Operation Double-Edged Sword (SJO/CIS Mission)

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would look toward Scherezade when she would aim the device at him, curious a moment and surprised when she would bring up recording some things for Jason, including his favorite lullaby. He would let out a sigh, as he would look down, unable to meet her eyes. “Thank you” He spoke softly. “But I already did earlier.”

[SIZE=10.5pt]He found himself looking away, not wanting her to see if he ended up crying as he would try to keep exactly that from happening. “I even... Even recorded his favorite lullaby, so maybe that’ll help him get through some nights, but… It won’t be the same. He’s going to get older and he’s going to get wiser, he’s a smart kid already… One day he’s going to realize that daddy’s not live on that holovid anymore. One day he’s going to ask where daddy is, and one day they are going to have to tell him, if he doesn’t realize on his own, that daddy is gone. That daddy isn’t coming back. He’s already been asking where mommy is, and I never know what to tell him.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]He couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t stop the tears that had started welling up. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“The recordings won’t mean as much anymore. He’ll be alone, he won’t have mommy, he won’t have daddy… He’ll be alone. I lost both my parents when I was just a bit older than him, and once you are old enough to understand, realizing that they’re gone, that young… It is one of the most horrible feelings that I think a child can feel. Jason relies on me, I am all that he has… At his age, losing the two people that during that time are your entire world, it… I don’t want to imagine the pain he will go through, I don’t want to imagine my son being lonely. I can’t leave him to suffer alone. I can’t leave him to have to go through what I did. I have promised myself… Over and over…”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]He started to break into sobs, as much as he tried to keep it at bay.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“I promised I would give him a better life. I promised that he wouldn’t have to suffer this way. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]To the point that many times I’ve considered just… Giving all of this up forever. This title of mine, this pride I have as a Jedi Master, all of that I have and what I am… None of that means anything if Jason is unhappy. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]I would give it all up in a heartbeat. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]But… If I do that, I am dooming other kids to suffer through what I have, when I could have been there. I can’t do that.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]But… What if I leave Jason alone? What if? I don’t want to think about it, and I try to push that thought away when I can, but… I… I just… I don’t want to imagine a world where I can’t be there, to be there for my son. I would rather die a thousand times if that meant I could come back and still be there for him.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]He took a deep breath, trying to wipe the tears away.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“We can’t fall here.”[/SIZE]

He was distraught, heavily. But he was trying... Trying to build himself back up and be ready for what was to come. Yet he could not shake the possibility.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

"Oh..." came her reply as Josh told her he'd already done it. Scherezade switched her holodevice off and shoved it back into her pocket. She thought... She thought she was doing something nice, something to help him, but it was clear her actions had done the exact opposite, and she didn't know what to do with her stupid grand ideas now.

Josh moved away, looked away, kept talking. At first Scherezade remained glued to her seat, unmoving. She wasn't sure what to do. Josh was crying and talking about Jason and how he was already asking where his mother had gone, how the recordings wouldn't mean much when he grew up, how he himself had lost his parents when he was only a little bit older than Jason currently was.

Scherezade moved on the couch, her arms wrapping around Josh, giving him a safe place. She would not judge him for his tears, or his pain.

She'd asked herself more than once where her own parents were. She'd lost them centuries ago, and she was fending off this horrible 'verse mostly on her own ever since she'd come out of the stupid pebble. She didn't know what it was like to have parents, or to even grow up like a normal person. But she wasn't going to say any of that, not now. Josh needed an outlet, not a pissing contest about who had it or potentially had it worse.

As Josh continued to speak, Scherezade attempted to move her hands on his shoulders in a comforting way. If Josh died, Jason would mourn him. That... Was unacceptable. She and Josh were different. Josh had friends, he had family, he had people that cared about him, and he was about to embark on one of the stupidest missions ever because... because of strangers.

She wanted to argue the stupid point of it, but... Sometimes it was better to pick your battles.

"We won't," she whispered, holding him closer. But she made no promise. "Rest now. We have a hard day tomorrow."

Scherezade closed her own eyes and sighed. She didn't want to do this. But there wasn't really any other choice. Slowly, she sent sensations of fatigue and exhaustion into Josh's mind. Just a small nudge here, a little push there, to send him into a sleep. She needed him sleeping peacefully away for what she had in mind.

