Kalchine averts his gaze from the creatures capable of petrifying their targets. He focuses on the dragon kin in the distance.
But one of the beasts makes an odd noise, attracting his attention and he stares straight at it.
Between her elemental resistance and reflexes, Maka was able to avoid the majority of the damage from the acid. But the Dragonkin's halberd found its mark. Yet all it did was increase the firemonk's fury, and she unleashed a flurry of fiery blows.
Selena drops an obscuring mist where friendly reinforcements are likely to arrive from, and hopefully getting a few remaining defenders in range as well, thankful now her tutors had made her practice while blindfolded.
"Use the mist! By the doors! Shortens sight!" she called, to bring attention to her companions of the advantage. She spoke common though, hoping the enemy doesn't understand what she said.
Fin's last arrow glances off his target's hard scales, but the others strike home, provoking an angry roar. Quasit's unexpected flying leap also draws both blood and anger.
Bulvi slashes at a dracolisk's neck, but the instability of his hovering in the air turns what could have been a deadly strike into merely a cut on its side.
Chest Thumper leaps up at one of the dracolisks but swings wide with his enlarged claws. Unfortunately Kalchine meets the monster's eyes and swiftly turns to stone.
Maka scorches her target with blades of fire, while Selena summons a cloud of mist.
The dracolisk Fin shot sees an opportunity to hit multiple enemies at once with its breath, and sprays a stream of acid over Chest Thumper, Sakitu, and Fin.
The one in melee with Bulvi attacks him with claws and teeth.
His armor just barely holds it off.
The one fighting Maka likewise attacks her.
But she nimbly avoids its blows.
The dragonkin, not immune to petrification himself, circles just out of reach, whether searching for an opporunity to strike or simply trying to keep everyone within range of the deadly gazes is unclear.
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Even though he avoids the worst of the acid Fin hisses as the acid strikes both him, Sakitu, and Chest Thumper…he then pales when seeing Kalchine turned to stone before his very eyes…while steeling his emotions, he decides to avert those eyes this round…
…and finds he can still see well enough to unleash another volley at the injured dracolisk that spewed the acid…if the beast drops before his attack is over, he’ll fire the rest at the nearest dracolisk…
”Saki, stay close to me, I’ll protect you…”
Maka's fiery fists continued to hound the monster as Maka continued to avoid its blows.
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Sakitu tries to dance out of the way of the acid attack and at the same time keep her spell going but she's unable to. A large glob of acid burns deeply into her skin.
Holding back her tears, she moves to get behind Fin. "I don't know if this will make any difference at all," she says to him and then reaches to touch his bow. It is suddenly covered with frost.
It was more than a little disorienting with his eyes closed as floated near the draconic creature the motion of each thrust and swing sending him moving just a little. He could hear the sound of battle and the shouts of enemy and ally alike.
But he knew where the creatures heart was and continued to assault his target.
Selena listens to the thrashing and chomping of one of the creatures and sends a little angry cloud it's way, looking like more black mist in the gloom. She then moves towards the mist she laid down earlier, listening for the wingbeats of the one holding back to see if it'll give chase.
The dracolisk between Maka and Quasit and the one fighting Chest Thumper both fall from the combined efforts of the party, leaving only the one in melee with Bulvi.
The remaining dracolisk keeps trying to attack Bulvi, surprisingly proving agile enough to hover in the air.
The dragonkin darts in and uses his long glaive to attack Maka.
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As Sakitu ensorcels his arrows, Fin murmurs, ”Thank you, Hlao-roo,” as he turns to the remaining dracolisk, trying to avert his eyes as he draws a bead on it…
…but his eyes lock with the beast…
…and he barely resists its gaze…
He then unleashes a volley of cold iron, reinforced by Sakitu’s magical touch, directly at the beast of stoned eyes…
The dragonkin's glaive left deep gorges in the stone of the keep, but it was unable to find it's mark. Working in conjunction with Quasit, Maka kept herself mobile, using her blames to keep the dragonkin off balance and create an opening. In a flash the rogue moved past the great creature's defenses and slipped her blade between the scales on his neck. The dragonkin fell to the ground with enough force to cause the top layer of the snow to bounce loose.
Maka gave Quasit a toothy grin before she spun to gather momentum kicking a blast of fire at the dracolisk engaged with Bulvi.
Bulvi became more unstable so he tried to make his swings less powerful and more precise.
Realizing the drake didn't give chase, Selena stops and redirects her cloud at the drake.
Bulvi finishes off the last dracolisk, while the dragon kin staggers under Quasit and Maka's assault. It turns as if to flee, then is felled by Sakitu's missiles.
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"Woo!" says Quasit excitedly as she gives Maka a vigorous high five, though she immediately has to wag away the pain from touching the monk's roasting palm.
She looks around to take stock. One by one she checks off her team mentally, then spots Kalchine.
"Oh no..." she murmurs as she starts jogging off toward him.
