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Hinagiku had felt the power of Irori slowly fill the prism. However, it had been completely overwhelmed by what Ehren had done. The power he had poured into it had submerged the one of her own god. It would seem her faith was not strong enough, but she knew that the flow of ब्रह्मा through her body would be close to that of the young sarkorian. So, Hinagiku sprinted into the room, decided to catch up with Isilme and save her some time by using her own energy to fuel the prism.
As she runs through the room, Hinagiku takes in the sight, the demons, the destruction, Markus being in danger. But she knows that she cannot do anything, that only the ones who use magic could help him right now. So, she focuses on the prism, and touches it while it is still in Isilme's hand.
As she feels some of the power within her leave and fully charge the prism, Hinagiku turns toward Ary for directions.
"Ary, do I attack the large demon, the small one?"
"I... " Ary looks to the battle going on above, and the one below, "If you can get to Markus, help him. If you engage the larger demon... you might be throwing your life away. Not even to the point of 'Sacrifice Freely Given'. You'll at best slow it down a little, at worst slow us down." she says, shaking her head. "Though you're also the most likely to hurt it, thanks to my lady's blessing. Still.. you'll likely only weaken it, at best."
The Shemhazian demon roars and grabs hold of the tower in two enormous claws, shaking the building and showering all within in rubble...
Nurah nods at Hinagiku as she fully charges the last prism. "Looks like you guys have that handled," she responds to Ary. "I'm not much of an adventurer, but I'll do what I can..."
Nurah begins to dance, weaving her magic into her movements and bolstering her allies' spirits, if only a little. She grins impishly and gestures at the wrecker demon in front of them - "Hey! Hey you! Why dontcha take a chunk out of her nice shiny sword, hmmm? You know you want to..."
The wrecker demon laughs, eyes glinting with malign intelligence. "I won't fall for your trick, halfling," he snarls. "I cannot destroy Yaniel's sword...but I can make sure no one calls that aasimar pretty...ever again..."
Ehren is up.
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"The prisms are ready," Ehren observes, eyeing the final sacred prism, as well as the ones in his hand. He glances up toward the control panel, seeing that Markus is in trouble. "I'll try to give Markus some room to work."
The druid draws a glass bead from his belt pouch and in a cupped hand, holds it up toward the platform where Markus and Annabelle are. He mutters a brief incantation, summoning forth the power of elemental water, and then turns his hand over, as though pouring something out.
Up on the control platform, a stream of pure water manifests from out of nowhere, pouring onto the ground in front of the wrecker demon. In seconds the deluge fills some invisible space, soon becoming a large, churning orb of water. Flicking his fingers, Ehren directs it to engulf the demon, aiming to drag it away from Markus.
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Ary raises faith overhead, almost on instinct, deflecting the worst of the rocks from overhead... though still taking the brunt of much of their weight. The angle definitely helped. That didn't overly help Isilme, however, when the normally lithe woman was pelted by horizontally-falling rocks. "Sorry!" Ary calls, as she lowers faith back down and into a readied position to defend from more martially inclined threats.
The roiling sphere engulfs the wrecker demon attacking Markus, and is then flicked off the platform with an idle jerk of Ehren's wrist all the way down to the ground... it rolls over onto the other demon, who manages to squirm out of the way of the rolling ball of water just in time.
The demon struggles to escape the orb of water to no avail. On the bright side, it washes the glitterdust out of his eyes, and he can see again.
Annabelle is up!
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Annabelle takes off from the platform, swooshing down over her allies. She knows that Ehren can fly on his own, so she grabs Hinagiku and Isilme as she passes over them, hoping that she can hold their weight and deposit them up onto the platform.
She flies up back towards the platform as fast as she can.
He takes a step back and calls upon the greatest healing powers he can muster, sending the sliver of positive energy out to heal the knight.
Annabelle grabs Hinagiku and Isilme with one arm apiece - the young woman supernaturally strong after her transformation.
Valaria is up!
Val hurries into the room and looks at the demons once. "F*ck us," she mutters, seeing the wrecker demons along with the towering, murderous colossus of a demon. She pulls one of her cold iron daggers and sends it flying at the nearest demon's chest. "Over here you ugly rat-faced thug!"
