"I'll find out," Marius offered. The same thing was bothering him, and he was well placed to investigate it. With his flight spell active, he entered the room and simply ascended to a point where he could view the statues from above.
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Marius was mentally kicking himself for having used up his wall of ice spells - a well-timed wall would have given the people in chains footing for long enough to walk themselves clear of the fiery pit. Still, the uses he'd put the spell to had been logical. The glitterdust spell perhaps less so, given an invisible opponent. He could legitimately kick himself over that one. The first thing he was going to do on reaching some facsimile of civilisation would be to purchase or craft some wands stocked with good utility spells. It was a relief to hear that Sunny had a plan. That put him on either distraction duty or backup plan duty. Marius hung back for the moment, casting a fly spell to give himself some mobility for either eventuality and trying to figure out where the mechanism for the chains was, figuring their enemy would also be nearby. A couple of ideas occurred to him. Make that three. No, four.
The spell-storing hammer might be helpful for anyone comfortable using it, but now wasn't the time to imbue it with a spell. Examination concluded, Marius moved to support Sunny, ready to throw a spell at anything which might be lurking on the other side of the door.
"Another intruder perhaps?" Marius asked, settling on a hypothesis which seemed somewhat logical, if unlikely, "I don't know that I'd count on them being free or on our side though." He wasn't sure how long the naga had been dead, but certainly nobody had put paid to the demons in the adjoining cavern before they'd arrived. With Bryson having decided to check out the source of magic in the fountain, Marius stood ready to intervene if it all went horribly wrong. The smaller sources of magic could wait for the moment.
Happy to proceed whenever's convenient. No Tax Day over here.
"One of my thunderclouds wouldn't get them all at once, but it would chew through them over time," Marius noted. It didn't seem to be on the cards just yet, but he should probably hold it in reserve.
Marius really didn't want to pick a fight with a roomful of dangerous-looking baboons, but he suspected he would end up in one regardless. For now, he stationed himself in front of the door, ready to bottle it up with a thundercloud if need be. There might well be people in the pit. Maybe he should just start the fight and have done with it.
Marius coalesced back into human form, latching onto the wall with his spider climb spell and peering out into the rest of the cavern, looking for either more foes or for their missing crewmates.
The moment Sunny had pulled Burian clear, Marius conjured a wall of ice into existence between Bryson and the others. It wouldn't delay him long if he were to decide to plough through it, but it might at least buy them a few moments to regroup. Cutting Bryson off from the others might also cause him to focus on the single visible target, namely the remaining demon. Quite what they were going to do after that demon was dealt with, Marius wasn't sure. Bryson was showing no signs of regaining control.
Plainly outlined target or not, Marius didn't want to chance hitting anyone in the confusion. Thankfully, he could use a precision strike. Sketching a quick glyph in the air, Marius unleashed a barrage of magic missiles on the remaining bar-lgura.
Crown or no, Marius was looking very much the worse for wear, and had no interest in sticking around to be whaled upon some more, especially with a decidedly bloodthirsty-looking Bryson bearing down on the bar-lgura. Instead, he transformed himself into a whirlwind and rose up and away from the fight. He would take a moment to collect himself and check for any other enemies which might be lurking about. Then, given a clear shot, he could start raining magic on their enemies from above.
Marius didn't think he would be able to bring down his own opponent, but he could hope to keep it off the others' backs while they dealt with their own adversaries. With this in mind, he took a step forward to focus its attention on him before hurling a cloud of glittering dust in its face in an effort to blind it.
"Cold iron," Marius said belatedly, "They're resistant to magic, but it might also be effective. Lightning and poison won't hurt them."
"Don't let them grab you! They'll try and teleport you away," Marius warned, frantically running through his prepared spells for something decisive and coming up empty. He'd been genuinely hopeful about lightning spells, given their success in the last fight, but no such luck. Instead, he unleashing the old standby of his enchanted ring. Sooner or later, probably sooner at this rate, he was going to expend all its charges. Hopefully that wouldn't put him at the absolute mercy of this cursed island.
Well, so much for the element of surprise, Marius reflected. Given the seemingly multi-layered nature of the setting, he opted to quietly cast a Spider Climb spell so that he could move about more freely.
