Garland hustles over to Ilistra and tries healing her wounds. Meanwhile, Luna stands vigilantly at his side and prepares to attack the bat if draws near.
Slightly dazed from the grapple and claw attacks, but emboldened after Garland healed her some, Ilistra charges up and throws another blast of fire at the bat.
Cica 22
Ilistra 19
Bat 5
Garland 4
Ilistra shrieks as she's snatched up into the air by the creature. Her body immediately becomes painfully hot to the touch, causing the jaws holding her to burn and blister!
Cica's arrow sinks into the beast's chest, leaving a savage bleeding wound in its chest cavity.
The bat drops the burning hot woman and instead tears into her, hoping to end the fiery threat. Its teeth and claws rip flesh from the kineticist.
Garland hustles over to Ilistra and tries healing her wounds. Meanwhile, Luna stands vigilantly at his side and prepares to attack the bat if draws near.
================================
Slightly dazed from the grapple and claw attacks, but emboldened after Garland healed her some, Ilistra charges up and throws another blast of fire at the bat, melting its face off!
Cica looses another arrow, wipes the sweat out of her eye, and--if it's still in the air--nocks one more arrow.
One last arrow through the eye sends the massive animal crashing into the ground. Dirt and jungle detritus plume into the sky. Nearby birds shriek in alarm and take off before the jungle returns to the relative quiet of the insects chirps and buzzes a moment later.
Ilistra shudders as the creature dies and crashes to the ground. Her body still radiates heat, threatening to scorch anything that would come in contact with her. when the jungle returns to its usual sounds, she relaxes and lets her defensive heat fade.
Cica wipes sweat and blood from her brow, stumbles over to Ilistra, and then collapses onto the ground next to her.
"Ooof. Getting nearly swallowed by that thing SUUUUUUUUUUUUCKED.
"What say we lay here a minnit, and noticed that we're not dead. Did you EVER think you'd see a thing that big??"
"Another threat neutralized," Garland said after catching his breath. "After we finish searching this building, do you all want to continue? Or perhaps call it a day?"
Ilistra sways on her feet. "I'm good. A bit roughed up. But I can keep going," she says woozily.
"Looks like there was nothing here but that oversized bat. Well, at least we neutralized it as a threat," Garland observed with a disappointed sigh once he and his comrades finished searching the area. "How about the ziggurat next? We'll probably need a boat to reach that other structure."
"I wouldn't mind seeing what exactly a bat that size keeps in its nest. One moment, let me try something."
Cica briefly closes her eyes and calls up Earth nature, and then sees if she can find a way through the earth down to where the bat nested.
A five foot deep swampy pool fills the bottom of this cave — this pool is tainted with guano from its former denizen. Other than a wealth of fertilizer, there's nothing of interest here.
An ancient castle or fort of some sort stands atop a small island here, its rear half draped with hanging vines and its front half collapsed into a mass of ruins.
"How about we approach the ziggurat together as a group?" Garland suggested. "That has usually worked out better us."
"How about we approach the ziggurat together as a group?" Garland suggested. "That has usually worked out better us."
"...I mean, that has usually worked out better for us," Garland said, correcting himself.
"Let me take a look underwater...but first I'm gonna tie this rope around my waste. If you see anything enormous like that flying saurian, snapping at me, you friggin better pull me out, fast!"
Ilistra watches closely as she nervously conjures a ball of fire in her hand, ready to help in case there's trouble.
Cica is able to swim the rope across to the island without issues. She notices some large feline tracks in the sand, they go in short spurts before they disappear only to appear again several yards away or not at all.
Cica's curiosity gets the better of her, and she follows the tracks a bit, scratching her head.
As she does, she signals that the swim was safe, and waves for the others to come across.
Cica doesn't recognize the tracks, but it seems like whatever was making them must have either been jumping, flying or teleporting around.
Ilistra nervously takes to the water and does her best to dog-paddle across.
Crossing is relatively easy with the rope in place.
When the unusual tracks are pointed out, Ilistra looks to see if they can be followed.
An ancient castle or fort of some sort stands atop a small island here, its rear half draped with hanging vines and its front half collapsed into a mass of ruins.
