Spring had banished the snow, but not the cold. The sun hadn’t risen yet and the night was chilly. The problem was made worse because none of them were dressed warmly. The idea was that exertion would warm them up soon enough and they didn’t want to risk overheating. A sound plan, but one that did little to keep them from freezing now.
Liuka’s teeth were chattering sporadically and she was bouncing up and down in place nervously. Oresus was carefully stretching and warming up. Emokha was running through a light martial arts kata, making certain none of her gear would come loose when moving.
“Ori. Ori! Ori Ori Ori!”
“W-what?” He didn’t turn.
“Did you look at the back of our tokens? The point value is written there.”
“N-no. I’m b-busy stretching.”
“I could use a distraction. What does it say?” Dramatically Gloe held the token outstretched. Liuka blinked, then began to laugh. “Half a point? Ori, they think you’re only worth half a point!”
“W-we are aberrations” he muttered.
“But combat veterans! Aside from the teachers you three are the only ones here who have been in a real fight! Plus you leveled up, right?”
“A b-bit. But they’ve n-never seen me use my ability. Or h-him either.”
“Fokhus. They are about to sound the horn.”
Liuka shook herself one last time. “Okay, I’m ready. I guess.”
“Alright! All aboard!” Reluctantly Liuka stepped forward so she could be carried, while Oresus climbed on Gloe’s back. The starting horn blew and they were off, Emokha leading the way while Gloe carried the other two and followed via tree branches.
After twenty minutes or so Gloe whistled. Circling back Emokha hovered in front of him questioningly. “Hostiles to the east. Eight.” He squinted. “They’re bee-lining at us. Probably.”
“So either we g-got really unlucky or they knew our starting position.”
“One of their skhouts must have spotted us as well. We have khovered a lot of ground. Anything to the west yet?”
“Not in range.”
“Khan we outrun them?”
“Probably? Closing speeds are difficult to gauge.”
“Let us takhe the riskh.” The group veered west and continued their rapid movement. Another fifteen minutes elapsed before Gloe spoke again.
“Hostiles due west. Stationary or moving very slowly. Seven.”
“How khlose are those to the east?”
“I lost contact a couple of minutes ago. They were pursuing at the time.”
“So we have…perhaps up to ten minutes? That doesn’t sound like long enough. Assuming we can pull this off at all.” Liuka sounded very uncertain.
“In small unit khombat that is prakhtikhally an eternity. We have an opportunity. Remember the plan.” She shrugged. “Also, the sun is beginning to rise. High-speed stealth will bekhome inkhreasingly diffikhult.”
“Do w-we have time for a scouting run?”
“Go.” Oresus dropped off of Gloe’s back and vanished into the shadows. The others pushed on quietly and slowly until he reappeared. “Slatany, b-bulwark, two bodyguards, two casters and a swordmeister.”
“That is not an optimal troop mixh” Emokha said with some satisfaction. “Formation?”
“Bodyguards and b-bulwark in front of Slatany and the casters, swordmeister patrolling.”
“Zekhow, takhe the swordmeister. The rest of us will assault the defensive line. Liuka stay on Ori’s right, just as we prakhticed.”
“Right. You know, now that we’re about to go I’m far less nervous.” She laughed unevenly.
“That’s just how these things work sometimes.” Gloe winked at Emokha behind Liuka’s back.
“Indeed. Let us takhe advantage. Good hunting everyone. Khall out if you need help.” They creapt forward until they were just out of sight, then on Emokha’s signal they charged.
Gloe streaked forward, dropping off his passengers just before the enemy positions, then veered abruptly towards the still-reacting swordmeister. The latter’s training held though and he lashed out with a lethal blow. Gloe wasn’t carrying a weapon but he was wearing what looked like a cross between forge gloves and armored gauntlets (because that’s what they were.) With one hand he reached out towards the sword. An odd liquid sheen came from his hand and he deflected the weapon up, ducking under it in the same motion.
