ChaoZ: A Royal pain in the elves.

"That horde of ghouls was indeed quite large. Even for this part of the continent. Ghouls normally don't even form hordes. They stick together in small packs of ten or twenty. Maybe the little elf over there is a necromancer."


"What? No! I'm not a necomancer, that's ridiculous!"


"It really isn't."


"Those ghouls killed my friends!"


"So you say. For all we know your friends never existed and you led us into this room as a trap."


"Oh sure blame the elf, fucking human racists."


"Says the kid from the most racist kingdom in all of Val. Let's just kill him this is becoming annoying."


"We can't! What if he's innocent." Ziome pleaded. Not wanting to kill someone just for being suspicious.


"Fine. Tie him up again, whatever we decide to do with him we can't let him escape."


"Stay the fuck away!" The elf boy yelled threatingly. Fluffy responded with a snarl.


"Somebody restrain him before he does something stupid. I would do it but I'm still recovering mana."

"Seriously dude, she just like evaporated a jillion ghouls. What's with the threatening tone? What exactly are you gonna do?"

Rol approached the elf slowly, petting Fluffy trying to calm the manticore down.

"Look champ, you've got two choices here, either you let us tie you up and you come along, or the rest of us pretend we don't hear you screaming while she." He pointed at Az. "Roasts you. Literally. Or you are a necromancer and you fight us I guess." 

"She said she needs to recover first. She won't be able to do anything for a while. So fuck you, filthy human."


"This will make me sound like a cheesy supervillain but... I don't need my magic to hurt you really really badly." Az said as she slowly walked towards the elf kid while cracking her knuckles and grinning.


"You're bluffing!" The elf kid yelled as he took a step backwards.

Ziome's protests stopped. Even she was getting annoyed by the elf kid at this point.
The Elf burst to the side and tried to make a run for it. Fluffy jumped in front of the kid and growled. The elf was desperate and kicked the manticore on the nose. This surprised Fluffy and allowed the elf to get past him. The Manticore whimpered.


But there was Az. She grabbed the elf by his neck. "I've had enough of your bullshit." She grabbed her oversized sword and plunged it into the elf's stomach. His eyes widened for a moment. But then a wide smile formed on his face. "You shouldn't have done that."
This shocked Az for a moment and she pulled her sword out. The boy collapsed, he didn't move. The smile stayed on his face as the life drained from his eyes.


"That.. was creepy."

"Great, now we're probably going to get murdered by some weird demon elf magic. Thanks Az."


Rol complained.

"Could just tied the kid up, left 'em there even. But murder had to be the way to go. And now he's probably a murderous revenant." 

"How was I supposed to know? He showed no signs of being whatever he is. Besides he was a liability and an annoying one at that. We already agreed that we couldn't leave him behind in case he contacts his buddies."

Az looked down at the corpse of the boy. "If we burn his body he can't come back right? I think."
"Ziome cast a fireball or something. I haven't recovered enough mana yet and I need to clean this blood off my blade or he'll start complaining."

Ziome nods and draws a simple circle for a fireball. The fire incinerated the body quickly, leaving only charred remains. The group moves on as soon as Az has cleaned Kai.

By the time they reach the end of the hallway the Ghouls had come from the ice was back on the walls. At the end the hallway split. They could go right or left.
Right had more ice and snow.
Left had something that seemed to be howling in the dark. (It wasn't fluffy. He's a feline, cats don't howl. Most of them anyways.)

"Lets not do something stupid like splitting up. This isn't a crappy horror movie. Who votes for going left? And who votes right?"

Jex looked as Az stabbed the Elf boy. Completely unnecessary, he thought, but with a temper like Az's, the boy was asking for it. He kept quiet, daring not to jump into the who shebang. However, he was worried. Why shouldn't have Az done that?

He looked at the forked road up ahead.


"The howl. Boss fight means the right way, does it not?"

"But do we search all the rooms for one hundred percent completion?"

Rol asked, quietly.

Jex"Why shouldn't have Az done that?"

(Because killing children is illegal Jex. It's illegal! Dear gods, Jex what even?)






"Bossfight it is then. Keep in mind I'm still low on Mana so I won't be much help for a while. And yes Rol, I have a feeling we'll have to explore the entire place anyway. Lets just do it before the Dark elves catch up."