Valaria flings her dagger at the abrikandilu - at first it looks like a solid hit, but it ends up ricocheting off from a metal stud in the demon's leather armor... the demon snarls and turns to watch Annabelle grab hold of Isilme and Hinagiku. It clambers over to the wall and climbs up, barely breaching the top as Annabelle returns.
Having maneuvered the device to where it's supposed to be and being out-of-danger from the wrecker demon, Markus calls out to Ehren - "Thanks, Ehren!" before he focuses inward on his ley-line power. He knows that Ser Albright can't fight that demon forever, so he tries his best to heal the paladin while he has a spare moment.
He takes a step back and calls upon the greatest healing powers he can muster, sending the sliver of positive energy out to heal the knight.
Ser Albright doesn't look back - he can't afford to right now, any lapse in his concentration could prove deadly, but he feels his wounds seal closed. He grins. "Thanks! But hurry! I'm not going to stand a chance against this thing much longer!"
Round 3
Isilme is up!
Hinagiku was about to hand her prism to Ehren when she caught sight of Annabelle flying toward them. At first slightly confused, she understands her intent once they make eye contact. Dropping her longspear, she lifts one hand up for the vampire to catch it, and with her other hand she tighten her grasp on the prism.
Hinagiku doesn't let the dizziness from the flight slow her down, once she is on the platform, she quickly points toward an empty socket on the control board.
"Markus, the prism, there? Annabelle, can you keep the small oni at bay?" she asks, all the while eyeing the large oni which is attacking ser Albright.
"I can try!" calls Annabelle, hand on the hilt of her longsword. "Yeah, that's where the prism goes! Slot them right in there so Markus can fire the weapon!"
Isilme rides up with Annabelle, hanging on to the now fully charged prism. When she lands she takes stock of the control panel quickly, trying to spot where the prisms would go. When Annabelle interjects pointing out the location to her and Hinagiku she moves to slot the prism in quickly.
Isilme moves over to the console to insert a prism but the little wrecker demon clambers over the controls to swing at her exposed back. His swift shot leaves her clothes stained with blood.
Ary is up!
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Ary watches the situation around her... despite everything being as utterly terrible as it is, everything seems well-in-hand. Trust in her fellows. She has enough spare time to gauge everything that is going on. Giant sadist demon above, that she can't reach. Abrikandilu above that she can't reach... and Abrikandilu ahead, which she can't reach.
Everything was going right, but entirely out of her hands. By all rights, she should stay at the door - but the risk of things getting out of hand were simply too great, if she did so.
If nothing else, she could ensure that the rodent would wind up where it needed to be. Then, almost assuredly, she could get to the door and out. And if she couldn't, well... better one than all.
She nods once, and then sighs. She moves clockwise around the central mechanism to reach the other side of the floating bubble of water, watching the rat spin around as she stood for just a moment. Finally, she raises Radiance once more, waving it. "Shiiiiny."
Hinagiku hadn't been expecting one of the little onis to clamber so quickly on the platform. And now, it was there, blocking the commands, attacking Isilme. Annabelle might have been able to keep it at bay, but Hinagiku was not certain she could kill it in time. Resignation crept into her mind as she handed over the prism she was holding to Markus and took a step forward toward the Abrikandilu. There, for a second, she stares at the oni while focusing on the inner seed of good residing within her. As she does, her body, and leather suit, slowly start to shimmer as if coated by some kind of golden light. As soon as it is done, she swiftly attacks the oni, kicking its patella and punching its face.
"Ary..." Ehren protests weakly, though he knows better than to ask her to leave the chamber. All that remained was for him to reach the platform - it would not take much longer to activate the weapon after that. Without a protective suit, she was taking a monumental risk by staying.
She is not the only one, he reminds himself, glancing up at Ser Albright. That he could hold off such a huge demon on his own was truly a testament to his power... but even he could not keep it up forever. And in just moments, Hrut and his fellow Empyreal Guardian would be in a similar predicament.
He glances over at Valaria, an unspoken question on his face. Would she get out of there, at least?
