When the treant steps near her, Croq swings with all her might, and then just keeps swinging as she belts out her war ballad.
Kallie pitches her head back in frustration as the lights go out. "Uhhhggg! Who has the wand of dispel?""I do! It should be..."
Gali begins looking through her wand collection, where she spots something really interesting!
"...A Wand of Cure Serious Wounds," Galatea mumbles. "I totally forgot Tammerhawk gave this to me."
"Great!" Kallie winces as she's struck by something she can't see. "I'll need that too!"
She's tempted to drop a solid cloud on the area for added protection, but she doesn't know if it'll help or hinder the team's efforts. "Talk to me! How are we doing?"
"A bit disappointed. Often treants are happy to see people who are respectful of the woods. The fight's going well though." Jaya dutifully reports, firing off another carefully shaped fireball that swirls harmlessly around Cai'nan and Thalanir.
Aurealia takes a mental inventory of her diminishing spell power, and decides it's okay for her to play a secondary note in this particular song. Jaya's got this...
Cai'nan manages to further damage the Forester with his talon strike. Meanwhile, Thalanir finds it difficult to grapple and crush a bulky tree. The Andosana Siblings quickly inflict heavy damage on the animated tree to the south, though Croq promptly discovers that trees are apparently quite resistant to clubs!
Jaya's second fireball completely obliterates the western animated tree and leaves the Forester himself on death's door. As he is burned alive by magical fire, the treant lets out a roar of agony and nearly collapses to his knees. If not for his... unexpected resistance to fire, the Forester would almost certainly be dead by now.
Realizing that petrifying a hardy tree is probably a fool's errand, East decides to take cautious step out of enemy reach and try her bow instead. It... doesn't go well. Nearly all of her shots bounce off the Forester, and the one that does strike true runs into the same issues Drumstick encountered. Meanwhile, not being able to safely use her bow, West decides to take a cautious step... west and maintain her petrifying stare. She doesn't have any luck either.
Seeing how resilient the Forester is, Cheshire switches to more measured strikes. The Forester manages to fend off her bite and first claw swing, but Cheshire's second claw swing catches the treant directly in his charred husk of a head. As a result, the Forester collapses to the ground, where ghostly strikes from Roderics finally put him out of his misery.
With the death of the Forester, the remaining animated tree goes still.
Galatea lets out a sigh of relief as the Forster/forest goes still. Without further ado, she quickly pulls the Wand of Dispel Magic from her Bag of Holding. She then aims it at Kallie and...
...manages to restore her relative's sight!
Finally, Galatea uses the Wand of Cure Serious Wounds to patch up Kallie, Cheshire, and (when her invisibility finally ends) Jaya.
Ending her song with a dramatic flurry, Croq turns to Jaya and says, "Damn, talk about explosive! Nice work there with those fireworks."
Then, when Gali is curing Kallie and healing folks, she takes a minute to examine the Forester for further evidence of his disloyalty (and of course any interesting loot).
Jaya smiles. "Well, good kindling and all."
The familiar sounds of Jaya's fireball spells are followed by the smell of a campfire and rending wood. Kallie taps her hoof as the fight ends as she expected. "As annoying as getting blinded is, the Forester really picked the wrong target," she comments when the sounds of battle cease. "I was already not going to be very effective in the fight."
When her sight is restored, she approvingly surveys the battlefield. "Good job, all. Thanks, but in the future let's keep that wand where it's more handy."
"I can carry it," Galatea volunteers. "If someone else would rather take it, that's fine. It's just that I'm largely a support caster anyway. Meanwhile, the rest of you typically either use weapons or cast more conflict-oriented magic."
During her search of the Forester's remains, Croq discovers an amulet and a ring, which both register as magical. Otherwise, the area appears to be devoid of anything but a bunch of nice trees (plus three badly damaged ones). The path north to Jade Gardens of Jealousy is now completely clear.
