The Chosen [IC / Not Accepting / PG-16]

[Skaia 578]

Walking across the bridge towards the forested island proper, Ryia couldn't help but feel a bit tense. This would mark the third island that they had gone to in search of a demon gate to destroy, yet this was the first one they hadn't simply teleported into. She couldn't help but think of think of this as a small blessing, as they would most likely hit yet another desolated outpost and be immediately in hostile territory with no knowledge of what was surrounding them. For this, she was thankful to the other guards in the land prior to warn them of the man-eating lycans and generally isolationist elves. Of course, this wasn't the first time they would be dealing with a people that simply did not want them around, but whatever bad blood existed between that Minotaur Tribe and the humans at least didn't lead to outright violence on either end. All the same, it did little to actually prepare her for what the elves, were they to come across them, would be like. And the sight of the sea of trees and only those did little to calm her nerves. 

As she walked into the forest proper the girl couldn't help but feel even more on edge, as if waiting for the elves to pop out immediately and dissuade them from moving any further in. True to the knights words - and Ryia wasn't even sure if this was the case normally anyway - they were not stopped. There were no elves to be seen at all. Really, the only sign of non-plant life was the sound of animals moving, rustling and making their own variety of noises around. Which, from where they had been last certainly didn't calm her nerves at all. 

Looking around, though it was possible to go around the perimeter and scout more of the forest, she didn't think it would be very fruitful. After all, she had doubted that the demon gate would exist on the edge of the island and simply getting info from the locals would probably be more useful then aimlessly wandering. And even if they didn't have any friendly settlements to go to, Ryia would much rather take her chances with the elves then the lycans. And so, taking a deep breath, the girl looked behind her to the others saying, "well, um, shall we?" Before turning forward and continuing to walk deeper into the forest, trying to keep an eye out for anything that would leap out from the trees at them. 

[Doggo 218]

With the group now starting into the forest, Reinaan couldn't help but feel on edge. Perhaps it was just past experience but he fully expected something to attack them. But as the hunter carefully scanned his surroundings from atop his lizard he did notice something strange. The borders of the forest looked almost entirely undisturbed, either by person or animal. Nothing was abnormal about the plants though certainly some different things grew here compared to the mountains of Blagos. Still it was strange. His own village wasn't a stranger to the idea of wanting to be left alone. But to that same end they also occasionally patrolled the outskirts of their lands aside from their usual hunting grounds. Something had to be scaring near everything away from these places to keep nature so untouched. Thinking on it too much was frustrating because Reinaan would have to make up too much to even continue the thought process. So instead he rode up alongside Keres looking for some information on a different subject.

"So... elves live here right?" Reinaan asked more generally but looking at the young mage. "You ever read anything about 'em Keres? Feels weird that we've had two elven wind chosen at this point and I still don't know much of anything about them." he commented, putting something of a damper on his own mood thinking about Pyrrha's unexplained departure.

[LordCowCow 839]

"You ever read anything about 'em Keres?"

Keres didn't expect to be asked that now as they entered the forest. There was a ridiculous moment that she almost refused to say anything with the thought that it would be like talking about someone with them right there. After all the elves had to be somewhere around right? But it really did seem they weren't nearby.

"Um. No, well, yes...I've read about the forest. Which...I guess is like reading about the elves. I know they don't like using their magic on the plantlife...but that the plants are affected by their magic anyway. So...they tend to avoid big displays of magic...which is why most are archers or swordsmen...." she paused. Well, most was correct. She thought back to the tower and remembered the elves who had studied there.

"We've both had some of them for classmates, don't you remember?" Madelyn said, sniffing with clear distaste. "There were many less than human but they treated us all as children. You know how ridiculous that is? Just because they stay younger longer they think they're more mature automatically. Even though many of them, physically, were younger. It was so annoying!" She huffed and then sighed. "But, as she said, there aren't many of them so we might not even have to worry about any elven-mages while we're here." she looked around "Though...there's plenty of magic in the forest itself and...wait what was that?"

They had gone deeper into the forest by then. Far enough that the border was impossible to make out now. Which meant that there were only trees as far as they could see. However just because there were many large trees didn't mean there weren't also large gaps between said trees. And off in the distance, between some of those gaps, there was noises of something crashing through the brush and branches.

Moments later they saw what was making the ruckus. A trio of large beasts with both reptilian and avian features, a large plate-like protrusion over their heads and three horns pointing forward, appeared off to the left. They were somewhat bigger than horses in length and at least twice as wide and they were running towards the group.

Keres tensed but Damien waved it off. "They're herbivores. No need to be concerned they should just pass us by and....hm. Well that's not normal."

As they got closer they showed no signs of stopping and it seemed there was fear in their animal eyes as they continued to charge towards the group. Even when they noticed them standing there they seemed to grow only more fearful and aggressive. In fact the one in the lead changed course slightly and moved to run them down. Followed soon by the other two.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia listened to the explanation that Madelyn and Keres had given about the elves. She was made only more curious about the elves themselves and what their magic was like here, but ultimately figured that it would be best for all of them if they didn't have to experience it. She also couldn't help but imagine exactly how things would go down with Madelyn were they to run into any of them, very clearly being able to see how that conversation would end up playing out. All the same, in spite of entering the forest they had still not managed to see any of the aforementioned elves that were supposed to live here so far. Instead, the first very clear and present thing that greeted them was a strange beaked reptilian creature. Looking at them, she couldn't help but be a bit on edge with Damien's comments doing little to assuage her nerves on them. And as they started to charge at her it seemed she had every right to be as nervous of them. 