"Nurah, could you hold onto these for a moment?" he asks the halfling, holding out the prisms while looking to the platform. Hinagiku seemed to have the other wrecker demon handled. "I need to change form to get up there, but I might not have enough time to change back..."
Hinagiku kicks the abrikandilu harshly in the patella, then punches it in the snout - the creature whirls, disoriented.
Meanwhile, the shemhazian demon snarls - weaving negative energy around its furled claws. Ser Albright seizes the opportunity to cut deeply into its flesh, while Hrut and Jamas finally scale the stairs and deliver blows of their own - but it is not enough. Negative energy courses out from Ser Albright, arcing out like lightning into Markus, Hinagiku, and Isilme. But Markus is svetocher and all the magic manages to do is seal up his gaping wound from the wrecker demon's pick - but the elven aasimar beside him is not so lucky, nearly incapacitated as enormous bleeding wounds open up all over her body.
Nurah winces, pausing her dance only for a moment to grab hold of Ehren's prisms while she waits for him to transform.
"Okay. Hurry!"
Any ability that allows you to ignore or bypass damage reduction instead allows you to ignore 5 points of damage reduction, plus 1 point of damage reduction per mythic rank or tier you possess. This applies to mythic abilities like the fleet charge champion path feature as well as non-mythic effects like a paladin’s smite evil.
Ehren is up!
The second the prisms leave his grasp, Ehren concentrates, shutting out the titanic battle going on just a stone's throw away. The bulk of his mass vanishes and the rest assumes a familiar wispy humanoid form. Without another word the air elemental takes the sacred prisms right back out of Nurah's hands before shooting towards the control platform at a steady incline, flying as quickly as he can manage.
His thin wispy arms hold out the prisms as he gasps out in his airy voice, "Hurry!"
The submerged abrikandilu gurgles at Ary as it fails to escape the current - it swings it pick wildly, finally managing to tear into the crusader Captain with tooth and claw.
Annabelle is up!
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Annabelle draws her longsword with... not exactly a flash, given the black colour of the cold iron blade, but definitely a flourish. With rage in her heart and determination in her eyes, she grips the blade in two hands and brings it down heavily on the wrecker demon at the console.
"Valaria, Ary, leaving the room right now would be very smart!"
Annabelle's swing ends with a clash of steel as the wrecker demon's enormous pick darts up to intercept her longsword. A mouthful of disgusting teeth leers at her as the creature gives her a mocking grin beneath the locked weapons.
Valaria is up!
Val draws her next set of cold iron knives, sending them hurtling through the air at the demon above her on the console. "Can't let them damage the weapon or we're screwed."
Methodical in her approach, Valaria carefully gauges the overhead demon's defenses, flinging three daggers at the little demon. Unfortunately, he is very far away, and two miss - though one flies straight into its back. The champion focuses, blocking out all else but her prey.
The wrecker demon teeters, grasping its head in its claws - the room is still spinning from Hinagiku's powerful blow.
Markus takes the orb out of Hinagiku's hands and takes a step back towards the console, slotting in the prism in one of the octagonal slots. "Hey, once Ehren slots in the prisms he's got, Isilme, we can turn the dials and activate it! It's fully charged, right?" he calls. "You'd better be ready, don't pass out on me!"
"Valaria, Ary, leaving the room right now would be very smart!"
Round 4!
Isilme is up!
Isilme takes the prisms from Ehren, taking advantage of the Abrikandilu's inability to react, and loads them into the console. She then turns to the others, and speaks "Hinagiku, you need to get to the dial to my right and prepare to turn it, wait for Annabelle to call out 'go'!"
Ary grimaces as she's told to retreat.. but does as she's told. She withdraws back around the sphere of water, and hopes that the others are able to get out. "Hrut! You guys need to get out... nowish!" she loops back around the way she'd come... more careful of the rat's reach this time. "If you feel you need to, do not wait for me to get out. That's an order!" she calls up to the ones operating the machine.
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"No heroic sacrifices today!" Val shouts back. "They can handle the final activation without us getting disintegrated in the process. You need to fall back Captain."
Isilme carefully inserts the last two prisms into their slots. The machine whirs to life - the weapon near the ceiling begins to spin slowly...
