Nora Iren's Story

Nora

"Well, well, an eagle, hmm? Or are you not what you seem to be, Yokio?" The Phoenix said, flying alongside Yokio in her normal form. She laughed gently. "I hope you've at least done something useful. Mistress Fume's having quite a fit right now. If you were just off playing around, she'll probably use some of those busy little tails to floss with after a delicious fox dinner."

Yokio was flying high when Nora appeared right beside him. Everyone is coming to the party tonight. He thought before she spoke about having to do something useful or Fume would eat him. In his mind, this was unlikely, but he knew who he was working for, and the dangers.

"Well, Nora," He said, "I ran into your boyfriend, Leden. In fact I was in the company of Mhisty Talos and her party. That is until Leden figured me out and I had to book it. Tonight we will strike, but wait unti dark, we need all the power we can get, which is during the full moon tonight. So why not be a good little songbird and tell Fume, I'm sure she'll let you deal with Leden." He smiled as he landed on a tree on the opposite side of town, and shifted to regular form, "I'm off for more recon."

After some time traveling in this forest, not wet enough for her tastes, she opened her wings back up. She felt a slight breeze, so flying would be simple enough. She flapped her wings, running and jumped into the air, catching wind easily and taking to the sky after breaking through the canopy of trees. Once in the air, she seen some specks in the distance. She tilted her head, eyeing with glowing white eyes, speculating what those dots could be.

She figured they could be recruits, enemies, something in need of being destroyed, or part of her army. She grew back to her normal size and flew towards them, in no rush by any means. She took the gusts of winds that blew from behind for a short break on flapping her wings. She was more used to swimming, not flying, but all-in-all, it could be the same. She felt lighter in the air, as there was less pressure than water provides.

As she flew closer, she noticed the dots as an eagle and the phoenix girl, Nora. She was upwind, so she couldn't get a scent on them, but she believed that she knew that eagle. She sped up her pace, and once she was closer, she could tell that the eagle was Yokio with his scent of fruits and sweetness. She growled lowly, "Yokio, I hope you've got info on that town by now." Seeing as he looked he was about to go, she pointed in the direction, "Towns that way, unless you do have that information to speak of?"

She casted a glance over to Nora, one of her higher ups, "Phoenix girl, stick around. I may have of some use for you." Her voice was of that of a command, and by no means was it to be broken, or else.

(( Don't worry about it Shift. Take your time. :3 ))

Yokio was stunned that Fume had been able to find him, but with the pheonix, it seemed that he was a slightly easier target, well thankfully not target, because Fume could kill him rather easily, that is until tonight, when he was his strongest. Fortunately, being held by Mhisty Talos had let him recover some strength, so shifting was now easier than befor hand.

He looked at Fume, and wondered how she and Mhisty Talos would fight, probably airborne, by which Fume picks her up and drops her on the ground with a loud crack. But the other dragon seemed like a problem, and then the wood elf, Ren. A special plac elf hatred was reserved for him in Yokio's heart.

When she questioned where he had been, he knew that Fume would react right away, she was far too impatient for plans to work, and she and Nora couldn't beat the entire team in daylight hours. They needed his storms, "Well, the rumor was that the enemy is trying to recruit in the nearby town. And I ran just happened to run into said enemy, who I was able to convice I was a friend, until our good friend Leden helpfully ran me out.". He paused to think of a plan, "They are heading to town, but listen to me Fume, we can't take all of them on at once, not right now. Fire girl, two wood elves, Leden, and a semi demon make up the ranks. My plan is to wait until tonight and then launch a surprise attack, taking away shelter and most supplies with my storm while reducing visibility, then you and Nora can go in and split them up. Get Mhisty Talos alone before engaging in battle, the traitor seems to favor her, so they need to be apart. As for the elves, a few good bolts of lightning should take care of them, and the demon is impredictable, like all of his kind.". He paused for a breath, before finishing, "I'll go into town in disguise and try and get a few recruits before the battle. Rumor is that the bar is home to all types of creatures, more than a few should be willing to join. Sound good?"

