Job; Maiden Snatcher [Eli, Aayla - Team]

The Job:

Eli considered this job more of an information gathering mission than anything else. Just it's slight mentioned had brought a change upon Aayla, and he intended to understand more of that. It reminded him of himself at a certain point in his life, and he didn't like that one bit. He went over a number of changes throughout his childhood, and if his assumption was correct, he didn't want to see Aayla end up where he did. Maybe he was being too intrusive; after all, they had just met, and he had no real stake in what happened to her, but he didn't like the idea of seeing young girl end up somewhere she'd regret later on. This was really out of character for himself, and he knew it. Since when did he act on something he had no stake in? Well, he needed work anyways, so there wasn't anything too bad about taking the job with her, and it was always good to build connections with people in the guild right?

Trying to justify it as much as he wanted, Eli knew in the end this was different. With a sigh, he gave up on trying to reason out his motivations. By this point he had already started it, so there was no point in mulling it over anymore. Standing idly by the line of trees before him, he waited for the small girl to join him. It was an easy mission; he knew it would be as soon as he saw vulcans were involved. Freaking vulcans seemed to be a problem everywhere lately. Why not just kill em all and end it? It's not like they did anything helpful really. Debating over the usefulness of vulcans, Eli was keeping a constant eye out for his hopefully soon to arrive small companion.

Magic Info:

Aayla followed along quietly behind Zinnath, her thoughts concentrated on the mission ahead of them. A vulcan had kidnapped a young girl, taken her away from her family... of course a Vulcan wasn't a demon, as she understood,  however the mission unwillingly brought up memories of her passed, and how she herself was wisked away from a family who had just been killed before her own eyes...

She let out a light sigh before looking up to Zinnath, reaching up to gently place her hand on the side of her body as they continued to walk, stopping when she found Eli. She gave a small smile before walking up to the man, the giant Serpent stopping next to the Wizard and creepily looking Eli straight in the eyes.

"I...I've never seen... a Vulcan... They're n..not demons right..?"
She sad lowly, unsure of the situation. Sure recently she had taken on a few missions to hunt down demons, however she had always been with Kiersa who already knew she was a dragon slayer... she was comfortable around her team... but now she was taking a mission with a totally different person... one she had only spoken too a few times...

It never occured to Aayla until now that Eli might be terrified of Zinnath, in fact, the large Serpent had caused quite the commotion amongst other Sabertooth members due to her size and frightful appearance.

"O...oh... im sorry... I hope... bringing Zinnath along is ok..."
She asked, her cheeks flushing brightly as she glanced at the Serpent. Zinnath's tongue came out in a light hiss as the serpents head came up to gently nudge her arm reassuringly.

Watching Aayla approach, Eli's eyes were instinctively drawn to the large creature following at her side. For a second he thought it might be stalking her, but Aayla's actions around it seemed much too familiar for that. No, it was travelling with her. He had no idea what exactly it was, and tried to think of a logical explanation. All that would come back to him was that small snake he had seen back when he first met her. However, that was no where near the size of it currently. The more he looked, the more and more he just found himself stuck with questions.

He gave her a soft smile, trying to ignore the creature behind her for the time being. Eli wasn't a fan of animals; they tended to be stupid and just hard to deal with. So he'd rather avoiding dealing with whatever that was as much as possible. Eli hid almost all it behind a relaxed facade though. He was nothing if not a great actor. "A vulcan isn't a demon Aayla, there's no need to worry. They are just really, really dumb creatures. They don't tend to be malicious, more just stupid. I've deal with tons of them, you have nothing to worry about."

So, it had a name. Starring at Zinnath, Eli kept his expression blank. He doubted it even knew what was going on right now. He just had to be casual with it. Aayla would probably get upset with him if he was outright rude. After a moment he turned back to Aayla, shrugging. "So long as it doesn't get in the way I don't care. I'm assuming you'll keep her in line."

