Waldron and Emmalia IC

[InsanEleven]

Waldron was right that they ought to go in broad daylight, which meant they didn't have much time, considering that it was a decent way upriver. Emmalia gathered whatever remained in her room, then went to Liam's room, where Pyxis was, and opened the door just enough so that she could be seen. "Waldron and I were given a commission - I doubt it will take very long, though. We may just leave from there, we may come back, I don't know. If I don't see you again, good luck and stay safe." She left no room for reply as she had immediately closed the door and walked downstairs. As she walked toward the door, she tapped Waldron's pauldron with one of the claws on the lion gauntlet she'd slipped on, which made a quick, quiet metal ring. Her pace didn't falter as she tapped him or as she said, "Come on, then, we haven't too much time before sunset if you consider travel time."

 

[Killershard]

Waldron reached down to pick up a small bag by the door a d slung the strap over his shoulder. He looked over at Emmalia as he pushed the front door open "Let's hope this doesn't take too terribly long...Water spirits aren't exactly the most fun thing to fight." With that, he walked outside, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that fighting a water spirit would be pretty damn hard, or just plain annoying, either of the two could describe something made out of water that's constantly trying to drown you. Either way, he had no doubt that would still accomplish it with no problems. He did trust Emmalia's skill so far, especially after she saved him from the werewolf. He then stopped himself from walking and thinking, realizing that Emmalia was the one who knew where they were going, and he began to follow her lead

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia nodded to Waldron and walked ahead to lead the way. Their path took about three hours to travel. The path was rough and almost entirely uphill, and turned from mud to gravel to stone. They were brought into a mountain pass, where the ground on either side was steeply sloped. The pass itself was wide, but the ground was littered with boulders from recent rockslides. On one side of the pass was the edge of a rushing river. About a half hour into walking through the pass, Emmalia paused. "We should have been attacked by the Spirit a half mile ago...."

No sooner had Emmalia said that then there was the sound of a bowstring snapping. The arrow landed on the ground a foot from Emmalia. "Fuck!" She drew her sword and held up her buckler to protect her head. It was clearly an ambush that they had walked right into. Behind them three men had approached, one armed with an axe, one with a sword, and one with a mace.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron had followed silently for most of the trip, only talking to make a statement about how strange of there to be water and no water spirit, then it hit him- this is why something seemed off. As the arrow hit the ground, his suspicions were confirmed. He turned around, growling in frustration to see the three armed men. No matter, despite the obvious numbers advantage, Emmalia and himself were obviously more well equipped, which is what mattered the most. The dark knight took a few steps towards the armed thugs before drawing his greatsword. "Emmalia, you take the archer, I'll handle these fools." He then stabbed his greatsword into the stony earth, acting as a great ward, watching to see which of the attackers would swing first.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia merely nodded and moved closer to the slope to hide behind a boulder. It took a few moments to free her mini-crossbow from its holster, but once that was done, she moved out into the open to take aim at the archer. Except, she couldn't find him. He had retreated somewhere on the ridge, and as long as he was up there he was a risk to both Emmalia and Waldron. Her only option was to climb the slope as best she could until she could see the archer, and to shoot him before he shot her. The scent coming from the ridge let her know that he was there, but there was another scent she couldn't recall having ever encountered - something bitter and acrid, distinctly chemical.

Only fools attack one-at-a-time, and these men were not fools. Thus the man with the mace and the man with the axe, both armor-destroying weapons, attacked from either side, the axeman going with a high slash and the mace carrier swinging at Waldron's torso.