"There," Marius said, pointing at the other mirror, "The mirror's been turned into a dimensional aperture. We don't have much time before it closes, but we can hope there won't be any further obstacles in our path." Or ritual tests of loyalty or obeisances as the case might be. There was probably no talking Bryson out of taking the lead, but Marius would be close behind him. There had been some fairly impressive displays of spellcraft on display. One could hope though, that these reflected planning and preparation, rather than raw might. Otherwise, they could be in serious trouble. In the even that they survived this, Marius would be writing up some fairly extensive notes.
Marius ducked out of the way so that he was no longer blocking the possessed Sunny's line of sight to the mirror. He gave it a few moments to see if the=is would do the trick before calling, "Make her stare into the mirror!"
Marius lacked faith in the others' ability to pin the possessed Sunny down and drag her over to the mirror. Plus, communicating that plan to them might prompt her to bolt, and then where would they be? Instead, carefully placing his back to the mirror, he opted for taunting and trickery. "Hey, Sunny! What happened to the 'kill the squishy wizard' plan? I question your tactical acumen and your attention span!"
Possessed or not, trying to pin Sunny down seemed like being a hiding to nothing, and knocking her senseless wasn't a desirable outcome either. That left disrupting the possession, and and the only question was whether to go after Sunny's body or the mirror. Marius opted for the mirror to start with. If nothing else, it was holding still.
Marius' initial response was a somewhat panicked withdrawal to put some distance between himself and the drastically changed Sunny. With this done, he cast about for some means of freeing the real Sunny from the mirror and undoing the effect, perhaps short of breaking it, which seemed like it would be ill-advised.
Lighting a candle while somebody sat in a throne and looked in a mirror seemed the logical course, but given there were three of each, getting the right combination seemed like a mug's game. Perhaps there was some clue in the room. Then again, if the demons didn't want to be disturbed, perhaps not. Or perhaps the clue lay in one of the mirrors, perilous though they might be. Failing an idea from someone else, Marius would try looking in the north mirror first.
"There's an illusion on the statues," Marius observed, "Most likely the dripping fluid. And significant transmutation magic on the doors. Holding them closed, I expect."
"Hopefully they're not watching just now," Marius observed, "But let's be on our guard for ambushes." With luck, they might actually get the drop on their enemies, if they were overconfident enough in their trap. He was definitely going to let the more trap-savvy people in the group take the lead going into the lair, but did periodically check for any malicious enchantments.
Of course, 'we' most likely meant somebody else in this instance. Wilderness tracking would never be Marius' forte. Nevertheless, breaking free of the spatial geometry trap had provided a much-needed win over a hostile island, and he was sure he'd have a chance to contribute to battling the demons soon enough.
Still lurking about. Will catch up and post... probably tomorrow. I seem to have a few things on at the moment.
"I don't think they like lightning!" Marius called out, though he was unsure if any of the others would be able to capitalise on that knowledge. Thankfully, he himself was capable of taking advantage of such a weakness. Leaving the thundercloud to continue to crackle away at its original target, he repositioned himself, carefully judging his angles, and let fly with a lightning bolt, hoping to bring down at least one of the false Brysons and free up allies to direct their efforts elsewhere.
With one of the demons already amongst the crew, Marius opted for the old standby of the thundercloud, hoping the persistent lightning strikes would push it to withdraw.
"Enough of this," Marius said flatly, conjuring a wall of ice between the group and the closest of the false Brysons. It wouldn't stop the creature (it could no doubt go around or over the barrier), but it would buy some breathing room for him to try and bolster morale. "We're being played," he told the crew, turning to them, "Nobody's betrayed anybody, and a lot of the fear you're feeling is magically induced. Stick together and support each other - that's how we'll get through this. And if anyone has a means of countering fear spells or bolstering peoples' courage, now is the time."
"Wait!" Marius called, "They want you to run off into the jungle!" It was such a very obvious and transparent ploy, but that wouldn't mean anything to people in the grip of fear. Here, at least, they'd be able to see the enemy coming. In the jungle, spread out, they could be picked off one by one.
Marius was unsure whether this was another effort at intimidation or a trap of some sort. He leaned towards a trap and hung back, watching for someone to take advantage of their distraction and attack the crew. "Watch yourselves," he said aloud, "That might be an effort to draw our attention away from where it should be." He had described the powers of the crown to the others, expecting that one of the front-liners might appreciate the combination of offense and defense. If not, he could certainly make use of the defensive side.