"I can't follow these," Ilistra says, shaking her head at the confounding nature of the tracks.
"Do we just check out the ruins, then?"
"Perhaps I can decipher more information about these tracks..." Garland murmured to himself.
"Heh, give it a shot, Masked Avenger. If you can't, I agree with Ilistra, let's just make our way to the ruin."
Cica takes the lead again, staying 10 yards ahead of Garland.
"Perhaps I can decipher more information about these tracks..." Garland murmured to himself.
[dice=Survival]1d20+5
As the group creeps up on the ruined fort, Cica begins to hear the noises of some large animals eating, hissing and growling at one another. Sounds like they are inside the ruined courtyard.
"These tracks most likely belong to a large, flying predator of some kind," Garland whispered to his allies. "They remind me of some griffon tracks I saw once."
Cica nods to Garland's insight and gives him a thumbs up.
Bow drawn, Cica continues forward, waiving her companions to follow.
"Would they be smart enough to understand us?" Ilistra asks.
She tries to be as quiet as they approach the animal sounds.
"Well, shall we continue advancing?" Garland asked his comrades-in-arms. "Worst comes to worst, we can just neutralize them."
Cica continues to advance and makes it to a crack in the wall, from where she can see three chimera feasting over the scraps of bloody carcasses.
The chimera's nostrils flare closest to Cica and its three heads turn towards her hiding spot, eyes scanning for a moment before focusing on her.
it screams in draconic, before springing to attack.
(+2 in jungle)
Ilistra 23
Cica 19
Blue 17
Garland 15
Slycora 14
Red 8
Ilistra charges up and throws a blast of flame at it.
Cica sends a pebble clattering, and watches nine heads on three monstrous bodies all focus in on her. "F$~%!! Those things are chimera. I kinda doubted they were even real, but they seem a little too interested in us for now."
Cica fires an arrow off at one, and then reloads while hopping backward slightly.
Ilistra hears Cica's cry and bursts out of the bushes where they'd been hiding. She runs forward until she can see one of the beasts, and fires off a blast at it, but misses.
Ilistra hears Cica's cry and bursts out of the bushes where they'd been hiding. She runs forward until she can see one of the beasts, and fires off a blast at it, but misses.
Cica sends a pebble clattering, and watches nine heads on three monstrous bodies all focus in on her. "F&##!! Those things are chimera. I kinda doubted they were even real, but they seem a little too interested in us for now." Cica fires an arrow off at one, and then reloads while hopping backward slightly. The arrow pierces through one of its legs, hindering it.
The one that Cica shot roars with all three heads before leaping into the air, and flapping up over the wall. It's draconic head rears back and spews a cone of acid over Cica and Ilistra!
"...I really need to get a ranged weapon," Garland murmurs to himself as he casts a spell to help his allies.
Ilistra screams as she takes the full brunt of the acid.
She passes out from the damage!
Just as Garland prepares to Bless his allies' efforts, however, he notices Ilistra take the full blunt of the chimera's acidic breath. Thus, the masked legionnaire quickly wastes no time and hustles over to heal her.
Cica winces. While she can resist acid to some degree, this blast hits her full force, and she feels it seer her stony flesh.
She tosses her longhammer onto her back, draws her bow again, and sends another hindering shot at the chimera.
Ilistra 23
Cica 19
Blue 17
Garland 15
Slycora 14
A larger, male-looking chimera flies out of the ruined fort and lands behind the group, cutting off their route back to the beach.
================================
Ilistra drags herself to her feet after the healing. She wasn't sure if she should run or blast, but her escape route was cut off. She blasts at the one facing Cica, hoping to drive it off by catching it on fire.
The wounded chimera is burned, but does not ignite. It takes a moment to tear Cica's arrows from its flesh.
After a brief debate, Garland hustles over to Cica and does his best to heal her injuries. He sighs afterward, wishing he hadn't used so much magic fighting the giant bat. Meanwhile, Luna steps in front of Ilistra and prepares to protect her from the larger chimera.
The larger chimera leaps forward and snaps at Luna.
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