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THE UNRESTING EXPANSE - MIDNIGHT
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Narrator: With The Ignorant Ones of Respite closing in on Yzzayt's Abyss once more, the time has come for Nyzai and Usid to drive off the invaders to their homeland. The weather, as asked of Yzzayt, is favourable for the ambush. Overcast skies shroud the desert sky in darkness, illuminated only briefly by the flash of lightning strikes that land dangerously close by, deafening the land.
Nyzai and her team await on a rocky outcrop, heads blended against the jagged edges as her keen eyes scout. A small scout of hers, flying low to the ground, reports Usid's readiness to her, whom await over the next dune from The Ignorant Ones. "Excellent. Upon next of Yzzayt's luminous roars, we begin." Nyzai replies, using a hand signal to inform her scouts. They ready up, awaiting the next bolt of lightning...
Nesseth and his rangers, being assisted by Gareth and the rest of the guards' pistol and rifle marksmen, lie in wait near the ambush point, having taken Usid's information in good faith. After getting well-rested the previous night, the guards continued forward into the territory covered by Nyzai and her fliers. During the night that followed, the guards went to sleep... or so it appeared from the banked fires and pitched tents everywhere within a certain range. The guard patrols are pulled back a bit, so they don't get picked off, but still forward enough to be believable as patrols. In reality, the entire camp is on alert, biding and waiting for any incoming ambush at the first sign of attack, the campsite itself being the battlegrounds, tonight.
Narrator: The flash of lightning and crack of thunder comes at last, Nyzai's scouts flying low to the ground to rapidly approach the camp. Their first targets are the patrols, aiming to swoop upon them with a staggered assault from their bladed talons, rapidly climbing high up into the sky above the camp after their attacks, to draw the camp's eyes upwards at them.
Narrator: The camp's forward scouts, alert for anything out of the ordinary, take note of the flapping of wings barely audible above the ringing in their ears from the peal of thunder. The darkness plays against them, however, as they spend the first precious couple of seconds looking around for the source of the sound. When they finally see the direction the attack is coming from, they call out an alert and begin to pull back towards the camp.
Nesseth and the rest of the counter-ambush team remain as still as possible under concealment as they wait for the fliers to approach closer. The plan, as described by the captains, is to let the archers take their shots first, and for the marksmen to follow up on any retreating Saurs. For the moment, they wait to draw the fliers closer into range as the alert goes out.
Nyzai and her scouts plan is undeterred by being spotted earlier than anticipated. They advance on the retreating patrols in a staggered formation, three or four of her fliers attacking one after another at the scouts with their bladed talons, then pulling up above the camp to conceal themselves against the darkened sky. Most of the scouts targeted, thanks to their early detection and plan, are lucky enough to come away only with grazes and light wounds, though a couple spearheaded by Nyzai and her better scouts are far less lucky and are more seriously wounded.
Nesseth whispers an order to the rangers and, in unison, they turn and prepare to fire. What looked like a small stretch of dark brush on the ground turns out to be (at least partially) the ranged fighters, bows strung and nocked with arrows. Moments later, Nesseth calls out to fire, and a volley of arrows looses into the air, nearly impossible to see due to the darkness. As the deadly salvo takes to the air, the scouts continue to pull back, now taking the time to rescue their wounded companions.
Gareth and the marksmen continue to lie in wait, knowing their part of the plan. He growls a low order to the rest of the group to stay steady and make sure their guns are loaded and ready to fire. The marksmen shift a bit, but remain steady.]
Narrator: As the arrows fly silently through the air and strike a few of Nyzai's flyers, wounding some and grounding others, Nyzai lets out a series of rapid clicks as she ascends. She quickly analyses the situation as she climbs, noting the well-prepared counter-ambush of The Ignorant Ones, though she might not have time to think further than that on the situation... The grounded flyers manage to fall gracefully, quickly getting up to their feet and preparing their bows. While death is no doubt imminent for them, they are more than prepared to sacrifice themselves to buy time for Usid's approach, not knowing that it won't be coming.\
Nesseth commands the rangers to drop down and reload. If the fliers want to do staggered fire, they'll show the Saurs how it's really done. "Get down and reload!"