Turning towards the forest, he scanned for any signs of movement. he saw nothing so far, but he doubted they would have a clear walk through the forest. "Ready to go?"

Magic Info:

"You mean Zinnath..? S... she won't g...get in the way... I promise... she's really smart... and a good fighter..."
She stated, looking back over to Zinanth's who's head lowered, her tongue hissing out at the air at the comment made by the man. Aayla placed her hand over one of the Serpents fins and just lightly shook her head, letting Zinnath know that now wasn't the time to get upset about such things. She knew it was hard for anyone to like the Serpent, she was such a strange and unusual sight to behold to begin with.

"Y...yeah I'm ready"
Aayla kept her senses sharp, taking in the scents that came through the air to see if she could smell anything..? In truth she had no idea what kind of creature they were after... she would follow Eli's lead until they found the vulcan... then... well... she knew exactly what she was going to do to it...

As they walked through Magnolias forest, she kept looking from one end, to the other as if afraid something would jump out at them. For a moment, she crept closer to Zinnath... she was very out of her element here in the forest... she felt very uncomfortable.

"W...what do Vulcans look... uhm what do they look like..? I mean... how wll I know if I sm... see one?"
She wondered although, she thought that she could just faintly hear the sound of crying and pleas for help in the distance. She knew Eli wouldn't hear it yet though as her hearing was above average thanks to being a dragon slayer..

The member 'Aayla' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Monster Dice' :

Guiding Aayla into the forest, Eli made sure to keep his eyes open for any sign of motion. Why he felt confident in his ability to take the creature on, vulcans were very strong physical attackers. If any of them got the drop on them, it'd put both Eli and Aayla into a rush to try and get distance. Eli wasn't sure about Aayla, but he knew for sure that he was not a brawler, he wouldn't be able to handle physical combat amazingly well. Then again, that serpent could probably do the job decently well for them. He had no problems with it getting hit around by the vulcan.

There was a secondary reason Eli had decided to bring Aayla on the job, one that he wasn't really willing to admit to her. The vulcan was attracted by young girls apparently, so Aayla also served as bait. It was fairly rude and he knew that, but it made the job a lot easier. He was also fairly certain in his ability to protect her. Still, insurance was always nice. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small card and handed it to the girl. It was a plain white playing card, with the exception of an elaborate design placed onto one side. "Here, hold onto this. It's a gift from me to you."

So Aayla had never actually seen a vulcan? With how common they seemed to be lately that actually surprised him. "They're big, and they look kinda like monkeys. Imagine if a large, human like monkey was walking around. You'll know it when you see it." As the pair walked, Eli couldn't shake the feeling something was watching them. Was the vulcan already near? He doubted they'd see it that fast, but something was definitely watching them. Making sure to stand as close to Aayla as he could, Eli now kept a hand on his card box. "So Aayla, what made you decide to be a guild wizard, if you don't mind me asking."

Magic Info:

Aayla took the card, looking at it curiously as she flipped it from one side to the other.

"Whats this for?"
She asked curiously but still put the card into one of her pockets. She then listened to his description of Vulcan's and tried to imagine what one would look like... all she could think of was a very big hair man, maybe two, three times the size of Eli.. maybe? She wondered just how off her imagination was of the real thing... The smell she suddenly caught however led her to believe she wasn't too wrong.

"Well... My dad used to... to be a Sabertooth wizard... before he... before he died... and well... Mr Marick and Mr Zenshin were the ones... well they saved me from the... dark wizards that were... after me..."
she muttered lowly, not sure how comfortable she was talking about everything that had happened to her with Eli yet. the only one who had been able to bring her defenses down so fast had been Marick and Brielle... she suddenly brought her hands up to her ears, massaging them lightly as she suddenly heard a very loud shriek from off in the distance.