It wasn't until Emmalia was at the top of the incline that she could see the archer, and though he had an arrow nocked, he hadn't even see where she was to aim at her before she shot him in the head. As the rocks began to slide under her feet, she was obliged to actually climb up onto the ridge. The smell of blood was nearly overwhelming, yet that unidentifiable and acrid scent remained. From her vantage point, she could see over the pass, and she could also see a man with a large blunderbus trying to sneak up on Waldron from behind. Harshly, she shouted, "Waldron! Gunman behind you!" But why had the gunman waited for them to separate? She turned to look over the rest of the ridge, which was hidden from view of those below, and saw that a similar blunderbus was pointed at herself by another gunman, who had stepped out from behind a boulder after she had shot his comrade.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron grabbed the high axe blow with his free hand, an easy task when someone swings overhead with a heavy weapon, and blocked the mace with his greatsword, shoving the mace-man away to get a one handed swipe off with his greatsword on the axe-wielder-a weak blow, but one that gave Waldron time to react nonetheless. He turned around to see the blunderbuss, and this seemed to enrage the metal giant, what a low down and cheap weapon a gun was, something so destructive and unstoppable in a single blow that it was something only a coward would use-But that was fine, he would just even the odds. As the final melee attacker swung from behind, Waldron whipped around, blocking with two hands on his greatsword, he then used the force of the attack to shift the attacker in front of the barrel of the gun, hoping the bandit had already gone to pull the trigger, but either outcome suited Waldron fine, either the swordsman would be eviscerated, or they would both be thrown off balance. He then turned back around towards the other two, first, the mace-wielder; Waldron took a few steps forward before taking a low swing at the man's leg, easily blocked, but Waldron's intent was to open his chest to the butt of his blade, which he hit with monstrous force. As he staggered, the axe-wielder had attacked from behind as well, Waldron sidestepped to the left and shifted behind him, slicing through a moderate amount of flesh with his blade as the two were now in front of him, where they were at a disadvantage.

 

[Dragongal]

The gunman had pulled the trigger, thus eviscerating his comrade. Being weaponless, as reloading would take too long, he hesitated, then turned and fled. The axe-wielder dropped his weapon and cried out in pain as the lethal wound was carved into his flesh. The mace-wielder also dropped his weapon - he was winded, and so many ribs had been broken, he didn't think he could even breathe anymore.

Up on the ridge, Emmalia stared down the gunman, then reached into her shirt to pull a necklace off over her head. A golden pendant swung lazily. "You could have just asked, you know." The man shrugged and took aim. "That's less fun."

From below, Waldron heard a gun-shot ring out, and could see blood spray out into the empty air over the pass.

In the time it took the pendant to hit the ground, Emmalia had dodged to the side, out of the way of the gun, and thrown herself onto the attacker's torso. The gun had fired off harmlessly into the air, and she had torn out the gunman's throat before he even heard the shot ring out. As she stood, the pendant hit the stone path.

From her vantage point, she could see the fleeing gunman, but nobody below could see her - Waldron would likely think her dead. However, she had merely picked up the necklace, put it on, and began running as quickly as she could. Seconds later, she became visible to those below as she jumped off the ridge and onto the shoulders of the gunman below - thus breaking her fall, throwing them both to the ground, and allowing her to rip his throat out with her clawed gauntlet as they rolled on the ground and into the river. The current carried her toward Waldron, and after a few seconds of being under the water, she disentangled herself from the corpse and broke the surface of the water to breathe.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron looked over to see his companion and their last visible enemy tumble into the water. In a burst of movement, he jammed his sword into the ground, leaving it there so he could run over to the river. He reached out and grabbed Emmalia's arm, yanking her out of the river and onto the safety of dry land. "Thought that gunshot was you catching bullets, suppose you're too fast for that though."
He then took a moment to breath, a calm minute or two. "An ambush. I'm not totally surprised actually, especially since they said they wanted you alone, didn't they?" He walked back to his blade, yanking it out of the ground and resting it on his shoulders, putting his two hands on top of the blade. He then paced the area with a few seemingly meaningless steps, yet in reality he was surveying the area for anyone or anything else that could be watching

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia thanked him for the assistance, then flipped her hair down so she could try to wring it out. "No, he specifically asked for two. He probably assumed you have a Hunter's pendant like me. Black Market, these sell for a couple hundred gold a piece. More the merrier." She stood up straight and walked over to the gun lying on the ground. Her experiences with guns were limited, so she was very careful. The gun was still warm from being fired, and she could smell the gunpowder. "I couldn't recognize this scent before. Now I know what it is."

