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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 2, 2023 20:29:41 GMT -5
“Wh—” Mei looks at Javal, utterly baffled by both his yelling and his questions. “No, it has nothing to—” Mei claps her palm against her forehead, before gesturing exaggeratedly above the fellblood’s head. “Just look up, Javal!”
He does, barely dodging a beam of ice from the strange thing above him; Mei certainly doesn’t know what to call it. It’s sort of a mephit, sort of not; but it is hostile (or, it sounds like it), and that’s really all she needs to know. She palms one of her throwing knives, chuffing while she tilts a hip to cross her arms.
Seriously? The Winter King?
“Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t beg for anyone. You got your name on the forest, Winter King?” She opens her arms, taking a step back to gesture at the forest with a shrug.
“Because I sure don’t see it spelled out anywhere… so, really, it’s all just a misunderstanding on both sides.” Mei is possibly poking a hornet’s nest, but she’s pretty confident in her ability to dip if things go wrong... but she needs to see what the mephits have already taken, in case it's among them. “We’re not leaving without the merchants or their garbage; and once you hand them over, we’ll leave. Everyone’s happy, we get off your property, and we’ll stop blowing up your little friends as a bonus.”
She keeps an eye on the Winter King; watching for any quick movements, or hostile behaviour.
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 4, 2023 1:57:28 GMT -5
He glances up to see this strange odd creature that he’s never seen before in his entire life. He’s in shock as he stands back on both hands on his katana waiting for something to happen as the scene quiets down except for the humming of the winter king’s wings and Mei’s witty remarks at it.
The Winter King coyly laughs, hardly holding his arms over his stomach, “Ahahahahahahaha, funny adventurer, I INDEED DO HAVE MY NAME ON THIS FOREST. It is right over there”, he points right deeper into the forest, however, if you squint your eyes you’d be able to see the faint shape of a W on the snow floor.
“This is no misunderstanding young lady, after all this is my and my people’s home, you and others just come in here and act like this place is empty and yours to mess with. Well, not today not anymore I’m going to defend my people from invaders starting with you two scoundrels, and after that, we’ll finish punishing those goons from earlier”.
He raises his hand and reaches into his cerulean robes pulling out a long frozen rapier”, he hoovers in the air pointing it at a group of mephits floating behind him, “En Garde goons, let this battle begin”.
He waves his hands and the mephits swarm at Mei surrounding her head and upper body trying to bite her and gnaw on her. He charges forth intending to drive his rapier through Javal’s chest with a loud obnoxious laugh as he flies
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 5, 2023 13:59:11 GMT -5
Mei blinks, narrowing her eyes towards where this idiot is pointing; she feels her shoulders drop.
Her expression flattens in disbelief.
“… Seriously? You actually put your name on the… you know that doesn’t just make it yours, right?” She knows that’s what she said, but that’s kiddie logic on ownership. The absolute gall of this guy, or mephit, or whatever, who thinks that they can slap their name on something and claim it is so absurd that it would make her flush if she had actually fed recently. Mei grits her teeth, unable to respond to their snark before the mephits whip after her at his command. “ Gods, I hate the Frost Gale…” she mutters seconds before she’s instantly overwhelmed by a dozen toothy little bastards. She covers her face and ducks down, feeling the little bastard’s claws and teeth snap, scratch, and tug at her hair, neck, and arms as they swarm. She beckons herself to be calm, lest she give into a panic and actually be eaten alive. She closes her eyes, then tosses her cloak into the air— activating it. (1) Shadows erupt from the velvet red interior, falling over Mei and the group of mephits in a cloud. She falls to the snow, trying to keep close to the ground as the mephits begin to go utterly feral in their attempts to find her. An outstretched hand is enough to beckon another from the shadows nearby; and a young woman, in appearance identical to Mei, staggers from the shade beneath the trees. (2) She seems disheveled, but her appearance draws some of the mephits from the cloud; Mei can hear them screech and chatter, and she utters an internal apology to the shadow version, who turns tail and rushes back through the woods. A decent amount of the mephits follow, clearly intending to take her out— but they’ll be disappointed, as the shadow clone will disappear the moment they actually touch her. Either way, it’s necessary to break them up enough for her to handle without being overwhelmed immediately. She pushes herself up, unclasping her dagger from her belt, and whirling it through the air in an arc to try and hit the mephits still clattering angrily through the smoke in search of the actual her. She feels the tension of her blade hitting flesh; and a mephit tumbles out of the smoke, wings and fingertips twitching as it succumbs to an overwhelming flurry of visions. (3)
(1.) Smoldering Cape (2.) Shadow Clone (3.) Dagger of Torment
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 6, 2023 4:11:38 GMT -5
The Winter King scoffs as he duels with Javal at Mei’s question, “Why? This forest has been under my people’s protection for decades, centuries. We are the rightful owners of this forest and have lived here for a very long time. I am the current monarch of here so everything here is mine because I’m so awesome. I’m giving you the best deal of your life here, leave your stuff here and I’ll think about letting you go”.
