Valaria focuses with grit and determination, then charges quickly at the abomination still on the stairs, thrusting her blades solidly through its midsection. Warm blood gushes out from the wounds. Another monster comes slithering up from behind, but with amazing agility, Valaria sidesteps its clumsy lunge.
Ary is up!
Ary descends the stairs backwards, keeping her eye on the abomination, before slipping quickly across the tower floor, careful to stay outside of the other abomination's reach until the last second, coming to a stop at Valaria's side. "Xander, Ehren, do you have anything to help cover Daisy?"
"If not, I've got it, boss." Anevia replies through the message spell.
Faith hammers home, sending tremors through the abomination's body, and slamming it away. Ayavah takes a few steps back from the melee, though her eyes stay locked on Valaria, who is still in combat with the other monster. She parries its many strikes with her blades, but finally one breaks through, leaving a long, razor-thin wound.
Isilme and Ehren are up!
Isilme winces due to the pain from her torn ear. If she had still been maintaining a spell she likely would have lost focus on it. Shaking her head, she regains her composure and closes to aid Ary, hoping they can bring down both of the abominations on one side quickly.
With Hinagiku operating up top alone, she calls to Ayavah to help out, knowing her magic would be a safe way to aid the monk in her fight.
"Ayavah, aid Hinagiku with your magic missiles," Isilme says as she lunges at the abomination near Ary with her rapier, channeling magic into the blade as she does.
Hardly having time to pout over his spell's middling success, Ehren decides on a quick change of plan. Instead of destroying their weapons outright, he settles for putting up a barrier to disrupt their aim, however slightly. The druid reaches into his pocket and takes out a handful of dirt, which he promptly scatters before him. With a murmur in Druidic and an infusion of a smidgen of ley energy, a low earthen wall abruptly erupts from the ground. Just high enough to make their bodies smaller targets, but it would barely be a speed bump if the abominations decided to close in.
Isilme swifly jabs her rapier into the monster's back and withdraws.
"Oh... okay!" replied Ayavah, her mind having been too focused on Valaria to even consider how she could contribute to the battle. She raises a hand and fires off four glowing purple missiles in rapid succession - they fly up and into the fallen half-orc, nearly pummeling him into unconsciousness. Beside of her, Xanderghul simply vanishes into a puff of dark smoke, reappearing above them on the walkway. "Huh, what? Xanderghul?" she asks. He doesn't respond.
Xanderghul's movements and mannerisms are not his own, and you have come to know him very well in these past few weeks.
The fallen half-orc bares his teeth at Hinagiku, but seems to be struggling to get to his feet.
Though the half-orc is pretending to be waiting for an opportunity to stand up... you know that he's faster than Hinagiku. Watching his eyes, he isn't really even watching Hinagiku at all, he is paying more attention to the people below than her. It's as if... he doesn't even view her as a threat....
Round 3!
Anevia is up!
When Xanderghul teleports, it takes very little time for Isilme to realize what has happened. Focusing on him and everyone else above, she studies the situation, trying to decide what to do.
Since there was no way to hide what she was saying from Xanderghul, given that he was connected to message, she simply goes ahead and says it out loud. "Xanderghul's possessed, last I checked he did not have the ability to teleport. We need to get to him immediately."
"Hinagiku, the half-orc that is down is faking it, be careful."
"F#~!, right. Figured it out. Gonna test the theory. If I'm right, one of the kids is also carrying a shadow." Anevia says as she fades into the shadow of the column, reappearing at the top of the stairs, in clear view of the fighting up there and unleashing another arrow into the abomination's back.
"You boys just gonna keep working for the idiots who killed your mother? You could tell she was being controlled by something, right?"
"But how...?" Ehren asks, wide-eyed as he looks from the spot where Xanderghul was just standing to where he was now. The wizard had been literally standing right next to him. What was more, he knew for a fact that he had been himself when he first entered the tower - he had cast one of his signature illusions on himself, something a possessed host should be incapable of. Had the invidiak's possession truly been so subtle?
