Nurai chuckled at Valda's comment "Hopefully no one expects me to teach them...only get one shot at that and the whole power of heart and love does tend to make things harder to deal with..." said gesturing to herself for a moment with a wry smile as she began to follow Regina, Aurora, and Jennifer until she felt Doctor Solomon's tap on her shoulder.
Turning back, Nurai was clearly a bit surprised and behind her aviator sunglasses her eyes showed her considering things and a range of emotions for probably a moment long enough for it to be a bit awkward. Nurai then nods, pulling the ornately carved wooden wand from her inside jacket pocket, "Not much trouble at all. Running around after creatures from the beyond will naturally result in more than a few hits, I guess we should be thankful my mothers' make these, like I said before - healing's not talent that comes naturally to me, hence this when I'm traveling too far for Mama Sezim or one of her students to patch things up..." As Nurai explained in a casually pleasant tone, she flexed her fingers in a pattern over the wand which caused the carvings to glow and appear to move for a moment.
Once done, she glanced back from the wand to Solomon, "Good to go?" as she takes a step back as if being tugged backwards towards where the others had gone.
The shadow was getting bored and was not as happy at the caretaking role for still mostly unknowns the Avatar.
Heading to the top of the stairs revealed a large room, a set of six beds, each neatly made up around the edges, almost like a small dormitory. Each bed had a small set of drawers and a wardrobe next to them, and each was in their own small area of space, although there were no physical forms of privacy. Large windows in the roof allowed a surprising amount of light in, although much of it was covered by the snow now falling.
Two doors to the West were the only other exits to the room, both shut.
Looking around, Valda murmured, "Huh, servants quarters."
"Yeah, that sounds about right..." Regina muttered, giving the beds an unhappy look. She moved over to the first door to the west and pushed it open, fully intending to see what else was up here since they didn't seem to be going for food after all.
Must she turn everything she does into a tale about her thousand mothers? There is no word in Elvish, Entish or the tongues of men to show how little I care.
"Either that, or acolytes."
Aurora tries the northernmost door, mimicking Nurai's speech. "Oh, it is a door. There were five hundred and forty doors in Valhöll, each wide enough that eight hundred einerjahr could walk out shoulder to shoulder. And as is written in Gylfaginning, they feasted on the meat of Sæhrímnir between sparring and battle, in preparation for Ragnarok, when the wolf comes, while Huginn and Muninn flew out to see the world and tell Odhinn of what happens in the realms, in time for the first meal."
She pets Reason on the head.
"But this is likely just a simple door." she finishes, plainly, trying the handle.
"Yes, I'm feeling back to my usual self, thank you." Solomon nodded to Nurai even as he turned his gaze towards the upstairs. Inside, he noted the beds and arrangements with some curiosity. He stretched out his hand and began opening drawers from a distance, inspecting the contents as well as he could from his central position in the room. One half caution, one half laziness kept him in place as Aurora tried the door. "Probably a bathroom or such." He remarked casually.
Valda raised an eyebrow at Auoura's obvious frustration but doesn't comment.
Regina opened up the doorway to what seems to have been a small bedroom. The furniture had been forced to the sides of the room, and stacked where needed, to create enough space for the glowing circle carved into the wood. Energy crackles along the carved wood occasionally, and a smell of ozone wafts out with the stale air.
Auoura opens the door to...mold. Black and green mold cover the room, the door, and have eaten through whatever was in the room. A vaguely humanoid figure, hands clutched to their chest, lay slumped in the north corner. If there was anything else, however, there was no time to notice it - some lashed out from the mold.
A figure of strange, brownish mold moves from the mold, tentacles weaving behind it with a whish.
The tentacle lashed out once more, shockingly fast, a crack snapping through the air...and a ball of spores flew over Auoura's head, towards Doctor Solomon.
As things got interesting, Regina darted over from where she'd been to get behind Aurora, eyeing the... stuff... there. "Duck left!" she said, a moment before a torrent of fire streamed out of her fingertips. Mixed in with the flames was raw goo, designed to catch and slow the figure.
for
"Back out into the room so we can ALL TEAR IT TO SHREDS," Jennifer shouts, her voice changing halfway through her sentence as her demon comes to bear.
