Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » One Rainy Night (Open)

Iskra looked to the trees, concerned for Amaury; he had, after all, helped her greatly, which meant she owed him. But once Ludvig spoke to her she straightened up, her blue eyes narrowing at him. She turned her chin up, scowling at the stranger, "You will not speak to me in the tone of voice."

Iskra was prideful, that was certain, and even the state she was in could not deter her from confrontation.

"No, no, just... mph. Got a bit sick there." Amaury plucked something from his chin and flicked it into the brush. "Its been a long night, Maren." The mason straightened himself and shuffled away from the trees toward the unicorn. He brushed his lower face with his sleeve uncomfortably. "Thanks for asking, though."

He peered past her to the tent and the other humans. Although he was willing to let his guard down around Iskra after their initial interaction, Ludvig was a newer development and his presence inadvertently convinced the mason that sleep was not the appropriate choice as of yet.

"I will speak to you however I want" the man said, sneering in her direction. He was intelligent, believing himself better than her, the Steampunk-esq pack he wore spouted steam, the two tendrils drawing themselves out.

"Now, I believe here be monsters, I take it that we shall eliminate zem?" He broke out in an odd cackle, grinning madly at the thought "This night shall be so much Fun!"

“Oh… yes, it certainly has been…” She gives Amaury a brief look over before turning to watch Ludvig and Iskra. By their posture and the words spoken things weren’t going amiably between the two.

Maren tilts her head slightly to address Amaury again, “...perhaps when the rain settles down we can find the main road together? I overheard you two talk about the creature we saw… it would be wise if we stayed together for the time being if it usually goes for lone prey.”

"Are you crazy?! No, no, you know, you probably are." Iskra growled at the man, but those strange tendrils seemed to have her on edge, "Those monsters are insane. The one that did this," she gestured to her broken arm and Amaury's homemade splint, "Is called an aufhocker, and it's incapable of being killed. Trust me, Ive watched and learned the hard way. The only reason those beasts are staying away is because Maren has that light. If we antagonize them they could come back."

"I like your way of thinking, miss." The man nodded at Maren. "I don't really want to insult you, but if the light... thing you're doing is bothering you a lot I might be able to get a lantern lit. Just didn't think I needed it until everyone showed up."

"She's right," Amaury added to Iskra's retort. "I think, at least. And uh, even if I'm wrong, the only fighters here are you two." While speaking the mason approached the other two. "And both of you are injured. Or... at least you were. Ludvig, if you want to go monster hunting that's your choice... but I can't help you. And I don't think anyone here really wants to, either."

He lowered his head thoughtfully, scratching his chin and mentally mapping something out.

"Ha! I will kill this creature the next time it dares show itself!" Ludvig said, the tendrils turned red, spikes extending From it.

//I'm sorry For the short replies, I'm on a very strict time budget

At this point, Iskra looked like she was on the verge of killing the man herself; her fingers twitched by her knife, and the bandit king's short temper meant she was prone to such hasty decisions.

In her eyes, Ludvig was going to get them all killed. There were more than just aufhockers in these woods, things even she wouldn't dare hunt. But those tendrils were really getting her on edge, that and the fact he seemed quite literally insane.

“It does get tiring to keep up after a while, a lantern would be nice.”

Maren nodded back at Amaury, appreciative, “Thank you.” and began following after him. She watched him curiously now. Her weariness towards him and Iskra had dissipated in the short amount of time they spent together; the third human though was a different matter. From the way Iskra was watching him she could tell she felt the same... though perhaps much angrier.

She kept the light of her horn at a steady brightness until Amaury could fix up that lamp he mentioned.

Although Ludvig and Iskra's argument kept much of Amaury's attention he still heard and heeded Marenithiel's request. If there was anyone he had to choose to stay in the good graces of it was the unicorn; not that he thought he'd have to, but as the others interacted it became abundantly clear that conflict would follow in one way or another. He walked to the tent once again, mindful of the red glowing spikes and climbed in just enough to avoid the rain ruining the sparks.

The mason rolled up the bedroll half way to minimize risk of fire spreading and set up his lamp. The sound of striking flint escaped the shelter as he worked before warm light bloomed inside. "You guys wouldn't happen to have lamps or anything of your own, would you?" Once his pack contained everything else he emerged again to look at them, hoping Iskra wouldn't give in to her desire just yet.

Iskra watched Ludvig carefully, taking a few steps back before going further into the darkness, by where she had hit the tree. She came back, and it looked like she had even ran back a bit, anxious to get back into the light, but in her hands she held a slightly banged up lantern, the glass on one side cracked deeply, "Not sure how well this will work...But it's a lantern." Their survival seemed to take priority over her getting into fights.

The way she looked at it, she could always fight Ludvig when the sun came up, so long as they all lived that long.

The Unicorn plodded after Amuray, making sure to give Ludvig and his backpack a wide radius as she passed. Loitering by the tent, she made sure that he had her light to work with. And once she saw the familiar glow of red grow from within the little tent and Amuray step back out, the soft white light from her horn faded.