I should have brought daylight into the tower from the very start, he thinks, silently cursing himself.
You're busy watching the fight and calculating your next move when suddenly your vision goes black - but only for a split second. You try to open your mouth to say something, but it's too late... you feel it inside - the shadow, writhing inside of you, in your mind, in your lungs, deep within your gut. You can see everything, feel everything, but you realize - you can't move your eyes, your lips, your muscles, even control your breathing. You are trapped, a prisoner within your own body.
"I have the wizard, master," you hear the demon telepathically report in Abyssal.
"Good, good, Ixxez. Xanderghul is far too dangerous. Iakaaz has the monk already. Come to my side," you hear a silken voice respond. "We may have lost this castle, but we will crush these 'heroes of Kenabres' once and for all."
---
For the first time in a long, long time, panic seizes Xanderghul's heart, though no physical feeling accompanies the emotion. Xanderghul had been possessed once before, thousands of years ago, and it had taken him intense concentration and weeks in order to break free. Not only that, but they had all been so stupid when entering this fight not to ward each and every person with protection from evil. If he survives - and it truly is an if at this point - Xanderghul makes a number of mental checks on his list of things to not to ever again.
Still, he mentally chuckles at the shadow demon (Ixxez, he supposes) and their reasoning. They had taken, quite literally, the two least useful members of the team, and they had gone after two of the three most willful ones. He mentally responds to the shadow demon mockingly, his voice like an echo inside his own head. "You 'have' me? Gosh, it may have been awhile since I've been 'taken', but I'm pretty sure that you need a body to do it..."
----
'Tch, silence, you," the shadow demon replies irritably, surveying the heroes from his perch above them. 'I didn't want this body but my master... my master insisted. He is very, [i]very interested in you...'[/i]
Anevia suddenly appears on the top of the stairs. She fires back at the abomination behind her; the shot catches it, leaving it helpless and dying like a fish on a hook. It collapses in a heap on the stairwell.
The half-orc behind her growls, low and guttural. "You. You will not talk about our mother and live."
"Lugol. Lugol. Don't f*$~ing let her bait you.... oh, by the Abyss, there he goes," says Ixxez.
"Three on the western stair, now," Iakaaz reports. "Will move in to engage."
"Very well. Do not let them get to me before I am ready," replies the silken voice. "Don't forget. Keep the wizard alive, Ixxez."
He bowls away from Hinagiku and stops in front of Anevia, brandishing his rapier. He is able to capitalize on a fleeting opportunity, deftly sending his blade to strike his unsuspecting foe.
But, surprisingly, it is not the other half-orc who rushes Anevia... it is Hinagiku! The kitsune swiftly moves across the platform and moves to knock her off of her feet. Anevia manages to regain her footing - jumping nimbly over her low sweep.
You are so completely focused on the fight with the two brothers, the sons of Dralia, that while your physical guards are up you let your mental ones down for just a split second... but that moment of weakness is all it takes. Suddenly, your vision goes black, just for a moment - and then you feel it inside - the shadow, writhing inside of you, in your mind, in your lungs, deep within your gut. You can see everything, feel everything, but you realize - you can't move your eyes, your lips, your muscles, even control your breathing.
You're trapped. A prisoner in your own body. Your mind, adrift in an endless sea of darkness.
And then you hear it. A chuckling voice, inside your mind. "Oh, this body! I like this body. Strong, fast... and strangely beautiful. Much better than those filthy savages."
You can then hear it reach out, telepathically, to its allies. "Iakaaz has the fox-monk, master," it says in Abyssal. "Keep up the charade a little longer, Ogol, Lurog."
You hear a silky voice respond -"Very good, Iakaaz. I will be out soon. My preparations are nearly complete. Then we will crush these upstarts, and report to Drezen. Iakaaz, keep them on the ground floor. Keep the Commander busy on the eastern stair. Ogol, Lurog, hold your ground, prevent them from reaching me."
