Andochtuir holds back, unwilling to risk being taken unawares by the ghost corby. Behind him, Teruko does the same just long enough for Yuto to smash his flail into the ogre. The chains wrap around the creature's thick neck, and the spiked weights crash messily into his face. He groans and collapses in a tremendous heap.
With that chance, Teruko rushes to pick up her morningstar and hurl it in Andochtuir's general direction. It falls a fair bit short of the other chamber, though it does illuminate most of it to Andochtuir's elven senses. In the corner, he sees the pale-feathered dire corby, glaring at him murderously.
Not wanting to waste this valuable opportunity granted to him, Andochtuir briefly nods to Teruko in thanks, then quickly follows the ghost - taking care not to trip over his own Fauchard or Torra's body.
He appraoches, only barely able to make out the ghost's form, but it was enough."No. You've done enough harm."
Andochtuir rushes forwards, striking at the ghost corby. The Phantom, however, dodges out of the way, easily evading the sword strikes.
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As soon as the ogre is down and he see's his opening Riftun rushes forward past the others, practically skidding to his knees by Torra's side as he taps the unconscious dwarf with Teruko's wand. "C'mon Torra please wake up!, Please, please, please, please-" He continues desperately as the wand works its healing magic.
Torra's body jerks and the dwarf scrambles wild-eyed as she tries to sit up, panting from fear and pain. Her panicked gaze flickers over her immediate surroundings as she quickly pushes herself upright, her back braces against the cavern wall.
"Where is it? Where is the Phantom?"
Her eyes land on the albino corby and she yells wordlessly as she raises a badly shaking hand to hurl a stony projectile at the assassin.
Riftun rushes forwards, before using Teruko's wand to heal Torra. For her part, the kineticist rises gingerly to her feet, before blasting at the ghost corby. The Phantom dodges, however, and the earthen projectile cracks against the wall behind her.
The dwarf-sized birdwoman lashes out with her claws at Andochtuir, infuriated. She rips through his magical shield, tearing open his torso with vicious talons. Her other claw swiftly darts in, shredding his chest even further and even slicing through his ribs. Coppery blood fills his mouth as he has to cough it out of his lungs.
With his injuries mounting but at least able to bar the way for now, Andochtuir grits his bloodied teeth and holds the door. He'd gotten a few hits in, but the longer this went on, the more he was forced to admit he was no match for the Ghost. Drawing on what was left of his strength, he made a few wide, sweeping motions, in hopes of keeping it off-balance.
"Hah," he spits out more blood. "Maybe you're stronger than I am, in the end. Or just very lucky. But you know... it doesn't matter, because I have allies."
And they had already just killed the ogre. All he had to do...
...was buy time...
Blood loss... not good...
Yuto recovers his resolve as the target of his challenge collapses.
Self-insured the victory is possible, the Tian moves towards the fight in the corner joining his arm to that of Andochtuir "No, we cannot let him escape now!"
Taking in Yuto's quick strike at the ghost corby Rifrun mutters a word of inspiration to aid in his friend's efforts. "Finish it Yuto!"
Seeing Andochtuir take two bad hits, Teruko immediately starts heading towards him. "I've got you don't-" Her voice cuts out abruptly as she stumbles. For a second it seems she might trip and fall to the floor, but she manages to regain her balance. "I'm sorry I can't...now is not the time."
Reaching out towards Andochtuir she uses the last dregs of her magic to heal the worst of his injuries.
Andochtuir fights through his pain, swinging his sword at the ghost corby, but the creature needn't even dodge, so inaccurate is his strike.
Teruko rushes forwards, casting the last of her spells on Andochtuir and bringing him back from the brink of unconsciousness - though he is nowhere near whole, he feels much stronger and more battle ready.
Yuto rushes forwards, whirling his flail in an attempt to strike the Phantom, and as it seems he's about to miss, Riftun's magically charged encouragement fills him with enough strength to strike home... only for the spiked head to deflect off of her mail shirt.