"You're ready?!" Hrut calls back.
"All right men, on the count of three..." shouts Ser Holton Albright.
Hinagiku is up!
With almost unearthly speed, Hinagiku somersaults backward, passing over the small cloud which has found its way behind her, and landing next to the switch. Giving it a quick look, she finds the dial mentioned by Isilme and lays her hand on it.
"On your mark." she says, looking toward Annabelle. As she does, she focuses her mind, emptying it so as to avoid showing her concern for Annabelle's safely. Who knew what the weapon could do to the young vampire.
The demon on the console regains its senses. It watches Hinagiku head towards the dial and bolts forward, its pick striking true into Hinagiku's side.
The shemhazian demon roars, ripping savagely into the half-elf in front of him, killing him in only a few savage swipes.
"Jamas!" cry Hrut and Nurah near-simultaneously.
"There's no time! We need to go!" Ser Holton grabs Hrut under his arms and flies out of the room. The demon swipes at the men as they retreat.
Ehren is up!
With everyone on the platform, in the blink of an eye Ehren shifts back into his human shape - there was no telling whether the protective suit would work while he was transformed. He clenches his jaw when he sees the massive demon slay the Empyreal Guardian. They were out of time. With nothing else to do but hold off the wrecker demon, the druid draws his sword and steps forward.
"Is it ready?" he asks Markus as calmly as he can manage, his eyes on the chamber door, hoping that everyone would make it out.
The abrikandilu inside of the floating sphere of water struggles free at last, then rushes to climb up the wall - its angry little face popping up from behind the console close to Hinagiku...
Annabelle ignores the demons closing in. She grips the dial across from her senpai and calls down, "Valaria! Get outta the room!"
Valaria is up!
"Don't die," Val shouts back before rushing out of the room. She stops at the entrance, ready to slam the door shut the instant everyone without one of the special suits is clear.
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"Val. Close the door. If you don't, they all die." Ary said, voice stern. She had faith in her fellows, but she also had faith in her studies. There was no wardstone to prepare them for the onslaught of a dozen babaus here. The only intervention was that which they hoped to create. The angels intervened by human will, not by divine. It was by divine will that they did not intervene. Ary felt the fear roiling in her stomach, fighting with the liquid courage that she had distilled to everyone in the previous battles. 'Last to leave it.' she thought. "Please." she finished, fear breaking into her voice.
"This is not a debate Ary! Get out here now and I will!"
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Val waits as long as she can, but if Ary refuses to come, she slams the door shut with tear filled eyes just before the device activates. "You stupid... stubborn... idiot!"
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"Thank you." she says, softly, as the outer door begins to close. The moment it has, she calls to the top of the room. "Do it."
If she has time, she'll get through the inner door and close it behind her... but those above clearly didn't have the luxury of waiting.
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Annabelle and Hinagiku turn the opposing dials at the same time – and the weapon twists into position and begins to hum. The enormous shemhazian demon roars and starts to pull out great chunks of the wall in its rush to get to the weapon, but its too late. Time seems to slow down as everything goes slow and still – suddenly - an enormous glowing rune appears in mid air around the astrolabe - بسالة.
Blue-white energy explodes out from the device on top of the tower, and crashes over everything - straight through the walls - though the room manages to contain most of the blast. There is a horrible screeching noise as something small explodes from over head of Valaria - while in the room the enormous shemhazian demon and both wrecker demons are completely eradicated from existence.
Ary feels the energy wash over her and she is overwhelmed - she can't see, hear, or even move for the light. But despite the power, despite all odds - she is unharmed. Rather, she feels at peace. She can feel the power inside of her resonate with the spell, as if she were soaking inside of a warm bath. And as soon as it happened, it is over - her senses returning.
Nurah cheers. "Oh thank the goddess! We did it! You did it!"
Meanwhile, in the buffer room, Ser Jorsal slumps to the ground breathing heavily. He grins, wearily. "You all did a great job," he smiles at Valaria. "We couldn't have done that without your team."
Hrut, though, looks distant - their victory had not come without a cost. "We need to go outside and see how the others are doing," he says, urgently.
Combat ends