“What are you, some kind of Night Lord?” Adam asked, staring at the figures ahead of him. Jurot stepped forward, slightly ahead of his brother. The Iyrman crossed his wrists, similarly to a Demon Lord’s aide, his shield arm covering his stomach as he waited. He could feel it. The thundering of his chest. The heat of excitement filling his body.
A large wolf, larger than any other wolf they had seen previously, glared towards Adam. It was not the wolf Adam was looking at, but rather the heavily armoured warrior atop it, adorned in armour that was made of the night sky, wielding a large glave which seemed to almost reach the sky with its presence. An army of creatures, which were part man, part animal, part darkness, shambled behind the mysterious being.
A darkness emanated from the mysterious figure, pressing down even against Adam’s shoulders. Adam could feel it, that sensation which had seeped into his heart, a darkness which had taken him during the year, even within the Iyr.
When he had come across the Encroaching Darkness, he had been too cocky, but this figure? This figure gave the same presence as that man, a presence which stated that they thought of the creatures before them as nothing but ants. They believed themselves not just above the people, but they believed themselves to be among the Divine.
Battle Order
D20 + 1 = 8 (7)
The figure motioned with its glave towards the group. It did not wish for subjugation, but slaughter. The soldiers had prepared themselves, spears and shields in hand, ready to face the Night Lord in combat.
“Ha!” came a shout from a soldier, whose face had grown pale, sweat dripping down their entire body. They charged forward, and a half step behind the rest of the army charged with them.
Health: 78 -> 64
Fighting Spirit: 3 -> 2
Attack - Wraith (Flanking)
D20 + 11 = 18 (7)
D20 + 11 = 29 (18)
Hit!
Wraith: 3 -> 2
Mana: 21 -> 20
Ability: Divine Smite
2D6 + 2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 32 (2, 6)(3, 6)(1, 5)
32 damage!
Attack - Wraith
D20 + 10 = 15 (4)
D20 + 10 = 20 (9)
Hit!
Wraith: 2 -> 1
Mana: 20 -> 19
Ability: Divine Smite
2D6 + 2D6 + 2D6 + 9 = 33 (4, 6)(2, 6)(1, 5)
33 damage!
Onward Soar: 0 -> 1
Mana: 19 -> 16
Spell: Fireball
8D6 = 32 (1, 2, 2, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6)
32 damage!
Adam raised his shield, barely managing to deflect a blow from the wolf, though the wolf’s paw held such might that he was forced back a step. ‘Damn!’ Adam’s arm throbbed, but he inhaled and focused, stepping aside another blow, which clattered against his side, before he swung Wraith across the creature’s side. Though Wraith flashed white with divine magic, the axe didn’t manage to cut too deep. ‘Whoa!’
Due to Adam taking a step forward first, Kitool and Jaygak both charged around it, cutting off the creature’s escape, while blade and staff cut and crashed against its side. Jaygak did not hold back, her glowing blade moving with expert swiftness as she cut into the creature. Kitool’s staff blurred wildly, crashing against the wolf, managing to finally crush its skull. It was a wolf that would have eaten even an Expert for breakfast, but it was nothing before the monsters known as Adam, Jaygak, and Kitool.
“We will handle the Night Lord, Adam,” Kitool stated, turning her back to the fighting soldiers.
Jurot had leapt up to face the Night Lord in combat, his axe meeting glave. Yet, as Kitool had informed Adam to deal with the Night Lord, the trio watched as Jurot was forced back, winded by the blow of the Night Lord, who had stood while their giant wolf had fallen.
‘Holy!’ Adam thought, watching how easily the Night Lord had swatted away Jurot. Adam was about to step forward when he heard Jurot’s voice.
“Adam.”
Adam turned, swinging his axe wildly, pointing it towards the mass of soldiers. He felt the electricity of magic run through his body as he called forth a great spell.
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“Explosion.”
A tiny bead of fire shot forward, engulfing the middle of the enemy soldiers in fire, managing to kill at least a dozen of them, while those who had managed to defend themselves from the flames, barely managed to shamble ever forward. The volar soldiers gasped in awe for a moment, but they continued to charge forward, renewed by the flash of light.
‘Danger.’
Adam glanced back towards Zee and the other magical steed, watching as a small portion of the enemy army had flanked around, meeting the noble and his retinue in battle. Yet, a few soldiers had slipped past, and had marched towards the steeds, where a box of silver gleamed under the torchlight.
“Margrave!” Adam exclaimed. “Protect the mounts!”
