Daelus Orlouge

It had taken a while to find this man, this self-proclaimed member of the Orlouge clan. Daelus Orlouge, as he had been called, was allegedly a Mystic with the same blood of the Hero of Radasanth, Sei Orlouge. The difference was that while Sei provided good for Althanas as a whole, Daelus only challenged and killed people with his glass based spells.

Sei had heard tales of this man, found it odd that somebody of his clan wished for such a mundane life. Also, the fact that this Daelus did not use neither types of Mystic magic did not sit well with the orange haired hero. As a result, the Mystic hero gathered up a party of his Ixian Knights to try and track down this monster of a Mystic.

The first choice Sei had come across was his best friend, Kylin Rouge. The red haired warrior made for a good partner when paired with Sei. Furthermore, if Daelus did show an affinity for either Light or Shadow Mystic magics, Sei would have a counter ready. Kylin's ability with shadow magic would be a great asset should Daelus prove to be a wielder of the light, much like Sei's light based skills would defeat any shadow magic.

The next member of his quartet was Ruby La Roux. Sei had found himself enamored with the red haired vixen as of late. Duffy Bracken's sporadic appearances around Ixian Castle, as well as the various lengthy talks that the Mystic had held with Miss La Roux had sparked rumors. Most of these allegations were dismissed by Ruby and Duffy, as they were more so an item than Sei and well, anybody. Her spell singing ability would do wonders for backing up either of the Mystics should this become a battle of wizardry.

The last, most volatile member of the group, was the man who most simply called Dan. He was the Slayer of the Rot, and one of Duffy Bracken's Reformation Team members. Sei had reunited with the man, who served in Sei's previously formed Radasanth Alliance army, while fighting the Thayne Hromagh. Dan had proved his powerful just as formidable now as it was back in those days. Should the fight come down to a war of the physical, Sei planned to let the Rotslayer do his thing, and tear through anything in the group’s way.

Now, the four stood in the crystalline cave of Daelus Orlouge, feeling the intimidating presence of the self-proclaimed Mystic. An eerie wind blew through the translucent cavern, almost an omen to not engage the wizard. "I hope you're all ready," Sei warned his three warriors, "Lead the way, Dan."

Ruby liked to spend her afternoons pursuing the leisurely activities that her status in Scara Brae society could afford. She might take to a game of bridge with the servants, or take a stroll along the boulevard beneath parasol and sunshine with her sister. She had even been known, on the most spurious of occasional to partake in a little High Tea and buggery, or at least be the receipt of the cake and motion in question.

A lady like Ruby, on the other hand, was not accustomed to spending her afternoons fighting behemoths of momentous malefic in dark, crystalline caves ensconced in fear and brandishing nothing more than a note and this season's Mallarmé fashion for armour.

The floral décor that marked the location of the fragments of Wainwright's Heart allowed her thoughts an object to focus on, as she walked alongside Sei Orlougne and his compatriots into the jaws of death. Their endeavour was just as illusory as a confrontation in the Citadel, she had been told, but the name on Sei's tongue as he had imparted the revelation was deeply troubling to the spell singer.

She hated to admit it, but after the war in the Mystic Castle and the end of Lucian, she was almost starting to like the name Orlougne, it echoed heroism and occasionally, when she was alone at night and her husband was away on business, she echoed it once or twice too many times. She clicked her fingers and muttered something to herself as Sei instructed their companion to lead them further into the cavern, rather enjoying the stars her backside had been attracting up until now.

She wizened up quickly, and remembered where she was. "Very well, but didn't you ever get taught 'ladies first?'" She was too wired to realise the hypocrisy of speaking about coquettish in her accustomed street drawl.

Clad for once in armour as stylish as her immaculately preened hair, Ruby La Roux waited to see just what she had gotten herself in for this time. Her breathe spiralled in twin plumes of desperation and excitement into the lofty heights of Daelus's Grotto, and she plucked a note from the air to knock about in her lungs, ready as she would ever be as a helpless woman in a man's world.

Kylin had all sorts of problems with this, the least of which was Sei's insistence that they walk directly into the enemy's domain. Any murderer needed to be dealt with, especially any that the shadow user at least felt partially responsible for, due to the events of The Mystic War. The biggest problem was not the opponent, but the allies: Namely, The Slayer. With a nickname like that, Kylin insisted on bringing up the rear just so Dan wouldn't be at his back. He didn't trust someone who was said to work for Xem'zund, but Sei's trust kept the young man's nerves at bay. After all, the mute wouldn't let him into his organization unless he was sure that Dan was safe, right? That he was reformed?

