Despite the wasp's unexpected blast of lightning, Isilme manages to avoid taking the brunt of it through the luck she'd been blessed with by the Song of Spheres.
Tumbling away from the Babau adjacent to her, Isilme prepares herself to make use of the last bit of her most potent magic. Rounding the corner out of the way from the demon's attack, she begins tracing a rune in the air before her. forms in glowing letters before her, and as she finishes its power washes over all of them, bolstering their spirits.
"Trapped in here with you is precisely where we mean to be. Are you not the least bit curious how we bypassed all your defenses on the way here? How we took down Arastrax at Icerift? Nurah has been quite helpful... And did you believe that the shade that attacked you was one of Moxabuul's? All your troops are occupied, your forces outside in disarray and cut off, you and your cronies are here, and the remainder are trying to open a rift. And certainly you think 'The Champions of Kenabres are trapped here", but how many were there? Six? But there are not six of us, there are seven. I wonder who you have watching the sword? We are not here to win, Vhane, we are merely the bait while we wait for it to be placed." Isilme's bluff mixes with her magic and innate talent for performance, sowing seeds of doubt and confusion amongst Staunton and his minions.
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Certain that he understands the point behind Isilme's bluff and bravado, Xanderghul opens his mouth and begins motormouthing without thinking. "The celestial is right, my poor deformed friend," he says. "You can just pack up your pointy stick and your disgusting armor made from bugs now and head right on over to the leper colony, because you're gonna be nothing but a red jelly on the walls when..." he pauses, having realized that he's forgotten the name of the celestial that he had intended to name-drop.
"When..." He looks back and forth, frantically searching for a witty way to finish off the threat. Coming up with nothing, he lamely ends it, "When that, you know, when the angel that comes out of the flag shows up."
Seeing that Valaria was doing better, Irabeth takes a step back, and turns and places her free hand on Hinagiku's shoulder. Seeing what she was doing, the babau stabs past Valaria and into Irabeth's exposed back. The resolute paladin doesn't even flinch... as she channels Iomedae's holy power, the new wound simply seals over, healed anew.
Staunton Vhane's eyes narrow from atop his whirring mount. He barely seems to register Isilme's magics, but the babau next to Joran starts to wheel, clutching its head with its free hand. Vhane points at one of his minotaurs.
"I. Glu gompi uti unk Nul'm doshum arz krim bi núshum kil asharutogh ishúgur."
The minotaur bows its head. "Am, sna skim." It turns and leaves, even as the minotaur next to it falls to Valaria's blades. The tiefling turns to the babau next, nearly cutting it down in just two strikes.
Round 4!
Hinagiku is up!
Hinagiku let’s out a barely perceptible breath as the tide of battle appears to change. Her allies’ magic was truly wonderous. All at once, the world appears to slow down, she healed and inspired to do great deeds and their enemies are weakened. One minotaur down, one to be sent away and a confused babau with the second babau almost at death’s door. Now was the chance to act. Withholding her reflex to come to Irabeth’s rescue, the monk whispers a simple ”thanks.” before bolting to their possible ally.
The monk quickly passes through her allies, ducking between Ary’s legs, passing by Ehren, and Xanderghul before she reaches the one winged minotaur standing between her and her goal. Approaching it from a dead angle she strikes at the demonic creature’s vital. One punch to the solar plexus, one high kick to the ribs, followed by two high punches the creature’s trachea and snout. But, to the monk’s dismay, her foe still stands.
Drawing deep within herself, Hinagiku momentarily closes her eyes, yet is still aware enough to avoid a strike form the monster. She plunges deep into her calm ocean, stares into the golden thread of her mother. They move, flow, showing her the way. She circles the minotaur closely, avoiding it and making it to the babau’s side, and with the power of her mother strikes it.
"Do not give up hope. We can fight and win she says. And now the murdering creature sees only me." the monk whispers to Joran, but without even a look toward him.
