Fantasy Arva: Tides of Darkness [IC] [Closed]

Waylond god what he asked for. Sort of. He expected the Monkey king to do that, but he wasn't expecting the other things to still be there. No time for regrets now. The knight readied his sword and shield.

"I suppose we give them a show." This was going to be a brutal melee "Stick closer together so we don't get separated by the creatures." He prepared for the incoming attacks "Champion's frenzy can come to our advantage." He marked his target and prepared to strike back.

Back up, Pottrey let out a heavy sigh as he watched the events unfold. This was going to be rough to watch.

The Aervis remained quiet as the group continued to argue and deliberate, hands together in his sleeves as he looked to the arena. When the enemies that pursued them appeared in the arena next, Da'Vost frowned as he thought on the implications of yet another unfair fight. His companions had a point, this could be equally immoral despite the fact that those beings had relentlessly chased them and made things rather difficult. Still, ideally all beings should face proper justice, and this was hardly just.

Before he could weigh in, a snap of Jirin's fingers sent them into the arena as the battle had devolved into a competition of three parties. The Fateseeker dropped his arms to his sides before shifting into a stance for combat-casting, looking about at the surrounding enemies sternly.

"They have to contend with that brute just as we do, if we can kill the ones after us before he tears the others limb from limb we shall have a chance." Da'Vost wagered, spreading his arms as he charged crackling aetheric energies at his hands. Thrusting them forward, a lance of electricity fired out of his fingers at the charging gorehounds.

Arnas and Waylond would quickly dispatch a Gorehound each that had been charging towards them, cutting them down with ease with the latter taking the momentum from his swings and delivering a mortal blow to one of the Infantry that moved in to try to attack the knight. Waylond's blade would sing in the air as it sliced through the creature's exposed belly and spilled its intestines all over the ground, causing it to drop its weapons and scream in agony before collapsing dead. Da'Vost and Eirana would similarly throw their own magical attacks at the charging gorehounds, with Da'Vost's Aetherbolt burning two of the beasts to a crisp while Eirana's would be dodged. The response that came would keep the group on their toes and on hightened alert as a flurry of attacks from a multitude of enemies came forward at them. Arnas and Waylond would take the brunt of missed parries, with the former being hit moreso than the latter while Eirana and Da'Vost managed to move about with ease and escape most attacks save for a few scrapes and cuts.

Mukla in the meantime would quickly punch one of the Infantry across the arena with a powerful blow and would grab a Gorehound in midair as it leaped at the Champion. The massive gorilla brought the beast upwards and tightened his grip which caused the creature to yelp and howl in pain before being ripped in half through brute strength with a sickening crack and rip, its innards spilling all over the ground under Mukla. Every retaliatory strike by the Ozkavir would seemingly only serve to make Mukla angrier as his thick hide made such gashes and wounds seem inconsequential. Even with a heavy blow from the commanding Lieutenant to Mukla's chest would seemingly unfaze the great ape as he roared and pounded his chest once more and launched himself to attack.

Meanwhile, on the terrace above the Monkey King observed the ongoings with interest and amusement as he clapped for his Champion. "Ho ho ho! Bravo Mukla! Another kill marking your prowess!" he yelled aloud with a wide grin. Hughin in the meantime watching with apprehension and anger as he gripped the railings of the terrace so tightly that his knuckles turned white. What could he do against a being like Jirin, who appeared so almighty and powerful that he practically brushed off any threat made against him? Zakala watched with abated breath as well as she tried to figure out what exactly to do. She looked to Hughin, who seemed ready to burst a vessel, and then to the others. Most of whom seemed more apprehensive than others... except Sharad. Who was taking enjoyment and pleasure out of this madness.

Back in the arena, Arnas grunted as he put a hand over a large gash on his arm and felt blood trickle down. Undeterred however, he quickly went over to the corpse of the Infantry that Waylond had slain and picked up its weapon, a rather brutal looking mace into his other hand and strung a series of attacks onto a nearby Scout.

Every time one or more of Sharad's four mentally underdeveloped comrades takes a hit, he throws a fist in the air and cheers on the attacker. He already swore to take the belongings of whichever were slain and continues to watch with curious intent; his mind making bets with itself on who will be the first to die.

Getting teleported down to the arena and thrust into combat was of course less than satisfying. Even more so was taking hits from the enemy soldiers. As the crowd- and Sharad- cheered on from the comfort of their seats Eirana prepared another strike. She glanced at Da'Vost, Arnas and finally Waylond to make sure that she didn't space out too far away from them. As the enemy soldiers drew near Eirana momentarily deployed her wings with both of the angel-like wings appearing briefly to give her a boost forward while slashing with her sword.