Kylin's childhood friend's reasoning was that if this alleged Mystic could nullify both Light and Shadow, and Ruby's spellsongs were of no use, then they would have to rely on Dan to beat him up old-fashioned style. This was enough to placate the shadow user. He kept following the group deeper into the cavern, his eyes scanning the surroundings for anything suspicious.

His breath came out in small puffs of smoke in the chilly cave, and the air was thin due to being so high up. There was a strange scent around them as they walked that Kylin couldn't identify. The indescribable smell of broken glass.

Dan wasn't concerned with Daelus, nor the enigma he presented for Sei and Kylin. He wasn't even turned towards the group; he was standing just inches away from the cave wall, his head cocked slightly to the side, curiously, as he stared at the softly lowing crystal. Slipping his cigarette between his lip, he settled a hand against the cool, smooth surface and let his eyes slip closed. He could feel it, the steady pulse of the cave. He felt it fill him. He'd never seen stone like it before, but it was stone nonetheless. With a thought, he pulled crystal from the wall, and slowly, it crawled across his hand, flowing like water, wrapping around his flesh, up the sleeve of his coat, stopping at his elbow. Stepping back and opening his eyes, Dan grinned as he admired the crystalline gauntlet that he'd crafted.

It felt good to be able to shape stone at his will again. When his terramancy had been sealed once more during the battle with Hromagh, he realized just how much he took his connection to the land for granted. He blew a thick plume of smoke from his nostrils and plucked the cigarette from his mouth, reaching out to the wall with his other hand. Crystal flowed again as he added to the gauntlet, forming a plate on his upper arm, another on his shoulder, and finally, a long, curved blade from the elbow. When he'd returned from the battle with the Thayne, he hadn't even walked for a week, instead taking glee from hovering and flying wherever he wished. If he wanted to sit, he didn't take a chair that was already in the room; he rose one from the floor.

"Yeah yeah. I'm coming, gimme a fuckin' minute." Dan waved Sei off impatiently like he was brushing away a fly. Pulling more from the cave, he crafted a breastplate and greaves, and finally turned back to the three.

"You gotta be prepared for this kind'a shit. You know?" He asked Kylin as he passed the much younger man, grinning as he ran a hand over the crystal breastplate. His hand settled on the hilt of the sword-mace he'd just recently bought as he passed Ruby, and he flicked away his cigarette as he passed Sei - almost immediately pulling a long, thin silver pipe from his pocket, lighting its contents with a match.

"All right girls." He took a long drag from Smaug's pipe, leaving a thick gray cloud in his wake as he walked leisurely into Daelus's cave. "Let's go bust this cocksucker's face open."

As Dan lead the way, Sei could not help but think of the dangers that could be presented if the man known as the Slayer were to be let out in full force. Sei had only seen the extent of Dan's power once, and even then, the smoker was on the same terms of power as the Thayne Hromagh. It was true that Sei had helped defeat the God, but that was with a spell, Dan had just used his unexplored potential. The gray eyed man was a force to be reckoned with, to the extent that Sei almost felt bad for Daelus Orlouge.

When Dan stopped in his tracks, Sei followed suit. The growls of wolves could be heard, echoed throughout the glass dome. The mute peered out from behind the larger Dan, widening his eyes at what he saw. The sound had indeed come from wolves, but not any of the normal Althanas kind. Crystalline skin, translucent eyes, the beasts were completely made of glass! The Mystic took a moment to marvel in the details given to the creatures. Even the fur on the things seemed all too real, reflected light shimmering on the entire party from the new creatures.

Sei covered his eyes, just in time to see the two beasts leaping forth at the party. He could hear the snarls of the canines as they lunged at their targets; Kylin Rouge and Dan Lagh'ratham...

She sang, and quite suddenly and harmoniously at that.

She clutched her hands together and nestled them on her bosoms as she leant back and took a deep breath, and carried on the sharp note into a crescendo of rattling vibrato riffs. If she had taken the time to reflect back, it was a raw and unadulterated summation of the talent she usually possessed, but the appearance of the crystalline creatures had taken her aback.

Monsters, she was quite use to, men after all were the darkest creatures to walk the earth and she was quite adept at dealing with those. These hounds of glass, on the other hand, were of a different breed of fiend malefic. The riddled words she sang cast a summation of her fears over a fiery demagogue of determination, one which sounded like a crying Phoenix's last song, and one which held as much heat and passion.