The creature's did little to actually give room to pass by them; in fact they seemed to be charging directly towards the group with the intent to ram them. With one of them moving towards her, Ryia thought to bar its path with her rock wall but had remembered what Keres had said prior, feeling like it would be incredibly disrespectful on her part if she were to just uproot the ground. As such, she decided a less magical solution was in order and quickly vaulted out of the way, still not wanting to actually engage them in combat if she could avoid it. Of course, the large reptile didn't seem intent on just charging past her and going it's merry way, instead skidding to a halt and turning to face her. Getting back to her feet, she locked eyes with the creature, clearly seeing the fear it had in them. Furrowing her brow, Ryia drew her shield and mace as she knew that it wasn't about to back down against her. 

As it charged her again, the girl went for a shorter hop this time, getting to its side before striking at it with her mace. As it had been a solid hit, the creature let out a groan before going to swing its tail at her. Bringing up her shield, the girl was knocked back by the attack, tumbling backwards from the hit before getting back to her feet. As she stood, with the creature so close she wanted to keep its attention focused on her rather than either of their mages, and so she struck her mace against her shield. Feeling threatened by the clanging noise her weapon and shield made, the beast started to charge towards her once more. Before it could get to her, a barrier of light appearing in front of her. "Oh you are far too reckless aren't you?" Madelyn called out to her, letting out a gasp as the beast collided with the wall, the barrier still holding in spite of it. 

With it stopped right in front of her, Ryia called out a, "sorr- er, thanks." Twisting herself around the barrier, the girl went to smash her mace into its beak like face. 

[Hollow 21]

Lindow took in a deep breath of the forest air as the party took their first steps deeper into the tree line. There was familiar sensation of energy radiating all around them. Magic. Though he was never formally trained in the arcane, his body recognized this feeling from the countless nights it had spent prowling through witch territory- It was as if he was working again. 

He listened in as Keres and Madelyn went into a brief explanation of the elves and their effect on the plant life; confirming his hunch about the magic in the air, as well stoking his interest in meeting the natives. The witch hunter licked his lips at the prospect of clashing blades with the warriors of the forest. If they moved anything like Damien, then they would certainly be worth hacking through their precious woods to seek out.

It didn't take long after that for the party to be greeted with their first taste of the locals. Three massive lizards. Each brandishing an impressing set of horns and a shield like frill   to aid in their charge. Focusing his attention on the creature that was heading right for him, Lindow let the beast get in close before quickly drifting to the right, avoiding the collision at the last minute. With the creature's side visible on the pass, he pounced without hesitation. Clinging tightly to the warmth of its scaly hide, he sensed a new wave of panic roll through its massive body. Sparks of thunder magic had already begun to chirp and dance around the air, and before his prey could shake him off Lindow let off a Discharge at point blank range. 

The creature began to violently spasm. It's legs locking, causing it to groan and fall to its side as it succumbed paralysis. Kicking off it's body to avoid being crushed, Lindow brought himself to a skidding halt on the forest floor before bringing his hand up to the handle of cleaver that rested on his back. Without a word he dashed forward with the intention of dealing the killing blow. Only to suddenly realize that in his haste he had put himself roughly in the path of the third lizard's charge. He pivoted awkwardly. Wrestling with the momentum he had gained in preparation for his own attack, the thunder chosen struggled to shift his footing to avoid being ran down. 

Edited July 26, 2021 by Hollow

[Doggo 218]

Big lizards weren't high on Reinaan's list of expected interruptions to the mage girls instructing him about the woods and elves, but it wasn't unwelcome. Though he'd grown quite a bit at this point, the Fire Chosen had spent several decades as the smallest reptile in most situations he was in and the chip was still planted firmly on his shoulder. Still atop Kloqah he readied his halberd before standing up on her back as the group moved into position once it was clear they were going to have to fight. Not that he didn't think she could hold her own, Reinaan wasn't keen on having his mount take part in the scrap with the horned beasts. And so as Ryia and LIndow launched assaults on two of the stampeding creatures, the draken readied to attack the last. As it happened it was in position to attack Lindow who wasn't in a great position to avoid it.

Reinaan leapt off of Kloqah's back with the spear end of his weapon leading the charge as he looked to skewer the beasts' side as it ran. The snarl he let out as he did so was among the more beastial noises to escape him in a long time. Embers were already licking at his lips, his fire breath on standby for the beast's reaction or, spirits forbid, if his spear failed to pierce its hide.

[LordCowCow 839]

"sorr- er, thanks."

"Don't mention it, happy to help." Madelyn muttered, wincing as the lizard slammed into the barrier several times. It didn't stop until Ryia had moved around and slammed its mace into its face. Slamming into the animal's beak and causing a harsh cracking noise. It let out a low roar and started to shake its head back and forth for a few moments then proceeded to charge towards Ryia, pain causing it not to be able to focus well on where it was going.

Reinaan's leaping attack managed to let the draken bury his weapon into the side of the creature. It, too, roared in pain as the weapon drove deep into its body. Reinaan could tell he hadn't hit any organs with the attack but the beast seemed to be greatly injured. It began to yank away from the draken in an attempt to get away from the thing with the sharp stick.

