Hunting Job -- open (note this is mostly a battle thread practice)

[Seth_Rahl]

Three down, two to go.

At least that is what Ifrit thought when he first got the jump on these mutant wolves, as he had slain the first three easily. However, these two had shown that they were more than he bargained for, and for once he felt the fear of being prey.
He ran faster, hearing the howls of the mutated wolves on his back. Sweat leaked down his face in huge droplets, and his tattered red cloak flew out behind him like blood. He cursed his own incompetence as he remembered the way the two wolves had circled him, twin blades sharper and faster than his own.

How the hell was he supposed to get stronger if he was gonna die? Ifrit gritted his fangs at this thought and jumped up just as the white form of one of the wolves flashed beneath him, tearing apart the earth where he stood before.

He had taken this job from the man in the black cloak only because the pay sounded good and the job sounded easy, but now he realized he had been scammed. "Payment upon completement my ass...." he growled, and ran up a tree like a shinobi as the twin wolves followed him relentlessly. He had almost made it to the top when his foot slipped and he fell, straight towards the open jaws of a gigantic wolf.

"OH NO YOU DON"T!" he screamed, both in terror and rage, and extended one of his hands towards the gaping maw. "TAKE THIS! HELLFIRE BURST!" and immediately a fireball roughly the diameter of 3 feet launched from his open palm towards the might beast.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

((Dude I'm so in this, I'm Mutant_Lorenor by the way. I don't have this Character in much so I'll have him join this for sure))

Archaic forces often played in tandem with one another. I slept on the sands of Fallien whilst, so many thousands of miles away, Ifrit fought against mutated wolves of The Wild. I dreamed of fighting white shadowy wolves, their breath against my scaly flesh. I dreamed of a far away city, a place called Scara Brae and these matters tormented my mind. As the archaic forces gathered in an epicenter of movement across time and space, a phantom visitor entered my mind to torment me.

I felt a shadowy presence, drawn to the energies my people gave off during their times of sleep. I slept in a deep sleep, the earlier hunt still heavy in my stomach. The presence manifested within my mind and soon started to commune with me. Thoughts and images of fiery reds, and calm blurring whites, as cold as snow. These images made me shiver even in my sleep. The nights of Fallien, a world away from Ifrit, were cold, but somehow the Phantom made me feel that much colder. Pulling at some primal force in my brain the Phantom whispered things in my mind I could never decipher. These were words of power using the archaic energies around my person, my bestial rage.

Tapping into that raw power, The Phantom used his own energies to open up the dimensional doorway near me. Images of a field ripping open, a door swallowing me up, and an adventure far away from home tormented my brain. My head felt like it was going to explode. Suddenly, I was awaken to the sound of reality tearing itself open. I saw matter and energy fluxuating around one single point directly in front of me. I slept away from the others, so they would not be disturbed by this sudden racket. That thought somehow bothered me. I was filled with a morbid curiosity of the door, it looked just like the one in my dream. The Phantom manifested itself before me and I stared at it.

The thing waved its hands and the doorway opened up. Releasing a powerful energy, I was suddenly sucked into the doorway without so much as a single explanation. I was immediately atomized and traveled across time and space. I saw Althanas in its true form before me, nothing but energy and sub-atomic colors. A portal someplace nearby to where Ifrit stood in his tree opened up and spat me out several feet above the ground. I fell all the way to the ground with a loud thud. I stood up quickly, and was surrounded by several of the mutant wolves. Immediately, this made me angry. I saw the portal closing even as the first of the wolves attacked me.

I felt sick, but ignored the feeling as I went into defensive mode. Powerful claws struck against the side of my head, but my powerful hide armor protected my person well. I lunged fearsomely at the beasts before me, tackling them dead on. As a Blood Lizard, I was born for the hunt, I lived for it! Several of the mutant creatures, five in total, rushed me all at the same time. I reacted by sliding quickly beneath the initial attackers. Several bit at my person attempting to keep up with me. I was much larger and more powerful than they were. Muscle over muscle. I reached out. In a stroke of luck, I grabbed at the neck of one of them and yelled with anger. With all the might my huge form could muster, I ripped the beast in half and through each half at his friends.

Seeing this act of savagery made the mutant wolves attacking my person hesitate. I ran towards Ifrit's form seeing that he needed help.

"I'm not one to leave someone to their own vices surrounded by such numbers. You can thank me later. Right now lets kill!" I said as the mutants gathered their numbers and eyed my red-scaled mysterious person.

[Seth_Rahl]

The first burst apart in a ripple of flesh and meaty bone, blood spraying like a cool morning shower. Ifrit fell through the remaining bits of the mutant wolf and landed on his back, and immediately felt a sharp pain shoot up his back. Damn! he thought, and painfully started to get up when he saw the other one lunge for his face. Staring in shock, he just barely was able to try and conjur another hellfire blast, but alas, to his avail, the one he had just used had eaten up alot of his energy. He was only able to stare in despair and finality as the wolf, hungry and ferocious, finally reached its prey.

Suddenly, a red blur sped from no where and slammed into the wolf, sending it flying into a tree truck and breaking its back immediately with a loud CRACK! The speed of the blur had been so much that dust and dirt had been thrown up, obscuring the half demon's vision from observing the face of his savior.


"I'm not one to leave someone to their own vices surrounded by such numbers. You can thank me later. Right now lets kill!" The blur hissed, and the demon knew he wasn't the only inhuman in this neck of the woods. Feeling slightly rejuvinated from his inactivitiy, Ifrit jumped up to his feet and in one smooth motion un sheathed the enormous falchion from his back, causing a minor shockwave to ripple along the ground.

