[Mkguild] MK: Homecoming (3/3)

[Hallan Mirayas]

> Finally, they needed to draw the Beast's
> attention, to bring him to them on their
> timetable rather than his own. Once they had
> finished their preparations, Wolfram had the
> answer to that: a curving ram's horn plated
> with brass on the inside. Misha's brow
> furrowed as he looked from it to its mirrored
> twin on Wolfram's head. "Is that, by any chance, your own horn?" he asked.
>
> "The one Drift broke off, yes. Pascal repaired it for me."
>
> "And you didn't get it 'repaired' back onto your head?"
>
> Wolfram shrugged. "Waste not, want
> not. It'll grow back, and I get a story and a battle horn out of the bargain."

That's another awesome thing about being an
anthro. I love that Wolfram did that. :-)

>>>>  Oh it is REALLY cool.

You cut it off one line too early.  "I'm beginning to believe the stories George has told me about your grandfather, Wolfram..."  It's a defining moment of character for Wolfram.

> Faint crashes in the deep forest heralded
> the approach of the Beast, growing louder with
> alarming rapidity. Charles flicked out his
> Sondeshike and moved closer to Merai. His ears
> lowered and his whiskers backed. "I hope this
> plan works, Misha. I only survived my last
> fight against him because I had... help. If he
> does not remember, this will not end
> well." Turning his back to the clearing and
> the fire, Charles watched their backs should
> the approaching beast circle around to come at their flanks.

True on two levels. Yajakali stopped one
attack. Another ensured Charles survived because
for one moment Drift recognized him.

Yup.

> Treetops started vanishing on a
> straight-line approach from the northeast,
> clouds of leaves and limbs erupting into the
> air as their trunks were shattered or smashed
> down. Misha tightened his grip on Whisper and
> bit back the 'me, too' in his mind from
> becoming anything more than a heartfelt
> prayer. "Here we go, people. Stay focused and
> work together.” Everyone’s turned, save the
> rat, toward the path of destruction rapidly
> approaching. Misha saw even Charles glance
> back over his shoulder briefly. The fox took a
> breath and tightened his hands upon the haft of his axe. “Saroth? Now."

Yeah, the treetops vanishing is a great visual too.

I had planned on him just appearing from the shadows, but the 'oncoming cataclysm' damage trail really made the set-up so much better.

> With a gesture from the weather dragon a
> breeze uncoiled itself from around the fire and
> raced out to meet the onrushing beast. It
> carried a message, a very simple message, yet
> one that stopped the Beast in his tracks; the
> smell of cooking trail-biscuit. Silence
> settled on the forest like an uneasy fog. Ten
> of the longest seconds of Misha's life followed
> before Merai broke in. "He's moving again,
> slowly this time. I think he's
> circling." Elemacil lowered, its point
> tracking on the Beast, and a moment later Merai
> amended an affirmative, pivoting in place to maintain her facing.

I like how they are reaching out to him here.

It's an extremely good plan.  Don't engage him in combat, keep jogging his memory.  Good luck finding freshly baked, lavishly buttered biscuits in Hell...

> Exchanging a glance between them, Saroth
> and Tychicus began to applaud. This had been
> Charles' addition to the plan. If Drift felt
> like he was still in the arena it would be the
> spectators who applauded, not the
> combatants. There was no contest of might to
> be had from spectators. It worked; the wolf
> froze in confusion with one paw lifted
> mid-stride. The two dragons were the only ones
> with hands free to clap but, unasked for,
> Wolfram let out a whoop worthy of the Summer Festival.

And a very clever addition too! For the first
time in all this I think Carcarak is confused.

Absolutely.  It's Carcarak's first experience of culture shock.  It won't be his last.

> "Drift?" Misha spoke quietly. He hadn't
> meant to, but the name slipped past his lips before he could stop it.
>
> The effect was instant. Ears flashing
> straight backwards, the Beast flinched as if
> from a blow, then froze as every muscle in his
> body went iron-taut. For a moment, nothing
> moved in the clearing except the faint wafts of
> frost that passed for the Beast's breath. Then
> slowly, as slowly as an iron statue being
> dragged over barren rock, the wolf's head
> turned from Wolfram. Tychicus and Saroth
> passed under its scrutiny with barely a
> flicker. Merai warranted a tightening of the
> eyes, a strangled, agonized whimper. Charles
> evoked a snarl and a shiver of pelt as muscle fought muscle. And then…
>
> Kill him.

And the Beast has found its target.

Yup.  If it had not been for Revonos' compelling geas, their plan would have worked.

