"I'll be right behind you. I'm still pretty hurt and could use more healing from Daisy. Here, drink this, Daisy.. Ary says as she pulls out yet another of their precious and depleting potions, and holds it to the kitsune's muzzle.
Round 12!
Ehren and Ary are up!
Ehren is up!
In between two prayers, Hinagiku looks at Ary and the potion, and Ary and the potion again, and once more, her brow slightly furrowed. Though, once understand dawns on her, she quickly drinks down the potion from Ary's hand. It was awkward, but she understood the necessity of the situation. Then, with a faint smile to the woman, she returns to her prayers.
Once she is done, she finally turns back to Ary.
"My wand is almost empty... I could use it and empty it, but I fear we might need it if something goes wrong." she says, looking at Ary for a definitive answer.
"I'm good. Well, as good as we can afford. Ready when you are.". Ary responds.
"I think I'm good to go too. I'm in much better shape now, so don't worry about the last couple of scratches on me."
Ehren expends his healing wand's final charge, reducing the implement to a glorified stick. After putting away the wand he rolls his shoulders and sighs with relief, no longer riddled with bloody holes. In spite of his griffon's demise, he was feeling considerably more optimistic than before. As everyone starts to declare their intent to reenter the fray, the druid nods to himself.
"All right. Let's get started."
He takes a single step before abruptly vanishing - or to be more accurate - shrinking down in size. Left in his place is a bird smaller than any other he has assumed the form of before, small enough to sit in the palm of one's hand. The thrush gains in altitude, only to abruptly land on the giantess Ary's shoulder. He starts to preen nonchalantly, looking not at all out of place. Nope, not at all.
Round 13!
Ary abruptly shoots up seven feet in height, her head and shoulders poking up above the thick fog. This catches the immediate attention of the nabasu, who pauses for a moment, then starts to fly straight towards her...
Ary is up!
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Ary waves meekly up at the Nabasu. "I'm definitely not another illusion!" she calls earnestly. "Please don't use your best magic on me!"
Round 14!
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul reaches out to touch Ary's bulky form. As he does, her location blurs and moves, making her location difficult to discern.
Isilme shrugs Xanderghul's crossbow off her back and brings it around, allowing her flute to vanish into thin air. Digging up a quarrel, she loads it into place and then channels arcane energy into the crossbow to prepare to fire upon the Nabasu.
Hinagiku is up!
Hearing Ary's aggravating call to the nabasu, Hinagiku closes her eyes and focuses on her prayer, hoping to be done before the oni enters within her healing range.
Variska detaches the leather strap from her shield and drops it and her sword to the ground. She draws Ary's bow and prepares to aim...
Ary is up!
Ehren is up!
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Ehren looks up at the approaching nabasu and then to Ary, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Too-weet?"
The nabasu dives down at Ary, aiming for her neck. The creature sinks its teeth into her flesh, draining her blood and reinvigorating itself...
Ehren is up!
As the Nabasu closes with her, Ary brings Radiance around in a wide arc, slashing skyward towards the shadow in her periphery. The good news was that the Nabasu had lured itself into melee. The downside was that that had hurt a ridiculous amount. She winces as she waits to see if Isilme has any helpful magic to unleash before she launches into her counterattack.
While the nabasu bites into Ary, Ehren flaps his wings emphatically and hops up and down, seemingly in a panic. When he comes to a stop however, his tiny, beady eyes flash, evoking a blast of searing radiance.
With a deft touch, Ary whirls Radiance into the Nabasu. Moments later, Ehren lets loose a blast of light. It envelops the nabasu completely, searing off parts of its flesh.
Valaria is up!
Valaria draws her last few cold iron daggers and launches them at the nabasu, hoping to at least deal some damage before she runs out of ranged options.
With a well-practiced throw, Valaria's first knife flies past the nabasu's protections. However her second knife goes flying harmlessly past - otherwise she would have hit her friends.
Round 15!
Xanderghul is up!
Xanderghul reaches out at the nabasu, smirking at its foolishness in engaging in melee combat. Reaching out with the tendrils of his magic, he probes the creature's bones before clenching his fist, pulling the creature painfully inwards, cracking and breaking its bones.
The nabasu is enveloped in Xanderghul's magic, its bones shattering and creaking under the might of his spell.
Isilme aims the crossbow at the Nabasu, preparing to let the bolt she'd loaded fly at the creature the moment there is an opening in the melee.
"And so the crusader and the daemon danced about each other, a dance that had been repeated a thousand times before, and would again. A dance of light and shadow, of impending triumph and looming defeat. The subtle waltz influenced by their mutual desires to protect and destroy, preserve and defile..."
Just then Ary moves out of the way briefly, leaving a clear shot at the Nabasu, which Isilme takes immediately, the bolt shimmering with her own enchantment and blazing with holy energy. Golden light streaking at the daemon, Isilme continues, "And were the dance merely those two, who could know the outcome? But those who give to preserve and protect need not go through the motions of the dance alone, for their actions inspire others to join."
