Training Day (Kumari, Celia, Josephine, Artok, and Karmin)

[darkpigeon]

Josh was quick on her feet, but with this strange surrounding and these .. large wooden sticks sticking out of the ground she felt more helpless than she liked to feel. The beast missed her but only because that sorry excuse for a leader Karmin came in between. Josh cursed, her anger clear in her eyes as she looked at Karmin. She could have won this fight without her help and she knew that despite their big exterior she could be out of this beasts way and back into the city right about now. She only needed a few 'volunteers' to be mauled. She was pretty sure that the Drow and Undine would be more than willing to this beasts snack.

"Feck! git yisser own Karmin! she hissed as the beast was slightly disoriented by the pain in its eyes. "Yer are only makin' it pissed aff! 'oweya plannin' killin' dis on yisser own, wi' dem damn roses! yisser tree splinterin' spells ain't gonna kill dis tin' either." She hissed as the beast was angirly slamming its head against a tree, turning himself towards the Celia and Kumari. "We need ter distract dis beast, git it aff our trail! we canny expect dohs two ter be any use" She yelled as the beast looked at both Celia and Kurami, angry that its eyes were hurthing him and that they came to close to its territory.

[thetexanqueen]

Celia couldn't take the silence, it was awkward and Karmin was about to explode with anger making the others fear speaking up. She thought about the encounter with the goblins they would soon face and it made her heart race. She was excited for her first combat out of the arena but she knew that this would be nothing like the arena. I can do this, Celia reassured herself and straightened her shoulders back with renewed confidence. Celia was so deep in thought she didn't even hear the movement in the brush as they walked. It was only when she heard the growl did she refocus, she couldn't let her thoughts distract her like that.

“Shit!” Celia shouted as the large creature leapt out into sight and toward josh. Thankfully Karmin was able to step in front of the beast and keep josh from being an afternoon snack. Celia tried to understand what Josh was saying, but she couldn't understand a word coming from her mouth.

“ you have got to articulate!!” Celia shouted and moved toward the beast and waved her sword in its face, turning its attention toward her.

“When it lunges at me, and it will, someone needs to strike!” Celia demanded as she placed her full trust in the women around her.

(Sorry if the post is messed up at all. I'm on my iPad and I'm still trying to get used to typing on this thing)

[DukeWolfRein]

Karmin growled as Josephine went off on her. The girl basically owed her her life and here she was complaining. She didn't have to take this from someone that could barely pay attention to where they were walking. The Sefalin could have tore them all in half if it the mood for it struck. It seemed to her that the mood was striking right now. How to defeat a Sefalin was still a very big mystery, especially without the use of heavy magic or Mechanomicons to aid them.

"It has our scent, even if we ran or escaped today it would still find us days from now. Sefalin very rarely let prey go." She looked towards Josh and slapped the girl, her hand connecting with the girl's cheek with a crack that made even the Sefalin wince before it realized that the hit had not been made against him. Karmin growled "You think your screeching is doing us any favors right now? You stupid impudent little bitch! Let's forget the fact that I have to keep you all alive for a second and focus more on what you want. Want to fight it?" Her arms once more began to glow red as she turned around to face the Sefalin "Welps like you don't get to fight beasts like these."

Celia came out of the left field, waving her sword at the Sefalin who took one look at the Light Drow and readied his fist to send ehr flying. Karmin's legs once more lit up gold as she darted forward, as fast as an arrow, and connected her fist with the beast's side, sending it flying against the trees. She had had enough. She turned to Celia and walked up to her "You! I need you to stop running towards the threat and make yourself useful, find me two good medium-sized rocks and some vine." Her voice took on a less insane tone becoming more sharp and authoritive. Her eyes went to Kumari, the Undine seemed almost too out of her element among the chaos "Undine! I need you to flood the ground around us, immediately!"

The Sefalin slowly awoke from the daze of being thrown against the trees. His eyes fluttered open and it began to get up. Karmin's punch had sent it flying quite a distance into the trees, but it began to smell the air, searching for its prey. It could barely hear anything but a high ringing from the force of the blow. It let out a soft growl before following the scent back to the clearing.

