Graterras Chapter 4: Shattering Realities. [IC]

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

It entered the sphere with a soft tink, it must have collided. A few more tinks kept coming as it probably bounced around inside....however, they started to grow louder and louder. The orb moved more and move as the Shot pinged around inside of it, making it not hold steady, until it broke the sphere. 9 Shots the size of the one he originally caught bursted out and went in all directions. 3 headed right for him, another 3 for Blue and 1 headed for Nero, Xavier, and Marcus each.

Blue caught his again using the same technique as before, but this time they broke through, the final remaining one smashed into his chest as he went flying. He skidded backwards, smoke rising from his chest as he collided with a tree. He slid down the truck bloodied and hurt, but not ready to pass out yet.

***

Xavier dodged the first bolt, until it turned skidded to a stop mid-air and turned around, and re-aimed itself right back at him. And now it was joined with a friend. A second pale lavender light zipped towards him.

[Jory]

Dru groaned as he saw the multiplied bolts coming for him. Are you frickin' kidding me? he thought to himself, despairing as he saw Blue go down. He then looked up at the Victonari, pissed as all hell. He made a grand gesture with his hands, veins popping out of his neck as he pulled a piece of earth the size of a hut out of the ground and hurled it toward the Victonari's branch. He then quickly crossed his arms over his chest and knelt, pounding the ground with both fists at his side to complete the magical gesture. A dome of rock that could barely fit the half-Orc inside it covered him. Chaos Bullets my ass. He's gotta be drained after that spell.

[Flux]

Nero froze as he saw the bullet headed for him. Homing magic? It had detected him depsite his invisibility... He quickly ran behind the tree that the gnoll had fallen out of, bracing his sword in a defensive measure in case the magic was strong enough to break through. He didn't carry a shield, and he had no combat magic powerful enough to counteract this attack, so a block with his sword was the only option if the large tree wasn't enough.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Down below, Helze heard the... unusually loud noises reminiscent of explosions. And who could miss those glaring lights? What in the name of... It was something completely new. Ominous new. Bad new, solely because it was against their side-- a beam of light struck Blue, sending him across the field. The ranger immediately looked and saw the general direction where the lights were coming from... but there were still far too many ground-bound goons. "Hunter, would you be a dear and scatter them for me soon as I manage to climb up?" With pleasure, the Dire Wolf's hungry expression seemed to say. While Helzebeth shot arrows into the tree's upper branches to ensure she didn't have to share, Hunter watched with vigilance until the ranger was sure that there were no nasty fleabags waiting for her at the top. In a while she was back in the trees and Hunter ran to help their allies on the ground.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

((....they don't use powder, therefore, they make no smoke. Also, not sure Helze would know of them, considering they don;t exist outside of the Shifting Sands and she has never been there to my knowledge.))

[Notus]

Marcus grinned at the vision of enemy gnolls flinching back from Akuma... And didn't waste the oportunity, going for a full charge swinging his sword - now aflame - at the nearest of them. The idea was to make as much damage as he could before they recovered.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

The light zoomed around the tree heading directly for Nero. It hit his sword, and he saw some of the energy fizzle into none existence. But it still slammed him pretty hard, knocking him off his feet. It knocked him out of his spell, but lucky for him, no Gnolls were really near him, or even paying attention to that part of the battlefield anymore.

***

Marcus cut right into one of the gnolls at the shoulder. He yelped in pain. He leapt back which left an ugly gash on him and it was quite clear that arm didn't work anymore as it flailed around uselessly at his side. He ran away, patches of his fur still on fire. Marcus however, noticed a purple glow on the gnolls in front of them...and then heard a rather soft sound from behind him, however it would have been too late. The stray Chaos shot slammed into his back. It sent searing pain all over his body. lucky for Marcus he was a big guy so it didn;t knock him down or sned him flying, but it still hurt. Most of the gnolls nearby now started to circle him as well. A wolf came flying into view, as Hunter zipped past biting into one of the gnolls viciously. He leapt back as a hail of attacks flew for him. He now stood level with Marcus, growling at the gnolls.

Nemesis could be seen flying over head. She was headed towards the Victonari firing the light towards the party. She flew steady, making for him as fast as she could.

[Notus]

Daang, what the hell was that?! Marcus cursed mentally as the painfull shot hit him. Luckily Hunter came to his aid, or he would have had a big trouble with those Gnolls. "Hey, thanks buddy." He said while getting up beside the wolf. A quick glance around revealed the origin of the shot: a Victonari with a gun, a rather rare view outside of the Sands. "Ok, let's deal with these guys here and then head for the sniper bastard." At that he took back his battle stance with shield and sword at ready, and threw a wave of flame around him and Hunter to blind the enemies and create the opportunity for them to strike.