Once he did though, she carefully maneuvered herself off of him, leaving him comfortably on the couch, and walked to the cockpit.

"Take us down," she ordered the droid, "once I get off this ship, you're going back into orbit, along with Master DragonsFlame. You're to leave me planetside. If you hear nothing from me within five hours of stepping on this idiotic planet, assume I'm dead, and fly immediately back to SJO space. Do not, under any circumstance, let Josh get off this ship before you're in safe territory."

It wasn't long after that, that Scherezade left the ship, turning around only to see it fly back towards orbit. She had her full arsenal of weapons on her, bottle included. Her mind was still spinning, but she could do it. She'd get rid of the stupid butthole Sith Lord and then go home. Or die trying. It wasn't as though anyone would mourn her if she was the one to die that day. After all... She was the disposable one.

A single swig, and she began to walk towards where the stupid Shaman had pointed.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The droid would obey, having no reason to suspect an ally of it's Master of foul play. The Final Dragon would take them down, and would soon enough leave when Scherezade would dismount, as requested. At first, when she would find the source of where she had been pointed to, there was nothing. But within moments, the illusion would disappear, revealing a large citadel that reached to the sky. It had been there, in plain sight all this time... Just hidden under this Sith's magic. But why had it been dispelled now?

It was very much clear that whoever owned this castle was letting her in.

The castle was black, and the dark side radiated from it like a beacon. It was incredibly strong, incredibly potent. Whatever was in there was a monster, no doubt about it. Scherezade would have to be careful. And know that whatever was in there, would be powerful.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade took a long drink from her bottle as she continued northward, in the direction that the stupid Shaman had pointed to. This time, her pain was lessened, but only to be taken over by a deep sense of dread and self doubt. Had she done the right thing, coming here alone like this? Probably not. Her previous encounters with Force Users that wanted to harm her had repeatedly left her a pin-cushion, constantly needing to be taken away from the scene by others, even when she had been otherwise successful.

No, she thought. It had been a stupid idea from the start. What they were supposed to do, was to contact both the Silvers and the CIS, and get reinforcements. Maybe wait in orbit until they showed up and give minor aid, but nothing more than that. And here she was alone again, this time by her own doing. But at least... At least it meant there was a child out there that wasn't going to wake up wondering why he wasn't going to see his father again, why it had been decades or maybe even centuries since he'd last seen them. It was a small thing, but it was a thing.

When the castle was revealed to her, she paused. The Dark Side radiated so strongly from it. It was like a beacon to her, calling her, inviting her... Inviting her home. Did all of it come from the Sith Lord, she wondered, or was there something there, a history or artifact or more, that caused it?

She supposed that it didn't matter. All she had to do was walk in there, cut his heart out, walk out of there. Or die trying. She had been so terrified of dying when she was in the Darkness. But now... Now it seemed like being the exception in her family and actually dying, wouldn't be such a horrible thing.

Taking another gulp from her bottle, Scherezade walked on towards the castle.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

The Sithling had decided to go it on her own. Would it be something that she would regret? Who knows? But it was clear that she was refusing to back down as she would step into the castle that had been laid out for her. It was clear that whatever she was to face... It was expecting her.

As Scherezade would enter the castle, the room was pitch black. But the stench of the dark side grew ever stronger. She would be able to sense life in the room immediately, and yet it had the same signature as the thralls. An aura of something that was alive and yet not alive at the same time. A voice would ring in her head - the Shaman.

"This may sound odd, but... Please, please end their lives. I beg of you. There is nothing worse than to be thralled... Please end their suffering for us in the village. We cannot bear to witness this anymore. They are gone, their free will is permanently destroyed. Death will be a mercy to them. It is all we can do now."

But Scherezade would not get the chance to think on what had been said. As immediately, the room would begin to be illuminated by red lightsabers. The thralls had come...

And there were over a hundred of them.

