He sits alone at a small front table, savoring the full mug of thick, rich coffee. It is his morning ritual, his chance to watch the city come to life with awnings uplifted as businesses open and crowds fill the street outside.

Ellak City, arguably the nexus of the civilized world, is a place of many people of every description and all the better for it. Pleased with that, he glances down at his mug and is surprised to see a familiar face materialize in its depths.

The face is familiar, a face of his youth, and a beloved one. He passes his hand over the mug in an arcane gesture, and listens intently to the urgent voice. The situation is more serious than he thought, and still the source of the turmoil is hidden.

Who? Where? Even Why? There seems to be no answer, no way to piece together the disparate clues and knit them into a whole. But they urgency of what is needed by that night cannot be denied.

Finishing his coffee in a long gulp, he leaves the bistro, heading out of the city into the secluded clearing he has used before. There, he unfoldes his arms and draws the symbols of power that will open the portal that leads to the only help he can imagine.

There is so little time, and those he seeks are so reclusive. Will they agree? Can he persuade then in time to reach those that will need their aid? Or will they deal with him as an intruder?

It does not matter. He must take the risk and go. He strides forward and disappears into the risen mists.

---

In a different part of the world, Irella assembles the Singari to join the Wolves of Falcor and the Vamps of Drakken. The forests are already trembling as dusk descends. Soon, the battle will begin soon.

Suddenly, ships arrive from Crystania. The Crystal Pyrates, never ones to miss a good brawl, descend en masse, let by Lucien, who is met with joy and relief by Tanaka and Djoni.

"As soon as the fighting begins, we shall take to the skies, mon ami!" Lucien explains. "We shall flank them on the ground or in the trees. None shall escape us!"

Hayao is next, accompanied by a force from Jer Terrabotti. "Jer says to tell you that he would never forsake any ally, so the Crystanian troops fell in behind the dragon ship. I've never been so nervous," Hayato says. "I'm an inventor, not a general."

That gets a chuckle from Djoni. "We'll just have to do our best. "Lysandra will lead her own, and I can control the Wolves. We have all taken the potion that reverses our control effects, so we'd advise you not to come too near all of us. Ours will be a vicious conflict."

Irella nods. "The bandits and thugs from the dark woods will be no match for the Singari, I think, as we know as much about daggers and stealth as they do, but I have reports of dark clad forces in league with them, forces that move like shadows."

"The Eastern Lands?" asks Hayao. "Who could have recruited them?"

"The same one we never found, even after we freed Chiasa." says Tanaka grimly. "With the Singari's help, I should be able to plan a strategy. Uncle, you must help Junu protect the castle with the Crystanian forces. Yours will be to hold the defenses strong."

Hayao agrees. "I take Jer's Commander and consult with Junu now."

"May Fortune smile on us all," Irella murmurs. "let the Protectors take their places.

---

(OOC: This is the first part of the climactic battle. The conflict will conclude in Chap. 11, with the conclusion in a brief Chap. 12. This is an RP challenge. Details will be on the OOC thread for this chapter.)

Steve

Sorn was gleeful. Battle! It was about time. “Where does everyone wish to go? Glenn shall surely wish to bunker down in the ship, nice and safe away from the enemies. Got to keep his cute ass safe, right Geovanni?” He smirked. "I shall take on the vampires. Perhaps I can convince them to join me and they can become my own personal army."

"As if you'd need an army. You're practically one on your own." Jean softened the jab with a smile. "But with the airships here, wouldn't you be better off aloft? Even if you use your own spell, you'll have a better angle from up there. I'd expect the same is true for Garrin." She looked over at the other man. "Air superiority is going to be important in this battle, if we want to keep them off the walls. And to that end, I mean to fight near them, for the most part. I've a number of tricks to employ." She patted her satchel confidently. While the alchemists had pored over the potions, she'd been busy crafting concoctions of her own, of a more volatile sort. She'd even found time to lay a few traps.

"Ah,” Sorn said with a smirk, “so you do acknowledge my prowess. Most excellent.” He never noticed a jab. “You want me aloft, you sweet thing. Worried about your Sorn, huh? You really do want my amazing body all to yourself. Playing hard to get… tsk tsk. Run along, I shall go aboard the ship. Though, I am surprised you are willing to share me with all those enemies for me to top.”

Jean frowned a little but just chuckled. "If you say so. Be careful, all of you. I'll see you after."

Alfred listed to the various groups discussing what they would do, but already had made up his mind who he would join. "As much as my alchemy skills could be useful with Lucien and the Pyrates, I think I will join you," he said to Djoni, "that is as long as you don't mind an extra werewolf."

Looking at the other members of Steve, he gave a wry smile at the battle-eager look on Sorn's face. "I would say 'good luck' but I doubt luck will come into it. Try and stay safe though," he added to Garrin and Jean.

Heading over to Djoni, Alfred took a small vial from his coat pocket, "I don't know what potions you had to reverse your control effects, but this one should reverse my Wolfsbane. I'll wait until we're safely away from these guys before I take it though - I've never needed to take it before, so I have no idea how quickly it takes effect."

With his arms full of bags and ingredients too large to fit in bags, Garrin returned to the cauldron, where Irella was working on potions, and started preparing items for use. After a few minutes of working he managed to chop, grate, mix, tear, and break the appropriate ingredients until they were ready to be added into the brewing mixture. Irella had her own method of creating potions and had finished with haste, leaving the cauldron to Garrin and Coda.

Following recipes for potions was one of Garrin’s strong suits, so he and Coda hastily created a handful of elixirs for a variety of uses. Coda infused some of the potions with the touch of magic needed to give them a firm boost in strength and virulence. Some of his creations he would use for healing the wounded while other had far more nefarious purposes. He quickly ran from the courtyard of the castle and into the main ballroom, which was now being used as a makeshift triage center. Carefully stepping over a groaning wounded man and just side stepping a pool of drying blood, Garrin reached a table where healing supplies were being gathered. Alongside the strips of colored fabric, presumably garments that had been torn for bandages, were the tinctures, syringes, and a plethora of sealed medicines. Garrin placed his healing elixirs alongside the others.

A short statured witch walked up to the table and deposited twice the number of potions that Garrin had given; he winced, feeling bad for not being as productive. “Every bit helps,” she smiled at him and hastily made her way back into the throng of incoming wounded fighters. Garrin watched as healers and civilians alike tended to the wounded and dying.

‘Come on Garrin, we can be of use in the surgery bay, it’s quite overcrowded in here.’ Coda used her mind voice to convey the urgency of the situation, waking Garrin from his revere. She sent him an image of the direction she’d taken that led her to the place where emergency life-saving surgical procedures were being performed.

Garrin took the steps three at a time, his long legs making the flight effortless as he ascended towards an upper room. The room was well lit with tall windows that had the lush purple brocade drapes pulled back. This room was obviously meant for some other purpose other than to be awash in blood, Garrin thought as he looked around from the doorway.

Sorn left for the ship. As the airship soared he looked at the battle below. It had begun. Then he was standing on the edge of the bow. A well intending passenger mistakenly thought Sorn was in peril and tried to talk him off the ledge. However, the drow knew what he was doing. The passenger let out a scream as Sorn dove off. But what the Good Samaritan didn’t know was the drow could fly. Sorn used his magic to shift his speeds on the pocket of wind he created. As he shot down towards the ground in a stunning battle entrance with his long white hair billowing around him. He had agreed to go aboard the ship; yet, he never agreed how long he would stay there. ‘As if I would watch over the action and not join the fray,’ Sorn thought as he descended. Hadn’t he been longing for battle? Hadn’t he wanted to kill things? What was the point of his skills so high above? He belonged in the thick of things. He slowed his descent with his magic, landing safely on the ground. Well, as safe as one can land on a battlefield. Indeed the action was already thick in the dwindling light of day. Sorn was glad the sun would not bother his eyes. He was born in the darkness. Some would even say he was born of the darkness.

Jean headed for the battlements, doublechecking her her leather jerkin as she went. It wasn't heavy armor, but it'd give her a little protection, at least. She'd helped stock various stations along the wall, and now they were just waiting for the start of the fight. It came soon enough. Enemy airships, with the Crystanians in close pursuit, and below she could see the ground forces closing on each other. "Ready Sihr?" she asked softly.

No!

Jean chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. We all will." She watched as a group trying to flank those below ran straight into her tripwires, and signalled to the ballista near her. The giant bolt sprang forward, burying itself half its length in the ground. It didn't hit anyone directly, but when it struck the device she'd rigged to it triggered. The volatile concoction near the tip exploded with a muffled fwump, and the bottled sunshine beside it was carried outwards with the blast, incinerating the vampires and turning the werewolves back to mere men for a brief time. She'd warned the ground forces of where she'd laid her traps, and what to watch for, and now they took advantage of the chaos Jean's planning sowed to cut down those crippled by it.

Overhead the airships jockeyed for position. She could see fireballs blossoming overhead, setting sails and frames alike alight, quickly seen to by those with a knack for putting fires out. A few Protectors rained hail and lightning down on the attackers as well, as she could hear strains of bardic music bolstering her, in the moments when she could make it out.

Alfred followed Djoni and gulped down the potion from the vial, stashing the empty container back into his pocket. "I wish I'd managed to make this thing taste more pleasant," he grimaced, "what time does...." He was about to finish his sentence when he spotted the moon rising in the sky, answering his unfinished question. Looking around him, he suddenly spotted various wolves (were- and other), and looked at his.... hands. "This potion should work," he muttered, frantically checking his pockets to see if he'd taken the wrong one, "I know it should work, so why hasn't it?"

As he was about to lift the vial from his coat pocket, he spotted a wolf sprinting towards him, teeth bared in an unmistakable snarl. Alfred dived off to the side, wincing as the pain of a wolf tooth piercing flesh shot through his foot. Lashing out with his other foot as he fell towards the ground, he hoped he'd kicked the wolf in the face, before curling and turning his dive into a roll to try and get clear of the attacking wolf.

Checking around him, he quickly pulled the vial from his pocket and read the label, "Doctor Who-Knows Stress Relieving Potion. Why the heck was that in there?" Rummaging in his other pocket, he found what he sorely hoped was the right vial, and gulped the contents down in one. Before he could look around, the pain shot through his entire body, and he knew the potion was correct. Biting his lip to stop himself from howling and attracting all the wolves, he closed his eyes and counted to ten. As he reached nine, he stole a glance at his arms and realised with relief that he was looking at werewolf limbs.

"I'll never live that down, taking the wrong potion," he thought as he ran headlong into the main part of the battle.... well, he guessed it was really nothing more elegant than a fistfight, but presumably they were meant to call it a battle.

The first vampire that lunged towards him, Sorn shot out a blast of fire towards it. The vampire hissed but managed to dodge the attack. The second blast, the vampire was not so lucky. It screamed as its flesh curled and sloughed off, exposing the bones briefly before becoming a pile of ash. Next vampire, Sorn decided to try some good old-fashioned lightning. His eyes shifted to near white as he summoned the electrical energy and lobbed it at the vampire. This vamp, however, had a sword, one with a cloth covering over the hilt. He whacked the lightning bolt back to Sorn. The drow quickly returned it. Soon this became rather reminiscent of a tennis game rather than a battle. The lightning bolt hurled from one opponent to the other, briefly lighting up its path in the same hue as the stars that shone above in the now darkened night sky. Eventually, Sorn’s lightning finally broke through the vampire’s defensive measures. The energy crackled, causing convulsions and burning the vamp as it travelled around its body. It too, exploded in a pile of ash.

Sorn was pleased to be killing but he also wanted some fun with his double bladed staff named Honour. He pulled the weapon from his boot and it magically elongated, shifting from a dagger to the staff. Now at full size, he twirled the staff in his hands and began to dance fluidly from one vamp to another. Twirl, slice, dodge—this was how his dance went. He had hundreds of years to perfect it and he was not boasting when he said he was skilled with the weapon. The white hair cascaded around him when he went in for the first kill of the blade. He sliced at the vampire’s neck, sending the head free of its body in a short bath of blood before both the head and the body became ash. Sorn continued his perverse waltz as his bloodlust grew.

“Hey, you!” Garrin was accosted the moment he passed through the doorway and entered the room. “I need you to hold this clamp while I cauterize this wound. HURRY or we’ll lose the leg!” The man in a once white apron had arterial blood spattered across his apron and shoes. “You must hold it firmly in place like this,” he changed places with Garrin, carefully positioning Garrrin’s grip on the clamp without loosening it. “This is a badly bifurcated artery; salvaging it’ll be a miracle.” The doctor seemed to almost be talking to himself so Garrin didn’t offer his opinion on the matter.

Garrin stood at the bedside of this young pale faced woman, who looked no older than a late age teen, and hoped that she would make it. The clamp stopping her blood from spurting out of her body was soiled with blood but Garrin paid it no mind as he firmly held it in place. After the doctor had finished he grunted and nodded for Garrin to move. “Thanks,” he muttered as he continued his work.

Garrin cleaned off his blood covered fingers at the nearby washing basin while he watched the doctor work at a furious pace to save the girls life. He scanned the room again with freshly opened eyes. This small room reeked of fresh blood and sagged with the weight of many souls crying out in a desperate attempt to clutch onto life.

‘Coda, I would rather be out fighting than in here. I am not as qualified as a real doctor.’ Garrin looked around the room as men and women dodged between patients, trying to save lives as quickly as they could. ‘Look what the enemy is doing to our ranks, we can’t stay in here and hide -- we must fight!’ With that said, Garrin turned and walked back out the door, following the short hallway that led to the stairs. Just before he reached the staircase, Coda caught up to him.

“No,” she used her physical voice this time and sounded quite angry. “I may be your protector, trained to fight, but you are not, Garrin!” Coda scratched his shin with a fully open clawed paw to make her point.

“Ow! What th—“

“See what I mean, you cry at the tiniest spark of pain. What do you expect to do out there anyways?”

The question was more rhetorical than Garrin liked. He grimaced at Coda and folded his arms across his chest. Holding up his bag, he gestured to it while trying to evade Codas blockade. “I will throw some of these potions on the enemy flanks and sneak through the tree to—“

Again Coda clipped off Garrin’s hastily thrown together plan. “Garrin, this is not one of your books, this is real life. We are in a war zone.” Coda paced in front of Garrin, blocking his way by moving left when he tried to do the same to get past her.

“I am going and I do not care what you say.” Without a moment’s pause, Garrin leapt over Coda and partially stumbled down the stairs until he landed on the bottom.

Coda growled loudly but had no choice but to follow, a fact which made Garrin crack a half smile.

