Part 3: A reckoning rides from the west

Ascian's prey hobbles around one of the sides of the building and his listless eyes train instead on the automaton to the right of him, all too able to remember the way his arrows had been all but useless against it but to sever its cord. For a moment he hesitates before the weapon fully lowers, staring at the creature as he attempts to push his way into what he thinks might pass for its brain. It's static and buzzing in a way that feels familiar, but his attempts to push past the net of electricity to alter who its friends are is too complex. He withdraws with reluctance, turning his attention instead back to the hobgoblin at the forefront and feeling a strange fury rise up between his ribs that he doesn't quite know what to do with – except note that it reminds him of the color green.

Na'arik turns and looks at Lilliana. She can see line of red flesh on his temple where the star had flown past, but seems to fade quickly. "Don't worry about it. Focus on what's outside," he says, moving toward the wall where everyone can hear the strange grinding and whirring of the automaton. He stands ready, preparing to swing his flaming sword at anything that comes through the wall. The door to the barn groans, and a flash of lightning swims through the cracks in the wood, appearing inside as a crackling bolt of lightning, flickering and darting in place, preparing to strike. With two hefty smashing noises, the wall near Na'arik caves in, showering wood splinters and small stones on the barbarian. The shield guardian breaks through and immediately meets the barbarian's sword, leaving it standing on shaky feet, the wood at its core smoldering. Marianne turns and conjures a rolling wall of sound that smashes into the lightning bolt. The energetic nature of the bolt allows it to shrug off most of the hit.

The sound of Lilli's voice chanting arcane words of power cut through the Dragonborn's war hymn. Giving him just enough notice to look up as Lilli unleashed a flash of light and the sounds of a roaring fire and burning men filled the air. His snout nearly at the ground Akiran yells out a shocked  "Damn! Ya been holdin' out us kid" Before turning his mind back to the battle. Hearing ragged breath and the sounds of a staff striking stone, Akiran leaps through the window his shield leading the charge. Glass clatters around him as he lands the crackling aura around his blade shining in tandem with his armor. Akiran's eyes glow with a savage gleam as he sees the flowing robe and thin armor less man. Darting toward him he leads with a hard over hand strike with his broadsword and shoulder checks the mage with his shield. Sending him sprawling to the ground, with a his robe flailing about him. The man looks up in shock and tries to regain his footing, but before he can Akiran slams an armored boot through his face. The crack of bone filles the air and with a last twitch the man lays still. Moving around the corner Akiran sees the Hobgoblin holding back and charges at the man, pushing his muscles past their limits. Even if he's not Gresik could be his kin. Reaching the warrior Akiran swing his broadsword in a sloppy arc that the goblin easily evades. Leaning into the momentum Akiran smashes his helmet into the man, deftly placing his leg behind the warrior sending him to the ground. Leaning his snout over the man "I'd stay the fuck down if I was ya." 

Thezra hears the sounds of battle from back within the barn, but keeps her weight against the door before her. Whether there are more coming towards the entrance or not she doesn't know, but she doesn't want to let them in so easily.

Thrandimir follows up his illusion with a flurry of magic missiles, the first two of which knock the closest man down where he stands.

Katrin doesn't slow down as she charges at the wounded man lying on the floor, struggling rather pitifully to get as far away from her as he could. Axe in hand, her shield at the ready, she skids to a halt, crouching above the man with a knee pressed dangerously close to his throat, her axe a hairsbreadth away. Her eyes are burning, as she furiously shouts at the man. "What the hell does Gesrik want? With me, with them? With any of us?"  The battle rages around her, but in this moment, it's only her. And the man on the ground in front of her. The sounds, yells, and screams of battle are muted as she glares at him. 

The recipient of the third magic missile of Thrandimir's flees back the way he came, scampering backwards. The remaining cultist throws open the door to find Thezra standing in the doorway, her enlarged form blocking the way in. The orc warrior decapitates him in one quick stab of her sword. In giant size, the blade is wide enough to sever his head completely, sending it bouncing off the cobblestones. Katrin's tied-up would-be mugger turns a defiant eye up toward the dwarf. "You're an obstacle," he says. "He wants you out of the picture." The hobgoblin captain stands up, catching Akiran's fist across his face. He powers through it and brings his greatsword around to smash into the dragonborn's armor, messing with the dragonborn's concentration enough that his spell fades.  The two armored lightning-themed men bash through the window and charge Marianne. One of the mages pops up in the window and brings up his staff. A thunderclap smashes into Katrin. The dwarf recovers, managing to keep the focus on her spell. When her vision clears, she sees that her prisoner is smeared across the floor, most of the right side of his body turned into a bloody pulp.

Lilliana looks around frantically as the large, living lightning bolt materializes through the cracks in the door and the two other men approach from the shattered window and rush towards Marianne; she realizes that no one was around to help her or Marianne. She starts reaching into her pouch to withdraw another marble to recreate the explosion she had just created, but then recalled the stream of energy that had been pulled from her necklace. She reaches out with her hand to touch against the cold stone while reaching into metaphysical self to seek out the same roiling coldness within herself. She then opens herself to the chaotic energies she could feel barely separated by the manifestation of onyx and as she draws her hand away from the stone she sees that same glowing star stuff being pulled away by her fist. Using both hands she pulls more of the raw, stellar energy and wraps it around her hands before gathering it and shaping it into a roughly spherical cloud of glowing energy. She grunts as she forces the energy to compress down into an unstable, miniature star and fights to hold the searing energy within before slinging it towards the three enemies that invaded the space, her ears ringing from the explosion of fire and the flash of heat that hits the exposed skin of her face and hands.  She looks on in concern as they remain standing, but instead of running she grasps the necklace again as her eyes flash a bright, burning silver as she allows the flood of entropic energy contained within her to burst forth. She cries out with the exertion as she rapidly gathers more of the energy, compresses it down as sweat begins to break out on her forehead. This time she could feel the eruptions of fire and heat from the surface of the star burning the palms of her hands as she fought for control before releasing the second explosion which these stalwart opponents continued to withstand. Lilli turns towards Marianne with wide, concerned eyes as she begins to create some distance as she calls out for assistance. "Thezra, Akiran! Someone, help!"  So concerned with these opponents, she does not see the flames that begin to climb their way up the walls and rafters of the barn...