Karmin looked at Josh, she could feel the girl's indignation at the slap and the want to hit her back. In her shoes, Karmin would have done the same, but to be in her shoes would mean that she'd have to go back down to that level, and that was not something she was willing to do. She heard the Sefalin's soft growl, the glow on her arms and legs disappearing. Three roses appeared in front of her and she looked at Josh once more "Wait in a tree, place yourself above from where it will walk. I will give you the signal when the time is right." She looked at Kumari and Celia "You two, when you're done go and wait in the bushes for my signal!" Karmin walked forward, her roses slowly turning as she faced the path that had been created by the Sefalin's impact.

[thetexanqueen]

Celia's plan didn't work how she had anticipated and being thrown by such a powerful creature knocked the wind out of her. Pushing herself up and getting air back in her lungs she heard orders being shouted at her. Without wasting another second Celia disappeared and went to find veins as she was instructed. It felt like forever but it was only a few short minutes before she returned wth the supplies Karmin needed.

"Yes ma'am!" Celia shouted and dove into the bushes, waiting for her next move.

[darkpigeon]

Josh was almost hissing at the woman that stood before her. She felt like she was being treated like a mere child! She was a student of Arthok for crying out loud and had been since she was only 12 years old. She never liked Karmin not one bit and as the woman had hit her she was reminded of how much she loathed the woman. The slap though really made her feel intense hatred and she if she was a fool herself she would fight the woman for all she had. Both women stared each other down as Karmin scowled at Josh, she was still the young woman's superior and Josh knew that she had to listen to what she had to say.

Kurami was almost frozen to to the ground. She was not prepared for this! This was insanity! She understood that she had to fight Goblins. But this? This beast that was so freakishly big and.. dear lord.. deadly. She looked up at the beast as it stood in the center of their small group. The young Undine told herself to get a grip on the situation and to do something. Luckily for her superior gave her orders and with that the Undine was 'back' and knew exactly what to do. She let her magic flow into the soil, deeper and deeper until she could sense enough water and let it all flow towards the surface. As soon as the water started to flood over the ground it turned into a thick heavy mud that would take speed out of the Sefalin's attacks.

Josh snarled as Karmin turned around to face her again. But when she got the order to climb and wait she could not help but to show the faintest smile she could muster. This was her specialty, climbing and waiting. She was someone that worked with the benefit of surprise and as Karmin was to distract the beast she would be able to attack it from above. She immediately understood what Karmin was planning on doing and quickly she went up the tree's. Like a squirrel on speed she got up and walked over the branches as if there was nothing to it. As she reached the spot where Karmin had told her to sit still she did, and awaited her next order.

[DukeWolfRein]

The ground had become a miniature swamp as the water pooled into it after Kumari let her Magic do its work. Karmin could feel her boots getting wet as she stood in the middle of it and held the vines. At the end of each vine was a rock, and she was tying the two vines together, her eyes set on the beaten path that the Sefalin's body had created. She made the first knot and then heard the low growl as the creature appraoched. The second knot was to reinforce the first, and to make sure they would not come undone too easily. Her eyes looked at the two trees on either side of the path and she began to twirl the vines, the rocks making a circular motion in the air as she picked her target carefully.

Every step was wet with mud as the Sefalin made its way back to his prey. He didn't like the water, it wasn't part of his natural habitat, at least not this much. A shadow stood at the end of the path the smell lead it through, and the shadow was moving something in the air. The Sefalin growled and began to run, this time its prey would not get away, this time he would catch it and eat it. As it broke into the clearing once more it saw the figure let go of whatever it was twirling and felt the ground beneath him become uneven and slippery. His legs came together and the momentum from his dash made him fall forward a few feet, his face falling into the mud.

Karmin watched the Sefalin go down and ran up its shoulder to its back. Her eyes began to glow a bright pink as roses began to appear all around her and glow with the same bright pink color. The Roses began to pile up on the Sefalin's back as the best moved to free its legs from the vines, but even with that it could feel that it had broken its leg just from the fall. Karmin looked at her flowers as they made a small bouquet on the Sefalin's back and nodded before jumping off the creature and looking as the Roses began to glow even brighter "Now girls, I want the three of you to kill it the minute my Roses go off. I don't expect much, but hopefully you'll do at least a dent. Don't hurt yourselves now."