Joran watches, eyes wide as Hinagiku heroically crosses through the minotaurs to help him. The babau stops dancing when Hinagiku strikes it. Snarling, it raises its spear and readies itself to counterattack. Taking a step beck, the babau jabs at her twice. The first strike just a hair faster than what she could hope to dodge... she stumbles from the pain of the blow, allowing it to jab her again.
Joran retreats a step back to Hinagiku's side, and before the minotaurs are even aware of what he is doing, he reaches a hand out to her shoulder. He murmurs an incantation and the wound on her stomach starts to seals over almost entirely, and the sharp pain fades to a dull throb.
The veritable wall of minotaurs had expected the heroes to retreat, but when they stood their ground instead, they start to become confused. Self-doubt creeps into their minds, sowed even deeper by Isilme's bardsong, and their strikes become clumsy and less focused. The minotaur in front of Ary swings its axe twice more, deflected both times by Faith.
""It wasn't impressive when Deradnu said it and then immediately got put on the floor, and it isn't impressive now." Ary says, turning from the minotaur to Vhane, oddly calm, voice stern. "We've already taken your keep, routed your troops, and slain your mistress's most prized possession. You've lost no matter what you do. At best, you manage a pyrrhic victory. So surrender, while you can." she finishes, looking to Joran directly, "It's never too late, it's not over." she says, smirking, as Xanderghul's magic begins to fully take hold.
With the speech, and lack of pleasantries over with, Ary wastes no time unleashing a barrage of attacks, Radiance arcs through the air at frightening speed, followed by a pivoting thrust of her blade. She slams her shield outwards with bonecrunching force - enough to have toppled a minotaur, prior, before bringing Radiance back around in a glowing arc - with Xanderghul's magics bolstering Ary and the team, they may yet have a chance.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
When Joran touches Hinagiku's shoulder, she glimpses a brief vision. He's in this very room, and the time doesn't feel much long ago, feverishly pouring through a text at the desk in the corner. The cover is written in dwarven, so she cannot read what it is. His eyes are red, and he looks exhausted. After a few moments of rubbing his eyes wearily, he casts a spell upon himself, which seems to perk him up. Afterwards, Staunton walks in from the other room. His lips move, speaking in a language that Hinagiku doesn't know, yet somehow, understands. it is a feeling reminiscent to when the wardstone showed her a vision of Isilme from a century ago, which she could understand, despite she and her lover speaking to one another in elvish.
"Brother, how many times must I tell you. There is nothing of interest for you in those 'holy'" he gestures his fingers as quotation marks, "texts. Please, if you would just speak to Chorussina. A man of your talent would rise in the cult of Deskari very quickly."
"I told you before, and I will tell you again, Staunton," Joran replies gruffly. "My faith in the dark smith is true. You are my blood, and so I have followed you... even to here, to this crumbling ruin. But do not tempt me of my faith."
Staunton grumbles. "Well, when you change your mind brother... and I advise you do so quickly, as you are enough of an outsider here already... I will be waiting."
He trudges off, and Joran returns his book. He murmurs to himself, "To the Dark Smith, my faith is true, I would toil for you for an eternity and more. My faith is true, I would toil for you for an eternity and more. My faith is..."
He continues to pray but Hinagiku can feel him in his mind. He is beginning to doubt his words, and knows he has been for awhile now. And that terrifies him.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
Hinagiku remains focused on the battle while Joran touches her. Truth is, she did not want the dwarf to feel violated by her power, or to mistrust her, and so she simply act as if nothing had happened. But the vision had profoundly impacted her, they had just turned a brother against a brother for their own gain, it felt like something onis would do, not what she would. And as she mulls over these thoughts she also tries to remember whom the Dark Smith was.
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The Dark Smith refers to Droskar, an evil dwarven god of slavery and toil. He believes that sufficient toil leads to eventual success, and that those who fail simply weren't trying hard enough. In the pursuit of this goal, Droskar believes that one should be free to do whatever is necessary to accomplish one's goal, even if that includes lying, cheating, the exploitation of others, or even worse crimes.