Ascian's vision is obscured by dragonscales on the other side of the window and he looks away, distracted by the piercing sound of a familiar shout. The hobgoblin doesn't matter anymore; the sudden presence of smoke doesn't matter anymore. Somewhere in the barn Katrin is yelling, and he dashes toward the noise as if pulled. Katrin, whose face had become a storm cloud before this had happened; Katrin, who deserved better. Katrin, who he'd hurt. There's a streak of silver fur at his heels as smoke flies past him and somewhere along the way his own joins it, a familiar peeling of mist from his joints that mingles with fire and the scent of ash. At first he doesn't know where it's headed, but the beeline it makes toward the window has a purpose and intent he assumes somewhere in the back of his mind he must share, in the small, suppressed area that isn't focused on helping Katrin. He barely sees it flit out the window; barely hears the strangled death cry of the mage he'd watched fall. He shudders to a stop beside the bloody remains of a man across from the dwarf, looking from it to her and then the window. " Are you alright."

With a roar and a mighty heave of his sword, Na'arik cleaves the shield guardian's leg from its body. The golem falls, and Na'arik uses the opportunity to remove its head from its body. Seeing a lightning warrior charging Marianne, he lets out another roar and charges toward them. The rattle of armor can be heard from outside the south wall as more lightning warriors approach. The lightning bolt spirals over the cart and fires two blasts of lightning at Na'arik as he runs. The barbarian doesn't seem to blink. The fire from Lilliana's supernovas begins to crawl across the ceiling of the barn. The barn begins to turn hazy, leaving the Fireblades and their allies beginning to choke. Lilliana, immediately begins to choke. Marianne's eyes flare purple, and the warrior charging her simply stops in his tracks, his own eyes gleaming violet beneath his helmet. The raging wall of fire outside to the south dissipates.   "Stop your friends,"  she says, her voice like the crack of a breaking glacier.  "Kill them."  The warrior turns toward his approaching comrade. 

Akiran feels the warmth and power that filled him just moments before leave him as the Hobgoblin's blade crashes into his armor.  Though he has no time to consider this as the warrior raises his blade to strike again. Akiran rushes forward, jamming his shield roughly into the mans chest. Knocking the Hobgoblin off balance and sending the warrior crashing onto his back. Before he can get up again Akiran juts forward and smashes his armored boot into the man's head knocking him unconscious. Seeing the barn ablaze and hearing the clanks of weapons and armor surrounding him. Akiran pushes the body behind him and moves deeper into the alley. Raising his shield and forming a chokepoint for his pursuers. 

Thezra's patience wears as the seconds pass by and the sounds of battle loom louder everywhere save for where she is. Even the one man who sticks his head in — and promptly lets her roll it right back out — does little to assuage the antsy feeling creeping across her tensing muscles. Her eyes dart to the wizard across from her as he lets loose a barrage of arcane energy that concludes with the thud  of a body on the ground outside. In a past life and a past world, she'd have found such a display mesmerizingly dazzling. But so much had transpired since the days when magic held such appeal to her. Now it just seemed like anything else here — untrustworthy. Twin explosions rock the barn, and her grimace turns to a scowl. Cursing under her breath, Thezra sighs as Lilli's voice cracks through the cacophony. With a look to Thrandimir, she moves for the door. "Guard this." Smoke billows out through the door behind them, and Thezra curses again. Sticking her head out into the open air, she spots the approaching men in the distance. Whistling, she gives a shout.  "This way if you'd like a similar haircut,"  she grins as the disembodied head of the last visitor rolls across the road between them. Taking in as much air as her lungs could manage, she slams the door shut behind her and dashes back through the narrow opening leading into the center of the barn, the frame cracking as her hulking form pushes through. Immediately, her skin begins to redden in the searing heat of the blaze that burns itself into her retinas. She averts her gaze, and finds Lilliana instead inthe distance, alongside the living lightning from outside and... an automaton? Destroyed besides a smashed open wall? What the kru'taking fuck is even happening at this point...  The orcish warrior dashes forward, seeking to place herself between the fire and lightning and the others. 

As Thezra leaves, Thrandimir peers around the door that she had been standing by and sees five lightning warriors and an elemental moving rapidly towards the barn. Thinking that discretion might in this case be the better part of valour, the wizard bolts out the door and east around the corner of the building.

Katrin lets out an almost inhuman scream as her prisoner is smeared across the floor. She stands there, hands shaking, gore dripping down one side of her body, blood in her hair and on her face. She barely registers the smoke slowly choking the entire barn. She snaps her head up as Ash stops beside her. "No," she says quietly, her voice hoarse and cold. "I'm not."  Without turning around, she flings a hand back, and a mote of divine energy flies towards the elemental, but misses by a wide margin. Her hands are still shaking, but now Ash can see just how bruised and beaten Katrin is. The cuts and scrapes on her skin, the way she unconsciously guards her ribs. Her breathing is becoming ragged and uneven, with pain and the smoke filling the room. Her eyes start to water as the smoke stings them. "I'm not alright," she whispers, a few tears running tracks through the dirt and blood on her cheek. 

