"Then let's go. The sooner we get this over with the better. Especially since Tristan and LK are probably eager to get back to the Bazaar. "
"Then let's go. The sooner we get this over with the better. Especially since Tristan and LK are probably eager to get back to the Bazaar. "
The group heads back out and makes its way to the Ranger and the Dryad, pulling out a different cowl and placing it around his neck, but not pulling it up.
Arielle, Tristan, LK, and Kiba arrive in the Bazaar.
"Okay, Tristan, where do we go now?" Arielle asks cheerfully.
Arielle, Tristan, LK, and Kiba arrive in the Bazaar.
"Okay, Tristan, where do we go now?" Arielle asks cheerfully.
Getting his berrings, Tristan looks to find any familiar landmarks. He points down the road due North.
"So we're going that way? Lead the way Tristan, you've been here more than I have."
"So we're going that way? Lead the way Tristan, you've been here more than I have."
Tristan proceeds forward but at pace where the others may keep up with him. A few minutes later, they reach an intersection where Tristan takes a right then left following his own trail into an shaded alley.
Towards the back of the dead end alley are several dilapidated crates with one particular crate Tristan once called home. He proceeds towards it and ducks into the makeshift hovel. Moments later, he exits it with a clenched fist. As he returns to Kiba and friends, he opens his fist and shows them a small blue gemstone.
::::"This will help me talk to you and you to me.":::: His smooth voice resonates in their minds.
Lk looks around when he hears Tristan's voice, then realize it was Tritan 'talking' to him.
:::Cool.:::
:::An impressive piece of treasure you have there. Be sure to keep it in a safe place.:::
Lk looks around when he hears Tristan's voice, then realize it was Tritan 'talking' to him.
:::Cool.:::
:::Laughs alouds:::
The group exits the alley and back towards the intersection, but something doesn't seem right.
"Such happy thoughts," a voice utters aloud followed by a deep chuckle. "I'd hate to break up such a wonderful event."
Tristan suddenly stops and a face on the alley floor behind them morphs itself via the stone and earth foundations. The ground rises and quickly morphs into an earthen facsimile of Nailz.
"I'm still watching you," he says wickedly. "We're going to get what is ours."
Nailz's face disappears leaving a blank slate in its wake. The lumbering earth elemental shudders, then its mass triples in size. Pushing its surroundings away, it advances and attacks.
Arielle slams her hammer into the ground, shoving Tristan behind her as she does so. A line of electricity and a sonic boom rush towards the advancing elemental.
Devlyn, Allura, Aidan and Oroth leave the Tavern of the Ranger and the Dryad, and head back into the Bazaar.
"Well, that was a mixed bag of information. I guess we'd better let the others know before the boys get too antsy."
Devlyn activates his communication crystal and tries to contacts Lynora Jill. If she doesn't answer , he will try to contact Djuhah.
Arielle slams her hammer into the ground, shoving Tristan behind her as she does so. A line of electricity and a sonic boom rush towards the advancing elemental.
:::"No! Wait! Stop!"::: Yells Tristan in Arielle's mind, but his exclamation comes too late. Any thoughts are crushed under the onslaught of rolling thunder.
Both line and bolt strike true and shatter the elemental into shards of clod and stone. Pieces fly across the Bazaar striking businesses and on-lookers indiscriminately. Cries of pain and anguish can be heard.
The pile of debris settle and rests for minutes before it pulls itself together. Stone and shard begin to lap and crawl over each other, linking and joining until it rolls in a ball of earthen magics. It finally the rolls unravels into its original shape. To Kiba, Little Kiba, Arielle, and Tristan, it is now another five feet larger. Spectators and bystanders quickly flee a larger and potentially growing battle.
:::"You can't beat him that way! They used this to attack my father and mother!"::: The sound of fear clings to their thoughts.
