The Ash Cycle

[Marko]

Chirandos quick acting caught the boar off guard. The half-elfs martial proweness placed the boar in an exposed position. There it was. The shard within his grasp, one swing of his sword could disslodge the the unnatural infestant in the boars skin and mind. And finaly end this confruntation.

Still, something bothered the half-elf. It bothered him since he froze the animal in the thick layer of ice, maybe a little before. It wasn't related directly with his frenzied opponent. It was the forest. Chirando couldn't place his finger upon what precisley bothered him about it. But there was something producing such sentiments of fear and suspitions in the heart of the young halfling.

The question was if the forest dweller would go ahead with his final swing on the shard or stave off his attack until he could expand his counciousness around the broader implications his sense have detected in the wind and medium of the forest. Was it important enough to halt his attacks... or were his sense just overtaxed absorbing trivial pointers the forest was lending him....

[Marko]

Alric was... sleeping. And as he did, every wound and bruise glowed in the same dim blue light. He will be allright, eventually, he just needed his body to rest.

As for the boar, its life was over. No amount of healing or caring could heal the violation on its body and mind. Besides the wounds there was the fact of utter exhaustion. The shard has pushed the animal to extreme trials. The boars shell of bone and flesh. Blood and muscles. Was broken, by that... that unwordly thing. The half-elf must have felt disgust in the highest degree, looking upon that shard still pulsing in its red evil glow. The leaves beneath it burned with no flame or smoke, turning them in but a moment, into ash and history. It lay there, speaking nothing to be carried in the soft wind of the forest, but said so much with its actions. Pushing the boar into oblivion and laying there, still pulsing with somekind of life.

Chirando attempted to make the passing as comfortable as he could for the forest companion, for the animal could not form images in his head anymore. Chirando could not extract information from it so he tried to comfort the boar in its last moments. The boar breathed in shorter and shorter intervals, until it finally stopped. Chirando rose in a mumble of elven tounge, uttered at the moment of death of every forest creature be it elf or beast.

The ominous feelings grew to an overwhelming shriek in the mind of the half-elf. He knew he had to get ready. Now he was certain the forest spirits inhabiting its every rock and tree trunck were seeing danger and warning Chirando.

The forest dweller didn't even unshead his sword to the half of his blade when in front of him from beneath the leaf bed two figures rose. Some leaves fell back on the ground while other remained on the heads of the figures.

More demons? Perhaps not. For the stench of sulphur was not strong enough anymore. Those looked like forest thugs. Yes, they were, thier daggers shinning in the forest light. And they were comming awfully fast towards Chirando!

[Marko]

The thug moved his head virulently in a futile attempt to get free. His arms and knives we secured in a thick layer of ice holding him from stabbing Chirando. The ice extended over his legs too. The thug was trapped. And it looked like he didn't like that one bit. He squirmed and pulled in all sides. After trying a number of times and with the help of Chirandos anger filled voice, full of inquisitive flavour, the thug stopped.

He was still, with a trace of fright in his face, but the rest was pure defiance. The thug did not try to smile or smirk. He raised his head, his cloaks hood falling off his head, revealing short brown hair. Emerald eyes were also revealed, that stood fixed into the gaze of the half-elf.

For now he was a stone. Unpenerable. Only the steam of his breath was moving from this monolith of ice and flesh. His courage was fueled by observing the half elf was at his last drops of strenght. Chirando was stoic about his pain and fatigue. Placing his last mana reserves into keeping the quickly assembled ice spell from decomposing and allowing the ice block to melt.

The thug was a veteran of the battlefield, both in the life of the military and that of an outlawman, so he was able to see beyond the facade the young forest dweller was trying to place infront of himself. The movements of the torso when the half-elf breathed. They way he held his blade. Were, for the thug, all potent indicators of the amount of damage the forest dweller has sustained. Only the last moments of utter abbandon to ones safety would need patches of herbal remedies to lay fixed on the skin for days to heal the wounds.

As to why the thug was confident by the half-elfs fatigue was a mystery to the young Chirando...

[Marko]

[ First let's start with an analogy: "A basket of invariables creates genius in the idea and the concept of the design". Now, I'm taking this time to tell you this friendly advice, it makes a better story when some rules are being respected. The potion that you have used to rejuvenate was not part of your characters inventory, at least I don' think so, also the "tree growing" spell is not yet part of your magical repertoire. If you play by the rules and with the stuff you already have at your disposal it will make the story more true to itself and less with deus ex machina solutions to problems and tight spots. In this case I won't ask you to rewrite what you have posted, but in the future try to keep to things you have. Trust me it will make for a better story. Ok, enough with the morals, and lets get back to the fun stuff ]

While the half-elf was busy raising the magical tree barks and vines that encapsulated the thug, his mind was absent from the warnings the forests screamed at him. For on it's branches more enemies gathered around Chirando.

An elder master thug, directed his men up in the greenery of the forest. He pointed to the right places his men had to sit. He knew, after so many ambushes, what to sacrifice and what to move to get the best results.

Two thugs fell close to the half elf. One in front and the other in the back.Both had their two daggers ready for battle.

[Marko]

[Ah... ok. I'll have to review all the spells. I should do this also ...but try to update your character sheet to have an up-to-date reference point. Sorry to hear about your mouse. Is it wireless...?]

[Marko]

[Right, hope the muse is back with us. Chirando is heading to some interesting decisions.]

The two thugs, each threw one dagger at the half elf, and started running towards him with the other dagger ready to strike. Chirando felt trough the forest spirits that more enemies were gathering...