MY ONE-SHOTS

Summary: You (the Commander), are exploring the wreckage in the chapter Torn From the Sky. You got there about an hour earlier than you did in the original story, so there are still Mordrem and Mordrem Guard exploring the wreckage and taking prisoners. You look around until you find the leader, of sorts, giving orders to the Mordrem. Before you attack, you hear some of the instructions: "the jungle dragon wants his prisoners alive for questioning! Kill nothing!" Then, you attack. After you kill the leader, the Mordrem scatter. What happens next is for you to find out.

Chapter Three: Daring Rescue

Author's Notes:

Anyway, this features no time-traveling whatsoever, although my character may display knowledge she shouldn't really have at this point... just pretend they got in a conversation and sombody told her earlier. She won't display big knowledge that she couldn't have known, like that Trahearne dies or that we discovered Rata Novus, only small things like that Scruffy has energy conducting thingies in him.

This chapter will be conducted in something-person player format, so instead of saying "the Commander then shot a bunch of arrows at once" it'll say "you then applied skill number 2". Got it? I'll have a list of my skills with a bow and sword in these notes somwhere, so you can refer to that if you're lost.

Plus, normally you can only have two weapons at a time with Weapon Switching, but I added in my fifth skill with two hand-axes, just because.

Also, I can shoot while gliding. Yes, you're not 'supposed' to have gliding the first time you do this quest, but I'm fudging other stuff, arent I?

And my pet doesn't vanish when I glide, it stays where it was on the ground and follows my orders. If it doesn't have any orders, it just stands around and attacks anything that attacks it, and teleports to my location when I land unless I tell it otherwise. My pet is kind of sentient. Instead of clicking buttons to tell it to come, go, do it's special attack, I'll give it verbal commands. Just pretend that throughout the whole personal story from level one, Beorn has been an essential part of the quests, so that I don't have to do the whole "when did you have a pet bear? Oh yeah, he's just been sorta following you around for a few years" thing.

I don't have a glider bar. Well, sort of. How about we just pretend I also have the Lean Techniques Mastery and the one where normal gliding doesn't use the glider bar, Advanced Gliding. Aw, just can it. No glider bar, period. It's too confusing.

the Lean Techniques Mastery is where you get to push the forward button to go faster and (at a large cost of glider endurance) push the back button to stop while gliding.

the Advanced Gliding Mastery is where if you just glide without pushing any buttons, you don't use up your glider bar. If you have the Lean Techniques, if you use them then you use the glider bar. Which is kind of cool.

Ranger Skills that I'll be using, and how I'll be referring to them: (I'm not going to bother with all the dmg details)

Longbow Skill 4: A point-blank shot that pushes enemies back (the closer to me, the farther). 'pushback' or 'skill four'

Longbow Skill 5: An AE rain of arrows that cripples. I cannot move while doing this skill, else it gets cut short. 'skill five'

Greatsword Skill 3: I shoot forwards (like a loong dodge) until I reach my target, unless it's too far away, and kind of stab them. While I'm doing this, an illusory eagle appears, and it seems to be picking me up by it's talons to fly me to wherever.

I'm not going to specify what I'm doing with my greatsword, since it really won't matter, I'll just say I switched weapons.

Two Hand-Axes Skill 5: Whirl the axes around my body, doing AE dmg. The effect ceases if I get knocked down or somthing. I cannot move while doing this. 'skill five b'

Unless stated otherwise, I'm using my bow.

When I say somthing 'like this' in single quotes, it means I'm thinking. Normal talking is still "like this".

Information on NPCs:

Trahearne: Trahearne is greatly injured and unconscious when you find him, but at least you got to him before the Mordrem did.

Zojja: She is injured and unconscious, and has been captured by Mordrem.

Eir Stegalkin: Eir is injured and weak, and the Mordrem are about to find her. Luckily, you find her in time, and she survives thanks to the work of the medics that survived the crash. She falls unconscious shortly after you find her.

Logan Thackeray: Logan is injured and weak, and is found and bound by the Mordrem before they flee the crash site. He is still conscious, but barely.

Okay, here's the story now:

As you run throughout the wreckage, you hope the Mordrem took no prisoners. 'They're too noble, all of them, to tell what they know, they'll be tortured to death!' you think. 'I hope they're alright.' "Eir! Trahearne! Logan! Zojja! Where are you?"

