The creature turns to Ahyoka a second before she fires the acid arrow at it, as if forewarned of the impending attack. It shifts slightly, narrowly dodging the projectile as it sails past! It then begins to attack Triel, swinging its icy blade as it fights with expertise!
Triel lets out a hiss of pain and retaliates with hasted scythe strikes of her own!
"where did... it come from?" Devie wonders aloud, a better question than her first thought about the practicality of flaming hair. But then the creature's sword cracking with frost rips into Triel, and all questions are abandoned other than how to hurt that creature back for hurting HER.
---
Taking to the air, Ahyoka's eyes go black as she begins to cast a spell, her words seeming to darken the very air around the creature as she reaches out to twist reality, and with it, the creature's wellbeing.
Having come just in time Hope watched as the first flurry of blows were exchanged and felt Devie's magic settle over her. Hope began moving with better accuracy as she unleashed a major blast of gravity at the attacking creature.
The creature dodges Hope's gravity blast and resists Ahyoka's curse. Both Triel and Devie land good hits on the thing, though the oracle does not confirm her critical threat.
In response, the monster proceeds to fold dimensional space around itself, making its true location difficult to discern. It then reaches out to touch Devie, trying to send her a few seconds into the future!
Lacking any idea of what else to do, Triel keeps on swinging!
Ahyoka sends a pair of bolts, hissing with negative energy and shadows, streaking past the creature, unable to properly discern it's exact location.
Hope was displeased with how her attack had missed and tried once again. A condensed ball of gravity flew towards her attacker a second time.
The armored warrior tries to step away from the thing trying to touch her, a very This Can't Be Good expression on her lovely face, before it is gone, and she is gone.
Ahyoka and Triel miss the foe, but Hope manages to blast the being, weighing down. The thing turns back to Triel and attacks again, scoring a critical hit!
Triel lets out a hiss of pain before retreating and healing herself.
The worst of her injuries heals itself in a glow of blue power. She sneers at the time-beast and grits her teeth.
Frustrated by her inability to hit the creature, and alarmed as it continues to deal blow after blow to Triel, Ahyoka sends a coruscating ray of energy out to strike at the being, seeking to drain it of the strength it is so brutally deploying against the Spiritualist.
Hope really wanted to really unleash on this thing as it tore into Triel but the fact they couldn't reliably hit it was a problem and she was unwilling to take the chance that she would suffer severe recoil only to miss it. Instead she pulled in power and then let loose an empowered blast of gravity knowing that this would be her best option for now.
+6=44
Ahyoka hits the being with a strength-sapping ray, then Hope delivers a powerful blast as Triel heals herself. The creature is severely wounded and weakened, but it refuses to relent. Unable to reach the flying spellcasters, it continues to swing on Triel, though much less effectively now. The drow avoids the attacks.
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Triel snarls and presses the attack.
"GIVE HER BACK!" She and Vindir roar in unison as the scythe comes down.
Triel slices the creature apart with her wickedly sharp scythe! The being crumples to the floor. Then it vanishes as abruptly as it appeared, and time immediately reverts back to normal. Devie pops back into existence in the same spot that she vanished.
The crowd around you murmurs in surprise as, to their eyes, you appear to have suddenly shifted position across the plaza. They are startled, but not outlandishly so--there is much magic in the air tonight, after all.
Sorshen takes notice as well, though, and the runelord looks quite concerned. "What just happened?"
Devie takes another step back to get away from the creature, but the creature is no longer there. At all. The look on her face shifts from fear of what its touch will do to surprise. "It touched me, then died??" she looks at her arm (where it had touched her) in wonder.
"...some sort of time-manipulating creature sent to kill us. It was intent on killing me, specifically." Triel pants as her adrenaline wears off.
Told ya so.
"Shut up, Vindir."
Devie waved at the mention of Vindir, then frowns at the fact it was trying to kill Triel "Is there any way to track who sent it?" her tone shifted from confused to wanting to destroy whoever did.