“I knew you couldn’t resist coming along,” he smirked over his shoulder towards her. They made their way by the kitchen, which was no part of the triage unit and exited the main castle rooms by way of a servant entrance. Momentarily forgetting the carnage he had just witnessed, Garrin carelessly meandered out the servant’s door and into the open air courtyard. With his peripheral vision, Garrin saw movement of a flying body. The body was a wounded vampire being flung against the castle wall right in front of him. He looked down in surprise and almost dropped his heavy satchel. Coda acted without missing a beat and sent a spell directly into the brain of the enemy fighter, knocking him unconscious.

“Wohoa! Good one,” he congratulated Coda. “Next time I’ll be more prepared to whip out one of my toxic potions.” He moved forward and noticed that most of the enemy combatants were outside the castle walls, only a rare few had made it this far onto the castle grounds.

With caution now in his step, Garrin snuck out a side gate and left the castle grounds, heading into the foray of battlers. Coda followed behind him and changed her white shimmering coat to dark shadowy black.

Jean was busy dashing up and down the wall, dropping rocks down on the heads of the attackers trying to scale the walls. She would slam flashbombs down as vampires reached the top, blinding them while another Protector dealt with them a little more permanently. A handful of stinky powder or spices in the face of a werewolf was likewise effective, overwhelming their sense of smell while she jabbed forward with her staff and sent them tumbling to the ground. She didn't have time to stop and think about anything, for no sooner was one dealt with than there was another to take its place. Jean sliced the lines of grappling hooks and used her staff to help lever away tall ladders. The first of the ninjas from the east were reaching the field, with Tanaka and the S

Intro

As the battle lines are being drawn and the adventurers are dispersing to make ready for the fight, Calie is frantically digging through her lovely many-pocketed bag. She knows that because of her knowledge of chemicals and medicines she should stay at the castle to care for the wounded and panicked. But no! Not her! She so wants to fight! Who doesn't love a good explosion or three?

But she doesn't want to leave her team without some items she thought would come in handy. She grabs some sacks from a servant and quickly fills them with items from her bag, then marks them with symbols. When she finishes, she yells for Atrueheart.

"True! Over here!" Calie waves her hand and True comes toward her, followed by others from their group.

"Here, I've gathered some items for you all. I hope they'll help some."

She holds up a sack with a Z on it. "This one has herbs in it I thought would be helpful if you have people freaking out on you. There are some Chamomile Tea, Longan and a small Box of Dried Lavender Buds you can use in tea or food. Those are all relaxing herbs. The teas are best for those who need to stay awake but are scared; it should help calm them. There's also a scoop of hops; that's not really for tea, but if you make up a pillow with it and some other things, like the lavender or some mint, the person laying on it should stay asleep."

She hands the first sack to True and holds up the another sack with an X on it. "Now this one should be handled carefully. Or at least with a gas mask. I put in some sulfur powder, Stinky Dust, and Bottled Stinker Acid, all of which can be made into stink bombs. I included a Stinker Bomb already put together so you can see how it's done. It will be very disorienting for those with a strong sense of smell, so make sure everyone wears a gas mask.

"Now this one is my favorite. Rot Powder, a special blend put together by Dr. Asmodeus himself. Don't ask me how I got it." She hands the second bag off and the team starts digging through it, grabbing what they could use.

Standing, she throws the third bag, labeled with a big smiley face, over her shoulder. Jeice looks up and asked, "What's in there?" Calie grinned.

"Oh, just my happy bag. Well, I'm off! I have to go meet up with some pirates. Arr!" With that, she skips out of the room.

Hethlic Springs Into Battle

Atrueheart hefts her bag of goodies and motions to Hethlic and he stands by her side, taking the bags from her. "Ok Angels, you all have your assignments. Grab you some of Calie's goodies and head out." She eyes them all individually with a solemn look and says "Let's be careful out there!" Atrueheart and Hethlic walk over to a corner and discuss the assignment they were given. "I think it will work best if we divide up and you keep an eye on the defenses while I calm the masses eh?" Hethlic quickly agrees, with a shudder. The thought of having to mingle with all those women and children would have been a disaster for him. "I don't do socializing very well!" he states. Atrueheart laughs and says "No problem hon. People are my thing! You just leave that part up to me." Hethlic quickly grabs some of the goodies and heads out to scout the castle and coordinate with the defenders.

Petya waves its leaf in sharp flicks as it rolls past Hethlic and the other castle defenders, where they were gathering their weapons. Hethlic’s dirk has a baleen handle molded to his hand, a chunk of obsidian in its pommel, shiny and weighty to concuss his foes, and a two-foot-long blade that he has used to gut direwhales and even one of Merana’s serpenths once. He's prepared for anything, be it chiropteran or canine, let alone mechanical. But the motion of the trilling leaf this time was unusual enough that he pauses from a last check of his pockets to follow it across the room, to a place where they could view outside. Throughout the journey, his impassive companion had helped, tripped, or variously bulldozed its way across most obstacles, and he could tell agitation from boredom to ‘leave me to erode’. This time, it was using the leaf tip to draw angles through the air, rhythmic and hypnotizing, almost…a triangle? Hethlic gazes down at the dusky air outside, where he saw nothing at all. Surely this was the time for his ridiculous haul of amber lenses to come into use. He opens up a cloth-wrapped box at the very bottom of his pack, and despite the heaviness, drops a set of goggles over his head. These are large enough to cover even his ears, but there was much more important at stake than looking weird, because there, at the bottom of the castle’s walls, movement. A sheer layer of something, stretching from front gate to window. Behind it, he can hear - what? Light treads, rustling, a pretty tune – If the invaders were at the door, he has to hurry. Rushing through the hallways, he makes a few preparations at each stairway. First, lenses affixed to the top of every landing. A few words chanted into the edges to key it to the real inhabitants and guardians in the castle, not the dancing masses, and absolutely not that unpleasant fairy they met earlier. No invader will see anything, but the defenders will get a full sighting of what’s truly there. Second, a few ropes and buckets, strategically deployed. His skills from his…last assignment has uses on land as well. When he passes by another group of guards, one of them hands him a draught. It smelt of chamomile. Surely he couldn’t relax when there were enemies around? Gingerly, he places it by a statue by a window. In the reflection, its reflection lifts its arms out into a languid port de bras. Hethlic freezes. Not the statue, a living girl behind him, face smoothed by powder into marmoreal blankness. “Mam'selle,” he murmurs, sweeping a bow to the figure, now joined by – ah, there it was, the rest of its troupe. Hethlic moves gently, slowly, out of their way, allowing them to make their way out of the room into the stairwell. As they delicately mince down the steps, he grasps for the rope he just tied and slices. The buckets it had suspended smash into the ground, pouring out their contents of tar and oil. Some of the Coppelias slide down the tight spiral of the staircase to collide at the bottom of the steps, while others find their gossamer costumes suddenly sodden, their silk slippers stuck to the ground. While they turn to him, he’s already gone, running back to the rest of the defenders to sound the alarm. A group of the Castle Guards broke off the main group and came running. They administer the potion to the one human dancer and Hethlic guides her back to the main ballroom where Atrueheart is entertaining the non-combatants. When he returns to the guards and the rest of the mimic dancers Hethlic helps them dispatch them and then runs up to the balcony. Overlooking the battle between the guards and the intruders, Hethlic reaches into his pocket and throws out a couple of stink bombs that Calie had prepared. This disorients the intruders and the guards swiftly subdue them. Hethlic breathes a sigh of relief and then heads back to the ballroom to aid Atrueheart and awaits word from the other battle groups. [/spoiler]

Atrueheart Soothes The Agitated Masses

After Hethlic rushes off to help the guards, Atrueheart goes to the kitchen and mixes the chamomile into the mulled cider that is to be served to the non-combatants. She has the cooks mix the crushed lavender buds into little cakes and sweets to keep the children and ladies calm and gives the servers instructions to make sure that all non-combatants should get a portion and a drink. The servants begin to hand out the cider immediately and the nervous people take it eagerly. Soon it was followed by the lavender laced sweets.

Atrueheart pulls out her mandolin and begins to strum a gentle tune as she circulates through the crowd in the ballroom. Temporary cots are set up in one corner and wide-eyed children sit on them. Some are crying, sensing the tension in the room. Atrueheart cocks her head to look at Jinx, her monkey companion, sitting on her shoulder. "Ok Jinx, do some of that entertaining stuff you do and cheer up these gloomy children!" she murmurs. Nodding, Jinx jumps off her shoulder and begins dancing a little jig to the music, weaving in and out of the cots. Jinx stops occasionally at a cot where a particularly upset child was and makes faces and jumps around until they smile. Atrueheart continues to navigate the room, gently strumming and humming along with the tune, interjecting a soothing word or two as she passes a particularly agitated group. She watches carefully and begins to sigh in relief as she sees that the herb-laced cider and foods were beginning to calm and relax the people. Several children even curl up and fall asleep on the cots, along with the drugged dancer that Hethlic had returned with earlier, despite the sounds of battle outside the castle walls. Though Atrueheart yearns to be in the battle, she also understands that this is necessary and she has all the faith in her Fallen Angels to get the job done. As the guests begin to settle at the tables in small groups, Atrueheart does another circuit of the room and then settles at a small table near the children's cots. Strumming a lullaby, she watches as one by one they succumb to the music and the chamomile. Jinx chitters softly and climbs back up on Atrueheart's shoulder, settling down for a well-deserved nap. Atrueheart reaches up and scratches his back and whispers "Well done my friend!" then continues to strum softly. After a time she is joined by Hethlic who reports what has happened with the castle defense, speaking softly. Atrueheart then nods toward one of the cots and whispers that Hethlic has earned a rest. Hethlic quickly lies down as Atrueheart settles in to wait for the rest of her Fallen Angels return from battle. Strumming softly and humming some more, she is trying not to worry too much. After all, they are all seasoned warriors and Protectors of the Wayward Squirrel!

The Flying Alchemist

Calie runs to the docks and attempts to scramble up a ladder to the top. One of the dock workers grabs her and pulls her the rest of the way up. "Get up 'ere, you! We ain't got all day!" He pushes her toward the front of the dock. "'urry up and git yer orders! They're takin' off!"

She joins the small group of adventurers, many of whom were fellow alchemists, and waits to be assigned a vessel. Looking around, she's excited to see all the pirate ships. Crewmen are running around, getting supplies ready for launch. "Calie!" She jumps upon hearing her name. A red-faced man stalks up to her, obviously upset at having to call her name several times. "Yer assigned ta the Frenchman. Now git movin'!"

Calie picks up her Happy Bag and runs over to The Flying Frenchman. After she climbs aboard, a crewman directs her to a small, out of the way section of the quarter deck. It had a table with raised edges so the movement of the ship wouldn't make her lose supplies. As the ship launches she gives a squeal of excitement. She's flying on a pirate ship!

The flight is surprisingly quiet. Crewmen speak in low voices and the rigging only gives an occasional creak. The flapping of the ship flag can be heard over the whistling of the wind. She takes her time setting out her supplies from her bag. She wants to make sure everything was within easy reach.

Emptying her bag, Calie set out several bombs, already made up, and various other items to make more. Acorn Bombs would make nice explosions, while Cherry Bombs made noisy distractions. Feathered Bombs and Light Bombs were a nice way to blind and distract the enemy without hurting allies. Stinker Bombs were a wonderful deterrent. Smaller bags of acorns, red-colored cardboard balls, feathers, and gunpowder joined some Bottled Stinker Acid, a spool of twine and matches on the table.

The ship suddenly rocks as a BOOM! sounded just off the starboard bow, causing her to jerk in surprise. The battle has begun and the enemy has made the first move.

---

Calie stumbles, choking on smoke, as the ship rocks from another explosion. Pirates around her are yelling, some calling out orders or war cries as others are just cursing. If she made it through this, her vocabulary would be greatly increased.

One of the crew comes to a sudden stop beside her, yelling out, "We need more Feather Bombs!" She thrusts a bag into his hands. "Here, take some Light Bombs! I'll have to make more Feather ones." He races off as she grabs some supplies. The battle is taking longer than she thought it would. Two more crew run up and she hands them some bags of Acorn Bombs. This can't go on much longer; she is running out of supplies!

She's frantically and carefully making more Stinker Bombs, when it suddenly got very quiet. She stops and looks up, wondering what is going on. Then a great yell comes from every side from the crew and other ships around them. "What's going on?" she asks as she grabs the arm of a crewman. "We won! Woohoo!" he yells as he ran off to join some friends. 'Well,' she thought to herself, 'I guess I don't need this anymore.'

And the Stinker Bomb she tosses over her shoulder pops, thus accidentally halting the celebration and causing her to run for cover. Pirates have no sense of humor.

A Bloody Encounter

Kestra double checks the straps on Kwixis' saddle making sure that nothing was loose and that everything was tacked down properly. The dragon swishes his tail impatiently as she tucks another strap under his wing. "The last thing we need is for me to fall off of you in mid-flight. Stop fidgeting!" Kwixis groans, but settles down so she can finish checking all the gear. She looks around to see the others getting ready as well. Butterflies briefly bounce around in her stomach, but she swallows hard and calms her nerves. This is no time to get careless. She must stay focused. Kestra closes her eyes and begins to breathe slowly and rhythmically until her scattered thoughts disappear. The only thought in her mind is victory. She gathered her pack and strapped it onto her back. Calie and Jinx gave her a couple of potions to carry with her, just in case she needs them. She smiles, thinking of her new friends and is eager to be done with the battle ahead so she can enjoy a round of drinks with them. She calls out to Jeice, "Good luck! I expect to see you when this is over!" The ranger grins back, "I'll bring a couple of wolf pelts to make some nice winter gear!" Kestra laughs and climbs on Kwixis. "Let's go and find our group." The dragon launches into the air and easily swoops over to Lysandra's battle troupe. The warrior dismounts and walks closer to listen to the plan. She hears a General describe the rogue vampires, their strengths, and weaknesses. She also hears her talk of the ghostfire and to avoid a direct hit at all costs. Once the briefing was over, the General looks over in her direction and frowns. "You are human. The vampires will be thirsty and eager to feed on warm-blooded creatures such as yourself. You could cause them to go into a frenzy." "I'm counting on it." Replies Kestra, taking the General off guard. "A frenzy would distract them, leaving your warriors to kill them while they are vulnerable." The General looks at her and nods. "Yes, that may work for a short time, but how will you be of any other use?" She smiles, "My dragon is a bloodred dragon. He is stronger than the vampires and can easily tear one apart. You don't need to worry about us!" "Then may good fortune follow you and your dragon! To arms! They are coming!" Kestra runs back to Kwixis and mounts him. She straps herself in, draws her sword and tells him to fly. Soon they are airborne once more. They look down at the scene unfolding and see the wild vampires swarm around the troupe at an alarming rate. Kwixis roars and swoops down into the melee. Kestra's heart starts to pound as she tries to swing her sword, but she quickly realizes that she's not sure who is good and who is evil. Both sides are snarling, gripping at each other and throwing their opponent across the way. Kwixis was also uncertain and swoops back up before he could be touched. The w

GALAXIA

Galaxia strides behind Lysandra and the laughing, teeth-baring coterie, scanning for wings. Her shoulders flex but, without a flying figure close enough to trigger a response, she is ground-bound as the battle surges and the first wave of grim and blood-stained opponents crashes against the defenders of the various teams. Galaxia can use some gravitational alteration learned from the core of the galaxy to destabilize the monsters somewhat, but they crawl their way to the heroes if that's what it takes. Sweeping her hand in an arc, a curve of glowing blue light and star-like fleck follows the path of her fingers and ends in a golden core of brillance. Galaxia wraps her fingers around the haft of the ethereal weapon and swings it just in time to cut through a cadaverous clawed figure in a stained bakers's apron reaching for her leg. The body slides apart as the molecular edge slices through, the first one in a trail of bisected corpses and scattered limbs.