You hear a low groan ahead of you. "Eir? Is that you?" You walk forwards cautiously, hoping it isn't a trap. When you see Eir, you rush to her side. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Commander. Have you got Trahearne? He's over there, unconscious. I'll be fine until you get back."

"You won't be. There's still Mordrem all over the place. They must have an organized rendezvous somwhere else that they'll group up at. I can't risk leaving you here. Can you walk?"

"Barely. I'll manage, though."

"Come on."

You push your way through the wreckage to where Trahearne lies. There are several Mordrem bending over his body.

"No," you growl. You apply skill 4, which blasts the Mordrem away. "Don't you dare." unsheathing your greatsword, you launch yourself forwards with skill 3, before twirling and stabbing and slashing every which way, killing the Mordrem.

'He's unconscious. I need to get him back the Pact camp, right away.'

"How can I carry him? He's rather tall for a sylvari, and you can barely walk yourself." you address Eir.

"the Pact camp is downhill from here, could you glide with him?"

You snort. "I'm lucky I can glide carrying anything other than my weapons and what's in my bags, and I can't glide at all with anything larger than a tiny asura... I might be able to glide with Taimi. Barely." you consider a moment. "I'd probably drop a lot faster. And it's not that steep of a slope, I couldn't glide to the Pact camp anyway." After a moment, your face brightens. "Beorn, to me!" you call. A large brown bear appears out of the foliage and races to your side. "Can you carry a message to the Pact camp? - here - " you fish out a pad of unused paper from one of your many pockets. You scribble a short message to Braham - 'Please send help/a medic. Trahearne is unconscious and Eir is wounded, I can't carry him'. "Take that." Beorn takes the paper and runs off. "And don't slobber all over it!" you call. "We can wait here while Beorn takes the message - wait - soldier! Come over here a minute!" you shout, as you see a passing Pact member pass. "I'm waiting for help to get Marshal Trahearne to the Pact camp, but I need to find Captain Thackeray and Zojja, too, and it can't wait. Can you defend against any Mordrem that might pass by here?"

"Sure I can, Commander. That's what I was trained for."

"Thank you." you say as you begin exploring further into the jungle.

"Wait - Commander! How are they going to find us?"

"The paper has the names of you and Trahearne on it, Kas or Jory can locate you with that." you call over your shoulder.

"No, Stegalkin, I won't turn to Mordremoth." you hear him say in an exasperated voice. "If I was going to do that, I'd have turned long ago. No, it won't impair my ability to defend you."

"Eir, be nice!" you shout over your shoulder.

"Hey, Commander! Come back!" the soldier shouts.

You turn and sprint back. "What is it?"

"Trahearne's mumbling. It's kind of coherent."

"No...no... South... and West...no... to Mordremoth... not..."

"The Mordrem must have left already! With Logan and Zojja, too. I need to find them! Thanks, soldier!"

"No problem, Commander!" the sylvari salutes.

"And Eir - be nice. If he was going to turn, he'd have done so when the dragon called, not now. He'd at least be standing around groaning."

You run off.

"Hmm... West and South, he said? I need a better look - there's a cliff that way. Rather odd formation for the jungle, but hey! Who cares, I have friends to rescue."

You dash off in a Southwesterly direction, until you spot a rather large tree with limbs spaced at intervals, like the spokes on a wheel. You scramble up into the highest reaches of the tree. Several of your passive skills enhance your vision, so you glance around the jungle. There is a path that passes by just east of you - it looks well-trodden, but at a closer look, the foliage appears to have just been pressed down for a long period of time. It's completely straight too - you've seen this before. It's an army-track.

An army would leave a track like this behind all the time, when fighting Zhaitan, you recall. You spot another army-track a little to the west, where the foliage is also standing up slightly. You conclude that Mordremoth doesn't really care much about leaving behind tracks and stuff, and the older track was the way in, and the one to the east was just created - all you have to do now is follow the swatch of pressed-down plant-life.

You leap from the tree and activate your glider. There seem to be a lot of tall trees, so you keep landing and climbing up the trunk so you can stay in the air.

