Constantine’s swordstrike nearly lands but it slips off at the last second. His vestments seem to be magically enhanced just barely enough to deflect such a blow.
Emma resists the Mayor's spell then lunges and cuts him easily. She no fear clouds her mind and her righteous fury continues to beat back her opponent.
Majara’s bomb explodes right at the feet of the creature she once thought was named Leonard Kreigler. The fire engulfs the Faceless Stalker and it screeches in pain.
Elias nods at Majara and scrambles away from the bomb at first, but then something familiar to Majara glimmers in his eye. Hope? Wrath? Hard to say. He clutches through the cornhusk-ridden dirt and retrieves a fallen rusty sickle. A crude instrument used by peasants, but it was still sharp. He turns to face Leonard with that same glimmer in his eye.
The spider creature leans over the side of the building and slings a net of webs at Emma to stall her approach. It seems she recognizes the threat a Paladin poses to an evil-doer.
Meanwhile, the Faceless stalker finds its attention torn between Hannelia, Majara and Elias. Until a fourth takes its full attention with his screaming. Roger leaps forth, interposing his body between the creature and his allies, but alas, stumbles in his strike against it. The creature takes advantage of his momentary recklessness…
The scythe connects and makes a shallow cut into the older adventurer. But the creature's other limb lashes out and hits Roger in the ribs, causing pain to radiate out from the point of impact. Its claws fail to find purchase in Roger's clothes and armor, allowing him to extricate himself from the creature's grasp.
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Still feeling his bones shaking with latent fear but emboldened by his friends doing what they can all around, Constantine ends the Iomedaean prayer with a shout. "Journey before Destination!"
With everything in him, Constantine surges forward and slashes, trying to kill this treacherous mayor before he and his cult can do any more damage. Would it be enough?
Constantine's blade slices through the Mayor, causing a devastating wound. But the villain still stands, if only just.
"Back! Away outsiders! You don't know what you're doing!" Only blood can contain the land's corruption! This does not end well for you if I die! the Mayor cries, menacing his spear for a moment. He backs away again and casts another spell, transforming into a cloud of mist.
The physical wounds she is carrying are playing out as fog in Hannelia's head and she is struggling to think clearly. From her position in the middle of things she watches Constantine land a mighty blow against Mayor Kriegler. Good. That's good. But his swing is not quite powerful enough and she can do nothing as the servant of an unholy power steps back, intones a few words and his outline fades away.
"Damn it," she coughs, causing spasms of pain to shoot through her body. This seems to make up her mind - she doesn't have much of a shot at the faceless stalker and arrows don't look like they would do a lot against the mayor like that, but Emma's enchanted blade channelling the power of Iomedae just might. "I'm coming, Emma," she calls, before pushing through the pain barrier to close the distance to the paladin.
Having already cut Roger free from the aranea's webs - how many hours ago does that feel now? she wonders - Hannelia is able to draw on her earlier experience to make a few judicious cuts to the webbing. As a result, the strands that had bound Emma fall away to the floor. She reaches up a hand to her friend's shoulder and places the other in the small of the paladin's back in a slightly awkward half-hug. In reality the manoeuvre was more to keep herself upright after the exertion than to wish Emma luck, but Hannelia keeps that to herself. "Don't let the bastard get away," she commands.
Majara has too many things to keep track of-- the shifting thing in front of her, the mayor, the spider creature, Elias...
"Are you mad? Pull back, Kyle. A stiff breeze would knock you over," she says tersely, and once again tries to barrage the shifting-thing with more fire.
Despite her blunt words to Elias, Majara smiles at a dead-on shot. That's better. She flicks a glance back in time to see the mayor's spell, and her smile fades to a scowl.
"You can't cut a mist apart with mere steel! Only weapons with enchantments!"
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"Aarrrg-" Roger's taken aback and nearly felled by the blows, but the hearty old pirate manages to keep his feet with the aid of his polearm. "I won't go down that easily ye woobly wavy wacky faceless freak!" He lets anger and adrenaline dull the pain for now as he keeps fighting.
Amidst the chaos of the fight, Emma is caught off guard when the spider creature shoots webbing at her, entangling her before she can continue her attack on the Mayor. Struggling against the sticky bonds, she can only watch as the Mayor bursts apart into a cloud of mist and begins to flee.
No! she thinks to herself. We can't let him get away after all this!
