RP:Change Of Plans

Part of the Saurian Onslaught Arc

Summary: Khitti and Meri set out to capture a razurath for information, but their plan goes a little astray after an ambush. They get their information, but also manage to get a decent number of raptor heads to give to Gevurah for her bounty. The information proves to be enough for them to formulate a plan of attack against the razurath.

Aedrebyrg, Venturil

Word had been sent out by Gevurah herself that a bounty was being placed on the Razurath. While Khitti wasn’t exactly keen on committing mass genocide of an entire race like the drow matron likely was, the announcement had the prospects of proving useful as a distraction, so that more people could infiltrate Venturil, just as Zahrani had. Khitti and Meri wouldn’t be climbing any mountains, nor would they be dropping in literally, by way of flying mounts, so the obvious choice was for Brand to drop them off elsewhere and wait a bit further out in the ocean for them to return. Chartsend was too far away to reach Venturil on foot, so the ship brought them to Aedrebyrg.

The hope was that they’d get lucky enough to be able to slip through the city and make their way deeper into Venturil. Travelling by rowboat to the shore, the two would soon find out that their plans weren’t going to go like they wanted… Razurath patrolled the city and harbor area; Reds stalked through the city in twos, while Blues worked on adding runes, here and there, on walls, doors, anything that might matter, though their purpose was unknown. “I knew we should’ve torched Venturil back when we dealt with these frakking things the first go around,” Khitti whispered to Meri with a sigh. “Up to you on where to go.” Meri was the one with the keen senses now, after all.

Ah, another trip into Venturil. Really of all places they could end up going, Venturil was really not a place that Meri minded to go. She did not share the same hate for the place that Khitti did, but she has no real love for the location either. The only pleasant part of this journey, as far as Meri is concerned, was the boat ride in. The hope that they would make it into the city is dashed, the pair are forced to adjust course as it becomes clear to them that there will be no safe way into Venturil through the city of Aedrebyrg itself. "Well we've managed to ditch the kids with the men...So there is no turning back no, we're going to enjoy our freedom." And by enjoy it, Meri means they are going to do dumb and reckless things that would probably make both Brand and Callum's eye twitch. Meri grabs the oars of the rowboat they are currently sitting in and redirects their course, rowing their dinky little boat further away from the actual harbor of Aedrebyrg so that they end up making landfall on the coast. Khitti of course, can object and redirect their plan of action! It should not be too hard for them accomplish this portion of their mission unnoticed, they had the cover of night working on their side. No one would notice their little rowboat bobbing out in the dark ocean and no one would be able to hear them over the sound of the turning ocean water. Once they found a patch of coast they deemed clear enough make landfall on, they would have a fairly clean shot from the shore to the lush vegetation growing just off the coast. They would not even have trouble hiding their rowboat from sight, the psion would see that it is silent set and hidden in vegetation for when they are ready to make their escape.

Foregengan River And The Shipyard

Khitti excelled in the Making Brand’s Eye Twitch department. It only worsened after she quit doing that undead and dead-dead thing. Sorry, Brand. ILY. This is what happens when you have a thing for feisty, independent women. But, for the moment, we’ll just imagine what Brand will be like when they get back to the ship, for there’s more important things to worry about right now. Namely, all of these goddamn raptor bitches. There’s too many of them and it’s pretty damn annoying. Khitti doesn’t object to where Meri is taking them, and she’s thankful that there’s actually lamplights to light their way around the city, so that she didn’t have to fully depend on Meri’s sense of smell and whatnot.

