Quinn's eyes had just nicely adjusted to the dim lighting provided by the moon when the flash of light caused little pins of light to dance before her eyes. She had been so focused on the were-cat by her feet that she hadn't had a chance to close her eyes.
Just as soon as her vision begins to return to normal, she catches movement coming directly for her and it isn't a were-cat. Finding herself grappled by a were-croc of all things, she knew she needed to get herself free before it could get her into the water.
Catching sight of the blond hair in its teeth, any possible compassion for these creatures drained out of her. The look she gave the were-croc could have flash-frozen a bonfire with the level of coldness they reflected. Her voice was quiet but full of hatred when she spoke."You killed Duncan. Prepare to die. He may have been a dandy but he was our dandy."
Dizzy awoke feeling her name. Her whole body felt like it had been cut to ribbons, and she was so lightheaded she wondered if she had any blood left in her body.
The roaring in her ears clarified into the sounds of battle. Clearly she hadn't been out long. Cracking her eyes open, she realized she was in danger of being crushed underfoot by Rex, Quinn, and the sharp claws of her opponent.
Feebly she started to move aside, then her hand touched something familiar. A wand, in her lap. Thank the goddess! Trusting that it was the wand of healing that she'd examined earlier, she invoked its magic immediately.
Feeling no longer quite at death's door, she cried out, "Don't step on me!"
Breaking the grapple was a standard action.
Jibril looked at the moon-cat with it's hand upon the stone and gave it a sad look This is beyond us now then leapt from the stones broken base trying to clear Rex's furious endeavour falling into a little roll
He nocked a durable but otherwise common arrow and let the string loose firing at the man-crock. He whispered, "9"
Quinn leaned her body weight into her free leg and twisted her body expertly around the pivot point. The motion was so sudden that the croc didn't expect it, and she managed to tear her leg free. The top layer of her thigh hung in ribbons along with the tattered remains of her leather trousers, and she knew she wouldn't be able to bear weight on it for long.
Rex launched into a punishing beating on the moon-cat. He knocked it to the ground, then punched it solidly in the face, breaking a tooth and scratching his hand for his troubles.
Jibril leapt nimbly over the fighting, and fired an arrow point blank at the croc. The arrow skittered across the creature's hard scales, then disappeared into the darkness.
Vilhelm, however, did not miss, and the croc's scales sizzled and smoked with a strange, otherworldly smell.
The croc should have stayed on Quinn - she was injured and flanked. Unfortunately, his animal instincts were strong, and he lashed out and the one who had hurt him. Scurrying forward with terrifying speed, it snapped at the invoker, tearing into hip and holding hard.
Simultaneously, the huge reptile swung its powerful tail at Quinn, who barely hopped out of the way in time to avoid being slammed aside.
The cat, meanwhile, found himself surrounded by enemies, and the recipient of the brawler's wrath. Twisting to his feet, he moved carefully but quickly away into the circle of stones, and out of immediate reach.
Jibril was almost bowled over by the ferocity of the man-o-dile and it forced him backwards. He tries to get his bearing and quickly counted everyone Where did that other moon-cat go?
Seeing that his arrow didn’t have much effect on the creature he pulled out and Ashton arrow and fired in on the croc-a-sapien
As Jibril released him bow string he whispered ”8” and as the arrow flew it’s short distance it was as if it’s head were a matchstick and it had rubbed against the hard air. It lit with sudden fire.
With the cat fleeing backwards from his assualt, Rex could only turn his animosity towards the crocodile. Swinging around the flank with Quinn, he shouted, "Hey! Look at me you dumb animal!", hoping to distract the creature from Quinn's precise blade. Cracking a knuckle, he swung down hard on the creature's back.
Quinn's leg felt like it was on fire but even badly injured, she was deadly with her dagger. Add her hatred into the mix and she was a very determined foe. Gritting her teeth against the pain she lunged forward, stabilizing herself on her good leg, to plunge her dagger into the creature's unprotected back.
