A Grande Adventure

Saen held his bow unyielding but looked a bit confused. "You...don't seem like the villains from the stories I have heard, but nonetheless I cannot yield! so you must try your hardest to destroy me! I will offer you mercy should you surrender to me and I swear no harm shall come to you." Saen said the honesty in his voice almost being palpable. He does look a bit concerned she won't take his offer, he clearly doesn't want to hurt her. Saen perked when he heard Dargo bark. "One moment m'lady." he said casually to Corveta as he aimed his metal arrow at Lesard and fired. Saen tried to make the opponent back off of Richard and give someone time to help the poor man.

Zee dodged to the side easily. "The name's Zee, man."

He was at Cliff bythe time he has completed his roll, using his momentum to aim a left jab at the Nekos' chest and a hook straight after at his head, in line with the solar plexus. He didn't feel like breaking the man too much, since a guy who'd introduce himself must of been a nice guy.

Gildir quickly moved back, out of the weapon's reach. "Why would I keep my attention on someone who poses no threat to me?" He moved deeper into the tree line. "Honestly, my focus is better spent on those who are more skilled. I suggest that you go back home and continue playing with your dolls little girl."

Taihaku, seeing as she'd apparently gone unnoticed yet again, decided to prepare one of her spells. She waved her arms outwards around her and summoned a light blue magic circle under her feet, then held her hands out in front of her and summoned a second circle in the air in front of her hands. She then held the pose, slowly spreading her arms outward as she gathered magic energy from inside her, the blue-jewel-encrusted gold ring on her swishing tail glowing as well. The circle in front of her hands slowly expanded outward.

In a well-practiced move, Persephone sidestepped the attack just as the neko reached her, then used her enemy's momentum to send her crashing headfirst into the ground. She then shot the bandit in the back of the head. As she did so a brief thought flashed through her mind: Three bullets... what a pain, this one.

Corveta blinked in surprise. He'd really do that? Wisk her away from the bandits liek some hero in romance novel?...Or was it a trick? 'Well if I turn on Lesard and they lose I'll be in for it, but if I stay on with them I may as well be dead so what have I got to lose?' Thought the mage. "Look, hun, I'd love to surender but if I do Lesard will kill me! That's the whole reason I'm in this mess. Please if you just take out enough of his men Lesard will leave you be, but it's Teryl who you'll have to watch out for. He's psion skilled with barriers. It's how he plans to trap you all.

Lesard's danger sense alerted him that an arrow was commcing from the side and he manged to deflect it with is dagger and was about to brag when he saw Dargo flying at him, canceling out the Imperceptible Defense, and hitting him in the stomach knocking him back and sending him skidding back towards Spike the Nodhog. "Ooo...Bad dog..." Said Lesard fainting. Spike just continued to stare ahead not really paying attention.

Cliff took Zee's blows with the ones he'd already sustained without too much more than a grunt. "You guys aren't bad, but our boss already has you beat. You should just surrender. All we want is you money and valuables." Cliff said as he snapped the arrow off and got up dropping his knife and gripping his sword with both hands and slicing upwards in a kneeling attack.

Ariana sniffed. He honestly thought she would be galled into loosing her focus by a few lame insults. Boring. "I suppose you do have no reason to fear me...So why don't I give you one? Shock..." As she spoke one of her rods began to flicker with electricity. Green Electric bolts flew from the staff seeking out Gildor. "...and Seek! Shouted Ariana with delight. siwshign her tail and spacing her feet out evenly as she drug it along.

Teryl, the psy neko suddenly took note of Taihaku's magic. "What's she doing? Looks..complicated." He looked over at his unconscious boss worriedly. He needed orders. "Um boss you okay?" Asked Teryl. As a response Lesard just lay there looking quite out of it.

Richard was gratefull to the new comer he had likely saved his life, though the wound he'd suffered he likely would need to execute a tactical retreat. "Come Dargo, fall back!" Siad Richard getting up stiffly and dashing over to Taihaku. "Eh...? What in the name of Necrosia are you doing, woman?" Siad Richard looking quite suprised. His light blue eyes widening at the sight of her magic. "Is that an ice spell? I don't reconize it."

