A Horse By Any Other Name (Part 23)
One Month after the Summer Solstice (Seventh Moon 1000 ALB)
Cedron leans toward Abacus and asks “What in the realm is that amalgamation?”
The wizard gulps and mutters, "Bugbear!"
Raven snarls and charges the winged bear. He leaps, sword clenched in his teeth, putting all of his body weight into the blow and slashes the beast across it's left hip. A backhand drives his pony body into the wall, splintering the stone and sending a spiderweb of cracks radiating out from the point of impact. Raven bounces off of the wall, keeps his feet under him and feints to the left again. The bear-bee pivots, keeping the warrior in front of it but leaves an opening for Kysek to strike at.
The elf-icorn's borrowed sword gouges a divot in the monster's leg. Electricity crackles as his spell discharges through the blade, eliciting an angry roar vicious claw comes down, seizing Kysek's horn in one of its paws and hauling him into the air before slamming him back down onto the flagstone floor.
Drax stares momentarily at the apparition as it appears, temporarily at a loss. This form he wears so foreign to his mind. Age old insecurities long inhumed claw their way towards the surface of his consciousness... he teeters on the edge... then the deep cold logic of years upon years of training rushes back in, like an icebath scouring away a fever dream. Raven strikes with his sword and is knocked aside. Kysek stabs and shocks the beast. It breathes. It roars. It will bleed. It will die. As silent and invisible as the death of hope the assassin moves in, he manages to slip past, unseen, and then is behind the brute. He watches the rapidly fluttering wings growing out of the monster's shoulders and readies his blade.
Grotto stands in front of the guide ponies as their body guard waiting for the bee-bear to come into range for an axe strike.
Abacus rears back onto his hind legs and his horn flares brilliantly. Four bolts of energy blast out of the ether, pelting the monster in the head and chest. The creature shakes its head and starts forward. It swipes at Raven and Kysek with its four front paws. Two blows each catch the adventurers, knocking them both back several steps.
“Well, that’s a first” Nik quips as he raises his bow and begins loosing arrows at the beast.
Ra’ziir shouts, "Telam" and strands of gooey webbing fill the hall, draping across the beast and adhering to its fur and stone. The creature surges forward, straining against the fibers and the stones anchoring it begin to pull out of the wall with a horrible grinding noise. The bladesinger is on it immediately, slashing with his sword and scoring a thin line across its belly.
Shadow calls upon his magic, uttering a single, powerful word, "ΖΑΛΙΣΜΑ!" The force of the magic staggers the creature, leaving it wobbling on its feet.
That's when Drax strikes. His borrowed shortsword slips into the ribs between the two arms on the monster's left, sinking in up to the hilt. He can feel the rapid thud of the brute's heart through the blade suddenly still as the monster collapses to the stone floor.
- - - - -
• Cedron: 95% health; Light (79 minutes, 7 rounds remaining)
• Drax: 100% health; Nondetection (lasts until about 10 pm), Undetectable Alignment (lasts until about noon tomorrow)
• Grotto: 94% health;
• Kysek: 70% health; Half of the Tome has been read
• Niklas: 100% health;
• Raven: 65% health;
• Ra’ziir: 80% health;
• Shadow: 97% health; Overland Flight (18 hours, 57 minutes, 6 rounds remaining)
Raven snarls and charges the winged bear. He leaps, sword clenched in his teeth, putting all of his body weight into the blow and slashes the beast across it's left hip. A backhand drives his pony body into the wall, splintering the stone and sending a spiderweb of cracks radiating out from the point of impact. Raven bounces off of the wall, keeps his feet under him and feints to the left again. The bear-bee pivots, keeping the warrior in front of it but leaves an opening for Kysek to strike at.
The elf-icorn's borrowed sword gouges a divot in the monster's leg. Electricity crackles as his spell discharges through the blade, eliciting an angry roar vicious claw comes down, seizing Kysek's horn in one of its paws and hauling him into the air before slamming him back down onto the flagstone floor.
Drax stares momentarily at the apparition as it appears, temporarily at a loss. This form he wears so foreign to his mind. Age old insecurities long inhumed claw their way towards the surface of his consciousness... he teeters on the edge... then the deep cold logic of years upon years of training rushes back in, like an icebath scouring away a fever dream. Raven strikes with his sword and is knocked aside. Kysek stabs and shocks the beast. It breathes. It roars. It will bleed. It will die. As silent and invisible as the death of hope the assassin moves in, he manages to slip past, unseen, and then is behind the brute. He watches the rapidly fluttering wings growing out of the monster's shoulders and readies his blade.
Grotto stands in front of the guide ponies as their body guard waiting for the bee-bear to come into range for an axe strike.
Abacus rears back onto his hind legs and his horn flares brilliantly. Four bolts of energy blast out of the ether, pelting the monster in the head and chest. The creature shakes its head and starts forward. It swipes at Raven and Kysek with its four front paws. Two blows each catch the adventurers, knocking them both back several steps.
“Well, that’s a first” Nik quips as he raises his bow and begins loosing arrows at the beast.
Ra’ziir shouts, "Telam" and strands of gooey webbing fill the hall, draping across the beast and adhering to its fur and stone. The creature surges forward, straining against the fibers and the stones anchoring it begin to pull out of the wall with a horrible grinding noise. The bladesinger is on it immediately, slashing with his sword and scoring a thin line across its belly.
Shadow calls upon his magic, uttering a single, powerful word, "ΖΑΛΙΣΜΑ!" The force of the magic staggers the creature, leaving it wobbling on its feet.
That's when Drax strikes. His borrowed shortsword slips into the ribs between the two arms on the monster's left, sinking in up to the hilt. He can feel the rapid thud of the brute's heart through the blade suddenly still as the monster collapses to the stone floor.
- - - - -
• Cedron: 95% health; Light (79 minutes, 7 rounds remaining)
• Drax: 100% health; Nondetection (lasts until about 10 pm), Undetectable Alignment (lasts until about noon tomorrow)
• Grotto: 94% health;
• Kysek: 70% health; Half of the Tome has been read
• Niklas: 100% health;
• Raven: 65% health;
• Ra’ziir: 80% health;
• Shadow: 97% health; Overland Flight (18 hours, 57 minutes, 6 rounds remaining)
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