Vilhelm wasn't prepared for the reptile's sudden rush towards him, but he was at least quick enough to bring down his loaned glaive, the polearm's silvery blade hitting the creature on its left shoulder, almost severing its front leg... not that the thing seemed to notice as it barreled towards him like a stampeding bull. The invoker gasped in shock and pain as the many-toothed jaws closed around his hips and began squeezing.
The pressure was building quickly, bringing with it waves of excruciating pain. With no way to escape and his glaive useless in such close confines, he let go of the heavy weapon and thrust both hands towards the giant reptile's eye, summoning another blast of concussive force, driven by his own pain.
The creature blinked its bruised eye as it found itself trapped in a frozen-over lake, its head bumping into the heavy sheet of ice while lack of air burned in its lungs. It had to breath, but it could not - the ice was too thick, too hard for it to break, and now waves of cold were creeping in from every side, trapping it in, entombing it, stealing its life and bringing forth a quiet numbness as the tip of its tail was beginning to go numb...
It's funny - I literally woke up with a start at 3am thinking, I forgot the -2!! So the croc missed Vilhelm.
Pity.
The disorienting effect of the blast of Fey power proved enough - the jaws gripping Vilhelm loosened their hold for a moment only... but long enough for the man to wriggle himself free before the crocodile's teeth could crush his bones and rend his flesh.
Dizzy finally managed to stand up and get out of the way of the fighting. Things looked dire, and her friends needed help.
Her first instinct was to channel the healing energy of the goddess, but she didn't want to risk healing their opponent as well. Instead, she put a hand on Quinn, who was bleeding badly, and healed her wounds instead.
Dizzy's spell burned the pain away from Quinn's leg, and left it whole, but scarred.
The croc was taking quite the beating from Team Orra. Rex's punch went wide, but the others all connected. A few scales were peeled and singed, but the creature shook off after-effects of the invoker's spell, and it was not backing down.
Reacting again to the biggest hurt - this time, Quinn's dagger - it lashed out at her again, and bit down hard. It tore a chunk from her just-healed leg, but this time the rogue wriggled free before it was able to get a secure hold on her.
The mighty tail lashed out at Rex, but seemed to be blindly flailing, and did not connect.
Meanwhile, behind Dizzy, the two cats crept up and attacked together. The first one attacked from behind, wrapping the unsuspecting dwarf in its strong arms. The cleric struggled but was unable to avoid the grapple. Before she could attempt to break free, the second cat joined in, reaching for her with both clawed hand-paws, and fanged mouth. It was unable to claw her through her armour, but his mouth found her vulnerable neck for the second time.
The cat did not bite down, however. At a word from the 1st cat, the 2nd froze, teeth not quite breaking Dizzy's skin. "FREEZE!" the 1st cat bellowed. "Or we kill her."
Rex gave swung around when the cats yelled. Damnit He gave the creatures a dangerous look.
"You've attacked us! We didn't start this fight." He narrowed his eyes, "But if you kill one of ours...oh I can assure you we will finish this fight. Let her go...and call off your pet. Then we can talk. Otherwise this will end in blood..."
However, he made no move to continue attacking.
Dizzy held herself stock still as the two cats held her, one with fangs to her throat. She didn't dare call out to the others; she barely dared to breathe. She desperately wanted to call upon the goddess to shield her from harm, but didn't like her chances of finishing the spell alive. So, she trusted the others, and didn't move.
"You've attacked us! We didn't start this fight." He narrowed his eyes, "But if you kill one of ours...oh I can assure you we will finish this fight. Let her go...and call off your pet. Then we can talk. Otherwise this will end in blood..."
"This is the second time you have attacked someone who merely arrives on this island without warning. What reason do we have to believe you will release her if we lower our guard? Let her go first, as sign of good faith, and perhaps we can talk," Vilhelm said reaching out with one hand and murmuring a few words in Sylvan to summon his discarded glaive back into his hand. "We will give peace a chance, if you give us a reason to."