Nora sighed, shaking her head at the fox's plan. It's not like it wasn't a good idea, she could just tell he hadn't gotten much time to think it over. "After that, I think those idiots will be on high alert. No doubt they'll have a sentry who can watch over everything, has good night vision, and can go days without sleep. They'd be ready to escape at a moment's notice, and no offense to you, Milady, but dragons don't fit too well in forests. Yokio, you'd be the only one who could really keep up with them. I'm not all too great at seeing in the dark." Nora paused, thinking a bit.

"Out of all the ones you listed, the most probable sentry is traitorous ice-brain." Nora said. "He can keep watch from the air, because like hell he's going willingly into a village full of creatures that hate dragons to recruit them. He's fully capable of seeing us before we, with the exception of Fume, can see him, even in the dark. Not to mention he'd smell Fume coming a mile away, if he wasn't aware of her presence before even that. Ice-brain is in his mating season, and dragons always know when another dragon of the opposite gender is nearby, at least in this time of year. Not to mention the fact that he'd be exceptionally aggressive, and more than willing to lay down his life for his beloved leade-!!!" Nora stopped, an evil grin spreading across her beak/face.

"Yes, he would." Nora said. "Yokio, they're fully aware of you, but only Leden would be able to recognize me. If I slipped into the village, he wouldn't know. Then, we could draw those fools out. If someone made a move to attack Talos, ice-brain would surely have to play the hero and protect her. With him gone, the others shouldn't be too difficult to dispatch. Or better yet, we could take him down and let them 'escape'. When they eventually stop to keep him alive, we can finish what we started."

Fume's frills flicked forward at some interesting words Yokio spoke of. She moved her lips up in a cruel smirk, "The resistance, eh? This could be the perfect time to try and destroy any hope they have of beating us." Of beating me. Upon hearing "Leden," Fume growled ferociously. She hated that dragon with all the guts she had, and scales, and fins, and teeth... When Yokio said "my plan," Fume bristled, "Watch how you talk, fox. I'm the leader, I say what plan we go for." She snapped her teeth as she spoke. No missy nice dragon right now, like when she gave Yokio sweet fish; she was too angry for that.

What Nora had said would be true, those stupid critters would be in alert of them, which is exactly why Fume wanted this recon to be kept as secret as possible. Although, learning that they would be there could be a good thing. They'd be better prepared now. Nora saying dragons don't fit into a forest is an understatement. "I don't fit, period. I look way too water-y." With Nora not being able to see in the dark, Fume tilted her head, "There could be fire around for you to see some things here and there. Rely on nose and ears if you got to."

With the mention of mating season, Fume almost wretched. No way, no how, was she going to get with some unworthy dragon, so if any dragon approaches her, male especially, around this time, they would get a possible beat down from her. What Nora said about a possible plan to take down that troublesome traitor of an ice dragon, Fume laughed darkly, "That may get done tonight, if possible."

After hearing both of their plans, which she does like to hear as it gets her brain in gear to formulate the best one, she flapped her wings, adjusting herself in the air. "You both have great plans. To make it better... Yes, Yokio, you'd better do some recruiting, but take on a form those insolent little wretches won't recognize. Go into some water then rub in some honey or something to get rid of any recognizable scent on you before you get into the village. You smell like crap now, by the way. If anyone refuses you, mark them in your brain, we need to dispatch them. Or enslave them. However it works out when we do this."

"Tonight, the village, of course us three will be making our arrival. Once we get there, Yokio, you start your storm. Getting that elf stick alone may not be an easy task if you say snowball sticks to her like that. Do as you can to get any other critters away from her. If we do aim for the fire leader right away, then that could mean we get Leden in an ambush, dispatch him as fast as we can." She doesn't like saying any "if we can's," it's way too negative, and hey, who could beat her anyhow? She was a demon dragon. Not many of those around the world, demons that is. All she knew of demon descent was herself and the siblings she had no idea where they were, or if they lived, as of now.

"When I feel the time is right, Nora, you signal with some of your fire, others of lower rank will ransack the rest after we get what we want. Any survivors, I will decide whether to kill them, or see if they can be ours to rule over." After all, a leader needs people to rule over. You two would be in charge of finding those survivors after all is done."