Meanwhile the third who had been shocked was struggling to get back to its feet. However as soon as it managed to get its footing it was suddenly picked up by a wave of water and tossed back onto its side.

Keres shuddered as she cast her spell. The creature was even heavier than it looked and she had some trouble with moving it so suddenly. However it seemed the beast was quicker to get up this time and came rushing towards her.

She felt a hand on her cloak and she was pulled aside by Damien. "They're stubborn beasts. Would have to fully topple it to keep it down long." Keres realized he hadn't drawn his weapon yet and, when she noticed, she gave him a curious look.

He seemed to understand what she was getting at and shrugged, giving a sheepish smile. "I sorta hoped it wouldn't come to this. These things aren't usually that dangerous to most folk..."

And then they heard a roar from off in the distance. The roar seemed to cause the lizard creatures they were facing to grow more fearful and, at the same time, more aggressive. They seemed to intend to trample them flat before escaping. "That, however..." With a sigh Damien drew his sword and faced the animal Keres had tried to knock over. "Wishful thinking never goes far these days."

Spoiler

So, Reinaan and Keres would be able to tell roughly how far away the thing that roared is. In meta-terms its about 2 rounds away. As in not next post but post after it should be within sight.

Reinaan can also tell about how large it would be. Somewhere between 10 and 15 feet tall would be his estimate.

 

[Skaia 578]

Stunned from her attack, Ryia backed away from the lizard like creature as it tried to get its bearings. Then, as it began to charge at her, the girl rolled out of the way once more to avoid being trampled. Swiftly getting back to her feet, the girl started to rush after the lizard creature to close the gap between her and it. She knew that its primary way of fighting thus far had to simply be to charge her, so if she didn't take the fight to it she would simply be locked in an endless pattern of dodging or forcing Madelyn to cover for her. The girl looked away for a moment, hearing the more threatening roar off in the distance, before swiftly bashing her mace against the shield again. The creature for its part was confused to have not run into anything, suddenly whipped around at the noise only to then be met with a mace in its already injured face. 

Moving back, stunned a bit, the creature lashed out towards Ryia, bashing its face towards her. Taking a step forward and to the side, the girl lifted her shield and smashed it against the creature's face, parrying it to the side before going for yet another strike against its face. The creature roared in pain, clearly none too happy with its current predicament, before furiously going to shove at Ryia yet again. And once more the girl hopped to the side to avoid the attack, getting herself ready as the beast seemed ready to charge her once more. 

[Hollow 21]

Lindow tensed for a moment at the sound of one of Reinaan's reptilian grunts. Nonetheless, seeing the boy come flying to his aid was quite the relief.

This relief was short lived however, as a much more threatening sounding roar could be heard in the distance. It was problem for later though. Witnessing the effectiveness of the the fire chosen's skill with the spear against his attacker stoked the flames of violent inspiration for the witch hunter. Shifting his hand away from the hilt of cleaver Lindow sprang into action; drawing his longsword in favor of its sharp point, rather than opting to hack through the beast's hide like he initially intended. Dashing around the opposite side, he quickly pulled back before thrusting the tip of his sword straight into the creature's neck as it tried to yank itself free from Reinaan clutches. 

The shift in beast's life-force was noticeable almost immediately. As the blood began to drain from its wounds, it begun another frantic struggle against the two chosen with the last of its strength. Though it was all in vain. With Reinaan's monstrous strength keeping the creature pinned, Lindow gave his sword a brutal twist, gripping the hilt tightly as he start to use own strength push blade deeper through their victim's throat. The three of them stood locked in this struggle of a long moment before the creature finally slipped away. 

"Phew," Lindow grunted with effort as he yanked his blade free from the corpse. Glancing over at the remaining to enemies he noted that they seemed to be even more frantic than before. "think we're stealing someone's lunch?" He turned and threw grin Reinaan's way whilst nodding towards the direction the mysterious roar had came from. It would make sense that these three lizards were fleeing from something when they encountered them... but the man had no idea what kind of creature would prey on beasts so hardy and formidable.

He didn't bother trying to imagine either. Their group was a magnet for this sort of thing, so it was undoubtably heading their way. His time would be better spent preparing for the next round than trying to make sense of the situation. With the inspiration from watching Reinaan's engagement moments ago still fresh in his mind, Lindow turned and begun scanning the surrounding area. Spotting the mule and the wagon a safe distance away from the battlefield, the thunder chosen begun weaving through the trees without a word. The man was intent on leaving the others to finish off the rest of horned lizards, whilst he worked on adapting his combat strategy to this new island and its inhabitants.

 

 

[Doggo 218]

Reinaan's initial attack had proved effective and it soon became his task to simply hold the reptile in place so that Lindow could deliver a killing blow. The sensation was new though the technique was not. In hunting parties with his own kind he would often fill the role finishing a pinned creature as he lacked the strength of his brethren. That he was approaching it now filled the boy with a sense of pride in himself that might have gone to his head in the moment if the roar in the distance had not immediately drawn his attention when it sounded. The hunter's senses went into overdrive trying to make sense of the sound and he found it difficult to return Lindow's humor in the situation.