Akiran can hear the clatter of footfalls on cobbles, and a couple of thin, lithe bandits armed with rapiers and daggers. "Well, well," one says to the other. "A dragonborn walks hisself into an alley with a bunch of our dead mates at his feet. Guess we'll have a teach him a lesson, eh Fen?" Before Fen can respond, Akiran says, "Ya ain't teachin' me shit. Ya can fuck off, or join 'em." Without waiting for a response, he brings his sword down, biting into the armor on Fen's shoulder. Fen groans with the pain, and the faux-cheery demeanor fades from the swashbucklers' faces. Outside to the south, more footfalls and crackling mark the approach of more men and another lightning bolt. Ascian and Katrin's conversation is interrupted by a man in splint armor climbing in through the window. Another similarly armed and armored man approaches from behind, but spies Thrandimir through the smoke pouring from the barn and starts to give chase. The lightning warrior, his eyes glowing violet, turns to face his former comrade. Like an obedient drone, he rushes forward, beginning to slash at the other warrior. Two heavy blows of his longsword slam across his uncharmed friend's shield.  "What the hell?" the other warrior utters, bringing his sword around to smash into the side of the charmed one's helmet, then waits to see if the charm breaks. But Marianne's magic holds strong, so he tries another swing. Metal clashes on metal, but the charm still holds.

Lilliana's eyes begin to sting as the smoke bellows outward from the flames that are now beginning to roil up the walls and into the rafters. She looks up in disbelief and consternation at the conflagration that she had to have created with her spells. "Oh no-"  No words or thoughts followed as she begins to choke and cough on the thick smoke that swirls around her. She turns towards the large gaping hole in the wall left from that massive golem, stumbling through the barn as she gags, her eyes watering and clouding her vision. She bursts through the hole, stumbling forward as she falls to her knees hacking and gasping from the burning smoke. She looks up to see two men standing nearby with weapons drawn, assaulting Akiran just as the tears clear from her stinging eyes and the cool air hurts her brutalized lungs. She awkwardly scrambles to her feet, the magical leg feeling awkward beneath her and she more stumbles than runs a short distance away.  She practically collapses against the nearby wall and lets out a cry of exertion as her eyes turn into pools of what looks like molten silver as she draws once more upon her strange powers; she clenches her fist tightly as she looks at the men, using her other hand to steady herself as she jerks it downward rapidly. The two men suddenly find themselves drawn painfully towards the ground as the gravity around them is abruptly magnified; joints pop painfully and the find their movements sluggish. 

One of the lightning warriors gives chase toward Thrandimir, while the other two storm through the door into the smoke filled building.

  "No.  I'm not."  Katrin needs to say no more before Ascian is surging into motion, drawing a rapier that has, until now, almost felt ornamental at his hip. He and Ember move as one in front of Katrin toward the men blocking the window, first sword piercing flesh and then teeth.

Seeing that Marianne has things handled, Na'arik changes course and slides beneath the lightning bolt and plunges his sword upwards. The flames meet with the crackling lightning in a fierce battle, and the flames win out. The lightning bolt fizzles away into nothingness. Na'arik gets up and moves toward the approaching veterans, Katrin, Ascian, and Ember. More men approach from the outside of the barn to the south. The smoke thickens, leaving the newly arrived veteran and Katrin coughing and beginning to suffocate.  The veteran barely has time to recover from Ascian's blades, Ember's teeth, and smoke inhalation. He whirls to look at Ascian, a choking snarl on his face. Then, his eyes go glassy, roll up into his head, and he drops to the ground with a clatter like waste metal at the forge. Through the smoke, Katrin and Ascian can see Marianne pointing at the man, her eyes still glowing violet. "Run!" she yells.

Finding himself surrounded & seeing Lilli burst into the alley, Akiran springs into action. His shield raised high, he makes a sweeping slash with his broadsword that connects with the warriors leg sending him crashing to the ground. Akiran then swiftly lowers his blade for a heavy overhead strike cutting into the man, and then proceeds to stomp on the fallen warrior.

Thezra watches the chaos unfolding within the building with disbelief. She moves at first for the bolt of lightning in the center, but Na'arik effortlessly cuts it down. Two warriors stand to her left, but they oddly enough are focused on each other more than the rest of them. Seeing no actual threat within aside from whatever caused the explosions that now burned away at the building, she focuses instead on the unmistakable sound of boots storming in from behind her. Of course.  Either Thrandimir had been quickly cut down, which was unlikely given his slipperiness, or he'd failed to hold the door for more than a second. Or hadn't tried at all. Nearby, Katrin looked about as bad as she'd ever seen her, and men attempting to breach the window were being held back by Ash. The boy likely didn't mind the smoke, but Katrin would. Doubling back, she stops outside the interior door and plants her feet firm, letting the black tendrils of ink seep across her blade once more as she stares down through the doorway to the approaching men. Her lungs still full in her chest, she holds steady and waits.

Thrandimir keeps moving up the side of the barn, reforming his illusion into a wall between him and his pursuers.

Katrin nearly drops the axe as she starts to choke, the smoke searing her throat causing a deep, wracking cough that was quickly becoming involuntary. She stumbles through the thickening smoke to the window where Ash and Ember are. With effort, she reaches through the window, attempting to shove the enemy outside out of the way. To her surprise, she succeeds. She pulls back slightly, gesturing for Ash and Ember to go through. "Get--out--" she says, the words barely formed around her choking cough. "Get out of here!"   She finally manages the sentence before going into another fit of coughing. She would make sure they all got out. Even if it killed her. 

