Yuria would nod but whisper This is slightly off the trail, I will stay between the two so we do not lose it during this detour.
Yuria will stand as close to the trail as she can while using her healing skills to try to determine the shifting figures' wounds
From this distance you are unable to learn anything of significance.
"Ahem. Do you need any help?" Ludwig first tries to communicate with them, making a step forward.
Felicia takes a short step to Siegschwert's flank, keeping a wary eye on the figure to their left. She allow's Ludwig's words to ring out a moment before adding "We mean no harm - this is a dangerous place." Lower she mutters, "Be careful, we shouldn't press to far forward and be cut from support."
Ludwig and Felicia finally address the figures on behalf of the group. It is a message of peace and cooperation that hangs silently in the air without a response. The figures merely stand there and continue to stare absently at the group. Then, suddenly, without any provocation they lunge at the survivors!
One of the figures immediately falls on Siegschwert and batters at him with nothing more than bare fists! You notice, though, that its wild, untamed swings disguise tremendous strength and are thankful that your armor saves you from both blows. Or so you think. Unexpectedly the figure begins coughing violently before vomiting a cloud of greenish gas onto you.
The canopy above rustles menacingly as the figures in the clearing attack the party.
The violent rustling of the trees gives Pengaal pause for thought, but seeing the group be attacked overrode other concerns. This could be investigated later.
Using a buckled root as a springboard he leaps at one of the wounded folk, moving in a high arc to slam his knees into its chest before rebounding back and flaring his machetes like snake fangs.
The stranger that Pengaal attacks spasms and then falls to the ground, unmoving. Two of his three blows had connected with the creature, proving too much for its constitution.
In his new position Pengaal now stands just outside of the canopy, though it continues to rustle menacingly. Too late, perhaps, when the rest of the party are able to notice it. One of the vines shoots out from the leaves towards Pengaal. It quickly coils around his throat, tearing him from his feet and dragging him back towards the tree before lifting him into the air. There Pengaal hangs, legs kicking just off the ground as he is slowly strangled.
Across the clearing another of the Stranger rushes Felicia and attacks her from behind. Without her shield to protect her he is able to easily bash her across the back, knocking the wind out of her.
Felicia whirls around, bringing her shield to bear against the creature that dares to stand before her. "We come in open arms and this is our repayment!? She screams as she smashes her shield across the figure.
Having quickly assessed the situation, Ludwig decides not to engage with the injured men, but to attack the thing that grabbed Pengaal.
Ludwig dismisses his scythe, summoning a fiery longbow instead. He immediately shoots an arrow into the tree, hoping the shot would distract it from Pengaal.
Yuria places her palms together as the others fight, giving a silent prayer as she separates them to reveal two crackling gold spheres of lightning that now orbit about her .
As she does this she calls out to Sir Siegschwert "Should you be near hollowing, Sir Siegschwert, call on me for aid! Remember that you have my blessing!"
I will vanquish these hollows with light and spear. I will clear this dark abyssal woods step by step as the Sun and my Souls guide me.
After doing this, Yuria will move to be near Ludwig so that her souls can give the archer support if need be.
Felicia whirls around and lands a solid blow against the stranger, almost killing it outright. Only because her second blow misses are they spared death.
Meanwhile Siegschwert brings his own sword to bare against the creature that had attacked him, absolutely devestating it with his tremendous blow. In the end it is left twitching and writhing on the ground.
Ludwig fires his bow into the canopy and hits...something. He's fairly confident at least, the vine strangling Pengaal writhes wildly in response to the attack.
Yuria summons a series of bolts to guard Ludwig.
The survivors stand amidst two of their dead foes with a third barely hanging on. However, the woods will not be defeated so easily. From the treeline to the south-west there comes a tremendous crashing. Emerging into the clearing is a huge, twisted tree that is walking along on blackened roots, as if it has been terribly burned. In the center of the the trunk is a long, jagged scar.
Kicking violently with wide eyes, Pengaal drops one of his machetes and grabs onto the noose. With the leverage, he hacks wildly at the vine in between hacking breaths.
Pengaal misses the vine wildly. The vine appears to be bothered by it though, and suddenly releases him.
Felicias assailant attacks her once more and, just like with Siegschwert, attempts to breathe a toxic cloud on her.
Yuria moves between the strong fighters surround her, yearning after Pengaal as he stood alone in the distance, waving him over in the hopes that soon she would be able to attempt to kill the one keeping him away from the rest.
As she does so, she raises a hand in the air, and golden swords emblazon the area with even more crackling gold light as she yells out"The Sun brings its fury today! Feel, my friends, and use this Sacred Oath!"