Riftun bites his lower lip in frustration as the Phantom manages to avoid harm once again. "Yuto, Andy team up she's slippery but she can't handle you both at once!"
Torra's shoulders slump in shame as Riftun focuses his attention on Yuto and Andochtuir. Of course, they were the effective ones, while her only use so far had been as a sheath for the Phantom's claws.
Ugh. Stop with the self-pity. Focus.
Riftun offers some insight to the two melee fighters as Torra blasts at the ghost corby again. The white-feathered fiend uses the woman's allies as cover, dodging out of the way of the attack.
With a shriek of fury, she lashes out with a frenzy of slashes at Yuto. The young samurai is taken aback by the sheer fury of her attacks, which knock his shield aside and rip through his armor. He manages to get the claws away from his throat, but she tears open a fearsome gash on his chest with her bloodstained claws.
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Teruko instinctively steps out of the way of Torra's blasts as she frantically tries to think of what to do. She offered Yuto all the protection she could and it wasn't enough. She could use her crossbow, but the creature seems to deflect all attacks with ease. She's out of spells, out of ideas...
You're a Kaijitsu. Act like it.
She fiddles with her sleeves and her dusty, blood-covered clothes transform into a formal kimono. Her face is set in stone, eyes locked on the ghost corby. "Phantom. By order of Teruko Kaijitsu, daughter of Lonjiku Kaijitsu, granddaughter of Rokuro Kaijitsu who once defended these walls, you are hereby sentenced to death. Accept your fate."
Fortunately, by grace of Yuto's arrival and taunt, the brunt of the attack is redirected to him, and through the haze of his heavy injuries Andochtuir could tell from the viciousness of the next two strikes that had Yuto not done so, the Ghost would have probably struck him down and escaped.
Not Yuto though. He remained standing, proud and strong. The irony; the Samurai was worth two of him yet somehow doubting his worth all the while...
The next moment he senses a gentle touch, and the worst of his injuries faded. Then Riftun's voice called out from the back, and he felt his focus return! Now if only he could do his part and get one more hit in against this thing! Everyone was counting on him!
The grip of his sword was slick with blood - whose he couldn't tell, and it almost slips from his grasp. But at least the swing looked like it was on-target!
Unable to do more, Yuto just keeps fighting, following Riftuns advise.
Andochtuir lashes out, his blade just barely striking through her mail shirt and cutting into her flank. The Phantom shrieks in furious agony, her crimson eyes flaring. She should fall, he feels, but she remains on her feet, stubborn to the end.
Perhaps because of her critical injuries, Teruko's words do have an impact on the ghost corby, who looks distinctly shaken at the words. She clatters her fanged beak, her expression hardening, but is still disturbed enough that Yuto manages to land another crushing blow on her shoulder, knocking her arm askew and breaking the collarbone.
With growing concern that the corby simply refuses to go down Riftun offers what little help he can. "Torra, i-it's all on you now, I know you're hurt but if you can hit her the Phantom shouldn't be able to take it. She can barely stand as it is."
I haven't hit her even once! I can't do this! Don't ask me to do this!
Torra almost squeezes her eyes shut as she direct one more attack at the Phantom, but the fear of hitting her allies is too great. She has to face her failures, after all.
Riftun announces some advice to both Torra and his other companions, and the dwarf is quick to act on it. Her blast, however, shatters against the ceiling above the dire corby's head, as the Phantom is quick to duck even in her critically injured state.
Reacting to his attack, the Phantom slashes at Yuto in turn. Whether because of her injuries, her mental state, or his own skill, she doesn't even come close to his armor.
Andochtuir attempts to make use of the situation with the phantom being distracted and attacking Yuto again, yet unfortunately his finely crafted blade is unable to pierce the Ghost's armor.
"Just a bit more, everyone. It's almost down!" he says in an attempt to encourage the others, then he continues holding the door on his end.
Yuto gasps, seeing how the phantom menaces to escape just once more "I-I can not!"
