They were moving so fast... all of the... no everyone was moving so fast or... damn.
Bulvi kept tracking the creature and painfully slowly pulled the trigger once more.
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There's a brief moment of elation as Sakitu feels her magic take hold of the drake. But only a second later her excitement fades. The monster should be an immobile lump hurling through the air but it was still moving. Still flapping its leathery wings and turning in the air. Sakitu shakes her head. That doesn't make any sense. But no time to figure it out now. She focuses on that same drake one more time and throws another barrage of magical energy at it.
Maka continued to dodge the claws and teeth of the drakes while she unleased a flurry of fiery blows.
Selena missed catching the beast, so she caught her fall with flight and launched three bolts of dark ice after it. Then she moved down into the cover of trees.
After all of your attacks, only two drakes remain alive.
One drake continues trying to attack Maka.
The other goes for Fin.
Maka continued her aerial assault against the drakes.
Selena waits for a good moment and unleashes three more icy bolts of darkness, popping out of treetops straight for one of the beasts.
Though threatening at first, Kalchine suspects that these creatures are on their last legs...or wings as the case may be. As fire, arrows, bullets and spells fall on them like rain, he draws another lightning bolt through one, not willing to spend more resources on them that will undoubtedly be needed for more perilous threats later.
The two remaining drakes tumble from the air, slain by your relentless barrage of attacks.
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"Well. That was amusing." says Quasit as she stows her bow and looks around at the fallen drake carcasses. She then takes a quick look into her quiver and notices that she's used up about half of her arrows, and frowns and breathes out heavily through her nose before scanning about for arrows that missed their targets and fell back the ground. Like looking for half a dozen needles in a haystack, and no doubt some of them up on the ledges above.
"That cave was probably their lair. I wonder if these guys were guarding something in there. Must be some reason Baba Yaga led us here." she says to those around her, then puts her hands to her mouth and calls out to Maka who is still soaring above like an avenging angel.
"Hey Maka! Can you see anything on those ledges or inside that cave? And is there anything on top of the cliffs all the way up?" she hollers.
Selena will help Maka look, given that she is already flying anyway. ”I’ll check the top.” and she flies to the top, not going directly in front of any caves, cracks, etc.
Bulvi reacted a bit slower to the end of combat compared to the others, He kept his pistol drawn and sllloooowwwwly scanned the skies in case something tried to attack their scouting group.
"Is anyone hurt?" Kalchine asks, pulling out two now well used wands before helping Quasit look for lost arrows.
If it becomes necessary to climb up to the ledge, he will cling to Chest Thumper's neck like an infant ape. An act that highly amuses his brother who cradles and rocks him like a baby before letting him scramble away.
"You know I hate when you do that!" he exclaims.
"Hey Maka! Can you see anything on those ledges or inside that cave? And is there anything on top of the cliffs all the way up?" she hollers.
"Hold on, I'll check!" Maka yelled back before moving to scout the area.
A skeletal arm laying on the ground near the cave still has a steel shield strapped to it, in spite of the rest of the body being nowhere to be seen. The cave is oddly dark inside, far darker than it should be, impenetrably so even to unusual senses.
The doll gives you a definite sense you should enter the cave.
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"Is anyone hurt?" Kalchine asks
Quasit plumps out her bottom lip and shows the mostly healed scrape left on her arm where the drake injured her. "Owie. Kiss and make it better?" she says in a toddler voice.
Once the wound is healed, she smiles warmly. "Thanks sweetie." she says, then gives him a gentle but noisy smooch on the tip of Kalchine's fuzzy nose.
Learning that the trail definitely leads up to the cave, Quasit makes her way to the rope of climbing and follows Fin up to the dark entrance.
"Yoink." she says, picking up the shield and depositing it into the bag of holding.
"This cave is weird, I can't see in the dark like normal." Maka called to the others as they made their way up. Without waiting for a response, Maka formed a small ball of fire and shot it into the darkness.
"I'll perform a more thorough examination of your body for other places that need to feel better later," Kalchine answers Quasit after bestowing both the psychological and magical healing she requests. His ears give two sharp asymmetrical flicks, the equivalent of a wink.
"It is probably magical darkness," he comments when his own ability to see in the dark is also stymied by the cave.
He summons up and focuses the light from outside into a small ball.
"Is anyone hurt?" Kalchine asks, pulling out two now well used wands before helping Quasit look for lost arrows.
If it becomes necessary to climb up to the ledge, he will cling to Chest Thumper's neck like an infant ape. An act that highly amuses his brother who cradles and rocks him like a baby before letting him scramble away.
"You know I hate when you do that!" he exclaims.
