Icy Quest, part II: Travelling with the Guardian (Sam 19th)

[Maeve]

Ashilda carefully carved the runes, and she felt confident it would at least do something. Yet she could feel the resistance of the material, as if she needed every ounce of her will to carve.

Hex could feel the wind blaze around her face and there was a freezing cold in it, an icy reminder of the essence of her Queen. Whence it came she did not know, but suddenly the warrior realized a major flaw in her plan, just as Ashilda was finishing her concentrated work... fire was opposite to everything the Ice Queen stood for. Hail, Snow, Sleet. Those were her weapons.

From inside the ship noises could be heard and vague shadows could be seen on board. Their intended victims were not going to take this lying down, that much was apparant.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex turned and looked at her companions. Letting out a sigh, she turned to the Guardian, “Let me know if anything changes down there”, turning back to Ashilda.

“Come, the queen has sent a whisper to me upon the wind. Save those sticks of fire for later. We need to deal with powers from within the queen’s domain. Speak to me of ice and snow, of storm and sleet. Do you know the rune for hail? I was too egger in my attack. We are but three against many, I must be more wise. Be patient with me dear friend, I am feeling the touch of power that I have so long craved. Come; tell me of the runes you know that will be useful to us. You are no longer a child here but a woman who has her own wisdom. You left your girlhood behind as soon as you left for these mountains and I need you to have the voice of a woman, so speak and let me know your thoughts. We have not the luxury of time, what can you do quickly?”

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

The scribing was harder than Ashilda expected, and she had sweat beading her forehead by the time Hex spoke. Was it supposed to be this difficult? She was sure it shouldn't be, but knew that she was inexperienced. Perhaps with practise and training it would become easier...

Her companion's words finally registered, and a smile lit her face. "Of course!" she breathed. Was that why it was so difficult, perhaps? Was she simply choosing the wrong way to channel the Goddess' power? The smile faded as she searched her memory for something more suitable. Surely, after so many years of watching runecrafters at work, she should know a rune or two that could help. Her teeth worried at her lower lip as she thought, threatening to break the skin. This discomfort went unnoticed, however, as she ran through what little knowledge she had picked up.

Hail... stinging hail would be good to keep them penned and maybe even damage them a little, but how does the rune go? I can't think of that one... I'm not sure I even saw it before... Snow, though... maybe... It's not an easy one, and I might not get it right. What would happen if I got it wrong? She had a fleeting vision of inadvertantly melting the snow she stood on and falling into the hole, but she banished the thought quickly. If it were so easy to get rid of snow, surely it would be done more often to make hunting and harvesting easier. A stray breeze tugged at her braids and triggered a memory. Wind... wind must surely be part of the Queen's domain... she sends enough of it... Her mind quickly shied away from that thought, lest it be considered ungrateful. I'm pretty sure I know the rune for wind, and I could set it to be triggered, like I was going to do with the firesticks...

She tasted blood in her mouth and grimaced as she realised she had chewed too deeply into her lip. Wiping her mouth with her hand, she turned her attention back to Hex. "Hail I don't know, but I think I could create a strong wind easily enough. We might at least make life difficult for them, which would give us time to work on other options. How about a sudden wild storm at their door, whipping up the snow and knocking off balance any who try to leave the shelter?" She was reaching for another piece of bark as she spoke, getting ready to begin scribing.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex smiled and rubbed the girl’s lip where she had bit herself.

“Wind would be good but ice would be better. It is hard to kill with wind when they have shelter. What I would really like to do is cause an avalanche and burry that whole valley. Can you do ice or cold? If you can make sure you save one or two for when the wizard comes.”

Hex drifted off in thought looking at the valley wondering if she could indeed create an avalanche with enough power to burry this ship.

[Maeve]

This time the scribing went easier, even though it asked a lot of concentration. As Ashilda did her work on the runs trying to full fill Hex's wishes, some movement could be seen in the camp below and now men robed in white robes emerged from the hull. They pointed upwards to where they were standing. They seemed especially impressed with the Guardians, who was greeted with howls and hisses. A group of the white robes fell on their knees, their hands clutched as they closed their eyes.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex glanced over to the Guardian and then looked back to the men in white.

