How to Make Enemies and Alienate Friends: The Aegnas/Rosefica Edition
Aegnas bangs loudly on Rosefica’s door with a plated fist, and then immediately kicks at it for added emphasis. “Open the door, girl!”
Rosefica’s door thuds and bows, but doesn’t open. “Nether take you, Aegnas! I’m not letting you in!”
Aegnas kicks at the door harder, and when it still doesn’t open, he steps back, speaking to someone, or maybe several someones, in a strange tongue. Suddenly, many hands are banging wetly on the door. There are sickening crunches, too. Obviously, Aegnas has several undead with him.
Rosefica makes a noise, muffled by the sound of wet crunches. She points to the door and sends the Void Lord forth, escaping to her ritual room.
Aegnas gives the door another hard kick, the undead with him adding their weight to it, and the door splinters and springs open. He yells out in what Rosefica might recognize as the Scourge tongue, and half a dozen undead crowd through the door ahead of Aegnas, who draws his runed axes, then sees the void lord standing there. He grins. “You’re only making this more satisfying, Rosefica.”
The void lord answers, in its surprising pleasant voice, “The mistress is not taking visitors.” It drives its spectral claws into the first ghouls that shamble down her narrow entry hall. Her apartment is only half furnished, there are still boxes in the living room, forgotten in light of recent events. There are two hallways. One door is open to an empty bedroom, the other tightly closed.
Aegnas lets the undead he brought with him, all fodder from the Dead Scar. Only when the last one stops moving does he let loose with a blast of frigid, plagued ice and a swing of both rune axes at the demon’s shadowy head.
The void lord lets the first blow strike him, feeding Aegnas a taste of his own medicine. Shadow energy strikes at the death knight and the void lord laughs.
Aegnas hisses in surprise as the shadow energy splashes off his pauldrons and sears the flesh on one side of his face. He lashes out with one boot, intending to catch the void lord in its armored chest and push it back down the hallway. Two more blows, one from each rune axe, follow in quick succession.
The Void Lord does not keen, though its movements momentarily slow. It shoots more shadow energy up the hallway at Aegnas, and claws at him. “She will not see you.”
23:26:20 Aegnas snarls as the shadow energy again splashes off his armor and sears his face, this time leaving the left side of his face badly burned. If it bothers him at all, he doesn’t show it, instead bringing his axes up to parry the void lord’s blows. A rune on axe flares brightly, and he tosses a bright blue ball of energy at the void lord, which would attempt to adhere to the demon’s shadowy form. “That’s going to really hurt, unless you get out of my way. Now.”
”Unlikely,” the Void Lord replies and launches itself at him.
Aegnas unleashes another blast of cold, plagued ice at the void lord and snarls. “Your funeral.” At the last second, he throws himself backwards, and the spell on the demon erupts in an explosion of shadow energy.
Rosefica ‘s void lord vanishes, leaving behind its shoulderplates. “See you… again…”
Aegnas laughs and gestures at one of the fallen ghouls, throwing shadow energy at it. “Come on, I don’t have all day.” He runs down the hallway, glancing in the empty bedroom before kicking at the closed door. “You’re only making this worse on yourself! Open up!”
Rosefica chants from behind the door way, her light, sweet voice made harsher by the demonic coming from it. “Says the disgruntled man who just kicked in my door over a bodyswitch! Get out of my house, you petulant -child!-“
Aegnas kicks at the door again, harder this time, and the ghoul at his side bangs on it with its fists. It doesn’t do much except make horrible wet crunching noises. “I said. OPEN. UP.” He punctuates his words with heavy kicks at the door.
[Rosefica]: What part of “NO” do you not understand? Ekkzabal!
Rosefica ‘s voice wavers, the note of terror underlying in the fury of her tone. “Do not let him through, if you know what’s good for you!” The shivarra laughs.
Aegnas gives the door one last kick and it splinters. He yells out an order in the Scourge tongue, and the ghoul at his side leapt in first. The next order, though, was understandable. Probably for Rosefica’s benefit.
