Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
Clairee smiled at his words and let herself relax the slightest bit. Two threats down... (she looked at the man tied up on the ground) and who knew how many more to go.
Clairee stepped around their first prisoner when a hand snaked out and grabbed her ankle, propelling her forward and drobbing her like a bag of bricks on the ground. Instinct kicked in and her wings materialized from her shoulderblades. She scrambled to pull away, but the bound hands held her ankle tightly. She kicked back with her other leg, knocking him lose and scrambled a safe distance away.
The knock out was no longer knocked out, but neither was he screaming since Las had bound and gagged him. She forced herself to control her breathing and to put her wings away. "The sooner we get on with it, the better I think," she hissed to Lasair. The longer they waited, the worse things would continue to get. She felt vulnerable out in the open like this, and the urge to go skyborne was real.
She ignored it for now and waved her hand at him in a 'can I have that back now?' motion, signalling for the canteen. She would take that into the next tent with her. Just in case.
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Aug 15, 2016 6:09:29 GMT
Lasair jumped as he heard Clairee fall, ready to hurry at her side. But he was nearly whapped in the face by one of her wings instead. She seemed to be handling it, and when she kicked the man back, he nodded but didn’t hand her the canteen back just yet. Frowning at the man, Lasair reached down and grabbed his wrists, pulling him backwards despite the struggling. He brought the man over to the frozen shadow beast and pressed his hands against the block of ice. Pouring some of the liquid within the canteen over the rope, he pulled up his own magic and blew on the wet ropes. They froze over, sealing the fugitive to the larger bit of ice.
The man seemed a little frantic now, but he still couldn’t speak and now he couldn’t move either. Swishing the canteen to make sure it wasn’t empty, he handed it back to Clairee and pointed at the last tent. “Running out of options. One tent was empty, one slept with that canteen. The man I looked at seemed too young. So, how do you want to wake the sleeping beauty? Should we tend to the others first?” Lasair had more rope, but not a whole lot more. There were other ways to tie up people, however. And they could improvise rope from the tents as well.
Why was he asking her? She felt pressured to come up with the right answer, but she didn't know what the right answer would be. Their plan was to scare them back to where they came from with the message to not come back again. How could they do that if they took them all hostage....
"No, not the ropes... though I do like what you did with the hostage and the beast." It made her wonder if there was a way they could use the shadow beast as a puppet to their cause. "The beast wouldn't show priority to any of them, maybe we shouldn't either? wake them all and show off our little pet? threaten to sick the dogs on them if they dont scatter, and as collateral say we're keeping frosty mittens... for, now?" The longer she talked the less she was sure of her idea. there were so many risks involved too many variables out of their control once they woke the camp. They had magic on their side, so that was something, but there were only two of them.
"If all else fails, I can hit them with a tidal wave and get us airborne..." she offered as a last resort -they'd just have to keep their audience in a tight grouping if she was to bowl them all over together. She only had one last level IV spell in her though before she knew she'd be spent. so if that is what they chose to do, she'd have to save it just in case.
Last Edit: Aug 15, 2016 6:54:44 GMT by Clairee Donya
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Aug 15, 2016 7:21:38 GMT
Nodding, Lasair considered her idea over. Wasn’t a bad start, but it could be modified and built on. “I agree with waking them up, but let’s take all the weapons from them first.” Mittens there had left his gun on the ground. Oh-so-very shiny before MI showed up; now it was scuffed with ashes and dirt. The other people surely had weapons stashed in with them as well. Mittens had a knife stashed in his boot (which Lasair removed), meaning the others were probably outfitted similarly. “Take the weapons that you can and toss them next to Icy. Then get ready to wake them up. I’ll do all the talking from there, promise,” he assured her and moved to the first tent, pulling out a large gun right away as he ducked in to try and grab more.
Clairee agreed and got to work, diving first into the vacant tent that most likely belonged to sir. mittens and removed a box of bullets, as well as another knife. She didn't think they're would be much more since he'd been armed on watch to begin with, so she scooted out and entered the last tent while Las worked his way through the two on the other side of the camp fire.
Clairee eased the tent flap open and crawled in head first, careful not to touch the booted leg closest to her face. As she shimmied through the entry and tried to adjust her eyes to the added darkness she heard a strange clicking sound and a grunt. She squinted her eyes and lifted her head. A barrel sent her cross-eyed as she made out the round shape. dung. He was awake.
The man put his boot on her chest and she swore he could probably feel her heart beat through the leather sole, but instead of shooting her he kicked her out of his tent, cursing something about the damnable cold in this witch infested city. She didn't speak their language but she figured it wasn't good.
"LAS!" She choked on the word, wanting to scream but also wanting not to. She put her hands up in front of her as the man emerged from his tent with the gun inches from her face. Her hands were shaking but she held the between her body and the bullet. If maybe she could touch it, she could freeze it. But as soon as her hand waviered toward the barrel he kicked his foot out toward her and growled something else she didn't understand. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting a bullet in the brain, but he hadn't pulled the trigger.
