Zion: Light of the New Moon, Ch 1.2 Myrh
Zion - Light of the New Moon Chapter 1.2
Myrh Some Bite Back
The party has elected with a vote of 3:1 to attack the Biteleaf field themselves in an attempt to safe the foragers.
Beside me, Kell pointed down into the clearing, "Do you see the branches hanging over the glade?" I nodded in response, "I'm going to give you a length of rope. I want you to tie it off and hold it steady."
"Why?" I asked. I wasn't complaining-- certainly rope use was better use for me than holding a weapon.
"Any living foragers will probably need to be pulled out of the Biteleaf and using a rope is safer than sticking an arm into them." he answered, "Now stop asking questions, and go." as he spoke he tossed a coil of rope into my grasp. I circled the glade, passing through another group of rescuers.
"Where are you going?" Ryan demanded of Artemisia as she went back toward the wagons, "Aren't you helping?
"Of course, Brother Farstrider." the lizard responded flatly, "I'm helping by being prepared."
The wolf's gaze turned to the two mages beside him, Beo Kyr, the black furred husky and Jerard, the pale-white human. "Biteleaf is dangerous up close, but effective use of magic should be able to cause it to withdrawal enough to rescue the laborers."
Jerard cracked his knuckles, "So we bathe the entire place in a flame bath and move on." it seemed like an almost comical statement, but he said it with complete and total conviction.
"No..." the priest corrected patiently, "That would kill the people we're trying very hard to save."
"Maybe just a little selective pruning..." Beo suggested, idly rolling a small lick of flame from one finger-tip to another.
"This will end up turning into one large cluster-fuck." Jerard scowled, "Might as well spend your time trying to sword-rut a porcupine."
Beo's ears went up, glancing to the human, "Ouch!" he noted, then paused, "Wait... who would be doing the one doing the cutting?" he asked.
"Frankly, either way I don't think it'd matter." Jerard shrugged.
Priest Farstrider rolled his eyes, "Mages..."
Quite frankly, I generally couldn't agree more. Quickly leaving them to their own devices I moved past without drawing attention to myself. Several caravan guards were rushing into the clearing but it seemed just as fast as the guards arrived more and more of the strange thorny vines emerged from the earth, eager to do battle, entangle, and bleed the courageous (and stupid) men.
As I was approaching the section of trees on the west side of the clearing I caught sight of Priestess Fanewatcher standing on an overlook. She was surveying the combat, occasionally motioning with a paw, scythe raised as straight as a fencepost beside her. On the opposte side of the scythe was Captain Rakken, speaking with authority. It appeared that the two were in a heated discussion and that, as expected, the Captain was winning.
By the time I got to the tree Kell had indicated it appeared that the battle was finally ready to be joined. I saw Artemisia back on the rise with Priest Farstrider and the two mages, Kell had disappeared into the forest, and captain Rakken roared out the command to advance. Everyone obeyed and the clearing was soon swarming with soldiers.
I lost track of the events following as I ascended the tree. It wasn't a particularly hard climb but, then again I hadn't climbed a tree for YEARS-- thankfully I've always taken care of my body and it obeyed my desires. I scurried up to one of the larger branches and began tying off the rope. Keeping an eye on the treeline, I maintained my vigil, waiting for Kell to appear. During my wait I had to duck down as huge amounts of thorny vines began flying every-which-way, even as far away as my spot on the tree.
Glancing to the battlefield I saw that I had Artemisia to thank for that; she waded into the clearing with a gigantic bladed polearm sweeping this way and that, looking like a farmer reaping hay. Priest Farstrider remained close to the two mages, who were each conservatively jolting nearby Biteleaf vines with blasts of magic. I gasped when a vine wrapped around one of Jerard's boots, but the human looked down with disgust, and that's when things really got intriguing.
In the time it took to blink, the pink-eyed, white-haired human was replaced by an enormous, snarling wall of muscle and fur; Jerard had become an massive, ravening white wolf, pink eyes gleaming with the promise of death. Jerard the wolf issued out a howl-- it was a battle cry, and one that drew the attention of most of the field of battle. It certainly caught mine.
In my life I had only ever seen two people overcome with such a transformation-- the first was a Moon Cursed... the alligator became something 'greater' than what he had been, growing in size, strength, and ferocity. The closest thing to him at that point was a prostitute and he tore her in half as if she were a piece of paper. Few of those in attendance bothered staying to see anything more-- I was certainly not one of them. The second person was a Moon Blessed-- someone capable of controlling their change and maintaining their mental facilities while doing it. I could tell by the way that Jerard froze the vine into a brittle state and simultaneously pulverized it that he was one of the latter.
