Emperor Valerian
First Post
Of Wizards, Tapestries, and Siabrie
“I don’t know what that noise is,” Lucius said to Siabrey’s unanswered question. The din of battle, coupled with the roar of an unknown creature. It was deep, flowing, the same somber, rumbling noise they had heard nights before... only now far louder.
I must go! Siabrey’s mind fought against her rising fear, He’s here! I know he is! Thats him! She turned to Lucius, and with a voice more fit for a battlefield, barked, “Help me put on my armor!”
“You aren’t going...” Lucius started, before her eyes, red with flame, burned deep into him with the simple command of, “Do it.”
HE leapt of his horse, and within the minute her breastplate was on. With a clank and a clack, she dashed forward, over the last rise....
And then she saw him... and them.
Two wizards, clad in garish yellow and purple robes, their hands waving in front of them as arcane magic charged the air. Eight men and women, clad in various armors and armed with a menagerie of weapons, clustered about as well... all pressing their attack on one target.
Him.
He was over six feet tall, his skin a deep copper, his eyes as red as the deepest desert sunset, as crimson as the last embers of a glowing pyre. About his shoulders hung long locks of golden hair that stretched to his waist, and the pointed ears of a fey poked out from the blonde showers about them. His most startling feature was on his back... two wings, as colorful as stained glass, held his form hovering just off the ground... normally their long, elegant length would cover him from his shoulder to his back. His mouth closed and the monstrous roaring noise died away.
Father? her confused mind asked as she stopped at the top of the ridge, staring for a few moments. As she watched, the creature came under furious attack from the two wizards, and anger boiled in her veins. She drew her bow, and took careful aim, sending three shots into the male wizard that had most recently attacked the siabrie.
Don’t hurt him! Even if he is not my father!
The rest of the party was now also taking in the scene from the hilltop... and they all made a nice, compact target... a fact the male wizard, mauled by Siabrey, now took note of.
Before many in the party could react, the air about them seemed to explode, and the ground basted them hot underneath. Most of the party saw in the split second before the inferno the little small bead that bounced into their midst, but sadly Elenya was too slow, and found herself horribly burned for her slow reaction time as the flames consumed about her. Her charred form staggered away from the battle, barely clinging to life.
“Get to the rear!” Shaun barked at his love. Heaven protect her! he thought, looking back as she pulled herself up and stumbled to the bottom of the ridge. To his relief, she began casting healing upon herself, and her charring, smouldering wounds began to slowly pull together and heal.
Shaun, along with the other party members, then turned their attentions to the wizard that had just blasted them. As they watched, his minions began to change direction, all storming up the ridge to this new threat.
Siabrey’s voice snarled at seeing her friend burnt like that, as her own skin radiated its own discomfort and pain back to her. She drew her bow, and as Tess and Shaun notched their own arrows, hers flew out towards Elenya’s bane. The rest of the party joined the massive volley as well. A literal ‘wall of arrows’ struck the offending wizard numerous times in the chest and abdomen, and he pitched to the side, a faint stream of blood trickling from his mouth.
His ‘mate,’ if she was such, looked only a little crestfallen at his demise, as she moved her hands about and arcane words formed in her lips. Her speed suddenly becomes lightning quick, and Siabrey could see a faint residue of magic form in a sphere about her. As Tess launched a powerful songstrike on her, the sphere crumpled only slightly, before harmlessly absorbing the damage of the massive blast.
For herself, Siabrey notched arrows and launched them towards the wizard, and they pierced through her sphere and struck her hard. The rest of the party began peppering on oncoming warriors with arrows as the battle turns into all out chaos.
As soon as she is able to, the wizard moves her hands in front of her, forming a large wall of iron to her front, stretching 15 feet to either side and twenty feet high. The wall was thick enough that even a fireball from Siabrey’s necklace, despite being extremely powerful, could not break through it... however, the blast did maul many of the oncoming humans, leaving many of their cloaks burnt cinders upon the ground.
