Unstill Waters [Knights Obsidian]

[Naedira Darcrath]

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Location: Jagomir [Tower]​

Equipment: Obsidian Lightsaber,Comet OSM-10, Bilari Electro-Chain Whip, Obsidian Strike Armor​

Standing Beside Tags: [member="Gerwald Lechner"]​

Standing Beside Tags: [member="A'Runda"] | [member="Kurenai Yumi"] | [member="Kwelin Orlov"] | [member="Scherezade deWinter"] | [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"] | [member="Brayden Antares"]​

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Naedira frowned.

She hadn’t felt anything when she pulled the lever. No release, no tang of alchemy at work, and no shift in the balance of the Force. The sight of the undead rising from the mud-caked lake-floor caused her teeth to grind together slightly. She’d been the one to pull the lever, to release that which bound the creatures, which left a new hurdle in their way.

They hadn’t missed something. She had missed something.

Gerwald asked her a series of questions that, in the moment, she didn’t have answers to. The only undead she’d experience had been born of Sith Magic on Mirial. The only solution to those had been of a final notion. Heart or head. Take the heart, or, take the head. “I think the alchemy that kept them bound beneath the water also keeps them hidden from a variety of senses. They are unique.”

“We should stay behind. Secure the exit—If Knight Antares agrees.”

Clearly, she would be referring to the leader of this expedition, Madalena, over the brother she remained wholly unaware of. He was dressed like a Knight. But to assume she knew everyone by Force Signature alone? It was folly. Regardless, she was not a great archaeologist, or, a stalwart student of buried things and ageless rocks. Naedira was a warrior. A fighter.

It seemed that she had something to make up for.

While Madalena dodged a ball of ice that came from one of the undead creatures mouths Naedira pulled ahead, hopefully, with Gerwald in tow. She snapped her chain-whip from her back and began to dance the line of creatures. She stayed just out of reach but used her the rapier-form of her weapon to attack the two points she knew to be most vital. Their bones were soft from exposure. The water made skulls and sternums easy to break and burrow her blade through.

Her main goal was to lead them to the far right side of the now-empty-lake. To distract them—so that the rest of the group could go around and retrieve what they needed. Naedira slipped, on occasion, but she was getting better and better and standing in the squelching riverbed. She turned on point, as much as she could, and removed any number of skeletal hands that desperately reached for her.

The screeching terror released another ball of ice and the Knight held out her free hand. This time, she caught it, and turned it back on the group, releasing the uneven sphere back at them. They acted like pins in a child’s game and stumbled all over each other. Some lost pieces of themselves with huge sections of their trunks completely gone.

“You should take the rest of the team and get the mission done Knight Antares. Lechner and I...We can handle the cleanup!”

 

[A'Runda]

Location: Outside of tower​

Wielding: Gaffi Stick, and Curved Hilt Lightsaber​

Post: 5​

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By now the Tusken was reasonably creeped by the undead, it being a rather odd concept where he was from. Before he could eye them for much longer they began to let out an unnatural screech, causing A'Runda to wince. Almost an instant later he found himself knocked over onto the ground after Madalena did a dodge roll incorporating him in it so that they wouldn't get struck by a ball of ice rushing out to hit them at high speeds.

Figuring that Madalena would rather have him thank her with actions instead of words, he quickly got himself up from the muddy ground beneath them. Summoning his curved lightsaber hilt to his palm he ignited it. Perhaps the Shii-Cho training his had, although limited, would be useful for the multiple enemies he could face at a time. Prepping himself for the hoard he'd let The Force, or Spirit Ichor, having little wisps of greenish mist flow around him. They say that the first form of lightsaber combat was like being a conduit for The Force to flow though you like a river. As he got himself ready to stepped up to the opponents who were no longer rooted to the ground.

As many if not most of them began to follow [member="Naedira Darcrath"] away from them, some would focus their interests on the rest of the group. Despite being numerically outmatched, A'Runda didn't worry. As the first ones came to him he'd strike out with seemingly clumsy yet effective wide slashes with his weapon, easily being able to combat the multiple undead that came to him. The still very moist bodys letting out a sort of pop and sizzle noise as the extreme heat of his weapon vaporized the water that had seeped into their bodies. Dismembering and "slaying" the corpses into a more "dead" state of being. Quickly going after one target zone to the others against his targets. All in all the tribesman was doing well enough to hold the undead that came their way at bay, now they just had to seize the moment with getting to the objective.

