Sanctus [IC]

[Atrum Daemon]

A figure sat on the battlements of a long forgotten castle. He was a slender man with dark hair and red, pupil-less eyes. His face had rather youthful and slightly feminine features to it. He sighed, irritated, and looked to the sky for a moment before swinging himself off the battlement and landing deftly on the ground of the courtyard. “The dragon bitch is late,” he growled.

***

A chirping bird in a green forest was suddenly silenced by a bolt of lighting that arced from a distortion in the air of the forest clearing. A vortex ripped itself open in the forest clearing and a number of figures stepped out of it. The first was a blue-haired elf wearing a cloak over slightly noble looking garb. Next, came a man with dark hair and bright cyan eyes and a nasty, partially healed burn on the left side of his face. Alongside him was a tall, imposing man wearing a long, hooded coat with the hood up. The last was a man with spiky red hair and matching eyes wearing a long, dark coat with a chin-high collar.

“Wonder where the other half of the team ended up?” Voyevoda, the elf, asked his comrades.

“Wherever it is, they’ll find us soon,” Myrdred, the scarred man, said with a firm nod.

“Hopefully we aren’t too far apart and can meet up in the nearest town,” the tall one, Dedlok, said.

“Can we just go?” the spiky haired man, who was a homunculus-like being called Destruction, asked.

Voyevoda nodded and stepped out of the clearing and into the forest itself. The others followed closely, keeping an eye out for anything hostile. After a few minutes of winding through trees, they broke through the tree line and stepped onto a cobblestone road. The road was empty in both directions as Voye looked up and down it, scratching the back of his head. “Which direction should we go?” he asked the others.

“You’re the leader,” Destruction sneered, “make a damn decision.”

“Fine,” Voye said, rolling his eyes. “Left.”

They started walking again, various footwear making light noises against the stone road. The only one who carried a visible form of weaponry was Dedlok who carried two blades on the belt around his waist. They stopped when the sound of something shooting through the air caught their collective attentions. Voye looked over his shoulder when a knife stuck into the road in the midst of the four companions. “Where do you think that came from?”

“I think it’s got an explosive enchantment on it,” Myrdred said, peering closer at the weapon. “Yea…Yea, definitely. Wait…that’s a bad thing…”

Before any of them could do more than exchange an “oh shit” look, the knife exploded, enveloping them in a blast of earth and flames.

[Lord Tully]

Aranith quietly sat next to one the edge of the town fountain, casually playing his violin although there was only one other person, a young, Fae looking woman, there to hear him. He was about to go to speak with he but he then heard a very loud, but distant sound that stired most of the town. He looked all around to see what had happened when he saw the large plum of smoke erupting out of the forest. Aranith put his instrument down and ran up to the girl, "Miss, come with me or get help, someone might be in trouble there." He pointed to the smoke and started to move quickly towards the woods.

[RainbowBrigade]

Idi sat by the fountain, listening to the lovely song of the Elf. She sat a little away from him, close enough to lisen but not drawing attention to herself - mind you, there weren't that many people about that day, and only she appeared to be listening to the lovely music. Idi hummed quitely along, wondering if he'd feel offended if she joined in with her flute. Just as she was thinking this, there was a muffled sound from the forest, and the muscian put down his violin.

Lydia looked up startled, not expecting to be spoken too. "Yes, of course-!" she replied, not managing to finish before he started making his way towards the forest. Grabbing her things - and his violin, which he almost left behind - she caught up with him and followed him into the forest, concerned.

[Lord Tully]

Aranith practically charged his way through the forest following the smoke, but kept his pace so that the girl could keep up. He had not thought back in town to retrive his sword, so Aranith grabbed a small log to use as a club against any bandits present at the explosion site. "We're coming to help don't worry!" He shouted as they neared the origin of the plum of smoke.

[Atrum Daemon]

“Where in the hell did that come from?!” Myrdred shouted in the wake of the blast. The explosion was not designed to kill, only to disorient and distract the target.

“The trees, I’d guess,” Dedlok said, drawing his twin swords, eyes darting around to catch any movement that was coming through the smoke.