Teruko glances down at her crossbow briefly before disregarding it. Even if she could hit the Phantom, (unlikely, given Yuto is between them), the bolt wouldn't do much damage.
Instead she reaches forward and brushes her fingers against Yuto's armor. "Breathe. Focus. Remember your training and let it guide you." Her calm tone is a stark contrast to the chaos of the fight.
Andochtuir's sword flashes in the light of Teruko's mace, but once again deflects off of the mail the dire corby wears. Teruko quickly offers a spell to guide Yuto's hand, but to no avail - the avian creature evades his flail with some ease.
Riftun bites at his lip as the Phantom continues to avoid harm. She was a tough opponent, truly, but even she couldn't keep this up forever. He squeezes Torra's shoulder gently hoping to convey that he's there for her and she need not be upset with herself.
"Yuto Andy keep it up! She can't hold you bith off forever!"
Frustrated at her lack of success, Torra changes her tactic, deliberately aiming above the Phantom's head again in an attempt to distract her.
Andochtuir flinches from a sudden explosion over his head, and misses the target despite Riftun's advice. He makes an apologetic gesture once he realizes it was Torra's doing and continues blocking the exit for the nigh-unhittable ghost.
Riftun urges his fellows to victory, as Torra unleashes a blast in a deliberate attempt to ensure Yuto manages to land a blow. The ghost corby avoids the attack, but does end up with an opening for Yuto to exploit.
Before he can, however, she attacks again. The samurai is prepared, and she is badly injured, however, and he deflects her claws with his shield.
Andochtuir slashes at her again, but she bats his sword aside, blood flowing freely from her wounds.
Teruko bites her lip but reaches out to Yuto again. "You can do this. She's almost down."
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"This is not working..." Yuto manages to say while blocking with the shield yet one more attack "As Mayamoto wrote, if you want a new result, stop trying the same strategy"
With a quick movement of his arm, he attempts to coil the flail around the phanom's leg, and attempts to throw him prone to the ground.
If it falls, he shouts "Now Andochtuir!"
Teruko offers her magical guidance to Yuto once more, and the samurai takes advantage of it to whirl his flail's chains around the ghost corby's legs, jerking them out from under her. Unfortunately, this provides her with the opportunity to strike back at him. Even as she falls, she catches his stomach with a claw, ripping it open as she topples over.
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The bard is equally exhausted and incredulous that the Phantom is still holding her ground and even managing to dish out some more damage. Riftun shakes his head at Yuto's statement. "There is also the saying that 'if at first you don't suceed try, try again!'"
Torra continues the strategy of trying to distract the Phantom and set her up for a hit from Yuto.
The young bard continues encouraging his allies, and Torra tries again to help Yuto hit the bird woman.
For her part, she slowly clambers to her feet, but Yuto takes advantage of the chance, and smashes her skull in with his flail. She falls to the ground with a thump, silent forevermore.
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For a moment Teruko can hardly believe it. The Phantom had seemed all but untouchable. "And so the sentence has been carried out," she whispers. Then, louder, she says, "That was a great idea; tripping her like that. Well done." She gently squeezes Yuto's shoulder.
They're all alive. It had been their closest fight yet; with both Yuto and Torra nearly slain by enemies they didn't yet know were there. But they'd done it. They'd survived.
She reaches out to take the wand from Riftun, then pauses. "Where do we want to go from here? I have to admit I spent all my spells on that fight. Do we want to retreat or keep going? Or some combination thereof, where we check the immediate area for signs of Kelda but don't go too far? What we plan to do next will likely determine how many of the wand's charges we wish to use now."
"Th-thanks to you... Te-teruko Sama... you saved our lives. Thanks Riftun" Yuto looks down at the fallen Phantom, his hand trembling "At least we-we are safer now without the Phantom."
"The-the ogre was gross..." the man checks the rags on his clothes left despite the many healing "I-I think there was some kind of prison were the ogre was. We want to check if she is there at the least, before deciding if we go back."
Yuto searches the Phantom's body to see if he has any loot, and also recovers his katana before inspecting the ogre and his room.