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Croq looks over her two magical discoveries, giving each a gentle bite and then holding them up to her ear, as she attempts to divine their uses.
Aurealia chuckles at her sister's unorthodox way of evaluating magical items.
"Nice job Jaya," she agrees. "Would have been a lot of chopping to down that timber without you!"
Jaya's smile deepens at Aurelia's compliment before she smooths it away with a quick glance at Cai'nan. "Really. Just a matter of having the right job for the right tools."
Jaya and Croq are able to determine that the amulet is an Amulet of Mighty Fists +2. Additionally, they determine that the ring is a Minor Ring of Fire Resistance. This latter discovery explains why the Forester was able to weather Jaya's Fireballs just a bit better than the animated tree did.
"Might be a nice alternative to your holy amulet when dealing with neutral foes," Kallie suggests to Aurelia when the items are identified. "I'm not wearing a second ring, so if no one else wants the ring of fire resistance, I'll use it."
She starts to move north towards the Gardens. "'Jade Gardens of Jealousy.' Think it's called that for the alliteration? Or that the color green is associated with envy? Or that there's actually jade ornamentation to be jealous of?" she muses aloud.
Aurealia nods. "I was just wishing there was a way to combine amulets, but having a backup is better than nothing for when I'm morphed."
"Maybe some kind of golems or animated statues?" she muses in response to the Jade Gardens comments.
With nothing else of interest to be found in the Forester's grove, you proceed northward to the Jade Gardens of Jealousy. The trail ends at a small peninsula, where you find a gorgeous garden with an excellent view of the temple proper. The flower beds and fruit trees come together to create a very aesthetically pleasing environment, and at its center, you see a lovely marble fountain, where a suspicious green peacock statue sits perched upon a plinth, surrounded by crystal-clear water. As beautiful as the gardens are, however, they ultimately seem to pale in comparison to the cathedral-like structure across the lake.
The gardens appear to be completely empty, but as you draw near, Cheshire pauses and begins to sniff the air...
Kallie casts detect magic when the garden seems empty but Cheshire starts sniffing. While she concentrates, she asks her more sensory-enabled companions, "'Lia? Cai'nan? You picking up anything?"
Aurealia scans the space, sniffing and rotating her ears around the space.
"Smells like burning," Aurealia quietly informs, motioning to the fountain with her polearm. "We may have an invisible friend..."
A few seconds after Aurealia's proclamation, two floating creatures make their presence known. To put it mildly, they are rather horrifying to behold. Radiating bright light with traces of the rainbow in it, they look almost celestial... if not for their massive hollow eyes and mouth. About two feet shorter than Galatea, they let out two hostile snarls, making their intentions clear.
plus
Before the creatures can attack, Galatea casts a spell on Cheshire. She then whistles and points at the left creature. With a mighty growl, Cheshire rushes into combat and lunges at her prospective target. She manages to land a bite and two claw swings.
East and West stare angrily at the westernmost creature, but it shrugs off their efforts to petrify it.
The western creature snarls and unleashes a powerful beam of searing light that leaves Aurealia screaming in pain. Meanwhile, the eastern creature punches Cheshire twice in the face, each hit unleashing brilliant bursts of burning light upon contact. Thankfully for the tigress, Galatea's ward either outright negates any damage or greatly reduces the damage inflicted.
"Lookout! They're-"
Aurelia steps forward and swings at the nearest creature.
Aurealia manages to land a single hit against the false celestial, her second swing just barely missing it. She quickly discovers that, despite what their small size might suggest, these creatures are not fragile whatsoever. Thankfully, they don't appear to be resistant to physical damage like so many enemies you've encountered.
"-Shining Children - extradimensional star remnants." She doesn't explain that they burn people since they've already set Aurealia on fire, but she does weave a ward to resist their fiery energy. "They can't be burned, poisoned, or blinded, and they are difficult to harm with sonic or frigid energies." She smiles at Kallie, trusting her friend will notice the rare exception.
