Scouting Mission pt2

chubee  Thorne couldn’t believe her eyes, the sheer amount of undead that made up the horde shook her to her very core. Glancing to the side with her icy eyes, trying to gauge Reijna’s reaction to the scenario. Scooting a bit closer, speaking in a very hushed tone while crouching low to the surface of the overhanging cliff. “ We should be careful here… these things could overtake us quite easily just with their numbers.” Peaking over the edge one more time, her keen eyesight aiding her in seeing through the dark of night. “Looks like a few thousand at best, hard to tell with how clumped together they are…” Thorne stayed, perching close to the ledge but kept out of sight, not wanting to put the scouting group in any danger.
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DeviousMiskreent: Reijna was silent as she perched near the edge of the cliff. Her night vision was not nearly as good as Thorne's but she did have the advantage of seeing through the eyes of Ase Randi. The bird circled high above, giving Reijna vision good enough to confirm Thorne's words. She nodded her understanding, knowing that the less they spoke the less chance there would be of discovery. She sighed and shook her head as she moved back from the edge, sighting what the male was doing with his staff and the strange circle. "be as quiet as possible. There are thousands of them camped below us. Is there anything your magic can do to dwindle their numbers without giving us away?" Hers could, but she wanted to find out what the other was capable of before showing any of her own skills. --d--
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MathiasDeMortalis: Peered into the clear reflective surface of the viscous liquid that acted as a scrying device. Since the women had left earlier, leaving him alone with the other two, he used his own means to try to locate the supposed horde of undead. He first found the women, seeing them move through the brush towards a sheer ledge that descended down into a valley where a massive gathering of draugr seemed to just gather. A dead fleshy mass of the deceased ready to prey on the living and began to scope out as much as he could without hopefully alerting the horde they were being watched. Not many of them seemed to be concious, just mindless beasts but he was worried of something akin to a revenant or Wright Lord would be lingering out there controlling the undead host. It would be likely that such a creature would be able to detect his attempt at scrying and maybe see him through the looking glass but Thaelinar got lucky. Reijna asked him if there was something that he could do with his magic to dwindle their numbers and he simply emptied the contents of that bowl into the dirt beside him before lifting himself up to his feet. "Hah I could... I just have the strangest feeling you might not like it." He replied to her a moment before taking a deep sigh before grinning uncontrollably. "Help me call upon a spirit and I shall handle the rest." Thaelinar continued with a bit of excitement in his voice.
MathiasDeMortalis: Wight***
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chubee  Thorne snuck her way back to camp, keeping a bit of a distance from the druid who was busy with spells. However, her interest was piqued when he asked for aid. “And… what exactly or should I say, HOW exactly do we call upon a spirit?” The elven girl tilted her head, resting one of her gloved hands on her hips. “Reijna.” She said, turning her head over to the one in charge. “I… well I could try to use my ice but it may not affect them very much since they are already… well since they are dead.” Sighing she continued. “It may slow them but I think the only way to kill them would be to use my True Ice and freeze them whole then punch them to shards. Yet that would make me an easy target as it drains me heavily…” Grumbling she turned back to the man she nodded. “ Alright Thaelinar… what must we do?”
