((A mixture of rolls here. Some good, some bad))
Attempt to run away and call for help from the warriors. "Help help the gaurd general is after me!".
Hopefully when new warriors come to our aid we can smash through and hide inside a abandoned building.
Who doesn't want to kill a general and is personal escort of officers?
You look for a way through, a way you could use to get to the main square to shout for help.
The enemy, though, has got you entirely covered. The mansion to your back blocks you in, and is far to large to climb through quickly. The mages to your flanks block you in, and still seem to have ample reserves of power, mainly due to the fact that they have only used minor spells so far.
The soldiers to your front have spread out evenly, covering each other. The General is grinning. You realise that they are still an unknown power. They could have access to magic, so attempting to power through them would be a bad idea in your current condition.
You think of something else.
See if we can't use the obligatory High Elven psionic abilities, or perhaps a magical spell, to draw strength from one of the less attentive mages. If this works, use received power to make a rapid escape!
Alternatively, or possibly even if the previous plan works, make a run for the governor's mansion - the confined corridors will come in handy against a detachment of warriors, or at least make escape simpler. Worst case scenario, we waste a bit of the commander's time and help the pre-emptive resistance warriors make their escape!
You probe the defenses of the mages as subtly as possible, looking for ways to suck energy from them. Whilst the practice is frowned upon by your people, it is still taught and its use is limited to last stands or last efforts to escape, like the one you are currently in.
Fortunately, you find that the male mage, and one of the female mages, both have gaping holes in their defenses. You are in luck, as they are obviously competent enough to know about them also. You plunge your magic feelers into the gaps, trying to reach the mage-core with which you could drain them of power, adding it to your own.
The mages react, however. They respond by trying to close the holes you have exploited. Whilst some of the smaller ones are closed, the largest remain and in fact get larger slightly. They keep on trying with dismal success. Your feelers have already plunged deep, and taken hold.
Unfortunately, it seems that they have a second layer of defenses, which is limiting the amount of power you can take from them. You try to break through that too, but you cannot even seem to dent it. Sighing inwardly, you settle with what you can take.
What you can take does remove your fatigue, and aide the healing of your more serious injuries, so much so they almost entirely disappear. They aren't going to leave scars, or have any long lasting effects. There is a down side, as it seems that after the removal of your fatigue, and the healing of your injuries, you do not have much left to recharge your energy.
Gritting your teeth, preventing a rather unladylike curse from escaping your lips, you again try to think of another strategy.
You notice your enemies are slowly moving towards you, taking their time, trying to make you sweat. You respond my moving back in response to their movements. You risk a quick glance back at the mansion, or what was left of it. You have an idea. Maybe, if you can find a corridor that isn't collapsed, you could escape into the labyrinthine maze of the mansion and lose your pursuers, or at least stall them, for a while, tiring them out.
The challenge there is finding an accessible corridor.
Fortunately for you, you can see several from your position. The general and his men dont, however, as they are focusing only on you. Neither does the male mage. The two female mages do notice the corridors, and your glances towards them. You seem them both grin wickedly, as if to let you know they know what you are thinking.
Your eyes widen then you realise they are charging implosion spells. Straight at the corridors behind you. The first shot goes wide, and hits a bunch of corridors that were already to far away for you tor each. The second shot destroys two of the five corridors within your reach, and seriously damages a third, giving it a high risk of collapse.
You bolt for one of the corridors.
You trip on the mangled corpse of a maid, and stumble as another implosion spell fires off over your head, now from the male mage, which also goes wide and damages some unimportant part of the ruins. The female mages stat using a variety of spells to both slow you down and destroy your escape routes.
Their swampland and suction spells manage to make you stumble more than once, your feeble remnants of magical energy preventing you from mounting an effective counter, whilst their very inaccurate fire only managed to heavily damage one of the non damaged corridors.
The general and his men stat charging forward after you.
"Shit!" You cry in desperation, which only seems to make the General smile even more.
The male mage blows himself up with a badly conjured piercing-explosion spell. Two of the generals men stumble and slow.
The two female mages however manage to destroy all but one of the corridors, leaving you with a very heavily damaged corridor which looks like it could collapse at any time. And to make matters worse, the General and his men who haven't stumbled like idiots are getting very close, very quickly.
You take a chance.
You just make it through the entrance of the corridor as it starts to collapse. Three of the Generals men that were hot on your heels dont, as they get hammered by falling debris, critically wounding two and killing a third. The General, however, makes it through with you, just as the corridor collapses and prevents the other three Generals men and the two female mages from following.
You are now alone with the General.