Hearing Jaya's description, Croq replies with a grin, "But they can be clobbered, right?"
With that, she flies her trusty carpet up beside the nearer and begins belting out another rousing war ballad.
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"Clobbered, sure. But also amused," Kallie says while throwing some tiny fruit tarts at the closest one while waving a feather in a ridiculous manner.
The Shining Child facing Aurealia and Croq quickly falls to the ground giggling. Naturally, the laughter of "extradimensional star remnants" incarnate proves to be rather... unsettling. Alas, the other Shining Child is unaffected by Kallie's spell.
Cai'nan and Thalanir wade into melee to assist the Andosana Siblings. Cai'nan closes the distance very quickly and manages to sink his teeth into the arm of the laughing false celestial. Despite being far slower, Thalanir's sheer size allows him to lash out from a good distance away, though the awkward angle of his attack causes it to go wide.
Galatea fades from sight, and going by her footsteps, you suspect that she's falling back toward the casters. Meanwhile, Cheshire lashes out again at the false celestial before her. While she manages to land a vicious bite, her opponent easily dodges her first claw swipe. However, just as her second claw attack seems like it will miss, it... doesn't and cuts deep into the tigress' foe.
With the western Shining Child out of commission, East and West stare angrily at the eastern one, but it shrugs off their efforts to petrify it.
The western Shining Child continues cackling, unable to do much else as a result. This clearly enrages its eastern counterpart, who snarls and unleashes a burst of blinding light that leaves Galatea and the two medusae blind and reeling. Speaking of whom, the eastern Shining Child tries punching Cheshire (who luckily averted her gaze at the last second) in the face again, but Galatea's ward absorbs all the damage. The creature growls in annoyance, now finally realizing that Cheshire is by and large immune to its attacks...
Aurealia shakes off the blinding effect, stepping to her right and leveling a a slash and thrust combo on the closest Child.
Kallie screams as her eyeballs are burned away. Oh, gods. I don't think dispel magic is going to work this time.
"Hells!" Jaya complains. "Galatea, can you tend to this?"
Not good. Not good. Not g-- Kallie's burgeoning panic is arrested when she keeps hearing the cackling of the other shining child. That... that could work.
Honing in on the enforced laughter, Kallie moves blindly through the battlefield to stop at the shining child. Then she starts casting mind swap.
"I can! I know the Heal spell!" Galatea's disembodied voice says to Jaya. "I only have four uses, though..."
Kallie's eyes snap open a second after she casts her spell. For the second time in her life, she finds herself with four limbs instead of six. Kallie also sees... herself, laughing like she just heard the world's funniest joke.
While Thalanir manages to look away in time, Cai'nan is unfortunately blinded by the the burst of false celestial light.
Hehehe... nice. Kallie floats into the air, staring at her body in the throes of her own spell. She takes a moment to marvel at the glowing hands she now inhabits and to revel in the sight that had been stripped from her. She opens the mouth of this body to explain what happened, but nothing comes out. Huh. Okay, let's see if this works.
"Hey! It's me, Kallie! I took over the other shining child! So don't stab me!" she thinks loudly at her companions.
Aurealia pauses mid wind-up, squinting at the thing suspiciously. But, seeing that Kallie's body is laughing insanely, she decides to go with it for now. She shifts to the right and takes a couple swings at the other child.
When Croq sees her allies starting to succumb to the blindness, she ends her song with a dramatic drumroll and a wink toward Jaya, hoping to embolden her to stave off the blindness.
She's then about to whollop the villain before her...when Kallie's magic takes effect. Croq also stops midswing, confused, but follows her always-sharp sibling to attack the other one instead.
As she flies over she starts singing again, and prepares to smash their one remaining threat. As she does, she calls out, "Kallie, do we need to tie you up? Old-you, I mean? Maybe a hug from Thalanir?"
"Well, precision destruction, much of which should be nonlethal? I leave you all to it. Please do speak up when we've triumphed?"