"I know that I do not have the best effect on men but that is a bit much don't you think?" Hex could not help but laugh, she had no idea what she was doing but so far she and those with her were not dead. So far so good.

"Ashilda I do believe that targets have presented themselves. Well my fine furry friend, shall we go and introduce ourselves or does this feel like a bad idea to you? They fear you from afar, let them fear you from real close as they die."

Hex was already primed for a fight, now as the moment of conflict had come she released her anger and brought about a cool sense of calm within so that she could focus and feel the power of the Ice Queen. Reaching out Hex wanted to bring up a slight breeze to flow away from her to help the flight of Ashilda's arrows be true. She also wanted to remind the men in white where they were.

[Maeve]

"Let them die, daughterrrrrrrrrr," the Guaridan growled almost eager, and he leaped forward just as Hex used her minds and her inner faith in the Queen to bring forth a slight breeze, chilled by flakes of snow. The gentle flakes hit the faces of the men like icepricks and they stood up and shouted their defiance. Hex noticed it was difficult to push the breeze beyond a certain point, as if something around the ship was protecting it.

Meanwhile facing a charging white haired beast caused the white robed men to call on their god once more and from the sky came flashes of lightening. The Guardian however was zigzagging, neatly avoiding any strikes as he yelped at the top of his lungs, a troop of wolves all into himself.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex smiled as the Guardian charged. Her mind did lose itself in rage as was the usual case rather as she charged after the best Hex focused on on the power around her waiting for the moment to unleash the full power of the Ice Queen.

"Now Ashilda, Now!"

Hex felt that she went to battle for once with a true purpose.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

By the time Ashilda had finished scribing the runes she wanted, sweat was dripping from her. She felt as though she had just run from here to Rimehold and back, and what she wanted more than anything was to be able to just close her eyes for a few moments and rest. That wasn't a luxury she could afford, however, and she quickly pulled an arrow from her quiver and bound one of her scribed bark flakes to it. It wouldn't fly as true with the extra weight, and it probably wouldn't go far, but from the top of the ridge she would have the height advantage and she thought she could get it just far enough. After all, she thought, I don't actually have to hit them, just get it near them.

Standing as quickly as she could, she readied her weapon as she took her place at the top of the crest with Hex and the Guardian. There was a slight breeze blowing towards the group below, and she smiled a little. Every little bit helps! Nocking the arrow, she took aim and let fly with all the force she could muster. She watched intently as the arrow made its rather wobbly path through the air. It would land a little short, but she felt it would still be close enough.

As the arrow was nearing the end of its flight, she called out the word that would activate the power in the runes.


OOC: Sorry for the recent delays in my posting. The computer had a major dummy spit and refused to work at all. Happily, however, I now have the new machine (finally!) and so hopefully I can be around a little more reliably.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

OOC: Lets kick some but then!.

[Maeve]

The Guardian was reaching the forefront of the white robed men. They carried swords and maces. All the Guardian had were his claws and teeths, but that in itself were formidable weapons. Red blood splattered on the snow as the beast scratched his opponents. He howled of rage and pain, as some of the weapons struck true, slashing his flesh. Yet he did not fall, gripping the offender by his troath and holding up from the ground. More and more white men came out of the hull, ready to face this lone combatant; this white monster who was vastly outnumbered by the priestly warriors.

The wind blowed harder and harder around Hex, the sense of her Queen filling her mind, her rage clear in the howling of the wind that eerily resembled the howling of the Guardian in combat.

The wind made Ashilda's arrows struck true, and were they touched the ground or the wood of the hull ice started forming. A trickle at first, but more and more ice formed in large stars. The wood started to groan and shift. At the third arrow a crack appeared.