After a few minutes, you spot the train of Mordrem leaving - it's ranks are infested with stragglers in the middle, whom you suppose are sylvari who turned are trying to turn back. The organization seems very haphazard, as if the person in charge is also a fighting sylvari, and the Mordrem are mindless followers. For example, there seem to be rather large breaks in the lines at places, and Logan and Zojja are being held in the back quarter of the army. It's not really an army, though - more like a squad. But since they are all spread out and stuff, the perimeter would have been four squads tightly packed together, and the formation left the prisoners at the back relatively undefended.

You lean forwards to speed up on the glider, and accidentally hit an updraft. It's not very large - rather small, in fact. As you use a large amount of endurance to stop and hover right over Logan and Zojja, you deactivate your glider and fall. As you fall, you fire a rain of arrows. You reactivate the glider right before you land, and then deactivate it. You switch to your two hand-axes, and grin fiercely, spinning and twirling and just generally dealing damage all around. It dulls your axes slightly - they're not meant to cut through plants - but it kills nearly all the Mordrem. The last few you take out with your bow. You then see that Logan and Zojja's guards have run off in the direction of the army, carrying them.

You shoot them down. At that moment, Beorn emerges from the foliage. "You delivered that? Great. Now we need to rescue Logan and Zojja."

You run forward. Logan and Zojja are bound, gagged and blindfolded. As you remove the bonds, you discover that Zojja is unconscious, while Logan seems awake-ish.

"Can you stand, Logan?"

"Not really - they tied the ropes really tight, cut off the blood supply. I'll need to rest a minute, but then I'll be fine. You need a minute anyway, they have Taimi!"

"Taimi! No way!"

"Yes! They have her at the front of line - if you hurry, you might be able to rescue her!"

"Thanks for the information, Logan. Beorn, guard them!" You scramble up another tree and take off, purposely hitting another updraft. You speed yourself on your way.

You see the rest of the army just in time - and it appears that the sylvari in charge is fighting mentally - he's stumbling around - and he is carrying Taimi.

'He must know he can't fight it off enough to do much, but he knows sombody'll try to rescue her - a lot easier when you don't have to fight the person carrying her.' you muse. Then, you notice that they are on the edge of the odd formations some of the Pact soldiers told you about earlier - a large, long, deep chasm, that seems to have been gouged there, as the land is kind of similar on both sides. The track that the army is following - apparently they go to the crash point of the Pact all the time - goes to the edge of the chasm, and then turns to follow it down to a large, sturdy bridge. The oddest part of the whole thing, however, was that the path was atop a very high hill - the land sloped steeply on both sides, but along the middle was about half a mile high from where the hill leveled out to the sides. The hill formed about a forty-five-degree angle ( placing the angle at the top of the hill ).

You land in a tree to study the odd formation. As you do, you notice that the leader carrying Taimi is near to the edge of the chasm. It sparks an idea - if you launched yourself from that edge, you could land on the lower part of the odd formations.

Thankful for the Mastery that grants you bow usage in the air { it is NOT a real mastery } (albeit a rather grim trade - you can shoot once in the air but cannot use your bow at all for hours), you take off. You take careful aim - you don't want to hit Taimi by mistake! - you activate skill number 4, which pushes the struggling sylvari over the edge of the chasm. He lets out a short-lived scream, as panic pushes the sylvari's own mind to the fore. As you glide down to where the sylvari activated his own glider and was just hanging there, still struggling. You salute the sylvari as you glide past him.

"Good work, soldier. Come with me!" you shout hastily over the wind.

You and the sylvari barely get to the edge of the chasm before you fall below it.

"Thank - " the soldier drops Taimi and falls to the ground screaming and clutching his head.

"No - I - Mordremoth - " he groans. In a moment of clarity, he snatches a knife from his belt and stabs himself in the head. He falls to the ground instantly.

"No!" you say - but you are too late. You gaze down at the dead sylvari mournfully. "I hope this is not what it takes for all sylvari," you say, shaking your head.

You hear a roar from above you on slope. 'They must have realized they're now missing their leader.'

You pick Taimi up, still bound, and race to where you left Logan and Zojja. You untie Taimi hastily.

"You okay?" you ask her.

"Yeah - surprisingly. I think I fainted at one point - I was just falling - But yeah."