Then his momentum ground to a halt. Both feet planted, he stooped low and his arms thrust outward and upward. His palms impacted with the unprepared swordmeister’s chest. They didn’t pierce shroud (although they did some damage from sheer force alone,) but they did impart a great deal of kinetic energy. The enemy combatant had no chance of maintaining his traction under the circumstances and he went flying.
Meanwhile Oresus and Liuka landed on their feet, already translating their momentum into a charge. Liuka stumbled for two steps but Oresus reached out with one hand to steady her and they hit the bulwark as one. Oresus had one of his spears and Liuka was armed with an odd custom polearm. It had a small metal loop on one end and an elongated spike on the other. At the moment she was using the point as a spear.
Her attacks were quite basic, but competent. The bulwark’s enormous shield almost automatically moved to block them, but since he had to honor the threat the attacks still aided Oresus, whose spear was dancing. Seemingly effortless flicking thrusts came in from random angles, and the bulwark was forced to parry many of them with his short sword. For the moment he was locked down, unable to counter-attack.
So when Emokha buzzed in from the side to strike at the casters only the two bodyguards were in position to intervene. She laid into them with continuous strikes, literally flying circles around the group, forcing them to constantly reposition to protect the casters. She and the bodyguards were so close and moving so quickly that the casters were having trouble providing supporting fire without endangering their allies. Slatany was only using Radiant Javelins, the healer was sporadically lashing out with her staff and the other mage was shooting out tiny sparks. Most were missing and Emokha swatted down the others.
Slatany’s team was recovering their equilibrium though, signaling each-other and moving to converge on Emokha and pin her down. They did have her outnumbered five to one, and that gave those unengaged time to anticipate her movements. That lasted about twenty seconds. Then Gloe came flying in from the side. The nearest bodyguard instantly pivoted and blocked the incoming attack, but again it wasn’t designed to damage but to launch. The bodyguard went flying and Gloe bounced back out of the fight, returning to the swordmeister.
Emokha swooped through the resulting gap and lashed out at the casters. Slatany flew clear in time but the mage took a couple hits and the healer took quite a few more. The bodyguard moved in to flank but now he was attacking, not blocking. Emokha turned sideways, parrying his blows with one arm while going after the casters with the other three. A barked command from Slatany finally had the trio breaking off to regroup.
“W-wall please.” At Oresus’ request Liuka waved her staff and bubbles came from the ring side. They floated into a loose wall between her and the bulwark, turning opaque. The bulwark lost visual contact and began swiping at the bubbles to regain sight of his foes, but Oresus was already gone.
Emokha had turned most of her attention to the bodyguard, pressing her attack while he was alone. That let the other two free to move unhindered, but since they took different routes it also left them unsupported. Oresus’ charge smashed the healer to the ground and he began raining blows down. Slatany bombarded him with vertical Radiant Javelins but couldn’t use anything more potent without risking hitting the prone healer. Oresus’ spear batted away the attacks in between downward strikes. Shiny liquid ran down the haft, barely visible. A dozen or so rapid fire blows shattered the baseline chosen’s shroud and Oresus brought the spear around like a bat, knocking her out. Snatching her totem he dashed back to assist Liuka.
The bulwark was pressing her hard but she was steadily giving ground rather than take hits. Oresus came in behind him, prepared to flank him, but Slatany recognized the danger. “Regroup damn it! They’re trying to divide us!” The command made the bulwark realize how far he had gotten from the group and he began pulling back. Neither Liuka or Oresus were able to penetrate his impressive defenses sufficiently to hinder him, despite their ongoing efforts.
The two bodyguards each used their intervention abilities and blurred back to Slatany, shielding her with their bodies. The conscious mage had already run to her. Once the bulwark plodded his full plate-clad body over the whole group was re-concentrated. Minus the healer of course.
And the swordmeister. Every time he tried to get back into the fight Gloe would run up, block or tank his attack, and then gift him with another wonderful aerial journey. Judging from the spectacular strings of expletives echoing throughout the woods the swordmeister was not appreciative.