“The mounts?” Margave Moonglow shouted back, blade in hand as he readied himself to engage the soldiers. “We have bigger issues than your mounts!”
“Don’t be an idiot! Do you think I care about the mounts?” Adam shouted back. “Don’t let them get to the mounts!”
Mana: 16 -> 13
Spell: Fireball
8D6 = 31 (1, 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6)
31 damage!
Adam held out Wraith, still pointing it towards the enemy soldiers, the electricity of magic rushing through him again. “Explosion!”
The light of the Fireball illuminated the Night Lord, whose glave met axe while staff and blade clattered against his armour, the four in a dance of death. Jurot continued to step forward to clash with the Night Lord, keeping the great figure’s attention while Kitool and Jaygak darted around. Kitool swept the Night Lord off their feet, but as the Night Lord fell, they twisted their body, swinging their blade wildly to the side.
Jaygak could see the blur of the glave as she swung her blade. Her blade made its way towards the falling neck of the Night Lord, while the glave made for her neck. For any other person, perhaps there was a choice to be made, to stab at the cost of taking a mortal wound, or to change the trajectory of their blade to deflect the glave. Jaygak was not just any person.
‘I’m an Iyrman too!’ Jaygak thought, forcing her blade down, while the glave struck across the side of her neck, denting her helmet, striking against her jaw with so much effort that she spun and landed to one side, while her own blade struck against the Night Lord’s helmet in the same manner, though it felt like she had cut into stone.
“Gah!” Jaygak coughed out, her head ringing as the battle raged around her.
Margave Moonglow slashed towards the enemy soldiers who had managed to slip through, along with a handful of guards who had remained by his side. The labourers threw stones and jabbed with their spears towards the enemy, their hearts pounding with fright.
Mana: 13 -> 10
Spell: Fireball
8D6 = 15 (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5)
15 damage!
Adam continued to rain down fire onto the enemy, cursing from his lack of damage as the enemy soldiers continued to march forward. The trio of Iyrmen continued to press the Night Lord. The giant glave crashed against Jaygak, who swung her blade wildly to barely deflect the blow, though she crashed against a tree. She coughed, almost falling unconscious.
Jurot and the Night Lord continued their dance, steel meeting steel, ringing even through the screams and shouts of dying soldiers. Kitool’s blows landed upon the Night Lord from the darkness, forcing the Night Lord to take a knee, though they still focused solely on the red Iyrman ahead, who could shrug off blows which could kill any normal man.
‘Jaygak’s in trouble,’ Adam thought, throwing barely a glance back towards the fights. However, he pointed Wraith forward once more, and willed his magic.
Mana: 10 -> 7
Spell: Fireball
8D6 = 21 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6)
21 damage!
The flames engulfed the enemy soldiers once more, with Adam having taken out or wounded over fifty of them. Images of the charred birdcat corpses filled Adam’s mind, perhaps one of the first times he had used Fireball in such a manner previously, but now…
The glave filled with darkness, before flashing white for a moment. The Night Lord brought down their glave with a great heft, threatening to split the earth in half, while Jurot swung wildly to meet their glave with Phantom. Jurot winced as he was forced to bend his knees, squatting down as he tried to resist the Night Lord, his thighs burning with effort.
Jurot could already feel his consciousness slipping. He had already found it difficult to clash with the Night Lord, each blow threatening to force his arms to fly back if not for his sheer strength and rage. This blow, however, was unlike any other he had felt previously. It was a blow which almost downed the young Iyrman, but it was also a blow which told Jurot something important.
Taking the moment gathered from the Iyrman’s thinking, the Night Lord spun their glave wildly, managing to catch Tigerstaff, causing it to bend and flex, forcing Kitool to skid away. With Kitool taking a moment to gather herself, Jurot readied to fight, but he was in so much pain and Phantom had never felt heavier. He raised his axe and clashed with the Night Lord, but this clash was unlike any of the previous blows either.
The glave shook violently as the Night Lord clashed with Jurot, while Kitool struck against the back of their head, though the armour made of the night sky still felt like stone. It was not that blow which caused the Night Lord to barely meet Phantom with their mighty glave, but the blade which had pierced through the back of their knee.
Jaygak held the hilt of Great Moon against the back of the Night Lord’s knee, gritting her teeth as she fought through the pain. She had crawled through the dirt, willing her blade to darken as the bright light had been too blinding to her eyes, and the sounds of battle had drowned out the noise of her armour.
“I’m an Iyrman too!”