Match of the Millennium

Description: After his encounter with the Banshee Queen, Brandon had fallen into a deep sleep. But when Brandon awakens, the full force of the banshee army is sweeping around him. Reviving him is the meek scholar, Sophia. Together, Brandon must work with Sophia to stop the armies of the banshees from sweeping away the forces of the NOL and Sacred Order.

[SOPHIA]
Sophia's visited graveyeards before but not when the undead were actually invading them. In a better circumstance this would be good for her research but she doesn't think bringing her tablet when banshees are involved is the best idea. The screen's already taken enough damage already. She just opens they don't break her glasses. Maybe they won't notice her or think she's on the same side being a Darkstalker and all.

Still she might not be the best person to awake Brandon, there's no telling what reaction she might get. "Could you please get up already before we get noticed?" Sophia gently prods him with her tail trying to awaken him before the banshees noice them.

[BRANDON]
Honestly, there are worse people to wake up like this. Brandon is quite familiar with those who are called darkstalkers and is willing to work with them as long as they didn't seek harm humans. Just as he was willing to fight against indiscriminate slaughter of darkstalkers who were only trying to survive and coexist.

The fact that he's feeling a tail prodding is actually a comfort. It means that he isn't in one of those terror comas that he was seeking to rouse the Sacred Order members out of. He slowly opens his eyes and is quite glad to not see a banshee claw in his face or hear their awful scream in his ears.

He rises to a seated position, and breaths a sigh of soon to be short lived relief. "What are you doing here? Are you okay?"

He seems oddly unconcerned for his own well being.

[MUNIN]
A voice echoes from deep within the Barrow.... one Brandon would recognize as the creature he narrowly escaped....

"You CANNOT escape! CLAIM THEM!"

In the darkness, all around the barrows entrance, dark shapes begin to coalesce. Draping clothes, long slender arms, long beraggled seemingly water-logged hair, and gaunt faces with glowing blue points of light in dark empty eyesockets..... their mouths open and close, as if emitting silent screams, as they form.

Suddenly, they seem to finally notice Brandon and Sophia, their haunting gazes locking on the pair as they begin to close on the pair......

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army has started a fight here.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Banshee Army     0/-------/-------|

[SOPHIA]
"I was sent to rescue you after you didn't return. I assume they selected me since I would draw less attention. Plus, I figured this would be a way to further my rese..." Sophia pauses as one of the banshee's speaks up all of a sudden. She turns and looks a bit startled by the creature. "I've already been embraced for lack of a better term by another." She's not even quite sure what would happen to her when she dies, could someone be a lamia and a banshee as well? Would she revert to being human? Of course she's not too eager to find out.

"We're both supernatural beings here it would be in our best interests here, if you let us through." She doubts the creatures will listen to reason and even if they let her through, it's unlikely they'll do the same for Brandon.

COMBATSYS: Brandon has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////////]
Brandon          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     Banshee Army

[BRANDON]
Sophia explains why she was here and yes, it was as embarassing as he thought it would be. But it wouldn't be complete without the Banshee Queen making her presence known by way of shouting and siccing...

He begins extending his sense of aura outward.

"Oh hell..."

He turns to his would be rescuer and softly whispers to her.

"Let me catch you up on some things. Their definition of claim is put you under a terror filled coma as they slowly drain your life force away. And I already tried negotiating with them. They don't negotiate. And also, I recommend closing your eyes for a couple of seconds."

Brandon doesn't bother waiting for them to attack. He doesn't bother reaching for his cards and dispenses with all subtlety. He fires off a small ball of light at the nearest banshee which upon impact explodes into a large sphere of blinding light.

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army reflects Dire Radiance from Brandon with Noise Cancelling.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Brandon          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     Banshee Army

[MUNIN]
The small ball of light streaks towards it's target dead-center! However, as it comes close, the creature opens its mouth, and though no sound is heard, the projectile..... slows down midair! It comes to a full stop just in front of it's target, before suddenly flying back wence it came: towards Brandon!

COMBATSYS: Sophia has joined the fight here on the left meter side.

[     \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Brandon          0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0     Banshee Army
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

[SOPHIA]
"You do realize what I am right?" Sophia's not so different from the banshees here except she can be reasoned with. Then again she's not too eager to be placed in a terror filled nightmare again. How does she keep getting dragged into these messes. She's a bit afraid to close her eyes but she doesn't want to be blinded either so she does so. She does her best to try and deter the banshee from attacking Brandon as she opens her mouth widely and spits acid at the creature.

