Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC / Conditional Acceptance / PG-16]

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

As Peaches reared back, she watched the door splinter, and damage itself; something inside trying clearly to get out. Peaches hesitated for a moment, easily long enough for the man to move, before ramming forwards with the back of her neck and head, using her bulk to slam through the wooden door. Wood and metal alike dug into her scales as she let out a deafening screech, as if to match the creature within, as she slowly took a few heavy steps forwards. Blood trickled from where the barred door had left its mark, both blunt gashes and pieces of sharp wood, which were jammed between her scales, prompting blood to flow from her sores. Despite the liquid draining however, Peaches continued forwards, slowly, as she scanned the building for the predator.

Which, she found almost immediately. A large, moving rock- No, a creature which looked like aa rock, that seemed to roar with every breath. Letting out another screech, Peaches lowered her head just a bit, eyes moving from the creature,  to a figure much further into the building, one that Peaches recognized...

---

Citron’s heart nearly stopped as everyone moved into action. Blows were traded, attacks dodged-- But they seemed to be doing nothing! Balling her hand into a fist, tightly gripping her chest, she watched as the statue lifted itself off the ground, swallowing nervously. Despite being made of stone, she couldn’t believe it was moving with such ease, even taking flight… How could they fight something like that, she wondered; how could they think they could win? How-

Her thoughts were interrupted, as a loud crash - followed by two loud screeches, screeches which weren't the statues. Screeches, which caught her attention. Turning around, behind Gunther-- much further behind, towards the door was… Peaches. How had she known to come? Was it the roar? Citron’s heart pounded as the Wyvern made her way past the foyer, and just behind Gunther; prompting she, herself… To break out into a run, towards the Wyvern. Wood had jammed itself in between her scales, metal and stone having scraped up her sides, but the Wyvern moved onwards, towards her; emerald eyes cautiously watching the moving stone as Citron neared her.

“P-Peaches…!” Citron smiled, hands cupping the Wyvern’s face as she buried her own face in the only thing she could recognize, the only thing she could comprehend in this moment. “You…! You came,” she smiled, trying to distance herself mentally from everything that was going on; trying to focus on her friend. After all--

What else was she going to do in this situation?

[Wind Rider 10]

Sienna paused for a moment, the creature's sudden interest over her was odd to say the least. The pause didn't last long though as the creature let out another screech as it proceeded to contend with it's opponent's. Sienna jumped back a bit to gain some distance and conjured some fireballs around her. The creature was flying seemingly effortlessly despite it's stoney appearance, and with her allies in the middle of fighting it, Sienna had to aim her shots well.

Her attention was caught again, however, as Citron's wyvern, Peaches, had bursted into the building, screeching along the way. The tides may have turned now, someone who could fly would be very useful for fighting the stone creature. Sienna shook her head, now wasn't the time to think, she had to help those who were currently in combat. She took aim with a fireball and shot it at the creature.

[Saikazo 241]

This wasn't working. The frog tried to stand his ground and keep the flying beast under control, but instead, he was being tossed around like a rag doll as he attempted to hang on with his tongue. Finally, he let go of the monster, flying through the air and crashing into the ground unceremoniously. With a cough and a groan, he quickly turned back into his human form, standing up slowly.

"There is...," He fought to get out through the slight pain he felt. "There is a symbol... on the back of its head!" He finally managed to yell out. "It seems to have been craved there recently. Perhaps if you disrupt or mess up the symbol, the dragon will turn back into inanimate stone!" It was just a guess, but he assumed this kind of magic was a bit delicate. He transformed back into a frog, hopping forward to close the distance before leaping high into the sky, attempting to land in its back. Perhaps if he could get on and have someone toss him a knife, he could mess up the symbol itself.

[The Last Occultist 16]

Adel

"This thing... where in the nine cursed hells is its weakness?" 

Adel moved forward as Shiro was able to restraint it with his tongue, however Edrick was one that managed to respond to that opening first. Yet, the attack instead harmlessly bounced off the statue. The statue then followed it up with a devastating dive, and the situation inside of the chapel ended up becoming more and more chaotic. However, it seemed that from here, Shiro noticed something.

"There is a symbol... on the back of its head!"

As Shiro said it, Adel looked at the direction that Shiro pointed out and noticed that symbol. Right. Something like this was born out of foul magic, and naturally if whatever was powering it was dealt with, then this thing would just die on its tracks. She noticed that Shiro was leaping upwards, perhaps in an attempt to strike at the weak point, and following his example, Adel began to make her move. As soon as Shiro made a confirmed landing and struck at the statue, Adel would follow it up with her own strike.

---

Ciela

"Licorice, calm down! The hell's getting into your head this time?!"

She couldn't open the door, so all that Ciela could do was to yell at Licorice as the fox desperately attempted to break the door in front of her to no avail. There was a growling voice coming from outside. Was it another enemy? No, the growling was... wasn't it the strange new person's wyvern? But in that case...

Within seconds, the weakened door was obliterated by the wyvern. It revealed the other person that had been trying to get inside, but more than that, Ciela wasn't able to think about anything else other than the protean that was next to her right now.

In moments, she would run away. This experienced soldier, who had spent most of this trip feeling cautious and fearful, was now going to run away because of something. This was clearly not just a form of superstition from Licorice's part. Something really wicked was going on.

And Licorice knew whatever it was.

Fueled by both worry and frustration and Licorice's secretive nature, Ciela did the only thing she could think of at the time. She grasped at Licorice and climbed on top of her back. Even if she'd get dragged on the ground due to this, she wouldn't let her go.

[Cheshire Toon 141]

---

---

Link gripped his sword tight and snarled. Magicians. They always changed the rules with their magicks; it was unnatural. How was a normal man supposed to fight a creature whose skin was hard enough to turn away even the strongest blows? The statue wasn’t going to wait for them to figure a strategy out, either, because it was already trying to trample Edrick. He needed to do something.

“Edrick!” Link had shoved his sword into the scabbard and pulled the rope off his bag. “Catch it and pull!” he shouted, rushing forward and throwing the other end of the rope toward the boy. The ‘dodge’ was an unspoken instruction. The statue was obviously stronger and larger than them, but the heavier a creature was, the harder they would fall when their balance was upset. 

That was the idea at least. Worst thing that could happen was that it failed. 
 

