RP:Mutual Enemies
Part of the Surface Tension Arc
Synopsis: Jerralith happens upon a small group of rangers, including Skylei, who are doing reconnaissance work in Sage. Offering his services to the elven cause, Skylei is initially sceptical of the spellblade, only to be won over by his prowess in battle (the fact that he hates Vuryal helps a little too). The two part, with Jerralith keen to speak with the elven council about how he might aid the war effort.
Near the Pass
Skylei and a small contingent of exiled elven rangers are found in various scouting positions. Some are up trees, others scan further a field and a small contingent stand with bows in hand on guard duty as their comrades map the forest. It’s a strange sight; elves don’t come into Sage anymore – or at least, they’re not supposed to. But, naturally, this strange sight plays a role in the recent turbulence. For rangers previously of Sage to be scouting -in- Sage, a territory known to them like the back of their hand, means that they’re looking for something new, something different something out of the ordinary. At the bottom of a tree, just metres from the craggy pass that they had descended from, is Skylei Lucindio. Every so often she would be drawn from her sentry duty to bark orders at any of the elves she deemed to not be doing their job properly. But even that bark is light, as drow could lurk in every tree or round every corner and the party don’t wish to attract any more attention than necessary.
Jerralith finds himself wandering closer and closer to Sage forest. It was only a few days ago when another spoke to him of the conflict between drow and elf that has flared up yet again, and it's rather apparent he seeks to investigate. The man keeps his twin axes bared at the ready, his eyes rather alertly flicking this way and that for any sight of a dark elf...or even their more benevolent cousins, considering the current climate; the last thing he wants is to be stuck by an arrow from some misunderstanding elf. Sensing what he believes to be the hushed voice of another, Jerra slows his pace and brings his gaze up to the trees, scanning the canopy for any sudden motion. He's unknowingly drawing closer to this contigent of elves.
Whilst Skylei doesn’t hear the approach of the man (alas, her hearing isn’t as blessed as that of her fullblooded brothers), one of her companions does. Quickly the contingent is informed of the presence of a stranger; though likely not a drow one as none have had arrows shot in their direction, nor been knocked from their treeward perches by magic. This is not the first time in Sage of late for any of the party and so they are, naturally, terse. “Show yourself.” Skylei demands in a voice barely raised above normal speaking level. The intruder may be unlikely to be of drow blood, but she has no desire to draw the forest intruders any closer by alerting them to her presence. Should Jerralith choose not to assert his presence, Skylei would order two of the rangers to go and look for him. The rest would be sent back to work.
Jerralith smirks when it becomes apparent he has been spotted. He sees no reason to stay in the natural cover of the forest; when pressed to show himself, the man simply does so, stepping out into plain view with axes held in hand. Keeping Skylei's relatively controlled tone in mind, he replies in a similar manner. "I'm not here to do any harm, no worries. I came looking for the elves, actually...I've got somethin' I want to discuss with ya, if you're willing to listen."
Skylei doesn’t load her bow, but nor does she stow it. He may seem like an ally, but allies can quickly disintegrate into foes in a place like Sage. Giving him a cursory glance, she arrogantly decides that, should he be a troublemaker in the guise of a friend, she could take him. She’s likely wrong. But with that decision made, she sets the rangers to the mission they had originally come down to Sage for and dismisses them from her presence, “If any one of you find any concrete evidence of slavery or anything that might be interesting to the council, you get out and head straight up to Frostmaw. Do -not- engage. Lady Gilwen is waiting for you at the camp. And, I’m right behind you. Hind Speed.” That done, she would turn to Jerralith, “My ears are open. Speak.”
Jerralith returns his axes to their respective loops on his waist before he approaches Skylei, stepping forth to meet her. "So, I've heard the fight on the surface has erupted again. I patched up an injured elf just days ago...uhm, Miss Yin was her name, I think. That's how she introduced herself, anyway." He lifts a hand in a waving gesture. "Anyway, I want to help. I'm familiar with the drow and I'm likely familiar with some of those you count among your enemies right now. Name's Jerralith; years ago, I fought against the Archmosian Empire and the Time Slug himself, Vuryal, and lived to tell about it. Not that I'm one to brag, but I can promise I won't be a liability to your cause."