Galaxia is intent on the dance of the battle, killing (or disabling if the foe in front of her is some innocent pressed into the fight), and does not see the vampire on a nearby hilltop watching her progress through the ranks. The bolt of darkness catches her unawares, transfixing her in an evil blaze and, a moment after it drops her, the woman rises with a snarl and blood-red eyes glaring indiscriminately around her. She whispers a steady stream of hatred and self-doubt, tears flowing down her cheeks, as some malevolent instinct from the golden-clad warrior's past breaks free to guide her blade through an ally's shoulder instead of a monster's head.

ELETHIA

"Good luck and happy battling to all of us!" Elethia shouts out happily while pumping her fist in the air. Knowing why she's excited, Mr. Scoots grumbles to himself and slowly strolls up to her, debating on if he needs to swat her ankle. Lost in her own thoughts, she doesn't see the gleam in her cat's eye. A chance to sail across the skies and rain mayhem down onto all of the enemies, Elethia thinks, spinning in a circle without even realizing that she dodges Mr. Scoots' paw and picks him up before racing over to join Lucien and his crew. Grumbling to himself Mr. Scoots hopes that this battle will go well and use up some of that excess energy Elethia always seems to have. He's personally glad that they're not fighting on the ground, but hopes they can dodge whatever is thrown their way.

Elethia boards the ship along with another group of fellow alchemists and mages, bouncing up the gangplank. They all wear grim expressions and that dampers her excitement somewhat; she knows how serious this situation is, but she thinks that good cheer should improve any situation. Keeping quiet she listens to the plan that Lucien lays out for them, of helping their friends on the ground while picking off any factions that are seeking a way around the rest of the fighting.

After Lucien's summary, the ship ascends into the sky and everyone assumes their positions. Poised and battle-ready, Elethia watches the ground with a wary eye. If anyone should manage to strike down their ship they're not prepared for direct physical contact. she'll have to do as much as she can to prevent that possibility.

An ominous feeling saturates the air, and soon enough a steady stream of monsters and thugs crests the hills. A cry is heard and, as one the sky and the ground forces move in to intercept them. Elethia makes herself useful flinging fire balls at nearby enemies. "Take that and that!" Elethia hollers out. She's mindful of accidentally setting the forest ablaze so she varies her attacks with different elements depending on what area she strikes at. Conjuring up a gust of wind that knocks a group of dark-clad forces off their feet, she notices the Galactic Misfits' golden captain struck by the vampire's attack and is horrified as Galaxia turns on their allies; maiming, not killing, but still hindering the fight where moments before she'd been a shining figure of victory. "No!" Elethia wails, staring at the ground forces and reaching as if to stop her friend from all the way up here. Mr. Scoots jumps up onto her arm, holding a scrap of paper and thrusting charcoal into Elethia's fingers. Scribbling a note and attaching it to Mr. Scoots, Elethia gives her cat a big smile she's not quite sure she believes as she says, "It'll be fine..." Mr. Scoots gives her a skeptical look and then a yowl as a gust of Elethia's wind magic blows him through the air, navigating him all the way from the airship down directly onto the tiny figure of Galaxia below with pinpoint accuracy. It's hard to make out the details but, whether it's the wording on note or the familiar cat, Galaxia pauses and after a moment is back to coordinating with Lysandra's forces and the other teams.

AODH

Sliocach the dark sprite flits about Aodh's head nervously as they both venture out to help Junu defend the castle. He checks to make sure all of his gear is in order, patting his trusty flute fondly. He wouldn't mind a bit of combat to liven things up, but he knows his talents as a bard would be best suited helping others. Gazing back at the front line he whispers a prayer to the winds that his friends will be safe. With a heavy heart, the flutist picks up the pace and enters the castle with the other protectors.

Once inside, Aodh surveys the situation with a critical eye. People are racing to and fro, while others are simply barking out orders. arguments occasionally breaking out. The tension is high, the smell of sweat and weight of noise and silent fears thick enough to cut with a knife and rightly so; they know that if the front line fails then it will be up this group to give it their all.

A young woman cries out as she trips carrying a hamper full of medical supplies, and Aodh rushes forward and catches her before she tumbles over. Making sure she's okay he offers to take the hamper for her so that he has something to do. Taken aback she smiles and passes it to him but, before they can engage in a bit of small talk the lady turns her head as she hears her name called out, stammers thanks to him once more, and races off. Shaking his head at such young and innocent people dragged into this conflict, he carries the load over to the waiting medical unit.

That task finished he then proceeds to continue delivering packages and passing on words of support to other people After all, a calm head will help them more than a worried one would. Taking a breather, the half-even bard brings out his flute and proceeds to play a beautiful melody. The tune breaks apart the worried babble and strained conversation, leaving those inside the besieged keep calmer and more focused. Smiling at him in gratitude to whatever magic he worked, the defenders continue fortifying the castle while holding onto that new glimmer of hope.

AMEANA

Coming from the clearing where the potions had been made, Ameana looks down at Rose the bear cub, her constant companion, and makes a low inquiring growl deep in her throat. Kneeling, she catches the bear's eyes. The communion is a moment long, but there is a world's worth of meaning in whatever the glance conveys; Rose's scampering and gamboling becomes tense waiting, with the little creature's ears twitching. Ameana takes out some of the potion she made for Djoni, downing half of the bottle with a grimace before offering the flask to Rose who finishes it with a grumble of distaste. Ameana is still knelt down through this, so it's easy to for Rose to then climb onto her back. As the bear does so, she and Ameana both begin to glow green and the bottle drops from nerveless hands as Ameana's form ripples and grows, Rose's mass and thick furry pelt sinking into the alchemist's form and growing the slender girl into a more hulking mass of muscle and teeth and claws. It is in this form that Ameana drops onto all fours and covers ground fast enough to get to Djoni's contingent.

Rose may be a cub, but her innate animal instincts serve Ameana well as their combined form grabs and mauls and rips at wolven foes. A pile of mangy, cackling creatures tackles Ameana and is just as quickly thrown off and dashed against stones or thrown to larger and more experience fighters in the allies to finish off. Claws rip through foes, although biting is abandoned earlier on due to Rose being unwilling to lend her jaws or taste buds to such gross tastes; it'll take weeks to clean the fur out of both of their sets of teeth.

'Roseana' may also be smaller than some other werewolves, but her intelligence comes in handy even in close combat. She trips up from behind a gloating enemy commander as they prepare to tear out an ally's throat, or goes for hamstrings. Knowing the terrain of forests, she piles up leaves to hide rocks or baits monstrous opponents into following her and tripping over tree roots. Once she even hides behind a fallen enemy wolf, moving its arm in a beckoning motion to attract one of the more vicious monsters prowling the battlefield for any kill (even of its own faction), and uses the surprise to jump up and break the werewolf's neck as it leans over. Rose may be a cub and Ameana may be a young woman but, by the time the battlefield is beginning to clear out, they have both dealt enough close-up and personal deaths for any old and grizzled veteran. The nightmares will come later; for now, there is only determination.

BATTLEFIELD MEETING

Elethia holds out her arms, and Mr. Scoots jumps from Galaxia's back into that hug. Galaxia looks tired and still teary-eyed, but she is smiling as she meets Elethia's gaze. "Thank you for being a light in the darkness. Without that note, without your willingness to send Mr. Scoots down to me and his determination in the face of danger, I'd still be in that internal prison. Thank you all," the captain adds to Ameana and Rose as the former of the pair reaches into the jar and offers Rose a honeycomb from it with shaking hands, and then quaffs deeply from the jar herself. "I never thought I'd find such friends, ever. But I'm glad you all were willing to trust me. Now," Galaxia continues. "We should probably go make sure the castle is safe, considering that all this is clear; I thought I saw some ground troops get past, but can't be sure. Aodh probably held down the fort with the others, but..." She gestures and then heads towards the keep with the other forces (determined or triumphant) hurrying towards the castle.

[spoiler=Travelers Fight!]Battle!! Nose twitches and the smell of blood to come, sends Chooks endorphins on a high. Who to join for the battle? Vampires or wolves or Ninja. It does not matter. What matters is the physical combat that has been missing up until now. Puzzles and dressing up as prissy, frilly dancers in costumes does not make the grade. It fills in the time ... yes. But in a boring and tedious fashion. Now a good honest fight that is another matter. And if the fight is not that honest then it is all the more exciting.

Telling herself to "Settle down", she takes time and thinks through what she knows . Not being able to make any decision she decides to toss a coin. Heads wolves, tails vamps. Flicking the coin into the air, she closes her eyes and imagines it going up and up, then beginning the downward journey twirling around and around, before finally landing at her feet.

Slowly opening her eyes she looks at the coin. It has landed tails up. So vamps it is.

Willow keeps an eye on her friend Chook knowing it will be battle somewhere. As the coin catches the sun's rays then lands, she sees the tails show and wonder where Chook will be. Sadly Willow knew she wouldn't see her friend until it was all over having made a decision for her Ninger and lyre to help Juni to protect the castle.

"Chook, take care my friend and be sure to come back. I'll buy you the next meal in the castle once it is safe"

Chook raises her hand in acknowledgement of Willow's farewell as she turns and walks away to find Lysandra. Quite happy to have vamps on the side, she is not all that sure about fighting them. Having them try to feed on her life essence in the form of blood did not sound very healthy. She could deal with being wounded ( and had many times before but normally those wounds came about through a fair fight: not being bitten by a vampire and having her life's blood sucked away.

An idea came into her mind and she did a quick about turn. She had spotted a patch of wild garlic growing some distance away. She had read somewhere that garlic was a deterrent to vampires as it taints the blood and contains allicin, a potent anti-biotic and anti-fungal agent which vamps cannot stand and perhaps can kill them.

Now garlic was not one of her favorite foods but if it helped repel the vamps or more importantly stopped her blood being sucked from her body she was willing to do anything. Or nearly anything.

Backtracking and getting lost a few times, she once again found the wild garlic. Bending down and pulling up many and many more bulbs (thank goodness the ground was soft due to recent rains) she stuffed as many as she could into her clothing and belongings.

May grabs her lute and bag, which is stuffed full of sheet music, and heads toward the castle. Some of the sheet music is blank while other pages are filled with melodies that she has started while on this latest adventure. Battlefields are not the most inspiring or helpful place for a musician to be and May decides that her abilities are best suited to soothing those civilians remaining in the castle. Perhaps even a few of them can help her finish one of the tunes she has started!

Willow runs to catch up with May stopping to pick up a couple of sheets of partial music falling out of May's bag.

Chook has been used to being alone but wonders how the team will do with her not there to guard them. Garlic was not one of her favorite scents either, and she began to reek of the darn stuff as it insinuated itself into her pores, but if it saved her blood she could live with the odour, (or so she hoped).

Again she began the journey once again to find Lysandra and the Vamps of Drakken. Chook thought that she knew where they would be and began trekking.

AT LAST!!

There they were!! Lysandra and the Vamps of Drakken. Looking battle ready but also apprehensive. Chook moved towards them to offer her services.

May grabs the music that Willow has picked up and stuffs it back into her bag. The two bards are walking into the castle when they hear a rustle behind them. The Coppelias are advancing on the castle! Willows looks at May and May understands. Music is needed, and quickly! May shuffles through her bag looking for just the right melody. These are not exactly the circumstances under which May hoped to finish her compositions. But such is the life of a Traveler. May stops shuffling when she comes upon a melody she was writing aboard the ship after the Prime Minister had been killed. "This will do," May exclaims as she shows the music to Willow. Together, they begin playing and then continued to improvise where May's melody ended. The Coppelias couldn't seem to help themselves and started a dance number. For the moment, the castle was safe, but how long could Willow and May keep them occupied?

Ninger sometimes interrupts the tune with an occasional bark however it appears not to interrupt the dancers as more and more join. Glancing at May, Willow lays down her rather large bag motioning her to join her sitting on it realizing this could be a long stay.

There were noises from other parts of the castle, even someone running up to them asking if they needed a Faerie healer yet running away looking at the two bards sitting on a large bag and the Coppelias continuing their dance though some appearing to be getting a little tired.

After a long while, Ninger settles down for a nap and Willow wonders how long she can play the instrument yet finally the last of the Coppelias fall down exhausted. Glancing at May they gradually slow the tune together until the last beautiful note is played. No noise can be heard but their quiet panting for quite some time. Finally battles from other parts of the castle can very faintly be heard over the rather loud snoring of the sleeping dancers.

In the mean time, Chook was warmly welcomed by Lysandra and the Vamps of Drakken and given grateful thank yous, then received the run down as to what to expect as far as the battle and the vamps went. Not much was known but plenty was anticipated. As they discussed moves and countermoves, the air around them became still and a putrid odor began insinuate itself amongst them. The vamps had arrived, it was time.

Taking her sword out of her scabbard and her dagger out of her sock she moved towards a vamp. She began a series of ripostes which the vamp was able to defend easily. It began attacking swiftly and Chook had no option but to withdraw to think of some other way of fighting this creature. She then remembered the garlic. She felt into her sock and pulled out two bulbs: one she put on the end of her sword and the other on the end of her dagger. She advanced warily towards the vamp. Lunging quickly she managed to get the garlic into the vamps face, close enough that it had to get a whiff of the odor. Stumbling backwards and finally tripping over, it succumbed to the smell and curled into a ball under a bush. One down.

