the war still rages on -- raid boss 2: the Captain

[Tena M.]

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Tena Moonspinner —
Who the kriff said 'avast' these days? The petite Demdji frowned.  Rather than rush outside, Tena crept towards the cave mouth, finding herself beside Rin though she carefully avoided looking to her.  Her sharp ears perked instead, listening with rapt attention.  Lavi.  Kriffing jedi.  The diplomacy was a waste, clearly.  He shouldn't waste his time.

Ebra stepping out of the caves into the open made her tense.  But her brother was made of calmer, more tactical sense than she was.  They only joined the other Elysites quietly.  Not adding to the tension.  Only standing at the ready.  The gears in her mind began turning.

Slowly, a smile began creeping up her face.  They had moved to the mountains because the captain operated with water.  So what if he was... Inside the mountain? Not as much water around.  The snow was outside after all.  She kneaded her paws into the ground.  Stone.  Rock.  She preferred sand.  It was more malleable.  Flowed easier.  But she could improvise.

Her tail began to lash to and fro behind her.  Impatient.  A call to action.  A reason to fight.  Halo was calling the albatross' bluff.  Lavi presenting an out.  Give me a reason.  Come in here.  Come on.
[align=right]— I tell you this story, save your life, set you free

[Mistrim]

Mistrim tugged at her scarf nervously, she didn’t like the way that the “albatross” was looking at her. Obviously it was a trick and he surely knew what Rin looked like. It confused her as to what motivated him to believing that she was Rin. Moving slightly further out from Nemhain, although not too far from him, Mistrim now sat side by side with Nemhain.

She was glad that she didn’t have to say anything and that everyone else was on the same page. She knew this wasn’t going to end well but she didn’t know who would strike first and that made her very nervous. She was content to stay where she was, surrounded by people she knew united in a fight.

Of course that didn’t happen when Quennel got a bit too curious. It wasn’t long before Mistrim was stood in front of Quennel, blocking the imposter’s view of the child. There was no way that she was going to let the kid become a victim, even if that meant putting herself in danger first. Now this meant that tiny Mistrim was in front of the group of Elysites. An unfortunate position but one that was much better then the small wolf being there instead.

Summing up whatever voice she had, Mistrim spoke with surprising strength. ”I think it would be best if you left.” That was it, no more talking for Mistrim. She was terrified, her wings fluttered slightly as she tried to lock her fear away. She didn’t dare look back to see if Quennel got to safety, her eyes stayed trained on the bird.

This was not gonna end well at all...

[Verdigris]

[font=trebuchet ms]Argh, this Kydobi was a father now? And in the same litter as this brute? Seriously?

Forcing a grin, the albatross dipped his head. "Well, congratulations on the spawn," he offered, feeling the cool wind condense into droplets of water on his feathers. It wouldn't even be enough for protection, but he couldn't help doing it anyway. "S'pose he's just a real family man now, aye? Settlin' down from his swashbucklin' ways to be a papa?" He couldn't help the irritation, either.

Then three other creatures approached, and he could smell a fourth nearby. Between the sand cat, her first mate and quartermaster, and an unfortunate child calling for a "Cosette," this was becoming quite the hassle. Before he could say anything to the child, though, Mistrim went to stand in front of her, blocking his way. Brave soul. It was a shame, really, what he would have to do.

The snow melted away under the growing sunlight above, the ice spikes behind him sinking into a puddle on the floor under his will, water rising up from the lake's surface below in thick clouds. "Well then, I s'pose I'll be going," he spoke, glancing up at Nemhain. "Was nice meetin' ye."

Surging forward, the Captain aimed to snatch up Mistrim in his beak, the water he'd called on splashing into the cave and threatening to sweep up everyone in the vicinity. Whether he managed to grab Mistrim or not, he would then fly back towards the overhang. Valerian and Nemhain would almost certainly give chase, he knew, and even if he didn't get Mistrim those two would hopefully be enough to draw Warringkingdoms out.

The Captain
Health: 100%
Current form: wandering albatross with blue eyes
Powers: water elementals, shapeshifting
Attacking: [member=9408]Mistrim[/member] (direct attack), [member=869]lavi s.[/member] [member=9480]nemhain.[/member] [member=299]Ebra M.[/member] [member=2326]HALO[/member] MERCER [member=10840]quennel ![/member] (splash zone)

[Warringkingdoms]

  From her position, she could hear Valerian speaking to the stranger, although his tone was different from usual- more like the tone she'd heard him using with the Ferryman. Clearly he thought this was off, too. Rin could also spy Mistrim passing by, though she couldn't see where the vixen took her position. She was tempted to whisper to Mistrim to get back, but she figured she couldn't do so without being discovered.

