Well. All I can say is that thankfully Thuun wasn’t there to add his own little flavour to the gemors.
- Turn 33: The Hundred Tombs -
Vanda of the Hundred Deaths is facing off against the four of you… who will make it out alive?Push blade into its throat and sever its head. Then get out of there, stealthily as possible.
(2) Your blade completely misses his throat. Thankfully, it distracts the little bastard from eating you. The monster hisses and rears up in astonishment and anger before drawing back one fist to strike you. (6) You let its fist strike you across the jaw - you feel something crack, painfully - so that you receive the opening you need. (4+1) Your shortsword slams into the creature’s throat, properly hitting this time and killing the damn thing instantly. There’s a jolt and the khaki colour fades, revealing that the now-dead monster was once a Cylenian.
You heave the monster off, resheathe your blade and decide to high-tail it out of there. (2) Naturally, you break several sticks as you drag your sorry arse into the bushes to hide. Well, shit. There’s a few more hooting calls from the trees around you and three more monsters appear, dropping to land silently next to their fallen brethren.
You watch in disgust as they tear the corpse apart, each of them grabbing a limb and biting deeply into the flesh. You struggle to keep your lunch down; throwing up right now would be a very,
very bad idea.
Your legs feel funny. You feel your legs tenderly. Are… Are those shins? Teeny tiny shins? Yes!
This demon's talking is tiresome. Drive the staff into its throat.
“Well.” You step in between Vanda and Felice and draw your staff back as the demon-beast-thing comes flying through the air directly at your face. You have a momentary thought that perhaps this wasn’t the best idea. You grip your staff with both hands and set yourself. (6+1) Vanda’s yellow eyes momentarily widen in panic, but
(4+1) he manages to twist himself in midair just enough to almost entirely avoid your bronze-shod staff.
He screams in an unearthly, mind-shattering voice as his hand catches on your staff at the wrist and is completely torn off. He flies through the air and collides with you, knocking you over and sending your staff flying. His weight is pinning you solidly to the floor; you notice that he is far heavier than any human should be, yet still apparently as fit as any prime swordsman. Vanda clambers to his feet. “You bastard!” he yells, drawing back the stump of his right arm. Lightning, blacker than the inside of a coal mine, is already crackling around the wound and burning it shut.
He swings at you, twice. (3, 1) His right stumpy arm cracks you across the jaw but does very little in the way of damage. (5, 1) His left hook comes streaking down for your face again, but you somehow manage to interpose your arm and block his strike. Good God it feels like a freaking sledgehammer just blasted into you. You manage to deflect the blow, however, and take a swing at his angry, mottled face with your left hand. (3+1) You crack him across the jaw and he winces.
(1) Vanda manages to grab both of your arms in his huge, meaty hand and pins your arms above your head. He draws the stump of his left arm level his his growling face. Black lightning begins to coalesce around the stump; the shadow of fire blooms. “Now, you arrogant little shit…” He mutters, before pausing. His jaw works for a second and then he spits out a tooth that you must have knocked loose with your fist. He presses his arm stump against your forehead as the terrible blast builds up, clearly intending to fire it at point-blank range. “Now it’s time for you to die!”
Evade the attack. Depending on how far away I can evade the charging demon, retaliate with my bow or my dirk. aim for either his undamaged hand or his head.
"Bah, I've caught fish more fiercesome than you!" you howl as he leaps for you. You’re about to roll out of the way, but suddenly Lyu is there. Their little scrap is over in an instant and Vanda is about to blow Lyu’s head off.
You have a split second to act; out of the corner of your eye, you see Ekoka’s arm-stump glowing with the wan, orange-ochre colour of earth magic, but it’ll be too late. Your dirk comes whistling out of its sheathe in the small of your back. With only moments to spare you go to fling the dirk (3+1, 4) and it sinks into his left hand, the one holding Lyu’s arms down. Vanda rears back, his khaki face contorted in an expression of rage, pain and… hunger? “You degenerate
freak!” he thunders and thrusts his stump towards you.
A black ball of pulsing energy has formed there, lightning coursing across the surface. As you watch the lightning shimmers and vanishes as the monster’s will relaxes, releasing the torrent of energy directly at you. (4+1) You effortlessly dodge the blast, but an arrow tumbles out of your quiver as you dive to the side. You grab it between two nimble fingers, twirl it into your hand and fling it.
(1+1) The arrow flies well wide and the demon-thing just laughs.
Lightning begins to form again, on both hands this time. A ball of power rapidly forms in his left hand; on his stump, the lightning condenses into a clawed, crackling mockery of a hand.
Strike the earth with my right hand. Channel Earth magic through it, creating a ridge of earth rising up and forward to strike Vanda.
Also work on reforming my hand.
"I will show you who can't control power!" you yell, drawing your will into the stumpy bits on the end of your right arm. Ochre light flares. (6+1) (What. The. Hell.) The light blazes so brilliantly that your eyes sting, but you manage to maintain coherency enough to slam your stumpy arm into the ground.
The ground is like an extension of your will; shockwaves of power ripple forth and a wave of rock rips from the ground and bears down on Lyu and the demon-monster-thing. Oh. Shit. Right, Lyu’s still in the way. Well. In the instant remaining, you offer a quick prayer to Solvarion to protect his priest. Then you remember the priest’s habits and wonder just what Solvarion would think, anyway.
Vanda tries to avoid the wave, but it still catches him; it sweeps up both him and the priest in a humungous torrent of airborne earth and rock and flings them bodily into the side of a house. The gigantic shockwave of earth crashes into the house after them, burying the two in rubble.