23:47:30 [Aegnas]: Kill everything in the room!
There does not appear to be anything in the room but Rosefica. Her thick, black bound grimoire behind her. The room smells of ritual reagents, bitter and slightly soured. Rosefica watches the ghoul with wide, horrified eyes, “Kill it. Ekkzabal! Kill it!”
Rosefica backs up against the grimoire’s stand and the shivarra comes out of hiding.
Aegnas yells out a command in the Scourge tongue to the ghoul, who stops in its charge at Rosefica to leap at the shivarra instead. Aegnas extends a hand towards Rosefica and tosses a small ball of shadow energy at her, attempting to catch her by the throat with it and cut off her air. “That’s enough out of you. You don’t know when to shut up, do you?”
Rosefica ‘s legs dangle in mid-air, kicking as the warlock fights to breathe. Her chest heaves with the effort, and her pale face turns redder and redder. Ekkzabal’s magic washes over the ghoul, leaving it stunned as she heads for the death knight.
Aegnas grins with anticipation and raises his runeblades. A rune flares brightly, and he launches a bolt of shadow energy at the succubus, which would turn into a ward of shadow energy if it hit her. Aegnas stands his ground, watching the succubus.
Rosefica continues to struggle as the shivarra dances out of the way of the bolt of shadow magic, and flicks a lash sickly green fel magic at Aegnas to disrupt his choking of Rosefica.
Aegnas dodges the fel magic, but it does accomplish its intended purpose. His concentration is shattered, and the shadow choking Rosefica dissipates. He charges the demon, both runeblades raised to strike. Meanwhile, the ghoul, whose animation was haphazard at best, collapses to the floor, dead again.
Rosefica drops the floor, gasping raggedly for air and digging her nails into the thin rug below her. Ekkzabal blows a kiss at Aegnas as he charges, preparing to guard Rosefica. She strikes first with her set of blades, keeping the second close to guard herself.
Aegnas swings both blades at the shivarra’s stomach, then lashes out with a plated boot, trying to knock the demon off balance.
[Aegnas]: Give UP!
Rosefica reply is lost under the warcry of her demon, who slides back slightly under the attack, and returns her blows with equal ferocity.
Aegnas launches another blast of frigid, plagued ice at both the demon and Rosefica behind her, then several runes along his axes activate at once. A large amount of shadow energy envelopes the fallen undead in the apartment. Aegnas appears intent on the energy, not the shivarra.
Rosefica looks up at Aegnas. Her curls, tousled around her face, give her a feral look. “Not. In. My. House!” The array under her lights up with deep violet energy and consumes the warlock, who is replaced with a monstrosity which leaps at Aegnas.
Aegnas looks up as the demon that was Rosefica leaps, but the damage is already partially done. There is scraping from the hallway. At least some of the corpses got enough energy from the death knight to be reanimated. Aegnas raises his runeblades.
[Aegnas]: Surrender. Now.
Rosefica roars in reply, and flaps her wings, blowing back several of the… less balanced undead.
Aegnas just hisses, in pain or irritation, as the attack also blows against his burns, but several of the skeletons are blown into pieces. Pieces that keep trying to move towards him. He sneers. “You’ll never be powerful enough to stop us. I don’t know why you try.” He turns one runeblade so that the flat of the blade is facing the warlock, then swings as hard as he can, attempting to catch her in the head.
Rosefica’s hold on the unstable fel energies keeping her a monstrosity fade, and the rune blade catches the very slight warlock, sending her flying into a bare wall. Her head bounces against that, too, hard. She is very still. The tenuous hold on the shivarra fails, and Ekkzabal vanishes.
Aegnas sneers, but barks a command at any undead still moving. They all stand still, and then slowly collapse as the energy animating them fades. Aegnas replaces his runeblades at his belt, then goes over to Rosefica. While she -looks- unconscious, he draws one runeblade. A rune flares, and sickly green slime coats the blade. He smirks, then dips the blade down, attempting to cut lightly along her exposed midsection. Not deep enough to wound seriously, just enough to break the skin.