And then Hannelia is there, swiftly cutting away at the webs that bind her. Hannelia staggers for a moment, and Emma winces at how hurt her friend seems. Her first instinct is to try and heal her up some - but then Hannelia braces herself against Emma and rasps out a command. "Don't let the bastard get away."
Emma gives a jerking nod. "Thank you," she whispers, making eye contact with Hannelia as she briefly squeezes her shoulder before heading off after the Mayor.
"Mayor Kreigler!" Emma thunders at the mist. "Foul one! You're not getting away! Not from this! You WILL face justice for what you've done here!"
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Elias just looks at Majara and his face hardens, but he still says, "I have to. You would do the same. I won't be foolish about it." He picks himself and his weapon up and prays. He considers charging in for a moment, but the creature's speed and reach present a wall of steel and fists. Instead he shouts at Leonard, "Hey ugly!" before throwing the sickle at the creature to distract it. It largely ignores his ineffectual attack. Elias drops to the ground to gather another sickle.
At the other end of the yard, Iomedae's holy wrath channels through Emma's sword and forces the ephemeral Mayor back into corporeal form. Redemption finds him and he coughs blood on the paladin.
He pulls Emma in, pushing the blade into his stomach deeper. He murmurs,"Only blood... My blood... Can contain it... you fool." He smiles for Emma's benefit, but tilts his face to Constantine before slumping over a moment later, sliding off the longsword.
Majara and Roger get clean hits onto the Stalker. It continues to screech in pain and rage. Bloodied but not beaten, it closes with the veteran adventurer and savages him with a flurry of quick strikes. Elias makes a choked noise and murmurs a curse as Roger falls.
The Aranea continues slinging webs from a safe distance. This time she targets Hannelia, covering her in webs. She coils up like a spring, or like a cat preparing to pounce.
The Mayor's back explodes with wet gore and viscera, and a set of iridescent wings unfurl from it. Like a butterfly from a macabre cocoon, a human-sized insect extricates itself from Andretti Kreigler's corpse. The wings, still slick, cling to the creature, it may not be able to fly yet. It looks almost like a stirge or a mosquito, engorged with blood, and covered in demonic spines. It's proboscis, extends nearly the length of its body, giving it longer reach than mere humans and their swords.
The air stagnates and somehow smells more foul than before. To a supernatural degree. It becomes like molasses to walk through. Only an effort of pure will can push through it.
This is a Blightspawn. An avatar of Ghlaunder.
These parasites must gestate in the body of one of the God's true believers. To the faithful of Ghlaunder, being host to an immature blightspawn is a great honor, for when the monster bursts from the body of its host, the host’s consciousness lives on in some way in the blightspawn’s mind, almost as if the host had reincarnated into the monster.
The creature is resistant to conventional weapons (DR 5/Magic), Immune to acid, cold and poison, and has a venomous sting and can drain blood. It also has a Stagnation Aura, which slows creatures and fouls liquids of all types, including magical potions. (DC 14 or be nauseated for 1d3 rounds)
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Constantine becomes aware of the temporal disconnect between his mind and his body: his perception and his behavior. Although he remains inherently aware of what's going on around him--and more importantly, what he does understand, his ability to react appropriately degrades.
It's distraction. It's horror. It's enough fuzz in the wires to shortcircuit his reactions just enough that he'll make more mistakes. It's enough.
But it's not more than he can handle.
If I can't get to it, I'll just have to get ready for it to come to me. And the sword already feels heavier. What's a few extra pounds?
And his sword pulses with spirals of indigo.
The creature spilling out of the body of Mayor Andretti Kreigler stumbles on it's many legs before it's stinger whips out at shocking speed towards Emma. But whether by skill, luck, or providence, she's able to casually avoid its deadly strike. It snaps out it's wings, shaking some of the blood and guts from them, but it still seems too heavy to fly.
Again-- there is too much to keep track of, visually. Roger is down, and there is some sort of ungodly squelching from behind her-- Majara dares a quick glance over her shoulder in time to register.... a blightspawn. Wonderful. The day continues to improve.
"Roger is down," she says quickly. "And that is an emissary of Ghlaunder-- strike with magical steel or strike very hard! No cold or acid or poison-- but it can still be burnt. It will wreck your potions, though." The last is said with particularly personal annoyance. Then, Majara has to look back to the immediate problem, which is that Roger is down, and she's the next closest to the stalker. ...or Kyle is.
Damn the stubborn man.