"That thing's big. Like two or three times my height." the draken offered as an estimate of the approaching beast, loud enough he hoped everyone could hear. Reinaan didn't bother trying to guess how big or heavy something that tall would be. Going off these three currently running from it he very much doubted he needed to. Finally retracting his weapon from the downed beast's hide. They still had time before it arrived. Whether they were running or fighting they definitely needed to be clear of these things first and the two left living didn't seem focused on running away at this point. Of the remaining two, Keres had seemingly knocked one over with Damien moving to intercept it. The other was busy trading blows with Ryia with Madelyn providing cover with her magic. Lindow had taken off for his part but Reinaan didn't need to know what the man was planning to trust him on his actions. That just meant he needed to wrap up the kills. The boy lingered on the sight of the two only a split moment longer before he took off running to Ryia's aid, his halberd leading the charge.

"It worked once." Reinaan growled under his breath as he looked to repeat his attack on the first of the reptiles on this one. A swift piercing wound to the side so he could push the beast to the ground.

[LordCowCow 839]

As the horned lizard went to ram into Ryia once more it let out a cry of pain. Reinaan's weapon buried into it around the shoulder and caused it to stagger into a halt. The weapon hadn't quite went into the side in the same spot as the other and so, when the thing angrily swung its body, it buried the weapon deeper but managed to push Reinaan back a bit in the process. The fear and pain addled animal proceeded to push harder in an attempt to face itself towards whatever had stabbed him so that it could ram into it and remove the pointy thing in its shoulder.

Madelyn let out a breath as he saw things slowly getting less chaotic. But then she saw Lindow run off somewhere and narrowed her eyes. "Hey what do you think you're..." her voice trailed off and then she grumbled to herself as she started off towards him. Intent to make sure he didn't run off and leave them all behind.

Meanwhile as Lindow got nearer to the mule the animal gave Lindow a judgemental look.

Keres and Damien hadn't even noticed any of this. The beast was charging once more and, with a quick look between them, the two split off in opposite directions.

The animal continued moving, not wanting to stop its charge, but it seemed unsure which way to go. Until it saw the light flash on Damien's blade. It didn't know for sure what it was but it had memory of things like that held by creatures like the man and knew they had a sharp sting. So it started towards Keres.

The mage for her part figured this would happen and, once the beast chose its course, stopped moving. As it got closer she formed a sphere of water above her and, as it got nearer, swiftly flung it down and onto the beast's head.

Suddenly being doused with water and experiencing all the pressure that came from it caused the creature's head to duck down and nearly slam into the dirt.

Damien darted in then. Bringing his longer-than-normal sword down at the back of the beast's neck. Slicing most of the way through with one heavy swing. Pulling out with a grunt Damien swung again to finish decapitating the beast.

"Such a shame." Damien muttered.

"We should move." Keres responded. She was saddened to at the death of the creature. Especially as she hadn't seen the like before. But she knew that there was something worse coming.

The noise was getting louder. Something crashing through the trees. And Keres could see off in the distance a large shape making its way for them. It would be here soon.

Spoiler

Next round and w/e it is will be upon us. There's one triceratops left but you should also make sure to decide if you want to try and run, prepare to fight, or hide.

 

[Skaia 578]

Readying herself for the beast's charge, Ryia remained in a much looser stance to avoid the attack rather than take it head on. As the creature began to rush her, though, she was nearly as surprised as it as the draken boy had run in from the side, impaling the creature's torso with his halberd. Stunned for a moment herself as the creature flailed against Reinaan, the girl quickly refocused and sheathed her mace, drawing her longsword instead. As the attention of the beast turned to the Draken, this time Ryia was the one to charge it, rushing forward and sinking her blade deep into the creature's opposite side.

Howling in pain once again, thrashing around in a panic induced frenzy, it started to run in the direction of the roaring trying to both dislodge yet inadvertently take the weapons with it. Still having her grip on her sword Ryia easily pulled it out, eliciting yet another cry of pain. There wasn't much point in continuing to fight it now that it was fleeing from her, suffering as deep wounds as it had as well, and so she instead turned her attention to the more pressing problem at hand. Whatever large thing that was approaching the group was what had caused the animals here to become panicked and violent to begin with. As such, it wasn't just a terror to them now, but was to them later as well as the more peaceful creatures of the forest. And so Ryia got herself ready to take on the creature that was coming towards them, bracing herself for the upcoming fight. Turning to Reinaan, after he dealt with his own weapon, she felt that at times like these he and Lindow were likely to share some kind of quip with one another. "So uh, you ready to uh, fight the big monster, thing." It was a work in progress. 

[Doggo 218]

With Ryia's continued attacks the monster Reinaan had attacked now seemed ready to retreat. Had the sounds of the larger beast approaching not been there he might have given chase in annoyance but at the same time it was clear that it no longer wanted to fight them and if killing it meant that much to him there was a good chance it was going to bleed out on its own. The draken pulled his weapon out of the beast after Ryia did, the slight delay from the thought process about letting it go. The boy had been ready to prepare for the much more pressing matter before them when Ryia spoke to him. He couldn't help but chuckle softly at the girl's attempt which he recognized as something of the banter he and Lindow often shared on the battlefield.

"You must be really raring to go." Reinaan teased in response before taking stock of the situation. "We need to hide the mounts!" He shouted to the group as he turned to face the bulk of them. "And then ourselves while we're at it. Whether or not we attack it we'd be stupid to do it head on." The hunter offered as instruction to those who probably hadn't spent their whole life fighting monsters larger than themselves to live and eat. Admittedly, most of the strategies that came to mind involved a solid ten draken hunting party but then they had a fair bit of magic on their side his old hunting parties could only dream of. "Pick your favorite bush or tree and get as low down as you can. If we attack we focus its legs until it can't stand anymore."