Hope was relieved to see the thing disperse once they had hurt it enough and breathed a sigh of relief. That could have gone much worse she was sure but they had made it through. As the questions were asked about what happened and if they could track the thing Hope said, "Time was stopped, or very slow," she shuddered as she remembered similar things in the past, in the Void between Stars, when she was given to the hole in the black."[/b] As far as tracking it she just shrugged and said, "I don't know."
"Astounding!" Sorshen exclaims. "If your actions are causing such ripples through the timestream, then you are important allies to have indeed. You must endeavor to stay alive long enough to complete these important actions you will apparently perform in the future."
The runelord reaches into her pocket and produces a small bit of agate. "I was considering feeding this to a pig and having you chase it down to recover it, but I think we're past the time for silly games. Please, take this to aid you in your quests."
Bells ring across the city to announce the arrival of midnight. "Ah, it is time for the main event. Shall we get a closer view?"
"Why not? If nothing else, we've proven that even time itself can't stop us." Triel chuckles.
...that was a terrible joke, Triel.
Oh, like YOU would have come up with anything better.
Landing beside the others, Ahyoka grins at Triel's joke. "It has been a most interesting night so far, why stop now?"
Hope nodded and said, "Sure." She hesitated a moment and then looked at Sorshen and asked, "Do you want a lift back down?"
Sorshen waves her hand at Hope. "Thank you, dear, but I can manage." She steps off the tower and gently levitates back to the ground, activating her magical disguise again. Together, you move through the crowd towards the effigy of Queen Ileosa. The plaza’s crowd grows quiet as it gathers around the effigy, leaving a 20-foot-radius area between the people and the effigy’s platform. The honor of lighting the statue’s crimson cloth drapery falls, as is tradition, to a woman who survived servitude as one of Ileosa’s Gray Maidens. She gazes solemnly out across the plaza, her face still bearing the scars of her ordeal.
As the former Maiden steps up to light the pyre, Triel notices something suspicious--an elegantly dressed and beautiful woman standing nearby seems to be praying to a softly glowing symbol clutched in her hand. The drow recognizes the symbol as being that of the Peacock Spirit.
A cheer goes up from the crowd as the statue’s drapery ignites, and within a few moments, the entire wooden effigy is burning brightly...
Before you can react to the chanting woman, seven other people in the crowd suddenly throw aside their drab cloaks to reveal their elegant peacock-themed outfits. With a shriek, they converge on you and Sorshen. "All runelords must burn before the fires of the Peacock Spirit!" one shouts as they attack! They aim precise punches towards you, one managing a lucky blow on Sorshen that leaves her stunned!
As usual there is no commentary or engaging wit from Devie as she attacks with her heavy blade. Not because she's trying to act like a serious warrior with only the Battle on her mind. Nope, the reason is because she simply cannot concentrate on two things at once.
With two ait shuddering hacks, the armored oracle tries to end the threat of the nearest one to her.
Triel rolls her eyes, unlimbers her scythe and swings at the robed idiot attacking her with their bare hands.
Hope had flown herself down to the ground and stood with the others watching the ceremony and was caught by surprise when the sudden attack came. She stepped back slightly so she had two of the attackers in a line, pulled in power, and quickly unleashed the ball of gravity sending it flying with enough force to knock back her target.
Responding to the attack, Ahyoka begins casting a spell, years of practice leaving no opening for her enemy as she once again manipulates time, accelerating the movements of herself, and her companions.
Fortunately, the cultists don't seem to be very hard to hit. Devie and Triel team up to cut down one of them, while Hope kills another with her gravity blast, hurling his body into a third man and knocking him down. Ahyoka casts haste on the party.
Sorshen recovers enough to defensively cast a spell, stepping through a dimensional door and getting to safety. The five remaining cultists turn on Triel and Devie, attacking them with their fists. None manage to land a hit.
The last cultist completes her prayer, and suddenly the effigy of Ileosa flashes with a blast of blue-green fire, and a tremendous, burning, peacock-like creature emerges from the flames with a thunderous cry. It flaps its wings, firing a ray of thunder and lightning that strikes the ground beside Devie, sending cobblestones spraying into the air!
Triel sneers at the cultists as her scythe flashes with arcane speed.
An awed surprise takes over Devie's face at the luminous bird, then nearly screams as the ground explodes next to her. She hacks almost in reflex at the cultists next to her. "Was the bird... in her?"