Gareth hears the command for the rangers to drop down, and calls out to the marksmen. "That's yer cue! Aim!" He stands up with the rest of the marksmen, a chorus of clacking accompanying the movement, his cutlass unsheathed as he points up towards the silhouettes hanging up in the air, "FIRE!"
Nyzai and the others continue to ascend, giving Nyzai a brief moment more to assess the situation. She hears Nesseth's call, her mind ticking. The preparedness of the defenders. Gareth's call comes out. Something is definitely wrong. Where is Usid's attack? The realization comes too late. She begins letting out another series of clicks, but is interrupted by the percussive punctuation of gunfire. . .Which concludes in the puncturing of her and several of her remaining flyers. They plummet to the ground, Nyzai in pain from the shots to her wings and shoulder. She resumes her clicking as she falls, signalling the handful of flyers who survived to begin retreating. Nyzai and the falling flyers bring themselves to land as best they can much like those before them, immediately pulling out their bows for a last stand, shooting at anything that moves.
Nesseth and the rangers rise back up as the volley of gunfire goes out, and the wind blows away the smoke from their shots. "Aim for the ones still in the air! Fire!" His frills flex a little as he hears another one of the captains calling out an advance to capture any surviving land-bound Saurs. The wounded scouts continue their retreat under the safety of the outgoing fire, and soon fall behind the cover of the advancing troops.
Narrator: The four or so flyers left in the air are high enough that they're able to take adequate evasive action against Nesseth's rangers, especially against the dark clouds above. They manage to retreat without much issue.
Nesseth and the rangers duck down once more as Gareth and the marksmen fire off one more salvo at the retreating figures. But after that, the skies are clear, and the entire group stands up and begins to rejoin the rest of the guards in figuring out what to do with the wounded, both allied and opposing.
Nyzai: Three more of the flyers go down from the second hail of gunfire, leaving one left to tell the tale.
Nyzai lets off a final series of clicks. Nyzai and those with her band up as best they can, continuing to fire at anything that dares approach. Despite certain doom, the Pterosaurs straighten up and fight with fanatic zeal.
Vandal does his duty dutifully. While this particular guard generally opts to remain on barracks-adjacent duties, the one area he's never been lazy in is keeping his skills as sharp as his quills, and the porcupine is letting all 4' of him roll out that practice in this storm. The chaos of this lightning-lit fight is at least less confusing as the enemy is obviously those dropping from the sky, Vandal setting his sights on the nearest descending shape as he rushes where they're most likely to land, an iron-tipped javelin in his right hand, and a similar spear in his left. When the flyer is close enough, he winds up and hurl the javelin, though in this weather it could fall anywhere.
Kira is flitting around, trying to stay out of the path of any errant arrows as she goes. Wherever she sees an opening, she dives in and delivers unexpected jabs with her little blade.
Nyzai: The remaining three flyers go down outside the perimeter of the camp, quickly picked off by Nesseth and Gareth's rangers. Those in Nyzai's group turn to face the pricks from behind, attempting to swat Kira out of the sky with their marksmanship, at least before they're overrun and forced to engage in melee with the camp.
Nyzai sets the sights of her next arrow on the closest target, the Porcupine, ready to fire just as the javelin slams into her bow, cracking it in half and deflecting the javelin through her already ruined wing. Nyzai hisses, both out of pain and frustration, tossing the ruined bow to the ground. She reaches down for her talons, each hand plucking one of the talon blades from it to wield. The blades aren't exactly formidable weapons when wielded in this manner but if Nyzai is able to kill one more stupid Ignorant, it'll have been worth it. She takes a direct interest in Vandal, left shoulder blooded from where the gunfire had left it shattered, walking quickly towards him to engage him.
Kira barely manages to avoid one arrow after getting too cocky for a moment. She flits away to a safe distance, however, and waits for the poison on her blade to have its effect on the two pterosaurs she managed to prick. They should be starting to feel quite itchy by now.