COMBATSYS: Brandon blocks Banshee Army's Reflected Dire Radiance.

[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////////////// ]
Brandon          0/-------/----===|=------\-------\0     Banshee Army
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-------|

[BRANDON]
Brandon is experiencing deja vu. Like the fight with the queen herself he sent a lot of his power which was already tearing at him before he sent his magic in her direction back at him to tear at him yet some more. He braces himself and closes his eyes and thankfully for him, his timing is on the money. The flash of light is thankfully short lived. When he opens his eyes, he finds himself 6 inches back from where he was previously standing and his forearms severely scorched.

"Yes! I'm aware of what you are but how you approached me tells me much more. Just like the fact that they weren't willing to stop feeding on /your/ compatriots and don't give a shit about whether they live or die tells me so much more about them!"

The energy continues to tear at his body as he charges forward, his entire body glowing in light as steps forward and attempts to jam a front kick into that particular banshee's abdomen.

COMBATSYS: Sophia successfully hits Banshee Army with Acid Paper.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////////////////  ]
Brandon          0/-------/---====|==-----\-------\0     Banshee Army
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army blocks Brandon's Medium Kick.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////////    ]
Brandon          0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0     Banshee Army
[\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

[MUNIN]
The banshee one Brandon tries to strike brings about its arms, stopping the kick from connecting, despite the power charging the limb burning it in the process.

Meanwhile, the banshee Sophia spat at tries to slip sideways, out of the way of the caustic substance! Alas, it is not fast enough, and a high-pitch shriek, just barely in the range of human ears, is emitted from its gullet as it smokes and burns.

Clearly the more angered of them, the smoking and pained creature Sophia afflicted flies at her, it's clawed hands swinging at her voilently in it's desire to draw bloody retribution!

COMBATSYS: Sophia blocks Banshee Army's Corrupting Touch.

[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////////////////////     ]
Brandon          0/-------/---====|====---\-------\0     Banshee Army
[ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/-----==|

[SOPHIA]
"I'm sorry, I know the hunger can be unbearable be sometimes but you can't just go around killing everyone." Sophia can sympathize with the banshees somewhat but she knows that have it worse than she does. After all they can never find peace. She brings up her tail to block but the claw ends up peeling a few scales off. She cringes a bit. It then curls around the banshee as she tries to restrain it from being able to harm Brandon any further. Hopefully after being crushed a bit it would take the hint and back down before she forces to try and banish it completely.

[BRANDON]
Brandon meanwhile isn't bothering to indulge them in trying to talk them down. The queen told him what she really thought about the idea of not killing them. And he is pretty sure (not quite a hundred percent sure) that the queen would be just as willing to feed on Sophia as she would've him had she not accidentally knocked him out of her area of influence.

He channels a sword of light into his hand pressing the attack as he moves towards the next banshee and makes a series of slashes to the nearest banshee.

COMBATSYS: Brandon successfully hits Banshee Army with Sunburst Strike EX.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////////        ]
Brandon          0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0     Banshee Army
[  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army interrupts Epic Tail from Sophia with Charged Combo.

[           \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Brandon          0/-------/--=====|======-\-------\0     Banshee Army
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

[MUNIN]
The banshee facing Brandon is sliced and diced by his sword of energy, and with an audible scream disperses back into whatever energy it was spawned from!

Sophias attempt at restraint of one of them doesn't go so well, as it slips free, attacking her with a slash of a claw, as another comes in from behind to strike her as well while distracted with it's bretheren!

[SOPHIA]
It seems like Brandon was right, any attempts to reason with them was useless. Sophia finds herself fight two banshees together now, she couldn't let them overwhelm or she would be in trouble. She attempts to entangle one of them with her tail and swing it at the other to keep them creatures from teaming up on her.

[BRANDON]
Brandon's arcane sword of light manages to make short work of the banshee he was dealing with, he turns to see how his ally is doing she has taken on some damage and is dealing with two banshee at once. It wasn't bad yet but it looked like it had potential for it to get bad.

He makes a move to come closer to her to make sure another one doesn't try to fill void created by her attempt to swing one at another as he tries to to bullrush a couple of banshee bolstered by his light magic which is still tearing at his body.

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army dodges Sophia's Combo Throw.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Brandon          0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0     Banshee Army
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army dodges Brandon's Power Throw.