Majara takes another protective step backwards, having seen the reach of the shifter's arm, and quickly downs a potion while snatching another bottle into hand as well.
"Elias. I know you want to fight. But redemption is sometimes about helping rather than attacking. I'm going to try to keep this thing busy-- pull back to the center of things and be ready to grab my potion and take it to someone who needs it... the man before us if you can do it safely, or Hannelia."
Majara keeps her eyes on the faceless stalker during her words, warily thinking how best to deal with it.
For a brief moment, Hannelia's heart fills with hope. Emma is indeed able to bring down the insubstantial form of Mayor Kriegler as he attempts to flee. Battered and bloodied they might be but she is optimistic that they can regroup and end the grip of evil holding Ravenmoor for good.
That hope lasts only as long as it takes for a wicked-looking giant insect to burst from the mayor's corpse. Revolted by the sight of it, she has no time to even consider what it may be because she is immediately overwhelmed by a buzzing sound inside her head that is making her brain feel fuzzy and her limbs feel heavy. Forcing herself to concentrate, she is able to maintain focus but while she is preoccupied, the aranea slings another web, this time in her direction, and it wraps her up tightly.
Without easy access to a blade, it turns out that wriggling free from the tangled mass of strands is considerably more difficult than cutting someone loose from the outside and Hannelia is unable to free herself
She hears Majara call from the other direction and turns to see the faceless stalker has knocked Roger to the floor. Hannelia understands the words but isn't sure she is processing them properly. A divine emissary? Is this what Constantine was eliding to when he said he had seen too much? What chance do we have in the face of the vessel of a god? Still struggling against the bonds, her morale sinks further. Is this the end? Are we all doomed then, to die or go mad in the face of Ghlaunder? If indeed the faceless stalker doesn't finish me off first, she concludes blackly.
Hannelia tries to push the rising sense of fear and despair away, drawing on a tiny ray of light: the sight of Elias Kyle courageously - if perhaps foolhardily - entering the fray. That's how to do it: if we're going down, at least let's do it fighting.
"Roger," she calls out to Elias and Majara. "If you can get him on his feet then please do." She glances again to the insectoid godspawn, a nauseating scent filling her nostrils. "If we need to hit it hard to bring it down then Roger can hit it a lot harder than I can." That looks to be easier said than done given the lurking presence of the stalker might well just dump the pirate straight back to the floor, but she hopes the two old comrades can conjure up some kind of route out of their current predicament.
For a moment, as the Mayor falls, Emma feels a surge of triumph - perhaps things have turned in their favor after all.
But then things, perhaps not unsurprisingly, take a turn for the worse. And it all seems to happen at once. First, she hears that Roger has gone down - not good at all, given the odds against them at the moment. Second, she watches as the Mayor begins to twist and break apart. Emma takes a step back in disgust as a demonic looking mosquito rises up out of the corpse of the Mayor and wastes no time in attempting to attack Emma. She's able to block it, but then something happens - something magical - and she finds herself struggling to move, as though the air has turned to molasses around her.
Not good. Not good at all. And the others are likewise occupied with the other major threat at the moment.
Elias nods to Majara before taking the potion in his free hand. He says quietly, ”Lead him away. I’ll revive your friend.” Glancing at Roger, he disappears into the crumbling side of the barn.
The faceless creature proves Majara's latest infusion to be extremely potent. Its strikes glance and slide off the force barrier and her small stature let's her dodge the attacks with ease.
The Aranea descends from the rooftop, leaping onto Hannelia with its venomous fangs. Unable to move, Hannelia is helpless to defend herself from the spider's bite. It pushes through the Blightspawn's aura, seemingly with little difficulty.
The insectile creature attempts to lash out again with its spiny proboscis, but continues to stumble ineffectually instead. It flicks the last of the gore off of its wings and its wings start to buzz, but it does not take off yet.
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Majara's eyes slit as she regards the horror coming closer, but she ducks the claws easily enough. The damn thing's long arms are a great inconvenience, she muses. In order to clear a path for Elias, she'll need to pull back to the center of things herself....
With some distance between her and the stalker, Majara hurls not directly at the monster, but at the ground near its feet. Roger is too close to risk a direct attack.
"Come and get me, you.... woobly wavy wacky faceless freak." She'd liked that, from Roger. It had almost sounded Gnomish.