Vandal slips slightly on the grass after his throw, catching his balance and shifting the spear to his right hand. It takes a few moments to register that his javelin even landed near Nyzai, but since she's moving toward him, he doesn't waste any time wondering if it even did anything. He hunkers down, holding the spear ready and beginning to charge toward the foe.
Narrator: Soon, the Pterosaurs are overrun in melee combat with the rest of the camp, taking a page out of Nyzai's book and reaching down for their talons to pick a blade off to fight with. Wary of the spear's range and her large frame, Nyzai opens up the encounter by throwing one of her blades at Vandal, then follows it up by attempting to get intimately close with Vandal so that his spear would be far harder to use effectively.
Narrator: The two saurs Kira pricked stop fighting just as the Respite forces close distance on them. It's probably a blessing that they go down to normal weapons rather than having the full effect of the poison take hold. The moth flies down again, all the pterosaurs now engaged at close range and thus open to her poisoned sting again. Carefully, she descends toward the largest one, the one that
Kira: seemed in charge of the attackers, and darts in, landing a solid stab with a freshly coated blade in the back of Nyzai's shoulder.
Vandal staggers a bit to his right trying to avoid the thrown blade, feeling it catch across his hip. His quills prickle in response, grunt raising in pitch to a quick shout as he sets his feet into the dirt and aims a spear thrust toward Nyzai's chest. He's as aware of the range difference in their weapons as Nyzai is.
Nyzai uses her now free hand to grab Vandal's incoming spear, deflecting it to the side as best she can to avoid it mortally impaling her. She's successful at first, though then Kira's stab in her already wounded shoulder causes her to hiss and lose focus, struggling to keep a grip of the spear and letting go. She reflexively starts a round-house kick with her bladed talons, while simultaneously turning her head to assess the threat to aim her rending kick correctly at Kira, fully exposed to Vandal as she does so.
Kira closes her wings to fall just below the kick, but she's not quite fast enough and is barely caught, tumbling briefly through the air before landing on the dusty ground in a pile. She seems to be a touch dazed but relatively unhurt. Meanwhile, the poison from her sword is starting to spread a hot itching from the site of the stab, a distracting feeling for Nyzai, certainly.
Vandal feels his heart pounding as she deflects his attack, everything seeming to slow down as he instinctively turns his head away from Nyzai, briefly thinking he's done for. He closes the remaining distance between them, slamming his quilled left shoulder against Nyzai's wounded left, any that might catch would break off once stuck. Vandal takes a ducked step away from Nyzai no matter what, dropping his spear and drawing a long dirk from the sheathe on his side, stepping one further with defense as his intent.
Nyzai raises her second bladed talon to throw at the downed moth, intent on finishing her kill, though Vandal slamming into her interrupts and staggers her. The quills break off along her shoulder blade and upper back. She hisses furiously again, now becoming aware of the growing sensation along her left side. The anger begins to overcome her and cloud her judgement. "Stupid Ignorants!" Nyzai turns to hiss at Vandal, taking a careless step forward to swipe at him, angrily screeching, "Nyzai will kill you!" as she does so.
Kira manages to collect herself. She climbs to her feet, shakes out her wings, and finding no serious damage, she takes to the air again. She buzzes toward Nyzai, hoping to keep the saur off balance long enough for the poison to do its work. Enough of her friends have been hurt so far, even tonight, and she won't stand by and watch Vandal be hurt too.
Vandal notices what Nyzai's target is as he steps back away from the wild swing, responding to it with a slash of his own, aimed for that offending arm.
Nyzai does the bare minimum required to parry the hit in order to keep advancing fervently towards Vandal, resulting in both Nyzai losing her blade, as well as Vandal's blade deflecting off in such a way to tear a huge gash in Nyzai's attached wing. "You come to OUR lands! Yzzayt does not tolerate this!" She screeches, hissing wildly from the combined pain she's undergoing. She raises a leg and swiftly kicks at Vandal, hoping to plunge her bladed talons deep within his soft underbelly.