Rosefica does not cry in pain. There’s a wound on her head, and her dark hair is quickly becoming matted with blood. Her breathing is shallow, at best. She remains unconscious.
Aegnas puts his runeblade away, then kneels beside Rosefica. He digs in a bag at his belt for a small, stoppered vial. A few drops of the healing potion are applied directly to the wound on her head, the rest, he forces down her throat. While that’s taking effect, he digs in the same bag for a bandage and quickly dresses the wound on her head. “Wake up.”
Rosefica ‘s eyelids flutter, and she doesn’t immediately move or react to the bandaging on her head or the god-awful sensation running through her body.
[Rosefica]: Wuh… what…
Aegnas pokes her with a plated gauntlet. “I said, wake up.”
Rosefica opens her eyes and looks around. Under their green glow, her pupils are large and uneven. “Hurts.”
[Aegnas]: Well, yes. You were an abysmal idiot.
Rosefica furrows her brow, “Oh?”
Aegnas holds up three fingers. “How many fingers do you see?” He sighs. “Nevermind.” He scoops her up easily and takes her out of the room, towards the bedroom, which is mercifully free of undead. He lays her down and pulls out his tome writing a short message in the front pages. “Yes. Not only did you prepare a defense that had no hope of actually winning against me, but you exerted yourself far too much in too short of a time span. And you’ve probably got a concussion.”
Rosefica tries to focus on him, but gives up when she can’t seem to make his face stay still. “Oh.”
Aegnas snorts softly. “Your friend is coming. Valdis, I think you said? I’m leaving. I’ll make sure you understand the remainder of your lesson when you’re not concussed.”
Rosefica pats his gauntlet. “Mm.” Her eyes slide closed, and her hand slips off his arm, dangling there limply.
Aegnas frowns and writes again in his tome, then gets to his feet. He kicks at the corpses of the undead as he passes, on his way out of the apartment.
Rosefica’s door thuds and bows, but doesn’t open. “Nether take you, Aegnas! I’m not letting you in!”
Aegnas kicks at the door harder, and when it still doesn’t open, he steps back, speaking to someone, or maybe several someones, in a strange tongue. Suddenly, many hands are banging wetly on the door. There are sickening crunches, too. Obviously, Aegnas has several undead with him.
Rosefica makes a noise, muffled by the sound of wet crunches. She points to the door and sends the Void Lord forth, escaping to her ritual room.
Aegnas gives the door another hard kick, the undead with him adding their weight to it, and the door splinters and springs open. He yells out in what Rosefica might recognize as the Scourge tongue, and half a dozen undead crowd through the door ahead of Aegnas, who draws his runed axes, then sees the void lord standing there. He grins. “You’re only making this more satisfying, Rosefica.”
The void lord answers, in its surprising pleasant voice, “The mistress is not taking visitors.” It drives its spectral claws into the first ghouls that shamble down her narrow entry hall. Her apartment is only half furnished, there are still boxes in the living room, forgotten in light of recent events. There are two hallways. One door is open to an empty bedroom, the other tightly closed.
Aegnas lets the undead he brought with him, all fodder from the Dead Scar. Only when the last one stops moving does he let loose with a blast of frigid, plagued ice and a swing of both rune axes at the demon’s shadowy head.
The void lord lets the first blow strike him, feeding Aegnas a taste of his own medicine. Shadow energy strikes at the death knight and the void lord laughs.
Aegnas hisses in surprise as the shadow energy splashes off his pauldrons and sears the flesh on one side of his face. He lashes out with one boot, intending to catch the void lord in its armored chest and push it back down the hallway. Two more blows, one from each rune axe, follow in quick succession.
The Void Lord does not keen, though its movements momentarily slow. It shoots more shadow energy up the hallway at Aegnas, and claws at him. “She will not see you.”