Skylei is all very polite until Vuryal’s name is uttered. At that point she begins muttering all manner of expletives and ends by spitting on the floor. It’s all very unladylike and unelven, but Skylei never pretended to be a lady and she certainly doesn’t pass for a full-blood elf. “Anyone who fought against Vuryal and lived to shout about it, I consider a personal friend of mine.” The half-blood mutters. “He’s a worse plague on this land than the drow are on Sage, though don’t let the boys hear me tell you that.” She would hold her hand out to Jerralith, “I’m Skylei Lucindio. I remember the Archmosian Empire well. And you are correct. There have been some unspeakable acts of violence lately. The latest report is that of women and children, as well as rangers of Sage, being taken by the drow as slaves. Locked in pens and starved. The council is on the peak of war.”
Jerralith takes Skylei's offered hand with a grin, giving a slight squeeze. "That's the appropriate response to that goon's name, for sure. He's a loser, honestly. Any evil plan he has hatched has ultimately been a rotten egg." The update on the recent situation causes his grin to fade suddenly. "Yeah, then time is of the essence. If you can believe it, I was once a slave to the drow myself, years and years ago when I was far younger..." Abruptly, the man turns and points out a brand seared into the back of his neck; the insignia of some drow house, it seems. "...I was lucky to escape." He swiftly turns back to face Sky, "So, yeah, I've got no real love for most drow. My axes are yours to employ."
It’s a great speech. And the fact that Jerralith thinks that Vuryal is scum that should be wiped from the bottom of their boots helps too. But she remains somewhat unconvinced. War hardens people. “We- well, they- their numbers have been vastly depleted since the exile. More and more go missing every week. Missions like this one, though foolish and desperate, are becoming our only hope. It seems that-“ Whatever it was that seemed to be is lost, for at that moment comes the noise of footsteps returning to the place where the two linger. Skylei falls silent and presses her back against a tree, bow in hand, locked and loaded. A drow scout or one of the elven rangers, she can’t be sure. But she is loath to take risks of being apprehended.
Jerralith nods in understanding. "Yeah, that's why now's the time to act. I-" He cuts himself off when Skylei goes silent and ducks behind a tree, forcing himself to do the same and draw his axes in one seamless motion. He can still plainly see the half-elf from where he stands, so he raises a hand in a soundless gesture in the direction where the sound seems to be coming from. Drow or elf? If it does turn out to be dark elves, Jerra seems ready to spring into motion at a moment's notice.
It’s a drow. Of course it’s a drow, or this would simply be a boring interlude. The lucky scout has already come across one of Skylei’s rangers and cut him down with worrying ease. Hearing noise, he has naturally stalked his way across the forest and come across Jerralith and Skylei. He probably assumes they are another spot of easy hunting. From behind her tree, the dark haired ranger would peer in the direction that Jerralith has pointed attempting to ascertain exactly where the scout is located. But is difficult and he blends amongst the trees. In the years of the occupation, the drow have got worrying good at stalking those within the forests. Eventually, Skylei would spy him and, in seconds, sends an enchanted arrow his way. Not quite fast enough, however, as the drow retaliates with an arrow of his own. The trajectories of the two arrows meet, causing Skylei’s own arrow to explode in a fiery furnace. The fire ignites a clump of grass and threatens to spread further through Sage lest dealt with at some soon stage. For now, Skylei scrambles into the tree she had previously been behind, needing a height advantage, though it leaves her momentarily vulnerable.
Jerralith grunts when it becomes obvious that it's a drow ranger. He turns his head from the fiery explosion that ends in a blaze upon the grass, pointing one of his axes at the flames. The ancient runes upon the metal flare to life with a blue hue and a sort of supercooled jet of water - a pretty basic cantrip, all things considered - bursts free from the air and the rapidly extinguishes the would-be conflagration. With that threat handled, Jerralith abandons the cover of the tree and boldly steps out with his weapons bared, his gaze rapidly scouring the surrounding cover and giving the ranger a new target. "Can't say I like snipers...I prefer to fight man-to-man." He mutters to no one in particular, readying another spell as evidenced by the movement of the runes upon his axes.