"Right. Thanks, stranger. I owe ya." Ifrit smiled, revealing his infamous pair of fangs, and leapt at the nearest wolf. The wolf turned and snarled, revealing an equaling deadly set of fangs, but the demon was un perturbed. "That's what I LIKE!" he snarled while smiling, and before the mutant could move the falchion came down and cleaved it in half, leaving a blood mist in its wake.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

I felt the urge of battle take me from the depths of my atma. The Phantoms cried for blood and I gave it to them in droves. Several of the wolves that originally assaulted me now gathered the courage to attack back. They were pack hunters after all, like myself. Though I was skilled enough to occasionally leave my pack of Blood Lizards and hunt by myself. Today was one of those jobs. Already, intestines and flesh were stuck to my scales, I could feel the burning heat of the body parts searing me. This brought great joy to my person as I lived for the carnage of battle.

Three of the wolves came in all at once. I crouched down on all fours to avoid the lung at my neck that came from the first wolf. The other two wolves flanked me and attempted to eviscerate my sides. I felt the pang of pain as jaws bit my scaly flesh, but for the most part I laughed when I heard their own yelps of agony. Their jaws shattered underneath the pressure and force of attempting to bite through my tough bone hide. I shimmied quickly to my side, keeping an eye on my newly acquired ally.

More than myself, I made sure that he was well. So far, he seemed to be doing well for himself now that my person invigorated him for battle. Good.
I often preferred to lead by example anyway. I lunged forward with my massive maw to grab at the mid-section of the nearest wolf. A second wolf, I attempted to grab. The third wolf, I sent a powerful kick from my hind leg towards his mid-section. A few seconds later I felt the flesh of the wolf in my mouth and bit down, creating a powerful gash in the creature's mid-section. More blood sprayed in the air.

My kick connected and I heard a yelp. I stole a glance back and saw the wolf being forced to roll away several yards. My grab attempt failed as the wolf pivoted skillfully in mid-attack. I underestimated the strength and determination of these creatures. Still though, biting down hard upon the wolf in my mouth, I eviscerated it and swallowed a huge chunk of its flesh as I spit the wolf out of my mouth. I heard yelps of agony and anguish. Standing up now, I went to crush its skull with my powerful foot. The wolf I missed came in at me and latched onto my left arm with those powerful jaws it owned. These canines were dangerous, but I would prove I was the superior predator.

[Seth_Rahl]

Ifrit's new companion intrigued the the devil. He was not human, but bore a resemblance to either a reptalian or snake like being. Ifrit couldn't stand there studying the savior of his however, as another pack of these mutant wolves appeared, their howling and quick forms racing down the hedges and leaping amongst the trees as white blurs.

"So this is a question of speed, eh?" Ifrit said to him self, and held Beowulf in front of him in a battle position, ready to take on any opposition. However, the sudden silence disquieted him. Where were the wolves now? He looked around at his lizard like companion and saw that he was finished as well, claws and jaws covered in blood and guts.

Ifrit smiled. He liked this guy.

Before he could say anything, though, he felt more than heard something coming, and he immediately looked up to see the whole new pack racing down on them from the tops of the trees. "Above us!" he shouted, and suddenly had an idea. He caught the lizard man's eye and held out his giant blade so that the flat of it was just above the knees, like a stepping stool. " Get on." he said roughly, and in his other hand he began conjuring a Hellfire fireball.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

Hearing my companion's command, I nodded to him calmly. I saw the extended blade and quickly put together what he wanted me to do. Though my Saurian strength and agility were more than enough to make the jump on my own, the plan was clearly to intercept the newly arriving wolves. The second and third wolves attacking my person attempted to recover. I turned to look at the one latched upon my arm and decided to get rid of it. With a powerful swing, my muscles rippling with the motion, I slammed down harshly upon the skull of the creature.

With a muffled yelp, I heard the beast's neck crack underneath the weight of my relentless assault. Blood Lizards, my people, thrived on the battle. There was no mistaking that. I heard the satisfying crunch and eyed the third wolf coming in. As it jumped when it covered the distance between myself and the attacker, I swung a back-handed fist in mid-air in order to intercept the wolf that attacked me. A moment later, I heard the satisfying popping of bones as the creature's neck snapped loudly declaring its death.

I quickly leaped up towards the blade now, leaping once and then bouncing off of the flat-edge of the blade. My bulked up leg muscles flexed tightly and then loosened as I leaped into the trees. I grabbed hold of the sturdy oak, and used my claws to climb quickly up the side of the trees and into the treetops where the rest of the wolves were. Immediately, two of them saw my person and reacted. I sensed the fear gripping at the hearts of these creature and this delighted me. As a barbarian, I wanted nothing more than to wreak havoc and destruction upon the many battlefields of Althanas.

Already, blood and flesh dripped from my person. The first wolf snapped at my person whilst, the second wolf quickly used the tree branches to nimbly make his way behind me. I saw the tactic and spun around using my tail powerfully. As soon as the cretin came in close enough for a bite, I met the side of his skull with my well formed tail. There was a crunching sound as the impact exploded something within the wolf, and the beast fell out of the tree to its death several feet below. I heard the wolf impact against the ground beneath us.

The second wolf attacked me in mid-motion. I admired the pack mentality, they could give each other orders without speaking them. They simply commanded one another by instinct. Such a tactic was useful and very deadly indeed! I would talk to my Chieftain about implementing such telepathic tactics if they were within our arsenal. I doubted it though, I never heard the Chieftain speaking of the Killing Arts in such a way. As the wolf came in close for his bite, I let loose with a powerful kick. When my foot connected I heard the wolf's neck breaking declaring its death loudly. I looked ahead and saw many more wolves heading towards us, of various sizes.

