Deep Underground

[Kage]

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Fall 50, 124

Kage got word of some vokhai hiding underground. Those disgusting creatures were always up to no good, and as someone involved in the defense of Aelheim, he sometimes got tasked with sending his treants to deal with them. The vokhai were a disease, impossible to irradicate and yet one had to try… else they overpopulate.

And so, Kage had crafted some treants, pointed them at a cave and given them simple instructions – explore and eliminate any humanoids they came across, except for aelves. There were twenty of them, none with any competence in combat skill, but they were each about the size of a human man and capable of overwhelming most normal people.

They were an odd mix of creatures. All of them were made of wood and plant fiber and they would look shockingly anatomically accurate in the dim lighting in the caves. Some looked like spiders, others like dogs or wolves.

Weeks and weeks had passed since Kage had sent them down in the caves. Ten or so remained, travelling together in a group, attacking anyone they came across. They'd gone a lot further than they were meant to and at this point Kage had no way of getting them out. So, he let them keep wandering around and killing until someone bothered to destroy them.

 

[Mercy]

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Strange sounds echoed about the vicinity; that of creatures Mercy had never encountered. A cacophony of horrid screams of pure unadulterated terror could be heard from a large distance away. The pair had just finished a battle mere days before the newfound mission; find, capture, or kill "Treants". They were creatures that looked like walking Trees and possessed immense physical strength. The latter had been obvious being that they had an apparent imposing stature. Said creatures were known to tower over mankind and wreak havoc. A Treant could be indistinguishable from an ordinary Tree in the correct setting. Therefore, they were to be treated like any other Vokhai, or pest within the confines of the Caves. There loomed a new threat that required the helping hand of the Ronin, and his comrade Wraith.

The short-statured woman who accompanied Mercy spoke aloud. "Why the hell would they send us to do something so… boring?". That question crossed his mind, but he cared not for the "Why" and more about the "How". The creature that had been described to him by the Dwarves had an obvious weakness. One that Mercy was incapable of producing fire. Therefore, the pair needed a strategy and a method of eviscerating their adversaries. Long gone were the days of peace, and fine cuisine for the pair. However, that did not mean they failed to embrace their new lifestyle. Wraith could always find comfort so long as she remained at the side of her Master.

Mercy breathed life into his companion; Wraith would live and die by his command. They waltzed together in tandem for several minutes. Eventually, they encountered the first of several odd-looking creatures. Mercy whispered to his companion "They don't have blood, do they?" He beckoned while he observed them from a distance. The creatures were in the middle of slaughtering approximately ten humans. Perhaps, they were a part of the mercenaries sent to deal with the threat. The male waited patiently, to gather information rather than make a direct strike.

Bodies were flung and strewn about the cave floor coated in a thin layer of aqua de vitae. The screams grew louder, and Mercy charged the fray amid the chaos. He was no stranger to the battlefield. Wraith followed behind him and guarded Mercys flank as his Katana had been freed from its restraint. The largest Treant, at the head of the group, brought down a massive limb toward the cranial structure of one of the men. Only to be intercepted by a pair of blades upheld by the warrior, clad in hakama, and his familiar.

 

[Kage]

The treants had no blood, but they were, ultimately, made of plant life. Water was plentiful throughout their bodies. Granted, there was less water in the hard parts… but there was still plenty to manipulate. They also weren't designed to go up against mages who could take advantage of their vulnerabilities.

The lead treant would consider Mercy and her familiar just as they had the rest of its prey – they had life within them and so they needed to be killed. It was devoid of emotion and was incapable of hesitation, so when it found its attack was resisted it simply lifted its arm and brought it back down again with a little more force.

The other treants would soon finish off the defenseless humans and turn to face off against the newcomers as well. Spiders scuttled about and wolves bared their fangs as they slowly and methodically made their way forwards. The treants barely made any sound apart from the creaking of their wooden parts and the splish splash of their feet on the bloody ground.

 

[Mercy]

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Blood, bile, and organs alike scattered the cave floor. Mercy was no stranger to the heavy scent of iron-wrought air. As the pair upheld the Treant trunk the beast struck again, and the pair withdrew their weapons. Which allowed the beasts' attacks to find no target and impact the ground in between them. The duo elected to make their first attempt at destroying the first of several monsters laden about the vicinity. The Ronin took a moment of pause, and a deep inhalation followed by closed eyes. Wraith walked around her Master in a half-circle, with her blade still drawn, and brought her Katana to the center of her mass.

An experienced combatant like Mercy could never be defeated by such a pompous, weak, brainless beast. The male had no concerns about the opponent in front of him and elected to focus on conjuring magic. His arms raised parallel to one another whilst he brought together the Boshi and Saya of his blade. As the weapon re-entered its imprisonment the blood that pooled on the ground rose; as though it had come to life. Aqua de vitae danced, and the approximately thirty gallons began to move all at once. The Mune, Ha, and Shinogi followed until the Habaki, and Saego made contact. A subtle "click" sound could be heard echoing about the cave wall.