Foregengan River Rapids

They’d make their way to the coast and hid their boat without problems. They’d sneak past the outskirts of the city, with seemingly no worries. Things were going fine--until they weren’t. There’d been no indication of a trap, but these razurath were crafty creatures and set up runed traps beneath the dirt. Meri had no magic, of course. The razurath likely never considered such a thing as a psion, because of how rare they were… but Khitti? Oh, Khitti. She’d been cursed with bad luck for the rest of her life, it seemed. The trap unfortunately happened to be just where Khitti had been stepping and once her foot landed on it, she felt… weird. It was a kind of weird she’d felt before. -Too many times before-. It was similar to the feeling of being drained of one’s magic… but most importantly, it felt like when she had no magic at all, after Facilier took back the dark magic that he’d once returned to her. Khitti’d stop in her tracks, as Meri presumably continued on a few more feet. “Meri,” Khitti managed to say, trying not to freak out. But, she was indeed freaking out on the inside. Meri could certainly hear Khitti’s heart pounding, the scent of fear enveloping the redhead.

The two barely had time to process what was going on before the ambush started. Several of the red razurath poured out of the river, having been patrolling there on the off chance someone decided to swim their way up through Venturil. Word had not yet reached the byrg itself thankfully, and hopefully Khitti and Meri were able to quell the raptors before it got to that point. “I can’t use my magic!” was said to Meri as Khitti withdrew both her katana and that recently acquired wakizashi after briefly testing the waters, so to speak, and tried to conjure balls of holy fire in her palms. The effect of the cathabraka pressure plate of sorts wouldn’t last forever, but for the time being as the red-scaled razurath charged at them, Khitti’s predicament was certainly a deadly one.

Leave it to another predator to have the smarts to be able to move and ambush their prey without alerting the werewolf's delicate sense of smell. It's not really improbable, especially given how aromatic the ocean is. Salt hung heavy in the air. It was only because Khitti was so close to her that she could hear her pulse increasing and picked up on that scent of fear. The red head soon explained why. No magic. Well that makes two of them....Except Meri has never had magic, her psionic abilities have always been tapped from something other than the arcane, but they are not Meri's go to for the moment. Khitti draws her weaponry, and so does Meri. It's not the fancy bow that Khitti commissioned for Meri that the blonde relies on, but the bastard sword that the woman has wielded for years. You know, that not-as-flashy-firesword that she has. The friction from sharpened metal rubbing against metal causes the sword to ignite upon removal and soon the woman is charging forward toward the razurath that have ambushed them. Maybe the behavior is reckless, though not as reckless as when Meri was still a human. At least she was faster, stronger...and well she always kind of healed faster than the norm, but that is also intensified. Honestly Meri did not think she would be able to single-handedly win this battle. She was just hoping that charging straight into the middle of things with firesword drawn would be distraction enough for Khitti to figure out what the heck was going on with her magic. Meri could handle exchanging a few blows with the razurath on her own, but she'd definitely need Khitti in for back up soon....

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Khitti didn’t have any magic whatsoever, after Facilier took away her dark magic. It was only in recent times that she was granted her holy abilities, when she needed to save Raevyn from the Shadow Plane. The alternative for Khitti was channeling abilities from Seika, the sprite in Tenbatsu Kaji. Khitti didn’t have the energy quite yet for anything, thanks to whatever the hell she stepped on, but Seika was still there, and soon Khitti’s own sword was engulfed in flame. Fifteen of those red razurath closed in around them. For ordinary people, that’d be a death wish, but of course, Khitti and Meri weren’t ordinary people, magic or no magic. The sound of blades clanging together and the searing of flesh with fire from those swords would fill the air. Khitti wasn’t immune to taking hits though, and soon earned her own share of cuts and bruises thanks to the razurath. Like cutting off the heads of a hydra, the two would fight their way through the crowd. While their attention was on the current situation, however, some of the smaller reds scampered off back into the water, fleeing to the lieutenant that still lurked beneath the water, to warn them that help was needed.

