NationStates Jolt Archive

The pale moonlight illuminated the field. Nobleman Gregis clenched the water aionis in his hand, glancing about at the poorly defined group about him. Villagers armed with rusted short-swords and improvised spears stalked through the field rather haphazardly. They wore little in the way of armor, few could afford it.

A short distance ahead, Gregis’ personal guard moved with the precision one could expect from those that knew what they were doing. Ahead wild Thurisaz grew thrice as tall as the village silos, or rather thrice as tall as what was the village silos before the prior evening.

A pack of Nis Dracill had stormed into the village, enticed by the recent harvest of red pig. As the village celebrated the large catch, the dracill had simply entered through the unguarded town gates and proceeded to ravage the silos, eating their full and making off with a large portion of the stores and a few villagers unfortunate enough to be wandering alone.

They circled the village a few times earlier this evening, but this time the villagers were waiting, a fact the dracill seemed to know. They left after an hour, heading back for the forest. Tracking them through the fields was quite easy, the six to ten mark tall dracill left rather large tracks through the grain. Unfortunately, the forest was a different matter. Little in the way of undergrowth existed beneath the shadows of the massive Thurisaz, leaving naught but bare earth and short grass to yield the path of the dracill.

Gregis didn’t like it; he didn’t like it at all. Stories traveled around the empire, stories of entire villages being slaughtered under similar circumstances. Still, they pressed on despite the sense of foreboding that drifted from the forest.

The men spread out in pairs, each pair carrying an aionis latern, shielded from the darkness for the time being. The long line of men continued into the forest till the little moonlight from field was far behind. At this time the men unshielded their lanterns, pale beams of light stabbing into the darkness, fighting the darkness for a short distance before being overwhelmed by the shear quantity of it. A man could easily lose his way in here if he didn’t keep his wits about him.

The ground became a more uneven, beginning to slope downward. If all went as hoped, they would corner the dracill at a steep ravine that ran through the area. Unless the dracill managed to sneak around the men, but that was absurd, honestly, just how silent could a ten mark tall animal be?…

Tag!)

Gregis noticed that the lights on the far ends of the line had stopped, probably reaching the edge of the ravine. He tensed, as did his personal guard. The edge of the ravine could be no more than a few hundred marks ahead, and in between them and the ravine, a few ravenous dracill. The line slowed as men raised their rusted swords and impromptu spears, none wanting to be the first to encounter the great beasts.

Before long a shout rose from the right flanks, and in the darkness, just beyond the light cast from the lanterns, a pair of eyes, glowing orbs that seemed to exist without a body hovered a good six marks above the ground. For an eternity none moved, neither man nor beast, the excitement of the moment causing any thoughts to slip away. Gregis allowed himself a smile, despite a nagging feeling that all was not right. His men drew their bows, moving to approach the beast from the side, and for a moment it seemed like they would succeed, this was likely the shortest of the pack…the pack. And in a moment the nagging feeling in the back of Gregis’ mind finally articulated itself. There were five dracill, one pair of eyes was four pairs short.

Gregis’ shout of warning was overwhelmed by a roar, a sound somewhere between the bark of a fenrir and the bellow of a terrible wind. Three of the Nis Dracill charged the line from behind, while another appeared from behind the original dracill. Two of the ones from the rear turned as they entered the line, crushing the first few under foot. As they charged forward, they lowered their heads, massive maws filled with teeth and the stench of death greeted those unfortunate enough to be in their path.

Gregis unfurled his wings, attempting to become airborne when he discovered to his horror, that the tree cover was too low. He could not fly above the gnashing teeth and razor claws. The fifth and largest of the dracill approached Gregis at a more leisurely pace, appearing disinterested in Gregis, instead watching his pack ravage the men who so foolishly entered his domain. Gregis summoned all his will and hurled the largest spell he could think of. Lightning shot forth, covering the distance between him and the dracill in an instant. Yet, before it could strike the dracill, it stopped short, dissipating with a small ripple in the air. The dracill turned its head, its attention now focused solely on Gregis.

Gregis didn’t need an explanation of what had happened. The lightning bolt had illuminated the monster for a moment, revealing a distinctly mottled skin and spines not present on the others. Whereas the other Nis Dracill were terrors, masses of muscle, sinew, and claw; this was a Nis Dracill Aio. Muscle, sinew, claws, and magic. Incensed by the attack, it lunged forward, a flash of teeth headed straight towards Gregis. Gregis attempted to dodge, but the low cover forced him to go sideways. He strained to get out of the way, but it was too late. The massive jaw clamped down on his right wing, destroying it almost entirely. The dracill snapped it’s head to the side released, sending Gregis tumbling through the air. The world spun about him, a sudden rush of sound and then nothing.

Gregis opened his eyes, blinded by the glare of the early morning. The walls of the ravine were drenched in light, the ravine heading just right, that the early morning sun would appear as a great fire trapped far away in the ravine.

These facts didn’t immediately register for Gregis as his mind attempted to sort through the sensory overload of a battered body. Eventually it found the signals for wet, and assembled the bits and pieces of sensory input to tell him that yes, he was lying next to the creek in the ravine.

He sat up, slowly, checking himself over as he did. His left wing appeared muddied and scratched but otherwise unharmed, his right wing however was a mangled mess, fully ¾ of it mangled. He attempted to reform them, but a sharp pain prevented any progress being made, the toxins from the Aio paralyzing any magic use. He rubbed his arms, both functional though battered and bruised. A cursory glance at his legs verified their presence, though the left appeared, and felt, horrible. It would likely take the village healer a day to heal his leg, and another few to drive out the toxins., and his wing was beyond saving. There were few pieces of thurisaz about, and none suitable for a splint. A more thorough inspection revealed his sword and sheath some marks behind him, connected to what was left of a broken belt. The sheath would suffice as a splint, and the sword wouldn’t be completely horrible as a crutch of sorts.

Half sitting, Gregis dragged himself backwards to the pair, lashing the sheath to his leg with the remnants of his belt and bits of cloth. Pushing the tip of the sword into a nearby rock, he slowly and with little balance, stood up. Studying the walls he groaned, though only fifteen or so marks tall, he was in no condition to climb. Hoping help would come, he rested against the wall, until the sun was directly overhead, and his stomach growled. Can’t fly, can’t climb, can barely walk, and no help. It was many marks downstream to a suitable foot path out of the ravine, it would be evening before he could get back to the village.

Tag, at what point will we be albe to enter?

Im wondering if this is FT or Fantasy tech, id liek to rp a Future tech entry if its not Future tech ill just watch)

OOC: It's a bit of a mix of fantasy and FT. As for joining, currently I'm doing this to flesh out the nation a bit, along with some writing practice. I'll keep you in mind if I open this one up, or for other RPs that may arise. Thanks for the interest though.