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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 4063899" data-attributes="member: 55060">Chapter 29The puppeteerDarius could not help but take a quick look behind in order to see what had happened to the priest. The sight of Hantel being bitten by the enormous devilish bug filled him with dread, since the scene reminded him all too well of Lazarus being slaughtered by a giant ape in the warehouse. Were all agents of Berethor that accompanied them destined to die in the hands of a monster that came out of nowhere?In her animal form, Kahleen roared as she turned in the opposite direction of the goblins that were hacking at her, performing a mad charge against the huge centipede. She swiped at its red and black hide just before it was able to land a blow upon the weakened Hantel, opening three parallel slashes on it. The priest visibly relaxed once he saw that this was not his end, for the devilish vermin switched targets from him to the bear. While the centipede had managed to muster the force of will to go through the magic of his sanctuary, the other goblins were still unable to do so.The blond soldier witnessed all of this in that quick glance, but that one second of distraction allowed the goblin to take careful aim and slash at his exposed leg, causing Darius to yelp in pain as his attention got drawn back to his opponent. By now he was beginning to feel weakened for all the hits he had taken. “I survived a giant’s attack, I’m not going down here” he swore vehemently as he counter attacked with a vicious slash of his own. A moment later, the goblin’s body fell to the floor, limp, and its head did likewise afterwards.   Now that he was free, he considered for a moment going after Gon, who was practically dancing in between two goblins in order to avoid their axes; another quick look at Kahleen and Hantel indicated that they were in worse circumstances, for the four goblins targeted the shape shifted shaman, who was already fighting the centipede. Without wasting another instant, Darius yelled fiercely while he ran to the aid of his companions. “That’s right, leave me alone, help the others” Gon said in a low voice, clearly not intending for his words to reach the soldier. Evading the two simultaneous attacks from the goblins was going to tire him in a short period of time, but he did not see how in the Hells he could possibly alter that, as he stayed on the defensive in order to avoid being cleaved in two. Just as the goblins began to hack at him once more, an idea struck him. Gon jumped up high in the air, timing the maneuver just right so that the pair of axes collided with each other on the spot where he had been. The resounding impact caused the perplexed goblinoids to lose their focus for a moment. This was exactly what Gon was counting on.  “The game’s over, go visit your ancestors in the Nether realm” the roguish soldier informed the two as he landed back on the ground, his hands high in the air holding his sword right before it descended rapidly upon one goblin, cutting out its arm at the shoulder. The result was a prone thrashing goblin, bleeding to death. Its friend did not seem intimidated by the other’s eventual death, and it attempted another strike at Gon. He turned around, deflected the axe head and swept one leg by the ground, effectively taking the goblin’s legs secure footing.Once the small creature fell onto the grass, it took an almost methodical downward thrust from Gon to finish it. No more than thirty feet away, Gilliam Araby was wrecking the goblin squad as if he had turned into an entity of retribution, with his adamantine blades mowing about in a blur, so fast they were moving. The goblins had attempted to surround him and Vincent, but they quickly realized that the former was able to drop one of their kin with each brutal slash of a blade, and Gilliam could pull off four of those for each one of their attacks. When the eleven goblins were turned to seven due to Gilliam’s swords, the remaining ones displayed an uncharacteristic show of intelligence, jumping back several feet from the enraged mercenary. “You’re not living this place alive” Gilliam promised grimly, charging with abandon at the supposedly retreating goblins. In his fit of anger, he did not notice what they were intending to do. Vincent did, but as he tried to warn him, it was already too late.