Nearby the alleyway, the window of a boarded up building explodes. A snake leaps out, pursued by 5 masked figures. Before the eyes of the onlookers, the snake catapults back and decapitates the man in a single stroke, with a glowing sickle. The snake, still flying, rams into the man behind, and slashes the man's torso with the sickle. The man cries out in agony, and collapses, and he melts into a revolting and horrifying pile of flesh colored sludge. One of the men pulls out something from his pack, and the snake curses as the man tosses dust onto the sludge and speaks. "Kill."
The sludge animates, and rams the snake, who yelps in pain. He shouts a warcry as he leaps at the man's throat and rips it apart. The other men and the ooze close in. The snake tries to slash at the man, but the man dodges. The snake starts to back away. Then, it springs, and hits the man with a spell. The man collapses. The snake uses his momentum from the man to leap onto the other man's head, and calmly snaps it. He then pulls out a scroll, and says something to the ooze. The sludge pile vanishes. The snake nods, and Sytt teleports away.
Arielle slams her hammer into the ground, shoving Tristan behind her as she does so. A line of electricity and a sonic boom rush towards the advancing elemental.:::"No! Wait! Stop!"::: Yells Tristan in Arielle's mind, but his exclamation comes too late. Any thoughts are crushed under the onslaught of rolling thunder.
Both line and bolt strike true and shatter the elemental into shards of clod and stone. Pieces fly across the Bazaar striking businesses and on-lookers indiscriminately. Cries of pain and anguish can be heard.
The pile of debris settle and rests for minutes before it pulls itself together. Stone and shard begin to lap and crawl over each other, linking and joining until it rolls in a ball of earthen magics. It finally the rolls unravels into its original shape. To Kiba, Little Kiba, Arielle, and Tristan, it is now another five feet larger. Spectators and bystanders quickly flee a larger and potentially growing battle.
:::"You can't beat him that way! They used this to attack my father and mother!"::: The sound of fear clings to their thoughts.
"Run!" Arielle grabs Tristan's hand and pulls him along with her, trusting LK and Kiba to keep up on their own.
"How do we stop it? We can't just leave it here to rampage through the Bazaar!"
Devlyn, Allura, Aidan and Oroth leave the Tavern of the Ranger and the Dryad, and head back into the Bazaar.
"Well, that was a mixed bag of information. I guess we'd better let the others know before the boys get too antsy."
Devlyn activates his communication crystal and tries to contacts Lynora Jill. If she doesn't answer , he will try to contact Djuhah.
"Devlyn, did you find out much that can help our young friend?" the djinn asked politely. "Starsong is rather busy at the moment. The children went to the Bazaar to retrieve one of Tristan's possessions, and she is keeping an eye on the situation. I rather get the impression that things aren't going well at the moment, so you might want to see if you can locate them. Just look for where the trouble is."
"Devlyn, did you find out much that can help our young friend?" the djinn asked politely. "Starsong is rather busy at the moment. The children went to the Bazaar to retrieve one of Tristan's possessions, and she is keeping an eye on the situation. I rather get the impression that things aren't going well at the moment, so you might want to see if you can locate them. Just look for where the trouble is."
"What do you mean they're back in the Bazaar!? For the love of - hang on a minute!"
Devlyn leaps onto the side of a building and races to the roof. After a moment he comes back down, snarling. He reactivates the crystal so Djuhah can hear as he tells the others:
"Something is going on several blocks southwest of us. I can hear screaming, and it smells like ozone in the air wafting from that direction. The kids are back in the Bazaar, looking for something Tristan left here. It looks like they've run into trouble - we need to get over there now."
They all take off in the direction of the commotion. As they are running Devlyn updates Djuhah:
"Djuhah - the drow serves a demon queen called Decca, the 'Queen of Ruin'. She despises faiths and deity worship of all kinds. Her servants are known as Ur-Priests, and they can evidently steal magic from divine sources and use that magic for themselves. She has a cleric of Beshaba (a goddess of misfortune and ill luck from my home) in her service as well, and leads a mercenary band called the Company of the Ebony Harlot. Once we find the kids, I'll let you know what's going on, and if we're going to need some help or not."