Yokio nodded as Fume spoke. Even though he wasn't too afraid of Fume, he knew she could kill him. That fact didn't even bother him, he did what he had to do, and it just so happened that Fume had similar ambitions. While completely loyal to Fume, his goals were set different from hers. She wanted an army and complete control over all creatures, he simple wanted elves and faeries to go exstinct like the humans. They had hunted his kind to near death, and now that the chance rose for him to get some pay back, it wasn't very likely that he would turn it down.

Turning his attention back to Fume, he caught what she was saying to them, and that he should hide his smell with something, and to mark down those who reject them. He quickly said goodbye to Nora and Fume and then made his way to a river system near by.

He made sure to wash downstream, he still had no idea what the new elf was capable of, so taking anymore chances would be unwise. After drying off rather quickly, he found a strawberry grove, likely own by some farmers and began to roll around in the fruits, while at the same time eating whatever ones may be close to his mouth. In total, he ate arou d twenty bushes worth of strawberries. But he was full for the time being, and that gave him more strength, which ment the longer he could hold a shift. It was getting later in the day, but he was still unable to feel the connection to the moon, so not at his strongest yet.

He realized that he had to seriously think about what to change into. Something Small, yet noticeable. But at the same time, not too out of place. Someone who could recruit members easily. He was thinking hard before the idea hit him. A Shaman. A rare breed in this part of the world, they are believed to decent from humans who practiced magic. Perfect he thought before focusing on what he remembered a Shaman looked like.

When he remembered, he quickly turned into a dark skinned female with very short black hair in a outfit consisting of a long ragged shirt and a white and black shirt going to the skirt. Deciding he looked fine, he tested his voice, and after a while got it to mimic a good accent. "We ready for action nows." he said in his new voice before walking to the town that would have a bad storm later that day.

After making his way in, he quickly found a bar, a place that should be crawling with tough creature of all kinds. After looking around, he noticed a man with a red strip on his arm, a mark of a powerful wizard if he wasn't mistaken. He made his way over to the wizard and said, "How do you do? I be Tia Dalma, what brings a wizard to tem parts 'ere?". He learned from a old text that humans used, a book call 'Getting your Way for Dummies. that stating what you wanted flat out was a bad way to get people to do what you want them to do.

"As you wish, Milady." Nora said. She approved of the great dragon's plan, not just because it was a direct order. The plan would surely work, and maybe they'd get to finally be rid of that accursed Senka and end their bloodline once and for all. Fume might not remember, but she had fatally wounded both Leden's mother and father, as they had opposed her initially. It was Leden who ultimately killed his father in a duel over territory. Thinking about it, she recalled Leden stating that he had never been much of a father anyway, and had tried to eat Leden a few times, although he hadn't said anything about Fume's involvement in his death.

Fume watched as Yokio left before turning her attention back to Nora, the phoenix girl. "I'll be hanging around in the forest. Meet me up back around here, but on the ground, when the sun starts to set. Don't get caught by Snowball." She dismissed the phoenix and she started gliding towards the ground in circles. The closer she got to the trees, the smaller she made herself.

Once on the ground, her claws digging into the soil, she was the size of a deer again. Folding her wings in, she lifted a paw and looked at it, really wishing to be surrounded by water right now. Oh well. She turned a couple times before sitting, her tail wrapped around her legs. She'll just sit here for the time being.

"Me? Crazy? Please, I'm those most sane pers... okay, fine." Leden said. Seeing the minions swarming, he grinned broadly, almost evilly. As a group of five monsters swarmed towards them, Leden held out his palm, freezing and shattering them. "Say, why don't you and I have a little competition, see who can take out more of these freaks?" Leden said to Irsire, a wild light entering his eyes. Without waiting for a response, Leden began sucking in air, his body glowing blue as he resumed his dragon form. When he had finished his transformation, Leden exhaled a freezing whirlwind, turning anything in its path into an ice sculpture.

It was then that Leden felt an annoying warmth coming closer. Looking up, he realized Nora was above him, in her human form. Her wings kept her aloft as she formed a massive fireball in her hands, hurling it at Leden. He managed to narrowly avoid it, his left wing burnt even though it hadn't come close to touching the flames. He growled, exhaling another icy breath at Nora. He managed to catch one of her wings with it, freezing it and sending her crashing to the ground, at which point he paid her no heed. Someone else would take care of her; he had an army to devour. Claws flashed in the light of the flames, teeth glinted, and scales shimmered as the mighty Ice Dragon, one of the few of his kind remaining, literally squashed enemies beneath his feet. He knew it was only a matter of time before he actually was struck in the stomach, but he kept on his assault.