As Emmalia spoke, rain began to fall on them both. In the underwater fight, Emmalia's cloak had been torn off, and she didn't care enough to get it, though now that it was so far downriver, she wished she had retrieved it. "Let's get back to the villa-"

Emmalia was cut off by a roaring sound that seemed to come from everywhere around them. Evidently, the two guns going off had alerted something to their presence... and it was not happy.

 

[Killershard]

The roaring came from above the rocky ridges, a deep red scaly monstrosity soared past the two overhead that cast a wide shadow, and as it turned, it's tail slammed into a pile of rocks, sending them tumbling down into their path back to the village. The Wyvern then descended slowly infront of the rocky barricade, a large and brutish beast that crept forward towards the two on it's back limbs, all at the same time with its tail poised and ready to strike at its two next targets.
Waldron grumbled something, readying his greatsword. A Wyvern wouldn't be an easy fight, that was for damn sure, it's poisonous tail and sharp jaws were deadlier than even the lycanthropes. The creature stopped around 50 meters away from the two, as if waiting for their move.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia watched the wyvern carefully and moved her buckler onto her arm. Already she was assessing the situation and had an idea. "You can hold your ground against it for a bit, right?" she said cautiously. To even begin to go through with her plan would leave him defenseless for a time. It involved her cutting back around the thing as best she could while he had its attention, avoiding its tail, climbing the ridge, and jumping onto the thing's back or head or whatever she could land on. If she could get that far at all.

 

[Killershard]

"Right, right. Of course I can." Waldron raised his blade, obviously grabbing the beasts attention as it took a few steps forward towards him. The massive creature then suddenly snapped at him with its set of razor-like teeth, yet Waldron was able to quickly lodge his blade in its jaws, and with a massive feat of strength, shoved it's head to the side, slicing part of it's tongue as he pulled its blade out. This got it's attention...The Wyvern slammed its weight into Waldron, sending him airborne for at least 10 feet. The armored man had met his match, with an even larger and stronger creature. "Whatever the hell you're doing, I hope you hurry up..." Waldron mumbled to himself as he readied his greatsword again, holding it across his chest as the Wyvern approached him again, obviously intending to end Waldron before moving onto Emmalia.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia had merely nodded, and now ran past the thing. She kept close to its body, as to stayout of its line of sight. It was definitely big, but Emmalia was definitely very fast, so she managed to run the distance in a matter of second. She started climbing the rubble behind the beast. Once she was high enough, she watched the fight below as she nocked another arrow onto her crossbow. That tail would be the death of her if she wasn't careful. It was clear, though, that she didn't have time to climb much higher, as Waldron evidently was actually at risk.

Knowing it was reckless, Emmalia jumped before she could climb high enough to land further up the wyvern's back. This of course the wyvern could feel, in no small part because she had to use her clawed gauntlet to hold on. Carefully, she started moving toward the wyvern's neck as quickly as she could.

 

[Killershard]

The Wyvern let out an ear-piercing screech as Emmalia landed on its back and stood on it's two hind legs, attempting to shake her off. Although in reality, the creature wasn't damaged much as the scales on it's back were some of the thickest on it's body, but it still definitely felt someone jumping on it's back with an extremely sharp weapon. This provided Waldron with the perfect distraction to raise his sword and cleave the beast across the face as it wasn't looking directly at him, a loud slice was heard as the sword cut its mark into the beasts face, leaving a deep enough mark to give the creature heavy scarring. That was if it survived this encounter.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia was holding onto the scaly creature as it shook. She couldn't move while it was like shaking like that. Waldron's attack distracted it's attention, though, so she managed to move further forward. Her main concern now was that tail, she was undefended from it, and it could probably pierce through her buckler.

Using the momentary stillness of the beast to her advantage, Emmalia took aim with her crossbow and shot a bolt into the thing's tail, then returned to moving along its back. She had hoped that the bolt would have damaged the tail so the wyvern wouldn't use it, but it didn't seem so.