Jibril crossed behind Quinn to the right. He notched no arrow. He said nothing. He was too busy marvelling at the seething ferocity that somehow lay underneath Rex's voice - the earnestness of this new Vilhelm. Dizzy's throat is bare, her life is balanced on an arrowhead, and Rex and Vilhem, two people who have not met but a few hours ago, talk like it was all planned out. They will make good on their promises of blood. Yes, it was best he remained quiet ... and watched the crocodile.
Jibril tried to make eye contact with Quinn. He held his fist in front of himself. He looked at the crocodile-man and stuck out his thumb, at one of the moon-cats and stuck out his index finger, then at the second moon-cat and stuck out his middle finger. He looked back at Quinn, furrowed his brow, stuck out his fourth finger and waggled it.
Even though she never looked in the were-cat's direction, she obviously heard him. Quinn remained poised over the were-croc with her dagger ready to attack again, but she didn't. She left the talking to Rex and Vilhelm while she continued to assault the croc with a murderous glare.
Catching Jibril's movements out of the corner of her eye, she nods slightly in understanding. Trusting Jibril to put his arrow in the croc if it moved a muscle, she took her eyes off it in order to take a good look around them.
Quinn peered carefully into the shadows, but saw nothing overly suspicious. If there was a fourth creature stalking them, she couldn't see it.
She also sensed that the 1st cat, the one holding Dizzy and doing the talking, seemed truthful in his intent to keep the peace. The other one, however, was practically trembling with rage, and seemed to be using a great deal of will power to stop himself from killing the dwarf.
As for the croc-man; its smooth reptilian gaze was completely unreadable. It stood still, its mouth open, seeming to pant slightly. Blood dripped from its teeth; Quinn's blood. The tip of its strong tail twitched, not unlike a housecat.
Ignoring both Rex's threats and Vilhelm's entreaty, the leader spoke a few sharp words in a strange, sibilant language. The croc lazily turned its head towards the sound, and the silence grew even more tense. After a moment, the croc took a step backwards, then another. Its giant head came flush with Jibril, then it stopped. The half-elf could smell blood on its breath. After a long moment, it took one more step backwards.
A few more words were said, softer this time, and the second cat reluctantly lifted his head from Dizzy's neck. But he did not step away from in front of her.
Jibril took a step back hoping to encourage calm. What little wisdom he had came from repeated lessons that he was a much better listener then speaker. Rex and Vilhelm had already proved themselves more capable. He looked at the stones, really for the first time, and gleaned what he could from them.
Quinn's glare never left the were-croc even when she addressed the obvious leader. "We're more than willing to leave. Just point us in the direction of the tokens, we'll get ours, and leave. We only wanted that in the first place. We only fought because our lives were threatened."
"You do understand your own actions let to us coming here, don't you?" Vilhelm said, fighting to keep his voice calm and reasonable. "Anyone who attacks strangers at sight rather than even try and warn them off invites other strangers to come find out what happened to their comrades. And others. And others. Perhaps if you truly want to keep to yourselves, you should consider that?"
"Speaking of that... the strangers who arrived here before us," he asked, trying to be clear in the event the feline humanoids had difficulty at picking humans apart by sight. "What happened to them? Are they still alive?"
Now that she no longer had fangs at her throat, Dizzy began to pray. She prayed softly but clearly, asking the goddess to protect her from these enemies. "Oh goddess, ye who look down upon us, yer subjects, I pray ye, protect me from these as would harm me....
Hoping the cats wouldn't realize what she was doing until too late, she changed the cadence of the prayer after a few moments, and then called upon the goddess to shield her from harm.
Rex still stood on edge with his fist clenched. He nodded in Quinn's direction. "Right. There is a token we were sent for. It's part of a game and should have nothing to do with your lands or your people. If you can direct us to the token or assure they are not in your area will be on our way..."
As Rex and Vilhelm take turns negotiating and threatening, Jibril looks carefully at the sigils on the stones. His eyes are best suited to pierce the dim light, and he is able to make out more than the others would have.
