Pathwalker - RP

[Moosetroop11]

Shell was thinking intensely about the appearance of the creature over Alziel's shoulder- an odd herbivore with so little vegitation around. He stopped, a thought suddenly occuring to him, and then raised his staff, striking the ground.
The tortured, cracked land was yet strong, but gave way easily before Shell's staff, the detailed glyphs on the side of the weapon - a language unknown to Shell himself - glinting suddenly despite the overcast skies. Then Shell picked out the piece of ground that had come loose, observed by his two bemused companions.

Underneath the ground was a strange growth, vegitation of some sort, white roots. With no leaves on the surface it did not draw it's energy from the sun- perhaps some power within the earth? But however it existed there was no denying that it was there.
"I see. This is what we've been given" Shell muttered. Then he turned to his companions. "The body can't last on meat all the time. It's a fair bet that the animals here have been feeding on these underground plants, so that's what we'll do."
"How do you know the plants are edible?" Alziel reasoned. "These creatures could have very different metabolisms to our own."
"I haven't been let down yet" Shell replied, "so you might just have to trust me. You don't have to eat them if you're worried."
Shell pulled up the whole root system- the plant was fairly large. "This food won't last though" he stated. "Depending on how many have stayed, we might be left hungry.

[Dragonium]

Alziel carried on walking with the thing over his shoulder. It was indeed odd that it seemed to be eating underground plants instead of the grass which was so readily available - though it was dry - and it made Alziel think.

"Why would it be using the bush?", he wondered aloud.

Shell looked bemused, and so Alziel explained.

"Its fur is only thin, and those spines on the bush were sharp. Surely it would have been easier for it to eat out in the open without fear of being hurt".

"I do not know", said Shell simply. "This place is very strange, but fortune will carry us through".

Alziel nodded. After a moment of walking, Anyan spoke. "Perhaps it was sheltering", he said, his face screwed up in thought, "But from what? Rain?"

Alziel shook his head this time, for he knew why the creature had been sheltering within the prickly confines of the bush. He looked to Anyan in reply. "Predators, I expect", he said calmly.

[Red XIII]

"Well, that's it." Ragnar watched as Liara created fire from nowhere with her magic.
After looking for a while, Liara had found a small terrain elevation, just slightly higuer than the rest of the ground. However, it was enoughly tall to provide a good view to the nearby terrains.

The camp was near the beach and the ship, and regretably didn't offer much protection. But it was the better place around.

Ragnar sat in the southern part of the camp, watching the horizon with his telescope. "I hope that the brat and the others come back soon. the sun is going down faster than expected."

Somehow Ragnar felt unsafe. He let down the telescope and prepared his crossbow, as well as his swords.
His senses told him that danger was near.

Too near for Ragnar's taste....
Ragnar took the telescope and looked into the horizon again, this time with his weapons ready.

[Kinslayer]

The sun was going down fast, as darkness was approaching. Anyan was troubled, things were strange. That deer looking creature... it was odd.

But the camp was close, and they would organize themselves.

Anyan could notice Ragnar staring towards the horizon, with his telescope, and his swords ready.

"I bet something's going to happen..." said Anyan to Alziel. "The old man there won't draw his swords out for nothing... I'll stand guard as I said, I'm not hungry right now, but if you could send me a little piece of... let's call it deer, I'll be thankful."

So he separated from Alziel and Shell, who were taking the beast to cook it.

[Moosetroop11]

Liara looked up and smiled at Alziel, relieved. They had been gone quite a while, and the land was strange- had the three gone missing, she would have been fairly lost.

Shell climbed to the camp and laid down the large plant.
"You can eat this if you want to remain a vegitarian" he commented, "but it'd be easier for everyone if you started eating meat."
The sprite nodded, as Alziel reached the fire and laid down the deer creature.

[Kinslayer]

"The night is above us, old man..." said Anyan, with a tired tone in his voice. "What the hell are you thinking?"

Ragnar answered nothing and he remained strangely quiet.

