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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 3, 2009 21:20:28 GMT -5
Volk took a seat on the ground and felt its cold embrace. He allowed the chilled night air to comfort his body as he allowed the temperature to slowly rebuild his reserves. He utilized his full five minutes gathering up about 65-70% of his maximum.
"Well that's about all I can collect in this environment in such a time frame. The only thing left now is to get on with this", he said.
He took a combative stance and initiated his Iceberg Armor so as his energy expendatures might take a slight cut once things cooled off.
"Ok you move first Shard", he motioned.
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Post by Talon on Sept 10, 2009 19:41:35 GMT -5
Shard slowly nodded, shifting into a lithe yet well-built gray-black Gauru form with deep, amber-yellow eyes. He took his own battle stance with a strange sort of sinuous grace. He stood there for several moments, he fur seeming to rustle on its own, and his eyes rapidly assumed a glazed-over look. In a flash, both hands now bore 8-inch long claws made of bone that simply gave the horrid impression of steak knives. He rushed forward with terrible speed and five large gashes had been carved in Volk's right flank, the suddenly issued a spray of blood as Shard turned around, shaking the blood off of his claws. He barreled forth again and somersaulted over Volk before hitting, yet directly above the cobalt lycan, Ashen's son lashed out with both hands, stabbing Volk in both shoulders. Without stopping in his aerial journey, Shard front-flipped once more before landing on both feet, snapping both arms forward and thus dislogding Volk, sending him flying and smashing into the ground, leaving a slight ditch. Ashen winced at this, muttering,
"Oooh... Shard's serious already. This'll be interesting."
Without a moment's notice, Shard's finger-blades formed back into normal digits, then his entire right arm took on a fleshy, pulpy look, losing its hair as the muscle seemed to bunch up and turn a blackish-gray coloration. His fist knotted up into a single, compact bulb, of which then sprouted spines made of bone, dripping blood on the ground. Despite the entire change, Shard seemed to note no pain as he reeled back with the appendage, then abruptly swept it from the side toward Volk, whereupon the entire limb stretched out like a thick whip. The knotted, spiked end smashed into Volk's face before the limb was withdrawn, assuming its compact form again as Shard dashed forward, still bearing his same calm demeanor.
"The Bone Aspect makes for a very devastating weapon in the right hands..." Ashen muttered.
((3rd Trial- Combat- Begin!!))
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 10, 2009 22:35:15 GMT -5
Volk sat on one knee for a second as he spit out the blood from his mouth as his regen reformed his damaged areas. He slowly stood up letting his arms dangle limply as he began to form his Iceberg Armor. He leapt forward flourishing with a front flip and as his legs came over the top he formed a Frost Shot and kicked into Shard's chest knocking him off balance and onto his back.
"That is an interesting Aspect you have. It's never been seen in the Nightpeak before. Though from what I can see you're limitied to melee combat", Volk said as he flew down on his opponent. "But I shall overcome my low energy and your unique Aspect."
He dropped on Shard's chest with his full weight and used the momentum from the flip to bring his clenched hands down on Shard's face like a sledge hammer. After the blow Volk grasped Shard's head as he flipped his legs over himself and hurled Shard into a tree. As Shard disconnected from the tree Volk slid in kicking Shard into the air and brought up his claw running it from the base of the gut to the base of the neck causing ice to form all along the gash. He performed to back hand springs putting distance between himself and Shard and took a defensive posture.
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Post by Talon on Sept 10, 2009 23:13:54 GMT -5
Shard simply regained his footing, giving Volk a disturbingly calm stare as he snapped the ice off of his wounds, the flesh already regenerating... odd for even a werewolf, considering that kind of damage. He then lashed his whip-arm forward again, but this time, the bulbous club-end shifted and contorted into a sort of sharp, bone arrowhead-shape as it flew towards Volk, slashing into his stomach before being brought back, but not fully retracted as Shard whirled around, hitting Volk with it several times, using deadly accuracy. He'd already destroyed several vital tendons in Volk's legs, and a major artery in Volk's neck had been slashed open before Shard finally brought the weapon back, shifting it into a normal limb once more.
He then began to sprout thick plates of bloodied bone all over his body, forming a sort of 'half-plate armor' with it, of which then sprouted large bone-blades on each plate. He issued a low, almost unnotable growl before rushing forward with unnatural speed, and high-kicked Volk into the air before reach for Volk's left leg... and said limb fell to the ground in a spray of blood. Shard's left arm was now a massive, curving blade made of polished, bloodied bone, then whirled around and elbowed Volk in the chest with the elbow-point, thus impaling him on its for several seconds before Shard fell over backwards, slamming Volk into the ground and driving the point deeper into his chest. He promptly ripped it out before slamming the flat-side of the blade into Volk's side, sending him tumbling several feet away. Despite his eyes being bloodshot, he still bore that damnedably complacent look...
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 12, 2009 18:22:25 GMT -5
Volk sat there focusing some of his energy into the stump that was once his leg causing the regeneration to speed up. His breath became a bit more ragged as he pulled himself up the tree. As his leg finished regenerating he stomped it into the ground a couple of times to test it out.