[            \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////////           ]
Brandon          0/-------/=======|======-\-------\0     Banshee Army
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

[MUNIN]
The banshee Sophia attempts to throw flies towards it's target.... and passes right through! Being like energy, it merely phases right through with no harm done. The flung creature rights itself in the air without damage!

Meanwhile, Brandons bumrush is narrowly evaded, as the creatures part before him like water, avoiding the burning his power brings to their senses!

Several of the banshees gather around Brandon, his power-filled form glowing in their eyes! As a group, like moths to a flame, they throw strike after strike, swooping in to do so before backing out to try to avoid being hurt themselves!

[SOPHIA]
Of course this is the problem with battling against opponents who can become intangible, physical attacks wouldn't always work. Of course Sophia has other ways of fighting her opponents and she begins to gather green energy in her hands shaping it. It's crafted into the form of a snake before she releases it aimed at one of the banshees, let's see how they like being sucked dry!

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army successfully hits Brandon with Her Own Drummer.

[                 \\\\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Brandon          1/----===/=======|=======\-------\0     Banshee Army
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

[BRANDON]
His attempt to plow into the banshee like the arcane brawler that he is doesn't exactly meet with success. He attempts to put on the breaks only to discover that not only is it too late, in his attempt to prevent Sophia from getting dogpiled, he in turn got dogpiled which is really bad since he is already harming himself right now and can't really afford to let the banshees jump him.

Desperately, he explodes upwards, bringing forth a pillar of light to blast the banshee off of him and hopefully make them reconsider their currently close position to him.

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army dodges Sophia's Bedtime Story.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  //////////////////            ]
Brandon          1/-----==/=======|=======\-------\0     Banshee Army
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army blocks Brandon's Radiant Pillar EX.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////////              ]
Brandon          1/----===/=======|=======\-------\1     Banshee Army
[       \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/=======|

[MUNIN]
The banshees attacking Brandon realize his intentions a moment before he completes the attack, as his form brightens to their eyes before unleashing his pillar! The rush back, arms up to shield themselves as the just barely outrange him!

Meanwhile, Sophias target flies sideways and around the attack she sends at it, the attack missing by mere inches! It screams as it comes in, the sound raising in pitch in a cone before it!

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army successfully hits Sophia with Hue and Cry.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////////////               ]
Brandon          1/----===/=======|=======\==-----\1     Banshee Army
[         \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           1/------=/=======|

[SOPHIA]
This is getting a bit frustrating as the banshees keep dodging her attacks. Maybe she's trying too hard to hit them and should stick with something simple. She uses her tail to push herself forward as she balls her fist and punches at the creature just trying to make contact with it.

[BRANDON]
Meanwhile, Brandon has been using his power directly and has been attempting to contain the damage he's doing to himself. He's not going to be able to stand much longer if he doesn't start landing some decisive shots to the army of banshees.

The thaumaturge launches himself forward throwing punches left, right and center at any banshee unfortunate enough to be directly in his path.

COMBATSYS: Sophia successfully hits Banshee Army with Fierce Punch.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ////////////                  ]
Brandon          1/---====/=======|=======\===----\1     Banshee Army
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           1/------=/=======|

COMBATSYS: Brandon successfully hits Banshee Army with Aggressive Strike.
Glancing Blow

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Brandon          1/---====/=======|=======\====---\1     Banshee Army
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           1/------=/=======|

[MUNIN]
Sophias attack, suprisingly, works wonderfully, catching the target before it can phase! It screams as well as the energy composing it disperses!

Meanwhile, the others also attempt to evade Brandons vicious attack, but are only partially successful. He manages to partially hit several, but is unable to discorporate any.....

One of the remaining banshees sweeps towards Sophia, attempting to grab her! If able, it staaares into her eyes with its own, and through this gaze would infuse her body with a massive jolt of chi, potentially causing serious damage to her hearts rythm! Almost as if it was 'scaring' her to death!

COMBATSYS: Sophia auto-guards Banshee Army's Deadly Premonition.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /////////                     ]
Brandon          1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0     Banshee Army
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           1/------=/=======|

[SOPHIA]
Of course grabbing Sophia's is harder than it sounds given how sleak she is. She doesn't seem to be too afraid of the banshee either, after all she survived being in Lilith's domain. Instead, she gathers energy in her hands again this time shaping it into two fans. She smacks the banshee with the fans several times trying to force the creature to back down.

[MUNIN]
Banshee Army falls asleep.