"Are you so certain?"

Ru emerged from the forest edge only to behold a scene of chaos. The town, more of a large village, really, was beset by all manner of beast, and two dragons flew in circles overhead, one pouring down water, the other engaging itself with what looked like a flaming angel. She slid down a small incline and entered the town itself. In her plain robes she stood out from the screaming, fleeing townsfolk. The handful she could see from ground level were running past her, towards the forest. She calmly walked deeper into the town and observed the unfolding conflict.

As she passed the first line of houses, the door to one burst open, and a rather enraged humanoid rushed out, brandishing a sword. Seeing Ru, he screamed "Die!" and charged.

Ru muttered to herself, "Wings γ," and the man was yanked back by one of the same blue tendrils that had held the elf. This one extended from the wall of the house he had just vacated, and wrapped itself completely around his neck. When it retracted, it pulled him sharply up to the wall, making an audible crack as he slammed against the wood.

He went limp, his neck and parts of his spin broken. His sword tumbled out of his hand and rolled towards Ru. The tendril vanished back into the wall, and the man slumped to the ground. She had not so much as glanced at her assailant, instead watching the dragons and other beasts whose magic lit up the night sky.

"How disorganized," Ru's eyes narrowed slightly, "Peh, amateurs."

Ru then turned towards the corpse. She walked towards him, bending and picking up the sword where it lay in the street. Taking the last few steps, she knelt before him and ran a cold hand across his face. "You mind if I borrow this?" she held up the sword, an edged rapier slightly longer than her arm. The corpse offered no reply, "Aww, you're sweet." She pressed two fingers where her lips might have been, then patted them on the man's. "I'll bring it right back, kay?" She tilted her head, and her eyes formed into little upside-down Us before returning to their usual cold slant.

Ru returned to her feet, and began striding towards the center of town, sword hanging loosely from one hand.

Thanks to Irsire's earth wall, she and the others had been saved by the powerful force of the water. She wouldn't have been able to tell if it was freezing, due to the fact her body was so heated right now, the water would just evaporate when it touched her. The others, however, it would have been a different story.

Mhisty held up her hands, spreading her feet to be closer to the ground and ready to take off to either side when she would need to dodge. She could see the multitude of Akashinu grunts and stronger creatures. This could end very badly. She also wondered how that demonic dragon was able to recruit so many to her side. Oh well, focus on fighting.

She shot fireballs towards some oncoming creatures, of which she barely tried to recognize. She needed to focus. She turned around just in time to catch a ghoul trying to spear her with a curved blade. She simply touched a hot hand to it's chest and it howled in pain, flinched back, holding onto the burning, rotting flesh where she touched. She kicked him back, since it wasn't hard to kick a ghoul and set him to fire. She was sorry for him, but it would do no good.

Suddenly, she was surrounded by many. Goblins, dark elves, orcs... All that would be harmed by her fire. Save for one. It was a chimera and it would seem to be more harmed by melee attacks. She knocked the goblins back with a fire wave coming from a sweep of her hands in front of her, scaring the orcs into backing off. The chimera only licked it's four sets of lips, looking like it wanted her death. She took a step back from the advancing chimera and it lashed out with it's snake tail, the teeth catching her on her right forearm, a sudden lion's paw striking her in the face, causing her to be swiped back, blood running down the side of her left cheek. It stung like hell. She struggled to stand, panting. She was becoming tired of all the fire-use. She had no weapons to use, and she was terrible with hand-to-hand combat. She just had to rely on her fire. Taking a deep breath, she rolled away from the powerful horns of the ram's head of the chimera, jumping to her feet. Her ribbon, now all torn up, fell from her hair. Now it'll all just be in the way. Some of her blond hair stuck to the bleeding wound upon her face. She was concentrating on using her fire to fight, instead of cauterizing any wound she received.

The chimera would be impossible to fight upon it's back, what with the snake being at the tail end, but she could continue fighting with her fire, throwing fireball after fireball. It was tiring, and it seemed to barely have any affect. The chimera laughed and squawked with humor. Luckily, she managed to slip away, noticing the wounded phoenix. She had her eye on the female phoenix ever since Leden had knocked it out of the sky, but was not sure where it had landed.