"Did you hear that..? Someone screaming..."
She asked, stopping dead in her tracks and looking around them, leaning forward slightly as she sniffed at the air to try and get a location on the girls. This might seem odd to Eli but she really didn't think about it in that moment... all she could think of was those poor girls that had been kidnapped and getting them out of there.

Eli smiled at the girl. She currently had no idea about how his magic worked, so of course she would be confused. He decided to keep it a secret for now. "Consider it an insurance policy. If anything goes bad it will protect you." What he had given her was a card with a Motus circle on it, signifying that if anything went wrong, he could blink her to safety, provided he had another circle somewhere safe. With the amount he carried on himself though, he doubted there'd ever be a situation without one.

Aayla seemed fairly closed off as she spoke, but it was understandable with what she was talking about. So she had an investment in Sabertooth through family. Maybe it was just because of his own past, but he never understood that ideology. Her dad wasn't her, so why live his life? Still, maybe it was her way of honoring someone who mattered to her. And then there was also her debt to Marick and Zenshin. He placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a caring expression. "I see. Well, there's no need to talk about it anymore. I'm not going to pry into personal matters. Just know I'm here if you ever want to talk, OK?" He could sense the girls uncomfort from her speech, so for the time being it was a good idea to take a step back.

Aayla's behavior suddenly seemed strange. He definitely hadn't heard anything, and he fancied his sense pretty strong. And now she was.... sniffing the air? Maybe he had brought up some memories strong enough to cause a flashback of sorts, because he definitely didn't smell anything. It was a bad idea to completely mark out what she was doing however. The sense of being watched still lingered around him, maybe that had something to do with it? For the time being, Aayla clearly knew more about the situation then he did, so he'd have to trust her guidance. "I don't hear anything, but we can't take that chance now can we? Where did it come from, we need to go investigate."

Magic Info:

"Zinny... go have a look from higher up..."
She told the serpent, not even looking back at her as she gave he order. Zinnath gave a slight nod of her neck before slithering a safe distance away from the pair before a surge of magical energ coursed through her and wings split of from her body. She snapped them out as far as they would go before beating them powerfully and taking to the sky, clipping a few branches on her way up due to her size alone.

"It's this way..."
Aayla muttered once Zinnath was gone, she only chanced a glance at Eli before taking off at a run, following the sounds of the shrieks and the faint smell of the girls. Whatever was watching them, she couldn't identify their scent... either she plainly didn't recognize it, or else she was far too concentrated on the girls to care.

From above the tree's, Zinnath flew above Aayla, keeping her eyes poised for anything that might ambush her companion, though through the thick of the tree's, it was hard to keep her eyes on the young dragon slayer at all... Zinnath had been able to see the young girls not too far away... but she knew if she approached, it would only make matters more difficult for the two guild wizards on the ground.

"I can't let them get hurt..."
Aayla muttered to herself, leaping up onto a fallen tree and using it to push herself faster. The girls were not that far off now...

Eli followed closely behind Aayla, honestly struggling to keep up with her speed. It was quite shocking how fast she was, he hadn't expected it. Then again, in all reality he didn't really know much at all about the young girl. He didn't know her magical style, nor did he know anything about her physical capabilities. He had assumed her weaker due to her stature and attitude, though he was being proven very wrong. If she was actually find them through their smell as well, it looked like her senses were improved. Maybe her magic was some sort of takeover style, allowing her to improve her physical aspects?

Right now was not exactly the time to wonder though. Aayla was clearly distressed, and he could just feel that presence around him getting closer and closer. Something was clearly happening, and he had to make sure he kept himself ready to deal with it. The serpent appeared to have flown off as well, though he wondered how helpful it could really be with the thickness of the canopy. It was when he heard the "snap" next to him that he fully realized what was about to happen.

