Aftermath

Athaleyah Kasar

"Come on Lyra, we need to head them off before they reach the village!" Athaleyah's commanding voice fought the wind that whipped around them. The drop ship was not built to out run Wasted, but she had no doubt Lyra would get them out in front. It was a small group, that had maybe been some sort of feline before the wild magic of the Wastes had twisted them nearly beyond recognition. As a Pathfinder, Lyra was trained to pilot all manor of vehicles for use in her scouting.

The trees below made landing here nearly impossible, so Samina and Leyah were going to have to jump at some point. An echoing boom rang out over the canopy as one of the Wasted dropped and it's speed catapulted it into a wild roll. She glanced to Samina on the other side of the drop ship, pulling the slide on her rifle to release the empty cartridge that still glowed faintly with the remnants of mana that propelled it. Executioner indeed.

Since the wards had failed a week earlier, reports of Wasted kept pouring in. The Orders were the first line of defense and if they didn't get it mopped up in short order then a lot of people were going to die. "Lower! There's a clearing up ahead!" Leyah called to Lyra, moving her hand out to point to the clearing she meant that lay directly in the path of the Wasted they chased.

Something still didn't feel right, but Leyah couldn't put her finger on why. Wasted may have been driven by rage and instinct but that didn't usually make them stupid, nor so tunnel visioned. These Wasted had been running full tilt all night by the reports, no veering off course, and aimed directly for the village of gnomes at the edge of the tree line in the distance.

As they got low enough that Leyah and Samina could drop to the ground without injury, a flash of wings and red from a nearby tree top launched itself at them. A winged Wasted that resembled a very pissed off gargoyle slammed into the drop ship from below, and throwing Leyah out the open side door to plummet to the ground below.

Her magic wrapped around her, driven by need and instinct, and she shifted. Not to the lion, this wasn't the transformation of a Were, but the air around her shimmered for a moment before she became a golden eagle and was able to pull herself out of the fall on large wings. Aiming for the ground, she rolled out of her shift and back into elfin body. As she rose up on the balls of her feet, she pulled the mana pistol at her side and brought it up, squeezing the trigger as one of the feline Wasted leapt directly at her. It dropped to the ground, and she put a boot on it's chest to hold it still as she put another bullet in it's brain.

Samina Direhart

Her face was fully painted in the protection runes of her people. This was not a normal battle she was going to wage, but one against something unnatural, unholy. They could not think, they could not reason- they sought one goal and it was to destroy and infect. SHe’d had them before but it was nonetheless unnerving. And enemy with nothing to lose, not even their lives mattered. They were truly fearless.

Charcoaled painted runes and designs were patterned across her face and arms as they neared the drop site. Samina would never admit it, but she did not like flying. It was unnatural. She was of the wolves and they preferred the ground beneath their feet. She was not afraid, but she was uncomfortable. Samina would bear it with a stoic face, her eyes scanning the tops of trees as they neared the ground, looking for a place to land.

She was armed, but not with bullets and firepower, but three hatchets, two blades, and several small knives. She was not going to risk a single one living through a bullet hole. They would be sliced in half or decapitated. Samina had lost an apprentice once to a bullet wound that was millimeters from the death mark. She would not risk that mistake a second time. Besides, blades were much stealthier than the echo of bullet sprays.

Samina sat near the edge of the opening, crouched, waiting for the right moment to jump- when it happened. Something hit hard into the side and lurched them sideways. She was rocked backwards, but Leyah fell forward and through the opening. Samina did not think, she did not hesitate. Instinctively she jumped and let the feeling of free falling consume her for a moment. She used the shadows to create wings for herself to soften her landing. She pulled them from the trees that surrounded her and she was able to find the ground, batlike wings gracefully dropping her. For a moment she was a demon flapping her wings to touch the earth below, but as her feet found something solid the shadows dissipated into nothing once more.

She drew two throwing knives and quickly released them on two more than charged Leyah. They dropped with a thud. Quickly, she collected her knives from their skulls and finally found the alpha’s eyes. She shook her head, “How am I suppose to enjoy myself if I have to spend the whole time-“ She launched another knife into the darkness to fell a winged beast, it’s ugly figure falling before their feet, -“saving your pretty ass.”_ She raised an eyebrow and reached down to collect her knife again.

This was only the beginning.

Lyra Nérdras

This was not exactly how Lyra expected her day to go. When she woke this morning there had been a plan to relax, wander the grounds of the tower, maybe finally pick up that book she had been meaning to start. Instead, she had Leyah bursting through her door to inform her of a horde of Wasted that had been barreling over the land. It wasn't all that uncommon to find Wasted spattered around but large hordes like the one reported was rare. That made it all the more urgent. And that's how she found herself holding fast to the wheel of a drop ship that was shaking in retaliation of being pushed beyond its limits. "Yup." Lyra spoke through gritted teeth in acknowledgement of Leyah's order as she fought with practiced precision to continue pushing that drop ship faster to get more distance in front of the horde.

The forest below already meant the landing was going to be tricky. Lyra had only just begun to lower the ship at the place Leyah had indicated, preparing to reach out with her magic to part the trees as much as possible to aid in the landing, when a rogue Wasted slammed into them from below. A string of expletives flew from Lyra's mouth as she fought the ship to right itself as it threatened to simply nose dive. She hadn't seen Leyah get thrown or Samina jump mere moments later- it was the sound of a pistol cracking through the air that alerted her to her companions' departure. Fuck it. Lyra made the decision to let the Wasted have the blasted ship. She left the helm and ran for the edge as the ship began to lurch and tilt on its wild nose dive, leaping without thought to the forest below as some Wasted took no time to encircle and furiously take over the crashing contraption.