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DeviousMiskreent: Reijna's expression showed nothing when he asked her to help him summon a spirit. "Can you not do that on your own?" she asked, digging for information. "And what would you have the spirit do? I have some communication with the Elementals, but I am not a shaman that can summon spirits, wouldn't that attract the attention of the undead horde?" --d--
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MathiasDeMortalis: He rolled his eyes a minute before finally pulling out the talisman that he had started working on in the Jarl's great hall and finished on the road. "I could but I was hoping to save this for later but sure, why not. I'll just make another later than. Also, it won't matter if we're fast enough. You both should prepare yourself to defend me while I work." Thaelinar shook his head left and right before picking up his staff that had been stuck into the ground next to the tree with his free hand. Since he had already made that circle around the camp to warn him if anybody came close, it was easy enough to go ahead and finish making it into a binding circle. He started use the blade of his staff to etch markings on the ground but he did not bother hold back. The orb at the end of his staff began to glow with dark, primal energies that seemed to swirl downward and flow into the earth. After carving up the dirt he slammed his staff right back into the ground in the dead center of the circle before pulling out his carving knife and walked to the few trees that had been within it and began to make deep cuts from the bottom up, making jagged scars deep into them. "Alright.. I'm ready." Thaelinar said before holding one open hand towards the orb of his staff that stuck up from the ground awhile holding his other that held the talisman up and began to whisper to himself in an ancient elven dialect. The talisman began to glow bright as the wind around them suddenly began to pick up around them. It was dark but one could see a light streak across the sky like lightning but was not followed by thunder. The wind picked up but as the leaves began to get blown around the ground outside of the circle, everything within stood in place as is it existed outside of the ensuing elements. It wouldn't take the dead long to feel the flare of magical power in the distance but hopefully he would have completed the ritual in time to make a difference. Thaelinar created a beckon, a deceptive warmth that would attract a powerful primal woodland spirit to them like a moth to flame. It wasn't long before whisps began floating around them like little balls of light that made clinking sounds like bells tolling all around them. None of them were able to pentrate the circle made around them until suddenly Thaelinar heard the whispering of another that sang along in tandem with his own mutterings. The marks he made upon the ground began to glow in the presense of this spirit that was strong enough to trespass the circle. "Hah!" Thaelinar laughed before talisman literally caught fire in his hands and crumbled to ash in his grip. All the effects that took place outside of the circle could now be felt within as he sprung the trap and reached through the veil to grab ahold on the spirit's very essense. If Reijna was able to hear the voice of spirits, she would be able to listen to its cries as it was pulled from the otherside. It would be akin to a drowning scream as the lingering manifestation of Yggdrasil was tugged away and siphoned through Thaelinar's body and into orb of his staff. The scream would finally come to an abrupt stop as the whisps scattered to the winds and Thaelinar turned about to grab his staff. After hefting it upwards he began to churn the captured spirit within himself and the staff, corrupting its energies before suddenly slamming it back into the ground which caused the very earth to tremor and to once again cause the etchings he made to light up. These energies once again were projected back into the veil and were utterly twisted. It came to life around them as the very trees around them began to come to life. They began to become mishapen, thorned and jagged before uprooting themselves. The whistling buzz of thousands of insects began to swirl around them as the very air around them became stagnant which only worsened the smell of death around them. What followed was the formation of a permeating mass formed from the husk of a dead spirit made to serve. It convulsed on itself as it began to conglomerate around them into a single hulking creature that stood nearly fifteen feet tall. It was about that time that the dead had finally made their way up to them and Thaelinar waved his hand with a commanding gesture. A loud, hollow, rumbling groan could be heard from the creature as it began to twist and roll across the ground, whipping vines and petrified earth around it like jagged teeth that marred the earth around it. It started to grab up near by draugr, ripping them inhalf and sending congealed viscera, sinew and bone all over the place.
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chubee  Having no idea what was going on, Thorne decided to keep her distance. After a flash of blinding light, odd floating orbs and then… a giant creature. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that Thorne was indeed impressed by the druid. She watched as the summoned creature began it’s assault but Thorne did not know what the best course of action would be for this. “What shall we do now? Get back to Skane and report or do we fight?” The girl asked her companions, wanting an agreement before just throwing herself into battle.
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DeviousMiskreent: Reijna stood silent and still as the druid did his little jig'n'wiggle. The drawing and corrupting of the spirit made her feel physically ill, but her annoyance was more aimed at the scene he was making. One inky brow lifted in irritation as Njal moved up to her side so she could climb into the saddle. "I said, WITHOUT making them aware of our presence" She growled at Thaelinar as she drew her sword. Thankfully the path to their location was thin and winding, and the brush and trees dense enough to keep the advancing drugr to a minimum. She moved to the edge of the clif, reciting words in Irish as the left side of her body began to glow. She didnt have time now to do this gently, and her own power delved into the earth to awaken the elemental. All around them the ground began to shake as if an earthquake or rockslide were about to take place, and sure enough, the cliffs all around the valley began to crumble and collapse. The elemental was pissed at her, but she would sort that out later. "We run!" she told Thorne, "To the horses before more of the damn undead come up the pass" she said, swinging her sword about to decapitate the nearest undead. Prim (healer) had already mounted and taken off for home while Svila was fighting on the ground, her horse bolting from the fight. "GO!" she called to the companions as she raced past, reaching down with her free hand to take hold of Svila's arm and pull her up onto Njal's massive back--d-