Almost as if it has torn its way into their path from another reality, the vulcan came bursting out of the surrounding forest. It was quiet massive, twice the size of Eli, running all fours directly towards Aayla. With an almost earthshaking howl it lunged towards her, the green beast clearly intent on taking her as it had the other girl. This at least explained the feeling of being watching, but how the creature had managed to avoid both their attention for so long bothered him. Maybe it was just it's hunter's instincts. After all, there was no way such a powerful creature had managed to survive without knowing how to hunt properly.

Eli's mind was entirely focused on Aayla's safety for the time being. As the monster lunged towards her, Eli let out a warning yell "Aayla, dodge!" He had the Motus card on her, but moving her when she was running like that would be more dangerous then anything else. He had to try and pin the beast down for the time being. With all of the strength he could muster, he tossed two coins from his pocket towards the creature. Flying just above it, they glowed with a bright orange light before a sudden crack was heard. Within an instant, a bolt of lightning came down from the sky, flying straight through the coin towards the beast. Without relent, Eli's Fulmen spell was followed up be 3 more strikes, a second one on the other coin being empowered by him. He doubted the attacks would be too strong against the bulky, tenacious creature, but he just needed to buy enough time for Aayla to get out of it's grip.

Magic Info:

Aayla just kept running until she knew they were getting really close. She heard the sound of large footsteps on the ground coming towards her quickly and skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over a tree branch that she had to leap over. In front of her, there was all of a suddenly rather large, green, pointy headed monkey. She could only assume that this is what a Vulcan was, and she had to admit it was no where as frightening as she thought it would be.

She took in a deep breath, ready to launch a Water Dragon's roar at the creature when in one swoop of it's massive hand, the creature picked up the young Aayla from the ground and brought her up to his face. He had a really creepy looking smirk plastered on his face as he looked at his new catch.

"Let-me-go!"
She growled angrily at the Vulcan, struggling in it's massive hands to no avail. She decided finally to lean her head forward as she bit down on the giant monkeys hand, causing it to yell out and squeze her tighter.

She winced, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle... She was getting ready once more to cast a Water Dragon's roar when all of a sudden, a loud crack sounded followed by lightning strikes. At first one, then adding up to three? Or more? Aayla didn't know as she let out a scream and attempted to recoil away from the lightning, trying to cover her eyes as tears welled up in her now panicked eyes.

Aayla was already trying to resist the creature, though he doubted her biting its hand would do much to the large vulcan. Even the lightning hadn't proved to be very effective against it. This thing was a brute and he'd have to deal with it as such. He hated dealing with these kind of enemies; it was hard for him to quickly remove them, and Eli wasn't very good in a grind fight.

He hoped that the lightning crashing through the trees would be enough to bring that serpent down to the area. He needed something to keep it's attention off him and Aayla and it would be best suited to the task. He needed to formulate a plan handle the large creature though. 'First I need to free Aayla; she can't attack it like that and is usable as a hostage. Next I need to try and silence it. If I give it the chance to make more noise it'll just attract more vulcans. What would be best would be to intimidate it enough to make it run, hopefully leading us back to where the girl is, if this one is even the one that took it. The best way to do that is to get flashy.'

Spotting a nearby rock, Eli threw a card towards it, then followed up with a Motus spell as it got there. The rock was about 3 feet tall, and should serve for what he needed. When the spell activated, Aayla would find herself sudden teleported out of the creatures grip; instead beside the rock. A blank playing card would be all that remained in the vulcan's grip. "Aayla, hold on." Before the creature could react, Eli needed to take initiative. A ventus card was thrown towards the creature, exploding out into a strong wind as Eli grabbed onto a nearby tree. Eli struggled against the pressure; even as far from the explosion as he was it struggled to send him flying. Attempting to use that attack to lower it's defenses, Eli followed up with two more cards; both Ignis. With an orange glow, the projectile cards flew towards the monster and exploded on contact, turning into giant spheres of fire. Hopefully his pressure would be enough to make it retreat, and they'd be able to track it to where the girl was.

