08-15-2018, 11:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-15-2018, 11:19 PM by Jaxen Marveet.)
((As I am unofficially DM'ing this baddie mcbad, effects described here affect all of our PCs, but nothing is permanent. Fight back as you will. I can continue to DM.))
The lights flickered, then snuffed away. Nox and the others were swallowed by darkness. Only the points of power remained. Jaxen could point to them in the dark, as though the men of the world were gone and all remained were the bastions of power. Like beacons, they blazed. Jaxen held his breath.
Then something cold rushed his face. A quiet whoosh was the only warning. Another swirl of mist, emitting its own light, like a lamp draped with cloth, glowed from within. Then another swarmed. Jaxen spun, dodging it as it swept low. He gasped, hackles high. A third sweeping figure descended. They swarmed like bees from a kicked hive. Then the screeching pierced his ears. Angry screams that chilled his heart.
He threw his hands over his ears, readying flows of defense. The instincts similar to the Dominions' flashed first. To throw everything at them and hold nothing back. But they were too fast. He all too greatly understood their panic now.
Marcus was attacked first, a defiant scream of a tormented soul pierced the night. The Consul was swarmed, mist swallowing him up.
The second lunged at Nox. The murderer of their brother would bear the brunt of revenge.
A third swarmed one of the Dominions, the powerful Asian one.
As how the power of Ascendancy was siphoned, these ijiraq chose their victims strategically, selecting the most powerful among them. And Nox, because apparently that little shit needed to die.
But then the temperature changed.
An odd thing to notice amid the chaos. But the warm winds burned his cheeks. Dried the water from his eyes. Parched his throat. He struggled to breathe in the heat.
Something innately terrifying gripped his heart. But he turned toward it anyway, teeth bared, a cornered dog prepared to fight. He let the power fill him to quivering levels. Nothing would take him the way they took the others. Never again. A living imprisonment would never be his fate. He'd die first.
More preferably, he'd kill whatever thought to chain him.
Mist swirled as it descended through the ceiling. White as the others, but a rainbow of colors blazed from within, drenching the room with crystalline glow. The mist took shape in midair, and Jaxen could do nothing but stare at it. At her.
She had the flowing robes of a woman swirling and fluttering where there should have been feet. White strands of hair lifted on invisible winds swirling around her head. The ghostly white of her flesh was opaque as the colors inside came to stillness.
She didn't so much as look at Jaxen.
The hollow of eye sockets flicked between Evelyn and Oriena.
Decision arrived, she struck, faster than lightning.
And settled around Oriena. Around her. Surrounding her. Inside her.
And moments later, Jaxen was thrown from his feet. The other men all standing were as well. Oriena's lips twisted, but it wasn't her voice that emerged.
She screeched demands even as invisible flows of Oriena's ancient power pushed them all away. Jaxen flew through the air. His back slammed a wall. The pain of previous injuries ripped fresh across his shoulders. Air pushed from his lungs, he gasped as something clutched his throat and shoved upward. Jaxen kicked, feet dangling midair, braced between the invisible and the heat of the wall. Hands curled around his throat, but grappling at bonds unseen was a useless, panicked strategy. The others were in no better shape. Nox, Marcus, the Dominion, and now Oriena, were trapped. The dominions assaulted. Ascendancy remained as he was. Evelyn cried out.
Jaxen kicked, toes stretching toward the floor. Dizziness gripped his temples. He blinked, mind racing to comprehend. What key? Horde? He was trapped. Held down. Suffocating.
Held down..
Like Oriena's bonds.
The ancient power sliced at the mass crushing his throat until he dropped in a heap. Coughs wrenched his chest. But she noticed. Whips of fire flung from Oriena. Then thunderous beatings followed. Heat snapped on his leg, then another on his arm. The room lurched, though, and he stumbled aside, attempting to escape. Power flooded, the dams bursting.
His mind raced. The others endured as much of the onslaught as they defended. But nothing was going to stop. Nox, Marcus and the other man would be dead before she relented, more importantly, once extinguished, their ijiraq would swarm to the next man like a plague of locusts until he was likewise consumed. Jaxen could be next.
Unless Oriena could be stopped.
He channeled ice at the mist trapping Ori. It worked before. Did she know what was happening to her? Was she paralyzed inside? She is probably loving this, Jaxen thought. Well, he didn't want to kill her. But better her than him.
"Take this, bitch!" He yelled.
She thwarted his ice flows like a flick of the hand at a gnat. Her laugh was terrible. Her response incomprehensible.
The name stirred, but there wasn't time to think on it. He grit his teeth and split the difference, pushing one flow at her and the other at the nearest ijiraq. It was like balancing on a steel beam slung high overhead, blindfolded and drunk no less, but he hung on by grips of his fingers.