----
"I have the wizard, master," you hear another demon telepathically report in Abyssal.
"Good, good, Ixxez. Xanderghul is far too dangerous. Iakaaz has the monk already. Come to my side," you hear the silken voice respond. "We may have lost this castle, but we will crush these 'heroes of Kenabres' once and for all."
----
Confusion assails Hinagiku as her steps and blows slowly but unequivocally escape her control. She fights it, pours all her focus into every action so that she can keep fighting, but to no avail. And then, she hears the words of the demon. Slowly understanding dawns and in a last effort Hinagiku transcends her self and reaches all the way down to her mother, ब्रह्मा, to come to her aid. Yet, as the very strength of the earth starts to infuse her mind, she is finally and irrevocably cut off from her body and from the very power she was calling upon. Her soul fights and thrashes around silently for a split second, until Hinagiku sees the futility of it. She had learn to fight by following the flow of the enemy, simply opposing it would serve no purpose, and so, she settles back and let’s her mind become a peaceful ocean. An ocean on which tiny ripples appear when she hears that Xanderghul has suffered the same fate as her.
Meanwhile, the other half-orc remains low to the ground. He pulls out a potion, uncorks it, and tilts it into his mouth.
Further away, the abomination that was knocked down onto the ground flies clumsily up onto the stairwell. It and the other monster slides a pair of arrows into Ary, wounding her even further.
Valaria is up!
"Hey, actually... Do you like music? There's this song I really like that I just can't get out of my head. You mind if I sing a bit? No? Wow, thanks for being such a good sport."
Xanderghul proceeds to sing "The Trumpets of the Inheritor", a popular religious choir piece written before Aroden's death, when a group of Iomedaen paladins and clerics came to the rescue of a group of embattled Arodennite priests during the Third Taldan Army of Exploration.
"When the f*ck did that happen?" Val mutters as Xan disappears. "And I suppose they're the ones carrying most of our scrolls of protection from evil, aren't they?" She sighs and shakes her head, then steps back and slashes at the next abomination. She can't drive a demon out of someone's head by herself, but she can at least put the monsters down.
Drawing upon her magic, Isilme calls out to Val as she takes her second swing at the Abomination. "He is going to dodge left, Val!" she says to Val out loud, though whether it's actually premonition or merely meant to throw off the abomination is unclear... and perhaps moot.
'Ugh, f+#&ing shut up.' the shadow demon responds, irritated at Xanderghul's constant intrusions on its concentration.
Valaria's deadly strikes bite into the monster's vital core, putting this abomination down for good. She severs through an artery - dark blood oozes rapidly out of the wound, and the creature collapses in a heap on the ground.
Ary, Isilme, and Ehren are up!
Digging out a potion quickly, Isilme unstoppers it and hands it to Ary, allowing her to down it in an instant. "Here, take this, you'll need it. We need you to help get control of the situation up top."
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"Wait, no, sorry. Why would I think there was something behind me? I can't even look! Ha ha, silly me. I'll just go back to praying for my freedom."
"Oh, all the gods of Chaos and freedom and goodness, please, please take my body out of the hands of this idiot. Please, next time, let me be possessed by a demon who isn't such a f!$&ing plebian, who shows the capacity for good decisions and who follows commanders that are even a little bit less lazy and stupid than this one's commander. Please, let my body be commanded by somebody who knows how to walk correctly, and who has a comeback better than 'shut up'."
There's a soft sigh from Ary as the wind is mostly taken out of her sails. She drinks the potion, but immediately unslings one shoulder of her backpack to dig out her scroll of protection from evil.
