The Rot Will Spread (Part 2) (Open)

[Aegis]

Ymiden 33, 719

Meanwhile, at the gates of Gunvorton, a loud roar rang out, at exactly the same time as the six ships collided with the Gunvorton docks. The few guards stationed there could not see through the fog to determine the source. But they readied their arms nonetheless. They were mostly local guards hired by Shania to help protect the city, as the Elements had more important duties.

Soon, the roar was joined by a cacophony of growls and snarls and other various noises. Brows were sweating with nerves, voices were called out, asking for reinforcements and various commands. Then came the loud thuds, coming closer toward the wall from the depths of the fog. Another loud roar rang out over the area.

]Naekarr the Rotten burst from the fog, charging straight for thegate. A half instant later, a massive swarm of various animals native to Scalvoris burst out from the fog from behind him, though they were all undead as well, in various states of thrall creation. Their warcries and sounds rang out over the area, just as the first volley of arrows and crossbow bolts were loosed. But they had very little effect. And among the animals were hundreds of undead children as well.

The children that had gone missing from Darbyton a few seasons back.

Among their numbers were the child Necromancers, staying at safe distances out of bowshot. Naekarr's charge carried him to the gate, which he lowered his shoulder toward. He crashed into it with all the force of a charging elephant, knocking many of the people on the gate and nearby wall to their asses. The gates held for a moment, one long moment, before being ripped away and thrown inward. Naekarr and the swarming invasion began to pour through the gates, and would soon be heading for the town proper.

!

Message from: Aegis

This is open to anyone. Do note that this is one of the Ymiden 33rd events, and as such, only one of these events may be participated in, for they all occur simultaneously. I will post again on June15th. If no one joins by then, I will close this out and determine the consequences. Posting Rules: This event will require once a week posting from all participating PCs. Failure to post within the 1 week period will result in your PC "Freezing up" during that round, meaning that, depending on the situation they are in, consequences can be harsh, which can include death and permanent loss of character. This is an extremely dangerous, prominent event, and should be treated as such. June 12 Update Edit: Due to the need/request of Intelligence before these events, the timer on this round has reset. I will post again on June 19.

[Tio Silver]

"Damn, it feels good to be back in reality."

Good, but strange. What had felt like a dozen arcs to Tio had been a mere thirty trials to Idalos. After all that time spent exiled in, and then trying to help fix, emea, the last thing he'd expected was to come back and find Idalos exactly the same as it had been when he left. It should have been a happy occasion, and it was for the most part; after all who wouldn't be happy to find that life hadn't moved on without them? Yet there was one little problem that added an annoyingly melancholy tone to Tio's glee.

He wasn't human anymore.

That should have also been a cause for celebration. His human body had been forced upon him in the first place, and now that he was an emean being he'd gained the eternal youth he'd always wanted. The fringe benefits of being able to float in the air and travel through emea at will weren't bad either. But loosing his humanity had put a certain... barrier between him and the world. It felt like he didn't quite fit in; like his place in it wasn't there anymore. He needed time to figure out what he was going to do with himself now that all of eternity was at his feet. It was for that reason that he'd dreamwalked over to Scalvoris and was now floating lazily in the sky over Gunvorton, watching the little people down below. Scalvoris held a special place in his heart, and he'd hoped that being here might help him figure out the answers.

He was broken out of his thoughts by an awful racket down below; a terrible orchestra of monstrous growling and snarls. Floating over to investigate, Tio did a double-take at the sight of a gigantic horde of undead charging towards the gate. The guards were rallying together to defend the town, but it was clear at first glance that they didn't stand a chance against the overwhelming numbers of the horde. They were going to need help.

"Three trials back and I already run into an army of zombies." Tio muttered to himself, reaching into his domain bag and pulling out his umbrella-sword Neverweather. "Spirits I love Idalos." His brain kicked into gear as he looked out across the army, scanning for any weaknesses he could exploit in order to take the horde down. The first thing to catch his attention was the hulking stitchborn that'd just smashed its way through the gates. That thing was insanely powerful, and was obviously being used as the spearhead to lead the army's charge. Unfortunately he didn't think he was strong enough to take that thing down in a fight alone; he'd need the help of the guards, and they were currently occupied holding back the regular thralls. A different plan was required.

His eyes flickered to the only beings among the horde that weren't advancing on the broken gate: a group of children standing just out of arrow range. At first he'd assumed they were more undead, but now that he looked at them properly he could see the telltale signs of life. If they weren't being attacked by the undead then either whatever was controlling the horde had forbidden the thralls from attacking them, or...

"They must be the necromancers." The realization made him feel a bit sick. He could still remember how terrifying his own necromancy initiation had been, and the thought that somebody had put those kids through that same dark experience was a highly unpleasant one. If he could knock them unconscious then the majority of the undead would deanimate, and the guards would be able to take care of any stragglers. The question was how to go about doing that.