"There are many of them! What is the plan now!?" I asked hoping he had some sort of solution to this madness. I didn't mind simply killing them all one at a time, but it felt like there were hundreds of these things, maybe even thousands of them. At some point I would surely get tired and then have to rely on the gifts of my people for the next part of the battle! I didn't want to play that tactic until absolutely necessary though. I kept myself mostly in front of Ifrit's person so the wolves couldn't directly assault him.

[Seth_Rahl]

The lizard man had great skill as a warrior, and Ifrit held nothing but respect for the beast man as he ripped through the wolves in the way of a professional, not some amatuer. However, the wolves were cunning in they're own way, and even Ifrit could see that they were employing a tactic unknown to the two companions. it seemed they could.....talk, if that was the right word...to each other, and it was a deadly and effective tactic. After the lizard man finished taking the last down of this pack, he fell to the ground beside the devil, and assumed a stance that a martial artist would recognize.

"Dammnn. I would like to know where you fight like that, but we don't have enough time." Ifrit said, as he had noticed the hordes approaching upon the two as well. The lizard man asked him waht the plan was, and Ifrit said in frustration, shouting above the howls of the wolves; "I don't know! There shouldn't be this many of them!" He held Beowulf in the classic one handed defensive position while trying to decide what to do with the hellfire ball in his hand. If he used it now, he could only take out one. But if he strenghtened it, he would use more of his energy and he would be helpless. What should he --

Suddenly he saw something that didn't make sense. One wolf seemed to be melding with the other, not physically, but like it was a trick of the light....

"Of course!" The devil shouted. He turned on his aura sense, and of the 3 dozen wolves that approached them only about 5 of them had real auras. "They are mostly Dopplegangers!"

Realizing that his companion couldn't see this, Ifrit placed one clawed hand on the back of the lizard man's head. "Do you see?"

[Lexxum_Vordic]

((Let's keep this incredible pace up man, Seth you're good I could use you for other quests and stuff I have going with Lorenor. I'd definitely like to rp with you more you are a good power poster man))

Now it all made sense to me! Feeling my companion's hands upon my head and hearing his words I saw the mistake that my eyes employed. The heat of the sun often created hallucinations when one traveled through Suravani's bosom. Mitra's wrath created fancies to torment the hearts of men. This is what happened now, in my blood-lust I'd grown careless and was unable to spot the difference from figment and reality. Mitra's brilliance and Suravani's wisdom revealed the truth to me. But in order to see past the illusion, I had to focus on my burgeoning Senses capacity.

Realizing that I couldn't trust my eyes now, I fell back to my other Senses. They were potent, but not powerful enough to actually SEE through the Illusions, BUT they were potent enough to pick reality from fabrication. The few that were real I finally did detect. I stood up and yelled a mighty roar, eager to shed more blood. Of all the ones we fought earlier, only two were actually real! I nodded towards my companion.

"Don't use your eyes, they shall deceive you!"

I immediately developed a rapport with the devil-warrior. I could tell he was no mere man with the magics my companion wielded. With the numbers reduced, we actually had a chance at winning this thing. I lunged forward, keeping myself between my companion and I. The wolves finally made their appearance as they surrounded us. These wolves were much larger and more powerful that the rest had been so far! I liked these odds better. Just as Ifrit suggested, there were merely five of these True Mutants. The first one attacked me and I began to brawl with it. One more went behind me and the rest made their way towards Ifrit. I grappled with the main wolf as we tested one another's might. I felt the urge to call upon blood gift, but I held off on it as there were still too many wolves for my tastes.

[Seth_Rahl]

((*grins* yeah now that this is my senior year in high school I have 4 STUDY HALLS!!! Plus the fact I have a wireless laptop helps.))

"Don't use your eyes, they shall decieve you!" his companion hissed once more, and immediately grapple with one of the real mutant wolves. However, illusions still flowed to and fro, and even with his aura sense picking out the real ones the wolves moved too fast for any specifics.

"Damn it..." Ifrit growled, and looked at the churning mass of flame that he had conjured in his hand. He knew that after this he would either be completely out or unable to use anymore, so it would have to settle. Ifrit looked around, trying to discern the source of the images, and found himself suddenly staring up into the bright sun.

Wait just a minute.

That wasn't a sun at all. If it was really shining that bright, then Ifrit knew he would have felt it with his sensitivity to the light. It was--

Suddenly one of the real wolves lunged for him. Ifrit spun and ducked, swing his sword in a great sweep above his head and spliting the beast in two. Ifrit stood and glared at the pseudo sun. "As for you...." he growled, and sheathed Beowulf upon his back before cupping his hand that contained the fireball with his other hand. The intensity of the flame increased, and a mysterious shadow energy started to emit from the flame, enveloping Ifrit in a cloak of shadow. Several of the wolves that had survived the previous onslaught now jumped at the seemingly vulnerable devil, but were surprised when their coats were singed with a black flame that would not go away. They howled and screeched in pain as the black flame consumed them like acid, eating away at their flesh and causing them to thrash about, spreading the strange flame.

Ifrit's appearence had slightly changed as well. Instead of a tall, ferocious demon, there seemed to be a young man holding the flame in two pale hands, a pair of unnatural red eyes staring up at the pseudo sun. His flowing red cloak and shorts had changed to a black trenchcoat that seemed to glow unnaturally with a white aura, leaving the black flames sorrounding him to howl and scream. His hair had turned obsidian black, like ash from a flame. On his back Beowulf had changed slightly as well, becoming more mechanical and demonic in appearence.

"Amaterasu" This new young man spoke quietly, and while it still was Ifrit's voice in lacked the roughness or cockness from before. Instead, it had gained a quietness that was deadly calm. "Shining Heaven." and with that he raised his flame covered hands up, and the fireball, along with the black flames that sorrounded him, exploded up into the false sun.