The sudden realization that Hinagiku is also possessed wrenches at Ehren's heart. For a moment he just stands there, at a loss on what to do. Never had he considered the possibility that someone among their group might be taken by the shadow demons. It seemed so foolish now that it had become a reality; they had walked into the tower woefully unprepared.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, Ehren forces himself to act, moving over to his low wall and stooping down slightly. He sends a dart of acid flying toward the abomination on the stairway, hoping that he could at least put a dent in it. All the while, he frantically wonders how they are supposed to execute not one, but three exorcisms.
Confusion assails Hinagiku as her steps and blows slowly but inexorably escape her control. She fights it, pours all her focus into every action so that she can keep fighting, but to no avail. And then, she hears the words of the demon. Slowly understanding dawns and in a last effort Hinagiku transcends her self and reaches all the way down to her mother, ब्रह्मा, to come to her aid. Yet, as the very strength of the earth starts to infuse her mind, she is finally and irrevocably cut off from her body and from the very power she was calling upon. Her soul fights and thrashes around silently for a split second, until Hinagiku sees the futility of it. She had learned to fight by following the flow of the enemy, simply opposing it would serve no purpose, and so, she settles back and let’s her mind become a peaceful ocean. An ocean on which tiny ripples appear when she hears that Xanderghul has suffered the same fate as her.
At first, Hinagiku remains silent following Xanderghul’s provocation to the shadow oni. Following the flow of events and slowly steering it in her direction was her way, thrashing around needless, with words or actions, was not. Yet, she needed to make her presence known to Xanderghul, remind him that he was not alone there. And so, the calm ocean that is Hinagiku’s mind starts to resonate with a deep sound which comes and goes. Slowly, it syncs with the shabti’s verbal assault and lending strength to his words.
she goes on, hoping the meditation will help Xanderghul and distract their possessors.
Round 4!
Ayavah moves closer to Valaria, now that the immediate danger is gone. Above, "Xanderghul" grits his teeth, massaging his temples as if nursing a migraine. Finally, he points down, aiming at the spot between Ehren and Isilme. A small, black bead flies out of his finger, then blossoms into a sudden explosion of black flame. Isilme ducks and rolls out of the way - Ehren, who is much slower, is suddenly enveloped in a shimmering shield of ley energy. Once the smoke clears, he is found utterly unharmed. Ayavah on the other hand is found kneeling on the floor, barely conscious - she hadn't moved an inch from the epicenter of the blast, and took the brunt of it. Her clothes are completely burned off, leaving her naked and covered in charred, black burns... it is only because of her fiendish heritage that she even survived the blast. But then an arrow comes flying from across the room and into her neck - for a fleeting moment, she realizes she has been struck, her eyes wide with fear... then she crumples onto the ground, mere seconds away from death's cold embrace.
"Hey, hey. Was just seeing if you were possessed. No harm, no foul, yeah? Was trying to save you guys from the bad guys, you know?" Anevia asks, talking far too quickly as she starts off to her left, then catches her foot on the stair, and immediately throws her weight over the edge, tumbling down and leaving their enemies in a bit of a lurch. As she reaches the foot of the stairs, her shadow keeps going for a moment, distracting the abomination from her true position, the arrow releasing from her bow as it swims through the air heading for its lower stomach.
Hinagiku quickly follows her down the stairs - her speed still enchanted by Isilme's magic, and she quickly strikes at Ary's breastplate... only to find that the Commander doesn't budge an inch. She scowls - the angry expression rather out of place on Hinagiku's normally serene face.... without Irori's favor, it seems, her normally superhuman strength and agility has completely vanished.
'I don't understand.... I watched her fight when we were inside the Kellids. She was so strong," Iakaaz mutters, frustrated.
'Hah, seems like you found a body better suited for Eustoyriax,' sneers Ixxez.
Isilme, Ary, Ehren, and Valaria are up!
Isilme reaches over and touches Val, further draining her dwindling magical reserves. As she unleashes the spell, Valaria vanishes completely from sight. "Make it count, Val," she says, trusting the tiefling to put it to use.
