Maximus writhes in pain pain as the bones in his arms begin to give - worse, his wings have been bent at impossible angles, the white of bone showing through torn skin. In a desperate attempt to save one of his arms, Maximus bites down on his own arm and seizes the tendril he’d tries to snap earlier with his fangs, gnawing on it until it dissipates - though after the tendril is gone his arm still hangs useless at his side, and he trips over again, falling to the ground thrashing.
Even knowing that he can regenerate the damage, Steeple cannot help but feel it’s a rather gruesome sight seeing his servant and professed son being crushed and mutilated in front of his eyes.
“Whoever did this is going to have hell to pay later”, Maurice fumes.
Judging a safe moment to have come, Steeple steps forward and gives Maximus a bit of extra blood. Invigorated by the incoming vitae, Maximus cries out - “Father, help me! Use the sword, I cannot destroy these blasted shadows! Cut me if you must! Please!”
Steeple grabs onto one of the tendrils and pulls with all his might, struggling with the ephemeral shadow - why the hell is something with no substance so absurdly strong?
After making a tremendous effort, he manages to tear one of the tendrils off one of Maximus’ wings, but the thing still writhes in his arms and without anchoring himself in place by holding onto a nearby wooden beam, it should be throwing steeple around like a toy - despite steeple’s strength, he still weighs very little, and the tendril is both strong enough to lift his body weight with ease and anchored to an extremely heavy target, Maximus.
Letting go of his anchor and drawing the bonesword, Steeple deftly destroys the tendril he was holding onto even as it flings him around - Eternal Thirst passes through the shadow as easily as it passed through flesh and bone.
***
Relaxing as he recognizes his master’s work and the deceit with the shadows, Saladin begins to float back down when the arrow hits his shoulder. From the burning sensation he can tell acidic blood was applied before hand.
Just as he begins to reapply his shield from surprise, he gasps and begins to cough up blood. His vision becomes obscured as blood begins to leak from his eyes. Even his mouth and ears begin to bleed profusely.
He finishes establishing the shield and blinks the shadows and blood out of his eyes when he feels something heavy come from above him. He can just barely make out something or someone pressing down on his from above. It’s not just the shadows and the blood obscuring his vision, he can tell that whatever it is, its form is extremely indistinct.
He makes a pushing and grabbing motion upwards, barely thinking, just wanting to get away, when the thing above him disappears and reappears directly on him, body pressed tightly against his.
“Sorry about this Salah, but you’re the most suspicious, so you’ll have to get it the worst.”
Kiril’s familiar voice echoes in Saladin’s ear even as he feels a burning sensation fill his belly. He pushes Kiril off of him, sending a telekinetic blast outwards that fractures the back wall of the pawnshop he’s facing - though Kiril has already teleported out of sight.
Drifting downwards, he’s struck by another coughing fit, as blood fills and then is violently ejected from his lungs. He recalls the third power of Quietus, which lets you cause severe and massive internal bleeding in anyone who you have touched within 24 hours. Recalling that it is a test of resilience, he boosts his stamina and goes to pull out the knife in his belly, only to find that there is no need, his belly was split open and the knife is on the alley floor, along with most of Saladin’s internal organs.
The shadows fill Saladin’s sight again, this time even thicker and stronger. Now he cannot see or hear anything. (Shroud debuff - +2 difficulty to all rolls, nightshade debuff,-2 dice to all rolls, 5 aggravated damage, 4 lethal damage).
***
After giving him a bit of blood Andreas begins to groan. Slapping him a couple of times doesn’t quite get him out of it so Heldric tosses his over his shoulder, at least relieved that Kiril didn’t kill him.
Stepping out with Andreas on his back Heldric and Joseph both see it when Kiril comes down from above the shroud, soon followed by a blood covered Saladin.
Kiril turns his attention to the two of them.
Well, one of them.
“Damn, didn’t think you’d be this slow. Was counting on you going off to save Anton from the four “assassins”.”
As he says this a torrent of shadow erupts from the shroud and swirls around Joseph, clinging to his skin and eyes and ears.
He doesn’t so much as glance at Heldric. Could it be he doesn’t see him? Or is he giving him a chance fo walk away without any further injury?
Even as this happens, Joseph brings the shroud above them down and fills the alleyway, obscuring Heldric’s sight and hearing, but also presumably Kiril’s.
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Topic: Chapter 2: Venetian Nights (Read 291001 times)