The two swashbucklers reel from Lilliana's attack. One of them -- Fen -- dodges a blow from Akiran's shield and moves away. He whirls into a dervish of blades, but the gravity manipulation around the sorceress send his strikes wide. Only one blow gets through, slicing a shallow bloody line across her upper arm. The other swashbuckler fights against the gravity to slash out at Akiran. Unfortunately, with Fen gone, all of the dragonborn's attention now lies on this one opponent. A dagger scores a glancing blow, but barely draws blood through the dragonborn's scales and armor. One of the cultists pushes through the warriors, slamming back a vial of healing potion. He glowers at Thezra. Right next to him, a lightning bolt squeezes through the crack between window and frame, coming fully into the room. The veteran Katrin pushed snarls, his attention no longer on Thrandimir. He charges back toward the window and slashes his swords through the window. She evades the first two blows, but the third catches her in the side and she collapses to the ground in front of Ascian and Ember. Blood leaks from her side and her chest rises and falls raggedly. Thezra can feel Katrin's spell fade from her. Marianne's thrall continues hacking away at his brother-in-arms, dropping the poor confused man to the ground. He then turns to flee, but sees many of the exits are blocked. He runs to the north, thinking himself safe from his new master's allies. Na'arik's flaming sword intercepts him, freeing his mind from Marianne's control and separating his head from his body.

Lilliana gasps as the blade slices open her arm and blood begins to gush down her forearms. She looks around and sees no one else coming to help, just her and Akiran as more and more smoke begins to pour out of the barn. She had powers, but with this blade wielding man in her face she began to feel that panic setting in, a brief flash of the moment back in the cave set an iciness in her flesh. Her hands shake and her eyes widen as they flash the bright silver and become like pools of molten silver as she begins warping the gravity around herself once more to completely warp the light around herself... and she disappears from view. She quickly rushes away to a place of safety... as safe as one could be in the middle of all this chaos. She presses her back against the cool wall of the nearby building and tries to calm her increasingly ragged breathing. 

The lightning warriors charge forward, one of them getting close to Thezra. She scores a devastating blow, sending the warrior tumbling to the ground. Another bash of her sword dents the warrior's breastplate. He cries out in pain, and releases a crackling blast of lightning from his chest.  Thezra feels her muscles contract and spasm, the bolt of lightning flowing through her. It knocks her held breath from her lungs, causing her to begin to choke on the smoke. The lightning flows so powerfully that on the north side of the barn, it vaporizes Fen, the swashbuckler that was pursuing Lilliana.

The sword swings. Katrin falls. Ascian deafens. There's a clatter when she hits the floor, or at least he supposes there must be; it's impossible to tell through the soundless ringing in his ears that is more reverberation than it is noise. It had been a whine in the mansion, a hum on the rooftop; a warning beat while on the barn floor. It's only here, now, watching her fall that it becomes a thunder; loud and heavy and insurmountable, a pressure that he hadn't realized all this time had been there, rising, always rising, building and building  until  – He thinks it's the mist at first, when the quiet comes; rising again off of trembling joints to spear the man on the other side of the window with irreparable fury as it had just seconds ago. And in a way, it is. But this fog doesn't flee, it fractures; lifting and falling back upon him to wind around wrist and elbow, rib and hip – a slow, sinuous claiming of limbs Ascian barely feels as he watches Katrin crumble. One more person he was too late for. One more person he couldn't save. No. Not her. It can't be her. The silence comes and it's deep, and it's deafening, and it's white. His hand lifts his rapier, or at least he thinks it does; it's difficult to tell now where hilt begins and the shroud of pale, thin mist ends. It begins to climb his blade as he darts toward the opening, beaten only by Ember's instinct to get there first. The wolf's teeth snap through the window and then just as quickly waif, heavy paws replaced on the man's chest with the tip of a rapier. The man has barely hit the ground from Ember's momentum before Ascian looms over him outside the barn, his sword buried between overlapping plates. Tendrils of mist slide down the silver of the blade to lick at the wound as he withdraws the rapier, the fog only pulling back to the metal with reluctance and then ultimately to his hand. It won't be her. There's a look on the man's face that should stop him; a look that tells him more of what he's becoming than he thinks he needs to know. Another time, Ascian might have waited; bound his hands for questioning or looked him in the eye and told him to run. But he's hurt, and Katrin's hurt, and it doesn't matter; it can't matter. There's pain between them now, and someone must pay all the same. For a beat he doesn't move and the mist flits past Ascian's face, combing through long, lank blond hair and over a gaunt face made gaunter by the shadow. Yet even with the shroud roiling around him it's the sight of green where grey ought to be that's most disturbing, eyes glowing with an emerald fire that puts the orb in his pocket to shame. The tip of the rapier drifts slowly, almost curiously, to the man's neck, and he lets it balance there, loose in one hand even as the words come in a voice that is flatter and colder and surer  than he's ever heard from his own lips. "I'm going to kill you." His head tilts, and the mist hastens to shift with it, pouring like a broken sieve.  "It's going to hurt."

Na'arik glances to the east, where Ascian and Ember are battling the veteran. He looks to Marianne, who gestures toward the massive orc blocking the southern doorway. Na'arik nods and charges up next to Thezra. He strains to see past her to the men pouring into the door.  "Push into 'em,"  he growls.  "Let's get you out of here. I've got your back." The smoke thickens, pieces of the roof beginning to collapse. All of the advancing lightning warriors and cultists begin to hack and choke. Through the smoke, Thezra can see Na'arik's face contorts in an expression that is both a smile and a snarl.  "All the better,"  he says. Marianne turns just in time to watch Ascian's leap through the window. Grimacing, and counting on Ascian to keep the man outside contained, she reaches out with a telekinetic hand to float Katrin's unconscious form through the window to a grassy spot she can see outside. Then she moves to follow, and spies the mist-shrouded form of Ascian. Her eyes widen in surprise, but she says nothing.

