Sword & Shield Beta

First topic message reminder :




Chana sits on the chair underneath the Captain's Pavilion. She can't help but hope that this meeting will explain their new, shiny, running horses that are fantastically used to being around a war. They have been remarkably calm, and Chana is grateful, but suspicious. Her horse is beautiful and solid--very fast. She's tested him on several occasions.

Still..why did they have the entire Unit of Altair train for riding horses? And who were these two, new, tough battlemages that have shown up a few hours earlier with horses of their own, with reassignment papers? Horses this trained and groomed are not common, as well as expensive....so what the hell is going on?

It's a bright day, early morning as the sun is just rising over the tree tops of the forest, making the dark place look beautiful, despite its depressing purpose in this region. The grass is green and alive here, thankfully, on this side of the wall. The trees of the forest are starting to look pretty bad...

At least she's used to being outside, now. Several buildings around the wall's fortification are still being built, so they've had to camp here for the past month as they hold the Kurian's to the forest. Luckily, no Earth Kurian's have shown up, or she'd probably have hated sleeping on the ground. She can still hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the wall...so much screaming and clashing metal upon metal. A Kurian's roar shakes the pavilon's tent, bringing her attention back to the current situation, where she is left wondering why she is up here, instead of out there, fighting with the other units.

Her head jerks to the side as the two new members that showed up in the night sit at the meeting table. The pavilion sways to the side as the wind swishes through, blowing her hair to the side just as she stares at the strangers with interest. They look noble, to say the least. Great. The Guys'll love having newbies. Though....they sure as hell don't look like newbs.

Regulus laughed at Chana's comment, but then realized that no sound came. He looked at Chana and Demitri, who both seemed to be upset. Regulus tried to say something, but had the same luck as the other two as they tried to make noise.

His first instinct was that someone was attacking them. He looked all around, trying to see if he could see anyone. However, nothing seemed out of place. He almost jumped when he heard the pair speak; it seemed the soundlessness had passed as suddenly as it had begun.

"I... don't know what that was..." Regulus said, standing up. He looked around again, maybe the assailant was still nearby.

Isadore rubbed his temple again; the headache was definitely setting in. He only sighed in response to Mihael as he took off. Takato then spoke, and Isadore ran his fingers through his hair again. "You'd really wish this upon yourself?" He gestured toward the mess in front of him. "And you need to stop doing that. I know there's nothing on my- " Isadore suddenly realized that his sleeve would have touched his hair. Worried, he quickly checked it, and shot a glare at Takato when he saw that it was indeed clean.

Chana looks a little puzzled as she looks out again, this time more causally and relaxed, compared to the last time. Her shoulders lower as her mouth tilts to the side from the confusion as she ponders what could have happened.

"Perhaps that was a prank from a nearby ensen?" She asks suspiciously. It's against regulations, but that's all she can really think of for the cause. Nothing else would really make sense.

She's about to say something else when she hears the roars of a Kurian. She turns her head sharply, her eyes widening as she sees two basic Kurian heading towards the wall with what looks like a child in one of their hands!!

"That's a kid!!!" She yells, jumping up to her feet.

Regulus shrugged at Chana's suggestion that it could have been an ensen. He would have liked to think that's what it was, but since he hadn't confirmed it he couldn't be sure. He looked around a bit more, but stopped when he heard the roar.

He looked out and saw two Kurians approaching. His entire body became tense, and he gasped when he saw that one of them was carrying a child.

"What the hell?!" he exclaimed. "Everyone, get ready!"

Ewoyn and Caspian were just getting to their room when they heard the roars. They instantly tensed up and ran out heading to the wall. Ewoyn elled up at whoever was up there. "Whats going on? We heard the roars."

"You're a sitting duck," Takato said to Isadore with a shrug, eating more of Mihael's rejected meat.

Mihael soon returned to the table with a rag he'd sweet talked the person serving the food into giving him. He immediately started wiping up the sauce that had spilled on the table.

"I wonder what's taking Reggie so long..." he said suddenly. "He said he'd catch up with us. Maybe he can't find this place; I'll go look for him." With that, he took off, returning the rag on his way out. He made it to the wall the others were guarding and immediately heard the roars. He tensed, hurrying up the stairs once he saw Regulus. He stood next to his bondmate and readied his staff. Getting the child away from the Kurians would be the priority, it seemed.