The creature leans out of the way to dodge the bomb, but Majara throws it exactly where she means to. Behind him. The explosion catches the creature off guard and it flies forward landing on its stomach. You expect it to scramble back to its feet, but it never does.
Elias Kyle takes the opportunity rush in and try to revive Roger with a potion. He tilts the vial down the pirate's mouth, holding his head in place. "Wake-up wake-up..." he urges.
Like the proverbial fly trapped in the spider's web, Hannelia can only watch and writhe in horror, firmly entrapped in a thick film of strands, as the aranea leaps nimbly from the rooftop and bears down upon her. As it sinks its fangs into her, Hannelia sways but somehow stays on her feet. The puncture wound where the vile creature had broken her skin flares hot for a moment but mercifully fades.
Whether it is the sheer panic with the giant spider still looming far too close for comfort or that her previous attempt had loosened the bonds somewhat, with an effort Hannelia is now able to slip loose. Staggering, she throws her arm with the buckler attached up in a vain effort to block a strike at her vulnerable back and moves as quickly as her wobbling legs will allow her towards Majara and - miraculously - Roger, who she realises Elias has got back on his feet.
"Hhoolldd oonn Eemmmmaa," Constantine drawls as he holds his sword aloft and calls on the spirit of his father, dwelling within. The blade, the cutting edge of which had already been restored by Father Ruvarra back in Saringallow with Erastil's blessing, glows anew with the latent arcane energies it once held. It awakens to take on the emissary of the Dreaming Host. He steps closer, shoulder to shoulder with his comrade, his friend, to rage against the blightspawn.
As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus and touch a weapon to grant it an enhancement bonus. The bonus is equal to 1 + 1 for every 6 occultist levels you possess (to a maximum of +4 at 18th level). Enhancement bonuses gained by this ability stack with those of the weapon, to a maximum of +5. You can also imbue the weapon with any one weapon special ability with an equivalent enhancement bonus less than or equal to your maximum bonus by reducing the granted enhancement bonus by the appropriate amount. The item must have an enhancement bonus of at least +1 (from the item itself or from legacy weapon) to gain a weapon special ability. In either case, these bonuses last for 1 minute.
Hannelia flees the giant spider, opening herself up to further attack. The fangs sink deep into her side, but she's able to separate herself from it despite the painful wound.
Roger heaves too and stumbles his way to the wall of the shed. "Arrr.. Not much of a morning riser- Thanks Eli, we still fighting? Oh barnacle'd backsides..." The sounds of battle quickly give him an answer as he winces.
As she stumbles away, her legs pumping to get moving again, the spider lunges at Hannelia once more. Ducking just under the hastily thrown shield, it bites her flank, finding an exposed spot, and this time the wound burns hot and flares up. She doesn't know for sure but it seems likely that the aranea's fangs had delivered some kind of venom that is now spreading through her body. Moving past Majara, Hannelia comes to a halt, her breath rasping and heavy but she is free from the spider's many-legged clutches - at least for the moment.
Emma nods to acknowledge Constantine, but doesn't try to speak while under the effects of whatever this spell is. Better to keep her focus on the big ugly.
This is what I get for tempting fate about wishing we were still fighting bugs, isn't it? she thinks sourly to herself. Careful for what you wish for I suppose...
Still, even though her movements have been slowed, she's still able to attack the monster so long as close enough - and with Constantine standing nearby, hopefully that will be enough to discourage it from leaving. Better for this thing to stay focused on them - and hopefully the others are doing well enough, at least well enough that she and Constantine can try to finish this thing off before going to help.
The giant spider creature's venom courses through Hannelia's veins. She can feel herself succumbing to it, her strength sapping.
Apparently satisfied with the damage done to her prey, she waves her front arms, like a wizards hands and unleashes that same chittering noise "Rest child." she murmurs. A host of glowing moths surrounds Majara, inhibiting her volition.
Majara turns to prepare to barrage the spider with fire.... but all of a sudden her eyes are heavy, her limbs leaden....
"Oh, fudge," she mumbles in disgust before she drops limply to the ground under the crowd of glowing moths.
Though it feels like he's trying to wrench his blade through the waters of a bog, Constantine knows that if he can get enough momentum in his blade without telegraphing exactly what he's doing that he might just be able to make this eldritch abomination quiver in pain. He grits his teeth, conserves his motion, and wheels his arm about in a tight circle.