"Xanderghul, did you truly survive all these years just to become some two-bit shadow demon's puppet? For someone who has lived even longer than I have, you gave up awfully quickly! Snap out of it!" she calls up to Xanderghul.
"Get Ayavah back," Val hisses as Isilme casts a spell on her. "We're running very short on options here." Val sheaths one of her knives and shifts over so she's to the side of the possessed monk. Then her hand darts out to try to pull the scroll of protection from evil from her belt. Her skills hands snatch the parchment away before the demon inside Hinagiku's head can notice that she's even moved. She passes the scroll off to Ary. "Do it! Quick!"
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Anevia fires off a snapshot, quick as lightning from one of the arrows left in her hand towards the abomination's hands as he focuses on aiming, hoping to knock the bow from his hand before he can ever fire upon Ayavah in the first place.
Ary draws the scroll from her hand and smirks slightly at the fox-that-was-her-friend before her. If it were Hinagiku she'd never manage to do this but the unarmed - and untrained - shadow demon wasn't equipped to fight her properly. She quickly reads over the scroll in her hands, reflecting on the idea that Hinagiku wasn't a sword, she was her heart, and the demon was trying to wield her all wrong, then intones, "I will never abandon a companion." It likely wasn't what Xanderghul had in mind for activating the scroll, but she knew from experience that it worked. She then slams the hand that was holding the scroll into Hinagiku's chest, suffusing her with Xanderghul's magic.
Ary finishes pulling out her own scroll from within her bag of holding when Valaria abruptly reappears next to her, Hinagiku's scroll in hand. Ary chooses one scroll of Protection from Evil and invokes its magic - the writing vanishes from its pages and a golden, wispy glow appears around her fingers. She presses her outstretched fingers against Hinagiku's chest, unknowingly pressing directly against the unhealing wound that she keeps hidden under bandages and clothing. When she withdraws her hand her gauntlet is warm and wet with her blood. The familiar pain radiates through Hinagiku's body - but its sharpness shocks the demon and gives her the opening she needs to fight for control. For a moment there is a silent battle of wills, and Hinagiku feels herself slowly regain control of her breathing, then her eyes, then the tips of her fingers, ... as she fights, she feels the shadow demon being expelled from her body. Her eyes go black and opaque as dark smoke furls out from her mouth and nose. The demon slowly pulls itself out from her, and the kitsune is once again fully in control of herself.
'Ashes and cinders... they exorcized Iakaaz,' reports Ixxez. 'Looks like they have another scroll, too.'
'Don't let them near you. I need that body,' responds the silken voice. 'Whether they have the monk or not, we still have the upper hand.'
'Yes, master.'
Ehren is up!
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With the familiar pain coursing through her body comes a familiar feeling, as if Hinagiku was speaking with Xanderghul. It is the same self-confidence and ego. Strong, willful, and bent to protect her. The monk follows it to the source, the small breach in her prison, and lets the ocean that is her soul weight upon it. It cracks and breaks, and with the strength of the deep ocean Hinagiku’s soul flows back into her body as inexorably as it was taken away moments ago.
And, he the last second, Hinagiku utters her first words to her possessor:
”Will and Faith are the only true power, without them the body is an empty shell. Watch now and learn the truth.”
Hinagiku’s stance chances abruptly, from the disgraceful way she was standing to an almost meditative stance. He mind races for a moment, she wants to tell the others what she knows, but can’t let the onis know that the group knows about Jorsal’s possession. Lying is alien to her, and so, she stutters her warning:
”The one they call master has prepared and will come aid them soon.”
"Ehren, time to wake up!" Isilme says quickly when she realizes the first demon has been expelled successfully.
Anevia fires off a snapshot, quick as lightning from one of the arrows left in her hand towards the abomination's hands as he focuses on aiming, knocking the bow from his hand, completely.
Ary looks over her shoulder to Ayavah, "You have my permission. Get out of the tower, but stay close; Xander's illusion is probably gone already."