Pain races through Akiran as the Swashbuckler draws his blade back, dripping with the Dragonborn's blood. For a moment instinct and years of training take over. Akiran breaths in and quickly exhales allowing his mind to push the pain to a far corner of his brain. Focusing himself on the fight and pushing everything else aside. But as he reaches for focus Thezra's words fill his mind, urging him to use his pain and let it strengthen him. His breathing stops as he allows himself to feel not only the pain of the warriors attack but all of the unrealized anger that the events of the past few days have awoken in him. His breathing begins again quick and ragged, his eyes taking on a manic state as he bares his fangs at the man.  With a roar reminiscent of his ancestors, Akiran leaps forward.  His blade lashes out at the warrior's neck unleashing strikes with a recklessness fueled by rage. The swashbuckler's speed keeps him from losing his head though Akiran manages to backhand the man with his shield sending him sprawling to the ground. Akiran then smashes his boot on the man's knee and says "get up again and I'm takin ya head"   .

Blinding light. Katrin crumpling to the ground. The last thing Thezra sees is Katrin crumpling to the ground, blade pierced through her armor. A familiar dark mist begins to pool out from Ascian and Thezra turns from the approaching warriors to dash whenー Blinding light. Then, searing pain. Visceral, burning pain. Scorching, shooting pain that arcs along every nerve at a blistering speed that lasts an eternity of a second, across every inch of skin and in and out of her heart; through flesh and blood and metal above; and jolting from her eyes and mouth as a scream of agony sucks the air from her lungs and back into the black miasma clawing at her throat.  The smoke wastes little time, her instinctive gasping drawing it deep within, where it chokes into every crevice. Her eyes water, and she knows from the trembling of her limbs the damage is worse than the pain. For an instant, the sword in her grip wobbles, hovering over the ground. Na’arik’s words are in her ear but the blood welling up pushes them out, and she blinks madly to see, her vision returning slower than she’d like ー unhelped by the stinging saltiness bubbling out of her tear ducts. She was one foot out the door. The arguing had gone nowhere, and she’d made up her mind. This chaos… she should’ve been on her way already — away from this group and their lies and secrets and betrayal. Yet in less than a minute the whole world had shifted beneath her feet once more, and she could feel it pull her closer and closer to the brink of the abyss.  I don’t want to die like this.  The thought comes cold to her, cowering in a corner of her subconscious. It grows into a wail, but she frowns. It’s her voice, yes. It was her feeling, true. But it wasn’t her.  I don’t want to die like this.  She repeats, but the whimper falls from the fringes of each syllable. I won’t die like this. The sounds reverberate through her skull, not a statement but a mantra. A declaration bellowed in the silence of her soul.  I won’t. Die. Like. This. Her eyes burn red as she forces them open, a mad rage burning through her towards the men before her ー beneath her. Right. That’s what they were. They were beneath her. And she’d squash them, bugs to her boot. Fingers curl around the hilt of the blade, the shaking slowing to a calm steadiness that whirs to life with the motion of her arms as she thrusts it suddenly downwards, spearing the insect at her feet through the center of his armor and twisting until the crunch of his spine reaches her ears. The one behind him raises his blade, but her own is already ripping up and out of his fallen comrade as it smashes into the man. Tendrils of ink claw into the warrior, pulling him towards her as she mutters an incantation and crimson runes spark to life along the fuller of her sword. From around the warrior’s bracers, hellish chains begin to take shape, attempting to wrap around them and drag him down to where they meet the floor, but he manages to wrest himself free. The damage is done though, and as the heat leaves its mark, she stabs the widened blade through the doorway, spearing past him into the ball of lightning beyond. She growls. ”I promised you a bit off the top,”  she sputters out through the smoke. Twisting the blade horizontally til it’s lined up with his neck, she pulls sideways — metal nearly the width of the doorframe itself jutting across the thin space — and the man can hardly react before it cleaves straight through the gap in his armor and sinks deep into the barn on the other side. His body crumples, but his head rolls back towards his friends in the entranceway. Her heart afire in rage and pain, Thezra pulls back around the corner, her vision fully returning in time to see Katrin’s body lifted through the window. There is no satisfaction though, no relief to be found. Only fury.

Thrandimir looks around and everything seems to be moving faster and faster.  Despite the wizard's attempt at deception,  the lightning warrior behind him is hot on his heels. However, that problem suddenly seems much less pressing when he sees Katrin felled by the veteran and Ascian transform in response. Thrandimir breaks into a run. Ember forces their attacker to the ground and Ascian tears brutally into the man. Katrin comes drifting unconscious out the window away from them. No, Marianne. To me. To me . Thrandimir accelerates. For a moment it seems that he will collide with the melee, but then he utters a word in Tollanian and passes straight through it, disintegrating into mist, only to coalesce besides Katrin's limp form. "I've got you, Katrin. I've got you," the wizard mutters, dragging the dwarf into his lap with an almighty heave. A vial of healing potion from his belt is in Thrandimir's hand and, carefully, he tips it down Katrin's throat, propping her up and extending her neck to help her swallow. "Come on. Come on. Come on," he whispers as he waits for magic to do its work. "Stay with me."

