City of IF

[Smee]

Chapter 9: Beasts


Instinct alone powered my movement and I was only vaguely aware of what I was attempting. My hands danced in the air as the runes were traced out, shaping the spell to cover me in an image of flames.

A huge paw swiped from nowhere, narrowly missing my face. The claw caught in my robes though and the follow through nearly took me from my feet. It ripped free, but yanked my arm out sideways. For the barest moment I felt the rune come alive with the unexpected movement before I cancelled it by bringing my hands together. There was no telling what such an alteration to a rune might have caused without careful testing.

The second panther lept up to a branch next to mine, snapping momentarily at the first cat. My hands moved as fast as I could; desperation added to instinct. I'd performed this rune so many times, it had to be fast enough.

On the edge of my awareness I saw the panther in front of me lose interest in the other one and crouch down, it's back swaying in preparation for the pounce. It's front claws scraped at the branch, scratching out large chunks.

I released.

Instantly my body seemed to explode with flames in an inferno that should have set fire to the tree instantly. It didn't, and that fact alone would have meant failure against a human. Both the panthers let out a high pitched screech and scrambled backwards with arched backs; hissing and growling as they went.

I couldn't allow them to realise anything was wrong, especially if they were directed by my opponent. He wouldn't be fooled for long even from a distance.

I tried a more complicated gesture, my arms rotating around each other as my fingers traced out the finer detail of the rune. As I released the spell I stepped sideways onto a newly materialised branch. The one I was on vanished and instantly the two panthers plummeted to the ground, scratching at the insubstantial trunk trying to save themselves.

An audible crunch confirmed that these cats hadn't landed safely on all fours and that they weren't illusions. I was facing a beast master!

As the flames died down I gathered the light around me and directed it into a flow. I faded from view.

-~-

Safely concealed in the green bubble Mical winced at the death of his pets. Curse the damn illusionist! He'd tried to reassure his pets that the flames weren't real, but against such an ancient fear even he couldn't prevent their retreat.

His hands moved confidently and his mind formed the clear image required. With a distracted flick he released the spell and a small colourful bird quickly materialised and flew into the thick jungle. Through the bird's eye he saw Gorin vanish and growled in annoyance, sounding much like his recently deceased pets.

The bird landed on a small twig in the tree next to where Gorin had vanished. It's tiny mind noticed a slight shimmer to the air and Mical smiled. A quick, but crude form of invisibility. All was not lost.

Within his protective sphere he poured forth his power into a large rune. His arms spiraled and even his face moved according to the dictates of the spell. With every gesture perfect he released it and watched a similar shimmer appear in front of him. With a weary wave he commanded the huge beast forward and smiled as he watched it vanish into the shadows.

His own eyes glazed over as he switched attention and watched from within the beast's mind, barely noticing the quick death of the bird as his thoughts became fixated on the hunt.

-~-

Safe for just a moment I tried to gather my thoughts. A brief inspection of my arm showed the claw had caught skin too. A long, shallow gash etched halfway from my shoulder to my elbow. I'd live, but now I needed to take the attack to my opponent before he came up with something else.

All I knew about Beast masters flitted through my mind. Random passages from books, parts of scrolls, odd fragments of many conversations. I didn't know much. No one did except the Beast masters themselves! They could certainly create beasts, although everything suggested that it was a lengthy process done in private. In battles like this they didn't create, but instead summon their pre-made creations to them. How many did he have to call on?

They could also control them, either through orders or direct possession. The former much more restricted than the latter but leaving the mage free to direct other creatures.

My thoughts jumped to the opening of the battle when he'd made my own attack turn into birds. Simpler creatures could be created on the fly it seemed?

I puzzled on the green mist. So similar to the fireball gesture I was familiar with, yet entirely different in form. Given his disappearance it must be a kind of invisibility but how to penetrate it?

My thoughts were broken as I noticed a bird stood on a branch not far away, head cocked as if watching something, and staring directly at me. A new found paranoia of animals meant I didn't hesitate in reacting. Before it'd so much as straightened its head a tiny pulse of light snubbed out its life.

My confidence in my invisibility wavered and I hastened to move from my current position. The illusion moved around me, providing branches for every step. I all but ran through the treetops as I separated myself from my old location as much as possible. Panting I stopped at the other end of the arena and looked back, at both the jungle, and the dust filled arena still visible to my eyes. No sign of anything.

But wait, what was that? A tiny swirl of dust, and another. They stopped. Slowly I maneuvered myself down the tree until I was once again back on the arena floor. A flick and I spun round. Yes, another one, off to the side. My mind took an odd leap of intuition and I realised the pattern. Something was moving within the confines of the jungle; I could make out the rock outcropping the swirls had avoided. Yet it was also invisible outside of the illusion!

My mind tried to make another judgement. The spacing between the 'footsteps' was wrong. That wasn't Mical!

Another one! Closer!

I stared around the rest of the arena. Nothing but the faint faces of the crowd showing through the ethereal image of the jungle.

Swirl...and a faint shadow?

Was it a shadow? It seemed to spread across alot of ground. The wrongness of the footsteps finally dawned on me. The distance between them was huge, at least ten paces! An unconscious shiver rippled through my body as my mind put an image to something that size. What, by the Gods, had Mical summoned?