Kira dives down as she sees the kick coming for Vandal, a deft manoeuvre of wings and blade in harmony letting the little moth place a perfect strike to slash at the sinew ties of the talon blade, severing it cleanly and sending the blades flying off mostly harmlessly. In addition, the sword leaves another shallow slash on Nyzai, more poison burning its way into her body. "Silence, predator. You're already dead." She arcs herself away, recovering the talon blades from the ground so they can't be easily recovered before putting distance between herself and Nyzai again.
Vandal receives a kick to the gut that could have ended far worse, if not for Kira's quick thinking, staggering back a few steps. He grits his teeth, glaring at Nyzai, "YOU attacked us, bitch! You stole our people!" He'd reigned in his emotions from the start, but Nyzai's arrogant chatter broke that bind. He lunges toward the saur, palming the pommel of his dagger as he seems to aim to tackle with a side of stabbing.
Narrator: While nowhere near as deadly, Nyzai's regular talons are still sharp enough to draw blood. Nyzai's foot retreats from Vandal, her body starting to shake and write from the combination of toxins and pain, the frustration of Kira's second intervention merely building upon her anger. Rapidly losing control of herself, and down to one last set of bladed talons, Nyzai taunts Vandal. Convulsing slightly, with a torn wing and blood drenched down her left side, she spreads her arms wide, untorn wings with it. "Then come get Nyzai!" She offers.
Kira moves to hover over Vandal's shoulder. "Don't... she is dying. Don't risk letting her hurt you. Be wise, friend..."
Vandal catches Kira's voice, and something about Nyzai's change in demeanor prickles his brain, leaving the porcupine to hesitate and reassess. His abdomen burns from the injury she'd inflicted, his left hand patting at the roughly twin cuts as he takes a step back. "You got her with that blade? Heh, good. Let her suffer slowly, then." He keeps his glaring eyes on Nyzai, but continues speaking to Kira as if she's no longer there. "Are the others doing better?"
Kira gives a triumphant little grin. "Yes. It burns her. She should be screaming... but she fights through it." She looks around the battlefield where she sees fewer and fewer pterosaurs still standing, and the few that are are getting increasingly mobbed by the defenders. "The others seem fine, yes."
Nyzai grows angrier at being ignored. She reaches down for her last set of bladed talons, pincering the twine off of it and pulling up the full assortment of blades. She begins throwing all of the attached blades directly at Kira, as one good blade has the potential to do far more damage to the moth than Vandal. Then, with her last blade, she clasps it tightly in her hand.
Nyzai: "G-Glory to Yzzayt!" She calls out. Shakily, with rapidly accelerating convulsions, she begins to stab herself fiercely and repeatedly in the neck, until her strength begins to give out completely and she crumples to the ground, convulsing for as long as her body continues to have life.
Vandal twitches at Nyzai's movement, but realizes her intent as she starts moving to throw. He turns his back to her, stepping between the airborne blades and Kira, the quills down his back doing a respectable job at slowing the blades enough to leave painful strikes down the back of his ribcage, but nothing apparently critical. He turns in time to see Nyzai fall, shuddering at the wounds she'd inflicted on herself. "Fuck Yzzayt, if that's what he wants... A-are you okay, Kira?"
Kira dives down behind Vandal at the tossed blade, the corner of a wing getting a bit sliced, but not enough to hamper her flight. By the time she's recovered and peeks out over Vandal again, it's too late for Nyzai who lies with her lifeblood draining out. "Yes... I'll be fine... and this one is gone. We should go help the others if they need it."
Vandal nods to Kira, taking his eyes from Nyzai with a grunt. The pair move on, Vandal moving to help an injured comrade back to the lines while Kira watches their backs. The battle winds down quickly, what with one side having an entire facet of their force missing, leaving a lot of the 'wrong' bodies strewn across the field as the storm clouds thin, the filtered sunlight washing the scene in an appropriately grim light.