> Gloved hands jerked Misha to his
> feet. "On- on your feet, sir." Shock stumbled
> Wolfram's words, but Misha paid him no
> attention. Drift had slalomed through the holy
> wards and weakened patches of ground that Merai
> and Tychicus had made as if he could see them. How- ?

I'm hearing Sarah Conner tell Kyle Reese, "On
your feet, soldier!" I'm sure that wasn't
intentional, but it's what sprang to mind.

I wanted to have him stumble over a 'no sleeping on the job' joke, but it slowed the action down too much.  This is also the first time they've seen Drift/Carcarak's Goldeneye in action.  He _can_ see the wards and weakened patches.

> The wolf wheeled around, paws splaying, and
> Misha's eyes widened. He'd seen dragons take
> that stance before. "Cover!" he yelled, and
> tackled Wolfram to the ground as the Beast's
> maw opened. As the rest of the party
> scattered, Tychicus mirrored the beast's
> stance, robe dropping away as he grew. His
> chest ballooned with indrawn breath until the
> moment the war wolf's stomach tensed, and then
> dragon's fire and hell-born ice crashed
> together between them like the fists of
> giants. With a thunderous, ground-shaking
> roar, each nullified the other. Fog exploded
> from the collision of extremes, the roiling
> cloud instantly whiting out visibility to a
> bare handful of strides. The evenly matched
> contest lasted only a second before Tychicus'
> fire blasted suddenly unopposed, coring a hole
> through the cloud and lighting distant trees on fire. The wolf had vanished.

Naturally, he knows when his attacked is matched;
no sense wasting energy when it won't work.

You don't become known as the War Wolf of Revonos without being very, very smart.

> "Drift? Are you-"

Misha, you really need to stop doing that.

>>>>Hope spring eternal! He still is trying to get to Drift.

If he stopped, they'd all be dead. Every last one of them.

> The Beast snarled. Was this tiny creature
> a fool? He faced Carcarak! The Beast of
> Revonos! The foremost servant and chosen
> champion of the Lord of the Sundered
> Shield! Not even the lowest, most witless of
> imps would dare to bring a shield into his presence, and this... this...
>
> Rat...

Recognition! It was only a week ago after all!

For Charles... but how long has it been for Drift?

> With a deafening roar, the Beast erupted
> into sudden, brutal violence. Thrashing about
> like a hooked fish, he slammed his head against
> nearby boulders hard enough to crack stone, bit
> his own limbs until bone gleamed, and churned a
> bloody circle into the earth around
> him. Tattered flesh and shattered bone healed
> as quickly as Charles remembered, only to be
> torn and broken anew in a mad paroxysm of
> self-destructive fury, and Charles backed away
> in shock in spite of himself. His shielding spin faltered.

Not quite the reaction Charles hoped for, but a
few moments fighting himself is good for Misha.

It's the best reaction you could have hoped for.  When Drift and Carcarak fight in cooperation, they're a living catastrophe.  When one fights and the other doesn't care, they're highly dangerous.  But when they fight each other?  Completely ineffectual.

> Saroth, returning to the fray, swerved out
> of a swooping side attack to pluck Charles from
> midair, unconscious and bleeding. He winged
> away, getting the rat to safety, but the
> Beast's open maw tracked on them, preparing to
> blast the bronze weather dragon from the sky.

That's twice now I've let you beat my character up. You owe me big time. ;-)

Yes, I beat your character up twice.  I also saved him from damnation.

> Merai lifted a hand in a warding gesture, a
> glowing barrier sphere rising up around her,
> but the shadow-wreathed servant of the Lord of
> the Sundered Shield cleaved through it with
> contemptuous ease. Arriving in a blur of
> speed, darkly gleaming claws carved apart the
> light like swords, shadow and light tangling
> and dissipating in smoky swirls and
> eddies. Frosted teeth bared to bite, but Merai
> and Elemacil were waiting. The holy sword
> flashed, forcing the hellbeast to flinch away,
> and Merai swung with all her strength, guided
> by the sword's spirit toward a decapitating strike.

Nice to see something actually hurt him.

Whisper, the Sondeck, and Elemacil all hurt him.  He just happens to have a truly hellish pain threshhold.