Majara's fallen unconscious, Constantine and Emma find themselves supernaturally slowed by the Blightspawn, Roger is only barely standing behind the farmhouse, and Hannelia is weakened from the Aranea's bite.
The Aranea stands in the middle of the party, while Constantine and Emma find themselves engaged with the Blightspawn.
Constantine's strike luckily finds flesh. His magically heavy blade cleaves into the creature, eliciting a shriek of pain.
The winged creature starts buzzing away, guarding its retreat, fleeing away from Emma and Constantine.
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The aranea suggests to Majara that she take a nap and the magic interwoven in the command is such that the gnome slumps to the floor. Unfortunately Hannelia is unable to ascertain exactly what kind of spell has been worked.
Her body is, however, able to control the flow of poison in her body and start to expel it. She's still weakened however, but she takes a step forward and with all of her remaining strength, Hannelia hurls a tanglefoot bag at the aranea with a grunt. Let's see how you like it, she thinks as the thick, resinous substances burst out all over the creature's numerous legs.
"Roger!" she calls behind her, "If Desna is smiling down upon this village at all then I've got an immobile target for you. I'll do my best to keep you on your feet." She glances over at the dozing gnome and with more than a touch of concern in her voice adds, "Mr Kyle, if you're able to see if Majara is responsive that would be appreciated."
Elias hurries over to Majara to defend her while she falls unconscious. He brandishes a sickle between him and the spider shakily.
"Hey!" he hisses and curses as he shakes her as hard as he can. "Majara! Wake up. Hey! No dying, yeah?"
He looks at her meaningfully as he shakes her out of her stupor. He sighs with relief as she awakens.
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Roger himself was considering taking the time to recoup, but a quick glance around shows plenty of others in dire situations.. At Hannelia's urging, he steels himself for one more throw down.
"Alright... Ye can do it, once more." He mutters to himself, resting best he can with his battered body against the wall before he winces and pulls himself together to charge into the fray.
"RAAAA-oh scuse me Hannah, just gotta-AAAAAA!" His charge takes a quick stop to shimmy by Hannelia before resuming to attack the spider.
Majara finds herself staring up into Elias's face gazing down at her with a mixture of relief and urgency. For a moment she's decades in the past. Happier times, by some peoples' measures. Zuke and her and Elias and...
Majara has her own measuring cups, as it were, and the voices around them are newer voices, voices that belong to the now. From her position flat on the ground, Majara takes in an upside down view of Roger tangling with the spider-horror, and the buzz of wings...
Ah. Right. The flyer. Ranged support, that's her role.
The gnome uffs to bring her legs up to her chest, then forward, and uses the momentum to roll to her feet, ignoring the way the world swims crazily around her. No possible way to assault the spider without inflicting peripheral damage on Roger, and... he really doesn't look as if he can stand much 'peripheral', as it were.
The insect-thing, then. Majara takes a small, wobbling step forward to try and get that much closer, and then lobs a bomb in an underhanded arc, sweeping her hand up and letting it go in an oddly gentle arc towards the flyer. She'll have to trust to her muscle memory as her vision keeps being unstable.
Emma's flash of approval as Constantine takes a swing at the blighted monster quickly fades as the beast begins to lift away from them, heading out of their range. No! she thinks angrily to herself.
Gritting her teeth, Emma maneuvers past Constantine and heads outside, the magic restraining her movements and making it feel as though she's trying to charge through a muddy river bank. That had been a particularly poor part of her training - trying to keep up endurance while running through adverse conditions, like mud, sand, rocky terrain, and so on. Not only had it been taxing physically, she'd then had to clean her armor afterward. Truth be told, running had never been a favorite activity of hers, not least of all because she tended to favor heavier armor, which made it--
Focus! she thinks to herself angrily. While her movement had been slowed, her thoughts had not.
She manages to get outside of the barn and gazes up at the blighted creature - but for the moment, thanks to the spell, simply getting out of the barn had been taxing enough.
Suddenly, the spider transforms in a puff of glittery dust. The old lady from before cowers, hunched over in a knitted shawl.
"Wait! Noo please! You wouldn't hurt an old lady, would you?" she cries. She makes an attempt to shield her face with her hands, but the tanglefoot bag has bound her limbs together, making it awkward.
She seems cowardly. She's not lying and she'd probably escape sooner than continue to fight.
Unable to pursue the insectile demon, Constantine turns his attention toward the last remaining combatant. She seems to have surrendered, but you can never be too sure. Surrounding her could ensure no funny business occurs. It also gets him out of the slowing effect, his movements restored.
