Duel:Lanlan-Magik v Cynica
Part of the Lies Within Us Arc
This is a Mage's Guild RP.
Location: The Meditation Center (Floor 4) Duelists: Cynica (Ossian Order, NPCed by Khitti), Lanlan & Magik (Mages Guild) Judges: Kasyr and Odhranos Stakes: If Lanlan & Magik win: We want none of your negative vibes up in our house of tranquility! The meditation centre is saved and Magik reclaims his former haunt. MG morale improves drastically with this victory! If Cynica wins: The meditation centre is utterly ransacked, a hard hitting blow for the apprentices that have fond memories of the safe, calming environment. MG morale takes a serious nosedive.
Meditation Center
As you step off the stairs, you see people who study the mystical arts all sitting or laying down in deep meditation. Some of them are chanting while others hum, speak soft prayers, or their own personal mantra. There are no windows in this room, but a small altar is at the far end of the room, with many candles sitting on and around it. The light in the room is thus a little dim, but it’s perfect for this room, creating a quite and kind atmosphere. All around you are nice, lush pillows and carpeting, very comfortable for one to relax and forget the body and expand the mind. There is also quiet music playing from an odd device in the corner of the room. This place seems very peaceful, and you can almost feel the spiritual world nearby. There are two sets of the carefully crafted stairways from here. One that goes up and one that goes down to the ground level.
Pre-Duel Banter
“Welcome! Welcome! To the greatest show in Lithrydel!” An abnormally loud voice echoed out of the seemingly empty meditation room. It didn’t stay loud like that for long though as Cynica let out a disgusted scoff. “No, no. That’s no good. This is a mage tower, not a circus--even if Haladavar does look like a bit of a clown.” The Order’s resident comedian cackled maniacally at his own joke and a ‘badum tss’ played out of nowhere. “Thank you. Thank you. You’re too kind,” he said to no one at all. Stiletto heeled boots brought him here and there around the room as he paced, as the impossibly tall elf made impossibly taller by those shoes thought over his opening line. A slender hand ran through his platinum blonde hair, the other soon used to tap his chin with the yellow diamond on his comically large black wand/microphone,“What to do… What to do… OH! I know!” The wand shimmered and took on the form of a huge two-handed warhammer, the diamond splitting and mutating to more properly serve as the maul’s head.
“FORE!” What better way to think over one’s problems than playing golf with all those ugly throw pillows that’d been left around the room. The air was soon filled with feathers as the pillows exploded upon connecting with the hammer. Most of them hit the walls, but a few managed to make it into the stairwell, leaving feathers there as well. “You know, you really should try to convince Ol’ Hal to let us remodel this room into a stage for your shows,” he said to himself. “Oh, sir, you -are- a genius.” Cynica gasped at himself and waved dismissively. “No you.” The elf shook his head. “No you!”
Lanlan skirts past the battle below to reach the stairs, and climbs them up to the meditation area. He arrives beside Lanlan, who in turn is followed by Lanlan. A mist of feathers greets him, along with the possibly maniacal and definitely offputting droning of an alternative type of elf. Behind the whorl of feathers, Lanlan spots him. Cynica! The entertainment, self congratulating. "No, ME!" Corrects Lanlan, interjecting and cutting short this session of compliments.
Magik || Normally Magikrios would be a plume of black smoke, making an epic entrance involving some laps around the meditation room spitting fire in whatever direction, but this room was sacred to him. So, the Lyastri takes the steps as he also slips passed the battle below. As he climbs the steps with his bow in hand he notices the slow accumulation of feathers as he gets closer to the top. "They better not have.." Oh. They absolutely did. And they are absolutely destroying the pillows as he continues his climb. What else? Someone has completely disrespected his fuzzy black slippers by leaving them all by their lonesome. Finally at the top of this flight of steps, he gathers his poor slippers and is quick to swap out his black boots for them. After a few wiggles of his toes, the Lyastri steps forward just in time to hear Lanlan announce himself.
Magik || It was obvious that Veneficus D'Chath was not amused with the current decor. The grip on his dreadfully heavy longbow tightens as he walks up besides Lanlan. One of them, anyway. Magik uses his bow to push a curtain to the side to try and get a peak at Cynica but to only reveal more curtains, "Well, this is quite a thing.."