Since he would get no response form his friend, Anyan stood and stared towards the horizon. "What is going on...?" he thought: "The sky is dark and it seems it'll rain, but there's no actual sign of raining... there's no thunder, or flash..."

The oddities were mizing alltogether. The strange deer creature, the dark colour of the sky...

"I'm getting troubled for no reason at all, that's not like me..." thought Anyan again.

"Dehllia, give me strenght..." he muttered.

[Red XIII]

"So, you are nervous as well. Something is about to happen, and I don't know what it is. I have no reason for believing that, I'm just following my gut." Ragnar stood up, and looked to the horizon again with his scope...
"What is that? It seems to be headed this way...
It looks like a storm, but it could be a group of birds"

Ragnar felt scared, as he remembered the winged creatures.
He suddenly felt ahte for every flying creature in the world.
"Well, if they come.... I'll shoot'em of the sky!!!" Ragnar thought. Ragnar took his crossbow and said: "Come, Anyan. We should go to eat, and tell Alziel  about the "storm""
The two adventurers stood up, and walked towards the rest of the group.

[Kinslayer]

Anyan agreed with Ragnar, but said: "Old man, you go and tell them, I'll stay and see what happens. I have to make sure that that's a storm. We'll need Alziel's keen senses, or maybe Liara's. Hurry up!"

Ragnar went to the camp, fastly to meet the group.

"This may be it..." muttered Anyan. He took a close look to the dark sky and the strange cloud. It was coming fast towards the camp...

"What the bloody hell...?" he thought, as he drew the Viper. "That's what that creature was running from... I'll catch up with the old man, I guess!" said Anyan, as he started heading in a slow run towards the camp.

[Dragonium]

OOC: Sorry guys. Big delay. Meh.

BIC:

Alziel had seen the peculiar cloud, and broke into a run as Anyan did the same. The fact that it had appeared seemingly from nowhere unnerved him. The fact that it was the only cloud in the grey, empty sky worried him more.

As he hurried towards the camp, spotting Liara not too far away turn to look at him with worried eyes, his foot slipped into the claw marks in the ruined earth, and he fell hard to the ground.

He lay there for a few moments, with his eyes closed, on the ground, so cold and dry as to be downright uncomfortable. He quickly became aware that the babble of the assembled people a hundred yards ahead of him had become louder, and had risen to worry and confusion. Alziel hauled himself up, rolled over, and looked up to the sky.

The sky was black. The cloud, which before had been small, had now grown, expanded, filled the whole sky. It was an unholy gloom, a darkness which was completely silent.

It was like night-time, but there was no moon or stars. Just darkness above.

The people fell silent. Alziel stood up and walked to the camp, to stand by Liara's side. She waited by the fire, looking up to the sky, now appearing truly afraid. The fire crackled. It was only a small, slow burn, nothing more than a small-scale flicker of flame. It gave off no warmth, and next to no light.

Alziel sighed. If this was not nightfall, it was doing a good impression.

The bustle of the camp, as the remaining people wandered about talking to others or sorting supplies. Alziel settled down, took some of the kindling which had been taken from the ship, and set about trying to build up a decent fire.

An hour passed in calm.

Then the sky cracked open, a single bolt of lightning flashed across the cloud, and the storm arrived.

The camp descended into chaos; people scattered, dashing to save their provisions, trying to reach the shelter which had not been built. The sky was blanketed with lightning, thunder exploded overhead like a bomb.

Alziel turned, and a long way away, just across the horizon, saw a shape with wings move against the sky. Then it swooped down to ground level, and was gone.

[Kinslayer]

OOC: Nevermind, let's keep it up.

BIC:

"Alziel! Did you see that?!" said Anyan, screaming, because of the harshness of the storm.

"Indeed I saw that!" answered Alziel with another scream.

A winged creature had appeared out of nowhere... Now it all was becoming strange. The wind was blowing making a loud sound, and the voice of angry thunders, singing songs of destruction could be heard from miles away, as the rain started to pour as blood from a wound.

