Round 3
Seeking to end the encounter, Zak unleashes a swarm of arrows at Seishuku.
Two of Zak's arrows strike Seishuku, the second of which plunges straight into the man's left eye. He topples to the ground, his body shuddering in his death throes.
The crowd is subdued - mostly of how one-sided in favor of the Warriors it ended up being, not to mention the swift death that Seishuku received. Still, the crowd cheers for your success, and the monks carry the ninja's body off to the side.
"Let the second of the semifinal matches begin!", the Emissary cries, and both Gomwai and the elven samurai take the field. It's almost as one-sided - Gomwai leaps upon the samurai before his katana can clear its saya, and forces the other man to submit. The crowd again is somewhat disappointed at the speed in which the final fights are going, and even from the fight stage you can hear some jeers from the stands. "I paid good money for these seats, and I came to see incredible fights, not routs!"
The Emissary stands. "The finals have been set! Either Gomwai or the Warriors of the Five Elements will be this year's Ruby Phoenix Champion! Let us honor both with our thanks for their accomplishments so far!" The crowd cheers, but their enthusiasm is subdued, and it's clear the Emissary notices this.
"To keep our finalists in the competitive spirit, let us have them each give a demonstration of their skills! Warriors, if you will take the field?" The crowd's excitement grows at the sudden announcement of this exhibition.
Poog grunts in displeasure as he makes his way back into the middle of the arena.
Simon raises a fist, calling for attention before the demonstration can begin.
"Lord Emissary!" he shouts. "The brine dragon left a considerable chunk of treasure behind! I request that what remains be used to pay for Seishuku's restoration to life, should he wish to return from his eternal reward! He is a skilled Ninja, with whom we had no true quarrel!"
Asha is stricken by Seishuku's death, and she joins Simon's call for resurrection on the ninja's behalf. During Gomwai's brief battle, she slips out to find Kaditula and check in on him and his protectors before returning to the arena just in time to hear the Emissary ask for demonstrations from her and her comrades to entertain the crowd; despite her worries and concern for her brother, she can't help smiling a little and readying her glaive in preparation for a martial display.
The Emissary nods to Simon and Asha. "A fitting use of the Scourge of Xielan's hoard. Very well - if he wishes to return, then a part of Huyanwo's treasure will be used to bring Seishuku back. Your compassion is noted, Warriors."
Asha returns to the alcove where Chung Po and Ganyavesha are watching over her brother. She hears soft laughter as she approaches, and both former contestants are in very good spirits when she enters. "Asha!", Ganyavesha says excitedly. "I heard you were successful this morning - congratulations! I hope you make it all the way!"
Kaditula, however, bears a disgusted look upon his face. "And I'm pretty sure that if you two weren't busy looking after me, you'd have made it all the way already as well." He glances to Asha. "Seriously, these two need to get a room. One that preferably doesn't have me in it."
Despite Kadi's bitterness, Asha smiles with genuine warmth at his words. She makes a small gesture of blessing over the two. "The Bloom of the Rose lighten your hearts," she says, then pokes Kaditula's elbow. "You should be more appreciative of love," she says, smiling. "That's how you and I got here, after all. And why we're still alive now."
Zarina was smiling for the first time since the tourney began. Finally, she was closing in on her goal, holding the trophy and erasing the memories of her father being cheated those many years ago.
Once the five of you stand in the fight stage once again, the Emissary stands. "Let this final exhibition of the Warriors begin! Release their foe!" The monks wheel a large enclosed wagon onto the opposite end of the field, and from within the wooden enclosure you hear a loud angry voice. "Release me!", it shouts in furious Tien. "Or I will kill and devour everyone I see!" The monks release the catch and immediately flee their end of the stage as a massive two-headed giant crashes out of the wagon. "Ah! Supper!", the head on the right bellows with a malicious smile upon its face. It reaches back into the wagon and withdraws a giant orc double axe. "Come, you will be the first upon my carving table!"
As the giant enters the field of battle, you happen to notice some motion from the top of the ziggurat. Kiang Zhen has leaned in to watch the battle, something she has not done in any of the prior bouts or exhibitions. Something about this fight has drawn her attention.
The giant roars as Poog meets the giant's gaze eye to eye to eye. He squints, and sweat breaks out on the goblin's forehead. "It am have strong will!", Poog grunts. "But Poog am stronger!"
The giant bellows and shakes a meaty fist at the floating goblin. "I save you for last, runt!", it shouts, and charges towards Zarina, slashing at her with the double axe.
"Blood on the sand!", the giant's right head shouts triumphantly. "I'll dine on flesh tonight!" The left head, meanwhile, gibbers and mutters under its breath.
Zarina grins, brandishes her claws and bites and slashes at the giant.
Bite
Damage plus
fire
Claw One
Damage plus
fire
Claw Two
Damage plus
fire
Asha glares at the two-headed giant, and her grip tightens on her glaive. "This one," she mutters, "could use a reminder of the strength of righteousness." She murmurs a prayer to the Rose and moves forward, looping around behind the giant to flank with Zarina. She raises her glaive, and the blade gleams with an unusual, yellow and pink aura.
Zarina tears away at the giant's flesh, but she finds it strangely resilient to her talons and teeth. Still, the giant howls in pain as his skin blackens and boils where her flaming touch melts his skin away.
Simon narrows his eyes when he spots Kiang Zhen and briefly nods to her. A cynic might construe an element of mocking in the gesture, but it is such a brief one. Surely it is merely a perfunctory politeness to an official...?
The old man erupts into a series of cartwheels, which ends quite close to the ettin. And it ends in an arc of steel and crackling electricity, as Simon stabs at the beast with Grovnaidel, the magical rapier's blade wreathed in arcs of lightning!
Right after the attack, Simon launches into a series of backflips, moving him out of the beast's range if at all possible.
Simon darts past the giant's defenses, and stabs at the creature with Grovnaidel. Unfortunately, his attack fails to penetrate the beast's hide, and it clatters off the creature's armor. It rears up to strike at the old man, but when it brings down the axe, he is already gone - a safe distance away from the giant's double axe.
"Tricksy bastard, aren't you, double-header?" Simon calls, his voice taunting. "Fret not, though; if there is feasting to be done in the Boneyard, you shall most likely be seated at Pharasma's table before nightfall! Or else you shall be reclining upon it, bedded down in lettuce and spuds, with an apple jammed into each mouth!"
.
Asha circles the giant, and attacks it with her glaive. She too fails to connect, though both heads turn to her with concern at the multi-hued glow about her weapon.
Zak launches into the air and takes aim on the monster. "I'm not sure which head is uglier, both they'll both be sprouting arrows soon!"
Flying 30 feet up, out of the creature's reach, Poog smirks. "You am almost at your last, so you am saving me forever!"
He claws at the creature through the air, brief streaks of blood suddenly appearing on its flesh momentarily in a matching pattern.
Zak's shot strikes the giant in the side, and the right head glares at him with unbridled fury. "Kill you all!", the giant bellows, and swings his axe in a flurry of strikes against Asha and Zarina.
The first of the giant's strikes opens up Asha's defenses. The second is the follow through. The third misses, but the fourth clips her in the side. She avoids the others by the grace of Shelyn herself, as she feels the Rose watching over her against this beast. "Why won't you fall, girlchild?!?", the giant bellows, a snarl upon its lips.
"" Simon shouts, and he points a single finger at the monstrous beast. "Asha, get clear! NOW!" A tiny bead of flame flies from Simon's finger up to a point somewhere above the monster's two heads -- and then expands into a roaring sea of flame!
"My turn, ettin!"
Claw
Damage plus
fire
Claw
Damage plus
fire
Bite
Damage plus
fire
Seeing Asha take a massive beating, Zak wastes no time in delivering deadly shots to the giant.
Poog growls as he sees the blood spatter.
"No! You am no messing up my chance here!" he yells and claws again, thin streaks of blood once more trailing down the ettin's skin.
He begins rhyming in goblin as he remains floating in the air.
Simon's fireball explodes over the giant, and its upper torso are engulfed in flames. When the fire disappears, the creature appears to be completely unharmed. Zak's arrows strike the giant in the chest, and at last, the creature falls.
When Simon's spell fails to hurt the giant, you realize you're not fighting an ettin after all, but an atamahuta oni, a corrupted kami that takes commonly takes ettin form.
The crowd cheers as you defeat the giant, and the Emissary rises. "A close battle!", he says. "But you have vanquished your foe just as you have every other that has come before you. Please, take a moment to rest and recover, Warriors. Gomwai, enter the fight stage for your exhibition match!" He steps onto the sand, and the monks bring out a creature with the body of a tiger, the head of a fanged monkey, and a viper for a tail. Their battle takes longer than the semifinal match, as Gomwai fights a defensive battle at first, learning how the creature attacks, then striking suddenly to pierce its defenses. The creature tries to evade the hobgoblin, but he is able to bring it down in just over a minute of fighting.
"I have several weak restorative potions left," Simon says as the Warriors regroup. "You are welcome to them, if you wish." The old man's face is creased with worry as he looks at Asha, and shakes his head. "No matter what the Emissary said, that was too close for comfort..."
"Here, Asha, drink these." Zak hands her two clear vials of blue tinted liquid.
Asha is too staggered by the ettin's fury to even react at first. Before she can even move again, Zak's arrows have dispatched the foe, and she finds she cannot even muster up any disappointment over that fact. The first thing she focuses on is actually Zarina's hurts, and she waves away the potions Zak and Simon offer. "Let me... let me do this first," she says, pulling her holy symbol out with within her robes and murmuring a short prayer to Shelyn, a prayer she then repeats twice more. With each repetition of the mantra, a burst of rose- and yellow-colored light washes over the group, soothing the hurts she and Zarina have suffered.
Still injured but looking much better, she then turns back to Zak and Simon. "You are generous of heart, my friends, but I don't know if it's wise to use something so perishable if we have other options. Poog? Are you willing to use your spells, or do you think it's better to save those and use the potions?"
Poog sighs deeply as he lands, pulling out his wand.
"This am taking care if your hurts," he says sourly. "Poog am needing his spells in case more bad things am happening."
"Many thanks, Asha. I feel like I could take on another giant now!"
"Merciful heavens forfend," Simon mutters. "That beastly Oni would probably set us up with the worst possible kind she could lay her hands on."
Asha busies herself for a few moments with the wand, but in the midst of the healing, she glances up at Simon with a half-frown. "I can't help agreeing, my friend. And I can't help thinking at least one of us was supposed to die in that fight." She glances toward the stands, where Kiang Zhen sits, theoretically watching Gomwai's match.
"It am not so tough. It am not even touching Poog."
The goblin looks back at the arena, clearly impatient for the tournament to be over so he can claim his prize.
"Of course," Simon says to Asha, shrugging. "Regardless whether Kian Zheng is allied with the criminals, as you seem to think, she is Oni. She delights in death and suffering."
Poog grunts.
"What am happening now? Am we fighting Gomwai and getting Poog's prize?"
Shortly after Poog asks his question, the Emissary stands. "Warriors, one last test lies between you and the final round. Stand forth in the fight stage." As you enter, the monks move stone pillars into the four corners of the stage. A cloth has been draped over the top of each of them.
Once the setup has been complete, he continues. "Your bodies have been tested throughout these last few days, Warriors, there is no doubt of this! And your hearts have been proven to all here as well - the bands that grace the forearms of many of the other contestants is proof of your natures. Your minds, however, have not been so tested. Upon each of the pillars that are now in the stage is carved a line of a riddle. Read all four, place them in order, and solve the riddle. Simplicity itself! You have two minutes to solve the riddle, Warriors...starting NOW!" As soon as he shouts that word, the scarlet light of the force walls come into being, and the crowd cheers as you move into action.
Poog moves to the closest pillar and looks at the line carved there.
This better not be some explosive runes or something...
Zarina goes to the clue on the southeast tablet.
Zak moves to the one in the northwest.