Marius became a bit more settled over time, scooping up the fallen crown of the large gargoyle to examine when he had a moment. That moment came when they arrived back with the main group. He wasn't sure how much further they were going to get today, but any extra ground they could safely cover would be progress at least.
Marius was, very abruptly, replaced by a whirling vortex of air which retreated, kicking up a spray of water as it went. Whether he would have reacted quickly enough if Bryson hadn't managed to restrain himself was a dubious prospect, as was whether transforming into a whirlwind rendered him entirely safe. If nothing else, he couldn't keep it up forever. He maintained the whirlwind form for long and steadily extending moments, kicking up spray and perhaps working up the nerve to transform back again. Bad enough that the island in general wanted him and his friends dead. He did not need Bryson trying to eat him.
Marius could only trust that Annie's intervention would make the difference. At the very least, he was sure he wouldn't hurt her. Marius had a couple of options to evade or thwart Bryson until he came back to himself, but nevertheless, the predatory look in his eyes still sent a shiver down his spine.
And a happy festive season to you as well.
With his own enemies dealt with, Marius sent the thundercloud to start zapping Bryson's remaining small enemy, while beginning a steady barrage of magic missiles aimed at the larger, four-armed gargoyle.
Marius probably didn't have much choice but to try and hold on. Having dealt with one assailant and hurt another, he slipped further back and finally conjured up some armour, letting the cloud continue to do its thing.
Leaving the thundercloud to continue to zap the left hand gargoyle, Marius ducked back and lashed out at the other with his ring. Bryson could definitely use some help, but he had his hands full with his own two-on-one fight just now.
Well, that looked to have been a mistake. Additionally, he really ought to have cast a mage armour spell before the fight. The island, Marius felt, was getting to him. Still, his immediate course of action was clear. He ducked back out of the gargoyles' grasp and conjured up a crackling thundercloud to bedevil the gargoyle on the left.
Well, this was probably as good a clustering as he was going to get, and Marius really didn't want to let the gargoyles continue to pound away at Bryson unopposed. Taking a few moments to carefully gauge the blast radius, Marius let fly with a fireball, the pea-sized orb streaking out to the middle of the crowd before detonating into a roiling mass of fire. The blast would catch the closer gargoyles, and hopefully those further back would hesitate to get involved for fear of further retaliation. It was probably too much to hope for though, and in all likelihood they'd trace the fireball to its source and come after him.
For his part, Marius held his position, ready to provide ranged support wherever it might be needed, whether than be by conjuring a thundercloud to interfere with any attack on the crew, or a fireball to disperse the gargoyles if they tried to swarm Bryson.
Marius would have liked to take a moment to come up with a plan. Then again, he suspected that they were going to have to fight the gargoyles here - if they tried to retreat with the others, they'd end up being harried all the way back to shore and beyond. Having cast his Ride the Waves spell in preparation for the swim across, he was very much in his element and made for the pinnacle, waiting to see how the gargoyles responded to the abrupt appearance of Bryson. Hopefully they'd cluster up a bit and he could hit them with a fireball.
"Swimming seems the way to go," Marius nodded, "It at least gives us a chance of sneaking up on them." Augmenting his own abilities with magic ought to make the crossing straightforward. Probable hungry predators aside, of course.
"They don't strike me as the sharing types. But... If we could secure the stack as a safe redoubt, that might give us options. There are a lot of ifs though, and I think we'd be getting ahead of ourselves by talking about it now." Having come down on the side of a rescue, Marius was now determined to get on with it.
Marius wasn't entirely convinced by the idea that their enemy would wait for nightfall to strike, but they did need to take action. "I doubt we have a large window to get our people back. It's a risk, but I think we have to make the attempt now. Get it done and get back quickly, while the others fort up as best they can."
"I don't know that there are any good options," Marius said, "If we split the group, we risk not having enough people to get the job done, but if we don't, we risk losing people. Or ensure it."
Resuming his normal form, Marius lashed out at the gargoyle he'd escaped, intent on killing it or driving it off before it turned around and grabbed someone else.
Marius had his own means of slipping free, as his body simply exploded into a small, whirling column of air which buffeted his assailant before descending towards the ground.
"Can we put a stop to the games somehow? Force a confrontation?" Marius asked, looking from person to person worriedly. He had a sense of the current trajectory of things, and was doubted it would be long before their unseen foes escalated from dead birds to harming people.
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