Gildor dove forward, rolling past the bolts. Much to his surprise, they followed him. Thinking quickly, the ranger attempted to grab Ariana and use her as a Human, or really Neko, shield.

"If you say so m'lady." Saen says approaching Corveta and readying another arrow. "Which of these ruffians is Teryl? and by take out do you mean kill? I would perfer not to kill any of you but this Lesard he is a true coward to threaten a ladies life and force her into a life of crime!" He waited patiently beside her to get instructions on whom to shoot.

"Indeed," Taihaku answered, the circle in front of her slowly growing larger still. By that time, it was about six feet five inches in diameter.

"At whom should I am? You are our leader."

Zee spun to the side. "Man, I don't even have anything on me. I might as well walk off knocking my heels together." He used his momentum again to pull off a roundhouse kick at the Cliff's side, not so high so that Cliff could catch his leg.


"Anyway, isn't that your leader taking some Z's on the floor?" He pointed over at Lesard. "Looks like we might have you beat."

Ariana was shocked that the elf would use a child as a shield! His kind weren't verry ruthless usually. She smiled. "Very good, but godo enough. You forgot to disarm me." *Said the child bringing one of the rods up and allowing it to take some of the blast and then sticking the other to Gildor's inner thigh. The voltage hit them both Ariana took a little less damage by chaneling the energy to Gildor's body but it still traveled through hers causing her great pain. With a cry she fell to the ground laughing then laughed once more before ceasing to move all together.

Corina pointed to a large neko with dark hair and white patched ears standing by Lesard. "The confused looking one standing by Lesard. If youc an just hit him in spot that will injure him. They aren't overly evil bandits...Just kinda poor at their jobs." Said the mage beginning to think they had a chance. Just maybe if this group could last long enough to defeat Lesard and his men they may make out alive.

Richard had been thinking about that and had be debating between Lesard or those few remaining on their feet...But there was the Nodhog and Lesard who had been "stunned" as if he believe that.
"Aim for Lesard and his companion standing by him. Try not hit the new arrival. He could be usefull." After all the jungle is always hungry Richard thought.

The blow knocked Cliff off his feet but he decided to try and get off a coutner slash while talking/ falling. "Good point. You guys are pretty well balanced. I mean you've already took out three of our number. But you don't know about our Secret Weapon. That one always gets them." Said Cliff nonchalantly.

Teryl had a bad feeling things were about to get worse rather than better so he took out a small stone a on piece of rope and begin to hum concentrating and opening himself to the power within his mind. "If the boss won't act I'll just have to! Ohm ohm ohm...!" Teryl chanted as his body begin to glow bright blue-green.

"As you say m'lady." Saen Kel said firing two arrows in rapid succession at Teryl. The first arrow was aimed at the villains hand which held the stone the second towards his thigh.

The rest of the gang distracted, Persephone was afforded an opportunity to pull out a more destructive weapon: the flamethrower she had crafted out of engine parts from her crashed spaceship. It was time for the Flaming Raiders to earn their name! She aimed it at the wagon and then paused for a moment - might it contain supplies they would need? Nope. They'd literally just left town, already stocked up. But just as she was about to open fire she had another thought: there might, however unlikely, be a prisoner in there. So she instead lit up a perimeter around herself and the wagon and then took a moment to search it before adding it to the conflagration.
The flames roaring to life and spreading rapidly across the grassy terrain were more than enough to alert everyone in the vicinity, but the perpetrator herself was concealed by a thick cloud of smoke.

Taihaku turned her body at Richard's command and aimed the spell circle in front of her at Teryl, thinking him the wiser target as Lesard was already knocked out, and her spell could only handle one target. She pulled her arms back and was about to fire her spell when a wall of flames erupted around the group. Taken aback as the wagon was engulfed by flames as well, the spell she was working on dissipated due to her waiting too long between gathering energy and firing it. As the magic circles she'd created disappeared, she scowled in frustration.

Taihaku began to work on an entirely new spell. She spread her arms out and summoned a circle under her feet as before. Following that, she brought both arms to the other sides of her body, crossing them over her chest and summoning a pair of circles on either side of her body, floating in the air. She turned her body to the side and stretched her arms outward, summoning another pair of circles on either side of her, perpendicular to the first two. Finally, she raised her hands over her head and summoned a sixth circle over her head, surrounding herself with a cube of circles. She then brought her arms down and placed her hands against eachother in front of her chest, fingers outstretched and palms facing inward, and began uttering a chant.