As the enemies fell, Waylond ignored the minor cuts he received. Keeping close, he slashed towards the next group of enemies.

Da'Vost was quick to avoid the brunt of swipes and slashes to his body, remaining nimble as he could as he weaved more azure flames with his hands. He knew that he and his comrades would find victory through applying yet more pressure, and so he would not relent. The Fateseeker unleashed magical bolts of energy at the hounds that sought to surround them, blasting them away as best he could.

Arnas and Da'Vost would dispatch another Gorehound each with ease with Arnas gutting one of them while Da'Vost's magic blew one away into the walls of the arena, killing it with the force of the impact. Waylond would dispatch one of the scouts as well with two precise strikes cutting the creature down, but would be repaid with a blow on his exposed back from one of the creature's compatriots. Eirana's boost with her wings would serve her well as she practically cut one of the Infantry in two as she dashed past it with her sword, and as she looked behind she saw the creature's top half fall off separately from its bottom, which collapsed rather ungracefully. With the Gorehounds having been dealt with and the enemy starting to whittle, it became easier to defend against their blows with only more minor wounds being collected by the four of them.

Mukla in the meantime managed to kill a Scout by grabbing it by the head and crushing it with his own hand and snapping the neck of another Gorehound that had leapt at him. Yet the enemy would be relentless as they ruthlessly attacked and scarred the gorilla, including several devastating blows from the Infantry and one of the Scouts, and managed to push him back a bit. Yet Mukla, with all the damage he had taken seemed rather angry than hurt. And more so, the crowd continued to cheer him on further as he stood up and smirked at the enemies that had just delivered such attacks to him. He wouldn't be going down that easily. The lieutenant of the war party diverted his attention towards where the Company was however and noticed how the numbers were thinning there, and so quickly paced over and, catching Arnas by surprise, stabbed him in the side with a large spear which caused the young man to cry out in pain before stabbing at the creature's arm in anger to get it away from him.

Arnas clutched at the large wound that was now bleeding profusely from his left side, causing him to drop the mace he had picked up from earlier and stumbled back. His vision was beginning to blur as he felt waves of pain shoot through his body while the area around his wound began to go numb. Up on the terrace, Jirin continued to cheer on Mukla's ever increasing kill count as he laughed at the ensuing carnage. Hughin however decided that enough was enough and jumped over the railing into the arena itself. Zakala would follow shortly after with her bow in hand and landed next to Hughin before the two quickly hurried over to Arnas to both help him up as well as to ready their own attacks on the enemy.

Seeing the newest contenders join in the arena, Jirin scratched his chin and laughed. "Ho ho ho! More fighters, how exciting!" he mused with a wide grin as he watched the fighting.

The monkey king's warning was enough to dissuade Aureal from taking a bite of the golden apple as he remembered what happened back at the palace with the orb. His attention was brought back to the arena when a new batch of contenders came out of the gates, replacing the elves. As inhumane as it may be, Aureal could not find it inside of him to pity the ones who gave their party a hard time, almost killing them if not for the monkey's interference. The wood-elf is willing to turn a blind eye this time, though his companions have too much of a heart and sense of justice to do the same. Aureal admires their valiant actions but he has enough self-preservation and decided to stay quiet, wishing to the gods above, or the one inside the arena with them, that everything goes smoothly.

But of course, nothing really goes according to plan. As his allies were transported inside the arena, Aureal immediately stood up and went to the railings where he can see all that's happening. Surely Jirin wouldn't risk the lives of his 'guests' right after saving them beforehand? His question was answered when Arnas was caught off guard by one of the enemies. Aureal may not give two shits about the other contenders but when his companions' lives are at stake, he is willing to take the risk with them. It seemed like both Hughin and Zakala have the same idea as they entered the fray with him.

Everything is in chaos and Aureal couldn't stop the curse that came out of his lips. They needed to get Arnas out of fight but they needed to take care of the enemies first and Aureal has a plan in mind. As they provided Arnas cover, The Elf reached out to the lieutenant and let his magic rush towards them. His spell did not take any form. There were no blasts of flame or the familiar quake of the land. Instead, his magic assaulted the lieutenants senses, manipulating his mind, slowly chipping off his mental defenses as Aureal changed his reality.