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For her part Slatany surveyed the battlefield as her formation reassembled. Her eyes flitted from figure to figure. She saw liquid staining Gloe’s sleeves and running down both Emokha’s claws and Oresus’ spear. She smiled unpleasantly. “It was a good tactic, but you’re still far too green to face me” she announced loudly. “Your shielder’s been blocking everything for you. She’s almost out of mana.” She turned to her team. “Time to end this! Bombardment!”
The mage began laughing with excitement and waved his hands in the air. Orange and red spheres of various sizes began flying towards all members of Emokha’s team. When they touched a surface they detonated in spectacular fashion. Clearly he was the explosion mage. Adding to the chaos Slatany fired off a Color Rain at each target, followed with a Justice Reign at Emokha and a second at Oresus and Liuka. The resulting explosions lit up the ground and sky, stark black shadows streaming out in all directions from the surrounding trees. It was an extremely impressive display of fire.
Yet when it all cleared it turned out to have been less effective than might have been expected. The thinning smoke couldn’t quite obscure the popping of the last shielding bubbles. “How?” Slatany demanded. “I know you couldn’t afford any mana potions! How did she have the mana left to shield like that?”
Emokha shrugged. “Someone as green as I cannot be exhpekhted to exhplain it to someone as experienced as you.”
“No matter! Bombardment again!” A grunt was her only response. Turning she saw her explosion mage flying off into the distance, right before Gloe kicked one of her bodyguards into the other, leaping off in their wake. The bulwark closed up to protect her, but Emokha flitted opposite him and attacked. His defense was extremely strong but his mobility was lacking. He couldn’t stay interposed and Slatany flew clear rather than face Emokha’s wrath at close range.
Another quick survey of the battlefield showed a very different situation. The two bodyguards were being assailed by Gloe, Oresus and Liuka. They were defensive specialists so they were holding on, but surrounded. They couldn’t use their intervention to move to Slatany unless she moved to ground level, and even if she did they were having trouble keeping track of her given how heavily they were being attacked.
The bulwark was stomping over to help the bodyguards but it would take a minute for him to get there. The explosion mage had landed near the swordmeister but the two were not regrouping. Instead the swordmeister was angrily berating his teammate. From the few shouted words that could be caught at this distance it seemed at least one of the explosions had hit him square on, and he was furious.
Slatany herself was being closely pursued by Emokha. She moved to buy herself some breathing room. “Spark Mines! Spark Mines! Spark Mines!” Once encircled in protective mines she began shouting commands. “Regroup! Get some distance and bombard! One more push and we have them!” She whipped around in surprise as a series of explosions occurred in close proximity behind her, just in time to see the dead tree shattering in the blastwaves.
Emokha came in from right behind it, attacking furiously. Slatany was only able to block a few blows, and even those drove her back, perilously close to her own mines. “Diffusion!” They vanished and she fled, her foe hot on her tail.
“Fine then” she muttered. “I’ll do it myself. Ensnaring Light!” Emokha easily evaded the attack but it bought Slatany a bit of space, and she used it to land. “Intervene on me damn it! Long Arm of Justice!” A rainbow streamer stretched out from her, seizing the swordmeister and explosion mage and dragging them to her position. Turning his head the bulwark nodded at her, indicating he had deactivated his stability ability. “Long Arm of Justice!” He was also brought close, nodding again before resettling into defensive position. The two bodyguards ducked down, dodging blows long enough to use their interventions. Slatany’s group was back in formation.
“Bombardment!” Again the explosion mage began casting. Right as the spheres began manifesting though something glinted in the first direct rays of the rising sun. Then another. And another. A small cloud of bubbles with a perfect mirror sheen reflected the light directly at Slatany’s formation, inundating them with blinding beams.