[member="Scherezade deWinter"]
[member="Gerwald Lechner"]
[member="Brayden Antares"]
[member="Kurenai Yumi"]
[member="Shalita Vi'dreya"][member="Kwelin Orlov"]

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

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Kurenai had not listen to the words spouted by the others instead drawn to an odd scent rising from the murky water, such a smell was quite familiar with, the smell of death, rotting death, death that had been around almost as long as she had been. Instantly she had flash backs to a temple she and other members of the knights cleared out, when they still went by the Dark Acolytes title, during that mission the group had been assaulted by hordes of unded beings from years before.

Such an attack was easy to deal with, but in that instant they had Daxton Bane and other powerful force users at their side, the confinement of the hallways working to their advantage, funneling the cannibalistic beings into a easy kill zone. Here, they had no such luxury, some members of the groups having to dive from cover as the lumbering corpse made their assault from the now mud soaked plain. What is more these 'thing' were not simple undead, herself having to lean back as a sharp ice like projectile whizzed past her face, a small shower of frost covering her body, "... that is new".

Not wasting another second Kurenai drew her saber and side arm, in but a second emptying a full clip into the heads of 6 different enemies followed quikly by the sharp snap and hiss of her blood orange blade coming to life. Looking around she could see [member="Naedira Darcrath"] start a kiting maneuver, the women followed by @A'Runda and a few others, drawing some of the pesky shambles away from the location of interest, still, it would be quite the fight.

Turning around she'd call out to @Scherezade deWinter and those who did not follow Naedira, "I will create a hole and take point, follow behind and keep tight formation, I'll put up a force barrier to stop those mcie things from getting us, but do not stray to far behind". Before a reply came Kurenai had begun her advance, starting off by summoning several dark spear with the force, flinging the sharp ethereal objects towards the nearest mass with frightening speed, skewering several of the zombie. It would be temporary but enough to make it a good distance into the silty lake bed, she just had to trust the other to keep the corpse occupied.

| [member="Kwelin Orlov"] | | @Shalita Vi'dreya | [member="Brayden Antares"]

 

[Brayden Antares]

Location: Over Lake, Immersed in the White Current
Equipment: Obsidian Strike Armor | Blood-red Sith Sword
Nearby: [member="Scherezade deWinter"]
Tags: [member="Naedira Darcrath"] | [member="Gerwald Lechner"] | @A'Runda | [member="Kurenai Yumi"] | [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"] | [member="Kwelin Orlov"]

Having already immersed himself completely into the White Current as he'd learned and practiced several times in first decade or so of existence outside of The Darkness, Brayden continued to levitate himself above the drained lake casually. The curiosity was the lack of presence the Undead seemed to have. While he had initially assumed he was sensing their physical existence, the Sith Lord was now relatively certain that it was the motion and disturbance of the environment that gave them away.

As his body continued to drift high above the enemies and in the direction of their objective, Brayden found himself...conflicted. He had existed entirely on his own for so long that he was fairly content to simply accomplish the mission. In his mind there were more than enough Knights to deal with the now swarming enemy forces. If they could not handle them, it would be foolish to think that his sole assistance would turn the tide. Logically...were that their actual predicament, then they were all already dead and the mission a failure.

At the same time, there was an impulse, a hidden trait that hadn't been required in his past. There was a drive, a pull to defend his fellow warriors, to fight alongside them.

No.

Decision made, Brayden continued along his path, descending casually towards the entrance to the cave. There were certainly undead in the vicinity, but the overwhelming majority of their attention was focused on the approaching Knights. In order to keep himself from influencing the environment or leaving tell-tale footsteps in the soggy lake bed, the Endelaan Prince maintained his levitation as he passed through the mouth of the cave.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Wearing: Armor | Leather Pants | Honey Boo Prototype Combat Boots | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis
Wielding: 10 Czerka knives, Fire and Smoke (lightsabers), 4 Glitter Bullets
Tags: [member="A'Runda"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Naedira Darcrath"] [member="Gerwald Lechner"] [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"] [member="Brayden Antares"]

She had managed to get the Adjudicator [member="A'Runda"] with her as she got them down to the ground for safety. The ice blast had gone over their heads, leaving them a little bit muddier, but unharmed. Madalena quickly climbed to her feet, weapons out. Her daggers flew into the air, spreading out like a fan around her, as the two beams of her lightsabers ignited, their green glow cast over the immediate surroundings.