Swirl...flash...

Two directions at once. Another swirl, following the curve of the arena and the path I'd travelled to my current position. Over to the side I could have sworn I saw a brief glimmer of the green mist. Annoyed I brought my hands together, ending the jungle illusion that so far seemed to have only aided Mical. Every tree, bush and bird vanished in an instant returning the crowd into full view once again.

A collective gasp came from the audience as they stared at a seemingly empty arena. Vaguely I was aware of the commentator wondering whether a victory had been achieved with the ending of the illusion. With nothing in sight he knew as much as the crowd and I blocked him out.

There... the flash of green again, much more noticeable without the jungle distraction. I moved slowly, aware that whatever hunted me could quite possibly see through my invisibility, but not totally otherwise it'd be coming straight for me rather than following my path. Most likely it could smell me.

Swirl...

I almost stumbled in my surprise. It was much closer than I expected, it must have taken nearly a dozen steps since last time I'd noticed it! A presence seemed to fill my mind with large claws, and even larger teeth in a nightmare head. Burn me, what the hell was that thing!

Flash...

I spun, forgetting to keep my movement slow. The green mist, still in the same place. At least it seemed like the same place, but it was gone too quickly to be sure.

I could attack it directly, or maybe wrap it in another illusion, maybe one like the hell I'd used against Gregoh. If it was Mical then stopping him should stop the beast that hunted me, but what if it didn't? If I gave my location away would I still be able to stop whatever it was if it continued its hunt even with its master dead? But could I afford not to?

Indecision tore through me, along with another shiver as I saw a swirl of dust just a hundred paces away. Less than ten steps would see it on me...

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

Ok Team...the battle continues.... :shock:

We face our first Beast Master and lack of experience is telling, with another decision point needed to get through it.

What can Gorin do?

I have some ideas, and suspect someone may suggest the one I think most likely to work, but I'll await and see.

Be creative :D



pics: bird, Fire illusion, ArenaForest produced by Fauna :)

[Muaddib]

I say head to one corner and wait. Its better to stay in one place and scan your surroundings than move around and give the beast master opportunities to surprise you.

[hewithoutaname]

Maybe Mical is controlling this beast directly, and then all Gorin would need to is break Mical's concentration through a straight foreword attack on his body...

Other wise I say Gorin should try to find a level of light that could get rid of or give more design to the beasts invisibility...

[LordoftheNight]

I thought the bird sitting on the barbed wire was good - where did that pop out of?

But what to do now - I'm not sure. He can't see either the beast or it's master, and as the creature is real merely seperating the connection wouldn't get rid of it, solely make Mical lose control. Quite possibly, that would be even worse, as the beast would revert to its natural instincts, at which he would probably make an even better hunter.

[Smee]

Quote:
I thought the bird sitting on the barbed wire was good - where did that pop out of?



:lol: You know I never spotted that. :P Damn I hate looking for pictures. :)

[DoomBuggy]

This is one long battle. :grin:

Illusion hasn't worked against this Mical guy. Everything Gorin has done has played right into his hands.

How about light? Gorin, close your eyes, put your hands over your ears and Thunderflash.

As bright a light as you can, to blind your foe/foes. As loud a boom as you can to deafen them. Then, while they're still trying to recover, make sure they stay down.

Casting the spell without the hand gestures will be tricky, but I think I read somewhere it can be done. This doesn't seem to be too time sensitive a situation, so I reckon he might have time to prepare a straightforward spell like this.

[Idea master]

I say do a slow rasing of light, then keep it there for a while. After that, you eliminate all light in the arena for a while. All of your invisiblity spells should glow bright as day for a second or two, letting you know what you are facing and where they are.
This is, of course, under the assumption that the invisiblity spells work similarly to chamelons.

[LordoftheNight]

By the way, I was just wondering, who here is reading the other Battle to the End stories?

[hewithoutaname]

Ok, I was sitting here thinking when this hit me:
Have Gorin pull a fast one on the creature. If Gorin can give an illusion sound shouldn't he be able to give it a smell. Ok, so he creates an illusion of himself with a strong odor of himself in the oppisite direction of him. Risky but if the thing takes the ait he can focus on finding and newtrilizing Mical.

Don't judge me though.

[Smee]

Poll is up guys - get voting.

From now on though - with the new fights starting soon getting some practice in - the poll options are weighted with different chances of success.

When we start the fights against the competitors being voted for then death/severe injury will be the likely result of one or more of the options you guys come up with.

So vote carefully.

Happy Voting :D

[LordoftheNight]

Hmm, after consideration I elected to create the pulse of light, seeing how this should work regardless of how well hidden his opponent is, and might well force him to reveal himself by accident.

[Smee]

Oh dear - 7 days, 3 votes.

Well I'm not waiting for more - I'm going with the thunderflash idea.

Thanks for those that did vote :D

Come on...

Crymzon
DoomBuggy
Muaddib
Phang
rlz
sparta12 ... wake up a bit.

If you don't want to be on Gorin's team - that's fine*, let me know and I'll take you off - but don't just sit there.

Happy Playing :)

*Well not really, I want everyone on the team, but you know what I mean.