[Darkness]

OOC: ... UNEXPECTED.

( )

Also. This is how I pictured it as I read the post, at least. I assume that the door is on the south wall. I also assume that the Captain was leaning against the south wall, to the right of the door (right if you were entering the room). In this post, Rahvus leaps along the south wall, to the side that is left of the door. If any of this is wrong, please correct me


~~~


Rahvus raises his eyebrow at the Captain's worried expression. It was not the anxiety or fear of a man about to die. No, it wasn't that sort of worry. The assassin began to wonder what had exactly transpired during the man's short absence from the command building.

Perhaps it was something pertaining to the great sounds of battle he had heard coming from somewhere around the building. And yes, the.. sounds -- he was hesitant to use that word, even in his thoughts, for the sense of the battle was more of a terribly foreboding feeling that permeated his whole self of something coming, combined with the small vibrations that echoed through the ground -- were growing louder. More insistent. The condition outside was worsening. He had to finish this now.

Rahvus almost laughed again as the Captain almost implied he was Valeronian. No, he was neither from Forlon nor Shral Valeron... His past was shrouded in mist, and intentionally so. And he intended to keep it that way. But it did not matter. This man would be dead soon, anyway...

He rose his sword up, preparing to strike, and then a great sound echoes through his ears. Dust and small pieces of wood and whitewash shower him, and a great force of an explosion forces him to take a step forward. He looks around behind him to see a great shroud of dirt that blocked his vision, and then his eyes shifted upwards as he heard a great wrenching sound.

Part of the roof was collapsing! A long wooden piece of wood, which had previously helped hold the roof up, was falling straight for him... Rahvus leaped out of the way, and consequently leaped away from Flansburgh, and landed in a great mass of rubble from wood that had already showered down, at which time the man promptly fell to the floor.

Coughing and spluttering, Rahvus turned onto his back and moved his gaze to the great hole in the northern wall. The dust had now settled, and the assassin was able to see through to the outside clearly...

[Cspace]

OOC: That's close enough, no worries.

**************************************

Flansburgh manages to avoid being hurt by the unlikely event that just took place. It helps that he is on the opposite side of the room from the wall that was destroyed, but as the dust settles quickly it becomes obvious that a reknosk caused it. The reknosk is not leaving, and seems to be coming to the realization that at least two people are in this building. It would only be a moment before it attacks.

"Get out of the building if you want to live!" the captain calls to the assassin. This may seem unlikely following the battle that just took place here, but Flansburgh may simply not want to face two adversaries at the same time. He seems to be strangely confident facing this massive enemy that just walked in.

Flansburgh draws a large knife similar to that which Sigurdh had, and coats it in oil from a shattered lantern. He uses a clicker, a common lighting implement used throughout Telan, to ignite the blade. He then looks toward a large barrel of powder that was left by the Maldera, tipped over on the north side of the building, just underneath the reknosk. It appears that the captain intends to blow it up.

[Darkness]

OOC: ... If that explosion -actually- does any significant damage to the reknosk, while numerous spells of a far larger magnitude did nothing (cast by a character of mine before the class update that has yet to be revealed in DS2), I will be very.... unhappy. To put it in under-exaggerated terms.



The dust clears, and Rahvus becomes immediately aware of a humongous demonic-looking creature surrounded in seemingly endless fire that sprouted from its accentuatedly bone-ridden body. He was not aware of its nature, nor its name, for he had never heard of nor seen one before. After all, reknosks were very rarely seen in this realm. It was quite illogical that any but a select few would be familiar with them at all.

This... might be a problem. The monster was, obviously very powerful. And the assassin had lost his sword in the fall. He turned over, knowing the creature must be about to strike... He desperately sifted through the dirt and debris, feeling around for the weapon... And finally -- or so it seemed, though it had been but a moment -- his hand closed around the hilt. He turned back over, getting quickly to his feet.

The assassin looked at the demon once more. Anxiety turned to despair. How could he possibly even hope to defeat that beast?

"Get out of the building if you want to live!"

Rahvus looked at the Captain. His mind was a flurry of torn emotions. His honor would not allow him to run from the fight, even if it did seem as if he had no way of winning against the demon. His Code would not condone him to leave his target alive. But he had long believed that there was wisdom in living to fight another day. What could he do? He could run. He could fight. He could live. He could die.

Could he simply rely on the great beast to finish off the Captain? He had to assume that if he managed to escape and live, the knight could manage the same. But he could not leave the Aderonian alive!

A small flash of light caught his eye. The Captain had lit his blade on fire. Rahvus then followed the man's gaze, his eyes then settling on a barrel... A small crack in the side, through which a small amount of its contents had spilled, allowed him to discover what lay within.

Powder. It was then that he realized the other man's plan. And it was then he began to hope that the explosion might also kill the Captain as well.

Rahvus ran for the door, being outside in naught but a moment. He sprinted to a near building, quickly scaling its side. The building was -- he hoped -- a safe enough distance away to be safe from the blast. But it also allowed him to survey the building the beast had attacked, which would hopefully give Rahvus an opportunity to see if the Captain escaped. It also -- he hoped again -- shielded him enough from view from that great demon.

[Cspace]

