In an instant he inhales quickly and shakes his head, stupid, stupid, stupid! Of course! he says, lifting himself to his feet quickly to make his way to @Rhea. Keeping his eyes peeled for any big movements to either side of him in the hopes of moving the distance so that Rhea would come join him over by his mother. Hey, come over with me and my Mum. He grins, Please? Please was a good word to use and it might encourage her to come be social with him. Plus, it would be a lot easier to protect her if she was closer. @Léonie

ART • CODE

So the day had come.The last trails of her daughters warcry were still fading in echoes over the mountaintop as Morrigan sent up her own roar, calling for the few warriors and healers Illyria had to spare. They were few but they were strong and every body counted, but much as the Summit had always been none would be required to fight unless their rank commanded it. And as usual Morrigan would lead the charge herself down from the mountain, intent on being the first to judge the battlefield they would likely be walking into from this distance.

The large beast moved with determination but in a steady march to preserve energy, leaving plenty of time for anyone from the Summit to catch up, though they would hear little else from the deathless Queen as she had slipped on the mask of Commander. What the Illyrian warrior found was indeed already a melee. @Isla ♔'s challenger smelled of Wolfbron, already concerning, while her daughter smelled of... Morrigan's face curled into a dangerous snarl as the realization of the full stakes hit her. She had newborn grandchildren here. @Cassandra was in a vicious fight with the Vermedan Queen while @Khal lurked at the edges, waiting for a fight it seemed. Sweet @Renly was there in stoic support and @Zahra ♔ seemed ready for battle.

As her gaze slid around the sandy battlefield more, all intentions of careful strategy in choosing her opponent burst into flame when saw a familiar face. One whom she now had a name for. "Rainer," she roared, her voice laced thick with hatred and venom, more spite in the two syllables than there could have been in any of her usual Rike slurs. It was the only warning he or those close to him would get as she charged the distance between them. As if she'd needed any more reason to hate the fiend the images of his daughter returning to the Summit battered and beaten by her own sire still lay raw and fresh in her memory. She'd wanted to hunt him down then, as scum who deserved to be eradicated. How nice of him to offer himself up to easily.

Hide limbs would attempt to launch her full weight toward him, unsheathed claws outstretched for a violent, reckless embrace while her jaws yawned opened, aiming to slice or tear through whatever part of the right side of his face she might be lucky enough to reach. Her ears were pinned back but her eyes were burning with fiery rage and rash vengeance, the rest of the war forgotten as her world narrowed to the two of them for another brutal dance.

@Morrigan ♔ vs. @Rainer
For MAJOR MAIM
Round I / IV
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 18 + 17 + 11 + 5 + 4 + 12 + 10 + 3

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 15 + 18 + 14 + 3

Luck:

Rolling 6d20: 17 + 1 + 7 + 18 + 9 + 15

50% chance of going berserk
(+1 to hit rolls for the next round, once per thread)

Rolling barbarianberserk 1d30: 18
You have failed to go berserk!

table coding by ferus

the drums of war form a melody that magdalena stärke has long since learned to sing. it lingers on the horizon for so long that she thinks maybe it won't come at all. a promise teetering on the edge of a knife.

magdalena thinks herself prepared for the call to battle and stalks her way through the sands of the lagoon as the booming challenge rings out. it's not until she finally arrives to the challenge that the woman is stopped dead in her tracks. a slowly dawning horror taking root as her bi-colored gaze lands on the man that had called for isla's crown. she knew that man.

he was bigger - much bigger - but he is still the bully in the sand that she remembers. her throat closes at the memory of him attacking a pridemate, of making her feel true fear for the first time. it hadn't been long after that when he had simply disappeared off the face of the earth and maybe magdalena had hoped such a bully might have been wiped off the face of the earth. obviously that had been wistful thinking.

however, it seems he isn't the only phantom amongst the crowd.