The dozen mephits attacking Mei quickly diminish and become 6 no 5 after she finishes killing one with her dagger.
The five look at each other in agreement before zooming straight for Mei’s face intending to blind her and do serious damage to her face, one goes for her left eye, another her right ear, another her hair, another her nose, and the biggest mephit goes straight for her chin.
Javal himself was having a tough time as he clashed with the Winter King surprisingly enough the mephit monster was an excellent swordsman. Their fundamental sword skills although brazen and brash still were difficult to deal with. Every slight slash Javal dealt was quickly parried and followed up by an impaling motion trying to catch the fellblood in the chest and abdomen. He was even able to get some damage on Javal, his biggest wound a stab to the shoulder that was bleeding profusely. Javal grits his teeth as he holds strong, challenging and following through with a barrage of sword slashes intending for even a single one to catch the tricky mephit king.
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 6, 2023 20:38:59 GMT -5
That’s it.
The moment she feels the air rush in at her, the pulse of wings of the approaching mephits, Mei’s pretty much had it with this unfair fight; and she disappears. Vanishes. The woman on the ground dissipates into the smoke left by her cloak, causing the mephits to crash into one another in their hurry to get to her. (1)
There’s the sound of a sudden collision, and a few of the mephits squawk as they all tumble into the spot where Mei had once been. She reappears quietly in the gloom of the forest, after the shadows which she had become prior flickered and merged into their comforting darkness. Her eyes are blacked out, and her face contorted into a fang-bared snarl as she beckons the shadows around her to take form. (2)
The mephits jostle in surprise when long, spider-like tendrils appear from the darkness; slamming forth into the snow with a heavy weight. It pulls forwards, taking the shadows with it; it pulls them taut like thread, its mandibles opening wide just before it lunges for the pack of mephits.
In truth, Mei didn’t care much about the merchants’ problem… but now she’s operating out of spite. She fucking hates this guy and his little toothy bastards. The Winter King.
Pah.
The aspect of her patron snaps its fangs around one of the mephits’ legs, shaking its little body like a rag doll before snapping it in two. It explodes into a small burst of snow, showering the shadowed creature in glitter-like dust that shimmers in the weak Frost Gale sun.
She hates the fucking Frost Gale.
While Javal duels the Winter King with noble intentions, probably, Mei has no such reservations for fair play. She pushes forwards, reaching out with a hand that stains itself with shadows as she points at one of the mephits rushing away; it instantly grows lethargic, struggling to continue its flight, and collapses into the snow. (3) The elemental snaps out again, carving a line of shadow into one of the mephits, but failing to grab it.
Mei listens to the toothy beasts shriek and cackle and palms her dagger, rushing to back up the aspect she had called forth, lest the mephits overwhelm it as it did her. She swings forwards, slashing through the wounded mephit, and readjusts to aim for another as the little bastard explodes into a shower of snow.
(1.) Demon of the Mist (2.) Summon: Dark Elemental (3.) Desperation
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 7, 2023 19:56:33 GMT -5
The Winter King expertly dodges Javal’s series of slashes with a snotty disparaging laugh as he zips and zooms away from the blade. He hovers off the floor and pushes forward swinging his rapier around catching Javal in the shoulder and poking him with great skill. He grits his teeth as the pain surges in his shoulder he shakes his head trying to focus, focus on anything he can do. For all the Winter King’s taunting he doesn't pack as much of a punch as to take Javal down himself but with those wings.
Over with Mei, she's devastating the Mephits around her only having three left floating by completely demoralized after seeing her demolish their friends. They scream and shout with all of their hearts and nod in agreement as they try their strongest attacks.
