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Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
Niklaus tried to fire again. Click. He cursed. The pistol was empty. He dropped it and picked up the scimitar. "Of course, Ambassador." He looked up to the roof of the carriage, wondering how to get up. He looked around and saw a set of stairs which he quickly led Varelsa up. Niklaus then searched for the chest and quickly found it. Placing the scimitar on the ground, he helped Varelsa into the armour, his Lahmian dexterity assisting him greatly. When the Ambassador was armoured, Niklaus picked the scimitar up again. At least he would have a proper weapon that couldn't be dispelled. And with the dampener destroyed and Shadow-merging made possible, the Council forces would need all the weapons they could get. He went back down the stairs onto the ground, and prepared himself for the next attack.
Whilst he did this, Niklaus wondered what change had briefly come upon Varelsa, what madness to set his eyes yellow. it was a mystery for later, however. Right now, he was fighting for his life.
 
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Get of W'soran

CN's Lord of Masks
True Blood
Apr 23, 2008
9,239
Behind the Throne
Varelsa stood for a moment in his black armour before the Nehekhara glyphs covering it flared to life.

The ambassador took a deep breath, like a mortal man gasping for breath. He nodded, now seeming himself once more.

The giant of a man grabbed a long chest from the carriage roof and threw it on the ground, kneeling down he flicked open the lid and removed a greatsword that was proportionally large to it's wielder (making it practically impossible to properly use for anyone under Varelsa's ridiculous height).

Leaning the two-handed weapon against his shoulder he strode over to Niklaus and smiled slightly.

"I appreciate your help Lord Niklaus." he thanked the other vampire respectfully.

"I will follow your lead but perhaps we should help one of your Council allies? You have seen more of this battle than me, I will trust your decisions."
 

Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
'As you wish, Ambassador,' Niklaus said, returning the smile. He felt better having a large Vampire wearing magically protected armour and wielding a greatsword standing beside him. He observed the battlefield and could see two Council members needing the most help. Kithan had help from his ghosts but Mikhail was being swarmed by assassins, and the whip-assassin was about to join the fight against him. The previous duel had been, from what Niklaus had deduced, even. But with the assistance of a number of assassins, the whip-wielder would surely have an advantage. There was also a Vampire fighting a number of shadow-copies of himself, too far away for Niklaus and Varelsa to aid. 'Ambassador, I believe we should assist Mikhail. He fought an even battle against the whip-wielder before; now he is badly outnumbered. Prince Kithan and his allies can handle themselves, and the shadow-copies and the Vampires over there are too far away without my Shadow-merging.' His explanation done, Niklaus quickly went over to where Mikhail was fighting and began attacking the assassins.
He was unused to using a scimitar, but liked the curve, which he could use to hook around his enemy's defence, and around their organs if he penetrated them. After a short exchange of blows, he killed one, then attacked another, whilst a third came up beside him. "You thought I was beaten, assassin? There is more in me than that!"
 
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Count michael

The Undead Sparky
May 17, 2010
813
Timaru
Growling in rage bleeding from a dozen cuts Mikhail lashed out at the Newbloods swarming him causing them to leap back laughing mockingly as Mikhail sank to his knees looking down at the ground shaking as some sort of fit took hold. One of the newbloods older than the others so for more arrogant strode forward lazily to deliver the final blow knocking the baarbarian to the ground. Unaware of the change taking hold the newblood saluted his comrades before readying to drive it's blade through Mikhail's throat, however with lighting speed Mikhail rose throwing the vampire back into it's fellows, enraged the vampire regained it's feet preparing to attack before stopping short as a stunned silence gripped the newbloods. In berserk frenzy Mikhail started clawing at his body tearing flesh and skin alike as his frame expanded obscenely as something unholy clawed its way out bones cracking and ligaments squelching. clawed paws which had earlier split through his hands gripped his face as he tore it in half allowing a fanged snout to push through in a shower of gore.


The Skinwolf towered over the newbloods as it gazed upon them with hungry intent the flayed skin draping it's furred hide like a tattered shroud, throwing back it's head to the skies the beast howled mournfully before bounding forward. Tearing into the newblood's ranks the beast struck out with it's clawed limbs rending the vampires to shreds of flesh. With an angry hiss the shocked newbloods emboldened by their superior numbers surged forward attacking the beast. The arrogant newblood who earlier nearly killed Mikhail surged forwards hacking a blade into the beasts leg, however it was little more than a sharp bite as the slavering beast turned it's hungry gaze upon the vampire. Denying it's prey the chance to scream the Skinwolf lunged forward it's fanged maw closing upon the vampires head tearing it off in shower of gore before the beast ate it crunching through bone and brain matter. It's hunger barely satisfied the beast howled in disappointment planning to gorge itself upon the newbloods ranks
 
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Get of W'soran

CN's Lord of Masks
True Blood
Apr 23, 2008
9,239
Behind the Throne
Kylar took a step back from Mikhail as the transformation happened, his eyes widening in momentary fear. Their information had detailed this side of the mortal but it didn't make it any less horrifying to behold.