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

Edrick did not know what regret felt like. Up to this point, with all of his misadventures and failings such as they were, he had not once looked at an action he had committed and thought it better not done. And yet right here, right now, staring at the iron head of his lance glancing harmlessly off of the statue that was very much still stone, he found himself wishing he had borrowed a hammer from his father instead of departing with a hastily made spear. If only he'd had a tool capable of breaking stone to use here, but that was neither here nor there. What mattered right now was that he had royally angered the statue, and that it was diving at him. There wasn't going to be any slick backstepping and lunging in, no he just needed to not be crushed to death. So while it busied itself with jumping up into the air, he turned around and jumped over the altar. He likely knocked something over in the process, but that was a problem to worry about when he wasn't inches from being smashed into a pancake. With that resolved, he got himself stood back up and turned around again to face the statue.

"I can do this all day!" He jeered at it, hoping to keep its attention squarely on him and spare the others. He even reached into his tunic to pull out the Icon of Inera where it could be openly seen by their enemy. If this thing was somehow associated with the Great Dragon, then in all likelihood it would want to destroy anything derived from its greatest enemy. Which meant he was buying time for the others to figure out how to stop it.

And then the door was thrown open behind them, splintered apart by the now much less adorable looking Peaches. An angry wyvern was an angry wyvern after all. And then looked suddenly much more adorable when Citron ran up and cupped her face. Right, back to the matter at hand. He turned to face the stone dragon, and once more dropped into a ready stance with his lance pointed straight ahead at the thing. And then he heard Link shouting at him.

"Edrick! Catch it and pull!" And then the Soldier threw him a rope. Was he- and then it clicked! Alright, the worst thing he could do was lose a rope here, so he went ahead with the older man's plan and pulled on that with all of his strength. With any luck, they'd manage to catch its legs.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Asriel Dreemurr

[Sethera 290]

Still using the same BGM for this fight

So far, Catriona thought, stone has proven a more durable material than flesh and bone. Alois's axe did nothing more than further chip the wing, and Sienna's fireball, which normally would have dealt a decent amount of damage, splashed harmlessly against marble scales. It seemed it had done nothing more than light a fire within the statue--it letting out another angry roar.

However, there were a couple of attacks that seemed to have an effect. Penelope's Wind spell and Tsetseg's arrow had taken out one eye each--the spell the left eye and the arrow the right eye. With those attacks, the gemstones embedded in the creature's face had shattered like glass, the blue light fading from the shards as they pattered to the ground in an emerald rain. However, those who kept an eye on the statue would notice that the light had not, in fact, died out at all, remaining in the eye sockets like ghastly blue flames. Soon, they brightened and spread to the rest of the statue, till the whole of its stone body was giving off that same blue light.

This kind of unnatural sorcery was exactly the sort of thing Catriona couldn't deal with. But I have no choice but to fight. As the statue continued its forward lunge, she took one step, and then another, pausing only at seeing Shiro leap onto the statue with all the strength of his froggy legs behind him. As single-minded as it was, the statue had not even noticed the frog's jump, so his jump was successful. However, staying on would be another hurdle in itself, as the statue began to roll from side to side. If Shiro weren't careful, he would easily fall off.

Adel attacked soon afterward, the hit itself did little to its stony hide. Still, it was enough for the statue to stop and turn toward the pegasusless knight, giving just enough time for Link to throw a coil of rope at Edrick, and the two to then pull it taut.

It took Catriona a minute to figure out what they were doing, but when she did, she began to move again, this time to the side as it kept flying for Edrick. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it would be tripped up by the rope, rather it was giving all of its focus toward the Pontic, especially after he had pulled out his icon. If nothing happens, they'll fail, and it will crash into Edrick instead!

Gritting her teeth, the woman dashed up and shoved her shoulder directly against the statue's cloud-wreathed legs. While it didn't have much of an effect, the lord did not give up, shoving once more. Normally, such an action would not have even caused the statue to budge, but in midair, with no stable ground underneath, the figure was pushed off its course and toward the rope.

It was then that both Link and Edrick would feel an enormous pressure coming from the ends of the rope in their hands. They would have to pull back, or risk either the rope slipping from their grasp or being pulled directly toward the statue. Regardless, the statue would start to fall from its brief flight...directly toward Tsetseg, who had been standing behind both Link and Edrick after firing her arrow.

Acantha the beaver moved forward then to tug on Tsetseg's boot, but the creature was too small and weak to pull Tsetseg away from her position by itself.

Meanwhile, at the doorway, Licorice seemed unaware of Ciela's presence on her back. As soon as Peaches burst through the door, leaving behind a wyvern-shaped hole, it stood still for a second before crashing down on the stony pathway outside, leaving it free for either somebody to come in, or somebody to go out. Scarcely had Peaches rushed in when Licorice ran outside, not even noticing Abdul nearby in her haste. She did, however, stop short, finally taking notice of Ciela on her back. Eyes wild, the fox began to shake like a dog that had just come in from the rain in an attempt to force the troubadour off.

---

OOC

Spoiler

So the statue's falling toward Tsetseg now, with Shiro possibly still on its back or fallen off. Speaking of backs, Ciela is on Licorice's back, and is very likely to fall off herself unless she does something quick. Also, the door is down, leaving Abdul free to enter, and anybody inside free to leave.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

[Skaia 578]

Tsetseg's momentary feeling of success as she had managed to shoot out the eye of the creature was replaced by a sense of dread. Not only had it done little to nothing to actually slow down the dragon, it actually looked now more menacing then it had before. Pouting as the beast had seemed to defy everything she knew about hunting things so far, the girl then heard Shiro's comment about a supposed weak point on the head of the super wyvern. Perking up, the girl knew now that all she really needed to do was fire an arrow there, and everything would be all good. 

Unfortunately, just as she had come to this conclusion, she went wide-eyed as she realized that the dragon was making its way very very quickly towards her. Feeling a tug on her leg, the girl looked down and said, "right!" Pushing the small beaver with her leg to get them out of the way of the attack, which was partially a kick at that, Tsetseg dove to the side and rolled away from the stone super wyvern to not crash down on her. 

Alois, cursing still that his axe did very little to actually harm the beast, had his attention suddenly taken by the pink wyvern breaking into the chapel. "What the - " Alois was taken aback by this sudden appearance, only to remember that he had definitely seen this wyvern before. Looking at the Isaurian who made her way over to the wyvern, he now remembered just where he had. Looking at the girl and her wyvern, then back to Shiro, noting the thing he had just said about the dragon statue, the boy shouted out, "hey Citrus! Over here!" Pulling out a bronze axe of his, the boy waved it in the air towards the woman. "You know how to use one of these things?" 