One mephit shrieks as it's vision is blurred from the changelings efforts and wildly charges around Caedes trying to scratch him weakly. Another mephit zooms under Caedes and smashes his hands into the snow creating a rising block of ice right from under the changeling intending to take him into the air, The third mephit gathers ice energy in its hand and throws a long ice spear right at Caedes the three mephits having excellent teamwork.
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 9, 2023 19:01:36 GMT -5
Mei pulls back to avoid the reaching claws of the first mephit only to stumble into the trap from the second; black ice forms beneath her feet, and she grits her teeth when she feels the slip of her heels on the ice. She gasps, tilting backwards and hitting the ground hard; she barely has time to regain her bearings when the ice spear is thrust at her— but luckily, she’s not alone in this fight. Mei still rolls to the side in an attempt to dodge the spear; but a blast of dark energy erupts from the aspect still lingering nearby. (1) It collides with the spear, turning it into thousands of shards of sharp ice; they still hurt like hell when they shower down on Mei while she gets up; but they hurt a lot less than the spear would have. They do still leave small cuts in her skin stinging in the freezing cold. “ You little bastards.” Mei scuffs, gritting her teeth as she scratches fragments of ice from the palm of her hand. She reaches to pull a couple of throwing knives from her belt— or, she would— but she only has one left. Shit. She knuckles it nonetheless, launching it through the air over the elemental’s head; it strikes true, taking down one of the mephits by the wing. It collapses into the snow with an angry shriek— but its fall only angers the other two further; one summons another long spear of ice and hurls it, while the other takes a deep breath, and blows a concentrated stream of snow in their direction. The elemental recoils, ice beginning to form around its mandibles and face; while Mei rolls to move out of the way of the spear. It clangs into the soft snow beside her, crumbling into ice shards upon impact; and Mei, covered in snow, lifts a hand. Her eyes go black, and from the shadows beneath her feet, a thread lashes out and binds the mephit blowing its concentrated snowstorm. (2) She hears it squawk in distress as it collapses into the snow, struggling against its binds.
Mei takes a slow, steady breath, and looks at the last free mephit with a frown. "Is your king still worth dying for?"
(1.) Dark Elemental: Uses Chaos Bolt on Mephit's spear (2.) Web
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 10, 2023 14:31:25 GMT -5
Javal continues to struggle against the winter king with all of his might, he isn’t particularly strong, and each thrust of the man’s ice-cold rapier fills his body with cold, slowing his movements down. He grits his teeth trying to push past the shivering cold, he was not well equipped to handle the snow in the first place even less so now that his movements were getting sloppier. He kept it up as he glanced at Mei and he was determined to take the winter king head on. He had to think, think of anything that could help. These guys were made of ice so that wouldn't work well, think, think, what could he do? Soon enough he was going to lose consciousness, he couldn’t lose consciousness or it’d be all over.
He held strong, doing his best to stand up with blood in his mouth. He yelled out to Mei, “I’m so sorry, please get away now, I can take care of everything now”.
He then stands still almost motionless looking as if the cold got to him, the winter king shrikes in delight, "BWAHAHAHAHAHA what did you think stupid imp, us mephits are strong folk almost as strong as demons and devils”.
He glances at Mei, his teeth bared, “Now then little lady just give up your friend here lost already so make this easy for me”.
He floats away from Javal only a couple of feet before suddenly Javal stirs awake, his eyes grow wide and his entire eye becomes bright yellow. Red markings appear on his body as he stands his body grows a couple of feet and becomes more muscular and more defined.
He holds his sword in his hand differently even holding the hilt upside down ready to stab and impale, his aura is wildly different, more cold, and serious, not an ounce of cheer in the air around him.
1. Berserker I
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 12, 2023 23:24:00 GMT -5
The mephit seems to think their king is worth dying for; and who is Mei but a messenger to their wish? As the mephit rears back and charges her, she flips her dagger into the palm of her hand. Ducking beneath the mephit, she feels its claws scrape over her back as it tries to change direction— but its unable to do so before she pulls up— swinging her dagger in an arc into its back.
It squeals, exploding into a shower of snow.