Nodding to Executor Darcrath, it appeared the groups were to split. Some moved to secure in a wider arch, while Pathfinder Yumi arranged others into formation. She glanced around, wishing got make sure her brother was safe, but he was nowhere in sight. The briefest of brushes against the Force let her know though; he was near, he was well.

She supposed that meant the Undead Boss, the one that had sent the ice blast, was hers for the moment.

Grinning, Madalena launched forward with all the flurry of her blades. The undead did not bleed, and as such, her blood hound gifts would not help her. But she was more than natural abilities; she trained hard, night and day, and could wield a sword like someone with many more years under their belt than her dry training on paper would suggest.

The Undead Boss pulled a sword out. It was large, glinting in icy blue in the dim light of the murky area.

And Madalena clashed her blades with him, dancing in a flurry around him, her knives flying through the air, flying forward to try to find somewhere to stab. Every move of the lightsabers in her arm was met with a block, and her knives could do nothing. It didn't take long before she let them drop, focusing her entire focus on the creature before her.

As the Undead Boss changed tactics and switched to the offensive, there was little Madalena could do other than black and move backwards, protecting herself from that sword of his. How the heck did you kill the undead?

 

[Shalita Verd]

Tags: [member="Scherezade deWinter"] | [member="Naedira Darcrath"] | [member="Gerwald Lechner"] | [member="A'runda"] | [member="Kwelin Orlov"] | [member="Kurenai Yumi"] | [member="Kyle Naktis"]​

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Shalita hadn’t been at all surprised when the lever was found, mostly because of the number of knights present and she couldn’t at all be bothered to correct Knight Darcrath again. However she did surmise that while on faction business, she could simply use the title, even though she thought that titles were useless when it came to the shadows of the night. As an assassin of death, who wore different forms for different purposes, titles felt meaningless, but the woman recognised that in some circumstances, titles had to be used. Titles were a way of recognising certain individuals. In the Confederacy and the Obsidian Knights, Shalita didn’t mind too much, outside of those two, she minded a great deal. The ability to slip in and out of places without being recognised was part of her job and that was who she was.

With the order to wait outside and the growing unease and agreement within the group, that the mission had been too easy, the Shi’ido observed and listened. Nothing was ever too easy, there was always a catch involved, a catch that was supposed to catch their victims unaware. However, in this group, it seemed as if a lot of the members were thoroughly switched on to the current situation at hand and so, as they suddenly had a swarm of undead zombies on their hands, the woman soon found that her lightsaber was quick to her hand and activated. The blade sliced through the neck of one zombie, which essentially severed the head from its shoulders and she watched with ice blue eyes as the body crumpled to the ground.

However as a couple of team members began to shout their orders; well they were orders in her mind, the Shi’ido sighed mentally. Taking orders was not something that she usually did, not because she thought that she could do things better her way, but because she was mostly a lone character. Someone who worked alone and did her best work, alone. As it seems, a lot of people happened to like doing their own thing and tried to take control of how they thought things were supposed to go. However, the woman had assumed that it was Madalena who was supposed to be giving orders and assigning members their tasks. Having members randomly assign themselves a task was not exactly efficient and could very well be dangerous for one or few of their members if they didn’t work as a cohesive unit.

As her lightsaber sliced off the head of another zombie, she caught sight of Madalena squaring off with the boss zombie who held a blade that glinted icy blue. It was something that the woman could see being used as a wall ornament. It wasn’t something that could be used for stealth work... Why she was thinking about wall ornamentation in this split second, she didn’t know, but the thought was soon cast off.