Even her allies going into go-mode was not enough to get Anevia moving quite at full speed. Which was ironic given the blur she became during her movements. She dashes into the room, firing at the nearest minotaur, before bolting back out into the hallway to relative safety - and more importantly, cover. She dashes past Irabeth, and back into the bedroom, looking down the hallway they'd come from, before doubling back. She lets out a sputtering cough as she comes to a stop. "I'm safe. Our flank is clear for now." she whispers into Isilme's spell, hopefully having purged the last of the miasma from her body, and hopefully being out of range of the next blast, if it ever came.
When he realizes that his friends have no intention of pulling back, Ehren nods to himself, not in resignation, but in determination. Hesitating would only get them all killed - what they needed to do now was push back, and hard. With their weaker enemies dropping one after the other, Ehren makes a grasping motion at the minotaur standing directly underneath Vhane. From out of nowhere a surge of water reaches out to ensnare the bull-headed monster, before wrapping around its entire body and coiling in on itself, forming a roiling sphere of water. Then, with a nudge of his hand, the druid sends it spinning into the minotaur next to him.
Anevia gets one quick shot off before darting back into safety, using the enhanced speed she gained from Xanderghul to land an arrow in its shoulder. Soon afterwards, the minotaur scrambles to avoid being bowled over by the enormous orb of water that appears on top of it... the aqueous orb moves on to the next minotaur, who is swept up in its current.
Staunton smirks. "I'll mount your bloated head on Soulshear for all your men to see, Commander..." And with that, he raises his glaive and thrusts it through Ary's gut. With a quick twist, he pulls it out, tapping the sides of his wasp to bring him down.... and closer to her. As he gets closer, Ary can feel despair seeping into her mind... her soul... he reaches out and touches the top of her head with a spiked gauntlet, wreathed in sickly greenish flame. She can feel her life essence draining away. The injuries leave her too slow to avoid the sting of the wasp... and then, the red energies around Staunton's glaive vanish, and a babau appears in the middle of the heroes. The demon cackles and stabs Ary in the back, and she crashes to the ground in a heap.
"Heh. You were saying?" Staunton grins, even wider.
"Ary...Nononono...No!" Irabeth cries out, and a burst of positive energy bursts out from her center, washing over the heroes and reinvigorating them... and then...Ary's eyes flutter open. But unfortunately for the heroes, the minotaurs on the ground also start to stir...
Staunton's smile vanishes. "You meddling...no matter. You wish to extend your suffering? So be it."
Round 5!
Xanderghul, Isilme, Valaria, and Hinagiku are up!
Ary immediately slams her shield into the bug as it descends, hoping to push it away from herself and give her allies more clearance... and hopefully, keep Vhane from fully entering the fray... but her swipe with Radiance is too swift, too unclean from the despair settling in her mind that she thought she'd gotten past...
Xanderghul, Isilme, Valaria, and Hinagiku are up!
The situation was still dire apparently, with Staunton pressing the attack against Ary. Before she can focus on Ary falling to the ground, however, Isilme is suddenly attacked by a newly summoned babau. As the creature strikes out to bite the Azata, she instinctively lashes out with her rapier, slashing it in the face and preventing its fangs from finding purchase in her flesh. "كن بعيدا عن رايى," she says dismissively as she turns her attention back towards Ary and the giant wasp.
She then moves away from the demon over to Val's side and focuses on drawing forth her innate power. Raising up her hand she blows across the palm and a shower of golden sparks shoot forth, filling the air around Vhane and his minotaur allies completely.
Xanderghul, Valaria, and Hinagiku are up!