"Let nature's bitterness freeze all in its blanket of reserved fury; its righteous snows frost the earth," she repeated quietly.

Gildor realized his mistake the moment the girl touched his leg with the rod. The elf tried to quickly push her away from himself, but was too slow and was blasted by the lightning. He let out a yelp of surprise as he was thrown back from the bolt. His right leg was totally numb, and the rest of his body was jerking uncontrolably. The girl had obviously been more powerful then he had expected, though the blast wasn't the worst he'd felt. forcing his arms and hands to obey himself, the Ranger shakily pulled out a small spell component's pouch. Working quickly, he cast a small healing spell on himself, which stopped the shaking and brought the feeling back to his leg.

"Not bad kid," the Elf growled, "not bad at all." Standing shakily, he pulled out a medium sized vial of paralyzing poison. Sitting next to the fallen girl, he carefully cut her arm, making sure the cut was deep enough to bleed. He then pulled out a bit of cloth, and proceeded to soak it with the poison. Finally, he bound the wound with the poisoned bandage. Once he was finished making sure the girl would not die, and was fully paralyzed by his poison, Gildor turned and watched the fight. His allies were doing fairly well on their own, though one girl seemed to be having a bit too much fun with a flame thrower. However, there was one neko in particular seemed to be chanting something that worried him. The Neko was standing to the side of the fight, chanting and glowing. The fire didn't seem to be bothering him. Thinking quickly, the Elf drew another pair of arrows and fired at the Neko.

(I'm not going to reply to that, not just yet, and let other people go first.

Also, don't tell me Gildor didn't notice the SICK FIRES, BRO at all! DX)

(@Nyaha: Not really...I mean, he would acknowledge the flames are there, but I believe I stated it that he hunts dragons. Fire and stuff like that don't really surprise him anymore. @Para: I think she's not crossing any lines so far. :3)

(XD I love what she did! Ffiiiiirrreee whwhahahahaha! Also:)

Persephone's check of the wagon turned up nothing but a small chest with a lock on it. It looked dull but well kept and had some runes that said clearly "do not open" in the Majora's Elvish dialect. Other than that there was nothing but some booze and some big bullets that looked like they went to a super sized gun.

All this time Spike the Nodhog stayed out of the fight. Why? Because he had a secret. A secret that had made this group so infamous in these parts. Hist shell had a special plate that when flipped open would allow a Gatling Gun to be placed on top making him into the living tank! Oh it was genious....If only Lesard hadn't actually been knocked out. He was SUPPOSED to playing dead then waiting till the opportune moment then spring the trap. Saddly it looked like that wasn't going to happen. Eh? Sombody had started a fire? Oh well that was no big deal it's not like he had a irrational fear of fire or anything...just things burning actually. With that last though Spike suddenly let out a cry and ran away from the burning wreckage and searing grass off into the forest.

Teryl couldn't believe this. The Nodhog, who secretly housed their one powerfull weapon had flee'd in fear from a little fire! Stupid monster. Then he turned around and his jaw dropped seeing Taihaku's new spell. "Oh this won't end well."

And ofcourse Lesard woke up at that moment. "Nyagh...Oh man. Who spiked my lactose?" Said the leader of the now mostly destroyed bandit gang. "Eh? What's going on?? Where'd my Nodhog weapon go? Where's Stardancer? Why is Ariana knocked out?? Futhermore; WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE?!" Shouted Lesard looking around from place to another in irritation and rage. 'This is not the way things were supposed to go! But no mater I can still use Teryl's gift to-' Then as if things weren't bad enough for Lesard Drasel he watched as Saen Kel's arrows took out the focusing stone Teryl used, Psierin he thought it was, and then another hit him in the leg then two more in the chest from the elf making him go and stay down . "Oh momamia! Nyah! I can't take it anymore! I mean what else could go wrong??" Asked the thief to the open sky.

Corveta couldn't believe her eyes! The fearsome Lesard had lost! I mean yeah he was still standing but the neko mage was about to take him down with a final spell. She was as good as rescued! "Yes! You did it!" Said the mage to her rescuer.