"Lovely to hear." she said to Solomon with a smile, before putting the dryadic wand away and following him upstairs. Between the delay caused by healing the doctor and being distracted by a tugging shadow, Nurai only caught parts of the tail end of Aurora talking. Before the summoner could say anything, the doors were open and all thoughts of a wolf coming or first meals were knocked from her mind, as interesting as it all had sounded, the horrible ozone smell and a mold person with quite long reaching tentacles had a way of clearing ones' thoughts of much other than the colourful Kazakh swearing that came out of Nurai for a moment.
The shadow rose from the ground, pulling close to the summoner until the two were fully synthesized. They looked around and followed Jennifer's plan by backing up. They couldn't really attack much now anyways so instead tried to figure out more about the magic they were fighting, hoping to at least figure out how much they had on their hands...
Hit in the face by the tentacle, Aurora's innate toughness protects her from the blow, and she ducks to avoid the stream of fire. With a wordless growl, the girl steps back, bracing Geidihr and leaving room for Jennifer.
Solomon finds himself once again on the receiving end of malicious cold. He steps back and forces his muscles to work, unlocking the case. Three stakes clatter to the ground, but one hovers defiantly over the floor. The doctor then takes a moment to examine his subject before beginning his dissection.
,
Regina's blasted had a limited effect against the strange creature as it rolled forward - dodging Auoura's spear thrust as well. Solomon's knife, however, slit the mold with a clean, surgical precision, parting plant matter. The gash oozed lightly, forming a hard layer over the damage.
The barely humanoid figure reared back, mold twinkling in the light as it moved, and lashed out. Both arm analogs tried to smash Auoura and Regina, and the tentacle hurled a clump of spores at Nurai.
Turn 2 - Party
When Aurora stepped back, Jennifer stepped in, hissing and slobbering, her demon pleased at the prospect of more action so soon.
Turn 1
Turn 2
Jennifer glances over into the room behind the mold creature. Is it safe for anyone who wants to move there, or is there more threat from that direction?
The heavy blow snapped Regina's head around with an unpleasant cracking noise, right before it twisted back into place and a glimmer of etherfire flickered by her eyes.
"Okay, **** you." Regina said, a little less ladylike than normal as she raised one hand and pointed at the beast. An instant later, acid erupted into the air at point-blank range, infused with all the force Regina could muster as she tried to melt the plant away and put it out of her misery. It wasn't like she was going to die from it, but that had hurt... and she didn't like pain.
for
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"Delightful..." they muttered, their face for a moment a snarl at the clump that been flung their way, feeling the hit roll off of the shadow skin.
Shaking that off, they watched the information coming off of Nurai's Detect Magic spell. "It looks like the mold is being animated by a magical core of something that's using it this way...maybe if that something can be found..." they pondered aloud, not feeling like they had much useful information for the others yet but knowing there was a core and that the mold was being used might help, possibly, maybe... With so many people, Nurai didn't want to risk getting in the way or harming with her few distance spell so she continued her magical investigation while they remaining on the defensive, claws in hand flexed for a moment in eagerness..
Solomon continued directing his stake at the thing, swinging it around behind in case someone with a real weapon ended up on the other side of it. But he directed the bulk of his focus to creating a plane of force to protect from the frosty spores being hurled past the others.
,
Doctor Solomon's barrier cut the creature off from continuing to attack at range, and his knife cut deep. Regina and Jenifer's attacks hit as well, and the mold is discolored and oozing in several places. Worrying, perhaps, is the fact that the wounds are clearly knitting together again.
If the damage inflicted worried it, it showed no concern about that. Instead, it lashed out at the three surrounding it.
From the other room a creature sauntered out. It is an amorphous black shape like its formed from jet black water, featureless but mostly humanoid - in that it had a head, two arms and two legs. As It walks it is dripping something behind it that looks akin to tar of some kind.
Raising it's hand it pauses and a wave of liquid darkness pours over Solomon, Nurai and Valda.
Regina was battered again, and despite her own healing, she looked like she could only take - at most - one more hit without getting some rest. That didn't seem to be slowing her down, though... or rather, she didn't look like she was even paying attention to her injuries as she pumped electricity into its body (mostly to try and find a way to shut down its healing, since acid apparently hadn't worked). Raw ether had been pumped into her blast again, too, just to try and slow its attacks.
for
The sudden appearance of the new foe distracted Aurora, causing her to miss an opening. Her resilience was shrugging off each of the monster's attacks, but the same could not be said of her companions. "Focus on the other!" she growled, before dropping the spear to grab the mold humanoid. She pulled in what she hoped would be an articular lever to send it sprawling on the ground, punctuating the attack with a punch to its midsection.