The first thing she felt was pain. Then something warm running down her side. The smoke constricts her throat, and she's left gasping for air as she falls, her vision tunneling, then darkness taking her as she hits the ground.  The second thing she felt was weightless. As if she'd been cut loose and was floating in a vast ocean. She was here, and she wasn't. She was surrounded by nothingness and surrounded by chaos all at once. Thick, choking smoke blurred everything, her chest was tight, she couldn't breathe. I'm sorry Rose. I didn't make it home.  The third thing she felt was something in her throat. Something cold and wet. The weightlessness vanishes and the pain returns before anything else. She gasps, sputtering and choking, coughing through scorched lungs, a sharp pain in her chest, a stabbing pain in her side. Her body aches. Someone's arms tighten around her. Her eyes blink open, and to her surprise it's Thrandimir staring down at her, worry and panic etched across his face. She tries to sit up, but her body doesn't seem to work like it should, so she stays where she is. She swallows, coughing again, her eyes still stinging from the smoke she had left behind. 

Akiran's opponent kicks up to his feet and slashes at the dragonborn, to mostly no avail. Then he dashes away. Akiran's sword catches him on the thigh, but he is able to make it away from the dragonborn without getting thrown to the ground again. One of the cultists in the room that Thezra is blocking begins to flee to the fresh air outside, choking all the while.  The lightning bolt snakes through the wall and catches both Na'arik and Marianne in a blast of lightning. Marianne looks somewhat shaken by it, but Na'arik grits his teeth and slashes at the lightning bolt, nearly tearing it to pieces. It flickers weakly in the smoky firelight. The target of Ascian's ire shakily clambers to his feet and holds his swords up, his eyes wide with fright. "What the fuck.... are you?"  he utters, swinging his blades weakly at the mist-wreathed creature in front of him and the snarling wolf. His attacks are inept, with no follow through at all. 

From her temporary hiding spot, Lilliana spots Katrin's limp form floating gently to the ground by an unseen force just as Thrandimir rushes up to force a potion down her throat. 'Please don't be dead...'  She held her breath for several heartbeats until she sees her reacting and she lets the breath quietly. She takes a few steps out of her spot and notices that the tides seemed to be turning on this side. The man who'd cut her was nothing more than a charred husk while his companion was running away down the streets. That meant the others would need help! "Akiran, Katrin is down! I'm going to help!" She comes around the corner and stops immediately upon spotting some thing  wrapped in mists with glowing green eyes. She audibly gasps and begins to train her hands towards it, but then stops as she sees a familiar form moving around in the mists... Ascian. For the briefest of moments she thought perhaps the mist was attacking Ascian, but the way it moved and danced with him. No, this was him. She stands dumbfound for a moment, looking at the man Ascian had pressed up against the wall with Ember snarling nearby. Her initial thought was to target the same man, but in the distance she saw another of those lightning warriors rushing towards the fray and shifted her focus; Ascian seemed to have this well enough in hand.  Lillian lets loose of the hold she keeps upon the entropic energy seemingly contained within her and whirls her hands around one another, conjuring into being an orb of undulating, chaotic energy that rapidly shifted from burning fires of a raging star, to the ancient coldness of space, to the crackling electricity of a raging storm, to hissing and dripping acid before she sends the orb hurtling between Ascian and his prey to slam into the lightning warrior's chest with the pure force of gravity behind it! Her eyes drifted once more to Ascian's form, watching him very carefully. 'If he turns on us... he must die.'

The lightning warriors that were approaching Thezra fall back out of the room, following their comrade around the corner, only to see a wall there. One of them experimentally pokes the wall with his sword, and it passes through, but both hold their position. The warrior that had broken through the wall takes the brunt of Lilliana's damage to the chest and charges in. But his charge falters somewhat as the wizard he was chasing is no longer alone. His gaze darts between the wizard, the sorceress, the wolf, the veteran, and the mist-shrouded creature. Looking hesitant, he stops moving and holds his sword and shield at the ready.

"What the fuck.... are you?" For the first time, Ascian is starting to think that he knows. Ember's snarling teeth find purchase against the man's armor again and he's barely hit the ground before the misty form of a boy – or is it a monster? – is on top of him again. The order to  send the wolf out of danger's way is logical, but Ascian doesn't know if it's delivered verbally or psychically – only that fur darts sideways and a desperate flash of silver from the veteran's prostrated arm makes an attempt to draw blood. Handles are in his palms before he can recall drawing them, the wire tied between them simple and familiar.  Always from behind,  his mentor had told him on the streets years ago.  When you do what we do, no one should ever see your face. The wire bites into flesh as he forces the man onto his back with a vicious loop around thick throat, a bony knee falling on either side of his chest as Ascian's hands cross and then draw to either side of the veteran's shoulders, pulling the line tighter and then tighter still. Despite the brutality he's sure and soundless as he looms over his prey, high above and then increasingly lower as a straight spine coils, descending slowly downward until they're almost nose to mist-shrouded nose. For so long he'd followed the rule, taken it as verbatim; stared over flailing shoulders as the head in front of him struggled and bowed and then finally dropped. He'd thought it fair, then; perhaps even relieving. It was easy to depersonalize, to drop the body at his feet and wind back bloody wire and think no further of what he'd strangled in the dark. That was before Shadowfell. Before Casimir. Before Katrin. Mist exhales from the tips of his hair and end of his nose onto the veteran as green scans slowly through the wide eyes beneath him, the wire pulling tauter with almost clinical precision.  Fog unspools from around his wrists, crawling across the garrotte and licking lackadaisically at the beads of blood beginning to coat it.  He'd been so focused on staying in the dark before now he'd never really paused to notice the light in the depths of those pupils. He blinks, a passage of mist eclipsing emerald, and when fiery eyes open again they're intent on that pinpoint of light deep in the heart of dark pupils, watching with interest for it to snap out.