As the maelstrom of humanity advanced, Siabrey looked to the desert lord, and watched in awe as he advanced, now free of a mob massing around him. With seeming aplomb he reached out and touched the warrior nearest him, and the woman, with nary a scream nor cry, crumbled into a pile of dust.
They are powerful in both mind and spirit... I must be also, her mind thought as she drew her blade, preparing for close battle. Her Lucius was by her side, and he formed another bead in his own hands, launching it into the middle of the six advancing warriors, killing one and maiming the rest in the resulting explosion.
The desert warriors, now within 30 feet of the party, broke into a charge, their screams now echoing with Siabrey’s, Lucius’ and Aris’. Sword strokes rose and fell in frightening succession, and within a second, the greatsword of one of the henchmen had pierced through Lucius’ front armor, and exited out the back, apparently cleanly slamming through one of his kidneys. The young lord collapsed to the ground, his body shaking in convulsions from the massive damage.
No coherent thoughts ran through Siabrey’s mind.... no cries of My God Lucius!? or the like... only two simple emotions suddenly dominated her mind. Fear, and vengeance.
Her sword danced through the air as dragonfly dances in the wind, and within seconds she had driven her foes from near Lucius’ unmoving corpse, even as her voice called out, “Grumki! Heal Lucius! For the love of Kord and Hieroneous! Heal Lucius!”
Even as the cleric of Kord rushed to the young lord’s side, Tess was rushing forward. Seeing her songstrikes were ineffective, and now an iron wall blocked her arrows, she intended to dash behind the wall and to down the last wizard before she could conjure up any more terrors. As she dashed forward, out of the corner of her eye, she spots a glint in the rising sun... the glint of plate mail as one of the henchmen lumbers on an intercepting path.
Tess gets behind the wall, draws her bow, and delivers two shots into the wizard before the crushing force of a greatsword crashed through her light armor and into her abdomen. Seconds later, the annoyed wizard recovered, and five bolts of magic energy lanced through her body... and Tess felt the world growing cold, her vision going black, and her world spinning as she tumbled to the ground...
“No!” Siabrey’s voice could be heard rising above the battlefield, and her own blade began to dance faster, with more urgency and fury... not only was Lucius down, but Tess was as well. As Siabrey’s desperation began to result in shattered skulls of henchmen, she heard the distinctive noise of a horse’s gallop.
Pellaron, clad in paladin’s armor, had remounted his horse, drawn out his lance, and now was on a death-charge through the midst of the battlefield. His lance connected with the first of the henchmen, whose large and menacing sickle was of no use when Pellaron’s lance crushed his head to a pulp.
The paladin’s vicious charge continued, as he crushed Tess’ assailant from behind with his glandil blade. Using his mount as shelter, he then leapt off as the wizard desperately fired off spells to the other parts of her falling frontline. One hand gently touched Tess’ temple, another the nape of her neck, and with a gasp and cry, her eyes flew open as he finished the incantations for laying on hands.
“You came very close, Tesseron Keldare,” he said quietly, still looking around, making sure none of the other henchmen approached. “Please be careful next time.. I...” he stopped, an cleared his throat (a move Tess picked out was very odd in the midst of a battlefield), “I mean, we couldn’t stand to lose you.”
Thats a right odd statement, she thought as she breathlessly thanked him. She then leaned up, and saw for herself the results of her near fall... Siabrey was surrounded by a small pile of corpses and charging forward with Lucius right behind; A henchmen, bawling at the feet of the siabrie, was casually turned to dust by the creature. Crossbow bolts from Aristophle and Igbar crush ed another henchman.
Her front collapsing, her opponents closing in, the wizard started to move away... but before she could even turn, the siabrie was upon her, and with a light flick of his hand, her form, too, crumpled into nothing but dust as silence settled over the battlefield.
For a split second, Siabrey forgot about her blade now stuck in the entrails of one of the henchmen, she forgot about Lucius and Tess and her friends. She stood alone a little ways off from the others, her eyes trained on the desert lord who they had helped defend.
...the siabrie...standing over the pile that was once the female wizard, was looking directly at her, a mixture of confusion and... was it wondorment in his eyes?