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MathiasDeMortalis: She wanted to thin their numbers and that is exactly what Thaelinar sought to do so by summoning and binding the primal woodland spirit. With the aid of the spirit, Thaelinar began to attack in tandem with it. Holding his bladestaff like a glaive whirled it over his head and gave a sweeping slash the chest of one of the approaching undead. The blade cleaved through its chest cavity, leaving a trail of green, burning faerie fire that consumed it. However he was caught off guard with how Reijna suddenly wished to retreat instead of standing their ground to reduce their numbers. Maybe he jumped the gun a little bit but he might as well own up to it now by fighting. His legs were spread apart and he bent them at his knees while holding the blade aloft with the orb glowing at the other end. A few of the draugr went to attack him but one of them was pulled up by the spirit and hurled into the air nearly a hundred feet as Thaelinar ducked his head down from a rusted sword being swung at his head and immediately stabbed the offending draugr in the near before twisting the blade to completely snap his leg at the knee causing it to topple. The other draugr went to give an over-headed swing with an axe at right side but Thaelinar whipped his feet around, twirling that blade staff around him as he threw himself out of the way. When he did so his blade came up and caught the Draugr right underneath his chin and split its face in two. The spirit let out a groaning roar as it started to whip itself around. The vines grabbing and pulling undead apart while the half-elf weaved in and out of the spirits area of control to grab their attention. However this came to a stop when he suddenly felt the ground underneath him shake violently which caused him to suddenly lower himself down onto three limbs while holding the staff out to the side. He tried to balance himself in vain before suddenly the ground itself started to crumble and collapse around him. In desperation he shot himself back up to his feet and made another commanding gesture towards the spirit which suddenly shot out several wooden tendrils that grabbed up his body and enveloped him. The spirit pulled him in towards its core and shielded him as everything started to come apart in a landslide. He failed to notice that the women had already retreated and was on his own for now. A huge cloud of dust, coupled by the fact it was dark, blanketed the area in an obscure fog. When the tremors subsided the mass of foliage around Thaelinar began to uncoil itself from around him and he stepped outward. There were bits of draugr half-buried and reaching out from the gravel with their withered limbs. It wasn’t long before more of them started to approach from the valley which was now ground-level with him. Thaelinar began to thrust his hand out towards the spirit and shout. “Thrash! Grow! Gnaw! Fed! DIE!” The spirit began to grow rapidly before launching itself forward in a frenzy. It started to multiple, slamming itself into a wave of undead which flung their bodies around. They began to hack and slash at the brush only to be overwhelmed by its sheer growing volume. It was at this time that Thaelinar began to make preparations to flee. His horse had left so he was on foot but luckily he had arrived at Skane by manipulating the Yggdrasil as a means of transportation. He knelt down on his right knee and began to focus before suddenly being engulfed by very ruined earth beneath him. Roots began to sprawl upwards along his body and cover him completely before tugging his body into the earth. It was then that he was spat back out in the Skanian forest just outside of his barrow.
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chubee  Thorne grunted in response before running to Thunder without a second to spare. Gripping onto the saddle before hoisting herself up. Spotting the frenzy Thaelinar had dove himself into “Damn fool!” She yelled before snapping the reins causing Thunder to winny before charging off back from whence they came. Following after Prim and the others as her stallion huffed as he ran. “Dammit will that creature be able to keep them off of our tail?!” Thorne yelled back at Reijna. “Because if not, we’re going to be leading them RIGHT to Skane!” The elven girl did not stop though, instead she put her trust into her steed and twirled around on her saddle, equipping her bow, ripping off one of her gloves in the process. Every time she grabbed an arrow from her quiver she would enforce it with ice before taking aim and sniping out any trickling undead that tried to chase them. With every hit an explosion of razor sharp shards of ice would emerge. Thorne kept at it until they were far enough away before sitting back into her saddle, riding off with the rest of the group.
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DeviousMiskreent: Reijna watched as the ground swallowed up the half elf, but she could see the magic working around him to do it and so wasn't concerned for his safety. Svila was swinging her sword at the drugr that were following behind them and Reijna was working more of her own brand of magic, calling up the vines and underbrush to tangle up the pursuit. "we will be fine Thorne, just keep going!" she called out to the other woman as the plants grew and moved on their own, taking hold of the what was left of the undead horde behind them and pulling them deep into the earth. When there was enough of a gap between the women and the undead, Njal pasused long enough for Reijna to open a deep, wide rift between them and the horde, making it impossible for the remaining shamblers to jump the rift to follow them. "We'll take the long way around and come back through Biskane" she told Thorne when she had caught up again. --d--