Yuto checks over the Phantom's body and finds that she has a scroll in a pouch on her bandolier, a few shiny pieces of glass and a ruby in another pouch, and a shining shirt of what he slowly recognizes is mithril. Around her arm she wears a pectoral wrought of silver and marked with Desna's butterfly.
The ogre has some equipment worthy of note, though most of it is disgusting. Other than his club, he has a pouch that looks like it was made from something's stomach. Inside, Yuto finds a few shiny river rocks, a handful of dead turtles (already starting to reek), a masterfully crafted silver dagger, whose blade is covered in some sort of puslike substance, and a deep brown-gold stone. There are also three keys, and a significant amount of gold .
It was perhaps a rather morbid move, a tinge of irritation cracking through the normally friendly and pragmatic warrior.
But when Yuro finally downs the phantom, Andochtuir steps forward. "Well-struck, Yuto," he begins, also giving the warrior a pat on the shoulder but keeping his gaze on the Ghost, along with his weapon. "I honestly didn't think that would work, given how quick she was. But it seems there is wisdom in Mayamoto's words. Still... we can't take any chances, not with how dangerous it is. If the sight of blood and gore upsets any of you," -He glances briefly at Riftun and Teruko in a sympathetic and questioning manner- "I would recommend turning away now."
He then steps into position, trying to shield the view, and decapitates the fallen ghost with his blade.
"Where do we want to go from here? I have to admit I spent all my spells on that fight. Do we want to retreat or keep going? Or some combination thereof, where we check the immediate area for signs of Kelda but don't go too far? What we plan to do next will likely determine how many of the wand's charges we wish to use now."
"How is everyone on stamina and magic? I can keep going for a while, but I wouldn't object to a rest either. And while we could use the wands, with the ghost dead, it should be safer to track back to Spiffy. Er, I mean, Spivey, that is. Perhaps the azata can still heal us a bit as well."
After deciding on a plan of action, the half-elf aids Yuto searching the ogre's room and the prison (?) cells in it.
Inside the prison there are three iron-wrought cages. One, in the northeast, is empty of anything at all. The one in the southwest holds a pile of gear - a longsword, a suit of scale mail, a shield, and four javelins. The third, in the southeast, has a dirty and battered Ulfen woman with blond hair and heavy scars.
"No surprise our weapons had such a hard time biting him..." Yuto raises the chain shirt "Mithral... this stuff is quite valuable. Is it magical?"
The young man thanks Andochtuir shyly and disappears into the prison, not wanting to witness any of the dealings with the fallen phantom.
He wears news of the found equipment "Look here, it seems they left some equipment here."
"Go-going back to Spivey for so-some rest sounds like prudent"
When Andochtuir announces his intentions, Teruko's face pales but she does not look away. "Wise. I doubt she had any regenerative capability, or any friends capable of reviving her, but there is no point in taking chances. She's caused enough harm."
Eager to distract herself she immediately turns to the task of identifying the recovered items. Her businesswoman's eye immediately turns to the jewelry. "The ruby is very high quality and a decent size. Any jeweler would be able to turn it into a beautiful piece. And speaking of jewelers..." She turns the butterfly over in her hands, examining the way it's been etched into the silver. "Beautiful. We could sell this for a decent amount of money. However I'm inclined to offer it to Spivey for free, as a gesture of gratitude for her help." (Unsurprisingly she has far less success in identifying either of the magical items.)
Following Andochtuir and Yuto into the prison, she sees the Ulfen woman and immediately calls out to Riftun. "Riftun! We may have found Kelda!" Approaching the cage, she shifts to a far gentler tone. "Are you Kelda? Kelda Oxgutter? We've been looking for you if so."
Riftun can't hep but collapse to his knees after the intense fighting. The Phantom is finally dead and it almost seems unreal. She had been such a stunningly powerful opponent that there was a part of Riftun that had questioned whether they would be able to overcome such a mighty challenge.