Felicia holds her breath as the cloud dissipates.
"Rest now. She mutters coolly as she raises her shield.
Ludwig steps aside, and two arrows fly towards the new enemy.
"Next time we decide to help someone, let's do that from a safe distance, shall we?"
Felicia finishes bludgeoning her foe to death, leaving only now the newly arrived tree creature and whatever is in the canopy that attacked Pengaal to contend with.
One of Ludwigs arrows misses his target entirely while the other hits squarely, though without much penetration. Only when the arrow flares up with the enchanted fire, causing the bark of the tree to burn terribly, is there a noticeable effect.
Siegschwert also shows no hesitation in attacking and leaps forward with his sword at the ready. Quickly branches lash out to meet him, giving him a solid wallop across the chest for his trouble. In return Siegschwert delivers an absolutely tremendous swing, tearing a massive chunk out of the trunk in a spray of sap and splintered wood. Unfortunately his immense strength works against him and he is unable to recover enough to connect his second blow.
The ponderously slow tree creature manages to weather all the punishment leveled against it. Using large, scything branches it retaliates against its attackers. Twice more branches batter Siegschwert, one very nearly buckling his breastplate, while Felicia is only narrowly sparred a third blow.
Pengaal lands on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. He grabs for his fallen machete then springs away from the noose-tree; his body uncoiling like a spring to land next to the enraged treant before hacking at one of its outstretched branches.
I'm using my move action to pick up my weapon and my swift to use Leaping Dragon, landing where I moved my icon. It's a 25ft jump, I pass the acrobatics check on a 1.
A vine similar to the one that had grabbed Pengaal reaches out and grabs one of the strangers corpses, dragging it into the canopy.
Yuria draws lightning spears into her hands as if they were drawn from an imaginary quiver with a smile "Cleanse these bastards of their curse!"
She will use 1 spell point to cast a 3d6 lightning spear after all 3 remaining foes on the field, in order of 2, then 4, then 3.
A move action will be spent for the Deep Speaker in order to maintain her Sacred Oath and +3 bonus to all damage rolls.
Pengaal's leap sends him spinning safely through the treant's branches.
I'm assuming for now that that's safe.
Ludwig dismisses his bow, and circling around Felicia and Yuria, places himself close enough to Siegschwert and Pengaal. Despite the rush and lack of talisman in his hand, the effect turns out exactly as he wanted it, and warm light fills the surroundings.
As Felicia finishes beating her opponent she whirls to face the menacing tree. She charges bravely raising her shield valiantly.
Pengaal jumps and twists through the air, avoiding wandering strikes from both the creature in the canopy and the gigantic tree at the same time. He lands and puts a small slash into the trunk causing the branches to curl in writhe in pain.
Yuria hurriedly casts her lightning spears. The first misses its rather large target while the remaining two strike the corpses of the strangers confirming that they are indeed dead.
Ludwig bravely stands up amidst his new comrades and, in a tremendous display of willpower and fortitude, manages to actually start drawing upon magical energy without a medium! Unfortunately such a display of power draws the trees attention and it immediately makes to crush him before he can finish. His armor saves him from the worst of the blow but in the heat of the moment he loses the spell.
Just as before, only one of Siegschwerts attacks manages to connect and again it takes with it a huge chunk of tree flesh.
With the tree busy attacking Ludwig, Felicia sees an opportunity to charge in without fear of retaliation. Despite this she is unable to land her blow.
Now severely wounded and with three quite fearsome foes attacking it directly, the tree begins to falter. In an apparent panic it lashes out with branches against the survivors. It only weakly attacks Siegschwert, fearing further retaliation from the knight. The blow is easily avoided. Felicia catches a blow across her face that leaves her ears ringing and her vision blurry. It is Pengaal who receives the worst treatment. A sharp branch strikes across his abdomen, very nearly disemboweling him, before wrapping itself around his leg, picking him up, and viciously slamming him back into the ground. Pengaal is left on the verge of unconsciousness by the attack. It's a testament to his constitution that he even survived at all.
Across the clearing the canopy that had just drawn in the corpse begins to drip gore. It continues to rustle ominously but with no one within reach that seems to be all it can do.
With a surge strength and vindictive fury Siegschwert unleashes yet another blow with his sword. This time he finally manages to fell the tree, cleaving the entire trunk in twain like a mighty woodsman. Bark tears and twists as the two halves fall away from each other. Sap and splinters are sent flying across the clearing. The trees branches writhe wildly while letting out a horrid screech. Finally they stop moving and the creature dies, and with it silence returns to the Abyss.