Suddenly the Guardian had become the lesser of problems. With a cry of rage the man that Hex had seen before came storming out of the hull. "BEHOLD THEIR WITCHCRAFT," he cried, "WE MUST SLAY THESE PAGANS WHO CALL UPON WHITE DEMONS AND STEAL THE WIND TO RESIST OUR LORD." He held up his two arms on the top of his lungs continued "BEHOLD THE POWER OF DOMINICUS." From his hands a fire started. It did not touch the wood, but it licked at the ice, slowly forcing it back.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

"Ashilda!, let this one feel the touch of the Ice Queen!"

Hex moved with determined strides. This one was the key to the victory here this day, and he must die. As Hex moved towards the man she was gathering her power inside of her, becoming the eye of her storm. Her Glaive becoming a rod of focus for this cold she was gathering, she was going to let this one feel the touch of the Queen.

Hex let out a war cry as the distanced closed. She was a woman of Trothgard, she was a woman of the Queen and she was going to kill this intruder upon her land. Her running pattern became slightly erratic to avoid the results of last time.

If Hex timed it right she should reach the man and strike right after Ashilda's arrow pierces his skin. Then she will begin to cut this man apart...

She closed to within strides...

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda watched with pleasure as the ice formed on the walls of the structure, slowly breaking it apart. The fighting between her companions and the warriors who supported this strange... male priestess... was a blur at the edge of her consciousness as she focused on the power she had channeled. It was a heady feeling, and she gave silent thanks to her Queen for letting her draw on the power that could protect their land.

The emergence of the familiar figure of the stranger was a surprise, as were his words, but nothing prepared her for the surprise of his summoning of fire to melt her ice. Dominicus? Is that him? Or is it true that he serves a higher power, just as we do? A power of fire... what would such a being be doing here in Trothgard? The questions flashed through her mind in an instant, but no answers were forthcoming.

As she shook her head to clear it an prepared to fire another arrow, Hex's shout reached her ears. She thought she understood what the warrior was asking her to do - shoot not at the structure, but at this man - and a shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with the icy wind. It was not that long ago that I shot my first rabbits, she thought. Can I shoot and kill another person? She looked down at the man with his handfuls of fire, and set her jaw in grim determination. I have no choice. He should not be here, and maybe if we remove him from this land we can heal it.

With that thought, she took aim. He appeared to be concentrating too intently on melting her wall of ice to even consider dodging, so she lined up the shot and fired, waiting until the arrow hit home to call out the word that would activate the runes.

[Maeve]

The wind swirled around the white robed mage, but the arrow did not hit him, burrowing itself into the snow close to his feet instead. He laughed loudly against the wind, as if daring them to continue.

Meanwhile Hex had come near enough to start taking the man apart and he narrowed his eyes "Witch," he hissed, "your whorish ways are over. When Dominicus rules here the One Church will teach you and all of womankind proper humility." He threw both of his hands forward and fire scorched Hex's skin. She could feel part of her hair burning, and the flames touched her arms. Yet there was no pain, just red hot rage.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Flicker…

Hex was back as a child in her father’s smithy. The sound of metal on metal rings in her ears as she looks into the forge, glowing brightly. There, fire consumes itself and the rush of heat from the blown air makes her face flush. She is lured to look at the flames and takes a step closer; she smells her hair burning before she feels the intense heat. The sounds have stopped and her father is running with her out side into the cold air.

Flicker…

That was long ago but the smell of her hair draws her back to that moment. That moment will never be again. Nothing will ever be the same again. Hex sees the flames consume her arms and smells the burning but these things no longer matter to her, only death, this mans death. Hex does not reply to the man with word rather she sets about separating his limbs from his body and his head from its rest upon his shoulders. The pain will come she knows but for now she releases the cold within her to shield herself from the flames of the man. She is one with her Ice Queen. She is one with rage and destruction. She will kill them all, staring with this one. Hex focuses only on her queen, her powers and the rhythm of death Glaive will dance to.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda cursed as the arrow missed, landing in the snow at his feet. Even as she reached for nother, however, an idea struck her. The snow was fairly soft, so that anyone standing in one place for more than a flicker sank a little into the fine white powder. This meant that this strange man had snow around his feet and ankles. If she activated the runes now, she might be able to trap him in place. At the very least, it should distract him a little.