A puzzled look formed on Demitri's face when he saw that neither Chana nor Regulus knew what happened, but it did seem they were affected as well. Demitri continued to ponder what could have caused the silence until Chana called out that Kurians were approaching with a child. Demitri couldn't believe what his bondmate just said and snapped his attention to the area beyond the wall.

To his dismay, Demitri saw two Kurians, one holding a child. The eyebrows on Demitri's head furrowed, and the Ayudar quickly grabbed his crossbow and quiver that were tucked away on the surface where he stood.

"What do we do, Captain?" Demitri questioned. As good as Demitri was with his crossbow, there was still a chance he could strike the child by accident. And he didn't even know what the Kurians were going to do with the child.

Isadore just shook his head at Takato's comment and watched as Mihael returned with a rag. He tried to clean up the mess, though Isadore wished he could have just done it himself. His brother would never do a proper job. Mihael then suddenly left in search of Regulus, worried that he would be unable to find the mess hall. As far as Isadore was concerned, Mihael would be the one getting lost. "Who knows what trouble he'll find if we let him wander around alone," he grumbled, standing up. "We may as well go too."

Isadore and Takato left the mess hall and began to head toward the wall where they knew Regulus would be. On the way there, they heard the roars ring through the air, so they rushed until they reached the stairs. Once they reached the top, they joined the others and saw the source of the sound. "This isn't good." Isadore readied his glaive.

Chana gives the signal and the warhorn goes off. It's time to get down to the daily shitfest. She pulls out her bow, but doesn't string it. Rather, she looks at the captain and says only a couple of words:

"Your orders, Captain?"

Regulus knew they had to act fast, the Kurian carrying the child definitely had murderous intent written all over it. Meanwhile, the other Kurian had picked up a large rock and appeared like it was going to throw it.

"Battle stations!" Regulus commanded. "We must save the child and hold the wall! You all know what to do, but just be wary that we are trying to get that child back in one piece!"

The Kurian holding the boulder seemed about to throw it, so Regulus scurried along the wall until he was standing right where the Kurian would throw it. He held out his hands and made a rising motion and a large wall made of stone rose up between the wall and the Kurian. It was only about a foot thick, so it would probably crumble with the first hit of the boulder, but that would buy them some time at least.

Chana taps Demitiri's shoulder and winks. He's not going to like what she's about to do...but, he'll have to live with it. "Grant me speed," She says as she winks at her partner to signal him into her ranged defense.

Her hips, legs, and feet then begin to glow a slight, dark blue hue as "Quick Movement" takes affect. She'll have to use her next spell as soon as possible, but she'll also have to wait long enough for her magic to cool down.

"I'm going to swap with the girl," Chana reveals, but with a tone that states that no one can stop her...not even Demitri. "Then, I'll retreat so we can tank those bitches. 'Kay?"

"Reggie, that was so cool," Mihael cheered for his partner when he put up the stone wall; he'd been worried about that boulder. In spite of his cheeriness, his defensive stance showed that he was completely focused on what was in front of him.

When Chana said that she was going to swap places with the hostage, Takato nodded and grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me," he said, stepping closer to Chana. A little extra camouflage could never hurt in this situation, so he focused, casting Smoke Shroud on her. A large cloud of smoke enveloped her and Takato glanced at Isadore. He was certain his partner already knew what to do.

Isadore watched as the captain made a stone wall to stop the boulder, nodding with approval. He then heard Chana come up with a plan, which seemed to be one of the most reasonable courses of action, given the situation. The most difficult part of it would be getting her away from the Kurians after swapping and it seemed that Takato was already working on that. He glanced back at his partner, confirming that he knew it was his turn.

Isadore turned toward the Kurians and concentrated. Suddenly, a copy of himself materialized beside him, its movements seemingly independent of Isadore's. It leapt from the wall and charged at the Kurian holding the child. The copy caught the beast's attention, and it tried to step on the extremely lifelike image. Isadore made the phantasm avoid the attack and start running around the large creature.

Demitri was ready to fire his crossbow at a moment's notice, but he couldn't figure out who to shoot and when. He then felt a tap from Chana and saw one of her notorious winks. He knew the woman was up to something. When Chana wished for speed, Demitri had a worrying look on his face.