23:26:20 Aegnas snarls as the shadow energy again splashes off his armor and sears his face, this time leaving the left side of his face badly burned. If it bothers him at all, he doesn’t show it, instead bringing his axes up to parry the void lord’s blows. A rune on axe flares brightly, and he tosses a bright blue ball of energy at the void lord, which would attempt to adhere to the demon’s shadowy form. “That’s going to really hurt, unless you get out of my way. Now.”
”Unlikely,” the Void Lord replies and launches itself at him.
Aegnas unleashes another blast of cold, plagued ice at the void lord and snarls. “Your funeral.” At the last second, he throws himself backwards, and the spell on the demon erupts in an explosion of shadow energy.
Rosefica ‘s void lord vanishes, leaving behind its shoulderplates. “See you… again…”
Aegnas laughs and gestures at one of the fallen ghouls, throwing shadow energy at it. “Come on, I don’t have all day.” He runs down the hallway, glancing in the empty bedroom before kicking at the closed door. “You’re only making this worse on yourself! Open up!”
Rosefica chants from behind the door way, her light, sweet voice made harsher by the demonic coming from it. “Says the disgruntled man who just kicked in my door over a bodyswitch! Get out of my house, you petulant -child!-“
Aegnas kicks at the door again, harder this time, and the ghoul at his side bangs on it with its fists. It doesn’t do much except make horrible wet crunching noises. “I said. OPEN. UP.” He punctuates his words with heavy kicks at the door.
[Rosefica]: What part of “NO” do you not understand? Ekkzabal!
Rosefica ‘s voice wavers, the note of terror underlying in the fury of her tone. “Do not let him through, if you know what’s good for you!” The shivarra laughs.
Aegnas gives the door one last kick and it splinters. He yells out an order in the Scourge tongue, and the ghoul at his side leapt in first. The next order, though, was understandable. Probably for Rosefica’s benefit.
23:47:30 [Aegnas]: Kill everything in the room!
There does not appear to be anything in the room but Rosefica. Her thick, black bound grimoire behind her. The room smells of ritual reagents, bitter and slightly soured. Rosefica watches the ghoul with wide, horrified eyes, “Kill it. Ekkzabal! Kill it!”
Rosefica backs up against the grimoire’s stand and the shivarra comes out of hiding.
Aegnas yells out a command in the Scourge tongue to the ghoul, who stops in its charge at Rosefica to leap at the shivarra instead. Aegnas extends a hand towards Rosefica and tosses a small ball of shadow energy at her, attempting to catch her by the throat with it and cut off her air. “That’s enough out of you. You don’t know when to shut up, do you?”
Rosefica ‘s legs dangle in mid-air, kicking as the warlock fights to breathe. Her chest heaves with the effort, and her pale face turns redder and redder. Ekkzabal’s magic washes over the ghoul, leaving it stunned as she heads for the death knight.
Aegnas grins with anticipation and raises his runeblades. A rune flares brightly, and he launches a bolt of shadow energy at the succubus, which would turn into a ward of shadow energy if it hit her. Aegnas stands his ground, watching the succubus.
Rosefica continues to struggle as the shivarra dances out of the way of the bolt of shadow magic, and flicks a lash sickly green fel magic at Aegnas to disrupt his choking of Rosefica.
Aegnas dodges the fel magic, but it does accomplish its intended purpose. His concentration is shattered, and the shadow choking Rosefica dissipates. He charges the demon, both runeblades raised to strike. Meanwhile, the ghoul, whose animation was haphazard at best, collapses to the floor, dead again.
Rosefica drops the floor, gasping raggedly for air and digging her nails into the thin rug below her. Ekkzabal blows a kiss at Aegnas as he charges, preparing to guard Rosefica. She strikes first with her set of blades, keeping the second close to guard herself.
Aegnas swings both blades at the shivarra’s stomach, then lashes out with a plated boot, trying to knock the demon off balance.
