Thar Shaddin

Kori grunted and looked at Ko. The little man was wilted and pretty done. They could heal anything, and he was probably going to make it, but he wouldn't be on his feet for a while. There was too much damage for his system to cope with at once. Eh. He won't die. He's too absorbed in trying to have sex with me. And everyone else on this gods forsaken astral plane. Kori looked to the man who had apparently organized or at least helped. Saterre. Spineless little gutter rat. Couldn't hack it with them. So he must have went to the other side.

Kori stood on his own two feet and spat a long and thick stream of phlegm and blood at the two bastards.

"Take your time sweetheart. I'll break your spine and send you home bleeding."

Kori removed the large fur across his shoulders and draped it over Ko, to keep him warm and at least somewhat protected from the elements. The little man was a comrade after all. Even if he did want some seriously deviant things. Quick as lightning, a small knife was drew and thrown from the leather bracer on Stronghammers right arm. The knife wasn't big enough to kill, only hurt if it hit a good spot. The 4 inches of steel sunk hilt deep into the throat of Saterre.

"Gods Blood! I missed. I was aiming for your eyeball!"

It would take them a very long time to break him. No telling with Ko. Maybe the team would find them in time. Or at least give them a good death when they got here.

There was a heat in Leni's eyes, burning and prickling. Fucking stupid to get emotional now. "Stay with me," she said, harshness in her voice as she steadied. She had been afraid Fayane might not pull out of her berserker rush, might become lost without the full death such a state had required. The slighter woman had been amazing to watch; to keep up with so many Changer's get was something that one did not often see. Leni was privately amazed Fayane was still standing. The girl was some fighter. That could not be denied.

Whatever -- whomever -- had brought Fayane to Leni, Leni was grateful. She'd never admit it, but still.

"Wulf. He needs help."

Saterre ripped the knife from his throat. He was of a higher grade than the soldiers; the wound did not immediately kill him. He wouldn't have the ability to speak for a time, however, and he glared at Votan, who in turn made a sharp gesture towards Hunaphu: that winged monkey creature whose eye Kori had popped like a cherry.

The soldiers Kori and the rest had attacked near the Changer's Rocks materialized of a sudden, and Hunaphu's magic washed over them in a sticky wave, healing their wounds. Though their dead would remain fully dead at the moment, they too would rise again eventually. True death was a luxury not afforded to Changers' pawns.

"Disssarm him. He mussst be properly bound," Votan said to Hunaphu; too far above the soldiers to speak to them directly. Hunaphu in turn made a lilting noise, and the quality of his magic changed as it was directed in a tight cone towards Kori. It was a weakening magic. It was intended to give its target crippling diarrhea or vomiting. The Tzalzochitl things had a magic similar to Leni's that worked through water and heat.

The soldiers moved as one towards Kori, weapons drawn and movements wary.

Sam had found himself mesmerized by his own song and it took an arrow slicing his right cheek open to snap him out of it. The monsters that fought the rest of his group had already broken free and were doing their part to seek revenge for their fallen friends.

As the misty haze of blood, water and confusion pulled away from him, he could finally see for himself what was really going on. It was a bloodbath down there. People and monsters fought each other as they suffered wounds that should kill them, yet they continued to live on only to kill each other.

Leni was calling the others to herself. They needed to regroup, they were injured and the longer they continued to fight the longer it would take them to heal. It was an unnatural thing to recover from death.

Sam placed a hand over the side of his face and began to retrace his steps, circling around the edge of the hill he had been standing on to make his way back to Leni. The last thing he wanted right now was for more of this acidic sand to get inside his wound and burn. It always burned.

He glanced around the pool of bodies that might have been called a battlefield as he attempted to see which of their men had fallen. That's when he noticed that his count had come up short.

"Where are the others?"

Wulf screamed. It burns. IT BURNS!!!!

He grabbed the hilt of the strange sword. Upon closer inspection, the spine of the sword was serrated backwards, and every time he tried to pull it out, it sawed away at him, pulling his skin and muscles along it, chewing him up. He good see the green tint of some strange poison on it. Finally, with a great scream of pain, he jerked the sword out, blood turned black by contact with the poison jetting across the ground. His body even smelt wrong, and little green tendrils of vapor rose from the wound. He gritted his teeth and stood.

Stronghammer and Ko. Gone. How the fuck did it all go so wrong, so quickly...

He could feel the poison, like sludgy and hot lava in his veins. It wouldn't kill him. Maybe. It would probably just make him wish he was dead in the end. A lot of creatures had became very... creative in this War. Wulf half stumbled half crawled to where Leni and the new girl were. His hands were cramping and burning, but he still signed as fast as he could. Leni couldn't read them as well as Kori, but hopefully she could understand what he meant.

Kori... Magic... I... Find... Camp... I... Now...

"Stay with me," Leni's voice was harsh, her eyes brighter than usual, leaving Fay baffled. Was this really the same woman who'd shot her earlier in the day? What happened to the bare tolerance Fay remembered. Must be the war... it's finally got to her. Fay decided even as Leni mentioned Wulf's need for assistance.