And now others joined the fray. Waylond was in pain from the wounds, but it was hardly something new. The knight rose and prepared for another round of hits.

Despite sustaining damage afterwards Eirana was still content with her combative dash into one of the scouts, leaving her slightly surprised as well as she didn't expect the soldier to be cut in literal halves. She raised her shield and steadied her sword on top of it before pushing forth, relying on stabs and jabs.

With the Gorehounds dispatched, the Aervis began to focus his magic on the infantry before them. In seconds he began to sling charged bolts of energy back to back in a bright flurry, hoping to overwhelm their opposition.

As the members of the company joined one by one with their own volition, Cain decided to aid them as well. Entering the arena, Cain accompanied the front lines in order to mitigate the enemy's offense towards his injured allies and hopefully draw attention. He drew out his sword and aimed for the nearest pursuer, ones they encountered in the forest.

Mukla continued his rampage as he tore apart another Gorehound before grabbing one of the Infantry by it's legs and slamming it down into the ground hard enough that an audible crack could be heard and its blood splattered all over the ground around it. As was par for the course, retaliatory strikes from their comrades would be thrown as Mukla took more and more blows. His thick skin was starting to give way as blood spilled out and began to drench his fur as he fought on, all the while getting angrier the more he was hit. The raw anger coursing through the ape seemed to grow without end as he endured more and more damage and it showed with how brutally he was dispatching his enemies.

Aureal and Cain would join Zakala and Hughin as they all jumped into the fray to help their comrades in arms, much to the displeasure of the crowd however. The monkeys began to throw bits of food, trash, mud, and other nonsense at members of the company, though many would be off their mark with only a few landing successfully near or on company members. In particular, Cain would be hit with a spoiled banana to the face that would cause him to horribly miss his attack and receive a punch to the face as a response from one of the Infantry. Da'Vost's spell would be cut short as he was suddenly rushed by one of the scouts who stabbed the Aervis in the leg, causing him to kneel down in pain. The scout would be quickly dispatched with a powerful headshot from Zakala however as retaliation, while Waylond would deliver devastating slashes to the final remaining scout that had been attacking the Company.

Aureal's spell worked to effect as it visibly caused the Lieutenant to swat around his face and swing wildly at imaginary foes that had appeared out of nowhere, thus taking it out of commission for a bit while causing a bit of chaos within the ranks of the war party. Using this to her advantage, Eirana would press forward and deliver a brutal stab in the back to one of the Infantry as it screamed out and Kicked the elf away as hard as it could. Hughin's own attack would find his blade lodged in the neck of another Infantry unit, killing it as it gurgled and clutched at the wound while Arnas managed to score a blow onto another enemy even in his damaged state. Hughin would receive a kick to the side as another enemy rushed in to fight Hughin, while Waylond would be hit on the back of his thigh, causing the knight to stagger and nearly lose balance.

By this point, Lanya had rushed over to the balcony and watched with fear as Da'Vost, and her friends, were attacked rather viciously and saw that their wounds were piling up. Nervously she shifted her gaze between the Monkey King, who was laughing and cheering *very* loudly, and those in the arena. Obviously Da'Vost would absolutely not approve of her entering such a dangerous situation and it was rather obvious that she herself would not be of much use down there, so the little Utterlin decided to help in another way. Remembering her lessons with Da'Vost she made her way over to many of the large and now unused pitchers of water and wine and began to focus herself in an attempt to manipulate the fluids. A few moments passed as the contents of the pitchers began to slowly rumble about and ripple, as if they were being disturbed by an unseen force.

Glancing around at the few people left around her, Eidunn felt a large cloud of doom begin to settle over the company. "Is this is, the end of the road?" She whispered to herself, glaring up towards Sharad as he cheered on at the fight below. She didn't have the strength to look but the sounds alone were enough to make her sick. For the company, probably, but for you, not so much. Digging the knife into the wooden table she kept her eyes locked onto sharad, her knuckles bone white. first sign of danger towards us, we leave, ok Eida? She nodded her head slowly, glancing over towards the monkey king. "If he kills them..." she whispered to herself.

It was getting harder to push on, but Waylond had to. Not going to give up now. He raised his blade once again to strike out against their foes.

Cain took a few steps back as he was introduced in the battlefield with a spoiled banana and a punch to the face. As he cleaned off the mess, he went back in and struck the nearest enemy he could find.