Lyra plummeted uncontrolled towards the canopy. The plumage of the tree beneath her thickened and acted as a buffer for the woman to then roll and slide down the tree limbs until she leapt with the grace offered to her by her species to the ground. There was no time to linger and she immediately bolted towards the others, thick vines sprouting up viciously along her path to counter any Wasted that targeted her, wrapping around them until bones snapped and lifeless forms were dropped. Lyra hadn’t seen one of the Wasted, as black as the night sky, until it lunged at her. The darkness which had been its camouflage looked like some mutated version of dried magma and felt just as hard. The weight of it dropped her to the ground on her back, one arm up holding it away from her face as her other yanked her favored colt revolver from its holster at her side. She quickly aimed the barrel of it up from under the creature’s chin and pulled the trigger. An audible grunt escaped her as she shoved the creature off her and rolled back to her feet.

Lyra joined Samina and Leyah, “I haven’t seen this many so pissed off in a long time. There isn’t time to evacuate the gnome village. Any ideas on how to divert them?” Diverting them would at least give the group more time to pick them off and perhaps more of the Tower to join in the fight.

Athaleyah Kasar

Leyah would blow Mina a kiss before she drew her own sword, still gripping her pistol in her other hand. The sounds of the ship crashing drew her glance as Lyra popped out of the undergrowth into the clearing. "Artificers aren't gonna be happy about that one." She let out a low whistle as smoke rose above the tree line.

Her mind raced, trying to figure out a way they could keep the village in tact. A tickle across the back of her neck had her spinning, her senses warning her of danger. She thrust her arm straight out, her sword an extension of her being as she shoved right into the open maw of an attacking Wasted. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as the creature fought a few moments longer before going limp, yanking her sword free and giving it a flick so the black blood wouldn't harm the blade any more then it needed to.

"Well, I've got a shitty idea. You two keep them busy." She told them, while technically she wasn't their commander, as they were both members of the Order of Chivalry, she was their Alpha as Werebeasts and that gave her the authority to order them around. Stepping back behind them, Leyah would begin to gather her magic.

For the Mages at her side, it would feel a bit like a tingling sensation along their skin as she gathered more and more Mana. A new Mage wouldn't have been able to channel nearly so much as Leyah was drawing into her. She closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply and when she opened them again, they were glowing a brilliant gold. The muscles in her jaw tensed and popped as her mouth shifted closer to that of her lion form.

A mighty roar erupted from her, charged with Mana that would carry it far further then just her voice alone. Were Lyra and Mina new Weres they might not be able to resist the urge to suddenly shift as her magic washed over them, but thankfully neither of them were strangers to their beasts and would be able to keep them under control.

The Wasted nearest them would suddenly stop moving, turning from her as her magic assaulted their senses. From the forest around them a great cacophony of animal cries rose to meet her call. Animals of all sizes came barreling into the clearing, birds began to dive bomb the Wasted, Deer kicked and gouged with their antlers. A small pack of wolves even made an appearance, stopping at Mina's side as if they could sense she was one of them.

The forest seemed to come alive, rising to combat the Wasted and keep them from getting past the clearing to the village in the distance. "That worked better then I hoped, lets clean house." She told the other two. More Wasted were pouring into the clearing, driven in by the animals still in the forests.

Samina Direhart

The wolf snarled her version of a smirk to the lion before turning to catch the jaguar barely get a shot off to free herself. Mina had already let the last knife slide between her fingers, ready to throw should Lyra be a moment later. She wasn’t about to watch the kid (as she so lovingly called her) get killed. Samina was not one to have soft spots, she left that to Leyah- but she knew the lioness liked this one. She’d brought her in herself.

“Divert them?” She said gruffly, ripping another knife from a skull, “I don’t think that’s going to be much of a choice.” There was only one way to deal with this and it was total and complete annihilation. However, she could see the reason in Lyra’s thought pattern. They needed more time. There were three of them and though they were a good trio, the masses would over take them quickly.

Samina thought quietly for a second. She had an idea forming, but Leyah spoke first. “Keep ‘em busy?” she repeated lowly, “That’s an official order?” She wasn’t expecting an answer as the lion disappeared for a moment. They had a small space of time where they were rushed by Wasted, and were waiting for ‘the plan’.

Samina wasted no time. She would wait to draw a gun. Her people hunted by skill. Knives, hatchets, bows… anything that inflicted the most amount of pain with the least amount of noise was her style. She wore a bandolier full of throwing knives instead of bullets. One by one she unleashed them on the creatures that would come from the darkness. A roar arrested and Mina felt her body tingle in the sensation.

As she neared the last of her supply, the animals came. She watched in awe for a moment as they worked together with the shifters. Even taking a second to look a true wolf in the eyes. She dipped her head in respect to the alpha before getting back to it.

“It did” Mina said approvingly, hearing Leyah’s voice again. “However, they will overtake the animals if we don’t help.” Her mind reeled, “They will follow sound right?” She said, a sly smile on her face. “Follow sound and shy from water. I’ll give them something to follow… have the animals herd stragglers… we can trap them at the lake’s edge and the kid can burn them to pieces.”

She didn’t really wait for an answer before the brunette closed her eyes and became an onyx wolf. She was large and scars littered her body. Samina would never win any beauty contests but she didn’t care. Her heart was in battle.

She took a few strides from her Pack members and lifted her head, a shrill howl slicing the forests air, like ice on a hot day. She barked twice and leapt forward, howling again to gain attention and took off towards the lake’s edge. She would lead, the animals would herd them towards her, and once they reached the water the Wasted would be trapped.

That’s when the real fireworks could begin.