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

The next few moments were a blur for her as Citron buried her face in the Wyvern’s scales. Everything had moved so fast moments ago, as the statue let out a roar, she did her best to calm down  as her Wyvern moved closer in. It wasn’t until someone else’s voice broke through, calling her name-- Or well, something really, really close to her name, in her direction, that she pulled away from the Wyvern. As she turned around, she saw Alois swinging what looked like a metallic Axe towards her, whilst asking if she knew how to use it.

“Uh…” Citron hesitated, staring at the Axe. Had she ever fought? No, no she hadn’t; she had no experience, no idea how to use it, but… She had used an axe to chop wood before, and she had chopped down trees and dead-branches for her family while flying on Peaches’ back… How different could swinging an Axe at a statue be? Realistically, very, very different, she told herself as she found herself climbing onto Peaches’ back, but… She still felt like she had to do something to help the others out, and this seemed like the first step to doing something to help.

“I think so!” She yelled back, before taking a deep breath. Moments ago, she had been terrified, paralyzed with fear, yet now she was moving, potentially towards what had put the fear of all things into her. She wasn't sure what it was exactly that gave her this courage, but... She knew it had to have something to do with the wyvern beneath her. Nodding to herelf, she gave Peaches’ a pat on the snout, pointing towards Alois. “C’mon, Peaches. We need to get that axe from him!” She explained, prompting the Wyvern, even in her damaged state, to leap into the air - as much as she could in the building - and begin flying towards the man offering the axe, attempting to go over, and around, the others.

[LordCowCow 840]

The guard flinched as the statue came crashing down. She had felt a wave of dread as she saw Acantha, in her tiny beaver form, run up towards the girl who was in the way of being crushed. Yet she couldn't bring herself to move. Fear was washing over her. Not just from the beast in front of her but also the one that had burst in from behind. While the wyvern seemed to be under control she couldn't be too certain.

This combined with the talking animal who was saying something about a symbol of sorts on the statue caused the girl to not know what she should do.

Though as the statue fell, landing nearly right in front of her, she realized she had to try something. The girl made sure her grip on her sword was tight and she moved forward. What had the...frog, said? Back of the head...Cora moved quickly. Hoping to reach the statue before it moved again and swung with all her might towards where she assumed the supposed symbol was. She didn't really aim, or check if there was a symbol, feeling far too hurried for such things. She had to do SOMEthing, and do it fast.

---

That didn't go so well. As it turned out the gems were not a source of the statue's power. Which meant that she probably owed the town a couple of emeralds now. Then again after this she was sure that she could convince them to overlook any damages. Especially given the life-threatening situation involving the princesses.

Yes, even that door, which busted down with quite a fanfare. She was relieved to see the wyvern in all honestly. That, combined with Alois's quick thinking, meant that they would soon have an ally in the air to deal with this mess.

If what Shiro said was true, which made sense given the mayor's reaction to the statue, someone, likely the one to curse the village, had caused the statue to become animate through dark magic. It was impressive to be sure and Penelope felt somewhat distressed to realize she didn't know much about this magic at all.

"Everyone, new target, destroy the symbol, keep the statue's head low if possible. Citron if it gets out of reach we'll have to rely on you!"

They could do this. Penelope readied her wind magic and moved towards the pedestal where the statue had been. Hoping to get up and gain a higher vantage point to hopefully aim an attack at the symbol Shiro mentioned.

---

Gunther was forced to move to the side as Peaches came barrelling past him. He wasn't exactly swift so he almost didn't make it. The wyvern sailing within inches of him. Still, he wasn't worried about the reptilian beast. After all he had spoken to them before and knew that, despite it all, they were a gentle creature. One who probably would be more of a threat to the statue, which was a danger to its rider, than to the others.

Though he wasn't exactly thrilled that Peaches had busted the door down in the process. With a start he turned back to it and stepped closer. "Ciela, are you alright?" he called out, concerned given that the girl had been near the door when it was opened.

Then he noticed someone standing outside. He couldn't fully tell who they were but he felt himself tense up. Was this it? Did the mastermind finally reveal themselves, while everyone was busy with the stone creature?

He held his lance up and called out towards the figure. "You there, hold, where did you come from and what do you plan to do?"

[Saikazo 241]

Shiro was somewhat surprised that he managed to land on the monster's back. However, staying on the thing's back was much harder than he thought it would be. In order to help himself stay on the dragon's back, he shot his tongue out, the appendage wrapping around the neck of the beast several times in order to anchor himself. He then took his froggy front limbs and wrapped them around the base of the monster's wings, both in an attempt to stop it from flapping, and to keep himself from falling off, even as the thing plummeted to the ground. Maybe they could keep it grounded.

Honestly, he had a good feeling about this.

One of the humans even went to attack the head. He made sure the rest of his body was out of the way. He didn't want to get mixed up in the crossfire of her attack.

 

[Otaku-sama 31]

As Abdul clambered to his feet, instead of seeing the wyvern, he now saw a large fox-like being trying to shake off someone who was desperately clinging to its back. Clearly there was many people behind the growing chaos. His first instinct was to attempt to aid the rider retake control of their mount, further screeching and roaring within the building quickly reminded him that there was a more pressing issue that demanded his attention first. Putting his tome under his left arm, he slipped by the bucking fox and the destroyed door. However, gaining access to the rest of the building would prove to be more difficult than he first thought.

"You there, hold, where did you come from and what do you plan to do?"

As the dust and debris swirled in the wake of the wyvern’s charge, Abdul saw an armor-clad figure blocking access to the main hall of the building, wielding a fearsome lance and speaking in the second voice he heard through the door. Tucking his tome back into his bag, Abdul then raised his hands.

“My friend, I am simply a traveler who heard the commotion! I am skilled with magic, and I think I may be able to help you with the creature inside!”

A thunderous crash punctuated his offer of help. With the dust settled enough to see into the main hall, Abdul looked past the knight to see the belligerents within. A band of warriors, including that wyvern’s rider, had managed to knock down a statue. Unlike a normal statue, the statue moved like the wyvern, reptilian and latent with predatory intent. The statue glowed blue with powerful magic, casting long, shifting shadows on the marble columns as the warriors continued to clamber around it. Despite the warriors' skill and strength, their tools of bronze and steel proved to be no match for the statue’s torrid invulnerability.