  The albatross' explanation was... full of holes. While Rin was still suspicious of the Halls to some extent, she didn't believe Redvox had anything to gain by spilling information to the Pitt. Even stranger was the way he spoke to Mistrim as though she was Rin- like Goldenluxury wouldn't have told him what Rin looked like. There was no way this wasn't a sham.

  The news that Valerian was now a father along with Kydobi briefly caught her attention, but she decided they could open that can of worms later. Lavi arrived there too, fortunately; the more backup they had, the better. Unfortunately, she could also hear Quennel's voice. The kid didn't need to be there.

  As Ebra passed by, she turned to glance at them, and in the process spotted Tena by her side. Keeping her mouth shut, Rin turned back towards the entrance to the main cave. Mistrim had spoken, told the albatross to leave, in a voice much bolder than Rin would have expected. And sure enough, the albatross proclaimed he was leaving. Rin poked her head out to watch-

  -just in time to see him lunge for Mistrim, water rushing in after him.

  Yanking an arrow out of her quiver, Rin charged into the cave and rushed towards Mistrim, aiming to intercept the Captain before he could snatch her. Flinging the arrow directly at his throat, she sucked in a breath and held it as the wall of water slammed into her, knocking her flat.

  Warringkingdoms
  health: 95%
  power reserves: 95%
  attacking: the Captain

[Mistrim]

Mistrim watched the ice melt, the shine of ice was slowly replaced by dripping water. It took her but a second too late to realize the implications. She glanced up at the albatross with wide eyes. One second was all it took for Mistrim to miss before she was swept up in the long beak of the bird. An arrow flew by her but within the chaos it was hard to tell if or where it hit.

She watched on with fear as the ground got further and further away. It scared her even more that, right beside where she previously stood, she could see Rin. She needed to be where it was safe! She needed to leave!

She refused to call out though. If she didn’t give any indication that Rin was there then perhaps The Captain wouldn’t notice her for a little while longer. Meanwhile, Mistrim would just have to hang on. She didn’t like being so high but if The Captain dropped her then she would have nothing to save herself. So let’s all hope she isn’t dropped yea?

Holding her scarf for dear life, it was the only thing she felt like was keeping her together. However, even that was slipping out of her grasp. Mistrim didn’t like this one bit as she was carted off and away from her allies.

[VALE]

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Late to the party, Vale hadn’t known there was danger. The shapeshifter simply wandered away from their camp to take in the new mountainous territory by wing. Some animals took shapeshifting as a power to rarely use. Vale was not one of them, constantly shifting into different species as her mood struck her.

From above, she swooped back down to the mountains, and caught sight of the gathered group‌. By the time she came down low enough to see details, she saw the unmistakeable signs of an attack. Silently cursing to herself, she supposed fighting as a crow of all things sucked, but she didn’t have time to waste by changing skin.

Still, the damn albatross loomed closer, huge compared to her own paltry wingspan.

Her beak opened, embers crackling out of whirling ball of fire. From above, about ten meters away, she worried about making the damn shot. It wasn’t often she needed to breathe fire like a damn dragon, but what other options existed?

Aiming a beam of fire at the albatross’s back, she beat the air with her wings and dived down. Crows sucked at hovering in the air, so here went a suicide rush.

health: 100%
current form: crow
powers: shapeshifting, intangibility, invisibility, wall-walker, enhanced senses, fire elemental
attacking: the Captain

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© LEXASPERATED

[nemhain.]

Rage. That was what filled the persona as she watched The Captain pluck Mistrim up in his claws. One moment everything had been fine, with all of them talking in low and tense tones while trying to navigate the situation at hand, and then the next moment a wave of water was crashing into her, sending her flying back. The fenghuang let out a grunt as she hit the ground, the world spinning for a moment before she launched herself upwards, her feathers wet and heavy. She wasn't in tip top shape, with her chest aching from the force of being knocked back, but she wasn't exactly dying either, and swiftly she found herself screeching as she gave chase after the Captain. Although she had missed her chance for her earlier attack to hit, the Captain had thankfully provided her with plenty of new ammunition. A sly grin came to Nemhain's beak as she gathered her power, raising up several sharpened ice shards from the pools and puddles all around. She aimed them for the albatross's side, attempting to sink them into his flesh. Her aim was good enough that she had hopefully little worry of hitting Mistrim or Vale in any way, but she still found herself diving down nearby, just in case the Captain dropped Mistrim and she needed to be caught.

