Elyra Reissford
Phase 1
Day 1 - Afternoon (New Moon)
Western Slums - Foggy Backstreet
All things considered, the mission was going rather well in Elyra’s estimation. Maybe sometimes less is more? She recalled Thekla’s favorable response to their interactions.
Originally Posted by
Thekla Holzknecht
“Ah, when it is the two of us, just Thekla is fine. I’ll call you Elyra as well. No need to bother with titles outside of engaging with official business, methinks. They’re quite the mouthful, after all.”
Typically, being on a first name basis is a step up in closeness correct? So she must be leaving a good impression somehow. Or maybe it was just Thekla’s nature to tend towards friend making. She does have the leadership position after all, and a prerequisite to being a good leader was to work well with people. If she could make inroads with Thekla at this pace, maybe this whole human interaction thing wasn’t such a black box.
Still it was a good idea to keep gathering information. Knowledge about one’s companions was especially important since she had to trust her companions in high stakes situations. Elyra made note of how Thekla took offense at the mural painted on the church wall. Going as to mark it with her powerful Mystic Code, though she kept it sheathed of course.
For Elyra the eye mural was a simple curiosity to be filed away until it became relevant. For Thekla it was a blasphemy worth taking action against. Logically Elyra knew she would fit in better by displaying more outward reverence and performing the actions such entailed. Yet it somehow didn’t feel right to her. Adopting such affectations felt like a pointless waste of energy. She was able to skirt by just fine with her minimalist approach, and even if the Christian God was watching…
She canceled her wandering thoughts and returned to the task at hand. Together, Elyra and Thekla moved across the rooftops of the slums with supernatural ease. It was somewhat pleasing that her suggestion to take the high ground and use her Mana-Threads went off without any complications. With a few wins on her belt, it was perhaps a good time to initiate some conversation. “Strike while the iron’s hot” or so the saying goes.
“Sa-, ahem Thekla,”
Before she could finish her sentence, she spotted them. Two, no three suspicious figures shrouded by the fog.
A mundane person may have only been able to make out their silhouettes, and thus mistaken the front two for humans. However Elyra’s eyes had no such limitations. She could see their malformed features using infrared light, the fog doing nothing to obscure their body temperature, or lack thereof in this case.
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Elyra’s thoughts accelerated as she automatically analyzed the situation. The two humanoid figures in the front were Corpses. Relatively low threat targets with inferior statistics. Even for Corpses they looked to be in a state of disrepair. About 6 meters behind them was a Ghoul with the appearance of a large caterpillar. It lay within a dilapidated structure. It was larger and more powerful overall, but nothing special. It was the larger implications of such thralls being here that was more troublesome. A list of possible approaches and their odds of success quickly became apparent.
Frontal Assault: 94.9%
Ranged Assault: 98.3%
Pincer Attack: 97.6%
Hit and Run: 96.7%
Retreat: 99.5%
Divide and Conquer: 95.8%
As expected, it wouldn’t take much. Given that these enemies were known factors and assuming her variables were correct, there was mathematically very little chance of her and Thekla being defeated regardless of the method they chose. She only considered the matter for a fraction of a second before deciding there was no use wasting time and energy overthinking things. A swift pre-emptive strike would take care of them. Corpses that followed pre-programmed instructions were especially simple to dispatch.
Without missing a beat Elyra motioned for Thekla to stop at a reasonable distance before pointing out the hostiles in front of them.
“I’ve spotted three enemy targets. Two Corpses and a Ghoul in that building approximately 6 meters behind them. Given our respective specializations, I recommend an ambush from above using Divide and Conquer tactics. I can drop in front of the two corpses, drawing their attention while you move in on the Ghoul. If we seize the initiative I don’t imagine this encounter will take more than a few moves.”
She waited for Thekla to signal her assent and move into position before starting her assault.
First, a single step to move herself from the rooftops to a position 3 meters in front of the two Corpses, with no concessions made for subtlety. When it came to 3 dimensional combat, there was a common misconception that a combatant was vulnerable while in the air. This was only an issue for beings that made the rookie mistake of allowing gravity to dictate the speed of their descent. Elyra made sure to kick off at an oblique angle, arriving directly from point A to point B at the speed of her choosing.
Before the dust of her impact settled she was already making her move. Her Mana-Threads charged with energy, she swung her right arm in a wide arc. When it comes to attacking with a fluid yet impossible sharp weapon such as hers, strength was not a factor. It took speed, and more importantly, finesse. A normal mind would struggle to utilize a weapon with a variable length that had physical properties which could differ from each molecule to the next. But for Elyra manipulating the Threads was second nature. She effortlessly adjusted the countless properties of the Threads she used, increasing the weight at certain points and sharpness at others, culminating into a precisely tuned attack aimed at bisecting the Corpse in front of her.
For the Corpse’s part it did attempt to doge, but it was a futile effort. The sheer speed and precision of Elyra’s attack meant its half decayed muscles and atrophied nerves couldn’t react in time. The result was the Corpse being cleanly cut in half from head to shoulder
Without slowing down Elyra followed through on her assault. She used the remaining momentum of her attack to swing her sharpened wire-blade into the Corpse next to the one she destroyed, leaving a deep gash on its thigh. Despite the wound the second Corpse barely bled. Perhaps a sign that their owner didn’t bother supplying them with fresh sustenance.
With one Corpse already down, Elyra retracted her Thread and allowed the second one to charge at her. She wanted to make sure the Corpse would focus on herself to give Thekla a solid opening against the Ghoul.
It didn’t take much effort to doge the Corpse’s clumsy attack. It was almost a leisurely experience, as simple as calculating 2+2. When she confirmed that the second Corpse was committed, Elyra simply jumped back onto the rooftop of the building behind her, thoroughly out of the simple mob’s melee range. At this point it would be up to Thekla.
Ideally Elyra would swiftly finish off her encounter then move to support Thekla if she needed it. As long as there were no unexpected variables, things would go according to plan…
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