Closed Woods of the Fray

[Numia]

The afternoon sun was hanging low over the bronze woods as Numia wasted away in her fog of boredom. Everyone else was getting much needed rest when she was keeping watch for the bandits, so she was feeling a little out of place. She also couldn't play her instrument because that could potentially alert the bandits to her location and the point was to lure them into a trap. She was surprised that Alex hadn't found his way into the woods and visited by now, and she wondered if something was amiss with him.

In the dark blue glow of the shadowy thicket Numia rested in with her canine companion, she heard the silent crack of twigs and leaves at the edge of her hearing. Numia practically jumped, standing at full attention and placing her hand on Banter so he didn't make any noise. She had her hand on his saddle, listening for more information before she would sound the alarm. Then, another crack of twigs, the rustle of a bush. Something human-sized was approaching, and her suspicions soon confirmed it had a heartbeat. Numia didn't make a sound, instead she climbed upon Banter and took his reins in her hands. She gave them a whip to signal him to run, and then Banter was off down the previously trounced Yukman trail with the crack of twigs and the swirl of fallen leaves under foot.

A clink sounded through the wood and a bolt whizzed overhead while Numia ran to camp with Banter. It soared straight into camp and embedded itself on the fortification tree. There was no point in being silent anymore, they were aware of her. Ser Gwindogar was immediately alerted, but Numia drew her fiddle and played a loud sound with her bow skidding upon the strings to signal an attack. At the same time, a yell from Sera Stryad echoed through camp. The bandits had scouts upon both sides, they must have been wise enough to keep their distance and surround the camp.

Meanwhile, at order camp, Ser Gwindogar stood watch while Jyness lay in her tent with her eyes open. She may have been meditating, or simply thinking about the situation and running scenarios through her mind in private, or she just couldn't sleep. In any case, she was deathly still. When the signal happened, Jyness practically tore apart her tent and soared to action just as Numia rode Banter towards the log, trying to get him to jump over it. He did, but the bucking motion of Banter's back threw her off and she rolled into camp with a cloud of dust following her wake. She tried to break her fall by rolling with it, but she still managed to scrape her clay up a bit. Standing up as soon as she could, Numia rattled off the information with a firm voice to command attention. "There are at least two in number! I think they both had crossbows." Banter slowed down by breaking his run into a jog and circling back, "go lay down!" Numia ordered him so he wouldn't get shot by a stray bolt.

"Alex, assist Stryad. Gwindogar will hold the northern line with Numia." Jyness ordered. "I will apply myself to whichever position needs the most help. Go, now!" The sergeant knight breathed in and concentrated, detaching the astral body of her arm over a few ticks before she immediately began to focus on a single point in front of her. A black splotch in the air appeared just like the one Numia had used before. It began to grow, much quicker than Numia's had.

[Alexander Faircroft]

The evening had settled in gradually and things had come to a soft pall. Alex sat in front of the fire His elbow braced against his knee and his face pressed into his knuckles. He was just drifting off to sleep when the whistle of an arrow broke his concentration. No. That’s not an arrow, too small. A bolt? But no-one here had a crossbow… Then it came the screech of the bow on string and the call for help from the other side. With a tumble and a small roll Numia slid into camp Alex just got the bare essentials from Numia and then the briefest flicker of an order from Jyness.

He didn’t linger much longer than that. With a swift motion he uncoiled his leg pressed his foot into the ground and took off sprinting. In the almost two hundred pounds of steel that encased him he ran he pushed hard and didn’t take a breath until he arrived. Sucking down air he slid into a stop and just in front of Sera Stryad.
“Are you alri-” All he managed to get out before a bolt clanked against his shield. The impact ringing in his ears with a metallic clang. Alex winced, the pain from the wailer still having not faded. As he stood there as a bulwark Sera Stryad fired a shot over his shoulder taking one of the crossbowmen in the shoulder.

Now Alex opened his eyes and caught sight of the remaining two. Leather clad. Crossbows and from the looks of it, short swords. Oh for the love of… Really? Alex ground his heel into the dirt as Sera Stryad placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You get the one on the left. I’ll take care of the one on the right. And don’t forget lad we need em alive.” She spoke, for the first time this entire trip she’d spoken. Alex gave her a mild glance of slight astonishment and nodded. No killing? Perfect for me! He charged over to the one on the left. His hand reaching down for the sword at his hip. The crossbowman wound up and was about to load the bolt when the arc of Alex’s sword crossed in front of him wedging the edge of the blade into the wood of the crossbow’s limbs. Can’t draw. Can’t fire. The weight of the swing carried him around in a spinning motion as the scout drew a short sword.

Alex came back around with the blade and the Bandit lifted his blade to block the strike. Alex near lost balance and the bandit slid back slightly on the soft and slightly muddy ground. Leaving them in a square off.
“Best ya got nancy boy?” The bandit chuckled out. Behind him he could hear Stryad completely decimating her opponent so right now she was more or less waiting on him.

