Re: The Battle Majestic (Round 2 - Firestar)
05-06-2010, 10:54 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Schazer.
The Tender, resplendent in its hardwood armour, chirped at Jacob with that loathsome snigger as it loomed over him. The shell, solid and whorled with its rapidly-woven fibres, lent Sen a jagged, insectoid outline, hunched atop his tower.
John, apparently still waiting for Jacob's signal despite the unexpected turn of events, was about to ask what happened next, when a sharp cry was heard and a volley of arrows arced overhead from cliff to pillar, striking the Tender with a thwock but failing to pierce its armour. The interruption diverted Sen's attention from the contestants below as he turned (almost mechanically due to the fresh bark hide) and snarled at the Amazons. Jacob, still on edge, felt a rumble beneath his feet, and saw the treeline above the women quake ominously.
"Follow me. Keep up." Jacob struck a fine balance between running for the nearest cover (which would've been behind Sen's pillar) and avoiding affiliation with the soldiers' present foe, but slipped into the bushes without hearing a reaction. The trembling was getting worse throughout the clearing, though distinctly omnidirectional towards the Amazons. They didn't seem too worried; perhaps they mistook it for the usual volcanic activity. Turning back; to see if John was following, to see Sen's offensive being launched, to check for pursuers; Jacob noted with some consternation the roots crawling slowly over the Tender's spread-eagled form as it draped itself over the mutant tree, wood with binding with wood, melding and growing to the monster's will.
Sen was setting himself up for a siege - and what better place to hold it from than the arsenal? Jacob swore to himself, and quickened his pace a little, broadsword switching from machete to walking stick as his path, circuitous of the clearing as it was, took the duo uphill. The journey was slogging and uneventful; interrupted only by the odd gurling scream, and perhaps another barked command?
The chronomancer halted before breaking the treeline, resting on a boulder that had tumbled down the mountainside. A couple more metres up, and he'd be able to spot that damn Tender (or, at least, its impact on the surrounding rainforest). Fit as he was, Jacob relished the chance to catch his breath before a puffing ice mage staggered from behind a tree. "Why... did we have... to climb *wheeze* this high?" The knight made no reply, instead choosing to finish his exotic fruit plucked en route and fastidiously wipe his fingers on the moss beneath him before raising his darkening sword.
A portal opened up in front of Jacob and John, providing a somewhat-disorienting birds-eye view of the carnage Sen had caused. A decent ring of forest around the Tender's central perch, at least two trees thick, seemed to have fallen under the beast's ministrations and was serving to cause a lot of grief for a rapidly demoralised squad. Despite Sen's raucous insistence that they leave him alone, the women persisted in pelting him with spear and arrow. Despite the proliferation of spine and thorn in the wood, or perhaps because of it, the canopy was suffering, affording the mages a decent view of the chaos. Jacob noticed something off about Sen's behaviour, which seemed at odds with his previous, eerie understanding of proceedings around his World Tree.
"So he can't 'see' through normal trees... Interesting. But, irrelevant; seeing as barring accidents, he'll be dead before the end of the round." The portal winked shut, leaving a grim Jacob and a nonplussed John.
"But... how are we supposed to kill him? I mean, it's all the way down there now and it's not like we can drop rocks on it or something, there's too many trees in the way for one-"
Jacob cut the talkative mage off with a gauntleted wave. "That would be because rocks are useless against plants. Surely, you could recommend something more effective?"
"Well, I guess fire or something, but we don't have anyb-"
"Exactly." Jacob was already climbing the volcano, leaving the cryomancer to scramble up after him.
Spoiler
The Tender, resplendent in its hardwood armour, chirped at Jacob with that loathsome snigger as it loomed over him. The shell, solid and whorled with its rapidly-woven fibres, lent Sen a jagged, insectoid outline, hunched atop his tower.
John, apparently still waiting for Jacob's signal despite the unexpected turn of events, was about to ask what happened next, when a sharp cry was heard and a volley of arrows arced overhead from cliff to pillar, striking the Tender with a thwock but failing to pierce its armour. The interruption diverted Sen's attention from the contestants below as he turned (almost mechanically due to the fresh bark hide) and snarled at the Amazons. Jacob, still on edge, felt a rumble beneath his feet, and saw the treeline above the women quake ominously.
"Follow me. Keep up." Jacob struck a fine balance between running for the nearest cover (which would've been behind Sen's pillar) and avoiding affiliation with the soldiers' present foe, but slipped into the bushes without hearing a reaction. The trembling was getting worse throughout the clearing, though distinctly omnidirectional towards the Amazons. They didn't seem too worried; perhaps they mistook it for the usual volcanic activity. Turning back; to see if John was following, to see Sen's offensive being launched, to check for pursuers; Jacob noted with some consternation the roots crawling slowly over the Tender's spread-eagled form as it draped itself over the mutant tree, wood with binding with wood, melding and growing to the monster's will.
Sen was setting himself up for a siege - and what better place to hold it from than the arsenal? Jacob swore to himself, and quickened his pace a little, broadsword switching from machete to walking stick as his path, circuitous of the clearing as it was, took the duo uphill. The journey was slogging and uneventful; interrupted only by the odd gurling scream, and perhaps another barked command?
The chronomancer halted before breaking the treeline, resting on a boulder that had tumbled down the mountainside. A couple more metres up, and he'd be able to spot that damn Tender (or, at least, its impact on the surrounding rainforest). Fit as he was, Jacob relished the chance to catch his breath before a puffing ice mage staggered from behind a tree. "Why... did we have... to climb *wheeze* this high?" The knight made no reply, instead choosing to finish his exotic fruit plucked en route and fastidiously wipe his fingers on the moss beneath him before raising his darkening sword.
A portal opened up in front of Jacob and John, providing a somewhat-disorienting birds-eye view of the carnage Sen had caused. A decent ring of forest around the Tender's central perch, at least two trees thick, seemed to have fallen under the beast's ministrations and was serving to cause a lot of grief for a rapidly demoralised squad. Despite Sen's raucous insistence that they leave him alone, the women persisted in pelting him with spear and arrow. Despite the proliferation of spine and thorn in the wood, or perhaps because of it, the canopy was suffering, affording the mages a decent view of the chaos. Jacob noticed something off about Sen's behaviour, which seemed at odds with his previous, eerie understanding of proceedings around his World Tree.
"So he can't 'see' through normal trees... Interesting. But, irrelevant; seeing as barring accidents, he'll be dead before the end of the round." The portal winked shut, leaving a grim Jacob and a nonplussed John.
"But... how are we supposed to kill him? I mean, it's all the way down there now and it's not like we can drop rocks on it or something, there's too many trees in the way for one-"
Jacob cut the talkative mage off with a gauntleted wave. "That would be because rocks are useless against plants. Surely, you could recommend something more effective?"
"Well, I guess fire or something, but we don't have anyb-"
"Exactly." Jacob was already climbing the volcano, leaving the cryomancer to scramble up after him.
peace to the unsung peace to the martyrs | i'm johnny rotten appleseed
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow
clouds is shaky love | broke as hell but i got a bunch of ringtones
eyes blood red bruise aubergine | Sue took something now Sue doesn't sleep | saint average, day in the life of
woke up in the noon smelling doom and death | out the house, great outdoors
staying warm in arctic blizzard | that's my battle 'til I get inanimate | still up in the same clothes living like a gameshow