[RPG] The Wings of Hall

[Listomar]

Following Nicolaos's instructions, Ishman walked a short distance away, and knelt down to a deep meditation, that mimicked sleep, but kept him aware of his surroundings.

The monks rarely truly slept, finding the vulnerable state dangerous. Deep meditation kept them aware, yet replenished their strenght and mind. Though they did sometimes sleep in extreme situations, it was considered leaving yourself open for attacks. It had been months since Ishman had slept last. And it might be months until he slept again.

[SootShade]

Acan grunted slightly at Nicolaos' instructions. He might have told the man something about having done the same sort of stuff for the last dozen years, but the leader's most important skill is stating the obvious, after all. Instead he gave a sigh - for missing the only chance to sleep for some time - and took out a small stone with blue veins running around it. Whenever it was brought close to magic woven to any kind of form it started to glow slightly. Simple, but it had sufficed through the years.
   It was quite tedious, just watching Harold work. Of course he had to test for any kind of wards constantly, but he didn't find any. He was convinced the time would have been better spent sleeping.
   Being careful did, however, pay off as he suddenly saw the stone glowing wildly. He waved Harold back and started to work on the ward without a word. The ward wasn't as weak as he would have expected. In fact, it didn't seem weakened at all from what it probably had been in it's original state, which spoke of good work. Well, at a place like this it wasn't a surprise. It took Acan a while, but after a while he stepped back nodding Harold to start digging again. Very soon they found the entrance, which itself seemed clear of any magical wards and traps.

[InfinityStream]

Setsuna

Setsuna laid his head down onto the rather soft backpack he had been given by Nicolas. He didn't expect a nap before the mission. Nevertheless, he took it in stride.

"Goodnight, Setsuna."

A voice? He'd been hearing it for a while. But it was so soft...

He fell asleep anyway.

[InfinityStream]

Maria

Maria is already asleep. But someone isn't sleeping. Someone is watching over her. She tends to sleep near the girls, and as a favor, she asked a certain someone to watch over them.

'George' her rather eccentric soul of a knife was enjoying watching four young looking woman sleep soundly. The slow raising of their chests, their faces contorted in whatever dreams their having.

George was enjoying himself. Maybe he'd visit a few dreams?

[Zerpo]

Jimmy couldnt get to sleep so he moved a short distance away from the group and placed his bag and cloak on the ground. Instead of sleeping he would use the time for preparation. Jimmy drew his katana's and gave a modified version of the Assassin's Guild's salute then started to gracefully work his way though several kata's not caring whether anyone was paying attention or not smiling the whole way through as the familar patterns revived memories of his training and his classmates, most of whom are now dead.

After a while Jimmy sheathed his katana's and started on some dagger kata's which weren't as gracefully due to the smaller blades. After working up a sweat Jimmy walked back over to his cloak and withdrew a cloth from one of the pockets and wiped himself down.  Now that his practice was over Jimmy rejoined the group. Jimmy lay down closed his eyes hoping sleep would find him before they could break the entrance enchantments, if any existed, or if he was lucky before Harold discovered the entrance.

[Hollow nyan-chan]

Lissa put the backpack on the ground and unsheathed the sword so she would have it close and easy to get hold of if something unusual happened. She watched Harold and Acan work, Jimmy preparing for when entering and the others sleep before she herself would lie on the ground and try get some sleep. She listened closely to how it went for Harold digging before falling asleep.

[TheThing]

Nex looked around the group with envy. Watching one person after another fall asleep only brought further envy from Nex. While Nex was unable to sleep due to his pain, he did what he always did on those situations, stood guard.

However he always utilized every time he had spare time to run over spells in his head as well as work on magic on a theoretical scale, both large and small spells.

"Hopefully things won't come to it," Nex said quietly to no one.

((Because it's not like I will save you or anything like that if the time should ever come...))

[tigershark13]

Caithair nodded slightly at Nicoloas' advice, it was sound. In this line of work it was always best to take sleep when you could. Wordlessly Caithair found himself a place out of the way from the rest of the group and slowly took his equipment off, placing it upon the floor carefully. He removed his armour which took a good few minutes and then placed it next to his weapons. He went into his pack and pulled out his hipflask, taking a small swig to help him sleep and he lay upon the grass staring up at the sky.