The mold's tentacle slams into Jennifer's ribs, leaving a streak of frost along her jacket. The slobbering demon woman doesn't register any pain whatsoever, but she can't let the blow go unresponded, despite Aurora's instructions.
Both claws find their mark, but instead of her usual slashing attak, her fingernails pierce the mold creature giving her purchase to hold on for a moment, and she tries to suck the life force out of it.
Solomon manages to duck the worst of the blast and keep his stake in the air. He slowly retreats even as he brings around his stake and analyses the new target for weaknesses.
,
"Transmutation mold and...what the... Nurai could feel the shadow wince around her as it absorbed the attack, the sound of low growl filling her ears. Usually, Nurai would want to study the creatures and area more, take her time and come up with a plan...but together...together they were different and right now wanted to follow Aurora's plan, focus on the inky creature and get them dealt with now.
They moved quickly over, one large claw launching to hit...whatever they were...
Shifting back, Nurai said, voice low, "Do you, Can you explain yourself?" as she took a moment's breath, looking the creature up and down, flexing the claws on their hands and feet as they prepared to attack again if the ink creature continued.
Regina's blast damages the mold, leaving a smoking hole through it's torso.
Auoura's attack seems to catch the creature off guard. Very few things are willing to touch a mobile pile of mold, after all. She rams it to ground and punches it in the hole previously made, feeling something heavy and metallic within the mass.
And the Jennifer digs into the creature with long claws, draining the life from it. The mold around her claws turns brown, then grey, crumbling to dust as the Bloodrager drained the life energy from it.
But the mold was not dead, or at least not dead enough. The long tentacle shot out against the wall, spores pouring onto the surface in waves.
Nurai's claw sliced through the creature. It was hard to tell how much of an effect it had, however, as the creature's form offered very little resistance to the blow. It moves out of the way of Solomon's dagger with fluid grace.
The black liquid creature considered Nurai's for a moment. "Yes." The voice was...strange, artificial, the black creature's whole body rippling like a pool of water to create the sound.
Then it swung its fists, moving with terrifying speed and purpose.
If it wasn't for the Shadow bound to Nurai, the blows would have likely killed her. As it was the hideous blows were staved off, but both the Shadow and Nurai were weakened by the assault.
Nurai's eyes tried to focus on the creature, to find anything that could help them deal with it, but instead found her attention pulled to Valda for a moment at the corner of her eye...something just looked off but it was the wrong moment as it turned out...
Nurai gasped in pain, words failing her as she transfered herself into the shadow to sustain them through their fused link during the end of the first assault and took the full of the second slam. They were her responsibility, she had to...
They shifted back closer to the door and with blood from her hands, Nurai healed her shadow...
before shouting, unable to keep the edged pain as she worked to recompose them after the two attacks, "Can someone... please check on Valda... please, she's not moving...looks bound...".
Oh Gods, I got it in my mouth.
Feeling the metallic item under her hand, Aurora raises, her hands grasping the air. Her spear vanishes from the ground to reform in her hands a moment before being thrust forcefully towards the core.
"Shadows can hurt me bad" she growls. "Doc, check on Valda."
Solomon risks a glance back at Valda as he lifts another stake from the ground. He speaks into her mind, "Miss Simmons, are you alright?"
He then sends the stakes stabbing towards the water monster with a wave of his hand.
,
,
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Feeling infused with the new energy, Jennifer looks at the mold creature on the ground. She also heard the metallic clang from Aurora's last attack. "IS THAT WHAT'S KEEPING YOU ALIVE? THAT'S SO ANNOYING!" She attacks it again.
Noting that the mold was nearly dead (and that the others were likely to finish it off), Regina turned her attention to the liquid beast. A bolt of lightning shot out of her fingertips as she pointed at the beast, and it would... hopefully be enough to hit? At the very least, she had a vague memory of liquid creatures not liking electricity very much, but maybe that was the video games talking. She had to start somewhere, though, and a good jolt made as much sense as anything else.
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The strange metallic object in the mold cracked under the brutal combined assault, the mossy form collapsing into a grumbling pile of dust. The tendril to the wall also turned to dust. All that was left was a metallic tablet of some kind, a glowing script flickering on the golden plate.