She bobbed her head in appreciation again to him, making sure her horn didn’t smack him as she did so; and looked to the shed wistfully. Her fur was once again soaked through with the ends of her coat hanging without their soft usual curl, heavy with water. She shook off once more and pawed at the ground, not hesitant to pass by Ludvig.

"Something is coming..." Hissed Ludvig, he turned towards the Forest. He bellowed, a deep bassoon that contradicted his slight Form. Some tiny creatures scuttled out, he snatched two in each large hand, he crushed them to paste wand tossed them aside, his tendrils Flashed, tearing into them.

Amaury was understandably startled by Ludvig's statement and subsequent howling. For an instant he wondered if the man would turn into another monster, with the speed and brutality the newcomer had suddenly displayed. Eyes still wide with the shock, the mason shuffled a bit closer to Maren, at this point associating the unicorn with that 'good luck' he'd mentioned earlier. His hopes that Iskra and Ludvig wouldn't try to kill eachother were similarly dashed in that moment, even if nothing had happened between them yet. It was only a matter of time.

Then he looked down, mostly to avoid watching the butchering but also to think of something to say. But being diplomatic this long was hard for the otherwise selfish man, so he gave up on anything witty and instead just called out, "Why?" To Braun.

"You're going to get us killed!" Iskra snarled at Ludvig, "Stop with that noise, you're going to attract the--" Iskra suddenly went very pale, her face struck with fear.

At first, it was hard to see, the way she stood near the edge of the house let the darkness. But it had started to wind around her arms and legs, and the bandit looked petrified as it snaked around her body. From behind her shoulder, eyes began to form in the darkness and raised over her head, opening its mouth wide and clampings its jaws over her head, to cover her eyes; a victim that couldnt see was easier to control, she couldn't try to fight when she couldn't tell what to fight against. The creature was using her as both a defense and an offense; another blast of the bright light from Maren's horn could blind the woman, and any attacks could cause her injury. The creature didnt seem to know they weren't close. And of course, it was attracted by Ludvig's attacks.

At Ludvig’s shout Maren flinched, her ears pinning back at the noise. She had been watching Ludvig and his swift dispatch of the little creatures, and did not notice the rigidness of Iskra and how her words cut off… until a swift cold chill ran up her sides. Her attention was torn to Iskra now; more specifically the pair of eyes directly behind her. She gave a sharp and high whinny and shifted on her feet, rearing up for a moment. She wasn’t aware if she bumped into Amaury or not, so focused on the monster as she was. Maren was instantly spooked to say the least, and was probably two thoughts away from bolting away.

Her horn flickered and winked with a sharp light rapidly, but it didn’t burst into the blinding light as it once did before. She did not have the stored power that was needed to create the stunning display that she used to scare the Aufhocker previously. Her horn’s light faded altogether as if trying to quickly store energy, but it would take too much time to actually make use of it.

Amaury was socialized enough to know that Iskra's taper was unusual. He looked over and cussed softly; taking a few steps back, luckily far away enough from the unicorn not to get immediately bopped over the head. Maren's jolt was enough to cause him to fall over nearby, for fear of being potentially trampled. After he so gracefully fell and incidentally collected mud on his tunic the mason gaped in horror. The sparking of the unicorn's horn gave him an idea, however.

Not believing for a second that it would work but desperately hoping it would, Amaury withdrew his hammer yet again and scrambled to his feet. It was spared the mud by its holster, glittering in the dark a reflection of his lantern's light. Despite every fiber of his being telling him to flee instead the mason approached Iskra and the monster slowly, lifting both the lantern and hammer high. It wasn't the cleverest strategy but something had to be tried.

The beast seemed to hiss, Iskra's arm moving slowly down to her belt, to her knife, her mouth working slowly to try and speak, "I-I can't control my body, I dont know what I'm doing--!" She unsheathed her blade, swinging wildly out at Amaury.

The motions were jerky and the beast had no hesitation using her broken arm, though it seemed to cause her deep pain. It's tendrils kept winding tighter around her limbs, leaving angry red marks when it slid away from different areas. It seemed to be attempting to fully seize her body.

Ludvig grinned spreading his arms "Yes! Yes!" he laughed, a high, whistling laugh. He looked at the creature "Yes! Kill zem! Kill zem all!" He doubled over again, the laughing intensifying. He walked over to the creature and it glared at him "Together, we shall slaughter..." Ludvig hissed, running a hand over hit's Face, his normally white eyes glowed a brilliant red.

Considering its face was on Iskra's, she was more than a little creeped out, but the creature didnt seem to enjoy it too much either, yanking her back into the darkness behind the shed.

Iskra was coughing pretty hard with the way it had started to tighten around her chest, constricting her breathing, which was the only tell of where the creature was. Though it seemed to be trying to keep her alive, for as long as it needed her; Maren's initial blast had severly weakened it, having control over Iskra gave it both leverage against the group and added strength, thanks to her knives.

From the darkness, one of the tendrils shot out at Ludvig, the creature attempting to take him to the ground and drag him into the trees.