After ducking another attempt, she rolled up and spun upon her heels while her lightsaber lopped off the offending hand, before the head soon followed suit. Booted feet then made quick work of the distance as she found herself behind the Undead Boss and his sword that was duelling Madalena. A throwing dagger was thrown and hit the zombie in the jugular, but she didn’t expect it to hurt the being, only to distract it long enough to bring its attention to her. Why? Well, it could only really face off one enemy at a time with the weapon that it currently carried and if Shalita distracted it long enough, then perhaps Madalena could make quick work of it. After all, kill the boss and the undead wave might just break up and disperse, but first they had to kill the undead and with teamwork, they could just very well get this job done.

 

[Kurenai Yumi]

Location: Making haste to cave entrance
Nerby: [member="Brayden Antares"]

The wave of unded coming from the mire was getting annoying now, the constant ice balls of liquid being quite the bother to take care of before impact. Thankfully they were conductive, all it too being a small force lighting zap to make them exploding into the deadly mist, but that only served to obscure the vision to the cave entrance. "This is getting tiresome and boring". The unded were not known for their expert tactics or strategy, even ones with strange cryokenisis abilities.

With both hands Kurenai performed a wide sweeping motion and with it sent a devastating force push into the mass of oncoming unded. Their bodies and the murky water producing a wave, clearing their kind from her immediate vicinity Kurenai not wasting this chance to sprint forward, saber drawn to cut down anything stupid enough to get in her way. Those that did were promptly separated from their bodies or cut in half, slumping to the floor, Kurenai not arriving if they were still alive or not, her only goal was getting to the cave. A dark almost beacon like feeling coming from within the dark dank depth of the natural structure.

 

[A'Runda]

Location: Outside of tower​

Wielding: Gaffi Stick, and Curved Hilt Lightsaber​

Post: 6​

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Although the barrage of undead ice balls hasn't ended, it certainly wasn't over. As A'Runda created some distance between him and the zombies some of them began to launch their hail balls at him. He'd quickly react to the projectiles, with his lightsaber, but he didn't realize that would be a bad idea.

As he blocked the first ball it piratically exploded on contact into a cloud of steam. But it wasn't until he "blocked" multiple projectiles that he understood his mistake. As the steam collected around him it began to soak into his grab, water that was past its boiling point. The hot water stuck to his skin and began to steam cook him. It wasn't pleasant for him.

Feeling a wet burn around his torso it threw him out of his fighting trance into a sort of panic as he was now getting surrounded. He started failing his blocks and the pellets made contact. It fortunately cooled him down but now he was being bludgeoned with balls of ice. During onslaught against him one of the balls hit his light saber hand hard. With a icy pain in his right hand he let go of his lightsaber as it flew from his hand. Hearing a slight ZAP as it left his grip.

The Tusken could tell that things weren't looking good for him. Thinking up something quickly he called upon spirits as emerald ichor surrounded him. In a quick and sudden blast he'd knock the ice balls back into the zombies. Acting like a 360 degree shot gun as the pellets ripped apart some of his opponents. Using this as an opening he'd quickly bolt back away from the undead crowd to his group.But wasn't able to find his lightsaber hilt.

[member="Naedira Darcrath"]
[member="Kurenai Yumi"]
[member="Shalita Vi'dreya"]
[member="Scherezade deWinter"]
[member="Brayden Antares"]

 

[Naedira Darcrath]

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Location: Jagomir [Tower]​

Equipment: Obsidian Lightsaber,Comet OSM-10, Bilari Electro-Chain Whip, Obsidian Strike Armor​

Standing Beside Tags: [member="Gerwald Lechner"]​

Standing Beside Tags: [member="A'Runda"] | [member="Kurenai Yumi"] | [member="Kwelin Orlov"] | [member="Scherezade deWinter"] | [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"] | [member="Brayden Antares"]​

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Naedira moved methodically. These aberrations were clumsy, unfit, and strange to behold. At this point she could only hope that the others in the ground would follow the general idea she had put forth. It was a simple case of bait and switch. She made a lot of noise, the plasma filaments of her whip cracked, sparked, and hissed when they met unprotected flesh. Decaying flesh. She wasn’t sure her weapon would even be salvageable after this venture.

As the “Boss Zombie” seemed to hold favor with ice she slowly found herself contemplating the opposite. As cold as it was, despite inaccurate, oversized balls of hail flying at them—The Darcrath woman hadn’t learned nothing in the halls of the Citadel. She could hear bits and pieces of the follow-up that [member="Kurenai Yumi"] devised and found it to be the smartest play. Get those who knew the specifics of this mission forward, ahead, and leave the clean up to those who were essentially expendable.