Ayavah simply nods, her breathing ragged from the intense pain she is in. She stumbles out of the tower.
Ehren is up!
Protected by the ley, Ehren does not feel so much as a flash of warmth from the insidious, quasi-real flames. Spinning around, he winces when sees the miserable state Ayavah is in. Fortunately, she seemed to have just enough vigor to retreat on her own. Her magic missiles were an invaluable asset against the shadow demons, but her survival was far more important.
Turning to see how the rest of his friends fared against the fireball, Ehren is momentarily surprised to see one of the invidiaks out in the open, Hinagiku liberated from its influence. Right away, he plucks the daylight wand out of its spot on his belt - Isilme did not have to tell him twice. He presses the tip to the front of his darkwood buckler and speaks the command word, unleashing a surge of brilliant light.
Round 5!
Daylight fills the entire room with brilliant light - the shadow demon, still connected to Hinagiku by wispy tendrils of shadow, screeches in absolute agony.
In the center of the walkway above, Ser Jorsal suddenly appears next to Xanderghul in a puff of black shadow. He is wreathed in a shield of bright red flame. He surveys Xanderghul with a smile, before staring coldly down at the heroes.
"Ah, Xanderghul, we are together again at last. How touching," he sneers. "Xanderghul" grins nastily back at him. "Commander Bishop, you have been a thorn in my side for too long. This ends, today."
"Xanderghul" raises another hand, summoning a storm of black ice and sleet. The shadows simply pass through Isilme's body - her celestial heritage protecting her body from the evil magic, and the shield of ley energy appears around Ehren once again, likewise protecting him from the brunt of the hail. Unfortunately, no magic is there to help Ary or Anevia, who takes a beating from hailstones the size of oranges.
Ice coats the western staircase, and the demon smirks... not realizing that the heroes' feet, thanks to Ehren, float a centimeter off of the ground.
Xanderghul hears a familiar voice - 'Xanderghul? Is that you?'
'Damn it,' Jorsal curses, watching the battle from Arastrax's eyes. He rarely curses. 'They're hurt, badly. They need to get out of here, he's too powerful, you don't know what he has planned...'
Arastrax ignores their reunion - continuing to give orders to his subordinates telepathically. "Experiment #271, block the western stair. Iakaaz, you are dismissed. When I next see you, your host had better be of use, or you WILL suffer the consequences."
'.... Yes, master.'
Anevia is up!
"I'm glad you're still in here. You just wait. When they get Arastrax out of you, I'm going to punch him into next week."
"Sorry folks, time to go get a bit of help." Anevia says as she fires another shot at the weakened abomination, vanishing from her position into the doorway. You can hear her voice calling out as she heads away from the immediate battle.
Ary is prepared for the continuing assault on her - the half-orc rogues from above continue to rain arrows down on her. She raises her shield to help deflect the arrows, but one manages to hit home regardless. A mere flesh wound, but at this point she is battered and bruised... barely holding on.
Hinagiku is up!
Hinagiku gives a fleeting glance to the shadow oni next to her. Her possessor. She wanted to slay it once and for all, but there was no point. It was weak and writhing in the light. And Xanderghul was much more important, they could not let him be taken away. So, with barely a second though, the monk rushes up through the stairs to face off, once more, with the brothers. There, as she jumps from the staircase she kicks with all her strength at her foe's kneecap.
Hinagiku kicks out at the rogue's knee, nearly toppling him over. Just as she clears the top of the stairs, the furthest abomination flies clumsily (its wings are mismatched, after all) across the room and onto the stairs in front of Ary. The other abomination remains where it is, firing at Valaria. As tired as the tiefling is, she still manages to dodge the two shots.
Meanwhile, the shadow demon flies up and away, vanishing into the ceiling above.
Ary, Valaria, Ehren and Isilme are up!