[Aegnas]: Give UP!
Rosefica reply is lost under the warcry of her demon, who slides back slightly under the attack, and returns her blows with equal ferocity.
Aegnas launches another blast of frigid, plagued ice at both the demon and Rosefica behind her, then several runes along his axes activate at once. A large amount of shadow energy envelopes the fallen undead in the apartment. Aegnas appears intent on the energy, not the shivarra.
Rosefica looks up at Aegnas. Her curls, tousled around her face, give her a feral look. “Not. In. My. House!” The array under her lights up with deep violet energy and consumes the warlock, who is replaced with a monstrosity which leaps at Aegnas.
Aegnas looks up as the demon that was Rosefica leaps, but the damage is already partially done. There is scraping from the hallway. At least some of the corpses got enough energy from the death knight to be reanimated. Aegnas raises his runeblades.
[Aegnas]: Surrender. Now.
Rosefica roars in reply, and flaps her wings, blowing back several of the… less balanced undead.
Aegnas just hisses, in pain or irritation, as the attack also blows against his burns, but several of the skeletons are blown into pieces. Pieces that keep trying to move towards him. He sneers. “You’ll never be powerful enough to stop us. I don’t know why you try.” He turns one runeblade so that the flat of the blade is facing the warlock, then swings as hard as he can, attempting to catch her in the head.
Rosefica’s hold on the unstable fel energies keeping her a monstrosity fade, and the rune blade catches the very slight warlock, sending her flying into a bare wall. Her head bounces against that, too, hard. She is very still. The tenuous hold on the shivarra fails, and Ekkzabal vanishes.
Aegnas sneers, but barks a command at any undead still moving. They all stand still, and then slowly collapse as the energy animating them fades. Aegnas replaces his runeblades at his belt, then goes over to Rosefica. While she -looks- unconscious, he draws one runeblade. A rune flares, and sickly green slime coats the blade. He smirks, then dips the blade down, attempting to cut lightly along her exposed midsection. Not deep enough to wound seriously, just enough to break the skin.
Rosefica does not cry in pain. There’s a wound on her head, and her dark hair is quickly becoming matted with blood. Her breathing is shallow, at best. She remains unconscious.
Aegnas puts his runeblade away, then kneels beside Rosefica. He digs in a bag at his belt for a small, stoppered vial. A few drops of the healing potion are applied directly to the wound on her head, the rest, he forces down her throat. While that’s taking effect, he digs in the same bag for a bandage and quickly dresses the wound on her head. “Wake up.”
Rosefica ‘s eyelids flutter, and she doesn’t immediately move or react to the bandaging on her head or the god-awful sensation running through her body.
[Rosefica]: Wuh… what…
Aegnas pokes her with a plated gauntlet. “I said, wake up.”
Rosefica opens her eyes and looks around. Under their green glow, her pupils are large and uneven. “Hurts.”
[Aegnas]: Well, yes. You were an abysmal idiot.
Rosefica furrows her brow, “Oh?”
Aegnas holds up three fingers. “How many fingers do you see?” He sighs. “Nevermind.” He scoops her up easily and takes her out of the room, towards the bedroom, which is mercifully free of undead. He lays her down and pulls out his tome writing a short message in the front pages. “Yes. Not only did you prepare a defense that had no hope of actually winning against me, but you exerted yourself far too much in too short of a time span. And you’ve probably got a concussion.”
Rosefica tries to focus on him, but gives up when she can’t seem to make his face stay still. “Oh.”
Aegnas snorts softly. “Your friend is coming. Valdis, I think you said? I’m leaving. I’ll make sure you understand the remainder of your lesson when you’re not concussed.”
Rosefica pats his gauntlet. “Mm.” Her eyes slide closed, and her hand slips off his arm, dangling there limply.
Aegnas frowns and writes again in his tome, then gets to his feet. He kicks at the corpses of the undead as he passes, on his way out of the apartment.