She hesitated as she saw Hex step in to begin the attack, but decided to do it anyway. She's moving more than he is, and she's used to the snow. She's strong, too. She'll be able to break free of the ice crust. And I daren't fire another arrow, in case I hit the wrong person! With a brief prayer to the Ice Queen that she was doing the right thing, she called the word that would trigger the runes at his feet.

Even as the word was spoken, she was reaching for another arrow. If she couldn't attack him directly for fear of hitting Hex, she could return her attention to the structure while he was busy fighting her companion.

[Maeve]

As Hex attacked the white robed man, ignoring the fire that burned her skin, Ashilda spoke her word of power and slowly ice started to form around the feet of the mage. At first he did not notice. He was too busy to vend off Hex, who managed to get a good slash in his left arm, but was pushed back by an invisible force. As she lay in the snow and the mage prepared to strike her down with another bolt of fire he suddenly noticed the stiffness of his legs, the ice creeping up from his boots upwards, imbolizing him. He cursed and spit and turned his fire upon his own legs.

Meanwhile the Guardian was still fighting the main group of people, the snow coloring red, and his howling spread by the wind. It looked to Hex like he was slowly going under, taking many, many whiterobed men with him.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda's heart jumped into her throat as she saw Hex fall into the snow, but realised a flicker later that she had only fallen rather than having been cut down. At the same time, the robed man paused and then turned his burning hands towards his own legs. The young woman smiled gleefully. The ice from her arrow had obviously been doing its work. Then it occurred to her that with Hex lying in the snow, she once again had a clear shot at her opponent.

She took a quick step forward, finding a better position and hoping that she could get the arrow to go just a little further this time. She drew her arm back, sighting on the man while he was distracted and praying that the Ice Queen would find a way to keep Hex prone for just a moment longer. Let my arrow fly true, my Queen, that I may help cleanse this blight from the land. She held the thought for an instant, then loosed the arrow.

Succeed or fail, once she had established whether or not it was safe to activate the rune (and done so if it was), her attention was drawn to the battle raging around the Guardian. He seemed to be holding his own so far and was cutting a swathe through the ranks of opposition, but it was clear that he was hard pressed. For good measure, she fired another arrow towards them. Her only aim was to not hit the Guardian - if it hit a soldier, then so be it; if not, she could still slow them as she had the robed man.


OOC: How many rune chips would you say I had a chance to make? By my count I've shot four or five so far (depending on how many we'll say I shot at the ship - that was a little vague). I'm guessing I wouldn't have had time to make too many more though. What say you, Maeve?

[Hex da`Bergliin]

I must kill this man and help the Guardian and fool, you bleed...

Hex rolled to her feet looking for a weakness in the man's defence. Her lip curled in wicked glee as ice started to form around the man's legs. Hex cocked her head to the side and walked up to the man.

if who ever this "Dominicus" is grants the wizard the hands of fire, perhaps I can also draw upon such a power...

Still smiling Hex walked up to the man until she was at arms length. Hex focused on the power around her drawing in the cold. Breathing deep hex let out a breath of frost air towards the wizard as she reached in to grab his head with her left hand as she slowly brought her Glaive in towards the mans mid section.

The Glaive was a distraction as what she wanted was to make contact with the mans head and freeze it solid.

[Maeve]

Just as Hex was getting up, an arrow burrowed itself into the chest of the man, cutting through any shields he had previously. That in itself did not kill him, but upon uttering the word of power by Ashilda Ice started spreading rapidly and he froze before the warrior lady, even as she prepared herself to do the same.

