[jesus christ okay well this is horrendous. it breaks her heart a little, to see the ram in pain like this, and she takes a step forward despite herself.]
How do I help you?
[and that's when all hell breaks loose behind her, which distracts her. she pulls out her axe, and sends glory up - attack the hand that's slicing at datz, she tells glory. and then she turns back to the ram, holding out the hand not holding her axe to try and rest it on the ram's nose.]
[ Ponta barely has time to process the news that the pope is dead, which is... an experience in itself, before they are attacked and it becomes clear how he could have died so gruesomely.
Nobody's really seen it in action in Oceanside, but Ponta has insane reflexes and is generally very athletic. This really comes in handy here - what difference is there between a gust of wind and a bottlecap? A lot, but who cares.
Ponta jumps backward and calls forth a few gusts of concentrated wind, at a velocity he hopes can actually cut into the hand that is coming for them. His dagger is now out and in his hand, too. ]
[ i'm gonna be real idk if he knows what a pontiff is
not that that matters because YIKES okay, giant gnarled claw hand is really protective of the dead guy, apparently? at least it sounds like the one that attacked him just pushed him back after swiping at him, so he'll try to jump in with a dagger to cut at the one gripping kogi's ankle, which i hope to god i don't roll too horribly on because lmao ]
[ grandpa gets clawed hands digging into his leg, and with it comes excruciating pain. it's a gouging wound, but it hurts worse - like there's something wrong with it. thankfully, you've got help!!
glory rolls very well and fires off an arcane blade of bright holy light at the purple arm, which shrieks loudly and jerks away from datz even further - in fact, it's so bright that (sisi rolled a nat 1) the arm shrivels and disintegrates, and there's a horrible groaning sound. goodbye.
ponta's hit comes next. the clawed thing does not like the wind and it rears backwards and swipes at ponta's face. crick brings his sword up to parry it, leaving ponta free to try another attack on it if he wants! he's a really good cover, and he seems particularly used to taking care of squishier magic users.
so to summarize: one clawed hand is currently digging into kogi's ankle. datz's attack slashes into it, but this thing is tough, and it grabs onto kogi tighter and starts pulling as if it's going to drag him backwards and into the bushes. uh oh.
a second hand is still there and probably just need one more good hit to be sent away. these things hurt - their claws rend flesh - but they aren't that strong.
as for nimona, when she turns back, she'll find that the ram she was facing is almost completely consumed by purple shadow. it stares at her with an unblinking, glowing white eye, but it doesn't move.
[ that snarl from him certainly sounds more animalistic than human. the pain he can handle, even if he's severely injured as long as his blade is okay-
but that's a later kogi problem. he at least attempts to shove his sword into the ground next to him to at least have some sort of anchor. with luck, datz can get another attack in before he gets eaten by a bush.
what a way to go. he'll never hear the end of it. ]
the ram is... sufficiently distracting. help, it says, and she - the only way she knows how to help something that's so obviously far gone is to put it out of it's misery, right? she stumbles back, pulling up her axe, and then:]
-- Sorry, sorry --
[and swings at the ram. glory will try to help kogi? or help datz help kogi, i suppose.]
[ So the hands disintegrate when they are defeated - that is good to know! Very good, indeed.
Ponta sends another wind attack like the first one, but in the shadow of it another thing follows - his dagger, thrown to precisely hit the palm of that demonic thing.
datz, who apparently kicks a lot less ass than an owl and is slightly embarrassed by it, is once again going to make an attempt to get kogi free by slashing at that hand with his dagger.
he's not really used to fighting with two weapons, but since he has them, he'll go ahead and bust out his sword too to like, bat away any additional attacks while he tries to cut the thing. ]
[ datz's hit strikes true - he slams his dagger and then his sword immediately into the hand holding kogi, but not before the monster drags him another two feet into the shadowed bushes, raking his front against the ground. that's going to bruise. ponta's wind magic flies, followed by the dagger. the wind flares and sends the grass and the trees fluttering, but it seems to bounce ineffectively this time off of the hand, and then the dagger flings out of his palm, but -
then it's too late. the hand he fights lunges forward, and manages a single scratch against his arm, raking upwards in a bare spot on his forearm, as crick slams his sword into it with a thirteen.
the good news is that glory catches the dagger for ponta! she catches it in her claws. the bad news is that means she whiffs her arcane light blade and it shaves a branch off of a nearby tree with a thud and hits nothing. oops.
the ram looks at nimona with pleading, in its eyes. even as she raises the axe, it seems to be begging, and she can almost hear it whispering, in the back of her head. a voice that sounds like it could be familiar.
she's - friend, stop! she's my friend
and then her axe strikes the beast, and connects - straight through sinew and flesh like it's nothing. there's a rumbling noise, as if the whole forest rattles, and the shadowy, monstrous claw hands suddenly shrivel and disintegrate into nothing. the ram, however, does not: instead, it melts, hitting the ground as if it's made of slime, soaking the soil of the forest around them.
