Serianata Sorrow's Story

A trio of cloaked figures Entered the tavern one after the other, the first a tall, broad shouldered man with armor and barely concealed beneath his grey cloak who held the door open for the two behind him, a man walking forward slowly, leaning heavily on a grey staff of stone and metal, a large crystal hovering in the grip of the prongs of it's head with several shards of crystalline matter circling the exterior of the two metal prongs, a metal half mask tightly clamped over the slightly emaciated man's jaw, completely concealing his mouth, cheeks and the lower half of his nose.
Closely following him with a firm scowl and and long glaciar blue hair tied in a pony tail a woman with a large battle-axe hilted on her back, armor gleaming on her shoulders and arms as she looked around the room slowly, a black eyepatch with a sapphire embedded in it covering her right eye.

The last of the three stopped as she spied the hellhound lounging by the fire, the other two heading forwards to the counter of the Tavern, the masked one only glancing back at her before shrugging and continuing to follow the largest of the three.

"You!" The woman said in a loud firm voice, pointing at the hound. "I know you." She turned to fully face the lazed hellhound. her visible eye squinting suspiciously. "But I can't seem to remember where from..."

Serianata and Faindir observed the two new comers, the gaunt masked man looking cautious and suspicious, the large larger warrior simply curious as they looked them up and down, sizing them up casually.

Serianata grunted quietly and turned back to his small drink while the larger of the two, turned his bulk right around on his stool with a large pitcher in one rune covered gauntleted hand.

"Fair travelers and locals!" The large red skinned warrior boomed in a thick scottish accent, causing his companion to wince and grumble. "What brings ye to this fine little watering hole on this fine evening?"

Faindir nodded slowly, still smiling even though his eyes seemed to become less cheery, more calculating. "Oh... Thats fascinating laddie."
Serianata mean while had perked up, turning to observe the vampire as he spoke, his deep grey eyes drawn to the dark blotch before it was covered up. "Tell me..." He spoke up through his large metal half mask covering his jaw and nose, his voice sounding mechanical. "Where might I find this tent? These nanites strike me as fascinating..." His gray eyes darted up to meet Croaker's the cold pale irises seeming to bore into him as he turned to face him, taking his staff in one hand.

Croaker A nod towards the doors, and a vague hand gesture, "Right outside, hell you probably walked past them to come in here, you blind sacks. Hard to miss the big guys with the fancy guns, Chimera they are called I hear- less man than monster under all that armor Im told."

He puffs out a bit more smoke before reaching for his herbs to pack in a fresh batch, the stuff went fast, but it was nice to smoke. "Honestly though, I don't know, seems kinda odd. They aren't even chargin fer the shots. You just walk up and BAM! You're immune to bad shit. No coin, no questions." he shrugs again, "Gift horse though, never check it's teeth. Just ride it."

Serianata stood and bowed slightly towards Croaker. "Thank you for the directions." He said in his cold mechanical voice before making eye contact with Faindir and nodding to him before making his exit, staff in hand and cloak tightly wrapped about himself.
Faindir grunted and waved at Serianata's back, speaking in an alien tongue and frowning before turning back to Croaker. "So, stranger, whats your name?" He extended his hand with another wide smile. "I'm Faindir."

Hipsterville

Though originally host to the city's numerous art galleries, the south end of the plaza has grown into a hotspot for all things trendy and hip. High-end boutiques mingle with vintage clothing shops, coffee bars, various ethnic restaurants, and record shops. Everything needed to satisfy your inner 'indie kid' can be found here. Hipsterville is oriented around a small sculpture park where aspiring craftsmen and musicians can show off their talents.

The television in the corner suddenly began to play the ever catchy, and somewhat dramatic, TERRACAST jingle, as the logo presented itself full screen. The face of Winne Rineswurth faded in.

She began her report as always, naming herself and her location. The reporter was in Hipsterville today. In the background, people milled around and poked in and out of Galaxy Cupcakes. Plaster and some debris littered the ground. The cause of damage was explained to be a large crash to the north. The camera aimed skyward to show the smoke trail, which was quickly spreading to haze out the skies over Wing City.

The Terracast logo and jingle appeared on screen after Winne prodded the public's mind, and signed off. A few customers around the tavern murmured in speculation, two older gentlemen at the bar already waging in jest whether the ship was Aschen or Taiyou.