The half-elf has seen stone circles before, and recalls that while many are old beyond remembering, some clans and tribes do hold them to be places of significance. But he notices something odd about the carvings. Many are ancient, worn down with time and weather, hard to see. But others have been freshly cut into the stone, either re-defining older carvings, or overlaying them with new ones. It is difficult to tell which at this distance.
It is difficult to be sure, but from what Jibril can see, the protective magic of the circle doesn't look to be religiously significant.
The leader listens to Vilhelm and Rex and Quinn, but seems to be struggling to follow their arguments. When Vilhelm mentions "the others", the cat glances off to the east (the direction the tracks had been leading). He doesn't seem to respond to the word "token".
He opens his mouth to speak when Dizzy starts to pray. The angry moon-cat swipes at her, but to no avail. She completes the spell, and feels the protection of the goddess surround her.
The leader, startled, nearly loses his grip on her, but manages to maintain the grapple. He hisses a few soft words at the other cat, who seems to ignore him. The angry cat lunges at Dizzy, clearly intent on killing her, but stops mere inches from her skin. He is unable to complete the attack, though his muscles tremble with intent. He howls, a blood-curdling half-human, half-wild cry of rage. The croc snaps his teeth, and his tail lashes furiously - he also seems ready to attack again.
It is clear that the leader is losing his hold on the other two.
Jibril, showing the emotionality of a rock himself, let out a wisp-ish inquiry, "Are you cursed?, he watched the second moon-cat's crazed attack his question as much meant to shock it out of it's rage, "Someone has interfered with you're circle. How long have these two stones been downed? and who is responsible for these new markings? You were not always as you are now?" Although the question was meant for the leader, Jibril was talking directly to the frenzied moon-cat.
Rex didn't entirely understand what Dizzy had done. However, it seemed she had freed herself. Instinctively, he tried step in between her an the creatures, inching both of them slowly backwards as he kept his fists raised. Growing impatient with the creatures, he said, "You look confused. I don't know what else we can tell you. Why don't you tell us what you are doing here and why you are murdering people on site to protect this place?" Jibril's talk of magic markings was bit over his head, still he added, "...and answer the elf's questions too!"
Vilhelm's hand twitched towards the enemies when the dwarven priestess finished her prayer, at the same time putting herself in danger and protecting herself from the very feline's lunge her spellcasting provoked. Vilhelm's attention was rather torn, however, as his question elicited some response from the leader. His friends - or their mortal remains, at least, of those who didn't make it away - were close by.
Seeing Rex move forward, Dizzy held up her hands to stop him. "Dinnae come closer! They cannae harm me, but me spell willnae protect you too. Stay back."
Maybe they don't realize they're in the Game. Quinn tried again when they seemed to ignore her inquiry about the token. "We need to find a cut piece of stone, most likely three-sided, with pictures on it. Have you seen anything like that? We just need that and then we'll be on our way and leave you in peace."
She kept an eye the were-croc but asked the leader, "Should we all move away from these stones? Would that placate you all?"
Fail
Jibril examined the stones from a distance. The two fallen and broken stones clearly show that they were damaged long ago. The new carvings were very recent.
The leader looked back and forth as everybody spoke at once, as if not sure who to reply to. But he didn't get the chance to choose, or to say anything at all.
As Rex approached the two moon-cats, something finally snapped in the feral one. Denied his dwarven target, he was not to be denied this mewling human. Turning suddenly, it leapt at Rex, reaching out with arms and fangs, aiming for his neck.
Rex realized the danger too late, and tried to twist away. The cat got a mouthful of shoulder, biting deep into the flesh and scraping his shoulderblade. But the brawler was no novice when it came to hand-to-hand, or in this case, hand-to-fang fighting. He twisted away even as the mouth closed on him, denying the cat the tight hold he was hoping for. The cat was forced to release his hold on the shoulder, or be dragged sideways.
The leader shouted and reached forward to the other cat, releasing Dizzy in the process. The croc gnashed its jaws together, not sure which cat's example to follow.