Hinagiku has to recenter herself when she sees Ary being stab and losing consciousness. She knew they might die, but she could not let that impede her. With the calm of a storm, Hinagiku focuses on her immediate surroundings and on the golden threads from her mother. She lets them guide her, flowing through her foes like a crashing wave. From upright she slips in one smooth motion below the babau’s spear, kicks the retreating minotaur legs and uses it to push herself back to her initial position, upright again. Without a pause, she reaches inside the aqueous orb, her fists for the first time shaped like spades as she pummels the floating minotaur inside.
To my side, the on… the babau will continue attacking me… is the Sword far? she whispers calmly to Joran.
Hinagiku kicks at the legs of the passing minotaur, but other than a brief snort and a flick of its tail in agitation, it ignores her and strides through the open door.
Xanderghul and Valaria are up!
Val shifts slightly and directs her blows to the fallen minotaurs before they can try to recover and surround her already embattled friends. The last thing Ary needs is a cow monster at her back while Vhane is trying to tear her limb from limb. Once the last returns to unconsciousness or simply expires, she steps closer to her next target.
Xanderghul is up!
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Xanderghul hears blaring brass instruments playing in his head. Moments like these were what separated the common rabble from those who were inherently better. That is, what separated the common rabble from people like Xanderghul. Ary's fall was dire and of poor portent, but it could be salvaged... if the enemy were made to go off their centers. They had to succeed. They just had to.
Knowing that he is safe within the bounds of Ary's reach, he dashes over and around her, his speed amplified enough to make it over to the other side before his enemies even registered his movement.
He focuses, casting one of his favorite spells, conjuring a crackling energy whip. He swings it over his head, and brings it around towards Vhane, trying to wrap the whip around his enemy's neck and drain his life-force.
"Hi!" he shouts, grinning. "Deal with this!"
Staunton Vhane growls with frustration as the limp lash wraps around his neck. "You!" he yells, wheeling around on his wasp to face the wizard in the corner. "Who even are you, you insolent fly?" he growls, his spittle frothing and going everywhere. He is so furious that he doesn't react in time to Isilme's spell, and finds his sight suddenly blinded by a face full of glitter. The dwarf screams in frustration. "What childish prank is this?!?"
"Um.. what should I do?" asks Ayavah in message, still invisible. "I don't know if I can get to Daisy..."
Meanwhile, on the ground, Valaria is a flurry of knives, quickly stabbing each of the fallen minotaurs in the neck to finish them off. Once she is confident they are all good and dead, she steps over to the remaining blinded minotaur and slashes across its front, leaving a deep wound. The minotaur swings back in her general direction, but its wild swings are easy for the tiefling to dodge. Frustrated, the bull manages to finally rub the glitter out from its face. Across from them, Hinagiku finishes off the minotaur inside of the aqueous orb, leaving its unconscious (and likely dead) body floating in its turbulent waters.
Joran whispers back, "I do not know... I know it is kept deep in the dungeons, beyond where I am allowed to go. Only the followers of Deskari are allowed in the Temple."
Ary is up!
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Ary, from her position on the ground groans. "Xanderghul. His name is Xanderghul. You should know the name of the mage who is going to kill you with a bit of imaginary rope." She feels around for Radiance, but finds it much to small for her, now... It was like a dagger to her current form. She leans up on her free hand, still enchanted with her ally's boons and begins assailing the targets around her, relying on the shield still strapped to her arm to deliver blow after blow to her foes. Her first swing is considerably more clumsy than she would like, but her followups are much more on point, as she pushes herself up from the ground, her ally's magics having essentially given her a chance to survive at all.
"Looks like we've still got this." she says, cracking her neck and offering her allies a smile, despite the blood pooling on her tabard and cloak.
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Isilme looks quite pleased as the golden flakes of metal envelop the wasp and its rider, leaving them both blinded. Clearly her lady Starsong was watching over them at this very moment. Now was the time to push her luck then, especially since keeping Vhane off-balance was key to helping get Ary out of her current conundrum.
