IC: Sanctuary REVAMPED

[SUSTIC]

Pine Grove - Chronomacer's Tower

As Braum was guarding against Zena's attacks, he was not doing much other than keeping his stance strong. It was clear he was not going to budge that easily from any sort of frontal attack. However as he was guarding he saw a wind of crimson surround his body and the feel of a steel blade against his neck. Feeling this he closed his eyes as he listened to Zero's words. At this point he was not moving at all as he thought...

("Little girl was... Necromancer...? She had summoned big Dragon? ... Braum helped such a... nasty little child... I... what have I done...?") Braum replied as he sighed a rather depressing sigh.

"Braum... surrenders... I have failed as a Guardian of the innocent... You must be trying to stop evil little girl...? Braum thought she was innocent... I saw a little girl surrounded by chaos... I felt like I had to protect her... I was not aware that she was the one doing the attacking..." Braum spoke in a rather solemn, and rather distraught tone. His words were truly genuine as indicated by his frown, but he quickly developed a more serious and ready look as he spoke one final time.

"Please! Allow Braum to aid you in stopping Little Evil Girl from doing my Evil Things!" He spoke without moving his body.

[Zekai]

Pine Grove - Chronomacer's Tower

Zero heard Braum surrender and looked at Zena who nodded and Zero released not only his sword and claw away from Braum, but as well as his bloodthirst glare and growling tone. Zero walked around and towards Zena, revealing his battle torn look to Braum. "Nera made it in also Saru was sent flying not far from where you healed me, better go check on him." Zero said to her as his sheath came surrounded by wind and Zero sheathed his sword. Zero then sat down and laid back. "I'm exhausted from that necro's attack. I need some rest." He said with his body spread out.

[Cucoo5]

Pine Grove

Seeing that the man was no longer a threat, Achlys appeared from her hiding spot. Huh, this is getting interesting. Her gaze was transfixed on to Braum's shield, as if appraising its value, before wandering to the hordes of skeletons that the little girl had left behind. "Well It's a good thing you did show up, big guy. In her haste to escape, that girl left us a few toys." In a gradual motion, she raised her hand which had a shadowy energy emanating from her palm. The energy also surrounded half of the skeletons and slowly put them back together again and then animating them once more. When she brought up her other hand, the rest of the skeletons rose up. The feat was taxing as Achlys had to divert all of her focus into controlling them. "Whew, I haven't... done... this much... in a loooong time." After a moment she released her control and all of the minions fell. "Been way to reliant on alchemy the past few decades."

Achlys chuckled a bit as she pulled out of an enchanted pouch a crystal that glowed with the same magic she was just using. "Ok once more." This time she channeled the power of necromancy through the crystal which then distributed its power to the skeletons. Now she didn't need to exert herself as much as the energy that was already in the crystal aided her. "Ahhh... much better. Now let's see if I can remember what I can do with this..." She pointed to one of the minions and suddenly it was ripped apart by the others. It's head was carried over to her and, with a touch more mana, it turned into a floating skull engulfed in shadow fire. This new entity gave off an ethereal laugh as its jaw bounced in a detached fashion. "Mmmm... feels good to use these old tricks again." She turned to the others as she attached the crystal to her belt.

***

Chronomancer's Tower

Aion was making headway into the depths of the tower. He was gaining gradually with the source of the sound of the footsteps he was following. He tried to pace himself but a newfound urgency overtook him, causing him to quicken his pace. There's something in this tower she wants...

She must not find it. Again, a thought that wasn't his own. In a normal situation he would have been far more inquisitive, but right now he let himself slip into an all out run. He was being guided by an outside force and a part of him wanted to be. Eventually he snapped out of his trance as he realized that he probably alerted the girl of his presence and immediately slipped into a rift to calm his breathing. Pull yourself together, Aion. You're better than this. He waited a minute or two until he felt that should the necromancer turn back and inspect the area, she would find nothing and proceed on her way.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress

The fox may have been able to plan accordingly for the obvious threat that hang on top of the ceiling. However not knowing what the ritual carved into the ground was for left her open for a surprise attack. Purple lights glowed and spun around the pile of bones that the fox had previously slain. The skeleton was then reconstructed and the soldier raised again. The words ("The dead can not die") rang in the back of the fox's mind as is someone had placed those thoughts there against her will. The skeleton worrier was about to clash his mace against his shield as a decoration of war and as an alert to the other undead guarding the fortress. Were he allowed to do so the sound would quickly attack the other soldiers in the area. however stopping him without being seen by the skulls on the ceiling might not be so easy. And if she did manage to stop the zombie from alerting it's allies, how would she stop it from resurrecting again?