Challenge one to a Dulaleka Nosefa! Explain that it is a duel of swordsmanship between you and the commander. If you lose, the commander is granted your soul, which means he gets all your mad skills. At this point, we point out that we killed five guards at once. If the general loses, than his second calls off the city guard and orders them to surrender. Make some fancy speech about " the vengance on the elves who break this duel" and "by blood, by blade, and by warriors's strength, so mote it be!
Challenge one to a Dulaleka Nosefa! Explain that it is a duel of swordsmanship between you and the commander. If you lose, the commander is granted your soul, which means he gets all your mad skills. At this point, we point out that we killed five guards at once. If the general loses, than his second calls off the city guard and orders them to surrender. Make some fancy speech about " the vengance on the elves who break this duel" and "by blood, by blade, and by warriors's strength, so mote it be!
+1, actually! It's an agreeable solution for everyone. Agree that magic is not permitted to be used in the duel, and that no outside help is likewise permitted. Heck, if this commander has earned three whole mage-slaves, kicking our ass and adding us to the fold should be a snap. Leave off the surrender part, though. Just say that you get his helmet and/or weapon of choice if he loses and you and the pre-emptive resistance people (if they wish it) are permitted to flee unimpeded so that you may fight another day. Let's not push our luck.
And if he doesn't agree to this deal, compliment him on his cleverness and pledge service to the man, since we really have no reason to fight on the side of the pre-emptive resistance people beyond "a child was in danger" or "the governor looked like an asshole". For all we know, those people framed you for the guard captain's death in the first place.
"I challenge you!" You shout. The General cocks his head to the side, a sideways grin on his face. "I challenge you to a duel of my people! The Dulaleka Nosefa, a duel of swordsmanship. If I win, you allow me to leave, unimpeded. If you win, you can punish me for the laws I may have broken in any way you see fit."
You stare him down, his smile never leaving his face.
"I should have you know, I am an accomplished mage-warrior of my people, and I have made short work of your men. Also know that, should you accept and break the rules of this duel, the Elves of Faradun will know and will set out to complete the sacred work ordered upon those who break the laws of the Gods. Your death would be a certainty." You say, with more conviction than you are feeling. No one should be as calm as the General is in this situation.
Several tense minutes pass with nothing said, only the General and you studying each other, weapons drawn and ready.
Suddenly, loud, deep voices laughter erupts from the General. He stands up straight, and you only then notice just how tall he is. He almost looks too tall. For a hu......
"Oh...Oh no." You say, eyes widening. The General only laughs louder at your reaction.
"Impudent little elf!" He booms, his voice almost shaking the very walls of the ruins. "You expect me to abide by
your rules? After you killed my old friend and associate, the Guard Captain Oblesh? After you so arrogantly waltzed in and killed my puppet and his family, whilst also destroying a good third of a rather attractive mansion?
You expect me to forgive how your little escapade has cost me a very skilled faradunian elf mage? One i worked so hard for as well? And let us not forget my brothers in arms, of whose human bodies you have relieved them of. They were quite fond of those ones too. No matter, there will be plenty more after the battle outside has finished.
No, little whelp. I refuse your pathetic challenge. Why go through the time consuming clap trap of elven rituals when i could defeat you here and have my fun slowly breaking you, shattering you, until i can mold you into one of my pets, like your brethren outside?"
He laughs, a deep rumbling that scares you on its own.
You realise that this is no normal human. He is one of the Damned Ones. An Atlovan, the outcasts of the High Empire of Atria. As much an archdemon as his Atrian brethren are dragon. An Atrian instills a sense of hope and bravery in those that lay eyes upon one, an Atlovan inspires fear, terror and the coming of death.
You can feel his hellish aura creeping towards you, almost tangible. His grin is demonic, his laughter turning even more inhuman by the minute. You know it is all designed to demoralise you, make you easy pray.
However, the Faradun, or high elves as the common folk know them, are far tougher than they look. They are almost the physical and magical matches of the Atrians and Atlovans and whilst a lone Faradunian fighting a lone Atrian or Atlovan is ill advised, it can be done.
As the Great Duel between the Faradunian Elf Dore-wiin Few-dhorwil and the Atlovan Battlemaster Gherhaert Voldhern the Scarred is testimony to.
Using a cleaning spell to rid you of his demonic power, you charge, blade steady and aimed straight for a weakpoint in his plate armour. Your sword strikes fast and hard, however the General parries your blow at the last second, so fast you barely see his arm or weapon move.
As you pirouette away, avoiding his retaliatory attacks, you see his weapon is a longsword like your own, but with red glowing runes down its blade and an intricate yet function hilt and pommel. A fine weapon. You then sense the demonic energy in the blade, thirsty for blood. You shudder.
