Episode 14: Nocturnal Bloodlust

A heavy Storm reached as our group was hidden in an abandoned building. After the battle in the  Dravanian Forelands, Dorion performed a blood ritual with Shiva’s unconscious body in order to get everyone to safety. Dorion knew that harnessing Shiva’s power would be hard but he was unaware of what he needed to do. Dorion figured that the best form of action would be to go somewhere where she could thrive so he thought returning to Corethas would be a smart option. Zakuro was the only other conscious member with Dorion and she helped him get the bodies to a safe location. After the battle, Zakuro was found leaning against one of the hidden spots while for the others like Tarno, Trunks, and Tuya; they were left on the ground cushioned by old materials and hay.


Tuya was the first to awake and groaned in agony. She had experienced a lot in that battle and since awakening, she had the odd taste of blood and cinnamon in her mouth. She wasn’t sure what it was but continued to take in her surroundings. Trunks woke up slowly afterward looking at her in surprise himself. Trunks leaned against the beam his body was situated against as he acknowledged the power she had in that battle. As Tuya and Trunks spoke to each other it seemed to have snapped Zakuro awake as she nodded to everyone almost as if she was coming off of the rush from the battle before. As the three members woke up they noticed that Tarno was still unconscious. He had fought hard against the dragon and had taken many hard shots. Trunks suggested that they let him rest for now so that he may gain his full strength back. It was also Trunks who noticed that Shiva and Dorion were nowhere in sight. Tuya jokes that maybe Trunks' snoring scared them away and Zakuro also writes in her notebook that she has not seen them. The group decides that they should look around to see if they were in another stall still unconscious.


As Trunks looks into the Chocobo stall next to where they all rested he finds Shiva’s weapon laying on the ground next to a medicine bag. It seems that she may have been resting here at first and moved somewhere else in the building. As Tuya looks around she finds a stack of boxes on the ground scattered and blocking what seemed to be a staircase. Upon one of the boxes, she sees a bloody handprint and decides to show Trunks. Zakuro also signals to Trunks and Tuya that she had found strands of long blue hair ripped on the ground. From what they had seen they wondered while they were all resting, did Shiva and Dorion fight an enemy of some sort? Trunks decided to lead both women down the stairs to see if they were there. They proceeded down the stairs with precaution in case there was danger ahead.


As Trunks made his way down the stairs he could hear the sound of someone moving but also the sounds of someone moaning in pain. Trunks kept his weapon on his back, however keeping his hand close to his gun’s trigger. As the sight came into view Trunks found Dorion and Shiva in what looked like to be a close huddle. As he walked further into the room he could see that Dorion’s fangs were deep into Shiva’s neck as he was consuming her blood. Shiva’s eyes were barely open, her skin paler than before; it would seem as if Dorion was hurting her. This prompted Trunks to ask Dorion what he was doing but Dorion only looked angrier than Trunks for questioning him. Shiva called out to Trunks to be careful; Dorion’s body survives on Aether and as a Primal he was craving her power. Trunks knew that if they were going to separate the two of them that they would need to fight Dorion any way they could. They decided to draw their weapons to show they were willing to take him down.


Dorion’s eyes followed each member as they pulled out their weapons. With his hand on his weapon, Dorion cast a barrier between the group from getting anywhere remotely near Shiva. In order for them to break the barrier they would need to knock him out and considering the power boost he had just received from Shiva, there was no telling of what would happen next. Dorion laughed in amusement just seeing everyone so willing to fight him and as Shiva’s blood ran down his face Dorion went into a stance letting everyone know that if they were to save Shiva they would have to fight him right now.


Trunks thought that rushing in and shooting Dorion right away would give them the advantage of ambushing Dorion however, it only caused Dorion to grow angrier than before. Both Tuya and Zakuro looked at Trunks aware of what he was thinking but, Trunks knew this was not going to be an easy fight. Both Dorion and Trunks shared a similar weapon and created a bond or so he thought. It seemed that once Dorion consumed the blood of a primal a switch when off in him causing him to be so animalistic. Shiva kept pleading for the group to be careful as Zakuro decided to come up with another approach.


Zakuro simply leaped forward, bringing her greatsword straight down at Dorion's head. Dorion tried to block Zakuro's Sword from hitting so he tried to dodge it however she was able to cause damage to him. Trunks sprint forward once more grabbing Dorion over the eyes and using a flashbang in front of Dorion’s eyes. The flashbang does not hurt Dorion but blinds him from being attacked by the women for a few moments. Trunks ordered both Tuya and Zakuro to give them everything they had while they had the chance. Tuya was struggling to fight so feverishly; the weakness of letting her aether surge so violently in their previous battle was making her movements sluggish and weak. Dorion manages to see that Tuya was coming at him with her ax coming and he decided to slam her with the staff in hand. Dorion’s weapon sent a series of shockwaves through her body. As Tuya was shocked by Dorion’s attack this gave Zakuro the advantage to take a jab at Dorion cutting a spot on his leg. Dorion shudders as her attack almost falls back from the move.