Caithair mouthed a prayer to his god and clutched the small idol of a wolf within his palm, praying that his gods would guide him through the dangerous realm of dreams. A few minutes later he felt the weight of sleep overtake him and slipped into the darkness that would lead him into the land of dreams...

[SpringHalo]

Enjoying the slow, melodic rhythm of Harold's digging, Estia heeded Nicolas' advice and nodded off to sleep.

[Krozam]

When Harold shook him awake, Nicolaos had but vague memories of a somewhat unpleasant dream. His mother had been in that dream, and that couldn't be good. It put him in an irritated mood.

The sun was still down, and it wouldn't be up for a while yet. Nicolaos calculated that the night guards would be getting tired soon, the perfect time to suprise them would be an hour or two from now. He didn't know how long the tunnel would turn out to be, so he figured they'd better get going.

"Alright, let's get going. Since the entrance was blocked, I doubt they have guards on this end of the tunnel, so it should be safe to light a few torches." He was already rummaging his pack for one. "Listen carefully, I'll explain my plan as we walk." He found a torch and lifted it up, then flicked a finger at it. Crackling sparks of energy emerged from his finger and lighted the pitched cloth.

He led the way into the tunnel. This part was obviously manmade, the shape was mostly symmetric and there were wooden, well preserved supports at regular intervals. The air was dry and without any suspicious odours. However, the further in they went, the colder it became.

"First of all, we need to find the guards before they find us. Be wary of any traps and wards, magical or mundane. There probably aren't many of those, since this tunnel is supposed to be used by the defenders, not us, but you can never be too careful." His own eyes were constantly scanning the surroundings, especially in front of his feet. He didn't look at the people whom he was talking to. "I'm also thinking of sending Jimmy to scout ahead." The assassin could use ki to enhance his senses, and thus move outside the torchlight's range, though it would be dangerous.

"Once we do find the guards, our primary plan is to attempt to kill them before they can trigger any defence mechanisms. We'll need bows and magic. Acan targets the mage, of course, if there is one. Estia, an explosive fire enchantment on your arrow, please. Fiona, you take care of anyone reaching for a switch or anything else that looks like a trigger. I can shoot an energy arrow, but only once, I can't cast that spell in rapid succession. Nex, you're our last resort. Hopefully you won't have to do anything, but be ready for anything. If they manage to trigger a collapse, we may need some heavy magic."

"If we fail, we'll try try to get out of the way when the tunnel collapses, and once it calms down, Harold will dig us through. Any questions or suggestions?" He finally looked over his shoulder as he said these last words.

Right that moment, something clicked under his foot. A few meters further into the tunnel, five bolts shot from the roof, diagonally towards Nicolaos and the people close behind him.

[Hollow nyan-chan]

Lissa woke up from a nightmare of her childhood in the Gool when she killed her trainer. After she had calmed herself a bit and looked around to see if the others were awake. Some were waking up and some were preparing so Lissa stood up and sheathed her sword and took up her pack. She drank some water and then waited for the others to get up.

Everyone were up and ready to go when Nicolaos started to explain what they were waiting for and what might happen inside the tunnel. Lissa walked right behind Nicolaos this time and listened to him while also listening to their surroundings to hear if something were going to happen, an ambush on them for example.

Lissa was right about to ask what they should do if the guards were waiting for them at the end of the tunnel when she heard the clicking sound from beneath Nicolaos foot and the bolts that were shot and flying towards them, she reacted quickly and pulled Nicolaos in the shoulder hard enough to get him behind her yet gentle enough to not dislocate it. She turned her back towards the bolts were she had the sheathed sword to protect herself and the others and she said loudly "Take cover!"

One of the bolts hit her leg and another bounced of the sheathed sword so it lost a lot of its force and flew in another direction towards the wall, the other bolts flew past her towards the Nicolaos and the others close to him and all she could do were to watch them get hit or not.