Skylei , on the other hand, is rather a fan of snipers, though only when it is her doing the sniping. It is for this reason that she claws her way up to the higher ground of the tree so that she is able to survey exactly where her opponent is. It is always much easier to have the first strike after all. Fortunately for Skylei, Jerralith turns the drow’s attention from the half-blood as she disappears into the trees and it is upon him that the drow sets his fury. Manipulating some of the water set forth to quench the fire, their adversary freezes it solid and propels it in sharp, icy chunks back in the direction of the spellblade. Up in her tree, Skylei has little time to react to the magically produced icicles and thus can do little to defend the human. Instead she sets upon distracting the drow from his next move. She throws four curved bladed daggers; one to the head, to the chest and to both arms. It needn’t matter is not all hit, she merely wanted him to look in her direction; it’s much harder to fight a foe on two flanks.
Jerralith surveys the volley of icy shards with something akin to contempt. Having one's attack turned against him is not exactly his favorite thing in the world. Nevertheless, he rises up to meet this unfortunate turn of events and brings his axes into a furry of motion, breaking the icy missiles upon the whetted edges of his weapons like waves upon a shore. When they're all certainly dealt with, the spell upon one of his axes is already finished; whether or not Skylei's daggers have struck, Jerrallith lunges forth and loosens his grasp upon the axe, letting it spin free on a predetermined course. It sings out like some sort of barbarous boomerang, hungrily seeking drow flesh; specifically, the assailant's neck. Hit or miss, the thing is due back to its owner's rightful grasp.
One of the daggers hits; fortunately it’s one that simply hits an arm. This means that the drow doesn’t double over, which leaves the axe with a clean journey towards his neck. Sky wouldn’t admit in later, but she’s slightly distracted from her own fight as she watched the trajectory of the axe. Skylei even mouths ‘Nice’ as the axe slams into the assailant’s neck. It’s a clean swipe and the boomerang action of the axe leads to the head of the drow being wiped clean from his shoulders. The body collapses a few seconds after the head bounces from the ground. It’s a gruesome sight, that’s for sure. Pulling a face, Skylei would detangle herself from the tree and head back to solid ground in search of her daggers. “That was quite something.”
Jerralith catches the axe easily when it returns, giving a little swipe to the side to clear away any lingering traces of blood. He turns to give Skylei a quick grin, returning his weapons to their loops. "Thanks, but luckily you hit him first, else he may have ducked under it. I was hoping to get him down here on my level, but if they won't come, you gotta go to them...which I did, in a sense. Now, where were we?" As is obvious, he doesn't hold any lingering feeling for the drow he just felled.
Skylei finds herself grinning too, “You lopped his head off though. Can’t do that with a bow and a set of arrows, eh?” As for where they were, “We are leaving. You never get one drow without a group following behind and I, for one, have desire to deal with that for today. My orders were ‘do not engage’.” Skylei nudges the felled body with her boot before pulling a bloodied dagger out of the drow’s arm. Examining the blade, she cleans the blood on her pants before sheathing it, “I guess that didn’t go entirely to plan.” As she headed back in the direction of the craggy path, she would look over her shoulder and raise a brow, “You should hunt out the council. Particularly Gilwen, as I find her the most reasonable of the intolerant old bastards who run the show. I’m sure they’d be able to find a use for your talents.”
Jerralith waves a hand in a dismissive gesture at such an order. "Well, they engaged you first, so it was purely self defense, ya know. I'd love to mix it up with a whole group of them, but I'm the first to admit that's probably not the smartest idea, so yeah, we oughta get out of here." The mention of the council catches his attention, although appealing to a proud bunch of elders who may be incredibly stubborn doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. "I'll be sure to do that. Feel free to seek me out if you ever need someone to brave these forests with. I won't pass up the chance to help drive these wicked beings out of here."
“One day, for sure.” Skylei mutters, “I’m always in need of a decent hunting partner after all. This whole ‘lone wolf’ thing is getting stale. And slow.” Once they reach the point of parting, Skylei would offer him her hand again, “I’m found in Frostmaw or Cenril. Or in Sage, in much a similar situation as you wandered in on. Feel free to find me if ever the call of the hunt grows too strong.” Skylei pulls a face that implies hunting drow is a little more than just a duty.
Jerralith takes Skylei's offered hand once more, a quick smile taking his lips. "Sounds good to me. I'm sure we'll meet up again in the near future. I think I'm gonna go try and find some of these council members, in the meantime..."