"Well... that was... rather painful... so you've got advanced regeneration, and you can turn your arm into just about any weapon you can imagine, as well as building spikes upon your bone plate armor. Looks like my only option is to drop you in one fell swoop", Volk burst forward at Shard.
He began to quickly thrust his arms into Shards body causing smalls chunks of ice to spring up on multiple parts of his body. Volk began to target these areas removing the ice chunks along with pieces of flesh to try and cause as much damage as possible to Shard. He finally targetted the neck area of Shard biting into it as deeply as he could trying to make contact with the windpipe. Once his fangs could sink in no farther the ice began to build as he knocked Shard to the ground in an attempt to pin him.
After holding Shard down for nearly 15 seconds he released his grip and placed some distance between them. Volk"s eyes showed concern for the other lycan's life though he knew they were probably unneeded.
Please just let him stay down this time. I can't take much more of this my energy will quickly fade if he keeps making assaults like that last one.
Volk rebuilt his Iceberg Armor as he waited to see if Shard would get up though he focused on builing the strength of it and compacted the ice making it colder and harder than before as well.
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Post by Talon on Sept 12, 2009 23:29:27 GMT -5
Shard lay on the ground, unmoving with that same glazed-over look as the rest of his active abilities slowly dissipated into nothingness, his distant eyes eventually joining the mix. He then gave several strangled gasps as his windpipe regenerated, the rest of his body following suit as the ice was snapped off. He shakily rose to his feet, eyes dialating before he showed a little more emotion: He slowly bared his teeth. His eyes and stare remained the same, but the teeth were showing alright. His right arm exploded into a wiry club-like mass of taught muscle and 1-foot long spines before he began to charge forward, raising the limb to strike...
"Shard! That's enough! The trial is over..."
Shard abruptly skidded to a halt, placidly disengaging the Aspect abilities all at once, then reverted to his human form. He seemed rather hollow-eyed, then quickly popped his neck before walking off past his father and the Elders, back into the trees.
"See ya at home, old man..." He muttered.
Ashen smirked and nodded, then turned back to Volk, bearing the same smirk.
"Well done! Most people give up after several of his weapon swaps... or they've died by that point. Oh well! Trial of Combat has been passed! Now, I'm bettin' you're thinking that was the last trial, right? Heheh... well, you're wrong. You've got one more to go, Volk, and depending on your abilities, may be the easiest or the hardest of your trials. Are you ready? Elder Sturm, if you would..."
With that, Ashen stepped aside to allow a fit-looking man with clean-cut, dusty-blone hair, in his late fifties to step forward and face Volk before nodding with a stern look.
"Your final Trial will test your ingenuity and intelligence. Simply answer these three questions, and your trial will be completed. Is that clear? We'll begin whenever you're ready... so I suggest you take this time to rest." Sturm stated in a gruff voice.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 13, 2009 0:02:19 GMT -5
Volk heaved as he started to catch his breath. He moved back into the center of the group and closer to Elder Sturm.
"Do you mind if I sit down, I'm physically exhausted. I must thank you though for the all the torture you put me through it'll be nice to look back upon", he said. "So just give me your questions whenever and I'll get right to work on them."
He held a standing position waiting for the Elder to say otherwise. He did however enjoy the coolness his scrap with Shard had created. He shifted back to human form and awaited his fourth trial to begin with a determined and thoughful look in his eyes.
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Post by Talon on Sept 13, 2009 21:13:03 GMT -5
Sturm smirked at Volk, nodding.
"Yes, I suppose you may sit while you take this trial. Alright then. Here's your first riddle!"
He cleared his throat, then stared the test-taker straight in the eyes before slowly stating,
"I am black when you find me, red when you use me, and gray when I die. What am I?"
Ashen gave a short laugh, muttering,
"Easy one..."
((4th Trial- Knowledge- Begin!!!))
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 13, 2009 21:40:01 GMT -5
Volk took a seat resting his weary body. He crossed his legs and began to think about the riddle. It came to him rather quickly when he thought back to his opening trial with Ashen.
"I see you would be a piece of coal. Coal is black when it hasn't been used, and when you burn it it turns a red color, and when it fades it's an almost white grey color", Volk replied. "So what do we have next? Oh and Ashen you kind of helped solve that one for me."
Volk was enjoying his time spent sitting down. His body began to fully repair all the damage he had gathered up to this point since he was running on temporary fixes before. The energy from the area made for a relaxing atmosphere as his body rejuvenated itself.
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Post by Talon on Sept 13, 2009 22:10:12 GMT -5
Ashen grumbled something under his breath as Sturm laughed and nodded.
"Yes, that's the correct answer! Not bad, but you still have two more to go, both more difficult than the first. Ready? Here's the second riddle: 'It's more powerful than God. It's more evil than the devil. The poor have it. The rich need it. If you eat it, you will die.' What is it?" Sturm inquired.