'Well, this one is getting nice and complicated... the Fey Folk must be laughing their asses off watching,' Vilhelm thought as he watched one feline being overcome with impatience or bloodlust while the spokesman still hoped for reason to prevail - or at least sought to buy time.
'Well, seeing that particular cat is already out of the bag, there's no reason not to retaliate.' The invoker concentrated, making peculiar gestures with the fingers of his free hand as he called upon his patrons for a debilitating mental assault, holding in his mind the first disturbing concept his imagination could conjure, that of a tiny mirror-walled cube the feral feline found itself trapped in, its own reflection thrown at it from every direction, repeated upon infinity, their movements slightly time-lapsed to create a neverending cascade of confusing images to assault its senses...
"Arghhh! What the hell!" Rex grunted as the creature sunk in its teeth. "Get the hell off me!" Clenching his fists, he impulsively began swinging right back at the creature. It was a brutal assault, but it was clear that he was favoring his uninjured shoulder as he swung.
Jibril wanted help Rex and tackle the crazed moon-cat but that would leave the crocodile-man to Quinn alone. He must face the scaly beast. He turned to look the beast in the eye while tipping the end of his very last ashtoe arrow, "Attack my friends and you alone will die. Listen to this one ..., he slowly gestured towards the moon-cat grappling Dizzy, and you all will live. I promise you both are true."
Jibril's voice was as dull as ever but this time the dullness came off more like ice. His elven calm and his steady agility froze him like a statue ready to move if the beast moved. He didn't know how to orate but he did know how to stalk and he was good at it.
It looked like the fighting may erupt again and Quinn needed to get into a better position to be helpful. Taking advantage of the scuffle between Rex and the were-cat to draw everyone's attention, she moved quietly away from the stones. Once in the cover of shadows she moved in behind the croc.
@Quinn - can you move your token on the map so I know what the plan is?
I think he'll probably allow you to pass.
Released from the cat's furry embrace, Dizzy's first instinct was to get out of the way. But with the goddess still protecting her, she realized she could help her teammates out.
Moving towards Rex, she tried to get between him and the cat. "The bastard cannae attack me. I can be yer shield."
The cat attacking Rex was momentarily disoriented by the image of an infinite number of selves, attacking not-quite-synchronously. But the half-feline was stronger of will than a regular cat, and it shook its head, dispelling the strange vision, though the attack did leave it feeling weaker.
Rex connected squarely with the cat's jaw, rocking his head back with the force of the blow. However, his second punch just skimmed the creature's cheekbone, failing to do any real damage.
Dizzy then attempted to put herself between the two opponents, counting on the protection of her patron to keep her from harm.
Jibril's stern talking-to did seem to affect the croc, who might not understand the exact words, but certainly deduced the intent behind them. Quinn took advantage of it distraction to sneak around for the flank.
The cat on Rex was certainly starting to wobble on his feet. It did not waver in its attack, however, and lunged past Dizzy to claw and bite at Rex again. Only one of the clawed hands connected, but it clawed deep into Rex's bicep, pulling him into a fierce grapple.
Seeing the immediate response of Team Orra, the leader slumped, defeated. He backed away from the combat, deeper into the circle of standing stones. The croc stared momentarily after him, as if no longer sure what to do. It wanted to fight, but was uncertain.
Jibril locked eyes with the crocodile man, his hand upon the fletching of his arrow, the rest of his body as still as the cicada-less air. They were at a stand-off and he couldn't be the one to flinch.
The croc watched as it's leader retreated. Jibril lost his concentration and glanced over his shoulder to see what the croc was watching. He looked back but whatever threatening aura he had created was gone. He suddenly looked small in the shadow of the beast, "Ok now ... wait ... just don't do anything rash."
"You don't know when to quit do you!" Rex shouted at the creature, as he continued to wrestle with it.
He flailed for his first attack, struggling to move from the creature's grasp to get a clean hit. However, he quickly decided on a better approach. Pulling back his free arm, he rammed his elbow as hard as he could into it's chest.
Quinn continued to move herself into position behind the croc, ready to spring out of the shadows should it attack Jibril.