Hell's Invasion

Outside the southern borders of the obsidian forest near the Rikujou Mountains another terror lurks with a groups of 50 ghouls.....that can be seen.....and is planning on invading the forest. His master wants the order out of the picture and has entrusted him with its destruction. The terror stood tall before his small minions "Order...will feel....our hate.....our wrath...master...will be...pleased"

The Acolytes were the first to see the ghouls lingering at the outside of the forest. The Warden and the rest of the Order were immediately alerted, and dozens of pairs of silvery eyes watched the terror and the ghouls intently, daring them to come closer.

The terror would see them and smile "Come...Order weak..lings.....come out.....play!" The Ghouls would be snapping their jaws and snarling and screeching at the order remembering how the order forced them from the forest.

Within the Obsidian Forest, the Warden was several miles away and in the caverns - he would not be able to assist his Acolytes against the terror for the time being, but Andarien, the War Priest, quickly agreed to make his way towards the southwestern edge of the forest. He left the Temple after gathering a group of Runeborn soldiers, and they quickly made their way to the edge of the forest where the terror had gathered his ghouls.

Andarien stepped forward, towards the edge of the forest, within plain sight. He was wearing scaled black armor with large, spiked pauldrons adorned with skulls and glowing, silvery-blue runes. He held a slightly curved longsword etched with the same glowing, runic markings as his armor.

"Begone from here. Your kind is not welcome!"

The terror bellowed evil broken laughter " Ghouls seem.......disagree.....human." he would glare at him "Master wants...order gone......order.....will...gone"

"Then come here, beast, if you wish to battle."

Andarien stood alone at the edge of the forest, with rows of Acolytes barely visible behind him.

The terror roared loud and his ghouls charged forward ready to tear anyone in front of them apart. They were running fast, this terror was bolder than the mesa terror and would walk forward behind them slowly.

Andarien didn't flinch. Two heavy Runeborne soldiers appeared from the forest directly at his side, with four more light Runeborne soldiers behind them. About twenty Acolytes darted forth from the forest in front of them, colliding with the line of ghouls instantly. They would run some of the ghouls through with their blades, while some of the Acolytes would be overrun with ghouls and fall quickly.

Andarien raised his left hand and a glowing aura, almost like flame the color of the twilight horizon, began growing in the palm of his hand. It grew quickly, and he held it up into the sky and released it. Tendrils of bright, silver light from the aura shot out into the sky above the Acolytes and came down towards them in graceful arcs, as if it was imbuing them or healing them with its energy.

The terror roared and the all of the ghoul's roared and snarled fighting harder and faster and their eyes now had a red-ish tint to them. Some of them would fall easily and other would tear apart the acolytes they fought since they wore nothing but cloth. The terror would look at Andarien and laugh "This...all order....can...put forth?"

Andarien's voice rang out over the battlefield. "I could ask you the same."

He stepped forward towards the waves of ghouls, followed by two heavy and two light Runeborne soldiers. About a dozen more Acolytes came forth from the tree-line behind him, making their way onto the battlefield to take the place of their fallen brethren. Two of the light Runeborne soldiers remained behind, and they began to form spheres of silver energy in their hands. Andarien cast another burst of glowing light into the air that rained down on the Acolytes, healing some of their minor wounds and slightly increasing their defenses.

The terror would smile and roar again and more ghouls would come out of hiding from around the area and fight. ten more joined the fight. The terror commanded 5 ghouls to go for each of the heavy rune born soldiers. He would shoot arm spikes at the light soldiers casting spells, the spikes would reform after they were fired.

Andarien's heavy soldiers didn't hesitate to defend themselves. One of them swung his massive, two-handed sword towards the group of ghouls coming at him and cleaved several of them straight through in a single stroke of his blade. He bashed the blunt end into another ghoul, crushing its skull, and sent it flying at the last remaining ghoul attacking him. The other heavy soldier sent out a moderate blast of energy, stunning the ghouls before they could reach him, and then impaling one of them straight through its torso. While he pulled his blade out and swung it at another one, he sent out another close-range magic burst to send the other ghouls near him flying backwards to finish them off.