In the same split-second as the sound exited the massive pool of blood rushed toward the first of many Treants. The blood compressed and barreled past the head of Mercy; just behind Wraith as she stood guard. The fate of the first Treant had been sealed, and a massive column of blood bisected the large tree creature. The cave had suddenly become silent; except for the sound of two large sections of wood hitting the ground. Wraith charged forward through the now corpse. The pair repeated the process, again a total of three times having left behind three husks of what once were Treants. This had been no challenge for the Ronin, and his Servant. None were strong enough to stand before the duo.

"For honor!" The two simultaneously exclaimed aloud as the battle continued.

: Spell Reserves

Mercy has used 3 expert level casts, and killed 3 Treants.[/spoil]

 

[Kage]

Miles and miles away, Kage was in the middle of eating his breakfast. Something nagged him, telling him that some of his tethers had gone away, but he wasn't sure how big of a deal it was. He had thousands of tethers so a loss of a few here and there wasn't unheard of. Perhaps if he lost a few more he might pay attention. Lacking pseudowisps, it wasn't as if he would be able to cast magic through the treants that Mercy contended with.

The seven remaining treants scuttled onwards, fearless for their own "lives" and uncaring for their fallen comrades. Blood had splashed just about everywhere by now, coating a good portion of every treant. Their plant fibers slowly absorbed the moisture as plants tended to do. It would invariably make them marginal amount slower and sluggish.

Three leapt at Wraith at the same time at different angles. The four that came for Mercy were a little less lucky with their timing and would leap one after another.

 

[Mercy]

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Fearlessness, the trait bolstered only by either the foolish or the durable. Mercy, had been neither of the options as mentioned earlier. The male observed cantankerously and hardly moved a muscle. The galdr surrounding his figure churned violently; his Katana remained its Sayas confides. A sudden inrush of water surged toward Mercy, and his ghastly companion. Approximately fifty gallons of the amalgamated aqua-de-vitae, and water converged to surround the duo. Serpentine limbs began to form, from beneath the water's surface; that had once been viscous, and entirely still. In the time it took for the first three Treant(s) to surround Mercy, his defense had been prepared. Split-second decisions are often used to differentiate, between the novice, intermediate, and masterful in combat.

They threw themselves at "The Ghost of Jian" without forethought or strategy.

The other four who had aligned themselves by mistake, would come second. Tendrils formed of liquid swirled and whipped about. Wraith sprang into action and followed suit. Although, she too had been a skilled user of the Arcana; she elected to protect Mercy first, and foremost. She wrenched control of two of the four aligned Treants using hydromancy. These were unseen by the Ronin, as he focused on the ones surrounding him. In the next split second, they were eviscerated, and chunks of wood were strewn about the cave floor.

While Ronin destroyed all three of the enemies; including one that he could not see; Wraith elected to entertain herself. Tendrils of water still danced about their formation, as Mercy turned around. Only to see that Wraith had turned the battle into a puppet show. She forced the first two Treants; whom she seized control of to battle against their comrades. A master Aquari hardly required the hand gestures typically used by the Jianese to exert control of their magic. She instead forced the "Living Trees" to do her bidding and batter one another to the death. Whilst the others, who had not been taken control of, were too wrenched of bodily control, by Mercy. They turned the once bloody field of battle, into a children's game.

The duo took their time and battled one another with their respective Treants. Until chunks of wood, and furled, gnarled "Limbs" were discarded.

: Spell Reseves

Mercy has used 2 casts of hydromancy totaling approximately 5 gallons of water, as they wrenched control from the Treants bodies, at the end of the post. I would consider this expert level, let me know if you have any different thoughts.
Mercy has only used, and not conjured/created any sources of water thus far in the battle. He is however, manipulating the water, and blood-content available in the cave, and in the bodies of the Treants.

 

[Kage]

Far, far away, Kage noticed more tethers break away. Begrudgingly, he shifted his focus to one of the few remaining treants. What he saw was unsettling. His treants lacked true eyes, so all he could really see was the 'life' around him. He made out the general shapes of the two who had wreaked havoc on his treants.

To his surprise, he noticed that they weren't vokhai. They looked humanoid, though he couldn't pick out their exact race. He kept one treant still to watch as the duo used magic to obliterate treant after treant.

Kage sighed, knowing that it was only a matter of time before they were all destroyed. He puppeted the treant to carve a message into its own chest.

"Well Played" read the message, before Kage severed the tethers to those treants, allowing the remaining ones to fall to the ground, lifeless.

It seemed that Mercy had been victorious!

 

[Kage]

Thread Title: Deep Underground

Thread Summary: mercy kills some treants underground

Expected Rewards: 7 xp for Kage, 12xp for mercy

Thread Link: https://antarok.net/threads/deep-underground.394/#post-2312
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