Taking a quick look around it looked liked Lysandra and her team had the upper hand for the minute. As the garlic had worked so well, whenever an ally came close she imparted some to them. From behind she was jumped and knocked to the ground. The vamp was attempting to bite her neck and was coming uncomfortably close. Chook stretched out her arms attempting to get a grip on the ground, and felt a piece of a branch. She grasped hold of it, twisted suddenly to her left and reversed positions. Taking the wood as her other weapons had fallen, she plunged it into the creatures heart. With a nerve wrenching shriek the vamp began to dissipate into a cloud of smoke.

No sooner than she had gotten up she was again attacked. This time the fight was only short lived as the vamp touched the silver chain around Chook's neck and immediately became paralyzed.

The fight went on and on and on for hours it seemed, until the sun began to rise. Sunlight renders vampires, with their hyperdilated irises and reflective retinas, blind. It also causes neural pathways to fire randomly in the brain, creating an extreme epileptic reaction. On top of that, vampiric skin is highly sensitive to UV rays, becoming badly burned and blistered within minutes. So within minutes all the vamps had fled as none had charmed daylight jewelry with Lapis Lazuli having been forged by witches.

Lysandra gathered her team together, getting members to check on each other. Some were injured mortally, some badly and some only suffered cuts and scratches. Chook was astonished when Lysandra herself began to tightly bind a badly gaping wound in her leg, that she had not noticed until now.

Everyone began slowly walking towards a small forest, helping the injured and carrying the dead. In the shade, coolness and the darkness of the trees one by one they fell into a well deserved sleep.

Emma wandered through the castle looking for a quiet place to work on her potions. Certainly there would have to be a vacant room somewhere. Emma was even willing to use a broom closet if need be. Everybody seem to be acting stranger than normal and she just needed some time to focus on her potions. She sensed the battle was about to begin or possibly had already started. Wanting desperately to get to the ships with Lucien and the Pyrates, Emma knew her talents would be the best utilized there. She never was good at hand to hand combat. In fact, it made her skin crawl just thinking of it. She often secretly envied Chook who seemed to find pleasure and even relished in a good fight.

Willow almost went to sleep until her glasses fell off her face with a few licks from Ninger. All the worries about the team came back.. their entrance seemed perfectly safe so Willow stood after a brief pet on Ninger's head and whispering softly not sure if May was awake to hear or not.

"Maybe we can find Chook, HeiYu, or Emma.. maybe it is over for the rest also?"

Walking the long corridors with high windows that short Willow was unable to see out definitely wasn't the answer as Willow, frowning found out an hour later..thoroughly lost. Looking at Ninger she mumbled...

"You're no help just following!"

Each room she looked in was either empty or the door was locked. How big was this castle and was she simply going around in....

Hmmmph!

Willow literally ran into Emma, Ninger's only warning being a light ..

"Woof"

Emma! So good to see you!

As Emma turned yet another corner, her nose half buried in her journal, "wham" she bumped right into Willow. What a welcome sight to see a friendly face. "I'm in search of a quiet room to work on my potions" Emma quickly said to Willow. "I have been working on some spells that should be very effective, I only need a few minutes to get my spells and my bombs together". Well “technically they aren't bombs, but more of a stun grenade using a blast of heat and sound” when tested they proved to be very effective.

Willow told Emma to "slow down, take a breath. I think you may be more useful here in the castle." Emma did a double take, looking from Willow to her journal and back to Willow, "did you say to stay here?" "I thought I was needed on the ship" ... her voice trailed off when she suddenly realized her healing potions, of course ... Emma quickly grabbed her satchel, pulling it around in front of her, digging deep, looking for another journal quickly stuffing the other one back in her bag.

Willow tugged on Emma's arm, pulling her towards the Great Room as she started explaining "a great battle has already occurred" Emma thought she heard Willow mention Vampires and Werewolves .... "there have been many injuries and they are starting to arrive .... we must hurry". Emma quickly followed Willow not sure what to expect when they arrived. Pulling out some music, Willow takes a deep breath trying to get the energy to again play then began playing what she hoped were helpful, thoughtful tunes for Emma to make more potions.. most healing but a few she had saved earlier for castle defense.

Once there were a few saved, both searched again in the castle and found another entrance. Emma gave the potions she had to the defenders and she and Willow then went to a room designated as the infirmary. Willow began to play soft, soothing tunes as Emma took one potion after another to those that needed healing.

As Willow played for Emma with Ninger laying at her side, she glanced out the window with a worried look on her face. Slowing then stopping to take a break she pets Ninger's head..

"I hope the rest are alright"

HeiYu boards Lucien's ship along with many of the other mages. As the ship rises into the air, she finds a quiet spot a little away from everyone that should have a good view of the field of battle. Mee comes to sit on her shoulder for a few minutes.

"You will need to be very careful my friend." HeiYu tells her. "There will be danger coming from every direction. Fly fast and take good care."

As they reach the battle ground, Mee launches into the air. She can feel the tension and the waves of power both good and evil building all around, but still she delights in flying free in the evening sky. Keeping a sharp watch, all her senses alert, she flies in ever increasing circles, searching for the enemy.

HeiYu concentrates with all her hard learned strength and power. Scanning the field of battle with a small part of her senses, the rest focused intently on Mee and what she sees and feels. She keeps a small force field of protection centered on her old friend and waits.

She sees the chaos below as friendly and enemy forces meet and clash on many fronts but continues to wait patiently. All her senses focused. Something else is about to happen. She can sense it, as she has in other battles in other places and other times and she knows she must stay ready for it and not allow herself to be distracted by the commotion beneath her.

Suddenly, they both feel it. A wave of intense evil that seems to be coming from a remote hillside somewhat removed from the main field of battle. A quick scan of the hillside shows a grassy field, a few trees, nothing out of the ordinary and certainly no source of danger. But HeiYu and Mee trust their senses. They might not see it ... yet, but evil is there and this is what they have been waiting for. This is their battle. Now to find out exactly what it is.

Mee flies toward the hillside circling around it warily. HeiYu summons a little more power and scans every inch of the hillside. Something is not right. She can sense a shimmering mass from which the evil waves are emanating. There is no time to be lost, the evil is growing stronger even as she searches. Reaching down deep within herself she finds the last bit of her strength and concentrating fiercely now she casts a reveal spell on the amorphous mass. It slowly takes on more shape but remains partly hidden to her.

But Mee is flying high above and looking with dragon, not human, eyes and now, with the help of HeiYu's spell she suddently can clearly see a large group of enemy mages concentrating on the battlefield and slowly building an incredibly powerful and unthinkably evil spell. They must be stopped! and quickly, their spell is nearing completion. With no thought for herself, Mee hurls herself at the group darting and whirling in the air, screeching loud dragon calls, diving towards now one, now another of the enemy mages and breathing fire to disrupt their concentration. But she is too small and there are too many of them. As she distracts mage after mage, still the group spell continues to build.

With the help of Mee's distractions, HeiYu is finally able to break the invisibility spell and reveal an army of enemy mages, covering the hillside. "Look, over there on that hillside." HeiYu calls out to her fellow mages on the airship. "Enemy mages casting, we must work together and stop them, now!"

Some of the nearby mages hear HeiYu and looking around see the danger on the hillside. Alarmed, they call to other mages on the airship. Banding together now, some of them work to counteract the evil spell. Others start to target one or more of the enemy mages directly. Someone gets the

,

[spoiler=Chapter 10 Part One: Organized Chaos Gets Ticked Off....get it? ticked...clockwork copelias...tock...nevermind.]

HABEEBI *********

"Perfect, Capitan," Jianni murmurs nodding at the small hill

"Ravens Perch, "Djoni supplies. "In the time of my great Grandfather it was one of a series of watch towers spanning the wild, The towers base still stands, though this may not be the best time for sight-seeing and a local history lesson, Jianni; we do have other things to attend to first, he chuckles, clapping the Gypsy on the shoulder

"Precisely! Your Grandpapa's engineers chose their ground well, fresh water at the base of the hill, excellent vantage points if you're expecting unwanted company, a squad could hold it against a larger force and our people could use a rest and a hot meal" He regarded a large shaggy gray wolf who's amber eyes regarded him calmly "What do you think, Uncle?"

The Dire wolf growled ominously.

"I'm sorry, my Uncle, but my familiarity is with your smaller and less eloquent cousins on Subeta and I am afraid that I am not clever enough to understand what you're saying."

"It pleases him that you address him with such respect, but he warns you that you are about to step in his cub's skat unless that was your strategy to announce to the Wilders where we are. That isn't your plan is it, Gypsy?" a deep voice demanded.

The speaker, a tall muscular Singari woman eyed him with flat hostility.

Jianni swallows a hot bite of indignation at the implication in the G word, the Traveling people were very honest with one another, to imply that another of the Blood was a cheat was the worst of insults. "No, but that leads to an excellent point! Djoni we should-"

Djoni was doubled over, paralyzed with barely contained laughter "Jianni, they would not be fooled into thinking we were a troop of young'uns out for a camping trip if everyone stepped in Frer's piles" he gasped out after several minutes

"Not even close to what I was thinking, Cousin Not only should we make our camp there, we should make it very obvious to them that we are there

Djoni raised an eyebrow

"Why would we do that? Weren't you paying attention to the briefing? The Wilders have joined in alliance with the Unrepentant and our other enemies, the realm stands on the brink of collapse and you would play children's games. You're mad," the angry Sindari hissed.

"Maybe a little bit, Malikka, but that does not discount the strategy. If we go hunting them we will be on their terms, pitfalls, ambush it will be costly, but if we make them come to us while we may take some losses, but those dances will cost them dearly" In one smooth motion he drew an arrow from the quiver at his back sparked his tinderbox to the fuse and loosed at a stunted lightning blackened tree 30 yards away. "Cover your ears and close your eyes!"After the lightning flash and the explosion, all that remained was the barest hint of stump and a shower of dark ash. He smiled at their dumb-founded expressions, biting back a laugh as Malikka's thin mouth worked soundlessly. "There is enough Black Powder to make certain the Wilder have a very bad night"

Finn the amber eyed Dire Wolf growled softly and Djoni chuckled "You have been named Jianni"

The Ranger grinned, "Big noise who almost stepped in poo?"

The Warrior barked a laugh "Bares his Teeth Be proud, my friend Finn get of Fian has accepted you as pack and that is something no outsider has earned.

The gangling Ranger knelt before the Wolf, lowering his head until it was on level with Finn's "Thank you, Uncle, I will wear it with honor," he whispers, voice cracking with emotion

A tall, bald-headed scar faced Falcorian named Bannon "It'll work, right You've slain Wilders in your own land with this powder?"

He cleared his throat uncomfortably "Not exactly, Bannon, you see in the land I'm from Werewolves are very, very rare and they keep well away from human farms and villages save for raiding livestock if game is scarce in winter They are so rare that until I was apprenticed to Joram Mathuil I thought they were just some wild fable my Grandmama invented to keep me in line when I was little If the Powder isn't as effective against the Wilders, I do have another option Silver is fatal, yes?

"Allow me to explain something about our kind, werewolves can heal very, very fast, almost instantaneously in most cases, let us say you slashed a Wilder with a steel sword, the wound would be gone before you riposted However, a silver weapon's damage is much harder to heal, like Fire or the claws and fangs of another werewolf. Do you understand?" a petite blonde Falcorian explained "What happened when you were 'prenticed?"

"We found tracks less than a few hours old as we had no silver weapons and Jor had no wish to lose an apprentice or his own life and we moved in the other direction, Not exactly an epic tale, but Jor was a very practical sort, not exactly what you'd think of as a Ranger," he laughs

Hours later he extracted the last 3 pronged caltrop from his belt pouch and crouched

"Youve been doing this for hours What is that?" Malikka's tart voice demanded

"Catch!" he murmurs, flipping the caltrop

She grunted "burns Is it poison?" she dropped it with an oath.

"They're sprayed with silver nitrate, it won't kill them of course but it will be painful and slow down their advance and it may make them mad enough to do something foolishly rash" he explains, planting the caltrop in the soft loam.

Her smile was anything but pleasant "Do you really wish to see an angry werewolf?"

"Whether I want to or not, Malikka, I think I will see more than one angry werewolf before this night is over. As I was saying, I am hoping to get them so vexed with the caltrops that they will charge heedless of anything but the thought of smashing the defenders."

She smiled "You are either the bravest human I've ever met or the most deranged, I am not sure which. Are you afraid?"

"You know, my Grandpapa always told me that the only time people can be brave is when they're afraid"

She snorts "You didn't answer the question," she began. "Are you feeling brave, Gypsy?" she asks softly.

He nods towards the summit "I am feeling very brave, Sindari What do you think the chances are that our wolves caught a nice fat buck or two for supper?"

Teislyn's face shifted slightly to the right catching his kiss on her lips For a long moment their lips brushed, her kiss tasted of wild blackberries and Elven cordial, he thought. The Ranger's slender fingers caressed over the Bard's cheekbones, freeing an ivory comb that held her chestnut hair in place, watching it tumble down her back. The kiss broke off reluctantly, he drew near, tilting her chin up and drew her nearer...

"Our prey draws near, Bares his teeth Are you ready?" he felt rather than heard the dire wolf's thought

He wasn't a religious type, but asked whatever Powers that may have been listening to watch over his team...his friends and his two newly discovered sisters. He took a deep breath and nodded to the dire wolf laying beside him, "I'm ready, Uncle, " he murmurs, opening mismatched eyes. The first thing he noticed was Giorgi's absence, a quick scan of the campsite revealed a telltale white plumed tail sticking out from Malikka's pack. Seriously, child?

He pegged his thieving companion in the hocks with a dried cranberry earning a chittered scolding and an obscene paw gesture for the interference when he should have been helping to 'shop' for Great Aunty Hickory's life-gift present. He stifled a grin at the gesture "Filbert Windrunner, where in the world did you learn so wicked a gesture? Certainly not from your Poppy and you should be thanking me for stopping you, if Malikka woke and found you looting, she would roast you for dawnfry." He cleared his throat awkwardly "listen to me, my dearest friend...if something happens to me or if things look bad, you run, yes? You run and find Teislyn, you be a good squirrel for her and a good brother to her Lini, no monkey business."

Giorgi shook his head

"She's very fond of you and she'd take you in, my Giorgi, she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and a squirrel could not do better than having her as a Mama. I understand, though. At our cottage in Veta, walk 10 paces East from the well and dig, there's gold enough for you to live like a King for the rest of your life. Lift a pint of hard cider to our friendship from time to time, won't you?"

Again the squirrel shook his head.

"Where did this stubbornness come from?"

The Squirrel pointed to Jianni and then at himself.

"That is entirely different, Giorgi! I am Poppy, its in the job description that I won't bail on you if things get too hot AI! Just think about it, okay? I'm not asking you to promise, because we've never broken a promise to the other, just to think about it if things go south."