Over a hundred red lightsabers, stemming from over a hundred thralls that advanced on her... All giving the presence of a high-knight level Force User. Likely a fraction of their original puppermaster's power.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Shut up, Scherezade hissed inside her head as she heard the voice of the Shaman. If the Shaman wanted so many dead, or for someone to solve this the way she wanted it to be solved, she'd have to offer up pay. Scherezade didn't care about the people on this planet, had no krak to give about their plight. The Sith Lord had made this issue personal, and he'd either come to regret it, or kill Scherezade as she solved it.

As the Sithling looked at the darkness, she smiled. It was just a dark room, not the Darkness. This... Was easier. Especially when the card she'd been dealt was one she had a fairy easy way to combat.

It had been the first spell she'd never written - Night Sight. "Give me a sound and give me the night, let me see it all tonight," came the words from her, slightly above a whisper. She heard the soft ding sound, and looked at the room again, which in the mean time had been filled with red lightsabers. More of them than she could count in an instant.

There was no time to try to see what else might have been in the room. There was no time to just stand there and try to check if this was another set of illusions, or truly a hundred thralls. There was no time to think about whether or not this was a fraction of their master's power or not.

There was only time to run.

Scherezade turned around and began to run as fast as she could. First as fast as her feet could carry her, and then aided by the Force to increase the speed of her movements. Under normal circumstances, she could perform acts that made it seem as though she just reappeared from thin air, but that trick would now only waste her efforts and probably make killing her much easier. Instead she just made herself run faster, as fast as she dared in a way that would keep her going for long enough.

Occasionally, she sent a Sutta Chwituskak back at whoever was chasing her.

But she knew, she knew she needed something bigger. Her mind, however, drew a blank.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

It seemed that no matter where Scherezade turned, there was a thrall at every corner and every turn, lightsaber brandished. No matter how far she ran, there just seemed to be more no matter how far into the castle she went. It wasn't long before more began to cut off Scherezade's escape routes, and then eventually she would be surrounded.

When she did realize she was surrounded, the lot would begin to close in on her, lightsabers brandished. At least, before someone would suddenly appear behind her, charging up a heavy Force Push and sending it pulsing at a group of them, sending them flying back and confusing the others in the vicinity as they tried to recover. Josh had dropped out of the White Current and landed behind her, before unleashing the Force Push. He didn't seem to be suffering from any aftereffects of Scherezade's manipulation, and seemed to be completely awake.

"Not your finest hour" Josh would joke as he would promptly ignite both of his lightsabers and draw them. An odd move for him to start a battle, but it told of how grave the situation really was. "Let's see if we can't get through this, shall we?"

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade was letting out a stream of curses that could have caused a sailor to blush. Everywhere she went, there were more of these buttholes. Her heart was pounding as her mind slowly began to catch up. No one said they were all real. Just because her senses received them as such. It was the illusion scene all over again. She wished she felt certain enough in herself to just stop running, but... But no one said they all were illusions. It was quite possible that a big enough amount of them were real and if she stopped, they'd cut her down.

But she wasn't going to have enough time to think this through. They were closing in on her. She was not going to be able to keep on running forever. Smoke and Fire in her hands, Scherezade ignited them, readying herself for a fight she could no longer postpone, when suddenly a group of them were pushed away.

She turned around, eyes landing on... Josh?!

"You're not Josh," she almost screamed, out of breath, "you're another one of the Sith Butthole's illusions. Josh was safe on the ship and I sent him away."

Readying herself to battle this one, Scherezade gulped. It felt like Josh, but earlier had felt like Gerwald too. This sort of poodoo was the Sith Lord's forte. She wasn't going to fall or it a second time.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would look back at Scherezade and just shrug. He didn't need to say anything, she could think as she wanted and find out the truth when this was all over with. If Scherezade could sense out enough, she'd hear the same words from the Shaman radiating in Josh's head as well, and the Jedi would frown, but nod his head. It wasn't what he wanted to do. Actually, it was the last thing he had wanted to do. But there was nothing left of the villagers that had been kidnapped by this thing and turned into thralls. It was a cruel, horrible thing to do. All he could do was give them mercy.

Scherezade would be able to feel something buzzing in her head as her attacks suddenly seemed like they would be far better coordinated, far more accurate. Her head was filled with pulses of motivation and encouragement. It appeared that the Shaman was giving her aid in her own way - Battle Meditation.