[Flux]

Nero stood to his feet, catching his breath and regaining his composure.

"It went right around the tree..." he thought, "And to make matters worse, it knocked me out of my invisibility."

He grabbed his sword from where he had dropped it, making his way towards the battle with the Victonari. He moved more quickly this time, and did not bother redoing his invisibility. It was clear that whatever magic was being used would hit him anyway, so it would only be a waste of energy.

[Chevaleresse]

Xavier shrugged. Bolts that flew at you and wouldn't stop? He could only think of one immediate solution, since deflection using his blade would probably end up with holes slightly off of his heart instead of directly through. Crouching down to brace himself, he fired himself directly at the gunslinger like a rocket, blade held at the ready in front of his body.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

Hunter was down below doing his job, aiding Marcus. Up above ground Helzebeth rained hell and support shots, aiming for the Gnolls crowding the tree where the source of the flashes of light came from.

Then Nemesis and the Elf Templar flew towards that direction. It would be risky to fire an arrow in the same direction; either one of the two could get hit. Still, she prepared an arrow right at the riser of her bow in case Opportunity decided to show herself.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"I am sorry sir, but it seems your flight has been CANCELLED!!!" shouted the Purple Victonari. He depressed the trigger once more firing a similar bolt to the first one. It sped towards Xavier rapidly. There was no time for Xavier to change course, he would have to drop out of the sky to avoid the bolt of energy surging towards him. It was one drawback to using Fire magic to propel yourself forward like a rocket....that you were indeed a rocket, course changes weren't in the flight plan, so either you take the arising obstacle, or you abort the launch. Xavier had a choice, take his chances with the ground, or take his chances taking the blast of energy head on.

Nemesis reared off making sure to be out of the blast radius of the shot, either choice Xavier made, would hopefully ensure her arrival even if he himself didn't make it.

[Chevaleresse]

Xavier elected to choose the lesser of two threats, ending the burst of flame propelling him forward and upward and launching a quick burst with one hand to direct himself toward the ground. He came to a crashing, skidding halt, definitely acquiring some nasty bruises along the way.

[Ragnar]

Akuma can almost taste the gnolls' fear as they stay out of the berserker's way, but that not all he can taste, he can also taste his own blood as it drips all over his wounded body. the pangs of these open flesh wound fuels his bloodlust even more as the battle progresses. He set his sight on the gathering gnolls near Marcus and Hunter as he unleash his fury. Akuma pushes over a nearby tree as he knocks it over, uprooting it from the ground as he tries to squish these gnolls like ants in one swoop from this falling timber.

These gnolls have proven not much of a threat anymore as Akuma wants something else, someone who can satisfy his bloodlust. someone that can go toe to toe with him and stronger than these gnolls, someone like that Purple Victonari.

Edited December 12, 2014 by typhlosionrulez

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

The purple energy blast kept going even after it missed Xavier, seeming to go on for miles. Then all the shit hit the fan for the Purple Victonari. First a rock he hadn't see flew in hitting the tree branch he was perched in. He tried desperately to maintain his balance, and managed to do so, until Nemesis scooped him up in her talons. "Unhand me you filthy bird! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH LORD VIOLET YOU FILTHY ANIMAL!!!" He shouted. He tried struggling to get out, but Nemesis's grip was too powerful to break out of. She carried him towards the group, and dropped him straight in the middle of them, he landed with a nasty thud. He leapt up quickly and with fear in his eyes he started to run? He bolted at top speed, probably only possible because he was scared out of his mind after landing within the middle of Sigurd Odin and Blue "You haven't seen the last of Lord Violet, mark my words Peasants I will destroy you." He ran into the clearing, using trees as cover." Odin and Blue didn't react, not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't believe their eyes. They both burst out laughing at the scene.

All the gnolls then tried to flee as well, the only thing keeping them there was their leader, and now that he fled they didn't want to stick around. They scattered in all directions trying to get away from the group.

[Jory]

Hearing the noises die down around him, Dru dropped his rubble dome and looked around him. "Did we win?" he asked to no one in particular, confused as to the sudden lack of gnolls and purple lizard men.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"I think so.....He kinda ran off after Nemesis dropped him.....Like he bolted faster than a spring rabbit." Odin said, still teary eyed from laughing his ass off.

