So that bastard had dared to call for her queen's life? She really hated that purple asshole with all of her heart. Much like some who had come before her, she too wished for Morrigan to finish him once and for all. To free Amaryliss from this pest of the Saxe. Not just the leader, but everyone. She approached and lied down near the others (Amara and co). "I hope he fucking dies." As Amara mentions the payback, she smiles. "He also maims children," she said. "I would gladly give him payback." He had only been a threat and an annoyance to her and her pride. She watched, waiting for hell to descend upon the plum lion. And she was sure should Morrigan fall today, it won't go unpunished.

ART BY SILVERWOLF866, CODE BY DEE, MODIFIED BY GUNNER

mithril

Mithril had known of a broken truce between the warring families, however he’d not expected such a potentially devastating consequence. To his knowledge, it had been @Cassandra who had violated whatever agreement had been in place, yet Morrigan was the one the Saxe fiend summoned. Mithril may not have been privy to the details of the cessation, however he could easily draw the conclusion that their enemy wanted to destabilize the foundation of the Greyflood family, beginning with its matriarch.

Bile burned in the back of the shadow’s throat as he quietly followed the trail that Cassandra had taken. She’d already found company, yet he moved to join her, his ears barely catching the comment made by @Amara through the howl of the wind. He paused nearby, his eyes searching through the haze in search of any shade of purple, which seemed to be the dominant color of the Saxe family.

When he failed to find any, he grunted, “They must be hiding.” If the family was as vicious as he had been led to believe, they would not miss the opportunity to watch Morrigan perish.

There was an imperceptible tremor in Mithril’s paws as he inched closer to Cassandra. “Do we try to dig them out of their holes?” he inquired lowly, for those within the immediate vicinity of the Brook leader.

artwork • coding

Kvare was not alone for long, and it were not something he would particularly shy away from. He was especially pleased it were @Cassandra who came to settle at his side. A boyish smirk unfurled upon his dark lips, nodding eagerly at her proclamation. Though it were no pride challenge, no war, the threat of either hung upon the distant horizon, and there were no greater cost than the one being called for this day. Were Morrigan to lose her life on this battlefield, it would likely be up to Talisa, Cassandra, and Kvare to hold the fractured remains together.

Hm, he rumbles in pleased response, holding back the call for his own members until a threat grew more apparent. As it were now, the battlefield were filled only with spectators. None of Aeistrios' supporters were here, and their continued absence had long begun to spark suspicion within the Caladan King. Where are his allies? he wondered idly, just as @Lagertha arrived at his free side. A friendly bump to her shoulder came his reply to her wordless greeting, sparing his Gentry a thoughtful glance.

It would not be long before his wife's arrival, quickly squeezing herself into the tight space between he and Lagertha. A brief brow raised, uncertain if she were simply eager to claim one of his taken sides or if she found the comfortable space between he and their companion far too appealing an option to catch up. He would never deny himself her affections, especially now in the throes of possible war. Her reassuring proclamation eased his tensed muscles, her gentle groomings allowing the fur along his spine to lie flat. He briefly turned his head to swipe his tongue across her cheek, his focused expression softening, smiling, just barely. But even he could not hide the unease, the nervousness unfurling his belly.

Morrigan was his sister, after all. He had already lost a brother.

We will snuff out every medic in the valley, he begins, his fiery gaze bearing into the endless blue of @Sunder's, Morrigan should have every healer at her disposal. And, if they were lucky, Aeistrios would be left with none. But even he knew they were words of hope and uncertainty; Aeistrios would not so easily throw himself into the jaws of a wolf if he did not have someone to catch his fall.

He is more surprised by the arrival of @Amara, a lioness he'd met once or twice before. She had seemed an unlikely ally at first, but the tensions between her and Morrigan had long faded into oblivion, and left their relationship mostly unclear. Their shared enemy of Aeistrios, however, would work in their favor this day. His steely, nervous expression fell away as he turned to regard the star-speckled Queen, her statement confirming her suspicions that something were off.

Far too much time had passed, and Aeistrios still stood achingly alone.