An odd whistling sound filled the air at the smoke was blown away by the spinning weapon Voyevoda held over his head. The spinning stopped and Voyevoda brought the weapon down to his side. The weapon was double-bladed and rather than coming to points, the end of the blades resembled guillotine blades. “Keep sharp,” Voyevoda said, “watch the trees.”

Even as the elf spoke, there was a violent rustling in the trees. From the branches and underbrush burst a gang of heavily armed men that encircled the small group. They looked like former soldiers based on the varying kinds of chain and plate mail worn by them. “What you thinking?” Destruction muttered to Voyevoda as the four men got back to back. “Mind slaves or just well armed bandits?”

“Bandits, definitely,” Voyevoda replied. “They don’t have that glazed look in their eyes.”

“So we still get to kill em?” Myrdred asked.

“Well, duh,” Voye replied. “They hit us with an exploding knife.”

“Outstanding,” Myrdred grinned. He flicked his finger at the bandit right across from him and a small bead of light floated from his finger tip and into the man’s chest. Moment’s later, his entire body from the chest up exploded.

This prompted the bandits to fully attack the four men. “Am I the only one,” Destruction said as he blocked a potentially fatal blow and kicked the man hard in the stomach, “who heard someone shout something about helping a moment ago?”

[Lord Tully]

Aranith saw the fight just as the bandits charged the four men. He shouted an Elven battle cry and burst out from the trees on the side of the road, and using both hands smashed the log against the head of the nearest bandit. With one downed he discarded the log, grabbed the bandit's weapon and dealt a killing blow to the fallen man. With adrenalin now surging through his veins Aranith turned to the other bandits, and began to attack them.

[Earl Greyfox]

A rose flew into the fray and stuck in the ground in front of one of the bandits. Apparently its thorns were very sharp, because one of the bandits' faces seemed to be bleeding from where the rose had flown past him. A few of the bandits looked up into the trees from whence a voice declared, "I am Kamengeki!"

"GET OUT OF THE TREE, TUXEDO MASK," said an irritated voice from the ground.

[RainbowBrigade]

Idi watched the battle, shocked and unsure what to do. My, people outside the forest of the fae were certainly violent individuals - she was only used to fighting with her wit, not with her fists or weaponary.

Hands shaking with fear or adrenaline, Lydia reached for her flute, preparing to play it.

[Atrum Daemon]

“Get down and do something useful, you rose throwing pansy!” Myrdred shouted, ducking an axe swing to his head and hitting the bandit with a concussive wind blast that crushed his torso and threw him several feet backwards.

Dedlok swung his fists into the two bandits who tried to attack him, caving in their skulls in the process. Voyevoda looked around as he wrenched his weapon from his dead opponent’s head, noticing that the remaining bandits had turned their attention to the new arrivals and were proceeding to attack. ‘Too bad there’s only five left,’ Voyevoda thought as he cleaned the blood from his weapon.

***

The man in the castle sat in a recently cleaned arm chair, his head resting in one hand as he gazed into a flickering fireplace. His partner had yet to arrive and his patience was fast wearing thin.

[Lord Tully]

Aranith ignored the rose and lept at two other Bandits while continuing to shout war crys in Elven. He had never faced seen more then hand to hand bar fights so he was ill prepared for the amount of blood that was spilled when he slashed one bandit across the chest and the other at the leg. When some of it splashed back at him, a miniscule amount but it seemed big to someone fairly fresh to combat, he was to distracted by the bright red stain on his arm to react to the club being swung at his head. Aranith couldn't even shout in pain before he lost consiousness from the blow. And with that he slumped down in the middle of the road, with a bleeding head wound.

[RainbowBrigade]

Idi's eyes widened as the muscician from the town got struck down. Trying to concerntrate, Idi played a fast, hectic-sounding piece of music on her flute. Vines sprung up around the bandit who had hit the muscician, just as he was aiming another hit at the already wounded man. When she was confident he had been entangled and was unable to move, Idi rushed over to the fallen elfman.

Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a pestel and mortar, as well as several pouches containing various strong and exotic herbs. Grinding them down, she added one or two small seeds, before applying the healing solution onto a bandage and attempting to wrap it around the fallen elf's head wound. Fae healing magic was strong stuff, and Idi prayed that it would work.