Ashen furrowed his brows, knowing the answer, but refusing to say anything of it this time.
I had trouble with this one too... The Packleader sheepishly thought.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 26, 2009 1:51:52 GMT -5
Volk's face contorted in deep thought as he began to unravel the riddle. He started out with large things and as they started to conflict he began to work his way down.
"I really don't like this one... leaves too much room for over complication", he grumbled as he thought.
He sat for a few minutes as he mumbled one incorrect answer after another to himself.
As he narrowed things down to smaller and smaller items it became apparent to him.
"Just have to fill in the blank... Nothing is more powerful than God, Nothing is more evil than the Devil, the poor have Nothing, the rich need Nothing, and if I eat Nothing I will die. The answer is Nothing!", he firmly stated to the elder.
I really don't like that style of riddle. Hope he goes for something different on this next one.
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Post by Talon on Sept 26, 2009 13:38:14 GMT -5
Sturm seemed to scowl, then abruptly smirked at the answer.
"Very good... I was wondering when you'd get to the right answer." He replied.
Ashen gave a bark of a laugh from the sidelines, of which turned into a yelp as Elder Kaft swatted him again with an irritated sigh. Sturm chuckled, then turned to Volk, stating with tented fingers,
"Well, Volk... this is your last question. The last thing standing between you and pack membership. Are you ready?"
Without waiting for a response, Sturm then produced 11 sticks, all of the same size, and laid them on the ground before Volk. He gestured to the row of sticks, and stated,
"Change these eleven sticks to nine, without removing or breaking any of them."
Ashen furrowed his brows, running a hand through his hair.
"goddamn I hated this question..."
The Packleader then ducked under another swat from Kaft, grinning back at the shorter Elder.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 26, 2009 14:31:18 GMT -5
Volk quickly grabbed the eleven sticks and began to arrange them into the numbers 3 and 6 from a digital clock he had seen when he was in the city. Once he finished he realized that Sturm wanted NINE not numbers that totaled 9.
He quickly rearanged them to form the word nine in all capital letters.
"There I believe that is what you are looking for", he held out one hand to present the formation to Sturm.
Volk relaxed as he knew his test was pretty much over now barred some random extras get tossed in just to see him squirm.
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Post by Talon on Sept 26, 2009 15:39:32 GMT -5
The area fell silent as Sturm looked over the sticks with a cold, blank stare, then sighed and slowly nodded.
"Congradulations, you've passed the 4th and final test."
About a dozen cheers went up from the onlookers as the sticks were instantly swept up, and Strum stepped back to allow Ashen through, of whom stared at Volk with an approving smirk.
"Well, let's get this over with, shall we? Volk, I must say, I'm impressed. You've passed all four Trials, and therefore have proved yourself worthy to join us."
In a burst of flames, Ashen was once more in his Gauru form, as all those present flash-changed as well. Ashen then proclaimed in his deeper voice,
"As Packmaster of the Darkwood Pack, I hereby claim you as one of our own! Berg, welcome to our numbers!"
With that, he tilted his head back and issued a powerful howl into the dawning sky, each of the other pack members joining to form a chorus of cries issuing across half the mountainside in jubliation for their new member. This went on for a good minute before finally stopping, everyone shifting back to their human forms and all was silent again as Ashen proclaimed,
"The Initiation is now over. Berg Darkwood is amongst us now, as a friend and a brother. Rejoice! Rejoice or I'll hit you!"
Several laughs shot through the area, and Elder Gale barked,
"You are all free to go now!"
The area slowly empited of all but the Elders and Packleader at that, and Ashen jabbed a claw at the Elders, muttering to Volk,
"Well, they're gonna have a word with you before you can leave. I, on the other hand, have to go to work in about four hours, so I'm gonna go home and get some rest. Oh, and congrats one more time on it, Volk."
The Darkwood Packleader then strode off to join the others as they dissapeared into the trees, one by one. The five Elders then strode over to Volk as Kaft stated,
"Well, that was unexpected of you... but, nontheless, we welcome you to our ranks. There is one last bit of business we must go through before you're finished, however..."
"While we don't wish to offend you with this, you have originally come from another pack, and blood is thicker than water." Gale stated, sighing.
"Because of this, we may need to question your loyalty to the pack. You understand, now, that you've accepted our Trials and passed them, that there is no going back. If you are to betray our pack in any way or leave our ranks, we will have no option but to hunt you down and execute you. Do you understand?"
All five bore down on him with waiting stares.
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Post by shdwdrgn on Sept 26, 2009 15:58:44 GMT -5
Volk stood firm as he looked at the elders.
"I understand fully what it is I am doing. I am already hunted by one pack I have no wish to add yours to the hunt for me. My only wish is to put the Nightpeak behind me and live the life they tried to deny me", he told them. "Whatever it is you need me to do I shall perform to my utmost ability to accomplish it."
He bowed his head to them as he waited for them to continue on with their requirements. He was happy to be done with the trials but he had a feeling that they were the least of his troubles.
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