The World of Astrial

"Korbin, stay close enough so I can teleport you if need be! You too Kris!"

Hmmm, wiz Korbin in front of me I'll need to arc my shots. I zink I can time it right.

She aimed her bow about 70 degrees into the air and applied a little force. She watched the arrow move upwards.

What she saw next surprised her... The arrow began splitting into many small ones... And a volley of arrows was now heading towards the enemies.

Kris knew that many people underestimated her sling and bullets, but she could tear a hole through a skull if she had enough force behind her throw. Not that she had ever done such a thing. She aimed another bullet toward one of the newcomers that were approaching, spotting three of them. The cleric decided it might be time to bring some magic into play, tucking her sling and pouch of bullets back into her belt.

Her jaw fell open a bit whenever Eliana fired an arrow that became a volley of the projectiles. It seemed that the small amount of offensive magic she had might be redundant, her large eyes followed the progress of the numerous small missiles now heading for the wolves.

She looked to Korbin whenever he mentioned the wolf they had felled was an Omega, familiar with the heirarchy of wolf packs. Making use of holy water and muttering a spell, she cast a spell to bless them that would make their attacks cause more damage. Kris made the briefest of explanations before she enacted the spell, "Do not be alarmed, it's something that will enhance your attacks," she explained before going into the enchantment. She knew some people were wary of magic being cast on them. The elf was unsure of just how many wolves they would come across, but decided it would be best to cast the spell now, before the situation got more serious.

The wolves that were in pursuit continued in the dangers of the attacks. The first arrow barely skim passed the first target however hit on the shoulders. The other two wolves evaded them easily. The rain of arrows finished off the wounded wolf. One of the wolves ran up first to Korbin for an jump attack.

"Eeek!" Arisa shrieked in combat. She's not really good with these....despite her position in Mast.

Just as the wolf reached Korbin, he sidestepped the attack and snatched it from the air by the throat and sent electrical shocks through its body.

He then threw the wolf back towards the others. He was pretty surprised by that since he didn't expect it to work and the surprise was visible on his face.

A rain of arrows? No time to wonder what caused zat now. Need to focus.

Eliana's adrenaline was now pumping. She quickly readied her bow and aimed at the closest wolf. She then released an arrow headed straight for it.

A deadshot like zat shouldn't miss. Zese wolves are suicidal, zeir movement patterns are so direct and predictable.

She prepared to fire a second arrow.

Kris glanced over to see that Korbin was handling himself well for the moment. Observing that the majority of the wolves were still making progress toward them, she called out to the other two, “I’m going to cast something smelly, that will repel and irritate them!”

The cleric opened a tightly sealed case, taking out a rotten egg. Ignoring how mushy and malodorous it was, the elf went through the specifics of her spell before throwing the egg out toward the center of the wolves.

A yellow and green cloud that smelled terrible, enough to nauseate the strongest of stomachs, emanated from the spot where the egg had fallen. Kris backed away, moving to a position where she could be upwind, as she took out her sling and loaded it. She launched bullets toward the wolves, her aim was to cause them to become disorganized.

The third dodged the arrow, however, due to the smell the wolf went around it. The third wolf attacked toward Korbin's legs. The result of the bullet spilt fourth from third, however, the fourth wolf did not deviate its path and ran through the smell. There was...a fifth. The fifth was hiding behind the fourth's shadow, a blind spot in a certain way, and was right behind the fifth. "W-Wall!" Arisa chanted as a translucent wall appear in front of the fourth and fifth wolves which they smacked into.

Korbin managed to avoid getting bitten by the wolf but it's claws still managed to rake at his ankles. Korbin then charged his left foot with lightning and delivered a brutal kick to the wolf at his feet, shocking it and sending it back a fair distance away from him. He then took a knee, pulled out a small handkerchief from inside his suit, and began cleaning the wound and wrapping it to stop the bleeding.

They're faster than I initially expected. Gotta watch out for that.

Eliana began casting her teleport arrow spell, and declared "Korbin David" as her participating comrade.

She pulled her bow back with an arrow, and aimed up into a tall tree.

When the arrow hit the trunk of the tree directly over a branch, her and Korbin were teleported up there.

She landed on the branch. Korbin would have fallen to his death had Eliana not caught him.

"Sorry about zat.... I reacted...."

She would have felt embarrassed but knew she had no time.

She pulled Korbin up and helped him onto the large branch.

She yelled down to Kris "Sorry! I can come and get you if you like!"

Eliana was also preparing another shot at a wolf.

Wiz all my missing, I need to concentrate more and get a perfect shot.

"Wait, I've got an idea. If Kris is fast enough, she can get the wolves grouped up together and I could take them out in one shot." Korbin said after Eliana offered Kris some help.

This will be risky, I haven't tried the haymaker but I can tell that it is gonna be taxing on my mana sources. Only one chance.

Korbin dropped down to a lower set of tree limbs to get a better view.

Kris kept a hand over her face as the wolves scattered, hacking and snorting over the stench that was wafting toward them. Her sling almost looked like a disc at times, whirring over her head, bullets were sent flying in arcs that either hit the wolves or spooked them. One ended up falling down, and staying that way, after a chunk of metal crashed into the side of his neck. Another was hit in the shoulder and limping.