One of the light Runeborne soldiers towards the back of the group was hit and pierced through his armor. The spell he was casting was interrupted, but he was not seriously injured. The other managed to dodge the rest of the spikes as he shot out a series of charged silver shards of glowing energy back at the terror. Meanwhile, Andarien and the soldiers with him made it to the front lines of the battle, ready to begin cutting down more ghouls.

Only one ghoul was left alive of the small groups sent to take down the massive powerful rune born, it was scared but it still leaped onto the back of the heavy soldiers and tried to claw at its face no matter how much damage it might cause. The other ghouls saw what happened and would shy from the rune born and more went for the acolytes as the terror shot his spikes at the run born instead. He would roar again bringing 15 more ghouls into the battle from hiding. The ghouls bloody maws would bight the heads of some acolytes clean off while they consumed other while they were still alive. They would go to cleave other in half with their large claw like fingers and some they would head but with their large bone like heads. They would sometimes even use the dead as weapons by throwing them at the other acolytes.

The terror would be getting annoyed at the rune born and would wade into the battle. It was about 10 ft tall and would bash aside acolytes with little trouble. It was shoot spikes whenever possible at any of the rune born though he was making his way toward andarien, his eyes glowing a searing red "Come....little man...fight me......you....die"

The Acolytes continued their skirmish with the ghouls. Although some of the Acolytes were getting massacred, others were able to hold their own against the ghouls. Some of them would simply run the ghouls through with their longswords, while others got into close-quarters combat and fought the ghouls by blocking their massive claws and countering to aim for their torsos or directly into their boney, skull-like faces. One Acolyte stabbed a ghoul directly through its face and into its mouth, while another dodged a ghoul launching itself at his head and spun around, slicing through its throat. The Acolytes often teamed up using their innate, inhuman awareness of each other - while one Acolyte blocked, another would often take the opportunity to attack the ghoul from behind, as if they fought with a single, fanatically organized mind. None of them ever showed their faces while they fought. More of them came from the forest, appearing from within the dense, dark underbrush and rushing forth into battle without hesitation. Strangely enough, they were eerily silent.

As the terror stomped into battle, Andarien knew he would have to stop it before it could decimate the Acolytes. Both of the heavy Runeborn soldiers sprinted forth, shouting battle-cries in demonic, chilling, unearthly voices that pierced and rumbled through the sounds of combat. They charged the terror, standing only a few feet shorter than him. One of them charged a bolt of silver energy in his hand which he shot towards the terror while the other one swung his blade directly towards the terror's chest. Andarien stood back a few yards away, shooting spheres of empowering energy directly towards the Runeborne soldiers. The other light Runeborne soldiers focused on casting ranged spells to try and damage the terror and heal injured Acolytes.

The last remaining ghoul that were in hiding ran into the battle, this would add 30 more ghouls to the fray. The terror would move out of the way of the sword and magik bolt quicker than his size should allow him and he came up and made a swipe at ones head while he went at the other one with his large spiked tail. The ghouls would at this point have learned to try team based tactics and would attack acolytes 2 or 3 to one. They would try and swarm them while other tried to attack the light rune born soldiers that were sending out magik bolts of energy into the battle field. 6 ghouls would go to attack the 2 light soldiers in the back attempting to circumvent the main battle field.

One of the heavy Runeborne soldiers would be hit in the head and staggered backwards, nearly losing his balance, but the other would see the terror's spiked tail coming at him and drive his sword directly towards the terror's tail. The Acolytes were outnumbered by the ghouls, but they were evenly matched with the advantages of their swordsmanship, the magical enhancements, and healing.

The light Runeborne soldiers being attacked now concentrated on keeping the ghouls at range using magical rune blasts, easily taking down weaker ghouls and blasting the others back to try and keep them away. Once they closed in enough, the Runeborne would draw shorter, curved blades to go into close combat with the ghouls.

The terror would move his tail to just be cut badly and not be run through, though he would still roar out in pain and rage. It would go to back hand that rune born with its arm spikes sticking out toward it, as it was doing that it would begin shooting the other rune born with its arm spikes. It would sweep its tail back and forth at any acolytes that dared get close enough for the tail to reach.

The ghouls would make it to the rune born injured but alive, except for one that had tripped and got hit by a shock wave which killed it. So 5 of the 6 ghouls were now fighting the light rune born soldiers taking the heat off of the ghouls in the main battle which would take this chance to fight back harder.