Health: 90%
Power Reserves: 90%
Attacking: The Captain

[Verdigris]

[font=trebuchet ms]As he charged, the Captain could feel the fletching of an arrow whiz past his neck. The target must have finally come out of hiding. Still, he'd committed to grabbing Mistrim, and so as he snatched up the vixen he flew towards the overhang anyway. He could make Warringkingdoms follow him, and once she was in his domain, he would strike.

He could smell a burning stench, and instinctively pitched to the side, the flames blasting by the tips of his wings. Pulling back some of the water he'd splashed the others with, he sent it flying in the direction of whoever had produced the flames- he doubted it would actually hit anyone, but he was more focused on getting out of there anyway.

Hearing a screech behind him, he glanced over his shoulder just in time to see ice shards flying towards him. With a muffled caw, he commanded some of the ice shards to stop and reflect back at Nemhain- yawing to avoid the remaining shards. One twist in the wrong direction, though, and one shard sunk into his leg. Biting back a squawk of pain, he struggled not to drop Mistrim, only regaining a firm grip on her scarf after a few seconds.

Arriving at the edge of the overhang, the Captain turned towards the others and flapped his wings to stay aloft in place. His eyes landing on Warringkingdoms, he quirked a brow tauntingly. If he kept Mistrim here, in danger, he could goad her and the others into entering his terrain. The target may have been able to strategize on some level prior to this, but her protector complex always won out over her common sense in the end- he knew that much.

The Captain
Health: 80%
Current form: wandering albatross with blue eyes
Powers: water elementals, shapeshifting
Attacking: [member=9480]nemhain.[/member] [member=3123]vale[/member]

[Warringkingdoms]

  [font=trebuchet ms]As the Captain dodged her arrow and snatched Mistrim away, Rin jumped to her feet and bolted after him, swallowing back the panic rising in her mind. This wasn't the time to panic, this was the time to act. Struggling not to slip on the slick stone, she watched Nemhain and Vale launch their attacks- each targeted such that Mistrim wouldn't be hurt. That was good. The ice shard landing in the Captain's leg was even better.

  Rin skidded to a stop as the Captain paused at the overhang- then turned to taunt her. The nerve of this scum. He was too large for her to slam him on the ground with her telekinesis, but that wouldn't stop her. Taking a stance, she pointed an arrow in his direction, focusing. She didn't have to hit, or even really surprise him, as long as enough of them attacked at once.

  She flung the arrow into the air, aiming it over the Captain's head, hoping to startle him into dropping Mistrim. If he did drop her, she would then attempt to lift Mistrim back to the overhang with her telekinesis. Mistrim was small, so she shouldn't be too hard to carry- and Nemhain would be there to catch her too, just in case things went awry.

  Warringkingdoms
  health: 95%
  power reserves: 80%
  attacking: the Captain (sort of)
  attempting to assist: [member=9408]Mistrim[/member]

[nemhain.]

Nemhain grimaced when most of her attack missed, frustrated by the waste of her limited powers. Back when she had been around other personas and shadows, she had been able to expend as much energy as she wanted, but here? Not so much. She needed to act conservatively, and missing wasn't great for that. Thankfully, at least one of her shards landed on target, sinking into the soft flesh of the Captain's leg. Nem let out a shrill whistle of satisfaction at this, before freezing, when several of her ice shards halted in the air before flying back at her. Her eyes went wide, and she was forced to drop down from the sky, some of the shards scraping along the edges of her wings. She would've been gritting her teeth had she had them, the stinging pain in her wings an unpleasant reminder of how mortal she technically was in this form. Sure, she could come back, but she didn't really wanna saddle Rin with the emotional trauma of seeing her persona drop dead in battle. Taking a deep breath inward to fight through the pain, Nemhain hopped back into the sky and followed the albatross, immediately noticing what Rin was attempting to do to him. Hoping to assist somewhat, the fenghuang flew low, swooping beneath the Captain's perch in order to catch Mistrim if she fell. At the same time aa this, she aimed to use her mental communication to startle and disorient the Captain, trying to get inside his head and screech as loudly and as angrily as she possibly could. It wasn't a physical attack just yet, but she wanted Mistrim out of harm's way before she went charging into him.

Health: 80%
Power Reserves: 85%
Attacking: The Captain