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Aug 15, 2016 8:09:23 GMT
Lasair was easing out of the last tent when he heard Clairee’s chocked word. It wasn’t quite enough to be a yell, but it was more than enough for Lasair to look up in confusion. His first instinct was to cast Kinetics and tackle the guy, but he stopped the magic from surging. No, that wouldn’t end well, even though he wanted it to. Being on the ground with another wouldn’t help anything. No, he changed the surge into a different spell, which took only a split second, but it was still slower than he would have liked.
Taking a step forward, a gust of wind surged from him, aimed at the Svede’s gun, and arm by extension. It would throw him off at the very least, getting his aim away from Clairee. As the soldier recovered, Lasair took another few steps forward, finally getting close enough to jump forward and reach for the gun. Even if he couldn’t grab it just yet, he was close enough now to look the man in the eyes. “Just relax,” he coaxed, laced with rank two of deceit behind it. Three casts left of the first rank and three of the second; Lasair had to be careful about keeping track of his magic. The man blinked as the spell took effect and the hold on the gun lessened. Now it was easy for Lasair to reach out and pluck the gun from his hand. He tossed it to Clairee and then pushed the man over, scoffing as he landed with a thud.
“He’ll be back up in a moment. Do me a favor and whistle to get the last two up,” Lasair spoke in a normal tone now and he turned to walk over to Icy and Mittens. He crossed his arms and leaned on a tree next to them, a smile on his face as he waited for the camp to awaken.
Clairee almost fumbled and dropped the gun, but after a few volley's she secured it in her grip. She heard the man's thud from being pushed over, but she didn't look up to see. Her eyes were glued to the gun that had threatened her life. She held onto it tightly, and heard the tale tale sound of its machinery breaking inside. She didn't set it down though. She held it up and pointed it at one of the remaining occupied tents. She couldn't fire the thing, even if it did work in ander hands, because she didn't know the first thing about guns. But they didn't know that.
One shrill whistle later, a pair of sleep deprived privates fell out of their tents in a hurry. Clairee trailed the gun on one of them and waited for his eyes to connect with hers. a whimper could be heard from her side, where the man tried to cry out around his gag, his eyes wide on the block of ice "sweating" large droplets of water. The ice casket spell only lasted 30 seconds before it began to melt and now that it was melting, the threat was more real. While She and Lasair might have the rest of his camps attention... medusa's lion had his.
In accordance with their plans, Clairee kept quiet and waited for Lasair to do the talking.
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Aug 21, 2016 3:09:27 GMT
“Hello dearies,” Lasair began, striking a cocky grin to the soldiers as they fumbled to try and find their weapons. When they weren’t produced, Lasair nodded to them. “Yup, all the weapons gone. Except the one she’s holding that is.” Their eyes shifted to Clairee, or Tiki as Lasair liked to refer to her mask. They returned to Lasair as he continued to speak. “Anyhow, I’m going to tell you what to do from here. You’re going to pack up camp and turn around and head back to whoever you take orders from.” The guys turn around and mutter to each other and as one of them was about to speak up and counter, Lasair beat him to it.
“And you’re going to go to your officer and tell them that Sveden isn’t going to be sending troops through this forest anymore. They will ask why and when they do you will tell them that it’s a bad idea. Because troops don’t make it to the city. What happens to them? They get captured and usually killed by hidden people like us.” He nodded to Clairee and gave her a smile. She was doing well. “But see, I don’t like killing people. I’d rather let me little pets get a treat. Like Icy here and his first snack, mister Mittens.” Stepping forward, he leaned down and ruffled Mittens’ hair for a moment. “We gotta keep him on ice, otherwise he’d eat us too. Such an appetite he has. Anyway, I can get him all thawed out and ready for action if you want me to. But I think you’d rather deliver the message instead. I mean if you want to keep sending soldiers in for their death, that’s fine. I just figured you’d rather send them else where so that we don’t have to babysit thee trees anymore. And I’m a little worried that Icy has been putting on too much weight lately. He’s gonna need more exercise. Maybe you can help with that.”
Leaning back on the tree, Lasair crossed his arms and waited for a reaction. “Any questions?” he asked just to leave it open to them.
The trio seemed to be debating the fox's quirky speech. By the looks on their faces, they didn't fully appreciate the jokes laced within the warning but at the very least they understood English, so there was that. They whispered amongst themselves, eyeing the masked duo suspiciously. More than once their fingers twitched near where their weapons should be, itching for a defense they didn't have. One jerked his head in the direction of retreat while another seemed to protest. He was snatched up by the third and they all pointed at their unfortunate other. Middle man thought they should take him back with them, the other two thought they should cut their loses and leave him behind. The majority won.
Only the man in the middle gave an apologetic glance back toward Mittens before all three turned to escape. Mittens, realizing he was being sacrificed, gave out an anguished scream, which caused Clairee to flinch. He began jerking erratically at his frozen appendages, anything to free himself, and he cried out as flesh from his fingers and palms began to tear. She turned her eyes away from him and settled her gaze on Lasair. It was up to him what came next. On the one hand, she truly did sympathize with the poor bastard. On the other... there was her brother to consider, and the very real fact that this same man could be the enemy that sends Adel back to her family in a casket. Her sympathies only ran so deep.