Blue dusted him self off, he looked kinda a mess, though he was hit pretty badly and ragged from fighting. "We should help the Gnolls, one of their members took a nasty hit in the battle, they are still out there surrounding him." he said to the group.

[Notus]

Marcus was surprised that the enemy decided to run off so soon in the middle of such a wicked fight. He looked down to Hunter with a rather sad face. "Seems like the fun is over too soon eh?" He decide to not pursue the fleeing Gnolls though, and instead went over to check their own group. "Ok, that was weird... Everyone ok?"

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

It was over; Nemesis had gotten hi-- a purple Victonari named Lord Violet. After spouting curses at Blue, Odin, and Sigurd, he fled, the rest of the fleabags following suit. The ranger looked around cautiously, only coming down when Hunter had finished sniffing around. "What the heck was that all about?" she asked, on her way to the group of Gnolls who were their allies.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"Him? I don't know, he has always been weird." said Squirmy, the Goblin. "That was Lord Violet, well he isn't a lord of bloody anythin', he is just self proclaimed. Right coward that one, usually lets his henchmen do 'is work for 'im."

Tiny grunted in approval, as if to say Squirmy was right.

"Yea, a bit scary until you realize he is full of hot air. Though, I imagine those bullets would hurt a wee bit. Thinking about it makes me hungry....and tired." said Curfew, patting his big tummy. He looked rather silly, now on a good inspection. His clothes clearly didn't fit exactly right. The 2 buttons near the bottom of his shirt seemed to cry for mercy, as they looked like they would pop off at any second. He also only really had a big gut, otherwise he didn't look that out of shape. His form exuded what he was, lazy and always looking for something to eat. It was probably easy to doubt Curfew had any idea what he was doing, but he fought well against the attackers, and clearly Cookie trusted him.

Cookie probably would have answered, if he wasn't in the middle of something. He seemed to be praying over Montebanke. He was kneeling, and holding his left hand to his forehead, while placing his right over Montebanke's wound. He whistled in that high pitch as he had before when reciting the Prayer he said earlier. a soft white light emanated from his hand and was cast down onto the wound. He pressed his hand on Montebanke's chest, and it began to reknit. The Skin quickly tied itself together bringing the sides of the wound back together. The deep gash started to disappear, thought the skin didn't really heal back all the way. a nasty bruise was still left there, but at least his gut wasn't open to the world.

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

So this was the Gnoll who ran off, and their friend apparently. The ranger had more questions... but the injured one needed medicine even if Cookie knew healing prayers. "I... know where some medicinal herbs can be found to ease the pain and bruising," she murmured, crouching down to the Gnoll Priest and his friend.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

"Don't worry about me Milady, I can manage. Thou should only worry about me if thou has the time to do so." Montebanke said, coughing up a bit of blood.

"Nonsense you dolt, you are wounded and don't pretend otherwise." Cookie said. "I would normally have some, but I am out, it would be appreciated if you could help in anyway Hoodie." he sat back on his haunches. "I have seen much worse wounds then this, he will live, but the medicine would help ease the pain and keep it from getting infected. If you get them for me I know how to apply them, simple as grinding them up into a poultice."

Curfew slammed his butt down on the ground. "Well that is good news, but I am stills starvin'. Might cook us a nice curry, or maybe a gumbo......yea Gumbo sounds good." One would probably wonder how Curfew was going to cook a gumbo without a pot, but then one would notice a HUGE hiking pack he started to walk to. It was a mystery how the hell he escaped them with that thing on his back, considering it was covered in a multitude of pots and pans, and one could only imagine what was in it.

"We should rest here awhile, a lot of us are tired and worn out from the battle, pushing ourselves could end very badly." Blue said to the party. "Also, I am kinda curious of what that Gnoll can cook, he is setting up a fire pit, I think he is serious about the gumbo."

[Zephyrus the Priestess]

The ranger merely looked Cookie in the eye as a means of acknowledgement then beckoned Hunter over. "Be on the look out in case any of those bastards return." As the huge wolf moved to stalk the nearby vicinity, nose high in the air, Helzebeth called out to the rest of the group. "Does anybody else need some herbs?"

[Notus]

"No thanks Helze, I've not been hit too much. Want a hand to pick them though?" Marcus answered the ranger. It wasn't easy for him to get rest after the adrenaline of a fight, so he wasn't pretending to be idle.

[Ragnar]

"i could use some of this 'herbs' " Akuma said from the distance as he approach the group, the kenku was all bruised up as he can feel pain all over his body as his trance wears off. Akuma sits in a nearby tree, resting his aching body.