The camp was stirring. "Good morning, my friends! Archers, form up! Our company is on its way so I want to go over a few things. The fuses on the incendiary arrows are short so you have precisely 7 seconds to loose and hit your target before the powder detonates. I am fond of each and every one of you so please don't get distracted from your count once the fuse is lit," he smiled at his own quip

The pre-battle tension was as thick as a fog at sea, even the battle-hardened Wargs seemed restless, he met Finn's amber gaze, drawing strength from the dire wof's sense of Calm. He remembered his Poppa telling him about Bards that marched onto the field ahead of the Warriors, the shrill cry of the Pipes not only subduing fear but inspiring the warriors to greater bravery and ferocity. "Help me Poppa," he whispers. He began to sing the Falcorian National Anthem, for long seconds, he sang alone before the flame haired lass beside him joined her voice to his, then another, the gravelly voice of a wolf, then another and another still til every warrior's and fusilier’s voice was raised in song. "Remember who you are. Remember why you are here, Brothers and Sisters! You are the Shining Claw of Grandfather Wolf. You are the Light that holds darkness at bay. Your blood will be shed here this night, but Falcor will live on because of your courage and determination Our families, our friends and people you have not and may never meet will owe their lives to those assembled here or are poised to battle elsewhere. History will not remember you for the names you bore when you climbed this hill, it will remember you all as the Wolves of Falcor! You!" he shouted, pointing at a crop-haired farm lad struggling to light a torch, "Who are you?"

The boy, no more than sixteen winters old, dropped his tinderbox in surprise "I-I am a W-w-w-olf of F-Falcor, Captain!"

"Right you are, little brother!" He went down the lines, human, wolf and changing kin. A sharp yelp was heard from the base of Raven's Perch. "Archers, nock arrows and draw. First rank, black powder, remember 7 second fuse. Second rank, when they kneel to reload, use silver arrows. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is an honor to fight beside you! Fusiliers stand ready-"

An undulating howl was heard, its pain, rage and hatred freezing the ranger's blood for a split second "Steady...steady" he breathed . "Fusiliers on my mark...in 3...2 now!" he bellows as the first werewolf crested the hill. Mother of Night, he thinks absently, its a cave troll with fur!

The thing that had once been human was immense, black as a moonless night and 14 feet tall if it was an inch, a hideous mesh of wolf and man rearing on its hind legs, claws long as knives furrowing the ground. It glared eyes mad with bloodlust as it bellowed a challenge at the Defenders "Light him up!" the calm in his own voice surprised him

The Wilder staggered back as the volley peppered him and the powder detonated, the reek of scorched fur and meat was thick, staring down at the smoldering ruin of its chest in confusion, a high pitched scream of agony and surprise like a rabbit caught by an owl erupted from its lips It lurched forward...one step..two and a third step. Jianni nocked a silver headed arrow and aimed for its eye.

It collapsed, sprawled in the dirt unmoving before the Ranger could loose.The chorus of cheers and howls from the Wolves was deafening. He grinned thumping the archers on either side of him on the back. "My friends, the party has just started more will come though they may be a bit more cautious if their champion was killed...or not" he amended as he heard charging with an assortment of yelps and snarls. 8 at the least, but more likely 10 and more were coming.

"First rank, volley of incendiaries then fade back to either fire support or draw weapons! Second rank, you may have time for up to 3 volleys before you have to close in melee or pull back to support positions. Fusiliers, forward!

8 of them crested the hill, none quite as large as the first, Jianni took aim at a large dire wolf, black as pitch but with bare spots of lighter gray beneath. There was a sweet, even heady fragrance, like incense.maybe it was ritualistic, like a blessing from a Shaman before the battle. He loosed on 4 aiming not at the dire wolf, but at the 'wolfman' a few feet away.

It glanced down at the offending arrow protruding from its chest and snarled, when the powder detonated a fat spark leaped to cling to the dire wolf's gooey coat. It yelped in surprise and went up like pitch It howled and raced around, trying to extinguish the flames, snapping at its fellows who leaped back to avoid the four legged torch or sensing its weakness and terror, attacked, answering claw for claw, fang for fang simply on animal instinct

Jianni recognized the difference immediately, knowing that the Wolves he was with would have done what they could to help their pack-mate if the situation was reversed, not only for the good of the individual but the good of the Pack as well. For family, he whispers drawing his blades, Ilya the Scimitar bore the name of the Ranger's Grandmama, it had been his Poppa's, silver and enchanted to retain a keen edge and not break (Poppa claimed that the blade's name was mere coincidence he had named it moons before he met his Love). Varna, the long dirk kept a sheen like well polished silver and according to a Mage friend was enchanted against Lycanthropes.

He charged a Wilder, the thing lunged claws thrusting to gut the arrogant human, the Ranger went down in a split driving both blades into its gullet The Wilder shuddered and died, black blood pouring from its jaws. From the Corner of his eye he saw a black dire wolf with gold hoops in her ears hard pressed by two Wilder, her glossy coat was scored by claw-marks. Ilya lashed out as he ran past, the scimitar slashing down, cutting through matted fur, muscle and tendon behind the enemies knees like new butter. It toppled before it could make a step. Varna stabbed into the second wolf's kidneys, not to kill it, but to draw its attention away from Malikka

It snarled at the interruption arms reaching back, trying to dislodge the dirk.

The Gypsy smiled "Now that I have your attention, do you like to dance?" he asks gaily.

The Black wolf reared, muzzle tearing at the enemy's neck and shoulder savagely and growled her thanks as it fell.

"Change to human or wolf, I can carry you to safety and still be able to fight if I need to" he urges, retrieving Varna and wiping its blade clean on the warg's pelt.

Malikka growls negation "Let you have all the fun yourself? I do not think so, Gypsy" her lips twitched in a brief smile.

He ran his hands along her torn pelt, probing gently as he chanted

"Our enemies have paid a heavy toll in currency more precious than gold Let coat muscle bone and sinew be mended anew"

She shuddered as though she had plunged into a frozen lake as the energy slammed into her. Malikka made a curious gesture "Priest"

"Mother of Night what a frightening thought, me a Priest! No, Sister. Rangers study under priests of Nature as well as Ranger Lords, I learned herblore, some simple magic and a lot about animal behavior That should help keep you on your paws u

waves pirate flags Go Chaos!

[spoiler=Organized Chaos Chapter 10...no puns intended....Get it? in-ten-ded....Ok, I'm quitting now....]

HOLLIS**********

Teislyn laid a hand on Doom's head and reached for Dace's hand with the other, while speaking to Freida. "I'll make sure to keep an eye on them, Lini will be helping out as much as she can too. You be safe my dearest friend and sister and come back in one piece please.", she begged Frieda, " last time scared the ghosts out of us. Please be safe." With that she wrapped her arms around the weasel girl and squeezed her tightly. "i love you dearest."

As she turned towards the others to say her farewells, a cup was thrust into her hand by Jianni and a toast was given. The liquid was sweet and made her feel warm inside, like being embraced by a soft blanket. She gave a smile, and tears started welling up as he gave his farewells, she didn't know him very long, but he and Giorgi were already part of the family. As he went to kiss her cheek the second time, she moved slightly and their lips brushed lightly over each other. She blushed, stammered out her words and gave him a quick hug, "Be safe Jianni and you too, Giorgi" She hugged Sequoia and nodded to Aicha as her farewells to them.

"Come on Webby and Dace, lets see where we are needed and get to work." she said to them while walking away from the others. Once they were out of the main area, Teislyn helped keep the crowd calm by singing songs from Veta, telling adventure stories, and having Lini and Doom perform while she provided the music for their mini performance.

As the last chord was struck she heard a noises outside of the door and she hoped that it was either Dace or Webby, but Lini started squeaking shrilly along with Doom's thumps from her tail. Images popped into her mind and she knew it wasn't her friends. A few of the citizens tried to talk at once and Teislyn held up her hands for silence "Alright everyone, try to be calm and go toward the back of the room. I'll see what is outside", she knew what was out there, but didn't want to scare the rest in the room. "Lini and Doom, stay near them, I don't want anything to happen to either of you," she said as sternly as possible.

She held onto her lute like a batter stepping up to the plate while walking toward the door. She reached for the knob and turned it slowly all the while trying to listen to where the noises were coming from. They didn't sound as close, so she opened the door slowly to see what was going on and couldn't believe what she saw. Clockwork dolls everywhere causing chaos. She saw Webby disappear from the hall with a few of the soldiers, while others were doing their best to defend the inside against the machines. She noticed through the chaos, the real life girl standing off to the side observing the scene.

One of the dolls suddenly popped into her view and as she was about to swing her lute to hit it, a hand caught the handle and a voice coming from the doll said "It's me, Dace!" "Dace?!, you don't look like you, but I'm glad i didn't wallop you a good one then. I saw the real girl down the hallway towards the front of the castle, I'm not sure how to help her out of the drugged stupor she's in. Webby left a bag here in case we needed to use the contents, but I'll give it to you since one of us has to stay here with the civilians. Dace nodded and gave her a quick hug before running out of the room to see what else could be done.

She closed the door behind Dace and leaned against it with a sigh of relief that none of the dolls had gotten to the door. She smiled a bit as her thoughts shifted to what happened between her and Jianni, during the farewells and maybe, just maybe if everyone got out of this alive, they could sit down and have a pint, while talking about what might happen next. Hopefully Lini would be alright with it, she was rather protective of "her human". A sudden thud against the closed door jolted her out of her thoughts and it brought on more cries and whimpers from the group in the back of the room. She waved her hands to quiet everyone down and put her ear to the door, she didn't hear anything and started to open the door. Lini and Doom came up behind her with squeaks and growls, pictures going through Teislyn's mind like crazy. "You two stay put! I'll look out and see what is happening. I'll be fine, I promise. She opened the door again and saw a group of four dolls wandering around the corridor, suddenly they stopped and slowly turned toward the movement. Her breath caught and she froze, praying to whoever was listening, that they didn't see her. "Lini, Doom, get back into the room!", Teislyn yelled as they scampered out the door. "Shit!" The dolls saw them and started moving in a mechanical slowness toward the creatures. Lini and Doom had something in their mouths that she couldn't see, but as soon as they were close enough to one, they went around the doll in opposite directions and as it took another step, it tripped and fell forward, scattering some of the mechanics across the floor, while impeding the movements of the dolls behind it for a few seconds to let the two creatures to scamper back to Teislyn as quickly as possible.

She saw the other dolls slowly make their way around the fallen one and Teilsyn had to do something before they reached her and the others. "Think Teislyn, think! You've been in sticker situations then this!" A thought suddenly came to her and she hoped it would work. She ran back into the room, looked around for a bit, and then saw some marbles in a corner. She scooped them up and ran back to the door. The dolls were a bit closer, but not to the door yet. She quickly scattered the marbles a few feet from the door and stepped back into whatever protection the room could provide. The dolls slowly made their way to the marbles. "Step, step, step" and then it happened. The first one picked up her foot and it came down onto the marbles, she teetered and slipped around the floor, while bumping into the other two. They ended up slipping and sliding whenever they encountered a marble and eventually they all landed in a tangled heap in front of the door.

Teislyn stared at the heap "We did it! Lini, Doom, we make a great team! Great job you two!" Lini projected a few images of Frieda petting the two companions into Teislyn's mind. "Yes, I'm sure she will be proud of you two, maybe there'll be a nice bath for you and Doom later. Let's get back to keep the group calm while we wait for the rest of our friends."

GLITTER**********

Before the Storm.

Jianni was holding a glass up for a toast, and Dace lifted her glass, feeling a sense of foreboding, but also a deep set surety, that the people on her team were strong enough to see this battle to the end. After gulping down the golden liquid she wiped her mouth and nodded at Teislyn, who had reached out to hold her hand.

"Frieda, everyone, we'll be here protecting those who can't protect themselves." She smiled at Teislyn. "Don't worry about me, Frieda does enough of that for all of us!" Although she was smiling, her heart was pounding. She'd been on plenty of adventures with the protectors from the Wayward Squirrel, but never with so many warring factions all at each other's throats. The drink finally stilled her trembling hands and she rushed over to kiss her cousin goodbye. "Godspeed Frieda, promise me we'll see one another again!" Seldom emotional, Dace hurriedly wiped tears from her eyes and headed back to Teislyn.

Teislyn sang and played her lute while Dace and Webby circled the perimeter and looked out for signs of the fighting drawing near. "I think I heard something, I'll be right back." Dace whispered to her companion. Dace stepped into the hall and walked as silently as she could, as she rounded the corner she couldn't believe her eyes.

The Storm Intensifies:

There were doll parts everywhere. There also happened to be dolls. Everywhere. One breezed past her and Dace reached to grab her arm. A familiar tingle swallowed Dace up and before she could cry out she had become one of the freakish dolls herself. If it wasn't for her eye markings there would be no way to tell her apart from the others. She saw Webby and several soldiers enter the fray and wondered how Teislyn and the civilians were doing. She was on her way back when the Coppelia she had touched came dancing down the corridor, her strangely empty eyes shining a dim red. Dace backed up a few steps and took a flying leap, marveling at how graceful she felt. The Coppelias head popped off with the violent kick but her body kept dancing, Dance landed with the elegance of a seasoned dancer, then spun around and ripped the Coppellia's arms off. The torso and legs crumpled to the floor. Now armed with one of the Coppelia's appendages, Dace tiptoed down the hall, hoping to warn Teislyn. Instead she nearly got a lute to the face. She grabbed it and pointed to the dots under her perfect, doll-like makeup. "Teislyn, it's me, Dace! I touched one of the Coppelias and shifted! I think I can hold this form for a few hours if need be. The Coppelias we saw are all dolls, real dolls! It looks like the fighting is well underway, so we need to protect everyone as best we can!" She took a deep breath and looked at Teislyn intently.

The Hurricaine:

Dace nodded after her partner gave her their plans. She gave Teislyn a quick hug and ran into the hall, making sure she wasn't seen. For the next several hours she darted down hallways and in and out of rooms, intent on leading Coppellias to their doom. She began to feel the enchantment wearing off and decapitated several more soldiers before she collapsed. The shift back was taking longer than she wanted it to. "Guys," she whispered, "Please stay safe."

ICHIGO777********

Aicha scoffed. “Well this is going nowhere.” They'd been on the ship Flying Frenchman for a while now, deeply engaged in the air battle with the enemy ships. Lucien and the Pyrates seemed content with this staring battle with the enemy battleship ahead of them but really it was going NOWHERE. All this waiting irritated Aicha to no end. She sneered at them. “Well if you'll do nothing than I shall!” She grabbed the first concoction that was stashed on the nearby table and threw it as hard as she could towards the enemy vessel. A well timed burst of wind carried it into the side of the other ship and a loud flashy explosion was soon deafening their eardrums and starring their eyes. Aicha grinned and rushed forward, using her magic to propel her, and jumped off of the Flying Frenchman's bow straight towards the enemy vessel. She landed with a thud on the deck and grinned at the stunned faces around her.