"Chana...what are you doing...?" Demitri asked in an unsure tone. Before he got an answer, Chana's lower body began to glow a dark blue. After Chana unveiled her plan, Demitri paused for a moment. He wanted to protest as much as he could, but his bondmate had that determined gleam in her eye. Not to mention the other teammates seemed to think the idea was acceptable.

Demitri sighed and looked back at the two Kurians. "Be careful out there." He responded. Demitri prayed that Chana's plan would work as he tightly clutched his weapon.

Chana waited impatiently for her next spell readiness, shocked as Tokato used a spell on her. She laughed, then, not at all surprised by him. Just like him to do that sort of thing. She can hear Isadore casting a spell, but she's not able to see what spell is being cast.

She shrugs it off as it comes time for her to act. She concentrates on the Kurian, remembering the girl--or what little she could see of her from the distance. She should have used farsight to get a better look at her first, to make this more accurate...then again, they didn't really have the time for that.

"Take my place." She whispers under her breath. The nausea rushes up into her stomach as she feels dizzy, lightheaded, and winded all at once. She shudders as she realizes that she's in a Kurian's arm! The metallic, cold feel of it against her back is quite invasive.

She can feel the thing move, and she clings to it violently with the fear of being knocked off. The thing is moving around a lot, and the violent bumping and jumping makes her feel like it's trying to dance or something.

A flash of a dancing Kurian pops into her mind, but she tries to push back her anxious, uncomfortable laughter as she places it at the back of her mind. The thing roars as the smoke shroud covers its vision, as it swipes at the air with its other arm with irritation. It won't take it long to figure out its coming from her...

She's about to try to leap away from the thing when she feels....tingly! The feeling starts to move up her arms and legs and she starts to wonder if she can jump in the first place. She's really nervous now, her heart rate and breath increasing as she feels it moving up her chest and her neck. It's not just a tingling feeling...it's also something like...being dipped in really cold jello.

As it covers her head, this odd sensation, she feels him. It's a he! The Kurian is male! He's surprised, completely and utterly surprised as he realizes that Chana isn't Ke'elu. His chest aches, both in concern for Ke'elu and irritation at this human--which is probably the cause of why he can't see.

Chana screams--louder than she has ever done before--as she leaps from its arms, tears streaming down her face as she sprints while her spell is still in affect. Her body still feels like Jello as she feels his fury. She cries aloud, tears falling down as she runs in pure desperation. The farther she runs from the Kurian, the more she feels....desolate. She hates this, hates this feeling of being away from him!

It makes no sense. It's like she needs to be around him, but she can't! She just can't. She cries more, hating herself more and more as she runs through the gate, which is already opened and closed for her when she passes through. As she reaches familiar territory, she falls to her knees, her face in her hands as she cries, rocking back and forth.

Her body appears to be completely uninjured. There's not a scratch or bit of blood on her. Not even her armor or clothing is tattered or torn. As the shroud moves fades from her, she whispers over and over again:

"It hurts. It hurts." She cries desperately between her tears and arduous breathing, "It hurts so bad."

Regulus watched the others going into action. They had all dealt with Kurians before, they knew what to do. Chana swapped places with the girl as planned, and Isadore and Takato helped out with Create Phantasm and Smoke Shroud respectively.

In Chana's place on the wall appeared a girl. She was thin and pale, which immediately concerned Regulus. He went over to her and knelt down. She had blond hair that reached just past her shoulders and her clothes were all ripped and full of holes. She looked very sickly.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked her. She didn't exactly appear conscious, but he had to try. To his surprise she nodded her head, but she didn't speak.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do with her, though. He looked around and spotted Mihael. "Mihael! Can you help me out here?"

Demitri watched anxiously as Chana switched places with the girl in a flash. Everything seemed to be going well until Chana appeared to be having difficulties. Demitri didn't even pay attention to the girl while he stared at his bondmate endlessly. Finally, Chana jumps out of the Kurian's arms, screaming louder than ever. Demitri wanted nothing more than to jump over the barrier and run to Chana's aid, but that could get both of them in trouble.

Chana never looked so distressed as far as Demitri could remember. This wasn't the Chana he knew. Something must have been done to her while she was with the Kurian. When Chana made it back to the base, Demitri tossed aside his crossbow and made a beeline straight for his bondmate. Something didn't look right. Chana was on her knees, wailing in tears of agony. What could have caused this?