The Runeborne tried to block the terror's fist and it may cause his blade to slice into the terror's skin, but the soldier would be thrown back a few feet and slashed by some of the terror's spikes. He struggled to stand up and stagger to his feet. Meanwhile, the other soldier's armor blocked most of the arm spikes, and the ones that pierced his armor caused no serious damage. He would take the opportunity to thrust at the terror's side while his arm was lifted, trying to jab his massive weapon beneath the terror's ribcage. Several Acolytes were knocked back, but they focused on fighting off the remaining ghouls. Andarien cast several more enhancement spells on the Acolytes after healing the fallen Runeborne soldier, and then he began preparing to engage the terror himself.

The other Runeborne at the back of the group prepared for the ghouls in close combat. They were much more swift but less powerful than their heavy counterparts, and they slashed mercilessly at the ghouls while combining their fast strikes with blasts of silver energy to keep the pressure on their opponents. The ghouls would hardly be able to get past their barrage of quick attacks, but their lighter armor was more susceptible to the ghoul's onslaught.

Because of the terrors hard scales it would just cut slightly the terrors fist and he would push through the pain to land the attack. He would jump forward slamming one spiked fist down on the rune born hopefully killing it. This jumping would move himself out of the way of the other things blade so it wasnt hit. He would swing another punch at the other rune born when he could.

The ghouls would be taken down quikcly but they would land a couple of hit on one taking it down, not killing it but more than likely disabling its use of magik.

The Runeborne had just been healed, restoring his energy and allowing him to partially block the attack, although it still struck him hard and knocked him to the ground again. He held his blade above him to block any further attacks and began to move out of the way of the terror to give himself more time to recover. The other Runeborne missed his attack on the terror, but was able to block the next punch and counter with another powerful slash towards the terror's chest.

One of the light Runeborne soldiers would be swarmed after the ghouls outnumbered and overpowered him, and he was quickly brought down to the ground and mortally wounded. The other soldier blasted the remaining ghouls off of him, but it was too late - the other was injured beyond healing, and he let out a painful, gasping shriek.

The terror dodged the attack the other one gave but just barely and it resumed its offensive slashing at it with its claws while shooting at the other. It tails was also whipping at the run born whenever it got a chance. The next punch it through was much harder and might be able to break sword and armor. Maybe though just maybe.

The Runeborne which is still standing holds off the terror's attacks, blocking several slashes and punches in a row from the terror's fists and tail, until one of the terror's strikes busts through part of the soldier's greatsword. It is still usable, but the soldier would now have about half the range and striking ability that he had before, although he would move in closer and continue attacking. The Runeborne on the ground would take the opportunity to reach up and pierce its blade directly at the terror at an incredibly close range, taking several major hits from the spikes into his own chest and arms in the process, although his attack would have a high chance of hitting.

Andarien's blade begins to glow with silver energy in intricate, twisted designs. He holds a brightly glowing sphere of runic energy in his left hand while he charges forward towards the terror, hoping to use the distraction to get in an attack before the terror can react.

The terror was hit by the one on the ground but would move quickly to dodge the other and punch the spikes in the soldiers chest down and into the chest completely. He would punch the head of the soldier hopefully killing it before wheeling around on the other punching with one hand shooting with the other and its tail poised to strike. It did not notice andarien approaching.

The soldier on the ground took the full force of the spikes that pierced through his armor, making a sickening crunching sound as they thrust into him. The terror's punch busted through the Runeborne's helmet, completely smashing his skull and instantly killing him, leaving him nothing more than a mangled pile of busted armor on the battlefield. The other Runeborne saw the terror come at him and blocked with what was left of his sword, trying to jab the jagged blade into the terror's fist or forearm once more as he was pelted with spikes.

Andarien charges into the terror's side at full force as the Runeborne soldier held him off, sending a massive blast of energy at him while he thrusts his longsword directly towards the terror's torso, hopefully striking enough to at least weaken him and catch him off guard.

"FOR THE ORDER!"

The beast would be completely caught of guard and it would pierce his side but not to deep. It would roar out in pain wrapping it tail around Andarien and trying to pin him while fighting, the roar got the attention of the ghouls who swarmed the weakened Rune born. The terror would roar "You...worm...you...die!"