[Numia]

The battle began to heat up as Ser Gwindogar knelt behind the log and some piled branches, raising up his large sword to deflect the wooden metal-tipped bolts which soared from the tree line like a hive of wasps. He was looking for an opening, but the suppressing fire of the crossbow squad was too much for him to dive into without backup. A stray bolt hit him in the shoulder before he could catch it, and it left a nasty dent which caused the knight to flinch.

Sera Jyness crouched behind some cover and set about detaching the astral body of both of her arms. She was calm in doing so, deathly calm. Numia was surprised to see a void portal of Jyness' own making begin to appear in front of her. It began to grow, and as it did Numia decided she would try again today to cast her magic. It would be dangerous and risky, but she didn't want to risk doing nothing for the battle. She still had a little left, hopefully it would prove useful.

The Pycon began to shut out all other thoughts, focusing on her breathing instead. The combat was very distracting, but she needed a clear mind if she didn't want to do something she would soon regret. Numia also focused on a point of space in front of her, scouring from it the space which gave it substance in her minds eye, that terrifying concept of emptiness eternal that haunted her dreams and knew her better than she knew it. It began to grow, slowly, as more bolts whizzed overhead. Her arms were held out towards it, staring at it blankly and feeding it more and more of her power. Like before, it called to her and she had no choice to obey. It grew to about a foot in diameter before Numia could feel strange tingles running through her body that seemed to signify that she had very little available energy to spare. After a moment, Numia fought hard within her mind to disrupt the flow. Luckily for her, it did cease. In fact, she had a foot-wide portal to spare although she had to think fast of what to do with it.

Numia looked over her shoulder to see Jyness' portal flying up into the air at a fast rate, as if being pulled by something. Maybe she was controlling it with her magical power to physically interact with people at a distance? Numia instantly wished she knew how to perform that type of magic, and resolved to ask her patron about learning it when this was all over. Jyness' Voiding portal soared overhead and angled horizontally like a black sun above the tree line. Jyness seemed to follow it with her gaze, and then she shut her eyes. From that moment on, a torrent of air and debris began to lift from the ground as if defying gravity.

Through the deafening racket, Numia listened. She could hear the panicked yells and screams of bandits unable to move away from the pull. They were terrified, as they should have been. The void was no place for a human or a Pycon. One by one, humans began to fly up towards the portal at a slow speed, flailing their limbs to grab what they could. One grabbed onto a branch, but as he screamed the branch snapped and pulled up the entire tree with it. Four bandits in total had been sucked into the vacuum. Numia's own portal could not accomplish such a thing, for it was small. Still, Numia had an idea.

"Jyness, if you have use of my small portal you may use it!"

The portal continued to draw forth energy, Jyness seemingly lost in a fierce gaze. Was Jyness losing herself to the whispers? "Sera Jyness!" Numia shouted. The Sergeant Knight seemed lost in her own gaze, feeding more and more power into the portal which only seemed to intensify despite there being no bandits left. Numia let her portal go, willing it to go away. It shrunk, and when it was half the size Numia jumped away fearing there wasn't enough time to save Jyness from herself.

Gwindogar had stood and backed away, looking to Jyness. He walked over at the same time Numia ran for her patron. Numia dug her feet into the ground and jumped up from a crouching position. She flew through the air a good two feet and grabbed ahold onto Jyness' chainmail, climbing it ring by ring until she stood upon her shoulder. "Jyness, cease your magic!" Numia yelled into her ear. Two ticks passed, that didn't work. Numia's thoughts raced for an idea, and when she finally had one it wasn't a very good one. She balled her hand into a proper fist melded together.

The pull of the void had now grown so strong that Numia and Ser Gwindogar were beginning to feel it. "I could knock her out, but with her limbs detached as they are there may be untold consequences." The knight seemed to want to see if Numia could resolve it, but he was prepared to handle the overgiving mage if nothing was done about it.

"Jyness!" Numia screamed, whipping her arm into the side of Jyness' jaw. The Sergeant Knight visible recoiled, snapping out of it. That wasn't the only thing that happened, Numia could feel Jyness quake beneath her feet, and she could hear the sound of ripping along her torso. Overgiving was beginning to take effect, and it was of a terrible kind. Jyness blinked, and just like that she finally snapped out of it and groaned in pain with a fierce expression. She focused on shutting off the tap feeding her soul to nothingness, and the pull which had grown to such epic proportions began to dwindle down to nothing. In the sky, the portal disappeared. It was over.

"Gwindogar ... attend to my wounds. There's a suturing kit in my tent." Jyness growled from her teeth, shutting her eyes and focusing on trying to reattach her limbs. The process was slow because of her injuries. "I'm sorry, that hasn't happened in ... in years. Numia, check for survivors, I'll be fine."

Numia was extremely worried about her patron, but when Gwindogar arrived with the medical supplies she knew she could do very little here. "Ser Gwindogar, I can hear the wound on her lower torso seeping blood." As she listened, more became apparent. "There's also one on her arm, but the torso one is much bigger. I must attend to the bandits! Please, take care of her!" Numia turned to look around for her steed, but she didn't see him. "Banter, come!" The dog ran out from one of the tents, rushing to her. Numia jumped onto him and grabbed on to the saddle, hoisting herself up. She took hold of his reins and ordered him to jump over the log. This time, as Banter picked up speed, she anchored herself more thoroughly by digging her knee spikes into the saddle. Her weight shifted as her nexus moved to her throat when the jump happened, but she landed safely.

