Friend or Foe 2.0

[ST-84 Sahelanthropus]

I decided that I would play spy for a bit, just to make sure that these were the people I needed to be with, and followed them from a distance I thought would be good for listening in on any conversations they might have but still be out of their own space. I lifted my hood over my face and started walking on the side of the street like any civilian, my cloak made a slight fluttering noise as I walked. I felt like my senses were much clearer than before, it was very discomforting and confusing at first, but I got used to my sensitive hearing, sight, taste and smell. My sense of touch, however, was completely absent as I could not feel the ground beneath my feet or the cloth of my cloak brush against my scales, like my nerves were all dead.

[Somebody]

As they made their way towards the twin's home he saw a smithy off in the distance. "If only I had some gold." he thought figuring that was the logical currency they'd use in this time period. Suddenly that same shadowy figure burst out across the road with a torch and threw it onto the building, catching its roof on fire. It seemed surreal to him as if it were happening in slow motion, perhaps it was the raptor's heightened sense of focus but either way he could swear the shadowy figure looked at him and smiled before running off. Before he could even say so himself the two iguanas were already running towards the smithy. "C'mon!" He figured he'd say anyways, "Somebody might need help!" At the very least he figured maybe they would reward them with free weapons or such for saving their shop or life. The shop roared into flames as if something were helping it along. Fire crept down the wooden beams as if caressing them and citizens nearby watched. "Why would anybody set fire to the smithy?" he wondered noting that the building was hardly that of a royal supplier or even that of a noble's court.

  Before he could get much further the sky grew black and the world around them slowed to a still as time came to a halt. He looked around amazed he could still move, Rigor as well as the falcon seemed unfathomed by times effect as well. The building also kept burning. Suddenly a dark figure appeared before them, reeking of immense power. This being bore a dark cloak and from the rear a long snake like body slithered. "Heed my words for I shall not repeat them." The figure said, its words eminating into his mind as if he used telepathy. "It is I who brought you here and it is me you are here to serve, but I am not foolish enough to believe you will serve me willingly so I give you a reason to obey. First however I will show you that I mean business, we will play a little game to test your various abilities. Inside of this smithy stands a friend of yours, I believe you know him as Vosur. The smithy will burn him alive if one of you does not use this dispelling powder to free him from the magical barrier that holds him within. Each of you will be sent to separate corners of the city and must get back here in time to free him." The sorcerer seem amused at his little game, it was written all over his scaley mug. "But that is not all, I've sent.... word that you all are to blame for this fire and the entire city guard will be out to kill you. I need to see your speed and your combat prowess, your loyalty. Last one to make it here will die."

  The snake smiled once again before turning to Rigor, "I know you have no fear of death dark one, so let me entice your cooperation with the fact that if your the last somebody close to you will die a very long and painful death. Let the games begin." With that last remark reality seemed to warp around each of them, as well as the sneaky one behind them and as if waking from a dream Tezztor noticed he was in a different part of the city. This problem was only worsened by the fact he had no idea which way it was back to the smithy, and Vosur was in trouble. The sorcerer sent one one last incentive to all of the participants but Rigor as she already got hers. "Tezztor, you of all worship your sona as you are a therian. If you loose you will get to see all of them torn to shreds before returning to life never able to speak of them, draw or any other mention of them. You will have to live with the sorrow of them being gone and never being able to communicate them again." To Him it was a harsh blow, he had created them over his entire life, to never be able to speak of them again and know they were gone would be devestating. He knew the others had gotten equally as bad incentives to try and not be last.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Rigor's stomach rolled when she found herself in an unfamiliar place in the town with a small burlap bag in her claw.. She scanned her surroundings, noting that there was no one she knew around. "Damn it." She growled wondering if he would go after her mate. "He got us here, I wouldn't doubt if he would." She stiffened, smelling the air for smoke, and once she located it, turned to find it billowing up into the light blue sky behind her. The small bag in her hand was somewhat light, and she didn't remember having it before.. So she assumed it was the dispelling powder the figure spoke of.