left behind is the body of the pontiff, and where the ram stood, a pile of bones, steaming fresh with that awful, oozing purple magic as the flesh sloughs and rots off of its body.
silence falls.
the oppressive night remains, and now... a purple fog has begun to slowly start to seep through the area, coalescing and swirling through the air. it's very, very slow, but it seems to be originating past the body of the pontiff, into the darkness of the forest further beyond.
she pauses, after the axe strikes. she's not unfamiliar with the way it feels to kill something, not after the life she's lived, but she hasn't regretted it so thoroughly and immediately like this before. she holds her axe, staring down at the melted, oozing magic, and then - pulls her axe out of the ground in a sort of panicky way.
if she concentrates can she figure out where that voice came from? or who it may have sounded like?
she barely even notices the fog, she's just staring at the bones.]
[ That injury does not feel good... Ponta immediately reaches into his satchel to eat a healing grape. Having movement of his arms limited in this forest seems like a death sentence.
Then he moves over to Kogi and hands him another. Like... you ankle man. ]
Here. You need to be able to walk if we wanna make it through this.
[ he'll put his sword away for now and hold out a hand to help pull kogi up... c'mon old man. ]
Jeez, that was something, huh?
[ then his gaze shifts over to nimona; he was too preoccupied with the hands to really notice what was happening on her side, but it's hard to miss how on edge she looks now. ]
[ i mean with a nat 20 i will just fucking tell you: nimona, you hear gloreth's voice. you've heard that exact phrase out of her mouth before, haven't you?
everyone gets healed up. these normal grapes aren't super strong - they close up ponta's wound since it wasn't too deep, and kogi's will stop wildly bleeding, but it hurts like hell. closer inspection of the torn up injury will show that there's a strange purple bruising around it. that's probably fine!!!
the fog in the distance lingers, rolling in from all sides.
the forest is still eerily silent.
meanwhile, your intrepid sanctum knight has remembered the pontiff. he walks slowly over to the body and sinks down to one knee, quietly, other hand resting on his sword. he looks shaken, still, shoulders hunched. ]
she has, in fact, heard that voice before. she's heard that exact phrase, and it curls up in her chest and in her throat. it locks her up. she just holds her axe in mid air, staring at the bones, and does not move, until datz calls for her. she nearly drops it, startled, and looks over her shoulder at him with very brightly glowing eyes.
just for a second.
and then:] What? Yeah. I'm fine.
[and her eyes are normal, and she puts her axe on her back, and brushes at her face. for whatever reason, she doesn't seem to want glory to be touching her, right now.
instead, she makes her way back over to the other three, and... to crick:]
[ While everyone else is off checking if everyone else is mentally alright, Ponta peers into the forest behind the pontiff, from where the fog seems to be closing in on them.
His dagger, presumably retrieved from Glory, is now back in his hands.
This is the direction they need to head into if they want to find the source of it all, huh? He doesn't want to be caught off guards by any more weird fog hands. ]
[ ah... that really doesn't seem fine, but he nods. actually pretty much no one here seems fine, but there also doesn't seem to be a whole lot they can do about that right now, especially with the fog coming in from every direction. ]
Don't think there's much left that we can do here.
[ an apologetic glance at crick; sorry for thieving from this guy you knew and then not even being able to bury him... ]
We should go ahead. Anyone needs help getting around, let me know.
[ crick doesn’t move, at first. he’s just looking at the pontiff: when he speaks, his voice is slow, as if in realization. ]
Something...something’s wrong. I - you all need to get away from here, as quickly as possible. There’s...
[ he looks at the body, for a moment longer, shoulders hunched. ]
...The Pontiff has been dead for weeks now. I saw - we found him, in the Cathedral, he was killed by a felvarg, by the -
[ there’s a shivering, terrible wind that blows through the trees - it’s powerful, and a mournful, low howl echoes through the wind. crick freezes, his head snapping up, and he scrambles back to his feet, and calls - ] You need to get out of - go, right now! Get out of here!
[ you only see her for a second. in the midst of the choking purple fog, a glowing eye stares back at you through a mop of white hair - an unnatural, horrible shape, and the swing of a giant sword that cuts through the growing fog like a hot knife through butter. there’s a cackle of a laugh. it might be talking. it’s hard to tell. crick jumps backwards, but he doesn’t break his stance, as he protectively puts himself in front of the group: he grits his teeth, and calls out - ]
Don’t fall into the night! Whatever you do!