Last Edit: Nov 6, 2016 18:58:48 GMT by Clairee Donya
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Nov 8, 2016 23:22:42 GMT
Lasair stood there calmly as the men fled, unflinching as mister mitten shrieked. Once the men were long gone, out of both range of sight and range of sound, then he moved. Slowly he reached down and set a hand on the Svede’s shoulder, causing the man to pause in his struggled. Fear coated his face, but Lasair didn’t say a word. Lasair reached up and cast his own bit of Cryomancy, releasing the man’s hands from the ice. The blood still flowed from them, but he regained motion of them. “Run. That way.” Lasair tilted his head in the opposite direction of where the rest of the men had gone. “If you make it out, congratulations. But you probably won’t make it. I’ll give you a sporting chance though. Icy here surely has your scent by now though, so once he’s thawed…” The guild leader let his voice drift off.
Waiting for the solider to do as instructed, Lasair merely looked at him, deep blue eyes shining in the moonlight. And once the man was actually gone, Lasair turned back to Clairee and let out a deep breath. “Are you alright?” was the first thing he asked as he looked to her, never completely turning his back on the shadow beast.
Post by Clairee Donya on Nov 10, 2016 19:25:21 GMT
She took advantage of the moment as the man ran where he was told to go. In those fleeting moments while Lasairs eyes trailed the enemy, she took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes to calm herself. It wasn't easy, especially with a shadow beast merely yards away. "Are you alright?" He asked and she opened her eyes to look at him. She nodded then set her jaw, determined to see this through, to not let her guild leader down, to not let her brother down. This was the one war they could fight on the same side. "I should follow him, from up there," She pointed above the trees. "to make sure he doesn't get into the city." If he read between the lines it would say "To make sure he doesn't survive/that another beastie gets him/and if not, then to be the one to stop him myself." She couldn't let a Sved into the city. Not when she had the chance to stop him.
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Nov 14, 2016 5:57:58 GMT
First Lasair nodded back to her as she confirmed being alright, then he turned around and placed a hand on the frozen block containing Icy. “Follow him? No need. But you probably want to take to the sky anyway, to avoid being caught by this guy.” As he said as much, the block of icy began to melt at an accelerated rate, the guild leader’s magic lacing through it. The water was quickly pouring off the block now as the ice was cracking from the shadow beast wiggling. Lasair stepped back from it before turning to reach up and grab a tree branch, hoping to climb it before the beast was fully freed. He didn’t want to ask Clairee for a lift, not after how shaken up she was from the whole incident, but he did need to avoid being the first chunk of food available to sir Icy.
She was upset, yes, but she wasn't a child. Not anymore. She listened to her leaders advice, but she wouldn't abandon him on the ground. She rose up and perched herself in the tree that Lasair would try to climb and the minute he began to reach, she reached down to him and wrapped her hand around his wrist. "Let me help you," she asked. A rather simple request, but it was still within his power to deny her. She reached down the other hand and shifted her weight where she was perched to prepare to jump. If she could get a hold of both of his arms, she could take a leap (of faith) and let her wings out like a parachute to stall them midair. They'd only drop so far, and she could hug him to her and fly off.
But for any of that to work, he'd have to give her permission first.
Last Edit: Dec 3, 2016 15:30:18 GMT by Clairee Donya
Post by Lasair Landevier Lupen on Dec 5, 2016 8:12:47 GMT
His eyes paused on her hand, but it only took the sound of ice cracking and falling to the ground for him to make up his mind. He took her offered hand with a short nod, reaching up to take her other hand too when it was offered to him. The velvet leader might be firm in his beliefs, but he knew better than to deny help when going without it could be dangerous. Bracing himself for the jump she was about to take, he bit his lips for the moment, giving himself up to trust her.
When the rose back up into the air, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Thank you,” he whispered to her, doing his best to hang on without causing any discomfort to her.
She nodded to his thanks, keeping her focus on the flight and making sure they floated through the trees as soundlessly as possible. Without meaning anything by it, she intertwined her legs with his and locked his in place in the way that would help her ensure he didn't get caught on anything and ripped from her grip as they bobbed and weaved through stingy branches. Back at HQ she lowered them slowly to the ground, unwinding her legs first, then (once he was on his feet) releasing her arms around his torso and using her hands to remove the tiki mask. She brushed black hair from her eyes and stared at him with a steady, studying gaze. After a few measured beats she spoke in a quiet, but strong tone of voice.
"I want you to know you can trust me, and rely on me. Even when its something I wont like. I am in this just like everyone else. I'm here to help and I wont be the weakest link on the chain, I promise." She refused to let that happen. She felt so behind her peers already and she couldn't stomach being the little sister everyone thought was too delicate to do the job properly. "Do you trust me?" She asked, careful not to lose the confidence in her voice, despite having never raised the volume at all.
Last Edit: Dec 15, 2016 3:01:23 GMT by Clairee Donya
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