Cynica gasped. -Loudly-. As if someone caught him naked in the bathtub. “How naughty! I didn’t give anyone backstage passes!” His hammer reverted back to its wand form, that of which he gave a wave to part the curtain allowing himself to be revealed. The elf posed like a runway model, a spotlight shone on him briefly, and glitter filled the air from who knows where. He looked so fancy in his amethyst-colored sleeveless leotard-tux that was paired with pearlescent white tights and bowtie, garnet-colored opera-style gloves and thigh high boots, and to top it all off, a pair of butterfly-shaped purple tinted sunglasses and outlandish purple lipstick. “Oh my. A couple of elf boys. Oh no,” he said, fanning himself. “Well… since you’re already here, I suppose you might as well stay for the show. I’ll treat you two to a far better time than dear ol’ Hal ever would.” He lifted his glasses for a moment and very blatantly winked at both of them.
Round 1
Cynica || “Well, boys… it’s time for the show.” He raised his wand to his face, using it as a microphone, his voice not only projecting itself loudly, but also getting a bit deeper in tone. “LET’S GET READY TO RUMBBBBBBBBBLLLLLEEEEE!” Moments later, the wand returned to its warhammer form, and he swung it around a bit to really get a feel for what bashing their cute little heads in might feel like. “Usually people like to go out with a bang, but I prefer to start with it,” he said, lifting the hammer over his head.
Cynica || “I hear there’s going to be a party later, after the Order wins. Here, let me help you get hammered before it starts!” And with that, he swung the warhammer downward, letting it connect with the ground. The floor quaked beneath them, aiming to unsteady their balance as Cynica’s hammer slammed into the floor again and again, the shockwaves aimed more in Lanlan and Magik’s general direction. “I sincerely hope this is a groundbreaking experience for the two of you!”
Lanlan || After the announcer, hypeman, and performer starts the show, Lanlan feels the floor trembling through his delicate and comfy, yet supportive loafers. Almost by instinct, he activates his drow insignia. His vagrant’s insignia. It used to be powered by the foundational magic of his home! But that’s gone. Hes defaced it callously with runes. Runes telling the story of a cave who’s walls are alive! Alive with chittering and writhing movements, the walls swoop in to devour any who walks between them. As the ground tremors more forcefully, Lanlan takes a brave step onto the wall of the mage’s tower. And another. He walks vertically up the wall behind him, and every step he takes, a magical illusionary duplicate Lanlan takes a step out of his form. By the time he reaches the ceiling, and begins walking upside down, there’s an entire audience ready to behold Cynica’s performance! An entire swarm of duplicates covers the ceiling with eyebrows and fancy clothes, filling the air with insidious babble and menacing sneers. “Is this supposed to be entertainment!?” Demands one, as he throws a shoe. “Who would pay for this? I’ll pay just to leave!” A plump, red and cobalt blue-mottled tomato, almost soupy in texture, is hurled toward Cynica’s chest. It’s sagging skin was designed to open up and release its tender hold on its imaginary guts. A squelching mass of reeking, red, over-ripe slop. The entire audience is soon chiming in, adding insult to injury, injury to insult. Garbage, rocks, debris, spoiled food, shoes… All of it rained down on Cynica. Each Lanlan was spectator to the show, and each showed their disgust. It was all illusions, meaning it was only as real as Cynica believed it was. True, the harm it could impart at best would likely not be deadly. But wouldn’t it be distracting? Would it allow Magik the opening to let loose the killing blow? After all, who could ignore such a scathing review?
Magik || Normally, Veneficus D'Chath would have a smart remark to say to this intruding elf, something punny yet still very wise. However, the disrespect going on in this room was real and that doesn't sit well with the Lyastri. Numerous pops and cracks can be heard as he tilts his head from side to side in an attempt to at least limber up a little bit. Magik then gives his choice of clothing for the occasion a quick look over. He would never be seen in the tower dressed in garb suitable for a Syndicate mission, but here we are: Black wraps, a face covering, a shadowed hood and his totally sweet black fuzzy slippers. Just as the floor begins trembling, the elf attempts to push a curtain to the side to begin his trek forward in search of Cynica and is immediately caught off guard by the sudden shockwave. He is quickly blown off of his feet. Heels over head, the man is thrown back down the steps he just walked up. In mid-air, time seems to slow down for a moment. "This better be worth it," he thinks to himself as he growls at the current situation. Before he can break his back on the tower's steps tumbling backwards, Magik's body is quickly consumed by his familiar black smoke.