The group made its way towards the howling. Whatever it was it seemed to make Fluffy nervous.
However when they arrived the room was empty. The only other door was on the right side of the chamber. Suddenly a chill ran through everyones spine. Followed by another howl that was so loud it caused a major headache and hurt everyones ears.
Fluffy collapsed, his feline ears were even more effected and started bleeding a little.
He tried covering his ears, shivering on the floor.

Then it appeared, a white ghostly figure vaguely resembling a woman. "A Banshee!"

"SHADOW EARMUFFS." Rol yelled trying to match the decibel of the banshee scream, obviously ineffective. Rol covered Fluffy's ears with shadows, as the manticore clearly took priority over his friends.

Jex slammed his staff onto the ground. 


"Sagitta Magica! Series Lucis!"

He jumped sideways, cringing from the sound of the scream. 10 light arrows shot from the end of his staff and sped towards the monster.

The Light arrows whooshed through the air. Hitting the banshee straight in the face and several other places. It was enough to temporarily stop her screams. But the sound still rung through everyone's head.
Fluffy got back on his paws. The Earmuffs helped but the silence more so. This fight would be a dangerous one for Fluffy.

Az drew her sword. She wouldn't be able to to use her fire magic. But Kai had his own mana reserves. The swords eye opened up and sparks surrounded it.
Ziome grabbed her Broom and jumped on it. She went through her potions, trying to decide which one to use.


"Guy's no physical attacks. They'll just go through her." Az advized.
"And try to spread out."
Ziome nodded and took off, trying to fly around the banshee to get behind her.
The Banshee took a deep breath, preparing for another scream.

"Wasn't planning on going anywhere near that thing."

He clenched his teeth, trying to distract himself from the noise of the banshee.


"Sagitta Magica! Series Lucis!"

He kept on firing light arrows at it, shooting at a fast pace, unsure of what else to do.

She started to scream but the fire arrows interupted her again.

"Keep firing! It seems to stop her screams!"
Az aimed her sword at the ghostly creature and fired a lightning bolt at her. But the banshee suddenly faded away and it missed.
"Fuck!"
The creature was nowhere to be seen for a few seconds but then it appeared behind Jex. The banshee lunged at him with her ghostly claws.

"No physical? What do I do?"

Rol asked, not really paying attention to the mayhem around him.

Jex continued firing upon Az's command, when the lightning bolt shot out at the Banshee, he stopped. When the monster popped out behind him, he felt the cold air push against his back. Quickly, he popped up his daggers, infusing it with light magic, and attempted to parry the attack.


"Help!"

The light magic in the daggers countered her attack and damaged her ghostly claws. She recoiled and was about to scream right into Jex's face. Suddenly the runes on the staff of wisdom lit up and a blue forcefield surrounded Jex. Jex heard a female voice in his mind. "Stay away!"

The Banshee's scream sent him flying accross the room but the forcefield softened the impact and protected his ears.

Az fired another lightning bolt at the banshee. It hit her this time and the banshee seemingly exploded.
"Don't let your guard down. She's not dead yet. And Rol try to provide cover for us and wait. Ziome is working on that problem."
Meanwhile Ziome drank a purple potion and grabbed two more potions. She combined the two carefully and mixed them together.

Az was proven right when the Banshee reappeared in the middle of the room. She went straight for Az. Az dodged the Banshee's claws by jumping to the side and tried to create some distance. But it suddenly appeared right in front of Az's face. "Shit."

Jex was shocked. She'd returned. He allowed a smile to creep on his face as he sheathed one of his daggers and replaced it with his staff. The Staff of Wisdom glowed a bright light as he allowed his magic to flow into it.


"Sagitta Magica! Series Lucis!"

He casted the arrow spell. 5 light arrows shot towards the banshee's head right as it appeared before Az.

The light arrows hit the banshee. Allowing Az to jump against the wall to launch herself away from her. She landed next to Rol. "Try seeing if that glove works against her."
"Also thanks for the save Jex."


Ziome grabbed some herb out of her pocket and added it to the Potion. She then conjured a small fireball to heat it up. The Banshee shrieked, looked around and then charged towards Ziome.
"Keep her away from Ziome!" Az yelled as she fired another lightning bolt. The banshee dodged it and kept going towards the red headed witch.