With a shout, Na'arik cleaves the lightning bolt in two and proceeds to sprint for the door, chasing after the fleeing cultists. The two lightning cultists break through Thrandimir's wall, and then spot the situation happening. They look across, and then something catches one of their eyes. He taps his comrade on the arm and points past Ascian and the unfortunate veteran -- straight towards Lilliana. They cut into the alley to go around the scuffle. The fire spreads even further, covering the ceiling and spreading to almost every wooden structure. She looks at Thezra, the last remaining person in the barn. "I can't teleport you out," she shouts. "Get through the door before the walls start to collapse!" With that, she moves north, cutting up through the hole that the automaton made in the wall.

Akiran's blood boils as the coward pricks his scales and flees. The Dragonborn's muscles tense and starts to lunge forward to give chase before his senses return. Akiran doesn't have many morals but his time after his time as a sellsword he'd never chase a fleeing man without significant cause or the promise of a hefty bag of coin. Yelling out "Ya coward! Thought ya was gonna teach me a lesson!? Run back ta Gesrik an' tell em we're comin for his head next!" Letting out a deep breath Akiran kneels and flips the hobgoblin captain over his shoulders and runs towards Lilli & the sounds of battle. Reaching the mage he tosses the Captain's body behind her and with strained yet friendly tone says  "Good ta see ya survivin da shit storm kid! Watch em for me." With a nod back to the knocked out goblin Akiran then rounds the corner taking a defensive position in front of Lilli and watches a scene out of a nightmare. Seeing the form shrouded in mist and burning green eyes emerging from within. & in the center of it all Ash. Akiran quietly says "He's a fuckin monster" in a quiet tone laced with shock.

The adrenaline is still pumping with the heavy thump thump thump  of her heart beating in her chest as Thezra shrinks into the corner of the barn, watching lightning fly and a black mist billow in from the window where Katrin and Ash had been. Na'arik gestures to her to follow as he runs, and Marianne calls something out before dashing away, but all Thezra can hear is the blood pulsing through her veins. Her eyes dart about frantically. There was little time left here for her, she could tell. The room was starting to spin, and her focus was faltering as the smoke subsumed all space in her lungs, burning as hot within as the fires above. She considers briefly just sinking to the floor to let the pain take her, when she spots a shimmer in the haze of ash and flame a short ways away. A shield. Katrin's shield. Her own sword weighing heavily in her hands, she clenches her eyes tight. She betrayed you. Yet she'd fought alongside her. Just a short time ago they'd sat here together, comiserating in a way that'd momentarily tricked Thezra into thinking they could trust one another — be allies. Maybe even friends. Imagine that.  If it was her sword laying there, she knew what she'd want done. Na'arik would have to wait. Pushing off the wall, she dashes forward, holding an arm up to shield her head from a falling piece of burning wood that smashes into the dirt beneath her. In a fluid motion she dips down and scoops the small shield and axe into her arms, turning in time to catch glimpse of Ascian... or whatever manner of monster he'd become... dig into a man on the ground. An issue for when she could breathe again. The door was too far now. As was the hole the automaton ha— right.  Thezra turns and leans back, pulling one knee in before violently jutting it out, the solid boot smashing clean through the barn wall. A massive crossection collapses outwards, and a grunt of pain and metal tells her she hit someone. There's little time to process it as she pushes through the last seconds of consciousness to dash out into the open, her blade cutting a swath through the stumbling warrior in the entranceway as she inhales a deep glut of fresh air, finally back outside once more.

A sigh of relief leaves Thrandimir's lungs as Katrin sputters to life in his arms. "Come on, get up," he mumbles, standing and hauling the dwarf to her own feet. "You can recover later. This isn't over yet." Glancing over his shoulder at their open flank, the wizard takes in the rapidly changing battlefield. The Fireblades seem to be converging around Ascian, with Akiran and Thezra cutting off two bottlenecks, but the gap to their rear is still open. Twisting his shoulders towards the offending opening, Thrandimir tenses the fingers of his left hand and raises his palm to the sky as though dragging something out of the ground. " Thezra ," he whispers and a life-size image of the menacing orc appears, brandishing her enormous sword in front of her with a snarl.

Katrin steadies herself against the wall, her legs threatening to buckle. But she stands, her breathing hoarse and ragged from the smoke that had scorched her lungs. She looks up at Thrandimir, then over to Ash.  Smoke. But not the thick, black smoke of the fire destroying the barn. This was...something else. Something.... something from the Shadowfell... And those glowing, green eyes. And in that moment, her hands move, her amulet glowing hot against her skin as she casts a connection into the air. Hoping against hope that he answers. "Dad," she whispers, her voice grating, sending a shooting pain down her throat and into her chest. But she pushes past it. "I know it's been...a few years. But..." She coughs, grimacing through the pain. "I need to know. Is there resiq in our mines? Please. Yes or no?" Her voice cracks at the end, sending her into another fit of coughing. Please Father. Answer me.  Without thinking, she sends another spark of divine magic, encompassing Thezra in a softly glowing shroud. Shielding her from harm. She looks at Ash, pushing off the wall, willing her legs to stay under her. She practically falls to her knees when she reaches him.  "Ash," she whispers, looking into his eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm okay. I'm alive." 

The swashbuckler flees to the west around the side of the building, as does one of the few remaining cultists. A massive crack of thunder can be heard from that side of the building. The man that Ascian is strangling finally manages to push the rogue's arms away from his throat. Surprisingly, he clambers to his feet quite quickly. His eyes are no longer fearful, and there seems to be some determination returning to them. He pushes away from Katrin and Ascian, turning to leap the window and run into the burning building. Katrin, unarmed, punches the man in the back with a gauntleted fist. But without blinking an eye, Ascian slips the garrote over his neck once again, halting his pursuit. In her mind, Katrin hears her father's voice. "Katrin, are you okay? You sound like... ach  Scheiße... it's one of those 25 word things. Yes! Yes, there is a sizeable vein of resiq-" His voice cuts out.