[ as you’re preparing to fight this creature, or whatever it is you want to do (maybe run? running is a good idea), the fog starts to get thicker, and thicker. it all happens so fast. there’s the sound of metal and metal, and then the sickening sound of metal through flesh, and -
when the four of you look back, crick wellsley is made of blue light - intangible. the body he was defending is no longer the man in white, but that of the knight himself.
crick - no. crick's ghost - looks back at the four of you. there's something wistful in his voice, that sounds like it comes from another room. ] This is all I can do. I wish I could still protect you.
[ he looks to nimona, and his expression, just briefly, crumples, then turns to a smile. ]
Tell him I’m sorry. [ and then, crick wellsley, godsblade, dead man, raises his sword and lets out a mighty cry: ] The truth lies in the flame!
[ the creature shrieks, and there’s a brilliantly blue flash of light.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
How do I help you?
[and that's when all hell breaks loose behind her, which distracts her. she pulls out her axe, and sends glory up - attack the hand that's slicing at datz, she tells glory. and then she turns back to the ram, holding out the hand not holding her axe to try and rest it on the ram's nose.]
It's okay, you're gonna be fine.
no subject
Nobody's really seen it in action in Oceanside, but Ponta has insane reflexes and is generally very athletic. This really comes in handy here - what difference is there between a gust of wind and a bottlecap? A lot, but who cares.
Ponta jumps backward and calls forth a few gusts of concentrated wind, at a velocity he hopes can actually cut into the hand that is coming for them. His dagger is now out and in his hand, too. ]
no subject
not that that matters because YIKES okay, giant gnarled claw hand is really protective of the dead guy, apparently? at least it sounds like the one that attacked him just pushed him back after swiping at him, so he'll try to jump in with a dagger to cut at the one gripping kogi's ankle, which i hope to god i don't roll too horribly on because lmao ]
no subject
glory rolls very well and fires off an arcane blade of bright holy light at the purple arm, which shrieks loudly and jerks away from datz even further - in fact, it's so bright that (sisi rolled a nat 1) the arm shrivels and disintegrates, and there's a horrible groaning sound. goodbye.
ponta's hit comes next. the clawed thing does not like the wind and it rears backwards and swipes at ponta's face. crick brings his sword up to parry it, leaving ponta free to try another attack on it if he wants! he's a really good cover, and he seems particularly used to taking care of squishier magic users.
so to summarize: one clawed hand is currently digging into kogi's ankle. datz's attack slashes into it, but this thing is tough, and it grabs onto kogi tighter and starts pulling as if it's going to drag him backwards and into the bushes. uh oh.
a second hand is still there and probably just need one more good hit to be sent away. these things hurt - their claws rend flesh - but they aren't that strong.
as for nimona, when she turns back, she'll find that the ram she was facing is almost completely consumed by purple shadow. it stares at her with an unblinking, glowing white eye, but it doesn't move.
Help... me.... ]
no subject
but that's a later kogi problem. he at least attempts to shove his sword into the ground next to him to at least have some sort of anchor. with luck, datz can get another attack in before he gets eaten by a bush.
what a way to go. he'll never hear the end of it. ]
no subject
the ram is... sufficiently distracting. help, it says, and she - the only way she knows how to help something that's so obviously far gone is to put it out of it's misery, right? she stumbles back, pulling up her axe, and then:]
-- Sorry, sorry --
[and swings at the ram. glory will try to help kogi? or help datz help kogi, i suppose.]
no subject
Ponta sends another wind attack like the first one, but in the shadow of it another thing follows - his dagger, thrown to precisely hit the palm of that demonic thing.
Please disappear already, you stupid something. ]
no subject
datz, who apparently kicks a lot less ass than an owl and is slightly embarrassed by it, is once again going to make an attempt to get kogi free by slashing at that hand with his dagger.
he's not really used to fighting with two weapons, but since he has them, he'll go ahead and bust out his sword too to like, bat away any additional attacks while he tries to cut the thing. ]
no subject
then it's too late. the hand he fights lunges forward, and manages a single scratch against his arm, raking upwards in a bare spot on his forearm, as crick slams his sword into it with a thirteen.
the good news is that glory catches the dagger for ponta! she catches it in her claws. the bad news is that means she whiffs her arcane light blade and it shaves a branch off of a nearby tree with a thud and hits nothing. oops.
the ram looks at nimona with pleading, in its eyes. even as she raises the axe, it seems to be begging, and she can almost hear it whispering, in the back of her head. a voice that sounds like it could be familiar.
she's - friend, stop! she's my friend
and then her axe strikes the beast, and connects - straight through sinew and flesh like it's nothing. there's a rumbling noise, as if the whole forest rattles, and the shadowy, monstrous claw hands suddenly shrivel and disintegrate into nothing. the ram, however, does not: instead, it melts, hitting the ground as if it's made of slime, soaking the soil of the forest around them.
left behind is the body of the pontiff, and where the ram stood, a pile of bones, steaming fresh with that awful, oozing purple magic as the flesh sloughs and rots off of its body.
silence falls.
the oppressive night remains, and now... a purple fog has begun to slowly start to seep through the area, coalescing and swirling through the air. it's very, very slow, but it seems to be originating past the body of the pontiff, into the darkness of the forest further beyond.
what to do, travelers? are you safe, now? ]
no subject
Is...... is everyone alright?