Tio hovered over the battlefield until he was directly over the group of kids, and fished a handful of smoke bombs out of his pocket. Reaching down into his soul he called upon his attunement spark, feeding ether into it so that it hummed to life and began to synchronize itself with the frequency of one of the kids. Then he dove straight down to the ground, throwing the smoke bombs ahead of him so that they hit the floor and coated the area in a thick blanket of smoke before he landed. He stalked quickly through the smoke in the direction of the first kid's frequency.

"Sorry about this kid. I'll make it up to you when this is all over." He silently promised as a silhouette of the first child same into view. Ignoring the part of him that felt a little bit guilty for what he was about to do, Tio's hand snaked out to strike the kid on the back of the neck, aiming to knock them out.

[Max]

"Well if your product was so consistent I wouldn't be here, would I?" Max snapped at the ship captain walking beside her through the Gunvorton gates. "The last two shipments you made to The Raven were weak. Your Ambrosia isn't pure. Not as pure as it used to be."
"I told you," the captain griped, scarred and bearded face contorting with indignation. "They had a change in herbalist. It was a learning curve for the replacement to match the quality. They've got it down now. This batch is as good as any I've sailed here."
"It better be." The ex-convict had one good joint left in her pocket. If the quality expected to arrive to-trial didn't improve from the last, her bitter mood was really going to sour. Her clients at The Red Hand were content with what The Raven could provide just off the island. Really, the quality control problem was a personal gripe for Max. Ambrosia wasn't easy to come by and she expected the best. It helped stave off the withdrawals for longer, too. She was just thinking about her fix when the roar rang out.

What the fuck was that?

Maxine and the smuggler both turned back toward the Gunvorton gate they'd passed through bits before. Then came the ear-splitting sound of ships breaking upon the shore. Both turned their heads again in time to spy the shadow of vessels rising up the docks through a thick, opaque fog. The Gunvorton guards unsheathed swords and readied their axes and spears. Everyone seemed divided, not sure what exactly was going on nor where to keep their attention. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. Max could feel the chill of premonition in her bloodstream. She tore her gladius free of its sheath. The blue flames danced hungrily along the length of the stunning blade. The smuggler did the same, putting his own bastard sword in his hand. The roar continued, and with it, a macabre symphony of inhuman, hostile cries. Deep down in her subconscious, Maxine knew what had come to Gunvorton. In that moment, at her mind's surface, she hadn't a clue at the same time. Quickly she found out.Guards shrieked their panicked commands.

"The animals, they've gone mad!" one unarmed citizen screamed as he ran past Maxine in favor of the fog by the docks. She blinked, watching him fade into nothing more than a shadow before turning back toward the gate.
"What the fuck is that?!" a guard shouted him alarm, pointing somewhere beyond the wall as the roar increased in volume.
"I don't bloody know, just loose at the damned thing!" another urged fervidly. "Close the fuckin' gates!" Somewhere along the way someone took control and the archers organized, launching volleys of arrows at whatever was coming. By the sweat on their brows and the looks on their faces, it didn't look like anything they shot was anything down.

An explosion of stone, dust, wood, and debris emerged where the gate doors had been. A great, towering monster of bone and death carried past the wall he'd destroyed, following his own momentum. Guards screamed as the ramming blew the ground out from under them where they'd stood on the wall, careening now down toward the unkind ground below. Some escaping citizens were buried under the falling rocks that had struck their bodies. Undead children and creatures of the forest swarmed past the roaring, bloodthirsty behemoth. Both Maxine and the smuggler were frozen for a moment, staring as they tried to make sense of the attack. They came to as their enemies arrived.

Maxine's gladius cleaved across the chest of a half-rotten child at the last trill of opportunity. Her stunned gaze followed the thrall where it struck the ground. Her expression was filled with blank shock, eyes locked to the dead stare of the writhing thing at her feet. Her slash had torn through flesh and cracked through bone. She could see the edges of the ribs and sternum she'd cracked apart, see if coagulated blood and turned organs spilling from the opening. The child snarled and crawled toward her, finding its feet along the way. This time she raised her sword and swung it across the frail creature's throat. The spine splintered and the head fell, body dropping with it. The ex-convict blinked down at the child she'd sent to death a second time.

She continued to fight, ducking and moving through the swarm, dicing as she did. Half-skinned deer and the fur-sloughing bears charged through the town. Everything that once breathed in nature had been rendered a ghastly challenger to dispatch. The initial rush of the wave wasn't kind either. It slammed into and past her like a heavy tide riding up the shore. The smuggle beside her a moment ago screamed. Maxine turned after cutting down a racing faun in time to see him fall. Her expression darkened, but there was nothing to be done. A small cluster of children had overwhelmed him, tearing him apart. He hesitated at the sight of them. His sword couldn't swing. And so it would be the end of him.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Trying to fight the wave with the guards wasn't the move. This was not something they had been prepared to face. Bandits and pirates, sure, but this? No. They were destined to fall, and Maxine wasn't keen on following the smuggler to his end. Instead she moved outside the herd, fighting to the flank and out of the surrounding swarm. As soon as she hit the wall of Gunvorton she grasped a ladder to climb to the top, succeeding just before a small pack of wolves managed to lung and catch her leg. From her new vantage point she could make better sense of what was undoubtedly a Coven attack. The undead animals and children continued to ravage Gunvorton, moving toward the docks to sandwich the fleeing citizens in the middle of two assaults. On the wall's other side from whence the beast came, she spied a familiar figure in time to watch a not-so-deceased child strangle in his arms.