The General laughs again. "I must say, i am impressed. So far you have managed to put up more of a fight than the other three did. But then again, the other three are dyed in the wool mages through and through. All i had to do was make them use their energy up, and then i could play with them as i wanted, without so much as a peep."
He starts towards you, slowly, still talking.
"The first one to break was the shorter female. She put up a good fight, but she was rather easy to break. A few broken bones here, acid treatment there, the odd beating and a few sessions in my torture chamber loosened her up. Now she is like a faithful puppy. She follows me anywhere, attending to my every need."
He chuckles as he approaches you, blade gleaming in the dull corridor.
"The next to break was the male." He frowns. "It is unfortunate he died, but misfires can happen to anyone. Anyway, he was tougher. It took me almost a year of almost continuous torture to break his mind. And unfortunately, once broken, he acted as if he was a husk. No personality at all. Honestly, the only reason i kept him around is because he could cook one scrumptious pork souvlaki".
Then his grin turns demonic, even more so than when he was trying to threaten you with his aura.
"The second female was the hardest break I've ever broken. I tried everything under the sun. Every depraved action i could take , I took. She was one tough woman. Torture of all types, and abuse of all kinds she suffered. Eventually, I had to take drastic measures." He chuckles again. "I found her family. She had a husband. Her mother and father, her uncles and aunts, her two daughters and three sons. I found her entire immediate family.
And then i slowly tortured them, one by one, in front of her until they succumbed to death. I made several beg for death, especially her children. I rather enjoyed that. A good old time for all the family, so to speak." He laughs, loud bellows that once again threaten to send the ceiling down on your head.
"However......That. Broke. Her." With each word, he magically flits towards you as if to emphasize the point, until he is right in front of you. He leans in, taking you by surprise. "BOO!"
You jump, and try to move backwards, only to be blindsided by a powerful chop from your left. You manage to block the attack with your sword. You manage a riposte, but he is too fast. Using the flat of his blade, he hits you in the gut, sending you flying back. His next attack, you dodge, responding with a glancing blow against the rear of his knee, which is exposed thanks to the need for his armour to allow mobility.
He goes down on one knee, but with a quick spell, he heals and is back up. You charge again, aiming for another weakpoint. He parries again, which time using a spell to stun you. He lets out a short, sharp laugh just before he again hits you with the side of his blade on your hip so hard he almost completely shatters it.
You scream, collapsing to the floor. Your eyes, streaming with tears of pain, widen in fear as he looms above you. Displaying a massive effort of fortitude, you manage to use your good leg to kick him back.
Unsuspecting, he does not realise you attacked until too late. He topples backward and into the wall, which collapses, temporarily trapping him.
You start to drag yourself deeper into the ruins. You need to find a room you can rest until you have enough energy to heal yourself.
Unfortunately, luck does not favour you today. The Atlovan is up and about again before you have even gotten to the junction in the corridors up ahead. He strides towards you and stamps on your hip. Again, you scream, even louder this time. He keeps the pressure on. Eventually, you numb to the pain.
Whimpering, you try and force him off, which only leads to a blade pointing to the nape of your neck.
"You. Are. Mine."
He quickly rattles off a chant that triggers a spell seemingly locked in the sword. Dark tendrils snake down, dripping to the ground where they then start slithering up your legs. Their touch is like fire-hot pokers being rubbed up and down your skin. You grit your teeth, not allowing yourself to let him hear another sound from you.
"Vundaer!" He shouts, a lance of energy firing from his outstretched sword towards your chest, where it contacts. The resulting shock makes you almost entirely black out. You feel the General return your sword to its sheath, then you feel him grab you by your hair and drag you through the mansion.
In and out of semi-consciousness, you feel a multitude of things. First cold stone floors, then warm grass followed by mossy street stones and finally gloopy ground that must have been the plaza, or more specifically, the blood on the plaza. You hear the general say something, and the resulting roar is nearly deafening.
The last thing you remember before blacking out completely is being lifted into the air by your hair, and dangling there, motionless, with yet another cheer rising from the unknown crowd.
~~~***~~~
Sometime later, you awake.
And you are surprisingly pain free.
You test your limbs, and find that you have full functionality, not even a mark on your body.
As you awake fully, you realise not everything is good news. For one, you are now dressed in your silken underclothes only, your arms chained above you head with thick gleaming steel manacles. Secondly, all your equipment is missing. Thirdly, there are three rather pissed off guards on the other side of the room, watching you like hawks.
What do you do?
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Topic: (SG) The World of Ricovero - Ghost in the Rain (Read 16134 times)