Glancing back, the chimera had seemed to lose her. If it relied on her scent, there was too much gore around them to catch it. She went over to the phoenix (Nora), knowing this was a fire creature, and fighting fire with fire wasn't usually... helpful. She peeked up at the sky, barely seeing the demonic dragon known as Fume. She was probably making stealthy attacks, probably finding a way to get her alone. Mhisty found a sword lying nearby, picking it up. It was heavy, and she could barely keep it steady. She went and raised the sword above her head, shaky, to let it fall down towards the head of the phoenix and possibly catch the phoenix off-guard. If she failed, and the phoenix managed to get away, then this could be a troublesome fight. The slash of teeth that had happened to her forearm earlier was beginning to burn (not in a fire way), but in a way that stung her, and she almost lost her balance. What if she had been poisoned, and her fire couldn't just boil this type away?

When the rain of ice shards came down, Vosro was still coughing and didn't see it coming, a shard pierced into his back sending a wave of pain through his body. It did manage to shock him out of his coughing fit though. He looked around, he was separated from the others, not being used to fighting as a team at this point he had let himself get separated without thinking about it. He quickly pulled some kind of moss out of a pouch on his side and reached to his back, placing it on the wound from the ice shard. The moss stuck to the wound and stopped the bleeding.

Before he had the chance to decide how to go about finding the others, an energy disc came flying towards him. He raised his hand and projected a shield that blocked the disc. The disc was the same spell he had used on the winged creatures ealier and as Vosro looked towards its source, he saw there was another drasican, but it fought for Fume. Runes appeared on the arms and legs of both drasicans just like they had on Vosro before, drawing magic from their blood. Vosro cast several runes around the other drasican that then exploded, at the same time the other drasican launched a volley of discs at Vosro. Both drasicans raised shields that were able to block the attacks. Then Vosro raised his arm and a rune appears infront of it with an energy ball charging for a second before launching at the enemy. The other drasican made a rune appear below him that teleported him out of the way of the energy ball. The energy ball exploded on impact with the ground, creating a massive explosion knocking down buildings and the explosion would be easily visible from the whole town. The other drasican appeared next to Vosro, punching him with a magic charged fist. The punch landed on Vosro's left arm, just below the shoulder, breaking the arm and sending Vosro flying into a wall. But as the punch landed on Vosro, he used it as a chance to place a small rune on the drasicans fist without him realizing. The rune detonated after Vosro had been knocked clear and the other drasican's hand was completely blown off, a look of shock crossing his face before he fired a beam of energy at Vosro from the other hand. Vosro teleported about 10 feet behind the other drasican.

Both drasicans decided it was time to end this fight. They both faced eachother and launched a poweful sustained wave of energy that shredded the ground as it past over it until the spells met in the middle. When the spells met they formed together, more and more energy pouring into the center, then they exploded, moving out in a sphere and shredding everything it touched. Both drasicans tried to teleport out, Vosro made it, but he had cast a rune below the other drasican that prevented him from teleporting. When the other drasican realized that, a satisfied smile appeared on his face, he had fought a good fought and lost fair and square. Then he was ripped to shreds. The explosion shredded everything within 100 feet and the debris cloud hung in the air, plenty visible from the whole town.

Vosro appeared in the town square. He was covered in wounds from not quite excaping the front edge of the explosion, plus his left arm was clearly broken. He looked around taking in his suroundings, he saw the trail of burnt corpses and followed it, thinking it would lead to Mhisty. He found her about to strike the pheonix with a sword and Vosro moved towards her.

Nora furiously heated her wing up as much as possible, frustrated by how hard it was to damage or melt Leden's ice. The fact that he had frozen her wing angered her off enough, but now that stupid ice-brain was taking on Fume? It was Nora who deserved the pleasure of killing him, or at least, that's what she thought. As she struggled to thaw the ice, she saw Mhisty approaching with a sword. As the blade dropped towards her, Nora rolled away from Mhisty, striking the blade with the section of her wing that was still partially frozen. It knocked away the blade, breaking the half-melted ice in the process. Nora stood up, stretching both of her wings and glaring at Mhisty.