"The Mordrem leader seemed to have more control than most - the army was all haphazard." you glance at the bow in your hand. "I pushed him over the edge of the chasm, - that's probably when you fainted, Taimi - which gave him a brief minute of clarity. He killed himself after we'd rescued Taimi, however - he knew he couldn't be trusted enough, and Mordremoth seemed to be tormenting him anyway. We need to get out of here, and fast. The Mordrem have lost their leader and are probably coming to kill whoever did it. Can you run, Logan?"

"No - I'm too weak for that - "

"And I'm too weak to carry you."

At that moment, Scruffy - Taimi's golem - shuffles out of the foliage.

"Taimi, can Scruffy carry Logan?"

"Sure he can! Logan's much lighter that the lab equipment Scruffy's used to. What about Zojja?"

"Zojja's small enough I can carry her, she's unconscious anyway. Come on! Beorn - guard our rear." You give further instructions to the faithful pet while Taimi scrambles inside Scruffy and picks up Logan. You pick up Zojja.

"Come on, Taimi!"

You run. You run as fast as you can. After a while, you get totally worn out.

"Okay, Taimi - I need rest. We won't be able to get much, but enough - I can't go any further."

You turn aside to a place where dense foliage and branches are woven together.

You whistle for Beorn, while you dig some dried meat out of your pack for him. "Here."

"Are Trahearne and Eir alright?" Taimi asks.

"Yes, they're fine - I found them before the Mordrem did."

At that moment, a large, hulking form is silhouetted in the fading sunlight, on the path.

"It must be an advance scout. Looks like a real Mordrem leader's taken over," you whisper.

You prepare to shoot the outline of the vinetooth, but then you remember that you can't use your bow for a while yet. "I'll have to do this in melee range," you groan to yourself. "Oh well."

You launch yourself out of the 'cave' using your greatsword skill 3, and proceed to defeat the vinetooth by whirling about it's feet - it can't see you very well in the fading moonlight. Beorn helps, of course. Once you've defeated the vinetooth, you return to the 'cave'.

"That means the Mordrem will be here soon. We can't waste any more time. Come on!"

You pick up Zojja again and leave the cave. "We need to get off the path - follow me!"

You twist and turn through the trees. It takes a lot longer on foot and carrying Zojja than it did traveling lightly on a glider. You stumble through the leaves, exhausted and half asleep from exhaustion, while Beorn fended off several straggling Mordrem. They did whittle down your health until you were crippled, however. You were mumbling.

"Don't have time to stop and heal... the Mordrem are on our tail... Can't stop... can't stop..."

Only your empathetic link with Beorn kept you going the right direction without bumping into a tree.

"We're almost there, Commander! It's just down that slope! Wow, even Scruffy's tired!"

Logan was still peering into the dense foliage on either side.

"We can't stop!" he said. "the Mordrem are close."

"I know - not this close. Gwahir, to me!" you call. Beorn disappears while a majestic eagle soars out of the trees. "Go - go, Gwahir - warn Braham that there's a horde of Mordrem on our tail. Prepare for battle! Get the wounded to safety!"

The eagle screeched and sped down the hill.

"Come on," you said. "We need to hurry."

You stumble into the camp three minutes later, panting and stumbling and exhausted, but awake.

"Mordrem - attacking... on our tail..." you say, panting. "I got Zojja and Logan - "

"Taimi's missing - "

"She's fine, but there's a horde of Mordrem on our tail - "

"We're on it, Commander."

Once you get to the tent that serves as a makeshift hospital, you plant a trap that slowly regenerates your health - and Logan and Zojja's. Zojja wakes up.

"What's going on?"

"You were captured by the Mordrem. You were unconscious when I caught up with you."

"Taimi - and Logan - "

"She's here, she's fine."

"Are Trahearne and Eir alright?"

"We got to them before the Mordrem did, thankfully."

"That's good..."

"You need rest, Zojja. Rest."

"I'm fine - I can fight - "

"No, Zojja! You need rest! You've just been unconscious, you can't fight! If you think you're ready, though, you could help to defend the wounded."

"Yes. I can do that."

"Thanks, Zojja. Come, Beorn!" you dash out of the tent, fully recuperated.

"She's just been running for an hour, totally exhausted..." Taimi says.

"She has a very good wellspring of healing right there, and she regenerates faster than we do."

"Fine, fine."

That's all. I just wanted a way for nobody to get captured, pretty much.

I woke up in the middle of the night, thought this up, and went back to sleep. It may even have been a dream. Who knows? That's why it's all crazy.