Even though Meri and Khitti were not ordinary people, these were also no ordinary oversized lizards. Despite rushing recklessly headfirst into battle with them, Meri has been feeling the stress and pressure of doubt in the back of her mind from the start. There were fifteen of those razurath, that means both Meri and Khitti will have to take on seven or eight each in order to succeed in this fight. Scratch that. Make that seven each because one of the smaller ones is fleeing the battle to go alert the others of the potential need for reinforcements. This is a detail that escapes Meri's attention, there were too many other opponents for her to really notice one slipping off into the darkness. This moment of total carnage is not one that Meri is taking immense joy it, it is a situation where she has little choice but to defend herself because she does not want to find out what happens if she does not fend of those ambush. The blonde is not paying attention to how many lizard-men she manages to fell, she is just focusing on besting one opponent after the next, implying her psionic abilities where needed but relying on the heated blade of her bastard sword to do most of the dirty work. If heads are cut off in the process, great, but Meri puts more emphasis on defeating the razurath before her one after the next in whatever means she can. Decapitation, impaling, skewering, severing arteries, whatever it takes because the name of the game is survival given that there are fourteen overgrown lizards for the blonde and the redhead.

Unfortunately for the two of them, Khitti also wasn’t able to keep an eye on things. Also, unfortunately for Khitti, she had her back to the water. It’s okay though! She’s only mostly taken by surprise. She -had- managed to see the shadow of the rather large lieutenant and even turned around too! But… Khitti was soon caught up by the throat by that rather ferocious raptor-esque creature. Black claws squeezed Khitti’s throat, threatening to crush everything within it--it was surely looking like the end (again) for the redhead. Both of her swords were dropped to the ground and... Khitti started to feel a little weird. No, no. It wasn’t the kind of weird you feel when your trachea starts to close up for good. Khitti was desperately losing air, but… The feeling was that of when a mage’s magic has been restored to full. Hoo boy, Miss Razurath, you’re really gonna regret coming out of that river. Lieutenant Lizard-Breath let out a growl, pulling Khitti ever so close to those not so lovely teeth of hers, to which Khitti shoved both of her hands at the saurian’s face and gave it quite the fireblast to the eyeballs, compliments of Cyris. There was much coughing and gasping for air once Khitti was released, the redhead dropping to the ground as the razurath let out pained screeches. The three smaller raptors that had gone off to get their boss stepped in now, taking over until she recovered. Before they could reach her, Khitti snuck a quick peek over at Meri and her own mess of raptors. Assuming Meri was starting to get tired, Khitti got a what could be construed as a bad idea, but surely in this situation even a bad idea was better than no idea. “Meri! MOVE!” was all that was shouted to the blonde as Khitti took a cue from the old school Wonder Woman’s book and started to spin. Flames erupted from Khitti’s palms once the psion was far enough away, the spinning used to create a wall of holy fire around herself and the few razurath that remained (not including the lieutenant sadly; she’d be dealt with soon). The wall closed in around the last few, scorching the ground as it went, the fire soon swallowing up the raptors. It almost seemed like it’d get Khitti too, for at least one of the razurath went to attack her directly, but this one received a fiery punch to knock it out, the fire soon snuffed out entirely--they'd get their captured razurath out of this after all it seemed. It’d been awhile since she had to use that much fire power and now her magic was low for real, but it was almost over soon, right? "Damn it... I haven't had burns on my hands in a long time." Khitti sighed. There was still that big one they had to deal with.

Meri was fighting and punching and stabbing and snarling and doing all of this so passionately that she almost did not here Khitti shout that she needs to move. The words are only partially registered and it's not until Meri sees flames erupting from the palm's of Khitti's hands that her brain finally processes what she was told. OH. MOVE. DUH. In a last ditch attempt to do the moving thing, Meri runs a few feet away from where she is currently standing and dives into a bush...because this is exactly where one should hide when trying to avoid being burned with fire. On the upside, Meri dove into a bush that was far enough away from this fire circle that she does not end up consumed by flames. It could have easily happened. All it takes is one lone ember for one roasted lizard and bam...We have a bushfire gone out of control. Anyway, there are a lot of cooked lizard's laying on the beach and Meri is a little shocked by this magical display. It's not that she does not know her sister is more than capable, it just was not expected in this exact moment. Meri's shock causes her to not notice that they have one big one left to deal with...until that one big one is charging at Khitti. I mean that redheaded bish murdered all of it's comrades. She's got to pay, death by being crushed. It's right about this time that Meri takes to action. She jumps out of the bush and runs full speed toward the lizard so that she can jump on the charging beast from behind. Somewhere during this process a dagger flies from its resting place in her boot into her hand. Meri attempts to plant this dagger straight into the razurath's skull, hopefully before it manages to steamroll Khitti.