[dice=Cure Light Wounds Quasit]1d8 + 1
[dice=Cure Light Wounds Fin]1d8 + 1
[dice=Cure Moderate Wounds Bulvi]2d8 + 5
[dice=Cure Moderate Wounds Kalchine]2d8 + 5
[dice=Cure Moderate Wounds Bulvi]2d8 + 5
[dice=Cure Moderate Wounds Kalchine]2d8 + 5
[dice=Cure Light Wounds Bulvi]1d8 + 1
Bulvi waves off Kal when he starts coming at him with the wand. "I'll be alright, no immediate threats. Leave it to the ring and save the charges for someone else. Two or three minutes and I wont have a scratch one me. We might easily get that much peace while exploring but if you hear an alarm go up feel free to give me a blast."
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"I'll perform a more thorough examination of your body for other places that need to feel better later," Kalchine answers Quasit after bestowing both the psychological and magical healing she requests. His ears give two sharp asymmetrical flicks, the equivalent of a wink.
Quasit giggles, delighted by the banter-game, but doesn't pursue it for fear of making the others retch.
"It is probably magical darkness," he comments when his own ability to see in the dark is also stymied by the cave.
He summons up and focuses the light from outside into a small ball.
Quasit looks into the dark cave and knits her brow before speaking.
"Actually... you know what this reminds me of? Back in the Hut, remember how we would sometimes travel through the fireplaces to reach some of the rooms? They were pitch dark like this. And this whole place is kinda like the Hut -- a big private demiplane. This might just be a gateway to a particular corner where we find ... what was her name, Bregamyr? Or something?" she says, then tosses a stone into the dark to see what happens to it.
The fire and the stone both vanish into the darkness without a sound, and all lights fail to brighten it.
The doll radiates a sense of impatience.
Maka concentrated for a moment before Cluckers Jr. appeared in a puff of sparks. "Okay Cluckers, go into the cave and let me know what you see."
The hut clucked in understanding before it waddled into the darkness.
Selena still took a quick glance over the top of the cliff just make sure nothing was there waiting to drop down after them, but also to get an idea of the limits of where the cave could not fit, or possible alternative exits to aim for if needed.
Then she drops down and uses a stick to ensure the magical darkness is not a sphere of annihilation, and finding it isn’t (unless it is of course), she walks through beside the little chicken thing of Maka’s.
Winter gives Maka a quizzical look as they pass her.
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Quasit watches the Mini-Murder Hut and Selena go marching off into the dark with genuine curiosity.
"So Maka, do you have some sort of telepathic link with that thing? Can it speak to you from inside there? The chicken baby I mean, not Selena. Or the creepy fox." she asks as she checks her gear, anticipating that they'd be following soon.
“Sort of.” Maka replied. “He can’t really talk. It’s more like emotions and pictures, but I can still understand him.”
Chest Thumper hoots in confused disdain as members of the group walk into the unknown within the darkness.
"Well, we have to figure it out somehow," Kalchine explains, as he prepares himself to charge in should there be any sign of things going wrong.
Well, no, that's not quite accurate. The connection still exists, but it's as if it's at an incredible distance, stretching the bond almost to the breaking point. Too thin, certainly, to get any kind of feeling or image across it.
A half-dozen surly human women dressed in coarse robes stand around an obviously inhuman man, glowering at you. The man stands twice the height of his attendants, with jet-black skin and small horns jutting from his forehead.
"Ah, servants of Baba Yaga at last. I have been awaiting you. Did you have to scorch my tent, however?" He waves at a burnt hole opposite where you entered.
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After getting a quick glance around their new surroundings, Fin nods and bows. ”Forgive me, m’lord; while we have traveled in the Hut for a while, we are still getting acclimated to traveling within it. We had thought this but a dark cave and one of my companions shot some fire forward, hoping to provide some light. We will pay for any repairs to your tent,” the Elf says as he tries to get a read on the creature…
“Well, I’m not getting a picture of any decapitations.” Maka said grimly, “but I’m not getting much of anything at all. It’s like Cluckers is super far away. I think the cave might be some kind of portal.”
Kalchine shakes his head in disapproval as Fin simply strides into the blackness. It's a bad idea by itself but even a worse idea to do it without checking in if it follows any plan Quasit might have come up with.
It works out, though and Quasit follows. Unwilling to let her go alone and unwilling to remain behind alone, he takes a few seconds to convince Chest Thumper to join him, then follows her into the darkness.
Maka hurried after Quasit. On the other side, as she noticed the strangers waiting there, she offered a quick bow in greeting.
“Hello.” she said clearly. “I’m Maka Na’Shota of the Dragon’s Eye Monastery.”
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As Quasit emerges into the tent, arms held out in front of herself to feel for walls, she is still taking in the the scene when she is being introduced to a giant man with horns. And his harem, apparently. Classy. At first Quasit is encouraged to see a bunch of sorta normal human women laying around the place, but quickly sizes up their surly demeanors as being obviously unhelpful.
”Um……hi.” she says finally. ”And you are?”