Pine Grove - Chronomacer's Tower

The paladin had stopped striking at the larger man's sheild at this point. It was clear to both herself and to Zero that the man was simply misguided in his efforts. with that out of the way, she and her allies could proceed into the depths of the tower to confront the necromancer once again. She may have been strong but her fight with them earlier showed she wasn't invincible. The only problem was, Zero was exhasted, Saru was down for the count, Nera was tending to other urgent matters and she had no idea where Aionhad gone. Surely he hadn't' gone inside on his own? Zena had to think and think quickly. If what she feared were true then there wasn't much time.

"I would be honored to fight by your side Mr. Braum. But Zero's right, he's not in any shape to be fighting." Zena then quickly turned to the elven necromancer and spoke to her. "Achiys, can you find Saru for me and make sure he's ok? I would tend to him myself but i fear the worst for your bodyguard if we don't' catch up to him." turning back to face the entrance of the tower she continued speaking. "He, Braum and I shold be able to fend her off ntil Zero and Saru catch their second wind. It'll be tough, but with all of us working together, I think we can pull it off." Zena stopped and waiting to see how the others responded before proceeding. she didnt' want to force her plan ont he team and it was always posible that one of them might have had a better idea.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress


The yaju was examining the lock in the double doors when she felt the mind assault, she subconsciously held her head with her paws while seeing the resurrected bone warrior, and his action made her act as fast as she could. Taking the vial of acid she had, the vixen moved to the corner of the corridor and aimed her trajectory. She hoped that the spotters´ line of view wouldn´t reach the flying vial as it crashed on the bone warrior´s shield just before the mace hit it, and no sound appeared, only corrosion.

When the liquid was released, Nera made quick movements with her arms as the liquid acid ate the solid material of both the shield and mace, then it went to the warrior´s body trying to absorb all it could. (I got to deal with the runs too) she thought while sending the acid to damage the ritual circles while not showing a big moving puddle of vile acid, she made it into droplets that moved to erase small, but important parts of the circles.

[Tewi_Inaba]

(finished up my last post for sustic and zekai. making a post for kristia now)

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress

the zombie worrier fell to the ground as he was being dissolved. A quite grone was all that could be heard from him as his angry spirit no longer had a catalyst to hold it's form. However the spirit still stayed around thanks to the ritual that had remained on the ground. The ghost was harmless however and wouldn't' be able to do anything without finding another catalyst to house it's soul. However unlike the skeleton, the ritual wasn't' destroyed quite so easily. The floor didnt' give way easily. It would take several minutes for the acid to eat into the floor at all and even then the ritual seemed to be constantly repairing itself. The necromancer who built this fortress clearly knew what they wre doing and it seemed they had accounted for nearly every situation. However a ritual can't simply fix itself the way this one does. There had to be something or someone that the ritual was drawing energy from to repair itself. If the fox could find out what that was and somehow neutralize it she would then be able to stop the ritual, but for now it seemed it was going nowhere.

None of the other undead came rushing in to fight the fox, this seemed to suggest that she had gotten away without being seen. however things were only going to get harder from this point onward. There were many dangers within the fortress and many layers of protection to ensure it's integrity. What would the yaju do next?

[Kristia]

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress


Nera sighed with relief, but knew that this was a low level security despite that it was of great caliber since the acid didn´t damage the ritual circles (and this is the easy part) she thought actually smiling for the challenge (It must be drawing magic from a powerful source, probably the dragon´s soul). With that the yaju went back to the lock and used her salvaged vial of water from the ice hook, entering the lock, she froze it in whatever form the key could be. It was a simple thief strategy, but it needed to have a good balance to not break the ice neither the lock.

With carful movements, the fox heard the click of the door opening. (All right, time for the next challenge)

[SUSTIC]

Pine Grove - Chronomacer's Tower

When Zena stated that it would be an honour to fight and work with him, Braum gave her probably the biggest smile before quickly dropping his shield and giving Zena a great big hug with one arm. For Zena this was probably the biggest, friendliest hug she's ever received so quickly after a fight. The way he hugged her by just wrapping one arm around her tightly showed how tall, and strong he was.

"Braum is pleased to be able to aid you in stopping such a dastardly girl." He spoke before he had let go of Zena. Upon letting her go he quickly grabbed his shield and slid his arm through the handles on the back of his large stone shield.

"Braum shall be the 'front line'. With my shield I shall lead us forth through any danger! Unmovable like iceberg and strong like thrown iceberg, I Braum will protect new friends from harm!" Braum replied as he lifted his shield up, holding it in front of him as he turned to face the tower. "Now stand behind Braum!"