Adjacent to the white Moon Blessed wolf, Beo had all but come to a stop. I'd seen the kind of look that was on the husky's face often enough to know what was going through his mind-- the black-furred magus was enraptured. Judging from the length of tongue panting out of the side of his muzzle I also had little doubt that Beo's mental stun was not due to fear. It took a push from Priest Farstrider to get him moving.
On the other side of the clearing, Kell had finally begun his approach. He skirted the edge of the Biteleaf field, focused on me. once he was close enough I threw the rope; I don't know how good my throw was, but his catch certainly made up for any shortfall on my part. With that, the wolf/leopard's direction changed and he rushed toward the center of the Biteleaf infestation, stopping short before he actually entered combat. He vaulted up onto a large bounder and knelt, biding his time as the guards converged on the center of the plants.
Priestess Fanewatcher and Captain Rakken had started down the slope by that time. They moved toward the battle, the Priestess holding the scythe like a staff while Captain Rakken drew his longsword and shield.
Artemesia moved quickly, speeding up her swings and her step to either drive the vines back into the ground or cut them off at the stem. Beside her, Priest Farstrider forced them back by brandishing his Divine Shield, creating a small safe zone for guards that were working to extract their fellows along with prone workers. Beo was right next to the gigantic, bestial white wolf that Jerard had become. They were both panting-- Jerard with effort and Beo... well... it was obvious that he liked the view.
"Circle around the main growth!" Priest Farstrider shouted, motioning with a walking stick toward the largest clump of vines, "Cut it down at its source!"
"Guards!" Captain Rakken shouted, "Get the wounded out!" he glanced to the priestess at his right and said something that didn't carry the distance to me. She nodded confidently, apparently finally willing to listen to him without talking back. "Prist!" he shouted across the distance to Brother Farstrider, "Bring your group forward when we rush it!"
"Understood!" the wolf confirmed, and called the two mages to him. Artemisia quickly closed the distance to join them. She took up her position ahead of the casters and casually unhooked her polearm midway down its shaft. The weapon split apart evenly into the top blade, which now looked more like a sickle and, hitting the butt of the short-staff in her other talon against the ground a long slashing blade emerged from that portion.
Kell slipped into place for the battle beside Priestess Fanewatcher, his end of the rope looped tightly around his belt. She said something to him but he didn't respond; if his silence phased her she didn't let it show. With battle ready to begin in earnest, the majority of the caravan guards were retreating at Captain Rakken's command. Even with my distance from the actual fighting my heart was racing.
"Attack!" Yearl roared.
"For the Goddess!" Brother Farstrider announced.
"Cut it down!" Priestess Fanewatcher commanded.
Jerard repeated his earlier blood-chilling howl. Beo added his own voice to the sound and, despite the fact that it paled in comparison, I have to acknowledge hearing two voices release such a feral, primal sound chilled me. Even with the impressive sound, it was sobering to realize that only seven warriors were actually going to attack the main collection of Biteleaf vines. I didn't know if it was possible for a half-dozen combatants to destroy such a lethal-looking plant, but I had to defer to Captain Rakken's judgment, and he certainly seemed confident.
I am not ashamed to admit that I remained in the tree. I am certainly no warrior and have learned many times over that discretion is the better part of valor. I knew if anyone asked that I'd be able to explain that I was part of Kell's exceedingly important plan of rescue for the endangered foragers. With that knowledge on my mind, and more than a passing feeling of uselessness, I watched intently as combat came to a head.
* * * * *
The Myrhian caravan has elected to engage the Biteleaf in an attempt to rescue their workers!
Champions of Myrh, since you are now about to engage in combat I will require a Stance from each of you. Stance is given on a rating of 0-5 where 5 is full offense, 4 is aggressive, 3 is neutral, 2 is conservative, and 1 is reserved, A rating of 0 indicates that the character will NOT be taking part in combat (not even in a support role). Please bear in mind that these ratings will increase your Offense the higher your Stance number and increase your Defense the lower your Stance number (or, in the case of 0, have the character try to avoid combat altogether)-- the opposite sub-trait decreases conversely (Defense goes down if the number is high; Offense goes down if the number is low).
I will also require a Utilization number for those characters that have an 11 or higher in combined Magic + Sub-Trait or Faith + Sub-Trait. Like Stance, Utilization ranges from 0-5. Utilization is a numerical equivalent of how free your contributed character is with their magic and/or prayers-- a charater with a higher Utilization is more inclined to use their abilities often and more powerfully while a character that elects a lower Utilization is less likely to depend on them (Utilization of 0 will result in the character foregoing any such abilities). Bear in mind that the higher the level of Utilization the more likely a character is to suffer from fatigue. Characters with higher Attribute + Sub-Skill totals are able less likely to be affected by fatigue unless they use a higher score of Utilization.
For an example of how to declare Stance and Utilization, please view the actions taken by the Author-Contributed characters below.
Contributing Readers, make sure you make your stance and utilization selections before midnight (pst) on Friday, June 10th.