The mages here seemed to have formed a strategy to let one man stand forward whilst the other three concentrated on forming a shield to protect the vessel and themselves. Smart but not THAT smart. It explained the minimal damage from explosion but just HOW did they expect one mage to fight off multiple foes. Something wasn't quite right

Aicha stared at the mage facing her, each seemingly unwilling to make the first move. Her wand had been left behind: she would have to find a new weapon - perhaps she should use a pipe? The explosion from earlier had knocked quite a few free, perhaps it would serve her to use it. She didn't know if her opponents had realized she wasn't exactly HUMAN yet, but it probably didn't matter much anyway.

She was started from her thoughts as a crackle caught her attention and Aicha just barely managed to duck the shot of lighting that had been fired at her. The front mage sneered and began to fire a succession of rapid shots. As the mage ducked between blasts, she bent down and grabbed one of the loose pipes and concentrated on it, willing her magic to fill it with the desired spell. She soon discovered the pipe was a not such a strong thing & wouldn't take well to on offensive spell. Stifling a curse, she changed her tactics and tried a simpler charm.

'Well, now or never' The mage told herself as she raised the pipe up into the path of the next shot.

To her delight, the shield charm she had placed in the pipe worked perfectly, deflecting the mage's shot straight back at him. The mage was completely unprepared for this and stopped firing out of shock as his own deflected shot slammed into the shield behind him mere inches from his head. Aicha cracked a cheeky grin and laughed as the other three mages visible strained. If that's all it took to hurt the shield...This was going to be fun!

It wouldn't be long before her opponent had no energy left to fire with after all her magic shield took less energy than his shots. But still the issue of HOW they expected victory with this crew was a mystery to her and it left her unsettled.

It was time to take drastic measure before they brought out whatever trump card they thought they had/ She let out what could only be called a primal roar followed by an intense aura of magic as she dropped to the floor on hands and knees. Her clothes suddenly burst into blue flames, burning away to leave her only in her lacy black underwear and bra. The magically styled hair undid, reverting back to the platinum blonde and the matching facial hair vanished. From amiss the platinum blonde mess, horns reappeared followed soon by a tail from her lower back. With almost pupil-less eyes, she turned to the front mage. The man looked at her and froze. He started to open his mouth to say something but before he could even utter a sound, Aicha was already running towards him at an inhumanly fast pace with a look of rage that could have scared the devil himself.

Aicha grabbed the man by his neck. With a snarl and a flick, she sent him flying across the deck and completely off of the ship, a smirk crossing her face as his scream faded into nothingness as he fell

With an insane grin on her face she flooded the pipe with magical power. Raising it high, she brought it down upon the shielf again and again, hitting it with the curse filling it, causing the three to strain to keep the shield in tact. On the fifth hit, the pipe shattered and Aicha cackled. She concentrated on her hands, filling them with lighting and thunder, and began to beat on the shield more with her bare hands. After a moment it flicked, wavered, and then finally shattered. The three whom had been holding it had collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion and Aicha laughed at the pathetic sight. With inhuman speed she rushed forwards and grabbed one by the ankles then threw him clear off the side of the ship. The second followed the first quickly while the third mage, a woman, attempted to scramble away across the deck. Aicha laughed and easily caught her ankle and tossed her overboard after her colleagues.

Cackling madly, she summoned her power and cast a powerful shield charm and levitation spell over herself. Rising into the air above the vessel contained in a blue bubble the mage clasped her hands together and began chanting. A ball of energy began to gather in her palms as Aicha kept speaking. When the ball had grown to the size of a grapefruit she giggled and dropped it. Down the ball slowly fell until it landed on the deck of the enemy vessel. Three seconds later the sky was filled with a deafening boom and a bright flash of blue light and smoke.

Aicha floated herself back onto the deck of the Flying Frenchman wth a grin on her face landing amid the confused Pyrates. Slowly the smoke cleared to reveal nothingness – where the enemy ship had once been was nothing. Aicha grinned and pointed downwards towards some still falling debris.

“THAT is how you end a magic battle – with completed and utter obliteration.”

With a snarky grin she sauntered off past stunned Pyrates and a speechless Lucien, her job well and truly done. All except one thing…Where had Frieda gone to? “Damn it! That little freak has probably gone and got herself hurt and I’ll be the one expected to go get her.” she muttered to no one in particular.

Aicha gritted her teeth, stood and gripped the rigging of the airship. “I’m going to rip that little rat a new one when I find her.” She flung herself overboard and used her magic to float to the ground.

Looks good XD

Word had arrived to Lyra and Akalia that the Crystanian troops had arrived to help defend the castle, but there was still the problem of the doppelganger Coppelias to contend with. The potion that they had brewed to try and revive the real Coppelia was ready, but what would be the best way to administer it?

“What about dipping a dart into the potion and blowing it at the girl? Oh, scrap that idea, I don’t have anything suitable. Do you have anything?” Lyra was trying to bounce some ideas off Akalia, but the elf seemed distracted, maybe it was the ominous noises coming from outside.

Akalia looked back to Lyra and Cosmo while listening to the sounds of battle outside. Newly resolved the elf gave Gunther a pat on the head, “You stay here, Gunther.” She quickly stood up and ran out to join the battle the best way she knew how. As she left she yelled back to her friends, “Good Luck!”

Gunther stared at the door slightly dumbstruck, he had never seen his master run so fast. He turned to Lyra and Cosmo and gave a small, surprised bleat.

Videnicse sat talking quietly with Gish as preparations for a battle went on all around them. “I think I should talk to the werewolves,” Nicsy said. “They’re shapeshifters, they might have something for me to do.”

“Can you be a wolf?” Gish asked curiously. “I never saw you as a wolf.”

“No,” Nicsy said. “I mean, I never tried. It…” She trailed off, thinking of too many things to pull one thread out of the tangle. Gish’s beak knocked against one of the earrings. She put them away. She could turn into a wolf if she tried hard enough. But she’d be clumsy and awkward for weeks while she learned the kinesthetics of wolfhood. A battle was no time to be clumsy and awkward - not if she wanted to survive.

She asked a scruffy looking man who she thought looked werewolf-like, and he sent her to meet a fellow he called “the General.” Following the directions, she knocked at the door. The man who opened it didn’t admit to being the General, but he didn’t deny it either. “My name is Videnicse. I want to help you fight - I’m a fox actually, not a werewolf, but I thought -”

“You’re a what now?” He bared his teeth at her, and she stepped back in alarm. His teeth were terrible - very long and sharp.

“Just look,” she said. Carefully, but as quickly as she could, she took off the dress and shoes and belt she was wearing, stuffing the clothes into her satchel till she was wearing nothing but a light, untailored shift.

“I’m not in the mood for games,” he said, and then stopped as the elf girl was not there anymore - a lump under the loose cloth crept out. “A fox indeed,” he said, surprised. “Never saw that before.” He watched the fox awkwardly stuff the shift into her satchel. “You’re a shifter, for certain, girl, but what kind of fight could you put up against a warg?” The elder shook his head with definite dismissal and went behind a screen. The enormous wolf that came out from behind the screen growled at them, and showed teeth that were even longer and sharper than his other form’s - but blackened in the same pattern. “Fight me,” he said, “and if you can win, you can fight alongside us.”

Nicsy was half the length of the wolf and maybe a quarter of his weight. She didn’t have a clue how to fight such a monster of a wolf - she wasn’t even sure she could beat a regular wolf. She shook her head, then shrank yet again - turning into her mynah form.

“You’re just too big,” she said, now that she could speak again. “How do you talk when you’re like that?”

“Some can, some can’t. Don’t know how,” the Elder said. “And if you can’t fight me, you’re no use to us. But a bird… you’d be of use to the Singari. Go, tell them I sent you.”

The satchel was very heavy but the birds had carried it before, and they managed. Gish and Videnicse put it away in a safe place before they flew to the Singari encampment. Once there, they watched the preparations for battle quietly. A lot was going on.

Some men were sharpening blades, others fletching arrows. A blacksmith had set up a portable anvil and made a fire, and was hammering bent shovels and trowels into shape. Small groups of women stood talking to one another in quiet voices, making plans.

One woman looked up at the two birds, who were so quietly watching, taking in the camp’s preparations. She pulled out a crossbow and aimed it squarely at them, fired - Gish squawked and fluttered away. Videnicse could tell, though, that the woman hadn’t been aiming where it would actually hit them. The bolt struck the tree in a branch several feet below, making the tree sway with its force.

This was the person to talk to, Nicsy thought. She knew they weren’t idling, but were here for a purpose. She just had to know if it was ally or enemy. Nicsy flew down to land on a post near the woman. “The elder sent us,” she said, “a werewolf guy, do you know him?”

“So, are you spying on us for him, then? Why do you admit your misdeed so freely, bird?” The woman was very cautious.

“No, not spying - we came to help. We’re friends of one of the airship captains, and I’m a shapeshifter - I asked if I could help the werewolves, but they said you had need of birds, and I wasn’t a tough enough fighter to join them,” Nicsy explained.

The woman looked puzzled. Why had a werewolf thought they needed birds? “We do need more feathers for our arrows,” she said thoughtfully. “Can you spare some?”

“I… guess so? Isn’t there something more - proactive we can do though?” She didn’t want to be a feather dispenser! That wasn’t a proper role in a battle. And it would be very uncomfortable besides.

“We can carry messages, if you need that done,” Gish suggested, landing on the pole alongside Nicsy, nearly dislodging her. She flapped her wings to regain her balance and made room for Gish to stand on the pole next to her.

“Hmmm,” said the Singari woman. “Yes, I think that might be very helpful. We have scouts - out spying on the enemy as I thought you two were spying on us. You may well be able to bring word from them more swiftly than they could themselves.”

She sent Nicsy one direction and Gish another, both with clear descriptions of the scouts and the bandit groups they were spying on. Then she touched a small vial to her finger, and placed a drop of liquid on the forehead of each bird with her fingertip. “By this anointment be part of the Singari for the space of the day,” she said. “By this be clear sighted and know your way.”

Nicsy and Gish looked at each other. Was it a spell she’d put on them? Or a pre-battle best wishes ritual? Nicsy knew a lot about spells, but she still wasn’t sure.

Akalia headed into the forest following small plumes of smoke and the sound of metal on metal. She glanced back at the castle, worried about her companions that she left there, and hoped that their hands wouldn’t be too full having to care for Gunther. She just couldn’t risk that the small goat would get hurt.

She turned her attention forward through the forest, listening for any sounds that she could pick up when the small, light flapping of wings caught her attention. The steady rhythmic beat was familiar, looking up confirmed her suspicions. Nicsy was flying above having become a mynah.

Akalia ran ahead even further, sounds of the forest encampment growing ever-louder. Deciding to avoid the base of operations, the elf kept up her speed and crept through the bushes, careful not to let her compound bow and arrows get caught. She spied a small grassy clearing off to her left and concentrated on the sound of flapping wings. Upon entering the clearing Akalia let out a whistling bird call, hoping that Nicsy or Gish would hear her.

Nicsy heard a whistle, and circled back toward it. The voice sounded familiar, but she wasn’t sure. She cautiously looked down and saw Akalia in a small grassy area. A short interruption in her flight to find out what the ranger wanted should be a good use of her time, she thought, so she landed on a tree at the edge of the clearing.

Copying the call Akalia had made, Nicsy whistled back - the usual response another bird of the same species would make. She wasn’t sure what species made this sound, but she’d heard it several times. Better than talking, in case enemies were listening…

Akalia heard her whistle repeated back to her and crept towards it, continually listening for anything that might sneak up.

Relieved to see that it was Nicsy, the elf let out a breath that she hadn’t known she was holding and darted into the cover of the trees. Placing her back against the tree that Nicsy occupied, Akalia let her voice whisper out.

“That encampment. Do you know if it is friend or foe?”

Akalia’s eye darted back and forth as she readied her bow and arrow, better to be prepared for an enemy ambush than not.

Not sure which encampment Akalia meant, and not very good at whispering in mynah form, Nicsy scratched in the dirt of a bare patch in the grass of the clearing, trying to draw a map. She sketched the location of the clearing in the center of the “map” and a tiny stick figure next to a tiny V shape for herself to show their position in it. Then she drew a circle at the location of each group of people she’d seen nearby.

On the ones that she was sure were friendly, she put a face with a smile. On the ones that were enemies, she drew a diagonal line through the circle. And for the ones where she wasn’t sure, she put a question mark. There were two question marks: one was a group that had been hidden entirely by some broad leaved trees, all she’d seen of them were their shadows. The others were not under trees, but somehow had shadows surrounding them anyway - Nicsy thought probably magic shadows, in their case.

Akalia watched Nicsy draw the map of the surrounding area and studied it cautiously, keeping an ear out for intruders. Pointing at the encampment with the smiley face she looked at Nicsy and and nodded.

“That’s…” Akalia cut short her whispered sentence when she heard light footsteps heading their way. With a quick turn towards the intruder, the elf’s eye caught the gleam of a dagger in a battle ready hand. Whipping her readied weapon around, Akalia deftly let loose the arrow striking the enemy bandit between the eyes. He fell forward with a small thump.

Akalia quickly looked up to ensure that Nicsy was okay, an arrow barely missing the elf’s nose. Akalia jumped from her spot below the tree, grabbing the arrow that almost caught her from the trunk. Notching it as she found new cover, her eye scanned in the direction that the arrow had come. Seeing her target hidden in the tree, Akalia loosed the arrow and was welcomed with a satisfying thud.

Akalia pulled another arrow from her quiver and readied it. Keeping her attention on the darkening forest around her, she kept her voice low. “Are you alright?”

Nicsy nodded emphatically. She fluffed her feathers and carefully preened the ones on her left shoulder back into place. “Good shot,” she said. She looked around - not seeing the goat that always hung out with Akalia anywhere. Probably the ranger had left him somewhere safer.

“Which way do you plan to go? I need to spy on these guys,” she added a scratch to one of the Ø shapes. “And report to the Singari about what they’re up to”.

“Best for me to avoid these areas,” Akalia pointed to the enemy and unsure encampments. She was only one elf and she was quite sure that she wouldn’t be able to adequately take the camp on her own.

“Perhaps through here,” Her finger traced ahead of the enemy camps. “Find and take out the scouts would be best.”