Mei coughs; but as it turns out, she had been so engrossed in surviving the mephit onslaught that she hadn’t noticed Javal beginning to falter. She looks towards Javal and the ‘Winter King’, eyes widening minutely when she witnesses the fellblood collapse after calling out to her. “Javal?” She presses, brows furrowing; but before she can go to him, her eyes snap up to the ‘Winter King’.
She breathes out through her nose, narrowing her eyes at him impatiently. “You bastard,” she spits back at him, about to take up the fight when Javal suddenly wakes up. Mei blinks, surprised by his movement, and…
And...
…
Something is different; the shadow elemental that Mei had summoned prior takes a few steps back, erupting into a cloud of smoke and silt as it disappears from the place it was summoned. Mei, too, steps back, her eyes narrowing quizzically when she registers the difference in his body language, in the markings on his body, and the change of his eye colour.
“… You’ve made a terrible mistake.” She says— not to Javal, but to the ‘Winter King’. She looks past him, reaching out to Javal. Her eyes turn black. The shadows beneath the fellblood’s feet twist in serpentine patterns up his legs, thinning into delicate wisps, and creating a thin, transparent glistening around him to protect him from further damage from the Mephit’s Leader. (1.)
(1.) Resist the Elements — Cast on Javal, Ice Resistance
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 13, 2023 4:40:13 GMT -5
Javal stands tall, his posture straight and cold as he makes a single footstep forward smoke billowing from his mouth, his eyes entirely yellow.
The Winter King squeals in delight, “OHOHOHOHO, what do we have here is Little Impy pushing past his limits and standing up. Oh, how precious what a companion you have, her lady to have died on his feet and even pushing past his limits after being beaten, truly beautiful”, he laughs in snarkiness.
He then raises his rapier to his chest and flutters its wings open ready for round two, “HOHOHOHO, well it seems it is up to now to give you an encore of pain after all this should only take another minute and your dear friend should be dead”.
He flies forth holding his rapier with both hands as he dives towards Javal’s chest aiming for his heart.
The fellblood only chuckles coldly and whispers, “I’m going to beat the everloving shit out of you now”, his voice although eerily the same as his cadence, his tone everything else is different.
The Winter King reels back for a second scared but shakes it off aiming again Javal simply sidesteps it avoiding the blade. He then grabs the elemental’s back from his robe and starts spinnning him around letting go of him not before punching him in the back as he flies in the air.
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 13, 2023 21:07:27 GMT -5
Mei steps back; the snow crunches underfoot as she does; a soft exhale leaves her lips while she watches smoke billowing from Javal’s mouth. She grits her teeth, pale eyes narrowing sharply as she recalls her conversation with Zarius— but there’s no way, right? It cannot be the same thing, surely, but Javal— or, is it Javal? Has suddenly spiked her interest. Unfortunately, the ‘Winter King’ is a haughty bastard, and his laughing causes Mei to give him a spiteful side-eye. He spews some colorful language about the fellblood’s recovery, wings stretching out in preparation for an attack. “ I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Mei offers helpfully; her tone is heavy, an edge of sarcasm in her voice. “ Overconfidence precedes carelessness. You can still run with your tail tucked between your legs.” …and then he’s gone, rushing towards Javal at full speed. “Mei?” A tiny whisper from beneath her cloak catches her attention; it’s Charlotte, legs tucked in close to herself. “Is he going to be okay? Mister Javal?” Mei blinks, turning her eyes back towards the fight; she watches the fellblood sidestep the ‘Winter King’s blade, before launching him away.
She has no plans to intervene; not when whatever is happening to Javal is happening.
“ I don’t really know.”
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 14, 2023 11:19:16 GMT -5
The Winter King lands right into a tree and shakes his head trying to recover his dizziness after being spun so much.
He gets back up a dusts the snow off of his clothes nervously chuckling as he does so, “Hehehehe lucky blow, I dare you to try that again little imp”, he stands tall and fires off an ice spear at the fellblood who grabs it mid-air and hurls it back at the winter king lodging it into his foot.
He shrieks in terror as he struggles to get it out, succeeding but a small ice chunk remains.
The Winter King has now realized his very poor mistake and begins pleading, “Woah there, let’s all calm down. I didn’t understand your game before, however, I completely get it now. How about I just surrender, let you guys take those fellows home and we call it a day?”.