Serianata exited the Tauvyr Tavern with a slight hobble, leaning heavily on his staff and looking around the square with cold light grey eyes, observing each person within the vicinity, the bluish-purple crystal suspended within the prongs of the top of the staff glowing dimly. A slight grumble escaped the metallic half mask covering his cheeks, jaw and the lower part of his nose, pulling his cloak a little tighter about his gaunt features, a few pieces of armor glinting out from beneath the cloth as he moved forwards into the crowd, eyeing everyone grouchily as he straightened himself up, looking for something.

Serianata's eyes locked on to the Chimera Squad casually moving in their general direction, observing them as they entered the tent. His eyes roved up and down the line of entities before grunting and turning back to the crowds, deciding not to start anything just yet, especially not with such a crowd around.
He turned back to the crowd, watching a body fall from the sky, an impressively large rabbit, some individual standing atop a broken lamp post and a girl sitting by the fountain.
He slowly approached the fountain as the woman standing atop it began to play, observing her quietly as the ethereal limbs passed and around him though they seemed unable to touch him. He let his eyes rove over the lyre, seemingly intrigued.

The trio of armed and armoured travelers, the vampire Croaker and a large reinforced platform being pulled by a large spectral entity summoned by Serianata, passed deep into the woods, the twisted and gnarled trees beginning to become even more sickly and gnarled as they moved, the ground giving out into a brackish mire of festering, stinking rot. After half an hours travel as the mire began to reach for the traveler's knees Serianata called for a stop, getting Faindir to tie the platform to a large tree and dismissing the spectral pack animal.
"We're only a few minutes from the site where we slew the Wyrm, we'll leave the caravan here and make sure there isn't an unpleasant surprise waiting for us then bring the caravan forward to collect the body." The gaunt man said in his cold mechanical voice, his eyes passing between each party member, Maedos and Faindir each nodding in understanding while his light grey eyes lingered on the vampire for a moment longer than the rest.

Croaker The muck, the mud, it sucked. Literally, Croaker had almost lost a boot once. There were a few times he had thought of shifting forms into something more suited to this travel, but thought it unfair to his companions. They would still have to tromp through the crap after all.

He still had no idea what he was in for, and that was almost a sad thing. In his mind's eye he saw a giant worm, pink and wiggly, but somehow armored. Maybe like a giant centipede minus the legs? WHatever. Gold was gold. His companions seemed to have an idea what was going on, he would just follow them. If it got ugly he could just bail, right? He just nodded at Serianata's words.

Serianata glanced from Croaker to Faindir, the red giant just shrugging with a wide, simple smile to which the half masked man grunted and turned, leading the group into a clearing of shattered trees and blasted soil, a colossal carcass flayed and splayed out upon the ground on its side. A massive emaciated draconian figure it was easily twenty five metres from head to tail, its eye socket a scorched and empty hole with black ooze dripping from it, massive pistons, a few smashed, the rest motionless. One of it's limbs, the hind right one that it would have been lying on appeared to have been torn off and burnt, the cracked stump oozing similarly to it's eye socket.
Its chest was spread wide open, what appeared to be teeth lining the gash and a pile of the black ooze pouring sluggishly from the opening.
Serianata rose his staff and the crystal glowed bright wit a blue light and Maedos pulled her axe from its place on her back while Faindir pulled his shield from his back and his sword from it's sheath, winking at Croaker. "Whadaya think laddie? Quite a haul huh friend?"

Croaker "Aw what the fuck is that?!" Croaker cried out, looking at the massive corpse with abject horror- this was not pink and wiggly. "You said NOTHING about a bleedin dragon! I was thinkin you were talkin 'bout worms!" he frowned deeply, kicking a hunk of mud at the body. This changed things, this was much worse. Dragons...ugh.

Keen hearing and a sense of smell cried out in warning- the woods were thick with the smells of death and such, that was normal, but a sudden smell..like the fugue wafting from the corpse but sharper...something told Croaker there was more of the beasts nearby. "Aw, we can discuss how you shits are liars later, I think we got company commin."