The less scouts they had, the better chances they had of keeping their own camps secret, as well as their numbers. With a nod, Akalia wiped away the map.

“Good luck and stay safe.”

“You too,” the mynah said, launching herself back into the air. She headed in the direction the Singari had directed her, flying for five or ten minutes before she spotted the bandits she was seeking.

They were sitting under an overhanging rock, and she couldn’t see them well from the air. She circled higher, to a vantage point from which she could see how far the Singari’s own scouts were from the bandits. Not very close - Nicsy thought maybe it would take her ten or fifteen minutes to walk from one to the other as an elf. A little less as a fox, probably. From this high she couldn’t actually see either group, only the terrain markers that she recalled were adjacent to each one.

Carefully, but pretending not to care, she landed near the overhang, in a spot that wouldn’t be clearly visible to anyone under it. Nicsy tucked her head and pretended to sleep, as she eavesdropped on the enemy bandits.

“Give that here,” one deep voice said, and she heard chewing sounds, then a belch. “Not bad,” the same voice added.

“Leave some for the rest of us,” said a raspy voice.

A third bandit said, in higher pitched tones, “There’s enough, still. Don’t quarrel over it.”

The rasp again, “How much longer until we reach the city?”

“Not far.” This was the higher voice. Then she heard a smacking sound, like a slap, followed by a kachunk as if a rock had fallen over - a big rock.

The deep voice said, “Finish eating. We need to move. My girl said she’d leave the gate unlocked, but if we take too long a guard might notice and lock it back up.”

Nicsy jittered on the branch, listening to this conversation. It might be important, she wanted to catch every word.

After some time, Gish had found the group she’d been sent to survey, counted their numbers and reported back to the Singari. Then she’d carried a message for them to another group who was setting up traps in the woods for the bandits.

She’d assisted with one trap by carrying a loop of twine up to a high tree branch and looping it around the twigs so it stayed in place. The Singari had told her that it would hold an unwary bandit fast if he stepped on it wrong. Then he’d marked the trap with a small but somehow obvious little shape he carved into one of the tree trunks.

The galah wondered, but didn’t ask aloud, if the mark was so obvious because of the thing the Singari woman had done, the clear sight thing she’d said. She had the feeling it was better not to mention it.

When she went back again to the Singari, they hadn’t heard from Nicsy. Gish was worried and flew off to see if she could find her friend - the fox might have got herself in trouble.

As she’d flown over the fight, she’d spotted something that made her suspicious. She flew down and landed on a high tree branch.

Gish watched unnoticed from a tree near where a half dozen cloaked figures stood around a map of the city she’d only recently left. The city map had been painted on a roll of parchment, and they had unrolled it on a tree stump, then gathered around it talking in low voices that she couldn’t quite make out.

They rolled the map back up and one of them stowed it under his cloak. Most of them wore cloaks entirely black. One had fancy fur trim on his cloak. The one with the fur trim grabbed the arm of the one who’d taken the map.

“When?” he said, louder than they’d spoken before, in a demanding tone.

“Soon,” the map carrier answered. “Ten bells in the city. Out here - you’ll have to tell your time by the sun and stars.”

“No wasting time, then,” the fur cloaked one answered. They moved swiftly through the trees, as though they were practiced woods travelers, light on their feet, moving mostly silently, though the loudest one was the one with the fur. It caught on a branch here and there and broke the twig with

Pings and Stuff

So, I'm posting what we have...

Prelude (What Came Before) - Replay of Previous Chapter

The members of Squirrel Tales stood around the cauldron, watching and commenting as those good at potions and magic spoke up here and there, adding their knowledge to the brew being mixed. Not everyone had much to add, however. When Izzy and Pugsy arrived, announcing the danger from the werewolves and vampires, Raine thought she could detect a hint of relief in the eyes of at least a few of their crew.

"A battle plan," Raine repeated after Tanaka. "We should probably send two or three SquirrelTales along with Djoni and Lysandra... And Dahlia, I'm sorry, but as our bard... I think we need to get you somewhere safe. Why don't you go with Clytie, and Larianne and the others? And maybe one of our more battle-ready members will go with you, to help keep the bunch of you safe? I think I'll stay put here. I know a fair bit about magic from my travels and... umm... other things, so I might be of the most use here. But who wants to fight, and who wants to go with Dahlia, and is there anyone else who wants to stay with me, working on this potion?"

"I can fill in where ever," Max commented. "Though, personally..." Max pulled his waistcoat to the side to reveal a pistol secured to the inside. "I might be best out there. I am a sharp shooter on my home world, and very little can happen to me being undead."

Dahlia frowned, "I cannot simply sit by and wait while that poor girl is in danger." Witnessing the Coppelia being manipulated in such a way had left Dahlia with a horrible feeling in her gut. While Raine might be right, she knew that she would never rest being cooped up inside when she might be able to offer some help in breaking whatever trance the Coppelia was under.

"While I am not the most well versed in witchcraft, I do know a thing or two." Dahlia said as she picked up a worn spell book, being careful not to free any of the pages as she flipped through it, "I've charmed a man or two in my day..." she added with a laugh and a playful wink directed towards Max. "Do be careful, dear. You might not be among the living, but there are fates far worse than death should you be caught unaware on the battlefield."

"You mean like being brainwashed like those poor Coppelias.....or Coppelia? I just hope we're not walking into a little sea maided scenario. You know. A sea maiden gives up her voice to a witch so she can walk on land. Only this would be a girl gives up her mind to become a famous ballet dancer."

Anna looked at the rest of the group and said, "I think that I will go hang out with Clytie and Larianne. I believe one of us needs to keep an eye out for them." Anna left her huddle of friends and headed to Madi's bedroom.

Raine glanced at the two remaining members of the team, Teena and Sky.

"Okay," she said. "Teena, didn't you mention once something about the people of your land knowing a bit about magic? At any rate, I could certainly use some help here, if you wanted to stay put and work on these potions with us. And Sky, you seem to be good with the hands-on stuff... Maybe you could join Max, and help get a battle plan put together?"

To the Castle!

With the potion completed, Raine turned to Dahlia.

"If we're going to save that Coppelia,” Raine began, “we’ve got to get to the castle! We have to get to her with the antidote asap. The longer she's affected by the other potion, the lower our chances of saving her, after all." Even as she spoke, she was already heading away from the camp and towards the castle. She continued speaking, her voice coming out rushed and thundery as she picked up speed. "And besides, I'm sure Junu and the Crystanians will be able to use any help we can give with the defenses. I'm sure the vamps and wolves will fight a hard battle in the woods, and the pirates will be fighting hard in the skies. But in an area like this, it will be complete chaos. I'm sure any number of warriors from the other side will manage to at least draw close to the castle. And after all, with their manufactured Coppelia dolls, the enemy already has members within the walls of the castle itself! And who knows what tricks those dolls have up their sleeves!" At this point, Raine was almost running through the trees. She stopped speaking for a moment, glancing over her shoulder to see if Dahlia was indeed following her.

"I'm here," Dahlia assured her as she caught up behind Raine, a bit out of breath from trying to keep up. "You are... incredibly fast."

The castle walls were now in view, and though things seemed quiet at the moment there was a feeling of unease in the air - hinting at the chaos that was soon to come.

"Do you have any weapons? We mustn't let our guard down... even now, enemy scouts could be among these trees waiting for the moment to strike," Dahlia commented, unsheathing her dagger. "Silver should take care of any stray wolves, yes? What do you suppose we do about the dolls?"

As Dahlia spoke, she seemed uncharacteristically on edge. She'd seen her fair share of fights, but nothing of this magnitude.

"We need a plan... the castle may be overrun at any moment," she continued.

"I have weapons... of a sort," Raine replied. "Not in the traditional sense, but don't worry, I've got plenty of fight in me... I have a bit of... well... Some might call it magic, but whatever it is, it tends to come in handy in situations like this... And yeah, everything I've heard suggests silver should be enough to do any of the wild wolves in. Though we'll have to be careful. It might be tough to tell the friendlies from the enemies!"

As they stepped through the front gate of the castle, she continued, "I'm a lot more worried about the dolls than the wolves, since they're already inside. As far as I could see, the dolls themselves seemed to be robots only, so they shouldn't have any magic on their side. So we shouldn't have to worry about anything like that. I'm thinking they must run on some kind of power. Maybe a jolt of another kind of power might be enough to take them out? I know how to serve up a pretty good jolt of lightning... Maybe that will be enough to get rid of them. But I can't hit them while the real Coppelia is close by. Can you do something to separate her from the rest of the group? If you can get her out of there and give her the potion, I'll deal with the dolls."

As she spoke, the sky began to darken, the clouds began to thicken, and a chill seemed to enter the air. The low-hanging clouds seemed to be at their thickest over the castle courtyard, directly where Raine and Dahlia were headed.

This bites...

Max had left the camp to meet up with the others as soon as things had been decided. He was now listening with folded arms as tactics were being discussed with the allied vampires. It seemed most of the vamps were going to stay hidden and use their ghost fire gift to keep the enemy at a distance. Max had his own special weapons he’d bartered for back at camp, but came to find that his pistol should be used sparingly with its loud sound made worse with vampire super hearing. With only dual silver daggers left in his arsenal, Max volunteered to take care of anything that got too close.

After Sky bartered for some silver arrow heads and a few other useful supplies, she headed in the direction she had seen Max go. “I Know about vampires… Shoot, I Know vampires. But there still seems to be something unknown about them that puts me a little on edge... I'll just have to stay on my toes for this. It's been a while since I've been in a battle with this many factors.” Spotting Max near some vampires looking over a map of the area, she quickly made her way over.

Max was expecting to go solo on this mission, so when Sky arrived and he gave her a surprised look over his rose-colored specs, "You sure you want to join us? This could get ugly."

Sky gave a small grin, "I can't leave you over here alone. We need to watch each other's back."

Max smirked back and fixed his glasses on his nose. “Glad to have the company.”

"Do you have anything silver?” Max asked.

"Do you have anything silver?" Echoed Sky. She patted her thigh where she had a dagger strapped on. "I have a blade that has stayed true to me through previous adventures. I'm sure the silver in it and the inscriptions on it will be useful this night." Quickly double checking her quiver she said, "I also traded back at camp for some silver arrowheads. I only hope I have enough." She gave him a weary look and added, "I would rather keep them farther off as long as possible."

“Well, I've got these two,“ Max said as he partially unsheathed the two daggers at his hip. “And I have bullets, but I'm going to avoid them for now unless I want to deafen our dear allies. You probably got a better deal than I did on these. Merchants can never seem to reduce trades for dire events....”

After a short time, heads nodded as plans were decided and everyone took their place among trees and shadows. The sky grew dark with clouds, but could not blanket the forest in complete blackness. The town was too well lit this evening and the light spread softly off the clouds, giving Sky and Max just enough light for their keen eyes to see. Silence fell as allies and and friends waited with baited breath for the first signs of movement. The wait seemed like it would last forever, or had they hardly been waiting at all?

As Sky sat at the base of a tree, she murmured to Max nearby, "I almost wish there was some garlic or something growing here. Though, I guess our allies wouldn't like that much…” Shifting, she softly patted the dagger at her side. Anticipation was beginning to itch at Max as he peered around the tree he was concealed behind.

Meanwhile...

Anna approached the castle, she slowly looked all around. She noticed Midnight perking up and flying back and forth in front of her, scanning the castle. Anna noticed the wind blowing and the trees rustling. Midnight flapped his wings twice to let Anna know that something felt weird. As she walked closer to the castle, she noticed a group of civilians huddled together. She quickly scurried up to them and said softly, "Does the air feel weird to you?"

One older civilian shook his head and stated, "I think a war is about to break out. The last time I felt this way was way way before you all were born. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to live through another one." Anna nodded her head in understanding, "I grew up listening to adventures told by my Grandmother during troubled times. I always loved to hear those stories but I also am not quite ready to experience the same adventures. How about we all go inside and we can sit down and chat and I'll keep an eye out from one of the windows." Midnight looked at Anna with an alarmed look. Anna felt the chills run up her arm and immediately reached for her arrow bag. As she helped to usher people inside, she kept an ear out for the noises around her. She had always prided herself on the ability to pick up on the small things going on around her. She listened closely and heard faint footsteps heading their way. She also noticed farther away, water beginning to rush faster and faster.

She felt a tug on her pants and looked down to a small girl, who spoke up, "Ma'am, are we going to be okay?" Anna quickly liftrf her up and soothef her hair.

"Yes, sweet girl, once we are inside, I'm going to go stand by the window over there and watch for anybody coming near us. I learned at about your age how to use an arrow with quickness and accuracy. I'll help protect you. Then I can help teach you how to use an arrow also." She sat the little girl down and watched her run back to her family. Anna and Midnight headed to the window and she sat down on the ledge. They both looked out and watched the view in front of them.

To the Castle!

As Raine and Dahlia stepped into the courtyard, they looked around quickly, spotting the Coppelias on the far side, "practicing their performance" -- or at least pretending to -- on a temporary stage that had been set up on the far side. A collection of "stagehands" and other staff were lurking in the area, looking more like they were preparing for battle than preparing for a performance. As Raine and Dahlia started heading that way, they heard the first sounds of battle begin ringing out beyond the castle wall. Thundery crashes from the ghostfire and other attacks of the vampires, clashing sounds of metal on metal, the sounds of airships in the sky, and the cries of the first fighters to be struck down. As the sounds began, the thugs near the Coppelias began pulling out their weapons, apparently ready to give up their ruse. The fake Coppelias, too, stopped practicing their movements, instead heading towards the edge of the stage, as if ready to act as battle bots instead of dancing bots.

Raine glanced up at the thick clouds above, trying to sense if enough power was gathering within them. There were an awful lot of Coppelias to take out, after all! She headed towards the fight, hoping against hope that Dahlia would be able to get the real Coppelia out of the way. As she ran she raised an arm high, then made a throwing motion towards the Coppelia-bot farthest away from the real dancer. A flash of light came as a small bolt of lightning struck that edge of the stage. The bolt left the edge of the stage blackened, and Raine saw that one Coppelia was now a pile of metal rubble. The blast had damaged a Coppelia nearby, as well, though that Coppelia continued to move forward, one arm hanging uselessly at its side. A thug had been caught by the blast, too, though she couldn't be sure if he was dead or just stunned. Raine made a movement as though she were pulling a sword from a sheath, and a blade that appeared to be made of pure energy appeared in her hand. The sword would make it a little easier to attack the Coppelias, though it would do less damage than a proper lightning bolt. The bonus, though, was that she didn't have to wait for it to recharge, like she did with the lightning from the clouds. As she drew closer to the stage, a thug pulled out a cutlass and stepped in front of her, and she quickly swung her sword in his direction. It only took a few blows before she sent his sword flying off to the side. Then, she sent a blow straight at him, electrical sparks flying as she made contact. With one enemy dispatched, she headed for the next, trying to get close enough to the Coppelias to do some damage there.

