This story takes place during the campaign the Curse of the Blessed Isle and is written by Lord Stone.
<Big><b>The Ambush</b></Big>
“I don’t understand you can live on that,” Terrie commented, looking at the ample meal the immaculate monk was eating.
Manami smiled. “It only takes some getting used to really,” she commented. “When you don’t eat so much food with strong flavors, you start getting used to the small details in the flavor of your food, and even the simplest of meals which most people would call bland, become quite tasteful. And of course, through the years my body has adapted to this diet as well. You shouldn’t even try to live on my diet, you’re carnivorous right?”
Terrie nodded, and with a grin showed her canine teeth. She took a huge bite out of the piece of meat she was eating. She wolfed the food down and asked “Why do you take these vows anyways? I mean, I know it’s what monks do, but what’s the reason behind it?”
“We devote our lives to the Immaculate Order. The vows are there for one important reason: they keep us from pursuing desires that would take our attention away from the focus of our life, the Immaculate Faith. What’s more, our drive allows us to achieve enlightenment beyond that what most Dragonblooded can achieve.”
“But… celibacy? That’s harsh,” Terrie commented.
“If you’re in a relationship, you might be put in a situation where you have to choose between your relationship and your faith quite often. I don’t see it so much as a punishment… it’s more to prevent us from getting hurt by our own choices. It’s never impossible to pursue a relationship, if you’re willing to change your career and go back to a normal way of life.” Manami seemed completely content with how her life looked like. Single, eating nothing but flavored rice and vegetables, her head shaven and dressed in the clothes the order assigned her. “But you can at least masturbate right?”
“Oh, Dragons yes!” Manami exclaimed softly, a sense of relief in her voice. “No, the Immaculate Order does not expect us to be someone we cannot.”
“Do you have any special techniques to share?” Terrie asked with a mischievous grin.
Manami’s cheeks turned completely red. “Terrie!” she exclaimed.
But the wolf girl was already rolling over laughing. When she had caught her breath again she sat up and said “I like you best when you’re… human, you know.”
“What about you then?” Manami asked. “How often do you do it when you’re not with that boyfriend of yours? We can all hear you sometimes you know.”
This time it was Terrie’s turn to blush, but it was only visible because the blush ran in the naked insides of her hears; the rest of her face was covered in fur after all. Manami smirked, revenge had been achieved.
“You care for him a lot, don’t you? You’re even willing to go on a quest like this for him.”
“I’m not just doing this for him,” Terrie answered. “I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do. Those Deathknights are a danger to the people living here and to Creation as a whole. We can’t just let them do whatever they want to do.”
Manami opened her mouth to speak, but the moment she did that a knife pierced in the back of her neck. A vague shimmer betrayed the presence of someone otherwise invisible, but it was gone in an instant. Terrie and Manami both jumped on their feet, but Manami seemed quite unstable.
“Poison, the bastard!” she exclaimed, and proved to have trouble stabilizing herself.
“We’re under attack!” Cynis Tanako shouted. He was the Dragonblooded scout who had come with them. He was on guard, and the fact that they got past him meant danger. Great danger.
Terrie backed away, looking around her carefully. But danger came from somewhere she had not anticipated. Before she could react, the huge soulsteel hammer belonging to SAM connected with her shoulder, and the Abyssal landed from his mighty leap into the campsite. Terrie felt her skin tearing and her muscles snapping, and a moment later her dismembered arm was smashed into pulp on the floor.
“Ha, disarmed you!” the Abyssal shouted enthusiastically.
Manami stabilized herself and immediately activated a charm. With her mastery of the Air Dragon style she could feel the air around her, and the assassin would never be able to catch her off guard.
Tanako started shouting commands at the other scouts, attempting to get SAM surrounded in the hope that it might prove to become his downfall. Even if the soldiers were only mortals, they were trained tiger warriors and their involvement could help the Dragonblooded in getting a couple of solid hits in. As a Terrestrial Exalted he might be weaker than his Abyssal opponent, but he was still a force to be reckoned with.
“You took my arm!” Terrie shouted at SAM. She transformed into her warform, a towering brown wolf, and went into a fury. Without holding back she lashed out at him. He was a good warrior, but he didn’t manage to dodge her attack. However, with his heavy armor her attack did very little to stun him after all.
“Hah, Yanus’ girlfriend wants to fight! I hope you can fight GOOD!” he shouted and laughed.
Manami, in the meanwhile, tried to take on this invisible opponent. She still couldn’t see him, but she knew they weren’t dealing with a ghost or demon; this was the assassin she heard so many rumors about. However, even an invisible opponent could be hit with the right methods. She spread her arms, focused her energy, and then sent a wall of air out around her with a deafening sound. Of course she made certain the Thunderclap Kata would not affect her allies. “Pin the assassin while he’s stunned!” she then commanded Terrie.
SAM however, seemed to be hardly effected by the Kata, and recovered in an instant. “Wall of Hammers!” SAM shouted, and suddenly the nightmare that stood before Terrie became even worse. SAM’s figure seemed to blur into several copies, each of which attacked a person standing within his reach. Even the tree behind him was felled by his hammer. One soldier’s head was turned into a bloody pulp in an instant, and another had his ribcage torn open. The other three were more fortunate and managed to escape the circle of death with their lives.
Terrie did not flinch a moment though, and looked for the assassin. He was deafened by Manami’s attack, and she jumped at him. She jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. This was easy considering he was still affected by Manami’s charm.
“Tanako, retreat with the scouts. Make certain they survive!” Manami said. “Their safety is more important than winning this battle here. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.”
The Dragonblooded nodded and turned around. “Retreat!” he ordered.
“This ends now,” Manami then said, and essence flowed through her form. Water formed all around her as her anima started flaring vigorously. She aimed her attack at the Abyssal still standing, the sledgehammer wielding SAM. “Drowning of Essence.” It was a combined number of Water Dragon charms that would incapacitate the essence use of any opponent. Except…
“Ha!” SAM shouted, and his hammer wrenched its way between him and her attack. He was good, better than expected. “Don’t expect your tricks to work on me that easily,” he said. “And you!” he pointed at Terrie. “Let my friend GO!” Necrotic Essence flowed through his body as he used one of his own combos.
“No, you don’t!” Manami shouted, and leaped under the hammer. Lightly she hit the hands of the Abyssal, leaped over Terrie and the assassin and grabbed the wolf girl. For a moment it seemed the hammer would hit the assassin instead, but he managed to struggle free and roll out of the way just before the hammer hit the solid ground.
“Hold on!” Terrie said to Manami, and shifted into a huge brown wolf. Without hesitation, Manami grabbed on and the two sprinted away from the battle, with the help of the immense speed a Lunar can muster. A last knife found its way to them though and managed to strike Manami in the back.
“Good fight you two!” SAM’s voice thundered after them. “Tell Yanus I said hi!!!”
“That’s one gone,” Manami said hoarsely. The knife had contained more poison, and she was starting to get weaker. Terrie could slowly feel her grip slipping from time to time, but the monk managed to stay awake.
After a good minute of running they halted in the hope they had at least gained some advantage on the assassin. Terrie shifted back to her normal shape and immediately started casting a spell.
“We have to be quick,” Manami whispered. “I may be tough, but I don’t think I can survive this poison if we wait for too long.”
Terrie nodded, and a cherub appeared in front of her. “Send the following message to Yanus Obsidian,” she instructed the creature in Old Realm. Then she spoke in Low Realm, the language of the commoners of the Blessed Isle. “Where are you now? And where is the closest healer?”
The cherub left, and Terrie waited nervously. Fortunately it didn’t take long for an answer to arrive. “We’re going to the Temple!” Terrie said, and she started casting her spell. However, the assassin was suddenly standing over Manami’s body. “You die here!” he said, and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the monk. By spending more Essence Manami managed to dodge all but one hit before Terrie’s spell finished.
“We’re going now!” she said and pulled Manami on to the Azure Chariot that landed in front of their feet. The monk was already unconscious, and the water flaring around her body stung Terrie’s flesh from time to time, but she gritted her teeth and held on until the flare became less. After a little time they appeared in the Temple, and Terrie could only hope they were quick enough for Manami to survive this.