She fell into a familiar rhythm. Strike, swing, pull—Destroy.

Knight Darcrath was aware of others fighting in her surroundings, with her, near her, but she was more conscious of the bodies that kept springing up from the mud. Knight Antares [[member="Scherezade deWinter"]] was handling the larger of the beasts while @A'Runda and [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"] sought to keep the lesser undead from crowding the dueling space. [member="Kurenai Yumi"] sent a wide mass of the corpses flying away from her, and effectively, away from the entrance to the cave.

When she became aware that A’Runda seemed to be struggling she switched gears. Her initial intent had been to cause a distraction, to make a scene, where the creatures could be dealt with. Killing zombie-like-sith-spawn was a dicey task. Cut the puppet strings that led them around, feeding them a mockery of life, or, render them to nothing. To remove undead from the equation—make them ash or undo the riddle that had triggered them in the first place.

Starting first, with the creatures closing in on A’Runda, Naedira began to focus on the air molecules closest to their enemies. She force-fed them energy via the Force, changing them, causing them to speed up and heat until the air around the zombies began to glow. One by one they caught on fire.

One by one the creatures fell as they burned.

The stench was revolting, but it only caused Naedira to focus further, pulling the generated flames back into her palm. While the “Boss Zombie” seemed to have Madalena on the ropes the Knight drew back her fist and threw a wave of flame in its direction as Knight Vi’Dreya distracted it. The monstrosity was big, slow, and entirely focused on Knight Antares—much to her advantage.

Her sure countenance held not an ounce of mercy. Naedira, did not intend to miss.

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

They were foolishly outnumbered, but Nardira had managed to accomplish one thing. The second Antares was gone. It only took one look for Gerwald to know it was the brother of [member="Scherezade deWinter"], the one she had been searching for. Yes, they had shared about their respective siblings, but that was so long ago, long before Scherezade had killed herself and let this Madeline walk in her skin.

It upset Gerwald, and it was always in his behavior toward the woman. Free of the battle meld he could feel what he wanted to without worrying his partner in this mission about whether he would compromise it or not. It pressed for the truth, Gerwald wanted nothing more than to be free of all that had happened.

That was not going to happen. Despite his feelings on the matter, he was not going to allow a fellow knight to die. As [member="Naedira Darcrath"] helped @A’runda, Gerwald moved to aid Scherezade. With his obsidian blade snapping alive Gerwald charged at the beast as fire flew to consume it. Leaping high into the air as Scherezade had once taught him, the beast of a man came crashing into the burning Zombie with the full force of his weight and strength. In one swift swing of his blade the beast was headless.

Gerwald landed on his feet, blood and hot juices that oozed from the cauterized would covering him head to toe. He turned to Madelina and gave her a nor before returning to where his partner stood.

 

[Brayden Antares]

Location: Cave
Tags: [member="Gerwald Lechner"] | [member="Naedira Darcrath"] | @A'Runda | [member="Kwelin Orlov"] | [member="Scherezade deWinter"] | [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"]

The transit for Brayden's white-current-immersed presence was almost...peaceful. Yes, he could feel the continuous clash and shredding of the Force's aura below him as the rest of the Knights battled the undead. However, his focus was on the task at hand, the mission. In that focused state, even the constant pull of his sister behind the veil of lies that was Madalena did not distract the Endelaan native.

After only a few brief minutes, Brayden had managed to arrive at the mouth of the cave just as [member="Kurenai Yumi"] was preparing to bull-rush through the majority of the undead to surge towards the objective as well. From within the depths of the recently emptied cave, Brayden could not only sense but see the steady pulsing of something within the White Current. However, the Sith Lord recognized that now that he was on the ground and other, visible members of the Knights Obsidian were closing on his position, the need for concealment was all but gone. Emerging from the White Current, Brayden's armored form snapped back into existence just as he disappeared into the depths of the cave.

The orange-blade of his father's Sith Sword remained stowed in the specially designed scabbard attached to Brayden's left hip. Silver-green eyes began to glow as the young Prince utilized the Force to grope and feel around blind corners on top of mitigating the need for ambient light as he descended further into the cave. Truth be told it was almost too easy to hone in on the artifact that seemed to have the energy of a resilient star in the otherwise constantly shifting flow of the Force.

