The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage

WM [33] It Tasted… Good

There was an explosion of movements as Tanisha redirected her own swinging bardiche. Sabec thought he was being sneaky by sobering himself up over the course of their conversation. Tanisha knew what he was doing and decided to play along. The gnoll man was worse for wear and she wanted what she was going to do to him to hurt. She wanted him to be sober, alcohol would numb the pain.

The table beneath Sabec was a shabby thing so when it broke it was no surprise to her. She took Sabec’s momentary confusion to flip him over her towards the door. She simultaneously disarmed him of the bardiche. He rolled but came to a stop before tumbling outside. Tanisha wasted no time in showing him the underside of her boot to his face which sent him out the door. She didn’t channel the maya through the kick not wanting to kill him so easily. She wanted him to suffer; she needed him to suffer.

She didn’t immediately follow him, instead she looked around the cabin. Her eyes landed on a saber large enough to be a great sword in her hands on the bottom bunk of a bed near the fireplace. The blade was sheathed but the quality of the piece indicated that it was an expensive, likely his main weapon. She grabbed it and walked to the open door.

Outside Sabec was still on the ground growling like a dog. Tanisha fought a smirk when she saw he was locked onto Bjorn before his gaze shifted back to her. Seeing his face just pissed her off even more. She had convinced Bjorn and Joha to not intervene and to let her put this mad hyena down. She tossed the sword to him as if it were garbage into a landfill. 

Tanisha had only malice in her voice when she spoke. “This is it, Sabec. You can die on your feet or on your knees.”

She readied herself when Sabec grabbed his sword and rose to his feet. He was tall, close to eight feet and although he was a merchant he was also a warrior. Tanisha knew he could kill mages; he had killed a druid and captured another during the attack on Tyr’s home town. He had also used Flash Step and she already got a good look at his status with her Identify. This was not going to be an easy fight but she didn’t want it to be. She wanted to hurt him badly before he died.

Identify
Name: Sabec Moonseeker
Species: Gnoll
Level: 82
Vocation: Fire Sword Master
Highest Stat: Dexterity: 137

There was a brief moment of calm before Sabec charged forward, his speed enhanced by his chakra which burned like fire. Chakra takes on the nature of the style used to harness it. The Isi used a style that called upon the nature of ice. It froze enemies in place and shattered defenses with creeping frost. Sabec’s flame burned hot and wild, a stark contrast to the cold. It reminded her of the gnoll she fought with when they came for Bjorn. Her name was Fuei and she also wielded fire, though Fuei's twin sickles lacked the finesse of Sabec’s saber.

Tanisha was the support in the battle only using her Infernal Hands to distract Fuei while Tyr and Owen fought her into a slowly losing battle. She did end up delivering the decisive blow with the second form AgniKavach which gave them enough time for Bjorn to show up and end the fight. Tanisha was stronger then both Tyr and Owen now and she had a plethora of options at her disposal. 

Sabec's saber thrust forward with blistering speed that looked to blur as he closed the distance. Tanisha parried the strike with her bardiche, the force of the collision of their weapons was heavy and sent a jolt up her arms. She knew that the last thing she needed was to be cornered against the cabin so she used Arcane Shift to teleport behind him, poised to strike her bardiche whistled as it cut through the air. Sabec was thrown by her sudden disappearance, it was obvious he had no idea she could use a teleportation skill. Sabec was no novice, his experience and instincts had him pivot in place and in a move deflect her blow with his sword wreathed in flames. The heat caused Tanisha to instinctively jump back to gain more distance.

The blades clashed again and again, the sound ringing out through the woodland as sparks flew from each impact. Sabec’s confidence surged as the fight wore on, his strikes grew more aggressive as he gauged her ability with the bardiche. Each swing of his sword produced waves of fire that threatened to engulf her. Tanisha was caught off guard, forced to use Arcane Shift again to evade a deadly clash, only to be hit by a wave of slicing fire. The attack was mitigated by her armor and Chain Breaker’s Mantle, but it still sent her tumbling backward, her clothes and skin catching fire.