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With a grin, she calls up to Jorsal loudly, drawing the attention of everyone in the room: "Arastrax! Your clumsy creations and craven cronies fall quickly!" she calls up to the shadow demon, "Can I crow? Our crusaders have crushed your comrades, continuously since Kenabres. Careless cavorting cost your cultist's corps, collapsing your cadre to the core of this cramped castle! Care to capitulate unconditionally?"
Pointing a finger towards Jorsal and Xanderghul, Isilme creates a stream of grease, which coats the bridge where they're standing, leaving them fighting to stay upright.
Barely able to stand, bleeding from plenty of wounds, and exhausted, Val steps in and slashes and the shadow demon before it can escape.
She follows through by stepping in to abomination standing on the stairs between them and their targets on the ledge above and she unleashes another shower of blows.
"You don't have to keep working for them. Those people making puppets of our friends like that." Ary calls to the two sons of Dralia, "We couldn't do anything to save her, so we gave her the best chance we could. What did your boss do?" she asks, unfurling the scroll in her hands. "I will not surrender those under my command." she intones clearly, as golden energy radiates outwards, enabling her allies with some of the last of her dwindling mythic energy. The ink on the scroll fades, leaving a golden aura in the hand holding it as she watches those above, fist clenching around paper.
Xanderghul loses his footing and falls down when Isilme casts her spell, while Ser Jorsal, who was already holding onto the railing, stays upright.
The sons of Dralia don't respond to Ary. The one on the far east continues to aim his bow at her, while the other is busy watching Hinagiku.
Ehren is up!
Ehren ignores the illusory ice storm, busying himself with inspecting the surrounding stone structure. With their height advantage, Jorsal and Xanderghul continue throwing out their illusions without fear of reprisal. And in their current states, Ary and Valaria were not likely going to make it to the top of the stairs. But thanks to classic dwarven architecture, there was something Ehren just might be able to do. The druid quickly stows his wand and then drops to one knee, placing a hand flat against the stone floor. He concentrates on the stone walkway that several of their enemies were standing on, willing the entire thing to bend and twist, with its floor ultimately dropping open, ideally dumping everyone standing on it to the ground below.
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The bridge cracks down the center and starts to heave. It collapses faster than the men on it can react, raining rubble down into the center of the room. Jorsal, Xanderghul, and the two half-orc brothers are one the ground in an ungainly heap.
"Ha! I wouldn't expect anything less from you. To be honest, I-" Jorsal's train of thought is interrupted by the sudden collapse of the stone bridge beneath your feet. You feel your body hit the ground, bruised and battered by the rubble you landed on.
'Get away. Get his body away!' screams Arastrax.
Xanderghul is first to his feet, eyes wide with fear, but Ary has already covered the battlefield in shimmering, golden motes. She vanishes and reappears next to him... trouble is, there are two of him. She grabs onto the wrong one first, and the illusion vanishes in her hands. But only the true Xanderghul remains now, and before the demon can teleport his body away, Ary appears next to him once again, hands gripping on his shoulders.
You feel the magic discharge into your body, all the while Ixxez screams, i]'No! No! Noooooooo!'[/i] You quickly reassert your will, your dominance over your own body. The feeling of the smoky demon evacuating your body is satisfying, and once the smoke clears, Ary has vanished, leaving only golden motes in her wake.
Xanderghul's eyes turn pitch-black as the demon slowly extricates itself from his body - it appears, spiraling out as a black miasma in the air above the two. Jorsal's eyes widen and he stands up - Ary is on him in a flash, smashing Faith into his armor... but she is weak, so weak from her many wounds that she simply doesn't have the strength to stop him. He vanishes in a cloud of black smoke, reappearing on western the balcony above, across from where Hinagiku stands. His face is contorted into an ugly expression of hatred and rage.
Just as he vanishes, Anevia appears through the door, Markus and Sosiel alongside her.
"Wow. Turned my back for one second, and you're already tearing down the place without me. Sheesh," says Anevia, grinning.