“Look! That thing cannot be felled with brute force alone! If you would let me pass, I can use my magics to stop it! Quickly, before it is too late!”

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by Otaku-sama

[Sethera 290]

BGM's not going to change, guys

With Tsetseg rolling out of the way, kicking Acantha--who protested this action noisily--to the side for good measure, there was nothing to cushion the statue's fall. With a rumble that shook the area around them, the effigy crashed to the ground. The fall had damaged the statue much more than the group's weapons, as they would be able to see large cracks running down the front and sides of the figure. Oddly enough, the inside of the cracks glowed even more brightly with that same blue light from before.

However, cracked as it was, the statue was still moving around like normal, struggling on the floor of the town hall as it attempted to right itself from the floor. Shiro had landed with it, and appeared none the worse for wear, having had the quick thinking to use his long tongue and limbs to keep himself from falling off.

If it were a living being, those cracks would be enough to keep it down. Then again, if it were a living being, it wouldn't have cracked like this in the first place. It'd be bleeding all over instead. Catriona remembered then what Shiro had said. So there's a symbol on the back of its head? Does that mean, unless we hit it, this thing will keep on moving, even if we shattered it to pieces? She had a hard time comprehending that, but looking at how the statue was still moving even with large cracks running through its body, it might be true.

That thought in mind, Catriona placed a hand on her sword handle to draw it and attack the statue, but stopped when she saw Cora strike down at the effigy with her own blade. The lord could tell from her nearby vantage point that the attack would miss the symbol, just like Adel's had earlier, though, with the way the effigy had been twisting around then trying to get the frog off, it wasn't that surprising. But the statue is still enough now. Cora should be able to aim for the mark, the lord thought with some puzzlement. Unless she decided to miss on purpose? While she felt that her earlier suspicions on them being goddess-worshippers were probably wrong, the thought couldn't leave her mind. Even if these people weren't secretly goddess-worshippers, they were still secretly something, and she would find out just what that was.

Movements to the side caught Catriona's attention. Penelope was clambering on top of the base, where the stone statue had previously stood, for some reason, but she was far enough back from the action that the lord didn't worry too much over her. What was more puzzling was Citron, astride Peaches, flying high over the others toward the corner of the room. There, Alois stood waving a bronze-colored axe. Where the wyvern had come from when it had been in the mayor's yard, and why exactly it was wounded, were questions the lord would have to mull over at a later time, preferably when things had settled down. Fortunately for the pair, the ceiling was high enough up that they were able to do fly without crashing into things. Still, the red liquid trickling down the wyvern's normally peach-colored hide was alarming.

Are there foes at the exit as well? Catriona wondered, turning her gaze from the duo and toward the main door, where she could see Gunther's silhouette outlined against the bright light of the outdoors. She thought she could see somebody behind him, too, but it was hard to tell, with Gunther being so tall and stout in his armor. She could, however, see what looked like Ciela atop...was that Licorice? Why was the girl trying to ride her, why was the fox in her beast form, and why were they all the way out there? Perhaps they, too, are fighting out there.

Still, I don't have time to worry about them. I must concentrate on the foe before me, the white-haired woman thought, turning back toward the statue. By now, Cora's attack had hit, and as Catriona predicted, it had missed its mark. However, it did hit one of the cracks running down the head, widening it further. She's stronger than I thought, the lord thought, impressed. However, she didn't have time to think further on that, as immediately afterward, the head of the statue split into two pieces. What was eerie, however, was that not only was the effigy still moving, but the pieces themselves were floating, connected to the rest of the body by what looked like a glowing blue current. 

It was then that the blue glow surrounding the statue intensified to a point where it became hard to bear. At the same time, Shiro, who had been straddling the statue, was blasted off by a strong force akin to a gale. It wasn't just him, however. Everybody around the statue would be blown away. Shiro, Sienna, and Adel would be thrown back to the raised elevation of the chancel. Catriona as well, almost crashing into Alois in the process. Link and Cora were thrown back normally, but Tsetseg ended up falling on top of the seat of one of the front row pews, knocking her head against the wooden back. Edrick hit the corner of the other pew at the front, and Acantha ended up rolling underneath that same one. Citron and Peaches were blown off course as well, thrown against the wall of the town hall, barely avoiding hitting one of the stained glass windows.

Dresogon the badger had begun to plod forward then, an expression of horror on his striped face as he took in the damage done to the statue, the town hall, and the group. However, he quickly retreated behind a pew as the statue began to move, finally righting itself, its head still split in two and floating above the neck area. Those behind it and to the side--Link, Adel, Sienna, Shiro, Penelope, and Catriona, would be able to see that the symbol on the back remained intact, stamped upon the head's left partition. As the lord picked herself up from her prone position on the floor, however, she paused as the symbol on the statue began to glow with that same eerie blue light. Even now, the woman couldn't help but feel that she had seen a blue light like this before, but she couldn't remember where, and with everything going on, she didn't have the leisure to mull it over.

The blue glow surrounding the statue faded back to its prior level, save for the current connecting the pieces of its head, and an area at the tip of its tail. As the glow brightened on its tail, the white-haired woman watched as the light formed itself into a long tendril that appeared to act as an extension of the tail, lashing the ground aggressively.

Before Catriona could blink, the tendril lashed right toward where she was attempting to rise. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to get out of the way in time, and before she knew it, she felt a cold sting on her legs, where the tendril had hit. The woman fell over, knees buckling underneath her. The cold feeling seemed to spread slowly from the area on her legs to their entirety, and wherever it went, all feeling was lost with it. This isn't good. As the woman looked up, she saw that the tendril was sweeping past her in an arc, where it would soon hit Alois, Penelope, Shiro, Sienna, Adel, Link, and Tsetseg, in that order. "Watch out!" she warned. "If you get hit by that, you'll lose all feeling in that limb."

--

After the tendril had formed on the statue inside, Licorice had become wilder and harder to control than ever. Even Ciela, with her experience with Remy, would find it hard to hang on, and in the end, she was shaken off. Free at last, the fox gave one last shake and bounded away from the town hall at a speed that even a horse would have trouble keeping up with, let alone somebody on foot. The Protean hared away down the street, turned the corner, and was gone.