The lights flickered, then snuffed away. Nox and the others were swallowed by darkness. Only the points of power remained. Jaxen could point to them in the dark, as though the men of the world were gone and all remained were the bastions of power. Like beacons, they blazed. Jaxen held his breath.
Then something cold rushed his face. A quiet whoosh was the only warning. Another swirl of mist, emitting its own light, like a lamp draped with cloth, glowed from within. Then another swarmed. Jaxen spun, dodging it as it swept low. He gasped, hackles high. A third sweeping figure descended. They swarmed like bees from a kicked hive. Then the screeching pierced his ears. Angry screams that chilled his heart.
He threw his hands over his ears, readying flows of defense. The instincts similar to the Dominions' flashed first. To throw everything at them and hold nothing back. But they were too fast. He all too greatly understood their panic now.
Marcus was attacked first, a defiant scream of a tormented soul pierced the night. The Consul was swarmed, mist swallowing him up.
The second lunged at Nox. The murderer of their brother would bear the brunt of revenge.
A third swarmed one of the Dominions, the powerful Asian one.
As how the power of Ascendancy was siphoned, these ijiraq chose their victims strategically, selecting the most powerful among them. And Nox, because apparently that little shit needed to die.
But then the temperature changed.
An odd thing to notice amid the chaos. But the warm winds burned his cheeks. Dried the water from his eyes. Parched his throat. He struggled to breathe in the heat.
Something innately terrifying gripped his heart. But he turned toward it anyway, teeth bared, a cornered dog prepared to fight. He let the power fill him to quivering levels. Nothing would take him the way they took the others. Never again. A living imprisonment would never be his fate. He'd die first.
More preferably, he'd kill whatever thought to chain him.
Mist swirled as it descended through the ceiling. White as the others, but a rainbow of colors blazed from within, drenching the room with crystalline glow. The mist took shape in midair, and Jaxen could do nothing but stare at it. At her.
She had the flowing robes of a woman swirling and fluttering where there should have been feet. White strands of hair lifted on invisible winds swirling around her head. The ghostly white of her flesh was opaque as the colors inside came to stillness.
She didn't so much as look at Jaxen.
The hollow of eye sockets flicked between Evelyn and Oriena.
Decision arrived, she struck, faster than lightning.
And settled around Oriena. Around her. Surrounding her. Inside her.
And moments later, Jaxen was thrown from his feet. The other men all standing were as well. Oriena's lips twisted, but it wasn't her voice that emerged.
She screeched demands even as invisible flows of Oriena's ancient power pushed them all away. Jaxen flew through the air. His back slammed a wall. The pain of previous injuries ripped fresh across his shoulders. Air pushed from his lungs, he gasped as something clutched his throat and shoved upward. Jaxen kicked, feet dangling midair, braced between the invisible and the heat of the wall. Hands curled around his throat, but grappling at bonds unseen was a useless, panicked strategy. The others were in no better shape. Nox, Marcus, the Dominion, and now Oriena, were trapped. The dominions assaulted. Ascendancy remained as he was. Evelyn cried out.
"WHO THINKS TO COMMAND MY HORDE? WHO AMONG YOU PETTY HUMANS THINKS TO COMMAND MY HORDE TO THEIR DEATH? WHO HAS THE KEY? GIVE IT TO ME."
Jaxen kicked, toes stretching toward the floor. Dizziness gripped his temples. He blinked, mind racing to comprehend. What key? Horde? He was trapped. Held down. Suffocating.
Held down..
Like Oriena's bonds.
The ancient power sliced at the mass crushing his throat until he dropped in a heap. Coughs wrenched his chest. But she noticed. Whips of fire flung from Oriena. Then thunderous beatings followed. Heat snapped on his leg, then another on his arm. The room lurched, though, and he stumbled aside, attempting to escape. Power flooded, the dams bursting.
His mind raced. The others endured as much of the onslaught as they defended. But nothing was going to stop. Nox, Marcus and the other man would be dead before she relented, more importantly, once extinguished, their ijiraq would swarm to the next man like a plague of locusts until he was likewise consumed. Jaxen could be next.
Unless Oriena could be stopped.
He channeled ice at the mist trapping Ori. It worked before. Did she know what was happening to her? Was she paralyzed inside? She is probably loving this, Jaxen thought. Well, he didn't want to kill her. But better her than him.
"Take this, bitch!" He yelled.
She thwarted his ice flows like a flick of the hand at a gnat. Her laugh was terrible. Her response incomprehensible.
"DOES LOPTR HAVE THE KEY?"
The name stirred, but there wasn't time to think on it. He grit his teeth and split the difference, pushing one flow at her and the other at the nearest ijiraq. It was like balancing on a steel beam slung high overhead, blindfolded and drunk no less, but he hung on by grips of his fingers.