The Captain paused in his retreat to glance over his shoulder at the man shouting at him.

A small number of New Bloods stood between Kylar and the two new arrivals.

Niklaus and the Ambassador. Both of whom were murdering their way through his men.

"So Varelsa finally decided to join the fight...of all the damnable luck." he thought to himself miserably.

"I don't have time for you!" he snarled at them and gestured for a number of new bloods to renew their attack on the two.

Cracking his whip he leapt at Mikhail, the silver serrated blades of his weapon aimed for the wolfman's throat.


-------------------------------------------------

"Behind me, I'll clear you a path!" Varelsa shouted at Niklaus, the huge man stepped forward and swung the greatsword in swift circular arcs.

This was what the huge weapon excelled at, multiple foes in multiple directions.

The new bloods fell back from the ambassador's advance however preoccupied as he was he didn't see the enchanted bolt that flew through the air and struck him in the back, hammering straight through his magical armour.

With a grunt Varelsa wavered for a moment, the arrow was already spreading silver poisoning through his body but his natural regeneration was...impressive in comparison to most of his kind. He would easily have kept fighting.

Except for what came next. The only warning was the scattering of the New Bloods as they retreated from their fight against the greatswordsman.

Fire crashed into Varelsa, a colossal pillar of unimaginable heat struck him from above as a lesser stream smashed into his side.

The vampire screamed in pain as he vanished in the searingly bright flames.

Two assassins strode forward, one was recognisable as Markus and next to him was a similarly dressed vampire except his long coat was covered in runes and enchantments. The second vampire's power over the winds of fire also clearly dwarfed those of Markus.

The two pyromancers turned their attention on Niklaus.

"Time to finish this shadow-sneak." Markus spat through his damaged jaw.
 
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Count michael

The Undead Sparky
May 17, 2010
813
Timaru
The skin wolf gazed upon Kylar with a animal intelligence its sharps eyes drawn to the vampire in recognition as the beast remembered the previous encounter, growling in anger the beast threw its arm which was still gripping a headless and slightly devoured vampire corpse in the air causing the whip to strike into the corpse leaving the beast free from harm. Slavering in brutal anticipation the beast lunged forward with shocking speed before Kylar could pull back the whip rending and tearing at the vampire with clawed paws and fangs
 

The Dread King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Jan 28, 2012
1,897
Jack was pleased to discover that at least one of the magically created Rikerts appeared to be fragile when it shattered before his eyes, but then became very worried indeed when he saw the surviving pair of magically generated assailants charging at him.

Jump, Jack, jump. The only way to properly avoid the leg cut and block the beheading stroke is to jump!

Jumping jack, eh? Heh, heh. What's Rikert, then? A spinning top?

Does that mean we should leave his top - his head - spinning?

We want to kill him, not daze him! Leave him dead, not witha spinning head!

That's precisely what I meant! We will leave his head spinning off his shoulders, like a spinning top!

Right-o, then!


Jack leapt into the air as the two shadow copies of Rikert attacked him. His two axes parried the decapitating strike. A noticable screech could be heard as the edge of second attacker's sword scraped just against the toughened soles of Jack' s boots.

What came next, as Jack landed, was a surprise to all parties in the fight. Some of the more pious soldiers in the Empire boast of being saved in battle by holy books kept close to their hearts. What caused the unexpected clang was nothing sacred, however. It was but a silver-tipped arrow materialising into plain sight after ricocheting off an axe - just in front of Jack's heart. The captain cursed, knowing that there must be a third Rikert - possibly the only real one - using shadow magic to hide his position. The shock of this revelation threw him off guard and as punishment for his hesitation, he received a modest cut in the leg from the assassin to his left. Cursing, he staggered back - and then he felt something change.

The disruptors had failed for some reason; most likely their destruction. Captain Jack was supposed to regret this (and in truth, he did wonder what had happened to Theobold, who was supposed to be guarding one of the disruptors). But, considering his own situation, he was actually rather pleased. Two could play at the game of shadow trickery. Grinning, Jack shadow-stepped, and reappeared to the side of the shadow-soldier on the right, bringing a sweeping cut with one axe round in an attempt to cut off his head.