[tigershark13]

Caithair awoke from his light sleep, he had been untroubled by dreams and felt a great deal more refreshed. He repeated his ritual and slit his hand once more, feeding the pendant around his neck with his blood before gathering his things, putting his armour on and strapping his shield to his arm. He took in a deep breath and smirked, he had a feeling that today was going to be...interesting.

He followed Nicoloas at a closish distance, holding his tongue and merely listening, his eyes darting around the dark corridor, he was not a fan of small enclosed spaces, particularly when said small enclosed places could be full of all manner of traps, giant spiders and other nasty annoying things. His eyes looked the others up and down, attempting to gauge their reactions to their leaders words and he flicked his vision back to Nicoloas to shake his head and shrug at the request for suggestions when he suddenly heard a click.
 
Everything appeared to move in slow motion for the next few moments. He instinctively brought his shield up as he heard the familiar sound of flying arrows and bolts, crouching just as he heard Lissa shout at everyone to take cover. He felt the force against his arm and the resistance of his shield as a bolt crashed into it with a dull thud, partially breaking through the wood, a hiss of relief escaping his teeth as he realised he was unhurt.

[TheThing]

As the night progressed, Nex stood silently at the exact same spot as before. Nex watched as Harold finished digging thowards the entrance and woke Nicolaos up. He listened as Nicolaos gave the order to step in the tunnel. As each one entered the tunnel, Nicolaos explained his plan. Nex's mind was elsewhere and didn't really listen to what Nicolaos was saying. Not that it mattered anyway to Nex. He could already guess somewhat what the plan was.

It was really rare for Nex to contribute to anything that befell the group. His remark before was rare, extremely rare. Even Nex himself was surprised at his actions before. But now it was night time. When night falls, dark magic grows stronger. As dark magic grows stronger, Nex's curse grows stronger with it. And with the curse came always pain to Nex.

Then that click came. That click everyone heard. Nex's saw the bolts being shot. He watched as Lissa barely pushed Nicolaos out of the danger. He also watched as Cathair instincts made him pull his shield just in time. Nex has had years to train reflexes. It came with the territory of being hunted as well as wanted in many countries. Therefore he was able to see each individual bolt and where it was headed.

One bolt actually managed to pass through the whole group. It's heading was straight towards Nex who stood in the far back. The bolt, flying at great speed, hit Nex's right side just above the waist. Because of the speed, the bolt managed to dig into Nex's body but not through the cloak. Nex was pushed back slightly by the sheer force of the bolt yet he stood his ground. He looked down at the bolt, picked it up and threw it to his side, hopefully before anyone else had noticed that Nex was hit.

Nex: "..."

Nex seemed to have had no reaction to the damage the bolt caused to his body. It was to be expected somewhat. The pain he felt through his curse had grown incredibly strong the last few hours. Being hit on the side by a bolt was little compared to what he was feeling daily. Wasting magic to deflect or protect against the bolt would have caused deeper pain to him. Nothing he couldn't manage however but he preferred not to bother using magic on such little things.

Nex looked up at the aftermath the trap had on the group. ((It's not like I ignored Nicolaos helplessness or anything like that... I would have saved him if Lissa hadn't intervened))

[Zerpo]

Jimmy eyes opened the moment Nicolaos spoke. He picked up his stuff and trudged along in the shadows after the rest of the group.

Jimmy started nodding as Nicolaos suggested sending him on ahead as a scout. With his Assassin's training and ki-enhanced senses it should by childs play.

Jimmy opened his mouth to ask a question just as Nicolaos stepped forward. He heard the click and Lissa's warning shout and instantly his swords were out. Although Jimmy moved as fast as he could it wasnt fast enough and bolt flashed passed his face slashing his cheek.

Grimacing in pain he looked around at the rest of the group hoping there was no serious damage of casualties.

[InfinityStream]

Setsuna

Setsuna ducked as soon as he heard the click in the rather large, cavernous, cavern. He pulled Maria, who had been on his left down with him.

He heard the clang of bolts as some people blocked.

Once the fiasco was over, he slowly stood up, pulling Maria up with him. Only Lissa seemed injured.

He would later recall hearing the sound of a bolt hitting someone other than Lissa, but he would never find out who that bolt hit.

'Watch for traps...' he thought, snickering at the irony of the moment.