@Melusina.

her sister's form is instantly recognizable even through the thick of battle - the long, lilac fur and vibrant green eyes pierce through the others and magdalena is drawn in like a puppet on a string. she takes a step and then another and another. before she realizes it, magdalena's paws pound against the ground in a dead sprint to close the distance between them - what might easily look like a charge to an outsider.

it was her, it had to be her. her sister, her sister, her sister.

without realizing, tears have welled in magdalena's eyes. tears of relief, of gratitude, of the bone-deep sorrow that only her siblings would truly understand. when melusina had disappeared after ecrosia, there had been a nagging thought at the back of her head that mel's absence had been because she too had met the same fate as their mother. in magdalena's head, they would have surely tracked one another down or run into each other had melusina still been alive and within the valley. the idea of her sister leaving after all of their shared tragedy hadn't crossed her mind. however, as the months had worn on, magdalena had shoved all thoughts of it, their mother, and their father away. forcing herself to focus on training and then on this war to keep the rusted steel in her spine from snapping.

a sob crawls up her throat, teeth gritted together and lips pulled up into what looks like a ferocious snarl as she fights the noise back. a few more steps and she pounces with forelegs outstretched, aiming to wrap around melusina's shoulders. at the same time, magdalena's face presses forward to try and bury itself into the side of her sister's neck. to anyone who might not know the sisters' relationship, it looks every bit like two opponents on the edge of an all out bloodbath.

coding by daanyen | art by yumpy

Melusina

at the shoreline, in sweet water we fed wild dogs overripe apples and herring; her hair hung in willow boughs

In the throes of grief and indignation, Melusina had run. She had fled the country without thought or care for what, for who, she'd left behind. The reckoning of her reemergence had been delayed by her own cowardice, and she had swallowed each hard truth one by one because she knew she could not survive it all at once. Rohan, Arion, Magdalena. Their names haunted her every thought, her every dream. But so too was she bogged down by the weight of her responsibilities, and the nagging, crippling unknown that lingered in her very thoughts like a blight, like a festering wound.

She was too consumed by her own self-disgust that she had never thought to search for her.

Thus, when @Magdalena's pale shape takes form amidst the crowd, Melusina sucks in a breath. She stutters, nearly keens; what resolve she had spent those aching moments building up came crumbling all around her all at once.

Her sister is upon her before she fully registers that she's there, that she's alive. Though—Melusina had no doubt Magdalena would still be alive. They'd been cut from the same cloth but there had always been a sense of stability, an unyielding pride and drive within Magdalena that separated them. Melusina's sister was everything she was not. She everything Melusina wanted to be.

It is Magdalena's sob that finally pierces through her harrowing trance. The wails of battle fall away in favor of bittersweet reunions and lingering regrets. Melusina is suddenly enveloped in her fur and her scent, so achingly familiar, so achingly Scillan.

She closes her eyes, and she is brought back to those days of their girlhood, to night spent charting stars and imaging themselves just as ancient and unshakable, dreaming of becoming woman warriors and woman Kings they would write poems about.

But there was no glory in battle. There was no valiance in war.

She looks at her sister from the other side. Impenetrable, untouchable.

Mag— she breathes into her sister's neck, relishing the few moments of their embrace she could, Magdalena.

You've alive. You're here. You're real.

You're—

She noticeably stiffens. Something of a choked whimper stops dead in her throat. She pulls back with such an agonizing slowness that the world seems to strip away, the echoes of battle just as fleeting as the waves crashing upon shores that were once theirs.

Scilla? she whispers, but she wants to scream.

She had never wanted to be further from a place. She had been so desperate to bury the past that she would have been content to see the Lagoon burn to the ground. How easily she would have, too, stepped into that fire.

But Magdalena was here, she is part of the Lagoon as it is part of her, and Melusina finds that she cannot strike the match.

Why? is all she asks.

She wants this place to scorch. She wants this placed wiped off the face of the earth if only so it could take all those blissfully better days with it. She does not simply wish to burn her bridges, she wants them rent asunder.

Did Magdalena not feel the same?

Would Melusina allow her bitterness for this place and its people to ruin the one good thing she had left?

code by cala, art by krak

Obsidiana's dark eyes glistered not with anger but with joy. Joy of knowing she was helping her mother, helping the brook. The woman's claws dug deeper in her hide, leaving red bleeding markings along her shoulders but she didn't care, as she was happy to help her mother and show everyone she was as much as Xuekai as any blooded one.. Thankfully the woman stumbled down from her move but she was used as support as the woman used her hold on her shoulders to avoid falling down fully and Obsidiana used this chance to attempt to pull on the woman's face with her jaws wanting to cause pain and discomfort.

Obsidiana vs @Fairytale
for dominance
move 3 of 3
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 3 + 2 + 12 + 14 + 16

Dodges:

Rolling 2d20: 3 + 4

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 19 + 11 + 8 + 17 + 15

Code by dee - Art by Shaz

Nikandr knew it was coming, too - but it explodes quicker than he expected. This is nothing like the measured, purposeful march of war that he had experienced amongst his family of conquerors. This was madness. Lions swarm over one another like ants, stealing and beating and maiming and he recalls that there is not so much a purpose for this battle as it is to cause destruction.