Magik || The smoke hovers on the steps for only a short moment before shooting back up the stairs and into the beloved meditation room once more. Being on the ground at the moment was off limits. Fine. The smoke will just have to join Lan's illusions towards the ceiling. The smoke hovers above Cynica before it starts swirling violently. As the speed picks up, so does the amount of sparks this cloud is starting to produce. With each spark follows a loud crack in the smoke cloud. Without warning, fiery tendrils reach out from above to try and grab whatever they can. Some are aimed for Cynica's neck, others for his legs, his weapon and some grab at the curtains setting them ablaze. Anything snagged by these fiery whips will get wrapped up and squeezed like they are prey for a snake. Instead of consuming their target, it'll be turned to ash without hesitation.
Round 2
Cynica took his critics seriously! Except in this case when he took them “seriously”, that usually meant that he was seriously annoyed and a little murderous. “Hey! I call you cute and you fling the entire contents of your house at me? What gives?! It’s not my fault you live like a raccoon! Ugh, seriously. You people don’t deserve my greatness.” Various squishy foods and garbage completely trashed the elf’s outfit! It was entirely outrageous! And it all was -still- being thrown at him AND there was smoke? And now there's weird fire too? What the heck!
Cynica || Fiery tendrils grabbed at him here and there as Cynica swung his hammer, trying to block Lanlan’s disgusting attack as best as he could, though more and more garbage, and rocks, and everything but the kitchen sink would get past. He jerked away, the instant he felt the heat from the flames, but it wasn’t enough. Bits of his hair was turned to ash as a vine-like burn was left across the back of his neck, while his butterfly-shaped tinted glasses, an opera glove, and one of his boots went the way of those bits of hair, leaving more burns behind along with the searing agony that came with them. With the glasses now gone, it was clear he was angry.
Cynica started to spin around, like an Olympian in the hammer throw event, both hands carefully gripping the handle to keep it from leaving him before he was ready. He spun and spun, the motion creating a whirlwind to bring in all the garbage and whatnot (and hopefully a smoky Magik) around him before sending it back towards Lanlan. The stuff the drow had thrown at Cynica might not be real, but the hammer that was being whipped at him amongst it all very much was, and regardless of whether or not it connected with Lanlan’s face like Cynica had hoped it would, it would return to him as if magnetized, the handle greeting Cynica’s outstretched hand once more. And when it returned? More shockwaves would be sent through the floor as the hammer’s diamond head connected with it again. This time, however, it was at a bit of an angle, the diamond cutting through the floor and sending the large pieces of it towards the drow.
Lanlan || The Lanlans heckling becomes worried babbling as they shuffle toward the back of the room away from the whirlwind. As they scramble, Cynica’s spinning hammer smashes Lanlan and he pops. Like a water balloon full of blood, he explodes, leaving a dripping smear on the ceiling where he stood. But there are many Lanlans, and they weren’t all created equal, so how was Cynica to know which one to aim for?
The supreme Lanlan was becoming furthest away from the storm that threatened him. But this room was devoid of cover, and there was no way for him to escape it. It peels lesser Lanlans away from the ceiling by the bushel, forming a fancy Lan-nado for a few seconds before tossing them around, strewning them about the meditation room with mangled limbs.
Lanlan is ultimately picked up, spun in a circle, and smacked into a wall. Another foot to the right and he would’ve been defenestrated! The blow causes his senses to fail for barely a second, and his dupes all die horribly in bloody explosions. Luckily his insignia’s magic keeps, and he still sticks to the wall. But there’s no time to rest. Cynica ruptures the floor, casting jagged rocks his way. He executes an elegant backbend kickover the next, plunging his feet through the window, and sticking them to the flipside of the wall on the exterior. Stones fly past him as he scurries to another window.