 

[Killershard]

The crossbow bolt and the slice along the eye only seemed to piss it off, and the creature began to take flight, sweeping over Waldron and slamming into him with its right talon, knocking him to the ground. He managed to get up rather quickly though, as for Emmalia, she would need a surprisingly good grip to keep a hold of the thing as it rounded again, this time jabbing at Waldron with it's tail and leaving an audible slice through the front plate of his armor. He tumbled again, looking at the mark. No blood, no gash. "Well, that's one for the blacksmith..." He stood up again, pointing his blade at the creature, waiting for the Wyvern's next move.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia was obliged to stab her shortsword through the thick hide and hold on as best as she could until the wyvern would land. It was clear that she was in a situation, and that the wyvern would need to be slowed down. This gave her an idea that she hesitated on acting out.

When there was a chance for her to move without losing balance, Emmalia used her blade to break a scale off of the beast's back. To poison a wyvern would be difficult.....

The wyvern began to slow in its frantic movements. It thrashed around a bit with its tail trying to reach Emmalia, who held onto it with her shortsword in the beast's flesh and her buckler over her head. The poison had been enough to slow down the beast, make it lethargic and weak.

 

[Killershard]

The beast thrashed around violently as Emmalia drove the poison into it's back, flying a bit higher before drooping and slowing down. It then ultimately descended towards Waldron, who raised his blade and sliced a massive gash in it's underbelly as it flew over him, he then looked over, watching it slide toward the river. The Wyvern's head ultimately stopped a few feet short of the water as the creature began squawking in protest, trying to find some strength to flee out of it's slayer's grasp. But it was, in the end, stuck and entirely at the mercy of the two.
Speaking of, Waldron seemed dazed and out of breath as well, but to a much lesser extent, just laying on the ground with his arms out to either side of him. The Wyvern was near death, he could take some time to recover his breath, which he ultimately needed. "Nice work there, Emmalia. Couldn't have done it without you." He said through short breaths. He rolled onto his side, looking at the onslaught the creature left as it came towards it's final descent

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia had to take a few seconds to tear the sword out of the wyvern's back. She commented casually,
"It is sad that we had to kill it, but the deed is done. I am glad the poison is swift. It probably feels nothing but numbness at the moment, and will soon fall asleep, then die in that manner." She slid down the side of the wyvern to the ground and crossed over toward Waldron. Her sword and claws were dripping with the wyvern blood, some of which had gotten smeared on her face and clothes. But Waldron was the concern. The gash in his chest plate was evident, as was his weariness. She could even hear his difficulty breathing. "Did the tail cut your skin...?"

With the pass back to the village blocked, if Waldron was hurt, Emmalia didn't know where she could or would take him. Whatever lay further down the pass was a mystery to her. She was more East than she normally travelled, and if he was poisoned, she didn't know what she could do.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron looked up at her, then grabbed his sword, standing up. "Surprisingly, no. The leather beneath is a bit torn but i'm fine. Suppose I was just legitimately worn out from fighting it...Which is surprising." He looked over at the dying Wyvern, then rolled his shoulders "Damn beast surprisingly didn't get either of us, which is a complete blessing." He then looked over at the massive wall of rocks and debris, and took a few steps over to it, testing the footing by putting his boot to the nearest stone. This proved to not be stable at all, sending a few smaller rocks tumbling down the pile "We'll have to climb this to get back, unless you see a better idea somewhere. He said, looking up at the pile and mumbling something to himself, something about how Wyvern's were the biggest damn inconveniences in the world.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia would have said something about the beast attacking because it had been disturbed, and that one truly couldn't blame the wyvern, but she kept her mouth shut and looked the other way, further down the pass. I don't know this area, but there's a river here, and civilizations are built along rivers. We follow this, I bet there's another village. Here, right along the mountains, it's impractical to be too isolated. I suggest we go that way." She felt her logic was sound, but it was up to Waldron. For herself, climbing the mass of rocks wouldn't be very difficult, except that the rocks could shift and crush her. Besides, there were two other adventurers that way - it's not like those people were unsafe.