Lilliana pulls her wide-eyed gaze away from Ascian’s form as she takes in the conflagration she had created with her magic, fully engulfing the building. She turns her attention back to the fight and notices one of the enemies further down the block pointing directly at her. She frowns, but then she feels a tingle of fear run through her as she realizes this group may have been here for her… she swallows against the tightness in her throat as Akiran drops something heavy behind her and she turns. “ Akiran…” she stops as he spots Ash’s strange form. “Perhaps, and we may need to prepare ourselves to kill him if he turns, but there’s more. I… I think some of them are here for me!” She points in the direction that the two enemies had run. “One of them was pointing right at me before they ran that way. I think they’re trying to come up behind the others. I need you here.” He could hear the pleading in her voice, the fear in her bright green eyes that reflected the glow of the fire raging not far from them both. She places on hand on Akiran’s shoulder as she places the other upon her necklace. “This may feel strange.” Akiran feels his stomach lurch slightly as Lilliana encases both of them in a gravity well that warps the very light around their bodies, causing them both to essentially disappear from visible light spectrums.

The lightning warrior picks himself up and throws himself at orc warrior that had bowled him over. Thezra batters the first away with her sword, but the second one leaves a bloody slash across her thigh. 

"Ash. I'm okay. I'm alive." The words come to him through a cloud as physical as it is mental, a voice he needs to hear as much as he can't. Katrin, alive and breathing despite all that had been done to her. Despite all he'd taken upon himself to avenge. His hands don't move from the garrotte even as his head does, snaking upward with an unnatural smoothness more suited to the mist that shrouds him than a boy with bones. With monumental effort his eyes lift, tearing away from the struggling man beneath him to the dwarven woman at his side. There's a moment of stillness, even with the wire pulled taut; green blinks at grey and his head tilts again in consideration, prompting a waterfall of fog again coiling to the floor. She was okay. It wasn't a lie. She was alive. Not a lie this time. But no, Katrin hadn't lied to him. She'd been one of the few. It wasn't a lie for now . How long until more came? Until other creatures came hunting, other buildings were lit aflame? How long before they were pulled from his fingers, each and every one of them until he was left just as he started, shaky and overwhelmed and frightened; powerless and alone. He could end it now. Had to end it. For this man, and then the next, until some day they stopped coming and the promise became a universal truth. The cloud that clings and roils across his form looks back to wooden handles and emerald drops back to crimson as veteran flesh and veins break beneath wire, pulled patiently tighter between misted grip. 

Na'arik gives chase to the cultist on the south side of the building, slicing his blade through the figure without missing a step. The two cultists that seem to be after Lilliana cut between buildings, running from Thezra -- only to find the hulking orcish figure in front of them once again. One of the them stumbles, but the other lets loose a massive blast of lightning that causes the illusion to ripple, like a pebble dropped in water. It impacts the wall directly next to Thrandimir. Marianne tries to push through the invisible forms of Lilliana and Akiran, but makes a graceful turn when she hits and bends to inspect the unconscious hobgoblin instead.

Akiran's scales flatten as he hears the fear and pain in Lilli's voice. Distracting him from the stomach lurching shift as Lilli's magic works over the pair. Reaching his arm out towards where Lilli was before, his mind noting the sharp absence of his usual dazzling armor. Akiran whispers "Don't worry Lilli. just stick back here, I'll make sure none of em get even close ta ya. And if fortune's kind I'll grab one of em alive" His voice for once sincere  "We're a team kid" As he speaks Akiran feels his the brand on his chest burn and feels a thunderous aura envelope him before arcing towards Lilli. He then charges forward blocking the alley. His shinning armor visible once again and shouts "Thunder fucks! I need one of ya alive, drop ya blades an' it could be ya!"

Thezra’s pain and rage pulses through every motion and she feels the world shudder around her as the blade of the man beside her cuts through her thigh. She spins and slashes wildly, pulling way above his head as her vision goes red. She pulls the sword sharply downwards though, and barely registers the sickening sight of the oversized weapon carving a path down through the shoulder and nearly all the way through his abdomen.  Backing up into the wall behind her, she clenches her eyes shut and bends over, gripping her head, the thumping in her chest threatening to burst. Slowly the blaring red fades, and she’s left with ragged breath and beaten body in the glow of the burning inferno besides them. Her eyes crack open, and there stands Ash. Or rather, whatever thing stood in the boy’s place.  It swirled in white mist pierced only by an unearthly green glow of two dull eyes that bore into the skull of the man before him. The man gagged, choking on his own blood and spittle as Ash’s wire tore into his throat. And all stood by, watching it happen. Katrin seemed like she was trying to calm him down, but he only seemed to pull tighter. Thezra opens her mouth to call out, but she can only sputter out a cough. She reaches towards him, but can’t feel her feet move. “Enough…”  The word is weak and quiet, shaking under the trauma of each breath. She pulls the blade up. the man was too far to hit, but the inky tendrils that wavered off the edge stretched and reached like extending fingers. Pulling the sword down, they grasp at the man, clawing at his body and tearing into it, attempting to rip him away from Ash. ”Ash…”  through the burning of her throat she forces the voice through, rising louder with each syllable. “Ascian, enough!”

Too close, Thrandimir thinks to himself, backing up towards Akiran now that Katrin is safe. As the wizard goes, he adds a twist to his illusion of Thezra, who begins to sway and gyrate before the oncoming warriors. The effect is strangely hypnotic and the pair freeze on the spot, transfixed by the sight of the enormous orc's undulating behind. "On your left, Akiran," Thrandimir calls to the hulking dragonborn, putting the warrior between him and his pursuers like a wall of armour.