When Teruko comes for her wand Riftun hands it over without issue unsure of where to even begin as he looks around at all of his heavily injured companions.
Tears fill his eyes as he sits, exhausted on the floor, painfully aware that he is the only one among the merry band who was left unscathed by both the ogre and the Phantom's vicious assault.
He quickly turns around and hides his face as Andochtuir goes to work decapitating the Phantom. His body trembles as he hides his head in his hands still coming to terms with the new violent world he finds himself a part of. "I-I'm almost completely spent as far as spells and abilities go but.. I-I'm willing to keep going as long as it takes until we find Kelda." The young bard mutters, unable to contain the wavering in his inflection.
After taking some time to recover Riftun goes about identifying the magical items left behind by their fearsome foes.
The act of identifying magical signatures helps to distract the young man, keeping his mind off the blood, death, and guilt. "W-Well, the scroll is a spell of Desna, it causes a kind of waking dream that puts the opponent in a haze. And the stone can summon an elemental of the earth plane."
Riftun's eyes go wide as Teruko calls out for him. It takes him a moment but eventually he's able to identify his friend. "KELDA!!!" He shouts rushing over to her side and gently squeezing her hand. "K-Kelda it's Riftun! We've been looking so hard for you! Please tell me you're alright. I'm so, so sorry it took so long to find you but I'm so glad I've found you."
A short while after finding the equipment, the group notices the person in the other cell, and Yuto smiles seeing Riftun recognizes her as the one they were looking for "Le-let's see if we can help her out of the-there"
The Tian takes the keys they found in the ogre and tries to open the cell using them "Wa-wait a second, we are on it" and if that fails, he tries to force the door open.
The Ulfen woman stirs, blinking at the light. Her lips twist in a fierce scowl, and she gets to her feet slowly. "Aye. I'm Kelda. Who're... Riftun? What're you doing here? And how'd you get down here without being imprisoned?"
The first key Yuto tries doesn't open the lock, but the second one does. Kelda limps over to the door, eyeing the others warily. She sighs. "I guess it really is you. Slow down, kid. You're talking too much too quickly."
Riftun is so excited to finally see his friend again and in relatively good health at that that the young man can't help himself but practically bounce on his heels until Yuto gets the door open.
When it does open Riftun makes to rush forward and embrace his long-lost friend but holds off at the very last second and just gives a very gentle squeeze and offers his shoulder as a support to keep her up.
"I have my new friends Torra, Teruko, Andochtuir, and Yuto to thank for that. I-It was their bravery and strength that go us to you... S-Sorry I'm talking so fast I just... I can't even express how happy I am to see you. A-are you alright? What have they done to you? W-We should get you out of here."
Torra shivers as the Phantom finally falls, turning away as Andochtuir makes sure she's down for good. "Why did she hate us so...?" the dwarf mutters to no-one in particular.
As the sounds of a more-or-less happy reunion sound from within the prison, she is glad for a distraction. "Ah, thank the gods you are alive, we've been looking for you!"
She nods wearily at the suggestion of getting out. "Yes, let's. We can probably rest a little with Spivey, and give her the relic."
Kelda grunts, nodding a greeting to the others. She looks at Riftun. "Nothing unendurable." She says bluntly.
"I have my new friends Torra, Teruko, Andochtuir, and Yuto to thank for that. I-It was their bravery and strength that go us to you..."
"Riftun underestimates his own contribution here, I fear. You're fortunate indeed to have such a reliable friend to save you, Kelda Oxgutter," Andochtuir cuts in, arriving from the back with his fauchard sheathed and cleaning his bloodied sword on a cloth. Satisfiend with the impromptu cleaning job, he puts the blade away and takes a step closer to the Ulfen woman. "How are you? Do you have any injuries that need tending? And are there any other Ulfen survivors here that you know of? If you can walk, we can escort you out back to camp so you can recover in safety."
He tried not to have his thoughts linger on how horrible it must have been to be the sole prisoner and perhaps plaything of the Ogre, given their infamous reputation...