Without a moment to lose, she tore off on a direct path to the smoke, not caring that there were obstacles in her way. She'd clear them some how or another.. "There's one of them!" she heard from behind.. "She's heading back to the scene!" the gruff voice continued its assault of orders. "Get her!" Rigor took the bag and hooked one of the drawstrings on one of her fangs and closed her mouth to secure it as she dropped to all fours to build up her speed. She had already calculated a way to get on top of the building that blocked her way to the smoke. She jumped, bouncing off the cloth awning of a vendor's cart and grabbed onto the ledge of one of the houses almost losing her grip. For a moment she hung there, amazed that it even worked, but was reminded of her plight when a spear stuck in the wall beside her head.

The dragoness scrambled, pulling herself up onto the roof, and glancing back to see another set of spears soar from the guards to her. One nicked her arm, while another hit the bag dangling from her mouth squarely leaving a giant gaping hole in the middle of it. The powder exploded into her face as she ran, and her mind went off expecting the worse thing to happen now that it was gone. She jumped off the other side of the building and continued to sprint, hoping she wouldn't be the last one there.

[PhantomStone]

ghost rubbed her face and saw a different surrounding in her head, compared to the one she saw moments ago. she rubbed her face again and felt a small bag in her hand. she remembered just before she had changed surroundings, the new person, the burning smithy. vosur with that thought she started running. she bumped into another person before she got a few feet. "i got her" said a big wolf anthro. "she's one of th' ones who set fire to th' smithy" around ghost she heard calls of many angry anthros, all closing in on her. she quickly remembered one of the books she read back home and waited until two other canine anthros came at her sides. the first canine made the mistake of grabbing her below her silver wings. when the guards were close enough, she extended her wings, smacking both in the face. at the same time she brought her knee up swiftly into the first canines crotch. he let go of the girl, his face was indescribable to the blind girl, but she imagined that it must hurt. she pumped her wings trying to get air borne. awww effe, i don't know how to freakin fly ghost swore in her head as she tried to pump her wings and gain altitude. she set her body ridged and so with her wings. she started gliding on the air. she flapped once or twice to keep her up. focus, focus, as long as you stay stiff you will be-- ghost cut off as she smashed head first into a wooden building. she had been focusing on flying, not where she was going. she was swearing as she fell from the wooden building's side. onto the alley way below. her right wrist cracked beneath her when she landed. but the pain was only slight compared to her pounding head. she stood up and leaned her good hand on the wall as she caught her breath. 

 this is so pointless, i don't know how to fly, i can't freakin see, my dominant hand is useless. this is so unfair!!! ghost thought anger boiling up inside her. she wanted nothing more than a big soft body to take her anger out on. just then another canine anthro stepped into the alley way. it grinned in the light and charged at her. no doubt thinking it was gonna make an easy grab. as the dog got closer ghost turned to face it. her teeth bared, her face not showing anything like the shy and nervous face from earlier that day. ghost charged at the dog. "I'LL KILL YOU!!!" she yelled sprinting at the dog. who had slowed when he had saw the girl charging him. he saw her face and tried to turn and run, but ghost was already upon him. she jumped up and on his back. and started madly pounding him on his head, she grabbed his chin with her agonizing hand and grabbed the back of his head in her left. her wrist was screaming. "WHAT WAY TO THE SMITHY, ANSWER ME!!" she yelled at the dog, it was trying to hit ghost. she let go of his head with her left hand, and grabbed one of his finger's she squeezed it, and sharply twisted. it cracked in her hand. "ANSWER ME" she yelled grabbing another finger and promptly breaking it also. before the dog would talk, more anthro's ran into the alley way from the screams. the guard and many other's were there, all armed with some manner of weapons, from crude sticks for clubs, to pitch forks, to break knives, to the city guard wielding short swords. "GET AWAY FROM ME" she yelled and let go of the dog with her broken right wrist.

on instinct, or maybe the true ghost lent the human girl her power. in her broken hand a flame appeared. only as big as a dime. as her hand arced towards the villagers, the flame grew, the girl wasn't being burnt. but the people in the flames path started to back up and break ranks. the fire ball flew from ghost's hand and spiraled towards the end of the alley. ghost stood up and ran down the other way. she had no idea where she was going, but she had to get away from there. she was sure her head was cracked. huh, maybe the real ghost is finally sharing her knowledge with me, or it's the broken head talking. weird. ghost thought as everything became clearer to her. her sonar vision was more sharp, she could see. she could see with her ears as well as she could have with her eyes. she jumped up and flapped her wings. "lets try this again" she muttered. and flew. she listened for anything that might indicate a fire. come on ghost, use your head.