> Wolfram charged into their midst, bulling
> shield-first into the Beast's shoulder. Teeth
> snapped shut on air instead of priestess, and
> white fire furrowed the wolf's cheek and ear
> rather than spearing through his
> brain. Carcarak rolled with the tackle,
> snarling over his stolen kill, and launched
> Wolfram into the air with all four paws. As
> the swordless fighter land in a clanking
> sprawl, the Beast turned away with a dismissive snort.
>
> It was a mistake he would regret only
> seconds later. As Carcarak inhaled to freeze
> Merai and Misha in one blow, Wolfram's hooved
> foot slammed upward between the Beast's hind
> legs. The building icy blast choked off in an
> anguished spray of frozen shards. In instant
> response, one hind foot lashed out, catching
> the frantically backpedaling ram across the
> shield like a thunderstroke. With that much
> power behind it, even a glancing blow smashed
> Wolfram off his feet, nearly wrenching his
> shoulder out of socket. The Beast followed a
> moment later, whirling and pouncing with a
> murderous roar. Metal-clad teeth cleaved into
> the ram's upraised shield, crumpling it around
> his arm like cheap tin foil. His blazing eyes
> promised to cleave that arm apart and then rip
> out the stump, then do the same to the other
> arm, then each of the legs, and then... He
> didn't get the time. Wolfram gritted his teeth
> against the pain, seized Carcarak's ear with
> his left hand, and slammed his horned head
> against the beast's brow. It didn't do any
> damage, but the forgotten familiarity of the
> move bought the ram a moment's pause. He put
> it to best use. "Payback for when you kicked
> me there, Drift," Wolfram growled, his face
> dripping with blood from the Beast's gory
> fur. "Back in training when we first met. Remember?"

And this is why we love Wolfram. :-)

>>>That is a great scene! :D

Wolfram headbutting Drift/Carcarak had been planned since the very first days of this plotline's creation, but the groin kick was a blinding burst of inspiration that had me laughing so hard I had to pull the car over.  I swiped the move from a story about taurs that I happened across a long time ago...

> Then Misha broke free of his
> fast-disintegrating ice prison. He hefted
> Whisper into a crossing block. "Drift-"

Misha? SERIOUSLY?

>>>Seriously!

Otherwise, you're all dead.  Seriously.  Misha has recognized by now that his speaking draws Drift/Carcarak into immediate, direct attack, and he's prepared for it.

> Drift whirled, death in his eyes, and
> slammed his jaws shut on the black axe's
> shaft. The runic weapon struck back instantly,
> ripping life energy from the beast like a
> wolverine eviscerating a rabbit. Carcarak,
> desperate to stay alive, pulled every last drop
> of daedra energy from the broken linking spell
> embedded in the collar around his neck,
> devouring every spell and enchantment ever
> woven into it or through it. The collar,
> overstrained far beyond anything for which it
> had ever been designed, flared white-hot for a
> tenth of a second before detonating, hurling
> Misha, Whisper, and the War Wolf in three separate directions.

This is why you need to carefully read the safety
precautions for a Runic Weapon before touching it.

   >>>>  Misha knows what the axe can do! It's Carcarak who failed to read the safety manual.  But to be fair it is written Hieroglyphics and a bit hard to read.
    >>>>Had anything less powerful then Carcarak had done it they wouldn't have survived. It's drained the life from some pretty powerful people in the past!

You're both incorrect.  Drift knew _exactly_ what he was doing.  He was trying to kill himself, because he couldn't stop himself.  That's what 'death in his eyes' means- he expects to die doing this.

> Silence fell, broken only by the TCHOKK of
> Whisper burying itself two feet into a boulder as it landed.

>>>> The axe will cut thru anything - wood, stone metal. The only thing it can't cut is those packets they but the ketchup and mustard at the fast food places. But then NO ONE can open those things up.

Carcarak's teeth and claws can- adamantite.  Well, his claws can now- biting Whisper pretty much obliterated his adamantite-coated teeth.  Thankfully, he can regenerate normal teeth!

> Cradling his right arm carefully across his
> stomach to avoid all of the sheared and
> crumpled edges of the destroyed shield wrapped
> around it, Wolfram struggled to his feet,
> muttering something he'd probably have to
> confess to Father Hough later. His body ached
> and his shoulder screamed at him with every
> nudge or shift, but it still compared favorably
> to getting thrown through a wall. Merai
> dropped the energy shield she had re-raised
> around her, her arm nearly finished thawing,
> and Misha levered himself upright, both looking
> about as bruised as Wolfram felt. "I'm getting
> too old for this," the fox grumbled as he
> pulled Whisper cleanly from the rock.

>>>> Ok. Admit it. We ALL saw that line coming.

Yup.

> And in the middle of them all, his
> blood-soaked fur charred and blackened where
> the collar had been, the mighty Beast of
> Revonos lay sprawled in limp-limbed oblivion.

And he made a satisfying whump when he hit the
floor! Excellent combat sequence and an
excellent and enjoyable next chapter in Drift's tale!

>>>>Agreed. A VERY good story.

The smell of burned blood and fur, though... not quite so satisfying.

Thank you for reading and commenting!  I am very glad you liked it!

Hallan
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