---

OOC

Spoiler

While Tsetseg is no longer in danger of being crushed underneath a statue, she is in danger of being hit by that tendril. Actually, many of you are. Citron/Peaches, Edrick, Cora, and Acantha are the only ones safe from it save for everybody on the lower half of the map.

Also, Licorice has run away and is not on the map anymore.

Edited February 18, 2020 by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

[Cheshire Toon 141]

He had miscalculated. Edrick would have been crushed if it wasn’t for the timely intervention of Catriona, who somehow shoved the statue hard enough to send it into their trap. “Thank you, your maje---!!” Link shouted, his gratitude cut short by the dragon’s legs snagging the rope at that exact moment. “Hrrnghh!” It took everything he had to keep his grip on the rope and hold his ground. A hard life spent wielding his heavy Slag Blade had packed his arms full of muscle, and Edrick’s family was infamous for their strength, but their combined might was nothing in comparison to the overwhelming weight of the statue. The rope started to slip from his grip, the fibres fraying, and he was hunkered so far back he was close to parallel with the floor and was still sliding, but one desperate glance up was enough to see that the plan worked. The statue was falling.

“Let it go!” He screamed to Edrick, letting go of his end, which sent him tumbling to the floor in a heap. A split second later the entire building rumbled as the statue hit the ground. Link scrambled to get back up on his feet before it could recover. This was probably their only chance, but he wasn’t close enough to do anything, so all he could do was hope the rest capitalized on it. 

They tried to. Shiro was on the statue’s back, doing his best to subdue the wings, and Cora dashed at it in a desperate attempt to strike the mark. Link could tell just by her demeanor that she was destined to miss; she didn’t even take the time to look where she was swinging. “....” He pulled his newly acquired Iron Sword from his belt and fell into step behind her. As predicted, she missed, striking one the cracks in the statue’s head, and it… split in half? Link froze, transfixed by what he was watching, as the head split into two pieces and began to float. “... Get back!” he shouted, rushing forward to put himself in between Cora and the enemy as the magic in the air grew so thick that even he, as dense to magic as he could possibly be, could feel it. “We need to find out what’s going on,” he said, raising an arm to shield his eyes as the blue light radiating from the cracks in the statue’s visage grew unbearably bright. “That’s--”

Whatever he was going to say was lost in the explosion of power that followed. It was almost like he had been lifted up and thrown by the wind. He landed on his shoulder several yards away, disoriented, but in very little pain. That would only come after the adrenaline wore off. 

A quick glance around the town hall was enough to know that nobody was dead yet. But the statue of the Great Dragon was bracing for another attack already. The blue light amassed on its hindquarters, primarily the tail, extending the reach of the appendage by several feet. Link pulled his sword back up and prepared himself. Who’s it going after? 

He got his answer when the tail just barely seemed to twitch and Catriona collapsed. “Princess!” He surged toward her.

"Watch out!" she warned. "If you get hit by that, you'll lose all feeling in that limb." Link continued to run. He only had one shot to get by; the dragon was too fast to react to, so he just had to correctly guess where it was going to swing and dodge. High or low? High seemed more likely than low. Link preemptively slid, and by some divine intervention from the spirits, he was right -- the tendril whipped at his face in the instant he slid, missing by such a narrow margin that it knocked his hat off the top of his head. 

“Princess! Can you walk?” he asked, crouching down at her side. There was no visible injury to her legs at the very least, but the foe they were dealing with was anything but normal. Did that mean armor was ineffective against it?

Edited February 25, 2020 by Cheshire Toon

[Wind Rider 10]

Sienna growled in annoyance as the fireball she had launched had no effect on the creature. She was mentally facepalming herself, of course fire wouldn't work, it's a statue! Thankfully, her companions were more fortunate. Having tripped the creature, causing it's body to crack from the fall, Cora had widened the cracks, causing the creature's head to split in two. It didn't fall apart though, and the creepy blue light flowing through it's body started to glow brighter and brighter, until Sienna couldn't bare to look at it anymore. Then suddenly, she was blown away by some force.

Shaking her head and coming to her senses, she looked around to see that the light had hit everyone that was by the creature. "Is everyone ok?" Sienna asked as she got to her feet. The creature seemed enraged, and a glowing appendage had extended from it's tail. The eerie, new weapon wasted no time and had quickly attacked Catriona, knocking her to the floor. The tail then started swinging towards the group.

"Watch out!" she warned. "If you get hit by that, you'll lose all feeling in that limb."

Catriona's warning alerted Sienna immediately and she quickly jumped over and out of the way of the attack. She stood away and tried to come up with a plan. Maybe if the others could distract the creature enough, ranged attacks could hit the creature in the back? As long as the symbol was damaged in some way, they might have a chance. "Tsetseg! Follow me! Someone distract that beast!" She said as she darted to the side.

[LordCowCow 840]

Behind him Gunther could hear noises. Something moving around and a few crashing sounds. He almost instinctively looked behind him but stopped himself. He had to focus. There could be danger back there, certainly, but he could hear Catriona call out some orders and knew she at least was still fighting. It wasn't as though he could just turn his back on this stranger after all. Especially not after what he said.

“My friend, I am simply a traveler who heard the commotion! I am skilled with magic, and I think I may be able to help you with the creature inside!”

Magic. That was the key word. This wasn't just a stranger it was a stranger with magic. Which only added more credence to his fear that he was the one who caused all this in the first place. His rather...unpleasant appearance didn't help matters.

“Look! That thing cannot be felled with brute force alone! If you would let me pass, I can use my magics to stop it! Quickly, before it is too late!”

And while it was true that they didn't seem to be doing much to it he also knew both Penelope and Sienna had magic at their disposal. No, this didn't sit right with him at all. He drew upon his training as a guard and stood his ground. "Perhaps you mean no harm but if I let you through and you wish ill upon the p-the others we'll be even worse off than before. This town has been cursed, yet you walk around freely, I have no reason to believe you aren't the one causing this."

---

While she was shocked at what transpired Penelope felt a swell of pride as she realized she had positioned herself nearly perfectly. From her vantage she could easily see where the mark would be and beyond that the way the thing's head split, the magic holding it together making her more and more curious by the moment, meant that it was facing her direction.

The only thing she had to fear was that strange tendril that was moving in an arc towards her. She thought she could prepare her spell before it reached her but Catriona's warning caused her to rethink that plan.