As the dust settles it reveals a startling visage. Massive spikes of rock jave torn their way out of the ground and trace a path right through where Vanda and Lyu were, ending at the rubble of the house the magic collided with. The house itself has clearly collapsed; the shockwave has knocked down four more.
(1+1) A pile of bricks falls away, revealing Vanda’s broken body. The creature struggles to sit up, but it’s apparent that he can’t, since (3) his arms are totalled. There’s nothing left of his arms but flattened smears of bloody flesh; not even the black, cursed lightning can heal that. You hope.
(1) Lyu’s staff can be seen, snapped into three pieces. There’s an awful lot of blood leaking out of the bottom of the rubble pile. If even half of that is Lyu’s, then he is in serious danger.
(4-1) Your body pulses painfully and is racked with spasms as the magic fades from your blood. You slump to your knees, absolutely exhausted. Bruises rapidly spread across your entire body and your joints stiffen up, making it very difficult and painful to move. (-1 to all physical activity for three turns; -2 if it’s extremely strenuous)You somehow cast that ridiculously complex spell! +2 Earth experience - which means you’re now a Level 1 Earth magic adept!There’s a clattering sound as pebbles leap up and reform your rockhand.Baldur leaps forward to try to protect Felice. He also tries to slash at Vanda if he gets the opportunity.
You stride over to Vanda. The monster is gasping like an air-drowning fish. “Curse… you…” he mutters as his one good eye fixes on you. His other eye is glazed over and bloody. “How… could mere food… kill me?”
You lift up your sword. “Guess your last meal didn’t agree with you.”
The broken blade of your greatsword slides effortlessly into and through his broken chest.
An ugly light flares and you feel a jolt course up your arm. As you draw your blade out of the body, you watch in astonishment as the creature’s khaki skin fades. In a wave emanating from your fatal wound, the green tone vanishes to reveal the brown skin of a Limerete; the dead yellow eyes soften and melt into their usual green colour. Apparently, on death the curse is destroyed.
Deep under the rubble, Lyu stirs. He can feel that he’s in intense pain and rather deep trouble; he panics slightly in his tomb under all of the rock. He knows that he’s been wounded somehow, but he can’t quite figure out how under all of the rock pressing on his… everywhere. But if he doesn’t get out soon, the rock will crush him completely under its weight.
Lyu currently has one turn to live. You guys have to dig him out. Unfortunately, he also has been wounded and that will require treatment; it’s not life-threatening, but there is a chance he may lose a limb.
On the upshot, next time Ekoka does that he’ll have the control to avoid hitting his teammates. Hopefully.
Lyu Brak (Harry Baldman)Profession: Priest
Status: Stuck under a pile of rock.
Inventory:Staff (Bronze-Capped)Religious Necklace
Warm Priestly Robes and Pants
Warm Priestly Shoes
185 gold
10 Jimsonweed Fruit
Many bits of Thuun’s legs
Jagged shard of bone
Curious dagger
Wounds/Status: [You’re being crushed by rock!][Entombed in rubble (1/1)[/abbr] [Unknown Injury]Abilities: [Boundlessly Cheerful] [The Good Priest] [Not that faithful] [Righteous Litany (2/3)]Baldur Bergfalk (USEC_OFFICER)Profession: Mercenary
Status: Stabbin’
Inventory:Broken greatsword
Worn leather jerkin (and normal clothes)
Worn leather boots
Bear fur cloak300 gold
Wounds/Status: You’re all good!
Abilities: [Skilled Bargainer] [Guileless] [I'm Not Right Handed] [Righteous Litany (2/3)][/abbr][/color]
Lao Thuun (BFEL)Profession: Warrior Mage
Status: Hiding.
Inventory: Blunted bronze sword
Leather armour and boots
Acolyte's SuncloakReligious Necklace
210 gold
Wounds/Status: [Healed stumpy legs] [Broken jaw]Abilities:[Enduring] [Dragon Aspect: 1] [Slow Cast] [Atoner] [Spellsword ][Regenerative Magic]Spells:[Life Spell: Wisp] Magical Experience:[Ea: 0] [Wi: 0] [Fi: 1] [Wa: 0] [Li: 2] [Fo: -1] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0] Felice Nasib (Pancaek)Profession: Seaman
Status: Still being a badass.
Inventory: Repaired Shortbow
Thirteen Arrows
Razor-sharp DirkNautical Longcoat and Boots
313 gold
KidzukuWounds/Status: [Bruising on back (3/3)]Abilities: [Fearless] [Kidzuku: Arrowtime] [Not a Landlubber] [Trick Shot] [Kidzuku: Comprehension] [Righteous Litany (2/3)][/abbr][/color]
Ekoka (GreatWyrmGold)Profession: Wanderer
Status: Losing his hand. Again.
Inventory: Cracked shillelagh
Wanderer's Cloak
Sturdy Clothes and Boots
Length of Rope
Flint and Tinder
380 gold
Wounds/Status: [Bruises and Strains (4/3)Abilities: [Survivalist] [Dual Focus] [Slow Cast] [Maladjusted to heat] [Guiding Spirit] [Righteous Litany (2/3)][/abbr][/color]
Spells:[Wind Spell: Alacrity]Magical Experience:[Ea: 1] [Wi: 1] [Fi: 0] [Wa: 0] [Li: 0] [Fo: 0] [Lt: 0] [Sh: 0]