"You're the Shira-Yuri's leader, hmm?" Nora said, walking around Mhisty and looking her up and down, swaying her hips a bit as she walked. "I dare say that forcing you to join would be impossible, so I guess I should just kill you." Nora stopped walking, pouting and putting a finger to her deep red lips. "Aww, but that would be a shame to waste beauty and strength like yours, and even if you lived, I wouldn't want to mess up either of our gorgeous looks..." Nora wasn't subtly displaying her "womanly charms" as she would if she were speaking to a male. Most women just weren't so easily swayed by beauty, not like men were, which was why Nora chose the seductive beauty and provocative outfit of her "elf" form.

"So, does this really have to come down to a fight?" Nora said, putting her left hand on her hip and letting the right hang loosely at her side. "Because it wouldn't be easy for either of us. I'm a Phoenix, and you're an elf who can manipulate fire. I don't think we'd get very far, and I don't think either of us are suited for physical combat." This, in reality, wasn't very true on Nora's part. She was used to lying, and when she had been walking around Mhisty, she had conveniently stopped in front of an orc's lance, no doubt made by a very talented blacksmith. Its handle/shaft was shorter than that of an ordinary lance, but the spearhead was longer, forming a blade about the size of a short sword. Her casual stance just happened to put her in an excellent position to snatch up the lance at a moment's notice, but she waited to hear what Mhisty would say, knowing that it wasn't obvious that she was preparing to do that.

"Oh, how impolite of me, I never introduced myself." Nora said in her usual sickly sweet voice, so honeyed that it was almost obviously laden with venom and malice. "I am Nora Iren, the Phoenix. I've no doubt that dear Ice-Brain... I'm sorry, Leden has told you about me. You're Mhisty Talos, aren't you? Ah, but this is a battlefield, no place for formalities. Please, pardon me, I'm getting off track. Are we going to have to settle this with violence, or will you surrender now? If you surrender like a good little girl, I'm sure we could arrange to let your friends live..." "After we mount your head on a pike for them to see. I can't guarantee that Fume won't decide differently, though..." Nora added mentally, not actually saying it aloud for obvious reasons.

Layn had been roaming the battlefield as a mountain lion, taking the elf's words to heart, making sure she protected all the villagers she could. Unfortunately in this smaller form, she couldn't attack every enemy she saw, as she was much more vulnerable to counterattack. She instead tried to focus on only attacking when it would serve to protect someone. As she roamed she saw Mhisty Talos, leader of the Shira-Yuri. After spotting Mhisty, she saw the insufferable phoenix casually approaching a lance on the ground. It was difficult to notice that she wanted the lance, but Layn had been doing recon for so long she could see the slight signs, her left hand on her hip, drawing the eyes attention, the right hanging loose, but obviously ready to move at a moments notice. Realizing that Mhisty was in danger, she knew she had no choice but to help her.

Layn stealthily moved along the rooftops, positioning herself behind the phoenix about 50 yards back. She silently dropped down to the ground and stalked up to her. When she was about 5 yards from the phoenix she was careless and stepped on a twig I really hope she didn't hear that. Layn crouched down low to the ground, tensed her muscles and pounced, hoping to hit the phoenix square on and knock her to the ground where she could easily bite at her throat and rip out her jugular.


(**OOC I really hope I'm not interrupting a pre-discussed battle, please shoot me a pm if I am so we can ensure it's not a one sided fight**)

(***OOC EDIT! Sorry to flame1819 I was NOT attempting to usurp control of Nora. I have removed everything after Layn pounced to give you a chance to respond as Nora really would. I was only trying to make sure things flowed well. I will be more mindful in the future, and collaborate better in the future***)

The blade was suddenly jarred from her hands, leaving her rubbing at her palms. She was frustrated with the fact that she had accidentally assisted in the breaking of the ice off the phoenix's wing. It would have been useful to keep it there. Mhisty kept her amethyst gaze on the phoenix girl as she walked around her. She wasn't afraid of an enemy, even formidable ones, being behind her. The phoenix had a point about the fighting, but Mhisty had to try. For Leden, and for the Shira-yuri. She knew from stories about how this girl can get, and how strong she was. Mhisty remained silent for now, though, keeping her wary gaze upon the firey issue.