A surge of emotions went through Jex's head. Fear, joy, sadness, relief and confusion.
"What?! ..I'm not dead? .. How.. Where..What?" The Emotions and thoughts of the being that was once a gargoyle flood from the staff into Jex. The Sadness of forever being chained. The Joy of finally being free. The Knowledge that being released meant death and the Fear that came with it. The Relief of waking up and not being dead after all. And the Confusion of not knowing where the hell you are or how you got there and what the " fuck is going on?"

Rol conjured up a shadow wall in the path between Ziome and the banshee, hoping that even if it just phased threw it maybe the banshee would at least slow it down. The wall also survived as a more viable target for Rol to hit with the glove rather than the moving ghost thing, as the explosion itself would still make contact with the banshee.

"I dunno if it'll help, but if it does than nice."

The appearance of a wall surprised the Banshee. She stopped for a second.
Enough time for Az to hit her with another lightning bolt. The ghostly creature shrieked giving Rol a window to fire a shadow blast at her. The shadow hit the shadow wall and the explosion hit the banshee. Who also exploded, again.

Ziome extinguished the flame she was using. "The potion is ready!"
"Good work! Use it when she reappears!" Az answered her apprentice.

It didn't take long for her to do just that. Again in the middle of the Room she screamed at Rol and Az. Causing a major headache for both.
Ziome prepares to throw the potion but then the banshee splits into five smaller banshees.
"Which one is the real one?!"
"No fucking idea!"

Meanwhile the emotions flowing into Jex calmed down. The being in the staff and him were now linked. The former gargoyle noticed a battle was going on around them. ".. I guess now is a bad time for questions and panic attacks.." She said telepathically.

"Yes. For now, we'll fight."

He thought to himself. Jex refocused on the fight at hand. He was happy that their friend had returned with them and now fought side by side with them, or so it had seemed. He looked at the 5 banshees and smiled.


"Sagitta Magica! Series Lucis!"

5 bolts of light magic shot forward from the Staff of Wisdom. They shined brighter than the rest of the arrows he had shot from before, presumably due to the increased amount of magic in them.

The first two light arrows hit their target. And the two banshee exploded before they could even shriek. The other three banshee noticed and attempted to dodge the arrows by disappearing. One of them was just too late and exploded when the arrow hit.
Two survived and quicly reappeared. They charged towards Jex but a sudden lightning bolt from Az took them both out.

It was then that the original banshee reappeared. Screaming like hell.
Causing everyone to drop to the ground as the sound caused their head to fel as if being struck by an earthquake. Even Fluffy's shadow earmuffs couldn't stop the sound completely.

Only Ziome was not affected. Partially because she was standing behind the ghostly creature but mostly because the potion she drank earlier protected her from it. She took her chance and tossed the vial she had just prepared at the Banshee.
It hit the ground below her and an explosion caused a cloud of blue dust to envelop the Banshee.
The Banshee tried to disappear again but couldn't.

The blue dust made her less ghostly. It reacted with the ectoplasm she was made of and caused it to become somewhat solid. "It worked! She's vulnerable to physical attacks now. Now is our chance!"

"Can I shoot it?" Rol asked, while already emptying his clip at the banshee.

Jex clenched his teeth at the sound of the Banshee's scream as he fell to the ground. When Az told them what the blue potion did he nodded but assumed that was more for Rol than him. He stood back up and threw his staff directly above him, quickly unsheathing one of his daggers and throwing it at the creature, hoping it would at least distract it for someone else to deliver a lethal attack.


"Blow her up or some shit."

Each bullet shot a hole through the banshee and the dagger sliced through her shoulder as a knife through ghostly butter. Her arm fell off and she Screamed again stunning everyone except Ziome again. Ziome shot a fireball at her and her white hair ignited.
She flailed around trying to put it out. Her screaming stopped.

Az  ran at the banshee while it was distracted and plunged her sword through her. Before the Banshee could turn around Az fired another lightningbolt. Launching the Banshee along with it.
The not-so-ghostly figure splatted against the wall. A muffled scream was heard.


"Now would be a good time to finish her. I'd do it but my sword is out of mana too now." Az said as she put Kai on her back again.