Ignoring the troubling pain he now felt in his leg, Jack abandoned his other axe. Not by dropping it to the ground, of course. He abandoned it to a single purpose: killing the source of the silver bolt that had sought to pierce his heart. And he did so by hurling in its direction of origination - or rather, what Jack judged that to be, considering that he only saw the arrow once it had made impact - a full-size combat axe, its double-edged head spinning horrifically as it ploughed a path through the air towards its target.
 

Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
'Oh, no,' Niklaus muttered as Varelsa disappeared in a torrent of flame, leaving Niklaus exposed to two Pyromancers. he had only survived his fight with one through an opportune distraction. He thought he would have no such luck this time. At least the Shadow-dampener was gone, and whilst that could be a problem in the long run, for now, the ease on his Shadow-merging, combined with the precious minutes he had had to recover some of his power, meant he would have some chance to escape, if Varelsa was dead, possibly enough to take the Ambassador with him. Assuming his power wasn't blocked or dispelled, as was very likely when facing two Pyromancers, the new one being far more powerful than his ally.
"You want to finish me? Then step forward. You can see I am unarmoured. A foolish mistake on my part. Or will you stay back and use your torrents again? And who deserves the killing blow?" Niklaus concentrated for a second, summoning shadow armour to cover him. He had no idea how much protection it would provide, but hopefully it would buy a little time. Once it broke, he would attempted to Shadow-merge away. It covered his front fully, including a helmet that left only his eyes unobscured, but did not waste energy covering his back. he was dead regardless if he was caught in behind. With another effort, Niklaus made a sharper point for his scimitar. "I suppose when you kill me you will be able to give your master his nice little sword back." Drawing a breath he didn't need, Niklaus made a shadow-shield around his left arm, and as he charged towards the opponent on his left flung the shield at the other opponent, its spike rim spinning towards his neck. With his scimitar, Niklaus aimed at his enemy's arm.
 
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Get of W'soran

CN's Lord of Masks
True Blood
Apr 23, 2008
9,239
Behind the Throne
Kylar shadow-stepped away, vanishing before the werewolf's claws could make contact with him.

The Assassin reemerged behind the mutant, except much closer than one would except the whip-wielder to choose however with a smirk he twisted his wrist the whip responded to his will.

The silver serrated blades retracted with a series of clicks.

In a short moment instead of a whip Kylar held a long slim sword of serrated silver.

With a snarl the vampire lunged with both blades, one of steel and one of silver, aimed at Mikhail's back.

-----------------------------------------------

The senior pyromancer clicked his fingers and in a flash of flame he dismissed the shadow shield that had been aimed at him.

Markus roared as he leapt forward, a stolen longsword in his hand being sword in a powerful downward cut. His blade rang against the scimitar and with a snarl the pyromancer surrounded his weapon in flames.

"Burn you wretched creature." he snarled as the two blades struck each other again, Markus locked his blade against the scimitar and pushed against Niklaus. "BURN!"

The fire swirling around his sword leapt forward at the other vampire.

The Elder pyromancer sighed and stepped forward, rapier in hand, to run Niklaus through whilst he was distracted.

"Henrick!"

The vampire hunter spun around and barely managed to avoid the cut aimed at his skill by the newcomer.

"Sigmund." Henrick hissed.

The Grandmaster slashed at the vampire-hunter who parried the blow and backed away cautiously testing his opponent's ability.

Behind Sigmund Otto stepped forward to help his master.

"Otto! Go help Kithan."

The Templar hesitated "Sir...are you sure?"

Sigmund grinned grimly "I have this!"

With a nod Otto ran off to help the Wight-King.

Sigmund chuckled and raised his longsword above his head "Now...where were we traitor?"

With a sneer Henrick leapt forward, stabbing at his opponent.
 
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Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
Niklaus nodded his thanks when Grandmaster Sigmund appeared. He then jumped, spun backward, and landed on his feet a safe distance behind the firesword's flames before moving to reengage, this time summoning a sword in his left arm which he used to try to hold his enemy's sword in place. With the curved scimitar he then tried to swing it around to his opponent's side to slice and pull with its hook. For good measure fired another pair of spiked bolts from his eyes.
 

Count michael

The Undead Sparky
May 17, 2010
813
Timaru
Smelling the foul presence of Kylar as soon as the vampire shadow stepped behind it the Skin wolf reacted almost instantly rolling away from the vampire as soon as he struck, though it wasn't fast enough with Kylar's blades scoring a wound on the beasts back causing the beast to let out a pained howl. Panting in frustration the beast licked its slobbering jaw as it readied itself for another charge, however something caught it's interest as it cocked it's ears up in curiosity gazing past Kylar. With slobbering speed it bounded straight towards Kylar knocking the vampire out of the way as it continued on into the treeline.

Stopping in front of a massive tree the beast started pawing at the trunk of it, scratching claw marks into it. satisfied it had now marked it, the beast dug it's claws into the side of the tree letting out a strained growl uprooting the tree from the ground. Pleased with it's makeshift weapon the beast turned back towards Kylar with a look one could almost call smug happiness letting out a loud howl. bounding forward wielding it's make shift club the beast swung it in a mighty arc which Kylar easily dodged through shadow step however a handful of newbloods weren't so lucky which were sent flying backwards or crushed to pulp. Kylar appeared behind the Skin wolf keen to strike at the beast from behind again though the beast wasn't done yet .whether through some animal intelligence knowing where the vampire would be or the beast's dumb love for it's tree club , as the beast continued to swing the tree around and around in a mighty arc which gave the vampire Kylar very little chance of dodging
 
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Count Magpyr

Ghoul
Jan 19, 2013
105
Clearly irritated by the new bloods tedious regeneration, Kithan had taken to decapitating each downed foe. Things did not appear to be going well for the council, these young bloods appeared on the one hand to be recent converts to undeath, yet on the other seemed to have had decades of practice and training. Something smelt rotten and it certainly wasn't him! Luckily the soporific miasma that surrounded the Prince seemed to confuse his nearest (and most threatening) opponents and they mostly failed to take advantage of their newly returned shadow stepping ability enabling Kithan to continue to mow them down. To his left Bashees and Tangris worked in eerie synchronicity, claw and fang snaring the blood suckers and separating them limb from limb. Meanwhile Lady Akusaa and her two hand maidens had modulated their three screams into a single discordant wail that was cutting through the blood drinkers like a scalpel, heads exploding in a shower of gore. Several so called imposing, fast, impressive looking opponents had stood up to the Lord of Ivrel, but the experience of almost 4000 years of undeath, coupled with his enchanted mist, meant that they stood little chance. Kithan kept a close eye out for any foe who appeared armed with silver or a cross-bow. Once again he was bemused by the speed with which these acknowledged slow and difficult to reload weapons, were being fired, so had determined to stamp out any of the enemy who had such expertise. Thankfully the ranks of lesser blood fiends were thinning now, which also gave the wight lord the opportunity to absorb more magical energy. One by one the opals in his crown were winking back into life as they also augmented this replenishment of power.
 
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Get of W'soran

CN's Lord of Masks
True Blood
Apr 23, 2008
9,239
Behind the Throne
Markus sneered at the other vampire's clumsy attacks, two swords were a bad idea at even the best of times....barely worth the effort and requiring the highest level of martial ability to even match a single blade.

With a single sweep of his blade he deflected both stries and he side-stepped, twisting as he moved so as to avoid the blast from Niklaus's eyes.

"Predictable." he snarled as he cut at the side of the other vampire's neck "Same old moves."


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kylar didn't have time to initiate a shadow-step and swiftly considered his chances.

"I'm faster...a better fighter...my regenerative abilities are just as good...but he's stronger, however I do have one talent that he does not."

Choosing that path he instead swiftly raised his metal sword and spat a single syllable conjuring up dark forces.

A blast of powerful, yet unrefined, dark magic shot from his blade at the trunk causing it to explode into shards of wood.

Even as the magical strike hit true the vampire was slashing out with his silver sword-whip, it extended once more, the serrated blades lashing out at the skin-wolf.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The vampire was wreathed in shadows, hidden from the world. His first attack had already helped take care of Varelsa, now it was time to move on to newer targets.

Seeing the Wright King having a rather too easy time of it the assassin smiled grimly.

Sieghard raised his repeater crossbow and fired three bolts in swift succession.

One was a standard silver-bolt, the second was cold steel enchanted with charms of destruction against the undead aimed at Kithan, the third was an anti-spectre bolt for the dispersion of spirits, wraiths and the like, it instead flew true towards one of the Prince's banshees.

Sieghard didn't need to watch his arrows, he rarely missed. Instead he swiftly moved to a new firing position just in case the wight could locate him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rikert snarled and the shadows that were swirling around him, cloaking his presence, blew outwards in front of him to create a grey smokey wall which deflected the thrown axe.

Obscured by the summoned wall the seeker drew an arrow from his quiver, a very special arrow, it hummed with power under his fingers. It was a left-over from his loyalist days...ironically made by the captain who was immobile and dying not too far away from him right now.

"I had hoped to save this for one of the big players...not a madman like Jack, but it'll be worthless once the maker dies anyway."

Nocking the arrow he drew back and banished the shadow wall as he immediately sighted Jack and loosed.
 
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Count michael

The Undead Sparky
May 17, 2010
813
Timaru
Splinters of wood exploded all around into nearly everything within range, enraged the Skinwolf charged forward howling frustrated whilst bleeding from a dozen small cuts which were healing slowly. Kylar's whip struck out with the beast unable to avoid it however due to it's charging speed it only scored a glacing wound on the beasts shoulder.

However this drove the beast to utter madness causing a lot of pain for such a small wound. Worked into a frenzy the beast slammed right into Kylar knocking him back lashing out with claw and fang seeking to sink it's fangs into the vampires flesh.
 

Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
Seeing the sword heading towar.ds his neck, Niklaus ducked quickly, the sword slicing inches above his helmet. When he recovered, he surrounded himself in a cloud of shadow. Whilst obscured, he Shadow-merged, reappearing without hsi admittedly pointless armour behind the Pyromancer and tried to slice into his spine with his scimitar. in his place in front of the Pyraomancer was a perfect copy that stepped out of the dispersing cloud to swing at the Pyromancer. The illusory scimitar would do nothing, but hopefully distract his enemy long enough. As he attacked, eh saw three crossbow bolts heading for Kithan. He flicked his other hand, sending a wall of shadow to deflect the bolts and shouted a warning, but the wall was too weak to offer protection. This was his last trick. If it failed, he would Shadow-merge to a safe distance. If there was one. Near Kithan would be the best location, where he could hopefully make use of the ghostly allies...assuming the crossbow bolts didn't kill them.
 

Count Magpyr

Ghoul
Jan 19, 2013
105
Kithan gazed dispassionately as three crossbow bolts shredded one of his screaming banshees, although the Lady Akussa responded with a particularly indignant shriek, causing four attacking vamps to collapse like so many crushed raspberries. The Prince of Mists though had been waiting for such an opportunity as this. Stooping swiftly he picked up the three bolts, murmured a potent curse andthen released them. Twisting and diving through the air like bolts of lightening, the trio of quarrels shot back to their origin. There would be no avoidance of this, their owner was doomed, even if he fled across half a continent. Turning, Kithan resumed his relentless extermination of the lesser vampires, his viridian mists thickening and billowing in unfelt currents, making his incorporeal figure yet more indistinct.
On the other side of the battle the Lord of Ivrel observed the skinwolf's charge into his vampiric tormentor. The bat would probably just dematerialise again, well Kithan had a cure for that. As Kylar staggered back from the wolfen attack, tendrils of vicious black thorns erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves about his legs. Not only did this hinder the vampires normal mincing movement, but it fixed him in the here and now, there was to be no shadow skipping away from these ensorcelled barbs.
 

the hidden one

Streets Ahead
Jan 20, 2012
495
Odric, having snuck successfully through the battle so far, decided it was time to act. Loading his crossbow and crouching behind some fauna, he fired two bolts at youngbloods. Both dropped, with viciously crafted arrows in the heart, but Odric was more concerned with the fact that the champion had not yet appeared. Firing more bolts, Odric changed positions, now prone to avoid detection, and tried to locate his allies. The wight king was still fighting, and the mortal was now a skin-wolf he was fighting against what looked like the head assassin. The "lord of shadows" had been proved not much a lord, but was at least fighting bravely.
 

The Dread King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Jan 28, 2012
1,897
Markus threw himself forward at the illusionary Niklaus. At first sight, this might seem to represent him falling for Niklaus' trick. However, he was sceptical of the cloud of shadow from which the illusion had now emerged (for much use of the shadow-step allowed assassins to change their position almost at will, and illusionary magicks were often cast using ulgu). The movement forward was, in fact, an attempt to discern how genuine the illusionary impostor was, whilst at the same time moving out of the way of an attack from another direction.

As he moved forward he slashed at the illusionary Niklaus, and it shattered into shadow. However, he did not move quickly enough to avoid the scimitar, which drew a long, shallow cut across his back. He hissed, and whirled around, before grinning. Two can play at that game. He stepped back quickly, muttering words of power under his breath. Fire swirled around his hands before he released a great ball of it from his free hand. It hurtled straight towards Niklaus...and Markus went straight past him, but by a peculiar method. Shadow-stepping, he reappeared behind the shadowmancer with his blade raised above Niklaus' head, bringing it down towards it in a murderous coronation as the fireball rushed towards the Lahmian's chest.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Henrick's stab was but a feint to draw out Sigmund's defences. Almost as soon as he had extended his reach to its full length, Henrick leapt back again, drawing arcane power into his hands as he did so. What came next was an explosion and a brilliant flash of light, followed by the shocking sight a jet of white-hot flame erupting from Henrick's hands, blasting the Grandmaster of the Drakenhof Templars off his feet and throwing him into the sky as he rode the burning torrent.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kylar snarled as Kithan's enchanted roots wrapped around his feet. To make matters worse, he had received a scratch across his cheek as Mikhail clawed at him, although he had avoided the beast's fangs. The roots had, however, saved him from a much worse imminent fate than a scratch - the skin wolf's charge had knocked him back and might have thrown him to the ground, where he would be powerless to stop the mutant's subsequent death-blow. Not even bothering to look at the plant life, he channelled necromancy through his body and into the roots, casting a spell with a single word: "Wither." Instantly, the roots dried, shrivelled and cracked, whatever life-force lending them the robustness they had possessed fading away instantly. Kylar kicked his way out of the brittle trap in precious few seconds, but by then, the werewolf's relentless charge was almost upon him. He smiled chillingly, and shadow-stepped at the last possible instant.

Appearing behind Mikhail, Kylar instantly lashed out with his whip, the thing cracking and surging past Mikhail before curling round. If all went to plan, it would wrap around his neck like some kind of hellishly painful, silver-imbued leash. A leash to die on, Kylar pondered darkly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sieghard had to admit that he was impressed as he saw his three bolts return towards his position. He was even more impressed by the fact that they seemed to seek him out specifically, despite his new position. Either the wight had already spotted him, or he had placed some kind of homing enchantment on the bolts. Either way, it was a valiant effort that would come to nothing. All three bolts came to the end of their journey in a shield of shadow quickly conjured up by the assassins. Replacing the bolts within his quiver, Sieghard launched his counterattack. He notched another bolt to his crossbow, this one explosive, and sent it straight towards Kithan's location. I'd like to see him send that one back! It was followed by the original anti-spectre bolt, aimed at the shrieking banshee that was Lady Akussa, and the enchanted one. The enchanted bolt, however, was aimed at a third source - a new threat. Odric had been able to kill several new bloods without being noticed by the pack - but Sieghard's keen eye had spotted him. And now, the bolt, ensorcelled with charms destructive to the undead, sailed towards the Von Carstein. Just for good measure, Sieghard fired the original silver bolt at Odric as well, this one being released shortly after the previous three. In the case of bolts, he thought, two heads are definitely better than one...
 
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Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
Niklaus smiled as he wounded the Pyromancer, then blinked when he counter-attacked. If Niklaus didn't do this right, he was dead. First, he quickly moved his scimitar up from block the vertical attack, then, concentrating his shadow-armour on his chest, including losing his helmet - if his block failed, he was likely dead regardless - he attempted to Shadow-merge and reappear to behind the fireball. If it worked, the Pyromancer would learn not to stand behind his own fireball - unless, of course, he dispelled it, as he likely would - if it didn't, Niklaus would probably die.
 

Count Magpyr

Ghoul
Jan 19, 2013
105
Yet another crossbow bolt appeared racing across the battlefield towards Kithan, but he was unconcerned. The other three had reached their target, their curses successfully delivered and this bolt, like the others fired by the mysterious assassin veered wildly off target and all four now hit allies of the hidden marksman, as would all subsequent shots from the thrice cursed individual. Amusingly the two bolts fired at Odric swerved and subsequently buried themselves in the pyromancer attacking Nicklaus, sending him spinning to floor, shrieking in distress. Pleased, Prince Kithan spun round with his arms outstretched. Barbed vines latched on to all the nearby blood suckers and within seconds had drained them dry of power, leaving only a fine grey mist of ash to drift on the breeze. Now fully energised the wight lord began moving purposely towards Kylar and the wolf. Ebon briars writhed around his shoulders as the mist wreathed Lord of Ivrel advanced. The two great cat spectres marched with their lord, ornate silver and gold armour forming round their vaporous bodies, while the two surviving banshees hovered shrieking overhead.
 

Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
Niklaus laughed as the Pyromancer fell to the ground, pierced by two silver crossbow bolts, not caring how it had happened. He rolled aside, allowing the fireball to avoid both combatants and explode on an unlucky young blood. Nothing was left of the assassin. When he got to his feet, Niklaus struck at the Pyromancer's chest, hoping to slice his throat with the curved scimitar. "Die, now," he hissed. As he did so, he made a sharp sword in his left hand which stabbed lower down on the Pyromancer's body, aiming for his heart.
 

The Dread King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Jan 28, 2012
1,897
Jack's axe made contact with the shadow copy of Rikert, which duly shattered. His eyes widened in glee as Rikert's presence was first revealed by the wall of shadow, but then they widened further as the shadows receded and he saw what weapon the traitor had in store. He had known it from his days serving the order alongside Jäger under Meta; if it touched him, death was almost certain. He tried to move to the right, but was forced left as the last illusionary Rikert hacked at him. Although the captain was able to parry the illusionary assassin's attacks, he was driven back, and towards Rikert's position, which was presumably the intention behind the animated shadow's attack. With his free hand, he managed to wrestle the shadow-creature back, holding its sword at bay with his axe. He did not push back far enough in time. Being shoved away from Jack by a burst of desperate effort from the captain, the shadowy clone of Rikert stumbled back a few feet. The arrow sailed towards its destination, and Jack attempted to lurch out of the way.

The bolt that promised death sailed above his face. He saw it beneath his chin, then coming towards his eyes, and finally sailing gently away from his face. It might have seemed, to an outsider, that nothing had happened. That it had not come into contact with Jack, that it had not found purchase before continuing on its journey, that it had not shed blood.

But it had done all of those things. Even though the arrow had only nicked him, its lethality was still unrivalled. Jack screamed, clutching his face and collapsing to the floor. A burning sensation ripped through his form, inducing pain like nothing he'd ever felt in the entirety of his unlife. Within his mind, the call of Morr echoed. Dead, dead, dead. That is what you are. That's a death arrow, Jack don't you know? Jäger spends a long time making them and it kills them dead.

It's going to kill you dead, Jack. You are already dead. This is death.
Even immortals might be convinced of this last assertion by the blackness in front of their eyes, the stifling of the brain, the sluggishness of the limbs. But Jack was not convinced. The madness that had undid him would save his life, for if his willpower was great enough - and the madness did induce a frenzy that added to his determination - he could resist the lethal effect of the arrow, and survive. Death? This is death? What is death? What is 'this'?

Death is when we kill them, stupid!

What do we kill them with?

Axes, you fool...

So why is this death, then? Rikert hasn't used an axe! You need axes to cause death.

Axes? Er...perhaps you're right about the axes. Axes! Axes! Axes bring about death!

We have axes, don't we!

Of course!

So why don't we use them on Rikert, for being so stupid! He thought he could bring death without an axe. Let's bring death to him WITH an axe! It is the only way - let's show him.

A surge of excitement and determination shot through Jack's form, counteracting the effects of the arrow and preserving his life. As the call of death subsided, Jack staggered to his feet only to be struck by the illusionary Rikert once more. He did not manage to block the attack, but he did manage to mitigate its damage, redirecting the blow from his chest to his rib, where it rent a small tear in the assassin's flesh. I can't go on like this.

Go on?

Well, I will go on!

Where will we go on? Not here.

No, no no...
The assassin had spotted Mikhail wielding a tree against Kylar, and had a devilish idea. We will take Rikert to my world...to the forest, yes...

Jack brought his axe up and it clashed with the shadow creature's sword once more. The creature put both hands behind its sword, slowly forcing it towards Jack's face. Jack wrenched a throwing axe out of his pocket in a rage, thrusting it at the shadow's face. It used a hand to grasp Jack's arm, stopping the throwing axe's advance towards the shadow creature's face. Then, the captain exerted pressure with his main axe, now pushing against a sword with only one hand behind it. In desperation, the shadow-creature leapt back to avoid the axe-cut to its face. However, the combat axe followed it, embedding itself in the creature's skull. The being duly shattered into shadowy fragments.

The throwing of the axe had caught the creature off guard because Jack now had no melee weapons, both of his axes lying at different distances from him and closer to his enemy than himself. What might alarm Rikert more was what Jack did next: he threw his throwing axe at the man, now without a cloaking of shadow, leaving himself completely disarmed. An explanation as to why he did this was provided after he threw the axe. The captain instantly shadow-stepped back to his two-handed battle axe, picked it up, and then shadow-stepped again, beyond the treeline. "Catch me if you can!" he called out, laughing madly. The laugh was not entirely carefree, however. Successive wounds were taking their toll on Jack - and the pain showed in the constriction that lay within his chuckling.
 
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The Dread King

Moderator
Staff member
True Blood
Jan 28, 2012
1,897
Sieghard sighed as Kithan tried redirecting the bolts once more. It appeared the wight had a lot of magical reserves to be able to pull off such a feat, but the assassin would turn this to his own advantage. The two bolts that found purchase in the new bloods were successful. One disintegrated rapidly as the magicks designed to damage undead within the bolt worked upon the new blood, its mouth collapsing before it could form a scream. Another simply exploded, leaving nothing but embers and a burnt patch of ground where once had stood a proud warrior.

The two that 'hit' Markus, however, were intercepted by Sieghard. Creating an illusionary Markus standing behind Niklaus, he was pleased to see that his comrade reacted quickly and shadow-stepped far away from Niklaus, so as not to be noticed as the shadowmancer was distracted by his shadow copy and fireball. True to form, the illusion had his weapon blocked, screamed as the bolts - one a standard silver bolt, and another designed to banish spirits - hit him, and collapsed to the floor. Meanwhile, the real Markus watched from the shadows, preparing to attack Niklaus even as he held the shadow to ransom. Perspiration was thick on Sieghard's brow. It took significant effort to maintain an illusion of this much complexity for long...

Then, the illusion shattered as the shadowmancer brought his blades down upon Markus. "Die, now," Niklaus had hissed.

The pyromancer suddenly appeared behind him by shadow-stepping to his position; he attacked Niklaus by swinging his blade, now wreathed in blazing fire, down at the Master of Shadows from behind. Even as his blade swung towards Niklaus' back, Markus replied calmly, "Yes. Yes, you will."

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Sieghard notched bolts to his bow once more, firing (with Odric as his target once again) two silver bolts at the Von Carstein.

Another shot, a second anti-spectre bolt, was fired, and sped towards its destination, its aim true. Lady Akussa's banshee handmaiden was completely obliterated. The assassin, intent on continuing the destruction, fired an explosive bolt towards Kithan's position once again. When it made impact, the blast could harm all of the beings in its vicinity...

The assassin stalked away to another part of the woods once again, ensuring that his position would not be discovered. If Kithan was to keep redirecting his bolts, he would find a nasty surprise. This explosive bolt was particularly volatile, and magically intolerant. Magical interference, such as the curses that the wight had used, would simply cause the explosive bolt fired at him to instantly detonate - it would thus achieve its purpose of damaging Kithan and all of his allies in the bolt's vicinity. He would have to be more resourceful than in previous encounters to deal with this particular bolt. Sieghard wondered if - and hoped that - the wight fell for his trick. Nonetheless, the runes written on the bolt glowed brightly, and those well read in magical lore might see the trap within the weapon.

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Kylar snarled as Kithan approached him, and gestured to a group of new bloods approaching Mikhail. "After the wight!" the embattled vampire cried. The assassins did as they were asked, crossbows firing, knives flashing, swords swinging. In formation, the group of five were truly deadly, and well practiced and coordinated: much more so than the council had been. Kithan was outnumbered - and perhaps outmatched.
 

Count Vashra

Lord of Shadows
True Blood
Sep 29, 2013
1,717
New Zealand
Niklaus blinked as the body of the Pyromancer shattered, then cursed as he realised he had been tricked, the Pyromancer's words confirming this. He quickly spun, and blocked the flaming sword with both swords, hissing. He was driven back by his opponent's strength, but managed to steady himself. he saw 5 young bloods attacking Kithan, and then saw the arrows heading towards the Wight. Niklaus thought that he might not be able to defeat the Pyromancer using the tricks he was currently trying...if they could be called tricks. it was time to try more advanced Shadowmancy.
Dissipating his armour and shadow sword, Niklaus Shadow-merged and reappeared behind the Pyromancer. but this time when he reappeared three copies of himself appeared around his enemy, copying him in perfect detail. His enemy might defeat one copy, but three? Maybe he would guess wrong. The copies were all ethereal, harmless, but realistic looking. This was tiring. He wasn't sure how much longer he could continue, but it wasn't like there was a safe place to go to. Once he reformed he and the copies all struck, himself to the spine, the copies to various places around the heart and chest. he timed the attacks to be simultaneous so the Pyromancer would only have one guess. Or a Shadow-merge.
 

the hidden one

Streets Ahead
Jan 20, 2012
495
Odric, glad that he was running when he saw the first two bolts veer toward him, realized that there was another sniper, somewhere. Probably having relocated since firing. He knew that more bolts were sure to follow. Sprinting back to his old position, avoiding the second volley, Odric quickly loaded a new set of arrows and fired at the crowd attacking the wight king. He was running, and loading at the same time, so the shots were slightly inaccurate. That was even better, as to try to convince the other archer that he was incompetent.

When the volley struck home, only two found their mark, but when they did, the spring loaded mechanisms quickly activated, sending silver razors spiraling out into the flesh of the vampires. They died quickly. After he fired, Odric knew that he would be a target soon, and fled, working to stay unpredictable, while still staying out of the melee.
 

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