It was dark now and almost nothing could be seen, as it seemed like night time.

Anyan stood quietly, looking towards the sky. Suddenly, a flash showed the strange figure of a winged creature, above.

A huge warrior with a spear was standing next to Anyan, watching the image, which seemed enormous because of the constant flashing, as it suddenly dissappeared.

A scream in the darkness.

That was all that Anyan heard, ad the huge warrior beside him had suddenly vanished. The rain kept puring fast, and the chaos in the camp was making most of the contestants go nervous.

"Settle down people!" screamed Anyan: "I believe one of us is missing! Gather around, everybody, do not loose sight of each other!"

It was pointless. No one heard him. Suddnly, Anyan saw something on the ground. A shape. A body.

It was the warrior next to him. He was dead, and his spear was broken. He seemed to be scratched at the chest, and lots of blood was coming out of the deep wound.

Anyan started to watch all of the possible sides. Above, to the right, to the left...

"Alziel! Ragnar! Shell! Liara! Montclair! Come here if you hear me! We must gather and get away from here! If we stay we are dead!" he screamed. He only had felt this fear when he had fought Broadsword.

He had the Viper on his hand, and his red eyes were watching everywhere, seeking for an enemy that was apparently invisible...

[Red XIII]

"Here I am, Brat!"
Ragnar closed to Anyan. "You were lucky, the creature came down just behind you, I tried to warn you but the storm..."
Anyan understood and said: "Can you see it? Shoot it down!"
Ragnar looked into the unmerciful sky, trying to see somehing in that chaos.

"I think I see it. Take this!"

Ragnar tried to fire his crossbow, but the wire (that was supposed to fire the bolt) broke down.

"Damned rain!! I knew I had forgotten something! Come, we shouldn't be on the open like this!"

Anyan followed ragnar, who entered a partially - built tent. There they were protected from the rain, but not from the creature.
There was a single adventurer in the tent.
"Hey, fella, can we hide here?" Ragnar asked.

The adventurer (Who happened to be the Dwarf Ragnar disliked) agreed (It was obvious to both Ragnar and Anyan that the dwarf didn't want to be alone in that mess).
Ragnar took a golden wire out of his backpack (Which was dry, thanks to some protective magic) and changed the broken wire from his crossbow.

"There! The old wire broke down because it was an ordinary wire, uncapable of withstanding rain. I got this wire just the day before we left, and I forgot to change it. I'm really dumb when I want to!" Ragnar finished his job, and looked to his now improved cossbow. "Well, it's just like any ordinary crossbow, except that now it resists water!!"

"Are you going out to shoot this thing down?!" the dwarf asked, both surprised and scared.
Ragnar looked at the dwarf and smiled.
"You must truly be crazy. I'm not dumb enough to go out there and make myself a target. It's almost impossible to aim out there, and hitting the target is out of discussion. I'll get that creature, but I'll get it when I have the advantage."
"What's the plan, then?" the dwarf asked.
"The plan, the plan" Ragnar muttered as he thought about the situation.
"There is no way to make an acurrate decission in this situation. This tent has the advantage of being almost invissible in the rain, but it doesn't grant that much of a protection. I think we should stay here for now, but ready to run like hell in any second." As Ragnar said the last part, he reloaded his crossbow, and put on his backpack. After doing that, Ragnar sat on his knees. and waited, looking at the rain outside the tent.

[Moosetroop11]

Liara stared, eyes wide, at the horrible downpour around her. A curtain of black, dripping upon her hair, stinging her eyes.
She caught glimpses, shadows of creatures, and heard nothing but screams of terror. She slipped in a muddy pool and fell, clawing at the ground in a desperate attempt to regain her footing.

***

Shell sprinted through the rain, looking left and right for danger. He held his staff and it helped him to move through the storm; the winds were picking up. The frog attempted to climb out of his slippery pocket but Shell shielded it from the rain. It was not pleasant. Then he caught sight of a tent, a tiny thing confronting the huge void that was the sky.
He brushed aside the leather entrance and found Ragnar, Anyan, and the disgruntled dwarf.
"I'm here" he stated. "What's the plan?"