Valda's voice replied in Doctor Solomon's head. Mostly. Trapped by something. And that wave of whatever was nasty.
The strange creature of water dodged Regina's lightning bolt, but Solomon's daggers both struck, creating ripples.
The creature made an odd noise, like the dregs of oil down a pipe, and threw its hand out once more.
The creature walked back out the room. In fact, it walked in reverse, mimicking it's earlier entrance as it returned to the previous room, leaving only sodden black footsteps in its wake.
Jennifer howled in pain at the unexpected attack. She storms across the room to the door that the water creature left through, pausing only a moment to see if there is anything to attack.
Nurai was confused by the inky creature backwards departure...and the mold creature turning to dust with a glowy metal looking thing that might be the core she had detected...and Valda's not moving...there were a few things not making sense yet to the summoner.
Seeing Jennifer follow the creature to the room, Nurai took a further moment to calm herself inside her shadow eidolon before she shifted forward to follow behind. It did seem the biggest threat with little to go on the other two issue. She spent a few seconds to look at the footsteps and area around the room the creature and came from and walked back into...
The wave of deadly energy strikes Aurora like a wallop, a dark echo of Niflheim, the realm of those who died without honor, the polar opposite of her native Valhalla. Dark blood drips from a corner of her mouth, and she has to grasp her spear to avoid falling, as she lets out a pained howl. The faint images of Asgard start slowly healing her as she grabs the Valknut pendant to channel warriors' respite to those around her.
Solomon follows from a distance and tries to peer around the enormous Jennifer to see what became of the water creature.
"Valda is awake but paralyzed. I can't help her."
There is, indeed, no sign of the figure. The magic circle dims as Jennifer enters, but there is no sign of the creature itself.
Valda's eyes widened as Regina went down, and then rolled her eyes upwards towards the ceiling.
Still reeling from the blow, Aurora moved towards Regina, reaching again for the ancestral memory of Asgardian mead healing the wounds of the sparring warriors.
"Munu ósánir akrar vaxa; bǫls mun alls batna mun Baldr koma."
Seeing no immediate threat in the room, Jennifer lets her bloodrage die. Breathing heavily, she cautiously steps into the room.
Solomon let his stakes drop and hurried over to Valda. "Miss Simmons, can you hear me?" He said aloud, listening to her mind. He spared a glance to Regina, who seemed to be recovering fine on her own. That one was a real magic-user, and Solomon found it a bit unsettling.
"So, a mold creature giving off transmutation magic, a vile inky thing radiating strong conjuration..., and whatever is binding Valda..." Nurai listed the pieces she saw though didn't feel like they were coming together yet as she turned to see if she could detect what magic was holding her friend...
"Conjuration means summoning? How about breaking the circle then? It works in the books. Or did it set the creatures free? Can't remember."
"Summoning circles are used to summon and contain something. Whatever it was that came out wasn't contained, so it might not be what we think it is."
Jennifer examines the circle more closely.
A few moments after Aurora's second channel, Regina simply sat up, dozens of crystalline needles forming in the air around her hands. Her skin had been badly damaged by the blast of negative energy, and in places had been blown away entirely, but it was already patching up in a way that looked fresh and new. "Oh, is it over?" she asked, sounding a little disappointed as she let the ether subside. She held up the same hand and watched as a finger bent and twisted back into place, then regrew its nail. She waited a few more seconds, then pushed up to her feet and stretched, glancing down at her damaged outfit. "Bah. I liked these." she said, evidently not troubled by what would have been a close brush with death for almost anyone else. "Anyways, this is why nobody should hesitate to stand behind me if something is dangerous." she added a moment later.
Jennifer finds the room in a heavy state of disarray, as though someone rapidly searched and threw the furniture to one side. A second, neater pile of debris formed from the smaller items - pencils, papers, and broken bits - has been swept to the edge to make room for the ring.
Looking at the circle, it becomes clear that although its magic is Conjuration, it is more closely linked to the Teleportation sub-school. It more likely acts as a way from A to B and back. Of course, where location A is located is another matter entirely...
"Someone tell Valda that her house is a lot bigger than she thought."
"She can hear us." Solomon points out before someone lets something embarrassing slip.
He focuses on the ceiling and slowly floats up towards the crest, producing a flashlight with which to examine it.
"Good to know. We've got evocation and enchantment coming from that up there. " Nurai said, pointing to the mark near where Solomon was now floating. "They really liked their overlapping magics..."