While the language in which the chest was labeled was incomprehensible to Persephone, thanks to one of Felarya's many magical properties the message was clear enough and she knew better than to pry into it when there was no one else around. Since it was light enough to carry, she picked it up... then she noticed a number of oddly large bullets scattered around the wagon. They appeared to be the all-too-common kind that included gunpowder in the bullet casing. That being a potentially useful resource, she took the bullets as well, left the wagon, and then set it ablaze to burn along with the rest of the encampment.
Then she gave it some distance - all those alcoholic drinks would be sure to make a nice gratuitous explosion when the fire got to them...

"We aren't out of this quite yet." Saen Kel replied. "We have that fire to contend with now. If it spreads it might reach some innocent person's dwelling or cause damage to the environment impeding the animals abilities to get food." The young man also looked rather upset that Teryl had been killed or at least appeared dead. He blamed himself even though his arrows werent the ones to finish the job, to him it was the first time taking a life of a person. "Surrender now! No more people need die here!" Saen Kel shouted at lesard aiming an arrow at him. To anyone watching him he was obviously conflicted.

​Zee hadn't expected the counter-slash, half-swearing, half-smiling. With the hard sole of his sneaker he pushed the blade out of his calf. "Firstly man, nice technique. Secondly, all I see is you and your leader. Err... Whatever number comes next," he put a hand out, "I don't want to get burned". He motioned with his other hand at the spreading flames.

(Sorry if my posts have seemed half hearted lately. My mind has been else where, mainly on my first math test next week. )

With the Psion down, Gildor put his bow away and hoisted Ariana onto his back. He carried the girl away from the flames and placed her on the ground near Lesard. "I do suggest you give up. You've lost, your Psion is dead, and unless you give this girl some medical attention soon she may die from poison." The elf kept the fact that not only were the poisons he used non-fatal, but that he had also worked to make surer the girl would remain stable to himself. Better to let his foe believe that he was cold and merciless enough to kill a child then show a weakness that could be exploited. "Of course, you can still fight if you wish, but I doubt the girl would last long enough to fight. My poisons tend to be very effective." He quickly glanced at Taihaku, "Hey, do you think you could cast a spell to get these flames under control before they turn into a wild fire?"

Taihaku did not break her chant. 'What do you believe I am currently attempting to accomplish?' is what she wanted to say. Instead she could only nod.

"Let nature's bitterness freeze all in its blanket of reserved fury; its righteous snows frost the earth. Let nature's bitterness freeze all in its blanket of reserved fury; its righteous snows frost the earth."

The six glowing circles around her began to meld together slowly. They all expanded outward, and after several moments had passed, they all came together to create a magical sphere around Taihaku. The white-blue sphere of strange designs and symbols slowly turned 'round the frosty neko mage, who continued repeating the chant, making the sphere's design grow in complexity. She was almost ready to cast the spell.

What Gildor should have wrote:

"Hey, do you think you could cast a spell on your quest for MAD ADVENTURES, YO and get these way rude flames under control?"

Cliff didn't believe Zee. he thought he was just trying to distract him and take him down with one final move but when he looked around he noticed Stardancer was not moving, Ariana was near Lesard and even Teryl had been taken down! "Okay I concede you may have a point.

Lesard picked Ariana up and even looked sympathecticly towards the flames but instead of crying his eyes suddenly had a mischeivious glint in his eyes. "Mmm...Nah! I think I'll just leave you to deal with them, pointy ears." With that he threw a ball of flame down at gildor's feet which spread out and quickly encircled Zee, Gildor, Ricahrd, Dargo and Taihaku adding their strength to the other flames. With that Lesard leaped away carrying Ariana off the path and further into the forest.

Cliff just stared. "Uhh I think I just got canned. ... fired too." Said Cliff looking at the flames all around them. Richard growled and gave Taihaku a glance. "Would you finish that spell already?! Or we'll be burned to a crisp!" Dargo scooted closer to Taihaku and Richard nodding his agreement.

Corveta gasped. "They'll be killed! Oh that Lesard! Why does he have to such a coward??" She watched in horror as the flames crept towards the group slowly but surely.