Lanlan || He peers through, places his fingertips on the window and streams his will back into the room. Second-string Lanlans pour in from both staircases, “Hup, hup, hup, hup,” rapidly assembling into circus arrangements of death. Two Lans face each other, join hands to create a basket, and toss a waiting Lanlan into the air. One after another they Launch toward Cynica trying to crash into them, dagger leading. Three form a slow advancing, six armed tower of doom by sitting on shoulders and spinning spiked chains in figure 8’s. And another six form a wide circle and play catch... With knives, swords, shurikens, handaxes, and darts. The circle expands and contracts and spins with impossible coordination, trying to catch Cynica in the middle. A scene of pointy chaos designed to deny Cynica the presence of mind that would allow them to disbelieve. And also of course, to perforate, lacerate, and puncture her with illusions, convincing enough to kill.
Magik || The fiery tendrils suddenly stop as the black smoke cloud gets sucked into Cynica's whirlwind. A single stretched out hand can be seen reaching to grab anything it can get a grip of before it gives up and disappears back into the smoke. The smoke swirls around repeatedly before the Lyastri materializes and is violently thrown out of the whirlwind, hitting the wall back first and sliding into a seated position. The force causes Magik's head to snap back against the wall, knocking the elf out briefly while his bow lays on his lap.
Magik's natural blue eyes are revealed as he comes to. A slow rub of the back of his head confirms his injury as the blood slowly drips down his neck. After assessing the situation, black flame within his eyes reappears. The elf grumbles as he gets to his feet, "I have f--," a banshee wails outside the tower, "--had enough!" The elf's frame is engulfed in black fire as he watches Lanlan get thrown towards the wall followed by the shrapnel that Cynica has thrown at him. Magik's attention is grabbed by the reappearance of the not-Lans and their "Hup" chants. Perfect. Magik then hangs a tightened fist to his side as his other hand holds his bow. A loud "poof" can be heard as each illusion of Lan is met with a fiery figure, matching their size and step to make them that much more real. As the fiery Not-Lans make their way from the staircase and begin to converge and surround Cynica, those poorly placed curtains are set aflame.
Magik || As the Not-Lans cause their ruckus, their fiery counterparts grow in size, still mimicking the illusions' movements. The black flames suddenly grow tall then off of the ground. The sudden pull draws all of the fire from the room into one big mass, forming into the shape of a phoenix. The fiery representation of the bird circles above then immediately swoops down towards the Lyastri. Magik is devoured by the flames before the firebird high-tails it back towards the ceiling. The fiery phoenix then swoops straight down towards Cynica, beak wide open in an attempt to swallow him. The opening beak reveals a determined Magikrios, bow raised above his head like a club. Cynica is in for one hell of a headache should the Lyastri connect with his head. And a case of serious sunburn.
Round 3
Cynica || The Lanlan, the Not-Lanlans, the Magik, the phoenix, the bow -- it was all too much! Cynica swung his hammer frantically as the Not-Lanlans assaulted him with everything they’d been equipped with, hopefully taking a couple out in the process. That doesn’t matter though, because the Not-Lanlans have succeeded in bowling Cynica over. The elf let out a shriek as he fell to the ground, yelling a few choice words and proclaiming that they were turning his show into a circus! Which of course is exactly what Lanlan wanted. If it was even possible, Cynica was even more pissed off than earlier and it showed as he wiggled and shoved at Lanlan’s illusions, trying to get them the hell off of him. He eventually wormed his way out, kicked the nearest Not-Lanlan, and started to dust off his poor ruined outfit.
Cynica || It’s only when he looked up again that he found himself face to face with that firebird. All the color drained from his face and he just kinda stood there, staring, defeat written all over him. “You’re all so uncivilized,” he said, completely straight-faced and emotionless as Magik’s bow connected with head and the phoenix swallowed him whole, giving him the aforementioned, unfortunate, and completely unbearably painful sunburn. The shrieking started up again, thanks to the fire, and Cynica was so near to passing out from the pain. Thankfully, another bout of adrenaline kicked in and Cynica did his best to push past the searing agony coursing throughout his body.