Faindir looked stupidly at Croaker as he claimed no one had mentioned anything about dragons. "But I thought..." He smacked his own forehead and laughed as he suddenly understood. "I get it now! Parakeets! Fish! You thought I meant an earth worm?" Serianata gave both Maedos and Faindir a disbelieving look as the former chuckled darkly and the latter howled with laughter. "Of course I meant a great draconian beast! The Tyrant Wyrms, the Great Devourers! Surely you've heard of them?" Faindir wiped a tear from his copper eye as he continued to grin humorously though his face became serious and stoney as Croaker shouted, holding his weapon and shield at the ready, Maedos grunting and raised her axe in one hand as electricity crackled in her other, Serianata holding his staff in both hands, the light of his staff becoming more intense though less wide-spread.
"Yes, I sense them as well..." Serianata replied to Croaker. "More wyrms, though nothing too big, probably just a pack of Wyrmlings hoping to get a free meal from one of their elders..."
The mire shifted and bubbled as bodies moved about beneath it's brackish surface before bursting out, at least a full dozen of miniature versions of the slain Tyrant Wyrm, their scales almost completely unscarred and a bone white, feral eyes locking onto the party, only a pair of pistons on the back of each of them, their bodies far from emaciated, looking more like young white drakes than a terrible draco-lich.
The pack circled the adventurers slowly, snarling and snapping their jaws as the pistons upon their backs churned and belched out a blue smog.
"Whatever you do vampire..." Maedos growled out. "Don't inhale the smog..." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, her pale blue eyes boring into him. "The last thing we need is a pack of Wyrmlings running around with a pet vampire."
Five wyrmlings made a move, leaping at them, one at Serianata, one at Maedos, two at Faindir and one at Croaker.
Maedos swung her axe around with a shout, electricity arcing up it's length, Serianata calmly slammed the base of his staff into the mire, causing a shard of stone to burst out and impale the Wyrmling attacking him and Faindir swung his shield to knock one aside and his sword forward to slash the face of the other.

Croaker With supernatural speed Croaker reached back and unslung his best buddy- a SPAS-12, oh, those silly people in Italy, marketing this as a sporting shotgun. Racking the slide so fast it sounded like a single click he brings the stock to his shoulder and fires. Normal rounds wouldn't do dick against these monsters, good thing he had packed the big shells. See, while Croaker had assumed the enemy was a different thing he had still been warned that the beasts were armored and had packed accordingly. The shells were of Descorp make, the vendors in the Hollow were selling more and more Descorp goods, it was doing the town good to have the influx of business. In the blink of an eye Croaker had his weapon in hand, and was blasting into the open mouth of the still airborne attacker. One shot, two shots, three. A side step, to avoid the falling mass and he was ready should the beast still have any fight left- doubtful as that was, three shots into an unarmored section of it's body with specially crafted anti-armor shots..it was gonna be messy.

The Wyrmling leaping at Croaker gave a pained gurgling screech as holes were punched clean through it's body, tearing it's innards to ribbons and smattering black blood everywhere as it fell back to the mire, writhing and screeching for a few moments before falling still, life leaving it's eyes and it's piston's stilling.
Maedos' axe sailed clean through the Wyrmling leaping at her, knocking it back and killing it almost immediately as electricity arced across it's scales while Faindir stomped down on the chest of the Wyrmling he had knocked down with his shield, crushing it's rib cage and smattering the mire and his leg with black ooze, the one he had slashed across the face falling back with a whimper, rolling and bleeding heavily from it's mouth as it fled behind the seven remaining wyrmlings all of which being far more cautious than their fallen brethren, hissing and growling, their backs arching.
"Hows it feel to make some easy money friend?" Faindir commented idly as he rolled his shoulders, using his shield hand to pull off his cloak, completely unveiling the full plate covering his body from the neck down, each plate covered in runes, a large ten pointed star emblazoned upon his chest and a trio of obsidian orbs embedded in his shoulder plates.
A sudden bellow echoed through the woods closely accomponied by a series of crashing and groaning sounds, like trees cracking and falling, rhythmic thudding sounds of a large running quadruped growing quickly in the distance.
"On second thought..." Faindir said as the three adventurers turned in the direction of the roaring and crashing.
Serianata spoke up as the crashing grew even louder and the wyrmlings around them quailed at the sound, "If you choose to flee vampire I won't blame you." The trio raised their weapons at the ready as the cacophony grew even closer. "I believe we've angered mother."

Croaker Racking the slide Croaker stands tall, he would not run. This was a good battle. Summoning from his deep pool of rage he tilts back his head to release a savage roar- his mouth contorting as it shifted, jaws opening far wider than they had any right to.

Shifting his shotgun to a one-handed grip he reaches to his belt with his left to secure his other weapons- aptly named Dragons Claws, the claws attached to brackets mounted in his bones, creating extensions of his own body out of bladed weapons. With one set attached to his left hand and the shotgun gripped in his right he was ready.