“I don’t know what that noise is,” Lucius said to Siabrey’s unanswered question. The din of battle, coupled with the roar of an unknown creature. It was deep, flowing, the same somber, rumbling noise they had heard nights before... only now far louder.
I must go! Siabrey’s mind fought against her rising fear, He’s here! I know he is! Thats him! She turned to Lucius, and with a voice more fit for a battlefield, barked, “Help me put on my armor!”
“You aren’t going...” Lucius started, before her eyes, red with flame, burned deep into him with the simple command of, “Do it.”
HE leapt of his horse, and within the minute her breastplate was on. With a clank and a clack, she dashed forward, over the last rise....
And then she saw him... and them.
Two wizards, clad in garish yellow and purple robes, their hands waving in front of them as arcane magic charged the air. Eight men and women, clad in various armors and armed with a menagerie of weapons, clustered about as well... all pressing their attack on one target.
Him.
He was over six feet tall, his skin a deep copper, his eyes as red as the deepest desert sunset, as crimson as the last embers of a glowing pyre. About his shoulders hung long locks of golden hair that stretched to his waist, and the pointed ears of a fey poked out from the blonde showers about them. His most startling feature was on his back... two wings, as colorful as stained glass, held his form hovering just off the ground... normally their long, elegant length would cover him from his shoulder to his back. His mouth closed and the monstrous roaring noise died away.
Father? her confused mind asked as she stopped at the top of the ridge, staring for a few moments. As she watched, the creature came under furious attack from the two wizards, and anger boiled in her veins. She drew her bow, and took careful aim, sending three shots into the male wizard that had most recently attacked the siabrie.
Don’t hurt him! Even if he is not my father!
The rest of the party was now also taking in the scene from the hilltop... and they all made a nice, compact target... a fact the male wizard, mauled by Siabrey, now took note of.
Before many in the party could react, the air about them seemed to explode, and the ground basted them hot underneath. Most of the party saw in the split second before the inferno the little small bead that bounced into their midst, but sadly Elenya was too slow, and found herself horribly burned for her slow reaction time as the flames consumed about her. Her charred form staggered away from the battle, barely clinging to life.
“Get to the rear!” Shaun barked at his love. Heaven protect her! he thought, looking back as she pulled herself up and stumbled to the bottom of the ridge. To his relief, she began casting healing upon herself, and her charring, smouldering wounds began to slowly pull together and heal.
Shaun, along with the other party members, then turned their attentions to the wizard that had just blasted them. As they watched, his minions began to change direction, all storming up the ridge to this new threat.
Siabrey’s voice snarled at seeing her friend burnt like that, as her own skin radiated its own discomfort and pain back to her. She drew her bow, and as Tess and Shaun notched their own arrows, hers flew out towards Elenya’s bane. The rest of the party joined the massive volley as well. A literal ‘wall of arrows’ struck the offending wizard numerous times in the chest and abdomen, and he pitched to the side, a faint stream of blood trickling from his mouth.
His ‘mate,’ if she was such, looked only a little crestfallen at his demise, as she moved her hands about and arcane words formed in her lips. Her speed suddenly becomes lightning quick, and Siabrey could see a faint residue of magic form in a sphere about her. As Tess launched a powerful songstrike on her, the sphere crumpled only slightly, before harmlessly absorbing the damage of the massive blast.
For herself, Siabrey notched arrows and launched them towards the wizard, and they pierced through her sphere and struck her hard. The rest of the party began peppering on oncoming warriors with arrows as the battle turns into all out chaos.
As soon as she is able to, the wizard moves her hands in front of her, forming a large wall of iron to her front, stretching 15 feet to either side and twenty feet high. The wall was thick enough that even a fireball from Siabrey’s necklace, despite being extremely powerful, could not break through it... however, the blast did maul many of the oncoming humans, leaving many of their cloaks burnt cinders upon the ground.