OOC: There are four known varieties in the bestiary, and the reknosks you are referring to are described as "near the worst of their kind" (as fiery reknosks). While all varieties are extraordinarily dangerous, the ones currently in Maldenar are average for them. Perhaps the ones you faced earlier are still in the desert somewhere.

*****************************

"You have no idea what's about to happen," says the captain to the reknosk with an oddly confident voice. He spins the fiery knife around in his hand, then stops and aims for the barrel. The fiend roars at Flansburgh just as he carefully throws the knife toward the barrel, which pierces the wood and ignites the powder.

There is a flash of white light, followed by a massive explosion directly underneath the reknosk. It starts a chain reaction as a few barrels outside the building also ignite, exploding from behind the beast. The force of the explosion throws Flansburgh against the south wall, and shortly after also blows down the remains of the building. Small pieces of the ceiling fall onto the captain, but his armor protects him. He manages to come out from under the wreckage to see that the reknosk has fallen forward, and appears to be significantly weakened but not yet defeated.

Flansburgh picks up his sword and prepares to finish the job.

[Darkness]

OOC: Ah, but in the bestiary, you describe reknosks in general to be "extraordinary" danger, and that "unless an Avendil has a complete understanding of arcana, and is very capable of fighting, it will be a lost cause to attack a reknosk". So even lesser reknosks, even though they are "lesser", -should- pose as an extraordinary threat to even people highly trained in Arcana. And these are of an average variety, you say. So I must assume, by your very words, that the attack Flansburgh just performed would not be enough to damage the reknosk (at least, more than would be just a little annoying), especially since the explosion you described managed not to even damage Flansburgh himself, and therefore must not have been very potent ;D



A flash of blinding light. Rahvus raised up his hand, shielding his now-closed eyes from the whiteness as he turned his head away. A roaring sound reached his ears, along with a whooshing of flames and the collapsing of stone. The light cleared, and he looked back at the building. What remained of the roof seemed to have fallen in, along with much of the walls. The creature lay on the ground, obviously significantly damaged. The assassin hoped Flansburgh had died in the wreckage. But then he saw the man rise from the debris.... Alive.

Rahvus darted forward, off the roof, and back around the south side of the building, where the door was. Or had been. It had been blasted away by the explosion. The assassin had sheathed his sword sometime as he fled the building before, so he now equipped himself with a pair of knives that seemed almost to appear in his hands. The Captain was not looking his direction. He had retrieved his own weapon, and appeared to be approaching the monster, to finish it off.

Hopefully, that distraction would be enough so that Rahvus could kill the knight. In a swift motion, both blades were sent darting for the Captain's back, the only sound accompanying it a small whirring sound that could easily be missed in the roaring of flames and sounds of battle outside -- and now inside as well, Rahvus realized -- the city.

[Cspace]

OOC: Indeed, they are all extraordinarily dangerous. To kill one doesn't necessarily require a local arcane apocalypse though, as that is considered extreme as far as arcana is concerned. Arcanists, wardens, and geomancers are arguably the most destructive of all known arcane classes, and in the story are very rare (though not limited for players). An onslaught from one of them is probably beyond the "complete" understanding of arcana, but the most powerful of the reknosks can even defeat such characters as your previous battle implied. A powerful warden, geomancer, or arcanist can probably defeat a "normal" reknosk one-on-one without am amazing amount of difficulty. That's not true for other classes, but those three are as close to "alpha" as we have right now.

I plan to expand on this information with the next update, which is coming very soon.

Also, about Flansburgh surviving, the room is very large and the explosion mostly happened outside. The entire building is one room.

*****************************

"Captain Flansburgh!" a knight calls from the market. The captain turns swiftly, just in time to notice Rahvus' attack. He ducks under one knife and blocks the other with his sword. From inside the windowless building, it had not occurred to Flansburgh that the market just outside was fortified.

"Get the assassin!" the captain commands, "He killed Sigurdh!"

About fifteen knights in the fortified market run toward Rahvus with their swords ready. Two remain behind and loose arrows at him from a range of about sixty meters.

While this happens, Flansburgh ignores the pain caused by the injury to his leg and jumps onto the crippled reknosk. He lifts his sword with the point aimed downward, toward the back of the fiend's neck. With great force he comes down. Then again. And again. When he delivers the final blow, the reknosk bellows a great and terrible sound that causes everything that is near to tremble due to the vibrations. This call will probably be heard for many miles, even during the storm.

[Darkness]

OOC: Yeah. I think we really need that update. Things are very chaotic so far. No one's really sure what they can do XD

And so, you mean to imply that Flansburgh, even though not Avendil himself, is about as powerful as a strong Arcanist, Geomancer, or Warden? XD Since he did indeed seem to defeat a normal reknosk without a great amount of difficulty

Also, you described the fiery reknosks as 'near' the worst of their kind. Are the shadowed reknosks, then, even worse?

And another thing. I noticed when going through like... the codex and stuff. And elsewhere. In general, actually. That while you give general descriptions of creatures and stuff, you don't really give an in-depth physical description. Which would be helpful when roleplaying, if ever, with one of such beasts. Like, for example, a baarloq. The extent of your physical description is a 'massive scaled beast' XD So I begin to wonder. Scaled? Is this like.. a sea serpent? Or perhaps it has fins of some sort? Like a giant fish? Or is it something completely different? But alas! How shall I know!?

Also. Can I fight a tiamat sometime? XD And isn't Tiamat the name of some mythological god?