Werat'te managed to hold meaningful conversation that involved only herself, lost in her world. A babbling wall of text in her bizarre alien language.

Rebekka on the other hand took note of the other parties.

Not safe you say? Very well. For our sakes, please do lead the way. Lady Werat'te, let us go with them.

She turned to the other crystalline structures and spoke in a bizarre tongue, signalling them to keep an eye on Werat'te as they followed this strange group. Should anyone try anything funny, they'd react accordingly.

Faindir roared and slammed the pommel of his sword against his shield as the beast charged into the clearing, an explosion of tree limbs and splinters preceding it, dark blue smog belching furiously from its crocodilian maw and the dozen or so churning bone pistons roaring along its back as it skidded through the mire to a stop, its scales a sickly grey, terrible scars marring almost every inch of it's body, emaciated and gnarled, its eye sockets filled with burning purple witch lights, flickering in the twilight, black ooze dripping from it's jaws and several wounds along its body, it towered over the four warriors, a deep rumbling echoing from its form as it inhaled deeply, rearing up to reveal the long column of teeth running down its chest like a massive maw, twitching hungrily.
"Scatter!" Maedos shouted loudly as the Tyrant Mother came crashing back down to the ground, bellowing forth a concentrated burst of smog, the warrioress running to the beasts left with Serianata whose staff was crackling with energy and Faindir dived to the right, smacking aside one of the remaining wyrmlings that attempted to trip him.

Never one to shy from a battle Croaker charged into the fray with a grin on his face. Tapping into his inhuman speed and agility he dashes to the left, to avoid the burst of smog, then straight at the beast coming in at an angle. He hoped to hide in a blind spot until he was close enough to strike. If the beast's senses worked like other large predators he had encountered it's eyes were situated for forward viewing with limited peripheral sight- perfect for tracking prey, but poor for detecting attacks from the sides and rear.

His hope was that the others would draw it's attention long enough for him to leap onto it's side or back, once there he would secure himself using the claws and blast point blank into it's mass with the gun. He would run out of shells, get shook off or kill the monster. Whatever the outcome..he was having a good time now. It had been ages since he faced a dragon. This brand of dragon was new to him...but whatever..new things were good.

Faindir glanced between the Wyrm's legs, seeing that he was the only one on the beast's right side decided to grab its attention, slamming his sword against his shield several times and shouting loudly in what one would figure to be his native tongue, charging forward and swinging his sword wide, slamming the blade into it's hide, cutting a gash into its tree limb thick leg and causing the Tyrant Mother to roar, rearing up and twisting about, its hind legs causing the wet ground to slosh and be kicked up as it lashed out with the wounded foreleg, knocking Faindir back with considerable force whilst turning it's piston covered back to the other three, its tail sweeping across the ground, forcing Serianata, Maedos and Croaker to jump back out of the massive limb's way or be knocked down.

Faindir leapt to his feet almost instantly despite being thrown back with enough force to shatter a concrete wall, his armor seemingly unmarred. The red skinned warrior rolled his shoulders then roared at the massive wyrm shaking his shield and weapon and rattling his armor to keep its attention and anger on him, taunting it and continuing to curse in his native tongue, a ripple in the air like an intense heat shimmered about his armor as small bubbles began to form in the water around his legs.

Maedos and Serianata meanwhile after dodging the wide sweep of the Wyrm's tail, Maedos simply jumping back with little to no effort while Serianata simply disappeared in a flash of light to reappear just out of the tails range.
The two individuals looked to one another, seeming to communicate wordlessly before locking their eyes once more on to the snarling monster before them, Serianata raising his staff and muttering quietly, charging up a spell and sending electrical charges up and down the item while causing the crystal in its head's centre to glow brightly.
Maedos sniffed disdainfully in the Wyrms direction before stepping on top of the mire, literally stepping onto the mostly liquid ground's surface as though it were solid rock, rolling the shoulder of her arm holding the axe as the runes across the large weapon's surface sparked to life, glowing eerily, a white mist rolling out around her feet and a cold aura emanating from her.

Mid-spell Serianata flinched and looked in the direction of Croaker, sensing the other-worldly influence taking hold of him, not knowing its source but feeling its nigh on unholy nature though he didn't allow it to distract him too much, closing his cold eyes and muttering faster, clenching his grip around his staff as thunder rumbled somewhere high above.