The Blightspawn summons some magical energy and darkness pours out from the scales and spines in its body until a sphere of blackness envelopes it.
"Then get on the floor and don't move," Hannelia replies curtly. She's not minded to be be particularly nice to the aranea - it has already fled once when the tables had turned against it and come at them again, and there's a very recent wound that is throbbing courtesy of its fangs. That said, Hannelia has no desire to run it through if it is indeed surrendering. "And you're not an old woman. Try to run or work magic and Roger here will not hold back. Nor will he be alone," she adds pointedly. To the others she says, "I don't think she likes the odds any more. Let's see if she is smart enough to listen."
She sees Emma and Constantine still struggling to shake off the fug cloud that the blightspawn has cursed their limbs with. In her weakened state and with no magic arrows she doubts that she could even hurt it. And that's before it sends out another pulse of magic, this time causing the light around itself to dim. Hannelia's mind is perhaps still shaking off the effects of the poison and she is unable to identify the aura. She makes a mental note to brush up on more spells, this having been far from the only enchantment she has been clueless about today. Grudgingly accepting that she has other skills she can offer, she is going to have to leave it to the others to bring down.
Instead she moves towards Roger and starts to work her healing magic. The pirate doesn't look any more stable on his feet than she feels, so Hannelia channels nourishing energy into him, feeling it spread out through the hand she places on his shoulder. "As promised," she says, though the smile she gives him is fleeting in the face of the significant threat they still face.
"What she said," Majara echoes Hannelia tersely, her eyes fixed on the flyer rather than the spider-crone. The darkness is an issue...
...but she prides herself on preparation. Majara's fingers dart into one of her pouches and pull a flask that glows softly even through opaque glass. Twist-and-wrench to unstopper the cork-- sunlight streams out around her fingertips-- and then....
....yes. Majara swivels to Hannelia, goes up on tiptoes, and dumps the oil into her quiver of arrows.
"What, we're really doing this? Accepting the spider monsters surrender?" Roger is a bit confounded by the turn of events. He levels his blade and eyes on it, ready for funny business.
"Emma, what's your take?" He figures if he asks the bug-phobic member of the party he'll get a more 'fun' answer'.
Emma catches Roger's eye. "You know my opinion on spiders," she mutters with a grim smile. "If I had a boot large enough, this one would already be stomped, rest assured. I'd be more than happy to help squash it still - if it comes to that. I'll follow Hannelia's lead on this one."
Now that she's finally outside, Emma narrows her eyes up at the sky and the disgusting form of the mayor. The paladin knows it's a long shot. But she's firmly annoyed at the fact that the Mayor turned bug creature was seemingly getting away - after all of that. So she ends up deciding to take a chance. She can't exactly move very fast, so giving chase is out of the question. Hopefully she can at least vent her frustrations and perhaps inflict a bit of damage in the process.
The old woman prostrates before Hanellia with her palms together in gratitude, "Ahh Dream Tender bless you, child!". She ducks low, keeping an eye on Roger and his lack of patience. She stays kneeling however, and doesn't give him a reason to skewer her.
Emma's javelin isn't able to make the distance to the Blightspawn as it hovers lazily above the withered corn stalks.
Constantine begins casting a spell which consumes all of his focus for the moment. He seems to be secondarily motioning toward Roger as the target of his focus.
The Blightspawn, sensing weakness dives toward Emma. Its proboscis ignites with the pale green glow of magic. As it touches Emma, she feels violently ill...
Hannelia is pleased that the aranea listens and gets to the floor - what happens next is a question for later. "Don't think about getting up," she replies tersely. "You have one chance only."
Instead she focuses her attention on the blightspawn. Stepping forward to get a better angle, she finds that with her strength sapped it's that bit harder than normal to pull back her bowstring. The familiar movement is reassuring, however, and she plucks out one of the arrows that Majara enchanted with magical oil. She doubts that she will be able to hurt it with its magical protections but provided she can hit it through the murk it has surrounded itself with, the light ought to cancel it out. "Let's finish this," she says, waiting one, two more heartbeats and then letting fly.
"Arr- Where'd me polearm get to-" Roger looks about unsure of where his weapon that was best suited to a flying opponent.
Majara darts forward, weaving between Hannelia and the old spiderwoman, her fingers once again reaching for explosives. An underhanded lob.. Emma will probably get caught in the splash... but Majara considers it worth the risk.