"Have you considered smoking it away?" the voice of Ziiyol the spirit of fire asked, perfectly relaxed. Reinaan groaned as his partner appeared at his side.

"Really not the time for this." He muttered at her in hopes that would be the end of her contributions.

"But have you at least cons-" Ziiyol began before the Draken cut her off.

"I'm not setting fire to the forest!" Reinaan asserted more loudly than he meant to. He turned from his spirit who laughed softly to herself and followed him to see his plan through.

[Hollow 21]

"Huh." Lindow met the mule's judgmental look with with a squint. "If it's about your name, take it up with the little one..." He waved the beast of burden off with flap if his wrist has he passed.

Propping his foot up onto the cart, the thunder chosen began riffling through the party's inventory in search of equipment that would better suit their new environment. "So thats where those arrows went." The clink and clanks of various materials followed as he searched high and low for a polearm to match Reinaan's mighty halberd. "No. No. No. Oh. Well you certainly aren't a spear, but come along... excuse me my loveli- Aha!" Lindow search persisted for quite few moments before he finally found a group's last remaining javelin under his trusty pile of scimitar. He studied piece of equipment with a skeptical look. Cursing himself for not remembering to retrieve the other javelins that he had hurled over the course of the adventure. It would have to do.

After making a few more adjustments to his gear, Lindow was ready to rejoin the battle. Rather sure that his allies would have already dealt with the last of the horned lizards by now, he begun creeping through the trees back towards the fight. They had Reinaan with them, so hopefully an ambush was already in the works for whatever large creature was heading towards the battlefield. If not, he intended to lay low and mount his own sneak attack whilst the beast was distracted with the others. 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Hollow

[LordCowCow 839]

Most of the group moved towards the trees and brush nearby. Trying to keep themselves hidden and out of the clearing where whatever creature that was coming seemed likely to go towards. Especially if it was after the now dead lizard-creatures.

Most of them that is except Lindow and Madelyn who had followed the man earlier to be sure he wasn't running off. When she saw him with the javelin she scowled at him "There you are. You're lucky they managed to finish up and get hidden while you were running away."

The two of them also had to take cover. As, despite that they were farther away, the creature that emerged from the trees was so large that it would spot them if they didn't hide as well.

Standing at twelve feet tall it was larger, and more lizard-like, than the previous creatures.

It had a thick body with large, muscular, legs and small arms that, despite not likely to be useful, still had sharp talons on them. As it let out a roar they could see its huge mouth lined with sharp teeth and the creature leaned down and started sweeping back and forth. Nostrils flaring as it sniffed. Its eyes passed over where Ryia was hiding and it seemed to pause a moment. But then it directed its attention down towards the dead creature at its feet. Opening its mouth and biting into the creature, beginning to tear large chunks out of the creature. As it did its eyes slowly moved around. Seemingly not trusting of this easy meal.

[Hollow 21]

"There you are. You're lucky they managed to finish up and get hidden while you were running away."

"Running away?" Lindow repeated with a frown. Was she really daft enough to think that he of all people would pass up on fight? 

Before he could say anything else, a thunderous roar shook the area. It was close. So close that Lindow found himself taking cover behind a nearby tree before he even realized it. After glancing over to be sure that Madelyn had done the same, he silently drew his bow before peaking out into the clearing. Even with the trees obscuring his view, it was obvious that this massive beast was nothing like anything the witch hunter had ever seen before. 

Soon after, the sounds of it feasting could be heard, even from where Lindow standing. He felt himself breath a sigh of relief. It appeared that they all had managed to go unnoticed somehow. Lindow listened intently for another moment to be sure. "Ah." He mouthed with a deep exhale. With no signs anyone else initiating the attack, he steeled his nerves. Crouching low, Lindow slowly began creep through the forest. Circling to the right around the clearing, he did his best to place himself away from where the other where likely hiding. 

With the monstrous specimen of a lizard finally in his sights, Lindow took a moment to study its muscular build before nocking an arrow and taking aim. "Let's get started then, shall we?" He chirped as he watched the first shot of the battle soar through he air. His arrow found its mark in the creature's neck, causing the beast to rear up with another titanic roar that shook Lindow entire body. He watched from the brush as it turned its massive head in his direction. Nocking another arrow, Lindow took a deep breath before standing tall so that he was clearly visible. It was apparent that the lizard had spotted him at this point. Though before the creature could drag its hulking mass into motion, Lindow took another shot, intent on taking one of its eyes. The shot dug into the lizards face, missing it's eyeball but still provoking it enough charge towards the tree line. 

Lindow grimaced. For split second he forgot that this was exactly what he wanted.

One would be surprised how quickly twelve feet of fangs and muscle coming at you jogs the memory, however. With the angry lizard and its mouth full of fangs getting closer and closer, Lindow began to quickly back peddle to draw it deeper into tree line. When the beast reached the point where he had been hiding, he turned and broke off into a sprint towards where the other lay in wait. "Here it comes!" The thunder chosen called into the brush ahead as he weaved between the trees. The lizard was not too far behind, easily nocking over the smaller trees as it chased Lindow down. 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2021 by Hollow

[Doggo 218]

The group had hidden well enough that was the enormous lizard came into view none of them were immediately spotted. And while the beast was happy to begin feeding on the group's kills, Reinaan was disheartened to see how cautious it was being. Of course it wasn't ready to accept the easy kill. Big predators never were. They wanted to do the killing not just pick up leftovers. For his part he was happy to wait it out some more. Hopefully it would relax more and give the group an opportunity to move on without engaging it. But there seemed to be no indication this was happening. And so when Lindow took action and drew the creature's attention, Reinaan groaned but knew that with how everything had gone, killing this thing was now the only real path forward. Thankfully the Thunder Chosen was competent at keeping the beast moving toward the others while not getting eaten. The Draken readied his halberd from behind his cover, he wanted as clean a shot as he could get.

No sooner did the lizard pass Reinaan's hiding place than did the Fire Chosen leap out, his arms fully back to swing the axe of his halberd into the beast. This the boy did with all the force he could muster, slicing cleanly into the back of the creature's right knee, though it was going to take more attacks to actually shatter or sever the bone. Still this damage was not negligible and the beast roared in pain as it skidded to a stop to turn about and address the new assailant. As it turned it lowered its tail to sweep Reinaan away but the hunter was prepared and jumped over the appendage well enough to ready another attack. The beast was big and that made it move slow so while it was trying to finish turning to try and bite the smaller lizard, Reinaan was able to charge in and land another hit to the front of the same injured knee. Due to the motion of both parties this hit was far from clean but the twin strikes to the same joint clearly had the monster's posture wobbling. Reinaan was now running past it to join Lindow on the chase to keep it moving forward causing the beast to have to turn about again to pursue. As yet it seemed to have not noticed Ryia or the others still in hiding.

"Follow up on the leg and we'll bring it down!" he shouted to the others. At this point Reinaan turned to Lindow. "Really not how I saw today going." the boy complained. Being outsized by two different kinds of lizards in a single day was clearly putting a damper on his mood or perhaps that was running from certain death doing that.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia waited patiently and silently as best she could as the beast made its way over to them. Gulping as it began to devour its prey, despite all they had fought all to this point and how entirely natural the monstrous beast seemed - at least compared to demons - she still couldn't help but feel the otherwise imposing aura the creature had. It was no wonder the smaller beasts of the forest were terrified of it. All the same, the girl stopped and took a deep breath, waiting for one of her other comrades to give a signal for her to go in and attack. 

As Lindow had let out an opening move against the creature, Reinaan was soon to follow with a strike of his own. At his call, the girl jumped from the bush and charged at the opposite leg of the beast as it was distracted with its first assailants. Her sword dug deep into the backside of the creature's leg, causing it to roar in pain. Thrashing about, Ryia held firmly onto her blade, pulling it out before being struck by the large creature's thrashing tail. Letting out a grunt of pain the girl stumbled back, taking a brief moment to right herself before readying for another strike. As it had turned out, though, so too had the creature. As she she had stumbled to the side, she looked ahead only to see the roaring face of the monster coming closer towards her, jaws open. Panic filling her eyes, the Earth Chosen swiftly dove forward and to the side, getting underneath the maw of the creature before it came snapping down at where she used to be. Not wanting to imagine what would have happened had she been just a bit slower, the girl immediately lashed out with another slash at the creature's leg. The sword dug in a much shallower wound this time, so much so that as the beasts started to move around again her blade was just pushed out of it. 

Seeing that she now had its full attention Ryia began to back away and run from the creature, hoping it would leave an opening for the others. 

[LordCowCow 839]

The giant lizard let out a roar as it saw Ryia backing away. It didn't know what she was doing but it know it had a large pointed thing that was hurting it and that it easy to see. Which meant that it was in range of its large maw. So without thinking more on it the beast leaned down and went forward to bite down on the armored thing.

From the side that Reinaan had injured before Damien came out of the woods. He swung his long blade in an arc and cut into the leg. Though he missed the exact spot that Reinaan had hit, not used to aiming for such targets, and it seemed that he was somewhat hesitant to attack the beast.

Still, the wound opened up and caused it to stumble. Which is when it ran into something strange.

From the other side Keres had sent out a gushing torrent of water. Flinging it across the way in front of the large animal's legs. It hit it and stumbled on the unexpected obstruction.

Its strength pulled at the water that Keres struggled to keep solid and, eventually, won out, breaking through the water.

However the wounded legs couldn't quite keep up and it pitched forward and fell down with a crash.

Letting out another roar the creature got its feet back under itself and pushed upwards. Only to strike something more solid above it.

Madelyn, near where Lindow had initially come from, was holding a barrier of light just above the creature. Though it continued to slam its body into it and, with each slam, the mage herself trembled and grit her teeth. "This beast's strength is...quite something." she said shakily.

[Hollow 21]

“Heh,” Lindow scoffed at the boy’s complaints. “and here I figured you’d be happy to take this big show off down few pegs." He joked whilst the sounds of the other chosen making their moves could be heard behind them.

Turning to see the massive lizard struggling beneath a familiar wall of light. “I even wen’t through the trouble of bringing these for us to try…” Lindow smiled deviously before reaching into his pouch and producing two of the greharms he had taken from the cart. Lightly tossing one of cubed explosives towards the young Draken, Lindow raised other's wick and called out into the air for the fire spirit.