Instead she ducked down and pushed her non-dominant hand up, the one not holding the tome, to try and keep the tendril slightly off course and avoid it hitting her center of mass. She felt her arm go numb but then it passed her by and she still had her other arm unharmed and grasping the wind tome. Which she then used to cast her spell, aiming a blade-like blast of wind towards the rather pesky mark.

---

Cora marveled at how composed everyone else seemed to be. She had nearly fallen over from the force that knocked her back and had only barely gotten steady again while the others had already started to react. They truly were experienced in this sort of thing weren't they? It was unnerving in its own way.

But she still had to act. Even if the bizarre and evil look of the statue frightened her. But what could she do? Her attack had damaged it but it seemed not to matter at all. Instead the thing only seemed to grow more and more dangerous  by the moment.

She started forward, thinking she'd figure it out as she went, but paused as she noticed the energy that was whipping around. She didn't want to be caught in whatever that was...

The girl noticed Tsetseg, the strangely innocent and happy young girl, toppled onto one of the pews. It seemed she had taken a nasty fall. Perhaps one that would stun her. And the way the whip was moving it seemed it would reach her soon.

So instead of attacking Cora hastily sheathed her blade and ran towards the pew. Normally she'd be more careful but time was not on her side so she simply scooped the girl up in both of her arms, rather easily at that, and backpedaled away from the movements of the tendril. "Are...are you hurt?" She managed to stammer out.

[Skaia 578]

As the wyvern riding girl made her way over, Alos handed his axe off to her saying, "good, good. And if you don't, don't worry. It's just like chopping a log." The boy looked over to the dragon statue before saying, "if you know, the log was made of blue glowing stone." After the hand off, things seemed to take a turn for the better as Cora had managed to crack open some of the stone with a pretty hefty slash. Then, things took a turn for the much worse as the dragon statue seemed to be glowing brighter than ever before. Shielding his eyes from the glow, Alois was soon met with a huge burst of force, knocking him back into the ground. 

Opening his eyes, catching his breath after being knocked around, Alois slowly got himself back up from his downed position. As he did he couldn't help but let out, "you have got to be kidding me," as the dragon now seemed to be half stone half glowing magical energy. As the dragon sent out a tendril towards the group, Alois didn't have much time to react as he scrambled back away from the blue whip like magic. The tendril only managing to pass through his arm, Alois winced as it wasn't as though his arm was in pain, as much as he could just barely not move it. Holding the hand axe in his hand, the boy said, "well, at least I only need one for this." With the dragon continuing to turn, the side the symbol was on facing him, Alois chucked his axe towards the symbol on the dragon's head.

 

Tsetseg's were a bit scrambled for a moment, being blasted back by a sudden burst of force as well as her head slamming into something. As he tried to reorient her vision, blinking a a few times as she groaned in pain, the girl suddenly felt herself hoisted and being whisked away from her position. The girl wasn't really sure quite what was going on, but after blinking for a bit, she suddenly realized that she was being carried by Cora. As the girl was asked if she was hurt, Tsetseg thought on it for a moment. There was definitely a stinging sensation in the back of her head, and so confidently the girl nodded saying, "yep!" 

Without really waiting for any other response from Cora though, the girl rustled around her arms before rolling out and landing on the ground. Picking herself up, the girl felt a bit off balance and so she simply took her time to reorient herself before going back to fighting. 

[Tiamat's Circus 117]

With only marginal worry and distress, Citron and Peaches pressed forwards, towards Alois. He gave her quick instruction - confirming her own thoughts about the nature of the weapon being given to her - and as soon as she had the axe in hand, she steered Peaches back towards the ceiling. That was her role to play here, right? Stay near the ceiling, stay away from the statue for now, until she had to act-- until it came to the sky, and it was up to her.

That is, until a gust of wind would send her and her wyvner compatriot from near the ceiling, into the side of the Church; and rapidly plumetting towards the ground. "No, no, pull up-" Citron rapidly slapped the side of her partner, the pink wyvern letting out a pained screech as more blood flowed from her wounds. "C'mon, it's alright," Citron struggled to convince the Wyvern, and herself, as she tried to right herself and avoid dropping the axe at the same time. The wyvern shook as she moved forwards just a bit, before rising up, and back away from the rapidly approaching. "There, there," Citron smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. "It'll, uh, probably be over soon."

Nervous as she steadied Peaches in the air, Citron swung against the air a couple of times, doing her best to reassure herself. The weight was… Different, compared to what she was used to in a lumber axe. Steadying herself on Peaches’ back with one hand, the axe itself was fairly unwieldy, or maybe it was her arms that were unwieldy? She couldn’t tell. What she could tell however, was that the center of balance was… Was different, way off compared to what she was expecting. “Right. Okay. Breath. Focus.” She reminded herself, eyes narrowing on the statue as it turned and swept in it's attack. Logically, if it kept sustaining damae, it would probably try to retreat into the air, and that's when she had to make her move; that's what Penelope meant by "we'll have to rely on you", she reasoned, as she continued to wait.

Edited February 25, 2020 by Feral Pistol

[Otaku-sama 31]

"Perhaps you mean no harm but if I let you through and you wish ill upon the p-the others we'll be even worse off than before. This town has been cursed, yet you walk around freely, I have no reason to believe you aren't the one causing this."

Abdul was disappointed, but not surprised by the knight’s response. Although he had hoped that this knight would be more willing to accept aid when his charge was likely in danger. Unfortunately, this knight’s common sense was woefully lacking, causing him to block the entrance like a stubborn mule refusing to pull a cart. Just as he was about to give the knight a piece of his mind, Abdul saw the tide of the battle within turning against the warriors. The statue’s magic waxed fearsomely, bathing the room in its ghost-light. Then, with a whip of its tail, the statue managed to cripple several warriors at once.

Upon seeing this construct only grow more powerful by the second, Abdul eyes grew wide as he slowly backed away from the door and its knightly barricade. How could this so-called knight stand idle as his charges were being slain by a fearsome creature? Could it be sheer cowardice that was keeping him from the fight. Perhaps this knight was not a part of this group, but was its executioner, a hangman tightening the noose around their necks. Or was his fear of “curses” upon the town clouding his judgement and causing him to fear any foreigner wielding magic?