Cynica || “Like that Freddy guy said, the show must go on,” Cynica shouted as he outstretched his arms amongst the burning curtains. In a last ditch effort to put an end to this madness, Cynica summoned up those mysterious spotlights that had been ever-fixed on him before and focused the beams at the Lanlans and the Magik in an attempt to blind them. And if that didn’t work, once they were readied, Cynica spun with his hammer again. It wasn’t quite enough to summon another cyclone, but when he unleashed another blow to the ground, the diamond exploded on contact, showering pointy expensive gem shards toward his opponents (whether they were real or not) that refracted the beams of light, creating a strange sort of flash-bang. The spotlights grew brighter and hotter as Cynica aimed to set them all aflame like the pathetic ants that they were!
Lanlan || While Lanlan peers through the window like a spy, a bomb of light and diamonds explodes and casts shrapnel and brightness his way. Desperately, he tries to shield his face and neck with his forearms, hoping the sturdy walls of the tower will protect the rest of his body. The shrapnel crashes through the glass window and strikes his arms, pointy diamonds lodging into his flesh and soaking his sleeves in blood. If that wasn't bad enough, his sensitivity to light is grossly offended. Darkness envelops his peripherals, and closes in over the whole of his perception, leaving him only able to distinguish shadows and the brightest of lights. But that could be enough. His fingers fall limp at the end of his wrists, so he won't be using his wand. But now he has other means by which to cast spells. His prehensile and dexterous eyebrows move in complex patterns. They crisscross each other, wiggle, and dance gracefully, summoning the magic all around and within him. With no visible cause, the diamond shards in his flesh dislodge and disappear, sacrificed for his magic. As is his will, a concave-mirror array of a dozen mirrors appears to intercept the rays of light Cynica created. The light bounces from one mirror to the next, each time being concentrated and refined. The last mirror floats into place, bouncing a super-heated laser the width of a pen-stroke toward the silhouette Lanlan knows to be Cynica, hoping to carve through the showman with the heat of the sun.
Magik's follow-through after connecting with Cynica's head had the Lyastri in a tuck and roll situation. With his bow in hand, he tucks his shoulder down and rolls onto a single knee. He quickly spins his body around and brings his bow up, aiming at the other elf. The spotlight focuses on the elf. Magik squints to look through the light then remembers a little trick he learned during a certain mission to an archipelago. With the diamond shards flying towards him, he pulls back on his bowstring.The light and heat surrounding him starts to bend at Magik's command and out of his eyes. An arrow of light takes shape and sits uneasily on the arrow rest. The bowstring is released. The arrow of light bursts into smaller bolts immediately to send similar shards towards the incoming projectiles to knock them out of the way. A small handful are missed and end up embedded in his ribcage and the arm holding the bow. Magik winces and works through the pain, careful to not ruin his form. As Lanlan deals with his own beam of light, Veneficus D'Chath welcomes his. There's a small moment of disbelief as he looks around while basking in the light and heat. All he can do is chuckle with a slight shake of his head.
Magik || With light, there are shadows. With shadows, there is Magik to use them to his advantage. He points his bow towards the large shadow he is casting due to the spotlight. Once again the bowstring is pulled. As Magik does so, the shadow is pulled to his arrow rest where it takes a pointy form. The arrow begins to smoke and is quick to set flame. Magik raises his bow into the light beam. The heat and light start swirling violently as it's pulled around the shadow arrow. Bringing the bow down and aimed towards Cynica once more brings a slight smirk to the teacher's face. Time seems to slow down for the elf. The smirk starts to fade as he focuses on Cynica's chest. He takes a deep breath in and slowly exhales before releasing the hybrid arrow. The arrow hisses through the air while pulling the heated beam of light behind it. The arrow seeks out its target while the beam of light forms a large heated orb that quickly implodes on itself with Cynica hopefully in the middle.