“Ohhh Ziiyol! Feel like burning something?” 

Promptly answering the thunder chosen's invitation, Ziiyol manifested in the air between him and Reinaan. As she raised her fans to the tip of the fuse, he could see a look of elation painted across her face. Lindow eyed the spirit of fire intently, ever so slightly weary that she’d set the whole bomb alight and blow his entire arm off in her glee. Thankfully, Ziiyol's magic surprisingly precise; instantly conjuring a tiny flame that began to hungrily run down the wick of the greharm. With his new weapon finally armed, Lindow wasted no time in circling around the creature's side as it pushed up against Madelyn's barrier. "Incoming!" He chirped. Tossing the dwarven contraption towards the back of its right leg, he closed his eye just before the greharm erupted into a sudden explosion. 

A painful sounding roar followed a wave of heat. "Hm," Opening his eye, Lindow gasped in fascination as he observed the damage. "not bad at all!" The man's expression grew wild as he marveled at the chunk of flesh missing from the back of the lizard's leg. All the while the wounded creature began slamming itself against the wall of light that kept it pinned. Quite eager to continue taking advantage of the situation, Lindow knocked another arrow. Aiming it at the fresh wound, he begun firing one shot after another into his target's exposed flesh. 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Hollow

[Doggo 218]

Lindow having a plan was nothing new. What was new was the explosives the group had purchased in town. They had occupied almost no space in Reinaan's mind since the fights had begun. With how like one of his hunts back home this had been new toys like that were jumping to the front of his mind. He was almost as unready for the Thunder Chosen to toss one his way, his claws proving clunky compared to the human's fingers grips on the thing. But still the boy managed to drop the contraption while Lindow was asking his spirit for help. Thee sheer glee in Ziiyol's eyes at lighting an explosive was unlike anything the draken could recall seeing. He might have studied his spirit's face longer had the lit explosive not then sailed through the air on a collision course with the large reptile's injured leg. The impact of the explosion was hefty and the results matched the boom. That the thing was still standing was a testament to its own strength but Reinaan had a mind to get it off it's feet permanently. As he held the explosive up Ziiyol moved toward it, eager for a repeat performance only for Reinaan to snatch it away from her fan.

"Think that's enough fun for you for today." Reinaan teased, a pout instantly taking over the fire spirit's face. Still, Ziiyol wasn't the only natural fire generator around and Reinaan was proud to light his own device with a puff of his own flame breath. The boy imitated Lindow's performance about as closely as he could manage to similar results. The second explosion compounded the previous injuries to the beast's right leg which was very clearly in bad sorts. "Wow... these things are something else." Reinaan observed, an awe taking hold from having used one personally.

Unfortunately, the beast wasn't going to just crumple to the ground quite yet. In a lot of pain it reared up and shattered the barrier above it. And no amount of crippling the monster removed the danger its teeth could pose to the others with the barrier broken. He got Lindow's attention and pointed at first toward the ground and the rear end of the beast before moving his finger up in a smooth motion.

"Let's go for the neck!" He offered as a solution to the injured and angry giant lizard.

[Skaia 578]

Ryia had been ready to approach the legs of the creature yet again, trying to continue to whittle down its stability, when she had heard Lindow call out for Reinaan's assistance. Looking at the device in his hand, the girl took a minute to process what it was, only to then remember just what it was he was planning. The girl was stunned for a moment, getting out a, "w-wait shouldn't uh..." The girl didn't continue much more as the plan went into action and both of the greharms had gone off, releasing blasts of fire that seemed to destroy part of the creature's right leg. She was certainly in awe of the pure power that those devices seemed to pack, though there was also a degree of panic. Both from the surprising nature of the attack as well as wondering if this was considered using magic in the forest or not. 

The girl's shock didn't last long as Reinaan gave the suggestion to cut the creature's head off, and as Ryia couldn't think of any other way to swiftly deal with the resilient creature, she decided to go for it. With sword in hand, the girl rushed towards the beast's neck and brought the blade down on it. The attack didn't seem to do much other than scratch it, though, yet despite this the reptile still didn't take kindly to it. Letting out a roar of frustration and pain, it swung its head backward. Not having the time to dodge properly, the girl brought her shield up and took a step backward. Though she avoided the worst of the attack, the force of the creature hitting against her shield still sent the girl recoiling back, stumbling and falling backward before breaking into a roll and standing back up. Now further from the neck and with the head in her way, the girl figured it would be better for the others to take their turn with it.

Instead, she opted to help keep the beast down as it was getting up, continuing to move backwards and stabbing the creature in the already burned and eviscerated leg. The creature let out a roar of pain as it was put slightly off balance from the attack. 

[LordCowCow 839]

Keres heard Madelyn let out a sharp gasp as the lizard burst through the barrier. Keres knew that it was easier for mages to just release the magic rather than let it be destroyed and was somewhat surprised that Madelyn had held it until it was forcefully shattered. She started towards the young woman only to catch a glare. "And what...do you think you're doing? If you ignore that thing you'll end up in its stomach and I'm certain its not nearly as comfortable as a warm bath."

Keres gave a nod and, with some reluctance, looked back at the fierce animal. It was struggling to get to its feet as one of its legs was badly damaged. A thought occurred to her that she could try masking the pain the creature felt and, with its mind tricked, it would put more weight on the leg. Thus causing it to collapse fully. However she hesitated, thinking it just a bit too cruel to go through with.