Magic Info:

Tears started to fall down Aayla's face as she struggled against the Vulcan's hand, attempting to kick and bite at it. She opened her mouth, ready once more to cast her water Dragon's roar when suddenly she felt as if another large hand tugged her right out of the Vulcan's. When she opened her teary eyes, she found herself on the ground, hiding behind a rock.

She sniffled as she brought her hands up to her ears, her eyes wide as she curled up into a ball, the tears falling freely from her eyes as she continued to hide in her new spot behind the rock. She could hear a commotion going on where the Vulcan was, another loud explosion causing her to gasp and attempt to curl into herself tighter.

"Nonono... stop please..."
She muttered into her ball. No one would be able to hear what she said... and frankly it didn't matter as she was too terrified to make herself heard.

Above the tree's, Zinnath stopped flying forward, circling around instead to where the lightning and now the explosion had been cast. At first, it was hard for her to fly close, however when the force of the explosion died down she found she could see exactly where the Vulcan was standing and dove down from the sky, her mouth opening as a large jet of water burst forth to hit the Vulcan as the Serpent cast it's Hydro Pump. If all went as Zinnath hoped, she would dive in behind her attack and bite down on the Vulcan, poisoning it while wrapping herself around it to hold it in place.

Between the loss of it's prey, the constant attacking, and the emergence of another enemy, the vulcan seemed to give up. With a loud roar and slam, it began to retreat back into the wounds, injured and not willing to take anything more. There was no subtly involved in it's escape, crashing through trees and the like to create a path to its home. It was almost like a display of its strength as well, warning the group not to follow it.

With the immediate enemy taken care of, Eli let out a sigh of relief. It was just like the vulcans he had dealt with before; scary when it got up close to you, but nothing really afterwards. It was also helpful that most of his spells looked and felt much more terrifying than they actually were. Eli was pretty good at using intimidation tactics. Cracking his neck, he turned to Aayla, hoping to start going over the next part of the plan with her.

What he saw there however was not was he was expecting. Rather than finding a somewhat worn but fine mage, he was instead faced with reality. Aayla was still a young girl, and what had happened to her was rather traumatizing. Moving over to the ball of a girl, Eli traded softly and carefully, trying not to spook her anymore. Kneeling down beside her, he lightly placed a hand on her back, speaking barely above a whisper. "It's alright Aayla. Just relax, it's gone for now, you're safe. Take a second to breathe and calm down, I'm here for you." He had to admit, he hadn't expected her to react as she had, so he was a little unsure of what he should to next.

Magic Info:

Aayla froze up as she heard Eli approach her, looking up above her knees as he came closer to her and knelt down in front of her. Aayla was quick to un curl herself and push herself away from Eli, making sure so keep a constant space between them. The Vulcan was the last thing that scared her, it was just a very large animal like any other... what terrified her most was the sudden appearance of lightning that had struck at the Vulcan... an element she was naturally weak too, terrified of and an element that had been used to constantly hurt her in the past.

Her breathing was un-even, even as she tried to take deep breaths to calm down, it was still hard knowing that Eli could use lightning magic in any form.

"Please don't... don't touch me... you... I'm sorry..."
She brought her arms up to wipe her eyes and take another moment to breath and steady her words.

"Lightning... it wasn't the... the vulcan... im scared of... lightning..."
She managed to say finally as she brought one hand up and removed her glove. All the way up her arm, there were thin scars that resembled lightning touching human skin. She also created a water bubble in her hand, to show him her own kind of magic. She didn't want to explain why she was afraid, she hoped he would just put two and two together and respect her wishes..

As for Zinnath, the large Serpent gave chase to the Vulcan, able to more easily fly through the forest with the giant creature knocking over the trees that would normally block her path. Aayla would be ok with her guild mate, but the girls they were after might not be if that Vulcan got back to them. The Serpent let loose a second Hydro pump at the Vulcan's back, attempting to knock it over.

combat stats: