Guard duty (private; flashback)

The previous years, guard duty had mainly consisted of sitting around under Thalia's pine tree waiting for some newbie to show up with a satyr. But now, with the tree poisoned and the safety compromised, guarding had turned into a real patrol mission. Despite whatever Tantalus said, the campers had organized rounds and scouting parties so that camp borders were under constant surveillance. Tonight Lakisha was part of one of the groups -- or duos in her case since they were only two.  She was with Andy, a girl from her cabin whom she didn't really talk to. After all, in cabin #11, she only ever hung out with Sol and Spencer.

Crouching in the undergrowth, Lakisha peered into the dark. Underneath her armour she was wearing dark clothes for camouflage and light footwear to muffle the sound of her steps on the forest ground, her auburn hair braided and tucked away under her hood and helmet. One arrow nocked, she held her bow in a relaxed but vigilant manner, ready to aim and fire in a heartbeat. Salomo, her young lynx, had climbed into a tree, swinging his tail from side to side. The young teen couldn't communicate with her pet but she had often seen him act differently around mythological creatures, which was probably why he had adopted her. And now, she was ready to bet he could feel the danger.

Underneath her ice cold focus, Lakisha was angry. Angry at Tantalus, angry at whoever had poisoned the pine tree, angry at Mr D and his stupid card games. He was a god for heaven's sake! Couldn't he do a little something to help out?

Andy walked through camp in her stark black armor and her dark hair spilling over her shoulders. Her scythe was back in the cabin but ready to be summoned at any second. Necro was bounding at her side and looking rather tall and fearsome today. She was on tree duty and needed to help one of the unclaimed campers with the task of protecting the tree. Walking up she heard Necro say something to her in her mind and moved to squat next to the other demigod. what's up plebe? She smirked to herself as Necro laid next to her and watched the area around her to see if anyone was approaching.

Funny of her to say that.

"I see you forgot your weapon. Very thoughtful." Her voice was low, barely a hiss, but still understandable if you were close enough. She wrinkled her nose at the hellhound; she hated hellhounds. Why such an abomination was allowed around camp, she had no idea. Even Salomo's hair was on end, his ears flat against his skull in distrust.

Andy rolled her eyes and summoned her scythe in her hand in an instant. There was no way she was going to let her have the last word on the matter. Oh look, here it is. She said dismissing it back to her cabin once she proved her point on the matter. Looking up into the tree Necro tilted his head at the sight of the lynx, what an odd creature.

Lakisha sneered, showing her teeth. "That's cute, can you do the same with hair ties?" Andy had her hair flowing down her shoulders -- no doubt it looked very sexy, but there were quite a lot of liabilities with free hair in a fight. It got caught in things, was flammable and easy for your opponent to grab, which was why Lakisha always had it tucked away for combat. Anyone with fighting experience knew the same.

Great, now I'm on the job with some newb, she thought in Swedish.

Peering into the dark, she moved to the side slightly, straining her ears to catch any suspicious sound -- hissing, growling, slithering. Andy and her had to watch an area of about twenty meters, which could prove to be a bit tricky if they were only two. Of course they wouldn't split up, that would be stupid, but keeping the entire area under check would require top perception and coordination.

Andy rolled her eyes and moved to climb up the tree that was unoccupied by the Lynx. She may have been younger but she knew pestering when she saw it and that was exactly what she was getting from Lakisha. Crouching on a thicker branch the daughter of Hecate had a pretty good view of the area she was supposed to be protecting with the other demigod. Scout out anyone and anything that isn't a camper or a pet. Kill on sight. She mentally told her hellhound, who got up and focused as he began stalking the surrounding area, his once red patches and markings now the color of the night. Hellhounds were amazing allies when you could use telepathy with them and they were deadly and fast, the best combo when it came to a scout and attacker.

Andy seemed to be an accomplished eye-roller. Lakisha let her climb up into her tree and stayed in hiding, camouflaged behind a small line of bushes. The point of her arrow gave no gleam at all, thanks to the special paint the Hephaestus kids had sprayed on it. It had a peculiar shape as well, made of sharp little wires that would hook themselves into her victim's flesh and make it very hard (and painful) to pull the arrow out. It was a trick the Persian archers had already used back in the days.

A long time went by without anything happening. Lakisha's ADHD being low, she didn't move for ten long minutes before starting to softly stride up and down, trying to make anything out in the darkness. Too bad she didn't have night vision like other campers. At least, I'm not the daughter of some Underworld deity. Which was a relief, actually, when she saw how most of them turned out to be. Because of her ice and snow powers, a lot of people told her she was the daughter of Boreas, the north wind, and, being short of other options, she thought so too. If only he'd claim her already!

Suddenly, a rustle brought her back to reality. She immediately pulled back her arrow string, flattening herself behind a tree. The sound wasn't too near, but there was definitely something. She shot Andy a look, the girl was still in her tree. Lakisha nodded at her.

Andy was the nod and climbed through the tree with grace and silence, summoning her scythe in her hand to help her swing from one branch to another a few times. Necro was talking about something not being right in the night and scouted it out more on his own. Andy crouched and tried to search the brush but had no luck. Whatever it was had the best agility she had ever seen before and knew how to hide well.

Lakisha squinted into the shadows. Salomon hissed, flattening himself into a pouncing position; that meant whatever it was had come nearer. Lakisha's fingers trembled with concentration as she strained to keep her bowstring up, her eyes darting from side to side.

Thwack! Something lodged itself an inch from Lakisha's forehead, sticking into the wood of the tree. An arrow...? Having stepped back out of reflex, she now peered closer, not seeing quite well. A dart!

"Manticore!" she exclaimed and rolled behind her tree as another dart hit the bark exactly where her face had been a second before. Panting, she crouched behind the gnarled form of the tree, listening to more darts hissing through the air. No heavy thumping to the ground could be heard, so Andy must still be alive. One of us has to go behind it. Neutralize the tail. With the hellhound on her side, Andy had the best chance of doing that. The manticore wouldn't question the presence of another monster -- until it turned against him. Which meant she had to make herself a target while they were on the way.
Lakisha opened her hand and concentrated, watching a sheet of fresh powder snow grow on it softly. It crunched a little bit as she rolled and compressed it into a snowball before wrapping it in a cloak of ice. Then, she communicated with Andy in silent hand gestures. You. Go around. I stay here. Distraction. She showed her the gleaming snowball. Go. I cover you.

With that, she leaned out of her hiding place and threw her snowball into the dark. It hit a tree, crunching satisfyingly as the ice broke. "Dammit, I missed!" She said, loud enough for someone to hear but still low enough for the monster to think it was accidental. Another snowball in hand, she actually stepped out from behind the tree and fired it, watching it hit a branch in a shower of glittering white.

Andy froze in her hiding place as Lakisha shouted Manticore. Really? Another one? The camp was starting to become a breeding ground for these damn things and they were becoming more and more of a problem to the demigods. Using her telepathy with Necro she told the hound her plan after getting instructions from Lakisha's miming, which almost made her laugh. The hellhound ran towards the other monster and began barking like a communication. The darts stopped for half a second but that's all Andy needed.

Finding Necro quickly the girl hid in the tree line above and her eyes scoured the ground for the red glow that would be Necro. Bingo. Not more than a few yards from where she was did she see red glowing and then watched as it ran off into the night. Necro was going to pretend to get more hounds as per the Manticors request and then attack from behind. Pulling one of her daggers out of it's sheath on the small of her back the demigoddess took aim and watched as it sailed through the air and sunk into the Manticore's hide. Damn, the shoulder would do little to nothing but really piss him off. That's when she had an idea. Waving to get Lakisha's attention in the night she began to mime out her own idea, wheather or not she could see her was totally unknown. I have a spell. 3 cuts, half inch. Use? It was a long shot as to whether or not the gashes would do anything but still, it may have been worth a shot.

Lakisha raised an open hand. Wait. It would be unwise of Andy to mess with her powers now, they had to keep those for when they really needed them. Lakisha crept around the tree and jumped behind a larger one, nocking an arrow. The darts were sparser now, as if the manticore had evaluated their general locations and was starting to get more precise. That meant they had to confuse it, to fire from different places and not give the monster the luxury to settle. Andy was probably somewhere in the trees, which was as dangerous as strategic. Hopefully the magic girl had understood which kind of game was being played right now and would take the first opportunity to move somewhere else. Which meant … Lakisha sucked a mouthful of air in. She was up.

Shoot straight, Shawna said.

Oh great, now they were back. Lakisha bit her lip and whipped her bow around, knowing she had about a second to take aim. Her night vision wasn't good enough and it took her several moments to find the manticore's silhouette in the undergrowth. It had moved several yards to the right in a matter of seconds, with almost no noise. A hissing sound made her flatten herself back behind the tree, three darts shooting past her. Moving softly, Lakisha slid to the other side of the tree and took aim from there, shooting two arrows at once. A yelp and a growl told her they had hit home. But she hadn't stayed to find out more. As soon as her arrows had left the string she had bounded away into the night like a cat, rolling behind a stone for cover and was now peering over its edge, another arrow at the ready. A little cap of snow grew on the ground at her feet and she ordered it to roll itself into a snowball. Squinting to the point of a grimace, she made it float up and move around several meters, until it was reasonably far away from where she was. Her forehead dripping with sweat, she snapped her fingers and the snowball shot into the night hitting a tree close to the manticore. She heard it sniff the air, probably wondering where it had come from. Andy, where are you, do something, she thought, panting. They had to keep it disoriented.

Andy nodded at the motion of her friend and with a dart landing near her head the petite girl bounded through the trees as silent as the grave. Necro bounded through the night and sank his sharp teeth into the Manticore's tail, earning a yelp and roar of sorts. Summoning her scythe the daughter of Hecate dug it's tip into a tree as a soundless crack ran through the trunk and to the ground, summoning three undead warriors to fight for her as champions. Two of them charged the beast while the third knocked arrows and fired into the night. It was a symphony of bones clattering as well as a sparse yelp. Flicking his tail the manticore tossed the hellhound into the night and he landed against a tree with a loud thud. Andy had to cover her mouth to hide her shriek and in turn bit her lip to stop crying. Necro was alive but very injured.

The tail, good thinking. It wasn't neutralized yet but it was damaged and would take more time to shoot those horrible darts at them.
Suddenly a tremor swept through the ground and Lakisha felt a chill tingle to the marrow of her bones. It wasn't a normal chill, the kind you felt in winter; this one made her feel restless and anxious rather than joyful.
That's when she saw them. Skeletons, their bones an old shade of yellow as they moved between the trees.

Watch out, they're armed! Shawna whispered in an urgent voice.

Lakisha took aim at the first one then realized they weren't going for her at all. With their blades drawn, two charged the manticore in a rattling of femurs and teeth, stabbing and slashing at the beast with enthusiasm while the other shot arrows. Lakisha's gaze traveled back to where she had first seen them. A silhouette stood there, holding a scythe. Andy? The girl was apparently more resourceful than she looked.

Don't just sit there, go out and fight, Banshee complained.

Right.

Even with a couple of arrows in its hide and the three skeletons, the manticore was doing rather well. Swift and agile, it managed to block and evade a number of blows and didn't succumb to the celestial bronze like some other monsters did. It swatted a skeleton aside with its lion paw and it smacked into a tree, the bones randomly clattering to the ground. Lakisha fired her arrows one after the other, the string digging painfully into her fingers. However she stayed light on her feet and didn't hesitate to move back in forth between different locations, waiting each time to get a clean shot. If she hit one of those skeletons by accident, it would immediately go back to the Underworld.

What part of stay out of harms way don't you understand?! Andy shouted at Necro through telepathy as he laid at the base of a tree with her hiding in another. He claimed it was the right thing to do and helped them but the stubborn demigoddess brushed the thought away and went back to the fight. With her skeletal champions fighting for her the daughter of Hecate took the opportunity to asses the situation. Lakisha was somewhere in the brush firing arrows at the Manticore, her warriors were starting to look a little worse for ware and Necro was nearly down for the count so he was of no use. That's when she had an idea. If the Manticore was so agile on dry land then let's see how he fares on a wet terrain. Motioning for Lakisha to join her in a tree the Wicca pulled out her spell book and flipped to a page she had been longing to use in combat.

Spell; Downpour
Effect; Causes a torrential downpour to the allotted time given by the caster whilst keeping them completely dry.
Appearance; Small number of soft bubbles that pour from the caster's fingertips and pop in the air.

This was going to be fun and as she waited for Lakisha to come up and join her the little witch began pointing to her book and motioning for the other demigoddess to come see so they could plan while the skeletons began loosing energy but still fought valiantly. Andy was still doing alright with her magic but could go for a protein bar, the perk to her being a Hecate child was her affinity for the undead moreover the casting aspect of it, though she was a very decent caster with her spell book.

Lakisha's eyes had fortunately adapted more to the night so when she briefly glanced around to find Andy, she saw her up in a tree, motioning at her to join her. The unclaimed did her best not to sigh loudly. This was reckless and not strategic at all. Firing one last arrow, she swiftly moved through the undergrowth with muffled steps and climbed up into the tree.