Wrapping around another corner, a red glow quickly hit Brayden's eyes. As the Sith progressed the next couple hundred meters, the glow intensified until the Sith Lord came upon a crystalline structure that matched the description of the Flesh Stone provided by Madalena in the briefing. After using the Force to carefully evaluate the artifact and the area around it, Brayden knelt down and grasped it firmly with his left hand. As he began to pull, the Endelaan native quickly realized that the artifact, unsurprisingly, was partially fused with the minerals of the cave beneath it.

Steadily, Brayden applied more and more pressure, utilizing the Force to amplify his efforts just briefly. Suddenly, the artifact came free, but Brayden had braced himself against his back leg to keep from falling backwards and losing control of the Flesh Stone. For a moment, silver-green eyes rolled over the artifact as he felt a strength that was not his own beginning to fill the cells in his body. The sound of someone approaching down the cave behind him distracted him from the sensation long enough to remember where he was.

Through the Force, he reached out to his not-sister. I have it, Madalena. Headed back to you now. Quickly but carefully, Brayden began to make his way back to the mouth of the cave.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Wearing: Armor | Leather Pants | Honey Boo Prototype Combat Boots | The Forgemaster's Ring | Ring of Stasis
Wielding: 10 Czerka knives, Fire and Smoke (lightsabers), 4 Glitter Bullets
Tags: [member="A'Runda"] [member="Kurenai Yumi"] [member="Naedira Darcrath"] [member="Gerwald Lechner"] [member="Shalita Vi'dreya"] [member="Brayden Antares"]

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Everything was happening so fast. Days, weeks, months from now, Madalena would reflect over this battle, and nod in approval. But right now, in this fight, she barely registered what was happening around her as he locked swords with the undead Boss. A scream erupted from her every now and then when she missed an incoming ice blast; her armor, sturdy as it may have been, was no good in protecting her from the icy cold. There would be freeze-wounds to take care of later. And still she kept it up, unaware that her brother ([member="Brayden Antares"]) and Pathfinder Yumi ([member="Kurenai Yumi"]) were headed to the cave, unaware that Executor Vi'dreya ([member="Shalita Vi'dreya"]) and A'runda ([member="Arunda"]) were dealing with the gazillion of undead that were sprouting from the ground, the latter of the Knights Obsidian having damaged his lightsaber.

There was nothing but the silence and bliss of battle, sword clashing against sword, knives flying in a frenzy through the air as she tried to do something about the Undead Boss. The planet might have been cold, she might have been getting hit with ice bolts, but Madalena was burning with the heat of battle. It was a song, and she danced to it, limbs moving in accordance with the proper rhythm, only the hands looking for where to get an in, where to kill him.

It was as such that when what could have been the final blow, it did not come to him – it came for her, instead. Madalena screamed and stumbled backwards, still trying to make sense of what had hit her and how, when first came the fire towards the Undead Boss, the fire sent by Executor Darcrath ([member="Naedira Darcrath"]). Madalena grinned, readying herself to pounce back, but there was no need. Beacon Man, aka Executor Lechner ([member="Gerwald Lechner"]) was on the boss then, having launched at him with a magnificent jump through the air, and cleanly managing to slice his head off.

Madalena was crouching against the ground, her weapons till in hands, her knives flying around her. Gerwald nodded to her, and there was little she could do other than nod back, staring at him but for a moment in awe.

Glowing eyes moved to the head of the Zombie Boss. It had stopped rolling in the mud, coming to a stop not too far from her. As soon as she realized it, something else happened – the undead around the group of Knights Obsidian began to drop. One by one, they were no longer undead, but just dead. Heaps of skeletons on the ground, unmoving, no longer animated. Had they destroyed what was in charge of all of them?

There was only one conclusion.

Yes.

Brayden reached out to her then, and Madalena gasped and laughed. They had the Stone Flesh. They were done.

They could all go home.

This Knights Obsidian mission is over, but you may always resume your personal story within it if you so wish. Those who are tagged in this post may go ahead and pick their Sofitor up as trophy for seeing this thread to the end ​