He could barely catch more scents upon the wind. Gentle suspicion that there may be more than just him, but not enough to compel the Tollaire King from his spot to search for them. Thus, his preliminary look around attempted to search for any disturbed bushes, for any ears or eyes peering from betwixt the rocks. @Mithril's voice only continued to assure Kvare's curiosities. He might be smart enough to hide her, he rumbled under his breath, eyes narrowing, swearing he could have seen movement in the near distance...

---

Kvare is attempting to locate @Seifrienriosa!

Rolling 1d10: 10

Art by Yumpy, table by cala

SEIFRIENRIOSA

She, in her mind, was the most skilled of her siblings. She'd been trained, tested, maimed even for the sake of the Saxe name. Confidence soared through her blood and with the storm overhead, beating down upon her crouched and hidden frame - she thought herself safe.

That was, until she saw the gaze of the others roaming around. They had caught on, for such dumb creatures, and instantly her first concern was not anyone other than her mother, @Renfri . She sees the eyes of the Caladan King drift over where her mother was, missing her, but how long until someone else spotted her? If they even could, her mind cooed, knowing just as talented the Saxe Queen was.

It would be what Seifrienriosa one day with such skills.

Alas, that day is not today - and as Seifri attempts to shuffle closer to Renfri, the desire to be able to leap into action if needed by anyone nearing her mother's hiding spot, proved to be her downfall. The movements she made had been minimal, she'd been so careful to be silent - and yet, she felt it.

A pair of eyes were upon her.

She sucks in a sharp breath as the cold air burns her lungs, heart hammering against her chest as her mind spins wheels. If she didn't act now, she was sure they'd start hunting for all of her siblings that hid. Maybe they'd find her mother - and Seifri was determined that she wasn't going to lose both parents today. A moment of tense silence passes, before the Saxe girl suddenly lurches forward at the next sound of clapping thunder.

She knew she was on her own - Mother had told everyone they'd be on their own. Today was not about her, not about the rest of the Saxe; it had been about her father, and Seifri was determined to make sure that mission wasn't completely moot.

"Look at you all - gathered around." A heavy pant as she stands exposed, vulnerable in the open - perhaps the prime target for all of their rage and hatred. Her eyes roam until they find @Amara , and a grin like no other covers her face, keen features of Aeistrios. "Maybe you should be worried about your borders -- they were easy last time." A taunt, and she knew the Wolfbron Queen would understand her reference. "A well distraction my father serves... mother was right! You are all so foolish." Her attempt to spin the web of an invisible threat, let them be worried their pridelands were the target, that with all of them here - it left their hearts open to attack.

Her attention moved back then to the one who spotted her, and a hiss racks his body in her direction. "You though - I want your eyes." How dare he use them to scope her out, make her seem like a failure in front of the rest of her kin - her mother! She was gunning for the Mantle, and he just knocked her down a few good pegs from achieving that. She was certain Renfri would be disappointed in her, and Seifri was determined to solve that in one fell swoop. She knew battling a grown male would no doubt be a loss, but she would do her damned best to injure those orange and silver eyes.

Seifrienriosa vs @Kvare for Major Maim
1/4

Hits:

Rolling 0d20: 16

Dodges:

Rolling 7d20: 3 + 14 + 18 + 10 + 13 + 17 + 4

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 19 + 9 + 11 + 13 + 6

((perms given for major maim initiation!)

code by flea, art by irish

He trails her - because of course he does. As @Cassandra exits the brook, the young cub follows along. It's a grand adventure, at first: his tail is up and curled at the end, his steps jaunty, and his eyes following the distant silhouette of his mother. But the storm sweeps away the shadow of her form quickly. As they near the pit, the scream of the wind tears away any semblance of familiarity. The blizzard swallow the sight of his mother and the half-blind child stumbles dumbly through the assembled crowd. As he goes, shadows lurch out at him from the whiteness, turning briefly into strange faces, and he jerks away. Mama? He shouts, his ears tipping back to his skull and long fur fluffing up against the bite of the cold. mama cass! He tries again, wailing pitifully as he flattens himself to the ground in thr midst of the madness and regrets, deeply, following along on this adventure.

open for anything.

She slips through the night — entranced, by the promise of death. A hungry gnawing in the pit of her stomach, adrenaline fueled by a carnal need to feed. Ah, but it's not her blood to be spilled that day, nor the flesh of anyone she might know; at least, the call isn't familiar to her at first. Though the night she prowls towards Amaryllis' stone coliseum, thick fur heavy with snowfall by the time she finally arrives. Late, as it would seem.