Last Defense
Cynica only had seconds to realize what was happening as Lanlan’s mirrors took form and rerouted the beams of light right back at him. The light hit dead-on, and while he didn’t have the severe sensitivity that drow had, the poor fabulously dressed elf had blue eyes, and well, he might as well have that severe light sensitivity that Lanlan had dealt with only moments before. He cried out as he was temporarily blinded, spots innumerable filling his sight. Cynica tried to blink it away, but even still he could not see straight. It was only by pure luck that he managed to spy Magik’s shadows gathering in front of the other elf. The flaming arrow was fired and Cynica was left to swing wildly with the remains of his now diamondless wand, in hopes that he could knock the arrow away. But that was not the case, as it was not a physical arrow. Magik’s arrow missed its true target (that of course being his chest), but it still hit its mark regardless as the heated orb exploded in front of Cynica. As if the blindness wasn’t bad enough, now his hair was singed and his clothing somewhat on fire again. Ugh.
Cynica || Meanwhile, while Cynica had been flailing about, Lanlan’s refracted light beam had found its way to some curtains just behind Cynica, and with as potent as the beam was, it unfortunately set fire to said curtains (that poor poor meditation room!). Magik’s explosive orb only served to strengthen the fire that had already begun. “If you can’t be supportive of my act, then you can burn!” With a flick of his wrist, he used his wand to shift the lights toward the rest of the curtains, setting those also on fire. He tossed aside the remainder of his butterfly glasses, letting them melt in the blaze as he further strengthened the beams’ intensity. The light burned even him, the fire scorched and threatened to eat away at Cynica, but if he was going to die in this wretched place, he was going to take these jerks with him. “We could’ve been friends, you know! Allies! Your abilities and mine could have left the whole of this continent starstruck! I don’t give a damn about that idiot Haladavar! I just wanted to be famous! This is not what I had planned, but at least I’ll be famous after my death for wiping out some of that terramancer’s friends!” Stars and spots still plagued his eyesight, but he didn’t need to see this. He could -feel- it. He could feel the heat and pain he was hopefully causing the other elf and the drow--he could feel the intensity of his own power! And it was absolutely glorious…
Winners: Lanlan and Magik!
Auto-hit Round
Lanlan is essentially blinded, but for some silhouettes. Luckily, when Cynica illuminates him with his...confessions, he becomes an easy shadow to identify. Lanlan dexterously crawls from the outside of the window, over the jagged edges of the glass, and back inside the burning meditation room. A veil of cloth wraps around his nose and mouth of its own volition as he pushes off the wall and levitates. He gradually floats lower beyond the danger of the oppressive light while a quartet of terribly long, coarsely threaded black screws appear at his sides. “Is that true?” Lanlan asks, apparently daring to believe a seemingly desperate man. The four screws fly toward Cynica in wild corkscrew patterns, until they twist gruesomely through each of his limbs with nauseating squelches, and massive bleeding. Worst of all, they seem to bore into the wall of the meditation room behind Cynica, fastening him painfully in place. And in Cynica's state of mind, he’s in no place to question whether they’re real or illusory. “If that’s true then you should be asking for mercy. You should be trying to make yourself -useful-. Could you help us find those of our colleagues who you kidnapped?” The screws twisted. “Of course! You only misplaced your faith in a false prophet, who wanted nothing but to profit off of you. So you would lead us to they who remain in his grasp, wouldn't you? Show us all your hidden checkpoints. Turnover all of your gathered resources.” Lanlan was done making his case for him. “But any one of you could do that. What would you do for us in particular?” The screws twist deeper. “There is a -lot- to atone for.”
Magik || Enough is enough. Veneficus D'Chath pulls the heat and fire in the room towards his chest, forming a large fireball that hovers in front of him. Magik moves his hands around the flames to condense them into a small and concentrated source of potential devastation. Instead of shoving this fireball down Cynica's throat as he's practically stapled to the wall, the pyromancer/master of meditation violently throws the ball out of the window. Magik quickly turns back to Lanlan and Cynica and marches straight towards them. Magik's left palm starts dripping blood with every step he takes. By the time he reaches Lan, there's a fully formed black arrow gripped tightly in Magik’s hand. The arrowhead is firmly pressed up under Cynica's jaw as Magik starts spitting words at him, "You better start talking, elf!" The arrow starts to dig into Cynica's skin as Magik's patience starts wearing thin.