[Vosur Aekira]

Vosur was walking home when he closed his eyes for a moment, opening them to a scene of fire around himself. The sudden change did make him panic, the fear of fire instilled in the back of his head from when he remembered his own creation's storyline... the fire surrounding himself, nearly losing his loved ones inside of it, and nothing he could do but escape. His quick movements and looking around caused him to see B'ar, unconscious amidst the blaze. He couldn't pick him up, so Vosur ended up having to do a quick collar-drag to get the smithy as far from the fire as possible.

After the drag, he found himself in conflict of thoughts... go through the blaze to his only way out or give into the fear of the fire and wait until help arrived. The fire itself did not seem to travel very fast, possibly due to the materials that the building was made of, but this did not instill any calm in him pertaining to the situation. And so, after a moment's panicked thoughts, he charges at the door and tries to kick it, ending up in kicking off of it and landing a few feet away from it. The impact should have knocked the door over or at least caused some damage, but it seemed to do nothing to the door. "Crap... something's not right here." he mutters as he attempts to kick at it again and again, each hit only causing damage to the ankle joints in his legs as he never got a chance to repair them properly.

[ST-84 Sahelanthropus]

I was warped to another part of town, and I quickly looked to the skies to see a dark tower of smoke rising above some buildings that were between me and the fire. "I want those Arsonists brought to justice! Nobody breaks the law on our watch!" Said the city guard captain, apparently giving orders to a group of men to search for me and the others I was following earlier. Rather than fighting my way through them, I chose to dash and weave my way to the smithy. I took to the shadows, hoping that if I couldn't at least get there quickly that the others would get caught by the city guard. Nobody had spotted me yet, but I was beginning to think that I was not going fast enough, and all this effort put into sneaking around would be for nothing. I saw a man in light battle armor standing in one of the alleyways I wanted to get through. "Hope this works." I thought to myself, as I crept up behind the soldier and placed my claws on his shoulders. Instantly, he fell unconscious by the effects of my Energy Draining powers. This power, however, would take a while to recharge for me to use again. I took the guards weapon, it looked to a steel short sword, and luckily for me it was small enough to conceal under my cloak. The smoke seemed to not be any closer than it was before, I felt sick, like I was going to drop dead without a chance to resist, "Just like Mushihime-sama..." I thought hopelessly as I continued avoiding the guards...

[Somebody]

  Looking to the sky he noticed the smoke pillar, "That must be from the fire." He said as if congratulating himself for the discovery and without a second thought he tore off down the road towards it. At first his own speed astonished him, this was the first time he got to see raptor speed through his assassin's eyes. Civilians and objects sped by in a blur, and he almost got lost in its enjoyment until the ring of metal caught his ear. stopping to a dead halt he turned to see armored guards chasing him. "Get the raptor arsonist!" The lead one yelled out. What should've been a bad experience proved more a game to the agile raptor, he wasn't afraid of them because he knew he could spin circles around them. But the reminder of his goal hit him and cockily waved to them as he turned and ran down the street. The streets were getting continually more congested and soon it became hard for him to keep a speedy forward motion. "This is not good, I can't run through all these furs." he growled in frustration, looking around for a better path. Then it came to him, the rooftops in this town were very close. He could easily run along them and leap from roof to roof.