Seeing Devie and Triel easily handling the cultists, Ahyoka focuses her attention on the sudden appearance of the luminous bird, sending shards of pure force zipping toward it with a gesture.
With so many of the others unable to engage at range Hope shifted her focus to the big bird thing that had appeared. She pulled in power to lessen the recoil of what she was about to do some and then unleashed a massive blast of raw void energy, she added extra power to make it hit even harder and weight it down before gasping hard as the recoil hit her.
Triel and Devie team up to cut down another of the cultists. Ahyoka blasts the mystical bird with magic missiles, then Hope clobbers it with a powerful gravitic blast!
The fiery bird shrieks as it blasts Hope with a thunderbolt! It then flaps its wings as it swoops towards her to get within melee range.
The four cultists attack Triel and Devie, landing a few lucky hits.
Triel retaliates, her scythe swinging in elegant, carving arcs!
Devie ducks under one of Triel's elegant craving arcs, and delivers brutal blugeon-like hacks as counterpoints.
Hope was in really rough shape from the blast the creature struck her with before flying up in her face. She knew she was in a bad place but she was determined not to let it take her down without a fight. She stepped back from the creature and pulled in her power one last time before unleashing another blast of energy at the creature.
As Devie and Triel tear apart the remaining cultists, Hope gathers her power and fires it point-blank into the giant bird's face! The crushing force snaps the bird's neck, and with a final shriek, it plummets to the the plaza below. The impact hurls cobblestones into the air as the beast's fiery glow flickers and dies out!
The violence of the attack has dispersed the crowd, and after a few moments, Sorshen becomes visible once more. "We should not linger here. Let's go."
Triel gathers up the cultists' loot. "Right."
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Devie is disappointed the pretty fire bird turned out to be horrible, since it was so beautiful. The contrasting dark of Hope's blast against its vivid color made a lovely picture, and up for the disappointment.
It was only then Devie noticed how hurt Hope was and hurried over. "I'm a muddle, I'll never see things unless you yell at me."
Sorshen leads you back to the statue of her own foot, only seeming to relax once concealed within the shadows it casts. She dismisses her illusory disguise and sighs with relief. "Well, that certainly was an exhilarating ending to the evening, wasn't it? I would like to thank you for keeping me safe, and for being so friendly and helpful in showing me the sights of the city.
"Now then, I must urge you onward. Your most important goal for the moment is to prevent Zutha from returning. In time, I will aid you when you face the other runelords, but Zutha is the most pressing issue. Here, take this. It might aid you." She removes her enchanted scarf and hands it to you.
"If you would like to stay in Korvosa for a few days, I will mix up that perfume for you. If not, I will happily deliver it when next we meet."
Triel accepts the offered scarf. "...alrighty."
She then turns to the others. "Does anyone want to stick around Korvosa for longer?" She asks as she slides the scarf around her neck.
Devie seems to be entranced at the deep red against Triel's dark skin. "Um... I... maybe?"
Triel sidles up to Devie with a grin.
"Well, that's one tentative vote for 'yes'. Ahyoka? Hope?" She turns her eyes to the others.
...we should really talk to Hope. You haven't been paying her much attention lately. Or at all.
The drow's eyes soften a bit when they land on Hope.
Hope was glad the flying thing went down when it did, she couldn't have taken another round with it so it was for the best. With the excitement over with she staggered and nearly fell into Devie when she came up to heal her. While the worst, potentially lethal, wounds largely away the bruising from the use of her powers did not. What she needed was a good nights sleep. Consequently she was not focusing so well and was being of little help in making the decisions about when to leave the city.
"I think it will be for the best if we stay a bit, at least another night or two before traveling." Ahyoka says giving Hope a look of concern.
"Besides, I'd like to smell this perfume I've been hearing so much about." she continues with a grin. "That pop of color...matches your eyes!" she says of the luxurious scarf.
"Then I suggest we find ourselves some good lodgings and take some time off." She loops one arm around Devie and her other arm around Ahyoka's hips.
"Sounds good to me." Ayhoaka says with a warm throaty chuckle.