A crash from behind him drew Abdul’s attention away from the fight to the sight of the fox bolting down the street, leaving its rider in a heap on the ground. If he could not save those within the building, at least he could attempt to escape with a survivor. He turned his back on the knight and approached the young woman.

“Are you injured? We must escape this place before that thing manages to escape!”

 

[Asriel Dreemurr 38]

Initially, Edrick had thought that his and Link's ploy to trip up the statue was going to be successful. Especially thanks to Catriona's assistance in it, and sure enough they had. The problem arose when it became apparent that tripping the thing was not enough to keep it down on its own. Even with parts of it breaking and cracking, even as its head split in two the statue continued to fight them. If even half of what Edrick had heard about the lesser children of the Great Dragon was true then this was an unfortunately worthy replication of them. He had been bracing himself to continue holding the thing's focus, trying to plan out a way to distract it and let the others do something, when he was knocked off his feet by nothing and sent careening into the corner of one of the pews. That knocked the wind out of him and left him laying there for a moment or two, but gradually he fought himself back to his feet. For now he didn't feel much pain, but he was abundantly certain that was going to change in the near future.

"Alright, we just need-" he had started to say as he stood up, and then he looked and beheld the display of magic from this thing. Of course it was magic, that hadn't been under any question, but to see it using it... how were they supposed to deal with this? And then he felt that familiar weight around his neck, taking a brief second to hold up the devotional icon given to him. What if... that might just work! But this was from his father. Blessed in the city of his birth if he was to believe that, and why should his parents lie to him? Yet as he watched his companions being struck at by the dragon's magic... he had to do something.

"Breath of the Goddess." He swore as he tugged on the icon until the cord around his neck snapped, and then set to tying it around his lance just below the head. He had been taught many things about the Goddess, and one of them was her scorn for all magic that didn't come from her. He pray- hoped that he wasn't wrong. The boy took a deep breath, and then shouted as loud as he could. "Down here ugly! This is between you and me!" Hoping that was enough to get the statue to lower its head at him, he charged and tried to thrust his weapon between the two halves of the statue's head. He didn't have a good idea of what was going to happen, if anything, but this was getting desperate. He had to try something! And... maybe this would buy enough time for his friends to do something.

[Saikazo 241]

Shiro thought they were doing pretty well. They managed to get him to the floor, and some of the others attacked the monster's head. However, things started to go for the worse rapidly. Some sort of forceful gale smashed him in the body, causing his tongue's grip to loosen and toss him off, the giant frog crashing into the ground. He sighed, standing up slowly, watching the statue glow brightly. Some sort of tendril sprouted from it, and it began to attack them all in a wide, sweeping arc.

"Watch out!" the older princess called out her warning. "If you get hit by that, you'll lose all feeling in that limb." That wasn't good. Everyone went to dodge it in their own way, but there was only one way Shiro could dodge it. Using his mighty frog legs, he leapt straight up, soaring through the air. However, in the heat of the moment, he just put all the power into his legs when he jumped, causing him to crash into the ceiling, rather painfully at that. He fell back to the ground, groaning and struggling to get up some. That was so embarrassing. Thankfully. people probably wouldn't notice, right?

[Sethera 290]

The same BGM as always

The town hall was a mess of marble dust and cracked stone with people scattered in various positions around the center of the chaos--a reptilian statue with a large glowing blue tendril extending from its tail. As it swept over the group, most of them managed to avoid its numbing touch. Link, who had ducked underneath it while running toward Catriona. Shiro, who had jumped over it, but in the process, crashed into the ceiling. Sienna, whose quick foxlike reflexes had helped her evade the attack. And Tsetseg, who had been lifted into a bridal carry briefly by Cora while backpedaling out of range. Alois and Penelope would feel their arms that had been hit growing numb and useless, yet they still maintained feeling in their dominant arm, thankfully. Adel, on the other hand, would have one of her legs hit and lose all feeling within, much like what had happened to Catriona.

As Alois and Penelope both aimed for the mark on the back of the statue, their attacks cutting through the air, the half of the statue with the mark rotated, so that the side with the mark was now facing Edrick as the statue leaned closer toward the boy. It was too late for the lancer to redirect his attack, however, and so his weapon was lodged firmly between the two sides of the head. Immediately afterward, the blue current quickly traveled up his lance but stopped with an angry crackle as soon as it hit the icon. The icon vibrated in place as it forced back the blue light from reaching its bearer. With this, the two sides of the statue had been separated even more. Unfortunately, the place where Alois and Penelope had been originally aiming for was now where the divide was. While Penelope's cutting Wind sailed harmlessly overhead, Alois's hand axe managed to clip part of the lance tip, knocking it out from between the two halves of the head toward Edrick. However, the axe was now glowing a bright blue as it arrowed back toward Alois's waiting hand.

Even after the lance had been removed from the divide, the two halves stayed the way they had now become--even more separated. The left side swiveled back so that the front was now facing Edrick, the back with the mark facing the altar again. The statue let out another roar, the sound like gravel crunching against each other as it stomped the ground with heavy footsteps, creating shock waves that would knock anybody standing on the stone floor off their feet. Even Gunther would struggle to stay upright where he was, though the two in front of him would retain their balance. Those on the raised, wooden portion of the ground would have an easier time of it, and Penelope would have it the easiest from her position atop the stone base. At the same time, the tendril whipped around behind the statue, knocking the chalice and bouquet of flowers off the altar, where they landed with heavy clunks. It then lashed out toward various people around the room close at hand--Sienna, Penelope, Citron, and Link. Unlike before where it moved in a sweep, this time it moved like a whip, rearing back and targeting one person before repeating the motion with the next.

Catriona had attempted to stand, but collapsed gracelessly to the ground immediately afterward. "Unfortunately...I cannot," she replied to Link's question. It was impossible to use her legs to support her if she couldn't even feel them, couldn't even bend or straighten them. It was almost as if they didn't exist, but for the fact that her eyes could see them trailing uselessly in front of her and her brain knew they were there.

The woman gritted her teeth. There wasn't anything she could do to help the others in this situation. She was nothing but dead weight until the numbing wore off. If it didn't--well, that wasn't something she would think about right now. No, it was better to focus on what she could do at the moment, which was get back so that the others who still had use of their appendages, like Link, wouldn't worry about her.