  As he skipped along the rooftops the thought of his prized characters and sona vanishing fueled his motion. If this had been the other world he'd of been out of breath before he reached the end of the road and most likely dead by now, but as Tezztor he felt truly alive and strong as if he was a natural marathon runner with the jumping power of kangaroo on steroids. No way he could let this go, this feeling, this freedom. Just as soon as this newfound fortitude hit him he remembered the others, like his best friend Rigor. She was fighting for something neat and dear to her as well she had no right to die because of his own selfishness. Stopping to a halt he knew he couldn't risk getting there first, it would mean the death of Rigor or the falcon. Looking down at himself, he felt a great pain in having to make the choice to loose all that he was. "I made a promise, I cannot allow my own needs to cost the life of another." he said nearly broken from his decision. He just sat down right were he was and folded his arms on his knees and rested his head on them. Waiting for the end of himself to reign in its terrible head, without the raptor there was no reason for him to be.

 

[Goblin Cat 😸]

The dragoness sprinted on the rooftops with an eerie, almost other-worldly grace as the billowing smoke and burning building seemed to greet her with high spirits. She slowed, falling through the air from her final leap off the rooftop and landed on all fours in front of the smithy like a regular quadruped would. The fire was exhilarating and beautiful as it hungrily licked the building with an insatiable appetite... It caused her to watch, almost calmed by its destruction. She rose to her regular bipedal manner slowly, her eyes not straying from the flames.. Essentially in a trance.

If there was one thing that did not change between herself and Rigor, it was the absolute fascination with fire. She was a pyro at heart, and would be just as content throwing miscellaneous items into the hungry flames as she would be saving Vosur. She couldn't seem to get a grip on herself, to remember what she'd gone all that way for. But she was the first on there, and that's all that mattered to her now. "There's one of them!"

The short burst of noise caught her attention as she whipped her head around, grabbing the small bag that dangled from her mouth. As if on cue, the guard dove at her, and she found herself, sliding toward him... Under him, really.. on her back. She quickly dug her claws into the man's gut, her feet working as second pair of hands as she grabbed hold of him and lifted, his momentum working as an aid to hurl him. Holding fast to the string of the bag, she swung it, slamming it into his head. A cloud of dust rose from the bag, engulfing the man's body, and with little to no effort, Rigor sprang her legs forward, letting go of him. A look of surprise crept onto his face as he realized his death would be soon. He was soaring through the air at the Smithy.

Rigor leaned back, as if to rock, and pushed up with her arms, performing a perfect kip-up landing on her feet with a devilish grin as she heard the man's body hit heavily and break the door of the smithy as well as many bones. Hopefully, it would allow for Vosur's escape.

[PhantomStone]

ghost flew shakily above he town, trying hard to stay aloft, she was new to flying, and it seemed her power moments before, was just a fluke. the falcon girl could still see OK, but flying wasn't second nature to her yet. she soon realised that she had flown over town, and was well over the woods. "i don't even know what the smithy looked like, and i can't hear smoke" she spat into the forest and then turned into the wind, causing the falcon girl to get more lift making the actual turning easier. once she righted herself and tried flying back to town. this is annoying. why the heck am i even doing this, if i "die" here, I'll probably just get deported home. is that such a bad thing? and besides, if I'm last, that means no one else has to die. ghost thought nodding. once she spotted a large spire type roof in town, she landed on it. a chapel, maybe she wondered resting on the spire. or a town meeting hall, or a guard house ghost froze and twitched when that thought came to her. she slowly peaked over the roof top, careful not to slide off the tower. her ears saw a courtyard with many furs in armor training inside, each wielding spears, swords, and axes. she slowly moved back onto the roof top.

OK, OK, OK, if i fly they will definitely see me. OK come on ghost, think the falcon girl thought to herself rapidly thinking. ghost crept to the edge of the roof once more, she cast out sound for any loose tile, she saw one and carefully picked it up, not letting it scrap much and make a lot of noise. she sighted a guard on the watch wall encircling the court yard. she pulled her arm back and threw it forward with all her might. it flew true and struck the guard (an unfortunate saint Barnard furry) in the head. he tumbled to the ground and nearly every guard rushed over to see if he was OK. while the rest scanned the roof looking for the thrower. ghost darted to the their side of the spire and flew off. wow, i guess i should take back all those things i said to my mom about making me do soft ball for 3 years. ghost thought solemnly.