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Fin nods to Selena as she mentions fresh dracolisk blood as a cure for petrification. He quickly moves to the nearest dracolisk carcass, empties his waterskin, draws a dagger and slits its throat; he collects the blood in the waterskin and hurries back to his petrified friend, slowly pouring it over Kalchine’s head until the skin is empty. He’ll repeat this process as needed till the Triaxian shows signs of coming around…
As he shows signs of de-petrifying, Fin let’s out a sigh of relief, bowing to Selena, saying, ”Nice job, Selena…your quick thinking saved our new friend…”
He then finds Sakitu, smiling wryly at her as he gives her a gentle hug. ”You did it again, dearest; you have a knack for dropping dragons, it seems. Now we just have to work with you so you can get better at dodging their breath…when Kalchine comes around, we’ll see if he can heal those acid burns…
“These creatures were the most lethal yet so, hopefully, this was the last wave…but we need to be ready if called upon again…”
Fin will try to gather his spent durable arrows from the carcasses before they’re summoned again…
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Needing to unpetrify companions sparks a thought in Selena's mind, "We should gather as much blood as we can. There may be others elsewhere that are also petrified. Several of the tower guards seem to have been petrified as well. Any left over will probably be valuable as well, especially if we can get it preserved in time."
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Fin nods his head fervently in agreement with Selena’s words. ”Aye, Selena, that’s a most excellent idea! A pox upon me for not thinking of that myself…”
The Elf will put Selena’s plan into action, running between the dracolisk carcasses, trying to harvest as much blood as he can, as quickly as he can, and in whatever makeshift containers he can scrounge (helmets, waterskins, etc). He’ll apply it first to the stoned Triaxian guards who were struck when the dracolisks appeared…he’ll do this until he’s called away again…
Fin has to move quickly because, as soon as Chest Thumper is finished celebrating his victory by demonstrating how he got his name, the frost ape hurries to his companion's side and tries to fend everyone off.
He pets his petrified friend and whimpers softly like an enormous baby. Only as the blood starts to work and Kalchine's flesh begins to return does the frost ape allow Fin to continue without interference.
The film of stone over Kalchine's eyes dissolves and he jerks in Chest Thumper's grip beginning words of power but trailing off as he sees all their opponents dead.
"What happened?" he manages to say before being engulfed in an ape hug that squishes the breath out of him.
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"I think the lizard caterpillars turned you to stone. You got better though." says Quasit, her mildly joking manner thinly veiling her obvious concern for the druid.
"How do you feel? Can you move around and all that?" she says, offering him a hand if he needs it.
"What happened?" he manages to say before being engulfed in an ape hug that squishes the breath out of him.
Maka joined with Chest Thumper to give Kal a back breaking hug. "Devataon Dvaara! I was so worried.
"I think the lizard caterpillars turned you to stone. You got better though." says Quasit, her mildly joking manner thinly veiling her obvious concern for the druid.
"Yeah you were like a whole statue! But then Selena told us to rub some blood on you and it turned you back. Thanks Selena! I'm sorry I thought it was just a weird witch thing."
He’ll apply it first to the stoned Triaxian guards who were struck when the dracolisks appeared…he’ll do this until he’s called away again…
Maka quickly joined Fin in gathering blood to free as many allies as they could from the stone curse.
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After he and Maka gather/apply the blood to transform the guards within this compound back to flesh, Fin returns to check on Kalchine…
Seeing the Triaxian is moving around much better, Fin breaks into a warm smile, moving to clasp hands with the druid.
”Good to see you back in the flesh, my friend. Sorry I had to cover you in blood but Selena knew that was the quickest way to heal the petrifying effect; all credit is solely due to her for your quick return to us…”
"That explains the smell," Kalchine says as the source of his miraculous healing is revealed.
He takes Quasit's hand, though he doesn't really seem to need it. He pats himself a few times. "Everything seems to be in proper working order."
Once his erstwhile brother seems alright, Chest Thumper feigns indifference in him, wandering away and keeping his back turned to Kalchine.
That leaves him wide open for Maka's rib cracking hug. "Thank you, Selena," he gasps out while the embrace continues.
He shakes Fin's hand before turning his attention back to Maka.
He draws some of the blood off himself, mixes it with the snow and then lightly rubs it over her wounds where it evaporates.
He then touches Quasit, summoning heat deep from underground to fill and heal her.
Seeing Sakitu's grievous wounds, he retrieves the stock wand from its holster and begins to administer its magic to her.
Then turns it to Bulvi.
"That's much better, thanks Kal!" Taking out her magic jug, Maka took a few deep gulps before belching a small fireball. "Does anyone want some hot rice wine?' The fire monk asked as she offered the jug to the others.