So many have already gathered for the show. Finally she recognizes the beast that lingers in the center of the battle arena, but not the one he'd called for death. Ludivine stands atop the arena as she looks down upon those gathered, taking inventory — some, she already recognized. Familiar splashes of red being that of her pride mates, while those that stand on the other side of friendship have already gathered as well. Like vultures to a fresh kill, perhaps they hope for dinner and a show.

The cannibal Queen doesn't head for any familiar faces. Instead, she slithers her way down to a stone outcrop — a natural throne, made just for her — as she lays down to watch, blending in along the walls of the pit. High enough to avoid whatever bloodshed may happen down below... At least, for now.

Land other than the Rainforest had been foreign to him for the past weeks - month even? He was unsure how long it had been since his paws felt anything other than the familiar soil of his birth-home, but when @Ludivine allowed him to leave with her at nightfall, he was not one to ask questions nor waste another second.

Ebony body was healed from his wounds, no longer limping or smelling sickly, if anything he was as normal as the day she'd come and stolen Firnen from his family. His bodice was slimmer, though; unable to hold onto an appetite long enough to fill his stomach full. Too many images would flash across his eyes every time he picked up a piece of meat - and it haunted him.

Silence engulfed him, and Haider made sure to stay up to pace with her. He didn't want to find out what may happen if he slacked or even annoyed her in the slightest with this outing. But it wasn't just a regular outing, and the call in the air mixed with the growing scents of a crowd informed Haider this was much more than what he expected. His heart fell in his chest, and he hoped desperately that his family would keep themselves at bay if any set eyes on him. He had just healed - just gotten his strength back. There was no doubt in his Queen keeping her word to her threats and he feared he may be injured worse should they test her once more.

Withholding the gulp that threatened to take to his throat, Haider refuses all eye contact with the crowd about and solely focuses only on the form of Ludivine; following her heels to a stone perch that she instantly took a liking too. He pauses for only a moment, uncertain what he was to do, before his chin lifts and he peers at those deadly paws of her. Within a second does he take position at the front of her stone-throne, crouching down in a pose that would easily allow him to lunge forward at anyone if they came close enough.

Ludivine had the power here - had instilled fear into Haider - and he was willing to do anything to make sure he was not the sole focus of her attention. Even if that meant fighting for her against others.

Haider is crouched before Ludi to protect and open to any fights!

code by scorpixia ♡︎ art by vasilia

✠ boss music starts playing ✠

---

Each late morning awakening rose more bittersweet than the last, her days passing nearly the same as the weathered warrior savored every precious moment of peace. She slept in late as she could with any of the young children whom might linger with her, did her best to convince her husband and wife to do the same, and then her patrols would begin, ending late into the night as she had always insisted on keeping the last watch. As befitting her place as sword and shield of the Summit. It was the calm before the darkest storm she would ever face.

There was no fear in her heart for death, only a preemptive grief for everything she would lose in the land of the living. She had been praying to both of the gods whom watched over her children and grandchildren, not for herself but for the legacy she might leave behind.

When the call finally came, her skull lowered from the storm clouds above to look down upon the valley at the glorious view from her throne. A deep serenity enveloped her as a crash of thunder thrummed through her bones, beginning her descent in the flash of white light from a gods. A sign to her that they were watching, waiting to see if today would be the day they would reclaim their holy warrior, or to watch her take vengeance in their name.

As she approached the bloodstained pit, the only fitting place for a true warrior's death, she relived every moment of love and devotion she had shared with her wife, the intricate spider's web they had built of friends, lovers, children... Instead of weakening her resolve it only served to sharpen her will, and by the time she crested the ridge line, waiting for another flash of lightning to see more clearly what awaited, she was ready to greet death with a smile in turn. Dimly she is aware of the gathered crowd but she only has eyes for one. Still the ghostly figure of her boy... it is enough to give her pause, "Go on, meine sweet, go be with your sisters. I will join you soon."

