Inn-world Combat: The Dread Reign

[st_aff]

At the crest of the mountain, Coc'zac sat atop Nazu's head looking through a glass that Hotor held to his eye. Vokva sat beside them, little more than a pile of bones atop a pile of rocks, and Hafur paced behind them, holding the troops in check. They milled in the pre-dawn gloom, skeletons, wights, zombies, wraiths, and all manner of undead creatures. Periodically, Nazu swept the space behind them with their tail bowling over anyone who'd gotten too close.

The first pinpoint of light had Coc'zac's teeth chattering with excitement in his disembodied head. Today was the day he'd been planning for. Soon, soon the Inn and its occupants would be his. Nazu unleashed a heavy sigh tinged with poison and necrosis. Fortunately the troops were all dead already, and Coc'zac didn't have anything in the way of arms to hit them with.

It fell to Hafur to gesture the troops forward as punctuation to Coc'zac's 'rousing' speech, and together they crept through the portal, avoiding its fizzing and popping edges demarcated in what would be neon blue, if they could still see in color. They couldn't properly hear either, but they were aware of the noise and the danger it marked.

Once they were all through, the advance scouts, four bands of skeleton archers swept quietly as they could through the shadows to take up position around the main buildings, prepared to pick off anyone who exited--for example for a pre-sun jog. And once they'd settled into wary, silent waiting, occasionally interrupted by the pop of a joint or the clatter of toe bones on stone, the next wave rolled in finding shadows to hide in until the residents emerged with the wights taking point.The bone naga and three flameskulls slipped through the lobby doors and stealthed toward the offices, assuming to find the command center there.

It wasn't long before the invaders caught the notice of the residents, and then shouts began to echo through the grey light and journals filled with messages and reminders of siege plans. Several strongly worded messages urged the kids and those without weapons or fighting skills to head for the Temple where the Hallow spell would protect them from unholy undead things.

And so the battle for the Madonna Inn began...

Comments

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_oryboard]

Mack could tell that he wouldn't be much help at the moment, all three adults were doing more damage than he could do. But what he could do, was grab the fallen pouch between his teeth. That had to be important right? Like the horn in his battle with the wizard back home.

Mack dashed over, carefully avoiding the swords, until something caught him and he squeaked out a yelp of pain. That didn't stop him however, he continued on and grabbed the pouch between his teeth. Tendrils of smoke rose from the ground where the pawprints were barely visible.

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_eelremains]

Big it might be, but it was also deliberate enough in its movements that the shape and direction of its attacks were obvious. Geralt dodged easily, then darted back inside the thing's guard, his sword lashing out in a blur of rapid, slashing attacks.

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_eelyourself]

With three companions moving around quickly, Piotr opted to hold his ground rather than get in their way.

He could see that the thing was getting angry, so he decided to try and goad it some more into attacking him rather than the others. “Is that all you ha...” but the quip died away as a pulse of pain spread along the line where the sword had connected with his armored skin. It hadn’t broken the skin, but he could feel a part of his life force being pulled from him.

Catching his breath in a moment, he growled and let loose a flurry of blows.

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_ockcharacter]

Hafur had his own problems to deal with, between a necromancer, a priest, and some kind of tentacle-summoning sorceress, but he kept one eye on his brother, always, waiting for exactly this: Hotor's battle-lust to overwhelm his self-preservation instinct. There was nothing lovely about their mother-tongue, shouted through a decaying throat and a dessicated tongue, but it carried well over a battlefield.

"I did not brew you those potions because I enjoy the smell, little brother!"

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_ockcharacter]

A few of the attacks strike true; others are blocked by his blade. Hotor is starting to look worn, tired, like a few more blows might very well down him.

Hotor lets out a little exclamation of realization as his hand reaches for a pouch at his waist --

-- and finds that it isn't there.

There is another pouch at his other side and he rips a glass bottle from it filled with a red, vicious liquid. He pulls the cork out with his teeth, then spits it out and easily sucks down the liquid inside.

It leaves him vulnerable, but he looks rejuvenated.

And furious.

He throws the empty glass at the nearest person then swings his sword with a graceless, lumbering force at one person, and then another.

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_unaligned]

Why did bad guys have to accessorize? Bo tried to dodge from the glass thrown towards her, but her momentary 'what the fuck' had her just slow enough for the glass to shatter at her back. She felt the sheering pain burn against her back and she swore. She was going to rip those decaying limbs off of him.

"Hey! It's not break time yet." And she swung her sword again.

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_oryboard]

The little bag is still tight in Mack's teeth but that doesn't stop his ability to help. He doesn't get too close to the swords, mostly because he doesn't want to trip the fighters up. Their attention will be on the mummy, where it should be.

He concentrated and with a flick of his tails, sent three fire arrows straight at the mummy. This time it wasn't a distraction, it was a hope of catching him on fire.

Re: Hotor - Boss Fight

[st_eelremains]

Geralt parried, but barely, and the force of the blow sent him staggering backwards. He managed to catch himself, regaining his balance, and then flung himself forward, going on the attack once more. When you were facing something stronger and bigger than you, you couldn’t let up. One of Vesemir’s first and most important lessons, all those decades ago.