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After Kalchine heals his friends, Fin smiles and bows. ”We’d have been lost without your healing skills, my friend. I’m happy you’re still with us…”
Fin nods to Maka, ”Aye, that ring may quench my thirst but it doesn’t still my appreciation for good spirits…or bad spirits, for that matter…especially since it looks like a lull in the assault, at the least…”
He takes the jug from Maka and takes a big hit on the hot rice wine. He winces before it turns into an appreciative grin. ”Woo-hoo, Mistress of Fire! You weren’t kidding when you said hot…makes an Elf feel alive. Thanks, Maka, that’s good stuff,” he says as he takes another quick swig before passing the jug back to her…
Fin turns to Quasit. ”Whaddaya think, Q? Think it’s over now? Should we head back to the command council? They were summoning us back there before the dracolisks’ assault…”
You spend some time saving all the petrified soldiers you can, but before you can get to all of them, the sudden crash of an alarm gong interrupts you. Not long after you can hear the ballista to the north fire again, but this time it is followed shortly by something that has been conspicuously absent throughout the battle thus far--Dragon Legion dragonkin and riders start taking off from the keep, climbing rapidly to meet a similar wave of dragonkin rapidly closing on the walls. Before long a fierce melee has begun in the air, with the defenders below only rarely daring to fire into it lest they hit an ally.
Maka took to the sky in a blast of fire. Hovering in the air, Maka did her best to keep herself between the melee in the sky and the party. Flames rolled from her hands, clearly at the ready to join the fight. Unfortunately the chaos of the battle made it so Maka could not tell friend from foe. "Grrr I can see the fight but I can't tell who is who! Kal, Quasit, what should we do?"
Selena seems rather awkward at receiving thanks, almost like she's not used to it. Still, she continues unpetrifying soldiers, hardly seeming to notice the resumption of battle. Assuming she actually finishes that before being called away, she'll collect all the random containers of blood and consolidates them in the best available containers. She'll recruit a couple random soldiers, the gopher duty ones, if she can, and has them assist and shares how the blood can be used to unpetrify and they need to avoid eye contact should such creatures attack again.
Maka followed Quasit and the others from the air, doing her best to keep the party covered from the aerial battle above.
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Sakitu grins sheepishly at Fin when he mentions bringing down the last dracolisk. "I don't think it was me this time, was it?" She doesn't really get an answer before Fin, and the others are racing around pouring blood on all the stone people. Sakitu holds her stomach and covers her mouth. That is just gross. She sees the stone turn back to flesh and is grateful for that but it still doesn't make it less gross.
A few moments later the gong rings again. She scrambles with the others but also finds that she can't really tell who is the enemy and who is their ally.
"Quasit, that's a great idea. Let's wait in the central location."
She follows.
Chest Thumper paces back and forth as he watches the battle, occasionally hooting softly or reaching a hand up as though to pluck a figure out of the sky.
Kalchine is obviously agitated as well, his ears moving constantly with the dangers, triumphs and defeats he sees. The flicking and jumping almost seems to be some sort of magic conducting the battle like a symphony.
He stands still with his arms crossed, though, reaching out from time to time to pat the frost ape reassuringly and speak softly to him.
Chest Thumper paces back and forth as he watches the battle, occasionally hooting softly or reaching a hand up as though to pluck a figure out of the sky
"I know how the big guy feels. I can't stand just sitting here but I wouldn't be able to tell who I'm blasting if I joined. Grrrr I hate it! It's like when you have to sneeze but your nose won't sneeze for some reason!" Smoke bellowed from the fire monk's nostrils as she vented her frustration.
The battle slowly moves over the walls of Spurhorn until the air above the fortress is a dance of death, dragonkin clashing mostly out of range of the defenders below, not that they dare fire into the chaotic melee for fear of hitting an ally. Here and there one falls, but for the most part they retreat when too wounded to keep fighting, their allies defending the fleeing from their enemies.
Then you see a silver dragonkin dropping from the sky nearby you, one of his wings shredded. Kalchine recognizes him as Shatha, a young dragonkin who has not yet taken a rider. Three dragonkin--a blue, a gold, and a white--dive close behind him, having broken from the melee for a chance to finish off one of their enemies. A few of the defenders on the walls raise crossbows to fire on them, but you suspect that the Drakelander dragonkin will be able to slay Shatha and make their escape before the crossbow bolts could drive them off.
Once Kal pointed out who was friend and who was foe, Maka took off in a jet of flames. Landing in front of Shatha and between the enemy dragonkin, Maka roared a challenge at her foes.
Shata crash-lands on the ground as Maka jets into position to guard him. He's unconscious, but breathing.
Fin's arrows strike home, bringing a roar of anger from the white dragonkin. As one the trio turn and direct their fury upon the archer, diving swiftly and bringing their glaives to bear on him.
Selena drops another obscuring mist to give her companions concealment from the flyers, but she also made cover the fallen one, so everyone might need to get to the fog to benefit from it. She herself teleports off the tower as close as she can get, to avoid using her last flight.