Markus, in contrast, appears even more serious than usual. He frowns, raising a hand. 'Tu medela magnus,' he intones, conjuring positive energy into Ary and her wounds. He winces as Sosiel backs up against the wall, then channels a blast of positive energy into the room, healing everyone even further.
Round 6!
Anevia is up!
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Xanderghul grins, stretching himself and moving all the little bits of his body - his toes, his eyebrows, his nostrils, his tongue. It was only a few moments that he was possessed. He honestly hadn't expected Ary to stick around in order to save him. Perhaps having allies was alright after all.
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"Welcome back, Xanderghul. I was wondering if you were going to keep letting that demon live rent-free in your head," Isilme says when she sees Ary successfully land the spell and the demon forcibly exorcised. Almost immediately afterwards she's relieved to see Sosiel and Markus rush in to help, healing up Ary.
Isilme turns to look up at Jorsal and begins clapping. "Encore! Encore! Well Arastrax, it would appear your plans have worked about as well as Brae-Hagen's did. Care to show us your grand finale?"
"Nice. Never forget you've got more friends than you're counting on at any given moment." Anevia adds quietly through the message, as she throws herself down behind the long, short wall, preparing herself to use it to fake the enemy out and get into a nice ideal snipy position.
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"He wasn't even a music lover!" chuckles Xanderghul, flexing his fingers in preparation for some spellcasting.
The orc next to Xanderghul bares his teeth, moving to swing with his rapier at Xanderghul as he stands. Ary suddenly appears next to him, and will a well-executed reverse swing, slams Faith into him, knocking him backwards - he swings wildly at the wizard anyway, his blade slashing through the air.
The other twin stands up and attempts to move closer to the heroes, but Ary is there also, somehow - she dashes forward, letting the spikes on her shield sink into him before tossing him off and away.
Hinagiku is up!
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Hinagiku had been staring at Xanderghul when the bridge fell. Reflexively, she holds out a hand, but barely even reaches the half-orc in between them. Yet, as events quickly unfold on the first floor she takes time to assess the situation. And, reassured by Sosiel and Markus’ arrival, she makes her decision.
Quickly doubling back, Hinagiku launches in a run toward the railing. One swift step and she’s up the railing. One more step and she is no longer running in the ground but on the wall to her left. As he loses momentum she launches herself over the second railing, and slides to Arastrax feet, effectively trying to trip him down.
Even Ehren cannot help but to smile at their sudden reversal of fortune. In just a few short moments, what had seemed like a hopeless situation was now in their favor. He does not let it go to his head, however. True relief would not come until victory was in their grasp.
"Don't taunt him too much," Ehren says through message, able to do so without fear now that their companions were no longer possessed. He looks up at "Jorsal," wondering what must be running through Arastrax's mind. He could only imagine that returning to Drezen empty-handed would be a death sentence for the invidiak. "A beast is at its most dangerous when it is backed to a corner... and we still don't know what he is really capable of."
Xanderghul nods. "Ehren's right. We still have a lot of work ahead of us."
Hinagiku moves to knock Jorsal off of his feet, but the man shifts his center of gravity, making him far too difficult to pull down. He swings at Hinagiku and she grabs his wrist, wrenching his blade away from him, burning and twisting at his tendons. But with his free hand he grabs hold of her collar and slams her into the wall.
Meanwhile, below on the stairs, Valaria faces off against one of the two remaining abominations. She focuses too much on his blade - parrying each strike with her starknives, and is completely unprepared for its massive lashing tail. It strikes out low, hitting her solidly in her legs and nearly sweeping her off of her feet.
The whiiiiiiiiirrrrr! of arrows through the air doesn't seem to distract Markus as he focuses on his next spell.... but what does distract is the pain of one embedding itself in his side and feeling the blood swiftly flowing from the open wound.
Isilme, Valaria, and Ary are up!