((Please, anything! We really need to do something... It would probably be better than training, anyway. Also, I'm not going to post for the actual RP right now because there isn't much to say about Kulina. She's dancing around the burning tree, if anyone wants to know. xD))

[size=Small]Hoooooowl![/size]
Protagon turned towards the distant sound. Howwwl! There it was again, louder this time.
He turned to the rest of the group. "Wolfmen!" he shouted, and turned back in preparation. His eyes met those of the frontrunners in a group of about one-hundred humanoid wolves.

(There we go! Each of us has control of twenty Wolfmen. playpink, you can hae forty, due to Tasha.)

((...double post. My bad. Somebody must remind me to only press the submit button once, no matter how long the page has been 'submitting')

((Yaaaay! I get more stuff to kill! *dances*))

The sound of a distant howl made Avarea spin around. There--though she had no idea how they had gotten there (weren't palaces supposed to have good security or something?)--was a whole pack of Wolfmen, at least a hundred of them.

For a moment she froze, mind frantically debating a rather trivial thing. She was going to have to shift, that was for sure. But she was wearing her favorite dress and she really didn't want to shift in it and tear it. And if she did she might get tangled in the shreds. Her eyes darted to her companions. Well, they were all women aside from Protogon and he was looking at the Wolfmen. And it wasn't like he wasn't going to catch a glimpse at some point, right?

On that not so comforting note, she cast one furtive glance around before hurriedly removing her dress, starting the shift before it even went past her chest.

The one thing she could say about shapeshifting was that it was painful. Excruciatingly so. Like every bone in her body was being splintered into tiny pieces, her skin being pinched and twisted like taffy and her insides churning like a stormy sea. Forgetting all about her dress dilemma, she focused on getting the shift over and done with as soon as possible.

At some point (probably when the wings where half grown) gravity forced her onto all fours. After that the shift was over and she straightened out, taking a moment to gather her bearings.

Unfurling two giant brown wings, she used her new eyes to examine the wolfmen with detail that she could not in her human form.

Oh yes. Avarea loved being a Griffin.

A loud caw found it's way past her new beak as she dug her claws into the dirt beneath her. Then, like an arrow from a bow, she shot forwards, beating her wings to gain momentum.

Then she hit the front ranks of the Wolfmen. Two sharp claws slashed at whatever she could find as her beak snapped at the head of one unlucky Wolfman. No sooner than that did she shoot back up into the air, circled once, then dove back down again to repeat the process.

The great thing about Wolfmen was that they couldn't fly.

_______________________________________

Tasha had only ever seen one Wolfman in her entire life, and that was when a rouge had attacked the circus for unknown reasons. From that experience she had learned four things about Wolfmen: one, what they looked like, two they didn't speak English, three, they weren't very smart and four, she didn't like them

It was the fourth thing she had learned about them that had her face set into one of determination.

Taking another dagger from it's spot next to her original daggers place, she briefly went over what she knew about Wolfmens fighting skills in her head. Which wasn't much, as the Circus master had ushered her and all the young ones away. But she knew that they had claws! And teeth! And that counted for something, right? ...right?

Shaking her head, Tasha grimly looked at the crowd. For a moment she stayed still, analyzing the best way to approach this. Failing at that, she decided to just wing it. With that, she darted forwards and directly into the pack.

Using the moment of surprise she had gotten from such a straight forward ((*cough*stupid*cough*)) attack, she stabbed the side of the closest Wolfman before wrenching her knife out and ducking away, sticking out her leg to trip the WOlfman she had injured when it tired to turn and follow. Weaving through furry bodies, stabbing at every thing she passed and tripping Wolfmen when the opportunity presented itself, she earned a few nicks and one gash on her elbow. In return she managed to get one direct stab at one Wolfmans heart and several good shots at everything else.

As she stabbed at the shoulder of one Wolfmen, rendering it useless, she wondered if she was very good or just ridiculously lucky.

Probably just lucky.

((I almost died of laughter when typing Avarea's post))

Wolfmen?!?!?!

Tanya cursed softly, fingering a faint scar on her upper abdomen, a parting gift from the very first wolfman she had ever met. She readied herself with her staff and made sure her knife was still in her belt.

They came in the biggest pack Tanya had ever seen. Maybe a hundred? She couldn't tell. It didn't matter though, what mattered was defending herself and her companions.

She managed to side-step a few and blungeon some others with her staff, sending small sparks at a few more with a couple choice spells.

She heard a rather distressing yell coming from... Avarea. She was changing, and she looked like she was in the most intense pain... but then she turned into, of all things, a griffin, and stopped screaming.