Mhisty took a quick look about their surroundings. She wasn't about to underestimate her enemy in lying skills or fighting abilities, so she kept her eye out. She noted the weapon in front of the phoenix, although put not a thought that it could possibly get used. The phoenix sure was talkative, especially on a battlefield. She noted how no other Akashinu were approaching them, and it probably had to do with the fact Mhisty was probably Nora's current target. The talk of surrender was a touchy one to Mhisty, but there was a possibility that they would have to fall back. But the way the phoenix spoke, it sounded as though there was a hidden condition.

"We're not surrendering." For now... I think we all can still put up a fight. She spread her feet, ready to jump at a moments notice, her hands moving up in front of her. Her arm that had been scraped by teeth wasn't feeling as strong however. Mhisty did her best not to let that show.

The sound of a twig snapping caught Mhisty's ears, but she did her best not to possibly give one of her allies away. "Are we going to fight or not?" Mhisty's gaze quickly darted around them, spotting a mountain lion about to pounce. From the spot she was at though, it was hard to tell who this feline was going to pounce at. She forced her gaze back to the phoenix, ready to jump, ready to run, ready to shoot out fire, whatever it could be. A sudden explosion from behind her somewhere made Mhisty become distracted for the second, feeling the ground shake beneath her feet. She hoped her friends were okay. She hadn't noticed silent Vosro nearby.

(( I don't have enough time for a Fume post, please bear with me! :D ))

Nora watched Mhisty, slipping her foot under the shaft of the lance, ready to kick it into her hands. An explosion claimed her opponent's attention, and it was in that instant that Nora made her move. She hadn't even noticed the mountain lion leaping towards her, but it didn't particularly matter. She flipped the lance into her hand, gripping it tightly as she surged towards Mhisty. Feeling the beast's claws raking down her back as she moved forward just in time, Nora winced in pain, but didn't stop, attempting to slash at Mhisty with the blade of the spear.

(OOC: Don't worry about it, Layn, it's fine. I also just want to make this clear, in no way did I just control Layn, I just used what was already posted to alter the situation, having her not tackle Nora but manage to scratch her pretty badly.)

Layn pounced at the phoenix, she bent down to pick up the lance Layn had seen earlier. As she passed over her, Layn reached down and clawed at her back inflicting what little damage she could, although she felt it didn't do much as the phoenix continued moving towards Mhisty. In clawing at the phoenix Layn's body ended up out of position and she hit the ground hard rolling to recover. As she stood up slowly she heard a blast and felt the ground shake. What the hell was that? She thought to herself.

Some distance away, a large sabretooth stood, watching the battle between Mhisty, Nora and Layn with a certain interest. He briefly contemplated whether or not he was to join in the events - and if so, on whose side? Then again, the battle seemed quite evenly matched, and he had no quarrel with any of the fighters. So there didn't seem to be much reason for good old Gwart to do anything just yet. If they wanted his help, they would just have to convince him.

(OOC - Bit of a short first post, I know, but seeing as I'm new I don't think it wise to just jump in headfirst without acquainting my character a bit first. Gwart is neutral and can be convinced by anyone to join.)

Mhisty noticed that she had suddenly become distracted and looked quickly over to the phoenix, who called herself Nora. She seen the mountain lion rake its claws down her back, and yet she was still getting closer.

Mhisty jumped back, shooting fire instinctively at the phoenix, although she got scraped by the spear at her right jawline. Mhisty glanced over to the mountain lion, unsure if this creature really was going to help, and if it was, was it strong enough to take care of itself? Mhisty would have a difficult time trying to protect it. Her eyes suddenly caught notice of Vosro, but she was afraid to yell out his name to get noticed by the phoenix as well.

Standing with her feet together, Mhisty lifted her arms up, fire dancing around the full length of her arms. She wasn't sure how fire was going to help with this, and it might be pointless... She took one foot and set it back, separating her arms from each other, the bright fire entwining in both arms as she brought them down. She took another step back and swung her left arm out, her palm facing the phoenix. This should send a fired-up rope to slash her enemy. The whole process didn't take long, as she had to make sure she wouldn't get attacked when she was vulnerable.