Ave's Perspective
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It takes me a few minutes, but the sigils are placed along the wagon. Simple wards to help protect against red magic, or simple projectiles like arrows. The female gnoll is very resourceful in assisting me, as she places many one time use glyphs along herself and the wagon. "Use all of the mana that you have, beast. That is your only use in this fight." I command. She makes a defiant noise, but I refrain from observing her reaction further. The male cat returns with a metalic staff in hand. He's had it slung on his back since the very beginning. "Alright! What gives, Liz? How the hells do you know we're wandering into an ambush?"
"Because we already have, fool." My voice low and stirn, I point to the several traps along the road and the archer posts set up in the nearby trees; all currently disarmed and unoccupied. The cat takes a moment to look around. My ears are ringing.
"But no one is here. We can go through just fine." He attempts to persuade me but to no avail.
"They might bother us again on the return trip. We will deal with this inconvenience now. Now, get on the wagon. We're going to ambush the ambushers." His perturbed look gives way to grin.
"Now you're speaking my language, mate!" He jumps up on the wagon and takes a crouched position bracing himself against the side with his staff pointed forward. I've never seen a staff held or used in such a fashion. It both concerns and intrigues me. Now's not the time to bother with such thinking. The ringing in my ears is getting deafening.
The female gnoll slumps along the side of the wagon. "Yoona..." Her breath is heavy. "Yoona, tired."
"Rest now, beast." I gently assist her into the back of the wagon. "Your duty is done." I check around the wagon which is now covered in glyphs and sigils. This simple wooden wagon has become a small fortress. It can only defend from ranged projectiles, but a fortress none the less. All I can hear is the ringing. I finally sit for a moment and everything goes silent.
A moment of absolute peace. The wind is still. No sounds of distant wildlife. The fey have likely warned them of the coming battle. Then I can hear them in the distance. The thump of boots and idle chatter of man. I gently grab the cat and pull him down into cover. "They are approaching, wait for my signal." He nods in agreement.
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Bandits
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"Hey! Look! There's an empty wagon at our spot?"
"Dammit, did someone poach it? I swear if it was the MacAlley's we gotta teach them a lesson!"
"Joe-Ehnis, check it for any scraps and get it moved."
"It's Jones, sir. Not Joe-Ehnis"
"Whatever, get that cart moving."
BANG! A crack rang out across the road and forest. Jones fell at the edge of the paved dirt. A pool of blood forming underneath him.
"Fuck! It's an ambush! Take cover! We don--"
BANG!
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Bounty
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The caracal cat had a gleeful smile, but a sadistic look in his eyes. Finally some catharsis, and bloodshed. These were common everyday bandits. Fair game in the eyes of the law. He loads another round into his lightning rifle taking aim at another bandit attempting to hide behind a thin tree. The fool.
BANG!
A hot streak of blue lightning arcs in a straight line out of the barrel, carrying a metal slug. It rips through the tree with a sickening crack as both the tree and bandit fall to the ground.
Another round loaded.
BANG!
Another.
BANG!
Another!
BANG!
ANOTHER!
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Ave
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BANG!
The ringing is back in full force.
BANG!
The ringing is piercing now. My scales have never felt such a violent itch. My mucles are on fire! I close my eyes and cover my ears, but nothing helps.
BANG!
A muffled voice sounds through the static. "Ave..." It's not the cat, nor the gnoll. It's someone I remember. "Ave...!" It calls desperately.
No! Stop! Not now!
BANG!
"Save us!"
I can't! I just can't! My body won't move!
BANG!
"Do something! You're our leader!"
Stop! You're all already dead! Already... dead...
BANG!
"Pathetic."
I open my eyes. Everything is silhouetted black against the crimson red sky. At the end of the road I see it again. The Demon. Chunks of my kin dripping from it's claws and teeth. I feel only instinctual fear.
BANG!
A crack of thunder, and the red turns to deep purple. The fear I feel is now determined fury. The black burns away for more purple as I'm bathed in it. I pray I don't wake up this time.
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Bounty
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Hahaha hahaha! It's been so long since I could let loose on some helpless bandits! There were about 20 of them, now it's down 10 or so. Poor bastards don't even know the difference between cover and concealment! Ametaurs! They can't close enough to strike me, and every arrow, bolt, and spell just dinks off or gets deflected before it can even touch me. These two know their magic!
Suddenly a white scaled hand grabs my rifle and rips it from my hands, tossing it to the side. So much strength! It felt like for a moment it was going to dislocate my shoulder. The fucking nerve of this lizard! "What the fu-- OH CRIKEY!"
What the fuck happened to him!? His eyes are purple! And he has MORE of them! So many teeth! Was he always this MASSIVE!? The wagon almost flips as he jumps over the side towards the bandits. He gets on all fours and starts sprinting. He could barely walk right, but now he's sprinting!?
"One of them left the wagon! Hit 'em with everything you got!"
I'd move to grab my rifle, but I'm too mesmerized by the monster in front of me. He's taken several arrows to the body, and spells to the face, and he's just shrugging them off! Gods damn! HE JUST RIPPED A MAN IN HALF!
"What the fuck is this thing!? That's it! Retr--"
Yep, saw that coming. There goes another one. Shouldn't be revealing your position like that. Mate, I almost feel bad for these guys. The lizard is absolutely TEARING through them. Just who is this guy and what world did we pull him from? DID HE JUST EAT THAT GUY? I might actually get sick watching this. I take a moment to look away from the carnage to catch my breath and hold my lunch. Phew. Glad he's on our side.
The screams die down prompting me to peek back up. The lizard has got the last bandit grabbed and lifted at the neck. The bandit is still alive and struggling, surprisingly. The lizard's hand pulses white as rays of light shoot out of the bandit's mouth and eyes scorching them in holy fire. I know that spell! "Purge!" It's a Hybrid Sancta Death spell... Which means he has some sort of connection to a god... but Lizardfolk doesn't have religions. This... This doesn't make any sense.
Something is very wrong here.