[ maybe check up on yourself first, gramps ]
no subject
she pauses, after the axe strikes. she's not unfamiliar with the way it feels to kill something, not after the life she's lived, but she hasn't regretted it so thoroughly and immediately like this before. she holds her axe, staring down at the melted, oozing magic, and then - pulls her axe out of the ground in a sort of panicky way.
if she concentrates can she figure out where that voice came from? or who it may have sounded like?
she barely even notices the fog, she's just staring at the bones.]
no subject
Then he moves over to Kogi and hands him another. Like... you ankle man. ]
Here. You need to be able to walk if we wanna make it through this.
no subject
Jeez, that was something, huh?
[ then his gaze shifts over to nimona; he was too preoccupied with the hands to really notice what was happening on her side, but it's hard to miss how on edge she looks now. ]
You OK over there, Pink?
no subject
everyone gets healed up. these normal grapes aren't super strong - they close up ponta's wound since it wasn't too deep, and kogi's will stop wildly bleeding, but it hurts like hell. closer inspection of the torn up injury will show that there's a strange purple bruising around it. that's probably fine!!!
the fog in the distance lingers, rolling in from all sides.
the forest is still eerily silent.
meanwhile, your intrepid sanctum knight has remembered the pontiff. he walks slowly over to the body and sinks down to one knee, quietly, other hand resting on his sword. he looks shaken, still, shoulders hunched. ]
no subject
I suppose that answers where people have been vanishing to.
[ he keeps a wary eye on their surroundings but otherwise he's content to give their guest party member a moment to mourn ]
no subject
she has, in fact, heard that voice before. she's heard that exact phrase, and it curls up in her chest and in her throat. it locks her up. she just holds her axe in mid air, staring at the bones, and does not move, until datz calls for her. she nearly drops it, startled, and looks over her shoulder at him with very brightly glowing eyes.
just for a second.
and then:] What? Yeah. I'm fine.
[and her eyes are normal, and she puts her axe on her back, and brushes at her face. for whatever reason, she doesn't seem to want glory to be touching her, right now.
instead, she makes her way back over to the other three, and... to crick:]
... Crick? Are you okay?
no subject
His dagger, presumably retrieved from Glory, is now back in his hands.
This is the direction they need to head into if they want to find the source of it all, huh? He doesn't want to be caught off guards by any more weird fog hands. ]
no subject
Don't think there's much left that we can do here.
[ an apologetic glance at crick; sorry for thieving from this guy you knew and then not even being able to bury him... ]
We should go ahead. Anyone needs help getting around, let me know.
no subject
Something...something’s wrong. I - you all need to get away from here, as quickly as possible. There’s...
[ he looks at the body, for a moment longer, shoulders hunched. ]
...The Pontiff has been dead for weeks now. I saw - we found him, in the Cathedral, he was killed by a felvarg, by the -
[ there’s a shivering, terrible wind that blows through the trees - it’s powerful, and a mournful, low howl echoes through the wind. crick freezes, his head snapping up, and he scrambles back to his feet, and calls - ] You need to get out of - go, right now! Get out of here!
[ you only see her for a second. in the midst of the choking purple fog, a glowing eye stares back at you through a mop of white hair - an unnatural, horrible shape, and the swing of a giant sword that cuts through the growing fog like a hot knife through butter. there’s a cackle of a laugh. it might be talking. it’s hard to tell. crick jumps backwards, but he doesn’t break his stance, as he protectively puts himself in front of the group: he grits his teeth, and calls out - ]
Don’t fall into the night! Whatever you do!
[ as you’re preparing to fight this creature, or whatever it is you want to do (maybe run? running is a good idea), the fog starts to get thicker, and thicker. it all happens so fast. there’s the sound of metal and metal, and then the sickening sound of metal through flesh, and -
when the four of you look back, crick wellsley is made of blue light - intangible. the body he was defending is no longer the man in white, but that of the knight himself.
crick - no. crick's ghost - looks back at the four of you. there's something wistful in his voice, that sounds like it comes from another room. ] This is all I can do. I wish I could still protect you.
[ he looks to nimona, and his expression, just briefly, crumples, then turns to a smile. ]
Tell him I’m sorry. [ and then, crick wellsley, godsblade, dead man, raises his sword and lets out a mighty cry: ] The truth lies in the flame!
[ the creature shrieks, and there’s a brilliantly blue flash of light.
and then you’re alone.
THE WARRIOR / THE HUNTER / THE DANCER / THE THIEF ]