~~~



Rahvus was just preparing to throw another two knives at the Captain, just for good measure, when a voice called out to Flansburgh from behind him. It alerted the knight, who was then able to deflect his attack. Flansburgh then called out to several knights behind him, ordering them to kill Rahvus. Well... That battle had certainly taken a turn for the worse. The two blades he had been about to throw disappeared into his sleeves, and Rahvus then found the two he had already thrown with his eyes, then immediately pulling them into his hands with his arcana.

Then, in one swift and flowing motion, he turned and threw them both at the crack between helmet and breastplate of two of the closest guards. Two more knives slipped into his hands, which then both were also sent flying for another two guards' necks. Another two soon followed. If all went well, their numbers would have quickly been halved, which would significantly increase his chances of escaping. It was then Rahvus had to throw himself out of the way as he saw a pair of archers let loose a pair of arrows. As it was, one whistled past the side of his head, and the other embedded itself into his left forearm. Groaning in pain, he broke the shaft and pulled each side out, before unsteadily getting himself to his feet.

He then drew his sword in his right hand, preparing to meet the first guard -- who was almost upon him -- before escaping.


OOC: I figure I'll see how many died -- if any -- before making my next move XD

[Cspace]

OOC: Flansburgh had an opportunity when the reknosk stood over the gunpowder. A few large barrels exploded just underneath it, and the explosion was large enough to completely destroy the building despite the fact that they exploded outside. That's a lot of explosive force, regardless of who caused it. Wardens, geomancers, and arcanists cause damage by influencing reality, causing damage that is no different than if the same events physically happened. For example, if someone creates a flood, a firestorm, or an avalanche, they are no different than the matching arcane abilities. It's not that those three classes are above everyone, it's just that they are capable of causing these destructive events at will.

Also, you described the fiery reknosks as 'near' the worst of their kind. Are the shadowed reknosks, then, even worse?