Josh didn't seem effected by the Battle Meditation, judging by the lack of any sign of mental tampering on him. Though he did seem to acknowledge that it had been tried, as he would smirk lightly. Josh would watch the incoming hordes as they would charge their way full speed, some even actually using Force Speed. Patiently, the Master would watch them come... And then he would stab his lightsabers into the ground and hold out both hands. Large orbs of fire would begin to form in his hands as he continued to charge them, pouring more energy than his usual into them to give them that extra oomph. His smirk faded as the Jedi seemed to take a very serious, stoic approach, as he would then open fire. The fireballs would hit their targets when two of them were struck and had blocked with their sabers, but the explosion of fire and smoke that came with it were what Josh was aiming for.

As the others would leap into the air to escape the explosion, Josh would hold his hands up as his lightsabers would suddenly fly upwards, catching two of them off-guard and stabbing them through the chest.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

No, she couldn't sense out. But even if she had, she couldn't sense anything out that she could trust at that point. Everything was an illusions. Nothing was real, or completely real. When the buzzing in her head began, she screamed. She didn't want the motivation an encouragement, she did not want the Shaman digging in her head together with the Sith Butthole.

"GET OUT!" she screamed, holding her head. She needed them all out of her head. She was inside her own head and that was quite enough.

As Josh (or Josh's illusion) was setting the thralls (or illusions of thralls) on fire, she was battling a battle of her own. She wanted to shield her mind. She wanted everyone who tried to enter it to be gone, completely gone. But Katrine had never gotten to the point where she taught her how to shield herself. Not physically, anyway. She had no void stone with her, no salamander, nothing.

Scherezade screamed again, trying to use what she knew of telepathy to build a wall around her mind. A mental wall. A wally-wall. A wall that could help. But every time she managed to put a few of the mental bricks down, something broke through them, caused them to explode.

There was nothing she could do. Other than...

Still screaming, the Sith put her hands against the nearest wall. If she couldn't stop the Sith Lord from getting into her mind, if she couldn't kill him, she could bury him under his own house. The wall she was touching began to shake. She was still screaming as the shaking slowly began to expand towards the other walls. She was going to detroy this place and bury everyone who was here underneath it.


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Scherezade's tantrum was something Josh probably should have expected. But for her to literally attempt to bring the house down on top of them? Less expected. The Jedi would bring his sabers back, only to notice Scherezade - instead of fighting - screaming for something to get out of her head before she attempted to cause the castle to crumble.

"You know, your attempt to put me to sleep on the ship had the right intentions, but those kind of go out the window if you kill us both" Josh would comment. "What's in your head is Battle Meditation. I used it too on Zeltros. It's meant to make you stronger" He clarified. "Probably the shaman. I'd use it myself if I wasn't focusing on the-"

Josh would have to jump back from a charging swipe as he would land behind Scherezade. Who clearly didn't think he was real.

"That. I'll explain later, but could you please focus on taking these things down instead of trying to kill us both?" He asked. "Seriously, is it that hard to believe I'm real? There's gotta be something that only I'd say."

He thought it over a moment.

"Uhh... Rubber baby buggy bumpers, rubber baby buggy bumpers, rubber-baby-buggy-bumpers-rubber-baby-buggy-bumpers? No? Kark. I dunno, ask me a question that you don't know yet? Shaman said that he got your illusions from your memories, right?"

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

He was a butthat for titling that a tantrum. Apparently, no one's ever sufficiently taken his mind over if he thought that was what it was. But what was a girl to do? She was screaming for the Sith Lord to get the hell out of her mind, she was trying to build walls to protect herself from him, and when all failed, began the attempt to bring the entire fortress down. But hey, let's call that a tantrum.

"You were asleep on the ship!" she said, turning her head to face him, the walls still shaking around them, "I sensed you on it as it left! You're not Josh!"

But illusion or not, he was right. The thralls were still coming.

"This isn't real," Scherezade gasped, "none of this is real."

Her hands finally left the wall and she sank to her knees, entirely missing notice of the thrall who almost took her down.

When she finally turned around to face the room, a certain darkness had set over her features.

There were other powers she knew. Powers she had never done in front of Josh. It would only take a moment to...

Scherezade began to gather the Darkside around her. If it really was Josh, he would sense it. If it was an illusion, she didn't care what it sensed or didn't sense.