So he supposes it is doing what it is meant to do.

He strides casually after @Melusina - she'd asked him to cart off the injured, batted her pretty little eyes at him after all - with a scowl lingering across his lips. This is stupid. Nikan notes loudly, flattening his ears as he throws it at her. He doesn't elaborate on if this is having her so fucking close to the chaos or if this is the chaos itself. He is a child of war, of endless conquering, but it had served a purpose, in the past. This feels... boring by his prior standards.

He'd told Icefang he would be here to fight - but he wants to linger. Wants to make sure that Mel is set and ready for whatever is coming at her, first. He knows she can take it; knows she's been training and pushing and fighting, but he's loathe to let her slip from eyesight. All she needed was to get winded mid-fight and end up fucked beyond all belief.

He grumbles something under his breath that trails off as another familiar face pops up. And she's running at them. Well shi- he starts, lurching up onto his haunches to bound a step forward and intercept @Magdalena before she slams into the medic at his side. But just as a forepaw stretches out, his ears catch the strangled sound of a sob and then they're embracing. The Law boy stops, blinking dumbly at the two of them, one paw still held in the air between them. Uhhhhh, I don't think that's how you... fight. He mutters, brows tightening as he looks up to the pale Brook lioness, wondering if she was just as confused.

But the other girl isn't struggling. Her eyes are closed and silence descends upon them and his mouth drops open a little. What... was happening. He glances side to side, paw slowly dropping to the sand and tailtip twitching in mild agitation as he tries to piece it together. A friend? A lover? A -

sister.

The resemblance dawns upon his slowly and he sucks in a sharp breath between his teeth. Fuuuuuuuuuuck, He hisses, ears flattening and letting his eyes rapidly flick between them. He dances on his forepaws as he tries to figure out if he should be shoving the girls into some fronds and hope their happy reunion isn't ruined or if he should-

And them Melusina throws another curve ball.
Oh, right.
She hates this place. He recalls, distantly, the anger as she'd mentioned Scilla at the passage. He'd barely been paying attention.

His eyes narrow and lets out a long, slow breath. We could fix that. Nikandr reminds Melusina softly, head tilted slightly towards her. He'd knock her ass out and drag her back to the Brook, if that's what Mel wanted. Family was hard. He got that._{BG — ART — CODE}

artwork • coding

The call that's made is unknown to him. All that he knows is that someone is trying to steal this place. This...bad memory. How long had he been here? Stuck - alone.

Left by everyone he knew and no one knowing where he was. Time had come to a stop during those months - but how many months? He hadn't counted. The young male hadn't even known how to tell how old he was. It was a miracle he knew that today was his birthday.

He had grown massive as of late, that final growth spurt making him as large as his father. The thickness of his mane was far more majestic - tied carefully to the side by Balthazar within the Home Cave. That he actively avoided.

It was impossible to ignore the pull that this place had on him, but perhaps it was more than that? As he entered the scene, those odd blue eyes seem to zero in on the sisters. He had already not been far behind @Melusina and her...companion. The more the scents of this place creeped into his nose, the more he scars on his face began to burn.

A harsh reminder.

A failure he was still ashamed of today. Still, he had been able to keep Melusina company for the short time she'd still remained here with him. Pointed ears flick, hearing Léonie here as well. Happy to hear her voice and know she was safe. His heroine. Time would come for them to reunite, but for now - the beast strolls in, closing the distance between he, Melusina and @Magdalena.

Pupils dilate as he notices the stiffening of Melusina's small form. Jaw clenches tight; his mind racing and crashing into the fact that Magdalena held the scent of Scilla on her coat. A smell that itched into his nostrils like hot fire. Ears sweep back, but he's not one to assume the worst. She had not experienced the same as the two of them.

But at the same time...why would she come here, of all places? "Magdalena, Melusina?" He rumbles softly, looking between the two with confusion. There was tension rising in the air and he could feel it rippling off of Melusina in soft, gentle waves. How long before they became a crashing tsunami?

She feels her shoulder collide not where she intended, but hearing the wind be knocked out of him was enough to satisfy the warforged woman - for now. Her teeth sink into his back and she attempts to dig them even deeper, attempting to bite down with as much force as she could. He would have to pry her jaws away from him if he wanted to get away from her so desperately.