She screamed, a sound that echoed with both pain and fury, releasing a wave of seiðr that took on the properties of maya, coating her body to extinguish the blaze. Chakra fire much like the ice variant was not normal; it matched the power and intensity of the wielder. The seiðr crackled around her slowly dispersing the power of the chakra. 

She didn’t have more than a second to dodge a second horizontal wave of fire. She jumped up into the air and flipped over it. She landed speaking the words of power to summon two water orbs. She ducked to her right to avoid a blade wreathed in flames passing through the place her head used to be. She shot streams of water from both orbs. Sabec dodged one and blocked one which exploded on contact with the heat from his sword.

Divination Hydromancy
Seiðr cost: Variable
(I) Create seiðr constructs with liquid attributes, condense water from the atmosphere and/or control water from a water source. Exerting control over water allows you to change its state and temperature with ease. (II) Alter the properties of water to cause it to glow. Only those you choose can see the light produced. (III) Water in any state will condense into a blast of highly pressurized water. You maintain control of water even after it is fired, allowing it to change trajectory and home in on enemies.

Sabec was blasted backward which gave Tanisha enough breathing room to summon the Hard Air Constructs in the shape of two hands. Since the spell evolved from the Mystic Wind Hands she could create different shapes with the spell but it required more visualization and Seiðr to maintain the spell. She didn’t need that for this fight anyway, everything was going more or less according to plan. 

She handed the bardiche to the newly formed Hard Air Construct hands and recollected the steam back into her water. Clearing the line of sight to Sabec who was badly burned from the steam eruption. Tanisha tightened her stance into the third form AgniKavach now that she was barehanded. The gnoll  pride refused to let him back down. He lunged at her with a snarl, swinging the saber in a wild arc.

Tanisha didn’t flinch. With a graceful sidestep, she avoided his strike and grabbed his wrist, twisting it until he dropped the weapon with a pained yelp. His other hand swung around claws extended in an attempt to grab her throat. Tanisha moved one of the water orbs in front of Sabec’s face where it flashed with a bright light only he could see. She easily dodged the blind strikes and directed the air construct holding the bardiche to spin and cut off Sabec’s front leg.

The water orbs shot out his shoulders leaving clean  holes through the bone and tendons. She shoved him backward, sending him sprawling onto the ground again. Sabec lay there, panting heavily and in pain as blood stained the ground. Tanisha loomed over him, her golden eyes burning with cold fury.

Sabec lunged forward attempting to bring his jaws close enough to at least bite the girl in retaliation. It didn’t work as Tanisha grabbed his mouth and forced it closed. He couldn’t lift his arms, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t run. She tackled him to the ground, pinning him beneath her weight.

As she held him down, Tanisha felt the familiar thirst rising within her. She fought it, her mind screaming against the urge, but the scent of blood. There was so much around, so much of his blood waiting for her to consume it. She tried to snap herself out of it but couldn’t as her teeth began to chatter, and despite her resistance, she couldn’t hold back.

Tanisha realized then that there was something wrong with her mind. Being a cernunnos meant more than having power. It meant she had a price for that power. A vampiric urge and primal hunger that she had been desperately denying this entire time. Tanisha could feel Bjorn running towards her to stop her from what she was about to do. She wanted to let him but her body moved on its own as she opened her mouth, her breath inches from Sabec's neck.

With a growl, Tanisha sank her fangs into his neck. The taste of his blood filled her mouth, and she drank deeply, her body shuddering with the pleasure and power that came with it. Sabec’s struggles grew weaker until he finally went limp, the life draining out of him with every pull of her lips.

“Tanisha stop!” Joha yelled.

Tanisha knew she should stop, but the bloodlust had taken over. She couldn’t pull away, her mind lost in the intoxicating rush. She felt something in her core shift, the final key to her new species unlocked. It wasn’t until Sabec’s heart gave one last feeble beat that she finally released him, her mouth smeared with his blood. Joha appeared at her side and yanked Tanisha off of the body. He threw him away from her but it was too late. She had already tasted his blood and it tasted… good.