Ary launches a fierce counter-attack, her first strike going wide as a result of not looking directly at her foe. The first strike that lands sends glowing golden motes into the worst of Ary's wounds causing them to heal somewhat in mere moments. Several strokes pin the Nabasu in before she slams it bodily with her shield, choosing a glancing sideways blow against the Nabasu that digs the cold iron spikes into its exposed flesh, weapons glowing gold as they make contact with her foe's flesh.
The nabasu shrieks, an open-mouthed expression of terror and rage on its hideous goat-face. It beats its wings heavily, barely able to stay aloft with the many micro-fractures inflicted upon it, but it manages to fly just fast enough to evade Ary's final swing. Once some space is left between it and the giantess, it vanishes into thin air.
At this moment, Hinagiku's prayer finally ends. The glowing, wispy blue tendrils of her channeling spell vanish, and her teammates feel invigorated.
Variska lowers her bow, frowning. "Well, okay."
Ehren is up!
Once the nabasu vanishes, Ehren takes off from Ary's shoulder, back in the direction of the mist-covered battlefield. For lack of speech he lets out a bit of off-tune birdsong as he ascends to an elevation that will keep him above the blanket of fog.
With the nabasu gone, and her prayers over. Hinagiku lets got of her holy symbol and gives a quick look at each of her companions she can see through the fog, nodding at each as she noticed a great deal of their wounds to be closed.
"I cannot invoke more power from the Master of masters... I am ready to join back the battle. " she simply says to the others.
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Ary swings a hair too slow to hit the nabasu when it flies away, but due to Xanderghul's spell, it cannot move very far. It pauses for an instant, hoping to cast a spell. Ary notices this and focuses, Radiance glowing and swirling with golden motes. Just as the nabasu begins to flicker out of existence, Ary vanishes into thin air and reappears next to it. She swings, her blade producing a short, high-pitched, twitter before striking the nabasu heavily. The demon loses concentration.
Ehren is up!
Ehren remains where he is on Ary's shoulder, having no means of finishing off the nabasu that would not be overkill. After wasting so many spells, he had to save something for the tower.
Being short on throwing knives and not wanting to lose her starknives, Val hangs back and waits until the party is ready to go into battle with demons that aren't flying.
Hoping that Isilme is able to take the creature down with his evil outsider bane crossbow, Xanderghul nonetheless summons the Good power which has always served him quite well against demons. Drawing on the opposite of his own basic essence, light, he unleashes a burst of holy power which engulfs the nabasu.
Xanderghul fails to summon enough magical energy to affect the nabasu at all, the magic beading off of its body like droplets of rain hitting rubber.
Round 16!
Isilme is up!
Isilme prepares the crossbow again, but her relative unfamiliarity with the weapon leaves it improperly prepared to fire when she releases the bolt.
Isilme's bolt launches into the air, flying harmlessly past the nabasu.
Ary is up!
Ary grins when she manages to catch the Nabasu offguard and interrupts its escape, but the grin fades when no one else manages to land a blow on it. She huffs, before crossing the intervening space and bringing her weapons to bear once more against the demon. She couldn't just let it flee and proceed to prey upon the weak until it got back to health - at worst - or be healed by its allies to return shortly to become a thorn in their sides once more.
Ary thrusts Radiance from below into the demon as it feebly tries to escape - the enormous golden blade nearly slicing the demon in two. The creature falls from the sky to the ground in a crumpled heap, vanishing into the fog.
Their work here complete, the heroes elect to head back into the fray. They move past the gates and into the fog... their inability to actually see anything makes it impossible for them to actually judge how the combat is going, though they step over many wikkawak bodies, and occasionally the odd polar bear... and not a single demonic one.
Pushing onward, they find themselves surrounded by schir and the wikkawaks fighting them. It is impossible to make any judgments about how well the wikkawaks or the demons or doing, or even to isolate other targets to fight (who knows if Ser Jorsal is here or not?), but the heroes have decided to do what they can to help out the wikkawaks, and this is the mess they have found them in. The heroes one again find themselves engaged with dozens and dozens and dozens of demonic forces.
Well, except for Ehren, who flies above the fog. He doesn't suffer any harm but... from his vantage in the sky he is completely unable to see his friends, or the enemies they are facing, enveloped in the fog as they are.
It is difficult to hear much above the din of the screaming wikkawaks, and the endless deluge of demonic insults in their very minds... but to the north, the heroes hear the sound of.... beating hooves? Many hooves. And wikkawaks screaming in agony.
Meanwhile, the dwarven watchtower stands tall to the east, jutting proudly over the thick fog. The heroes could make it there, if they made a push.
Do I have any choice?
----
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"Predictably, the wikkawaks are getting crushed. Forgive me while I cover up my grief."
"Yeah, they need our help if they're going to survive here. We already took out one of the lieutenants while they distracted the main fighters. We could have them withdraw to the edges of the fog and then ambush any demons that pour out... but they're not equipped to fight demons, for the most part. I'm surprised they did so well yesterday. The fog is hurting them a lot more than I'd expected."