It was a long enough distraction that Tanya suddenly found herself on her back, pinned to the ground. The Wolfman... did it just smile?

Tanya let out a yell of her own, indignant, disgusted. "No. You will NOT beat me!"

The odds were stacked against her. She had only ever used the spell a few times before, so she wasn't sure if it would even work. But she had to try.

She placed her palms flat on the ground. "Aelocesso!" A quick burst of air lifted Tanya and her captor up off the ground almost a foot in the air. It was enough. The beast was off her, and she could grab her knife and staff.

Tanya could feel adrenline pumping through her body. She barely noticed the pain just below her right lung from landing hard and flat on the ground. She lunged at the rest of the pack just as they lunged at her. She aimed her knife at their claws, adeptly slicing through the wrists. Her staff she trained on her backs, bringing the sturdy wood down hard on their spines.

Kulina was shocked as she heard the sound of howls in the distance. They were getting louder, and louder. Confused (more so than usual), Kulina quickly snuffed out the tree's fire. What was going on? Were doggies coming to play with them?

As the first wolfman came into view, Kulina jumped and screamed. She had fought them before, and they weren't nice to play with! Why were they coming? To pick on her? That wouldn't do!

The nasty beasts were coming closer! Her attention was ripped from the monsters as she heard a scream from one of her companions. Were they hurt? Did they need to be set on fire? Were they... a birdy now?

Kulina began to skip toward Avarea, convinced that she was now a birdy friend. Avarea was attacking the wolfmen, though, and this was not the time to pet her.

She yelled, and noticed that the monsters were coming towards her, too! "HEY! YOU MEANIES!" she shouted, and hopped up and down. "FIRE BALL!"

A huge ball of flame shot at the beasts, incinerating them. Kulina smiled, and started to yell something about glow sticks and how pretty all of the wolves looked when they were glowing.

One of the monsters attacked her, grabbing her by the arm. Kulina, shocked, shouted the first thing that came to mind, "Shadow stream!" A burst of darkness struck out at the wolf man, sending him to the ground. Kulina didn't know if he was dead, or if he was simply knocked out.

( I laughed out loud when I read about Kulina. Was she hurt? Did she need to be set on fire? :lol

Protagon grinned, creating a black sword out of pure energy. He always enjoyed fighting Wolfmen.
As they reached him, his sword flew. It was constantly changing--some of the creatures were stabbed by a knife or impaled on a spear, some were slashed by a sword or beheaded by an axe, and a few were crushed by a war hammer. Protagon picked up several scratches on his back and arms, but he had recieved so many like them in the past, he didn't even notice the pain. Soon only one was left. He picked it up by the throat and put the tip of his sword--it was staying a sword now--to its stomach.
Suddenly, he noticed a wolflike shadow in front of him--and the sun was behind him. He spun, using the Wolfman as a sort of shield, and watched a Wolfman he hadn't noticed stab its claws into the chest of the one he was holding. He smiled at the surprised creature's expression, then skewered them together on his sword. He tossed them away, then glanced at his companions to see if they needed help.

(Anyone want some help?)

((Ava should be fine, as she can fly and all. The wolfmen got nothing on her. Although Tasha may need some help, as she's just slowly weaving through the crowd and stabbing stuff. She fights much better one on one...))

((Not Kulina. xD That post was so much fun to write. Anyway, she'll be fine.))

Anika raised an eyebrow at Antagon before smiling in a disturbing manor.

"Well, I'm curious about what group of runts your dear brother has managed to scrounge together, and I'm sure you're absolutely dying to know how your treasured servants are fairing" she smiled sweetly, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

With that, she turned around and drew a circle in the air. The air in the circle shimmered, an image slowly emerging from the air.

Anika stared at the image for a moment before quickly stroking the air, checking for counter spells (although she was sure she would have felt them before).

She shook her head, still staring at the image of 100 Wolfmen being completely decimated by three people she didn't recognize, Protogon and...a Griffin?

She let out a low whistle, shaking her head.

"Well. This might actually require some effort" she muttered. Sure, she expected Protogon the put up a fight with his recruits, but she didn't expect this.

A smirk curled onto her lips. This could be fun...

On that ominous thought, she turned heel and walked away, leaving the image in the air.

((...yeah. Anika is a stalker ^^))

Antagon glared after Anika, waving his hand to remove the image in the air. She had to realize he wouldn't need her alive forever, so why did she continue to provoke him?
He decided to simply ignore it for now. He had other things to worry about--like what to send after the Greater Good after they inevitable destroyed the Wolfmen.

(I'm assuming the Wolfmen are dead.)