She wasn't the only hesitating one. Which Madelyn made note of quite loudly. "And you, that last attack was rather unenthusiastic don't you think? If you wish to bring down the dumb beast then you shouldn't hold back. It's just an animal after all."

Damien didn't look at Madelyn, and she didn't see the brief angered look on his face, as he gripped his blade and began to circle. She only heard his voice, as carefree as ever, saying "It has some tough skin. I'd rather wait until I know I won't chip my blade and get a good strike in. Would be such a waste otherwise."

The lizard let out a roar and, despite only having one good leg, thrust itself forward. It opened its maw wide and went for where Lindow stood. The beast wasn't particularly fast but it covered the distance in only a moment. As the jaws went to close around the man the animal realized something was holding its jaw open.

Keres, biting her lip and concentrating, was doing all she could to pry the mouth open with tendrils of water. However the fluid wasn't nearly durable enough to keep it from chomping down for long. Still she managed to hold it open a moment as the creature snarled and was standing unsteadily. Not only unable to put much pressure on what remained of one of its legs but also because it was now stretched its full length as it tried to bite down on Lindow.

[Hollow 21]

"Let's go for the neck!" 

Not a bad plan. Lindow glanced over to Reinaan, nodding at the boy before turning to watch Ryia make her move only moments after. Though seeing how ineffective the Earth Chosen's monstrous strength was against the massive lizard's hide, the man begun to doubt that anyone else would be able to fair much better at decapitating it. His brow furrowed in thought. He couldn't hope to surpass Ryia's striking power, but maybe a blade with a little more bite could do the trick... 

A sudden roar from the lizard promptly ripped the Thunder Chosen from his thoughts. Seeing the creature's jaws nearly upon him in a flash, Lindow barely had time do react. Luckily before things took a turn for the worse, tendrils of water surged forth and seized the beast's maw in their liquid grasp, halting it's attack. Lindow couldn't help but scoff. This was the second time Keres had come to his aid since they had landed on this island. He probably had to thank her when this last beast was squared away. Hastily ducking under Kere's magic to gain some distance from the lizard's mouth, he gripped his right forearm with his left hand whilst pointing all five of his fingers towards the lizard's face. 

"Hungry?!" Lindow cooed as lighting began to dance around his finger tips. "Eat this!" 

Heeding Lindow's call, the Third Blade sparked to life, chirping loudly as it rapidly extended until it pierced the lizards right eye. Another deafening roar shook the forest, as the titanic creature violently reared upwards in pain. It's formidable power managing to actually break off the tip Lindow's magic construct, leaving a cyan bolt of magic jotting out of the lizard's eye as it once again put pressure on it's injured leg to launch itself forwards is if it meant to smash into Lindow with the entirety of it's weight. Quite certain that he'd be reduced to paste if he let himself get hit, Lindow hastily dove to the right, narrowly avoiding the large mass heading his way. 

Lindow cackled madly as a dug his left hand into the rich soil stop his momentum. That was twice now that he could have died. Flexing his right hand to correct the shape of what was left his blade of thunder magic, he shot forward at full speed towards lizard's wounded leg. A flash of cyan light traced the man's path as he closed distance in blur of movement. Roaring with effort, Lindow drove the Third Blade through the damaged connective tissue that was already barely holding together after Ryia's attacks and the explosions, severing the creature's right leg completely. 

[Doggo 218]

The combinations of magic and weapon had kept the giant lizard at bay for the moment in as much as no one had been bitten yet. Lindow seemed determined to give the beast a fair shot at biting something however. The man took one of the beast's eyes, always helpful in fighting larger creatures, and narrowly avoided becoming a snack by diving off to the side. It wasn't the neck as Reinaan had suggested but the boy was ready to follow through on his own advice. Even more so once Lindow's lightning blade struck again, this time severing the damaged leg entirely. Without the support the monster was lopsided. It still stood but moving forward or backward seemed beyond it at this point. It's body, neck and head were all still mobile but as the draken had wanted, the threat was much easier to control with it's mobility so limited.

"You know what a neck is?" Reinaan teased Lindow between large breaths as he began charging the lizard, looking to get to it's right side. The lizard of course wasn't going to just take the attack lying down and swung it's large head at the approaching Draken. With a few feet between the head and the ground Reinaan opted to go low and dove down and to the left, tumbling to the beast's bad side. Upon missing the beast tried to stumble forward with its remaining foot. Reinaan then hurried to his own feet and readied his weapon, grabbing the halberd low on the shaft with both hands and holding it back over and behind his head as far as he could to give the largest swing possible. When ready the boy slammed the weapon down into the neck of the lizard. The blade of the halberd's axe was driven in deep, but the attack was not the full decapitation one would have hoped for. Given the size of the neck in question it was perhaps foolish to think a single strike could do it but here Reinaan was. Almost immediately the boy found it expedient to release his grip on his weapon as the lizard reared up in pain. It stumbled between it's one working leg and the fresh bleeding stump that was the other and fell to the side, hitting a nearby tree in the process.

"Dammit, that wasn't enough!" the draken called to the others as a rallying cry to finish the kill. The boy took off running. "Don't let it get back up, it can probably still move!"  he added, unsure how much fight was left in the beast.