***

Liara gasped and stood, stumbling forward a few steps. The storm had brought with it a terrible, terrible feeling, which gripped her mind with a madness, an unknown fear. She was unable to see, unable to breathe.

At last she had suffered enough. the cries were growing distant- had she moved away from the camp; or had they all abandoned her? She threw up her hands and closed her eyes. She screamed and instinct took over, a huge pillar of magical flame rising from her body, ascending into the sky and widening to scorch the earth. Anything to repel the blackness...

Alziel spun round to face the sudden eruption of light and noise coming from the right of the camp. The blast of flame was a contrast to the darkness around. Was this another attack? But then he remembered the sprite. She had gone missing.

The explosion swirled around Liara, burning more and more fiercely, until her energy was completely spent, and then, almost as quickly as it had begun, it faded, the darkness in the sky parted above her to reveal a glimplse of sunlight. Then she walked a few steps on the scorched circle of earth around her before her legs failed her and she fell into Alziel's arms.
"Liara" He said quietly. "It's alright. We need to get out of here."

[Kinslayer]

A huge pillar of fire rose on a certain place, close to the tent were Anyan, Ragnar, Shell and the dwarf were.

The dark sky suddenly let a sunshine come forth, as the thunders began to silent their voices.

"Let's head out with caution" said Anyan, as Ragnar and Shell went out of the tent. The dwarf remained inside.

Anyan went ahead, as he saw Liara in Alziel's arms. Suddenly, a harsh flashback came into his mind. He could see himself holding Delliah in his arms, as she was completely pale.

But he woke up from his flashback and asked Alziel: "Is she allright?"

"Yes, she used too much energy though..." said Alziel.

"Good..." said Anyan, relieved. "We might as welll get out of here, they have seem to be calming down... what is the plan?"

[Emerates]

Saine felt a chill crawl up his spine as darkness enveloped the sky.

Thunder exploded everywhere above.  Only moments ago, the sky had been a light gray haze.  Now, it was darker than any night he had ever known, even those of the strongest tempest of the Northern winters.  The rain came next.  Saine put his hood up and scowled as the water drenched him to the bone in scarce few minutes.  He could hardly see, and the mud forming on the ground did not help his walking.

Several minutes went by as he trudged on towards the camp.  Was he even heading towards the camp anymore?  The fire had died, and there were no tents to silhouette themselves against the sky.

A sudden pain in Saine's back knocked the wind from his lungs and sent him spiraling thru the air.  As he spun, he caught a glimpse of a long tail and cruelly curved bat-like wings above him.  He spun more, the world turning over and over again, until the ground rose unmercilessly to meet him.  Stars exploded in his eyes.  His body could not take the pain, and shut down.  There was no creeping darkness of unconsiousness; it was too dark to tell at all.  Saine's eyes closed lazily as he passed out.

[Red XIII]

Though the storm seemed to be slowly stopping, Ragnar knew that danger was not away yet. A cold feeling behind his neck told him that they were not safe.
"Alziel, do you see anything?" Ragnar said.

"I think so, what's that thing there?" Alziel pointed his finger to a flying creature far away, that seemed to be closing to the group.
It was impossible to see the creature in detail due to the storm, but it seemed to be about the size of a man.
The group froze for a second after seeing the creature. There it was, the unspeakable demons that everyone had heard of.
In that moment, the creature rose higher in the air, and it charged against the group at an incredible speed like a falcon or an eagle.
"Look! It's coming this way!!!" Ragnar yelled "Fire!"
Alziel dropped Liara for a second and took his bow, while Ragnar prepared his crossbow.
Both men fired at almost the same time.
The creature suddenly stopped, giving a horrible cry that chiled everyone; but it didn't fall to the ground.
The "demon" simply flew higher in the air, dissapearing from everyone's sight as suddenly as it had appeared.
"Did we hit it?" Ragnar asked....