A group of palace guards ran up.
"Prince Protagon, sir," the captain of the guard, John Johnson LXXVI said, "we heard a battle."
"You're a little late," Protagon replied, trying to remove a toothless Wolfman that was trying to chew his leg.
"Uh, yes, sir," John agreed sheepishly. "My men thought you were practicing, so they didn't tell me until they heard growls."
Protagon rolled his eyes and used an energy blast to destroy the Wolfman.

(Feel free to control John Johnson the 76th. You can even change his personality every time he says something, if you want.)

((OOC: Playpink, I'd like to have Anika and Tollak meet soon, would that be okay with you?))

There's a trickster sitting in a tree, alternating between watching the goings on of one of Antagon's dregs and eating apple segments.

Well, perhaps this might be fun.

A few hours later, he stands before some guards at Castle Evilni.

"I'd like to see the king, please." He claps his hands. "Hurry on now. I've got all day, but I don't think it's really necessary for this to take all day, do you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tanya sat down and closed her eyes.

Concentrate.

She couldn't feel any internal injuries and only a few external. She rubbed some paste over those as she looked around. No one looks to be seriously injured, however, now's as good a time as any to at least attempt to make better acquaintances.

She sees a young girl, Tasha, was it? who looks to be hurt.

"Hello, Tasha? Would you like some medical assistance?"

A guard walked into Antagon's throne room. "Your evil majesty," the guard said, "one of your subjects--Tollak, he calls himself--requests entry."
"Very well," Antagon replied. "Bid him enter."
The guard walked away. Back at the door, he said, "You may enter."

((Yep, Tollak and Anika meeting would be fuuun))

Tasha made a face at the shallow cuts. She'd gotten worse falling off of a tightrope, or that time she decided it would be a wonderful idea to punch a guy with porcupine quills covering his body for waking her up.

"Ah, yes, thanks" she said at the offer of medical help, hand gingerly ghosting over the worst wound. She winced, wondering if it was such a good idea to be doing this after all. Looking up, she was startled to see the corpse of a wolfman before her, her dagger sticking out of the middle of it's forehead.

Huh. She didn't even remember doing that. The battle had been more of a mix of adrenaline and stabs that relied more on instinct than thought.

A slow grin spread over her face. Okay, so maybe she wasn't giving herself enough credit. Not that she should be getting overconfident or anything

Argh. This was getting confused.

----------

Avarea flapped her wings, sending dust flying through the air as she slowly landed.

She couldn't stop the triumphant crow that bubbled up in her feathered chest at the sight of her shredded opponents, try as she may to stifle to basic animal instincts of the Griffin form she had assumed.

Maybe Vorie was right. Maybe she was losing her mind.

Shaking her head, she trotted over to her dress, picked it up in her beak and walked into the forest.

Biting back a cry of pain, she finished the shift and slipped back into her dress before jogging back into the clearing. There was no animalistic sense of satisfaction now, only disgust at the body strewn clearing.

It smelled awful.

"Ugh" she made a face, barely noticing the newest arrival. "Is all of this trip going to smell like this?" she waved her hand, the other over her nose.

---

Anika was, to say the least, very intrigued by magic. Finding something she hadn't seen before was a rare, but welcome occurrence. So, when she felt a strange magical presence tugging at the edge of her awareness, she paused her work and carefully examined the new power making it's way towards the castle.

Hm. Odd. Sitting up from her desk, she made a beeline for the presence, carefully summoning up a barrier around herself. It wouldn't do to be caught by this new magic before she could examine it, now would it?

The new magic was coming from a tall man who was standing before Antagon.

Ignoring her employer, she thoughtfully circled the man, examining him head to toe.

"You. What's your name?" she demanded, coming to a stop in front of him. Magic funneled up into her eyes, making them shimmer an eery red colour.

She looked him down again before her eyes settled on his face. Silver. Smooth, silver magic.

The red sheen flickered out of existence as a slow smile crept onto her face. A silver tongue. A useful talent indeed.

She was half tempted to remove her shield out of curiosity, but she wasn't a fool. She knew that no matter how great her powers, she shouldn't dive off into the unknown. She also knew that Antagon would one day tire of her, but she was confident she would survive the inevitable attack. Not even Antagon could get past her wards.

Clucking her tongue, she stored such thoughts away for later. Right now she had to figure out how to subject herself to this mans powers without putting herself at risk.

"Anika!" Antagon snapped, his eyes glowing intensely. "Get out of the way!" Without waiting for her to comply, he proceeded to say: "Thollak-- or whatever your name is--Why did you want to see me?"