With that Jaya vanishes and slowly walks away.
With Kallie occupying the body of the previously cackling Shining Child, Cai'nan swiftly directs Thalanir to attack the other false celestial. However, his blindness causes him to stay his... claws (talons?) and refrain from acting himself. It takes the full round for Thalanir to slither over to his new target.
Cheshire continues swinging away at her opponent, landing one claw swing this time. Meanwhile, going by Galatea's grumbling, she clearly does not want to waste a valuable Heal spell just to restore her eyesight. However, going by her subsequent chanting, Gali once again proves to be ever the pragmatist.
Not wanting to turn her best friend Kallie into a statue, West focuses her angry stare at the other Shining Child. She also sighs as a panicking and blinded East stumbles over to her side. In a bid to comfort the other medusa, West quickly but gently locks arms with her.
"Kallie" suddenly stops laughing. However, the new resident of the centaur's body proves to be too confused by the Mind Swap to act. Meanwhile, the eastern Shining Child vanishes and then reappears hovering several feet in the air above Kallie.
::GET OUT OF THERE!::
Clearly, the Shining Child recognized the spell you just cast.
Aurealia jogs after the remaining foe, stabbing at it with her polearm.
Croq looks a bit crestfallen that her dramatic flourish hadn't been enough to stave off Jaya getting blinded, but she carries on: surfing back over while starting to sing again.
Inauspicious start for a mind swap. Can't speak, no natural weapons to speak of... and an irate mate, Kallie realizes. Better to use the spell to eliminate this body.
She rushes over to Croq, while drawing a finger across her stolen body's throat. She then holds still while offering an easy target, hoping that the Andosana sister will realize that Kallie wants her to slay this body.
Jaya sits and waits. At least it sounds like we're winning.
Croq looks a bit crestfallen that her dramatic flourish hadn't been enough to stave off Jaya getting blinded, but she carries on: surfing back over while starting to sing again.
Cheshire chases after the Shining Child that just teleported away, running through the air like it was solid ground before pouncing. With a Bit of Luck, the tigress manages to tear apart the false celestial creature limb from limb. Meanwhile, Croq quickly catches on to what Kallie is "saying" and swiftly removes the head from Kallie's borrowed body, leaving the enchantress blind again a second later and a sudden silence over the battlefield.
"Alright, I didn't... see," Gali pauses and lets out a groan at her unintended pun before continuing, [b]"who got blinded back there. Who needs healing?"
"I can still see," Aurealia says, taking stock of her wounds. "I am a bit battered though."
She slings the celestial goop off her blade, wiping it clean on the ground before leaning on the pole like a staff while she catches her breath.
"I am quite blind. It may be worth procuring a few scrolls to remove this condition the next time we return to civilization. Just for efficiency's sake."
"I completely agree, Jaya," Galatea mutters with a sigh.
"I averted my gaze in time, but I think they got Eura!" West says, waving her free hand. She points to Eura (formerly known as East), still clinging to her.
"It's so dark, Zephyra..." Eura murmurs, finally revealing West's real name as well.
"Well, this presents quite a conundrum. Going by the annoyed growls of Cai'nan over there, it appears that four of us are blind, and I only have three Heals left," Galatea remarks. She pauses for a few seconds before fetching her Bag of Holding III and pulling out a bulky stone tablet. "Well, I was keeping this for an emergency. It's that tablet scroll of Heal we found at the unexpected family reunion a few weeks ago."
You immediately know what Gali means; it's part of the treasure from the Shrine of the Seal, where you reunited with Marjorie and met "Tunessa" and Bruno.
"I'm happy to use all four, but after that, I'm basically tapped out. It'd probably be wise if we settled here for the day."
"At this point, I'm not exactly overflowing with magical potential myself, though I'm not completely tapped," Aurealia remarks. "I'm fine with sleeping here, as long as we're pretty sure we won't be ambushed?"