[BRANDON]
Brandon is walking a fine line as he struggles to put down this army of banshee and trying to make sure he has enough arcane energy in the tank to throw at the queen should they be able to push their way to her. Granted, he's currently so beat up and magical energy ravaged, he'll only be good for one powerful shot on the queen but should he land it he'd theoretically put enough of a dent in the queen that his ally could do the rest.

He decides to continue his plan of conserving his energy but the reasons change. It was one thing to risk himself and a completely different matter to risk his ally. He decides to move towards making a retreat because while he may take out the army there was still the queen to deal with and he had to make sure something was left if the queen's zone of influence had grown wider.

He goes to throw one banshee on the ground and then stomps it with a detonation of luminous energy. He throws elbow across the face of another and attempts a shoulder rush at a third.

COMBATSYS: Sophia successfully hits Banshee Army with Toxic Treatise.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  ///////                       ]
Brandon          1/--=====/=======|==-----\-------\0     Banshee Army
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Brandon successfully hits Banshee Army with Charged Combo.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  < >  /                             ]
Brandon          1/-======/=======|=====--\-------\0     Banshee Army
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

[MUNIN]
Both Sophia and Brandon manage to push their advantage with great success!%r
For Sophias part, the energy that makes up her fans do their job well. The banshees she strikes are sliced cleanly, shredded to the point of dissolusion! Weakened as they are by the combination of her attacks, and the power Brandon has been putting out to fill the area, they have been weakened to a point beyond what they can survive.

In Brandons case, as if indicative of the damage his power has done to himself, the effect is just as dramatic. His strikes at this point punch clean through the banshees he targets, sending them screaming back to whatever void they came from!

The battle at this point becomes a route. As the banshees numbers grow fewer and fewer, they also become individually weaker! It is only a matter of time before there is no one left in the area outside the barrow besides our two successful heroes: Brandon and Sophia, and the cold dark wind through the trees and barrow behind them.

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army takes no action.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Brandon          1/-======/=======|
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

COMBATSYS: Banshee Army can no longer fight.

[                   \\\\\\\\\\\  <
Brandon          1/-======/=======|
[        \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  <
Sophia           0/-------/------=|

[SOPHIA]
Sophia wants to coil up next to a fireplace with a warm blanket and a good book right now. Of course Brandon doesn't look like he's in the best shape so she should stick around for now at least to make sure he doesn't black out. Of course her abilities don't really loan them to healing anyone other than herself. She offers him a shoulder to support himself against for now at least. "Hopefully they didn't hurt you much worse than they already did."

[BRANDON]
As his punches, slams, stomps and other assorted blows connect, a sense of relief comes over him. With every death cry of every banshee, he can feel the threads of the comatose Sacred Order soldiers disconnecting from them, freeing them from their torment.

His magic and banshee claw ravaged body is barely holding up. He finds himself turning towards the hall of the banshee queen before turning to Sophia.

"We have two options. The queen is that way. I have enough in me for one really big attack but it will take me down too. Or we can walk away having delivered a bloody nose to the banshee queen and having freed the Order members from their hellish coma. What are your thoughts?"

[SOPHIA]
Well, the banshees are already dead so she doesn't need to feel guilty about killing them. And if they don't destroy the queen she might come back for more trouble. "Maybe I should confront her instead..." After all it would be better not to put him in further danger. "After all it would cause problems if something goes wrong and and I return without you." After all she knows it'll be supicious if she returns alone.

[BRANDON]
She's trying to protect him. Well it was his own damn fault he was in this predicament from tapping into his power directly. But he couldn't live with himself if the queen took Sophia down.

"A compromise. You confront and I'll hang close by. If things start looking bad, I start bathing this place in arcane light and we beat a hasty retreat."

He locks eyes with the lamia with a serious expression on his face. "Deal?"

[SOPHIA]
"It's a deal...I've been through much worse than this though..." She's glad to hear that he's willing to back her up but wonder a bit why he's going through all the trouble for a monster like her. The lamia's hoping they don't have to resort for the light option though, it might hurt her as well. She begins to slither towards the hall of the banshee queen but doesn't go too fast so he can keep up with her.

[BRANDON]
Brandon keeps close to Sophia while letting her take point. He lets his arcane aura dim to both keep them from being too noticeable and to keep his power from finishing the job the banshees started on him. Even if he wasn't to finish the job on the queen personally, he would see this case to the end and at least through supporting his new ally. He would speak on the behalf of Emily Collins who had her life cut short because of the banshee menace.

Log created on 20:46:02 05/06/2018 by Munin, and last modified on 20:40:26 05/08/2018.