The sun screamed, and it fell to the earth with a mighty crash. The youth known as Ifrit Obsidian calmly drew his giant blade as the sun unfolded into a mighty golden spider, and even as the black flames of Amaterasu tried to consume it the spider hissed and launched itself at the two companions.

Standing next to the lizard man, Ifrit seemed oblivious of the change in his appearence. "Are you ready for this?" he asked the beast man rhetorically, and dodged a blow from the giant's spider's pincer's.

((Ok, I know I know this may seem random change at first, but I'll explain why he changes later, it has something to do with his heritage. So mods and admins, this is NOT RANDOM, no matter how much it may seem. The Amaterasu technique and the appearence change I'm gonna request as spoils later on. Note that the appearence change will not change his abilities or power.))

[Lexxum_Vordic]

I grappled with my enemy ferociously until one of us finally had the upper hand in the combat maneuver. I felt the sensation of pain as the second wolf attacked me from behind, biting down hard upon one of the many fan like protrusions jutting out of my spinal column. The fan drew a green substance that was my native blood and this only made me angrier than before. I eyed the one in front of me and bit forward with my own attack. Since we were so close to one another, my attack actually connected. I didn't think it would be as effective as it was!

My jaws clamped down upon the trapezius muscle and I felt blood gush into my mouth. Tearing the flesh off this wolf, I pushed at him knocking him flat on his back. A pool of blood gushed from his neck. I rushed forward and swung in a 360 degree maneuver, attempting to knock off the wolf on my back. After a moment of spinning around, I finally did so. The wolf couldn't hold on to me with the agility I mustered thanks to my saurian physiology. The wolf was sent flying through the air and managed to do a half turn, balancing himself. I took a defensive posture as the wolf landed with a skid, and stared dead into my eyes. I stared back with rage and fury.

The wolf lunged at me once more. This time, since I could see him I was better prepared to handle it. The creature jumped when it covered a few feet of ground as it headed towards me, attempting to lunge at my neck. I reacted by sending a great back-handed strike from my left hand. There was a yelp, and I knew I broke the beast's spine. The boy rolled several feet off to my side and that's when my senses caught the change in my companion.

A surge of dark energies similar to the way that the Arta of my homeland might feel, burned across the air. I stopped everything I did to witness Ifrit's metaphysical transformation. In one moment, everything about the demonic warrior changed from a previous shell to his new shell. I detected the great archaic energies swelling from the mysterious entity before me and I respected him even more now. Such a tremendous power was worthy of respect. And I knew this. My people showed reverence to the gifts of Suravani, the Althanas Mother. All things in nature had a balance, even this dark apparition before me were part of the tapestry.

I watched with awe as the transformation took place. The remaining 3 mutant wolves senses the danger coming from Ifrit's person and decided that a greener pastures lurked elsewhere. They senses a greater predator within Ifrit and I saw them broke tale and run for their very lives. Not very honorable at all. Ifrit suddenly called out the true culprit behind the days events! A huge golden spider lurked before us and attacked my companion even as he asked me if I was ready. I was a beast of few words and so I responded in kind.

"I WAS BORN READY!" Seeing the true enemy now, I called upon the gifts of my people. I knew I was taking a serious gamble right then, but the new threat was a more dangerous one. I heard the legends of the Spider Magi and assumed that this THING was one of N'Jal's many servants. I knew bits and pieces of Thayne Lore from the many Phantoms that lurked in the deserts of Fallien. Sacrificing from my Blood Pool, I fell the call of my Ancestors. A fire burned up from within my belly, as an inferno, and my strength, speed, and agility increased to twice that of a mortal. I lunged directly at the spider-thing seeing how it would react to my onslaught.

[Seth_Rahl]

The lizard roared his battle cry, and suddenly in Ifrit's eyes the beast man's aura roared as well, and the devil knew that this was a change not only of appearence but of power as well. But he had no time to reflect upon this, as the golden spider hissed and lunged at the weakened devil.

The form of the lizard man, however, sped through the air with such speed that it hurt Ifrit's enhanced hearing and slammed into the golden spider, shaking the earth so that the pine needles fell like rain from the trees. However, this was no ordinary spider beast -- Ifrit had first sensed that when his new attack barely hurt it.

Wait, new attack? Ifrit blinked his eyes, and glanced down. What?! What had happened to him? What the hell was going on? He looked down at his favored weapon, and noticed that it had changed too. It looked both demonic and yet had a mechanical appearence too, but ifrit could ascertain to that nothing else was different from it. Catching the rays of the real sun on his blade, he saw his reflection and gasped. Did he just turn...human?

Suddenly, he heard the earth grumble from behind him and turned to find the golden spider bearing down on him, giant mandibles dripping a strange, acidic poison. "Die, human!" The thing screamed before launching a bullet of acid at him.

Time seemed to slow for Ifrit, and he took advantage of this. He spun while ducking underneath the blob of deadly spit and brought his giant blade to bear. The point speared the spider in the chest, and red blood spilled from the giant beast, covering his newfound Beowulf in a glow of crimson.

The giant beast screamed in pain and rage, and with a speed that belied its size leapt off the blade and landed about a dozed yards away, destroying several trees in its path. Ifrit, however, was paying no attention to the spider, and was instead looking at his blood- covered blade and body. "But I don't feel any different." He shook his head. "Whatever. As long as I can still fight."

His pair of crimson eyes shifted to the spider once more, and he noticed the blood-raged lizard man preparing for another attack. Inwardly he checked his energy supply -- he estimated that he could get off another shot before his body would be crippled for the remainder of the day. Of that...new technique, however...he didn't think he could use that for another week. Oh well.

He noticed the lizard man preparing for another powerful attack, and gestured for him to wait. For one, he did not know what trap this spider could lay, assuming that it was intelligent from its ability to speak. Two, since the wolves seemed to be under the spider's command, which seemed just a little odd to the devil, the spider could send them howling at their backs in an instant. And three, Ifrit had an idea.