"I will remain by your side as long as I am needed... unless I must leave to achieve your purposes."

Fay glanced at Sam, who had returned, but decided to leave the explaining to Leni. She saw Wulf sign something, saw the blood and her lips tightened. It didn't take a genius to read the signs and she stood, passing the rest of what was one her cloak to Leni.

"Bandage him up, I'll seek out camp... and something to kill his pain." Fay staggered away slightly, ignoring the blackness seeping into her vision as she forced herself to shift and scurry away - smaller forms required less energy in her mind.

She raced across the land scape, seeking shelter. She wound up finding a cave of sorts - high enough that they had a clear view of any incoming beings. By now Fay's limbs were shaking with the effort of standing. Panting she turned, stumbled and fell, blackness seeking to claim her. She fought it off, staggered upright, and stumbled/ran to Leni.

She'd managed to make it back, slumping before the woman and forcing herself to shift again. "There is... a cave... just over that way... not a 2 minute walk. High vantage point... might be herbs for Wulf." Fay rasped, slumping to the ground. Blackness continued to seek to drag her into oblivion, but the need to protect Leni, Wulf and Sam overrode her exhaustion, even if only barely. She crawled over to Wulf and began to help with whatever was left with cleaning his wounds and bandaging him as she awaited instructions.

"Stronghammer is gone," Leni said to Sam, her words clipped. "Prop Wulf up. We go back to the rocks, then we'll talk about what next. Ko will be there, and healed; he can take a message to that fucking Changer."

Even as she spoke she was eyeing her ragtag troops, her lips compressing as she tallied up wounds. What a fucking mess.

"Girl. If you leave again by yourself I will skin you with a dull knife and stake you out for the crows and maggots, understand?"

Without another word, Leni went to Wulf's left side, grabbing him by his tricep and pulling up. "Come on, you bastard. Sam, help the girl."

The trip back to the rocks was slow and agonizing in more ways than simple pain. It was compounded when blood and more messy signs of battle greeted them, without Vexako's ugly face. Leni went still, her hand tightening on Wulf past any pretense of support. Her silence was colder and harder than any amount of harsh words. No Ko meant she'd failed twice, and the self-loathing and rage welled up in her larger than she had room for.

The Changer's Rocks, that phallic symbol of power, loomed before her silent and bloodied. They were ancient and worn, casting a possessive shadow that covered a long space before it. The land was so barren, just like their lives were going to be when she informed Diosus about their losses. Even more so when she told him they were going to reclaim their lost brethren. She could not -- would not -- lose her men. They were hers. Didn't matter if they all hated each other's guts. Leni didn't have shit but for her little unit. She'd gotten used to them. Fuck.

Leni looked around the landscape, at the dull browns and bright oranges of low scrubby desert. She would remember this failure. She would drive it down deep, so it would never happen again.

"Saterre and Ko are also gone. We're going to go to Diosus. Hands on the rocks, and steady: this'll fucking hurt without that ass Saterre."

Wulf growled in pain, angered by the loss they had taken. That fucking newcomers fault as far as he was concerned. They hadn't lost a man in an age. All of the sudden she shows up and they were almost decimated. She didn't know the formations, the plans, the battle line. She should have never interfered before she knew what the score was. The best friend he had in this spirits forsaken place was probably dead now because of her. They could die, it just took a lot.


The wound in his chest felt healed enough to move, the muscles sore and his body tense. Standing, he waved away Leni and Sam. He drew his dagger, a gift from that damn stupid Kori and looked at the woman. She was bone done, tired and worn like an old rag. Wulf sneered at her, gripping the dagger tight as he drove it down into her neck, separating two of the vertebrae. That wouldn't kill her, not here, but it would stop her from moving for a minute. With a twisting motion, he further tore apart the discs, yanking the dagger free when he thought the damage was done good enough.

The muscles in his stomach felt like they had torn apart again, but his rage drove him onward. He ignored the pain and rolled the new comer over. She was in shock, not staring at him. He didn't care. His friend was gone and she would pay. So he cut her head off. Even that wasn't a permanent death here, someone just had to hold it to her body long enough for the healing powers to reconnect the two. Rising to his feet, he walked to one of the numerous crevasses that dotted the land this close to the Rock, and dropped it in. It could be ten feet, it could be a hundred feet. They'd still have to get to it to bring it out. It still wasn't enough.

Going back to the body, he cut open her abdomen and removed her heart, taking it to another crack in the ground the plan being to drop it down the dark hole as well. Then he thought about it, and changed his mind. He lifted the tough red muscle to his mouth and took a bite. His jaw worked furiously as he worried the meat with his teeth until he tore a chunk off, chewing and swallowing it. He used the dagger to cut off another piece, turning to look at his comrades.

He looked to Leni, the one who would be the most likely to kill him for what he just did. But he didn't care. He would just come back, and if not, he won at the end of the day. His blood soaked fingers flashed in the sun.

When do we take revenge?