Zakala's arrow would hit one of the Infantry in the chest, causing the creature to stumble back in pain and leave itself open to a killing blow from Arnas as he recklessly swung his sword upwards and sliced open the creature's torso and neck in a wide arc. Cain would deliver his own killing blow as he stabbed his rapier through another of the Infantry's heart from the back as it went to attack Eirana, thus saving her from an attack and allowed her to team up with Da'Vost to fell another of the creatures with him firing a devastating attack with his magic while Eirana cut it down with her blade. Aureal would be the victim of two hard blows from both an Infantry and the Lieutenant he had just inconvenienced with his spell, with the latter roaring in anger as its lackey's mace hit the elf's side at full force, cracking several ribs and sending him to the floor.

Mukla would continue his rampage as he slaughtered two of the Gorehounds and failed to bite him as he gripped the beasts by their necks and smashed their skulls together before moving on towards another one of the Infantry and puching him hard enough to shatter the creature's sternum and puncture its heart as it flew back dead. Another one of the Infantry would attempt to avenge the death of its comrade only for Mukla to grab its head and rip it off with a gruesome tear, brining out its spine as well. The crowd grew wild through this as they began to start a riot in the stands, fighting each other and causing a lot of chaos much to the Monkey King's amusement as he laughed aloud. "OHO! AHAHAHA! AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!" he shouted with a massive grin as the Ozkavir War Party was effectively reduced to a few remaining members.

Throughout the chaos and pandemonium, Lanya struggled to maintain her focus as she continued to try to make a spell for use and was successful in beginning to coagulate the many waters together in a large blob as her hands shook in tension as she tried to maintain it all. In the meantime the Monkey King looked towards the other members of the company and gave a wild look: "I'll give the crowd what they want! MORE!" he stated aloud with laughter as he suddenly snapped his fingers, and members of the Company who had remained on the terrace now found themselves in the arena instantaneously. Nearly panicking now as she was practically left alone now, Lanya pushed herself as much as she could to try to finish her spell as the entire Company was now in the arena.

Before the company had a chance to attack their remaining enemies once more, Mukla gave off a roar and one by one slaughtered the creatures that had been attacking both parties in swift fashion. Rather quickly all that remained was the Company and Mukla in the arena, and when that became apparent the Monkey King gave off a series of loud claps from above. "Bravo! Bravo to you all!" he said with a grin as he looked down upon the Company, "This has been oh so entertaining!"

"I'm sure it has been, now end this madness!" Hughin yelled back with a scowl, prompting more laughter from their 'host'.

"Did you really think that was it? We haven't even gotten to the main event! ...YOU."

And now the others are forced into it. So the king does what he wishes with little regard for what happens. Waylond prepared for another assault. There would be more to deal with. Specifically the champion.

With the fight raging on an ever-determined Eirana continued to press the attack unto the various foes. As the enemy soldiers were morw or less broken the Elf decided to follow Waylond in attacking Mukla.

Aureal took a moment to steady himself while holding his side, a groan escaping his lips. Thankfully, Mukla disposed of the remaining creatures, offering the Elf some room to breathe. As his companions rush towards the champion, Aureal stayed put and offered them support from afar. Focusing on Waylond, Aureal weaved his magic around him and willed it to strengthen the knight's attack.

Cain was mildly frightened by the sight of several enemies quickly being disposed of one by one by Mukla. After witnessing such a slaughter, the monkey king began to raise attention and exposed his true intentions toward the company. Of course, he's an enemy. He mumbled to himself. Cain then turned his attention back to Mukla, and decided to charge in combat along with his allies.

As the group got ready for their forced showdown with Mukla, the Monkey King whistled from above to get his champions attention. "Mukla! Remember, they're my guests. So don't kill them if you can help it!" he yelled aloud with a grin, much to Mukla's disappointment who only growled in response as he beat his chest loudly once more as a show of force to both the Company and to the crowd, the latter of whom cheered wildly at the upcoming spectacle of these foreigners fighting their home favorite. Hughin took a look around and saw that a few of them were worse for wear, including Arnas who was barely able to stand after the damage he took from the Lieutenant. This isn't going to end well for us. was the one thought that hit Hughin's mind as he turned to everyone else with a solemn look on his visage. "I'm sorry." he spoke softly and with a mixture of anger, to himself mostly, and guilt.