The fellblood chuckles as he continues to step forth walking towards the winter king, “I don’t give a shit, I’m still going to beat the fuck out of you”.
The Winter King squirms and tries to run away but the fellblood is quickly behind catching him by the wings and tossing him in the air before impaling him in the abdomen with his sword.
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 19, 2023 14:48:09 GMT -5
Snow falls from the branches above as the Winter King plunges into the trunk of a tree; but he gets up and brushes himself off, still mocking… Javal… with a nervous air about him. “I wouldn’t patronize him.” She warns, but she doubts that it is heard— and it is certainly not heeded. Mei takes another step back, the snow crunching beneath her boots while she puts more distance between Javal, the Winter King, and herself.
“Mei…?” Charlotte whines, to which Mei simply takes a breath.
“Don’t look, Char.”
Charlotte lowers her body behind Mei’s shoulder; although the Winter King has been nothing but a nuisance, she can’t help but feel some misplaced sympathy. Where she comes from, it’s only those who can protect their territory who can keep and maintain it— it’s a dog eat dog sort of world— and mistakes are deadly.
She takes a slow breath and looks away, listening to the sound of the Winter King falling upon Javal’s sword. She does not look back until it is over, and takes a slow breath as she looks at the aftermath. She runs her fingers through her hair; but her shoulders remain tense.
With Javal the way he is, she cannot afford to put down her guard.
“… Are you done, Javal? Is that still your name?”
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Post by Javal Zarrias on Nov 19, 2023 20:52:33 GMT -5
The fellblood chuckles as he slides the winter king’s body from his sword; he then flicks the blood off his blade as he spits at the deceased’s body.
“What the hell did you think was going to happen huh loser?” the man says, eyes cold and maniacal as he stares at the dead winter king.
He turns his head back as he hears a voice, “Oh I’m done now stranger, though I’m not Javal, please don’t confuse me with that weakling ever or I’ll have to make sure you won't myself”.
He then stretches his body, rolling his neck and trying to relax as he sits down criss-crossing on the snow below.
“So there Mei, if that's your name, don’t think you have me fooled. I'm not as stupidly trustworthy as him. What's your aim here? I don’t assume you're here to save those stupid captives are ya?”.
“I don’t know how much time I have left in terms of how long I’ll be awake and he’s asleep but I might as well just enjoy having a conversation with someone who isn’t that annoying red-haired lady while I can”.
He then rolls his shoulder, “Man I wish I fought something stronger anything would’ve been more interesting than that. I’m starting to get sleepy over here like come on give me something more”, he says before yawning.
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Post by Caedes Oleander on Nov 24, 2023 19:02:59 GMT -5
Mei narrows her eyes, brushing her thumb over the hilt of her last throwing dagger while she watches Javal drop the Winter King. Every kingdom crumbles eventually, right? Her crimson gaze flickers quickly back to the fellblood when he speaks; and she offers him a nonchalant shrug. “ …It would be easier to do that if I knew your name.” She responds innocently; but a name is powerful, and she knows it’s unlikely he’ll respond. Javal’s motion makes her shift her weight between boots; the snow crunches beneath her heel; but she doesn’t move despite her readiness to do so should the fellblood make any sudden movements. “ Hmph.” Her voice is light, begrudging, while he calls her out; but even that is a soft lie. Mei has no intention to be honest with him about who she is, and she is not going to put herself or Zarius in further hot water with another fiend. If that’s what he is. She doesn’t respond for a moment before she answers vaguely, “ Those merchants may have something that belongs to me….” She lifts a hand to delicately twist her pale locks between her fingers, adding, “ If all of the merchants are dead, I can’t exactly get it back, can I?” She lets her hair fall back around her face, tossing it over a shoulder, and resting her hand on Charlotte’s back. She can feel the little arachnid shivering— it’s cold, after all— and slowly, she moves to reclaim her cloak. “ You can’t expect much from some mephit claiming to be a king in the woods.” She says, picking up her cloak; she shakes an unfortunate amount of snow from it; and makes a bit of a face, before she pulls it over her shoulders. It’s absolutely frigid, and it won’t warm up until she heads back to the inn; but she supposes it’s better than nothing to keep Charlotte out of the elements. She works to button the clasp, never letting her eyes truly leave Javal.
“…What are you, exactly? A demon?”
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