"What's wrong?" Demitri asked frantically. He quickly got to Chana's side and put his arm around her. "Don't worry, Chana. You're fine. I'm right here! See? What hurts? Did the Kurian hurt you? What's wrong?" Demitri noticed Chana appeared to be completely untouched, but why was she in such pain?

"Isa, that was amazing!" Mihael exclaimed as his brother distracted the Kurian. It seemed that all would go smoothly. However, that wasn't the case at all. Chana's return was punctuated by odd behaviour that sent Demitri running after her. Mihael could understand his concern, but this left their group without ranged fighters. He bit his lip, trying to figure out what to do from here when he heard Regulus call to him.

"Oh, yeah of course!" he hurried over to where his bondmate was, kneeling next to the girl. She didn't look well. "It would be best to move her away from the battle site, 'cause this could turn into a bloodbath, but I don't know if I should try to move her without healing her first." Thinking out loud was nothing unusual for Mihael; he didn't even realize he was doing it. "I'm worried about the downtime I'll need in between." He doubted the girl would go with him peacefully; he'd probably have to charm her to calm her down if she managed to regain full consciousness. "But I'm sure you guys can keep her protected from them 'til then." He gave Regulus an encouraging thumbs up and placed his hands on the girl, putting his full concentration into healing her. He wasn't sure how severely harmed or ill she actually was; he just hoped this wasn't a waste of magic.

Takato was a bit rattled by the unexpected turn of events. He turned toward Isadore. "Any clue how to handle this?" he asked his partner. While he had a few ideas, they were a bit reckless. He figured that between him and his partner, they could come up with something more calculated.

As the girl is healed, she sighs with what seems like relief as she nods her head again, this time with a slight smile. She holds up her hand with a request to be lifted and then stands. She places her hands over her lips, shaking her head as they touch, expressing that she cannot speak. However, she stands just fine after the healing and then stand there awkwardly, looking about in a sort of confused way.

_________________________________

After a bit, Chana starts to feel....better? Or at least, some part of better. She aches, still, but the only emotion she has left now is anger. Anger towards the Kurian the fucked with her body with whatever the hell it did. She realizes that Demitri is nearby, shocked that the Captain let him away from the wall, but also a tad relieved.

She stands up, with his help, and nods her head. "I-I'm okay. I just...freaked out, that's all. I'd never--never--touched those things before. They feel so terrifyingly huge and metallic."

She pulls him along as she moves up the wall's inner steps, anxious to get back into the battle. Her legs still feel like jello, but she's not going to talk about that now. They have two Kurian to kill, and she can't wait to kill these two.

He watches her as she steps up to the top of the wall, and she can feel his eyes on her. She doesn't look that way, still a little scared, her face still pale and almost sickly in appearance. She pulls out her bow, getting ready to fight, but looks to her Captain before attacking.

"Sorry, Captain." Chana struggles to say, "I freaked out a little there. Do we...attack, now?"

Regulus wanted to call after Demitri when he ran off, but he'd heard Chana screaming and figured someone should go see how she was doing. He watched Mihael heal the girl and listened as he talked; the guy always said his thoughts aloud.

"Of course, we didn't go through all this just to let her fall back into danger," Regulus replied to his bondmate.

When she was healed, the girl smiled and signalled that she wanted to get up, but still didn't speak. Regulus helped her to her feet and watched with curiosity when she placed her hands over her mouth and shook her head.

"Are you... mute?" he asked her.

He then noticed movement off to the side and saw that Chana and Demitri were returning to the top of the wall. Chana didn't look well at all, but they needed everyone to be here fighting.

"It's all right," he looked out at the Kurians. "They're still at somewhat of a distance, so only ranged attacks will reach. If you're up to it, then you and the other ranged fighters can start attacking."

Regulus looked at Mihael and the girl. "Mihael, can you get her to a safe place?"

Isadore ignored his brother as he watched the Kurians, knowing that he was too far away to deal any damage. At least he had been able to do a little; back before Chana had arrived at the wall, he had used the last energy of his phantasm to attack the Kurian before dissipating. He was very bothered that something seemed to have happened to Chana. It meant that something had gone wrong, which he couldn't stand.

He ran his fingers through his hair before turning to Takato. "Well, they are too far away to do much right now. So..." He looked out at the Kurians. "We can wait for them to get closer or attempt some sort of ranged attack, though ranged attacks aren't exactly our specialty. Perhaps we should wait."