As he expected, a wolf bolted from the shadows and straight for the half demon's throat. Instead of countering the beast with his blade, he ducked under its jump for his throat and slammed the beast in the stomach instantly with an old judo move, causing the great wolf to sag in unconciousness. If he could, Ifrit wanted to study the beast after the battle, but honestly did not think he would be able to.

At the moment Ifrit didn't care, but if he survived this he expected to get answers from his client. The spider may be big, but no beast other than of the race itself should be able to command packs of giant wolves like that.

As if on that thought, more wolves appeared, but surprisingly did not lunge for the two warriors. Instead, they formed what seemed to Ifrit as a semi-circle around the great spider, hissing and snapping at the demon and lizard man. When he saw the giant spider move slightly, he realized what it was doing: it was either trying to heal or casting a spell.

When a giant swarm of gnats swarmed from the creature's grotesque body towards the blood-consumed lizard man, Ifrit understood it was the latter. Pushing his body to its limits, he moved as quickly as possible and may have looked like a slight blure to the naked eye as he stepped in front of the gnats and the lizard man, and he improvised. Sticking the point of his sword in front of him, he began channeling his power through it, until the hellfire ball was being created at the very tip of the sword, just beyond the reach of the metal. Right before the gnats could consume the both of them, Ifrit poured all his remaining power into the fireball and combusted it right there, and the gnats, every single one of them, turned to ash before the tiny inferno.

When he was done, he collapsed to his knees, and stuck the sword point into the ground to keep him from falling entirely. "My...s-strength....is gone...you must....defeat it now....or at least....delay it....until I can...r-r-recover some of my strength. C-can you do that....comrade?" He was surprised he could make the words out. Already his eyes were becoming covered by the blackness he knew so well.

[Lexxum_Vordic]

All at once, my world became a living hell. The spider was knocked off to the side by my companion and I held onto my blood rage for a few moments longer. Time bore on around us cutting like a dagger in its own right. I could see the trees around us shaking from the weight of the fierce battle. Had I called upon my Blood Rage too soon? That seemed the most likely scenario, and my ally called upon some sort of plan. In the meantime, I shut off the Blood Rage so I could think more clearly and knew that I still had some time left with that one, a matter of seconds, possibly a minute.

I saw Ifrit assault the spider with his newly discovered weapon, SUCH POWER, I thought to myself. My respect of the man grew with every passing moment as we fought alongside one another. I knew that I would have to give him a gift later on for giving me the chance to fight in such a glorious way. Keeping myself relatively calm for just a little while longer, I thought about what I would do to the spider. Then, a horde of gnats flew from the body of the spider. I stepped backwards a few paces wondering what this new trick was all about.

Several of the wolves surrounded the golden spider, and it dawned on me that this THING was controlling the wolves somehow. It was all done without the command of a voice, yet he knew that the creature could talk. It previously yelled at Ifrit some sort of taunt or words of negativity. It made me shiver to think that such a vile thing was as intelligent as that! Finally, Ifrit ran out of power and it was my turn to pull my weight.

Without even fully hearing my friend's commands I re-activated the last remnants of my Blood Rage all at once allowing the fury to distort my already terrifying visage. The air around my person surged with the energies of my rage, flowing from some deep part of me. I let the rage consume me and thought about every horrible thing I would DO to that spider beast. I suddenly burst forward with all the speed I could muster, which was currently twice that of a mortal man, and made my attempt to grab at the mandibles of the spider beast.

The golden creature's head shot up to intercept me as I came in. The thing's many eyes reflected my image as I came closer and I could see the calculations it made as it attempted to defend itself. The wolves reacted, but it was already too late. In my maddened state I could shrug off injuries as long as I needed to. No normal physical actions upon my person could shake me out of the Blood Rage. I held onto the fury for as long as I could and grabbed at the creature's mandibles. I saw that it attempted to conjure some of that acid-substance, but my hands grabbed the mandibles just in the nick of time.

I could see the acid dripping from the maw of the beast as it hissed in agony and desperation, attempting to call out to its companions. I noticed that the wolves hesitated when they saw my strength against their master, I made the other wolf bolt before so these things were capable of feeling the primordial fear. With all the rage and might I could muster, I tore apart the mandible of the creature. My maneuver worked better than expected and I saw the creature's skull become ripped apart underneath the weight of my attack. Acid blood sprayed from its form and landed on my person, my arms, my face, my chest. I felt the burning and I howled in agony, further terrifying the wolves. The wolves decided it was best to flea for another day and left.

Feeling the acid eating away at my scales and at my face, I cried in agony. The blood rage wore off. Still, I was thrilled to know that my scales were thick enough to protect me against the full effect of the acid. My face was now HIDEOUSLY SCARRED where the acid burned me. My hand went to my face where the steam flowed from it and I could sense that my eye was damaged beyond repair. I felt weak and tired after the use of my Blood Rage, but the Golden Spider left its mark upon me. I kicked the carapace of the beast despite myself and crushed it in, revealing the inner working and spilling more acid on the ground. A pool of the acid touched the ground beneath it and I stepped quickly away, not wanting to fall further victim to the beast.

I could not see out of my left eye now and I developed a glorious set of scars from the battle. The acid cooled as it reacted to the air around me, and steam flowed from my person creating an artificial halo. I fell down upon one knee, standing a few paces away from the melting spider. Only its skeleton was left before long. Once the acid base neutralized itself, I walked over to the spider's remains. Pulling up a long piece of grass from the earth beneath me, I tied several strands of long grass together. I made sure that the grass was free of insects.