Her hands moved quickly as the Dark Side Web formed between them, and she sent it hawling at the next thrall that came her way. There were more webs she could weave, more orbs she could create. For all of Josh's pleading, she was a Sith. And sometimes, you need a Sith to destroy another Sith.

Sweat was pouring down her face and back. She wouldn't be able to keep this up forever. But she just had to keep this up for long enough.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

"You're fully aware that droid does what it wants, right?" Josh would point out, referring to R4 who she had told to take the ship far into orbit. "It's done what it's wanted since I was a Padawan."

Regardless, Josh's senses would tell him to duck just before Scherezade would unleash the dark side in the form of webs, catching a thrall by surprise. But their lack of focus on the battle meant that the two of them were swamped as many more came their way in unison. "I should have called for backup the moment I realized there'd likely be thralls here" Josh would admit, shaking his head as he would be forced to parry a blow aimed for his head. "I figured I could handle the Sith Lord. But an army? Kark. This just isn't my day."

Josh knew that he was going to have to forgo restraints if they were to survive here.

"Duck."

That was the only order that he gave as Josh would begin to collect energy, before his body would be engulfed in a bright light. It had been a long time since he'd needed to use this, but if any time was good for it... It was now. Josh would hold out his hands, using the same type of concentration he would use to shoot a fireball, before a beam of light would fire at the thralls in front of them. As many would be hit, and due to how many of them being nothing but manifestations of the dark side at this point instead of people... The thralls that were hit would suddenly scream before evaporating into nothing.

Josh would continue to channel energy, but Force Light was taxing. Especially at the output he was putting in. If he just had Jyoti with him... Perhaps they could have used Wall Of Light. But Josh alone could not do it by himself.

Or perhaps he could... He'd never tried. But he knew it'd take everything if he did.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade ignored what Josh had to say about the R4. She hadn't counted on the R4. She counted on her senses being able to tell her what was happening when they were out of the Sith Lord's reach. But now... Now she wasn't so sure they were. She couldn't have her senses messed with, not like that. Inside of her head was inside of her head and now it ha been turned inside out, open for the abuse of a butthole who had tried to get her to kill Josh and had used her memories of Gerwald to do it.

When Josh said duck, Scherezade flattened herself on the ground, not needing to be told twice. The alcohol had burned through her system and evaporated by now, her mind sharp. She loathed it. She was going to make him pay for that, as that was now twice on the same day.

Even with her face covered, the Sithling screamed in pain. It didn't injure her, but it burned. The Light burned. If Josh had ever doubted that she was a Sith, here was his proof. His attack, while not aimed at her, while she was supposed to be safe from the collateral, felt as though it was burning her from the outside in and back outside, even if she was not the one hit by the beam.

These were not the same screams as earlier. These were screams of intense pain as though merely being near him when he beamed out was enough to hurt like, like a cross to a vampire.

Scherezade screamed.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

Josh would immediately stop when the screaming started. While Force Light would likely make a difference in their survival, he couldn't stomach it if it was going to hurt Scherezade. He had hurt her by mistake. He had hoped she would be safe from it, but she was too close. The fact was he had never been in this situation before, using Force Light with a darksider he wanted to keep safe nearby. It had been an accident, but he felt horrible nonetheless. The power would stop as he would rush to Scherezade's side. "Chit, chit, chit!" He would mutter as he would scoop her off her feet and make a break for it.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He whispered in a panicked tone into her ear as he ran. "Please be okay, please be okay!"

"Hide your presence" He commanded as he would use Force Speed to give them an advantage in their retreat. The moment they were out of sight though, he would immediately stop and activate the White Current, causing the both of them to disappear from sight and sense. Taking a moment to catch his breath, the Jedi Master would find a little hovel made of rubble and hide them both inside, placing her down. "Keep your presence hidden" He commanded as he would drop them out of the Current and then manually hide his presence, so they could rest. The Current took energy and he could not sustain it if they were meant to be fighting these things, then the Sith Lord. They needed to rest.