Ashilda's attention had already shifted to the large group of men around the Guardian. Shooting quickly two arrows hit the snow, while a third caught a thigh, making the man cry out.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda triggered the first two rune-bearing arrows, spreading ice along the surface of the snow to hamper their movement. She wasn't too concerned about the Guardian falling foul of it - he was a creature of the ice and snow, not to mention quite strong. When the third arrow hit one of the warriors in the leg, she hesitated. If we kill them all right away, maybe we will never know what they were up to here. Perhaps we can frighten them enough to make them tell us...

She glanced back to the robed man, confirming that her arrow had indeed frozen him solid, then stepped forward so she could be seen clearly if they looked up the slope and raised her voice to carry across the battle. "Throw down your weapons, or the ice shall take you as surely as it took your companion!" There was already another arrow on her bow, although she had now exhauseted her collection of rune chips. It was a chance she was taking, but at the very least she figured she could buy them some time.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex took no chances with the man of power as Ashilda's arrow took him in the chest she could feel the power of the Queen freeze the man. To be sure though Hex with a cry of rage swung her Glaive and decapitated the frozen head. She paused for a moment to look down upon this man who caused her so much grief before she kicked his head away and moved on to help the Guardian.

Hex was once again consumed with cool rage at these men. She brought the power of the queen inside her once again, this time though she brought a barrier of cold around her to protect her from any unforseen attempts to bring further fire upon her. Casting an eye back to the ship she was wary of an attack from behind.

[Maeve]

It was not so easy as it seemed to decapcitate a head of ice. Hex had to take two full swings for it to budge. But in the end the head rolled over the snow, down the slight slope, becoming larger and larger as it caught more snow, till it crashed against the moutain wall with a tud.

All of this had prevented Hex from interfering too soon with Alshilda and the Guardian. As the warrior lady wrapped a mantle of cold snowflakes around her she could not see any movement from within the ship. The ice was still working and large gaps were now showing in the wood. It certainly would never sail the Seven Seas again. How the ship had landed here in the snowy valley however was still a mystery, and now with their leader dead, perhaps they would never know.

Then Ashilda's voice rang out over the valley, demanding the surrender of the white garbed men. The Guardian stopped for a moment, too surprised to continue his rampage. He looked up at where the whispy mage-to-be was pointing a bow at the attackers. The timely thud of the head of their leader against the mountain wall made enough of the remaining men swallow. The first started to falter, backing off slowly. It was at that point that they all shared glances, and watched the skies. But no more lightning was coming. Two more threw down their weapons.

Enraged one of the last white robed men cried his defiance and headed straight for the Guardian, who was still distracted by Ashilda. A sword could clearly be seen.

[Ashilda da'Svafa]

Ashilda smiled with grim satisfaction as the soldiers slowly backed away and lowered their weapons. Perhaps there would be answers here, she hoped. She was startled by the sudden movement of one of the men, who raised his sword once more and charged the Guardian. Realising that the huge creature was distracted by the sudden pause in hostilities, she yelled, "Guardian! 'Ware attack!" Even as the words left her lips, she swung around and fired the arrow she had ready towards the charging man. She couldn't afford time to aim properly, and as it sped through the air she whispered a fervent prayer to the Ice Queen that it would fly true and not strike the Guardian or one of the other men.

Good strike or ill, she pulled another arrow from her quiver and put it to the string, then began advancing carefully down the hillside. She checked her footing at each step, ensuring that if she had to fire, she wouldn't find herself slipping on the snow-covered slope.

[Hex da`Bergliin]

Hex had been able to bring up a force of snowflakes around her. All of her new powers were catching her a little off guard and she wanted to take the time to practice to see where her powers truly began and ended. This was not really the time for that.

As the man ran for the distracted Guardian Hex knew that she would not make it to intercept in time. What she did do was drop the shield around her and bring it up around the Guardian, at least that was her intention.

Hex liked to be ready for things and this learning curve was frustrating her as she knew that there was most likely a better course of action which she did not know at this time.

With the shield hopefully around the Guardian, hex moved with deliberate strides to kill the man who was not heeding the call of Ashilda. Perhaps her knew that she wanted to kill him regardless of any action he did. He was a pollution upon the land and he should be removed.