Before anyone has a chance to do something further the survivors all feel a collective sense of warmth come across them. It is difficult to describe fully but it could be said that their essences have somehow been empowered in the wake of the carnage.
Yuria embraces the feeling, finally recognizing it as something she had not earned in decades of millenia.
So, dear woods, dear deep... You will reward us, too? She grinned for a moment before remembering Pengaal's injury and huried over to him My dear new friend, so brave to scout ahead the rest of the group. Come here to me, I am experienced in the restoration of champion souls.
Yuria places her hands upon Pengaal's if he accepts, and lets her powers from the Deep and the Sun flow from her and into him.
Yuria then turns to Siegschwert with yet another golden skinned smile and respectful nod And for you, yet another Champion, here- Yuria puts her hands together while humming lightly to herself, and the brave warrior feels his health and vigor return to him in full.
Finally, she would beckon Felicia and Ludwig to her Don't think I've forgotten you! You two will also feel much better. Please, each of you, I insist you take a hand and feel my Sun! It is quite wonderful.
Yuria giggled outloud as she channeled her energy through both of them- she had not been this happy and useful for as long as she could remember. To those looking at her it would almost be as if somehow in this deep Abyssal Woods perhaps a shimmering light, no matter how metaphorical, was returning to it.
Pengaal lies groaning on the floor, the whiplash setting his spine to aching. He can only grunt at Yuria as the healing light speeds through his veins. After a minute or so, he's able to catch his breath and stand.
"Thank you, sun-kissed. But where is the vine that first grabbed me, and what is this feeling? I can feel the bodies on the river around me, but I left that place long ago."
"Thank you for you comfort." Felicia says as the healing warmth washes over her for a brief moment.
Turning first to the gore spattered space just through the clearing and then back to the others "Do we just leave miserable creatures to their own, or do we go see what is to be seen?"
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The silent pillar known as Siegschwert starts cleaning his blade while surveying the clear looking for possible threats.
His mind is adrift, and so he is caught unprepared by Yuria and her divine gift. He feels rejuvenated... more alive that he has felt since the world ended...
Extremely thankful Siegschwert walks up to Yuria and kneels as to look her in her eyes. Despite his nautral awkwardness, the northerner tries to speak as sweet as possible... even if his voice usually sounds like rolling stones and thunder. "You are kind. You bring light to us in this darkest hour. I will be condemned before allowing any harm come to you."
The Librarian Knight then grabs his sword and concentrates, standing watch and regaining his focus as the rest receive their healing.
As Felicia asks and Siegschwert looks about, Yuria gently points back to the trail that, forgetfully, only she can see.
I may have some time remaining to see where this land takes us in order to find the Witches... But after seeing our current display, so long as Siegschwert so kindly protects me, I have no fear of changing course.
Perhaps we should vote on it? Yuria tossed the suggestion out lightly as she gazed back after her shimmering ghost trail to the witches, wondering how long it would last.
"What was that thing?.." muttered Ludwig to himself.
As Yuria touches him, he feels warmth spread all over his body. It brought calm and lightness.
"Thank you for care." he nods deeply.
"We should probably take the path while we can see it." speaks Ludwig.
You are unable to see any type of creature in the canopy.
"What was that thing?.." muttered Ludwig to himself.
As Yuria touches him, he feels warmth spread all over his body. It brought calm and lightness.
"Thank you for care." he nods deeply."We should probably take the path while we can see it." speaks Ludwig.
"Agreed. But, first..." Pengaal moves closer to the tree that grabbed him, shifting his feet and pulling his elbows in to protect his core. He peers upwards, looking for the missing body. Where did it go?
You cannot see anything in the canopy.
Stopping suddenly, Pengaal realizes the corpse he killed is missing. He sucks in a quick breath, before turning and moving off. Live and let live.
"Let's move forward. There are sure to be many more creatures in this wood...best to keep our strength.
Yuria would then cautiously lead the others down the path, as far as it could, while they did what it appeared they did best- kill things well, and see much much better than she could.
So my fate appears to be the same... I am to guide champions only this time I no longer guard the gate... It seems I am with them as well... am I a Champion now, too? She found herself gawking up into the sky of the Deep in the false hope that there was, or ever would be, a Sun to look at, before snapping back into the present and keeping her eyes on the trail.
The group only travels a short while before something flutters across the trail in front of them before disappearing into the trees again. Simultaneously, the wind around them picks up slightly.
There is no sky to be seen.