“Gil, NO!” the squire called desperately as Gilliam stepped into the trap. He was able to slash at one goblin as he reached them, but the creature managed to dodge the attack. The retribution from the goblins came swiftly and as mercilessly as Gilliam’s earlier kills. Five goblins stepped forward, forming a tight semi-circle around him, and each one had been holding back their axes until that moment. A quintet of goblin weapons scythed the air between them and the human, just as their owners screamed like awakened demons. Rusty, yet sharp iron crunched on mithral links, and three sections of the armor gave to the pressure, permitting the axes to continue their movement into Gilliam’s skin and muscle. The mercenary cried out, but instead of weakening him, the attack seemed to have enraged him further. Covered in both goblin blood and his own, Gilliam gritted his teeth against the pain, unleashing four more devastating cuts at his enemies. Three of the four targets fell down, each sporting a vicious cut; the fourth one had been cunning enough to block the blade’s movement with his weapon. The survivor of the onslaught attempted another axe strike, seeing Gilliam severely injured, but a spear’s tip went right into its lung, piercing it and preventing it from drawing any more air. Vincent kicked the goblin in order to dislodge the spear, taking a step in front of his bodyguard. “Step aside, I can handle them” Gilliam insisted through gritted teeth to his protégé, his current physical state contradicting his claim. Vincent shook his head as he considered the remaining trio of goblins.“I’m afraid you need to step back, Gil, if you are to survive the battle” Vincent said to him in an even tone. Before Gilliam could reply, the goblins charged at the armored elf, ignoring the fact that the others had fallen mere seconds ago. Even though he wished for this conflict to end without more bloodshed, Vincent resigned himself to facing off the remnants of the goblin force.His keen elven ears perked up, then, as he could have sworn he heard strange chanting coming from the misty area ahead of them. Before he could even think of what was occurring, a sudden flash of fire appeared within the thick mist not far away from where he was at, and it began to travel after him at an impossibly fast speed. “Gah!” Vincent yelled in surprise as the source of this fire, a snake made entirely of raging flames, jumped at him, exploding upon impact in a brief rain of ashes and sparks. Vincent’s chest plate was left blackened, but he did not get hurt much thanks to his magical ring. There was a loud noise of a metal object colliding with his armor then, and he realized that the goblins had been unaffected by the fiery snake.  Before he could complain, Gilliam darted past him, smiting the offending goblin with his sword, opening a gap in its neck from where its life went out. The last two goblins approached as well, and one met its end by Vincent’s spear as it went through its windpipe. Only then did the one remaining monster’s courage falter, and it turned around abruptly in order to make a hasty retreat. The goblin’s red eyes stared at the duo with hatred for a brief moment as it looked back while running away.   Gilliam’s shoulders sagged as the rage and adrenaline played out, and he looked more tired than he usually did at the end of any battle. He looked around, almost at a loss, seeing all the goblin corpses lying on the floor, their lives taken for the most part by sword cuts. Recalling the rest of the group with a jolt, Vincent spun, only to see the other four alive, although some of them were worse for wear. Darius and Gon sported different sets of wounds, the former more serious by far, while Hantel looked like he was about to collapse, and the shaman had returned to her half-elven shape, looking very tired. There was no sign of the centipede, and the four goblins that had attacked the shaman were all dead, mostly from wounds that a bear would have caused.“We helped with the centipede” Darius told the concerned squire as he approached them. The soldier was kneeling on the grass, using his sword as a support, giving him the look of a great knight who was swearing allegiance to his liege. “Kahleen smashed the goblins all by herself” he said, then glancing at Hantel. “The Seer kept pouring healing energies into her as she took hit after hit from all sides, even though he was in great peril during the battle”.Meanwhile, Gon approached the grievously wounded priest wordlessly, wearing a distant expression. He pointed his healing wand at Hantel’s body, and summoned the item’s magic, which came out as a misty white glow that closed all priest’s wounds.“Thank you, Gon” Hantel said in response to the much-needed healing. Rather than talking, the rogue merely nodded absently and walked towards Darius, doing the same thing with the soldier. “Much appreciated” the blond warrior said to Gon in earnest, although his counterpart did not seem to notice. Gon turned around and walked towards Vincent, who likewise thanked him after he used the wand of him, although it took two tries for it to work this time. Finally, he went for Gilliam, who was looking around the nearby area, as if expecting another ambush. After healing his wounds for the most part, Gon flicked the wand in his hand before snapping it in two.“No more magic” he informed the rest as he threw the two halves to the ground. Hantel approached Gon and cast a minor healing spell on him, closing most of his injuries through a cerulean glow that emanated from the Seer’s hands. The soldier said a “Thanks” in a low voice.Vincent ceased watching Gon and noticed Kahleen summoning an orange aura around her, although there was no visible change when it dissipated. “I have purged the centipede’s poison from my body” she explained calmly. “Hantel, may I…?” she inquired at the old priest, but he shook his head. “Nay, good woman, keep your magic for something more important than this; although fragile, my body will hold for now”.