"Run!" Arielle grabs Tristan's hand and pulls him along with her, trusting LK and Kiba to keep up on their own.
"How do we stop it? We can't just leave it here to rampage through the Bazaar!"
Still clutching his gemstone in his fist, he rolls his head. Arielle is able to turn her head and glance at Tristan whose eyes are a solid blue.
:::"I see so much now...., Water! We need to drowned it in water! I don't know why but water breaks it up!":::
"Run!" Arielle grabs Tristan's hand and pulls him along with her, trusting LK and Kiba to keep up on their own.
"How do we stop it? We can't just leave it here to rampage through the Bazaar!"
Still clutching his gemstone in his fist, he rolls his head. Arielle is able to turn her head and glance at Tristan whose eyes are a solid blue.
:::"I see so much now...., Water! We need to drowned it in water! I don't know why but water breaks it up!":::
Arielle looks scared.
"I can ask the winds for a storm, but I don't know if it would get here in time!"
The wind is starting to pick up, a stiff breeze blowing around them.
Devlyn races along the rooftops until he spies the children and the elemental. He quickly communicates this to Djuhah and the others so they're prepared when the round the corner. He then leaps from the roof of the adjacent building, tumbling to the ground and fluidly rising into a fighting stance between the opposing sides.
"You like pushing around folks smaller than you, sod-for-brains? Well I'm smaller - try pushing me!" as his two-bladed sword comes into his hand in the blink of an eye.
Allura runs over to Tristan and Arielle.
"Are you alright?" she shouted over the sound of battle and rising winds.
"It gets stronger when it gets hit!" Arielle shouted back. The wind was going too fast, slipping out of her control.
"Tristan says we have to drown it!"
"Water?" She touched the amulet that she wore. She still didn't know what it did. Probably nothing that she could use right at the moment anyhow.
"Okay. I don't know any water spells. Does anyone know where there's a lot of water around. If we can lure the elemental there or find some way to move the water over it..."
:::"I see so much now...., Water! We need to drowned it in water! I don't know why but water breaks it up!":::
Arielle looks scared.
"I can ask the winds for a storm, but I don't know if it would get here in time!"
The wind is starting to pick up, a stiff breeze blowing around them.
Lk catches up to them.
"Water? Um... wait, I know!"He turns to face the earth elemental, and raises his hands above him.
"Canis Lupus Cirrus!"
Like atop the Eyrie, the clouds above(aided by Arielle's winds) take the shape of large wolves and begin to run down to Lk. He points at the creature and shouts, "Go, attack it!"
Following his orders, the cloud wolves surge toward the creature, and begin the attack. Lk turns back to Arielle and Tristan.
"I remembered something I was learned about clouds. They are made of water! I just wish there was snow too."
Aidan and Oroth distract the earth elemental from the air while Devlyn attacks it on the ground.
Aidan and Oroth distract the earth elemental from the air while Devlyn attacks it on the ground.
"Come on you sorry excuse for a dirt clod, can't you do better than that?"
Aidan and Oroth distract the earth elemental from the air while Devlyn attacks it on the ground.
A beam of light lances toward the creature head from the shard hanging around Oroth's neck.
"Well that's new."
His sword appears in his hand, blazing white fire from hilt to tip. He begins to hack and slash at the rocky flesh of the creature.
"Mind what Arielle said! If this thing's only vulnerable to water, we need to let LK's wolves do all that they can. Run interference - keep it away from the others!" As Devlyn switches stances and starts harrying the creature, keeping it off balance and its attention between himself, Aidan and Oroth while the storm wolves tear into the thing and the clouds continue to gather.
As the cloud wolves and heroes advance, their attacks strike the lumber elemental staggering the creature. Sunchild's light beam strikes the elemental dead center in it head and dazzles the earthen dreadnaught, although briefly. Delvyn makes his move and knocks chunks of mass and dirt of the elemental bodies as does Sunchild's sword, which seems the most effective.