Adrenaline helps soothe the pain that comes from both tooth and nail sinking into the same thigh, a muffled snarl being given. She can feel the white hot of her injuries, the slow dripping of crimson rolling down her ashen limb. This spurs the Queen, left forepaw rising with claws unsheathed. She attempts to swipe it toward her opponent near his own hind end, looking to dig her claws into the meat of his hindquarter and drag down, trying to make what she leaves behind as deep as possible.


Isla vs. @Cassius
for Scilla Lagoon
round i ii iii iv v
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 19 + 2 + 1 + 20 + 4 + 6 + 16 + 8

Dodges:

Rolling 6d20: 19 + 6 + 13 + 9 + 4 + 14

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 20 + 16 + 14 + 10 + 2

** +1 to master perk from pride tier 4 (+1 dodge)

KNEEL BEFORE ME

CODE / ART BY RABBIT

He was not hiding, this time. And her gaze zeroes in on him as she arrives. Rike. Son of Alaric. e n e m y. Maybe her energy would have been better spent on those her family were actively fighting, the ones on opposing sides. But politics matter little in the face of generations of hatred. Saga Sigrún would always shirk prides and alliances in the face of the greater evil.

Morrigan would know that - and if the rest of them were yet still unaware of who their sister, cousin, daughter, was it would be only a matter of time before they all realized.

There's no hesitation as she rolls into the Lagoon, easily skipping over the borders and paws sinking comfortably into the sands. She's practiced, endlessly, in rain, in storm, in sand and snow - and while in reality he is older, larger, more practiced? She has no doubts she's going to be coming up the victor, here. Her head sinks minutely, paws stretching out to allow her to lope through the warring bodies, lips wrenched back into a snarl. Her claws unsheathe and her tail flags out behind her.

As she gets within twelve feet ( maximum jump recorded was 36 feet ), she shoves off with her powerful haunches and lowers her head further. Her outstretched paws aim unsheathed claws at his shoulder and back, her left attempting to hook into his left shoulder and her right trying to hook over the back of him and dig in deep around his spine. Simultaneously, her open jaws attempt to slam shut over the man's left eye and dig deep.

Saga v @Hubert
for MAJOR MAIM ( agreed upon by Abject )
round 1 of 4
Hits:

Rolling 5d20: 1 + 13 + 15 + 5 + 18

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 7 + 3 + 9 + 19

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 5 + 7 + 1 + 13 + 10

table by ferus & art by drifter

It was here. War. Come right to their doorstep. The Lead Fighter had been found himself in the den area first. Ensuring that his aunt was prepared. Willing to aid her in hiding the prides new princes and princesses if need be. Here he had lingered for a bit longer. Ready to tear the throat out of any unfamiliar face who dared step within his line of sight.

The roars of battle reached him soon after. Isla first. Then his mother. Dark ears strained to distinguish pain of failure from pain of triumph. Then another roar. Distinct and spirit lifting. Morrigan. Asbjørn could hold back no longer. Strategically he went about grabbing things from the dens of others nearby. To hide them around the are and perhaps trick any snakes into thinking bodies patrolled the main den.

Asbjørn arrives with lips peeled back and tail lashing. Silver eyes land upon his mother quickly. Fighting that pale bitch once more. A silent prayer tossed up to Maua for victory this time. Morrigan was also in lock with a man Asbjørn did not know. And of course Isla was fighting the male who sought to rip their home away. Wolfbron. Not Vermeda. Another enemy to log away.

Attention slips to the Baroness as he observes her going toward an enemy. Or he presumed.. No she was.. @Magdalena! The Varg roars out in fury. End her! Or face the consequences of treason. He'd make sure that their Queen would be the first to hear about it otherwise.
He does not dwell on it long however as a flash of red catches his eye. A face he had seen before. Standing bedside Icefang most of the time. You! The colossus of the sea bellows to @Arcania ♔. You are mine!

He charges forward, angling his body to slam into hers, claws flying up to try and sink viciously into her shoulders. Jaws snap toward her head, attempting to latch onto an ear. He moved without thought. Letting his training guide him. He would have another piece of those who had dared ripped his home from him. Those that were here to do it once again. He was done having his life uprooted and not being able to stop it. Not this time. Not ever again.

Asbjørn vs. @Arcania ♔
for Minor Maim
1/4
Hits:

Rolling 8d20: 14 + 10 + 7 + 1 + 18 + 19 + 9 + 16

Dodges:

Rolling 4d20: 18 + 6 + 15 + 13

Luck:

Rolling 5d20: 4 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 8

Pride Tier 4 Perk (+1 Dodge)
Lead Fighter Perk: (+1 Hit) when fighting on your pride territory

Art by Yumpy, Code by Minxy