"So," the Admiral began, kicking a rock across the blasted grounds of the Norfova wilderness as they trudged their weary way across its barren face. There had been little to discuss outside the expectations of the bounty, at least in his eyes, for theirs was a relationship of shopkeeper to client. It was a close bond, an intimate one, but not one he really had expected to move beyond the confines of her shop counter. To have joined up with her on this quest had been surprising to say the least, particularly when he took into account just how less skilled he was than her. Add to that the awkwardness of their last exchange with one another when he had essentially begged that a generous tip be used as partial payment on the weapons he now carried on this quest. Good. So using social interaction algebra, poor and underskilled guy plus talented and superior person he felt indebted to equaled social awkwardness the likes of which high school had not been able to provide. Having nothing else to really say, he began to hum to himself for a moment, before bursting out into a song. But unlike most that he sang, this song was not an original composition of his own brilliant devising, oh no... This was straight out of a videogame from almost two decades past, which the player of The Admiral had chanced to play in the past.

"Sera was never quite an agreeable girl -
Her tongue tells tales of rebellion.
But she was so fast,
And quick with her bow,
No one quite knew where she came from.

Sera was never quite the quietest girl -
Her attacks are loud and they're joyful.
But she knew the ways of nobler men,
And she knew how to enrage them.

She would always like to say,
"Why change the past,
when you can own this day?"
Today she will fight,
To keep her way.
She's a rogue and a thief,
And she'll tempt your fate..."

Stopping at that point, his eyes fell to a pack of four wolves making their way from out of behind some boulders, padding across the ground towards the two.They didn't appear to be the more deadly Direwolf option, but their superior numbers gave them a higher DPS on average, and less of a chance to defend against them. Wrapping his hands around Sound Reasoning and Honest Persuasion, he glanced at the wolves and skirted to the side slightly, trying to remain between them and Sera. After all, she was the real strength here, and he was building his character up to tank things.

"How does this plan sound?" he asked, swinging the hammer in club in his hands absent-mindedly as though comforted by their weight.

"I keep them interested in me. You do what it is you do.. Focus them one at a time to reduce their overall number of attacks with each one we take down. Oh, and if any start casting spells, probably scream and trip over one another running away?"

+15 to

Thrown die:

73

 

The land was dead. Sera was perhaps the only living thing with any green in this whole area. She did not want to tap into her naturalmancy powers, via her astramancy, as she worried that any such connection in this place would result in nothing more than the feeling of overwhelming death, decay, and suffering. If she wanted to feel that, she'd use malefimancy. This would limit her, to some extent, reducing her total magical options. Still, hydromancy, aeromancy, or pyromancy would likely serve her the best for these purposes anyway.

She cocked an eyebrow when the man began to sing. His singing certainly wasn't.... good. At least it wasn't her type of preference, she didn't know the style he was using well enough to judge for sure. Still, she clapped slightly when he finished. "Can't say it's too accurate about me," she said. "I don't typically use a bow." She smiled, but that smile dissapeared when she realized why the man had stopped. "Oh. Already?" She asked the wolves. She spoke her constact phrase, and Roy shimmered into existance in the air beside her. Roy, her floating prism which glowed slowly each color of the rainbow, which allowed her to speak to the spirits which granted her power.

"Sounds good," she said in regards to the man, and instantly began to chant. As her chant progressed, she pulled a hand back and took a stance as if she was using a bow and arrow. The air in front of her began to frost, until a frozen arrow formed before her. At the spell's completion, it launched toward the wolves, striking one in the shoulder. "Alright, maybe I do use something like a bow every now and then," she said.

+20 to

Thrown die:

68

 

The beasts began to attempt to circle around the Admiral and Sera, a pair to the left and a pair to the right, hoping to attack from several directions at once. Their jowls snapped and dripped with froth and spittle and blood which fell upon the dry and baked earth of this land. Throats quivered as low growls began to build in their throats, building in timbre until at last all four let out a simultaneous howl of chilling length and cruel sound. As though wailing for peace from their afflictions, or perhaps lamenting the unkindness they would now visit upon Sera and the Admiral. He gave a snort of amusement at Sera's admission that she was archer-like in manifesting an ethereal arrow to fight with, which she sent launching after one of the wolves. It struck in the shoulder and embedded deep before the energy dissipated and left a gaping wound that dripped with blood and ichor.

Snarling, the wolves began to charge after the pair of humans, and the Admiral let out a battle cry of his own as he drew his two weapons into his hands. He rushed after the pair that Sera had already injured to stick to the plan of focusing them one at a time, bringing his hammer down across the top of the injured monster's bleeding shoulders with a loud crack. As it whelped in pain, a second swing brought the "definitely not a table leg" mace down on its skull and caved it in with a sickening crunch and squelch. Its partner, snarling in fury, clamped teeth down upon the Admiral's waist and shook its head, attempting to rend his flesh and cripple him with its jagged teeth. The man gave a shout of pain and started to flail against the beast, the panic and pain in his face making it obvious that his player kept the "pain" settings up to 60% real.

+15 to

Thrown die:

74

@Sera Phim

 

As the wolves lunged toward the two adventurers, Sera instead leapt back. Tapping into her still untested Conjuring magic, two ethereal swords manifested in the air above her, spinning wildly and slashing at the wolf she had already hit, before floating back to her in a more defensive stance. She grinned. "Okay, I think I like this new power." She gestured toward the nearest wolf. "Fly!" she said.

The swords remained where they were.

"Attack!" Sera said, pointing again.