[spoiler=This bites too...] Suddenly, the first attack whizzed through the trees, ghostfire. Shortly after, wisp of black fire and arrows began to zip through the trees followed by low, unpleasant, gurgling screeches and cries as one by one, the attacks found their marks.

Sky startled at the first shot of ghostfire, but quickly got her bow at the ready. Someone must have spotted the enemy first. At least she hoped they did and that they hadn't just given away their own positions. She left that thought to aim at the heart of an enemy. Letting her arrow fly true, she readied another as black fire and the cries of enemy and ally alike rang around them.

Despite the flashes of magic and other distractions, Max kept his eyes peeled for the smart ones trying to sneak around and dodging attacks. He was beginning to think he gave them too much credit when he finally noticed a shadow darting from tree to tree between attacks, headed for the outer edge of the group. Max followed suit, creeping behind trees and bushes to interceot, putting those years of military camp training to use. It only took Max two second to take down the sneak once he was close enough. One second to peer around the tree to confirm it was indeed a vampire and to see its startled face, and the second to plunge the dagger into its chest.

Max was about to pat himself on the back when suddenly he was shoved against a tree, claws dug in his shoulders, pinning them, a vampire inches from his neck. The vampire stopped just before biting and inhaled deeply. “You’re just a dead puppet,” the vampire hissed,

“Whew”. Kaiidth sighed as the Jalapenos all stood around the sinks trying to rub the thick dance makeup off their faces. “For as topsy turvy as we all are, we sure did dress up fine, didn’t we?”

“Yes!” Witchy smoothed out her outfit. “And I think I’ll keep this for a while!”

“Oh look!” Terrena found the paper with the details of their next mission tucked onto their table. “Looks like we’re in for a battle or two.” The rest of the group glanced over her shoulder.

“Well, Lovecraft and Reaper definitely are going to do the hand to hand combat. I’m still recovering and don’t want to rob them of their fun anyway.” Spring said.

Tea suddenly let out a screech and grabbed the paper out of Terrena’s hands. “HEY!” Terrena yelled, but Tea’s eyes were rivited on the paper. “ Ninja!” She shouted. “I’M A FREAKING NINJA!”

“Uh, no?” Terrena tried to grab the paper back but Tea was jumping around, kicking and chopping the air with shrieks. She kicked the coffee pot out of Lovecraft’s hand and knocked Terrena’s cup off the table.

“STOP!” Terrena yelled. “You are NOT a Ninja.”

“AM!” Tea said as she jumped over the couch kicking some more. “And now I get to prove it! SEE!”

She thrust the paper back at the group...what tattered pieces were left of it anyway.

“WHAT THE HECK!” Lovecraft sputtered, looking to see if she could get by with pushing Tea out the window. “Give me that!” she snagged the paper shreds and read it.

“Well, you may as well ninja yourself out of here before I throw you out the window.” Lovecraft glared some more while Reaper tried to clean up the mess a bit.

“I AM A NINJA! WOOHOO!” Tea sings and Terrena yells one more time… “NOT a NINJA!” before Witchy breezes in on her broom.

“Well, I better change into a red outfit. Don't want any of the enemies blood to show in the epic battle. Must paint my nails red also.” She looked at TerrenaAnimula, "Do you have a bright red polish in your bag? I think I forgot to bring mine" Terrena tosses her the bottle.

That settles it. Love and Reaper say. "Tea_Roll goe s with Tanaka and the Singari! Your one chance to be a ninja, so make it count!”

Tea rolled around on the floor, yelling and kicking... "YAAAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Witchy sighed to herself, "Oh good. I won't have to worry about Tea going crazy and throwing my whole bag of potions down on the enemy all at once!...and I wonder if Lucien has any pastries on his ship? I'm feeling a little peckish."

Gathering her backpack, Witchy hops onto her broom to fly up to the FF.2

Witchy with the Flying Frenchman 2

As she hops off her broom, she sees Frieda walk by with a pastry. Quickly shrinking her broom into a pipe, she walks up to her, and asks "Where'd you get the pastry, Frieda Pieda?"

Frieda looks at her, while she quickly stuffs the last of the pastry in her mouth, and then, with crumbs falling out, she says, "Hey Witchy, Nice to see you here. What pastry? Do we have pastries on the Frenchman?"

Looking past Witchy, she walks off, saying, "Oh Gaston, I wanted to ask you...."

Witchy frowns at Frieda as she walks away and thinks, "Well, that's not nice, her and Welly are usually willing to share. mmmm, I wonder if Lucien has wine opened in his galley." Sticking her pipe in her belt, she goes to hunt up the galley.

Coming back up on deck, one hand with a glass of wine and the other with a caprese pocket sandwich, Witchy looks over the side of the Frenchman, "Let's see" taking a sip of wine, then a bite of sandwich she plans her strategy..

Witchy stuffs the rest of her cheese and tomato sandwich in her mouth, she pulls out her cauldron, and a solar heater from her backpack. “I know exactly what to do to these bozos down there!” she mutters.

Sitting her cooking pot onto the burner, she starts it up, and then starts pulling vials and bottles from her pockets.

Adding a pinch of allure potion, a dash of bottled delirium, a few grains of desert sand, a half a bottle of dusk magnus elixir, a chopped up dance person plushie and a whole pot of coffee, she wafts it up and says with a little dance. “That should do it!”

Mixing all with the end of her pipe (unlit, but filled with rainbow) the witchy gently sings a little song....

Beautiful, loveable Yes you, hey, yes you, hey Beautiful, loveable Yes you, hey, yes you, hey Now let’s go until the end, Ehhhhhh- Sexy Ladyyyyyy, Oppa is Gangnam style Ehhhhh- Sexy Ladyyyyyy oh oh oh oh

All of a sudden, Witchy hears Gaston, "EH! Mon dieu Witchy, dépêche-toi" She finally notices that there are arrows being shot at the ship, explosions are happening.

As she pulls the cauldron off the heat, and steps to the side of the Flying Frenchman, and starts singing again:

Throw it, throw it up Watch it fall off from the sky Throw it up, throw it up Watch it all fall out…

and she pours the liquid over the side of the FF2. There is an awful lot more liquid, than witchy seem to put in, and it kept pouring and pouring until Witchy started to wonder if she’d made a flood potion by accident.

If you happen to be standing on a hill, looking down on the battle, you would start seeing how, as the swords were swinging, so did the warriors butts.

Butts were jerking all over that field. Or was that twerking? and no one seem to be able to stop. Swords fell, and if you didn’t know better you’d think it was just one big dance party.

No sooner did the wolves go for someone's throat, the person would be turning and shaking their butt in the wolves face. Or the hind ends would be turning and jerking to some unheard music...or maybe not unheard? The wind seem to carry a tune…

If you can't hear what I'm trying to say, If you can't read from the same page, Maybe I'm going deaf, Maybe I'm going blind, Maybe I'm out of my mind, Can't let it get past me You're far from plastic Talk about getting blasted I hate these blurred lines I know you want it I know you want it I know you want it Everybody get up, WOO! Everybody get up, WOO! Hey, hey, hey Hey, hey, hey WOO! Hey, hey, hey WOO! Can't let it get past me

Tea_Roll and TerrenaAnimula with Tanaka and the Singari

Tea danced her way to the area where Tanaka and the rest of the Ninja warriors were gathering.

Standing in the crowd, she could hardly keep from bouncing. Finally she would show Terrena that she WAS a ninja.

“AM a Ninja! Am am am!” she sang to herself, practicing a few of her best kicks and rolls along the side of the crowd….when she bumped into someone and fell flat.

“NOT a ninja!” said the someone who looked an awful lot like Terrena. Tea blinked. She stood up again and blinked again. “Waaiit a minute!” she sputtered, pointing her finger in Terrena’s face. “WHY are YOU here, because you are definitely NOT A NINJA!...are you?”

Tea’s eyes were wide for a minute. “Nah, you’re not a ninja so why are you here? Just wanted to see how AWESOME my ninja-ing will be?!”

Terrena rolled her eyes. “NO! I’m here because if you can pretend to be a ninja so can I. Pffft!”

Tea was about to retort when Tanaka waved his arm and signaled the group to follow him.

Stealthily walking along, the group obviously knew what they were doing. Tea bolted here and there, making rukus as she bumped into bushes and got her outfit stuck in brambles a few times. Terrena made a point to stay away and pretend like she didn’t know who that crazy person was.

When they finally got to the edge of the battle ground, Tanaka gave the signal: GO!

Remember, be silent and quick! “Terrena grabbed her bow and shot an arrow into the back of an unsuspsecting lookout. “One down…” she said as she slipped to her next station to find the group to advance on the next station.

It was relatively quiet, as each group moved on their targets and took them out in close range combat, trying to maximize on stealth.

After a few hours of hard and slow progress, Tanaka signals a regroup. As Terrena slips back with the rest of the warriors, a shout breaks the quiet. “I AM A NINNJAAAA! YOU CAN’T CATCH ME!”

Tea jumps across the roof of the enemy’s shack and rolls down, gaining speed as she goes. Caught off guard the group of enemy sentries look around, only to be bowled off their feet by a rollie pollie ninja-ish Tea who effectivly kicks them where it counts as she rolls down the hill.

The enemy rushes after the rolling Tea and Tanaka and the rest run after them. Half way down the hill they are met with a twerking army of wolves and warriors, further confusing and terrifying the poor enemies. With the confusion, Tanaka’s skilled warriors are easily able to capture their objective.

Reaper and Lovecraft join Djoni and the wolves

Walking towards Djoni and the wolves group, Lovecraft and Reaper pass a pub that has an advertisement of

House Oatmeal Stout Half Price Drink Gunter under the table! Win 7 traveler kegs! Grand Gunter Ale-25% off!

"Whoa! Look at that, Wifie!" says Lovecraft, "Lets go in for a stout. And maybe an ale or 2. That's a pretty good discount."

Reaper look at her then back at the pub, "Well, we can catch up with the battle after an ale or 2. You know, 7 traveler kegs, that would be one for each of us. To bad we can't drink Gunter under the table." "What are you talking about" scowls Lovecraft at Reaper. Together they stomp into the pub.

Hours later, as they come staggering weaving out of the pub, Lovecraft says "I was sure I could drink Gunter under the table. I mean, I'm always drinking with Angrybeard"

Reaper just squints looks at Lovecraft, then looks behind her, a frown on her face. "Are those wolves twerking?" she asks.

Looking behind her, Lovecraft squints at the warriors, wolves, and vampires that all seem to be trying to twerk. Butts shaking all over the place. Wolf butts. Warrior butts. Vampire butts. A Grin passes over her face. Then a laugh bursts out of her, and she starts laughing and laughing. Reaper stares at her in amazement. Lovecraft LAUGHING? Finally she stops, and gasps out, "Witchy must have done something!"

With that comment, they both turn towards the castle and start walking back. Not even realizing that they missed the whole battle.

Springjoy and Kaiidth at the castle with Junu and the Crystanians

As Kaiidth and Springjoy bandage the warriors coming in. They notice an altercation by the door and people yelling and laughing. "What's happening" says Kaiidth. Seeing what the people by the door were starting to laugh about, Spring turns to Kaiidth with a grin on her face. "I think Witchy got a bit peeved at Lovecraft and Tea with teasing her about the twerking incident"

(Epilogue--Part One)

With the arrival of Nancy and her Gearwork Goose staff driving the medical supplies up in a steam pistoned coaches, the ones acting as healers have received a much-needed boost. Clytie breathes a sigh of relief, then grabs a quick cup of tea and heads for the theatre, where Junu is battling the onslaught of the automaton Coppelias.

The unknown puppetmaster behind them is a formidable force, since the dolls themselves concealed all sorts of bladed and spinning weapons in their costumes. It has taken the bards of Traveler and some of the other teams to subdue them.

The one Coppelia who was not a mechanical doll has been rescued efficiently by the Squirrel Tales, who have also provided comfort to the villagers and guests in the main hall.

"Is it over?" Clytie whispers in Junu's ear.

"Certtainly a lull," he replies. "Still, I have a feeling..."

He doesn't finish when a dark cloud of smoke appears in the middle of the defenders and a horde begins to pour out of it, a horde of warriors, but with dead eyes. Weapons raised, their vacant stares sweep the room for victims.

"Revenants!" gasps Clytie, turning back to Junu, then gasping again as he changes before her eyes.

The silver flute Junu was holding is now glowing as though lit with stars from within. His normally dark hair is now white and streaming out behind him, blown in the wind of this own fury.

"Plug your ears," he snaps at her, then shouts the same thing at the Protectors still in the theatre. He pauses until he sees his orders are followed and Clytie has her fingers pressed tightly in her ears.

Then he blows. The notes are thankfully beyond human hearing, for they are all that is dark, all that is cruel, all that is cold.

The deathly warriors recoil and some crumble, but a few of the axe-wielders continue, their heads crowned by helms of mithril.

It seems impossible for Junu to vanquish the ones now under the thrall of the music and turn in time to defend against the others. Clytie prepares the strongest spell she knows, but she does not battle and she cannot kill. She sends her strongest call for Faerie help again, but does anyone hear her? They are so far from Faerie now!

But then, on the stage itself, a portal opens and the Master appears. He holds to portal open and a phalanx of archers runs through, armed with bows of a strange wood and firing as they come. Sinhae has come to the aid of their Lord of the Isles.

The undead, despite the mithril protection, go down as Junu finishes off the others. As the Protectors lower their hands from their ears, the theatre grows quiet, then erupts with the sounds of cheers.

Only Junu and the Master still look worried.

"We have to find Tanaka! He's in mortal danger!" Junu tells Clytie. "I'll head for the back forests. You take the Singari camp!"

Clytie nods, then unfurls her wings and flies like the wind!

(To Be Continued. Please, someone make a comment by tomorrow.)

This will be your greatest epilogue ever . Probably cause I can remember what has gone on before. LOL!!!

will this help? xD

OMG! This is JUST like your book!!! Once you read the first chapter (in this case, the Epilogue, You Can Nit Stop!!!)

(Heh, nit nit nit. Don’t know why phone autocorrect didn’t work on that. But I giggle, Monty)

This has been just an awesomely, epic adventure!

Ah, got a direct mention! :D

high five

"the bards of Traveler" mentioned in the epilogue <3

Great work for all ! In my opinion we did an over-the-top job.

More then one comment but the epilogue you are adding is soooo exciting!