Cynica let out another angry scream as the screws embedded themselves in his flesh and pinned him to the wall just behind him. He was defeated and exhausted, and slumped over a little to stare at the ground dejectedly. The pain from Lanlan’s illusions were unbearable, so much so that the skin and muscle ripped and tore, the imaginary wounds made real. Even the humorous of his left arm was fractured thanks to a screw, the ridge of said screw having dug too close to the bone as it twisted into Cynica’s arm. The only real reprieve he got from it all was the act of being pinned to the wall, for it kept his arm fixed in place. Still, the pain radiated throughout his body and the adrenaline from the fight waned as tears welled up in his eyes, only made worse as he felt the heat from Magik’s fireball that -had- been for him, but was sent elsewhere. “-I- didn’t kidnap anyone. Do I seriously look like the type to do something like that?” His words were still somewhat on the defensive, but it was clear there wasn’t much fight left in him. “I was merely a messenger amongst many, sent to preach the “good word” of “Our Lord and Savior,” he said, mocking emphasis in his tone.
Cynica || Scrounging up all his strength, he let out a really long, obscene raspberry, and some choice words in elvish, despite the arrow that ever so slowly began to pierce the underside of his jaw, and in doing so causing more blood to flow. “He promised me fame and fortune. Knew that I’d excel in turning people to his side. But it was promise after promise after promise and NOTHING. I will tell you what you want to know. Where your friends are. Where the rest of that amber-loving naked freak’s idiotic thugs are. How am I supposed to help you after that? How would I “atone”? Help you rebuild? Tell all of Lithrydel of what had come to pass here? That you are all innocent? Shall I write a play about you all so that they will know and you can all live happily ever after? You would likely make false promises too, in the end, after I have “atoned” and this whole cycle of lunacy would begin anew.” His bright blue line of sight fixed on Magik first, then slid towards Lanlan. “Just kill me… I refuse to go back to my life of entertaining rich spoiled brats at their birthday parties with meaningless parlor tricks. If you were to snuff out life’s little spotlight on me, it would pale in comparison with how I felt back then.”
Lanlan can hardly see, but he can tell his illusion may have been too successful. He’d hoped the damage would be more fleeting. The pain only temporary. It was seriously about to contradict his intentions. “This has been a dark chapter for our guild,” Lanlan says regretfully. “Several dark, dark chapters, really. In a row.” He begins to pace dramatically. “Not just what we’ve endured... But what we’ve -inflicted-! We need to rehabilitate our image. Show the people just how -merciful- we can be!” Lanlan flops a hand at Cynica’s wounds. “You know, after we get all -this- cleaned up...all the wounds and…” He’s realizing just how disingenuous this must sound after he’s just magically crucified him. “Yes! We’ve hurt you. Did we go too far? Did I? Well--alright this is not the time...we can figure out the specifics later. SLEEP.” Anxious to put the awkwardnes behind him, Lanlan torrents a flood of magic to the point of his index finger, now so full that glittering dust or sand sprinkles from it, until he pokes Cynica right in the middle of his forehead, pushing his head back so that he sees the ceiling. And then hopefully, the inside of his eyelids for a while. If Lanlan’s spell is accurate and Magik is permissive and Cynica is at least open to the idea of taking a nap. Might help with the pain? As a final touch, after dispelling his tortuous illusion, he slides a pillow under where his head would fall. Mercy, right?
Magik pushes the arrow further into Cynica's skin as Lanlan speaks. His fiery eyes shift from Cynica, to Lan, then back to Cyn. Before Cynica can drift to sleep, Magik gets in the elf's face. "We -will- show mercy and you -will- get to work restoring this room to EXACTLY how you found it as soon as you wake. You are to check in with both of us three times a day and if you step foot outside of this tower without our permission.." Magik gets close to Cynica's ear to whisper a promise, "I will find you and I will kill you, slowly." Magik stops and thinks for a short moment. Deciding he's left nothing out, he adds in a, "Class dismissed," before Cynica passes out. With that, Magik removes the arrow from Cynica's throat and it turns to ash immediately. After Lanlan adds the pillow for some extra flare, the pyromancer blinks at the drow, "Really?" Magik takes a deep breath to steady himself as he gathers up his bow, "We should get going. This night is far from over." Before the two head up the tower, Veneficus D'Chath looks at the aftermath of the chaos that went on in this once peaceful room. After another shake of his head, he's off to finish this once and for all..Hopefully.