The Sefalin roared as it felt the heat of the Roses on his back. The woman was a Mage, and not as harmless as he had thought. The Roses burned, they burned so bad. He could feel the heat beginning to rise and rise before finally there was a loud explosion and something tore through his back. His once strong skin was cracked, blood seeping from the wound as the smoke from the explosion settled. He looked up at the Mage and let out a painful roar before trying to get up and barely making it up before she said something else.

"Tear into him. Now."

[darkpigeon]

Ow how Josh loved to hear Karmin say 'now!'. she could feel her blades hunger for the beast that was underneath the branch she was standing on. She looked at the two other girls and grinned from ear to ear. This was her way of 'bonding' with others, a fight no matter how playful or serious it was, was a way for her to learn to know someone. There was just so much you could tell about a persons mental state by watching them fight. The Undine had smiled as she was able to pull so much water from the forest floor. The heavy rain from a few days back had leaked into the ground and made it able for her to make a grand mess of things. Kurami felt right at home in the mud and even seemed to relax as she felt the water seep into her shoes. Josh wondered if she would like the Undine over the drow, or the drow over the undine.

But no time for pleasantries or pondering over what could be. As soon as Karmin gave her order Josh grabbed her trusty swords 'Rock' and 'hard place' and came falling from the tree. Her swords landed in the wounds that Karmin had made with her roses, and they sank in deep into the beast. It roared as it felt the painful stabbing in its back and tried to get an hold on the small agile woman that was on his back. It slipped and got stuck with one of his hind legs in the deep mud. Kurami made sure that the ground under the beasts feet started to liquefy and watched it sink deeper and deeper into the ground with his hind quarters. "GOOD THINKING!!" Josh roared form the beasts back. She held on to one of the blades as she pulled out the other. She then put all he strength into the free blade and pierced it deep into the existing wound. The beast roared in pain and felt his hind legs giving away. She had struck a few nerves and could barely get away as the beast fell down on the ground. 

Josh landed firmly on her feet next to Kuram with both blades in her hand. She turned around to see the beast on his side as it struggled to get on his feet again. Without saying a single word the two young women seemed to form a single idea and Undine knew what to do next. Her smile that always seemed pleasant and friendly changed into a dark one a she pushed all the water and  mud run turn into a small wave towards the beasts head. As by magic she made the mud go into the beasts nostrils and mouth and deep into his lungs, filling them until it could hold no more liquid. The beast laid there as it did his best to cough out the mud that filled his lungs and mouth. Josh loved this cruel and dark trick that the Undine was playing. She had heard of Undine being able to bend the blood in a persons body, making it fill their longues or even stop their hearts as the blood would not go out and kept pushing in until the hear would just give away and burst. A truly cruel race if they wished to be, thought he hid it well behind their very calm demeanor. 

[DukeWolfRein]

Karmin watched as the Sefalin was drowned to death and she could not help but be very surprised and also excited. These girls had just shown that they were as merciless as they were dangerous. She could get used to them, she definitely could. As the Sefalin seemed to gian one more burst of strength in its panic, Celia jumped up into the back of the beast and drove her own blade through, joining Josephine's own two swords. The Beast went down, and this time it stayed down. Karmin smiled, she couldn't help it, it was all so well put together, and they had played their part so well. She nodded and looked at the girls, they were all very muddy, but that was of little importance, she clapped twice and nodded "Not bad for your first Sefalin. I definitely liked the touch there Undine, I hope you have more tricks like that up your sleeve. Now come on girls, no time to celebrate, there are Goblins to be hunted."

As Karmin began to walk towards the path once more she saw Josephine and Celia join up next to her and Kumari following close behind. She was already a little excited to see what they would do to the goblins once they found them. Babysitting wasn't as bad as she thought.

~~~~End of Quest~~~~

Continued Storyline in: questforevergreen.proboards.com/thread/40/shadow-shashallah-quest-event