"That was a gift from my lady, the Song of Spheres. I wonder, if that was a childish prank, what does that say about the one bested by it? Clearly Soltengrobbe was the only foe in Drezen worth mentioning in future tales of this siege." Isilme says as the glitterdust envelops the dwarf and his mount, leaving them blinded. "Truthfully, I suspect if we knew your story it would make quite a dull read; never challenged, handed everything by those around you whom you subsequently betrayed. Have you ever even fought a battle that did not involve backstabbing an ally? Tell me, what great foes have you vanquished that were not sleeping or otherwise incapacitated?"
Ary smashes the little babau against the wall. There is an audible crack as it slides down to the floor, twitching... but still alive. Satisfied with herself, she stands back up.
The other babau, for itself, simply stands still and babbles incoherently to itself.
Joran steps aside, approaching the minotaur remaining. He steels his courage and strikes twice at its back with hammer, each blow more confident than the last.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
Val hears Ayavah's whisper through the spell's link. "If you have anything that can slow down any of Vhane's minions, we could use the help. Just make sure not to get within arm's reach of him."
Anevia slips unseen down the hallway, "What do you mean, nonononono, Commander?" she whispers as she sneaks back into the main room, she slips towards the door as she hears the continued conversation. "Ah, good, everything's perfectly fine. I was worried something had happened, and I was gonna fade away again." she whispers, knocking a piece of rubble towards the door with a grimace. "Did he really name his glaive 'Soulshear'? What, was Evilshred the Mouldering already taken? Yeouch. Like, how do you hide that."
Focused as she is on her quipping, she doesn't even realize she's not invisible as she walks straight in behind Ayavah before slipping right beside her, guarding herself from the babau's reach incidentally rather than intentionally, to unceremoniously jab her shortsword upwards towards the space under his shoulderblade, her blade sliding against an unexpected bony outcropping. Unperturbed she draws it back and steps in closer to slip her shortsword into the creature's armpit. She pulls it back out, drops it, raising her bow back into position.
Ehren tenses up when Vhane and his wasp knock Ary down, but when she smashes the babau near him aside, he is quick to recenter himself.
He reflects on what few spells he has remaining, mostly weaker ones that would have little to no effect on the ongoing battle. Luckily for him, he had just enough power to manifest any spell he wanted. He thinks on it for a moment before making his decision, a spell that would affect the wasp in spite of its artificiality. Death and decay were so often viewed as distasteful things, but they were every bit a part of nature as life. And as luck would have it, they just happened to need Staunton Vhane dead.
A ripple of sickly green energy washes over Vhane and the others, ravaging them with the afflictions of time and rot.
Ehren's spell has catastrophic effects on the remaining minotaur. The creature screams as it rots from the inside out, crumbling into a heap of dust and cleaned bones. But Vhane was something more - with supernatural reflexes he pulls his wasp away from the unholy sound, and away from the worst of the blast.
"Am, am. Ashi bih bok boshuzg dom," coughs out Staunton, gripping at the reins of his massive wasp. The wasp whirrs into action, flying upwards and away from the heroes until it bumps blindly into the corner. Once away, Staunton reaches up to his neck again only to find that the lash had fallen off once he had gotten far away enough. He growls and rubs the last of the glitter out from his eyes, while the rusted parts of its wasp's machinery start to automatically heal over and regrow like new...
"Nalzog, gluk dom shushi, i ibhurzashdi."
"Dúk, dim..." calls the minotaur from the other room.
"I LUZG GLUL DOM SHUSHI!!!" Vhane screams.
"Up, up. Away from that blasted bard."
"Nalzog, get back here, you imbecile."
"But, boss..."
"I SAID GET BACK HERE!!!!!!"
Meanwhile, across the room, Anevia slides her blade out from the babau and it melts into goo onto the floor, seeping into cracks around the rubble. Around her feet the rubble begins to vibrate and tremble as yet another shudder passes through the citadel. Whatever demonic magiks were being invoked beneath the citadel, their power was intensifying...