Pulling some small bones from the claws and teeth of the skeleton I put together a Necklace of Bones from the remains of the Golden Spider, I used whatever acid remained to bore a hole into the tips of the bones. Once I put together enough of the bones, I slid the grass through the tiny holes and closed the grass making the Necklace complete. I limped, exhausted, over to Ifrit and I handed his the Bone Necklace to his person, a gift of my people.

"My people respect the one known as Ifrit. He is a skilled warrior, and the Ancient Phantoms of Fallien have blessed me with such a meeting with such a warrior. As is a tradition when we find Kindred, I give you a gift of Bone of our fallen Enemy." I said calmly trying to ignore the pain of my injuries.

[Seth_Rahl]

Ifrit had awoken shortly before the lizardman had slain the giant spider, scattering both the wolves and the spider's brain's in one, power-surged instant. However, after Ifrit saw the lizard man calm down and form something using the body of the spider itself, he nearly cried out at the visage of the creature, as the lizard man had suffered many wounds from the spider's acid and the wolves' teeth. One of them was a giant scar over his left eye, and the demon, exhausted as he was, could imagine that the beast man could not see out of that eye now.

The lizard man bent down and handed the half demon a necklace of the bones of the spider, a craft'smanship that Ifrit had never seen done to this day. He was amazed by both the grotesqueness and yet unparalleled beauty of the thing, and tears nearly filled his eyes as he realized the lizard man was in great pain and yet had done this for his fellow fighter.

"Thank you..." The half demon whispered, and summoned what remaining energy he had gained from his short rest to stand up with the assistance of his blade. "I shall treasure it always. And yet, you do not tell me how you know my name, when we never introduced ourselves?"

He tried to be humorous and put on a smile, but finally just stook out his now gloved hand for the lizard man's clawed and scaley one. "My name is Ifrit Obsidian. And you are?"

[Lexxum_Vordic]

I didn't know how to respond to the man's questions. The Phantoms of Fallien spake to me the name of the warrior and that's how I was able to utter it from my snout. To explain such a thing might require me many lifetimes of the warrior, but still I owed him at least a simple explanation. So I looked upon him trying to smile despite the pain in my face. The region around my left eye hurt tremendously and I kept a hand over my face, even as steam flowed from the structure still. I was grateful that the acid wasn't very powerful and instead neutralized itself quickly when it came in contact with oxygen.

"My Ancestors told me your name before I arrived. I am called Lexxum Vordic by my people."

I respected his response towards the small gift I gave him. It was a tradition of my people that allowed me the knowledge of necklace crafting. It was a simple matter of collecting bones, nothing really complicated. All of the Blood Lizards were taught how to salvage the bones of a worthy kill and form simple necklaces and jewelry from it, nothing complex. It was a cultural rite of passage of my people. I sat down on the ground looking at Ifrit, as I gasped in exhaustion.

"You've changed, I don't know if you've noticed such a thing yet."

[Seth_Rahl]

((I'm gonna end this thread.))

Ifrit looked down upon himself and the lizardman, again studying the changes that had swept his body mid battle. Why had this happened? And what about those black flames that had erupted from his fists, consuming the wolves and burning the spider thing?

"Yeah, I noticed. The only explanation I can give is that this has happened because i'm not a true demon - my blood is only half. But if that was the case, then why hasn't this happened before?" There were so many questions left unanswered, and Ifrit was about to voice more of them when severe nausua swept through his body and he too kneeled to the ground and coughed up some blood.

"Damn it..." he cursed, and saw the lizard man's worried expression. "....I pushed my self beyond my limits today, and whenever I do that I get hurt like this. I have to rest properly, and I can't do that here." He looked over at the lizard's injuries and felt a wave of guilt pass over him. "Here come with me, " He spoke kindly, and painfully got up as he extended a hand to his companion. "You at least earn half the share of the gold for what you did for me, and i'll personally pay for any medical assistance you need."

For a moment the lizard man looked as if he would like to reject the offer, but then clutched one of his wounds absently in pain. No matter how tough of a berserker this Lexxum was, not even he could stand againt the constant waves of pain he must be feeling, and he took Ifrit's hand as the demon helped him up.

With the two warriors supporting each other, they limped back to Scara Brae, leaving a bloody mess in their wake.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little while later...

Ifrit winced as the nursemaid tied a tight bandage over one of his wounds, and noticed that Lexxum didn't even flinch as she did the same to him. Of all the creatures of the world, that one must be made of steel, he thought to himself absently, as he continued to work the patterns over the bones of the spider.

He had noticed the patterns when the two warriors were walking back, and had asked the berserker about them. Lexxum shrugged, saying he did not know either, but it seemed to him as if the pattens signified magic runes of the sort. Indeed, now that the demon had gotten a closer look at the bones, he had saw that they were the runes usually placed upon weapons, as several of his Company members used rune-welded blades.

Which meant that the spider was not in essence a creature itself, but rather a weapon. And at the hilt of every weapon is the wielder.

This troubled the demon greatly, but he did not want to voice his suspicions out loud in this public place. Catching the lizard's eye, he mouthed; We need to go.

The lizard man apparently understood him, as Lexxum shook the hand of the veteran nurse away from his still healing wounds. The nurse started to protest, until Ifrit reached into his coat and pulled out a sack of carefully prepared gold coins, about an average size of 100 gp. "Thank you." he simply said, not wishing to delay his arrival any longer.

The two departed from the hospital and headed straight for the tavern in which Ifrit had met the dark man, the demon leading the way. He barged through the tavern and unsheathed his blade, which he had noticed had the markings that said "Eternium" in demon, and looked to the bartender. Surprisingly enough the tavern was empty, but that was what made this place ideal for meetings. The bartender simply looked at the two warriors and said, "Is one of you Ifrit Obsidian?"