"What are you doing? We should not regroup!" she hissed, her voice barely a whisper. Andy then showed her her book and Lakisha squinted. Fortunately it was written in Ancient Greek so her dyslexia didn't make spaghetti out of the letters and it took her only moments to decipher what was written. "And in how far can that help us exactly?" she mouthed. "If it rains too much, we'll be seeing even less. I'm already having trouble aiming, if you do this I can say goodbye to my bow and arrows." Not to mention the water wouldn't do good to the wood of her bow. "The rain might scatter our scents a bit but I'm sure even with that it'll be able to smell us out." The auburn-haired girl tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Isn't there any other spell you could use?"

Wet ground, harder to move. She said shortly as she flipped through the book with lightning speed. Having nothing better to do most days the daughter of Hecate spent her days in the library to help herself to the vast collection of spells and translators to help her with the book she got from her father. Grinning she found the page she bookmarked and showed the demigoddess the pages.

Spell: Sphere of Crystal
Effect: Creates a sphere with a diameter of 2 meters for friendly fighters to pass through but keeps out all enemies for the time allotted.
Appearance: Faint white sphere made of crystal looking shards.

Spell: Slash
Effect: Causes three cuts to appear on the victim wherever the caster wishes, the cuts are a half an inch deep.
Appearance: Crimson streaks darting towards the victim.

She may have been new to this whole casting thing but for a young Daughter of Hecate she had some pretty good combat spells. Pointing to the Sphere of Crystal, Slash and Downpour she mimed an order as two of the skeletons dissipated back to the Underworld. Downpour, Slash, Crystal. Then arrows. The girl said as she mimed Lakisha drawing back her bow inside the sphere with her. The final skeleton vanished back to the Underworld and it was now of never to determine the next mode of action; a strong offence or a good defense.


OOC: Since she's a daughter can Andy learn new spells if she trains in that one arena that was added? I know it's not related to this topic but I have new spell ideas and was curious is all.

OOC: I'd say yes, but I think you'll have to ask an admin or approver for confirmation.

BIC: Lakisha didn't hide her skepticism. The spells looked complex and if Andy wasted her energy on three consecutive ones, like now (including that one skeleton spell), she would very probably be out of fighting shape soon.

"Harder, but not impossible," she whispered, exasperated. "It's a manticore, do you really think some rain will slow it down? No, I think we should spread out again. Use your slashes on the tail or the eyes, then --"

The girl didn't finish her sentence. Shot with high precision, a dart had hissed through the branches at exactly the right angle to hit her leg. It wasn't deep, the tendon was slightly damaged, but immediately her whole leg felt as if she had dipped it in a pot of boiling water. Lakisha screamed in pain as the poison spread through her veins; she lost her footing on the branch she was standing on and tumbled to the ground, which was partially lucky: yes she got bruised but she had also avoided the second dart that would've lodged itself in her chest if she hadn't slipped. Hot tears running down her face, the girl quickly scrambled behind the tree for cover. The pain increased with each moment and she was biting her lip to the blood to keep herself from screaming again.

Manticore poison isn't fatal, it's just very painful, Shawna softly whispered in her mind.

What the hell are you waiting for? Banshee then snapped. Eat some damn ambrosia already!

Grabbing a piece of wood, she stuck it between her teeth and bit down hard on it as she fumbled in her armor pocket for the godly food. Finally she found it and unwrapped it, breaking off a square. Her gaze then traveled to her leg. The manticore hadn't missed. The dart had hit a place right next to her greave, on the side of her shin.

Pull it out, come on. Banshee's already sharp voice was getting aggressive.

I...I can't. Her vision was blurring with tears. Her mouth tasted of foul wood as she gnawed on the bark, trying to find in her the strength to face the pain.

Andy watched as Lakisha scrambled away after being hit and she went full on warrior. Gripping her second dagger the girl took aim in the dim light and tossed. Bullseye. She smirked as the dagger made contacts with the Manticore's eye and it wailed in pain. The wonders of throwing daggers man, they can do some serious damage. With one of it's eyes not completely useless she had decided it was time for an advantage to the demigods. Flipping through her spellbook the daughter of Hecate pointed her hand, palm out, towards the beats and cast Slash, causing three cuts and another eye to go blind.

Feeling a little woozy but nothing too bad she talked with Necro who was doing better and asked him if he could attack while she took rest for a short while. He agreed and got up to run as best he could at the demon. Now sitting on the branch and watching in the night, Andy smiled as Necro latched himself onto the beast's leg before funning off and giving a repeated attack to various limbs that he could reach while staying on the ground.