"Let's rest here for now... Then we gameplan."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Scherezade blinked as she was suddenly picked up, every inch of her wanting to protest at being touched, but the pain was still too harsh in her body. There were no tears though. Once the screaming had ceased, it made way to a face full of shock and some terror. Josh was apologizing profusely and she could just nod through the pain, unable to speak just yet. What had he done? What was that white light thing?

And then came the order - hide your presence. She couldn't move her mouth yet to form words, the pain was still too intense though her exterior was better at hiding the way she was fighting it. Josh set her down and told her to keep her presence hidden.

"Josh..." she finally managed to say after he mentioned resting and gameplans. Her voice was rough, as though she'd just been punched in the throat, "I don't know how to cloak myself in the Force."

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

They were running low on time before they would be found, and they needed to act quickly. But Scherezade's announcement that she did not know how to hide her presence caused his eyes to widen. "You're kidding me" He growled low, before letting out a sigh. The irony of the timing was not lost on him. He would lean in to whisper into her ear, so as not to project any sort of force sensitivity at all for the both of them, trying to minimize their footprint in any way he could while he tried to teach her.

"Alright, so much of using the Force is about visualization, and bringing out something within you. For this... Visualize nothing. None of it. Visualize it disappearing. Your presence? Poof. Gone. It'll take a bit of focus for now, but with practice, it should come to you naturally and all you really need to do is think it and it's good, just like many other Force abilities" Josh would explain. "I need you to try here and now, Scherezade. We're running out of time, and we need to be able to rest before we try and take these guys on again. Otherwise, even if we do manage to win... No way are we beating that Sith Lord."

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She wished she was kidding him, she truly was. Her training had been problematic, never finding someone who was willing to properly teach her. Katrine had given her basics, but they had focused on neutral abilities that mostly manifested physically. Shielding and cloaking had been on the list, but things had gone bad before they got there, and Scherezade was never going to ask her for training help again.

This time she wanted water for her throat, but there was none.

Carefully, the Sith listened to the Jedi as he instructed her. Of course. The visualization. If we can imagine it, we can do it. The rest is just figuring out how. Wasn't that what she always told Gerwald when she trained him?

Scherezade closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She couldn't do the none of it bit that Josh was talking about, but there were other ways. She imagined the Force around, rising from her like a fog or a mist. In her mind, it was very tangible. And slowly, she began to shift its color. It was still there, but instead of the pinks and greens that her Force fart clouds were usually in, she imagined them becoming transparent.

It took longer than she wanted to, but after a minute or two, she had the image strong in her mind.

"I think I've done it..." she whispered, opening her eyes and looking at Josh, searching for confirmation.

[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

 

[Josh Dragovalor]

He could feel her presence disappear, and the Master would let out an exhale in relief. It was good, that. They could take a break. They could gameplan, they could rest... And maybe, just maybe they would survive.

"Good" He whispered. "So we need to gameplan. I could run in and use Force Light... But I don't know how that would effect you, even from a distance. I haven't tested it with a friendly Sith nearby up until now, obviously" He would explain, giving the maneuver he had done before a name for her to identify. "We need to either divide them up in some fashion... Or find a way to take out many of them at once. All while trying to expend as little stamina as possible. Unless you know of a way to restore our stamina after this is all over with?"

He had presented their dilemma, the issue now became how to solve it.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

No, Scherezade didn't have any crazy ideas about how to restore their stamina once they were one. Well, there were stims, but she didn't have any, and she was pretty sure Josh didn't have any either. So that direction was a dead end.

She also wasn't quite sure his idea would work, about the splitting up thing.

"You now more than I do about these things," she finally said, "how do you dispell-"

There. An idea. Could she write a spell? Could she write this spell?

"What if..." It was complicated. She didn't have anything to write with, not that she needed it, her memory was too good when she was as sober as she was now, "okay, what if I could write a spell that would show us through the illusions?"

Us. That was the tricky part. She didn't know how to do group spells, only things that would work just on her.

"It wouldn't be absolute, it won't work on all the illusions... But maybe if it meant only his strongest make it passed the spell shield..."

It was an idea. It was an idea with potential. Emerald eyes looked at Josh, looking for a response. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea after all. The greatest danger with it would be that-

"Do you know how to cast illusions?" Scherezade asked, "so that we can test it in here before going back out?"


[member="Josh DragonsFlame"]