ghost heard horn calls and angry shouting from behind her. she had been spotted. "almost worked" she muttered as she felt an arrow rush past her, a mere few inches from her head. ghost swore as more arrows flew at her. she got struck a few times, she didn't feel capable of doing areal maneuver's yet. she felt deep and sharp pains, one in her thigh, and one in her abdomen. amazingly her wings haven't been hit yet. OK, what did i think when i made ghost, ugh weak wings, fire, blind, umm she thought as more arrows whizzed by her. the last one shot at her pierced her left wing. she yelped in pain as the pristine silver feathers were stained a deep red by her own blood. she quickly looked around for anywhere to land. she spotted an available roof top. she turned and landed, and quickly slid down the peaked roof a bit to hide from archer's near the guard house. she breathed in and smelled smoke. it smelled like her camping trip a year ago. heavy sent of a lot of burning wood. she sounded out and quickly saw a building that looked familiar. "there's the smithy" she said quietly, it sounded about 5 street blocks away.

ghost paused to think. I'll let the others go, this is fun, but, maybe i should be going home, i bet the others are enjoying this more than me she thought, painfully extracting the arrows from her body and wings.

[Vosur Aekira]

He started coughing heavily, the heat and smoke getting to him as he was suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion at the same time. Nearing blacking out and falling onto the ground in a kneeling position, he started to lose consciousness as he heard a very heavy thud against the door from the outside as if someone was trying to ram into it. His eyes opened, looking about with renewed, but fading, awareness as he jumped backwards to where he put B'ar. "Hello? Is someone there?" he managed to yell out before he went into a coughing fit again.

In his moment where he was coughing, he looked about for anything he could use... shield, sword, hammer, anything he could get his mitts on. The increasing smoke and heat made it hard for him to see, but seeing darkness from the outside was actually comforting as it meant that there was an exit. Grabbing hold of the large ursine blacksmith by the collar again, he started to pull him to the opening that was created. The searing heat so close to himself made him jolt in the pulling, which almost made him slip up and drop him in the tugs.

After what felt like an eternity, in the span of a few seconds, he managed to get them out and to safety then dropped to his knees and coughing violently. "I'm... going... to... rip... apart... who started... this... fire." he managed to cough out in a fit of panic-induced rage, his eyes going red as he opened them again.

[ST-84 Sahelanthropus]

Many of the Guards seemed to be running for other parts of town, away from me, but a good amount of them stayed at their posts near key points of town that I needed to get to. "I could make a run for the rooftops and get this done quickly, then that runs the risk of getting caught and killed... but I'll die anyway if I make it there last." I pondered as I stood in the shadows of a dark alleyway, motionless. "That treacherous snake, if he dares to try and kill us, an overbearing fool, he would be." Said Shailik, within my mind. "My Lord?" There was no answer, but only the silence of my personal space and the background noise. Was I going insane? Was Shailik taking over? I did not not know, nor did I care. The only thing I cared about now was getting to the smithy first, for I would not settle for anything less than that. I looked down at the blade I looted from that guard I knocked out just earlier, and noticed a small pouch with some kind of powder inside of it. Somehow, I knew it was important to my quest ahead, so I held onto it as I carefully traversed the dark corners of the town, and made a painstaking effort not to be seen by anyone...

[Somebody]

  As the body crashed into the door a flash of light illuminated even the darkest corners of the area to a blinding white, the magical shell over the building collapsed and dissipated as if it were never there. Fire once contain burst out free from its magical shackles and only the doorway was left open. Onlookers watched in awe as the smithy burned its roaring fire forging something greater now, a new destiny for the land. Mystical eyes looked on from obscurity, his plan going right as he had known it would. Aside from speed, strength and intelligence he was testing loyalty from these contestants to his twisted game.  First to the scene was the dragoness, agile and quick with the intelligence to rise above most of the average rabble, her skills would be put to the test. There was another game about to start, one they would not even know they were playing. Behind her was the Falcon, who had found her wings at last. Next up was the Allosaurus, seemingly innocent but belying a deeper evil that sparked the snake's interest. Last was the raptor, a very strong but noble creature. This one had given up in the favor of his friends, a dire loyalty that simply astounded the snake. This land had not seen such loyalty in a long time.