The Cloud wolves seem the most effective as their watery mass hinders the elemental. Their gnawing and snapping at the elemental damages the creature, but not effectively.
Then the lentil begins to draw more earthen resources from the surrounding intersection. Stalls and buildings begin to collapse as their foundations are absorb by the bizarre elemental beast. Although not larger, it certainly healed it "wounds" from it earlier attack.
The elemental stops kneels over the expels a large quantity of pulverized sand, shard and debris directly in front of it. Heroes and cloud wolves are knock over and pushed aside. It stops and looks at Tristan who is now bleeding from his arm. His blood trickles into his clenched fist. The gemstone he is holding suddenly flares to life.
The Face of Nailz returns and the elemental advances again.
Arielle screams and the elemental's progress is slowed as it is surrounded by a raging, whirling windstorm.
Devlyn springs out of the way of the earthen onslaught, sticking to a nearby wall as he shouts to the others over the wind:
"Arielle - use your winds to pick this thing up off the ground! Keep it from touching earth and we might be able to take it down! LK - if any of your new tricks can bolster her, use them - and keep bringing as much water as you can! Aidan, Oroth, keep pounding on it! Allura - if we can't stop this thing, get Tristan out of here by the fastest means you've got!"
[i]He launches himself back at the thing, getting between it and Tristan.
"I can't!" she wailed, terrified. "I've lost control of them! I don't know what to do!"
Heavy storm clouds start to gather over the bazaar and lightning flashes in the darkening sky.
The Face of Nailz returns and the elemental advances again.
"Now your just making me angry! Leave them alone!"
From behind the terra behemoth, Kiba leaps into the air, shifts to his hybrid form, and slams his earthbreaker* into it. He lands on the creature and begins to claw and bite at it.
Lk falters a bit as some of the cloud wolves disperse and float back into the sky, but he keeps his footing.
"LK - if any of your new tricks can bolster her, use them - and keep bringing as much water as you can!"
"I don't know any that can bolster, but I'll try."
He turns to Arielle."I can't!" she wailed, terrified. "I've lost control of them! I don't know what to do!"
Heavy storm clouds start to gather over the bazaar and lightning flashes in the darkening sky.
"If you can't control it, try to direct it*. Have it all hit that thing!"
He sends what few of his cloud wolves remain at the earthen monstrosity. He even throws his axe at the face of Nailz.
"I can't!" she wailed, terrified. "I've lost control of them! I don't know what to do!"
Heavy storm clouds start to gather over the bazaar and lightning flashes in the darkening sky.
"I know you're scared, Arielle, but you can do this! Tristan's in danger - remember how you felt when you were protecting him before? Focus on that, and you can control the storm again. I know you can do it - I believe in you!"
Devlyn turns and explodes into motion, bringing his blades to bear fast enough that they begin to sing as they cut through the air and into the earthen hide of the creature. If this thing heals fast, then he's going to hurt it faster...
Arielle was shaking. The storm had taken on a life of its own and it was mean. How was she supposed to direct it? She shrieked as lightning slammed into the ground not far from where she was standing.
"LK! Call down more wolves from the clouds! We need to bleed off power from the storm or it's going to destroy the whole bazaar!"
"LK! Call down more wolves from the clouds! We need to bleed off power from the storm or it's going to destroy the whole bazaar!"
Lk eyes widen as something clicks together for him.
"No... not more wolves. Just one."
He takes his hybrid form and jumps to the top of the nearest building. He seems to glow from within as he jumps one more time... straight into the clouds high above. Though his voice is lost in the howling winds, the clouds began to swirl on the stop he entered the storm, lightning flashing and thunder booming. From within the storm a wolf far bigger than any Lk called before bounds forth. As big as the creature, it looks completely solid. It lunges at the earthen creature, snarling visciously.