Once more, the swords did nothing.

"Shazam?" Sera said, but she knew there wouldn't be any response. She sighed. "Fine, I'll just use my regular magic," she muttered. A brief chant and small orbs of fire formed in Sera's hand, and she launched them toward the wolves.

Luckily, the Admiral was doing his job and drawing agro well. Sera could tell that the wolves were still testing them. If they were going to get dangerous, they would snap and become so soon. If not, she expected that the two adventurers would be fine.

+20

Thrown die:

24

 

There was something highly unpleasant about having wolves bite down on you as they surrounded you for the kill, but that was not an issue that the Admiral feared he would need to contend with for long. As he soaked up damage and kept the wolf attached to his hip by way of teeth occupied, Sera remained nearby and began casting an assortment of spells to aid them. He glanced over his shoulder to spot the weapons hovering there, spinning and floating and ready to defend her while she shouted magic words and commands to them. Wait- did she not have those things figured out?

He was going to die, god damn it all!

Luckily rather than trying to figure out how the things worked she switched back to magic that could be useful right now, blasting away at the ferocious beasts with some fireballs. The things had only the most mild of animal cunning; too lost in the madness of their affliction to really work together as a pack, which was probably the only thing keeping them from faring as poorly as they should. The berserker bard glanced at his display to see the health bar dropping as teeth rended flesh, and with an angry grunt he began to bash at the wolf that was attacking him, delivering blow after blow with his weapons upon its muscled back and jutting hips. The pain was intense, but it was important to his player that it be set so high, to keep the adventure genuine and the concern real. Thankfully he had not gone any sort of casting route, and was instead blessedly expected to be stupid and just hit things over and over again. That was easy to do when scared and in pain! And so he did. A lot.

The Admiral

87% HP

MAX HP

96% EN

MAX EN

Bleeding - Taking additional damage over time!

@Sera Phim

Thrown die:

39

 

Sera noticed with a start that her companion had begun bleeding. She cursed herself, and with a brief chant and tapping into her naturalmancy powers, the man would feel some of his pain fade away, his health restore a portion, and his bleeding status dissapear. She sighed heavily. The two swords still floated above her, seemingly mocking her. How would she use them?

Tentatively, she closed her right hand and imagined holding the handle of one of the swords. Then, she swung her arm out toward the wolf nearest to The Admiral. The blade flew through the air, cleaving into the beast. Sera squealed and jumped, before quickly composing herself. Alright then! So that's how those worked! As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the swords vanished. "Wait, what?" She asked. There was no time to try to figure out what was going wrong, as the wolf she had attacked snarled at her.

She took a step back and began to chant again. She didn't have time for a strong offensive spell, but she could do something small. When she finished her chant, she thrust out her hand and cold, frosty air shot from it, bathing the wolf in snow and ice, and the blood that soaked its fur began to freeze.

+20 to

Thrown die:

94

 

A groan of relief escaped the Admiral as the wolf that was biting into him let go with a yelp and a snarl, releasing him as a sword began to cleave into its side from… Sera’s magic? Excellent, she had finally managed to make it work! And a glance at his HP and status conditions showed that she had also taken the time to heal him slightly so that he would not be hampered by the bleed condition. This weapon crafter really was a good person to have in the party! The wolf that had been biting him gave a snarl in her direction and he clobbered it quickly over the head, twice, to send it to the grave with its other slain companion and prevent it from charging the spell caster.

With only two wolves left, and both of them in good condition, things seemed to be very much in favor of The Admiral and Sera Phim now as they had most their health and energy and the wolves were on the ropes. If they could continue at this pace then they would be out of here in five minutes or less. Really, the worst thing that could happen is one of the wolves runs off and leaves them to chase after it, into more danger… But they’d just have to stop that from happening.

Emboldened by Sera’s healing spell and the turned tide of their battle, the Admiral began to sing once again, his voice more calm and clear despite the grunts of strain as he ran after the other two wolves and began to tank their damage. Amidst their snarls and bites and the clobbering of his weapons upon their backs and heads, he began reciting lyrics.

"His bones exposed
His hind was lame
I raised a stone
To end his pain

What caused the wound?
How large the teeth?
I saw new eyes
Were watching me

The creature lunged
I turned and ran
To save a life
I didn't have

Deer in the chase
There as I flew
I forgot all prayers
Of joining you

I clutched my life
And wished it kept
My dearest love
I'm not done yet!"

• OOC: rolled above 300 so all that remains is the post amount requirements.

 

In a matter of scant moments the last two wolves were felled in the combined onslaught of Sera's magic and the Admiral's drumming upon their bodies. Bleeding, bruised, but all the better for it, he began to walk from one wolf to the next to collect their ears, to serve as grisly trophies of their conquest when they returned to complete the quest. The Admiral panted and nodded at Sera to indicate a job well done, then opened his menu to investigate how well off she seemed to be. She was nominal enough to make it back; far better off than he was faring in point of fact, for she had expended energy but remained unharmed throughout their mission together.

"If you're ever in Stokbon," he said with a smile as he swung the hammer and not a table leg passed off as a mace in small circles on either side of him, showing off their fluid motion.
"Stop into a place called Fine Constructs. They do good work." Waving, he began back towards civilization, leaving Sera to collect resources or follow him, or whatever she intended to do now.

OOC: Thread is finished, due to a rule changing which cut it from 6 posts each to 3. I don't believe Aaron would wish to post out, as he's been anxious to cut down on threads and dealing with other things, so marking this as done.