Most of the group managed to avert their vision in order to avoid being temporarily blinded, but the mage was in mid-cast. At first he tried to tough it out, then to protect his eyes. Both efforts resulted in his projectiles going off haphazardly in all directions. Explosions were going off everywhere.
The dust hadn’t begun to settle before more bubbles popped nearby, leaving a choking haze around the group. Hacking and coughing they stumbled free. Gloe and Emokha immediately tore into them, the former trying to break up the formation while the latter simply inflicted as much damage as possible.
“That’s pretty much the last of my mana” Liuka said worriedly.
“G-good work.” Oresus passed her a couple of berries. “Save the r-rest for emergencies. We’ll f-fade for now.” He guided her into the underbrush and they vanished from sight.
Half-blind and struggling for breath Slatany’s people were having a difficult time. Gloe was bouncing around like a pinball, making very little effort to actually damage his targets and trying very hard to knock them away from each other. Except for the explosion mage and swordmeister. Every opportunity he got he was sending one cannoning into the other.
Once again Emokha was relentlessly attacking Slatany. The latter was obviously losing her cool. “Fine! Fine! Unwritten Rules!” At first nothing seemed to happen, but then Slatany mouthed something and a Color Rain appeared. Apparently she had the ability to cast without shouting out the names of her attacks.
Which was definitely an improvement, but she seemed to have forgotten that Emokha had already overcome most of her techniques without knowing what they were. Using skill and reflexes she was able to beat them again. In fact it was actually easier this time since she had magical weapons and thus didn’t have to disrupt attacks solely with her claws. She was slowed, but nothing stopped her. She just kept coming, and Slatany was clearly starting to run out of gas, both in terms of mana and personal energy levels.
As a last resort she tried to cover her retreat with another Blind Justice, but Emokha had learned. Half her eyes had been shut for most of the fight, so when she was blinded she just closed the dazzled organs and switched to those that were completely functional. Her assault continued without a hitch.
As hoped, Slatany turned out to be vulnerable to close combat. Her ability to parry with her staff was extremely limited and most of her techniques were ranged. Emokha battered her with blow after blow until shroud began to fail and Slatany half-landed half-crashed to the ground some distance from her allies. Sheathing her swords Emokha pummeled her with fists until she passed out. Upon victory she paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before retrieving Slatany’s token. Then she drew her sabers and dashed over to join Gloe.
The two were on the offensive in a sense, but it was decidedly of the hit and run variety. Their foes still outnumbered them five-to-two, and three of them were defensive specialists, very difficult to eliminate quickly. The swordmeister and explosion mage both had impressive offensive ability as well, although they weren’t coordinating too well with each-other for some reason.
So they were spending a lot of time maneuvering and dodging, with only the occasional solid attack landing. Not making a lot of progress. “They’re getting close” Gloe warned as he passed Emokha.
“Very well. I had hoped to have time for one more. I will fall backh. Khindly khover me.”
Gloe nodded, then twitched. “Second group, to the north. Just came in range. Eleven.” There was a break as each launched another attack.
“That is another group, likhely lookhing to capitalize. We shall try to lead them into each other and then retreat.”
“Sounds good.” They resumed their tactics. Several minutes later the first group came into sight from the east. It was Jate with the rest of Slatany’s team, including most of their more mobile and offensive members. They immediately began the attack. Outnumbered and overpowered all Emokha and Gloe could do was flee. North.
A roar of outrage boomed over the skirmish field. Jate had found the unconscious Slatany and he was greatly displeased. Locking his eyes on Emokha he began to chase her, but although he was nimble and fast he simply couldn’t match the speed and maneuverability that her flight gave her.
After a minute or two of fruitless pursuit Jate screamed a series of obscenities. Then, while keeping his gaze fixed on his prey he folded his hands oddly. “My soul is weeping! Serpent Soul!” For a moment he trembled in place, then he broke out in a prolonged wail, charging at Emokha faster than ever.
“He has gone berserkh!” Emokha shouted. “I will exhekhute Ori 4. Protekht!” She flitted down to near ground level and buzzed off at full speed, north. Jate charged after her, his team and the exercise forgotten.