Up above, Lanya had still been unnoticed by the Monkey King as she frantically forced herself as best as she could with her attempt at a spell. The waters continued to coalesce and congeal until it became a rather large spike, yet Lanya's efforts continued to strain her physically to the extreme. In that moment however she felt a hand gently place itself on her shoulder, bringing her attention to the similarly sized figure that had suddenly appeared next to her. Unbeknownst to her, it was the woodling that Zakala and Sharad had encountered before back in the woods. "Don't worry about it, I'll take it from here!" Joony spoke with a smile before confidently striding over to where Jirin was.

"Oi! Jirin! You better stop this now!" the woodling yelled aloud, causing the Monkey King's head to quickly snap to gaze at Joony and growled.

"How did you get in here?" Jirin asked with a growl, pointing his staff to the woodling in a menacing manner.

"How do you think?" the little creature replied with a grin, "Now. Mum says you ought to stop this... or she'll bring Laeto into this."

The two would stare at each other for a moment, while down below Mukla approached the group closer and closer as the gorilla was deciding on who to attack first. That was until Jirin yelled out with a sharp growl, causing Mukla to quickly stop in his tracks and look up to where Jirin was. Wordlessly, Jirin motioned for Mukla to head back and finish for the day much to the gorilla's disappointment as he grunted and walked off back through the gates he had entered from. The crowd itself was rather confused as to what was going on and murmured among themselves before Jirin too waved them to disperse.

From below the company members were rather confused as to what was happening in this strange turn of events. That was until Zakala recognized Joony's small stature and her eyes widened. "Joony?" she spoke aloud, "What in the hells is he doing here?"

Once everyone had gone, Jirin spoke up with both sarcasm and anger: "Oh the pains of bureaucracy! Never allows me to have any fun!" the Monkey King spoke aloud as he placed a hand on his forehead in a dramatic fashion before looking back to Joony with anger. "Fine. I stopped-"

"AND you are to send us all to the Garden." Joony cut in before Jirin could finish, which further angered the being before quickly calming down and rolling his eyes. "Anything else you little brat?" he asked with sarcasm, "Maybe lick your boots too while you're at it?"

"Release the elves too!" Arnas yelled aloud, leaning onto his sword for support as he looked up with an angry gaze, which caused the Monkey King to guffaw with derision before seeing that the request was entirely serious. "You cannot be-" he began to say before throwing his arms up with utter disdain, "FINE! THEY'LL GO TOO!" he yelled with anger before snapping his fingers, with everyone in the Company, Joony and Lanya included, finding themselves in a stretch of unknown forest in that moment.

Lanya practically collapsed onto her hands and knees, panting for air while Joony turned around to the rest of the Company with a smile. "That went well I think." he remarked as he walked over to Lanya and gave her a pat on the back to comfort her.

Eidunn felt her stomach lurch as she fell to her knees, the corpse sand of the arena brushing up against her fingertips. We've been moved. Carefully getting up, Eidunn swept her gave around her. Noticing Arnas barely managing to stay upright, she quickly moved towards him trying her best to push the giant gorilla to the back of her mind. "Are you alrig-" she began to ask, before turning to see a small, child? "No not agai-" she tried to mutter under her breath as the ground suddenly lurched out from underneath her.

Eidunn let out a long drawn out groan, enjoying the feeling of the grass. Never again.

As the group got used to their sudden change of surroundings once more, and being out of the clutches of the Monkey King, Arnas fell to one knee and grunted in pain as Hughin quickly rushed over to try to help him. The wound from the lieutenant had been severe and Hughin did the best he could to try to mend those wounds, but without proper supplies or equipment it was proving rather difficult to do so with a few rags. "You damn fool..." Hughin muttered as he tried his best, which prompted a chuckle from Arnas. "Come on, it's not as bad as it-"

"Not now, boy. Not another word from you." Hughin cut in like a dagger, glaring at him with a look with his remaining eye that could cut steel. Arnas quickly got the message as he held his tongue and grunted as he felt rags being applied to the wound in his side. Soon after, Hughin stood up and walked over to where Waylond was and stared at him for a moment. "Waylond." he said rather simply before punching the man in the face, sending him to the ground. "You ever put the Company or my son in that position again, I will personally do worse than a punch to you." he spoke before pointing to Eirana, "That goes for you too."

Zakala in the meantime walked over to Joony with a confused look: "You have a lot of explaining to do Joony. How did you-"

"Oh! Well, I told my mum about you lot as soon as I got back home an' she told me to bring extra food. So i did but when I got there I just saw a lot of bodies an' tracks from you and the monkeys. And I told me mum that..." he spoke rather quickly as an excited child would, "An' she then went ta speak to Laeto and told me ta bring you all back here. So I'm here and you are too!"