[Zekai]

Pine Grove - Chronomacer's Tower

Zero listened to the talk Zena was having with the others. "Sorry, even though you healed my wounds, I can still feel to pain. I'll catch up when I can." He said to them. "I can go for one of Bayuu's apples about now......... maybe I can." Zero said to himself. "Bayuu, apple, Zero, Saru, weak, need, feel, ground." Zero spoke and a small ball of crimson wind formed. "Go." He said and the ball flew off. "Hope it reaches." He thought.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Pine Grove | Chronomacer's Tower

The elf girl was taken by surprise when she was suddenly lifted up by one of the guys arms. she eeked at how tightly he hugged her and when she was placed back down again she took a moment to regain her composure. she would have hugged him back accept he had kinda pinned her arms to her sides. Seeing as no one had any objections to her plan, the elf girl had her sword at the ready as she stood behind the man who was much larger than she. She took a short moment within her own thought to wish their yaju friend good luck. She was all alone up there but it was a fate she so willingly took on. She only hopped she knew what she was doing. "I'm right behind you." she said as the girl followed the man inside the massive gaping hole of the tower.

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress

when the door opened the fox gil would find a fancy looking room with a large fountain in the center. However rather than water this fountain seemed to be pouring blood or a red wine of some sort. It wasn't' clear which as it looked more like blood but the stench of blood and vore wasn't' peasant in the room. there wasn't anyone guarding this room however and threre didnt' appear to be and of the skulls not he ceiling that were used to spy on others. Why would this area be so unprotected if it had been previously locked? Apart from the fountain there were also several small man mad waterfalls along the sides of the room that lead into small controlled rivers of the same red liquid. The rivers eventually lead just passed one other large double door. This time it seemed the door was made of wood rather than bone. There ere also two other doors, one on each side of the hall but neither of them were as fancy as the wooden doors ahead of her.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress


(Nothing that looks like a sentry or a guard, the room itself must be a trap, and that liquid has a strange scent) the yaju thought while kneeling close to one of the rivers of the red liquid and used her magic to try to get it into one of her remaining vials, all the while avoiding the contact with her fur or pieces of clothing.

[Tewi_Inaba]

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress

The liquid moved from the fountain easily enough. The fountain seemed to be suppressing the cent for once the liquid was free so too was it's true cent. This was defenatly blood from one of the seven races. But which one? She would have to find out later for not a moment laer, loud footsteps could be heard coming from the rightmost door. The steps seemed to sound more like metal and less like bone and it was quite a bit louder than the foot steps f the normal undead.
Everything frm the lef and front doors still seemed silent. and the one she had just came from was dormant as well.

[SUSTIC]

Pine Grove | Chronomacer's Tower

Braum gave Zena a confident smile and nod as he turned to face forward. Lifting his shield only an inch or two above the ground, he was clearly ready to charge in. "Do not worry, for Braum will protect you young girl." He said as he, with all his strength began to push forward with all his strength. He was literally putting all his weight into charging forward through any hazards with his large stone shield in front of him. With Zena behind him, Braum pushed forward, serving as her fortification and trusty shield while she serves as his sword.

[Kristia]

Pine Grove | Bone dragon Fortress


The yaju sealed the vial of what she now knew it was blood, but she couldn´t pinpoint which of the nine species it was (No matter from which of them this is, the amount of blood.. how many did these people killed to have so much?) she asked herself mentally. The vixen was about to move when she heard footsteps coming to the room, she quickly took the vial and hided in a corner by the shadows, waiting to see who was coming.

[WriggleRid3r]

Automaton Workshop | Chronomancer's Tower - Outskirts of Pine Grove | Time: 4:11 PM

---

"H- huh?" Alerted by how frantic Azeruk sounded and acted, Lavender hastily stood up and stuck close to him, anticipating something wrong. Her gaze went from Azeruk to the mechanical giants, and back again as she tried to understand what was going on; but soon she realized that verbally asking is the best option to solving her curiosity. "M- master... what's going on? Why are we leaving...?"

---

River | Near Tenma's Court

---

"No, I meant-" Kazeane smacked her forehead with her palm, appalled by how dull Takeshi was. She's always known it from before but... to think that he wasn't getting the obvious hints... "Never mind."

Kazeane spied the skies to find that it was slowly getting closer to sunset. When the sun sets, the Tenma usually assembles his concubines and his offsprings for dinner. If the two do not get back to the Sky Spear Tree in time for supper, they would be in so much trouble...

"Hey Takeshi, it's almost sunset." Kazeane alerted her bodyguard who was more than just a guard. "Shouldn't we be heading back now?"