"I would bet there's more work in this direction. And it wouldn't have to be so shared either, the other two are that way." She of course was referencing Pyxis and Liam. The rain was continuing, though, and if they stayed there, they risked flooding, as the water from the now-blocked river was already beginning to pool.

 

[Killershard]

"Let's move, then. To be completely honest, working with the other two will just give us less money. Something that I don't look forward to if i'm to get this expensive armor repaired..." Waldron turned on his heel, waving his hand towards the other direction and beginning the trek forward with his greatsword resting on his right shoulder. He was really hoping Emmalia was right about the whole 'there's bound to be civilization around here somewhere' thing; areas where Wyverns settle isn't exactly known to have Wyverns as the only threat. Thinking of this, Waldron kept his eyes to the hilly and rocky regions, not wanting to get into another fight that would just end up wearing the both of them out yet again.
Despite the large gash in his chest plate, Waldron kept the armor on. It was almost completely symbolic at this point, yet what for was a mystery that only he knew.

 

[Dragongal]

Night and day followed in their unending cycle four times. The pair made very good time, especially considering that they didn't know exactly where they were going. On the road, they met no more beasts, surprisingly, and no more people either. There was relatively little chit-chat between the pair. On the fifth morning, they arrived in a village. The houses were on stone and wood, so it was not terribly crude. The people seemed educated. Their region, they discovered, was one that was neutral in the guns-or-magic debate. Nobody there seemed to care either way. Securing rooms at the local inn was easy, as very few ever traveled there.

Their first job fell into their lap before they'd even settled in. Apparently the villagers had been waiting for some Guardsmen to come and help them with a particular problem, but the Guardsmen had never come. The priest explained to them that there had been an old cemetry in the surrounding woods for prisoners from long, long ago. Those graves had been disturbed when a young mage accidentally cast a ritual incorrectly, and the effect of the magic was converted and, in summary, brought a kind of zombism to the area. The zombies were not especially aggressive, for they didn't like light and refused to come near the village. But it was impossible for the villagers to travel or collect wood or berries since they would then be attacked. This had been occurring for about two months. Evidently, every new moon, the zombies gathered in a specific places and just stayed there, milling about the little glade. That night would coincidentally be a new moon.

 

[Killershard]

Waldron had been taking a seat near the priest and Emmalia, gripping at his greatsword with two hands, with the blade firmly placed into the ground "Undead..." As soon as the creations of necromancy were brought up, Waldron visibly became tense and almost enraged. As soon as the priest finished speaking to them, the armored giant stood up "We'll handle it swiftly and justly. Tell the people it will be safe to travel tomorrow..." He turned around, walking at a rather fast pace towards where the priest had said the cemetery was located. He spun around quickly, still walking, and waved for Emmalia to hurry up.
Waldron didn't give a damn about tactics at this point, the undead were a complete and utter disgrace to all life around them, a complete mockery of something they once had. And for what, to be some foolish necromancers puppet. Or in this case, to just be useless flesh from some magic mishap. It didn't matter, they would be put into the ground for the second time over

 

[Dragongal]

Waldron's sudden shift in tone was very notable, and Emmalia sufficiently excused herself from the priest with promise for further communication. Once she was outside, she ran ahead of Waldron and stood in his way. "Where are you going? The things are scattered throughout the woods, we wait for night to fall, they'll all be in one place. It is strategically wise to be patient." She set her feet apart into a stubborn stance and waited for him to realize the merit in her words. They could spend the whole day searching for individual zombies and manage to get a few, or, they could actually wait and take them all. The risk of getting hurt would be higher, certainly. But they had killed a wyvern, in conparison, zombies seemed like nothing.

As she stood in front of him, she allowed her expression to soften a bit. Something was wrong. He was too smart to just rush in like that. Showing more emotion than she had before around Waldron, she quietly asked, "Speaking of patient, what is wrong with you right now? You're tense and preoccupied and you must be agitated to be willing to just run into this mess. Why?"