wing. "Sure, thatd be great!" he looks back up at the dragon, whos looking at him as well. He studdered, and looked back down, "What is this task? -if you dont mind.."
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:59 pm
Artes muttered another incantation. "Incenre" The already energy-encased arrow turned pure white and clear vapor rose from it. "Take this!" He released the arrow and it split into three, one lodging in a scorpion's tail, where that section was encased in ice. The second arrow collided into Kreen's scorpion's left pincer, while the third landed harmlessly a couple feet away from the battle.
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 6:38 pm
Kreen rams the one of the blades further into the creature's carapace to improve his hold on it, then pulls the other out altogether. He then moves the blade further up the creature's body and rams it into the beast's neck. With a sharp twist and a sweep of the blade, the scorpion is suddenly rendered without a head. The assassin then rides the creature's momentum from before its sudden demise with a leap, focusing his power at the same time. Three spells turn to one, and an orb of green, fluorescent, viscous liquid erupts from the assassin's hand and slams into the ground in front of one of the creatures. The beast becomes entangled in the stuff, stopping its advancement completely (though not much can be done about the lava constantly streaming from its tail). With that stopped, Kreen flutters his wings and twists in the air to come to a stop on ground level about a dozen meters away from the scorpions with his barrier charged, his blade in his hand, and throwing daggers at the ready.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:29 am
Zeal focuses the second beam and strikes the closest scorpion in the head, killing it instantly. It's corpse twitches as it slides to a stop at ten yards from the barrier. The four remaining scorpions that can still move split into two groups and move to get around the barrier. In order to do this they have to stop attacking as they turn away.
Zeal uses this opportunity to project one final stream of force to kill the imobilized scorpion before dropping the, now useless, shield. He pulls his blade out of the sand and rushes toward the pair of scorpions on the left. His assault is low and direct. His first slash carries him past the rear scorpion moments before its head and pincers fall to the sand, severed cleanly. He stops moving for a moment as the scorpion before him tries to turn toward Artes. Zeal swings his sword through the air, casting a ripple of blue light that passes straight through the scorpion's body from rear-left to fore-right. The bisected corpse twitches for several seconds before falling to the sand.
Valden watches the human's shudder with a slight smile. He is quite used to the affect that he has on many humans. He turns his gaze back to the battle with mild interest, knowing well that Zeal's full power would have ended the fight long ago but that the elf and the fae are doing quite well for themselves with only two opponents left to face.
"The task is the position of guardian. They will be protecting the first clutch of my mate. This test is to determine whether they are strong enough to succeed in that." Valden's voice is steady and reveals nothing of his amusement.
The two remaining scorpions move rapidly to Artes' right side, ignoring Kreen in favor of easier prey. They are not facing the proper direction for using their heat blasts but they will be able to do so in mere moments.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 3:06 pm
Kreen follows the scorpions as they move around the barrier, launching himself forward to cut off one of the two remaining creatures. Both his shortswords have disappeared now, and in their place the assassin holds his primary weapon: an oddly plain-looking b*****d (hand-and-a-half) sword. With this blade in his hand, the Fae launches himself past the beast, striking it in the joint of one of its claws as he passes, stopping in front of it. He then twists about, practically hurling his sword forward with all his weight to drive it through the beast's armor and into its brain to kill it. Then, just to make sure that it is, in fact, dead (as these things are prone to not being so when logic says they ought to be), Kreen sends a bolt of electricity up his blade and into the scorpion's body to shock it to death.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 4:18 pm
Faced with the last scorpion, Artes gave a tiny whimper. This wasn't where he would like to be, but he was here and he had to deal with it. With the aid of his speed charm he jumped to the side, barely dodging a blast of heat and fire from the scorpion. He aimed directly at its head and pulled back an arrow. "Vorte!" He screamed and the tip of the arrow glinted. When it was let go, the powerful enchantment ripped through the creature's body, from between the eyes to the tail join.
Artes smiled at first but was then sickened by what he saw and he could not help but relive his stomach of his breakfast again.
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 5:00 pm
Clutch? Mate? Rath questioned himself in his head. Then it became clear: "Your.......babies? Er- they are going to protect your babies?" He understood the statement, but he didnt understand why. Though he would love to "guard" a dragon, and have him as his friend. That would be amazing. He didnt know what else to say, so he just continued watching the battle.
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