  Sitting on a rooftop half a city away was the raptor assassin himself, Tezztor. "I hope they made it there alright." he said solemnly, knowing full well the price of his sacrifice. There was to be no more of him, a mere memory in the back of his mind that he could not speak of. To him it was a price worse then death to loose your passion. Along the streets the citizens returned to normal and the guards seemed to suddenly loose interest. Not worrying about it any longer he jumped down, but his talons never hit the street. Instead they found themselves in the cool shaded grass below an old hickory tree. "Were am I?" he asked surprised, wondering if he had died and gone to heaven. Out of nowhere the snake appeared through a portal, "I can assure you, your not in heaven raptor." The snake hissed with all the treachery his species had come to be known for in literature. "But if you do what I say I can make it close.."

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Rigor darted over to the familiar white wolf, and reached down to help him up. Her build could have fooled anyone as she heaved him up to help him stand. She still couldn't quite believe that there were so many here that she knew. First Tezztor, then Phantom, now Vosur. "You alright?" she asked Vosur. His coughing wasn't comforting to her. She wondered how he'd react to a blood-soaked and dirty Rigor running to his aid. She still hadn't had the chance to clean up. "That's it, I'll bathe in the fountain if I have to." she grumbled.

Glancing around, she realized that Tezztor wasn't around.. And nor were his fan club. Her heart sunk as she saw Phantom landing, and some other dinosaur approach. It was painful for her to think about what might happen to him because she knew he was Therian, and it would be like losing your very own soul for him. He could have made it, he was a raptor whose speed was unmatched by practically any land animal. What kept him? Her mind was reeling with images of guards, at least fifty of them, overtaking Tezztor, and the thought made her almost drop Vosur.

[PhantomStone]

ghost landed near the dragon chameleon creature and the white wolf. she puzzled over his appearance, her pounding head making it hard to focus, her crash into the building after she started flying must have given the falcon girl a concussion. she felt blood dripping down the back of her ear. she shivered involuntarily at the feeling. she looked at the wolf once more and paused, she didn't know what she was supposed to do, she felt underwater, everything felt like a dream. with a start she shook out of her stupor and remembered what to do. ghost moved over to help the scalie supporting the wolf. she didn't recognise the scalie anthro or the white wolf anthro. her head was making her distracted. she crouched down and stood up under the white wolf's other shoulder, supporting him as best she could, but his heavy metal lower legs still folded behind him on the ground. "let's get him away from the fire and into open clean air" she said, not in the soft and cautious voice of the creator of phantom, but in the clear proud, but slightly wary voice of phantom falcon. realising the sound of her voice ghost cleared her voice. "right?" she asked as an after thought. after all she wasn't world weary, she wasn't exactly sure what she could do to help the wolf.

she looked around seeing the dinosaur and the other two anthros. something was missing. she mentally swore ugg come on, focus. your missing something, what is it. ghost gritted her teeth trying to remember. her brow furrowed in concentration. she counted the faces, the dinosaur, the scalie, the wolf... scalie, scalie... TEZZTOR ghost's eyes widened up again and quickly jerked her head side to side looking for the raptor. what happened to him, his character has the stealth to get through a fortress with out being seen probably. where is he. she looked around. she remembered the snake's words. ghost looked down cursing her self. why did you get here so fast, you should have waited. being an anthro dosen't mean a fraction to you as much as it meant to every body else here. what is wrong with you. ghost gritted her teeth. if she ever found that snake she would beat him to a bloody pulp, and then make him bring tezztor back if he sent her away. if it's too late to bring him back, then I'll make that blasted beast pay.

[Vosur Aekira]

He almost jerked away from the chameleon-dragonness and the falcon, but the sudden heave pulled him out of his rage-induced state of mind, his eyes turning their bright blue when he looked to Rigor. "I'm fine, but the question is... are you both who I think you are?" he said as his breathing started to calm down. He began to stand upright fully to prevent them from supporting himself, taking a glance back to the smithy, who began to cough a couple of times before awakening.

B'ar: "Oi... that af pitten, dinna hiverman! That lilly-livered coward of a snake!" He said, getting up slowly with a few coughs as well from the smoke.