Tio?

Another roar from the giant undead monster ripped her attention away from the man she'd seen last in Emea. So much death and annihilation had already been rendered in its wake. The Diri of Destruction living in Maxine's shadow quivered with excitement. No doubt it was feeding on this impromptu battleground voraciously. It didn't need to whisper its sinister desires in Maxine's ear. She would oblige it happily.

"Hey, you ugly shit!" Max shouted her insult above the growls and howls. She picked up a loose rock from the wounded wall and hucked it, watching it bounce off the back of Naekarr's head. "Yeah! I'm talking to you, asshole! Over here!" At the very least, she hopefully coaxed it away from the fleeing public and back toward the wall she stood upon.

[Patrick]

What was he doing back here? Patrick had not yet found the means of returning back to this tiny little island, even so with the impending war on hand; he found himself at the disposal of those determined to win against Ellasin. Not that it went against his hopeful pursuits as he wanted to personally take the bitch down himself, but all this preparation had started to feel like a distraction from what really would occur. Nevertheless he stood by and watched as Fury did her work, never minding the fact she had a knack for handling business with some of the dealers around here. Truthfully he started to consider it a helpful bit of lessons on the side, since he'd more than likely have to deal with the same type of bullshit back in Rharne.

Oh how he worried about Rharne... With everything that was going down, he hoped that those back home would remain safe. Just like that he already allowed himself to worry, knowing what it would do if he let it distract him further... He bit his lower lip and in turn fidgeted with the arms of his leather armor, only to make sure everything was fixed the way it needed to be. He still carried his domain bag of course for any essentials but the important stuff was there, the broadsword strapped at his waist and the crossbow holstered over the back of his shoulder. Patrick also couldn't help but bring along one of the useful toys which Faith's husband made, knowing good and well it could prove favorable come the time he needed to use it. He hoped that wouldn't be the case... but then again hope usually got him nowhere.

He'd started to guess that what he looked towards was the peaks of Scalvoris mountains, but the fog made even their visibility near impossible here, until the sound of roaring felt accompanied with a rattle across the ground. Literally everyone felt that same quake as something slammed into the earth, with the chilling screams of innocents all coming from the opposite side of the town... where the docks was located. "That's not good." The little pixie remarked as she fluttered out into the open, as Patrick stepped away from the building with his eyebrows folded suspiciously.

"Not at all..." He murmured as another roar seemed to fill the air just beyond the gates, in which the local guard scrambled to shut as the oncoming skirmish soon started. The Rharnian's felt his own heart drop into his stomach at the sounds of something big, the enormous creature just outside the gates as it slammed into them without showing any signs of relent. Animals had gone mad?! Arrows were useless?! What in the hell had come knocking on their door so suddenly?! Patrick unsheathed the broadsword and held it fast with both hands at the hilt, the blade angled before him as a means to protect himself from... whatever the hell intended to intrude from the otherside. Then down the walls came...

The gates were decimated to practical splinters as chunks of wood flew all across the streets and buildings, the guards overwhelmed by a stampede of walking decayed corpses that rushed on in. At the front where the gates fell had been the massive creature that caused it, an ultimate battering ram that he knew everyone would have the hardest time taking down. But... all the undead critters that charged and darted his way, past him and further into the streets of Gunvorton where only more screams filled the air? Just as a half rotten stag charged him Patrick pulled to the right with a swing, the edge of his blade missing the target as the damned thing didn't even bother to stop. Nothing did. As he tried to weave his way out of the mess that he'd found himself caught in, Ri'ku frantically soared before Patrick to grab his attention; before fluttering towards the roof of the building he'd stood against. "Hey!! This way!!"

It was a hell of a good idea that Patrick should've thought about before, regardless he only needed to avoid the swarm of undead rampaging through the streets. Little corpses of what once had to be children tore apart the guards that struggled to fight, as a few even ran towards Patrick while he tried to avoid being clipped by anything that moved. Total chaos was all that existed around him and while he tried to fight it, Pat felt sudden panic sinking into his mind as he turned to slash at the first child that assailed him. He'd hacked the blade clean through the belly of the boy.... with a sickening crunch sound that made his stomach roll as the upper half of that child fell to the ground with the rest. Except that upper half didn't stop moving.... and the dead eyes of that child remained fixated on him as it desperately crawled with a gnashing jaw. "For fuck's sake!" He remarked as the second undead child had just about rushed upon him, until a kick at the gut sent that one reeling on top of the first he'd cut down.