Ifrit's blade dropped a little , but not by much. The man in black could be anywhere. "I am. Where is that man in the black cloak? He stayed here last night."

The bartender looked at him with unintereted eyes. "He left more than a few hours ago, and told me to leave you this. " The man pulled out a large sack of money and a note, both labeled for the demon.

The demon blinked in surprise. This was unexpected. Motioning the lizard man to come with him, they went to the bar and picked up the items. The barman turned away, grumbling some thing about strangers and blackmail.

Lexxum bade the demon to read the letter, and Ifrit, eyes wide, devoured every word.

My dear Ifrit,

I suppose I should congratulate you on figuring out at least that I organized the attack. Knowing that you would have some assistance from persons or things unknown, I set the trap up to see how the two of you would fare. Ifrit, I suppose you underwent a change during the battle, did you not? *chuckle* I thought you would appreciate looking more human nowadays, now that demons are being hunted throughout Althanas. Yes, we are being hunted. I warn you to watch what you do and say the next few months or so, because while you may be able to hide your appearence your ablities and personality are not affected by this change. Do not worry -- it is not an enchantment. I simply unlocked the hidden potential that you held, along with your own mother's magic that she gave at birth. Well, I must go...my own guise is fading as the ones who are looking for me are getting closer and closer. Remember...someday you must find me, and prove that you are worthy of inheritance.

~Arioch~

Ifrit gulped, and his throat felt dry. That man in the black cloak...

The lizard man immediately noticed something was different and asked what was wrong. The demon turned slowly and handed him the letter. Lexxum read it, and asked with a slight frown who Arioch was.

Ifrit did not look at the lizardman when he answered. "He's my father."

THE END...

((Alright I know that wasn't a very good ending but it achieved the purpose I wanted it to. Anyways, I request that whatever amount of gold that was in the bag be split in half, and to subtract about 100g for the sum Ifrit paid to the nurse.

Spoils for Ifrit:

Added to Equipment:

Eternium Beowulf: While it may look different and more demonic in appearence, the altered version of Beowulf is simply made out of steel and has not changed in strength or weight. Nothing else is known about it at this time.

Whiteshadow: A coat of darkness that suddenly appeared during Ifrit's battle, it has no special properties other than it changed his appearence and that if it is ripped or cut it will repair itself within a day. The ability to repair itself seems to come from the shadows, so it can only be done overnight or if the coat is taken off and placed inside a closed space. Otherwise, it is treated like any other piece of leather clothing and has no other abilities.

Lexxum's Necklace: A necklace made of bone by Lexxum, the lizard man. It apparently had no special properties.

Added to Ablities:

Amaterasu, or the Shining Heaven: A special attack that utilizes black fire to consume and detroy it's opponents. However, it has three stages, and Ifrit is barely able to utilize the first stage without crippling himself, as it takes away about 85% of his mana, or energy. The first stage is the only one Ifrit is able to reach. The second stage will probably be able to be reached at level 5 or so. The first stage resembles, for lack of better references, Naruto's Rasengan, except the uncontrolled version, where Ifrit consumes his arm in the flame of the Amaterasu and delivers a powerful close range strike while using the flame itself to protect him from harm. He can only use this once per thread and not without detriment to himself.

No other spoils requested. I don't know what Lexxum wants, though.))

[Lexxum_Vordic]

((My conclusion post, I approve all bunnies of my Character in this thread for the record))

Whilst I rested with the Nurses, my injuries worked to heal on their own bit by bit. Eventually and with rest my injuries might heal themselves completely but the scars would never fade. I was blind out of one eye and they gave me a thick series of bandages to cover my useless eye socket. The remainder of the acid was neutralized by the Nurses' magics. I did not complain about the pain, not even once. The Berserkers like myself lived for the thrill of the battle and I'd learned exactly how skilled I was that day. It was a chance to test myself against real warriors. The wolves, all though illusions, turned out to be an adequate challenge for my person. I'd gotten injured but not as badly as the losses that the wolves faced. Eventually I might work to hunt the rest of the wolves that got away down. That seemed like a very likely scenario.

I was a stranger to an even stranger land. My heart was in Fallien. They could take the Blood Lizard out of the desert, but they couldn't take the desert out of the Blood Lizard. Fallien was in the heart. Everywhere I looked I saw the beauty of Suravani's bosom. This made my heart ache to be back home. I knew that the Phantoms brought me to this land, Scara Brae, for a purpose. Whatever their design was, I would discover it in due time. That became my calling now, to attempt to unravel the mystery of the Fallen Ones of Fallien.

I looked at my newly discovered friend and he said it was time to leave without voicing any words. I nodded to him and stood up, despite the protesting of the nurses. They'd never operated on a Blood Lizard before and they were curious to test the limits of their powers. This I respected greatly, but I knew that other tasks needed doing now. I went with my companion to the place we were supposed to meet the man in black. The stranger, who I would later find out was his Father, left a letter for us to read and the gold reward. I took my share of the reward and wondered where we were going to go next.

"Well whatever you decide to do Ifrit, I will accompany you to the bitter end. Whenever you are ready to uncover the mystery of your Father, I will join you at your side." I took my share of the gold we found and nodded to Ifrit.

****Spoils Request****

1,000 Gold. And that's about it. (To split with Ifrit)

[Karuka]

Right, this thread was labeled a battle, but read more like a very gory quest, done as a tag-team fight against a common enemy. I decided to judge it as a quest. I have comments for each of you, and I'll split that up into paragraphs in most cases.

Continuity: 6

Seth_Rahl: I was confused up until the very end about what he was doing there in the first place, but that letter at the end clarified a lot. I still don't know why he was in Scara Brae in the first place, or what he was doing beforehand, but you did okay here.