The unconscious razurath is kicked away for now and the flames die away, allowing Meri to get a clearer shot at the lieutenant who was barreling her way towards Khitti. Gnashing fangs and claws nearly got the redhead, but thankfully, Meri was hella quick. “Frakking hell!” Khitti jumped out of the way as the razurath fell over, dead as a doornail, the redhead not having seen the she-raptor charging towards her. “You and Brand should start a list to see who’s saved my ass more,” she said with an awkward cough before finally stepping over to where she’d kicked the unconscious one. “I managed not to fry this one. We could probably still keep to the original plan but--” She motioned with her head over to where the ones that -were- crispy were laying. “--looks like we get to cash in some heads, if there’s anything left.” She searched the razurath and found a bit of parchment stashed away in its armor; it contained details of who patrolled when and where--one spot of which was a polarite mine to the north by Fengoth Falls. The rest looked to be just the byrgs and for now, there wasn’t much they could do about that. There was certainly too many of those damn dinos to deal with just the two of them… but the mines? Members of both of their guilds could take it out. “Actually… we might not need him much, if at all.” Khitti handed Meri the parchment, letting her look it over.

Meri stares at the unconscious razurath. Were she a more heartless woman, she would kick a lizard while it's down and end the life of a very easy target. Even if there were numerous razurath that were dead due to the hands of Khitti and Meri, even if all of them were quite intent on killing the both of them...killing this unconscious razurath was not sitting right with Meri. The note is read and lips are pressed together before she grunts out in annoyance, "Leave it, I suppose. Adding one to the number of dead in this instance will really make us no better than them." It should be obvious who Meri is indicating but she makes it quite clear by also giving the unconscious razurath a good kick. Though reminder of that bounty was definitely causing Meri to rethink it. Every head meant another pretty chunk of gold...The blonde managed to resist the temptation. Her sword is collected so that Meri can begin the task of separating heads from dead lizard bodies. Jokes about how Meri and Brand should make a list have not escaped Meri's memory or her humor, the blonde addresses it while chopping off heads. "Brand and I would not make a list though. We'd probably turn it into some sort of drinking contest. Lists are boring."

Khitti nodded in agreement with Meri on the subject of the unconscious razurath, only to smirk a bit after at the blonde’s mentioning of her and Brand and lists. “This is true. And to be honest, I’m not sure which one of you would win.” She’d help out with the beheading of dead things, of course, and peered down the river towards where Brand had stationed the Tranquility while waiting for the womenfolk to get into trouble again. “Well… let’s get the hell out of here. We’ve got a drow in need of a new brain… or a few.” She meant Gevurah. On the way back, she’d dig up the small cathabraka pressure plate up out of the ground, that’d been the mana-draining culprit, with the end of her sword. Maybe she’d find a use for it. And if not? Well, it’d make a fine souvenir.

Meri pretty much wordlessly agreed with the statement that they get the hell out of here. Actions speak louder than words, and so Meri made her agreement obvious by letting her feet lead the way out of here. On the way back to the ship, Khitti would have to listen to Meri ponder who would win a drinking contest. Pros for Meri: she is a werewolf. Cons for Meri: She doesn't drink much anymore. Pros for Brand: he's pretty much a booze-fish. Khitti would also have to listen to Meri whine about how she really did not want to pay the drow a visit. Even if Meri has been slightly more tolerant of select drow, Gevurah had rubbed Meri the wrong way once upon a Redskull Trophy Ring fight.