The Road Not Taken (The RP)

Alaric didn't stop but instead slowed upon hearing Aurora's yell, he had no intention of stopping as soon as they had gotten moving but he still needed someone to guide him to where the villages actually were. And it was never a good idea to travel alone these days.

"If it is a giant worm then you can be sure that it will most likely turn up in the most unlikely of places" he said joining the conversation behind him without turning "many of the more active chosen don't 'think outside the box', least not to the extent they once prided themselves upon.
Most of those who do attempt to guide and influence the chaos of these lands are too set in their ways or too inexperienced to be truly creative." He summoned a clump of dirt into his hand ignoring the grass which had seemingly healthily grown downwards into the ground blade first.

"One action equals a reaction to them; therefore if a worm travels through dirt or sand they shall try and make it travel through its opposite natural environment such as water or snow.
Unless you a much more of a free thinker and you will keep them in their natural environment like that one over there, to shock the occasional person who has grown used to this chaos.”
Alaric knew his little lecture would most likely mean nothing in the long term, not to the group anyway, but it could give them a hint as to whom they were to face. If whatever creature they had spotted had been under the control of the Chosen’s local garrison then showed that they were of the much less predictable type of chosen, and much more dangerous towards the group.

Pausing for a moment he asked “out of interest, has anyone actually attempted something like this before. Attacking the Chosen I mean.”

"They've tried to attack Quirral a few times, but we've always beaten them back..." Kira watched Brell attacking the creature, and sighed a little to herself. If he's going to be that loud, we might as well make a sign that says, "Out to kill the Chosen"...

"But I've never challenged one directly," she added a moment later.

"I've never directly encountered one, or at least one that was in a killing mood" Aurora replied, staring at Brell's slaying of 'The Magnificent Beast' and raising a eyebrow at his antic's.

"Why? Have you Alaric?"

Alaric stopped turned, outwardly expressionless but quite shocked at Brell’s sudden ‘execution’ of one of the giant worms. He didn’t know exactly how effective fighters they were but if they did indeed have the capability of destroying small villages alone then perhaps Brell was of more use than he thought as a ‘point man.’
He was sure to be cut down trying to pull such tactics against the Chosen themselves, at least the much more experienced ones, but he’d make the perfect person to take on the monstrosities they had created.

Taking into account the answers of the others he replied

“More often than not in the past few months, but only ever in small numbers” he admitted “but as we are already in such small numbers and facing down a garrison, with no prior experience in outright battles then we need a plan.
Or better yet some guidelines to fight these people, a way of getting in without being seen, avoiding facing as many Chosen as possible as we head for Orwell” he glanced at Brell as he said this “or drawing her out from the garrison and killing her alone away from her guards.”

He laughed slightly and started walking again “but that is a bridge to cross once we come to it.”

A while after this incident, about halfway on the journey, something interesting happened.

It snowed.

To put it better, the ground on which the group walked was covered in snow, so much so that you could probably get stuck in it, this was rather bad news for Aurora - Now wearing her jacket - as her sandals provided little protection, leaving her feet freezing.

That was the last of their problems.

Ahead of them, Aurora spotted something lying in the snow, walking up to it, she realised to her horror, that it was a body.

"GUYS! OVER HERE!" she yelled, unknowingly alerting another lifeform in the nearby distance.

Or two.

Or four.

To be more percise, wolf-like creatures whose white fur made the perfect camoflague against the snow, the only non white part of them was a strange, black line that went around the wolve's head's, covering their eyes, only, they didn't seem to have that luxury, instead apparently relying on their noses for detection.

Meanwhile, their paws weren't actually paws, more gauntlet like, while the apparent leader of these wolves, began breathing fire, ready to attack.

"Oh, come on...did it have to be snow?"

Kira was grumbling, her blade heating up a little as she held it before her to melt at least some of the snow. There was snow up the legs of her pants, packing down her socks, and it was only through the continued, if small, use of her magic that she managed to avoid any more cold discomfort.

When Aurora called, she made her way through the last few feet of snow to study the body...only to whip around as the others mentioned enemies. "Had to breathe fire, didn't they?" she muttered. Do I use the water shield or stick with my own fire...? Even knowing the switch would take several seconds, she hesitated, her blades still in her hands.

Alaric almost laughed at the realization they were now walking upon snow, and to some extent was disappointed. It had been some time since had last been this close to a Chosen stronghold and he’d been expecting something… well, bizarre. Forests of sound, grasslands with the texture of water even discolored wastelands would a hint of a stronger presence. Alaric bitterly reminded himself a few seconds later that the snow could be the colour of dark obsidian and he wouldn’t have any notice of it short of a slightly higher buildup of magic.

Falling back towards of the centre of the group as they headed through the snow, Alaric was one of the group to sense the wolves approach or that of the corpse. The approach of the ‘wolves’ made him grin, their outwardly alien appearances hinting perhaps a much larger buildup of chaotic energy. They were on the right track at least.

“Well, any bets on what colour blood they have?” he asked tossing his staff to his other hand and summoning a great deal of snow into his right hand. Compacting it into a small ball he hurled it at the nearest one, using his telekinesis to accelerate it towards the lead creature’s snout, nothing lethal but surely enough to grab their undivided attention.

The biggest wolf stepped forward, the ball hitting him on the head, he sniffed, judging his prey by scent.

Two females, lacking armour, their teeth would easily tear them to shreds.

Four males, one wore armor, he would be the toughest to take down, best to tackle him himself.

The apparent leader of the pack looked at the others, who looked back, as though somehow communicating this information to them, they then picked their prey.

The one on the farthest left went for the male's with bow and axe, he shot two balls of fire at them both.

The one next to him went for the females near the body, lunging at them with his teeth bared.

The one on the right went for the cloaked male, also with teeth bared, preparing to bite him.

And the leader, went for the armored male, he attempted to slash him with his gauntlet like claws.

Brom jumped into a roll, dodging to the left side.

When he landed he drew his spear. Keeping crouched to minimise the target area he thurst the spear forward towards the Wolf's neck.

He hoped to get through a gap in its armour and pierce its airway for a quick kill.

He did however risk being exposed if this attack didn't at least stall the creature.

Sidestepping and getting some distance from the wolf attacking him, Alaric drew the gladius and made several wide stabs and slashes. Not to wound the creature but to instead keep it off balance and away from him, as well as hopefully preventing it from getting a clear shot with its firebreathing.

On the last stab he lunged forwards redirecting the point of the blade downwards towards one of the wol'f hind legs then dragged it back, trying to cripple its agility.

Most of the others seemed to be having no real problems, so there was no need to try and finish this current fight any time soon. And Alaric was interested to know what these creatures were capable of before they were killed.