"Hurry!!" Her words faintly reached his ears over the ambience of war, as Patrick reached the wall of the warehouse and sheathed his sword hastily. He picked three major places to reach in order to reach the top of the building, the first being the windowsill which he hopped to pull himself onto. With a support beam exposed just enough for him to grapple Patrick pulled himself up with as much force as he could, to get just enough momentum to grasp the edge he sought to grasp. He felt his fingers almost slip as he went in for the last jump, since he rushed so quickly to get away from the ground below him. Thankfully after he reached the top and hauled himself onto the roof, he looked back towards the gates to get a better assessment of the situation. Fury had taken to antagonize the great beast, as the Naekarr would've taken to rampage through Gunvorton otherwise if she hadn't. But that meant...

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!!!" He murmured to himself as he pulled the bag around to reach inside, as he pulled out several items one at a time to use. First was.... obviously a fucking bottle of alcohol. Not just any alcohol though, but a brewed thunderstorm he made before coming along. Patrick had been saving this for a rainy day, because overall the drink would get him moderately drunk if he consumed half in one guzzle. That made the next item he fished out much more effective, as it was the gauntlet given to him back in Volta from the scholar he'd met. The third was the explosive bolt Padraig had made as he'd kept one for himself, for a time like this when the situation called for something a little extreme. Thus Patrick got to work as fast as he could, the cork of the bottle popped as he reached in the domain bag once more.

As he finished the first chug the fruity flavors of the wine mixed with cinnamon spices invigorated him, the tension in his nerves already looser as he pulled out the fire starting kit wrapped with a cloth around it. "What's the plan?! What should I do?!!" The little critter beckoned worryingly as he chugged the bottle some more, until about half was left just as he planned to leave it. With the cloth taken to twist and plug into the bottle Patrick set to work immediately, remembering how useful this tactic was back when he used it on Gangui's men near Foster's Landing. But that was only for distraction... What could fire really do here? Against a creature like the Naekarr? "Patrick!!" She sounded almost terrified suddenly, unsure as to what little help she could really provide.

"Fly over towards Fury and tell her she needs to stay clear, if fire doesn't work against this thing then we'll have to blast it to pieces." He instructed as he pulled out the flint and steel, with his hands already at work to strike the outer cloth that dangled from the bottle's lip.

"Blast it?!"

"She'll understand, now go Ri'ku! Go!!" He urged as he continued to strike the damn flint, as the sparks that fell to the cloth did nothing to start a fire. Sure enough the little fairy did as he said and soared her way towards Maxine, hopeful to reach the woman in time so that she might heed what Patrick had said. That aside however.... lighting the damned cloth wasn't getting anywhere for him, but as the hay of the roof caught embers he couldn't help but pause. Smoke rose from the place he'd be striking over and sure enough, the sparks caught flame as he leaned back from the spot. "Whoops." He couldn't help but mutter as he dangled the cloth over the living flames, the flaming cocktail now primed and ready for him to throw as he rose to a stand. He obviously wouldn't be able to stay on the roof for much longer, and whoever owned the building would likely be pissed... but that didn't matter as they would all likely be dead if this didn't work.

"Hey you!!" He called out as he held the bottle outward with the intention to aim, of course by now he started to feel a little tipsy from his fast drinking. Had the others cleared out like he hoped they would? Patrick checked to make sure before he pulled his arm further back, his shoulder muscles tensed as he put as much power as he could into throwing with them. Sure enough with hopefully everyone out of the way Patrick launched the burning bottle towards the Naekarr, hopeful to land a spot anywhere on its body so that the flames would consume it shortly afterward.

"Patrick", "Ri", "NPC"

[Aegis]

Date

Tio would find that his hand struck flesh, under the cover of his smoke bombs. But the flesh it struck was like iron. And it gripped around his hand, holding him tight. The child he'd attempted to knock unconscious turned, maintaining her vice like grip on his hand, the bones within it starting to strain. Tio's attunement would let him feel the flare up of the Hone Runes that covered her body, "Papa said its not nice to hit girls. Mama said girls should hit back."

Her hand glowed black and green as she began applying Wither to Tio's hand, forcing it into his body. She focused her efforts not on the hand itself, but using it as an access point. She intended to flood him with the energy, destroy him from within. Meanwhile, the other children stepped out of the smokebomb made cloud, maintaining their forces, as the runes upon their bodies glowed.

Meanwhile, Naekarr ignored the rock that bounced off its head, as well as Maxine's taunts. He continued lumbering forward, as a firebomb made of booze was lobbed at it by Patrick. This created a fire all over Naekarr's legs and torso. It was a direct hit, a wonderfully lucky throw. But Naekarr didn't seem to notice, moving fast into the town, grabbing a woman and biting her in half, tossing the lower half back toward Maxine without so much as even looking her way. And the flames from Naekarr caught the cloth of a nearby market stand, and ignited that as well. Several other such things ignited, until it was becoming obvious that Gunvorton was mostly built of wood and sails, like most areas on Scalvoris.

The undead forces were not slowed, nor hindered, and continued to ravage their way through the town, and were now spreading out, disappearing down alleys and into buildings. The line had not held, not even for a moment.

!

Message from: Aegis

This is open to anyone. Do note that this is one of the Ymiden 33rd events, and as such, only one of these events may be participated in, for they all occur simultaneously. I will post again on June 25th. If no one joins by then, I will close this out and determine the consequences. Posting Rules: This event will require once a week posting from all participating PCs. Failure to post within the 1 week period will result in your PC "Freezing up" during that round, meaning that, depending on the situation they are in, consequences can be harsh, which can include death and permanent loss of character. This is an extremely dangerous, prominent event, and should be treated as such.

!

Message from: Aegis Update

June 25th Update: NOTE: This is a post detailing what WILL be happening unless PC actions change this. In order to impact the events in this post, you have until the 6th July to complete threads prior to this one, which might impact it. Please post here, should you wish to put forward PC actions which might impact the post. On the 6th July I will post again, (editing the original post if appropriate) and the thread itself will begin in earnest. Any questions, ask. For those who have already posted, you may add a spoiler/sptitle to your post, updating it with the information of completed threads that will affect this one. For an example, see this post here)

[Tio Silver]

"Ow ow ow ow ow..." Tio winced in pain, like he had just stood in a bath that was a bit too hot. The grip that'd caught his hand was an iron vice, and he could feel his knuckle bones rub against each other uncomfortably. Before he could even consider what the hell was going on his attunement spark flickered within him to warn him about the presence of magic. The smoke began to fade, revealing a gallery of runes inscribed upon the features of the girl he'd tried to knock out.

"Runewrights! You're..." He choked on his words as a deathly, numbing cold seeped through the veins of his hand, spreading out across his entire body. Wither! She was Withering him! He'd never been on the receiving end of the spell before, and quite honestly he couldn't say he would be keen to ever do so again; it was like the vitality was being ripped out of his bone marrow! It was pretty obvious that he needed to free his hand as soon as possible: every second wasted was a second he grew weaker after all. Yet something stopped him.

Wrath.

The cold, heavy rage he tried so hard to keep buried away was clawing at its coffin, scratching its way up to the surface. The already foggy surroundings grew darker as thunderclouds began to gather overhead in response to his mutation. Two magics! Two! It was bad enough to force children to go through one at all, but two showed a complete lack of regard for the risks! How many other children had failed their initiations and been torn to shreds?! And what in the spirit's names had been done to the survivors to make them seem so totally unfazed by leading an undead army in a siege of a city! Even he, who possessed the moral compass of a drunken magpie, felt a deep revulsion churn inside the pit of his stomach. Someone had been turning these kids into weapons! Someone who deserved to pay dearly for it!

But the girl before him didn't, nor did the other child necromancers. They were just as much the victims here as the civilians being attacked. The enraged part of his mind played out a few likely scenarios for how he could take them down with force: slash them with his Rubberlegs coated knife, twist their joints with a basic Da'riya move, anything to free himself of the withering grip. It was the logical course of action. But an equally strong feeling of pity held it back. Knocking them out before they knew what'd happened was one thing, but deliberately trying to hurt them felt wrong. Annoying as it was his conscience had chosen the middle of war of all places to get up on its high horse and demand that he do try doing the right thing. Spirits how he hated doing the right thing!

"Ha! You know you're right, it wasn't very nice of me. Pretty damn rude actually. Sorry Beansprout, I shouldn't have been so hasty." He said, bringing up all the kind feelings he had in him into his voice and body language to hide his anger and make himself as disarmingly friendly as possible. He made no move to free his hand from the girl's grip, or try and resist the withering. It had to be one of his most foolish ideas to date, but it occurred to him that while they were focused on maintaining the hold the girl wasn't likely to try any other aggressive actions. How long did he have before the withering killed him? Trills? Bits? Surely there was a chance that in that time he could just convince these kids to stop?

"But what would your Mama and Papa say if they could see what you're doing? Not your master, your real family?!" He continued, raising his voice so that the other children could hear. "Do you think they'd be happy to see you slaughtering innocent people? Do you think they'd be proud to see the death you're causing? What you're doing is evil, surely you must see that?!" He gestured with his other arm out to the massacre occurring by the gate. "Whatever has been done to you, whatever terrors you've been put through, I am truly sorry. I swear to you that I will protect you from the one who put you up to this and do everything I can to help you when this is all over. But people are dying. They're dying, and you all have the power to stop this anytime you like. So I am begging you to please, please, stop this attack! Please!"

Witchmark Used

Sky Above Me
There is a cold, violent rage deep inside Tio that very few get to see, but when unleashed rages like a storm. This mutation expressed that rage into the physical world. When Tio starts to get angry dark storms clouds begin to form out of nowhere in the sky above him, strong winds start to blow, and the smell of rain starts to hang in the air. The second Tio's rage snaps the storm is unleashed; lightning smashes down, accompanied by a deluge of rain and spiraling winds.

[Max]

It's dumber than I thought.

Max watched with dismay as Naekarr ignored her completely. He was too focused on tearing frightened people apart than anything else apparently. It was in her dumbfounded "what now" moment that the little fairy arrived, spouting something about staying clear and getting ready to blast the beast if fire failed. Then, as quickly as Patrick's companion zipped over she was gone again. Max's mind was riddled with questions quickly answered by the molotov cocktail that shattered upon the giant's torso. A grin spread across her face as the flames traversed its undead body. Her satisfaction sank for the second time when she realized, just like her rock, the monster remained unbothered. They were back to square one.

More screams filled the town as the marked woman stood on that wall. Her brow furrowed as she watched the flaming creature continue to ravage Gunvorton, fire leaping from its engulfed lower half to the wooden buildings that made up the town. Undead children and wildlife swarmed the alleys and streets, slowly spreading to strangle the life out of the once-thriving area. The Gunvorton guards and the entirety of the Gunvorton Elements were noticeably absent. She swallowed hard at the horrors of unimaginable caliber before her eyes.

A whole city and its soldiers...destroyed in bits by a handful of little kids?

So this is what Necromancy was. This is what it could do. Mere children with less than a decade and a half under their belts could wield this devastation. An entire army. An entire settlement of people, commerce, and Scalvorian hardiness. Gone like that. An intrusive thought immediately asked what a mage of Ellasin's experience and prestige could do. Wide eyes studied the unfolding massacre filled with gnashing jaws and blood-curdling shrieks. She shook her head.

Nope. Nope, fuck this. I'm out.

Maxine turned to spy the other side of the wall. Outside the busted walls that once protected Gunvorton, the path was clear. The only visible threats she could spy were the Necromancer children. Likely, they were too busy orchestrating the slaughter to notice one measly escapee. It was then that she saw one of them had some sort of magical grip on Tio. Storm clouds gathered overhead. His posture suggested some sort of distress, but that was the most she could tell through the fog. Patrick was somewhere still inside the city. So was Kura's blonde head. She licked her lips and peered over the side of the wall toward the ground. It was a good drop, but not too far. She could recover and make a run for the forest. When she did she'd try to get as far from here as she could.

Then she felt it.

Max looked down at the bracelet on her arm. The flare of energy against her skin caught her attention despite the chaos and the haste of her retreat. Her caramel eyes fixated themselves to the strange piece of jewelry, muddled mind trying to recall the meaning connected with its awakening on her wrist. If any blood hadn't already drained from her face, it did when realization struck.

Blackwood.

Something in Rharne was wrong. Something wrong in the way something was wrong here, probably. Her fingers reached up to lace themselves with distress through her hair. Every instinct in her body drove her to leave this doomed place. Whether she ran to safety or to an Eclipse Portal, far from the dead here summed up her every natural inclination. Tio was taking on the Necromancer children alone. Patrick was somewhere in the fray. Naekarr's roar coaxed her regrettably back from the ledge. The killer behemoth and his mob were moving deeper into the town. Somewhere that Kura was.

"I was just here to get some god damn drugs!" she hissed with vehement hostility to herself, turning on her heels to face the shit fire that was Gunvorton again. She placed a foot on the top of the ladder she'd climbed to get up the wall. She pushed it back over, letting herself ride the fall at the top rungs until it came crashing close to the ground. Max dismounted at the last moment, breaking the harshness of her fall with a roll along the dirt. She let a throwing dagger fly as she transitioned back up to her feet. The bladed projectile buried itself in the back of an undead head, and she quickly retrieved it as she sprinted through town.

The marked woman traded up for the gladius but her forward movement was with purpose. She hacked and slashed, fighting for the position she desired more so than to kill the undead. She chased the shadow of Naekarr through the dispersing sea of corpses.

Before long she reached a promising alleyway, displeased to find it occupied by the unnatural enemy. A small twister send down the entrance briefly changed her luck. The stalking cadavers collapsed with the fury of the spiraling wind she wielded against them, allowing her the window of opportunity to dart into the center of the cut-through. Her boot kicked an empty ale barrel down against the wall of one of the buildings just as the dead rose. Her blade lashed out to buy herself a moment. Then she sheathed her sword to sprint forward, use the downed barrel as a platform, and leap to catch a hold of the building's roof.

Cursing, she slammed against the paneling of the house, arms struggling against gravity to yank herself to the top while her feet flailed to kick reaching corpses from catching her. With effort she managed to succeed. Once on top of the wooden shingles, she could see Naekarr where he rose above the street a short distance away. Her lip curled but she did the stupid she'd committed to anyways. Boots pounded against the top of the house as she raced along it and leaped the gap to the next. The work of the spreading fire had done damage to her next platform. The integrity of the second house roof gave partially away as she traversed its exterior, wood splintering under her feet and caving beneath her. She fell roughly

Max gripped the roof with her hands and felt her lower half sagging through the collapse in the roof behind her. Her gaze was settled on the back of Naekarr's head as he continued to rage through Gunvorton. With a growl, she wrenched herself forward and back to her feet. Across the partially engulfed roof she ran before she took her leap of faith off its end. Glowing gloved fist cocked back, Maxine made her move to slam a fist into the back of Naekarr's head.

Try to ignore her now.

[Patrick]

Patrick had the lineup for the throw and sure enough the pitch sent the fiery cocktail in a spiraling soar, clashing into the big dumb brute with a flash of fire upon impact. However he did not expect the creature to be so... indifferent. Practically immune to the fire that burned at it's lower body as the monster trudged along, setting the rest of the buildings it came close to on fire along its path. "Awe shit!!" The Rharnian swore in disgust as he'd clearly underestimated the creature, as well as his tendency to cause collateral damage in thinking fire was such a wonderful idea. It surpassed the idea of strange! Fire normally killed such things with ease did it not? Was it something considerably effective before? He thought Undead fell easily to the power of flames, now though it looked as though any sudden plans he might've made... would result in only failure at best.

"You idiot!!" Ri screeched at him as she frantically flew around. "You're suppose to burn him not the town!" Another building crumbled away by the beast, setting more fire loose as the Undead continued to overwhelm the ground beneath them. Time was running short as the roof Pat was on burned also, which meant he'd have to act quickly and choose his next place to go. It was either down, or forward across the other roofs before they too caught fire. "What now?!" Honestly Patrick wanted to run. He wasn't an idiot and he could see it for what it was, they were beaten here and there wasn't any way to win. With the one bolt he had he'd be lucky taking that beast down, let alone getting close enough to make a considerable shot that would count. He almost fell into a panic when...

"Fury." She'd came back over the wall just then as their other ally seemed to stir, the air becoming slightly volatile as though a storm brewed in his vicinity. Magic. He shunned the individual already as he remembered him from somewhere, but what with the chaotic problems found on Gunvorton; Patrick had his mind only on one thing at this point in time. Already what he drank of his thunderstorm started to affect him, meaning that he was drunk enough to have slightly impaired senses. If the gauntlet he slid on operated the way he was told it would, that meant that he might have a chance with it's use... but that meant proper application of its power wherever possible. "Stay close Ri." He urged the tiny critter as he moved into a loose sprint, as he felt the wood beneath him starting to cave in.

Patrick put in as much effort as he could to get enough momentum, so that when he reached the edge of roof he'd launch himself into a vault. As his body soared through the air though, he barely caught the edge of the next building close by; dropping his sword below as he grasped on for dear life. "Oh! Hang on!!" Ri sounded about as terrified as he felt in that moment, as the swarming mass of undead still loomed beneath him. Now that he was without a sword, that meant he'd have to rely on the gauntlet alone if he was in a scuffle. That's not good... He didn't know the whole mechanics of how it worked, just that the drunker he was the stronger it's impact when he landed a punch.

"Fuck's sake!" He growled as he managed to haul himself over the edge, eager to get onto his feet so that he might move onward after Maxine. She had fallen out of his sight now but he knew... oh he knew exactly where she had to be headed. As much as he didn't wish to he couldn't leave her hanging, not when they were both determined to win this war for their own reasons. Or maybe their reasons were not so different after all... Regardless he had to move and thus, Patrick rushed forward into a bent sprint as he once more projected himself towards another roof. This time he made the landing with a roll across the wooden surface, with a moment taken to readjust his sense of direction after the whirling sensation he felt in his head. "Ri," He urged as the fairy loomed closely in, "locate Maxine and try to keep her in your sights, I'm going to follow you up here for as long as I can."

"On it!" She insisted as she took off immediately in the direction Maxine was last seen, Patrick kept his sights set on the big guy for now since he knew... It was all a matter of timing honestly. A sense of timing that he needed to get right, otherwise they were both fucked regardless. No. They were already fucked the moment that thing stampeded through, but they'd definitely be dead if either one of them made the wrong move. Thus he took off once more into another sprint, another hard push made to project himself across the gap below towards the next roof. The fire had yet to catch up here but the beast was still ahead, and if Patrick didn't hurry then sure enough the flames would spread... and he'd be cut off from helping his friend.

"Way to set the entire town on fucking fire!" He commended himself as he stood up and tapped the tips of his boots against the roof, a cracking sound in the wood heard below the moment his other toes touched it. "Wha-" The wood cracked more as planks groaned and bony hands ripped through them, the Undead intending to tear through to pull him down into the building below. "Shit, shit, shit!!" His thoughts were vocalized rather loudly as he ran once more into a sprint, the roof finally collapsing behind him as he ran as fast as he could. However the momentum wasn't enough for him to make it, Patrick soared only so far as to hit a market stall instead; and crashed down into it as the building he'd leapt from crushed the undead within. Mostly. Enough was intact so that a few of them came running out after him, their eerie snarls filling his ears as he pushed himself out of the rubble of the stall.

Immediately one of three decayed corpses ran at him with a gaping, almost half missing, jaw and in that moment he panicked for his very life. Right as the Undead closed in he balled his hand into a fist, and slammed it into the chest cavity of the creature as the gauntlet responded to the impact. A high pitched frequency was emitted from the Sovereign Fist once it'd landed, and in response a shockwave blasted from the point of contact as the creature flew back into the other two. The Rharnian stumbled back into the pile of rubble behind him, as a wooden pole of the stall fell atop of him when he crashed landed. "Fuck me..." He bit his lower lip as he turned over to push himself off the ground once more, the three Undead eagerly getting back up as well to resume their chase. "Not good..." Not good indeed. He'd just wasted a blow on one of these damned things, and he wasn't sure how long of a wait time before he'd be able to create another. He'd never felt the kick of one of those shockwaves ever, and if that was supposed to be a mild one... then he didn't want to imagine what a moderate would feel like.

As the Undead closed in on him once more Patrick did the only thing he could do, he held the wooden pole that fell onto him just moments ago; and took a deep breath to remember the training he'd undergone before all this. It was just a little bit longer but he could still use it like a quarterstaff, if anything it merely gave him a bit more distance with his hits. All three lunged at him then and Pat swung from his right to beat the first down, with a second blow from the left chained for a follow-up into the second Undead. The third almost managed to close in as Patrick swung into a rotation, generating enough force to knock that one a few feet away when he smashed it's face with the pole's end. Yet still they crawled and clawed their way to their feet, and if Pat kept this up he'd be overwhelmed in just a bit. Looking up to where he'd missed his landing earlier, he knew it was a chance he'd never have again... thus the Rharnian bolted for it with the polearm tossed up first.

Then Patrick climbed the rubble as he himself scaled his way to the roof, even having to kick off the Undead that grabbed at one of his ankles in the process. There was no time to think when he reached the top... just another roof to pick and a fire to outrun as well. Already it had spread enough to where it'd nearly cut him off, and when Pat noticed Ri'ku flying about he saw the person in question he pursued. Maxine. No time! Figured there was only one way to clear the gap and reach her in time, and that was with the pole he clenched as he started to run for the edge of that damned roof. A hole was located just right where he needed to be, as the burning building started to give away beneath his feet just as the other one prior did. This time though with the end of the pole plugged into the hole, Patrick used it to launch himself even further across as he gapped the street below and the building he intended to land on.

"Oh shit!!" Was all that was heard from him as he once more crashed into another stall, the cloth vieling the top barely enough to break his fall when he came down. The moment he felt himself hit something hopefully relative towards the ground, the Rharnian pulled to his right in hopes of rolling away; so that when the stall came tumbling down he'd landed in the middle of the street. Ri hovered overhead just down the road and Patrick could see Maxine, as she'd leapt from the building she'd stood atop to go in for a fist slam from above. "Dammit!!" He'd missed his mark already! But there still existed a chance to step in and help her, he was only down the street after all and certainly after that punch; the Naekarr's attention would be focused on her as a result.

"Patrick!!"

Ri's own voice sounded so very distant as Pat pushed himself as hard as he could, desperate to clear the ground between him and the giant as he closed the gauntlet into another fist. He honestly didn't know how he'd make it but that didn't keep him from trying, and sure enough the closer he drew towards the beast the more his determination grew. As battered and bruised as he was by now, none of that was going to stop him from landing this next blow. "On it!!" He called out as he reached his other arm, the left, out with a snap of his fingers to initiate the use of it's power. As soon as the gesture was made his Celarion ring glowed brighter, sending out a swirling bit of light that soared it's way to merge and wrap around Maxine's own left arm. Right as the bond became cemented between them Patrick leapt as hard as he could, his arm pulled back into the hardest punch he could possibly throw when he collided into the back leg of the Naekarr.

With the way he socked his fist the gauntlet hit dead on between the ankle and knee of the giant above.

"Patrick", "Ri", "NPC"

Off Topic

I leave the amount of time in-between the last punch and the punch Pat ends with up to you Aegis, whether or not you choose to allow the Sovereign Fist to emit another sonic boom is up to you!

[Aegis]

After taking a long hard look at how this new style of event is operating, I have come to a decision, with the consultation of other staff, to adjust how this event is being handled. Part of this adjustment will be the retconning of these event threads. The primary reason for this is that they were mishandled by myself at onset, for they were effectively creating an a mess of either guaranteed consequences and retcons. As such, these threads will be locked. However, because this is of no fault to the PCs involved, all PCs may collect 10 skill points (not magic) from these threads. The information in these threads should not be referenced or considered canon, and thus should be considered as having never happened. Thank you for participating in these, and I deeply apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please see the The War of Death and Souls 2.0 for more information