Irabeth ignores this, electing to stride over to Ary and place a hand on her wrist, channeling what positive energy she had left into her in order to mend her wounds.
Xanderghul, Isilme, Valaria, and Ary are up!
As the wasp and Vhane begin to retreat, Ary immediately lashes out, hammering into them with Faith, cold iron spikes digging into the wasp's hide and Vhane's armor.
Xanderghul, Isilme, Valaria, Hinagiku, and Ary are up!
Val shifts her position so the pillars of the room don't block her shot at the hovering insectoid abomination. She lets her starknives fall for a moment, then unleashes a hail of cold iron daggers at the wasp, hoping to take it out of the air and bring Staunton down to their level.
Hinagiku, about to rush to her companion’s aid, Hinagiku watches with awe at Ehren’s destructive power. Shaking the impression that this was unlike the druid, the monk turns toward the minotaur being recalled.
”Sorry mrs. Ayavah, things are moving fast. It’s fine for invisibility. Hinagiku takes a pause before continuing.””Mr. Vhane, would you know how long the ritual will take?” Hinagiku whispers as she weaves her way past the confused babau, slalom’s through the corridor and reaches the minotaur who was getting ready to backtrack.
In a series of attacks, made a literal flurries by Xanderghul's spell, Hinagiku strikes at the minotaur's ribs and sternum multiple times, hoping to weaken it as much as possible.
Xanderghul waits, Val's daggers in the air, to see whether Vhane would be brought low.
"Look on the bright side, Staunton," Isilme calls out to the dwarf, "When you die here shortly you can rejoice in fulfilling your role as just another part of the swarm that died pointlessly. No doubt you will be rewarded with an eternity of suffering in the abyss for playing your part!"
Staunton on the retreat was enough to give them a breather. Making a point to take advantage of it, Isilme digs out her wand again and moves over to Ary, using its magic to attempt to patch up some of the worst of her wounds.
With a flurry of knives, Valaria aims her blades at the warmonger wasp's joints. It falls from the air, with Staunton caught in its corpse in an ungainly heap.
Xanderghu and Ary are up!
As the wasp falls, Val dashes forward, keeping her guard up to avoid any potential counter attack from the fallen dwarf.
Xanderghul and Ary are up!
Xanderghul follows after Valaria as she enters the fray, reaching out into the tendrils of creation to imbue her with an illusory defense that obscures her true location. They were close to victory now, despite the difficulty and the direness of Ary's fall. Now it was time to seal the deal.
Ary nods her thanks to both Isilme and Irabeth, giving the latter a small smile, "You know, you're completely missing your chance to avenge yourself on Vhane by keeping me alive, right?" she asks as a potion appears in her shield hand. "Be cautious of the babau. Though it's hardly capable of defending itself much of the time, it may yet pose a problem. Also, if the minotaur comes back, it may still have some of its more potent magic remaining."
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Irabeth's expression remains serious. "I'd rather he get away again than let a friend fall," she responds, calmly.
Just as Xanderghul wreathes Valaria in yet another layer of protective magic, the babau runs up to behind her and stabs her in the back. Luckily, she hears it coming, and moves out of the way before it manages too deep of a wound.
"Oh no ye don't!" says Joran, who steps over to him to whack the demon in the back with his small hammer... his blow managing to leave a solid bruise in his former tormentor, mostly due to the bardic magic spurring him on.
Ehren and Anevia are up!
"Don't worry, Chevalier, I am the vengeance." Anevia says in a wheezy voice - probably from the gas cloud earlier. She then slips between her allies, skidding over the minotaur blood-ichor, before sliding to a stop, and releasing an empty handful that grows into a silver facsimile of Radiance even as she releases her grip. Her bowstring snaps taut launching the mercurial energy straight towards Vhane's downed position. "Excellent work, Little Death." she whispers into her bow, knowing full well that the message spell would carry it to her allies' ears.
Ehren is up!