Numia listened to the surrounding woods for movement as Banter ran into the now barren landscape filled with trees stripped of foliage and torn up brush. Exhaustion had crept up from within, Numia knew she was very tired. How could her patron, Sera Jyness, a Sergeant Knight succumb to overgiving like that? It was unfathomable, and the woman was practically Numia's idol when it came to the use of magic. Such things truly were dangerous...

The Pycon wondered if Alexander and Stryad were doing alright in their endeavors.

[Alexander Faircroft]

The stand-off on the other side of the forest seemed to be coming to a head. Sera strayed was walking all over her opponent and Alex was holding his own if only just. Just as Alex was wondering about his chances he caught a glimmer of unadulterated and unfettered horror in the bandit’s eyes. Capitalizing on the chance Alex darted in behind the bandit and ran the edge of his sword across the backs of his knees. Splitting the tendons with a single swing. Now positioned behind the bandit Alex caught sight of what he was staring at.

A huge black orb hung in the sky like an omen of impending doom. Alex felt his word arm drop slightly and snapped back to reality before the bandit could lash out at him again. Pressing the edge of the very tip of his blade against the bandit’s neck.
“Sera Stryad! What is that!” Alex called out seeing the short curved blade of the knight press against her bandit’s throat. She glanced up at the sky just in time to catch the portal before it vanished.
“Bad news. Back to camp.” With a sharp blow to her bandit’s temple he was out like a light. Alex followed suite taking a moment to get the angle right and then slammed the hilt of his sword into the back of the bandit’s skull. Limp and out of it.

Alex took a deep breath and slid his sword into it’s sheath. Hauling the bandit over his shoulders in full plate armour. His walk back was slow. Very slow. Stryad simply hooked her bandit over her shoulder and made her way back at pace. Alex paused a moment in the forest. Magic… It’s dangerous. Very dangerous. Best be careful around it. But I’m out here with three mages. How does Gwindogar cope?! Alex picked up the pace heading back into the campsite and dropping his bandit down left him to Sera Stryad, who tied him up.

Alex glanced over to where Sera Jyness was Being treated by Ser Gwindogar. Two nasty injuries. Alex closed his eyes knowing that the time he’d spent learning about herbs for wounds would be helpful. Vyfox. Belltor. Alex snapped his eyes open, stepping past Sera Stryad he spoke.
“Sera put a pot of water on to boil and get a spare water skin. I’ll be back soon.” Without another word he ran over to the forest. A pair of clear pictures in his mind of what he was after. A few ticks of searching and he found the first of the two things he needed. A small cluster of Vyfox plants maybe two or three. The white plumes of flowers a dead giveaway. Ripping them from the ground he darted off in search of the second. The two foot tall swaying plant stared him down from a distance. Ripping it from the root he ran back to camp. A small pot had been placed over the fire. And was beginning to bubble.

Alex dropped the Belltor to the side and twisted the heads off of the Vyfox flowers partially crushing them in the process. Picking up his helmet with his free hand he dropped the flower heads in there. Picking up the water skin he poured a splash of water into the helmet with the leaves. Just enough to aid in turning the leaves into a thin paste. Whipping his dagger out from his belt he took the helmet in his other hand. Holding the blade in his mailed fist he began to grind the flower heads and water into a light sticky paste. All the while walking over to Sera Jyness.

As Gwindogar just finished suturing the wound closed as best he could, Alex had finished making the paste. Enough for several wounds or two big ones. Pulling off his gauntlet he crouched down next to her.
“Sera This may sting but it will help.” Without another word he scooped up two fingers full of the white paste and spread a thin layer of the poultice over the wound on her side. A slow ministration but light so as not to aggravate or press the wound. “This is Vyfox. A plant I learnt off of a friend of mine. It acts as an antiseptic and it helps wounds heal faster. Now lemme see that arm.” Shifting around her he took another small scoop and placed it across her arm gently trying not to cause undue aggravation to the wounds. Scraping the rest of the poultice off on the helmet he heard the rolling boil of the water behind him.

He set down the helmet next to her and went to the horse’s saddle bags. Pulling out a cup he scooped up about a half cup full of boiling water. Taking one of the remaining plants he sheared off the long lance like leaves. Crushing them in his bare hand lightly to bruise them. Dropping them into the water he handed her the cup as it started to leech out into a translucent green tinted water.
“Same concept as the poultice. It’ll speed up recovery.” With a small nod he picked up the helmet and stepped over to the bandit whose legs he’d cut. With him still out cold and now tied up thanks to sera stryad he applied the remains of the poultice to stop the bleeding. Being a lot less gentle with his administration.

“Anyone seen Numia?” He called back out, wondering wehre the tiny pycon had run off to now.