She watched Eliana and Korbin teleport away, hearing them whenever Eliana called down to her from a branch. The elf had started making her way toward a tree already. Her bullets hit the ground next to some of the wolves, causing them to flinch and run in different directions. The nauseating cloud she had conjured only lingered for one minute, and the wolves began to regroup.

Checking how much ammo she had left and taking stock of how far away from the other two and how close the wolves were, she called back, "I'll be alright!" Agile and good at climbing, she started running for a tree with low hanging branches.

The wolves were disarray from the bullets, giving enough time for Arisa to cast magic. "Chain L-Lightning!" Arisa said as she zapped the wolves to their graves. All wolves had been eliminated.

"I think the wolves went this way!" A cheery voice of a female rang out, followed by a bit of humming. A short moment later, a short, slender figure ran out of the forest. She wore a light green tank top with blue jeans. She looked to be someone from a rich family, but had a kind look to her face. She looked around before realizing what she saw. Her kind face turned angry. "Just what the hell happened here?" She drew her dagger and pointed it at each of the party in turn. The dagger itself was rather stylized. It had floral patterns and vines etched into the blade, which was about a foot long. "Who do you think you all are? What reason did you have to kill all of these wolves?" She was clearly not pleased with the sight and looked ready to lunge.

"And of course a sylvanian guardian would get here. Lady Luck must have had her day off." Korbin quipped.

Despite his joking remark Korbin was actually remaining incredibly alert, scanning his surroundings and watching Lilica very closely. He kept watch of the way she held her dagger, the stance she took, her eye movements, and her muscle movements.

She's incredibly dangerous. Something about her isn't human.

He climbed up a couple of branches over to where Eliana was at.

"There's something about her. She's more dangerous than she looks. She may not even be entirely human. Don't just start taking wild shots." He whispered to her.

Korbin's eyes were focused, determined to find some sort of weakness to exploit.

"You know, if it was any other day I would be okay with jokes like that, but to many things happened that is just ruining it." She crouched even lower. Just before she dashed, however a large hand of ice, originating from the forest appeared holding her back.

"Hold up, Lilica. You cannot fight head on." A deeper voice echoed as a taller man walked out as the hand drew Lilica closer. He was wearing a grey tee and jeans as well. At this point due to their outfits it should have been clear they aren't of this world. "How about you run along and let me do what I do best. The hand released her.

She didn't look particularly happy about this, but after a moment her expression softened into a sigh. "Fine." She started singing, new trees sprung up, expanding the forest to surround them, her song shifted to a bit more of an eerie tone as all the trees seemed to also lean towards the other party. "There, now if you will excuse me." She ran off into the forest at an unbelievably fast pace.

The man looked over at them. "My name is Adrian Diamondheart. You have done a rather impressive thing, making my sister mad. But don't let that impression tarnish your thoughts on her, she is a nice person." As he spoke he formed an axe out of ice and swung it over his shoulder and latched it to his back with some more ice and created two short swords. The swords had designs of dragons along them while the axe didn't have any impressive designs. ""But I hope you understand when I say I can't just simply let you get away with it. I do not feel like chasing. So if you run, I won't stop you." He had a rather casual stance, but he didn't look to be a beginner.

I wonder...

Korbin dropped down from his position in the tree and landed softly on the ground before standing up straight.

"Understandable reasoning. I am interested in testing my abilities to their fullest. A duel perhaps?" Korbin said, gesturing to the open fields nearby, an obvious sign that he didn't want to cause any further damage to the forest.

He referred to her as his sister. That would mean that they have some similarity in abilities. I must understand him further.

"Sorry, Kid," He said this even though he looked to be about the same age as Korbin. "I would like to fight you as a group. It puts a smile on my face seeing you work together. Also, my sister took her time to set up the area by surrounding us with trees. Let's fight here if you all so choose."

Lilica's song echoes around them, very difficult to discern where it wass coming from. The forest seemed to grow wider.till no fields could be seen.

"In which case..." Korbin said, aligning himself with Adrian.

"Let's dance."

Korbin was standing sideways somewhat. He looked relaxed but his eyes were scanning Adrian, watching everything from his eye movements to the way he gripped his swords. He was ready for an extremely uphill battle.

Even greater skill than the other one. The ice will throw a monkey wrench into things. No use running.

I cannot believe Korbin would zink zat I'd do somezing so foolish...

No, he's just being sensible. Its good to ensure the situation will remain predictable...

Still, he almost seemed to imply zat I'd fire at zem willy nilly.

Eliana teleported towards Kris.

She whispered into her ear "Be ready to back him up."

Eliana was ready to take a shot if need be.

She had a dagger ready to be unsheathed.

I'm very curious what reason zese people could have to care about silly wolves. Surely ze population is high enough here zat a little zinning won't remove zem all. Likely just ze way ze machine is programmed. Possibly zese are just AIs and nozing more.

"U-uh....m-maybe calm d-down a little...p-people...? Please...?" Arisa tried to muster the courage to say something.