Emma's grip on her shield tightens, her knuckles whitening under the strain as she braces herself against the mayor-turned-bug-monster. The creature lurches down at her menacingly, its proboscis pulsating with a sickly, luminescent green hue that casts an eerie glow in the dim light. As the creature slams into her, Emma feels the impact reverberating through her, pushing her back into the cold dirt. Her boots skid, carving furrows in the earth.
A magical wave emanates from the creature, and Emma feels a nauseating lurch in her stomach, a momentary ripple of unease. But, she was a paladin - her resolve in the face of such things was unyielding. The sensation dissipates almost as quickly as it arose, leaving her unscathed.
"Nice try," she mutters, her voice laced with a hint of sarcasm. However, cursed by the slow effect, the creature is already retreating, its ungainly form too distant for her sword to reach.
With a growl of frustration, Emma reaches for another javelin. She had never had a particular fondness for these slender, pointed weapons, always preferring the heft and balance of a sword. For a fleeting moment, she entertains the absurd notion of hurling the pointy end of one of her swords at the creature. The image of accidentally impaling Roger flashes through her mind, and she promptly discards the idea.
"It's just not fair when the enemy can fly," she grumbles under her breath. With a fluid motion, she hurls the javelin with all her might.
The creature, as if mocking you, continues to hover just out of reach. Constantine finishes his spell with a glazed over look in his eye. Upon completing the spell, Roger balloons to double his original size, a veritable giant.
He charges in to Emma's side to try to aid her in the melee, wading through the Blightspawn's aura.
He's able to cut through it this time like a knife. When he arrives at Emma's side he notably makes no motion to acknowledge her, when previously he might have nodded in solidarity. His singular focus is occupied by the demon above them. He poises his blade to strike should the creature advance.
"Well ain't this a new sight- veritable crows nest my beard is now." Roger steadies himself, not quite as used to the size changing shenanigans as Constantine is.
"Someone babysit the spider!" Roger yells before attempting to engage the blightspawn.
The Blightspawn shrieks painfully as Roger strikes it. The blade finds purchase, but doesn't land as hard as it should have, Roger notes.
It seems to have found its mortality as it flees in a panic. It tries to extricate itself carefully, but because of Roger's newfound reach, its attempts at evasion are thwarted.
The once-mayor demonspawn attempts to flee, but Roger's blade catches it. Despite its hardy carapace, the wound is too great for the Blightspawn to carry itself. It tries to continue fleeing for a moment, before it slowly sags to the ground. It tries to continue claw its way through the corn before becoming unable to move.
The old woman lets out a cry as the blightspawn falls, but otherwise makes no move to attack. She looks concerned at the fallen demon, then at the 5 of you. "Dreamtender curse us all..." She crumples, further exaggerating her stooped posture.
Shel remains bound, doing her best to curl up into a ball to avoid getting hurt.
Constantine looks on in fascination, stretching his neck to watch the insectoid demon flail futilely in its death throes.
Hannelia breathes a huge sigh of relief as the giant Roger's blade swishes and catches the blightspawn a mighty blow as it attempts to fly off, before wobbling and crumpling to the ground. "Want to ensure it doesn't get back up again?" she asks Roger. Ordinarily Constantine does the honours, but she's concerned that her friend is still suffering the after-effects of his earlier exploits.
She looks at the aranea, pitifully curled up on the floor. "I think enough blood has been spilt today," she says wearily, hoping that she won't regret it. "My choice would be to give you a short period of time to pack up your things and begone from this place, never to return." Hannelia catches sight of Elias from the corner of her eye and a wave of disgust at his treatment washes over her once more. "Which is probably more than you deserve. But it's not just up to me and perhaps others are feeling less charitable. It would be hard to blame them."
Leaving it to the others to voice their opinions, Hannelia quickly makes her way over to Shel, crouching down beside her. "Shh," she says quietly. "It's over, Shel. You're safe." She looks into the girl's terrified eyes. "I'm going to cut you free, ok?"" She waits for confirmation that Shel has understood before drawing a blade, not wanting to scare her any further. She looks over her shoulder, checking to see if Anya Lupescu is still present. "Mrs Lupescu?" she calls.
"Right, so giving spider grandma a second shot, fair enough, but can I finish off the bleeding bug mayor?" Roger looks around to see if anyone disagrees.