Mihael was relieved to see that his healing had worked. He stood, holding his weapon at his side so as not to appear hostile to her. The girl had regained full consciousness, though she apparently was unable to speak. The others returned and Regulus asked Mihael to move the girl to a safe place. He nodded, having been thinking that himself. The girl seemed confused, but not overly distressed, so with any luck he wouldn't have to wait to charm her before he could relocate her.

He offered her a warm smile. "Hey... do you wanna come with me?" he said. "It's not very safe up here right now, and who wants to stand around on a wall anyway, right?" He carefully offered her his hand.

"Yeah, there really isn't a lot we can do right now that wouldn't be considered a suicide attempt," Takato agreed with Isadore. Chana and Demitri were back now, so he and his partner could afford to be on standby for the time being.

As Chana stands, Demitri breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're okay..." He said softly. All of the emotional torment emptied out of him, only leaving behind a sense of alleviation. Demitri tried to take Chana to the medical center, but she forced her way back to the wall, pulling Demitri in her wake.

There really is no stopping her... Demitri thought as he was pulled up to the wall. He was anxious about what the Captain would say, but he seemed to overlook the matter. Demitri didn't blame him when two Kurian were around. After the go-ahead to use ranged attacks on the Kurian, Demitri picked up his crossbow and loaded an arrow. Before firing, he quickly glanced at Chana.

Chana smirks mischievously as she puts her short bow back and pulls out her composite long bow. She sets the arrow in place, pulling back the string of the bow and taking careful aim. She tries to aim at him....but she can't fire. For some ridiculous reason, she cannot bring herself to damage him. She switches her aim to the other Kurian, finding no problem with shooting that one, at least.

Her bow and arrow glow a faded slate color as her eyes burn with fury. She launches the arrow as she whispers something under her breath. One arrow is released from her bow, but as it rises up into the air, it multiplies into a volley of many arrows, all of which being to fall on the Kurian, as well as its companion.

The one she targeted begins to pick up speed, first walking towards them and then 'jogging' in their direction, causing a feeling similar to an Earthquake as they stomp forward with a look of irritation in its eyes. The other Kurian, however, whom she knows is male, turns away, as if it has lost interest, despite being grazed by several arrows already. This is odd, considering the creatures are usually easily angered and generally react on those emotions.

__________________________________

The girl nods her head when the Captain asks if she's mute. She seems relieved that he understands. The other person who healed her wants her to follow, it seems so she latches onto his arm with a big smile. She seems somewhat hopeful, despite the circumstances she had just escaped from.

She reaches up and touches his hair, pulling it back and then smiling again. She blinks and follows him willingly to wherever he wishes to lead her. The loud stomping and earthquake feeling doesn't seem to bother her at all--it's as if she's used to it or simply ignoring it with ease.

Demitri saw Chana's smirk and felt confident she was back to her old self. He then set his eyes to the two Kurian and carefully aimed his crossbow. If only Kurian were like humans, Demitri thought. Then I could aim for their weak points. Harboring some anger for what happened to Chana, Demitri aimed for the Kurian that was previously carrying the child.

A second after Chana fires her arrow, Demitri fires as well, looking to hit the Kurian right in between the eyes. Chana's arrow divides into several other arrows and strikes both targets. Surprisingly, the one Kurian Demitri shot at merely turned away. The other, however, charged in an apparent fury.

Demitri pondered for a second over whether to keep firing at the retreating Kurian or focus on the other. A part of him wanted to continue firing at the Kurian with its back turned, but he loaded another arrow and took his second shot at the approaching Kurian.

Regulus watched as Chana shot at one of the Kurians, using a move which caused her arrow to turn into many. The Kurian began to charge them, seemingly angry by the attack directed at it. Demitri shot at the other Kurian, but it almost looked like it lost interest despite being hit several times. Truly odd behaviour.

"Melee fighters, engage the Kurian! Ranged fighters, keep the melee fighters covered! Don't let the second Kurian overpower them!" Regulus ordered. He didn't trust the second Kurian not to attack.

It had been a good ten minutes since he had cast Stone Wall, so he figured he could pitch in with an offensive move of his own. He held out his hands and summoned a lance made of ice, then shot it at the charging Kurian. If nothing else it would keep the Kurian occupied for a moment.