[This is my first time doing an RP write-up, so expect mistakes ;-) ]
Night of the Battle: Celroc's Point-of-View
Celroc rests up in Hydlaa, anticipating the coming battle, until he is awoken by a certain silver-winged bird that bears a note. Trying to hold off his nervousness, he seems to know what the note holds before he even reads it. It is time to enter the battle.
Wasting no time, he summons his Rivnak and heads out through the forest to the Bronze Doors Road, arriving at a certain gobble-infested lake. He takes a few steps in, and it seems he slowly begins to make a realization as he wades deeper and deeper: "This is it. These are the moments before the battle. My friends are counting on me. I can't let them down now..." are the thoughts running through his head in nervous anticipation as he finally takes a deep breath and puts his head under the water....
He looks and looks through the water, finally seeing the group gathered there under the water. He moves to join them, and thanks to Rykia's command over the Blue Way, he is able to breathe under the water. And there he would sit, waiting for the signal. Perhaps a cruel twist in irony, the signal is planned to be a stone being skipped across the water in his group's direction; Celroc holds fond memories of skipping stones across a river with his brothers as he was growing up, yet it now becomes a signal for a terrifying battle about to ensue.
While waiting for the signal, a Nolthrir gentleman by the name of Elion makes him an offer: Instead of trying to run through water all the way to the shore, he would use a magic spell of shadows that would expediently carry both of them to shore. Celroc agrees gratefully, of course wanting to get to shore-- or, more accurately, to the love of his life at the shore, Prreta, -- as quickly as possible. A stone comes skipping across the water, nearly hitting Mariana on its way, and the group hurries to shore! Elion's plan is sucessful and he and Celroc are the first two to arrive on the battlefield, but it's not long at all before the entire group arrives.
Celroc stops for a moment, trying to wrap his head around what exactly it is he sees: several people stand in front of him. "Are they truly undead? They look like... people," he wonders. The only undead that he's ever witnessed were monstrous grendols and morbid wrathrats, obvious abominations brought forth by necromancy. He never expected them to look like what he saw there...
He is very quickly snapped out of it as a large Ynwynn, Anorack in front of him grabs Prreta and takes her over his shoulder. He shouts "LET GO OF HER!" and raises his axe, preparing to fight. However, upon seeing the Ynwynn turn and run, he dashes after. Realizing that if he could accidentally hit Prreta if he swings his axe to attack, he decides instead to throw his weight at Anorack in a tackle, hoping to be able wrestle the Fenki free from his grasp...
Immediately before Celroc's tackle connects with the Ynwynn, a knife thrown by an expert in the art, Sarren, sends a chunk of Anorack's flesh flying; yet, it does not bleed at the point where it hit. As Celroc's tackle connects, bringing the fleeing undead to his knee before he tries to roll away from the Menki, Celroc can see the aforementioned wound, a reminder that what he's fighting is not a regular, living, breathing person. Celroc quickly gets to his feet, runs to position himself strategically over Anorack, who is now lying on the ground. With his axe raised, he swings viciously to the Ynwynn, whose body is now acting as a shield, protecting Prreta from the oncoming hit. The hit from his axe causes severing damage to the his spinal chord...
The Ynwynn still holds Prreta despite his wounds, and is trying to crawl away using his arms specifically. It would seem Celroc's attack disabled the Anorack's lower body, and thus his ability to run. However, before Celroc can do anything more, one of the undead minions charges at him armed with a sword, intending to impale it through the Menki's back. Now, Celroc has never been much of a warrior. Someone with real battle instinct would probably have raised the shield in their hand against the sword to block it. But Celroc, on the other hand, tries to jump away from the sword, apparently forgetting that he even has a shield. He's not quick enough to fully dodge, but at least avoids being impaled; he is instead sliced across his chest, the blade JUST shy from hitting his lungs, and falls backwards into the grass.
He hears Prreta's familiar voice say "Celroc, no!! I'm trying to help you!" as he falls. He tries to stand to his feet again, and seems to quickly figure that it is just the Necromancer's influence on Prreta that made her comply with going with the Ynwynn. Looking down to his chest, he immediately sees the blood beginning to flow, and in a panic begins to cast what little Crystal Way he knows on himself in an attempt to stop the bleeding. At the same time, Kaerli and Masaro both step in to heal him using a flood of magic. His wound is closed and life is saved thanks to them.
Upon being healed, he turns to face Anorack and Prreta again, but is in for a surprise or two: First, there is a strange newcomer, a female Ynwynn named Daloda, walking closer to Prreta annd her captor. Next, Elion summoned a minion and gave it the sole purpose of protecting Celroc, and Celroc alone. Celroc's focus is mainly on the new Ynwynn, not quite aware that he even has a guardian minion yet...
After Daloda blocks a Crystal-based attack by Kaerli, she turns around and begins to flee. However, much to Celroc's surprise, Prreta jumps up and runs after her. Without a moment to lose, Celroc bolts after the two, being followed by both Kaerli and his new guardian. Kaerli manages to get ahead of them both, halting them, and Celroc runs in from behind, trying to hit Daloda with his axe before she can make a grab for Prreta. His arm raised, ready to swing... and he is stopped, restrained by the minion as a means to protect him. Celroc struggles a bit, trying to break free from the minion and is finally let go, but at this point it is too late: Daloda now holds Prreta with a knife to her throat.
Prreta tells Celroc that she is trying to help him by going along with Daloda, and that she will be back; However, Celroc suspects the Necromancer's influence again and disregards what she says. Realizing that this is a hostage situation, he does not come any closer to Daloda, but his guardian inches ever closer. Celroc pleads with him to be careful for Prreta's sake, but the minion's only goal, much to Celroc's dismay, is to keep HIM specifically safe, not Prreta. Thankfully, Daloda decides to release Prreta and make a run for it, but does not get more than about ten steps away before an arrow from the distance comes and pierces through her head. Kaerli had apparently run to one of the hills with her bow ready, just waiting for the perfect shot...
Celroc becomes much, much more relieved having Prreta safe. After looking her over for injuries, the two decide to return to the main group on the battlefield. Celroc didn't realize how far from the group he became as he ran, and the two Enkidukai, Kaerli, and Elion's minion hurry back to rejoin the group.
At this point, the battle is mostly over, or atleast it would seem. The others are finishing up on the remaining undead. However, Rykia brings Celroc and Prreta some frightening news: That Evirea was in rough shape after the battle. Celroc and Prreta rush forward to find her, being looked over by Sacho. It is there they learn that the Klyros mind was afflicted and heavily damaged from her attempt to catch the Necromancer.
Evirea was promptly brought to the Stonehead Tavern in Gugrontid, and Chays there to undo the damage done to her. He entered Evirea's mind, and allowed everyone the chance to watch as he restored what was broken. After working on her mind, her body was also tended to by the healer, Caraick. Although Evirea didn't seem happy with being his patient, she did allow his help.
Sarren was also wounded to a degree worse than he would admit. He sat on a bench to the side, bleeding, refusing any help offered to him until everyone else was healed first. As noble as it was, Celroc also had a bit of trouble trying to convince Sarren that it was his turn to be healed....
Celroc sadly doens't remember much of what happened after that. After such a long and intense battle, his body began to feel weak and tired, and he drifted off to sleep in one of the empty seats while the rest of the tavern continued to heal each other and talk about the battle. And thus ends a enduring day of battle for Celroc.
[I leave Evirea's and Sarren's healing to be described by someone who knows the details of the story better. They would do a better job than I.]
Celroc Amaul