Trunks found himself rushing over to heal Tuya instead of fighting Dorion. Something within himself couldn’t fight Dorion so he tried to aid the women as best as he could. Dorion noticed such a thing and decided to call Trunks weak for not being a man and letting the women fight his battles instead. Tuya feeling the adrenaline kick in more decided to try and fight Dorion once more however he decided to shock her once more which only caused her to laugh just as much. Zakuro shifted to her right and stepped forward and aimed to slam the pommel of her heavy weapon into Dorion's face; somehow her attack connected once more. Dorion stumbled back on the ground feeling his hands scrape among the pavement. Reflecting on the words Dorion made earlier Trunks rose to his feet striking Dorion directly in the jaw. It hurt Trunks to hurt Dorion in such a way but he had no choice. Shiva cheered on as the barrier around her grew weaker.


Tuya, feeling the surge from Dorion’s attack, rises once more and uses her ax in order to create a boom that sends Dorion flying into a nearby pillar. With Tuya's attack rubble falls all around them making the battlefield a bit smaller than before. With Dorion's blood as her desire, he could feel her ax meet with his body. His shirt began to shred in certain spots as he could feel blood falling from his chest. Trunks refused to draw his weapon once more, this wasn't a fight that could end the war. Zakuro is grateful for the distraction of Trunks as she tries to go in for another maneuver that she used before. Dorion began to notice her attacks when falling into a wall. Following Dorion’s action, Tuya hated to see her friend in danger and she too went after Dorion sending him flying into another pillar. Dorion staggers to get up however as he rose the rage in Tuya grows stronger as she releases a magick attack onto him from her ax. Dorion regaining his composure body checks her and sends Zakuro and Tuya against each other as he found himself drawing power from Shiva once more. Shiva shuttered at his moves and struggled to get Dorion off of her. This made the Legacy uncomfortable knowing that she and Dorion had no control of what was happening. Shiva tried to plead with Dorion to stop but he would not break his focus from the group.


Trunks, Zakuro, and Tuya continued to try and fight against Dorion, rotating their attacks anyway they could but his power right now was unmatched. Trunks continued to avoid fighting which only caused Dorion to fight him further. Trunks were the first to fall to Dorion’s magick which prompted Zakuro and Tuya to do all that they could. Attack by attack the two worked together to bring down Dorion’s barrier further. Shiva tried as best as she could to break the barrier from within as she watched the rage in Tuya grow. She was scared that Tuya would implode so she called out as much as she could to her. Shiva could see that her words weren’t working and in order to take care of Tuya, she would have to get out of Dorion’s spell.


Tuya uses her ax to create a spell which helped her conjure something the group has not seen before. It seems that the power in her was surging as she rips a pillar down using it to attack Dorion and pin him down. Tuya wanted death and destruction, and would not stop until she was able to have both. She gets excited by the destruction all around her and makes her ax materialize in her hands., swings from the ground up, once more slamming her axe into Dorion's side to send him flying. It would seem that Tuya’s attack would finally break the barrier ending the battle with Dorion.


With Shiva finally free from Dorion’s spell, she rushed over to try and aide Tuya. If she didn’t stop her now, Tuya would most likely kill everyone in the room. Shiva rushes over screaming to Tuya to stop her attack. Shiva casts a barrier over the party to try and heal them all as she reaches out to Tuya. Somehow Shiva’s screams seem to unlock something in Tuya and she finally drops her ax. Tuya falls down to the ground as if all energy has left her.


Shiva looks to see everyone except for Zakuro on the ground unsure of what to do. As Shiva analyzed the battle she came to terms that the group was running on hunger. There was a desire to seek destruction, to receive new power, and this needs to do whatever their minds told them to. This was all famine’s doing to the region and if it was affecting the group this way she could only imagine what the people of Hydaelyn felt. Shiva told  Zakuro that if they were going to recover they would need to defeat famine as soon as possible. Zakuro nodded in agreement as she dealt with the pain Dorion dealt her. Shiva apologized for such things and promised that she would do all she could to make this all better. For now, she needed to get everyone upstairs and healed. She asked for Zakuro’s help to get everyone upstairs for now and Zakuro agreed to help her.


Shiva cast a spell on top of the group with the remaining magick she had. If they were going to move on from here she knew for now she would have to rely on her white magick. The group needed a healer to back them up and although she had a great defense with her black magick it was time to retire it for the time being. She needed to tap into that magick when they face famine. For now....it was time to rest.