Not in terms of power. There is said to be a more powerful type, but it hasn't been seen on Earthia as far as anyone knows.

And another thing. I noticed when going through like... the codex and stuff. And elsewhere. In general, actually. That while you give general descriptions of creatures and stuff, you don't really give an in-depth physical description. Which would be helpful when roleplaying, if ever, with one of such beasts. Like, for example, a baarloq. The extent of your physical description is a 'massive scaled beast' XD So I begin to wonder. Scaled? Is this like.. a sea serpent? Or perhaps it has fins of some sort? Like a giant fish? Or is it something completely different? But alas! How shall I know!?

I'll provide better descriptions when I get the chance.

Also. Can I fight a tiamat sometime? XD And isn't Tiamat the name of some mythological god?

Perhaps you will, and yes, Tiamat is the name of the Babylonian sea goddess. It's also sometimes considered a dragon or chaotic entity in more modern fantasy.

*********************************

Two of the guards are hit directly by the knives, and four are struck by glancing blows. The rest either block or dodge the attack. Most continue to pursue the assassin, and the two archers loose four more arrows in quick succession. Two remain behind to protect the wounded.

Having defeated the reknosk, Flansburgh also turns and runs toward the assassin with his sword drawn. He does not intend for Rahvus to escape.

[Darkness]

OOC: Two were hit directly, four by glancing blows, two stayed back to protect them. So there are only seven left, right? Plus Flansburgh? None of the ones who were hit by glancing blows decided to... tough it out or anything? XD

Also, are there vampires in Darkstorm? I was thinking about making one of my characters become infected XD



~~~



When the guards had begun running towards him, they had all been different distances from him, and those few that had been grouped together near the front he had apparently managed to remove from the fight. This made it so that the time at which the guards who were still running towards him would meet him was staggered. While most of them were far enough away that he would be able to escape, one had managed to get a good distance ahead.

And so this lone knight was the first to reach him. He raised his sword to parry the man's blow, and then delivered a swift stab at the man's chest. If the attack were to successfully damage the knight, Rahvus would then pull the weapon out and allow the body to fall to the ground. If it were to either not kill the knight or not damage him to the point where he was incapacitated, he would then pull the weapon into a parrying position to block the imminent counterattack.

As he either blocked the attack or pulled his weapon from the enemy's body, he saw the archers in the distance seem to load and unleash another pair of arrows. He had not seen them fast enough this time. He leaped to the side... but it was too late. The first arrow embedded itself solidly in his abdomen, slightly off-centered to the right, while the other thudded into his right shoulder. Thankfully, his leap and the subsequent fall that occured due to his injuries drew him out of the trajectory of the third and fourth arrows. He likely would not have survived those.

Knowing with these new injuries he could not possibly survive, he rolled out of the way, sensing that Flansburgh had likely been about to stab him while he was on the ground. Groaning in pain, he got to his feet and stumbled backwards, falling against a small piece of the wall that had managed to stay up. He managed to almost push it over as it was, but it allowed him to breathe for a moment, before he turned and staggered away, climbing a nearby building and disappearing over it.

[Nate]

OOC: Cspace, make orcs a playable race.

[Cspace]

OOC: Two were hit directly, four by glancing blows, two stayed back to protect them. So there are only seven left, right? Plus Flansburgh? None of the ones who were hit by glancing blows decided to... tough it out or anything? XD

I guess they have to keep their strength for the larger battle that is taking place.

Also, are there vampires in Darkstorm? I was thinking about making one of my characters become infected XD

Vampirs are necromancer minions, which are vampires just spelled without the 'e'.

OOC: Cspace, make orcs a playable race.

Maybe, but most likely as a similar but different race.

***************************

"Stop," the captain calls to the knights, "He would be foolish to return now. We have greater problems to deal with."

Flansburgh finds a long piece of cloth on the ground, shakes the dust off of it, and ties it around the wound on his leg. He straps his sword to his back and walks quickly toward the fortified market, looking back periodically to see if the assassin faked his escape. All the knights follow.


OOC: Anything else that happens along the lines of this thread should instead happen in the "Maldenar Surrounded" thread.