As the maelstrom of humanity advanced, Siabrey looked to the desert lord, and watched in awe as he advanced, now free of a mob massing around him. With seeming aplomb he reached out and touched the warrior nearest him, and the woman, with nary a scream nor cry, crumbled into a pile of dust.
They are powerful in both mind and spirit... I must be also, her mind thought as she drew her blade, preparing for close battle. Her Lucius was by her side, and he formed another bead in his own hands, launching it into the middle of the six advancing warriors, killing one and maiming the rest in the resulting explosion.
The desert warriors, now within 30 feet of the party, broke into a charge, their screams now echoing with Siabrey’s, Lucius’ and Aris’. Sword strokes rose and fell in frightening succession, and within a second, the greatsword of one of the henchmen had pierced through Lucius’ front armor, and exited out the back, apparently cleanly slamming through one of his kidneys. The young lord collapsed to the ground, his body shaking in convulsions from the massive damage.
No coherent thoughts ran through Siabrey’s mind.... no cries of My God Lucius!? or the like... only two simple emotions suddenly dominated her mind. Fear, and vengeance.
Her sword danced through the air as dragonfly dances in the wind, and within seconds she had driven her foes from near Lucius’ unmoving corpse, even as her voice called out, “Grumki! Heal Lucius! For the love of Kord and Hieroneous! Heal Lucius!”
Even as the cleric of Kord rushed to the young lord’s side, Tess was rushing forward. Seeing her songstrikes were ineffective, and now an iron wall blocked her arrows, she intended to dash behind the wall and to down the last wizard before she could conjure up any more terrors. As she dashed forward, out of the corner of her eye, she spots a glint in the rising sun... the glint of plate mail as one of the henchmen lumbers on an intercepting path.
Tess gets behind the wall, draws her bow, and delivers two shots into the wizard before the crushing force of a greatsword crashed through her light armor and into her abdomen. Seconds later, the annoyed wizard recovered, and five bolts of magic energy lanced through her body... and Tess felt the world growing cold, her vision going black, and her world spinning as she tumbled to the ground...
“No!” Siabrey’s voice could be heard rising above the battlefield, and her own blade began to dance faster, with more urgency and fury... not only was Lucius down, but Tess was as well. As Siabrey’s desperation began to result in shattered skulls of henchmen, she heard the distinctive noise of a horse’s gallop.
Pellaron, clad in paladin’s armor, had remounted his horse, drawn out his lance, and now was on a death-charge through the midst of the battlefield. His lance connected with the first of the henchmen, whose large and menacing sickle was of no use when Pellaron’s lance crushed his head to a pulp.
The paladin’s vicious charge continued, as he crushed Tess’ assailant from behind with his glandil blade. Using his mount as shelter, he then leapt off as the wizard desperately fired off spells to the other parts of her falling frontline. One hand gently touched Tess’ temple, another the nape of her neck, and with a gasp and cry, her eyes flew open as he finished the incantations for laying on hands.
“You came very close, Tesseron Keldare,” he said quietly, still looking around, making sure none of the other henchmen approached. “Please be careful next time.. I...” he stopped, an cleared his throat (a move Tess picked out was very odd in the midst of a battlefield), “I mean, we couldn’t stand to lose you.”
Thats a right odd statement, she thought as she breathlessly thanked him. She then leaned up, and saw for herself the results of her near fall... Siabrey was surrounded by a small pile of corpses and charging forward with Lucius right behind; A henchmen, bawling at the feet of the siabrie, was casually turned to dust by the creature. Crossbow bolts from Aristophle and Igbar crush ed another henchman.
Her front collapsing, her opponents closing in, the wizard started to move away... but before she could even turn, the siabrie was upon her, and with a light flick of his hand, her form, too, crumpled into nothing but dust as silence settled over the battlefield.
For a split second, Siabrey forgot about her blade now stuck in the entrails of one of the henchmen, she forgot about Lucius and Tess and her friends. She stood alone a little ways off from the others, her eyes trained on the desert lord who they had helped defend.
...the siabrie...standing over the pile that was once the female wizard, was looking directly at her, a mixture of confusion and... was it wondorment in his eyes?