“Let’s go”.Everyone looked in the direction of the mercenary, who stood in one spot, swords drawn. He looked dead tired, but an iron determination shone in those gray orbs of his.“What’s the hurry, boss? We got them good, now we can rest” Gon pointed out.“No, we can’t rest now” Gilliam instantly retorted. “We need to find the source behind this ambush here and now”. Vincent’s eyes widened as he considered his words. The squire nodded slowly as he uttered a single word. “Ignus”. Gilliam indicated he was right with a nod of his own. This did not seem to relieve the rest in any way.“Who is this Ignus that you speak of?” Hantel inquired with concern.“A wizard of considerable power who tried, unsuccessfully so far, to kill us all” Darius explained to him. “His presence would explain the appearance of that huge centipede”. “He attacked me with some foul sorcery, and then launched a fire spell at Vincent. We need to put a stop to him now, now that he’s close-by and he’s by himself” Gilliam told the others with a tone of finality. Kahleen sighed as she considered their current situation. “Gilliam, you’re tired, very tired, and the rest of us aren’t much better” she said. But the mercenary simply shrugged, as if it did not matter. “Have you got enough healing magic, Hantel?” he asked. The priest considered this briefly. “Indeed, I do. Not much, however, since I used part of it during the battle, but enough for another one”. His voice and choice of words indicated how much he abhorred the idea of rushing into another bloody confrontation. “Then we go” Gilliam declared, turning around quickly and starting to walk at a brisk pace into the woods ahead. Everyone followed at length, each sharing looks of concerned as they did. Not one of them voiced any objections, for in the end Gilliam was right; to allow the mage to escape would mean further troubles down the road, which would likely be worse than what they had encountered so far.     The six traveled close to each other, like they had done so far in their travels, mustering as much silence as they could. The Spirit Wood was as eerie and silent as ever, especially now that they were expecting something or someone to come out of the mist at every step. Every now and then, some of the group swore they heard strange invocations being spoken not far away.        After what felt like an endless walk, but in actuality had been no more than a handful of minutes, Kahleen called for an abrupt halt. She began to summon essence in the shape of a red nimbus, centering it upon herself.“What did you do?” Darius inquired in a voice that revealed how much tension he felt at the time.“Conjured essence to protect myself” she replied in her usual serene tone. “From what?” pressed the soldier, not fully understanding.The shaman gestured ahead of the group with a hand. “Him”.A sound of hands clapping together emerged from twenty feet ahead of the six, its source now obvious. “Bravo, shaman, very perceptive of you” the invisible Ignus praised in earnest. “Pray tell, how did you notice my presence?”.“Your feet, although invisible to the naked eye, still flatten the grass beneath you, and I can tell when it’s ‘normal’ or not” Kahleen replied without sounding proud at the least. An image of Ignus began to emerge from the mist, until it was merely ten feet from Gilliam, who was leading the group. Once more, the wizard’s appearance was one of a robed man without a head, but somehow managing to talk nonetheless.“Seems like the giant didn’t do it” Ignus observed casually. “And so it seems like I’ll have to get my hands red with your blood if I’m to ever rid myself of you”.Gilliam spat on the ground in response. “To the Hells with your condescension, mage, we’re here to end your tricks once and for all” he declared, although his words sounded less powerful with his tired tone.“You’ll pay” Darius said. “For Lazarus, Janis and Mathias!” he finished by swinging his sword around for emphasis. Ignus merely laughed in return.“Is this what your mission is all about? Vengeance? In any case, I say we move on from the pointless exchange of words and step right into the part when we blow you up into nothingness”.“We?” Vincent asked in disbelief. He could not see or hear anyone else, but then he visibly paled as the wizard’s statement suddenly became very much possible. “Indeed. You get to meet my two apprentices, right before I sent you to the Nether” Ignus graciously informed them.Two robed figures appeared to the sides of Ignus’ headless form, each placed at a respectful distance of ten feet from their mentor: a human male and an elven woman, both carrying runic wands in their hands. “You’re all smoke and mirrors, Ignus; your tricks don’t affect us anymore!” Gilliam shouted with resolution. His conviction was thrown to the four winds as the two supposedly illusory apprentices grasped ruby gems that hung from their necklaces, took aim, and threw them at the six.They exploded at the same time like small supernovas, each generating an explosion equal to that of a fireball.</blockquote>

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