She was momentarily distracted from her thoughts at the sight of Shiro crashing into the ceiling before falling back down. The woman blinked. I suppose even frogs have a hard time handling their jumps. Her expression returned to its grim cast though as she spotted the tendril heading toward the fox Protean, her sister, the merchant, and the mercenary in front of her in turn. "Look out!"

---

OOC

Spoiler

Atm what's going on is:

• Those standing on the stone floor are in for a bad time.
• Those standing on the wood floor are in for a less bad time.
• Penelope is in for the least bad time except there's a tendril heading her way...and also Sienna's, Citron's, and Link's way.
• Alois's axe is glowing bright blue.
• Edrick's lance isn't because of the power of FAITH. Or maybe something else.
• Nothing new going on outside except Gunther is now gonna have to try to keep his balance.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Edited February 26, 2020 by Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd

[LordCowCow 840]

Gunther watched as the strange man turned away from him. Well, that was easy. Gunther wished he could just assume it was his impressive talent as a guard that caused them to back off so easily. However he couldn't help but think that there was some other, darker, intention that the man was aiming for. He felt nervous as the stranger approached Ciela. Did he decide to target those outside of his protection? Then again he didn't think he would be hard for a magic user to stop.

Still, he should do something about this right? "Wait, what are yo-" Gunther was cut off as a sudden shockwave hit. He hadn't been expecting it. Usually he'd be able to stay standing had he expected such a thing. However as it stood Gunther, well, wasn't able to stand.

He stumbled to the side and, trying to pull back, ended up falling on his back. Wincing he started to hurriedly attempt to stand once more. His heavy armor making it difficult. The Knight managed to sit up, using the butt of his lance, but was still trying to get back to his feet before the stranger passed him by.

 

---

 

Cora gave Tsetseg a confused smile as the girl declared herself injured with such pep and energy. "Ah, right, good...no, not good, you should get back if you're hurt!" she said, taking a step closer.

She whipped her head back towards the statue as she heard it thrashing about. Then the shockwave came and Cora, already unsteady by her own confusion and uncertainty, was shaken off of her feet. She lost her grip on her sword and scrambled to grab it again. Sitting back with a loud sigh she clutched the hilt tightly. What to do, what to do...

Cora looked over to where the beaver, Acantha, was. She was used to being able to work with the other girl in situations, while not exactly, like this. But with her as she is now...

Either way Cora made her way over, still moving on her hands and knees as she wasn't sure she could stand just then, she sat back and hissed out to her. "A-Acantha?" She looked at the statue and cringed. "I'll be honest I'm at a loss. Do you have any idea what we can do here?"

 

---

 

The princess pouted as her attack missed. It seemed that this would be trickier than she thought. Especially as it seemed many of them were...well, not holding up very well. If it kept going like this they wouldn't be able to get a direct hit off.

"Listen up, I know it's a strange foe, but the goal is simple! There's only one target to reach. Destroy the symbol. That's it! It may be large and dangerous yet if you focus on that you'll see it's not as bad as it seems!"

Though even as she said this she noticed the tendril coming around again. Though this time it seemed to be moving even faster, or she just wasn't as ready, and as she took a step back, and paused as she remembered she was on a platform, the tendril cut across her body.

Wincing as she felt the numbness spread she slipped and fell on her rear on the edge of the platform.

Shaking her head she struggled to keep herself upright. Even numbed like this she wasn't out yet. She didn't have to move from this spot to attack.

But the symbol was moving. And she had to focus.

Penelope prepared her spell but held off. She would wait for when the symbol was facing her to let loose the attack. Perhaps the others could set up a better timing for her before she wasted another attack.

 

---

 

Important note

Spoiler

tbh I mostly wanted all my characters to end this post sitting. Don't take this as a "the shockwave for sure will knock you down"

 

[Skaia 578]

Alois couldn't help but say, "oh come on, that's just not playing fair," as the sigil on the dragon shifted places. Regardless, he was then met with some concern as his hand axe returned to him. Seeing that it was glowing a very eerie and familiar bright blue, he opted to avoid grabbing it, instead letting the axe strike against the wall behind him. "Creepy," he muttered,  only to have his balance disrupted by the sudden crash into the ground. Stumbling back a bit, the boy managed to keep his footing as he looked towards the stone dragon, thinking about how he would be able to fight it. He couldn't use one arm, and he was very hesitant to use his now magically glowing blue axe. Then there was the issue of attacking the dragon as well, both with it being able to fly as well as its ability to move its own weak point. If that was the case, then there was only one thing Alois could think to do. 

Pulling out his final axe, as he slowly started to make his way to the back of the dragon. Looking to the mercenary he shouted, "Link, get ready to hit that side," he gestured to the side closest to mercenary. Then, waving his axe at the proteans, he said, "one of you two get ready to hit the opposite. Eddy! Get ready to stab it in the face. You heard the princess, we've got one small target to hit, and if it wants to move all around then we'll just have to hit it from every angle we can." Naturally, the group had the issue of if the dragon flew into the sky, but even then, they had something of a counter measure for that. 

As Tsetseg had been moving her hands around, getting her footing and balance back, the super wyvern seemed to have other plans as it crashed back into the ground. With a huge shock wave being sent out, Tsetseg was cleanly knocked off her feet, letting out an, "aack," she landed on her back. Feeling a bit annoyed by this, Tsetseg was definitely ready to strike back against the creature, and wasn't going to let something like being prone stop her. As such, the girl rolled over onto her stomach, bow still in hand. With swift movement the girl then swung herself back, bringing her legs so that she would get onto her knees. Now no longer flat onto the ground, the girl pulled out an arrow and looked to get ready to fire off an arrow towards the symbol in front  of her. 

[Wind Rider 10]

Catriona, Alois, and Edrick's attack on the creature could've ended better, way better in fact. The statue obviously knew to protect the mark on it's back, that or it just wasn't about to get attacked from behind. Either way, the attack left it's head even more split apart, as it roared and shook the ground around it. Sienna had to grip the floor just to keep from tumbling over from the force of the creature. This thing was honestly starting to tick her off.

"One of you two get ready to hit the opposite. Eddy! Get ready to stab it in the face. You heard the princess, we've got one small target to hit, and if it wants to move all around then we'll just have to hit it from every angle we can."

Sienna turned to Alois who was directed this towards her and Shiro. She nodded her head and dodged to the side, barely dodging the glowing tendril of the statue. She prepared another fireball and moved to the right of the creature. "Ready when you are!" She said as she aimed for the creature.