Gloe ran up a tree and perched there for a moment, watching their progress. Then he stiffened. “Bathtub!” he yelled. “Bathtub bathtub bathtub!”
“I s-still say that’s a stupid code word” Oresus grumbled softly from his hiding spot in the bushes, but Liuka couldn’t hear him. She had already covered her ears and was humming softly to herself. Clandestinely she peered out, trying to monitor the situation.
“You all look SOOOOOO tired” a soft but oddly clear voice blanketed the field. “You should rest. You DESERVE a rest. Take a little break. You’ll feel so much better after a quick rest, ready to get back to all those amazing feats of heroics. But who can be heroic when they’re so, SO tired? Rest. Rest.”
The members of Slatany’s team slowed, staggering slightly as if exhausted. Clearly they were fighting Elame’s influence, but she wasn’t done with them. “Take a break. Rest. Just a little nap will do you wonders. At the very least you should sit down for a bit, you’ve been working so hard. Aren’t those boots awfully tight? Doesn’t that armor chafe? You could loosen them just a bit. Just a little break.” Slowly but surely it was having an effect.
The mood was slightly ruined when Emokha buzzed over Elame’s team, hands clamped firmly over her ears. They watched her pass in bewilderment, uncertain how they should react. When Jate came rushing through in hot pursuit, audibly seething, it didn’t simplifying things. They all just stared for a moment.
And that was when Elame got hit by a tree trunk. Not a huge one, but it massed quite a bit more than she did. She let out a large unladylike grunt as she went flying, and the effect was disrupted.
Slatany’s team shook themselves, stirred to outrage when they realized what had happened. Spotting the discombobulated members of Elame’s team they charged them in a disorganized mass. Elame’s team counter-attacked to break up the charge. With no clear leadership on either side the situation quickly degenerated into bedlam.
It didn’t look like things would improve any time soon. Jate was already out of sight in the forest. Elame had her own complications to deal with. After throwing the tree Gloe had followed up with another, slamming it down on her once she landed. There was an audible ‘oof’ as the wind was knocked out of her, and that attracted the attention of her team.
Despite the imminent combat three of them diverted to free their leader, but they weren’t the only ones there. Sensing an opportunity Oresus and Liuka had snuck close. Emerging from cover Oresus joined Gloe in defending the tree. Elame had minimal physical enhancement so she wouldn’t be able to free herself. Most of her power was in her voice, in her words. Gasping for breath from the impact she struggled to find the phrases that would facilitate her escape.
“Shhhhh” came the whisper from above her. Two hands reached out, stopping just short of her head, and a bubble appeared around her head. She thrashed around, trying to pop it, but her arms were pinned by the tree and the interloping hands moved with her head. “Try to stay calm please. This technique is really difficult. Takes a lot of concentration, and I can only do it at extremely close range. Plus it’s new, so I don’t have a lot of practice using it.”
Elame’s teammates were trying to push through but they were distracted by the ongoing fight behind them, and Gloe and Oresus were fighting purely defensively, not attempting to counter-attack at all. Just playing for time.
“Shhh. Shhh. Just lie still. Sleepytime.” Elame continued to fling her head around, her efforts becoming more and more feeble over time. Finally her eyes rolled up and her head slumped. “Oh, that’s right. You can’t hear me because this bubble doesn’t allow vibrations through. Or air.” Liuka helped herself to Elame’s token. “Serves you right. Bitch.”
“Do y-you have it?”
“Yes, sorry. I got a little worked up”
“Bounce then. I’ll cover you. Ori 4.”
“R-right.” Rolling backwards Oresus picked up Liuka and fled northwest. Meanwhile Gloe threw himself bodily at the attackers. The three tumbled into melee. Several minutes later Gloe blazed out of the area, streaming blood but free from pursuers. In the chaos no one was willing to risk their team losing to pursue a measly half point.