Her own smile as her gaze returns to the Andal King says enough she knows the double meaning in her words. Let him know she does not fear death, for the gods are watching. Her dark shape cuts through the ice and blistering snow remaining between them, each flake a caress from the mountaintop of home as she approaches slowly at first, "I thought you'd never ask," she answers his invitation to their long-awaited fatal dance, and then she allows her carefully honed rage to explode. Morrigan attempts to lunge her open jaws directly at her enemy's sneering grin, aiming to rip through soft lips in a brutal kiss leaving him forever smiling at the memory. The unsheathed claws of her right front paw lift and attempt to swing at his left midnight blue eye as fire alights with rage behind her own mismatched gaze.

She cares not for her own defenses, only for the glory and gore she had been promised.

@Morrigan vs. @Aeistrios
For DEATH
Round I / VII
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 4 + 19 + 3 + 16 + 9 + 15 + 17 + 12

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 15 + 9 + 6 + 10

Luck:

Rolling 6d20: 8 + 7 + 17 + 18 + 14 + 4

coding & image by flea

Only once she is there, does the death hound appear.

Out of nothing, the battle scarred heathen seemingly materializes into the air, drawn forth by the necromancer powers held by the cleric. A battle to the death draws the dead from its slumber, a haunted shadow following behind @Morrigan like some faithful pet. Truth be told, there was no loyalty between dead and living — but still, a promise binding the two of them. Blood would bathe the ground and turn it a glorious crimson, and Banshee can only hope to have a playmate in the afterlife once all is said and done.

“I do hope you come join me soon,” she calls out to the challenger, @Aeistrios ♔, “I'm so lonely.” A wicked sneer follows a war cry of the hound's, a vicious, throaty sound that had been lost to the ages for so long. Flashes of her own fateful challenge come flashing through her mind: searing pain, then freezing cold. The strength of a cannibal ripping her heart from her breast. Faux adrenaline courses through her spectral body as she remembers, remembers it all, and oh! How she longed to be in a bloody spectacle once more. But this... Will do.

To the sidelines she drifts, hungry to watch.

He doesn’t need to turn his head to know who had joined him. There was only one who could have been clever enough to find where he hid. Orei welcomes @Fearne ’s warmth and presence easily, leaning into the other boy’s side aching for the support his siblings and mother could not give him right now. But finding it instead from his dear friend. He isn’t immediately cautious when Fearne asks his first question, so he answers him easily knowing he has no reason to hide anything from him. ”my dad.” he whispers, dual toned eyes shifting quickly from Fearne and back to his father. He regrets confirming what his friend feared the minute it had escaped his lips. He didn’t have to wait for his father to possibly die for his heart to break. It broke the moment he heard his best friend utter the word mummy. What did his dad want with Fearne’s mummy? Orei lays there still as stone, words caught in his throat threatening to choke him and leave him gasping for air. He couldn’t turn to face him, couldn’t look him in the eye as realization had him shrinking into himself. Pushing any emotion he had for the other cub down and down and down till that little flame inside of him winked out. There was a palpable shift in the air around them, an immediate shift in Orei’s demeanor as he broke the contact that had been holding him together. He fell apart.

”you need to go.” he chokes out, words cold and final. His mother had told them not to let them see you cry, but he couldn’t help the single tear that ran down his dark cheek. He didn’t want to do this. Wanted to stay in their blissful land of friendship and happiness. But that was a dream. This was reality. They were on opposite sides and Orei wasn’t strong enough to fix this. His attention was stolen only momentarily to watch as Fearne’s ally’s found his sister where she hid. Watched as she launched herself at the Caladan King. This would only be the beginning. Things were about to get so much worse and he couldn’t bare for Fearne to get caught up in it. ”We are not good. I - I’m not good.” he confirms more to himself than his friend. Words desperately trying to get Fearne to leave him, because if he was found, Orei would have no choice but to take his family’s side. Claws reluctantly unsheathe, ears fall back tightly against his skull, a clear warning that if Fearne did not leave he would not make it out of this arena unscathed.

He couldn’t watch as Fearne’s mother met his father’s challenge. Couldn’t come to terms that one of them would be leaving this arena without a parent. He selfishly hoped it wouldn’t be him. He cursed the gods just this once. Cursed them for damning the one friendship he could have had for the rest of his life. But Orei was a ticking time bomb set to destruct as all Saxe eventually did. Better Fearne got out now, before it was too late.

speech

ART BY RABBIT, CODE BY LARS