Lexxum: I'm really confused as to how and why Lexxum wound up in S.B. He is too, I know, but I don't know much of him at all, not where he's been nor where he's going.

Setting: 2

All I got from either of you was that it was a forest. With mutant wolves. You got a point for interacting with the trees, but I don't know if your forest was thick or sparse, had underbrush or not, etc. And come ON. You guys are a demon cross-breed and a giant lizard. You have other senses, USE them. Is spider ichor acrid or aromatic for Lexxum? How can Ifrit differentiate between a doppelganger wolf and a real one? The environment would be absolutely rich with sounds, USE them!

Pacing: 3

It was a long, long battle sequence, really without breaks. The only reason you scored as well as you did was because it was broken up into sections. And Seth_Rahl...don't repeat dialogue, it breaks up the flow of the thread. As do OOC tags for the purpose of conversation. PMs were invented for a reason, guys.

Dialogue: 7

There wasn't much of it, but it was appropriate. Except for when Ifrit shouted out his attacks...that just seemed way too Power Rangers.

Action: 2

All right, I don't care what you guys thought you were doing, unless those wolves were mutated into something as hard as bread, you shouldn't have been able to just rend them in half. There was a lot of blatant powergaming in this thread, and I'm not tolerating it.

You two are level zeros, meaning that a vastly numerically superior entity that is described as pretty powerful should be about what it takes to take you out.

Lexxum, your two one-minute bursts are stipulated in your profile to make you pretty much defenseless afterwards, so how was he still standing after using both?

And Seth_Rahl...we have a very specific policy about new abilities and when you can get them and use them. I'm going to give you the new ability...but you won't be allowed to use it again until you hit level 1.

In environments like this, acknowledging how far your characters have to go is much more admirable than trying to portray them as very powerful from a low level. Think about that next time.

Persona: 4

Seth_Rahl: I didn't really get to know Ifrit at all over the course of this thread, just that he's some sort of demon-spawn and wants to make a buck.

Lexxum: You've got a barbarian character and you have him narrating in a style that I feel would be much more appropriate to an English bourgoise from a century ago sitting in his living room narrating an adventure in Africa to friends. I put this comment under Persona because the very style of writing conflicted with the character in such a way that I couldn't understand him at all. Lexxum is a very primal character, and such reflexive pronouns as "myself" and "my person" really don't suit him. He needs a much more primal style if you're going to continue to narrate him in first person. I did like his little cultural touches, though. It gave a little insight into him, even though the narration fit him like an orange peel on a banana.

Mechanics: 6

There were a few errors. Seth_Rahl, sometimes you have a misused term, or a numbers agreement that I'll take to be a typo. But you did hit upon one of my major grammatical pet peeves. "The wolves had a cunning all they're own." In this sentence, "they're" should be "their." They have cunning, they own it, to put it kinda crudely. Perhaps they are cunning, but that's not the way you were using the word.

Lexxum, you've improved from the last time I judged something of yours, but sometimes you break up sentences that should continue on. In your first paragraph of post 4 would have been much smoother if you'd taken some of those sentences and combined them. You also have a problem with dangling phrases. Here's an example:


The thing waved its hands and the doorway opened up. Releasing a powerful energy, I was suddenly sucked into the doorway without so much as a single explanation.

That implies that your character is releasing energy, which he isn't. The phantom thing is. The sentence should read:


The thing waved its hands, releasing a powerful energy, and the doorway opened up, sucking me in without so much as a single explanation.

Technique: 4

Seth_Rahl: Don't repeat dialogue. It creates a break, and actually took a point off from pacing, since it's a little disorienting.

I caught the use of suspense, but that was really ruined by the fact that you were trying to make your characters appear strong instead of appropriate.

Clarity: 4

I didn't know, ever, how the wolves were mutated. And wolves don't climb trees, so I don't know how they did that. And spiders have exoskeletons, not skeletons. If you're going to have critters as opponents, at least know what they do and how they act. And if the wolves' mutations let them climb like monkeys, that needed to be explained, and it never was. I don't know if they were monkey-wolves, or three-eyed wolves, or flat-faced wolves, or what. I liked to picture them with green fur and three eyes, but that probably wasn't what you had in mind.

Other than that, I generally understood what was going on. It was a pretty straightforward quest.

One more note: Lexxum, I've mentioned this to you before. I don't know what "atma" is. It was not in Webster's Universal College Dictionary, and if I have to look farther than that...I generally don't. I'm guessing it's kind of like either Japanese "ki" or some similar notion, but for all I know, it could be "pancakes."

Wildcard: 2

It would have been a 7, because the thread had some good qualities, but powergaming got you here, too. It could not have been that easy to deal with a pack of wolves. Wolves are intelligent animals, and if one gets its teeth into you, the rest are gonna swarm you and you're gonna die. Mutant wolves would probably be worse.

It would have been a zero here, save that at the last minute Lexxum approved some pretty major bunnies. Seth_Rahl, if you want to do stuff like that in the future, discuss them with the other player(s) first.

One other note: this thread was really rushed. You guys mentioned "power posting" in your OOC tags, and while we don't have a rule against it, I believe that if you two took the time to proof-read, grammar check, and reflect if your characters should be capable of some of the things they do, your score would have gone from what it is to almost sixty, and into the high sixties if you'd bothered to provide a realistic environment and sensory details.

Total: 41

Rewards:

Seth_Rahl gets 325 EXP, 100 GP + 100 GP from Lexxum's spoils request, minus 100 for what he paid for some pretty substantial healing for both of them (total 100), and his human form. His other rewards are his equipment upgrades, and his Amaterasu attack, which is locked until he reaches level 1.

Lexxum_Vordic gets 325 EXP and 100 GP +100 GP from what I granted of your spoils request, as well as your scars.

[Letho]

EXP/GP added.