"Let us not forget the chime, the ringing declaration," she pushed her hands out towards the creatures as they leapt, not phased by the danger any more. The Aria pulsated in her mind and tricked her limbs into action, into subservience, into lust and longing. "Let us not forget the melody, or the crimes of destination," she breathed in deeply as the verse came to a close, and rose onto her tip toes, as if to launch into a pirouette, but tantalising dropped back onto the balls of her feet and let slip the final line.

"Let us not forget the sudden breaking fallacy!"

As her hands extended fully, two invisible palls of energy bounced from them and crashed into the floor with a mighty, rampant rush of sound. She panted heavily and her bosom bounced in time with her adrenaline rush. She caught her breath and bit her lip, praying in the split second between jaws snapping at flesh and shattering force crashing into fragile, splintery body.

The first of the spheres of sound struck the wolf lunging for Kylin square in the side, and knocked it off it's path with a whelp that sounded unearthly and horrid. The second rolled and bounced harmlessly across the cavern and into the dusk beyond, the only mark of it's passing the trail of miniature craters from it's erratic motion.

Ruby fist-pumped the air, her strength misjudged by the giants of men by her side truimphant over an enemy at long last. Her armour clunked as she landed, and the sound mingled with the shattering crystal from the requiem's impact with the hound, who limped feebly and painfully upright, a gaping shattered hole in it's side and a leg splintered into apathy. It limped forwards, threatening to not give in it's determined stride.

Ruby grated her teeth, and cried to Kylin, "Finish it!"

Kylin could not doubt the usefulness of Dan being able to manipulate the very elements that Daelus allegedly controlled. Although, it presented a unique opportunity for The Slayer to turn on the others without them thinking it was him. He sighed, choosing to believe in Sei's power of trust.

The snarling of the wolves from behind startled the young Mystic. He turned around, lowering his stance and forming a serious expression. Two wolves made of glass. It didn't shock him as much as it should have. Perhaps he expected... more? Either way, he couldn't doubt the danger of those sharp crystalline fangs. One of them lunged at the shadow user, but as he prepared to dodge it a huge burst of light hit the wolf and knocked it to the side.

Kylin looked back and noticed Ruby's singing, the melody temporarily distracting him until her direct communication snapped him out of it. He formed his shadow-blade, starting from a darkness that originated from his shoulder and crept along his arm, extending three feet past his right hand. The wolf's lifelike limp almost garnered some sympathy from the young Mystic, but its appearance as a creature made of glass reminded him that this was no living being. He thrust his blade through the mouth of the beast, pouring darkness into it so the glass cracked and shattered, scattering all of the mystical power. The wolf broke apart, chunks of glass falling to the ground and lying inert. Kylin pulled his shadow-blade and took a step back, turning slightly to make sure everyone else was alright: Namely, to see what had become of the other wolf that was lunging for Dan.

"For fuck's sake, I'm not your mother's god damn skirt, Sei." He frowned down at the mute mystic, the howls reverberating off the cave walls. It would have raised the hairs on the back of any superstitious man's neck, but whether Dan was too brave or too stupid to be even a little wary of the predator's cry was up to debate. Curling plumes of smoke shot from his nostrils as he chuckled quietly at what was probably common sense from his...comrades. He supposed that was the best label for them now, but if Sei didn't one day make good on his word to help find his daughter, he had every intent to slaughter all of them like pigs.

But for now...he was their murder machine.

Not even a minute later, the wolves were on them. At first, he had to narrow his eyes to see them - their glinting, crystalline hides nearly blended in with the cave. But the closer they came, the easier they were to distinguish from the rest of the glass. The detail of their forms was startling to a man who had an eye for them. Dan just saw something to kill. His pace quickened, his longer legs putting him ahead of the others. The wolf sprinted towards him, dropped to its haunches, and lunged. He answered with a shield crushing left hook that shattered the artificial animal into broken splinters and deformed, shining chunks.

'Weird, didn't break like glass,' he thought, not sparing a glance back to see how Kylin had fared with his own wolf. He wouldn't have even stopped if he'd heard the screams for help and the arterial spray on the walls. 'Broke like metal. Would have been stupid to assume the guy was just coming at us with regular glass,' he added, picking up his pace as a new form came into view in the distance. A thin, pale old man, a cloth the color of clear summer sky wrapped around his eyes, as fragile looking as glass...

"I'll finish this shit now," Dan muttered, sprinting across the glass floor. Reaching to his hip, he pulled a revolver of dark metal from its holster, narrowed his eyes, and squeezed off two rounds from the chamber, aimed at the man's thin chest, that flashed orange and red like dragon fire across the walls - and the report that pounded through the space sounded like the roar of said ancient beast, too.

Since more than seven days have passed since the last post in this thread, this boss battle has ended unsuccessfully.